Her eyes drifted open slowly as Sherry inhaled deeply. Her head was resting on Jake's arm. He was laying behind her with an arm casually thrown over her waist keeping her next to him. His warmth surrounded her against the cold the permeated the cabin. The fire was down to glowing embers.

Jake.

Her thoughts flew to last night and her face turned pink. Grateful that he was still asleep she snuggled back against him pulling the blanket up to her chin.

He coughed behind her and she froze, not quite wanting to wake him or move just yet. He coughed again, it was a deep sound that made Sherry roll her eyes. The man had the antibodies to fight off the C-Virus, which turned humans into Zombie like creatures called J'avo, and yet the common cold gets in?

"You going to lay on my arm all morning? Not that I mind, but I really need to take a leak." Jake's voice startled her out of her reverie and she lifted her head off his arm her face going an even darker shade of crimson.

"How did you know?" Sherry asked, keeping the blanket pulled up against her chest.

"Super girl, I've been listening to you breathe for the past few days," He muttered, sitting up himself. He grabbed his pants and proceeded to stand up and let the sleeping bag fall away from himself as he pulled them on. Sherry turned away. He smirked at her reaction, but wisely didn't comment on it and simply walked stiffly into the small bathroom. "Everyone breathes differently when they wake up." He called back.

The cabin was small and cold, so Sherry slipped on her pajamas and put wood into the small fireplace intending to light a fire. Jake emerged from the bathroom, noticed what she was doing and proceeded to light it for her. "Cold?" He grinned. His own arms were covered in goosebumps. "How are you feeling? You know..."

"I'm fine." She snapped. A little too quickly. Which made him smile a little regretfully.

"Sherry, I'm sorry if I hurt you...when we...you know...when I..."

She turned to his face. "I'm fine, Jake." It was inches from hers and she closed the gap quickly and kissed him on the lips hard. She felt a sort of satisfaction when she heard him gasp in surprise before wrapping his arms around her and pulling her into his lap. Too bad we can't stay in this cabin forever. Sherry mused.

A few hours later found them finally dressed and outside. It was cold and snow littered the ground, their breath showing in the breeze. Both of them in their winter coats and pants.

"I know you can shoot super girl," Jake stared at her. "But I want to see your hand to hand."

"It's not bad," she said defensively.

"I know...but what if you have to take on an Ustanak?" He grinned remembering their last encounter with one. Sherry narrowed her eyes. It wasn't as funny to her that the big creature had chased them down. It had knocked her 20 feet across a clearing, a hit which would have killed a normal person.

"Fine," she said dropping into a defensive crouch. She didn't think she'd survive a beating from an Ustanak and after what had happened to her at the hands of Wesker Jr., she wasn't sure she wanted to. Healing from that would be awful.

Jake came at her swinging, she managed to block most of his hits, an upper cut grazed her jaw as she moved a fraction of an inch too slowly. He paused. "You ok?"

"I'm fine," she said rubbing her jaw. "But I'm going to end up dead if you baby me."

"Baby you?" He paused, not admitting that he had been going easy on her, even when they both knew he had been. Besides she was right no one else was going to go easy on her because she was a woman. "Fine Super girl," his voice took on a low dangerous tone.

Her jaw healed quickly enough and she watched for the blow again as he came at her. For a brief moment she was completely on the defensive as he rained blows at her and then he executed a sweeping kick which took her legs out from underneath her.

She landed on her back with the wind knocked out of her, her vision blackened but she managed not to pass out. She reasoned without her healing ability she might be already passed out. Jake came and loomed over her, concern on his face. "Don't baby me," She muttered, pushing his hand away. She pulled herself up stiffly. When she looked at him again, his eyebrow was raised.

"I know I'm no match for you, but maybe I can surprise someone, catch them off guard."

He frowned. This was going to be harder on him than it was on her. But he knew it was necessary and went at it. They practiced for a few more hours, him finally admitting to himself that she was damn good, although nowhere near as experienced as he was. But hey, he'd been a mercenary a lot longer than she'd been an agent. Plus, she was what, 5'3"?

Exhausted and covered in sweat they both made their way back towards the cabin. She'd managed to learn to see the upper cuts coming, and jump over his sweeping leg kicks, not to mention she'd blocked several of his hits. Even punched him in the face twice. Never had a guy smile about being hit in the nose before, she thought.

But she took more than she gave and he finally called a halt when he saw that she was exhausted.

"Feeling babied yet, super girl?" He asked.

She rolled her eyes and headed back to the cabin. There was dried blood on her jacket where he'd bloodied her nose. He felt bad about that but she blocked the next one and by the time they were sparring again, you could not tell he had ever come anywhere near her face. It had been creepy watching her heal right away.

Yet, he knew he could do the same thing now. It was one subject that they hadn't discussed. A deep rooted fear of Jake's. One day he'd be injured and his arm would explode out like a J'avo's mutated form. An extra set of eyes here or there. a question on the tip of his conscious thought. Am I still human? Am I like my father?

The cabin was quiet as they ate a cold dinner of fruit and nuts. Sherry couldn't wait to get her hands on something hot but it was what it was for the moment.

"You ok?" He said looking her over. She was unusually silent.

"Yes," she said stretching. "Just sore that's all." Her body healed but her muscles didn't necessarily heal from exercising as fast as she would like.

"We'll need to head out of here soon."

"I know," Sherry looked away from him. She was perched on the cot with a mug of coffee in her hand. She was enjoying their time here alone, not ready to go out into the real world just yet.

Not ready to face what was waiting out there for them...just yet.

He came and sat with her next to her with his own coffee mug in hand. "Hey, you still with me on this?"

"Yes," she said looking around. "I'm going to miss this cabin though."

He shrugged and pulled her close to him dropping an arm over around her shoulders and setting his own coffee mug on the floor. "We've got one more night. After this is over we'll find our own cabin. Deal?"

"Deal." With that said, she sat down her mug and turned to him. "One more night?" She asked and tugged at her own shirt.

"One." He said before bending down to kiss her.

A large figure emerged into the small clearing in the darkness. The forest was unnaturally quiet. Even the normal birds were silenced by it's presence.

It had taken Devon a few days to track them down. He'd obeyed his orders perfectly, steering clear of everyone and everything. They were in the wind for most people but not Devon as he was now. At first he'd reveled in the abilities he had. But tracking them had taken long and his attention span was short. His temper was shorter and he just wanted to find them now. He was cross and the only thing that kept him moving was the idea that he could with his bare fists smash Jake Muller into smithereens. His human mind wondered what Sherry would think of him now. No doubt she'd be horrified. His beast half wanted her blood. He kept that part of himself calm with the idea that he would soon have Muller's. This whole situation was Muller's fault after all.

He came upon the cabin so suddenly that he was surprised to see lights inside of it. He'd been running their trail for days picking it up where they stopped. A bloodhound would be jealous of his ability to pick up a scent. He was like a shark which could detect a drop of blood in millions of gallons of water. Except his quarry was treading air not water.

His hearing was also superb and with it he could hear them talking in the cabin, and then kissing. That made his blood boil and within seconds he was stomping through the small clearing and bashing the door in. Oh yes, he thought. I'll have his blood. It was one of the few coherent thoughts he managed to form.

The door to the cabin splintered in just as Jake had pulled Sherry's shirt off. Everything else that happened next seemed to happen in slow motion.

The Ustanak barreled into the room not quite fitting and smashing up the building in its wake. As the cabin walls fell away in its rage Jake and Sherry managed to fling themselves outside into the snow. Sherry was shivering, her bare arms covered in goosebumps. But having managed to grab a sidearm she pointed it at the beast in front of them.

The creature roared as it came out of the wreckage of the cabin. Jake was on his feet in an instant attempting to locate his bike in the mess. Sherry fired bullets at the Ustanak hoping it would chase her. Its dark hair reminded her of someone she'd met before. It was close cropped not long like the last creatures had been. The first Ustanak she'd met before had about 5 inches of hair that had hung off to the side of its head. This one was almost military style cut. Its face wasn't quite as deformed and misshapen but it definitely had an angular quality that was no longer human. She remembered facing her father suddenly, not being able to recognize him as a human being as he chased her down attempting to turn her into what he was.

It turned on her and she froze in fear staring open mouthed at the raw power of the creature in front of her, forgetting even how cold it was.

The Ustanak was yelling something repeatedly, which the previous one they'd encountered had never done.

"Jek, Jeeeek, Jek Moola." It too, had a breast plate covering the one sensitive area on its body. Sherry wondered how they could get it off. They barely escaped the last time they encountered one of these creatures. There was no handy lava pit nearby to drop it in and burn the plate away this time.

"Jek Moola." The strange sound came again and Sherry's eyes widened in surprise.

"Is it saying your name?" She yelled incredulously to Jake.

"Yeah, what can I say? I got an Ustanak fan girl club!" He shouted back attempting to keep his distance and get to his bike. It was the only way they were getting away from this unscathed. This Ustanak still had both hands on both arms and was quite effective at using them. Still larger and slow, Jake had no intention of getting close.

"Fan girls?" Sherry said, not quite believing he's just made a joke at a time like this. They circled warily on each side of the creature which was turning as if trying to decide which one it wanted to attack first as it stood in the piles of what used to be a cabin. Flames from their small fire licking up to attack the ruined structure.

"Kind of ugly though," Jake said. "Why can't I get the ones that don't want to kill me?"

Sherry fired at the creature, and it turned on her. It stopped shouting "Jeeek," and started roaring out "Shawwwy, shawy, shawwwwwy."

"Looks like I'm not the only one," Jake shouted as he ran forward and pulled his bike up out of the snow.

As the creature advanced on her Sherry wondered why it looked vaguely familiar. Then it hit her, 1st. Sargent Mac Devon. His short cropped brown hair and features now stretched over the titanic frame of the Ustanak.

It was him.

"Oh my god...Devon?" She was bewildered, she knew he'd disobeyed orders and had been discharged from the BSAA, but to turn him into an Ustanak. It was beyond her comprehension. She just stared as the creature advanced on her, her jaw hanging open.

"Sherry run!" That was Jake, he saw her freeze but didn't understand what was happening.

The Ustanak advanced on her and came to a stop and just stared down at her. "Shaaawwwy." Inside the Ustanak a war was taking place. Devon did not necessarily want to hurt Sherry but the beast part of him did. Her voice had penetrated the beast to the man inside. The two minds battled for a moment causing the creature to stand there and stare. What were the orders again? Bring them back to the base. Bring Sherry back to the base. Beat up Muller. Bring Sherry and Jake back to the base.

Sherry didn't know what to do in that moment. She didn't understand what was going on inside the Ustanak. It was not attacking, just staring, her bare arms were shaking uncontrollably in the cold, her teeth were chattering. Devon? It had to be.

"Fuck." Jake on the other side of the demolished cabin wasn't sure why they weren't moving. He had his bike up, but with the creature so close he wasn't going to be able to swoop in and grab Sherry. And he sure as hell wasn't leaving without her.

He pulled out a glock and pulled the slide back, the click it made sent the creature staring in his direction. Once it locked onto him it let out a roar and charged across the clearing. That's more like it, he thought. Come to me you son of a bitch.