Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters from the Resident Evil Series, they belong to Capcom and their rightful owners...not me.

Claimer: Idea for story is mine, ie I did not steal this idea off of anyone else. I'm rather surprised actually that no one has attempted a piece like this yet. But if someone else has written a story like this I’m sorry.

Summary: Takes place shortly after Chris acquires the Jet and heads out to the Antarctic base. We get a glimpse inside of his mind as he continues his search for his sister.

Rating: PG; for language

Spoilers: Good amount for Resident Evil Code Veronica X and some for Resident Evil 2 and 3.

Feedback: Cherished and read.

Category: Angst/Drama

Author's Notes: For some reason when I play a video game be it an RPG or an Action/Adventure game the mind always goes wandering off as to wondering what's going through the character's minds as they walk through an area or as they explore and discover an unknown secret. And as you can see this fic is the result of my playing Resident Evil Code Veronica X. Well enjoy! Also many thanks to Facade for beta-reading my story, I really appreciated your help.

Heart of a soldier

By: Christie Redfield

I sighed calmly to myself as I tapped a few buttons on the control panel in front of me. Thanks to a good deal of searching I had managed to discover and gain access to the large hangar bay area which housed the massive jet I now flew. Right now though I still wondered if it was luck or sheer irony that this bird just happened to be waiting for me.

Immediately after I arrived on the island, I didn’t expect to find very much save for a massive prison complex and a few dozen zombies roaming the grounds. But still no sign of Claire…

Claire…

I could still recall my exact reaction when I first received the news about her disappearance.

I had just finished writing her a letter while I stopped at a café in Europe. A young woman about Claire’s age walked by me and instantly my thoughts were drawn to my sister.

At first I took it as a sign, as though I was secretly being told that something had happened to Claire or that something was wrong. I shrugged it off as I paid for the bill and then exited the café to take up vacancy in a nearby hotel.

Soon after I had obtained a room, I pulled out my laptop and went to work. I told Barry and Jill when we all left Raccoon City for Europe we should at least have some form of communication to stay in touch. What could be better than the Internet via the use of e-mail.

I then checked my e-mail. There wasn’t much, save for the occasional junk mail and offers on saving money on long distance or how to save money on costly health insurance, you know the usual scams made up by the market to make money and rip you off.

My eyes were instantly to drawn to a news report that sent chills down my spine. By order of the President and the Federal Council, the “Bacillus Terminate Operation” was put into effect, and as a result Raccoon City, my former home was literally wiped off the map.

Quickly I clicked on the article and read through it. An all out missile attack was launched on Raccoon in an attempt to wipe out an epidemic viral outbreak. The death toll had surpassed the hundred thousand mark. Instantly, worries about my remaining comrades raced through my mind.

Barry and I had agreed to meet a month later after I left ahead of him. Barry wanted to send his family off to Canada first and then follow later to meet with me across the seas.

Brad stayed behind and took off into hiding soon after things started to get crazy at the RPD…rather I should say nobody knows what happened to him.

Rumor had it that “Chickenheart Vickers” went into hiding…what with the way he’s known to act at the first sign of trouble I didn’t doubt it.

Rebecca also stayed behind and, from what I could gather, had skipped town and went into hiding. With the way things were back at Umbrella Headquarters it was probably for the best. I hope she’s alright, kid’s about as close to me as I am with my sister, Claire.

Then there was Jill, my lovely comrade and partner in arms. I couldn’t help but scold myself for the way I had been acting after the Spencer Mansion incident.

The mission changed me and I immediately became distant and cold. I won’t lie when I say I’m known to have a pretty fiery temper, but I ended up snapping off on others more then usual, save for my fellow teammates.

Hell I’ve even punched Elran of the Boy’s Crime Department in the face and nearly busted his nose after he accidentally splashed my face with coffee.

Jill immediately stopped me before I could do any further damage, but as soon as I saw her I just winked at her and walked away leaving her stunned.

It looked like I was starting to go by the motto “Trust no one”. But ever since the incident at Spencer Mansion, I’m sure the others couldn’t blame me for acting the way I did. Could they?

I’m sure I had Jill worried sick about me. Especially after the night I told her about the “G Report”.

Since that night I couldn’t bring myself to worry her anymore about myself and I no longer told her of my offside nightly runs.

I left Jill in the dark so to speak. I care about her too much and I didn’t want her constantly being worried about me.

Jill, I hope you can forgive me for my actions, I just don’t want anything to happen again to my remaining friends and teammates like it did back at the Spencer Estate…especially you…

I could only pray that she made it out of Raccoon alive, I just couldn’t bring myself to thinking what I might do if I lost her…she’s the closest friend I’ve got next to Claire.

She had to have made out of Raccoon alive, she just had too…wherever Jill is now I hoped to God that she is safe.

Things couldn’t get much worse could they? Or so I thought.

Then another e-mail caught my eye.

“URGENT, CLAIRE’S ENDANGERED”.

Immediately I clicked on the e-mail and began to read through it. It had been sent from a friend of Claire’s named Leon Scott Kennedy.

The name sounded vaguely familiar, from what I could gather before I left Kennedy was supposed to be a new recruit for the Raccoon Police Department.

In Leon’s letter, he informed me that he and Claire had managed to escape Raccoon city after it had been overcome by the T-virus. They managed to both escape along with another survivor, a little girl named Sherry Birkin.

Sherry just so happened to be the daughter of two Umbrella scientists named Annette and William Birkin.

Leon also informed me that William had injected the G-virus into his body after being attacked by some of Umbrella’s henchmen who had supposedly come to collect the sample of the virus.

Strange, even Umbrella had moles they didn’t know about…

I read on to discover that apparently Claire had been looking for me back at Raccoon City shortly after I had disappeared for Europe without a trace. Part of myself couldn’t help but feel bad for having not contacted her for so long…if anything though I didn’t want to get her dragged into this whole mess with Umbrella.

What I read next had sent rage and fright burning throughout my veins.

Claire had attempted to raid a lab facility of Umbrella’s in Paris. Incredibly she was able to get inside but then all Hell broke loose and Claire had been captured. She was sent to a prison on Rockfort Island soon after being taken captive.

In the rest of Leon’s letter he stated that Claire had managed to escape from her cell and find a computer, that was how he was informed by Claire’s location and her current status.

Silently I clicked off my laptop and closed my eyes.

How Claire had managed to gain actual combat experience and survive a biological disaster was beyond me. If anything though the words Umbrella, Claire, and prison in the same sentence spelled trouble. I knew I had to take action, and fast.

I armed myself to the teeth and gathered whatever weapons and ammunition I had available and immediately set off for the coordinates Leon had received from Claire.

Days later I had finally arrived, only to discover Claire was nowhere in sight. The man I had helped informed me that Claire was able to escape from the island, and that he was the one who freed her from her cell.

He also told me that Claire had given him the lighter I had given to her as a gift. This he returned to me, and then he died leaving my mind in a tangled confusion.

If Claire wasn’t here and she had managed to escape…did that mean she was still alive? Or could she have gotten captured by troops along the way?

Shortly afterwards I shrugged my thoughts off and began my search of Rockfort Island in high hopes that I would find my sister alive.

After I faced an army of the undead, overgrown spiders the size of full- grown St. Bernards back at the Spencer Mansion, and now a giant Gulp worm, I’m sure I wouldn’t have been surprised at what else I would find on the island. Save for what happened later.

Wesker was alive and, for someone who had been impaled in the chest with massive spikes for claws, he was moving pretty damn well for a dead man.

Realization slowly seeped in as Wesker informed me as to why he had come to the island.

The minute I discovered what that conniving bastard did to my sister, right then and there I wasn’t about to let him get away with it again and I immediately went to attack him.

Wesker tackled me and I was sent reeling backwards into a wall as though a semi truck had just hit me. I then learned that supposedly this “Alexia” was now in the Antarctic with my sister. Wesker then proceeded to choke the life out of me as he charged over to me with lightning reflexes.

Not one to go down without a fight, I decked him hard in the face and knocked away his shades. Now I know why he always wore his sunglasses all the time, even indoors. It was then I knew I was face to face with a monster straight from the depths of Hell before me.

After an unexpected interruption from Alexia, Wesker ran off in an attempt to find her and then I continued my investigation of the island, surviving the many horrors that had crossed my path.

I finally ended up at where I was now…many miles over the Antarctic seas in a VTOL Jet.

Part of me can’t help but wonder where my little sister managed to become an expert with an M39R Handgun and suddenly became a expert at sneaking into high security military facilities.

I can still recall the first time Claire held a gun. I was sixteen at the time and Claire was ten.

My father had always left me with the job of handling and cleaning his guns if he went away on business. He never wanted his little girl to become involved with dangerous things like guns or knives so he left me in the charge of locking the room where he stored his prized weapons.

Claire being her tomboyish self, I should have known trouble would ensue.

One night I had forgotten to lock the room after I finished cleaning the guns so I decided I’d better go back and lock the door. Expecting to find everything in order, I instead found Claire playing around with my dad’s cherished Colt Python.

Fortunately for myself, both of our parents were out at the neighbors and the gun wasn’t loaded.

Immediately I took the gun from Claire and scolded her for playing around with such a dangerous weapon. Claire pouted and burst into tears saying she was only curious as to what Dad kept in the room.

I sighed as I apologized to Claire for being so cross and I told her if she promised not to sneak in here again I’d teach her a secret.

She immediately agreed with me so I then showed her how to correctly hold a gun if she were to actually use one, God forbid. Suffice it to say she’s a fast learner.

I soon found that on the nights I’d leave to go to the shooting range, that Claire wanted to tag along.

Who knew that from that one night I taught her how to hold a gun that years later she’d actually have to use that same skill?

That’s probably why I’m so protective of her as a big brother, I want to watch out for my little sister and make sure no harm comes to her.

I was the same way with Rebecca when I constantly watched her back at the mansion, I could never bear to see any harm come to my closest and dearest friends. Yet that’s probably one of my faults as well…

If anything I sure as hell hope that Claire is safe, it’d be worse to lose a sister instead of a comrade, especially when it’s your best friend.

A beeping noise drew my attention to the control console; I clicked it on and noticed that my destination was very close by. I tightened my grip on the piloting stick as I continued to fly the bird through the clouds.

Hang on Claire, I’m coming to save you, don’t go dying on me now. I promise that I will find you and together we will escape this nightmare and overcome it together.

Finish

Author’s Notes: I’m sure I couldn’t be the only one who wondered how Claire learned to fight so well in a battle, and part of myself always kinda thought that she learned her battle skills from her big brother Chris. But if anything I wouldn’t encourage anyone to go out and learn how to use a gun. If that’s the case join the army or whatever. Well I think you know where I’m trying to go here. ;; Anyways I hope you all enjoyed this story seeya round!