A random zombie staggered down the stairs, its remaining instincts telling it that it wanted food and there was some downstairs. Slowly, it proceeded halfway down, driven by the hunger. It could see its target stopping at the low end of the stairs. It took another step down, but that was as far as the undead human got. Three shots from a 9 millimeter handgun ripped through its head, and the prey simply stepped to the side and continued upwards as it slumped down the stairs.

William Birkin didn't waste another thought for the undead creature that had once been a human being. Beretta in hand, he wiped sweat from his forehead and searched through his lab coat pocket with his right hand.

He stopped as he got to the main hall of the old mansion that was better known as the Umbrella Research Center, an abandoned training center for the company's future employees. He grinned, glancing around. It had been decades since he'd last been here. Nothing had changed, save for thick dust that covered the carpets.

He removed a cell phone from his pocket, fingers already punching in a number. His bright eyes checked the number on the small screen of the phone while listening to the automated feminine voice talking over the still-functioning speakers.

"Warning. The self-destruct system has been activated. All personnel must evacuate immediately. Repeat, the self-destruct system has been activated..."

Birkin glanced at his watch and grinned more widely. He had about five minutes. He continued across the hall at a fast pace. He raised the cell phone to his ear as he walked, sky-blue eyes scanning the rooms for more zombies. The phone beeped a couple of times; he pocketed the gun for a moment to open a hidden back door and descended the stairs. The corridor was a shortcut to Marcus' lab that he had learned to use over twenty years ago, back when he had worked here assisting Dr. James Marcus, along with his best friend - and lover - Albert Wesker.

"Come on, answer, Albert..." He mumbled to himself while continuing through the underground corridor. There were no zombies here; however, he had been forced to kill a few T-virus infected monkeys from the lab on his way through. The existence of those things annoyed him slightly, as they were purely Marcus' creations. He glanced at his phone and silently cursed as the screen showed a 'no signal' sign on it.

He took a couple of running steps to get to the other end of the corridor and opened the door. There were a few leeches on the ground, and a dead zombie further away. Birkin ignored them; he wasn't the one who had killed the zombie. He guessed that either the S.T.A.R.S. girl or the man whom he and Wesker had seen on the cameras had killed it. It didn't matter. The T-infested body was about to get blown to kingdom come with the mansion and whatever else remained of James Marcus' lab.

James Marcus. Birkin scowled a little, then grinned with slight insanity. The man was supposed to be dead. He shook his head as he passed through the corridors and the rooms of the lab. It didn't matter now. The young man he and Wesker had seen on the monitors... If Marcus wasn't dead, he would be soon. Birkin guessed he was probably busy entertaining the female S.T.A.R.S. member and that unknown young man right now.

He got to the room with the cable car and stepped in, hitting the controls to send the car on its way to the factory on the outskirts of Raccoon City. His pulse was higher than normal and he felt hot, strangely excited. The episode with James Marcus in his life was about to be over soon.

The rest of the facility's systems slowly reacted to the activation of the self-destruct sequence. Birkin heard the monotone voice begin warning the nonexistent personnel of the laboratory as the cable car started moving, taking him away from the doomed mansion. He still had a little over two minutes left.

He tried the phone again and managed to get the call through. He grinned widely, feeling his heart beating fast as the cable car took him away from the laboratory.

There was a beep on the cell phone; a familiar voice then came on. "This is Albert Wesker. I'm not home; leave a message."

"Not home..." Birkin mumbled, then punched in another combination of numbers, checking his gun with his free hand. He paced back and forth in the car, annoyed. For a moment, the light on the panel of his phone showed that the call was going through, then the screen switched to the 'no signal' display again.

"Damn it," he cursed, glaring angrily at the phone. "I want you to know about this..."

The car moved fast and without incident, even though it hadn't been used or maintained for the last two decades. Birkin kept glancing at his watch and his phone, feeling anxious. The fact that the area where he had been would go up in flames in about a minute didn't bother him nearly as much as the fact that his phone kept displaying the annoying no signal icon.

A minute passed. Birkin kept pacing around, staring at the cell phone. His ears picked up the distant sound of an explosion; he guessed the first wave of the self-destruct system had gone off back at the mansion.

The cable car started slowing down and then came to a stop. Birkin didn't waste time exiting the car; his eyes scanned the area he entered quickly, and as he found it free of the undead he continued to the stairs, checking his phone again. He grinned when he noticed that it was working again, and pressed the redial button.

He didn't get a chance to see if the call went through; he barely had a second to react to the chittering sound that was followed by an ominous shriek. He spun around. A muscular, dark-green-skinned creature leaped at him abruptly and pinned him to the floor with its strong arms. Birkin didn't scream; he only gritted his teeth to keep himself from crying out as his back hit the hard metal floor. The cell phone dropped from his hand, sliding a few feet away from him.

The heavy creature raised one clawed arm; it then stopped and let out a series of curious clicking sounds. The grin returned to Birkin's face. He stared back at the hunter without fear. He knew he wouldn't have had time to shoot. Even if he had managed to raise his gun towards the creature, he knew that a 9mm Beretta would have barely wounded the lizard-like creature's thick skin. Staying still was practically playing with death. If the hunter decided to kill him, one swipe from the deadly claw would have been enough.

However, the hunter wasn't going for a kill anymore. Birkin grinned widely, admiring the creature. His eyes studied it; he considered it to be magnificent and beautiful. He sat up, leaning to reach for the phone as the hunter jumped off, stopping to stare at him from several feet away.

It wasn't going to kill him. Of course it wouldn't kill him; Birkin laughed as he stumbled to his feet. He and Albert had created these hunters, and out of scientific curiosity they had tested if they could be programmed to recognize their creators. He had never truly confirmed it, but he knew now that the programming was still there and that the experiment had been a success. The hunter turned, its sharp nails clicking against the metallic floor as it walked to the open door at the other end of the walkway. From there it turned to look back, its curiosity visible.

"William! Goddammit..."

Birkin returned the phone to his ear, smirking at the hunter before he ran to the top of stairs and opened the door. He slammed it shut behind him, stopping to catch his breath. He was safe.

"Yes?" He replied to the voice on the phone. "Albert."

"I've told you not to call me at work," Wesker's voice hissed, annoyed. "Thank gods no one's here at the moment. What the hell was that just a moment ago?"

"A hunter surprised me. Magnificent, those beasts..."

"Did you kill it? I didn't hear gunshots. What the fuck are you up to?"

"No," Birkin stated as he started walking towards the front of the building. Behind him he could hear a series of explosions, the sound coming closer each time. "Remember when we tried that little thing that would keep them from killing us? Guess what, it worked. Cute creature. It just stared at me in a silly way. Reminds me of you in bed sometimes..."

Wesker sighed, still sounding annoyed. "Weren't you supposed to call later? Where the hell are you anyway? And for god's sake, don't ever call my work phone again!"

Birkin grinned to himself, continuing to the front of the warehouse. The turntable was up as he had used it earlier. He walked outside, stopping to stare at the blue sky. The sun was up now. It had been dark when he'd left.

"Didn't I say I would blow up the mansion? I was right, the self-destruct system was there and it still works. I set it off not too long ago. URC's going to be just a memory now, same with Marcus' lab. To make sure we get rid of him, I'm also blowing up most of the old factory here. I can hear the explosions... It's beautiful here, Albert. We already killed Marcus once. All things be damned if I can't kill him again."

"I'm sure, because I can hear the explosions too through the damned phone. You're insane, William. I knew you were going to do it, but I was a little concerned about the creatures there..."

"I'm fine, Albert. Think I can't handle a couple of zombies? Anyway, Marcus is dead now, Albert. Finally dead."

"Good to know. Bravo Team's officially missing now, by the way. I have to go; Alpha Team's having a meeting in ten minutes. I'm going to proceed with my plan tonight, William. Go back to the lab... Chris and Barry are here now. I'll call you later, all right?"

The phone went silent. Birkin smiled as he slipped it back into his pocket. He dropped to his knees as the explosions shook the building. Part of the ceiling at the other end of the warehouse fell down and the door he had entered through was thrown across the room, smashing against the opposite wall. Flames filled the doorway for a moment, then the main explosion faded. A series of smaller ones then followed; although the building continued to shake, Birkin was able to get back on his feet. He glanced at the back of the building, making a mental note to order someone to block the entrance now that it wasn't needed anymore.

A gust of wind blew through the open area, catching his short hair and the hem of his open lab coat. He let his sky-blue eyes rake over the remains of the factory, following the roofs of random buildings that continued all the way into Raccoon City. He let the Beretta fall from his hand and laughed insanely as the last explosions shook the building.

Author's notes:

Random idea. Uh, nothing much. Just a short fic about the fact that it was indeed Birkin who blew up the damn mansion in the end of Resident Evil Zero. Yeah. Cute crazy lil William.

- Lady Harken (January, 2004)