October 1998
Breathing heavy, Bryan ran as fast as he could. The moon lit up the night sky above Raccoon City as he headed for the evacuation zone. Dawn would be arriving in a matter of a few hours, and if he didn't catch the last ride out of the city, he was as good as dead. He drew his weapon from his holster on his leg, and checked the magazine. He had three rounds left in the magazine, plus one in the chamber. He slammed the magazine back into the gun, and continued to run.
The warehouse district on the outskirts of the city were being used as an evacuation zone for anyone who could reach them. He only had less than a mile to go, and he left himself becoming extremely tired. He hadn't had much sleep at all the past few nights, especially since the siege of the Raccoon Police station. He took off his tactical vest and let it hit the ground behind him. He didn't need the extra weight to slow him down. He was close to getting out, and he could taste it in his mouth.
He took a left at an upcoming alley, which would cut directly into the evacuation zone. He hoped, no, he prayed that he wasn't too late. He thought that he could hear the whirl of helicopter blades in the distance, but wasn't too sure if he was just imagining it. After running another sixty yards, the bird came into view. He felt a new wave of adrenaline come over him, as he pumped his arms harder. Nearing the copter, something shrieked behind him. He spun around and saw a green monster leaping through the air. He rolled to the left, and drew his weapon. He aimed at the creatures small beady eyes, and fired one shot. The heavy .45 round blew the beats head into a gory mess, causing it to fall and die. Now he heard the war cries of these beasts everywhere. He turned and saw sets of the eyes in the darkness. He ran as fast as he could, as the helicopter began to slowly rise off the ground.
The creatures that been killing the people of Raccoon city for the past few days were gaining on him. The helicopter was now a good twenty feet in the air. A man stood in the doorway, with a rifle in hand, aiming it down at the ground. Bryan began to wave his arms rapidly. The man disappeared from the door, and returned a second later, throwing down a large cable. Bryan ran and jumped for it, as a shriek so close behind him seemed to drown out the blades of the copter. He clenched the cable, but felt a surging pain through his back, and warm blood trickling down. The cable was pulled back to the helicopter, and he was helped in the cabin by the man at the door. He hit the floor, and felt his eyes begin to shut and the world around him go to black.
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May 14th 2009
Bryan sat in a small room, smashing out a cigarette as he waited. He was growing impatient after waiting for half an hour already. He had been summoned here, on the notion that this was an urgent affair. "Not so urgent" he thought to himself, lighting another cigarette. He took a few hits, and then a woman in a business skirt and jacket approached him. He eyed her up and down and decided that she was a looker. He smiled at her, and she looked down at a paper in her hands.
"Mr. Bryan Winters?" she asked.
"That's me." he said gruffly.
"Follow me please. He's waiting for you in his office."
He followed the woman down the hallway, and to a large double door, made of some really fine wood. She opened the door for him, and motioned him inside. He stepped inside of a massive office, filled with expensive furniture, and paintings. He stepped toward the desk where a man in a suit was waiting. He had a thick file in front of him, with the word "Classified" stamped across it in bold red letters.
"Please, have a seat." the man said, his face mostly hidden by the shadows.
Bryan sat down in a nice, and very comfortable leather chair in front of the desk. He reached into his coat pocket and grabbed a piece of gum, unwrapped it and popped it in his mouth.
"I'm sorry to bring this up on you so fast, but you have a very interesting history. Someone of your caliber, with the background and training you have would be invaluable to us." the man said, with an eerie tone in his voice.
"What are you getting at?" Bryan snapped.
"Patience." he said, with a barely visible grin as he opened up the folder on his desk. "Master Sergeant Bryan Winters, US Navy Seal Team 6, Honorable discharge, November 19, 1997. In March 1998, hired into the Raccoon City Police SRT Team."
The man continued to flip through the pages of information and various photographs of Bryan. Bryan felt his blood begin to boil, and he began to imagine just snapping this guys neck and walking out of the office like business as usual. He clenched his fist, and began to breathe a little faster.
"Now this here is very interesting." the man said, with a bit of excitement in his voice. "You are one of the very few survivors of the Raccoon City incident. I can only imagine that you went through hell while you were inside there. And this psych report here shows that you still have the nightmares of those last few moments before you were extracted. So tell me.." he began but was cut off.
"Fuck you. What do you want with me?" Bryan asked.
The man sighed, as he leaned forward revealing his face from the shadows. He was a smaller man, only could have been about 5'7 or so, and weighing about 150 pounds soaking wet. He had slick back black hair, and very expensive looking suit.
"There's a potential that another biohazard incident may occur. There is a small island off the coast of the United Kingdom, with a large city as its capitol, Echo Bay. After the Umbrella corporation went under, their bio weapons have been going like hookers on the black market. A radical group has infiltrated Echo Bay, and is threatening to release a bio weapon unless we give them the ransom they requested. If they do release it, that's another 150,000 people you can wipe off the earth."
Bryan paused.
"Why there? And why do you need me?"
"Because you have the training and experience to deal with these situations."
"Buy what's so special about Echo Bay?" Bryan asked.
"The Tricell company had just send a large sum of funds to the area, and are helping to build a new pharmaceutical research facility in the area. These extremists claim that Tricell is actually carrying the torch of the Umbrella company. They have a few of the company's staff held as hostages. We can't let them get squeezed. All we need is for you to take a team in to Echo Bay, eliminate the terrorist threat, rescue the hostages, and make damn sure that the biohazard isn't released."
Bryan exhaled deeply, and sat back in the chair.
"And what's in it for me?" he asked.
"It's a chance to face your fears. That, and a shitload of money."
"Alright. I'm in."
"Excellent! You'll leave at once. There's a small compound on the island about forty miles away from the city. You'll land there in about twelve hours. Once there, you'll join the team and begin the mission. Good luck. Ms. Veronica will see you out then."
Bryan stood up and walked to the door. The woman who brought him in waved her hand, and he followed her out of the building to a small airfield and told him to board a plane. Bryan climbed in, sat in a seat, and thought he should get some sleep.
After a very dull ride, the plane finally set down. After the landing, Bryan stood up and stretched out his cramped legs. He got off the plane to see a few men waiting for him. He walked toward them, and was acknowledged by one of them, a very tall, and very muscular African American.
"Bryan, right?" he asked.
"Yeah, that's me."
"Welcome to the shit." he said. "I'm Bruce King."
Bryan shook his hand as he walked toward the other two men. The first was another man about Bryan's height, with a short Mohawk shaped out of his black hair. He was of average build, but still had that appearance that said he could hold his own.
"Chris Lake." he said, as he shook Bryan's hand. "Nice to have you along."
The other solider stepped up, and introduced himself.
"Captain Steven Hill." he said. "I'll be advising this mission from the base here. Now lets get you inside and get the team briefed."
Inside one of the buildings, a large screen was set up, and two other men and two women were standing around. They all shot looks as Bryan walked in. The two men were also dressed in military style fatigues, and so was one of the women.
"That one there with the blonde hair is Richard Kelly, and the shorter one is Dan Porter." Chris said, as he pointed to them respectively.
"And the women?" Bryan asked.
"The one going in with us is the medic, Amber Vasquez, and the other is staying behind as an advisor, Jamie Wheeler."
Everyone surrounded the screen as Captain Hill moved toward it. He grabbed a remote and pressed a button causing images to appear.
"Alright, we all know that about twenty hours ago, a group of terrorists attacked the Tricell building in Echo Bay. They have taken six of their people hostage, and have killed about fifteen so far, from security to staff workers. They say they have bio weapons that they will release within another 48 hours if the ransom isn't met. We have about 24 hours left before their deadline, but we will have them taken out by then. We will take you to the building via helicopter and have you fast rope in, take the building by storm, and put an end to this rather quickly. They have holed up on the 25th floor, which is where the executive offices are at. That's three floors below the roof. Intel reports that there are armed members scattered around floors. Exact positions are unknown, but that shouldn't be a significant factor."
"Excuse me, but what's the ransom?" Bryan asked.
"That's classified information, Sergeant." Captain Hill replied.
"Look, this obviously isn't the military, so I want to know what they are after. Why take this new facility in the middle of some island, take hostages and threaten to release a bio weapon? That just doesn't add up." Bryan replied.
"The ransom isn't what you would expect." Hill sighed. "They want the financial records of Tricell."
"Why would they want those?" Chris asked.
"Who knows?" Captain Hill replied. "We'll be dusting off in an hour, so I suggest you get your gear and something to eat real quick. Once you touch down, and secure the packages, you'll move to the extraction point on the roof. A real quick in and out. Dismissed."
Bryan got up and walked over to Chris, and King. King looked around before saying anything, and sighed softly.
"Something stinks here." he said quietly.
"No shit." Bryan replied.
"Let's get ready." Chris interrupted.
Bryan followed them to the mess hall where they ate a quick meal, and then to the armory where they would get their gear. Bryan changed into the urban fatigues the rest of the team was wearing, and put on a light Kevlar vest, kneepads, and tactical vest. Once geared up, they all walked to the armory.
Various weapons cover tables and walls of the entire room. Assault rifles, submachine guns, and pistols all were organized with ammunition to cater to anyone's needs. Bryan walked over the table of pistols, and grabbed a Springfield XD .40 and tucked it into his leg holster. He also grabbed a black Colt .45 1911A1 and tucked that into his shoulder holster. He took three magazines for each and loaded them into his pistol magazine pouches. Over to the assault rifles, he opted for the M4A1 with an M203 40mm grenade launcher underneath. The rifle also had a reflex sight for quicker target acquisition. He loaded the weapon, and then took five magazines for the weapon, and three of the 40mm grenades. The rest of the soldiers grabbed various weapons and loaded them up.
"Let's get going." King said loading up a Mossberg 590 shotgun. "The chopper is ready to dust off."
Bryan and King jogged to the helipad where the others were waiting in an old military UH-60 Black Hawk. Once inside, Chris waved his arm and the chopper was lifted upwards. Bryan looked out the side to see the ground and buildings shrink beneath him. The loud noise of the propeller drowned out most of the voices inside. Porter then handed out small headsets to everyone on the ground team.
"Make sure they are working. We'll be able to hear each other now. These will also keep us in contact with Captain Hill and Wheeler back at HQ. They are also tied into Davis, the pilot."
The standard checks echoed throughout everyone's ears in the helicopter. Bryan did a final inspection on all his gear, and checked his weapons again. He opted for hollow points for all his weapons, since they would leave bigger holes in the bad guys. He made sure his magazines were all in place, and that he had his knife with him.
"ETA six minutes!" Davis barked over the radio.
"Let's get this over with." Kelly said quietly. "Then we can call it a day."
"It seems that Tricell has been getting a lot of heat after that incident in Africa a month ago. I'm starting to wonder just what the hell is going on with them." King said.
"Well, they do help sign our paychecks, don't they?" Porter replied.
"Yeah, they do help fund our organization, but still…something doesn't seem right. We never did get to see that report filed after the African mission. Why didn't the brass release the report? Something's up with that." King shot back.
"Don't worry about it. Just focus on the mission." Kelly interjected.
"ETA one minute!" Davis yelled again. "Get the ropes ready. Nearing the target building now!"
King and Chris both grabbed the ropes on both sides of the chopper. Bryan began to feel a strange tension inside him and he got a close look at the medic, Amber. She grinned at him, and revealed to him with that look that she hasn't been in the field before.