Disclaimer: RE Survivor and it's characters belong to Capcom. This is just my fan-fueled retelling of the game!
Chapter 1: September 26th
It was a warm day in Chicago and all the windows in the beat-up office space were opened; allowing a cool breeze to blow through. Ark was sitting at his small desk with an iced tea in hand. He was reviewing a new case and trying to decide if he wanted to go through with it. "Another cheating husband, huh? Are there any better cases for me to do?" he questioned himself. Of course, at this point in time, he had been working for nearly a year for William's P.I. Firm.
An older man's voices shouted out to him, "Yo, Ark!" Turning his head up to the source of the voice, Ark's gaze landed on an older African-American male. Dan was the owner of the firm and was retiring; thirty-five years as a private investigator really added up on that man. Although he was in his early fifties, Dan had opened his PI firm when he was barely in his twenties. Taking Ark on as an employee was not a big deal for him. If anything, Dan was excited when younger people took in interest in 'rugged' jobs.
"What's up, Dan?" Ark questioned him from across the room.
"Your buddy Leon is on the line. Told him I'd get ya." After walking over to Dan's desk, Ark takes the phone from the older man. Dan whispers to him in a low voice, "If I were you, I would take the rest of the day off and help that buddy of yours. Poor kid."
"What happened?" Ark whispered.
"That prissy girlfriend of his decided to split."
Ark nodded his head at Dan and focused his attention onto his buddy. Ark spoke into the phone, "Thompson here."
"Ark! Bro,Vanessa left me! I have no idea what the Hell I did wrong-"
"Whoa there, Leon! Calm your ass down and meet me at the bar. We can talk over some brews."
"Alright," Leon replied. "I'll be there in five."
After hanging up the call, Ark walked over to his new boss. Arty was Dan's son, and the proud new owner of the firm. "Hey, Arty? Would it be alright if I end my shift early today?"
"That's no problem to me, Ark. I have a feeling that today is going to be mighty slow. Pop filled me in on the details; give Leon my best."
"Alright, thank you, Arty. I'll see you in the morning."
After grabbing his sweater and belongings from his desk, Ark headed to his good old 1992, blue Geo Metro convertible. As he threw his things in the trunk of his car, he checked his watch for the time. Seeing that the bar was ten minutes away, Ark would have to get going to make sure he didn't make Leon wait too long.
As he pulled into the parking lot of the Texas Toast Bar, Ark spotted Leon standing glumly at the front of the bar. Leon was the same age as him; both twenty-one years old. They had gone to middle school, high school, and college together; both studying criminology at the latter. While Ark decided to work as a private investigator for the time being, Leon decided to work as a cop.
"Hey, Ark. About time you got here," Leon jested. Leon was dressed in casual apparel; t-shirt, jeans, and sneakers. Ark patted his buddy's shoulder and gave him a bro hug. "At least I got here, right? Anyway, let's go grab some brews before we start talking.
"Sounds like a good idea," Leon replied.
While Ark always enjoyed to meet up with his best friend, he couldn't believe how distraught Leon looked. He appeared to have been crying and, from what the bags under his eyes said, been staying up late. Ark felt pity for Leon; Vanessa had been Leon's girlfriend since eighth grade. Not that he ever liked her to begin with. Vanessa had always been a snooty crybaby, and had been trying to get Leon to move with her to California. Choosing to honor his father's memory, Leon had decided to stay and become a cop.
That's what Ark assumed caused the breakup. There was no way that Vanessa wanted to move to the suburbs of Raccoon City. Somehow, she managed to lead Leon into thinking that she was moving with him; even Ark was under that impression. Yet, two days before Leon has to move, she had decided to dump him. Wanting to get his buddy to take a break from his funk, Ark had bought plenty of rounds of beer to get them wasted.
The plan worked so well, that Leon had gotten so plastered and caused him to sleep through the next day. Ark, too, had suffered an extreme hangover and missed the next day of work. On the morning of September twenty-eight, Ark walked through the office doors and expected to be berated on his absence.
With coffee and aspirin in his system, a groggy Ark made his way through the smokey office. It took all he had to not hurl as walked in, but that's what he got for drinking so much. When he finally sat down at his desk, he took a large swig of coffee and gained his composure. When he finally looked up, Ark was surprised to see his co-workers staring at him in silence. The act itself was eerie and worrying.
"Hey, guys. Sorry I skipped out on work yesterday. Leon and I kind of overdid the drinking, but, boy, am I'm paying for it now though." However, his co-workers could only offer him a look of pity as Dan walked towards Ark. "What's wrong?" Ark asked.
"Well, there's no way of breaking the news, son. Raccoon City is in the fucking gutters, and I want to tell you before you see it on T.V." The old timer went and sat across from Ark at the younger man's desk. "There's been some fucked up news being leaked all the way from Raccoon City. Remember how a few months back, they had cannibalistic murders going on in the Arklay Mountains? Well, it seems that there was more going on than that. The city is in a state of panic; people are walking around eating each other and shit. The police and town folk are being attacked."
"Attacked? People eating each other? What the fuck is going on?" Ark thought to himself.
"Seems like the Raccoon City News is leaking live footage, and it ain't pretty. The city's been barricaded to Hell, and almost no one is getting out." Dan took Ark's silence as a cue to turn on the overhead T.V. As the T.V. is turned on, Ark turns his attention to the screen. Images of people running from the walking dead is displayed on screen; police and special forces are seen going down at a rapid pace. All Ark could think about was Leon.
Fighting for courage to speak, Ark is reduced to stutters and unrecognizable words. "I... Wh...?"
As if reading his mind, his boss tries to appeal to him. "We can only hope that Leon had seen the broadcast and decided to skip out."
Ark shakes his in opposition. "Knowing Leon, even if he did see the broadcast, he would just haul ass even faster to get there. I can only hope that he makes it out alright."
Author's Note:I hope you all enjoyed the re-written preface to this story! I know that a lot of people hated RE:Survivor for how sloppy it was, but I loved it! I loved that sloppy mess, because it leaves so much of the story up to the gamer. So, I want to re-imagine the game and make the story into something enjoyable for others! I've filled in missing pieces of information as best as I could. Such as Chicago, IL being were Leon and Ark are from (Leon was driving distance away from Raccoon, and had to had come from a larger city.) In other RE media, it is stated that Umbrella had a branch in Chicago (in the mid-west where Raccoon City was located.) I finally have a clear vision for the original bits that I'm adding to the game storyline! Hope you like it!