Author's Note: Random hit of inspiration clobbered me in the head last night. As a result, here's another work of writing from Reagan. No idea how long I'll be writing this. Most likely until the swelling goes down from last night. This is going to be Movie-verse, simply because I suck at video games. Heh. Seriously. Reviews are amazing, so feed the addiction.
Disclaimer: I own zilch. Sue me if it will make you happy, but all you'll be getting is my pocket lint and possible chance of a bit of spare change. Honestly, do I look like a money tree?
Chapter One
Kit Steward looked out the school bus window and watched as the many tall buildings of downtown Raccoon City flew by. Her light green eyes stared back at her under a curtain of black hair in the reflection of the window. She looked up and blew the short strand of hair out of her eye and straightened her purple hooded sweatshirt. Laughter flew through the air towards Kit from the back of the bus but she ignored them.
Most of the other high school-ers that lived in her area of Raccoon City had been already been dropped off at their apartment buildings and only a few remained along with Kit. They sat in the very back, laughing and yelling while she sat just behind the bus driver, nose stuck inside the cover of the fantasy book Valiant.
Fantasy books were Kit's favorites. She loved to get lost within the pages, imagining herself actually in the worlds described by the authors. It was her way to escape reality. When she read there was no college applications to fill, no work forms to complete, no more high school drama. There was only Kit and her world full of the unreal. It drove her mother crazy. Who wanted a daughter in her senior year of high school that was still in love with Peter Pan?
It was one of the few things Kit disagreed on with her mother.
A few girls called their goodbyes to the remaining boys left at the end of the bus as they got off at their stop, but no one said goodbye to Kit. They never did, but Kit didn't mind anymore. She didn't want or need friends and even if she did it wouldn't be possible.
When Kit was twelve, her mother became an employee of the Umbrella Corporation. It was a huge company that was one of the largest in the world. Not only just producing little kids toys either. Emmy got a job there as a scientist, helping to try and find cures to terminal diseases. The only hitch to the amazing job offer was the move. Emmy's office and new apartment both happened to be underground.
Both Emmy and Kit signed secrecy forms which in a way signed Kit's life away as well. Living underground in a top secret facility called the Hive made it hard to have sleepovers and all night parties
As a result, Kit didn't have many friends. In fact, she didn't have any. It was just her and Emmy, her single mother. Kit didn't have any idea where her father was and didn't honestly care that much. He wasn't there and nothing else mattered. She and her mom did fine on their own.
Kit picked up her navy blue back pack as the bus came to its last stop in front of an apartment building with the Umbrella logo on the doors.
"Bye Kis!" an older boy, Jayn Kaller, called out to her with a laugh. Kit looked back at him and held up a single finger, which caused the other boys to start laughing, before walking down the center isle to the front of the bus. Having initials that people could manipulate was somewhat annoying at times.
She waved goodbye to Sheila, the bus driver, and walked into the building. On the outside it was considered the apartment building to all Umbrella Employees but it really only had an elevator that led to the Hive. It was the only entrance into the Hive except for the emergency exit that Kit had only heard about.
She walked past the empty reception desk to the far end of the lobby where the elevators waited. After pushing the call button Kit waited patiently for a few seconds before pushing the button again. It took her a minute before she noticed the light was out and let out an aggravated sigh. The elevator was down. Walking down a million flights of stairs wasn't what Kit had been planning to do on her Friday night.
The Hive was almost a mile underground which equaled out to a couple hundred steps before you got to the end. Kit gave a groan and pushed open the door to the stairs. She looked over the side of the railing and saw the steps went down for a very long time. The stairwell echoed around her as she skipped down the stairs quickly.
Almost ten minutes later Kit reached the bottom of the stairs a bit out of breath. She pushed open the door and expected to have to apologize to someone for knocking into them with it but stopped short. There was no one to run into.
The halls were empty.
This was unusual, seeing as not only did people work in the Hive but lived there as well. Finding an empty hall at any time of day or night was somewhat of a rare occurrence. With so many people staying in the Hive 24/7 there was almost always someone up and about, despite the hour of the day.
But as Kit looked both ways down the hallway, she saw no one. In fact, the entire floor seemed quiet. There were no ringing phones or printer noises. No yells from an angry boss or laughter from co-workers. Only silence. It was eerie and Kit felt shivers running up her spine but shook them off.
"Staff meeting," she reasoned softly, though her voice carried to the end of the hall.
Why there was a staff meeting her mother hadn't informed her about or the odd fact that everyone seemed to be in the meeting, Kit didn't know. What other reason was there? There was no logical reason for all five hundred or so Umbrella employees to simply disappear. It isn't like they all died or something. That wasn't possible. That sort of thing only happened in horror movies. Kit just must have missed the memo for the corporation staff meeting that was all. Nothing more or less.
She took a deep breath and took a small step away from the door. "Don't be a scared-y cat," Kit told herself as she took another step forward, "Sweeney Todd is not going to pop out from around the corner and scalp your head. Just keep walking."
Kit knew that if anyone could hear her they would laugh at her mumblings. She probably sounded absurd and any moment now someone would round the corner and scream 'GOTCHA!' and then fall over laughing at her frightened face. The best practical joke any had played on an unsuspecting seventeen year old.
But when Kit looked down the empty hall, every horror movie she'd ever seen came flooding back. A mixture of them all turned into a very, very, very scary image that Kit would rather not be a part of.
"Too many horror movies, Kits," she mumbled to herself, finally moving away from the stairwell entrance. "Why couldn't I be a normal girl and watch The Notebook for once in my life instead of Nightmare on Elm Street?"
A scream tore from her throat as a crash sounded behind her. Kit whipped around and came face to face with Jeremy, one of her mother's assistants. She let out a laugh and clutched her hand over her heart when she recognized the tall, blond man. "Dear lord, Jer!" Kit cried, still laughing nervously, "Don't do that! You scared the shit out of me!"
The older man said nothing and shuffled closer to Kit and let out a groan. It was then that she noticed his ankle, which looked dislocated and bloody beneath the hem of his white pants. She gave a gasp and stumbled back a few feet from him in surprise.
"What the hell happened?" she asked in a slightly high pitched voice.
Jeremy gave no reply and continued shuffling towards her, his foot dragging along on the floor. Kit looked around the halls again for any signs of other employees but saw none. Taking a deep breath, she inched over to Jeremy and reached out her hands, ready to help him. That was the only movement he needed to clamp down on Kit's hand fiercely.
She let out a loud yell filled with pain and slapped the man across the face with her free hand. Jeremy's head snapped around and he turned back to her with his now bloody teeth bared.
"What the hell is wrong with you?" Kit clutched her bitten and bleeding hand to her chest and looked up at her mom's friend in shock. He rolled his shoulders and kinked his neck before stumbling towards Kit with his arms outstretched.
"Get the hell away!" she yelled, slapping away his attempts to grab her and turned to run down the hall.
Jeremy let a growl and reached for her just as Kit ran out of reach and turned down the corner. She didn't stop to turn around until his growls faded from her hearing. Kit stopped and leaned against the wall, panting. She looked down at the bite mark on her hand and winced.
It was bleeding freely and would definitely leave a mark.
"God damn psycho," she muttered angrily. Kit looked around her warily, watching for any signs of Jeremy in all of his insane greatness.
As she looked through one of the office windows something caught her eye and Kit crawled forward in horror. The leg of an woman in a suit came into view along with the rest of her body, slightly hidden behind the desk she had fallen in front of. Kit stood up slowly and walked up to the glass door that led into the offices.
"Oh my god."
Bodies covered the floor of the office room. They were positions that showed that many had been trying to escape at their time of death. Though, there was no blood around them and nothing seemed to be disturbed to constitute a break in. Everything was exactly like it should be on a normal work day. Except for the dead bodies dropped on the floor.
Kit took a step back and covered her mouth with her hand. She didn't notice that her entire body was shaking until Kit went to walk away and fell to the ground in a heap. The situation suddenly seemed to hit her full force. The building was empty of all life except for her.
Everyone else was dead.