1-A Resident Evil Tale-
by: fallguy
Authors Note- Resident Evil does not, in any way, belong to me, whatsoever. If it did, I wouldn't be writing this, I would be rolling around in piles and piles of nice green cash. But it doesn't belong to me, so I'm not. It's Capcom and Shinji Mikami's glorious masterpiece. I will however use this little world they created to torture some characters of my own.
Dead.
Everyone, everywhere was either dead or dying.
Ethan Wood peered out the second story window of the high school and saw more of those things. Those dead things. They were wandering aimlessly around the courtyard, knocking over trash cans, some tripping and falling over the contents that spilled out onto the ground. He had barely made it into the school, dodging those things at every turn. He wasn't alone though. He was grateful for that. He wasn't sure how long he could survive in this nightmare alone.
"They still out there?" A dumb question asked by a dumb jock.
"What the hell do you think?" Ethan said, still watching them in the dim moonlight. Two walked into each other and collapsed to the ground, and slowly started to get back up. They could hear gunshots and small explosions somewhere in the distance, towards the hospital. The cops were still at it, or maybe it was those other guys. The ones that came in on the helicopters, armed heavily.
It didn't matter. He turned around and sat back against the wall under the window. Whoever they were they were no good to them. They were too far away. Ethan glanced up at Buck, (the dumb jock), and saw that he was just as terrified as himself. "I don't think the cops are going to be coming here."
Kaitlin, who sat against the far wall to the left of Ethan and the right of Buck, glanced at him. "Then we're going to die?"
Ethan didn't say anything. He didn't know what was going to happen. He had seen those things "eat" a cop outside of his home. Listened as they tore pieces out of him, and he screamed for someone to help him, or had it been to kill him and end it? He didn't know, he didn't want to know. He just wanted out.
"Do you think we can make it out of town?" Buck asked, with a dumb, puzzled look across his large face.
"How? By walking? Doubtful. We might be able to outrun those things," Ethan threw his arm up and pointed with his thumb to the window, "but what about those dogs? I'm fast, and you being a football player might be fast as well, but we cant outrun a dog."
"My truck."
"What?"
"We got here in my truck. Its down in the courtyard. We figured this would be the safest place, seeing as how it was so close, so we came here. It's a good mile to the edge of town, and there was debris everywhere just taking 2 left turns. What if it's all over town?" Buck looked directly at Ethan, and than at Kaitlin who was looking at the floor.
None of them had ever been in the same place together at the same time. Kaitlin was the loner goth chick, always in black, always in a corner reading some book. Buck was always with the team, picking on lower class men and chanting pre game rituals. Hell, it was him that shoved Ethan into the trash can full of fresh vomit his freshman year. He was, most would agree, a nerd. Complete with glasses and a 4.0 GPA.
Buck did have a point though. The truck could get them out, maybe. If there wasn't debris everywhere, (which he was sure there was), and they could easily just ram into those things as they went. Of course Buck was also right about the distance to the exit, a good mile, maybe a little more. They were right in the middle of town, after all, no more than a block or 2 away from the clock tower.
"Do you think we can make it," Ethan asked.
"I dunno for sure, but its better than just staying here. Like you said, the cops ain't gonna be coming here. They probably don't even know we're here."
"Then lets do it." He stood up and looked out the window again. He saw the truck clearly this time, almost directly underneath the window, both the front doors still wide open, and it was running.
Buck got to his feet and Kaitlin did the same. Ethan looked at both as he picked up a paper cutter blade that he assumed someone had used as a weapon. Buck nodded and picked up an old broom, not that great, but better than nothing. "I think some of them might be downstairs, so be ready. You," Ethan said, pointing at Kaitlin, "I think you should stay between us."
"My name is Kaitlin."
"Fine, just stay between us," Ethan looked up at Buck. "They look slow, but they tend to kinda jump out at the last second. So I think its best that we keep as much distance from any of them that we can."
Buck nodded.
Ethan looked at the 2 once more and nodded. He took the lead, Kaitlin behind him, and Buck took up the rear. Slowly they made their way to the stairwell, and sure enough, at least one of those things was down there. He could hear it shuffling around, and the moans, the God awful moans it made echoed up and down the halls.
He took the steps one at a time and reached his hand back. Kaitlin took his, knowing what he was doing, and sent her other hand back to Buck, who needed a snap to tell him to take it. Ethan wanted to make sure the three stayed together, not get separated.
They reached the first floor without it noticing them. But it had stopped moving. It was just standing there now, staring at the wall across from the double doors they needed to get to. Ethan was shaking, so was Kaitlin, and he was sure Buck was as well. Slowly they made their way toward it, Ethan's hand tightening its grip on his weapon and Kaitlin's hand. She did the same. He could hear Buck breathing deeply, almost like he was hyperventilating, and he hoped that the jock could make it.
The dead man was only feet away now, but it still hadn't noticed them. It was slightly swaying from side to side, and moaning lowly. Ethan was careful. He let go of Kaitlin's hand and held it up open, telling the others to stop. He took another 2 steps forward, then 3, then 5. He was right behind it now, still unnoticed by it. He reached out with his left hand. It moaned. He grasped the door handle and started to turn it. It didn't turn. He cussed silently. The other one. He took another step forward and reached for the other handle. It turned. The thing moaned. The door swung open outward and Ethan turned back to the others. It turned toward him.
It didn't lunge at him, it just sort of fell on him. He threw his free arm up to catch the thing, and he did right in it's neck. It reached out with its arms, scratching at Ethan's back and face. It moaned, louder this time. It knew it had a meal, and it knew it had to fight for it. Ethan pushed back frantically, and he heard Kaitlin scream. He shoved the thing against the wall with all the strength he had and looked to the left at the others. She wasn't screaming for him, she was screaming for Buck.
Two more of the dead men, (one actually a woman), had come from somewhere behind them. Under the stairwell perhaps, it was dark under there and they could have easily been hidden. They had grabbed Buck from behind and immediately began tearing into his neck. Buck made no sound, no scream. They tore flesh from his neck and blood flowed freely down his shirt. He dropped the broom and collapsed to his knees, momentarily freeing himself from the things hold. But they were quickly on him and he fell backwards, into death.
Kaitlin screamed again, and Ethan turned back to his own attacker. He had lunged this time, throwing all its weight against him and knocked him to the floor, the weapon sliding from his hand. He fought to keep the thing away, punching and kicking as pus and drool fell from its mouth onto his face. He punched the thing twice in the face, and he heard bones cracking, and saw teeth fall freely from it's rotting mouth.
"HELP ME," Ethan shouted, throwing a quick look at Kaitlin then back to the thing. He went to punch it again, this time with his left, but missed and felt his arm being bitten into. It pulled strips of flesh and muscle away, hissing and moaning as it did so while Ethan screamed louder. Blood dripped onto his face and shirt as it bit again, removing more muscle that was now freely exposed. He was going to die, he knew it. Then he saw Kaitlin standing over it with the paper cutter, and she brought it down hard into the things back. There was a dull thunk sound when it hit, and the dead man sat up slightly, enough for Ethan to slide out from under it and kick it, with both legs, into the wall.
Kaitlin pulled him to his feet, his arm torn apart, strips of flesh and muscle dangled freely, and the bone was exposed. "I'm so sorry, I'm so sorry. I was so scared, I'm so sorry."
Ethan was crying, the pain was excruciating.
"We have to go, get to the truck," he said between painful gasps of air. "NOW!"
He let his arm dangle in front of him as the ran through the open door. Ethan's attacker was just getting to it's feet as they got down the steps and began towards the truck. "You have to drive," Ethan said as he wiped tears away with his good arm. Kaitlin just nodded. The things saw and heard then and began making their way toward them. "Hurry."
It took less than 30 seconds to get to the truck, and half of that to get in it and begin backing up. Ethan looked all around for something to wrap his arm with. There on the floor board, a dirty jersey. He wrapped it around tightly with his free arm and teeth, wincing the whole time, and tied it off. It hurt so bad.
They were moving forward now, out of the gates, slamming into the dead men (and women) as they went. They took the road directly across from the double doors they escaped out of, turning 'round debris and fires left and right. Buck had died. He didn't know Buck, except as a dumb jock, but he shouldn't have died, not like that, without any kind of sound.
"Is it bad?"
Ethan looked at his arm, the blood soaking through the make-shift bandage, the pain nearly unbearable. "I'm gonna die from it, I'm sure," Ethan said, still crying. She was looking at him. Her pale skin, dark makeup. The first time he got a good look at her. Then, suddenly, the truck stopped, and Ethan was thrown through the air and out the already shattered windshield.
He went crashing into the rear window of parked car, several feet away, but only cracked the glass, didn't shatter it. He screamed in pain, loudly, and it echoed down the empty street. Blood now drained from his nose and mouth, and he knew his good arm was now broken from the way he had twisted it behind him when he landed.
He looked up through his tears at the truck. It was a pile of construction beams that they hit, smashing the front of the truck to bits. He saw blood dripping from edges where the windshield once was and prayed it was his. Through all the pain of both his arms, he forced himself to get up off the car. Kaitlin was still in the truck, at least he figured so, he didn't see her anywhere around him.
He got to the ground, and could hear the moans of the things all around him. They were coming. He ran around the pile of beams, his arms held out in front of him, dangling in pain, and to the drivers side door. "No.."
Kaitlin's head was still turned toward the passenger seat, a beam smashed into it's side. The back had split slightly and blood and brains had started to ooze out and drip into her dark hair. "No.." He repeated as he turned his back to the girl and collapsed to the ground with his back against the door. None of them had made it, not one. The things were getting closer now. He turned his head and looked up the street the way they had come. They had barely made it 2 blocks. He could still see the school, see the door they had ran out of, still wide open. They moaned.
He turned his attention back to the dead things, only feet away, and knew it was over. Somewhere in the distance he heard a huge explosion, quite a bit louder than the ones earlier, and then he screamed as the first of the dead men bit into his leg.
Author's Note- that explosion right at the end was the gas station that blew up in Resident Evil 3, for those of you wondering around when this took place. Hope you enjoyed it.