10 miles from Burkittsville
11:58pm
It was
cold, Leon could feel the cold even though the 4x4 was heated – he didn't know,
maybe it was outside cold or some other cold he didn't know about. He didn't
care though, he was driving, that was the important thing.
It was about midnight, and he had taken the
nightshift to drive. Claire mumbled softly in her sleep, her head resting
against his shoulder.
Leon smiled softly as he looked at her
asleep. She looked quite sweet like that – He always found her very attractive.
Where they were going was something of a
mystery though – Leon had never heard of Burkittsville, neither had he ever
heard of a village called Blair that used to be there. Leon had done some
minute research into the town, had brushed up a little on its history and had
prepared excuses for any suspicious questions. Ever since those three kids
disappeared in 1994, the whole town seemed to be more than a little suspicious
of anybody who came into town, since Private Investigators became extremely
unpopular after a manhunt that had lasted several years.
The only reason they were going was
because one of Chris's mystery informants had called from there, telling them
that something strange was going on. Umbrella had been the main suspects, but
since they hadn't actually bothered them for a while now, Umbrella were now the
most unlikely suspects, especially since the informant had told them Umbrella
didn't have a branch in the area.
Stay on your toes, Chris had said,
regardless of what he says I don't doubt Umbrella may appear at some point.
Leon had volunteered to go, and then
so had Claire. Claire and Leon were alone on this one, so Leon decided to use
the opportunity to try and find out how she really felt about him.
The town they were going to had more
than a slightly murky history – The history of murder, disappearances and
ritual sacrifice had rattled Leon's cage. The endless disappearances in the
Black Hills Forests made him like the place less and less as the distance
between them and the town shrank. There had been that Hermit too…what was his
name? Rustin Parr? Executed in 1941 for the murder of several children. That
was sick, he thought, what kind of a place breeds those kinds of people?
The guy had apparently claimed involvement from some kind of
witch…but Leon didn't believe in folklore, everything they'd seen so far had
been created by human hands. He didn't know why, but somehow a showdown with a
T-03 Tyrant seemed more attractive than investigating the problems they'd been
having in this small town. Recently, more people had been going missing, such
as a bunch of weird students who'd been setting up a tourist trade there…
He tried not to think about the
thing. For now, concentrate on the road, Kennedy. There was a gentle sigh from
Claire as she blinked herself awake.
"Mmm…wh…what time is it?" she asked,
fuzzily.
"Almost midnight" Leon replied "we're
nearly there"
"Has it taken us all this time to get
here?"
"Well, it is quite a long way"
Claire nodded, and looked out onto the
dark road ahead, blinking herself further awake.
"So…Burkittsville, huh?"
"Yep"
"What do you think?"
Leon shrugged.
"Well if you want my honest opinion, we
shouldn't really be here – This town has a history, Claire, and not a pleasant
one"
She nodded again.
"Well, screw the town, we're only planning
to stay here for three days – No more, no less"
"Fine" Leon reluctantly conceded "Let's
just go over our procedures – Got the forged papers?"
Claire nodded, patting the small satchel
that sat by her feet. Chris had interesting contacts, Leon reflected, he had
saved the life of a forger in a bank shoot-out once and the guy had paid him
back by promising to give him any kinds of forged documentation he needed –
Which had come in handy now.
"Right here. So who are we?" It was a
rhetorical question, they'd rehearsed their identities six or seven times, but
this was the last test run. They wouldn't be able to practice again after this
– after they got there, rehearsal would be impossible.
"We're a boyfriend and girlfriend, hoping
to get married and we're on a short holiday in the area"
'Not so far from the truth' both of them
thought in perfect unison 'Except that the other half doesn't know that yet'
"I'm Sam Myles, and you are…?"
Claire smiled.
"Amy Stanton"
"Good one" he smiled back at her "We'll do
just fine"
"Remember" she said, as Leon pulled the
car off onto the road that took them straight towards Burkittsville "That we've
got to pretend to be ignorant of everything that's happened here over the last
couple of years"
"Right. Got the video camera and tape
recorder?" Leon asked.
"They're in the back with our luggage and
weapons" Claire said.
"Of course- Two shotguns, plenty of ammo,
a magnum with plenty of ammo and my Desert Eagle plus enough rounds to blast
away half a town"
"Although hopefully we won't be needing
them" Claire remarked "A holidaying couple with weaponry might be treated with
some suspicion" the last part of sentence was heavy with humour.
"Very funny Claire" Leon said "Very
funny"
Claire giggled.
"Come on, relax – It's probably just
nothing"
"You're right – But we'd better stay on
our toes anyway"
She nodded.
"Right"
Holiday Inn
12:20am
The motel was a low building, it wasn't
anything particularly special and neither was any of its interior design. It
was a cosy looking building though, Leon thought as him and Claire dragged
their bags in, quite exhausted. The receptionist, unlike so many motels on the
way, was defiantly friendly in a 'I'm doing the best I can' kind of way.
The receptionist checked for their
reservations, smiled and threw them the key.
"Have a good time" he said "Most visitors
do!"
Claire and Leon garbled a thank you to
the receptionist, and went into their chosen room. It wasn't a bad room at all,
Claire noted as they threw their luggage down onto the floor.
"Only one bed" Leon said.
"Oh…" Claire almost blushed "What do you
suggest?"
"Don't worry, I'll take the sofa" Leon
said, smiling.
"Oh don't be silly! We can share the bed,
it's not that much of a bind to sleep with-I mean, by me is it?"
"Not at all" Leon apologised as quickly
as he could "It's just…well, it's not gentlemanly to-"
Claire shook her head, smiling.
"Honestly Leon, I know you're supposed
to be a cop and all, but just let me decide what is gentlemanly and what isn't
– And I say we share the bed"
Leon thought of protesting, but decided
that in the long run it would be pointless.
"Sure"
They both flopped down onto the bed,
staring up at the painted white ceiling.
"What do you want to do right now?"
Claire asked.
Leon nearly had a heart attack.
"Uh…"
"I think I could do with a drink"
Leon exhaled in relief.
"Yeah, why not?"
Gretchen's Diner
12:40am
Gretchen's bar was one of those small war-era cafes that had barely changed since the 40s, although it had obviously received a new lick of paint and a somewhat tacky lighted sign on the front of the building which looked completely out of place. The town was surprisingly empty, considering it was both a Friday night and just after midnight. There were straggling groups of drunk teenagers wandering around, and there were a few others strolling up and down the pavements – Which was a mystery, since Leon didn't know many people who took to strolling up and down city streets just after midnight unless they were insomniacs.
Leon and Claire stepped inside, the bell jingled as they walked into the gloomy café. It was patronised by only a sedate drunkard and a very weary looking businessman.
Not only did the pair feel very out of place, but they weren't even sure they wanted to stay anymore.
"Sit down!" the woman who was sweeping the bar cheerfully announced "Do you want a drink?"
"Uh, sure!" Claire replied.
"Coffee? Hot chocolate?"
"Hot chocolate"
Coffee at this time of night seemed unwise to both of them.
"You too?" she asked Leon.
"Please"
They both sat down at the bar as the young lady prepared their drinks, and leaned expectantly on their elbows as she came back.
"Both of you going to be here for long?"
"Not that long, only a couple of days"
She smiled.
"My name's Mandy – I own the bar"
"Mandy Gretchen?"
She shook her head.
"Nah. She was my grandma, she was the first person to own this building – It just seemed appropriate to keep her name where it belonged"
Leon nodded.
"Don't call me nosy or anything, but are you here on holiday?"
Leon nodded.
"That's right. Only for a couple of days – You see, we're hoping to get married and…"
"Oh I see! Well congratulations!"
"Thanks" Claire replied, smiling
happily. Pretending to be married to Leon was better than nothing.
"One of the better things that's happened around here lately" Mandy muttered in reply.
"I'm sorry?"
"Well, it all began in 1994 – Those poor kids! The families, can you imagine?"
Claire and Leon played an almost perfect impression of ignorance.
"Uh…We've never been here before, we wouldn't know"
"Well, if you want the short version of the story, in 1994 a bunch of kids disappeared in the Black Hills Forests while trying to film a high school project about this local legend of ours"
Legend?
"Which legend is that?" Claire asked, innocently.
"Well, we got a witch hanging around here – She's called The Blair Witch after the town that she single-handedly scared the- if you pardon my French- the shit out of and the inhabitants fled, abandoning the town. About thirty-something years later, Burkittsville was founded on the spot where Blair used to be. People have died in mysterious circumstances ever since"
"And these students?"
"Well, they relied on a hand drawn map – A hand drawn map! You'd have thought that they'd have got some real navigational equipment…But I can't say much I guess, I've never been out there, nobody wants to go out there anymore"
"Whoa…So…if we were planning a hike for one day…Would it possible for us to get hold of a map? A proper map?"
"If you went through the right channels, yeah – But nobody's tried to do any cartography on the area yet."
"The right channels? What are they?"
"The sheriff – But he never wants anybody to go anywhere near the Black Hills Forests anymore"
'Just as well we got the GPS tracker then' Leon thought, relieved 'Don't want to get lost in the woods'
"So I don't recommend going anywhere near the forests – If they're haunted, I don't want to lose any customers!"
They laughed, softly.
They drank their drinks fairly quietly – Under the bar, Claire made some shorthand notes on a small pad.
"Thanks for the drinks" Leon said, handing over a few notes.
"And those wacko scientists have also been around"
This caught their attention once again.
"Wacko scientists?"
"Yeah, claimed to be naturalists – Turned out to be from this pharmaceuticals company doing some research"
They knew instinctively who it was. They didn't even bother to ask any questions, they played it cool and dumbly, paying for their drinks, saying goodbye and then walked out of the building.
They walked out into the partially lit street.
"Umbrella – Just what were they doing here?" Claire asked.
"I don't know" Leon remarked "But I don't really want to know either"
"Right" Claire added "Let's get some sleep – I can see a long day ahead of us tomorrow"
Holiday Inn
2:40am
Leon was suddenly awake – And aware of the
rain thundering down outside. He groaned, and rubbed his eyes.
Something had woken him up. He looked
around the room. Nothing there apart from their discarded stuff that was
scattered on the floor.
He could hear the thunder – But there was
something else. It was a very faint sowing – coming from the bathroom. Curious,
he climbed out of bed – and walked towards the bathroom. He reached down into
his bag, rummaged under some of his clothes and quickly withdrew his Desert
Eagle. Clutching it in both hands, he edged gingerly towards the door. With his
foot, he gently pushed it open. Nothing. He stepped inside, and turned sharply
round – When suddenly, as if it had been planned all along, a white, but not
entirely material shape flowed over his head, flying out through the open door
in a matter of seconds.
Leon let out a yelp as the shape passed
over him, and he dropped to the floor.
'What in god's sweet name was that?!' he
thought, heart pounding hard.
He tried to rationalise what he'd seen –
It hadn't been a bird, or bat or any kind of animal. The 'thing' had radiated
cold in a worrying fashion, as if it had been in deep freeze for years.
Leon ran out into the main room to look
around for it. Not there, not anywhere – But just as he scanned the room, he
saw faint wisps of white disappear through the crack between the door to the
outside world and the doorjamb.
"Leon, what the hell's going on?"
He turned, and saw that Claire was awake,
she'd been woken by his scream.
"Do you think I'd be standing here looking
confused as hell if I did? Something was in the bathroom, and it's just got out
of the building"
Leon threw open the door, and ran out into
the cold, wet night, bare feet pounding against the leafy ground. He stopped
and looked around. Not a goddamn thing, the rain obscured anything from his
view. Leon ran back inside, closing the door.
"Damn it, I swear that there's something
out there"
"If there is" Claire said, pulling on her
jeans "Then we'd better check it out"
Leon nodded, and began to get changed.
Something in the night…
Both fully clothed, Claire packed her
magnum, and stuck an extra two chambers in her pocket just in case. Leon
grabbed a few extra clips for his own weapon, and they both looked at each
other.
"When you're ready" Leon said.
Claire nodded, and she slammed open the door, both of them
running out into the hammering rain.
She felt the rain beat down on her head,
and she squinted up into the sky.
Lightning flashed, and illuminated the
whole town for a moment – Just for a moment.
"Come on" she said "Let's find the
Police Station – I think we can find some help there"
Leon nodded, agreeing.
"Come on, let's get there now – There's
something about this town I don't like at all"
They didn't know where the station was,
but in a town this small, they guessed it wouldn't be that hard to find. Their
motel wasn't far from the main road, and along that was the Police station. It
was, as they had both thought, small. So small in fact, that Leon wasn't surprised
the local police had been unable to track down the missing students.
The minimal research he'd done into the
case indicated to him that something was very wrong – There were towns
everywhere in the USA, how could four students just quite literally disappear
off the face of the earth?
Well, they had found some footage
underneath a building in the woods…
That was somewhere to check out – The
building had long since been 'demolished', but from what he'd read, it was
still partially intact and could therefore provide both Claire and Leon with
answers. Somehow, Leon had a feeling that Umbrella, while having small
involvement somewhere here, were not in fact the perpetrators of this
crime.
The town was silent, apart from the
thunder and rain.
They both walked slowly towards the
silent building.
It's just too quiet Leon
thought And when a place is quiet, something's gone seriously wrong.
They
rushed up the steps past a squad car that sat by the steps, and pulled open the
doors.
The doors creaked ominously as they
yanked them open. There was a faint light that came from an office somewhere in
the back – But apart from that, there were no other lights on. They stepped
inside, closing the doors behind.
It was quiet. This scared Leon.
Police Stations were NEVER quiet, regardless of the time of day.
"I've got a horrible sense of déjà
vu" Claire muttered as they looked around "Remember Raccoon?"
Leon did remember Raccoon. And he
remembered well the noiseless main hall.
They stepped forward cautiously,
withdrawing their weapons slowly. A floorboard creaked under Leon's foot as he
crept down the corridor. About twenty metres down was the main office, at least
that's what the black stencilled writing on the illuminated window indicated,
but there was a large extension that had obviously been added in post-wartime,
and was most likely extra offices and jail cells. They reached the faintly
glowing window.
Claire nodded at Leon, who twisted the handle. It was open, he
pushed it inwards. The light was unnatural. Not bright…but it was an eerie glow
that seemed to only illuminated the office as it felt it needed to – Some parts
of it were in complete darkness. They both stepped inside, feeling a great
chill in the air as they entered the office.
"Hey" Claire whispered, pointing
down the office "It's the Sheriff"
The Sheriff appeared to be facing the
wall, not moving.
"Uh…" Leon coughed away a dry throat
"Sheriff?"
No response.
"Sheriff?" Claire asked "We've got a
problem…we…" her voice faded as the Sheriff turned around.
They froze. He wasn't a zombie…but
then again, he wasn't human either. He had the misty white eyes of the zombie,
and even though his skin looked like old paper he didn't appear to show any
signs of deterioration.
Then, its mouth opened.
"We are your sin…you are
innocent…afraid…we are the harbingers…you are the victims…we shall reap the
crop…run, children, run…" the thing rasped, in a malevolent, cold and dry
voice that made them both go rigid with fear.
"What…the hell are you?" Leon
croaked.
"We are your death…" it hissed
in its tomb-like voice again.
"I think…" Claire said, quietly as
the creature began to walk – walk, not lurched as they both realised – towards
them "…That the time for talking is over"
Suddenly, to their surprise and
horror, the creature leapt into the air as if it had graduated from The Matrix
school of '99 and fell upon them, both of them letting out terrified yelps of
fright. This was more frightening than anything any of them had seen before,
and Leon pulled out his Desert Eagle, Claire her magnum, and they both fired at
the hellspawn.
The thing took two shots from each
of them, blood splattering against the floor as they fired into it. It fell on
the floor, and died in a pool of blood.
Leon felt his heart pound with fear. He
hadn't felt like this since the days of Raccoon City.
So many bullets! It had taken that many?!
"What the hell was that?!" Claire's
voice was terrified, saturated with fear.
"I don't know, and I don't want to
find out!" Leon replied, in the same tone of voice.
But as they left the office, it was
clear they would never get out.
The sounds were everywhere now,
hissing spirits from inside and outside Leon's mind…
He wanted them to go away, desperate
for them to go away.
You
will die, little boy…the voices told him, growing in volume and intensity.
It was now physically and mentally painful, and he clutched his head, trying to
shut out the hissing, dead voices.
As he collapsed in the waiting room, he
heard Claire scream. Two other zombie-like creatures, both in police uniform
leapt onto her…he heard the gun fire…but the voices were too painful…so much
pain…he couldn't take it, he was going insane. He wanted to save Claire…
"MAKE IT STOP!!" he screamed, kicking
around on the floor like a wounded animal "PLEASE GOD, MAKE IT STOP!!!"
In his fit of fear, he turned to see
Claire fall onto the floor…
No…
"CLAIRE!!!!!"
NO!!!
Leon sat up with a start, gasping for
breath. His face was soaked with sweat, eyes suddenly wide and afraid.
Then, he realised where he was. Back in the
motel? But how…?
It then dawned on him. A dream. It was
only a dream.
He turned, and saw Claire thrashing about
underneath the bed-sheets, and heard her cry in her sleep
"No! Please…don't die Leon…No! Leave him
alone!!"
Leon grabbed her, and she was suddenly
wide awake. She stopped moving, and he saw the sweat on her face run as he held
her to him.
She grabbed him, and held him tight.
"I was…so…afraid…" she gasped.
"It's okay, it was just a nightmare"
Just a nightmare?
He looked at her oddly.
"Claire…what did you dream about?"
She wiped her face, and then looked him
straight in the eyes.
"I dreamt that we saw a ghost in the
motel…we ran out to the Sheriff's office, but the Sheriff had become a…a…a
monster! Not just a zombie, this psycho-thing that could jump through the air –
I swear! Then we ran out, and all these zombies started attacking us – You went
down, I was being attacked too…"
"Oh my god…" Leon muttered "This can't be
true"
"What can't?" she asked.
"I had exactly the same dream" he replied
"You just described my dream step by step…"
"You're joking!"
"I swear, I'm not joking!"
Leon jumped out of the bed, and
allowed some air to get to his sweaty body. He went to the window, and looked
out. It was raining, but there were some lights on. He breathed a sigh of
relief.
"This town is infectious" he said,
clutching the window sill "It gets into your mind – It's already got into ours.
There's more to this town than meets the eye…there's something evil in
Burkittsville, Claire"
She nodded.
"I feel it too"
"I say we investigate, whether or not
Umbrella's involved – This town is cursed"
"Right – I say we start by looking
around the house that belonged to Kyle Brody, one of the victims of the Rustin
Parr murders in 1941"
She'd been doing Leon's research with
him.
"Good idea. Let's get some sleep now"
Leon remarked "Hopefully, no nightmares" he looked out of the window as he
climbed back into bed with Claire "But I don't doubt this town will pay us a
visit again"
END OF PART ONE