Disclaimer: I do not own Resident Evil or House of the Dead. Resident Evil and all RE characters mentioned here are the property of Capcom. House of the Dead and all HOTD characters are the property of Sega. This is a work of crossover fiction designed for entertainment purposes only.
The House of the Dead
Chapter 1
By Bhamv
A Resident Evil/House of the Dead crossover
Message from the author: This is basically putting RE characters into the first HOTD game, and possibly seeing how the HOTD would have been like if you had a team of 4 people in the mansion instead of just Rogan and G. This current chapter is just the intro, and it doesn't have much character development or deviation from the plot of the game itself. I'm hoping to improve on that in future chapters.
The story takes place after all the RE games, and a new city has been set up some distance from the original Raccoon City, called New Raccoon City. All our heroes work as STARS members in the NRPD. The New Raccoon City idea is not mine, I got it from someplace else, but for the life of me I can't remember where now. Sorry about that, and I'd love if someone could remind me.
This is my first ever fanfic, reviews and comments would be greatly appreciated.
*****
The black sedan roared down the street, a massive mansion gradually coming into view before the four passengers inside. Their expressions were bleak and determined, and every now and then one of them shifted or fidgeted, fingering the handguns in the holsters by their side.
The driver of the car was Chris Redfield, a member of the STARS team as indicated by the logos on his clothing and equipment. His knuckles were white on the steering wheel, his eyes on the road with the brow above them furrowed in concentration and thought. Beside him sat a younger man, Leon Kennedy, dressed in his usual New Raccoon Police Department uniform. Leon was a stark contrast to the peaceful concentration that Chris showed, his head and eyes darting everywhere, taking in as much information as he could from the scenes outside. On the backseat sat two women, Jill Valentine and Claire Redfield. Jill wore a variation of her blue STARS uniform, lightweight and simple, with her pistol already in her hand, lying lightly on her lap and ready for action. Beside her, Chris' sister Claire wore her favorite pink motorbiking outfit with a sheathed combat knife attached to the shoulder, her hair tied up in her preferred ponytail style. She chattered non-stop, giving a summary of what they knew so far, and what they would expect.
"All right, so this morning we got a call from a lady called Sophie. She works as a researcher for a man called Curien in a lab on the outskirts of town. On the phone, she said there were zombies breaking free from the labs and attacking the scientists, and that help was desperately needed. Then the call was cut off."
"This raises all sorts of questions. Firstly, who's Curien and who does he work for? If he's working for Umbrella, how could an Umbrella lab so close to New Racoon City escape our notice?" Leon continued.
"And supposing Curien's not working for Umbrella, is he working alone? Is it possible for someone to have the capability to create zombies independently from Umbrella?" Claire picked up smoothly from Leon's words.
Chris and Jill exchanged a glance through the rear view mirror. Leon and Claire were becoming quite the pair, finishing each other's sentences and thoughts often. And by the way they flirted in the STARS office, it was clear their joint adventures had brought them together romantically. Chris and Jill had considerable feelings for each other too, and they both knew it, but it was something between only them, simply the occasional smile they gave each other, or a glance every now and then, expressing everything they needed to through their eyes.
"We'll get answers soon, don't worry." Chris said, as they rapidly approached the colossal mansion. Following a turn in the road, the car zoomed parallel to the tall wall surrounding the perimeter of the complex, before a sharp left turn brought them onto the front driveway of the house, giving them their first full view of the mansion and its massive courtyard, with several buildings ringing the perimeter and a stone fountain in the center of the area. The front door of the mansion was beyond the courtyard and what appeared to be a bridge over a moat.
To their horror, immediately in front of them was a man in a white outfit, who looked like a scientist or a technician. He was firmly grasped by what could only be a zombie, dressed in black clothes, with wild hair and grey skin, blood-like ichor oozing out of several open wounds. The zombie bend down to bite into the scientist, ripping a large piece of flesh out of the bespectacled man's neck, sending a spray of blood shooting out of him and eliciting a loud scream from the wounded throat. With a snarl, the creature then let the bleeding figure fall and turned towards the approaching vehicle, shuffling slowly towards the STARS members.
Jill was the first out of the car, her gun raised and ready. Three shots rang out from her firearm, two hitting the zombie in its left arm and blowing it off at the shoulder, the third striking it in the face and blasting its head to bits in a shower of gore. As the zombie collapsed, she ran forward to the fallen scientist, hoping to help him. As she got closer, however, it was clear the wound on his neck was mortal, blood leaking out rapidly, soaking his clothes and pooling around his body.
The dying man managed to choke out his final words, a scratchy whisper directed in Jill's direction, 'Others are still inside….. save them….' His hand held a bloodstained photograph that he thrust at Jill before drawing his final breath. Jill slowly took the picture from the hand of the corpse and turned back to her group, who had gotten out of the car by then. She looked haunted; as if memories from her past were flooding back… watching people die of brutal attacks from horrible monsters, people she had been unable to save. So deep was she in her own thoughts she didn't notice another zombie creeping up behind her, holding a makeshift but sharp-looking axe in each hand. With a low growl, the undead creature lifted its left arm and prepared to bring the blade down on Jill's back.
"Look out!!" Chris, Claire, and Leon cried as one, raising their weapons and firing a volley of bullets at the zombie, shredding its rotting flesh and knocking body parts flying, as well as sending its axes soaring backwards and slamming into the brick wall behind it with a shower of sparks. Jill instinctively ducked, rolled, and ended up with her back to the ground, facing her attacker. She pointed her gun upwards, emptying her magazine into the zombie. By the time the thunderous sounds of gunfire had cleared, the entire upper torso of the fiend had been blown away, leaving only its hips and legs to slowly fold and collapse onto the ground.
Chris walked forward to pull Jill to her feet, helping her dust herself off a bit and handing her a full clip for her gun. Turning to the other three STARS members, she took a deep breath and spoke.
"There are still survivors inside the mansion, but we'll have to hurry if they're going to survive for long." She winced internally as she heard the tremor in her voice. Now was not the time for weakness, dammit!
Leon nodded and jogged back to the car, pulling out a large leather case. Opening it, he pulled out four backpacks, each filled with clips of ammunition. Tossing one to each of his team members, he remarked, "Good thing we decided to load up. I guess having to scramble around and search everywhere for ammo back in Racoon City really did teach us something." Chris nodded and shouldered his bag, making sure the opening on the side was easily accessible when he needed to pull out another clip. Each of the four gunfighters now had several hundred handgun bullets on them, even close to a thousand. There was no guarantee they would find more bullets inside the facility, so they had to be prepared. Leon turned back to the car, pondering fetching some of the heavier artillery. Surely a shotgun or a magnum would come in useful…
"Help, help!!" Came a cry from around another corner. Chris was the first to react this time, setting off on a run towards the source of the plea for assistance, the other three close behind him, all thoughts of further armament forgotten for now. Rounding the corner of what appeared to be a guardhouse, the foursome were greeted by the sight of two white-uniformed scientists running for their lives from another pair of axe-wielding zombies. The bloody pursuers were remarkably fast, rapidly gaining on the men, preparing to strike them down with their bloodstained weapons.
Not hesitating, Chris and Jill raised their weapons and fired at the zombie chasing the scientist on the left, while Leon and Claire opened fire on the zombie on the right. Hot metal lanced through both undead creatures, driving them back from their prey and finally damaging them enough so that they fell to the dirt ground, dead for the second time. The scientists gave a grateful glance at their rescuers and shouted, "They're still inside!" pointing at the mansion behind them before scrambling to safety.
Chris waved his gun at the others, saying, "Come on!" before setting off on a run towards the mansion, followed by Jill, Leon, and Claire. Exactly the same thought was going through each of their minds, "These zombies move so fast, much faster than any of the zombies we've seen before. Are they created by an improved T-virus, or even by a different virus? Or maybe Curien really isn't working for Umbrella?"
Thoughts were suddenly interrupted by the realization that zombies were closing in on them from all directions, streaming from doors and emerging from around corners. Indeed, these zombies were much faster than any encountered in Raccoon City or elsewhere, running at them with frightening speed. There was no longer any time to think, only time to let instinct and training take over, to put all trust in the gun in their hands, and in their teammates. The horde attacked singly or in groups, trying to bite at the STARS members if they got close enough, emitting low animalistic growls and human-like moans as they charged. Step by step the team approached the fountain in the center of the courtyard, shooting down zombies whenever they appeared.
Finally, there was a lull in the attack, and Chris' team was able to look around and re-orient themselves. Claire was the first to spot the prone person lying before the marble fountain, the figure of a woman dressed in a light brown business suit. On a hunch, she slowly walked past a low wall towards the woman, softly calling out, "Sophie?"
"Claire, watch out behind you!" Leon suddenly cried, causing Claire to whirl around. Behind her, two creatures had leapt from behind the low wall she had just walked past, while a third had seemingly appeared from nowhere ahead of her, surrounding and trapping the stunned girl. The creatures were dog-like, and yet with wings and far uglier than any dog they had ever seen. One had black colored skin, the other two red, and their flesh also seemed to hang off their bones like zombies. With an unworldly screeching, they pounced at Claire with snapping jaws, forcing her to back-pedal while trying to aim her gun at the beasts.
Leon leapt into action immediately, jumping onto the low wall and firing at the gargoyle behind Claire, covering her back. Claire managed to raise her gun and fire into the skull of the black gargoyle, sending brains and blood splattering over its dark skin. Leon and Claire then both aimed their weapons at the surviving creature, which snarled its defiance before being blown to oblivion by fire from twin pistols.
Claire nodded in thanks at Leon. There was no time for a speech; they all knew that their lives depended on working together and watching out for each other. Such was the way of STARS. Turning back to the woman on the ground, Claire ran forward towards the cowering figure. From where she was, Claire could see the woman was alive and quivering. Her light colored hair was matted and unkempt, her suit filthy and torn in several places.
As she approached, the woman shifted and raised her head fearfully. Her eyes widened, then an expression of pure joy and relief emerged from her face. Scrambling to her feet, she cried out in happiness, "STARS! It's you!"
Jill and the others sighed in relief. They had found Sophie, and they knew answers were imminent. Under their combined protection, they could ask her about what was going on, and discuss the rescue of other survivors in the mansion. Suddenly a high-pitched laugh and flapping sound filled the air of the courtyard, and a dark shadow descended on Sophie before lifting her completely into the air before anyone could react. Looking up, the STARS team saw a bizarre creature, a combination of man and bat, holding Sophie around her waist with its elongated hindclaws. Its hide was blacker than night, and it had six limbs – two arm-like foreclaws tipped by three sharp talons on each arm, two leg-like hindclaws with long tentacles suitable for grasping, and two gigantic bat-like wings on its back, flapping rapidly in the air and keeping itself and Sophie aloft.
"Nobody leaves here… alive!" Spoke the winged monster, with an artificial-sounding voice, like a high-pitched whine. With a scream of utter terror from Sophie, the beating of wings increased to a blur, carrying Sophie high into the air and over the mansion.
"Sophie!!" Shouted Leon, pointing his gun at the retreating figures but lowered it before firing, afraid of hitting Sophie. "Dammit!" He muttered, stomping his foot into the dirt as he watched the monster and his prey fly out of sight over the roof of the building.
"Hey, she dropped that there!" Jill said, pointing at the ground where Sophie had lay before. It was a small notebook, probably held in Sophie's breast pocket. Scooping it up, Claire flipped through it, spotting sketches of various creatures with names that appeared to come from tarot cards, as well as notes on their abilities and weaknesses. Showing it to the others, she said, "Hey, this might come in useful."
Chris nodded, "That will definitely help. Come on, let's go in." With grim determination, Chris spun and faced the mansion, pausing to size up the task facing him. Taking a deep breath, he then led his teammates forward, to the house of the dead.
*****
Thanks for reading this far! Reviews and comments are greatly welcome! -Bhamv
