- Author's Note -
Hello there, if you'd like to follow along with locations within and around Raccoon, I recommend checking out a map by Enetirnel on DeviantArt labeled Raccoon City - Home of Umbrella
Chapter One - Beginnings
It was the first week of May, 1983 and the weather was particularly chilly for Spring in Raccoon but more-so in the Arklay Mountains. A particular man seemed to stand out like a sore thumb on the hiking trail to anyone or anything that may have seen him.
He was standing there dressed in a turtleneck sweater, slacks, and dress shoes with a pair of black sunglasses that covered his blue-grey eyes which left him completely covered head to toe in black.
However, anyone that truly knew this particular man by the name of Albert Wesker knew that he appeared to be incapable of purchasing any sort of attire that was not black.
Of course given the time of the day, nobody would see me let alone see any possible trails leading back to the laboratory.
On a hiking trail against patchy spots of blindingly white snow, a cream coloured Polaroid Amigo camera loosely dangled from a blue strap around his neck, he hiked up and down the trail only stopping every now and then to jot something down in a small leather bound notebook (which was of course also black).
It seems as though William chose a perfect time to behave like a child, to give me such an opportune chance to leave the lab to collect both my personal documentation and thoughts without the slightest chance of Dr. Marcus hounding me for results regarding the Clay Virus strains we've been studying for the past few years...
Despite the mindless fools that work under his employ even after they were moved from the Research Center to the Arklay Laboratory, they still have yet to make any significant improvements compared to Will's and my own experiments. The sheer fact that they still hadn't managed to cause any external leaks from the internal lab, waste management or otherwise is simply astounding!
As Wesker saw the face of Dr. Marcus show up in both his thoughts and notes, he stopped writing in order to grimace and rub the bridge of his nose as he felt a headache coming on alongside his memories of his earlier entries to his notebook. Those entries were documentation of his time being introduced to Dr. Marcus at the Umbrella Research Center before it was eventually shut down.
This was when both Albert Wesker and William Birkin had been chosen to take over the positions of being the lab's Head Researchers when their predecessors were apparently promoted, however it would seem that their predecessors made no progress in their research and if they had it was never received by either of the two younger scientists. This was one of the first moments where Wesker's mind was clouded by doubt in regard to Umbrella Pharmaceutical Inc.'s inner workings.
Wesker flicked back to his first entry in this particular notebook as he waited for his headache to pass so he could focus back on the task at hand, but this day in particular stood out in Wesker's mind as he was lost in thought.
That was back in July, 1978. I was only a youngster as was Birkin being two years younger than I, he was only interested in the new research notes that he had as usual...
The mansion that the Arklay Laboratory was located within seemed normal from the air in the helicopter we were in – it was the only way aside from foot to access the Lab easily, but from the ground, something was different.
I remember the smell of the prairie wild-flowers as we landed, the rotors had caused the air to stir in the forest surrounding the mansion.
The president of the Arklay Laboratory was standing near the elevator that was at the top of the heliport when we landed. He tried to introduce himself, but Will and I had paid no attention to him as we stepped into the elevator. It didn't matter. We had already been briefed on our roles.
I don't even remember the guy's name. Most people would react in a few seconds from us ignoring them, but he didn't. I suppose it was because we were youngsters, but in the end it seemed as though he understood why the CEO of Umbrella – Oswell E. Spencer had put us into our roles at our young ages and the president paid no attention to someone like me.
On the other hand, Will was the true genius between us.
Will was utterly fascinated by the research papers he had and I had to admit, that this virus deserved the constant attention he gave the papers we had on it. Even I couldn't resist being sucked into it like he was.
This particular virus was recently discovered two years ago in the Republic of Zaire located in North Africa. It was some sort of viral haemorrhagic fever similar to the one that an outbreak had occurred with in Sudan. However, this newer strain of the Ebolavirus was much more deadly. Respectively they were referred to as "Sudan-Ebolavirus" and "Zaire-Ebolavirus".
Though that was of course, only discovered after a particular physician had lacerated his finger during an autopsy of a Zaire bible school student that had been diagnosed with Yellow Fever.
That physician had made an assumption purely based on the symptoms and got sloppy. How in the hell had he managed to not notice the lack of mosquito bites? They were the vector of transmission for Yellow Fever and such a mistake was a very amateur one. Not something that either of them would make no, they respected this new and particularly dangerous, fatal virus.
Wesker smirked to himself at the memory of being among one of the youngest and earliest researchers that had a chance to study the Ebolavirus, though it was only last year that both he and Will had decided that it didn't fit into the other viral genus' that currently existed and that it needed it's own.
Dr. Marcus had agreed and the new genus was called "Filoviridae" and there were now thousands researching it. But the people were always divided in half.
One group to save people from it.
One group to kill people with it.
As it was, Wesker knew from the Zaire Outbreak that typically once a person was infected that the mortality rate of the infected was typically towards 90% and up as it replicated so quickly and destroyed it's host in a mere matter of days after the initial incubation. Despite the sheer amount of research being attempted on it, no cure had been found.
It had been a couple of years since the project had started... But the main matter that had never settled with Wesker was that bio-engineering a weaponized strain, literally a bio-organic weapon or B.O.W. for short was illegal across the globe.
We wouldn't use the virus as a weapon. But I'm certain that someone out there would weaponize it for later use which would make it the uttermost priority to research it now as though it was already weaponized.
However, the line between making a B.O.W. and a cure was thin. Nearly non-existent. One could say they were making a cure when they were in fact, making a B.O.W. , although Will didn't particularly care – he was just interested in the opportunity to research such a thing.
I liked to think of myself as working toward a cure but...
Wesker frowned as he knew he was wrong. He knew what Spencer and Umbrella were really doing – they were making B.O.W.s for the U.S. Government and he had chosen to remain ignorant.
This was to the same degree as his research partner Will and their assistant Annette.
Truthfully, I only knew her first name because of Will. I make a point of not fraternizing with co-workers but...As I've found, Will knows no boundaries when he wants to be known by anyone that piques his curiosity.
As the older Head Researcher between the two of them which made him Will's supervisor by default. He typically had his hands full forcing Will out of the lab as otherwise he would forget to do the simplest things such as eating, showering and instead of sleeping he would often be found with cups of coffee damaging the scattered research papers or asleep at his desk (much to Wesker's annoyance).
However, Annette seems to have better luck dealing with Will than I do. He'll leave the lab and live normally (or, as much that is possible for him) without so much as the usual coffee mug hurling I've encountered when I've interrupted his train of thought. Must he be so competitive against a little girl?
For you see, after the excitement regarding his latest bio-engineering achievement (a bizarre frog/human hybrid that, even more bizarrely he decided to call the "Hunter") had died down Will's pride had taken a massive hit upon the company-wide announcement that the company's youngest employee, a young girl by the name of Alexia Ashford had been promoted to the Chief Researcher of the Antarctica Facility at the mere age of 10!
This little girl was both younger and in a higher position than when Will and I were first brought here. Though I do wonder if it's simply due to her being of the same family as one of the founders of the company? She had no valid research data to show compared to us. but Will still sees her as a threat.
If only Keith had kept his damned mouth shut about the presentation Spencer required in a few months time, Will wouldn't have had his tantrum and refused to discuss any matter of research with anyone.
Instead, Will has been barraging the human test subjects with increasingly abusive tests and has refused to divulge what his intention is and has refused to stop for either Annette or myself.
Dr. Marcus was the one we typically reported to despite the fact that he never made the transfer to Arklay. He was the only one we respected enough to report to and share any findings with yet, Will refused to provide anything new for our bi-monthly reports to Marcus leaving me at a loss. Howev-
Wesker was snapped out of his thoughts and looked up as a loud child ran past nearly bumping him... A dark brunet haired boy that couldn't have been older than ten, dressed in a striped green t-shirt and jeans ran past laughing before Wesker felt something smash into his legs. He nearly dropped his notebook before he looked down and saw another child; a little girl obviously younger than the older boy that had run past moments ago.
The girl, wearing red overalls with white ruffles, hadn't been able to avoid him like the older child and was currently sprawled across the grassy ground on her backside with her auburn hair, despite being in a ponytail fanned out beneath her.
The look Wesker gave her – a cold glare, mixed with both disgust and annoyance which would have easily broken some of the useless, old codgers back at the Lab. The little girl was still clearly putting together as to what exactly had just happened.
How in the hell anyone couldn't see him just ostensibly being there? Standing out as clear as day?
There were far too many questions regarding the stupidity of children that Wesker never had to experience himself in his childhood. That was another matter entirely.
With that thought in mind, Wesker couldn't hide the glimmer of surprise when the little girl's deep blue eyes gazed up at him without any fear of the cold look he held on his face towards her as she hauled herself upright, climbed back to her feet and smiled at him before she apologetically blurted out at him "Sorry mister!" at him before she ran after the older boy further up the trail.
Wesker sighed inwardly as he thought to himself in a bored monotone … It seems I can't escape children today. I'm starting to feel as though certain people shouldn't be able to breed... Or at least keep a leash on their spawn. As he shoved his notebook in his bag whilst watching who he assumed were the parents of the two loud, irritating and completely oblivious children he had encountered mere minutes ago ran past him in the same direction as their children had.
Obviously being loud is hereditary. I don't think I'm exactly wrong in my thoughts when it comes to people like...this! Wesker was slightly wincing, his headache still throbbing as he heard the children's mother barking out "Christopher Redfield, you get back here this instant! Claire, you too! I told you we were going back home right now!" as she ran further up the hiking trail (not that he was intentionally listening in to redundant matters of insignificant people, they were just too loud to ignore).
From that particular trail, they must have come from Victory Lake.
Of course, nobody knew the truth about the "Umbrella Executive Retreat" as it was publicly known as. Specifically about how it contained a secret Government approved Level 4 Biohazard lab, the most dangerous type due to the work there being focused on the most deadly and incurable agents or infectious diseases.
That was how it was supposed to be and it would remain, provided none of the campers had paid any attention to me whatsoever.
Wesker's stomach roared at him to an extent he couldn't ignore, it and the sounds of the Arklay Mountains drowned out anything else (thankfully, this included that loud family) as he slowly made the hike up the Victory-Arklay trail towards the Research Center.
Wesker frowned as his stomach continued to roar at him louder as it brought sharp pains to his torso.
It seems that Will and I are much more similar than I thought. I suppose it's expected for people to have some sort of similar habits when they develop some sort of friendship regardless of it being intentional.
Wesker could grab a bite to eat at either the Research Center or the Arklay Lab. They were both within reasonable walking distance (3 miles, give or take) but, the sheer thought of his previous experience of the awful, food poison-inducing food that was served in there previously... That it was safer to simply avoid any food that was provided by whatever catering staff Umbrella had employed made Wesker give a slight shudder of disgust at the memory this thought drew up.
I'll head over to the Arklay-Raccoon station at the Center instead, get the trolley into the city and get a bite to eat instead of the greasy slop they call food back at Arklay. I would have to agree with Will about the food. It certainly does resemble the food in that old "Soylent Green" film he likes.
I honestly wouldn't be surprised if such a scenario happened, provided there was some form of profit in it for Spencer.If Spencer ever did, there would be no doubt that it would be tested on his employees...
Despite all of this, Wesker's appetite refused to be discouraged in it's constant and loud demands to finally be satisfied with some real food.
The hike would've taken anyone else much longer, but the truth of the matter was that Wesker knew the area better than most and had worn away some paths of his own that proved to be much more time-efficient compared to the official hiking trails.
Before he knew it, Wesker was already on the Ecliptic Express as it jostled along the Arklay-Raccoon line. He still had some time to decide about what would satisfy his hunger (truthfully, it had to be close to the Central Raccoon Station as he was starving and feeling worn out after his hike) but it was hard for him to avoid nodding off into slumber with the rhythmic jostling of the train.
I can't fall asleep. Not here. I don't particularly want to find myself pick-pocketed on here, it's not exactly a secure train with half of Raccoon employed by Umbrella!
Wesker and Birkin were briefed on Raccoon by Dr. Marcus when they first came to be his understudies at the Research Center, though Wesker had gotten curious one day in the city and had discovered that what he was told was word-for-word with the usual Raccoon tourism spiel.
It was somewhat sad that he remembered what it said as he had naively felt in his mid-teens it would be important to remember should he need to impress someone with his company's involvement in the city.
Wesker allowed himself to close his eyes for a bit and recalled the completely redundant information he had memorized to try and keep himself awake for the rest of the trip.
In the 1960s, due to research on herbs that grew natively around the small hamlet called Raccoon and throughout the Arklay region were confirmed to possess useful natural medicinal properties, Umbrella Pharmaceutical Inc. was founded in Raccoon and the hamlet was expanded over time with constant financial support by Umbrella.
For instance, the Kite Bros. Railway was originally only 3 miles long. It was now over 8 miles long underneath Raccoon and it wouldn't have happened without Umbrella. The Raccoon Zoo was opened in 1978 to house Spencer's personal collection of exotic animals and was to help recoup costs put into the industrialization and commercialization of Raccoon into the city it was quickly becoming.
Among the many other things that the people of Raccoon aren't aware of below the city. Spencer had to recoup costs whenever he could publicly and the Zoo was just one of his schemes. Though, the people of Raccoon couldn't do anything but praise Umbrella.
Without Umbrella, there was no real industry outside of logging and the few small diners and motels that lined Raccoon's main streets.
Though it was only a few minutes before his mind wandered back to his pain-filled stomach before he recalled the basic map of the city.
… Thinking of diners, there's that old one just a block up from Central Station. Emmy's Diner which is apparently, famous for it's doughnuts with the locals. I don't give a damn at this point as long as it's not more of Umbrella's so-called catering!
It hadn't taken Wesker long to make up his mind, his patience was now all but non-existent. Emmy's was the closest restaurant to the heavily art deco inspired Raccoon Central Station which was now in Wesker's sight, enough to prompt him to get to his feet and make his way to the closest exit from the train carriage.
It seemed as though Wesker's mood would improve after satisfying his hunger. He still held hope in his mind for making the deadline for the Clay Virus presentation as he made his way over to Crescent St. from the station's exit on Central St. to quickly get to the diner.
Spencer wants additional proof that it can be exogenous in variant strains to both new vectors and carriers.
That, in itself will be difficult to prove due to the lack of documentation regarding our Subject Zero's wild-type strain.
I do not know how the Clay Virus itself became to be in her body. Was she infected from the origin? It's far too convenient to not be suspicious, I have to consider the possibility of it being intentionally induced within her.
The main reasons to me are that she has obvious intercurrent infections which makes it difficult to use her as the basis for our research and, that we do not know the origin of her infection.
Which leaves us without a viable control subject and makes it almost impossible to meet Spencer's demands. If Will stops acting like a child after today's incident and finally shares his data, it could be something vital to our work regarding the waterborne Alpha variant strain we created!
It all depends on Will. There's only so much etiology I can do regarding the virus to pad out our presentation...
Will had been doing wide spectrum experiments relentlessly on the human test subjects without Wesker's approval. Even to Wesker, it was inhumane to abuse the test subjects to the extent Will had. Especially as some of them had been former research staff that both Wesker and Will had to throw under the bus to avoid ending up as test subjects themselves.
Of course, Albert Wesker had no idea that today's incident with William Birkin would be the standard for the next seven months.
And that's it for the opening, the next chapter will be longer - I promise!
The real Raccoon is in Kentucky but for story purposes, the actual location for Raccoon is within Ohio but bordering Kentucky.
Because I've used a few bits of jargon to fit the work Wesker and Birkin do... I'll leave an explanation for a few things below!
Please do read and leave some critique! :)
Scientific Terminology Cheat Sheet:
Virology: Dedicated study of viruses.
Bioengingeering: Man-made modifications of all things biological/natural.
Etiology: The study or theory of how an infection or pathogen can be spread or infect others.
Pathogen: Various types of infections such as: bacteria, viruses, fungi, prion and the like. These typically microscopic pathogens are the causes of everyday illness!
Bio-Safety/Biohazard Level/Class: Classes/Levels are the same but are differentiated by their number ranging between 1 to 4. 1 being the least dangerous and 4 being the most dangerous there is.
There are additional markers such as "ag" which is for "agricultural hazard" and some labs may be marked with a P or PA for either Protection or Pathogen level. The shortened name for Bio-Safety Level is "BSL" which would mean that the Raccoon labs are designated "BSL4, PA4"!
Replication: How a pathogen reproduces itself within the body of it's host or carrier.
Host: Can be various things, such as a human or animal carrying a parasite (like a rat carrying a plague) or a host cell in which a virus replicates.
Carrier: An infected animal or human, if they show no symptoms or health issues due to the infection then they are considered to be an Asymptomatic Carrier.
Vector: An infected animal or human that spreads a disease, such an example would be mosquitoes spreading Malaria due to blood-to-blood contact with the mosquito being the "vehicle" for the infection between people.
Genus: The designated "family" name of what a pathogen belongs to, like Filioviridae which is a virological taxon - a man-made concept of grouping similar pathogens into groups or "families" for easily identification and research.
Filoviridae: The designated family name of similar viruses that cause viral hemorrhagic fever and includes things such as the Ebola Virus.
Retrovirus: These types of viruses are considered "mutagenic" in that they can modify a host/carrier's DNA and replace it with it's own viral RNA, leaving the host susceptible to further infection OR can protect the host/carrier from further or other infections. The common cold/flu is a Retrovirus, just like the T-Virus is!
Viral Hemorrhagic Fever: As an example, when the Ebola Virus infects a person it typically causes a fever, the body goes into shock and the infected person gruesomely suffers from bleeding disorders that lead to a feeling similar to drowning internally within their own blood and once it isn't possible for the virus to continue replicating, the person may hemorrhage from every possible orifice... Resulting in death.
Patient/Subject Zero: First known person recorded to carry an infection.
Exogenous: Originating outside of the infected person's body.
Intercurrent Infections: Multiple illnesses, infections or diseases that exist within a single person's body. Multiple infections that do not typically interfere with the other respective infections are usually considered this.
Waterborne: That an infection can be spread by water.
Airborne: That an infection can be spread by air.
Strain: A virus can mutate and have multiple versions of it, this is why there is a new flu shot every year.
Wild-Type Strain: The very first strain of a virus existing either within a sample or within a person.