«This is a real story. C-Sha told me about it..»
Blanc's voice resonated inside her head. Noire stopped in front of the huge sign that was standing at the entrance of the city- or the remains of one. Except "standing" is an overstatement: it was like the old sign, far from mantaining its former vertical position, refused to finish falling.
«There's a city in the outskirts of Lastation, as old as Lastation itself. It is said to be abandoned since a long time ago, a ghost city. But what people don't know...»
Noire looked up at the sign, her eyes trying to gather as much light as the moon could provide. It was covered in rust with tiny, almost imperceptible traces of what Noire assumed once was paint, and a few metal-cutout letters were lying on the ground below, hinting just how old that sign —and thus, the city— was.
«As to why was the city forgotten, the reason is simple: People was forced to forget. The incident that took place there needed to be kept as a secret, even from the CPU.»
The girl tried to shake that voice out of her brain. Blanc told them that story during the halloween sleepover at Vert's place. Neptune —of course Neptune, who else— came up with the brilliant idea of telling horror stories because "Halloween is all about spooky things!". And Blanc's eyes started to shine.
It was just some weird story that she had heard from C-Sha, but as Lastation's proud goddess, it was her duty to verify wether or not that nonsense was true. An entire city's existence can't possibly be erased from records like that, but still...
Noire looked up one more time. As she tried to read the incomplete sentence shown by the sign in front of her, Blanc's words surfaced again.
«The name of that cursed place is...»
It wasn't difficult to fill in the missing letters.
"So it does exist", she thought. "I've never heard of this place before... But that doesn't mean that the rest of that weird story is true. It's probably just an urban legend. Abandoned places are always the target of rumors and myths."
She started walking, leaving the sign behind. Soon she got surrounded by the ruins of houses and shops. A couple of cars were lying on the road here and there, wasted. As she approached the center of the city, a weird smell invaded the atmosphere, and everything was darker as the moonlight was blocked by buildings. Noire approached one of the cars, and made the mistake of looking into it.
A loud, high pitched scream pierced through the dead silence of the night, shattering it into smaller silences that weren't as silent as the first one. The voice echoed a few times before dying in some dark alley.
The car was occupied by two corpses in advanced decomposition state, explaining the origin of the rotten smell.
The goddess took a step backwards, stumbling in the process, horrorized by the scene before her. "Just what the hell happened in this place? Are those really...? No, it can't be. But after such a long time they should be..."
A far eerie sound interrupted her thoughts. She turned around, looking towards the direction of the sound. She didn't have time to think about what that sound was, because it repeated. And again. And a third time. It wasn't a mystery: it sounded like dogs howling.
That's when she remembered.
«Those who dare enter the city, better not make a single noise. In that place, just a slightly loud footstep can assure one's death.»
Now she was frightened. If Blanc's story happened to be true, then she should go back before—
Grrraawh
This time, the noise came from her back, along with a rustling sound.
Noire froze in place, shivers running down her spine. She didn't need to look back, as she knew exactly what was behind her.
A car with two corpses.
«If those... 'things' wake up, there's only one thing you can do...»
It was true. That ridiculous horror story was true, she couldn't deny it anymore. The city was infested with zombies, and she had to escape before they wake up. Or else...
Something clicked inside her brain. Before they wake up?
And then she remembered her scream.
And then she remembered the dogs howling.
And then she remembered Blanc's words. Better not make a single noise
And just a second later, she noticed the horde slowly approaching in the distance.
«...Run for your life. If you can.»
That's exactly what Noire did. She ran as fast as she could, cursing the moment she decided to investigate this place. As she rushed across the streets, Noire scanned her surroundings looking for a place to hide from the undead. Now they were at every corner, in every building, and all of them seemed to be after her.
Before realizing it, she was cornered against a big building. The zombies were all around her, leaving no place to run. Her only option was trying to take shelter inside the building, hoping that she would be safe there. That, or facing a hundred of hostile creatures. After deciding that the former was the best option, she ran towards the entrance and without losing a second she dashed inside and locked the door behind her, just before she fell to her knees, exhausted.
After taking a few seconds to recover her breath, Noire glanced around the place she had just entered.
It was a mansion, or it looked like it. Despite its ruinous outside, the inside was pretty well preserved— although it had surely seen better times. The hall was spacious but it was almost empty, and the only remarkable thing about it was the strange pattern that was painted on the wooden floor. Noire noted that the figure beneath her feet —a red and white octagon-esque shape— didn't fit the overall tone of the room at all.
«According to C-Sha, the official version said that the whole thing was an accident. An unknown virus spread by monsters. but the truth is that the disaster was caused by a certain corporation.»
But there were other things for her to worry about at that moment, more important than interior desing. For instance, the door that was being hammered by dozens of fists, and was quickly crushed into firewood.
Noire couldn't help but watch as the horde bursted into the room. She was paralyzed. She tried transforming, but failed. Fear was consuming her.
just before fainting, she heard shots, and a vaguely familiar voice.
"Of course you would be here. I just wanted to scare Blanny, and look what it caused."
The last thing Noire saw as she lost consciousness was a blurry blue figure in front of her, and red stains everywhere.
"You shouldn't have come to Raccoon City."
And then everything went blank.
.
.
.
"So, what do you think about my new novel? It's amazing, isn't it? I went for horror this time. I'm totally winning this newbie contest..."
"...Blanc."
"Yes?"
"WHY AM I THE PROTAGONIST?"
"Well It's about Lastation so—"
"I DON'T REMEMBER ALLOWING YOU TO WRITE THIS! WHAT WERE YOU THINKING?"
"Who the hell I'm supposed to write a horror story about? The idiotic 'I dont fear anything'? The Thunder Tits? Come on, you were perfect for the role, Noir—"
"IF YOU DARE PUBLISHING THIS I WILL DECLARE WAR ON LOWEE! I SWEAR IT!"
"..."
"..."
"...Killjoy."