Braving the Storm
Less than 24 hours ago, the Tyrant virus, a lethal bioweapon illegally developed by the multi-national pharmaceutical corporation, Umbrella, was leaked into the thriving mountain community of Raccoon City, Colorado. Within hours, the city was overrun with violently aggressive infected citizens. The local police force was hopelessly outgunned and quickly ceased to be a fighting force, both due to poor leadership and the efforts of Umbrella agents still in the city.
Still, there are those who remain among the living, trapped in Raccoon City.
Jill Valentine, a member of the RPD's elite Special Tactics and Rescue Service, continues on a trek through the living hell that has broken out in Raccoon City, no longer confident the skills she acquired a few months earlier at another biohazard will be enough to keep her alive.
Billy Coen, an ex United States Marine wrongfully convicted of murder, is a dead man walking. Despite the assistant of STARS member Rebecca Chambers in covering up his escape, Billy knows he cannot leave Raccoon City. No matter what choices he makes, he faces almost certain death.
Kevin Ryman, a survivor of the RPD's Select Police Force, finds himself thrust into a leadership position over a rag-tag group of survivors. He must be able to bring their conflicting personalities together, while dealing with his own self-doubt.
Mat Dawson, one of the few members of the RPD's Special Weapons and Tactics unit, is lost and alone in the necropolis, stalked by a hideous Umbrella super weapon called Nemesis, hell bent on ensuring no one makes it out of Raccoon City alive.
Elza Walker, a famous motorcyclist, finds her own route out of Raccoon City marred by betrayal. She now faces the unenviable position of trying to escape the city, while protecting Roy Jefferson, a friend and member of the RPD, who was attacked by Umbrella mercenaries. Slowly, as Raccoon City dies around her, she begins to lose hope.
Rebecca Chambers, the sole survivor of STARS Bravo team, finds herself once again trapped in a nightmare she thought she'd left behind in the Arklay Forest. Despite all the chaos and death surrounding her, however, she begins to regain some of her faith, both in God and life itself.
Carlos Oliveira, a member of Umbrella's elite Biohazard Countermeasures Service, finds himself cut off from his comrades, save Mikhail Victor, his badly wounded commanding officer. Slowly, he begins to learn a new definition of the term hazard pay.
Yoko Suzuki, a student at Raccoon City's community college, finds herself casts adrift in the sea of madness overtaking the city. And as she survives trauma after trauma, memories she's long kept suppressed begin to resurface. Even if Yoko manages to escape, she has to wonder if she'll be the same person she was when the nightmare began.
But while the drama has already started, not all the players are on the stage. Key actors still remain in the wings, players whose actions will determine the fate of thousands…
Prologue: Busy Signal
(CLAIRE)
It was a bright, sunny day, the kind Claire Redfield enjoyed exponentially more when she didn't have class. Days like today, in other words.
She'd managed to get far enough ahead in most of her classes her professors had suggested she didn't even need to show up. Conveniently, those she had left didn't meet on Fridays, which meant she had her first totally free weekday in…longer than she cared to remember. She could do whatever she wanted, and right now, there wasn't anything the 19 year-old wanted to do more than hit the open road.
Chris would flip shit if he saw me she realized. Her older brother had stepped up when their parents died, and while she had nothing but love for him, there were times when he still thought of her as the insecure twelve year-old she'd been when they were orphaned. Despite all of Chris's strengths (and Claire would be the first to point that they were many), he had a hard time accepting that people changed, that they didn't fit into his somewhat black and white view of the world. Most of the time, she didn't really mind, and while it annoyed her when it came to boyfriends, it didn't hurt any that Chris's opinions were usually spot on…not that Claire would've ever admitted it.
Here, though, Chris would probably have a right to cringe. Claire had loaned her leathers to a biker friend about a week earlier, not anticipating a three-day weekend, which meant today she was left to normal street clothes: a black t-shirt, her favorite vest, denim shorts, and leather cowgirl boots. If she flipped…Well, I'll just have to make sure I don't.
Claire studied her bike, taking in her baby. She loved the thing; it had cost her no small amount, and she'd had to save for two years, but the bike was the one thing in her life that was truly hers. She'd been sure to pay it off all at once; it was one of the few things she owned herself.
She slung her saddlebag over the back, just behind the seat. In it she'd already packed two changes of clothes, a little water, an ice pack, and a couple granola bars for if she felt like stopping for a bite.
She'd managed to forget her helmet, though, which was something Claire didn't usually do. She was always a stickler for that; it was one of her few biking habits Chris actually approved of. It also hadn't been something he'd had to drill into her.
No, all it had taken for Claire to develop this particular inclination had been watching Jessica Lopez skid her brains out when they were both still in high school. Jessica had been her best friend growing up; they'd been like sisters to each other. But Jessica had always been a risk-taker, a daredevil, while Claire tended to be more cautious. Jessica liked attention, while Claire preferred to be more low-key.
It was Jessica who'd gotten her into biking in the first place. She'd just showed up one day outside the house Claire shared with her brother, astride a big, blue and black Mitsubishi, and told her to hop on.
Claire had been in love with the feeling of the wind streaming through her red hair, brushing against her skin. She knew then why Chris loved to fly, and why he'd become so melancholy when he'd been kicked out of the Air Force.
But it had also been Jessica who'd showed Claire just how dangerous biking was if you didn't take it seriously. Jessica liked to show off, and her biggest flaw had always been not knowing her limits. Claire could still remember watching her best friend skid down the ride on her face at several dozen miles per hour, remember the streak of blood she left behind on the blacktop, and hoped it had ended quickly for her, but knowing it probably hadn't. She knew those memories would stay with her until the day she died.
With that in mind, it was surprising to her that she'd managed to forget her most important piece of equipment. Muttering to herself, she headed back upstairs, toward her dorm…only to find Jaime Woods standing on the top step.
Jaime looked worried. Of course, that was the ordinary state of affairs for Claire's roommate. Someone had once, somewhat unkindly, remarked that, when most people were shitting bricks over a situation, Jaime had to ramp her game up a little and shit whole castles. It wasn't very nice, but Claire found she had to agree with that assessment. It wasn't that she didn't like Jaime (she did); she just felt like her roommate usually needed to take a chill pill.
But somehow, Claire immediately knew whatever was up, this time it was serious.
Jaime was holding the cordless phone she and Claire had pooled their money and purchased last month. The thing was nice, except Jaime had threatened to smother her in her sleep if she didn't stop forgetting to put it back on the charger when she was done with it. Claire was a naturally scatter-brained person; it was easy for her to set something down…and forget she'd ever had it in the first place.
At first Claire was a little concerned this was going to turn into another phone etiquette lecture, but before she could head things off, Jaime dove right in. "I can't get through" she said abruptly.
"What are you talking about?" Claire asked, but Jaime didn't answer. She just thrust the phone at her.
"Listen" she instructed.
Claire held the phone to her ear, but all she got was a pre-recorded message. "We're sorry, but all circuits are currently busy. Please hang up and try again later."
"I don't understand."
"That's what happens whenever I try to call anyone" Jaime replied. Before Claire could ask for clarification, Jaime explained. "I tried to call my brother Roger. Today's his birthday. But I got that message. So I tried calling my parents. Same thing. Everyone I call from home, I can't get through to."
Jaime was from Raccoon City, Colorado, born and raised. It had been through her brother Roger, a sergeant with the Raccoon Police Department, that Chris had heard of the newly forming Special Tactics and Rescue Service teams out west, and left Wisconsin for the opportunity to make more money and do something worthwhile. Claire had never met Roger, but it had been nice of him to think of her ex-military brother and send a job his way.
"Everyone in Raccoon City?" Claire repeated.
Jaime nodded. "Yeah. It doesn't make any sense."
"Let me try" she said, pushing the END CALL button on the phone, then dialing Chris's number from memory. She held it up to her ear, relief momentarily chasing away her doubt when she heard the other line pick up. "Chris, are you-"
"Hello, you've reached Christopher Redfield. I'm not able to reach the phone right now, so if you'd be so kind as to leave a message, I'll get back to you as soon as I can."
Claire ended the call, shaking her head. She hadn't heard from her brother in a couple months, not since he'd mentioned prep-work for a mission into the surrounding forest…then gone totally silent. She'd forgotten how much she missed his voice.
"What are we going to do?" Jaime asked.
"There's something funny going on here" Claire replied. She stepped past Jaime, the other woman following her to their dorm. Claire reached around the door and pulled her helmet from its place on their shoe caddy, then tucked it under her arm. "I'm going to get to the bottom of it."
"I-I'll come with you" the normally timid Jaime volunteered.
Claire shook her head. "No, you've got class today. Besides, it's probably nothing. Just an issue with the local phone lines or something. I'm sure everything is fine, but I've been meaning to go see Chris anyway. Now I can kill two birds with one stone." She looked down at her watch. If I really push things, I can be in Colorado by…seven PM. Wonderful. She sighed, shaking her head. "I guess I know what I'm doing this weekend. I'll call you when I get in. Chris should know how to find your brother; I'll be sure to tell him happy birthday from you."
Jaime smiled, a rare but radiant one. "Thanks Claire. You're a good friend." She looked at the wall clock. "Crap. Sorry, but I've gotta go. Class started fifteen minutes ago. Drive safe!"
Claire nodded and smiled. "Thanks. You have fun while I'm gone, okay?"
"Sure thing!" Jaime called back, taking the steps two at a time. Claire was impressed she managed to not fall and break her neck, but then, Jaime was talented.
"Well, I better get going" she said quietly, turning to pull the door closed…then stopped when she saw the small, tan leather rectangle sitting on the table nearby. For reasons Claire couldn't quite explain, she leaned in and grabbed her knife, slipping its strap over her left shoulder before locking the door and heading back down to her bike.
Somehow, she had a feeling she might need it.