Resident Evil Desolation: The Zephyrus Chronicles

Chronicle One: Redwood's Ruin

Chapter One: Beginnings

Hello, my name is Stephen Caine. I am 24 years old. Over the last few years, my life was turned upside down. However at the moment my life is tolerable. I will explain how my life changed. It all happened four years ago on September 13, 2008. Everything was typical. Nothing ever happened in my hometown of Redwood, California. Life was good. However, something was a bit odd. It was a strange feeling that I had that day.

I didn't really pay any attention to it since life was the same as it always was. I did what I would usually do in the mornings although I spent some extra time in the mirror looking at my appearance. It was the end of my summer vacation and I was scheduled to return to college the next day.

After enjoying some time off during the day, I felt a little tired and ended up dozing off in front of the TV. I awoke to the sound of yelling and screaming. I thought it was too early for a party to be starting. It seemed my neighbours in my apartment building were causing trouble again. I blocked out the sound and returned to sleeping. Several minutes later, I heard someone violently banging on the door as if to break it down.

I quickly put my clothes back on and scrambled to find my baseball bat. I put my shoes on just in case I needed to escape from the intruder. I slowly unlocked my door and slowly began to open it. I was surprised to see that it was one of my neighbours. However there was something different about him. He wore bloody clothes and had a creepy appearance that was unlike him. He smelled like a dead animal.

He swiftly attacked me. I struck him several times in the head as he tried to strangle me. I swung as hard as I could and knocked off his was clear to me that he was dead but it seemed more like he was like one of those creatures in Night of the Living sure looked like he was a zombie. I backed off and closed my door. That feeling that I had was a warning about that.

I changed the channel to the local news station and was startled to learn that this was the beginning of a zombie reporters were scared. The explained the situation and what was happening outside. The anchorman knew that something like this would happen. He stated that the sicknesses that people were getting a few days before was similar to something in another area.

I had seen and heard enough. I quickly exited the room and saw more of them shuffling around randomly and moaning. There was no time for me to locate any survivors as I needed to focus more on my life. I tried to use the elevator but it was out of order due to a power failure that had randomly occurred at that moment. I quickly made my way to the stairwell and went down the staircase. As I went down a few floors, I was face to face with another dead man. He attempted to bite me but I struck him with the bat in the jaw and watched him fall down the stairs. I ran past him and got to the second floor and noticed that the stairs were broken and there was no way to pass that point.

I opened the door to the second floor and ran down the hallway to find a way out. I dodged all the undead that approached me and kicked the door to the room in front of me and found a large hole in the centre of the room. I looked down the hole and saw a few crushed zombies under a piano. I jumped down on to the piano and continued to make my way down the hall. I noticed that the exit was barricaded. I jumped through a broken window near the barricaded door.

I was shocked to see that the town was already devastated. It was hard for me to understand how this could happen so suddenly. I continued to make my way through the ravaged streets. I walked west towards the forested area near the park. There were many zombies walking around so I had to be careful and avoid them. I kept walking and eventually made it to the park. I saw many zombies in the area so I decided to quickly leave. I jogged past a couple bushes. I was grabbed by a zombie lying on the floor. It pulled itself towards my shin but I smashed it over the head with my bat until I saw a pool of blood around it.

I made my way to the forested area. I thought it would be a good idea to go to my old hangout spot. As I approached the area, I noticed that the place looked heavily guarded. There were makeshift gates and rows of barbed wire around the place. I entered through the door and was met with a gun. I quickly shouted, "Wait! Don't shoot! It's me, Steve!" The man wielding the gun lowered his weapon. He said, "Steve? How did you get all the way here without being attacked by those damn zombies?" I responded, "I defended myself with my trusty baseball bat." That was Stanley Roswell, my best friend's eldest brother. He quickly barricaded the door I entered. "It's not safe out there. This whole town went to hell. I never expected them to cause a mess like this without any warnings. They must still have a problem with me." He mumbled.

I wanted some answers. "Stan, what are you talking about?" I asked. He replied, "It was a business proposal. I rejected it and then they caused this. You know about me wanting to become a scientist right? Well some company called Zephyrus wanted to recruit me. I went to their facility to see what they had to offer. But I saw what they did. They claimed to be a pharmaceutical company but it was clear that they were trying to create weapons instead. They did human experimentation and used their drugs to make monsters out of those people. It was horrible. I wanted nothing to do with them. So I refused their offer and told them that I would never join them. They told me that they would not forget what I did. It wasn't long before they thought of getting back at me. I convinced my family that it would be best to move back to Redwood to avoid those people." He explained.

I understood. "I understand the situation. Is there anyone else here with you?" Stan nodded, "Yes, Alex and my younger brothers are here with me. But that's not all. Alex rounded up as many of your friends as he could. There are a lot of people that we knew that have been killed by those zombies. Derek, Morris, Jack, Jeff and Vince are here as well. They were lucky to be found by us. If not for us, they would have died like everyone else." As he had finished talking, my best friend Alex approached me. He said, "Steve! You made it, buddy! You're just in time. We are trying to come up with a plan to get out of Redwood at the moment."

Alex seemed to know the situation better than me. He continued, "You can't leave until the plan has been set. I know it sounds vague but you got to trust me. Remember that annoying kid, Rick Langston? Well, I've seen him a few hours ago. But the last thing I heard from him was that the hospital grounds were doomed. He said, 'Don't worry about the rest of your friends, they're gone…'" Alex turned towards me. He knew what this meant. He whispered, "Forget about everyone else, I don't quite understand exactly what happened to this place but I know this isn't good. I hope our families are aware of this as well or if they are okay. Maybe we just check. Anyways, we are in major trouble. Something big is going down…and it smells very fishy." Stan interrupted him. "Don't get carried away Alex! There's too much at stake right now. We can't look for our families. Steve, follow me. We are going to discuss what our plan of action is."

I turned to Alex, "Stan already explained everything to me. It's this Zephyrus group that caused this whole mess. If it wasn't for them we wouldn't be holed up here." While we were exchanging words, Stan declared, "You have all witnessed the full extent of this issue. I was already aware of this but nobody listened. It's just us here. Our parents are probably in the same condition as those freaks, dead and hungry for flesh. This starts our quest of survival now…"

Alex said quietly, "Is this the best way to approach things, Stan? I'm not so sure we can get through this at the moment." Stan shook his head, "Getting some medical supplies and arms is next to impossible. I know this because the police station and hospital are swarming with undead. Those locations got hit the hardest. Now, let's come up with this plan quickly before we are next." Alex nodded and replied. "Alright, you heard him, let's do this. I'll get my brothers involved as well." He left the room for a couple minutes.

Morris was worried. "This isn't going to end good for any of us! I can't believe this is happening!" Morris yelled. Jack was constantly walking back and forth. "Everything is not going well. We might be screwed. Man, we all have the worst luck to be in a situation like this." Vince didn't like the negativity. "Come on, we can't think this way. We're all going to die if this continues. Don't give up just yet. We can get through this if we work together." Jeff and Derek talked amongst themselves while we were waiting. Suddenly, Stan slammed his hands on the desk in front of him to get our attention.

"Alright guys, listen up. I prepared a plan to get us out of Redwood. First of all, I want you all to get a weapon. It doesn't matter what it is as long as you can defend yourselves. I don't want any casualties. I want you all to be able to escape. We'll be heading to the nearby woodworks to stock up on supplies and weapons. Once we get what we need we'll be heading to upper Redwood to reach the cable car station which leads to the outskirts of Redwood. Do you have any questions? If not then we'd better hurry up and get out of here." He explained. Jack decided to ask a question. "How do we know that the warehouse is actually safe? We might be heading to our deaths." Stan quickly responded, "We don't know that but it's our best bet at escaping with our lives. If you want to stay here, you're more than welcome to. I plan on get out of this hell hole." Jack sighed. "Alright, you've made your point. I have no choice but to go along with the plan. I just hope that we make it out of here alive."

Everyone else agreed. We got up from our seats and prepared for our escape. Morris was the only one that seemed to have doubts. Stan had some extra ammo for his gun. He took a metal bar with him just for better protection. We were prepared to leave. Suddenly, there were loud noises heard from the door. The barricaded door collapsed and undead people entered the room. We had to leave immediately.

"Ah!!! The zombies are coming in!" yelled Morris. Jack was annoyed. "Damn zombies. Why did they have to come now? I was just getting used to being safe in here." Jeff grabbed him. "Come on, Jack! If we don't get moving now, we'll be killed!" Derek rushed ahead of them. "Sorry guys but I'll be going ahead of you. Just be sure to hurry it up!" Vince began running to the backdoor. "Let's get out of here through this door!" I grabbed Morris and told Alex to run. We began bolting out the door. We weren't sure where we were going but we knew that it was bad to stay there. This was no ordinary day at all. This was the day that the zombie apocalypse began in Redwood, California…