Resident Evil: Dead or Aliveby Jaz Sharpe

Chapter One: A Tale of Nightmares.

Date: 5-24-13

Chaos. Beautiful. Chaos.

Another trigger pull; another demon terminated. I was starting to wonder if this nightmare come true would ever end. Behind me was Ian; his semi-automatic assault rifle was doing a great deal of damage to the horde. To my left was Renee; she was taking out as many as she could while dual-wielding a pistol and magnum. On my right was Drew with his MP5 in one hand and a frag grenade in the other. Our combination of different guns was the apparent key to our survival. We were at this point wiping the floor with the mob. Teamwork was a must.

"Hey, I'm running low on ammo!" Renee barked while slamming another clip into her pistol.

"What do you need?" I asked, kicking one of the monsters back.

"Whatever you got at this point." She replied.

I glanced over at the boys and quickly let them know of the current situation and that I needed some cover. I had Renee unzip my bag and snatch five clips for each gun while the boys did their best. She quickly re-zipped it and then got straight back to business. I spun around while taking my katana out then sliced two of our attackers in half before making the smart ass comment, "We wouldn't be in this mess right now if someone had remembered to park the get away SUV closer to the gas station."

Ian fired right back, "I obey my leader and parked where she wanted me to."

I chuckled and put my katana away, "There you go bashing on a girl again!" It was nice to blow off some steam. The horde's number kept increasing by the second. It was a wise decision to leave now; before we were eaten alive and crushed to death by the 'hungry'. "Make a path to the SUV now!" I commanded.

Everyone unclipped a frag grenade from their belt and chucked it into the chaotic crowd. The seconds ticked by slowly as we began to clear a pathway to our escape. Out of the confusion emerged the grim sound of barking. My heart sank deep into my chest and I realized we were doomed from the start. The grenades went off and a nice sized opening to the SUV 'magically' appeared in front of our eyes. Ian spun around and pushed me forward. We both booked it to his vehicle and were able to get in it without a scratch. Renee and Drew did their best to have the same results as we did.

"Hurry up and unlock it already!" I screamed.

Ian rushed to open the doors as the chaos drew nearer. At the last possible moment we hopped in and waited for our friends to arrive. Renee was lucky like us and made it while Drew began to disappear into the mass of bodies. The barking intensified and grew by the second as Drew pushed and fought his way through. He opened his door and threw his gear in when something in the corner of my eye caught my attention. I spun to see the hellhound leap into the air and crash back down a second later with its newest victim. The sound of meat ripping and crunching bones sickened me to the core.

"DREW!"

Why did this happen to us? If only I could go back in time before this all happened…

Date: 5-22-11

It was a typical day in the lakeside town of Whitehall, Michigan. A cool breeze from Lake Michigan and White Lake blew in and cooled us down. The temperature was a warmer than normal ninety-two degrees, but it was a nice way to close the school year.

We were enjoying the sunlight and breeze at Shoreline Elementary's playground. Renee and I were waiting for the school to dismiss the kids so we could venture inside and say our final 'hi' and 'goodbyes' before graduation. It was all a total blast and for a small period of time we got to act like kids again and then relive our childhood memories while doing so.

Of course in our group was Renee. We had been best friends since sixth grade and we had even planned to have one big open house for both of us. She was a little taller than me, but was super skinny just like me. Beautiful, long, brown hair accented her hazel eyes.

In the big wooden clock tower with Renee was her boyfriend, Drew. He was a junior, but got to play 'hooky' tomorrow just to hang out with us. Most of the time he acted mature, but with us he acted just like a kid. Drew stood at exactly six feet tall and his body resembled a stick with noodles attached to it. The love he had for Renee was endless and it made a lot of people jealous; even though most of them denied that fact. Blonde hair, which appeared to look red, covered over his green eyes that looked through his glasses. Glasses helped him, Renee, and Ian all to see.

Sitting on a wooden boat not far from them sat one of my other really close friends, Sammi. She was also a junior and got to play 'hooky' along with Drew, even though she wasn't too amused that Ian tagged along. Sammi always wore her shoulder-length black hair in a ponytail and tried to dress like a ninja. Her bright green eyes perfectly displayed her personality, which was happy and super spastic. I was going to miss her dearly.

Not far from her in the smaller wooden clock tower was Ian. He was the oldest and had graduated from high school the previous year. Coming all the way from Chicago; he came to visit for the summer, but his main reason of his visit was to see me graduate from high school. Over the couple of years that we got to know each other, Ian had changed drastically. The most noticeable was his size, which used to be on the pudgy side. Now of days he was skinny with a good muscle tone to show. He wore contact lenses now and wore his emo-cut, shoulder-length, dark brown hair with pride. I had asked him a couple of times why he had it cut the way he did and he told me it was because of his favorite anime character. We had always been close with each other.

Sitting in the tower next to him was me, Jaz. I was the only one in the group that had lived in Whitehall their entire life, and it was a nice advantage. Because of that I knew where everything was and when to do stuff that the people in town would frown at, like going to the gas station less than a block away at three in the morning to grab a slushie. I had shoulder-length, multi-shaded, brown hair with reddish brown eyes. I was skinny, but because of my martial arts training, was also very tone with a body many boys at school couldn't avoid. I hated it sometimes.

Sammi stretched out in the boat like a cat, "Hey, does anyone know what time it is? My stomach is getting really hungry."

In what seemed like the blink of an eye, Renee pulled her phone out then slid it open; beating Ian to the task, "Well, it's 3:17 right now. We only have five more minutes before Shoreline dismisses. I'm sure it won't take us too long to say hi to a couple of teachers, right?"

"I don't think it would, sweetie." Drew replied.

Ian yawned while stretching, "If that's the case, we can at least pack up our picnic gear and park the SUV up front where the entrance is."

"Sounds like a plan to me." I nodded in agreement as I slowly stood up. I stretched out and began to make my way to where our picnic table was. Everyone joined in and within a couple of minutes we had all our gear packed up and ready to be put into the SUV. We could see the kids leaving the school now; filing out in no particular order as the teachers ushered them to their destination. The kids seemed to be full of more energy than their educators. The sight made all of us grin as Ian opened the back of the SUV up. Our gear was handed over rather quickly as excitement filled the air. That was when Sammi spotted him; emerging from the forest not too far away.

"Jaz, look over there, there's a guy coming out of the forest." She whispered while tapping my shoulder.

My eyes glanced up to see what Sammi had spotted. She was right; out of the forest came a man that looked rather disheveled. At first glance, the man looked intoxicated because of the way he walked. With a closer examination we could see his clothes were dirty and ragged as if he came out of a hurricane or tornado. Something off the bat wasn't right about him I sensed. Everyone wondered what had happened to him.

"How many boos do you think he has in his system right now?" Ian snorted as he closed the SUV's back. Kids were still coming out of the school. My concern was automatically put on them.

No one answered for a minute until Sammi had enough guts to, "His clothing looks as if he was attacked. He might be hurt!"

"Ask him and see if he responds." Drew murmured.

Sammi nodded and asked loudly, "Sir, are you okay?"

All she got back as a response was a deep raspy moan. Something in my mind told me to keep away from the approaching stranger. Nobody else wanted to go over to the man either.

The closer he got; the worse he appeared and smelled. Decay drifted through the air and into our nasal passages fast and made a couple of us gag. My eyes focused and saw a ghastly sight. The man was covered in blood from head to toe basically and his clothing was destroyed beyond repair. What were once eyes were now white, oozing balls of jelly that had no iris to see through. Big chunks of skin and tissue were missing from his body, especially in the facial area. He had eaten his lips off basically and through a hole in his shirt was a rib that stuck out abnormally. Also the skin was much discolored. Any normal human being from just the injuries alone would have been in extreme amounts of pain, but not this guy. He just kept shambling over to us at a fast pace.

Sammi walked up to him and asked one more time very slowly, "Sir, are you okay? Do you need help?"

Another more animalistic moan came out of the man's mouth as everyone spun around in his direction. Fear slapped me across the face as I screamed over to Sammi, "GET AWAY FROM HIM NOW!"

My warning was too late though. She got near the man and took a very close look at him when he struck. Like a rabid animal he lunged for his prey, which was Sammi. His target was her throat and he wasn't going to stop until he had a bite out of it. Her hands pushed up against his shoulders and his arms tried to pull her in. We were frozen with terror until Sammi's shrieks for help snapped us out of the spell.

By then the two had wrestled each other to the ground and the man was on top of her still trying to bite a chunk out of her throat. I dashed over and kicked him in the side of the head. There was a sickening snap noise, but otherwise it did no damage. "What the hell?" I barked, preparing to strike again.

Sammi was ahead of me though.

The kick to the side of the head had distracted him for a second, which was long enough for Sammi to get her feet underneath him. She slammed her legs up, which caused the man to be sent up into the air. I then round house kicked him to the ground…

CRACK!

After I helped Sammi up I glanced over to see that the man that had just attacked Sammi was lying on the ground with his skull cracked wide open. It was a nice sight to see because it meant the stranger was not just dead, but beyond dead. The others rushed over and helped us to the SUV. None of the kids seemed to notice because none of them were left to witness the sight. Neither were their teachers, who were in the front of the school with them; helping them onto the buses.

"Thank God the kids didn't see that!" I croaked being rushed over to the SUV.

Drew was more concerned about us, "Let's get the hell away from here. Go to Jaz's house now!"

I looked over at Sammi to see her clothes were covered in blood. My heart sank from fear. "Did he hurt you?" I asked as I got into the SUV.

"No, I just got that bastard's blood all over me." Sammi said while jumping in.

Ian slammed on the accelerator as the SUV backed up. Everybody else jumped in and he pulled away; the man was still lying on the ground; lifeless. Renee pulled out her phone and tried to dial for help.

"What the hell was that?" Sammi cried losing her control.

I was shaking uncontrollably, "I don't know, Sammi, I just want to go home.

"We're almost there, just hold on guys." Ian said, turning onto Main Street. Even though he was driving over the limit and was endangering a lot of people's lives; Ian managed to make it to my house without any problems.

"I'm not lying to you ma'am, he's at the school right now! Please hurry!" Renee screamed. The operator was in just as much shock as we were. In the back seats, Drew hyperventilated, Sammi was crying, and Renee was trying to calm both of them down. Ian was able to park the SUV and jump out of it before he threw up onto the street. I pushed the passenger door open and booked it to the house.

"MOM!" I was crying the whole time.

She got off of the couch and ran to the front door, "Jaz, what's going on?"

I was only able to make it to the front steps before passing out from shock. All I remember was waking up twenty minutes later with Mum and Renee looking down at me. I was on the larger couch in the living room. Both of them were happy to see me awake and well.

"Ugh, what a nightmare." I shrugged while I pulled myself up. I looked outside and saw Ian up in the tree staring at me with a look of concern. He looked as pale as a ghost.

When Sammi emerged out from the kitchen in a new outfit carrying a bag of bloody clothes my heart sank down deep into my chest. I wanted to either puke or pass back out. I took another look outside to see Ian getting down from the tree outside and quickly make his way over to the house. By the time I had spun back around, Mum, Renee, and Sammi had surrounded me. Mum sat down beside me with a worried look upon her face.

"How do you feel?" She asked.

I frowned and shook my head, "I feel like the world I've known my whole life has just crashed down all around me."

"At least you're okay," Renee shrugged, "We had to run over to Drew's house to pick up his blood pressure medication. His poor heart was just about ready to pop open."

Mum handed me over a glass of water, which I chugged down without any hesitation. Slowly I got up from the couch and made my way over to the kitchen entryway before my knees grew weak. Ian bolted in and caught me before I plummeted to the ground. He helped me to the smaller couch and sat me down on it.

"Easy there, we don't need you passing out on us again." He whispered.

I nodded and propped myself up as he took the empty cup from my hands. He walked into the kitchen as Drew emerged from it. He looked just as flushed out as Ian did. He was talking to the sheriff on Renee's phone.

A minute passed by before the conversation ended and Drew updated us on the news, "Sheriff said he would be giving us a call in a couple of minutes. He said he wanted to have a word with us about the incident."

"They still don't believe us?" Renee asked.

Drew shrugged while giving her a hug, "I seriously don't have a clue on what's happening."

I nodded and tried to picture our police department doing an investigation on the 'incident'. A kid from across the street began to scream and I launched off of the couch to go see what was happening. Sammi ran over and sat me back down, "Easy there Jaz, the kid is just playing outside with his friends."

After I was clamed back down Mum went to go call Dad while everybody else took a seat where they could. Drew and Renee both sat down on the carpeted floor while Sammi sat on the couch I was previously lying on. Ian went to sit on the floor when I snatched one of his hands and pulled him back down next to me. He turned and gave me a smile before getting comfy. It took a minute for me to pop the question out to the crew.

"Do you guys think we should still go to the beach?"

Dead. Silence.

Even when my mum entered the room after her conversation with Dad, nobody said a word. I looked around and saw Renee nodding 'yes'. I gave her a small smile and nodded back in appreciation. Mum quickly picked up on the conversation.

"You all need to escape from this mess tonight. Go take a breather and have some fun, you guys are getting worked up too much." Mum replied.

"Are you sure you want us to go? What if something else happens and we're not here to stop it?" I asked.

She sat down next to Sammi and said what any good mum would say, "Don't worry about me or anybody else. You guys have been planning this since last year. Don't throw your plans out now. I'll give you a ring if something pops up, alright?"

"She's right you know," Ian whispered, "I didn't come all the way from Chicago to be worrying about something like what happened earlier. Besides it can't get any worse can it?"

Sammi gave him an annoyed look, "This isn't just about you."

"No Sammi, he's right," I shrugged. "Let's go do what we do best, which is having fun."

"Now we get to play the funniest game in the world; the waiting game." Drew sighed.

Everyone got a good laugh out of that, which we all greatly needed. It was weird to think that so much could happen in such a small time period. We all sat and chatted as we waited for the phone to go off. The negative emotions in the room seemed to magically vanish into thin air.

In my mind a small voice told me what had happened earlier was just the start to something much bigger. It was my sixth sense that most of the time tried I to ignore, but now I couldn't. I knew it was right, but like always I tried to doubt it and focused back to what was currently important; my friends. I looked over to each of them and saw the look of relief on their faces, except for Ian. He had the same look of worry that I did and that puzzled me greatly.

What was he thinking? Did he know of our fate like I did?

Only time itself would be able to show me the answer to that question. I was just hoping the answer would come sooner than later.

R.E 6