RESIDENT EVIL
THE STAGE
Based on the stage play: "Biohazard: The Stage."
PROLOGUE
Rochester, Minnesota, 2005
In the blazing ruins of Rochester, Minnesota, Tyler Howard walked purposeless through the rumbling rubble beneath his charred shoes. His skin was numb, barely able to feel the rain that gradually drenched his body from head to foot. Even with his bulletproof vest to protect him, his body was badly worn and bruised, a bullet wound had found its way deep into the flesh of his right shoulder and, though he had bound it cheaply with bandages, it continued to soak through leaving a red stream down the right side of his uniform.
He had wanted so desperate to protect and serve, to be a cop and do right to the people around him. Yet how could he even call himself a cop when the city he was sworn to protect burned around him? Was he even still alive?
Exhaustion had begun to overtake him causing his sanity to waver.
He had begun to question if he too had become a zombie, a mindless shell of a man roaming the remains of his home. Was he no different than the shredded corpses roaming around him, climbing from the waves of fire to satisfy their endless hunger. He had been confronted with so much horror and death. How he'd managed this far was a miracle to even himself. But as the zombies approached he had to make a choice.
"I can't watch the world collapse..." He muttered softly to himself, choosing to reload the ammunition in his clip. Every round was a choice, a choice he made every time. To live or to die. This was his decision. The gun fired.