-1Resident Evil: Nightmare City
Prelude:
Somewhere in the outskirts of a city located in the mountains of Arklay, where this whole disaster began, lies a house. A small house with an even smaller backyard, a veranda and one of these self-made doghouses in front of it, although the family living here did not even have a dog. It is this house where our story shall start.
"Another one of this stupid mornings in this stupid city…", Alan moaned into his pillows. The alarm had pretty roughly told him that it was time for school, at a godless 6.30. He recently moved into this city, or to be precise his father WAS moved here by the corporation he was working for, and took Alan and his whole family with him.
His family, that were His mother Katherine Riley, his sister Alice Riley, his father Thomas Riley and himself Alan Riley, 18 years, sentenced to live and die in this cow-village.
When his father was ordered to move here he didn't even try to reject, as if he was threatened with a gun, or something.
Well, what did he expect? His father was a weak loser.
Cursing silently he fought himself out of the blankets and slowly shuffled into his bathroom.
A short shower and some teeth-brushing later he stood in front of the mirror with only his boxers on and looked at himself. His eyes starred back with their icy blue while his steel-blond wet hair fell into his face like a curtain.
Today was his first day at the new High School and he really was not happy about that.
He slowly walked out of the bathroom and snatched the clothes he wanted to wear. Some Stone-washed jeans and a black shirt with red ornaments, nothing special, but he liked that kind of cloth: Simple and inconspicuous.
Taking a last deep breath he walked out of his room and down the stairs of the house. He shared this storey with his fourteen years-old sister while their parents lived at the ground floor.
In the kitchen the rest of his family already sat at the small round table and had breakfast.
His father had the newspaper spread in front of him, as if he was hiding himself from the outside world. Directly next to him Alan's sister, Alice, was drinking from a large cup of coffee (she was a bit young for that, but their parents did not mind) and was obviously doing some homework which she needed for today.
Katherine Riley, his mother, just loaded some pancakes from a pan on his plate. It were at least five to seven of the pretty fatty dough-wafers, he wouldn't be able to finish only half of them.
"Oh morning, darling", his mother chirped.
"Morning…", Alan replied silently. He did not know where her mother got this happy attitude from. He was still angry with his father.
"There wasn't a paper today, had to read that old one and radio only plays music. What a crap", Thomas Riley said behind his paper-wall, without even greeting Alan.
"Uh… huh", the blonde boy said disinterested while he stabbed some of the pancakes with his fork and stuffed them into his mouth.
"Well, seems like that cannibal-group got another one. But you surely missed that, don't you?", he added a sneer to his voice.
"Must have", Alan mumbled with a full mouth. Actually he exactly knew what his father was talking about, but he wasn't interested in a chat with him He really hated his father for what he had done to him.
"See, that is why you always got these bad grades in your old school. You miss the most important stuff", the blond old man said.
Alan saved an appropriate answer and stood up. He had quite a long way to school and did not want to have to hurry.
"Hope you have a nice day, bro", Alice said sarcastically. She wouldn't have to start school until next week, because there was a short vacation at her new Junior High right now. Her lips formed an evil grin.
"Yeah, go stuff your bra…", Alan replied coldly.
The young girl's chin fell down while Alan already headed for the front door.
"Alan!", his father shouted. "Get back here, you will apologize to your sister now!"
He did not even think of doing that, instead he grabbed his skateboard and his backpack and walked through the door. His mother chirped something like: "Be careful on your way" after him while he already stepped on his board and let it roll down the shallow hill towards the inner parts of the city.
Inside of the house Thomas Riley laid the paper on the table showing his face again. Alan always described him as a man with "the face of a hawk and the brains of a dove". That was a fitting description for this man. But actually his stabbing eyes and his hard attitude was only for show, he never used somewhere else then in his family.
"I will have to talk to him tonight, he still is so aggressive", Thomas said into his wife's direction. Katherine sighed. "He is a good boy. You shouldn't be so mad at him."
"You're too soft. He needs a hard hand, nothing more, nothing less." Alan's father stood up and took his keys from a kitchen-table.
"I have to go now, got to be on time today."
"Yeah, see you tonight, honey", Katherine said and her husband walked through the door.
The small garage on the right side of the house perfectly fitted into this white house and the old Dodge in it completed the picture of the perfect neighborhood.
This house was one of the thousands that belonged to the corp. he was working for and was far away from the inner parts of the city. He was really thankful for this little gift, which protected him from the crowded streets and dirt in the uptown.
Thomas Riley climbed into his car and drove out of the entrance passing his perfectly cut meadow on the way.
With the car he was much quicker then his son and got to his firm in only ten minutes, he did not even notice that there were only very few people on the streets. He already was thinking of the transport. He had to get a very important cargo delivered from his firm to another factory in the uptown today. If he would get this job done properly he'd be promoted, if not…well…his corporation was not good in handling incompetence. Most likely he'd lose his job. Trying to calm his nervously trembling hands he drove onto the gigantic parking-lot of his company. The logo of the corp. was placed on the roof of the big building and threw a shadow on the parking lot.
A red and white umbrella.
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When you follow the Ennerdale Street to the east you will eventually come to the corner where it is crossed by the Davies Street. At this corner you will already see the Raccoon High school.
The building was a big grey cube with windows. The only thing that made it at least a bit friendlier was the small green square behind the school. Ten blooming oak-trees stood in two rows on some grass and granted some shadow for the students on hot days.
On this pretty cool morning it actually was not necessary to use this shadow, but still one sole person in a muscle-shirt and blue-jeans leaned on one of the trees and tried to cover himself from the sun.
The bell for the first lesson would ring soon and then he'd have to go into the building through the rays of that big yellow monster.
His name was Rick Misamoto and he hated the sun.
He was partly Japanese and his skin was burned much quicker then that of any normal American. Well, at least he thought that it had to do with his genes; it was rather unlikely that this was correct.
His hate against the sun actually started five years ago, after his father had been killed.
In that night his father and Rick had just watched a new samurai-movie in cinema and walked through the warm night of that summer. When these three guys appeared Rick was startled and unable to react. They were from a street-gang and wanted all of their money.
Rick's father pulled the boy behind himself. He was a great fighter and even the master of a Kendo-Dojo, but against a semiautomatic he was chanceless. The bullets pierced his chest and heart before he could even make one move. Rick could not understand it until he fell to the ground and remained there. The only twelve year old boy stared at his fathers dead body and then at his murderers. They were already gone leaving the boy next to his father's bloody corpse. He did not even see their faces; the police never found them.
With his father's murderers nothing but anonymous shadows, Rick needed something else he could hate. And he chose the big smiling fireball high in the air that was always making fun of him.
Anyway, after his father had been buried his mother took the boy back to her home-country. She had only been in Japan, because she was an archeologist and wanted to dig some stuff up (at least she always told that to Rick) and on her journey through the country she met her father, that's the story.
Well, and now he was here, five years older and still pissed by the sun.
"Hey, Rick!"
Alright, the sun was not the only thing that pissed him off.
"What?"
A girl stood in front of him, she had long black hair and green eyes. Her clothes were made by a famous designer and most likely more expensive then Rick's whole cupboard. The girl's name was Samantha Douglas and she was openly called a shrew, but for Rick this was far too friendly.
Rick had no idea where she had been coming from, but he'd have to deal with her now. She bent down, looking at him with a cruel smile. "Why are you always sitting here?", she asked in a very friendly tone, far too friendly.
"How does it concern you?"
"Well, the girls and me, we wondered, if you might have a symbiosis with this tree?" She must have thought that one really funny, because she was laughing manically along with her fan-club, which had just shown up behind her.
Rick for his part could not find anything funny plus she was annoying him with these stupid jokes for ages now. He was so fed up with it.
"Buzz Off!", Rick shouted clenching his fists. The girls giggled even more and ran into the building through the back-entrance. He almost lost it and would have hit her, but the bell had saved the stupid snobby girl. The first lesson would start now.
Rick covered his eyes and ran into the school as quick as he could. The sunbeams felt like needles.
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"Really I don't have any money, I swear", the small brown haired boy sniffed shivering. He was surrounded by a group of three boys, who were all twice as tall (and wide) as him.
"Hope ya didn't forget our deal, eh? Thirty dollars a week and ya'll live. Otherwise yer dead meat", the fattest boy shouted and his voice was reflected by the walls of the boys room, where this little chat was taking place.
"No, I haven't forgotten, Edge, really!"
The small boy, whose name was Ben Carter, had always have to deal with these kinds of guys: In Elementary, Junior High and now even here. You could find guys like them everywhere and they unluckily found Ben everywhere, too. He had always been the weakest, the worst in sports and the best in all other subjects. Exactly that was the combination that boys like "Edge" always liked to pick on.
Edge gave him a hit, which drove Ben against another wall and made him moan in pain. "Then ya'll better get me that money tomorrow, or else…", the fat guy grinned evilly and swung his fist.
When he finally was alone again, Ben tried to sit up and held his hurting head.
"Oh man"
Well, he was in trouble now. He did not have the money and no one to ask for it.
His parents could surely give it to him, but they did not know of his problems in school and if they would know it, it would only worsen the situation.
His mother was like a hen, she always kept him away from any harm, meaning that he was never allowed to do any sports where you could get hurt and he, of course, was not allowed to see movies with violence or play the most popular video-games.
Thus, at least partly, it was her fault that he had become such a weakling.
Anyway, he had to get that money to live through another week. With this strategy he had survived since elementary. But now he spend all of his money on the new laptop he kept save in his locker. Maybe, he could cut somebody's meadow this afternoon, or something like that. If that wouldn't work…he did not even want to think of that. The boy called "Edge" had already brought some people into the hospital and that name referred to a big knife he was always carrying. At least that was the rumor.
Standing up he heard the bell ringing. It was time for the lessons.
He left the restroom in thoughts and almost hit the floor again. A running-by boy hit Ben's shoulder with such a force that he was thrown against one of the locker-rows and moaned in pain again. He looked after that guy and saw wild blonde hair and a black shirt with red ornaments. That guy did not even try to apologize… still, Ben was far less angry then he was jealous. He wanted to be as cool as that boy. Even through the shirt he could see his biceps-muscles.
"That guy…", he whispered. While he had never learned how you could fight against people like Edge, this guy would never be controlled. He would fight and defeat them. If Ben could be like that his life would be different, he would be free, free of his weak body, free of his hen-mother. But that seemed impossible.
He shook his head quickly to clear it from these stupid thoughts. The lesson would start very soon.
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When Diana King gave her father a kiss for goodbye she knew that she would be too late for class today, the first lesson should be running for three minutes already.
"Damn…damn…damn!", the beautiful girl cursed as she slammed the door of the car open and ran out. She did not want to be late, but in the last few weeks it happened every so often.
Maybe this was because of her latest relationship, because her boyfriend betrayed her with some bitch? Because he always told her stories of big love and now dumped her like a piece of trash, AFTER having his fun with her, of course?
Yeah, most likely that was why.
She felt the hate and rage coming up again while her father winked a last time and the cap drove away. He worked as a taxi-driver in the city and had to drive all day long to earn enough money for both of them to make a living, but still he drove her to school every morning.
She took a deep breath and tried to calm herself down. Luckily there was no chance that she could meet her ex in school. He was a few years older and already skipped school without a certificate. He was not very intelligent and not the right kind of boy for her, but she fell for him. Even her best friend Toni warned her, but she wouldn't listen to anyone…that was a mistake.
Doesn't matter anymore… , she thought depressed and walked towards the main entrance. It was a beautiful day, approximately 25 degrees Celsius, but not many people were outside.
Actually it was a weird day to begin with. First no newspaper was delivered and then the radio had no news, too. She had heard on the last day that the police had found even more victims of the cannibals. Pretty near the city now, that was kind of worrying, but her father said that they would very soon get these murderers.
It was only two weeks ago that the members of the Special Tactics and Rescue Squad, S.T.A.R.S., came back from investigating the Raccoon Forest and spread stories of monsters and zombies. Ridiculous.
As most of the city Diana had thought them to be crazy and did not believe them, but now after the murder-cases increased in number, she was not so sure anymore.
A movement next to her made her turn her head.
The sound of rollerblades mixed with the gongs of the bell as a girl of her age struggled along the walkway directly towards Diana. She blinked once, but it was too late for any reaction.
The girl on the skates rushed into her and both of them fell to the ground, landing on their butts.
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Approximately halve an hour earlier:
"No, mom, I don't want a driver", Toni said, while she was sitting on a chair next to the door of her house. She had a pair of rollerblades in her hand and was just trying to get them on.
Next to her stood a middle-aged woman with hazel eyes and blonde hair, her loving and sometimes annoying mother.
"But, Antonia…err…", her mother tried, but closed her mouth again. She knew that her daughter did not like her full name "Antonia" Williams. It sounded so snobby. She was just "Toni", for her friends and family, but her mother seemingly had trouble calling her by that name. It did not exactly fit in the society that the Williams were living in (or thought they would be living in).
"You know why I don't like you walking to school alone. People could kidnap you to blackmail dad."
Okay, her family was rich; her father was the owner of Raccoon's greatest bank in the uptown. He had connections to the powerful Umbrella Corp. and managed million-dollar funds for them. But, to be realistic, her family was not really part of the high society, even though her mother always liked to pretend it. The really rich people of the city (who were high investors of Umbrella) always looked down on them.
Well, Toni never cared of what these snobs thought; she was a normal girl and lived exactly like one. That was why she did not want to be driven to school by the family's driver. She was nothing special because of her money and wanted to show that.
"If anyone touches me, I'll kick their sorry a…"
"Please, Antonia, watch your language…", her mother sighed. "… there is this cannibal-cult…it's dangerous out there."
"Next you tell me that these cannibals are the reason why the radio doesn't work, huh? Mom, please, that's just an idea created by a journalist who could not find a decent story."
An absolutely ridiculous idea, isn't it? Even if the radio is not working since last evening, that surely was just a problem with the antennas or something.
Toni closed the last bracket of her skates and stood up. Sadly the school was in the uptown of Raccoon, meaning that she had quite a long way from their house downtown, but with these Rollerblades she'd be there pretty quick.
"Well, I'll be gone then. If I meet the cannibals I'll greet them from you", the dirty-blonde girl smiled at her mother, who wasn't the one to take such jokes.
Opening the entrance door she was already on her way, she could hear her mother saying something, but the noise of the skates swallowed it.
The house of the Williams was only a few meters away from the City Hall, thus Toni had to pass the big iron-gate with that ridiculous clock in front of the Hall every morning. It was always open and as far as she new there not even was a possibility to shut it, at least no button or something.
She rolled along the Warren Street that was named after the major Michael Warren, a close friend of her father, passing some of the still closed shops of the shopping district until she finally reached the Ennerdale Street and took a left towards the High School.
Another thing besides her name that Toni had to deal with was that her parents always wanted to send her to a private school. You know, these factories that produce mindless snobby members of the upper society…
It took Toni quite a time to convince them of the Raccoon High. Luckily her best friend Diana did provide her with back-up in that talk.
Well, this was then and now she was more concerned of coming late for first lesson. When she turned into Davies Street, she already heard the bells of the school ringing and tried to get some more speed. She dodged a few trees and finally could see the main entrance and a familiar figure with long brown hair. Diana was late, too: A rare sight.
Most likely because she is experiencing a lousy time of life just now…, Toni thought while the girl turned her head in her direction.
She had warned her friend not to engage with that bastard, but she was in love…or thought so…she just did not want to see the truth. At least until that guy stole her virginity and dumped her afterwards. Diana's heart was broken and still is.
All these thoughts rushed through Toni's head in only two seconds, but that was much too long. She noticed that Diana was now much nearer, much too near!
WOOAMM
The two girls found themselves on the walkway, Diana looked at her annoyed.
"Uhh…sorry…couldn't brake…", Toni mumbled holding her hurting head.
"Next time… watch your way, girl", her friend replied, but she managed to quickly stand up again and reached her hand out for Toni.
The dirty-blonde girl grabbed it and pulled herself to her feet…err…skates again.
They were already late, but at least they managed to class before their teacher.
A normal day starts.
For these five people the day will bring the living horror.
A normal day starts…in Raccoon City