Date&Time: September 25, 1998 04:57 AM

Subject(s): Multiple

Location: A small alley in a centre of a city.

Status: Terrified

The alley was dark and silent, apart from the noises the group was making while running; feet hitting on the hard concrete, heavy panting and scared voices. He held her arm firmly, towing her behind him. They had been on the move for all night and they were exhausted. They ran from gaps the rubbish filled garbage cans, cardboard boxes and other waste created. It had been sometime they had been previously emptied.

The leisurely and quiet city formerly brimming of life, well brimming on the scale of small cities, was reduced to total chaos at the hands of this new ordeal in seemingly only a couple of days. Previous months weird accidents and cases had filled the newspapers. Drinking water containing high amount of toxins. Rabid dogs attacking people. Weird animals and creatures were rumored to roam the forest surrounding the city and even the city's streets at night. Raccoon General Hospital had been filled with people that had a "Cannibalism disease". The disease compelled humans to aggressively attack and to try to eat the flesh of others and they had not been able to figure out what had been causing it.

These incidents had started at the Arklay Mountains and slowly spread to the city. A rumor about S.T.A.R.S teams being sent to investigate the mountains was also circulating among the residents, but since there had been no official reports or news, no one could say for sure. For some reason the incidents had been kept a secret. Initially most of the cases including the disease had been not published outside the local media, even when they began escalating to a larger scale.

The R.P.D and other officials had tried to keep the disease and other accident in check, and when the casualties began to reach critical levels, a medical company, Umbrella promised to solve the problem under the requirement of the incident kept secret. Reason for secrecy was to keep the rest of the country from reaching mass hysteria under the risk of a pandemia. Using its private military force, the UCBS, they quarantined the city from rest of the world with steel walls. The quarantine was a quick solution for the problem, but not the best. Countless civilians were now trapped inside the city with the infected. UCBS informed that it was doing the best it could to evacuate the now trapped civilians with the help of the remnants of R.P.D. But with the infected steadily wearing their manpower, they had problems. Only time could show the results in the end.

The group had been moving for some time, until they had finally lost them. They succeeded by running through a movie theatre. All the lights and machines still had power, and happy music was still playing eerily in the empty lobby. ´Shakespeare in love´ posters were hanging on the wall as if reminding the survivors that it had been completely normal just a few days ago. Popcorn crunched under their feet as they ran through the seats that were clearly abandoned in a hurry. Jackets and shoes left on the seats and floor. Beverages seeping from seats and a wide variety of snacks were just scattered around the hall. All the sounds and lights had bewildered "them", and escaping had become a lot easier after the movie theatre. But everyone knew that if they stopped, there would be more of "them" attracted there, so moving out of there as quickly as possible was important.

Bright lights shone from where the alley joined into a larger road. That was their destination. They had heard an emergency broadcast from the radio that instructed people to evacuate the city and if that was impossible, seek shelter from the UCBS or stay inside their houses until further notice. The group had discussed the possibilities and in the end chose to seek protection from the people with the qualifications to protect them. The large quantity of the assailants, made near impossible to get out of the city without being killed if they would not have. The UCBS had an outpost just outside town centre, where the survivors had been before the incident. It was not long before they would reach it. Only a mile or so left.

"Tony..." A weak voice rose from behind him.

"I know we are going bit fast but we´d better not lag behind. We're almost there so hang tight, okay?" He said knowing she was tired and trying to encourage her to continue. She didn´t say back at him. He kept his brisk pace. A thought about carrying her in his back came to his mind but was rejected. There was no way he had the energy or the strength to carry her right now. He was concerned that they would not make it, that he could not protect her, but he pushed those kinds of thoughts away. If they had to stop no one would help. It was everyone for themselves. The lights were getting closer and closer. Anthony noticed that the lights were moving somehow. He realized that they´d finally be safe. The torment that had gone on for the entire night was finally coming to an end. The relief was visible on everyone's faces. Safety

As they were getting closer, all other sounds subsided and the air was filled with the sounds of gun fire, explosions and people yelling. The group emerged from the alley and was instantly blinded by the bright halogen lights. They were in a direct spotlight. The street was not like a normal city street. It had been transformed to a complete war zone. All the buildings had been ripped to shreds; some of them had even collapsed. Buildings as cars were on fire. Some of the street lights had fallen to the ground; the light that blinded the group came from portable lights mounted on vehicles. The blast waves from explosions slashed trough the air, letting a red mist and a barrage of small chunks in to the air. A huge crowd of beings that were far from being people swarmed the street as far as eye could see. Soldiers repeatedly fired their assault rifles as the machineguns mounted on the roofs of Humvees blazed, mowing down the crowd of raggedy clothed people. A weird insignia could be seen on the sides of the Humvees. The other side had heavy casualties in the hail of bullets but sometimes one or two got through, injuring few soldiers. Those soldiers were brutally executed instantly by their own countrymen.

The soldiers closest aimed their rifles at them, communicating with each other. They were ready to pull the trigger just as they did on one of their own. Some survivors started yelling in order to make sure they´d understand that they were of no harm. Some expected the worst.

"We are human!"

"Don't shoot, there´s nothing wrong with us!"

"I'm not one of those things!"

"Stop right there!" The soldiers did not lower their guns, but instead they started barking orders. "No sudden movements or we will open fire!" One soldier turned around to command someone further away. "Get the Sarge over here!"

As more soldiers flowed to the scene, the pack of survivors was herded together. The soldiers kept their distance, still wary of the self claimed un-infected. The survivors noticed that these men were no ordinary soldiers. Outfitted with black boots, masks and tactical vests bearing a weird insignia; a red and white hexagon with swords crossing over it, the same that had been in all their vehicles. Few minutes later, one of them came forth, bearing not the typical tactical vest or a mask. He commanded half the soldiers to get in order to defend the location. Then he shifted his attention to the civilians and pulled his clean and brand new looking jacked tout in order to look more distinct than the men around the group. His insignia was now clearly visible on his jacket.

"I am Staff Sergeant Sanders of the UBCS. Any of you got bitten, hurt or blood splattered on you?" He asked in a monotonous yet calm voice.

From what they just had seen, everyone could figure out what was going to happen to those with any of the previously mentioned. Eyes began to turn to the girl next to Anthony. He moved slowly in front of Nina still not letting go of her hand. The Staff Sergeant noticed this and he saw the makeshift bandage in her arm and finally focusing on the young man trying to hide her. Anthony tried to keep his poker face, to make him focus on someone else but him. But the experienced sergeant was not fooled of course.

"How long has it been?" The Staff Sergeant inquired firmly.

"It's just a burn. It´s nothing to worry about, right guys?" He searched confirmation from his companions but all of them just stood there silent and awkward. Most of them even turned their eyes away, looking at the ground or anything else that wasn't his eyes. It was obvious that no one else wanted to get mixed up in this witch hunt the military was conducting.

"How long?" He inquired again this time, taking a couple firm steps closer.

His voice was now completely void of emotion if there was any to begin with. Anthony knew it was only a matter of time until she was categorized as one of them. He didn´t want to let that happen, not after all that they´ve been through. He had promised her to protect her. That he would not let anything to happen to her. Once again he looked through his fellow citizen's to stand up for him or her or at least do something, anything to help him. Even though it would have not been directly their fault, a person was going to be murdered by their passiveness. No matter how fucked up the world had become in this short amount of time, the cowardice and selfishness of man had not disappeared. Not getting any response from others he looked to the ground, clenching his fist. During the events that had taken place previously this night of terror, his accumulated stress, horror and desperation made the normally composed and decent young man explode into fury.

"You... ungrateful FUCKERS!" He began shouting to people surrounding him. "After all I've done for you, to this group! You sell me out the inst..."

"We have the cure!" Sanders interrupted him abruptly. He stated in a calming manner.

Anthony was silenced in an instant and he just stood there dumbfounded. After the initial shock, he thought for a second. "But...from what I´ve heard, the local hospitals couldn't figure out what caused this disease. That there was no cure yet. Isn´t that the reason you´re here? To cleanse the city? To make sure this doesn't spread outside."

Silent chatter broke out among the surrounded group. A middle-aged woman started sobbing, a man, presumably his husband, began comforting her. The others began moving uncomfortably.

"I see you figured us out, huh? I´m sorry but if she's bitten…" The sergeant said while opening unbuttoning his pistol holster.

The soldiers around him cocked their rifles. After seeing this, the woman bursted in to crying, his husband held her close and closed his eyes. The rest of the survivors were horrified, some even began to move back to the alleyway where they came. Anthony's whole body stiffened. There was no way out. He couldn't get storm the front or retreat as he could not outrun bullets. He didn't think that trained soldiers would miss even a moving target on a small alleyway.

"Pffft-HAHAHAHAHAA." Suddenly the Staff-Sergeant bursted into laughter. taking his hand of the pistol."HEHEHEEHEHEheheheh...heeh. Gotcha! Ok guys, that's far enough." He indicated to his men to lower their weapons.

The group was frozen. None of them made any noise or movement and only looked in disbelief at the soldiers. An older man was the first one to ask; "What?"

"Oh, the look on your face was priceless. I was just KIDDING! Rest assured, YES we are here to cleanse the city BUT also to look for survivors and we also have the cure for the disease." The smiling man said with a warm and reassuring voice.

"Is this a fucking joke to you? We have been trying to survive in this city..." Anthony began ranting at the man behind this supposed joke.

"Ok, ok, ok. I get it; it was a moment of bad judgment. As a token of my friendliness, let me check her wound and if possible even, cure her. I just need to see her wound and know how long it has been and how it took place. You see as soon as the outbreak occurred, we have been trying to create a viable antidote for this..." he sank into his thoughts for a second."...Virus."

"But Sir, I thought..." One soldier began but was silenced by a hand sign from the Staff Sergeant. He gave away his rifle as a sign of his intentions to help and to make him even less threatening. "And from our soldiers' experiences and tests, we were able to complete it as soon as we arrived to the scene."

"Five hours, from the bite…" As Anthony´s rage began to subside. The words slipped through his lips reluctantly. The others around sounded and looked relieved yet again. Anthony moved to the side as the Staff Sergeant came close to the still silent girl. The girl obediently lifted up her injured arm.

"The cure is real simple." He said, quickly unholstered his pistol and pushed it against the young girls head.

Anthony's eyes widened as the gun discharged. The gun powder expanded rapidly sending a 9mm hollow point round at a high speed towards the girls' forehead. Her head was knocked back. Blood, brain matter and skull pieces flew across the air. The body of the girl collapsed to the sidewalk. All the others began to panic but the herd was kept in check by the squad of rifle men.

"Simple is it not? Takes care of the problem and is most importantly fast and cost-effective." He faced Anthony, showing a deviant grin. "Found this natural remedy myself."

Anthony´s rage was kicked into an overdrive, as he tried to assault the gunman while letting out something of a war cry, but was stopped on his tracks by the butt of the pistol. Anthony fell to the ground shaken by the pistol whip and was without the strength to get up. All he was able to do was shed tears. Staff Sergeant Sanders walked back to his men, taking his rifle back. "Leave that one alive." He haphazardly pointed at weeping man with his pistol.

"But Sir, the orders were strictly not to..." The previous soldier informed before the pistol was discharged yet again, and this time at the questioning trooper.

"I grow tired of people talking back to me. Anyone else here wants to share their point of view about the orders that I have given." He asked while glaring intensively at the troopers still alive. "Good. Now finish the job."

"Sir yes, Sir" The other riflemen answered in unison with no intentions to argue with the loose cannon Staff Sergeant and started systematically eliminating the once again horrified survivors. Some of them tried to run along the alley but most of them didn´t have the time. Screams and gunshots echoed from the walls. Multiple lives ended in mere seconds. After something that was short of a bloodbath, only Anthony was remaining. He was alongside the body that used to be Nina, crying. Tears were running on his cheek and they were joined by blood from the wound on his brow.

"I tried, Nina, I really tried. I´m sorry…"

"Back to camp boys, all this noise in bound to attract more attention from them. We are done here for now."

As the soldiers were leaving Anthony tried to get up, but the hit he had received had impaired his movement for the moment. Soldiers loaded their equipment and men to the vehicle and as they were making their way back the brightness of the lights started to dim and finally faded away. The broken streetlights provided no light, and the few raging car fires were of no help. Darkness fell to the streets as the Humvees with the troops disappeared from sight. The street was full of bodies, flowing with blood. Nothing else was heard but the frustrated, desperate cries of the young man and the moans of the distant undead. He still held her hand.

AUTHORS NOTE:

My first ever writing project so please point out any wierd language/ bad grammar/stuff you dont review. Critisism is always good, even if its written competely in capslock and is even insulting. (Yes, that has happened to me before.) Just say something, anything. Even "Hi" is sufficient. Yeah, ok thanks.