Author's note: This story is based on the Resident Evil Outbreak game. However, certain events differ from those in the game, because I thought it was more important to try to write a good story than to follow every event religiously. Some in-game events seemed too 'video game-esque' to put into words, so I have added some of my own events, while trying to follow the main story appropriately. I hope you enjoy reading it!

Thursday 24th September 1998, Raccoon City

When Alyssa opened the door to her apartment building and stepped inside, it was almost morning. Carefully, she peered inside and looked around before motioning to the man behind her to follow. They walked across the lobby to the elevator, and as they waited, he leant across and whispered something in her ear. She laughed abruptly in the near darkness and they stepped inside, riding to the eighth floor and then walking straight across to her apartment. She let him inside and then followed, slamming the door behind.

A few hours later, Alyssa woke up to the sound of a door closing. It was heavy, slow – unmistakably the front door. The alarm was sounding, and when Alyssa turned it off she could hear the chorus of birds in the park across the street. She could hear the ping of the elevator arriving, the click of footsteps, the mechanical sound of the doors closing, and then the birds again.

When Alyssa put her coffee cup in the dishwasher, and after having showered, dressed and picked up her laptop and briefcase, she left her apartment and went downstairs. She stepped into her car, a silver Honda Civic, and began the short journey to work. Detached houses gave way to rolling hills, abundant green in the suburban surroundings she had lived in all her life. In ten minutes she was downtown Raccoon City, and she parked her car outside a café, buying another coffee and a copy of the morning paper before hurrying back to the car to avoid the rain. In semi-darkness, she spread the newspaper on her lap and stared at it as she sipped her latte. She was early, which, considering she was out late most nights, was very rare for her. Today, however, was special. On the front page of the Raccoon Today was the latest development in the city's biggest story in living memory. And, today, it was her story.

At the top, in full colour, was the photograph she had taken herself, after hours of trekking through the Arklay Forest - against the strong advice of her colleagues. In it, police tape stretched in a tight square around a group of trees. In the middle, two officers could be seen speaking to each other, one with his hand over his mouth.

The second coffee, mixed with the heady excitement of her latest journalistic breakthrough, had started kicking her brain into motion. Alyssa had been dreaming about landing a sensational front-page story since she started, and today's would be on everyone's lips. No one could fail to notice the disappearances in the forest over the summer, least of all the Raccoon Police Department. People in town were found murdered with alarming frequency, and alleged sightings of strange creatures stalking the streets at night only added to the public frenzy. And, of course, the whole episode had reached a climax when the illustrious Spencer Mansion had suddenly exploded in the middle of the night back in July. Since then, people had continued to disappear, and the consensus was that it all had to come to some kind of climax in the near future.

This story was her chance, she knew it. So it was that the usually nocturnal Alyssa Ashcroft found herself sitting in her car before work at daybreak. Every weekday her editor held meetings in the morning and evening to discuss the paper's current agenda. The murders were the main topic, of course. But, being a local paper, seasonal events and human interest stories still dominated the bulk of the day's news. This story was a big chance, and she had to take it seriously.

Finishing her coffee, Alyssa stuffed the paper cup down the side of her seat and started the car again. It was a short drive up Main Street to the press office, and she felt wide awake now. She pulled up to the building, unremarkable against the backdrop of almost identical structures which made up the bulk of Raccoon's commercial district. It was easy enough to find a parking space so early; clearly, few others would bother with the meetings today. Sitting in the car park, Alyssa took a moment to think about the task ahead of her. She took a deep breath and as she stared out of the window. It had stopped raining now, and drops of moisture slid down the windscreen, obscuring the view ahead. At this time of day, the car park sat in the shadow of the office block. Alyssa stepped out and looked around, searching for one car in particular. There were half a dozen, most of them undistinguishable apart from the red Lexus Coupe belonging to her editor. Not finding what she was looking for, Alyssa continued towards the front door.

Inside, she strode confidently towards the lift at the back of the reception room and was startled by an excruciatingly cheerful voice from behind the front desk.

"Ms Ashcroft!"

Alyssa turned and faced the woman staring at her.

"Hi, Anita."

"How are you doing? I have to say, I'm pretty surprised to see you here so early! I guess this is a big day for you though. I saw the article, it's great. Tony will be happy."

Alyssa gave a blank smile and nodded. The lift arrived quickly and she stepped inside without another word. Anita gave an animated "Bye!" as the doors closed. Alyssa closed her eyes and let her head tip back, enjoying a brief moment of peace. This quick exchange with the receptionist reminded her why she avoided mornings; conventional social rituals were, simply, distracting. She had bigger things on her mind today.

The lift doors opened and Alyssa stepped out into the second floor hallway. As she walked to the far end of the hall, she passed empty glass-fronted office cubicles, the drone of idling PCs filling the room. She stopped, straightened her suit jacket and took one final breath before stepping into the conference room. She was right, few people had bothered to come in this morning. Five journalists sat together, sipping coffees and chatting, and across the table, a thin, grey-haired man was flipping through files busily and making notes. He looked up and smiled as Alyssa walked in.

"If it isn't the lady of the moment! Good morning, Ms Ashcroft."

"Hi, Tony. Busy morning?"

"You have no idea."

Alyssa noticed a line of empty cups in front of Tony Daniels.

"Where is everyone?" Alyssa asked, sitting down and powering up her laptop.

"Sick, apparently. And it doesn't help that my other star reporter is locked up in a police cell in the middle of our busiest season in a decade."

"Ben?"

Tony nodded.

"He was caught snooping around the RPD last night, wouldn't even tell me what lead he was following. Something big, the guy seemed pretty confident."

Sarah, the only other woman in the room, piped up:

"What did he do? Try and bribe the Chief for a lead?"

Everyone laughed. It certainly wasn't beyond the realms of possibility as far as Mr Bertolucci was concerned.

"All I know," Tony said, "is Ben used his one phone call to let me know he'd be spending some time in the RPD, and not to expect him at work for the next few days."

Alyssa frowned.

"Anyway," Tony began, "let's get on with today's agenda. Alyssa, fantastic work on the city slayings story, I think you've just upped the excitement on this one five-fold."

Alyssa didn't look up, she was busy signing on to her computer and opening a word processor to start taking notes.

"I guess it's hard to say where to go from here. We had a call last night from some woman, says she was on her way home from the store and saw a very strange bald man hanging outside South Raccoon Station, covered in blood. Sounds like it could be our 'night stalker'. You happy to follow up on this one, Alyssa?"

Alyssa nodded, and noted the woman's address. An eyewitness interview would be an ideal follow-up to today's summary. Of course, this housewife could have been high on crack last night, or telling tales to grab some attention. She would have to gauge it when she paid her a visit later. But the pieces of this story were falling into place just as expected, and Alyssa could already envisage months of further work oozing from this murder mystery. If she played it right, she could be writing for the New York Times by this time next year.

"Not much else for you today, guys. Jacob, are you good for tonight's game between the Racoon Sharks and the Old Court Thunders?"

"Sure thing, boss."

"Should be a good one. It's been a quiet week for sports, thank God people in this town are still stupid enough to go walking in the forest at night with a serial killer around, huh."

Alyssa had already switched off mentally when Tony started working through his list of filler stories: the mayoral elections next month, the teachers at Raccoon High threatening another strike, the alarming rise of the local bird population.

"If you don't mind, Mr Daniels, I'm gonna get on with my research for my interview."

"Of course, Alyssa, don't you waste a minute. I spoke to the woman on the phone for a little while last night, her story sounds pretty interesting. I'm counting on you to keep this place afloat"

"No pressure, then!"

The staff shared a polite laugh as Alyssa closed her laptop and headed out of the conference room. Reaching the lift, she stopped and turned to the left, deciding to take the fire escape to avoid having to see the receptionist again.

Spending the rest of that morning back in her favourite café, Alyssa sifted through all the articles she had written on the murders to date, taking notes, and organising questions for her interview. At midday, she had her questions formed and it was late enough to phone her witness. Opening her briefcase, she took her mobile phone, pulled the aerial up and dialled the number Tony had given her for Mrs Murphy. After a short conversation, they arranged to meet at her house at 1:30PM. Alyssa hung up and ordered another coffee.

Almost an hour and a half later, Alyssa pulled up outside a large detached house on the other side of town. It was wooden and painted red, with blue window shutters and a generously sized front garden. She was in the oldest part of Raccoon, where the town had originated. This area was popular with large middle class families, although properties in the neighbourhood were shockingly cheap for their size. The white picket fences and double-car driveways were almost alien to Alyssa.

She checked her phone for the time, and saw she was early. Another hour sitting with the Racoon Today crossword and her own thoughts had begun to numb her senses, so she had left the café early and began the drive to this strange part of town. Alyssa climbed out of the car and walked up to the front door. The garden had been completely cleared of autumn's first leaves, apparent in most of the neighbour's gardens. But it was littered with familial artifacts; a pile of women's magazines resting on the arm of a sun lounger, a dog kennel, a doll. The whole place reeked of normality. Alyssa reached the front door and knocked sharply. Almost immediately she heard the sound of footsteps rushing towards her and the door swung open to reveal a sweat-drenched woman wearing a pink tracksuit.

"Hello?" she said.

"Mrs Murphy? I'm Alyssa Ashcroft, we spoke on the phone."

Sitting in the living room, Alyssa waited as Mrs Murphy went to the kitchen to make coffee. The inside of the house was as she would have expected: neat, homely, and somewhat feminine. Alyssa wondered what kind of man Mr Murphy was. She laid her laptop next to her and took her notepad from the briefcase, flicking through pages and making multiple, almost unconscious connections in her mind as she revised the questions she was going to ask. Mrs Murphy appeared with a tray and laid it on the coffee table, taking a seat on the sofa opposite. Alyssa picked up her cup and took a sip, peering at Mrs Murphy as she took her own drink. A Jack Russell puppy had followed her in, and he curled up and quickly went to sleep at her feet. Alyssa put her cup down and began the interview.

"Thank you for having me, Mrs Murphy. What I'd like to do today is just a simple Q and A, to get a sense of what you saw and how it relates to my story. How does that sound?"

"Yes, that's fine…" she began. "Please, call me Sally."

"Sally, okay. If I could just start by getting a sense of what you were doing when you witnessed this man you mentioned."

"Sure. Well, I was driving home, it must have been about a quarter to ten because I pick my son up from soccer at half nine. I stopped at the grocery store for about five minutes and my son waited in the car, this was at the S-Mart, just by the school."

"And that's where you saw him?"
"No. I got back in the car with my groceries and drove for another minute or so before I stopped at a red light, just outside the subway station."

"South Racoon Street?"

"Yes. So I stopped at the light and it seemed to be taking forever. The light wasn't changing, so I looked around and noticed a man coming out from the subway."

"This was the one you told us about? The bald man?"
"Yes. I was curious when I saw him. He looked like a bum, tattered clothes and all. And he had the strangest eyes. I mean, I don't know if it was the street light or if he was drunk or what, but he looked so violent…"

As Sally spoke, Alyssa was nodding all the time, her hand racing back and forth across her notepad as her mind translated everything into shorthand. When she stopped, Alyssa looked up and prompted her,

"So what did you do next?"

"Well, I couldn't move without running the red light, so I just stared at him. He stopped when he came out of the subway and just looked around a bit. He looked so stupid, I don't know how else to describe it. He wasn't moving, but I slowly reached over and locked the doors. Then he looked at me!"

"He looked at you? Did he seem threatening? You mentioned he was covered in blood."

"Yes, that's not an image I'll forget soon. His face was red, and the front of his shirt, too. He looked like he's been puking blood! When I locked the door he looked at me suddenly and started running for the car."

Sally was animated now, making hand gestures to show what was happening.

"And then what?"

"I'm sorry, but I floored it and ran the light. This all happened in, I don't know, thirty seconds? But I didn't want that man anywhere near my son. I sped up and didn't look back until I got home."

Alyssa smiled at Sally's apology for running the red light. Who did she think she was, the police? Alyssa wondered what she would think of the lockpicking tools in her briefcase. She wouldn't include a detail like a driving felony in her article. It all, however, added to her overall impression of the woman. The story of a boring housewife getting hysterical over a little run-in with a local homeless man was amusing, almost trivial. Then again, her story needed credibility as much as sensationalism.

"So you got a pretty good look at him? I don't suppose many people were around at that time?"

"No, there was no one. Can you imagine? All alone on that long street with that man lurking next to me?"

"I can't imagine. Did your thoughts turn immediately to the serial murderer?"

"Well, no. I don't know what I was thinking, really. The man startled me, to be frank. I was pretty shook up when I got home, so I just got my son inside, locked the door and told my husband. I even left my groceries in the car, the milk was bad this morning."

"Okay. If we could just go back to the encounter…Could you describe the man in more detail?"

"Well, I can't remember what he was wearing, except that his clothes were ruined. I think they were brown, like he'd fallen in the mud or something. His face was kind of expressionless until he looked at me. Then he seemed angry, and I couldn't understand why, I was just sitting there. He must have been drunk or something."

"And the blood, there was lots of blood?"

"Yes, that was the scary thing really. I mean, what had happened to him? Maybe he was in a fight or something. I dread to think...If he really is the serial killer, what had he just done?"

Driving back from her interview, Alyssa couldn't help smiling. It was barely mid-afternoon and she already had tomorrow's story completely formed in her mind. Whether Alyssa personally believed it had merit was unimportant. It would be more front-page material, without a doubt. The raw data sat right next to her, scribblings she would just have to write into a comprehensible article by the evening. Far from daunted, she was itching to get the thing written so she could walk into the office and hand in what she knew was very good stuff.

Alyssa's thoughts were interrupted by her ringing phone. She quickly stopped the car on the quiet residential road and answered it. She knew without looking at the screen it was her editor, it always was.

"Hello Tony."

"Alyssa. How was the interview?"

"Fantastic. But you could have warned me how damn average the woman was."

Tony laughed. He was used to Alyssa's temperament concerning what she called average people.

"Yeah, she didn't sound like the brightest bulb. But you got a good story out of her?"

"Yes, it sounds like she was lucky to have been in the car when she saw him. She didn't want to call the police because she ran a red light to get away from him, but of course they'll contact us when they find out we met a possible eyewitness to the guy they're after."

"I can deal with that, but things are a little more complicated. Sarah is at South Raccoon Street right now. Looks like baldy did kill someone."

Alyssa almost dropped the phone.

"Are you there?"

"Yeah, I can't believe it…What happened?" she asked.

"It's still unclear, but Sarah told me to make room on tomorrow's cover, because this one looks messy."

"This is unreal. Has she seen the body? Are they letting her inside?"

"No, but Sarah will do her best to at least get a statement. The rest we can spin: another murder, how safe are we to walk the streets, where will he strike next, et cetera."

"Wow, well. I'm just going home now to write up my interview. I guess I'll see you both back at the office tonight."

"Yeah, do your best with it, kid. But I don't imagine we'll have much problem selling papers tomorrow!"

After hanging up, Alyssa sat with the phone in her lap and stared out in front of her.

A few thoughts went through her mind. This phone call put things into perspective, because while she was busy conducting a Q and A with some housewife, Sarah was the first to hear about a fresh murder in the subway. But there was something else troubling her, something she couldn't pin down. Alyssa rubbed her temples, thinking about what to do. She had to shake this feeling if she was going to get this story finished in the next few hours. She started the car and continued back to her apartment, making her way out of the unfamiliar residential area and back onto Main Street. The mothers she had seen driving their children to school earlier were travelling home now. The familiar suburban landscape stretched out around her, and she was surprised to get home fairly quickly.

Arriving at the apartment, Alyssa put her briefcase and laptop down on the living room table and dropped onto the couch. Fatigue washed over her immediately, and she stared absently at the spacious room in front of her as she contemplated the task ahead. Forcing herself up, Alyssa sauntered over to the kitchen and, after toying with the idea of making a strong coffee and getting straight to work, she decided she would be better off taking a power nap. I'm getting my body back into rhythm, she told herself. Across the hall, Alyssa opened the door to the bedroom, undressed, and slipped into bed. Enveloped in the cool, dark air, she was asleep in five minutes.

Alyssa woke for the second time in the day. As before, the room was utterly dark, and she rolled over to look at the alarm clock. Alyssa stretched and lay back. Her notes were complete, and her article, now shoved out of the limelight by Sarah's discovery, could be written up within an hour. Getting out of bed, she dressed and then went to her laptop in the living room. She was about to open it when she stopped, paralysed by indecision. She looked up, through the enormous bay window which looked onto the park across the street. It was 6:15PM, and from her apartment, Alyssa could see the sun setting behind the mountains in the west. Hands on hips, she thought about where she'd like to work. Her laptop was a godsend, and these days she could even work in the park when it was warm outside. After a minute, her mind was made up, and she picked up her work materials and left her apartment for the last time.

J's Bar was one of few in Raccoon City Alyssa enjoyed visiting regularly. Just off Main Street, it was a few minutes from the subway and always drew a varied crowd. Stepping in from the dark street, she was greeted by the warmth and music, soft rock, but blaring a little too loudly from the wall-mounted speakers. The only waitress working, Cindy, was busy collecting glasses and didn't notice the new customer. Behind the bar, in the small kitchenette, Will the cook was speedily preparing a food order. There were only seven other patrons, two burly men at the bar and the rest scattered by themselves at the tables. High on the wall, the TV was turned to the news, barely audible above the sound of the music. Alyssa took a seat by the door, opened her laptop on the table, and began her story.