PREVIOUSLY ON KNIGHTFALL...
Mindless zombie's prowl the streets as Gareth Knight and his band of confused survivors head to where they believe safety can be found; The R.P.D., however, not all Gareth's ideas are met with support. Sarah Conneley is in disbelief of his theories about Umbrella, whilst Elizabeth Heckleton is reluctant to put her safety in the hands of the possibly overwhelmed police. After a quick tantrum from Gareth, they are forced to take a back-door into the station.
What horrors lie within?
I do not own Resident Evil.
CHAPTER 3: RACCOON POLICE DEPARTMENT
Gareth advanced slowly, waiting for his eyes to adjust to the darkness.
"David, close the door, we don't want to get attacked from behind" He told his freind.
David complied, and gently closed the door to the outside world, and the outside light. The grey corridors were devoid of any kind of life. Groans could be heard in the far distance, and the unnerving echoes of droplets of water resonating through the halls.
Gareth remembered the days he used to spend playing video games with David, and how they'd always come out on top of the situation.
This is reality, you've got no second chances.
They crept slowly and quietly through the lifeless corridor. The grey halls coupled with the dim lighting not improving their situation.
"We're in the East Wing" Gareth whispered. "We've come in through the emergency exit, so if we continue ahead, we'll eventually find our way to the main hall, although I'm not sure whether that would be the best place to go"
The others remained silent, perhaps too frightened to reply.
Always keep your head, even when those around you are loosing theirs.
They passed wooden doors, and they would listen in to hear whether anything was inside. Usually they were met with silence, but occasionally a moan was heard, which prompted them hastily creep away.
Continuing along the corridor, they came across a pair of great oak doors.
"This should lead to the main hall" Gareth said silently. He listened in, and could hear muffled moaning.
He could also hear muffled voices.
Someone is still alive, at least.
Gareth reached for the door-handle slowly, and grasped it with his left hand, and gently turned the handle. He pushed the door as slowly as he dared.
The door wouldn't open. There must be something blocking the door.
This should only happen in video-games. What next, puzzle-solving?
"The doors blocked, but I think someone's on the other side. We'll need to take a detour" Gareth told them. "There should be a maintenance stairway back the way we came, we can follow it up, retrace our steps around, and get to the hall from there"
They all silently nodded in affirmation, although none of them looked too happy, unsurprisingly. Gareth was grateful that the time he spent in the station when he was applying for a job would come to good use at some point.
They remained where they were as Gareth walked past them, and then huddled behind him. As the continued back up the corridor, they came up to a steel door. Gareth glanced through the small glass window to set a set of concrete steps leading upwards. The steps headed upwards into a wall, and then headed back around towards Gareth, whilst ascending. This left a shadowy alcove next to the stairs.
Gareth could see a leg stretching out from the alcove.
Gareth opened the door slowly, and entered the stairwell. As the others followed, they watched him walk towards the alcove.
They watched in silent shock as Gareth kicked the leg.
Nothing happened.
Gareth turned back to his friends and smiled.
Their mouths widened in horror, and Gareth could hear a shuffling noise behind him. Preparing himself to face the worst, he turned around, and pointed his gun at the shadowed body.
Which remained where it was.
What caught Gareth's eye then was a zombie rounding the corner in the stairwell. It was female, but beyond that Gareth could not find anything particularly significant. He pressed his friends back into the corridor and trained his weapon on the creature.
"It's okay, it should-" Gareth began, and watched in horror as the zombie walked down the stairs as a normal human, albeit at a slower pace.
"-fall down the stairs…" Gareth mumbled. Gareth fired at shot at the creature's leg, which caused it to topple over and fall down the stairs, landing in a heap near Gareth's feet. Gareth fired his last shot into the creature's skull, thus killing it.
And loosing his final bullet.
They remained where they were for a moment, still in shock from the encounter.
That's when the shadowy body in the alcove began to stir. It sat up, and lifted itself up. It was a male police-officer, and there was a gruesome wound in his sternum, so mortifying that intestines were hanging out, dripping a trail of dull red blood. It began to step towards Gareth.
Gareth instinctively raised his pistol and pulled the trigger, and fired three shots of clicks, which did not deter the creature.
It lunged for Gareth, grabbing him by the shoulders, whilst Gareth tried desperately to push the creature off. His friends watched, frozen rigid by the spectacle occurring in front of them.
Gareth struggled to keep the zombie away from him, but he could see its head making a beeline for his throat. As it neared, Gareth could smell the foul stench of the dead emitting from its hungry mouth. As the zombie prepared to deal the final blow, Gareth tried to move his head as faraway from the creature as possible.
There was a tremendous BOOM!, and suddenly the mouth that was hungry for Gareth's blood became non-existent. The creature gave way, and Gareth pushed it to the floor, his upper body and neck covered in the creature's blood. As he fell against the wall behind him in shock, he noticed that the zombie trying to attack him no longer had a top-half to its head. All that remained was the creature's bloody lower jaw.
Gareth turned to his friends, and instead found a light shining in his face. He remained silent, too frightened by the ordeal to respond. He winced as the sudden presence of light impacted his eyes.
"Were you bitten?" came the voice from the other side of light, a voice that Gareth didn't recognize. He kept quiet, although he was screaming on the inside. He managed to shake his head. The light disappeared, and Gareth opened his eyes.
A man was standing in front him, dressed completely in combat gear, a dark blue SWAT uniform, and his face was covered by a mask and goggles, and a black helmet was on his head. In his hands was a shotgun, which had a torch attached to the underside of the barrel. He turned to the other three.
"You three, come here" He said.
David, Sarah and Elizabeth remained where they were, still in shock.
"If you want to survive, you need to quit being vegetables" the soldier continued.
That seemed to snap Sarah out of her trance, and she stepped over to Gareth to help him to his feet. The soldier eyed her up and down, then turned his attention back to the other two, who remained where they were.
"David, this isn't a video-game, there's no retries, you only game over once" Gareth said to his friend.
David snapped out of his trance as well "Reality sucks" he said, and went to help Sarah with Gareth.
Elizabeth silently followed him. She remained deathly quiet. The soldier turned to Gareth.
"You're that Knight guy, aren't you?" he asked.
"Yeah, that's me, although you have me at a disadvantage" Gareth replied.
The soldier touched his head with his right index finger.
"Lieutenant Casey Monroe, S.P.F." the soldier replied.
"Are there any more of you still alive?" Gareth asked.
"A lot of the officers and civilians are in the main-hall, keeping the barricades up, and there are a few splitter groups scattered around the station, trying to escape" Casey answered. "I was investigating the possibility of those things breaching the station from other entrances"
"Can you take us to the nearest group?" Elizabeth asked, before Gareth could ask whether he had seen his fiancée.
"You look like you could use a rest. Follow me" Casey said, and walked off down the corridor they came from.
Elizabeth followed eagerly, whilst David, Sarah and Gareth followed in silence. Casey led them up the corridor, back to the emergency door they used to get in. Before he got there, however, he stopped at a wooden door two rooms away from the outside world. He knocked on the door.
"'Whose there?" came a voice from the other side.
"It's Monroe! Open up!" Casey retorted.
There were sounds of hushed arguing, and then someone unlocking the door. The door flew open.
"Get in!" someone shouted. Casey herded the four in one-by-one, and then came in himself. A bald man closed the door and locked it behind them. Gareth took a look around.
They were in an office of some sorts, and he saw four people dressed in R.P.D. uniforms, and another seven in plain-clothes. One of the officers he recognized, however.
"Jason" Gareth said to fair-haired officer.
Jason Simmons was a police-officer who joined the force at around about the same time Gareth attempted to join. He remembered watching Jason's swearing in along with Mary's. The officer turned to him.
"Gareth, is that you?"
"The one and only" Gareth replied.
"What the fuck are you doing here man? You should be at home, writing those books for us"
Gareth explained the events of the day, taking over ten minuets to do so.
"…And now we're here. So, what are you doing here? Shouldn't you be helping the officers in the main hall" Gareth concluded.
Jason looked embarrassed. "Look, I got scared. I'm not trained for this shit, this is something that they - (he pointed at Casey) - should be doing"
"WE aren't trained for this shit" Casey rebuked.
"Anyway," Jason continued "Those of us here plan to hotwire us some cars and get the hell out of here, we were just going over the plans when you were outside. Hopefully, you didn't attract too much attention"
"You're just running away?" David questioned, angered.
"Look, I took this job just to have an easy income. Not much happens in this city. I didn't sign up for this" Jason cried.
"Let it go, David" Gareth said to his friend. David fumed, but remained silent.
"Is there anything useful left in here" Gareth asked
"There's one handgun with a full-magazine, and a couple of magazines left" Jason replied.
Gareth turned to his three accomplices.
"Look, I can understand if you want to leave-" he began.
"I'm sticking with you to the end, Carnaby" David interrupted.
"And I go where-ever he goes" Sarah replied.
Gareth was about to object, but-
"Just because I'm a woman, doesn't mean I can't look after myself" she said.
"There's no point in arguing, Shakespeare, there's no way to change her mind" David said.
Gareth smiled "Wouldn't have it any other way. You two are the best back-up I could hope for"
They blushed.
Elizabeth walked deeper in the room.
"Elizabeth, are you sure?" Sarah asked the older woman.
Elizabeth turned and nodded, keeping quiet.
Gareth nodded back. "Jason, those guns you were talking about?"
Jason handed Gareth handed the gun, and 2 magazines. Gareth reloaded his own gun, and gave the other to David.
"Let's hope that working for Kendo gave you some insight into using these" Gareth said. David smiled.
Gareth put the last magazine in his pocket.
"Wait... where are you guys going?" Jason asked.
Gareth turned to him, and looked at him for a second, then replied
"We're walking through the valley of the shadow of death" Gareth said. Jason stared at him in confusion. Gareth continued.
"And we shall fear no evil" Gareth flashed a disturbing smile, and together with David and Sarah, approached the door.
"I'm coming with you, you don't know the easiest routes, and I need to return to the hall anyway" Casey told Gareth, who nodded. The bald man unlocked the door and ushered them out into the corridor, locking the door behind them.
"Follow me" said Casey, although before they went anywhere, Gareth looked at his two remaining freinds.
"Let's find what we came here for" He said, and they ran after Casey.
Is Mary one of the survivors in the main hall? What will happen to the splitter group? Is Casey up to the job? And, most importantly of all, will they ever escape from Raccoon City? Don't miss the next installment of Resident Evil: Knightfall...