Raccoon City

Raccoon City, Pennsylvania

September 26, 2018 –

Outbreak

The first wreckage on the main road forced them to pull off. It was a loss. They were done traveling this way by vehicle. They'd have to hoof it on foot.

Claire rolled the bike in the pouring rain into the dark beside J's Bar. It was a return to the site of their fated social media snafu. Leon shook his head, sliding off the bike to star at the flickering sign.

He'd played darts here and lost. He'd lost more than the game, he'd lost a great portion of the things that mattered to him. He was currently ass deep in a nightmare, and there wasn't a person on Earth that cared about it. Who could he text? Could he text at all?

Curious, he reached into his vest for his phone - but it was gone. It was likely on the floorboard of his recently deceased Jeep.

Claire beat him to it anyway. She opened her iPhone and tried to get a message out to someone. It bleeped to signal success but it wouldn't let her do more than briefly scan her Twitter feed to see if anyone, anywhere, knew what the hell was happening. Instagram had pictures, naturally, but no one believed what they'd put. It was a great cosmic joke.

Someone had hashtagged it #survivalhorror and thought a movie was being filmed in Raccoon City.

Another person had put up a selfie of her pointing to a "body" in the road behind her that was starting to rise. She didn't look scared, she looked excited...like she'd walked onto the set of The Walking Dead. She captioned it "Evil Takes Residence in Raccoon. YIKES!".

Another photo showed a zombie literally in mid chomp on a person in the park. The photo was horrifying, not just for the subject matter, but because the photographer thought it was part of the "show". They captioned this one "The dead are rising! He #HANGRY! Get out there and find out how method these actors are, peeps! Come on! Join the fun! #4itchytasty."

Jesus. Social media had been the death of this city. No one, anywhere, knew what was really happening here.

Finally, Claire found a short clip uploaded hours before. It was army vehicles raising through the streets, it was accompanied by the voice of a popular YouTube-r named ConspiracyPirate. His voice floated up to them, "I said it would happen. I warned everyone. No one listened. I was laughed at, looked down on...I told you what I saw in the forest months ago, all of you. I went to the police. I went to the fucking Chief. I told that son of a bitch in the sunglasses that we weren't ALONE here. But he didn't listen. That idiot in S.T.A.R.S. I met? Redfield? That guy LAUGHED at me. Who's laughing now? HUH!? WHO'S LAUGHING NOW!? The end is nigh, assholes."

The video ended when a masked soldier snatched the phone and threw it to the ground to smash it with his boot. But not before they heard it. They heard the man in the video scream and the sound of gunfire.

Claire grabbed Leon's arm at the elbow, terrified. "They killed him."

"...I know."

"They killed this man for telling the truth."

"I know." He said again, so softly. His guts hurt with fear. "I know."

"What was that on his uniform? What is U.B.C.S.?"

Leon shook his head, "I don't know. Paramilitary forces of some kind. Your brother might know."

Claire looked stricken. Her face was wet from rain and fear. "You heard this guy...he tried. He saw Chris. He tried to tell him. Chris was S.T.A.R.S. He was the best this city had. If he's...if...what if..." She trailed off, looking lost.

Leon touched her back, gently. "Hey...hey look here."

She did, eyes wide. He held her gaze with purpose. "Hey...if he's as good as you say, he's alive. He's probably hiding somewhere. Where would he hide? Where's the safest place in this city?"

Claire took a deep breath and it trembled, "The RPD station."

"Right. Let's start there. Ok? But you gotta believe he's there and ok, Claire. You've got to believe that...or we won't make it."

Claire drew strength from him, nodding sharply. "Right. RIGHT. Shit."

They moved together to the bar entrance on the back side of the building. The door was ajar and Leon eased through first, gun drawn. They were both breathing sharply but he let the training take over to calm him. Training that said protect the girl at his side and get out alive.

Quietly, Claire whispered, "You have another piece?"

Leon glanced at her where she was slighting behind him. "What?"

"I'm a good shot. You have a spare gun?"

He shook his head and Claire shrugged. "Never hurts to ask, right?"

They eased into the kitchen of the bar, Leon astutely aware they weren't alone. He could hear voices and commotion toward the front. They shifted in together and Claire locked the door to the street that they'd come through.

Claire said, softly, "I know all of them. They're regulars. They probably holed up here to hide out."

Leon nodded and they eased through the quiet kitchen into the main part of the bar. In a handful of seconds, he and the other cop in the bar were staring down the barrels of each other's guns.

The blonde waitress between them lifted her hands, "Whoa...whoa whoa whoa...ease down guys. We're all humans here."

Claire added, "Hey Kevin, you planning to kill this rookie?"

Kevin Ryman lowered his weapon first. He was handsome, shaggy haired, and looked tired and wet. He glanced between Claire and Leon and shook his head, "The rookie. Kennedy?"

"Yup." Leon lowered his weapon too, "We met before I think."

"We did, briefly." Kevin shook his head, laughing without humor, "Shit...welcome to your first shift."

Another person in the bar scoffed, "I thought my luck was in the crapper man. What a first day."

Leon shook his head as Claire, the waitress, and another woman secured the side door to make sure it was locked. The bar had a handful of folks in it. An old guy, an off duty security guard, a subway worker and another waiter - this one male. The owner, Phil, was behind the bar looking tired and put out. But at least there were no dead guys trying to eat people.

Claire introduced each one. Cindy - the girl waitress. Will - the boy waitor. Bob - the half asleep old security guard at the bar counter. Mark - the younger guy with the start of a beer belly that reminded Leon of Ving Rhames. Jim - the subway worker with the hair the color of dandelions. His dark skin made his hair look neon. Alyssa- the reporter in the red suit that was trying to get a signal on her phone to contact her office. David King- a plumber that looked like a model in coveralls with a toolbelt on his narrow hips.

Leon remarked, "Anyone else in here?"

Cindy started to answer - and it didn't matter anymore. The world? It just...erupted.

Claire, a short distance away, briefly heard Will say, "What a weird costumer…"

Cindy screamed and jumped on a stool close to her. There was the sound of breaking glass as a rat scurried by.

Mark yelled, "Bob!" As the old man at the bar crumpled sideways and fell to the floor.

Jim was screaming. "KEVIN! KEVIN! Oh my god!"

Will was struggling with a customer who'd come in the front door. The door...that apparently wasn't locked.

Leon shouted, "What fucking idiot left that door open!?"

Claire had a moment to be surprised before Will was screaming and shoving. She watched blood fly and speckle the floor around him.

Kevin returned, "Lock the goddamn door!" And pulled his side arm, a Colt .45. He aimed it at the moaning customer. "Freeze R.P.D.!"

But Will wasn't finished, he kept shoving until the man was outside the door and then he slammed it closed and threw the dead bolt.

Horrified, Claire watched his neck gush blood. It was bad, soaking the front of his uniform almost instantly. Will stumbled, trying to stop the bleeding and collapsed to the floor. Claire started to rush toward him, but Kevin grabbed her arm.

She looked at his face, opened her mouth to say Will needed an ambulance, and Jim started screaming.

"Holy shit!"

There was a man on the other side of the window leading into the bar. He was running a face that looked like a mangled pizza over the shiny glass, leaving bits of flesh and trails of blood behind.

They heard someone screaming outside the glass as pandemonium ensued. A handful of seconds found Kevin yelling, "Somebody help me!"

He was shoving one of the giant barrels that served as window tables toward the main door. Claire realized it was actually genius of him considering in another minute, cannibals were going to be beating the flimsy wood down.

Without a word, she watched the plumber, David King, come running from the kitchen area. Leon joined the battle against the barrels, he just started shoving a second barrel as Kevin moved the first and David manned the third one.

Jim, not the bravest soul, was still being surprisingly helpful. He was pulling the injured Will back and laying him behind the bar.

Claire watched at least ten more faces move up and starting pressing against the glass. The cannibals were trying to beat through the windows and didn't seem to care that they were bloodying their selves in the process.

Their numbers were growing. Ten became fifteen, became twenty.

Jim yelled, "Oh my god! Mr. Clark!"

And Alyssa was crying out, "John Stevens?!"

People started yelling for Kevin and David to unblock the door. Leon returned, "They aren't your friends! You know that! What's out there?! It's not HUMAN!"

Claire knew what she was looking at. And it wasn't their friends or lovers beating on the windows. It was something else, something hungry. And whatever had happened to them, it was contagious. Cannibals...no...zombies. ZOMBIES.

Phil was crying and holding his hand. It looked like a nasty rat bite.

He wrapped a dish towel around it, cursing.

There was a loud yelp in the bathroom and a clatter before a small asian girl scurried out, holding a scrub brush like a weapon.

She said, "There's someone trying to crawl in through the vent in the bathroom." She sounded calm, which was amazing.

Mark was shouldering up Bob and Cindy ran around the bar and popped open the cash register. She grabbed the key to the staff room and the first aid kit that was stuffed on a bottom shelf.

Whatever was happening out there they all knew they couldn't hide in here forever. Eventually the barrels would give and the windows would crash in.

There were at least fifty cannibals gathered outside the bar. No...ZOMBIES. Claire kept trying to shift over to Will and help him, but Leon wouldn't let go of her arm as he kept her away. "He's gone."

"Stop it!" Claire jerked on her limb, "He's still alive!"

Leon gave her a cool look that resonated, "...he won't be for long. But keep waiting, Claire, we both know he'll get back up soon enough."

She jerked her arm away and shoved him, "What kind of cop leaves people to die?"

"...the kind that knows you can't save everyone." Kevin filled in the silence and Claire spun away from them, fuming.

Cindy tossed the key to Alyssa and said, "People listen. We have to get to the roof, it's the only way. We can make the jump to the building across the street and go out the back way toward the Apple Inn."

Mark helped Bob as Alyssa unlocked the door. She was the first one through and everyone seemed to understand that it was seriously important that they move as quickly as possible.

The back stairway was narrow and Cindy waited while the Asian girl, Claire, a nerdy looking man with what looked like a leather doctor's case, Phil and Jim ran through.

Mark and David put Bob between them to move faster and Kevin kept his .45 trained on the windows as he gestured for Leon to go.

Leon took the lead, doing his job, and trusted Kevin to bring up the rear and do his.

Kevin backed in after Cindy and helped her push the statue at the base of the stairs forward until it blocked the door behind them. It was all they could do.

Leon didn't like leaving Will behind but the man was dead or dying, his jugular completely severed. The cannibal had bitten right through. He figured they could all ask for atonement later.

Claire hurried up the stairs with Kevin close behind her. At the landing where the stairs curved, Jim was screaming.

One of the cannibals had busted through the glass of the window and was trying to yank him out through the jagged hole. Cindy was yelling and pulling on Jim's shirt, trying to hold him still and pull him back.

Kevin stopped and went still, aiming over Claire's shoulder but it was a bad angle and a tight shot. He'd be lucky not to hit Jim in the struggle. Leon was doing his best to angle in for a shot himself, but it was too narrow and too risky.

Surprisingly, David saved the day.

He pulled a wrench out of the tool belt slung at his hip and hit the cannibal in the back of the head. It screamed and released Jim, reaching for David. Leon elbowed it in the side of the head and sent it reeling even as it tried to make a grab for Claire.

Kevin moved quickly and kicked, hitting the ugly monster in the chest with a solid hip kick. It flailed it's arms and fell outward, screaming pitifully as it tumbled down into it's wailing brothers.

Jim grappled on Kevin's shoulders, sputtering. "Oh god thank you. The smell…it smelled…like…"

David's voice, gruff and deep, "Death."

Jim nodded, rapidly. Leon shoved him toward the stairs to the top floor. Claire shoved Leon as he grabbed for her arm to push her that way too, and shouted, "Enough! Stop manhandling me!"

There was a crash from the front of the bar. They'd broken through the barricade.

Sick of it, Kevin started pushing everyone. "Go! Go now!"

Cindy rushed up the stairs between David and Kevin, feeling her heart rate increase, fast and furious. Alyssa was closed behind, shaking her head at the drama that some people brought with him. That girl in the red leather? She clearly did NOT like the handsome cop she'd brought into the bar with her.

At the top of the stairs, Alyssa's cell phone started to ring.

She fumbled it out of her pocket and made a dash for the hallway to the break room.

Cindy was standing there waiting.

There were boards scattered around the floor by the door. Phil had been in the process of building a bookcase for the employees to store break time reading material.

She said, "Somebody help me."

And David stopped to hold the boards over the entrance to the hallway. They were going to attempt to shore up the open archway. Why not? It was better than standing around waiting to die.

There was the loud sound of nail gun firing as Alyssa answered her phone.

Claire stumbled back against the wall as Jim rushed into Phil's office with Phil, looking for anything useful. The little Asian girl was entering the drawing room with Alyssa. There was a shot gun in the drawing room. Phil had it locked up in a cabinet in there. Unfortunately, the key was downstairs, taped under the counter. She hoped they knew how to break it open.

The nerdy doctor guy was sitting on the floor, digging through his leather case. He pulled out a scalpel and a bottle of some white liquid.

Claire tried to gather her composure as Leon busted out the glass on the shotgun cabinet so they could grab it.

Cindy was unlocking the door to the stair way to the roof.

Jim was carrying what looked like a small handgun and Phil was brandishing a broom. He looked seriously ill, pale and trembling. The bite on his hand had bled through the towel wrapped around it.

Mark said, "Claire- take my gun."

She did what he asked as he helped Bob back up and carried most of the older man's weight. The comfort of the gun made her feel like she just might survive this nightmare. Maybe.

The gun was loaded and she clicked off the safety. It was maybe the third time in her life she'd held a real gun outside of the range with Chris. But the feel of it, cool and heavy, made her feel just a little safer.

The side of the barrel read Beretta.

The Asian girl and Alyssa emerged from the drawing room. Alyssa held Phil's shotgun and the girl was packing extra cartridges into her backpack. Leon was carrying a crossbow in his hands. He queried, "Anybody a hunter?"

And the nerdy doctor took the crossbow, nodding. "Not sure it's the same as big buck hunting."

Leon patted his arm, "Shoot it, kill it - don't skin it and eat it. And don't let it eat you."

The nerdy doctor chuckled, "Wise words."

Cindy waved her arm. "Come on, let's go!"

The nerdy doctor was wielding the crossbow. David had a small folding knife that he'd pulled out of his tool belt - that was full of other useful items they'd yet discovered. Kevin was holding his .45. Claire and Leon both had guns. There was a shotgun in the hands of a reporter. As far as weapons went, it wasn't too bad.

Kevin went through the door first with Mark and Bob following. Leon took up the rear.

Claire waited until everyone was through before she followed. There was nothing to put in front of the door this time so she hurried to stay close to everyone else.

Down in the staff room, she could hear the high moaning of the cannibals as they beat on the make shift barricade between them and their prey.

There was a loud snap as one of the boards broke free and she slammed the large door at the top of stairs behind her. They were in the liquor room, where Phil stocked all the alcohol for the bar. Cindy was explaining that from here it was a brief run up another flight of stairs to the roof.

David was dragging a box toward the door. It was a case of liquor and the nerdy doctor moved to help him, pushing while David pulled. Leon and Kevin were deeper in the liquor room, clearing it and looking for anything useful.

From the front of the liquor room, Claire heard Cindy scream.

"The shutters down! The fucking shutter is down!"

Cindy looked terrified. She told them the shutter being closed was a nightmare. The button for the shutter was down in the owner's room, inside Phil's desk drawer, and the cannibals had started breaking through the boards.

They could hear their moaning on the stairs outside the liquor room.

Phil was leaning on the wall, panting. He said, softly, "Cindy…the forklift key. The key. In the stock room."

She jumped and realized he was right.

At the far side of the room, a forklift sat dormant frozen in mid lift with a shipment. If they got the key and started the lift, they could climb up onto the boxes and crawl through the open vent leading to the stairs.

It was the best plan they had so Cindy said, "Guard the door. I'll be right back."

She ran into the door opposite the one leading the stairwell.

It was little more then a cram space with coolers. She started digging through boxes and shoving over bottles in her search for the key.

Phil usually kept it somewhere close when the workers came to restock.

She found it sitting on the table at the far side of the room and snatched it up, already running.

David was leaning against the boxes and the nerdy doctor was sitting on the floor with his back against them. The door beyond them was shaking as the cannibals banged incessantly, trying to get in. Kevin added his bulk to the barricade to help hold the door closed.

Cindy ran past them and saw that Bob was in pretty bad shape, he was sitting on the floor with his head in his hands. She didn't think he could make the climb to the top of the storage wall.

Phil stumbled a little and smashed into the wall. Liquor bottles fell, making a very loud crash as the smashed into tiny shards on the hard floor.

Cindy yelped and Jim started mumbling. Claire thought he said something about his life being shit even as Cindy tossed Leon the key and he was already putting the key into the lift and pressing the button.

The hum of the forklift moving was loud in the quiet room. Loud enough it almost drowned out the desperate moans of the cannibal's just outside.

Mark was lifting Bob and the nerdy doctor was helping Phil.

Cindy said, "I'm going to go through and open the shutter from the other side."

David yelled, "Hurry this won't hold much longer. There's got to be at least a dozen of them beating against this door." Leon returned to help throw more weight against the door.

Cindy hurried.

She scrambled up the ladder with the Claire close behind her.

Cindy said, "Claire wait!"

But Claire was already fox crawling after her. "No way! If there's something on the other side of the shutter, you're dead. I can't let you go alone."

She had a good point.

Cindy shifted herself and lowered backward through the open vent, easing herself down until her feet touched.

It was cooler on this side; there was a suggestion of night air from the open roof just beyond the door at the top of the stairs. The area was grey and dull and wonderfully empty.

Cindy scurried down to open the shutter as Claire came through the vent and found her footing.

It whined on badly oiled hinges as it rolled upward. When it was halfway open, Jim crab walked through with the nerdy doctor and Phil close behind.

There was a loud crash somewhere inside the liquor room and the low boom of Kevin's .45, the deeper, harder shot of the shotgun following it closely. Alyssa had taken up guarding the door with Kevin, David, and Leon.

The little Asian girl hurried through and helped Mark shoulder up Bob as they passed through the shutter.

Cindy yelled, "Up the stairs, out the door! It's the roof! Hurry! Go!"

No one argued and they followed Cindy, letting her show them the door.

Claire waited tensely until she saw Alyssa and David come around the corner of the room and mount the stairs to the shutter.

"Where's Kevin and Leon?"

Alyssa said, "They were right behind us."

Claire nodded. "Go!" And she ran back into the liquor room, holding the Beretta tightly in her sweating palms.

Kevin was backing down the walkway toward the stairs to the shutter, firing rapidly, reloading and firing again. When he saw Claire, he nodded to her and raced off to protect the rest of the group on the stairs.

Leon was too close to the mess of them, too close, and the sight of it nearly killed Claire where she stood. He kept firing into the mass of them though - stupid hero cop. She shouted, "IDIOT! RUN!"

Leon yelled, "I'll hold them here! Go on!"

Claire shook her head, "Leon- let's go! The roof is right outside. All we have to do is jump to the next building!"

She froze as she saw the cannibals stumbling drunkenly toward Leon, tripping stupidly over their fallen friends.

His aim hadn't failed him under panic. Most of them had been dispatched with a neat shot to the forehead or through the eye.

He'd taken out eight maybe nine of them and from the ruin of bodies piled by the door, most of their chests a bloody stain on the wall behind them, she figured Alyssa had taken out a few more with the shotgun.

Leon took out the closest one to them and it fell, causing three more that shambled close beside it to lose their footing and collapse. It was a heap of cannibals now and an effective barrier to the rest that stumbled and wailed behind them.

Liquor fell off shelves, smashing and startling the stupid creatures. Brain dead dumbasses that they were, they tried to climb over their struggling comrades to feast. It was horror movie bad. It was worth a stare or two.

Claire grabbed Leon's arm and they turned and ran. Leon paused long enough to press the button and close the shutter behind them and then they were sprinting up the stairway and smashing through the door to the roof.

She heard the crying before she focused on where it was coming from.

Mark was holding Bob and sobbing.

There was a large splash of blood on the wall behind them. For a moment, she thought they'd been attacked but there was too much blood and too little on Bob for that.

It didn't take Leon long to realize what had happened. Bob had shot himself.

The grief tried to well up, tried to grab the group by the throat and was fought back, desperately. There wasn't time to mourn, wasn't even time to think about mourning.

Kevin was touching Mark's shoulder, trying to get him to stand.

David had bent down to scoop up Bob's still smoking side arm. Waste not, want not.

It was cold and heartless, maybe, but it was also practical. They needed the weapon, Bob no longer did. David and Leon exchanged a nodding glance. Easier, Claire thought, for the rookie. He didn't know these people. He didn't know Bob had a tendency to make bad puns and talk too much about his grandkids. He wouldn't mourn him. Maybe it was better to be the rookie.

Mark seemed to get himself together. He said, "Goodbye old friend. I won't forget you."

Alyssa was yelling from somewhere up ahead. "Help!"

They started running again. No time to despair.

The Asian girl was swinging her arms desperately at the crows that seemed to have gone crazy. They were dive bombing, pecking and squawking madly.

Claire lifted the gun at one that was currently trying to yank the Asian girl's hair out of her head. Trusting in the weapon, she fired.

The crow squawked madly and fell, hitting the ground with a thump and a rapid flutter of wings before it went still.

Leon glanced at her in surprise and she shrugged, "I told you I was a good shot."

The nerdy doctor had found a pipe somewhere and was swinging it like a baseball bat, smacking the crazy birds out of the sky.

Kevin and David were kicking at the gate that hung loosely to the walk way on the roof. They needed to get passed the gate and make a run for the other rooftop.

It was about a four foot jump to the opposing roof top but it was possible to make.

The gate came crashing down and David leapt up, helping Cindy up after him. Jim was quick to follow with Mark on his heels. The nerdy doctor smashed the remaining crow out of the sky and leapt up after them with Alyssa and the Asian girl in hot pursuit. Leon was the first to the far side, cradling his hands for the first brave soul to make the jump.

Kevin was helping Claire up when they heard it: a moan, so close, too close.

Claire scrambled the rest of the way up and looked for Phil.

He was shambling toward them, slowly. Moving like…like one of the cannibals.

In horror, Cindy yelled, "Phil!"

But his eyes were glazed over, like fish eyes, and he was keening highly in his throat. It was a hungry sound. An unmistakable sound.

Kevin yelled, "Go!"

And the rest of the group starting running for the opposite side of the roof.

He grabbed Claire's arm and she hesitated, yanking against him.

"Claire- he's gone! We gotta go!"

She stared at Phil, at his familiar face, so sweet, so chubby. She couldn't leave him, not like this.

She said, "Wait please." And it sounded calm.

She lifted the gun, aimed at Phil's head, said, "I'm sorry Phil. I'm so sorry." And fired.

Brains and blood splattered the wall behind Phil and he went down, crashing loudly against the roof top.

She couldn't help him but she could give him peace.

Kevin took her arm, gently this time. "Claire…"

"Let's go." She rushed past him, hurrying to where the other's were waiting.

She was terrified, her heart beating a hundred miles an hour. She wanted Chris and he was somewhere out there, alive or dead. She had to find him.

The door to the roof banged open and the cannibal wails chased them across the roof.

They only had once chance- they had to make that jump or they'd die eaten to death by monsters. By cannibals. No...damn it...they KNEW what was chasing them.

ZOMBIES.

It was a nightmare. There was no hope.

And they had officially entered the world of survival horror.