As the group made its descent towards the ground floor, Alyssa felt a mixture of relief and trepidation. The previous half hour had been complete madness, the kind of situation she wouldn't forget for the rest of her life. She already had enough material to write an article that would be the envy of every reporter in the city. She couldn't imagine anyone else working for Raccoon Today had experienced the beginning of the riot quite as she had. She thought again of Jacob at the stadium and hoped he was alright.
The lift doors pinged open and revealed a narrow corridor leading to the right. Mark put one foot out of the lift first and peered outside. The short corridor formed the bottom of a T-shaped hallway leading to more apartments on the right and the exit on the left. No one was in sight, so Mark stepped out and motioned for the others to follow. He wished, not for the first time, that he hadn't had to hand in his gun at the end of his shift earlier today. The group filed out of the lift and followed Mark to the end of the corridor. He looked right, then left, then darted backwards, almost crashing into George.
"What is it?" George asked, startled.
"There's someone standing by the door," Mark said.
"So what?" George said.
"She's facing away. What if she's…sick?"
The group fell silent. Mark shrugged.
"I guess we better try talking to her."
As Mark was about to step around the corner, he noticed a small fire extinguisher on the wall and removed it. Extinguisher in hand, he stepped back around the corner and, still halfway concealed behind the wall, shouted, "Hey!"
The woman spun around, a mess of black hair swinging behind her. She looked about thirty, was plainly dressed in a blue shirt and black trousers, and had a large bloodstain dripping down from her neck.
"Oh…" Mark said.
The woman ran unsteadily up the corridor towards the group. Mark swung back behind the corner and, as she appeared, swung the fire extinguisher hard into her face. With a laboured groan, she fell flat on her back. Mark wasted no time in running around her and towards the exit, followed by the rest of the group. Alyssa looked down as she ran past and noticed the woman looked pathetically confused. Reaching the door, Mark opened it and jumped down four stone steps onto Terrence Avenue, which Jack's Bar also backed out onto. At the back of the group, Alyssa stopped at the door and turned around. The woman had stood up again and was looking at her. Alyssa quickly took her camera out, snapped a photo of her and stepped outside, closing the door behind.
The avenue was dark, shielded on either side by tall apartment buildings which obscured the bright lights of nearby Main Street. As Alyssa stepped down onto the street, a man and a woman holding hands ran past at full speed without stopping to look at the group standing there.
"What now?" Alyssa asked.
Cindy, not in a familiar environment now, felt as lost as the rest of the group.
"There, cop car!"
Everyone looked in the direction Mark was pointing and saw, about twenty yards down the street, a police car parked in front of a building. Mark started walking towards it and the rest followed. As they approached, it was clear that the car was empty. It was parked diagonally, half on the pavement, the emergency lights spinning soundlessly on top like red and blue turnstiles. Mark approached the car slowly and peered inside. It was definitely empty. He looked at the building in front of the car and saw that the front door was open. It was another apartment building, similar to the one they had just left. Knowing what could be inside, Mark approached the building, his steps unsteady under his tired body, and looked inside. The brown walls of the building's lobby were dimly lit by a single overhead light. There was no sign of life inside, and after deliberating for a second Mark stepped back onto the street.
"I ain't sure what to do now," he said.
"How far are we from the RPD?" Yoko asked.
"I'd say it's about five blocks that way," Mark said, pointing to the north.
From Main Street a few hundred yards away, the sound of traffic, horns blaring and many, many people shouting and screaming bellowed through the streets and avenues. Five blocks felt very far away indeed.
At that moment, someone appeared in the doorway. Mark saw him in his peripheral vision and swung around. Standing in the doorway, holding a pump-action shotgun, was a police officer. He was wearing the standard-issue uniform of blue shirt, black trousers and cap, and he stood breathing heavily as if he had been running.
"You," he said, looking from person to person, "are you infected?"
Everyone looked at each other, unsure how to answer.
"Have you been bitten?" the officer asked.
"No," Mark said. "None of us have been bitten, officer."
The officer exhaled and wiped his forehead with the back of his hand.
"That's good," the officer said. "Once they bite you it's all over. I've seen it."
"What are 'they'?" George asked..
"I don't know what they are exactly, but they're killers. The only thing we've got on them is that they're slow and we're fast."
The officer noticed that Yoko was looking away pensively.
"Are you alright, miss?"
Yoko turned her head sharply.
"Yes, I'm fine," she said.
"What's that on your head? Did you get bitten?"
"Oh, this…" Yoko touched the scratch on her head again. "It was a bird."
"A bird, huh…"
The officer fell silent for a moment and then said, "As far as I know there ain't no danger in getting bit by a bird. But any of you get bit by one of those monsters and that's it, you'll be one of them."
The group fell silent again.
"So," the officer said, looking at each person again. "The way I see it, you're all my responsibility now. The Raccoon Police Department has issued an order to help evacuate as many people as possible from the city, effective immediately."
"Evacuation…It's really that bad?" Yoko asked.
"Yes, miss. There are localised riots taking place all over town. I couldn't even guarantee your safety in the precinct right now," the officer said. He stepped down from the doorway and onto the street with the rest of the group.
"There's an escort unit posted nearby. If you can squeeze into the car I'll take you there. I'm going to radio ahead and check the situation with the escort team. You all wait here a minute.
"Wait, sir…"
The officer stopped and turned around to face Mark.
"What is it?"
"My family, they're still up in Old Court. I have to go to them."
The officer's eyes widened and he hesitated before speaking.
"I, uh…wouldn't recommend you go up there. Warren Stadium was a complete bloodbath and a major riot's already spilled out from there. If anyone's still alive there, they'll already have been evacuated."
Mark's mouth opened in a horrored expression.
"I can't leave them."
The officer put his hands on his hips and shook his head.
"I'm not heading up there. Trust me, your family will have been evacuated. If you come with me we can reunite you with them in Stone-Ville."
Mark nodded, but Alyssa wasn't at all convinced by what he said. The officer looked nervous as hell, which was anything but reassuring. Alyssa guessed by his young face and the way he spoke that he was a rookie cop, used to having a partner and suddenly finding himself alone in the middle of a crisis.
The officer looked around and then approached the police car, entering the driver's side. As he picked up his radio, Alyssa edged forward to try and listen in, but the conversation was barely intelligible to her ears. She looked back at the others. Mark sat down on the steps leading up to the apartment building and was studying his hand. Cindy and George were talking to each other, and George said something which made Cindy laugh. She looked over to Alyssa and smiled. Alyssa smiled back; she was genuinely relieved to be under the protection of the authorities, rookie or not. Alyssa looked over to Yoko and saw she was looking up to the sky with an expression on her face she wouldn't have been able to describe.
The officer stepped out of his car and opened one of the passenger doors.
"We're good to go," he said. "Are you coming or not, fella?"
Mark nodded.
"Right, let's go."
Cindy, George, Yoko and finally Alyssa piled into the back, and Mark entered the front passenger side. The officer put his gun in the trunk of the car and then got in the front. He started the ignition, pulled out into the avenue and drove away from the apartment building and Jack's Bar. Alyssa, squashed up next to Yoko, was particularly uncomfortable. Ms Suzuki was fairly short but had a large enough frame to make the drive quite difficult for her.
As the car turned off the avenue and onto Baker Street, Alyssa leaned forward and spoke to the officer.
"Excuse me, sir. But what were you doing in that apartment building back there?"
"Actually, I was responding to a 911 call. Someone was attacked in their apartment."
The officer spoke without turning around.
"What did you find?" Alyssa asked.
The officer paused for a moment before replying.
"Nothing to speak of," he said.
Alyssa had to stop herself from pressing him further.
"Where's the rendez-vous?" Mark asked.
The officer raised his eyebrows.
"The, uh, escort team is positioned on Ennerdale Street, in front of the RPD."
The car turned onto Fisson Street, a large crescent flanked by boutiques and a large hotel, The Apple Inn. As they drove past the hotel, Yoko budged in her seat, squashing Alyssa's thigh against the seat. She turned away from the window to face Yoko and was about to say something when the car turned abruptly to the right, throwing everyone in the back towards Alyssa's side with such force that in an instant she felt the air push out of her lungs. The car knocked something on the left side as it turned, and the officer drove away into another narrow alley, slamming the brakes as the car headed towards a mountainous stack of boxes and black bags which formed a wall in the street. The car came to a stop as the hood entered the wall of trash, sending a spray of household waste across the windscreen.
The officer craned his neck back and said, "Are you all okay back there?"
Alyssa pushed Yoko away from her with her elbow and said, "Great driving, officer."
"What was that?" Mark said.
"You saw it, too?"
The officer turned to the left and looked out of his window.
"What did you see?" George asked.
"I think it was a dog or something. Did I hit it?"
"You crashed us to avoid killing a dog? You idiot!" Alyssa said, not holding back on the intonation.
"It was instinctive. I'm gonna back out of here."
The officer reversed the car back onto Fisson Street, turning the car to face back up the crescent. He looked around the street and spotted someone walking on the pavement in front of the hotel. He cruised up and lowered the window.
"Hey! You there!"
The man didn't turn around and continued ambling up the street.
"Sir, did you hear me?"
The man kept walking for a few yards before a dog jolted up behind him and jumped, landing on his back and ripping at his shirt with its teeth.
Alyssa screamed and the others moved their heads to try and see what was happening.
"Shit, my gun. Stay here," the officer said.
He opened the door quickly and slammed it shut behind him. Running around to the back, he opened the trunk and grabbed his shotgun, walking back to the front of the car and pointing the gun at the dog. Alyssa saw that it was a big dog, possibly a Doberman, and it was digging its jaws into the man's back, although he was not making a noise.
"The officer put his fingers to his lips and whistled. As the dog looked up, the officer aimed with both hands and fired, blowing its head apart like a can of soup. The officer approached the body of the man lying face down and spoke.
"Sir, are you conscious?"
As the officer bent down to check the body, another dog appeared from the open doorway of a mini mart and jumped at him.
"Watch out!" Cindy shouted.
As the dog made contact with the officer, the shotgun flew out of his hand and skidded into the street. He screamed as it burrowed into the back of his neck and thrashed with its jaws.
"For Christ's sake, drive!" Alyssa screamed.
Mark hesitated in his seat, but even as the thought of getting out and helping entered his mind, he realised that the officer was already dead. Cindy was thrashing in her seat trying to open her door.
"It won't open!" she wailed.
The Ford Crown Victoria police car was equipped with secure locking, which meant that the back doors couldn't be opened from the inside. Mark scooted over to the driver's seat and crashed his foot down on the accelerator. The car screeched forwards and the dog looked up as it sped away. Mark continued speeding northwards around the crescent.
"What the hell happened there?" George asked, perched up in his seat and looking out of the rear window. "Why were they so aggressive?"
"Same reason that crow pecked my face, maybe."
George looked down at Yoko.
"But it doesn't make sense. Why has every living creature lost it?" he said.
"We haven't," Yoko said.
"We have to go back! Let me out!" Cindy said pathetically.
No one spoke. Cindy let go of the door handle and started to cry.
Mark brought the car to a stop at the end of Fisson Street, where a police van was parked. On the opposite side of the street were the fortified walls of the RPD, the expansive precinct hidden behind. The area was ominously quiet. Mark stepped out of the car quickly and opened Cindy's door before making his way towards the officer standing by the van.
"This the escort group?" Mark said.
The officer, a man past his forties and with a weary look on his face, nodded affirmatively.
"Where is Officer Clark?"
"He didn't make it. Got attacked by a dog" Mark replied.
The officer shook his head.
"We've lost too many good cops tonight. I'm supposed to head you out of the city. That your group?"
Alyssa was the last to leave the car, and almost fell over from the pain that rushed to her legs.
"Are you injured, miss?" the officer shouted.
"No, I'll be fine," Alyssa said.
"Okay, there are a couple of other survivors in the van. You guys get in the back and I'll take you to Stone-Ville.
The route from downtown Raccoon City to Stone-Ville was, in theory, a simple one. From Ennerdale Street, the police van made its way up the length of the expansive Warren Street, which housed City Hall and most of the city's big businesses. The downtown traffic was completely lawless. From the windowless back of the van, the group could not see the mess of police cars lining the pavement, but they could hear the screams and sirens, and more than once everyone jumped in their seats as people slammed their hands against the side of the van. After a harrowing few minutes the van finally managed to speed up and continue towards Raccoon Street.
"I've got a headache just thinking about the article I'm gonna write," Alyssa thought.
The group in the back were joined by two young men, one of which was praying, the other looking like he wanted to throw up. The van turned sharply and the group rocked in the back as it turned onto Raccoon Street and sped up towards the city limits, running adjacent to the Raccoon-Stone-Ville railway line. At the Circular River Bridge, the van came to a stop.
"Is that it? Are we there?" Yoko asked.
Alyssa heard the front cab's door opening and slamming shut. A minute passed, and everyone sat expectantly, wondering if they were finally at the border of Stone-Ville.
The double doors at the back of the van were flung open and a face appeared that made everyone jump back. Peering into the van was a man wearing a full-face gas mask, helmet and black combat suit. He stared at the group with invisible eyes and they stared back. The officer who had been driving the van appeared next to him.
"No," the masked man said, and slammed the doors shut again.
Alyssa ran for the door and tried to open it, but, like the police car, the door could not be opened from inside. She frantically wrestled with the door handle and started banging her hands against the doors.
The officer stood facing the masked man with a hardened expression. Below them, the sound of the river filled the night air and a cold wind swelled through the trees below.
"Are you telling me we have to go back?"
"Yes, that's what I'm telling you," the masked man said, his nasal voice escaping the three ventilation chambers in the mask.
"What are we supposed to do?"
"Your orders are to take these citizens back to the precinct. Your commanding officer will tell you what to do."
The officer managed a short laugh.
"Right now these people are about as safe in the hands of our chief as they are out in the street."
The masked man pressed his face close to the officer.
"I won't tell you again. You are to return to police headquarters immediately until further notice."
The officer looked back to the van, from which the sounds of hands pounding the doors could still be heard. He looked back to the masked man, shrugged his shoulders, and headed back into the van.