Of all people, I thought for sure that Chief Irons would be the most interested in hearing what I had to say. He was the chief of police, after all. And I was excited to tell him my story, about what happened to me and Sarah on my way to work earlier this afternoon. I had a mental speech prepared, outlining every little gory detail of those creatures that attacked us. So when he sat me down in his private office – the one with all those creepy stuffed animals that only his meetings with Umbrella officials were held – I spilled everything, making sure not to leave a single detail out. Everything about those canine monsters was covered from their unprovoked aggression, their rotting bodies, and their surprising strength. I decided to give him the full story so that maybe, just maybe he would take the S.T.A.R.S. story into account after seeing the parallels, send out an investigation team to uncover the mystery and we can all live happily ever after.

"I want you to forget about what you saw," Chief Irons said. This was the first time he showed any form of emotion since sitting me down at his desk. Most of the time I spent talking, he looked disinterested from his body posture, the way he gazed impatiently at me, his occasional sighs.

"B…but, sir," I stammered, completely floored that he would disregard a civilian's report – one that was based on the truth, and from a civilian that worked at the very police station he ran! "Importance to Raccoon's civilian lives aside, zombie dogs are a pretty rare occurrence. Aren't you even curious as to what caused this to happen?"

"I am curious," Chief Irons admitted, "but it is for the sake of the community that I do not want this matter pursued. With all the crazy stories out there already, do you really think I want to alarm the public by starting a full scale investigation?"

"But it seems we have something worthy of an investigation. People are being killed all over the city. I could've been one of those people today. At least the city will feel that the police have things under control."

"I appreciate the thought, Kenny, but perhaps you could leave running police business to me? Things are more under control than you think they are. Trust me on this. Now I want you to forget everything you saw today, and just carry on with your day to day life."

"But sir, I …"

"You are dismissed."

I rose bitterly from my seat and left the office, my mind swimming with frustration and confusion. I had took the time to plan out everything I was going to say, to convince the chief that there was a real problem going on in the city but despite all that, I was turned around and showed the door. No wonder Chris was so pissed off at Chief Irons the other day. I thought it was just his temper, but no, Chief Irons was a real jerk. Something happened to the S.T.A.R.S. members in the Arklay mountains. Over half the team perished in two nights. The survivors came back with crazy ghost stories and nobody believed them. Yet, nobody could explain how the others died either.

I was one of those people – one of those ignorant critics who wouldn't believe Chris's story. I was still in denial when even as crazy as their stories were, they were eerily consistent, still in denial after seeing live photography of the monsters they spoke of. It took a near fatal attack from the very monsters they spoke of for reality to bite me in the ass, and it bit hard.

Chris was at his usual spot in the alley, just across the street from the station and down a few blocks. The smoke he exhaled from his cigarette and his flushed, angry face made him look like a steaming kettle as he puffed away violently. His green S.T.A.R.S. vest was slung over his shoulder, revealing his white T-shirt with his team's logo emblazoned on both sleeves. His brown eyes looked up at me as I entered the alley, and then back at the brick wall across from him.

"Hey," I said, not sure what else to say.

"What's up, Squirt?" he greeted. There was an awkward silence. Neither of us knew what we should have said to each other at that point. Chris was already in on the whole story, probably investigating the mystery with the other surviving S.T.A.R.S. members, digging deeper and deeper into the mystery. I was far, far behind them when it came to knowledge in this department. But I wasn't sure I wanted to be involved either. I just wanted to know what the hell was going on, and hopefully the police were going to put a stop to this. But circumstances had little to do with what I wanted. Against my own will, I had experienced one of those monsters that were no longer so hard to imagine.

Chris seemed to read my mind as he stared ahead at the wall, smoking away at his cigarette, but I could tell he felt me near. It wasn't surprising he knew what was going through my head. He was probably thinking the same thing after seeing these monsters, that there was no way they could exist. Yet after surviving a night of monsters that couldn't possibly exist, they'd come back to warn the town but everyone seemed determined to stay in the state of ignorance. But yet, how could we be blamed? Stories of zombie people, zombie dogs, deadly crows, cannibal plants and eight foot tall men with claws were far fetched, exaggerated. I could come up with a better lie. But the scary truth was, this might not have been a lie after all.

"I spoke to the chief today," Chris said, breaking the silence, "just before he had his little sit-down with you."

"What did you talk about?"

"I wanted to convince him to start a formal investigation on the matter. We've discovered a lot about this mystery, and there are forces within Raccoon itself that are contributing to it."

"Are you saying there is someone in Raccoon responsible for these cannibal and animal attacks?"

"One of our own," Chris replied grimly.

"Who?"

"They've got people working for them spread all throughout the city."

"Who are you talking about!" I repeated. "Who's responsible for all this?" And I felt I had a right to know now. So many people had succumbed to these attacks. Lisa's neighbor, that poor lady who came in yesterday drenched in blood, and Sarah and I had narrowly escaped. Justin was probably in trouble too, living in that vicinity. We all had a right to know as victims, and as citizens of Raccoon.

"I don't want you getting involved," Chris suddenly said. "We are dealing with dangerous people. The only advice I can give you is to leave the city as soon as possible."

"But I have nowhere to go outside of Raccoon. All I have here is my schooling and if I don't have that …"

"Anywhere is better than this place. Finish up your volunteer hours. Work days without sleep if you have to. Just get the hell out of the city. I have no idea how safe it'll be to live here in a few weeks with the rate of the attacks going up."

"But what about you?" I asked. Chris was telling me to leave town, and hopefully he was telling his closest friends and family that as well. But was he planning on staying here in the city, or was he planning leaving with them as well?

"I'm heading to Europe with Officer Burton," he said.

I scratched my head. "Raccoon City plunges in to chaos and you go on vacation? Doesn't sound like a bad plan to me but … don't you think there are others to worry about?"

"It's work related," Chris explained. "But I want you to leave town, Kenny. I'm not joking. If we can survive a night of near death experiences and save at least one civilian life with our stories, I will be happy. And now you've experienced the creatures yourself. You have little choice but to believe us. So please, leave town as soon as you can."

I was speechless. And Chris was serious. He stared intensely at me, as if willing me to agree to leave. "Alright, Chris," I said finally. "I'll leave town."

He extended a hand. "Promise me."

I took his hand and we shared a firm handshake. "I promise."

XXXXX

August 8th, 1998

I lurched out of the liquor store with two shopping bags in each hand, each bag filled to the brim with the alcohol for the party that night. Such great friends they were, really, letting me handle all this by myself. I had no car, and probably had to take the public transit over to Lisa's house to be on time. And considering that it was the alcohol that made the party, there would be no party if I didn't arrive at 6:30 pm, when it was officially supposed to start.

Somebody honked at me as I was headed through the parking lot over to the bus stop. Sitting in a bright red convertible was Phil, his arm characteristically over the empty passenger seat. The hood was retracted for any passerby to get a good look at the genuine leather seats and drool in envy. Phil's parents, like most of the uptown parents were pretty darn rich. He was an only child and was naturally spoiled without having to work a day in his life. They thought, and so did most of us at school, that he had a bright career in football. And I tended to agree with that train of thought. He wasn't academically nor artistically inclined, but he excelled in the athletics. Justin and him used to be the head jocks of the school, but since being kicked from the team with his marijuana 'addiction', he left Phil as the reigning jock at RCSS.

"I figured you'd need a lift," Phil said, looking at me over the rims of his Gucci sunglasses. "Hop in."

"Where's Jamie and Justin?" I asked curiously, unloading the alcohol in the back seat.

"They're already on their way to Lisa's," he replied. "I asked about you, but nobody had any idea what was going on with you and the alcohol so I thought I'd stop over and have a look. Seems like I got here on time."

"I would've made it," I said, my pride a little damaged.

"Yeah and it would've taken for-fucking-ever. We've been waiting all week for the party and I refuse to wait anymore. Did you get everything?"

"They didn't have any Reds," I replied, talking about the cigarettes they wanted me to buy. "So I got two packs of lights instead. Hope you don't mind."

"Heh," Phil scoffed, "you know as well as anyone does that a smoke is a smoke when it comes down to it. They kill us all the same." I handed over the change to Phil, but he held his hand out.

"Don't worry about it," he said. "You keep it as a tip for your services."

"I dunno about you smoking, man," I said, sounding more like a parent than I intended to. "It'll do something to your endurance if you smoke enough. And you of all people would be hurt by it."

"Thanks, dad," Phil muttered as we pulled out of the lot and onto the road.

"Where's your girlfriend tonight?" I asked as we were driving down the busy streets. It would've been awhile before we reached the suburban neighborhoods of Raccoon, where Lisa lived.

"She's stuck in bed with the cold," Phil replied. "Plus she doesn't really know Lisa so it'd be kinda awkward if she showed up anyway."

"Since when did that stop anyone from showing up at Lisa's parties?"

"Good point. I guess she's got more class than the rest of us."

"Well you better watch your back tonight then," I advised. "Word has it that Julie's trying to get into your pants."

"HAH!" Phil laughed. "Julie? You couldn't pay be enough money, man. That girl's the fakest thing to hit the market since Barbie. Plus I'm taken, so there's no way I'd go anywhere near her. Oh, I haven't told you about the fight the other day, did I?"

"Oh yeah, you were gonna scrap with the downtown kids, weren't you? How'd it go?"

"Kicked their asses, man, real good," Phil bragged. "They had these gay-ass nicknames for each other like 'Batman'. So they're skating around on the streets right. And Jamie goes up to one of them, sticks his foot out and stops one of their skateboards. The kid goes flying in the air and lands a few feet away, smashes into the pavement." Phil spoke excitedly as he recalled the events of the fight, reliving them as if they were happening all over again. "He gets up and his face is all bloody and shit, cusses at Jamie. So then Jamie kicks him in the face while I just stand there and watch. That kid sure had a broken nose or something after all that."

I grimaced as I heard the details. "You better watch out," I said, "you're gonna end up killing somebody one of these days."

Phil shook his head. "Nah, I'd never kill anyone. But I'd definitely teach them to think twice before messing with me or my friends. So anyway, this street rat … what was his name again …" He snapped his fingers trying to recall the name. "He's that shit head pretty boy in your history class …"

"You beat up Jack Carpenter?" I asked. Lisa wouldn't be happy once she found out. Hell, she probably already knew.

"Yeah, that's his name. And no, I didn't beat him up. Jamie did. I broke the skateboard, though. Then he calls his friends over – these punks with grubby clothes. Then they came for me and decked me right in the face – this guy they called Antonio. Broke my sunglasses, too. So that's when I lost it and totally went hog wild on their asses."

"It was just you and Jamie against them?"

"Nuh uh, Justin was there too. He pretty much came for moral support but after they started attacking him, he fought back like there was no tomorrow. He got a black eye and a busted lip, but otherwise I think he's okay. You should've been there, Kenny. It was awesome!"

"The cops didn't end up coming?"

"Oh they did, but by the time they got there, we were done with those punks. Every last one of them lay bleeding on the floor. I made sure not to bust any bones, just in case anyone of them had the money to sue us. This one lady officer tried to question me just as we were walking away from the scene, though. I didn't wanna look suspicious so I co-operated. I lied my way through, that dumbass bitch. She believed everything. Officer Bernstein, she called her self.

I had to snicker. "God, you're such a dickhead."

"What? You know what all those cops are like, man. Trouble makers and shit … oh no wait – you work for them, don't you?"

I nodded. "That was Amber. Trust me, if you got to know her outside of her uniform, she' s a pretty sweet lady. But I hope you didn't do anything mean to her. Her boyfriend just died."

"Oh," Phil paused. He may have been a dickhead, but somewhere inside him, there was a heart. "Nah, I just put on a smile and acted all schoolboy and shit. I think she believed cause she let us go. Oh hey …" he gripped by shoulder suddenly. "I heard about what happened to you that day."

"… what happened to me?" The dogs did, I recalled well enough. But Chief Irons practically ordered me to forget about the events and I wasn't about to disobey the chief of police.

"Don't lie, man," Phil said, "Sarah told us everything. The poor girl, she was fuckin' hysterical when she told Julie. I was there. She was all shaking and white as a ghost. You were attacked by a bunch of dogs?"

Deciding that hiding it wasn't going to get me anywhere, I decided to add to what Phil already knew, telling him the rest of the details that Sarah couldn't when she was too shaken up. "They were these freakish dogs," I explained, "strangely aggressive and they were eating a dead guy on the street."

"…what the fuck …"

"I know," I said, "and it happened uptown, just a few blocks from the police station."

"Shit, those freaky cases are getting closer and closer."

"More widespread, I'd say. Phil, I'm thinking we skip school for a couple of days."

He let out a hearty laugh. "Skip school? I'm game but you're the last person I thought I'd ever hear that from! Why the sudden attitude change?"

"I don't think it's safe here. We should just leave for a month and come back when the police have these cases under control."

"Easy for you to say, man," Phil said, "you're pretty much ahead of the rest of our class. You could afford to take some time off school but I can't. They'll make me retake the tenth grade if I flunk out this semester."

"But what if somebody gets attacked? The police clearly aren't doing a good job of finding the perpetrators, even though the murders are happening like, every day now. I don't know about you, but I'm pretty freaked out."

"Don't worry about it. You're a good guy. If anybody fucks with you, just lemme know and I'll mess them up myself."

"I don't know if it's necessarily people we're dealing with here …"

"Aww, wittle Kenny afwaid of the big bad wolf?" Phil teased, trembling his lower lip.

"Well you weren't almost fucking mauled by one!"

"Chill out, man," he said, elbowing me lightly in the ribs. "I'm sorry okay. Touchy subject, I got it. Sheesh!"

XXXX

From the outside, Lisa's home was a quaint two storey building built in the San Francisco Victorian style, and was fairly large. The blue panel white framed building peeked out at Phil and I as we pulled up, from behind a luxurious rose garden with a little cobblestone pathway leading from the white picket perimeter fence to her stained glass double door entrance. From outside, we could hear the bass of the loud music booming from within the building's walls. Justin was sitting on the veranda, with a doobie hanging from his mouth as he noticed us approach. He was looking a little more dressed up tonight, with his hair spiked up with gel. And instead of wearing his usual jersey, he sported a dark green preppy looking short sleeved collared shirt with khaki pants and dress shoes.

"Nobody told me this was gonna be a formal occasion," Phil joked as we approached.

"You got the booze?" Justin asked.

"Right here," I replied, holding up the bags in my hand.

"You're awesome, Kenny!" he exclaimed excitedly, running for the main door. He opened in a creak and yelled inside. "Booze is here!" he announced. Immediately we heard a thunder of footsteps from within the house as everyone ran for the porch to grab their fare share before anyone else could.

Practically everyone from school was there – even the people I'd seen walking through the halls but never really knew. Hell, there were even people I didn't know there. I knew Lisa was a popular girl, but there was no way she could've had this many close friends.

Phil and I walked into the house and parted ways, him taking off for his group of jock friends as I went off to search for Lisa. I would've stayed on the porch with Justin to have a smoke, but I figured she'd be mad at me for letting Phil get to Jack but I wanted to clear up any misunderstanding.

I found her sitting with Julie and her groupie. Lisa seemed unenergetic like she always was at the parties she hosted, usually against her will. She was hunched over, looking relatively unimpressed as Julie blabbered on and on about how hard it was to get her hair done for tonight. The groupies poured their attention over Julie like puppy dogs staring in affection and adoration at their master.

"Hey Lisa," I said, walking up to the group.

"Oh my GOSH, Kenny!" Julie cried excitedly, pulling me off my feet into a hug. "I'm so glad you're finally here! Thanks for the booze tonight." I smelled alcohol on her breath and tried to avoid the liquid splashing dangerously in her beer bottle. "Do you have any change for me?"

"No, I'm sorry," I apologized. "Your bill came to more than the fifty bucks you gave me and I had to chip in some of my own money to cover the rest."

"Uh huh …" she said, looking at me with lazy, drunken eyes. "So how much do I owe you then?"

"Nothing, the rest is on me. Excuse me, I've gotta talk to Lisa."

"And I've got to talk to you too," Lisa said, rising from her seat. She took me by the arm and led me inside, into the kitchen. She headed for the fridge and opened it, taking out jug of orange juice. "Thanks for coming tonight," she said as she moved. "I don't know what I would've done if you didn't."

"You've got all these people to keep you company," I replied, motioning around to all the guests.

"You actually think I want them here?" Lisa scoffed. "Julie invited them. I have no idea who they are, and they don't go to our school."

"Why didn't you ask Jack to come?" I asked.

"I did, but he knows what you all think of him and decided not to. He'd be asking for trouble if he came, and it'd be best if we avoided any confrontations."

"I'm finished confronting Jack," I said. "As long as he stays out of my way, we're cool."

"Yeah, but that doesn't mean the others are. God, it's so tough keeping him as a friend while holding on to everyone else. Pass me the vodka."

I handed over the alcohol, watching her mix it with the half glass of orange juice she just poured herself. "You know, Lisa … don't take this the wrong way. But if you really like Jack as a friend, and the others are willing to ditch you for it, do you ever consider that maybe the others aren't good friends to begin with? Why bother holding on to such friendships?"

"I don't," she said. "It's those people who cling onto me, who bother me, who tell me that Jack's not worth it, that he's nothing but downtown scum. I can't get these people to leave me alone, people like Julie and …" she looked at me regretfully in the eyes, "…you." She placed a glass in front of me. "Help yourself to a drink." Lisa took a swig of her orange/vodka mix.

"Hey, we have our opinions," I replied, plopping myself at the dining table. Lisa joined set her glass down and joined me.

"The only difference between you and Julie is you only give me your opinion on Jack when I bring him up."

"Which is like, all the time."

"I do not."

"Yeah right."

"The point is, Julie goes on and on about him, regardless on whether he's around. Sometimes we'll be talking about nothing remotely related to him, but Julie will be able to spin it into something derogatory about him. This shallow rift between the uptown and downtown societies has to stop."

"Julie's right, you've changed," I said, leaning back in my seat.

Lisa looked at me curiously. "How so?"

"Whatever happened to the Lisa Hartley who used to go hiking with me two years ago, the one who liked to pick the salmon berries growing by the stream?" The corners of her mouth lifted a little in a shy smile, remembering the old times. "What happened to the Lisa Hartley who perfected my English skills, who got rid of my foreign accent, who showed me around Raccoon City? What happened to the Lisa Hartley who would show up spontaneously at my doorstep when I'm feeling down? I don't see her anymore. Now it's all Jack, Jack, and more fucking Jack."

"That's because he's got nobody else to watch out for him in school."

"That's real nice of you, it really is," I said, "but if you ask me, you've lost a lot of good friendships as a result. You think we're just being assholes to Jack for the fun of it. But you don't see the other side of the story."

Lisa shook her head in confusion. "I don't understand you."

"How long have you known Jack now? You met him at the end of last year. We're in summer school right now so you've known him for roughly two months. You have cut off complete communication with Julie and the others. Sure, she's a fucking bitch but you made her your official best for a reason, Lisa. And now that you've found someone else, you've ditched her completely. I don't care so much that you ditched Julie – hell, I'd love to push her in front of train myself, but the fact that you have it in you to completely abandon people."

"I don't mean to do it …"

"The people you are choosing to abandon are the ones who've known you your whole life. You were born and raised in uptown Raccoon City. All of a sudden, you meet some kid from downtown who only just moved here and you just dump everything and run off with him. Now it's all Jack, Jack, Jack. And if you think Justin, Phil, Julie and her groupies are going to stand for that, losing we've known for so long to some downtown kid you've known for two months, then you're wrong. You don't even appreciate the fact that you mean enough to these people for them to fight for you."

"Oh my gosh," Lisa said, putting a hand to her mouth, "I've never thought about it like that before. I always thought you were all just mean to Jack because he's not as fortunate."

"Him being poor is hardly the reason."

"Is that why you dislike Jack, too?" Lisa asked. "You said Julie and the boys were willing to fight for me, but you never said anything about yourself."

"That's why I disliked Jack at first. But as time went on, I began to see it was more you than it was him. I've given up on whatever is left of our friendship. Whatever happens between us happens but I'm not going to fight to have you choose your friends. You make that choice for yourself. That's what friendships are – give and takes. Whatever I get from you, I'll return, but I'm not going to put in anymore effort for you to pay attention to me. If you really want to, you'll do it without being guilt tripped. Unlike the others, I've only known you for two years. I can drop you like a fly if I have to."

"I've never heard you talk like this before …" Lisa said, visibly upset.

"I still care about you," I said, "but you had this coming. You need to realize the truth. The uptown kids picking on Jack because he's poor? What a shallow, ignorant, and inaccurate way of summarizing the situation. Think about it, Lisa. Maybe it's neither Jack nor your friends. Maybe it's you." Lisa swallowed a visible lump in her throat. "I'm sorry if I sound harsh. I'm trying to make you think, not hurt you."

I got up from my seat and left her to her own brain, hoping that finally, something I said hit home for her. The alcohol was starting to kick in – and it actually started way back when I was talking to Lisa. I know - I'm a cheap drunk. But it definitely helped in getting out whatever I needed to say. I slid open the glass door to head outside into the backyard. The summer heat was getting the better of me from inside the house. As I stepped outside, I felt someone grab my elbow gently.

"Thank you, Kenny." It was Julie. Well, it was her body but definitely not the Julie I knew. She was calm, collected, unenergetic, and … sad. Normally, I would've grinned in sinful delight at her torture but tonight, especially given my recent lecture to Lisa, I felt sorry for Julie, what her best friend had put her through all because of a boy.

"Thank me for what?" I asked, unsure what she was talking about. The alcohol permeating from her was suffocating. "You're drunk. Come on, let's get you to the toilet before you puke all over me." I began tugging her firmly but gently but she resisted.

"I mean it," she continued, "and I'm not saying this because I'm fucking hammered. I heard everything you said to Lisa." I froze in my tracks. "Lisa had to hear it, and I tried telling her. But everything I said, she took it as an attack on Jack. She never listened to anything I had to say to her. That's why I talked to you the other day in front of the school. You're the only one she really listens to nowadays."

"You could've just explained the situation," I said. "You didn't have to threaten me."

"I only threatened you because I didn't think you'd take me seriously. Nobody ever does. I'm just the blonde bitchy bimbo and a professional skank as far as anyone is concerned. Even Lisa. Justin fucked me last summer, then he fucked me over, using me for sex then completely ditching me. Lisa was there for me back then. If that happened this year …" she shook her head.

"I'm sorry it had to happen to you, but at least now you've got Luanne, Sarah-Lee, Mary and Leonie. Four people are better than one."

"I wanted you to break up Jack and Lisa so I could get her back into our group. But I think what you did tonight was so much better than anything I could ever think up. And even if Lisa chooses not to continue with her ways, at least we know what she's like for sure." Julie leaned forward and planted a quick kiss on my cheek and walked away, back to join her groupies. I stood rooted to the spot, completely floored with what had happened in the last five minutes. I'd bitched out Lisa Hartley and received a kiss from Julie Wilberforce. Yeah, we were all definitely drunk.