Part I: Containment
Chapter 8: Release
(MAT)
The occasional barks of weapons fire from up above told Mat things weren't going well in the city. Unable to do anything about it, though, he'd slowly drifted off to sleep.
There were two people standing outside the cell when Mat's eyes suddenly snapped open, and his first thought was that Umbrella had decided not to bother with a trial and was just going to kill him now.
"Relax" said a familiar voice, and as Mat's eyes adjusted to the darkness, he recognized the face of Chase Mathison, his squad leader.
"What's going on, sir?" he asked blearily, sitting up on the hard metal cot and stretching his back, which set of a series of rapid-fire pops down his spine.
"You're being released" said the other person, whose voice also seemed familiar…
"Captain Branagh?" Mat asked, suddenly wide awake. "What happened?"
"Chief Irons wants to see you" replied Chase, swinging the cell door open. "C'mon, let's not keep him waiting."
Mat stood up, and followed his two superiors upstairs, through the motor pool, and back into the warmer portion of the main building. As they got into the more well lit areas of the station, Mat noticed something about Chase.
"Sir, you're bleeding" he said. "What happened?"
"It isn't mine" Chase replied vaguely. "Things are…not going so well."
"Sorry Chase, but we don't have time for this" said Branagh. "Irons wants him now. We've gotta go."
They made their way upstairs, through the library, and along the long gallery over the RPD building's lobby. Mat noticed there were a lot more officers in the station than usual, many carrying large duffels full of weapons, and all moving with a grim purpose. There were also lots of civilians and medical personnel, scattered among the police and looking as if they were prepared for an extended stay. He also noted that several windows had been boarded up, and furniture was being moved toward various doors, where it would be easy to use them as makeshift barricades. It looked as though the police were preparing for a siege of the station, meaning Chase had, if anything, been using world class understatement when he said things weren't going as well as they could have.
Heather Waverly was sitting at her desk when the three cops entered Chief Irons' waiting room. "Go ahead" she said nervously, gesturing toward the door. "The Chief is waiting for you."
Chase and Branagh started for the door.
"Oh, sorry" Heather said, sounding embarrassed. "Just Mat. The Chief was very specific. You two are to wait here."
"Fine" said Branagh irritably; clearly he felt he had better things to do then sit and waste his time in the Chief's waiting room.
"Good luck, Mat" said Chase, patting his shoulder. "Irons'll work all this out. You'll see."
The hall leading to the Chief of the Raccoon City Police's office was paneled with dark wood, and had an air of general mustiness, as if it had once been some sort of storeroom. Mat pushed open the heavy wooden door, then started down a smaller hallway, past the stuffed Bengal tiger that stood there forever growling, like some sort of guardian.
Chief Irons was sitting slouched over in his chair, looking as if he'd aged thirty years since Mat had last seen him, a few months ago on the precinct's roof. "Close the door, Dawson" he said heavily, not looking up from his desk, were a Desert Eagle semi-automatic magnum lay.
Mat did as he was instructed.
"Come here, and sit down" said the Chief, his voice full of immeasurable sadness. Mat remembered what Ben had said about Irons being in Umbrella's pocket. The magnum sitting on his desk made him more than a little uncomfortable, but Mat knew Irons couldn't shoot him without Chase, Heather, and Captain Branagh hearing the report.
"What's going on, sir?" Mat asked, sitting down in one of the squat green chairs opposite Irons' large, dark paneled workspace.
"It's finished" Irons replied heavily, shaking his head and looking up at Mat for the first time. His eyes were bloodshot, and Mat realized the Chief of Police was drunk as a sailor.
"Sir-?"
Irons talked right over Mat, as if he hadn't spoken. "They've abandoned me. They've screwed up yet again, and this time they've burned the entire city." He shook his head. "Twelve years, Dawson. Twelve years I've had this job, doing exactly as I've been told, and now, as soon as they sniff the first scent of trouble, they leave me out to dry. That bastard at their lab isn't even answering my phone calls! Can you believe that? His monsters are tearing my city apart, and he doesn't even have the dignity to return a simple phone call." Irons pounded the desk with his fist. "He's probably already long gone, with his wife and daughter, while I have to try and pick up the pieces."
Mat was growing increasingly disturbed by this. Clearly Irons wasn't in his right mind, he was drunk, he had a high-caliber weapon sitting within easy arm's reach, and he'd just confessed to being on Umbrella's payroll for over a decade. Mat was trying to calculate if he could snatch the Desert Eagle before the police chief.
"What are you going to do?" he asked warily.
"We can't stop this infestation" Irons replied. "There just aren't enough of us to cleanse Raccoon City of this plague. I'm trying to bring as many civilians as possible into the building, where we'll be able to hold out until help arrives. I've also called up all off duty and suspended officers, including your friends in the STARS teams. I believe one of them is in the building as we speak."
Irons picked up the Deagle, and Mat tensed for a moment, before he realized the Chief was just shifting the magnum so he could unroll a map of the city. He tapped a spot with his finger. "Are you familiar with this location?"
Mat stood up and squinted at the map. "Sort of" he said. "It's an expensive private school over in Raven's Gate. Why?"
"Because you and the STARS officer are going to head there, retrieve a high value civilian, and return her and any other survivors to this station. These orders come directly from Mayor Warren. He wants me to send my best, and in this situation, with your experience, that's you two."
"Why us?" Mat asked. "Raven's Gate precinct is about four blocks away. Why not send them?"
"Raven's Gate has been hit hard by this. We don't have…reliable communication with them, and the last message we got said their building was totally surrounded. The last two relief forces have gone off the air, and I'm unwilling to send in more men. So, your orders stand: get to the school, collect any survivors, then make your way back to this spot here" Irons explained, tapping a spot on the map. "This is our forward command post. If we can't hold them here, then we'll have to fall back to the station. The tramways have been shut down; that should give you and your STARS friend any easy route back once you've completed your objective. Go back to the waiting room, and tell Captain Branagh I've authorized you to draw any weapons you need."
Raven's Gate is gone? What about Roy? Mat nodded. "Thank you, sir. Where's the STARS member?" He suspected it was Jill. She was the only other officer still in town who had any interest in fighting; Brad had split pretty fast, and he hadn't seen Rebecca since she'd given him her badge, over two weeks ago. Becca, I hope you're okay he thought, worried about his friend.
"She's on the helipad. You'll meet up with her after getting suited up. I can't authorize you to wear your RPD uniform, you understand, and riot gear is proving less than effective in this emergency. Talk to Captain Branagh. He'll get you what you need."
A few minutes later, he was back where he'd started: downstairs, although this time it was in the RPD's armory…which looked pretty picked over.
"Irons wants all the weapons dispersed" explained David Ford, the RPD's armorer. "If the station is breached, then he wants individual pockets to be able to hold out on their own for as long as possible."
"I heard gunfire earlier. Have any of them gotten inside?"
Ford shook his head. "No. That was when we first realized what we were dealing with." He sighed. "Zombies. Who would've believed it?" He saw the look Mat gave him, and cleared his throat. "Since then, we don't let any bite victims go anywhere without a cop nearby, and we've started crushing the heads of every corpse in the morgue. There haven't been any breaches since then. The fighting's gotten pretty intense to the north, though. Where are you going?"
"Raven's Gate" Mat replied. "Up north."
Ford's face went pale. "Jesus. You're part of that crazy rescue mission, aren't you? That chick from STARS was down here earlier. I gave her some gear, but I figured she'd already left. Now, what can I do for ya?"
Mat had received the M1911 that had once belonged to Enrico Marini, along with Barry's back holster and two extra magazines, as well as Rain Ocampo's knife. He'd also been given his confiscated Browning HP, along with three standard mags and two new, seventeen round extended ones. "We just got issued these" Chase explained, handing them over. "Less than a week ago. They make things a helluva lot easier, let me tell you."
Mat's superior had explained why he wasn't going on the mission. "I'm needed on the roof" he said, patting the side of his M14 battle rifle. "There aren't many snipers left in the building, so the guys down on the ground need all the help they can get."
He'd also told Mat what had happened at the Arklay Center: how LJ and SWAT Bravo squad had been massacred…and how they'd resurrected and taken most of Alpha apart. "SWAT doesn't exist so much any more" Chase explained. "There's just a few of us left. Captain Welles has been sent to the front, with most of what's left. I'm just here because of my marksmanship."
Ford handed Mat a set of elbow and kneepads. "They work great for busting heads open" he explained. "Plus, if one grabs you from behind, you can elbow him in the face." He also gave Mat a tactical vest. "It's not much good, since these guys don't use guns, but it's great for carrying stuff."
"What about my P90?" Mat asked.
"That's still with Michael Guthrie" Ford replied. "He's at the forward command post. If you see him, and you ask politely, maybe he'll hand it over. Otherwise…"
Mat had to settle for a Benelli M1, similar to the one he'd lost in the Hive back in July. This had a full-size magazine, though, and he also received thirty-five shells.
"Shoty's the best for taking down multiple…things at once" Ford explained. "Just get a bunch together, aim at the right angle, and BLAM!"
Mat slung the shotgun across his back, into the special straps on the tactical vest. "Thanks" he said.
Ford just shrugged. "Buddy, don't thank me. You're going into the hornet's nest. I'm just making it more likely you'll survive…longer. See ya on the other side, Dawson."
Somewhat discomforted by the strange good-bye, Mat headed back upstairs. The station was eerily quiet, as if everyone was holding their breath, waiting for the hammer to fall.
"Good luck, Mat" said Heather when Mat passed through the waiting room, heading for the helipad. He noticed she had a small Beretta Cougar on her desk. "Just in case" she explained when she saw him looking at it.
"Thanks" Mat replied. "I hope it doesn't come to that." It seemed unreal to think that, just a few weeks ago, he'd been excited when she'd given him an assignment directly from Enrico Marini; orders to make contact with STARS for a joint operation.
The door outside squeaked loudly when Mat swung it open, the heavy metal forward. On the flat rooftop, the air was cold, the wind whistling over the RPD building, bringing with it sounds and smells he would rather not have experienced: fire, burning, putrefaction, and gunfire, screams, and hopeless moans. Somewhere in the warren of streets below, a dog howled.
Standing with her back to him, at the edge of the helipad, was another cop.
"Jill?" Mat called out. "You ready?"
The other cop turned around, and Mat saw that it wasn't Jill at all.
"Rebecca?" he gasped. "What are you doing here?"
"They called up everybody" she replied. "And somehow I knew…this is where I needed to be."
"When Irons said another STARS was on the job, I never expected it was-"
"I know" Rebecca answered, sighing. "Mat, I'm sorry. I was…I was confused, and scared. We just barely made it out of the forest alive, and…I guess I didn't think I was ready to die for this cause. But…I can't just stand by and watch as Raccoon City tears itself apart. So, I'm here."
"Good" Mat replied. "I was worried about you." He dug in his pocket, then tossed her the STARS badge. "I think this belongs with you."
Rebecca clipped it to her jacket. "You hung onto it all this time?"
"Yeah. Somehow, I think I always knew you'd be back."
"Thanks" she said, smiling. She unslung the MP-5 she had over her shoulder, chambering a round. "Are you ready?"
Mat nodded. "Yeah. Let's do it."
Together, the two survivors of July 23rd descended into the nightmare that had overtaken Raccoon City.