Author's Disclaimer: All referenced characters, monsters, and locations are copyrighted properties of both Capcom and Konami and this is a respectfully passionate fan work of both their franchises. WARNING: This game story contains scenes of explicit violence, gore and disturbing verbal imagery which may be considered cruel. Parental discretion is advised.
~Chapter 10: Raccoon City~
Everyone did a quick check amongst themselves for any injuries. Once everyone knew each other was all right, they abandoned the convoy truck as if it were on fire. Which thankfully, it wasn't. Before anyone could rush to the driver's cab, the doors on both sides were kicked open. Leon appeared unscathed but D.K. had received a cut above his left brow from hitting the steering wheel. Once Claire noticed, she rushed to him.
"D.K., you're bleeding!" she said. "I'll bandage that…"
D.K. waved her away, but not rudely. While holding his aching head, he said, "Somebody ran out in front of me!"
"What did they look like?" asked Henry. "Did you get a good look at who it was?"
"No," D.K. replied. "I just caught a quick glimpse, that was it."
"I'm not too sure," spoke Leon. "but the figure running in front of us looked small, like a kid."
"A kid?" asked Claire. "Why would a kid be out here of all places? Do you think it's a survivor? From the city maybe?"
Alex, who spent his own fair share of time chasing a kid in his past, did not like this. And the screech of the radio static didn't thrill him, either. Alex knew in his gut this was going to be the same ordeal. Maybe something much worse. Laura then walked around to the front of the military truck to survey the damage. Despite being a massively large vehicle, the tree it slammed into did a good job none the less in stopping it in it's tracks. The tree was massive and only knocked from it's roots slightly, the fender caved in and smoke rising from the front hood.
With a kick to the vehicle, Laura spat, "Fucking jackass! You totaled our transportation!"
Claire, who had mechanic skills due to her love for motorcycles, went to take a look at it. She reached inside to pull the lever to pop open the hood; a mushroom cloud of smoke lifting from where the engine was. Claire hoped one foot over the large left-side front wheel and looked inside of it. After a few minutes she climbed back down and shook her head in disappointment.
"Looks like we're walking from here." Claire said.
To the group's surprise, a familiar voice came unto all of their radios. "Omega Team, this is Hunnigan! Do you copy?"
Leon was the first to respond. "Yeah, this is Leon. And boy is it good to hear your voice."
"Likewise." said Hunnigan. "This is actually the second time we've attempted to call out to you. I think we're still experiencing communication problems. Better enjoy it while it lasts."
"Our radios just a moment ago went nuts." Leon said. "There was a heavy amount of static on them. Didn't sound like anything I've ever heard as far as interference goes."
"I wouldn't doubt that wouldn't be the last time that happens." Hunnigan replied. "Throughout the mission we will do our best to keep in frequent contact with all of you. By the way, Henry, are you there?"
Henry fumbled clumsily with his radio, then finally spoke into it. "Y-yeah, I'm here. Over."
"Good, Henry." Hunnigan began. "There's someone here that would like to check up on you…"
Soon another familiar voice came on the radio. One that was music to Henry's ears. "Henry? Henry? Are you there?"
"Yeah, babe!" he said, not realizing he was smiling. "I'm here!"
"Oh thank God!" Eileen exclaimed on the radio. "How are you and everybody holding up?"
Henry's smile disappeared. "Well, not too good. You see, there's a small, slight problem…"
"Problem, 'now'?" Eileen asked, worried. "Oh God, Henry! Don't drop this shit on me now!"
"Sorry, Eileen." Henry responded. "I have to say we were just in a wreck. Something ran us off the road and now the truck is too damaged to drive. We're gonna be doing this trek on foot it looks like."
Eileen sighed deeply, then responded, "Okay. Henry, from here I want you to hand out the Holy Candles to everybody. Promise me no splitting up whatsoever!"
"Got it, Eileen." Henry said. "All of us plan on sticking together."
"Good." Eileen responded. "I'm counting on all you guys to take care of my man. He's going to be doing the same for you."
Claire responded to Eileen with a smile. "Don't worry, we're all experts here. He's in good hands."
"Thank you." Eileen said, relieved. "…All of you."
Hunnigan then came back on the radio. "We'll be contacting you frequently, but don't hesitate to contact us also to let us know the situation. All of us here wish you all the best of luck in there. This is Hunnigan and Eileen signing off. Over and out."
Everyone found themselves back on their own, but at least together. Laura then asked, "Holy Candles?"
"Oh, right!" Henry took off his backpack and got on one knee. He unzipped it and pulled out 6 long white candles with a mystical light red symbol at it's base. He explained while he passed them out to everyone. "These babies got me through my hauntings and I've got a really good feeling you're going to need them. These are special candles with anti-spirit effects. The second you light them, they're guaranteed to repel ghosts. As for monsters, however, I've never known it to work. But I won't feel comfortable until all of you take one with yourselves."
All of them examined their gifts and stored them away. Laura responded with, "Okay, fine. I'll entertain it. By the way, King Arthur, I've been meaning to ask what's up with Excalibur strapped to your back? You could've raided the depot with the others as opposed to raiding your closet of decorative fantasy sword props."
"Oh, this?" asked Henry, now with a confident smirk. "This is a Sword of Obedience. This is, as far as I know of, the last of five rare weapons against the dead. Stick this into an evil spirit and you pin them until it's removed."
"You sound pretty confident that it works." said D.K..
"That's because I've already used four of them." Henry said. "And somehow I've got a bad feeling I'm gonna use this one too."
Everyone one else besides Alex, to which Henry understood, were still skeptical. Surprisingly, Laura was not insulting him further either. That was okay, Henry knew, if what Walter had said to him the other night was true then all of them were going to be believers real soon. And he knew that he stood a better chance with his one firearm also. For years, he spent the time necessary to melt as much silver for more bullets and learn the incantations necessary to make them powerful against what they would soon be hunted by. But there was still the chance there could be mutants here. For that, he would have to be totally dependent on his team. At least he knew he could trust them.
"Okay," Leon began. "let's not forget we're on a time limit. Once we reach the entrance of the city, all of us will check our maps and we will determine the next course of action. I advise we get going."
D.K. nodded in agreement, then spoke. "You heard Leon. Were there's one person out there in the fog, there's bound to be more. I want everyone to be ready for an attack, but wait for my command to fire. Laura, I want you to take point. I will supply the backup. Anyone want to volunteer to secure the rear of our party?"
"I'll do it." Alex volunteered.
"Good job." D.K. complimented. "Everyone fall in line and watch your surroundings. Laura, lead the way."
Laura nodded in response and armed herself with her handgun. "You got it, captain! Move out kids! Field trip's not over yet!"
"And also, stay quiet!" D.K. hissed.
"Roger that." Laura ignored the scolding and did what she was originally told, and the rest of the group followed her.
The group walked in single file formation up the highway road, and were a lot closer to the city than they had first suspected. To their right, they could see faintly through the fog and trees that beyond was the ends of Victory Lake. The lake was once a preferred holiday destination for tourists back when the citizens of Raccoon City were lucky to still enjoy normalcy. Sadly, a couple of mutilated corpses washing ashore during the city's first virus scare did well to deter more vacationers. To their left, they were now finally beginning to see streets, then buildings.
"Welcome back home, guys." Claire said to Leon and Ada unenthusiastically.
"At least the streets are cleaner this time." Ada joked, though barely. "This place was disgusting last time we vacationed here."
"Let's hope the new welcoming committee here isn't as hungry as the last." added Leon.
As everyone finally entered the city, their eyes scanned as much as they could through the mist, which was thankfully light enough for them to see where they were. The city, just like they saw in the photographs that were taken as close as possible, was clean as far as they knew with no current signs of violence or destruction present. Unlike before, they didn't see shattered windows, bloody handprints of victims, or half eaten bodies strewn about. So far, it looked peaceful. Too peaceful, they all felt. The city in the fog looked desolate as any ghost town they had seen before. Except this had once been a major city in the country. But something still remained here, they were sure. The last team that was sent in to investigate had been slaughtered by something. They knew if anything they were at least being watched.
"Just like before, isn't it?" Alex asked Henry.
"We're gonna find out soon enough." Henry replied.
Just then, Laura silently motioned for the group to halt. Everyone obeyed and followed her pointing finger as she aimed it at a small dark silhouette up the road in the middle of the street. Quickly she pulled out a pair of small binoculars and strained to see through the lenses. She could barely make out the appearance of the figure, but the height and body language definitely suggested a child.
"It looks like a kid." Laura whispered.
"If there's a kid, do you think this city could be inhabited by normal people, too?" asked Claire.
"Let's go ask the kid." responded D.K.
The group quietly approached the figure, who didn't seem to take any notice yet of them as it's back was turned to them. Eventually they got close enough to see clothing. The figure was that of a small Caucasian girl with light brown shoulder-length hair covered under a blue knit beanie and was dressed in a fully zipped blue windbreaker with a knee-high dark gray dress and brown dress shoes with matching dress socks. Strapped to her back was a red back pack which was partially unzipped and filled with various papers bulging out of it. She had apparently stopped to pick up some of them off the street that had fallen out of her backpack. As she did this quietly grumbling to herself, a gold pendent swung from her neck back and forth like a small pendulum.
Once close enough, Claire made the first attempt at contact. "Excuse me, do you need some help?"
When the girl whipped around to see who was behind her, Claire was shocked to see a deep resemblance in the face of this girl of someone else she once met in this very same city. "Oh my god… you look just like Sherry."
Not knowing what else to do, the girl bolted away quickly. "Hey kid! Come back here!" shouted Laura, as everyone gave chase.
The group could barely keep up with the girl as she sped up the street away from them. They wondered if whether or not she wandered into this place on her own and may think they were trying to hurt her? Regardless of what she thought, everyone knew this was no place for children to be alone. Eventually the girl ran so far ahead that the mist swallowed her and she disappeared. By the time they passed Spear Street, they made a more startling discovery: a massive chunk of the city appeared to be missing and had it not been for D.K. snatching Laura from behind and yanking her back, she would have ran completely off the cliff of the hole.
Once Laura got over her initial shock, she peered over the cliff to see how deep it went. "It's… gone. There's, like, nothing's down there."
"I wouldn't be surprised." Henry said. "Maybe some parts of the city are still swallowed by the Dirac hole."
"You don't think that little girl ran off the cliff, do you?" asked Claire, worried.
"I hope not." Alex began. "But from the fog, the radios, that kid, and these holes… this is all too familiar, Henry."
Henry knew Alex and maybe even Walter were right, but he still wanted the opportunity to try to debunk something more sinister being the source. "Maybe, but there still may be more to this whole thing."
As everyone was investigating the cliff, Leon noticed a piece of paper laying near the edge that must have fallen out of the girl's backpack. Leon picked it up off the ground and examined it. It appeared to be some kind of notice on white construction printing paper with clip art at the top of a few familiar tourist spots within the city. It looked like an sightseeing invite that read:
[Welcome to Raccoon City!
Were a small industrialized city who would love to have you. After much needed "maintenance," we have now reopened the gates to our fine city for business and tourism. We implore you to take the time to come here and plan a long vacation during your stay. The citizens of this city are fine nature lovers. So when you're not hiking or camping in Raccoon Forest, try checking out other wonderful locations such as Victory Lake, the Raccoon City Zoo, and even our Café 13 Restaurant. Raccoon City will make you feel more alive than you ever have felt before! We here among the city's "new" committee, hope you enjoy your visit as we guarantee you are never going to forget us.
If you are interested in a free tour of the city's sights, come see our council's tour guide at the Raccoon City Park, as we promise he will have such sights to show you!
Yours forever, the Raccoon City Council.]
"Well," Leon began, "I guess this now answers our question as to whether or not the city is inhabited by people… wait a minute."
Leon looked closer at the top right hand corner and found something even more peculiar. "This thing is dated October 1st, 2010. This invitation is a year old."
"That's the same day the Dirac hole was discovered!" exclaimed Henry.
"If that's the case, then it could be possible that this city has already existed for a year right under our noses…" said Leon.
Everyone's radio then began to emit the same static again, except at the moment it was very faint. "Looks like the radios are freaking out again." mentioned Claire.
D.K. grabbed his radio in hopes maybe someone was trying to communicate with them. "Mayday! Mayday! This is Captain Taylor of the BSAA Omega Team! Is anyone there, do you copy?"
There was now answer, other than the slowly increasing volume of the static. D.K. called out again. "Come in, this is Taylor! Do you copy?"
The static grew louder. D.K. shouted one final time. "Mayday, damn it! If anybody out there, give us a sign!"
The sign came in the form of a body falling out from one of the building windows on the corner of Spear Street and landing on the roof of a parked car; caving in the roof and windows with a loud crash. Everyone spun around and cautiously headed in that direction. As they came closer, the static grew even louder. Once they were six feet away from the body, the static was now defining. By this time, everyone began to feel slight headaches. Headaches, that Henry was all too familiar with. Henry's blood went ice cold.
"Step away from him!" Henry screamed.
The car's surface around the body began to bubble and blacken where the body touched. Then the figure lifted itself off the car and then fell to the ground face first. Upon hitting the ground, the same effect then happened to concrete the body touched. As it raised to it's feet, the group could see the figure had pale, cracked rotting skin and was dressed in a blue police officer uniform with a police hat resting on it's head of messy brown hair. The eye glasses it wore hid lifeless eyes as it's mouth dropped open to let out a moan. A moan only a dead person could make.
"Glad the wait's over, zombie!" Leon said as he aimed for it's forehead and pulled the trigger. The bullet ripped between the eyes of the body and it's head cracked backwards as the rest of the body fell back. But the body never hit the ground. Instead it's back hovered just inches off the ground while it's knees remained pointed vertical and the toes of it's shoes barely touched the ground. Everyone watched in amazement as the body who looked like a zombie did not die from a headshot, and slowly rose back up right. And then, off the ground as it floated towards the panicking team who's radios screamed for them.
Author's Note: Well, sorry about the wait. I'm going through some (good) unexpected personal events in my life and I'm going to be focusing more on those for a few months and slow down a little on the writing. Don't worry, I'm still gonna try to do one chapter every week or two. I really don't want to leave you guys hanging so I promise to have more as soon as I can. As for notes on this chapter, our first monster confirmed is the Ghost. I've spent a lot of time blueprinting the 21 Sacrament victims in this story. I won't spoil who they are, other than saying all of them will be official characters from the Resident Evil universe. Next chapter, I'll have a new monster and possibly the first place our protagonists will explore.
