Following their entry into room 2B, the two survivors did quick work in fortifying the room's weak points, going as far as to tilt the bed up against the window and door. They figured that any bit of extra support would help if the worst came to pass and the undead assaulted their room. Regardless, Veronica felt sure that the zombies couldn't make it upstairs to reach them. However, she still realized that stairs, most likely, wouldn't pose much of a problem for nearly any of the other creatures that roamed the city, but night had already fallen and they had no other options except to lock themselves in the motel room until dawn.
Much to her surprise, the bathroom still had access to running water. Even though Veronica had to take a cold shower, it felt relaxing to take one step closer towards washing away the ungodly filth and stench of the city. Even more, they managed to restock their water supply. They had enough energy bars to tide themselves over for a few more days. Regardless, food was really the least of Veronica's concerns. She had, after all, mastered the art of living off meager rations for weeks at a time due to her relatively pitiful income in her past life as a corner store clerk.
"So," Kyle said as Veronica walked back into the main room from the bathroom, her hair wet from her recent shower and her body still chilled from the bittersweet, cold embrace of the water. "I killed three roaches and a centipede while you were washing up. I really hope you don't mind sleeping on the floor with a bunch of pests."
Feeling refreshed from her shower, Veronica didn't have any second thoughts about replying, "I do, actually. Would you mind sleeping in the bathroom?"
With a grin, Kyle laid back on the floor and put his hands behind his head. "Har har, very funny. You have a sense of humor after all! And here I thought that I've been traveling with an emotionless, cold android all these days. Go figure."
"Don't push it," Veronica said, reverting to her usual tone, as she stepped over Kyle to approach the pile of equipment they had set in the corner of the room. Crouching down, she pushed aside her vest and Kyle's guns in order to find Muguil's briefcase. She sat against the wall and opened it up, finding three extra packages of magnum ammunition, several liquid filled vials, a small laptop and a pair of extra batteries for it.
"Anything interesting?" Kyle asked, still lying on the floor.
"A laptop…" Veronica muttered, too curious about the mercenary's supplies to give Kyle much attention.
She set the briefcase aside, opened the laptop and turned it on. In the next instant, the screen came to life and a soft, female voice spoke out. "Welcome, Muguil Alabastor." Shortly thereafter, the screen loaded the computer's desktop. Kyle made some comment on Muguil's last name, the details of which were lost on Veronica as she began searching through the computer for any sort of information. It didn't take long at all for her to find the icon labeled, "Mission Report." Clicking on it opened up a text program and the words of the recently deceased man in white became all that Veronica knew for the following few hours.
MISSION REPORT
AGENT: MUGUIL L. ALABASTOR
OBJECTIVE: I am to infiltrate Raccoon City with intentions of obtaining blood samples, observational and battle data from various virus byproducts. Furthermore, I am to deal with anyone I come across as a hostile unit and dispatch them. When I am finished with my mission, I will call HQ and they shall send a helicopter to the extraction point.
REPORT
I will write down a summary of the events that occur throughout my mission, outlining my first contact with the various creatures I encounter. However, I will refrain from going into explicit detail. Such information will be covered in the B.O.W. dossier following my report.
It wasn't long after my drop-off that I encountered the most common creature in the city. The dead roamed the streets in large numbers, proving quite the obstacle to the lone traveler. Before they noticed my presence, I watched them stand idly by, no doubt waiting for an unsuspecting victim to cross their path. Produced in large numbers, I can imagine the usefulness of these particular creatures, but their lack of motivation and all-around fragile bodies hinder their chances at being substantially useful in warfare situations. Their actions are fairly predictable, allowing me to dispatch smaller groups of them in close quarter combat.
This brings me to my next observation. Unlike some past accounts, the Zombies that roam Raccoon City do not seem to rise again when defeated, failing to achieve the state of becoming a Crimson Head. However, it is important to note that, in later observations, I would come across the entities we have deemed as Lickers. It should be known that Lickers are a stage above the Crimson Head in the mutation process, meaning that even though Zombies show no signs of further mutation upon defeat, they must, at some point or another, continue their development. Whether or not this means that the virus in Raccoon City has become more selective in which entities continue up the mutation scale will have to be left for future analysis.
Upon retrieving a blood sample from one of the Zombies, I decided to continue my mission elsewhere in hopes of locating some other prey. During my travels from the drop-off point, I encountered and dispatched a group of three survivors. In time, I made my way to a series of alleyways around a local bar where I located a new specimen.
As we expected, the Plague Crawlers had made their way into Raccoon City. Since it was already established that these giant insects fail to meet combat requirements due to their simplistic mentalities, I need not go into how I managed to kill the group I encountered and retrieved a sample of their blood. I will note, however, that they do seem to be somewhat rare and it is my belief that following the downfall of Raccoon City, this particular B.O.W. will finally become extinct.
My travels later brought me to a pack of Cerberuses as they cornered two would-be survivors. The individuals, faced with certain death, asked me to assist them as I entered the alley. I shot them and then killed the Cerberuses as most of the infected dogs busied themselves with the fresh, recently killed meat. I'd like to note that aside from their decaying bodies, I would compare the Cerberus much to a wolf. They seem to show a degree of planning and ruthlessness as they attack their prey, without much of a doubt boasting some strength increase from their living, uninfected counterparts.
As a side note, I have encountered infected crows during my mission. For the most part, it appeared as if they were content with simply watching me as I traversed the city. The only times they built enough courage to attack me was when they had rather large numbers or when I stumbled across a situation that seemed to push the odds against me. This makes me wonder if they, like the Cerberuses, don't retain a sense of skillful hunting instinct, the likes of which making their presence more troublesome than one might initially think.
At the end of my first day in Raccoon City, I managed to stumble across a small shelter inhabited by a group of five survivors. They welcomed me in with open arms, obviously thankful to have another in their ranks. Shortly after I entered their makeshift shelter did I commence to kill them off, one by one. After disposing of their bodies, I used their shelter for the rest of the night, intent on continuing my run through of the city in the morning.
Come morning, I awoke to find that one of my targets came to me. A Licker broke through one of the shelter's windows. Despite having seen these creatures before, I still found the sight of its skinless body somewhat unnerving. Without a doubt, these particular B.O.W.s have combat potential. As known already, their major downfall is their lack of sight, but from experience, I know that their sense of hearing more than makes up for that deficiency. They are skillful killing machines, not all too unlike Hunters.
After killing the Licker and claiming a sample of its blood as my prize, I now set my sights on finding other specimen. I believe it best for me to seek out a dark location in order to find the creatures we refer to as Drain Deimos. Seeing as how our only information to go on about these accidental byproducts of the outbreak are some sparse, firsthand accounts by some of the mercenaries, data obtained on these particular creatures could prove to be very valuable to the organization.
The file ended there, leaving Veronica to believe that Muguil wrote that entry before he left the shelter and ended up in the apartment building. By the time she finished reading, Kyle had fallen asleep. Her body craved the relaxing nourishment of drifting into unconsciousness for a few hours, but her curiosity wanted more. She spent the next half an hour combing through Muguil's laptop until, finally, she found that she could no longer resist the allure of sleep.