Resident Evil Recall: Operation Arklay

Episode Nine: Square One

Part Four

Arklay County Sheriff Station, 10:30 PM…

One nice thing about rural places like Arklay Village was that there were plenty of open fields in the valley that were perfect for making an emergency landing in a helicopter. So there was no need to try and avoid people's backyards, and Liquid thought that the landing itself had been pretty smooth, considering the fact that the engines died only a few seconds later. Proske stayed inside to check on Ashwood while Liquid and Lopez followed Carver outside to see what the problem was, but aside from a fuel leak, no one expected to find what was there when the beam of her flashlight passed over the tank.

"Are those… bullet holes?" Liquid had asked.

There were five holes in the fuel tank, identical in size and tightly grouped. The metal around the edges of each one had been bent inward, and they looked pretty fresh, so that along with the rate that the fuel had leaked out, meant that it had to have happened pretty recently. The Lieutenant's first thought was gratitude that fuel tanks didn't really explode from being shot like they did in the movies, but his second thought was a bit more disturbing: Who the hell had shot the fuel tank? Proske and Carver were inside, so they were out. Ashwood was unconscious at the time, and his and Lopez's weapons were both empty, along with the fact that they were in sight of each other the whole time.

"But if none of us did it." Lopez began. "You think… you think there was someone else out there? And if they were, why would they try to shoot us down?"

It didn't make sense why someone would do that, and there was no record of the cannibals using guns, so that was out, too. Proske hadn't said anything when he finally got around to joining them, but he didn't have to. From the expression on his face, it was obvious that he thought either Liquid or Lopez was responsible. He had already mentioned how they smelled like alcohol, so it wasn't much of a stretch for him to think that they shot the tank themselves during landing, and there was no way to prove they didn't since the shots would have never been heard over the rotors.

"Well, there goes getting back unnoticed." Carver said as she turned to Proske. "Sorry, Sarge."

"It's not your fault, Carver." Proske replied while making a quick glare at Liquid. "But that can wait; right now the most important thing is getting Officer Ashwood to a doctor."

The radio in the helicopter would still work for a while, since they worked on battery power instead of the engine, and Carver was about to go back inside and use it, when a set of flashing blue and red lights appeared in the distance. Liquid hadn't expected it to take long for the Sheriff to respond to the big, obvious lights and sounds of a helicopter flying at low altitude over the village, and once they explained the situation, Deputy Gumb was more than happy to call out a couple more cars in order to give them all a ride back to the station. He also reported the situation with Ashwood, and the Sheriff said that he was gonna wake up Doc Perkins. The tired looking older man was already there waiting for them when they carried Ashwood into the station, and he even had a stereotypical black bag with him, even though it looked to be almost as old as the Doctor himself.

"Lay her down on the table." Doc Perkins ordered as they put her down across a cleared off desk. "And for God's sake be careful."

Everyone knew enough to stay back so that the Doctor had plenty of room as he took out his examination tools from the bag. Setting them down in a row next to Ashwood, Perkins started with the basics by checking her pulse and heart-rate before moving the stethoscope to another part of her chest to listen to her breathing.

"Hmph, haven't done a house-call in twenty years." He grumbled to himself. "And of course it happens in the middle of the night… why can't people ever get hurt at noon, hmm?"

"She took a pretty bad hit, Doc." Liquid said. "And we had to carry her out of a burning building."

Bruises and swelling were becoming more obvious across Ashwood's body, and her eyes were dilated when the Doctor opened her eyes to shine the small light into them. The good news was that she was still alive, and he just hoped that the extent of her injuries wasn't too severe. It was no one's fault, since they had no idea what that green-coated giant was capable of when it appeared in the cabin, but Liquid was still the leader, and that made everything his fault.

"Son, you've got a talent for understatement." Perkins replied. "This poor girl looks like someone whooped the ever-loving piss out of her, and did I hear you right when you said this was from a single blow with someone's bare hand?"

"Yes, that's right." The Lieutenant explained. "He hit her, and then she crashed through the door, and, um, part of the wall, and well, rolled down the stairs the rest of the way."

"Tobias, maybe we should all wait in the other room." The Sheriff said in response to the Doctor's glare. "Come on, let's all give the Doc some room to work."

Everyone followed the Sheriff through the door into the back section of the station as Perkins continued his work, and Liquid had to rub his eyes to make sure he was really seeing the next thing his eyes fell upon. At the back of this area was a set of holding cells, and inside the first one was none other than McGee and Chambers. The Detective gave a half-hearted wave to them while the Rookie just hung his head, and of course, Liquid immediately went up to them to find out what happened.

"Hello, Tobias." McGee said when he got there. "I imagine you're probably wondering why we're locked in this cell."

"It briefly crossed my mind, yeah." The Lieutenant answered before turning back to the Sheriff. "Hey, Adam, what are my guys in here for?"

"It's all in that report, Tobias." The Sheriff replied while pointing to a folder on the desk. "I'm afraid they're in some pretty deep trouble."

Liquid scoffed at these remarks as he picked up the folder, but then his expression changed as he started to read through the reports and statements having to do with incidents at The Arklay Resort just a few hours prior to their arrival. Up until that point, the Lieutenant believed that nothing could surprise him after fighting the giant, but he quickly realized that he was wrong as he read through the horrors described in his team's statements. Everything from parking the SUV to the point where they had been arrested was carefully detailed, and if he hadn't had his own unbelievable adventure that night, Liquid might not have believed them either.

"The things in this file." He said to his caged comrades. "Are they true?"

"Our statements, yes." McGee answered. "The charges against us, hell no."

"The Commissioner just went nuts on us, Liquid." Chambers added. "She just showed up at the resort, and had the Sheriff arrest us. She wouldn't listen to our explanation, or anything, and here we are."

The Sheriff just shrugged when Liquid looked at him, and for the moment it seemed that there was nothing he could do for them. The Commissioner held the same power in Arklay County that Mayor Warren and Chief Irons held within Raccoon City, so the only thing he could do was talk to her about the situation and hopefully get her to see reason. This wasn't likely, since like most of the women in his wife's family, she was stubborn and almost impossible to deter once she had her mind on something, but Liquid wasn't about to let his people stay locked in a cell like common criminals.

"Well, I've got good news and bad news." Doc Perkins said as he walked in through the door. "The good news is that Ms. Ashwood's injuries to her body aren't quite as bad as they look, at least from what I can tell here. The bad news is that she's probably got what looks like the worst concussion I've ever seen. Regardless of what hit her, that young lady needs to get to a hospital, especially since she was moved around so much after the injury."

"Our only truck is in the shop." Sheriff Thompson replied. "If you're worried about moving her around, then we'll have to get an ambulance from Raccoon City."

"Hey, that could take hours." McGee protested. "You've still got our SUV impounded, use that to get her there. It'll be safer for Ashwood than a car, and it's still a Police vehicle, so the lights will get you through traffic."

"I would prefer an ambulance." Doc Perkins continued. "But the prisoner's right, it could take hours, so that SUV's your best bet."

"I'll drive her to the hospital." Proske spoke up. "Your people are busy enough out here, Sheriff, and I think Tobias here needs to come down from… whatever happened that made him burn his house down."

Ashwood's safety was more important to Liquid than responding to a low-blow, so he ignored it, and even agreed that the Sergeant was the best person to take care of her in this situation. So with all of them who weren't locked in a cell working together, they carefully lifted Ashwood off the table, and carried her outside. With this many people working together, it was easy to get her loaded into the SUV once one of the Deputies brought it out of the impound yard, which was just a fenced in area on the other side of the station.

"All right, looks like we're all set." Proske said as he got in and put on his seatbelt. "Come on, Carver, we gotta go."

"Sorry, Sarge, I can't." She replied. "Even though I wasn't supposed to take the chopper, I can't just leave it out here for some hooligan to vandalize. Don't worry, I'll wait till you've been gone a while before I call the RPD."

"Thanks for taking her back for us, Proske." Liquid added as he walked up to the window. "I guess I owe you for this, huh?"

"Liquid, I don't know what happened out here, you've lost control." Proske answered. "You've got two men in jail, one about to be hospitalized, and not a shred of evidence to back up your wild claims. I hate to say this, even to you, but I think the best thing you can do for your team right now is to pack it in, come back to Raccoon City, and turn in your badge. If you wanna destroy yourself, that's fine, just don't drag a bunch of good Officers down with you."

There wasn't really anything that the Lieutenant could say back to that as Proske fired up the engine and drove off, and even if there was, it would've just delayed Ashwood's treatment. He didn't blame the Sergeant for thinking that way, since he probably would've thought the same of someone like himself that was found in a similar situation. Did it look like he got drunk and burned his own house down? Yes, which probably meant that Proske suspected him of causing Ashwood's injuries as well. However, the evidence and suspicions against him didn't change the fact that something pretty damn weird was happening in these mountains, and he couldn't just walk away from that.

"Okay, we're back to square one, but we've learned a lot." Liquid said as the SUV's lights faded in the distance. "We've got a nearly invincible giant who doesn't fit the bill of The Cannibal Murders, and a hotel floor full of deranged lunatics who do. We've also got a hotel manager who was willing to kill to cover the situation up after talking to an unknown party, and yet another unknown party putting holes in the helicopter without being seen. So if we put all the clues together, we get… the weirdest damn case I've ever been assigned to."

"Tobias, you need some rest." Carver replied as she put her hand on his shoulder. "You look like you've been through hell, so maybe you'll be able to think more clearly in the morning."

"Amen to that." Lopez said before walking back into the station. "Dibbs on the couch."

She was right, it had been a very long night, and Liquid needed some rest, especially after taking on that giant. Tomorrow was going to be incredibly busy; having to talk to Aunt Yvonne about releasing Chambers and McGee, getting an update on Ashwood's condition, and also trying to figure out what the team's next move in this case was going to be.

"Thanks for saving us, Janet." He said while turning toward her. "Looks like I owe you as well."

"Don't worry about it." She replied before giving him a small kiss. "Now come on, I saw a big, comfy chair that has your name written all over it."