Familiar Evil

by trestwho

Louise's summoning of her familiar was supposed to be the ultimate, final proof that she was truly a mage. But, instead she somehow found herself in a place called Raccoon City on an entirely different world. A world where magic didn't exist, and when that world falls apart, she and the boy who was supposed to be her familiar must fight for their lives against the evil around them.

8. City of Fear

Familiar Evil (ZnT/Resident Evil)
Chapter 8: City of Fear

[~][~]

Louise was running. Running through the streets and alleyways faster than she ever had before in her life. Her legs burned, her body was covered in sweat from the exertion, and each breath now felt pained and forced. Yet, despite how exhausted she was getting, Louise refused to stop and rest. Saito was right next to her, the athletic boy slightly ahead but always making sure to stay close, his left hand clasping her right while he held his baseball bat with the other. He, too, was gasping for breath, his body damp with sweat, but like her he refused to stop.

Both of them knew it wasn't an option, especially as they heard the shouting of the mercenaries pursuing them.

"They went that way!" one of the male mercs yelled as Saito and Louise dashed into an alley.

Glancing over her shoulder, Louise saw the six members of the fireteam giving chase, glaring at them from behind their masks and goggles. They were also gaining ground, a testament to their physical prowess despite the heavy gear they were carrying. Realizing that they needed more room, Louise tightened her grip on her wand and aimed behind her back, not even bothering to properly aim.

"Fireball!" Louise cast the spell. A small explosion immediately rang out, releasing a small shockwave that broke the glass immediately around it while shaking everything else, including her and Saito. Glancing behind her shoulder once again, she saw the mercenaries picking themselves back up, having dove for cover as soon as she aimed her wand. This wasn't the first time she had to throw them off with her magic, and she doubted it would be the last, either.

Taking advantage of the momentary respite, Louise and Saito picked up the pace. Running down the alley, they noticed it curved down a flight of stairs, which they immediately took before turning sharply to the right. Behind them, they heard the pounding of feet as the mercenaries rushed towards them. Their voices were faint, but echoed across the brick walls, allowing the two teenagers to hear them well enough.

"LUPO, we're running into a Red Zone!" they heard SPECTRE shout from overhead, still following them from the rooftops like a bird of prey. Louise didn't know what a Red Zone was, but she easily recognized the twinge of fear in the mercenary's voice. She didn't know if that was a good thing or not, but if it meant it might give their pursuers pause, that was good enough for her.

Evidently, Saito agreed, and he led her deeper into the city. Further along in the alleyway, they came across a wire fence with boxes stacked up on the side. There were no other paths available to them, with brick walls on either side, so both teenagers immediately began climbing up the boxes. Louise was first, hopping over the wire fence and running forward a bit to give Saito room. Just before he reached the top, he kicked the pile of boxes over, preventing their easy use by anyone else. He hopped down, then immediately retook Louise's hand in his own before both sprinted away once more.

"Goddammit!" they heard BELTWAY yell in frustration as he slammed his body into the fence, rattling it. As the mercenaries immediately began to pull out wire cutters in order to cut their way through, Saito and Louise continued to run.

Soon, the only sounds they could hear were their own feet slapping against the concrete, along with the slamming of metal trash cans and wooden crates that both Saito and Louise were throwing against the ground in an effort to hinder their pursuers in any way possible. It would only delay them by, at most, a moment or two, but that might be all the time they needed. As they got further away from the fence, and the voices of the mercenaries began to die down, Louise began to feel that they might've lost them. Then, almost as soon as the thought entered her head, she felt a sharp pain on her leg, causing her to stumble.

"Gagh!" Louise screamed, falling to the ground and letting go of Saito's hand. With burning tears in her tightly-closed eyes, Louise clutched her leg in an effort to stem the pain racing up the limb from her thigh.

"Louise!" Saito yelled, scrambling to a stop as he turned around to try and help her. A moment later, a loud crack rang out as something hit the ground next to him, followed by Saito gasping in pain as something slammed into his back. Like Louise, he was thrown to the ground by the force, but he was able to quickly recover and pull her behind a dumpster as more shots were fired.

Breathing heavily, Saito looked around to see what was going on. Up on the rooftop, down the alleyway they just ran down, he saw SPECTRE aiming his rifle at them. The sniper's cold, calculating eyes never once left their position, and Saito immediately had to duck behind the dumpster as another shot rang out. The bullet ricocheted off the metal object, making it ring and Saito flinch. Yet, it didn't sound like a bullet. In fact, when he reached around to the spot on his back where he was shot, Saito found that he didn't feel any blood. He did gasp in pain though, as his fingers skimmed across a fresh bruise.

Realizing what was going on, Saito blurted, "He's using rubber bullets!"

That only made sense, in Saito's opinion. The mercenaries were trying to capture Louise alive and unharmed, apparently, and shooting someone with live rounds tended to prevent either of those things. Rubber bullets were less lethal than actual bullets, but if used improperly could still cause serious injury. The fact that the armed men hunting them down were now willing to use such potentially deadly ammunition against them told Saito that they were getting desperate, and as he heard the others get closer, he found that he was as well.

Pinning himself against the metal dumpster, Saito shouted, "Louise, you need to hit them! Take that bastard off the roof, or we're done!"

Still clutching her bruised leg, Louise opened her eyes slightly. Her entire body was trembling from fear, and she began to hyperventilate. Yet, as she saw the armed men and women who forced her out of her newfound home, her fear was quickly replaced by utter rage and indignation. Fighting through the pain, Louise quickly glanced up and mentally aimed at the sniper who had momentarily pinned them. It would be the farthest she had ever fired her magic at something, her target at least a dozen yards away on top of a three-story building, only his head and part of his upper body exposed. She knew that she only had one shot at this, and if she missed she'd immediately be put down and captured alongside Saito.

Fear once again gripped her heart, but she fought through it as she gripped her wand, swung it up right at the sniper and yelled at the top of her lungs, "FIREBALL!"

Another explosion rang out. It didn't hit the man directly, unfortunately, but it was enough to send him flying back and chunks of rubble raining down. Shifting her arm downward, she cast again just as the first of the mercenaries, the man who had dragged her out of her room named VECTOR, got within ten feet. Unlike his partner, the spell hit him directly, sending him flying back and rolling to a stop on the ground.

"Ggghh!" VECTOR wheezed in pain, clutching his chest tightly as he gasped for breath. The other mercenaries momentarily broke their pursuit of Louise and Saito to tend to their fallen comrade, allowing Saito the chance to rush upward and pick Louise up onto her feet.

Together, the two teenagers ran off again, this time with noticeable limps in their strides. Turning down the alley, they came across another wire fence, this one with a gate in the middle. A simple padlock kept it closed with rusted chains, and as Saito attempted to jingle it loose Louise took the opportunity to look around. Like the previous fence they hopped over, they were surrounded by brick walls. This time, however, she noticed a few back doors to what looked like apartments. She glanced between the nearest door and the padlock repeatedly, then had an idea on how they could potentially get out of this mess. Without their eye in the sky, it would be difficult for the mercenaries to figure out which direction they went.

"Saito, step back!" Louise yelled, aiming her wand at the padlock. Realizing what she was doing, Saito stepped back, allowing Louise to cast a simple unlocking cantrip. The padlock and chains fell away and clattered against the ground, no explosion required. Normally this would've been cause for celebration, but Louise didn't allow herself the opportunity to do that as she shifted her aim towards the nearest door. Rather than using a cantrip, Louise blew it open with a small explosion, nearly knocking it off its hinges.

"Grab the padlock then put it back on once we go through!" Louise ordered, rushing through the now unlocked fence gate.

Saito immediately complied, picking both items up off the ground and rushing through to join her on the other side. Closing the gate, Saito slipped the chains and the padlock through the gaps and locked it. Stepping back, it didn't look exactly as it did as when they came across it, the chains hanging a bit looser than before, but otherwise they appeared untouched.

Taking a few steps back, Saito and Louise ran off once again towards a nearby dumpster with an open top. Hearing rapid footsteps coming from deeper down the alleyway, Saito and Louise realized that they didn't have enough time to make it all the way down. Glancing at the dumpster, they nearly gagged at the stench from the trash that was almost overfilling it. Yet, they could tell that there was barely enough room for them to squeeze through, so they held their noses and dove inside. Saito gently closed the dumpster, then both teenagers held their hands tightly over their mouths as they tried to be as silent as humanly possible.

"Where the fuck did those kids go?!" they heard BELTWAY shout.

Holding in their breath, they heard the gated fence jingle slightly, then they heard BERTHA reply, "Through here, come on!"

The six mercenaries quickly ran through the obvious blown open door, leaving the still-locked fence behind. For several minutes, Saito and Louise laid in the dumpster, encased in trash while barely breathing. The only sound they could hear was their own thunderous heartbeats, and they were so close to each other that they could each feel the other's pulse. Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, Saito gently opened the dumpster lid a crack, allowing him to peek outside.

"They're gone," he whispered, gently opening the lid up more so that he could crawl out. He held it up so that Louise could exit as well, then silently closed it so as not to make a sound. Breathing heavily, the two teenagers looked to where the mercenaries had disappeared, then Saito took her hand into his own and began to lead them away.

---

Saito led Louise further into the dark, damp alleyway. They passed by numerous buildings with locked doors. With Louise's magic, they could easily get into any one of them, but he wanted to put as much distance between them and the mercenaries chasing them as possible. It was still hard for him to even comprehend what had just happened. One moment, they were nervously holing up in their apartment, the next they were running for their lives from armed men and women, forced to leave his parents behind as they tried to buy them time to escape.

The thought of his parents' fates made Saito's blood boil, and he had to force himself to calm down. It took a tremendous amount of effort, but eventually he was able to do so. Losing his cool right now would only make things worse for him. He could do that once they found a safe place to hunker down and just…process.

"Do…do you think we lost them?" Louise quietly asked, her hand tightly clenched around his own.

Glancing behind his shoulder, Saito looked down the alleyway and up on the rooftops. As far as he could tell, their deception worked. None of the mercenaries were anywhere to be seen, at least for the moment. There was no doubt in his mind that they'd catch on eventually, then go right back to tracking them down. But at least they had a moment of respite.

Any further thoughts were broken as the bruise on his lower back flared up again, making him wince in pain. With the adrenaline beginning to die down, the flare ups were growing more frequent and intense. Realizing that they had to find a place to rest now, Saito led Louise further into the alley, taking a left at another gated fence. They came across the back of a restaurant, the lights flickering on and off, giving it an eerie glow.

"In here," Saito said, gripping the door and trying to open it.

But the metal door wouldn't budge despite how hard he pulled, telling him it was locked. Louise then stepped forward, placing the tip of her wand against the lock and whispering, "Unlock."

As before, they heard a click as the door was magically unlatched, granting them entry. The two teenagers immediately rushed in, closing the door behind them and locking it back up. Backing up, they turned their heads on a swivel, checking their surroundings to find that they were in the kitchen. The restaurant appeared to be a fifties-style diner, with vibrant red upholstery and barstools near the front. Whatever life this place held was long gone, though. Stools and booths were ripped and overturned, many of which were piled up against the front doors and windows to form a makeshift barricade. Light flickered in through the gaps in the barricade, as well as a hole in a skylight. Neither of them could tell what the barricade was supposed to keep out, only that whoever made it did so in a hurry. Alarmingly though, there wasn't a single person around. The entire restaurant was empty, save for them.

Feeling his thunderous heartbeat in his chest, Saito tightened his grip on his baseball bat. Beside him, Louise shakily held up her wand, and together they walked further into the restaurant. None of the overhead lights were working, casting the entire place in shadow, but neither of them were willing to risk turning them back on. Doing so might alert the mercenaries of their location.

Saito sniffed as he passed one of the stoves. It wasn't a smell he was able to recognize, but it was foul and burned his nostrils. It made him want to hurl, but he held it in then asked, "Do you smell that?"

Louise scrunched up her face and sniffed as well, then recoiled and replied, "Oh, Founder. What is that stench? It smells like…death…"

If there was a word to describe it, 'death' seemed appropriate. The entire building seemed more dead the longer they were in it. Part of Saito wanted to leave as soon as possible, but until they got their bearings that wasn't really an option.

"Bah!" Louise yelped as her foot slipped on the tile floor, slick with some unknown liquid. She fell hard onto her back, where she laid there for a moment as she groaned.

"Louise, are you okay?!" Saito asked, carefully rushing over and kneeling beside her.

After a moment, Louise nodded and said, "I'm fine. Just took me by surprise, is all."

She began to push herself up, her hand immediately feeling wet. It didn't feel like water, though. Instead, the fluid felt thicker, stickier than any water she'd ever felt. Leaning upright, Louise scrunched up her face as she tried to ascertain what she slipped on. She pinched her fingers together, then held her hand closer to her face.

"What is this stuff?" she quietly asked.

Looking beside her, she noticed that a thin beam of light, coming through one of the gaps of the barricade, ended nearby. Standing up, Louise slowly walked towards it, then held out her hand. As soon as the light touched her skin, she recoiled and drew her hand back. Her eyes narrowed, and her breath began to hitch.

"Louise? What is it?" Saito nervously asked. Louise slowly turned her head to look at him, then looked back at her covered hand and gulped. Shakily, she extended her limb out again, allowing the yellow light to illuminate her hand once more.

"Oh, Jesus…" Saito muttered, stepping back slightly at the horrific sight of Louise's palm completely covered in blood. Someone else's blood.

Slowly, the two teenagers turned their heads down towards the floor, spotting the pool of blood quickly. Gulping nervously, the two teenagers tepidly followed the trail, eventually finding a slumped over figure leaning against the bar. As they got closer to the figure, the stench increased, causing both to recoil and hold their noses. Yet they pressed on regardless, kneeling on opposite sides of the figure to try and get a better look.

Glancing down, Saito noticed that the figure, who appeared to be a woman, was tightly holding a black, heavy duty flashlight in her hand. He put his baseball bat to the side, then held in his breath as he tried to pry the flashlight from her hands. Her skin was cold to the touch, and a sinking feeling of dread filled his gut and threatened to explode outward. There was no question in his mind that this woman was dead, and from the heavy breathing from beside him, he knew Louise realized that as well. Yet, despite wanting to flee, he had to know what happened to her, if only to make sure that this place was safe.

Finally, he managed to free the flashlight from the dead woman's hands. Luckily for him, it was dry, but he gave it a good dusting off regardless before pressing the power button a few times to test it. The bulb turned on and off as requested, shining a dull white beam of light onto the roof. Nodding to himself, Saito turned the flashlight head onto the woman herself, then turned it on once more.

His eyes widened with shock and horror as soon as the beam connected with the woman's face. She wasn't just dead, she was mauled. Half of her jaw was hanging off, barely connected to the rest of her skull by thin strands of red meat. Her dead eyes were wide with sudden, absolute terror at whatever horror it was that killed her.

Saito dropped the flashlight, which skittered against the ground before coming to a rest, shining its beam onto her bloodied torso, revealing what appeared to be massive claw marks that ripped right through her ribcage, exposing bone and internal organs. Falling onto his back, Saito hastily scrambled away, only stopping when he felt his back hit a booth. He stared at the mangled woman, his pupils narrowing to the size of pinpricks as his breath hastened. His stomach churned, and he was no longer able to hold its contents down. Leaning to the side, Saito wretched and hurled, spraying vomit all over the tile floor. Beside him, he heard Louise do the same.

"What…what the fuck…?" Saito finally managed to breathe out.

His throat burned, and there was a horrible aftertaste on his tongue. When he glanced back at the corpse, he once again felt the need to hurl, but he was just barely able to hold it in this time. Shakily, Saito stood back up, then wobbled back towards the flashlight and picked it up. He tried his best to not look at her body, but it was hard, especially the closer he got.

"Come on," Saito said, gently grabbing Louise's hand and leading her to the kitchen. "They might have a first aid kit and some supplies in the back. Then we're getting the hell out of here."

Louise was silent at first, then she whimpered, "…Okay…"

Pinning his baseball bat to his body with his arm, Saito led the way with the recovered flashlight. Soon, located at the back of the restaurant, they found the breakroom. It was unlocked, allowing the two teenagers easy entry. Inside the dark, enclosed space, they found a single wooden table nestled against the wall with two folding chairs on opposite sides and an electric lamp on top. At the back corner of the room was a plain white refrigerator, alongside a closed lost-and-found box. Hanging on the opposite wall of the table was a first aid station, along with corporate motivational posters meant to lift employee spirits on either side. Ignoring them, Saito ripped the station open, then immediately began sifting through the supplies for pain relievers.

"Here, take this," Saito said, grabbing tablets of compressed, ground up Arklay herbs.

He opened the packet, giving one to Louise and taking another for himself. Popping it into his mouth, he chewed and swallowed the tablet, and almost immediately he began to feel his bruise heal. The pain in his lower back faded away, but his throat suddenly felt parched. Smacking his lips, Saito walked over to the refrigerator and opened it. Inside, he saw several plastic containers and baggies holding food, mostly sandwiches and left over soups and pastas. Along the inside of the door were several plastic water bottles, and Saito immediately grabbed two. He handed one to Louise, who was finishing her healing tablet, then popped open his bottle and began to gulp it down in one go.

Finished with the bottle in a scant few moments, only then did Saito finally give himself a moment to breathe. He gripped his head tightly as he began to pace back and forth while a silent and despondent Louise sat down on one of the folding chairs.

"Okay, okay. We, uh, we need to…" Saito began, increasing his pace as his voice began to rise a few octaves. "Oh, goddammit, I don't know what to do. What the fuck just happened?! Who were those people?! What killed that lady?! Just what the actual fuck?!"

Saito slammed his fist against the drywall, punching a hole through it. Luckily, there weren't any studs behind it, but his hand and upper forearm was covered in white powder. Breathing heavily, Saito glared angrily into thin air, trying to wrap his mind over what had just occurred.

After a moment, Louise quietly spoke up, "That was Umbrella."

"What?" Saito asked, turning sharply around towards her. Louise was holding her half-empty water bottle in her hands, looking down at her feet.

"Those mercenaries? Each of them had a logo on their shoulders. It looked just like that," Louise revealed, pointing at one of the motivational posters next to the opened first aid station.

Turning his head towards it, Saito immediately saw the poster in question. It depicted a smiling man and woman in front of a serene, natural landscape. The sun shone brightly behind their heads, and a few puffy, white clouds could be seen against a bright blue sky. Underneath the couple was a block of text, located to the right of the ubiquitous Umbrella Corporation logo.

The text read, "Umbrella. Science for a comfortable life."

"Umbrella sent those mercenaries after me," Louise whispered, but she might as well have been yelling at the top of her lungs.

Saito's gaze hardened against the poster, and he tightened his grip. Snarling, he violently ripped the poster off the wall, causing it to fall against the floor as he yelled, "GOD DAMN IT!"

He kicked the poster away, then began to walk around in circles as he ranted, "I'm going to kill those fucking bastards! Why the hell does Umbrella have mercenaries?! Why'd they kill my fucking parents to kidnap you?!"

Saito threw his water bottle at the open first aid station, causing the contents to fall out and scatter across the floor. Standing ramrod straight, Saito seethed, his fists clenched as tightly as they could possibly be while grinding his teeth together. Any fear and confusion was completely consumed by raw rage, and he felt his blood boil.

Then he heard a sniffle, and Saito turned around to face Louise once again. To his surprise, she was crying, hot tears trailing down her face. She looked up at him, then sobbed, "You're right. It's my fault."

Realizing his error, Saito's eyes widened and he rushed over. Crouching in front of her, Saito began to refute, "No, no it's not—"

"Yes it is!" Louise suddenly shouted, her face wracked with grief. "They were after my magic! Me! Not you, not your parents! The only person they wanted was me! I'm the only reason why they broke into our home! If I wasn't there, you, your parents, Umbrella wouldn't have hurt you! I put you and your family in danger, all because you took me in! I…I…"

Louise couldn't continue, and she covered her face with her hands as she sobbed uncontrollably. Her body heaved with her sobbing, and her skin became flush. To see the proud noblewoman in such a pitiful state made Saito's heart break, and he didn't know what to do.

After a moment, Louise forced herself to stop crying. She looked up at Saito, her eyes red, and she wiped the tears away with the back of her hand before declaring, "You…you should go."

"What?" Saito numbly asked, recoiling at the request.

"Umbrella's only after me," she reminded him. "They want me alive, not you. If they catch us, and you're with me, they'll kill you. But, if you leave me behind and save yourself, they might leave you alone. You'll have a chance to escape."

Saito silently stared at Louise, trying to come up with a response. After a moment, he frowned deeply, then gently grasped both of her shoulders and declared, "Absolutely not."

"Saito, please!" Louise begged, looking up at him. "I've only made things worse for you and your family!"

"No, you didn't," Saito retorted, his face showing no signs of wavering. "Louise, you are my best friend, and my parents adored you like you were one of their own. None of this is your fault. It's Umbrella's. They were the ones who broke into our home, not you. Mom and Dad, they…"

His breath hitched, and tears threatened to spill from his eyes, but he carried on regardless, "They sacrificed themselves for both of us, despite knowing what was going to happen. Umbrella took everything from us, not you, and I'll be damned before I let them take anything else. I won't let my parents' sacrifice be in vain, so no. I'm not leaving you. We're in this together to the end, wherever it takes us."

Louise silently looked up at Saito in shock and surprise. After a moment, her face contorted, and tears began to fall once again. She then lunged at Saito and wrapped the teenage boy in a tight hug, where she began to sob into his shoulder. Saito hugged her back just as tightly, sobbing equally alongside her. Both of them remained in that position for some time, taking comfort in each other's presence. Eventually, though, they broke apart. Their eyes were red, and a few sniffles escaped from them, but overall they were as composed as they possibly could be.

Louise sniffled a few more times, then wiped away snot from her nose and asked, "What…what do we do now?"

Saito looked at her for a moment, then stood and answered, "We need to get out of the city. I don't know what's going on, but it's clear we can't stay here."

"How are we going to do that?" Louise asked, standing up as well.

"I don't know," Saito admitted, then began to scratch the back of his head. After a moment, he started pacing once again, and he suggested, "We could always grab a car and just drive out of here. It can't be ours, though. Trying to run back home for it will only get us caught."

While she preferred the solution now much more than before, Louise quickly replied, "I don't think I can control my explosions well enough to clear the way for us. We'll just be stuck."

"Yeah…shit," Saito spat, frowning at the predicament they were in.

Louise then thought back to earlier in the day, and she added, "But, I did see Army helicopters evacuating people this morning. If we can get ourselves to them, wherever they are, they could get us out of here."

"That would be better, and they might be able to protect us from Umbrella," Saito admitted, then stopped to look at her. "But it looks like the city's falling into Hell, and I haven't seen or heard any helicopters fly by in hours. They might've stopped evacuating people, or worse."

Neither of them really wanted to consider what that worst case scenario was, but the dead woman's body at the front of the diner made that nearly impossible. Swallowing the bile in his throat, Saito continued, "Either way, we can't stay here. We do that, we're dead."

Saito gestured around the room with a wave of his arm, then said, "Grab whatever you can carry. Food, water, medicine. A bag if you can find one. Then we're getting the hell out of here."

Louise nodded, and together the two teenagers began looting the temporarily safe room for anything valuable. Checking inside the lost and found box, Saito found a single black nylon bag with a white soccer ball logo on the front. Two pull strings sealed it, and he immediately opened the bag and dumped out the contents inside. A moment later, he and Louise began shoveling their supplies into it, then he pulled it closed and slung it over his shoulders.

"Ready?" Saito asked, moving to the door. Louise looked at him for a moment, then took in a deep breath. Releasing it, she held up her wand tightly, then steeled her gaze and nodded. Saito nodded back, then together the two teenagers walked through the door towards whatever waited on the other side.

---

Karena LesProux, LUPO, kicked down yet another door, then breached the threshold into the room. The rest of U.S.S. Delta Team, Wolfpack as they were informally called, piled in behind her, their weapons trained as they scanned the room.

"Clear," VECTOR called out, his calm voice slightly muffled by the gas mask which obscured his entire face.

"Clear," Michaela Schneider, BERTHA, added as she fanned out to the other side of the room.

One by one, the other members of Wolfpack gave the all clear, searching every inch of the hastily abandoned home for any signs of their quarry. Whoever lived here left in a hurry, leaving behind all their valuables and belongings. A few pictures adorned the walls and tables, showing a young couple with two small children, a boy and a girl no older than six. LUPO didn't know if they actually managed to escape the hellhole that Raccoon City was quickly becoming, but even if they didn't it wasn't her concern.

"She's not here," Christine Yamata, FOUR EYES, declared, lowering her MP5 and giving her an aside glance.

"Grgh, this is the fifth house we've searched," Hector Hivers, BELTWAY, growled while clutching his Remington 870 shotgun tightly. "No sign of her or her boyfriend in any of them."

"I'm beginning to think we went the wrong way, Karena," Vladimir Bodrovski, SPECTRE, suggested through a thick Russian accent, taking position at the window and mounting his G3 rifle against the frame, keeping watch for any hostiles.

LUPO turned her head towards him, then remarked, "You know protocol, SPECTRE. No names while on assignment."

"Doesn't make what I said wrong," SPECTRE pointed out, looking at her from over his shoulder. "They're not here, and there's no signs they ever were. No forced entry, no footprints, nothing. It's like they just turned into ghosts and vanished. Hell, maybe with Subject Zero's magic they could, I don't know."

LUPO's stare hardened at the team's sniper, then she groaned and shook her head. While they had thought that the two teenagers had been in a reckless panic when they blew down that first door, especially since the front door of that building was already opened, in retrospect that had been an obvious decoy. One they might've been able to spot had the rosette not decided to fire explosions at their overwatch. After that, LUPO made the decision to order him back to ground level, as it was obvious that if they saw him again up there they'd take him out immediately, potentially knocking him down a multi-story fall. Had she not then immediately blasted VECTOR with enough force to nearly break his ribcage, they would've caught her regardless. She bit back a curse at not recognizing the ploy earlier, but she did let out a groan.

"Well, this is just perfect," VECTOR complained, taking position at the window alongside SPECTRE with his M4 Carbine at the ready. "If they didn't come this way, then where'd they go?"

"There was that chain link fence…they didn't have enough time to climb it, but it had a gate," FOUR EYES offered after a moment of silent thought.

"I checked that," VECTOR replied. "It was locked, complete with rusted chains with no damage whatsoever. Didn't look like anyone touched it in weeks."

"Maybe they unlocked it?"

"With what? There wasn't a key just laying around, and even if they knew how to pick the lock there wasn't enough time. Besides, intel said that all of her 'spells' just make things explode," VECTOR said, looking at the team's field scientist with an irritated look behind his mask. He then sighed and added, "Something about using the wrong element or whatever. None of it made any sense to me."

"Nor to me," FOUR EYES admitted. "This 'magic' of hers…even after seeing it in person it's hard to believe. It flies in the face of every law of physics there is. It's fascinating."

"Well, VECTOR and I both got hit directly by whatever she was doing," BELTWAY spoke up. "So I wouldn't call it 'fascinating.'"

VECTOR growled angrily at the mention of his injury, then winced as the massive bruise on his torso flared again, sending a jolt of pain across his body. BERTHA immediately came over to check up on him, but the team's recon specialist held up his hand and stopped her.

"I'll be fine," he insisted. "Save our resources for when we actually need it. I'm not going to let a bruise put me down."

"I need you at one hundred percent, VECTOR," LUPO immediately countered, then gestured at the armored man with her head. "BERTHA, make sure he's taken care of."

"Already on it," BERTHA replied, pulling out an injector filled with a green fluid. She placed the bottom against VECTOR's shoulder, then pressed a button on its side. A small needle immediately shot out, stabbing into the mercenary's flesh who let out an involuntary gasp of pained discomfort. A moment later, the green fluid emptied the canister as it was injected into VECTOR's body, causing the pain to quickly ebb away. With the aid dispenser exhausted, BERTHA tossed the useless object away.

"We better not need that later," VECTOR complained, yet the relief in his voice was easily noticeable.

"Quit being a baby," BERTHA sarcastically retorted, then stood up and walked towards the front of the room, taking position near the front door.

Refocusing on the task on hand, LUPO said, "Interesting or not, it's obvious that Subject Zero's magic is an unknown variable that we don't fully understand. If I remember the surveillance reports correctly, she mentioned something about cantrips, spells that don't require an element. Perhaps she was able to cast one that unlocked the gate."

"Then she and the boy locked it behind them, leaving behind an obvious trail that we took like suckers," SPECTRE finished, shaking his head. "If it weren't for the fact that they did it to us, I'd be impressed."

"Well I'm not," VECTOR retorted. "I don't give a shit about kidnapping a kid anymore, not after she nearly blew me up. Can't wait until I get my hands on her."

"Stow it, VECTOR," LUPO immediately ordered, turning towards the man and narrowing her eyes at him. "I don't care if you're angry with her or not, keep your temper in check. She is not to be harmed any more than absolutely necessary."

"I know, I know," VECTOR replied, throwing his left hand into the air. "Just venting, is all."

"Make sure it's only that," she reminded him all the same. "You know the order of importance: survival, the mission, then pride. That's what's kept us alive all these years, and I won't let a sixteen-year-old girl mess that up."

"Actually, her bone age says she's a little over seventeen, in spite of her testimony," BERTHA spoke up. "That's what the files said, at least. Probably a difference in calendar, assuming she actually is from another world like she says she is. Not that it really matters."

"You're right, it doesn't," LUPO agreed, then let out a sigh and shook her head. "We need to double back, find out where they went and pick up their trail. SPECTRE, once we get to the fence I need you to get back up on the rooftops and provide overwatch."

"What if she blasts me off? I'm tough, but I won't survive a fall from that height," SPECTRE pointed out.

"Given the fact that they ran into a Red Zone, I'm willing to take that risk," LUPO replied, then let out a groan. "I need to inform command. Form up at the back door and wait on me."

"On it," her men replied in unison, moving towards the back and forming up against the wall, with BELTWAY in front and FOUR EYES in the back.

LUPO, meanwhile, walked towards the windows where she glanced out at the ruined city. Sporadic gunshots could be heard in the distance as people fought the monstrosities unleashed upon them. They hadn't come across any so far, but it was only a matter of time until they did. The sooner they caught Subject Zero, the sooner she could get her team out of Raccoon City. While they had undertaken dozens of dangerous missions around the world, both for the Umbrella Corporation and outside employment, she didn't look forward to the prospect of an entire city of nearly a hundred-thousand all out to eat them. They didn't have nearly enough ordinance to handle it, not to mention the simple fact that any one of them could be infected by the disease at any moment. It was one thing to face an enemy you could kill, and another to face one you couldn't even see nor touch. The fact that Umbrella felt the need to make such a bioweapon in the first place didn't sit right with her, but she pushed those feelings aside much as she had when she learned the true nature of her target.

They had a mission to complete, one that would earn them fifty-million dollars each, and that took priority.

Clearing her thoughts, LUPO brought her fingers to her earpiece and said, "Command, this is Delta Team. Still no sign of Subject Zero, but we're doubling back to regain her trail."

On the other end of the line, Umbrella Command growled then angrily asked, "How is it that two untrained teenagers are able to elude some of the most highly trained special operatives of the Umbrella Security Service? Please explain that to me, Captain."

"She got lucky, and her magic proved more variable than we anticipated," LUPO calmly answered, keeping any irritation out of her voice.

"The Umbrella Corporation does not operate on luck, Captain, nor do we believe in it. What I see is your team's incompetence jeopardizing the mission," Command hissed. "You had her in your grasp, yet you disregarded our warnings and didn't relieve her of her weapon, allowing her to use it to escape. Now she is loose in the city, and rest assured that for every hour she is not contained and brought to NEST Three is another three-hundred thousand taken off your earnings. Should she be killed or infected, your payment is forfeit entirely. Do you understand me, Captain?"

"Of course, sir. I understand perfectly," LUPO replied, frowning slightly.

"Good. Now then, we have a secondary mission for you and Delta Team," Command revealed. "Our moles have informed us that the United States military has sent special forces teams into the city who are aiming to recover any information they can about the T-Virus outbreak. They cannot be allowed to succeed. As you pursue Subject Zero, you are to recover and/or destroy any evidence linking the virus to Umbrella."

"Of course, sir," LUPO immediately said. "We'll see that they don't recover anything."

"Apprehending Subject Zero is still your team's top priority, but this is just below it. Do not disappoint me, Captain," Command warned. Then, without saying another word, the irritable man signed off, the line going dead.

LUPO stared out the window for a moment, frowning in irritation before shaking her head. As she turned around, BELTWAY sarcastically quipped, "Always nice talking to Command."

The other members of Wolfpack, even VECTOR, let out slight chuckles while LUPO smirked. She then recomposed herself, then said, "We have new orders. Along with the capture and recovery of Subject Zero, we are to gather any evidence linking Umbrella to the T-Virus."

"Won't that make it harder for us to catch her?" SPECTRE asked, tilting his head slightly.

"Not if we do our jobs right. Now come on, we've wasted enough time as it is."

At LUPO's declaration, the team prepared to move out again. Before they did, however, VECTOR spoke up, "LUPO, we're about to head into a Red Zone. Hell, with how fast they're expanding, I wouldn't be surprised if we're in one already. But rubber bullets aren't going to put those things down."

"I know," LUPO immediately replied, then pulled out her silenced G36 rifle's magazine, unchambered the rubber bullet still inside, then swapped a fresh magazine with live rounds in its place. "Make sure you don't hit the target. Once we subdue her, we'll take Subject Zero back to the safe house for extraction to NEST Three."

Understanding her unspoken authorization, the other mercenaries swapped their ammunition for live rounds as well. Once they were reloaded, they formed up with LUPO at the front, then ran out the door.

---

Leaving the cramped alleyways behind them, Saito and Louise ran out into the streets of Raccoon City. Around them, they saw scores of terrified people running away, diving into buildings and underneath closing garage doors before locking the way in behind them. Wrecked vehicles littered the pavement, with a large pileup blocking one end of the street. An exploded fuel tanker was at the center of the pile up, now a raging inferno that sent swathes of heat in all directions. Even from several dozen yards away, Saito and Louise could feel the heat sweltering across their skin, the orange glow and black smoke trailing upward into the night sky with the waxing crescent moon hanging overhead. It was as though they had stepped into Hell itself.

"Hey, hey! What is going on out here?!" Saito tried calling out to a passerby, a young man who appeared to be a few years older than himself. But the college student didn't bother stopping, only sparing a single terrified glance behind his shoulder before he continued to run, disappearing under a garage door that was closed behind him.

Others ran past, completely ignoring both of them despite their efforts to get someone to provide answers. But, in their state of blind panic, the citizens of Raccoon City didn't even seem to know they existed. They were entirely dead set on getting away. From what, neither of them knew, but a sinking feeling of dread formed in their guts all the same. Soon, Saito and Louise were the only people left on the street. The only sound they could hear was the crackling of the fire, and the rushing of the wind that carried the stench of death towards them.

"Saito," Louise muttered, gripping her wand tightly as she held it next to her thigh. "Something's wrong."

"Yeah, no kidding," Saito replied, gripping the handle of his baseball bat with both hands as he slowly began leading the two of them further down the street. As they went, he thought back to what one of the mercenaries had said, then remarked, "Those mercs mentioned something about a Red Zone before we lost them. I'm beginning to think this is what they were talking about."

"They did seem to try harder to get me after they said that," Louise added, nervously looking around. "Almost like they were scared to go in, but from what?"

"I don't know," Saito answered, breathing in and out slowly as to control himself. "If I had to guess, Red Zones are where people are getting sick the most."

Louise supposed that made sense. Calling epicenters of disease Red Zones seemed like a reasonable designation, although part of her felt that was too simple. Perhaps if this disease was anything like the plague, and judging by Saito's description of a poor soul who succumbed to it right before his very eyes it was, that would justify the mercenaries trying to prevent them from entering a place where they could get sick. Their orders were likely to bring her in alive and unharmed if possible, given how angry their leader, LUPO if she remembered correctly, got when another hit her head against the wall. Her getting sick would likely go against their mission parameters. But that didn't explain why so many people were running.

When outbreaks of disease happened, while those of means often retreated to the countryside, most simply stayed indoors and tried to limit interactions with other people. Surely by now people would've noticed that the water supply was where this disease was spreading from. Given how quickly everything fell apart, Louise felt that a virus or bacteria was the most likely culprit behind the infectious disease. But you can't run from something that small, not really, yet these people were definitely running from something. Some of them even looked like they had wounds on different parts of their bodies. Were they running from something that was attacking them?

Turning right on an intersection, Saito and Louise saw more terrified civilians fleeing into nearby buildings. A squad car was parked on the curb, its engine running and its red and blue lights flashing and illuminating the area around it. Standing in front of the car was a uniformed police officer, yelling into a megaphone in both English and Spanish, ushering civilians to safety.

"Get inside and lock your doors! Entra y cierra tus puertas con llave!" he ordered, lowering the megaphone to his side as people complied with his request.

Saito and Louise, however, began running straight towards him, a huge sense of relief coursing through their bodies. The police officer only noticed them as they reached the back of the squad car, jumping slightly at first and shooting his hand down to his holstered pistol, but relaxed as soon as he realized they were just kids.

"Officer! Oh, thank God!" Saito said, running around to the front of the car and stopping in front of him. He quickly read the officer's nametag, telling him that the roughly thirty-year old man with combed black hair, hazel eyes, and a thin mustache's name was Sanchez.

Both teenagers rapidly began to talk in unison, trying to explain their situation to the officer while also asking about what was going on. Officer Sanchez was quickly confused, and he held up his hands to get them to stop.

"Whoa, whoa, calm down. I can't understand what you're saying," Sanchez told them. Saito and Louise immediately stopped talking, and Sanchez nodded thankfully before continuing, "That's better. Now then, are you two okay? Are you hurt?"

"We're…we're fine," Louise answered, then pointed behind her. "But there's people chasing after us with guns!"

"What?" Sanchez asked, his eyes widening in shock as he looked behind the two teenagers, his hand gripping his still-holstered handgun.

"Six men and women broke into my family's apartment about…an hour ago, I think. Could be a bit more than that, I don't know," Saito admitted, animatedly pointing towards the general direction of his old home. "But they were heavily armed. Rifles, shotguns, submachineguns, they had it all. They were trying to kidnap Louise and…and they killed my parents when they resisted."

Sanchez' eyes widened even further, and he protectively stepped in front of them. With his back still turned to them, he asked, "Are they still following you?"

"We managed to lose them, but I doubt they'll give up that easily," Louise nervously replied, glancing at the rooftops for any signs of their sniper. Sanchez noticed where she was looking and scanned the rooftops as well, trying to spot any signs of their pursuers.

Once they were certain that the coast was clear at the moment, he turned back towards them. Sanchez then said, "Alright, I'll take you two with me to the station. You'll be safe there."

"Thank you," Saito breathed out, a smile growing across his face. Officer Sanchez nodded, then began leading them to the squad car. As they got near the front door, Saito then asked, "What's going on out here?"

"I have no idea," Sanchez answered, shaking his head and stopping near the front seat. "All I know is that people are acting crazy all of a sudden. They're rioting, biting people, it's complete chaos! Chief Irons has us spread out across the entire city to try and maintain order, but nothing's working. It's getting worse and worse by the hour."

"They're biting people?" Louise asked, utterly repulsed by the notion, and Sanchez nodded.

"Yeah, some of them are," he confirmed, then glanced nervously around them. "I've been on the force for nearly five years, and I've never seen anything like this before. The rioters, they're…they're acting like animals."

Saito and Louise gulped and looked at each other, their fear rising. Seeing this, Sanchez placed his hand comfortingly on Louise's shoulder, giving them a calming smile that told them they were going to be fine. It worked, somewhat at least, then Sanchez stepped back and began to talk into his radio.

"Dispatch, this is Officer Sanchez," he announced, tilting his head towards the microphone clipped to his chest. "Be advised, I am bringing two teenagers, one boy and one girl, to the RPD building. Six armed men and women attempted to kidnap the girl and killed the boy's parents. Suspects still at large and are to be considered heavily armed and dangerous."

"Copy that, Sanchez," the officer on the other end of the line replied. "Bring them in, and we'll make sure they're secure."

"We're on our way," Sanchez declared, then opened the front door of his car. Turning towards Saito and Louise, he instructed, "Hop in."

They nodded at him, then moved to open the back door. Before they could, however, Sanchez gently gripped Saito's wrist, stopping him from pulling the handle. Surprised, Saito looked up at the officer to see him frowning and gently shaking his head.

"No, no, I don't want you two back there," he said, then looked through the window. Following his gaze, Saito and Louise looked into the back seat to find a slumped over man sitting there, handcuffs tightly clamped around his wrists.

"Had to arrest that guy after he started attacking people," Sanchez explained. "I don't trust him around you two, even if he's cuffed."

"Okay," Saito muttered, stepping back from the door while nervously staring at the arrested man. He then turned towards Sanchez and asked, "Where do you want us to sit, then?"

"You two can sit together in the passenger seat," Sanchez offered, pointing at it with a quick thrust of his thumb.

Where before the implications of how they would exactly do that would've reduced both Saito and Louise into blushing messes, at the moment neither of them really cared. All they wanted was to get to safety, even if Louise had to sit on Saito's lap to do it. They could handle any momentary embarrassment. As such, both teenagers began moving towards the side of the car. Officer Sanchez unlocked it, then Saito opened the door and threw his baseball bat onto the floor. He prepared to sit down, only to stop as he heard a loud bang coming from a nearby alley.

"What was that?" Louise asked, turning towards the source of the noise while pointing her wand at it. Saito quickly pulled the baseball bat back out and held it up, while Officer Sanchez moved around and placed himself in front of them. For a quick moment he glanced at Louise's wand in confusion, then refocused his attention back onto the alleyway.

"Who's in there? Identify yourself!" Sanchez ordered. It was hard to see in the dark alleyway, so Saito pulled out his recovered flashlight and shone it in.

There, leaning against a dumpster, they saw two men and a woman shambling aimlessly. Their skin was deathly pale, and their eyes milky white. Parts of their clothing were torn, exposing the sagging flesh underneath. Most shockingly, partially dried blood covered their faces, and surrounded wounds on their necks and torsos. They quickly noticed the light shining on them, and they wordlessly moaned before walking towards them, their feet dragging against the ground.

"Hey, hey! Stay back!" Sanchez ordered, his hand shooting to his gun once again. "Stop! I'm ordering you to stop!"

But the people didn't listen, and continued to shamble towards them. The only sounds they made were mindless moans, and as they drew closer Saito, Louise, and Sanchez stepped back.

"What happened to them?" Louise asked to no one in particular, her eyes wide.

"Stop moving now!" Sanchez once again ordered. When the men and woman didn't, the officer cursed under his breath then pulled out his pistol. "Stop or I'll shoot!"

The people didn't seem to care, and in fact as they got closer they reached towards them and snarled hungrily. With no other options, Officer Sanchez opened fire. Saito and Louise screamed and covered their ears as Sanchez emptied his magazine. One of the bullets struck a man in the head, and he dropped like a rock with dark red blood oozing out of the hole in his forehead. The other man and the woman all took shots to the chest, their bodies reacting to the bullets hitting them but not stopping. They didn't seem to care about the bleeding bullet holes in their chests. His eyes widening, Sanchez stepped back and reloaded, then began to fire once again. He emptied his second magazine into them, and only then did they finally drop down right at his feet.

"What…what the fuck?!" Saito yelled, his ears ringing from the loud noise. Sanchez was breathing heavily, aiming his empty gun at their bodies.

"PCP? Meth?" Sanchez asked himself, trying to determine how those people were able to survive such punishment. Saito and Louise were asking themselves the same thing. A normal person would've dropped after just a few shots, at most, not two entire magazines.

Saito hadn't seen anything like it before, yet at the same time it strangely seemed familiar. After a moment, he realized he had seen this happen just a few days before, with the sick dog in the forest. That had taken extreme punishment, courtesy of Louise's explosions, that should've killed it. But it didn't die until she blew up its head, just like how one of the attackers dropped immediately to a headshot.

Louise, meanwhile, silently stared at the dead bodies as blood pooled around them, her pupils narrowed to the size of pinpricks and her breathing quick and shallow. When Saito noticed and placed his hand on her shoulder, she jumped slightly, then nervously stared at him.

After a moment, Sanchez shook his head and regained his composure. He turned around to face them, fear and confusion written across his face.

"Get in the car!" Sanchez ordered, his voice leaving no room for argument. "We are leav-!"

He couldn't finish his sentence as the woman he had just killed suddenly got back up. With a shriek, she grabbed onto Sanchez' body and bit down onto his neck, her teeth digging into his flesh. Sanchez involuntarily dropped his empty gun and screamed in pain and terror as the woman was joined by the other man who began biting him as well. Together, their weight proved too much for Sanchez to handle, and he fell face-first onto the ground.

"AAGH!" Sanchez screamed, thrashing around as he tried to force the people off. But it was to no avail, and with a sickening rip the woman tore a chunk of flesh from his neck. Warm red blood spewed out like a waterfall, and Sanchez gurgled before going still. She looked up hungrily, more like an animal than a person.

She was immediately met by Saito's swinging baseball bat, the blow cracking open her skull and sending her back.

"Get away from him!" Saito yelled, swinging his bat as hard as he could.

Aiming for the head, he swung again and again, breaking the woman's skull and causing brains and blood to ooze out like slime. The other man ceased eating Sanchez' body and attempted to go for him as well, but Saito was able to hold him off with his bat. He pushed the man back, then swung again and struck the man in his temple. He fell to the ground, where Saito continued to mercilessly beat the man again and again, only stopping once his skull was reduced to chunky red paste.

Breathing heavily, Saito stared at the bodies of the people he just killed. Once more, his stomach churned. He felt as though he was going to throw up, and his throat even burned as bile began to rise despite him already emptying his stomach just minutes ago. But Saito was able to hold it down, and he gulped loudly before glancing at his blood-covered bat.

Turning around, he saw Louise checking Sanchez' body. She looked up at him, tears in her eyes, and shook her head.

"He's…he's gone," Louise announced as she stood back up. As she began to hyperventilate once again, Saito quickly rushed over to check on her.

"Are you hurt?" he asked, and Louise shook her head.

"They…they ate him…You killed them," she muttered, the noble girl looking behind his shoulder at the dead corpse.

"I know," Saito said, trying his best not to look at his handiwork lest he lose all control of himself. "They…they didn't give me a choice. I was trying to…trying to…"

Saito stopped himself, then began to cry. The feeling of relief and safety that they felt when meeting Officer Sanchez was thoroughly extinguished, leaving only despair. Louise hugged him back, each trying to find comfort in the other's presence. She then pulled away and tried to say something, but the words died in her throat as she looked over Saito's shoulder. There, to her surprise and horror, she saw Officer Sanchez push himself off the ground, ignoring his wounds and standing upright. He looked around then settled his hungry gaze on them, his eyes milky white as his skin turned grey.

Sanchez snarled and rushed them, his arms extended and his mouth opened wide. Just as Saito turned around to see what Louise was looking at, she pushed him out of the way and jumped back. Sanchez ran right through where they were standing, his body slamming into the passenger door and knocking it shut.

"Officer! Calm down! We have medicine!" Louise tried to say, holding her wand out. Sanchez only snarled animalistically in response, then rushed her again. Louise ran out of the way once more, causing Sanchez to stumble out in front of the car. As Saito ran forward, bat in hand, Louise aimed her wand at Sanchez and scrunched up her face.

"Please don't make me do this," she begged, but he didn't listen and came towards her. Seeing no other option, Louise shouted, "Fireball!"

A single explosion went off, popping Sanchez' head like a balloon. Bits of bone, brain, blood, and muscle shot out in all directions, spraying Saito and Louise as well as the nearby police car, windows, brick walls, and sidewalk. Sanchez' body dropped to the ground, lifeless and inert. Louise stared at it for a moment, shaking at what she had done. A moment later, she looked at the gore that had splattered over her, then lost all composure and dry-heaved to the side.

"Sanchez…" Saito muttered, his eyes wide at the scene.

"He…just attacked me… Just stood back up and attacked me," Louise began to say, wiping away the excess and the blood off her face with the sleeve of her red jacket. "Why…why would he do that? How did he do that?!"

Saito looked at Louise, then glanced at both Sanchez' and the other people's bodies. His mind raced as he tried to determine just what had happened. Slowly, the answer came to him, but it was hard to believe at first. It should've been impossible, something that only existed in movies, yet now it was staring him in the face.

"Cannibal disease," Saito breathed out, drawing Louise's attention towards him. "That's what this is. It's…it's turning people into zombies."

"Zombies?! What's a zombie?!" Louise shrilly asked, and Saito turned to her with wide eyes.

"The undead, hungry for the flesh of the living," he answered. "Can only be killed by a headshot, turns others into zombies with a bite. It all adds up. Those people, Sanchez. Hell, probably that sick dog from the other day. They were all zombies!"

Louise stared at Saito for a moment, her eyes widening at the implications. While she wanted to refute the assertion, the noblewoman found that it made sense. After all, her mother had dealt with similar creatures a few times during her long career, only they weren't called zombies.

She then glanced at the bodies before looking back at Saito and said, "I thought you said magic doesn't exist here?"

"It doesn't," Saito replied, then Louise pointed frantically at Sanchez' body.

"Then why is there necromancy?!" Louise demanded.

Saito didn't have an answer. Before he could even begin to provide one, however, they heard several moans and groans coming from nearby. They stopped and stared at the source, where they saw several more people begin to shamble down the alleyway towards them. When Saito shined his light on them, he quickly noticed that they, too, were all zombies with milky eyes and bloodied grey skin. Some even looked as though their flesh was rotting, exposing muscle underneath their torn skin.

Not wanting them to get any closer, Louise cast another explosion, nailing a zombie in the head and killing it. But this didn't stop the rest. In fact, more came out of the woodwork, breaking through windows and doors from nearby buildings as they shambled towards them. Now realizing that they were completely surrounded, Saito and Louise fearfully looked at each other then the still running squad car.

"Get in the car!" Saito yelled, then began running towards it.

Louise was right behind him, throwing open the passenger seat and diving in as Saito slid across the hood of the vehicle. He entered through the front door and closed it behind him before strapping himself in. A moment later, a zombie slammed itself against the car, its bloodied face smearing blood over the glass. It moaned hungrily, staring at him while Saito could only look on in horror. On the other side of the car, next to Louise, more zombies attempted to break in, causing the police car to rock back and forth.

"Drive, drive!" Louise ordered as she strapped herself in.

Saito quickly slammed his foot against the gas pedal, causing the police car to speed off. A few zombies were in the way, but Saito barreled right through them. Some went over the car, while others fell under the hood and were run over. The car lurched at the impacts, with one of the zombies' bodies cracking the windshield, but otherwise they weren't impeded. Not stopping for anything, the two teenagers burst out onto a main street like a bat out of Hell.

"Founder have mercy," Louise breathed out as she looked through the window, watching as dozens, if not hundreds of zombies roamed the streets, attacking anyone unfortunate enough to be caught in the open.

Saito kept his grip firmly on the steering wheel while focusing on his surroundings. He saw zombies shambling after people running for their lives while others feasted on their corpses. Some were attempting to fight them off, but they were quickly surrounded by dozens of zombies and torn apart. It was a grisly scene, and Saito tried his best to ignore it in favor of driving away. Any zombies that were in his way he simply ran over, refusing to stop for anything.

"Louise, check the glovebox," Saito ordered, rounding a corner as to avoid yet another road-closing wreck.

"What, why?" Louise asked, breaking her attention from the outside world to look at him.

"Sanchez might've had an extra gun in there," he explained. "We're probably going to need it."

Louise nodded, then quickly opened the compartment in front of her. Inside were several papers, which she rummaged through without bothering to look at their contents. Eventually, she felt something hard and metallic. Quickly grabbing hold of it, Louise pulled the object out and found that it was a small pistol with a black steel body and wooden grips.

"Here, found one," Louise said, handing the pistol over to Saito grip first. As he took it, she rummaged through the glovebox again, then quickly pulled out an extra magazine.

Holding the pistol in his hand, Saito looked it over. He recognized it as a Browning Hi-Power, the standard issue sidearm of the Raccoon City Police Department. The safety was already on, and it felt as though the magazine was full. When he got to a straight and relatively clear street, he briefly took his other hand off the wheel to eject the magazine and check the barrel. To his satisfaction, the handgun was chambered and the magazine was loaded. Inserting it back, Saito holstered the sidearm in his pocket, and when Louise handed him the extra magazine, again fully loaded with thirteen bullets, he placed it in his other pocket as well.

"What…what do we do?" Louise asked as Saito grabbed the steering wheel with both hands again then sped up. "Are we still going to the RPD?"

"Hell no," Saito answered, looking around to find the best path forward. "We're driving out of the city."

Louise found nothing wrong with that, and nodded in agreement. At the same time, she kept her grip on her wand tightly, nervously watching though the windshield and windows for any threats. Both from the zombies, as well as the mercenaries who ran them out into the city in the first place.

Then, suddenly, something slammed into the divider right behind their heads. It was the man they had forgotten in their haste, still cuffed in the back seat of the squad car. He roared animalistically while violently smashing his face into the barrier, causing Saito and Louise to look back at him and scream in surprise and fear. One look told them that the man was obviously a zombie, one who was only inches away from them.

Louise briefly looked away from the zombie, and quickly noticed that Saito was driving right towards a light pole. She screamed, "Look out!" and instinctually curled up.

Saito looked back out the windshield. Noticing where he was driving, he sharply swerved out of the way. But he quickly lost control, and the police car skidded across the ground. As Saito tried to regain control, the car fishtailed and began to spin, only coming to a stop when it drove right into a parked fire engine. The front of the car crumpled, and the airbags in front of Saito and Louise deployed while the glass windows and windshield shattered.

The two teenagers breathed in and out deeply, trying to comprehend what had just happened while flinching in pain from the small bruises and cuts they received during the crash. At the same time, the trapped zombie in the back seat continued trying to get to them. Luckily, the barrier fence separating them had remained intact, but it was jarred slightly loose. Each slam against it loosened it even more, and it wouldn't be long before the zombie would break free entirely.

Realizing that they had to go, Saito and Louise hastily climbed out of the car. Saito had to kick his door open, while Louise was able to open hers without much difficulty. The zombie, meanwhile, continued snarling hungrily at them, but Saito and Louise simply left it there as they regrouped a few feet away.

"Now what?!" Louise demanded, looking at the wrecked vehicle in despair.

"I'm thinking!" Saito answered, looking around to determine where they were. They hadn't driven far, only a few blocks at most.

He didn't get much time to come up with a solution to their predicament, however, as several zombies attracted by the crash began shambling towards them, hungry moans escaping their lips. Their eyes widening, Saito and Louise ran off, only to stop as more zombies came around a corner. Looking around, he saw that dozens of zombies were in all directions.

Saito breathed in and out a few times, then shifted his baseball bat to his left hand while pulling out his scavenged Hi-Power with his right. Flicking the safety off, he told Louise, "We're going to have to fight our way out. Aim for the head."

Louise grimly nodded, then aimed her wand at the nearest zombie while Saito did the same. Despite being a self-described gun enthusiast, he had never actually fired a gun before in his life. His parents weren't the biggest fan of them, so he never had the chance to. At the very least, he had watched enough movies, played enough video games, and read enough magazines to understand the basic functions. Extending his arm out completely, Saito aimed one-handed at the shambling zombie then fired. The gunshot rang out, causing him to flinch at the painful noise. The bullet, meanwhile, whizzed harmlessly past the zombie, striking a nearby window. Cursing at himself, Saito aimed and fired again, this time hitting the zombie in the chest where the heart would be. The zombie drew closer, and Saito's eyes widened as he aimed once more.

When he fired again, the bullet struck the zombie in the eye, causing it to fall dead to the ground. He didn't have time to celebrate his success, however, as Saito quickly shifted targets to another zombie blocking his and Louise's path. This one had its flesh partially decomposed, which he guessed meant it had been a zombie for a longer period of time. He aimed at the head and fired a single shot which hit its mark, but instead of falling straight down like the others the zombie merely stumbled back. It quickly reoriented itself, and groaned hungrily at Saito despite having half of its face missing.

"Oh, you gotta be shitting me!" Saito yelled, then fired again and again at the zombie. It took another three shots to the head before the skull finally broke apart, causing the zombie to fall over and not get back up.

Behind him, he heard Louise cast explosion after explosion at the zombies, performing substantially better than he was. All it would take was just one or two, at most, to the head, and her aim with her wand was much more practiced. Several corpses surrounded her, allowing Louise to carve a path forward. At first, Saito was exhilarated, thinking that Louise's magic would make this easy.

Then he noticed that more zombies were joining the fray, coming in from all the buildings, alleys, and the streets surrounding them. With each zombie that Louise blew up, it seemed that three more rose to take its place.

"Oh, shit," Saito said, firing two more bullets into the head of a fresh zombie to kill it before shifting targets to another. "Louise, we've got a problem!"

"Tell me something I don't know!" Louise shouted back, blowing up another zombie.

"Your explosions are drawing more in!" Saito announced as he shot another zombie, this one further back. His first two shots missed, going wide, but as it drew closer he was able to hit it in the head. Saito then shifted targets to one closer and pulled the trigger, striking the chest. At the same time, the chamber locked back, telling him that he was out of ammo.

"Dammit!" Saito cursed, ejecting the empty magazine and stowing it into his pocket. He then pulled out the extra one and inserted it, his bat making the action somewhat awkward and cumbersome. He quickly chambered the pistol before firing two more shots into the zombie's head to kill it.

More and more zombies shambled towards them as Saito and Louise attempted to reach relative safety. Saito emptied the rest of his magazine, managing to drop three more zombies before it ran dry. Cursing at his luck, Saito holstered the empty pistol in his pocket then took his baseball bat in both hands. He swung back and forth, striking the zombies in the head to carve him and Louise a path forward. But it didn't matter how many they took down, as more and more were attracted by the fighting, hungry for their warm flesh.

"There's too many of them!" Louise declared, blowing up yet another zombie.

Looking around, Saito saw that they were now completely surrounded. Even the path they had already cleared was filling in, like water coming back in with the tide. With the zombies shambling towards them, Saito and Louise looked around and spotted the fire truck they had crashed against. Simultaneously thinking the same thing, Saito and Louise beat and fired their way through, eventually reaching the large vehicle. They climbed up, using the hood of the police car as a steppingstone to reach the top. Looking out across the street, the two teenagers saw an ocean of zombies surrounding them, moaning, groaning, and snarling every step of the way. Those closest to them tried climbing up the fire truck, but Saito and Louise beat them back.

"Saito!" Louise screamed, kicking a zombie off the fire truck as it tried to climb up. It fell back into the sea of zombies, disappearing in the mass of bodies.

Abandoning all restraint, she started casting as many powerful explosions as she could. They went off like grenades, causing zombies to fall over with chunks of their bodies missing. Some even lost limbs, but those at the edge of the explosions continued their advance without even noticing. As she did, more and more zombies arrived, breaking through and falling out of multi-story buildings before getting back up and shambling towards them.

"Shit, shit, shit!" Saito cursed, continuing to beat back the zombies trying to eat them.

He was at a loss on what to do. On the one hand, Louise's magic was the only reason why they weren't hadn't been overrun yet. But, on the other hand, each loud explosion might as well have been ringing the dinner bell. If they didn't do something soon, they were going to be overwhelmed, become nothing more than zombie chow. Saito tried looking around to see if there was anything they could do to get away, but there was nothing. At least a hundred undead souls surrounded them, the firetruck a lone island in a sea of death. A sea that was quickly rising. He didn't know what to do, and a fearful look towards Louise told him that she didn't know either. They were stuck.

But both of them refused to just sit back and accept death, even if it seemed hopeless. Not after coming this far. So they continued to fight back against the odds, Saito slamming his bat into the zombies' heads while Louise blew them up. More and more zombies came in, their moans filling the air in a cacophony of noise occasionally interrupted by Louise's explosions. Despite their best efforts, though, they weren't able to keep the zombies off the firetruck forever. A zombified woman wearing purple nurse scrubs managed to clamber up, reaching out towards Louise who attempted to push her back. She wasn't strong enough, however, so Saito rushed over and beat it back with his bat.

With his flank open, the floodgates broke as two zombies made it up. They shambled towards Saito and Louise, arms extended and their mouths hanging open. Using his baseball bat as a brace, Saito attempted to hold them back, visibly exerting himself under the strain. Yet, despite his best efforts, he was pushed back, and it took everything he had to keep himself from falling over. Saito knew that if he did for even a second, it was all over for him. Louise pushed up against his back, trying to make sure he remained standing while other zombies reached out from the side of the firetruck, attempting to grab her by the ankles. A few cold fingers grazed her legs, and Louise attempted to kick them back.

Then, as she kicked one zombie in the face, she tripped and fell. Louise was barely able to keep herself from falling over the side completely, but having lost her support Saito nearly fell back. At the last second, Louise was able to get up and throw herself against Saito's body, preventing him from falling over completely, but it was clear that this was the end. Louise wanted to cry, but she refused to do so in favor of blowing up at least a few more zombies who attempted to climb up the firetruck towards her.

Saito yelled in exertion, trying to push the zombies back, but their faces got closer and closer to his neck. His eyes narrowed, and his teeth chattered from the utter terror he was feeling. The zombies' hot, rancid breath made him gag, and he began to feel the strength in his arms fail.

Finally realizing the futility of it all, tears began to leak from his eyes. Silently, Saito offered an apology to his parents and Louise, trying not to think of the fate that they were about to suffer. But, just before the zombies could bite into him, they heard a loud crack. A moment later, a bullet whizzed through both zombies' heads, causing them to fall over. More shots quickly followed, killing the zombies closest to them.

"What the hell?!" Saito yelled, flinching and covering his head as gunfire erupted behind them.

Scores of zombies fell from single or double shots to the head. Looking around, Saito and Louise tried to find the source of the gunfire which had saved them, hoping that perhaps it was the RPD or even the Army. Those hopes were quickly dashed as they saw the gunmen, who were none other than the very mercenaries who had ran them out of their home.

"Secure the area!" LUPO ordered, firing quick bursts from her silenced assault rifle into the zombie horde, killing them with ease.

Next to her was BELTWAY, firing his shotgun into the fray. SPECTRE was up on a nearby roof, firing single shots into the heads of zombies that were closest to Saito and Louise, keeping them safe. Running along the edges of the fight was VECTOR, simultaneously stabbing zombies in the head with his knife while shooting others with his pistol. FOUR EYES was throwing canisters into clumps of zombies which released a purple mist. Undead nearby were drawn to the mist, allowing her and BERTHA to pick them off with ease.

Saito and Louise didn't quite know how to feel about this latest development. On the one hand, the mercenaries had just saved their lives, but it was also obvious that they would immediately grab the two of them once they were done. They weren't saved, they merely traded one enemy for another.

Louise then looked around, and came up with an idea. She tugged at Saito's sleeve, then said, "Come on! Let them deal with the zombies!"

He looked at her for a moment in surprise, then nodded in agreement. The two teenagers then quickly hopped off the firetruck and used the path that the mercenaries had made for them to dash into a nearby alley, away from the fighting.

"Shit, they're running!" they heard VECTOR yell. "I'm in pursuit!"

"Not until we clear the infected!" LUPO immediately countered, punctuated by more gunfire. "Survival first!"

"Gagh!" VECTOR grunted in anger, stopping at the entrance to the alleyway that the teenagers ran down.

For a moment, he glared at them, then turned around and went back to the fight. Saito and Louise only stopped briefly to catch a glimpse, watching as the six mercenaries effortlessly cut the horde down to size. Then, scowling and tightening their grips on their weapons, the two teenagers turned back and ran away as fast as they could.

[~][~]

Hello, everyone! Here's the latest chapter of Familiar Evil. Special thanks to NaanContributor and Jesse K for their help in bringing this chapter to life.

Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the main event. Saito and Louise have met and killed their first zombies, as well as getting their first weapons and tools of survival. There's plenty more waiting for them as they continue trying to escape the city that's going down an express elevator to Hell.

Now, regarding the use of characters from Operation Raccoon City, I did that for a couple reasons. For one, I knew that I needed to have Umbrella send something to capture Louise which would force her and Saito to flee into the city. Otherwise, they wouldn't leave. Originally, it was going to be a Tyrant, but then we realized doing that right off the bat was overly excessive. Yes, Louise has magic, but otherwise she and Saito don't outwardly display any real combat capabilities like a police officer or a soldier. So, sending USS operatives seemed like the better bet. I didn't just want them to be nameless grunts with no personality, though. Neither I nor you guys would really care about them, and for such an important role I wanted them to have some character to make you guys actually care, in either a positive or negative way. I also didn't want to step on canon's toes, which led me to the characters of ORC. That's a non-canon game, so I can do literally whatever I want with them without breaking the larger RE story. Expect to see more of Wolfpack as the story unfolds. We'll occasionally be seeing their POV as they are our main human antagonists for the story.

I'm glad you guys liked the buildup to this event, both in the chapter itself as well as the entire story. It all led to this, so to hear you guys enjoy it means I did something right.

Ger0nim0, your point on weapons is actually along the lines of what we were thinking of. Now, for the sake of story ease we likely aren't going to worry a whole lot on weapon malfunctions and so on, with some attention given to maintenance whenever Saito and Louise get to a safe room, but ease of use, reloading, and so on will be concerns for both of them. Take Saito's handgun, the Browning Hi-Power. That's a 9mm handgun, and the standard issue sidearm of the RPD in RE canon. That means they're likely to come across handgun bullets pretty regularly. But he only has two magazines at the moment. It doesn't matter if he manages to find a box holding ninety bullets if he only has two magazines which can carry thirteen. In any given combat situation, he can only fire twenty-six bullets before he has to manually insert bullets into his magazine. Kinda like what happened in their first encounter with zombies.

Speaking of, Louise and Saito made the classic survival horror mistake of trying to kill every zombie they saw, thus wasting valuable resources and time.

Also, I want to reiterate that I will not be doing the events of RE2 and RE3 in this story. FE is meant to take place alongside those two games, so don't expect Louise and Saito to run into any of the RE protagonists. Might be a few cameos, though, if the situation justifies it.

Regarding the Merchant, or similar characters like the Duke, their inclusion wouldn't really make any sense. Their purpose was mostly for gameplay reasons, so it wouldn't make a whole lot of sense to include them here.

I hope you guys enjoyed the chapter. Please let us know what you all think. Also, any help in updating the TV Tropes page would be greatly appreciated.

Have a great day and stay safe! See you all next time!