September 29th, 1998
Raccoon City
Ryan and Paige approached the city with a look of absolute horror on their faces. In the distance they could see the lit-up Raccoon Police Department Building, but blocking their way their was a street completely overrun with zombies, damaged vehicles, some of which were on fire, and a large tanker truck that had crashed, causing a large fire that was blocking their path to the police station. Just up ahead, a young woman in a red jacket and motorcycle pants was retreating from a pack of zombies, firing a revolver.
"Hey, there's a survivor! Paige, take the wheel. The gun up top still has some ammo in it. I'm gonna climb up there and give her some cover and try to get her over to us." directed Ryan.
"Got it. Be careful up there." said Paige.
Ryan climbed up into the Humvee turret and opened fire on the zombies advancing on the young woman, mowing down a large amount in seconds. The woman turned to the Humvee and saw a soldier on a gun turret mowing down zombies.
"Run towards us! Try to get to our vehicle. We'll cover you!" said the soldier.
"Okay, got it!" said Claire. "Finally, some more help. We might make it through this after all." she thought to herself.
Claire began running towards the Humvee while Ryan continued clearing out zombies on the gun turret. After backing up the Humvee a bit, Claire had enough room to get to the Humvee, and climbed in the back seat.
"Thanks for that. Thought i was a goner back there." said the woman.
"No problem. We all have to stick together." said Ryan. "Have you seen any more survivors around here?"
"Yeah, there is one. He gave me a ride to Raccoon City. His name's Leon Kennedy. He's a cop with the RCPD. That's where he was headed when we found each other. That big tanker that crashed in the middle of the street is what separated us. He went towards the police station. My name's Claire, by the way. Claire Redfield."
"Nice to meet you, Claire. I'm Sgt. Ryan Jackson, U.S. Army. This is my partner, Agent Paige Tanner, FBI."
"Nice to meet you. Wish it was under better circumstances." said Paige.
"Likewise. I've been to Raccoon City a few times, If you throw this thing in reverse, and go down this side street a couple blocks, you should be able to get around this mess to the police station. Might take a bit longer, though." said Claire.
"Sounds good. Let's get out of here." Ryan reversed the Humvee and detoured around the main street and took the side roads and eventually reached the Raccoon City Police Department. The building, including the parking lot was surrounded by tall, razor-wire fence, since the building included a jail to house inmates, so there was no way of getting the Humvee in. Ryan found a secluded spot along the fence line with no zombies and parked the Humvee.
"Ok, you two listen up. We can't get the Humvee in, but i'm not ready to completely ditch this thing just yet. Claire, i have gear in here that we can outfit you with, along with some better weapons if you know how to use them. We will take care of that inside. Paige, help me grab the stuff out of here and then we are going to have to climb on top of this thing and jump over the fence into the back area. Then we can get in through the back door." said Ryan.
"Copy that." said Paige
"That's good thinking. No need to leave a vehicle like this if we can use it later." said Claire.
Ryan and Paige grabbed the gear out of the Humvee. Ryan slung his M4A1 over his back and grabbed the MP5 and vest and climbed on top of the Humvee. After a quick leg stretch, he jumped over the fence and into the back lot of the RPD. Paige tossed him the Sig-Sauer and the radios and pocketed the earpieces and helped Claire on top of the Humvee. They both jumped over shortly after.
"Nicely done. Paige, clear this outside area and make sure we're safe. I'm gonna get Claire suited up."
"Got it."
Ryan grabbed the combat vest and slipped it over Claire's head and fastened and secured the straps until it fit to her liking. "Nice. This fits great. Feels real sturdy too." said Claire.
Ryan checked the load in the Sig P226 and made sure it was full. The gun had two extra magazines that were fully loaded. "Here. Take this instead. That revolver only holds 6 shots and the amount of time you spend reloading will get you killed. You familiar with it?" asked Ryan.
Claire ejected the magazine, loaded it back in, and chambered around. "I'm good to go. My older brother Chris is ex-Air Force and a member of the RPD's S.T.A.R.S. Unit. He taught me a bit about weapons and some hand-to-hand combat. I actually came here to Raccoon City to find him. He left in August for vacation and I haven't heard from him since." said Claire.
"I'm sure he'll be alright. We'll do everything we can to help you. I've heard of the S.T.A.R.S. team. They don't mess around and a lot of those guys are ex-military. Some of the best. No wonder you're still alive through all this if your brother taught you some stuff." said Ryan. He handed her the MP5 and 2 magazines. After Claire showed him that she could handle it, Ryan fitted her vest with one of the radios and an earpiece set to the military frequency.
"Thanks. I feel a lot better and a lot safer now." said Claire.
At that moment, Paige walked up to the pair. "Everything is clear out here, we need to get inside and assess the situation. Maybe find this Leon that came with Claire and link up with him."
"Got it. Let's go" said Ryan.
The trio moved toward the back door and Ryan slowly opened it. The inside was completely dark. The trio turned on their weapon lights and made their way down the dark, bloody hallway, corpses of zombies and officers alike, littering the floor.
"Damn. Okay, form up. Claire, stay up front beside me. Paige, cover our asses." directed Ryan.
"Got it." they both said in unison.
As they turned the corner and came down the final hallway to get back into the police station, they heard gunshots and the familiar moan of zombies. The trio hurried around the corner and saw at least 5 zombies in the hallway, with 1 lone zombie on the ground tearing at the police officer who attempted to fight them off.
"Take them down!" cried Ryan.
The trio opened fire, directing their shots towards the heads of the zombies. With the combined firepower, 4 of the 5 fell with ease, with Ryan taking down the final one while Paige and Claire were reloading. The trio noticed the shutter at the end of the hallway opening, and a young officer trying to help the injured man on the ground.
"Hey, keep that door open over there. We're friendlies. We cleared them out from this side. We'll try to help this guy. Just keep the door open!" yelled Ryan.
"Okay, got it!" said the officer. Ryan's current mag was empty, so he quickly drew his pistol and fired multiple shots into the head of the zombie on the ground, but it was too late. The zombie had completely torn the officer in half. Ryan dropped his head in defeat and sadness. "I'm sorry this happened to you. I'm sorry i couldn't get there sooner." said Ryan solemnly. Knowing what would inevitably happen, Ryan put a couple rounds into the officer's head to spare him the misery of turning.
The officer waiting for them at the end of the hallway got their attention. "Hey, when he was still alive, he was trying to hand me that notebook in his hand. He said we would need it to get out of here. Make sure you grab it." said the officer.
Ryan grabbed the book and the trio ran through the open door into the main entrance hall of the RPD. The officer shut the door behind them and they gathered by the waiting area to catch their breath.
"Claire! I thought I lost you back there! I'm glad you're alright."
"It's good to see you, Leon. How you holding up? I almost WAS a goner, if it wasn't for 2 new friends that helped me out."
Leon approached Ryan. "You're with the military? Thanks for helping Claire. I thought we were the only 2 people left alive in this mess. I'm Officer Leon Kennedy. I was supposed to start work about a week ago, but i got a call telling me to stay away. This is actually my first day on the job. Now I'm just doing what i can here. We have one officer left alive. Lieutenant Branagh, but he's hurt really bad.
"Take me to him. I don't have any medical supplies with me, but i grabbed some bandages and gauze along with a few painkillers on my way out of the military base. It may not be much, but it can at least make him comfortable." said Ryan.
"Oh, i remember something my brother taught me! Be on the lookout for herbs. Normally green and red. They're native to this area. They grow up in the Arklay Mountains and they have healing and medicinal properties. Chris said that they've bailed him out of a jam quite a few times. He swears by them." said Claire.
"Good to know. At least we have a way to take care of ourselves if we get hurt." said Paige.
The group followed Leon over to the couch, where Lieutenant Marvin Branagh was bleeding from a nasty bite wound on his thigh. "Here, let me take a look at that, Lieutenant. I might be able to give you a little relief." said Ryan.
"No...d-don't w-worry about me...It's t-t-too late."
Ryan lifted up the Lieutenant's shirt and grabbed some bandages and gauze from one of his hip pouches. He pressed the bandages onto the wound and wrapped the gauze around the wound and tightened it to provide pressure to stop the bleeding. The wounded officer instantly began to feel some relief. Ryan grabbed a small packet of painkillers and a bottle of water from Paige. "Take these. I have some to spare and we can always use the herbs i was told about. Don't waste strength arguing. Even if it is too late, I'm going to at least try to help you." said Ryan.
The officer took the medicine and the pain in his wound began to dull with the bandages beginning to stop the bleeding. The lieutenant drank the rest of the water and was at least able to sit up straight. "You shouldn't have wasted that stuff on me, but I'm grateful for that. Name's Marvin Branagh."
Ryan gingerly shook his hand, then Leon's as they hadn't been properly introduced. "Sgt. Ryan Jackson, U.S. Army. I'm kind of in the same boat at you Leon. I just got promoted to Sergeant recently and was transferred to Fort Braxton here in Raccoon City to begin my new assignment. I was finishing up the last of my move today and was supposed to start my first day of work at the base tomorrow. As soon as i get off the plane, i run into this shit storm."
"Wow. Small world. Glad you're with us, sir. We could use someone with your experience." said Leon.
Paige stepped forward to introduce herself to the new members. "I'm Agent Paige Tanner, FBI. The FBI has been monitoring this situation for a little while now, so let me fill those of you that don't know it. Raccoon City was hit with a viral outbreak that started a week ago on the 23rd. The military and National Guard was deployed into the city for threat assessment, but no one had no idea it spread so fast and what exactly we were dealing with. Communications have completely broken down inside the city and my field office at Quantico hasn't been getting any info back, so they sent me in to investigate. Ryan found me broken down on the outskirts of Raccoon City and we teamed up there and went to the base together, hence why I'm wearing this gear."
"Makes sense. Good to meet you. With all of us working together, we might just survive this." said Leon.
Lieutenant Branagh then chimed in after hearing this exchange of information. "Well, I'm in no condition to be of help, and this group seems to support you, Sergeant, so it looks like you're in charge now. Now listen up, finding a way out of this station won't be easy. That officer you ran into earlier, Elliot. He thought this secret passageway might do the trick."
"This is good news. We can get you to a hospital." said Leon.
"No, no. I am not the priority here."
"Lieutenant, I'm not just gonna leave you here-"
"I'm giving you an order, rookie! You save yourself first. I'd come with you, but I'd just slow you down...Now...you'll need this." Lieutenant Branagh handed Leon a police combat knife.
"Sir, I can't take-"
"Stop. And don't make my mistake. If you see one of those things-uniform or not-you do not hesitate. You take it out...or you run. Got it!?"
"Yes, sir."
Branagh then turned to Ryan. "And Ryan, I don't know what's going on here, but i know there is something fishy behind all this. Someone or something is responsible. You find out what happened here. You find out who or what is responsible and you do everything you can to stop it, and you save as many people as you can. There aren't many survivors left and I'm pretty sure you're the last soldier left in this city. You and your team may be this city's last hope. You understand?"
"Copy that, Lieutenant. I'll do everything I can." A fresh wave of pain washed over the wounded officer and he passed out on the couch.
"Shit. He's still breathing though. This keeps getting worse and worse" grumbled Ryan under his breath.
Ryan stood up and turned to face the group. The 3 members stood and faced him with weapons at the ready. "You heard the man. You're in charge, Sergeant. We got your back." Claire said with a smile.
"We're with you, sir. Until the end. So what's the plan?" asked Leon
"I have to be honest, I'm a little nervous, guys. This is my first outing in a command position and it's something no one could ever prepare for." said Ryan.
Paige walked up and gave him a pat on the back. "We believe in you, Ryan, and like Leon said, we're with you. We're a team, got it?"
Ryan looked up at his team and down at the unconscious form of Lieutenant Branagh and took what he just told him into consideration: no way was this a natural virus to wipe out over 100,000 people, bring them back as flesh-eating zombies, and overwhelm the military. An entire city has essentially been destroyed and hundred of thousands of lives have been lost or ruined. Someone was responsible for this, and Ryan was going to bring them to justice.
With a look of determination, Ryan nodded back to the rest of his team. "Copy that. I have some ideas to start with. Let's move over to this desk over here and I'll fill you in."
The team regrouped at the lobby desk and Ryan outfitted Leon with the last military radio and earpiece. Once Leon's comms were synced up with the rest of the group's and tests were made to ensure proper functionality, Ryan opened the book and began to look through it. "Do any of those symbols mean anything to you, Leon? You were in the police station longer than the rest of us."
Leon took a look at the book and found the page with the drawing of a lion's head statue with 3 different smaller drawings underneath it. "Yeah this looks familiar, I passed by a big statue with a lion on top when i was walking around here. It had a spin-down dial on it that had 3 different symbols along with a circular space where a key of some kind is supposed to fit. There must be a door underneath it and i guess these symbols are the door codes. Look at the other pages. There are 2 others just like it."
"Good work, Leon. So it looks like we have to find 3 of these circular keys in order to move forward." said Paige.
"Nice. First things first though, right now we are investigating, not looking to just leave. We are going to split up in pairs of 2 and cover each floor as best we can starting with the 1st floor. We keep in contact by radio and you update your position as you move to a new area. Right now, i want us looking for 2 specific things. The keys to the statues, and if you happen to see any kind of important paperwork lying around. Documents, reports, records, anything that the PD might have that might point us in the right direction. Once we reach a point where we need to move to a new area, or can't move any further, we regroup here with what we gathered so far, look over it, and see what we have. Also grab whatever weapons and ammo you can find." commanded Ryan.
The group acknowledged his orders and Claire asked "So what are the teams going to be?"
"Well, weapons-wise Leon is in the weakest position, because he only has his pistol, so he is going to need either Paige or I to go with him so he doesn't get overwhelmed. Plus we need to start working as a group anyway. I'll go with Leon for now until he can at least find another weapon, then we can switch around if need be. We will take the 1st floor for now. Leon and I will take the West Office and clear that hallway through to the Operations Room. You two take the Reception area, clear that right hallway round to the Safety Deposit Room. We will meet up there and make our way to the Darkroom together. Can't take the right part of the 1st floor yet, because we need a key we don't have. If we don't find it here, we move to the 2nd floor. Got it?"
"Got it!" the group said in unison.
"Let's move out."
The group moved through the Reception area, finding a Green Herb and a box of 9mm ammo. The group then split off into their intended directions.
Ryan/Leon POV
Ryan and Leon moved through the long hallway towards the Operations Room. Along the wall were 3 busted windows, with multiple zombies crawling through them. With the zombies already in the hallway, they had to fight their way through. "Leon, did you see that stack of nailed up boards in the reception room?"
"Yeah, why?"
"There is another set right by the door of this room. We can use those to board up at least 2 of these windows and we can get the 3rd one later if we find some more. We have to stop zombies from outside from coming in. I read through some paperwork in the lobby that the RPD used to be a museum and it's an old building, so you should be able to hammer them in pretty quick. The walls should be pretty thin. Get these front 2 windows boarded up and I'll cover you. I've got a rifle and plenty of ammo. Go!" ordered Ryan.
"Yes, sir!" said Leon. Grabbing a nearby hammer from a toolbox on the floor of the reception room, Leon began boarding up the first window, as Ryan unloaded on the zombies with his M4A1, giving Leon plenty of cover and time to board up the windows. Ryan ejected his empty mag and switched over to the full mag clipped to it and began taking down the last of the zombies. Using his KABAR knife and head stomps to finish off the crawling stragglers, Ryan cleared the hallway and made it to the 3rd window and began taking out approaching zombies from the outside, while Leon began boarding up the 2nd window.
"How we doing back there, Leon?"
"Almost finished, Sarge! Just a few boards left on this window!" Leon hammered the last board into place. "There, done. Let's keep moving!"
Ryan and Leon entered the Operations Room and took out the zombies within and found a map as well as some 9mm ammo and a box of 5.56 ammo.
"Paige, this is Ryan, do you copy?"
"Go ahead, Ryan."
"Watch out for any open windows at your position. Zombies from the outside are busting their way through and coming into the station. If you happen to find any loose boards, take the time to board the windows up. Leon and I just ran into that problem in the hallway with 3 open windows. Got 2 of them boarded up. Over."
"Copy that. We've just cleared out the West Office. Found some gunpowder and some ammo. We're on our way towards you. Over and out."
After reloading their weapons, Ryan went to open the door to the next room, but it was locked. "Hey, there's a hole in the wall up top. We can climb out into the hallway and get that door open from the other side." said Leon.
"OK, hang on. Let me take a look first and see what's out there. We're near the Safety Deposit Room, so there may be more zombies." Ryan climbed up and peeked through the hole and saw a bright red mutated monster crawling on all fours with a long tongue thrashing around in front of it walking around by the Safety Deposit Room.
"Paige, Claire, don't move." said Ryan.
"What's going on, boss? said Claire.
"Where are you guys right now?"
"Just about to leave the West Office. We were going through some of the paperwork here. We found quite a bit of stuff here we will need to go over when we regroup." said Paige.
"DO. NOT. MOVE. There is a red, mutated creature walking around just outside the door. Walks around on all fours, sharp claws, with a long tongue whipping around. I've seen it pounce off of the ceiling a time or two."
"OK. We found something about that in the West Office. They're called Lickers. Apparently, that's what did a number on the officers here. One of these guys kept a journal. Said they are blind as bats, but they have super-sharp hearing and fast as hell. They advised sneaking by them, or knowing exactly what you are doing if you plan on shooting at it." said Claire.
Ryan relayed this information to Leon and made sure he understood.
"OK, come up to the window where i can see you both. Got it, I see you. We have to get rid of this thing if we want to move around here freely. I have an idea. We have to keep it between us. Before we shoot at it, we have to get each team on a side of it and attack from both sides. Try to kill it quick before it can attack, or get it so disoriented it doesn't know who or where to attack. It's moving around on the ceiling right now. Open your door as quietly as possible. We will do the same and creep into the hallway as quick and quiet as you can." whispered Ryan.
"Copy that. Over and out."
Both doors opened and slowly moved open quietly to allow the heroes room to move into the hallway. The Licker twitched and moved its head in the direction of the noise. All 4 fighters remained statue still until the Licker turned away and continued walking around on the ceiling. When all 4 heroes made it into the hallway, Ryan directed Paige and Claire to the left side using hand motions while he and Leon took the right. Tiptoeing and stopping to avoid alerting the Licker, the teams finally made it into position and waited for the Licker to walk back into the middle of the ceiling. As soon as the grotesque creature landed on the right position, the heroes opened fire. Bullets poured into the Licker from 4 different directions, causing the creature to jerk, twitch and fall from the ceiling.
"It's weakened! Let's finish it off!" cried Leon.
The team rushed forward and emptied their weapons into the Licker at point-blank range before it could recover. With a final bloodcurdling screech, the Licker lay dead in a puddle of blood on the floor. "No wonder these guys had such a tough time with that thing. Damn, that was a pain in the ass!" said Paige.
"You said it. Come on, let's check out the Safety Deposit Room." said Ryan.
The team entered the Safety Deposit Room and found item lockers that contained numerous items from ammunition, gunpowder, to a combat knife, and even an extra hip pouch. Ryan walked to the back of the room and found a large locked cage with a key card reader containing a Remington 870 12 gauge shotgun with 2 boxes of shells. "Hey Leon, come here for a second." said Ryan.
Leon walked over towards Ryan and saw the shotgun, which by now would really come in handy. "Shit. If only we had the key card."
Ryan gave the rookie officer a pat on the back. "Don't worry. We're gonna find it because we're not leaving here without that gun. And it's yours when we get it. Now lets go check out the keypad and see if we can get some of these boxes unlocked. Then we will head for the Dark Room, collect what we can in there, then we head back to the main entrance and regroup and check on Lt. Branagh. Sound good?"
Leon smiled at the prospect of having a new weapon. Especially so he wouldn't feel like such a liability. "Sounds good. Let's go."
The team went back to the entrance and after punching in all of the available codes, Ryan was able to get some ammunition boxes open: some 9mm for his team mates and a box of .45 and 5.56 for his own weapons. The group made their way to the dark room and flipped on the lights, finding a safe place to rest for a moment and reload their weapons. Ryan checked over his gear after reloading. "I've already gone through 2 of these dual mags i made. Only got 2 left. Crazy even on 3-round burst, i used 120 rounds already. Looks like i need to switch to my pistol for a little while until i find some more." he thought to himself.
"How's everybody doing so far. Still good on ammo?" asked Ryan.
"I'm good here." said Paige.
"I'm still in good shape." said Claire.
"You guys have been covering me for the most part, so i haven't had to spend much, so I'm alright, sir." said Leon.
"OK, after we regroup and go over what we found, need to make a quick change. We have to go find that blue-spade shaped key if we want to get anywhere else in this place and we have to get that shotgun for Leon as soon as possible. We can't do much else on the first floor for now, so after we go over everything, we are heading for the 2nd floor. Got it?"
The team acknowledged their agreement and headed back towards the main entrance, eager to check on their wounded friend and go over what they found so far.
End of Chapter
Well, managed to get another one done for this story. Had quite a bit of free time today, so spend most of it writing. Got the base part finished and now we are at the police station! So Ryan and Paige have met up with Leon and Claire and will be going through the police station together. I'm trying to keep as much as you do in the game in this story as possible and the police station is such a long section, so navigating the police station may end up being the entire next chapter, possibly part of the one after that. Hope you all enjoyed and I'll see ya next time!