Disclaimer: Resident Evil and everything else associated with it belongs to Capcom. This story however, belongs to me.
Resident Evil: Armageddon
Part I- Prelude to Destruction
Chapter 5- Seeking Safe Haven
Written by: Striker
Dear Leon
This is Ark. You were right about the whole Umbrella thing. There was a factory on Sheena Island. They were doing some horrible things. According to Rott and Lily, Umbrella had kidnapped young boys from around the world. I then found out the scientists were extracting the brain fluid from the boys, while they were still alive! This fluid was then used to make Tyrants. I managed to blow up the island and escape. By the way, Rott and Lily were two children I rescued. They lost their parents, just like Sherry. I also found some documents concerning Raccoon City. They may be important. I don't know when I can contact you again, but I'll try to call you soon to see where I can find you. Umbrella has been on our tail ever since we got to Europe. I'll try to get back to the states as soon as I shake those pricks. See you then buddy.
Your Friend
Ark Thompson
Ark reread the message he had sent Leon five weeks ago. He was lucky he could send it at all. He had been on the run with Rott and his sister Lily. Those two kids had been the only survivors, save for himself, which had made it off of that God forsaken island. It was a nightmare for sure. Leon had warned him about what kinds of monsters Umbrella had created. Ark had listened, but had remained skeptical about the whole deal. Zombies, Lickers, huge spiders, and Tyrants. He didn't buy it. All he knew was that some virus had struck Raccoon City, and the city had to be destroyed to prevent the bug from spreading.
"I guess I should have believed you buddy."
Of coarse he should have believed his friend. The two went back a long time. He remembered when they were in the police academy. Two terrors, that's what they were. They were always getting into trouble. He remembered how one time they snuck into the girl's bathroom and clogged up the sinks. He also remembered the time they had painted the curb the one instructor's car was parked next to yellow. They had waited for the tow truck to come and haul the car away. They really found it funny how the instructor flipped his lid trying to explain the situation. Hey, the guy deserved it. He was a prick. Anyway, he and Leon had earned the title of class clowns. They were also the best. Both he and Leon had finished top of their class. However, they had gone separate paths. Ark had become an investigator for the government. Leon had become a cop for the NYPD for a short time before being transferred to Raccoon City.
Ark still remembered how shocked he was when he found out Raccoon had been vaporized only a few days after Leon was supposed to arrive. He thought that Leon had perished in the city. He was relieved when he had heard that Leon was alive. The government wanted to know what kind of disease it was that had infected the city, and if Umbrella was involved. The officials had become suspicious of the company due to the fact that it was Umbrella that had insisted on hitting the town with a nuclear missile. They had tracked down Leon and had talked to him. When he had told them the whole story, they were shocked that Umbrella was not only conducting bio-warfare research on U.S. soil, but only a few hundred miles from the nation's capital. One of Ark's friends, a man named Carl, had proposed a deal to Leon. If he would help them investigate Umbrella, Carl promised that the government would put both Leon's parents and Sherry under protective custody. Leon had said no, but Carl had let him know the deal was still opened. It was after that meeting that he had run into Leon. He was amazed by how much his friend had changed. After Leon told him what happened with Raccoon, Ark didn't blame him. Leon also told him that he was waiting for some girl to contact him. Her name was Claire, and she was looking for her brother Chris. Until then, he couldn't do anything. Besides, he had to look after Sherry for Claire. Leon had then asked him to something for him. Ark was to look into a place called Sheena Island for Leon. He had said yes, thinking it was going to be a simple investigation. Yeah right.
That place had been hell on Earth. It was only made worse by the fact that he had lost his memory. It happened after Vincent, the director of the island, found him out. Ark had tried to escape by helicopter, but Vincent had grabbed onto the landing rail. The fool had fired into the copter, hitting the pilot in the back of the head. The copter had crashed and Vincent was knocked unconscious. Ark had sustained a concussion and temporary amnesia. He had come upon Vincent, but didn't recognized him. All he saw was his dog tags, which Vincent had yanked off him earlier, in his hand. After that, he had found a photo of himself and a note calling him Vincent. This had led to a case of mistaken identity, where are thought that he was Vincent, and vice versa. Between shooting zombies, killed genetic nightmares, avoiding some guy named Gary, and dodging men in black suits that dissolved when killed, he had made it to the Umbrella building. It was there that he ran into Lily. He had seen her brother Rott in the sewers, but the boy had run from him, calling him a murderer. Ark had tried to talk to Lily, but Rott came and stopped him. It was also at the Umbrella building that Ark had started to regain his memories. They came like flashbacks, and had confused the hell out of him. After leaving the building, he had come to Rott's house and found Lily inside. She told him the whole story about what happened and how her parents had died. She also told him that Rott had gone to the factory near their house, and had told her to stay behind. Ark had gone to the factory and had saved Rott from becoming a snack for a hungry Hunter. Ark had then apologized for what he thought he had done, still thinking he was Vincent. Rott then explained that he wasn't Vincent, and explained who he really was. Ark then remembered everything. He quickly took Rott and got Lily. Together, they headed for the helipad to escape. However, to get there Ark had to go through not only the commander of the 'Men In Black', but a huge Tyrant. He also had to deal with Vincent. Vincent had been watching him the whole time, and had releases the Tyrant. The mad man had also set the island to blow. Ark had faced Vincent at the helipad. The short fight ended when the Tyrant appeared and killed Vincent. Ark then fought and killed it, or so he thought. Ark and the kids had taken off, only to have the Tyrant grab on to the copter. It had tried to swipe at the children, and Ark knew he had to get it off. He noticed it was hanging onto one of the copter's missiles. Ark fired the missile, sending the Tyrant with it. He then fired the other missile. It hit the Tyrant, blowing it to bits. After that, they had flown off as the island exploded behind them.
That was in November. Ever since then, Umbrella had been on their tail. They had managed to get to Rome and hide out for a while. They then went to Athens. It was there that Ark had sent Leon the E-mail. He had found some disturbing information relating to Raccoon City, something about what happened there. It was in a report from some person called Nicholai. It also mentioned the S.T.A.R.S. team and an operative named Wesker, who was thought to have dead in the Spencer Mansion. He was now, however, concerned by the information he had found a few days ago. He had been in Madrid and had hacked into Umbrella's files. He had learned about some other company that was in competition with Umbrella. Its name was Bio-Tech. The one thing that really scared him was that Wesker had survived the mansion and was now working for Bio-Tech. Ark knew that Leon had to see this. Therefore, he had gotten in touch with Carl, who in turn had smuggled Ark, Rott, and Lily our of Spain and into Boston. That was where Ark and the children were now. He had rented an apartment under an assumed identity the Carl had given him. Carl had wanted him to come back to Washington, be he knew that Leon had to know. This information might even get Leon to accept the deal. Ark now thought about his friend. He hoped that Leon was doing fine. He had more than enough money to live on, Ark had seen to that himself. If was his idea to have $500,000 put into Leon's account. He just hoped that Leon hadn't of gotten caught yet.
"Hey Ark."
Ark's train of thought had been broken by Rott as he came out of his bedroom. He had on a heavy, wool sweater and some wool sweatpants. "Oh, hi Rott. How are you and your sister doing?"
"We're just cold, that's all."
Ark knew that neither Rott nor Lily were used to this kind of winter. They had lived on an island in the Mediterranean for most of their lives. Their English accent suggested that they may have lived in the U.K. before they went to Sheena. There all it did was rain.
"Don't worry, you'll get used to it. Maybe if we're lucky, when we link up with Leon, we'll go someplace a lot warmer."
"It's OK. To tell the truth, I kind of like it up here. Where I grew up, we never had snow. It was something I only read about in a book. It's fun to play in, and Lily really likes it."
"She sure does, doesn't she?"
As if on cue. Lily came bounding out of the bedroom. "ARK! ARK! I WANT TO GO PLAY IN THE SHOW!" She had heard Ark and Rott's conversation. In had just snowed the night before, and now it seemed that every kid in the city was outside playing. "COME ON ARK, I WANT TO GO OUTSIDE!"
"Alight Lily, go get ready. Rott, you get ready to. We'll go down to the park. Now hurry up. If you stand around to long, the snow will melt."
"ALL RIGHT!" With that, Lily ran into her room, Rott close behind. Ark sighed. He was surprised how the two had gotten over Sheena Island so quickly. He guessed that kids are just that way. He felt sorry for both of them. They had lost their parents on that island, had their lives ripped from them, forced to keep running from Umbrella's goons. At least here they could relax. Thanks to Carl, Umbrella had no idea they had made it back to the states. Those fools were still probably searching Europe. Over their time together, Ark had got close to the kids. They sort of looked up to him as a father figure. He had got to know how old they were. Rott was 13 and Lily was 8. Rott had gotten into computers, a hobby Ark knew all too well. He was a computer person himself. He had learn how to use any computer system there was. He had also learned how to hack into other computers. Rott was quick to pick this up, so Ark decided to teach him all the tricks he knew. Lily was into horses. Ark had bought her a couple of horse dolls and books. Lily's dream was to one day become a horse trainer. Ark had promised her after Umbrella was gone that he would make sure that she learned how to ride a horse. Now the trick was to beat Umbrella, which at this point in the game, seemed unlikely to happen soon.
"HEY! Are you two ready yet?" He called. Then it dawned on him. 'Hey, I better go get ready too.' He dashed to his room to get something warmer to wear.
He quickly threw on a black and red sweater and put on a pair of snow boots. He came out to find Rott and his sister by the door. Rott had on black jeans, black boots, and a heavy orange coat. Lily was in her red snowsuit and green boots she had got when they had first arrived here.
"Are you guys ready to go?"
"YEAH, YEAH! LET'S GO ALREADY!" Lily said, jumping impatiently.
"Just put your gloves and hats on and then we'll go." Ark told her.
The children put on their dark blue gloves and matching hats. The three of them then left for the park.
It was around 4:30 when they finally returned. They had spent five hours at one of the large parks in Boston. Ark was pleased to see the two having so much fun. It hurt to know that as soon as he, Leon, and their allies started to attack Umbrella, days like this would be over. He just hoped that they would be safe during the war. The kids quickly took their wet clothes off and ran to their room to change for lunch, or in this case, dinner. Ark went back to his computer. It was still on, but the screen saver had come on. He moved the mouse, causing the screen saver to turn off. His eyes quickly darted back to the message he was looking at all afternoon.
'Should I send Leon another message. Umbrella doesn't know were I am, so they can't be tapping my phone line. It's been long enough. I have to.' Ark wrestled with this problem. On one hand, he should let Leon know where he was. He should see if they could reunite somewhere soon. Hell, he should let his friend know he was still among the living. On the other hand, He didn't know where Leon was. He didn't know if Leon had left the U.S. He didn't know if Leon had been caught. He didn't even know if Leon was still alive or dead.
Rott came out from his room and saw Ark staring at the computer. He had seen Ark on his computer a lot of times, mostly looking at that letter. Rott finally decided to ask about it.
"Whose Leon?"
Ark was startled by Rott. "OH! He's just a friend of mine."
" Are you best friends? Do you miss him?"
"What makes you ask that?"
"It's just that you stare at that letter almost every day. It's like you feel sad for not sending him another. I would know. I had a good friend on Sheena. His name was Gary. He was the sewer manager. I used to go to his office and listen to his stories. I just hope he got off the island before it blew."
Ark sighed. He missed Leon probably just as much as Rott missed Gary. "Yeah, we are best friends. We went through Police Academy together. I miss him too. I was just thinking of sending him another E-mail."
"Then why don't you?"
"A lot of reasons. I don't know where he is, what he's doing, of if he's still alive. One main reason is that once I do send him a message, he'll want to meet. Once we do meet up, we'll start to fight Umbrella. I guess I just want more time."
Rott could see what Ark meant. Ark didn't want to drag him and his sister into this so soon. "Well, if you don't get together with your friend, and you don't stop Umbrella, this will never end. We'll always be running for the rest of our lives."
Ark knew that Rott was right. "I just wish you and your sister weren't involved. I don't want to see you get hurt."
"I know. I don't want to see you get hurt either. And for what it's worth, I'm sorry about telling Vincent about you."
Ark knew that the young boy had felt guilty about blowing his cover. He didn't blame him. He knew that Rott had been scared of Vincent. He should of feared Vincent. Chances were that if Vincent had found out that Rott had known about him, but didn't say anything, the bastard would have killed both Rott and his sister. "I don't blame you, Rott. You did what you thought you had to so you and your sister wouldn't get hurt."
"Rott nodded, then he asked something that surprised Ark. "What's Leon like? Will he like me and my sister?"
Ark laughed. "Yeah, I'm sure he would like you two. He's a nice guy. He's got a great sense of humor. He also has a good set of morals. That's why he became a cop. He told me the one thing he wanted to do was protect and serve. That's also why he's fighting against Umbrella. That company has cause nothing but suffering. He'd die if it meant it's destruction."
"Does he have any friends?" Rott asked.
"Yeah. Let's see. First there's Sherry. I only met her once. She seemed like a nice girl. You'd get along great with her. So would your sister. She's 12, I think. She went through the same thing you did. Then there's Claire. I just heard of her. Leon seems to like her. He said that she's great with kids, so she would really get along with you two. Ah, let me think. Oh yeah, Leon said that Claire had a brother who's been fighting against Umbrella too. I believe his name is Chris. Also, I think that Leon said Chris belonged to a group called Stars or something like that. They're against Umbrella too. That and our government. The fact that Umbrella was making biological weapons here in the U.S. didn't exactly set well with Uncle Sam."
Rott looked confused. "Whose Uncle Sam?"
"Ah, that's another name for our government. Don't ask me who came up with it. All I know is that it was used as part of a slogan during either WWI or WWII to get people to join the military. It's a patriotic thing."
"OK." Rott looked at the floor, thinking about what Ark had said. He looked up Ark. "Do you think that Leon knows where these people are?" he asked in a hopeful voice.
Ark shook his head. "Maybe he does, Maybe he doesn't. I really wouldn't know unless I asked him."
"Maybe you should ask him. He seems like a good person. Maybe he's waiting for you to send him a message right now."
"I guess I should. I'll tell him to call us tomorrow. Now, let's see." Ark began to type. "I'll give him my cell phone number. That way, if we're out, we won't miss if he calls."
Ark finished the message. It read:
Leon. I finally got Umbrella off of my back. Call me and we'll arrange a meeting place. My number is 555-2856. I look forward to seeing you. Ark.
He typed in Leon's E-mail address and looked at Rott.
"As soon as I sent this, I guess there's no going back."
"At least we won't be sitting around on our butts anymore."
Ark smiled and turned to the computer. 'No we won't.' he thought as he hit the send button.
Author's Comments: And with the push of a button, it begins. Wasn't that nice. It took Rott's probing to finally get things started. Well, all big things have small beginnings. Also, you just know what Ark has found out is going to piss a lot of people off. The question still is, did Wesker die at the Antarctic base? You'll just have to wait and see. (I'm so cruel.) Anyhow, anyway, any who, I changed Rott and Lily's ages, I think. Pay particular attention to Rott's age. That plays a small role later on in the saga. I also embellished on Leon and Ark's days at the academy. I also changed Leon's background a little bit. I don't think that would have a major impact on the story. By the way, did you notice something familiar? Those of you who read chapter 3 (You did read chapter three, right?) you'll see that they are the same for both parts. If that's not proof enough that the first six chapters are happening at the same time, I don't know what is.
Now that we know what all the
survivors are doing, and where they are, the reunion will start. Right? WRONG!
We still have two other survivors to deal with. In the next chapter we find out
what two villains have returned and what their orders are. We also find out
that Umbrella is under new management. Whose the new guy pulling the strings,
and what does he have planned for our heroes. See in the next installment of RE
Armageddon: Part 1, Chapter 6- New Orders. HA! HA! HA! OK, enough.