Adam Luck - Glad you're liking it so far!
Also, the whole thing of Mike Harper being in college is also hilarious to me as well. XD I mean, he's just as unfit for college as David is, but trust me, not all is as it seems anyway. I could've simply had him be a random family friend who's related to some CIA member that Alex, Frank, or Hudson have known previously, but then I'd have to tag him along with David, which I actually didn't want that to happen. Plus, there are people out there who have quite a lot of surprises up their sleeves and both Mike and David are just one of those people. :P
Anyhow, I'm happy that you're having fun with all these awesome speculations and I love reading them with added thoughts and detail! No need to feel sorry about giving additional details to your reviews separately. ;)
Recommended BGM:
1. Resident Evil 1.5 - R.P.D. Exterior (RPD Track 2)
2. Resident Evil 2 (Remake) - Secret Hope
3. Resident Evil 3: Nemesis (1999) - The City of Ruin
Chapter 3
"Move!"
Just as Leon managed to move several inches out of the way, the young man's knife had begun to fly over his right shoulder, making a quick, blurred swirling sound movement past his ear, impacting the forehead of the only zombie that had come closer to him during the rampage of gunshots he had pulled against the small horde that had been coming after him.
Leon was surprised at the feat the guy had pulled, not even he would've been able to pull it off as accurately as he did.
"Not bad," said Leon as he faced the man for a brief moment, who had shut the door behind him. The boy had specks of blood over his face, sweater, and around his visible red T-shirt underneath. He was at least an inch taller than his 5"10' and looked about his own age. He bore an ivy league cut, thick brown hair fixed on top with a rather simple short-spiked representation, and his face looked rather surprised and scared at the same time.
Leon turned and walked towards the fallen zombie, crouching, and taking out the knife for him as he listened to something the young man suddenly began to say out loud.
"Never thought any of this stuff my uncle and father taught me would work miracles," he said, sounding almost exhausted.
Leon took a quick peek closer to the knife as he cleaned it off with a spare cloth he had on him and saw that the knife had a STARS insignia inscribed on one side of the knife's blade, explaining a lot about how the young man managed to throw a knife just as accurate as he did several feet away. He knew some stuff about the STARS; a lot of them were military professionals, while some were merely academically gifted on certain things that the police force did not generally have for themselves. Though according to the media itself, they have greatly mishandled the murder investigations that had been happening since May. He wanted to see what the man he had just met had to say for himself first.
"STARS…?" said Leon before looking back at him, surprised. "A special force issue, huh?"
"It's a gift from my father," he said worriedly and bluntly at once. "Both he and my uncle are STARS. That's why I'm here… To find'em."
Ah…he got special training from his STARS relatives. Smart.
Leon handed over his knife as he began to introduce himself to him.
"Officer Kennedy, but you can call me Leon."
The man nodded and gave out his name to him. "David. David Mason."
Mason? Is he…?
Before Leon could say another word to him, David looked around behind him, his hazel eyes wide in sudden horror as he sheathed his knife away and pointed his gun past him, motioning his head forward. "Uh… you might wanna look back."
Leon turned and saw that most of the group of zombies he had shot multiple times in the torsos had stood back up again, this time, joined by another group that may have been hiding in the shadows all along, blocking both his jeep and the bike, David may have used to ride all the way here.
So much for a cruise…
As both of the men aimed their weapons and stepped back towards the gas station's door, thinking for a moment they could head back inside for safety, the sudden growl and moaning inside reminded them of the complete opposite, startling them. Through the door, they looked at one of the zombies destroying whatever was left of the door's blinds and mindlessly scrambled their hands over the door's window. The zombie had one missing eye, the dark, sickening color of its empty socket wiping over the glass as it pounded on the door in vain.
Leon's instincts were screaming to get themselves an opening somehow and go to one of the abandoned vehicles nearby.
The sheriff's car! Fewer zombies and keys are still in the ignition!
No time to feel sorry for the sheriff if they're dead…
Leon pointed at the sheriff's car, almost feeling guilty for hijacking a fellow officer's vehicle, but in a desperate situation like this, they really needed it or else they could say goodbye to their lives.
Better to ask forgiveness than permission.
"Head for that car!"
He hesitated long enough just to see David nod back at him and both of them began a full sprint for the black-and-white, the pavement blurred beneath their feet. Leon didn't bother aiming at any of the staggering creatures as he knew that it would simply be a waste of ammo and quickly shoved one of them out of the way as he made the run for the driver's seat. In a brief view to David's direction, he saw him aiming at one of the creatures for a split second but watched as he knew just as much as Leon did, and quickly shoved one and crouched down from another incoming zombie, missing his grasp by inches.
"Hurry, get in!" He quickly yelled at him as David finished dodging the last zombie near him.
Leon pulled the driver's door hard enough to knock back another one of the wailing creatures and waited just enough time for David to slip inside quickly and shut the door behind him. Leon then went in himself before slamming the door shut, hoping that the car was still in working condition.
Please, God. Let this turn on.
"Buckle up!" He said, barely hearing what David said in response as he turned the keys and the car's engine was brought to life, the flashers coming on brightly. He switched the gear to reverse, hit the gas as hard as he could, and spun the wheel so suddenly, that the car's tires began to squeal and overcome the piercing wails of the zombies outside.
"Hang tight!" He warned again as he switched the gear once more and hit the gas just as hard as he did last time, the tires squealing much louder and throwing more white and grey smoke. They had now gotten themselves out of the infested gas station and were now on the main road, putting enough distance away from the fading cries and frustrated howls of the zombies themselves.
David watched behind as he saw all of them walking onto the middle of the highway, trying to follow them in vain, the sight itself being creepy, but letting out a sigh of relief as they were no longer in immediate danger.
"Do you know what the hell's going on around here?" David inquired as he turned to look at Leon, who was busy trying to get a signal from the radio that was inside the car.
Leon's sense of helplessness started to rise yet again. Not even a single sound of static.
"Great, the radio's out!" Leon quickly interrupted, dropping the radio furiously, and began to focus his attention on the dark road ahead. As they neared the city, all the streetlights above them were completely unlit, and the whole facade of the city itself was barely lit under the darkness of the night sky, giving Leon an unnerving feeling about what could be waiting ahead of them. It all seemed as though everything that has happened up to this point had merely been a calm before the storm; the storm being that of the city itself…
…no, Leon, you can't think that way. There will be people out there, also wondering the same thing as you, probably already hearing it from the news about what's been going on outside the city itself. Come on. You've got a guy here no older than twenty years and he's probably just as terrified as you. Just keep your focus on the road and…
"Is…Leon, home?" David's sarcastic tone had snapped him out of his panicked thoughts. He shot a look in his direction for a brief moment, noting that while he looked pale and half-scared to death, he seemed rather calm with some trace of humor coming out of him. At least he seemed to be taking the whole thing better than he was. And considering the circumstances, he was glad that he had found someone who he can at least rely upon, should they ever come into potential trouble again.
"Sorry," he finally said, his heart slowing down to a normal rate. "After what happened back there I uh… I just hope they'll have some answers back at the station."
"So… you don't know anything, then?" Said David, slightly frowning, now staring back at the window beside him nervously. "I thought you were a cop from Raccoon."
"First day on the job," he replied quickly. "I'm supposed to start my shift in ten minutes, but then, this happened."
David turned his head back around, his expression was still unchanged.
"Damn," he said. "What a first day, huh?"
Leon slowly nodded back at him, his eyes still fixed on the road. "You live around here? Some place near Raccoon?"
David looked back at the road ahead of them, shaking his head as he began to answer back at him.
"No, I come all the way from the West Coast. Haven't gotten any returns to any of my letters or calls for the past couple of months from either my dad or uncle. Usually, my uncle, Frank Woods, would answer me back like clockwork almost every week, but…"
Did he just say… Frank Woods? Come to think of it, is he also related to uh… Alan? No. Alex. Alex Mason. From STARS? Is Alex really his father?
Leon swallowed almost heavily and his eyes widened in shock for a brief moment. In the newspapers that he had Kevin send to him, he remembered reading about the STARS having lost one of their members who survived the forest fire around the Arklay Mountains, but died soon after due to his "injuries". They never explicitly mentioned what sort of injuries he died from, but it was enough to say that Frank was no longer alive…
…and his nephew is sitting right next to me, thinking that his uncle is still alive somewhere in the city. What am I supposed to tell him? The truth? A lie? Or nothing at all? I don't even know the full details, but if what they've said is true, he may be searching for someone already dead… His father, however, I don't know if…
"Leon?" David snapped him out of his thoughts once again. From the edge of his vision, Leon was able to tell he was looking back in his direction, an eyebrow being raised at him. "Are you… feeling okay?"
Leon felt like his whole body had begun to sweat in anxiety once more, not exactly knowing what to respond to him, but if he wanted to gain his trust, he'd have to come clean with what he had read about in the newspapers. Lying to him would only delay the inevitable of potentially discovering the truth himself and would paint him as a person filled with nothing but deceit. He wasn't even sure if the newspapers told the entire truth. Nonetheless, he finally decided to reveal his own findings.
"You mentioned Frank Woods is your uncle, right?" He said almost nervously. "That he's also from STARS?"
David nodded. "Yeah… he's not exactly my uncle by blood, but he's just as close to one for me. What about— Wait…" he looked at Leon incredulously, seeing his expression showing something he was trying to hold back from saying out loud. "You know something… Don't you?!"
Leon sighed inwardly and began to explain what he knew as calmly as he could.
"Frank… I read that he uhh… when the STARS dealt with an explosion in an abandoned mansion back when investigations began for them across the Arklay Mountains, he became one of their casualties…died of his injuries caused by what they believed to be from the forest fire itself."
As Leon finished up his explanation, he shot another quick look at David, and his face was filled with growing dread, his features frozen in a state of disbelief and denial. He slowly shook his head as he looked down at his lap, seemingly unable to process the information told to him, and immediately began muttering a few words before they began to clear up, enough for Leon to be able to understand what he was now saying.
"No-no-no… he-can't-he… he can't be dead… he just can't be! If he really is dead…why didn't—?"
Leon felt terrible for having spread the news about his uncle, even debating inside his mind whether or not he should've even told him in the first place until David suddenly asked him another disheartening question.
"My father, Alex Mason… What about him?" The distressing tone behind David's voice made Leon feel even worse about himself. "Please, Leon! I need to know! Is he alive or…?!"
"He was among the list of survivors from the squad as of last month, but…" the whole thing was already becoming too painful for Leon to continue saying. "I don't know for sure if he's still around, but I'm sure we can ask around the police station once we get there. I could even help you file a missing person's report if you want."
David did not say another word and instead, looked back at the road ahead of them with a stern and saddened look, both of them arriving at the inner parts of Raccoon City, a city that looked like Deadsville.
With Leon still feeling pissed at himself for ruining the already strained mood they were in since getting inside the car, he decided to worry about all of that later and put more of his attention on the road in front of him, seeing several more of the shuffling creatures near the path of the car from either side. Leon briefly looked back from the rearview mirror, noticing that the staggering ghouls were now walking aimlessly after the speeding car.
Like the gas station, Raccoon City is infested with these things as well, all of them hungry. Just like in the movies…
For a long moment, none of them spoke or uttered a single word. The obvious questions remained unspoken as the atmosphere inside the car felt tense and discomforting, the stench from the outside somehow still crawling near their nostrils. Whatever had happened to turn Raccoon into a horror show didn't matter as much as how they were going to survive the whole mess they now had gotten themselves into.
As Leon took a smooth turn to Ema St., he was trying to remember which way led to the police station from there. A lot of burning, parked cars had blocked access ahead of the main road of Raccoon St., where Warren St. intersected, the road which led directly to the police station. Buildings looked damaged, glass from various windows was shattered, and there were spots of blood on just about every corner of the streets. Assuming they could get to the police station by car, he thought about what part of the police station he'd arrive at first. There was an underground parking lot, which he could try, but if the gates were closed, he'd have to drive around to a small courtyard in front of the building, if not, they'd have to cover a short distance on foot.
In between a group of zombies from the left and right side of the road was a lone figure that began to wave at a distance within the enveloping darkness. Leon thought it could be just another of the ghouls, trying to wave and walk toward the oncoming car, but just as he was about to look closer at the creature's silhouette, David began to raise his voice suddenly.
"Leon, stop! STOP!"
Leon hit the brakes almost instantaneously, the sound of rubber screeching as the car suddenly halted to an abrupt stop. The lone figure was now showered in the shades of the white headlights, revealing to be a young girl in red shorts and a red, sleeveless vest, her ponytail moving in rhythm to her running steps around the car.
David quickly opened his passenger door, aimed his Glock as he stood up, and fired at the closest zombie that was about to grab the girl by her left arm, instantly killing it with a single shot in the head.
"Come on! Get inside, hurry!" He yelled at the girl.
The girl nodded briskly and she hurried to open the back door behind him. As soon as more than half of her body was already inside the car and David finished settling back inside himself, Leon immediately stepped on the gas before they got surrounded by the walking corpses and sped away.
"Thanks, officers," the young lady said wearily as she began fixing up her boots in the backseat. "Can any of you tell me what's going on? I arrived in town, and the whole place went insane!"
"We barely got here ourselves," said Leon, still staring at the road ahead as he took a quick look at the girl in the back through the rearview mirror, who looked as though she'd seen war up close. "First day on the job. Great huh? Name's Leon Kennedy. Wish we could've met under better circumstances."
David turned his head back around to face the girl. She looked about his age. Her smooth features were now fixed on the window to her right, and even though she looked completely terrified, she at least didn't act like the breakdown type, making David smile slightly as he'd never met a girl who could hold down her fears and emotions just like her, given the extreme circumstances around them.
Alright, Dave. Don't start acting like a total macho either. If Harper is of anything to go by, that's the worst mistake you could do in front of a girl. Just calm yourself down, be polite, act natural, and don't be a total douchebag either.
"I'm David Mason. Not a cop at all, but that's exactly why I'm also here. Looking for my father and…" he glanced back at Leon one more time to see if there was any sudden change of mind if his uncle really was dead or not. Leon just kept driving, his expression as sullen as the girl's, and he turned back around to the young lady. He continued, "...and my uncle. They're STARS, so that's why we are heading to the RPD. See if there's any information as to where they are and whatever happened around here."
The girl sighed before introducing herself and began explaining her part of the experience.
"I'm Claire. Claire Redfield. Came to town to find my brother, Chris. He's STARS as well," she then trailed off, staring back out at the passing street once again. "Haven't heard from him since last month and considering what's going on out here, I…"
Claire Redfield? Is she really the sister to the same Chris Redfield that Uncle Woods sent me as an emergency contact? What were the odds?!
God, please let it not be true that you're dead, Frank. You just can't be…
"Chris? As in, Chris Redfield, right?" David asked curiously. "My uncle, Frank Woods, sent me his number as an emergency contact. I tried his number over ten times, but… nothing."
Claire quickly turned her head back around, her eyes slightly squinting as her brows began to slowly shrink together, and immediately spoke slightly louder than before.
"Frank… Woods?" She echoed.
"Yes, he…," David began to feel as though his stomach had twisted itself into a tight knot. "You know him and—?"
"My brother gave me his contact as well, in case of an emergency," Claire quickly interrupted. "Your father… I'm assuming it's… Alex Mason?" David quickly gave her a nod. "He was also listed. Tried their numbers on several occasions over the past month and… nothing too."
David turned his head back around, both hands covering his face as he slid them down in anxiety, wondering what the hell happened to their relatives living in Raccoon City. Zombies were roaming about anywhere, they knew that much. However, that meant either Raccoon's entire phone line got cut out from the outside world, their families were in deep trouble, or they may have gone into hiding somewhere, which he hoped was the third possibility. And who knew for how long this whole entire crapfest of a zombie show had been happening around Raccoon.
There was a long pause between the three of them inside the car, the streets filled with the wandering subtle cries of hunger from the decaying monsters that slowly began trailing their way to follow them in vain.
What a night this has been… Never would've expected to deal with shit like this on a scale this big, let alone zombified people.
"David," Leon said suddenly, almost startling him. "Would you mind opening the glovebox?"
"Yeah, sure," David nodded as he reached for it and tapped the button, revealing a sleek semi-automatic. "There's a gun inside," he pulled it out and carefully checked to see if it was loaded before pulling out a couple more magazines stashed inside the glovebox.
Browning Hi-Power… holds up to thirteen…carefully maintained…
"Better take it with you," said Leon before shooting a quick look at Claire in the rearview mirror once again. She didn't seem to have any weapon of her own, other than the knife she had sheathed on her vest over her left shoulder. "On second thought; Claire, do you have any—?"
"Take it," David beat him before he managed to finish his sentence, handing the weapon over to her. "You're gonna need it the most."
"Thanks," she said gratefully. After she was given the Browning and the magazines that went along with it, she did exactly what David just did when checking out the gun himself. She studied it for a moment and began navigating herself around with the gun, noticing through the exterior mirror on his right that she knew just as much as he did with firearms, handling it as if she knew what she was doing with it, surprising David even further.
Wow… That girl definitely knows her stuff. Wonder if she learned that from her parents or maybe even her brother from STARS.
As Leon made another turn on the road, there was an old announcement coming out from outside in the dark and silent air of the city itself. Even with the windows closed, they were able to still hear what was being said in the distance through some sort of PA system by a male voice.
"Attention all citizens: Due to the city-wide outbreak, you are advised to take shelter at the Raccoon City Police Station. Free food and medical supplies will be provided to everyone in need."
David took a deep breath, looking through the window incredulously. He saw the empty cars, abandoned buildings, lack of lights, and the dreadful hell that Raccoon City has become.
"Oh my God, this is so unreal…" said Claire suddenly. David looked back at the exterior mirror and saw that her face was overcome with worry and disbelief, just as much as both he and Leon looked as well.
"The police station shouldn't be far from here. They'll know something," Leon reassured them, though David could tell that he didn't seem all too confident either.
"Yeah, but…" David didn't want to sound like the pessimistic one out of the group, but deep down, he knew they had to face the potential reality around them, considering that they have yet to encounter anyone who has been living in the city and live to tell the tale. "What if we're the only ones? What if there are no survivors—?"
"No. There are survivors," Leon interjected as he took a look at him for a moment before turning his attention back to the road. "Its population is about close to a hundred thousand. It may seem like a small town, but it's an actual big city…there has to be."
David nodded, but he didn't like the idea of the city having that many people as that would mean there have to be tens of thousands of infected across town, and that was already a pretty scary thought to think about. He still kept on clinging to the hope that Frank was still alive and his father would be with him somewhere. Both of them survived two of some of the bloodiest and deadliest wars in modern-day history. Not to mention that the duo had also survived many brutal beatings over the course of their CIA days.
Even if those stories were half the truth, they had to be alive somewhere. Dad was believed to have been killed during his Vorkuta days and Uncle Woods was believed to have died for four years straight at some point. This could be the same situation for all I know…
As David started to face forward, they had come to a gentle stop in front of a dead end that had an arrow above a sign that read, "Raccoon Police Dept.", pointing left. There was a sudden blockade of cars, both left and right, a fork that divided the road in only two directions. However, there was no way that they could go any further by car as both roadblocks were too dense to continue by vehicle transportation.
"Guess we're gonna have to walk it off from here," said Leon as he turned off the car and looked through the rearview mirror at Claire and back at David next to him
David slowly nodded back and as he looked at Claire through the exterior mirror, he saw that she was primarily focused on something that was happening just on their right side on the sidewalk near the empty parked cars, some of which were RPD patrol cars. His eyes squinted at exactly what it was that caught her attention in the shadows. Quickly taking out the flashlight he picked up at the gas station, he shined it out in the open darkness, and there was a small group of zombies crouched on the ground, eating chunks of a man who lay motionless on the ground, his whole body covered in masses of ripped flesh and blood. The sight itself reminded him of the zombie that feasted on the poor sheriff back at the gas station, making him shiver as his hand that gripped the flashlight trembled almost uncontrollably, swallowing up bile in the process.
The group of zombies stopped their munching as they now faced them inside the parked car, looking back at David, Claire, and Leon as their next fresh meal of the night.
"I'd say more like running it off," said Claire, sounding almost panicked herself.
"Agreed," said David as he put away his flashlight in order to save up whatever juice it had left, feeling like he wanted to just scream out in a blind panic as his heart began pounding loudly.
"Yeah, good call," Leon nodded in agreement before something else immediately startled him. "Jesus Christ!"
Through the shadows around them where they haven't been looking, a loud gurgling moan pressed itself against Leon's window, scratching at the glass with blood-encrusted hands as it tried to get at them almost aimlessly.
As David and Claire looked back at his side, the distraction had managed to let a few more zombies come close and hit the vehicle on their side of the car. Claire let out a sudden yelp and David shook in both fear and confusion as he stared back at the group of zombies that had now suddenly surrounded the three of them, trapping them inside the car with almost no room enough to be able to open the doors at all. The car jerked and rocked endlessly as more of them began to push their bloodied and decayed bodies against the car, trying their best to gain access to the fresh meat that was inside the vehicle.
"Leon!" David gasped as he tried to speak loudly over the chilling sounds of the zombies trying to get inside. "We gotta back up!"
Leon nodded in response and quickly tried to turn on the car, but much to his horror, he wasn't able to at all.
"It won't turn back on!" He breathed out in a hurry.
Leon and David looked back at the sudden change in lighting around them, everything lit up in white as though a giant spotlight had begun to shine all around them inside.
"What the—?!" Claire quickly gasped as she turned back and saw it wasn't just any ordinary spotlight behind them, but something even more frightening than the zombies that surrounded the car.
It was a semi-truck; a tanker and it was speeding at an alarming rate as it barreled down the street several blocks away, running over the walking corpses that got in its way, the driver looking as though they had already turned into the living dead themselves, his face looking pale and dead with white, glowing eyes.
"That maniac's gonna ram us!" Leon exclaimed, pointing out the obvious even though the other two knew the dire situation they were all in. "David, Claire! Get out NOW!"
All three of them have entered a state of blind panic, adrenaline pumping in their bodies, the dreadful fear itself driving the trio to open their respective doors as much as they could, but nothing was able to help them get through the zombies that kept pushing the doors back against them.
"Door's stuck!" David yelled out as he struggled to open the passenger's door.
"I can't open it either!" Claire followed as she began to lay down, pull the handle quick enough, and pressed the door with her feet, pushing it as much as she could against the strength of two zombies that were blocking the way.
Leon turned back around to face the backside of the car and seeing there was no other choice, he began to warn them of the inevitability that was about to come.
"Hold on!" He yelled at the other two, holding onto the wheel as tight as he could.
Claire sat right up again, not seeing she'd have enough time to fasten her seatbelt, holding onto David's seat in front of her as she braced her legs closely underneath the small space between her and the seat in front.
David braced on the dashboard in front, his legs tightening up underneath the floorboard, his heart pounding louder for every painful second that kept passing by, knowing the possibility of them dying in a car accident was almost astronomically high.
However, the truck driver that had turned into a zombie somehow managed to fall to his side as one of his arms was still stuck on the wheel. As a result, it caused the entire tanker to slam against a row of parked cars near the left sidewalk, slowing down its speed and momentum as the vehicle suddenly turned to its side and began to hit the left back end corner of the sheriff's car that held the scared trio.
David suddenly found himself in a thunderous, vicious environment of both sound and movement as he began to grunt in pain, hitting himself across various corners of the interior of the car itself. He slammed his head against his seat and onto the dashboard in less than a second, dazing him terribly as the car was continually being pushed closer through the roadblock on the right side of the road, the impact powerful enough to send sharp pain across his chest and crotch where his own seatbelt held him in place. The car was sent almost all the way through the other side of the roadblock, separated from the overturned tanker that smashed itself against the dead end where the sign once stood.
Just as the sheriff's car stopped sliding over as it hit another parked vehicle on the other side of the roadblock, David couldn't tell whether or not Leon or Claire had managed to get out through the ensuing chaos, his vision almost an entire blur as his head pounded in so much pain he had never felt before.
Feeling his way out through the damaged door, he pushed it open and began to move closer to the open ground beneath him, his body feeling heavy as it ached in a burning pain all over. Once he released his seatbelt, he found himself dropped to the ground, the pain suddenly rising almost twice as worse as he groaned loudly, his vision still saturated in a blinding blur.
He slowly began to stand up, staggering away from the crashed vehicle as a sudden explosion from the car itself caught him by surprise, relieved that he wasn't inside the car any longer.
Leon. Claire. Where—?
"David. David!" He heard someone call out his name.
Claire!
The darkness around him didn't allow him to see her anywhere, let alone his blurred vision that hadn't cleared up enough for him to see through the shadows either.
"Claire! Where are you?!"
"David! LOOK OUT!" Claire's voice erupted in a sudden panic through the darkness.
David's instincts told him to look at the source where the flames were. He was able to see them bright enough, that there was also something else that began to slowly burn as well. The flame was seen flowing down the street on a trail that seemed to lead…
"Oh, shit…!" He gasped suddenly, realizing what was about to happen as he started to stagger back as much as he could. After a couple of steps away, it was already too late.
KABOOM!
The fire had reached the flammable substance that leaked from the damaged tanker, causing an even bigger explosion that rocked the entire street around. The intense shaking on the asphalt beneath David was all he felt in the first split second before the thundering blast of an incredible heatwave pushed him off his feet and sent him flying, slamming into a car door as he dented it almost brutally with his back, yelling out in crushing pain.
David grunted loudly, struggling to stand up as his back and head hurt like hell, briefly blinking his eyes rapidly in order to help his vision clear out a bit faster, his face contorted by the pain he was feeling all over, his bare skin overcome with a burning sensation as a result of the intense heat that blasted over him.
"David! David!"
Claire's voice felt as though it was far but close at the same time. The ringing in his ears wasn't allowing him to distinguish where exactly her voice was coming from. However, as soon as he began to try getting back on his feet once more, he felt the sudden pull from Claire's hands on his right arm and hand, helping him up as the sharp pain inside his body wasn't allowing him to keep his balance under control for a small moment.
There was a brief, clattering rain of smoking debris. The sheriff's car, the tanker, and the row of parked cars that blocked the street were all consumed in an inferno of chemical fire, the street completely blocked by the mass of twisted, burning destruction, lighting it up to feel as though it had turned the night into day.
"Are you okay!?" Claire said worriedly, looking at him with eyes of deep concern. One of her knees looked mildly scraped, but other than that, she looked in better shape than he did.
David groaned in pain once more before he was able to give her a direct answer. "Other than… maybe a broken rib or back… peachy. Ah!" The sharp pain inside his head took over for a brief moment before it finally began to subside again. "And a minor headache as a cherry on top. What about you?"
"Sore and well…" she pointed to her right knee, a small scraping wound. "Did this when I took the quick opportunity to get out as soon as the truck pushed the car out of the way."
"DAVID… CLAIRE…! CAN YOU HEAR ME!? ARE YOU BOTH OKAY!"
Leon!
Leon's voice was muffled but still audible through the wall of the burning wreckage in front of the pair.
"LEON!" Shouted Claire in response. "WE'RE ALRIGHT! HOW ABOUT YOU!?
There were distant sounds of the same ghouls that they had dealt with before, sounding rather hungry as the source of the crash and explosions had caused them to start lingering nearby, noticing the survivors that were near the infernal wreckage.
"WE CAN'T STAY HERE! IT'S NOT SAFE!" Leon called out as loud as he could.
Claire and David looked around their vicinity and the zombies from across every corner of the street had begun their slow trip toward them, some of them coming through the wreckage itself as they all caught on fire, still shambling towards them in a drunken state, oblivious to the flames burning over their bodies.
"Oh, God…" David gasped as he looked at the hell around them while taking out the Glock, the pain in his body almost immediately fading away as the adrenaline began replacing it with sudden energy to keep himself in a state of survival mode.
"It's like the end of the world…" Claire commented, her voice shaky in disbelief at what she was looking at, holding onto the Browning firmly.
"GO ON AHEAD!" David yelled back at Leon, his tone sounding rather desperate. "WE'LL MEET YOU AT THE STATION!"
"I'LL BE THERE!" Leon responded as his tone regressed into a state of panic. "BE CAREFUL!"
Claire began to jog forward down the infested street as David hesitated for a small moment, staring down at the handgun he had snatched from the sheriff back at the gas station, still holding on to it tightly in one shaky hand. For the first time since his father last abandoned him for the army as a child, he was feeling afraid, terrified, and most of all, he started developing a deep sense of hopelessness flooding inside his restless mind. The city in which his father and uncle had been living in, had turned into a living graveyard, and to think of the potential fates of the only close family he had left since his mother's death…
Gunfire was heard just across the wreckage, perhaps two if he heard it correctly, and then nothing, but the crackling sounds of fire itself and the cries of the undead around them.
Leon is on the move…
"David, hurry!" Claire shouted back at him as she turned her head around for a brief moment to see him.
David quickly nodded in silence. Wishing circumstances were different was a waste of time. They had to get to the police station …and fast.
Without another word or thought, he took a deep sigh and began running ahead, having now realized he had entered a living nightmare with nothing more than a world of survival horror.
Author's Note: This chapter always gives me chills every time I reread it. Yeah, I know the last phrase is a bit cheesy, but that's just part of the old classic Resident Evil charm, and all you old-school RE fans out there would know what I'm talking about. Lol!
I tried my best to combine the original, remake, and Darkside Chronicles, all in one for their entire ordeal. So far, I think I did a pretty decent job at doing just that.
See you all next chapter!
