Chapter 7: A Worsening Situation

Danielle looked up at the burning wooden girders above them.

"I hope they'll hold until we're well away."

Brad looked back at her. "They'll hold. Come on, move a bit faster, and we won't have to worry about it."

Danielle nodded, and walked up beside him, linking her arm in his.

"What are you doing?" he asked. Danielle cuddled into his shoulder.

"What a lovely night for a walk," she said pleasantly, drawing her gun and firing it upwards. Behind them a Licker; a monster with a long, lance-like tongue, crashed to the ground, dead. Brad grinned. Danielle shrugged, and was about to speak, when there was a huge crash, and the burning rafters fell across the alleyway, blocking the path. They stood there for a moment, looking at the path.

"Well, I guess that way's out of the question now," Brad said dully. Danielle nodded.

"Oh well. I guess it means that nothing can sneak up on us for now."

"Don't speak too soon!" Brad exclaimed, and pointed towards the fire. There was a tall, heavily built, dark figure walking through the fire towards them.

"S.T.A.R.S........."

Brad backed up, and pulled his gun. Danielle glared at the Nemesis, boldly walking towards it.

"When I get my hands on you, I'll rip your tentacles off and strangle you with them!"

Brad reached out and grabbed her shoulder, dragging her along, down the alley.

"No you damn well won't!"

Danielle stumbled along behind Brad, and they darted into a room off the alley. Brad sank to the floor, panting. Danielle laughed.

"You're meant to be a police officer, Brad Vickers. You remind me of Jason O'Connor."

"Who's that?"

"One of the former S.F.S. members. He couldn't run for five minutes without getting a stitch. And then he'd tell everyone else that they were lazy. I don't see him keeping his job now, do you?"

Brad grinned. "Well, I kept mine, and I'm proud of it."

Danielle smiled, and helped him back to his feet. "How could they fire someone as loveable as you anyway?"

Brad looked at her cockeyed. Danielle smiled and opened the door a crack.

"Looks like he's gone. Let's go."

"Carlos! Slow down!"

"You wanna come with me, then keep up with me!"

Rachelle shook her head. "You're a real turd! Slow down for just a moment will you?"

He stopped suddenly in his path and looked back as Rachelle and Jill came pelting down the hill towards him. They slowed down to a stop as they caught up. Rachelle looked around the quiet street.

"Are we there yet?"

Carlos laughed. "Sorry. Just a little further."

He walked with them this time and led them through the rubble-strewn streets towards the cathedral. He motioned over his shoulder to the clock tower.

"We've gotta head there, but I've gotta take care of something first. Keep heading down this road, okay? See you when I see you!"

Rachelle put out a hand to stop him, but he was already too far away. Jill rolled her eyes.

"Let's do what the man says."

Danielle looked both ways down the street before venturing out of the alley. She wrinkled her nose disappointedly and put her hands on her hips with an exasperated sigh.

"Excitement please!"

Brad came running out behind her and clamped his hand over her mouth.

"Don't you know you never ever ask for excitement at times like these? I'm low on ammo, I'll bet you're low on ammo, so just be happy with what you've got."

Danielle sighed. "I'm getting bored, that's all. But I guess you're right. We'll get sick of the quiet and when it gets dangerous again we'll be wishing they would all just go away. It's like working at a fast food outlet. It gets quiet and you're bored, and you're wishing customers would just come so you wouldn't be bored, and then they swamp you all at once, and then you wish they would just go away."

Brad nodded. "Exactly. Drawn out and a bad example, by exactly."

Suddenly they were interrupted by a sputtering sound that seemed like an engine. Looking up, they saw a motorcycle speed across the intersection. Danielle ran over and watched as the motorcyclist pulled over next to Emmy's. Danielle and Brad ran towards her, but stopped short. The diner was being surrounded by zombies. Danielle took a few steps forward and aimed, but realised there were too many of them. She stepped back and shook her head.

"She's gone."

Suddenly a single shot rang out. And the girl, accompanied by a young man in an R.P.D uniform ran out of the alley that ran up the side of the diner. They looked around for a way out.

"Hey! Hey there!" Danielle decided to open fire. She shot down three zombies and drew their attention. The two ran right towards them, through the clear path, and stood alongside them, the officer helping them to shoot down as many of the advancing zombies as possible. Danielle suggested a different strategy. "This is a waste of valuable time and ammunition. Let's make a run for it!"

Danielle grabbed the girl's arm and dragged her along behind her, Brad and the officer following closely. When they had gotten around the corner, Danielle ducked into a nearby building. The other three followed her inside. Danielle bolted the door behind them.

"Right. I should introduce myself, I'm your guide, Danielle Lanza. Captain of the R.P.D Special Forces Service. This is my sidekick, Brad Vickers. One of the last remaining members of Raccoon City's elite S.T.A.R.S. unit. You've met the residents of Raccoon City, I presume, a quick synopsis of the situation: Umbrella Pharmaceuticals Incorporated has screwed the city something shocking and you've just been caught right in the middle of it.

"I can tell you're both from out of town. You," she said, pointing to the girl, "Because of how casually you were walking around, and you," she said, turning to the officer, "Because I know everyone on the force and I don't know you. We just saved your asses back there, but don't show any gratitude, I don't want any. You can find your own exit if you like or stick with us. I'll be pleased to offer any answers to any questions you may have on your mind, directions, perhaps. Keep your arms and legs attached to your body at all times, keep a constant supply of weaponry available to yourselves and enjoy the experience. Welcome to your worst nightmare."

Brad laughed at how she said it. "You certainly know how to make light of any situation, don't you, Dani."

Danielle grinned. "I'm serious. One day they'll make a theme park based on Raccoon City, and we'll have the derogatory jobs of being actors in the ride."

"And we'll find out it's run by Umbrella, and the zombies are real."

Danielle rolled her eyes. "Umbrella's not going to be around long enough to contemplate a ride like that, because when I get out of here, I'm off to the main American lab to blow it sky high. Then we'll boycott the company."

The officer looked at her. "Captain. Leon S. Kennedy, I was assigned here to help deal with-"

Danielle smiled slightly. "Terrorism, I'll bet they said. Kennedy, you say? Oh yeah. That's right. Aren't you meant to contact your captain before you come in? I haven't heard anything from you. I hired you, I was planning to put you on the S.F.S. team. The S.F.S. doesn't work for Irons anymore, though. But you're still welcome to join. How's this. If you make it out of Raccoon City alive and I see you outside the city after this, you can both join."

The girl looked at her quizzically. "Uhh, Claire Redfield. I'm looking for my-"

"Your brother Chris? You won't find him around here."

Claire jumped up. "You know Chris?"

"Know him?" Danielle laughed. "I crashed into him on my first day in the R.P.D. I know you, too. I've seen you before, Claire. Don't you remember? It was the 4th of July bash at the station. The night before you left town for some reason. I don't know where he's gone, though, we're planning to go to Europe and confront Spencer himself, but we weren't going until we'd dealt with the American HQ. But I do know Chris' diary's in the police station, if you're game enough to cut across town and go look."

"I'm game! I have to find him."

Leon shrugged. "I can't let you go alone, so I'll accompany you. Besides. I want to find a slightly more realistic explanation for this crisis. Umbrella making monsters. Bullshit."

"You don't believe me?" Danielle asked, raising an eyebrow. "Fine then. You go to your police station, you go and look for your explanation. I just made it sound funny, that's all. You'll get the same explanation of events that I gave you. Umbrella's the bad guy here, and if you don't believe me, you soon enough will. There's a cop car out the back of the building. I can see it through the window. Follow the signs and you'll be there in no time. I'd make sure you're armed. Claire, there's most likely a handgun in the glove box. Good luck guys. See you on the flip side."

With that, Danielle ran out the door, followed by Brad. Leon shrugged.

"I still can't believe it, though."

Claire ran to the back door. "Come on Leon, we have to go."

Jill looked at her cousin. They had been running for the past half hour, gathering up supplies to help the remaining U.B.C.S. personnel move a broken down tram that they had set up base in. Rachelle and Jill thought of it as a stroke of luck that they had run into Carlos again before they reached the cathedral, but then they met his sergeant, Nicholai Vinoviev. Nicholai was a grey-haired Russian mercenary, and seemed to have a bit of an attitude problem. At first, he had refused to allow Rachelle and Jill to help them, claiming that they couldn't be trusted because they were S.T.A.R.S. members. But Carlos had helped them to convince him to co-operate. Jill sighed.

"Rachelle, can you do me a favour?"

Rachelle looked up. "Depends."

"On what?"

"On what this so-called 'favour' might be."

Jill smiled. "I'll check this alley, you check that one. Okay?"

Rachelle nodded. "If Dani were here, she'd be very against us splitting up."

"Well she's not, and so she can't complain, now can she?"

Rachelle grinned and shook her head. "Take care, Jilly."

Jill looked at her before she continued into the alley.

"Don't call me that, Shellie."

Rachelle grinned. "'Course not, Jill. I was fooling with you."

Jill shook her head as Rachelle took off down the other alley. She leaned against the wall and sighed.

"This is never going to end. I swear Umbrella wants us dead for sure now. Or maybe...." she thought for a moment, "Or maybe they're after Danielle. She's a renegade officer and she's in league with Bio-Counter...."

Rachelle looked around cautiously and held her gun ready as she ducked into the alley. Being alone in a place where you only really had one way to run reminded her all too much of the underground back at the mansion. There didn't appear to be anything in the alley, but Rachelle watched the windows on either side carefully. It was too quiet, and it made her all the more uneasy. There was a door just a little further down. Moving slowly, she opened the door just a crack and peered inside. It was a dark room, and the door appeared the only way in or out. Feeling around for a light switch before she ventured in, she found one and flicked it on, and the room burst into light. There were no monsters, but several shelves filled with boxes and other things.

Heading straight for the shelves, she began to rifle through the boxes. She looked up with a start as the door slammed closed, but seeing nothing out of the ordinary, she turned back to what she was doing. She found a box holding three clips for the magnum. She pocketed them, and just as she was about to start on the next box, she whirred around at the sound of a wet hiss, and found herself surrounded by Lickers.

But not just any Lickers. These Lickers were massive and had more claws. Spines sprouted from their backs, and they were even more ugly. The Mega-Lickers advanced slowly, and Rachelle wasted no time in drawing her weapon and opening fire on them. There were five in the room all up, and as she fired, each Licker took about 6 shots to kill. She took them out one by one, when suddenly she was met with the dull click of her trigger.

There were two Lickers left, and she had no more means of effectively defending herself against the monsters. And they seemed to know, too. They stopped advancing and sat back, their long, saliva-covered tongues flicking around in front of them. It would only be a matter of time before one of them shot out its foul weapon and struck her dead.

If a B.O.W. were to walk in right then and there and kill the Lickers, she would be eternally grateful, as most of the B.O.W.s weren't all that fast, and she may have a better chance at escaping. Rachelle crouched in the corner, knowing that there was not a living soul in earshot who would reach her in time, her only chance was to scream out for help.

A shrill scream echoed out in the alley, and Danielle seemed to recognise it.

"Brad! I think it's Rachelle!"

Brad looked in the direction of the scream. "Stay here, I'll go check it out."

"I want to go with you."

Brad turned around and put a hand on her arm. "I'll come back. You wait right here and don't move. You'll be fine."

Without waiting for her to protest again, Brad ran off in the direction of the cry. He reached the door in the alley and flung it open, and was greeted with the sight of Rachelle cowering in the corner, and two huge Lickers, which spun to face him as he opened the door. Without giving shock a chance to set in, Brad opened fire on the monsters, and took them down. Rachelle opened her eyes and looked at the dead Lickers, then up at Brad. She jumped up and hugged him.

"Brad! I could kiss you!"

Brad nodded and stepped back. "I'm sure you would if you weren't married."

Rachelle glanced away. Brad shook his head.

"I'm sorry Rachelle. I didn't mean to hit a soft spot."

Rachelle just waved it away. "Don't worry about it."

Brad nodded and led her out the door. Rachelle was about to say something, when the silence was broken by a gunshot, answered by another. Several more shots rang out, and then there was silence again. Rachelle turned to Brad.

"That sounded like the Flashgun!"

"Jesus! Danielle! I left Danielle back there!"

They ran back to where Brad had left Danielle. There was a pool of blood on the ground that hadn't been there before. Rachelle leaned down and lifted something on a black leather rope out of the pool. It was a talisman with a pentagram on it, a dragon etched in the center. Rachelle looked up at Brad.

"Dragon Pentagram.......This is Danielle's!"

Brad picked up one of the discarded shells from the ground.

"These aren't Ivory shells. They're parabellum rounds. The Ivory uses copper, doesn't it?"

Rachelle stood up and looked around. "Right. There's only one way she could have gone. Come on."

They ran off down a path to the left.

Jill stood stock still in the end of the alley, zombies closing in around her. They were just about to grab her, when they began to jolt and blood spurted from them, as they fell to the ground. Carlos shouldered his gun.

"You really need to learn how to take care of yourself."

Jill put a hand on her hip. "Thanks Carlos. Just in time."

Carlos walked up to her. "You have a gun. Sure you know how to use it? Want me to show you?"

"You're so funny, Carlos," Jill said sarcastically. Carlos shrugged.

"This I do know."

Jill went quiet. "I heard screaming and gunshots before. Do you know anything about that?"

Carlos shook his head. "I thought it was you, that's why I came running."

"It wasn't me.... Oh God. Do you think it may have been Rachelle?"

Carlos looked around. "Could have been, but Jill. That was a while ago. Do you think she'd still be... alive?"

Jill shrugged, and didn't say anything. She looked down at the dead zombies and kicked one of them. Suddenly it grabbed her foot and tried to bite her. Crying out in surprise, she kicked its head clean off its shoulders. Carlos laughed slightly.

"They don't give up."

Jill kicked the zombie's arms away and moved slightly to the side.

"No. And I wish they'd just get a life."

Carlos looked at her and laughed. Jill smiled slightly when she realised the irony of what she had just said. Carlos looked away.

"Well, come on. We best get going. Staying here pondering over what may have happened to Rachelle isn't going to get us anywhere except dead. I say that we get moving. Who knows. Maybe Rachelle's back at the tram waiting for us right now."

Jill shrugged and walked off, following Carlos down the alley.