Dr.William Birkin
The sunlight spilled in through the dusty windows of the main entrance. "Well..looks like we made it..um...David?" said Alexandra, her mind still hazy and very confused as to the identity and intentions of David, even though somehow he seemed strangely familiar to her. "Yeah..well..at least you remember my name..that's a start.." he said coldly, opening the door for her. "YOU! HANDS UP!", David turned, dropping to one knee and raising his pistol almost as a reflex as he heard the harsh cry. His sights found themselves trained directly onto the head of a cleaner troop armed with a m4 carbine, 2 bullets and it was over, the shots tearing through the gas mask and balaclava and caving the soldiers face in slightly. The body hit the floor, David was already out of the door by the time his death call stopped echoing off of the cold, gray walls...
The sunlight presented an almost obscene contrast to their surroundings, a bright, sunny day, illuminating a street that could very well have been ripped out of the siege of Stalingrad. Fires smoldered, cars were plowed into storefronts, bodies, their faces frozen into expressions of pain and fear lay strewn across the cityscape. David walked down the sidewalk, stepping over the corpses, ignoring the carnage, his mind too busy dwelling on his own suffering to care much about the pain of the deceased around him. Then a familiar voice stopped him, Alexandra tapped him on the shoulder. "David...can you explain to me what happened last night? I can't remember very much..just...some kind of monsters and...you..and..a few others.." she said, sadness building in her voice. The hatred and anger David had been building in him ever since the interrogation session began to fade as he looked at her..god..she really is beautiful.. he thought, now deciding if he found Piers he would make his death even more painful. "To make a long story short..this is all a big nightmare...the others are your friends...and as for me....I'm just a failure who should have died a while ago..." he replied, turning and walking off again. "David? Why? Why should you die..." she yelled after him, spurring him to turn. Gesturing back towards the warehouse with his pistol, he yelled his response, the anger flooding back, the pain taking over. "BECAUSE I'M A MURDERER...DID YOU SEE WHAT I DID BACK THERE? I KILLED..HELL..2 PEOPLE...AND THAT'S JUST THE BEGINNING...you don't know the shit I've gotten myself involved in in the past few months..murder is the least of my sins...the people that want us all dead now..well...I know them a lot better than any of you think...I deserve to die..yet somehow..god keeps taunting me with ongoing life...". Before Alexandra could protest, David was already walking. Back in the direction of the city, the large structure visible even from the warehouse district...Alexandra stood wondering whether to let him go or to try and get some answers, sighing to herself, she ran after him.
David's eyes were fixed on the city hall, an angry, enraged look in them. He had double crossed Markenson simply by not shooting the other survivors when he had met them. Maybe I should have wasted them all when I could have...they probably want me dead just as much as Markenson.. . Markenson probably knew he was coming, and that gave him an edge, putting him in the defensive position. But David had one advantage..Markenson had a reason to live, David had nothing to lose, the odds were even, but the winner would be whoever was more hell-bent on revenge, and David was willing to be it was him...
Jill Valentine
The soft image sways of the figures which formed John, Vanessa, and Jarred slowly arched into view. Winsor shook her head abruptly as she heard the distress in their voices; and their sincerity towards Nathan's dramatic exit.
I knew this was going to happen..I bet Nathan's expecting me to feel sorry for him....leaving us like that...
Winsor tried to move her arms and legs, but the nerves that ran throughout her entire body were stiffened by the throbbing pain across her spinal cord. A chilly breeze from the window lifted the soft silky curtains gently through the air as it strengthened to a harsh wind. Winsor held back the emotions that ran through her mind, as she didn't want to feel as though she actually cared about anything that was going on.
Why does Nathan always have to be so god damn ridiculous and leave us? Fine, he can be that way...and Die for all I care...
Although her mind was fighting it, deep down in her heart, Winsor deeply cared about Nathan, and her hopes for his survival strengthened at the thought of his glowing smile.
Damn him...
"Winsor? You alright?" Vanessa asked, gently nudging her shoulder to revive her.
"Well, what does it look like to you?" she snapped back at her, painfully leaning up into a sitting position. "I'm just fine and dandy. Never felt better."
She sarcastically rolled her eyes, and the others had realized that Nathan hadn't changed her bad attitude one bit.
"Well, if you cared to notice Winsor, Nathan went off on a little crusade, and so did Ryan." John began, stroking his hair nervously. "and they could die. So it's either, stay here and look after you who doesn't give a damn anyway, OR go after them."
Winsor sighed heavily, narrowly glaring at John through a dark, unpleasant look.
"Well, do you think I can walk by myself? Well unless your god, nothing can help me now."she replied, physically dragging her legs towards her. Struggling to stand on her two legs, Winsor staggered back, the others reaching out to catch her before she fell to the ground. Attempting several more times, Winsor grew more frustrated; never feeling so exhausted in her life.
"We'll have to carry you. Permission to touch your leg?" Jarred joked, leaning over to scoop up her left leg. Winsor flinched back in defense, as John warned her with a dark look, as he too reached for her right leg. Finally, John and Jarred had comfortably set Winsor up in their arms, Vanessa grabbing the remains of the ammo, weapons, and first aid kit which were scattered across the floor.
"Don't even think about moving your hand up any further John!" Winsor remarked, crossing her arms.
"I wouldn't dare think of it...."he muttered, as he watched Vanessa open the door.
Without realizing, a large horde of zombies flooded into the narrow entrance of the room, the decaying tissue of their cannibalized bodies creating a sickening odor.
"Get out of my fucking way!" Vanessa screamed, as a heavy thud from her foot sounded a kick towards the line of zombies.
Like the game of dominos, the zombies fell back over each other, Vanessa gesturing for the others to quickly follow her out while they had the chance.
"Through here!" she called, leading them down the hallway towards the staircase that lead up to the third floor. "Hopefully there's some sort communication system up here, it shouldn't be too far!"
"Good, it's about time you use that brain of yours.." Winsor muttered.
"Hey, shut up okay, you may be wounded, but that doesn't stop me from hurting you." Vanessa snapped back.
The deafening shots from the riffle clanked at the steel lock that barricaded the door on the third floor, Vanessa thrusting it open, flicking on the light switch as she entered the room. The light revealed a small room, with a heavy slab of glass dividing the room into two separate sections. On either side, there stood mechanical panels full of numerous buttons, switches, wires and gadgets, with two sets of large headsets hanging off each of the metal edges.
"Here. Sit her down here, and help me get this thing working okay?"Vanessa demanded, not hesitating to lock the door behind her.
"Okay...how do we work this thing...."
Positioning the headset comfortably around her cranium, Vanessa sat patiently as she fidgeted with the switches, and connected the wires, hearing a loud static through the ear piece, indicating it was operating.
"Hello is anyone out there? Can anyone here me? Hello?" she repeated several times, her voice becoming louder and more frustrated at every second. "Hello? This is Vanessa Williams from the town of Gaines, requesting immediate government assistance. Something has taken over our town, leaving half the Gaines population dead. I repeat..."
"I hear you! I hear you!" came a static voice from the other end. "I have received your calls, and they have been broadcasted live to CNN..."
"Thank you!" She cried, seeing the joy lighten up in Jarred and John's eyes. "Who are you? What is your name?"
An evil muffle of laughter was then heard over the static of the receiving end of the headset, followed by a loud gun shot shattering the window that centered the room.
"Get down! Get down! It's an ambush!" Jarred cried as he pulled Vanessa down on the floor. The shots continued to fire for a few more minutes, then stopped.
"What the fuck was that?" Winsor cried, wearily looking up at John and Jarred.
"I don't know! We were tricked!"
Vanessa could feel her heart racing, and her mind deafened by the gun shots. Suddenly, a gasp heaved from John's wide-mouthed gaze.
"Vanessa? Are you okay?" he asked, pointing to her shirt.
"What is it? I can't feel anything?"
Vanessa gave him a confused look, as she looked down, feeling the warm blood drain through her dirty white school shirt. It appeared to of stained the layer of her shirt that had sat right over her heart. She had been shot.
Joker
Ryan was slumped against the wall, trying to get his breath back after sprinting to lose the zombie horde which had entered the news station looking for him. To make matters worse, they had been here a few hours, meaning that the mutilated staff might be reanimating at some point. Ryan looked down at his Beretta, a symbol of how stubborn and foolish he could be. He could have taken someone with him. Surely it would have made sense to have someone to watch his back? But Ryan had point-blank refused, knowing that, if they died, he would lose it completely. His conscience needed no more tainting for now.
But he should have taken the assault rifle.
Yanking the Beretta's slide back to chamber the first round of the new magazine, Ryan sighed heavily and wondered what to do. He couldn't try to escape out the front door. It was the nexus of which the zombies were entering from. The fire escapes and side exits were all barricaded. He was trapped, trapped like a rat. A soon to be devoured rat. "Just as well I went alone", Ryan thought inwardly. " If anyone's going to die next, it'll be me. I've got nothing much to live for anymore, not now that Joanna's gone, and now, I'm just throwing myself into desperate suicide tasks..."
Ryan nearly contemplated ending it there when it became clear he wasn't getting out of this place, at least not alive. Then, suddenly, he remembered something.
The rooftop.
"There might be a fire escape up there!", Ryan suddenly shouted at himself in his own mind. "Or, at least, a way to hail a helicopter down!"
Ryan ran for the stairs and made his way up. On the way, he ran into a few zombies, easily dispatched with 9mm hollow-point to the skull. 9mm's may not have made a great impact on objects, but, if put in the right place, can do as much damage as anything else.
As Ryan got to the roof, he looked around for signs of a fire escape. There were none.
"Fuck!", Ryan yelled, frustrated. Every time he thought of a way out, another obstacle presented itself. The whole thing was futile. He also cursed himself for thinking that a helicopter would be around. That was wishful thinking. Anyone who had a chopper would have evacuated long ago.
Ryan sat down, back against the guard-wall, feeling disappointed, broken and defeated. His effort, for all he knew, was for nothing. He was going to die a needless death and there was nothing he could do about it.
Just then, Ryan heard an odd "thwup-thwup-thwup" sound. It almost sounded like...
Looking around, Ryan finally saw it. A helicopter was here! If he could just convince the pilot to wait long enough for the others, they'd all be able to get out of here.
As the helicopter closed the distance between it and the news station, Ryan heard something else which made him shudder.
The undead were making their way to the rooftop.
As the helicopter came closer, Ryan waved frantically to get its attention. There was still time to get the others, just perhaps not here...
The helicopter hovered over Ryan, dropping a rope ladder. Before the zombies could get to him, Ryan quickly climbed the rope ladder as if his life depended on it. After all, it did.
Ryan had nearly reached the helicopter when he noticed something odd...
The chopper had Blair's corporate logo emblazoned across its steel frame.
As he noticed that, a man wielding a pistol leaned out the cargo bay door pointing a handgun at Ryan's head.
"Ah, Mr. Bartlett, I presume?", the man said tauntingly. "Care to join us?"
As Ryan looked at the man in shock, that same disappointed, broken and defeated feeling came over him. But he exhibited only one emotion.
Hatred.
Carlos Oliveira
When Nathan reached the town hall he didn't stop. He kept driving straight up the stairs. Into the front doors and through the hall. The few guards that he did see he didn't stop for but instead just kept on driving. Taking them down like bowling pins. The small Chevy slammed into the wall as he turned a corner. He stepped on the gas and kept going. Rounding yet another corner he saw the elevators. Stopping the truck he stepped out and picked up the rifle. Pushing the button he waited for the pinging sound of it to sound it's arrival. Instead he heard the screech of a hunter behind him. Nathan turned and fired a burst tearing it to shreds. The elevator opened and there standing like a horrible vision of hell was,........NEMESIS!
---------------------------------------------
Ryan continued to scale the ladder as a soldier grabbed him and lifted him inside. Quickly disarming him the cuffed him to an overhead bar and started towards the outskirts of town. Towards the Industrial section of Gaines.
---------------------------------------------
As David and Alex stepped around a corner in front of the City Hall they heard the sound of a car or truck peeling around a corner. David saw it first. A small Chevy pickup was tearing straight for the building. Obviously not stopping it tore into the buildings front doors and inside. David wondering just who the hell would be that crazy to charge right in when he heard Alex speak up from behind him.
"I know that guy......it's......dammit why can't I remember?!? Neil?,....Nick,...."
"Nathan!!" yelled David realizing who it was.
"Shit he's got to be pissed! Com' on he may need some help!" said David as he took off after the Chevy.
---------------------------------------------
Nathan took a step back and smiled.
"So....we meet again." he said woodenly.
The Nemesis replying with a growl.
"Are you ready to dance?" Nathan asked it as he squeezed the trigger letting loose a hail of bullets.
The Nemesis pitched backwards into the elevator. Nathan watched as it stood again.
"Come on you fucker!! Lets tango!!" Nathan yelled as he leapt away from a tentacle.
Turning he scrambled into the truck luring the Nemesis after him. It slammed it's mightily clawed fist into the hood smashing the engine clean into the ground. Nathan flipped it the bird and smiled.
"Well? That all you got? Come on bitch!! Lets get it on!" Nathan taunted.
The Nemesis roared again as it smashed it's way into the cab. Nathan slipped out the other door and leaped into the elevator hitting the down button, and just before the doors closed he lifted his rifle again.
"This is for Paul!" he said firing a grenade round under the truck. The doors closed and there was a huge explosion shaking the elevator. Amazingly enough it held and continued down.
---------------------------------------------
David and Alex were about to round the corner when a large explosion tossed them off balance knocking them backward. Metal shards flew by the corner as David shielded Alex from them. Standing he asked he if she was ok. After a nod from her he took a look around the corner only to see a destroyed pickup and pieces of Nemesis all over the place.
"Alex I think we need to leave here. This doesn't look like Nathan planned on leaving alive and if we follow I think we may just get killed too. Whatever he's planned, it seems like he's snapped."
Alex just nodded as they started back towards the front.
---------------------------------------------
Ryan heard the large explosion as the chopper was trying to land on the City Hall. From what he had heard he knew that they were picking up someone important here. Probably Piers he thought. The chopper landed and two soldiers took up position outside it while the other radioed for the pick up. Ryan leaned forward to hear what they were saying. It was hard to hear but he managed to make out some of it.
"...........Yes copy.........plosion....Nemesis.....nnialated.......Law. Prepare to....at.....once..............Can't stop him. Eta.....be rea...Leave. We'll be head......old Oswald F...tory...Law must be stopped......killing everything..no chance here....must leave....."
"Copy that. We ready to lift of when you arrive sir. Over." replied the pilot.
From what Ryan could gather Nathan seemed to be here somehow and was raising serious hell.
"Give' em hell Nath." whispered Ryan as he tried to think of a way to get free.
---------------------------------------------
Nathan stepped out into a long corridor and started on a straight path down it. A few hunters were in the halls, but nothing short of having a heart attack was going to stop him. He fired a burst here and delivered a few good whacks with the rifle stock when they got to close. Nathan hardly noticed as he stormed through them intent on killing Piers. Out of his side vision he saw blood cover the walls, like paint being thrown onto it, but he kept going. He turned the corner and saw Piers with a few guards.
"PIERS!!" Nathan screamed as the soldiers turned and started firing. Nathan didn't even try to avoid them as he stormed on, firing down the hall. Taking out three guards with a single burst he felt a bullet nick his shoulder and another pierce his jacket but barely missing him. The pain only made him angrier as he started running, firing another burst into the face of the last one. Turning he chased Piers to an elevator where Piers managed to close it and get away.
Nathan screamed again,...."PIERS!!!!! I'M COMING FOR YOU...PIERS!!!!"
Looking up he saw that the elevator number only said ~rooftop~. He turned and saw the emergency exit stairwell and slammed the door open as he took the stairs 2 at a time.
---------------------------------------------
Vanessa felt nothing. She was numb and didn't know what had happened. She knew she was shot but from who and how she couldn't remember. Jarred's voice was trying to get her attention but the other voices were drawing her back. Voices of her friends and family who had died. People she knew and cared about......people like Jarred. With that final thought she realized if she was ever going to live she had to follow Jarred's voice. Pushing the others away she followed it back.
.......Ness? It's me Jarred can you hear me? Nessa come back to me please!......
"Nessa? Please sweety open your eyes. Come back to me please." pleaded Jarred.
Suddenly her eyes twitched.
"Hey I think she's waking up man! Keep talking Jarr!" urged John.
"Vanessa wake up! Come on you can do it!" Jarred asked her again as her eyes fluttered open.
"Thank God! Vanessa? Can you feel anything? How are you? Are you ok? Talk to me? Please!" said Jarred.
"Well...if you'd....stop asking me...more then one...question at a time...maybe I can answer...you." She breathed obviously with great effort. Suddenly she arched her back as the pain set in. She moaned against Jarred's shoulder as it swept through her like a hot knife. Jarred tilted her slightly and saw that the bullet went clean through. She was lucky, damn lucky.
"Seems their gone man. Whoever was shooting at us high-tailed it outta here. I think they had a chopper,...I saw one flying away." said John.
"You'll be ok Nessa." John said as he gave a meaningful look to Jarred as he held out the syringe.
"Think it'll work on something like this?" Winsor asked indicating the bullet wound.
"I don't know." answered John.
---------------------------------------------
Ryan saw a man scramble out of a door and towards the chopper with a look of sheer terror on his sweaty paled face. From the descriptions of Nathan and Jarred it seemed like Piers. Or more like a terrified Piers.
Piers leaped into the chopper and the pilot started to lift away.
Suddenly Nathan was charging out the door and lifting his rifle. Ryan saw the grenade launcher on the bottom and thought he was done for. The look on Nathan's face spoke volumes,...he was seriously pissed!
---------------------------------------------
Nathan started to squeeze the trigger when he caught a glimpse of Ryan's face, and then he was diving away as bullets riddled the rooftop near his feet. He ducked behind a vent shaft and ducked low feeling the bullets whip by,...scant inches from his head. Then they stopped as the chopper flew away.
"Shit!" cursed Nathan as he started back down taking the steps 4 at a time. Literally leaping from one set to another. He slammed the ground floor door open and slammed into David knocking him sprawling. Nathan stood over him with his rifle aimed directly at his head.
"You! You dirty lying son of a bitch! I should blow your head away right now!!" yelled Nathan as he turned the rifle around using the stock to knock him out.
Turning he saw a terrified Alex standing there.
"He's with Piers and the others Alex! Don't trust him!" he said as he took off running. Getting outside the sun beamed from above as Nathan ran towards the first car he saw and smashed the window in. Unlocking it he opened the door and stepped inside and started splicing. A few short seconds later the mustang roared to life as did something else!........the dinosaur creature! It was a mere block away and looked hungry. Nathan slapped it into reverse and slammed on the gas. The car peeling away as the dino charged after him. Turning the wheel hard he spun around and slapped it into drive and took off. Silently he cursed Piers again as he prayed he could either outrun it of lose it. Either way, if he didn't,....Ryan was dead!