Chapter One: The Crazies
"What the hell's happening our there?" Meyer shouts over the com.
The returning message was barely decipherable.
"…we can't…crazy…dying around…have to…look out!"
"What the hell?" Phillips asked.
"Is that Epps?" I ask.
Meyer nod.
"We should get out there," Dante says, "Did you hear all that shit in the background? Sounded like a fuckin' riot!"
"We can't do anything without word from the Chief." Young said.
"That's bullshit!" Phillips said "C'mon, Meyer. They could get killed out there."
Meyer seemed to mull it over.
"Sir, it doesn't sound like they can hold out much longer." I said "If we don't move they could get wiped out."
"Hey, half the force is already out there." Young said "If we take it upon ourselves to run out there now, we won't be here if the shit starts knocking on our door."
"Shit, Young!" Dante said "We don't even know where the Chief is!"
"He's right." Meyers says. "They've got enough people out already. And yeah, that probably is a riot. That's another reason to stay at base and to be ready. If those assholes got issues, it's only a matter of time before they're outside.
"No," Phillips shakes his head "No way man. I ain't stayin' here. I got family out there! My baby girl--"
"So do I!" Meyer shouts "But there ain't shit we can do about that! This craziness should've been taken care of days ago when it was just a small crowd!"
Meyer plops down on a bench.
"Look, I know this shit is hard," Meyer continues "But this is what we were trained for. We've been on for forty-eight hours straight. Phillips you look almost ready to drop dead."
Phillips sighs.
"And contrary to popular belief, Dante," Meyer says "Alpha Team is just as capable as we are. Not to mention that the Riot Squads are already organized and most have moved out. I don't care who the hell those punks think they are, this thing's gonna be over in a matter of hours."
"Yeah." Young said "That I'm not worried about. Hey, man, how's your arm?"
"It fuckin' itches." Phillips said "I told you some freak bit me, right?"
"How the fuck did you let that happen?" Meyer asked.
"I didn't." Phillips said "It was yesterday at the Shady Plains Apartments."
"Yeah, yeah." Meyer nodded. "That's the guy you shot?"
"He was crazy." Phillips went on, "I kicked in the door and he was pacing around slowly like he was in shock, so I move over to the guy to check him out. This asshole lunges at me and takes a chuck out of my forearm."
"Damn." Dante says, "I would've shot him too."
"Did you get looked at?" I ask.
"I didn't get a chance." Phillips said "And Chambers had already left."
"Look's nasty." I said "wash it up and I'll bandage it up for you again."
Phillips nods and heads for the showers.
Meyer let's out a long yawn.
"Yeah, and I'm gonna take a nap." he said, "You four need to, too. It would be retarded for any of you to try to even function now. We'd be useless out there right now anyway."
"Yeah, right, old man." Dante scoffs.
"Take your ass to sleep." Meyer stands up and moves to a counter, where he lays down and rolls over.
"Whatever." Dante mutters, leaning back in his chair, "Hey Christian, wake me when it's over."
Young then leaves the room.
So I stand for a few moments, waiting for Phillips to return. I can hear lots of noise outside the locker room. Frantic footsteps and loud shouting.
Something seemed odd about this whole thing. I've been stationed in Raccoon City for two years now and there'd only been one incident of this nature and even that was not even of this scope. It had been a gang war.
A large drug cartel was having serious internal conflicts, to a point where to fighting was stemming down from the heads to their henchmen. Their shootout tied up four square blocks in one of the downtown areas busiest districts.
Yet it was an isolated incident.
Raccoon City is, or at least it was, a remarkably peaceful city to be so large. Coming from L.A., this was paradise for and S.W.A.T. team. In L.A., we were called up an average of every two weeks. In Raccoon City, this makes our seventh call. Other than that, we've pretty much been getting paid to work out, train and have cookouts on the weekend in Ness's backyard.
It's not like we're unprepared. With the exception of Charlie Team, I don't think any of us are originally form Raccoon City. Dante and Phillips are ex-Navy Seals form Chicago. Young is from Alaska and Meyers is from Hollywood. Naturally, form hot zones like some of those we'd all felt the heat at one time or another.
But this was different.
The people involved were out of profile. Even as we took that apartment complex yesterday, there were people coming at us for no reason at all. An old woman burst out of her apartment and took me by surprise. She growled like some wild animal and tried to bite the living hell out of me. Not wanting to shoot her, I took the butt of my rifle and hit her in the forehead.
Later, Meyer hocked it up to be some lady in a state of panic. Probably a relative of one of the thugs we were sent in to cuff.
But we were still attacked by maybe eight others, all in some sort of daze.
"All right." Phillips sighed, returning to the room.
"Over here," I said, opening the first aid pouch on my vest.
I lead him over to a mounted light and we sit so I could get a good look at the wound.
"Jesus." I said.
"I know." he replied, "Fuck, it itches so much."
"This looks infected." I said "Look at the skin around the bite. It's discoloring."
"Yeah," Phillips said "Shit, who the hell knows what was wrong with that guy. Could've had rabies for all I know."
I shook my head.
"No, you'd be showing symptoms." I said "But still, infections this bad take a hell of a lot longer to develop. And you say it itches?"
"Yes," Phillips says "the skin around it feels really numb too."
"As soon as we get word to go home, you need to go to the hospital." I said "If this shit gets any worse they might even amputate your arm."
"Like hell!" Phillips said "I'd rather die first."
"Shut up, man. I'm takin' a nap." Dante groans.
I sigh.
Meyer rolls over and looks at us.
"You sound a little frustrated, Christian." he said "what's wrong?'
"Doesn't this seem weird to you?"
"Relax," Phillips said "I'm not even that worried about the bite."
"That's not what I'm talking about." I said "Meyer, you we're driving. Those people didn't look like rioters."
Meyer didn't respond.
"She's right." Dante adds "I've been in my share of riots. Usually high numbers of men. Young guys, actually, running through the streets acting like idiots. Stealing, burning down buildings…"
"Exactly. These guys aren't behaving, dare I say, as an average rioter would." I say "They aren't doing any running around; they haven't been vandalizing or looting any property."
"Yeah, it's like they're doing the total opposite of what usually happens." Phillips said. "They tend to focus more on causing damage around themselves, not killing people."
"The initial reports that came in were of people being attacked in droves." Meyer said.
"Okay, so this is all way fuckin' weird." Phillip admits "But what does it all mean?"
"I don't know." I say "But somehow it doesn't feel like this is going to be cleared up in a matter of hours."
No one really commented on that.
"Well, that's mildly disturbing." Meyer said "But we're not going to be caught unprepared."
"I wanna say I'm glad we're not out on the streets for this one, but I hate not knowing what's up." Phillips said.
"Well, we lost contact with both Alpha and Charlie." Meyer said "But we can always see what's up with the blue boys."
"Yeah, Speyer's always been cool." Dante said "And since the Chief's pullin' a MIA, I'm sure no one will object to us not confining ourselves to our cell."
7777777777777
Walking toward the briefing room was like trying to navigate a raging tornado.
We forced through the crowds, all the chaos, and the panic. It was all starting to make me feel pretty uneasy.
Meyer bursts through the conference room doors a little more recklessly than he should have. It seems we've interrupted a meeting.
"Meyer, what the hell are you doing?" Detective Hart stands up and gives us his infamous evil eye.
"We lost contact with Alpha and Charlie." Meyer says, obviously faking his tone to sound more urgent, "Our radios seem to be out a naturally, we're just a little bit concerned about the situation."
"Yeah, well, that's the case all over Meyer, so why don't you take your kids back to the sandbox and let us handle this, got it. We'll call you if we nee someone shot." Hart's practically seething.
It's not really that unusual, but then again, we usually provoke him before he gets that toxic on us.
"Easy, Detective" Speyer interjects, "Meyer, you and your guys sit the fuck down or get out, this is an important meeting."
Everyone turns back around and the four of us take a seat in the back.
"As I was saying," Speyer says "This condition appears to be viral and from what I've been led to believe highly contagious. This is Dr. Morris Sloan."
Speyer motions to a rather gruff looking man, who looks like he's been through hell. He's still in his uniform and if I'm not mistaken it's stained with blood.
"And what you're about to hear is going to sound less than believable and I know because if I hadn't seen it for myself I wouldn't believe it either." Speyer steps away from the podium "Doctor…?"
Dr. Sloan stumbles out of the chair, apparently shaking with nervousness. He wipes his brow and clears his throat looking nervously across the room.
"W-well, we know that the disease is a virus, but we've come to believe that it wasn't created naturally." Dr. Sloan says.
"What, you mean someone intentionally did this?" Officer Isaacs asked.
Office Isaacs is our resident expert on premeditated crime. He can trace even the most convoluted plot back right to the subconscious gap moments before the perp has the thought.
"We'll there's no way it could have been intentionally released, not without becoming infected yourself." Dr. Sloan said "It seems to have spread maybe by animals that'd come in contact with it in the sewers or…"
Dr. Sloan stumbles over himself a moment.
"I apologize, I just--" he said "The hospitals been overrun."
"We realize you're a little shaken up doctor, but as you've already seen time isn't on our side right now." Speyer urges.
Dr. Sloan nods.
"I tie the event to what happened at the Spencer Mansion two weeks ago." Dr. Sloan "A couple of your men who were checked up at the hospital claimed that mansion had been overrun with the infected. Much of what they told my staff is remarkably true about all the people who've been admitted."
"What, you men what Redfield was saying about the dead coming back to life?" Dante asked aloud.
"That's ridiculous." Officer Dave West said.
"Yes, it is." Dr. Sloan said "Yet… that is the case. These people are indeed dead."
"What the hell… is this guy crazy or what, Speyer?" Officer Antoine Sullivan said aloud. "He's telling us dead people are walking around?"
"Shit." Officer Doug County said "Makes sense to me. You haven't been out there, Sullivan. Those people aren't… normal. I fired on a guy attacking a little girl, shot him seven times and he didn't even fall over. In fact, he didn't even stop moving. Adrenaline doesn't do that I don't care who you are."
"And there have been many reports of individuals suffering injuries that should be fatal, yet they are still active as if nothing is wrong." Officer Hector Chase said "Just listen to the radios, it's like something out of a horror movie."
"The contagion is without a doubt a medical breakthrough." Dr. Sloan said. "It, when used in the correct manner, reanimates dead cell within the body, possibly healing tissue, maybe even re-growing brain cells."
"If that's the case, then why isn't there a street full of happy healthy individuals?" Sullivan asks.
"Because the contagion is…" Dr. Sloan wipes his brow, "The reason I don't think that its creation is widely known is because it isn't exactly perfected. In fact the regenerative version of it isn't even, um, evolved until it first infects an individual, once harvested that is when it becomes beneficial to the body."
"Beneficial my ass." Meyer said "How the hell does it spread?"
"That process also had changed" Dr. Sloan said "Given what some of your people told me, the virus was first airborne, that is how it infected the original medical staff. Then the contagion could've contaminated the water around the area, spreading it to the wildlife. There were several incidents around the Arklay Forest area, correct?"
"Yeah, that's why they sent S.T.A.R.S. there in the first place isn't it?" Phillips asked. "People were being attacked and killed while hiking, hunting whatever."
"That still doesn't tie those incidents to what's happening now." Detective Patricia Bolt said, "The bodies looked as if the were ripped apart by wild animals."
"No, that's exactly like what's happening out there now." County says, "They're acting like animals. And they certainly are killing as many people as they can."
"Based on the high number of injured civilians we've had admitted we've established that they are doing more than killing." Dr. Sloan said "In most cases the victims have been partially devoured."
"They're eating people?" Sullivan asked.
"And that's what I was also getting to," Dr. Sloan said, "It's spreading at such a highly rapid rate, and that's because the bites are infectious. I bitten individual, once dead, will reanimate and also attack."
"Wait, wait." West said "So this dead reanimates the dead, who kill, and its victims also reanimate and turn around and kill?"
"I thought you said the contagion was beneficial after it has already infected one man?" Detective Bolt asked.
"Only if it's harvested from the brain." Dr. Sloan said, "Other than that the volatile versions will continue to spread."
"So individuals bitten are a potential threat?" Hart asks.
"Only if they pass on." Dr. Sloan said "It's only active after one had died."
"Are you sure?" Speyer asks
Dr. Sloan nods.
"Okay." Speyer says, "Now, what can we do about those who are infected and obviously are running around out there."
"Nothing." Dr. Sloan said "Those people are indeed dead and there is no hope for them. The best you could hope for is an evacuation of the city."
"How?" County asked "Half the population is already infected. The streets are wrecked or blocked off. What are we going to tell them? Should we get on the news and tell everyone to run for their goddamn lives?"
"Easier said then done." Speyer said, "The phone lines are down. The only communication we have is with our radios and that's only to our squad cars. We can't even talk to anyone outside the city."
"What?" Meyer said "Are you insane? Why the hell hasn't the city been evacuated already?"
"That wouldn't have been a wise decision, anyway." Dr. Sloan said "Many of the people out there not dead have been bitten and are infected. If this thing leaves Raccoon City it's only going to spread and you'll have the same thing happen over and over again all over the country."
"So what you're telling us is, we're stuck in Raccoon City, where half of the population, of a million by the way, has been turned into living dead monsters, we have no communication, no way out, and infection is only a bite away?" Dante said.
Dr. Sloan hesitates, then says "Yes."
"Oh, fuck this!" Sullivan said "This is just crazy! We've got to get the hell out of this city!"
"Just calm down" Speyer said "What are out chances here, doctor? I mean, what's the likelihood of a happy ending?"
"Not very good?" Dr. Sloan said, "It's going to infect the entire city, that I know for a fact. It's only a matter of time."
"Fuck." Speyer said, finally taking a seat.
"Well, shouldn't the surrounding cities find something odd about this? I mean wouldn't they attempt to contact us if they find that our communication is down?" Dr. Sloan asked nervously.
"On one side we've got mountains, on the other we have a wonderful assortment of hick towns that probably still communicate through Morse code." Speyer said, "So that pretty much fucks us out of any sort of outside help. We probably couldn't even get national guard. No one will even realize anything wrong for a couple of days."
"So there's…" Dr. Sloan wipes away his sweat.
"No chance." Hart said. "Not unless you've got a medical one."
Dr. Sloan looks completely lost.
"Well, had I'd known this, we would've gotten our asses out of here a lot sooner." Meyer said to me. "So what's the game plan?"
"The way I see it, there's no saving the infected." County said "I say we grab as many civilians as we can and hold up here until someone realizes what's going on."
"Whoa, I feel the chivalry here, but how do you know we won't be scooping up some infected asshole too." Sullivan asks.
"We aren't just going to leave all those people outside while we're in here protecting ourselves with an entire armory." Meyer said "You might as well get ready to get really paranoid. And how many in this room have family out there? We can't save everyone but we can get as many as we can."
"I'm not going out there." West says "I mean, this is real shitty, but I'm not getting killed to save people that could potentially kill me."
"There's that blue boy integrity." Phillips said
"Fuck you, David!" West shouts "I'm not doing it!"
Meyer stands up and looks around the room.
"Well," he says "Was anyone other than Me, my guys, County and Speyer even going to volunteer for a civilian round-up?"
No answer.
"I figured." Speyer said "But don't worry, I wasn't going to put the heat on any of you. Just don't expect a medal if we live through this. Self preservation is always natural, but when it borders on cowardice I don't want to hear any shit out of any of you. Chief Irons is MIA so congratulations, I'm in charge."
"Want me to grab a couple more men?" County asked
"Not just yet." Speyer said "Doctor, what do we have to do to make these guys stay dead?"
"Well, it takes deep trauma to actually keep their brain from jump starting all over again." Dr. Sloan said "Severe nerve or cerebral damage can effectively "kill" the infected."
"In other words, either pump 'em full of lead or shoot them in the head." County said. "Works for me."
"All right then." Speyer said "Doctor obviously we can't let you go anywhere, so Detectives Hart and Bolt, you three check up on the origins of the contagion. Talk to Burton, because if anyone can tell you what went down two weeks ago it's him. The rest of you get your men, get them armed, fortify the station. West… well, County, get half of your boys in riot gear, we're building a blockade."
Speyer pauses to light a cigarette.
"This is about to get rough." he said "Meyer, a couple of Alpha's guys made it back. Meet up with Epps to see if he's got any good men to spare."
"Where the fuck is Charlie?" Meyer asked.
"They've been AWOL since before the shit really even hit the fan." Meyer said "As weird a coincidence as that is I need your brawn right now. We're going to save some lives."
"Goddamn, this is what I'm talkin' about!" Phillips said.
The four of us get up and head back towards the locker room. Strangely enough the station seems less populated than it was the moments before we barged in on that meeting.
"Christian, find Young." Meyer said "I'm going to track down Ness's boys. Don't any of you move until either Speyer or I tell you to. This shit may be chaos but it isn't going to be half-assed either."
I break off from the guys and head off to look for Young. What a perfect time to wander off into the madness. Why I try to figure out where he could've gone, I contemplate exactly how deep in shit all of us are.
Seriously, how the hell could something like this just happen. A disease gets out somehow infects half the city and just like that everything goes to hell. The dead coming back to life, this shit spreading with no sign of letting up. It could kill more than just us. The entire country, shit, the world could get a taste of this. Who would make something like this and then let it so carelessly get out?
My thoughts wander to S.T.A.R.S. Though no one wants to admit it, they told us all of this. No one believed them of course. The living dead, get the hell out of here. But here they are on our doorstep. But that's the way these kind of things usually happens isn't it. There's always some nut, who comes to us with these outrageous stories and what so we do. Send them on vacation until they get their heads straight.
We should've known something was up.
Valentine, Redfield, Chambers, Kevin, Marini and Burton were the only survivors of a highly trained tactical unit. I could barely believe my ears when I heard Kenneth and Forest weren't coming back. And I know Redfield pretty well. He's always been a level headed guy, never one to fly into a panic and not easy to shake.
Redfield seemed almost on edge, as if he was even suspicious of the Chief's role in it all. He rambled to Young about his conspiracy theory quite a bit before Speyer told him to get the hell out and take a vacation for a couple of day. Lucky bastards. I don't even think any of them are in Raccoon right now. They've already had their nightmare, I guess it's time for ours.
Where the hell is Young?