Resident Evil: Surviving Raccoon

Raccoon Times, September 25, 1998

THE DEAD WALK!

RACCOON CITY-Today, much to the Raccoon Times surprise, the reported "Cannibal" attacks that have been plaguing Raccoon for several months are not over and worse of all THEY ARE RETURNING FROM THE DEAD (so to speak)! Local reporter and up and coming journalist Michael Saint today has reported--while going south on Cole Street at three o'clock--he and many others have witnessed first-hand a "cannibal" attack. He says, and we quote, "My god I don't know how to say this, so I will just out and say it, I was going south on Cole Street when I noticed the roads were stopped and everyone was crowding around something. As I got out of the car to look, I saw what everyone was staring at. The creature was eating one of the older man's eyes. Two women, one young one old, had their faces and throats ripped open. The other man had suffered the same fate where as his throat and face was also savagely ripped open. From a nearby shop, I was told the story of what happened.
According to a local shopkeeper the boy stumbled out and lunged on the younger of the two and started biting into her face. Apparently the older woman, who was her mother I later was told, tried to stop the attack and the boy jumped on her and killed her too, also sinking his teeth into her face, pulling away a nice meaty chunk of her upper lip and her cheek. A couple of men then saw this gruesome scene, and decided that they were going to intervene, but this also went to hell because when they grabbed hold of him he leaped forward and bit into one of the men's necks. After that no one tried to help the fallen citizens.
Soon the RPD showed up and surrounded the creature and its grizzly feast. As they blockaded the area and began to push back the citizens, I noticed that they were taking cameras from other reporters and saying that it was evidence. Personally I agree with the other reporters in saying that the "evidence" claim made by the RPD is full of shit...
I must say that now the S.T.A.R.S. claim of zombies and monsters out in the Raccoon Forest doesn't seem so farfetched any more. And personally I feel that everyone owes them and apology and needs to beg for their help in resolving this disaster. And if any of you S.T.A.R.S. are still in Raccoon, I am deeply sorry and I hope that you will help Raccoon resolve this problem before it destroys our town."

Raccoon Times, September 26, 1998

RACCOON UNDER SEIGE!

RACCOON CITY-- The claims of "cannibal" attacks are slowly but surely increasing at an alarming rate. Just yesterday the claim was one; today alone it had jumped to twenty-five. Citizens are demanding that Mayor Harris fix this problem immediately and with extreme force before it takes over the whole town. In response, effective yesterday at four o'clock, Mayor Harris declared martial law. Most citizens feel that his decision declaring martial law is just not enough to stop the "cannibal" attack; they feel martial law will only keep them safe for so long before the "cannibal" attacks come to them...

Prologue

As night fell over Raccoon, the battle began. Only just two days ago the "cannibal" attacks were growing but were promised to stop soon thanks to the dedication of the RPD. However, they didn't stop and now the RPD was getting ready for the fight of their lives. The "cannibal" attacks exploded from just under twenty-five, to an estimate now of a couple hundred in just under a day. Today is the 26th of September, and already most are saying that the town is lost to these monsters.
The police are gathering all remaining officers on Maple Street to make a major counteroffensive on the creatures. They have been gathering on Maple for an hour or so, but the counteroffensive is not scheduled to take place until six o'clock tonight, which is just under an hour. Most feel that this "Battle to rid Raccoon of these diseased and crazed people" as Mayor Harris called it, is far too late and are sure in saying that the counteroffensive will fail miserably. But the strangest thing to the surviving citizens is that all the exits in and out of Raccoon are ceiled shut including mail and telephone…

1

"All right men! Line up and fire on my command! Remember that these creatures aren't human anymore!"
 As the captain finished his statement, every police officer chambered a round in their weapon, sighted them on a target, and prepared to fire.
"Uuuuuhhhhh" "Ahhhhhh" "Uuuuhhhhh" the brain dead virus carriers moaned in unison at the sight of their new grizzly meals.
The virus carriers only twenty to thirty feet away, the captain gave the order to fire.

"Michael! Take a look at this!"
Tatatatattttaaaaa! Bam! BAM! Ttttatttatatttaaatatatataaaa! BOOM! BOOM!

"What is that noise? Has the counteroffensive started already?"
"It looks like the RPD is fighting the cannibal creatures!"
Michael then poked his head outside of the Raccoon Times noticing that many other citizens stuck their heads out the windows as they anxiously awaited the outcome of the counteroffensive. He lost track of how long the battle lasted but the outcome was ceiled, the creatures won. They had destroyed the entire RPD in just under a few minutes, and now were feasting on the fallen police. Not all died immediately or stayed when the zombies grabbed the first cop and began to bite into his arm; but the ones who did escape were also soon caught and eaten alive by other zombies in the shadows.
"Oh my god… those things… just… ATE the entire Raccoon Police Department!" Michael stammered.
"Michael we've got to' get the hell out of Raccoon!" James shouted.
"James! You know we can't because all the exits and ways into Raccoon have been blockaded!"
Just as James was about to argue his case, they heard the windows downstairs shatter.
"What the hell was that!" They said in unison.
"Hello!" a lonely voice called from above, "Is any one still…AAHH! GET AWAY FROM ME!"
BAM! BAM! BAM! The crack of a semi-automatic rang out.
"Help me!" The voice shouted over the pistol, "My God someone help!"
"Come on James! He needs help!"
"I'll just wait up here Michael, you help him." James stammered.
"You coward!" Michael hissed.
Michael then sprinted down the stairs to help the unknown survivor.

Marvin's day was just shitty. Just to make his day, Chief Irons tells all of the RPD that they are Raccoon's last defense against, "The sick and helpless infected citizens of Raccoon". Sick and helpless, that was a cruel ironic joke now. So ok, we all suit up, grab our guns and are reassured time and time again that this will end peacefully, right, So we all are gung-ho and hyped up that Raccoon may finally have some real action, but no amount of training in the world could have prepared us for what we encountered. All the "sick and helpless" people were sick alright…they were rotting and falling apart in front of our fucking eyes. Over hundreds and hundreds of former Raccoon citizens all brain dead zombies. That's right zombies. We were lied to. They weren't sick; they were the walking goddamn dead. And even before they were close enough to fire upon, we smelled the death and decay. We saw them falling apart, as they lurched towards us in a hungry stupor. Many of us witnessing the scene before us and not believing that many former friends, brothers, sisters, and other acquaintances were coming towards us to eat us, not to say hello or hug us or shoot the breeze as they did before, but to EAT us.
Then to make things worse, the captain--frozen in terror-- forgets to give us the order to fire until its too late. Only twenty or thirty feet he finally said to fire, but neglected to notice that it wasn't twenty or thirty feet was actually ten to twenty feet. We could smell their rotting breath as we began to fire. We shot at everything that moved on that street, but it still wasn't enough. Many of the zombies went down much to our happiness, and then in the same breath much to our horror, they soon got back to their feet and resumed the slow death march. "FIRE! FIRE! FIRE!" the captain shouts even after the zombies had surrounded him and started to tear the flesh of his bones. The battle was over in almost minutes as the zombies had basically eaten every RPD member. Except that rat-bastard Irons who sent us in this hellish war-zone, Marvin thought bitterly.
Luckily for him he escaped, but they were pursuing at a slow and steady rate. Oh man, I've gotta' escape but all the main roads in Raccoon have been blockaded. I need some where to hideout until they pass by or decide to leave me alone because I've put up more of a fight than other meals. Think Marvin, THINK! Where could I hide? Then like a sign from god, the Raccoon Times building appeared in front of him. THERE! Marvin shouted in his mind. As he ran to the glass doors he then saw the chain and lock on the inner part of the door. Gonna' have to break it Marvin thought as he reached for his pistol. CRASH! The window shatters easily as his Beretta smashes through the window.
Uuhuhhhhhh, ahhhhhhhh, the virus carriers moan as they surrounded Marvin.
"Oh shit." Marvin groaned as he turned his pistol around to fight the zombies.

2

As he began to fire and walk backwards into the Raccoon Times building, the zombie receptionist lurches slowly out from behind her former desk to greet and eat him.
AAAAHHH! It groaned as he unknowingly fell into its arms.
"What! HEY! SOMEONE HELP ME!" Marvin screamed.
The zombies, excited by his hot blood rushing, began to pile into room like fire ants on sugar and began to try and eat their feisty meal.
"Is anyone here! PLEASE HELP ME!" Marvin pleads
"Hello?" A timid voice called from above, "Who's down there?"
"IT DOESN'T MATTER WHO I AM! JUST FUCKING HELP ME YOU IDIOT!"
And just as Marvin said that, a young white man ran down the stairs with an axe.
"Alright, just hold on! I'm coming!" the man shouts
As soon as he hit the bottom of the stairs he began chopping away at the undead creatures. It soon became an ironic reenactment of the previous battle Marvin was involved in earlier with the screaming, the shouting and the seemingly endless flow of the undead. One moment they would be shouting and chopping and firing, and then they would pause after that wave of disease and sickness was momentarily stopped, then they would almost immediately be surrounded and fighting again.
"Hey! I'm running out of ammo here! Is there anyway to cut off the bottom floor from the top?" Marvin shouted as he reloaded his Beretta.
"Yeah there is! If you can hold them back for just a second I can activate the storm shutters and trap these bastards down here!" the man shouted as he ran to a panel next to the stairs.
He began to turn knobs and hit buttons just as one of the crowd grabbed his ankle.
"AH SHIT!" he shouted as he reached for his axe, "Hey! If you hit that green button behind you on that panel there we can end this shit for a second!"
Marvin fired the last bullet in his clip, spun around, and slapped the green button home as the man slammed the axe into a zombie's brain.
BAM! The steel shutter testified as it slammed down in front of Marvin and the young man separating them from the on going zombie frenzy.
"Oh my God that was close. Not that I'm complaining but, who the hell are you any way?" Marvin asked
"My name is Michael, Michael Saint. I'm a, well I was, a reporter for the Raccoon Times. And not that I'm complaining officer but who the hell are you?" Michael questioned
"Don't worry about it; I catch worse shit all the time. Marvin, Detective Marvin Branagh for the RPD, well the former RPD that is." Marvin said with pride.
"Oh. Well then detective, welcome to the Raccoon Times and its damn good to see you sir. But could you tell me what the fuck is going on?"
Marvin laughed and said, "No clue. I was hoping you, being the reporter and all, could tell me what the fuck is going on."
"No idea; I know as much as you do. The city got attacked, victims became flesh eaters within hour, and the RPD is dead. That's pretty much all I know for a fact. Oh yeah and you, me and James are probably the safest people in Raccoon right now."
"Who the fuck is…What makes you think that Michael?" Marvin asked
"Well that storm shutter that we just set off is like a foot thick and made of steel" Michael demonstrated by knocking on it, "See? It won't even budge unless we hit that switch over there."
Just then the lights flickered overhead
"Or if the power goes out." Marvin stammered
"Oh shit! We don't have a back up generator either Marvin!" Michael groaned

As they race up stairs, the power goes out and the shutter opens…

3

"We gotta get outta here!" Marvin shouted as he ran, "Is there like a back door or something out of this place Man?"
"No, the second floor had one but we closed it because someone kept using it to leave early. And there's not one on the third floor…AH! But there is a ladder up to the roof! We could climb up there; it could buy us some time to think and a safer place to survey the city."
"That's going to have to be sufficient for now. The only other choice is to go back down stairs and fight the creatures. Personally I'd rather hide on the roof. Wouldn't you?"
Michael grinned, "Nah I'd rather go out in a blaze of glory myself"
Marvin starts to laugh, until he hears the zombies clambering up the stairs.

"Well looks like times up, lets get our asses on that fucking roof." Marvin huffed as he pushed Michael up the stairs into the office above. As soon as they burst in, Michael grabs James and hustles him to the window.

"Who… What the…" James starts

"No time, those dead fuckers are right behind us. We need to get to the roof, now. Goddamn it the thing is stuck!" Michael groaned

"Here let me use my key" Marvin says as he pushes past them

BAM! CRASH! The window explodes as the 9mm round punches through the paper thin glass.

"Mike you and the cop go first, I'll go barricade the door!"

Michael climbs out the window abruptly stepping on the glass as James pushes a desk in front of the door. He turns around and begins helping Marvin out the window as he thinks--man that would suck to survive this far, to only be killed by a damn infection…

"Hey what about your friend, shouldn't we try to help him?"

"I'll coming damn it! Just give me a second!" James yelled as he ran back towards the window and Michael's outstretched arms.

"Gotcha! Watch out for…"

CRASH! Uuuhhhhh… ooohhhh… aaahhhh

"FUCK!" They all yelled in unison

Just then the zombies burst into the room and reached for James's ankles. Screaming as he kicked at them, one jumped forward and almost bit him as Marvin shot it in the brain.

"Oh God please help me! Don't let them eat me!" James cried

Quickly James and Marvin pulled him through and stumbled up the ladder to the roof with the zombies close behind. Marvin stumbled up first to cover them, and then turned around to help Michael up with James close behind. Come on come on damn it! Marvin thought as James stumbled up top to the roof.

"Pull up the ladder!" Michael screamed

Marvin runs to help James and hands off the pistol to Michael as he grunts to pick up the ladder. While they struggle Michael thinks, there has GOT to be an easier way… "AH! Move back!"

They both jump back as Michael runs and slams the emergency ladder recall button. Almost immediately the ladder snaps back up and into the red holder. The zombies below groaned their disapproval as their meals escape.

"HA, you fucks! You ain't eatin' us tonight you undead mother fuckers!" Marvin gleefully taunts.

As they share the laugh, James turns around in shock. "Oh my God…"

Michael and Marvin turn away from the zombies and realize what James is staring at; Raccoon is a true vision of Hell; bodies line the streets, buildings are burning and full of death, the dead are consuming the living: men, women and children, eating them down to their very souls…

"Oh my…" Marvin puked then continued, "all those people…WHAT THE FUCK!"

As they stood above watching Raccoon sink farther and farther into its own Hell, battles still waged down below between the living and the dead. Men were defending their families only to be bitten and bring the infection that they had fought so hard to keep out, teachers were fighting their former students, beating them with the very textbooks that they had learned so much from, and cops shooting their former partners who had once saved their very lives.

4

Faster, faster come on! Charles thought as he ran, we're never gonna make it to the RPD if we keep dragging his wounded ass along! He probably won't even make it! Just like the rest of those fuckin' useless cops! "Come on, let's GO!"

"Hey cut me some slack alright Charles! I don't see you making much effort to help anyone!" Fucking dickwad, how the hell did I ever love him! Cindy thought bitterly.

They had been running for almost an hour towards what they had heard was salvation and protection at the RPD. Considering their apartment complex was gutted by fire and zombies, anything was better than being on the streets; --Yeah THAT was a mistake-- Cindy thought. When they escaped to the streets with a few of the remaining tenants, what awaited them was far worse than anything in the apartment complex; total war and anarchy. Bodies were strewn everywhere, fires coming out of almost every other building, people laughing, crying, praying, and even a few laughing as the living dead rose to eat the flesh from their bones. Then an authoritative and clear voice rose above all the violence and chaos speaking of hope and chance, "All survivors must report immediately to the Raccoon City Police Department for due process and treatment. Repeat. All survivors must report to the Raccoon City Police Department for due process and treatment." Which was a great idea, it wasn't much of a drive to the precinct… but Cindy had left her keys in the apartment—on the top floor.

But that didn't fucking matter now because the building was disease and fire, and the streets were littered with cars, people and other unfriendly-car environments. Cindy remembered as she carried Mark.

"Oh…God I don't feel so well…" Mark groaned

Come to think of it, he looked like shit and could have easily been mistaken for one of the walking dead... Maybe it would be safer just to leave him…NO! He's a cop for christssake, and you're the reason he got bit! You just can't leave him to die… and he's got a gun, the only weapon you three have! Cindy pondered.

Mark bent over and violently threw up all over the pavement. Coughing and sputtering blood he pushed away from her.

"Stay back! Leave me to die before I hurt you both! I know what's coming next; I'll be a zombie" he cried. It sounded more like a mercy plea than anger or contempt, like a dying man begging for death so he wouldn't suffer.

"Now just calm down Mark, you're not going to die! You're just delirious and sick, you're not a zombie! We're going to get help at the RPD and you're going to be ok!" Cindy cried.

"Come on! Let's fucking move it! Those things are coming!" Charles screamed.

"Shut the fuck up goddamn it! Ignore him Mark, come on come back to me…"

"NO!" Mark screamed, "Don't you get it you fucking bitch, THERE IS NO HELP COMING! THE RPD IS EVEN MORE FUCKED THAN THE STREETS! WHERE DO YOU THINK I CAME FROM! TO HELP DO GOODERS LIKE YOU! Fuck no! NOW FUCKING LEAVE ME ALONE!"

As Mark burst into a run, Cindy reached for him, "Mark please!"

"Fuck off!" He drew his gun, "now you and him need to go! GO NOW!"

Just as Mark turned to run, a zombie woman shambled out and bit into his arm.

"Oh SHIT!"

As he pushed the woman away, another zombie appeared out of the darkness and bit into his neck.

"NNNNOOOOOO!" Cindy screamed

"Grab my gun! It's the only chance you'll have to…" Mark faltered as he pushed away the woman zombie, "get to the RPD! When you get there, go to locker number 273! The pass code is 122…" right as Mark began to say the last number, the shadow zombie tore his throat out, turning his words into blood filled gargle.