Chapter 2:

Date Unknown

Post Destruction of Contamination Zone

"I remember so much of the disaster and yet at the same time, I find my thoughts clouded and uncertain. The things I saw happen in that city couldn't have been real. These things aren't supposed to exist. They are only real in the nightmares of young children, who run to their mothers after dreaming it and are assured that there is no such thing as monsters. That they are only made up. What were mothers supposed to tell their children in Raccoon?" Alyssa asked with a light voice. There was a short pause, though the silence seemed to go on for an eternity. The recording continued on with complete and total attention from the unknown listeners while her voice carried and echoed throughout the room.

"One thing that really bothers me the most about all that had occurred during those fateful days in Raccoon was watching some of the people I was running with breakdown and lose hope. It was a hard thing to see, especially considering how close we had all become while we tried to escape that hellish city. I met a lot of people, old and young, strong and weak, brave and scared, though one of them really held a lot of us together. His name was David King," Alyssa said with a hint of sadness to her voice. "Don't get me wrong. We ALL had our moments of despair. And while a few people really tried to keep us all from total mental collapse, David King stands out the most for me." There was a muffled sound in the background of the recording and Alyssa fell silent immediately.

Time ticked away and there was nothing but silence on her end of the recording. After several moments, she returned with a trembling voice. Once she began to speak, her voice cracked and had stopped in mid-word. She cleared her throat and tried once more, taking her time in bringing her thoughts into articulate words. "Sorry for wasting more of your precious time. It's hard adjusting back to a normal life…or whatever you want to call it. Even though the worst part of the outbreak was the last few days before the city was…" Alyssa found herself trailing off again, no doubt haunted by the memories in Raccoon.

Alyssa's voice seemed to change in tone and she let whatever she was going to say remain unsaid. "You know what really troubles me the most? Despite all I saw and heard during those long days, the thing that really terrifies me is not knowing what happened to David, or for that matter several close friends of mine. After all we went through to help one another, all David had done to help me, I don't even know if he is okay. My heart tells me to cling on to hope, but my mind tells me that he is… I mean after all, we were separated about a day before Raccoon was leveled."

"Call me stubborn, thick headed, stupid or whatever you want. I believe he did get out of the city. That he did manage to save himself and is starting a new life, somewhere far away from Raccoon City. Far, far away from Umbrella. I know this because… I just do. I am a reporter after all. My instincts tell me that he managed to find a way to escape before the bombs went off." Alyssa spoke as if she were in love. Though while her words were spoken out of a gentle and genuine compassion, they came out with more malice present then anything.

"Though, I doubt I will ever really find out now… But maybe in this case, ignorance is the best solution. Though, I will be honest with you. It doesn't help me sleep any better at night, that's for damn sure."

June 9th

3:07 P.M.

The roads were tightly packed heading towards downtown Raccoon City. The traffic was getting increasingly worse and David King found himself right smack in the middle of rush hour in a Carlin and Co. plumbing van, barely moving. Cursing silently to himself, he flipped on the radio and turned the dial till he reached station 97.1, The Voice of Raccoon.

"…Clear skies for tonight's forecast. Now for your traffic update. Try and avoid Highway 12 and 32nd Street. Two different car accidents in the left lanes have resulted in major delays and the closing of those lanes. Delays are expected to be at least thirty-minutes on both roads…" the male voice said and continued giving other reports on traffic throughout the city.

David heard all he needed to hear. He was on 32nd Street and clenched his gloved hands tightly on the steering wheel of the van. David hated vans and hated plumbing even more. Though one thing he could not stand was being stuck in his plumbing van in almost bumper-to-bumper traffic. What made it tolerable was knowing he made a decent wage and had learned a great deal about fixing things. That was something he wished he could do with his past. Without feeding another moment to that line of thinking, he got back on the task on hand, the non-existent flow of traffic.

"Well, looks like I'll be late then…" he muttered and reached for the CB radio that was installed in the small white repair van. David snatched up the small mic and held the send button on the side. "Harvey, it's David. I'm stuck in traffic on 32nd so I'm gonna be late for Mr. McNamara. Phone ahead and let him know," David said with a sigh and let go of the send button.

There was a hiss from the speaker of the CB radio and Harvey's voice filled the cramped van too well. "Alright, Dave. You got it."

Without replying, he placed the mic back in its holder. In the few minutes that had gone by, the traffic moved little more then half a mile. David frowned knowing that this packed two lane street would soon turn to only one lane of agitated drivers which meant the chances of another accident taking place were about to get a whole lot higher. David grit his teeth at the very thought of being in a deadlock.

"…And in other news, the Raccoon City Police Department has now set up road blocks leading into the Arklay Mountain region as well as possible hiking trails due to the related slayings of six Raccoon City residents. The police are asking that everyone stay clear of the Arklay region until the culprits of these cannibal killings are apprehended. Police are also requesting that anyone with any pertinent information regarding this case to please contact them immediately…"

Not wanting to hear another word, David turned off the radio, completely disgusted.

Why would anyone want to do something like that? I mean that is some seriously deep psychological shit buried under the surface that needs major therapy or a repeated hit to the head with a nine iron to correct.

David sighed out of frustration and yawned as the traffic moved a few feet further. He did not accelerate right away and watched as the small green car in front of him pull away suddenly and stopped just as quick. With a smile, he eased on the gas and suddenly hit the brake as a truck cut into his lane just in front of him without signaling.

"Nice signal, asshole!" David screamed as he leaned out the driver side window. The driver of the red truck extended his left arm out from his window and gave him the finger.

Do it to my face next time punk and we will see what happens… God, why won't this traffic move?

Farther down the road, David could see other vehicles from the left lane begin to merge into his lane and the already restricted flow of traffic began to worsen. "At least we are getting closer," David whispered to himself and stepped on his brake. As he did this, a truck several car lengths ahead cut into the left lane without signaling. There was a loud screech from the tires of a vehicle, which one David was not sure of. There was another piercing sound, this time it was of crunching metal and shattering glass.

Through narrowed eyes and grit teeth, David reached for the mic of his radio. He pressed the talk button down so tightly that his hand began to visibly shake. "Harvey, phone ahead to Mr. McNamara again. Looks like he may need to reschedule…"

June 13th

3:48 P.M.

A young blonde woman was sitting in the somewhat empty kitchen of a single bedroom apartment with her hands folded neatly on the table that was laid out before her. The dull white walls were completely bare. There were large brown cardboard boxes scattered throughout the cramped living space, making it difficult to navigate without banging into other unpacked belongings or the flimsy walls themselves.

Cindy Lennox was still new to Raccoon City and while she had enough money to put a down payment on her apartment, she had no other means of raising money. She anxiously stared at the small white telephone that was directly in front of her and chattered her teeth, hoping that someone would call her back after applying at several local bars and restaurants.

Please God, let someone call back. I want to finally be out on my own living my own life. Don't make me go back to my parent's house, please…

It was nothing against her parents. Cindy loved her mother and father very much. It wasn't like they would not give her money if she needed it. The fact of the matter was that she wanted to finally be out on her own and say she worked for her apartment and no longer needed her family to carry her. She was a woman trying to find her place in life and wanted to get to where she was going on her own. Although, not knowing if she could find work to maintain a stable income was hell on her nerves. Not to mention it was going to be hell to get all of her belongings back into her coupe. It would not be as bad as she…

The phone rang, startling Cindy for just a brief second before she reached for the receiver with lightning speed. She almost knocked the phone off the table, though both of her hands gripped the receiver with a deathlike grip ensuring it would not hit the floor if the rest of the phone had fallen.

Cindy very carefully brought the receiver up to her ear and froze. She could not speak or even breathe. Fear had taken hold. Fear that she would not be able to find any work. Panic was now racing back and forth through her mind.

Oh my God. Oh my God. This is it…

Gathering every last bit of calm she had in her, she took a deep breath and released it. "Hello?" She bit her lower lip and used her free hand to twirl her long blonde hair around her pointer finger.

"Hello, is this Cindy?" the male voice asked in a somewhat annoyed manner.

It was as if Cindy had just been punched in the gut. She nodded to herself and took another deep breath, though it was not as relaxing as the first was. "Yes. This is her speaking."

"Yeah, this is Jay, from J's Bar. I was calling about the application you had put in," he said in a monotone voice.

Cindy frowned. She knew she was in trouble if the rest of her applications were handled in the same fashion. Though, she held onto the phone and again she had nodded to herself. "Okay."

"Well, we regret to inform you that you have a job with us," Jay said, seemingly more light hearted then he was only a moment before.

"What?" Cindy asked, not sure if she heard correctly or if he was playing a joke on her.

Jay was laughing now on the other line. "Sorry kiddo. Anyway, we do have a job opening and if you would like to take it, that would be great."

Cindy's heart had skipped a beat. "Of-yes… Yes, well of course," she stammered out. She suddenly felt very bashful and stupid after her trouble with accepting. A simple 'yes' would have fit perfectly, though she could hardly do anything right.

"Great, that is wonderful," Jay said, still chuckling on the other end of the receiver. "Well, just for the record, I really didn't want to hire you."

"Oh," Cindy replied with a frown. "Well, if you don't want to hire me, that's okay, I guess," she whimpered. The more Cindy thought about the job opening at J's, the more she felt it may not be a good idea to accept the job if he had not wanted to hire her in the first place.

"You see, our bartender Will, he's a real good guy. Turns out I think he's got a crush on ya, cause after you had applied, he had come in asking about you as you were leaving," Jay said chuckling. The chuckling turned to full out laughter in a matter of seconds. "Listen, I'm sorry. I have a strange sense of humor. Anyway, on a serious note, I would really like you to stop by later in the week to start you off if that's okay?" he said in a totally different tone then what he had before. It was like Cindy was now speaking with a completely different person.

Cindy was not sure what to say. She was so confused about the entire conversation. Whether or not she would like to admit it, a smile was tugging at the corner of her mouth. Maybe this job was for her and if it was not, she would find out while she was training. "Sure, I could come in and start training whenever you'd like me to."

"Awesome. Well, would it be possible for you to come in tomorrow? We could go over our procedures and our uniforms. Not to mention we could probably start you off in training tomorrow too," Jay said in a very professional manner. Cindy was convinced now that he was being very serious and that he sounded like a very interesting person.

Cindy found herself nodding again. "Sure. I will stop by tomorrow then. Thank you so much. I needed this job so badly," she had said sincerely. She had felt a rush of relief pass over her and could not help but smile.

"Don't thank me. I'd really like to have you work with us here. Oh and Will says 'hi,'" Jay said chuckling. "Anyway, tomorrow morning at 8 a.m. Okay? Take care, Miss Lennox and I will be seeing you then."

"Again, thank you so much Jay. I will definitely be there," she replied hanging up the phone and smiled even wider. She remained in her seat, still not moving a muscle. As she sat there, she remembered when she had been applying at J's Bar and remembered that Jay did act somewhat oddly, though she was far to nervous to notice then.

He was very nice when I had spoken to him in person. Give the job a chance. Everything will work out. Who knows, maybe Will is cute too.

She had almost immediately stopped that line of thinking and without warning; Cindy jumped up from her seat and jumped up and down in her kitchen, screaming at the top of her lungs. "I have a job! I have a job!"

That was the only thing that circulated through her mind for the next few hours to come.