Chapter 4
The last rays of sunlight disappeared from the day as the dead city was cast into the dark night. I awoke slowly, observing my surroundings. I must've fallen asleep after nearly escaping death. I picked myself up and walked to the ledge of the apartment at where I'd come up from, and saw that all the zombies that had chased me down had left. I crawled back down the fire escape and walked out of the allyway, raising my rifle asI went into the street.
"Ok, try to think of a reference point. what is around here that people would probably know about and would invetigate? hospitals? malls? government buildings?"
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The police station. If there where any survivors, odds are that they would hold up there and wait for help. I started to look around for it, but was hit with a thought
"do you really want to hit the station? think about it, where would people flee to once these zombies started attacking? Who better to protect and assist the scared, frightened people than the men and women behind the badge? All those people...trying to find help...only to provide a mass slaughterhouse for the zombies."
"But, whatever happened, I think it's safe to say that those poeple are probably gone. Besides, what about those who did survive?" I convinced myslef to wander the zombie-infested streets aimlessly until I found the Raccoon City Police Department...or what would probably be left of it.
I used the shadows for cover while I walked down the street, well aware that I could have very well been spotted by the cannibals walking around, and that they'd be waiting for me when i went aroud the corner. I looked on the ground around me, not wanting to step on any zombies-
-and saw an M4 rifle,the same one I had, but this one had a grenade launcher on it. I shouldered my rifle and picked up this new one, it was half loaded, but there was still a live 40mm grenadeshell in the tube below the front handgrip. I continued my journey, passing by a drug store. Feeling a pounding headache coming on, I figured one quick detour wouldn't hurt. I took out my knife and traced around the rim of the glass on the door, and kicked it in, the whole thing coming out in one piece and falling on the ground. I quickly jumped inside so no zombies outside could see me, and looked around. I walked through the dark aisles, looking for a bottle of asprin or ibuprofen, or something. But, amazingly enough, there was nothing. All of the shelves were askew, items scattered all over the place, as if somebody had come through and taken just the pain relievers. looking for a substitute, I looked behind the counter and took a pack of marlboro cigarettes, took a zippo from a shelf, and also took a bottle of lighter fluid. I filled up the lighter lit up a cigarette, stuffing the rest of the items into my cargo pockets. I took this time to swap out the mags for my new-found M4 rifle, using the bullets from the one i found to top off the mag from my original one. Wondering what the point in carrying two rifles was, I left the mag out of my old one, leaving a fully operational gun for anyone who had ammo for it. I sood up and was about to leave-
-when i heard sombody step on the glass i'd broken out. I ducked behind the counter as I caught a breif glimpse of somebody slowly walking towards the back.
"zombie? Don't know, dont care, better just wait for whatever it is to reach the back, then you make a run for it" I told myself. I listened to the person walk to the back of the store, pause, walk around a little more, pause again, then started walking towards me. I started to panic, looking around for places to hide in or under. My heart pumped faster as the foot steps drew closer, I trained my rifle on the counter, waiting for a zombie to poke its head around so i could blast it off. The person stopped just out of view, then went around the counter and stepped into my view, and I pointed my rifle at them, but instead of some diseased being reaching out for me, I was sighted up with a nine-milimeter pistol. freezing instantly, i looked beyond the gun-the carrier was a very attractive woman-short brown hair, green eyes, slim, about 5'7'', and, very faminine features. She was wearing black combat boots, olive-drab pants, same color t-shirt stained with blood, a white bullet-proof vest and a red bandana tied around her throat.
All she did was stare at me, the gun shaking wildly. Good thing i wasn't a zombie, or she'd be dead right now. I kept my gun cool and calm, pointed right at her forehead as I slowly stood up
"Uh, um, uh...say something" she said, stumbling at first.
"...something" i replied, a little smart-ass, but i wasn't about to start caring. I lowered my gun, and so did she, and i noticed she calmed down a little.
"M-my names Rebecca, Rebecca Chambers. Whats yours?" she said, introducing herself.
"Travis Beckman. Now, if you'll excuse me, Ms. Chambers, our little conversation is over" I said before starting to walk past her.
"wait, we should stay together!" she said behind me, following me
"Look, dollface, I can't be responsible for lives at this moment, and dont want the death of your pretty little face to leave a scar on my soul. So, as of now, see ya later" I replied, looking her straight in the eyes. I could see a mix of disapointment and anger flush through her face. I could tell i made her feel insulted.
"Dont call me little, ok? I'm probably the same age as you, if maybe a little older." Well, she was eighteen, alright. "Bedsides, i think it would be better for us to stay together. We'd have a better chance of fighting against those zombie-things." I could tell by the tone of her voice she was desperate for someone to be at her side, but i still kept strong. I walked back outside and stood with my back against the wall and started arguing with myself
"leave her ass alone, man. Right now, this is all about you. Find a way out of here, and take it."
"This is just like you, leaving people to fight alone. What could it hurt to take her with you?"
"you could always use her as a distraction for the zombies if you get in a tight spot"
"Shut up! Take her with you, she probably knows the area, and she could watch your ass" Eventually, the positives outweighed the negatives, and I decided to take her with me. Taking a drag from my cigarette, I tossed it away and walked back inside.
"Listen, I'm on my way to the police station, gonna try and find a way out of here. you wanna come with?"
"Yes!" she exclaimed happily. I handed her my old M4 rifle, and she held it with more confident hands. We walked out of the store as she got her bearings.
"Ok, we're on the corner of Lake and Wilson, the station is...um, that way!" she said, pointing in a direction which i had no idea what it lead to. Hell, it could lead us to Six Flags for all I cared, whatever got us out of here sooner. I let her take the lead, and I followed closely behind, watching for movement. I saw the occasional zombie, but they were either distracted by something else, or were too far to be a threat or even be worth shooting at, so we just kept going. Eventually, we came across a giant car wreck, with a fuel-hauling semi crashed into a police car, and everything was ablaze.
"Looks like we're gonna have to go around" I said, much to my dismay.
"No, wait, look!" she pointed out that directly under the semi trailer there was no fire, and that we could probably go under it. Dangerous option, but it beat nothing. I figured if anyone would go first, I'd do it. Bearing the extreme heat coming off of it, I crawled under the wreckage, emerging on the other side.
"Ok, come on, hurry!" I shouted to her. As she came towards me, I heard moans behind me. I turned around and saw about a dozen zombies shambling towards us. The road made a sharp left at the end, but there were even more zombies blocking it. It seemed that we'd have to blast our way through. I aimed at the dismembered face of a man in a horribly burned and bloodied white dress suit and fired off a round, popping his head clean off. Like a small child watching violent cartoons, I let out a small chuckle and moved on to the next one, then the next one, then the next one-
-then a felt and extreme heat to my right. I turned around just quick enough to see a flaming corpse lunging out for me. I kicked it over and shot it, and saw that he wasn't alone, the zombies were crawling though the firey twisted metal, setting themselves ablaze in the process. A rifle shot off next to me, and I noticed that Rebecca had started shooting. Alothough her effort was great, she obviously needed more practice. Her shots either hit in the chest, or just missed entirely. I could see the frustration building up in her, but i decided in order to save her life and the anger, we should just go. I grabbed her arm and pulled her away as she shot again, the flailing rifle causig the shot to richochet off the asphalt and hit a building. Together we ran to the end of the road and made a left, down another road, until we came up to a store, and above there was a sign that read "KENDO'S GUN SHOP". Hearing the moans advancing towards us, I kicked in the door and we ran inside, myself wondering who that white Blazer outside belonged too...