Chapter 3 : Unforeseen Circumstances
Philip Jacobs tapped his feet impatiently against the metal floor, pacing around the room continuously. He dreaded waiting for someone or something, deemed it a complete waste of his precious time. But he also knew that Steven was a slippery dog, who could easily make it out of harm's way when he wanted to. At this thought, Philip clenched his fists.
Not this time my dear friend. You won't be able to escape MY creation!
Ever since Steven had gotten, no, stolen, his position as Head Researcher, Philip had begun plotting ways to arise in ranks and at the same time, demote Steven. But his attempt all had been futile, Steven was always on top of things, so Philip could not risk putting his plans to good use. Until now. Philip could not wait till he showed the rest of White Umbrella what he had created, pictured bags of money being thrown to his feet and people cowering down in fear in front of him, his laughter filling the air. With all that, he and his son would not have to live in this shithole anymore.
That's right. My son. I can use all those money to even BUY him new friends, and not that dog's son. What was his name again? Julian? Ah who gives a damn, he'll probaly suffer the same fate as his father!
Philip knew that Steven's very soul would break if he watched his own son die. Problem was how was he going to lure Julian here. He then recalled looking through one of the monitors and seeing Steven making a call out to someone. Could be Julian, or could be other people. It would be a risk he was going to take.
Just then, the automatic doors slid open, and in stomped his pet, carrying the unconsious body of Steven Lias. It dumped him unceremoniously onto the floor, then walked off towards the side.
"Ah, thank you so much!" Philip said, looking at his pet. Steven's body started to move, and a painful groan came out of Steven's mouth. "Awake at last, you sleepydog!"
Steven got into a sitting position and looked up, straight into Philip, and Philip could see fear, as well as anger, written all over Steven's face.
This was not the case for Steven, for he saw madness, insanity, and a whole lotta jealousy in Philip's face.
"Philip, why are you doing this?" He murmured, the pain in his head resurfacing once more.
"The answer is simple isn't it? Money, and fame. Not to mention putting you down as well..." Philip said, grinning like a shark.
"What...what do you mean? Are you referring to them promoting me? I didn't ask for it. Hell, I even asked them whether they could promote you as well, but they-" Steven started, pleading with the tone in his voice.
"LIAR! You didn't do any of that, you just wanted to sit back and bath in your own glory!" Philip shouted back, instantly shutting Steven out. "Not anymore. I'm going to enjoy seeing you slowly get eaten away from the inside, won't we my pet?"
Steven glanced towards the monster. Now he had the time to examine it, but Steven wished that he didn't. Standing at 7 feet, the monster's skin was the same colour of the metal walls, dull and grey. Its right arm was horribly mutated, with long, white, 2-foot knives curving out from the end. Its legs and abdomen was thick with muscles, indicating that it could run as fast as hell. When Steven's eyes fell onto the monster's face, he couldn't contain the trembling within. Its face was completely blank, expressionless, its eyes fixed on him. Still, there was something familiar about its face. Steven had the feeling he had seen that same face somewhere before.
"Well, don't you recognise him yet?" Philip said, barking out a laugh.
His fears were confirmed. Steven's eyes widened as the answer hit him as hard as a moving train. "No...Philip, you did... You insane BASTARD!" He yelled, unable to control the anger in him.
Philip was only slightly taken aback by Steven's outburst, but recovered almost instantly. "Heh, won't your son be surprised when he gets here..."
At that sentence, Steven was almost on the verge of tears. "Keep my son out of this... You want me, not him..." His voice was now nothing but a low whisper, his energy all having been drained out through fatigue.
"That's true, but WITH him, I can make you break even further!" And as Philip laughed once more, Steven could only hope.
Julian, please don't come here. Just...get out of town! But the other half of him already knew, from the call he half-made earlier, that Julian was on his way here, and there was nothing he could do to stop it...
X-------X-------X
"It was like, 8 feet tall, and it was carrying a railgun and an RPG as well!" Desmond rambled on, oblivious to all the blank faces around him. "Plus its face was super deformed, and it said only one sentence which sounded like 'stars'!"
"Uh...yeah. What next? He's my brother?" Ashton replied sarcastically. He then shook his head and gulped down on a bottle of Sprite.
Ever since they woke up, which was around noon, Desmond had been talking non-stop for 10 minutes, despite pissing Julian off for falling asleep so early on guard duty. Turned out Julian had awoken to get a drink at around 7am, and saw Desmond comfortably snoozing in the corner. He couldn't be bothered to wake him up, though, as it still appeared to be safe outside, and also since Desmond was snoring like hell.
"Ah, whatever. As long as whatever you saw doesn't come crashing across our path, I'm fine with it..." Julian said, covering his mouth as he yawned. Desmond's loud snoring, along with Andrew's, didn't exactly contribute to a fruitful slumber. At least it was good enough for him to carry on without falling asleep in the middle of a zombie legion. Speaking of zombie legions...
"Oh yeah, is it just me, or is there unusually few zombies out in the open right now?" Julian asked.
There was a brief moment of silence involving everyone looking at each other. They all peered out through the glass windows out onto the streets. True enough, there were only 3 or 4 zombies loitering around their immediate vicinity, as compared to the dozens they saw before dawn. Furthermore, the zombies that were outside seemed to be completely blind-- they were colliding into lambposts, cars, and even onto each other now and then.
"Apparently, they hate sunlight, AND we can probably use it to our advantage." Ashton concluded.
"Grab your stuff. Think it's better that we leave now while the streets are still empty." Julian pointed out, slinging a bag which contained some packets of food, drinks, and his supply of extra ammo. Ransacking the minimart proved to be worthy after all -- several bags used to store stuff for camping trips were snatched off their shelves by eager hands, plsu they located a first-aid kit underneath the counter, which was now stored in Desmond's bag. His handphone still rested in his right back pocket, in case his father tried to contact him again.
Provided he's even alive...
No. Julian shook away the thought and cursed himself for thinking about such a thing. Despite contantly being at work, Steven Lias was still his father, as much as Julian hated him. Now, everything is changing. His father is in danger, and Julian found himself desperate to get to him, something which until now, still surprised him.
They walked out towards the car. A descent amount of smoke still lingered in the air, causing them to cough now and then. Ashton turned back and looked wearily at the minimart.
"Goodbye Sparks, we're gonna miss you..." He murmured, though loud enough for everyone to hear, before getting into the driver's seat. Upon hearing his comment, Julian glanced back at the minimart as well. Having merely spent only several hours within its walls, it shone like a sanctuary in this hellish city. Leaving it was like walking back out into a tornado.
The car rolled down Robinson Road. The scenery was the exact same as last night's, just with more light. Strangely enough, everyone in the vehicle was silent, except for the occasional humming from Ashton. Desmond had his head down, probably catching a quick snooze, whereas Andrew was also looking out the window, his hand covering his mouth in a 'pondering' position. Julian's mind floated back to when Raccoon City was still alive, when his friends and himself spent their days playing video games, checking out comic stalls, and spending nights at each other's houses.
Why did this shit have to happen. Why now, of all times! Gotta be my damn luck. Julian thought.
And his thoughts were instantly wiped out when something crashed onto the roof of the car, causing it to buckle inwards. Ashton swerved the wheel, and the car barreled into a lambpost, its side connecting heavily with the metallic post. The impact caused Desmond to slam straight into Andrew, knocking the air out of him, while Julian's head took a good beating. Ashton spoke up almost immediately after the collison.
"What the heck was that? Is everyone al-" He started, and was cut off when a long, pinkish thing shot through the roof, neatly slicing into Ashton's left arm. He gave a yelp before slapping at the elongated object, which looked almost like a tongue. Then, Julian realized that it WAS a tongue, and wasted no time in snatching out his handgun, pointed towards the roof at where he assumed the creature must be, and fired. 5 bursts went out, but Julian felt his eardrum pop when his shots were followed by the resounding 'BOOM!' of a shotgun, which, in a car, was insanely loud. But it proved helpful, for whatever it was on the roof gave a short shriek before collapsing against it, causing the roof of the car to cave in further. Julian rubbed at where his head had knocked against the side, and saw Ashton clutching at his bleeding arm.
"Everyone out, NOW." Ashton commanded, and they were more than happy to follow. Julian literally collapsed out of the car, but his mind went blank as he stared at the creature that had attacked them.
It was vaguely humanoid, its pink-coloured skin looking as if it had melted into the muscles beneath it. Long, white claws decorated its hands and legs where the fingers and toes would be. White, sharp teeth lay neatly in two rows in its mouth, which was still open from the death cry it had made earlier. The worst thing to note about it would be that its brain was fully exposed on its head, but half of it were missing. Turned out, Andrew's lucky shot went right through its head. The last feature to note about the creature was its tongue, which was stained in red at the end, where it had pierced Ashton's arm.
"A word of advice, Andrew," Julian started, rubbing at his ear. "you do NOT fire a shotgun in such an enclosed area!"
"Well, I'm sorry, but would you rather have this thing to kill us!" Andrew retorted, rubbing at his own ear as well.
"I think Julian and I could've taken care of it..." Desmond said from the other side of the car. As expected, he was rubbing his ear too.
"Err, guys? I'm still bleeding here." Ashton's voice came from behind the car, and he was starting to get agitated by the meaningless arguement. Julian took one look at his wound, and made a decision.
"Think we better take some shelter first, the car's history anyway." Julian said, and pointed at the building behind Desmond. It appeared to be some normal office of sorts, probably a company Julian had not heard of.
They piled into the empty lobby of the office. A simple sweep showed it to be relatively safe in terms of their immediate vicinity. Ashton tumbled into a sitting position against the counter, breathing rapidly and still clutching his wound. Desmond immediately got down and snatched out his first aid kit, while Julian and Andrew went to check out the other rooms.
He's been injured, probably even infected by whatever disease that turned everyone else into zombies. Dammit, hope there's a cure somewhere...
"Julian. Hey, JULIAN!" Andrew was practically yelling into Julian's ear as he stared off into nothingness. Julian jumped at the sudden shouting and looked at Andrew.
"Sorry, I was just... I think Ashton is infected." Julian lowered his head as he said the last part. He knew that it wouldn't be long before they had to put Ashton down, permanently. Hadn't he seen enough death already? The situation seemed to be getting far worse than it is.
"Don't worry. I'm sure there should be something that can help him." Andrew put one arm onto Julian's shoulder and squeezed slightly, reassuring him. But for what?
"Confident, aren't you? Pray you're right..."
Desmond turned his head slightly when he heard Andrew's voice calling out to Julian. Wanting so desperately to run into the room and see what's going on, he held himself back. Furthermore, there were no gunshots heard, yet, so they must be having a wonderful conversation inside. He looked back at Ashton's wound and dabbed it once more with a cotton wool. Ashton hissed and clenched his fist at the pain, only to recieve a glare from Desmond. The wound, however, didn't look very pleasing. The creature's tongue had sliced all the way through the meat, making as if you could look into the entry point and see whatever lay on the other side of the wound. Good thing it missed the bone by an inch or so, otherwise Ashton wouldn't even need to be worrying about having an arm at all. Something did strike him as odd though -- black veins could be seen branching out from the injury. It looked minor, but Desmond knew, over time the veins would get longer until the disease would flood Ashton's entire system.
Ashton took another look at his arm, and groaned.
"Huh, guess i'm infected, right?" He grunted, tilting his head towards the roof. It caught Desmond offguard, and he hesitated. What could he say to console him? The truth was obvious.
"...Yeah, think so, judging from what we heard from Julian's dad..." Desmond replied, voice filled with sorrow. His neighbour, infected, and probably gonna be dead within a couple of hours, and there was nothing he could do except patch up a pathetic little wound on his arm. Simply thinking about it made Desmond furious at himself.
"Ha. when it really comes to that, you'll take care of it. Right, brudder?" Ashton said, still staring at the roof. Desmond could see a tear sliding down the side of his face, and he too felt like crying.
"No, we won't, coz it will NOT come to that..." came Julian's voice. Desmond whipped around to see Julian and Andrew walking towards them. "There should be a way, there always is. So don't give me any of this 'take care of me when i go zombie' thing!"
"Yes sir!" Ashton joked, and saluted Julian with his uninjured arm. Even though he was obviously teasing him, Ashton could see the determination in Julian's eyes. As expected, since Julian now had to brave this hellish city, get to his father, and look for help for him as well.
X-------X-------X
2 hours went by as the group recupriating. Or, at least, until Ashton's wound was sealed enough for him to jog. The car was still smoking from their accident earlier, so running from building to building was their only hope, even if it meant lugging with them their weapons, ammo and food. The empty lobby, like the minimart, started to shine like an angel as Julian looked around. Relatively clean, spacious, plenty of ways to escape an ambush. Someone could very well board up here for some time.
Unless that person's father is in danger from being eaten alive...
After they had enough rest, with Desmond doing repeated checkings on Ashton's arm, Julian gave the 'Let's go' signal and pushed open the front doors. the sun was still hanging high in the sky, baking everything its light touched in a scorching heat. Already, Julian could feel himself sweating. Running around in the afternoon certainly was not a good thing. But they had no other choice. At least Ashton was well enough to jog on his own as well. And with that, Julian and Ashton broke out into a slow jog, with Andrew and Desmond bringing up the rear. The roads were still as silent as ever. No zombies walking around, fires having burnt out. It left nothing but an eerie scenery where one would expect something to jump out at them around every corner. Julian laughed at himself in his mind for thinking like a 5-year old. This wasn't a horror movie, this was real life. One false move and down you go into the very depths of a zombie's mouth.
As for Ashton, his condition had started to get worse. Every now and then he would suddenly grip his arm, obviously feeling some sharp pain in his injury. He would also put his hand across his stomach as if he had a stomach ache. Julian noticed this and was getting even more worried.
The virus is taking effect faster than I thought. Damn, will we have enough time...?
It wasn't 5 minutes before Andrew started hacking and coughing, leaning against a lambpost for support.
"W-wait...Tired...Need...r...rest..." No amount of silencing equipment could put out the sound of his heavy panting. Heavy drops of sweat dripped off from his face and fell to the hot pavement.
"Come on. We're almost there..." Julian started.
"We would've...been there...sooner...if som...someone...didn't...crash the c-car...like that!" Andrew said, in between pants and obviously ticked off.
"Now what the fuck is that supposed to mean?" Ashton whipped around and glared at Andrew. "You saying this is MY fault?"
"Well, you could just...hit the brakes. No need...to...swerve the car..."
"For your information, smartass, there was a MONSTER on the ceiling. So why are you blaming this on me you son of a bitch!" Ashton suddenly marched up to Andrew, much to his surprise, and raised his fist. Andrew instantly ducked and Julian watched as Ashton's fist slammed into the lambpost Andrew had just been leaning on. When he withdrew it, a clear dent was seen. Ashton, including everyone, seemed shock at his sudden rage.
"I...I...Holy shit, Andrew. I didn't mean to..." Ashton stammered, staring at his fist. Not one sign of impact damage was seen on his knuckles. It still looked as good as new.
"Err, guys?" Desmond started backing into them, looking off in the distance. "I think your performance has attracted some unwanted visitors over there!" He lifted his hand and pointed, directing Julian's eyes towards an extremely dangerous scene.
In the distance, were 3 human-looking creatures. Only difference was that their skin was all green in colour, and as they got closer, Julian could see that they were constantly baring two rows of extremely sharp teeth. Small, black eyes lay on its reptilian head as the closest one in the group emitted a high-pitched shriek, followed by the other 2. The excrutiating sound nearly popped Julian's ear drums, but he would have time to worry about his hearing later. Those creatures stood almost as tall as them, and he assumed, from the scales on its skin, that they would be partially resilient to bullets as well.
"What the heck are those things!" Desmond's voice was high with panic.
"No time. Quick, into this building!" Julian turned and darted through the closest door. Great, another apartment. They dashed up the stairs onto the 2nd floor and into one of the rooms open, constant 'thump-thump's could be heard close behind. The room was in a total mess with overturned tables and chairs taking up quite an amount of space.
Shit, these things are FAST! They're like hunters or something!
The group piled into the spacious room, but were barely halfway across when the first of those Hunters darted into the room. It had only glanced at all four of them before the sound of gunfire ignited within the stuffy air of the room. Bullets from 2 handguns tore into the Hunter's face and chest, buying a few precious seconds for Ashton and Andrew, who were having a hard time making their way over the tables and chairs. Despite being pummelled with bullets, the Hunter only spent a second to recover before starting towards them again. By now, the other 2 Hunters had made their way into the room, further adding to their trouble. To top it all off, 2 zombies also staggered into the room through the door they had just used, right behind the Hunters. But the Hunters, as it seemed, appeared to be mroe interested in warm, human flesh.
"Dammit! We have to get out, NOW!" Julian yelled above the gunfire. Andrew had finally reached where they were standing and was beginning to unload several shotgun rounds into the 2 Hunters behind.
"Shit! I'm out!" Desmond shouted, and fumbled in his pocket for the extra clip. One Hunter must've realized that Desmond was distracted, for it gave one shriek and leapt a good 2 feet into the air, its long claws raised. Desmond looked up and only had time to raise his own arms to protect his face before the Hunter came down on him. It slashed him neatly across both of his arms, knocking his gun neatly into the corner. Desmond gave a yelp, staggered backwards and fell, eyes wide with fear as the Hunter began to walk up to him.
"Leave him alone!" Julian yelled and began to unload his last remaining bullets into the Hunter, pushing it back enough for Desmond to crawl away, before his clip clattered to the floor, empty. He quickly stole a glance around the room as he snatched out his extra clip and stuffed it back into his gun. Andrew was doing quite well keeping the other 2 Hunters at bay with his shotgun, though he was bound to run out of bullets soon. There was no sign of Ashton anywhere.
The hell...? Where the fuck did Ashton go!
Almost as if on cue, a loud, slightly human roar echoed within the room. Then, as fast as Julian could see, someone dashed forward and leapt straight into the Hunters.
A/N : Don't worry, more chapters coming up. Can't really give a solid date though, as my schedule is pretty much randomized...