It was still dark outside, and the few streetlamps that hadn't been smashed in the rioting cast long slivers of light across the road. Every time my car glided out of the safety of the light, my heart would beat just a little faster. I'd heard rumours of those zombies being able to smash car windows. It didn't seem likely, though; I'd be surprised if they had enough muscle left on them to push open a door. The inside of the car was cool and dry, while the streets of Raccoon City were filthy with blood and smashed glass. I felt safe inside the car, as long as it wasn't dark.

The journey to the hospital went quickly, and only took about three minutes on the main roads. I leant over and grabbed the pistol from the passenger seat. Although I hadn't met anyone on the roads, I had my suspicions about this particular hospital anyway.

Umbrella bought it about a year ago, and suddenly the amount of patients going in shot down, although there seemed to be a lot of activity going on inside. The usual stories spread around, mainly by the suppliers, who had been delivering very…unusual... specimens that didn't have anything to do with medicine. If all the trouble had sprung from the hospital, I wouldn't be surprised. But that didn't mean I wasn't going on.

The building itself was slightly daunting, as were all the hospitals in Raccoon City. I quickly jogged up the stairs and tried the door. The handle turned, but for some reason the door wasn't opening, maybe there was a blockage on the other side.

Oh.

Of course there'd be a blockage, or a barricade. The whole damn city had been sinvaded; it wasn't like the doctors here were just carrying on like normal. But there must have been a way of getting in, something small that a monster couldn't fit through…

I made my way back down the steps and edged around the perimeter of the hospital, looking for a back door, or even a cellar entrance.

'Bingo.'

Carefully hidden away by some kind of herb tree was a small window, large enough for a person. There were finger marks around the edges of the window, but no blood.

Placing my hands on both edges of the window sill I jumped up in the air and pulled as hard as I could, struggling to squeeze through. Eventually, I fell down to the other side, exhausted. If that was how the survivors here came in and out, maybe I should go looking for another hideout…

I was in a ward on the first floor, probably for people with broken bones judging by the diagrams on the wall. Twelve beds were lined up in two rows of six, running parallel. Next to each were identical coffee tables, all covered in dirty brown stains. It didn't look too hygienic for a patient, but it made a good place to hide out for a while. The only object that caught my eye was a medicine cabinet nailed to the wall in the corner, next to bed eleven. Interesting.

The cabinet itself was white, with your standard Red Cross and Keep Away From Children stickers. But, something inside of it seemed to be leaking. I opened the cabinet slowly and rooted around inside. All I could find were a few bottles, empty, with various names that I nether understood or could pronounce. But right at the back was a small, glass vial. Because of the light, I couldn't make out the colour of the liquid, but it seemed to match the stuff that was leaking from the back of the cabinet. Taking care not to knock over any of the other bottles, I withdrew the vial from the cabinet and turned it over in my hands.

A foul smelling, dark yellow liquid sloshed around in the vial, a few more drops escaping from the crack at the bottom. Chances were that it was just your average painkiller that had gone way past the Sell By date. It was after all, tucked away at the back. But that didn't explain why it was unlabeled, and although I knew nothing about chemicals, it seemed to have been freshly mixed.

'I hope you're not going to anything stupid with that, are you?' A cold, low voice slurred in a Canadian accent. I whirled around and raised the pistol, to find a man in a lab coat staring at me over a pair of thick, heavy glasses.

He was probably only a few years older than me, possibly more, and sported a large, brown head of hair that sat on top of his forehead, deep set in wrinkles. Under the lab coat, he wore a light pink shirt and faded jeans, the kind you wore to do DIY in. Although at first glance he seemed young, his feature betrayed him, and was possibly knocking around forty, early fifties.

'W-what?' I stammered, moving so that he couldn't see the vial of yellow liquid.

'Don't try to hide it. I can smell it from here…as can he…' The doctor cocked his head to the left.

'Huh? Who?' I looked down at the liquid. 'What is this stuff, anyway?'

'You don't need to know,' He answered, taking off his glasses and placing them in his breast pocket, 'just…don't…move…'

I grinned.

'Why not? This something you guys been working on? Screwing around with human bodies, perhaps?'

He frowned. 'Not me personally, but I have been….involved,' He glanced behind him, and when I saw his face again, he looked nervous.

'Look,' he said, 'there isn't much time. Just...just give me the vial,'

'Why?'

'Please,' He pleaded, 'hand it over…'

'Fine,'

I took one last look at the vial, and tossed it over to him. He caught it with his right hand, and then dropped it on the bed like a hot potato.

'Ah,' He whispered. 'Oh dear. I thought it was the sample of that virus…oh dear. I think that might be…'

Suddenly, in a flurry of confusion, the doctor dived away from the bed, as something large, pink and grotesque crashed through a nearby window, sliding across the broken glass towards me. It seemed human, but couldn't have been. It's brain was exposed through shreds of flesh that had long since been torn away. It stood there, crouching, perched on long, skeletal arms that ended in razor like claws. The worst feature was the tongue, which never seemed to stop moving. It was long, and sharp, darting in, out and around the mouth of the creature in a hungry frenzy.

Its eyes met mine, and the monster let out a low, sharp, hiss that sounded all too similar to a man taking his final breath…