Chapter 7: The Only Sanctuary

September 23rd 9:30 am

There was no need to push the furniture out of the way to walk through the doors of the school when we left. We just walked through the broken windows. The nearest Wal-Mart was at the other side of the street, past the alley, then at the next intersection. While walking down the street, we saw a few zombies. Jacob aimed and prepared to shoot but I told him to hold her fire for a minute. I went down to a dead body and found a small combat knife in its hand, and picking it up, I went to the group of 4 zombies. One of them stumbled quickly to me, and I held both my melee weapons, one in each hand. I hit the first one in the head with my bat, unfamiliar with using my bat left-handed (my right arm was wounded, I needed to use it with a lighter weapon).

Then I took the knife and stabbed it in the neck, as it fell down, bleeding profusely. Two others charged, and I hit one with a bat while kicking the other. I stabbed them both and then easily took down the last zombie with a knife stab through the face. I met no resistance, until I went to the alley, and found a gruesome body on the ground. Before moving in front of it, I hit it in the head with a hammer, after which it faced towards me, revealing its true zombie nature. I crushed its face with a kick, then another bat hit. Then, I heard a shotgun fire directly behind me, and turned around to see that Jacob had taken out another drain deimos creature.

Proceeding to the alley opening, we came to see the intersection with the Wal-Mart to one side, and over 5 of the licker creatures scavenging dead bodies to the other. I turned back to Jacob.

''What do you suggest we do, Jacob? The lickers can run faster than us, and can probably see us if we leave the alley.''

''Lickers are what you call them? Well, I don't know what to do, you seem better fit for surviving this outbreak than I do.''

I knew that I would have to make this decision on my own then, and decided to stay to the front while Jacob stays at the back with the shotgun. I could tell she was a much better aimer than I was, and if the lickers came towards us, she could take them out (or at least some of them). Moving from the alley and staying as close to the side of the buildings as we could, we slowly moved to the intersection. Then, as we got there, we became more out in the open. One of the lickers went in our direction, but he was not moving towards us, but to another dead body. We got to Wal-Mart, and tried to open the door. It was locked, but before Andrea aimed a shotgun at it to fire, I whispered to her.

''Don't shoot it. If you do, the lickers will hear and we will be killed. Even if they didn't hear, blasting it open would allow creatures to get in, and this place wouldn't be a safe haven.''

She sighed, and put the shotgun down. I looked around for a way to get into the place, then noticed a small ladder when we went to look at the other sides of the building. We climbed up, and found a hole in the top. It was no hole made by beasts though, it was an air-conditioning system, and I jumped in before Jacob questioned it. He shrugged his shoulders in confusion and followed. Soon, we were crawling through a small vent. I stopped and looked behind at Andrea.

''This tunnel, as far as I know, is about 30 feet off to ground. If we break the tunnel and fall, we would just be breaking our necks.''

''Then what can we do?''

''We could probably follow the tunnel until its on top of the furniture section, then fall onto one of the beds.''

He nodded, and we did exactly that. We reached the furniture section, and I broke the part of the tunnel under us with a few hits with the bat. Getting off the tall bed, we first went to the entrances of the Wal-Mart and placed shelves and carts to block anything attempting to enter. This process took about an hour, and then we went to the furniture section once again. During a matter of hours, we placed 2 beds in the electronics section, as well as several ovens and microwaves. We attached everything we needed to prepare food to batteries and outlets, and took many foods to the area. By 4:00 pm, we had everything we needed to survive for a month. We had 2 beds for sleeping, microwaves and ovens to prepare food, and cakes, drinks, fruits, meat, and other foods to eat.

We even took some time after eating to get some entertainment. We certainly did not let it interfere with our survival, but we got a TV with a few games and consoles to keep us busy. Playing games until 7:00 pm, we then stopped and went to get a map of Raccoon City. I took a marker and started highlighting several parts of the map. I highlighted: The Tram Stations and their tunnels, the Umbrella Research Facility, the Wal-Mart, the Chapel, and the RPD Station. I looked to Jacob, and we began planning what to do.

''Ok, here's what we are going to do once we leave this place. We're going to move through Ennerdale street and take out those lickers in our way, then we're going to take a shortcut through all the zombies by going into and out of the Raccoon Police Department. Afterwards, we go through Central Station, one of the other tram stations. Soon after, we will stop at Raccoon Station. From there, we get off and go through Mission Street to the Umbrella Research Facility. We will take the tunnels there all the way to the Arklay Mountains.''

''Wait, what about the rumors of an outbreak at the Arklay Mountains?''

''I've heard of those rumors, and I think they're true. In any case, there have been rumors of armed soldiers showing up there. It is likely that they have cleared the place of whatever monsters are roaming around.''

''But what will we do if the trams aren't working? I think it was a miracle that the tram operator was still alive, and there might be another tram crash like the one that you saw before fighting the alligator.''

''That may happen, and if it does, there is a small Umbrella underground facility. It's a place where they test out and develop new Bio-Organic Weapons. It may be dangerous, but it will take us all the way to the zoo in 10 minutes.''

''Well, how will we deal with all the creatures we will encounter? We have to pass Ennerdale, the Police Department, Central Street, and Mission Street. And if the tram fails, we will need to go through a zoo of infected animals as well as a monster-making facility. Even then, we need to pass through the Umbrella Research Facility.''

It was at that moment, a thought came into my mind and I grinned at Jacob.

''I know, that's exactly why we're going to the hunting section.''

''Why?''

''Because to hunt, you need guns, as well as ammunition. With all that we're dealing with here, we're going to need guns. With guns, we can go hunt some monsters.''

Then, thoughts of getting back at the monsters passed my mind and I stood up. I started walking then jogging to the hunting area with my bat. There, I equipped Jacob and myself with the most weapons we've ever seen on two people. I broke the gun cases, and took some belts to hold ammo, as well as a holster for each of us. I got for myself a Smith & Wesson M629 Magnum, a modified Remington M870 Shotgun, and a Heckler & Koch M-59 Project Model 59 Sub-Machine Gun. I gave Jacob an M79 Grenade Launcher and a Mikhail Kalashnikov AK-47, as well as a Beretta M93 handgun. Giving the bat to Jacob, I went to the construction section and came back to our 'Rest Area' where Jacob was, with a 1-meter long Pipe Wrench.

I have long been thinking about the pipe wrench's ability to crush the heads of zombies as well, so this was going to be my melee weapon until we get out of Raccoon City, and probably after that. We played some games and did a one-hour exercise at the Wal-Mart's built in exercise room. This went on for 2 more days, as we ate, drank, played games, and exercised. We knew we had to leave eventually, even if it meant leaving the only sanctuary we had in the city. Besides, I thought, deep in my mind, that playing games and exercising could not compare to the sheer joy of crushing zombies with my shotgun and my bat, now replaced by a pipe wrench. It was time to return once more to the chaos and destruction of Raccoon City…