Ch. 2: Escaping the Ambush

Bruce remembered the first time he saw Daniel and Jessica fight two zombies. It had been a ridiculous battle. Daniel had been so intense and nervous that he accidentally threw his handgun out of his sweaty hands. Despite the mishap, they successfully killed the ex-soldiers who had threatened to devour them. Bruce never said anything, but his opinion of Daniel fell a few notches after that stunt. Jessica had killed her zombie much more efficiently, and Daniel, who was the true Resident Evil fan of the group and one of their soldiers, had provided an embarrassing example. This was the guy who was supposed to get them through the night alive? Bruce had thought.

Then the z-dog attack at the train happened. The same attack which left Bart dead with a torn throat as their first casualty. Bruce had been unarmed and reduced to running around the car to escape death at the hands of both the zombies and the z-dogs. The wild panic fear had thrown him in was powerful and all-consuming. After the incident, Bruce swore to himself he'd never lose his nerve like that so long as he had a gun to fight back with.

And here he was.

Standing in the middle of Raccoon Forest. Holding a loaded Beratta. All he could do was stare at the spot where his cousin's body had collapsed. It...just doesn't feel real. I...I need to move. Do...something. His body disagreed. His arms wouldn't rise, his legs took no steps, and his eyes were locked on the murderer before him. The axe-wielding psychopath wore no shirt, white chest hair covering his upper torso. His face was obscured by a close-fitting, black hood that covered his entire head and his neck. His back was permanently bent, another indicator of his advanced age. As the murderer bent down to grab his axe, he stepped out of the shadow of a tree, and provided the group with a strange sight. Above the waistline of his belted brown pants, a strange glowing-green growth covered half his stomach.

While Bruce could only look, Katelyn suffered no such petrifaction as she wailed and screamed an agonizing chorus as she watched the axe man pull his weapon out of Tim's corpse. Her fingers clutched at her face as she shook her head, as though she could shake the nightmare away.

Acting in a far cry from his train performance, Kevin roared, "Bastard!" He snapped his arm up as he fired off two quick rounds into the axe man's chest. Bruce watched as the two bullets penetrated through the man's bare chest. Blood spitted out of the new wounds for a moment...then nothing. The masked man did not die, he did not scream in pain, he didn't even acknowledge his injuries.

Is he...a ganado? Bruce wondered helplessly as the axe man turned toward them. Undeterred, Kevin fired again and again into the unknown creature. How did they handle this? Bruce thought back to his friends who had fought on the front line at the training facility, his thoughts focusing on Jessica and her ever-present crazed grin as she fought monsters, enjoying every fight as though it were all a game. Maybe that's her secret. She just thinks of it as a game. The murderer lifted his axe again, the motion oddly slow and rickety.

Bruce mixed imagination and memory as he conjured a mental PS2 controller. He loaded his latest Resident Evil 4 save file and watched the screen as Leon and the Spanish castle materialize. Hold R1. Bruce's arms broke through the spell of terror as he took aim at the approaching enemy. Press X. The handgun recoiled as it shot lead. X, X, X, X. Small spurts of blood punctuated every bullet tearing into the masked killer.

It wasn't enough.

The axe man roared as he charged toward the pair, his old body temporarily leaving its rot behind. Bruce nearly dropped the gun as he bolted toward the side, only stopping when he realized the axe man wasn't changing course, and he was safe.

Kevin wasn't.

Bravo Team's pilot backpedaled as he fired again and again into the rampaging killer. When the distance between them numbered a solitary foot, the axe came down. Kevin screamed as metal edge bit into his chest. For one horrified second, Bruce thought it was just him and Katelyn left, but Kevin stumbled back and yelled. "RUN!"

As the axe murderer creaked back up, Kevin raced around him. He dropped his gun as he reached out and grabbed Katelyn's hand, pulling the crying girl with him. Bruce ran after them. The muffled sound of footsteps hitting dirt gave way to the loud, clacking noise of wood as they crossed the bridge. Resisting the urge to look back, the trio ran and ran. Kevin instinctively made turns as he led them away from danger. When Bruce's lungs were on fire and collapse near, metal and stone buildings broke through nature's domain. Raccoon City. Bruce ran with renewed vigor. Only now did he dare look back...and saw the non-existent pursuit which hounded them. "He's not coming after us!" he wheezed out.

Exhaustion won the battle against fear and slowed them to a walk, right as they made it to a police checkpoint guarding the forest entrance. One cop was already talking on his car's radio, while a black officer with the nameplate "Branagh" carefully took a few steps toward them, firearm out and in his hands. "Halt! You are trespassin...Kevin?"

The pilot released Katelyn's hand as he shakily strode toward the officer. "Marvin, I...STARS…" Kevin collapsed to the ground.

Marvin swore as he holstered his handgun and knelt down. "How long until the ambulance gets here?" he shouted to his partner.

"Five minutes!"

Officer Branagh rolled over the pilot, and Bruce received his first good look at Kevin's injury. The axe cut was shallow, which explained Kevin's escape. The slowing cascade of blood coloring his uniform spoke of a far more lethal problem. Kevin's face was drenched in sweat, and yet he was pale and shivering. His eyes stared at Marvin as his mouth silently tried to form words. "If we don't get him to the hospital ASAP, he's going to die of blood loss." The officer shoved his hands over the wound, trying to staunch the bleeding. He looked up at Bruce. "Give me a hand!" Bruce pocketed his half-depleted gun before he joined the officer's first aid attempts. "Explain to me what happened, and who you are."

Bruce winced as his hands closed over the slick, sticky skin. He opened his mouth to speak when doubts assaulted him. Wait, how do I know he's not with Umbrella? This whole town is supposed to be Umbrella's backyard, isn't it? Should I tell him anything? He glanced at Katelyn for help and quickly realized she was in no condition to do so. The brunette was sitting down, her arms wrapped around her legs as she quietly sobbed.

Beside him, Branagh's waiting stare became suspicious. "The forest is closed down to all civilians. What were you and her doing out there?"

"It wasn't just us," Bruce blurted out as he tried not to think about the former fourth member of their group.

"Explain."

Bruce hesitated as he felt reality reassert itself. He's dead. My cousin. He's back there somewhere with that monster, dead. "We...we were attacked. By. ...by an axe-wielding maniac. He killed my cousin." Bruce attempted to gather his thoughts to form a coherent story, but Tim was now a black hole in his mind. "He's dead."

The officer studied him, then Katelyn. A siren wailed in the distance, heralding the approaching ambulance. "Just stay calm and relax. You're safe now." He shouted to his partner to watch the forest.

Am I? Bruce nodded as he tried to keep the blood inside of Kevin. The pilot had stopped shivering a minute ago. A bad sign. When the ambulance shot into view, Bruce reluctantly asked, "We're staying with Kevin, right?"

Branagh frowned. "Are either of you injured?"

Bruce knew he wasn't. Besides the axe man and a few exceptions, the tall teen had stayed away from the fighting at the training facility, as had Katelyn and Tim. He checked Katelyn again and saw some blood drops across her pants. Is that hers or Kevin's? Does it matter? Will we be better off at the hospital than anywhere else? All Bruce knew was that he needed to contact STARS. And the best way, I think, is going to be by staying with Kevin. "I think she is."

Mercifully, Branagh didn't check her as he focused on keeping Kevin's life inside of his body. The ambulance halted beside the cop car and two paramedics hopped out with a stretcher. "I'll send an officer to the hospital to get the details. Until then, you are to travel with the ambulance."

The two of them stepped back as the paramedics went to work. Officer Branagh helped Bruce and Katelyn into the ambulance as he shouted more orders to his partner. After grabbing something to clean his hands, the cop stepped back as the ambulance doors closed.

The paramedics were a whirlwind of activity as they bandaged Kevin's wound. Bruce tried to pay attention, but they spoke so quickly and used so many medical terms that it was pointless. One thing was clear. If Kevin didn't get a blood transfusion soon, he'd become the next casualty of this mess. Bruce wondered how he'd feel if Kevin died now, after just making it to the city. It'd suck, but I don't really know him. Heck, I don't really know anyone besides Katelyn and...

Bruce distracted himself by staring out of the ambulance's rear windows. Buildings, street lights, and bystanders zoomed behind them as the ambulance hurried to the hospital. So, this is the Raccoon City. Leon's first and last job as a cop. The incident coming here is what's going to sink Umbrella. Now, if only Bruce knew any of the details. He'd only played Resident Evil 4, and all they said about Raccoon City was that it was a disaster. But how? I didn't play the other games, and I haven't seen any of the movies. A quick check on Katelyn reinforced his impression she was in no condition to satisfy the gaping hole in his knowledge. The other high-schooler pressed herself into a corner and cried into her hands.

Bruce sighed and went back to studying the urban landscape. The entrance to the city park and a large building attached to a clock tower traveled by the windows as the ambulance slowed down. One of the paramedics broke away from Kevin's pale body as he checked on Katelyn, while the other checked on Bruce. "I'm fine," the tall teen told the thirty-something paramedic.

"Just need to check you to be sure. You three have been through a traumatic experience," the dark-haired man replied.

We used to be four, Bruce thought glumly.

A quick check satisfied the paramedic. He turned back to Kevin, saying in an optimistic voice, "You two stay in the waiting area, while they patch up your friend."

The moment the ambulance stopped, the paramedics charged out, carrying Kevin on the stretcher. They unlocked the wheels and hurried him inside. Bruce and Katelyn followed at a snail's pace. As they walked, Bruce got a good view of the place. The hospital wasn't a very large building, looking like someone had taken a rectangle and bent it forty-five degrees toward the street, the bent line neatly cutting the building into halves. What it lacked in size, it made up for in height, towering over them at four stories. In the early morning light, the sunlight reflected off the upper windows, blinding Bruce for a moment when he looked at the top floor. He focused on the entrance where the paramedics were wheeling Kevin into. Two pillars built into the light-blue and white-striped building framed a pair of glass doors. Located helpfully above the clear doors was a red hospital cross, which was beneath the sign 'Raccoon Hospital'. In case that wasn't enough, two feet above the sigh, another larger version jutted out so you could see it down the street.

Bruce glanced at Katelyn to see if she recognized anything, but the despondent girl kept her gaze on the ground as she dutifully followed Bruce inside. What bothered her new caretaker was the way she shivered and how pale she was. She must really be that broken up. Tim told me that they were close. I didn't think they were that close though.

His attention shifted back to the hospital as they stepped through the entrance. This early in the morning, it was no surprise the place was mostly empty. A reception office with four cubicles occupied most of the right wall. Bruce caught a glimpse of the paramedics hurrying around a corner that squeezed between the reception office and the back wall which had a TV showing the latest of Umbrella's pain-killers. He took a step toward them when he remembered that they weren't supposed to follow them in. A young woman with bags beneath her eyes looked at them from behind her glass cubicle. She pointed to the door on their left. "The waiting room is right through that door."

Bruce nodded his thanks before following through with her directions. As he opened the door, he caught sight of a metal shutter contained in the ceiling in front of the door. The waiting room needs a security gate? Well... I guess it'll be helpful when the zombies come. Their footsteps echoed on the marble tiles as Bruce led them to a nearby bench. In contrast to the utilitarian approach to the reception area, white stone statues sat elegantly in alcoves in the wall, while various samples of small trees and flowers breathed fresh life into the room. For all of the classic interior, it had the opposite impact on Bruce. The training facility's main hall, where Bruce and the others had waited, was decorated in the same manner. The back half of the room wasn't as bad with a circulation desk opposite of nurse's station squeezed the walk area into a narrow path going deeper into the hospital. A doctor spoke with a nurse and glanced at them as they entered. Bruce paid them no mind as he sat down.

Once they were seated, a wave of helplessness washed over Bruce. Well now what? Can't check on Kevin, can't call the others and figure out what they're doing, and I can't call home because my service plan doesn't exist yet. Back at the training facility, Bruce was more than happy to wait for Daniel and the others to clear a safe path. Now that he was here, safety was guaranteed...well, at least safety from monsters was guaranteed. I need to do something but what?

The decision ambushed him when Katelyn suddenly crashed onto the floor. He stared at her, his mind a clutter of thoughts as he struggled to understand what just happened. "Katelyn?" He knelt down next to her before he realized someone else was with them.

The doctor from earlier, a tall, brown-haired man with friendly eyes introduced himself as he took over. "Hello, I'm Doctor George Hamilton. What seems to be the problem?" he asked matter-of-factly as he provided a source of calm in Bruce's agitated state.

"I don't know," Bruce breathed out. The two of them gently rolled Katelyn onto her back. The brunette starred uncomprehendingly as her lungs labored for air.

The doctor studied her as he pulled out his stethoscope. "Nurse, please get a stretcher."

"Yes, Doctor Hamilton." The nurse behind the desk quickly hurried out of the room to get help, brushing past Bruce.

The teenager fidgeted as he waited for an explanation. He twitched when the doctor muttered, "She's not sweating." The doctor glanced up at him after a moment. "When was the last time she had something to drink?"

"Uhhh…"

Doctor Hamilton nodded. "As I feared. Your friend is suffering from heat stroke. We need to cool her down and get her some fluids. Quickly."