Author Note: I am currently in the process of editing the story, so chapters will periodically get replaced. It could get confusing because of these changes. I had to also delete some chapters because my plot had changed during editing. I apologize for the inconvenience.
Disclaimer: I do not own Resident Evil. RE is property of Capcom.
The story is dedicated to my husband and friends.
Story Summary
Forced into hiding, J.D assumes a new alias and new life. The lifestyle of a normal civilian feeds into J.D's hunger for greater purpose, but she is aware of the tragedy adventure could bring. So, she is resigned to survive on minimum wage, pizza, and video games. When Resident Evil inexplicably appears to have invaded her world she quickly fears for the lives of her roommate Jacky and Jacky's daughter, Rose. Luckily, Leon S. Kennedy is around to help rescue Jacky without blowing J.D's cover. The D.S.O. Agent and Retail Clerk work together to survive the horror unleashed in the mall, but when evil takes up residence in J.D's world she learns how impossible it is to outrun your past. Bio-Weapons are not the only demons stalking the halls, and they won't go down without a fight.
Chapter 1: Enter Survival Horror
Wednesday morning unfolded like every Wednesday for the past three years. Every morning customers would return prior purchases. And my manager would complain about the lack of funds we were gathering. What did she fucking expect? Prices were high for piss poor material. Consumers wouldn't return their trash if it didn't fall apart within days of buying it. Of course, my input did not matter. What could the lowly retail associate with zero benefits offer? Nothing much, except for my damn sanity!
Trapped, in more ways than one, behind a register in a stark white room. Surrounded by tailored pants, party dresses, and insipid pop music. It did not take long for a customer to completely dismantle a stack of sweaters I spent a full hour folding. My green eyes drifted towards the ceiling as if I was about to scream my lungs out to the heavens. Kill me, strike me down now, I know you want to!
A middle-aged woman tossed her lump of clothes near my register. Did not bother to acknowledge me. That's right; pay no mind to the slave behind the counter.
My throat tightened to a calibrated cheerfulness I had learned to use. "Good morning! Did you find everything alright, Ma'am?"
"Yeah," she dug into her pile for two pairs of leggings. "These count for the buy-one-get-one promo right?"
I glanced to the red price tags and sighed. "Sorry, clearance items aren't part of the promotion."
"Nevermind, I don't want them then."
I tossed the leggings over my shoulder to the counter behind me while I continued to scan. She dug into her bag, cursing under her breath.
Bloody hell, it's going to be one of them isn't it?
"I swear I brought my coupons with me," the middle-aged woman scrounged through her large bag. "Do you have any coupons?"
Took quite a bit of effort not to let my expression fall into my resting bitch face. "I don't have any on me. You could try the store's website or looking at coupon websites."
The woman whipped out her smartphone. Her wrinkly, manicured fingers tapped through the touch screen. "How about this one? The code is ninety-nine twenty-two."
It never failed to shock me when customers assumed I was daft, like how shocked I was when the sky turned blue! "I have to see what the coupon is for, Ma'am."
"It's for thirty percent off."
"Okay but I have to see it myself. Some rules may apply to this coupon."
She sucked her teeth then tossed the phone at me. I skimmed the coupon rules. The itch to slap her head off her shoulders was tempting. "Ma'am, this coupon is for online purchases."
"It says in-store right here!" she tapped at her phone.
The crunch of enamel was loud in my head. "That's for a different coupon."
"Okay, then use that one."
"It expired two days ago."
"Just use the stupid code I gave you and see if it works," she waved the same way every entitled bitch I served would.
The narrowing of my green eyes reflected off her oversized sunglasses. Bitch face commenced. "The register won't let the code in if the coupon expired. Either use one that hasn't expired or lighten your haul."
"I wouldn't have picked all this if I didn't absolutely need it! I want to speak to your manager!"
As the verbal assault that had been building in my chest was about to burst, lights started to flicker. The fire alarm went off, high-pitched wailing pierced the humdrum voices of shoppers. As white lights flashed throughout the mall. An automated male's voice instructed everyone to evacuate the building.
"What's going on?" the woman asked.
How should I know?!
I let the frustration escape my chest as a deep, calming breath. "Something unpleasant," a sardonic smile lit my face. "I suggest you listen to the robotic voice in the sky and get out."
"I don't have time for this! Just use the code already, I'll stick with the dress."
My jaw dropped, even in the face of an emergency the woman needed to buy something. I crossed my arms, pressed my fists to my chest, and stepped away from the register to retrieve my things.
I could acknowledge I was a very angry midget, but with the damn life I had to bury myself into could anyone blame me? For the first months of my provincial existence it was peaceful. I had a chance to start fresh after the destruction I caused. Once the routine sunk in, it was boring. Bloody hell, I was so accustomed to chaos I couldn't function as a civilian. But I had no choice. It was either them or me, I chose them.
Jacky appeared on my doorstep three weeks ago with her daughter, Rose. I should've turned them away for their own good. Sure, I was a civilian but Lady Luck had too much fun fucking with me. It was a risk for people to get close to me; it was a damn death sentence. Jacky had nowhere else to go so I let them settle into my boring life. The duller my life the better it was for them, not so much for me.
Despite the emergency alarm, I gathered everything from my locker at a relaxed pace. I shrugged on my black, leather jacket. Pulled my long, black hair to the side before I strapped my tiny, leather back-bag on my shoulders. Occasional fire alarm drills were normal. The moment I stepped out from the back it was plain the day was anything but normal.
The populace in the halls screamed. They darted towards the exits or looked for a place to hide. People dragged themselves into the store. I got a good look at one of the cumbersome blokes resolute to reach me. He stumbled around the clothes displays and racks like a drunkard. His eyes were pale yellow with a fiery red ring in the outer edge of the iris. The skin was gray and bruised. Screaming cut through the air within the store.
I watched these slow-moving people tackle some of the customers. They growled, resembling carnivores before they tore their teeth into the victims. The attacks littered the store with bodies, staining the white tiles red.
Zombies! What the fuck is going on?!
"Neah!" my manager called out from the adjacent room.
I spun to my manager. Splatters of blood ruined her white blazer and slacks. Her heels set a desperate staccato against tile while she ran to me.
She grabbed onto my hand. "We need to leave now!"
Her hand was slick with blood. A bite mark dug below her thumb. The chunk of flesh hung from her bone. Wait! What about Jacky? And if she gets caught up in this mess?
I looked back to the bloke shambling towards us.
"C'mon!" my manager pulled.
I could not will my feet to move, my stomach coiled. I didn't need to do anything reckless. There was no need to call attention to myself again. I could continue to live a civilian life. Rescue workers would arrive to find survivors. They could get to Jacky if necessary, it wasn't my job to rescue anyone.
I knocked the nearest mannequin into the zombie. My manager pulled us through the rest of the crowd out into the hall, but the zombies were quicker than expected. As soon as I was in reach a zombie latched onto my arm. My manager lost her grip. The zombie tackled her. His teeth sunk into her shoulder with a squish of gnashing jaws. Tendrils of blood flowed down her russet skin, soaking the carpet dark red. I rushed to kick the bugger off her. My manager's screams rattled in my head. Her dark eyes locked on me pleadingly.
He flung back from the force behind my boot but it was too late. My manager's artery spilled like a faucet. Still, I pushed down on her wound to slow the bleeding until her heart's last thud. Blood coated my bare hands and a shudder rolled through me.
No way rescue workers are trained for this.
The zombie snarled before he threw himself towards me. I ducked under his arms, pulled my captor's arm, and flipped the bitch onto his back. I stomped his face in. The skull disintegrated to mush under my boot.
It was like a dose of nicotine after staving off cigarettes for too long. The hot shiver of familiarity shot up my leg to the crown of my head, and the delightful sensation washed away to shame.
People in the mall were either getting eaten or shambling through the halls hunting for prey. A crowd of people stampeded in my direction since my store was closest to the exit. Better judgment would have me evacuate like a good little girl. Except Rose could end up orphaned if I didn't make sure Jacky survived.
Rose could end up like me if Jacky didn't survive.
Instead, I ran against the crowd towards the escalators. Jacky's restaurant was at the fifth level of the enormous mall. In the complete opposite end from where I worked. Lovely odds, of course, would Lady Luck make anything easy? No. I ran through the halls, leaped over pools of blood and corpses of unlucky shoppers. It was unlikely Jacky made it through the horde of frightened consumers unscathed. Considering she was still hung-over from last night, Jacky would be uncoordinated.
Damn party girl!
I arrived to the corner of the mall with the escalators. Stopped in my tracks, pressing my back against a wall. I inhaled deeply and peered around the corner at the crowd of idle zombies standing around like twats.
"Fuck my life," I chuckled.
My phone vibrated in my jacket pocket. "Jacky, where are you?"
Whispers and violent coughs in the background sent chills up my back.
"I locked myself in a storage room when those things showed up."
"Which one?"
"I- I don't know. I didn't really get a good look at where I was when I got pulled here."
The coughs grew more violent, transformed into pained wheezes.
"Who's with you?"
"Uh, some security guards and some other people. Some of them were there where it started. They think someone smoked the mall to start this."
"Smoked the mall?"
"Yeah they saw smoke and then people started eating each other."
"Jacky, get out of there! It's not safe!" My shouting had drawn a bit of unwanted attention. Zombies shambled towards me; others started to run with flailing arms. "Shit," I growled into the phone then started sprinting.
I hadn't brushed up on my fancy Parkour for a long time; it sure as hell seemed a good time to start! My eyes flickered to any camera I happened to run past. Oh c'mon what are the damn chances?
One of the bigger stores hadn't lowered their shutters and I dashed through the aisles. The store gave me enough obstacles to maneuver. The giant group followed like moths to a flame. Persistent buggers.
I leaped over racks of clothes and knocked over mannequins any chance I got. Some of the zombies climbed over display tables! Bloody hell, zombies were usually uncoordinated twats, were they not? The crowd had thinned out. I took off as fast as possible to find a place to take a damn breath.
I slid across the counter of a jewelry kiosk. The impact punched the air out through my mouth. The back of my head knocked into someone else's. I rolled to my belly with the pain blurring my vision like static. My brain must have slammed into my damn forehead in that fall. A gun to my face sobered me up, but the tense glare of ocean eyes made my jaw drop.
"Leon?!"
"Ah, it speaks," Leon moved the gun away with a smile. "Have we met?"
Shit! I shook my head, wincing from my brain rattling. "Nope."
"Hm, yeah I'd remember if we had."
His voice was smooth, warm, yet like a knight's steel armor. It elicited heat in my cheeks.
"So how do you know me?"
Double shit! I laughed, sitting up. "A friend. Looked like she was pimping you out."
Leon chuckled then directed his attention back to the halls. "Small world. Wish this friend of yours had told me about it."
Bloody hell, that worked?! My eyes locked onto the lights overhead. I fell on Leon-fucking-Kennedy somehow! Jacky mentioned smoke. It was something in the smoke that mutated these people into mindless cannibals. Shit, it's the premise of Leon's campaign in Resident Evil 6, but it's fucking real! How?
Tab would have loved to goof around like a loon in such a mess. I would've joined in her insanity. The moans of the victims settled like a block of ice on my shoulders.
"We're so screwed," I muttered.
"Hey!" Leon looked back to me. "We'll be fine, okay? I'll get us out of here."
