(Coki13566- Not sure if you didn't see my reply to your review, so I'm going to leave it here. I originally had something dividing the chapters, but it didn't show up on here. Guessing it's bc I'm posting this on 's mobile app? Anyway, thank you and I'm planning on using locations/povs u)
"We're here, live at the scene where just mere hours ago, a madman ran on a rampage through Blossom Mall, attacking and injuring a quite handful of people. Police Chief Irons from the RPD is here to give us details on what happened."
"We suffered at least two casualties. Identities and information about the victims is unknown and it won't be released without their family's permissions. And there is no need for a huge panic, the suspect has been apprehended. Of course though, considering the tragic events that have been plaguing our city since last week, many of you are nervously wondering if this new incident is related to them. My truthful answer is that we don't know, but we will look into it. That's all I have to say."
"Thank you, Chief Irons. We'll make sure to keep our viewers updated with each release of new information. Now with Cheryl on the weather—"
Claire let out a soft sigh as she changed the channel, replacing the reporter's face with a talking, cartoonish, goofy-smiling dog.
From the moment she arrived in the city, she's heard many talk about these "horrible crimes" (as the old ladies referred to it) but she didn't know it was this bad. She thought it was just some crazy serial killer until she got a chance to read through the Birkins' daily newspapers, which were filled to the brim with witness statements about how the alleged attacker(s) each had rotting physical features and had bitten the hell out of their victims. 'Rabid, Zombified Humans' is what one newspaper called them, while another used the term cannibalistic. To Claire, the headlines were outlandish and they reminded her so much of those bizarre-as-fuck magazines, with articles about "two-headed kittens" and the "Mothman", that she found it really hard to believe the whole thing.
Until the news channel decided to share footage of the injured Blossom Mall victims and Claire wasn't so doubtful anymore.
It was horrendous, made worse by the fact that they even zoomed in on their injuries. Just like the witnesses in the newspapers had stated, the majority of the injuries were bites. But these bites were worse than what Claire had imagined; pieces of flesh were literally torn off the victims.
She shuddered, thinking back on those injuries. It was nothing like she had seen before and she was sure the images would stay with her until she died.
"Luckily I'll be out of this town tomorrow morning," she whispered as she laid down on the couch and pulled the blanket over her body,"But poor Sherry, though."
Terrible images of Sherry getting attacked flashed through her mind when she closed her eyes and the only thing that could put her at ease to ensure that she could get some sleep was the trust she had towards the little girl's parents, though it was very little considering how her mother acted and Sherry's descriptions of both of them.
Before she finally succumbed to sleep, for a split second she wondered if these incidents were related to her brother's sudden disappearance.
"Claire?"
Her sleepy eyes opened at the sound of her name and the first thing she took notice of was her surroundings. Quickly, she sat up, unsure of where she was until she looked over to see who had woken her up.
It was Sherry, clad in her pajamas and holding a stuffed bear. The nervous and fearful look in her baby-blue eyes didn't go unnoticed by Claire.
"Nightmare?" Claire asked, comfortingly. That was the only explanation she could think of as to why a 12-year old would be awake in the middle of the night with a scared look on their face.
Sherry shook her head. "I think someone's trying to break in.", she said in hushed voice.
Now that was definitely something she hadn't expected to hear.
"Where?" Claire asked, immediately standing up and pulling out her gun from her jacket.
Sherry looked at her gun in awe as she responded. "The backdoor. I was going to get a drink of water when I heard some thumps on the door. It sounded like they're trying to push the door open with their body. Should we call the police like my mom said?"
"Yeah and stay here, okay!"
The small girl nodded before rushing towards the kitchen where the landline was located.
After she had left, Claire began to quietly make her way towards the back door, her gun pointed in case the door broke down. As she got closer, the thumps Sherry had described were now audible to her. They weren't loud, which could explain why they hadn't woken her up, and it seemed like not much force was being used, like the person on the other end was just walking into the door. Claire was beginning to assume it was probably a drunkard who lost their way home, but despite that, she didn't lower her gun. A feeling in her gut told her to keep it aimed—
"AHHHHHH!!!"
Claire's head immediately turned to the direction of Sherry's scream, which was accompanied by the sound of a window breaking and finally the sound of a door cracking open, which Claire realized was coming from the very same door she was just staring at a few seconds ago. A gnarly, bloody-covered hand protruded out of a large hole on the door and began to grasp wildly at the air, all while its owner let out loud, inhuman snarls.
She was about ready to shoot at the hand until Sherry came running in, with a look of pure terror and tears running down her face. When she saw the hand, she let out another scream and hid behind Claire.
"What happened!?" Claire demanded.
"I-I was t-talking to the p-police and then someone b-broke in the window and it was like-like one of t-those monsters—"
A loud, guttural growl interrupted Sherry's sentence and Claire looked up to see the most horrifying and disgusting thing she had ever seen and for a split second, she wondered if she was still asleep and having a nightmare. A woman stood in front of them, but she wasn't like any ordinary woman; her eyes were lifeless, her skin was literally rotten and almost peeling off her body, and fresh blood was dripping from her mouth.
Without warning, the woman let out an angry snarl and charged towards them, her eyes mainly focused on Claire.
Claire didn't hesitate to shoot her. She hoped that the bullets would throw her off and immobilize her so they could escape, but no—the bullets seemed to be nothing more than a small shove to her and Claire soon found herself pinned to the floor. The smell of decaying flesh instantly hit her nose and she had to fight against the urge to gag and her attacker, whose mouth was wide open and was attempting to send a killing blow down to her neck.
"G-Get off her!!" Sherry screamed and attempted to push the woman off.
"No! Stay back, Sherry!" Claire shouted, afraid that the woman would attack her instead.
Unfortunately, that quickly became the case. Despite her crazed behavior, the woman noticed that the little girl was smaller than Claire and because of that, a more easy kill. With a snarl, she hurled her hands towards Sherry, but before she could grab her, one of Claire's bullets flew through her head.
Claire pushed the woman off her and quickly stood up, with her gun still pointed at the unmoving body, and pulled Sherry towards her. Droplets of blood stained Sherry's face and her shock-filled eyes stayed focused on the body before her.
All of a sudden, the door began to crack more and Claire looked just in time to see a another hand force its way in. Judging by the various grunts and growls, she knew there were more of these people outside and the door won't be strong enough to hold them back much longer.
They had to act fast.
"C-Claire! She's still a-alive!" Sherry exclaimed, fearfully, and grabbed a hold of Claire's jacket.
Sure enough, the little girl was right. The woman, loudly grunting, raised her head to look at them. Staring at the injury she left her, Claire grimaced internally, but the disgust of looking at a fresh bullet hole on the head was outweighed by shock and disbelief. A bullet to the head should be enough to instantly kill a person or leave them completely unconscious. This woman was totally unaffected from it, getting up like it was nothing.
Claire knew this wasn't a normal human being and she as sure as hell wasn't going to stay and find out what the fuck she was.
"Come on!" She demanded, grabbing hold of Sherry's hand.
"W-what are we going to do!?" The little girl stammered, just as the door fell down behind them, revealing a whole group of skin-rotting and blood-covered people.
"Leaving this house!" Claire said as she pulled out the keys of her motorcycle before opening the front door.
As they ran towards her parked motorcycle, Claire noticed that it wasn't only their house—these "monsters" were located in almost every part of the neighborhood.
And they didn't fail to notice the running duo.
After she helped Sherry up and handed her her helmet, she turned on the ignition and drove out of the driveway, not bothering to look at her still-low gas fuel and hoping that the monsters wouldn't be fast enough to catch them. Fortunately, they weren't. When they drove past them, all they did was slowly turn their heads and let out loud grunts.
A huge sigh of relief escaped Claire's mouth once they were out of harm's way.
'Or are we?' She thought. If the whole neighborhood was filled with those things then the entire city…..
"A-are we going to the p-police station?" Sherry asked in a loud-yet-shaky voice, snapping Claire out of her thoughts.
"Yeah! We're going to be safe there. No monsters or zombies or whatever they are are going to be there. T-They'll be taken care of.", Claire answered. She tried to sound confident so she wouldn't panic Sherry, but she wasn't able to stop herself from stammering at the end.
She's always so sure on what to do next in a problem, but this time, the first time in at least ten years, she's unsure and, truth be told, scared for what awaited them.
(Raccoon City Police Department)
"Inside the police station! Quick!" Marvin urged, raising his voice so that the people could hear him over the loud sound of police gunfire.
This day had taken a huge turn, a very bad turn. Mere hours ago, the streets had been calm, with little traffic but now, it was all chaos. The fearful citizens of Raccoon City were scattered everywhere, running aimlessly around, unsure of where to go and confused on what to do of the terrible events unfolding before them. Marvin had to watch in horror as many of them were tackled to the ground by zombies and listen to their painful screams of agony fill what should've been the quiet night air.
The horror accumulated even more when he saw that the zombies couldn't be taken down by a single bullet and when some of the casualties began stand up from the pavement, literally rising up from the dead.
He knew at that moment that this was something more than a string homicidal cases connected to one another.
This was obviously an outbreak.
"Marvin! Our bullets are running out! We have to close the doors!!" He heard Rita yell, panic evident in her usually calm voice.
He looked back at the streets. There were still a handful of survivors, trying to fight their way through to get to the station.
"We can't hold our doors for them! These zombies will get inside and kill us all! We can't afford that!"
Marvin gritted his teeth. He didn't mind sacrificing himself to save people, after all that's what he signed up for when he became a cop, but he knew that Rita was right. They let these zombies at front pass and they'll slaughter all the survivors that had made it. He wouldn't live with himself if anything happened to those people, who felt a sense of security once they got inside, but yet…
He shook his head, solemnly.
"Officers, stop your fire and retreat! Close the doors!" Marvin ordered.
He forced his eyes to avoid looking at those who wouldn't make it. In his mind, he could already see the fear and the stomach-dropping realization in their eyes.
Before the large, wooden-oak doors closed behind him, through the ear-piercing, dying screams and hungry growls, he was able to hear their pleas of help, begging for the doors to remain open just for a moment longer.
(Author's Note: I feel like I rushed this a bit, but oh well. Hope you guys enjoyed this.)