Chris Redfield parked his 1967 Shelby cobra in front of the crime scene to find the once quiet Raccoon City Park was now a media circus. The cannibal murders that has plagued this city has taken a gruesome turn for the worst. At first the attacks were occurring in the outskirts of the city, this is the first reported attack happening in Raccoon itself.
Chris exited his car and flashed his badge to the local officers before stepping underneath the crime scene tape.
"Chris Redfield, I was wondering when The RPD realized this was far more than they could handle" Eileen Stevenson, the medical examiner, said kneeling before the victim who was now thankfully covered in a white sheet. Her hazel eyes focused on finding any clues. She looked up him her light caramel features displaying sorrow.
"The STARS just got the case last week" Chris said.
"Where's your partner?" she asked.
"She's running late" Chris answered. Jill was new to the STARS team, but she didn't appear to be enthusiastic about the job. She can never appear to get anywhere on time.
"what do we got?" Chris said almost afraid to hear the answer. He lifted the sheet and couldn't bear to look for more than a second. She was barely recognizable as a person. Her face was chewed down to the skull, there was no way to identify her.
"College student Molly Carter, found her student ID in her pocket, Raccoon City University"
"Time of death?" Chris asked.
"Liver temp suggest 16 hours, unfortunately there's not much of her liver left" Eileen answered.
Chris could feel his heart tightening. A thousand emotions going through his mind the ones that were clear, were sympathy and anger. She couldn't be much older than 19, not much older than his own sister.
"How'd she die?" Chris asked.
"Well I have to take her to the lab to get an official cause of death, but if I can hazard a guess, there are no obvious contusion, no ligature marks I can see. She exsanguinated, like the others, she was eaten alive, I found teeth marks during my initial examination" she explained.
"Signs of a struggle?" Chris asked.
"That's the good news, she got a piece of her attacker, I found flesh underneath her fingernails" I'll run it as soon I get to the lab and will let you know if I get a match" she said.
"Good, cause I wanna nail the bastard to the wall" Chris said, trying not to think about the things he'd do to this freak if he ever caught him.
Chris got to his feet and started to canvas the area looking for any clues. He was about to talk to the officers first on the scene when he heard the familiar annoying call.
"Redfield! Redfield" he heard the voice that could only belong to the most annoying reporter in the Raccoon City Times, Ben Burtolucci.
"What do you want Burtolucci?" Chris asked not trying to hide his contempt for him.
"So you're here, can I assume that the RPD has finally decided to hand the cannibal case over to the STARS team.
"That is correct" Chris answered.
"Can I get a comment on why did it take them so long to hand the case over to you, giving the STARS the case would have prevented the six other deaths in this town including the latest victim" he asked.
"Why don't you ask Umbrella?" Chris said then walked away. He knew he shouldn't have said that. Umbrella practically owned this town and putting them in the lime light like this was not going to sit well with his superiors, but it had to be said. Umbrella has kept quiet about this tragedy long enough. They've delayed the STARS involvement by at least a few months just because they didn't want any bad publicity and quite frankly he didn't trust them. Not since Billy Rabbitson's disappearance.
Billy Rabbitson was an old friend of his, who made several enemies with his career choice. He was an environmentalist who loves to protest large organization he felt were guilty of animal testing. Umbrella was his latest target and no one has heard from him since. He silently said a prayer for his missing friend and continued to canvas the area.
Barry Burton walked down the stairs of the police station into the gym level. He checked the shooting range and couldn't find Chris, so he figured the gym was the only other place he'd be. Other than target practice, Chris loved kickboxing especially after a grisly murder like the one from this morning.
That was a pretty tragic case. Eighteen-year-old college student savagely eaten alive in the park. What is this town coming to?
He passed the television screen and saw none other than Chief Irons holding a press conference. What else is new? Chief loved a good murder, that way he can make himself look good for the press and play the concern police chief, when in actuality he only cared about getting his fifteen minutes of fame.
"I know all of you are concerned about the cannibal killings that have occurred in the recent weeks. With five dead, and three missing we've decided to hand this case over to our very own S.T.A.R.S team, who are trained to deal with unusual circumstances" The chief said and with that statement the reporters went on a frenzy. Yelling "Sir, sir!"
"Yes Miss Ashcroft?" The chief said calling on young reporter Alyssa Ashcroft.
"Yes, I would like to know why did it take so long to involve the S.T.A.R.S team to this investigation? Why do five people have to die and three go missing to get the attention of the Raccoon City police department"
"Oh here we go again, I have already answered that question, but I'll answer it again since you're not too bright" The chief said.
"Excuse me, sir" Alyssa said, but was completely ignored by Irons.
"first off, we've been on this case since the first murder occurred three months ago. Secondly We didn't know what we were dealing with. We wanted to make sure all evidence were secured, everything was factual before we handed this investigation to the best squad the R.P.D has to offer. Next question?" Chief said vaguely.
"But sir" Alyssa said, but was completely cut off by Chief once again.
"Next question, don't be rude" he told Alyssa "Next question, yes Mr. Burtolucci"
"What do you have to say about one of your agents claiming the Umbrella Corporation is delaying the
investigation?" Ben Burtolucci, one of the Raccoon City Times, best reporter said and Barry knew just what agent said that.
"Ah, the failing Raccoon City Times, back at it with their fake news. I don't know where you're getting this information but the Umbrella Corporation has been nothing but cooperative through this whole ordeal" Chief said.
"Your agent seems to believe Umbrella is trying to cover up these murders. What do you have to say about that?" Ben said.
"Nothing could be further than the truth. What will Umbrella have to gain by delaying the investigation? Umbrella wants these vicious killing to stop just like us all. I guarantee who so ever is spreading these false accusations will face some disciplinary action" Chief said then left leaving the reporters to call after him for more questions.
Barry closed his eyes and let out a sigh. "Chris what did you do?"
Once he entered the gym level he saw a bunch of the rookies working out found Chris beating on a training dummy. He did several roundhouse kicks and kicked it a few times in its rib. Chris was proficient in martial arts, if that dummy was a human, he wouldn't have stand a chance.
"Redfield" Barry called out
"Hey Barry" Chris said as he continued to beat the training dummy.
"Wesker is looking for you" he said.
"What does he want?" Chris asked.
"He wants us all in the STARS office for an Alpha team meeting"
Chris stopped and sighed in frustrating as if he was holding back his true feelings. "What is it this time?"
"He wants to go over the investigation" Barry said.
"Nothing has changed since the last meeting" Chris said as he frustratingly walked over to the water fountain and took a sip.
"Another murder happened this morning, you know" Barry explained.
"I know, Barry, I was at the crime scene" Chris snapped. Barry wasn't really annoyed, but concerned. Chris can be a hothead, but something was wrong if he snapped at him.
"You okay? You seem to be a little on edge" Barry said.
"This case is getting to me. I mean five innocent people eaten alive. Who does that?" Chris explained.
"That's the point of this investigation, to find out. Bitchin about it won't help anybody. Now let's go, you know chief hard ass wants us on top of this case every minute. Let's not make him any angrier than he seems to wake up every morning.
"REDFIELD!" the entire gym heard from Chief Irons as if it was on que. Chris let out a sigh.
"Too late" Barry said stepping aside as Chief Irons stormed his way towards Chris
"Did you talk to reporters about Umbrella covering up the murders?!" Chief said his glare not leaving Chris's direction. Chris stood there with a look of confusion.
"...No" Chris answered.
"Bertolucci has been suspecting Umbrella is hiding something, and you're the only one that's been ranting on and on about Umbrella's involvement, this has your stink all over it!" Chief yelled.
"All I meant was that Umbrella is compromising our investigation by delaying the search in the Arklay Forest" Chris said.
"What are you doing talking to a reporter?!"
"Doing my job, isn't that why you assigned us the case?!"
"Your job is to follow orders! My job is to talk to the press.
"Right, oh yeah I forgot, you gotta make yourself look good" Chris fired back and Chief Irons face turned a beat red as if steam was going to shoot out of his ears.
"Get out of my sight!" Chief yelled and with that Chris walked away
"Wouldn't surprise me if Umbrella was involved" Chris said loud enough to ensure chief heard him.
"What?!" Chief yelled.
"You heard me!" Chris said turning back to face him.
"Listen to me you cocky prick! I've been doing police investigation while you were still sucking your mother's tit, so when I give you an order you better damn well follow them or you will have you will have the privilege of being the first STARS member to be fired!"
Before Chief could say another word, STARS Alpha team captain Albert Wesker, casually placed his hand on his shoulder as if to hold him back from ripping Chris's head clean off.
"Chief, let's not do anything I might regret huh? Chris is one of the best members we have" Wesker said is his usual calm cool demeanor. Chief looked up at Wesker Seemingly calming down as Wesker seems to be the only person Chief is intimidated by.
"Now Chris, if our chief says he's ruled out Umbrella for any possible involvement we're inclined to believe him"
"Yes, captain" Chris said.
"This won't happen again" Wesker said with a slight smile.
"See to it, it won't!" Chief said to which Wesker's smile faded causing Chief to become somehow defeated and submissive walking away. Chris never knew how Wesker was able to scare the shit out of Chief, but he did. He was probably the only person in the whole world who could. Chief prided himself on being the biggest prick in the RPD, the kind of prick that made criminals shit themselves, but somehow turned into a shriveling coward before the STARS captain.
"Chris, head to the STARS office, the meeting is about to start" Wesker said. Chris made his way towards the locker room before he heard Wesker call for him.
"Oh Chris, Where's Jill? I haven't seen her all morning" Wesker asked
"She hasn't clocked in yet? She must be running late" Chris said hoping he didn't just throw his partner under the bus. Wesker's face continued to show no emotion. He couldn't tell if he was angry or annoyed.
"Hmm. Well no sense waiting any longer, I'm calling an Alpha team meeting now, so let's head to the Office"
"Can I shower first?" Chris asked. At least that would buy sometime for Jill. Wesker looked at his watch. If he was annoyed, he didn't show it. Wesker never showed any type of emotions.
"You have five minutes, then we're starting the meeting without you" Wesker said then walked away.
Chris made his way to the men's shower room and for the first time since the STARS got this case wondered what exactly did he get himself into. Some will call him crazy, but he had a strong feeling that this isn't just some ordinary case.
To be continued...