Nemesis: Resident Evil III

Chapter Eleven: Central Station

After searching throughout the entire main room of the gas station, Carlos managed to find the First Aid box hidden underneath the cash register counter, and even though some of the contents were not exactly… meeting their recommended expiration date, it was better than nothing. Honestly, Mikhail's wound required a hell of a lot better treatment than he and Nikolai were capable of providing, but maybe it would allow them to keep him alive until they could get the help they needed.

Even though the gas station's aid supplies were all expired, the alcohol inside still worked to clean the wound, and the bandages still held in place, while the morphine might have actually gotten stronger because of its age. It took most of their aid supplies, but the bleeding was stopped, and the wounded Captain didn't seem to be in nearly as much pain now… at least until they tried to move him. No choice, though, and it was actually Mikhail's idea that they try to find a better location, since this place was not exactly defensible if the zombies found them again.

Of course, there was no way for them to call for extraction even if they found a better hideout, since both radiomen were among the first to fall when they arrived. Carlos had seen a lot of things since arriving in Raccoon City, but one thing he hadn't seen was any kind of radio transmitter, well… maybe the policia had one, but according to the city map that the young man found on a rack near the front door, the precinct was pretty far away… not a trip that they could risk with Mikhail, nor alone even if one of them stayed with him.

"Here, look at this." The Lieutenant said, pointing to a spot on the map that was labeled Central Station. "I think this is cable car platform, and look… is not far from here, and line runs directly to Raccoon Street Station, right next to clock tower."

He was right, Central Station was only a block or so away, as long as they cut through the City Hall grounds, and they could help the wounded Captain make it that far. Then all they had to do was get the cable car moving, which shouldn't be too hard, and ride it all the way to the extraction point at the clock tower. There was no way Carlos was going to risk using the sewers again, not with those giant insects down there, but as long as the three of them stayed quiet, and stuck to the shadows, hopefully the zombies wouldn't spot them.

"Try to walk slow, da?" Mikhail groaned painfully, leaning heavily on the young man after being helped to his feet. "Nikolai will do shooting, you just keep moving… ready?"

Honestly, Carlos didn't think that anyone would ever be ready for this city, but there was no choice if any of them wanted to go home, so once the Lieutenant opened the front door, Carlos began the slow and painful process of helping the wounded Captain walk. He did a lot better than expected, just shows how tough the old Russian was, and he damn sure stayed a lot quieter than the young man would have, especially each time his wound started bleeding again, but thankfully there was a lot of cover to keep them hidden, at least once they crossed the street over to City Hall.

There was no need to try and enter the large building, itself, which was a good thing since it was probably filled with zombies, and the courtyard itself was surprisingly empty. It was almost like a small park; lots of planted trees and hedges providing a stark green contrast to the rest of the city, while a paved sidewalk kept them from having to make too much noise by going through the fallen leaves or anything like that. A tall, bronze statue of some guy holding a large round… what the hell was that, a compass maybe? Whatever it was in his hand, the statue dominated the center of City Hall's rear courtyard, and Central Station was coming into view at the far end.

For a moment Carlos thought it was odd that a major cable car platform would have been built right behind City Hall, which was obviously much older… but then again he supposed that sort of made sense, because it would also allow the Mayor to easily travel around the city. Oh well, regardless of how much sense it made, he wasn't going to complain about how close the place was, since Mikhail was a lot heavier than he looked… but why was the car just sitting there? If it was so easy to get to, then why hadn't survivors been using it to take one of the other lines that he had seen on the map, uh… Arklay or Stone Ville to get out of the city?

The answer to this came only after getting the wounded Captain all the way to the car that was stopped on the tracks, and climbing onboard to find that it was not operational. Unlike the rest of the city, the lights that ran along the ceiling of the cable car were out, but luckily it was daytime, so the light coming in through all of the windows on both sides allowed them to see that there were no zombies hiding among the rows of seats. This vehicle was also made of two sections, with the controls being located at the front, and the engine itself being in the rear section like an old fashioned car.

"Put Mikhail down there." Nikolai said, pointing to a longer bench that was along the wall of the rear section. "Then come help me remove engine panel."

Another groan of pain came from the wounded Captain, followed by a sigh of relief once he was able to lay down and rest on the bench, and now that he was secure for now, Carlos was able to go and help the Lieutenant. Along the back wall there was a section of lower paneling that was able to be pulled out, and once the two of them opened it, a large electrical engine was seen inside. It could only have been electrical, the young man thought while Nikolai looked it over, or else the smoke and emissions inside would have choked anyone trying to ride inside, not to mention the noise… hopefully this would be as simple as throwing a switch, and they could get out of there.

"Oil level is dangerously low." The Lieutenant said after taking out the dip-stick. "Must have been ready to add more, and been… interrupted by zombies, maybe."

"Why does it need oil?" Carlos asked, looking at the clearly electrical engine. "Doesn't it just need a voltage current to move?"

Even though the engine itself was electrical, there were still metal moving parts, which Nikolai explained still needed oil to function so that they didn't lock up and fuse together in the middle of a transit. All right, that explained why the power was off, and the Lieutenant didn't dare try to turn it back on until the levels were full, so he pulled the manual out of its sleeve that was mounted on the inside of the panel, and found that it needed something called Gear Oil EP 220… which the young man had never heard of.

The good news was that it was probably stocked at that gas station they were just in, and it wasn't too far away, but there was now a second problem, shown when it was noticed that Mikhail's wound wasn't being kept closed by the bandages like it had before. In fact, now it looked like he was bleeding even more than when he was first stabbed by that incest monster. According to the city map, the hospital was right next to the clock tower where they were going, but the wounded Captain was losing a good amount of blood… would he last that long?

"We have better chance of survival with three of us." Nikolai commented, looking gravely at Carlos. "I will stay here and try to control bleeding with last of supplies… you must retrieve two things we need to get out of here."

It made sense that the Lieutenant be the one to stay with Mikhail, since the young man didn't have any real medical training, which left him to go back to the gas station by himself and retrieve the needed machine oil. However, since the wounded Captain probably didn't have that kind of time, it also fell on Carlos to retrieve what Nikolai called Hemostatic, a medicine that closed up internal bleeding… something that in America could only be found either inside of a hospital… or in the secured back area of a pharmacy.

He still had the city map, and backtracking to places he had already been was a hell of a lot easier than trying to explore new ones, and although the gas station should have been easy to get to for the oil since it was right across the street… for the pharmacy he needed to choose between zombies on the streets or monsters down in the tunnels. Neither way sounded very good as far as he was concerned, but the insects were fast, and at least on the surface there was room to run away from a bunch of slow moving zombies if he had to.

"Okay, I'll get the oil last, since it'll be harder to carry than some medicine." The young man said, reloading his rifle. "But I'll have to stay on the streets to get back to the pharmacy… don't want to face those insects in the sewers on my own."

"You are brave boy, Olivera." Mikhail groaned, starting to try and sit up but changing his mind. "Stay quiet… stick to shadows… only fight if no choice."

This was all good advice, but right now the wounded Captain needed to rest, so Carlos simply nodded, and then took a deep breath before stepping out of the cable car. Nikolai closed it from inside as soon as he was out, and now, for the first time since arriving in this ciudad de pesadilla, the young man was alone. Raccoon City had been frightening before, with all its zombies and monsters, but at least he had always had Nikolai and Mikhail there with him… but now this place was even more terrifying.

Not making a sound as he crept away from the platform, the young man crouched behind the first hedge of City Hall's courtyard, and looked at the different paths that he had to choose from. It was tempting to just go back to the gas station and retrieve the oil, but every minute that it took to bring the jug back was another minute that the wounded Captain had to go without Hemostatic… and of course, while the path leading back to the Stagla gas station was empty, the other path going toward the pharmacy led right into a more crowded looking part of the city.

"Hombre, joder esta lugar." He said to himself while taking another look around before starting toward the pharmacy.