Nemesis: Resident Evil III

Chapter Fourteen: Distress Call

The main stairwell of the RPD was covered in thick, red carpet, allowing Jill and Brad to walk a little faster without making any noise as they reached the second floor. Now the place actually looked like it was still a museum, at least along the first corridor that went from the stairs to the two wooden doors toward the end. A row of large, expensive paintings and portraits extended right from where the railing ended, all the way down to where a creepy looking statue of a man reaching upward from torment or something, dominated the center of the end, and it was always wondered where they came from, since none of them had been there before the renovations.

It was suspected that Chief Irons was buying all the art himself, but a Chief of Police didn't make that much, but… well, she supposed that a bunch of art depicting bondage and torment was better than more of those stuffed hunting trophies like the ones in Irons' office. Now, those were creepy, especially the tiger, and how it looked like it was still ready to pounce on the young woman every time she had to go to that office.

Thankfully, they were on the other side of the precinct from there, not that Jill expected that a fat slob like Irons could have been able to survive all this time, or anything. Taking a moment to listen with her ear against the wall at the end of the hallway, like she had done with all the others, the young woman was relieved to not hear anything on the other side, but it was strange… there were so few infected people inside this building, not that she was complaining about it, but shouldn't there have been a lot more around?

Maybe it was because of everyone being sent out to help with the barricades and rescue missions, which would make sense because there couldn't be a bunch of zombies if there had been no one inside the precinct to infect. Or, this place was so damn big that there could have been plenty of infected people around, just in another area. Jill didn't like this explanation as well as the first one, but thankfully the STARS office was just around the corner, so there wasn't really that much exploring left for them to do.

"I don't hear anything." Brad whispered, looking nervously at the hallway behind them. "Do you think… do you think maybe it couldn't find a way in, and gave up?"

"As long as it can't get in, I don't care if it gives up." The young woman replied, turning the knob and slowly pulling the wooden door open. "We're almost there, come on."

Instead of looking like a museum, or even a police precinct, the next corridor they entered was more like part of the building that had never been finished because of funding issues, with its bare hardwood floor, and single light bulbs that just hung down from the ceiling without fixtures or even cages around them. Sunlight poured in through the small windows on the far wall, revealing that there was dirt and trash on the floor, as well as what looked like old custodial equipment like floor buffers and mop buckets stacked against the support pillars.

Except for the trash and cleaning machines, the part of the precinct had always looked like that, but it was the chosen location for the STARS office, the door of which was right there. SPECIAL TACTICS AND RESCUE SERVICE was written on a plaque on the wall next to the door, and when it opened Jill was able to see a very dusty and neglected, yet mostly untouched office where the two of them used to work. Their individual desks and work stations were larger than the ones down in Traffic Division, but the room was much smaller, with desks like hers and Chris's facing back to back, while Wesker had been given his own space over toward the wall.

It had been fine that he had a much larger area, given that Wesker was their Captain and all… at least before it was revealed just how much of a backstabbing prick he really was. Okay, focus, Jill thought to herself, the radio equipment was against the wall on the right from the door, so she walked over to it, and threw the main power switch. The unit was older, probably left over from the late '80's, but the indicator lights came on, with background static reaching her ears when she sat down and put on the headset.

"All units, this is RPD Central, over." The young woman said into the microphone. "Any RPD units, this is RPD Central, emergency broadcast, over."

There was nothing from the active patrol cars or SWAT units, at least nothing from their radios but static, so she adjusted the frequency, and this time tried to call the Arklay County Sheriff's Office, outside the city. Again there was no response, nothing from any police, fire, or any other emergency bands but static… even on the civilian frequency… Jesus, there weren't even any truckers on the highways responding. She could tell that the radio equipment was working, since the annoying high-pitch sound of the Emergency Broadcast System was coming in clearly, but that was a one-way channel, so… they were alone.

"Did you get anyone?" The pilot asked hopefully as she took off the headset. "Did someone answer you?"

"There… there must be something wrong with the transmitter." Jill lied, not wanting to send him into a full blown panic. "We're gonna… we're gonna have to find another radio somewhere."

No one was coming to help them… this was the awful truth that caused the young woman to have to wipe a tear from her face as it ran down her cheek. Maybe there was no one left to help them, or maybe the city had been left for dead, it didn't matter… she and Brad were on their own, and now they were going to have to find a way to get out of the city on foot… if that was even possible. Going back uptown wasn't an option, simply because of how many zombies were swarming around, and now the people in that warehouse were… it was their own fault, part of her mind said; if they had come with her instead of being so God damn… there was nothing she could do for them, no matter whose fault it was.

"Look around the office." She said, forcing back another tear. "This place hasn't been touched in months, maybe there's some bullets still lying around, or something."

Yeah, okay, don't panic… step one for survival was to see what supplies were already available, and after that the young woman had to figure out where the hell they were going to try and escape to. Uptown was not going to happen, so the only practical choice for them was to head toward the downtown area where hopefully there would be at least some food or water they could find… but where the hell were they going to find a radio? The hospital would have one, but that was way too far to walk, and the fire station was back uptown… oh, shit she had forgotten all about the press.

Yes! Ben Bertolucci and all those other annoying ass reporters over at The Raccoon Press had one, since they couldn't chase ambulances or interfere in fresh crime scenes without it. Their print shop was a small building downtown, just across the street from The Arcade Shops; not too far from the RPD, although because of all the car crashes and barricades the young woman had seen coming in… maybe they would have to try and get out through the parking garage. Good, yes, good, if she and Brad snuck out that way, that thing outside would miss them completely, and could spend days trying to get into the precinct while they got away.

"I found some more 9mm ammo." The pilot said proudly, setting some dusty clips on the desk next to her. "And that… thing you use for opening locks, too."

Awesome, now they each had a couple extra clips for their pistols, and with Jill's old lock-picking tool, which she… didn't remember leaving there in the first place, getting into locked doors around the city was going to be a hell of a lot easier. But what about other weapons, or shells for her empty shotgun? In response all Brad could do was shrug and shake his head, causing the young woman to get up and conduct her own search. However, aside from a set of Brass Knuckles inside Joseph Frost's old desk that he must have forgotten to log with evidence, there was nothing.

She put them in her pocket just the same, since it was better than nothing, and after taking one last look at the place where she had worked with STARS for so long, it was time for her and the pilot to move on. Even though they were a little better armed now, with a mostly solid plan of where to go next, that didn't mean that Raccoon City was any less dangerous, in fact now it was even more so with that thing around, as well as them having to go downtown.

"The press building's almost a mile from here." Brad said, his chronic nervousness coming back. "Do you think we can make it all the way there on foot?"

"We'll be fine as long as we're careful and quiet." The young woman replied, slowly opening the office door. "Now, let's move."

There still weren't any signs of movement out in the unfinished hallway, but Jill didn't want to press her luck, so the two of them quietly crept past the custodial machines on their way back toward the art-filled corridor that led back to the stairwell. It was tempting to just throw open every door as fast as she could and run just as quickly all the way to the parking garage on the other side of the precinct just to be out of there, but that way of thinking was more likely to get them killed than taking their time, so the young woman listened at the door before turning the knob and pushing it open.

Crash… stopping halfway through the door, Jill thought that she heard something, although muffled and far away like someone had knocked a decorative vase over, or maybe glass breaking. Was she hearing things now? No other sounds seemed to follow it, at least none that she could hear from inside that doorway, and after several seconds of silence it was decided that they were safe enough to move on. Must have been something falling over, she thought as the pilot followed her back down the art corridor, and still nothing moved by the time they reached the top of the stairs.

"You… you go first, Jill." Brad said, trying and failing to keep his voice from shaking. "I'll, uh… watch your back."

"I feel better, already." She replied, shaking her head while taking that first step down the carpeted stairs. "Just stay behind me."