Claire found it was easy to dart through the shuffling zombies that littered the city streets; only the bus is more of an obstacle if there was any. She reached the R.P.D. safely and without expending any valuable bullets on the walking corpses.
The double green doors of the R.P.D. felt another home. Seeing her brother for a coffee break and chat, then soon seeing her boyfriend for the same reason. Though he enjoyed working so much, the R.P.D. was like a second home to him. Never understood why he'd rather work than be at home, but she liked commitment.
Lumbering outside the main entrance was a single zombie; it wore a bright yellow flight jacket with a S.T.A.R.S. logo imprinted on the left tricep; Claire hoped it wasn't anyone she knew. But, unfortunately, up close, it wasn't Zaac or Chris.
After killing the zombie with a well-placed headshot, the body slumped to the ground like a sack of potatoes. It was unfortunate to see a special forces member fall victim to the dreaded virus, but there was no other way.
On the person was a card case; inside was an ID belonging to Brad Vickers. That name only rang a bell because Chris and Zaac would often mock and impersonate him for being such a coward to get some cheap laughs at home.
They never acted mean at his expense; it was just for shits and giggles. But, this time it wasn't funny; old Chicken Heart has finally kicked the bucket. He was nothing but the shadow of his former self.
The main hall of the R.P.D. was a wondrous sight to behold; the beauty that was once a museum still had charm and beautiful décor. From the nearly iconic stone statue next to the reception desk and tasteful stained glass windows across the second floor.
Plus seeing the R.P.D. insignia on the quartz ground helped Claire feel a lot safer, only because she wasn't dragged there by someone against her will. Some cops back then were real assholes.
Though for a safe location with thick walls and an elegant main hall, there was a layer of dead bodies all over; most were recent kills and comprised of zombies. Strangely it was quiet and absent of all life, despite signs of action recently - spent shell casings littered with the ground.
Claire took the second door to her left to one of the rooms where the magic happens. A wreck was an understatement for the west office, wooden tables and chairs stretched down the middle of the room, and almost all of them were smashed to bits from tremendous forces or weight.
Files and crockery were scattered all across the floor; the lockers by the door were caved in from some explosive punch, crumbling the wall and floor around Claire's feet. Bullet casings were rolling around the smashed tables and ground.
A bleeding man was sat up by some lockers nearby; he wore an R.P.D. uniform, was late-thirty and light African-American. He bled from his torso and neck but was still conscious.
Claire squatted down to him. "Oh, my God. Are you alright, Officer?"
The officer groaned. "I don't know… Who are you?"
"Claire, Claire Redfield. I'm looking for my brother Chris and my boyfriend, Zaac. Have you seen them anywhere?"
"You're really Chris' sister?"
"Yeah. Can you please help me? I don't know where to start."
"I heard Chris went to Europe for vacation, I think. Didn't say much, kept to himself recently."
Claire smiled, almost beaming, but she fell flat. "That does not sound like Chris. What about Zaac?"
"Zaac..." The officer sat up. Certainly hurting himself more as he spoke. "He was here on Saturday."
"Damn it! What happened here?"
"Two months ago, there was an incident involving zombie-like creatures in a mansion on the outskirts of the Arklay Mountains." The officer twitched his neck and cleared his throat. "It started as a simple murder investigation, but it was much more than that; it was a fatal mistake. So many people died that day, leaving the survivors with horrible nightmares."
Claire's heart stopped. "Oh my God..."
"Umbrella was behind everything. Even at the risk of their lives, Chris and the other surviving STARS members announced their findings, but no one believed them." He groaned with a slight wince of pain in his tearful eyes.
"What happened to Raccoon?"
"Zaac heard there were cases of missing people all over the city. Then, not long after, we discovered sewer rats were the leading cause of the infection plaguing the town."
"Just like every other major disease..."
"The very second the missing people were found eaten, Zaac split the R.P.D. into two groups. One to fortify the R.P.D. walls, and the other to secure civilians from their homes and bring them here. The citizens weren't convinced at first and thought STARS was stirring paranoia." He rubbed his eyes.
"Are you going to be okay?"
Ignoring Claire's concern, he continued, "He sent an evacuation plea to the military, only his response was..." He sighed. "That his request was denied. The military wasn't authorised to help; their orders were to maintain the city's perimeter and nothing else."
"Seriously?" With a scowl on her face, Claire raised her voice, "Those fuckers!"
"With no help from the outside, Zaac made the R.P.D. the city's safe zone and went back to planning another way to evacuate the people. However, once our resources started to run dry, a lot of our officers rallied against Zaac's orders and decided to take the situation into their hands."
"That's mutiny!"
"Zaac, unfortunately, got STARS disbanded – after a recent outburst against Chief Irons. He just didn't have the respect or the influence to keep the officers together - he had no power. Not like many people believed the situation was that bad, from their denied accusations." His voice dropped in tone and felt lighter, "Most of our police force, including Zaac, made plans to bottleneck the masses of infected outside Johnson National Bank."
"Before he left," he continued, "Zaac entrusted Sergeant Parker and me to finish what he started: to fortify the defences and find a way to evacuate the survivors." Tears ran down the officer's eye. "Zaac and all the men that went with him never came back..."
Claire's face ran white with dread and sorrow, tears formed around her eyes, then began to dribble down her cheeks. "No… no… nonononoNO!" She sat down with her hands in her lap, staring down and her twitchy fingers. "Months apart, and this is how it ends?" She tried to cry but stayed firm.
The officer placed his caring hand on Claire's left shoulder; he smiled, even if it did hurt him to do so. "I'm sorry to be the bearer of bad news; this is just based on theory. If he were still alive, he'd be here now already."
Claire wiped her eyes from the tears and muck and spoke calmly, "I know Zaac, he's a survivor, and he's got a strong heart. I just wish…" She sighed. "It's been so long since I've seen him; we have a son, for fuck's sake! I can't have David growing up without a father."
"Congratulations..."
"Thanks. Thanks for everything, Officer."
"Sergeant… Marvin Branagh."
"Marvin."
"There's nothing left for your here, Claire."
"There's you, Marvin."
"Don't worry about me. Just rescue the survivors in the other rooms – if there are any. I can't be the only one here..." He let go of Claire and handed her a blue key card. "Take this and override the doors on the terminal at the main hall's desk. Now go, please..."
"Okay, I'll be back soon. Just hang in there."
Claire saw the way to the east office and the reception desk were locked in the main hall. The terminal was still on. The hardware was heating up, so it's been on for a while now. It was also logged into the R.P.D. database; it was a S.T.A.R.S. account. Zachary Wesker's. She rummaged through his profile and found his last activity was a few hours ago.
Could he still be alive?
Claire opened the last two of the four doors electronically with Marvin's keycard. She took the time to rifle through his messages and found nothing. He'd often complain about messages deleting themselves for no reason, didn't think he was serious. Those messages would have been handy. Instead, there were no messages in or out. She took off from the terminal and went to the reception office.
Past the reception desk and towards the window in the back, Claire took a look outside. It was dark of darkest nights, those horrible cold nights she'd stay in bed, waiting for Zaac to come home. Spoiling the moment was a skinless, red monster with claws scuttling over the window like a spider. Then the night consumed it.
The R.P.D. walls were safe enough to keep the beasties outside, so Claire just moved on into the L-shaped corridor next to the window. Straight away, the sounds of faint dripping summoned her to a fresh corpse.
Closer inspection implies the victim had already turned and was recently decapitated. That's when something dripped in her hair. After that, she only needed to look up to see something worse than any other zombie.
It was the monster from outside. Crawling slowly on the ceiling above Claire, it hissed and snarled at her, exposing its long fangs. Real flesh-ripping teeth. It was also blind, had a long flexible tongue and a muscular build. They were worse to look at up close, and that brain of theirs was exposed.
What is that? A licking zombie? Did it break through the window?
The Licker dropped from the ceiling in between Claire and the door in front of her. She backed away slowly. It didn't move. Then she came by the corpse and stepped on some glass by the broken window next to it. That's when the Licker began to pick up on her.
The Licker lunged its body at Claire as she was about to step off the glass shards. It was faster than her, so running wasn't an option. She was able to hug the wall as the Licker landed behind her and missed. It was ready to pounce again as soon as Claire moved. She ran for the door as fast as she could before it could catch her. The adrenaline carried her further into the next corridor and to the stairs leading up.
Claire reached a second floor west corridor, the one with the S.T.A.R.S. office. The fond memories of waiting for her brother Chris to come down those stairs and take her out to dinner, shopping and the occasional coffee break. Good times.
This would be the first time she could see what it was like inside. The corridor was empty; old leaflets and posters occupied the walls.
A zombie cornered a blonde girl in a white and blue uniform. Naturally, she was terrified and cried for help before she fled for her life around a corner. Claire put down the zombie and chased after the girl. Into a lounge, the girl was gone. Leon was walking towards her from a chain of ransacked lockers to the left. He looked disappointed.
"Leon!" Claire called happily.
"Claire. You made it."
"Have you seen a little girl in a blue uniform come by here?"
Leon turned around and stared back at the chain of lockers. "Yeah, you just missed her. Who is she?"
"I don't know, but it's too dangerous for her to be here alone."
"She crawled through a hole in the door back there," said Leon, pointing at a door beyond a row of lockers. There was a hole in the door that was too small for an adult to fit through. "Tried breaking the door down, but it wouldn't budge." He turned around and walked to a drink vending machine behind Claire. It was old and unused. He had loose change in his hand. The jingle of his coins sounded nice to Claire's ears.
"She's just scared."
"Who can blame her?" Leon put some coins in the machine and pressed a button for a classic cola. The machine choked and refused to give Leon his soda. "Gimme a break…"
"Choked up?"
"Yeah..." He sighed. "I need a drink. Never prepared for something like this. This is a terrible situation."
"Not like things can get any worse." She struck the vending machine in a sweet spot at the bottom and leant on it, folding her arms. She was smug.
"Why did you-"
"Wait for it..." she interrupted. The vending machine made a clunk, and Leon's soda dropped for his collection.
Leon smirked. "Thanks." He took his soda can and opened it. Claire tried to stop him, but the fizz sprayed cola in his face. Claire chuckled. "Thanks a lot..." He wiped his face clean. "Where did you learn that?"
"My boyfriend. Listen, I'll find that girl. You gotta find a way out of here."
"Of course. Before I forget, here's a radio." Leon handed Claire a small hand radio. "We'll have a better chance of survival if we keep in touch."
"Okay. I'll see you soon, hopefully with the girl." Claire was about to leave, but Leon stopped her.
"Bump into anyone else here?"
"There's a wounded officer downstairs; I don't think he's gonna make it."
"No shit?"
"He told me to look around for any other survivors."
"I don't think there are any other survivors; it's too dangerous to be squatting around here."
"Tell me about it," Claire said, "the place reeks of death."
"Be careful." Leon took the door Claire came through, as she took his.