16. A Headline To Die For
Alyssa, Kevin, Mark and Harry reached the top of the fire escape, which was near the top of the Raccoon Today building. The moans of the zombies could be hear down below as Alyssa tried to open a closed window with no luck.
"Agh," she complained. "It's locked." She turned to Mark. "Make yourself useful baldy, and bash open this window for me."
Mark sighed and walked over to the window, raising his shotgun and swinging the butt end into the window three times before it cracked and eventually shattered. The group climbed in and looked around the room. It appeared to be a confined office with a desk, the only light coming from the window the group had broken through. Alyssa soon realized where they were. Kevin grabbed a phone that sat on the desk and lifted it to his ear.
"Shit," he said, hanging it up. "It's dead."
"Prolly wouldn' help anyway," Mark said. "Who would we call?"
"I dunno," Kevin said with a smirk. "Ghostbusters?"
"This is," Alyssa said, before hearing the sounds of something moving. Papers littered the office floor, and the sound of something crawling across them could be heard behind the desk. Kevin lifted his .45 as Mark lifted his shotgun, while Harry trembled and shoot in the back of the room, clinging to the shotgun tightly but not aiming it, instead holding it like a broom with both hands. Alyssa crept along the side of the desk, pulling her weapon out from her suit jacket, then quickly stepped around the side of the desk and aimed. A man, cowering on the floor, covered his face in surprise and screamed.
"Get up!" Alyssa ordered aggressively. The man complied, raising both hands into the air. She then recognized him as Stanley Spiegelman, editor of the paper.
"You!" she said.
"Alyssa!" he said. "Oh thank God, you brought help!"
"What?" she said. "I didn't come here to save you Stanley. What the hell are you still doing here?"
"I, I um," Stanley said hesitantly. "I was, going to have a, uh, a meeting with Gloria."
"Gawd," Alyssa said, putting her hand to her forehead as if she had a headache. "Fucking your own secretary in your office, while your wife is home raising your kid. You're disgusting."
Alyssa then noticed that Stanley's arm was bleeding.
"You're bleeding," she said.
"What happened?" Mark asked.
"One of those things," he said. "It, it bit me!"
Alyssa's eyes widened and she quickly raised the gun to Stanley's head.
"That's all the excuse I need," she said in a very dark tone.
"What are you doing!" Stanley said, taking a step back. "ARE YOU INSANE!"
"Alyssa," Kevin said, walking up to her from the side of the desk. "Don't. Please."
"You don't understand Kevin," she said, sweat beginning to drip from her forehead. "I've been waiting for an opportunity like this for a LONG fucking TIME! You can't stop me. He's going to turn, you know that. The BEST we can do for this walking, talking stack of shit is end his fucking life in the blink of an eye. Do you have ANY idea how miserable this man is! Do you even have the faintest idea what he's tried to get me to do? How much fucking misery he's caused me? I am NOT going to pass up this opportunity!"
"Alyssa, please," Kevin said, putting his hand on hers, which began to shake violently as she lightly pressed her finger against the trigger. "You can't just take a man's life because he's an asshole, not while he's still one of us. You will regret this day, this moment, if you pull that trigger. I know that. I once killed a man on duty, and he was a criminal, a no good son of a bitch who killed people. But when I shot him, it didn't bring those people back, it didn't bring comfort to their family, and it didn't right his wrongs. The only thing that happened, is that now I see that man's face every time I sleep, the vacancy in his eyes piercing me, strangling me, drowning me. Murder clings to you like a parasite, and it won't ever let you go. You might hate this guy, but I guarantee you will one day regret this. Please Alyssa, I know you aren't so fucking sadistic to just kill another human being. You're better than that, better than him."
Alyssa's chest heaved in and out, her face still dead set on the man. She turned her eyes towards Kevin, who was looking at her sternly but in a way that expressed concern. Slowly she lowered her weapon and held it by her side as Kevin patted her on the back.
"And if he does turn," Kevin said with a smirk. "I promise he's all yours."
"What!" Stanley said. "You can't be serious!"
Mark cocked his shotgun. "We are," he said in a threatening tone.
Stanley shuttered as Alyssa walked away from them, frustrated. She then opened the door and found a woman's body lying at the foot of it, her back covered in blood and giant bloody shred marks streaking down along its surface.
"Gloria!" Alyssa said.
"She tried to get in here," Stanley said. "She screamed for me to open the door, but those things were right behind her. I couldn't let them get in, I would die! I HAD to keep her out there, or they would find me!"
Alyssa began fuming with an inner rage.
"You pathetic little worm," she said. "How can you be so goddamn selfish? Your life isn't worth the fucking dog shit on the bottom of my boots."
"Would you have let her in! WOULD YOU! I doubt it Alyssa! You aren't one to talk you fucking bitch! The only person YOU care about is yourself!"
"Tha's enough," Mark said, standing between them. "We got ta' get out a' here fore those things come back. No use cryin' over spilt milk, le's get ourselves outta here alive fore we start pointin' fingers. Time's waistin'."
"Mark's right," Kevin said. "You two can fight later. Let's kill some dead people…again."
The group filed out of the office, Mark standing in front of both Stanley and Harry, who stayed in the back as Kevin and Alyssa covered the front. Alyssa made sure to get as much distance between her and Stanley, peering at him hatefully out of the corner of his eye, watching for any small hint that he was going to turn on them.
"Stay focused killer," Kevin said. "Last thing I need is my backup thinking about capping somebody who isn't even worth the cost of the bullet."
Alyssa frowned but took Kevin's advice, scanning the halls and checking through the doorways. Gradually they turned a corner, only to find a sight that stunned Kevin and Alyssa. The wall was covered in blood as a corpse lay against it. Kevin stepped closer to the body.
"Where's the…head?" he said.
"This jus' ain't sanitary," Mark said. "No way in hell one a' those things coulda done that."
"Could we please keep moving?" Stanley said. "I'm feeling sick."
Alyssa quickly spun around and pointed the gun at his head.
"I'm gonna puke! Not turn!" Stanley said, but the moment he finished Alyssa fired a shot off with a loud bang, causing Stanley to fall backwards to the floor. The bullet whizzed past him and right alongside Harry's head, connecting with a zombie that stood only inches behind Harry, its mouth gaping and ready to bite into Harry's neck. The zombie collapsed to the ground with a hard thud and lay motionless. Stanley whimpered on the floor, his hands covering his head.
"Oh Jesus," he said. "Oh Jesus, Joseph and Mary fuckin' Christ, I pissed my pants!"
Harry stood over the zombie's body in a state of shock as Alyssa lowered her gun. Kevin patted her on the back in a congratulatory manner.
"That's my girl," he said gleefully. "I swear your skill never ceases to amaze me! Why didn't you become a cop?"
"And wear that stupid get up you got?" she said, strangely, with a smirk on her face. "I'll pass. No way in hell I'm gonna be looking as stupid as you do."
Kevin laughed as Mark walked up to Harry.
"Compose yo self son," he said. "Yer an officer a' the law, you swore an oath ta' serve an' protect, an' you ain't doin' but jack shit."
"It's, it's my first day!" Harry said.
"Ah don' give a shit," Mark said. "As long as you got that badge ovah your heart, you a protector, now start actin' like one dammit! Don' make me relieve you of yo firearm. I ain't seen you put it to use once yet."
"Y-y-yes sir," Harry said.
Why can't mah boy listen ta' me like that? Mark thought.
The group made their way through the halls until they found a flight of stairs, which descended down at least eight stories to the ground floor. The group trekked it, with Mark asking for them to stop a few seconds.
"Ah'm sorry," he said, huffing and puffing. "Mah war injurie's actin' up on me. Please jus' gimme a second ta' recuperate mahself."
"War injury my ass," Alyssa said. "It's all those donuts you pack under your man tits, fatty. If you actually worked out for once in your life, maybe you wouldn't be such a burden!"
"Alyssa stop it," Kevin said. "Mark was in Vietnam, show some respect. I really don't think we would still be alive if it weren't for him."
"Thank you Kevin," Mark said, turning towards Alyssa. "Ah've had jus' about enough a' you, Alyssa. Ah've got more years under mah belt than you, an' you ain't got no right ta' insult me all the time. Don' you understan' pushin' people away only keeps ya' lonely? Ah don' hate you Alyssa, in fact ah admire yo skills. You obviously an intelligent woman, but you ain't doin' yerself no good chastisin' me all the time. Ah'm tryin' ta' help you goddammit!"
Alyssa frowned and simply crossed her arms in silence.
The group proceeded down the stairs until they reached the ground floor. Kevin opened the door and scanned the room before them. It was an immense library filled with rows and rows of books, files, and desks. Books and papers were scattered everywhere, thrown into utter chaos, the moonlight passing through the large windows that littered the room, the only source of illumination that gave the room a gloomy dark blue color to it. The group cautiously walked down one of the long rows of books towards the center of the room.
"You got a library?" Mark said.
"Not exactly," Alyssa said. "The newspaper offices were built over an old library. The last person who owned the paper, before that rat over there, established it as an easy access reporters could use to research, but Stanley over there hasn't given the place the attention it deserves."
"Great," Kevin said. "Books and more books. It's like one of my worst nightmares, except I'm naked and forgot to do my homework. C'mon, don't tell me you never had that one," he said, looking over to Alyssa.
"Everybody has had that one," she said. "But for me it was at a relative's wedding party, and I farted really, really loud in front of everybody."
Kevin burst out in laughter as Alyssa let out a strained chuckle.
"What the hell is wrong with you people!" Stanley said. "Those things could be in here, they'll hear us!"
"Just shut up already pissy pants," Kevin said. "I'm starting to miss Jim of all people. He didn't complain nearly as much as you did, and at least he had something funny to say every once in awhile."
"Ah hafta agree with him," Mark said. "Silence is the greatest tool a soldjah can possess, an' we need as many balls in our field as we kin get right now."
The group gathered in the center of the room, where a large reception desk sat in silence.
"The exits should be down this way," Alyssa said, pointing towards the front of the library. The group followed until she tried to push open the steel doors with no luck.
"Shit," she said. "Locked, and my pick won't help us this time."
"Can't we just shoot our way through?" Kevin said.
"You can try," she said. "But it'd be a waste of bullets, cuz those doors are reinforced. Nothing could get through them except a tiny atom bomb."
"Good thing I keep one in my back pocket," Kevin said sarcastically.
"How do we unlock it Alyssa," Mark asked.
"There should be a breaker somewhere that controls them, maybe in the librarian's office. Let's go take a look."
The group followed Alyssa back to the reception desk as she looked up at an office that overlooked the library like a tyrant overlooks his kingdom, the glass eyed windows peering down at them vacantly. Alyssa continued walking to the back of the room when suddenly Mark heard a noise down one of the long, stretching bookshelves. He quickly turned and saw a figure quickly run by.
"There's somethin' in here," Mark said.
"Where?" Kevin said, pulling out his 45.
"Alyssa," Mark said in a hushed, whispered tone. "Take Harry with you. We'll secure the area."
"Hmph," Alyssa said. "C'mon Harry Pits, whatever your name is, let's shed some light on this place."
Harry nervously followed her as Mark and Kevin coordinated their next actions.
"You take the east side, an' I'll cover the west," Mark said.
"Will do chief," Kevin said, his gun in both hands as he cautiously stepped, right foot, left foot, down the opposite book shelves.
"Where are you going!" Stanley said. "You're just gonna leave me here!"
"Shut yo mouth," Mark said. "You'll give our presence away. Jus' sit down and keep quiet!"
Mark slowly trekked down the shelves, his shotgun at the ready. He listened carefully for the sound before, his eyes closely scanning every shadow and dark corner he passed. Suddenly a book fell from the very top of the shelf, surprising Mark and causing him to jump and his heart beat to pound faster and harder against his chest.
"Phew." He said, relieved.
He then looked through an empty space in the bookshelf, and saw a dark eye peering at him. Mark raised his shotgun out of instinct, but the eye was gone in a flash. Heavy footsteps could be heard on the other side of the shelves. Mark's heartbeat grew fiercer and stronger. The eyes he saw were definitely not human, not in the slightest. They looked like a snake's eye.
Mark listened carefully to the heavy footsteps and followed them along the bookshelf. He followed until he was close to the edge, leaning downward and ready to see whatever it was he was chasing, until suddenly the footsteps stopped. Mark stood dead in his tracks, the silence the most unnerving thing he had ever experienced, when a whoosh sound could be heard on the other side of the shelf. Mark cautiously peered around the corner, only to find nothing there at all.
"What the hell?" he said, walking around the shelf to the other side, utterly confused at finding nothing whatsoever in sight. "Where the hell did it…"
Another low sound could be heard, the sound of something breathing. Long drips of saliva poured from the top of the bookshelf. Mark slowly tilted his head up towards the top of the shelf, sweat dripping from his forehead. A dark figure sat perched atop the shelf and let out a blood curdling hiss.
Alyssa climbed the spiral staircase that led up to the towering librarian's office. She checked the door only to find it locked. She then reached into her jacket pocket and produced her lock picks.
"You've saved my butt more than once today already," she said to it. "Don't fail me now."
The first pick she tried worked like a charm, and she pushed the door open, letting it slowly creak to the side. She stepped into the room and scanned through the darkness. She put her hands out against the wall, trying to find the breaker.
"It must be somewhere here," she said. "If I can just,"
Before she could finish her sentence, the feeling of an iron box met with her slender hand.
"Bingo," she said. "Found the jackpot."
She grabbed the handle to the box, only to find it closed tightly. She turned to Harry.
"Okay you, boy in blue," she said. "Whatever your name is, bring that shotty over here to me so I can crack this mother wide open."
Harry simply stood there at the door, his face covered in shadow.
"C'mon kid," Alyssa said. "We don't have all fucking day, give me the gun, or break it open yourself!"
Still no response. Alyssa took a step forward.
"Are you listening to me! I said…MOVE!"
Suddenly Harry took a step forward, revealing his face in the moonlight. Blood poured from his mouth and fell to the floor as his intestines spilled from his stomach and onto the floor with a splat. Harry fell to his knees and let out a slight "urk" before collapsing to the floor face first. Standing over his corpse was a horrific creature with green, reptilian like scales and a dark, black snake like eyes. It stared at Alyssa, showing its razor sharp teeth and hunched over stature, its immense claws dripping with blood. Alyssa gasped and took a few steps back. The thing looked like a cross between a snake, some sort of ancient dinosaur, and a demon straight from hell.
"N-no," she said. "Get away from me! Stay back!"
The creature slowly stepped towards Alyssa, its large feet pounding against the floor, then let out a shriek that resembled nails on a chalkboard. It then leaped into the air and pouched toward Alyssa, throwing its claws out in an attempt to strike her, but Alyssa quickly leaped backward just out of range from it. She then ran around the side of the desk and towards the shotgun, but the thing leaped over the desk and swung its hand, shoving Alyssa to the ground. Alyssa struggled to get to her feet when the thing leaped at her again, but before it could pounce her she grabbed a fire extinguisher from the wall and smacked the thing across the face, stunning it slightly. She then ran towards the shotgun and grabbed it, but before she could aim the thing pounced on her, pinning her to the ground. Alyssa held the shotgun in front of her, the hunter grabbing hold of it with both hands and letting out another unearthly shriek. It then raised one hand into the air, ready to strike down on Alyssa, when she managed to aim the shotgun directly against the hunter's chest.
"Go to hell!" she screamed, firing the shotgun with a loud BOOM, sending the hunter flying backward and through the large glass window panes at the front of the office. The hunter screamed until its body hit the ground with a thud. Alyssa breathed heavily in and out.
"What the fuck was that!"
Suddenly the loud explosion of shotgun fire could be heard over the entire library as Mark shot into the air at one of the hunters, who was leaping almost frog like from the tops of the wide shelves onto another and another, swiftly dodging Mark's volleys. Alerted to this, Kevin ran back from his position at the opposite end of the library towards the reception desk, where Stanley was standing.
"What's going on!" Stanley said.
"I don't know, stay behind the,"
But before Kevin could speak, a massive fountain of blood burst into the air from Stanley's neck as his head flew across the room and rolled towards Kevin's feet. His body, now beheaded, collapsed to the floor lifeless, as another hunter, having just landed from his leap, slowly turned towards Kevin, its claws covered in blood. It let out a hiss as Kevin raised his 45, but with incredible speed the hunter dodged and weaved, propelling itself against the shelves and surface of the reception desk, then leaped at Kevin and took a swipe, knocking the gun out of his hand and pinning him to the ground.
"Argh!" Kevin screamed, the weight of the hunter's body holding him against the ground. The hunter let out a blood lust roar and raised its hand into the air, when suddenly it was thrown to the side by a loud blast of shotgun fire. Alyssa emerged from the shadows and ran up to the thing, firing round after round at it, only for it to get up and dodge every follow up shot. Kevin looked up at Alyssa in shock.
"What's the matter cowboy," she said. "You fall off your high horse? Looks like we're even now."
Alyssa put one hand out towards Kevin, who smirked, then received her hand as she helped him get to his feet.
"Looks like that thing took your prize," Kevin said, picking up his 45 and motioning towards Stanley's beheaded body.
"Maybe I should thank it," she said as more shotgun blasts echoed in the back of the room.
"Mark!"
Mark fired round after round, trying to hit the thing, only to find his gun empty. He reached into his pocket and pulled out some shells when the hunter dropped down to the ground in front of him and sent an upward swipe, knocking Mark onto his back. He held the shotgun in his hand, only to find it broken in half. The hunter slowly crept toward, opening its mouth to show its sharp teeth and letting out a low, reptilian hiss. Mark then rolled to the side as the hunter leaped toward him, hitting the book shelf instead. Mark then got up and began to run, but with great speed the hunter took wide strides and was behind him. Mark turned around as the hunter grabbed him tightly by the forearms, struggling to keep it from biting him, its claws digging deeply into his forearms. Somehow out of sheer adrenaline Mark shoved it hard against a bookshelf, toppling the whole thing over. The hunter shook its head, looked towards Mark and let out a vicious growl. It then shrieked loudly and leaped towards Mark, when two loud BOOMS nearly burst Mark's eardrums. The hunter was sent flying backward in mid flight, crashing hard against a bookshelf and toppling it to the ground. Kevin and Alyssa then appeared, having knocked the thing out of the air with their shotgun and 45.
"Thank you so much," Mark said. "You saved me."
"Save the thanks for later pops," Alyssa said. "Let's get the fuck outta here!"
"Good." Mark said.
The group ran toward the reception desk, then towards the exit. Kevin looked back and saw one of the hunters pursuing. He fired a round from his 45, knocking it to the ground, only for it to immediately spring back to its feet. Two others then emerged from the darkness of the bookshelves.
"These things won't die!" Kevin said, pulling the trigger only to hear a dreaded "click." "Shit!"
The three then ran to the door, only to find a hunter jump directly in front of it. The three stepped back, Alyssa aiming the shotgun, only to find it empty.
"Guess this is it," Kevin said. "The light at the end of the tunnel!"
"We're screwed!" Alyssa said.
"No," Mark said, balling his hands into fists as the other three hunters emerged behind them, completely surrounding them. "Ah will NOT die so EASILY! NEVER!"
Mark then let out a roar and ran towards the hunter. The hunter took a swipe as Mark raised his arms to block the attack, the swipe cutting his forearms badly, but Mark felt nothing, and instead ran towards the hunter and tackled it with his shoulder, knocking it against and through the double doors that were the exit, causing them to swing open. Mark got to his feet.
"GO!" he said, running through the doors as the hunter swiped at his foot, cutting his calf. A hunter then leaped towards Kevin, who sent a sidekick directly into its chest, knocking it back away from him, as Alyssa ran through the doors. Waiting for them on the other side was a blockade of police cars and vans that covered the narrow street like a gate, a large group of RPD Swat and policemen suddenly turning their attention towards the three survivors.
"They're coming!" Kevin screamed. "Shoot, shoot!"
"Get down!" one of the officers screamed, causing Mark, Kevin and Alyssa to drop face first to the ground. Directly over their bodies a massive volley of gunfire rushed past, every shot hitting its target. One by one the hunters fell, at first absorbing the blows but gradually losing their footing and screaming in pain. Black blood filled the street and the unanimous sound of nearly 10 firearms being fired in unison could be heard from miles around until the reptilian monsters were no longer moving.
"You can get up now," one of the officers said, walking to the three survivors. "They're all dead."
Mark, Kevin and Alyssa got to their feet.
"Officer," the cop says. "Your name?"
"Kevin Ryman," Kevin responded.
"Officer Marvin Branagh," Marvin said. "Good job getting these civilians here. I don't know how you did it, but you did it."
"I wasn't the one who saved them, we're alive because we kept each other alive. And…some of us, didn't make it," Kevin said sadly, thinking of Raymond, Dorian, Aaron and all the other officers he had to watch die.
"You're all to be commended," Marvin said. "But quickly, we have to get moving. We're establishing a temporary shelter for any residents left in the city. We've set up a blockade at the police station, and we're out looking for any survivors to take there. We have to hurry, there could be more of those things."
Marvin looked at the three of them.
"Are any of you infected?" he asked. "Have you been bitten?"
"No," Kevin said. "But Mark needs medical attention, he's been cut pretty badly."
Mark only now noticed his bleeding arms.
"Come with me," Marvin said. "The medic is this way."
Marvin helped Mark, who was now feeling weak, to a police van in the street. Kevin walked towards the blockade and looked out at the city. Fire and smoke rose into the sky as a large sign with the words "Raccoon City" was thrown across the top of a car and set on fire, symbolizing the sudden fall and complete destruction of the great city Kevin had once called home. Thousands of bodies were strewn about the floor, some of them the previously undead cadavers and the others civilians caught in the crossfire or mauled to death. Fire was every where, it engulfed the streets, its loud crackling deadened only by the suffering, resonant moans of the undead that still roamed the city. Alyssa walked up beside Kevin and looked out at the fiery city streets.
"Hell," Kevin said, both to himself at to Alyssa. "This must be what hell is like."
"All those people," Alyssa said. "So many lives lost."
"I can't believe that just yesterday, I drove down this street, and everything was normal. People were laughing, talking, some were even standing around doing nothing. All of that was destroyed in one night. I thought I had finally found a place I could call home."
"Me too," Alyssa said.
Without warning, Kevin grasped Alyssa's hand with his. Surprised, she looked down at his hand, then up at him. In the reddish orange light that the burning flames emitted, Alyssa made out a tear welling up in Kevin's eye. He squeezed her hand tightly but said nothing more. She did not let go, despite her compulsion to do so, somewhat welcoming the warmth of his rough hands, and simply stared out into the bowels of hell with him, at what used to be Raccoon City.