Don't suppose anyone here who bought Dragon's Dogma and also has early access to the RE6 demo would be able to tell us if it's any good, would they?

The Pelanoi Accounts

Chapter Two: Evacuation

Morning came without anything attempting to murder them in the night; for that, Ethan was grateful. If nothing else it meant he actually got some decent sleep for once in his life. He sat up slowly and rubbed his tired eyes, checking on the rest of the group. Everyone appeared to be – no, two were missing; Leah and Ellen. A quick sweep of the home department store confirmed that they weren't inside.

While he didn't particularly care that the two had gone missing, he figured that if something had happened to them, then they weren't nearly as secure as he though they were, which was bad for him too.

'Don't forget about me.' Marcus chimed in his head.

You're not the one who'd go through the horror of dying. He replied.

'True enough, but then you know, since I've got experience there maybe I could tell you what to expect.'

I'd really rather not know…

'First comes the pain – which should be obvious – and I gotta tell you, those zombies should really learn to clean their teeth...'

Ethan frowned at Marcus' chatter, trying to reduce him to white noise in the back of his head as he wandered around the mall looking for possible breaches. The barricades they had set up seemed fine, so unless something had come in through the roof…

Ethan groaned aloud at having forgotten something so obvious and headed towards the rear of the mall. To his growing ire he found the door to the staircase leading to the roof wide open.

Fantastic.

He went back into the department store and grabbed his axe before trudging back to the roof staircase.

Alright, let's get this over with.

'You know, that is the exact same thing I thought when that third zombie started munching on my left lung.'

Ethan cringed and ascended; his axe hefted, ready to either take a quick swing or block anything that tried bulldozing him.

The door to the roof was also open, and Ethan could hear grunts emanating from outside. He crept up cautiously to the doorway and poked his head around…

Ellen and Leah stood on top of the roof, from what Ethan could tell it seemed like they were sparring. Ethan felt himself relax a fraction, and was about to go back downstairs to hunt for some breakfast when sudden footsteps made him turn around. Randolf had come up too, and nodded to Ethan as well as patting him on the shoulder as he made his way out onto the roof.

'Mornin' chuckles.'

He stepped outside and took a deep breath of the cool morning air. The sun even now was creeping over the horizon, bathing the city in a warm, comforting glow. Randolf passed the two warring women, glancing appreciatively as Ellen swayed aside from a quick axe-kick delivered by Leah before stepping up to the edge of the roof and unzipping his fly, before urinating off the top of the roof, craning his head upwards, pure bliss etched upon his face.

'Damn that feels good. Think I forgot to use the bathroom even once yesterday.'

'What are you doing?' Leah shrieked at him.

'What?' Randolf asked, his eyes twinkling with amusement, 'I'm relieving myself.'

'Then go to the guys' room or something! Don't do that here!'

'Nah,' Randolf dismissed, 'besides, I've always wanted to do this.'

While Leah gaped at Randolf, Ellen had taken advantage of her distraction to sneak up behind her back, tapping her lightly on her right shoulder. Leah turned her head to the side, and no sooner had she done so when Ellen lashed out with a leg, sweeping the younger woman off her feet. She planted a foot on top of her and folded her arms, victorious.

'Keep your eyes on your opponent princess,' she told the prone young woman, her tone as frosty as ever. Leah glared up at Ellen, her face red with humiliation.

'I knew it!' Randolf called, Ellen cast her gaze on him, arching an eyebrow.

'Frost queens always like it rough. Every. Single. One.' Ellen didn't react, stepping off of Leah and heading back inside, passing Ethan without so much as a glance before descending the staircase.

Deciding that spending his time up on the roof was now pointless – given that he'd gotten his answers – Ethan followed Ellen back down, wondering which store on the first floor he should try for food first.

-X-

Cassidy browsed the pharmacy intently, checking each and every aisle for anything that seemed out of the ordinary. She finally reached the end of the contraceptives aisle and sighed heavily. She cast a glance at the two large, emboldened red Gs that labelled practically every product in the store and took her recording device from her pocket.

'Day six on Pelanoi island,' she spoke into the built-in microphone on the device 'the last day and a half have been… unlike anything I could have imagined. I'd read the reports from the various – and few – survivors from Raccoon City as well as the survivors of similar incidents around the globe but I don't think anything could possibly have prepared me for… this…' she swept her gaze across a bottle of nondescript pills, she picked it up, idly glancing at the label.

'Do not take with alcohol; side effects may include loss of breath, and cessation of respiratory system,' she laughed humourlessly before tossing the bottle away, letting it clatter on the ground and roll away, 'I've been doing background checks on the pharmaceutical company Grant and Glukhovsky for some time now. Like many similar corporations they've boomed since Umbrella's fall all those years ago, though compared to some like Tricell or Wilpharma, they're small time at most. Nonetheless, my list of contacts has told me some… interesting details regarding this fairly average pharmaceutical corporation. Several employees disappearing over the past few months – many of whom were later sighted on this very island. Several accounts of money changing many hands and even a murder or two – the more recent, concerning the British Ambassador in the United States I am all but convinced was staged...' she paused, taking a deep breath before continuing:

'And yet despite all of this I'm now having my doubts. Grant and Gluhovsky are up to something here; of that there is no doubt. Though a recent subject I've affiliated myself with – in the name of survival – insists that she came here chasing a recognised, wanted bio-terrorist. I'm forced to wonder if the current situation is perhaps not a result of another unrestrained pharmaceutical corporation and is instead the act of a particular individual… but then that raises a thousand other questions: how did he get here if he's a wanted man? Did someone smuggle him in? Did this party give him the T-Virus, thereby enabling this atrocity to come about? How has this spread so quickly?'

Cassidy lowered the recording device and sighed, taking another breath before pulling it up to her lips again.

'I fear – among many, many other things – that my search for answers cannot continue as long as I remain in this… this cauldron of blood. And yet I do not believe I would ever forgive myself if I did not commit myself to at least attempting to root out the cause of all this horror. I feel…' she trailed off as something 'clicked', close by. She gasped and fumbled for her pistol, almost dropping her recording device.

The bottle of pills she had so casually tossed aside earlier had come to a rest against the check-out desk; it had connected with something on the desk, and engaged some sort of mechanism. Curiosity overwhelmed Cassidy as she crawled cautiously up to the check-out. Removing the bottle of pills she saw that there was an indention in the desk that the bottle had collided with as it rolled. It appeared to be some kind of –

'Switch…' she breathed, then hurriedly raised her recording device and stood up, making sure to keep an eye on the indention. She pressed her foot against it, tapping gently. Something clicked once more and suddenly a section of the wall slid open; revealing a concealed entrance.

Shaking her astonishment loose, she crept inside, her recording device never straying more than half a foot from her mouth, and her gun pointed ahead.

'There's… I don't believe this, I just –' she resisted the urge to jump into the air and shout her triumph 'it was pure, blind chance but it happened nonetheless. A switch! A switch by the check-out counter you activate by pushing it with your foot! It opens a segment of the wall. I'm inside now; it's a thin corridor. There's a metal door at the end…'

She reached the door and took hold of the door handle. No sooner had she done this when light suddenly flooded the secret corridor.

'This… this part of the mall must run on its own independent power source. The lights in the corridor have just turned on. There must be sensors on the door handle I've just taken hold of – a curious place for such things to be sure but they must be there. I'm opening the door now.'

She stepped inside and found herself in what seemed like a lab. Long white benches lined the room, dotted with microscopes and other equipment. Consoles and screens dotted the pure, clean white walls. At the far end of the room was a large tube with…

'Oh my God… there's… there's something here. There's a large test tube at the opposite end of the room and… oh God. I'll try and describe what I'm seeing. It's… it looks like a skinless human. Big, long, sharp talons on its gangly limbs – I bet those could do some damage. Its head is… it looks like its brain has burst out of its skull. It doesn't seem to have any eyes… perhaps it hunts by sound or scent? I sure don't want to find out.' She backed away from the tube. The creature freaked her out.

'This is…' she bumped into a console as she backed away from the inactive creature; a screen flickered to life, surprising her. An ageing man's face filled the screen, he looked panicked, and hadn't shaven in a few days.

'This is Doctor Paul Anton, calling from Progenitor Station; the specimens are loose! I say again the specimens are loose! We don't know how but they are out and… and they're killing people. I'm initiating Article Thirty-Three. Take as much data as you can, wipe your machines and purge your facilities. If we do not leave with something then all of this was for nothing! I advise you make your way to either Elspeth Airport or New Rynns and evacuate. Do not come to Faraquay! At the rate things are going here the city will be a ghost town in a matter of hours... Jennifer… Jennifer if you're watching this then please, please go, now! I love y–'

The screen fizzed out, leaving Cassidy alone once more.

She was unmoving for almost a full minute, forgetting even to breathe until the lack of oxygen forced her to gasp for breath. She staggered at her discovery, taking a couple of gulps of air before raising her recording device.

'This is… this is everything I needed. I have proof. They started this; all of it. I don't think they meant to but they did…' she checked the room for a data stick, finding one in a drawer and inserting it in the port of a nearby machine. Activating it proved fruitless however, as the machine had been wiped. Cassidy cursed under her breath and checked each and every other machine in the room. No luck.

She glanced warily at the monster in the tube, and then caught sight of one last machine which still looked active. How she hadn't noticed it before she didn't know; though the creature had been very eye-catching. She made her way over to the machine, glancing at the inactive monster every couple of seconds until finally she reached her objective.

She slid the data stick into the console and activated the machine. Success! It still worked and there… wow… she didn't think all those files could conceivably fit on that tiny little hard drive. She copied as much incriminating evidence as she could before placing it onto the data stick, switching the machine off and pulling the device out. The creature remained still, though Cassidy couldn't shake the unnerving feeling that she was being watched.

'Perfect.' She smiled at the tiny device. Now all she needed to do was escape the island with it intact.

Something dripped behind her. She wheeled around, her handgun primed in one hand. Nothing. She swept the gun from side to side, checking the room. It was just as empty as it was when she had entered.

Drip.

Something fell on her shoulder, something wet. Cassidy wiped her shoulder, gaining a feel for the strange substance. It was clear, viscous, almost like… like…

The eerie feeling was now a screeching alarm bell ringing in her skull, ordering her to get the hell out of dodge. She craned her head slowly skyward, dread pooling in her belly.

The creature attached itself to the ceiling with its talons; it reminded Cassidy almost of Spiderman from a movie. Its exposed muscles were taut, as if it were coiled and ready to pounce.

It also seemed to be looking directly at her.

The creatures disgusting maw widened and a long, glistening tongue slipped out of its fanged mouth, twisting and turning in the air as if tasting it. It then retracted the tongue and slid it around its chops, as if licking its lips in anticipation of a…

'Meal…' Cassidy murmured, her shock induced reverie at the creature's sudden appearance finally ending.

Cassidy ran as the monster pounced, crashing into the glass of the giant tube containing its kindred, cracking the glass. The liquid inside seeped through the cracks, pooling on the ground by the other creature's clawed feet.

She ran for the door, reaching for the handle when a sudden blur of movement forced her to snatch her arm back. A neat hole appeared in the wall behind her, glancing back at the monster, she saw that its head was pointed in her direction, and that its disgusting, distended tongue was retracting.

It had stabbed the wall with its tongue.

Swallowing her horror, Cassidy tore through the laboratory door, slamming it shut before dashing through the corridor and back into the pharmacy, searching frantically for a way to shut the entrance. She pressed her foot against the switch that had opened it but it did nothing. She paced up and down the store, her panic rising steadily.

Finally she stopped.

'Okay. Calm down. Take a deep breath. Whatever that thing was, it's still in there. It probably hunts by sound so if I just tell everyone to keep it down, and if we just barricade this store up it'll probably be alright.'

'You know if you start talking to yourself people are going to think you're crazy.' A voice from behind caused her to jump. She found that Ethan stood in the entrance of the store, Sydney too.

'But… you talk to yourself too.' Sydney pointed out. Ethan gave her a poisonous look.

'No. I talk to Marcus, who happens to live inmy head for reasons I can't explain. They're entirely different things, you get me?' Sydney shrank back a little from him, turning towards Cassidy, suddenly eager to change topic.

'So, what are you doing in here? And why do you look like you've seen a ghost?'

Cassidy shook her head suddenly, shaking herself out of her stupor and walked briskly up to the pair.

'Okay. Listen to me carefully,' she started, pulling the two close, 'there is some kind of… monster behind a door in that corridor.'

'Monster? Like those things outside?' Sydney asked.

'Worse. Much, much worse.' Cassidy repled gravely, 'its got a long tongue it uses to pierce things with and claws and really, really sharp teeth but I don't think it sees like we do. So we need to tell the others to be quiet, and then board this place up; and I think it would be an idea to do this now.'

'Fine,' Ethan grumbled, 'wasn't enough with the freaks outside was it? Now they're throwing new shit at us too.' Sydney took a cautious step towards Cassidy, who attempted to give her a reassuring smile, though it likely had the opposite effect she intended as Sydney simply lowered her head.

They made their way to the home department store where everyone was currently tucking into some lunch, courtesy of Arnolds Finest Snack Bar, and were barely a couple of metres away when Ethan suddenly piped up;

'Say, this monster of yours… is it a skinless person with wicked claws and a really messed up head?' he asked, measuredly. Cassidy squeezed her eyes shut, praying in her head that her fears weren't about to be proven correct.

'Please, please, please tell me it's not out of the store.'

'It's not out of the store,' Ethan deadpanned, 'unless of course it's found a way up onto the roof in the thirty seconds it's taken us to get here.'

'What?'

True enough; sitting comfortably on top of the Plexiglas roof directly above them was the very same creature Cassidy had seen only moments before.

'How can it have…' she wondered aloud, before shaking her head.

'Okay. As I said before, I'm all but certain that thing is blind, so provided we stay really, really quiet we should be fine. Maybe we can get everyone together and ambush it.'

'Are you sure? It looks pretty dangerous.' Sydney said, casting worried glances towards the creature above them. It didn't appear to be particularly mobile at that moment, content for the time being to simply manoeuvre its tongue through the air like a snake hunting for prey. The teen shuddered in revulsion.

'What's going on out here?' Kit appeared in the entrance to the department store. Cassidy pressed a finger to her lips and then pointed skyward. The young man's eyes widened for a fraction of a second before settling in their usual disinterested gaze – Cassidy could almost swear he and Ellen were related in that they both seemed to carry the same look about them.

'What exactly is that?' he asked, reaching for a weapon and then finding he'd left them in the store.

'I don't know,' Cassidy replied, her eyes not leaving the skinless freak of nature, 'but it's fast, and that tongue can punch through concrete.'

'Oh you are kidding me!' Ethan spat venomously.

'Wish I was. That thing in the store lashed out with it when I ran – clean little hole right in the wall – and the tongue's fast too; I didn't even see it until the thing pulled it back.'

'Okay. So how many of these things are there?' Kit asked, finally tearing his eyes from the creature.

'Got to be two, one's locked up in the pharmacy back there,' Cassidy motioned with her head in the direction they'd come from, 'there's no way it could have broken out and made it all the way up there in less than a minute.' Kit nodded in understanding before motioning for the three to follow him back into the store where the rest of the group sat.

While Cassidy explained the situation to the others, Ethan stood watch by the store window. The monster was still up on the roof, only now it seemed to be agitated, pacing in circles, its tongue tracing more intricate paths through the air.

'It's coming to get you.'

'Not right now Marcus.' Ethan said through gritted teeth.

'Think I saw a movie with a monster like that. Had that model-turned-actress Mira Jovovich or some shit. Pretty bad movie but you saw one of her tits in one bit which was pretty cash.'

'Marcus. Seriously. Shut the fuck up –'

'Or what, you'll climb into your own skull and kill me? The first time tore you up bad enough, I'd love to see what it'd do to you a second time.'

Ethan ground his teeth and pulled his iPod from his rucksack, untangling the wires before planting one in his ear and cycling through his collection. Soon the soothing vocals of James Veck-Gilodi poured out the earpiece and Ethan felt himself calm down as Marcus' voice faded into dull noise.

'So that's the situation.' Cassidy finished explaining.

'That's… pretty out there.' Tiffany replied, rubbing the back of her neck.

'What, more than corpses walking the streets and eating people? This whole situation is 'out there'.' Ellen scoffed.

'I'll tell you what's out there –' Randolf started, but a collective glare from the females (and a disapproving one from Kit) shut him up.

'So, what do we do?' Sema asked.

'There's only two of them right? We could lure them in one at a time and kill them.' Ellen suggested.

'I vote that we stay away from the ugly monsters with sharp teeth. Last I looked they're really not all that good for your health,' Randolf chipped in, 'besides, she said they hunt by sound right? All we need to do is tiptoe everywhere and we're golden.'

'But what if she was wrong? What if it can see? Or if it hunts in a different way?' Ellen asked pointedly.

'I think she's right.' Tiffany spoke, drawing a brief, surprised look from Ellen.

'If there are two of these things now, then chances are there are more. If these things show up en masse do show up we need to know how to deal with them.'

'Okay, so you two are all for shooting them up. But what about our weapon situation?' Sema asked 'We've got a few handguns and barely any ammunition.' She turned to Randolf 'I don't suppose there's a hunting goods store in this place is there? You know; somewhere with rifles and bullets?' she asked hopefully. Randolf fixed her with a glance before released a humourless laugh.

'Pah! No one hunts on Pelanoi. If it's fishing I can point you to a bunch of places, though I don't fancy your chances with a line and bait.'

'How about we just leave?' said a quiet voice, the group turned collectively to see Sydney shrink back shyly.

'I mean that thing's on the roof right and we didn't even notice. You've all said it yourselves; there are probably more and what if they're creeping up on this place right now? I really think we should just grab as much as we can and leave while we still can and –' the girl was going at a hundred miles an hour, and was quickly becoming unintelligible. Cassidy reached over to her and grabbed her firmly, but not roughly.

'Sweetie, calm down and take a breath.' The college student took an audible gulp of air and spent a few moments catching her breath back. Cassidy smiled gently at her.

'Good kid.'

Ethan strolled back to the gathering, his face set in stone.

'There's more,' He said gravely.

'What?'

'I'm sorry was I speaking with my volume down low or something? I said there's more. And they all look like they're sizing up a prime steak – if you don't get the analogy by the way, that means they're –'

'We get it. We're not all as thick as you,' Ellen interrupted brusquely.

'Funny,' Ethan growled.

Tiffany stepped in between them before it could escalate.

'How many Ethan?' she asked. Ethan shrugged.

'About eight, last time I looked, might be more now,' he said before leading the group over to the store window. Roughly a little more than a dozen were perched on top of the shatter-resistant glass roof, and each of them was pacing slowly, intently.

'I didn't catch all of what the ankle-biter said,' Ethan muttered, 'but I got the part about getting the fuck out of dodge. Personally I'm all for that right about now.'

'Don't think we've got much of a choice,' Tiffany murmured in agreement, 'no way we could take all of these if what Cassidy told us is true,' she turned to the rest of the group.

'Okay. Grab all your kit. We'll head downstairs and grab as much in the way of supplies as we can, we'll leave via Ethan's secret entrance.'

'There you go again, telling everyone what to do.' Ellen remarked with a scowl.

'Calm down,' Kit told her, his voice and tone counterpart to Ellen's own, 'what she's saying makes sense. Right?' He turned to Leah, who hadn't spoken much, still smarting from her defeat at Ellen's hands in the morning. Quickly jumping on the chance to one up her foe, she nodded.

'It makes total sense. Besides, I'm not seeing you come up with any bright ideas,' she smirked victoriously upon seeing Ellen's scowl deepen into a frown.

'Ladies please, you're both pretty – and ordinarily I'd toss something else in there but now's hardly the time unless one of you fancies a go…' Randolf took a quick glance at the rest of the group, many of whom cast him unfavourable looks.

'Didn't think so but I thought I'd ask anyway.'

'Enough! Let's go before they figure out how to get in!'

A crash echoing from within the mall froze the group.

'Hear that?' Ethan whispered, 'that's the sound of our chances dropping from slim to fuck-all.'

Tiffany slapped him lightly on the back of the head, much to the amusement of all present. Ethan glared with a look of unbridled malice in his gaze but said nothing.

'Now would really be the best time people,' Tiffany said, softly, 'now let's go, unless you'd prefer to stay and entertain the guests.'

It took less than a minute for everyone to pack up.

Tiffany took the lead, her weapon primed. Kit followed directly behind, two combat knives held in a reverse grip. He in turn was followed by Leah with her snub-nosed pistol. Sydney, Cassidy and Randolf made up the centre, while Ellen, Ethan and Sema brought up the rear.

Ethan cast another glance skyward; the roof seemed to be practically teeming with the skinless freaks.

'Ugly fuckers,' he spat.

'Speaking from experience are we?' Ellen said, the corner of her lip twitching in time with Ethan's eye.

'I've got half a mind to cut a leg off you and leave you as bait while the rest of us scarper.' Ethan whispered to her.

'Come try it, see what happens,' Ellen replied, she seemed entirely unafraid of the fact that her back was to Ethan, as well as entirely confident as to the outcome of a potential struggle. Ethan snarled softly and spat on the ground.

'Fuck it. Marcus is right: not worth the effort.'

'Smart boy,' She spoke condescendingly.

The group made it to the barricades erected at the top of the staircase. Tiffany stopped them there and called for them to come closer.

'We'll go down in our threes. Two groups will cover the one going down until we're all there. Okay? Good.' With that, she, Kit and Leah clambered as quietly as they could over the amalgam of objects that blockaded the stairs and made their way down. When they cleared the lower barricade they quickly surveyed the bottom floor, before signing that it was clear and that the next group could come down.

Randolf stepped aside for Cassidy and Sydney.

'Ladies first,' he said with a shit-eating grin. Cassidy rolled her eyes and pulled Sydney gently along. It seemed like it was going swimmingly until Sydney stumbled as she climbed over an unstable desk, Cassidy reached out and took her arm, preventing the young woman from falling, but the sudden motion destabilised the improvised fortification and a chair fell, clattering deafeningly loudly down the stairway.

Everyone present froze, their blood running cold as the creatures suddenly stopped. One reached its claw high –

– and brought it sharply down onto the surface, cracking the material.

All pretence of stealth lost, Sydney and Cassidy hurried down as quickly as they could, Randolf close behind as – all above them – the creatures brought their claws to bear and struck the glass again and again.

'Come on!' Tiffany shouted as soon as Sydney cleared the bottommost barricade. Needing no further spurring, Ethan, Sema and Ellen clambered down.

'That stuff's not gonna hold long,' Sema observed worriedly, checking that the safety of her handgun was off. Ethan scoffed.

'Don't be daft. They look strong sure but there's no way they could possibly –'

CRASH!

The glass shattered, and more than two dozen licker Bio-Organic Weapons dropped into the mall.

'Fantastic observation Holmes!' Ellen yelled over the din of breaking Plexiglas and the hissing lickers.

'Where do we go now? For the food stores?' Someone asked; no one was entirely sure who.

'Too close; they'd be on us in seconds! No, we have to leave now!' Tiffany bellowed over the noise.

The group darted through the mall, many of the lickers already on their trail. Sema turned around and squeezed off a couple of shots, winging two lickers which slowed them, but didn't stop them.

'Save your shots! Just run!'

They made it to Ethan's back entrance within the space of a minute, the hissing BOWs never further than a step behind. Tiffany ushered everyone through, making sure they passed before turning through the door and slamming it shut just as one of the creatures pounced.

The claw shredded through the door, the tip sitting mere millimetres away from Tiffany's throat.

Stumbling back – caught off-guard by her near death experience – she collapsed on the ground for a moment before shaking her head, snapping herself out of her stupor and hauling ass away from the mall with the rest of the group as the claw withdrew. She caught up with the rest of them just on the outskirts of the city suburbs.

'Okay. We need a new plan.' Randolf spoke aloud, soft murmurs of agreement followed.

'I think I might have one,' said Cassidy, 'I heard something about evacuations from the airport near this city, and in New Rynns by the coast.'

'What about Faraquay?' Ethan asked, 'that's closer so why not there?'

'Faraquay's overrun,' Cassidy shook her head. Ethan swore.

'So we either trek twenty odd miles to the airport – which may or may not be overrun by this point – or we walk all the way down south to New Rynns?' Leah piped up, 'neither of those sounds particularly good to me.'

'Guess we need to make a decision then,' said Tiffany, 'we'll take a vote, majority rules; but decide quickly. We can't stay here for too long.'

The group huddled together, casting wary glances at their surroundings as they decided what their best course of action would be.

-X-

Still hate writing endings.

On another note my lovely readers, you now need to choose for the guys you've been following; there's a poll set up on my profile you can vote on. So get cracking.

As always, comments are appreciated, constructive comments even more so.