Prologue - Zero Hour

July 23, 1998

Raccoon City Forest Outskirts

7:10 pm

Just a few miles away from Raccoon City, a train bellowed as it passed through the mountainous parts of the Raccoon Forest.

Despite looking like something from the thirties, the Ecliptic Express was one of the premier express trains that was owned by Umbrella. Famous for its high-class service and amenities like the fancy restaurant and the hotel-like rooms that it offered, it was considered one of the best and most luxurious ways to travel around the different cities near Raccoon. That was why, people of higher status almost always travel in it just to show that they rode on America's top-of-the-line train service.

That was why, when Andrea Reeds' application for a part-time job as a waitress was accepted, she was ecstatic. A financially struggling student like her managing to land a job like this was basically like receiving a ticket to never worrying about money as she strived for her degree. As long as she did her job competently, she could keep this gig as long as she could. And she did. She worked hard from day one and she was happy to do so… all she had to do was serve drinks and food to the rich folks after all, so how hard could it be?

Apparently, it was hard enough for her to have a migraine and force herself to deaden her expression.

Andrea resisted the urge to groan and roll her eyes when the man that she offered champagne to waved her away with an annoyed look. The scientist, or whom she assumed to be a scientist, began to rant about simpletons not understanding their great work but the young waitress couldn't care less. She was just here to work and earn some cash to finish her degree so without bothering to listen to the man's rant, she just bowed her head and apologized before moving on to another passenger.

Thankfully, this one was more put-together than the previous one. A handsome man in a three-piece suit, with slicked-back blonde hair and piercing blue eyes. She tried her best to reign in a blush when the man smiled at her, thankful for the glass that she offered.

She then asked him if he would like something else to go with his champagne as an impulsive attempt to try and talk to the man, for which she metaphorically kicked herself for. But to her disappointment, he waved her off gently. He did, however, ask her if she was new to her job, which she was and she answered him in kind.

He just chuckled lightly and then looked at the passenger that she had served before him. An amused look graced his face before he asked whether she was okay after dealing with the pompous prick. He told her that he could notice her troubled face underneath the mask of professionalism and at that point the blush that she was holding back broke free and she felt her face heat up. She stuttered when she told him he must be mistaken, but he just winked and told her he understood. It turned out that he had once also been part of the service industry and had moved on after having been hired by Umbrella.

Frowning a little bit, she expected him to offer some unwarranted advice but to her surprise, he just told her to hang in there and never give in to the frustrations of this kind of work. Better things would come if you just strived towards it, he said.

Andrea had to admit, he had a way with words. It was more evident to her when she felt a little bit better when she heard what he had to say. She wanted to thank him for his kind words but she was interrupted when a senior co-worker passed by and whispered in her ear, telling her to not waste time and do her job since there were still other passengers on the train to serve.

She bit back a retort and just bit her lip before nodding. Sighing, she gave the blonde man an apologetic look and told him that she had to go and he just smiled at her again and gave her a simple good luck.

Before she went off though, she introduced herself, and in return, he introduced himself as well. She might have given him her number as a bold way to keep in touch with the man but unfortunately, she had nothing on her to write so disappointingly, she had to leave and deal with the other passengers.

As she served the whole train car's worth of people, her mind still drifted to the mysterious man that had caught her attention.

There was something different about him. Most of the passengers of the Ecliptic Express were employees of the Umbrella Pharmaceutical Corporation so stereotypically it meant that most of them were pasty, pale-skinned eggheads with an ego so big that they practically burst out of their heads. But the blonde man was different. He was humble and kind despite looking like he could fold some of these scientist types with no effort, judging from how big and lean he looked inside that nice suit of his.

She turned her head again and watched the blonde man from several seats away from him, the way he leaned his head as he forlornly gazed outside made her want to take a picture of him. Briefly, she wondered if he had a significant other but shook the thought off when she decided that it wasn't her business.

At the end of this trip, she probably won't even see him again. He worked for Umbrella after all, and they were known to have their employees live in-house in their facilities.

She let out a sigh. Such a shame. Handsome, humble, and hardworking. All three things that she wanted from a man...

Oh well.

She moved on with her task and properly served the rest of the passengers with offers of drinks and beverages. After she was done, she retreated back to the Kitchen section to drop off the tray she was holding.

The Kitchen section of the train was as lavish as the rest of it. Clean, immaculate and complete with all its utensils and facilities, Umbrella didn't spare any expense in designing the train. Though she did find it odd that they modeled the whole thing like a mansion of all things. Carpeted floors, warm lights, satin curtains, chandeliers and even walls that had expensive wood patterned wallpaper plastered on it. The interior designer that the company hired must have been a fan of the old Victorian Era aesthetic.

She paid no mind to it though, and just walked through the hustling and bustling of the kitchen crew and the waiting staff to head to the restroom.

A sudden shudder of the train made people pause for a second but then paid it no mind as they deemed their jobs more important… but Andrea stood in the middle of the room, looking perplexed.

She was a mechanical engineering student with a fascination towards locomotives and the growing advances in transportation technology so when she felt that shudder, a growing bout of concern began to fill her.

The Ecliptic Express shouldn't have shuddered like that.

The train, despite its retro look, was one of the most advanced of its kind with state of the art hardware and software additions built into it. The stabilizers were one of these additions, able to even disregard the bumps of uneven tracks to ensure comfort for the people occupying it. That was why the chandeliers were so still even as they moved at speeds only second to a bullet train.

Something had gone wrong.

She tried to push back the worry gripping her as she continued on her path to the restroom. It was then that she heard something that perplexed her again. Soft thuds from all around began to reverberate all throughout the car as if the outside was being pelted by hailstones. It had to be hailstones since even the sound of the heaviest rainfall couldn't even penetrate through the thick walls of the train.

The sound was getting louder as a cacophony of loud thuds became more numerous.

She heard a woman scream and after turning to look, her eyes widened.

Just in front of the woman who screamed was a window that had thick glass showing the dark forest outside being pelted by heavy rain but what the woman screamed at was what looked to be large splotches of thick mud, all sticking to the window without being affected by the strong winds and the rain.

A man wearing a chef's uniform approached the window and tried to get a closer look. Others did too, but the woman who screamed was now on the ground crawling away.

It was then that they all heard it. An opera song began reverberating in the walls, beautiful yet dark and foreboding. The people around Andrea all began to look around with confused faces. A couple of others tried to listen if the music was coming from the wall speakers.

The song began to ramp up, the singer's voice beginning to rise more and more.

And then, with the sound of glass cracking... all hell broke loose.

The window burst as an explosion of glass pelted those near it, the screams followed after. Andrea backed away when she saw the people near the window beginning to get covered with mud-... No. Those weren't mud. The things moved and pulsated as they began to slither toward the down staff of the kitchen crew, a few tried to get them off but the things were too numerous and they were swallowed up in the swarm.

More and more slithered inside through the broken window and began to attack the others as soon as they got close. People tried to escape and some of them did, going to the other cars while the others were unfortunately pounced upon by dozens upon dozens of these... Slug things.

Andrea ran towards the other side, passing by the stoves, ovens, and refrigerators, not bothering to look back at her co-workers screaming for help as they were torn. She could have sworn that she saw the slug things beginning to enter through every orifice that they could fit into as she passed by those that couldn't get away.

She entered the door closest to her and saw that it led to the engineering car where to her horror, she saw even more of those things clogging up the various machinery. The engineers that worked here were both laid on the floor where she could see their stomachs and chests bloated with things inside stretching the skin of their torsos like a balloon filled with maggots. She could see the bumps that writhed and pulsated in their insides, some occasionally moving into the arms and legs, making the limbs twitch.

She tried to move back but then she remembered that the same thing was happening behind her but with more of these things swarming around. She had to take a chance and run past the bloated bodies towards a door just a couple of meters away.

She was going to do just that but then a flash of lightning from the outside illuminated the room, and her eyes widened at the sight of the things carpeting the ceiling above the door. A trap. Had she run into it then-...

She was suddenly shoved aside as one of the chefs ran into the room in a panic, making his way to the door. She tried to stop him but it was too late. He hadn't even touched the knob when the whole ceiling of these things above fell onto him. His muffled screams were all she heard when she went back to the kitchen car and closed the door.

Looking at the interiors of the kitchen, she saw that almost all of the slug creatures were busy with their victims so she had ample time to think about what to do next. She couldn't exactly run into the passenger cars since the bodies of her co-workers were lined up at the door being fed on and she couldn't also hide in the cupboards since she wouldn't even fit in those...

Panic, fear, and despair began to squeeze her as she uncontrollably sobbed. Judging from the screams from the door leading to the passenger cars, the slugs were probably also there too. There was no escape.

Her back slid down the door as her body sat down. She lost control of her bladder and warm liquid began to soak her slacks. Tears and snot began to roll down her face as her life flashed before her eyes. She prayed for salvation, she prayed to any God listening out there to help her...

The only thing she heard aside from the slithering and screams, was the opera song in which the singer was now feverishly singing her tone, full of delight despite the heavy rain…