Resident Evil Recall: Operation Arklay

Episode One: Raccoon City Sunrise

Part Two

Uptown Raccoon City, 5:45 AM…

Unlike the busier downtown area, Raccoon City's uptown was far quieter at night, giving its residents a more relaxing sleep time, not that this mattered to Officer Kendra Ashwood as she jogged down the sidewalk. The sun was still over an hour from rising, and the cool night air of spring made overheating during a run almost impossible. The streetlights gave off more than enough illumination for her to see where she was going as she moved in and out of each light cone while wearing sweatpants and a sports bra, and her long ponytail stopped bouncing as she slowed down for a second to check her pulse.

She was in great shape, having previously been a marathon runner, and even winning a few trophies, so not surprisingly, Ashwood's pulse was normal. From on top of this slight hill she could see the front gate of the RPD about a mile away, meaning that she was going to get there with plenty of time to shower and have something to eat before her shift started. Of course, she would never get there at all if she didn't start moving again, so she resumed her jog, which was now a bit easier since it was literally all downhill from there.

Most women would probably feel uncomfortable going for a run alone at night in the city, especially since that weird murder was reported a few months back, but that was pretty far beyond the city limits, and she wasn't exactly in the bad part of town. Besides, she was a trained Officer of the Raccoon Police Department, as declared by the large white RPD lettering on the leg of her sweats. Before long she had reached the bottom of the hill, slowing down to a walk just before passing the open metal gates, allowing her to catch her breath by the time she entered the front door of the police station.

The gigantic main hall was quiet, her footsteps making a slight echo as she walked across the shiny floor, but this lack of people was always the case during the night shift. This was preferable since she didn't want a bunch of perps ogling her as they were brought in for processing, but this solitude was ruined when she walked through a side door that read: Authorized Personnel Only, and nearly ran into Sergeant Marvin Branagh, who stopped his carrying of several large folders to do that ogling thing that she hated.

"Damn, Ashwood, lookin good today." He said with a whistle as she walked past. "So, my ebony Goddess, when are you gonna break down and marry me, huh?"

"About the same time that hell freezes over." She politely replied.

Branagh was a nice guy and all, but honestly she wasn't looking for a relationship at the moment. She found that men just complicated things in most cases, and after landing a job as a Tech Specialist for the RPD, she just needed some time to work on herself. Sure, that was a really old line that a lot of women used when they were too polite to tell a man that they just weren't into him, but in her case she meant it.

"You know, I looked into that the last time you said it." Branagh continued as he followed her across the long office room. "Turns out there's a city in Michigan called Hell, and it really does freeze over in November."

Ashwood didn't reply to this as she went through the door at the back, and thankfully Branagh didn't follow her down the next series of halls that led to the locker rooms. Not that he could, since she was going into the women's… well, he could… but it would end badly for him, and there had already been enough drama between co-workers in the RPD lately. There had been a certain Lieutenant who was reported by a member of S.T.A.R.S. for stalking and sexual harassment, but she had dropped the charges, and he was put on an extended leave.

Oh well, that wasn't her affair, and now that she was alone again, it was time for a shower. Stripping out of her clothes, Ashwood walked over to the first showerhead and turned it on, suddenly having to put her hand over her mouth to muffle her own surprised shriek when the water came out ice cold. With everything going on in her mind, she had forgotten that it took a minute for the hot water to get there, but soon it was hot enough to generate steam, and that was just the way she liked it.

Letting out a relaxing sigh as the hot water ran down her hair and over her body, she couldn't help but feel that today was going to be a good day. She had a good run, and now a good shower, so as long as she remained positive, things were sure to go her way. Beginning with the water staying hot for an entire half hour until a glance at the wall clock on the other side of the locker room told her that it was time to go. This time letting out a defeated sigh as she turned off the water, Ashwood retrieved a towel from her locker and dried off thoroughly before wrapping a second towel around her hair and getting dressed.

Her RPD uniform wasn't as flattering as her exercise outfit, but it commanded a lot more respect from the people of the city, and this felt nice, even though she hadn't walked a beat since taking the Tech job. It was a nice gig for now, but her true desire was to join the elite Special Tactics and Rescue Service, and having submitted her application almost two weeks ago, the two Captains who ran the place were bound to see it soon.

"Better than mortal man deserves." She said while looking at herself in the mirror after taking the towel off her head. "Ready, Kendra? Go show'em how it's done."

Downtown Raccoon City, 6:30 AM…

The peaceful silence of night was suddenly shattered by the ungodly screech of an alarm clock, which caused a hand to shoot out from under the blankets of the nearby bed in an attempt to silence it. The hand fumbled around for the button, but after failing several times to find it, gave up and yanked the cord out of the wall instead. The bedroom was quiet again for now, but there was no way that the owner of the hand would be able to fall back asleep after that, and besides… he had to go to work today.

With a groan of despair and a zombie-like lurch across the carpet, he finally reached the bathroom, where the overhead light revealed the scruffy face and tired features of Detective Lieutenant Tobias Liquid in the mirror. For a moment he considered shaving, but decided against it, settling instead for a quick tooth brushing and an application of deodorant. In just his boxers, he continued to lurch his way across the one bedroom apartment into the kitchen, where the intensely bright light turning on both revealed a plethora of leftovers and alcohol, while causing a soft moan to come from back in the bedroom as the woman he had spent the night with began to stir.

"Good morning." Liquid kind of grumbled as she sat up and used the blanket to cover herself. "I gotta leave early today, but you can sleep in if you want."

Moving over to the blender, he opened the top and poured in what remained of yesterday's coffee, followed by about half a bottle of Pepto-Bismol, an abandoned glass of something that smelled like Captain Morgan, the remnants of the Chinese take-out they had shared last night, an unfinished can of Bud Light, and a slice of pizza that was from the day before… or maybe the day before the day before? Either way, it all went into the mix, and then he put the top on and pressed the button.

"Oh, my God." Annette Birkin said in disgust as he took a drink when it was done.

"Well, breakfast is the most important meal of the day." Liquid replied in between gulps. "So I was thinking, after we both get off work tonight, would you like to go to the Grill 13 for dinner with me?"

Instead of answering right away, Annette got out of bed and started finding her clothes to get dressed. This lack of talking gave him the time he needed to finish his power shake. It had been nice to have a whole month away from the RPD, even though it hadn't really been his choice. Sure, things had spiraled out of control a bit with his excessive drinking, allegations of stalking/harassing a co-worker, and his old house burning down, which they could never prove was an insurance scam. However, this time off had given him time to figure things out, and now he finally had a new purpose in life.

"Sorry, I can't tonight." Annette replied as she put her shoes on. "My husband is working late tonight, so I have to pick up Sherry from school, and… and… oh God, Tobias, what am I even doing here? I'm a married woman for God's sake."

Liquid had known Annette since High School, and nothing had changed about her decision making since. She had always been one to do things that were probably not a good idea, and the next day she would just beat herself up about it. This had happened almost every time since they had rekindled their, um, friendship a little over a month ago, but it never stopped her from calling him whenever she started to feel neglected. As for Liquid, his own wife was long gone, a huge part of the reason for his bout of madness, and honestly the first time that he had taken Annette home, he hadn't been in a good place for making decisions either.

"Look, I need to leave." Annette said as she got up and grabbed her purse off the dresser. "I guess I'll, um, see you around."

With that, she was gone, rushing out the door almost as quickly as the two of them had rushed in the previous night, there was just a lot less kissing and groping this time. The good news was that he didn't have to worry about anything going missing once he left, so now he could focus on his not-so triumphant return to the RPD. The Homicide department was in good hands with McGee running things to be sure, but he kind of missed the rush that came with solving a new mystery. Things like identifying bodies and piecing together clues helped him to forget about the tragedy that had taken place up in the mountains. Nothing in life could have prepared him for what was found in that cabin, but now was not the time to think about that.

Instead he chose to think about the future. A future that was mostly contained inside of a large folder that was stuffed to capacity with papers and photographs that he probably shouldn't have taken from the evidence room, but oh well. This folder was now the key to his existence, or at least the key to the key if that was the right way of saying it. So with new motivation, he got dressed in his dark brown slacks and black button down shirt. He had a long coat like McGee's that they had actually bought at the same time, and then he completed the outfit with a fedora hat.

For the first time in over a month, he clipped his badge onto his belt, and followed the path that Annette had taken out the door. Once outside, he had to squint in agony from the newly risen sun, and then he walked into the parking lot where his Yamaha V-Star sat in his reserved space. Casually tossing the folder onto the seat of the sidecar, he mounted the bike and started the engine, ready to make a new start. It was going to be a new start, not only for him… but hopefully for all of Raccoon City.