Resident Evil Recall: Operation Arklay

Episode Four: Case #5081-G

Part Three

Liquid Family Cabin, 9:00 PM…

Two months ago…

Sitting on the steps of the front porch as the others took another look around, Liquid breathed heavily, not noticing the temperature drop as the wind blew colder. His eyes were wide, and some of the color had drained out of his face, but his mind just couldn't process what he had just found in the cabin. No, it couldn't have been real… it was some kind of sick and twisted nightmare that he was going to wake up from any moment now. His weapons were on the porch where they had fallen, less than an inch from his slightly shaking fingers, and he wanted to do something, anything to help the situation… but what could he do?

"Did you guys find anything?" Sheriff Thompson asked the returning Deputies. "Anything at all?"

"No, nothing." The first one replied. "There's no sign of anything around the cabin or in the woods, but, um… how's Tobias doing?"

Everyone already knew the answer to that, especially his fellow RPD Officers who were with him when they made the discovery. The raid on his own house had started out well enough, with the Sheriff and Arklay County Deputies forming a perimeter outside the cabin while Liquid and the rest prepared to enter. Mayor Warren and Commissioner Yvonne had stayed at The Arklay Tavern, which was probably for the best, and not surprisingly, Chief Irons stayed back toward the vehicles so that he could supervise. This left Liquid, Marini, Branagh, and Brennen to do the actual raiding.

"Ready on the count of three." Marini had said as they prepared to go in. "One… two… three."

Readying their weapons, Liquid kept one hand on his shock baton he led the way into the living room of the cabin, and it was a wide open area that connected to the kitchen and family room, so clearing it of any threats was easy. There was glass on the floor at the window, and some furniture was knocked over, but so far there was no actual sign of anybody. There was a smell, however, a strange kind of rotting smell that seemed to come from everywhere and nowhere at the same time, but it was faint as if the source was long gone.

"Okay, clear." Marini had said as they regrouped in the kitchen. "We'll secure this floor first; Marvin, you watch the stairs going up, David, you keep an eye on the basement door. Let's go, Tobias."

Branagh and Brennan moved to their assigned positions as Marini and Liquid prepared to search the first side door that happened to be the bathroom. The door was slightly open, so they got on either side and then on a silent count of three, they kicked it open and rushed in with weapons ready. Like the family room, this room also had signs of a struggle, but that wasn't the only thing. There was blood splattered along the far wall, and Liquid's mouth ran dry as his eyes slowly followed the trail to the other end of the room where something was slumped over the bathtub wall. Slowly the two Officers made their way toward it, noticing that the glass shower doors were still closed, having been shattered, and that was when he realized what the object was.

"Lilly?" He asked in a barely audible whisper.

She was covered in blood, bent over backwards halfway over the bathtub wall as if she had fallen through the glass doors while backing away from something. There were cuts or gashes or something all over her arms and torso, including her neck, and her face was twisted into what looked like a scream of agony. The small shotgun they kept in the cabin for defense was laying on the floor just outside the tub, and three empty shells were on the floor nearby as well, meaning that…

"Isaac!" Liquid screamed as his mind was interrupted with a moment of clarity.

He turned and ran away from the bathroom, calling his son's name again while ignoring Marini's calls for him to wait. Nearly tripping over the doorframe as he got back into the hall, Liquid ran all the way down to the partially broken door at the end, and shouldered it open to find a sight that his mind was unable to accept. He just stood there, staring at the horror for well over a minute before slowly turning around and walking away. Unable to speak or respond to the others in any way, he somehow made it back out the front door to the porch where he sat on the top step, just barely aware of the thud his weapons made as they fell from his grip.

"So what the hell happened here?" The Sheriff asked Marini as he joined them a moment later.

"Adam, there's no words for this." Marini replied quietly, trying, and failing, to keep Liquid from hearing. "Lilly got three shots off at whoever was here, but we can't find a single trace of the perpetrators… and the boy… Christ, it looks like he tried to hide under the bed, but… I think the drag marks on the floor are from his fingernails when they, uh… pulled him back out, and… Brian, I don't know how to say this, but… it looks like those wounds on they two of them are bite marks."

"Bite marks?!" The Deputy exclaimed, quickly being quieted down by the others. "Sorry… are you telling me that some kind of animal did this? What, like a bear or something?"

"Well, it would have to be rabid to cause this kind of damage to the house." The Sheriff added. "So what do you think, it went in through the window, then the shots made it angry enough to maul both of them to death, and then broke out the front door to get out again?"

"Maybe, but we'll have to call Animal Control." Marini said. "And the Rangers from that wildlife preserve, too, they should know how to handle something like this."

They were wrong. Even with his mind turning to mush over what happened, Liquid could see that they were wrong about everything, and his Detective's mind was hard at work as the others continued to discuss the wild animal scenario. Firstly, there was the glass on the floor as well as the door that had been knocked down. An animal breaking in and out could've caused one of these, but then the other, either the glass or the door, would've been knocked outward if it had been done from inside. Next, an animal would've left claw marks, especially a heavy beast like a bear. Just from walking it would've left four distinct and very deep claw marks, but there were none of these at the scene.

"No, you're wrong." Liquid interrupted their conversation with a shaky voice as he stood up. "You're all so completely wrong."

Finally there were the bite-marks on the two bodies. Not only had the injuries been far too small to have been done by any creature large enough to survive three hits from a 12 gauge shotgun, but he had seen similar happenings in the past, usually in cases where a woman had bitten down on her attacker in self-defense. It was this exact kind of mark that he had seen all over the bodies of his wife and son, not done against them in self-defense, but purposely and with murderous intent. This made the reality of their deaths even harder to process, because it meant that they had suffered one of the worst possible fates.

"This wasn't done by an animal, look at the teeth marks!" He said as tears started running down his cheeks. "This was done by human beings… my family… my family was eaten alive by people!"

At that moment he couldn't take any more, and his next words became an incoherent babble as he sunk to his hands and knees, then sobbing uncontrollably as he fell over onto his side. Marini and Branagh tried to comfort him, but the others stayed back, which was probably the best thing they could've done. Marini stayed with him as the search of the property continued, but still nothing was found. At least nothing that could be seen with the naked eye, and it wouldn't be until tomorrow that a better equipped investigation team could be sent up there.

"Whoever did this is a psychopath." Liquid said once he could speak again. "Most evidence at a crime scene is found because of mistakes made by the criminal while trying to hide it, but these people didn't care about that."

Just like how a drunk driver escapes a crash unharmed by not bracing himself, the most elusive criminals were the ones who made no attempt to hide their crime. Liquid tried to hold onto his sanity by focusing on the scene and gathering evidence, and this helped until the red and white lights of an ambulance appeared at the end of the drive. He lost his composure and started sobbing again as paramedics went into the cabin and returned a short time later with two body bags. The remains of his family were loaded in, the doors were closed, and once the paramedics were done speaking with the police, they would be taken to the Raccoon City Hospital; not for treatment… but for autopsy.

"Come on, Tobias, let's follow them." Marini said after gathering Liquid's weapons and helping him up. "We'll take your bike… the air will do you some good."

Not in any position to protest, Liquid walked with him over to the motorcycle, and was glad for the assistance as Marini helped him sit down in the sidecar. The engine started a moment after the ambulance drove away, and Liquid had to admit that the moving air felt good as they drove after it. Part of him still didn't want to believe that this was really happening as they went around curves and down steep hills toward the distant city. And he was so consumed by this denial that he almost didn't realize what was happening in front of them. A moment ago the ambulance was gracefully moving down the road, but now it appeared to be swerving.

"What the hell?" Marini asked as they watched in confusion.

No, more than swerving; flailing back and forth across the road at increasing speeds as if there was a fight for control of the vehicle going on inside. The swerves became more and more severe as it continued to pick up speed, and then the tires squealed a bit as the ambulance suddenly cut hard to the right, making it go off the road and crash through the guardrail before vanishing over the steep cliff beyond. Marini hit the brakes while turning to follow its path, kicking up dirt and rocks as they came to a stop at what used to be the guardrail.

This change of events caused Liquid's mind to clarify, and he jumped out of the sidecar and running toward the edge of the cliff just as the sounds of the ambulance rolling and crashing came to a stop. The red and white lights were still flashing when he looked over the edge, but it was impossible to see anything besides how ridiculously far the ambulance had fallen. In the darkness there was no way to climb down to it by hand, and they didn't have any ropes in the motorcycle, leaving Liquid able to do nothing but wait helplessly while Marini used his radio to call in the incident.