Resident Evil Recall: Operation Arklay

Episode Six: The Arklay Mountains

Part Four

Liquid Family Cabin, Arklay Mountains, 11:00 AM…

It usually took quite a bit to surprise Lopez, but this new revelation had done it, and at least now he understood why the Lieutenant had wanted to form this Task Force so quickly. He didn't blame the man for wanting revenge after his wife and son had been killed so violently, but this also put him on edge. It was basic police procedure to keep people, especially Detectives, off of a case if they had any personal connection to it, and Liquid knew this, as did Irons… so what the hell was he doing on this one?

Lopez continued to wonder about this as their leader gave them the tour of the scene, and like the Scenic Overlook, it was barren. The house was spotlessly clean, aside from the boarded up window and the half-hanging door, even though the scene Liquid described was vastly different. He talked about furniture being overturned and both points of entry being broken from the outside, and then they moved slightly down the hall to the bathroom. Like the front room, it was cleaned as if someone came in to do it regularly.

"We found my wife over there, by the tub." Liquid explained with an overly stern tone that suggested he was trying to hide his feelings. "Those scattered holes in the wall right there are blasts from her shotgun; three, in fact, and when we got here the wall was covered with splattered blood. So whoever was here, she hit them three times. You can tell, because the holes in the tile-wall are not in complete circles."

"Were they wearing vests?" Lopez asked as he looked at the missing part of each circle pattern. "Like, you know… really good vests?"

"That wouldn't explain the blood." Chambers replied. "Or why everything is so clean now… uh, Liquid… did you clean up the evidence?"

"No, I didn't." The Lieutenant explained. "I repaired the door and window a couple days ago when I decided to use this place as our headquarters, but that was the first time I'd been here since that night."

He went on to explain how he had been in Arklay Village with Irons and the Arklay Deputies, and how much of a mess they had found upon returning. Obviously Lopez knew that Liquid hadn't been in his right mind that night, so some procedural mistakes were made, but then how did everything get cleaned up? The only thing that Lopez could imagine was that the killers came back to the scene later in order to destroy any evidence against them, but that would mean that they weren't dealing with a couple looneys who were hold-up in a cave somewhere. It had to be people who, unless they were actually attacking someone, were living out normal lives out in the open. Liquid was right… they could be looking for anyone.

Their leader led them farther down the hall, giving Lopez a little time to process what he had just learned. So far in this case, there were no witnesses, and evidence had a bad habit of quickly vanishing after collected. Coming back to the scene of a crime to clean up was one thing, how did they manage to get evidence once it was already at the police station? Liquid, Irons, and the others all had iron-clad alibis for the actual attack, since they were all together in that village down the road, but what about the actual evidence gathering? The Lieutenant had admitted to stealing what little evidence he had, casting suspicion on himself as an accomplice, but then again McGee had vouched for him and clearly already knew a lot of the case details as well. So who were they looking for?

His thoughts were interrupted as they reached the end of the hall, and the door opened into a child's bedroom. Again, it had been cleaned to the same standard as the rest of the house, and Liquid tried his best to hold his composure when he started to talk, but this time it was too much and he had to walk back out into the hallway. The room itself didn't seem very unique; there was a bed, dresser, and night stand, as well as a large chest with some toys sticking out of the half-closed top, and a closet with some shirts hanging up. There was also a photograph sitting on the night stand in a damaged frame as if it had fallen.

The picture was of Liquid and Barry Burton of S.T.A.R.S., as well as a little boy and girl in front of them. All of them were dressed in fishing gear, holding up the various amounts of fish that each had caught, and the little girl seemed to be pushing the boy away while he tried to put his arm around her. There was also a little writing on the photograph, itself. The writing was big and shaky as if done by a child, and faded like it had been done a while ago in a light color crayon. The words Bestest Pals were written between Liquid and Barry, and there was a poorly drawn heart around the little girl's head with the words My Polly written next to it.

"This is where the second victim was found." McGee said as they looked around at the rest of the room. "From what we could figure out, the boy must've run in here to hide when his mother was shooting at the killers, again suggesting multiple suspects. The scratches on the floor seem to indicate that he hid under the bed and was then dragged back out to be devoured. According to Tobias, it was the same level of carnage and brutality that was described at the Scenic Overlook."

This was almost too much for Lopez to handle. It was bad enough to think about innocent teenagers being ripped apart like in a bad slasher film, but the kid in that picture couldn't have been any more than eight or nine years old at the most. Maybe being a regular Patrol Officer was better than being a Detective or a member of S.T.A.R.S. after all. Sure, they got all the glory and prestige, but they also had to see things like this on a daily basis. He could tell that Chambers was getting choked up by this as well, but Lopez was getting angry. I mean, here was this innocent little kid who never did nothing to nobody, minding his own business, and making some sad attempts to get a kiss from his first crush.

"What kind of a sick bastard does this to a kid?" Lopez asked the others.

"The kind we're going to stop, that's what kind." Ashwood answered, breaking her recent silence. "I had doubts about this assignment before, but now I wouldn't trade it even if they offered to make me a S.T.A.R.S. Captain."

"I'm glad to see that you're all coming around." Liquid said as they left the bedroom. "Now, I'm gonna go into the basement and turn the power back on, you guys get yourselves and this equipment set up."

With that, Liquid vanished through another side door, and his boots could be heard thumping down a set of wooden stairs. Chambers was helping Ashwood get her computer surveillance equipment set up on the kitchen table, and McGee was peeking into the other rooms that they had not gone into yet. Suddenly Lopez felt like a moron since they hadn't even checked all of the cabin for intruders before getting started, so he turned and crept up the staircase to the second floor. The lights came on when he was about half way up, which meant that their leader hadn't been jumped and throat-slashed… at least, probably not, and now Lopez held his breath to make less noise as he reached the top of the stairs.

The upstairs was a single large room, obviously belonging to Liquid and his deceased wife, judging by the king size bed and the kinds of furniture. With no closets and the bed sitting too low for anyone to hide under, checking this room was easy, and a few seconds later Lopez was confident that they were alone in the cabin… at least for now. So he returned to the stairs and reached the bottom just as Liquid was coming back up from the basement. Meanwhile, it seemed like Ashwood and Chambers had finished hooking up the extra equipment to the computer that Liquid had given her.

"Okay, it looks like we're connected." Ashwood said as data flashed across her screen. From here, I'll be able to upload reports, images, and scans of evidence directly to the main computer in the RPD's database whenever my computer is connected to these server devices. We're ready to begin."

"Good." Liquid replied. "Then let's get to it."

Ashwood disconnected her computer as he started toward the front door, and Lopez followed everyone else as they went with him outside. There was a large blue tarp off to the side of the cabin that he wasn't sure if he had seen before or not, but it was what the Lieutenant was moving toward. Quickly pulling it away, the moving tarp revealed another SUV; not one that belonged to the RPD or anything, but still it was nice to know that there was a second vehicle there just in case something happened.

"Okay, we're losing daylight, people." Liquid said as he tossed a set of keys to McGee. "Francis, you take Chambers and investigate The Arklay Resort. I want you to check every inch of that place, talk to every guest and staff member, and if necessary wait until dark to find out what those noises they talked about were. Ashwood, Lopez, you two come with me."

"What, and just leave that equipment there?" Ashwood asked. "Shouldn't I stay here and look after it?"

"Normally, I would agree with you." McGee answered. "But this equipment needs a hardwired power source that a vehicle just can't produce. That, and thanks to Chief Irons, we don't have enough people to put a team everywhere at once, and I'll be damned if I'm gonna let one of us be somewhere alone."

They both had valid points, and Lopez actually wished that the redhead pilot had been allowed to join them just so that the two of them could stay and guard the equipment. Given the choice between leaving stuff unguarded and keeping a team member safe, he had to go with the team member, and besides; Liquid's wife emptied her shotgun at the last attackers and that didn't help her very much, so there was no point in having Ashwood stay there even if the killers did come back for some reason.

"Oh, very well." She resigned. "But I get the front seat."

"That's the spirit." Liquid replied while patting her on the back kind of hard. "McGee, I want radio checks on the hour. Let's move out."

McGee and Chambers got into the SUV that they rode there in, and a few seconds later it started to move. They backed out of the driveway, and McGee honked the horn as they started on their way toward The Arklay Resort. Liquid carried the other set of keys, so he unlocked this second SUV, which Lopez assumed was his, and everyone climbed inside. A moment later the engine started, and their leader pushed down on the accelerator, starting them on their way toward the famed Arklay Village.