Resident Evil:
The Whole Story.
Chapter Forty-Two
"Chris, you're up sugar." Marissa, the oldest waitress that still worked at Emmy's, called out to him and Chris Redfield plastered a smile that he didn't feel on his face as he walked over to the counter of the diner and picked up the two lunch orders from her. The warmth of the burgers could be felt through the styrofoam container and Chris smiled as he paid Marissa before walking out of the diner.
Rosa was waiting for him on the sidewalk and when she smiled at him Chris found himself thinking of how lucky he really was, he had thought that Rosa was a bit cold and unfriendly when she had first joined up with S.T.A.R.S but over the past two years that they had worked together Chris had gotten to know her better and now he didn't know what he would do without her.
"Thanks," she said as she took her order from his hands, Chris did not need to ask what she wanted as Rosa always got the same thing when they got something from Emmy's, a double bacon cheese burger and fries coated with chili powder, she always brought a can of soda from the vending machines in the police department as she always said that she preferred to bring her own drink from the cheaper vending machines rather than spend a lot more on a drink from the dinner.
"Not a problem." Chris said before leaning in for a kiss, humming against her lips when her met his and pulling her into his lap and holding her close to him, an old lady walking close to them tutted loudly as she passed but Chris didn't pay any attention to her and kept Rosa close to him.
Once they separated and opened their styrofoam boxes to enjoy their food Rosa turned her head to look at him, a fry halfway to her mouth. "Are you ready for tonight?"
Chris sighed, he had been trying to keep his mind off of it but that had been a failure and Rosa could always see through him. "As ready as I can be, I guess." Chris admitted as he poked at the bun of his own burger, suddenly his appetite had gone but he did not put the container to the side yet. "They are probably going to be fine, Enrico is a great captain and Forest and Richard and Ken and Edward are some of the best soldiers I've ever met, but they've never been out of contact this long before and Rebecca is just a kid."
"I know," Rosa said with a sigh as she rested her head on his shoulder, her long black hair flowing over his shoulder and Chris had never seen a more beautiful sight as her and not for the first time he was reminded of how lucky he actually was. "I'm worried to you know? But they've all been through some terrible shit before and came through it smelling like roses and they'll look after Rebecca, you know they will."
"Yeah," Chris sighed as he tried to focus back on his burger. He had learned not to waste food as a kid and after their parents died that lesson had been probably what keep him and Claire alive through their youth after their parents had died in a car accident one rainy night, the worst night of his life, and so he brought it up to his lips and took a bite out of it.
"And anyway just think about how much you're going to enjoy rubbing Forest's nose in the fact that you had to pull his ass out of the fire," Rosa said as she nudged him with her shoulder and it wasn't all that funny but he appreciated the effort all the same and so he gave her a smile and threw his arm over her shoulders and pressed a kiss to the top of her head and he sighed happily, allowing himself a moment to forget everything that was worrying him.
A rumble of thunder made him tilt his head towards the sky and he frowned at the mass of dark clouds in the sky and he really hoped it cleared up before tonight because it was going to be hard enough to look for the others in the dark tonight, the last thing they needed was a rainstorm on top of everything else but considering their usual luck it was probably going to piss it down.
"Come on, lets head back to the station. You do not want to see what my hair looks like after it gets wet." Rosa said as she pushed herself up to her feet and picked up her container which held her burger and Chris rose to join her and together, they made their way back to the RPD and walked to the lunchroom and found a table for them both to sit at.
It wasn't any easier for him to eat but he forced himself to finish it, tonight was going to be hard enough as it was, and he needed to keep his strength up before a mission. They were going into dark words filled with cannibal murderers, the last thing he needed was to be grumpy from not having enough to eat.
Once both of them were done with their food they made their way back up to the S.T.A.R.S office, the rest of Alpha team was already there, most of them sitting at their desks and Chris and Rose both took their own seats as well.
He didn't like the quiet in the room, the team were all professionals, but the only time they were ever this quiet would be if everyone was worried about tonight. There were none of the bad jokes, none of the usual small talk or stupid bets they would make before the missions, there was something heavy in the air and Chris hated it. It meant that everyone else was as worried as he was.
The ticking of the clock was going to drive him insane, a part of him wanted to shoot it. It seemed a lot like the same part of him that wished he had a smoke right now, but he fought it off with the same effort, his knee bouncing from it.
The rest of the day passed as slow as Chris had been afraid that it would, but it passed all the same and when the minute hand finally slid past the mark on the clock that announced to all of them that it had been officially twenty-four hours since Bravo team had gone missing and everyone's eyes moved to land on Wesker, the captain let out a heavy sigh and stood up and crossed his arms across his chest.
"Brad, get up to the helipad and get the chopper ready to go, Chris, Joseph and William go down to the armoury and make sure that we're well equipped. Jessica, make sure that you have enough medical supplies both for us and for Bravo team, who knows what state they could be in. Jill, Barry and David I want you all to make sure that our radios and flashlights have full batteries, the last thing we need is to be stumbling around in the dark without any way to contact each other."
"Rosa, go and help Brad and Jake I want to have a word with you before the mission begins, move out!" With that the team got to their feet and set to their tasks. Chris went with Joseph and William down to the armoury, Amelia was on duty today and Chris was glad for that as if it had been Stuart instead then Chris would not have had any choice but to get a smoke.
It didn't take them long to fill a pair of duffle bags with machine guns, shotguns and over a dozen spare handguns and even some hand grenades, Chris would rather have them and not need them than need them and not have them, even if his shoulders would not thank him for having to haul them back up the stairs all the way to the roof.
By the time they had made their way to the heliport Irons was there, speaking with Wesker in a hushed tone. The man did not look happy but that was hardly unusual, the man never seemed happy about anything. Wesker didn't seem particularly concerned with what he was saying but Wesker was hard to read at the best of times, he might internally be having a nervous breakdown and Chris was sure he would never let it show on his face.
It wasn't something Chris wanted to get in the middle of, he was not known for being able to hold his tongue, it was the main reason that he had been thrown out of the air force after all and so he made his way over to the helicopter and climbed inside of it and took his seat.
It was another half an hour before they were ready to go, the sky had turned dark and Raccoon City was just starting to turn it's lights on for the night, a city of half a million people glowing like a beacon in the night. As the helicopter took off Chris kept staring out the window, watching as the city down below grew smaller and smaller before he lost sight of it as the helicopter made it's way towards the forest.
They had a rough location of where Bravo team's helicopter would have set down, and soon enough as they arrived at the point David was the one who spotted the smoke. "It's coming from over there, it must be the others!"
Wesker frowned. "Brad, take us down."
"Yes sir," Brad's voice came over the speakers and within moments they were landing in a clearing not far from the smoke trail, William opened the sliding door and was the first out and within moments the helicopter was empty aside from Brad.
"Keep the engine running Brad, we might need the searchlight in a moment," Wesker ordered and drew his gun and switched on his flashlight and mounted it under the barrel of his gun. "Slow and easy ladies and gentlemen, we're not taking any risks tonight."
The dark woods of Raccoon forest was soon filled with torch beams cutting through the dimness and the sound of fallen branches snapping under feet as the S.T.A.R.S began to make their way to where the smoke trail was coming from, it didn't take long for them to find the helicopter, it had come down in the middle of another clearing and it looked like a wreck.
"Joseph, Chris take point and scout the helicopter, Jessica get ready to treat any of the wounded." Chris and Joseph both nodded and made their way over to the helicopter, Jessica following closely behind them.
The door of the Bravo team's helicopter slid open easily when Chris pulled it and Joseph climbed in first, the light of his flashlight almost blinding in the small space of the interior, Chris was about to climb in after him but before he could he caught sight of Joseph's face turning pale, his eyes growing wide and he almost threw himself out of the helicopter and emptied his stomach on to the ground.
Chris climbed into the helicopter as Jessica rubbed circles into Joseph's back, it didn't take him long to see what it was that had caused Joseph to vomit.
It was Kevin, it was what was left of Kevin. There was a ragged hole where his throat should have been and there was nothing left of him below his chest, the thick dark tubes of his intestines were falling over the edge of the pilot seat, like ivy draped over a wall. One of his eyes was gone as well, a red crater was all that was left of it and when Chris leaned in for a closer look he could see fragments of bone and what looked like small burns around the ruined flesh.
He had been shot, and from close up as well.
Chris held his breath and climbed back out of the helicopter, Joseph had stopped being sick and the others had gotten closer. "It's Kevin, he's dead. It must have been those sick cannibal fucks."
Once he had finished Jessica moved to climb into the helicopter but Chris held out his arm to stop her. "Jess, it's bad. You don't want to see it, trust me."
Jessica frowned but stepped back all the same, Barry let out a curse under his breath and Rosa bent her head and began to pray. Wesker was frowning as he spoke, "All right, no sign of the others?" when Chris shook his head Wesker continued on. "Everyone, we'll spread out to look for them, safeties off."
Even with all of them, the vast darkness of the woods was overwhelming and every sound seemed to be multiplied a thousand times over. He half expected a snarling monster to come out of the darkness at any moments.
He wasn't expecting the gunshot, in the silence of the woods it was as loud as a cannon and Chris wiped his head around in the direction the sound came from, another two shots followed after it and there was shouting, he recognised Jill's voice almost instantly and then he recognised Joseph's as well but only barely as then the gunshots started up again, and they were so rapid that Chris lost count of them as he started to run towards the sound.
He saw Jill first, her hands fumbling as she tried to reload her empty gun and Chris only managed to glance at her face but he did not think he had ever seen her so frightened, his gaze followed Jill's and for a moment he didn't know what he was seeing but after a moment his eyes adjusted and he understood, though he wished that he didn't.
It was Joseph, he was on the ground and there were shadows all around him, tearing at him and ripping away chunks of flesh. Chris raised his gun and the torchlight gave the shadows form, they were dogs that was plain to see but there was something wrong with them, chunks of skin were missing from their bodies exposing bloody muscle and pale bones underneath.
Chris pulled the trigger and the bullet hit one of the dogs in the side of the head, knocking it away from Joseph and Chris kept firing while Jill finally managed to load her gun and started to fire along side him, some of the bullets missed and hit up clumps of dirt around Joseph and others Chris knew were hits but the dogs barely seemed to feel them as they kept biting into their comrade.
The deeper boom of Barry's magnum joined their fire moments later and the others followed suit, within seconds the dogs were all laying still around Joseph who was just as still as his attackers, Jessica was the first at his side but the rest of the team was close behind her.
Chris wasn't the team medic but he did not have to wait for Jessica to tell them to know that Joseph was dead, there was a ragged bite mark on his cheek and his eyes were wide open and staring unseeing at the vast expanse of the night sky, not a spark of life behind them.
Jessica was still trying though, her hands crossed over Joseph's chest as she pushed down. All of them watched for a time, until William stepped forward and placed his hand on Jessica's shoulder. "Jess, he's gone. You can stop now," the older man's voice was gentle but Jessica burst into tears regardless, her hands coming up to cover her eyes.
Chris sighed and was about to ask Wesker what they should do now when a sound caught his attention, he looked up to see a pair of glowing eyes staring back at him from the tree line. Another pair soon joined it, and another and another and another seemingly without any end until what seemed like dozens of eyes were looking at them, low growling filling the night air.
"Run!" Wesker shouted and none of them needed to be told twice, Chris spun and ran, the sound of the dogs barking close at their heels making him run faster than he had ever run before.
Moments later a bright light passing over him made him look up and the sight of the helicopter rushing overhead made it feel like someone had dropped a stone into his stomach.
Brad, what the fuck!?
"Where the hell is that chickenshit going?!" Jake roared from somewhere behind him.
"Forget about him, just run!" Wesker called back from ahead of them.
Chris went jogging almost every morning and he was in great shape and he was used to situations that demanded strong stamina but even he couldn't keep running like this forever, none of them could.
"There's a light through the trees, there!" Rosa shouted, turning as she ran. "It might be a house!"
"Run for it!" Wesker commanded, even breathless there was still a note of authority in his voice and Chris did not need to be told twice.
Out of the darkness the house materialized, Chris didn't have time to take in any details from the outside but he could tell that it was far too big to really be called a house, it was a mansion.
Barry reached the doors of the mansion first, his shoulder slammed into the doors and they burst inward, David and Jessica were right behind him and then Jill and Wesker and Rosa and Alex and William and Chris with Jake bringing up the rear, slamming the doors shut behind him.
Chris tried to catch his breath, tried to slow his frantically beating heart, the adrenaline was slowly starting to wear off and with it there was the sensation of weights being tied to his legs and arms. He shook his head and tried to focus, he needed to check on the others.
Jessica was sitting on the grand staircase the dominated the main hall, her hands covering her face as she sobbed and the front of her bulletproof vest was covered in blood and with a stab of dull horror Chris realised that it had to be Joseph's, David was pacing back and forth and shouting into his radio to try and get in touch with Brad and cursing when all he got was static.
Barry and William were both covering the front door with their weapons, Jake and Jill were talking in a corner and Wesker was standing off to the side, clearly deep in thought. Rosa was standing in front of a pair of double doors on the right side of the entrance hall they stood in and Chris walked over to her, resting his hand on her shoulder and as soon as Rosa saw it was him she lunged into his chest and Chris hold her close
The front doors shook as the dogs continued to lung at them, their barking could be heard clear as day even though the thick dark wood.
They were trapped.
End of Chapter Forty-Two
They have made it to the mansion, where they thought it was safe. But...
Sorry for the wait again, hopefully updates will be more recent now that I've culled some of my other stories.
I've also changed a small thing from canon in that Raccoon City has a larger population, as I'm incorporating some of the side games I thought it would make sense for the city to have a larger population considering some of the locations that we see in those games.
