Chapter 53

"Go go go!" Captain Welles yelled as the armored truck stopped, SWAT Team Alpha threw the doors open as we disembarked, the few of us with riot shields were in front while the rest of us were behind them with weapons at the ready.

"Captain, that's not a riot!" I yelled over the sound of people screaming as zombies chased them down and began eating them. "It looks like the creatures we encountered in the mansion."

"What d you recommend we do?" Welles asked as he shouldered his rifle, the fear evident in his eyes.

"Get the loudspeaker and start loading civilians into the trucks," I said as I put a handful of rounds into some zombies' heads, watching the undead drop to the ground. "We're not equipped to deal with this situation right now."

"Hall, you're in charge of Alpha Team," Captain Welles ordered. "I'll take Bravo and start evacing the civilians, you hold the line here."

"Copy that," I responded as I shifted my fire. "I want handguns out," I ordered the SWAT Team members with the riot shields. "Get your SMGs ready and concentrate fire on anything or anyone who isn't one of those things."

The eight-man group shifted closer together under my direction, the 9mm leaving their SMGs and impacting the zombies that came close. While at the same time, Captain Welles and Bravo team continued to load up civilians into the trucks.

"We're about full up!" Captain Welles yelled out over the sounds of modern combat, barely audible over the noise. "I'm sending the trucks back to HQ, we'll escort whoever we can back on foot."

"Have the truck's radio ahead for the civvies to be checked for bitemarks or scratch marks!" I yelled back. "We don't know how this thing spreads, but it's better to be safe than sorry."

–

–

"Chief Douglass, we've got to figure out what to do with the Civilians that are here," Jill said as she adjusted her tactical vest. Alice behind her with her lever action slung behind her, a small belt of bullets around her gun belt with the AK-74U held in her hand.

"Phone lines just cut out," the exhausted man said as he stood up from his desk. "I'm going to have Dispatch start calling in all of our officers, and we're going to be deputizing anyone with military or previous law enforcement experience. If what you've been telling me about the mansion incident is correct, we're going to have to fight our way out of Raccoon City."

"Umbrella is up to some nasty shit," Alice agreed. "If what they were working on got into the water supply then anyone relying on the city's water alone has likely been exposed to the virus. If Mark was right, then the riot that SWAT went to put down was full of zombies. And God only knows what other experiments might be unleashed on the city."

"Toss me that MP5," Douglass ordered Jill. "Let's get some defensive positions set up while we still can. Then we can start working on getting out of here."

"Come on, this way!" I yelled as the twelve men that were left of SWAT Teams Alpha and Bravo followed behind me, Captain Welles having gone ahead of us in the armored trucks.

Moving quickly, we ducked into an alleyway and began heading in the direction of the river, needing to get across to make it back to the RPD's HQ.

"Should we head to the South Precinct?" Sergeant Darrin Lloyd asked. "They'll need to be warned about what's coming for them."

"Yeah, we probably should," I sighed as I glanced down at the small map of Raccoon City that I had pulled out of my pocket to check our route. "You think y'all can get back to the HQ on your own?"

"Aye," Lloyd replied. "We've got this."

"I'll head to the south Precinct then," I said as I handed the map over and double-checked the magazine in my rifle, finding it half full. "I'll see you guys back at HQ."

Annette Birkin grabbed Sherry as soon as she saw her and picked her up into her arms, giving her a tight squeeze as she ran back to her car, the black sedan having a lone UBCS operative as security for the scientist.

"Where's dad?" Sherry asked as she strapped in.

"He's not responding to my pages, and his office isn't answering the phone," Annette said as the UBCS began driving to the RPD HQ. "We're going to the police HQ, there should be people there who can help keep us safe."

"Safe from what?" Sherry asked.

"I don't know yet," Annette replied as she opened up the glove box of the sedan and pulled out a Beretta Cougar, chambering a round before tucking an extra magazine into her suit jacket's pocket.

As Annette hid the handgun in a small holster, the car began swerving as the UBCS operative began twisting the wheel to avoid hitting pedestrians that were running on the streets.

"Watch where you're driving!" Annette snapped as the man turned the wheel hard to avoid a curb, the sedan spinning out of control before a small bump sounded and the car began to flip end over end.

–

–

Sherry blinked away the darkness from her vision, her head pounding as the blood rushed to it from where she was suspended upside down in the back of the car seat.

"Mom," she called out as she struggled to unbuckle herself, the belt not loosening at all while she tried to reach the latch plate.

Seeing that her arms were too short, Sherry began looking around the car, her mom was snoring away while upside down, but the security guard was dead, a piece of metal from a roadsign having punched through his chest and into the back seat.

Seeing something shiny, Sherry saw a knife sticking out of the roof of the car, the blade having been ejected from its sheath during the accident.

Stretching her arm, Sherry found that her fingertips could reach the end of the knife's handle, but only barely.

"Come on," Sherry breathed, stretching out one more time and grabbing onto the handle, pulling the knife to her with a slight cheer. Then she took the knife and cut the strap holding her in place, grunting in pain as she fell onto the roof of the car.

"Mom," Sherry began shaking Annette. "Mom, wake up!"