Raccoon City (All non specific areas)

Things had gone to hell fast. What had started with a small handful of people biting others had rapidly turned into a full blown nightmare, as the once beautiful town had now been over run with zombie creatures. Most, if not all of her population were now undead flesh eaters, though a few survivors still existed.

Zombies prowled the city, in search of their next meal, feasting on anyone unfortunate enough to be caught by them. Barricades had been set up, but most, if not all of them had already fallen in the 72 hours since the outbreak started. Umbrella, the city 'owner' had, and continued to push for any and all options to be exhausted before any radical measures, but it seemed only a matter of time before the city would be declared a lost cause. Only a small number of people had made it out thus far, fortunately none infected or the issue would have been even worse than it already was.

Fires burned out of control in parts of the city even as the rain fell at a steady pace. Various crash sites where cars and such had collided littered her once clean streets, and many of the street lights were out, plunging certain parts of the city into near total darkness, the perfect place for Zombie ambushes. There were some small groups or single survivors scattered about, trying to get out still, though some had been trapped wherever they were, and were waiting on a rescue that would likely never come...


Then there were those who had come into the city, unaware of the nightmare that awaited them. Or in the case of some, all too aware of what lay in store, and there only to assist those they knew were still trapped within the city, lost, injured or otherwise unable to get out.


The outbreak had started on September 26th as best as anyone could tell. Really it hadn't been confirmed until the 27th, but anyone with half a brain knew that the first initial reports of people biting others had been the start of it. By the night of the 27th, the military had tried closing off the city, while Umbrella had deployed it's Bio-Hazard Countermeasure Squads. Most had not survived even the first night, overwhelmed by the sheer numbers of the infected, and their inhuman strength and durability due to the infection.

By the morning of the 28th, those capable had started trying to get out of the city, now that no one was left to stop them. The Police were all but wiped out, the Military had abandoned it's blockaded or been eaten, and the U.B.C.S were in massive disarray, just trying to survive while rescuing those they could. Others had started their own way out, while a few encountered U.B.C.S, even going so far as to join with them to try and escape or assist them if they could.

By nightfall of the 28th though, only a small handful of U.B.C.S were left, and most of the survivors they'd rescued had been killed in a brutal attack by something far worse than the Zombie creatures. Unfortunately, the nightmare hadn't even started for some yet ...



It was now the night of September 29th. A new story and saga was about to begin, though none of the 'players' involved knew it just yet. It started with two people meeting each other, one woman, and one rookie cop. The rookie had saved the woman from being eaten by several of the zombies, and she in turn had killed one that tried to creep up behind him. They had left the gas station they'd met at in a police vehicle, trying to reach the Police Station, unaware of it's own dangers. Unfortunately, there had been a zombie in their car, which caused them to crash. Then, from nowhere, a semi-truck came barreling at them, forcing them to ditch the vehicle and flee in order to survive the explosion. Separated by the fire from the crash, the two shouted over the flames to meet at the police station, going their own ways for now in the hopes each other would survive so they could reunite later.


To anyone within a few blocks of the Kendo Gun shop, they would both hear, and feel the explosion, and, if they had sensitive enough hearing, the unmistakable sound of voices. Survivors. And from the sounds of it, at least one would be coming down the alley near the store fronts...


((Should be enough to get everyone up and running. Caulder, you'd likely be on the Kendo side of it if we're sticking with you running into Claire. Wolf, you'd be on the other side near the mini dog park, where you could run into Leon. We can talk later if need be to clear stuff up.))

Just past the dog park, to the side of the direction the rookie had been planning on going, there were suddenly a pair of gunshots. Spaced out, obviously somewhat disciplined. After a moment, an obviously still living person appeared, walking towards where the explosion came from, apparently taking a moment to reload his pistol.

The newcomer's appearance could best be described as "gunslinger", although he appeared to be using an autoloader-style pistol. The rookie might even hear him muttering "I am way too sober for this..."

Leon made his way towards the dog park, dodging as many of the shambling zombies as he could. It was a living hell this city, but he had to make it to the station. Claire would be there waiting, and he feared what would happen to her without someone to help her get out. Worse, he was beginning to fear the station might not be safe after all, and that he'd sent her to a death trap.

He was snapped out of this line of thought as movement caught his eye. A shape resembling a person was moving his way, and he started to bring his weapon up before realizing it wasn't another zombie.

"Holy crap, finally another person. Wait, too ... too SOBER? Well ... hell, now that you mention it ... Never mind. Name's Leon, you?"

"Dustin," the man responded, using the tip of his pistol to touch the brim of his hat. "Given how you're dressed, I'm guessing that you'll likely be interested in heading to the same location I am... I need to get to the station. Supposed to find a couple folks with PD connections in this mess. One of them... Well, from what I've heard about him, he's probably still alive, at least."

Leon nodded after a moment.

"Yeah, I need to get there too. Hopefully Claire can too, but damn this town is crawling with those things."

He paused for a moment before adding, "Well if this person is still alive, hopefully he or she can shed some light on just what the hell is going on. We should ..."


He was cut off by the sounds of loud, semi-distant moaning from what sounded like dozens or more of zombies. The sounds were coming from behind where Leon had come from, and from the sound of it, somewhere on the same side of the fire as Claire was. Leon's eyes widened slightly and he shook his head.

"Shit ... Claire ... She might be surrounded by those things and we can't even ..."


He was cut off by a sudden sharp sound that sounded like a sonic boom going off near by, and a moment later, a sudden shape vaguely resembling a humanoid shape seemed to streak across the sky at impossible speed, heading in the same direction of the sounds, and likely towards Claire. This definitely did not sit well with Leon.

"Jesus Christ, what the hell was that? It's heading right for where Claire is ..."



Elsewhere, Claire had her hands full as suddenly a massive grouping of the zombie creatures were in her way, with more coming from behind her. Eyes widening, she realized that she was surrounded, and she only had a few bullets left ...

And then she heard what sounded like a sonic boom over head, and saw something hurtling towards the ground at unbelievable speed. Whatever it was, it was about to give her an opening though, as it appeared heading right for the cluster of zombies blocking her path forward ...

Dustin had started to nod in the direction they needed to go, when things started to sound like they were going south... Then, the boom.

He half-pointed in the direction of the station. "Whatever that was, with any luck it'll give her the opening she needs. Now, what say we get moving before it turns out that's some kind of new bombardment technique? We're kind of in the open..."

If Leon caught the look that Dustin gave the... event, as well as his look when he spoke, it might seem like the man has an idea about what that might have been. On the other hand, he also had a point about being somewhat exposed, and if there was an explanation, it's probably a longer one.

Once moving, he quickly added. "Key person I'm looking for is retired Special Forces, so I'm guessing he'll still be alive. They've got a rep for being resourceful and hard to kill. Traits that would be very useful right now."

Leon opened his mouth to say something back, then got a stunned look on his face before moving. As they moved, he softly added, "that would suck. Though I'm taking it you don't really think that's the case after that last comment. I suspect you have an idea as to what that was but ... you're right, now isn't the time or place, not exposed like this. Let's go."

They would make their way as best as they could through the nightmare that was what was left of the city. They'd gone about half the distance, the station somewhat visible when suddenly a large cluster of zombies broke through one of the barricades to their left. Leon let out a curse, trying to assess things quickly.

"Not good, must be a couple dozen of them, and I definitely don't have that many bullets. Know any other ways around that to get to the station? Pretty sure we can outrun this cluster, probably shouldn't waste ammo if we don't have to."


Meanwhile, Claire watched as something slammed into the ground hard enough to shatter the street on impact, sending bits of zombie every where. The shock wave was enough to knock her down, and by the time she got up, the crater in the ground was actually slightly smoking. Shaking her head, wondering if she'd just barely survived some sort of light missile strike, she started carefully making her way towards her destination, creeping carefully around the edges of the crater, afraid of having more street give way and falling into it.

She gasped loudly when suddenly there was a noise, and a humanoid shape jumped clean out of the crater, landing directly in front of her. Her gun came up, though she feared whatever had just blocked her path probably wouldn't go down to bullets if it had just survived the impact. The shape hit the ground slightly crouched, then smoothly straightened up, giving her a good look at ... HIS features. Claire blinked in shock for several moments before finally finding her voice. When she did, it was full of shock and surprise.

"Adrian?!? How in the ... how did you ... How are you ... How is there no blood on you from all of that?!?"

There was an amused look on his face and a sound that might have been a choked back laugh before he replied, "That's the first question that you think to ask? That's ... amusing considering the circumstances."

Claire stared at him for a moment, burning with a mixture of anger, and admittedly, fear. She'd known him for years, hell, Chris and he had been pretty good friends from what she knew, and he was almost like a second brother to her. But never once had she suspected him capable of something like this, it was as if ....

Claire blinked and took a slight step back. Barely managing to keep the fear out of her voice, she asked, "just what the heck is going on here? What even are you that you could ... could do something like that. I mean ... thanks, cuz I probably would have been eaten but ..."

He nodded, holding up a hand.

"I get it, I do. Your brother had a lot of the same questions after the incident at the mansion. Suffice it to say that yes, I'm not human. And while I know this is a shock and you're scared ... I promise you I won't hurt you. In fact, I saw you were in trouble so I came to help."

Claire's eyes widened in shock.

"Chris KNEW about this? Why didn't he ever tell me?"

"Because he only just found out a couple of months ago. I'm guessing he didn't think or have the time to talk to you. Either that or he was afraid to paint a target on your back."

"A target? Adrian what the heck is going on?"

Adrian sighed slightly before responding, "it's a long story. I promise I'll explain some of it to you on the way but I think we'd better get moving. Even with me around, it's not safe for you out here. Besides, the Police Station is the only viable means of getting out from this part of the city now."

Claire sighed and nodded.

"Alright, start talking and lead the way. I just hope Leon is alright ..."

Dustin shrugged, dropping his hand with the pistol inside his coat. "Know other paths, yes. But I'm not sure how many of those are usable right now."

With his other hand, he pulled the coach gun from the loops on the back of his satchel's shoulder straps. "I've got a couple of boxes for this. Could probably hit several in a go, if need be."

Dustin seemed to be leaving it up to Leon... Try to find a new route, or just push through.

Leon thought for a moment then shrugged.

"Hell, take out what we need to in order to get by then, best not to get stuck with low ammo and being stuck on a dead end as well. I'll take down what I can, but let's do this quickly before things go any further south."

Run and gun it was, as Leon lifted his weapon, getting ready to move once Dustin was set.

((Light 'em up))

Dustin worked in a bit closer, then leveled his gun and fired.

Turned out to be a little hard to see exactly how many of the zombies he hit... As he also, apparently, managed to catch something like a fuel tank or the like with his shot. An explosion erupted, sending the cluster away from the pair. "Okay, let's move!"

As he started to run, Dustin muttered, "That was a lucky shot..."

While the pair was moving towards the station, he added. "I'm not too worried yet about Claire making it... Last info I had on the former Spec Ops guy would have put him on that side of the wreck you'd mentioned, probably not that far, too... And given what I know of him, he'd have likely been drawn to check on it."

Leon didn't need to be told twice, the second the path was clear, he was moving with Dustin through the now sizeable opening in the rank of the undead. There was a sound that might have been a snort as Leon caught the 'that was lucky' remark, but other than that he said nothing on it.

Once they were past the swarm of undead and could slow down some, he considered what else had been said.

"Well if that's the case that'd be good if he did meet up with her. Hopefully he has some heavier weaponry and ... I wonder if what we saw was some kind of weapon he has. Damn, I don't know now if I should hope he has more of that, or hope he doesn't."

A few minutes later, they were in sight of the main entry to the Police Station, managing to get in and seal the gate behind them to keep the zombies out. As they made their way towards the main entry point, the sounds of automatic gunfire could be heard from the right side of the building, off the main entry. Leon's head snapped towards the sound, and he sighed.

"Great, sounds like something's hit the fan inside, let's see if we can find whoever is shooting and help them. Though this probably means those things are inside the station too ... which means it's not safe like I had hoped."



Meanwhile Claire and Adrian were making their way towards one of the side entrys of the police station, having had to deal with some zombies, but fortunately not as many as they'd feared. Claire had more ammo now and a better gun that Adrian had given her, insisting she'd make better use of it than he would, and after what she'd seen and been told by him, she couldn't argue that. What worried her was what he''d told her about the mansion incident, and the fact Chris had actually attacked one of their fellow officers over the whole investigation, or lack thereof. Though if Adrian was right, it seemed that might have been a cover all along. The question was, where the hell was Chris? Not even Adrian knew.

As they made their way towards one of the gates to enter, they could hear the sounds of zombies moving about from the inner courtyard, which made Claire unhappy.

"Crap ... they're inside, and maybe in the station too. And Leon won't have that much ammo unless he found any ...

Adrian placed a hand on her shoulder.

"If it's any consolation, when I flew over to come save you, I think I saw this Leon fellow, cop right?"

"Yeah how did ..."

"I'm able to process quickly like that, caught the uniform as I was flying overhead, definitely not a zombie either. I can tell you this too, he had just run in to another survivor as well, so he's not alone. With a little bit of luck, we'll run into them fairly soon inside and can catch up, make plans to get you out of here safely and the like."

"I'm not leaving until we find Chris."

"Well, then we'll figure out how to find him, then our escape plan, that work?"

"It's ... acceptable."

An amused look went between them and they began making their way through the outer gate to see what kind of nightmare waited for them.

Dustin paused and listened for moment. "Sounds like a mix of M4s and SMG... Probably an MP5 version... Likely either SWAT survivors or maybe..."

Leon blinked for a moment before slowly nodding.

"Could be, damn you're good with that if you can tell the difference like that. And what, you think this ex-special forces guy still has some friends in town that have better armamenta than we do? Honestly, I'd be OK with that, I have a feeling we're going to need all the help we can get. Either way, let's get inside and track that down. Probably better if we hook up with them, try to get some kind of additional information on how screwed this city is."

Dustin nodded, then started in holding his coach gun at a low ready. "Figure if he had any advanced warning, he'd try to get help in."

Leon nodded slowly.

"Let's hope that's the case then. Can definitely use all the help we can get."

They made their way into the Police Station, finding the main room devoid of life, or unlife, at least for the moment. The gunshot sounds had come from the right, and there was one door on that side near by that seemed to head in the right direction. Leon indicated it, putting his weapon in a ready position as he carefully reached down to open the door. Upon opening it, they were met with the sight of a number of zombie corpses that had been put down, as well as some kind of mutant looking thing with no eyes, an exposed brain and a stupidly long tongue.

"The hell is that thing?"

Dustin calmly stepped over to it, and poked it with the barrel of his gun. "Dead, whatever it is."

Leon shook his head.

"Oh for gods sakes man, really you had to ..."


A moment later several flashlight beams lit them up, and a group of six well armed and geared people were near them, full automatic weapons raised.

"Hold it, hands up and ID yourselves."

The voice belonged to a late 30's to 40ish male, who appeared to be the leader of the group.


Leon turned slowly, with his hands up, looking at them for a moment before responding.

"Leon S. Kennedy, rookie cop for the RPD, today was supposed to be my first day ... not the welcoming party I expected though."


There was a brief pause, as if the man was waiting on something, followed by one of the three females in the group nodding her head slightly. He then turned towards Dustin and added, "And you?"

"Dustin Morris. Seems Adrian managed to get a message out after all." His response seems rather nonchalant for someone at gunpoint, particularly with military personnel holding them. Finally, he looked up from the corpse, in the direction of the group. "He hasn't shown up here yet, has he?"

There was a brief pause again as the team seemed to process this response, followed by a subtle gesture from the leader. A moment later the weapons were lowered to a more friendly posture, though it was clear they were ready to move on a moment's notice.

"Interesting, not exactly what I was expecting I'll admit. I can say this much, we haven't yet come across anyone claiming to own that name. I don't suppose either of you has seen the chief of police, Chief Irons yet?"


Leon shook his head, dropping to a more 'relaxed' pose.

"No, but we did only just arrive here not even five minutes ago. We heard gunfire from outside that sounded like it came from this area, so we came to see what that was about."


One of the women smiled slightly, the same woman the leader had looked at earlier with the small data pad on her wrist.

"Yeah, that was probably us, I think you can see why though looking at the room."

Their leader shook his head slightly before adding, "yeah, this was quite the ... undead welcoming party we had. Regardless, how did you even get in, the city was supposed to be sealed off from letting anyone in."


Leon looked at him for a moment before shaking his head.

"Well if that's the case someone didn't do any work to make that happen. I came in from off the Interstate west of here, drove right through with no issue at all, no stops, no people at all."


Before any replies could be made to that, there was the sound of something crashing above them, followed by what sounded like a muffled explosion. It sounded like it had come from the roof of the station.




Meanwhile, Claire and Adrian had just come into the side entry way when a helicopter flew over head out of control. It slammed into the building at the roof, which of course was the only point they could access to get in. Immediately it burst into flames, causing Claire to let out a curse.


"Damn, that was the only way in from this side from the looks of it. You probably can walk through that, but me ... I'd flash fry."

"Give me a moment, and stay behind me, I think I can put it out so we can safely cross."

Before Claire could say anything, he moved to the fire, took in a deep breath ... and then began to exhale. Claire's eyes widened as his breath exhaled for seemingly forever, and as it did, the air around it seemed to freeze solid, at least until it came into contact with the fire. Then it turned liquid enough to start putting out the fire. After a couple of minutes, the fire was out.

"Damn ... that's impressive."

He shrugged.

"Was the only thing that came to mind. We should be able to move inside now, and make our way towards the front of the station. Hopefully we can find someone there and get an idea as to how much of this place has fallen."


And so they entered the building, hoping they'd find someone soon.

Dustin looked up towards the roof when the explosion happened. "That sounded expensive. Suppose it could be useful to find out what that was... Or if we were the only ones who could react to it."

His expression suggested what was meant by that last bit.

The group shared a look before their leader nodded.

"Good point. Let's move as a full group, come with us then. At the very least, I think we should be able to find the two of you something that will be a bit more ... useful against some of the crap out there. The shamblers are one thing, but there's other stuff out there that especially a standard police pistol isn't going to be enough to put down."


Leon nodded.

"Alright, lead on, we'll stick with you. More firepower would be appreciated, I'll admit that. And more people if we can find them."


They made their way as quickly as possible towards the top floor and the sound of the explosion they had heard. By the time they made it up there, they were just in time to see two figures move into the hallway in front of them. The Special Ops forces started to move into position, but it proved not to be needed as Leon spotted Claire, calling out to her.

"Claire!"


The girl turned towards the group as did the man with her, a look of relief crossing her face despite the armed group looking at them.

Leon! You made it!"

She didn't move yet, keeping her eyes on the armed group, and the man with her for the moment stood still, watching the group, as if gauging their intentions.


The leader of the team nodded slightly, motioning his team to lower their weapons. It was clear the cop knew the girl, and for the moment, he was content to let them reunite. Something told him they could be trusted insofar as they wouldn't try to kill him or his team. Besides, the man seemed to match the description they'd been given ... now to see if he was whom they sought.

As the weapons lowered, Leon and Claire moved towards each other, giving each other a momentary hug. Meanwhile the man who she had been with came over, looking at the rest before settling back on Dustin.

"Wait a moment, I know you. Dustin Morris if I remember right. Looks like you're a fair bit sober today than the last time I saw you."


He then turned to the group of Special Ops people and considered them for a moment.

"Delta Force issued gear if I'm not mistaken, interesting. Definitely going to need the fire power from what I've seen."

Dustin snorted. "Too sober, really... Then again, Chris seemed insistent that I get some information to you, both swiftly and correctly."