The True Story Behind BIO HAZARD was a pre-order bonus book released alongside the Sega Saturn version of BIO HAZARD. This book is a non-canon prequel to the events of the first game written by Hiroyuki Ariga, a protegé of FLAGSHIP writer Noboru Sugimura.
Scenario: Hiroyuki Ariga
Released: July 25, 1997
Released: July 25, 1997
Project Umbrella Translation
George Trevor's Notes (p2-13)
A MAN RETURNED TO THE MANSION. THAT'S HOW IT ALL STARTED...
Raccoon City, a town in the midwestern United States of America...
A magnificent mansion was nestled in a dense forest on the outskirts.
On November 13, 1967, a man stood in front of its doors.
George Trevor, a well-known architect living in New York, who designed and built this mansion.
His client, the wealthy Oswell E. Spencer, invited him and his family to the mansion as a thank you for completing its construction.
Trevor sent his wife Jessica and their 14-year-old daughter Lisa ahead of him, finished his work, then followed.
However when Trevor arrived at the mansion, his wife and daughter were no longer there.
And Trevor, who entered the mansion, never came out again.
Where did he and his family disappear to...
There are notes here...
They were written down while Trevor was staying in the building.
Oswell requested that he construct this building for an incredibly large sum of money, and completing it took five years.
Why did he spend so much time on this...
And...
Could Trevor really have expected a bizarre incident would occur once more in this mansion thirty years later?
These notes hold the key to solving the whole mystery.
INVITATION
November 13, 1967
After finishing my work, I left New York and finally arrived at the mansion today after 6p.m.
The spacious entrance lobby. The majestic stairs in the center leading to the second floor... It's all nostalgic.
I take great pride in my design of this mansion.
After Lord Oswell E. Spencer commissioned me to build it and showed me the model in his office, it took five years to complete.
Lord Spencer's commands were so arduous, I poured all my strength and talent into this mansion.
However, its ingenuities would not be apparent to anyone at a glance.
Lord Spencer greeted me, brushing back his gray hair. He had an imposing physique. Every time I saw him, he radiated with confidence as well.
He told me that my wife Jessica and my daughter Lisa went to visit Aunt Emma after she had suddenly fallen ill, and we decided to celebrate alone together.
Only he and I know the secrets to this building... The two of us sipped our glasses, basking in the secret pleasure of that.
FEAST
The large dining room with a vaulted ceiling.
A wonderful array of food was laid out on a giant mahogany table.
Looking up there was Rodin's goddess statue, placed in the upstairs corridor, peering down on us with envy.
But even still...
How lonely it was to have only the Lord and I in such a large dining room.
Only the ticking of the wall clock quietly reverberated.
If only Jessica and Lisa were here at least...
The Lord says they arrived three days before me and that they appeared to have enjoyed this mansion to the fullest.
Especially my daughter Lisa, who by the Lord's courtesy, was allowed to play the piano in the mansion. The song was her favorite, "Moonlight" by Beethoven, and on that full moon night she played a beautiful melody to the moon floating above the forest surrounding the mansion, so beautiful that even the Lord praised her without a moment's hesitation.
I can see them in my mind's eye, both smiling with pride.
It appears that they left to return in a few days, but their absence only adds to my loneliness.
There's nothing I can do. In the meantime, I shall try to distract myself with the magnificent food, drink and many works of art here.
SUSPICION
November 14, 1967
I had Lord Spencer show me around the mansion.
He opened the doors himself. And many rooms lay before me.
They were lavish and splendidly decorated.
Da Vinci paintings. Raphael sculptures...
In one room there were taxidermied beasts with suspicious lights shining from their eyes, and in another room, medieval knights all lined up in an orderly fashion under their commanders.
All of which the Lord has collected to this day, as could only be expected of a world-famous magnate.
"I consider it marvelous. I plan to make this mansion a recreational facility for my new company, but it won't be simply for employees. I would like visitors both domestic and foreign to make use of it."
The Lord appears to have plans to establish an international pharmaceutical company in the near future.
I heard the company's name has been decided: "Umbrella."
But... if it's going to be a corporate recreational facility, why did he have such secrets implemented in this building? They're much too exaggerated to be the Lord's whim.
November 18, 1967
My family has yet to return.
Perhaps Aunt Emma's condition is that bad.
No phones have been installed yet, which is an inconvenience.
To take my mind off things, I went out to the balcony on the second floor and found a few crows perched on the railings, and when they caught sight of me, they let out eerie cries.
I have a bad feeling.
Come to think of it, I can't help but feel like someone's been watching me for the past few days.
I saw something strange in the courtyard.
There was a cascading waterfall and beyond the curtain of water I could see a stairway leading underground.
It isn't my design.
This was made without my knowing...
Suddenly, three men in white coats showed up and said "Who are you? You're not allowed here without authorization", nudging me away.
The men's white coats smelled faintly of disinfectant.
Who were those men?
November 20, 1967
I don't have my lighter... My wife gave it to me for my birthday and I used it with care.
I'm pretty sure I had a smoke and left it in the room with that broken hunting rifle.
I wonder if someone has lifted it.
That fact that my wife and daughter haven't returned makes me even more anxious.
The Lord laughed, saying I was thinking too much, but I can't bear the situation so I've told the Lord I'll pick them up tomorrow.
November 21, 1967
I packed my bags and ventured downstairs to the large room with portraits to say goodbye to the Lord.
Thereupon, the Lord was gone, and a man in white was staring at a painting.
He was one of the three men in the courtyard.
"Life is long, and short..."
The paintings lined up there depict a man from his birth to old age then his death.
"By now, your family is..."
The man looked back at me and grinned.
By now? ...What's that supposed to mean!?
A moment later, I felt a warm tingling in the back of my head and collapsed on the spot.
CONFINEMENT
November 24, 1967
How did I get into this mess?
It's been three days since I was locked up in this room.
"My apologies, but it's a matter of confidentiality", said the man in a lab coat who brought me a meager meal.
I see... That's what this was all about.
The only people who know this mansion's secrets are myself and the Lord, and once I'm dead, those secrets will be his alone. So... but for what... No, I don't have time to think about it. I have to try and escape.
Oh for crying out loud. I never imagined I'd fall into a trap I made myself.
I poured everything I had into this mansion and designed it so no one could escape once they were lost. The Lord is testing it on me first.
That's when something dripped onto my body from the ceiling.
Spiders! Countless spiders were scurrying around my body and across the floor.
I jumped involuntarily and trampled several of them with my feet.
November 27, 1967
I managed to get out of that room. However, getting out of this mansion isn't simple. I have to solve all the tricks.
The one-eyed tiger...
The golden emblem...
I can't recall everything in a hurry.
November 28, 1967
What on earth is this thing!?
A giant, ghastly plant fills the room.
I have never seen such a plant.
November 30, 1967
I can't escape. I just can't get out of the mansion.
A formalin-lined creepy laboratory...
A cave...
Then I finally found something. A familiar high heel lying in a hallway.
Jessica!
Have my wife and daughter been doomed to the same fate I have!?
No, they're both alive, surely.
DESPAIR
December 5, 1967
I'm parched. Haven't eaten for days...
It's driving me crazy.
Why? Why must I die like this...
Was it wrong of me to be fascinated by the unusual design of this mansion?
December 7, 1967
Dark... It's a damp underpass.
Is this another dead end? No... there's something here.
With my trembling fingers, I scraped my last match.
It was a grave... Oh, my God! The name inscribed on it was "George Trevor", is it mine?
He calculated from the beginning that this place would be where I'd draw my last breath, and he had a grave prepared for me. Even so, I can't believe how thoroughly I was deceived...
It's no good... My consciousness is fading away...
Jessica... Lisa... Forgive me.
I'm almost there. I'll join you both in Heaven...
George Trevor
Raccoon City, a town in the midwestern United States of America...
A magnificent mansion was nestled in a dense forest on the outskirts.
On November 13, 1967, a man stood in front of its doors.
George Trevor, a well-known architect living in New York, who designed and built this mansion.
His client, the wealthy Oswell E. Spencer, invited him and his family to the mansion as a thank you for completing its construction.
Trevor sent his wife Jessica and their 14-year-old daughter Lisa ahead of him, finished his work, then followed.
However when Trevor arrived at the mansion, his wife and daughter were no longer there.
And Trevor, who entered the mansion, never came out again.
Where did he and his family disappear to...
There are notes here...
They were written down while Trevor was staying in the building.
Oswell requested that he construct this building for an incredibly large sum of money, and completing it took five years.
Why did he spend so much time on this...
And...
Could Trevor really have expected a bizarre incident would occur once more in this mansion thirty years later?
These notes hold the key to solving the whole mystery.
INVITATION
November 13, 1967
After finishing my work, I left New York and finally arrived at the mansion today after 6p.m.
The spacious entrance lobby. The majestic stairs in the center leading to the second floor... It's all nostalgic.
I take great pride in my design of this mansion.
After Lord Oswell E. Spencer commissioned me to build it and showed me the model in his office, it took five years to complete.
Lord Spencer's commands were so arduous, I poured all my strength and talent into this mansion.
However, its ingenuities would not be apparent to anyone at a glance.
Lord Spencer greeted me, brushing back his gray hair. He had an imposing physique. Every time I saw him, he radiated with confidence as well.
He told me that my wife Jessica and my daughter Lisa went to visit Aunt Emma after she had suddenly fallen ill, and we decided to celebrate alone together.
Only he and I know the secrets to this building... The two of us sipped our glasses, basking in the secret pleasure of that.
FEAST
The large dining room with a vaulted ceiling.
A wonderful array of food was laid out on a giant mahogany table.
Looking up there was Rodin's goddess statue, placed in the upstairs corridor, peering down on us with envy.
But even still...
How lonely it was to have only the Lord and I in such a large dining room.
Only the ticking of the wall clock quietly reverberated.
If only Jessica and Lisa were here at least...
The Lord says they arrived three days before me and that they appeared to have enjoyed this mansion to the fullest.
Especially my daughter Lisa, who by the Lord's courtesy, was allowed to play the piano in the mansion. The song was her favorite, "Moonlight" by Beethoven, and on that full moon night she played a beautiful melody to the moon floating above the forest surrounding the mansion, so beautiful that even the Lord praised her without a moment's hesitation.
I can see them in my mind's eye, both smiling with pride.
It appears that they left to return in a few days, but their absence only adds to my loneliness.
There's nothing I can do. In the meantime, I shall try to distract myself with the magnificent food, drink and many works of art here.
SUSPICION
November 14, 1967
I had Lord Spencer show me around the mansion.
He opened the doors himself. And many rooms lay before me.
They were lavish and splendidly decorated.
Da Vinci paintings. Raphael sculptures...
In one room there were taxidermied beasts with suspicious lights shining from their eyes, and in another room, medieval knights all lined up in an orderly fashion under their commanders.
All of which the Lord has collected to this day, as could only be expected of a world-famous magnate.
"I consider it marvelous. I plan to make this mansion a recreational facility for my new company, but it won't be simply for employees. I would like visitors both domestic and foreign to make use of it."
The Lord appears to have plans to establish an international pharmaceutical company in the near future.
I heard the company's name has been decided: "Umbrella."
But... if it's going to be a corporate recreational facility, why did he have such secrets implemented in this building? They're much too exaggerated to be the Lord's whim.
November 18, 1967
My family has yet to return.
Perhaps Aunt Emma's condition is that bad.
No phones have been installed yet, which is an inconvenience.
To take my mind off things, I went out to the balcony on the second floor and found a few crows perched on the railings, and when they caught sight of me, they let out eerie cries.
I have a bad feeling.
Come to think of it, I can't help but feel like someone's been watching me for the past few days.
I saw something strange in the courtyard.
There was a cascading waterfall and beyond the curtain of water I could see a stairway leading underground.
It isn't my design.
This was made without my knowing...
Suddenly, three men in white coats showed up and said "Who are you? You're not allowed here without authorization", nudging me away.
The men's white coats smelled faintly of disinfectant.
Who were those men?
November 20, 1967
I don't have my lighter... My wife gave it to me for my birthday and I used it with care.
I'm pretty sure I had a smoke and left it in the room with that broken hunting rifle.
I wonder if someone has lifted it.
That fact that my wife and daughter haven't returned makes me even more anxious.
The Lord laughed, saying I was thinking too much, but I can't bear the situation so I've told the Lord I'll pick them up tomorrow.
November 21, 1967
I packed my bags and ventured downstairs to the large room with portraits to say goodbye to the Lord.
Thereupon, the Lord was gone, and a man in white was staring at a painting.
He was one of the three men in the courtyard.
"Life is long, and short..."
The paintings lined up there depict a man from his birth to old age then his death.
"By now, your family is..."
The man looked back at me and grinned.
By now? ...What's that supposed to mean!?
A moment later, I felt a warm tingling in the back of my head and collapsed on the spot.
CONFINEMENT
November 24, 1967
How did I get into this mess?
It's been three days since I was locked up in this room.
"My apologies, but it's a matter of confidentiality", said the man in a lab coat who brought me a meager meal.
I see... That's what this was all about.
The only people who know this mansion's secrets are myself and the Lord, and once I'm dead, those secrets will be his alone. So... but for what... No, I don't have time to think about it. I have to try and escape.
Oh for crying out loud. I never imagined I'd fall into a trap I made myself.
I poured everything I had into this mansion and designed it so no one could escape once they were lost. The Lord is testing it on me first.
That's when something dripped onto my body from the ceiling.
Spiders! Countless spiders were scurrying around my body and across the floor.
I jumped involuntarily and trampled several of them with my feet.
November 27, 1967
I managed to get out of that room. However, getting out of this mansion isn't simple. I have to solve all the tricks.
The one-eyed tiger...
The golden emblem...
I can't recall everything in a hurry.
November 28, 1967
What on earth is this thing!?
A giant, ghastly plant fills the room.
I have never seen such a plant.
November 30, 1967
I can't escape. I just can't get out of the mansion.
A formalin-lined creepy laboratory...
A cave...
Then I finally found something. A familiar high heel lying in a hallway.
Jessica!
Have my wife and daughter been doomed to the same fate I have!?
No, they're both alive, surely.
DESPAIR
December 5, 1967
I'm parched. Haven't eaten for days...
It's driving me crazy.
Why? Why must I die like this...
Was it wrong of me to be fascinated by the unusual design of this mansion?
December 7, 1967
Dark... It's a damp underpass.
Is this another dead end? No... there's something here.
With my trembling fingers, I scraped my last match.
It was a grave... Oh, my God! The name inscribed on it was "George Trevor", is it mine?
He calculated from the beginning that this place would be where I'd draw my last breath, and he had a grave prepared for me. Even so, I can't believe how thoroughly I was deceived...
It's no good... My consciousness is fading away...
Jessica... Lisa... Forgive me.
I'm almost there. I'll join you both in Heaven...
George Trevor
Storyboards from BIO HAZARD (p14-15)
Characters (page 16)
BIO HAZARD THE BEGINNING (p17-144)
CHAPTER.1
MIDNIGHT CALL
There's nothing worse than a phone call in the middle of the night.
For me, they're mostly bad news. That or just drunks calling a wrong number.
That time was no different.
It was pouring with rain late at night.
It was the night of the third day after my Mom and Dad had left alone for a trip.
It was also the middle of the night when I received the phone call that they'd been mangled after being hit by a large trailer.
Even after I was recruited by the Raccoon Police Department's special ops unit, STARS, midnight calls are no pleasant task.
My unit, STARS, is a distinct entity from the city police, in charge of peculiar violent crimes and special rescues.
It wasn't that I didn't like being dispatched in the middle of the night.
It's just that, in my experience, rescue ops at night usually don't produce good results.
First of all, when the city's sound asleep, initial reports are often delayed.
So even if you head to a rescue site, you'll often find yourself faced with a dead body.
Since then, I've grown to hate midnight phone calls.
It also has the added bonus of causing me some insomnia.
Just twenty minutes ago...
I received a call from someone I couldn't believe.
The reason I couldn't believe it is because the person was a ghost who'd already died three months ago, for whom we had a proper funeral.
"C, Chris... It's me. It's Billy. I'm alive. I need your help right now."
"Billy? You gotta be kidding me!"
My best friend from high school, Billy, was a researcher working for a major pharmaceutical company, the Umbrella Corporation.
Three months ago, however, he was transferred to Chicago and flew out of Raccoon City on a chartered company plane, but disappeared on the way.
Sixteen hours later, a search party found the wrecked charter plane drifting in the Atlantic Ocean.
At the time, the sea was rough due to bad weather and they were able to recover the bodies of eight of the twenty-one people on board, but the bodies of the remaining thirteen people, including Billy, were either washed far out to sea or submerged in the ocean, so in the end they couldn't be found.
I thought Billy calling me was just a prank.
But the voice of the man claiming to be Billy sounded serious.
"Believe me, Chris. As soon as that chartered plane took off, it touched down on another airfield, and we were all brought back here to Raccoon City."
The other man's voice was muffled and hard to understand, but he sounded a lot like Billy.
If this was a prank, he could be a pro at imitation.
I was willing to listen a little longer.
The clock on the bedside table read 1a.m.
"So what's the deal with you asking for my help?"
"You won't believe me yet. I've been doing some research in this town."
"Some research?"
"Anyway, I can't tell you the details over the phone... I've done something terrible. I'm going to tell you the secret..."
I was starting to believe it. They were too good to be a professional impersonator.
I could only assume it was Billy's voice.
"Please. Come here right away."
I was still at a loss. If I went out there and got myself into a prank, I'd look like a fool.
But the next thing the man said moved me.
"You're all I've got. If I don't, they'll kill me."
I heaved myself out of bed.
"All right. If I'm gonna do this, I'm gonna pretend I was tricked. Where are you?"
"I'm in the park by Victory Lake, north of Raccoon's town. Anyway, get here quickly."
The last phrase was almost a scream.
"I'll be there in forty minutes. Stay where you are until I get there."
The ghost hung up the call.
As soon as it was over, regret hit me.
This wasn't good. Why'd I promise to go when it was obviously a prank?
I opened the refrigerator and grabbed a plastic bottle of chilled mineral water.
After pouring it down my throat, I splashed it over my head.
I let out a gasp.
As long as I was going, I hoped it wasn't a prank. If it wasn't a prank, there were two possibilities I could think of.
One, that Billy was really alive and needed help.
The other was that someone was trying to trick Billy into setting me up in some sort of insane trap.
I couldn't stop thinking about it.
I walked out the front door, hopped into my beloved Shelby Cobra and stepped on the gas pedal, headed for Victory Lake.
As I pushed the gas pedal to the max, I thought about Billy, my best friend since elementary school.
We were an odd pair, me being a bad boy and him being the brightest kid in school.
People wondered why we were so different, but we were oddly compatible.
We stayed friends in high school, and when we graduated, Billy went to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and I joined the US Air Force.
Even though we were far away from each other, he was always diligent and sent me letters at least once every six months.
I never wrote back, though.
Four years later, after Billy graduated from college, he joined Umbrella Corp. and came back to Raccoon.
I also retired from the Air Force and decided to join STARS here.
Billy and I resumed our relationship in our hometown, but now that I think about it, his behavior was definitely weird, before and after he transferred to Chicago.
He became strangely silent when we met and didn't look pleased at all when he got transferred.
I thought he was just tired from work, but I wondered if that was really the case.
After leaving the city center, my Cobra entered a street with few cars.
For a while, I drove on in a gentle straight line.
My Cobra howled fiercely as I stepped on the gas pedal, accelerating with a thud and piercing the wind.
My back slammed into the back seat.
My Cobra's meter instantly read 240 kilometers. The eight-cylinder engine howled with a low roar.
I entered a mountain road.
A sharp curve loomed ahead. I immediately slammed the gear down into second and stepped on the gas pedal.
*SCREECH!* My Cobra howled, accelerated, and flew through the corner with the ground shaking.
This was the moment I cleared the third corner.
My Cobra's headlights caught sight of a woman.
I was going about 120 km/h.
I dropped the gear at once and hit the brakes hard.
I wasn't going to make it!
I swerved and hit the counter.
My Cobra's tires screeched as it spun to a halt. In the darkness of the quiet mountains, the burning smell of the tires wafted past my nose as it rode on the wind.
"Huhh," I sighed involuntarily.
I almost ran over a woman.
I was on my way to see a ghost when a woman dizzyingly jumped out at me. Not my lucky day at all. This was why I hate the middle of the night.
My headlights caught sight of the woman three meters away, lying on the ground.
I quickly got out of my Cobra and approached her.
I could see she was breathing hard.
As I ran up to her, I almost turned away.
The woman's body, illuminated by the faint moonlight, was covered in blood.
"Are you okay...?"
I picked her up in my arms.
"Help me..."
I could tell she was trying to say that by the way her mouth was moving.
But there was no way she was gonna be able to speak. Her throat was gouged and flooding with so much blood she could only squeak when she tried to speak.
Her stomach had been gouged as well, I could clearly see her guts.
It looked as if something had bitten into it.
Even on the battlefield, you'd never see a death like this. No one in their right mind would be able to look at it straight on.
She eventually went limp in my arms.
My hands immediately turned red with her blood.
As I stared blankly at the breathless woman's wounds, I started to hear some faint strange noises behind me.
*drip* *drip*
It was definitely coming from the dark, somber forest.
I took out my Beretta from my Cobra's dashboard and cautiously made my way into the forest, looking around.
There was a convertible parked in the bushes ahead of me, hidden from view.
Did this car belong to the woman from earlier?
A black mass was crouched on top of the car, noisily licking something.
The next thing I knew, I was gripped by an inexplicable sense of dread.
It leaned its head back and stared straight at me.
A dog... No, it was a little big for a dog.
A beast...!?
The warm breeze blew right through my body in the silence.
It was covered with pitch black body hair.
Its ears pointed up to the sky and its eyes were a cloudy yellow, as if they'd been painted. There were thin, bloodshot red lines around its eyes.
Beneath its lifeless eyes and visible inside its mouth were unusually long fangs.
The fangs were gobbling something up.
I couldn't help but want to cast my eyes down.
Between its teeth was a human eyeball!
I carelessly moved my jaw and swallowed.
The man's flesh twitched slightly as it folded beneath the thing's body.
My throat rumbled involuntarily.
Calm down, calm down...
I told myself.
I held the Beretta tightly in both hands and readied it.
"You monster!"
*BANG*
A dry sound pierced the dark night.
One shot, two shots...
I kept pulling the trigger one after another at the beast.
Sparks flew in the dark night.
The Beretta's bullets were hitting their target with precision.
But it didn't flinch, it let out an eerie roar and pointed its fangs at me.
*GRRRRR...*
Why couldn't I down it...!
I shot my Beretta like a madman. Just when I'd fired all my bullets.
*AROOOO!*
It suddenly howled in an eerie voice that cut through the dark night, then flew through the air and disappeared into the darkness.
I was so stunned I couldn't help but breathe on my shoulders.
What the hell was that? That was no dog...
It was an unimaginable beast, a monster.
My whole body was frozen in place. I couldn't move my legs, not even a step.
I could feel a cold sweat pouring down my body.
Slowly turning my shoulders, I took a deep breath.
I removed the hot magazine from my fire-breathing Beretta, quickly loaded new rounds and headed for the car, keeping an eye on the darkness.
Sure enough, the driver's seat was a pool of blood.
All over the dashboard and the steering wheel. The whole place was covered in blood.
The man in the driver's seat was a sight for sore eyes.
He didn't look any different from the woman I'd just left. Rather, maybe even worse than that.
His face had been gouged out diagonally by those long fangs and his exposed skull was bathed in moonlight, the pink of his brain glistening.
The other remaining eyeball was tumbled over the side of the shift lever with a piece of flesh attached.
Even the bones in his face were chewed up. What jaw power!
His stomach was only half full of guts as his intestines were sticking out.
No matter how good the plastic surgeon, it'd be impossible for them to restore his original form.
Hmm, I sighed.
Irresistibly, I took out a cig from my jean pocket and lit it with my Zippo.
I couldn't believe what I was smelling, all around me was an indescribable scent.
It wasn't just the fishy smell of blood.
The odor was unbearable.
It reminded me of a mountain rescue a year ago.
A light ten-seater plane had crashed and there were no survivors.
The rescue mission, in the middle of summer, was to dispose of the bodies which had begun to decompose. At that time, too, the area was enveloped in a bizarre smell.
But this place smelled even worse than that. I felt like my guts were about to expel something out my throat.
I looked around, but there was no way there were any rotting corpses around here.
Maybe the creature had left it behind, I thought.
My Zippo's flame flickered in the wind.
The smell of oil relieved me a little.
I saw a black hair strewn on the hood. Gently, I picked it up.
It was black, stiff, and straggly.
I put my nose to it. I knew it smelled like this. I couldn't help but throw away the hair, which had become entangled in my fingers.
This is the sixth case of this kind...
For the past six months, there's been such brutal and bizarre murder cases here in Raccoon's town.
We haven't caught the culprits yet. Actually, we don't even have a clue who the killers are.
The media's been covering the cases frequently, and recently, the city police have even been accused of negligence in their investigation.
I returned to my Cobra, turned my radio to ON, and contacted the Raccoon Police Department.
They'd be at the scene in less than thirty minutes.
I quickly got back in my Cobra, started the engine, and headed to the location specified by the man who called himself Billy.
CHAPTER.2
RACCOON POLICE DEPARTMENT
My cheeks were being caressed by a warm breeze from the lake.
The sky was still.
It was hot.
It was a midsummer night. I could feel the heat. Sweat was pouring down my chest and neck.
Due to a bizarre incident I faced on the way, I'd arrived at the park the man had designated, half an hour past the agreed time.
In the daytime, the lakeside park's crowded with couples and families, but there wasn't a single car in a space that could hold over a hundred parked.
Where's the guy who called himself Billy?
I took a quick look around the parking lot with a clear view, but no one was there.
Was it because I was running late and the guy couldn't wait to get home? Or was it a prank call after all?
I decided to look a little more along the shore of the lake.
Taking out a large flashlight from my Cobra, I started walking.
The guy's words about being "killed" came back to my mind.
I checked the street for even the slightest stain.
But there was no blood on the ground.
Ahead of me I spotted a boathouse.
When we were little, Billy and I used to play in that shed.
I stood in front of the shed.
Carefully, I opened the door and walked in slowly.
It was dark.
I shone my flashlight and saw a clutter of boat oars and ropes.
No one was here either.
I gave up and was about to leave the shed.
Just then, when I turned around, something glinted in the flashlight's ring of light.
I wondered what it was.
Walking closer, I picked up the shiny object and held it up to the flashlight.
I gasped.
It was a necklace with a small gold coin. It was definitely the one I'd given to Billy a year ago.
I took the necklace and ran out of the boathouse.
The person who called me was Billy himself. He was alive and he left this necklace as proof he came here.
"Billy!"
I shouted and ran around the area.
But my voice was drowned out by a sudden gust of wind and the rustling of violently shaking trees.
Defeated by this, I continued to call out loudly.
"Billy!"
But no matter how much I called, no matter how hard I ran, the only thing that answered me was the sound of the wind and crashing waves.
Where'd you go, Billy? Why didn't you wait for me to come!?
I stood there on the shore of the lake, feeling wistful.
It wasn't until nearly an hour later that I returned to the scene of the sixth bizarre murder.
There were five police cars and an ambulance, no longer necessary, parked at the scene.
I parked my Cobra at the side of the road and walked into the circle of cops. The wind was already blowing away that rank, nauseating smell.
But even while facing such a brutal murder scene, all I could think about was Billy.
On the phone, he told me he'd been doing some research here in Raccoon City.
And that he was in a lot of trouble...
What the hell sort of research was he doing there?
The crime scene preservation tape was being put up and police radios buzzed very loudly.
The forensics guys were lighting up the area with searchlights and bombarding the unfortunate bodies with shutter sounds.
I noticed Brian Iron in the middle.
He was chief of police in the Raccoon Police Department.
"I see you've finally arrived. Where'd the first person to find them wander off to, I wonder..."
Brian turned his greasy face towards me.
"I saw something that looked like the killer. I was chasing it."
I couldn't tell him that I'd left the scene to see Billy.
"What do you mean, like the killer?"
Brian's eyes lit up.
"But I couldn't get them."
"Hmm. That's what I figured. Good to know you saw something that looks like the killer, though."
He had a sullen look on his face, like that of a toad that had just been stepped on.
This is always the way Brian talks to his subordinates.
He thinks there's no one better than him.
Rumor has it he's planning to run for mayor in the next election.
The town of Raccoon was originally an agricultural area.
Fifteen years ago though, Umbrella Corp., a global conglomerate, constructed a research factory there.
Since it was built, the city's been transformed.
They built housing for Umbrella Corp. employees and its number of affiliated companies also expanded.
The number of people working for Umbrella Corp. and its subsidiaries has continued to increase over the past ten years, now 30% of the city's population works for Umbrella Corp.
Even a child knows that if you go against the next mayoral candidate, you won't be able to survive in Raccoon, let alone STARS.
Ignoring the toad, I took a cig out of my pocket and lit it with my Zippo.
I could see Brian staring at me with sharp eyes.
Raccoon's ever-growing population has helped modernize the city, but also pushed up its crime rate.
Umbrella Corp., now the city's economic backbone, issued a proposal to the state government five years ago in the name of contributing to the community.
That was to set up a separate unit from the police force, as a means of responding to the growing number of peculiar crimes and special rescues in emergencies.
This was the beginning of STARS.
As a result, STARS teams were formed one after another, not only in Raccoon City, but also in other cities where Umbrella Corp. had factories.
Umbrella Corp. paid half the funding for all of them and they spread to every state in the U.S.
The first captain of the STARS in this city was Brian, the city police chief, who our current boss Wesker replaced two years ago.
Brian used his career as our first captain to get into Umbrella's good graces as a shrewd police chief, now he's in the running for the mayor's seat.
As the body was being loaded into the ambulance, heavy strobe lights went off. It was the local press guys.
There were some familiar faces from the TV stations.
"Tell the detective section chief what you saw."
Brian spun around on his heel and walked toward the TV station's cameras.
He showed a different kind of face, that of a sob.
Facing the TV cameras, he started talking like a politician about how he was doing everything he could to deal with this case.
It was a great performance, just like a Broadway actor.
The lead detective came over to my side.
"I noticed pistol casings on the floor, were you the one who fired them?"
I nodded silently and his complexion shifted.
In each of the past five bizarre cases, not only did the police fail to arrive on the scene until after the slaughters, there hadn't been any witnesses either.
"Did you see the killer's face?"
"No."
I answered bluntly and gave him an annoyed look.
"I didn't see the killer's face."
The lead detective looked puzzled.
"What do you mean?"
"Well, it was a dog-like... monster."
"A dog-like monster!?"
An image flashed through my mind, of the thing barking out chilling roars instead of fright as I hit it with several lead bullets.
Those sharp fangs, tinted with the victim's fresh blood, glistened terrifyingly.
I gently raised my hands.
"I'm in over my head."
I walked toward my Cobra. The lead detective then rushed after me.
"Wait a minute. Why aren't STARS working this case?"
"Dunno. Wouldn't it be faster to ask the chief?"
I answered bluntly and stepped lightly on the gas pedal.
"Hold on. Tell me more, Chris."
"Sorry. Not in the mood to talk to anyone right now."
I actually wasn't. There was those bizarre cases, but most of all, there was Billy.
I placed the gear in neutral and put my foot down as hard as I could.
At once, my Cobra's roar cut through the scene's noisy atmosphere.
Brian, who was acting in front of the TV cameras, turned around in a panic.
I winked at Brian and made my Cobra speed away furiously.
CHAPTER.3
SPECIAL FORCES UNIT STARS
I was on the STARS floor, located on the second floor of the Raccoon Police Department.
STARS are headed by Albert Wesker and divided into two teams.
One is Bravo Team, captained by Enrico Marini, who's STARS' second-in-command.
The other team is Alpha Team, to which I belong, captained by Wesker.
These two teams work in shifts, one day each.
In other words, Alpha Team works a 24-hour shift for a day, followed by Bravo Team.
Due to the nature of Special Forces, we're required to be on alert even during holidays. Naturally, when it comes to a major case, the two teams work in tandem. Today, Alpha Team was scheduled to be on standby in the office.
When I walked into the office, I could see all the team members were on edge.
Our captain, Wesker, was the only one who looked composed, with his sunglasses on and arms crossed as usual.
Everyone besides the captain being on edge was no surprise.
It was because the bizarre murders, which have been causing fear and anxiety among the people of Raccoon, had happened once again last night.
On top of that, I, a member of STARS, was present at the scene this time.
Six months ago, when the first bizarre murder occurred, everyone in the unit was of the opinion that STARS should investigate. Then as the second and third murders continued on and on, that opinion grew louder and louder.
But our captain, Wesker, was the only exception.
"We're running out of patience. When are they gonna let us handle this investigation?"
Barry Burton was snapping at Wesker.
I hadn't slept a wink since I got back to the station yesterday to cooperate with the interrogation.
Rubbing my eyes sleepily, I pulled out a chair and sat at the end of the conference room.
"The citizens are terrified."
Barry's low voice echoed through the conference room.
I've known him a long time.
He was my superior officer in the Air Force, and we happened to meet again and work together here in STARS.
He's always been a hot-blooded guy and a perfect fit for STARS, a job consisting of saving lives and investigating special crimes.
He's a child-like guy who loves his two daughters very much.
"I can't do anything about it, we haven't gotten the order from the city police yet."
Wesker answered in a cold voice.
"Always the same answer, isn't it?"
The other members of the team, Brad, Joseph, Jill, and Rebecca, were equally standoffish.
"If the city police won't issue the order, can't you do it yourself?"
It was Rebecca, who'd recently joined the force.
Like a Yankee girl, no matter who she's talking to, she's not afraid to say what's on her mind.
The fact that she was there, even though she belongs to Bravo Team, probably reflected her personality.
Wesker was unfazed though.
Many STARS members have a variety of backgrounds and talents, from army and air force to private sector elites. That's why we've got such a unique band of people.
A calm and cool-headed guy like Wesker might be the best individual for uniting such people.
"You're new, so you probably don't understand..."
Wesker began his favorite organizational theory.
STARS is under the city police department's purview. In other words, we can't mobilize without orders from Brian, the city police chief.
Since these bizarre incidents started happening, Wesker's been bringing up this organizational theory every time someone wants to solve the case ourselves.
"I know that. But the people in the city can't even walk out of their houses anymore."
Barry thumped his desk.
"Barry's right. What if another incident happens while we're doing this? Chris has just faced one, so it's a perfect opportunity."
Jill followed Barry's lead and persisted.
Jill's the team's bomb disposal specialist, partly because she's good with her hands.
Her short hair gives her a neat look, and her big eyes make her look intelligent. However, being a woman doesn't mean she's naive. No matter how hard the mission is.
With her powerful sense of responsibility, she's a woman who works as hard as us men without complaint.
"Even if there are opportunities, as long as you're in this organization, you can't just do what you want."
"Organization, organization, organization, don't you have a sense of self, Captain?"
Jill challenged him.
But Wesker only slightly dodged.
"I don't think we need to discuss my personal character. I am of course well aware of your sense of responsibility", he said, bringing his coffee slowly to his lips.
Wesker's a unique member of the team.
He became this team's captain two years ago on Umbrella's recommendation. With his outstanding skills and talents, he'd been a STARS captain in another state, but he came here to augment our team.
The previous captain, Brian, inevitably felt like he was being removed from the team.
Although he wasn't amused, he couldn't go against Umbrella's recommendation.
Brian has a more senior position as chief of police, but also a reputation for people around him not knowing which is superior.
Wesker speaks little and is always polite. He never participates in heated debates.
He's a guy who knows his position.
Jill and Barry, having given up trying to beat Wesker's organizational theory, fell silent.
From the start I didn't intend on joining in on this discussion.
I pulled out the gold coin necklace Billy had left behind, twirled it around my finger, and idly played with it.
Where are you now, Billy?
You called and said you were gonna be killed. Who the hell's gonna kill you?
Before I knew it, Barry had turned around and was staring at me.
"Chris, what's with the necklace?"
His voice brought me back to my senses.
"Nah, it's nothing..."
I hurriedly put the necklace in my breast pocket.
Barry was still looking at me like he was curious, but Wesker's voice brought his gaze back.
Wesker also seemed to notice my necklace, but spoke to me and didn't mention it.
"Chris. I know this is a bit of a rambling topic for you, but can you tell everyone what happened yesterday again? I'm not sure if the city police will order us to go, but we need to be prepared."
"Understood."
I gave a curt reply and stood up.
I spoke slowly and in detail about the situation I'd witnessed.
During my explanation, everyone insisted on knowing about the dog-like beast that attacked the convertible.
No matter how detailed my explanation, they couldn't seem to understand it.
Of course not. I didn't even know what it was and I was the one who witnessed it.
I didn't tell them anything about Billy's phone call.
Under the current circumstances, no one would believe me, no matter how much I insisted he was alive.
"Chris. I need a favor."
Rebecca held out a large piece of drawing paper to me.
"I need you to make a sketch of the monster."
"A sketch?"
"Since we don't know what it looks like just from your description, I think it's better if everyone has an accurate picture."
She wasn't kidding.
"Rebecca. Do ya think Chris has an artistic bone in his body?"
The others smirked at Barry's words.
"You don't, do you? Nah."
They were seriously disappointed.
I couldn't help but be annoyed.
"But hey, better than your piano, Rebecca."
Remembering the insufferable piano Rebecca had played at her welcome party, I sarcastically retorted and left the room.
Jill soon followed me.
"Chris. I need to talk to you."
She stared at me with a straight face.
As if she was thinking about how to break the ice.
"Do you by any chance wanna go out with me, baby?"
I laughed lightly.
"Don't be silly. Chris, you're hiding something."
"What am I hiding?"
"Something was funny about today's meeting."
"Well then, what was so funny?"
"Because you're the one who wants STARS on the bizarre cases the most. You've always been the one leading the charge against the captain."
I've always known her to be a perceptive lady.
"I can't believe that today you sat quietly in the corner of the room, not joining in on the conversation at all. Listen, Chris. You're the one who found it."
"I haven't slept a wink since I was questioned by the city police all night. Even our toad chief isn't that suspicious."
"No way. I was watching you throughout the meeting. That's why I know you're not yourself."
"Do you always care about me so much? So you're saying ya got feelings for me."
"Don't play games with me."
I remembered that she wasn't just smart, but also more than persistent.
"And there's something about your explanation that bothers me.
I'm curious about something...
When the incident happened, you called the city police."
"'Course I did. I'm a member of STARS and an upstanding Raccoon citizen."
"But you disappeared from the scene."
"I told you, I was running around in the mountains chasing some sorta beast. It was..."
I ran out of breath.
"Then why'd you drive back to the crime scene?"
I knew this was one woman I couldn't have as a girlfriend. I don't think I could even fool around with other women if they were this sharp.
"That's enough. I thought I'd look further afield. Anyway, I'm tired.
Haven't slept a wink."
There was no way to get out of this except with a strong tone. Jill gave me a sad look.
She took her gaze off me and looked out the window at the street.
The faint floral scent in the air was Jill's favorite perfume.
She saw a group of teenagers on their way to high school. Jill followed the girls with her eyes until they were out of sight.
I knew exactly how she felt.
A seventeen-year-old girl who lived in Jill's neighborhood had also been killed in the latest bizarre incident.
The girl often came to Jill's room to play.
She'd been slaughtered in the woods on a camping trip with her friends.
"I can't let them get away with that."
Jill murmured to herself at that moment. Her eyes filled with anger at an invisible enemy.
I tapped her lightly on the shoulder.
"I'm tired, so I'm gonna head out for a bit. Just let the captain know."
I raised up my hand lightly to Jill.
She nodded silently, but her eyes still seemed to have some suspicion in them.
CHAPTER.4
THE MISSING BILLY
Raccoon's a city that's grown rapidly in recent years.
The northern part of the city's a lake and forest area that's become a tourist attraction.
The other side's the city, with a ring road running around the city hall, hospital, and other public facilities.
It might seem a little too grand for a city with a population of 300,000.
This was also thanks to Umbrella Corp., where Billy worked.
I ran along the loop and turned my Cobra toward the road leading to the east side of the city.
This is the road leading to Umbrella Corp.'s factories and labs. This road in particular is exceptionally well-maintained.
This road's only crowded during the morning and evening commuting hours, but it had two lanes on each side with palm trees lining both sides of the road to the end of the horizon.
The road can feel a tad tropical.
Umbrella Corp.'s Raccoon District HQ building is a stylish sixty-story building.
The brick exterior walls are decorated with geometric patterns.
It's truly a globe-spanning conglomerate.
The tallest skyscraper in Raccoon, even a provincial headquarters like this one has a certain dignity to it.
I stopped my Cobra in front of the headquarters building and walked inside.
The reason I was here, of course, was to find out more about Billy.
The lobby was open-aired.
I could see a reception desk about twenty meters away.
A cheerful lady was smiling at me from a distance.
"Welcome."
A perfect smile.
"It's a little long from the front door to this reception desk."
Then she gave me a look that said, "What?"
"When a pretty lady like you smiles at me from a distance, I get so nervous that I felt like my limbs were gonna fumble before I even got to the desk."
I winked at her and she gave me the most beautiful smile.
"What can I do for you?"
Regardless of my feelings about her, this smile was simply her being loyal to her duty as a receptionist.
Her business-like tone of voice showed that.
"I was hoping to ask you about what happened to someone."
"Pardon?"
She gave me a dubious look.
"A friend of mine, Billy Rabbitson, he died in the crash of your chartered plane three months ago. I'd like to know more about what happened."
With a puzzled look on her face, she replied, "Okay," and pressed the extension.
"Excuse me, but please take the elevator in front of you to the 36th floor. Our general affairs manager will be waiting for you."
She put down the phone and gave me the same look as before.
I suddenly wished I could see her smile like this every day. But men get bored with such things very easily.
As soon as I got off the elevator, they let me into a reception room in front of it.
On the wall was an oil painting titled "Nymphs Bathing".
It also said that the artist was the neoclassical painter "Angle."
I don't know much about art, but I do know that Umbrella Corp. President, Lord Oswell E. Spencer, is world-renowned as a great art collector.
This was definitely the real deal.
As I sat on the sofa, an honest-looking man in his fifties walked in.
"You were hoping to ask about our dearly departed Billy Rabbitson."
His tone of voice was very polite. The man's name was Johnson.
"I'd like to know more about what happened at the time of the accident."
I was very direct.
"Pardon me, but what sort of relationship did you have?"
Johnson's business card read, "Umbrella Corp., Raccoon Branch, General Affairs Section Manager."
This was the best sort of guy for a large company's administrative department.
"We've been friends since we were kids. I've been living abroad, but when I came back after eight years, I was told that he'd died three months ago. I couldn't believe it, so here I am..."
I lied brazenly.
"That's right I'm afraid. The weather was bad that day, but the tower still cleared them for takeoff, so..."
"I heard he was transferred to a lab in Chicago to work on some new research. What was he supposed to be studying?"
"I'm not sure of the details, but rumor has it that it was vital research that'll impact our company's future. We were proud to have him as part of the Raccoon Branch. He was such a marvelous employee. It's a terrible shame."
This guy had an honest opinion of Billy.
He probably doesn't even know Billy's still alive. I figured there was nothing more to be gained by questioning him.
"One last thing, if I may. I've heard that out of the twenty-one employees on board, there were only eight bodies taken in, but I was wondering if they were all claimed by relatives."
Johnson looked at me in surprise.
"Of course they were. That's just the sort of accident it was. The damage was so severe they had a hard time identifying the bodies. They could barely be identified by their clothes and belongings, so they were handed over."
CHAPTER.5
BAD FEELING
Something's definitely going on.
That's the conclusion I came to so far.
Johnson said the bodies that had been recovered were nearly impossible to identify.
But Billy had said something on the phone.
The charter plane took off from Raccoon Airport, immediately landed at another airport, then Billy and the others were all brought back to Raccoon.
If this is true, it means the eight bodies taken into custody were substitutes.
Who would've done such a thing, and for what?
The only thing I could think of at the moment was Umbrella Corp. did it.
Johnson told me Billy was supposed to do some important research that'd determine Umbrella's future.
And Billy said, "I've done a lot of research."
If both cases of "research" are the same, it'd mean Billy had been locked up somewhere on Umbrella's orders, forced to do "hard research," then escaped and came to me for help.
But how could Umbrella Corp., one of America's largest conglomerates, commit such a crime?
And there's another problem.
Was there potentially a connection between Billy's case and the bizarre cases in Raccoon City?
So far I had no clues to connect the two.
In any case, the only thing I could do now was find Billy as soon as possible.
I hooked Billy's necklace, which I'd found at the boathouse, on my rearview mirror and turned my Cobra back to Raccoon's town.
I was going to meet Rosie.
Rosie was Billy's fiancée, also a dear friend to me and Billy.
I needed to show her this necklace.
That was because I had another necklace just like this one, which I gave to both of them as an engagement gift.
I didn't think I was crazy, but I wanted to make sure the necklace I gave Rosie was the same as this one.
My Cobra sped down the palm tree road.
Just then, I had a strange sensation and looked in the rearview mirror.
I was being followed!?
In the rear view mirror, I saw two passenger cars and a large trailer coming up behind me.
I couldn't tell which car it was. I wasn't even sure if I was being followed or not.
But my years of experience as an investigator whispered to me.
I stepped on the gas pedal as hard as I could.
Then veered off the road toward the city.
My Cobra barked out low and accelerated in a single bound.
The wind whipped around me violently. Still, I kept pressing on the gas pedal. Eventually, I couldn't see the shadow of a car in my rearview mirror, so I put on my right blinker, pulled my Cobra over to the shoulder, and slowly lit a cig.
I waited for the cars to come up behind me.
The wind was blowing.
My strange feeling hadn't subsided yet.
Eventually, the two cars and the trailer appeared and drove past me without incident.
There were no more cars following them.
Was my imagination playing tricks on me?
No, it wasn't. The strange sensation certainly subsided, but at that moment, I was certain I felt a piercing gaze on my back.
I slowly made a U-turn with my Cobra and pointed its nose towards the city.
I parked my Cobra at a coffee shop in the middle of the downtown area.
I used to frequent this place with Billy.
The posters on the walls and furniture in the store hadn't changed at all since then.
Even the fact that there were no other customers.
When the owner noticed me, he was watching football on TV while munching on popcorn, and called out to me with a nostalgic look.
I thought I'd call Rosie from here.
She works in the neighborhood at a bakery owned by her relative's aunt.
I hesitated to go to the bakery as I knew I couldn't do anything rash if someone was watching me.
I ordered a black coffee and went to the phone in the back of the store to greet the owner.
"Chris!"
I heard a friendly voice on the other end of the phone.
"Rosie, the gold coin necklace I gave you for your engagement. Do you still have it?"
I decided it'd be best not to talk too long, so I cut to the chase.
"Of course I do. It'll always be mine, not just now, but forever... Why though?"
Rosie's cryptic voice came back.
"Can you bring it to me, please?"
That's all I said, and hung up the phone, telling her only where I'd meet her.
The meeting place was a lumber mill warehouse, about a five minute walk from the bakery.
It was only a short distance from her apartment, right behind the bakery.
When I arrived at the warehouse, Rosie was waiting for me with her store apron on.
I'd walked the back way from the coffee shop to here instead of taking my Cobra, as I felt I was in danger of being watched.
"What's going on? You asked me to bring the necklace. Is something wrong?"
Without even saying hello, Rosie wanted to know why.
I hadn't seen Rosie since Billy's funeral. Anyone would be suspicious if someone had suddenly said something like that to them on the phone after three months.
But I didn't have time to worry about that.
"Can you show me it?"
"I can't find it..."
"What'd you say!?"
I looked at Rosie in surprise, it was an answer I hadn't expected.
"I put it in my jewelry box and put it away for safekeeping, but I just can't find the necklace."
I asked her as if I were pressing her.
"What do you mean, you can't find it anywhere!?"
I was too loud, Rosie was shocked to see my face. I lowered my tone.
"I'm sorry. I can't believe I lost your present."
"That's not what I'm asking. I'm asking you if you dropped it or if it was stolen!"
"Oh, no. I don't believe it was stolen. The other jewels are still there. I must've dropped it."
I felt like I'd been hit over the head.
I pulled the necklace from the boathouse out of my breast pocket and held it out in front of Rosie.
Rosie couldn't help but exclaim, "Oh!"
"W--why do you have it? What the hell's going on, Chris!?"
I asked slowly in a low voice.
"So this is the necklace you lost?"
Rosie stared at the necklace she'd snatched from me, then looked up.
"Why's my necklace...?"
What the hell was going on here?
I'd always thought the necklace belonged to Billy.
But Rosie said it was hers...
Billy hadn't come back to life after all.
Someone had stolen the necklace from Rosie's jewelry box and placed it in the boathouse on purpose to make me think Billy had come back to life.
I was confused.
Rosie was looking at the necklace fondly and mumbling.
"I remember when you told me and Billy this necklace was an engagement gift."
A year ago, to celebrate Billy and Rosie's engagement, the three of us had gone to a ski resort about thirty kilometers from Raccoon City and I'd given them the necklace at a mountain cabin there.
"A week before he got transferred to Chicago, we went back to the cabin and spent the night there. It's the last thing I remember."
I saw a glint in Rosie's eyes as she spoke, staring into the distance.
I was walking through Raccoon City's downtown area like I'd lost my mind.
The hustle and bustle of people coming and going seemed so far away to me now.
Was Billy still alive?
I was being played, just by a necklace.
I'd hoped that he'd be alive, but now I felt the strength drain from my body like a receding tide.
I got into my Cobra parked in front of the coffee shop.
As I was getting into the driver's seat, I looked up.
Once again, I couldn't believe my eyes.
Many people were walking along the sidewalk on the other side of the road where I'd parked my Cobra.
For a moment, I saw a familiar face in the crowd.
He was standing with a small boy, looking into a store on the corner of the intersection.
The man suddenly turned to look at me.
Billy!?
I almost shouted.
He looked like him! He looked just like Billy!
He was hidden in the crowd, but I couldn't help but think he was Billy.
For a moment, my gaze locked with the man's.
The next moment, Billy's gaze shifted slightly away from me, and he seemed to see something else.
At the same time, Billy turned his back to me and started running.
"Billy!"
I shouted in my mind and ran after him down the road.
*Squeeeak!*
A car coming from the other side almost hit me and braked suddenly.
I didn't care, I chased after Billy.
Passersby looked back at us in surprise.
Billy was running from alley to alley.
Why're you running, Billy!
Wasn't it Billy!? Were they an imposter!?
I chased after him as hard as I could.
But the man finally got lost in the crowd, and I eventually lost sight of him.
I stood dumbfounded on the street.
Was I having a nightmare!?
As if I'd lost my mind, I came back to the intersection.
Then a little boy came up to me and looked up at me.
"Big bro."
It was the kid who'd been standing next to the man.
"You know, my big bro asked me to give you this."
He held out a tourist brochure.
"Beautiful snowy mountains and white slopes await you."
That's what it said on the cover.
And in front of the snowy mountains and log house, there was a beautiful model with skis on her shoulders.
I looked suspiciously at the store in front of me.
It was the store the man had been peeking into.
It was a travel agency.
The kid handed me a sightseeing pamphlet that was on display there.
As I looked at the log cabin in the brochure, Rosie's words came back to my mind.
"We spent the night in that cabin over there before he was transferred to Chicago."
What exactly was this all about!?
The only people who knew about that cabin were me, Billy and Rosie.
So, was it Billy who took the pamphlet from the store and tried to give it to me through the kid to tell me about it?
Or was this just another cleverly set trap to deceive me?
CHAPTER.6
MOUNTAIN CABIN
It was past three o'clock when I returned home.
The sun was already setting on the mountains.
If I didn't get to the cabin soon, it'd get dark.
But I still came home because I thought that this time, at the cabin, I'd be able to settle this matter that had been baffling me.
If it was the real Billy, he would've secretly told me about the cabin he was hiding in with that pamphlet.
And if he's an imposter who sent me that pamphlet with the intention of deceiving me, then what does he want? ...That'd make it clear.
Either way, I don't think I can get away with this.
Even if it's really Billy, I might have to fight his pursuers. If it's an imposter, naturally I'll have to fight them.
So I went back to my house to get my favorite Colt Python and shotgun.
My house is a small, old, terraced house, the only thing left to me by my penniless parents.
At the front door, I picked up the newspaper that had been delivered.
There was a sensational article on a murder case. The paper was heavily criticizing the city police for inaction. They were also loudly demanding that STARS be deployed.
As I stood in front of the door and grabbed the knob, I had that strange feeling again.
Someone was watching me.
The wind was rustling strangely. The poorly fitted glass door rattled.
The house was surrounded by weeds and bushes, perfect for hiding in plain sight.
I slowly opened the door.
Once inside, I closed the door behind me and quickly pulled out my Beretta.
The first floor kitchen, living room, upstairs bedroom... I slowly checked every inch of the house.
The house didn't look any different.
But for some reason, I felt restless.
I checked the messages on the answering machine.
There was no message from Billy, after all.
I picked up the phone and looked behind it. There was no sign of a wiretap being installed.
I could tell I was overreacting.
However, there were definitely signs that a stranger had come into this room.
Was it Billy? Or my watcher?
Anyway, I needed to get to the cabin as soon as possible.
I opened the drawer under the bed in my bedroom.
A shotgun with a dull jet-black glow and a .45 Colt Python came into view.
I hadn't held those two in my hands for a long time.
I went to the living room table and loaded the bullets.
That's when I felt the creeping sensation in my back again.
I was standing against a window. Someone was watching me through that window!?
Grabbing the Python, I slowly turned my head to look at the window.
No one was there.
I quickly went over to the window and peered out.
There was still no one there. The leaves on the trees in the garden were just swaying in the wind in the dusk light.
Feeling unsettled, I turned my back to the window again to pick up the shotgun on the table.
That's when it happened.
*CRACK...!*
The window pane suddenly smashed.
Before I could turn around, two arms thrust through the window and grabbed me by the neck.
They tightened their grip on me.
The force was incredible.
For a moment, I almost fainted. The Python fell out of my hand.
But what brought me back to life was the rotting odor I'd smelled at the scene.
There was a terrible smell coming from the body of the person clamping down on my neck.
It couldn't be that dog-like creature. Were there others!? Who the hell was that!?
I couldn't even speak. I wanted to turn around, but I couldn't.
The only thing I could see was part of the arm around my neck.
It looked like a human arm. But the arm looked keloidal, the skin discolored in a speckled patterns of pink and black.
I've seen this kind of arm before.
Human corpses after being murdered and left to rot for days.
No way, a corpse had risen up and attacked me!?
That's absurd.
I desperately grabbed its arm.
Instantly, I felt like I was going to faint again.
The skin on the other man's arm tore open in my hand, and his red, peeling flesh crumbled fragilely, making a squishy sound.
The smell of decay became even stronger.
In my desperation, I reached for the bottle of whiskey on the sideboard by the window and swung it down where my opponent's head was.
*GUSH*
There was a dull thud, and the hands that had been tightening around my neck finally let go.
I gasped, almost suffocated, and threw my hands on the floor. But in less than ten seconds, I scrambled to my feet and looked out the window.
The hostile was already gone.
I grabbed the Colt Python lying on the floor, ran out the front door and sprinted to the backyard where the hostile was.
The hostile was still nowhere to be found.
Only the smell of decomposition still lingered in the air.
I looked at my hand and saw part of their torn skin was still attached to my palm.
My whole body was covered with hair.
Just then, I heard the sound of crunching soil.
I turned around and raised my Colt Python, squeezing on the trigger, "Chris, it's me!", shouted Jill.
I quietly lowered the Colt Python in my hands.
"What the hell's wrong with you? Your face is pale. And there's a strange smell around here, it's nauseating."
She covered her nose and mouth with a handkerchief.
"Jill, did you see anything?"
My breath was ragged.
"What do you mean?"
"If you didn't see anything, that's fine."
I walked back into the house and grabbed my shotgun and a box of bullets.
"What the hell's going on?"
Jill, who was following behind me, stood in front of me with a look that said she wouldn't tolerate me any longer.
I didn't say anything. I couldn't help but feel angry.
I'd been attacked by monsters twice and I didn't even know what they were, let alone catch them.
I left the house and walked quickly toward my Cobra.
"Come on, Chris! How long are you going to keep this a secret!? You're not your usual self."
I got in my Cobra.
"You never know when or where a member of STARS might put their life in danger. That's why we have to trust each other, wasn't it you who said that?"
Jill stared at me, her face more serious than ever.
She was right. I was out of my mind. Going mad over something like this.
I opened the passenger door without a word.
Jill giggled and slid into the passenger seat.
I slammed my Cobra's gear into low and hit the gas pedal.
With a tremendous amount of wheel spin, my Cobra swung its tail and sped forward.
The cabin was on the other side of Victory Lake.
As I drove, I caught a glimpse of Jill's profile.
Jill kept her eyes forward in silence.
She knew I was going to tell her everything that had happened between yesterday and today, so she waited.
My Cobra was already on the mountain road.
It was only a short distance to the cabin Rosie had spoke about.
Before that, I probably should've told Jill.
"Last night, I got a call from a guy named Billy at--"
I told her the whole story, breaking it down word by word.
"That's the gist of it."
When Jill finished listening to me, she replied in surprise.
"But there's still no evidence that Billy had anything to do with the bizarre events happening right now."
I replied cautiously.
"Yeah, you're right, but overall, I can't help but think they're connected. Anyway, we should head to the cabin, and if that doesn't clear things up, we should report to STARS. That way, if Billy's real, we'll have a better chance of saving him."
I lit a cig and nodded.
I was glad I told Jill, with Billy being my best friend, I'd gotten so involved in the case that I might've lost my objectivity.
But I was sure we'd solve everything at the cabin.
The sky was beginning to dim.
The roar of the heavy bass engine echoed through the forest.
I drove my Cobra, holding back my impatience.
After crossing a small river and driving for a while, we finally arrived at the cabin we were aiming for.
It was an old-fashioned building. I'd been to this cabin a few times with Billy and Rosie.
But there was no time for sentimentality.
I handed Jill the shotgun and got out of my Cobra.
"Look. Human or monster, if you're in danger, shoot without mercy."
Jill nodded with a serious look.
The cabin was still locked.
She took out her lockpick and unlocked the door in a flash.
The air in the cabin was stale and musty, as if it hadn't been used in years.
"Billy?"
I called out quietly.
But there was no response.
The first floor was a large living room. The floor screeched loudly as I walked.
"Jill, I'm gonna check upstairs, you check this floor."
As I walked up the stairs to the second floor, she shouted,
"Chris, look!"
I turned around and Jill pointed to an open can of beef lying on the floor.
"It's still fresh."
Jill was staring at the contents of the can.
There were a few other cans lying around.
I ran upstairs to look for him.
But Billy wasn't there.
I wondered if the cans were really Billy's leftovers. Or did someone put them there to make me think so?
"Anyway, let's wait here a while."
Jill and I hid in the shadows of the cabin and waited patiently for the next development.
Would Billy come back? Or would the imposter cause something to go wrong?
But results were slow coming.
An hour passed.
Still, nothing happened.
Then suddenly, my cell phone rang, and an unexpected voice came in.
"Chris..."
It was Barry.
"Barry? What's up?"
I didn't hear an answer for a few moments. It was odd, he didn't seem like his usual cheery self.
"Chris, where are ya? I need to see you right away."
"What's going on?"
Jill stood next to me, listening suspiciously.
"Please. I'll talk to you when I see you. Come on."
Billy's face popped into my mind.
The first night, when I got a call from a guy who called himself Billy, he sounded just like Barry did now.
He seemed to have something stuck in his back teeth and said he'd tell me more when we met.
I felt a pang in my chest.
"Barry, I'm in over my head right now. What the hell's going on?"
I asked impatiently.
Again, there was silence, then Barry spoke up in a low voice.
"Truth is, something terrible's happened to me. Please, you gotta see me."
"Something terrible?"
Barry had a loving wife and two daughters. One of them could in trouble.
"Go to him, Chris. I'll keep an eye on things until you get back."
I was lost. Did I have no choice but to go?
"Jill. Be careful."
I finally made up my mind and climbed into my Cobra.
CHAPTER.7
REUNION & SORTIE
What the hell was this personal problem Barry was talking about?
He certainly made it sound imminent.
The location Barry specified was the parking lot of a big restaurant in the suburbs.
He avoided the restaurant because he didn't want to stand out... I parked my Cobra at the far end of the parking lot, with only a small light on.
I looked at my watch.
I'd driven a long way from the cabin, but it was five minutes past the designated time.
But there was still no sign of the pickup Barry rode in.
I looked at each and every car that came in. Considering the distance, of course he had to have been there first.
As I waited for Barry, I could feel myself getting frustrated.
I couldn't stop thinking about the cabin.
I wondered if something had happened at the cabin by now. If someone did show up, would it be Billy or the guy who set the trap?
Thirty minutes quickly passed from the appointed time.
I was getting numb.
I reached for the police radio in my Cobra and decided to call STARS.
To my surprise, Barry was in the STARS office.
"What's going on, Barry!? Did you forget you were supposed to meet me!?"
I was so disappointed that I yelled out in anger.
"No, I'm sorry, forgive me. I had some urgent business to attend to, and I just couldn't make it. Don't be so mad."
Barry's voice was much brighter than before.
I was more puzzled than angry. What the hell was going on?
"Chris, you need to get to the office right away. All of STARS have been ordered to assemble."
"What'd you say?"
"It's been decided that we, STARS, will take charge of the freak murder cases. Bravo will be the first team to head out."
I guess the public outcry had finally pushed Chief Brian to make a decision.
"I've been trying to reach Jill, but I'm having trouble getting through on the radio."
Barry's words made me jump.
I had given Jill a handheld radio, and the fact that it wasn't working meant something must've happened to her.
I started my Cobra's engine to get back to the cabin.
I arrived at the cabin thirty minutes later.
The sky was already dark. The moon hid behind the clouds.
The cabin's dark shadow loomed over my parked Cobra.
Silence enveloped the area.
Not a single light could be seen in the cabin, was it because Billy hadn't returned yet?
Or was it because something happened in the cabin?
I took out my flashlight from the dashboard.
With my shotgun in hand, I stood in front of the cabin's old wooden door.
I quietly pushed the door open.
That indescribable smell of decay poured out of the room and instantly pierced my nostrils.
My body was immediately overwhelmed with fear and tension.
There were monsters here!
As if by conditioned reflex, I kicked the door open and rolled into the room.
I jumped into the shadows and peered around through the darkness.
Inside the cabin was eerily quiet. I walked carefully along the wall, my finger on the trigger of my shotgun.
What happened to Jill?
As my eyes adjusted to the darkness and I got a vague idea of the situation around me, I was shocked.
A large table was overturned. Wind was blowing in due to a broken window.
I knew it was dangerous, so I turned on my flashlight.
The room looked like a hurricane had just passed through.
A wall made of logs was shattered, as if it'd been struck by a tremendous impact, and I could see outside through the large hole. The stairs leading to the second floor had been torn off halfway up.
All the furniture had been knocked over and soil was peeking out from a hole in the floor.
It couldn't have been the dog-like monster that did this. It couldn't be.
Even the owner of the rotten arm that strangled me couldn't have done it.
But the same stench of decay was in the air like it was with those guys.
How many kinds of monsters are there? I thought I was having a bad dream.
There was no sign of Jill or Billy anywhere.
I took a step forward to investigate further. As soon as I did, I slipped on something and almost fell.
I crouched down on the floor and touched it with my hand.
I felt something sticking to my hand. When I shined my flashlight on it, I saw that it was a translucent jelly-like liquid, stringing between my fingers and sloshing down to the floor.
It smelled fishy. It must be the bodily fluid of some unimaginable creature.
A gust of wind blew in through a hole in the wall.
Where was Jill? Where was Billy?
And then I heard that creepy roar on the wind in my ears.
*AROOOO!*
All my hair stood up in an instant.
It was the howl of that dog-like beast.
I jumped out to the front with my shotgun in hand.
I ran like a maniac in search of Jill.
The rustling of the trees in the wind sounded like a monster's roars.
My five senses were on edge.
I stopped in my tracks as a strange noise rang in my ears.
*Zzzzz...*
It sounded like something heavy was being dragged across the ground.
I couldn't tell if it was close or farther away.
The sound ceased, with the only noise being the trees rustling in the wind.
Has the sound's owner disappeared? No, they were close by.
Just then, I felt a warm liquid drop on my cheek.
When I touched it with my hand, it was the same fluid I'd seen in the cabin.
What the hell's on my head...!?
I slowly raised my head in fear and looked above me.
I could vaguely see another large dark outline covering the jet-black night sky.
Within the outline were two glittering eyes.
My knees shuddered involuntarily.
The next moment, as if on a recoil, the outline and the eyes moved away into the sky and then came at me at once.
I forgot to fire my shotgun and rolled on the ground.
*Crack, crack, crack!*
One by one, the surrounding bushes were knocked down by the outline.
The outline, once back in the sky, now aimed precisely at me and attacked.
I tried to fire my shotgun.
But before I could, there was a flash of light in the darkness.
*BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG!*
The dry gunfire was definitely my Colt Python.
"Run, Chris! We have to run!"
Jill was firing into the night sky from behind a rock in front of me.
I ran as if repelled by her words.
Jill also jumped out from behind the rock and chased after me.
The sound of the river flowing nearby was mixed with that eerie sound of a heavy object being pulled.
"It's a giant snake! That's what it is!!"
Jill shouted from behind.
A giant snake!?
That's ridiculous! I don't care how big America is, there's never been a snake that big!
"That thing came out of nowhere and messed up the cabin!"
We went up a steep slope.
Jill and I tumbled down the slope without hesitation and huddled behind a rock to hide.
*Zzzzz...*
The sound of something moved away up the slope.
It seemed we'd survived.
Jill and I breathed heavily on each other's shoulders.
"Anyway, tell me what happened."
According to Jill's account of about twenty minutes after I'd left to see Barry.
She said a man came into the cabin.
Jill, who I told about Billy, calmly observed the man standing in the dark, and with conviction, stepped out of the shadows and called out to him.
The man was surprised at first, but when he found out that Jill was my colleague, he was delighted and approached Jill, claiming he was definitely Billy.
Then, suddenly, there was a tremendous vibration in the cabin.
She said the outline of a man came crashing through the wall.
Both Jill and the man who called himself Billy frantically ran out of the cabin. When she ran like hell and jumped into the shade of that rock, the man was already gone.
I stood up.
As far as I could tell from Jill, she still wasn't convinced the man was Billy.
At any rate, I let Jill lead me to the place where she thought they'd gotten separated.
Then I started walking in the opposite direction of where she had run off.
Naturally, Jill followed me.
After about thirty minutes of walking in the forest, we finally found the man we were after.
"Chris, over there!"
Jill shouted.
We could see the back of a man clambering up a gentle slope ahead of us.
On the other side of the slope was a freeway that ran through the forest, with a closed restaurant on the side of the road.
The back of the man's head gave me a fond feeling.
Was that Billy? No, it looked like Billy.
But I still didn't know.
"Billy!"
I called out loudly.
The man turned around with a start.
The man's face was... There was no mistaking it. It was our departed Billy.
"Chris..."
The man's face gradually twisted into a crumpled mess of joy.
Thank God.
My wish for Billy to be alive had been fulfilled.
"Billy!"
I shouted again and tried to run towards him.
But he stopped.
Billy's happy face began to twitch with fear.
His eyes were fixed behind Jill and me.
What was happening?
Jill and I looked back in horror.
The whole place was shrouded in darkness, we couldn't see a thing.
A moment of silence came...
The next moment, every nerve in our bodies froze in unspeakable fear.
*Slump, slump...*
The sound of human footsteps dragging on the ground.
"...!"
Uuh... Uhh...
The moans of people who seemed to be grunting.
It wasn't just one or two. There were three, four, or even more than five of them.
The smell of rot began to fill the area, carried by the wind.
Billy's lips twitched, as if he knew what they were.
Eventually, they revealed themselves.
They were human, or rather human-looking monsters.
All of them had dark faces, their cheeks slender and lifeless.
Their eyes were hollowed out, only their eyeballs protruded abnormally.
They dragged their legs and dangled their arms out in front of them as they slowly approached me and Jill.
There was no doubt about it. It was one of them who'd strangled me at home.
As they approached us while we stood there stunned, they opened their mouths.
The rotting stench hit my nose, and I could see their dirty, yellow teeth. The next moment, they attacked Jill and me with a speed that was unbelievable considering how slow they'd been moving.
They tried to bite us in the neck.
"What the hell's wrong with them? Stop it!"
"Aah!"
This was the first time I'd ever heard Jill scream.
I pushed and pushed, but they kept coming at me.
"Shoot them, Chris! They're not people, they're Zombies!"
"Zombies!? That's ridiculous."
Jill looked back at Billy for a moment in disbelief.
"Shoot! Shoot them, Chris!"
Billy shouted, and I reflexively pulled the trigger of my shotgun.
*BOOM!*
The round hit it in the gut, splattering flesh and blood all over the place, sending the monster flying backwards and slamming into the ground.
But what the hell!
It got up again, sluggishly.
*BANG! BANG! BANG!*
Jill and I were firing bullets like crazy. But the result was the same.
They were getting back up.
"Blow their brains out! That's the only way you can beat them!"
Billy's voice turned into a scream.
Before he knew it, he too was surrounded by monsters.
"Run, Billy! Run!"
I shouted desperately as I fought.
Billy dived into the window of the closed restaurant ahead of us.
The next moment, his scream pierced our ears.
"Gaaah!"
"Billy!"
Jill and I ran toward the restaurant, raining bullets down on the monster's heads.
The Zombie heads shattered and black, rotting blood splattered from the cross-sections of their neck.
Jill and I finally made it to the restaurant and jumped in through the window Billy had broken.
But there was a new monster there.
It looked like a gorilla.
Long hands and sharp claws. Its mouth agape with long fangs. It reeked of decay, just like the other monsters.
It was attacking Billy and biting at his neck.
Billy's chest was stained red with a huge amount of fresh blood from his gouged throat.
Jill and I attacked the gorilla creature.
Unlike the Zombies outside, however, it was intermittent and quick, sticking to the ceiling or jumping down to attack us.
Still fighting desperately, I carried Billy on the floor and ran into the next room.
I fixed the door firmly with a steel pipe that was lying around.
Then we ran to Billy as he was leaning against a wall.
"Billy, hang on to me!"
I helped him up. Fresh blood stuck to my hands.
Billy's torn throat was hissing, but he was still gasping and desperately trying to talk to me.
"C, Chris... Thank you. For coming to save me..."
It was the real Billy who'd left the gold coin necklace in the boathouse, who'd sent me the brochure about the cabin through the kid.
"We were working on the T-Virus, so the Zombies..."
"T-Virus!?"
Jill parroted.
"What do you mean "we"? The people you were working with, the ones on the chartered plane, where are they!?"
Billy struggled to keep talking.
"I'm the only one who could get away... That's why they're doing whatever they can to get me..."
The people after Billy didn't want me to think he was still alive.
So they stole Rosie's necklace to confuse me.
"Who are they!? Is it Umbrella!?"
But Billy couldn't say anything else.
All the power drained from his body and he leaned himself completely into my arms.
"Billy...!"
I shouted his name over and over again.
As I held Billy in my arms, there was that slurping again...
I heard the sound of legs dragging again.
"Run, Chris!"
Jill yanked my hand as hard as she could while I stared blankly at Billy, who was dead in my arms.
We ran out through the back door of the restaurant.
There were other Zombies roaming around. When they saw us, they came closer.
Jill and I fled, guns blazing.
I don't know how we got there, but the next thing I knew, we were standing in front of my Cobra parked near the cabin.
We shook them off.
Letting out a sigh of relief, Jill and I slumped into my Cobra's seats.
I couldn't believe it. I can't believe Zombies are a real thing.
I could see Billy's dead face in my mind's eye.
I'd been able to get to Billy and confirm it was him, but I couldn't save him.
I was so angry that I pounded my fist on my Cobra's steering wheel.
Jill looked at me like she had no words to comfort me.
I pulled myself together and started my Cobra.
There was no reason to stay here any longer.
A fresh breeze blew past Jill and I as we made our way through the forest, washing away the stench of decay from our bodies.
But I knew right then that tonight's tragedy wouldn't end there.
As soon as I turned on the police radio, I had to call the station ASAP.
A shriek almost like a scream came through.
"Can you hear me? Come in, Enrico."
"Help me! What the hell are they doing!?"
"What's going on? What the hell's happening!?"
I heard Joseph yelling and then gunshots.
In an instant, Jill and I understood the whole situation.
Bravo Team, led by Enrico Marini, had been dispatched ahead of our Alpha Team and were being attacked by those monsters.
"Gah!"
"Damn it, eat this!"
The sound of gunfire echoed.
"Come in, Bravo Team! Enrico! Enrico!"
I could see that Wesker, usually so calm and collected, was getting upset in front of the radio.
Eventually, the voices of the Bravo Team members became completely inaudible, replaced only by the whirring of the radio.
"Chris!"
Jill, who was sitting next to me in the driver's seat, had a look of fear on her face.
"We have to get back to the station ASAP!"
I struggled to control my impatience and stepped on my Cobra's gas pedal.
When we got back to the Raccoon Police Department, there was a commotion that turned heaven and earth upside down.
Officers were running around the hallways, shouting at each other.
Jill and I went straight to the STARS office.
When we opened the door, the first thing we heard was Joseph's voice frantically trying to contact the unresponsive radio.
"Come in, Bravo Team! Come in!"
The other members of the team stood there, looking as if they didn't know what was going on.
When we entered, the first person to turn around was Barry. He averted his gaze in a panic.
I remembered how Barry had made me wait for him.
His attitude was still weird. What the hell was going on?
"Captain, where did Bravo Team disappear?"
Jill stood in front of the map on the wall and asked Wesker.
"I don't know. They must've been in a panic. No matter how many times we asked on the radio, they didn't respond."
Wesker groaned.
"Don't give up. We haven't concluded that they've been wiped out yet. If we can find out where they disappeared to ASAP, there's hope!"
Jill shouted sharply, as if to cut through the heavy air in the room.
"You're right."
I said, and all the members gathered in front of the map.
Where was it? Where the hell did they disappear?
I stared at the map.
On the map, the sites of the six bizarre murders so far were marked with red circles.
As I stared at it, I realized something.
I hurriedly grabbed a ballpoint pen and tried to connect all the red circles with a line.
The lines formed a beautiful circle.
"The center's here! All six incidents so far have occurred equidistant from here!"
The eyes of the entire Alpha Team focused on that one point.
Actually, there was someone else besides Alpha Team. It was Rebecca, who wasn't allowed to go with Bravo Team since she was a rookie.
The center of the circle pointed to a hilly forest about twenty kilometers away from Raccoon City.
Jill ran to the computer and tapped furiously on the keyboard.
She called up an area map and searched.
"There's a building!"
They all looked back at Jill at once.
"A building? Who owns it?"
Wesker folded.
Jill did a quick search.
"Owned by the Umbrella Corporation... Formerly the company's recreational facility... Now abandoned..."
Umbrella!?
With that one word, I knew everything about this case.
Umbrella Corp. must've had Billy and his colleagues study something called the "T-Virus" in that mansion, creating those Zombie monsters.
Wesker stood up, looked around, tapped the map on the wall and shouted.
"Time to go! Alpha Team! Our target is Umbrella's old recreation facility. All hands on deck, get your heavy gear!"
The STARS office was immediately filled with noise.
They were dressed in camouflage uniforms and carrying heavy weapons out of the armory one after another.
The door to the STARS office was thrown wide open, and Jill and I all ran out into the hallway.
"Captain! Take me with you, please!"
Rebecca chased after us.
Of course, you can't take a rookie to a dangerous place like this out of the blue.
They all ignored Rebecca, who was desperately clinging to them, and headed for the helipad on the roof of the station.
There was a shiny jet black helicopter waiting for us.
As we climbed aboard one by one, the chopper roared into the black night sky.
"Brad, you wait in the air after everyone gets off the chopper at the destination! Keep your radio open."
Wesker ordered while checking his gun.
"Roger that."
The time was around two in the morning.
The illuminated Raccoon City faded into the distance.
I felt my prior fatigue fade away as my heart raced.
I'm going to avenge you, Billy.
Watch out for me, monsters.
And those behind them.
I'm going to expose you, and I'm going to lay your hearts on the graves of the six or seven people who've been slaughtered so far.
The moment I made up my mind to do this, a new suspicion arose in my mind.
It was Barry. The old Barry would've bared his excited fighting spirit when we're deployed together like this. This time, however, he was holding back weakly.
And his attitude toward me was also distant.
The hell's going on here?
My anxiety grew as I wondered if there were still big problems waiting for us.
I thought about whether we'd be able to solve the case and return safely.
I heard what I believed to be a beast barking in the dark night.
*AROOOO!*
A huge forest awaited us below, its dark mouth gaping open.
MIDNIGHT CALL
There's nothing worse than a phone call in the middle of the night.
For me, they're mostly bad news. That or just drunks calling a wrong number.
That time was no different.
It was pouring with rain late at night.
It was the night of the third day after my Mom and Dad had left alone for a trip.
It was also the middle of the night when I received the phone call that they'd been mangled after being hit by a large trailer.
Even after I was recruited by the Raccoon Police Department's special ops unit, STARS, midnight calls are no pleasant task.
My unit, STARS, is a distinct entity from the city police, in charge of peculiar violent crimes and special rescues.
It wasn't that I didn't like being dispatched in the middle of the night.
It's just that, in my experience, rescue ops at night usually don't produce good results.
First of all, when the city's sound asleep, initial reports are often delayed.
So even if you head to a rescue site, you'll often find yourself faced with a dead body.
Since then, I've grown to hate midnight phone calls.
It also has the added bonus of causing me some insomnia.
Just twenty minutes ago...
I received a call from someone I couldn't believe.
The reason I couldn't believe it is because the person was a ghost who'd already died three months ago, for whom we had a proper funeral.
"C, Chris... It's me. It's Billy. I'm alive. I need your help right now."
"Billy? You gotta be kidding me!"
My best friend from high school, Billy, was a researcher working for a major pharmaceutical company, the Umbrella Corporation.
Three months ago, however, he was transferred to Chicago and flew out of Raccoon City on a chartered company plane, but disappeared on the way.
Sixteen hours later, a search party found the wrecked charter plane drifting in the Atlantic Ocean.
At the time, the sea was rough due to bad weather and they were able to recover the bodies of eight of the twenty-one people on board, but the bodies of the remaining thirteen people, including Billy, were either washed far out to sea or submerged in the ocean, so in the end they couldn't be found.
I thought Billy calling me was just a prank.
But the voice of the man claiming to be Billy sounded serious.
"Believe me, Chris. As soon as that chartered plane took off, it touched down on another airfield, and we were all brought back here to Raccoon City."
The other man's voice was muffled and hard to understand, but he sounded a lot like Billy.
If this was a prank, he could be a pro at imitation.
I was willing to listen a little longer.
The clock on the bedside table read 1a.m.
"So what's the deal with you asking for my help?"
"You won't believe me yet. I've been doing some research in this town."
"Some research?"
"Anyway, I can't tell you the details over the phone... I've done something terrible. I'm going to tell you the secret..."
I was starting to believe it. They were too good to be a professional impersonator.
I could only assume it was Billy's voice.
"Please. Come here right away."
I was still at a loss. If I went out there and got myself into a prank, I'd look like a fool.
But the next thing the man said moved me.
"You're all I've got. If I don't, they'll kill me."
I heaved myself out of bed.
"All right. If I'm gonna do this, I'm gonna pretend I was tricked. Where are you?"
"I'm in the park by Victory Lake, north of Raccoon's town. Anyway, get here quickly."
The last phrase was almost a scream.
"I'll be there in forty minutes. Stay where you are until I get there."
The ghost hung up the call.
As soon as it was over, regret hit me.
This wasn't good. Why'd I promise to go when it was obviously a prank?
I opened the refrigerator and grabbed a plastic bottle of chilled mineral water.
After pouring it down my throat, I splashed it over my head.
I let out a gasp.
As long as I was going, I hoped it wasn't a prank. If it wasn't a prank, there were two possibilities I could think of.
One, that Billy was really alive and needed help.
The other was that someone was trying to trick Billy into setting me up in some sort of insane trap.
I couldn't stop thinking about it.
I walked out the front door, hopped into my beloved Shelby Cobra and stepped on the gas pedal, headed for Victory Lake.
As I pushed the gas pedal to the max, I thought about Billy, my best friend since elementary school.
We were an odd pair, me being a bad boy and him being the brightest kid in school.
People wondered why we were so different, but we were oddly compatible.
We stayed friends in high school, and when we graduated, Billy went to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and I joined the US Air Force.
Even though we were far away from each other, he was always diligent and sent me letters at least once every six months.
I never wrote back, though.
Four years later, after Billy graduated from college, he joined Umbrella Corp. and came back to Raccoon.
I also retired from the Air Force and decided to join STARS here.
Billy and I resumed our relationship in our hometown, but now that I think about it, his behavior was definitely weird, before and after he transferred to Chicago.
He became strangely silent when we met and didn't look pleased at all when he got transferred.
I thought he was just tired from work, but I wondered if that was really the case.
After leaving the city center, my Cobra entered a street with few cars.
For a while, I drove on in a gentle straight line.
My Cobra howled fiercely as I stepped on the gas pedal, accelerating with a thud and piercing the wind.
My back slammed into the back seat.
My Cobra's meter instantly read 240 kilometers. The eight-cylinder engine howled with a low roar.
I entered a mountain road.
A sharp curve loomed ahead. I immediately slammed the gear down into second and stepped on the gas pedal.
*SCREECH!* My Cobra howled, accelerated, and flew through the corner with the ground shaking.
This was the moment I cleared the third corner.
My Cobra's headlights caught sight of a woman.
I was going about 120 km/h.
I dropped the gear at once and hit the brakes hard.
I wasn't going to make it!
I swerved and hit the counter.
My Cobra's tires screeched as it spun to a halt. In the darkness of the quiet mountains, the burning smell of the tires wafted past my nose as it rode on the wind.
"Huhh," I sighed involuntarily.
I almost ran over a woman.
I was on my way to see a ghost when a woman dizzyingly jumped out at me. Not my lucky day at all. This was why I hate the middle of the night.
My headlights caught sight of the woman three meters away, lying on the ground.
I quickly got out of my Cobra and approached her.
I could see she was breathing hard.
As I ran up to her, I almost turned away.
The woman's body, illuminated by the faint moonlight, was covered in blood.
"Are you okay...?"
I picked her up in my arms.
"Help me..."
I could tell she was trying to say that by the way her mouth was moving.
But there was no way she was gonna be able to speak. Her throat was gouged and flooding with so much blood she could only squeak when she tried to speak.
Her stomach had been gouged as well, I could clearly see her guts.
It looked as if something had bitten into it.
Even on the battlefield, you'd never see a death like this. No one in their right mind would be able to look at it straight on.
She eventually went limp in my arms.
My hands immediately turned red with her blood.
As I stared blankly at the breathless woman's wounds, I started to hear some faint strange noises behind me.
*drip* *drip*
It was definitely coming from the dark, somber forest.
I took out my Beretta from my Cobra's dashboard and cautiously made my way into the forest, looking around.
There was a convertible parked in the bushes ahead of me, hidden from view.
Did this car belong to the woman from earlier?
A black mass was crouched on top of the car, noisily licking something.
The next thing I knew, I was gripped by an inexplicable sense of dread.
It leaned its head back and stared straight at me.
A dog... No, it was a little big for a dog.
A beast...!?
The warm breeze blew right through my body in the silence.
It was covered with pitch black body hair.
Its ears pointed up to the sky and its eyes were a cloudy yellow, as if they'd been painted. There were thin, bloodshot red lines around its eyes.
Beneath its lifeless eyes and visible inside its mouth were unusually long fangs.
The fangs were gobbling something up.
I couldn't help but want to cast my eyes down.
Between its teeth was a human eyeball!
I carelessly moved my jaw and swallowed.
The man's flesh twitched slightly as it folded beneath the thing's body.
My throat rumbled involuntarily.
Calm down, calm down...
I told myself.
I held the Beretta tightly in both hands and readied it.
"You monster!"
*BANG*
A dry sound pierced the dark night.
One shot, two shots...
I kept pulling the trigger one after another at the beast.
Sparks flew in the dark night.
The Beretta's bullets were hitting their target with precision.
But it didn't flinch, it let out an eerie roar and pointed its fangs at me.
*GRRRRR...*
Why couldn't I down it...!
I shot my Beretta like a madman. Just when I'd fired all my bullets.
*AROOOO!*
It suddenly howled in an eerie voice that cut through the dark night, then flew through the air and disappeared into the darkness.
I was so stunned I couldn't help but breathe on my shoulders.
What the hell was that? That was no dog...
It was an unimaginable beast, a monster.
My whole body was frozen in place. I couldn't move my legs, not even a step.
I could feel a cold sweat pouring down my body.
Slowly turning my shoulders, I took a deep breath.
I removed the hot magazine from my fire-breathing Beretta, quickly loaded new rounds and headed for the car, keeping an eye on the darkness.
Sure enough, the driver's seat was a pool of blood.
All over the dashboard and the steering wheel. The whole place was covered in blood.
The man in the driver's seat was a sight for sore eyes.
He didn't look any different from the woman I'd just left. Rather, maybe even worse than that.
His face had been gouged out diagonally by those long fangs and his exposed skull was bathed in moonlight, the pink of his brain glistening.
The other remaining eyeball was tumbled over the side of the shift lever with a piece of flesh attached.
Even the bones in his face were chewed up. What jaw power!
His stomach was only half full of guts as his intestines were sticking out.
No matter how good the plastic surgeon, it'd be impossible for them to restore his original form.
Hmm, I sighed.
Irresistibly, I took out a cig from my jean pocket and lit it with my Zippo.
I couldn't believe what I was smelling, all around me was an indescribable scent.
It wasn't just the fishy smell of blood.
The odor was unbearable.
It reminded me of a mountain rescue a year ago.
A light ten-seater plane had crashed and there were no survivors.
The rescue mission, in the middle of summer, was to dispose of the bodies which had begun to decompose. At that time, too, the area was enveloped in a bizarre smell.
But this place smelled even worse than that. I felt like my guts were about to expel something out my throat.
I looked around, but there was no way there were any rotting corpses around here.
Maybe the creature had left it behind, I thought.
My Zippo's flame flickered in the wind.
The smell of oil relieved me a little.
I saw a black hair strewn on the hood. Gently, I picked it up.
It was black, stiff, and straggly.
I put my nose to it. I knew it smelled like this. I couldn't help but throw away the hair, which had become entangled in my fingers.
This is the sixth case of this kind...
For the past six months, there's been such brutal and bizarre murder cases here in Raccoon's town.
We haven't caught the culprits yet. Actually, we don't even have a clue who the killers are.
The media's been covering the cases frequently, and recently, the city police have even been accused of negligence in their investigation.
I returned to my Cobra, turned my radio to ON, and contacted the Raccoon Police Department.
They'd be at the scene in less than thirty minutes.
I quickly got back in my Cobra, started the engine, and headed to the location specified by the man who called himself Billy.
CHAPTER.2
RACCOON POLICE DEPARTMENT
My cheeks were being caressed by a warm breeze from the lake.
The sky was still.
It was hot.
It was a midsummer night. I could feel the heat. Sweat was pouring down my chest and neck.
Due to a bizarre incident I faced on the way, I'd arrived at the park the man had designated, half an hour past the agreed time.
In the daytime, the lakeside park's crowded with couples and families, but there wasn't a single car in a space that could hold over a hundred parked.
Where's the guy who called himself Billy?
I took a quick look around the parking lot with a clear view, but no one was there.
Was it because I was running late and the guy couldn't wait to get home? Or was it a prank call after all?
I decided to look a little more along the shore of the lake.
Taking out a large flashlight from my Cobra, I started walking.
The guy's words about being "killed" came back to my mind.
I checked the street for even the slightest stain.
But there was no blood on the ground.
Ahead of me I spotted a boathouse.
When we were little, Billy and I used to play in that shed.
I stood in front of the shed.
Carefully, I opened the door and walked in slowly.
It was dark.
I shone my flashlight and saw a clutter of boat oars and ropes.
No one was here either.
I gave up and was about to leave the shed.
Just then, when I turned around, something glinted in the flashlight's ring of light.
I wondered what it was.
Walking closer, I picked up the shiny object and held it up to the flashlight.
I gasped.
It was a necklace with a small gold coin. It was definitely the one I'd given to Billy a year ago.
I took the necklace and ran out of the boathouse.
The person who called me was Billy himself. He was alive and he left this necklace as proof he came here.
"Billy!"
I shouted and ran around the area.
But my voice was drowned out by a sudden gust of wind and the rustling of violently shaking trees.
Defeated by this, I continued to call out loudly.
"Billy!"
But no matter how much I called, no matter how hard I ran, the only thing that answered me was the sound of the wind and crashing waves.
Where'd you go, Billy? Why didn't you wait for me to come!?
I stood there on the shore of the lake, feeling wistful.
It wasn't until nearly an hour later that I returned to the scene of the sixth bizarre murder.
There were five police cars and an ambulance, no longer necessary, parked at the scene.
I parked my Cobra at the side of the road and walked into the circle of cops. The wind was already blowing away that rank, nauseating smell.
But even while facing such a brutal murder scene, all I could think about was Billy.
On the phone, he told me he'd been doing some research here in Raccoon City.
And that he was in a lot of trouble...
What the hell sort of research was he doing there?
The crime scene preservation tape was being put up and police radios buzzed very loudly.
The forensics guys were lighting up the area with searchlights and bombarding the unfortunate bodies with shutter sounds.
I noticed Brian Iron in the middle.
He was chief of police in the Raccoon Police Department.
"I see you've finally arrived. Where'd the first person to find them wander off to, I wonder..."
Brian turned his greasy face towards me.
"I saw something that looked like the killer. I was chasing it."
I couldn't tell him that I'd left the scene to see Billy.
"What do you mean, like the killer?"
Brian's eyes lit up.
"But I couldn't get them."
"Hmm. That's what I figured. Good to know you saw something that looks like the killer, though."
He had a sullen look on his face, like that of a toad that had just been stepped on.
This is always the way Brian talks to his subordinates.
He thinks there's no one better than him.
Rumor has it he's planning to run for mayor in the next election.
The town of Raccoon was originally an agricultural area.
Fifteen years ago though, Umbrella Corp., a global conglomerate, constructed a research factory there.
Since it was built, the city's been transformed.
They built housing for Umbrella Corp. employees and its number of affiliated companies also expanded.
The number of people working for Umbrella Corp. and its subsidiaries has continued to increase over the past ten years, now 30% of the city's population works for Umbrella Corp.
Even a child knows that if you go against the next mayoral candidate, you won't be able to survive in Raccoon, let alone STARS.
Ignoring the toad, I took a cig out of my pocket and lit it with my Zippo.
I could see Brian staring at me with sharp eyes.
Raccoon's ever-growing population has helped modernize the city, but also pushed up its crime rate.
Umbrella Corp., now the city's economic backbone, issued a proposal to the state government five years ago in the name of contributing to the community.
That was to set up a separate unit from the police force, as a means of responding to the growing number of peculiar crimes and special rescues in emergencies.
This was the beginning of STARS.
As a result, STARS teams were formed one after another, not only in Raccoon City, but also in other cities where Umbrella Corp. had factories.
Umbrella Corp. paid half the funding for all of them and they spread to every state in the U.S.
The first captain of the STARS in this city was Brian, the city police chief, who our current boss Wesker replaced two years ago.
Brian used his career as our first captain to get into Umbrella's good graces as a shrewd police chief, now he's in the running for the mayor's seat.
As the body was being loaded into the ambulance, heavy strobe lights went off. It was the local press guys.
There were some familiar faces from the TV stations.
"Tell the detective section chief what you saw."
Brian spun around on his heel and walked toward the TV station's cameras.
He showed a different kind of face, that of a sob.
Facing the TV cameras, he started talking like a politician about how he was doing everything he could to deal with this case.
It was a great performance, just like a Broadway actor.
The lead detective came over to my side.
"I noticed pistol casings on the floor, were you the one who fired them?"
I nodded silently and his complexion shifted.
In each of the past five bizarre cases, not only did the police fail to arrive on the scene until after the slaughters, there hadn't been any witnesses either.
"Did you see the killer's face?"
"No."
I answered bluntly and gave him an annoyed look.
"I didn't see the killer's face."
The lead detective looked puzzled.
"What do you mean?"
"Well, it was a dog-like... monster."
"A dog-like monster!?"
An image flashed through my mind, of the thing barking out chilling roars instead of fright as I hit it with several lead bullets.
Those sharp fangs, tinted with the victim's fresh blood, glistened terrifyingly.
I gently raised my hands.
"I'm in over my head."
I walked toward my Cobra. The lead detective then rushed after me.
"Wait a minute. Why aren't STARS working this case?"
"Dunno. Wouldn't it be faster to ask the chief?"
I answered bluntly and stepped lightly on the gas pedal.
"Hold on. Tell me more, Chris."
"Sorry. Not in the mood to talk to anyone right now."
I actually wasn't. There was those bizarre cases, but most of all, there was Billy.
I placed the gear in neutral and put my foot down as hard as I could.
At once, my Cobra's roar cut through the scene's noisy atmosphere.
Brian, who was acting in front of the TV cameras, turned around in a panic.
I winked at Brian and made my Cobra speed away furiously.
CHAPTER.3
SPECIAL FORCES UNIT STARS
I was on the STARS floor, located on the second floor of the Raccoon Police Department.
STARS are headed by Albert Wesker and divided into two teams.
One is Bravo Team, captained by Enrico Marini, who's STARS' second-in-command.
The other team is Alpha Team, to which I belong, captained by Wesker.
These two teams work in shifts, one day each.
In other words, Alpha Team works a 24-hour shift for a day, followed by Bravo Team.
Due to the nature of Special Forces, we're required to be on alert even during holidays. Naturally, when it comes to a major case, the two teams work in tandem. Today, Alpha Team was scheduled to be on standby in the office.
When I walked into the office, I could see all the team members were on edge.
Our captain, Wesker, was the only one who looked composed, with his sunglasses on and arms crossed as usual.
Everyone besides the captain being on edge was no surprise.
It was because the bizarre murders, which have been causing fear and anxiety among the people of Raccoon, had happened once again last night.
On top of that, I, a member of STARS, was present at the scene this time.
Six months ago, when the first bizarre murder occurred, everyone in the unit was of the opinion that STARS should investigate. Then as the second and third murders continued on and on, that opinion grew louder and louder.
But our captain, Wesker, was the only exception.
"We're running out of patience. When are they gonna let us handle this investigation?"
Barry Burton was snapping at Wesker.
I hadn't slept a wink since I got back to the station yesterday to cooperate with the interrogation.
Rubbing my eyes sleepily, I pulled out a chair and sat at the end of the conference room.
"The citizens are terrified."
Barry's low voice echoed through the conference room.
I've known him a long time.
He was my superior officer in the Air Force, and we happened to meet again and work together here in STARS.
He's always been a hot-blooded guy and a perfect fit for STARS, a job consisting of saving lives and investigating special crimes.
He's a child-like guy who loves his two daughters very much.
"I can't do anything about it, we haven't gotten the order from the city police yet."
Wesker answered in a cold voice.
"Always the same answer, isn't it?"
The other members of the team, Brad, Joseph, Jill, and Rebecca, were equally standoffish.
"If the city police won't issue the order, can't you do it yourself?"
It was Rebecca, who'd recently joined the force.
Like a Yankee girl, no matter who she's talking to, she's not afraid to say what's on her mind.
The fact that she was there, even though she belongs to Bravo Team, probably reflected her personality.
Wesker was unfazed though.
Many STARS members have a variety of backgrounds and talents, from army and air force to private sector elites. That's why we've got such a unique band of people.
A calm and cool-headed guy like Wesker might be the best individual for uniting such people.
"You're new, so you probably don't understand..."
Wesker began his favorite organizational theory.
STARS is under the city police department's purview. In other words, we can't mobilize without orders from Brian, the city police chief.
Since these bizarre incidents started happening, Wesker's been bringing up this organizational theory every time someone wants to solve the case ourselves.
"I know that. But the people in the city can't even walk out of their houses anymore."
Barry thumped his desk.
"Barry's right. What if another incident happens while we're doing this? Chris has just faced one, so it's a perfect opportunity."
Jill followed Barry's lead and persisted.
Jill's the team's bomb disposal specialist, partly because she's good with her hands.
Her short hair gives her a neat look, and her big eyes make her look intelligent. However, being a woman doesn't mean she's naive. No matter how hard the mission is.
With her powerful sense of responsibility, she's a woman who works as hard as us men without complaint.
"Even if there are opportunities, as long as you're in this organization, you can't just do what you want."
"Organization, organization, organization, don't you have a sense of self, Captain?"
Jill challenged him.
But Wesker only slightly dodged.
"I don't think we need to discuss my personal character. I am of course well aware of your sense of responsibility", he said, bringing his coffee slowly to his lips.
Wesker's a unique member of the team.
He became this team's captain two years ago on Umbrella's recommendation. With his outstanding skills and talents, he'd been a STARS captain in another state, but he came here to augment our team.
The previous captain, Brian, inevitably felt like he was being removed from the team.
Although he wasn't amused, he couldn't go against Umbrella's recommendation.
Brian has a more senior position as chief of police, but also a reputation for people around him not knowing which is superior.
Wesker speaks little and is always polite. He never participates in heated debates.
He's a guy who knows his position.
Jill and Barry, having given up trying to beat Wesker's organizational theory, fell silent.
From the start I didn't intend on joining in on this discussion.
I pulled out the gold coin necklace Billy had left behind, twirled it around my finger, and idly played with it.
Where are you now, Billy?
You called and said you were gonna be killed. Who the hell's gonna kill you?
Before I knew it, Barry had turned around and was staring at me.
"Chris, what's with the necklace?"
His voice brought me back to my senses.
"Nah, it's nothing..."
I hurriedly put the necklace in my breast pocket.
Barry was still looking at me like he was curious, but Wesker's voice brought his gaze back.
Wesker also seemed to notice my necklace, but spoke to me and didn't mention it.
"Chris. I know this is a bit of a rambling topic for you, but can you tell everyone what happened yesterday again? I'm not sure if the city police will order us to go, but we need to be prepared."
"Understood."
I gave a curt reply and stood up.
I spoke slowly and in detail about the situation I'd witnessed.
During my explanation, everyone insisted on knowing about the dog-like beast that attacked the convertible.
No matter how detailed my explanation, they couldn't seem to understand it.
Of course not. I didn't even know what it was and I was the one who witnessed it.
I didn't tell them anything about Billy's phone call.
Under the current circumstances, no one would believe me, no matter how much I insisted he was alive.
"Chris. I need a favor."
Rebecca held out a large piece of drawing paper to me.
"I need you to make a sketch of the monster."
"A sketch?"
"Since we don't know what it looks like just from your description, I think it's better if everyone has an accurate picture."
She wasn't kidding.
"Rebecca. Do ya think Chris has an artistic bone in his body?"
The others smirked at Barry's words.
"You don't, do you? Nah."
They were seriously disappointed.
I couldn't help but be annoyed.
"But hey, better than your piano, Rebecca."
Remembering the insufferable piano Rebecca had played at her welcome party, I sarcastically retorted and left the room.
Jill soon followed me.
"Chris. I need to talk to you."
She stared at me with a straight face.
As if she was thinking about how to break the ice.
"Do you by any chance wanna go out with me, baby?"
I laughed lightly.
"Don't be silly. Chris, you're hiding something."
"What am I hiding?"
"Something was funny about today's meeting."
"Well then, what was so funny?"
"Because you're the one who wants STARS on the bizarre cases the most. You've always been the one leading the charge against the captain."
I've always known her to be a perceptive lady.
"I can't believe that today you sat quietly in the corner of the room, not joining in on the conversation at all. Listen, Chris. You're the one who found it."
"I haven't slept a wink since I was questioned by the city police all night. Even our toad chief isn't that suspicious."
"No way. I was watching you throughout the meeting. That's why I know you're not yourself."
"Do you always care about me so much? So you're saying ya got feelings for me."
"Don't play games with me."
I remembered that she wasn't just smart, but also more than persistent.
"And there's something about your explanation that bothers me.
I'm curious about something...
When the incident happened, you called the city police."
"'Course I did. I'm a member of STARS and an upstanding Raccoon citizen."
"But you disappeared from the scene."
"I told you, I was running around in the mountains chasing some sorta beast. It was..."
I ran out of breath.
"Then why'd you drive back to the crime scene?"
I knew this was one woman I couldn't have as a girlfriend. I don't think I could even fool around with other women if they were this sharp.
"That's enough. I thought I'd look further afield. Anyway, I'm tired.
Haven't slept a wink."
There was no way to get out of this except with a strong tone. Jill gave me a sad look.
She took her gaze off me and looked out the window at the street.
The faint floral scent in the air was Jill's favorite perfume.
She saw a group of teenagers on their way to high school. Jill followed the girls with her eyes until they were out of sight.
I knew exactly how she felt.
A seventeen-year-old girl who lived in Jill's neighborhood had also been killed in the latest bizarre incident.
The girl often came to Jill's room to play.
She'd been slaughtered in the woods on a camping trip with her friends.
"I can't let them get away with that."
Jill murmured to herself at that moment. Her eyes filled with anger at an invisible enemy.
I tapped her lightly on the shoulder.
"I'm tired, so I'm gonna head out for a bit. Just let the captain know."
I raised up my hand lightly to Jill.
She nodded silently, but her eyes still seemed to have some suspicion in them.
CHAPTER.4
THE MISSING BILLY
Raccoon's a city that's grown rapidly in recent years.
The northern part of the city's a lake and forest area that's become a tourist attraction.
The other side's the city, with a ring road running around the city hall, hospital, and other public facilities.
It might seem a little too grand for a city with a population of 300,000.
This was also thanks to Umbrella Corp., where Billy worked.
I ran along the loop and turned my Cobra toward the road leading to the east side of the city.
This is the road leading to Umbrella Corp.'s factories and labs. This road in particular is exceptionally well-maintained.
This road's only crowded during the morning and evening commuting hours, but it had two lanes on each side with palm trees lining both sides of the road to the end of the horizon.
The road can feel a tad tropical.
Umbrella Corp.'s Raccoon District HQ building is a stylish sixty-story building.
The brick exterior walls are decorated with geometric patterns.
It's truly a globe-spanning conglomerate.
The tallest skyscraper in Raccoon, even a provincial headquarters like this one has a certain dignity to it.
I stopped my Cobra in front of the headquarters building and walked inside.
The reason I was here, of course, was to find out more about Billy.
The lobby was open-aired.
I could see a reception desk about twenty meters away.
A cheerful lady was smiling at me from a distance.
"Welcome."
A perfect smile.
"It's a little long from the front door to this reception desk."
Then she gave me a look that said, "What?"
"When a pretty lady like you smiles at me from a distance, I get so nervous that I felt like my limbs were gonna fumble before I even got to the desk."
I winked at her and she gave me the most beautiful smile.
"What can I do for you?"
Regardless of my feelings about her, this smile was simply her being loyal to her duty as a receptionist.
Her business-like tone of voice showed that.
"I was hoping to ask you about what happened to someone."
"Pardon?"
She gave me a dubious look.
"A friend of mine, Billy Rabbitson, he died in the crash of your chartered plane three months ago. I'd like to know more about what happened."
With a puzzled look on her face, she replied, "Okay," and pressed the extension.
"Excuse me, but please take the elevator in front of you to the 36th floor. Our general affairs manager will be waiting for you."
She put down the phone and gave me the same look as before.
I suddenly wished I could see her smile like this every day. But men get bored with such things very easily.
As soon as I got off the elevator, they let me into a reception room in front of it.
On the wall was an oil painting titled "Nymphs Bathing".
It also said that the artist was the neoclassical painter "Angle."
I don't know much about art, but I do know that Umbrella Corp. President, Lord Oswell E. Spencer, is world-renowned as a great art collector.
This was definitely the real deal.
As I sat on the sofa, an honest-looking man in his fifties walked in.
"You were hoping to ask about our dearly departed Billy Rabbitson."
His tone of voice was very polite. The man's name was Johnson.
"I'd like to know more about what happened at the time of the accident."
I was very direct.
"Pardon me, but what sort of relationship did you have?"
Johnson's business card read, "Umbrella Corp., Raccoon Branch, General Affairs Section Manager."
This was the best sort of guy for a large company's administrative department.
"We've been friends since we were kids. I've been living abroad, but when I came back after eight years, I was told that he'd died three months ago. I couldn't believe it, so here I am..."
I lied brazenly.
"That's right I'm afraid. The weather was bad that day, but the tower still cleared them for takeoff, so..."
"I heard he was transferred to a lab in Chicago to work on some new research. What was he supposed to be studying?"
"I'm not sure of the details, but rumor has it that it was vital research that'll impact our company's future. We were proud to have him as part of the Raccoon Branch. He was such a marvelous employee. It's a terrible shame."
This guy had an honest opinion of Billy.
He probably doesn't even know Billy's still alive. I figured there was nothing more to be gained by questioning him.
"One last thing, if I may. I've heard that out of the twenty-one employees on board, there were only eight bodies taken in, but I was wondering if they were all claimed by relatives."
Johnson looked at me in surprise.
"Of course they were. That's just the sort of accident it was. The damage was so severe they had a hard time identifying the bodies. They could barely be identified by their clothes and belongings, so they were handed over."
CHAPTER.5
BAD FEELING
Something's definitely going on.
That's the conclusion I came to so far.
Johnson said the bodies that had been recovered were nearly impossible to identify.
But Billy had said something on the phone.
The charter plane took off from Raccoon Airport, immediately landed at another airport, then Billy and the others were all brought back to Raccoon.
If this is true, it means the eight bodies taken into custody were substitutes.
Who would've done such a thing, and for what?
The only thing I could think of at the moment was Umbrella Corp. did it.
Johnson told me Billy was supposed to do some important research that'd determine Umbrella's future.
And Billy said, "I've done a lot of research."
If both cases of "research" are the same, it'd mean Billy had been locked up somewhere on Umbrella's orders, forced to do "hard research," then escaped and came to me for help.
But how could Umbrella Corp., one of America's largest conglomerates, commit such a crime?
And there's another problem.
Was there potentially a connection between Billy's case and the bizarre cases in Raccoon City?
So far I had no clues to connect the two.
In any case, the only thing I could do now was find Billy as soon as possible.
I hooked Billy's necklace, which I'd found at the boathouse, on my rearview mirror and turned my Cobra back to Raccoon's town.
I was going to meet Rosie.
Rosie was Billy's fiancée, also a dear friend to me and Billy.
I needed to show her this necklace.
That was because I had another necklace just like this one, which I gave to both of them as an engagement gift.
I didn't think I was crazy, but I wanted to make sure the necklace I gave Rosie was the same as this one.
My Cobra sped down the palm tree road.
Just then, I had a strange sensation and looked in the rearview mirror.
I was being followed!?
In the rear view mirror, I saw two passenger cars and a large trailer coming up behind me.
I couldn't tell which car it was. I wasn't even sure if I was being followed or not.
But my years of experience as an investigator whispered to me.
I stepped on the gas pedal as hard as I could.
Then veered off the road toward the city.
My Cobra barked out low and accelerated in a single bound.
The wind whipped around me violently. Still, I kept pressing on the gas pedal. Eventually, I couldn't see the shadow of a car in my rearview mirror, so I put on my right blinker, pulled my Cobra over to the shoulder, and slowly lit a cig.
I waited for the cars to come up behind me.
The wind was blowing.
My strange feeling hadn't subsided yet.
Eventually, the two cars and the trailer appeared and drove past me without incident.
There were no more cars following them.
Was my imagination playing tricks on me?
No, it wasn't. The strange sensation certainly subsided, but at that moment, I was certain I felt a piercing gaze on my back.
I slowly made a U-turn with my Cobra and pointed its nose towards the city.
I parked my Cobra at a coffee shop in the middle of the downtown area.
I used to frequent this place with Billy.
The posters on the walls and furniture in the store hadn't changed at all since then.
Even the fact that there were no other customers.
When the owner noticed me, he was watching football on TV while munching on popcorn, and called out to me with a nostalgic look.
I thought I'd call Rosie from here.
She works in the neighborhood at a bakery owned by her relative's aunt.
I hesitated to go to the bakery as I knew I couldn't do anything rash if someone was watching me.
I ordered a black coffee and went to the phone in the back of the store to greet the owner.
"Chris!"
I heard a friendly voice on the other end of the phone.
"Rosie, the gold coin necklace I gave you for your engagement. Do you still have it?"
I decided it'd be best not to talk too long, so I cut to the chase.
"Of course I do. It'll always be mine, not just now, but forever... Why though?"
Rosie's cryptic voice came back.
"Can you bring it to me, please?"
That's all I said, and hung up the phone, telling her only where I'd meet her.
The meeting place was a lumber mill warehouse, about a five minute walk from the bakery.
It was only a short distance from her apartment, right behind the bakery.
When I arrived at the warehouse, Rosie was waiting for me with her store apron on.
I'd walked the back way from the coffee shop to here instead of taking my Cobra, as I felt I was in danger of being watched.
"What's going on? You asked me to bring the necklace. Is something wrong?"
Without even saying hello, Rosie wanted to know why.
I hadn't seen Rosie since Billy's funeral. Anyone would be suspicious if someone had suddenly said something like that to them on the phone after three months.
But I didn't have time to worry about that.
"Can you show me it?"
"I can't find it..."
"What'd you say!?"
I looked at Rosie in surprise, it was an answer I hadn't expected.
"I put it in my jewelry box and put it away for safekeeping, but I just can't find the necklace."
I asked her as if I were pressing her.
"What do you mean, you can't find it anywhere!?"
I was too loud, Rosie was shocked to see my face. I lowered my tone.
"I'm sorry. I can't believe I lost your present."
"That's not what I'm asking. I'm asking you if you dropped it or if it was stolen!"
"Oh, no. I don't believe it was stolen. The other jewels are still there. I must've dropped it."
I felt like I'd been hit over the head.
I pulled the necklace from the boathouse out of my breast pocket and held it out in front of Rosie.
Rosie couldn't help but exclaim, "Oh!"
"W--why do you have it? What the hell's going on, Chris!?"
I asked slowly in a low voice.
"So this is the necklace you lost?"
Rosie stared at the necklace she'd snatched from me, then looked up.
"Why's my necklace...?"
What the hell was going on here?
I'd always thought the necklace belonged to Billy.
But Rosie said it was hers...
Billy hadn't come back to life after all.
Someone had stolen the necklace from Rosie's jewelry box and placed it in the boathouse on purpose to make me think Billy had come back to life.
I was confused.
Rosie was looking at the necklace fondly and mumbling.
"I remember when you told me and Billy this necklace was an engagement gift."
A year ago, to celebrate Billy and Rosie's engagement, the three of us had gone to a ski resort about thirty kilometers from Raccoon City and I'd given them the necklace at a mountain cabin there.
"A week before he got transferred to Chicago, we went back to the cabin and spent the night there. It's the last thing I remember."
I saw a glint in Rosie's eyes as she spoke, staring into the distance.
I was walking through Raccoon City's downtown area like I'd lost my mind.
The hustle and bustle of people coming and going seemed so far away to me now.
Was Billy still alive?
I was being played, just by a necklace.
I'd hoped that he'd be alive, but now I felt the strength drain from my body like a receding tide.
I got into my Cobra parked in front of the coffee shop.
As I was getting into the driver's seat, I looked up.
Once again, I couldn't believe my eyes.
Many people were walking along the sidewalk on the other side of the road where I'd parked my Cobra.
For a moment, I saw a familiar face in the crowd.
He was standing with a small boy, looking into a store on the corner of the intersection.
The man suddenly turned to look at me.
Billy!?
I almost shouted.
He looked like him! He looked just like Billy!
He was hidden in the crowd, but I couldn't help but think he was Billy.
For a moment, my gaze locked with the man's.
The next moment, Billy's gaze shifted slightly away from me, and he seemed to see something else.
At the same time, Billy turned his back to me and started running.
"Billy!"
I shouted in my mind and ran after him down the road.
*Squeeeak!*
A car coming from the other side almost hit me and braked suddenly.
I didn't care, I chased after Billy.
Passersby looked back at us in surprise.
Billy was running from alley to alley.
Why're you running, Billy!
Wasn't it Billy!? Were they an imposter!?
I chased after him as hard as I could.
But the man finally got lost in the crowd, and I eventually lost sight of him.
I stood dumbfounded on the street.
Was I having a nightmare!?
As if I'd lost my mind, I came back to the intersection.
Then a little boy came up to me and looked up at me.
"Big bro."
It was the kid who'd been standing next to the man.
"You know, my big bro asked me to give you this."
He held out a tourist brochure.
"Beautiful snowy mountains and white slopes await you."
That's what it said on the cover.
And in front of the snowy mountains and log house, there was a beautiful model with skis on her shoulders.
I looked suspiciously at the store in front of me.
It was the store the man had been peeking into.
It was a travel agency.
The kid handed me a sightseeing pamphlet that was on display there.
As I looked at the log cabin in the brochure, Rosie's words came back to my mind.
"We spent the night in that cabin over there before he was transferred to Chicago."
What exactly was this all about!?
The only people who knew about that cabin were me, Billy and Rosie.
So, was it Billy who took the pamphlet from the store and tried to give it to me through the kid to tell me about it?
Or was this just another cleverly set trap to deceive me?
CHAPTER.6
MOUNTAIN CABIN
It was past three o'clock when I returned home.
The sun was already setting on the mountains.
If I didn't get to the cabin soon, it'd get dark.
But I still came home because I thought that this time, at the cabin, I'd be able to settle this matter that had been baffling me.
If it was the real Billy, he would've secretly told me about the cabin he was hiding in with that pamphlet.
And if he's an imposter who sent me that pamphlet with the intention of deceiving me, then what does he want? ...That'd make it clear.
Either way, I don't think I can get away with this.
Even if it's really Billy, I might have to fight his pursuers. If it's an imposter, naturally I'll have to fight them.
So I went back to my house to get my favorite Colt Python and shotgun.
My house is a small, old, terraced house, the only thing left to me by my penniless parents.
At the front door, I picked up the newspaper that had been delivered.
There was a sensational article on a murder case. The paper was heavily criticizing the city police for inaction. They were also loudly demanding that STARS be deployed.
As I stood in front of the door and grabbed the knob, I had that strange feeling again.
Someone was watching me.
The wind was rustling strangely. The poorly fitted glass door rattled.
The house was surrounded by weeds and bushes, perfect for hiding in plain sight.
I slowly opened the door.
Once inside, I closed the door behind me and quickly pulled out my Beretta.
The first floor kitchen, living room, upstairs bedroom... I slowly checked every inch of the house.
The house didn't look any different.
But for some reason, I felt restless.
I checked the messages on the answering machine.
There was no message from Billy, after all.
I picked up the phone and looked behind it. There was no sign of a wiretap being installed.
I could tell I was overreacting.
However, there were definitely signs that a stranger had come into this room.
Was it Billy? Or my watcher?
Anyway, I needed to get to the cabin as soon as possible.
I opened the drawer under the bed in my bedroom.
A shotgun with a dull jet-black glow and a .45 Colt Python came into view.
I hadn't held those two in my hands for a long time.
I went to the living room table and loaded the bullets.
That's when I felt the creeping sensation in my back again.
I was standing against a window. Someone was watching me through that window!?
Grabbing the Python, I slowly turned my head to look at the window.
No one was there.
I quickly went over to the window and peered out.
There was still no one there. The leaves on the trees in the garden were just swaying in the wind in the dusk light.
Feeling unsettled, I turned my back to the window again to pick up the shotgun on the table.
That's when it happened.
*CRACK...!*
The window pane suddenly smashed.
Before I could turn around, two arms thrust through the window and grabbed me by the neck.
They tightened their grip on me.
The force was incredible.
For a moment, I almost fainted. The Python fell out of my hand.
But what brought me back to life was the rotting odor I'd smelled at the scene.
There was a terrible smell coming from the body of the person clamping down on my neck.
It couldn't be that dog-like creature. Were there others!? Who the hell was that!?
I couldn't even speak. I wanted to turn around, but I couldn't.
The only thing I could see was part of the arm around my neck.
It looked like a human arm. But the arm looked keloidal, the skin discolored in a speckled patterns of pink and black.
I've seen this kind of arm before.
Human corpses after being murdered and left to rot for days.
No way, a corpse had risen up and attacked me!?
That's absurd.
I desperately grabbed its arm.
Instantly, I felt like I was going to faint again.
The skin on the other man's arm tore open in my hand, and his red, peeling flesh crumbled fragilely, making a squishy sound.
The smell of decay became even stronger.
In my desperation, I reached for the bottle of whiskey on the sideboard by the window and swung it down where my opponent's head was.
*GUSH*
There was a dull thud, and the hands that had been tightening around my neck finally let go.
I gasped, almost suffocated, and threw my hands on the floor. But in less than ten seconds, I scrambled to my feet and looked out the window.
The hostile was already gone.
I grabbed the Colt Python lying on the floor, ran out the front door and sprinted to the backyard where the hostile was.
The hostile was still nowhere to be found.
Only the smell of decomposition still lingered in the air.
I looked at my hand and saw part of their torn skin was still attached to my palm.
My whole body was covered with hair.
Just then, I heard the sound of crunching soil.
I turned around and raised my Colt Python, squeezing on the trigger, "Chris, it's me!", shouted Jill.
I quietly lowered the Colt Python in my hands.
"What the hell's wrong with you? Your face is pale. And there's a strange smell around here, it's nauseating."
She covered her nose and mouth with a handkerchief.
"Jill, did you see anything?"
My breath was ragged.
"What do you mean?"
"If you didn't see anything, that's fine."
I walked back into the house and grabbed my shotgun and a box of bullets.
"What the hell's going on?"
Jill, who was following behind me, stood in front of me with a look that said she wouldn't tolerate me any longer.
I didn't say anything. I couldn't help but feel angry.
I'd been attacked by monsters twice and I didn't even know what they were, let alone catch them.
I left the house and walked quickly toward my Cobra.
"Come on, Chris! How long are you going to keep this a secret!? You're not your usual self."
I got in my Cobra.
"You never know when or where a member of STARS might put their life in danger. That's why we have to trust each other, wasn't it you who said that?"
Jill stared at me, her face more serious than ever.
She was right. I was out of my mind. Going mad over something like this.
I opened the passenger door without a word.
Jill giggled and slid into the passenger seat.
I slammed my Cobra's gear into low and hit the gas pedal.
With a tremendous amount of wheel spin, my Cobra swung its tail and sped forward.
The cabin was on the other side of Victory Lake.
As I drove, I caught a glimpse of Jill's profile.
Jill kept her eyes forward in silence.
She knew I was going to tell her everything that had happened between yesterday and today, so she waited.
My Cobra was already on the mountain road.
It was only a short distance to the cabin Rosie had spoke about.
Before that, I probably should've told Jill.
"Last night, I got a call from a guy named Billy at--"
I told her the whole story, breaking it down word by word.
"That's the gist of it."
When Jill finished listening to me, she replied in surprise.
"But there's still no evidence that Billy had anything to do with the bizarre events happening right now."
I replied cautiously.
"Yeah, you're right, but overall, I can't help but think they're connected. Anyway, we should head to the cabin, and if that doesn't clear things up, we should report to STARS. That way, if Billy's real, we'll have a better chance of saving him."
I lit a cig and nodded.
I was glad I told Jill, with Billy being my best friend, I'd gotten so involved in the case that I might've lost my objectivity.
But I was sure we'd solve everything at the cabin.
The sky was beginning to dim.
The roar of the heavy bass engine echoed through the forest.
I drove my Cobra, holding back my impatience.
After crossing a small river and driving for a while, we finally arrived at the cabin we were aiming for.
It was an old-fashioned building. I'd been to this cabin a few times with Billy and Rosie.
But there was no time for sentimentality.
I handed Jill the shotgun and got out of my Cobra.
"Look. Human or monster, if you're in danger, shoot without mercy."
Jill nodded with a serious look.
The cabin was still locked.
She took out her lockpick and unlocked the door in a flash.
The air in the cabin was stale and musty, as if it hadn't been used in years.
"Billy?"
I called out quietly.
But there was no response.
The first floor was a large living room. The floor screeched loudly as I walked.
"Jill, I'm gonna check upstairs, you check this floor."
As I walked up the stairs to the second floor, she shouted,
"Chris, look!"
I turned around and Jill pointed to an open can of beef lying on the floor.
"It's still fresh."
Jill was staring at the contents of the can.
There were a few other cans lying around.
I ran upstairs to look for him.
But Billy wasn't there.
I wondered if the cans were really Billy's leftovers. Or did someone put them there to make me think so?
"Anyway, let's wait here a while."
Jill and I hid in the shadows of the cabin and waited patiently for the next development.
Would Billy come back? Or would the imposter cause something to go wrong?
But results were slow coming.
An hour passed.
Still, nothing happened.
Then suddenly, my cell phone rang, and an unexpected voice came in.
"Chris..."
It was Barry.
"Barry? What's up?"
I didn't hear an answer for a few moments. It was odd, he didn't seem like his usual cheery self.
"Chris, where are ya? I need to see you right away."
"What's going on?"
Jill stood next to me, listening suspiciously.
"Please. I'll talk to you when I see you. Come on."
Billy's face popped into my mind.
The first night, when I got a call from a guy who called himself Billy, he sounded just like Barry did now.
He seemed to have something stuck in his back teeth and said he'd tell me more when we met.
I felt a pang in my chest.
"Barry, I'm in over my head right now. What the hell's going on?"
I asked impatiently.
Again, there was silence, then Barry spoke up in a low voice.
"Truth is, something terrible's happened to me. Please, you gotta see me."
"Something terrible?"
Barry had a loving wife and two daughters. One of them could in trouble.
"Go to him, Chris. I'll keep an eye on things until you get back."
I was lost. Did I have no choice but to go?
"Jill. Be careful."
I finally made up my mind and climbed into my Cobra.
CHAPTER.7
REUNION & SORTIE
What the hell was this personal problem Barry was talking about?
He certainly made it sound imminent.
The location Barry specified was the parking lot of a big restaurant in the suburbs.
He avoided the restaurant because he didn't want to stand out... I parked my Cobra at the far end of the parking lot, with only a small light on.
I looked at my watch.
I'd driven a long way from the cabin, but it was five minutes past the designated time.
But there was still no sign of the pickup Barry rode in.
I looked at each and every car that came in. Considering the distance, of course he had to have been there first.
As I waited for Barry, I could feel myself getting frustrated.
I couldn't stop thinking about the cabin.
I wondered if something had happened at the cabin by now. If someone did show up, would it be Billy or the guy who set the trap?
Thirty minutes quickly passed from the appointed time.
I was getting numb.
I reached for the police radio in my Cobra and decided to call STARS.
To my surprise, Barry was in the STARS office.
"What's going on, Barry!? Did you forget you were supposed to meet me!?"
I was so disappointed that I yelled out in anger.
"No, I'm sorry, forgive me. I had some urgent business to attend to, and I just couldn't make it. Don't be so mad."
Barry's voice was much brighter than before.
I was more puzzled than angry. What the hell was going on?
"Chris, you need to get to the office right away. All of STARS have been ordered to assemble."
"What'd you say?"
"It's been decided that we, STARS, will take charge of the freak murder cases. Bravo will be the first team to head out."
I guess the public outcry had finally pushed Chief Brian to make a decision.
"I've been trying to reach Jill, but I'm having trouble getting through on the radio."
Barry's words made me jump.
I had given Jill a handheld radio, and the fact that it wasn't working meant something must've happened to her.
I started my Cobra's engine to get back to the cabin.
I arrived at the cabin thirty minutes later.
The sky was already dark. The moon hid behind the clouds.
The cabin's dark shadow loomed over my parked Cobra.
Silence enveloped the area.
Not a single light could be seen in the cabin, was it because Billy hadn't returned yet?
Or was it because something happened in the cabin?
I took out my flashlight from the dashboard.
With my shotgun in hand, I stood in front of the cabin's old wooden door.
I quietly pushed the door open.
That indescribable smell of decay poured out of the room and instantly pierced my nostrils.
My body was immediately overwhelmed with fear and tension.
There were monsters here!
As if by conditioned reflex, I kicked the door open and rolled into the room.
I jumped into the shadows and peered around through the darkness.
Inside the cabin was eerily quiet. I walked carefully along the wall, my finger on the trigger of my shotgun.
What happened to Jill?
As my eyes adjusted to the darkness and I got a vague idea of the situation around me, I was shocked.
A large table was overturned. Wind was blowing in due to a broken window.
I knew it was dangerous, so I turned on my flashlight.
The room looked like a hurricane had just passed through.
A wall made of logs was shattered, as if it'd been struck by a tremendous impact, and I could see outside through the large hole. The stairs leading to the second floor had been torn off halfway up.
All the furniture had been knocked over and soil was peeking out from a hole in the floor.
It couldn't have been the dog-like monster that did this. It couldn't be.
Even the owner of the rotten arm that strangled me couldn't have done it.
But the same stench of decay was in the air like it was with those guys.
How many kinds of monsters are there? I thought I was having a bad dream.
There was no sign of Jill or Billy anywhere.
I took a step forward to investigate further. As soon as I did, I slipped on something and almost fell.
I crouched down on the floor and touched it with my hand.
I felt something sticking to my hand. When I shined my flashlight on it, I saw that it was a translucent jelly-like liquid, stringing between my fingers and sloshing down to the floor.
It smelled fishy. It must be the bodily fluid of some unimaginable creature.
A gust of wind blew in through a hole in the wall.
Where was Jill? Where was Billy?
And then I heard that creepy roar on the wind in my ears.
*AROOOO!*
All my hair stood up in an instant.
It was the howl of that dog-like beast.
I jumped out to the front with my shotgun in hand.
I ran like a maniac in search of Jill.
The rustling of the trees in the wind sounded like a monster's roars.
My five senses were on edge.
I stopped in my tracks as a strange noise rang in my ears.
*Zzzzz...*
It sounded like something heavy was being dragged across the ground.
I couldn't tell if it was close or farther away.
The sound ceased, with the only noise being the trees rustling in the wind.
Has the sound's owner disappeared? No, they were close by.
Just then, I felt a warm liquid drop on my cheek.
When I touched it with my hand, it was the same fluid I'd seen in the cabin.
What the hell's on my head...!?
I slowly raised my head in fear and looked above me.
I could vaguely see another large dark outline covering the jet-black night sky.
Within the outline were two glittering eyes.
My knees shuddered involuntarily.
The next moment, as if on a recoil, the outline and the eyes moved away into the sky and then came at me at once.
I forgot to fire my shotgun and rolled on the ground.
*Crack, crack, crack!*
One by one, the surrounding bushes were knocked down by the outline.
The outline, once back in the sky, now aimed precisely at me and attacked.
I tried to fire my shotgun.
But before I could, there was a flash of light in the darkness.
*BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG!*
The dry gunfire was definitely my Colt Python.
"Run, Chris! We have to run!"
Jill was firing into the night sky from behind a rock in front of me.
I ran as if repelled by her words.
Jill also jumped out from behind the rock and chased after me.
The sound of the river flowing nearby was mixed with that eerie sound of a heavy object being pulled.
"It's a giant snake! That's what it is!!"
Jill shouted from behind.
A giant snake!?
That's ridiculous! I don't care how big America is, there's never been a snake that big!
"That thing came out of nowhere and messed up the cabin!"
We went up a steep slope.
Jill and I tumbled down the slope without hesitation and huddled behind a rock to hide.
*Zzzzz...*
The sound of something moved away up the slope.
It seemed we'd survived.
Jill and I breathed heavily on each other's shoulders.
"Anyway, tell me what happened."
According to Jill's account of about twenty minutes after I'd left to see Barry.
She said a man came into the cabin.
Jill, who I told about Billy, calmly observed the man standing in the dark, and with conviction, stepped out of the shadows and called out to him.
The man was surprised at first, but when he found out that Jill was my colleague, he was delighted and approached Jill, claiming he was definitely Billy.
Then, suddenly, there was a tremendous vibration in the cabin.
She said the outline of a man came crashing through the wall.
Both Jill and the man who called himself Billy frantically ran out of the cabin. When she ran like hell and jumped into the shade of that rock, the man was already gone.
I stood up.
As far as I could tell from Jill, she still wasn't convinced the man was Billy.
At any rate, I let Jill lead me to the place where she thought they'd gotten separated.
Then I started walking in the opposite direction of where she had run off.
Naturally, Jill followed me.
After about thirty minutes of walking in the forest, we finally found the man we were after.
"Chris, over there!"
Jill shouted.
We could see the back of a man clambering up a gentle slope ahead of us.
On the other side of the slope was a freeway that ran through the forest, with a closed restaurant on the side of the road.
The back of the man's head gave me a fond feeling.
Was that Billy? No, it looked like Billy.
But I still didn't know.
"Billy!"
I called out loudly.
The man turned around with a start.
The man's face was... There was no mistaking it. It was our departed Billy.
"Chris..."
The man's face gradually twisted into a crumpled mess of joy.
Thank God.
My wish for Billy to be alive had been fulfilled.
"Billy!"
I shouted again and tried to run towards him.
But he stopped.
Billy's happy face began to twitch with fear.
His eyes were fixed behind Jill and me.
What was happening?
Jill and I looked back in horror.
The whole place was shrouded in darkness, we couldn't see a thing.
A moment of silence came...
The next moment, every nerve in our bodies froze in unspeakable fear.
*Slump, slump...*
The sound of human footsteps dragging on the ground.
"...!"
Uuh... Uhh...
The moans of people who seemed to be grunting.
It wasn't just one or two. There were three, four, or even more than five of them.
The smell of rot began to fill the area, carried by the wind.
Billy's lips twitched, as if he knew what they were.
Eventually, they revealed themselves.
They were human, or rather human-looking monsters.
All of them had dark faces, their cheeks slender and lifeless.
Their eyes were hollowed out, only their eyeballs protruded abnormally.
They dragged their legs and dangled their arms out in front of them as they slowly approached me and Jill.
There was no doubt about it. It was one of them who'd strangled me at home.
As they approached us while we stood there stunned, they opened their mouths.
The rotting stench hit my nose, and I could see their dirty, yellow teeth. The next moment, they attacked Jill and me with a speed that was unbelievable considering how slow they'd been moving.
They tried to bite us in the neck.
"What the hell's wrong with them? Stop it!"
"Aah!"
This was the first time I'd ever heard Jill scream.
I pushed and pushed, but they kept coming at me.
"Shoot them, Chris! They're not people, they're Zombies!"
"Zombies!? That's ridiculous."
Jill looked back at Billy for a moment in disbelief.
"Shoot! Shoot them, Chris!"
Billy shouted, and I reflexively pulled the trigger of my shotgun.
*BOOM!*
The round hit it in the gut, splattering flesh and blood all over the place, sending the monster flying backwards and slamming into the ground.
But what the hell!
It got up again, sluggishly.
*BANG! BANG! BANG!*
Jill and I were firing bullets like crazy. But the result was the same.
They were getting back up.
"Blow their brains out! That's the only way you can beat them!"
Billy's voice turned into a scream.
Before he knew it, he too was surrounded by monsters.
"Run, Billy! Run!"
I shouted desperately as I fought.
Billy dived into the window of the closed restaurant ahead of us.
The next moment, his scream pierced our ears.
"Gaaah!"
"Billy!"
Jill and I ran toward the restaurant, raining bullets down on the monster's heads.
The Zombie heads shattered and black, rotting blood splattered from the cross-sections of their neck.
Jill and I finally made it to the restaurant and jumped in through the window Billy had broken.
But there was a new monster there.
It looked like a gorilla.
Long hands and sharp claws. Its mouth agape with long fangs. It reeked of decay, just like the other monsters.
It was attacking Billy and biting at his neck.
Billy's chest was stained red with a huge amount of fresh blood from his gouged throat.
Jill and I attacked the gorilla creature.
Unlike the Zombies outside, however, it was intermittent and quick, sticking to the ceiling or jumping down to attack us.
Still fighting desperately, I carried Billy on the floor and ran into the next room.
I fixed the door firmly with a steel pipe that was lying around.
Then we ran to Billy as he was leaning against a wall.
"Billy, hang on to me!"
I helped him up. Fresh blood stuck to my hands.
Billy's torn throat was hissing, but he was still gasping and desperately trying to talk to me.
"C, Chris... Thank you. For coming to save me..."
It was the real Billy who'd left the gold coin necklace in the boathouse, who'd sent me the brochure about the cabin through the kid.
"We were working on the T-Virus, so the Zombies..."
"T-Virus!?"
Jill parroted.
"What do you mean "we"? The people you were working with, the ones on the chartered plane, where are they!?"
Billy struggled to keep talking.
"I'm the only one who could get away... That's why they're doing whatever they can to get me..."
The people after Billy didn't want me to think he was still alive.
So they stole Rosie's necklace to confuse me.
"Who are they!? Is it Umbrella!?"
But Billy couldn't say anything else.
All the power drained from his body and he leaned himself completely into my arms.
"Billy...!"
I shouted his name over and over again.
As I held Billy in my arms, there was that slurping again...
I heard the sound of legs dragging again.
"Run, Chris!"
Jill yanked my hand as hard as she could while I stared blankly at Billy, who was dead in my arms.
We ran out through the back door of the restaurant.
There were other Zombies roaming around. When they saw us, they came closer.
Jill and I fled, guns blazing.
I don't know how we got there, but the next thing I knew, we were standing in front of my Cobra parked near the cabin.
We shook them off.
Letting out a sigh of relief, Jill and I slumped into my Cobra's seats.
I couldn't believe it. I can't believe Zombies are a real thing.
I could see Billy's dead face in my mind's eye.
I'd been able to get to Billy and confirm it was him, but I couldn't save him.
I was so angry that I pounded my fist on my Cobra's steering wheel.
Jill looked at me like she had no words to comfort me.
I pulled myself together and started my Cobra.
There was no reason to stay here any longer.
A fresh breeze blew past Jill and I as we made our way through the forest, washing away the stench of decay from our bodies.
But I knew right then that tonight's tragedy wouldn't end there.
As soon as I turned on the police radio, I had to call the station ASAP.
A shriek almost like a scream came through.
"Can you hear me? Come in, Enrico."
"Help me! What the hell are they doing!?"
"What's going on? What the hell's happening!?"
I heard Joseph yelling and then gunshots.
In an instant, Jill and I understood the whole situation.
Bravo Team, led by Enrico Marini, had been dispatched ahead of our Alpha Team and were being attacked by those monsters.
"Gah!"
"Damn it, eat this!"
The sound of gunfire echoed.
"Come in, Bravo Team! Enrico! Enrico!"
I could see that Wesker, usually so calm and collected, was getting upset in front of the radio.
Eventually, the voices of the Bravo Team members became completely inaudible, replaced only by the whirring of the radio.
"Chris!"
Jill, who was sitting next to me in the driver's seat, had a look of fear on her face.
"We have to get back to the station ASAP!"
I struggled to control my impatience and stepped on my Cobra's gas pedal.
When we got back to the Raccoon Police Department, there was a commotion that turned heaven and earth upside down.
Officers were running around the hallways, shouting at each other.
Jill and I went straight to the STARS office.
When we opened the door, the first thing we heard was Joseph's voice frantically trying to contact the unresponsive radio.
"Come in, Bravo Team! Come in!"
The other members of the team stood there, looking as if they didn't know what was going on.
When we entered, the first person to turn around was Barry. He averted his gaze in a panic.
I remembered how Barry had made me wait for him.
His attitude was still weird. What the hell was going on?
"Captain, where did Bravo Team disappear?"
Jill stood in front of the map on the wall and asked Wesker.
"I don't know. They must've been in a panic. No matter how many times we asked on the radio, they didn't respond."
Wesker groaned.
"Don't give up. We haven't concluded that they've been wiped out yet. If we can find out where they disappeared to ASAP, there's hope!"
Jill shouted sharply, as if to cut through the heavy air in the room.
"You're right."
I said, and all the members gathered in front of the map.
Where was it? Where the hell did they disappear?
I stared at the map.
On the map, the sites of the six bizarre murders so far were marked with red circles.
As I stared at it, I realized something.
I hurriedly grabbed a ballpoint pen and tried to connect all the red circles with a line.
The lines formed a beautiful circle.
"The center's here! All six incidents so far have occurred equidistant from here!"
The eyes of the entire Alpha Team focused on that one point.
Actually, there was someone else besides Alpha Team. It was Rebecca, who wasn't allowed to go with Bravo Team since she was a rookie.
The center of the circle pointed to a hilly forest about twenty kilometers away from Raccoon City.
Jill ran to the computer and tapped furiously on the keyboard.
She called up an area map and searched.
"There's a building!"
They all looked back at Jill at once.
"A building? Who owns it?"
Wesker folded.
Jill did a quick search.
"Owned by the Umbrella Corporation... Formerly the company's recreational facility... Now abandoned..."
Umbrella!?
With that one word, I knew everything about this case.
Umbrella Corp. must've had Billy and his colleagues study something called the "T-Virus" in that mansion, creating those Zombie monsters.
Wesker stood up, looked around, tapped the map on the wall and shouted.
"Time to go! Alpha Team! Our target is Umbrella's old recreation facility. All hands on deck, get your heavy gear!"
The STARS office was immediately filled with noise.
They were dressed in camouflage uniforms and carrying heavy weapons out of the armory one after another.
The door to the STARS office was thrown wide open, and Jill and I all ran out into the hallway.
"Captain! Take me with you, please!"
Rebecca chased after us.
Of course, you can't take a rookie to a dangerous place like this out of the blue.
They all ignored Rebecca, who was desperately clinging to them, and headed for the helipad on the roof of the station.
There was a shiny jet black helicopter waiting for us.
As we climbed aboard one by one, the chopper roared into the black night sky.
"Brad, you wait in the air after everyone gets off the chopper at the destination! Keep your radio open."
Wesker ordered while checking his gun.
"Roger that."
The time was around two in the morning.
The illuminated Raccoon City faded into the distance.
I felt my prior fatigue fade away as my heart raced.
I'm going to avenge you, Billy.
Watch out for me, monsters.
And those behind them.
I'm going to expose you, and I'm going to lay your hearts on the graves of the six or seven people who've been slaughtered so far.
The moment I made up my mind to do this, a new suspicion arose in my mind.
It was Barry. The old Barry would've bared his excited fighting spirit when we're deployed together like this. This time, however, he was holding back weakly.
And his attitude toward me was also distant.
The hell's going on here?
My anxiety grew as I wondered if there were still big problems waiting for us.
I thought about whether we'd be able to solve the case and return safely.
I heard what I believed to be a beast barking in the dark night.
*AROOOO!*
A huge forest awaited us below, its dark mouth gaping open.
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Words from Producer on the Game "BIO HAZARD"