Resident Evil Legends Part Six: Escape From Raccoon City

Chapter 1

Damascus Kelly crossed his arms and gazed out across the Arklay Mountains. He stood in one of the small offices on the second floor of the Arklay mansion and quietly watched the motionless wilderness. Occasionally, a stray breeze made the tree branches tremble, but other than that, the woods were still and silent. The sun was down but the sky was still a pale twilight blue, although it would be dark within half an hour.

There was nothing more that they could do. Most of the crew at the mansion was already evacuated, although a few scientists and soldiers still ran around, cleaning up the remaining equipment. In a couple of hours, they would be all be gone.

No matter what happened, Kelly knew that their work was far from over. Now, they were just waiting to see just what was going to happen, although the worst-case-scenario was the most likely one. It was for this reason that Kelly took a long look out across the Arklay wilderness; he was not certain that he would ever get the chance again.

There was a timid knock on the door, and Kelly just turned slightly, not bothering to look. One of the UBCF soldiers said, We’re ready to remove the rest of the science team, sir. Do you want to leave now?

No, he said. I’ll leave with you.

Okay, sir. We’ll be ready in about an hour.

Kelly returned his gaze to the view beyond the window. By now, there were Umbrella control units surrounding the entire Arklay region around Raccoon City. Probably three thousand troops were in place in a loose circle in a massive attempt to keep anything from escaping. A fleet of helicopters surveyed as much area as possible, and more troops were coming in all the time. Kelly had already heard reports of strange animals and infected creatures miles from the epicenter of the infection, which happened to be the Arklay mansion itself. But despite how rapidly the control teams had been established and how much ground they had to cover, by some miracle there were no reports of infection beyond the final perimeter.

A miracle, he thought. It might just qualify as a genuine miracle if they managed to contain the infection here in the city. In truth, Umbrella’s plans did not require complete containment, but it would make the next stage far easier to implement.

And for whatever happened afterward, there was a plan for that as well. Umbrella was already making moves, sending an army of lobbyists to the government on every level. Federal, state, and local politicians were already on the phone, government agencies were on the move, and a hundred fortunes were trading hands in secretive Washington back rooms. By the time worse came to worst, Umbrella would already have taken care of the most vocal opposition and started the most elaborate public relations campaign in modern history. When it was all over, Umbrella would come through relatively unscathed, or at least that was the plan.

Would it work? Kelly had no idea. But he knew that they had no choice. If they left things to play out on their own, the Umbrella Corporation would be destroyed and many of their highest ranking executives would be lucky not to get lynched in the street.

This was not just an environmental disaster, this was a new Holocaust. This made the Chernobyl disaster look like a small brush fire. Kelly felt a strange sense of importance, being right in the middle of it, knowing that he would witness first-hand the most terrible thing to ever happen on American soil.

He finally turned and walked out of the office, taking slow steps as he continued to be lost in his thoughts. There was too much here for one man to fully appreciate. Especially a man who had been awake as long as Kelly had.

In the main lobby, one of the UBCF soldiers came up to him. Okay, sir. The science teams are on their way out.

Kelly could hear the helicopters outside. Has everything been loaded?

All the science equipment has. It’s all on its way to New York, as you requested. We’re still packing up the rest of the UBCF hardware.

Kelly walked out the front doors and stood on the porch, taking a deep breath. It was getting chilly outside now that the sun was down. Has Commander Ginovaef called in?

No, sir.

When did he last make contact?

Over an hour ago, sir. He called in to report he was going to collect a squad that was still in the city. They were supposed to take a city streetcar to the central command post, but they haven’t arrived.

Should they have arrived by now?

I don’t know, sir.

Kelly nodded and waved the soldier away. Okay. Tell me when you’re ready to leave.

The soldier ran off, leaving Kelly alone with his thoughts again. Maybe once he was out of here, he could steal a few hours of sleep, but that was unlikely. He would probably have to stay awake all night.

Nicholai would have to take care of himself now, so Kelly hoped for his sake that he made it back to the central command post. If he ran into trouble, there was no one coming to his rescue. All missions back into the city were halted hours ago. The remaining UBCF troops were sent to the perimeter to help with the control teams.

The last incoming group had arrived some time ago, but Nicholai insisted on staying in the city to the very end. Kelly was admittedly impressed with Nicholai’s loyalty to the cause and dedication to the matter at hand, even though Kelly didn’t particularly like the UBCF Commander personally. But he also felt Nicholai was an arrogant fool for remaining in the city so long. He should be here at the mansion, overseeing the final evacuation.

Kelly watched as the soldiers loaded up whatever equipment they could. Hundreds of boxes and crates were taken from the lab to be sent to other facilities. Computers, files and folders, biological samples, corpses, chemical apparatus, security camera footage, paper records, infected hosts, a wide variety of scientific equipment, and even an extensive collection of artwork and sculpture from the mansion had already been taken, leaving little behind that was of any value. Pretty much the entire record of all the scientific work done at the lab was now on its way to other labs for analysis.

Whatever they didn’t take with them would be destroyed when they left. Kelly felt it was a shame to destroy such a beautiful building, but sadly, they could not transport the entire mansion with them. Kelly watched as several more helicopters took off and flew away.

Sir, a soldier called to him some time later. We’re ready.

Kelly walked over to one of the helicopters and glanced back at the mansion one final time. The building was empty and dark now, its electricity cut off. Its entire history would be erased, the evidence of everything that transpired here would be gone forever.

Any mysteries would be forever unsolved.

Kelly climbed into the last helicopter and buckled himself into a seat. As the rotors began to spin, he watched as the last soldier knelt down in the driveway and used a lighter to ignite a line of molotov cocktails on the pavement. He tossed them one by one through mansion windows, where they exploded into flame. The final cocktail was thrown inside the front door, where it ignited the gallons of gasoline poured there after Kelly went outside. A massive swirl of fire shot from the front doors like flames from an incinerator.

Kelly believed that he could feel the heat from where he was sitting. He sighed to himself and rested his head as the soldier got into the helicopter and it lifted into the air. The rotors scattered the thick black smoke pouring from the mansion in a dozen places, the bright orange light glittering off the edges of the sleek aircraft. Kelly watched the mansion burn as the helicopter flew away.

I guess all we can do now is pray, he said to himself.

The soldier seated next to him could not hear him because of the noise from the rotors. What did you say, sir? he asked loudly.

Nothing, Kelly shouted, and then, to himself again, Nothing at all.

Chapter 2

There was smoke in the air, making her eyes water, and a thick layer of dust, choking her lungs. She coughed weakly and tried to roll over, but something held her down. Muffled noises seemed to come from far away. She heard thumping, shuffling sounds, and the crackle of fire. She tried to focus, but her senses were blurred, as if she was awakening from surgery and was still woozy from the anesthetic. Slowly, with some effort, she tried to open her eyes.

All she could see was a side of a metal panel and a nearby pile of broken bricks and dirt. She reached out and felt the debris, as if testing to see if it was real. Her arms were covered in grayish dust and spotted with dried blood. She tried to sit up but was overcome with dizziness, and glanced down to see a thick metal pole and large streetcar seat pinning her legs to the ground.

Gradually, Jill Valentine realized where she was. The streetcar. The explosion. The crash. It all came back to her as a series of single, unconnected images, and she was motionless for a moment, trying to decipher the images into concrete memories.

She looked around more carefully as the cobwebs in her head drifted away, examining her surroundings. She was inside a derailed streetcar, which was now lying on its side. Tufts of grass and clumps of dirt stuck through the windows, which were now pressed against the ground. Directly above her were the windows on the other side, out of her reach. The doorway to the next car was in front of her, but was blocked by a section of crumbling wall.

She pushed against the seat on top of her legs, but it was jammed in place. She wiggled her feet and felt a surge of relief that her legs weren’t broken. In fact, she wasn’t injured as far as she could tell. She ran a hand across her face and it came away clean. There were spots of blood on her arms though, probably the result of tiny shards of glass during the crash. But being uninjured was a moot point if she couldn’t move.

She listened closely, hearing the thumping noises again. With a creeping sense of fear, she realized what the sound was. Random bumps, scratches, and groans. Jill’s heart began to beat faster and she was overcome with a sense of claustrophobia. She was trapped in the streetcar.

She pushed against the seat but couldn’t get any leverage against it. She began to panic as she saw flickers of flame drifting up above the windows where she could see. There was a fire burning nearby, and for all she knew it was going to ignite spilled oil or something and the whole streetcar would burst into flames. Her attempts to free herself became more frantic and hurried, but she couldn’t move the seat an inch.

She wanted to scream for help but didn’t dare. The zombies were probably everywhere and as long as she didn’t make any noise, maybe they wouldn’t know she was there.

Please, she dared whisper, trying to budge the seat to no avail.

When a gunshot rang out just on the other side of the streetcar, she almost screamed in fright. She gasped and cried out desperately, Help me! Somebody! I can’t get out!

There was the sound of someone, or something, climbing up the side of the streetcar, and Jill’s breath caught in her throat. A head popped into view directly above her, but it was too dark to see who it was.

Help me, she pleaded, staring up at the stranger.

Okay, hold on. I’m coming down, the person said.

It was the young Hispanic soldier Jill met earlier. She couldn’t remember his name. He swung his legs over the broken window and lowered himself into the streetcar, dropping down beside her. In the dim light, she saw a bloody smear across the side of his face and more blood on the front of his uniform.

I’m stuck. I can’t move, Jill said.

Yeah, I know, he said. I tried to pull you out already. I had to go find something like this. He held out a solid steel pipe about three feet long and jammed it under the seat that pinned Jill’s legs. He crouched down and pulled up, using the pipe as a lever to bend the metal frame. Jill pulled herself back and managed to slide a few inches. The soldier grunted and pulled harder, the seat lifting up slightly. It was enough for Jill to pull herself completely free, and she gasped with relief as she examined her legs, as if to make sure they weren’t broken. A few seconds later she managed to get onto her feet.

Thank you, she said gratefully.

Come on, he said. Let’s just go.

How many are out there? Jill asked.

The soldier paused and said evasively, There’s a lot of them. But it’s okay. We can still get out of here with no problem.

There was more bumping and groaning outside the streetcar, as their voices attracted more unwanted attention. Jill patted her pocket where she had put her pistol, but the gun was gone. It must have come loose in the crash, but there was no finding it now. Jill didn’t want to go anywhere unarmed, and she stood there indecisively, glancing upward.

We have to go, the soldier said, holding out his hand. There’s like a million of those things outside, and they’re gonna find a way in here if we don’t hurry.

Jill buried her fear, as she had done a hundred times already today. The soldier lifted her up and she grabbed the edge of the window, and pulled herself up. She sat on the edge and froze in shock as she gazed out across the open area in front of the streetcar.

There was a grass yard about twenty yards long that sloped upward to the train tracks, and it was littered with debris and wreckage from the tremendous crash. Beyond that was the blocked intersection, with dozens of cars smashed and wrecked from the high-speed collision, some of them smashed flat and others knocked onto their sides. The front streetcar lay among the destroyed field of cars, also on its side. Numerous small fires burned here and there, sending plumes of smoke into the dark sky.

And in among all the wreckage, packed shoulder-to-shoulder from the tracks all the way to the streetcar where Jill sat, were hundreds of zombies. Maybe even more than a thousand. They surged forward like a violent crowd at a rock concert, more than Jill had ever seen packed into one place. It was like a moving ocean of the undead, spreading back almost as far as she could see.

Jill quickly started to climb down the other side, which faced the building they had crashed into. The streetcar was lying half inside the building and half outside, and all the zombies were stuck on the outside, unable to get past the car. The inside of the building looked safe.

She reached into the streetcar and helped the soldier climb out as well. Together, they climbed off the streetcar and into the building. The lights were on inside, revealing a bright hardwood floor and beautiful wooden support beams to the high ceiling. They were in a central lobby area, and Jill saw several doors on the other side that led to smaller side rooms.

The building was a church. Jill spied a large white cross on the wall in the front of the lobby, and smaller pictures on the walls were of religious figures like the Virgin Mary. Sadly, even a church was not safe for them.

I’m sorry, she said to the soldier. I don’t remember your name.

Carlos Oliveira, he answered. You said your name is Jill, right?

Yes, Jill Valentine.

Carlos picked up his assault rifle, which he had left sitting on the floor when he went to help Jill. He held it in both hands, one finger resting against the trigger, aiming it in front of them. Pleased to meet you, Miss Valentine, he said with a youthful grin.

Jill was too tired to smile back, but she did reach out to touch the blood on his face. Are you hurt badly? Maybe we can find some bandages or something.

No, it’s okay, he said. It was just a little cut. It stopped bleeding already.

Okay. Do you have another gun, by any chance? I lost mine.

No, just this.

How much ammo do you have?

One clip, Carlos said with a shrug.

That’s not going to be enough, Jill said slowly.

It better be enough, Carlos said with a not-quite-convincing smile. Cause it’s all we got. I don’t think we’re gonna find more.

Jill looked around the building, futilely hoping that maybe they were safe here and wouldn’t have to go outside. But she already knew that they weren’t safe. Nowhere was safe, because the zombies always found their way in. The only option was to try to get past the zombies and escape that way. If they stayed in this building, they were just going to be trapped here. Jill was somewhat relieved that Carlos understood this as well.

The zombies are only on that side, he said, pointing at the streetcar. They aren’t really on the other side of the building at all. But if we wait here, they’re gonna surround the place.

You’re right, Jill said. I’m just ... I’m so tired of all this.

"You made it this far,