32 The Raccoon City Outbreak, Part 1

Word count 10,115

Jill Valentine kept on training with her new plasma gun using the targets in the firing range, seeking to familiarize herself better with it.

Both she and Rebecca received one each not long after their trip to Yharnam, but with only a few more days before the outbreak, they had little time to truly get used to their new guns.

Well, it wasn't as bad as it could be. Aeon had shared with them his own plasma gun before, letting them know how it worked and how to wield one, but they still could do with more training.

She had to admit, she enjoyed it greatly. It packed a hell of a punch, shots being able to punch through reinforced steel unlike typical firearms, and unlike a lasgun, it actually had some of the recoil that she was typically used to.

Sure, she had trained herself enough to get used to a lasgun, but the lack of recoil had thrown off her usual habits at first.

"Training hard, I see."

Jill grinned slightly, shooting once more before turning to face the speaker.

Aeon was staring approvingly at the target she had been firing at, or what was left of it at least.

She grinned at him, wiping the sweat from her brow.

"Well, you gave me a really cool gun, how could I not train with it?"

She looked at her target, mentally replacing it with a Yharnamite beast, and her grin grew slightly when she imagined the damage even one plasma bolt would do.

Well, unless it was a Cleric Beast or worse then not even her new plasma gun would guarantee a victory.

"And it gives you an excuse to not think about the outbreak." Aeon said, the tone of his voice carrying no judgement, as if he's just making an observation.

Despite that, she grimaced slightly.

A problem with having a boyfriend that's so perceptive, trying to hide something from him would fail spectacularly.

Though then again…

"Yeah. Though I probably haven't hidden my concerns well lately, have I?" she replied softly.

Aeon nodded. "True. You've been training even harder than usual, and our sparring sessions have been unusually brutal these last few days, not a bad thing in itself… but it's obvious that you are getting restless, Jill."

She sighed. "Yeah, I figured you'd notice."

"Everyone did, including Rebecca. Not that she's better since she's been working overtime on healing magic and medicine in general."

He shook his head.

"I understand why, but I'm concerned anyway. The Eldritch Blood in your veins and healing magic will ensure that you'll remain physically fine with some rest, but I can't say the same for your mental health."

Jill looked at her targets once again, now imagining the entire firing range as Racoon City's streets, and the targets themselves replaced with hordes of undead.

Her hands clenched, fear and determination rising once more in her heart, the same mix of feelings which had her keep pushing forward to the brink of exhaustion these last few days.

She felt Aeon's hand settle on her right shoulder, and she sighed deeply, the street and its monsters vanishing, leaving only a tired woman behind.

"Jill…"

"I know." she said softly. "I'm sorry, It's just… I'm scared of what's going to happen, you know? With the outbreak coming closer… But I have barely spent any time that wasn't about training with you lately …"

She turned, hugging her lover tightly.

"I'm sorry. I'll make it up to you, I promise."

His arms hugged her smaller form, and she smiled, relaxing slightly in his embrace.

For a moment, the two stayed that way, enjoying the moment in silence.

And then Aeon chuckled.

"Well, if you want to make it up to me, and burn out some of that excess energy you've got along the way, I think I know a way…" he tempted her with a low, sultry tone that would always turn her on.

Jill smirked.

Yes, that would certainly work quite well...

"Fuck! Fuck! Oh yes! Don't you dare stop! Fuuuuuck!"

I smirked. Even with her mouth currently smothered by a pillow, Jill was screaming quite loudly.

Jill had been obviously stressing herself out about the outbreak, and while I understood, having her too tense wasn't a good thing. She needed to destress…

And there few better ways to go about it than sex. Rough, hardcore sex specifically. I had already tried sparring with her, but it wasn't enough, it only drove her further into the ground from exhaustion and frustration instead, as she kept trying to force her own growth in skills and power too quickly for her own good.

Since training wouldn't relax her, then it was time to try something different.

So I was going to fuck her brains out repeatedly until the outbreak hit.

It wouldn't be long now, anyway…

"Harder, you bastard! Harder!" came the muffled shout from the naked woman I was currently fucking from behind.

My eyes narrowed, a sadistic smirk on my face. Harder, huh?

My left hand took her by the hair, raising her head up and letting her screams resonate freely across the room, while my left left her hips and released a brutal smack on her ass.

Jill tensed, her voice becoming higher-pitched… and then stayed that way as more slaps fell down, all the while I began pounding her cunt even harder, the skin of her ass swiftly reddening.

"Is that hard enough, or do you want more?" I taunted the screaming woman.

"Fuuuck you!"

"Want me to stop?"

"Don't you... fucking... dare!" she panted.

I laughed.

"Come on, Jill! Harder!" I said smirking, staring at the woman currently jumping up and down on my cock.

She growled, her blue eyes filled with lust and desire, and noticeably began fucking me even faster.

My right hand left her hip, taking her left nipple between two fingers and twisting.

"Fuck!" she cursed, before closing her eyes and biting her lower lip, an expression of twisted ecstasy on her face, her walls squeezing me like a vice as she came, me following suit a second later with a grunt, her toned stomach not quite as flat anymore after the amount of cum I had put inside her womb.

She collapsed on my chest, panting heavily.

"Damn…" she whispered.

I chuckled… and then flipped her over, lying her down on the bed on her back, my hands on her ankles resting by the side of her head while I looked down at her from a crouching position, my penis positioned at her entrance.

In short, I put Jill in a mating press.

"Tired already? Don't worry, I'll take it from here." I declared, smirking down at her.

Jill opened her mouth… only to close it a moment later as I thrusted in, since my cock was opening the entrance of her womb.

"Fuck… so deep…" she groaned.

I leaned forward, applying the full weight and strength of my bigger, stronger body to truly fuck her utterly.

Jill's blue eyes lost focus, her hot breath mingling with mine as I stood above her, and her arms quickly came around my neck, drawing me in a deep, passionate kiss.

She eventually broke the kiss first before burying her head on my right shoulder, holding me close even as I kept fucking her pussy.

Finally, she shuddered, a moan escaping her as she came.

"Gods yes…" she whispered.

I quickly put my hands on her legs, pressing her further downward into the bed mattres before coming myself, releasing load after load into her well-fucked vagina.

For a moment, only the sounds of our heavy breathing filled the room… and then I began moving, fucking her yet again.

The benefits of infinite stamina are not to be underestimated.

Jill released a moan, and now her arms, too tired to hold around my shoulders, released their grip to rest by the sides of her head on the bed.

As her tired, lust-filled blue eyes met mine, she smiled slightly.

"Love you…" she whispered.

I smiled. "Love you too, supercop."

And then I kissed her… and proceeded to fuck her even harder.

Good thing that the bed was essentially indestructible, because literally breaking the bed from fucking one of my lovers would be a bit awkward…

"Ah… ah… ah…"

Eyes narrowed in focus, I kept fucking Jill's ass, even as she laid on her stomach on the bed, hands clenching the sheets of the bed with a death grip, tongue lolling out and blue eyes staring blankly forward as her mind melted down from the pleasure.

I was on all fours above her, fucking her from above into the mattress with every rough thrust of my cock inside her ass, leaving the woman to shake and shudder every so often as she came.

Finally, with a low growl I came, Jill's legs bending upward as she climaxed yet again.

Then she collapsed, eyes closed as she finally passed out from hours of non-stop sex.

I slowly pulled myself back from my lover, panting slightly even as I enjoyed the sight of her well-fucked form, fading red marks all over her body being visible from where I had either slapped her ass, held her too tightly, or left love bites behind.

Of course, Eldritch Blood would ensure all of them would be gone in only minutes at most, so it was hardly a true indicator of the rough fucking that I just gave her for the past few hours.

Honestly, I probably could have had some myself, Jill Valentine wasn't the kind to get fucked silly without putting up a fight first, but the difference in toughness and my healing factor was far too high for that.

I sat besides her, silently enjoying the moment as I came down from the sex, while mentally reviewing all the preparations for the outbreak.

I.S.I.S. was as prepared as it could be. Blackwatch had been slowly but surely sending their troops into the region to prepare for the outbreak, trying not to let Umbrella know that their time was coming, and certain elements of the US army had been briefed on the situation.

Rebecca… I took a moment to decide if I should offer the same kind of "stress-relief" to her, before deciding not to.

She was focused on more important things right now, and wasn't as stressed out as Jill was. Better not distract her when the outbreak was so close.

And neither Oedon nor Lucy truly needed the stress relief either, so better to let them both focus on their own work.

I kept thinking of various matters of importance for a while… until Jill began to stir.

If she had still been fully human, she would have been too exhausted to wake up for at least several hours… but she wasn't.

I stared at her stirring naked form for a second… before grinning, black tentacles appearing all around me.

All in all, the only one who truly needed the distraction was Jill.

And I was more than happy to give it to her… several times over.

In other words...

Time for round two! I thought happily, meeting Jill's blue eyes with a wide grin.

September 23th, 1998.

"Alpha Leader, we're in position."

"Copy, Stand by."

Karena "LUPO" LesProux, USS Spec Ops, checked her modified G36 once more, waiting patiently for the all-clear from Alpha Leader with the rest of Delta Team, the Wolfpack.

The Wolfpack consists of Hector "BELTWAY" Hivers, the demolitions expert, Michaela "BERTHA" Schneider, the field medic, Christine "FOUR EYES" Yamata, the field scientist, Vladimir "SPECTRE" Bodrovski, the surveillance expert/spymaster and VECTOR, the recon expert whose true name even she does not know.

Then the doors in front of them opened, Alpha Leader standing calmly at the other side, the red lenses of agent HUNK staring back at them.

"You must be the new Delta Team. Report." he declared.

They introduced themselves, HUNK nodding once before contacting Command before they moved on.

Their mission was relatively straightforward: find and capture William Birkin and retrieve the samples of the G-Virus, the new and improved biological weapon of Umbrella, killing anyone they meet on the way, including any present UBCS soldier.

The UBCS soldiers were only mercenaries after all, easily disposable and whose loyalty was too easily bought by others as far as Command was concerned.

Thus, they made their way into NEST, the secret underground research facility of William Birkin where the research into the G-Virus was taking place, her squad destroying any cameras and taking any data as they went by, until they came across the UBCS forces in the area.

In the defense of the UBCS troops, they did try their best to fight back with their superior numbers… but Delta Team was made from the best of the best of the USS.

Well, except HUNK. The man was a living legend for a reason, one that swiftly became clear as they mowed down mercenaries with ruthlessness and deadly precision… which still meant they were slowing Alpha Leader down more than anything.

Then the alarms began ringing, and they all looked at each other.

"That wasn't us." declared HUNK. "We've got the access codes, and the UBCS had no time to trip the alarm. Considering Dr. Birkin's contacts in the Army, I think we got Spec Ops running around too."

"Then we need to double time it." she declared. "Or we might lose Birkin to the Army. Move it, Delta Team!"

They started running, though thankfully it didn't take long before they reached the lab where the G-Virus was held, and William Birkin's voice coming from the door ahead reassured them that both of their objectives were near.

They regrouped with the rest of Alpha Team, HUNK turning towards her team.

"Guard this door. Do not let anyone approach."

Then he nodded towards Alpha Team. "You, with me."

LUPO and her team kept their eyes on their surroundings, looking out for any incoming soldiers, while behind her, HUNK and Alpha Team entered the lab.

"There he is."

"So, you finally came…" Dr. Birkin said.

"Doctor, we're here for the samples of the G-Virus."

The door closed.

"Sorry, but I won't just hand over my life's work." replied the doctor.

And then the moment where everything went to hell happened.

The sound of gunfire echoed, Dr. Birkin let out a pained scream, and HUNK began shouting orders to stop shooting due to the risk of destroying the samples.

Her team exchanged a glance, the knowledge that things had gone FUBAR clear in all of their eyes, before they focused back on guarding the door.

"... Alright, we've got the package. Move out."

Naturally, that was when the US Spec Ops showed up.

The next 30 seconds was filled with automatic gunfire, screams of pain, and her shouting orders, before everything went silent again.

HUNK returned, the rest of Alpha Team by his side, carrying a briefcase, probably containing the G-Virus samples they were here for.

"Looks like you had company." he remarked, looking at the corpses of the US soldiers. "Well done. Follow me, we are leaving."

They took an elevator, LUPO glancing at HUNK.

"Birkin?"

"Dead." he replied, sounding displeased.

She nodded. As expected from what she heard, but better to confirm.

"Goblin Six, what's your status?" demanded HUNK over the radio.

"Higher levels secured. Escaped routes locked down. We're waiting for you, sir."

"Copy that."

"Alpha Team, have you retrieved the samples yet?" came the voice from Command.

"Affirmative. We're heading to the rendezvous point now."

"Understood."

They left the elevator, running at full speed towards their exit route, going into the sewers of the city which would lead them into an out of the way area where they could evacuate discreetly.

Or at least, that was the plan.

Then an inhumanly loud roar echoed behind them, and a visibly infected William Birkin appeared, smashing Alpha Team all over the place and causing the briefcase to open, breaking the glass containers inside and spilling the samples all over the floor.

LUPO had only a moment to consider how thoroughly fucked the mission was, before her instincts took over and she began shooting at the infected Birkin.

Not that it seemed to do anything to the thing.

"Go!" she ordered. "Run and don't stop for anything!"

Her team didn't need to be told twice, because they promptly all ran like hell through the sewers, various explosions being set off everywhere due to the rampaging Birkin destroying things that really shouldn't be damaged.

They tried to close various reinforced doors to barricade his path, but it barely even slowed him down.

"Keep moving! He's just behind us!" she shouted, grimacing as more explosions echoed behind her, much closer than she'd like them to be.

She turned around, shooting him in that massive yellow eye on his shoulder, and she grinned slightly when he stumbled backward… only to recover in seconds, a look of rage on his face as he began running towards her now.

Shit! That thing is as tough as a goddamn Tyrant! Fucking G-Virus, HUNK wasn't kidding when he said that it was more powerful than the t-Virus!

She began running again, a member of her team sometimes stopping to shoot that monster in the glowing eye again to slow it down.

Then she stumbled, an explosion coming from the nearby gas pipes, almost cooking her to a crisp in seconds.

"Delta Team, get out of there and regroup with HUNK!" ordered Command.

We're trying! She mentally shouted, turning back just in time to see a grenade go off at the feet of Birkin, who flew back, groaning on the ground for a few seconds… before getting back up immediately, all damage healing before her eyes.

"Move! Move! Move!" she shouted, shooting at the bastard while her team passed by her into the next room.

Only to hear gunfire coming from inside the room.

"Spec Ops!" Screamed SPECTRE through her radio.

"Shit!" she cursed, shooting a few more bullets before closing the door of the new room.

It wouldn't hold this fucker for long, but even a few seconds was better than nothing.

She turned, assessing the room in a second, before running forward, sliding on the ground near a group of enemy soldiers and leaving a grenade behind before getting to cover.

Then she stood up, firing all the way while the grenade went off behind her, the screams of the enemy soldiers indicating their deaths.

Once all the US soldiers were killed, her team ran forward once more, the sound of the door (and a good chunk of the wall) shattering behind them giving them all very good motivation to run at full speed.

Which naturally meant that more US soldiers showed up.

And then she had to deal with reinforced doors that took several seconds to open for some weird reason.

"If I find whoever added timers to those damn doors, I'll fucking blow their damn heads off!" cursed VECTOR.

"Get in line!" she snarled, shooting at the G-infected monster with the rest of her team, barely managing to keep him at bay despite all the lead they were pumping at him.

Then the doors finally opened, yet she kept shooting, waiting for her team to go first before following suit.

Less than a minute later, the damn wall on her right exploded, showing the bastard had actually taken a shortcut… or more likely, created one by going through the walls.

Falling on the ground with a grunt, she looked up, her eyes widening when she saw Birkin holding an enormous steel pipe, standing ready to pulverize her with it.

She rolled to the left, then to the right, craters left behind on where the pipe had struck, then she scrambled to her feet and ran like never before in her life while the curses and shouts of her team echoed in her ears, mixed in with the sounds of gunfire.

"Run you idiots!" she screamed, and they wasted no time obeying orders.

Finally, she saw HUNK waiting by the side of a door up ahead, and he didn't waste time pushing them through the exit door.

"Come on! Birkin injected himself with the G-Virus! There's nothing you can do. Get out of here and give a full report to management!"

"What about you, sir?" questioned VECTOR.

"I lost the sample." HUNK said. "I'm going back for it."

And then he closed the door.

With that, Delta Team ran onwards, while behind them, the sounds of inhuman roars from the G-monster echoed amidst the sounds of gunfire and explosions.

Unknown to them all, the briefcase contained not only G-Virus samples, but also t-Virus samples.

The infected Birkin had taken in all the G-Virus samples… but not the t-Virus ones.

As such, it did not take long before rats and insects in the sewers became curious about the contaminated puddles of blood and other glowing liquids… and for the infected creatures to spread out everywhere inside the sewers.

Until eventually, they would come into contact and contaminate the main water reserves in the district of Victory Lake at the outskirts of Raccoon City.

And from there, the city's inhabitants would be infected themselves.

The outbreak of Raccoon City… had finally begun.

I opened my eyes, staring forward in my personal office at one of the ISIS facilities.

The glow of my eyes faded, leaving behind only my human eyes, instead of those of a god, viewing the world in all of its splendor and horror.

I slowly got up from my chair, before coming up to one of the windows of my room, looking upwards at the cloud-covered sky, clasping my hands behind my back in contemplation.

"Tonight, the Hunt begins anew. And tomorrow… the Good Hunter shall join the Hunt once more."

The sky flashed, thunder raging outside as rain fell down from the heavens above.

The building storm had finally hit.

Time to see how well humanity would weather it.

September 24, 1998.

Lieutenant Marvin Branagh was not a happy man, despite effectively becoming the leader of the Raccoon City Police Force after the arrest of the former Chief of Police Brian Irons.

He was not happy to learn just how monstrous his former boss was. He was not happy to have to investigate and put behind bars a good number of his fellow policemen and women once it became clear just how corrupt the police force was. He was not happy with the mayor, who repeatedly had been blocking him in many attempts to fight against the city's corruption… well, as long as it didn't involve Brian Irons.

But above all, he really, really wasn't happy with having to tell his people that yes, they were facing a fucking zombie outbreak, and yes, Umbrella, the company that effectively owned this city, was definitely behind it all somehow.

And above all? He was downright furious at the fact that even now, when thousands of undead where already causing chaos everywhere, he couldn't even do his damn job properly because fucking Umbrella was trying to cover its asses!

So, with the entire city quickly falling into chaos, and the city officials either refusing to act or being outright absent (like a certain mayor who had already ran for his life outside the city he was meant to lead!), and with the comm centers being controlled by Umbrella and proving… less than willing to accept orders from him that weren't approved by the centers' corporate overlords, Lieutenant Marvin Branagh finally had enough.

So he stared down at one of his subordinates, Rita Phillips, and gave an order that he shouldn't be able to give.

Except that right now, he frankly lacked any fucks left to give.

"Right, you will go to the comm centers, and tell them that yes, they should warn everyone on TV and radio that we are in the middle of a zombie outbreak. And I don't care if they tell you that it sounds like bullshit or that Umbrella doesn't approve. Put a damn gun to their heads if you have to, or send the message yourself if you can. Anyway, tell everyone to be armed, not to come in contact with any sort of water that isn't bottled, and that if they see any zombie, shoot them in the fucking head. Also, everyone can hold and use a weapon, no matter what kind, from now on until given orders otherwise, because at this point, someone who has no experience holding a gun is still a lesser threat than what's wandering in our streets. Understood?"

Rita nodded soberly, completely aware as he was that the situation wasn't particularly good.

And that it was becoming worse by the minute.

Oh, the Pentagon was informed, which meant that the Army had shown up… but they were currently focusing mostly on securing the outside of the city rather than inside, citing that it would be easier to control the situation if they didn't have to worry about anything infected leaving the city area for the rest of the country, and while he understood the logic, it didn't change that right now, much of the manpower currently fighting the legions of undead were just police officers with handguns!

And that's not even mentioning that "Blackwatch" group that had shown up. For now, they were also focusing on securing the perimeter outside of the city, but he definitely would have appreciated special forces with laser guns fighting in the streets and saving his people, not holding a damn line outside the city!

Still, there was some good news. And by that, he meant that Insight Corp. and ISIS had shown up.

The corporation had brought vaccines with them, which had been given to police officers. Not all of them, the damn Army had requisitioned them in large numbers first to better hold the line and also to give to anyone they evacuated, but at least he and a good number of his people had been given the vaccine.

Not having to worry about becoming a monster because of a single wound was certainly a relief, but it wouldn't save someone from getting their throat torn out.

And as for ISIS…

He looked to his side, looking at the eyes of Aeon, Captain John Geary, and the determined faces of Jill Valentine and Rebecca Chambers.

Seeing the last two was certainly appreciated, especially after the absolute injustice done to them by the former Chief of Police at Umbrella's orders.

They did seem… different somehow, his instincts screaming at him that they were much more dangerous than what they were back before they were kicked out of the police force.

Which was good, because being dangerous was exactly what he, and his city, needed right now.

"So, you were mentioning weapons?" he asked, their discussion having been interrupted by the arrival of his subordinate.

"That's correct." confirmed Aeon. "We can provide you with all kinds of ammo and weapons, including our lasguns. Just say the word."

Marvin nodded, before frowning.

"And the cost? Normally, I would have to ask the mayor and the city council for this, but…"

But they were either dead or running, so they weren't there to stonewall him again.

Aeon shook his head. "We can focus on that after the city is taken back. Right now, we should focus on winning and surviving for another day."

Marvin smiled, honestly relieved. He wasn't sure he could legally buy weapons in bulk right now, martial law essentially close to being implemented or not.

It would still be a headache later on… but that was if there was a later.

Which wasn't a certainty right now.

"Alright. In that case, let's talk about our plans."

Marvin waved at the plans of the city spread over the table in front of him.

"We've got 100,000 possible zombies on our hands, too much for what our men could handle, and the army is focused on creating a cage of steel and death around us all rather than helping in the streets. ISIS has over 100 soldiers, but you mentioned mercenaries, and…"

No, Lieutenant Marvin Branagh was not happy having to be the one in charge of fighting off a zombie apocalypse happening in his home city.

But looking around at the determined faces of those willing to fight and die for the people of his city, he at least could take comfort that whatever may come, Raccoon City would not go down without a fight. Or it wouldn't go down at all, if he had anything to say about it...

Alyssa Ashcroft sat heavily on her chair in Jack's Bar with Ben, a glass of whiskey in her right hand.

It had finally happened. What they had both been warned of had happened, and now Raccoon City was suffering from a genuine zombie outbreak.

It was madness, but the chaos outside didn't lie.

She stared at the TV that was showing a local news station, currently talking about the zombie attack during a sports event that happened this afternoon.

With the mayor fleeing from the city and many officials either dead or missing, most of the city was in chaos.

Well, except for the RPD. A fact that made her feel a moment of sheer satisfaction at having helped in putting that mad bastard Irons behind bars, alongside some other corrupt members of the police force.

"I guess someone gave them no choice in talking about what is really going on. I bet you that if it wasn't for all the work we've been doing lately, I'm sure they wouldn't have dared to mention zombies so openly." snarked Ben, with cynicism that was frankly warranted in this cesspool of corruption they called a city.

So she scoffed, savoring her drink a bit more. Bars weren't closed yet, but she doubted that this would remain true for much longer.

Even with the Army, Blackwatch, ISIS, and whatever Umbrella would send to try and contain this mess, from what she learnt from various sources, the simple fact of the matter was that dozens of thousands of people were already infected.

And Insight Corp. couldn't give out too many vaccines, especially with the Army requisitioning much of them for the troops holding the line at the outskirts.

It had taken far too long for the city to react, far too long to tell people everywhere that the water reserves of the city were contaminated, and now they were paying the price for it.

Whether by incompetence or corruption, the city officials had just been too slow to react.

The RPD was actually the ones who reacted the fastest, in no small part thanks to Jill Valentine showing up at the RPD building and giving them a full briefing of what she knew of the t-Virus and its effects to Lieutenant Branagh and his men.

Give credit where credit was due, the RPD had taken her words to heart, and they had actually been able to handle several hordes of undead, in large part due to the knowledge of how to fight zombies effectively.

But quantity had a quality all of its own, and there just weren't enough policemen to handle thousands of zombies, a number that only grew despite their best efforts to contain them throughout the day.

Knowing how to handle a zombie didn't really matter if there were a hundred or more of the damn things charging at you and at the handful of police officers you had while holding an entire street, after all.

And that was saying nothing of some of the concerning reports she had heard about through her contacts.

Mutated forms of infected, each of them much deadlier than regular zombies…

At least the RPD was making good use of those lasguns that Insight Corp. had given them.

From what she had heard, they had proven quite useful ever since they had first been delivered.

And speaking of lasguns, the hand on her glass drifted toward the laspistol in her pocket, along with the extra power cells that were given to her when she had first met Jill and her new boss, Aeon of ISIS.

She thankfully hadn't needed to use the gun so far, but who knew how long that state of affairs would last…

At that thought, she finished her glass in one gulp, enjoying the burning alcohol going down her throat.

With a heavy sigh, she looked sadly at the empty glass. She wouldn't allow herself more than one tonight, and none until this mess was done and over with, one way or another.

There was too much risk for her to drink more.

Naturally, that was when a pained scream cut through the air, her blue eyes going wide as she jumped to her feet alongside the rest of the bar occupants, staring in shock at the bar owner who was currently being brutally bitten at the neck.

"Shit." she cursed, taking out her las-pistol from her pocket, Ben doing the same, and she raised her gun toward the head of the zombie, letting a moment pass to once again be glad for the vaccine she had been given a while back, before shooting the damn thing.

And then things went bad to worse, as a whole bunch of zombies appeared by the windows, trying to get in at the people inside.

"God damn it! Out at the back! Now!" shouted a police officer, the others who had been relaxing from a day of fighting immediately drew either their own las-pistols or regular firearms and pointed them at the zombies, though they held back from firing until after the windows would give away.

Alyssa glanced at Ben, who stared back grimly before they both obeyed.

The next few minutes involved a whole lot of shooting, running, and loud curses from the makeshift group of survivors, though they eventually managed to leave the bar and find another officer in a nearby street.

"What the hell's going on?" asked one of the officers that had been in the bar, named Kevin, from what she had learned while they had run for their lives.

"It's pure chaos, that's what's going on!" replied the officer in the street with a scowl. "Hordes of zombies have hit our lines in the main street at the same time, and they have several mutated variants making things worse! Last I heard, the lines were holding, thanks to ISIS and their heavy weaponry, but the higher-ups still had to pull in various men from the other fronts, spreading our lines too thin, so the zombies used that as a chance to get through our defenses! Now, isolated areas like here have wandering groups of zombies causing a huge mess wherever they go!"

"Damnit!" cursed Kevin.

"What about the police station? It's not far from here!" commented another officer.

Kevin shook his head. "Yeah, but the paths leading there are currently filled with God knows how many zombies!"

"Well we need to do some-"

"Here they come!" shouted another survivor, a woman named Yoko.

They all turned, staring at the horde of zombies coming their way.

Sure, cars had been used as makeshift barricades, but the zombies were still too many for her comfort.

"We need to-"

"Alyssa Ashcroft? Ben Bertolucci?"

She turned, sighing in relief at seeing a squad of ISIS coming from the other way the zombies came from.

"That's us." confirmed Ben, waving at both himself and her.

The squad leader nodded. "Sergeant Miranda White. Me and my squad are here to bring you both back to safety… though we'll also help anyone with you while we're at it." she declared, glancing at the group.

Alyssa smiled. Seems like working with Insight Corp. was looking like a wise choice again.

"Alright, we need to leave ASAP. The fighting on the main streets has died down a bit, so a few squads of ISIS can begin cleaning up those zombies that made it into the green zones, but we can't afford to wait."

"Where are we going? The police station?"

Whatever the Sergeant was about to say was lost when the loud moans of undead filled the street, and everyone turned, seeing a large horde coming from the same path the ISIS Squad took.

"Damn it! Okay, we'll take another route."

The Sergeant looked at a nearby side passage, which was blocked by heavy wooden doors.

"It's locked-"

She raised her gun, shooting the door open and destroying it in an explosion of splinters and sawdust.

"Now it's not. Move, people, move!" she shouted, and Alyssa and the others rushed through the passage, the sound of gunfire and laser fire echoing behind them as they did.

"It's a dead end!" Alyssa shouted a moment later.

The sergeant's helmet turned her way… but stopped at the sight of a fuel tank in the passage they were in.

"I've got a plan!" she shouted, before turning towards her team who was focusing on shooting any incoming zombie.

"Go into the side passage! We're going to burn them all!"

Thus everyone fell back, letting the combined horde from both sides gather as one group at the dead end… right in front of the fuel tank.

"Light' em up!" The sergeant ordered, and Kevin opened up the tank, letting the fuel thoroughly soak the zombies… and then he threw a lit lighter at the fuel.

Every zombie promptly caught on fire, the heat of it all forcing Alyssa to back off slightly, before she heard the sergeant shout more orders.

"Jump in the canal to your left! This tank is gonna blow up soon!"

Alyssa looked to her left, noticing that there was a water canal at the side.

She grimaced slightly at having to jump into that… but it had to be done.

She jumped, the others following suit, and then they went into a nearby sewer drainage entrance large enough for them all to walk in comfortably.

After catching their breath for a bit, they moved on, eventually finding an officer with an APC which brought them closer to the police station, though they ended up having to keep going on foot because of the barricades that had been built along the way.

"Look!" Yoko suddenly exclaimed as they came up to a bridge over main street, and they quickly gathered to stare at the battlefield in front of them.

"Good God…" someone softly cursed, and Alyssa could only sympathize.

Zombies, hordes by the thousands, slowly moving as one towards the barricades, even as they were killed by the dozens, if not the hundreds, down there.

ISIS soldiers with flamethrowers were burning anything that came too close to the barricades, while others with grenade launchers simply kept pounding at the horde from long range, caring little about accuracy since literally every meter of ground was occupied with zombies.

Others still simply kept a constant barrage of laser fire, each shot blowing the head of a zombie… only for another monster to immediately take their place.

Alyssa could see Aeon at the front, his two plasma guns blowing the heads off several zombies with every shot. She was mesmerized at how he aimed both weapons independently as if his limbs had their own brains, yet even he could barely put a dent into the numbers of undead charging onward.

For a long moment, the survivors of the war simply stared at the scene of carnage before their eyes, before a shout caught their attention.

A police officer, who was tinkering with something on the ground, got up, waving at whatever was at his feet, and several of the soldiers with Aeon turned away from whatever it was, nodding once as if in confirmation.

Alyssa frowned when the people at the front began falling back, and it didn't take long for the zombies to break through the barricades.

"What are they-"

"They are going to blow up the street!" exclaimed Kevin. "Get down!"

Her eyes widened, and she immediately got on the floor, putting her hands over her ears.

*KA-BOOOOM!*

Seconds later, a deafening explosion echoed, the world seemingly shaking for a time before everything fell silent.

Alyssa slowly got up, her eyes going wide when she stared at the sheer number of burnt body parts, the size of the raging flames, and that's not even mentioning the massive crater in the ground, signifying all that was left of the main street of Raccoon City.

She was pretty sure that thousands of zombies just died from that explosion alone!

"Damn." muttered Kevin. "There goes main street."

"This part of it, at least." agreed another of the officers, face grim.

"Better than to let the zombies spread further. Come on, we need to move." declared Sergeant White, and they all moved forward.

Thankfully, they were finally able to reach friendly territory, Aeon talking over the radio for a moment before turning to face them with a smile.

"I see you successfully got to Alyssa and Ben. Even managed to save a few more people along the way. Good job, sergeant."

"Sir!" the woman saluted, looking happy.

Then Aeon's eyes turned to Alyssa and the others, and he sighed slightly.

"The situation is stable right now, at least in this part of the city. We're going to make a push towards Uptown, maybe see if we can get to the Apple Inn. As far as we know, that part of the city has… not yet entirely fallen, so there are still people in there, and the Apple Inn could serve as a forward post and a hub to keep civilians in. I would've sent you to the RPD building, but it's already as full as it can be. So for now, stay here. We'll tell you when you can move to the Apple Inn."

"How is the situation in the entire city, really?" Alyssa asked.

Aeon grunted. "No ISIS casualties yet, though the RPD lost some men. As for the complete situation? Well, Downtown is secure at least, but beyond that, it really depends on where in the city you are talking about. Beyond Raccoon Street, it's a complete mess. All we really know is that Umbrella's local forces are fighting those bastards. Umbrella isn't telling anything, and frankly, we don't have the manpower to spare right now to check."

"What about Jill?" she wondered.

"She's with the clean-up teams in Uptown. She's more useful here in helping secure our parts of the city than scouting at the Umbrella-controlled parts."

Alyssa nodded. "And the Army?"

Aeon sighed. "Still securing the city outskirts. Last I heard, they might be able to start helping tomorrow, though by what time exactly, I have no clue."

"They aren't helping at all?!" she exclaimed.

"Well, they are sending in a few helicopters to evacuate the civilians, but they assigned the rest to lookout duty for anything that might try to get out of the city. So while they're offering help, it's just… not anywhere as much as I'd like."

Ben scoffed. "It sounds like they aren't even going to bother, you mean."

Aeon smirked. "Oh, they will, I can guarantee that much, but it's a mess even outside the city. So far, the government has officially declared that there was a radioactive spill at Raccoon City, and parts of the military genuinely have no idea what the hell is actually going on, so that doesn't help, either."

Alyssa snorted in disgust. "Radioactive spill, my ass."

"That's the government for you, always trying to cover their asses. Anyway, while I'm happy to see you alive and well, I need to get back. This city sure as hell isn't going to save itself."

The survivors of the bar nodded, retreating and letting the leader of ISIS get back to his work.

With nothing else to do but wait, they simply looked out towards the rest of the city, hearing the distant sounds of gunfire, explosions, and the sounds of the undead.

"Good God…" muttered Cindy Lennox, a waitress at Jack's Bar.

"Welcome to hell on Earth." grimly declared Ben. "And I've got a feeling this is only the beginning."

A deep, tense silence fell on the group at his words.

As she listened to the sounds of a city falling to monsters straight out of a horror movie, Alyssa couldn't help but agree.

The days to come were going to be far from peaceful…

September 25th, 1998.

Alyssa, not for the first time today, cursed herself long and hard.

The Apple Inn had been successfully occupied and fortified into a safe zone… for all the good that did.

The whole building went up in a blast of flames when the gas lines inside broke, and now here she was with the rest of the survivors of the bar and the ISIS squad assigned to them, fighting their way inside a burning building, the explosion having attracted quite the number of zombies.

And since nothing could be easy, it turned out the zombies in question were Lickers, tougher and more dangerous than regular zombies.

At least the rest of the RPD and ISIS were fighting in the streets around the Apple Inn, so they might be able to evacuate to safety if they could get out from this death trap.

Which was easier said than done, considering just how much of it was in shambles!

"Get down!"

Alyssa didn't even hesitate going prone quickly before a Licker was jumping to where she had been, only for it to get a laser bolt to the face, blowing the head off its shoulders.

She got up, thanking the sergeant who had saved her life yet again today, before they kept going.

Naturally, when they finally got into the lobby, they got attacked by a zombie that was still in the process of turning into a full Licker, its long tongue acting like a whip, cutting straight through the air with deadly speed.

Alyssa growled, thoroughly done with this day, and raised her las-pistol to shoot at the damn thing.

It took far too many shots to finally put the fucking thing down, a fact not helped by the horde of other abominations supporting the Licker, all the while they had to dodge the deadly tongue of the mutating zombie that was suspended in the air duct.

The moment the damn thing was dead, the sergeant told them to make a run for it out of the building, even as the hisses of several more Lickers resonated throughout the lobby.

Alyssa didn't waste any time, running forward and getting out of this nightmare of a building, sweat falling down from her face from all the fighting and running she had done in the burning inn, and almost collapsing in relief when she was met with the sight of more ISIS troops, policemen, and firefighters.

One of which went to her, looking at her and the other survivors with surprise.

"You managed to get out of this building? You're damn lucky to be alive, ma'am."

"I earned it." she replied, because she damn well fought her hardest to stay alive.

"It's not just this inn, the whole damn city seemed to be burning from all the fighting. We've been patrolling the city, trying to help those in need. But… it's worse than a war zone. The Army has finally entered the city, and it's just pure chaos everywhere. Better get out of the city while you still can. I have a very bad feeling about all this…"

Alyssa looked around her. As far as the eye could see, she saw crashed cars, corpses as far as the eye can see, buildings on fire, and lingering traces of smoke from the explosion and fires from all over the city, all while the smell of blood and death followed her everywhere along with the sounds of gunfire, explosions, and screams of both the living and the dead echoed in her ears.

Two things were clear. By some miracle, she was still alive… and the next hell was just right around the corner.

"Hey, Marvin. Doing alright?"

Marvin looked up from the map he was studying, smiling at the sight of Aeon standing by the door of his office.

The man looked as unconcerned as ever, seemingly entirely in his element in the insanity that had gripped Raccoon City these last few days.

None of the horrors he had seen so far had earned anything more than a slight frown at most, which was saying something considering the kind of new mutations they had recently been dealing with.

Marvin suppressed a shudder from some of the reports he had recently received. He really could have lived without knowing what the t-Virus did to children…

To say nothing of what it did to babies and pregnant women.

"Still here and fighting." he finally replied. "I sent Rita down a secret passageway in the RPD building in order to try and link up with other survivors. Beyond that, I'm just happy that the Army and Blackwatch finally decided to go inside the city, even if they are only focused on the northern parts beyond Raccoon Street."

Aeon snorted. "I'm betting that since that is where Umbrella is based at, they are trying to seize those areas to get all the proof they can get of Umbrella's criminal activities."

Marvin smirked. "Then I wish them good luck, because I damn well want these bastards responsible for almost damning my city to hell dealt with completely. So the sooner Umbrella burns, the better."

Then he sighed, massaging a hand on his head.

"Speaking of them, I've received news that Umbrella was sending more troops into the city, UBCS and the like. On one hand, more soldiers can't hurt, but on the other hand…"

"On the other hand, they'll prove troublesome sooner or later. Trust me, I know. Still, as you said, the more troops they send, the better. At best, they'll kill more zombies than they'll add to. At worst… well even Umbrella will feel the cost of losing so many troops at once."

Marvin grunted. "We'll see. In the meantime, I heard ISIS ended up taking a building over as a new base up in Ema Street? So far, you used the RPD building as the HQ, any reason for the change?"

Aeon grimaced.

"I've heard rumors that Umbrella is observing Raccoon City closely to the point that they are actually considering making things more... 'interesting' by putting in additional infected here. In short, some of Umbrella's branches are thinking of sending their pet monsters here to gather combat data. ISIS fears that they'll target the RPD building, so we are creating a secondary base elsewhere in the city to fall back to if needed, both for ISIS and the RPD."

Marvin stared at him for a long second, hoping that he had heard wrong.

The grim face of the man before him didn't so much as twitch.

Now, normally Marvin wasn't one to lose his composure, especially nowadays when the weight of the city rested on his shoulders.

But this was just too much.

So he just let it loose.

"MOTHERF-"

September 26th, 1998.

Sergeant Miranda White stared at the horde of thousands of zombies charging down Main Street, face grim and determined.

With the concern that they were soon going to be under attack by even more dangerous mutated monsters created by Umbrella, the leaders of both the RPD and ISIS had decided to cull the numbers of zombies when they weren't yet dealing with too many mutated abominations.

Not to say they weren't already dealing with many of those, and a single look down the street showed that very well.

The incoming horde had pretty much everything they encountered so far.

Regular zombies, Lickers, poison variants with glowing eyes that hid their true nature…

And there are much more terrifying abominations yet, such as the Pale Heads, pale-white zombies with no features other than a hungry maw full of teeth that were so unnatural even the other zombies gave them a wide berth, and they had been proven capable of showing a disturbing amount of intelligence in the past, acting almost like the commanders of a zombie horde, staying at the back of any attack and silently observing any situation, waiting for any moment of weakness to charge forward at surprising speed to cause chaos and death among defensive lines.

Or for that matter, the equally unnatural white-skinned child zombies, with long claws and a love of high-pitched screams that brought fear into the hearts of those who heard them.

There were also a handful of pregnant women in the horde, their bloated bellies hiding dozens of small abominations made of tentacles and mouths to bite people with.

At least there aren't any babies in this horde. She thought with a shudder, having heard the reports on what babies turned into when infected.

The worst part was, she still preferred being up here and dealing with those things than down in the sewers.

A good amount of ISIS's troops were stuck dealing with the sewers in the controlled areas in order to prevent any ambush from underground, and horror stories had been told of what those in the underground had already been forced to deal with.

Now, she only had to deal with a horde of thousands of monsters.

At least she was not alone, with dozens of her fellow ISIS troops stationed strategically in the streets and buildings, alongside a good number of police forces and even some army troops.

To say nothing of their more suspicious allies, such as UBCS and a number of Blackwatch troopers that General Randall sent to them for this battle.

She looked out of the scope of her lasgun, the sound of her calm breathing echoing in her helmet, as she waited for the order to begin firing on the incoming horde from Captain Geary.

Even so, she couldn't help but throw the occasional glance at their leader, Aeon, who was standing calmly in the middle of the street behind the barricades, armed with his plasma guns, grenade launcher, and an actual sword on his back.

Part of the reason why she was looking at him was born out of concern, as four platoons worth of UBCS soldiers took various positions in the streets and buildings, and there were some strong concerns that the Monitors hiding within their ranks would try something in the chaos of battle.

It was far too much of a good opportunity for Umbrella to get rid of one of the greatest thorns in their side in a situation where no one could prove anything if an "accident" was to happen.

"This is Captain Geary. All units, stand by and begin firing at my order."

Miranda immediately focused back on the hordes, the rest of her squad following suit, each of them choosing their target and standing ready to fire.

"Open fire at my mark… NOW!"

Miranda fired, the laser bolt blowing the head of the poisoned zombie she spotted, purple miasma being left behind as the headless corpse fell backward.

Then she did it again and again, falling into a rhythm as her training took over and she focused on nothing else but killing enemies and keeping an eye out for deadly surprises, such as flocks of infected birds or Lickers going up the walls.

How long she focused on only shooting zombies in the head she had no idea, but her concentration was thoroughly shattered by the sound of a sniper firing.

Miranda couldn't say why that gunshot, out of all of them, sent a shiver down her spine, but she could certainly understand why the second gunshot did.

Because the entirety of ISIS, and a good number of others, couldn't help but freeze in shock when a bullet was sent straight at Aeon's head from behind, and he just avoided it by a split-second, the man turning around in a flash, one of his plasma guns firing towards one of the windows in a UBCS-controlled building.

The window promptly blew up, but the damage was done, and things promptly went to hell.

Since a few seconds were spent with almost no one firing at the zombies, the Lickers and the Pale Heads used that opportunity to charge onward, jumping over the barricades and across buildings straight into their defensive line, forcing many of the troops on the ground to focus on the charging horde in front of them.

Worse, the gunfire coming from the UBCS troops suddenly began to slow down to almost nothing, and the sound of screams began to be heard from the buildings they were holed up in.

Miranda cursed.

"Captain! What the hell is going on with the UBCS?!"

"The damn Monitors fucked them over, that's what! A whole bunch of locked doors were suddenly blown open, letting the damn infected to flood the buildings they are in! The UBCS leader also got shot and is now down!"

"Fuck!" she cursed again, because this was exactly the kind of thing she expected and had trained for in the simulations, she was still pissed that Umbrella proved as treacherous as they all feared.

"Keep up that covering fire, sergeant! I'll have other troops sent to deal with the situation in those buildings! For now, just hold the damn line!"

"Yes sir!" she replied, focusing back on the street.

It took her two seconds to understand the situation, one to see it and one to completely digest it.

Mostly because their leader was currently fighting by himself right in the zombie lines, deliberately attracting the attention of the entire first line of zombies in order to stop them from attacking anyone else.

And Miranda could only stare in shock as she was a witness to the sheer martial skill of a master of the battlefield, as Aeon dodged, weaved, and jumped over every monster trying to get to him, one hand holding a plasma gun and the other his sword, both weapon dealing death and causing decapitated zombies to fall to the ground by the half-dozen at every second.

Then her features hardened, and she returned to firing, providing fire support to both her leader and the troops on the ground who were falling back to the second line of defense.

The street was by now completely drenched with blood, corpses falling on top of another so much that in seemingly no time at all, Miranda noticed that her leader was now standing on top of a hill of corpses, a small but growing lake of blood surrounding it.

Her leader was quite literally building a barricade, a wall made of the corpses of undead, one that he was deliberately creating all over the side of the street in order to try and create something that would at least slow down the undead.

The fact it helped funnel them all towards him was a useful side benefit.

Slowly but surely, that barricade grew, until those down the street couldn't even fire anymore, being forced to go into the nearby building to find new firing positions.

The hours that followed passed by like a blur for Miranda, so focused was she on the battle that the only thing that she could remember afterwards were flashes of memory.

The sight of thousands of undead charging as one towards her leader… the frantic battle on the rooftop of the building she was in when a pack of Lickers made it up there… The message from the Captain that the UBCS had completely retreated, leaving only a few teams of ISIS behind, two of which led by Jill Valentine and Rebecca Chambers, to hold their entire left flank by themselves…

And finally, the news that, with the UBCS gone, it was finally decided that they could afford to bring up more reinforcements, including tanks and helicopters, that were, until now, ordered to handle other fronts that had been weakened by the concentration of zombies in this specific part of the city.

The last of the battle she remembered, was seeing her leader stand in the middle of a hill of corpses, the mound itself surrounded by a sea of blood and more corpses, his body entirely drenched in red as ISIS soldiers began to burn every corpse in the street, before he calmly walked back towards the backlines to rest.

And from what she had been told, his only words had been,

"Well, that brings back memories…"