ooo000---000ooo
"Move move move!"
"Load up the wounded, let's get out of here!"
"Dee!"
They listened at fucking last. Now we were loading up into what vehicles that were left and getting the hell out of dodge.
Rainbow... I saw her rush over to me, dodging a few officers to make her way over. She ducked down to get up under my chest and help me stand up, which took a bit of effort on both of our parts. The growing sound of the moaning zombies surrounded us as Rainbow led me towards one of the SWAT vans. It was so far from the damn van, I didn't realize how far into the thick of it I was.
I made a mistake.
Through the dense horde, I heard gunfire on the other side of the massive crowd that had filled up main street, the dense crowd had grown beyond our control just like I had expected it to, and it seemed to force the other officers to finally realize this whole thing was a fucked up mission to begin with.
Several of the officers rushed from nearby, two of which helped me along with Rainbow.
"What the hell is that thing?" One of the SWAT officers questioned as Rainbow took a spot beside me.
My neck was bleeding badly and I could feel it staining my shirt every second that passed. Rainbow sat next to me, helping me stay up by offering me not only her shoulder, but her body to keep me from falling over during the drive. I swallowed hard and looked at her face, and she may have tried to hide it, but I could see the worry etched into her face.
"She's a friend..." I muttered, keeping a hand on my bleeding wound. No one said a word to me about it, but they kept a wary eye on both Dash and I... more so Dash than anything else.
When I took a look back at the massive and ever growing crowd of undead, I heard something in the distance... an explosion that had gone off and began a chain reaction that erupted from underneath the road, sending dozens of flailing bodies flying amidst flaming hellfire and concrete debris, killing hundreds in several massive explosions that rocked the street. Glass shattered, the road cracked and warped as bodies were engulfed in intense flame.
The moaning slowly began to cease as most of the horde was blown apart, incinerated down to atoms while others were turned into little more than piles of bones and meat, twisted and broken apart, flung into walls so hard their skulls cracked open and their bodies warped, trauma that would kill any normal man...
We stared before turning a corner, leaving behind a burning Main Street.
As we drove away from main street, heading back to the station, I couldn't help but feel like I had lost. I was bitten, which meant I was now infected by the very virus that my childhood self feared. Looking out of the door, which had been left open, I saw the other cop cars retreating alongside us, filled up with other officers and even some of the UBCS who joined to escape. I could also see the dozens of undead roaming around, giving chase.
It wouldn't be long untilI became one of them. and I didn't know what could be scarier than that.
The looks I was getting didn't help my nerves at all. How many knew the virus was transmitted through bites? It had been a good while since the infection began, someone had to have figured it out by now.
Rainbow stayed by my side the whole time, shaking, covered in blood and struggling to hang on as the swat van lumbered down the road and made sharp turns that almost threw us against the walls. I tried my best to stay calm... even if a part of me knew that I was done for.
ooo000---000ooo
It took maybe twenty minutes for us to navigate a safe path to the police station, as all of the roads were barricaded and blocked off in random locations that did more harm than good. But once we arrived, we pulled into the parking lot of the station and slowed to a stop, and I had to fight both my stomach and my willpower to not throw up everywhere. All the while the sensation that the virus was moving through my bloodstream like a parasite was not lost on me, I couldn't escape the feeling no matter how hard I tried.
Despite it all, I honestly couldn't believe that what I did earlier had actually worked out like I hoped. I got all of the officers to retreat before they were lost, alongside some UBCS mercenaries who decided to join the retreat. They may be packing better hardware, but even they couldn't hold out for very long against such a dense horde.
I laid back against the wall of the swat van as everyone filed out, some helping others and checking the parameter as Dash and I were left behind. They didn't know us, but they were probably wondering who we were, after all... maybe, I honestly had no idea what was going on in their heads aside from possibly Dash.
She's a bright blue horse who can fly, and has rainbow hair, how can you not wonder?
"You gonna be okay?" Dash had asked me as I tried climbing out of the van.
I had to keep my hand firmly planted on the bite mark on my neck as I clambered out of the vehicle, still a struggle even with Rainbow's help in getting me out and onto the ground. A less graceful landing if I ever had one. I looked down at the mare and I gave her the best smile I could manage, "Yeah. I'm just... hurting a bit, need to get this fixed up." Her face scrunched up and her eyes were zeroed in on the blood on my shirt. Her wings fidgeted and her tail flicked. "I swear, I'm fine."
I wasn't fine.
When I got my bearings I glanced around the parking garage of the police station, which was filled with a couple of cruisers and a few personal cars owned by members of the force. There were some boxes of equipment placed near some of the police vans that had been left behind, along with a few emptied guns and shell casings. And when I looked off to one side, I saw a few kids wandering over to glance inside at the officers who were spreading out.
I forgot the station had been used as a refuge for survivors.
"Where is Chief Irons?" One of the officers asked another remaining officer, probably one who stayed at the station to watch the refuges with his comrades.
"He's in his office," The one officer replied and looked to everyone of the surviving officers, alongside the UBCS soldiers who filed out and checked the area. "What in the hell happened?"
"We got our asses beaten, that's what." The captain grumbled and stormed off towards one of the doors. "I need to have a talk with the chief, get everyone back up to the lobby and make sure the station is secure." He ordered and left the parking garage as everyone filed out, slowly helping those who were hurt during the battle and getting them up to where the lobby was located.
I remained down in the garage with Rainbow as everyone went their separate ways. Only a few remained down below, some in small groups talking in hushed tones, while others wandered off.
I had to take a seat after a moment to catch my breath. My neck was pulsating, and the ache only grew the longer it went untreated. I needed to find a medical kit or something to fix it up, if I didn't it'd get infected worse than it already was. My mind filled with thoughts of the T-Virus flooding my body, and every second that vanished was another second the virus had to spread through me, slowly corrupting me cell by cell.
I could almost taste it.
Rainbow tugged on my jacket sleeve, pulling me out of my thoughts. "Dee, what's up?"
Well, I'm infected with the t-virus and I'm probably going to die before the city is blown to hell. I shivered as that realization didn't stop filling my mind, I was going to die. "I'm fine," I nodded and pulled my hand away—best as I could anyway, it stuck and when I pulled it stung. I grunted and looked down at the bloodied palm and grimaced.
Rainbow reared up and propped herself up on the bench I was sitting on, and she leaned in close to me. I froze for a moment and looked towards her, wondering what she was up to. I wasn't expecting her to get this close to me, let alone the gash in my neck. "Egh, that's gross."
"Well... yeah, I'd imagine." I felt the tickle of her breathing on it, and a slight sting... but it didn't bother me as much as I expected it would. "Fucker tore a chunk out of me... bound to look nasty."
"Well, let's go inside." She got off of the bench and gave a swish of her long tail before looking back up at me, and giving me a smile. Despite being covered in a minor amount of blood which stained her fluffy coat and her face, and mostly her hooves, she still managed to keep a smile. "See if we can't get you patched up...?"
It was better than sitting around in the garage, besides... I needed to find some things.
As Rainbow and I left the garage and navigated the hallways and stairs leading to the lobby, I couldn't stop the thought that entered my mind. I watched Rainbow's movements, watch how she looked at things, how she moved.
Rainbow might be getting used to this horrible shit, and I don't know if that was a good thing or not.
The Raccoon City Police Department was fairly clean and well kept despite the chaos that had been going on in the city, the windows were intact, the floors clean, and from what I could see, some classical and modern—by the nineties standards anyway—artwork that lined the walls and the tables that decorated the hallways. It was different from what might have regularly seen in a Police Department, which would usually be filled with equipment, bland walls, maybe a few paintings and awards alongside posters and plaques that promote of law and order.
The two of us found a few paintings of previous police chiefs mounted on the walls, along with a couple of walls dedicated to a few noteworthy police officers, and those who passed away. One was fairly recent from what I could see, one wall had been turned into a memorial for missing and deceased officers lost in the line of duty since the chaos started.
Dash and I found a few officers gazing at the wall, lost in thought or silently mourning.
We stayed silent and moved on down the next hallway, heading towards the lobby as gunfire erupted from outside. We paid it no mind, figuring the officers that had remained were holding off whatever undead had gathered around the station alongside ensuring what few refugees that were here stayed orderly.
"What happened here?" Rainbow was looking out of one of the windows, gazing down. I followed her gaze and saw we had made it up to the second floor, and down below I could see the remains of the refugee camp, which was a mess of parked cars and people desperately trying to figure out what to do. Off to the far right, behind a hastily blocked off gate, a dozen or so undead attempted to break it down through sheer numbers.
"Refugee camp." I told her and leaned against the wall, still holding my neck. "A lot of people flocked to the police department to find safety, but the whole city is in chaos right now." The officers down below tried their best to keep order, but I could see the fear in the eyes of all of those people. No one was trained to handle this kind of threat, what could they do except hold out in the hopes someone comes and helps them? "There's no telling how long this place will last."
Rainbow looked down at the mall long and hard before she turned to me, and asked, "Are we going to be safe here?"
"...I don't know." The words felt bitter leaving my mouth. I knew how this was going to end, even with the officers returningto the station and everyone having plenty of firepower, I didn't have high hopes that everyone would last much longer here. The city only had a few days left before it was nuked to hell and back.
Rainbow let out a heavy sigh and glanced back out into the camp below. "I want to go home."
"So do I, Dash, so do I." I was getting sick of this running around for my life, and bleeding out. I've been beaten up and down so many different times, I don't know how much more my body could take.
We moved on shortly after that, and continued through the station past empty offices and rooms on our way to the lobby, or wherever the hell it was we were going. First aid was the first thing on my mind, for the both of us to get. Rainbow was looking better physically, but she was still hurt in a lot of places, specially from the gunshot wound she suffered a while ago.
Eventually, we wound up on the second floor of the main lobby area, where the majority of people were loitering around, both civilian staff and police, alongside some of the SWAT and the few UBCS who followed us. There was little commotion, only the sound of guns being reloaded and whispers. The windows were unbarred, some of the doors were bashed down, and blood pooled on some of the floors, and from the looks of things... they had an outbreak inside the building, probably several from the looks of the empty shell casings and blood stains.
One thing of note was the computer a girl was looking through below, I didn't know what she could have been looking at, but it couldn't be very useful.
Maybe?
It was hard to focus, I felt dizzy the longer I had to stand.
Ignoring the pain as much as I could, I continued through the station in search of something to help us.
ooo000---000ooo
We wound up in the offices of the station, where papers were strewn about in a haste to find something. A few police officers were inside, mostly female ones looking over documents in the main office itself off to the side.
Dash and I wandered in, and that was when I couldn't move much further and had to sit down.
As I sat down, Dash looked up at me. "You gonna be okay?"
My breath was taken away and dizziness hit me, so I snagged one of the nearby office chairs and fell down into it with a sigh. "Just need a moment."
I pulled my hand away from the wound—wincing because of the sharp burning pain that immediately came, and I glared at the blood staining my palm. A light crimson hue, smelling heavily of iron, covering my whole palm, fingers, it made me queasy to look at.
Rainbow sat next to me and looked up at me, she looked pretty off put because of the blood, but she didn't look away. "You really need to get that patched up." She looked around, scanning the room we were in.
A hiss next to me, followed by a tsk. I looked up and spotted an officer walking over to me, a man of Asian descent carrying a small medical kit in his hand. "That's a nasty wound," He commented and set the case down on the desk next to me.
Rainbow sprang up from my otherside—his blind side, "And who're you?" I watched her expression morph as her eyes narrowed, and I swear I saw her tail feathers flick along with her bushy tail. Her wings as well loosened against her side, as if ready to spring out at a moment's notice.
The officer spotted her and he visibly recoiled as his hand flew to an empty holster. He stopped and took a breath, and asked me, "What the hell?"
I looked at Dash and a tiny smile made its way onto my face. "This is Rainbow, pegasus pony," I waved a hand towards her and turned my attention back to him. I could feel the stares from others in the room, they noticed now. Only time would tell if anyone did anything violent. "She's a friend of mine."
"I... pegasus?" He looked so distraught, his whole body looked tense and he practically reeked of nervousness. Seeing a colorful animal like her had to be unnerving. "She talk-?"
"She talks, aye," I cut him off and nodded towards that medical kit. Rude as it was, I was eager to stop this bleeding, maybe get something for the pain. "So uh..."
A shake of his head and he opened it up, "Err, right. Anyway, bite?"
As he began to give me aid, which he started by cleaning the wound, I felt the pain come back, alongside the realization that I was basically dead. This bite was going to be the end of me, and I knew it. "Yeah, got unlucky at Main Street, one of them took a chunk out of my neck..." It was still fresh on my mind, I couldn't get it out of my head. The feeling of teeth sinking into my flesh, the ripping sensation... it made my hairs stand on end. "Was too caught up in everything going on, I guess."
I felt like such an idiot for letting that happen, but there was nothing I could have done. I was too into the fight going on, and let my guard down.
"Well, you're not the only one." The officer reached into the kit and pulled out a few items. "A lot of folk here have gotten bitten or clawed by those damn things outside," He then picked up a bottle and a roll of bandages. "I don't have much, most I can do is clean and bandage it, don't think I can close it up... ran out of needles and thread."
"Better than nothing," I slowly took my shirt off my jacket and ripped up shirt, I bundled the bloodied shirt up and tossed it to the floor. My jacket I sat on the desk beside me and let him get a better look at the injury. "Fuck."
"Hold still, I'll do what I can but this is going to hurt."
He didn't lie...
it stung like a bitch.
I focused on the important things at hand while he fixed me up, the most important being...
Where do we go from here?