//------------------------------// // 19 - Raccoon University // Story: Without You // by Dustchu //------------------------------// ooo000---000ooo He was getting worse. I lost track of how much time passed since we took shelter in a bakery, but after we left the bar, we had made a beeline to the college where that... Daylight was supposed to be at, and with the more time that passed, the worse Dee was getting. His skin was pale, his eyes were bloodshot and he was having trouble breathing, he was struggling to move around as it was. He complained about hunger in his sleep, being so hungry that it hurt his stomach. There was some food in the bakery he managed to scarf down with water, but he said it didn't help at all. I was worried. I sat behind the counter where Dee was resting. He was resting against the wall, covered in a cold sweat and shivering. It wasn't even cold this morning. What he told me about the T-Virus in his system just made me fidget; it was starting to get worse and I had no idea where the college was in this stupid city! He just said it was east on the river! If we didn't get that vaccine in time, Dee would... He'd become one of them. What would I do if it came down to that? Should I run and escape? That would be the only thing I could do if it happened. I shook my head. No, stop it! He's not going to turn into one of those things! I couldn't think like that! Just hang in there a bit longer, Dee, please. During the time we spent hiding and moving east, I kept hearing gunfire from around the city; explosions, screams, there was so much fighting going on. In the skies I saw weird chariots flying around, dropping giant hunks of metal that crashed into the streets nearby. I don't know why they did that though, or what they did it for, some kind of weapon? It wasn't really anything for me to worry about. The only thing I tried to focus on was getting Dee the help he needed, the vaccine at the college; Daylight. "Shit," Dee muttered from beside me. "I'm not gonna be able to fight well in this state." He started to cough, and it was so weak sounding, as if his energy was draining little by little. "I'm so... tired." "Just a little longer, we gotta be getting closer to the college." I didn't like our odds... I could carry him if it came down to it, but fighting by myself would be hard. "Ju-just a few more blocks, I think." He told me. I looked over and I saw him struggling to get onto his feet, so I rushed over and helped him the best I could. "We gotta move faster." I grumbled once he was on his feet; but only barely. "If we wait any longer..." He knew exactly what I meant, his face said it all. "I k-know." He hefted up that shotgun of his and limped around the counter, every step he took there was a wheeze, or he stifled a groan of pain. He had a lot of difficulty moving around, but forced himself to stand and move. Dee had so much strength, more than I would have thought something like him would have. He was injured badly, but he willed himself to keep moving for both our sake, to find that vaccine at the college. I just hope it was there. "Dee." He grunted something of an affirmation, and I asked, "so what is Daylight, will it completely cure you?" "I-it should, yeah." We made it outside into the sunrise lit streets of Raccoon, which bathed the chaotic city in this bloodied orange color. "Daylight was d-developed in the underground laboratory of the university when the T-Virus broke out into the city, as a means to combat the virus." As we moved through the streets; slow a pace we were going, we paused by a corner. He peered out, and I followed his gaze. "Daylight should work how I need it to work, and completely eradicate the virus in my system, saving me." We didn't see anything out in the street except more bodies, more of those crashed vehicles, nothing that drew our attention or looked like it was worth going after. "It's at the college?" I had to make sure, I needed to know it was there. "Yeah, b-but there's a hitch in our plan." I quickly looked up at him and his pale face, the bloodshot eyes of his. "The vaccine needs th-three base components to fully work, and they're all a bitch to get your hands on. I'm kind of banking on the hope that it's al-already made, but my luck as of late h-hasn't been all that great." He stumbled forward and ended up against the side of a big boxy vehicle. "Shit... it's not much further now, but hunting down those components, let alone mixing them? if it comes down to that, I may not have the strength in me." He was right. Dee was weak enough as it was. There were so many monsters in this city, big and small, things that used to be normal everyday critters, now turned into vicious monsters. Dee could barely move, the virus was moving through him, slowing him down, dulling his senses, he wouldn't be able to fight anything if we got into trouble. Maybe those slower moving ones, but anything faster? But... if I knew what the things we needed looked like, I could... "Are we getting any closer?" I heard the voices in a nearby alleyway first, and Dee was next to hear them. Despite the pain he was in, he was able to move into cover next to a taxi. He slumped against it with heavy wheezing breaths, and I took a spot next to him and kept my ears perked up to listen. I didn't know there were other survivors nearby. "This is either good or bad." Dee whispered. "It's just a block or so down the street, we're getting closer, Jim." A voice replied, "don't worry." "Easy for you to say." Spoke up another voice, a female. "I'm tired of this shit, I just want this nightmare over with." Dee moved up towards the front a bit and peeked out. I followed him to look and see who was there, and I saw a couple of other humans making their way from the nearby alleyway; they were armed with a bunch of different things, nothing quite like what Dee had though. "Are they friendly?" Glancing down at him for a second, his head bobbed up and down slowly. A shine appeared in his eyes and he relaxed. "I k-know them," He started to stand up, albeit slowly and glared in the general direction of the other humans, "survivors, they're headed to the college to find a cure to the virus, and an escape route out of the city." He was struggling with standing, but he managed to get onto his feet with a growl. He was so weak, pale, and losing more energy as time passed us by. But he kept going, willing himself to move forward. It gave me shivers. So much pain, but he kept going. The group of humans spotted us right away, and two of them aimed their guns at us before Dee held up his hands, and shouted, “we’re not one of them, don’t shoot.” One of them turned to regard me, and grumbled out, “what in the hell is that thing?” “Long story, b-but I don’t really give two damns to explain. She’s with m-me, so don’t fu-fucking touch her, got it?” Dee waved his hand in vague motions towards them before leaning on the car hood, he spasmed through a coughing fit, but managed to keep himself standing. “I n-need your help, if you’ll g-give it.” There were several humans, one wore a full brown suit, the other wore a blue shirt and matching hat, and the last one was a woman in a red outfit. Two of them carried handguns and the third an iron pipe. They looked tired, weary, ready to escape from this nightmare we were all trapped in. They had to have been like us; sick and tired of the constant fighting, running, and wondering if the next corner we turned would be our last. “Were you bitten?” The older man looked over to Dee, and the bloodied bandages. “U-unfortunately.” Dee nodded and gripped his shoulder. I noticed the woman in red gripping her gun tighter, so I wandered closer to Dee. “I heard that t-there was a vaccine at the college, so I’m heading there to get it, before I turn into one of those damned things.” The college should be up ahead, if Dee’s directions were right. We were so close, I didn’t want us to lose this now! The older man pulled out a small bag I didn’t see from behind him, it was a small brown messenger bag. “I don’t have anything to stop the infection completely, but from what we’ve encountered in the city leading up to this point, I’ve acquired some medicinal items to help slow the infection rate.” The bag opened and he fished around inside of it. We watched him pull out a small container; he ripped it open and pushed out a small pill before walking over and handing it to Dee. "It's an Anti-Virus pill, it helps slow the infection rate for an hour or so." "George, you sure about just handing those out?" The woman asked. Dee stared at the pill as George spoke up, "if I can help save even one life, it'll be worth it." The man smiled at the two of us, and I saw a kindness in his eyes I didn't expect to see. "T-thank you." Dee offered a little smile before throwing back the pill dry. He gagged a bit on it and I almost worried, but he gave us a thumbs up. "Blegh, tastes like ass." "They really do, but they help!" The other - who I figured was named Jim spoke up. "Saved my ass plenty of times..." "Wait, are you infected too?" Why else would he take them? Was there another cure Dee didn't tell me about, or... "We all are, been bitten quite a few times before we figured out exactly how this virus worked." George started to explain. We turned back onto the main road and headed due-north, following the path to the college. "Thankfully we've managed to gather a few supplies to help us combat the virus, and develop our own medicines to fight against it." "Those herbs we find are incredibly helpful," The woman let out a huge sigh and kept her firearm up, aiming past George and into the darkened skies of Raccoon City. "They're everywhere in the city, it's weird... guess everyone liked growing them or something." "It's awfully convenient, but I'm not going to question it." George kept his gaze forward, leading us to the college. In the back of my mind, I thanked Celestia that we ran across them. That anti-virus or whatever would hopefully help Dee out a lot. It wouldn't stop it, but it would slow it down, buying us more time to find that vaccine. The path ahead kept going until a line of walls appeared past several trees, and behind them, a large building standing several stories tall. I had to guess it was the college where we needed to go. A lot of wrecked cars stood in our way, but we moved past them and kept a watchful eye out for any of the monsters, those zombies that flooded the city. Dee and George led us through the wreckage, with the woman - who I learned was named Alyssa, at the back with Jim. I was flying above, deciding to keep my eyes up high and catch anything up ahead to tell the guys down below. I didn't see much ahead except for bodies... lots of bodies. Only a few shadows moved through the lingering shadows near alleyways and behind the cars, stumbling undead waiting for their next meal. "I see a few of them up ahead, those zombies." I spotted the entrance to the college nearby, blocked off by a really big... truck thing, that looked like it had a cannon on top of it. "I swear, no place in the city is safe." Alyssa's comment reached my ears and I frowned; at the negativity and the fact she may be right. "This whole damn area is crawling with those fucking things, if not the zombies then those fucking mutants." Her body quivered. I could only wonder what she meant. "The city is full of a lot of things, Dash and I have seen them, not all but... a fair amount." Dee looked up at me and I him. He was starting to look a bit better after taking that medicine, which I was glad to see. I hoped it would hold until we found the vaccine. We made it to the entrance with no issues; the group managed to take out any stray undead and were able to climb over with some assistance from yours truly. We all landed in the parking lot of the college, and it looked abandoned; there were no undead, no survivors, nothing. I wasn't sure if that was a good thing or a bad thing, hopefully a good thing. I just wanted this all to be over with, I wanted to go home. "My colleague should be somewhere inside, he can help us with the cure." George explained as we explored the parking lot; looking for any sort of items that could help us. "Your colleague?" George was headed for the main building, Dee and I were straying from the main path. "He is a close friend of mine, he left me a note and said I needed to come here," The doctor would pause and eye me for a moment. "He has important information to give me." "You said it's something for the cure, what did you call it- Daylight or something?" Alyssa questioned, as she pulled out a small book and pen. She scribbled something down in it, notes? "It's a cure to this virus going around, but how do you know if it'll work?" "The guy he works with was working alongside a man who was one of Umbrella's top researchers," Dee's voice wheezed out. "Greg Mueller rebelled against Umbrella because of his Thanatos project, he held the T-Virus project hostage and would destroy it if they didn't leave him alone. Being one of their chief researchers, he'd be able to do some hefty damage to all of their plans." "Wait, what? How on earth do you know that?" Alyssa questioned, pausing from her writing and looking up at us. "Thanatos? T-Virus?" "The virus is what caused this whole outbreak, it was developed by Umbrella Corporation as a bio weapon to sell to the United States, a weapons project gone wrong." Dee told us. People could make these things as weapons? The thought alone was scary to think about, that some eggheads could create something this dangerous and set it free. "People... make these?" Dee was quiet for a little bit, avoiding me when I looked to him. "Humans are capable of a lot of things, creating and using bio weapons is just one of our twisted accomplishments." He looked back at the city and I followed his gaze. I couldn't help but wonder what the fact of the city would be after we leave. So many people died here because of this virus, some turned into monsters and others eaten alive like wild animals. It was so crazy to think my journey in this place is almost over, that I'll finally be able to get away from the horrors and rest, if only for a short while before I would try and find a way back home to my world. Home; Equestria, my family, my friends. I wondered how long it had been, it felt like it had been so long but a week probably hasn't even passed in this city. So many things happened in such a short time, and none of them were good, not a single damned thing. Lives were lost and there was blood on my hooves, literally. I looked down at them, caked in dried blood from those monsters I had fought. I felt dirty all over, so much dirt and grime, my own blood and others. We were so close to getting out of this city now, we just needed to hang in there and keep going. I needed to keep going if I was going to make it back to my family alive. "My friend is inside of the main building, let's head inside." George announced and led the group inside. Dee hobbled behind the group, and I with him. A thought came to mind, and I looked over to the human. "Hey Dee?" "Yeah?" He returned my gaze. "What do you plan on doing after we finally escape Raccoon?" With us being so close, I had to ask. I was wondering what he wanted to do, if anything. "Shower with a bottle of Smirnoff." He told me and I tilted my head. Smirnoff? "Then cry myself to sleep for a week straight." I blinked and continued to follow him. That honestly sounded like a good idea.