Escape From Raccoon City

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Chapter One

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.”

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