PROLOGUE
Associated Press, October 6, 1998
THOUSANDS KILLED
AS FIRE SWEEPS THROUGH MOUNTAIN COMMUNITY, MYSTERIOUS ILLNESS MAY BE INVOLVED
NEW YORK, NY - The secluded mountain community of Raccoon City, PA, has officially been declared a disaster area by state and federal officials, as dedicated firefighters continue to wage war against the dying blazes and the death toll continues to rise. It is now estimated that over seven thousand people were killed by the explosive fires that raged through Raccoon in the early hours of Sunday, October 4. It is being called the worst U.S. disaster in terms of lives lost since the industrial age, and as national aid
organizations and international press flock to the blockades
surrounding the still burning ruins of the city, shocked friends and family of Raccoon citizens have been gathering, waiting for word in nearby Latham.
National Disaster Control (NDC) Director Terrence Chavez,
coordinator for the combined efforts of the multiple firefighting and emergency teams, released a statement to the press last night stating that barring unforeseen complications, he expects the last of the flames to be extinguished before midweek, but that it may be months before the origin of the fire is determined, as well as whether or not arson was involved. Said Chavez, "The magnitude of the damage in terms of area alone is going to make finding the answers a great undertaking, but the answers are there. We will get to the bottom of this, whatever it takes."
As of 6 A.M. today, seventy-eight survivors have been found, and their names and conditions withheld; they have been
transported to an undisclosed federal facility for observation
and/or treatment. Initial reports by HazMat teams suggest that an unknown illness may be responsible for the incredible number of victims, as infected citizens were unable to escape due to the
possibly incapacitating sickness. There is the further suggestion that the disease may have induced violent psychosis in some of those infected. Members of private and federal disease-control centers have called for extending the quarantine boundaries, and although no official statement has been released, there have been several "leaked" descriptions of physical and biological abnormali- ties in many of the victims. Said one source, a worker for a federal assessment team, "Some of those people weren't just burned or dead from smoke inhalation. I saw people who'd been killed by gunshot wounds or stabbings, and other forms of violence. I saw people who'd obviously been sick, dead, or dying long before the fire ever hit. The fire was bad - terrible - but it's not the only
disaster that occurred there, I'd bet money on it."
Raccoon City was in the news earlier this year when a series of unusual murders rocked the community. These were apparently unmotivated slayings, of extreme violence, and several involved cannibalism; already, tentative connections are being made by local press near Raccoon between the eleven unsolved murders from last summer and the rumors of mass violence prior to the consuming flames.
Mr. Chavez refused to confirm or deny the rumors, saying only that investigations into the tragedy will be thorough. . .
Nationwide Today, A.M.. Edition, October 10,1998 RACCOON DEATH TOLL RISES
AS SEARCH AND RESCUE TEAMS COMBINE EFFORTS NEW YORK, NY - The official body count now stands at just under 4500, with the blackened ruins of Raccoon City still being combed for additional victims of the apocalypse that took place early last Sunday morning. As a nation's mourning begins, over six
hundred men and women are working to uncover the reasons
behind the destruction of the once peaceful community. Local
relief organizations, scientists, soldiers, federal agents, and corpo- rate research teams have come together in a show of determina- tion and purpose, pooling resources and accepting delegated
responsibilities in order to get to the truth.
NDC Director Terrence Chavez, the official head of the effort, has been joined by top researchers from disease-control centers all around the world, national security agents from several federal branches, and a privately funded team of microbiologists from Umbrella, Inc., the pharmaceutical company, which is investigat- ing the possibility that there may be a connection between their chemical lab on the outskirts of the city and the strange infection now being called "Raccoon syndrome."
Initial studies of this illness have been vague and inconclusive, says Umbrella team leader Dr. Ellis Benjamin, "but we're convinced that the citizens of Raccoon were infected with
something, either accidentally or intentionally. All we know at this point is that it doesn't seem to have been airborne, and that the final result was rapid cellular disintegration and death; we still don't know if it was bacterial or viral, or what the symptoms were, but we won't rest until we've exhausted all of our resources.
Whatever the findings, and whether or not Umbrella materials were a part of it, we're committed to seeing this through to the end. It's the least we can do, considering how much our company owes the people of Raccoon." The Umbrella chemical plant and administration facilities in Raccoon City provided nearly a thou- sand local jobs.
The 142 survivors are still being held in quarantine for
observation and questioning at an undisclosed location. While their identities are still being protected, the FBI has released a
statement listing medical conditions. Seventeen survivors suffered minor injuries but are in stable condition, seventy-nine are still on a critical list following surgical procedures, and forty-six of the survivors, while not injured, have suffered some major mental or emotional breakdown. There is no confirmation as to whether or not any are infected with the syndrome, but the statement did
include a reference to survivor's stories that verified the existence of the infection.
Gen. Martin Goldmann, overseer of military operations in the
ravaged city, is hopeful that all of those still missing will be found within the next seven days. "We've already got four hundred people out there working twenty-four/seven, searching for survi- vors and running identification checks - and I just got word that another two hundred will be coming in on Monday..."
Fort Worth Bugler, October 18, 1998
POSSIBLE CONSPIRACY
BY CITY EMPLOYEES IN RACCOON TRAGEDY
FORT WORTH, TX - New evidence uncovered by cleanup crews in Raccoon City, PA, indicates that the "Raccoon syndrome," the disease responsible for the majority of the 7200 deaths that have occurred in Raccoon as of this writing, may have been unleashed upon the unsuspecting populace by Raccoon Police Chief Brian Irons and several members of the Special Tactics and Rescue
Squad (S.T.A.R.S.).
At a press conference held early yesterday evening by FBI
spokesman Patrick Weeks, NDC Director Terrence Chavez, and Dr. Robert Heiner - called in by Umbrella team leader Dr. Ellis
Benjamin - Weeks revealed that there is strong circumstantial
evidence that the disaster in Raccoon was the result of a terrorist act that went horribly wrong. The subsequent fires that have
nearly wiped out the small city may have been an attempt by Irons or one of his accomplices to cover up the disastrous effects of the spill.
According to Weeks, several documents were found in the
wreckage of the RPD building that implicate Irons as the
ringleader of a conspiracy to take hostage the Umbrella chemical plant on the outskirts of the city. Allegedly, Irons was furious with city officials over the suspension of the S.T.A.R.S. in late July for their mishandling of a multiple murder investigation - the now well-documented cannibal slayings that took the lives of eleven people early last summer. The Raccoon S.T.A.R.S. were suspended after a helicopter crash in the last week of July that claimed the lives of six team members. The five surviving S.T.A.R.S. members were suspended without pay after evidence suggested drug or
alcohol abuse in connection to the crash - and while Irons
publicly advocated the suspension of his elite squad, the docu- ments found indicate that Irons meant to threaten Mayor Devlin Harris and several City Council members with a spill of extremely volatile and dangerous chemicals unless certain financial demands were met. Weeks went on to say that Irons had a history of
emotional instability, and that the documents - correspondence between Irons and an accomplice - revealed a plan by Irons to
extort ransom from Raccoon and then flee the country. The
accomplice is named only as "C.R.," but there are also references to "J.V.," "B.B.," and "R.C." - all initials for four of the five
suspended S.T.A.R.S.
Said Terrence Chavez, "Assuming these documents are accu- rate, Irons and his crew had planned to storm the Umbrella plant at the end of September, which would correspond exactly to the timeline described by Dr. Heiner for the Raccoon syndrome to achieve full amplification. We're currently operating under the assumption that the takeover did take place, and that an
unexpected accident occurred with cataclysmic results. At this time, we don't know if Mr. Irons or any of the S.T.A.R.S. are still alive, but they are wanted for questioning. We've released a
national APB and all of our international airports and border patrols have been alerted. We urge anyone with information
relating to this case to come forward."
Dr. Helner, a renowned microbiologist as well as an associate
member of Umbrella's Biohazardous Materials Division, stated that the exact mix of chemicals released in Raccoon may never be
known. "It's obvious that Irons and his people didn't know what they were handling - and with Umbrella continuously developing new variations of enzyme syntheses, bacterial growth mediums, and viral repressers, the lethal compound was almost certainly an accidental aggregation. With the possible combinations of materials numbering in the millions, the odds of duplicating the Raccoon syndrome mix are astronomical."
The S.T.A.R.S. national director wasn't available for comment, but Lida Willis, regional spokesperson for the organization, has gone on record as saying that they "are shocked and saddened" by the disaster, and would devote every available agent to the search for the missing S.T.A.R.S. team members, as well as for any
contacts they might still have within the network.
Ironically, the documents were found by one of Umbrella's
search teams...
ONE
"GO, GO, GO!" DAVID SHOUTED, AND JOHN Andrews hit the gas, whipping the minivan around a
tight corner as gunfire thundered through the cold
Maine night.
John had spotted the two unmarked black sedans
only a moment before, which had barely given the
team enough time to arm themselves. Whoever was
on their ass - Umbrella or the S.T.A.R.S. or the local
cops - it didn't matter, it was all Umbrella.
"Get us lost, John!" David called, somehow manag- ing to sound cool and controlled even as bullets
riddled the back of the van. It was the accent - he always sounds like that, and where the hell's Fal-
worth?
John felt scattered, his thoughts racing and jum-
bled; he kicked ass on a mission, but sneak attacks bit
the bone -
- right on Falworth and head for the strip - Christ,
ten more minutes and we would've been gone -
It had been too long since John had been in combat, and never in the midst of a car chase. He was good,
but it was a minivan.
Bam bam bam!
Someone in the back of the van was returning fire,
shooting out of the open back window. The nine-
millimeter explosions in the tight space were as loud
as the voice of an irate God, pounding at John's ears
and making it even harder to focus.
Ten more goddamn minutes.
Ten minutes from the airstrip, where the chartered
flight would be waiting. It was like a bad joke - weeks
of hiding, waiting, not taking any risks, and then
getting tagged on the way out of the damn country. John hung on to the wheel as they shot down 6th
Street, the van too heavy to outmaneuver the sedans.
Even without five people and a shitload of artillery,
the bulky, boxy knockoff mini wasn't exactly a power-
house. David had bought it because it was so nonde-
script, so unlikely to be noticed, and they were paying
for it - if they managed to shake their pursuers, it'd
be a small miracle. Their only chance was to try to
find traffic, play some dodge. It was dangerous, but so
was getting run off the road and shot to death.
"Clip!" Leon shouted, and John shot a look in the rearview, saw that the young cop was crouched at the
back window next to David. They'd taken out the back
seats for the trip to the airstrip, all the more room for
weapons, but that also meant no seatbelts; take a
corner too fast and bodies would be flying...
Bam! Bam! Two more blasts from the sedan ass- holes, maybe from a .38. John gave the shuddering
van a little more pedal as Leon returned fire with a
Browning nine-millimeter. Leon Kennedy was their
best shot, David probably had him trying to draw
bead on the tires -
- best shot next to me, anyway, and how the hell am I going to get us lost in Exeter, Maine, at eleven o'clock
on a weeknight? There is no traffic -
One of the women tossed Leon a mag, John didn't
have time to see which one as he jerked the wheel
right, heading for downtown. With a smoking squeal
of rubber on asphalt, the mini teetered around the
corner of Falworth, heading east. The airstrip was
west, but John didn't figure that anyone in the van
was worrying much about getting to the plane on
time.
First things first, gotta ditch Umbrella's hired goons.
Doubt there's room on the charter for all of us. John saw red and blue light in the mirror, saw that
at least one of the sedans had put a flasher on the roof.
Maybe they were cops, which would really suck. Umbrella's job of spin control had been thorough -
- thanks to them, every cop in the country probably
believed that their small team was at least partly
responsible for what had happened to Raccoon. The
S.T.A.R.S. were being played, too - some of the
higher-ups had sold out, but the agents in the trenches
probably had no idea that their organization had
become a puppet of the pharmaceutical company -
- which makes it a hell of a lot harder to shoot back.
No one on their makeshift team wanted innocents
to get hurt; being misled by Umbrella wasn't a crime,
and if the sedan teams were cops...
"No antennae, no warning, not cops!" Leon called, and John had time to feel about a second's worth of
relief before he saw the barricades looming in front of
them, the roadwork sign propped next to the blocked
street. He saw the white circle of a man's face above
an orange vest, the man holding a sign that said
"Slow," the man dropping the sign and diving for
cover...
... and it would've been funny except they were
doing eighty and had maybe three seconds before they
hit.
"Hang on!" John screamed, and Claire pushed her legs against the van wall, saw David grab hold of
Rebecca, Leon snatching at the handle -
- and the van was screeching, jerking, and bucking
like a wild horse, spinning sideways...
... and Claire actually felt open space beneath the right side of the van as her body was compressed to
the left, the back of her neck crunching painfully
against the tire well.
- oh hell -
David shouted something but Claire didn't hear it
over the squealing brakes, didn't understand until
David dove to the right, Rebecca scrambling right
next to him -and wham,
the van dropped back to the ground
with a terrific bounce and John seemed to have it
under control again, but there was still the piercing
screech of locked brakes coming from...
CRASH!
The explosion of metal and shattering glass behind
them was so close that Claire's heart skipped a beat.
She turned, looked out the back with the others and
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