In the early hours of the morning of the first of October, the city of the dead lay silent.
Racoon City, once the home of around 100,000 people, had become the world's largest cemetery. Though the fact that the dead are supposed to stay down was apparently lost on much of the population. The twisted remains of humanity ambled through the streets, the buildings, the sewers, and everywhere else once touched by man. Whatever was behind this macabre dance of the dead didn't discriminate either. Men and women, young and old, human and animal. All were animated in a cruel parody of life, and driven by an insatiable hunger.
But even now, there were still a few survivors left in the city. Of course, when the city had died, many had tried to escape the comotion. Only to be boxed in on highways and roads by accidents and traffic, leaving them easy pickings for the horde. Those who remained were the unlucky few who had, for whatever reason, been forced to hunker down. Some due to fear, some due to a lack of transport, and some out of a genuine belief that help was on the way. But help wasn't coming. And to make matters worse, those who'd they'd trusted to come and rescue them had decided that it was better to sacrifice anyone left in the city, just to make sure that whatever had corrupted Racoon City wouldn't have the chance to spread.
And so, the final exodus began as people fled by whatever means were available. It'd started a few hours earlier, as people made a mad dash out of the city by car or rail. But by this point, the few people leaving in these last hours were evacuated via helicopter. Only they were nimble enough to take off from deep within the city, and fast enough to have a chance of escaping what would come next. One of these helicopters, a Bell 205, took off from the pad at Racoon City Incineration Plant 12 as the minutes counted down to dawn. The helicopter's Lycoming turboshaft engine quickly spun up to its full output and carried the lightly loaded helicopter up to its top speed.
Only four people occupied a helicopter designed to carry nearly three times that number. One was fast asleep, as the exhaustion accrued over the last few weeks finally caught up to them, and took them the moment they rested their eyes. Two more sat in silence, too exhausted to talk but too deep in the adrenaline high of their escape to relax. That, or the shadow of Racoon City still loomed over them, and both of them would only feel safe once this nightmare had been brought to a permanent close. That left only one more person, the man in the pilot's seat.
Carlos wasn't an officially trained helicopter pilot. But he'd learned a lot of things over the years. How to fight, how to fly, and when best to apply those skills. And when someone from the US government got on the radio and told you to leave an area, you got out as fast as possible. The fact that the city they were leaving was a nightmare filled with flesh-eating monsters and the living dead was a good enough reason to run already, the fact that the city was about to be wiped off the face of the earth was just there to light a fire under their asses.
Carlos checked his watch. Five minutes left. They were cutting it close, but they shouldn't get caught in the blast if they pushed just a little harder. Even so, he adjusted the rotor pitch a little, clawing a couple more miles per hour of speed for the cost of a few meters of altitude.
Sat behind and to the left of him on the rear-facing passenger bench was Jill Valentine. Former STARS officer, a professional freak-hunter, and as far as he knew the only person to get infected and survive. Mostly down to his actions, mind you, given how he'd been the one to retrieve the vaccine and administer it to her as she lay near death. He briefly looked over his shoulder at her and saw her looking back at Racoon City as it faded into the distance.
"Jill. You alright?" Carlos asked, but the STARS officer remained silent, her eyes transfixed on the dead city behind them. He didn't know enough about Jill to comment openly, but he suspected that Racoon City had some emotional value to her. He certainly didn't feel the need to look back. The sooner it was gone, the better.
"Miss Valentine? I don't think you should keep looking out of the window. The flash might damage your eyes." The other passenger pointed out, her voice sounding so sickeningly innocent that Carlos had to stifle a grimace. "I don't think that you want to go blind."
"Good point." Jill muttered, before relocating to the opposite, front-facing bench. And putting the rear fuselage of the helicopter between her and the city.
Despite everything, Carlos still wasn't sure what to make of Jill. She was a friend, sure, after the last few weeks probably one of the few he had left. She was smart, attractive, and just crazy enough to keep things interesting. But he also got the hint that she simply wasn't interested. Sure, he'd flirted a bit, and she'd even flirted back. But that was probably the extent of it. A pity, but Carlos could have done a lot worse. But he respected Jill too much to push any further.
But even so, he knew where he stood with Jill. But the other girl? Now that was where things got interesting. Interesting and scary. The short woman who occupied the co-pilot's seat didn't look like much. Her blonde hair and striking eyes gave one hell of an impression, but looks counted for little when she was short enough that Carlos could probably pick her up and throw her. But her petite body belied a skillset that no normal civilian would have. After all, could a normal civilian put together the various chemicals and reagents needed to create a vaccine for the T-virus? After all, while he'd been the one to save Jill's life by delivering and administering the vaccine, the little lady had been the one to make it.
Still, Carlos idly wondered just how Jill would have reacted if she realized that the woman she'd been protecting for the past few weeks, someone who'd repaid the favor by saving her life, was a high-ranking member of the company responsible for killing a city.
He didn't really know much about the mystery lady. When he'd asked, she'd pointed out that she had once been part of umbrella's asset management division, though he doubted that. And given how Tyrell had reacted after he looked up her file, he'd taken the hint that the lady was someone not to be fucked with. She'd first broken her 'cover' by accessing a secure section of the Spencer Memorial Hospital, where she'd been searching for medical supplies to treat her escort's wounds. She'd been responsible for saving Jill, putting together the various reagents and chemicals together to create a vaccine for the T-virus. And from what he could gather she had one hell of a vendetta against the company. But to say that Carlos was concerned about her would be the understatement of the year. When she let the mask drop, the lady radiated a killing intent that promised a massacre. One that was bad enough for the thing that stalked Jill to take pause.
The sooner Carlos got away from her, the better.
"Eleven o'clock, level with us and moving fast." The director called out, shocking the UBCS merc out of his internal monologue. Carlos had just a second to look over and see something small and fast race past the helicopter. He glanced at his watch again and had to stifle a curse. He'd lost track of time, zero-hour was upon them.
"There it is." Jill idly commented as the missile streaked past them. Just one missile? The president's address had been that they were using a thermobaric weapon of some kind against the city. What kind of thermobaric weapon was small enough to fit in a single missile, but powerful enough to kill a city?
It didn't take a genius to figure that one out. 'Thermobaric' my ass, that thing was a nuke!
"Yeah…" The short woman commented as she raised an arm, and checked her own watch. A fancy and expensive model, almost certainly European, maybe German or Swiss. Either way, a far cry from the shitty knockoff he'd grabbed from a market in karachi. She looked at the device as the longest arm completed its rotation around the face. "It's the end."
Carlos didn't have time to speak. To comment. Or do anything else before a second sun exploded into existence behind them, and cast its light across the land around them. Even though he wasn't looking at the second dawn, Carlos was almost blinded, and he snapped his head forward and glared down at the instrument panel to get even a modicum of relief from the light. Only for the entire helicopter to be thrown through the air as the shockwave from the blast finally caught up with them. The helicopter was thrown to one side, and Carlos slammed on the controls to try and correct for the sudden spin. It took nearly ten seconds, he knew because he was counting them, for the helicopter to finally come back under control. And when it did, he had to do a double take at how much altitude they'd lost.
"Look." Jill called out, and Carlos looked out the window in time to see the mushroom cloud rise. Yep, that was definitely a nuke.
"It's finally over." Carolos sighed, slumping into the pilot seat as the tension finally left his body. They weren't completely free of the Racoon City incident, no doubt they'd be ordered to land somewhere to see if anyone was infected and to decontaminate the helicopter from any radiological or biological taint that remained. But short of a decontamination shower and a few interviews, they were free.
"So long RC." Jill sighed, just loud enough that she could be heard over the droning sound of the helicopter's rotors. The tension finally leaving her at the end of her battle to save the city. A battle, which had apparently started many months ago.
"The nightmare is finally over." The umbrella agent commented, her shoulders appearing to drop as she ever so slightly relaxed. But Carlos hadn't come this far without figuring out how to read people. And he knew for a fact that the little devil was about to say something that he wasn't going to like. "For now. Umbrella still needs to pay for what they've done."
Carlos didn't disagree with the statement, hell he absolutely agreed that Umbrella needed to pay. But right now all he wanted was a nice relaxing nap in a place that wasn't filled with hordes of undead monsters that wanted to eat his face. And arms. And really any other bit of him they could get a hold of.
"Whatever you say, Miss Degurechaff." Carlos agreed, using the VIP's cover name. The one she'd insisted that he refer to her as.
"Whatever you say."