Ch. 1: The Beginnings of a Nightmare

Author's note: This is it. The first chapter of my first RE story. Hope you like it. And I don't own RE. Capcom does. However, these eight new characters are mine. So, ask permission before using them for another story. Or be ready when a couple of Hunters come knocking down your door. Enjoy!

Edit: From this point onward, I’m revising two old chapters everytime I upload the latest chapter, starting with chapters 1 & 2 while uploading chapter 23.

" " talking

Thinking

Where on Earth am I? This was the thought of a young man named David. Green eyes scanned the area behind scratched lenses. Blonde hair peeked out from under a camouflaged patrol cap. As he took turned around his combat boots broke a twig underneath their weight. Despite his age, he was wearing a military uniform complete with his last name, a rank, and a velcro tag labeled ‘U.S. Army.’ Last thing he remembered, he had been driving in his car to drill. The Sun was rising in the early morning transforming a black sky to a blue one, the weather was typical of an Alabama October, and everything was normal. Now, he was in the middle of a forest, the Sun was starting to set, painting the evening sky with multiple colors, and he could not find anything remotely familiar. Only one thing was for sure. He wasn't in Alabama anymore. He checked himself and was relieved to find no injuries. He did a couple of equations in his head to make sure his intelligence hadn't been affected. Thankfully, everything was fine, except for the sudden change in location.

"Hello! Anybody out there!" Someone yelled. David spun around. Well, at least he wasn't alone out here. Perhaps the person could help him out. But something was off. The person sounded awfully familiar. David started walking toward the voice. He soon saw a young woman, and cleaned his glasses just to make sure he wasn't seeing things. Unfortunately, there was no way it could be anybody else.

Even with her back facing him, there was no mistaking that cowboy hat, cowboy boots, and ponytail. At first, he was going to call out to her. But then an idea hit him. Quietly, David walked up to her, which by no means was an easy feat considering his footwear. "Hey Tiffany." He whispered.

"WOAH!" The girl yelled as she turned around. And David saw that he was right. It was Tiffany. But how did she get here? "Oooh! If it weren't for this effed-up situation, I'd kill you right now!" She roared angrily. David grinned. But his grin quickly vanished as the questions came back to him.

"So, do you know where we are, or even how we got here?"

"No clue. I was hanging out with my friends when out of nowhere I found myself here. You? "

"No idea. I was driving to drill when it happened. Have you seen anyone else ?" Before Tiffany could answer, someone called.

"Hello? Anybody there?!" Somebody yelled. They must have heard Tiffany yelling. David and Tiffany's hopes went up. Maybe now they could get some help. Out of one direction came a group of three people. Almost simultaneously, two more groups came from two different directions. One with two people and another with one. As they came closer, their hopes quickly plummeted. Between the two of them, they recognized each person. In the first group was Ryan, Lindsay, and Gordon. Ryan and Lindsay were friends of David, while Gordon was Ryan's cousin. Ryan was a short, black-haired guy who'd been in David's business class. He was also a football player for their high school team. Lindsay was Ryan's girlfriend. With brown hair and brown freckles, she was the quiet, nice girl among David's friends. Gordon, unlike his cousin, was tall. . In the second group was Alicia, all ready for drill and, surprisingly, David's brother, Jonathan. By himself was Andrew, he was also ready to go to work in the Army Reserve. None of these people would know where they were. Although, it was nice to see more familiar faces in this strange situation.

As soon as everyone was together, the jabbering began. Questions like "Where are we?" "How did we get here?" "Why are you here?" and so on were constantly being asked. This kept going on, until David managed to get them to quiet down.

"Okay, obviously, we have quite a few problems here. First thing we should do is find out what we have at out disposal." Everyone began to empty out their pockets, wallets, and/or purses. The results: some money, snacks, cell phones, and two pocket knives. Well, at least, we can contact somebody, David thought. Aloud, he said, "Try and call anyone you know." The teens expertly put their cell phones to work. Soon, a chorus of groans was let loose. As it turned out, each one of their cell phones had no service. Guess we're too deep in the forest.

"Hey Tiffany, could you climb one of those trees and tell us what you see?" Tiffany wasn't happy about it.

She glared at him for a moment, resentful of him being authoritative, but did it anyway. She still grumbled as she climbed it. Once she was at the top, she scanned their surroundings. "What do you see?" David asked.

"There's a city that way about ten miles." She said, pointing to the direction behind them. Everyone began to cheer. Looks like they weren't that far from civilization.

"Anything else?"

"Umm...doesn't look like it. Wait, there's a big mansion that way. About a mile and a half." She pointed to their left. No one was really listening besides David. Too happy chatting about what they were going to do when they reached the city. But David had this weird feeling about the last bit of news. It sounded strangely familiar. Oh well, doesn't really matter right now.

"You can come down now."

"How gracious of you! What? Did you think I was going to stay up here all night?" She sarcastically replied. David ignored her. Backtalking would only make things worse. After Tiffany was down, the group got ready to head out. As they started walking, a weird noise came from behind them. Everyone froze as they tried to identify the noise.

"What was that?" Lindsay asked nervously. It would have been better if she hadn't spoken at all. Her nervousness began to spread. David, himself, didn't like the sound of it. But he was very curious to know what it was. And in the end, his curiosity was stronger than what little fear he had.

"I'll go check it out." David offered. Instantly, he received several confused looks. The classic horror movie theme of a lone scout checking out a strange noise filled their thoughts. Said scout usually ended up dead. But this wasn't a horror movie...right? Tiffany walked up to him.

"You know, as much as I would love to stick my nose into whatever's out there, why don't we just go? These kids need to get back to their parents." She jabbed her thumb at the rest of the group.

"Oh, come on. How bad it could be? If we're lucky, it's some random hitchhiker." David reasoned.

"And if you're not lucky?" She countered.

"Then it's some forest animal. All I have to do is not piss it off."

"And why only you?"

David dropped his voice. "Look at them. They're already unhinged by what just happened. I don't want anybody panicking and making things worse. I want you to stay with them, in case they do try something stupid."

"Fine. Just don't do anything stupid." She suddenly grinned. "Be careful. It might me a couple getting it on! We wouldn't want you to be scarred for life." Tiffany warned. David rolled his eyes and left.

Halfway there, he saw a sturdy, thick branch. He picked it up and swung it around a few times. It would do as a temporary weapon. As he was neared the spot, he heard this chewing noise. David's instincts screamed for him to leave NOW! But his curiosity still kept him going. He soon cleared the trees and found what was making the noise. Someone was kneeling next to an animal. The person appeared to be a hiker, evident from the backpack. The strange noise was coming from it.

"Hello?" David slowly asked. The figure turned around. David nearly wet his pants right there and then. It didn't seem possible. It shouldn't be possible. But there was no mistake. He had seen so many of them, in movies and games. Right in front of him, was a real-live (or real-dead) zombie. The body had been mauled to the point, where gender was no longer identifiable. Behind it were the remains of a wolf. The zombie had been feasting on its head. The stench that crashed into him was nauseating. After enduring it for a few seconds, David threw up. Afterwards, his mind went blank from fear as the zombie let out a moan and limped toward him. With his mind blank, his instincts kicked in. For every step it took toward him, David took a step back.

If this had continued, they would have eventually reached the city. But no. As fate would have it, there was a small rock in their path. David's focus was completely on the zombie. Subsequently, he tripped on the rock and fell to the ground. Luckily, the impact knocked his mind out of the fear's grip. He quickly scrambled away from the zombie. Unfortunately when he fell, the zombie closed the distance between them. Just as David started to scramble out of the way, the zombie tripped on the same rock. When the zombie tripped, it fell forward and landed well within grabbing range of David.

Although he tried to get away, David didn't make it out of the zombie's reach in time. It grabbed hold of his boots. Despite his struggling, it slowly pulled his leg closer to its mouth. Just as it tried to bite him, David whacked it with his only weapon. The zombie's head hit the ground, its grip loosened. Taking advantage of its weakness, David pulled away from it. But it regained its strength and, again, pulled David closer, hoping for fresh meat. Once again, as it was about to bite his leg, he whacked it with the branch. And, once again, as he tried to escape its clutches, it held fast. This process repeated several more times.

David began to tire from his efforts. Whereas the zombie could keep going. Realization hit him. At this rate, he would wear out and eventually be eaten. Fear and anxiety filled him .

Abruptly, his mood swung from fear and anxiety to anger and rage when the zombie went for another bite. "Bad (whack) zom- (whack) bie! (Whack!) People (whack!) are (whack!) not (whack!) food!!" (WHACK!) He roared at it.

With that last strike, something unexpected happened. The branch, his only weapon, became lodged in its skull! David tried to pull it out, but to no avail. Then he noticed that the zombie wasn't moving. A question entered his mind. Did I just kill it with a stick? He slowly moved away from it. It didn't react. With glee, he started to crawl away from it, only to feel it grab his boots.

"OH FOR THE LOVE OF-," he shouted. It was only stunned. Before he could react, the zombie chomped onto his boot. Desperate, he struggled harder. It was at this moment that David did what anyone in trouble does.

"Guys! A LITTLE HELP OVER HERE!!!" David yelled as loud as he could.

Others

Thankfully, help was already on the way. Earlier, Tiffany, who was closest to David's direction, thought she had heard something earlier. But at the same time, noise from the group interfered.. Thinking it was nothing, she turned her attention back to the group. The mood was one of uneasiness. Who could blame them? A few minutes ago, they were just some average teens, talking with their friends, playing video games, etc. Now, here they were in an unknown forest in a different hour removed from familiarity. Suddenly, they all heard the sound of David's voice Although they couldn't make out the exact words, they could hear the tone. It was filled with anger and distress.

"Let's go!" Alicia commanded.

The group hurried onward. As he came into sight, they could see him struggling with something. They arrived just as he yelled for help. But as they neared, they finally recognized what he was fighting. Some of them panicked and took a few steps back. The rest stood still and had a dumbfounded look on their faces. Tiffany was the exception. She looked downright excited.

David noticed them. "Don't just stand there! Help me!" Tiffany quickly reacted. She grabbed the nearest stick and hit the zombie. But, in her haste, she had grabbed a twig, which snapped upon impact. In return, the zombie lunged at her. This freed one of David's legs. Taking the opportunity, he pulled back his leg, and kicked with all his might. Surprisingly, his foot crushed into its weakened skull. The zombie stopped.

Quickly, David put some distance between him and it. Tiffany kept a safe distance. Slowly, she neared it. And with her half of the twig, she started to poke it. "Is it dead? (poke) Is it dead? (Few more pokes) I think it’s dead."

Relieved, the others approached Tiffany and it. "I wouldn't." Tiffany warned.

Her warning came too late. Another wave of the incredible stench bulldozed into them. A few of them managed to resist the vomit-inducing smell. The rest rushed into the bushes, and proceeded to lose their lunch.

"Ugh!" Gordon groaned, “The movies never warn you of the incredible smell."

"We aren't in a movie. This is real-life." Ryan reminded him.

Tiffany grinned. "You think there any more zombies for us to kill?"

Everyone stared at her as if she was crazy. "Are you kidding? We can't taken on another one." He said incredulously.

"Didn't you just kill one with your foot. We can do it." Tiffany argued.

David frowned. "We can't just go around kicking zombies to death, if there are even anymore of them."

"Where are we?" Ryan demanded. "Are we in an alternate dimension?"
"Please tell me this is all just a bad dream," Jonathan whined.

"Do we even know what today's date is?" Andrew inquired.

Out of habit, David checked his watch. The time was 7:46 p.m. What the? It was 6 am last time I checked. Did whatever happen to us, also change the watch? He decided to check the date. It read July 23rd. July?! We've been teleported into the past! Or is it the future? I need a year! He looked around before his eyes rested on the former hitchhiker's backpack. Ignoring the smell (as hard as that was), he dug into it. By sheer luck, there was a newspaper in it. He pulled it out. After he moved away from the corpse, everyone gathered around him. At the top of the page was the date: July 23rd....1998. Not only that, the newspaper's title told David exactly where they were.

"19...98," Andrew quietly read.

"So, we've been transported eight years into the past!" Lindsay exclaimed.
"Wow...we've traveled back in time! Cool!!" Tiffany said excitedly.

Her excitement was the exception. "Does this mean that we have to stay away from home because of a time paradox?" Jonathan asked.

"I doubt it." David answered.

"Why not?" Gordon questioned.

"Because of this," he pointed at the title of the newspaper. It read "Raccoon Today."

"Raccoon Today? What kind of newspaper is that?" Gordon wondered.

"Wait!" Ryan said. "Raccoon City?!" He turned to David. "Does that mean...."

"Yep. I know exactly where we are." David faced the group. "Welcome to the world of Resident Evil."

Lindsay, Jonathan and Ryan's expressions became tinged with fear. The others were confused. Tiffany, living up to her reputation as the strangest girl at school, became even more excited.

"Umm...what's Resident Evil?" Andrew asked.

"Resident Evil is a series of survival-horror games. Your character has to fight through zombies and monsters and solve puzzles to survive." David explained.

"Is that all?"

"No, the story is much more complex. For now, let's focus on what will happen soon. In three hours, a special police unit called S.T.A.R.S. will be flying out here. Their copter will suffer an engine failure and crash into the forest. After combing the area, they will stumble onto a wrecked MP vehicle. They will learn about Billy Coen, an escaped convict. They will split up, and one of them, named Rebecca Chambers, will find a train that belongs to Umbrella, a pharmaceutical company." David predicted.

"Umbrella?"

"I'll fill you in later."
"Wait! How do we know we are in the games? We could be in the movies, for all we know," Ryan pointed out.

"No, the movie was set in the year 2002. Obviously, that's not a possibility. I think our best bet is to wait here for three hours. When the copter comes, then we'll head for it. For now, we should go into the trees and wait. Okay?"

The group murmured their agreement, letting David take the lead. Except Tiffany. "Why do we have to go in the trees?"

"With any luck, any zombies or anything else will just pass underneath us. That'll keep us safe."

"We don't need to hide out in the trees. We can just fight them off."

"Without weapons?"

"A stick works just fine."

"Not against a pack of zombie dogs." David warned. He noticed everybody was getting ready to start climbing.

"I'm not a coward."

"If you stay here, you will be a brave dead person."

"Boy! If you-" She was interrupted by howling in the distance. David's blood chilled at the recognition of the sound.

"Everyone! In the trees, NOW!" David ordered. Everyone was scrambling to get to safety. Except Tiffany.

"Tiffany, come on!" Alicia said. The howling was getting closer, but she ignored Alicia.

"Andrew, Gordon get her!" David commanded.

"If you dare touch me, I swear I'll-" The guys, ignoring her threats, yanked her into the tree. At that moment, the Sun finally dropped below the horizon, plunging them into darkness. Thankfully, the darkness was short-lived for the moon shined brightly. In a few moments the pack reached them. As they neared the trees, they slowed down. This gave David and the others a good look at them. From the patches of skinless flesh to the new blood that caked their snouts from a fresh kill, David couldn't help, but shiver from fear.

The fact that he was by himself didn't help. Everybody else were in different trees. He hoped that nobody gave them away. The pack was halfway through when they stopped. Everybody's heart must have been doing double time at that point. What's going on, thought David. The dogs started to sniff the air. Crap! We could be invisible and it still wouldn't hide our smell! The dogs split up. Two came toward David, while the rest headed the other way. Unable to do anything else, he began to pray for deliverance. All the while, the dogs came closer and closer. One of them actually started to look up. It seemed their little adventure was over before it started.

Right before he was seen, a twig snapped a short distance away. Everybody's attention, including the dogs, snapped to the spot. David could barely make out the shape of a deer. The dogs silently headed for their prey. The deer became aware of them. It raced off to safety with the dogs right behind it. Their barking gradually grew quiet, until silence. It was only now that everybody remembered to breathe. David gave a quick prayer of thanks.

"Hey, are you alright over there?" Someone whispered.

"Except being scared ten years out of my life, I'm okay."

"What now?"

"We stick to the plan and wait. Try to get some sleep if you can."

The talking ceased. David doubted he'd be able to go to sleep. Instead, he began to think about the future. Since they were in Resident Evil 0 that meant that they would eventually end up on the train. Time to make some plans. First, they would head for the copter. Take any spare weapons and ammo. Then, head for the MP vehicle.

What about Bravo's pilot, David thought. How on earth was he going to explain how three Army Reserve soldiers and five teens were lost in the woods? Closed woods for that matter? And their driver's licenses were from Alabama. How was going to explain that?!

Time to come up with a cover story.

After some time, David repeated it to himself to check for any holes.

Okay. Alicia, Andrew, and I are part of the same military unit stationed around here. It was a family day, which explains the presence of our friends and family. We were going to a picnic area when we got lost in the mountains. The next day, our cars ran out of gas, so that would explain why we were all on foot. We have been walking around when we were attacked. Afterwards, we hid in the trees for safety. Then we saw the copter come down. Thinking it was help, we headed for it and found you. It seemed believable enough. But he would probably going to want some I.D. His military I.D. didn't have a state, but it did have an issue date. The year was 2006.

Crap. This is probably worse than our Alabama I.D.s. My temporary military I.D. only has an expiration date, but, of course, it's back at home. Home. David looked toward the stars. I wonder if we will ever get back. What am I saying? Of course, we'll get back. We'll probably find the way back after this adventure is over. I guess I'll just have to hide the dates. It's the best I got. Finished with his cover story, David checked the time. 8:28 p.m. The train would have already been attacked by now.

Too bad, I can't do anything about it. Even if we were on the train, we'd merely become victims ourselves. I wonder... should we do anything to help? We would be contaminating the storyline. And if the "Butterfly Effect" and "A Sound Like Thunder" ever taught me anything, its changing the past can be a very dangerous thing. And to do it would be so simple. Why, just being here can change it. Heck, we could change the entire storyline saving a character or two. He stopped. He didn't like the idea of calling Rebecca, Chris, Edward, or any of the others characters. As of now, they were real living, breathing people. And he was going to treat them like that. Oh well. It'll be interesting to see how this story will go...and end.

The time was 8:41. With nothing else to do, David set an alarm on. Then, he did his best to get comfortable and get a quick nap. As he tried to find the most comfortable position, he couldn't help, but think. How the heck did Inuyasha learn to sleep in a tree? It felt like an hour before he found sleep. And it felt like it only lasted seconds before his watch was waking him up. The time was 10:30.

"What's the alarm for?" Jonathan asked.

"The copter should be appearing any minute now. Get ready." Minute by minute, time passed. Soon enough, the familiar sound of thwock-thwock of a copter reached them. A few more seconds, the copter itself became visible. David noticed something.

Although the copter was heading in their direction, it would still be a good distance away. David glanced back in the direction of the Spencer mansion. He couldn't help, but wonder about how Alpha team ended up there when it would be a mile and a half away, instead of finding the wrecked MP car? He turned his view back to the copter, just in time to see a small explosion on it. It lost altitude very quickly. That was their cue.

"Alright everyone!" David yelled as he dropped onto the ground. "Time to move out!" The rest followed. After everyone was out of the trees, they began their run to join Bravo Team. Each one of them hoped that they wouldn't run into any more undead creatures along the way. Everyone that is, except Tiffany.