55 Madness and Total Chaos

BOOM!!

"What's that?" muttered Claire while cleaning the dishes. Sherry was also beside her, helping. The sound of the explosion was pretty close, around 200 meters south of here. I was talking with Regina in my room when that explosion happened. I had a bad feeling about this.

[Sir, you must see this.] said, Regina.

A green bar appeared in front of me. It was a notification showing how many Raccoon City's resident had turned since the beginning of the outbreak, provided by the Quest. Last time I checked, it was still at 10%, and that would be around 10.000 civilians. But most of them were already taken care of, and cleaning forces from the U.S. Army were sent every day to track the rest of them down.

My eyes widened in shock as I tried to make sense of this bullshit. Yesterday, it was still at 10%, how the hell it doubled in a span of a single day?

The telephone in the living room suddenly rang. My intercom also sounded right after.

"Killswitch here."

"Edward! We need your help!" It was Nick Fury's voice. I could hear gunshots and a few explosions from hand-grenades in the background. It seemed the University where he set their base was also got attacked.

"What happens? How did it escalate this fast?" I asked. I couldn't think of anything I missed all this time. I started recalling the information from the game. The true outbreak would have happened on the night of September 28th, but it should've been impossible to happen since we already control the virus's infection area.

"We still investigate it. But it has something to do with the mysterious man that roamed the city's Northside," he answered. "Just come when you're ready. No... wait. You just do your thing, no need to worry about us. Natasha and Clint already departed to the North to see the cause."

"Okay. I'll see what I can do."

The communication then got cut, Nick seemed to be in a tense situation. My door then opened and Claire came in with a pale face. I saw the FAMAS I gave her, strapped on her back. She said, "Ed, we need to go. Chris just called me and he wants us to go to the Police Station."

I just nodded and took my yellow bag with me. Sherry didn't bring anything, so I just packed some snacks in her bag. This is not a game, who knows when we need to fill ourselves with food. Well not that I worried about it that much since I have a Spatial Pocket that was filled with everything I need.

Suddenly, out of nowhere, I heard the sound of a helicopter, but it was not from the sky, it was just right by our window.

"Take cover!" I screamed my lungs out and pushed both Sherry and Claire away. That helicopter crashed into Chri's bedroom where I slept at and it resulted in a small explosion. The propeller snapped and broke when it made contact with the concrete wall. It went inside until it stopped in our living room. Claire wanted to reach on to me but it was too late. The helicopter exploded and the shockwave trashed everything inside our apartment.

Claire and Sherry were fine since I pushed them out to the lobby. But the broken wall and ceiling separated us, leaving me alone on the other side of the lobby.

"Edward!" Claire and Sherry shrieked, they thought I was buried inside the rubble.

"I'm fine!" I said. Hearing my voice, both of them were relieved. I continued, "let's meet downstairs, I'll take the emergency stairs.

" Okay, we'll wait for you there."

We couldn't see each other, but they still move downstairs. Thankfully, we lived on the second floor, all I need was just a simple jump to go down. But I have to clean this mess first. From the burning helicopter, a few survivors walked out. Well, a dead survivor to be exact. Three zombies were walking toward me. It seemed they were the cause of this helicopter's crash. The whole section of the wall was already crumbled, so I was the first thing that they saw after they got out.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

It didn't take any more than one shot to their head to kill them. Now that the smoke was a bit clearer, I could see the condition of the city. It was pure pandemonium. Zombies were slowly chasing the running civilians, it could have been an easy task if not for their sheer numbers. Smoke covered my body as I changed to my equipment.

When I jumped down, Claire and Sherry arrived behind me right after. The two were startled to see me, especially Claire. She was on guard and aimed the FAMAS toward me.

"Why are you here!?"

My first appearance might have been a coincidence, but a second one was too suspicious, especially during this time. I didn't answer her question and took out several magazines for her and a few hand-grenades. I also took two pistols along with their holsters.

"Take this and move now, I'll the care of your nephew."

After I reinforced all of the weapons, including their clothes. I intended to walk away before vanishing in front of them, but then, I heard Sherry's voice. "Edward?"

I was stunned and stopped in reflex, which becomes a confirmation for Sherry's conjecture. Claire was confused about why she thought I was Edward, so she just asked her. Sherry then answered with her eyes focused on my back, "from the way you walk, the way you talk, and the way you bring yourself. There's no way you could hide it from me. You are my first friend. I've always watched you."

Her words touched me, but I didn't correct her not respond to it. I just vanish right then and there. I'm sorry, but now is not the time to be sentimental. I need to go and eliminate everything that would be a threat to you two.

I appeared on top of a three-floored building, looking for the thickest zombie horde. I would occasionally fire my handgun behind the fleeing citizens and the alleys where Claire and Sherry would take when I noticed a horde of zombies chasing a couple of husband and wife and their daughter.

Because the man was faster, he reached the entrance gate of a warehouse earlier than them, but that man was too nervous and scared after looking at the horde of zombies chasing close behind her wife and her daughter. Inside his mind, he already painted the worst scenario. If he let them came in, there would be no time to close the entrance. He was forced to make a choice. No... there's always one choice in his head.

Clank!

He closed the metal gate and locked it, leaving the two outside. I could hear her wife's begging and her daughter cry. Watching it, I just sighed and murmured, "no matter who you are, your real nature would be exposed in the face of danger."

I leaped down and swapped the handguns with P90s in both hands. Once my foot touched the ground, I pulled the trigger, eliminating the zombies. There were around 20 of them, I also saw some children in between them which made my stomach churned. Death never chooses her target, everything would be taken by her eventually.

"Th...thank you." said the woman while holding her daughter.

I pointed toward an alley, not far from where we were, and said. "Take that alley, by the time you reach the end of it, you'll find a woman and a girl. They'll help you escape to the Police Station."

Regina already estimated the time they would need and the distance. So I was pretty much confident with my judgment. Both the mother and daughter looked between the alley and the warehouse where that man was currently in. Hesitation could be seen on their face, and the daughter spoke on behalf of her mother, "can you save my father? He was alone inside, there might be a monster inside as well."

I was astonished by their chain of thought, even after they were abandoned by him, they still cared for his safety.

"Don't worry, I'll help your father to find a safe place. Both of you need to go now, lest you want them to come back later." I said while pointing to the pile of bodies. They nodded and run toward the alley. I took out a paper and wrote the details of some extraction point that Nick told me yesterday in case of an emergency. I picked a random stone and wrapped it with the paper and threw it to the window, smashing the glass. With this, it counted as helping, right?

Bang!

I shot the padlock, unlocking the gate. I might have helped him a little bit, but it didn't mean I want his life got easier. I resumed my search for the zombie hordes once again.

It didn't take long for me to find my targets. Everywhere, a huge mass of zombies was gathering mindlessly. I could never see the end of them.

"I'll help you rest in peace, in return, let me get stronger." I took out all of the hand grenades I had and threw them toward the thickest spots. Experience flowed like a river with every blast.

<+200 EXP>

<+200 EXP>

<+200 EXP>

<+200 EXP>

<+200 EXP>

<+200 EXP>

...

...

Of course, it still wasn't enough, I jumped into the middle of the horde and started blasting my weapons. I would occasionally use Blackbeard to save some bullets. Dark Blast was proved to be much effective against multiple enemies, blasting them into dust with a single shot.

<+200 EXP>

<+200 EXP>

<+400 EXP>

<+500 EXP>

...

...

There were also some fluctuations in the EXP I received. It seemed some of them were getting stronger this time. I need to be alert in case of some special zombies. Not long after there was a huge hole with me as the center. Now the zombies advancing stopped and they focused on me instead, ignoring the civilians that were a bit further from me.

I took a deep breath and focused my mind. "Let's get at least two levels from this mess!"

======

Somewhere on the entrance of Raccoon City, a police car arrived. There were two men inside, one was talking nonstop about his Rectal Examination, while the other one was trying to focus on driving, ignoring the former.

"And that's how I cure my excessive gas problem, now let's move to how I treat my genital disease." said the former.

"Uggh... Please stop, Mr. Wilson. I'm going to puke." said the young policeman.

"Why? You said you wanted to know about me more? Isn't it fate that met us together? How I dream to be saved from my prince. Besides, just call me Wade, we're much closer than that." replied the man while roaming his index finger on the young policeman's shoulder.

He flinched and tried to move away, Wade's 'roaming' finger and said, "I only asked for your name, how did it escalate to... whatever you were talking about."

"See, this is the problem of young men these days, back then in Vietnam, we must shoot first before knowing the other's name. Well, I never got any reply since most of them were dead. But still...!" said Wade, acting sad and powerless.

"Wait, you were in the Vietnam war? When did you say you were born?"

"Somewhere in the 1980s. why?"

"The war ended in 1975. Wait... why you don't know your exact birthday?"

Wade just shrugged and replied, "I don't know, if it's a novel the author must be just too lazy to look for it."

"Wh..." The young policeman didn't retort anymore, he gave up. He just lost multiple brain cells trying to make sense of the man beside him. "Anyway, we arrive."

The car stopped right in front of the City's entrance, there were roadblocks placed and cars abandoned in the middle of the road. There were also sound of screamings along with gunshots and explosions inside the city.

"Look, Leon. They are welcoming us, what a wonderful day to start your first job as a police officer," said Wade, chuckling. The young policeman's name was Leon Scott Kennedy. He was actually planned to came here two days later, but there was a call telling him to come a bit earlier.

Leon squinted his eyes, looking at the odd atmosphere. He drove the car through the city, wherever he was, destruction and corpses greet him.

"It seems the thing that was in the gas station before came from this city," said Leon.

Wade's mood suddenly went downhill. Looking at the condition of the city, his mission would be too hard to complete. Thankfully, he got a whole bag filled with every variety of weapons you could possibly think of. "Ahh... Damn it, I should ask that rich millionaire for a raise after this."

"Mr. Wade, did you hear that?"

"Ahh sorry, I just farted. Don't worry, it won't smell, I only eat some tacos with a whole lot of jalapeno spices."

Leon frowned and covered his nose, he said, "it's not that, I hear something behind us."

Both of them looked behind and saw a big gasoline truck moving uncontrollably through the road. Every car that parked beside the road was smashed away. Leon and Wade screamed together with the latter a bit louder like a sissy criminal from any Christmas movie.

"I'm not sissy criminal from any Christmas movie!" Wade angrily shot his handguns toward the truck while Leon hit the gas and went full throttle, trying to move away from the charging truck. The truck keeps chasing them and bit by bit it was getting closer.

"Goddamn it, Leon! Did you go to Prometheus School of Running Away from Things!? Turn the fucking car away!" said Wade, getting angry.

"Just do it!"

Suddenly the car turned left and Wade was caught unprepared. His body was halfway out when he was shooting at the truck, so when the car suddenly turned, he was thrown out and rolled on the ground. He just laid there on the ground, not moving an inch.

"Argh... my knee... it wasn't an arrow, but still..."