XX A/N XX

Well, this has been dead a while. It's been difficult. I had this chapter nearly done months ago, but my computer crashed and I lost it all. I repaired it, started writing again. Then it crashed again beyond all repair and I lost the chapter rewrite. So I got a new computer a few months ago but I haven't been in the mood to rewrite so much.

But I saw the Resident Evil 2 Remake trailer, and words cannot describe how hyped I am. My drive is back. The previews thus far have even showed a couple of references to the Desperate Times scenario in File 2- Rita and a file about the tunnel escape plan.

X

The bar was surprisingly busy for a weeknight. Cindy spotted most of their regulars, including Mark and Kevin, thankfully. Mark had even brought a fellow security guard along with him. She'd had a quick word with both about Jack being ill and how she'd appreciate it if they could lend them a hand if anything happened, and both had assured her they would. It put her mind at ease.

Mark was sitting at the side of the bar, eating a salad. Though he'd never be as fit as he was in the Army, he'd decided to make an effort to keep his body at least a little healthy. Beside him though, the bar in front of Bob was empty. The other security guard was resting his head on his hands.

"Aren't you eating anything?" Mark asked. He got no response. "Hey, Bob." He nudged his friend. "Where's your mind at?"

"What?" The other man said blearily as he raised his head. "I'll order in a bit, Mark." He assured. Mark watched his worry as he laid his head back down. He'd really thought some food might help his ill friend, but that didn't seem to be the case. If he wasn't feeling better in five minutes, Mark would take him home, he decided.

Before returning to his meal, Mark scanned the room. No one was acting up and everyone seemed to be enjoying themselves. His eyes narrowed when he saw the cop at the front of the bar, Kevin, he was sure the man's name was. It wasn't the first time he'd done it either; he'd seen the man in here many nights drinking and running his mouth still in uniform. Disgraceful.

Kevin had actually noticed these glares but didn't care for the opinion of who he thought was just a fat old rent-a-cop he could run laps around. He'd even brought another old dude along tonight, who by the looks of it couldn't hold his drink. Just great.

Otherwise, he was enjoying himself despite going easy on the alcohol like Marvin had told him. His flirting wasn't getting him anywhere again, but he wasn't a man to get let down by a few failures. Eh, another half hour or so and he'd go home content.

There were two large barrels situated near the front door that had chairs around them for patrons to sit at. Jim was at the one closest to the door, scribbling in his crossword book with an open bottle of beer beside him. He hadn't looked up at any of the other patrols and was just enjoying the atmosphere.

David was just keeping to himself at the front of the bar too. He didn't make a habit of coming here in his work clothes, but this was one of his preferred spots to relax. The usual patrons were the kind he was sure he wasn't going to get into a scrap with, although the cop that liked to run his fucking mouth got on his nerves most nights. The waitress was way too outgoing and cheery too, but she'd long since given up trying to engage with the loner. The place had some good alcohol and he could drink by himself. That was all he really wanted.

Cindy had taken note of two new faces in the bar as well.

Alyssa was seated at the other barrel at the front of the bar, laptop open in front of her as she typed away. A bottle of mildly expensive champagne sat behind her. This place had an 80s grunge look to it she didn't like, the patrons didn't look like people she'd normally associate with, and the waitress was a perky blond who couldn't look more like a bimbo, but they had a damn good stock of alcohol. She could work on her next accomplishment AND celebrate it at the same time.

Besides, she'd spotted a cop in the bar (an S.P.F member in uniform no less!) having a few, flirting with the waitress whenever she came by, and running his mouth whenever he could. Must've seen himself as a real cowboy. Alyssa was always looking for new sources. She was figuring she could hang around for a little while and wait. Maybe the cop would run his mouth and say something useful after he'd had a few and the prettiest girl in the room came up to him.

George wasn't in any better a mood then he'd left home in, despite having a few glasses worth of hard alcohol in him. He'd felt a little out of place stepping into the establishment, but no one had paid him any mind. The waitress had been kind and warm to him though, so he'd perked up out of politeness. Alone with his thoughts though, he resumed his previous persona.

For whatever reason, the surgeon's thoughts turned particularly malicious. It took two people to make a marriage work. And again, she hadn't been committed to making it work. In fact, now that he thought about it, it was like she intended things to fall apart, the bitch. George cooled as soon as that thought passed his mind. He shook his head and took another sip of alcohol.

Yoko stopped in the doorway when she entered, not quite expecting the bar to be as full as it was. Looking around she noticed that cop was before was here. Well, what of it? She couldn't track down that train of thought again. Why had she come here again in the first place?

"Hello." The waitress came up to welcome her. There was a notable curiosity in her voice, probably from realizing Yoko didn't look undoubtedly old enough to be in here.

"Just here to use the restroom." She mumbled quietly. The blond woman nodded in understanding and when she spoke her voice was more jovial.

"Back there behind that wooden wall." She pointed towards the back of the bar. Yoko went without even a thank you. She felt much safer when she passed through the door into the cool interior that blocked out the rock music and kept her hidden from the few curious glances from patrons.

She caught a glimpse of herself in the mirror and she remembered: she'd come here to change out of her uniform. She unslung her backpack and carried it into one of the stalls. When she emerged a few minutes later, rather than her Umbrella uniform, she was wearing blue jeans and a green sweater over a black shirt. It felt much less constricting, but as she approached the mirror and set her bag on the counter she couldn't help but feel there was still something unsettling about her appearance.

What was it? Why was it every time she looked at her reflection it looked both familiar but at the same time unfamiliar and off-putting? She raised a hand as if to make sure it was really her own image. Her eyes drifted to her hair, long enough to just extend below her neck. Had it always been like that? Something about it seemed off… Yoko reached into a pouch on her backpack and pulled out a small pair of scissors.

Outside, things continued as normal. Cindy had retrieved an empty bottle from Jim and was walking back to the bar to get a new one when she noticed a rather large rat scurry by her feet. She shrieked and stepped back, the empty bottle tumbling from the tray and breaking on the floor.

"Hmm?" Mark grunted and looked over his shoulder at her.

"Sorry!" Cindy said in embarrassment. Will had noticed and grabbed a broom from behind the counter to deal with the pest. It past by Kevin unscathed.

David noticed the rodent running towards his feet, intending to slip past. After the day he'd had though, he wasn't going to let it. As it passed, he swung his foot forward, catching the rat and crushing it between a steel-toed boot and the bar. Its last noise was sharp squeak before David let it drop to the floor.

"Sorry, sir." Will apologized before sweeping away the body. David just grunted and took another sip of his drink.

All the patrons continued what they were doing. The tv in corner blared out a news report about a riot earlier in the day, but only Kevin and Alyssa turned an ear to it, and only briefly. No one noticed when the broadcast went out and was replaced by static a moment later. The rock tune on the jukebox ended shortly after too. For a brief time, there was silence in the bar.

That was broken by the front door creaking open. Out of habit, Cindy turned to greet the new arrival, but stopped and gasped when she caught sight on him. Kevin, Mark, and David were close enough to hear her and turned to look too.

A ragged looking man was standing in the open doorway, half slumped over with his head down. His hair was matted and dirty and his clothes stained with something they couldn't tell. Jim was closest to the man, and as soon as he caught a whiff of him he gagged and grabbed his stuff before jumping up.

"Damn man, did you shit yourself?" He quickly retreated, but his outburst had drawn everyone's attention to the shaggy stranger now. Alyssa was getting up too, looking disgusted.

David turned back to the bar. So a drunk hobo or junkie had wandered in; it was someone else's problem. Mark shared his assessment but was far more concerned. "Who is this guy?" He asked out loud. He didn't notice Bob behind him start to slide off the seat until the man crashed to the floor. "Damnit!" Mark swore got up to help him. "He's unconscious." He realized. "Bob?" He tried to wake his friend.

On the other side of the bar, George noticed the older man collapse and rose to go help. He passed behind Cindy and Will, who were staring at the strange looking man; he hadn't moved an inch since coming in.

"Will, I don't like the look of that man." Cindy fretted as her co-worker joined her. Will had to agree there was something off about him. Behind them, Kevin had turned to watch the old dude take a tumble and got up as the bar employees talk.

"Want me to take care of him?" Kevin asked them, hand already drifting towards his sidearm. Will was the more senior of the two, and he really didn't want the situation to escalate into a brawl. Besides, the man looked like he might be hurt.

"Let me ask him if he's okay first." Will turned down the cop's offer and reluctantly started to approach. He had to gag as he did so; the man smelled horrible, his bowels being far from the only source probably. The smell was likely going to hang in the doorway all night now. "Excuse me…sir? Are you okay?"

Bob was beginning to stir by then. George had introduced himself as a doctor, and Mark had explained his friend was just feeling ill and he intended to take him home immediately. Cindy and Kevin had turned to watch the two men lift the portly ill security guard into a sitting position when it happened.

The stranger lifted his head and Will caught a glimpse of his face, recoiling in horror. It was bloody, with bits of skin flayed and bleeding. His eyes were rolled back and vacant. The lower part of his face was covered in drool. His opened his mouth to moan, showing ugly stained death. Will took a step back, but the man suddenly lurched forward.

He seized the bartender's shoulders and brought his gaping mouth down on them. Before Will could question the man's action, he bit down with inhumane force. Will screamed out in pain as the man jerked his head back, tearing off a chunk of flesh with horrifying ease. The bar descended into chaos full of screaming, cursing, and everyone jumping up.

"Shit!" Kevin swore and reached down for his gun. With a little buzz going, his fingers fumbled. By the time he'd drawn it and was approaching, Will had gathered the strength to push the man back and onto the street and close and lock the door.

"What the…hell…was that?" Will questioned as he sunk down before falling back.

"Will!" Cindy dropped beside her wounded co-worker. Kevin braced the door. Behind them, George had been momentary stunned by the horrific act in front of him. He quickly regained his wits and joined the waitress beside the wounded man. "Oh, my God." She could see blood running down the front of his uniform.

"Will, you doing okay?" Even as the words came out of his mouth, Kevin realized they were stupid. "Stay with us, buddy." Damnit! He'd really dropped the ball. This shouldn't be surprising; he'd been seeing the reports of druggies biting people for weeks. He should've confronted this freak as soon as he walked in.

"Excuse me, I'm a surgeon." George introduced himself. "May I see?"

"Of c-course." Cindy stuttered, stepping back, hands trembling. She suddenly remembered. "I have a first aid kit behind the bar!" She stood up and run to grab it, passing the two security guards as she did.

"Mark, what's happening?" Bob looked over to see his friend in a trance, staring at the scene in front of them. At some point, he'd drawn his Beretta and had it pointed to the floor. "Mark?" Bob repeated, finally making the man start.

Mark grunted in acknowledgment and stood, adjusting himself so he was holding his gun in a two-hand grip but keeping it pointed at the floor. "You alright?" He didn't take his eyes off the scene in front of him.

"I think so…" Bob said, but his legs felt weak and he didn't try and stand up.

It was around this time Yoko peaked out from the restroom, curious at what all the noise had been. When she was the blood and drawn guns, she quickly retreated inside. Whatever was going on, she was going to wait it out and not get involved.

Cindy had grabbed her first aid kit, but in her haste spilled it and knocked Jack's gun to the ground. She stuffed it all back in without much thought and hurried back to Will's side. By then, George had examined the wound. The attack hadn't severed any artery that he could tell, but it had removed a frankly terrifying amount of flesh and left a hole that was still bleeding profusely.

"This man needs urgent medical attention." He informed the cop. "I'm afraid he won't last long otherwise." Cindy came back and pulled a large bandage from her bag. With shaking hands, she tried to put pressure on the wound to stop the bleeding. George put his calmer and steadier hands atop hers to help.

"Right…" Kevin muttered. He was mulling his options. A quick glance outside showed him the guy that had bit Will was still twisting on the ground like a turtle on its back. He didn't have any cuffs on him, but he was probably well within his right to go out and keep the son of a bitch down and shoot him if he tried to get back up. He was just reaching for the door lock when one of the patron's frantic screaming caught his attention.

"Out front man, look!" Kevin craned his head back to see two more men rubbing their bleeding faces along the bar's prominent front window, clearly looking at all of them within. They looked just as shabby as the first and were no doubt under the same influence. Okay, fuck that. Kevin wasn't an action hero- there was no way he was going outside to deal with three of these guys on his own.

"Anyone got a phone?" He called out to the bar patrons. "We need to get to police down here!" From the way they glanced at each other, it was apparent no one did.

"There's one upstairs!" Cindy realized.

"Then go make the call." Kevin tensed as the man outside finally managed to get up. "And wake up Jack if you can!"

"O-okay." Cindy nodded.

"I'll keep pressure on the wound." George assured her. The waitress looked unsure but withdrew her hands and let the surgeon take over. Her steps were uneven at first, but she was soon running through the staff door and up the stairs to the second floor.

"Don't fucking press me, buddy," Kevin yelled loudly as the attacker stumbled back towards the door and landed heavily against it. Even as Kevin waved his gun threateningly, the son of a bitch outside started pounding on the door, and other two soon joined him. The cop braced it with his shoulder to stop it from caving in.

"Just shoot them!" Someone called from the back of the bar, the same voice that had pointed out the other two. Kevin was considering the action, but that tiny rational part of his mind warned him against it. All the reports going around the station said these cannibals could take a lot of rounds before going down. He had one magazine of .45 and he didn't expect it to split evenly between three guys who were right on top of him.

Besides, Jack might add the cost of a new door to his tab.

"This is crazy." Reactions among the three patrons at the back of the bar were mixed. Alyssa was the type of woman to be the first on the scene of something, not an active participant. She had some human standards too; she wasn't going to film a man bleeding to death on the floor of a bar.

"Fuck man, fuck!" Jim was pacing back and worth. "I should've stayed home instead of getting caught up in this shit!" He didn't realize the other two people weren't listening to his ramblings.

David hadn't said a word. Instead, he'd backed up and not so discretely snagged a large knife from the bar's tiny kitchen. Even if there were two guys with guns between him and the freak show outside, David was NOT going to be caught short when there were people with obvious hostile intent.

While this was all happening, Cindy had reached the second floor and ran into the bedroom calling her bosses name. She stopped in the doorway when she realized it was empty. The bed looked like it had been recently disturbed. Jack had an office on the other side of the floor where he took care of business. He must be over there.

"Jack!" Cindy yelled as she darted into the break room; the door to his office was at the end of the hallway. "Please hurry, there's been an emergency downstairs!" They had a landline against the wall, just a few feet down from the office door. Cindy picked up the receiver and quickly dialed 911 and held it against her hear, the emergency at the tip of her tongue. Seconds passed without an operator's response before Cindy realized there was no tone; the line was out.

"Oh no." She murmured to herself. What was she going to do now? Then she remembered: Jack had a cell phone! She ran to the office. Cold air greeted her as she stepped inside; the office had a balcony and the door to it was wide open. "Jack?" Cindy called as she stepped forward. Then she heard it, drifting in from outside: screams and gunshots, distant and close, but very numerous.

What was happening in Raccoon City?

"Jack, are you here?" Cindy leaned out onto the balcony and gasped. Her boss was sitting slumped in a chair. From the light above, she could see his wounded shoulder was dark red and a horrifying large puddle was on the ground beneath him. The wound must've reopened, and he obviously suffered blood loss. But was he unconscious…or worse?

"No..." She held her hand to her mouth. She should've insisted he'd gone to the hospital when he'd come back to the bar. "I'm sorry." She approached; she knew he kept his cell in a pouch on his belt, usually right next to his gun holster. "I'll call for help, I promise."

Her boss twitched, making her jump back.

"Jack?" Cindy asked hopefully. He began to stir. "Oh, thank goodness, I thought you were- aah!" She shrieked and stumbled back as Jack's head jerked unnaturally quick to look at her. It was pale and his eyes looked like they'd rolled back in his head. He titled before collapsing onto the concrete floor but quickly rose. Seeing him standing there in the light, Cindy realized his posture was unnatural and…and almost exactly like the man who'd attacked Will.

She could only watch, speechless and horrified, as her boss stretched his arms out and stumbled towards her, mouth agape as he let out a harsh moan. Her reflexes kicked in and she ran away, leaving Jack to stumbled and fall behind her as she rushed back downstairs.

Downstairs, everyone was holding their ground- Kevin at the door, George beside the wounded bartender, Mark in front of his friend, and the rest as far away from the men outside as they could be- when Cindy came running back in. She'd only been gone around three minutes.

"You call the cops?" Kevin yelled at her.

"No. The phone's out!" Kevin resisted the urge to curse. "Jack has a cell phone, but…but…" The blond woman looked to be on the edge of hysterics. "Somethings wrong with Jack! He looks like the men outside!"

"What?!" Kevin asked. That didn't make any fucking sense; he knew Jack. That man would never use drugs. So how the hell could he be like those men outside?

"When I went to get his phone, he tried to grab me." Cindy explained. "He's still in his office upstairs." Unsure what to do now, Cindy fell back beside her co-worker to try and help save him. The bleeding had barely eased.

"Goddamn it." Kevin grit his teeth. If the phone was out, they couldn't call for help. Jack's cell phone might have a signal, but they couldn't get it. And how the hell did he end up like the guys outside? Kevin could go upstairs and try and get the phone himself, but that would require leaving the door, and he was sure it would break down before he even reached the stairwell.

Unknown to Kevin, Mark had made the same connections and noticed the cop's dilemma. Old instincts and training kicked in and with a visual sweep of the bar room a plan formed in his mind. Kevin was broken out of his frustrating quagmire by a barking voice.

"I'll keep this area secured, you go investigate upstairs!" It was the security guard. Kevin noticed for the first time he was armed too.

"Excuse me?" Kevin balked at being ordered around. The man didn't answer. He went over to the barrel Jim had been sitting at earlier and picked it up. Kevin stepped back as the man approached and loudly planted in front of the door with a thud. "Holy shit." Kevin remarked he went to grab the second barrel. It was doing better at holding it than he had; the door was barely rattling in its frame. Why hadn't he thought of that?

"I'll keep watch here." The man repeated when he'd fortified the door with the second barrel. Kevin scoffed. This guy was just a civilian. To be honest, he couldn't tell if the hard gleam in the old dude's eyes were determination or a senile episode. But what Cindy said couldn't be ignored, and the guy was armed…

"Fuck it." Kevin muttered and pointed at the older man. "They get in, you fucking shoot them." He started backing away. "I'll be back down as soon as I can." He assured Cindy and started running towards the stairway to the second floor. He thundered past the other three, who, aside from Jim whose ranting had become more incoherent, were the same as before.

Yoko was still hiding inside the bathroom. She'd backed up against the wall, as far away from the door as she could manage. It was the only spot she couldn't hear the yelling outside. She was scared; her heart was racing. Why does this seem so familiar? There was a crash behind her and something banged against the back of her legs. Then something seized both her ankles.

Outside, Alyssa, David, and Jim were the only ones to hear her scream; the noise at the front door deafened the others. David was the only one who moved to investigate, although his decision was more fueled by concern for an uncontained threat than whoever had screamed.

When he opened the door he saw a woman on the floor near the wall. Two arms had shot out of the vent and were gripping her legs, keeping her from getting away. "What the hell!?" Alyssa appeared behind him and caught sight.

They moved forward quickly. Alyssa grabbed Yoko's hands and pulled as David stepped around. Alyssa worked out daily, but whoever this was wasn't going to give up either. David raised a boot up high and brought it down hard on one of the arms and heard a satisfying crack as he did so. The arm released its victim, and Alyssa easily pulled Yoko from the other one.

"Get up, missy." Alyssa yanked the younger woman up and let her stumble against the counter for support. "Is someone in there?" She asked incredulously. Keeping his distance from the hands, David stepped back and leaned down to look in with a small flashlight he kept in his belt.

Behind the vent was what looked like a crawl space to the plumbing under the building. A woman had somehow crammed herself in there and looked to be trapped. David's eyes met hers, blank and almost lifeless. Her unbroken arm and hand clawed at the floor, like she was trying to move forward despite the fact the vent was far too small to fit through.

"This freak isn't getting in." David stood back up.

"You sure about that? Hey!" Alyssa snapped at him when he passed the two women and went back into the bar. Jim looked at him hopeful for news nothing else was wrong.

"What's going on back there?!" The security guard at the front called.

"Nothing." David called back. His voice was rough; he didn't raise it very often. Yoko wasn't far behind him, arms wrapped around herself. She stopped and stared at the bartender laying wounded on the floor and the door that was threatening to break.

"There's some crazy lady in the vents!" Alyssa called as she came out. "Tough guy here says she can't get in though." She jerked a thumb at David, who didn't react.

"She okay?" Mark called, referring to Yoko. The short Asian girl recoiled a bit under the gaze of several strangers.

"Yeah." She nodded, although only the three people nearby could hear her. She put her apprehension aside; she'd have to stick by these people if she wanted to stay safe.

With a quick bound up the final steps to the 2nd floor, Kevin spun around, .45 pointed in front of him. He'd been up here a few times, either to play darts or once or twice to have a chat with Jack about his tab. He knew his way around. He checked the bedroom first, finding it empty. He had to be in one of the other rooms.

"Jack?" Kevin called down the hall, getting no response. He cautiously advanced, scanning the wider breakroom with his gun as he exited the hallway. The door to Jack's office was wide open, cold wind and distant noise drifting out. "Jack?" Kevin called more loudly. "It's Kevin. You alright in there?" He waited against the wall for a response. Five seconds. Ten seconds. Fifteen seconds. Nothing. "Shit." He muttered to himself.

He swung into the doorway, aiming left and right for a threat. His eyes immediately caught sight of a figure standing in the window above the desk. Someone was on the balcony, standing weirdly with their head slumped to the side. Just like that freak that had come in.

Keeping his back to the wall, Kevin inched over to the doorway and out onto the balcony. It was definitely Jack, but not in good shape. The blood, the paleness, the posture- he really looked dead on his feet. Kevin never took his eyes or gun off him, but he lent he ears to the noise outside. Screaming, gunshots, pure fucking chaos. Something was going on out there, but Kevin wasn't sure anymore it was just the riot.

Jack just stood there, oblivious to the cop's presence despite being less than 10 feet away. Kevin knew what was likely to happen if he got the bar owner's attention. "Jack?" He ventured. The man raised his head, fixing a blank gaze upon him. He immediately shuffled over, arms outstretched and mouth gaping.

"Shit." Kevin squeezed the trigger. A .45 round struck Jack right below the nose, his face coming apart in a bloody mess as he fell back and hit the ground. He didn't get up. Kevin still didn't take his gun off him as he crept forward and looked down at a man he'd known for well over a year. Decent, hardworking, but not a pushover. Friendly too. And now he was dead after trying to attack both his employee and Kevin, the second crazy in less than an hour.

What the fuck had happened?

Muttering a quick apology, Kevin reached down and grabbed the cell phone from Jack's pocket. He flipped it open and stared at the screen. NO SIGNAL. Kevin growled and let it fall to the concrete.

"Fuck me."

Downstairs, the situation hadn't improved. The door was rattling even more now, and a few of the glass panels had already cracked while Mark continued to stare down the hoodlums outside. Despite George's best efforts and Cindy's pleadings, Will was getting paler and paler. The rest of the customers were stuck watching the front of the bar in apprehension or for Kevin to reappear from the stairway.

Then it happened.

The hinges holding the door gave in. The door pitched forward and fell to the side. Most of the people in the room screamed as the three intruders bumped into each other trying to climb over the barricade. "Don't come here!" Mark warned, taking aim. The middle man leaned over and swiped at him. Mark didn't hesitate to fire, the 9mm bullet striking him in his head and knocking him back onto the street.

"Shoot them! SHOOT THEM!" Jim shouted hysterically. The man on the left was attempting to climb over the barrels. Mark turned and fired off five rounds into his back. As the assailant fell face first onto the floor, so did the last of the trio. He reached over and grabbed Mark's leg, stretching his head to try and take a bite. Mark stepped back and started firing rounds into his back as well.

What the security guard hadn't realized is his shots hadn't killed the second intruder. Bleeding from the gunshot wounds and apparently forgetting the use of his legs, the sick looking man raised his head and started crawling towards the injured Will and his caretakers. Cindy screamed and George and her tried to move Will away. The third intruder neutralized, Mark turned and fired even more rounds into the second's back, stopping only when the last round was expended, and the slide locked back.

The man moaned weakly, stretched an arm out towards Cindy, George, and Will, and finally collapsed face down on the floor. Like an automatic machine, Mark ejected the empty magazine and replaced it with the spare he kept on his belt. The incident had lasted less than twenty seconds, leaving one dead on the street and two on the bar floor. Blood pooled everywhere, and the room smelled like death. With the doorway opened wide, the distant sounds of war drifted in for the first time.

"Will?" Cindy's timid voice broke the silence. All eyes turned to the barkeeper being held up by her and George. Whereas he'd been conscious before, his head now lulled to the side. His chest wasn't moving. "Will?" Cindy asked again, more desperate. George lifted the man's arm and felt his wrist, and his face fell. As Mark walked over, the doctor gave him a sorry shake of his head.

Kevin came bursting back into the room as Will's body was carefully laid onto the floor, gun raised and cursing all the while.

"What the hell happened here?" He demanded.

"They breached the door. Spent a whole magazine to kill them." Mark explained.

"Blood loss." George summarized, standing and finally taking note of the blood stains covering his expensive suit. Cindy stayed kneeled by her co-worker's side, in shock. "Have the authorities been contacted?" George went on. All eyes turned to Kevin. He gave an agitated shake of his head.

"No. I don't know what the fuck is going on out there, but nothing's working." It wasn't hard to see concern and panic spreading across the other patrons' faces. Jim moaned loudly as he sunk to his knees.

Kevin crossed the floor and leaned over the barrels to look both ways down the street. In both directions, he saw freaks stumbling around. He wasn't going to doubt they were like the ones that had just broken in. Or Jack.

"Shit." He muttered again. He was the cop here and he was in uniform- that meant he had to take control of this situation. So much for an easy night on the town.

Alright, fuck. Focus. There was no way this wasn't being noticed. Rest of the R.P.D would get here in force sooner or later. That meant they just had to stay safe till that happened. They sure weren't going to be that down here with a busted door.

"Okay, listen up!" Kevin turned around and barked, acting more professional than before. "The police will be responding to this area soon. This is an active crime scene now. I need everyone safe and out of the way. There's a break room upstairs, I want everyone up there till this shit is under control." Everyone shared an uncertain glance and most of the civilians slowly started moving, David and Alyssa last among them. George offered a hand to Cindy and pulled the still stunned waitress to her feet, saying something about washing their hands before proceeding. "And stay out of the owner's room!" Kevin called as an afterthought. Cindy flinched at his words but kept letting George guide her. Kevin turned to Mark, still standing like a sentry near the front door.

"You put a full magazine into these guys?" Kevin was looking at all the bullet holes.

"Yeah." Mark nodded, not apparently fazed by the three lives he'd just ended. "First one took a shot to the head and went down immediately." Kevin figured no son of a bitch was tough enough to survive that. But multiple close-range shots to the back? These guys had to be on something. Acid or PCP maybe. At least they weren't a threat anymore- the old man had seen to that.

"Good shooting old timer. Get your buddy then go upstairs."

"Huh." Mark grunted by way of response, slipping back into an irritable old man. He holstered his gun and cast a noticeable glance at Will as he passed to grab Bob. If George was right, nothing Mark could've done would've saved him in the end. Still, that they had a casualty hit him. But he had enough experience to power through it. Kevin was getting through by professionalism, but he didn't miss that he knew this person, that this was someone he'd known damn near personally. But he took solace in the fact he'd been avenged. That would do for now.

"You killed them." Bob rasped as Mark returned to him. During the confrontation, he'd tried to stand and fire his own gun but couldn't manage the strength to do it.

"They didn't leave me a choice. C'mon. I'm still going to get you home. Or maybe a hospital." Mark grabbed his friend's arm and pulled him up. He started to shoulder his friend across the bar towards the stairs. George and Cindy were about to head up the stairs, Kevin behind them. When Cindy noticed the two older men, she hung back.

"I'll help them." She explained to Kevin.

"Fine, but hurry it up." He ordered the three before hurrying upstairs to make sure everyone else was safe.

"Thank you." Bob managed as Cindy got on his other side to help him along.

"Cindy, I'm sorry about what happened." Mark consoled.

"It's…okay." Cindy was clearly trying to power through her shock too. "You saved us. Thank you." Them moving Will had probably been the shock that killed him, but she was trying her hardest not to think about that. The night had gone so terribly so quickly. Her friend and boss she'd known for so long were gone. She didn't have a job anymore. It was so overwhelming she couldn't comprehend it, but she was very grateful Kevin and Mark had taken charge.

The two didn't notice the frail man between them look back, nor did they noticed the way his eyes widened with horrified shock.

"M-Mark." Bob gasped. A gurgling moan behind the trio made them freeze. Mark and Cindy both looked back, expecting to see another person at the barricade. But it wasn't. It was something shocking, something impossible, something utterly terrifying.

Will had gotten back up.