Ch. 1: Fetching the Cavalry

A/N: So, here we are at the sequel to a fanfic that took me almost six years to complete. Half of it because I was still in school, the other half because what began as a simple last sweep of spelling errors morphed into a complete revision which pretty much created an all-new story.

I have no intentions of repeating that with this one.

Originally, I planned to create a character poll when I posted the last chapter to First Nightmare. But, somewhere in my haste to finish the story, I forgot to. So, I am now posting the poll along with the first chapter. The poll is on my author's page, and the chapter ends with my musings.

Enjoy!

Ryan yawned as he stepped over the thousandth stick. He took a moment to push his rectangular glasses back up on his sweating nose before he trudged on. His feet ached with each step and the assault rifle- although it provided a much needed source of protection and confidence- became heavy after the first hour of walking. And we're on hour four, I think. He glanced over his shoulder to see how the others were holding up.

Lindsay, his girlfriend, trotted a step behind him. Her blue jacket was tied around her waist, revealing her pink blouse. She smiled at him, her brown freckles dancing on her face, but he knew she was doing the worst out of their group. Before the...event happened, he and she were about to go on a date. Alabama in October may not be as bad compared to some places; but Lindsay was easily chilled and picked a warm outfit for that day. Which backfired when they teleported here, shifting them from October to July. Even though the Sun wasn't over the horizon yet, the heat took its toll on them. Ryan was glad he toughed out the Alabama weather with his Auburn Tigers jersey and black jeans, a much lighter and cooler outfit. Unfortunately, he'd been worried about Lindsay ever since Kevin warned that dehydration could set in if they didn't get water soon.

The former pilot marched next to Lindsay. While Lindsay kept her attention on where she walked, Kevin constantly scanned the dark woods. With his short brown hair, Kevin looked far more official than the rest of them as he traveled in his pilot's outfit, although his helmet was burning somewhere in the training facility rubble. The way his amber eyes squinted toward the distance, Ryan knew Kevin would prefer to have a flashlight along with his handgun. However since Ryan had the lead, Kevin wasn't going to force the teen to return the borrowed item. Even if he did have it, Kevin couldn't use it with his handgun. His left arm, which was glass-free, was still bandaged from elbow to wrist with three of his fingers in tiny splints. Ryan couldn't help but remember how Kevin's arm used to look, when Ryan was left on guard duty back in the training facility. The three fingers had been black and blue and twisted at grotesque angles, with dark red, soaked bandages covering his arm. All things considered, it was a small price compared to how bad a train wreck could get. Ryan still shuddered and was glad that Kevin was doing much better.

Bringing up the rear was Ryan's cousin: Gordon. Like Lindsay, the tallest of them had shed his blue jacket not long after they started their trek. To Ryan's annoyance, Gordon wore an AU shirt with 'Roll Tide!' in big letters over the front. As poor as his taste in football teams was, Gordon fulfilled his duties as rearguard much more faithfully, checking behind them every few steps, handgun at the ready in case anything did attack them. Ryan wondered how much Gordon knew about Resident Evil. Unlike Ryan and Lindsay, who'd only seen a couple of the movies, Ryan knew Gordon had played one of the games, though he wasn't sure which one. I should ask him about that when I get a chance.

The football player tripped on a rock and stumbled forward. He recovered and kept the flashlight shining ahead of him.

"Keep your head faced forward. We're almost there," Kevin whispered encouragingly.

"How close do you think we are?" Ryan asked.

"Less than an hour now," the pilot guessed, "We're making good time."

"Can't wait until we're out of here," Gordon mumbled as he stared at the trees. In the moonlight, the shadows falling off them formed into grasping claws and devious nets. Worse than the shadow images were the trees themselves. All it took was one tree to hide one z-dog, zombie, or some other monstrosity. Being surrounded by a legion of them did not improve Gordon's sense of security. He hopped over one outstretched root with a quiet glare.

"I second that," Ryan declared as he shined the flashlight at a bush. A rabbit scurried out of it, which probably meant that it was safe, seeing as how nothing was eating the rabbit. Ryan remembered how their little adventure started off, with David being attacked by a hiker zombie, followed shortly by a zombie dog pack coming after them. Ryan scanned the nearby trees, checking to see which ones were easiest to climb. That's what had saved them from the pack, hiding from them and one unlucky deer who had led the pack off before they could smell the human prey above them. This time, we'll fight back, Ryan thought as he patted his M16.

Unlike their first trek through the forest, this one was danger-free...so far. No sign of zombies, z-dogs, or anything else which had plagued David, Tiffany, and the others. The worst moment was when they had to cross a wide meadow. With no trees to climb and to be out in the open, the meadow with its flowers and low grass had been a terrifying place. Ryan's first thought was to simply go around it. Kevin had shot down that idea, pointing out that unless they found the opposite spot, they'd risk getting lost. After a long moment of observation, all four of them had sprinted across the clearing. The seconds had felt like hours as Ryan's ears waited to hear a growl, a moan, any noise that told them they were prey and the predator had come.

But no. They reached the other side with gasping breaths, hurting sides, but with nothing chasing their tails. From now on, I'm always carrying a compass, Ryan swore. He looked up out of the tree line and saw something that promised to bring sweet relief to all of them. The black sky receded as a gray and blue one slowly advanced. It's almost dawn, thank God.

Ryan couldn't wait for the towering skyscrapers of Raccoon City to break through the tree line into sight. He wanted to finally see something familiar, something denied to him at the Umbrella training facility. When David first mentioned the place, for half a second, Ryan wondered if it was like the mansion or the Hive in the first Resident Evil film. It wasn't. The monsters were familiar, but everything else wasn't. There was no Rebecca, Billy, Kevin, or Edward in the movies. No giant leeches either.

I wonder if there is an Alice in the game series. I should ask David that next time I see him. Ryan's thoughts turned to his friend and the others who weren't with them. David, Tiffany, Rebecca, and Enrico were on their way to the Umbrella main labs. No doubt they would have to go through more of Umbrella's unleashed insanity before they'd make it safely back to the city. Ryan wasn't too worried about it though. David, unlike everyone else, was intimately familiar with the video games and had gotten most of them through the night, with the exceptions of his fellow soldiers, ironically enough. Tiffany would probably survive too, Ryan guessed. She's crazy...but she seems to be just the right kind of crazy for this sort of thing. Enrico appeared to be a tough and level-headed officer and Ryan doubted any monster could take him down, now that the leader of STARS Bravo team had a grenade launcher. And Rebecca, so long as she's with Tiffany or David, I'm sure she'll be fine.

Ryan patted his pocket as his thoughts reminded him of his mission. It's simple enough. Get to the city, get to STARS, give them the coordinates to the Umbrella Labs, they'll go, give David and the others back-up, we stay, get Kevin to the hospital and hold tight until they come back. Don't worry, David. I won't let you down. The football player took another step though a thick line of greenery and was surprised when his foot landed on flat terrain. He paused and shined his flashlight around him.

A simple dirt path cut through the woods as it curved and bended around trees. "Finally. A sign of civilization," Ryan declared as he stepped into the path's center. He tried to get an idea of how far it went, but thanks to how it wound, he couldn't see much farther than a half dozen yards.

"This is a good sign," Kevin echoed. "This is the trail that connects Raccoon City to nearby Marble City. If we go right, we'll back in Raccoon in no time."

Lindsay threw a quizzical glance at the pilot. Ryan voiced her question. "Marble City? Is that really the other town's name?"

"Yes. Why?"

"Whoever came up with these names aren't very imaginative," Ryan stated as he restarted, traveling on the new route. "I bet half the buildings look like ancient Greek stuff."

"Actually, the name Marble isn't about the rock, but it comes from the nearby Marble River. It's the largest river in the region," Kevin explained as he glanced outward.

"Got it," the high school student replied, his interest waning as they marched on. At first, Ryan thought it was a boon that they found the nature trail. Now, they didn't have to worry about tripping over rocks or falling into holes. However, the longer they walked, the more exposed Ryan felt. It's pretty easy to notice us. I mean, we weren't very stealthy breaking branches, but every time we take a step here, we make a crunch. His mind unwilling focused on the sound as the four of them walked. Crunch, crunch, crunch, crunch, crunch, crunch. After moments, Ryan refused to believe anything nearby couldn't hear the cacophony they made. Argh! Just, chill man. It's gonna be alright. Just walk down this trail, get to the City, and we're safe. ...maybe if we ran down the path, it'd be better. I mean, with all of the racket we're making, how can we possibly hear anything coming at us? Ryan took a deep breath as he tried to expel his fear. Stop it. Gotta be strong. For Lindsay. He glanced behind him and shot a confident grin at his girlfriend. The brown-eyed girl returned a reassuring smile before reaching forward and grabbing his wrist, since his hands were occupied. The fear retreated from the affection stoking his heart. We'll be fine.

"What's that?" Gordon asked from behind. The group stopped and Ryan immediately noticed what Gordon referred to, and silently berated himself for not catching it sooner. Ahead of them on the left side of the path, the forest fought against man's past industry as it tried to overwhelm a large structure. The group moved forward until they stood at the entrance of a tall, black-iron fence surrounding the structure. What was behind the fence pulled them to a halt.

"It's a hospital," Lindsay whispered as her surprised eyes lingered over the building.

"What's left of one," Gordon added as he stared uneasily at the structure.

Ryan felt as unnerved as he scanned the building with the flashlight. Nature had yet to break its walls, but time and storms had left broken windows, leaving jagged holes that stared at Ryan. Fingers of old paint clutched and cracked as it peeled off the walls. Vines slithered over it, while plants and grass crowded at its foundations. Ryan jerked the flashlight toward one broken window, but the shape he thought he saw wasn't there. Please tell me I'm just seeing things. "What's a hospital doing all the way out here?"

Kevin stared at it, focusing on the rusted front door. "It was supposed to be for injured hikers and for people living on the edge of the city. There's an actual helipad on top so rescue teams could deploy rapidly, but there was an accident years ago and closed it all down."

Ryan shifted his gaze to the pilot. "What kind of accident?"

The pseudo-STARS member shrugged. "Don't remember. There are all kinds of rumors flying around, including ghost stories. It's become Raccoon City's resident haunted site. Either way, it's not our problem. Keep moving."

Ryan happily complied.

"Does that mean we're close?" Gordon prompted as he finished his last look at the place.

"Very close," Kevin answered, "There's a suspension bridge not too far from here. Beyond that, it's a twenty-minute walk until we reach the city limits. On the other side of the bridge, the path converges with the other nature trails. Just remember the general direction to go, and we should be fine." He looked up. The darkness had relinquished the sky, and there was enough light that the flashlight was dimming in comparison. "There's only one other landmark after the bridge, but we might not see it if dawn doesn't get here soon. Off the main path is a log cabin belonging to an old doctor. If you see that, that means you're on the right trail."

"Is he still there?" Lindsay inquired.

Kevin nodded. "He's a stubborn old man. He was supposed to leave the forest once the police department closed the forest to civilians, but he refuses to budge."

Lindsay frowned worriedly. "Why haven't they simply escorted him out? It's very dangerous out here."

"We've sent a few officers to do just that," Kevin affirmed. "But the old coot knows this forest better than our men. Each time we've sent someone out, he always finds out we're coming and leaves the cabin. We've tried to search the forest, but that was fruitless. Tried to wait him out once, but he stayed out there for two whole days before Chief Irons finally called us back in. Chief said it was a waste of manpower and resources to try to get just one old man out."

"I hope he's alright," Lindsay wished as they rounded another turn. "Maybe we should check the cabin on our way back? What are the chances of him being awake at this hour?"

"We have our orders," Kevin pointedly reminded her as he pushed a rogue tree branch away from his face.

"What's the harm?" Ryan added while he kept his eyes forward. "We're already on our way out. There's no way he'd know we're coming from inside the forest. Sounds like the perfect opportunity to knock out two birds with one stone."

Kevin studied the group hesitantly. In particular, he focused on Gordon. "If he tries to resist and we have to use force, you realize you'll have to be the one to carry him out?" The pilot glared at his broken fingers for a moment before he looked back at Gordon. "I'm injured, Lindsay won't be strong enough to offer much support, and Ryan has to keep an eye out since he's on point."

Gordon considered his answer. Lindsay aimed a hopeful look at him, while Ryan turned around to walk backwards. The smaller cousin alternated between Gordon and Lindsay; his thoughts plain on his face. Really, Ryan? You'd do anything to make her happy, wouldn't you? I don't like it. I just want to get out of here and just go home. We've already lost two people who dimension-traveled with us. Do you really want to press our luck out here? But under the combined weight of the three stares, Gordon surrendered. "Fine."

Lindsay gifted him with a grateful smile, while Ryan mouthed 'I owe you one'. Gordon agreed. Kevin looked disappointed but returned to his over watch. "Let's be quick then."

Ryan released a triumphant shout after the next turn. "There it is!" He announced as he pointed ahead of them. Crossing a small gorge, a sturdy wooden bridge crossed the gap and beckoned them. The glasses-wearing high-schooler stopped and turned to the others. "We're almost there!"

"RARGH!"

Ice overwhelmed Ryan's heart. The surprise on his companions' face quickly morphed into outright horror in the seconds following the roar. The roar that came from directly behind him. The roar that faded even as the rumble of thunderous footsteps replaced it. Footsteps that ran toward him. Ryan spun around, his fingers desperately fiddling with the rifle's safety.

He saw a shape. Humanoid. He couldn't make out details. Because after a solitary second, something else clenched his attention. The figure rampaging towards him held it. The wooden handle extended out before fitting neatly into an iron head. An iron head in the shape of a wide and very sharp 'D'. Ryan screamed as the axe sliced downward.

And two halves of a pair of glasses fell at his feet.