Chapter One

There Ain't A Hope In Hell

Fighting through streets clustered with dead bodies had never been her strong point. Clambering over bodies strewn out across the pavement, ducking down back alley's with a gun resting close to her chest, safety off with a full clip loaded. Her heart was pounding fast and hard, her breath was rapid and sweat was slipping off her forehead and into her brow as she stole a quick glance behind her.

It's clear, you've been running for ages, take a breather now whilst you can. She thought as she rested herself against the wall to her left side. The wall was damp and it was dark with no light above her to reassure her she was safe, because in a place where bodies were dropping left right and centre next to you and coming after you for your flesh, you were never really safe.

She'd seen it happen to so many people, her brother, her sister, her parents and even her next door neighbours little girl. Each time she was more horrified with how they acted towards her even though she knew that it wasn't them any more. The police had come in to her town and started shooting not just the dead but the innocent ones as well, she'd escaped just barely and was now on the run from them with her dad's 9mm pressed tightly to her chest still.

Eleanor was only 19 years old, she'd just started her training with the local police force to follow in her father's footsteps, a S.T.A.R.S Officer. She had always been fascinated by guns and helping people and her dad's work had always looked rewarding when he came home so she'd thought 'why not me as well'.

Her father had always been edgy about her following in his footsteps but had eased off a little once she'd passed the tests involved before training, he realised that unlike her brother she had a solid and smart head screwed on and was as stubborn as he was at that age.

A shuffling sound coming from behind her in the alley followed by some moans made Eleanor drop down in to a crouch position behind a big dustbin not far behind her. As she tried her hardest to steady her breathing she began peeking around the corner to see if she could pin point where the noises were coming from. There! It's getting closer, as she squinted her eyes around the dustbin she could see a tall, broad figure pulling themselves along the side of the wall in front of her, a gun dangling from the free hand and as clear as day she could see the familiar logo on his chest. He's a S.T.A.R.S member!

Cautiously she stood up from behind the bin and made her presence known to him only to be greeted by the figure in a attack position with his gun focused in on just between her eyes. Instantly her arms were thrown in to the air and her words to follow were of no sense to anyone but him it seemed.

"I'm not dead, I'm running, hiding, please I'm only 19,"

With some hesitation he began to lower his weapon as he walked slowly towards her, again her heart started throbbing as if it may burst from her chest any second with every foot closer he got. Once he came in to proper view she could see he was a tall dark haired man in his twenties, he had a ruggish look about his face and there were some cuts on his body masked by the dirt and dust that had started to cling to his open wounds, making it look like he'd just come from war.

Standing in awe at what looked to be her salvation from this hell she began to reach out to make sure he wasn't just a figment of her imagination. When she ran her hand across his arm a smile began to crease up on the side of his lips and she quickly snapped her hand back by her side.

"Sorry, I just had to be sure, I haven't seen anybody … Alive in so many hours.."

"It's understandable, don't worry about it. The police and the S.W.A.T they have all been over run with those bodies, I'm pretty sure that many of those aren't survivors any more either."

His voice was rough from all the dust flying around and the obvious running he'd been doing but to Eleanor it was the sweetest sound she'd heard for days and she couldn't help but stand in amazement listening and hanging on to his every word.

"My name's Eleanor Wood, I had just started my training with the local police force to become a S.T.A.R.S member," He smiled at her gently.

"Chris Redfield, S.T.A.R.S member already as you can see," He said with a smile as he tapped her left chest pocket.

"You need no introduction Chris, you're a legend around these parts of the city. Didn't you lead a team up to Spencer Mansion just recently because of some report?"

Chris shifted his position and avoided her gaze before finally replying.

"How did you hear about that? Nobody was supposed to of known about that," His voice was sharp as he spoke as if he knew who'd leaked the information before he even spoke the question.

"It was on the news, the reporter said that it was the cause for all this hell, she said that the source didn't wish to be revealed but that what ever went on at Spencer Mansion was the reason as to why it was now happening in Raccoon City."

Eleanor began to feel uneasy in Chris' presence now and began to shuffle herself more towards the back of the bin again. She could see the rage building inside him plastered all over his face, the force at which Chris struck the bin made her shrink down behind it for the fear that he might suddenly lash out at her. A man that size would dislodge all her joints in her fragile little body.

He frowned and thrust his hand out towards her face as a gesture.

"I'm sorry, sometimes I let my temper get the better of me sometimes, I'm not going to hurt you though. That I can promise."

She reached up to his hand with her own her face still showing signs of fear and he yanked her back to her feet.

"We need to get out of this alleyway we're not safe here, did you try that door there?" he pointed towards a wooden door that was a few paces behind where she was stood and she shook her head.

"No I was catching my breath and then I ducked for cover when I heard you coming up the alley."

"Well, we can have a look now, sorry for scaring you by the way I didn't even know anyone was alive. I need to attend to some of these wounds before we make a plan to do anything else though," with that said he grabbed her hand and started to pull her alongside him towards the door keeping his eyes peeled for any movement in the alleyway in front of them and behind them.

Pressing his ear against the door and one hand on the handle he listened closely for a few seconds to see if he could hear anything from inside. He placed his finger to her lips as he tried to push the door open gently, but unfortunately he was having no luck with it. He tried a harder push by shoving his shoulder in to the door as well but again there was no luck. He then began to scan the surrounding area of the door for any other ways of getting in, just above the door there was a window it was dark inside and the window was wedged open a little bit, he looked at Eleanor and then back up towards the window as if judging whether she'd fit through it or not.

"If I boost you up to that window, you can probably squeeze through that gap, I think the door is locked from the inside, maybe you can unlock it from the inside for me. There is no way I can get through the gap and it doesn't sound as if there is anything or anyone inside but you have a gun if there is."

"Yeah that should work out fine, but what if there isn't no lock on the other side, then what will we do?"

"Hadn't really thought about that to be honest with you, but just tap on the door and tell me, I'll just have to find another way in, you've managed this long on your own I'm sure that a few more minutes wouldn't kill you." He joked but her face had a streak of panic as he finished the sentence off. "Don't worry, you'll be fine I'm not going anywhere. It takes more than a few dead bodies to take me down sweet." He winked as he placed his hands down, palms up for her to step on.

As he hoisted her up towards the window she began to quickly scan the area below before pulling herself through the small gap between the window frame and the window. It was almost pitch black inside the building and decay thickly laced the air inside, she had to stop herself twice from vomiting before she started breathing through a piece of cloth she had stuffed in to her pocket before she left her house.

There wasn't a lot of light to guide her around so she ran her hand down the door to find a lock, there was a bolt near the top of the door which she could clearly make out but she couldn't really find much else so she undid the bolt and tried the door. Still not budging an inch, so then she tapped on the door to Chris.

"I undid the bolt at the top of the door but I can't seem to find any other kind of lock and it's not budging still, what should I do?"

"Move back from the door, I'm going to see if I can budge it open with my shoulder now the bolt isn't on."

Quickly she stumbled backwards as much as possible as to not get struck by the door when it opened. Two loud thuds against the door sounded shortly afterwards and then on the third and final time part of the door frame snapped and the door finally came free. Chris was stood in the doorway panting and smiling at her.

"Like I tell everyone, third one is always the charm."

"Well at least there is a little more light to guide us through this chaos in here," she smiled and turned towards the room that they were now standing in. Chris strolled inside and took a quick look around the immediate area around him.

"The smell should give us a little cover as well for a short time although I couldn't say for how long we'll be okay for."

"It's okay we don't need a lot of time to attend to your wounds and have a look around, they're only a few scratches."

"Know something about first aid do you?"

"Certified first aider, not just a pretty face with a gun you know," she started clearing some papers and boxes off of a table nearby to create room for Chris to sit down on whilst she attended to his wounds. Once she had finished creating room she motioned for him to take a seat in front of her on the table, as he did so a little more light was let in to the room from where he was stood in the way of the doorway. She grinned at him before pulling her bag around from her back and placing it beside where Chris was now sat.

"Do you need some more light or are you okay?" Out of her bag she pulled a small torch which she fit neatly on to her shoulder and turned it on.

"I'm well prepared Chris, don't worry." She laughed as she pulled out some cotton wool and a small bottle of what looked like vodka also from the main pocket on her back pack. Carefully she began to unscrew the top and pulled a bit of cotton wool off of the roll she now held in her other hand and doused it in the liquid.

"This is going to sting a little for a few minutes probably but it's the best thing to clean a wound alcohol is."

"I know, it's what we use when we're out on a call, it's one of the reasons we always carry a bottle of it with us. Better than any antiseptic cream or lotion." He laughed also.

As she began dabbing at his cuts on his face he scrunched it up and let out a hiss of discomfort. She began laughing as she dabbed away at the dust and blood on his face.

"I did warn you it would hurt, but like I said there was only a few scratches, no stitches required and I'm done now."

"Well that's the gentlest wound clean I've ever had, thanks."

Chris pushed himself off of the table and picked his gun back up, slowly he walked back towards the open door way and peeked outside.

"We're still okay here so shall we have a nose around see if there is anything of use in here?" Eleanor nodded as she finished packing the rest of her stuff back in her bag leaving just her light attached to her shoulder.

As they walked forwards they noticed that the room was split in to 2 different sections, each with a door leading in to the separate rooms.

"If I take the right room and you take the left room it will get done a lot faster, if that is okay with you?"

"That's fine with me, like you said I've managed to stay alive till now what's a few extra minutes ey?" She smiled at him before raising her gun back to her chest and proceeding towards the doorway to the left of them.

She placed her free hand on the door handle and pushed it downwards and forwards, there was barely any light at all in this room it made her thankful that she had brought her light with her. The room was a standard box room with a desk in the far right corner, on top was a dusty old computer and some papers to the side and on the floor surrounding the desk, the office I'd imagine, she thought to herself as she walked forwards in the room.

As she shone the light around the room she didn't really spot anything that would be of any help to them unless they were planning on writing letters to each other in the near future so she brushed past everything quickly before moving towards the desk itself.

On top of the desk next to the computer's mouse was a framed picture of a small girl with blonde hair and a woman in her thirties, the picture frame was dirty and the glass was slightly cracked. Below the desk were 2 draws either side of where the battered and dusty computer chair sat, carefully she opened them one by one starting with the top left side.

There wasn't really much to find in the first 3 draws, some paperwork, pictures, chewing gum, office supplies but it was the fourth draw that proved usefulness to her when she had finally broken the lock on it. Inside there was a pistol with some ammo neatly stacked in a box, some first aid things like bandages, plasters, just the usual stuff you'd find in an office first aid and there was 2 torches with some batteries in a pack right at the back.

Fulfilled by her find she stood up again and headed back towards the doorway hoping that Chris had also found some useful items as well.

Chris pushed the door open gently and did a quick scan of the room before entering. It was cluttered with boxes along each side, probably a storage room, carefully he closed the door behind him as he walked in further, he noticed that there was a window closer to the ceiling on the opposite side of the room. It was small and very cramped in the room and with Chris' size it would of probably been better giving Eleanor this room to search instead.

He started sifting through the boxes only to be rewarded with some vending machine food and cans in a couple of the boxes, the rest just contained office supplies and cleaning supplies that were probably for the cleaner that used to come here every morning to clean before it opened up to the workers.

He began packing some essential food and drink supplies in to the bag that he had found slumped over in the corner of the room and placed it on his back again once he was done. As he stood back up the hairs on the back of his neck began to spike with an unnerving sound coming from just outside the door. God I hope she hasn't come out of that room yet. He crept closer to the door and peeked through the window just above to see if he could get a better view of the hallway outside.

Eleanor gently pulled the blinds to the side on the window facing into the hallway and dropped her jaw in horror at what was making the noise. There were 7 or more figures that she had counted aimlessly sifting through the room groaning as if they were pain each with unique stains down what was left of their clothes, some of which who were missing parts of there body.

The smell of decaying flesh leaked in through the cracks of the door making her gasp for clean air. She looked over towards where Chris had gone and noticed that he also was peering out through a window and trying to signal her. Before she realised it she had forgotten to switch her light off and dropped the blind back in place and frantically fiddled around for the button.

She paused for a second and let out a sigh of relief once she had done it and moved back to peer out the window again only to be greeted by a face against the window, eyes empty, face falling to pieces and saliva running down the creatures face. Almost instantly she jumped back and let out a shriek of horror before dropping down to the floor. Oh great you've done it now Eleanor.

Chris winced his face up as the smell poured in through the gap below the door, the smell was almost unbearable but he kept his face by the window in the hopes that Eleanor would come back to the window so he could signal to her. Finally she peeked through the opposite side before where the horrific creature was still pressed moaning and clawing at the window as a couple of the others began clawing at the door to the right of it.

Her face was a mask of horror as she stared at Chris, she was stunned in that room alone, she was looking to him for a way out. He smiled and pointed towards himself then to the hallway. No, he can't seriously be thinking about going out there with all those things walking about just outside. She shook her head frantically at him indicating that she wasn't okay with this plan but that had no effect on Chris because he had already carefully opened his door and stepped out in to the hallway.

He raised his gun up and aimed it at the closest that had noticed him enter the hallway, it began clambering towards him with hunger filling it's eyes and saliva filling it's mouth as it's outstretched arms began swinging towards him trying to grip onto something to steady it's fumbling feet.

Chris did a quick check for a getaway before he whistled for the attention of all the creatures, instantly they all began turning there bodies towards him and groaning in sync with hunger controlling their every motion that they made towards him.

As the creatures began advancing on Chris he looked towards the window where Eleanor was still stood in horror and smiled.

"Eleanor, make a run for it. Now!" Once he'd belted this order out he popped a shot off into the head of the creature that was now about to sink it's mangled teeth into his outstretched arm and spun on his heel before releasing another shot into another advancing creature. Eleanor slid herself out of the room and made a dash for the open door on the other side only to be stopped by a creature that was waiting just outside with four others close behind it. Frozen in fear she began to stumble back from where she had run from, Chris noticed her stumbling back towards the arms of one of the creatures and tried shouting her to move.

"Eleanor! Behind you!" He dealt an elbow to a creature that was in his way as he dashed towards where Eleanor was frozen in fear, as he approached the creature ready for Eleanor he grabbed the top of it's head and the bottom of it's jaw and with one sharp movement snapped it's neck and jaw and dropped the body to the ground.

"Snap out of it, quick back up in to the room you were in I'll be right behind you, go now!" He shouted as he turned her around and shoved her back towards the office.

As he closed the door behind them he sighed with relief before moving towards the desk. He ragged the computer monitor from the table and flung all the other items across onto the floor as well. He placed himself steady behind the other side and began shoving the table towards the door.

"Help me push this, quick before they get in!"

She ran to his side and began pushing the table with him and in a couple of seconds they had the door wedged shut with the table. They both dropped down in front of the table and began trying to steady their breathing.

"What now Chris?"

"Now we go to plan B, because there are far too many out there for us to deal with and come out alive at the end. They must of heard us or something."

"I'm sorry, I just froze on the spot and almost got us both killed"

"Don't worry about it, you're only young I can't expect too much from you, but we're not out of the woods yet, that table won't hold forever. Does that window open?"

"I'm not sure I never tried it,"

"Where does it lead to?"

"The main street, why?"

"Because that's going to be our escape, come on let's go before more of those things turn up."

Chris helped her to her feet and dragged her towards the window, he peered outside and could see only a few creatures lurking around but none that were close enough to cause any interruption to his operation. He scanned the area for cover and saw that their best option was an open car just in front of the building that they were in.

"Right, when I help you out of this window you need to run and duck down behind that car just there, okay? I'll be following right behind you don't worry." He said as he pointed to the beaten up car. She nodded towards Chris and took in a deep breath.

As he opened the window he heard the door behind him breaking and the glass shattering to the side of it.

"Quick! Run now,"

He watched as Eleanor made it safely towards the car door and began pulling himself through the window. Before he dropped himself out through he glanced back in to the room and saw that they had begun to drag themselves through the shattered window and were now crawling over the table in front of the broken door towards him.

He dropped into a crouch position and scurried across to Eleanor.

"We can't stay here either, follow me"

Without hesitation Chris began leading her forwards with his gun close to his side and Eleanor almost glued to his other side as they began making their way through the dangerous streets of Raccoon City.