Resident Evil: Catalyst

Prologue

A waitress placed a pint of beer in front of Jacks. Thanking her, Jacks picked up the large glass and took a massive drink from it. The noise of the pub was loud as people drank their drinks, cheered and chatted loudly to each other.

Jacks took another mouthful of his drink, as he leaned against the bar, one hand supporting his head the other holding his glass. "You on leave?", the waitress asked him as she appeared in front of him, cleaning a glass.

"Yeah...", Jacks replied.

"Navy or army?", she questioned.

"Navy... now if you don't mind, I'd like to be left alone", Jacks replied without looking up at her.

"My dad used to be in the navy... his ship was destroyed in the Falklands", she carried on, seeming to ignore what he said.

"That's the way the world works", Jacks replied, "you fight for what you believe in. You either make it or die". He turned his attention up to the T.V. that was hanging above the bar. "Can I watch the football in peace now?", he asked. The waitress must have looked up at the T.V. that was showing two teams kicking a ball up and down a field, as she then asked, "Liverpool or Chelsea fan?".

"Neither, I just want to be alone", Jacks replied bluntly.

The waitress didn't say anymore and must have walked off, as when he looked away from the T.V. she was gone. Shaking his head Jacks took another swig of his pint, before deciding to just watch the T.V. He wasn't going anywhere anytime soon.

The match ended by the time he was halfway through his second pint. Liverpool won by 1-0. Now the evening news was being shown. Sighing, Jacks looked at the clock on the screen, it was only eight in the evening. Downing the rest of his drink, Jacks ordered another and waited for it to arrive, as he did the news reporter suddenly stopped whatever she was saying as the words 'Breaking news - outbreak in Washington DC', began to roll along the bottom. The news reporter was talking but there was no sound being played, only subtitles.

"Hey, can you turn it up?", Jacks called to one of the bartenders without even looking over at them. Soon the volume bar appeared on the T.V. and the T.V. started to talk over the loud commotion in the pub.

"-An outbreak has occurred in Washington earlier today. A contaminated area has been quarantined off and survivors are being checked as we speak, this is the third bioterrorism attack in the past two years. We still don't know who is to blame, but the outbreak seems to be under control... more on the story later... we have a specialist in bioterrorism talking to us in just a moment-".

"Poor bastards", Jacks murmured as he turned away from the T.V. to finish his drink. He stared down at the glass deep in thought. "Fuck it", he muttered as he got up off his stool. "Make sure none of these buggers takes my drink", Jacks told the waitress as she stood cleaning glasses, she nodded her head as Jacks walked away from the bar, to the back of the pub.

He approached the old phone that had been hanging on the wall at the back of the pub for years. Rooting through his pockets Jacks found some loose change, putting them into the coin slot. Taking the phone and turning the old rotary phone disk. He waited as the phone rang. Mindlessly he pulled and played with the phone cord.

"Hello?", his sister's voice asked as she picked the phone up. Jacks was going to say something but found himself lost for words. 'Shit. Do I apologise for not seeing her for so long or do I pretend it hasn't been years?', Jacks thought as he tried to find something to say.

"If this is another one of those calls where you put the phone down on me, just fuck off and stop calling", his sister suddenly said.

"That's one way to talk to your brother, Emma", Jacks teased.