Resident Evil S.T.A.R.S Case Files #1. The Mansion Incident

The Infection

"He bit a good chunk outta me," Kenneth said to me as I treated his wound.
"Don't think about it. We have things we need to do," I said trying to help him.
"Come on, Jeremy," he said. "We know how this ends we've seen the movies."
"No. I don't know how this ends. We don't know how this works yet it could be completely different for all we know."
"I hope you're right. Otherwise I'll be one of those things by dawn."

The infection inside his body, as we later discovered, could kill 6 elephants within 6 hours. So it could kill a human within 30 minutes. He had a hell of a strong resilience to this virus considering he had been bitten 20 minutes before I saved his life.

I called Chris and Jill on my radio.
"This is Jeremy. Chris, Jill can you read me?"
"Chris here, coming in loud and clear, Jeremy."
"Yes we read you," Jill piped in.
"I found Kenneth. One of those things bit him. I treated the wound."
"Oh thank god," Jill said.
"Wait we? Barry, where's Barry?" Chris asked.
"I don't know, after I found Kenneth the bastard disappeared. Maybe one of those things came in and he has to run. I don't know."
"Jesus, we're losing too many people." Jill said.
"Yeah no kidding." I said. "I'm gonna report back to Wesker. Stay safe you two. Jeremy out."

I told Kenneth to stay in the dining room since he had lost so much blood. After that I opened the doors to go back to the main hall. Wesker was no where to be seen.

"Wesker!" I yelled but to no prevail.

I looked around, not a person, zombie, creature or mouse was in the area. Somehow I felt a little peaceful in that lit entrance hall. I felt at ease as if maybe I was just dreaming and all this was a bad dream. Maybe I hadn't seen my friend Joseph be eaten alive. Maybe I hadn't seen Kevin dead or Edward's hand. Maybe I didn't shoot a man and watched his blood spill out all on the brown carpet in that hallway. Maybe everything was actually okay and I could go and tell my buddies in the S.T.A.R.S. office about this tomorrow and we'd all have a laugh and a cup of coffee and maybe a smoke every now and again.

Just the thought of that made me pull out my pack of Marlboro Red 100s. I took my lighter out and lit a cigarette and started smoking. The only thing I could hear was the sound of the Grandfather clock ticking in my head. Not the screams or gunshots but the tick.

Tick.....tock......tick......tock.....

I felt like I was going insane. Maybe I was already infected and I'd go eat my friend in the other room in just a couple of minutes. And maybe I'd know I was doing it but couldn't fend off the need for human flesh. The flesh took the pain away, oh yes it did, and those zombies were sick of pain and misery. They wanted flesh, no they needed flesh. They needed bones and brains and blood and guts and they wouldn't stop unless they died again or they got their wish. This infection didn't make you just a zombie, no it kept you alive for a little, leg you start to crave the hunger. Then it would strike like a tiger. Suddenly you'd be looking through the dead pale eyes of the monster. Looking for a hot meal for yourself to enjoy.

I snapped out of it, looking at my hands in disgust in the thought in my head. My cigarette had burnt out. How long had I say there? An hour? Maybe a day? Maybe all my friends were already dead and I was the sole survivor of this freak accident.

I threw the cigarette at the wall in anger. Then I called Chris and Jill once again to tell the what had happened.

"Jeremy here. Wesker's also gone," I said angry at myself.
"What? What the hell is going on?" Chris yelled.
"Do you know where he went?" Jill asked.
"No," I said. "I'll keep a look out. But I have to stay and help Kenneth around. Maybe I can find a room for him to sleep in while he heals. He lost a lot of blood. I'll check in with you guys once I find a room for him."
"Keep in touch, Jeremy," Chris said,"over and out."

I walked back in, Kenneth looked like shit. He was coughing and wheezing. I felt awful for not getting to him sooner.

"Kenneth, let's get out of here!" I said to him.
"Where's Wesker?" He asked looking up.

His eyes were sunken into their sockets. His skin was starting to turn pale just like the zombie I had saw in the hallway.

"He's gone too," I said putting one of his arms around my shoulder for support.
"Where'd he go?"
"I don't know. What matters right now is getting you to a safer location."
"Okay, where are we going?"
"You ask a lot of questions, Kenneth," I said jokingly trying to lighten the mood.
"I'm a chemist, my job is the ask questions," he said chuckling a bit then instantly wincing at the pain in his abdomen.
"You'll be okay. Just don't stop walking," I said and started our journey.

We entered the hallway where the zombie was before. It lay there, dead as a door nail, or so I thought.

We walked by the sofa in that room and entered a door that led to another hallway.
"This place is like a fucking maze," I said and kept going. I didn't know how literal that statement would become.

We approached a staircase.
"Think you can do it?" I asked.
"We don't have a choice," he said back without looking up.

It took us 5 minutes to get up those stairs. I practically pulled Kenneth up them at some points. I could tell he was getting weaker at the minute. I think he was right. He would soon become a monster.

I threw that thought away and entered the oak door at the top. Once I opened it I heard a familiar moan. Those zombies were here. I had to set Kenneth down and scope out the room. It  looked like a guest room hallways. Doors down the hallway with their respective numbers of them. This place was safe at one point. Not anymore.

Three zombies walked down the hall. Each one with their own craving for the flesh on my body. I unloaded my ammo onto them and aimed for the head. They went down like flies.

I picked up Kenneth and went into one of the rooms. It looked like a giant medicine cabinet. Many prescription drugs and medicines were on the shelves in the room. The shelves themself being filled to the brim. Maybe there was something here that could help Kenneth.

He had a high fever. So I have him ibuprofen to help. I sat him down on the bed.
"How are you feeling?"
"Like absolute dog shit," he said back.
"Okay well maybe this will help," I said giving him the medicine.

He took two tablets and lay down resting his head on the one pillow on the completely white bed. I hoped he would be okay, all I could do at this point was hope.

"Chris come on. I found a room for Kenneth to stay in. Can you make it to over to the second floor of the east wing? I'm in room 237."
"We're on our way," he said. "How's Kenneth doing?"
"Not good. We need to find Rebecca. She can help him more than any of us."
"Right. We're coming."

I stepped out of the room to check for any more monsters. The only I saw were the ones I killed.

Then something caught my eye. It was shiny and green in the shape of a triangle, only it was attached to something. I walked over and saw it was an arrowhead attacked to an arrow itself. It was sticking out of a bust of an old man.

I pulled it out. The arrow was made of stone but the arrowhead was made of ivory. It was green and smooth to the touch. When I pulled the arrow out of the head just