One Night in Raccoon College

September 24^th 1998

Scott sat in his dorm room, enjoying the rare localized silence of the dorms. It was Friday night, the night of the big football game. It was only during this time that Scott could seem to get any silence, but he knew it wouldn't last. Win or lose, after the game he knew he was in for a night of loud parties both in the dorms and in the frat houses in frat house row that went along the edge of campus. It was extra quiet right now because this was one of the biggest games of the year, the night that his school played their rivals. Scott got lost in his reading and the soothing music that he was listening to on his headphones. When Scott finally checked his watch he saw that it was nearly 10 pm and he hadn't heard and felt the boom of the after game fireworks he put his pen down and took off his headphones. All around him was quiet, there weren't any of the usual sounds of inebriated college students.

Scott pulled back the curtains from his window and looked out towards the stadium. It was a hulking metal monster that stood out against the mountains and woods of Racoon city. It had a dome that could open and close on top of it. It was closed now since there was a chance it was going to rain that night. The Umbrella stadium had just finished construction at the start of this year. Scott was a Junior and had had to put up with the construction taking up so much of the campus for two years already, but he knew he was lucky, the stadium had been under construction for six years before it was finally completed so he could have spent his entire college experience having to deal with the dust and reduced access to campus. Many had wondered why it had taken so long to build, including Scott. He was studying to get into the medical field, and while he could respect all the good that Umbrella was doing for the city, he also didn't like it. Umbrella had a way of crushing and absorbing most pharmaceutical companies that it found itself competing against, and Scott knew that if he continued to pursue a medical degree in Racoon City then he was bound to have dealings with some of its representatives at some point in his future.

Scott was confused when he looked out the window and saw how the stadium's bright parking lot was still crowded with cars, it looked like no one had left the game yet which was odd. Scott Scanned the campus and didn't see anyone out in the streets or near the buildings. Fraternity and sorority row seemed to be a ghost town too, he should be able to see the overflow of students leaking out of the houses as they partied. Scott opened up his window and listened to the night. All he could hear was wind rustling the trees that seemed to echo through them in an odd way, almost as if in a groan. Scott closed his window.

Scott's stomach started to rumble and he was thirsty, he had been studying for hours straight so he decided to head downstairs to the vending machines to get something to snack on. Scott walked down two flights of stairs to the ground floor of the dorm. The common room was surprisingly empty, there was almost always someone down there either studying in the plush chairs or watching T.V. Scott walked through the dorm's kitchen and entered the side room that had several vending machines. Scott made his selection and started to put his money in. As the coins rattled into the machine he heard a strange thumping noise. Scott looked out towards the glass door of the snack room that opened up out into the campus but he didn't see anyone. Scott went back to putting the last coins into the vending machine when he heard the thump again, this time louder. Scott looked out into the darkness of the door again, but he didn't see anything out there. Scott was reaching down to get his drink, facing away from the door when the glass shattered apart. Scott jumped up and saw a burly student whose body was painted their school colors fall into the room. Shards of glass were embedded into him and his body was covered in blood, he lay still on the ground.

"Fuck, are you ok?" Scott asked, thinking that the student was just incredibly drunk, he had seen a lot of odd things around campus thanks to drunk students. Scott started to inch closer to the guy, wanting to help him out. Scott thought that the game must have gone into overtime and was just getting out. This drunk was the first of many that he was going to have to deal with tonight. As Scott started to reach down for him he heard the man's labored breathing that sounded like a raspy moan. Scott didn't have to be a medical student to know that the man wasn't well. Scott found a spot on the man's neck that was blood and glass free and felt for his pulse. Scott was confused, he could hear the man breathing in that raspy way, but he couldn't find his pulse. The man's eyes were closed and even underneath his facepaint, the man's coloring didn't look right. Scott was starting to stand up when the man's eyes snapped open. They had a film over them that made them look milky. The man opened up his mouth and snapped at Scott's hand. Scott managed to pull his hand back just fast enough to avoid the man's bite.

"What the hell!" Scott said as he backed away from the man. The bloody man staggered to his feet, looked at Scott with his milky eyes, and let out a loud groan that didn't sound human. Scott started to back up out of the snack room. The man took a shambling step towards Scott, his lips pulling back from his teeth showing his discolored gums and teeth that were stained with blood. "Stay back. I will call an ambulance for you but stay away from me." The man took another step towards him. "Stay back!" Scott said. When the man didn't Scott threw his can of soda at the man hitting him directly in the head. The man lost his balance and stumbled back. Scott slammed the door between the kitchen and the vending machine room. The door didn't lock so Scott grabbed a nearby chair and braced it against the door handle. A moment later there was a thudding against the door as the man banged against it. Connor's heart was beating frantically in his chest as he stared at the door, wincing with each thud and prayed that the chair held.

Scott pulled one of the drawers out to find a knife, but he pulled the wrong one out, he tried to put it back in but he had pulled too hard and it had come off of its track. "Fuck," Scott said and went to open the next drawer and found a large kitchen knife in it. Keeping his eye on the door, Scott walked out of the kitchen towards the wall of phones on the other side of the kitchen wall. Scott dialed 911 and the phone continued to ring. He could hear the thuds continuing as he stared at the door, seeing the door shake with each hit. Finally someone picked up.

"Raccoon police department,"

"I am at the college campus and there is this guy here, he is all covered in blood and he tried to, he tried to attack me," Scott said. He was going to say how the man had tried to bite him, but couldn't bring himself to say that. Scott wanted to say how the man looked, but he was afraid of saying anything too crazy and making the dispatcher think that it was just some kind of joke.

"Have you been hurt? Where is the man now?" The dispatcher asked.

"I am ok, He is banging against the door in the kitchen, I have it blocked off so he can't get me, but he could still get out," Scott said.

"Officers will be on there way as soon as they can from the stadium, can you go hide somewhere? Is there anyone else around?"

"I can get back to my dorm room, I think I am the only person here, everyone else is still at the game." Scott gave the dispatcher his exact location and described the man for her and then hung up. Scott ran back up to his room and locked the door. He had a fear that the man might give up on the door and go around to the main entrance, but his attacker kept on banging against the door. Scott could just barely hear it up in his room, but it was a sound that now that he was attuned to he couldn't ignore it, in a way it was a good thing the man was being so persistent, because if things got quiet then he wouldn't know where he was at.

Scott looked towards the stadium, waiting for a squad car to drive down towards him, and continued to wait for thirty minutes, the man continued the thud against the door the whole time. Scott wondered what was going on at the stadium, the game should have been over for sure by now, and why hadn't any cops showed up from there? There was usually a good amount of them over there providing extra security. Scott saw a flash of blue and red to his left, towards where the main gate was for the college. Scott leaned out the window he could just barely see the squad car down on the other side of the gate, which was closed. That was weird, the gate was almost always kept open, and it had a motion sensor so it should have opened up for the cops as they pulled up. It was as a huge gothic wrought iron gate that had been around since the college's founding, it was capped with spikes on it. The gate would be difficult to climb, there was little hand holds and even with maintenance the gate was a rust trap.

Scott saw the two police officers get out of their squad car. "Hey, I am over here!" Scott called down at the cops.

"The gate won't open, where is the suspect at?" The officer called back up.

"He is still in the vending machine room next to the kitchen," Scott called down.

The other officer went to the security kiosk to try and get it open. "Ok, this is what I want you to do," the officer started to say. Scott saw from down the road a black dog emerge from the woods. A moment later two more joined it on the road. Something looked off about the dogs, from this distance he could see their fur glistening in the street light and they seemed to be covered in blood. The dogs darted toward the officer. "Behind you," Scott shouted.

The officer turned but he wasn't quick enough. One of the dogs launched up and hit him right in the chest, knocking him down to the ground and against the gate. The Ironwork on the gate was a lot thicker at the bottom of it so it obscured most of Scott's view. Scott could see the dog tearing into the cop as he tried to keep it at bay. The other two dogs darted in and started to attack the downed cop.

The officer who had been in the guard kiosk stepped out with his gun drawn and started to fire down at the dogs. Scott had never heard gunfire from so close as the bangs of it echoed into the eerily quiet night. One of the dogs cried out in pain, but then Scott saw one of them launch into the cop and drive him back into the guard kiosk. There was another gunshot and the sound of glass shattering, and then there was only the sound of the man still banging on the door still. Scott stared down at the scene as two of dogs continued to tear into the police officer by the gate while the other one could barely be seen feeding in the kiosk. Scott could hear the squelching of flesh and the snap of bones as the dug in. Scott threw up out the open window, spitting up mostly bile. Scott put his back to the window and slumped down against the wall under it. He couldn't believe what he had just seen. The thudding from down below continued. Scott put his hands over his ears and drew his knees up against him. None of this was making any sense to Scott. He sat there for a few minutes, trying to tell himself that it was all a bad dream and this wasn't really happening. Scott would have probably stayed there all night if it wasn't for when he heard a call for help out of the window.

Scott looked up out of the window and saw a girl about his age walking down the fraternity road that was parallel to the wall and gate. It was hard to make out what she looked like, she was so covered in blood. For a moment Scott thought that maybe she might be crazy like the man below, but she was moving more life like then that man had. "Hello? Can anybody help me? Is anybody there?" Scott wanted to help her and started to call her over to her, but then he paused for a moment. There was a small voice in Scott's mind that tried to persuade Scott not to let the girl know where he was. He had already tried to help the man below, and he had almost had a chunk bitten out of him as a thank you. Scott knew he wasn't the bravest of people, but it was also in his nature to try and help others, that's why he wanted to become a doctor in the first place.

Scott stood up and called down to the girl, "Hey, I'm over here." The girl saw him and started to run towards him. "Here," Scott said and tossed his keys down to her. They landed in the grass and she bent over to pick them up. "I will meet you in the lobby, stay out of the kitchen!" Scott shouted down to her as she fumbled with the keys.

"Thank you," the girl said, she sounded like she was on the verge of a panic attack as she tried to get inside. Scott ran back out of his room and down the stairs, wishing that he hadn't been assigned a room on the third floor. Scott made it downstairs and heard the water running in the kitchen. Scott went to the kitchen and saw the girl furiously scrubbing at the blood that she was coated in.

"Hey it isn't safe in here," Scott said. As he said it the man on the other side of the door banged against it again loudly. The chair fell away from the door and it slowly swung open. The girl turned and screamed as she saw the man enter into the kitchen. She froze up for a moment in fear as the man reached out for her. Scott rushed to help her but he was on the far side of the kitchen and the vending machine room was close to the sink. Scott moved as fast as he could but he knew that he wouldn't make it to her in time. The man was about to pounce on the girl when she finally thawed out. She reached into the dirty dishes that had been left in the sink and pulled out a cast iron pan. She swung at him and caught him right in the jaw, there was a metallic thump and the sickening sound of the man's jaw breaking. He stumbled back slightly from the blow, but then he kept on coming at the girl. The stumble bought Scott just enough time to make it to her. He put himself in between them and sunk the knife deep into the man's chest where his heart should be. Scott realized that he just killed a man, but then the man kept on coming towards him. The dread of killing someone was replaced with fear as he realized that the man was still not dead even though the knife went right through his heart.

The man grabbed Scott by the shoulders and opened his mouth in a snarl as he leaned down to bite him. Scott strained to keep the man off of him. Scott felt his arms giving out as he strained to keep the man away from him, he kept on snarling as he leaned closer to Scott's neck. Pieces of glass that was embedded into the man stabbed into Scott. Scott pushed with all his might against him, pushing him back a little. Scott then braced one arm against the man, and with his free hand he pulled the knife back out. Scott had to wiggle the knife to be able to free it, and then when the man was a few inches away from Scott's neck Scott slammed the knife up through the soft hollow under the man's chin. The blade slid up through the roof of the man's mouth and into his brain. The man's moan ended abruptly when the knife pierced through his brain and then he crumpled to the ground.

Scott was covered in blood, the girl was standing back near the entrance between the lobby and the kitchen, her eyes were wide with fear. Scott made eye contact with her and he didn't know what to say or do. Scott walked back over to the door that the man had just emerged from. He closed it and rebraced the door, after seeing those dogs out there he wasn't trying to take any chances. The girl seemed to be in shock. Scott walked to her and held out his hand. She stared at it for a moment and then she took his hand. Scott led her to the stairs. "I think we are the only ones here, I am going to go and close the dorm door, It was ajar from when the girl had entered it. She nodded but didn't say anything. When Scott made it to the door he peeked around. Off in the distance, Scott could see a few people walking along the cars of the stadium and near the campus buildings. For a second Scott thought that those were other normal people and that he could go to them to ask for help, but even from this distance he could tell that there wasn't something right about them, they were moving in that same jerky way and with limps that the man who attacked them had. Scott didn't know what was going on, but between the feral dogs outside of the gate and the fact that there seemed to be more crazed people around campus, Scott knew that he was going to be in for a rough night.

Scott stepped backi inside and tried to call the police again but the line just kept on ringing for several minutes. Scott hung up and tried to call again but still, no one answered. Before Scott could try and call a third time the phone line went dead. He stood for a moment, wishing for help, but knowing that help might not come anytime soon.

Scott stepped back outside and looked towards the gate and saw that the dogs were gone now, but with how dark it was and how the tree line was so close to the road, they could easily be hiding a short distance away. Scott saw how close the police officer was to the gate, and he had an idea. It was a crazy one, but Scott didn't think he could just pass the night sitting up in his dorm room. The girl watched him wide eyed from the doorway. Scott walked back to her.

"I have to go outside real quick," Scott told the girl.

Her eyes snapped open and she grabbed his arm, "Don't leave me alone," she pleaded.

"There is a police car just right over there, I am going to go see if I can get one of their radios and then I will be right back. We need to try and call for help, since the phone line is down using their radio might be our only chance to get help and get out of here. Close the door behind me and don't open it up for anyone else."

She held on for a moment and Scott could see she was battling her fear just as Scott was doing. "Ok," She said and let go.

Scott crouched down and tried his best to sneak over to the gate. When he made it he saw that there was a pool of blood that was spreading under the gate. The officer had died with his back up against it. Scott tried to avoid the blood as he reached down for the walkie talkie that was on his utility belt, but it was just a few inches out of his reach. Scott stretched to grab it but it couldn't be done. With a sigh, Scott rested his knee into the blood. The metal of the fence dug into him as he stretched into reach it. That gave him just enough reach to be able to snag the walkie talkie from the police officers utility belt. For a moment as he pulled it away Scott thought that the police officer started to stir so Scott froze up for a moment. The police officer didn't move again. Scott was about to head back when he looked at the cops other hip and he saw the handgun in the holster. The button snap that held the handgun down was already undone, that was all the officer had time to do before the dog had pounced on him. Scott got back down on the ground, both knees in the blood as he reached through the fence again. The handgun was harder to grab then the walkie talkie had been. Scott was just barely able to reach it and he had to use the tip of his finger to slide it free.

Scott was about to pull the handgun free when he heard the clacking sound of claws on asphalt. Scott looked up and one of the dogs he had seen earlier was rushing down the road towards him. Scott desperately tried to pull the handgun free as the dog closed the distance between them. At twenty feet away Scott could see that in a lot of places the dog was missing layers of its black fur, showing in places its red muscles and the stark white of its bones. Scott was about to have to let go of going for the gun when the police officer started to move. Scott knew the man had to be dead from the huge amount of blood pooling around him, and even if he was alive he wouldn't be able to get up, but to Scott's surprise that was exactly what was happening.