"Hey, Claire...it's Chris. I, uh, don't really know how to say this but...no matter what you see on the news, don't come to Raccoon. I promise I'm alright and will continue to be alright no matter what you may see or hear. I swear I'll explain everything later, just...don't come. Please. Everything will be alright, just wait for me to come to you. Talk to you later and, uh...love you."

She had listened to the recording about a hundred and ten times, an ample amount of plays to allow her to memorize even the most minute inflections in his voice and play it over in her head even now as she sped down the highway. Claire assumed Chris must have lost his mind to leave such a cryptic message behind in the wake of his sudden absence and genuinely expect her to not react in some way.

Though they were siblings by blood, Chris and Claire shared a closer relationship than most. Their parents had passed away early on in Claire's childhood and Chris, despite being eleven years old, had taken the initiative to function as a makeshift parent in their stead. It wasn't a role that he managed flawlessly, but Claire admired him for it. She revered him in many ways despite his faults-namely his temper-but she could not understand why he had made the decision to push her away from...whatever was going on.

With a sigh, she leaned back into the worn seat of the old pick-up truck and muted the radio. She was coming within the city limits now and was more than eager to finally walk around again after spending the past three hours driving. Chris would be pissed, for sure, but she figured that his ire wouldn't be able to withstand the insurmountable batting of his baby sister's eyelashes.

At least, that's what she hoped as she passed the obnoxious welcome sign, signaling that she was officially in Raccoon City.

The night was particularly dark given the storm clouds that had rolled in and Claire found herself hovered close to the steering wheel, squinting to try to make out the details of the road once the sudden rain had started. She had been to Raccoon City a few times, but her inability to make out the finer details of landmarks in the rain rendered her weak sense of direction useless.

The red glow of the traffic light bathed everything within the cabin of the truck in a sinister glow. With the reflection of the red light mirrored in the droplets of rain that had collected on the windshield, Claire found the challenge of discerning her surroundings even more difficult.

The light shifted to green and she let off the brake to roll through the intersection, but the whine of an engine in the distance caught her by surprise. The very second she managed to slam on the brakes once more, the entire truck shook as she was t-boned in the side.

The smash of glass and smell of smoke assaulted her senses and she felt the vehicle slide across the pavement despite her frantic pump of the brakes. The repeated thumping of her head against the driver's side window coupled with the sudden surge of adrenaline made it difficult to process what had happened in the moment. With a groan, she opened her eyes to find the windshield splintered in a spidery pattern, the once illuminated dashboard display now dark.

Her head was pounding as her hand fumbled against the door panel in search of the lever. Claire opened her eyes once more, vision blurred, and she let out a soft whine of discomfort as a wave of nausea washed over her.

Somehow, in her groping, she had managed to locate the door lever and yanked on it, causing the door to slide open. Claire, unaware that she had been leaning against the door for leverage, tumbled out with it and fell onto the pavement in a crumpled heap.

The soft pad of her palm burned where it had caught the asphalt and she let out a hiss, hip aching and head pounding. Judging by the warmth of the wetness that trickled down the side of her forehead, she assumed she had broken skin in some unfavorable place.

Claire groaned as she rolled onto her belly and attempted to lift herself off the ground, but the effort was fruitless. Squinting, she was able to discern something through the smoke and the rain, a smashed up hunk of metal that was once a motorcycle as far as she could tell.

Her eyes widened at the discovery and she whipped her head around in search of the driver, the movement too quick and resulting in a head rush. She moaned and pressed her bleeding palm to her forehead as she clenched her eyes shut to will the world to stop spinning so damn fast.

It had all happened so quickly that Claire wasn't sure who was at fault. She was certain that she had checked for oncoming traffic before moving through the light, but the poor weather and foggy mind made her doubt her recollection of events.

She rolled onto her side, a hand braced against the side of her chest to alleviate the sudden stitch that had formed. Claire squinted again as she stared into the grass along the side of the highway and, in the poor lighting, she was able to make out the dark silhouette of a man lying in an unmoving heap in the grass.

Claire felt her heart accelerate. Was he...dead?

She looked back at the wreckage despite the aching in her neck. No, she wasn't a medic, but, based on the scene, the chances of his survival seemed slim.

Dead men tell no tales. She recalled Chris's advice during his lectures on home invasions and self-defense, but it didn't seem applicable in this situation. She didn't know what had happened, but she swore she had checked. The wreckage would support it.

"Hey! Hey! Are you alright?!"

She winced at the sound of a man's voice, each syllable that he uttered seemingly splicing through her skull like a spear. When she opened her eyes, she found herself staring into what she assumed were blue eyes, the rest of him a blur as a result of her apparent head injury.

"Uh, yeah…" She managed to grit out, palm once again pressed to her temple. "I mean...I think…"

"You don't look so good."

His voice was softer this time, less panicked, and, were his words not so ominous, it might have calmed her in some way.

She felt his fingertips brush back the wet strands of hair that clung to her face and heard the sharp intake of air that resulted when he discovered what lay beneath.

"It probably looks worse than it is from the rain, but...we definitely need to get you to a hospital."

Claire shook her head at the suggestion and she heard his sigh.

He stood and surveyed the area, walking the perimeter around the vehicles slowly. She heard the sturdy stepping of his boots and, based on the audible gasp he let out, she assumed he noticed the body in the grass.

She heard him sprint, shoes squelching against the wet placement, and she saw his blurred figure kneel beside the man. Claire attempted to bring herself upward and stand, making it to one knee before stumbling forward again.

"I...he hit me. I didn't see him coming and…" She spluttered, words failing her. "Is he...dead?"

"It's okay," He sounded confident, almost as if simply saying it would make it true, "I'm a cop. I can help."

Claire's vision had corrected slightly, permitting her to make out the angles of his face and the fuzzy outline of R.P.D. emblazoned across his chest. Whether the fact that he was a cop was a blessing or a curse, she wasn't sure.

"Raccoon Police?" She asked and he made an affirmative sound that was accompanied by a nod of his head.

"Oh, thank god."

The tension in her shoulders dissipated and she felt as though a weight had been lifted off of her chest. Without a shadow of a doubt in her mind, she believed that it was, in fact, a blessing to know that the man served in the same precinct as her older brother.

"Look, my brother...he's S.T.A.R.S." She paused for a moment, winded by the pounding in her head.

"Redfield." Claire continued, elaborating further, "Chris Redfield. Do you know him?"

As the image of him fused together, she realized he was roughly the same age as her. He seemed almost too young to be a cop, certainly too young for S.T.A.R.S., and it made something in her gut sink.

"Ah, no…" He admitted, a sheepish look on his face. "But I know of S.T.A.R.S."

"Can you, like...call him or something?"

He paused for a moment, studying her face in the rain before looking back at the body in the grass. With a heavy-hearted sigh, he rose to his feet and offered a hand to assist her to her own.

"Well, we've got a pretty serious accident here, so I'm going to have to call it in."

When her hand slid into his, she was surprised by the warmth that radiated from his skin despite the September rain.

"Come on," he insisted, leaning forward to wrap his free arm around her shoulders to help hoist her upwards, "We need to get out of the rain."

Claire swallowed the whimper that threatened to surface as she wobbled on her feet despite his aid, a bout of nausea blindsiding her like a slap to the face. She took in slow, ragged breaths, attempting to focus on anything but vomiting on the guy beside her.

He helped her shuffle to his car and assisted her to the passenger seat where she sat sideways, legs extended outside the door. She felt him settle into the seat beside her and click on his radio, the static sound of feedback and patter of rain occupying the silence between them.

"This is Badge 422 calling in to report a 10-50. 10-52 requested."

Claire rolled her eyes. Hadn't she told him that her brother was a cop? She didn't need an ambulance, nor did she want one.

"Look, I just want to find my brother and get out of here."

He received no radio response and glossed over her comment to ask, "Command, do you copy?"

Nothing.

"What the hell…" There was a hint of panic in his voice, a slight waver to his words, and Claire, too, had an ominous feeling come over her.

Off the side of the highway, she saw the hunched-over silhouette of a man, blurred by both the rain and her concussion alike. She squinted again, trying to make out his lines beyond the downpour, but to no avail.

"Hey, uh...Officer?" She reached behind her to catch his sleeve, giving it a tug.

The unnatural twist of his neck was the first clue that something was amiss. Though the man's back faced them, his head did too, twisted on his neck to reveal two thirds of his profile. He quickly reached over to grab the handle mounted on the passenger side door and commanded Claire to pull herself into the car.

As soon as she did, he slammed her door shut and exited the vehicle, leaning in the open door to order, "Don't leave the car."

Claire gave him a sideways look, but he didn't acknowledge it and instead shut the door. With a huff, she twisted in her seat to rest her cheek on the headrest as she watched him through the window.

The silhouette staggered, jerking unnaturally as it moved, and she wondered if it was the man who had hit her, but it seemed impossible by all accounts. The cop's lack of urgency upon assessing the man was damning evidence of his likely deceased state.

She reached forward to wipe away the fog that had ghosted over the window with the side of her hand, attempting to get a better view, and she gasped in horror.

Though it was a blur, she could tell the side of the man's face was reduced to nothing but gore, sinews of tissue dangling from the side of his head. The police officer had one hand poised in front of him, gesturing the man to stop, with his other curved around the grip of his handgun.

She watched the man lurch forward into a lunge and she flinched, drawing back slightly at the sound of three shots being let off in succession. Claire watched the figure fall back to the ground with ramrod straight posture.

The cop scrambled into the car, breathing ragged and pistol thrown onto the dashboard. Claire raised a curious eyebrow, but said nothing. Yeah, maybe she wasn't a cop, but she was Chris's sister, and he had taught her a thing or two about safety. This guy had to have been a rookie at best.

"You, uh...okay?" She asked, tentatively resting a hand on his shoulder and giving it an awkward pat.

Claire felt him tremble beneath her touch, but said nothing.

"I...don't know what that was." He stammered, "It was like…"

He shook his head, wet strands of blonde hair falling into his eyes.

"Like a zombie?" Claire teased, arms stretched out in front of her as she mimicked its movements as best she could from her seat.

"Yeah."

The lack of playfulness in his voice was concerning.

"Come on, officer. Maybe he's just a junkie with meth-induced superpowers. It would explain why he hit me."

When she turned back to the window to peer out at the body, she let out a loud shriek of surprise.

The man was once again ambulatory, hovering at her window with his hands pressed against the glass. Blood dripped down his chin, mixed with rain and saliva, and splattered against the window as he gnashed his broken teeth at her. The skin of the side of his face had been wiped clean from the viscera that lay beneath, the side of his skull shattered and openly flailing with the movements of his jaw.

"Holy shit!"

The engine roared to life and the officer frantically reached over her, yanking her seatbelt into place before slamming on the gas. The back of her head collided with the headrest and she hissed, one hand clenching the handle on the door for leverage as he sped away.

"So, uh, does Raccoon City normally harbor a zombie population?" She joked in an attempt to lighten the mood.

It seemed her humor was lost on him as he shook his head, hands gripping the steering wheel so tightly that his knuckles blanched white.

"I don't know what that was, but I have to report it immediately."

Claire leaned her temple against the cool glass of the window.

"Well, officer…"

He interrupted her, eyes briefly straying from the road to flash her a smile with his introduction.

"Leon."

She hadn't heard of him from Chris, but that didn't mean much. If she didn't know any better, she would have assumed that Barry and Jill comprised the remainder of the entire staff at the RPD.

Regardless, she reciprocated his introduction by offering her name, and before she realized someone had stepped into the road in front of them, the shatter of the windshield and thump of a body against the hood of the cruiser caused her to jolt forward, seatbelt catching hard against her sternum.

Leon slammed on the brakes and looked back over his shoulder as Claire watched the pedestrian slowly rise from the ground, rolling on an ankle and stumbling forward.

The anomalous jerk of its head upwards and the loll of its shoulders were characteristic enough - it was another one of those...things.

Claire didn't know what the hell was going on in Raccoon City, but she was positive that she would beat Chris's ass for not evacuating sooner the very moment she found him.