Disclaimer, I do not own RWBY or any of the franchises referenced in this work

Chapter 28: R.I.P.D.

Inspiration: Resident Evil 2 Remake

"Welcome back, the next viewing is ready." Blank greeted as his audience took their seats.

"So, what are we watching this time?" Qrow asked.

"Nothing quite as action packed as the last few universes, here's another world where aura and Grimm don't exist." Blank answered.

"Huh, more Stands?" Ruby asked.

"No. No magic in this world, just science gone very, very wrong." Blank replied.

"That doesn't fill me with a lot of confidence." Goodwitch remarked.

"So what's Jaune's role in this?" Pyrrha queried.

"As aura and Grimm don't exist, neither do huntsmen. In this world, Jaune Arc is a police officer and it's his first day on the job." Blank said.

"Heh, then he's fine. If he were two days from retirement though..." Qrow chuckled to himself.

"…Actually, that's a pretty good description of his situation too." Blank said after a pause.

"What." Qrow's voice was flat and sweat beaded on his forehead as Pyrrha and Yang started glaring daggers into the back of his head.

"Things happen, and suffice to say he doesn't stay a police officer for very long. Well time to get this show on the road." Blank flickered once, causing the lights to dim and the screen to spring to life.

The heavy rain beat down hard against the windscreen as the jeep drove down the deserted highway. A slightly older Jaune turned down the radio as the Mizoil gas station came into view, one last refuelling stop before Racoon City itself.

Pulling into a vacant lot and shutting off the engine, Jaune stepped out of his jeep and looked around. The place was deserted and there was a strange odour in the air that he couldn't place.

"No one's around?" Jaune muttered to himself as he began refuelling his jeep. Taking another look around the place, his eyes settled on a police cruiser with its door ajar and no sign of its driver.

"That's weird… huh?" Jaune perked up when he heard the sound of breaking glass coming from the convenience store. Taking one last look around at the deserted gas station, his right hand swept down to his waist and fingered the welcoming grip of his sidearm.

Swallowing his apprehension, Jaune stepped around his jeep and paused when he noticed the red patches on the ground. Blood splatter, and a lot of it. Sidestepping the bloody mess with a small gulp, Jaune slowly approached the store, passing by the police cruiser and noting the key was still in the ignition.

The lights were out inside the store and a lit torch was left lying on the ground. Jaune hesitated for a few seconds before steeling himself and pushing through. "Hello? Anybody there!?"

No reply was forthcoming. Jaune knelt to pick up the torch and illuminated clear signs of struggle. More blood splatter on the floor and several bottles had been knocked off the shelf. Jaune frowned and rose to his feet, worry written all over his face. "Something's not right."

"Yeah what gave it away? The empty station? The blood stains? The blackout?" Mercury commented, rolling his eyes at the obvious statement.

"First day's off to a great start. If this is a sign of his future career, it's for the best he retires early. Less cops are always a good thing in my book." Roman chimed in.

"Ooo… maybe the place is haunted and Jaune-Jaune's going to become a ghost buster." Nora said.

"Not quite the right type of horror movie you're thinking of." Blank said.

Heading deeper inside, pained breathing as well faint sounds of struggle reached Jaune's ears and he picked up the pace. He found the gas station attendant seated against a wall, clutching a neck wound and breathing hard.

"You alright!?" As soon as the words left his mouth, Jaune bit his tongue. He was cop, not a trained doctor or medic, but even he could tell the wound was bad. The attendant needed medical attention immediately, medical attention he had no way of providing.

With a pained hiss, the man raised his arm and pointed to the door leading to the backroom, gesturing to something inside it.

"Don't move… I'll be back for you." Jaune said before heading through the door. Right now, the only thing he could do was pray the attendant remained still and keep from aggravating the wound, and hopefully there was something he could use to treat the injury in the back.

"Why doesn't he just call an ambulance? They exist right?" Summer asked.

"Oh yes they do, but he has no way of calling one. This world is set in the modern age as well, but it's not quite as advanced as your own. At this point in that world's history, mobile communication devices are not mainstream yet and Jaune Arc was not one of the early adopters." Blank said.

"No scrolls? That's… that's… what kind of backwater is that? Are they cavemen?" Weiss said, unable to imagine a world where something as ubiquitous as a scroll didn't exist. How did people even get any work done?

"People make do Ms Schnee, people make do. Just so you know, the scroll wasn't always a part of daily life." Ozpin said and sipped from his mug. Weiss looked up and noticed the annoyed glances the adults were shooting her for calling them cavemen and shrunk back into her seat.

Jaune hadn't gone more than five steps before he heard the heavy doors swing shut and lock behind him.

"Hey! What are you doing!?" Jaune slammed his fist against the door but it didn't budge, and there was no response from the other side. Jaune growled before turning away, nothing he could do now and there was still the rest of the back room to check.

"He locked him in? Why?" Blake asked.

"Yeah what gives, Jaune was just trying to help." Yang added.

"It's not his fault, he's not all there anymore. You'll see in a bit." Blank answered.

As Jaune approached the end of the hall, the sound of struggling grew louder and louder. Slowly edging the door open and shining his torch through, the light illuminated two figures struggling at the end of the room.

"Stop moving!" Sheriff Dee grunted out as he shoved back against his struggling captive, trying to pin him down long enough to slap the cuffs on him.

"Officer, you need help?" Jaune offered.

"Stay back sir, I got this." Dee replied, taking one hand off the struggle to ward Jaune off. That proved to be a fatal mistake.

He lost control of the struggle and was knocked off balance by a sudden burst of strength from the arrestee. The two of them went down in a screaming tangle of limbs.

"Hey! Hey! Get off him, right now!" Jaune yelled before his eyes widened in shock and horror. The arrestee growled out something unintelligible before biting into Dee's neck and causing blood to spurt everywhere.

"Ahhh… hahh… ahh… help me…" Dee's panicked and desperate pleas died off quickly when an entire chunk of his neck was bitten off. His struggles stilled and his murderer raised his face to stare at Jaune.

"What the fuck!?" Jaune's torch illuminated the man's face, revealing white pasty skin that looked half decayed. Crimson blood splattered all over the thing's mouth and parts of its lips had already been ripped away. Milky white eyes stared back at jaune as the mockery of human form rose to its feet.

"Freeze! I-I'll shoot!" Jaune yelled as he drew his pistol and pointed it at the monster before him. Unheeding of his warning, the zombie began shambling towards him jerkily, arms outstretched and the corpse it left behind left no doubt about what fate awaited should it get him.

"Zombies! Aww yeah!" Nora cheered excitedly.

"Not yeah, Jaune's in danger." Ren corrected.

"Pft, it's just zombies, not like they're demons or anything. Everybody knows you just need to shoot them in the head. It's easy! Jaune's gonna be fine." Ruby said.

Blank coughed silently. "Yes, about that…"

An inhuman snarl left the zombie as it suddenly lunged forwards. Jaune backpedalled and pulled the trigger, his shot landing right on target, striking the zombie squarely between the eyes. Jaune watched in disbelief as the zombie's head snapped backwards and then slowly come back down to stare at him.

"What the fuck!?" Jaune yelled and backed up even further as the zombie kept on coming, the gaping hole in its skull leaking blood and brain fluid but not slowing it down in the least.

"It isn't dead!? Why isn't it dead!? That was a perfect headshot! The movies lied!" Ruby yelled.

"It's not dead because you jinxed it." Qrow muttered.

"Urgh, that's disgusting. What manner of foul science created this?" Goodwitch huffed.

"A virus created in a lab for… reasons. It escaped containment due to a few colossal mess-ups and several counts of deliberate sabotage. Most of the infected turn into incredibly durable zombies and several mutate further into more terrifying monsters." Blank said.

"So, how do you kill them? Headshots don't seem to work." Roman asked.

"Completely destroying the head with sufficient firepower or a lucky shot will kill one for good. Doing enough damage that the infected organs can't keep the zombie 'alive' anymore will also work. Of course, that's all easier said than done." Blank replied.

A second shot between the eyes again failed to put the zombie down. Jaune fought down a wave of nausea as he swore he could see all the way through the hole in its head. Since headshots weren't working, Jaune shifted his aim downwards, to the zombie's leg.

One shot. Two shots. Three. Just when Jaune was about to despair that he would run out of ammunition before the monster went down, his fourth shot to the zombie's kneecap finally caused the damaged limb to break, taking the zombie down.

While the zombie struggled on the ground, trying to crawl forwards, Jaune sprinted past it and Dee's corpse, searching for another way out. He found a second door deeper inside that led back into the store but the thing was locked as well. "OH COME ON!"

Shelving plans to just shoot out the lock since he was short on precious ammunition, Jaune turned back and wandered deeper into the backroom, searching for something else that could help. When he found a small rest area converted into an office of sorts, he exhaled slowly when he saw a lone key hanging on the key rack.

Grabbing it and praying for the best, he doubled back to the door, sparing the zombie that was still alive and crawling the wrong way a glance. Jamming the key into the door as quickly as he could, Jaune sighed in relief when it turned and there was a small click as it unlocked.

Pushing through the door with all haste, Jaune slammed it shut behind him and locked it to keep the zombie trapped on the other side. Any notion that he was safe vanished as soon as he heard a growl coming from the side, spinning around, he found a zombie separated from him by just one measly shelf that was already teetering unsteadily as it pushed its arms through, trying to grab Jaune.

Another glance to where the station attendant had been sitting saw him rising unsteadily to his feet, skin deathly pale and neck hanging at an odd angle.

"Oh shit." Jaune backed up against the door before rapidly pulling away when he felt something slam into it from the other side and heard the snarling and growling. Spinning around again, he found the formerly dead sheriff on the other side, face pressed up against the glass and pounding away at the door.

"This is a nightmare." Jaune muttered as he backed away from the reanimated Dee.

"He already turned? Damn, that's fast." Mercury said.

"Rate of transformation differs from individual to individual but by all accounts, the process is extremely quick especially if the infected is already deceased. Still living infected can fight off the process but without a cure, it's just delaying the inevitable." Blank said.

"So… don't get bit." Qrow summed up.

"That is a given, yes. But the infection can spread through other ways as well, it is a virus after all." Blank replied.

Jaune dodged around the zombie to his side once it finally pushed over the shelf and collapsed to the floor. Running in between the aisles to avoid the zombified station attendant, Jaune found another zombie trapped behind a row of shelves, struggling to get through. Behind it, the broken windows revealed their method of entry.

"Ahhrg!" Jaune grunted in surprise when the shelf the zombie was pushing against tipped over right as he was passing by, knocking into him. Righting himself, he made a mad dash towards the door only to see someone else approaching from outside.

Jaune's gun snapped as soon as the doors burst open and the figure stepped through. The woman in red came to an instant halt when she noticed the gun pointed at her face.

"Don't shoot!" Ruby yelled and raised her arms in the air.

"Get down!" Jaune ordered and fired as soon as Ruby ducked, nailing the zombie looming behind her in the head. Unlike the one in the backroom, this one went down in one hit and didn't rise again, collapsing to the ground with a meaty thud and spray of blood.

"Hey, it's me! But where did my cape go?" Ruby asked, curious about her older counterpart.

"Capes… aren't really in fashion in that world." Blank said.

"Awww… well at least the jacket isn't too bad." Ruby muttered in disappointment.

"And we're just going to ignore that you nearly got bit by a zombie?" Weiss raised an eyebrow.

"But she didn't, Jaune shot the zombie and that's that. Now they can all get the hell out of there." Yang replied.

"Somehow, I don't think it'll be that easy." Blake muttered.

Stepping out of the store, Jaune held his pistol at the ready and scanned the area, a small bead of sweat ran down the side of his face as he noticed multiple figures approaching from the road. The darkness hid their form but their jerky movements left little doubt about what they were.

"You alright?" Jaune asked while keeping his gun trained on the approaching shadows.

"Yeah, I think so… thanks." Ruby glanced to the zombie that nearly did her in before thanking Jaune.

"You can thank me later, when we're safe." Jaune jerked his head towards the oncoming horde, drawing Ruby's attention to them.

"Holy shit…" Ruby drew her own pistol and held it at the ready, aim sweeping from one zombie to the next as they swarmed forwards and around Jaune's jeep.

Jaune looked at the crowd in worry as he tried to figure out a plan, there were more zombies than they had bullets to shoot. He was distracted from the advancing horde when something slammed into the door he was backed up against and inhuman screeching came from the other side.

One of the zombies he'd left behind had its ravaged mug pressed up against the glass, allowing Jaune and Ruby to get a good look at the horrific effects of the zombification process. Its nose had been torn or more likely bitten off and it was bereft of lips as well, just a bloody tooth filled maw scraping against the window.

Retreating back inside and attempting to mount a defence there was a no go. Jaune scanned the area again while fighting down the panic and his eyes widened when he noticed Dee's abandoned police cruiser, the engine was still running and there were far less zombies between them and it compared to his jeep.

"Come on!" Jaune led the way with Ruby following closely behind, dodging and weaving through the grabby zombies and making a mad dash for their escape route.

"Get in!" Jaune yelled as he jumped into the driver's seat. Ruby grunted in exertion as she pushed aside a zombie obstructing her path before getting in as well. Once her door slammed shut, Jaune kicked the car into reverse and immediately backed out of the gas station.

Shifting it into drive again, Jaune floored it and sent the Crown Vic skidding out into the rain and back on the main road. He didn't let up on the accelerator until the gas station was shrinking in the rear-view mirror and the zombies couldn't be seen anymore.

"They're… driving into the city? Is that a good idea?" Weiss asked.

"Go to the city, get help and hopefully answers, the theory is sound." Taiyang said.

"But knowing lady luck, that's the absolute worst choice they could have made. Out of the frying pan and into the fire as they say." Qrow muttered with a shrug.

"Indeed, Racoon City was where the outbreak started after all." Blank said.

"What the hell is going on?" Ruby asked once the both of them had a chance to catch their breath and the zombies were far, far behind them.

"I don't know, hopefully they'll have some answers at the police station." Jaune replied, keeping his eyes fixed forwards on the road.

"Wait, you're a cop?" Ruby asked in surprise.

"Yeah, Jaune Arc. You are?" Jaune replied.

"Ruby, Ruby Rose."

"Live around here?"

"No. Looking for my sister, she's a cop too." Ruby answered.

"Well, it's a good thing we found each other, I don't know what to expect anymore." Jaune said as they drove past a sign welcoming them to Racoon City.

"I'm a cop? Oh… is… is that a good thing or a bad thing?" Yang asked.

"A good thing to be sure, you have your own story in this world, but you aren't present for this outbreak. You're off elsewhere investigating the ones responsible undercover and so missed this fiasco." Blank replied.

"Um… does that mean Ruby is heading into a zombie infested city for nothing?" Pyrrha hesitantly raised her voice.

"Unfortunately so." Blank said.

"Attention all citizens, due to the citywide outbreak, you are advised to seek shelter at the Racoon City police station. Free food and medical supplies will be provided to everyone in need." The announcement continued playing on a loop across every radio channel.

"Oh my god, this is so unreal." Ruby muttered and looked out the window at the devastation surrounding them. The streets were lined with abandoned vehicles and devoid of life, with countless bodies lying where they fell.

"The police station's not much further, they'll know something." Jaune replied, trying to stay optimistic despite their dwindling hopes.

"Yeah, but… what if we're the only ones? What if there's no survivors-" Ruby asked before Jaune interrupted mid-sentence.

"No. There's survivors. It's a big city… there has to be." Jaune said, half to convince Ruby and half to convince himself.

The police cruiser slowed to a halt as the road forwards was sealed off by a road block and multiple abandoned cars on both sides.

"Look's like we're walking from here." Jaune shrugged as he shut off the engine.

Ruby eschewed replying in favour of leaning forwards for a better look at movement on the sidewalk. Straining her eyes to make out the shapes in the shadows, her eyes widened when she noticed the 'humans' hunched over a corpse and biting into it.

"More like running." Ruby said at last, drawing Jaune's attention to the zombies she'd spotted.

"Yeah, good call." Jaune agreed and just as he was about to exit, a zombie rose up and slammed into the side of the police car, blocking the door and shaking the vehicle. Another zombie soon started pounding on the other side as well, trapping the both of them inside.

"Jaune! We gotta back up!" Ruby said curtly as panic began to mount. More and more 'corpses' were starting to wake up and mob the car.

"Where'd they come from!? Were they just sleeping there!? Do zombies even need to sleep?" Yang asked rapidly.

"Not sleeping per se, but some zombies do go into something of a rest mode when there's nothing drawing their attention. The only way to tell if a corpse is a zombie, or if that zombie is actually dead for good is to either shoot it or slash it with a knife." Blank answered.

"One wastes ammunition and the other puts you in biting range. Doing neither and hoping it's actually dead is also gambling with your life. That's rough." Roman muttered.

"How did the entire city fall? Surely there must have been something they could have done to minimize the damage." Ozpin asked.

"The initial outbreak happened when the virus leaked into the water supply. In the beginning, the infected didn't look like zombies, just people who'd suddenly gone mad and turned violent. By the time people noticed the dead were starting to walk again it was too late, anyone left in the city when the infection reached critical mass was effectively doomed. Too many zombies and not enough ammunition for the bullet sponges." Blank said.

"And how did the virus even get loose? Were they that careless with their own superweapon?" Cinder asked.

"A mixture of spite and negligence is all I'll say about it." Blank replied.

While Jaune scrambled to restart the engine, Ruby was distracted from the zombies at the door by a light shining in the rear-view mirror.

"What the!?" Turning back to look, her eyes widened in shock as her face was lit up by the headlights of a fuel tanker barrelling straight towards them. The massive truck ran over all the shambling zombies in its path without slowing down unheeding of the road block ahead or the police cruiser in its way.

The driver was clutching a bloody bite wound on his shoulder and breathing hard, struggling to keep his focus and rapidly losing the fight.

"Holy shit. Ruby, get out. Get out NOW!" Jaune ordered when he too noticed the oncoming threat and gave up trying to start the car. There wasn't anywhere for it to go now with a road block in front, walls to the side and a behemoth right on their tail.

The two of them started pushing back against the zombies blocking the doors, trying to get them loose so they could escape. But neither of them had the leverage needed to dislodge the zombies who had begun pushing back as well.

"I can't!" Ruby yelled in frustration when her best efforts only got the door to open a tiny crack before the counter shove forced it shut again. Beside her, Jaune was having similar luck with his side, while the fuel tanker got closer and closer.

"Hold on!" Jaune gave up trying to escape and braced for impact instead, seeing no way to avoid the inevitable.

Inside the truck, the driver finally lost the battle and collapsed unconscious, his final actions causing the vehicle to spin out of control and crash into the row of abandoned cars by the side of the road. The crash bled off some of its momentum but not all of it and its cab still struck the police cruiser, giving them a nasty boost through the roadblock before the truck tipped over on its side.

"Uaah!" Jaune grunted as the crash caused him to crack his forehead against the steering wheel. Once the jarring ride came to an end courtesy of another car serving as a brake, Jaune slowly opened the door and stumbled out.

"Whoa!" He yelled when the battered cruiser exploded into flames from an oil leak. Jaune's breath hitched when he saw the flames spreading across the ground, stretching towards the oil tanker that was likewise leaking.

"Oh no."

"Did… did I just…" Ruby trailed off, staring mutely at the fires on screen.

"Relax, you live." Blank said and most of the audience exhaled a sigh of relief.

"Pity." Cinder mumbled under her breath.

Jaune turned and ran, he made it several feet before the tanker blew and the shockwave hurled him bodily into a car hard enough to dent it.

"Haaah… arrgh!" Jaune groaned in pain as his back screamed in protest from the hit. Hissing as he fought down the urge to scream, Jaune got back to his feet, staring at the burning wreckage surround him.

"Aarrghhh… RUBY! RUBY, YOU OKAY!?" Jaune shouted at the top of his lungs, fighting to be heard over the roaring flames everywhere.

His worried glance rested on the burning police cruiser and the seconds ticked by without any sign of Ruby, until… "YEAH! I'M ALRIGHT! HOW ABOUT YOU!?"

Jaune exhaled in relief as he heard Ruby's voice. Turning to the side, he noticed the other zombies awakened by the crash and explosions moving in on him, their inhuman groans and screeches grating on his ears. "I CAN'T STAY HERE! IT'S NOT SAFE!"

"GO ON AHEAD, I'LL MEET YOU AT THE STATION!" Ruby yelled back before picking herself up and running off into a side street before any zombie could look her way.

"I'LL BE THERE!" Jaune called out in parting before drawing his sidearm and aiming it at the crowd. Three bullets left to split between all of them, no way that was happening. As standing his ground would see him join the ranks of the living dead soon enough, Jaune spun around and fled.

Dodging by the other zombies still milling around, Jaune sprinted down an alleyway, past a slowly wakening zombie. Any possibility of escaping back the way he came died when it knocked over a pile of burning wood, setting itself on fire and blocking the path back.

"Shit, its everybody… they've all turned…"

"That's a lot of zombies. Never thought I'd say this, but where's the army? Jimmy's usual approach would fit in very nicely here." Qrow said.

"Racoon City is a corporate city, run by the Umbrella Corporation." Blank said.

"And…?" Qrow prompted.

"It means they're covering up the disaster. The outside world probably doesn't know how bad the situation is, if they even realise something has gone wrong." Weiss answered with a small sigh. It wasn't the SDC here, but she could easily see how things had gone. Jacques would have definitely done the same.

"So they just left the people to die to cover their own asses? Typical." Roman sneered.

"Oh, they did a lot worse than that. Their virus was one of their weapons, its effectiveness was proven by the outbreak and Umbrella figured they might as well use the chaos to field test some of their other 'products' on the few combat capable units left in the city." Blank said.

"Field test… what about the civilians? A-and if this Umbrella Corp controls the city, doesn't that mean they're using their own people as test subjects?" Goodwitch asked.

"Yes."

Jaune grunted in exertion as he pushed the R.P.D. gates shut and slammed the bolt home. The zombies outside piled up against it, trying to bust their way in to no avail. Jaune spared their grasping hands one last disgusted look before turning away and heading into the station.

"Hello!? Is anybody here!?" Jaune's shout echoed through the spacious main hall but no response was forthcoming. The place was deserted and while it was disappointing that there was no help to be found, at least he didn't have to deal with any zombies either.

Jaune began to explore the area available to him, picking up some spare ammunition left lying around and did his best not to think about what happened to their original owners. Refilling the magazine with the 9mm rounds he picked up, Jaune slid the mag home with a satisfying click, glad that if he had to run into more zombies, he at least had some way of defending himself.

A quick lap of the main hall left him with surprisingly few places to go. Shutters were down in places and locked doors were everywhere. Jaune briefly debated shooting out the locks before shelving the idea, ammunition was too scarce to expend recklessly and there was no telling what was waiting on the other side.

Exiting the waiting room after finding nothing of importance, Jaune swiftly marched back down to the first floor, past the giant goddess statue. Stopping by the reception again, he noticed the laptop he missed initially and headed over to investigate it.

Whoever had last used it had forgotten to lock the computer and it was synced up to the station's camera feeds. Jaune scrolled through all of them, searching for someone, anyone at all. "There has to be someone here."

Then one of the cameras detected movement, the grainy black and white feed displayed an officer retreating down a hall, firing at something off camera. The zombie stumbled into view shortly after, still very much intact and a threat and officer Marrow continued his fighting retreat.

"Not good." Jaune muttered and rapidly switched through the camera feeds until he found the next one tracking Marrow's movements.

"Clover! Vine! You there!? I found a way out! It's in here!" Marrow looked up to the camera and held up a small notebook. Then the zombie closed in and he stashed the book in his back pocket, drawing his pistol, he shot the zombie in the chest once, staggering it but not stopping it in time before it lunged at him. After a brief struggle, Marrow managed to push it off him and throw it back.

"Send reinforcements! East hallway!" Marrow yelled at the camera before running off. Jaune frowned and tried to switch to another camera to track his progress but there were no more to be found.

"I gotta find that guy." Jaune pulled up a map of the station on the laptop and began plotting his route forwards.

"A way out? There something wrong with the front door?" Mercury snidely commented.

"I don't know, maybe the couple hundred zombies outside waiting to eat their faces?" Emerald shot back.

"Yeah, and the whole city is infested, isn't it? Does it make a difference where they exit from?" Mercury rolled his eyes in exasperation.

"That's… a fair point." Emerald conceded.

"It's a desperate hope for the few survivors that remain. The main gate isn't an option since it's blockaded by the zombified remains of the citizens trying to reach the police station for safety, but zombie presence at the backdoor isn't as heavy and they're hoping they can make a run for it." Blank said.

"Why didn't they run earlier though? They must have seen the signs." Blake asked.

"As I said, the initial outbreak was covered up by Umbrella and the infected didn't look like actual zombies yet. Shooting everyone who could be infected was too heinous for anyone to consider, more than a few infected made it inside the station, and eventually spread the taint. By the time people noticed, the dead were getting back up and infected were everywhere, the refuge had become a prison for them." Blank said.

The path leading to the east hallway was blocked off by a shutter with a 'keep out' sign taped to it. Jaune ignored it and grabbed the lever next to the shutter, pulling it and raising the metal barricade.

A small sigh left Jaune when the shutters only rose several inches off the ground before coming to an abrupt halt as the power failed. Lacking the strength needed to force it the rest of the way up, Jaune went prone and started to crawl under the opening.

The section of the R.P.D. beyond the shutter was pitch black and the foul stench of blood and death assaulted Jaune's nose. Pulling out the torch he picked up back at the gas station, Jaune used it to pierce the veil of darkness and his face contorted into a grimace instantly. Most of the wall was splattered with blood and the floor itself was likewise painted with it.

Shining the torch down the hallway, the torch's beam wasn't powerful enough to illuminate everything but so far he didn't spot any zombies or corpse lying around. Pushing away his disgust, he crawled on through and got to his feet.

"Okay… you got this…" Jaune muttered out loud to ease his nerves as he pushed through the dark and claustrophobic hallway. He paused at a boarded-up door as the sound of wood straining broke the oppressive silence. Some of the wooden panels were starting to splinter and several nails had already popped free.

Wincing slightly as another nail popped free, Jaune continued forwards, hoping he'd be able to rescue Marrow before whatever was trapped on the other side broke free. Next came a press room where he managed to collect some more ammunition from a corpse that was thankfully very much just a corpse. Then after pushing aside a locker that had tipped over, his path to the east hallway was clear.

"Jesus…" Jaune muttered as he came across a pile of bodies haphazardly tossed against the wall. Blood everywhere and the horrific stench filling the air was overpowering. It was clear none of them had an easy death.

"Twenty lien says at least one of them is a zombie and about to wake up." Roman said.

"And they'll bust down that sealed door too." Mercury chimed in.

"He'd better have enough bullets or he'll become one of them." Emerald shrugged.

"OPEN UP! HURRY! OPEN UP! OPEN THIS GODDAMNED DOOR!" Marrow's panicked shouting kicked Jaune into gear as he sprinted into the watchman's room. Frantic pounding was coming from the shutters but unlike the main hall, there wasn't a control lever to raise it.

"I'll get you out!" Jaune yelled back, trying to calm Marrow down. Kneeling down, he grabbed the shutter's base and struggled to lift it, just a bit and Marrow would be able to crawl through to safety.

"Uurrgh!" Jaune grunted as the metal shutters finally acceded to his will, raising slightly before becoming stuck. The opening was small but just enough for a human arm holding a notebook to stick through.

"HELP ME! PLEASE! HELP ME!" Marrow yelled as his arm began waving in a panicked motion.

"Gimme your hand!" Jaune grabbed hold of Marrow's protruding limb and began tugging on it, trying to pull the officer through the threshold.

"I got you!" Jaune said as Marrow's head popped through, followed by his other arm as his torso emerged.

"Gimme your other hand." Jaune ordered as Marrow flipped over, reaching out for Jaune as he struggled through. Jaune grasped it tight and began to pull harder, and just when it seemed things were going to be okay, everything went to hell with the growl of a zombie.

Marrow screamed as blood splattered everywhere, coating them both in crimson. His screaming and struggling intensified and the sound of something tearing into flesh mixed in with the zombies' snarls and growls.

"Hang in there!" Jaune yelled as he pulled harder, feeling the resistance as the zombies on the other side tried to drag their meal back to them. The tug of war went on for several seconds until a sickening squelch signalled the end of it and Jaune fell backwards, off balance from the sudden loss of opposition.

Marrow came through as well… minus his bottom half.

"Oh my god… Jesus Christ…" Jaune knelt by the dying Marrow's side and struggled to not throw up as the unfortunate officer's intestines were beginning to spill out. Slowly, Marrow's movements ceased, and his hands fell limply to the side. The notebook he was clutching slid free from his grasp and Jaune grabbed it after a moment's hesitation.

"Oh… that's disgusting." Weiss blanched at the gory sight and averted her eyes.

"H-holy shit, did… did they eat the entire bottom half of his body!?" Mercury asked, not expecting Marrow to go out in such a gruesome manner.

"Not yet." Blank answered.

"I will probably regret asking, but what do you mean not yet?" Yang queried.

"The zombies on the other side started eating his stomach first and chewed almost all the way through, allowing Jaune Arc to pull his torso through. They are now starting on his legs." Blank replied.

"Uh huh. Yep. I immediately regret asking." Yang buried her face in her palms and proceeded to scream her frustration into it.

Jaune shot up when something started pounding on the door, drawing his pistol, he stood his ground and waited. The pounding continued for a few moments before it ceased, then a single big push came and the door burst open.

"Shit." Jaune retreated until his back hit the wall as the zombified policeman stepped through. It used to be one of the 'corpses' lying against the wall and it must have been awoken by their screaming.

As the zombie shambled forwards with arms outstretched, Jaune sucked in a deep breath and took aim. Pulling the trigger once, the pistol's report seemed unnaturally loud in the silent police station. The bullet struck true and impacted right in the zombie's left eye before punching through the other side. Undeath had not treated this particular zombie well as its diseased and rotting tissue gave way and the entire side of its head exploded in a shower of blood and gore.

"Fuck!" Jaune exclaimed as the body continued to stagger forwards a few more steps despite the removal of most of its brain before finally collapsing over the desk.

"I liked it better when it was demons' heads exploding." Nora said in a sombre tone.

"Me too Nora, me too." Ren agreed.

"It… could be worse?" Pyrrha offered, still trying to look on the bright side.

"Ah crap, it gets worse, doesn't it?" Qrow muttered.

"Unfortunately so. But that's for another time." Blank replied.

Running out the watchman's room, Jaune shied away from shattering glass as a zombie bust through one of the windows. Sprinting down the hall, his head snapped up when the horrible sound of wood breaking and a door being thrown open assaulted his ears.

"Jesus! They're everywhere!" Jaune raised his pistol and took aim when two zombies appeared to block his way back to the main hall. With a zombie behind him and two in front, he was boxed in and no choice but to fight.

Steeling himself and exhaling slowly to focus his aim, Jaune shot the closest zombie in the head and struck lucky, half of the head vanished instantly from the critical hit. The second proved more of a problem, his first shot missed, striking the back wall harmlessly. His second struck the zombie's forehead dead centre but no cessation of existence.

"Damnit!" Giving up trying to get a luck hit, Jaune went for the legs next, planting two rounds into the zombie's right leg. The rotting flesh gave way under the punishment and the leg was severed with a disgusting squelch, causing the zombie to fall.

While it struggled to rise, Jaune started running again, not waiting for window zombie to catch up to him and dodging a lunge from the downed zombie along the way. As he rounded the corner, he glanced back to find a third zombie, one of a police officer, rising up and walking out of the previously blocked off room.

Someone had sealed the three of them inside the supply closet and they had picked a mighty bad time to break free. But right now, Jaune had neither the time nor the ammunition to deal with number three, light was shining through at the end of the hallway and he was almost home free.

"Come on… aarrghh!" Jaune went prone and started crawling under the metal shutters leading back to the main hall. The power failure afflicting the shutters had caused it to start lowering again in the short time since Jaune had initially passed through and it was now hindering his progress back.

Managing to push it up to the point he could fit through the gap, Jaune began to crawl as fast as he could. He was almost through to the other side when he felt something grip his right leg.

"Goddamnit!" Jaune cursed as he looked back and found a zombie clawing at him, trying to pull itself into biting range. Struggling to kick it off him, Jaune did his best to crawl through before the zombie could wise up and just bite down on his foot instead.

Just when he thought it was all over for him, Jaune felt a strong grip on his arm as someone pulled him the rest of the way through and freed him from the zombie's grasp. Clover let go once Jaune was clear before returning to the still grasping zombie.

"Watch out!" Jaune warned but Clover paid him no mind. The police lieutenant planted his feet on the shutter and stomped it down, crushing the zombie's skull to a pulp under the metal and finishing it off instantly.

"Got it. you're safe… for now." Clover muttered and turned to Jaune before wincing in pain and falling against the shutter for support. Jaune looked down in worry even as he uttered his thanks as Clover gripped his injured right side with his hand and slumped down.

"Clover Ebi." The lieutenant offered.

"Jaune Arc…" Jaune replied, swallowing hard and fighting to return his breathing to normal after his near-death experience.

"There was another officer, I-I couldn't… I couldn't…" Jaune trailed off and closed his eyes, unable to say anything more, the bile rising in his throat again.

"Here." Clover moved over to Jaune and offered a hand. When Jaune grasped it after a moment, he pulled the rookie up to his feet.

"I'm sure you did what you could, Jaune."

"Oh… that was too close." Ruby sighed in relief as Jaune managed to escape zombification.

"Clover's bit, isn't he?" Taiyang muttered.

"Yes." Blank answered.

"Hmmph, kill him and be done with it then. Put him out of his misery." Cinder said callously.

"The hell is wrong with you? Oh fuck it, what isn't? I'm surprised your little tagalongs still follow you. Your heard it yourself kiddos, soon as you are no longer of use to her it's the chopping block with ye. Damn whatever help you gave her." Roman shot back, Neo helpfully mimed stabbing someone in the back with her illusions.

"I'm being realistic Torchwick. He's infected and will turn without a cure. Something they clearly don't have in the station or they wouldn't be in this situation to begin with, now would they? Better to let him die human and remove a threat early than fight another one of those things later." Cinder replied, rolling her eyes in annoyance.

Roman grumbled as he conceded that point while Emerald and Mercury exchanged a glance when Cinder didn't deny the bit about disposing them when they were no longer of use.

"Does anyone know what started this?" Jaune asked as he adjusted his elbow guards. He'd dumped his previous blood-soaked civilian outfit in favour of the R.P.D.'s swat gear. It wasn't the full-body riot gear he wanted, but it provided a lot more protection then anything else available at the moment.

"Not a clue." Clover replied, one hand still gripping his bleeding wound while he used the laptop to scan through the various security feeds.

"But honestly, all you need to know is that this place will eat you alive if you aren't careful."

"Yeah, well… I was supposed to start last week and I got a call to stay away. I wish I'd come here sooner." Jaune shrugged helplessly, if he had arrived early, he might have been able to help in at least some small manner, keep things from reaching such a state.

Now it was too late to be helping anyone. All that was left was finding a way out of the station and then out of the city without becoming zombie chow.

"You're here now Jaune, that's all that matters." Clover replied before returning his attention to the notebook Jaune retrieved from Marrow.

"Okay lieutenant, I'm ready." Finished securing his gear, Jaune stood by awaiting further orders from his superior.

"Hopefully you'll be able to find a way out of this station. That officer you met earlier, Marrow. He thought this secret passageway might do the trick." Clover said as he handed the notebook back to Jaune, a crudely drawn diagram of the purported secret passage displayed on it.

"Secret passage? What would a police station require a secret passage for?" Ozpin asked.

"The building wasn't always a police station, it used to be an art museum with more than a few quirks, during its refit into the present-day station, some areas were sealed off and forgotten by all except a few." Blank replied.

"It can't be that simple, can it?" Weiss asked.

"Originally it was just that. But further renovations have been done to facilitate more clandestine operations by dirty cops in Umbrella's employ. The company may control the city, but it doesn't have full sway over the police, the hidden passages served as an easy solution to their problem of maintaining secrecy." Blank elaborated.

"This is good news. We can get you to a hospital." Jaune said, looking up from the notebook.

"No, no, I am not the priority here." Clover shook his head and shot down Jaune's suggestion immediately.

"Lieutenant, I'm not just gonna leave you here-"

"I'm giving you an order rookie! You save yourself first." Clover's shout interrupted Jaune's sentence.

"I'd come with you, but I'd just slow you down."

Jaune huffed once but fell silent. Clover's mind was made up and further argument at this stage was pointless. Once he found the way out, then he'd try convincing the lieutenant to come with him again.

"Now… you'll need this." Clover reached behind him and unhooked his combat knife, offering it to Jaune hilt first.

"I can't take-" Jaune started protesting instantly, unwilling to rob Clover of his last defensive weapon.

"Stop." Clover's pain grunt cut off Jaune's protests once more. Jaune sighed and grasped the proffered weapon.

"And don't make my mistake. If you see one of those things, uniform or not, you do not hesitate. You take it out… or you run. Got it?" Clover ordered.

"Yes sir." Jaune nodded slowly. Worry flashed across his face again when Clover fell back into his seat, clutching his wound in pain as it started acting up again. Gritting his teeth and backing off as Clover's suffering seemed to abate for a moment, Jaune turned away and shook his head to clear his doubts. No time for wool-gathering now, the sooner he found a way out, the sooner he could get Clover the medical attention he needed.

Pulling out the notebook, Jaune flipped through it and studied it. Noticing that the secret passageway was apparently under the goddess statue and locked off by three medallions that could only be obtained from three other statues, his eyes rested on one depicting a lion.

Glancing to the second floor of the main hall, he recalled passing a lion statue on his initial circuit of the area. Sparing Clover one last worried look, Jaune jogged up the stairs and sure enough, the statue was there.

Slowly turning each dial at the base of the statue until it matched the drawing on the notebook. Jaune blinked in surprise when mechanical whirring came from the statue and the medallion popped out from it, dropping neatly into his hands.

Not daring to celebrate too soon, he jogged back down to the goddess statue and inserted the lion medallion into the allocated slot. For a second, nothing happened, then part of the statue's base receded into the ground, revealing a door underneath the statue. It was still blocked off by metal grills and Jaune surmised he'd need the missing two medallions before he could gain entry.

"So Marrow was right…" Clover muttered as the secret passageway was revealed. The two surviving officers shared a bitter smile that the one who discovered it wasn't around to see the fruits of his labour.

"Yeah, but the passage isn't open yet." Jaune said quietly before walking off, heading for the west wing of the station next. Like the east wing, the shutters were down and barring his path, the control lever's box had been taped shut, probably in an attempt to keep anyone from unleashing the zombies waiting in the west wing by accident.

But right now, he needed to go through. The other statues had to be in the station somewhere, they just had to be. Drawing the combat knife Clover gave him, Jaune cut through the tape and the shutters began to rise when he pulled the lever, this time going all the way up.

"This is not how I imagined my first day." Jaune muttered softly as he proceeded deeper into the station.

The screen faded to black and the lights came on, signalling the end of the viewing to a round of protests.

"What!? That's it! Oh come on, you can't just leave us hanging like this!" Yang yelled.

"Yeah! We wanna see Jaune-Jaune kick zombie butt!" Nora added.

"Maybe another time." Blank said.

"Jaune survives, right?" Pyrrha asked.

"Hmmph, he's probably a dead man, he's in way over his head and there's no way he'll make it alone." Cinder said, ignoring the angry glares sent her way.

"Well, you're not wrong on that point. That Jaune Arc would have most definitely perished if he didn't get help later." Blank said.

"More survivors? Ooh! Was it other me?" Ruby asked.

"Not… exactly… even though that Ruby Rose and Jaune Arc do meet up later. She's not the one who saves him. And that Jaune Arc's relationship with his rescuer is… complicated… very complicated." Blank said.

"Complicated? What could possibly be complicated about it?" Cinder asked in confusion, unable to see how being rescued would lead to complications.

"Ah, for starters, his rescuer happens to go by the name Cinder Fall." Blank's little announcement was met with a chorus of 'WHAT!' from his audience.

"But that's for another time. For now, feel free to refresh yourselves while I get the next viewing sorted out."

Author's notes: Finally got my plat for this game, mid game hell exists for Leon playthroughs and endgame is a cakewalk. Nothing else to see here. Move along, move along.

Cast list:

Jaune Arc as Leon S. Kennedy

Ruby Rose as Claire Redfield

Yang Xiao Long as Chris Redfield

Dee as Sheriff Daniel Cortini

Marrow Amin as Edward Elliot

Clover Ebi as Marvin Branagh

Cinder Fall as Ada Wong (who else would it be?)