Ranma 1/2 Fan Fiction ❯ Retribution for the Damned ❯ Retribution for the Damned ( Chapter 1 )

Retribution for the Damned

by DigiSim

------------

Chapter 1

------------

Kasumi stood from the office chair and went over a mental checklist. Getting out of town alive was a number one priority. If she was able to save people and get them to safety, preferably out of town too, so much the better. The martial artists code of protect those that can't protect themselves wouldn't work if the person didn't want to cooperate. Case in point, George. He was just too stubborn and afraid to leave. Though it went against both the code as well as the vow of 'Protect and Serve' she took when she first started on the path of law enforcement, there wasn't much she could do. She at least hoped that someone else would be able to come by and convince him to leave. She doubted it would actually happen, but she could always hope.

Thanks to her years of training with Genma and Ranma, she had discovered she was able to store extra items she wouldn't normally be able to carry with her by accident. Apparently it was a family trait but was teachable. She taught all three Saotomes and later Keiko how to use the invisible pocket. It didn't even seem to matter how big or heavy something was, the space an object used was negligible and if she wanted, she could have stored Mount Rushmore in the pocket with room to spare. The thing never seemed to get filled up but finding what she put in wasn't hard at all. The fact that there were some strange objects already in there when she first discovered the pocket kind of made her wonder. What would she do with all those mallets anyway? It made carrying extra ammo and medical supplies easier at least.

Pulling out her Beretta, Kasumi checked the clip and chambered a round, then slipped it back in the space between her skirt and right hip. As she left the office and headed down the stairs, she wondered about where to head first. The Bar Jack seemed the closest from where she was and it was a local hangout for what used to be both the S.T.A.R.S. teams. Ever since the time at the Spencer Estate, what with all but Rebecca Chambers of the Beta team and Kasumi, Genma and Chris of Alpha surviving, there weren't enough members left. Brad had been in the chopper the whole time so he was still around as well. When they tried to tell their story, the powers-that-be swept it under the rug, disbanded the Raccoon City branch of S.T.A.R.S. and made them pariahs. The fact that Chief Irons was part of the corruption came as a shock to Kasumi. She should have figured it out by all the expensive 'gifts' he always received. At least the remaining members of the now defunct team still had the Bar Jack to hang out and make plans in. She mainly wanted to head there because she knew the bartender kept a shotgun under the bar in case some fool tried to rob the place. If her luck held, there would also be shells waiting for her. She wasn't going to hold her breath though.

------------

Earlier, a lone figure on a motorcycle drove into town from the interstate and wondered what the hell was going on. Ever since her brother phoned her about what happened in some local mansion, she was worried about him. Of course she believed him when he told her about the zombies and the evil Umbrella Corporation. She never trusted them at all. When her brother all but dropped off the face of the map, Claire Redfield headed to Raccoon City to find Chris. Sure it meant skipping out on classes at the college she was enrolled in, but sacrifices had to be made. The fact that it was during a break was actually moot at the moment. Ever since Chris and Claire lost their parents in a car crash years ago, Chris looked after his little sister like a guardian angel. Now it was Claire's turn to return the favor. Maybe that explained the angel motif on some of their favorite clothes.

As she rode through the streets, Claire noticed a distinct lack of people. 'Where is everybody?' she wondered. Even though it was only eight at night, there should have been at least a few people about. Maybe she could find someone at a restaurant or something. Pulling up at a diner, Claire stopped her bike and shut it off. She removed her helmet and laid it on the seat she just vacated and looked around. While fiddling with her ponytail, she discovered that aside from the lights in the diner, and a few street lamps, there was no sign of life anywhere. Feeling a little spooked, Claire entered the eating establishment.

Upon entering, she saw all the seats and the space behind the counter was empty. Holding back a sigh, Claire thought she heard some sort of sound down by the end of the counter. "Hello? Is anyone here?" No answer came back. Walking down to the end, Claire called out again. "Hello? Hello." Looking at the floor, she saw a bald man crouched over what looked like a body. Aside from the odd noise which seemed to be coming from this spot, 'Is that chewing?' She would have thought she walked in on somebody making out but the crouching man then turned around and looked at her with the most horrible blank eyes.

Letting out a gasp, Claire stepped back as the man stood up. When he had looked at her, he hissed for some reason. She didn't want to find out why. He seemed to be the cook, judging by his clothes. There was a spread out area of blood on his shirt and apron, and more disturbing was the blood around his mouth. It looked like he had chewed off his own lips. There was a stale smell in the air that seemed to be coming from him. Claire could barely breathe with that cloying odor now filling the diner. As she backed up, she pulled out the Beretta her brother gave her as a birthday present years ago and aimed it at the grotesque freak.

"Keep back, I'll shoot!" The former fry-cook didn't stop his advance and Claire sent six slugs into his chest. He kept right on shuffling after her. "What are you?" She didn't expect an answer and was glad that she didn't get one. If it talked as dreadfully as it looked, she didn't think she could handle that. Banging her back against the door, she turned around ready to run to her bike and make good her escape. The group of freaks moaning and pounding on the door and windows had other ideas. Giving a small shriek of fright, she turned around again looking for a way out.

Spotting a fire exit and judging that the bloody cook wasn't close enough to grab her yet, she made a break for it. Running through the door, the last thing she expected to see was the barrel of a gun pointed right at her head.

"Don't shoot, I'm a human!" The man lowered his Glock and gave a small sigh. He seemed to be a cop and she was glad to see him. "Get Down!" Shrieking again, Claire ducked as the man shot a hole in the former cook's forehead, knocking him down to never get up again. "Who are you?" This guy that just saved her seemed to be pretty skilled. "No time, we've got to get out of here! This way, hurry!" Grabbing her hand, the two ran out of the alley in the opposite direction of the growing crowd of creatures.

Spotting a patrol car, Claire and the officer got in. Turning the key and gunning the engine, they sped off. Now able to relax, Claire looked over the man driving their salvation. He looked to be a few years younger than Chris. He was wearing the SWAT version of a police uniform, minus the helmet and the bulky gloves. His bulletproof vest had 'R.P.D.' printed in big bold white letters on the front. She wondered how long he had dealt with those creatures. Deciding to break the silence, she asked him, "So who are you? You look like a cop."

"I'm Leon Kennedy. I just transferred here to the Raccoon City Police Department and haven't even made it to the station yet. I stopped a few blocks from where I found you when I saw someone lying in the middle of the street. I was surrounded quickly but got away then ran into you. I wish I knew what is going on here. What about you? What's your story?"

"My name's Claire. Claire Redfield. I'm looking for my brother."

------------

"When I decided to come to this city, I should have had my head examined."

Heaving a sigh as she sat down on a park bench, a young woman was wishing she had a little more common sense than to come to Raccoon City, especially considering what was going on at the moment. Taking a look around, she didn't care that she was in a town populated by the walking dead. With the life she had lead, she had seen worse. Working as an operative for Umbrella seemed to be the reason for that. Her current assignment was to find a doctor named Burton or Berkin or whatever and get a sample of the G-Virus he created. If required, she would have to kill anyone who got in her way, at her own discretion of course. Being an assassin on the payroll of a major conglomerate like Umbrella, a company that puts forth a family-friendly face in it's advertising but had a much darker side that it never wanted the public to see, did not instill confidence in a retirement plan. She knew one day she might lose her life doing her job. Ada Wong, a woman not to be messed with, desired that her life had taken a better turn.

Nowadays, Ada had no idea why she joined up with Umbrella in the first place. Ada Wong wasn't even her real name. Her real name had been lost to her years ago, along with most of her past. She just picked it out at random one time and it stuck. The old man, Trent, thought it suited her. He was the only good thing in her life lately. She didn't know if he worked for Umbrella or not, but she didn't care. All she knew was that he had been a constant in her life for years, a father figure if you will, something she desperately needed. When he took her under his wing, she was grateful. He was the first truly friendly face she knew, barring whatever had been lost to her thanks to her amnesia. The frequently smiling man seemed to have all the answers all the time but didn't always reveal them. He said that would be too easy. Even for her current mission, he had information he thought she would find useful but only imparted it in dribs and drabs. The PDA he gave her with the maps stored on it was helpful to be sure. The cryptic way he said that she 'might find something you've been searching for' confused her. What could he have meant by that?

Getting up, she pulled out the PDA and turned it on. She was looking for an entrance to get to the hidden lab the doctor had. Scanning through the info on the screen, she came upon what she needed. Turning the PDA off and putting it away, Ada turned to her left and headed out of the park in the direction of the police station. Now if only she didn't run across any overzealous zombies everything would be golden. At least she didn't have to deal with that asshole Wesker anymore. She was genuinely happy when she heard the news that he had been skewered by a prototype version of the Tyrant. She wouldn't want to meet any updated versions though.

------------

Kasumi had made it to the bar, avoiding a few flesh-eaters along the way. She didn't really feel the need to waste ammunition unless it was absolutely necessary. She was amazed that she met Brad though. The last she had heard about old Chicken Heart Vickers was that he had hauled ass out of town weeks ago. Was it really only a couple of months since what happened at the estate? After she helped Brad put down a zombie in the bar, he practically freaked out while telling her about 'something' coming for him, for all S.T.A.R.S. members. She couldn't get anything more out of him because he had run off after spouting what she would have judged as nonsense, except for the fact that Brad had looked like he would have dropped dead from fright any second. For some reason, Kasumi decided to rifle through the virus carrier's clothes in search of something useful. The dead man had been somebody she sort of knew from the force. His name had been Martin Grey. He and his wife had just had a baby three months prior, a little girl named Emily. At least now the three of them were together again on the other side. The only thing she found in Martin's uniform was an old lighter with some fuel still left in it. As she stood up, she slipped it into her invisible pocket and headed behind the bar to find the shotgun.

A thorough search turned up nothing but the weapon. There weren't even any stray shells just lying around and the double-barrel looked like it had seen better days. Thinking it could at least be useful for something, it also went into the pocket and Kasumi made her way outside after Brad.

Except for some moaning off in the distance the street was deserted. Not even a monstrosity could be seen at the moment. Taking a right, Kasumi headed off to R.P.D. headquarters for a little ammo raid. She knew the weapons closet in the S.T.A.R.S. office had to have something in it. The sound of a quick 'shuffle-click' behind her set her danger sense off immediately. Spotting a fire escape nearby, she jumped straight for it landing lightly at the top level. It was a good thing that the Saotome school of Anything Goes specialized in mid-air combat. Turning around, she searched the street below to find out what had made the sound but she had a sneaking suspicion she already knew. She just hoped she was wrong.

She wasn't wrong. It was a Hunter. 'Damn it. Just what I didn't need.' The Hunters were one of the many Bio-Organic Weapons created at one of the Umbrella labs somewhere in the United States then shipped to Raccoon for testing. She had met up with a few of them a couple months back and wished she hadn't. They were a genetic crossbreed of plant and reptile D.N.A. that was treated with the T-Virus. Their long arms had a hell of a reach with nasty claws at the end of their fingers. It was bad enough that they were as strong as five mountain gorillas each and somewhat resembled them in build, but the fact that they could leap great distances in such a short amount of time made them even more dangerous. The stooped way they walked made their hands drag on the ground and those hands had great grip strength too. A Hunter's skull was shaped like a Cro-Magnon's but with a thicker bone density and a ridge of small spikes where the eyebrows should be. The needle-like teeth in their cruel mouths and the howling shrieks they made could give anyone nightmares. Putting one down was quite a task but not impossible. Dealing with a whole group of the green meanies, well that's another story altogether.

As the Hunter turned a corner further down the street, Kasumi let out the breath she didn't know she had been holding. It hadn't noticed she was there and for that she was glad. The thing must have escaped before the mansion and secret lab were destroyed in the explosion. Leaping back down to street level, Kasumi started off towards H.Q. again. As she rounded the corner the Hunter had went around earlier, she saw a disgusting sight. About five zombies were feasting on one of their own. Even though she was used to seeing things like this lately, she never could stomach it for long. It didn't seem like trying to sneak by was an option because a couple of them sensed her and stood up. She put a bullet through the forehead of the first to rise and the rest stood too. In a short amount of time, Kasumi dealt with the threat and continued yet again for her destination while sending up a small prayer for the souls of the poor unfortunates she had just shot. The day she could easily kill a zombie or any other being without a hint of remorse was a day she hoped would never come. Holding on to her humanity kept her sane.

------------

'Now where am I?'

Ada had gotten lost a few blocks from the park. She knew that she wouldn't have been able to head straight for the police station thanks to the many different roadblocks set up around town, but taking so many shortcuts got her turned around.

'Okay, I took a left at the sporting goods store and headed down that back alley behind the coffee house. So where the hell is the police station?'

Pulling out her PDA, Ada consulted the map and discovered she was nowhere near the station. She had ended up by the old City Hall. Stifling a curse and wanting to fling the piece of tech into the stratosphere, she regained her bearings, updated the map as best she could and headed off in the right direction. Hopefully.

------------

Claire was lost. She had to bail from the patrol car earlier when a semi tanker had slammed into it from behind after she and Leon had crashed into a street sign. Luckily the both of them survived but were now separated by a huge bonfire created by the crash. What was worse was that after they went their separate ways, Claire found she had troubles right away. There were some zombies nearby that didn't mind one bit that they were walking torches at the moment. Since she didn't have enough ammunition for her Beretta, she had run for it and luckily found herself inside a gun shop. After the guy behind the counter had been killed off by the zoms outside, she had swiped a few boxes of rounds and picked up a new weapon too. She hoped the crossbow would help.

Now that she was on her way again, Claire had no clue where she was. She had never been to this city before and traveling through alleyways and over debris was not her idea of fun. Having to deal with ambulating corpses at almost every step was starting to piss her off. She wouldn't let it get her down though. She was doing this for Chris. If she lost him, she wouldn't have any reason to go on living anymore. He was the only family she had left, as far as she knew anyway.

Earlier, she had seen a woman in a short and tight red dress with black leggings and wanted to talk to her. She looked like she was still alive and Claire hoped they could help each other out. Unfortunately she lost track of her and was now lost because of it. The last place Claire had been in was a restaurant called Grill 13. 'This town has some weird names for their businesses.' There was nothing of interest in the place anyway so she had moved on. The sound of gas leaking in the kitchen had worried her though.

------------

Leon was not having the best of luck. After the crash and splitting up from Claire, he headed into the back entrance of the police station. There were a few zombies around but he wanted to save what rounds he could so he just ran by them. Luckily they were slow and he had no trouble. Finding the key for the back door was a little bit of a pain but he found it easily. Why he couldn't go through the door leading into the underground garage was a mystery though. He had also found more flesh-eaters in the yard behind the building after exiting the small maintenance shed. One female zombie was quite attractive, especially in those tiny shorts she was wearing. If she had been alive, Leon would have hit on her.

Shaking off the perverted thoughts caused by stress and fatigue, he headed up the metal stairs in time to see a tragedy. On the rooftop landing pad, a man in SWAT armor was surrounded by zombies. He was panicking and doing his best to blow them away with an automatic rifle. His best wasn't good enough. When they dragged him down, he still had his finger squeezing the trigger and spent the rest of the clip into the sky. The flying ordinance pocked into a helicopter hovering overhead and splattered the pilot all over the seat he was in. Control was lost almost immediately and the chopper came in for a crash landing. The explosion from the collision nearly deafened Leon who was still recovering his hearing from the tankers explosion.

Inside, Leon found himself in a winding hallway. He had nearly wet himself when he found the dead body. The tenseness of the situation made him think it would rise up and attack him until he saw it had already done so but was now missing a good portion of its head. Someone had taken care of this one already and Leon was glad. After leaving the hallway with mostly windows on the outer wall, Leon entered another hall and nearly had another bathroom emergency. Whatever the creatures were, they were definitely not zombies. The claws on the ends of their fingers and toes made it possible for them to crawl along the wall. The hissing sounds they made and the dripping three-foot long tongues wagging out from their mutated heads creeped him out. Their skinless look and exposed brains nauseated him. The teeth that resembled spikes in their huge deaths-head grinning mouths set him on edge too. He hoped they weren't smart enough to open doors as he bolted for one he saw right near him. It was a pretty close call as he shot through the door and slammed it shut. Knowing his luck, he would have to come back later. Feeling the back of his head, he realized that he had just received an impromptu trim from one of the creatures as it had swiped at him while he was escaping. As this thought raced through Leon's mind, his body just said 'All right, break time' and he fainted.

------------

Genma was worried. He had sent his wife and daughter out of town as soon as the events at the Spencer Estate had concluded. The only reason he had almost completely betrayed Kasumi and Chris was thanks to Wesker threatening the lives of Nodoka and Keiko. Now that Wesker was dead, he could breathe a little easier. That didn't mean he would totally drop his guard. All their lives were still in danger from Umbrella and Genma wanted his family to be as safe as possible. Ranma was still wandering the country somewhere and his father had no idea where he could be at the moment. He prayed that he was safe.

Nodoka had taken Keiko to Chicago. From there, Nodoka would figure out where in America was the best place to hide out. The old house they lived in while Genma was on the Chicago Police force was still owned by the Saotomes. Once she made her decision, Nodoka would contact her husband back in Raccoon City and let him know where she was going. Genma hadn't heard from her in a while and was starting to worry. The phone suddenly ringing nearly gave him a heart attack.

"Hello? Nodoka, is that you?"

"Of course Genma dear, who else would it be?"

Letting out a sigh of relief and letting his heart calm down, Genma asked, "Have you decided yet?"

"I'm actually there now. This call will have to be short since the long distance will be murder on the phone bill. I've gone back to Japan."

"Japan!? Why all the way to Japan?"

"For one, so Keiko can learn more about her roots. For another, I feel it's important yet I don't know why. I'm at my cousin's place at the moment but I'll be going to visit with my father and then we'll be going to where the dojo used to stand. Do you understand dear?"

With a smile on his lips, Genma replied, "I understand perfectly. Be careful No-chan. And if you can, let me know if you find Ranma. I'll do the same for you."

"Of course Genma. I love you."

"I love you too Nodoka. Kiss Keiko for me. Goodbye."

"I will. Goodbye."

After hanging up, Genma settled down in his favorite chair and decompressed. The cryptic way she mentioned the places where she was going wouldn't be understood by anyone listening in, if there had been. They would need a deep understanding of the Saotome family to figure it out. Her cousin was an archeologist. The man had two children of his own, a teenage boy named Toya and a young daughter named Sakura. Genma actually forgot the name of the prefecture they lived in. It didn't matter at the moment anyway. From there, she would head to Juuban. Her father had been dead for years but he had left her his home in his will and only the two of them knew of it. When she said she would visit with him, she meant she would pray at his final resting place. It had been quite a long time since she had done so. The place had been a Shinto shrine as long as he could remember and the current head priest was his wife's uncle. The miko, Rei, was actually his half daughter. Genma didn't know he had been dating sisters at the time until he had broken up with Rei's future mother and Nodoka had brought him home to meet her family. It had been an ugly scene and Genma still had the scars from it. Why she was going to head to Nerima after stopping there was a mystery to Genma. He figured her reasons were her own and he wouldn't question them. He trusted her judgment.

His own plans, however, could be continued now. Umbrella had its headquarters in England and that was where he was going. Chris had gone on ahead and Kasumi would bring up the rear after Genma left. They were going to try and take down a multi-national corporation with very few resources. S.T.A.R.S. also had headquarters in England so they weren't fully out of luck. It just meant the spray wouldn't be as big once the shit hit the fan. Genma still didn't care for their chances though. Heading into his bedroom, he proceeded to pack the essentials and get the hell out of Raccoon.

------------

Arriving at the front gate of the station, Kasumi noticed that someone had wrapped a lot of ropes around the handles. They smelled faintly of kerosene. Sure she could just jump over the gate but someone might need to use it later. Pulling out the lighter, she flipped open the top, lit it and touched the flame to the ropes. They caught almost instantaneously. The flame did its job quickly and soon the ropes were no more. Putting the lighter away, Kasumi thought to herself 'Screw it' and hopped over the gate anyway. She didn't want to burn her hands on the hot metal. As she was walking towards the front doors, she heard the creak of metal and turned around quickly, pulling her gun and aiming at whoever or whatever was behind her. It was Brad.

"Kasumi, you're still alive." Brad stopped in front of her, bent over with his hands resting on his knees and panting slightly. Kasumi lowered her weapon slightly, not putting it away just in case. Brad may be a coward but he could still turn on her. She hated having the thought she just had but she couldn't be too careful. The way Brad had phrased his statement made Kasumi think he had expected her to be dead and was disappointed that she wasn't.

"I could say the same thing about you Brad," she said with a slight hint of malice that Brad completely missed. As Brad stood, Kasumi's vision was suddenly blocked by a huge black field. Brad's scream of terror confirmed to her that she hadn't passed out or gotten knocked unconscious. The field filling her vision suddenly moved away from her and she saw it was someone's back. Whoever it was had to be at least seven feet tall if not more. The giant was wearing a huge leather duster that hung down to the ground and only exposed its hands and head. What flesh she could see of this person seemed to be a mottled gray color. There was no hair on the head that she could see and she just realized that while she was standing there dumbly, this person was slowly closing in on Brad.

"Kasumi, for God's sake, RUN!!!" Brad's shout seemed to startle Kasumi out of her daze but she was still frozen in place. As she looked over the figure looming over Brad, she saw what looked like things writhing under the duster. She could see whatever it was peeking out of the sleeves and the collar. The figure then grabbed Brad's head in one hand and Kasumi heard a slight cracking noise followed by a noisy 'splurt.' Two of the tentacles hiding under the jacket had shot out and pierced Brad right through his throat. His body slumped as they retracted and his life's blood came gushing out through the hole in his neck. The monster, for Kasumi now knew that's what this thing was, then tossed Brad aside like a rag doll and turned to her.

Once Kasumi got a good look at its face, her heart nearly stopped. Her worst nightmare had come to life. The eyes were cataracts and utterly white, held in a permanent sneer. Its nose was hardly there, more of a tiny lump of flesh with two holes beneath. What drew Kasumi's eyes was its mouth. In the middle of a head of too-tight skin, like a stretched out sack, was a gaping hole filled with sharp jagged teeth and blood red gums. Kasumi didn't need to know anymore. It really was her worst nightmare brought back. 'Tyrant!'

With a slow gait, it stalked towards her. This is what Brad had been babbling about in the bar. It had killed Brad and then discarded him like an eggshell. He was lying, dead and broken, against the stone fence in a pool of his own fluids and now his murderer was after her. Her whole life, even before losing her family, could never prepare her for the terror that was racing through her veins. Especially when it spoke.

"Ssstaaarrsss…"

------------

Author's Notes:

Man this took a while. I finally got out the first chapter. I guess I should have concentrated on this story more than the other two I'm working on at the same time as this one. Let me tell you, writing fiction isn't easy at all. Even when I want something to be longer than three damn pages. I don't know why I bothered in the first place though. Hardly anybody read the prologue let alone reviewed it. I do thank the three people that did actually. Or is it four? I haven't checked in a while. Either way, I'm going to post this like it or not.

I doubt I need to mention that anybody named or the places used in this story belong to me. Like it really matters either way. I'm not getting paid for writing this. I'm just doing it for my own amusement. Well, that and the people that like my work, what little there is of it. It might be a while before the next chapter. I need to get my mind revved up again. As always, remember my motto, "My fic, my rules." See you in the funny papers.