Chapter Text
CHAPTER 1
"Michelle, please, I— fuck, I get it. I was a dick when we were together but— but that doesn't mean you keep our kid away from me!" Bryan tried to reason, his fingers tapping anxiously against the steering wheel as he kept his eyes fixed on the dark, snowy road ahead of him.
Just one more delivery. That's all he had to do.
How hard could it be?
He glanced to his right, eyeing that green cooler in the passenger seat. It probably held a liver or a heart or something like that. Doesn't matter. It's still important.
"Bryan." He could hear Michelle sigh over the phone. "I don't know.. You're not really..." She trailed off.
"Not what?" Bryan asked, already feeling dread fill his entire body.
Michelle was quiet before finally saying what she had thought since she found out she was pregnant. "You're not fit to be a father."
Those words practically rang in Bryan's ears. Hell, he would've crashed the car if it wasn't for a sudden slide on snow that forced him to bring the car back on track.
"Jesus." He breathed out, both from Michelle's harsh statement and nearly crashing.
At least the cooler was safe.
"Bryan, I gotta go—"
"Wait, hold on!" Bryan pleaded.
He wanted Michelle to listen. He wanted to see his little girl. He was really regretting taking this delivery.
"What? You're cutting out—"
The call went dead. There must've been no service in this wooded area.
"Shit!" Bryan hissed, looking down for just a moment as he tried to grab his phone from the cup holder.
Bryan just barely managed to grab his phone and look out the windshield when he noticed a figure on the side of the road.
Moving out into the street.
Bryan didn't have enough time to slam on the breaks before hitting that person head on, cracking his windshield and sending them over the hood.
He sat there stunned for a few seconds, breathing heavily. He looked in the rear view mirror, his heart pounding.
Please tell me I didn't just kill that person.
"Fuck." Bryan cursed under his breath and quickly fumbled to undo his seat belt. "Jesus chist, what the fuck just happened.."
He got out of the car and shivered from the chill of the air. He turned on his phone flash light and started walking to the back of his car, really hoping he didn't just kill a person.
But...
There was no body. No person.
Instead there was a dent in the snow where they landed and footprints leading away from it and into the woods.
Bryan swallowed thickly. Great.
He carefully walked over to the woods, following the tracks until his light finally caught something.
A woman lying motionless in the snow, blood coating her face and dress.
"Oh fuck." Bryan gasped, and he quickly stepped forward. "Uh, h-hey, are you, uh, alive?"
Jesus, what was he doing?
The woman opened her eyes, looking glassy and vacant. Still alive. That's good.
"Hey, you're ok, here," Bryan reached out and helped the woman sit up. She felt so frail, her skin sickly pale.
Well, maybe it was from blood loss.
Bryan shrugged off his work jacket and put it on over the woman's shoulders. That'll help, right??
Helping her stand, he took her back to his car. He was going to a hospital anyway, and its not like he had service to call an ambulance.
"There ya go, that's it." Bryan reassured, clicking in the seat belt. "We're gonna get you to a hospital no problem."
Once the door was closed, he sighed heavily. "Fuckin snow and this fuckin delivery. God damn it, just my fuckin luck, huh?"
He got back into the driver's seat, got himself situated and started driving again.
He was kinda talking to the lady, trying to ask questions to keep her conscious, but she only stared blankly. Probably not a good thing.
Then one of her bloody hands reached out right towards his face, making him let out a shriek.
"Woah, excuse me!" Bryan yelped. "I need to see the road, please—"
And as if Bryan's day couldn't get any worse, a quick blip sounded behind him followed by red and blue lights.
Great. Of course.
"Oh, fuck me." Bryan groaned, but reluctantly slowed down until his car was stopped. "Of course a fuckin cop is here. Why wouldn't there be?" He wanted to bang his head against the steering wheel.
A light knock on his window made him roll it down and squint at the cop outside. But the cop didn't really look like a cop. He was tall and well built, sure, but he wasn't in uniform. He was in a navy shirt that looked like it was too tight for him and a jacket that certainly wasn't fighting off the cold.
"What—"
"Sir, are you alright?" The cop asked, leaning down to look at Bryan better. His blonde hair was far too clean, like he belonged in a boy band or something. And those eyes... too soft for a hardened cop.
When Bryan didn't answer, he kept talking. "You were swerving pretty bad. Are you intoxicated?"
"W-What? No, but, uh, well.." Bryan stammered, leaning back so the cop could see the woman beside him. "I kinda have a, uh... situation."
The cop's eyes widened and Bryan swore he could see the gears turning in his head. Oh god, he probably thinks im a fuckin psycho—
The lady stretched her hand out again, nearly hitting Bryan in the face.
"God damn it." He huffed, pushing the lady's arm away before looking back at the cop. "I'm sorry, she's been doing that. Look, I—"
"Step out of the vehicle."
"What—"
"I'm not asking."
Bryan stood shivering in his flannel and sweater as the cop shined a light in his eyes, making him blink.
"Sir, I think she was trying to, I-I don't know, kill herself or something." He explained, trying to keep himself from squinting more. "I was just trying to get her to safety, you know?"
The cop didn't answer.
"L-Look man, I don't mean to be rude but, uhm.. are you actually, you know, a cop?" Bryan asked cautiously.
The guy turned off his small light and gave Bryan a small glare. "Excuse me?"
Jesus. "I, uh, you know what? That's on me. I'm sorry, I just—"
The cop held out a badge, his picture printed clear as day. He put it away before Bryan could read his name.
"Oh."
"Are you going to tell me what you're doing out here?" The cop asked.
Bryan swallowed thickly and nodded. "Yeah, I'm, uh, doing a delivery. T-To Raccoon City? I'm a medical courier." He stated. "And, like i said, this lady just.. God, man, she just fuckin jumped in front of my car, you know? I-I'm a safe driver, I swear, but—"
"Alright." The cop cut him off, sounding exasperated. "How about this; I'll escort you to Raccoon City and help you finish whatever you need to do. We'll get this woman some medical attention, then you can make a report at the station. Ok?"
Bryan can only dumbly nod in return.
The cop sighed and nodded. "Alright. Let's go."
"W-Wait."
The cop turned with a raised brow.
"Can she ride with you?"
That's how Bryan ended up tailing behind a cop car, muttering under his breath.
"Fuckin cops and their fuckin ego, man. This is such bullshit. I didn't intentionally hit that fuckin lady. Her blood is all over my seats god damn it that's going to take forever to fuckin clean."
Yeah.. Not his best day.
And it was only getting worse.
That cop car suddenly swerved, veering off into a dip and tumbling until it landed on its hood.
Bryan panicked and quickly turned his car to face the field the car just crashed in. He once again got out of his car and rushed to the flipped cop car.
He skidded down to his knees, looking in the open passenger door. The cop was there, hanging upside down with blood coming from his temple and nose.
"Hey!" Bryan nearly yelped. "Are you ok? Fuck, what happened?"
Bryan almost expected the cop to be dead, but his eyes opened slowly as he let out a pained groan.
"Ngh.. What..?" He looked around, blinking at Bryan with an unfocused gaze. "Huh..?"
"H-Hey, uhm, you kinda flipped your car, man." Bryan explained, looking around the interior of the cop car. "Come on, let's get you out of here."
He reached forward and tried to pull the seat belt free, but it was no use. With how the car landed, it jammed the buckle.
"Bryan." The cop coughed out, and Bryan almost forgot he told the cop his name earlier. "Knife.."
"H-Huh?"
"Knife... in my belt." He muttered, voice strained.
Bryan nodded and cautiously reached out. It was hard to see and he was stressed out, so he didn't consider using his phone light. He grabbed onto something but instead of pulling out a knife, he found a gun instead.
After fumbling around again, he found the knife and frantically tried to cut the cop free without harming him more.
Somehow it worked, the cop awkwardly maneuvering so he didn't break his neck or anything. Bryan would've laughed at the absurdity if it wasn't for what came next.
That woman pressed right against the glass of the front windshield, making Bryan shriek in panic and the cop flinch.
She growled, low and unnatural. Her skin was too white, black veins running underneath her skin.
She wasn't human anymore.
And now she was hungry for blood.