Location: Mistral

Year: 1998

Ben POV

My name is Benjamin Tarurus, I am 19 years old.

And this...this is where my life went to shit.

I live on the outskirts of Mistral, I run a small farm and it's going very well. Despite the fact that I ain't getting no water since most of the water pipes were shut down by orders of those corporate dickheads Umberlla. They came into power a few years ago in Atlas, running most of the pharmaceutical companies and even has a few small PMCs.

But I really didn't care about that shit, as I just wanted to run my farm and now I needed to find water for my crops. But right now I was running a small errand for a friend named Sam, apparently one his friends hasn't spoken in the last few days. Sam said Henry, his friend I'm checking on, is usually a chatty man and always calls him and they talk for hours

But last few days, he hasn't gotten a call in the last few days, so Sam asked me to check up on him. I groaned as I drove into the driveway, seeing Henrys house, which was decent but I can see that the front door was open. Now that wouldn't be a problem for many people, but the door was covered in blood and scratch marks, making me think something went in

"Sighs, I pray to God its just a wild animal," I said as I grabbed my flashlight and gun

I got out of my truck and walked to the house, walking up the front steps and to the door, which I immediately saw blood on the door and the ground. I grew worried as I turned the flashlight on and walked in, seeing the place was in total disarray. Seems a tussle went on here, I grew more worried as I moved in, seeing scratch marks all around

"What the hell happened here," I asked myself

I didn't find anything on the first floor, so I moved to the second floor to see if Henry or his wife Kara was there. I moved up slowly with my gun out in front of me, with my light under the barrel. I felt uneasy, it was to quiet and I hated it, makes me feel uneasy cause that means something was waiting for me up there. I took a breathe and moved into the bedroom

And there was a mess, a bloody one. The room was destroyed, the bed was ripped apart with cotton all around and at the left side was a corpse, or what was left of one anyway. I walked over to it and looked it over, seeing long grey hair and what I guessed was a bra, I'm guessing this was Kara or what was left. I checked the wounds and saw the blood was coagulated

"Must've happened a few hours ago," I said,"Jesus, looked like something ripped her apart."

I looked closer and saw bite marks, but these weren't animal bite marks no, these were human bite marks. I checked all over as I saw ripped flesh and fingernails. I frowned as I didn't like this, and I still haven't found Henry. I groaned as I stood up and grabbed my Scroll, then called 911

"Hello 911, whats your emergency," the dispatcher asked

"Umm I have a dead body at 1981 Rhode Highway," I said

"Understood, unfortunately units are preoccupied with a situation in Raccoon city, so may take a while."

"Understood, I'll wait here then."

I hanged up, but suddenly the sound of doors banging makes me look out the window, there I see the barn doors opened and chickens screaming. I jogged outside and moved to the barn doors, seeing feathers everywhere and blood. I walked in and looked around, my light finding nothing. That was until it landed at the very end of the barn, a hunched figure doing something

"Hello," I said, hoping to get their attention,"hey buddy, can you hear me?"

It stopped moving and suddenly stood up, then turned to me. I was about to ask who it was, but froze when I saw the guys face, and it was fucked up. It was Henry alright, but his skin was grey, eyes red as blood and blood was all over his face, he gargled a bit and walked to me. I knew something was wrong, so I pointed my at him, hoping it would deter him from getting close

But he kept coming

"Henry, stop or I will shoot," I said

"Rawgh," he blurted out, still walking to me

"Henry! Stop moving, or I will put a fucking bullet in you!"

"RAAAGGHH!!

He came at me, almost running at me, so I did what I had to do.

"Sorry Henry," I said and aimed my gun at his head

*BANG!*

Present Day

Year: 2004

Bens Age: 25

Location: Dragon Continent

I jerked awake from the memory, making me blink rapidly as I looked around the area. We were driving in the backroads of the Dragon Continent, along me with some cops the station assigned to me. One was a older man, with a stubble beard and the other was a younger guy with glasses, and both were absolutely fucking useless

I was in the back seat, outfitted with my gear and attire. I was wearing a blue shirt, with a harness with a few clips, a pair of baggy blue jeans, black military combat boots and strapped to my right tight was my revolver Soulbreaker. And last of all, my knife, it was a military standard with a freshly sharpened blade and lastly...my necklace that held my ring

I grabbed it as I looked at it, it had B and C on it, in the middle was a heart with the word, together.

'Claire,' I thought

I stared at it as the stubble cop leaned back and looked at me, with a smile as no doubt he was gonna joke with me.

"So Atlesian, what brings you here to this terrible place," he asked me,"as close to nowhere that I've ever seen?"

"...Lets just say—I'm looking for someone," I said as I leaned my head on my fist

"That someone must be very important, eh? The chief gave the orders himself, "Help him", he said."

"Well I'm sure you boys didn't come all the way out here just to jerk off to little school girls...or maybe you did."

"You sure do have a fucked up sense of humor," the young cop said to me

I huffed as I didn't give a shit on what they said, all I care about was finding Natasha. I look at here photo, she was just 6 years old, with white skin, black hair with blonde tips and she had dads eyes. I smiled when I remembered holding her when she was born, it was the best day of my life when she came into this world. Second was when I got married, mom is still wanting more grandkids

"I'm gonna let you in on a little secret, just between us," the old cop said,"a lot of people have gone missing around here. And it's been that way for a while now."

"Well then," I said with a headshake,"should be just another day in the office, right?"

"Hmm, I mean last week there was a search for some missing hikers."

"I'm sure you'll do your best to help me, or I might report a missing cop or cops soon."

"Geez dude what crawled up your ass and died," the young cop asked

"Lots of things."

We continued on till the old cop made us stop at the end of the trail, then he decided to go take a piss. He walked off as me and young blood here decided to wait on him before walking off to search the area. The cop pulled out a pack of cigarettes, popping one in his mouth and offered me one, I declined cause Claire would kill me if I smoked even one

We waited for a while, but he still hasn't shown up or radioed us. I started to get a little worried, even his partner was getting a little anxious, which only made me anxious and annoyed. I sighed as I got out, stretching a bit as I close the door and looked at the guy

"I'm gonna go look for him," I said and walked off

"I'll watch the car," the cop said,"wouldn't want to get a parking ticket."

"Wouldn't want you getting fucking HIV fucking a pig dickface."

"What was that?"

"Nothing."

I scoffed as I walked down the trail, pushing brush and limbs out of the way, for fucks sake, how far did this jackass walk? I grumbled as I jogged a bit, then I started to see stone walls and wooden structures, but completely destroyed. I kept going till I see a small pole, it had an X on it with a circle in the middle, wonder what the hell that is.

I kept going till I passed a gate, then and stopped as a foul smell hits my nose. I gagged as I moved ahead and stopped as I saw the source of the smell, a dead elk with a lantern by it. I looked at it, maggots and flies were all over it as it had massive slash marks on the side and the pelt was still on it? Why kill an elk and not harvest the meat and pelt?

"Hmm," I said and moved on

I moved on as I stopped at a blockage, but luckily it had an opening on the bottom, so I crouched and went under it. There is caught the side of a building, which was a total wreck, the roof had holes in it, the support beams were giving away and the porch was rotten. I walked up the steps, which some how still supported me, and walked to the front door

I knocked and waited, getting nothing till I decided to look around and saw no one was around. So I opened the door and walked in, I moved to the hallway on my left and walked to the first door on my right and opened it, inside was two beds and a desk. I moved to the closest bed and found a small object, which looked the same as they marker I saw

Only this was covered in blood, which was nasty. I set it back down and saw nothing useful so I left and continued on. I walked to a door, but it was locked so I went down another all and saw a fire, but the wall was covered with blades and bear traps. I stared at these things till I turned around and was immediately face to face with a person

"JESUS FUCK," I said as I flinched a bit

The person just stared at me, muttering some gibberish, his skin was a bit pale, eyes red and wore old tattered clothes. He stared at me as he turned and walked to the fire, then stirred contents of what was in the pot. I walked to him as I pulled Natashas photo out

"Hey have you seen this girl," I asked him,"her name is Natasha, she's only six years old."

The villager looked at it, then groaned as he looked back to the pot. Then suddenly he looked back at me, growling a bit as he got up with an axe

"Who the hell are you, why are you in my house," he asked me

"Sorry, I'm just looking for-."

"DIE!"

He came at me with a swing with the axe, but I dodged it and gave him a high kick to his head. It slammed into the wall, which caved in a bit and he fell down to the side. I looked at him and saw his neck was broken, his head completely folded to the side, making me sigh as I didn't want to do that. I looked at the floor and suddenly I see a badge and grabbed it

It was the old cops badge, with a touch of blood on it. I looked at the corpse and sneered a bit, I got up and threw the badge away, then suddenly I heard screaming coming from the basement. I walked down the steps and there I found a shit ton more of bear traps and skulls, even strange alters and shrines. It gave me the creeps, so I moved to the back and heard radio sounds

I opened the back door and looked around till I found the cops body

"Hey," I said

I went to check him, but he was already dead, his throat sliced opened up pretty badly. I gaged a bit, but got over it and looked him over, then his radio went off, it was the other cop we came with. It sounded like he was being attacked by someone, I went to check on him but it went silent after he screamed loudly. I growled a bit and tossed the radio away

"What the hell is going on," I asked myself and stood up

As I walked out, I suddenly heard footsteps above me, seems the guy I killed has friends. I grabbed my revolver and flashlight, then walked fast to the steps, which suddenly someone was walking down it. I aimed and got ready if they were hostile, but to my complete horror, it was the villager guy I just killed only minutes ago

He was glowing and hissing, having small tentacles at the opening of his neck and blood spewing out of his mouth when he spoke. I stood there as I aimed and fired at the guys chest, but they only staggered him, making it seem harmless to him. I backed up and ducked under a swing from him and I returned the favor by pulling my knife out and stabbed him in the neck

He yelled in pain and fell to the side, his body twitching hard as it suddenly stopped and he laid there. I panted a bit, but got over it and walked to him his, and just to make sure he didn't get back up, I put 3 rounds in his head and reloaded

"What the fuck," I said as I shook my head,"fucking Raccoon city all over again? Another outbreak?!"

I panted hard as I gripped my chest and breathed, trying to slow my heart beat and focus. After a few seconds, I steadied it and moved back up stares, can't stay in one place for too long. I opened the door and saw another person walk in, using a door that was blocked, so I crouched down and walked to the door, seeing the man enter the room I entered in first

I walked through the door and jogged up a staircase, then went through the door, and closed it behind me and locked it. I sighed as I turned around and there I see a wall covered in pictures, a map and at the top was a picture of Natasha! I looked at it as suddenly I was getting a call from Winter, making me jump a bit. I sighed as I answered the call

"Olympus, this is Spartan 1," I said

"Winter here, whats your sitrep," she asked me,"did you find Nat?"

"Negative," I said as I checked the map,"but I did run into some savory characters here, she might be in the nearby village."

"Seems Romans intel was correct, nice work Ben."

"It over till I find my sister Winter. I need info on a nearby lake, she might have been taken there."

"Copy that, I'll send what I can find."

"Okay but hurry up Winter. Something's happening to the people here. My escorts are-."

Suddenly pounding noises were heard as I looked at the door, seems my new friends are trying to break in. I growled as I didn't see a way out, then an axe came through the door and soon it was busted open. Three more villagers came in, one with an axe, a machete and a kitchen knife. I looked to the side and saw the window, making me groan

"I'll let myself thank you very much," I said and ran to the window

I jumped through it and rolled onto the ground, making me groan as all my bones popped all over my body. I got to my feet and stretched my back, making it pop more

"My back, my back," I said as it made nasty pops

I turned back to the house and saw the axe wielding maniac look at me, he snarled a bit and walked to the side, getting out of my eyesight. I groaned as I rubbed my neck, then stopped to break a second.

"I killed him," I said,"his neck was completely broken and yet he got back up? Shit, another outbreak? T-Virus? No no no, he didn't try to eat me and spoke like a normal human, so what is it?"

So many questions were running in my mind it gave me a headache. I sighed as I walked ahead and just prayed it wasn't like that night...where an entire city was wiped off the map of the planet.