Chapter 4
Blood dripped down the side of Nicholai’s face, and he wiped it away with a careless motion of his hand, making sure not to make any noise. He peeked out through a crack in the metal doorway of the streetcar and grimaced.
The streetcar was on its side, the windows all smashed, glass scattered everywhere. The entire front end was caved in like a tin can from the initial impact with the parked cars, and the dead bodies of the two soldiers who had been driving the streetcar were mangled in with the wreckage. Nicholai ignored the corpses and peeked out again at the area outside the streetcar.
It swarmed with zombies. Dozens of them meandered around just on the other side, only a bent up sheet of metal between Nicholai and the undead. He guessed that there were many more than just the ones he could see.
The only good thing was the streetcar’s position among the wreckage of the blocked street. There were cars everywhere, which gave Nicholai an idea about how to escape. He stepped over to the middle of the streetcar and knelt down in front of the other surviving member of the UBCF team.
“I am leaving,” he whispered very softly. “You can come with me or stay here.”
The soldier’s name was Yuri, although Nicholai didn’t really care who he was. He was a Russian, like the dead Captain Mikhail. He sat on the ground, cradling an obviously broken arm, his face contorted in pain, beads of sweat on his forehead. He nodded, gritting his teeth in pain, and whispered back. “I’m not staying here. What is your plan?”
“We climb out the top and use the cars around us. We jump from car to car. The infected ones will not be able to reach us if we are very lucky.”
“We have not been lucky so far,” Yuri grunted.
“You are wrong,” Nicholai said simply. “We are lucky to still be alive.”
He helped Yuri to his feet, although he harbored no illusions about the wounded soldier’s chances of survival. Even healthy, the odds were low. But with a broken arm, his chances were virtually nil. Nicholai did not care either way, but he would try to take Yuri with him if possible. But if Yuri slowed him down, then he was on his own.
Working silently, he used straps from the dead soldiers’ gear to tie Yuri’s shattered arm securely to his torso, allowing him to move somewhat freely. Yuri whimpered a bit, but did his best to ignore the pain.
Suddenly, there was a burst of gunfire nearby, followed almost immediately by a thundering explosion. Yuri’s head jerked to the side in surprise, but Nicholai merely glanced in the direction of the sound.
“Come on. Now is our chance.”
Nicholai jumped up and grabbed onto the edge of a broken window, hauling himself up with a grunt. Now that he viewed the area from a better vantage point, he realized just how many zombies there actually were, and it was more than he had feared. It was too late to stop now. The zombies all had their attention focused in the direction of the explosion, and for the moment they did not see him. He had an assault rifle strapped over his shoulder and a Desert Eagle at his hip, but he dared not waste any ammo so soon. He knew he would need it later.
He reached down, grabbed Yuri’s outstretched hand, and then lifted him up. When Yuri perched himself on the edge of the window, Nicholai let go and let him get up on his own. Yuri’s face fell when he saw how many zombies there were, but he said nothing.
“This way,” Nicholai said.
He leaped off and landed on the hood of a smashed-up pickup truck leaning against the streetcar. Immediately, the zombies saw him and converged around the truck, but Nicholai quickly stepped onto the roof, where the zombies could not reach. Yuri jumped down after him and nearly lost his balance when he landed, with only one arm to steady himself.
Nicholai did not wait for him. He jumped off the truck onto a sedan nearby, quickly running across the roof and leaping onto another car, with a mob of zombies right underneath his feet, grabbing at his boots as he ran across the cars.
Yuri jumped after him and made it onto the second car, but lost his balance and fell down, sliding halfway down the hood of the car. He cried out in pain as he fell onto his broken arm, and fumbled with his free hand to grab onto the upper edge of the windshield.
Zombies surged around the car and grabbed Yuri’s legs. They pulled at him and tried to bite his legs, but he managed to kick them away.
“Nicholai!” he begged. “Please!”
Nicholai gave him one final, emotionless glance, and jumped to another car. He hopped across the hood and roof and jumped across to the back of another pickup truck. Zombies stuck out their arms to grab him but their bloody fingers only snatched at empty air.
Behind him, he heard Yuri screaming. He continued onward, leaping from roof to roof, avoiding the zombies clawing hands. They scratched at his boots and pawed hungrily at his pants legs, but could not grab him. He glanced back once, to see Yuri frantically kicking away the hordes of zombies that surrounded the car, grabbing and biting at his legs. He lost his grip and was pulled off the hood, screaming hysterically.
When he made it past the largest crowds of undead, Nicholai jumped to the ground and drew his assault rifle, bracing it against his shoulder. The crashed streetcar was fifty yards away by now, and the huge crowds of zombies were mostly behind him, although a few random zombies remained. Nicholai ignored them and started running along the street, parallel to the streetcar tracks.
Once he made it completely past the zombies, he crossed the open area back to the tracks. At this point, few options remained other than to travel all the way back to the streetcar station, where his helicopter was still parked. It was low on fuel, but hopefully there was enough to make one last trip to the city park.
Nicholai ran along the tracks, leaving the destruction behind. Far behind him, Yuri finally stopped screaming.
Resident Evil Legends Part Six - Escape From Raccoon City Page 5