Traveler - 25 (Patreon)

Resident Evil Dimension
Raccoon City, Colorado, USA - September 1998

Ben wasn't sure what to do until things really kicked off. He was walking around the city until inspiration struck. Zombies were already wandering around the forest. It was likely that there was a decent cross-section of animals that had been infected as well. He was not looking forward to fighting a zombie dog. Zombie Mountain Lion, now that would suck. There was no way in hell that he would get anywhere close to the Zoo.

"Lions, tigers, and elephants. Oh my," Ben muttered.

He started to make list of places that he needed to avoid. The police station, the zoo, city hall, and any churches were the top four locations. He facepalmed. Tempting fate was never a good idea.

From what he could recall Jill focused on escaping from Nemesis and saving people. She helped synthesize a cure along the way. Leon and Claire mostly wanted to get out of the city with the added task of taking care of Sherry and fighting Birkin along the way. The city was lost by the time their stories started. There was also Ada Wong doing her espionage and Hunk doing mercenary work.

He had arrived a few days early to get settled before things got bad. If the world worked on the game timeline then the city pretty much lost to the undead. Jill hadn't noticed the chaos until she went outside. There was a chance that she had taken something to help her sleep considering the number of pill bottles she had on her bedside table.

That was if the world was based on the remakes. It was what he had in mind when he picked the dimension so it should match. He walked around the city to familiarize the landmarks. The train that Jill used would crash, but the one for Leon, Claire, and Sherry managed to outrun the blast. If memory served, that one was located underground in an Umbrella facility. He would have vanished into the game, no pun intended, until he had finished both plotlines.

Going back to check felt kind of like cheating. It wasn't Fallout, there wasn't a huge map to check, or complicated plots that needed to be wrangled. This entire run would only take a few days. A week at the most. The plot moved fast once it started.

Jill could use help against Nemesis. Claire and Leon could use help against Mr. X. The zombies could be an issue, but it was the monsters that were dangerous. He wouldn't be able to help anyone with the 9mm he had right now. A shotgun would be good for the big critters. He could probably grab a gun from a dead UBCS guy. His pockets were linked to his Cube, so he didn't need to worry about ammo regardless of whatever he chose. He even had grenades if he needed them. The weapons that he had used in the Mojave were well-loved and wouldn't last for extended use. Nostalgia played a large part of it too.

Getting a shotgun wouldn't be hard. He wouldn't need to bribe a clerk to get it today. Going back to Kendo would be awkward.

Ben explored the city until he found a Sporting Goods store. The transaction went smoothly this time. It was illegal to sell ammo in the same purchase. Ben listened to the sales pitch and purchased a travel case with it to protect it from the elements. He walked out with a pump-action Winchester 1300 over his shoulder. The case had a neon orange camo pattern with the word Winchester in white just to make sure anyone would know what it was. Raccoon City was in the mountains. Hunting was practically a social requirement. It was obvious he had a gun in the case. No one looked twice at him. Man, the 1990s were strange.

During his entire time walking around he only found two churches. Both of which were grand buildings that looked like the church had stepped out of Victorian Europe. Every single important location had the same style. He chuckled when an old joke came to mind. It was a post on Tumbr or Reddit that was an employee complaint about having to get a lion crest, butterfly key, and play a song on a piano to get to the bathroom. Resident Evil had some good memes. Chris punching a boulder, Jill the master of unlocking, Jill sandwich, Mr. X gonna give it to ya, and a couple others that he couldn't recall of the top of his head.

He hadn't thought of what to do until the plot started. On instinct, he reached into his pocket for his phone. It wasn't there. Panic spiked for a moment before he realized that his cell phone had been smeared across the parking lot in 2026. Forty years in the Mojave had been different enough to disconnect there. Now that he was in something closer to his own time period and the unconscious motion was back. Pulling out a smart phone in 1998 would draw more unwanted attention than the gun on his shoulder.

Once more, his hand reached into his pocket to connect to his Cube. Sunny had gotten a gift on their first anniversary. A mechanical watch with personalized pattern on the wristband. It had seen him through raiders, the 2nd Legion invasion, and two children. The wristband was flexible from years of wear, but the internal mechanisms were in working order. There were a couple of scratches on the watch face from a long life of use.

Ben looked at it. His heart swelled at the sight. He had been buried with it.

"Watchmaker," He muttered to himself.

He turned his attention to the high-class area of the city. If he couldn't find a watchmaker then he could potentially find a jeweler that had the same skillset. He would settle for maintenance if that was the only option. The rest of the architecture in the city was in a contemporary style. Brick and mortar stores transitioned to multi-level glass slabs. He didn't consider himself to know anything about architecture. It was that he just liked the look of normal buildings instead of a cluster of monoliths. The aesthetics didn't gel with him.

It had been a long walk from the sporting goods store before he found the first jewelers. He was thankful this was The Walking Dead dimension. Walking a few blocks as a standard human would have been murder. He would take a little chill rather than sweating through his clothes. The jeweler pointed him toward a watchmaker saving him from wandering around hoping to stumble across one. He didn't want to tempt his luck again by being out after dark.

"Shit," He whispered.

He needed somewhere to stay for tonight and possibly tomorrow. At least he had something to do for the rest of the day.

§

The watchmaker had been easy to find with directions. Maintenance, repair, and replacing crystal had cut a chunk out of his funds. It also helped pass the time. There wasn't a waiting area which was a little annoying. The watchmaker recommended a couple of the better hotels in the area. He rented a room for the next week just to be thorough. It wasn't like he needed to worry about cash until he moved to a different dimension.

Both games took place at night. Staying up all day and relying on adrenaline too keep him going was a dangerous idea. He ordered a wake-up call in two hours, then took a nap. It always felt weird to focus on sleep instead of doing something with his godly powers. The Mojave had required almost daily outings as a god. Water filters, tech schematics, medical supplies, baby supplies, gifts, and portable air conditioners were always in demand. He couldn't think of anything that he would need to gather to prepare. It felt like he was just begging for something to go wrong if he started planning his next stop.

Two hours later the phone rang as requested.

It took him a moment to remember where he was. He moved with instinct, getting out of bed and going to the kitchen to make coffee. Three steps into his morning routine he slammed into a wall. A moment of blind panic faded as his mind caught up. This wasn't the Mojave. Being human again was weird. Next time he needed to spend more time before jumping to another long-term dimension. Sunny had died a few years before him, the effects of living her entire life in the Mojave Wasteland caught up with her. He hoped that the little moments like these would fade soon. Otherwise, he was going to spend a lot more time as a god.

Ben shook off the lingering drowsiness. He grumbled when he realized the hotel room didn't have a coffee maker. The room was on the second floor with a window facing out toward the street. It followed the universal rule of having a gap between the shades making it easy to see the street outside. The entire city was holding its breath. Calm before the storm indeed.

He turned on the TV with nothing better to do. The news was not on. He settled for this dimensions' version of The Price Is Right. It felt like staying home sick when he was a kid. He looked over his shoulder at the digital clock on the bedside table. The display was a little after seven in the evening. They had some weird TV scheduling.

The second showcase was being revealed when an emergency alert interrupted the show. It let out a screech to get attention. Blocky text began to scroll across the screen.

!!!EMERGENCY ALERT!!!
ALL RACCOON CITY RESIDENTS
STAY INSIDE YOUR HOMES
AVOID PEOPLE PRESENTING THE FOLLOWING SYMPTOMS:
DIZZINESS
SLURRED SPEECH
AGGRESSIVE BEHAVIOR
BLEEDING FROM EYES, NOSE, OR EARS

The message repeated a couple times. It froze on the screen for a few minutes before it vanished

Things were kicking off. The city would turn to chaos in a day at most. He sat back on the bed trying to come up with a plan of action. It was too late to stop Birkin. Not that he knew how to get down to the lab to do anything. He needed to get to the police station, but not now. It would be swarming with people soon enough. Too many people, especially the infected among them, would fall to chaos faster than anyone could predict.

There was one person he could get rid of that would have a positive impact on the plot. Chief Irons was a pure scumbag that would make the world better without him in it. The guy showed up in the parking garage in Claire's storyline to kidnap Sherry. He would then take her to the orphanage where he got killed by the mutated Birkin. Killing Irons wouldn't change much. It wasn't like the garage was a viable exit for them. They would be dead if they went into the city. The underground train was the only safe way out of the city.

The building chaos was just waiting for a spark.

He couldn't go to the police station yet, but he didn't know if it would be a good idea to stay in the hotel either. The place was just as likely to get destroyed as it was to get overrun by zombies. It might be time to visit Kendo again.

Ben removed a holster from his Pocket of Cubing one item at a time with the belt coming out last. He locked it into place then holstered his pistol. The shotgun he looped over his shoulder with the attached sling. He had come up with a trick while in the Mojave with a setup like this. A quick dip to the side would swing the weapon up enough for him to grab it.

He took the stairs down to the ground floor. The front desk was empty, hopefully that meant the people had taken the chance to leave. He didn't know when Umbrella closed off the road out of town. The streets were empty of the living. Judging by the smell the zombies were already growing in number. This would be the time when people started to get infected.

It was enough to get him moving faster. He jogged to Kendo to find the door locked.

Ben knocked on the door. No one answered. He shrugged as he crouched down to start on the lock. It was another skill he had picked up in the Mojave. Actually, he had learned from YouTube tutorials while his avatar was sleeping, but it still counted. The locks from 1998 weren't more complex that the ones he had experienced in the past.

The door unlocked. He carefully opened it before slipping inside, closing it behind him, and locking it again. He turned around just in time to come face-to-barrel with a shotgun.

"Kendo," Ben said with a friendly nod. "I was hoping to see you again."

"Get out of here," Kendo held the gun steadily as he spoke.

"I'm here to help you and your family," Ben continued evenly.

"You can help my family by getting the hell out of here," Kendo ordered.

Ben sighed, "Ok. Stay inside until you see Jill."

"How do you know Jill?" Kendo narrowed his eyes.

"Who doesn't know about Jill Valentine?" Ben chuckled. "She's a fucking legend." He let the smile drop. "Good luck, stay safe, and don't let your family outside until you see Jill."

Ben unlocked the door and stepped outside. Kendo locked it behind him. He had tried. It wasn't like he could say he had visions of the future. His avatar here was a normal human. There had been a lot of strangeness going around, but he didn't think anyone would buy him being a psychic.

Now that he was out on the street it felt silly to go back to the hotel. He shrugged and turned toward the police station. His footsteps echoed as he walked down the street. A chorus of muffled moans grew louder as he moved deeper into the city. There were shadows moving in the alleys.

He came to a stop across the street from the police station. It looked imposing even before the chaos. The lights were on and he could see the edge of iron shutters on a couple of the windows. They weren't closed, but they could be deployed speedily.

Going through the front doors was a bad idea. Either he would get trapped in the chaos or they would arrest him for breaking curfew again. There was no way he could get into Irons' office, but that didn't matter as much in the timeline for the remake. He needed to be in the underground parking garage.

Ben shrugged before he started to walk around the station. The lights on the exterior of the station didn't reach far enough into the shadows to reveal much. He had to walk slower than usual to make sure he could see where he was going. It would be embarrassing to die here by tripping. He found the garage entrance about halfway around the building.

He walked confidently down the ramp toward the gate. A camera set atop the console pointed straight at him. After a lifetime carefully developing his slice of the Mojave, establishing supply lines, and raising three kids had given him plenty of time living a cautious life.

Ben stared into the camera and pointed at the gate.

A moment later the gate began to lift. He nodded at the camera before stepping through into the garage. It closed the moment he was through. A door to his right burst open as a pair of officers entered with their guns drawn. He raised his hands as they got the usual yelling out of their system.

"I said get down!" One of the officers yelled one more time.

Ben stared flatly at them, "I'm the new Umbrella Liaison."

"Liaison?" The other officer asked.

Ben nodded, "Wesker or Irons, which one is here? No one has been answering our communications."

They looked from him to each other. Ben stayed stern, keeping up the act. Attacking them was out of the question. He had no interest in getting shot.

"Irons," The first one said after a long moment.

The other officer kept his gun on Ben as he moved to get behind him.

"We'll take you somewhere you can wait," The officer behind him said.

Ben sighed. They were going to take him to a holding cell.

§

Sometimes it sucked to be right. Arrested twice in less than two days.

Ben lay out on the bench staring at the ceiling. They hadn't charged him with anything choosing to lock him away to deal with him later. If ever. He started counting the bricks on the wall and had just finished the left one when he heard someone coming down the hall. Chief Irons looked like a creep in the games. It was even worse in real life. He was the creeper neighbor that wore tan shorts that were too small and stared at girls until they got uncomfortable. Irons would have been on the list of people to avoid even without meta knowledge.

He wasn't sure if it was a good sign that Irons was alone.

"Umbrella Liaison," Irons hacked out a laugh. "Too bad for you our communications are working just fine." He sneered at him. "There are a few people who would love to speak with you."

Ben didn't bother to stand, "Umbrella must have paid off a lot of people to get you that job."

"I've seen your kind before," Irons walked over to the controls as he spoke. "First come the jokes, then come the screams and begging."

Ben sat up, "Are you taking me to the NEST?"

"How do you know about that?" Iron froze.

Ben chuckled, "How do I know about the NEST? The underground lab where the doctors Burton are working on a virus for Umbrella? You know we could have stopped all of this if those morons had been loaded with tranquilizers."

Irons stomped back over in front of his cell. An alarm blared before the man could say anything. Irons glared at him before charging back toward the lobby area.

Ben shook his head then lay back down. If he remembered correctly, that one cop had called Leon a week before things started to tell him to stay away. There was no way that Umbrella would let the city burn for a week before doing something about it. It was more likely that the cop called Leon was when things started to look bad, which he would guess was recently. The events of both games took place over the course of one night. Maybe two for Jill. The timeline gets wonky when looked at in detail.

More alarms were followed by yelling and screaming. There weren't any gunshots yet. He wondered how long that would last. There was nothing he could do but wait.

§

No one came to check on him for the rest of the night. Gunshots started around four in the morning. Everything finally kicked off if the noise was anything to go by. He would have been dehydrated and starving if not for the connection to his cube. They had taken his guns, but he had others. He hoped that he'd be able to get both of them back from the evidence locker. It would be annoying more than anything if he couldn't find them. The sounds stopped around noon. He didn't think that was a good sign. A couple hours later someone new came running down the hallway.

"What the fuck are you doing here?" The guy asked.

The lanyard around his neck had an access card for the garage. This was the guy that Mister X killed while Leon was talking to him.

"I shot a man in Reno, just to watch him die," Ben said as he walked over to the cell door. "It sounds like I'm going to be fashionably late to the party." He tapped the bars. "Care to let me out?"

"What are you really in for?" The guy narrowed his eyes.

"Breaking curfew and impersonating an officer," Ben replied with a smile. "I was trying to get a face-to-face meeting with Irons."

The guy chuckled, "You're lucky you didn't get it. The guy is ten pounds of shit in a two-pound bag."

"I'll have to remember that one," Ben smiled. "So. The gate?"

"Right."

The cell door opened a moment later.

"I'm guessing you want in?" Ben asked as he stepped into the hallway.

The guy nodded as he slipped by into the cell, "Good luck out there."

"Thanks," Ben nodded at him. "Good luck to you too." He paused once the door closed. "Where is the evidence locker?"

"Take the stairs in the garage up to the first floor," The guy explained. "Straight down the hallway, take a left, it's the only one there, and the room will be to your right."

"Thank you again," Ben replied. "Try to stay away from the walls."

Ben left the guy confused. It was the best information he could give. He followed the directions through the parking garage. There were a few cruisers waiting in the spots. He made a note of that before he went up the stairs.

He found a police officer sitting against the wall with a bleeding wound on their chest. It looked like claw marks rather than a bite. The cop looked up at him. Their lips moved but no sound came out. It took him a moment to recognize the cop as one that had arrested him earlier.

"Sorry man," Ben said as he walked by. "You probably saved my life."

The sound of claws tearing into plaster grew louder with every step he took. He found the evidence room easily enough. It was right where it was supposed to be. There was also a smear of blood along the floor that started at the door to the evidence room and continued up along the wall. It wasn't reassuring, but it did mean the room was open.

Ben let out a low whistle as he stepped into the room. The place looked more like an armory than an evidence room. Guns of all sorts lined the walls with case number tags marking each. His holster, pistol, and shotgun were on the counter not yet processed. He didn't waste any more time. Ben moved with practiced efficiency as he checked his gear and got it settled. Both guns had been unloaded, which took a couple of minutes to rectify.

He kept hold of the shotgun as he stepped out into the hallway. The body of a police officer dropped from the ceiling the moment the door closed behind him. He had his shotgun up, aimed at a creature he really didn't want to see.

A licker hung tight to the ceiling. Its claws dug deep into the plaster. The long, nasty tongue swayed in front of him before the creature dropped to the floor. Ben didn't hesitate. He worked the slide fast enough to make the gun sound automatic. The licker was knocked back, the blood on the floor sent it sliding along the tile. It didn't move.

Ben reloaded his shotgun as he returned to the parking garage. The cop had died at some point and hadn't gotten back up yet. Once he was in the garage he tried the door handles on the cars. He stared at the handle of the first car as it popped open with an issue. There was a suitcase-sized computer on a swivel in the front seat that was powered off. He got into the driver's seat and closed the door. The sound of the locks engaging sent a sharp echo through the garage.

This was where he wanted to be. Claire and Sherry would be around at some point. Once more he was left with nothing to do but wait. He wasn't going to head out into the city in hopes of catching up with Jill. Nemesis was not something he wanted to encounter. The occasional run in with Mister X would be bad enough.

The computer powered on, then took a couple of minutes to go through the start-up process. It swapped over to the Raccoon City Police Logo. There was a tagline beneath it:

Proudly Supported by the Umbrella Corporation

A login prompt popped up once the logo faded. He didn't have any credentials. Most of the computers encountered in the game were open for anyone to read. It would probably be available if either character interacted with the cars. He was about to call it a bust when he noticed a label on the side of the case.

"No," Ben muttered. "They can't be that stupid."

He entered the code and let out a little laugh as it connected. At least he had something to do. It was ages ahead of the computers from the Mojave. His hacking skills were woefully underqualified. He spent time perusing the latest files as he waited.

Things had been brewing for over a week now. The disappearances were worse than the public were aware. Over thirty people had vanished in the last two days from a suburb on the edge of town. Nearly the entire homeless population was gone. They had lost an officer responding to a domestic dispute. The cop in question had their throat ripped out. Their partner put the zombie down. There was a special note to ensure they knew that the attacker took three rounds to the chest before reaching the other officer and another four before they finally stopped. The spouse was dead when they arrived on the scene.

His interest waned when he went farther back than ten days. It swapped over to the standard, daily life at that point. He checked the time. It had been thirty minutes.

"Fuck," He pinched the bridge of his nose.

Claire and Leon didn't arrive in Raccoon City until tonight. That was hours away. He really needed to better research going forward. Sitting here waiting was bad planning.

§

He started awake at the sound of footsteps. A pair of familiar voices helped perk him up even more. He opened the car door as quietly as he could. Staying crouched, he drew his pistol and crept closer to get a better angle.

Ben waited for a minute before Irons made his reveal. The piece of shit masquerading as a human stepped out of the shadows. His arrival was instantly nullified by a bullet between the eyes.

Sherry screamed. Claire spun to face him while pulling the little girl behind her for protection.

"Sorry about that," Ben said as he walked over to Irons' body. "Brace yourself." He fired another round into the head. "Double-tap when you have the chance."

"Who are you?" Claire kept her gun aimed at him as he patted down the body.

"Ben," He replied before he knelt to be even with Sherry. "Hello. Are you ok?"

"Claire has been keeping me safe," Sherry replied. "Are you like that bad man?"

Ben shook his head, "I'm not always a good guy, but I'm not like him."

"What does that mean?" Claire interrupted.

Ben shrugged, "I don't lie to kids. Most of the times I'm a decent guy. I do my best to be polite. I will also steal and kill if it helps me or my friends stay alive." He motioned to the body of Irons. "As you can see."

"How do we know he was a bad guy?" Claire asked.

He inclined his head at Sherry, "Ask her."

"Did you know that man?" Claire asked.

"He worked with my mommy and daddy," Sherry answered. "He wasn't nice." She paused. "Very, very not nice."

That seemed to mollify Claire for now.

"This is the garage keycard," Ben held up the item. "I don't think it's a good idea to go out there. There are more of those things every minute. Umbrella will have the roads blocked off by now. The only way to escape if by their underground train."

"How do you know?" Claire asked.

Ben sighed, "Would you believe that I've seen it happen?"

"Like a psychic?" Claire asked. "What number am I thinking of?"

"I don't read minds," Ben said with a smirk. "I've seen the future. A future. Well, a couple of futures. None of which are good."

"Prove it," Claire said.

"I don't want to scare you," Ben said to Sherry before pointing to Claire. "Do you mind if I tell you about her?"

Sherry nodded.

"Claire Redfield," Ben stood. "Your brother Chris is a member of STARS. You came here to check on him and found out he's on vacation in Europe."

"That doesn't prove anything. You could have overheard that," Claire shook her head. "Do better."

"You stopped by a gas station earlier to fill up your bike," Ben continued. "That's where you saw your first zombie. It is also where you met Leon. He's a rookie cop, it's his first day. The car you two were in was hit by an eighteen-wheeler hauling fuel."

He paused to see if that was enough.

"Creepy, but still not psychic," Claire countered.

Ben rubbed a hand over his face, "Fine. Don't believe me. I'm still here to help if you'll allow."

"And if I say no?" Claire asked.

He shrugged, "I hadn't thought that far."

Sherry giggled.

"There is a secret elevator in his office," Ben continued. "It will get us out of here a lot faster. There are a few zombies wandering around and a creature or two."

"Creature?" Claire asked.

"Have you seen one of those things that looked like a skinned person with an exposed brain?" Ben asked.

Claire shook her head.

"You're lucky," Ben shuddered. "They have long tongues and climb on walls. Hate those things."

"Fine," Claire sighed. "I'll give you a chance. If you hurt Sherry, I will kill you."

Ben smiled, "That's what I like about you Claire. You just met this little girl and you're ready to fight the world to keep her safe."

"We'll go with your plan for now," Claire said ignoring his comment. "I was outside earlier. I'm not in a hurry to go back out there. Definitely not now with Sherry."

"Do you want to lead or follow?" Ben asked. "I'm fine with either. It would probably be a good idea to keep Sherry between us."

"You're in the front then," Claire said.

Ben nodded and took the lead. Claire wanted to be at the back to make sure he didn't grab Sherry and run. Now all they had to do was get to the secret elevator, down into the NEST through the sewers, and out of the city on the train. Should be easy.