On the dark mountaintop of the Arklay Mountains, a stormy night was brewing. Clouds rolled in, thunder boomed, and the air was thick with the coming downpour. Yet, one figure stood defiantly at the peak, embracing the impending storm.
This was Marcus.
He had received word that the Umbrella Corporation would send a special express train to the executive training facility in the Arklay Mountains tonight. They planned to reclaim all of his viral research and destroy everything at the site. Now that the virus had been released, the Umbrella Corporation could not allow their scandal to become public knowledge.
But Marcus would not let them succeed so easily. They had exposed his human experimentation in front of the company's executives, and now he would do the same to them. He would expose the scandal of the Umbrella Corporation's viral leak to the world.
"Vroom..."
"Beep, beep, beep—!!!!"
The train tracks of the Arklay Mountains hummed with a clear sound. A black express train with the Umbrella Corporation's logo was speeding along the tracks. Its faint yellow lights barely illuminated the dark and gloomy Arklay Mountains. The piercing whistle of the train drove away the beasts near the tracks and also caught Marcus's attention.
His prey had arrived!
"Phew..."
"It's so dark. What a pain. I can't believe we have to come all the way to the Arklay Mountains to clean up this mess. I heard there are large, man-eating beasts roaming around here. Ugh! I wish I hadn't come," one of the passengers complained.
"Heh, don't say that. The job is a hassle, but the pay is good. Besides, this train is great—fast and smooth. It's about to rain outside, so let's have a hot cup of coffee inside. It doesn't sound so bad."
Inside the train, a group of high-society people looked at the weather outside and complained. These people were all dressed in suits, with refined appearances. They were not ordinary passengers, but researchers sent by the Umbrella Corporation. Although the work was a pain, Umbrella's generosity made them willing to go through fire and water. After all, it was just a simple task of retrieving viral research data and destroying evidence.
As members of the Umbrella Corporation, they knew what was happening behind closed doors. For their future careers, the evidence of these viruses that could harm the company had to be destroyed completely.
Although the weather outside the train was terrible, some of the more optimistic researchers brewed themselves a cup of hot coffee to warm up and passed the time by reading newspapers.
But, during this peaceful moment, a strange noise suddenly came from the roof of the train!
"Clang...!"
It sounded like something was climbing on top. The strange noise made the researchers in the train a little confused. What was that? Did a tree branch hit the train?
"..."
"My apologies, ladies and gentlemen. The noise was probably caused by a tree branch or strong wind. There's nothing wrong. I'll go check it right away. Please don't panic. This train is sponsored by the Umbrella Corporation, so there won't be any mechanical issues," a uniformed train attendant calmly explained. Although the Arklay Mountains had become very dangerous with frequent murders, he didn't think a so-called killer or large beast could get into the train. As for a mechanical malfunction, it was out of the question. How could a train built by the world's most advanced company have a problem?
With that, the uniformed train attendant opened the door and walked to the back of the train...
But at that moment, in the pitch-black night, an even louder thunderclap rang out. A blinding white lightning bolt suddenly flashed outside the window.
"Boom...!!!"
"Thump, thump, thump, thump..."
"Squish... splat... squish...!!!"
Along with the booming thunder, swarms of black objects suddenly jumped onto the train. There were thumping noises on the train's roof and windows. At this point, everyone's attention was finally drawn to these black objects. They looked at the things outside the windows with puzzled expressions, not understanding what they were.
They were dense, like a pulsating tumor, and the size of a fist. They clung tightly to the window glass, secreting a disgusting white mucus. With their black outsides and yellow insides, and no eyes, they looked incredibly ugly. These were the mutated leeches controlled by Marcus, who could command them to attack using the Queen Leech in his body.
The next second, the leeches started hissing.
"Hiss—!"
While the researchers in the train were still in a daze, the mutated leeches on the window glass suddenly let out a sharp hiss. Their tumor-like bodies writhed violently. The mouths on the glass suddenly opened up into terrifying, toothed maws. Each sharp tooth was the size of a finger. If one of them bit you, it could tear off a large chunk of flesh.
As the leeches used their sharp mouths to furiously gnaw on the window glass, in a matter of moments, the glass was covered in cracks, as if it was about to give out at any moment.
"Clang—!"
With another loud thud, the window glass was breached. Not just the windows, but also the ventilation windows on the roof were suddenly torn off, and a dense swarm of mutated leeches poured into the train car like a tide, attacking the researchers inside. They stuck to their bodies, and soon one researcher was completely covered in the tumor-like leeches.
As the mutated leeches gnawed with their sharp mouths, a series of hysterical screams echoed in the train car. In just a few seconds, an adult's blood was completely drained, and the body fell to the ground, covered in horrific bite marks. It was a shocking sight.
"Crunch... crunch—!!!"
At the same time, the window glass's defenses were breached. Not only from the top, but also from both sides of the train, more mutated leeches swarmed in. The horrified researchers finally realized what was happening and started screaming and fleeing inside the train car.
Unfortunately, these unarmed researchers were no match for the mutated leeches. They were good at researching viruses, but they had no power to fight the monsters they had helped create. Besides the horrific screams, there was no other sign of resistance in the train car. Soon, the entire train fell silent, resting deadly on the tracks.
It was a cruel, hellish hunt.
Raccoon City Police Department, S.T.A.R.S
"Buzz, buzz, buzz..."
"Buzz, buzz, buzz..."
"We have received a report that the Ecliptic Express train, which was heading to the Arklay Mountains tonight, has been in an accident. Two hours ago, they were attacked by an unknown creature, which is likely the same cult or large beast responsible for the recent murders in the Arklay Mountains," said a voice.
"The Ecliptic Express has lost all contact. The number of survivors is unknown. The Raccoon City Police Department has assigned our S.T.A.R.S team the mission of taking a helicopter to the Arklay Mountains to investigate and try to rescue any survivors. The Alpha Team is short on personnel, so the Bravo Team will go first," the voice continued.
"Everyone... this is a rare opportunity to prove ourselves. We can't let the Alpha Team steal our thunder. This time, we must impress the Raccoon City Police Department and the residents!"
In front of the Raccoon City Police Department's helipad, the S.T.A.R.S Bravo Team leader, a strong middle-aged man named Enrico, was wearing a standard tactical uniform and holding a gun. He spoke to his team members with a serious and loud voice.