PROLOGUE
"Glad You Came"
The sun does down...
It's 7:00 pm. A booming nightclub, not far from Caesars Palace, romanticized as a modern pinnacle of Roman architecture, explodes in a dazzling star-struck night as singers, actors, actresses sway their body to the beat...
The stars come out...
The night sky shines down in a majestic glow. A newly-wed bride, bundled under a blanket, feels the scent of the Vegas atmosphere wash over her, mingling with the scent of the man she knew would protect and love her for the rest of her life. They were happy...
And all that counts...
A dirty-blonde model, sporting a baby blue two-piece bikini, steps into a sparkling pool of water...
Is here and now...
A boy pulls a teenage girl close to him. Their lips touch. It's her first time being kissed...
My universe will never be the same...
It's a lucky day for a middle-aged man. He walks out with a cool swagger, a black bag of hard-earned cash from a casino in tow...
I'm glad you came.
The dance floor-- A display of blue laser lights fill the air, intermingling with party goers and the DJ. A crowd of drunk college co-eds shout and throw $20 bills at some glamorous, high-end stripper on a pole. Some young Japanese girl, probably mid-20s, spoke in her native language in an eccentric tone, a
Hello Kitty iPhone 5 pressed against her cheek. The party crowd is booming, to say the least, with kissing, gossiping, and dancing, the ideal youth's dream. And why not? It's Vegas, baby!
You cast a spell on me, spell on me
You hit me like the sky fell on me, fell on me
And I decided you look well on me, well on me
So let's go somewhere no-one else can see, you and me
A boy in his twenties, sporting a pink tank-top and blue denim shorts, has his head hung down...
Turn the lights out now....
His neck twitches slightly...
Now I'll take you by the hand...
A cute Spanish girl approaches him, brunette and drunk off her ass...
Hand you another drink...
Drink it if you can...
“Hi.” She smiles, longingly looking at him with emerald green eyes...
Can you spend a little time...
Time is slipping away...
The boy looks up and the girl presses a hand over her mouth, horrified....
Away from us so stay...
The boy grins widely, a massive cross-shaped scar, red in color, ran across his youthful features.
Stay with me I can make...
“I see yoooooou~” He says sweetly, before lunging forward and plunges his teeth deep into the girl's left ear, ripping apart the muscle fibers and sinew.
She screamed... and screamed... and screamed...
Make you glad you came.
***
FOUR HOURS LATER...
“
North Three-Nine to Ground, do you have your target, over?”
The uneasy BSAA Warrant Officers piloting the Chinook helicopter looked straight ahead, the sparking embers of the
'Welcome to Fabulous Las Vegas!' sign reflected in the canopy windows. The Chinook swayed out wide over The Strip, looking down upon the mass of bodies accompanied by wildfires. A downed Boeing 747 burned brightly over the Stratosphere Hotel Casino.
“Affirmative. This is BSAA Captain Chris Redfield, we're clear to land.”
The Chinook rear cargo ramp opened up, giving way to Redfield's voice,
“Remember, this is a rescue op: Get the civilians out, eliminate all hostiles impeding your goal.” He walked purposely toward the ramp, rappel line hooked against his tactical belt, and dropped out, his form disappearing into a tattered Casino below. It wasn't long before his troops followed him...
Below, in the battlefield, bright flashes of humans and Crossed were fighting. Tracers lit up the night while flares burst and drifted over the city, accompanied by billowing clouds of high ordinance explosions that cracked the earth. A Crossed male, clad in a white-and-red Elvis suit passed by with a fully-automatic MP5, blowing holes into the lower torso of a BSAA soldier. He didn't have enough time to scream as his body fell to the ground below. It wasn't long before the fallen soldier too was infected as he laughed maniacally, unleashing a volley of 5.56 rounds at his former comrades.
“Ground Units, engage your targets!”
Redfield trained his G36 rifle on an oncoming horde of Crossed, his men following suit. The air whirred with thunderous automatic weapons fire as they stepped into the fray...
The siege of Las Vegas has begun.
***
THIRTY MINUTES LATER...
What... time was it?
It had been a few since the Crossed appeared. Maybe you came here intentionally, or perhaps you woke up here mysteriously, far away from your beloved homeland and tossed into this new hellish landscape in the midst of what appeared to be an insatiable bloodbath. Others were here, uninfected and finding themselves here at this exact spot at this exact moment in time.
Off to the left was a lone figure, his rifle barrel stuck between himself and a Crossed male as he struggled to throw the infected off.
“Chriiiiiiiiis~" sang the Crossed. "Oh, Chriiiiiiiis~” The infected propped himself forward, a thin trickle of drool running from his mouth. His outfit, military apparently, was torn and dirty. “C'mon, man, just one bite...”
Chris' rifle swung in an upward arc, catching the jaw of the Crossed male, smashing it up and into the front of his face, teeth shattering in a spray of white shards. Blood erupted from his ruined mouth, causing him to stagger back, giggling, as if Chris had told the funniest joke in the world, “D'awww, do yah love me Cap'n?! I never knew!”
“Stand back, Williams! I'm warning you!”
“How about this, ya pussy BITCH! YOU--”
A bullet screamed from Chris' rifle, cutting through the air, and plowed into Williams' cranium with a brittle wet crack. Blood and tissue sprayed out from the point of impact. The dead Crossed twitched slightly, his brain signals sending out its last effort before dying out indefinitely.
“Freeze.”
The cold, hard end of a barrel turned toward the group of survivors watching the scene. Chris' gaze lingered over them.
“... Civilians?” A pause.
“Good. Come with me.”
In a matter of moments, Chris had led the survivors to a completely intact, unadulterated Museum of Natural History.
When Chris led the group inside, they found that the Museum was quiet. Deathly quiet, considering the war that was going on outside. Dinosaur bones propped up neatly thanks to wires and cables stood at the entrance, accompanied by a perfectly reconstructed Wholly Mammoth, its face permanently contorted in surprise.
A massive skylight illuminated the moon above as little dust specks danced about. The marble floors were cleaned and polished, vibrant in appearance. The entire infrastructure seemed to be held up by large white pillars that led to an upper deck.
“Enjoy the calm, folks. I guarantee it won't last for long.”