Playt's Council

The soft hum of the fan filled the air of Stephanie’s room. She tossed and turned in the bed. Sweat covered her face, neck, and whole body. She wore a pair of shorts and a tank top to bed. No blanket was over her. She was hot. It was the fourteen day in the heat wave and the thirteen day without air condition.

“Steph! Steph!” The sound of her uncle’s voice broke the hum, causing her to wake up.

“Uncle Wesker?” Stephanie opened her eyes. They adjusted to the dim room to find Wesker standing in the door way.

“Get up, Steph. We need to leave soon because of the traffic.”

“Yeah…yeah…yeah…” She got up from the bed and gazed out of the window. Mr. Johnson was out watering his rose bushes. Old Mr. Jenkins was yelled at the neighborhood kids to get off his freshly cut lawn. Mrs. Kingston jogged down the street. It was a pretty normal day in Raccoon City.

She walked over to her dresser and pulled out a pair of jeans and a Army green S.T.A.R.S shirt. She headed into the upstairs bathroom. She jumped into the shower to allow cold water to run down her body. She wanted to cool off as much as she could before going to the office. S.T.A.R.S were looked down upon by the police but respected. However, their office didn’t have air condition and without windows…sitting in there was going to be unbearable. After a quick shower, she dried off. Then got dressed.

She stood in front of the mirror that hung over the sink. As she combed her damp hair, she stared at herself. She looked nothing like Albert Wesker, her uncle. She had curly, brown hair…He had straight, blonde hair. She had brown eyes… He had blue. She defiantly took after her father’s side. Her father wasn’t a Wesker but her mother was. However, both died when she was hardly a year old. Then, for another year, she was in an orphanage while the social works decided on who would get custody of her.

Her elderly grandparents from her father’s side had the experience of raising children but her uncle was twenty-four…about the age of her parents. He had the energy and the job to support a growing child and won the trial. During the years of living with him, he taught her many skills of survival and gunmanship. Now at the age of sixteen, she had just as much as skill as any Bravo team member.

“Steph!” Wesker yelled up the steps. “Hurry up!”

“I’m coming…” Stephanie sat the brush down and went back into her bedroom. She made her bed. Then put her boots on. She stood open and once again looked out the window. Everything is peaceful in the daylight hours. She said to herself. Yet no one will set foot outside at night. For the past two weeks, ten bizarre murders had taken place. People were not only killed, but were partially eaten.

She closed the window. She walked down the steps and entered the kitchen. Wesker sat at the table with a cup of coffee in hand. Multiple news papers laid across the table. All of them from the Raccoon City area and all of them had the murders on the front page. A small T.V sat on the counter with Raccoon City’s early morning talk show. The two hosts, Mike Skimwick and Judy Tailor, where discussing about a pack of “demon dogs” spotted in the Arklay Forests.

“Demon dogs?” Stephanie said as she walked over to the toaster.

“Yes…odd isn’t it?” Wesker sipped his coffee.

“Demon….dogs?”

“Apparently they seem half dead. A lady was out driving through the forest last night and hit one. She got out of her van to discover that the dog was dead but yet half of it’s flesh was already rotten. Thus meaning it was dead before she ever hit it.”

“So it was just a dead dog sitting in the road. It had already been hit once and she just ran it over again. Big deal.” Stephanie place two pieces of bread in the toaster.

“It ran out in front of her.”

“What?”

“The dog…It ran out in front of her.” Wesker flipped though a few newspaper clippings. He picked one up and gave it to Stephanie. “Here’s an article on it. The dog jumped out of the brushes and growled at the van before she struck it. The woman’s twelve year old son who was sitting in the front passenger seat is a witness.”

Stephanie read over the article till her toast popped up. She then buttered the bread and sat down at the table. She glanced up at the T.V screen. Mike was talking. “Apparently the pack of dogs moved away from the road and attacked a farm.”

“Was the farm hurt?” Judy asked.

“No, he was lucky but his cow wasn’t. However, he did get an opportunity to get a picture.” A photograph appeared on the screen and the site of the dogs almost caused Stephanie to throw up. It was a Doberman but looked dead. Pieced of rotten flesh dropped from exposed bone. Fur was missing from many parts of the body.

“They are half dead…” Stephanie stared at the screen with a disgusted look on her face.

“Come on.” Wesker got up. He sat the mug in the sink. “With all of this going on, I’m sure Irons will want to talk to us.”

“Isn’t the police doing something?” Stephanie turned the T.V off.

“They’ve been trying since the murder began and are failing. Thus leaving S.T.A.R.S open for the cases.”

They both left the house. Wesker got behind the wheel of a SUV, Stephanie got in on the passenger side. As the engine started, cool air blew in from the vents. Stephanie let out a sigh of comfort. It was the first time she had been in air condition in since the ride home from yesterday.

Traffic was pretty smooth till they reached the high way. Because of the dogs, the police blocked the road ways leading into and out of the Arklay Forest. This meant that everyone had to travel on the high way. The car ride was quiet. Wesker didn’t listen to music and he wasn’t a talker. Stephanie spent the whole half hour trip staring out the window thinking about what was going on in the city.

Shortly after turning off of the highway, Wesker pulled into a small gas station. He parked the SUV at a pump and got out. As he began to pump gas, he motioned Stephanie to get out. A minute later, she was at his side as he pulled his wallet out. “Go inside. Buy two gallons of milk, two dozen donuts, something for us for lunch, and ten dollars on pump number five.”

Wesker placed Twenty-five dollars in her open palm. Stephanie went over the list of items in her head. The small gas station was full for it’s size. Since the back roads were closed and people had to use the highways, the gas station was being noticed. Stephanie picked up a shopping basket as she pushed the glass doors open. Then she had to squeeze past a few heavy set truck drivers to get to the line of refrigerators. She picked two gallons of milk. Both fresh since the milk came from cows in locate farms.

She then made her way down the aisle with prepackaged sandwiches. Eyeing the rows of already made meals, Stephanie picked up a toasted BLT for Wesker and a meatball sub for herself. Both sandwiches would have to be warmed up but that would be taken care off at lunch.

The last thing on her list of items was the donuts. In order to try to keep the S.T.A.R.S members happy during the heat wave, Wesker and Enrico both promised to bring breakfast in for team. Today was Monday, thus meaning it was Wesker’s turn. She found two boxes of a dozen assorted donuts. With the heavy basket in hand, she made her way to the check out lane. She glanced out the window to see that Wesker had finished pumping the gas and was waiting behind the wheel.

When it was her turn, Stephanie paid for the food and gas in cash. She stuffed the change, which was a few cents, into her pant’s pocket. She placed the bags on the floor in the back of the SUV, then took her spot in the passenger seat.

“Things won’t be as hot in the office as it has been.” Wesker said breaking the silence that was sustained for most of the ride.

Stephanie glanced at him. “Why?”

“Barry bought a used window air conditioner.”

“You mean one of those little ones you put in the window of your house or apartment?”

“Yep, his neighbors from down the street had a couple but their moving and don’t need them. Barry could only get one.”

“News flash, Uncle Wesker…the office doesn’t have a window!”

“He’s bolting it to the wall. Hopefully it will drop the temperature in that room by ten or eleven degrees…” The talking stopped and the quietness of all their car rides returned.

They finally pulled into the RPD parking lot. Wesker and Stephanie carried the groceries inside. Even though the RPD was air conditioned, it was still stuffy. Officers and civilians had sweat on their faces as they wondered the lobby. The water coolers were almost empty and had to be refilled.

By the time they reached the hallway that held the S.T.A.R.S office, sweat was dripping down their necks. The sound of chuckles and loud talking about be heard coming from a room. Stephanie smiled a bit. She loved coming to the office to help out. She was proud of her training and skills at a young age but she was even prouder of what he uncle had accomplished in life as the captain of the team. She was following in his footsteps and one day, wanted to take his place.