_ Resident Evil 2

September 29, 1998. 1.5 months after the 'incident'. It's just past midnight as a jeep switches highway lanes to the one leading to Raccoon City. In town, a girl in red and black dismounts from her motorcycle. All is eerily quiet. Where are all the people? She enters the nearby diner to investigate.

Meanwhile, the jeep has reached the city and pulls over. The driver emerges to investigate a body in the middle of the road. Half a block away at the diner, the girl stumbles upon a mutated man snacking on a corpse. The girl realizes all is not well in this charming little town.

As the man turns his attention to her, she eyes a back exit and makes a break for it. Meanwhile, the driver of the jeep is examining the body when he's suddenly surrounded by a legion of undead people. Opening fire to no avail, he spots an opening and races down an alley towards a door.

The door swings open and the girl in the diner comes face-to-face with the barrel of a gun. "Wait, don't shoot!" "Get down!", orders the man. A well-placed bullet to the head stops the advancing creature in its tracks. The pair escape from the alley and run to a police car, burning rubber for the Police Station.

We are then introduced to the couple. Leon S. Kennedy had just arrived in town to start his new job with the Raccoon Police Department. Claire Redfield had come to Raccoon City to find her missing brother, Chris Redfield. Their meeting is cut short as a zombie attacks from the backseat, causing them to crash out. Just then, a huge tanker truck barrels their way. They jump out in the nick of time but are knocked apart in the ensuing explosion. Forced to find separate paths to the RPD, Claire and Leon must fight their way through the streets.

Eventually they end up at the station, where more information is revealed about the current situation. It is here where we discover that the corrupt chief of police was taking bribes from the Umbrella Corporation, which allowed them to contaminate the city. As Claire and Leon work their way through the station, they meet up a few times and discover two other survivors who join them.

A journey through the city sewers leads them to the underground headquarters of Umbrella, where a final showdown with the mutated William Birkin, creator of the virus currently overrunning the city, takes place before escaping the facility just before it is destroyed. Leon now vows to stop Umbrella by any means necessary. Claire can't rest until she finds her brother.


_ Raccoon's Last Hope (Or Was That 'Survivors'?!)

Leon S. Kennedy // Rookie Police Officer

No, not of THOSE Kennedys. This one was more lucky...he just happened to stumble upon a city of the undead. Leon is a rookie cop, full of promise, life, and sometimes...himself. He burns with the need to serve and protect (wow, I'd sure like to be HIS girlfriend ^_~). Brash and reckless, he was one of the new officers sent to Raccoon City to help keep the peace, and is highly qualified for his new job.

Along the way, he meets Claire, Ada, Sherry and a bunch of ugly monsters, and becomes friends with all of them (except the monsters). He also has a soft spot in his heart for Ada. Of course, he survives his adventure, and has since starred in Resident Evil Gaiden. We get to see him again soon, as he's in the upcoming Resident Evil 4 ... out winter 2005!

Claire Redfield // University Student

This macho-girl with a soft spot for kids is Chris Redfield's baby sis (y'all remember Chris, doncha?). She went to Raccoon City to find her bro (who left for Europe without telling her...some bro!). Instead, what she finds is a city full of carnage and zombies. Definitely NOT the Welcome Wagon. She also met up with Leon and Sherry, and escaped with them at the end of RE 2. She appears again in Resident Evil: Code Veronica.

Ada Wong // Secret Operative

Leon runs into this woman when she accidentally tries to shoot him, thinking he was a zombie. Mysterious and pretty, we find out she was one of the spies sent by Umberella to steal William Birkin's G-Virus. She ends up falling in love with Leon, but they don't get to live happily ever after because she dies in both A and B games (at least they kiss just before she dies). But wait...can she be the mystery woman who tosses Leon/Claire the Rocket Launcher near the end of their B games?! Hmm...

Sherry Birkin // Elementary School Student

A 12 year old chickie-poo, this child is pretty mature for her age. She is shy and insecure and lacks self-confidence. She runs into Claire at the RPD and escapes with her. She is also the daughter of William and Annette Birkin, the ones who created the viruses that overran the city. Needless to say, since they were so wrapped up in their work, they didn't nurture her like they were supposed to. If Sherry grows up to join a biker gang, her parents have only themselves to blame...

William and Annette Birkin // Umbrella Researchers

The parents of young Sherry, both are scientists working for Umbrella to develop the deadly T and G Viruses. William injects himself with the G-Virus to prevent Umbrella from stealing his life's work and therefore mutated into something really big and extremely ugly. You get to kill him at the end of the game. Yay!

Annette was killed by her newly-mutated husband when she tried to reason with him (yeah,as if THAT was gonna happen). Cut the lady some slack, though. When she saw Sherry just before she died, she apologized for her rotten parenting and admitted to hiding a G-Virus sample in Sherry's pendant and tells her to destroy it. Good thing Sherry doesn't chew on her jewelry...

Ben Bertolucci // Journalist

A scoop-sniffin' reporter, he discovers that the chief of the RPD was taking bribes from Umbrella. At least he was able to tell this to Leon before a squid-like monster exploded from his chest (we can thank good ol' Billy Birkin for that little interlude).

Brian Irons // Chief of Police

RPD chief and big-time jackass. It's partially his fault that Raccoon City was infested with zombies...he let Umbrella do what they wanted and covered up for them in exchange for mucho moolah to maintain his donut supply.

This weirdo has a love for decapitating freshly-killed mayor's daughters and other animals, to be home-taxidermied in his hidden dungeon beneath the RPD. At least he was killed by a monster similar to the one that popped out of Ben's chest.

Marvin Brannaugh // RPD Officer

An unfortunate RPD officer that was infected with the T-Virus. Leon runs into him just after entering the station and kills him later on when he turns into a zombie.