Chapter Text
Bryan made countless bad decisions in his life. One of them was being so indecisive and spineless that his girlfriend, Michelle, finally got fed up with him and broke up with him, plunging his entire world into darkness.
Bryan only recently started getting used to life as a single man. He threw himself into work until he was practically running on fumes, hoping to forget the pain and self-loathing eating away at him. Then came his second terrible decision: accepting an overtime shift to deliver a package to Raccoon City, all because the pay was double.
Bryan admitted that he was deeply insecure about himself. Michelle dumping him dealt a serious blow to his self-esteem, and watching people his age settle down with loving families and earn enough money to spend it as recklessly as they pleased only made things worse. It felt like another brutal punch to his already fragile confidence, shattering what little remained.
That was why he decided to work as hard as possible. The moment he heard the words “double pay”, he agreed without a second thought, even though he had to lie about his vehicle being properly equipped to handle Colorado’s brutal winter weather.
And now, Bryan was drowning in regret.
He was literally going through Hell.
Bryan couldn’t even remember the last time he sat down to catch his breath, let alone took a proper break. Ever since he hit that bizarre woman in the red dress on the road, his life turned into one endless nightmare. One disaster followed another, leaving him barely enough time to process what was happening before he had to run for his life again. His legs screamed with every step, his muscles ached and his lungs burned as he struggled to keep moving.
Bryan cursed himself at least a hundred times for being too lazy to hit the gym and too addicted to fast food. Oh, how he regretted every greasy Burger and every skipped workout! His lack of stamina came back to bite him in the worst possible way. He ran too slowly, tired too quickly, and could barely keep his legs moving after what felt like an eternity of running. In a city crawling with monsters, being out of shape was practically a death sentence.
And then, just when things couldn’t possibly get any worse, he got bitten.
Bryan played dozens of zombie shooter games, so he knew exactly what that meant. The infected didn’t just drop dead and stay that way. They turned into the very things they once feared, losing their minds and attacking anyone unfortunate enough to cross their paths. And if that wasn’t enough to convince him, the little girl who bit him even said her mother bit her, too.
Great. Just great.
Bryan knew his chances of making it out alive were slim. He could already feel despair creeping in, for once, he couldn’t even blame himself for being pessimistic. Bryan was just an ordinary medical courier, not some action hero with unlimited ammunition and a miraculous ability to survive everything the world threw at him.
But then he learned that the thing he was transporting could be used to develop a cure.
For the first time since this whole nightmare began, Bryan found a reason to keep going. Maybe he couldn’t save himself. Maybe he wouldn’t even live long enough to see the city escape its fate. But if the package in his possession could help the scientists develop a cure, then he couldn’t just abandon it and wait for the inevitable.
He tightened his grip on the package and forced his aching legs to move.
If he was going to die anyway, he might as well make sure his last delivery actually meant something.
Bryan knew he wasn’t some movie hero, but at least he might be able to save someone else, someone like that little girl in the RV. And who knew? Maybe the vaccine could save him, too.
Bryan still had so many things he wanted to do. Sure, he was a pathetic loser, but that didn’t mean he wanted to die. He wanted to survive. He wanted another chance at life, a chance to make something of himself and finally become someone he could be proud of.
Unfortunately, today turned out to be the unluckiest day of Bryan’s entire life.
He transformed.
And not a single scientist showed any intention of giving him the cure.
Nobody offered him even a drop. The damn thing had fallen somewhere along the way, lost amid the chaos. Bryan dragged himself through Hell to deliver that thing to them, and they couldn’t even spare a single dose for the poor bastard who brought it to their doorstep.
The helicopter’s spotlight shone directly into Bryan’s eyes, blinding him with its harsh glare. He couldn’t tell whether the burning sensation came from the light or from something growing out of his eye sockets. Either way, the pain was unbearable.
His entire body hurt. No words could possibly describe the agony tearing through him. It was worse than anything he had ever experienced, so excruciating that Bryan felt like he was going insane. Every nerve seemed to scream at once, every inch of his body rebelling against the grotesque transformation he couldn’t stop.
Bryan could hear the sickening crack of bones, the wet tearing of flesh, the sound of a mouth growing out of his own body as it hungrily devoured someone. The noises overlapped, blending into a nightmarish symphony of violence and suffering.
Nobody was coming to save him. Nobody was going to save him nobody was going to save him nobody was going to save him…
At last, Bryan’s remaining sanity sank into complete darkness.
Some small part of him felt relieved. At least he no longer had to endure that unbearable pain or the revolting sensation of merging with other people, his very existence becoming something unrecognizable. But the overwhelming emotion that flooded his mind before reason finally abandoned him was resentment.
He wasn’t ready to die! There were still so many things he hadn’t done. He hadn’t even become rich yet! He hadn’t gotten the chance to prove Michelle wrong and show her that he wasn’t the pathetic failure she took him for!
Goddammit! If only he had known, Bryan would have treated himself to a few lavish meals at those fancy restaurants he used to stare at longingly, his gaze clouded with envy. He hadn’t even finished playing the pile of new games he bought. He hadn’t eaten nearly enough Pizza! And he turned down his neighbors’ party invitations just to focus on making money! And now he was going to die with nothing but regrets.
Fuck Raccoon City! Fuck those scientists! Fuck those monsters! Fuck his life!
Bryan swore that if he ever got the chance to go back in time, he would never accept that delivery, not even for ten times the pay!
Darkness swallowed Bryan whole.
He thought that was it. The end of the road, lights out and whatever came after death could deal with the sorry mess that was his life.
Except…
【You have reached a Bad Ending. Total Bad Endings: 1. Since you wish to start over, the system will automatically reset your life in: 60… 59… 58… 57…】
Start over? Reset my life?
Bryan stared into the darkness, or at least he tried to. There was absolutely nothing to see. No light at the end of a tunnel, no fluffy clouds or pearly gates, not even some old guy with a beard waiting to judge his sorry ass.
Was this what Heaven looked like? Because it certainly didn’t match anything he saw in the movies. Then again, who said he even qualified for Heaven?
And what the fuck was that robotic voice?! It sounded like something straight out of a cheap video game, all flat and emotionless. And Bryan could hear a faint ticking sound accompanying the countdown.
【Your First Mission: Deliver the ingredients required to create a cure to the scientists at Umbrella’s laboratory on the twenty-eighth (28th) floor.
Your Second Mission: Survive and escape Raccoon City alongside ███ █████.】
【PLEASE NOTE:
- You have unlimited respawns.
- Use typewriters to save your progress. You may select which save file to respawn from.
- Green Herbs can restore your health and stamina. They can be found in various locations.
- You will continue to respawn after death until you complete all missions or fail.】
… What the fuck was this supposed to mean?? Unlimited respawns? Save files? Typewriters? Green Herbs?!
Was he trapped inside a video game now? Was this some kind of sick joke? And why the Hell did that thing expect him to deliver anything to Umbrella AGAIN when those bastards couldn’t even spare a single drop of the cure for him?!
And what was that second mission supposed to mean? Who was ███ █████? Why was their name censored???
Bryan’s head spun as he tried to make sense of the increasingly ridiculous situation. He wanted answers, preferably from someone who spoke like a normal human being instead of a malfunctioning GPS.
Could someone please speak English for once?!
【The system will automatically reset your life in: 6… 5… 4… 3… 2…】
Wait wait wait——!!
Bryan barely had time to wonder what the hell that robotic voice was before the darkness dissolved around him.
A pair of headlights illuminated the snow-covered road, their beams cutting through the swirling flakes. The sudden brightness made him squint instinctively. Bryan blinked several times, his mind struggling to catch up with his surroundings as the warm air from the car’s heating vents brushed against his face.
For a few seconds, he simply sat there, dazed and utterly confused.
Where the Hell was he? What was going on?
Then a figure in a red-and-white flowery pattern dress appeared directly in front of his car.
“OH, SHIT!”
Bryan yanked the steering wheel to the side on instinct, but he was too late. A tremendous CRASH shattered the silence.
The woman slammed against the front of his vehicle, sending a violent jolt through the entire car. Cracks spiderwebbed across the windshield as the tires screeched against the icy road. The car skidded sideways, dragging itself several more feet across the snow before Bryan finally snapped out of his panic and slammed on the brakes.
The vehicle lurched to a halt.
Bryan clung to the steering wheel, gasping like a fish tossed onto dry land. His chest rose and fell rapidly, his heart hammered against his ribs so hard that he thought it might burst right out of his chest.
Slowly, he looked around.
He was sitting inside his own car. Warm air poured from the heating vents, fogging the edges of the windows. Outside, the road lay buried beneath a thick blanket of snow, while freezing wind howled and battered the vehicle. The familiar sounds of the winter storm gradually brought him back to his senses.
What was this? What the actual fuck was going on?!
Wasn’t he dead? Hadn’t he been bitten and transformed into one of those hideous monsters? Bryan could still remember the unbearable pain, the grotesque changes overtaking his body and the horrifying moment his sanity finally slipped away.
So why was he here?
Panic seized him, Bryan twisted toward the rearview mirror and frantically examined his reflection. He raised both hands to his face, running his fingers over his cheeks as if he needed to confirm that the person staring back at him was real. His skin felt rough beneath his palms, his fingers trembled as he traced the familiar contours of his jaw.
He hadn’t transformed. He was still human. He was still Bryan Hodukavich!
A shudder ran through him. Almost desperately, Bryan slapped himself across the cheek.
“Ow!” Bryan winced and sucked in a sharp breath, his palm stinging from the impact. The pain was immediate and unmistakable, somehow, that ordinary sensation nearly brought him to tears.
He was alive! He had just been through Hell, only to wake up and discover that the whole thing was nothing but a nightmare…
No. Something wasn’t right.
Bryan froze in his seat, slowly, he turned toward the passenger seat.
There it was. The familiar green insulated medical transport cooler sat right beside him, looking exactly as it did before everything went to shit. The very same cooler he was supposed to deliver to Raccoon City.
Bryan stared at it, his stomach sinking. The damn thing might as well have grown a face and started laughing at him. Its mere presence was enough to shatter whatever fragile hope he had left that the whole ordeal was just a bad dream.
No, he remembered too much. The terror, the pain, the relentless running, the fucking zombies… That nightmare was real!
And he hadn’t forgotten who he hit, either. How could he?
The woman in the red-and-white floral dress was the one who set this entire chain of disasters in motion. Later, she would transform into a grotesque, many-limbed monstrosity, rolling and tumbling across the ground like some horrible, flesh-and-blood tumbleweed.
Bryan remembered every revolting detail. His grip tightened around the steering wheel. Outside, the snow continued to fall, blanketing the road in an eerie silence. Somewhere beyond the glare of the headlights lay the woman who had ruined his life, or whatever remained of her.
Bryan swallowed hard, he knew exactly what came next, and judging by the fact that he had just hit the same woman in the same place all over again, his personal nightmare was about to begin anew.
Bryan suddenly remembered the bizarre voice he heard after he was pretty damn sure he had died.
It talked about giving him another chance and assigned him a mission: deliver the cooler to a laboratory.
“… Oh, for fuck's sake!”
There was no way in Hell Bryan was going back to that godforsaken shithole a second time! He had been through more than enough already. The experience was so traumatic that even hearing or reading the word “Raccoon” made him flinch!
Bryan had made too many stupid decisions in his life, and he finally learned his lesson!
“Fuck Raccoon City! Fuck Umbrella and whatever other bullshit they’re involved in! And fuck that goddamn tumbleweed monster! I’m DONE! Let the National Guard deal with this mess! Send the fucking military to deliver the cure! I’m getting out of here!”
Bryan threw the car into reverse, swung the steering wheel around as fast as he could and floored the accelerator.
He didn’t even bother getting out to check on the person he just hit. Assuming that thing still qualified as a “person”, anyway. Besides, there was no point. Bryan already knew what happened next. The woman crawled off the road and froze in the snow, while some absolute moron (namely, his past self) mistook her strange behavior for shock caused by the collision. Then, in a spectacular display of misplaced responsibility, that same idiot decided to take her to the hospital.
What a fucking idiot.
Bryan sped away without a second thought. Every few seconds, he glanced nervously into the rearview mirror, half expecting some hideous creature to emerge from the snow and come charging after him. Thankfully, nothing followed.
After driving for what felt like an eternity, the painful tightness in Bryan’s chest finally began to ease. He let out a long, shaky breath and realized his palms were drenched in sweat where they gripped the steering wheel.
He really escaped that Hell? A disbelieving smile crept across his face.
Holy shit… He was so exhausted he could practically pass out behind the wheel. Sure, his body wasn’t covered in blood and sweat. His legs didn’t ache and his lungs weren’t screaming for air. Yet he still felt utterly drained, as though the nightmare had sucked every last bit of energy out of him.
All Bryan wanted was to go home, take a steaming hot shower, collapse into bed then sleep until noon the next day. Work could go fuck itself! And afterward, he would treat himself to an absolutely massive Pizza feast to celebrate surviving the worst nightmare of his life!
He could practically taste the glorious, cheesy goodness already…!
A shrill warning suddenly blared through his head, loud enough to rival a tsunami siren.
【WARNING: YOU ARE ATTEMPTING TO LEAVE THE MAP BEFORE COMPLETING YOUR FIRST MISSION. INITIATING FORCED RESPAWN.】
The next second, Bryan’s vision plunged into darkness, and the second after that, he jolted awake to find the woman in the red-and-white floral dress standing directly in front of his car again.
“YOU'VE GOTTA BE FUCKING KIDDING ME——!!”
Bryan barely had time to react before the car slammed into her once more. The impact rattled the entire vehicle, Bryan instinctively hit the brakes, bringing it to an abrupt stop in the middle of the road.
He stared blankly through the cracked windshield.
“What the fuck? What the actual fuck?!” Bryan clutched his head and frantically looked around, panic clawing its way up his throat.
“Didn’t I just—”
【You are not permitted to leave the map before completing your first mission.】
The emotionless announcement cut him off.
Bryan felt as though someone had just dumped a bucket of ice water over his head.
He didn’t even have the energy to scream or swear anymore. He simply sat there, staring into space as the crushing weight of despair settled over him.
He thought he had escaped. He genuinely believed he was finally free, but no.
His life was a fucking joke, and Lady Luck apparently made it her personal mission to ensure she would never, ever smile upon him.
Bryan dropped his forehead against the steering wheel and began to sob helplessly, like a three-year-old throwing a tantrum.
This single night had drained what little composure he possessed. He was forced to do things he never imagined himself doing, like firing a real gun, killing people, running around the city like an Olympic athlete, and even turning into a monster.
He once dreamed of becoming someone he could be proud of. He had ambitions, too, a few of which he privately admitted were childish and downright ridiculous. Now, the only thing Bryan wanted was to escape Raccoon City once and for all.
… But he couldn’t leave until he delivered the cooler to Umbrella.
Whatever invisible force controlled this nightmare could kill him in the blink of an eye and rewind time whenever it pleased. Bryan was finally beginning to understand that he couldn’t fight it.
This whole respawn business worked just like a video game. He had missions to complete, the game wouldn’t end until he cleared them.
Bryan vaguely remembered the robotic voice mentioning something about saving his progress with a typewriter.
There was a typewriter in that farmhouse, wasn’t there?
God, he really didn’t want to go back there. That damn dog, creepy old man and that tumbleweed monster. Just thinking about those bastards made his stomach twist.
But the farmhouse also had guns, and if his memory served him right, that typewriter might function as a save point.
As much as Bryan hated the idea, he needed both. He was a terrible shot, but guns saved his life more than once. Walking into Raccoon City without a weapon was practically signing his own death warrant.
And if that typewriter really allowed him to save his “progress”, Bryan couldn’t afford to pass up the opportunity. If he died again, at least he wouldn’t have to start from the very beginning.
Bryan slowly lifted his head from the steering wheel.
His eyes were bloodshot, his nose was red and tears streaked his cheeks. He looked absolutely pathetic. But behind those watery eyes, a tiny spark of determination began to flicker.
Fine. If the universe wanted to play this game with him, then so be it.
He would complete that goddamn mission, deliver the damn cooler and get the Hell out of this nightmare!