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PROLOGUE

Raccoon Times, July 24, 1998

SPENCER MANSION DESTROYED IN EXPLOSIVE FIRE RACCOON CITY—At approximately 2 A. M. Thursday morn-ing, Victory Lake district residents were awakened by an explosive blast that thundered through northwest Raccoon Forest, apparently caused by a fire that swept through the abandoned Spencer mansion and ignited chemicals stored in the basement. Due to delays from the police barricade set up at the forest perimeter (in connection with the recent string of murders in Raccoon City), local firefighters were unable to salvage any part of the estate’s grounds. After a three-hour battle against the raging fire, the thirty-one-year-old mansion and adjacent servant’s quarters were deemed a complete loss.

Built by Lord Oswell Spencer, European aristocrat and one of the founders of the worldwide pharmaceutical com-pany, Umbrella, Inc. , the estate was designed by award-winning architect George Trevor as a guest house for Umbrella VIPs and was closed down shortly after completion for reasons unknown. According to Amanda Whitney, spokesperson for the Umbrella Corporation, parts of the estate were still being used to store a number of industrial cleaning agents and solvents used by Umbrella. Whitney said in a statement yesterday that the company would take full responsibility for the unfortunate incident, calling it “a serious oversight on our part. Those chemicals should have been cleared out of the Spencer house a long time ago, and we’re just thankful that no one was hurt. ” At this point, the cause of the fire is undetermined, but Whitney went on to say that Umbrella will be bringing in their own investigators to sift through the ruins in hopes of determining the fire’s point of origin. . . .

Raccoon Weekly, July 29, 1998

STARS. TAKEN OFF MURDER INVESTIGATION RACCOON CITY—In a surprising announcement by city officials at a press conference yesterday, the Raccoon City branch of the Special Tactics and Rescue Squad (S. T. A. R. S. ) was officially removed from the investigation into the nine brutal murders and five disappearances of city residents that have occurred in the last ten weeks. City council member Edward Weist delivered the statement, citing gross incompetence as the primary reason for the S. T. A. R. S. removal.

Readers may remember that the S. T. A. R. S. ’s first action upon being assigned the cases last week was to search the northwest area of the forest for the alleged cannibal killers. Weist stated that it was because of their “blatantly unprofessional conduct” that their mission ended in disaster, re-suiting in the crash of a helicopter and the loss of six of their eleven team members, including the S. T. A. R. S. branch commander, Captain Albert Wesker.

“After [the S. T. A. R. S. ’s] mishandling of the Raccoon Forest search,” said Weist, “we’ve decided to let the RPD see this investigation through to its conclusion. We have reason to believe that the S. T. A. R. S. may have been ingesting drugs and/or alcohol prior to their search, and have suspended the use of their services indefinitely. ”