#{so i always count rain and kaplan and others as part of carlos' background}

[youmissedone]

After stumbling her way through multiple corridors in the dark, seemingly abandoned hospital she had woken up in, Rain finally came across another soul. "Oliveira...? That you, man?"

@wanderingaroundwithmysoul

Things had gone so bad so quickly on this mission that even a seasoned soldier like Carlos was a little bit in shock. His platoon was given such limited information going in, and granted he'd forced the issue by jumping out of a helicopter before they'd reached their ordered drop-off location, but... Geezus, this was bad. Training for the U.B.C.S. was pretty standard military training, with a side order of here's how to handle panicked civilians affected by various biological agents. "Agents." Carlos wished he'd gotten a lot more clarification for that term, because he never in a million years expected it to be crazed, virally-infected human beings.

His experiences dealing with guerilla warfare in Brazil in his youth had conditioned him to some extent on how to deal with full-on combat breaking out in the middle of civilian streets, but... this... This was something entirely different. No matter how radicalized people became, they still had instincts, senses of self-preservation, or some kind of morals or stakes that could be appealed to to some degree to get them to stand down. These people... it was like they had rabies or something that affected their brain function. They just kept coming, regardless of the imminent danger to their lives. Regardless of being told to stay where you are or I'll shoot.

Yuri had fallen first. Bitten by one of those things, and then... well, he became as crazed as they were. It was some kind of transmittable biological agent, Carlos had determined, though he didn't know how to protect against it. It seemed to be a lot like rabies in that the sufferers would eventually become uncontrollably aggressive and seek to bite others to transmit the pathogen.

The rabies virus, Carlos knew, had mechanisms to make its host more aggressive in the final stages, when the host was dying, so that the virus would be passed on through bites and other contact with blood or saliva and not die with the host. Maybe... this was something similar? He could only speculate, because his employers were mum about the details, especially after he'd reported Yuri's demise. As soon as he began radioing back that any of his group was infected... Umbrella went radio silent on them. That was when Carlos knew he really had a serious problem on his hands.

Nikolai had been the next to die, taken down by dogs infected by whatever this was that was killing people. Apparently it wasn't limited to human hosts, but also affected dogs, cats, birds... you name it. Carlos had done his best to try and protect him but... it was too late. Now he found himself trying to track some kind of supply drop he'd seen be delivered by helicopter after his last radio. He wasn't entirely sure it was to do with his platoon, but it was something, some form of communication from Umbrella, and so he felt compelled to check it out.

He'd zeroed in on the Racoon City General Hospital, but as soon as he entered the place, he knew something was very wrong. It was empty. And silent. During a crisis? During a life-and-death biohazard situation in which people were being bitten, scratched, torn apart, and literally eaten alive... the hospital was... empty? That made no sense to him. Cautiously, he held his semi-automatic rifle at the ready as he moved methodically through the building, looking for whatever had dropped from that helicopter. He'd found nothing thus far, until he turned a corner and-

"Ocampo?" Carlos said, immediately lowering his rifle upon seeing his friend and Umbrella comrade. He was glad to see a familiar face, but even so, his brow furrowed. "They didn't tell us they were deploying Sanitation as well," he mused, before looking her over, taking a couple steps towards her. "Are you alright? What happened to you?" She really didn't look good, if he was being honest. Then again, nobody was looking great right now, given the situation here.

He tossed his rifle behind him to his right side, leaving it hanging by its strap as he took out a semi-automatic pistol. "Here," he said, offering it to her along with a couple of magazines. "The situation's gone to hell in the city. My platoon was overrun within minutes. I'm all that's left. Umbrella's not responding to my evac calls. We're gonna have to fight our way out."