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Description

Image originally posted 21 April 2018

Please note that I made this storyboard image before I had a model of Linda in her new blue coverall per the novel text. That's why she's still wearing her Umbrella uniform from Part I. I was going to update all of the Exodus storyboards appropriately but never finished the job, as I eventually got pulled away to other things and it's just a concept image after all. This was one of those few I updated; see next storyboard image.

This marks the beginning of the second part of the novel - Stage Two: The Sewers, per the text - matching with the original game in general, even if I've already made a number of alterations in the plot and with the characters for better storytelling purposes per my Exodus reversioning. XD

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PREV -->     FIRST -->      NEXT -->

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     Elza felt Sherry's arms go around her legs as soon as she got off of the ladder. One of her own arms went immediately around the little girl to comfort her. Linda stood a little bit in front of them, hands on her hips and her legs somewhat apart, casting her own eyes around the sewer tunnel. "Oh, nice," she finally said. It was more sarcasm than statement. "Just the kind of place I've always wanted to visit."
     "At least we don't have any zombies chasing us," Elza said.

     "True," Linda said. She gave Elza a look, and there was an accusing note in her voice as she spoke. "That reminds me. Why in God's name did you set the building on fire?! Was that really necessary?"
     "Yes it was," Elza said evenly. "There wasn't time to explain above, but I will now if you'll let me."
     Linda disgustedly waved an arm. "By all means, Miss Walker. Please do."
     Elza regarded Linda for a moment, her eyes narrowing. Then she spoke in a calm voice with even tones. "Miss Merton, you work for Umbrella. Correct?"
     "Yes, but what does that have—"
     "And you were in that truck that brought those things to the police station."
     "Yes, but I—"
     "Quiet. I'm not finished." She gave Linda a cool stare. "Put yourself in the place of your bosses at Umbrella, those who sent you and that truck. What are you going to do once you find out that those hunters you sent to the RPD failed to do their job?"
     "Well, I ..." and then Linda's voice faltered. All she could do was look helplessly at Elza.
     "That's right," Elza continued, her voice cold and hard. "If I were them, I would have had somebody following that truck, observing, making sure everything went down the way it was planned. And if they ever find out that it didn't, then they just might have to put whatever backup plans they have into action." She laughed mirthlessly. "Burning down the RPD was about the only way to throw a wrench in the works. They won't know what really happened up there for some time because of the fire, and hopefully we'll be long gone by then." She laughed again, then turned to look at the wall. "As for you, you're just a minor bauble, a prize to snag along the way for whoever it is that's pissed off at you, provided that cock-and-bull story you told is true."
     "It is true!" Linda shot back angrily. “Every word of it!”
     "Then you just better hope that fire destroys any trace that we were ever up there," Elza snapped in reply, "because if Umbrella has the least suspicion otherwise, then they're gonna be on us like water on a duck's back, They probably won't stop until we're all dead or they kill a lot of their own people trying." She turned back towards Linda as she pulled out her radio. "Next time, it won't be just hunters they send after us either. Of course, you'd know better than I about that, wouldn't you?"
     Linda gulped. She remained silent, staring down at the stones of the walkway beneath their feet. Elza glowered at her a bit more, then raised her radio and keyed her mike. "Kevin, this is Elza. We're in the Sewers. Where are you guys? I don't see you anywhere. Over?"

From the opening of Chapter 9 of

Resident Evil: Exodus - The Tale of Elza Walker

by Richard Mandel

--------------------

You can read online and for free the full text of the last official public release of Resident Evil: Exodus - The Tale of Elza Walker at the Wattpad free e-book site. Here's a direct link to the Table of Contents page:

www.wattpad.com/482772140-resi…

The old PDF download option link on Wattpad has been dead for years. Here's a new link if you want the complete text:
www.mediafire.com/file/wme7q87…

--------------------

COMMENTS

I cut the two opening paragraphs to this chapter from the quoted section, describing in prose form the Sewers Arrival Area (where Elza's part has wound up) for readers unfamiliar with the RE1.5 visuals.

Our heroes have just gotten started in the Sewers Stage and they've already become separated. Part of that has to do with each group having to take two different manholes to escape into them in the first place. There's another reason, and it has everything to do with a possibly deliberate programming glitch regarding one of the Sewers stage entry points in the one surviving genuine build of RE1.5 that has turned up so far ever since the game got cancelled decades ago, one that the fan experts had already discovered by map analysis even before they got their hands on that actual build. What is is? The manhole on the exterior west side of the RPD doesn't line up with the center manhole in the Sewers Arrival Area per the way they're connected in the game. It's actually a bit off. This was probably an unintended error on the part of the programmers at the time given the deadline crunch they were under, just as what happened with the mismatched floor levels in three of the rooms on the west side ground floor of the new RPD in the original RE2 (they fixed that in RE2 REmake BTW). Knowing that, we RE1.5 fans have taken that unintended error and ran with it for all it was worth. I was one of the first to do so in a major way in Exodus, basing what I did on some good fannish musings on how that glitch could be exploited to make the Sewers stage bigger on the old THIA forms years ago (dead for years last time I checked) and you'll see how that unexpected wrinkle affects our two separated groups of survivors as the story unfolds. I also note in passing that the current RE1.5 fan rebuilding effort is also keying off of this same known glitch in the original RE1.5 in their own way, which was ultimately inspired in part by what I did with Exodus but is quite different than what I do in that. I gave their chief graphic artist all of DXP's old RE1.5 REvisited low-end room recreations, which included recreations of how I treated the Sewers in Exodus. Hey, different strokes for different folks, and it's their rebuilding effort, not mine. They get to do what they like. (wink)

You also now know why Elza went to the trouble to burn down the old RPD. This is a big plot change from the original game, but it was for a very good reason. Hold that thought, because I'm going to come back to it in a later Interlude in Exodus. FYI this was also a bit of a dig by me at the way Capcom completely ignores RE1.5's old RPD in later games in the RE franchise even though it's still there, by implication if nothing else, as late as RE2 REmake. Let's face it. If the RPD bought the old art museum as their new home shortly before the T-virus Outbreak in Raccoon City, then from where did the move? Think on that one and talk amongst yourselves. (chuckle)

Description

Image originally posted 21 April 2018

Please note that I made this storyboard image before I had a model of Linda in her new blue coverall per the novel text. That's why she's still wearing her Umbrella uniform from Part I. I was going to update all of the Exodus storyboards appropriately but never finished the job, as I eventually got pulled away to other things and it's just a concept image after all. This was one of those few I updated; see next storyboard image.

This marks the beginning of the second part of the novel - Stage Two: The Sewers, per the text - matching with the original game in general, even if I've already made a number of alterations in the plot and with the characters for better storytelling purposes per my Exodus reversioning. XD

--------------------

PREV -->     FIRST -->      NEXT -->

--------------------

     Elza felt Sherry's arms go around her legs as soon as she got off of the ladder. One of her own arms went immediately around the little girl to comfort her. Linda stood a little bit in front of them, hands on her hips and her legs somewhat apart, casting her own eyes around the sewer tunnel. "Oh, nice," she finally said. It was more sarcasm than statement. "Just the kind of place I've always wanted to visit."
     "At least we don't have any zombies chasing us," Elza said.

     "True," Linda said. She gave Elza a look, and there was an accusing note in her voice as she spoke. "That reminds me. Why in God's name did you set the building on fire?! Was that really necessary?"
     "Yes it was," Elza said evenly. "There wasn't time to explain above, but I will now if you'll let me."
     Linda disgustedly waved an arm. "By all means, Miss Walker. Please do."
     Elza regarded Linda for a moment, her eyes narrowing. Then she spoke in a calm voice with even tones. "Miss Merton, you work for Umbrella. Correct?"
     "Yes, but what does that have—"
     "And you were in that truck that brought those things to the police station."
     "Yes, but I—"
     "Quiet. I'm not finished." She gave Linda a cool stare. "Put yourself in the place of your bosses at Umbrella, those who sent you and that truck. What are you going to do once you find out that those hunters you sent to the RPD failed to do their job?"
     "Well, I ..." and then Linda's voice faltered. All she could do was look helplessly at Elza.
     "That's right," Elza continued, her voice cold and hard. "If I were them, I would have had somebody following that truck, observing, making sure everything went down the way it was planned. And if they ever find out that it didn't, then they just might have to put whatever backup plans they have into action." She laughed mirthlessly. "Burning down the RPD was about the only way to throw a wrench in the works. They won't know what really happened up there for some time because of the fire, and hopefully we'll be long gone by then." She laughed again, then turned to look at the wall. "As for you, you're just a minor bauble, a prize to snag along the way for whoever it is that's pissed off at you, provided that cock-and-bull story you told is true."
     "It is true!" Linda shot back angrily. “Every word of it!”
     "Then you just better hope that fire destroys any trace that we were ever up there," Elza snapped in reply, "because if Umbrella has the least suspicion otherwise, then they're gonna be on us like water on a duck's back, They probably won't stop until we're all dead or they kill a lot of their own people trying." She turned back towards Linda as she pulled out her radio. "Next time, it won't be just hunters they send after us either. Of course, you'd know better than I about that, wouldn't you?"
     Linda gulped. She remained silent, staring down at the stones of the walkway beneath their feet. Elza glowered at her a bit more, then raised her radio and keyed her mike. "Kevin, this is Elza. We're in the Sewers. Where are you guys? I don't see you anywhere. Over?"

From the opening of Chapter 9 of

Resident Evil: Exodus - The Tale of Elza Walker

by Richard Mandel

--------------------

You can read online and for free the full text of the last official public release of Resident Evil: Exodus - The Tale of Elza Walker at the Wattpad free e-book site. Here's a direct link to the Table of Contents page:

www.wattpad.com/482772140-resi…

The old PDF download option link on Wattpad has been dead for years. Here's a new link if you want the complete text:
www.mediafire.com/file/wme7q87…

--------------------

COMMENTS

I cut the two opening paragraphs to this chapter from the quoted section, describing in prose form the Sewers Arrival Area (where Elza's part has wound up) for readers unfamiliar with the RE1.5 visuals.

Our heroes have just gotten started in the Sewers Stage and they've already become separated. Part of that has to do with each group having to take two different manholes to escape into them in the first place. There's another reason, and it has everything to do with a possibly deliberate programming glitch regarding one of the Sewers stage entry points in the one surviving genuine build of RE1.5 that has turned up so far ever since the game got cancelled decades ago, one that the fan experts had already discovered by map analysis even before they got their hands on that actual build. What is is? The manhole on the exterior west side of the RPD doesn't line up with the center manhole in the Sewers Arrival Area per the way they're connected in the game. It's actually a bit off. This was probably an unintended error on the part of the programmers at the time given the deadline crunch they were under, just as what happened with the mismatched floor levels in three of the rooms on the west side ground floor of the new RPD in the original RE2 (they fixed that in RE2 REmake BTW). Knowing that, we RE1.5 fans have taken that unintended error and ran with it for all it was worth. I was one of the first to do so in a major way in Exodus, basing what I did on some good fannish musings on how that glitch could be exploited to make the Sewers stage bigger on the old THIA forms years ago (dead for years last time I checked) and you'll see how that unexpected wrinkle affects our two separated groups of survivors as the story unfolds. I also note in passing that the current RE1.5 fan rebuilding effort is also keying off of this same known glitch in the original RE1.5 in their own way, which was ultimately inspired in part by what I did with Exodus but is quite different than what I do in that. I gave their chief graphic artist all of DXP's old RE1.5 REvisited low-end room recreations, which included recreations of how I treated the Sewers in Exodus. Hey, different strokes for different folks, and it's their rebuilding effort, not mine. They get to do what they like. (wink)

You also now know why Elza went to the trouble to burn down the old RPD. This is a big plot change from the original game, but it was for a very good reason. Hold that thought, because I'm going to come back to it in a later Interlude in Exodus. FYI this was also a bit of a dig by me at the way Capcom completely ignores RE1.5's old RPD in later games in the RE franchise even though it's still there, by implication if nothing else, as late as RE2 REmake. Let's face it. If the RPD bought the old art museum as their new home shortly before the T-virus Outbreak in Raccoon City, then from where did the move? Think on that one and talk amongst yourselves. (chuckle)