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(Written from a Production point of view)

BIO HAZARD The Wicked North Sea (バイオハザード 北海の妖獣 Baiohazādo Hokkai no Yōjū?) is a light novel written by Kyū Asakura on behalf of the newly formed Flagship creative writing team. It was published on 31 January 1998 by Shueisha for their Jump j-Books line.

The novel is set on an island in the North Sea, known as Gadiwell (spelt in Japanese as ガディウォール (Gadiwōru?)) which is used for secret bio-weapons research by the Beardsley family, a noble family who were part of the same circle of noblemen that founded Umbrella Pharmaceuticals. Wicked North Sea can be seen as part of an expanded universe running alongside Capcom's primary canon.

Plot[]

The novella starts with a manga excerpt, which can be read here.

Isolated northern island (pp.16-71)[]

The story begins with an SAS operation in Northern Ireland to rescue two UN workers being held hostage by a faction of the Irish Republican Army. The mission goes awry when Norse Chirac, a member of the CRW team, fails to kill a young IRA volunteer some twelve or thirteen years of age, thus allowing the injured girl to set off an explosion that kills everyone but Chirac. In the ensuing inquiry, his failure to kill is determined to have been the cause of the mission's failure, and he is discharged from the British Army.

Over the next two years, Chirac travels the world in search of a safe haven to live. He takes the ferry to Gadiwell, a small fishing island off the coast of Norway. On the approach to the island, the water proves treacherous, and a girl stumbles on the handrail. Norse stops her falling into the sea, and she introduces herself as Kate, a student at a prestigious boarding school on the mainland traveling to the island with her friend Rain, whose uncle Bale lives there.

As the ferry arrives at Gadiwell in the evening, Norse takes note of the island's decayed state. Some 90% of the population he learns has left in recent years, and the 300 remaining live without a dedicated police force and with access to only a single medical facility and telephone on the entire island. Kate and Rain offer Norse directions to the only inn left on the island after they meet Bale; agreeing to this, Norse heads up through the village, noticing the curtain-twitching from the villagers who are suspicious of outsiders. They soon learn that Bale's house is locked up and he is not there, apparently having left home to go hunting, the inn has been demolished, and Rain's friend Paul warns them to take the next ferry back to the mainland. Norse then uses his lock-picking skills to gain entry to Bale's house and with no other options, he agrees to spend the night there after the three sort out sleeping arrangements.

In the night, Norse is woken up by the strange sounds of footsteps outside, followed by growling. As the source of the noises move away, Norse runs out to pursue them, almost being overcome by the smell of rotting flesh as he tracks them towards the woodland. Stopped by the thick conifers, he gives up pursuit, but before returning to the house he sees what appears to be a slender woman with silver hair howling from a hill. In the morning Norse returns to the woodland to retrace his steps, and soon becomes convinced that some of the islanders were working to cover-up the woman's existence when he can't find her tracks. Adding to his concerns, while out he overhears talk from Bale's neighbors about three road workers who didn't come home last night.

Returning to Bale's house, Norse learns from Rain that Kate has disappeared. The two then drive out in Bale's car to look for her; when they find no sign of her locally, Norse instinctively drives westward toward where he heard the road workers were believed to be. As they reach the western coastline, they find Kate watching a group of men on the beach; she explains that she overheard talk of a film being made on the island during the ferry trip and went to check on it. As Bale has still not returned from his hunting trip, Rain has no interest in staying, so the three drive off back to the house. Before getting in the car, however, Norse notices the oddly regimented behavior of the cast and crew, who act as though they were a military unit, with what seems to be a blonde actor being their leader.

After breakfast, the three head out again to look for Bale. Reasoning that Paul might know something due to Bale being fond of him the group heads to his shack but are disappointed to discover Paul is not home. With no other leads they decide to look for Bale themselves by driving westward again, this time heading toward where he typically hunted. While driving, Rain points out a large Northern European styled wooden building, which was the site of an Umbrella Pharmaceuticals laboratory; built 20 years ago, it was ground zero for the outbreak of a deadly disease which, according to legend, turned a number of islanders into Zombies. As it begins to rain, Norse spots a wrecked truck; believing it belongs to the missing workmen, he leaves the girls in the car and goes to investigate but upon reaching the abandoned the truck he finds it stained with blood. Any further investigation of the truck though is halted as the girls begin screaming after they see something moving in the woods. When Norse goes to investigate he finds himself surrounded by a number of deformed men, who he realizes are zombies, who then promptly attempt to break into the car. Norse kills one zombie with a stick and then jumps inside the car. Despite flooring it the car fails to move due to the mud, and the trio is forced to flee through the woods on foot, all while pursued by the men.

During their run through the woods, Kate loses her balance and falls down a slope, forcing Norse to go look for her while Rain continues on her own. Rain does not go far however before she trips and bangs her head on a tree root. Waking up some time later, she finds her way out of the woods in a cold and tired state, encountering diseased dogs along the way which growl at her. A man which she believes to be Bale, shoots the dogs. A group of men then arrive searching for the shooter but Bale tells Rain to hide. Seeing nothing in the dark the men eventually move on and Rain emerges from hiding, only to discover Bale has vanished once again. Norse meanwhile had given up searching for Kate after not finding any trace of her, and decides to try to make it back to Bale's house on the off chance Kate might have managed to escape there. Hearing Bale's gunshots from the woods though he decides to investigate the source and finds himself wandering towards a forest road from which he spots the strange woman from before on a nearby hilltop. Getting a better look at her Norse notes the woman has claws, a distinctive tail, and moves in more of a feline fashion. This time the woman notices his presence but though she gives signs that seem to indicate interest in Norse, she leaves him soon enough. Rain arrives soon after, and tells Norse everything she beheld. Realizing the danger present on the island, the two head to the harbor hoping to phone the police on the mainland, but they find the phone line is down. Furthermore, none of the villagers seem in a hurry to help them as the Umbrella corporation has a large influence on the island due to building much of the meager infrastructure there. As the two start to leave town Paul appears and berates them for not listening to his warning. He then offers to help them, and asks them to go home and then meet him and Bale at the ruins of the old lighthouse in the morning.

Umbrella (pp.72-108)[]

The next day, Norse and Rain arrive at the lighthouse. From there, they witness Paul get shot and fall off the nearby cliff. Norse run towards the cliff where Paul was and see no signs of him as he was sucked into the raging waves below. He returns to Rain, only to find her sobbing after she discovered her uncle nearby, heavily injured from gunshot wounds. Norse tears his shirt and pushes it into Bale's wound to try and staunch the bleeding and gets a weak smile of thanks from Bale in response. Knowing he's dying, Bale tells them that a sniper hired by Umbrella had shot him and killed Paul and that Umbrella had been secretly continuing Tyrant Virus research that should have been stopped 20 years ago after a similar zombie outbreak occurred back when Bale was a young soldier. Bale explains he accidentally put a target on his back when he stumbled across Umbrella mercenaries killing a zombie while rabbit hunting. Since then several men have pursued him and Bale has been forced to flee from place to place on the island. In addition, while on the run he had found one of Kate's blue sneakers near the supposedly abandoned Umbrella lab in the forest. After giving Norse his Colt 1911 pistol Bale then entrusts Norse with his niece's safety and dies, leaving Rain in tears.

Afterward Norse and Rain head to the old lab taking note of the supposed film crew shooting at the back of the mountain. Norse ignores them and the two speed off to the site of the large European looking building. Finding the obvious doors boarded up the two begin looking for other ways in and eventually stumble upon a hidden entrance into the building. The pair go inside but despite their best efforts they cannot find anything suspicious at first. Knowing there has to be something here though, judging by the presence of recent footprints, the two take a closer look at their surroundings and eventually find a door hidden behind a bookshelf that leads to a passage going down into the basement. Heading down Rain finds Kate's locket in front of an active generator which lies near two passageways, not knowing which way to take the pair decide to choose the right path at random. Traversing the passageway the pair are met with a barred gate which upon being opened releases red furred monsters with gorilla like bodies but with human like faces and hook like claws. Norse and Rain then flee to the other passageway where they spot an elevator and jump in. After a near death experience where one of the monsters nearly tears it's way into the elevator, they manage to arrive at a cave on the surface which they exit to find the Beardsley Castle, located on the opposite side of Mount Wall from the main village. Rain explains that the Beardsleys were the original lords of the island 500 years ago but have fallen from grace due to a popular uprising in the early 18th century. When Umbrella bought the land from the Beardsleys, they established a special relationship with the family which is believed to still go on to this day.

Sensing someone approaching the pair swiftly hide themselves in the bushes as a white limousine parks in front of the castle entrance, with several servants exiting the house. Norse is then surprised to see the man that is giving orders to the servants was the same blonde man talking to the director at the cove before. They are eventually caught peeking by the man and are asked to vacate the premises. As they leave for Bale's house Norse muses that the man may have already known about them prior to this, and is convinced that he is at the heart of the enemies that abducted Kate and killed Bale and Paul.

Invitation from the old castle (pp.109-160)[]

Later the servant, revealed to be named Gilliam, goes to speak to his mistress who berates him for his failure to clean up the current mess they were dealing with sooner. She then tells Gilliam she'll fix things herself. On her orders Gilliam goes to Bale's house and introduces himself as the steward of the Beardsley household. He invites the duo to a small dinner party which is being held that night. Norse opens the letter and see the hostess signature as Mylène Beardsley, causing him to suspect a trap. Upon realizing that the house is not safe though, as it's being watched, Norse and Rain accept the invitation and Gilliam drives away. That evening the pair drive up to the castle and are escorted inside by Gilliam. They along with other guests from companies in business with Umbrella are introduced to the hostess Mylène. During the party, Norse realizes there's a connection between the Beardsley family and Umbrella from the fact all the guests are from companies allied to the corporation, something which tells him Beardsley's were not merely land donors but had active business dealings with all of them. He is further shocked to learn that Mylène had also come to know of his background somehow, something which was supposed to be top secret. Later that night, Norse leaves Rain and tells her to leave the castle should he not return in 30 minutes from his search for Kate. After a fruitless search though, Norse is informed that Gilliam had escorted Rain to the back door. Just then, Norse hears Rain's scream and chases after the sound only to be met by multiple armed men.

Flashing back to moments earlier, the story reveals Rain had regained consciousness in an isolated chamber. Mylène and her butler Gilliam then enter the room. Rain tries to escape but is held back by guards inside. Rain demands Mylène to tell her the location of her friends Kate and Norse. Following her demands, one of the servants pushed in a silver-covered tray which contains a soup bowl with Kate's eyeballs which causes a horrified Rain to scream in terror. She is then directed to look at some monitors and is forced to watch Norse's struggle in his quest to rescue her.

Norse meanwhile kills all the hostiles he encountered and takes their weapons but later falls into a trap set up by the countess. Falling into a dungeon, he is met with multiple zombies but manages to get away and sprint for a staircase where he meets a zombified Kate who has had her eyes gouged out. He tearfully kills her before fleeing into a set of hallways only to discover them all filled with zombies. Blasting his way through many of them with a shotgun Norse happens upon a hidden lever in a hallway filled with suits of armor. In desperation Norse activates the lever which triggers a last resort trap left by the castle's original builders which causes a large portion of the stone ceiling to come crashing down. While the trap successfully kills the pursuing zombies, it also severs several power and gas lines due to them having been installed after the Beardsley's had forgotten about the trap's existence. As a result, Norse's activation of the trap triggers a blackout and series of fiery explosions which the castle servants try desperately try to contain. Despite their best efforts though they fail to get the power restored in time which simultaneously triggers the release of a toxic nerve gas and causes the castle's electronic locks to fail. Now free to enter the castle proper the surviving zombies from the castle's dungeon reach where the dinner party guests are and begin feeding on everyone not killed by the nerve gas. As this is happening Norse, taking advantage of a crack in the wall opened by the collapse of the ceiling, manages to get himself past the wall and with some effort manages to bypass the zombies and the gas to make it to the private rooms at the back of the castle.

Meanwhile, Gilliam opens a direct line with Umbrella's chief executives. He informs them the development of the enhanced T-Virus strain here on Gaddiwell Island, led by Mylène Beardsley, has just gone awry as a result of her selfish behavior with the research facility being annihilated, and the castle now filled with Zombies who have eaten all the important guests. He then uses his authorization as a member of Administrative Division Special Affairs Section Two to strip Mylène of her rights, orders the clean-up of the physical evidence of the project, and forces her to assume sole responsibility for the debacle. Gilliam then orders his men to clear up the gas and open a path for him.

At the end of a nightmare (pp.161-216)[]

Norse eventually enters the back room and sees human sized flasks hung on the ceiling, apparently being stored at a cold temperature. Mylène then welcomes him to her laboratory through a TV screen with Rain shown bound with her hands tied behind her back. Mylène then explains to him how she was created by her father using genetic manipulation and surgery which both turned her into a genius and linked her brain to the internet which she can access at will to gain any information she needs, including Norse's classified military file. She states she is the crowning achievement of her family's work and her ambitions is to be at the top of Umbrella and then to rule the world. Norse angrily demands she release Rain as neither of them want anything to do with her insane plans and in response Mylène releases Rain before activating several of the flasks which release some of the hairy monsters for him to fight. Norse manages to kill all of them but notices one unactivated flask remains. Mylène opens it, revealing it to be the silver haired woman that he had encountered twice before. The countess explained that the woman was Mylenia, another version of her born from Neo T-Virus and her genes. After an intensive but futile fight against the creature, Mylène offers Norse a chance for him to live by bowing down to her but Norse rejects her. Shortly afterwards the castle is rocked by numerous explosions from the power reactor failing. Gilliam then arrived at the scene and tell Mylène that her position was revoked and she is fired. He then takes the watch from her right arm and smashes it, severing any control she had over Mylenia. Mylène also learns that her three researchers Gazin, Yuri and Monet have betrayed her and sided with Gilliam. Gilliam then declares that the Beardsley's name will be removed from Umbrella's history and explains that Umbrella's true goals was to acquire her computer-mediated genetic rewriting program alongside a digitized copy of her knowledge and then get rid of her.

Norse tries to stop Gilliam from leaving and dashes towards him but gets struck on his head by the handle of Gilliam's revolver for his trouble. After Norse shakes off the injury he and Rain are about to search for a way out, but are stopped by Mylène, who proceeds to shoot at Rain but only grazes her shoulder instead. Norse then disarms Mylène and shoots her in the chest killing her. Supporting each other on the way out of the castle, Norse and Rain eventually make it outside and manage to grab hold of the leg of the helicopter that Gilliam and his researchers are piloting. They pull themselves up to where the hatch into the helicopter's interior is and Norse pushes Rain into the passenger compartment. Norse then heads to the cockpit where he and Gilliam then wrestle with each for control of the aircraft, but the fight is interrupted as the helicopter begins to lose altitude due to a powerful explosion from the ground. At the last minute Norse shields Rain's head as they crash onto the side of the mountain. The pair come out unharmed from the impact but before they can rejoice, they are met with zombies from the castle. Seeing a boat at a pier nearby the pair decides to run for it only to find more zombies there, and realize that they have no way to fight them off as they have no ammo left for their weapons. Before they can be eaten however all of the zombies are killed by a newly arrived Gilliam, who angrily explains that he only saved the pair so he could kill them himself as the helicopter crash they caused also destroyed the disk with Mylene's data and cost him a promotion. At that moment though Mylenia suddenly appears and slices Gilliam's body in half. To Norse and Rain's stunned horror the monster begins to speak and explains that Mylène had copied her persona into her alter ego's body and that it had awakened once Mylène's primary brain had died.

Norse orders Rain to start up the boat while he deals with Mylenia. Grabbing Gilliam's gun from his dead body and taking advantage of a momentary distraction Norse fires a barrage of bullets that cuts Mylenia in half and allows him to then reach Rain and the boat. The pair's escape however is interrupted as shortly after they leave the dock the still living upper body of Mylenia manages to latch onto the hull of the boat. The monster tries to climb her way onto the deck but at that instant Rain informs Norse of an incoming water vortex. Seeing his chance Norse grabs the boat's anchor and slams it into Mylenia causing her to lose her grip and be swallowed by the vortex where she drowns. Now satisfied that the pair finally had escaped from the island Norse is finally able to relax and basks in a moment's contentment. Exhausted and injured Norse tells Rain to wake him when they reach the harbor. She happily agrees and kisses him on the cheek while the boat sails off into the sunrise.

Characters[]

  • Norse Chirac (ノルス・シーラック Norusu Shīrakku?): The protagonist. Norse is a former member of "CRW", a counterterrorism unit within the British Army, who was discharged after a failed dignitary rescue operation.
  • Rain Rubens (レイン・ルーベンス Rein Rūbensu ?): A schoolgirl Norse meets on the ferry to the island. She is visiting the island with her friend Kate while on a break from their boarding school.
  • Kate (ケイト Keito?): Another schoolgirl, Kate is Rain's friend and school roommate. Norse saves her from falling off the ferry and she introduces him to Rain.
  • Mylene Beardsley (ミレーヌ・ビアズレー Mirēnu Biazurē?): The 17th Countess Beardsley. She is the only remaining member of her noble family, and thus is it's head despite only being seventeen years old. She lives with her butler in the family castle.
  • Gilliam (ギリアム Giriamu?): Mylene's head butler who actually works for Umbrella's Administration Division.
  • Bale (ベイル Beiru?): Rain's uncle, and her only immediate family. A former service man, he went missing prior to Rain's return to the island. He was later shot by an unknown individual.
  • Paul (ポール Pōru?): A childhood friend of Rain who Bale regularly helped out. When his parents passed away, a fisherman took him in and raised him until he was 12. When Rain arrives back on the island, Paul warns her to leave.

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