Original Date: 2014
Series: Resident Evil 6 (MAJOR SPOILERS), Resident Evil 5 (timeline stuff, mostly)
Notes: Out of all the stories I had before my medical thing, this was by far the longest one at 20,000 words. I actually really, really didn't care for Resident Evil 6's story at all but by god was it fun to play, and the plot device of Piers mutating himself was super cool. So I decided to take it farther and hopefully made him sound way less boring. This was originally titled Degenerate before I remembered Resident Evil: Degeneration was a thing.
Reasons for abandonment: This was written just a few months before I wound up in the hospital and because I can't remember the majority of 2014-2017 I don't remember WHERE I was going with this at all, and I lost my notes which completely kills me. Out of all these stories, this one is what I'm most interested in finishing, so if you have some ideas for how to continue, feel free to give me a shout! I hope you at least enjoy what I've written so far!
Also RE7 is amazing and maybe one day I'll write a little thing for it.
"I did it...for the BSAA. For the future!"
The exhausted, mutated husk of the soldier breathed heavily as he leaned against his captain. His transformation was truly terrifying, one that for sure would have killed him, and it was only by some miracle that he hadn't fully transformed into the monster he was destined to become. The fact that he still had control over himself had to be by some impressive feat he didn't know he was capable of, or just dumb luck. The torn flesh of where his arm once rested had become a death machine, circled by the sparks of bioorganic electricity, and while they had used its mutation to their advantage and hopefully make it out alive he wondered how long it would take before his whole body succumbed to it. Chris looked at Piers in such desperation, being absolutely terrified that he was about to lose his partner, and the only surviving member of his team, once again.
"Come on Piers, stay with me…we're going to get you out of here."
The pain was absolutely unbearable. While his body had distilled the shocks from the electricity that his arm produced and healed any damage he received, the unnatural twisting and pops of his flesh and muscles were something he could still feel. His face was slowly being eaten alive by the tendrils that worked its way up it and dug into his skin, his right eye having lost its vision and glassing over to an icy blue. He could still see, but his view had become a half-and-half mix of color and detail with fuzzy outlines of what was around him. Chris got Piers back onto his feet, and while the young sharpshooter hobbled at first, he managed to regain his footing and work up just enough energy to charge for an escape, whatever or wherever that may be. The two avoided the monsters and the crashing debris of the facility that chased them in the process, Piers using his energy to shoot a clearing when needed and his adrenaline to keep his legs going, and soon they had stumbled upon a chamber. Chris immediately searched for a means out, quickly taking notice of the windowed doors that dotted the walls.
"Escape pods!" His voice sounded joyous, if only by relief. The BSAA operative started pressing buttons on one of the panels when Piers had tumbled to the ground, the mutation taking a heavy toll on him. His breaths came in a short staccato, finally reaching a point of normality only when he took in a deep sigh. Chris shouted words at Piers, though he could hardly understand them—something along the lines of "We'll make it!" and "Keep fighting it!" Piers propped himself against the wall, taking a glance at his mutated arm. Torn flesh, black muscles, claws and bones that shocked him in their abnormality. The look of it disgusted him, and he knew it would be only a matter of time before his entire body became nothing short of that.
Only a matter of time… He resonated on that thought, mulling over the possibilities of what could happen. He saw what had become of their team throughout their travels under Chris's command: the infections they had suffered by the hand of Ada, the monsters that emerged from their cocooned bodies. And now, the zombies the people of the city had undoubtedly transformed into after their failure to stop the missile. Though Piers had not become something as simple as the city's undead inhabitants, nor had he been encased in the shell of his own body and escaped as something more inhuman than he was now, he was still on his way to becoming the very things they fought against...what he and his captain and everyone else at the BSAA had dedicated their lives to defending the world from. It was only a matter of time before he fully succumbed to the virus, only a matter of time before he would lose his control and kill Chris, along with anyone else if he managed to escape. He breathed deeply, the realization running through him and freezing his body. I won't let it happen, he thought, taking a breath as a way to calm himself. He knew what had to be done.
A beep had sounded and the hatch to one of the pods had popped open. Chris immediately walked over to his partner, a desperate "C'mon, let's go!" escaping from his lips. Piers looked up to him and firmly grasped his captain's outstretched hand, though guilt had immediately made his limbs even weaker. He didn't want to do this, but he had no choice. The two ran to the pod, but before Piers had entered it, he halted them both, using Chris's moment of confusion as a way to shove him into it, and immediately slammed the door shut while his captain stumbled to regain his footing.
"Piers!" Chris shouted, running over to the door and slamming his hands on it. "Piers, what are you doing?" The young man watched as his partner searched desperately for a means to open the door and reunite with his final remaining team member, but there was no way—the controls had been locked as a form of a safety feature. "Piers, open the goddamn door!" He continued to shout variations of those words, demanding, pleading for Piers to take back his decision. But Piers refused. He hobbled to the control panel, grabbing the release lever with the last of his energy, and pushed it inward. A pop signified the detachment of the pod from the bay, and Chris seemed to release all his remaining breath into one final scream. But Piers just stood there, his face stern in determination as he looked directly into Chris's hardened eyes.
"I'm sorry," he whispered, watching as the pod shot itself from the bay and sped up towards the surface. He hated making this decision, and hated it even more that he had taken a part in making his captain's worst fear—losing his whole team—a repeated reality. But had he not, he would have for sure killed Chris when he had fully transformed, making his own fear a reality. The BSAA, and the good of the world, needed Chris Redfield alive and well. Piers hoped, though he knew it would not be immediate, Chris would one day forgive him and understand why it had to be done. "It's been an honor serving with you, Captain," he said to the sounds of destruction around him.
But one of those sounds was terrifyingly familiar. Piers turned around and backed up in shock as the walls came crashing down with such force, an unnatural, beastly scream erupting from their place. Slimed, blue skin of a hand shot forward and grabbed Piers, practically strangling him with its strength. He was pulled forward as the human hybrid of a monster they had just barely managed to escape before erupted from the facility and burst the walls open, barreling through the water faster than any speed he had ever seen a BOW travel. Piers struggled as he tried to free himself, the water hitting him unexpectedly and leaving him with less than ideal oxygen in his lungs. He turned around and realized the exact destination of his captor—they were heading right for Chris, and the creature was undoubtedly going to kill them both.
For a moment, Piers had locked eyes directly with the hardened BSAA soldier. He could hardly make out the details of the man's face, Piers's already half-blinded vision being distorted even more by the rushing water, but he knew Chris had taken notice of him by his body movements—a startled shake in surprise, of both the monster and his partner being alive and well. The creature slammed into Chris's escape pod, halting its course and shaking it wildly with its immense weight. It encased the steel vessel like a kraken, and Piers knew immediately that if the creature were to keep up it would soon burst the pod open, drowning Chris and himself should he remain in its grasp for much longer. Without even thinking of the possible consequences, Piers dug the claw-like attachments of his mutated arm into the flesh of the half-human beast, sending an electric shock into its muscle with what little energy he had left. Blue lightning danced around his body and violently shook the arm of the creature; the water most certainly had to have amplified the power, because a sharp pain jolted Piers's arm in return. The monster screeched in what he assumed to be great pain, and Piers mimicked that from his own, giving up the last of the oxygen he had. He was released, and the monster drifted away from the pod...but not for long. The beast shifted around again, getting ready to attack once more when Piers had released another charge of energy from his arm, sending hundreds if not thousands of volts directly at its head. The monster screeched once again, and the remainder of its body burst in a murky explosion of blood and organic matter. Piers only had a few moments to revel in his victory when his vision had blacked out, his final thoughts being what he thought was a yelp for his name from his captain as he drifted away.