~Book VIII~
Chris didn't know Steve well back when Claire knew him and wasn't at all familiar with his face, but having watched that security footage which Claire reacted to, the man had an idea of who this guy was. He quickly turned his head to look behind him, his eyes widening with worry when he saw Claire, still on the floor, reaching her hand out towards both himself and the other younger man.
"S... Steve...!" she cried out, still weak from her wound. Tears rolled down her cheeks, leaving a damp trail similar to a snail's. Now Chris really could confirm that this redheaded man before him was indeed Steve Burnside, the boy taken by Wesker all that time ago after his tragic death.
"How is this possible...?" Chris murmured, now staring over at Steve, who took a few daring steps closer to the Redfield male. "How are you alive, Steve?! What the hell did Wesker do to you?!" Not once did Chris lower his gun; he was far too cautious to do such a thing, especially in this environment. Steve merely smirked and chuckled lowly, drawing out his two pistols and twirling them around his fingers.
"Are you gonna try talking me out of what I'm doing, Chris?" he pushed, spinning his guns to then aim in Chris' direction. "Good luck with that; I haven't hesitated to hurt you and Claire so far, so why would things change now? If anything, it is you who is now hesitating to hurt me."
"That's why Charles thought you were perfect to kill Claire," Chris spat. "You're not Steve at all, are you?! You're just his body... Charles and Wesker are using Steve's face to make Claire and I hesitate to kill you!" Chris narrowed his eyes, preparing to pull the trigger. "Well, I won't let that trick work on me - and I won't let you damage Claire like this!" Even if Claire was going to protest for Chris to spare Steve's life, the Redfield brother knew that he had to do what was best for everyone. He had to kill Steve - or what was left of him, anyway.
"I wasn't trained to make you hesitate," Steve reminded. "I was trained to kill you both!" With no further warning, Steve opened fired with both of his guns. His first bullet hit Chris directly in the shoulder, causing Chris' return fire to be inaccurate as the man grimaced and growled, almost falling to his knees as he clasped his wound. Steve grinned as he stepped closer to the older male, watching as he responded to the pain. Chris lifted his head and made an attempt to lift his arm to shoot at Steve, but his movement was too slow. Steve shot the gun from his hand, causing it to bounce off the ground a few times before sliding into the molten metal below. Chris could only watch this happen helplessly until he felt Steve kick him hard in the chest, knocking him down onto his back. Steve then placed his foot hard onto Chris' abdomen, leaning down to meet his foe eye-to-eye.
"Stop it!" Claire wailed through her own weakness, but Steve didn't listen to her. He was now completely focused on Chris.
"Does it hurt?" he mocked with a smirk. "You're still so human, Chris Redfield; people like you are easy to hurt."
Chris clenched his teeth together, grabbing onto Steve's wrists. He pulled the younger male down and began violently wrestling with him, attempting to roll over in order to gain the upper hand, yet at the same time he was making sure not to roll over into the "lake of fire" below the narrow platform. However, Steve had strength almost unnatural for a man of his build, and the redhead was able to keep Chris down.
"Don't bother," he snickered. "You've lost already, Chris." Chris frowned hatefully up into Steve's blue eyes, but his attention was quickly drawn to his dual pistols. Those guns gave Steve an advantage in this battle, so it would be best to take them away. That's exactly what Chris did swiftly; he grabbed the barrel of one pistol while gripping Steve's other wrist, making it difficult for the assassin to aim down at him. The brown-haired male was able to pull the gun suddenly from Steve's firm grasp, choosing to throw it down into the glowing doom below, and after that he managed to use both hands to claim Steve's other gun, whacking the younger man across the face with it before kicking him back. Now Chris jumped back onto his feet, aiming at the unarmed Steve.
"Don't make me do this, Steve," Chris gave as a final warning. Steve scowled before letting out an enraged roar, removing his battle axe from his back - a weapon Chris had completely forgotten about due to being so focused on his guns.
Steve lunged at Chris, swinging his axe downwards, but luckily Chris rolled out of the way, getting behind the Lamb. The older male was about to kick Steve in the back, but Steve predicted the move, jumping forwards to avoid the kick before swinging his axe around. Chris bent backwards slightly, narrowly avoiding the axe head, and he even managed to use one hand to grab onto the handle, briefly bringing the weapon to a halt. Steve's strength was still unbelievable, so Chris could not hold him for long, but he did manage to shoot Steve in the abdomen. Steve let out a howl of agony and stumbled backwards, almost dropping his axe, giving Chris the chance to shoot him again, this time in the shoulder. Steve barely reacted to that wound, giving Chris the indication that he had a weakness in his abdomen.
That's when Chris remembered the video footage from before. Steve had a huge scare which hugged his abdomen and even went around to his back.
His death wound.
Steve had been impaled. That's what Claire told him after they returned together from Antarctica. Alexia had used one of her appendages to pierce the boy through his abdomen, and that attack is what killed him.
Chris had been so focused on his thoughts that he barely had time to react to Steve lunging towards him with his axe, knocking him down towards the side. Chris came very close to falling over the edge, with Steve now standing tall above him.
"It's over, Chris!" the redhead yelled, kicking the gun out of Chris' hand, thus destroying the final firearm in this battle. "This is where you finally die!"
Chris' eyes immediately went back to Claire, who was still watching in horror. If he died now, then Steve would kill her. He had to end this. Steve had to be stopped.
"It's over," Chris agreed quietly, then glowering up savagely at Steve. "For YOU!" He kicked Steve's leg hard, causing him to lose his balance for a very short amount of time, giving Chris the chance to get up and reach for Steve's shoulders. Steve stopped the grab with his axe, which Chris held with both hands. Both men pushed towards each other, trying to push the other off the edge behind them, with Steve losing the wrestle due to his injured abdomen.
A burst of rage seemed to consume Steve all of a sudden as he began pushing much harder, now getting Chris closer to the edge. Chris fought back with all of his might, even wriggling the axe a little until he was trying to not only push Steve, but also turn his axe against him. He managed to tear at Steve's black hoodie with the axe head, and his eyes widened at something he suddenly saw.
On Steve's chest was a glowing red object.
The P30 device.
Chris knew what this was. This had been used to control Jill when Wesker had kidnapped her. This is what Wesker and Charles were using to keep Steve under control while also giving him an insane level of strength.
Still, Chris was losing this battle, and there was only one thing he could do to avoid being pushed down into the molten metal. He swiftly moved to the side as Steve gave a final push, causing the redhead to tumble and fall over the edge.
His axe dropped into the molten metal...
But he didn't fall in.
Chris had grabbed onto his wrist the moment he lost his balance, almost finding himself being dragged down, as well. He was well prepared for Steve to make such a move now, but Steve had stopped fighting. This wasn't because he was suddenly thankful; this was because he knew that his survival depended on Chris, and the fight would continue if Chris chose to pull him up.
"Chris!" Claire called out, grabbing the older brother's attention. He stared at her horrified face and knew what she was silently pleading for. She wanted him to save Steve. Thankfully Chris already intended to do that, now that he knew the real reason Steve was acting as the enemy.
Chris used both of his hands to hoist Steve up, quickly pinning him onto his back and straddling his lap. He held the younger male's arms down, but was struggling to maintain his hold.
"Claire!" he shouted. "Get over here! Now!" Despite her wound, Claire could not disobey her brother. She staggered over to the pair, falling to Steve's side, almost feeling her heart break when he gave her such a fierce and hateful stare.
"Don't be fooled by his actions," Chris continued. "He's being controlled! I need you to remove that device on his chest! Now!"
Claire stared down at Steve as he tried to shove Chris away, yelling like a primitive beast in pain. The screams brought Claire back to that moment all those years ago. She could hear him crying out, see him struggling, see him in pain as he tried to fight what brought harm to him. She watched as he lost that fight. She watched him become that tyrant, watching as his bones grew and snapped and his skinn shrivelled into a rotten green coat, with fangs protruding from his mouth while his eyes filled with red - blood.
The woman put both hands on the device and pulled, but it was tightly knit into his skin and other internal parts of his body. It didn't feel like it would come out without doing serious damage - she even feared that she would rip out a chunk of his flesh.
"Pull harder!" she heard her brother yell. She could only stare down at Steve as she tried to use more of her current strength, but it only made Steve scream more. Even worse: Steve started to flex his legs and wrists, clawing his hands into weird shapes as he arched his back. His face began to reveal bulging green veins which also went down his neck, and his eyes began to go red with thick, bloodshot veins.
"What's happening to him?!" Claire cried in fear. Blood seeped from his wound which Claire had opened beneath the P30 device, and that blood was not afraid to ignite. In fact, Claire was almost mildly burned by it.
"He's trying to transform like Alexia did all those years ago!" Chris noticed, remembering how Alexia transformed using the same virus Steve now had full control over. "Get that device off him now before it's too late!"
She had to. She had to take it off him. If she didn't rip that damn thing out of his chest now, then he'd be gone again, this time forever. Claire let out a scream herself as she really strained her level of strength, digging her nails beneath the device before finally tearing it out of Steve's skin. Steve's screaming came to an abrupt end as he flopped limply beneath Chris, his eyes close. He breathed short breaths and gasped desperately for air, coughing every so often.
Chris, seeing Steve's sudden lack of resistance and strength, decided that it was safe to move off him. He was also panting for air due to the heat of the room, but also due to how much energy he had wasted keeping that young man down.
Claire was still staring down at Steve, watching as he lay there in a state of weak relief. He was free. He looked tired, but he was free. He knew full well that he was free.
The young woman wanted to put her hand on his to feel it once again. She wanted to brush his messy hair out of his face to remind herself that this was the same man she lost years ago, alive and well. She wanted to lay her head on his chest to listen to his heartbeat to confirm that he was alive.
Chris spotted Claire's temptation, putting a hand on her shoulder to catch her attention. The brown-haired male shook his head. "That blood of his is infected with the t-Veronica virus," he reminded her. "You don't wanna come into contact with it." The Redfield brother stood himself up, looking towards the exit of the room.
"Chris," Claire spoke up, still kneeling by Steve's side. "We... We can't leave him."
"We're not gonna," Chris assured her. Let's get you two outta this room - the heat will drive you unconscious and it won't be good for that virus." He managed to lift Steve up, finding him surprisingly light, and carried him back to where Claire was laid before. Claire limped after her brother before sitting down beside Steve once Chris used some cloth to cover his bleeding injury. He then looked down at his sister. "Stay here with him," he commanded. "I'm gonna find Rebecca and... and Billy. They need to know that the Lamb has been dealt with. Now Wesker is our only target, then we can get the hell off this island."
"What about Steve?" Claire asked, her tone soft and frightened as she cradled Steve close to her. She couldn't lose him again.
"Don't worry," Chris told her, "we'll bring him back with us." The younger Redfield felt her lips curve up into a smile, and Chris could only smile back at such a sight. He nodded his head to his sister proudly. "I'll come back when I find Rebecca and Billy; until then, you should be safe resting here."
"Thank you, Chris..." Claire mumbled under her breath. "...Be careful out there."
"I'll be fine and you know it," Chris chuckled. "I've been through this shit too many times." With that, Chris turned on his heel and sprinted out of sight, with Claire listening to his echoing footsteps before they could no longer be heard. Her blue eyes were then on Steve, who still lay unconscious. For a moment she tensed up, since the way he looked reminded her of how he looked the day Alexia put an end to his life, but then she saw him twitch and stir, shuffling closer to Claire while still asleep. Claire couldn't help but let out a sight of relief when seeing such a movement; it reminded her that Steve was very much alive.
~End of Book VIII~
