Chapter 17: Breakaway
The look on Mercury's face got everyone worried. Max and Phoenix scrambled to cock their rifles and aimed it to the roof of the carriage. The clicking sound of footsteps was getting fainter and fainter as it moved to the last carriage.
" Hunter? What the heck is a Hunter?" Max asked, his eyes looking all around.
" Bio-organic weapons of Umbrella," Mercury sputtered.
" Can you be more specific?" Phoenix asked.
" The viruses Umbrella makes will automatically turn people into zombies, but using live people and with the help of experiments in a laboratory, Umbrella's scientists are able to produce advance killing organisms. Hunters can outrun humans, are specially adapted to scale areas with absolute ease and have a lust for hunting down people, human or undead. Technically, they are bio-organic weapons for Umbrella, B.O.W. as we call them. Since they are originally made from humans, they still retain some of our intellect," Mercury quickly explained. Everyone looked worriedly at him.
" Made from humans? Then, how did they get here?" Dalton asked.
" Strycorps…" Phoenix answered.
It made sense in a way. If Strycorps industries are affiliated to Umbrella, they probably had a lab somewhere where they were experimenting and producing hunters. The outbreak gave them a chance to break free from their containment centers.
" You guys wait here. Max, let's check this out," Phoenix said.
" Hang on!" Mercury exclaimed, stopping Phoenix by holding on to his vest. " Hunters get their name because hunting is what they do best. These creatures are not zombies. They are more like monsters with human intellect and tiger instincts. Trust me, they can outrun you anytime. If it moves, just fire."
" Thanks for the advice, Mercury. Max and I can handle ourselves pretty well. We'll keep your advice in mind. Come on, Max," Phoenix said, motioning Max to move along to the back.
Max picked up both their radios and gave Phoenix his. Strapping back their radios to their vests, Phoenix walked up to the sliding door and pulled it apart. Calmly, he entered the second carriage with Max close behind. The door slid back to its place after both of them entered, closing with a resounding click.
" You still look worried," Dalton said, seeing the expression on Mercury's face as both men entered the last carriage.
" You haven't seen a hunter, so you wouldn't know," Mercury said.
" Yeah, I bet you do…" Kimmy said under her breath. Rick eyed her warily. Under such a situation, it was totally unwise to make another swing at Mercury. He hoped they would not need to restrain her from going berserk, again.
Mercury walked up to Iris and took out her empty pistol from her side. Dropping the empty magazine, he loaded a fresh clip into the gun and handed it to her, saying " Take it, you'll need it." Kimmy had already taken out hers.
" I'm bad with guns," Iris said. Mercury didn't care. He stuffed the weapon on her belt.
" Then use it when it is really necessary," Mercury replied.
" Hey, can I have a gun?" Rick asked.
" Nope."
" Why not? She doesn't want to use hers, so why can't I have it?" Rick argued.
" Cause you are a kid," Mercury replied, turning around. Seeing that he was not looking, Iris took the pistol out of her belt and handed it to Rick. Kimmy saw the exchange and she just smiled and kept quiet.
She suddenly felt the hair on her neck stand as she heard the most horrible screech that would rival a banshee's.
---
Phoenix looked around the carriage, his rifle leveled and his eyes quickly scanning the carriage. He was unable to hear anymore clicking noises coming from the roof. The area seemed untouched, the crates pilled up at the sides like they last saw it.
As both of them moved forward, Phoenix started to think. This hunter was on the roof. Apparently, from the looks Mercury gave, it was a very dangerous being. However, getting it off the roof of the carriage would be a problem. He figured they would be safe if they stayed inside the carriage. There were no glass windows in both carriages, except the driver's compartment. The doors of the carriages were closed, and the hunters won't be able to pry them open.
Or so he thought.
With a sickening crack, a silver, metallic claw pierced through the side door of the carriage. Phoenix and Max looked in horror as the foot long claw pulled the door open. A large, humanoid creature leaped into the carriage, snarling menacingly at them.
The hunter was an incredibly ugly creature. It was humanoid, standing on two squat legs. Its arms were incredibly long, its sharp metallic claws dragging on the floor. Its body was black, covered with scales of a reptilian animal. Its face looked squashed, like it was crushed with a large hammer. Two steely eyes peered straight at them, its mouth agape, and its sharp teeth protruding menacingly from its jaws. The hunter gave a loud, horrible screech and launched itself at them.
Phoenix was totally taken aback by the hunter's speed. He had grossly underestimated its capabilities. Even with short squat legs, the hunter took long steps, seemingly looking like he was gliding itself just above ground level. It was originally about 12 feet apart from Phoenix, but it only took the hunter two swift steps to be within its range of attack on Phoenix.
Phoenix reacted instantly. The hunter, barely 2 feet away, leaped at Phoenix, swinging its long arm at his head, its claw obviously aiming for his neck. Phoenix dropped to his knees in an instant, feeling the claw swipe against his hair. The hunter sailed through the air and went for Max. It swung its other arm in another wide arc, hoping to hit Max. Max took a step backwards, just in time to avoid the claw touching his nose. He was, however, unable to stop the creature from colliding into him as it was sailing in mid-air at top speed.
Max gasped as he felt the hunters shoulder crash onto his chest, knocking the wind out of him. He felt his rifle clatter to the side as he was unceremoniously tossed backwards. He gave a cry of pain as he slammed hard against the wall of the carriage. Stars started to spin around his head. The hunter deftly dropped on the floor like a seasoned pro, growling as it raised its arm, the sharp claw hanging ominously over his head. Max was too dazed to react.
However, Max was not its target. It swung its claw to the left, sinking the sharp metallic end into the steel walls of the train. Phoenix, having recovered from the initial attack, took aim. Several bullets whizzed past its head as it pulled itself up the carriage's wall, before leaping at Phoenix.
Phoenix reflectively raised his rifle towards his face as the hunter launched itself to him. Phoenix felt like he was hit by a truck as the hunter collided into him. With a swift kick in mid-air, it knocked Phoenix's weapon out of his hands. Another swing of its arm hit Phoenix on his head, sending him reeling to the side. He fell back painfully upon several boxes of crates, smashing the wine bottles within, soaking him in alcohol.
As his focus came back, he saw the ugly creature slowly stalking up to him, as if savouring its would-be kill. It seemed to be drooling, as small droplets of what looked like saliva dripped out of its mouth. Desperate and without a suitable weapon, Phoenix took out his combat knife as the hunter approached him. He would have preferred a bigger knife, like the sickle which he had left in the front carriage, since the combat knife looked puny compared to the sharp metallic claws his opponent had.
Just as the hunter drew its arm back, there was a loud howl and the thunder of footsteps. Within the next second, Max had launched himself into the air and landed on the hunter's shoulders, riding on him with his legs straddled on the hunter's armpits.
" Oh no, you don't!" Max yelled. With one hand holding the hunter's neck for support, Max raised his other hand, which was holding his combat knife, and slammed it hard on the hunter's head.
Max's choice of attack was a bad one. The edge of the knife barely made a scratch as it hit the hard, leathery skin of the hunter's head. Moreover, from the echoing sound of the knife hitting the hunter's cranium, Max could guess that the monster's skull was very thick, something a mere knife would have difficulty piercing. He tried slamming his knife repeatedly over and over again but to no avail.
The hunter immediately started lashing out, shaking wildly to topple Max off its shoulders. It was then Max realized that it had no elbows. The hunter's upper arm and forearm were fused together at the elbow, forming one long appendage that could only bend at its shoulders and hands. With its limited degree of freedom of movement for its arms, the hunter opted to shake Max off than slash him with its claws.
Just as Max lost his balance and fell off the hunter, Phoenix jumped on it from behind and straddled it just like Max. Except this time, Phoenix knew what to hit as he brought his knife smashing down at a deadly speed.
Max watched in trepidation and fascination as the hunter gave a horrible, guttural cry of death as Phoenix's knife sunk deep into its eye socket. A generous amount of blood burst out of its punctured eye, spraying the wall of the carriage in red. Phoenix violently twisted the knife, willing it to sink deeper into the hunter, but it was unnecessary. The blade had been inserted deep enough to deal the deathblow. With the last of its strength, it squirmed slightly, trying to get Phoenix off its shoulders as it slumped on the floor, obviously dead.
" Hey, are you listening to me?" Phoenix suddenly yelled.
" Huh? What?" Max asked surprised. He was so taken aback by Phoenix's brutality and the agonizing scream from the hunter that he did not realize that Phoenix was talking to him.
" Close the damn door!" Phoenix yelled, pointing to the open carriage door where the hunter had entered earlier as he tried to pull out his knife from the dead monster. Max immediately leaped for the door, pulling it shut and this time bolting it. There was another horrendous howl before Max jumped back in surprise as another set of claws sunk itself into the metal door, piercing it like a knife cutting through butter.
" How many of these things are there?" Max asked. More footsteps could now be heard on top of the carriage's roof. There were some clambering noises from the sides, sounding like the hunters were scaling the sides of the train.
" More than one, which is more than enough," Phoenix said, going for his rifle.
---
" What's going on back there?" Kimmy asked.
Earlier, after hearing several gunshots, Kimmy was already ready to run in to help them, but she was stopped by Mercury. Kimmy wanted to punch him to free herself, but then a horrendous cry echoed throughout the place, which made all of them in the front carriage freeze. There had been no sound coming from the rear-end carriage since, which was very forbidding.
A sudden crash of glass brought them back to their senses. A hunter had crashed its way through the glass window at the driver's panel, snarling menacingly at them. Iris and Vanessa gave screams of terror as Mercury and Dalton leveled their shotguns at the creature. However, it was Rick who did the weirdest thing: he ran toward the creature.
" Kid, what the hell are you doing?" Dalton exclaimed, trying to catch the boy by his collar but failed.
Mercury understood at once what Rick was heading for. They had left their supplies, bags filled with equipment and ammunition right in front of the train, which was now precariously just at the feet of the hunter. Rick dove for the bags as the hunter raised its clawed hand.
Mercury and Dalton fired simultaneously at once. Rick winced as he felt the discharge of the shotguns as his hands wrapped around their luggage bags. The hunter was knocked backwards, but only temporarily. As Rick scrambled to his feet, the hunter jumped back to its feet, seemingly unharmed, protected by its thick reptilian skin. Only after Mercury and Dalton fired again did its chest burst open, spurting blood all over the place.
" Rick! Why did you do such a stupid thing?" Kimmy scolded, sounding vexed as Rick ran back to the group, unharmed.
" Oh sucks, I'm fine…" Rick replied nonchalantly.
The door of the rear carriage opened and Max and Phoenix stumbled through. They seemed to be rather exhausted, like they had finished a run. " They are all over the place. I don't know how many of them there are…" Phoenix panted heavily, rubbing what seemed like a bruise on his face. His eyes then focused on the dead hunter that was lying in the middle of the carriage and the broken driver's panel.
" This place is too exposed. I suggest we head to the back carriage," he continued.
As if right on cue, two hunters leaped into the front carriage where the first hunter had broken into.
" Now!" he screamed, raising his rifle and pulling the trigger. Dalton and Mercury followed suit, firing over and over again. Even after they were reloading their guns after pumping enough lead into the two hunters, more hunters swarmed in, two more entering the hold.
Max pushed Iris and Vanessa through to the last carriage. " Hurry up," he urged them, before turning around and helping Kimmy through. However, as soon as Kimmy went through, a loud click was heard that made Max stop in his tracks.
" What was that sound?" he mused.
" The sound of the train detaching!" Rick yelled.
Rick was right. The last carriage was now breaking away, going further and further behind as they moved along. The hunters had somehow managed to detach both carriages from each other, or nobody had maintained the train properly. Max reached out to grasp Kimmy's arm, who had flung it out in an effort to hold on. Gripping the edge of the door and leaning forwards to gain some space, Max held her hand tightly, not wanting to split them apart. However, he knew it would need to take more than a pair of hands to keep both carriages together as her grip slipped though his.
" We need to stop the train!" Max yelled, but he knew it was useless. The hunters were crowding in front of the driver's compartment, and there was no way to reach the driver's controls without dodging the hunter's dangerous claws. Phoenix, Mercury and Dalton were too occupied with all the on-coming enemies to be of any use. He looked back towards the leaving carriage. Iris and Kimmy looked at him in shock as Vanessa cried out loudly, repeating her brother's name over and over again.
Max had to make a choice, and quick. Iris was unarmed, and she was bad with weapons. Kimmy was only armed with a pistol, which would be equivalent to a pea-shooter when facing a hunter. Vanessa was just a small child. Leaving them alone would mean certain death, something Max was not comfortable with.
Taking a few steps backwards, Max launched himself forward, leaping out the open door and towards the leaving carriage. Kimmy stared wide-eyed in surprise as Max came flying their way. He hit the edge of the carriage's door, almost falling backwards onto the carriages steel wheels before Kimmy and Iris grabbed him roughly by the collar and pulled him through, all of them collapsing onto the floor.
" Why did you do that for?" Kimmy asked, breathless.
" Well, I can't leave you ladies vulnerable to these monsters," Max said smugly.
At that very instant, a hunter leaped through the open door. Max fired the last few bullets in his magazine before it finished at the hunter, hitting it several times in the head. It howled as it fell backwards, hitting the wheels of the carriage as Max loaded his last magazine into the rifle.
All of them gave a cry of surprise as the entire carriage shook violently before tilting to the right. The hunter, after falling through the door, he hit one of the wheels and jammed it up. The carriage fell on its side, off the tracks as it continued to careen off- course. Everyone in the carriage was thrown off their feet, tumbling and hitting the crates in the hold. Max could barely see through the open door, but his eyes widen in fear as he saw a red brick wall loom up in front of them.
He closed his eyes and covered the other girls the best as he can as he waited for their train to crash into the wall. The impact never came. The train skidded to a halt right at the wall, sealing off the exit.
---
Rick watched with his mouth wide-open as the rear-end carriage carrying Iris, Kimmy, Max and his sister tumbled to the right and veered off-course, almost colliding into a wall of a building. A loud shrill noise made him turn around to look at the on-goings in his carriage.
The hunter's body count was up to 4 now, but they still seem to be pouring out of nowhere. Phoenix was getting furious and tired. These hunters were heavily armoured and were more persistent and tenacious than their zombie counterparts. They needed tons of firepower to take them down, and Mercury and Dalton had emptied half their ammunition just to take down four hunters.
Phoenix saw a no-win situation when he saw one. The hunters were gaining on them, surging in faster than they could reload their guns. Even if they could kill them all the hunters, they would be left with only knives to fend off zombies. Phoenix fingered his grenade launcher that was attached to his rifle and contemplated. He made up his mind and turned to convey the message.
Mercury saw Phoenix thumb his grenade launcher and got the idea. " Bail!" he said, firing the last shot before dashing for the door. He was about to help Rick jump off when the kid, slinging all 3 bags they had brought along, leaped out boldly like he was jumping into a swimming pool and turned on his back, using the bags he was carrying to cushion his fall.
This kid has got more guts and brains than I have in such a situation, Mercury thought, grinning. He leaped out of the door, landing onto the tracks hard. He lay motionless on the ground as he looked towards the carriage, seeing Dalton hesitating at the exit. Phoenix did not give him the time to make a decision. With one swift kick with his boot on Dalton's rear end, he sent the teenager flying and cursing out of the train.
Phoenix heard a movement behind him and ducked just in time. Two hunters made a leap for him, just avoiding their swings as he ducked as low as he could before hurling himself out through the door. He twisted his body and, with expert precision, aimed his weapon at the opened door of the train. There was a hiss, and then the grenade burst out of the launcher just as he hit the ground.
He was just in time to see the train go up in an enormous fireball, fueled by the old petroleum engine that the train ran on, as the burning corpses of the hunters flew in all directions, before the momentum of the fall spun him around, making him black out from the impact.
Writer's note: The Hunters are one of my favourite enemies in the game. I just had to put them in.