Authors note: This chapter is updated (2018). I added more things to his feelings and state.

Chapter 2: Feelings

Piers swallowed the slime that was building up in his throat. The time passed so very slowly. His body hurt like hell. The burning sensation, originating from his right side and flowing through his entire body, was excruciating. With each beat of his heart electricity was dancing over his hot skin and fading inside one of the tiny pores of his mutated muscle tissue.

His tail grew longer, along with the fins. Slowly, Piers needed to get sure that his Captain wouldn't stumble over it. His mutated clawed arm shrank slightly into a shape that would fit better to his form, but it didn`t help Piers to feel less like a freak, a killer. He could feel his instincts getting stronger, the urge to kill his Captain was slowly surpassing his efforts to keep his human mind stable, and it was getting stronger each passing minute.

He couldn't wipe off the thoughts and pictures of himself using his knife-like claws to cut through the Captains' throat and to watch him bleed to death, after which he would do things that disgusted every cell in his body that still was human. No, he would rather die than doing this to him – or ending as a cannibal, sort of. Given to the fact that he would no longer be human, eating a human wouldn't make him a cannibal anymore. Those thoughts terrified him. What was he thinking about?

Chris tried his best to help him, it annoyed him. It pissed him off, it made him pretty angry. He felt the fury that wasn't nearly human. He was desperate, really desperate. He was already thinking like a monster. What should he do? What could he even do? When he had tried to kill himself Chris was there and prevented it. And he would do it again, every single attempt would end up an attempt without success. He wouldn't even be able to hurt himself before his Captain would jump in and avoid it.

There was nothing he could do. Chris' watchful eyes were staring at him and he was pulling Piers` head into the water to keep him breathing, to keep his body alive as he spoke in order to keep himself, his mind, alive. It annoyed him, but the Captain didn`t give up. Even if he was angry at Piers, deep inside he understood him.

He lived to kill those things he was now turning to. Chris remained by his side, not leaving. He wasn't scared of the electricity nor did he back off when the hot skin almost burned his hand while he was touching Piers' skin.

His patience was also coming to an end when he stood up, walking around the pod nervously, keeping an eye on Piers while he did so. Piers panted heavily with his head pulled into the water after which he leaned back on the pod`s wall, his wet tail sliding over the ground. He coughed while more spikes formed on his skin of his back and sides, growing out sharply after tearing the flesh apart.

He groaned in pain, looking at his legs as two bloody, sharp spikes grew out of the flesh of his knees. His organs grew larger against his ribcage, the arteries and veins throbbing painfully as blood pooled out of the torn veins. His fangs started to grow more, the sharp ends cutting into the lower lip, causing Piers to snap his mouth shut carefully. It also started to terrify him, that the taste of blood was getting to arouse him and to support his growing hunger despite the sickness of his already stressed stomach.

Chris tried to contact the B.S.A.A.'s headquarters again and again, it didn`t work.

"Damn it! Where are they?" he snorted, leaning down at the wall next to his partner. "Come on Piers, just a little more. Hang in there... I know you can do it. Just look what you did. You survived and now you're controlling the virus since you hold it inside your body. You have a strong will, nothing can break it, so please...Keep it up...I believe in you".

He was desperate too. He didn`t want his soldier to turn and to lose his mind. Not him! When Piers` body began to tremble violently again he put his gloved hand on the back of Piers` neck, pulling him into the water. He didn`t dare let him into the water, fearing that the soldier could disappear like he had wanted to disappear back in the facility. So he kept holding the hair on the back of the neck in a tight grip.

Chris couldn`t think about it anymore. How it would be like if his partner died or turned completely, losing his mind, never coming back. Or if he would end fighting against the man he desperately wanted to probably have to put him down after the great effort he took to keep him alive. He shook his head to blow the thoughts away. He pulled Piers out of the water and stared into his eyes, ignoring a third eye that was forming in the middle of Piers' forehead.

"We can do it. You'll see. You'll get the vaccine and you'll be normal again. We'll be partners in the field. Because you wanted it so badly, I won`t retire. I'll stay and fight by your side, but you have to help me with that. I can't do this alone. You have to promise me!".

Piers looked at him, unfocused and didn`t say a word. Chris growled softly and shook him. "Come on Piers! Promise me that you'll keep going!"

Piers opened his mouth, but didn`t made a noise. He lifted his left hand, where his middle three fingers now had transformed into claws, the thumb and small finger having faded. He pointed at his throat, his functioning left eye, which hazel color already started to change, holding back the tears.

Chris groaned and let him go. "Shit. Okay, no problem. Even if you can't talk you can still show them that you're still a soldier."

Piers` eyes watered as he let his head hang, looking at his broken and bloody body. It was surprising how much blood he already lost without dying or losing consciousness.

Chris opened his mouth to say something when they both heard loud noises from above. Chris quickly got up and looked at the helicopter flying towards their pod. The big white letters "B.S.A.A." written on its dark greenish sides.

"They`re here! Finally!" Chris cracked a smile and looked at his lieutenant, who, in return, gave him a weak smile. When the helicopter stopped right above the pod Chris tried to lift Piers up, giving him his bottle which was filled with saltwater from the ocean.

He wrapped his arm around the left side of Piers` waist and lifted him up, the clothes smoking because of the heat from his skin and changing organs. Piers groaned loudly in pain and Chris let go of him. "Shit, sorry. We have to find another way".

Above them a rope ladder was lowered from the helicopter and Chris managed to grab it quickly. There was no time to waste.

"Piers, can you grab this ladder and climb it up of your own?" he asked as Piers stood up shakily, his still growing tail swaying with his movements and dragging over the ground, the forming scales leaving scratches on the material.

He hated it… The feeling of being a freak and the growing urges to let his fury free. He couldn't imagine the consequences, not yet. He could feel it. He already lost the ability to talk, and secretly he had to admit, that he already lost memories too.

Chris climbed up the first steps, looking down at his partner as he grabbed the end of the ladder and pulled himself up, panting and taking sips of his bottle quickly. Chris climbed up as he could see a head peering out of the helicopter, looking down at them.

He felt his heartrate increasing as the soldier carrying a B.S.A.A. helmet pulled out his gun, aiming directly at the pair of them.

"NO! Don`t shoot! We're soldiers from the B.S.A.A! I'm Chris Redfield, Captain of the Alpha Team of the Northern American B.S.A.A!" he shouted loudly. He wanted to make sure that his authority would stop the soldier from shooting.

The soldier hesitated but, against his hopes, fired, the shots missing Chris' right cheek by millimeters as they hit one of the bubblish muscles of Piers' right arm. Chris quickly looked down, seeing Piers tightening his grip, groaning in pain. The tail swung in the air uncontrollably and shook the ladder.

"STOP IT! He's still himself!" Chris shouted, climbing up as fast as he could.

The soldier frowned and fired again, this time hitting Piers` shoulder, causing him to let go of the ladder and fall back down on the pod, his claws digging into its material after his back hit the steel hard, his spikes forced to bend to both sides while his dorsal fin wrinkled in a way that hurt him pretty much.

Chris got into the helicopter and grabbed the gun, forcefully taking it from the man and throwing it out of the helicopter. "WHAT DID I TELL YOU?" he shouted at the surprised man and shoved him back, "This is my comrade!" he said, looking down at the pod.

Something inside his brain snapped as Piers' consciousness faded and he felt his body moving of its own as he stood up and moved fast.

Chris opened his mouth, his eyes going wide in shock, as he saw Piers quickly jumping into the water, the tail the last thing the Captain saw before he completely disappeared. "NO! PIERS!" he yelled, trying to focus on the patch of water where he had last seen Piers.

The soldiers inside looked in horror as the B.O.W. disappeared in the ocean. They lifted up the ladder while the helicopter flew lower so they could make him out. The pilot readied the machine gun of the helicopter, earning a hard slap of the Captain as Chris stomped into the small pilots room. Wordless, he searched the water. Piers didn`t reappear on the surface.

Chris growled and searched the helicopter. "Do you have diving equipment? I need it, NOW!" he yelled at the stunned men.

"Sir, we aren`t allowed to help -" a soldier began to speak but was quickly cut off by an angry Chris.

"NO! That was an order! Give me that equipment!" he yelled.

The pilot`s deep voice rang through the helicopter. "Mister, now calm down! We haven`t got any diver equipment. We have no other choice but to leave now".

Chris growled and leaned out of the helicopter, looking at the water. "PIERS! COME ON! I'M BEGGING YOU!".

The water kept still, only the waves were moving from the wind.

"NO!" Chris cried out as the helicopter flew away.

Meanwhile Piers found himself diving deeper into the ocean as his mind gained consciousness again, his eyes clenched shut, all three of them. If he hadn't been in the water he would have teared up. His tail moved through the water instinctively, bringing him quickly to where he wanted to be.

He opened his eyes, his right eye was still able to see while he still could see nothing out of his right one. The water filled his lungs with his rapid breathing, calming the aching muscles he used to swim faster. He could feel the oxygen flowing through his body, calming the pain of his throbbing insides slightly.

How much did he change now? His mutations were getting faster so he assumed that by the time he dove into the ocean, he looked more like a monster than a human being, his former self.

It was too late to end it, he realized. There was no way he could win the fight against the Virus anymore.

Everything around him went dark as he dove deeper into the ocean. The water pressure didn`t harm his body. He could feel the pores of his mutated skin twitching and moving while he could feel an uncomfortable movement inside both of his ears. There was pressing something against the walls of his ears, it felt like there was a big bug moving inside.

He could see that new skin was already forming around his right arm and hand, leaving blue scars glowing white with electricity. It helped him seeing better inside the darker water.

It's better for everyone, I have to keep going. To keep fighting to keep my mind. For him...I'm sorry that I will cause you that pain...I'm sorry that I can`t be at your side... That I left you... I have to...keep going, he thought. It was hard to think when he forgot the meanings of words. He was losing the language.

Tiny bubbles came from his mouth, making their way towards the surface. Webbing fully developed between the three claws of his left hand, giving him more speed in the water. He passed by a swarm of jellyfishes and found a hole in the seabed. Without hesitation he swam inside.

Electricity coming from his skin lit up the water around him, glowing in the darkness as he placed his feet on the stony ground. He had lost his boots for a while now. They were torn by his growing toes that started to get a shape of a flapper with thin frog-like toes in between the webbing. His growing heart throbbed painfully, he began to grow tired as he let himself float down through the water onto the ground, his body forcing him to fall asleep on the cottom of that underwater cave.

Against his will, Chris was brought into the headquarters of the South Chinese B.S.A.A. Branch. As the helicopter landed on the field, Chris quickly hopped out and headed into the building. The soldiers there tried to stop him, but failed.

Chris stormed into the building, asking his way to the office of the person who ran the Southern Chinese B.S.A.A. He didn`t even knock on the door before he burst in.

The woman there looked up at him, shocked. "Sir? What can I do for you?"

Chris scowled and placed his hands on the desk in front of her. "I need a team. I need to head to the Southern Chinese Ocean. I have to find my partner down there."

Despite Chris practically yelling at her, the woman kept calm, grabbing some papers and a pen, "Who is your partner? I see you are from the Northern American B.S.A.A., who are you? What was your mission?"

Chris huffed, "I'm Chris Redfield, Captain of the Alpha Team and I'm searching for my lieutenant Piers Nivans. We need to find him as soon as possible. He...he's in danger."

He hated it. He hated having to answer the questions when he was in hurry. He hated the sound of the woman's pen scratching against the paper. The woman only nodded and after she finished with writing she took a short moment to look at her PC screen, typing.

Chris' hands trembled as he walked back and forth, nervous. He knew that the woman was only doing her job, it was necessary. She couldn`t easily send a team for a rescue mission when she had no clue what it was about.

He stared at her when she finished reading the file she opened moments ago. "Alright. Mr. Nivans and you were send to save the carrier of the antivirus, Jake Muller, and Sherry Birkin. It was a success I see. Well, I will send a rescue team along with you, Mr. Redfield. Is there something I should know?"

He swallowed, knowing that the men who had saved him knew that Piers was infected. He sighed. "Yes...My partner is infected. He needs medical attention as soon as possible. I need a virus specialist and the vaccine. Please, help me."

The woman put her hand on her forehead, thinking. She looked at the files on the PC screen and nodded. When she finally spoke her words were without emotion, "Alright, you will get the best scientist we have. But I have to send more soldiers with you, just in case. In case you find your partner and he is losing his mind, I have no other choice but to order to kill him. I am sorry, it is too risky for him to be alive."

Chris nodded, it was important that he got help that he could get there. He would find a way to deal with the rest as the situation arose. After that he was sent to the field in front of the building while the Chinese team got ready. Thirteen heavily armed soldiers and a female scientists walked out of the building.

The tallest soldier stopped in front of him and nodded sharply, "Greetings, Mr. Redfield. I am Linus, Captain of the Southern Chinese B.S.A.A.'s Alpha Team. We are going to get your lieutenant back."

The female scientist smiled, "I will do my best, Mr. Redfield. I brought the antivirus of the normal C virus with me. I hope I can help him when we found him."

Chris swallowed, but greeted them friendlily. They got into the helicopter and began to fly towards the direction of the underwater facility.

It was dark, the sun was down and the moon had taken its place in the middle of the sky. Deep in the ocean Piers woke up, his body still glowing and lightning up the water around him. He could see that he still was in the underwater cave. His tail moved around him to push him up in the water. He blinked when he saw how large the tail was. And without any open wounds of his skin – or rather scales.

The fins on its back stretched higher than before and became much thicker. If he concentrated enough, he could even move the digits of the large movable parts of the dorsal fin of his tail. On the end of his tail the bones formed new sharp spikes, between them there were fins too, sticking them together in a movable limp. He hated it, he was losing more and more of his remaining humanity and common feelings of his old body.

He looked at his hands and saw how much they had changed. Now both of his hands had four big claws with 2 digits with webbing between them. His scales were hard, like armor. One claw of each hand formed something like a thumb.

His body seemed bigger than normal, where his stomach and chest used to be were large slits, blueish light shining within them. More, smaller, spikes grew on the rest of his body. His feet had three claws with webbing between the three toes, making them look like two large Flog-like fins.

His body was long, like a lizards'. His tail was almost twice as long as his body, the fins on his back stretched high and thick. He couldn`t see his face, but he could tell that it was even worse. His eyes burned as he clenched them shut, all of them. The feeling of various eyelids and moving vitreous eyes has multiplicated. It also explained his viewing angle which spread greatly. His mind was faint, but it was still there, somehow. He had problems with thinking, or concentrating on something that was close to thinking.

He could remember only a few things. The memories were disjointed, broken in tiny pieces. There was not much he could remember. He couldn`t remember where he was born, about his childhood, what he exactly did before or who he really was. What he liked to eat, how he liked to live, which connections he had or his own name. He knew that he used to be a human, and was aware of the feelings overwhelming his massive body.

He used his claws to crawl through the small cave outside into the ocean. His skin pressed against the rocks, causing them to break slightly. Air bubbles made their way to the surface quickly. He took a deep breath and squeezed his body through the cave into the ocean.

The blueish colored parts of his body glowed, lightning up the closer distance. He used his arms and tail to swim upwards, heading towards the surface. His legs were folded back and held close to his wriggling body. He wasn`t sure why he did it, a feeling inside of him told him to emerge on the surface, to locate where he was, to regain some memories.

He fought the fear of surfacing inside of him, moving faster as he neared the surface and carefully stuck his head out of the water. The cold fresh air hit his warm skin and made him shudder, all spikes of his body strenghtening along the feeling. He looked around, his tail moving underneath him to keep in place.

He could smell the air, the sky was dark, the stars glowing in the night. Without any lights or cities around, the environment seemed so much darker. His eyes sparkled at the beautiful view and for that moment, he forgot everything around him. It was so quiet, so peaceful, so...heartwarming. There was nothing but the dark sky and the endless ocean, mirroring the stars and the moon.

He felt like he was reborn into a world he never looked into.

There was no horizon, no ending, just the endless beauty of the night. He didn`t knew what to do, fearing that he would lose everything he was, who he was. When he looked around, he finally began to feel alone. A very dark feeling, one he hated.

Where was he? Who exactly was he? What was his name? What was he? What was he supposed to be? And what should he do?