Darkness Arises: Reborn
By Metal Harbinger
Chapter 36: A Demon Renewed
With the push of a few buttons, the tram's engine hummed with life.
"Man, the suits at Umbrella must be swimming in a freaking ocean of hundred dollar bills in order to build something as elaborate as this," Jake whistled staring at the tram, which looked like an enormous lunchbox that would be capable of holding about ten to fifteen people. "Secret trams, underground research facilities…if you ask me, they watch too many damned spy movies."
"My goodness, I can only imagine how many of these facilities they must have scattered around the city," Ada spoke looking around inside the tram, which was very plain and had no seats.
"Try throughout the world," Leon said tucking the Remington into the holster on his back and then checking his customized VP70 over one more time. "Umbrella has offices all over the globe. They could literally have hundreds of facilities set up like this. Maybe you're right; maybe this isn't the only one in the city."
Leon made a good point, albeit a scary one. Umbrella, Inc. was the single most powerful organization in not only America, but the entire world as well. The question was how many more hidden research facilities like this could they have concealed in mountaintops, below the earth's surface, or maybe even underwater?
Whatever the case was, it meant they probably had tons of T-Virus samples stockpiled around the globe and even more of the kinds of monsters they had encountered during their stay in Raccoon City, ticking time bombs waiting to go off at any second and unleash every seemingly impossible fear in the passage of a few hours. He had to wonder if there were even more viruses in development aside from the T and G strains.
"These arrogant bastards are playing with fire, a kind that will burn more than just themselves if they drop the match," Jake thought as he entered the tram last, the doors closing behind him followed by Leon pushing the button that would take them to the transport facility.
The three battered survivors sat down now that they had finally been given some time to relax after countless hours of running and combating a seemingly endless amount of monsters. Jake himself sunk into a sitting position next to Ada with his hands on his knees, breathing heavily and feeling his head loll to the side like he was about to pass out, but quickly caught himself and stretched out his limbs.
"So, what do you all plan on doing once you get out of this mess?" Leon asked from across them, trying to lighten the mood a little.
"Your guess is as good as mine," Jake replied with the M4A1 resting closely at his side, ready to fight the second they reached their destination.
"Definitely a warm bath and a warm meal," Ada sighed looking down at her dress which had now been ruined from trudging around in the sewer water. "With John dead I figure it might take me a while before I can find someone else. You don't just grow close to someone overnight unfortunately."
"Now that you mention it, I'll definitely be up for getting drunk and getting laid once I'm out of here," Jake smirked, earning him a punch from Ada to his cut arm. Pain shot through his wounded limb, but he held back a cry and shot a filthy look of his own back to the woman.
"Thinking with your dick already, are you?" the woman hissed towards him, narrowing her almond-colored eyes at him. "Typical red-blooded American male I see. Always thinking about sex at the most inopportune of times, at least John was a well-cultured gentleman."
"Lighten up lady, sheesh," Jake shot back unafraid of the strike that would probably follow.
"Well, doesn't either one of you have a family outside?" Leon asked trying to distract them from a possible altercation. "I know my parents and little sister will be dying to hear from me once we make it out of here."
The mention of family stopped the hired gun and he sat back powerless to say anything. A family was something he no longer had; his closest relatives were dead, institutionalized or missing and he had heard nothing from them since the 'incident' six years ago.
"I really need to go back and visit Mom's grave one of these days," he thought to himself, bowing his head in remembrance of his mother, the only parent he truly cared about. His father was an abusive prick and he could burn in Hell for all the hitman cared. He would have to find a way to sneak back into Somerset, knowing he was still a wanted there for what he did.
"Do you think you will be able to visit your family when this is over?" Ada asked the rookie officer. "Umbrella has connections all over the world; don't you think they'll be in danger if the company knows you survived?"
Leon again looked down to his gun, "If any of those bastards go near my family I swear I will kill every single one of them or die trying."
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The former William Birkin watched the moving tram from the rafters above, ready to strike. Thanks to his enhanced senses, he could tell the three humans from the sewers were inside, including the man he had battled before.
It was payback time and it would have the humans' blood.
Using its enhanced strength, the mutant leapt high into the air towards the moving tram.
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"Ahhhh!" Jake cried as the tram rocked violently and he was thrown forward against the door, the surface rattling under his muscular frame. Both Leon and Ada were knocked to the floor and thrown about as something large landed atop the tram.
"What was that?" Leon cried out crawling over and grabbing his shotgun. Both Ada and Jake knelt down to the floor knowing they were in danger judging by the indents in the steel roofing.
A large rend opened in the tram's exterior as a large claw drove through the surface and swiped wildly towards the inhabitants.
"Fuck!" Jake shouted falling backward and raising his M4A1. The claws ended just inches above his chest and they clicked together as they attempted to swipe him, barely scratching the nylon surface of his flak vest. When the claw raised a little, he let loose a barrage on the mutated appendage, rolling out of the way before more inflected blood could rain down upon him. Leon and Ada joined in firing upon the arm before forcing it to withdraw.
"Stay low!" Jake shouted placing a hand on the cop's shoulder to keep him down. Ada had fallen to her side and waved her Browning around not knowing where the arm could pop through next.
Another loud crash sounded as the claw tore through the metallic roof and found itself flailing just inches above the two men. Ada quickly returned fire, expending the rest of her clip before she was forced to reload, but by then Leon and Jake joined in and scared the claw away again.
"How much damage do we have to dish out against this freak?" Ada asked from her crouched position.
"Too damn much," Leon retorted with his shotgun pointed towards the ceiling. Jake sat silently on one knee trying to listen for any movement above the groaning and whistling of machinery. They had to get the attacking beast off before it could bring down the tram with all of them in it.
The monstrous claw came tearing through above where Ada stood, knocking her from her feet, but not before she managed to fire a round into the elongated limb and spray a fountain of blood onto the floor. Jake peppered the clawed arm with some hot metal, leaving an opening for Leon to step up and fire a point blank blast into the appendage and break off one of its lengthy claws.
A terrible cry of pain resounded throughout the tunnel and the three survivors watched as purplish-black blood drenched the windows, leaving them unable to see outside. They lay close to the floor with weapons drawn, anticipating another attack and waiting a few tense minutes until the hiss of hydraulics indicated they had reached their stop and automatically the doors slid open.
"Do you think it's gone?" Ada asked as she tensely pointed her gun towards the entrance.
"I don't know, but we'll have to get moving if the creep is still nearby," Leon replied slowly rising to his feet, but keeping in a crouch walk position in case the monster decided to poke its claw through again.
Jake remained silent as he listened for any additional sounds from the creature, wary that it could still be nearby. "I'll go," he spoke up and crouch walked out of the tram with gun ready and flashlight attachment blazing in the darkness.
His light immediately shone upon a large green mounted flare gun and then caught glimpse of a flashing object nearby. Kneeling down to pick it up, it was revealed to be a weapons box key for 'Umbrella Research Outpost A-1.'
"We are close by after all," Jake said to himself, "Could explain why Birkin is so close right now."
"Find anything?" Leon asked stepping out with shotgun drawn and looking around carefully for any possible attackers.
Jake raised the key to him, "We must be close to the research facility," he said offering the key to the officer.
"Great, maybe we can find incriminating evidence to help put those deceptive bastards away," Ada said entering the platform and making her way towards a steel door she saw at the end.
"Are you sure you want to go through after all the shit you've seen at the station?" Leon asked, remembering the woman's horrified reaction when she first encountered a Licker.
"I'll be fine," she replied, "It's almost as if you become desensitized to those freaks once you've been around them long enough, sad to say."
"Still no reason to get too comfy," Jake answered.
An army of abominations would faze any normal person, but now it had become commonplace in Raccoon City. The hitman himself had been unsettled by what he saw, but he had gradually found himself becoming desensitized to all the violence and nightmarish creations around him. To him, it wasn't much of a far cry from his battles on the streets with rival gangs.
At the same time he did what he could to maintain some sense of caution. He had learned the weak points of most of the critters encountered, but still wondered if they were capable of doing anything else to surprise him. It was that realization that kept him in check.
"Whatever the case is, it definitely seems odd to me. Doesn't seem possible how an ordinary woman could go from scared to stone cold killer in such a short amount of time, unless she's had experience killing before," Jake thought as Leon led the way to the door and looked back to his two companions before easing it open and creeping inside.
A sparsely-lit hallway awaited the survivors, appearing empty at first, but a faint moan from nearby brought them to a halt and Jake took the lead shining his light towards the end, where a zombie in casual street clothes stumbled into view. With a pull of his trigger, the zombie fell over dead a second later. Several more moans soon followed, "I guess our rotting friend didn't come alone," he whispered back to his companions and began cautiously moving forth.
Reaching the end of the T-intersection, two zombies came from both sides, leaving Ada and Leon to deal with those approaching from the left while Jake took the attackers from the right. Within seconds the zombies were ripped apart by 9mm and 5.56 rounds and left in pools of their own blood.
"Search the hall down there," Leon ordered and motioned for Ada to follow him, "We'll take this route and see if we can find anything of interest."
Jake nodded and shouldered his rifle, withdrawing his silenced Beretta and made his way around the two sprawled out bodies. Another corner awaited the hitman and he walked around only to have another cool hand grip onto his shoulder.
A virus-riddled factory worker attempted to pull him closer, but the still-living human anticipated something like this could happen and brought his free arm up to grab his opponent's arm and squeezed hard enough to snap his wrist. With his extra strength, he bent the zombie's arm backward with another sickening crack. Relying upon superior flexibility, Jake spun his entire body around while still holding onto his attacker's broken arm and raised his right leg, bringing his foot down onto the back of his enemy's rotting head. The force knocked the undead man forward and separated his arm from the rest of his body and the hired gun finished him off with a stomp that squashed his skull into a mushy mess.
"Don't think I don't know you freaks like playing hide and seek," Jake spat as he knelt down to scoop up his silenced pistol and noticed the door behind him.
He opened the door only to find two more zombies feasting on the remnants of a factory worker with a large pipe wrench in hand and finished them each with silenced rounds to their craniums. More agonized moans came from around the corners and Jake began knocking on the walls hoping to lure the cadavers towards him.
"Come to me you bitches," he murmured inching along the wall with gun raised high until the first zombie ambled around the corner. Raising its arms as it laid eyes upon him, it would fall back a second later with a round between the eyes.
A second zombie appeared, falling forward with a bullet to its right temple before it could even turn to face him, followed by a third carrier who would find its nose destroyed by another round sailing through.
Despite wasting three zombies, still more moaning came from around the corner. He raced to find another zombie crawling towards him with a crowbar sticking out of its back, piercing its spinal cord. Jake ended the final zombie's suffering with a well-placed round through its right eye and it fell face down, never to rise again.
With the zombie threat temporarily neutralized, Jake searched around to find more green herbs and then rounded another corner to find a ladder leading up. Pulling out his radio he spoke, "Leon, come in! I've just found our way out of here. Follow the trail of bodies and you'll find me."
"Uh sure…we're on our way," Leon replied.
Within minutes Leon and Ada appeared and the three survivors scaled the ladder to find themselves in a small control room that must have doubled as an armory for some desperate survivors that may have attempted to take refuge here.
There were enough handgun bullets to divide evenly amongst them, as well as some shotgun shells and clips for Leon, and a few speed loaders, 5.56 clips and explosive shells for Jake. Three cans of first-aid spray were also left for the trio. Freshly restocked they decided it was time to leave.
Stepping outside, the trio was greeted by the cool breeze of the early autumn air and found themselves in what looked like a factory overhang and before them stood something they didn't expect.
On a set of rails sat a 1930's-era yellow and reddish-orange train car in the center of an octagon-shaped platform. It was out in the open where the bluish-black nighttime sky was dotted with narrow clouds and the full moon shone brightly and prominently, a mocking omen of death to those who still survived in Raccoon City. How Jake Cavanaugh would ever be able to look at a full moon the same way again once he made it out of this mess was another mystery.
A small control panel stood near the train's rear entrance and Leon tried figuring out how it started. The young cop sighed in frustration and pounded his fist against the panel, "We need a key, but where? I didn't see any in the office back there."
"Maybe it's inside the tram," Ada spoke up as she climbed onto the back platform and tested the door to see if it was open. The bulletproofed steel door opened with ease and she disappeared inside, Leon following closely behind.
Inside, it was sparsely furnished, with two long benches on opposite sides that could hold up to eight people at the most and an old toilet fixture whose only protection from potential gawking passengers was a curtain. A large speaker sat in one of the ceiling corners and on the wall across from the hitman was a map listing all Umbrella locations within Raccoon City, as well as surrounding communities like Eagle Point, Springvale, Oak Hill, Canter and many others. Sickened by the sight of so many Umbrella facilities, Jake pushed through to the control area.
The small control area was barely able to hold his muscular form, most of its space taken up by a swivel chair bolted to the metal floor and a small refrigerator which contained a few half-empty liquor bottles.
"Heh, if Umbrella's employees don't have problems with making destructive viruses, then they certainly have problems with drinking on the job," he mused knowing this was no time to get drunk, fighting his craving for an ice cold one right now.
A slight glimmer caught his attention and he turned to find a red-tipped key with a yellow tag that had a large black 'D' printed on it. "Hey, I think I found what you're looking for!" he called out and brushed past the other two survivors, who had by now taken seats on the benches across from each other.
Stepping back into the cool midnight breeze, Jake was now greeted by the sound of crows cawing in the distance and leapt down onto the platform, hoping to get out of there before he could be on the receiving end of another kamikaze attack. Rushing over to the control panel, he slid the key into the slot and turned it.
A vertical row of green lights flickered to life and a large red button began flashing, the signal that they were ready to depart. Now able to hear the sound of flapping wings getting closer, Jake slammed the button down.
A loud air horn began blaring in the darkness, resounding throughout the entire industrial district where it was positioned. "So much for subtlety," Jake grunted as he pulled himself onto the train car's platform and threw himself back inside slamming the door behind him.
Leon and Ada looked uneasily at the man wondering what could have driven his hasty movement, but he only looked back to them and flatly replied, "Going down."
The hiss of hydraulics called out, followed by the clatter of machinery as the platform began its descent.
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The hollow rattle of machinery and bright red lights flashing around him made Jake Cavanaugh feel as if he were descending into the bowels of Hell itself.
In a sense he was probably right.
He remembered the entries from the deceased Dr. Ramsey's diary and recalled how the man described being surrounded by horrific beasts that were not supposed to exist. For almost six long, grueling days now the hired gun had been fighting those very creatures and had come close to dying more than once.
His mission was to eliminate the Umbrella researcher William Birkin and it was the promise of ten million dollars in cold, hard cash that kept him in the crumbling nightmare of a city. Now his target had mutated into something ten times more frightening than an ordinary zombie or Hunter ever could have become.
He wanted to believe that their encounter back at the waste disposal facility would have been their last, but the assault on the tram had shattered that illusion. It left him wondering if it was possible for a mutant to understand the concept of wanting revenge for the beating he had dished out earlier.
A sense of betrayal had been eating away at him from the moment he had learned of Dr. Birkin's mutation.
This 'mysterious benefactor' of his had lied to him and he was determined that if he ever met this person face to face, he would make them suffer for thrusting him into this mess. Whether or not this individual expected an outbreak of this magnitude to occur he did not know, but whoever this person was, he or she was probably some arrogant prick who was likely no better than the higher-ups at Umbrella.
For once he was beginning to question whether or not he had made the right decision in accepting this assignment and wondering if even such an exorbitant amount of money would be worth all the pain and suffering he had endured in the end, especially the mental and emotional scarring he was likely to suffer afterwards.
Then again, he thought of what else he was going up against.
Just being around the pharmaceutical company's insane creations and seeing what they had done firsthand was causing him to develop a hatred for Umbrella in general.
Jake might not have been one of 'the good guys,' but he felt the pain of those who had perished and could practically hear their tortured souls screaming out for vengeance. Those people deserved to be avenged for the great wrongs that had been committed against them and the hitman himself would be the bloody hand of karma coming back to haunt their killers.
The thought of higher-up Umbrella figures like William Birkin and their other faceless 'Inner Circle' members literally getting away with murder made his blood boil. In many senses he wasn't much different from those butchers, but he never struck out against the innocent on purpose and avoided them as much as he possibly could.
He could recall an instance where a member of a rival gang had slaughtered an entire family of innocents who had witnessed one of his crimes. The heinous act reminded him much of his own broken family and the innocent who were lost.
Risking his own personal safety and a possible incident between his employers and their rivals, Jake tracked the gang member down and shot him to death much as he had done to the family.
Justice would eventually come to capture those responsible for this mess, and unlike civilized society, none of them would receive a fair trial in a court of law. The Red Dragon would serve as judge, jury and executioner, proving that you didn't always have to be a virtuous knight in shining armor to exact justice upon the true evildoers.
"Street justice is the only justice," he thought to himself, a lesson his older brother had taught him years earlier, "With all the lawyers, bribes and other red tape to get around, those who truly are guilty could be in the courtroom one day and relaxing on a beach in the Bahamas the next. Money talks and bullshit walks, but a few rounds to the skull never fail you," his brother's words echoed in his mind.
Jake pulled out the photo he had been given of William Birkin, back when he was still an ordinary human.
"You were an arrogant bastard Birkin and look what it got you," he thought, having seen the abomination he had become thanks to his own creation.
The man paid the price because he tried to play God, a scenario all too familiar to him having seen similar occurrences in movies, video games and comics. This was reality and it was playing out just as it had in the world of make believe: a single man had brought down an entire community down with him and destroyed himself in the process and for what? His own selfish, misguided ambitions for godhood!
"Not only that, a woman lost her husband and a little girl lost her father," Jake told himself as he folded the picture up and spun around on the swivel chair looking back to the passenger area where Leon and Ada sat on opposite sides talking quietly amongst themselves.
He noticed how the two seemed to get along better now that things smoothed out a little between them and started looking more intensely towards one another like feelings were developing between them.
"Huh, well look at that, coming onto her a little too fast aren't you?" he thought, "Next thing you know they'll probably be getting married, having a few rugrats of their own and moving to some nice house in the suburbs," he sarcastically chuckled to himself, "that is if she doesn't kill him first. She's got 'black widow' written all over her, but his own hormones look to be clouding his judgment," he thought as he leaned back in the chair and turned towards the controls before him.
Romance wasn't something he could be thinking about right now, especially not after 'her' he thought as shivers traveled down his spine.
A violent tremor shook the entire platform and jarred the contract killer from his thoughts. Looking back to the passenger area, he was shocked to see a giant claw shoot through the wall and a wave of blood splash followed by Ada crumpling to the floor lifelessly.
It was the same claw that had attacked them on the sky tram and it had come back to haunt them. "Has Birkin caught up with us already?" Jake asked himself. He had to find out.
"Ada! Ada!" Leon cried out as he cradled the injured woman in his arms. Raising the unconscious woman, they finally managed to get a good look at her injuries.
A large gash had been torn across her midsection and was leaking out blood at a rapid pace. Noting the severity of the wound, Jake quickly laid out some nearby towels onto the bench she had been resting on and helped the rookie cop lift her onto it. Leon grabbed some of the towels and began applying pressure to her fresh wound while the hitman pulled out a can of his first-aid spray and offered it to him.
Leon snatched her wrist and felt for a pulse, "She's still alive, but she's weak," the cop reported looking up to Jake with a fearful gaze.
The same ear-splitting roar that could only be tied to William Birkin sounded once again; threatening to ruin both men's hearing and bring the ceiling down upon them. Leon was about to rush outside when he was stopped by Jake's iron grip clamping down on his wrist.
"Let me handle this. I have a score to settle with this freak," Jake spoke as he drew the magnum from his shoulder holster. "Worry about her, she's going to need someone to look after her."
Leon stared intently toward him before replying, "Be careful."
Jake cautiously approached the backdoor pointing in all directions before stepping down to the metal surface and treading quietly. The loud clatter of machinery muted out the smaller sounds and forced him to rely more upon his eyes, already hampered by the lack of light in the massive tunnel with only occasional flashes from the floodlights briefly illuminating the platform.
"Come on out wherever you are," he muttered training his gun along the train car's roof and stopping suddenly when he spotted a large silhouette.
"You!" he shouted to the shadowy figure, which stared upon him with glowing red eyes and made a weird gurgling noise. Stepping into the light, the creature revealed itself as the same hulking brute from before, but it had now grown several inches in height and was much bulkier with a new head and five foot long claws protruding from where its right hand should have been, minus the one that had been blown off by Leon.
"Birkin," Jake growled towards the giant and trained a shot on its new 'head.' The mutant snarled back at him before letting out a more humanly cry of pain as it began to convulse.
Looking like it was about to grow again, the mutant's flesh began to stretch and bubble beneath the surface until the tearing of tissue sounded and with a hollow groan, all of the skin was ripped away from the monster's body.
Jake stood silently with his aim never wavering as he watched the former researcher mutate into something far more hideous than before.
Once the transformation was complete, William Birkin now stood ten feet tall and had lost any of his former human features, now covered in masses of blackish-purple, reddish-brown, pink and dark blue skin with numerous tumors and scales. Two additional arms had sprouted from the beast's shoulders, ending with jagged three foot long claws that hungered to slice its adversary into tiny strips.
"You're still one ugly motherfucker," Jake smirked and began firing round after round into the creature's chest.
The painful rounds hammered into the G-Monster's chest and it was nearly knocked from its perch, but it caught its balance and let out another mighty howl before leaping down to the platform and began thrashing its claws madly in the assassin's direction.
Jake was still far enough from the creature as he reloaded and now concentrated on its head, splattering large portions of blood, tissue and brain matter all over the surrounding metal. The Tyrant was knocked backwards again, but almost immediately shrugged the attack off and charged towards him with claws extended and back arms raised.
"Fuck," Jake grunted as he rolled underneath one of the mutant's lower arms, dodging a swipe that could have left a nasty gash or worse on his back. Rising to his feet he raised his magnum and began firing into his attacker's back, focusing on its pointy spinal column. The cartridges impacted the beast slightly and it crumbled forward a bit before it pushed itself back to its feet.
"Yeah, I know beating your ugly ass won't be easy, but if I beat you once before I sure as hell can do it again," the hitman thought to himself as he scanned his surroundings for any possible environmental hazards he could exploit against his adversary.
Right now he was fighting in the cramped quarters of an octagonal-shaped platform with a train car taking up most of the space, hindering his ability to move quickly and wouldn't grant him much space for dodging attacks.
Also, with Leon and Ada still inside the tram, he would not be able to use any explosives for risk of injuring them. It looked as though he would have to rely upon striking the beast at whatever critical locations he could find.
"I always did love a good challenge," Jake thought as the Tyrant grunted loudly and slowly turned while taking shot after shot from its opponent in its clawed arms. The powerful rounds showed significant impact and knocked the extra appendages backward, but did little to deter its advance, its anger rising to greater levels. With a stomp to the metal surface, the creature shot one of its back arms forth, ending just inches in front of the hitman's face.
Jake leaned backward to avoid the razor sharp claws and fire another round into the clawed hand, forcing the beast to let out another roar of pain as it drew the limb back to attack him with its additional appendages. One of the slashes caught his pant leg and another from his vest, tearing chunks of fabric, but missing his skin as well.
"That was close. If I'm not the luckiest son of a bitch in the world then I don't know what the hell I am," Jake told himself as he squeezed off a few more rounds on the Tyrant's head and chest, knocking it backwards. With his enemy temporarily distracted, the hired gun hefted himself onto the car's side and pulled himself to the roof.
"He'll probably be able to reach me up here, but for now I'm gonna have some fun shooting that large ugly eye of his," he thought as he stared at the large red eye sticking out of its upper arm. The evil organ stared at him intently, its black pupil contracting as it focused on him. Apparently the eye could actually see him and it twitched as if it anticipated his plans. He remembered how the monster visibly weakened when struck in that same point from their earlier confrontation and he cocked the magnum's hammer back after loading a fresh speed loader.
With a thunderous crack, the bullet hammered into the large eye and caused it to blink rapidly, spraying more pink fluid into the air. The Tyrant was visibly affected and began flailing madly trying to pat the injured orb. Jake smiled with this result and fired more rounds into the giant's extra eye, forcing it to scream even louder in pain.
Unfortunately, the B.O.W.'s gut-wrenching screams had become too deafening for the hitman and he was forced to clamp his hands over his ears, his head and neck throbbing as they felt the vibrations and threatened to explode.
"Damn…you…" he muttered, not hearing his own words as the horrible cry blocked out everything else. The pain was so excruciating he didn't register the claw striking the metal near his left foot and it was only when he opened his eyes again he noticed the behemoth before him, breathing down upon him.
Knowing it would probably warrant another brain clamping cry from the creature, but not having another choice; Jake fired again into the giant eye and sent his attacker stumbling backward. "That's right, back off fuckhead!" he shouted as he fired more rounds into the giant organ before he was forced to reload.
Lowering himself back to the platform, Jake rounded the train and fired a few more potshots at the hobbling monstrosity. He sighed to himself realizing he was getting dangerously low on his magnum ammo and would have to find more in case he wanted to survive another possible encounter with this freak afterwards.
He remembered the danger of possibly using explosives in such an enclosed area, but once again he was out of options.
Removing the M4A1 once again from its holster, he checked to make sure the M-203 attachment was loaded and took aim. He could only hope the train car's exterior would be sturdy enough to withstand the explosions.
"Now where were we?" he mockingly asked the abomination.
The Tyrant growled in reply, approaching with hind arms raised in the air, stalking him slowly and silently hoping to intimidate its prey into surrender. Little did it know, the word 'surrender' was not part of its opponent's vocabulary.
Jake flicked off the rifle's safety and began firing streams wherever he could on the mutant's body before launching an explosive shell into its upper half. The small explosion had scorched the tram's metallic surface, but did not penetrate; meaning Leon and Ada would be safe for now. He fired a few more explosive shells into his approaching adversary and drove a few more bullets into its large extra eye.
Cuts suddenly began opening all over its slimy surface and gushed buckets of that all too common purplish-black blood onto the metal surface around it, creating a hazard for the beast itself as it struggled towards is opponent.
Taking note of his adversary's predicament, Jake fired an explosive shell into one of its legs, leaping backwards as the Tyrant dropped to the surface and left a deep indention where it landed. The round blew away most of its flesh and nearly severed the limb, but almost immediately the charred flesh began to regenerate and within seconds the towering behemoth resumed its hunt.
Jake continued firing away at the area surrounding the monster's large third eye and its head continuing to slow it down and backing up further to avoid its attempted swipes. The Tyrant was now visibly weakening as its rear arms lowered and it limped towards him, blood still gushing down its surface.
"Finally," Jake thought to himself as he ejected another clip from the M4A1 and ran back to load a fresh one. He raised his gun to fire again when the shatter of glass sounded and flames enveloped most of the giant's backside. Another wine bottle was chucked at the Tyrant from behind and the spread of flames grew as the projectile made contact. Horrible screams followed as the beast fought against the fire and its diseased blood seemed to only accelerate the rate at which its body burned.
Booms from a shotgun sounded and the Tyrant turned its attention away from the hitman and towards the back of the train, where Leon stood firing away furiously at the behemoth's frame.
"It's eye! Try to aim for its extra eye!" Jake screamed over the crackling flames as he took aim and fired another explosive shell into the Tyrant's shoulder, inches away from its extra eye. The mutant staggered and was close to falling off the platform as the two men continued pumping it full of lead, the hitman firing explosive rounds upon the creature while Leon followed blasting away with his now customized shotgun.
The Tyrant was gradually knocked backward with every blast and within seconds it was against the railing, the skin of its back tearing away as it brushed against the moving wall behind it.
Fishing through his side pack for any extra explosives, he found he was now down to one and looked up to see Leon firing mercilessly into the mutant's smoldering body, depleting most of his shotgun shells, sweat dripping off every inch of his exposed skin and making it difficult for him to hold his powerful weapon as the beast pressed forth in spite of its weakened state.
Hefting the rifle up one last time, Jake trained his sights on his target and taking a deep breath, fired his final shell into the back of the creature's shoulder.
A loud explosion followed and the Tyrant let out one final tortured cry before collapsing to the cold metal platform and staying down for good.
Sighing in tired victory, Leon collapsed against the train and Jake rushed over to check on his weary companion, shifting his gaze back and forth between him and the fallen Tyrant. Staring at the prone monster for a few minutes it was with great caution he turned to face him, "Are you alright?"
"I should be fine now that we've got that freak down," the cop replied uneasily staring at their fallen adversary, still burning from the flames of his Molotov cocktails.
"I don't know if that asshole's down for the count yet," Jake replied as he helped the officer back to his feet, "How is Ada doing? Did you manage to get her stabilized?"
"She's still unconscious, but I think I've managed to stop the bleeding," Leon replied, grunting as he hoisted himself onto the platform and then pushed the back door open. Inside Ada still lay on the bench where she had been left, unconscious with her side heavily bandaged. The towels covering her wounds were saturated with blood, a few small streams seeping out around the bandages, but otherwise her wound had mostly clotted by now.
The loud clicking of the platform locking into place resounded seconds later, indicating they had finally reached their destination. Jake knew the downed Tyrant was still outside and opened the back door. "Get Ada and let's get moving. I'll wait out here and make sure that freak doesn't wake up again."
Jake stepped back onto the platform where the downed Tyrant still lay unconscious, the flames on its body gradually dying out. A tense feeling ran through his battered body as he stared down upon his fallen adversary, no telling when it would rise again to hunt him down.
Obviously this monster could not be dealt with through the usage of conventional firearms and if those couldn't help then what could? Would he have to pump so many volts of electricity through its body? Would he have to systematically cut it open and rip out its internal organs? Would he have to drop it into a vat of toxic sludge? Or would he just have to drop a damned nuke on it? There had to be some way to completely eradicate this menace.
The back door swung open again and Leon emerged cradling the wounded Ada, waiting for Jake to get near them and handed the unconscious woman to Jake as he stepped down and then retook her as they made their way towards an open area and to the nearest room they could find. They would need to rest up a bit before continuing their journey.
However, the hitman could not stop thinking about the defeated relentless killing machine that lay behind them in a pool of its own diseased blood, a ticking time bomb waiting to rise at any given second.
The only question in his mind now is would he have enough ammunition the next time he encountered the beast? This latest battle had depleted the entire stock of explosive rounds for his M-203, as well as most of his rifle and magnum ammo. Not only that, with the other monsters running around this facility, was it possible he would have enough ammo left for them?
"Jake, I need your help here!"
He turned to find Leon standing near a door labeled "SECURITY" and unable to get the door open due to the burden he bore in his tired arms. Pain crossed the younger man's features, indicating the stress was causing his bullet wound to act up again.
"Sure hold on," Jake replied and rushed over to open the door as Leon carried the injured woman inside. Taking one last look around, he closed the door behind them and locked it.
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Author's Note: And so ends another chapter of "Reborn" where our favorite antihero emerges with a 2 – 0 record against ol' Billy B! Oh well, we're just between rounds so they're both in the middle of being patched up right now and yelled at by their corner men.
Tune in for the next installment where Jake ventures further into the Umbrella research facility and more secrets are revealed in future installments.
Until then read and review! This is Metal Harbinger saying SPREAD THE SICKNESS, ONE MIND AT A TIME! \m/