Uroboros: Resident Evil V
Chapter Twenty Two: Nowhere to Run
Exhausted from everything that they had just been through, Chris and Josh followed the path that Irving and his partner had taken, leading them out of the facility's main chamber and down a long, empty corridor, before the next door led them back outside. Like all of the other structures built in the marshlands, the rear of the facility was right on the water, with a wooden pier stretching out a short distance before ending… at a large white patrol boat? Yeah, it looked like one of the old Super Dvora Mark II's, used by the Coast Guard of several countries… and it was getting away.
Running down the pier as quickly as they could, Chris nearly slipped on the wet planks, but all their effort was for nothing when Ricardo Irving was seen standing on the rear deck… giving them the finger as his boat started to pick up speed. The plague doctor was with him as well, forcing the captive Sheva to remain on her knees while they made their escape, and now… and now how in the hell were they going to stop them? There weren't any more patrol boats in sight, and the air boats were fast, but they were all the way back on the other side of the village, so…
"Chris, over here!" The Captain called, running down toward the other end of the docks. "Come on, we can take one of these."
Following Josh with nothing on his mind but rescuing Sheva, Chris was eager to take any craft that was available… but he was also a bit skeptical when he saw the small metal skiff that barely looked seaworthy with all of the rust and the motor that was probably older than he was. There weren't any other options at the time, expect for a couple other tiny craft that looked even worse, so Chris asked if there were any weapons onboard, only to have Josh reply that it was a fishing boat, and that they were pretty lucky that it even had a motor at all.
Pulling on the starter a couple times, the Agent had to say that he was pretty surprised that the old motor even started, but as they slowly pulled away from the dock, he wondered if the old thing was going to be fast enough to let them rescue Sheva. So far at least the boat wasn't taking on water, and everything was going fine while they picked up speed, at least until the distant figure of Irving could be seen walking up to some kind of device that was mounted on the end of his boat's rear deck, and… that's funny, it almost looked like some kind gun like…
Fwoosh-BOOM! A faint flash of light came from the weapon, and then a trail of white smoke was created before a small projectile exploded nearby in the water, with Chris and Josh having to hold on to keep from being thrown out of their small boat. Once the smoke cleared, Irving fired another shot, this one soaking the two agents with water when it exploded even closer to them, forcing the Captain to turn the boat sharply to the left to avoid the third shot that would have hit them for sure.
"God damn it, of course his boat's armed." Chris grumbled as the target got further away. "How the hell are we gonna catch him now?"
"His boat might be fast and armed, but it's also very big." Josh replied, steering them deeper into the marshes. "Which means that we can go places he can't."
Pushing the motor as hard as he could, the Captain kept them on a south west heading, while assuring the Agent that he grew up in the marshlands, and that they would rescue Sheva in the end. It was frustrating, though, since they were still moving in a direction that was taking them farther away from the patrol boat's last known heading, and so far there had been no sign of it. Several minutes passed with their skiff passing through grassy plants before making Chris lose all sense of direction when they had to go through the mangroves, with each…
"Shit takatifu!" Josh suddenly screamed as the patrol boat appeared like a driver running a red light. "Hang onto something!"
One second everything had been quiet, and then it was just there, with the Captain having to turn the motor as hard as he could in order to avoid a direct hit. Their craft still collided, with a loud scraping sound being made as the skiff side swiped the patrol boat, but at least with them being this close there was no way for Irving to fire his deck cannons at them. In fact, once Josh slowed down just a little bit more, the Agent was able to reach up and grab the base of the rear deck's guardrail. There was no choice but to abandon the little skiff, since there was no one left to drive it once the two agents climbed their way onboard the patrol boat, but… but why was no one attacking them?
Seriously, Chris had expected to be ambushed by the plague doctor the moment they were on the deck, but the woman was nowhere in sight… nor was Irving for that matter. The open style rear deck was deserted, but someone had to be driving the boat, so they started toward the bridge, when their target reappeared with his still handcuffed hostage. A couple bodies of locals could be seen lying on the floor as he came out, but there was still no sign of the plague doctor, so… what the hell was the target playing at?
"Why won't you'se just die, huh?" He spat, keeping his pistol pressed into Sheva's neck. "God, you're like cockroaches, just can't get ridda'em no matter what ya do."
"It's over, Irving." Josh replied with anger in his voice. "There is nowhere left to run, so do the smart thing for once in your life, and let Sheva go."
Chris was worried that the nervous looking man would start shooting, while also hoping that he would just face facts and give himself up, but the target didn't do either one of those. Instead he began ranting again in that annoying New York accent, going on about how he had done all the work in getting his operation off the ground, blah-blah-blah, he hated how everyone always looked down on him, blah-blah-blah, and now his partner had killed the boat's crew and abandoned him when the going got tough and…
"You're breaking my heart, asshole." The Agent replied sarcastically, just wanting that squeaky voice to stop. "Now let Sheva go, toss your gun overboard, and then maybe I'll try to stop Captain Stone from beating you to death."
"That will be a difficult thing for him to stop." The Captain added, cracking his knuckles. "Especially if you have harmed Sheva in any way, so release her while you still can."
"I got a better idea; go fuck yourself." Irving replied angrily, aiming the pistol at the two of them. "Now you two bozo's can either dive overboard right now, or I'm gonna put a bullet in your dick, how does that…
As soon as he was no longer pointing the weapon at Sheva, the young woman turned the target's words into an outcry of pain when she rammed the back of her head into his face. Next stomping on his foot with her boot heel, Sheva kicked the pistol out of his hand so that it slid over the edge of the deck into the water, and then the young woman spun around and kicked him in the chest so that he fell on his back while she retreated over to the others. A moment later her wrists were free once Chris unlocked the handcuffs with the key from her pouch, and now the three agents just looked at Irving got up to his knees.
"Lose the dumb faces, chumps, cause' this ain't over!" The target yelled as something slid into his hand from up his sleeve. "Didn't you'se never wonder how I walked right through all those infected morons, while you'se got attacked at every turn? Control Plaga are a rare thing, losers, but I got one right here!"
The Agent's eyes widened as he looked at the reddish purple substance in Irving's hand, knowing full well what could happen if such a specimen were to get unleashed… anywhere at all, but what was he planning to do with it? Dump it into the marsh? Whatever the target's plan was, the Agent urged him not to do anything reckless, but instead of making any more demands, Irving stuck the specimen cartridge against his own neck, and hit the button. Unlike normal Plaga, which took a week to take control of a host, this one started to turn the flesh around the injection point black before he had even let go of the button, making Irving cry out in pain as the blackness began to spread.
"Fuck you!" The target yelled, groaning in pain as his skin started rippling. "I'm gonna kill all three-a-you'se, and then I'm gonna kill all those jerks who dicked me over! That's right, you schmuks, with this I can control every worthless mook in Kijuju, and we'll see whose laughin' when I infect this whole…
His words became an agonized scream as several long gray tentacles shot out of the target's back, making his discolored blood pour down onto the deck as he stumbled sideways. More of them were shooting out of different parts of his body, with his limbs bending backwards as they changed into a hardened substance that began to enlarge, leaving him with no way to catch himself after falling onto the railing… and tumbling over the edge with a small splash. Now everything was quiet again, except for the patrol boat's engines, which must have been on autopilot or something, but there was no sign of Irving anywhere.
A few small bubbles were seen coming up to the surface as the patrol boat got farther away from where he fell in, and all was quiet for almost a whole minute, until a large dark shadow could be seen moving toward them underneath the water. SPLASH! Suddenly breaking through the surface like a jumping whale, the three agents were knocked off their feet when the boat was rocked from the creature's nearby landing, soaking them with a large wave of water that came up onto the rear deck… but the thing that had come alongside the patrol boat was no whale.
It was as big as one, to be sure, but with spikes coming out of its massive dorsal fin, and some kind of boney plating covering its alligator-like head. The tentacles that had come out of the target's back were still there, although severely enlarged and just kind of hanging back as the monster swam forward, but if it really needed to grab onto something, the talons at the end of its big arms would probably be enough. Now the monster moved closer, nearly knocking Sheva overboard when it sideswiped the patrol boat, and then laughter was heard… surprisingly human laughter as the alligator snout opened to reveal what was left of Irving himself.
The only thing recognizable of the target was most of his face and a little bit of his torso, but other than that he was just gone, looking like he was wrapped inside of some kind of discolored, fleshy cocoon that was hanging from the very tip of the monster's tongue… or rather… was he supposed to be the thing's tongue? Either way, the fish monster formerly known as Irving was big and dangerous, laughing again as he did another sideswipe.
"That's right, losers… bow to the King of the Plagas!" He yelled as the mouth closed to conceal him. "I am beyond anything you'se could ever hope to become, so get ready, you mooks, cause' here I come!"