Pandemic: Resident Evil VI

Chapter Forty Three: The Monster Returns

To say that Sherry was conflicted by Leon's words would have been an understatement, and for several seconds she just stood there frozen like a deer staring into the headlights of an approaching truck. The Agent was not someone who lied very often, and in fact he was one of the most honorable people that she knew, but to accuse Simmons… he was her supervisor, the one who assigned the blonde to find Jake in the first place so that a vaccine could be made, so why would he be involved in some kind of bioterrorist attack with the same virus he was trying to stop?

"Sherry, I'm serious." Leon said sternly, stepping toward her. "You need to tell me where he is, and…

Suddenly Jake stepped in between them, trying to grab the Agent or maybe push him backwards, but it was too late to tell the young man what a bad idea that was. In a flash of movement, Leon grabbed Jake's wrist and twisted it around behind his back, shoving the young man forward until he was pressed against one of the cargo containers, face-first. Jake tried to elbow him in the face with his other hand, but the Agent leaned back to avoid it, before twisting the young man's arm up higher to the point where he cried out in a mixture of anger and pain.

"I'm having a real bad day here, kid." Leon said, twisting again to stop Jake from moving. "I watched a city get nuked, my plane just crashed, and any minute now Gillette Liquid's gonna free herself from that wreckage. Now, I'm gonna let you go, and you're gonna play nice while Sherry tells me where…

Thud… thud… thud… the Agent's words stopped when a slight, rhythmic tremor was felt through the concrete ground, but Sherry couldn't see anything when she looked at the surrounding area. The flames from the crashed aircraft had spread to some of the nearby containers as fuel continued to leak out of its ruptured tanks, filling the area with black smoke that distorted the lights of the cargo yard, turning the whole place a disturbing shade of flickering yellow… and now the tremors were getting heavier.

"Leon." The woman from the plane coughed, pointing toward some of the worst fires. "Leon, there… what's that?"

The blonde turned and looked at the same time as the others, just in time to see a very big shadow walking toward them through the flames. Thud…thud… thud… each of its big footsteps shook the ground, and even before its twisted, deformed features were revealed by the lights, Sherry knew it was the monster that Tobias had called Ustanak. But how was that possible? That monster had been buried under a million tons of rock in the mountains of Edonia six months ago, so how could it have gotten out? And more important still… how had it known where to find them after all this time?

"What the… hell is that?" Leon asked, slowly letting go of Jake. "Sherry, is…

"Shhh, be quiet!" Sherry urged, putting a finger to her lips. "It's hearing is excellent, but it's eyes suck, so it might not see us yet."

If this really was the same creature from the mines, then as long as everyone in the group stayed quiet and didn't do anything stupid like walking right in front of the thing, then maybe they could get out of this. Fighting wasn't really an option, since there were no bullets in the rifle that Jake had carried back at the laboratory, and it didn't look like Leon and his new partner were armed, either, so Sherry and the young man carefully moved behind some cargo containers while the Agent helped his partner up.

Thud… thud… thud… the footsteps were so loud now as the monster approached, and it could be heard growling as it looked around for its target. Sherry stepped back to keep it from seeing her as Ustanak walked toward the burning plane, the drilling facets on its mechanical arm twitching as it surveyed the area, but then it stopped, growling again while raising the arm so that the drill was pointed toward the crashed aircraft. The blonde didn't understand what it was doing at first, but then a bunch of steam was released from the attachment as it began to shift.

That mechanical arm must have been pretty high-tech, because the parts were all moving and opening up so that the attachment could change into something else. After a few seconds everything locked back into place, leaving the arm as no longer a drill, but in the shape of a long barreled firearm just like the one it had used to shoot down the BSAA helicopter. BRRRRRRRRT! As soon as the change was finished, the barrels on the weapon started to rotate, and Ustanak roared loudly as it started shooting the already wrecked plane.

The aircraft shook violently as it was dotted with holes bigger than a fist, making sparks fly, and spreading the flames even farther around the cargo yard when the plane's hull exploded from within. Now the whole thing was engulfed in fire, but the monster being distracted by this had allowed the group to begin their retreat away from the plane. Sneaking around the rows of containers and trying not to make any noise at all as they moved, the four of them headed toward the other end of the cargo yard where hopefully there would be another exit.

Leon's new partner was doing better now, moving along without help, even though she had to cover her mouth several times to keep from coughing loudly, but so far Ustanak wasn't chasing them. From back the way they came, the sound of police sirens was starting to be heard behind the wreckage, but the plane itself and the chemical fire had created a barrier that would probably take hours for the local fire department to get through. Good thing, too, since that monster would probably kill anyone who entered the vicinity while it was looking for Jake and…

While looking back toward the fire to make sure they still weren't being followed, the blonde bumped into what she thought was another cargo container, but suddenly she was startled by a high-pitch alarm, making her realize that it was a car she had walked into. But… what the hell was a car doing parked in the middle of a cargo yard in the middle of the night? Was it the owners or something? Either way, the noise was echoing through the whole place, and now the ground was shaking again with the thud-thud-thud of the monster's sprinting footsteps as it tracked them.

For such a big creature, Ustanak could sure run fast, and within seconds it had caught up to them; it's mechanical arm changing shape once again into the drilling attachment that spun up to full speed while it leaped toward Sherry. With a yelp of fright, the blonde dove for cover, moving out of the way just before the drill facets struck the car, silencing the alarm as the tires were popped and the whole engine was torn to shreds. Ripping the drill out of the wreckage, Ustanak stabbed the drill at Sherry again, breaking up some of the concrete when she rolled out of the way, but then Leon's partner tossed a piece of metal at the monster's head, making it stop for a second.

With an irritated growl, the creature grabbed what was left of the car, and tossed it at the young woman, forcing her to retreat to avoid the bouncing wreck… and then Ustanak grunted when Jake reappeared, stabbing a piece of rebar that he had found into the monster's ribs. Unhurt by this, the creature grabbed the young man with its human arm and tossed him at Sherry just as she was getting up, making them both fall back to the ground, and now its drill was revving up again for another strike.

"Get away from her!" Leon yelled as he appeared, leaping onto the monster's back. "Sherry, run! Get outta here!"

Pressing his foot onto the rebar as if it were a step, and looping one arm around Ustanak's neck, the Agent struggled to stay on the monster while grabbing for the hydraulic cables running to its mechanical arm. This wasn't an easy job, however, since the creature spun around and grabbed for him with its human arm, and even when he managed to grab onto the cable, Leon just wasn't strong enough to rip it out of place. Eventually Ustanak was able to grab him by the shirt, tossing the Agent through the air so that he slammed into the side of a container with a hollow thud, before falling to the ground, and now the drills were revving up while the monster crouched down in order to sprint toward him.

"No!" Sherry shrieked as it ran toward Leon. "No, Leon!"

But then something flew toward the creature from out of nowhere, striking it in the side of the head with a hard whack, and with enough power to knock it off course so that the drills tore into the side of the metal container instead of Leon's body. Although clearly hurt, the Agent was able to scramble away while Ustanak tried to free itself, and then Sherry looked down at the object that had struck the monster. Although heavily bent out of shape, it looked like the side door of an airplane, and from the marks on it, appeared to have been torn off its hinges with someone's bare hands.

For a moment the creature's drills were stuck in the twisted metal, but it was able to free itself once the facets were reversed, and then there was another hard whack when another object struck the monster in the head, this time looking like part of an engine, maybe? A new sound now filled the air, the soft tap-tap-tap of maybe someone walking in high-heel shoes? But that didn't make sense, at least until the blonde saw another figure approaching… that of a slender brunette woman in what looked like a partially burned stewardess uniform, walking toward all of the commotion.

"A D-Series?" The brunette asked with a disgusted tone. "Ew, gross… are you okay, Leon? Did it hurt you?"

Before the Agent or anyone else could reply, Ustanak roared loudly, turning toward woman and revving up its drills as fast as they could go as it ran right toward her. Stabbing the mechanical arm forward as hard as it could, the drilling facets were brought to a screeching halt when the brunette reached out and grabbed them in her bare hand. Not only were the drills stopped, but the monster was stopped as well, and now the two of them just stood there, arms shaking a little bit as they struggled for control.

"I bet that went a lot differently in your head, huh?" The woman asked, smiling sweetly while Ustanak growled. "I'm Gillette from the C-Series… goodbye."

She then swung her leg, striking the monster in the side with such force that not only was Ustanak thrown right into the nearby cargo container, but the monster hit the metal surface hard enough to make sparks fly as the container slid several meters across the concrete. The creature grunted as it fell to the ground, actually taking a second before starting to get up, and needing to grab onto the metal container with its human hand in order to pull itself to its feet.

"You just don't know when to quit, do you?" Gillette asked, taking off her heels, and tying up her now messy hair. "Leon Kennedy if family… well, he will be one day… and no one screws with my family… so I'm gonna have to hurt you now, okay?"