Pandemic: Resident Evil VI
Chapter Fifty: Train Ride to Tatchi
There was no way for Leon to know how long Simmons would be unconscious if that dart had simply been a tranquilizer, nor who had even fired it since everyone back at the construction site had been distracted by smoke and explosions. Maybe it was poison, who knows? Either way, the Agent had to be sure that the Security Advisor was either brought in to face trial, or that he was confirmed to be dead. Chris had been sure that Wesker was dead back at the Spencer Estate, and that blew up in his face big time, so Leon was determined not to make the same mistake.
Helena was yelling something, probably chewing him out for making her go along with him when he dove on top of a moving train, but the strong winds made it impossible to hear whatever it was she was saying. Not only that, but cargo trains in China seemed to move a lot faster than the ones back in America, with the winds hitting the Agent's face so hard that he could hardly keep his eyes open for more than a second. Hell, even standing all the way up was difficult, forcing Leon to move forward in a crouched position that was so low it was almost crawling.
A few cars ahead, Simmons had landed on his face in the middle of a load of metal cylinders, and he hadn't moved a muscle since. Hopefully the scumbag was just dead, since enough people had overheard his confession for Leon and Helena to both be cleared, but he had to be sure, and… and God damn it was hard to move on top of this train as it headed away from the city. The open-top cargo bins were a bit easier, since once inside the two of them could duck under most of the wind, but then they would have to climb up again, only to face the even tougher challenge of crossing over from one car to the next.
Now everything was getting much darker, since they were moving away from the lights of Waiyip, with the tracks heading in the general direction of another set of lights off in the distance, most likely another city where all the coal was to be delivered. There was still a little bit of light which came like a slow strobe as the train passed underneath the streetlights on the nearby electrical poles, but all that allowed Leon to see was that Simmons still wasn't moving. Looking up every time the train was passing underneath a light, the Security Advisor remained motionless as the two of them got closer and closer… but then suddenly Simmons was sitting up, startling the Agent so bad that he almost lost his footing on the roof.
He was saying something, pointing at Leon accusingly, but nothing could be heard, even after the ground underneath the train vanished when it began to cross a large river. A little bit of the noise was reduced since the water was farther below, and there was no solid ground for the sounds to bounce off of, but… oh well, he probably didn't want to hear whatever nonsense Simmons was yelling anyway. The Agent was more concerned with the fact that whatever the Security Advisor had been shot with was wearing off, and now… no, wait… no, it hadn't been a tranquilizer or poison, because now each time they passed under a light it could be seen that Simmons' body was changing a little bit more.
Lines of darkness were spreading across his body as if all of the normally red blood inside was being replaced with black tar, and he continued to yell angrily at Leon as his skin… as his skin literally began to break apart into sections. No, not just his skin, but it was like whatever was mutating him, probably some variant of the C-Virus, was making it so that his body was dethatching in order to reveal something else like those chrysalis pods maybe? Well, not exactly, since he could still move and speak, but now the different sections of his body were opening up, moving apart from each other to reveal something else inside… something a lot bigger and scarier looking.
Whatever Simmons was turning into, it was clear that Leon couldn't allow it to reach the rapidly approaching city on the other side of the river, but what was he supposed to do about it? If the monster managed to get into a large population, it would probably continue to spread the virus, and the Agent's pistol just wasn't up to the task, leaving just the few grenades between himself and Helena, but would that be enough? At best, maybe the explosion of all of them could knock the monster into the river, but that wouldn't be enough to kill it… never was. But on the other hand, wasn't that a flammable warning placard on the cylinders the monster was sitting on?
Bad idea, Leon thought to himself as he took one of the grenades off his belt… it was a really bad idea that he was considering, but in less than a minute the train would reach the other side of the river, and Simmons was still mutating. His body was getting bigger, starting to resemble some kind of four-legged animal that looked like it had been skinned alive, with exposed red muscle tissue, and jutting bones that resembled a kind of spikey armor. Claws, fangs, this thing was hitting every check mark for horrifying, so with no other choice that he could see, Leon pulled the pin and tossed the explosive into the next car just as the monster was starting to stand up.
Helena must have realized what he was about to do, because she tried grabbing his arm, shaking her head furiously in protest, but it was too late. BOOM! Yeah, whatever was in those metal cylinders must have been pretty flammable after all, because several of the train's cars were illuminated bright as day while Simmons vanished in a flash of yellow fire. Leon pulled the young woman down behind the wall of their car, but this didn't do them much good, since the explosion was powerful enough to lift part of the train, destroying the locking joints between the cars, and making the whole world tilt as the car they were in suddenly flipped over sideways.
SPLASH! Hitting the river at that speed was enough to knock the wind out of Leon, stinging his whole body as he actually skidded across the surface for a short distance before sinking, with the overturned car along with every one behind it creating large waves as they fell into the water as well. As for Simmons, all the Agent knew was that he got back up to the surface just in time to see the orange flames of the burning car get smaller as the front half of the train continued into the city… well shit, that didn't work.
"Harper!" Leon called, swimming to the edge of the river and then looking back. "Harper, where are you!"
"Here!" The young woman called out from a short distance away, fighting to stay above the water. "Leon! Can't swim!"
She wasn't far from him, so the Agent let go of the stone harbor wall he was holding onto, and was careful not to let Helena grab onto him, or else she could have pulled them both under, instead grabbing her hand and pulling the young woman over to the wall. The train was long gone by the time Leon climbed up onto the walkway, but that couldn't be helped as he took Helena's hand again to assist her in getting back onto solid ground. He had no idea what city they were in now, and the local authorities would be all over a burning train that crashed through the city, and then the Agent's thoughts were interrupted when Helena suddenly punched him in the back of the head.
"What the fuck is wrong with you?!" She screamed, still dripping water all over the walkway while swinging at him again. "You just… you just blew up a God damn train with us onboard, you fucking psycho! We could've been killed!"
"Look, I know… hold on a second… damn it, Harper, this isn't helping." Leon replied, finally managing to grab her arms and restrain them. "All right, I get it, blowing up the train wasn't the best plan, but what else could we have done, huh? You've never faced a monster like that before, I have… if I didn't blow up the train, we would have both been…
"Hey, you!" An echoing voice suddenly interrupted, making them jump. "You, the couple on the boardwalk! We don't have all night, get your asses in gear!"
A bright light shined on them at the same time that the voice started yelling, making the Agent have to squint and hold up his hand to see that it was coming from the searchlight and pa system of a military grade Humvee. The BSAA emblem was on the door of the vehicle, and a soldier in full body armor was standing outside of the vehicle with the microphone in his hand, waving at them to come and join the dozens of civilians who were walking down the street. Most of the people were carrying small bags with them, as if gathering what they could carry before trying to leave on foot… but why were they going? The danger was all in Waiyip.
"Agents Kennedy and Harper, US Government." He said, still a bit out of breath after walking up to the soldier. "Where are all these people going?"
"US Government?" The soldier asked, raising an eyebrow. "Doesn't matter; we're evacuating this district in case the trouble in Waiyip spills over, so I'm gonna have to ask you two, uh… Agents to follow everyone else to the new checkpoint."
It was actually good that everyone was getting out of the district, but Leon didn't have time for an evacuation right now. Eventually, that burning train was going to crash somewhere in this part of town, and he was going to need all the BSAA firepower he could find in order to deal with what was left of Simmons. It was pointless to ask this soldier for help, since he already had his orders and was unlikely to deviate from them, so the Agent was about to ask where the leader of this mission could be found, when a new sound filled the air… a sort of whoosh that drew the eyes of everyone nearby as a flicker of light reflected off the river.
Even the soldier gasped when he saw it, prompting Leon and Helena to turn around and gasp as well when they saw the trail of white smoke being left by the small object flying through the air toward the city. It was a missile, anyone could see that, and there was a jet following close behind… was that the one who launched it? No, couldn't be, they were shooting at it with the plane's guns… but then the jet was forced to veer off, turning around and flying away while the missile vanished overhead behind the city's taller buildings.
It was only then, as the jet flew off to escape, and the missile headed toward the center of the city, that Leon realized what was about to happen. Suddenly everything went quiet as a strong vibration passed through the ground, and then there was an explosion of… darkness? No, not an explosion, but a cloudburst of dark smoke that swept through the city in all directions, and there was nowhere to run as the wall of darkness sped toward where they were standing.