Familiar Hauntings

Chapter Thirteen

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Bowman sat back up in the seat of the van, not quite sure what to do next. He knew Umbrella was going to kill each last one of them. He knew that Umbrella would go to any length to cover up what was going on. He just didn't know what path to take at the moment. He thought about getting out of the van to look for his shotgun, but as he looked down at his flowing wounds, he decided he didn't want to expend the effort to do so.

"Damn. Guess there's not going to be an easy way out of all this." He sighed in slight annoyance as he began to reload bullets into his revolver. "Damn." As he reloaded, his mind began to form an escape strategy. He loaded the final bullet into the chamber, and clicked it shut. He sat in the van a couple of seconds more, finalizing his strategy in his head as best he could. "Guess I'm going to have to get out after all." With that, he started the van. It was surprisingly quiet, but he still hoped the reverberation of the metal walls wouldn't give him away. He shifted it into gear and slowly drove forward, towards the exit, then moved it into reverse, and backed up as close as he could to the hangar entrance without being spotted. He intensely stared into his rear-view mirror as he backed up, making sure he wasn't getting too close. Satisfied with his distance from the hangar doors, maybe thirty feet or so, he put the van in park, choosing to leave it idling. He took a deep, sharp breath and quietly crawled out of the van. His wounds were still bleeding, and he had figured he lost quite a bit of blood, as his knees were shaky as he stepped down on his own two feet. He growled to himself quietly as he walked to another van to finish his plan. He could hear the gruff voice of Jansen as he began to crawl into the second van.

****

The tyrant continued to advance on the weary survivors, its claw wavering around its side. It leapt from the top of the stairs to ground floor, and the impact could be felt beneath Claire's feet. She gritted her teeth, not quite sure how to get out of the situation. She had to remind herself over and over again that this was not the time to resolve the predicament with guns blazing. She took a quick glance around the room. Devon was also in the state of working out an escape in his mind, as his features were intense, yet somehow distant. His brow twitched somewhat in thought, as Demi clung to her M-16 at his side. Bobbye was glaring at Claire, awaiting some sort of response on what to do. Apparently, no one could see a clean escape to the situation. She tensed more with each step the tyrant took, fear dancing in her mind.

Apparently, Jansen noted her fear too. He stood in front of the other soldiers, who had their machine guns trained on the students. "What's the matter Claire? You should be a pro at handling situations like this. You act like you've never seen a tyrant before." He smirked at his words. He was going to enjoy killing her.

Claire made no effort to reply.

"What do you want from us?" Demi finally said, courageously. "We just want to make it out of here! Why is that so wrong?"

To this, Jansen simply laughed. "You want to make it out of here? Sorry darlin', this is the end of the line. You've seen way too much for us to just let you saunter out of here." The man cut his eyes to the two scientists. "I take it they've uncovered a lot of what we came here to destroy, right?"

The loud-mouthed scientist stuttered an answer, as the other watched in horror. "W, w-well, they made us. I mean, we had to um--"

He didn't even get to finish. Jansen opened fire with his M-16, spraying the two scientists with gunfire. They both slumped to the floor; the wounds inflicted killing them instantly. Demi yelled out and gritted her teeth, and began to level the M-16 to Jansen's face, to which Devon shoved it back down. He shot her a pleading look as he moved his hand from her gun to her hand, and slightly shook his head.

"That's not a good idea, miss. Watch your temper."

Inside, Demi continued to brew with fear and anger. She bit her lip, and held onto her machine gun tightly.

Claire growled under her breath. "So, how are you going to cover up this one? Are you just going to nuke the entire town like Raccoon, or what?"

"No," he replied simply. "What would be the point of destroying innocent peoples' lives?"

His last line had shocked Claire, just as he'd intended to. "You've already destroyed thousands of innocent lives!"

The official went silent for a minute and stared thoughtfully at the pipes and structural supports on the ceiling, as if contemplating Claire's last statement. He raised his eyebrows slightly and shrugged. "Well, if it's any consolation to you, I'm only going to kill four more." He chuckled to himself before adding, "Although, I'm not sure if I could call you four 'innocent' anymore. Especially you, Redfield." When Claire remained quiet, he continued. "No, we figure destroying the school by bombing all the buildings and blaming it on terrorists will suffice. It's a little rough around the edges, but for all basic purposes, the public will believe it. However, none of that matters to any of you, does it?"

Claire stood silent for a few seconds, taking time to measure the intensity of her hatred for the man standing in front of her. "Jansen," Claire boiled, "you know that if you do anything to us, S.T.A.R.S. are going to find out what happened here! It's only a matter of time before they take you under."

The man in the suit simply sighed, and pulled out a small vile full of a purplish liquid. "No Claire. I think you've got that a little backward. Umbrella's much bigger than you seem to give it credit for. S.T.A.R.S. is a small organization consisting of a few people. Although, I must say, it's quite a powerful entourage." He smiled as he inspected the viscous liquid in the bottle. "That's all going to change in the years to come, however."

Bobbye slowly backed away as the tyrant came into range. It walked between the two parties, and looked at the tattered group. Its soulless eyes came across Devon and Demi, and stared at them in remembrance. It growled deeply, before walking over to Jansen, maintaining a position on his right side. Claire shook her head in shock and despair.

Jansen continued to speak. "Know what this is, Claire?" He shakes the purple fluid at her as he begins to take a small box out of another of his pockets. When Claire was silent, he continued. "DV1. Quite a potent little chemical. Alone, it doesn't do much of anything. However, if you mix it with a specimen that has been genetically treated with this new 'Delta Virus,' it can do some pretty amazing things." He pulls a syringe out of the box, before slipping the latter back into his pocket. He pops the vial into the back of the syringe, as the fluid filtered into the shaft. "It's never been tested, either. I was wondering if you'd like to be the first person to witness first-hand the combined strength of the Delta Virus, and the DV1 material. How about it?" He flicked the needle with his hand, ready to administer it to the beast.

Claire was silent for a long while. Finally, Bobbye interjected. "Come on Claire, you can't be seriously thinking about this. You know what that stuff does. You wouldn't stand half a chance, comrade."

Claire thought about Bobbye's words. She was right. But maybe if she could just distract the tyrant and Jansen long enough, the others could escape. She was going to have to try. "Fine. I'll give it a shot. I'm going to die one way or another, right Jansen?"

He grinned with her response. "Atta girl." His attentions turned towards the grey behemoth, and he injected it with the serum. Almost immediately, the giant fell to the ground, rolling and convulsing on the floor, accompanied with otherworldly roars. Devon began to pick up the shotgun to try and get a few shots off, but the soldiers still had him sighted. It'd be futile to even try. Demi cried out and gritted her teeth due to the sounds emitted by the tyrant, and she buried her face in Devon's chest. The tyrant was still convulsing, knocking over tables and computers and experiment equipment. Even Jansen moved out of the way to avoid getting slashed by the giant claw. Finally, as soon as they had started, the convulsions and roaring stopped. The tyrant lay on the ground, its labored breathing filling the now silent room. Slowly, it began to pick itself up, into a sitting position resembling a winded track runner. Its arms were balanced on its knees, its head tucked inward.

Claire took her eyes off the monster long enough to glare once again at Jansen. "Well, at least give me a decent gun. Might as well make some sport out of this."

"Claire," Devon stated in bewilderment. "You can't be serious about fighting that thing."

Jansen laughed sadistically, and removed his M-16 from his shoulder, jiggling it playfully. "Come and get it."

"Claire," Devon said once again, this time in a more stern tone. "Don't. I'm telling you. Don't do this."

She continued to walk towards Jansen. When she passed Devon by, she whispered, "Be ready to find an opening to get out of here." Devon frowned at her words, biting the inside of his lip. Was she serious about tackling the tyrant? It simply didn't seem possible to him.

Demi waited nervously as Claire approached both the man and the tyrant. She was half expecting Jansen to just open fire on her when she got closer to him.

Claire stopped only a foot away from the man in the suit. For a while, she just stood there, fists and jaws clenched, staring into the man's cold eyes with cold eyes of her own. He cracked a small smile in reply.

"So," she finally said. "You gonna hand over that gun?"

"Here." He slowly handed her the cold black firearm. "I'm warning you though. You try anything stupid, these soldiers will open fire." He cut his eyes at her. "So watch it."

The tyrant slowly began to pick itself off the ground, until it stood tall and erect at nine feet, four inches. It stared down at Claire menacingly, yet not making any sort of approach to her. It somehow showed anger through its milky, expressionless eyes. It was a threatening stare, meant to drill fear into the heart of its opponent. It was working, as Claire couldn't return the gaze for longer than a second at a time. Even on a level of representation, the tyrant obviously was the dominant force between the two.

Devon's mind raced for some other option. "I can't let you do this alone…" His words were soft, as he repeated them to himself. "I can't let you do this alone…" Demi shifted her troubled eyes to his. "What are you talking about, Dev?" He didn't reply.

Jansen threw the syringe to the ground, much like a smoker flicks a cigarette butt, and folded his arms. "You ready, Claire?"

Claire stepped back ten feet, and checked the clip in the gun, just to make sure Jansen actually had ammunition in it. She gripped it tightly. "As ready as I'll ever be, I guess."

The tyrant waited for an order to attack. It studied the man's actions, looking for the signal to begin its onslaught. Jansen raised up his arm, and the tyrant lowered its head, eyeing Claire.

"Wait!"

Jansen frowned, annoyed with the disturbance. Devon stepped forward, swallowing hard. "Let me fight too! If this thing is as good as you say, one more person fighting it won't make much of a difference!" He tried his best to look determined and brave, in spite of his shaky hands wrapped around the shotgun he was carrying.

The tyrant still waited for the signal to attack.

Jansen stared at Devon in a calculating manner, his eyes going over the condition of his body. Satisfied that he wasn't in top fighting condition, he agreed. "Fine. It's however you would like to die."

Demi grabbed his forearm and pleaded with him, her rose hair swaying in front of her face, touching her eyelashes, her lips. "Devon!"

He smiled warmly at her, his eyes pools of complete exhaustion. "Demi, it'll be okay. Everything will be okay, I promise. You just gotta find the right time to escape, okay?"

Her bottom lip began to quiver, as her eyes welled up with tears. "Please…Don't…Don't do this…"

He kissed her on the forehead, and holding her cheeks with his hands, he replied, "I'll be okay." He winked at her. "Promise."

Devon didn't see the signal Jansen had given the tyrant. He swiped his hand down to the ground in a swift manner, and the tyrant charged forward. Claire was the target. Bobbye yelled to her friend. "Claire, look out!"

Claire was well aware what was happening, however. She opened fire on the tyrant, the bullets spattering on his skin, erupting into tiny little sparks of blood. However, it didn't even manage to slow the beast down. As it came into range, the tyrant swung its mighty claw level with Claire, intending to slice her in two from the waist. She rolled between its legs, causing the tyrant's claw to hack into a computer tower and monitor, which erupted into shards of debris and glass. As Claire was righting herself back up to a standing position, it backhanded her across the cheek with its other fist. She was knocked off her feet, and finally hit the ground eight feet away. She slid across the waxed floor, and tried to pick herself up. Her vision was blurred, and she couldn't even tell what she was looking at. She could feel the vibrations of the monster coming closer, however. With each step, it came closer to sealing her fate. She absently touched her forehead, and wiped away the blood that flowed from her mouth.

The tyrant was closing in on her fast. "No!" Devon yelled, as he began to fire high at the beast advancing on Claire. He shot three bursts from his shotgun, before the thing could even turn around. It now had moderate wounds on its back and head - wounds that would probably kill any other natural living creature. It spun around, and ran toward Devon in a full sprint. He fired one more round into the creatures face, with slowed it enough for him to dive out of the way. From the side, Bobbye and Demi watched in horror as their friends tackled something that they were sure couldn't be beaten. It was like a modern day David and Goliath match.

The tyrant continued to stab at Devon on the ground, and each time he was barely able to roll out of the way. Devon made his way underneath one of the sleek grey desks, and began to crawl through the maze of metal and technology, moving around computer towers and the desks' metal legs. The tyrant stood above, toppling over everything in its path. Sparks and paperwork went airborne, as Devon continued to crawl away. He gritted his teeth as twisting metal and sharp banging rang in his ears. He dared not look back. His breathing quickened to short rasps as he continued in his attempt to escape.

Claire had finally managed to get back onto her feet. She felt the top of her right brow, and when she pulled her hand away, she saw the familiar red substance coating her fingers. She blinked a few times to restore her vision and get some of the blood out of her eye. She watched for a few seconds as the monster flipped over table after table to get to Devon. She leveled her M-16 back with the creature's head, and began to fire. The bullets found their mark, and it stopped its rampage. Instead, it turned around, and looked to the ceiling and roared in the midst of getting sprayed by bullets. Claire continued to fire, still unfazed by the beast's actions. The creature's arms and abdomen began to bulge out, and it shrieked in pain. Almost instantly, the arms and stomach muscles ballooned to almost twice the size as they were originally. It held its arms over its face in a protective fashion as Claire continued to fire. However, the bullets were no longer hitting their mark. They bounced harmlessly off the creature, creating sparks in the process. It slowly began to advance on Claire, her bullets no longer effective. She might as well have been firing at a steel wall.

Jansen laughed in light of the most recent turn of events. "That's the beauty of the DV1 chemical right there Claire!" His face contorted into a wicked grin. "You're done."

Claire frowned at the ineffectiveness of her attack. It was then that her gun had fired the final bullet. The clicking sound told her that she had to find another way to fight. She growled in frustration as she threw the strap over her shoulder and began to run around the beast. Slowly, it changed its trajectory to follow Claire. It was quite slow in this state, but she was sure if that thing got its hands on her, it would mean death. "Devon!" She yelled, "Where are you!"

Devon stood up, motioning her over. "Here! Over here!" He managed to take another shot at the beast as it slowly swiveled around to face him. Claire ran to his side as he shot his final two blasts at the creature. "It's not working," he trailed off. "…We've got to find another way to kill this thing!" He reached into his pocket and pulled out a few more shells and began to load them. "Any ideas?!"

She shouted back to him. "Not yet!" Claire could hear Jansen laughing in the other part of the room, but tried to remain focused on what was happening in front of her. After he had finished loading his shotgun again, Devon bent down to unplug a monitor from a computer. He then grabbed the cord and screen, and moved to a more open area, away from Claire. He began to swing it around his head, much like a medieval flail. He gritted his teeth as he felt the pain in his knuckles begin to pound against his skin in rhythm to the rotation of the spinning screen. He began to yell to release the pain. When he got enough momentum going, he released the monitor at the beast. He hit it square in the stomach, but it simply wasn't enough to affect the monster. The monitor shattered on impact, and fell to its feet, where it was crushed under its heavy weight.

Devon sighed in frustration working the pain out of his hand my moving his wrist in circular motions. "Well, scratch that idea, I guess." He walked backwards, meeting Claire at her side, speaking to her, but never taking his eyes of the creature. "Anything else?"

Claire answered indirectly. "This is insane. We can't even hurt it now. How are we supposed to…?"

The two were slowly being pushed back into the corner of the room.

"They're going to die..." Bobbye said. She shook her head. She hated to say it, but it was true. The tyrant had beaten them somehow. She glared at Jansen, who was completely enveloped in gruesome delight at the scene. Even the soldiers were somewhat taken off guard by the utter carnage they were witnessing. Their weapons were more pointed at the floor than at the two girls. Bobbye noted this as an opportunity at an escape, and she whispered into the girl's ear. "Okay Demi, here's what we do. I want you to-" She didn't get the chance to finish her strategy. In the middle of the commotion, a white van had entered the room, its tires peeling out, leaving black skid marks on the floor. Before the soldiers could react, the third van had slammed into the back of the second one, causing Jansen's van and the second one to V-neck around the Umbrella official. The van had managed to run over three of the soldiers on its way to block Jansen in. It was then that Jim Bowman emerged from the van, shooting one of the guards in the back of the head.

"What the hell?!" Jansen yelled as he turned around to see he was completely boxed in.

Claire and Devon looked at the south end of the room to see a third van, and a broken and weary Bowman now in the room. They exchanged a thankful glance among each other before they sprinted along the perimeter of the wall, allowing themselves room to move around the tyrant. When they were a reasonable distance away, they cut a ninety-degree turn and sprinted towards the commotion. Devon yelled out, "Let's go!" to his friends as he grabbed Demi by the arm, and sprinted to Jim.

"Devon, in here!" Jim yelled as he ran towards the other van he had strategically placed in the hangar.

The four began to run as the tyrant began to roar again, its torso shrinking to normal size once again. It was then that it began to sprint towards Jansen.

Jim jumped into the van, and opened the back doors to allow everyone to jump in. He yelled to Bobbye as she was coming towards it, "Hey, you! Drive!"

Bobbye hopped into the driver's seat in silent obedience, taking a quick second to get familiar with the setup of the van. She looked into her rear-view mirror, as Claire, Devon and Demi began to close in on the van. However, she spotted another soldier taking cover behind one of the vans, about to open fire. Bobbye yelled to no one in particular, "Soldier behind the van! Look out!"

Jansen growled at this new turn of events, as he pulled out his magnum from his holster. He jumped through one of the vans to get a better shot at the escaping students.

Out of the corner of her eye, Demi saw the soldier that Bobbye warned them about. She pulled away from Devon's arm, stopped and opened fire on him about the same time he did. The soldier had shot up the side of the van with a few rounds before one of Demi's found its mark. It embedded on the side of the soldier's calf, and he dropped to the ground, rolling along the ground and holding his leg in pain.

The tyrant ran to Jansen just as he climbed out of the van. It stood there, awaiting further orders. He looked up at the beast with vengeful eyes. "No, you dumb animal! I told you to kill them!" He pulled the hammer back on the gun. "Kill them all!" The tyrant turned on its heel and suddenly began to sprint towards the girl, who had just finished firing at the soldier, she saw the massive being running for her, and she turned towards the van to attempt to make a break for it.

Devon jumped in the back of the van with Claire, and looked back, to see that Demi was firing on a soldier. He was about to tell her to get going when he saw Jansen pull back the hammer of his gun as he was ordering the tyrant. He then leveled it at Demi.

"NO!"

He jumped out of the van, as Claire cried out, "Devon, we have to-" He didn't hear the rest of her sentence. He heard a single gunshot - it was loud enough to block every other sound around him. He looked to Demi as he stumbled toward her with frantic eyes. It seemed his legs wouldn't carry him fast enough. He saw her confused expression as she was suddenly propelled forward. Her crimson hair fluttered in front of her face, single red strands dancing across her cheeks, her lips parting slightly in a painful wince. She never saw it coming, and she fell to the ground gracelessly. In the span of a second, Devon had slid by her side on his knees, and grabbing the back of her shoulders, picking her up with his arms. He noted a small hole just under her left shoulder blade as he turned her over, seeing a quickly spreading pool of crimson spanning outward from another larger opening just above her left breast. Devon gasped audibly at the damage, then looked to her eyes. They were transfixed on his - and for that moment, there was no pain in them, nor any regret or sorrow. He began to feel something in his heart he couldn't place. He frowned in a troubled manner as he gazed upon Demi's serenity. Finally, he looked up to see who had fired the bullet. However, his attention couldn't help but focus on the advancing tyrant in front of him. He stared at it, not comprehending what was happening. His world was slowing down, and he couldn't see, feel, or think. He simply watched the tyrant sprinting for him. He was becoming merely a spectator of his life.

Jansen pulled the hammer back to kill the boy, but released it when he saw Devon's frozen features, and the tyrant screaming toward him. That would be more entertaining anyway.

"Damn it," Bowman yelled. "Claire, use this!" He handed her one of his clips for her M-16. She loaded it as she watched the tyrant lower its claw to the ground, ready to perform an upward slice to kill the both of them with one attack. She yelled in desperation as she brought it up to eye level and pulled the trigger, hitting the tyrant in the chest and face. It stumbled back awkwardly before falling on its side. It was obvious it wasn't expecting gunfire. It slowly tried to upright itself; the creature was now bleeding from many different wounds on its body.

"Son of a…!" Jansen yelled as the tyrant was dispatched for the time being. He was about to shoot once again at Devon, but had to take cover due to fire from Claire. He slipped around the side of the van, to where the injured soldier was, and swore to no one in particular. "We're going to have to chase them!" Jansen had said. "Get up!" He picked the young soldier up by the back of his fatigues, forcing him to stand on his leg, which had evoked a loud yelp from him. The Umbrella official and soldier scurried into one of the vans, and began working at releasing it from the tangle of the other vehicles.

"Devon, let's go! Grab her and go!" Claire cried as the tyrant began to right itself.

Devon stared down at Demi dazedly. She was the only thing that mattered to him right now. He didn't hear anyone else. He raised a shaky hand up to his cheek, caressing it softly. The calmness of her eyes was replaced with a stress and pain as she arched slightly to help say the words she wanted to say. "Hey…we need…to get…out of here…let's go…" His perplexed face became coated with fear and despair as he realized the gravity of the situation, as if he had only now noticed what had happened to her. "Demi, you're…!"

"Devon, let's go!" Claire screamed at him. This time, he listened. He picked Demi up, and trotted her back to the van, never once taking his eye off her wound, still obviously in shock. He jumped into the back, and Jim and Claire closed the doors behind him.

"Bobbye," Jim yelled, "get out of here now!"

She peeled out towards the exit of the hangar. "To where?!"

"It doesn't matter! Just drive!"

The tyrant had begun to sprint after the van. Jansen had managed to free his van, and soon was in pursuit as well.

"We can still kill these kids," Jansen growled. "Keep that gun trained on them." He cranked the wheel sharply to the right to move between the side of the hangar door, and the last van.

Bobbye pressed the pedal to the floor as she passed row after row of vans. The hangar entrance was a steep grade of maybe fifteen degrees, and the tunnel appeared to be a good distance over a mile long. The grey sky was hard to see at the distance, but even then she could tell that the sun was close to coming up. She then glanced into her side-view mirror, noting the tyrant slowly gaining on the van from twenty feet away. Coming up on its side was Jansen in his van. Bobbye yelled back to the rest of the group. "Hey guys, you're gonna have to take care of them for me!"

Bowman glanced towards Devon, who was cradling Demi in his arms. Devon was behind her, and she was propped up into a halfway upright position, her head resting on Devon's chest. Bowman was going to ask him to help fire on the threats, but Devon ended up speaking before he could start his request. "Please Demi, hang on. We're going to get you out of here, but you have to hang on…" He pulled her hair out of her face, streaking finger marks of blood across her cheek from his own stained hands. He pressed into the wound in an attempt to stop the copious bleeding. "There's so much blood…" he murmured distantly.

Bowman didn't know what to do. It was these types of situations that he was worthless. He didn't know what to say, so he decided to stick to what he knew he was good at. He kicked open on of the small windows on the back of the van, and he grabbed one of the side mounted M-16s in the van. He fed a clip into it and stuck the barrel of the weapon out of the vehicle, and began firing on the attackers.

Claire moved closer to the two, unsheathing her boot knife. "Here Devon, let me lend a hand." Claire leaned over the injured girl, and tore the top of her shirt down with the knife, exposing the deep red gore of the wound. Claire was taken aback by how much blood poured out of the injury. The blood would actually pulse in rhythm to her heartbeat. She felt a horrible feeling in the pit of her stomach - she wasn't sure if Demi would make it. She slightly turned Demi on her side, noting another massive wound on her back. The bullet had gone clean through, and she was losing blood from both sides. She shook her head absently as she thought.

"Oh my God…" Devon said, mortified at the sight of the extent of Demi's injury. All he could do was helplessly stare at the situation. He had all but forgotten how much danger he and his friends were still in. Instead, he focused on the blood streaming out of his girlfriend. She strained to speak through stifled grunts and moans. "Devon…help me…"

He shook his head as his eyes began to sting. He replied, shouting loudly, "I'm trying! I'm trying!" He looked behind, to the front seat, where Bobbye was driving. "Bobbye, get her to the hospital!"

Bobbye screamed in response, her loud tone unusual for the girl. "I've got bigger things to worry about right now! Help me get them off my tail!" She growled through her words, as the tyrant began to gradually pull closer to them, even though Bobbye was doing forty miles an hour and climbing. The van wasn't far behind, maybe five feet behind the tyrant. On top of that, Bowman's firing at the tyrant wasn't slowing it down much.

Claire sat back, unsure of what else she could do for Demi. Instead, she reached her hand out to Devon. "Take off your sweater, and press hard on Demi's chest with it. Rest the back wound on your knee. It may be uncomfortable for her, but that may stop some outward flow, but I'm not sure if it's going to be able to last. In the meantime, give me your shotgun."

Devon nodded quickly as he handed the weapon to his friend, and proceeded to remove his sweater from his body, revealing a torn and bloody white shirt underneath, from where he had sustained other minor wounds and cuts. He rolled it into a ball and pressed it deeply on Demi's chest, as he shifted his body to accommodate the other hole on her back. "You'll be okay Demi! I'll just keep pressure, and you'll be fine!" He couldn't help but yell his words.

"Damn it!" Bowman yelled as he emptied the last of the rounds into the tyrant. It was now a bloody mess, yet somehow it still pressed on. It was actually only eight feet away, with the van actually catching up to it. "Claire, get your ass in gear and provide some damn cover for me!"

Claire was beyond taking offense to Bowman anymore. She leaned back, kicking the other van window out, and began to fire on the tyrant as well. The shocks of the blasts were taking a toll on the massive beast, as its head would snap back with each successive shot. Bowman threw in another clip into his gun, and opened on the tyrant once again.

The tyrant began to slow down by a decent margin, allowing the van of survivors to pull away from it. The beast let out a maddening roar as it slowed down even further, away from the battered team.

"That did it!" Bowman cheered, wincing slightly under his wounds. He then redirected his attention towards Jansen. "Now, take out that other van!"

The walls of the hangar blurred by, as they group passed the last of the rows of vans, giving them a bit more freedom to move around. Bobbye decided to exercise this new freedom by swerving out of the way of an attempted sideswipe by Jansen.

The official growled as his missed attack caused him to swerve wildly. The sound of the squealing tires was deafening in the barren tunnel. He corrected, and replied by firing a few rounds from his magnum. "Keep firing," he told his lackey. "I'm going to pull you up next to them, aim for the driver!"

Bowman yelled as he ducked out of the way of the soldier's line of sight. Numerous bullets riddled the outside doors of the van. "Holy hell! I'm hoping these doors are bullet proof!" He wiped the intermingled blood and sweat from his brow as he opened fire at them again, aiming for the tires. The bullets seemed to harmlessly bounce off. "Damn it!" He cursed once more.

The van screamed forward, the front passenger window now adjacent to the back glass. The soldier opened fire again, however this time it wasn't directed at the back of the van. Bobbye screamed in response as she was showered with crystals of glass and ricochet rang in her ears. Her van began to violently sway over the road, causing Jansen to brake somewhat. She looked in her side view mirror, and screamed out, "He's trying to take me out! Don't let him get up here again!"

Devon struggled with Demi slightly as her weakened hands tried to pull his own off her wound. She looked at him with pleading eyes.

"Demi, I know…" He stated as soothingly as he could. "I know it hurts, but we need to keep it there for now, until we get to a hospital, okay?" He could feel the sticky properties of blood soaking through the sweater. He shuddered. "We'll be at one in a few minutes, okay? They'll help fix you up, then everything will be fine."

She frowned, and clenched her teeth. "What's…going on outside…why are we…shaking around so much? It…hurts when we…move…" The girl would convulse somewhat while speaking, as if she needed momentum to hurl her words out.

Devon shook his head. "We're getting out of here. Just be strong. For me, okay?" Devon looked into her tired eyes with his own. She swallowed deeply and gasped, then nodded slowly.

Jim fired into the windshield of the van, as the bullets bounced off harmlessly. "Damn. Well, the windshield's bullet proof, we know that much."

Jansen began to accelerate again, as he slowly began to pass the back of the van once more.

"No, no, no!" Bobbye yelled. "Stop him, comrade! He's getting too close!" Bobbye hurtled the van in his direction in an attempt to scare him off. Jansen simply swerved, and continued to gain.

Claire angled her machine gun out the window, taking a last ditch shot at the soldier preparing to open fire on Bobbye again. A spray of red on the windshield proved that one of her bullets finally found its mark. The van pulled away abruptly and the extent of the damage caused was seen. Claire had hit the soldier near the front of the head, just above the area between the eye and the temple. Blood had coated the entire passenger side of the windshield. "Got him!" She cried.

Bobbye looked in her side view mirror once again. She studied it for a minute, before shaking her head. "No, you didn't get Jansen! He's still able to drive!" She watched him slowly accelerate yet again. This was quickly becoming maddening to Bobbye. She stared forward, concentrating on the outside world. She was only quarter-mile or so away. The hangar continued to slope upward, until she could see the grey morning sky waiting for her. With each second that passed, the exit seemed to get larger, allowing her to see more of the nearby environment out of the gates. Orange hues in the sky were coming into view, as buildings also became apparent into the light. She wasn't familiar with any of them, but she was hoping she'd be able to gain her bearings of where she was soon after.

Jansen screamed in frustration as he tried to drive with his knee while reloading his magnum with his final six bullets. "You're not getting away!" He snapped the chamber back into his gun and he opened the console to reveal a numerical keypad, on which he entered a six-digit code. "Damn," he growled. "Never figured it'd come to this." He looked into his mirrors. "And where the hell is that tyrant!" He yanked at the machine gun around the dead soldier's neck, shouting obscenities at the dead individual until he actually managed to free it. He soon found it too unwieldy to use while driving, and cursed once again before throwing the weapon out his window. He yelled irritably once again, firing three of his shots at the back windows.

****

Outside, morning was fast approaching. Early morning robins and whippoorwills sang their routine songs. Somewhere in the distance, a rooster was crowing. Despite the presence of buildings and towers, the air was still fresh and crisp. The breeze sounded through a few nearby oak trees, and the rustling of the leaves prevented the sounds of nearby passing cars to be heard. The hues of the sky were a melding beautifully, and the morning star continued to stand watch over the Earth, even as daylight was only minutes away. However, tranquility was soon broken with an ugly, metallic buzz. A large blue light began flashing on a large underground bunker. The bunker itself was built into the ground. It was very tall - twenty feet in height. However, the grains of sand on top of the gaping underground passage began to sift and rattle as giant mechanical gears began to work somewhere underneath it. From the sides of the entrance to the hangar, large, heavy steel doors slowly began to close.

****

Claire saw him level the gun near her side, and she pressed against the wall. She felt the wind part in front of her and heard the 'zip' sound of the ricochet as it bounced off the wall next to her, embedding in the front passenger seat of the van. It seemed to snap Devon out of Demi's situation for a minute, as he jumped and yelled, and cocked his head and raised his eyebrows towards Claire in a "be careful" look. She stared at the cloth tear in the back of the seat.

"Holy shit!" Bowman yelled in surprise as he saw the smoke erupt from the spot in the van where the bullet tagged. He launched his counter-offensive, trying to maneuver his weapon in for a clean shot at Jansen, but to no avail. "Damn!" he swore, "Claire, I can't shoot that guy! I can't angle my gun! Even when he slows down, I can't break through the glass!"

"I'm on it!" Claire replied as she tried to swivel her gun to fire too. He was simply too far past them for Claire and Jim to be a threat. "I can't get him either! The windows are too small!" She then set her sights on his back right tire. "I'm going for the tire, then!"

Bowman shook his head. "No! It's worthless! They're made of pure rubber!"

She fired on them just to make sure for herself. "Great," she scoffed. She glanced at Devon for a second. It didn't even seem like he knew any more than Demi did at the moment, he was so engrossed in her. He was providing encouragement and support for her though, so maybe he was playing an important part after all. Her eyes then wandered to the side profile of Bobbye in the seat in front of Jim. "Bobbye!" She yelled to her.

"Yeah!"

"We can't get Jansen, you're going to have to take him out!"

She looked in the rear view in disbelief. "Take him out?!"

Claire shook her head. "You have to!"

Bobbye closed her eyes for a second, before focusing them on the road again. It wouldn't be much longer before they were out of the hangar. She estimated roughly thirty seconds until they were outside. She squinted at the exit, and her mouth dropped open. She shook her head and looked again to make sure she wasn't seeing things. "Oh, this just gets better and better," she stated plainly.

"What do you mean?" Devon had overheard her, and awkwardly interjected into the middle of the action.

"Jansen's closing the hangar gates up front!"

"Well hell," Bowman stated in usual flair. "This does just get better and better. Well, let's kick it into gear!"

"Okay," she yelled back to her friends, "this could get a little bumpy!"

Claire's attention became shortly focused on the young freshman that lay in Devon's lap. "Demi, hold on, okay? We're gonna bounce around for a minute, but everything will be okay…okay?" She frowned at her awkward placement of words.

Demi lazily shifted her glazing eyes to Claire, and nodded. Claire's features then hardened as she clenched her jaw and stared at Devon. Claire was trying to tell him that she might not make it. Devon apparently didn't understand, as he simply cocked his head and frowned.

It was then that Bobbye took the offensive. With mighty force, she collided into Jansen's van, throwing him into the far-left wall, showering sparks along the floor.

Demi groaned under the violent shakings, once again trying to remove Devon's hand from her wound.

"Oh no you don't!" Jansen growled as he gripped the jerking wheel and turned in Bobbye's direction, backing her off into the center of the road. He then surged forward, gun in hand, ready to shoot when he had a decent opportunity. Bobbye tried to accelerate to compensate, but her heavier load prevented it. She leaned back and turned her head away as he fired his final three rounds at her, one of them breaking her side view mirror. She braked, then slammed her foot on the accelerator again. "Damn it!" he yelled as he threw the gun into the floorboard. Jansen tried to compensate for her loss in speed, however, he had braked too much, and had fallen a few feet behind her back bumper. "I'll get you one way or another!" With that, he pulled away roughly six feet from the van, and cranked the wheel, smashing the right taillight and bumper.

Bobbye yelled as the van began to fishtail wildly, the van sliding across the hangar on two wheels. She nearly smashed into the wall on the right side of the hangar. She sucked in two short quick breaths. She had almost lost it.

"Geez!" Claire cried, frightened. "Watch out!"

"Hey!" she yelled back, "I'm trying my best, comrade! Just keep cool!"

Meanwhile, Bowman was quite impressed. "Damn, the girl can drive too!" He sneered at Claire, as he leaned against the wall in a nonchalant manner. He sneered at Claire. "Stop back seat driving! She got us this far, didn't she?"

As Jansen began to pull away for another crack at turning them over, Bobbye's face became grim with determination. "Alright, you want to try that again? I got ya."

The Umbrella agent smiled to himself as he swerved to flip them over and finish the job.

With crucial timing, Bobbye braked while slightly turning to the right. Jansen had no time to react. He toppled over the front end of the van, sending his own into a one-eighty. He slammed into the right wall on his side as he yelled in surprise. Smoke and sparks teemed from his vehicle as the paint was whittled away.

Bobbye corrected the wheel as she continued to watch the spectacle in her passenger side view mirror.

"Oh hell yeah!" Bowman cheered. "Good job, Bobbye!" Jim and Claire watched as the van toppled onto its driver's side and slid up the ramp. The crash was alive with numerous sparks spurting from the twisting metal, before finally slowing and stopping.

Bobbye refocused her sights on the closing gates only one hundred and fifty feet away. "Hold on guys!" She slammed her foot even harder on the gas pedal in hopes that it might make her go just a little faster. She quickly shifted glances between her speedometer and the exit - she was pushing fifty-five. "Maybe I'll have time to spare after all."

****

Jansen climbed out of his battered van, bloody and exhausted. He had climbed over the dead soldier that was still strapped to the passenger seat, and had flopped to the ground, knocking the wind out of him. He heard an odd sound coming from deeper in the tunnel, and heard the grunting of the tyrant as it streaked by, showing yet another form of cellular transfer. Between gasps of air, Jansen coughed out his words. "Don't…let them…escape…"

****

Bobbye frowned, determination still residing in her features. "We're almost home free! Just a little longer!"

Behind them, in the reverberation of the cold tunnel, Claire heard something.

Jim noticed Claire's detached glaze and decided to inquire. "What the hell are you doing, Claire?" It was then he looked out the back of the van. "Oh, shit!"

The tyrant had sprinted within twenty feet of the van; it's legs bulging from the cellular transfer. It was going over sixty miles an hour on foot, and its claw was pulled back to puncture the back of the van.

"What?!" Bobbye yelled back as a shock wave traveled through the van, and her speed began to stop substantially. She looked back to see that the tyrant had attached itself to the back of the van by stabbing its scythe into the middle of the right door, narrowly missing Claire.

"I thought it was dead!" Devon yelled, "How did it…" He couldn't even find the words to finish.

"Get rid of it!" Bobbye yelled as she jerked around the wheel, trying her best to line up between the shutting gates. "I might not make it if that thing is bogging down my speed!" She only had roughly fifteen feet of space between the doors.

The tyrant removed its claw and punctured another hole just below the first, and began to work it in the door. It was looking to rip it off.

"Look out!" Bowman yelled as he jumped over Demi to Claire's side of the van. "Bobbye, be ready to compensate to the left, got it?!"

Bobbye wiped perspiration from her brow. "Okay, just hurry!" She could see the distant buildings and outside environment through the space between the large metal gates. She was coming onto the field technology center of the university, located a few blocks down. "This must be that odd hill that's restricted for use," She thought. "I always wondered what this was."

Claire yelled to Bowman, her features twisted up in a state of confusion. "What are you doing?"

Jim didn't answer. He reached for the back handle of the right door, turned it, then kicked it open. The tyrant went flying with it, landing hard on the ground with its claw still embedded in the door. The van's front left wheel left the ground completely, as it swerved heavily to the right, aimed directly for the right hangar door, not forty feet away. The buzzing was now filling the chamber, along with the angry roar of the tyrant. It picked itself off the ground as Bobbye veered violently to the right, disorienting the tyrant again, and knocking the door out past the van's right side.

"Hope for the best, guys!" Bobbye cried out as she aimed for the straightest possible path through the doors. It was going to be close. She began to snarl as she gripped the wheel tightly, bracing for possible impact. She was doing everything she could just keeping the van steady.

Bowman scuffled back over to his spot in the van, and waited. He wasn't sure if they were going to make it or not, but he gripped the back of Bobbye's seat, hoping it would provide a small amount of protection.

Devon crouched over Demi in a protective manner, unsure of what was about to happen. He closed his eyes and held his breath, listening to the raspy breathing of his girlfriend.

Claire gripped the passenger seat, and stared forward at the nearly closed gates, her teeth clenched, and ready for anything.

Just as it began to show success in freeing its claw, the tyrant looked forward to see a steel door moving in front of it. It continued striding with the side of the van, knowing its speed was too high to stop in time.

Bobbye closed her eyes as she drove the van between the opening. She had hit the doors at an angle - the left side of the van had scraped along the left gate, but the right cleared by about six inches. The tyrant hit the right side of the door at about forty miles an hour, erupting into a sinewy explosion. The force had taken off the right side of the door, as well. The van started to slide, and Bobbye opened her eyes just in time to watch them go through a chain link fence. She yelled in surprise as the van had successfully managed to break through the metal. She then braked to a stop, and for a while, she simply stared straight ahead at one of the tech buildings, thinking, doing, or saying nothing in particular.

Devon was the first one to speak. "Did…we make it?"

Bowman began to laugh as he whooped and shoved a triumphant fist into the air. "Hell yeah, we did!" He complimented Bobbye once again. "Pretty damn good driving, I'm impressed! You even took off the tyrant!" He smirked. "Even though I did have a little to do with that."

Devon returned his thoughts to Demi. "Demi…she needs a doctor. Bad." He looked down at her. She was very still; her breathing further reduced to small gasps for air.

"Devon…I'm…not going…to make…it, am I…?"

His heart sank to her words. He sighed deeply, fighting back tears. "Hey, come on. Don't say that. We're only a few blocks away from the doctor. Just, hang in there, okay?"

Bobbye silently began driving, taking the nearest dirt road which led off the grounds to the nearest road.

"I…don't…think…I can…"

He shook his head softly as he tensed his lower lip to keep it from shaking. "No, no no no, don't say that. You can. You have to. We still have so much to do together." He traced his finger down the side of her face.

She let out a single chuckle and then winced. She waited a few seconds before gaining the strength to talk again.

"Like…what?"

He blinked, and as he did so, a tear escaped his eye. "Like what…? Um, like, we…we can go ballroom dancing, or we can go to the movies…or take a trip to somewhere." He smiled bravely. "If you could take a trip anywhere in the world, where would you want to go?"

She closed her eyes, and smiled. "California…beach…I love…the beach."

Claire peered straight out the back window, deeply disturbed. Devon was using death banter - he was simply talking for the sole purpose of keeping her alive. Something about that scared her so deeply, and it seemed to unearth feelings inside of her she couldn't quite place. In some respects, it was almost as if one was talking to the dead. She was about to lose another one of her friends to Umbrella. She didn't think she could handle this anymore. Her eyes began to cloud over with new tears.

Bowman took a similar approach, but instead, he chose to stare at the upholstery between his bent legs. He swallowed, knowing she probably wouldn't make it. He'd known Demi for almost six years, ever since Devon had met her. They spent a decent amount of time together back in their high school years in Oklahoma. But to him, it didn't seem like the same Demi. Something was missing. Something was wrong.

"Well then, we'll go to the beach. We'll spend a whole week at the beach, and do nothing but watch sunsets and swim and be together. So, stay with me, okay?" He didn't get a response from her. "Demi?"

Claire slowly looked at the girl, tears falling down her face. Yet, she remained silent.

"Demi?"

Bobbye turned onto a paved road, and began to drive east. The hospital was only a mile down the road, yet she wondered if it would do any good.

"Demi!" Devon clutched her in desperation, hugging her tightly, tears streaming out his eyes. "No, come on, please don't do this!" He checked her pulse, and paused. He frowned and raised his head back, expressing his surprise to feel it, faintly. "What?"

Bowman looked over towards the two, puzzled. "Did she just pass out?"

"Bobbye, get us to the hospital, fast!"

___________________