Chapter IX: Tyrant King
Axl continued to fire away, shooting over and over with his assault rifle. He had already used up an entire clip and was about three-fifths done with this one.
"They just keep coming, butthere's something I don't like about all this" He had noticed during the fighting an almost distinct pattern off attack, the different directions the hunters would strike from. Each time he thought he had figured out what he believed was the pattern, there would always be a new variable, making it almost unpredictable.
"How could they be doing this? Hunters don't attack in patterns! This is impossible!" Axl knew it, though he couldn't believe it. The T-Virus monsters were using coordinated attacks - What was worse was he felt in his gut where it was leading.
The vicious hunters came at him faster and faster, two from the right, one from the left, two from the center; feints and head on attacks, over and over, until the hunters would switch their pattern and come in from entirely new directions while the rest served as a diversion.
He was going to run out of ammunition in his magazine, and the attacks were becoming more and more frequent as well as more complex, making it difficult to repel all of them at once. It was as if they knew his clip was almost spent and they were trying to hit the precise moment he had to reload.
"Oh God, pleasedon't let this be happening" He whispered through his clenched teeth as he aimed and emptied the last of the rifle's ammunition into a hunter. As he moved his hand over the clip, everything seemed to slow down for him. He could feel his heart pound, the beads of sweat falling, the rush of the air against him. He pulled the clip from its space and let it fall.
The pattern Axl had seen coming came frightfully to life as even before his clip hit the roof a second hunter followed the one he had just shot, flying through the air and landing in front of him. He stared at the monster, frozen as his mind raced to think of something to do. The moment passed by in a flash as the hunter roared and lunged at Axl, who attempted to reach for his magnum but was a split-second too late.
Axl felt a white-hot pain sear in his right shoulder as the hunter dug its claw around his collar bone. Axl could only yell as both he and the hunter fell from the roof of the car, tumbling onto the pavement at high speed.
Axl rolled with the hunter, trying to make sure he'd land on top of the creature as they continued to struggle. When they had stopped, Axl had stopped above the hunter with its claw still lodged into his upper torso.
Without even enough time to shake his head from the fall to the ground he felt it draw its claw out to prepare for another slash. Axl yelled, his mind now bent on survival and he focused his attention to the danger, making him forget the pain the hunter had inflicted.
Axl drove his right knee into the hunter's stomach, stopping its attack and repeatedly punched it with his left hand.
"Die!! Go to hell you son of a-" Axl's yells were drowned by the hunter's shrieks as the punches impacted with its face, the fierce blows knocking it senseless. But this wasn't enough for Axl, his adrenaline throwing him back into an almost barbaric combat state. The hunter attempted to lean his head forward to bite him, even though its vision was blurred from the injuries. Yelling once more just as fiercely as any Viral monster, Axl forced his left forearm into its mouth lengthwise and pressed it against the top of the hunter's mouth, not caring that the teeth tore into his arm. He moved his right arm, now soaked in his blood, and grabbed the creature's jaw, prying it open as the viral could only scream until Axl heard the snap of its jaw breaking.
Axl got up, wobbling slightly as he heard the car's tires screech. He looked up while holding his bleeding wound and saw the car stop in front of a gas tanker tipped over on the sidewalk and were just thirty meters from where he stood.
"What in the hell are they trying to pull?!" Axl could hear the high-pitched roars of the hunters, they were all around him. He looked left and right, the green blurs moved from building to building, from alley to alley. With his right arm basically disabled and having lost nearly a pint of blood so far, he knew the situation was hopeless.
"Damn it, if I knew I was going to die today I wouldn't have kept saving my candy bars" He looked back to the car and feared that they were in the same danger as well. He may have been lost, but they could still survive. He yelled at the top of his lungs, "Go! Go without me, you'll be killed!" The car didn't move.
He yelled again, "I said drive damn it, save yourselves! The hunters have us surrounded!" He knew the hunters were probably encircling his position by now, peering at him with their lizard-like eyes as they ran like blood-thirsty demons from the pits of hell itself. Axl spat thinking about it. He was probably going to end up as food for them. However, he was given reason to smile as the car's engine revved and traveled again at high speed down the street. As it passed the gas tanker, Axl thought he saw something fly from the window, but didn't mind it.
"Thank Godat least my life wasn't wasted. Somebody made it out of here" Axl turned to face the hunters, grinning, "Now it's time to dance you bio-freaks and I'm not going down without talking some of you with me!" But something was wrong as he scanned the buildings, the sudden unexpected turn of events causing him break from his tension with his confusion.
The hunters surrounding him were gone. No noise, no sign of any of them. Were his injuries causing him to hallucinate?
"II don't understandwhy wouldn't they have tried to kill me off already?" His mind took advantage of the lull in the fighting, taking any chance he could get. He looked over the ground in an almost frenzied manner until he laid his eyes on his AK-47, off by the fallen tanker a short run ahead. He clumsily ran and grabbed his rifle lying in the middle of the street, falling to his knees as he brought it to his side. He steadied himself as he quickly placed a fresh clip into the gun, trying to ignore the pain of his wound as he held the weapon.
However, the sound of a car's tires screeched again, followed by a crashing noise and metal crunching, capturing his attention. Without tearing his gaze from his weapon, he dared not to look, but had no doubt. He forced himself to look up, having to know for certain. Almost 400 feet away he saw the black humvee under a large, humanoid monster with huge black plated scales all over it's body. It had stuck its right claw into the engine. He could hear the screams of the people inside.
Axl stood in shock as the monster pulled its claw out of the car's engine, instantly triggering an explosion that wiped out the vehicle in a fireball, silencing the cries he heard. The monster disappeared in flames.
A few inaudible sounds fell from his lips as he stared in disbelief. It didn't even feel real. "It'snot fair" Axl whispered. He continued to look at the burning wreck, realizing this was reality and yelled at it in anger, "It's not fair!!! You were supposed to live!" He felt his heart sting as fell to his knees, "Oh Godyou were supposed to live"
Through the tears that welled in his eyes he watched the fires burn. He wasn't going to go and check, he knew they were all dead. He felt the strength leave his legs, either from sorrow or the blood that continued to flow. "Gary, Reginalittle KatieThey're all gone" But before a single tear fell he saw a tall dark figure emerge from the flames, triggering a pure hatred he'd felt before only against Wesker.
"Murderer" Axl could feel the rage burn fiercely within him as he clenched his fists, giving back the energy lost. The black-plated monster he saw destroy the car walked from the intense heat virtually unscathed, followed by two T-002 Tyrants into clear view.
Axl couldn't believe it. "It'sa Tyrant?" His eyes grew wide as he saw the Black Tyrant raise its arm, pointing right at him and heard a roar in a low, gurgling pitch that he had never heard before. The Tyrant to its right dashed forward, heading toward Axl.
"Itit commands other virals?! No! Nothing the T-Virus produces has the intelligence for such a thing! It can't be capable of complex thoughts!!" Axl rose quickly, his thoughts retracing the irregularities he'd witnessed. The mass of attacking zombies at the apartment, the coordinated attacks by the MA-121's, the command of the lesser TyrantThough he thought it impossible, that thing truly had power over the Viralsand could reason on its own.
Axl couldn't dwell on it for long as the Tyrant sent after him rapidly closed the distance between them. Axl glared, the memory of the family's death now burned into his heart. He took the Kalashnikov, leaving the strap over his shoulder, knowing his injuries would not permit him to hold it up with his own strength. He gripped the trigger with his right hand, holding the rifle steady with this left.
His emotion took second priority as he breathed in and remained cool while he watched the Tyrant approach. Axl waited, despite his nerves feeling shattered.
Knowing that he couldn't aim normally, he was forced to wait. It took everything he had to keep him from firing too early, especially because of the fears that came from his now weakened state. "Come oncome onNOW!" The Tyrant had come close enough for Axl to accurately shoot while holding his weapon as he was. He pulled the trigger back, letting loose a stream of bullet-fire, the rounds hitting a wide area on the Tyrant's torso and extremities as Axl himself stayed as unmoving as a rock. Even as the onslaught of lead shredded the Tyrant's flesh, it still ran undaunted at the injured Agent. Axl too, did not flinch as he held the trigger down. It was kill or be killed.
The Tyrant came closer and closer as the clip approached its last bullet. But just as Axl's weapon ran out of ammunition, the behemoth collapsed still in mid-run and fell with a sickly thud onto the concrete, sliding almost to Axl's feet, dead.
Axl looked up from the dead viral to the Black Tyrant, who seemed to stare back, smiling from so far away. Axl was in no condition to fight, he had to escape now before it decided to come after him too - even if it meant he had to pass up on revenge, for now. With Rebecca still to save, now was no time for a personal vendetta. He shook his head while still holding his palm against the holes in his shoulder, trying to keep his thoughts straight.
Off by the tanker sat a Harley-Davidson motorcycle. It was a newer model, so Axl didn't recognize the exact type, but that didn't matter. Axl ran toward it, praying to God it had fuel. Once by the cycle, he placed his right hand on it and checked the fuel gauge. It was full, prompting him to beam despite the bleak situation.
"Well saints be praised, yes! Finally something goes my way!" He gave a weak arm pump, as he was still feeling the affects from the continuous loss of blood. Before he got on, he saw what the family had thrown out the window before they sped offRick's backpack.
Axl grabbed it and held it up. "They wanted me to have this" He closed his eyes and threw the strap over his uninjured shoulder. "I swear to avenge your death and succeed in this mission. By every ounce of strength, as long as there is a drop of blood in my body" He saw the Black Tyrant begin to move towards him, first walking, then breaking into a swift run. It was twice as fast as the other Tyrant, but Axl had enough time to get away as he jumped onto the cycle and revved it.
Axl then remembered what he was next to: A huge, 4,000 gallon tanker with probably the only gasoline left in the part of the city.
He looked again to the Dark Tyrant and smiled. He took out one of his grenades and pulled the pin, dropping it at the base of the huge container for the fuel and raced down the street away from the Black Tyrant on his new Bike.
As he sped away, he looked over his shoulder to the tanker, the monster just reaching it. The grenade detonated, igniting the entire truck in a massive explosion, leveling everything in a huge radius. Axl faced forward again, knowing he'd have to get as far from there as possible and find a way to patch his wounds before he fell into a critical state. At least now, he was able to make up for lost time with his motorcycle. He gave a loud whoop and brought the rim of his hat down a bit more.
"Never fear, Miss Chambers. Your Knight has found his horse."
-
The King Tyrant only watched, its horrid face curling with what could be best described as a smile as the flames licked at its entire body. It had never known pain in its life, and learning was one if its main desires. Its body bled, cracked and open all over, but with the brain intact it knew it would survive. The King Tyrant waved one of his claws in the direction the V-Hunter went, making another noise as a signal. Following its motion, the hunters that had disappeared earlier emerged from their hiding places and ran down the street, chasing after Axl.
It spoke to itself in its own corrupt language, translating roughly into an interest in the challenge this human posed and how it will enjoy ending its life.
