Familiar Evil (ZnT/Resident Evil)
Chapter 16: Malformation

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"SHIT, SHIT, SHIT!" Saito shouted at the top of his lungs as he hastily backed away, practically slam-firing his shotgun towards Birkin. Beside him Louise was doing the same thing with her rifle, but their combined fire was doing absolutely nothing to the monstrosity as it simply shrugged off the wounds and kept advancing.

Birkin roared as he swung his pipe around like a club, clanging against the metal and concrete around them in a berserk attempt to get at them. Sparks and small chunks of debris were flying everywhere, and a few of the pipes surrounding them were burst under the blows, sending out clouds of steam that obscured their vision somewhat. But the teenagers could still see Birkin's massive form silhouetted behind the cloud, the eye on its shoulder hungrily peering out at them and promising nothing but pain and torment should they get caught.

"FUCK!" Saito cursed as he finally ran out of shotgun shells, forcing him to shift the entire weight of the long gun to his left hand while he pulled out his Glock with his right. He desperately fired towards the creature, hoping to drive it off, but the 9mm bullets were doing substantially less damage than the 12-gauge shotgun shells he had just exhausted. Beside him, he noticed Louise had similarly swapped out her Mini-14 for her .38 Special revolver, and it too had negligible effect.

If it wasn't obvious before, it was readily apparent now that there was no hope of driving this thing off, much less defeating it. Unlike Gorge, any wound Birkin did suffer was almost immediately healed as though it never happened in the first place. It reminded Saito of Wolverine's healing factor from his X-Men comic books, which was a terrifying thought to say the least. No, if they were to have any hope of getting out of this alive, they needed to lose Birkin entirely in the maze-like sewers, which was easier said than done.

"SHERRY!" Birkin wailed, his voice nearly incomprehensible behind the monstrous roars as he kept approaching them, each foot slamming against the concrete floor with enough force to echo throughout the hallway. Both teenagers continued to fire their weapons at him, only pausing to reload.

"I'M ALMOST OUT!" Louise screamed as she shakily slid her newly acquired speed loaders into her revolver's cylinders, missing them a few times before managing to successfully insert the ammunition.

"ME, TOO!" Saito replied, shouting at the top of his lungs as he inserted his last magazine into his Glock 17. He held off on firing, though, knowing that it would be pointless. Instead, the young boy rapidly shifted his gaze, trying to find an avenue of escape.

After a few desperate moments of searching, he spotted the dead body of another USS operative next to a closed door adjacent to a hallway. Strapped to his chest was a pair of flashbang grenades, and an idea immediately sprang to his mind. Saito sprinted towards the dead body, Louise running behind him after a brief moment of confusion.

"COVER YOUR EARS!" Saito screamed as he pushed Louise towards the door. As soon as she made contact with the metal frame, she realized what Saito was going for and started to open it. At the time same, Saito pulled the pin of the flashbang grenade then tossed it at Birkin's feet. His warped mind didn't even acknowledge the tossed projectile, and he continued to advance while Saito quickly closed his eyes, covered his ears, and averted his gaze.

A moment later, the flashbang went off, filling the hallway with an intense white light and a deafening noise. Saito and Louise's earplugs protected them from the majority of the noise, but there was still a faint ringing that luckily went away after a few seconds. Birkin, however, had no such protection and his massive eye was caught right in the blast. He roared in pain, stumbling about while swinging his pipe around wildly. More sparks, steam, and chunks of debris were knocked off the walls with each impact, but for the moment he was incapacitated.

"IN HERE!" Louise hissed as she threw open the door then dragged Saito in. They slammed the door and locked it behind them, then toppled a nearby metal shelf in front of the door to serve as a makeshift barricade. They then quickly took stock of their surroundings. The teenagers were in what appeared to be a supply closet, a few lockers lining one of the walls alongside some shelving and cardboard boxes filled with miscellaneous junk. On the opposite wall was another door, leading to parts unknown.

"Saito, where do we go?!" Louise desperately begged, shooting her wide eyes towards Saito. Just as he prepared to answer, however, they heard a loud bang coming from the door behind them. Their attentions were briefly drawn towards it, and they watched as more impacts caused to door to bend and break inward, rattling their makeshift barricade alongside it.

"…Shit," Saito mumbled as he backed up, sliding his shotgun into his backpack and aiming his pistol towards the door. Louise, meanwhile, ran to the other door in order to open it, but as soon as she did she slammed it shut again in a panic.

"There's zombies on the other side!" she revealed, causing Saito to bite back another curse. A moment later, they began to hear impacts coming from behind the other door, accompanied by moans of the undead.

They were trapped with no way out, and each slam against the doors told them that they were running out of time. Saito desperately looked around, trying to find some way out of this mess. That was when he settled his gaze onto the lockers, then he ran towards them.

"Hide in here!" Saito hissed as he threw a locker open and raked out the items inside.

"Are you crazy?!" Louise shouted in response while she, too, did the same thing.

"We don't have any other options!" Saito pointed out, causing Louise to curse in acknowledgement.

As soon as the lockers were cleared, they closed the doors shut behind them. It wasn't a moment too soon as, just as they settled in, Birkin finally knocked down the door, tossed away the barricade like it wasn't even there, and entered the room with a monstrous roar. His roars settled into a growl as he noticed that seemingly no one else was in the room with him, but behind the slits of the lockers both Saito and Louise could watch his every movement. Saito was holding his left hand up to his mouth in an attempt to stifle his rapid, heavy breathing while holding his pistol up with his right. The last thing he needed was to make a sound. If either him or Louise did and Birkin noticed them, they were dead. While he couldn't see Louise, he had to assume she was doing the same thing.

Birkin continued to prowl throughout the room, slowly searching every nook and cranny to find his wayward prey. His head was flopping uselessly while his upper body swiveled back and forth, the large eye on his shoulder gazing outward with a predatory intensity Saito had never seen before. When the eye passed over into his direction, he fought back the urge to move his head. There wasn't much space in this locker, and any movement might make a noise or otherwise catch Birkin's attention. Still, as the eye swayed over the lockers, he could feel his heart thundering in his chest, and his muffled breathing grew shallower and more frantic. When Birkin took a step forward, he was half prepared to start firing, but luckily Birkin's attention was drawn elsewhere. He had to stop himself from sighing in relief when Birkin turned away, but that relief did little to settle the fear gripping his heart.

That was when the second door was finally knocked down, causing a pair of zombies to shamble inside. Birkin's attention was immediately drawn to them, and with a roar he ran over and began to tear them apart. One had its head completely caved in with just a few swings of his pipe, while the other was hurled into a shelving unit. The blow caused the shelf to topple over, spilling its contents onto the floor and the two monsters in the room. Birkin didn't care, instead grabbing the zombie by the back of the head and repeatedly slamming it face first into the wall. Each impact and crunch increasingly sounded wetter and wetter, and by the time Birkin was done there wasn't anything recognizable on the zombie's face anymore. As the lifeless body slumped to the ground, Birkin stood over it and roared, then released another cry.

"SHERRY!" Birkin wailed, then stomped away through the back door deeper into the sewers.

For several minutes, Saito and Louise remained absolutely still in the lockers, refusing to move while they could still hear Birkin. Only when his movements became a distant echo did they find the courage to quietly exit, and they rejoined each other in the middle of the room.

"Louise, are you okay?" Saito asked, and Louise quickly nodded while shooting her eyes towards the broken-down doors.

"Yeah, I'm fine," she answered, breathing heavily in an attempt to calm herself. "What do we do?"

"We get the hell outta here, that's what we do," Saito said as he pulled out the map of the sewers, made a clear space on the ground by sliding the fallen objects aside with his foot, then placed the map on the ground. Upon hearing a distant wail, he and Louise briefly turned their heads in its direction, then returned their attention to the paper map.

"Okay, we are…here," Saito said, running his finger along the map before tapping it on the supply closet they were taking refuge in. Grabbing a discarded red sharpie, Saito drew a path through the hallways and tunnels to the service elevator they were trying to get to, then tapped his finger at their final destination.

"The service elevator is right here, and I think this is our most direct path," he added, and Louise nodded while resting on her knee beside him.

"What about Birkin?" she pointed out, and Saito frowned.

"We run and hide. I think that's all we can do, honestly," Saito said, releasing a heavy sigh.

Louise frowned next to him, then nodded and whispered, "Just…what happened to him? And who's Sherry?"

"I don't know," Saito admitted as he shook his head. "Clearly he was infected by…something, but I don't know what. Sherry was probably someone he knew back when he was normal, most likely a girl based off the name. Anymore than that, I have no idea. Could've been his friend, coworker, boss, wife, child…"

Saito trailed off and paused, released a sigh and added, "I suppose it doesn't really matter. Whoever Birkin was before this, he's gone now. All that's left is that…thing."

He frowned while clenching his fist, his mind swirling over Birkin's condition. His thoughts regarding the fallen scientist were somewhat mixed. Based off the lone piece of information they had about him before his transformation, along with some appropriate deduction, it was clear that Birkin was far from an innocent party in this. The way he lovingly talked about his G-Virus, how he tried to steal it from Umbrella. How he caused Raccoon City to fall in the first place. While Birkin didn't say anything regarding the T-Virus, Saito wouldn't be surprised if he at least worked on it in some capacity before his attempted defection. As far as Saito was concerned, Birkin was both directly and indirectly responsible for every single death in Raccoon City, and he could burn in Hell for all he cared. But, at the exact same time, no one deserved the fate and unending torture he'd succumbed to. Despite everything Birkin may have done, seeing him in that state made Saito feel sorry for him.

Still, he couldn't focus on that now. Instead, Saito released another sigh, shook his head, then folded the map back up and placed it in his backpack. As he stood upright, he said, "Come on, let's get out of here."

Louise nodded as she stood up as well, and together the two left through the door Birkin had broken down. Briefly pausing by the fallen USS soldier, Saito scavenged a few shotgun shells and 9mm bullets for his handgun. There wasn't a whole lot, only five shells and just enough bullets for another full magazine. Another box of 9mm Short ammunition was recovered by Louise, but it would be useless to them for now.

Hearing yet another wail, this time accompanied by heavy footsteps that were drawing closer, Saito and Louise took off at a brisk pace, following the path that would hopefully take them to salvation.


It soon became apparent that Birkin had already come through this area before. Mangled and crushed bodies were everywhere, the walls and floors stained in red blood. Not all of the victims were zombies. Several were just regular people, distinguished by their faces frozen in pain and terror. Clearly they, like Saito and Louise, had the same idea of escaping the apocalypse above in the sewers below, only to find that it was far worse than what they were fleeing from. Every so often they would find chunks of concrete and metal dented and broken, and most alarmingly were massive claw marks that cut through the dense and hard materials like they were made of tissue paper. Each display told Saito and Louise more and more of the terrifying power that Birkin wielded, or more accurately was controlled by.

Saito had been thinking about it more and more the further they crept their way through the sewers, keeping their eyes and ears peeled for any sign of either Birkin, a zombie, or any other monster that called the sewers home. When they first saw the scientist, he appeared to be in agonizing pain but somewhat able to control himself. At least to the point where he could beg for a mercy kill. But then Saito actually tried to honor that request, and ever since Birkin's head had mostly been limp aside from the occasional wail and roar. More importantly, that eye on his shoulder remained open and cognizant, a stark contrast to his actual head.

He didn't have any concrete proof, and he doubted that he ever would. But, from where Saito was standing, it seemed as though whatever Birkin got infected by, most likely the G-Virus, was now controlling him, using his body like a meat puppet while warping and twisting his mind to its own ends. It was less of a virus and more like a parasite, which frightened him even more than the T-Virus. The idea of being conscious but unable to control yourself, a passenger in your own body, was a terrifying concept to say the least. It also raised the specter of what other monstrous things existed in this world that could do what the G-Virus did, which wasn't a thought he particularly wanted to dwell on.

"Shh," Louise hissed while crouching to her knee and holding up her left hand, her right holding her Smith and Wesson revolver down towards the ground. Saito immediately did as instructed, and soon he could make out dull shuffling sounds coming from the other room.

Creeping around a corner, careful to make as little noise as possible, they spotted a pair of zombies wandering aimlessly further down. Neither had noticed them yet, with one repeatedly walking into the wall and leaving a faint bloodstain where the face kept making contact. But the zombies were in their way, which presented a problem.

Louise slowly began to aim her revolver towards the nearest zombie's head, but before she could pull the trigger Saito gently pulled her arm away.

"Don't. It might tell him where we are," Saito whispered. There was also the fact that they didn't have much ammunition left and they needed to conserve it, but that was obvious to both of them.

Louise looked at Saito for a moment, then nodded in understanding before holstering her weapon. She then pulled out her hatchet just as Saito unsheathed his knife. Together they crept towards the zombies, their eyes focused and their grips tight on their weapons. Louise reached the first zombie before Saito did, and she immediately chopped her hatchet into the back of its head. As it fell down, she followed through with a few more blows to the neck, decapitating it entirely. Saito, meanwhile, kept going to the second zombie, reaching it just as it turned around and noticed them. The boy proceeded to stab the zombie right into its crushed face, the blade of his knife digging into the walking carcass all the way to the hilt. Its lifeless eyes stared into Saito's, then he tightened his grip on his knife before kicking the corpse away. The zombie's body fell to the ground with a dull thud, black blood seeping out of the wound as the limbs spasmed for a few moments before finally going still.

Saito couldn't help but stare at the lifeless corpse for a few moments, its blood dripping from his knife onto his shoe. Only when Louise walked up and patted him on his shoulder did he return to his senses. He nodded at his friend, then wiped the blade clean on the zombie's shirt before sheathing it and walking away. In the distance, they could still hear Birkin's loud, heavy footsteps which seemed to phase through the walls, but it didn't seem as though he knew where they were just yet. Hoping to keep it that way for the time being, the pair pressed forward, moving as quietly as they possibly could.

The next few hallways were relatively empty. A few zombies here and there impeded their progress, but the pair made short, silent work of them with their melee weapons. Idly, Saito noted that they'd probably have to find something to sharpen their weapons' edges eventually. For now they were fine, but even the sharpest blade could grow dull. Unless said blade was magically enchanted, according to Louise, but such a thing was beyond them. They'd have to find a rock or, preferably, a knife sharpener, something to make sure that their weapons wouldn't break while they were using them against a zombie.

Eventually, though, their luck ran out, and they began to hear Birkin's footsteps far more clearly as they entered a sewer junction where several hallways intersected each other all at once. The echoing noise made it difficult to determine which direction Birkin was coming from, but Saito and Louise were able to hide themselves in a small alcove just as the monster entered view. Birkin was clearly agitated, repeatedly banging his pipe on the ground while letting out low growls and turning his upper body back and forth. Both teenagers kept themselves low, Saito holding his Glock in one hand and the remaining flashbang in the other while Louise kept both hands on her revolver.

After a few tense moments, Birkin began to walk further down the adjacent hallway, prompting Saito and Louise to creep forward and see which way he was going. Peeking their eyes around the corner, they watched Birkin pause at the end of the hallway then turn left. Knowing that route took him back around to where they were currently staying, Saito and Louise turned right and went down the hallway Birkin came in from. It took them away from their actual destination, in fact they needed to go where Birkin just went, but right now avoiding Birkin was their highest priority.

Saito's heartbeat was going at a mile a minute, thundering in his chest as he focused all his attention on trying to figure out exactly where Birkin was and where he was going. Louise was taking point while Saito covered the rear, occasionally glancing backward to make sure nothing was coming towards them. When they reached the end of their current section, he could hear Birkin's footsteps grow louder and his shadow grow on the wall on the opposite end of the hallway, prompting him and Louise to throw themselves behind the next corner. He didn't dare peek his head out, but he could tell Birkin was standing on the other side, making his way towards them.

Shimmying down the wall, they turned the corner back towards the central junction as Birkin approached their previous location. Spying the large metal door that was luckily adjacent, they were tempted to just run straight towards it. But they knew doing so would attract too much attention, so instead they continued snaking their way through the junction. They could hear Birkin's stomps, growls, and raspy breathing, keeping them on edge and making the hairs on the backs of their necks stand on end. As they approached the outermost corridor nearest to the exit, they caught a glimpse of Birkin's back as he tried to figure out where they were.

Saito bit back as a curse as he and Louise pressed their backs against the wall. So far, Birkin wasn't moving anywhere, but that didn't matter since he was right in their way. They needed to lure him away somehow, but he didn't know how to do that without putting themselves in danger. Then, from the corner of his eye, he noticed Louise bend down to pick up something by her feet, coming back up with a small chunk of concrete that Birkin had previously chipped off a nearby wall. She silently held it up to him before glancing down the hallway they originally entered through, and after a moment he nodded in understanding before taking it. Creeping his way towards that entrance, holding the chunk of concrete in his hand, he lined up a shot then threw it like a baseball as hard as he could towards a mass of pipes on the other end.

Thanks to his years of experience being a pitcher for his high school baseball team, his aim was true and a resounding bang echoed through the hallway and junction. Immediately they heard Birkin respond to the noise, and Saito threw himself behind a corner as Birkin sprinted right past him.

"SHERRY!" Birkin cried, searching near the pipes for his wayward prey.

Saito, meanwhile, slipped back into the junction as silently as possible while keeping his attention squarely on Birkin. Only when he passed the corner did he turn around and hasten his pace, soon rejoining Louise who had hidden herself behind a corner of an adjacent hallway as Birkin had run past without noticing her. Together they made their way to the exit, then slipped through the adjacent door to the other side. Noticing that it had a heavy and manual lock, the two teenagers pushed as hard as they could until it slammed shut. They then turned the wheel to the right, locking the clamps down and sealing the junction off. A moment later, they heard Birkin roar and slam himself against the door, but unlike the supply closet this one was made of much sturdier stuff. Try as he might, Birkin was unable to break the door down, and all he could do was roar in frustration.

"Thank the Founder, he can't get through that…" Louise let out a sigh of relief while hanging her head.

"Yeah, for now," Saito mentioned, then sharply tilted his head back behind them and added, "Come on, let's get out of here before he finds a way through."

"Right…" Louise replied, and together the two turned around and walked off at a quick but steady pace. Part of Saito wanted to just run away as fast as he could, but that would expend precious energy that they needed to conserve as much as possible. Still, with each bang against the metal they heard behind them, he couldn't help but increase his pace ever so slightly.

Aside from the constant banging of metal which eventually faded into the background, the next few hallways, rooms, and corridors were mostly quiet. It was obvious that Birkin had come through this area as well, given all the freshly mangled bodies littering the floor. Some were so damaged that it was impossible to determine what, exactly, they used to be before Birkin got to them. But neither Saito nor Louise focused on that for too long, instead deciding to keep going while paying more attention to both potential threats and useful resources.

Luckily, anything that was threatening was long since already killed, but unfortunately there wasn't a whole lot of supplies to go around either. All they really found were a few bags of ground up herbs, empty beer bottles, and a short hose. Louise initially simply walked right past the latter two, seeing them as nothing more than useless junk, but then Saito pointed out that they could actually be used either to create distractions or, if they managed to find some gasoline, Molotov cocktails. If they stayed around to search more thoroughly, they possibly could find something more directly useful, but they had to work with the limitations they had.

"Ah, crap," Saito cursed under his breath as they came across a walkway that went over a river of sewer water.

The path forked into two parallel lanes, each one blocked off by a series of locked gates and separated by a short gap. The lanes appeared to snake their way through the relatively open space, and the stench of death and decay coming from the water below burned their nostrils. A dead body of a sewer worker was leaning against a railing, a battery pack similar to the one they found earlier hooked up to his vest. With Louise already holding onto the original, Saito looted the second battery pack and the tool belt the worker had. It was in fairly good condition, and would allow him to hold small objects more easily if he needed to.

Quickly looking between the two lanes, Saito tilted his head sharply towards the left one and said, "Come on, follow me."

"Alright," Louise replied, momentarily pausing to look behind her shoulder at the echo of another bang coming from somewhere deeper in the sewers. If she strained her ears, she could almost hear Birkin's mournful lamentations, but she didn't know if she was just imagining it.

Unfortunately, a problem immediately revealed itself when he placed their newly obtained battery pack into the slot. Instead of opening the door right in front of them, the door on the right path opened. Feeling his frustration already building, Saito led Louise through the newly opened door. After rounding one short turn then another, they came across another door with a similar lock. She placed her battery pack into the open slot, but although they heard something open, it was not the door in front of them. At first the pair of teenagers looked at each other in mild confusion, then they turned around and looked at where they came from where they saw that the first door on the left was now open.

"…Are you kidding me?" Louise muttered under her breath as her eye twitched. "Who in their right mind…?"

Saito couldn't help but let out a groan as well, then he declared, "We'll work with it."

"Uggh, I can already tell this is going to be a pain," Louise grumbled, then remained where she was as Saito doubled back and went through the open door. He grabbed his battery pack along the way, trapping Louise between the two locked doors until he was able to reach his second.

Briefly pausing in front of the second lock, Saito was worried that something would go wrong and they would have to find another route. Luckily for him, placing the pack into the lock opened the door next to Louise, allowing her to safely grab her battery pack and press forward. Watching his friend walk down the long, narrow pathway, Saito tried to ascertain just why the hell such a convoluted locking mechanism was designed in the first place. This section of the sewer didn't appear to be housing something important. Perhaps they were just trying to limit foot traffic? Whatever their alien reasons were, Saito supposed it also didn't really matter. What did was just getting through it, and as soon as Louise unlocked his door he pressed forward.

Once he reached the third lock, however, he noticed a new problem. The third door had two battery pack slots, one on each side of the frame. Glancing over at Louise, whose door also had this feature, he carefully inserted his pack into the left slot. As he feared, Louise's door did not open, causing her to look at him in alarm.

"…God…dammit," Saito cursed, then gestured towards himself with his arm at Louise. "Gimme your pack, I think I need to use both here."

Louise glanced at her door, then nodded at Saito as she took it out, held it in her hands, and replied, "Okay."

Carefully gripping the railing, Louise leaned over and held out the battery pack as far as she could. Saito leaned forward as well, trying to reach it. But the gap, which had grown a fair bit from the initial doors, was too wide, leaving at least a foot of space between them.

"It's too far," Louise said, shooting her head back when they hard a bang coming from deep in the sewers behind them.

"I know, I know," Saito replied while shaking his head, then held out both of his arms. "You're gonna have to throw it to me."

"But it's heavy, and I can't throw things very far! What if I drop it?" Louise pointed out, and Saito pointed to the entrance to the current room where the sound could be heard emanating from.

"We don't have much of a choice, Louise. Now toss me the battery pack. Don't worry, I'll catch it," he tried to assuage her worries. His words didn't seem to do much, but after a moment Louise took a deep gulp, swung her arm back and forth in Saito's direction a few times, then underhand-tossed it across the gap towards Saito. The boy had to sharply lean out to catch it by the cord, but he was able to prevent it from falling into the river below.

Letting out a sigh of relief, Saito inserted the battery pack into the second slot, allowing Louise to pass through the now open door. After a few moments, though, he heard her voice call out, "Saito, the door here has two locks as well!"

"Crap!" Saito cursed as he looked at the open door Louise was back in front of. If he took out his battery packs to toss them over, it would be nearly impossible for Louise to get them from behind a closed door. They were effectively stuck for the moment, and the young boy wracked his mind in an attempt to find a solution.

"Hey, our walkways are pretty close over there," Louise pointed out, pointing towards a walkway that was beside and above her own. "I think if I open your door first, I can toss the packs up to you there."

"Yeah, yeah, I see what you mean," Saito replied, taking the two packs out and tossing them to Louise, which was much easier for him than it was for her. She still dropped the second pack, but his aim took it onto the walkway so there was no danger.

Placing the two packs into the slots, Louise opened Saito's door and allowed him to pass through. Once he reached the railing next to Louise, he reached down to grab the two packs so that he could insert them into the next door. There was a slight issue of how Louise could get past the still locked third door, but she bravely decided to clamber over and aside the railing to completely bypass it. She nearly slipped while doing so, but she was able to get past regardless.

The last two doors followed the same pattern. Saito would use his packs to unlock the doors for Louise, then toss them down to her so that she could unlock the last door for him. When they finally reunited at the end of the hallway, they briefly hugged each other in relief before turning towards the final exit. There they found two adjacent slots for battery packs and, when they slid them in, the thick, heavy door unlocked. They passed through and, unable to grab the packs without shutting the door on them, left the packs behind completely before moving deeper into the sewers.


Luckily, there weren't any more locked doors in front of them. Rather, there were, but either Birkin or something else already knocked them down. Louise tried not to think about it too much as they passed through each successive wreckage, but she did grip her revolver more tightly in her hands. Otherwise she kept her attention on their surroundings, trying to spot any threats or dangers lurking nearby. For the most part it was empty, only the mangled corpses of undead abominations left behind after Birkin's earlier rampage. A few did manage to escape his wrath, but Saito and Louise made short work of them before moving on.

"Do you think he got past that door?" Louise asked as she briefly paused by the body of another sewer worker, grabbing his tool belt and wrapping it around her waist while sifting through its contents. All she found was a small steel flip lighter, and a quick test showed that it still had fuel inside.

"Most likely," Saito replied as he looked behind them. They hadn't heard Birkin slamming against the metal door in a while, but it was impossible to determine whether that was because they had gotten too far from it, Birkin had broken the door down, or he simply went somewhere else.

Louise figured it didn't really matter. In situations like this, it was best to hope for the best but plan for the worst. Shaking her head, she returned her attention to the worker, specifically the gaping hole in his chest. A hole that, much like the body they found just before meeting Pete, was blown outward. There wasn't a hole in his back, leaving it a mystery as to what, exactly, killed him. He didn't seem to sport any bite marks. A few bruises and scratches, yes, but nothing indicative of a normal zombie attack. It was odd, to say the least, and more than a little disconcerting.

Shaking her head, Louise stood up and said, "Come on, let's get going."

"Right," Saito replied, then led the way forward. The sewer lights were dimmed or otherwise not working in their current section, forcing Saito to hold out his flashlight to see where they were going. It also added to the claustrophobic atmosphere they found themselves in, and even though they weren't in any danger at the moment, Louise couldn't help but feel her heartbeat thundering in her chest.

Desperate to keep her mind off of things, Louise glanced towards the glass beer bottles Saito had stowed away on the side pockets of his backpack and asked, "Hey, Saito?"

"Yeah?" Saito asked but otherwise didn't look back at her.

"Earlier you said we could use those bottles to make Molotov cocktails. They're firebombs, right?"

"Yep. They're makeshift and are super easy to put together. All you need is some gasoline, alcohol, or any flammable liquid, a glass bottle, and some cloth to stuff into the hole. You light the cloth, throw the bottle, and boom; everything is on fire. Hell, it gets even better if you mix Styrofoam into the mix. Basically turns it into napalm."

"I get that, but…why is it called a Molotov cocktail?"

"That's actually a funny story," Saito explained as he carefully pushed open a door, holding his pistol out and sweeping the next room for any threats. When he saw that the coast was clear, he tilted his head towards Louise, telling her to follow him inside. "Back in 1939, when the Soviet Union invaded Finland, their foreign minister at the time was a guy named Molotov. The Soviets bombed Finland with incendiaries, and he claimed that they weren't actually bombs but were 'airborne humanitarian food aid for their starving neighbors.'"

"That's stupid. Why would anyone believe that?" Louise incredulously asked.

"No idea, but obviously the Finns didn't believe him. They started calling Soviet incendiaries 'Molotov bread baskets' to make fun of him. Later, when they made their makeshift firebombs, they called them Molotov cocktails to be 'a drink that goes with his food parcels.' The name stuck."

"…Huh, that's interesting," Louise admitted with a short nod.

"More importantly, they're useful. Obviously we'd have to be careful, but killing things with fire tends to work out pretty well. If Dr. Kenner's research is right, fire might be one of the only things that can permanently put a zombie down," Saito declared, and Louise nodded in agreement. He then briefly paused to look around the dark room, seeing only dust particles floating in the air underneath flickering overhead lights. Louise could tell that he was just as scared as she was, and was only barely keeping it together.

Her suspicion was confirmed when Saito started going again, then he asked, "So, uh, do you mind if I ask you something…personal?"

"Whatever takes our minds off things, sure," Louise answered, eager to keep the conversation going. Otherwise she'd have to focus on the horror of the situation they were in, and she'd rather keep this calm going for as long as possible.

"Right, okay… So, on Earth, nobles tended to have a bit of a problem with inbreeding."

"We have that problem, too. Now I know the reason why," Louise admitted. "I think we already talked about this."

"I know, but… it's just that I've been giving it some more thought. Kinda all I can do right now when we're not exactly running for our lives," Saito pointed out. "What I'm trying to say is that…on your world, only nobles have magic and they only marry other nobles. They've been doing so for thousands of years."

"You're asking if a child between a noble and a commoner would have magic, aren't you?" Louise interrupted him, and after a moment Saito nodded. She nodded back, seeing it as an appropriate question. It was one she was pondering too, and thought back to everything she knew to provide as accurate an answer as possible.

"Well, obviously it's not unheard of for nobles and commoners to have illegitimate children. Most noble marriages are political, and taking an outside lover is common. My parents never did since they were lucky and married for love, but I can't say the same for most of our peers. More importantly, the history of our people held by the Church actually maintains that when Brimir's people, the Markey, were exiled to Halkegenia by the elves they did intermarry with the local nonmagical population who later became commoners."

"Really? Why'd they stop?" Saito curiously asked. The word 'Markey' sounded familiar to him, and for a moment he wondered where he'd heard it from, but then decided to stay focused on Louise's explanation.

"For one, class differences," Louise curtly replied. "We're taught that Halkegenia was a hostile place to humans, filled with wild beasts and dangerous spirits, before the Markey arrived. In exchange for guarantees of protection, the natives swore allegiance and servitude. In time, the Markey became nobles, and the natives became commoners."

"Yeah, that tracks," Saito admitted with a nod, and Louise nodded back.

She then continued, "The other, more pressing issue is that, according to the Church's extensive records, it was found that a union between a mage and commoner didn't produce magical offspring. Sometimes their grandchildren or further descendants would have magic, but it was rare, and only if they had mages in both of their bloodlines. They feared that commoner blood 'diluted' magical blood and would cause it to eventually disappear. Given how important magic is to our people, they didn't want that to happen."

"Oh, I see…" Saito mumbled while trailing off. "Why do you think that's the case?"

"I don't know, but I do have a theory," Louise declared. "Based off my research into genetics here, it's obvious that magic is tied to a gene my people have. That gene is most likely recessive."

"And you need two copies of a recessive gene to express that trait," Saito muttered, remembering his lessons from his high school biology class.

"Exactly," Louise said with a firm nod. "My people didn't understand genetics at all, and I barely do, but that's what I think is going on. After six thousand years, I wouldn't be surprised if every commoner has at least one copy of that gene in them, but they're probably mostly dominant so they wouldn't be able to perform magic at all even if they tried. Some might have both of their genes be recessive, and be able to cast magic if they knew to try, but no one really looks."

At one point, such a thought would've alarmed Louise tremendously. Magic was the basis of their entire political system, the foundation of nobles' dominion over the realm. The ability to cast magic was seen as a gift from the gods, proof that they had the right to rule. The prospect that access to magic was far more complex and potentially more widespread than anyone could've thought would be a massive threat to such a system, potentially invalidating it entirely. But at this point she couldn't really care as there were far more pressing matters to be scared of.

"I suppose that makes sense," Saito admitted. "In that case, since nobles only marry other nobles…how do you try to limit the risk of inbreeding?"

"That's actually one of the Church's primary duties. They keep extensive genealogical records dating back thousands of years," Louise answered. "Since most marriages are political, families will often reach out to the Church to determine whether their bloodlines are too intertwined. If they are, the potential marriage is called off. If they're not, or if the risk is minimal, the marriage can proceed. It's not a perfect system, and not everyone uses that service, but it's helped to keep the damage to a minimum."

"That's good," Saito said with an appreciative nod as he opened another door and descended down a flight of stairs. "Well, when we get out of this place we can—OH MY GOD!"

Saito stopped in his tracks, and his face blanched as he held his hand up to his mouth. Louise didn't see what was going on at first, but then she rounded a corner and almost immediately gagged at the sight before them. They had entered into what used to be another sewer tunnel, but the river of water was severely clogged by a massive wall of red, oozing flesh that looked like massive tumors. The water was stained a dark red as it cut and eroded its way through the flesh, with one large chunk laying in the center of the current like an island, and they could see the remains of what used to be bodies sticking out, including a few outstretched and misshapen limbs. A few moments later, an intense stench slammed into them, and it took all they could not to hurl.

"What…oh, God… What the fuck…?" Saito mumbled, taking a step back as his eyes widened.

"Founder…" Louise whispered, reflexively holding out her revolver towards the mass. Nothing seemed to be moving, but right now she refused to let her guard down for a second. Glancing at Saito, she then quietly asked, "Is…is there any other way?"

Saito was already pulling out and extending the map, staring into it desperately. After a few moments, he looked at her and shook his head, and Louise bit back a curse. A deep, distant wail coming from behind them in the distance further added credence to Saito's claim. Realizing that they had no other option, Louise swallowed a lump in her throat, then gently stepped into the dirty water that went up to her thighs.

"Oh, Founder, I'm going to be sick…" Louise muttered, feeling the dirty water seep into her jeans, socks, and shoes. A moment later, Saito followed her into the water and had a similar reaction. He also swapped out his handgun for his shotgun, prompting Louise to do the same with her rifle.

Pressing their long guns against their chests, ready to bring them up at a moment's notice, the two teenagers waded through the channel of water towards a ledge on the other side. A ladder could be seen going up to a walkway, and through there should be a direct path to the service elevator. Assuming there wasn't another obstacle in their path, but they would only know once they got up there. Each movement in the water created ripples that bounced off the fleshy walls beside them, and Louise shuddered as they passed by the small island of flesh in the channel's center.

Reaching the ledge, Saito climbed up first then helped Louise up to join him. One after the other they climbed up the ladder, bloody water dripping off their clothes onto the ground below. When they reached the metal grated walkway, their footsteps lightly banged against the floor and created a small echo, but they ignored it in favor of the door.

"Crap, it's locked," Saito declared as he tried to turn the knob to no avail. Slamming his fist against the door in frustration, he looked more closely at the lock then said, "We need an actual key."

"If only I had my wand, I could just unlock it," Louise mumbled while pressing her palm against her forehead. Looking around, she spotted another dead body lying on a ledge on the other side of the channel next to a fallen over ladder. The body appeared to be mostly intact, but the neck was tilted at an unnatural angle. It wasn't hard to determine what exactly happened.

"Saito, that guy might have a key or something," Louise said while pointing towards the body. Saito nodded after seeing it, then he walked back towards the ladder and began sliding down.

"Stay here and cover me," Saito requested, and Louise nodded as she rested her rifle against the railing and pressed the stock to her shoulder.

She watched as Saito carefully jumped back down into the water and made his way towards the ledge. Unfortunately, he wasn't able to get a good enough grip on his own to pull himself up as the edge was partially covered by tumorous blobs of flesh. Grimacing at what he had to do, Saito doubled back and reluctantly climbed onto the largest island so that he could walk over.

"Jesus, this is disgusting," Saito called out, each footstep releasing a wet squelch that even Louise could hear. The ground beneath his feet was uneven, making him stumble slightly, but to her relief he was able to get through without much issue.

When he reached the dead body, he crouched beside it and placed his hands beneath its shoulder. With a grunt of exertion, Saito turned the body over and winced as he saw the sewer worker's frozen face. Louise then watched as Saito rummaged through the man's pockets, eventually fishing out a key.

"I found it!" Saito called out as he stood up and prepared to walk back over. "Hang on, I'm-!"

Saito was cut off as the body next to him suddenly lurched, and he immediately jumped back and aimed then fired his shotgun into its head. The corpse's skull immediately turned to red mush, but despite no longer having a head the body continued to twitch and shake.

"What the hell…?" Saito muttered as he backed away and pumped his shotgun, expelling the spent shell which landed by his feet. Louise was also aiming her rifle at the body, careful to keep her weapon pointed away from Saito who was unfortunately in her line of fire.

They watched as the body's chest began to bulge upward violently, going up and down accompanied by the sound of breaking ribs. A moment later, the chest exploded outward as a small, bulbous larva emerged from its host like a Chestburster from Alien. It was covered in blood, a few tentacles coming out of its front with a long, tumorous tail emerging out of the back. The larva was confused for a moment, then it saw the horrified Saito, let out a piercing shriek, and leapt right towards his face.

Saito immediately batted the monstrosity away with his shotgun while releasing a wordless cry. As it slammed against the far wall, Louise fired a salvo of shots from her rifle into it. The first few missed due to the size and distance of the target, but the last managed to pierce right through what she assumed was the larva's head, killing it instantly.

"What the fuck was that?!" Saito yelled as he caught his breath. But before Louise could answer, they heard a low grumble coming from the river, causing both of them to turn towards the source.

To their horror, they watched what they assumed was an island of flesh stand upright, revealing a massive monstrosity that instantly reminded them of Birkin in many ways. The entire body of the creature was misshapen, with the left arm and leg completely covered in massive tumors and bony outgrowths that made it difficult to move freely. The other leg and arm looked more comparatively normal, but was still deathly grey in color and smooth in texture. Its head was at the end of a long, fleshy neck that was devoid of skin, and as it glared at Saito through a pair of milky yellow eyes, its mouth expanded to reveal a lamprey-like maw filled with hundreds of small, razor-sharp teeth and short tentacles coming out of its throat.

"GET OUT OF THERE!" Louise shouted, already firing her rifle into its shoulder. Saito, meanwhile, fired another shell at its face, but all that did was enrage the creature further and prompt it to climb out of the water and drag itself towards him. Saito jumped into the river, making a large and loud splash upon landing, but he only managed to take a few steps before the creature reached out and punched him with its massive left arm.

"GAGH!" Saito yelped in pain as the blow sent him staggering back through the water, nearly submerging him and almost ripping his Ithaca from his grasp. Luckily he was able to keep both his footing and his weapon, and he turned around just as the creature, now back in the water, reached out to grab him.

Trapped in its grip and unable to aim his shotgun, Saito could only watch as the creature, undoubtedly the adult form of the larva that Louise just killed, opened its mouth and attempted to clamp its jaws around his head. He was able to block it with his left arm and push it back slightly, then he quickly unsheathed his knife and jabbed it into its neck. The creature reeled back in pain as it loosened its grip, setting Saito free where he immediately pumped his shotgun again and fired towards the creature.

Once again the blow did nothing, and the monster roared and released a noxious fluid from its mouth. It prepared to charge again, but then the bulbous outer shell on its shoulder exploded under Louise's sustained fire. A massive yellow, clouded eye was exposed as it roared in pain, reflexively trying to shield it from harm. Realizing that was the creature's weakness, Louise reloaded her rifle and kept firing, each bullet hitting the eye and causing a spray of foul yellow ichor to spew out. Saito realized it as well then loaded his last three shells into his shotgun to join his friend in the assault.

Together, they emptied their weapons into the monster's exposed eye, each impact causing the monster to further roar in pain. It attempted to swipe and charge at Saito again, but this time he was ready for it and was able to dodge. Finally, after what felt like an eternity, Saito fired his last shell into the eye while Louise emptied her last magazine, causing the eye to completely burst. Only then did the monster collapse into a heap, letting out a final, raspy breath before expiring.

Saito stood over the creature's corpse, breathing heavily. He momentarily looked up at Louise, then grabbed his knife from the dead creature's neck, sheathed it, and quickly climbed back up the ladder to join her. There was a small cut on his brow along with a bruise on his arm and cheek, but for the most part he was alright. He and Louise quickly hugged each other for a semblance of comfort, then pulled away and returned their attention to its body below.

"What…is that thing?" Louise asked, and Saito grimaced.

"Birkin's kid?" Saito guessed.

Louise figured it was as good an answer as any, but before she could say anything else they heard a loud wail coming from deep in the sewers.

"Oh, Gods…" Louise muttered as the sound grew closer. "He heard us…"

Without missing a beat, Saito ran towards the door and plugged the key into the slot. Turning it to the side, he threw open the now unlocked door and slammed it shut as soon as Louise passed the threshold. Running as fast as they could, they sprinted down the hallway towards what they knew was the service elevator. Soon they managed to see it, an old-fashioned elevator that still used a grated door that exposed an empty vertical shaft.

"Please be working, please be working," Saito begged as he ran straight towards the call button, practically slamming into the wall. He rapidly pressed the button at least a dozen times, and to his relief the light turned on.

"Yes!" he cried out as they heard the elevator begin to descend.

But their jubilation was short-lived as they heard the door behind them be broken down, followed by Birkin wailing, "SHERRY!"

"Fuck, fuck, FUCK!" Saito cursed as he looked at his empty shotgun and stowed it away for his handgun. Louise, meanwhile, looked around to try and find a place to hide. But there wasn't, merely a large empty room with some small grates that went into adjacent rooms. Rooms that had piles of debris blocking the entrances with only small gaps to slip though.

Gaps just big enough for her.

Slowly, an idea began to form in Louise's mind. She knew that if they did nothing, and with neither a place to hide nor the firepower to drive Birkin off, Birkin would kill them when he caught up. Or worse, assuming Saito's guess about that monster's origins were correct. They had to find some way to keep Birkin occupied until the elevator arrived, then they could get to relative safety.

"Saito, hold this," Louise quietly said as she steeled herself and slid her backpack off her shoulders.

"…What are you doing?" Saito asked as he looked at her in concern.

"Something incredibly stupid," Louise answered. "When that elevator arrives, you get in it and don't wait for me."

Then, without giving him a chance to respond, Louise pulled the last remaining flashbang from Saito's backpack then ran off down the hallway towards Birkin. He called out to her to stop, but Louise was already too far. Her heart was thundering in her chest, and every part of her mind and soul was screaming at her to stop. But she pressed forward, soon rounding a corner where she came face to face with Birkin. The eye on its shoulder immediately locked onto her, and for a moment Louise was frozen by fear. Then she scowled and aimed her revolver with one hand towards the eye.

"Fuck you!" she snarled, then fired all five shots into its eye.

It clasped shut in pain, and Birkin roared and stumbled about while swinging his pipe around, but Louise had already turned around and ran off towards one of the adjacent rooms. Throwing open the door, she ran towards a grate that was on the ground and, using her hatchet as a crowbar, began to pry it open. Once it popped loose, Louise crawled through the opening just as Birkin broke down the door in pursuit of her. He tried to slam his pipe into her outstretched legs, but Louise was able to get through to safety on the other side.

Shooting up to her feet, Louise ran out the room with Birkin emerging out of the adjacent room a second later. Letting out a roar, Birkin ran after her, but Louise had already pulled the pin of her flashbang and dropped it at her feet. As Birkin ran over the grenade, it exploded in a flash of intense light and noise, blinding and deafening Birkin while stopping him in his tracks. Louise used the opportunity to slip through the cracks of what used to be a makeshift barricade into another room, where she saw a grate on the ceiling that she could pry open.

Frantically pushing a box over to stand on, Louise got up and pried the grate loose. Birkin, meanwhile, managed to recover and, after realizing where Louise had gone, began breaking down the barricade. That caused Louise to hasten her efforts, and once the grate was free she pulled herself up and over the gap. She couldn't help but let out a small yelp as she tumbled head first over the edge, landing on her back hard on the ground, which knocked the air out of her lungs. But she was able to recover quickly, and as Birkin finally broke down the barricade she quietly slipped out and doubled back towards her friend.

To her relief, Birkin didn't immediately notice her departure, still scouring the room to try and find her. When she returned to Saito, he looked half ready to hug her in relief or yell at her in anger, probably a mixture of both. Instead they both recognized the situation they were in, and as the elevator finally arrived at their level they ran inside and pressed their backs against the wall.

Saito, much like before, frantically pressed the surface level button, trying to make the elevator move faster. But, as the car doors slowly began to close, they saw Birkin's massive form lumber out of the shadows and stare right at them with his massive, singular eye that was practically burning with rage. His pipe was gone, but the claws on his arm were fully outstretched. He stomped towards them, shrugging off the frantic gunshots from Saito's handgun and seemingly relishing in their terrified screams.

Then, as he finally reached the car and prepared to stab both teenagers with his claws, Saito and Louise held each other close for one final bit of comfort. But the blow never came. Instead, the doors finally dinged shut. Slowly they opened their eyes, and to their surprise saw that Birkin was completely frozen still, the eye on his shoulder now closed while the bloodshot eyes on his actual head were open. While Birkin didn't say a word, he was giving them both a desperate, pleading look, and as the car began to rise it dawned on Louise what he was silently telling them.

They shared one final look of understanding, then Birkin completely disappeared from view. A moment later, whatever momentary control Birkin had over his body vanished, and he let out an enraged roar at the loss of his prey. But it soon faded as the car continued its ascent. Only then, with the coast finally clear, did Saito and Louise turn to face each other. Before Louise could say anything, Saito wrapped the surprised girl in a tight hug and dug his face into her shoulder.

"Never. Do that. Again," he begged, his voice a mixture of relief, anger, and fear.

After a moment of hesitation, Louise returned the hug and replied, "Okay."

The two teenagers stood like that for what felt like an eternity, refusing to let go of each other as the car continued to move up. After a few moments, they separated slightly but kept their arms wrapped around each other. Louise couldn't help but stare into Saito's eyes, and after everything they had been through in just the past few hours alone, she felt enraptured by them. Held in his arms, she felt…safe and protected, something she desperately needed.

Slowly and without even realizing it, the two teenagers began to lean forward, Louise absentmindedly closing her eyes and puckering her lips. But, just before they could make contact, the elevator car lurched to a stop. The sudden movement brought Saito and Louise back to their senses, and after realizing what they almost just did they quickly pushed each other away as their faces flushed red in embarrassment.

"So, uh… We should…probably get going," Saito muttered, and Louise quickly nodded.

"Yes, we…should," Louise replied.

Without waiting for him to respond, Louise hastily stepped out of the car and into what had to be a street-level maintenance station. Saito was right behind her, and together the two carefully made their way to the front of the building. There was an analog clock on a nearby wall, telling them that it was 5:38 AM. They had been in the sewers for over six hours, but it felt like weeks.

After pushing aside a hastily erected barricade propping up the doors, they emerged back out onto the street. A quarter moon was hanging low in the sky, and the Raccoon City streets were unnaturally quiet. Luckily there weren't any zombies in the immediate vicinity, but neither of the pair were willing to stick around and test that. After collecting his bearings, Saito managed to figure out where they were, and he led the way towards the Raccoon City Public Library.

As they entered the street, their thoughts swirled with their hope of what awaited them. Of an outpost housed by the US Army just waiting to airlift them out to safety. But their hopes were dashed and their faces fell as they finally got sight of the library. Instead of finding a bastion of safety in this Hell, all they found was yet another overrun holdout. Dead bodies of civilians and Army soldiers littered the ground, thousands of bullet casings scattered in all directions. Burning cars and crashed helicopters were next to collapsed wire fences and watchtowers, all telling the same story.

"No…" Louise muttered, letting her arms drop to her side. She began to cry, and beside her she could see and hear Saito do the same. But, at the same time, she knew they couldn't just stand there and do nothing, and as the sounds of the undead echoed through the buildings and alleyways around them, she forced herself to calm down.

Steeling herself and wiping away her tears, Louise pulled Saito's arm and said, "Come on. It'll be safer in there than out here."

Without saying a word, Saito nodded and together the two carefully made their way towards the library entrance. They stepped over and around the dead bodies, careful not to disturb any of them. They were too tired to check for any supplies, but Louise figured they could do so after getting some much needed rest. Exhaustion was finally beginning to set in as her adrenaline faded away, and it was obvious that Saito was feeling its effects as well.

Luckily the door to the library was unlocked, and she gently pushed it open. Entering the building, its state was a far cry from the pristine and well-maintained building she spent so much of her time in before the outbreak began. Bloodstains and shattered glass were everywhere, along with overturned tables, fallen bookshelves, and a few dead bodies. Ignoring the carnage for the moment, Saito and Louise made their way towards the employee break room at the back.

Pushing the heavy metal door open and finding the room completely empty except for a couch, a large storage chest, and yet another typewriter along with some chairs and desks, Saito locked the door shut and sealed them inside. Without saying a word, the pair of teenagers slipped their backpacks off and dropped them on the floor, did the same to their dirty clothes, then made their way towards the couch. Their exhaustion finally overwhelmed them as soon as they sat down, and together they fell back into a blissful sleep, the stresses of the outside world fading away.

Had Louise stayed conscious for just a few minutes longer, she might've felt a strange feeling wash over her. A sensation not unlike the one she felt when she first emerged into that isolated Raccoon City alley a month ago. For deep in the city, in the exact same alley, another break in reality finally sprang to life.

[~][~]

Hello, everyone! Here is the latest chapter of Familiar Evil! Special thanks to NaanContributor and Jesse K for their help in bringing this chapter to life.

Saito and Louise have finally escaped the hellish maze that is the Raccoon City sewer system and the sinister clutches of G (or Dr. Birkin, as they know him). But despite reaching the public library, they are far from safe even as they take a much needed rest. But we all know what's coming next, and I think you guys are really going to enjoy the next few chapters.

To answer your guys' question:

I do not hate Louise's magic. Honestly, I find the FoZ magic system to be very interesting. The problem is that, frankly, it's too useful for a survival-horror setting. That is why I removed it from Louise's arsenal when I did. In addition, the need for attunement is a canon thing. The anime never really touched upon it (it focused far more on harem shenanigans than proper drama and worldbuilding to its detriment, in my opinion), but this was made clear in the original light novels. Case in point, it took Tabitha days to properly attune to her father's staff which she currently uses, and when Matilda/Fouquet/Longevuille was imprisoned they made sure to prevent her from keeping any utinsils so that it cannot be turned into a wand. The time it takes varies, but either way it is time that Louise does not have. Also, my intention is to make this feel like a Resident Evil game starring Familiar of Zero characters. The callbacks, homages, and everything lends itself to that goal. I do admit that my prose does get a little long, but that is because I like to throw in lots of detail. Overall, I feel like I've done a pretty good job in that regards. I'm sorry that you don't like my story but, overall, I feel like my efforts are going pretty well.

I'm glad that the rest of you enjoy what you're seeing so far, along with Louise's and Saito's character development. Going from scared teenagers to hardened badasses along the likes of Chris Redfield, Jill Valentine, and Leon Kennedy. Obviously once the rescue party emerges in the city and reunites with them, we're going to see a lot more of that. There's only so much character development you can bounce between two characters exclusively.

Right now, Saito and Louise are focused on survival. It's the long-term goal of bringing Umbrella to justice that'll drive them afterwards, and they know it. But they need to keep their priorities in order.

Yep, that's one of the reasons why I prefer reverse summons over standard FoZ-summoning stories. There's a lot more I can work with and move the story in directions that canon would otherwise hold away from me. And yeah, making Saito have an actual character was one of my key goals in this story, along with developing their relationship to where their eventual romance feels both earned and warranted. The last thing I want is for you guys to see the Saito/Louise pairing that I'm setting up and not like it or want them to get together with someone else purely because of the presentation. It helps that this isn't a harem story, so I have plenty of time and motivation to exclusively build up that relationship in an organic way.

I really, really enjoyed the HUNK cameo. He's an RE-Protagonist level of badass and seeing him go to work was a treat. Don't expect him to factor into the rest of the story too much, as he's got shit to do, but I figured that since these chapters were set in the sewers that a HUNK cameo was appropriate.

Correct. Karin is, especially right now, the most powerful person in the setting. She's so powerful, in fact, that all she can do is give 100% with her Wind magic, and that's it. Great for hordes, but not so good for prolonged engagements or close-quarters. Expect that to come up.

Also, yes. The person running away from Birkin was Sherry. I had to leave it ambiguous to Saito and Louise because, if they knew a little kid was in there, they would drop whatever they were doing to try and help her. My intention is for this story to exist parallel to RE2 and RE3, not override them.

Let us know what you guys think. If any of you have a TV Tropes account, I would greatly appreciate any help in updating it for the latest chapter. I've been adding in the OC characters of the rescue party, which as you guys can imagine will become very pertinent for the next few chapters.

Hope you guys enjoy!