Hey guys! Sorry this update took forever... wait a minute... how long has it been? A year? Yikes! Well, the truth is, I sort of wrote myself into a wall with this fanfic. For the longest time, I could think of no way to end it sensibly. However, after this last hiatus, I am glad to say that I have had enough time to come up with an ending. So, here it is! Shadows on the Wall, Part 4!
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I DO NOT own the Resident Evil franchise, but this story is of my own creation. Zing!
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Resident Evil
Shadows on the Wall - Part 4
"Bates! Are we ever going to get out of this goddamned city?" Bates gritted his teeth as he turned a hard right. The sound of screeching tires broke up the monotony of the hungry moans, rolling fires and bloody screams. He wasn't a very good driver to begin with, and driving Mr. Redmond's stretch limo wasn't making his evening any easier. The limo hopped off the road and slammed into the side of a small store front. Luckily, two of those zombie things happened to be in the way to cushion the blow, so there wasn't much damage.
"Drive, dammit, drive!" Mr. Redmond screamed.
"I'm trying, sir!" Bates replied, pushing his foot as far as it would go onto the gas pedal. The limo squealed and sped off again, taking a flower cart out of action in the process.
"I have to get to the extraction point," Mr. Redmond said a bit more calmly now, although he peered suspiciously out of his window like a soldier expecting an ambush. He anxiously thumbed the Ruger MKI resting in his lap. "My chopper leaves in thirty minutes."
"I know, sir," Bates answered him blankly. He was too busy avoiding debris and those shambling monstrocities to pay much attention to his employer's whining. "I'm doing the best I can right now."
"Well, you're not doing good enough." Bates gripped the steering wheel tightly. Underneath the leather gloves he wore, his knuckles were turning white.
"I was hired as a body guard, not a driver."
"One would think you would at least know how to drive."
"Again, sir, I am very sorry."
"I'm sure you are. You could probably sum up your entire life with that word."
"Sir - "
"I've seen your file. High school drop out. Worked at fast food restaurants your whole life. You barely had enough money to go to the Grey Wolf Securities school."
"Sir - "
"And now here you are, working your ass off to support two children born out of wedlock in a small apartment in the lower side of downtown." Bates brought his foot hard onto the brakes, sending a flailing Mr. Redmond from his seat and into the wall that seperated the driver's seat from the rest of the vehicle. The limo's wheels screamed agony and bled smoke and finally came to a stop in the middle of the street.
"WHAT THE HELL DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING?" Mr. Redmond bellowed as he fumbled for his gun.
"Trying my hardest not to beat the living shit out of you." Bates turned his face so that Mr. Redmond could see him. "Look, I can walk out on you right now. I've got nothing to left to live for. My whole family's dead. But I'm choosing to save your ass, because that's what you hired me for. Now could you please let me do my job?" Mr. Redmond didn't answer. He just sat there with a dazed look in his eyes.
"Sir, are you all right?" Bates asked him. Mr. Redmond blinked and focused on the body guard.
"Yes," he finally replied. "I-I'm sorry. It's just the stress. It's this city. The city, and what's happened to it."
"I know, but there's nothing we can do about it." Mr. Redmond got up and slinked back to his seat.
"Yeah."
"Don't worry, sir, I'll get you to the extraction point."
"The bridge is out," Mr. Redmond pointed out, directing Bates' view to the shuffling mob of undead that was gathered on the bridge.
"I know a short cut through a residential area," Bates told him as he started driving again. Mr. Redmond let out a deep breath and placed his Ruger back on his lap. He shuffled around his right pants pocket for a while and pulled out a few pills. They were stuffed into his mouth and crunched hurridly. Almost instantly he felt light headed, but he felt more confident than he had in years. He chuckled softly to himself as Bates navigated them through the dark streets of Raccoon City.
"Damn you, Umbrella," he muttered softly.
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"It's all right, honey," Mendoza said quietly. The little girl was badly shaken up and wouldn't move from her corner in the wall locker. He looked at Orlando and nodded towards the room's entrance. Orlando quickly turned and traced his weapon at the door. "We're here to help you."
"Daly..." she whimpered.
"What did you say?" He gently brushed a strand of her dark hair away from her face.
"Daly, my brother... h-he went downstairs."
"Can you sit up for me?" She sniffled some more, but she sat up in the locker and looked at Mendoza with some hope in her red teary eyes.
"Are you g-guys police men?" she asked.
"Sort of," Mendoza replied. "What's your name?"
"Kim."
"That's a pretty name." Kim seemed very much like Mendoza's own little girl. She was still innocent and pure, untouched by the corruption of the real world. He smiled at her, and she sort of smiled back. "Everything will be okay." A horrifying roar sounded from somewhere in the house, causing Mendoza to bring his weapon back up. Kim let out a little yelp and tried to crawl even further into the locker.
"Stay here," Mendoza told her. "We're going to see what's happened."
"Nooo!" Kim whined. "Don't leave me alone."
"It'll be all right. Just hide in the locker until we get back, okay?"
"But you won't come back. You'll never come back, just like Daly."
"I promise you I'll be back." She began crying again, but she reluctantly agreed and curled back up in the corner. Mendoza closed the locker and latched it shut.
"You ready?" Orlando asked.
"How's the hallway look?" Orlando squinted into the hallway.
"It looks clear."
"All right." Mendoza took a deep breath. "Go." Orlando slipped out into hallway followed by Mendoza. They approached each doorway cautiously and cleared each room before heading to the next. The living area was rechecked, and all that was left was the basement. The door was wide open, but they no longer heard the raspy breathing they had come to expect from the monster. All they could hear now was an unnerving squishing sound. Orlando pointed with his weapon at a pool of liquid on the landing. The two looked at each other, nodded. Mendoza held up three fingers. Two fingers. One. Orlando rushed down to the bottom of staircase and aimed his weapon at the oddly formed shadows in the basement. Mendoza stayed at the top of the stairs, trying his best to cover Orlando and trying not to throw up from the foul stench of decay rising from the pool of saliva next to his feet. From the moon light coming in from the basement window, they could see something laying motionless next to the stairs. It was a little boy. Closer to the center there was something huge. Really huge. It was feasting noisily on something, and whatever it was eating was letting out one final hiss before it died. There then came a ripping of muscle and spurting of blood as something ungodly began to transpire. The monster roared as its body began to change in the darkness. The two men opened fire on the creature, their muzzle flashes hinting as to what the monster was becoming. Out of the darkness, the creature's tongue shot towards Mendoza. He jumped back just in time as the fleshy rotten whip crashed into railing, destroying it completely.
"Shit," Mendoza cursed. "Get out of there Orlando!" Orlando hurried up the stairs, continuing to assault the monster until he was out of its sight. The two ran out into the street and reloaded their weapons.
"There's no way we're going to kill that thing," Orlando huffed. "Let's get the hell out of here."
"We can't," Mendoza told him. "We have to get Kim out of there."
"She's dead in there, and we will be too if we go back in there."
"She's just a little girl! She can't protect herself."
"Listen to reason! We can't possibly - " The sound of splintering wood and breaking glass filled the air as the monster crashed through the front wall of the house and leapt into the street in front of them. Orlando and Mendoza turned and fired frantically into the beast's body. It had grown twice its size. Its skin looked tough and leathery. Huge bluish veins popped out of its arms and legs, and its claws had become black and life threatening. Its whip-like tongue was a deathly gray and it twitched around like a nervous limb. The monster dragged it across the asphault as it moved towards the men, emitting a raspy breathy growl.
"Dammit, our rounds are bouncing right off of it!" Mendoza shouted.
"Aim for its brain," Orlando told him as he reloaded his weapon. Despite all the changes the monster had gone through, its brain was still unprotected and vulnerable. They both fired at its head in a desperate flurry of lead. The bullets bit into the monter's brain and spit up brain matter mixed with a sticky yellow liquid. It roared at them defiantly and threw its tongue towards Orlando. The tongue smashed into Orlando's knee, bringing him to the ground.
"My knee!" Orlando screamed. "I think it's brok - " Orlando was cut off as the tongue twitched back and smacked him across the face. His face split open and gushed blood. He didn't move.
"Shit," Mendoza thought as he went to reload. The monster snapped its head towards Mendoza, bringing its tongue crashing into his weapon. Mendoza was knocked backward. He watched helplessly as his weapon clattered to the ground. The monster hissed triumphantly and stared at him with murderous eyes. All of the sudden, the monster seemed distracted and it leapt into the air with a screech that brought blood to Mendoza's ears. He turned around just in time to see it land heavily on a limo that was driving up the street. The limo swerved a few times before speeding past him and crashing into a tree opposite Kim's house. The limo's headlights shined into the room where they had found her. Mendoza quickly picked up his weapon, checked it, then threw it in the grass. It was useless to him now. The body was cracked. The barrel bent. Suddenly, someone from inside the limo opened fire. The monster responded by thrusting its claws into the front windshield. The passenger door opened and a white-haired man in a brown suit stumbled out. He ran away from the wreck and away from Mendoza, putting a new clip into his weapon in the process. The monster was still mercilessly killing the driver of the limo, who was screaming bloody murder. Mendoza grabbed Orlando's weapon and ran back into the house. He rushed through the dark hallway and into the room where he had left Kim. The headlights from the limo lit up the room in an almost eerie way. He hurriedly unlatched the locker and dragged the little girl out.
"Ow!" Kim complained. "What's happening?"
"We have to get out of here!" Mendoza shouted. There came a raspy growl from outside the window. Both Kim and Mendoza looked out the window, horrified. The monster came crashing though, its tongue hanging out, pooling its rancid saliva all over the floor. Mendoza brought his weapon up, but the monster lashed out its tongue and smacked it out of his hands. Kim sat down, hugged her knees and closed her eyes, trying to make herself disappear. Mendoza wrapped his arms around her, hoping it would protect her in some way. It wasn't fair for her to die like this. What Umbrella had done wasn't right. He watched as the monster screamed and leapt into the air, bringing back its claws for the kill. Then, he was blinded by light.
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"Where did Dr. Brians go off to?" The scientist looked up from his work and regarded the guard. He was in a white radiation suit that looked very similar to the scientists' yellow radiation suit, only his was outfitted with just a single oxygen tank. The scientists' had two tanks. He carried a silenced M16A2 rifle with one clip. Apparently, they didn't expect to find much in this nuclear wasteland.
"He went over there to check some of the houses," the scientist replied.
"Thanks." The guard walked down the street, duly noting that the houses in this area were somewhat intact. From the corner of his visor, he saw a flash of yellow.
"Dr. Brians?" the guard inquired. The scientist did not answer, so the guard made his way towards him. As he got closer, he realized that Dr. Brians was staring intently at some kind of black smudge on one of the walls.
"Is everything all right, Dr. Brians?" the guard asked.
"Yes," Dr. Brians replied. "I was just studying this nuclear shadow. It looks as though there were two people here. Most likely it was an adult and a child by the way this shadow is covering that one." He pointed out his theory to the guard, who in turn, pretended to be interested. "Looks as though they were being attacked by something by looking at this shadow, but I just can't tell what."
"Umbrella is paying you to collect data, Dr. Brians, not to formulate useless theories by looking at shadows."
"Yes, but - "
"I think we should get back together with the group, Dr. Brians."
"But there's no harm in staying here awhile, is there?" Even through his radiation suit, Dr. Brians could hear the soft 'click' of the rifle coming off of safe.
"Let's go."
The End.