Inhumanity
Kane breathed hard through the filters of his integrated-alloy gasmask; sneered inwardly at the familiar, purified taste of iron oxide. The air felt icy, almost numbing, its skeletal grasp a heavy tax on aching limbs.
"Focus dammit. You got this far didn't you?" the mask-warped sound of his own voice did little to calm nerves, its slicing reverberation across the tunnel yet another reminder of his isolation. He cursed and pressed on, disturbed the stagnant, inky stream below with each carefully measured pace, "Where did you run Wesker you bastard?"
His barrel-torch simmered visibly against the cold, an ultraviolet high-beam that searched every inch of the tunnel like a probing third eye - a personification of his own paranoia. He swung his fire-arc from side to side; bathed the frosted walls in eerie ghost-blue, revealing the ugly, shrivelled shapes of dead sewer-vermin, all claimed by the winter's wrath. He shivered at the sight and pressed on.
Time stood against him now and there had still been no sign of the infiltrator, The city's doomed, how the hell am I gunna' get out anyway? the thought rose with anotherwave of primal apprehension, Does it really matter if Spencer's reputation gets stained now?
Kane's musing disappeared amid a splashing tumult of footsteps up ahead. He froze, his gaze darting to the end of the tunnel where a further two passages converged in an archaic T-junction. Heart racing painfully in his chest, he slammed his rifle hard to his shoulder and paced carefully towards the oncoming sound. A deep foreboding filled him as he went, blurring his vision with a rush of adrenaline. I've got you bastard, he licked his lips at the thought; tasted the perspiration building fast across his features. Blood burned in his veins, freed his limbs from the bitter grasp of winter. The corporation would reward him well for this.
He met the end of the T-junction and waited, covering the bulb of his barrel-torch with a free hand. The splashing footsteps of his quarry grew ever closer, echoing through the tunnel like the death throes of a harpooned shark. He closed his eyes; trusted his gut to tell him when to strike.
Like a trained killer, Kane rolled his lithe form away from the wall and into the junction beyond in one swift, mechanical movement. Dropping to one knee, he snapped his rifle to bear on the oncoming figure, focusing the full beam of ultraviolet into its line of vision. The details of the charging spectre vanished as its own torch blinded him in turn, leaving a thick, patterned image engraved across his retina. Taken aback, Kane spoke up, his words playing like spirits through the dank sewer, "When it rains…"
"It pours?" the figure appeared even more bemused than he was, "Glitcher is that you?"
"Holy shit," the curse revealed Kane's mixed feelings of relief and bitter disappointment, "Blake what the hell are you doin' here? What you running from?"
"Listen, Kane, there ain't time, we've gotta' get out of here," Blake's voice trembled as he spoke, each word struggling to fight past rasping breath.
"What? Leave? But what about…"
"Wesker got out, don't ask me how," the interruption stunned Kane to silence, "There's something else down here. Something else got free - we need to get out now."
Kane studied his old friend in disbelief, Is this really how it ends? the thought stung him like a knife from the shadows. His gaze flickered to the sewer-stained badge on Blake's forest-green jumpsuit; the hexagonal emblem of red and white, What have I done?
Blake's radio erupted with a discordant crescendo of static, a sound that grated painfully across their eardrums after suffering unnerving silence for so long, "Blake, Kane, d.. you r..d me?" the message flickered painfully in and out of signal, "You h..e to ge.. out! Ad..t XH1 spec..en in thi.. area! Je.us it's here! Ge.. Out now!" the transmission ended with a bloodcurdling scream, quickly fading into static as the signal disappeared altogether. Somewhere in the distance automatic fire rattled uselessly, its hollow resonation enough to send Kane and Blake staggering backwards.
"Shit that was Caster!" Blake's terrified words became all the more evident as the gunfire ceased, leaving the two men stranded in solitude.
"XH1..." Kane muttered, ignoring Blake, "Oh God. We need to move!" he bellowed, turning to head away from the prior racket of combat. Blake remained unmoving, his form silhouetted in ultraviolet, "Blake come on! There's not much time!"
The young Umbrella guard did not stir, his gaze frozen irrevocably upon the right hand tunnel, "We're too late Glitch, it's already here."
Kane followed his hapless stare, down to where a mixed clatter of splashing water and guttural snarling slowly increased in intensity - something terrible headed towards them. A massive, hulking shape began to materialise from the void, a leering monstrosity that swayed from side to side as it bounded towards them. It came fast - too fast, a creature engineered for one purpose alone; a creature engineered to hunt.
"Burst fire, steady retreat!" Kane roared, raising his M4 Carbine in defiance of the aberrant beast before him. The weapon kicked back as it fired, filling the sewer tunnel with a deafening bass-roar.
Blake snapped free of his trance and added his own fire to the fray, their two weapons combining to spit a storm of incandescent beads down towards the nine-foot horror. It seemed somehow impervious to the firestorm; swatting two massive, bloodstained sets of claws at the bullets like they were venomous flies. Reptilian, purple skin glistened in the UV, revealing bulging, knotted muscles that flexed powerfully beneath. The creature was the true stuff of nightmares, its horrific, razor-filled jaw line twisted in an apparent grin - the delight of the kill.
Kane grimaced at the sight, increased his fire to full-auto. It was useless he knew. The Hunter was upon them…