Resident Evil 9: Return

Chapter Eleven: Final Straw, Final Form

Now Moreau wasn't sure what to do. He thought he could use the boy for the experiment, but alas…he was mistaken.

"Surely the others wouldn't have made such a mistake." He gurgled quietly, blubbering about his blunder.

Moreau could hear the boy shout and scream from below, and knew that the right thing to do is let the boy go back to the village, and have the men find someone else to be used.

"But-but the villagers…they'll laugh at me." He blubbered in distress, wiping away the excess saliva that dribbled from his mouth.

"No..no! An example must be made. They need….to fear me…" Moreau stopped talking as he heard the three goons nearby. Moreau was standing in the doorway of the wooden shack he currently called home, while the three men lit their cigars underneath the stairs, not worried about the logs catching on fire.

"Oi, do we really think the boy is the one Moreau needs?" The first man asked, his Scottish accent barely recognizable after his time trapped in the village.

"Who cares? We don't get paid to care about who we catch, we barely get paid as it is!" The second man stated, cursing under his breath as the ashes from the other man's cigar landed on his shoe.

"Look, I'll be honest with you fellas…the old timer probably made a mistake." The third man admitted, his accent thicker than the others. He had only been in the village for a few months at that point.

"What makes you say that Marty?" The Scottish man asked.

"Think about it, Lyle. He's made tons of mistakes before. Like hiring us for instance." Marty joked, and the men guffawed.

"But in all seriousness, this Lord is a joke. He doesn't have any power in this village, no one's scared of him. I don't wanna be here, but I work and keep my nose clean cause I don't wanna end up with Heisenberg." The other men muttered in agreement, having already decided that Lord Heisenberg was the most intimidating Lord.

"What about our fair Lady Dimitrescu?" Lyle joked, and the men sneered at each other.

"Yeah she might be nice looking I'll give her that, but that castle she owns gives me the creeps. You can definitely tell she murders on a daily basis."

As the three men continued to joke with each other, Lord Moreau stepped into the building and wept as quietly as he could. From his demeanour and tears, one would assume that he had given up, and wouldn't be a threat. But that wasn't the case for Lord Moreau, who had come to a very important, and deadly, decision.

Averie and Samuel craned their heads upwards as they stood outside of the large gates that sealed off the reservoir. The gates stood at twenty feet tall, but thankfully their height was the only obstacle Averie noticed. She couldn't see any barbed wire topping the gate, and hoped that nothing was on the other side. The plan was obvious to her, but apparently not to Samuel.

"Alright, simple enough plan. We just need the right tools." Averie decided, looking around her. Samuel was still staring at the gates, impressed yet frightened of how tall they were. The sun was setting right behind the metal doors, causing Samuel to look away.

"I'm sorry, what is the plan?" He asked Averie, who was searching around the base of the gate and surrounding wall.

"We get a rope, and climb over the gate." Averie explained. She dropped to her knees and groped along the grass, hoping she would find some rope. As she lifted her head back she accidentally hit it against one of the rocks that was embedded into the walls. Rubbing her head, Averie noticed several rocks jutted out of the surface of the wall, and they were large enough to hold onto and use as footholds.

"No disrespect Averie, but that is an awful idea." Samuel concluded as he looked up at the gate once more.

"Perhaps your idea of going back to get help wasn't as awful as I originally presumed." Samuel continued, not noticing as Averie grabbed onto the lower rocks of the wall. Wishing she had more upper body strength, Averie struggled to pull herself up to grab onto the next rock.

In this moment, it would have been inspirational for Averie to have thought of Carson, who was depending on her for a rescue, or to consider her father, who was currently missing and perhaps needed rescuing as well. Perhaps considering these two people would have given Averie motivation to grab onto the next rock.

One would think that, but Averie didn't. Instead of focusing on those who were depending on her, she focused on the fact that she really needed to use the bathroom, and hoped that the reservoir had a bathroom on site.

By the time Samuel had looked over and seen what Averie was doing, she had reached the top of the wall. She looked down at him and smirked, wondering if he would be able to scale the wall behind her.

Probably not. Doesn't look strong enough. For a moment Averie felt prideful and was happy that she could do something that Samuel may have not been able to do. Until she remembered that he was the only other person with her to help rescue Carson. She first felt guilt for the attitude of superiority that she held, then felt imminent dread when she realized how low of a chance she and Samuel stood against Lord Moreau and his three goons.

After a few minutes of climbing and several minutes of breathing afterwards, Samuel was ready to go.

Averie only had two weapons on her: her knife and the gun Percy had shown her how to use. She wondered how Percy was doing and if he was still alive as she handed Samuel her knife. Instead of thanking Averie, Samuel looked at the knife in confusion.

"Why don't I get the gun?" He asked. Averie stared at him.

"Do you know how to use a gun?" Samuel shook his head.

"No, but I know that you can hold your own against one of those hairy creatures with a knife, and these men are far less intimidating than those beasts. Besides, you could teach me how to use a gun."

Averie shook her head.

"No way. First of all, that creature could have and would have killed me if it weren't for Arcane. Second of all, I'm not giving up my weapon. Feel free to give back the knife if you don't want it, but I can't give you my gun."

Samuel rolled his eyes.

"Oh come on, it's not like I'm going to shoot anything. I just want it to feel safer while we're down there."

"Why do you think I want it?" Averie asked rhetorically. "I'm not using this to fight them, but if Lord Moreau shows up and we need some defense-"

"Yes yes alright, you get to play the hero." Samuel dismissed, rolling his eyes as he tucked away Averie's knife. Taking a deep breath, both to calm her nerves and to keep herself from strangling Samuel, Averie hopped down from the top of the wall.

Arcane was now more determined than ever to go after Averie. He excused himself from the caravan and headed for the woods. Villagers approached him and begged for him to help them move the bodies before more lycans returned, but he refused.

Kai scampered out of the caravan as well, but not before Duke grabbed onto his arm.

"Kai." He warned. "You must be diligent, my boy. Averie is in grave danger, but none of you are safe. The Four Lords and this mysterious scientist have terrible plans for all of the villagers, you can be sure of that. But for four particular people-"

"I know. The Four Lords each need a donor. And Dimitrescu wants Averie for her…" Kai couldn't finish his sentence.

The Duke cocked his head to the side, considering Kai.

"Now we can't be sure of her definite plans, Kai. Yes in general the Four Lords need donors so that they don't waste away and suffer a second death, but Lady Dimitrescu comes with another disadvantage. A blood disease by genetic inheritance, as in before her mutation, that causes her great grief, even more so now than ever before. New organs wouldn't be enough to keep this disease at bay, or destroy it completely."

"What are you saying, Duke? Dimitrescu doesn't need Averie's…organs?" He asked, wanting to gag.

"All I am saying is that the plans the other lords have for their…donors, is definite. Lady Dimitrescu needs far more than they do."

"What about Moreau, with his body deteriorating quicker than the others?" Kai questioned.

The Duke stroked his chin, pondering this.

"Yes he is in immediate need, but Lady Dimitrescu is thinking about the long road ahead, and how a simple donor may not be enough. Yes, a new heart and lungs would help her for a short time, but that blood disease and mutation would cause a transplant to be a temporary fix."

"I cannot confirm her plans entirely, Kai. But know this: if Averie is the person she needs, it won't just be her organs that the Lady is after."

"Not just her organs?" Kai asked aloud as he closed the door to the caravan behind him. He watched as Taylor approached the caravan with an empty cup.

"I didn't find any well." She said, placing the cup on the steps of the Duke's home.

"And I can't find Arcane." Kai replied, realizing that Arcane had left him behind to go look for Averie. He kicked a nearby pebble and cursed under his breath.

"But Duke said we couldn't go after them." Taylor said, sitting down on the steps of the caravan. "He said that Moreau could block anyone from getting in."

Kai sighed as he realized Duke's plan, and a small smile played across his lips.

"He didn't want you to go after Carson, Tay." He admitted, glad that the Duke was looking out for Taylor.

"He would have said the same thing to Carson if you had been taken. He doesn't want you to get hurt."

"But he's my brother!" Taylor protested, standing up as she clenched her fists and stomped the ground.

"I know that Taylor, and so does Arcane and Duke." Kai reassured her. "But we also know that you are eleven years old, and none of us want to see you get hurt."

"I'm already hurt, Kai." Taylor admitted.

"I've been recently orphaned, kidnapped, chased and almost killed at this point. Going after my brother would just be another disaster to add to my list."

Kai put his hand on the girl's shoulder. "You don't have to do this alone, Taylor. Averie promised she was going to look after the two of you, and she doesn't seem like someone to back down from promises."

"I promised I would keep them together." Averie muttered under her breath as she peeked around the side of a large wooden barrel. She couldn't see Carson, but she could hear him yelling.

"Let me go! I'm not scared of you, fishface!" Carson yelled not too far away, and Averie couldn't help but smile. At least the kid hadn't lost his backbone.

"Alright Samuel, I've come up with the plans so far, how about you give it a go?" Averie suggested. She didn't fully know what Samuel was capable of survival wise, but she wanted him to know that she valued his input.

Samuel, on the other hand, was not impressed. "Oh yes, your plan to run after the boy that led to a closed gate, and then your plan to climb over the gate with a rope that ultimately failed because of a lack of said rope. Brilliant."

Alright, forget valuing his input. Averie thought as she glared at Samuel.

"Do you have some problem with me, bud?" Averie demanded, keeping her voice quiet but her tone low, to seem more intimidating.

"All I hear from you is complaining, stupid questions, and unpleasant remarks about how I do things." Averie admitted.

"Well I'm sorry to not have the same instincts as you do in a situation like this!" Samuel yelled at her. Carson stopped yelling in the background, having heard Samuel. And he wasn't the only one who heard the loudmouth, either.

Averie could hear the three goons from earlier, and listened to their footsteps as they walked away from under the stairs of the main building. Carson tried to cover for his rescuers, but to no avail.

"Uh hey, yeah you ugly goats! I'm not scared of you either. Come back and fight me like men, you crazy sick sons of-"

"Oi, shut up!" Lyle yelled at Carson. Peeking around the barrel once more, Averie could see the three men across the rocky path. The man named Lyle was turned away from where Averie and Samuel were, yelling at a small squat building beside the large wooden one. Averie couldn't make out what Carson was saying but she could hear the boy respond to Lyle. The small squat building sat right on the edge of the reservoir, whose slow churning water seemed to foreshadow oncoming danger in Averie's mind.

"Alright, we know where Carson is." Averie whispered.

"Let's go." Averie started to move, until she remembered what Samuel had just yelled at her. She stopped moving and sighed.

"Look Samuel, none of us want to be here. And I'm really sorry that you got dragged into all of this." Averie apologized.

"We're all trying to do the best with what we have, but I know that isn't super comforting to hear. I'll sneak around and go find Carson. How about you stay here and switch weapons with me? I have a better chance of finding a gun elsewhere than you do." Averie said. Samuel nodded at her, and handed her the knife. She quickly showed Samuel how to shoot, then told him to hide elsewhere so the men wouldn't find him.

The barrel that Averie was hidden behind sat beside a large moss-covered rock, and she was able to scramble behind the rock and around the other side so that the men had no way of noticing her as they approached.

Once the men reached a certain point where another building blocked any view of her, Averie sprinted away from the rock and headed for the main wooden building. As she approached, Averie quickly pulled out her knife and slowed her pace, realizing too late that the ground in front of the small building Carson was trapped in happened to be covered in slime. Averie slipped on the ground and fell onto her back, the force of the fall jolting her grip on the knife. The knife sliced the side of her torso.

Before Averie could stand up and assess her wound, Moreau hobbled over from the other side of the building, holding Carson against his will. The boy was gagging as he was dragged forward, muttering about anchovies and the smell of death.

"So, you've come to collect the boy have you?" Moreau demanded, drool dribbling from his mouth as he walked towards Averie. Averie was able to find her footing and stood up, hoping the wound in her side didn't look too bad. However, the look on Carson's face said otherwise.

"He's just a kid, sir." Averie winced as she spoke, slowly beginning to realize how careless she had been. Adrenaline had kicked in and taken over her thinking. As she shifted her feet around to ease the pain in her torso, Averie noticed the slime she had slipped on had come from Moreau himself, who seemed to be able to produce the slime constantly. A small pile had pooled at the Lord's feet as he stood still and considered Averie.

"You…called me s-sir." The creature mumbled. Averie nodded, wishing her side would stop hurting so she could focus on the matter at hand, which was saving Carson's life.

"Yes I did." Averie breathed out slowly.

"But make no mistake sir, I won't hesitate to protect this boy." Averie tried to give Carson a reassuring smile, but the boy didn't return it. He was staring at Averie's torso.

"Averie, your belly." Carson noted as his face paled.

"It's all red."

Arcane ran through the woods, panting from the pain in his shoulder and torso.

"She couldn't have waited…for two minutes." Arcane wheezed as he ran, wishing he had better cardio. Even in training with Chris, Arcane was far more skilled in the shooting range and the weight lifting periods, avoiding cardio when he could. An irresponsible decision looking back, as he had done more running on this singular mission than he had in the past year.

Thinking of Chris made Arcane feel a new kind of pain, one that he tried to hide from others and ignore in himself. He had looked up to Chris for the past decade, but couldn't help feeling that the man had betrayed him. As Arcane ran through the woods, he thought back to how Chris had approached him about the mission, and what his objective was.

"Delinor has gone back to the village, perhaps not realizing what had taken place ten years ago." Chris had explained. "He was born and raised there, but apparently escaped when he was younger. What brought him back is the question we need to answer."

"Head to the village and see what you can find. You'll most likely find rubble and ruins in the main area, but the castle may still be intact."

"Have you looked in on the village since the incident?" Arcane had asked, not wanting to bring back bad memories. Chris sighed, and clenched his fists.

"I try not to think about that place, Arc. Finding out what happened to Rose, fighting those lycans and Mother Miranda, Ethan…." Chris said no more, and Arcane had assumed in that moment that Chris just didn't want to talk about his past experiences in the village but that the man had checked in to make sure Arcane wouldn't be in danger.

Arcane had been wrong.

The man clenched his fists tighter around his gun as he ran, still not aware of the phone call Averie had made with Chris not too long ago. Nor was he aware of the camera that tracked his movement from one of the hills nearby.

The wound on Averie's torso wasn't deep thankfully, but it was long and bled more than Averie had anticipated. Averie wished she hadn't given her gun over to Samuel as she slowly reached for her knife. But Moreau was quicker than Averie had first imagined, and a mere second later had his hand wrapped around Averie's blade. Averie was still holding onto the handle, and watched as green liquid gushed out of Moreau's palm as he held fast to the knife's blade.

"You don't stand a chance…girl." Moreau dribbled as he gave Averie the creepiest smile she had ever seen. She noted how all of Moreau's teeth were jagged, and all coated in black tar.

Averie sighed, both out of pain and regret as she quickly slid the knife forward. The weapon sliced through Moreau's palm and lifted. Taking the moment, Averie plunged the knife into Moreau's elbow, and felt her throat tighten with guilt as the creature cried out in pain. Carson seized the opportunity and pushed himself away from Moreau, running as far away as he could and throwing up from the stench he had to endure.

"You children….so cruel…" Moreau wheezed as he stumbled away from Averie.

Averie held her ground, holding out the knife defensively.

"I told you I would fight to protect him, sir." She reminded Moreau, glancing over at Carson.

Hearing gun shots behind her, Averie prayed for Samuel's safety as she back away from Moreau, drawing herself closer to where Carson was heaving.

"We're not going to fight you anymore, Moreau. I'm taking Carson and we're leaving."

Averie could hear Samuel scream behind her farther down the rocky pathway, but he wasn't screaming in fear or pain. Rather, he was screaming as if letting out a battle cry.

Carson looked up and saw the man's jacket buttons were undone as he ran down the path away from the three goons, though only two were following him. When Samuel had reached Averie, he stood behind her back and pointed his gun at the oncoming men.

"I got one of you, I'll take out another!" Samuel called out.

"You shot someone?" Averie demanded. "I thought you said you wouldn't shoot someone?"

"He came at me, I had no choice. He's not dead, just wounded." Samuel reassured her, glaring at the men. Both of Moreau's goons had their eyes on Samuel and Averie when they noticed Moreau holding his wounded hand, and snickered.

"Serves you right." One of the men called out, spitting on the ground for Moreau to see.

"All this trouble of going after the boy, and look where it got you. You're pathetic."

"Please…" Moreau begged, and Averie watched in horror and disgust and the creature began to convulse in front of her. He bent forwards and hurled copious amounts of liquid onto the rocky path. Everyone instinctively backed away from him, all stepping closer to the reservoir. But the men weren't done their taunting.

"After all this time, we're done you freak!" The other man called out. "No more working for you!"

"You should stop…now…" Moreau continued to dribble, and Averie noticed a change in his demeanor. He looked both terrified and excited, which would be a concerning combination in under any circumstance. She grabbed onto Carson's jacket and dragged him beside her as she stepped further away from the creature, but she heard a gun click behind her. Averie slowly turned to face the men.

"Ah ah, not so fast girly." One of Moreau's ex-goons called out.

"You seem important, at least important enough for the doc to see you. Bet she'd love to experiment on someone new."

The other man eyed Samuel, and guffawed.

"What if it was this bloke that we were supposed to go after?" He asked his comrade.

"Bet he could have suited old fishguts far better than the boy!"

"No one…leaves here." Surprising everyone, Moreau ran as fast as his weary legs would carry him, and disappeared out of sight. The men ignored the noises they heard from their old master as they continued to eye Samuel and Averie.

"What if we hand fancy coat over to the doc, and pay Castle Dimitrescu a visit?" The first man suggested. But the other man shook his head.

"I'm not risking my neck by traveling up that way, she'll kill us." He argued.

"Not if we bring a gift." The first man explained, pointing his gun directly at Averie.

Suddenly, a loud cry of terror broke the conversation between the two men. It was from their other comrade, who had been left behind to attend to his wound.

"No, please, Moreau! Ah!" He pleaded. A loud sound that Averie could only describe as obnoxious chewing at the highest level filled the air, causing everyone to lower their weapons.

Arcane arrived at the gate of the reservoir, and began to scale the rocky wall beside the gate. A few moments later he stood atop of the gate, and watched in horror as one of Moreau's goons was being eaten by the ugliest mutation Arcane had ever witnessed.