Nemesis: Resident Evil III
Chapter Forty Two: Water Treatment Plant
From where Carlos was standing, he could see the border of Raccoon City, and the road through the dense forest that lay beyond… but as tempting as it was to simply run around the old water treatment plant and keep going, there was no way that he and Jill would have been able to outrun the Pursuer out on the open road. So while the monster finished pulling itself back up onto the cliff, the two of them ran for the entrance to the closest building.
The treatment plant was actually a series of separate structures that were connected by corners where the neglected areas touched, creating a sprawling labyrinth that actually covered a pretty good size area. Maybe if there had been a truck or something in the parking lot that was visible in the moonlight, the young man might have tried to get away, but for now he was just glad that the partially rusted, metal double doors weren't locked.
Screech-slam! The door's hinges cried out when the two of them shouldered through the darkened entrance, and then echoes were sent throughout the concrete building's interior when they slammed it closed again. Jill pulled the locking bar to give them some more time, but this wasn't exactly the front door of the police department, and after hearing the Pursuer's growling from outside, the young man knew that the two of them only had a few seconds to come up with some kind of a plan.
According to that last remaining Supervisor before his brains had been beaten out, there was a helicopter hidden somewhere in this installation, and that was great news, but as Carlos looked around the dark, warehouse-like interior of this first building, it was starting to look like finding it was going to be pretty difficult. There was power here, and that was truly surprising, but it seemed to only be going to the wall-mounted emergency lights, which cast just enough illumination to see that this place was filled with large machines.
Wham! Wham! The metal doors shook while the monster could be heard roaring outside, each hit denting the frames inward more and more while the two of them looked for someplace to hide. This big open building was filled with all of the huge machines, ducts, and pipes that were required to operate the plant, although they were all rusted and corroded as it everything there was about two weeks from falling apart on their own. Regardless of the equipment's condition, it provided plenty of cover, so they ran partway across the room and ducked behind a large machine, just before the front doors finally gave up.
Crash! Both doors fell off their hinges, making another echo throughout the room as they clanged and scratched on the bare concrete floor… and then the Pursuer dented it further by stepping over the broken doors as it entered the building. The monster growled and took a moment to look around before beginning its search for Jill, and again Carlos was tempted to simply sneak back out the door and run for it down the road, but he already knew that it would just hunt them down again… so what were they going to do?
"We need to keep moving." The young woman whispered just barely enough to be heard. "We'll find another door, then make a noise in the other direction, and sneak through while it's distracted."
Jill was right that they needed to keep moving, since the Pursuer was slowly walking through the room, checking behind all of the old pipes and machines row by row, while it's slow, thudding footsteps echoed off the concrete walls. Sometimes there was a few seconds for them to move while it was looking the other way, and other times the two of them had to be tightly pressed together, sliding around one side of a giant pipe while the monster walked around the other.
It seemed that this abomination had the ability to track the young woman to her general location, but that it needed to physically see or hear her to pinpoint it. This was good because it allowed them to keep moving to avoid it without being seen, but at the same time the monster was able to stay on their trail no matter where they went, and now the young man understood why it was always able to find her no matter how good a job they had done with losing it.
Eventually they circled around the room far enough to find another door, but it was locked when Carlos tried the handle, and it would no doubt draw the Pursuer right to them if they had to force their way through. A little bit of ground had been gained between them and the monster, but its swaying tentacles could be heard whipping through the air as its heavy footsteps got closer.
"We're gonna have to split up." Jill whispered. "Make a noise on the other side of the room, and then lead that thing outside; it will ignore you once it realizes I'm not there, but give me at least a few minutes to pick the lock, and then we'll each search for the helicopter."
He didn't like her plan, since the thought of leaving the young woman alone in this place was less than pleasant, but as long as the Pursuer knew where she was, there would never be enough time to find the helicopter and escape before dawn. This would at least give them a little time, and Jill had the grenade launcher for when if found her again, so Carlos took off, still moving quietly across the room, but making a deliberate sound every now and then in an attempt to throw the monster off track.
"Sstarss." It growled, changing direction to follow him just a few steps before it would have seen her.
Great, now the monster was following him, but after every few steps it would stop and start to look back as if unsure of which way it should be going. Another deliberate noise from hitting something metal with the stock of his rifle was enough to keep it moving away from its intended target, and now the Pursuer was on Carlos's trail as he led it back over toward the broken door while the young woman finished picking the lock on her door.
A few steps later the young man was back outside, still making enough noises, between walking on the door and hitting the wall, to keep the monster's attention as he went around the corner, trying to keep it from actually seeing him. Thud… thud… thud, its heavy footsteps were heard moving over the broken door, so he picked up the pace, hugging the wall as he kept leading it all the way around to the other side of the building, where the plant's old parking lot and the road leading off into the forest could be seen.
If not for Jill, Carlos probably would have taken his chances on that road, especially after looking back and seeing the lights of Raccoon City behind him. Was there enough time to get far enough away on foot to avoid the blast? Sure, since it only took a few minutes to run a mile once he got going, but there was no way he was going to leave her behind. No, he had to keep the monster distracted for as long as possible, so the young man made another noise, walking backwards so that he could see if the Pursuer was catching up, it was just now entering his mind that he could no longer hear its thudding footsteps… when he backed up into something big.
At first the young man thought that it was a wall, but concrete buildings weren't warm, nor did they growl when bumped into, so Carlos jumped forward, turning around and raising his rifle, only to gasp as he came face to face with the Pursuer. How was this possible? Had the monster realized his trick, and then gone around the other side of the building in order to get behind him? Was it really that smart? Whatever the case, the monster was now right in front of him, turning its deformed head left and right, probably looking for Jill… but then focusing back on him when it realized that she wasn't there.
"Sstarss." It growled, its tentacles twitching while its huge hands balled up into fists.
"Uh… she went that way!" The young man yelled, pointing toward the road. "Jill went running into the forest; you can catch her if you hurry! Correr! Si, rapido! Rapido!"
The Pursuer turned toward the road and took a step forward, but then stopped like it had done inside the building when it was unsure where to go. It then growled angrily while turning back around, only to grunt in surprise when Carlos shined his rifle's powerful flashlight right into its eyes. Ratta-tatta-ratta-tatta! Now pulling the trigger, and peppering the monster's body with the weapon's small bullets, the young man knew that he had no hope of killing the beast by himself… but maybe he could keep its interest for a while longer.
Jill might have been a better leader and had more experience, but Carlos was stronger and faster than she was, so it was better to have the Pursuer coming after him for as long as possible… right? Probably not, but he continued to fire the rifle, quickly backing away while the monster slowly marched toward him, all the while still looking around as if it expected to find the young woman somewhere around, and getting visibly frustrated when this didn't happen.
"Forget about Jill, you puto!" The young man yelled, struggling to reload his rifle after it clicked empty. "I'll never let you find her, not in a million years!"
Angry to the point of roaring, the Pursuer threw its head back and charged at him full speed while Carlos started shooting, but then something strange happened. The monster was right on top of him, raising up its fists to surely crush him in a single blow, when it just… stopped. Looking down at him and glaring while the bullets continued to strike its body, the Pursuer suddenly dropped down to its knees, and then fell face first onto the ground… before all movement stopped completely.
The young man was also motionless for a second, wondering to himself if that was it… if he had won? Rat-a-tat! Firing a couple shots into the monster's back, and then kicking it a couple times just to make sure, Carlos couldn't help smiling as he realized that the Pursuer had finally been defeated. He had to go tell Jill! This was the best thing that could have ever happened, so after stomping on the monster's body while heading back the way he came, the young man ran excitedly back around the building, and over to the now unlocked door that she had been working on.
Jill must have been successful, since the latched turned easily, allowing him to pull the door open… but then he froze when he heard a familiar growling sound. Carlos's mouth ran dry as he turned back toward the entrance, to see the completely unharmed Pursuer standing in the broken doorway, but as the monster started walking toward him, its growls no longer sounded angry… in fact they sounded… smug? And was… and was the fucking thing smiling now?
An awful thought now crossed Carlos's mind, an impossible thought that the monster had perhaps… played dead in order to trick him into showing it where Jill had gone? Wham! Before he knew it, the Pursuer was standing right in front of him again, but this time it swung its massive arm, sending the young man flying backwards when it connected across his face, causing him to slam into some pipes, before crashing hard to the concrete floor while the monster entered the doorway in search of Jill.