Nemesis: Resident Evil III

Chapter Forty Six: I'll give you STARS

Jill had known that the strange deformity that tore its way through the ceiling was what remained of the Pursuer from the moment she saw it, but just as she was trying to decide what to do about the barely mobile creature, it managed to surprise the young woman yet again. Stabbing the mandibles of its insectoid… torso-mouth into the dead monster that kind of reminded her of Wesker's Tyrant project, there was a kind of hissing sound as the thing started to get bigger.

With its body bubbling and twitching as new limbs started to grow out of the old sockets, the Pursuer continued to feed on the dead monster even when Jill raised her rifle and started to shoot at it. Ratta-tatta-ratta-tatta! There were no more nitrogen shells for the grenade launcher, but still plenty of ammo for the rifles, so she and Carlos lit up the warehouse with light and noise, peppering the monster's growing body as the small bullets tore into its flesh… but it just kept getting bigger.

At first the young woman thought that it was regenerating itself to the way it had been before, but as its new limbs took on a more clawed, monstrous appearance, she realized that the old Pursuer was gone, replaced with this thing that looked like… she didn't even know. With four limbs, each with deadly claws at the end, a dozen long purple tentacles coming out of all parts of its new body, this new version of the STARS hunting monster was more like a giant insect than another Tyrant, especially when it slowly flipped over onto its back to face toward her.

No, wait… now that it had flipped over, the whole thing looked like it was now standing upright, and there were some kind of… transparent bubbles on the top of its body that looked like they were filled with some kind of fluid. The bubbles popped from being hit with their bullets, some fumes were released as the liquid poured down over the monster's body, not doing anything to the creature itself, but sizzling and eating right through the warehouse's concrete floor as if it were concentrated acid.

The bullets had done nothing at all to the Pursuer by the time she and Carlos were out of ammo, so they reloaded in order to keep fighting as the beast took that first hulking step toward them, but she knew when its roar shook the walls that this was not a battle they could win without those freezing grenades. So she turned to start looking for another way for the two of them to escape, when her eyes fell on the slowly charging cannon… you know… the one that could kill Tyrant creatures.

She didn't completely understand all of the features of the control panel, but Jill could see enough to understand where the charge meter was, as well as what was clearly the weapon's trigger, so maybe… maybe as long as they could stay away from it long enough for this crazy weapon to charge up… but how could they do that with her leg the way it was? The good news was that the creature was slow moving, but its tentacles were denting and crushing everything that came within range, so Carlos had to pick the young woman up into his arms in order to get them out of the way just as it took another step forward.

"We need to keep it busy until that cannon thing charges." Jill said as he carried her down on of the warehouse's rows. "If it can kill a Tyrant, then maybe it can kill that monster, too."

"God, I hope so." Carlos replied, using his free hand to fire a few shots with his pistol, keeping the creature interested in them alone. "The sun's gonna come up in less than an hour."

The monster roared again as its giant body turned to follow their movement, and thankfully its slashing tentacles just barely missed the weapon's control unit, and to keep making sure that it stayed far away from it, the young man turned suddenly down the path that had been made from the last time it was fired. Since the Pursuer was so slow now, it was Jill's hope that he could simply keep it running around in circles until the cannon was fully charged, but now the rumbling and crackling from the weapon was so loud that it was nearly impossible to hear anything else… and she didn't see the Pursuer when she turned her head to look back.

"Oh, shit!" Carlos screamed, nearly dropping her when he came to a screeching halt.

Turning her head forward, and having to hold onto him tightly to keep from falling onto the floor, the young woman gasped when the monster appeared in front of them just as they reached the end of the firing line. It must have anticipated what they were trying to do, and circled back to cut them off… for not having a real head, this thing was still so clever… and then one of its tentacles shot out.

Dropping Jill as the long purple appendage went right toward him, Carlos cried out when it wrapped around his waist, and lifting him up into the air. Bang! Bang! Bang! The young woman's rifle was empty, so she took out her pistol, and started shooting at the bases of the creature's tentacles, scoring one hit on a different one, but mostly just hitting more of those acid bubbles on its back. Her pistol clicked empty just as the Pursuer tossed the young man away, making Carlos scream as he flew through the air, bouncing off the top of one of the containers, and then vanishing when he fell over the other side… and then it turned its attention back to her.

She had no more bullets, so Jill dropped it next to the empty rifle, and started frantically trying to crawl away. Since she wasn't actually walking, the young woman was able to keep up a decent pace by making her arms do most of the work while her bad leg just dragged behind, but she didn't dare stop even for a second, since the Pursuer's whipping tentacles were right behind her, cracking and splintering the concrete floor with each hit.

When the monster tried to follow her down the firing line, it got stuck for a second, allowing her to gain some ground, but then it simply leaned to the side, and shoved the metal crate so that it made a metallic screech while it was slowly moved out of the way. It was hard to remain calm as she crawled over the rough, uneven terrain of the firing line; just inches away from panic, and tears starting to run down her face when she thought one of the tentacles bushed across the sole of her boot.

Screech… screech… each time the Pursuer got stuck by another crate, the young woman was able to get a little farther away, only to have the distance closed quickly because of how large the steps were of the monster's new body. Worse yet, Jill's arms were getting tired, making it harder and harder to keep going, until the time that it took the monster to move each new crate was all that was keeping it from getting her. The warehouse was now shaking from the rumbling and crackling coming from the cannon as it powered up, but there was still such a long way to crawl before reaching the end of the firing line when she looked toward it.

Crackling blue electricity was now flowing up and down the cannon's frame, but Jill hadn't expected to see Carlos standing at the control unit. He was frantically waving at her, gesturing wildly for her to get out of the way, and screaming his head off, even though she couldn't hear him over all of the other sounds inside the building. There was no way for her to reach the end of the path, and the young woman's arms were just about to give out, but… but there was a tiny space between two nearby metal crates, so she rolled over toward it, and then crawled into the small space just as the Pursuer's face reached where it could see it.

BOOM! Suddenly everything went white, a brilliant flash of electrical heat making her hair stand on end as the cannon fired, and she had to cover her eyes while the monster was engulfed. It was a direct hit, sending the Pursuer's limbs flying off in different directions as the main body was tossed up into the air, and the sound of it crashing hard to the floor was the last sound for a while as the cannon powered down.

The massive weapon hissed and popped as heated steam was vented out, and as for the monster, it was motionless while slowly shrinking back down to the size it had been when first entering the warehouse. It was back to being nothing more than a deformed torso with a single arm, but as long as it was dead, the young woman didn't really care what it looked like. Beep, an electronic noise pierced the newfound quiet as the indicator light by the door turned green, so… did that mean the lock was open?

There was another dead body in the cramped space with her, and the dead soldier had a bolt action rifle in his hands… a good enough stand in for a crutch, she felt. Based on the claw mark on his neck, the soldier must have hidden in there to keep himself safe, only to have something reach in and show him otherwise… and hey, the weapon was fully loaded, too. Sticking the barrel into the floor, and leaning heavily on the weapon to help her stand up, Jill was just managing to limp her way out of the small space, when she nearly fell over again when the Pursuer's body twitched.

"Are you fucking kidding me?" She asked, trying to catch her breath as the thing started moving again. "Why the fuck won't you die?!"

Bang! Click-click. Bang! Aiming the rifle and pulling the trigger, the young woman had to lean back against the metal crate so that she wouldn't fall over while working the bolt back and forth, and this time the monster reacted heavily to each time it was hit. Discolored blood sprayed out each time a bullet tore into its charred flesh, with its partially destroyed mandibles twitching in a gurgled roar that almost sounded… pathetic.

Bang! Click-click. Bang! More sprayed blood and agonized howls as the next bullets struck their target, but no matter how badly the Pursuer was wounded, it still kept trying to crawl toward her with its one usable arm… until she used one of the bullets to shoot it right in the hand. After everything this abomination had put her through, and all of the good men that it had destroyed in its quest to get her, Jill was no longer content to simply stand back and shoot, instead now slowly limping toward the monster while using the bolt to chamber the rifle's very last round.

"You want STARS?" She asked, pressing the barrel right into what was left of its mouth. "I'll give you STARS, you son of a bitch."

Bang! What remained of the Pursuer's mouth was destroyed with that last shot, and now its deformed body was convulsing as it seemed to be… falling apart. More acid and blood dripped out, creating scars across the concrete floor, and then after one last pained howl, the monster stopped moving… and this time it didn't get back up while its body slowly dissolved into nothing before her very eyes.