Resident Evil:
The Whole Story.
Chapter Twenty-Three.
William Steven Coen, Billy to his friends, was not having the best time at the moment. It wasn't specifically that he was handcuffed, there had been plenty of times where he had quite enjoyed being handcuffed but most of those times he had been in a bed and it had been a beautiful woman who had had handcuffed him.
This time was not one of those times, for one he had not been handcuffed by a beautiful woman but by a jarhead with an ugly face, that even a mother would have a hard time loving, who had not been gentle, seriously he had been so rough that for a moment he thought his arm had come free of it's socket. And instead of a soft bed he was right now in the back of an MP jeep with his left hand cuffed to the back door and he was completely exposed to the cold night air.
Not to mention the old dirt road they were currently driving on was uneven and lumpy which meant the jeep was practically hoping down it, why the upper brass had decided that he had to be transferred to another base on the other side of the damn mountains was a complete mystery to him, they were going to kill him anyway why did it matter in what base they executed him?
Mind if you wanted logic, the last place you looked was the military mind. He had never really wanted to be a marine when he was a kid, his dad was the one who had sent him to military school, he had spent years and years hating him for that but over time he had grown accustomed to the idea and while he still wished that his father had let him choose his own path and there were some days when he still resented him, hated him, but he had started to take pride in being a marine.
Then, all this mess had happened and for trying to do the right thing he got screwed over and now his life was at it's end while a group of monsters were walking free. The upper brass hadn't cared what happened, it was clear that the truth would be buried and burned, like those poor people in that village, anything to avoid a scandal.
"Jesus fucking Christ, it's freezing out here. Why did they make us do the transfer at night?" One of the MP's complained, he wasn't the one driving and it was clear that he was bored out of his skull as well as cold.
"We have our orders and we follow them, we don't question them. You know that." The MP who was driving said but he didn't take his eyes off the road, the headlights were on but it was still pitch black out and they could only see a few feet in front of them. "Besides, I don't know about you but the sooner this monster is gone I will be a lot happier."
"Yeah, I get that." The other MP said, he looked over his shoulder back at Billy. "So, come on Coen. Why did you do it?"
"We're not supposed to talk to him." The driver said, taking his eyes off the road for a moment to glance at his neighbour before he turned his attention back to the road.
"Oh, come on man. He's going to be dead in like, two days, tops. And he's been locked in solitary for weeks. He might be a monster but I'm not, I'm not going to deprive him of his last conversation." The MP said as he leaned back in his chair.
"I am perfectly fine with being deprived, just so you know. But if you want to cover me with a jacket, I'll take that. It is cold." Billy said as he tilted his head back, it was a nice night at least that. He always used to love stargazing as a kid but there hadn't been a lot of opportunities to do so over the years. He might die in a few days or so but at least he got a nice view before he would be staring at grey cement for his last few days.
"Well, too bad you don't get much of a choice in the matter." The MP said with a grin and Billy groaned. "Now, tell us why you did it? What does it matter now anyway, you're going to die you might as well. Did you just...snap?" He asked as he mimicked holding an assault rifle and firing it. "Was it race thing? It was an African village."
"Fuck off, I didn't kill anyone!" Billy shouted, he knew it didn't matter, that nothing would save him now but that wasn't the point. He knew the truth and no one would stop him saying it.
"Wow, you're committed but it doesn't matter you know, you can keep saying that as much as you like but it won't change anything. Even if it is the truth." The MP was at least smart enough to realise that he wasn't going to get any more out of Billy so he turned so he was facing the front of the jeep again.
Billy sighed, his breath hanging in front of him like a cloud of mist for a moment before it floated away, he closed his eyes. With luck he could get to sleep and this drive would almost be over. It would all be over soon, between the weeks in solitary and the grey sludge he had been eating death had been starting to look more and more appealing to him.
He had almost completely nodded off when the jeep rocked violently to the side and Billy was awoken, his eyes popped open when a string of loud curses, intercut with wet squeals, filled the air. There was some sort of dark shape on top of the MP who was driving, it looked like a wolf or a large dog and it had it's jaws clamped around it's throat.
It's eyes were pale white and they almost shone it the moonlight.
The jeep went off of the road and began to go into the woods, the jeep whipped past trees and the bumping got a great deal worse. "Shot it! Shot the fucking thing right now and take the fucking wheel before we crash into a tree!" Billy shouted at the other MP who was currently screaming his head off.
The MP listened at least and pulled his service pistol out of his holster and pulled the trigger twice, blood spurted out of the dog but it didn't stop chewing on the driver's throat. It didn't even seem like it had noticed that it had been shot.
And then it got worse, a tree was suddenly in front of the jeep and it collided hard with the front of the jeep. Billy went flying out of the back seat as heard metal screech and something harshly snap and his stomach felt it was twisted in knots but he felt worse as he fell to the forest floor, for a few moments all he did was laying there, the entire world seemed far away and he was caught between wondering if he was going to be sick or if he was going to faint and his head felt like a cloud.
He pushed himself up despite the fact that his head pounded in protest as he did so, the jeep was totalled and the body of the MP who had been driving was draped over the side of the driver side door, he was clearly dead and if he hadn't been before his throat had been torn out then he was definitely dead now with a large shard of glass through his head.
The wolf or dog or whatever it had been was gone, most likely it had been thrown free by the crash and had ran off at least that was what he hoped had happened, he didn't have a weapon or anything he could use to fight it off if it did come back and even if he did have something he wasn't sure if he was in the best condition to be fighting, he could almost feel the shock beginning to set in.
He swallowed down his nausea and looked down at himself, he needed to assess the damage. His right arm was heavily bruised but nothing seemed broken, his left arm was similar bruised and his wrist was throbbing beneath the broken metal cuff, it could be sprained or even broken but he could fight through the pain. He had suffered a lot worse over the years and considering he had been thrown out of a speeding jeep that had crashed into a tree then he could've been a lot worse.
He could remember everything and his vision wasn't blurry and he didn't have any open wounds and he still had all of him limbs and various extremities, assuming that he didn't have any internal bleeding then he was pretty much golden.
Just as Billy was about to consider what he should do next, mainly if he could find a way to a main road from here, a whimper filled the air from the other side of the jeep and Billy suddenly remembered the other MP who had been in the jeep. He took a few unsteady steps towards the jeep and rested his hands on it to support him as he walked around it and he sighed heavily as what he saw laying a few feet away from the trashed vehicle.
The MP was whimpering and his legs were bent in a way that leg's were clearly not meant to bend, his face was covered in scratches and he could see that tiny shards of glass were embedded in his face. He was trying to crawl but he clearly wasn't getting very far, Billy let out a heavy sigh and let go of the jeep and knelt down next to him.
"I'm sorry, but there is nothing I can do." Billy admitted, he looked around and couldn't help but smile a little as he saw the MP's gun laying a few feet in front of him. It must've been thrown with him, he reached out and picked it up and shoved into the waistband of his jeans. "I am sorry, for what it's worth to you but there isn't any way for me to save you and even if I did you've got orders to take me in, I'm sorry."
Billy stood up and began to walk away even as the MP muttered soft pleas and whimpered in agony, it was a sucky situation but what could he do? There wasn't likely to be a hospital all the way out here and he wasn't going to risk his freedom for helping someone. And he probably would die before he got him some help anyway, it was pointless.
And yet, it felt wrong. Just leaving the poor man to die. He wasn't a killer and he could try to justify it to himself and say that he hadn't caused the jeep to crash, that it wasn't him who had caused that wild animal to attack the driver but he knew that deep down it didn't matter that it wasn't his fault, he was still choosing to let that man die out here alone in the cold and the dark.
With a heavy sigh Billy turned and walked back to where the man was lying on the ground, he was crying now and he had given up even trying to crawl away. Billy knelt back down beside him and gently took his hand, the man didn't try to rip his hand away so Billy took that as a good sign.
"Look, I still can't save you but I don't want to leave you here to die alone." Billy brought up the handgun, it almost seemed to shine in the moonlight. "Do you want me to...do you want the pain to stop?" He asked gently, he wouldn't do anything that the MP didn't want but he still couldn't take him with him.
The man's breath caught in his throat and his eyes widen for a moment but then his body was rocked by a spasm of pain, he let out a chocked sob and nodded once. Billy sighed and pressed the barrel of the gun against the back of the man's head, he closed his eyes and pulled the trigger.
The silence of the forest was broken by a loud bang and the sound of the MP's head falling to the floor. Billy sighed and gently used the front of his navy shirt to wipe the blood and grey matter off. Once the barrel was clean he stuck the gun back into his waistband and got to his feet and began to make his way into the woods, with a bit of luck he would be able to find his way to a highway.
He wasn't walking long before he heard the sound of something growling not far behind him, Billy slowly pulled out his gun and began to turn on his feet. In the darkness of the forest he could make out several pairs of glowing white eyes, the growling was getting louder and the eyes getting closer.
He could see the shapes the eyes belonged too, they were the same animal as the one that had caused the jeep to crash and they were getting even closer to him. He didn't have enough bullets and they were clearly hostile, what had happened to the driver was more than enough proof of that.
Billy slowly stepped back and the dogs stepped forward, Billy spun and began to run. The air was filled with rapid barks and Billy could practically feel them catching up to him, these things were fast! He began to push himself faster, he was not going to die out in the middle of nowhere. There was no way in hell.
He kept running as fast as he could, dashing through the trees and keeping his head down low so no branches would hit him in the face. His legs were starting to tire and he realised that he wouldn't be able to keep running like this, unless he found somewhere to take cover soon then he would dead before he knew it. But it wasn't like she would find somewhere to hide in the middle of the woods at night.
Then he saw it, just for a moment like a flash out of the corner. something large and made of red metal through the trees to his left. He didn't know what it was but it was clearly something manmade and right now it was his best chance for survival, he turned and ran for it.
As he got closer he almost couldn't believe what he was seeing, it was surreal and he couldn't think of any reason why it would be out here but it was definitely there. It was a train, he couldn't tell how many cars it had in the dark but he could make out the name on the side of the car, in white bold letters.
The Ecliptic Express.
Billy rushed for the door and hoped up on to the small step beneath it, he grabbed the door and pulled and he jumped in to the carriage, sliding the door shut behind him and he painted in relief and shut his eyes as he leaned back against the door.
A loud thump and rapid barking shook him and he nearly fell on to his face, he turned his head to look at and he suddenly felt his nasusa suddenly return as he finally managed to get a good look at one of the dogs and it was one of the most horrifying scenes that he had even seen in his entire life.
Half the skin of the dog's head was gone, he could see half of its skull and as it pressed it's snout to the to the glass of the window it stained it red. It wasn't a dog, it was a monster. The thing kept barking and pawed at the window for what seemed like an eternity until it seemed to realise that it wasn't going to get in that way.
The creature disappeared from sight and Billy let out a sigh of relief, it must have realised it that it wouldn't get in and hopefully it would go and take it's pack and go and find another-
The dog collided mid leap with the widow of the door, the glass splintered as it fell to the floor. It did it again and again and the glass looked like it was about to shatter, there were more thumps and Billy's eyes widen as he realised that the rest of the dogs were throwing themselves at the rest of the windows, he had to go.
He turned on his feet and ran for the door at the end of the carriage and for the first time since he had got into the car he realised that there was no one in the car, not in their seats. The only sign that someone had been in here was the scattered lugage in the chairs and the aisles. Maybe whatever had caused the train to stop had made everyone of the passengers gather in in one car.
He got to the door at the end and rushed through it, sliding it shut behind him. This carriage was not empty, there were a few people in the seats and one woman dressed in a attendants uniform, none of them seemed to notice that he had come in, they didn't even seem to care that they had stopped in the middle of the dark woods.
Billy slid his gun in the back of his pants and lifted up the back of his shirt and pulled it down to cover it, the last thing he needed was to start a panic. He stepped towards the woman and tapped her shoulder. "Excuse me, miss. Do you know when we're going to be going? I don't think we're safe here."
The woman turned, in an almost drunken fashion and Billy stepped back when he saw her face, her neck was a ragged hole like something had been tearing into it with a dozen sharp teeth. Her eyes were pale white, milky like those dogs had been. The woman stumbled towards him and let out a soft, wet moan.
Billy ripped his gun out of his pants and pointed it at the woman. "Back off, you take one more step and I will shot. Do you understand? Do you?"
The woman didn't seem to hear him as she simply took another step towards him, Billy frowned and hestiated for a moment for a moment before he squeezed the trigger. There was a loud bang and the bullet struck the woman high up in the chest and it made her spin around but she did not fall.
The woman turned to face him and Billy shook his head in disbelief, she should've been down on the ground but she simply kept coming. He fired again and again both bullets hit her directly in the chest, one he knew hit near her heart. It was a kill shot but she still kept coming.
She was only a few feet away, Billy raised his leg and kicked at her with all his strength, she stumbled back and fell to the floor of of the carriage. Billy ran and jumped over her and ran for the door at the other end of the carriage, in the seats he noticed that several people were starting to stand up, they were all mutilated, most had large chunks of skin missing and dried blood one them, one was missing a hand and another was missing both eyes and they should be dead but they weren't .
They were walking corpses, that was what they were. They were zombies, it was impossible but that was what they were. Billy ran through the door and slid it shut behind her, a few moments later he heard moaning and banging on the other side of the door, he quickly glanced around and he saw that there were doors on either side of this carriage, it look this was the car for passenger cabins, he ducked into the nearest one.
He quickly glanced around the cabin, it was nice and was clearly meant for some with six zero salary, he glanced around and his eyes landed on a table next to the door and he quickly moved the table in front of the door. It wasn't much but it was the best he could do for the moment.
He sat down on the bed and sighed heavily, maybe this was all a fucking nightmare, or a delusion as he was slowly starving to death in his cell. He would take that over being eaten alive by freaks out of a Romero flick, shit his life sucked right now.
He thought breifly about breaking the window and crawling out, but then he heard a ragged howl and he remembered why he had come in here.
Exuction was starting to look a lot more appealing.
End of chapter Twenty-Three
