A/N: It has been far too long for this fic, and since I just got my copy of Resident Evil 3 Remake in the mail today, I can't think of a better time to pick it up once again.
But enough of that, I've kept you all waiting long enough!
X
There had been a rare few occurrences where BJ had actually frozen when in a combat situation. It was a habit that he had to break quickly if he had wanted any chance to survive. But standing where he was, looking upon the grotesque, mutated beast that had once been his own father...his legs may as well have been stone.
William Birkin Sr. was barely recognizable at first glance, his entire right side a mass of sickening growths forming a large arm that was almost as big as what remained of his human half with bone-spikes jutting out of the mutated flesh. A basketball-sized eyeball rolled around in the shoulder like a socket, taking in its surroundings before centering on the Marine and narrowing.
"D...Dad?" BJ breathed, horrified as he took in what his father had become. William focused both eyes on his son, deep, hissing breaths escaping clenched teeth and sounding more like a ravenous beast than the brilliant scientist he had once been.
Without warning, William let loose an earth shaking howl of primal fury before charging at his son.
"BJ LOOK OUT!" Claire screamed, tackling her companion out of the way as the enraged beast barreled through a series of pipes with the strength of a living bulldozer.
The duo quickly got to their feet and prepared themselves, "What the hell is that thing?!" the young Redfield shouted while preparing her grenade launcher.
BJ finally managed to shake himself out of his shock and got ready as well, "Whatever it is, it used to be my father!" Claire snapped her attention to him wide-eyed and speechless as William stomped out of the hole he had made, reaching his mutated arm out and ripping a large chunk of pipe free.
Gnashing his teeth, BJ pulled out his shotgun and racked the pump. Whatever had happened to the rest of the city had obviously affected his dad as well and this was the result.
This...thing wasn't his father anymore. No matter what he had been before, he wasn't that now and was a threat to everything and everyone around him, he needed to be taken down. As much as he didn't want to, the survival of Sherry, Claire and himself came first.
"We gotta keep him away from Sherry, find a weak spot!" the Marine shouted before firing his shotgun, the buckshot peppering along William's mutated skin. Causing him to grunt, but ultimately shrugging off the minor damage as he started swinging the pipe in his hand like a baseball bat.
BJ ducked and rolled backwards out of the way while Claire fired her revolver at the raging monster as he smashed his makeshift club into everything around him. Cracking concrete and bending metal as he tried to crush the duo.
"To hell with this!" Claire pulled out her grenade launcher and loaded a flame-round into the barrel. Seeing what his partner was doing, BJ put some distance between himself and her target while firing on his former father's head to keep him distracted.
"You're clear, FIRE!" he called out as the young Redfield pulled the trigger. The 40mm incendiary round hit home with a small explosion and flames spreading across the monster's frame.
William roared, his mutated flesh cracking and blistering as he flailed around to put out the blaze. BJ kept the pressure on while Claire loaded another round, neither of them willing to give the beast a chance to recover.
Growling, William suddenly charged headlong into the ones attacking him. His bulk knocking Claire off her feet, the grenade launcher clattering across the floor while his mutated arm swung around and caught BJ in the chest sending him several meters backwards and crashing into a stack of crates.
The Marine hadn't been prepared for the force behind the hit. His whole ribcage echoed with pain, feeling like Babe Ruth had used his torso for batting practice times twenty. He would have been surprised that none of his ribs had been broken if it weren't for the fact the hit had stunned him so badly.
Groaning, BJ managed to roll out of the pile of broken wood. Shaking his head and getting his bearings back in time to see Claire fleeing his father's mutated form while taking the occasional pot shot at him.
Teeth gritted, the Marine got back to his feet when he noticed something roll out of the broken crate behind him.
X
Claire ducked and ran under a wide swing from the creature stalking her, its weapon smashing a cluster of pipes and sending a blast of steam shooting into its face. Blinding it and giving her a chance to get away from it.
She had still been reeling at the revelation that this thing had once been a person, let alone BJ and Sherry's father. But her most pressing issue was trying to avoid getting crushed to death by whatever the hell said parent had now become.
Cursing at having lost her grip on her grenade launcher, Claire made quick work of reloading her pistol while keeping out of sight. She could hear the monster stomping around nearby, but she couldn't see where it was when she peered out from where she was.
A second passed, then another, the young Redfield slowly eased out of her hiding place and had a moment to breathe in before she was forced to dive to the floor into a roll when a massive arm swung around nearly taking her head off.
William roared as he pursued the brunette, slamming his fist into the floor and forcing her to scuttle backwards to avoid becoming a smear on the concrete. She tried to aim, but had to roll to the side when the monster's fist came down again, cracking the floor where she had just been.
"HEY!" Claire and William looked up to see BJ there with his sidearm aimed with one hand. The weapon registered three times, two rounds hitting the creature on the shoulder and collarbone, but the last one hit home right in the center of William's forehead causing him to recoil and stumble back a step.
"CLAIRE GET CLEAR!" the Marine shouted as he brought out his other hand to reveal a hand grenade. The young Redfield dove for cover as he pulled the pin and tossed it at the creature's feet before diving for cover as well.
The room shook from the explosion that followed, William howled in pain as he was thrown backwards from the blast. Shrapnel burrowing into his flesh and causing a good chunk of damage.
BJ came out into the open to see the monster down in a kneeling position, its 'shoulder-eye' flickering around wildly.
"That's it!" he raised his MK.23 and emptied the rest of the clip into the large eyeball. Blood and tissue spraying into the air as the bullets tore into it.
His guess was right on target when William reeled back screaming. The eye slamming shut with blood flowing down the arm like a dark waterfall as the creature swung itself around and ran forward.
The Marine didn't have a second to prepare himself before he was grabbed by the throat and hoisted off the floor. His sidearm falling to the floor as he kicked hard against the monster's chest, drawing his knife and violently stabbing into the arm that was now choking the life out of him.
Despite the blade piercing his flesh, William's grip remained strong as he continued to crush BJ's neck. His remaining human eye glared up at him, bloodshot-blue meeting similar blue eyes. Through his darkening vision, BJ swore he saw a flash of recognition pass in his father's gaze.
"W...il...liam…" the monster rasped, his grip loosening a small fraction.
A soft gasp was heard and William looked up to see Sherry looking down at them, her young face marred with terror as she watched her daddy strangling her brother.
"Sh...erry…" he rumbled again before roaring in agony. The distraction being enough for BJ to get enough of his strength back to pull his knife from the arm holding him and stabbing hard into the eye in the monster's shoulder when it opened for a brief moment.
The Marine was thrown aside as William tried to reach up and removed the blade stuck in it as an explosion and a burst of flames covered his back. Claire stepped out from behind some machinery with her grenade launcher back in hand that she quickly reloaded a fresh shell into before firing again.
The grenade hit the monster in the chest, forcing him to stumble back into a small railing that overlooked a deep abyss where no bottom could be seen.
Still trying to put out the flames covering his body, William ended up pitching over the railing and falling into the shadows below. Howling loudly the whole way down until he was out of sight.
Claire lowered her launcher, adrenaline flowing out of her when she was sure the thing was gone before making her way over to BJ who was getting back to his feet holding his neck.
"Nice shooting." he gasped out, his throat still very tender. Both of them looked toward where William had gone.
"Think he's dead?" asked Claire.
BJ shook his head, "I hope to hell he is. Whatever the fuck's going on around here, looks like dad ended up getting the worst of it."
"What happened to him?" the brunette wondered, trying to make sense of things. "Zombies, those Licker things, now this. What kind of fucking virus can do that?"
"No idea...but it makes me wonder what my parents were getting into all this time." the Marine saw the questioning look Claire was giving him and realized he hadn't told her yet. "Mom and dad were scientists for the Umbrella corporation. Sherry and I never knew what exactly they did, but it kept them away from home alot. I pretty much had to raise Sherry a lot of the time."
The young Redfield gave him a sympathetic look, "They never told you what they were doing?"
"Whatever they did tell us about their jobs was too vague a lot of the time. But they mostly told us they were working on medicine to help people." BJ looked back where his father had vanished, "One thing the military taught me was to follow orders, another was to never accept a situation at face value. I just hope that I'm wrong."
"About what?" asked Claire.
"That mom and dad knew something that led to all this...or they were a part of it." the Marine stated grimly.
"...Billy?" BJ and Claire looked at the landing above them and saw Sherry looking back. "Is...Is he gone?"
"Yeah Sherry, he's gone. Can you find a ladder or something to help us get up to you?" BJ called back to her.
The little girl disappeared for a few seconds before a metal ladder clattered down to their level. Claire went up first with the Marine right behind her, the moment he got off the last step he was nearly taken off his feet by the little blonde missile that was his sister.
"It's alright, baby sis." BJ said while he hugged her. He broke the hug after a couple seconds before he realized they weren't alone. "Oh! Sherry, this is Claire. She helped me find you."
Claire smiled at the little girl, "It's nice to finally meet you, Sherry. BJ's told me a lot about you."
Sherry looked up at the beautiful woman and smiled back, "Are you Billy's new girlfriend?"
Both the Marine and the young Redfield blushed at the implication, "No, we're just friends. We've been helping each other through this nightmare." said BJ before quickly changing the subject. "Sherry, how long have you been down here?" he asked.
"I don't know. Mom told me to come to the police station when the monsters showed up. But they were here too, so I hid." said Sherry.
"Mom told you to come here?" BJ asked with skepticism.
His sister nodded, "Yeah, she said it was safer here and she would come and get me when she could."
The Marine's eyes narrowed, several red flags coming up after hearing what Sherry said. Their house was on the other side of Raccoon City, and he knew for a fact that his family hadn't moved since he left for basic. He also knew that there were several other 'safe zones' between the Birkin home and the police station in the event of a crisis.
So why the hell would his mother have Sherry cross a good chunk of a viral infested city to one specific location? Even if she had an escort, she had been put in mortal danger from the trip alone, not to mention being here by herself all this time. What had been going through his mother's head? What the hell would cause her to put Sherry in that much danger?
"BJ?" he blinked and saw Claire and Sherry looking at him concerned.
"Sorry, lost in thought." BJ said with a smile that the young Redfield instantly knew was forced. "What do you say we all get out of here." Neither of the girls disagreed with that and began making their walk along the small series of walkways. Going up a flight of stairs into a control room where Sherry pointed to a level on a nearby panel
Throwing the lever, a platform outside the room moved into place providing them a way to reach the exit.
"Billy?" Sherry asked timidly.
"Yeah, Sher?" BJ questioned back.
"That big monster...that was dad, wasn't it?"
The Marine froze at the question, a million and one answers coming to mind. Most of them lies to try and ease her fears. But he knew that his baby sister was smart, and god only knew how often their parents had lied and made false promises. And he swore a long time ago that he wouldn't be like that to her.
Sighing, BJ nodded while he answered. "Yeah...it was. I don't know how or why, but it was him."
Sherry looked down sadly until her brother knelt down to her level with his hands on her shoulders. "I'm sorry baby sis. No matter how much dad and I fought years ago, I wouldn't wish that fate on anyone. Whatever's going on, it's really bad. My only concern is getting you as far away from this as possible. I won't let what happened to dad, what happened to this city, happen to you. And I will never leave you again."
"Y-You promise?" Sherry asked meekly, tears trailing down her dirtied face.
BJ smiled and wiped the tears from her cheeks, "Always."
Claire watched the tender moment with a warm smile, her thoughts drifting to Chris and the hope that he was okay wherever he was.
X
Within the dark parking garage of the police station, a manhole cover near the center slowly rose up and moved to the side. A moment later, BJ's head perked up and glanced around to be sure things were clear before pulling himself out. Reaching back in the opening and helping Sherry and then Claire after that.
"Well, chivalry isn't dead after all." the brunette said with a half-smile, taking the Marine's offered hand as he helped her up.
"Not with me anyway." BJ replied with a small grin of his own.
"Are you sure you two aren't boyfriend and girlfriend. You're sure acting like it." Sherry spoke up, causing the older duo to quickly release their hands. They took a moment to gather themselves before making their way over to the opening to the garage. The steel mesh gate was down and locked in place meaning they were stuck.
"Damn. We need a keycard to activate the door." BJ said from the control box for the gate.
"Is there a way around it?" asked Clare as she looked for a way to get through with Sherry close by.
The Marine shook his head, "Not a chance. This system was designed to only allow designated personnel to get into the garage. The officers here must have locked it down when they turned the place into a shelter."
Sherry saw something moving in the shadows nearby and tensed, her brother and Claire saw this and drew weapons and aimed at whatever was making its way to them.
"Sherry?!" A man's voice echoed through the garage. "I've been looking everywhere for you!" The one that spoke stepped into the headlights of the car outside the gate to reveal a man in his mid-fifties with grey hair and a moustache wearing a white dress shirt that had been sweating through with a shoulder holster and a pair of slacks with a badge on one side and a parking pass on the other.
BJ lowered his weapon slightly when he recognized the man. "Chief Irons?"
Irons froze when he saw the soldier standing in front of his sister. A flash of anger and panic crossed his face almost too fast to notice. "Well...if it isn't Little Billy. What are you doing here?"
"Honorable discharge. Looks like I got back just in time." BJ replied. A feeling in the pit of his stomach telling him to stay on guard.
He had never been a fan of the police chief. The man always gave off a bad vibe whenever he'd been in the same room as him. Not to mention he was about as crooked as any politician could be. There was no telling what this nightmare had done to him as well and how it could have changed him, desperate times often cause people to act violently and irrationally.
BJ had seen the emotions Irons had tried to hide and immediately decided to trust his instincts. "We need your parking pass, Chief." he said, motioning to the keycard on his belt.
The Chief hesitated, then reached toward said pass-
Only to draw his revolver and aim at them. "GET ON THE GROUND! ALL OF YOU!" he screamed with spit flying with each word.
In response Claire and BJ had their own sidearms trained on him. "Don't do this!" the young Redfield pleaded, not wanting there to be bloodshed with all that's happened so far.
"SHUT UP!" Irons shouted, his revolver shaking in his hands. "ON THE GROUND! DO IT!" his beady eyes locked onto Sherry who was hiding behind her brother. "Get over here Sherry!"
BJ remained firmly locked in place, gun aimed at Irons' head with Sherry shielded behind him. "You think I'm going to just let you take my sister, you've lost you're fucking mind." he said coldly.
The Chief fired a round into the ceiling, "I WON'T TELL YOU ALL AGAIN! I'M WALKING OUT OF HERE WITH THAT LITTLE BITCH ONE WAY OR ANOTHER!" A gunshot rang out and Iron's fell to the ground clutching his shoulder, his weapons clattering out of his reach.
Lowering his gun, BJ stormed over to the downed police chief. Kicking his revolver further out of his reach while doing so. Crouching down to the man's level now that the threat was neutralized.
"Why did you want Sherry?" he demanded, MK.23 at the ready.
Irons growled at him like a rabid wolf while clutching his wounded shoulder. "Fuck you! You and you're whole fucking familiy! It's all your fault! You and Umbrella!"
"Umbrella?" asked Claire, Sherry clinging to her side.
"Why were you after Sherry, Irons?!" BJ demanded louder, his sidearm now aimed at his face.
"The little bitch was supposed to be my ticket out of here!" the Chief hissed through his teeth. "You're damn bitch of a mother would have done anything to get her back. I could have gotten out of this shithole!"
Never before had BJ wanted to kill someone so badly, but managed to refrain from doing something he would regret in front of the girls. Instead he reached down and ripped the parking pass from Irons' waist. "You should really watch who you're calling a bitch." he said darkly before standing back up and making his way back to Claire and Sherry.
He made it about half way before he heard it. A low, rumbling sound that seemed to echo through the garage from somewhere in the back.
Out of the shadows, a doberman stalked out into the open. Chunks of flesh missing from its body exposing the bones underneath with cloudy, undead eyes leering at the survivors. Its lips curled back over its teeth, blood and saliva dripping down to the floor as it growled ferally.
Several more canines came out and joined the first one, their bodies all in various stages of decay as they joined the chorus of viral hunger.
"...shit." BJ managed to curse before the infected dogs ran at them. The Marine's sidearm registered several times, managing to hit one of the doberman's in the head and clipping another in the shoulder that sent it sprawling to the floor.
One of the canines managed to get close enough to lung at BJ who dropped down, the infected animal sailing over him. He spun around and slammed the handle of his MK.23 against the dog's head and caving in its skull when it tried to get him from behind.
Claire stepped back, keeping the animals in sight as she fired at them. One of the dobermans lunged and attempted to take a chunk out of her leg, but the brunette was quicker. Bringing her leg up in a wide arc and kicking the canine and sending it into the side of a car hard enough to leave a dent.
Another attempted to get around her and get at Sherry, but two bullets to the side of the head from the young Redfield put it down before it could.
The little girl stumbled back in fear as her brother and Claire fought the infected dogs. One of the animals managed to knock BJ off his feet, but he fell back with the momentum and rolled back to his feet and shot it when it came back around.
She had been so distracted by the fighting that she screamed when a large hand painfully grabbed her tiny arm. Chief Irons looming over her, his shirt stained with his blood while his other hand gripped the keycard BJ had dropped during the fighting.
"You're coming with me!" he shouted and started to drag her to the gate controls.
"BILLY!" Sherry screamed as loud as she could. The Marine spun around and saw what was happening, he aimed and fired at Irons, hitting the console and making him jump.
Glaring hatefully at BJ, Irons threw Sherry to the side. Her little body hitting the ground with a yelp right near an infected doberman who growled in preparation to tear into her flesh.
"SHERRY!" BJ ran after his sister while Irons swiped the card in the reader, causing the gate to start raising and going through the opening. Hitting the switch on the other side to close it back up behind him.
The Marine's boot connected hard with the infected dog's side, kicking it away from his sister before shooting it in the head. "I got you." he said, helping her to her feet. Claire had just finished taking out another undead canine when she looked toward the siblings, her eyes widening when she saw something creeping up on BJ.
"BJ BEHIND YOU!"
BJ spun around as one last doberman launched itself at him. He had only a split second to shove Sherry behind him before the animal's jaws chomped down on his right leg above his ankle, teeth tearing into his fatigues to get at the flesh underneath.
Claire and Sherry screamed in horror...but BJ just glared at the animal and leveled his pistol at it.
"Wrong leg Cujo." he shot the creature between the eyes, splattering what was left of its brains across the floor.
A thick silence filled the parking garage once the undead dogs had been dealt with. "Billy?" BJ looked to Sherry who had her wide, fearful eyes on his right leg.
The lower pant leg torn away to reveal not the shredded, bloody flesh from the infected doberman's teeth, but shining metal that went from the top of his boot to a few inches under his knee.
Claire approached, eyes locked on the limb before meeting the Marine's eyes. "BJ?"
BJ sighed, knowing that this had been coming. Now he had a lot to explain to both his sister and his partner.