X Flashback - 4 Years Ago X
"I FORBID THIS WILLIAM!"
"So you've said, but that doesn't change a damn thing." 18 year old BJ said as he finished packing a rucksack with clothes and a few minor essentials.
His father stormed into his room and grabbed his arm, "This isn't up for debate!"
"I highly doubt your 'friends' in Umbrella's high-offices can compete with the US Government." The younger Birkin sniped at his father while yanking his arm out of his grip. "The paperwork's in, signature's are dry and I'm set to ship out to basic in three days. All you can do is blow hot air…just like you always do."
William Birkin glared at his oldest child, fists clenched at his sides. But BJ was never going to back down.
"You. Do not. Control me." BJ said, his gaze as sharp as his tone. He bumped his shoulder harshly against his father's as he walked past him toward the door.
"I am your father William!" The older Birkin bellowed.
BJ stopped dead. Turning his head to glare at the man over his shoulder. "That title is earned…and you never had it to begin with. So with all due respect…go fuck yourself." He left the room without another word. Passing by his mother who looked to want to say something but didn't even give her a look as he went down the stairs to where Sherry was waiting for him by the front door.
He smiled at his little sister warmly, "Come on, Sher. Let's go have some fun." He said, intending on spending the last few days he had as a civilian with the only person in his family that had his love and respect.
( Present Day )
BJ glared at the abomination before him. The heavily mutated being that had once been his father was beyond recognizable given what G had done to him.
The knowledge that his old man had injected himself with his own creation in a desperate attempt to keep his work out of the hands of Umbrella didn't surprise him. William Birkin Sr. was known to let his ambition get in the way of what was important.
No doubt he'd sacrifice his morals and ethics like he had with bonds to family in the name of said ambition.
G-Birkin bellowed a loud roar, his four clawed arms extending outward before advancing on the former Marine. BJ snapped up his assault rifle and fired several rounds into the creature's center of mass, the 5.56 bullets tore into infected flesh, but did nothing to slow its advance.
Backing up and moving to the right, BJ kept firing while trying to keep a safe distance. Not knowing what the mutant was capable of in its new form and erring on the side of caution as he tried to find a weakness.
Thankfully, the monster's previous weakness was still viable. The former Marine kept his focus on the large eyeball on the G-Mutant's shoulder. But every time he managed to get a couple shots at it, one of its other three arms would come up and cover it. Shielding the weak point with its hardened claws.
Stopping to reload, BJ had to dive aside as another set of claws swiped through the air intending on bisecting him. Rolling to his feet, he snapped his rifle up just as another large eyeball opened up on the mutant's left leg. Emptying almost half the magazine into it before being forced to fall back and avoid the massive backhand that came at him.
The former Marine kept the heat on, taking shots at the eyes when he was able while avoiding the sweeping claws that smashed various pieces of equipment around the room. Just as another clip ran empty, the eyeball on the G-Mutant's leg exploded.
G-Birkin roared in pain and stumbled back, giving BJ the chance to switch to his pistol and take a few shots at the shoulder-eye. The mutant growled before bending down and charging straight ahead like an Eldritch linebacker.
"Oh, fuck!" BJ barely managed to avoid being crushed to death, the mutant's claws pierced the metal wall where he had been standing and getting stuck.
Spinning around, the former Marine was greeted with the sight of another eyeball on the thing's back. Emptying most of his sidearm's clip into it without a second thought and causing it to burst as well.
Another roar of agony ripped from the G-Mutant's maw as it tore its arm free and whirled around. Only to take a few more rounds to its exposed shoulder-eye. Stumbling back, it fell to its knees and its chest opened up to reveal a cluster of smaller eyes pulsating within.
Weakness revealed, BJ pulled out his shotgun and pumped several shells of buckshot into the cluster. The small eyes burst one after another, sending fluids and torn flesh flying with each impact.
He managed four shots before the chest cavity closed up again and the mutant rose back to its full height. Unleashing a roar of primal fury before leaping into the air. BJ immediately backpedaled and got out of the way just before the creature slammed into the ground where he'd been standing. Trying to get a bead on one of the new eyes that had opened up on its body when one of G-Birkin's arms swung back and caught him in the chest, sending the former Marine hurling back and crashing into a pile of canisters.
BJ shook off the impact as best he could, grabbing his dropped shotgun as the large mutant skulked toward him. He racked his brain for a moment before he noticed the canisters he'd landed into were marked as oxygen tanks.
Stashing his shotgun, the former Marine grabbed one of the tanks and tossed it in the direction of the monster coming at him. Drawing his pistol, he targeted the canister as it rolled under the thing's legs before pulling the trigger.
The bullet punched through the light metal, igniting the gasses within and causing the small tank to explode. Flames and shrapnel tearing into G-Birkin's lower body and destroying another eye, the mutant stumbled back giving BJ the chance to target the shoulder-eye again and put several rounds into it before it closed.
Growling, the G-Mutant grabbed a nearby piece of lab equipment and tore it from the floor. Holding the machine over its head before hurling it in BJ's direction, forcing him to dive behind another piece of equipment. A loud crash was followed by an explosion, flaming debris scattered in all directions.
Yellow eyes locked onto the small fire that was starting to spread, G-Birkin stomped forward, searching for its prey among the debris. So focused on what was in front of it, it didn't notice a shadow moving outside its field of vision.
Swiping damaged equipment aside, the creature rumbled in frustration just as BJ jumped up behind it and driving his fist into the exposed eyeball on its back. The organ popping like a wet balloon under the impact.
G-Birkin roared and began thrashing back and forth to dislodge the former Marine. BJ held on as best he could, but the disorientation from all the movement made it easy for the mutant to reach one of its arms back and grab him. Bringing him around to the front, the mutated Birkin hissed when its glowing eyes locked with his son's blue gaze. The other arms coming around with long claws poised to rip him to shreds.
BJ glared at the abomination, struggling to get free but was unable to break the iron grip around his body. His hand brushed against the tip of one of the claws wrapped around his midsection and slicing into his palm. Blood already beginning to pour from the open wound and landing on the massive limb holding him…
White smoke hissing where droplets landed on the mutated flesh.
It was then the former Marine remembered what had happened in the last encounter he had with his mutated father and what his mother had told him in regards to his blood.
Clenching his fist and spreading his blood across his palm, BJ opened his hand wide before slamming it into the G-Mutant's face. Smearing as much of it as he could as flesh and bone sizzled and smoked beneath it.
G-Birkin screeched, tossing BJ aside and grabbing at his face as the infected flesh burned from the anti-viral blood like acid. Collapsing to his knees as his chest opened up again.
The Marine landed on his feet and reached into his tactical vest and pulled out one of the grenades he picked off the undead Umbrella spec ops from earlier. Smearing his blood over the explosive, he pulled the pin before running up and jamming it into the cluster of eyes. The blood melting the flesh as the explosive stuck in place.
BJ spun on his foot and ran for cover as the teeth covering the mutant's chest closed again, a second later the creature's torso exploded in a fountain of gore. A gurgling wail echoed throughout the room, the badly wounded G-Birkin stumbled before toppling over with a heavy crash to the metal floor.
BJ brought out his shotgun and loaded a handful of fresh shells into it before approaching the downed mutant.
The body shook with slow, ragged breaths. The shoulder-eye slowly moved about before it locked onto the Marine as he approached. G-Birkin shifted, exposing its partially melted head and causing BJ to aim his weapon tensely.
A moment of tense silence passed, the two males of the Birkin family locked eyes. A long stream of memories passed through the mind of the younger William Birkin, none of them very fond, but they were moments in his life nonetheless.
"I've always hated you." BJ said out loud. "You were never there for Sherry and me, always putting your own ambitions ahead of your family. You were never the father that we needed, and I hated you for every moment you should have been there for."
G-Birkin let out a low hiss, like a truck releasing its break pressure as the Marine continued.
"After everything mom told me…I can't help but hate you even more. The infection, Raccoon City, all of it was because of you and Umbrella. And all you cared about was your damn research. Infecting yourself with the G-virus in some desperate gamble to get back at everyone and everything." BJ wracked the pump of his shotgun and aimed at the abomination's head. "But now? I only pity you. I hope everything you tried to obtain was worth losing the love and respect of your children. Because Sherry and I? We'll be fine without you, just like we've always been."
The mutant growled before lunging at the Marine-
A thunderous blast of BJ's shotgun registered, followed by another, and then another. The shells clattering on the ground below as the mutant collapsed back to the ground with its head now a pulpy mass.
BJ lowered the weapon with a deep, cleansing breath before turning and heading for the exit.
Not once did he look back. And not another word spoken.
X
There were only a few zombies on the way back to the reception area of the NEST facility. BJ wasted no time in putting them down quickly as he jogged back to where he knew the others would be.
Entering the security room, he was greeted with the sight of his mother kneeling down next to where Sherry lay with her head resting on the bed. An IV drip hooked to her arm with the anti-virus being fed into her.
"BJ!" Claire said from her spot by the desk, taking a couple quick steps to greet him and check for any damage. "Your father, is he…?"
"I took care of it." The Marine answered before looking back to his sister. "How is she?"
Sherry's eyes blinked open, all signs of the infection nowhere to be seen. "Billy?"
BJ was at her side, kneeling down beside their mother as he took her hand and smiled. "Hey, Sher. How you feeling?"
"A lot better now." She turned to their mom and looked worried. "Mom needs help."
Annette slowly raised her head, blinking groggily before snapping into focus when she saw her daughter. "Sh-Sherry?"
"Hi, mommy." Sherry said with a smile.
The Birkin matriarch smiled back at her before standing-
A cry of pain pulled from her throat as she fell forward.
"Mom!/Annette!/Mommy!" Everyone said at once, BJ managing to catch her before she hit the floor and helped keep her on her feet. Annette stumbled toward a nearby monitor with her son's help, looking at the readouts with a look of relief on her face.
"The anti-virus worked just in time." she said after a moment. "Sherry will be weak for a little while. But she is free of the G-Virus." Annette turned, only to hold her side with a sharp groan of pain.
BJ and Claire both helped lower her to the floor where she laid on the cool surface. The Marine raised his mother's shirt a bit and felt his chest tighten when he saw the massive amount of bruising across her stomach and sides.
It didn't take a medical professional to tell him she was in bad shape. Broken bones and internal bleeding would be a definite first guess.
"What happened to her?" Sherry asked in alarm as they all knelt down around the older woman.
"She…She was attacked by that monster-" Claire tried to explain before Annette's hand reached out to them.
"D-Don't worry…about me…" she said with deep, pain-filled breaths, blood dripping from her lips as she reached into her pocket and produced a Level-4 ID chip. "Get Sherry…to safety." She turned to her daughter, "I'm…so sorry, Sherry. For everything. Your life…is more important than anything…right now."
BJ leaned in closer, "Mom?"
"Attention! Unauthorized removal of Level-4 Virus detected! Facility lockdown initiated! Self-destruct sequence will begin when lockdown is complete!" The PA system announced as a small tremor shook the whole facility.
"What does that mean?" asked Claire.
"It's the…self-destruct code…" Annette said weakly. "Incase the G-Virus…leaves the building."
Another tremor shook around them, BJ turned his attention to his mother. "Then we better get moving." he reached out to pick her up, but she shook her head.
"No…save your sister…" Annette looked up at him, and smiled. "I'm sorry… for not being the mother…you both deserved. I am…proud of the man you've become. Promise me…that you'll take care of Sherry…like you always have."
BJ felt his eyes prickle, knowing that this would be the last time they would ever speak. Leaning forward, he placed a kiss on her forehead. "I forgive you." he said genuinely.
Tears spilled down Annette's face, her hands reaching out and cupping the faces of her children. "I love you…both…so much…" Her arms fell limply to her sides and her head slumped to the left.
"Mommy!" Sherry threw herself on top of her mother and cried as the facility shook again.
BJ wiped at his eyes before putting his hands on his sister's shoulders, "Sherry, we gotta go. Mom wanted us to survive, we need to say goodbye."
Sherry gave him a broken look, seeing a similar look in her brother's eyes as she nodded, giving their mother a kiss on the cheek as BJ reached out and closed her eyes. The two sibling's stood up and held one another as they silently said goodbye to the woman who had given them life.
Claire could only look on, feeling her heart break for the siblings. Sherry looked her way before moving away from her brother and hugging her too. "You were right about this jacket." she said into the older woman's stomach. "I'm lucky to have you and Billy."
The young Redfield gave her a small smile as BJ came over and put his arms around them both. The facility shook hard, reminding them of their current situation.
"We don't have much time, we need to go now." said the former Marine while ushering the girls out of the room. Sending one last look at his mother's body before the door closed behind them.
X
Putting the new Admin. Chip into the security bracelet, the trio began moving.
BJ loaded the last clip into his AR-15 as they crossed the center point of the facility, him being on point with Claire and Sherry in step behind him. Stepping onto the center platform, the Marine waved the bracelet over the console and hit the switch that appeared causing the elevator that had been locked down to open for them. They piled inside with the door closing behind them before the lift began to descend.
The facility continued to shake, the lockdown sequence still in effect and making time grow shorter.
"BJ?" The older Birkin sibling turned to Claire who was chewing on her lower lip. "About before, when we-" She paused when he reached out and cupped her face.
"We're definitely gonna talk about that, and then some. Let's get out of here in one piece first, and we'll have all the time we need." He said with a lot of meaning in his tone and eyes. The brunette blushed, but smiled and nodded in agreement.
Sherry watched the interaction and couldn't help but smile as well.
The elevator came to a stop, the doors opening into a security/surveillance room with a bank of monitors dominating the left-side wall. They traversed the long room and came out into a large elevator shaft. A series of explosions went off farther down making the floor beneath them shake.
"This way!" BJ shouted over all the noise, kicking a nearby door open and led the girls into a maintenance room. Rounding the corner of a short walkway, they rode a service elevator down a floor.
"T-minus Ten Minutes until detonation! I repeat, Ten minutes until detonation." The PA announced as the lift reached the ground below. A pair of zombies lumbered out of the shadows and headed toward them, both being greeted with a round through the forehead. The trio quickly made their way through the winding corridors and equipment while the facility continued to rumble around them.
Stepping through an open doorway, the former Marine was stuck in the chest and sent crashing into a couple of barrels. A plant creature, similar to the ones encountered in the greenhouse, skulked after him only to be peppered with a hail of rounds. Claire reloaded her machine pistol before helping BJ back to his feet, "You good?"
"Yeah…" BJ stumbled a moment before righting himself, the fatigue and the various hits he'd taken finally taking their toll. And seeing the slight slump in Claire's posture, she wasn't faring much better.
Pushing on, they traversed the metal walkways, the PA reminding them how much time they had left as they shot down any opposition that got in their way. Their progress being halted when they reached a locked door.
"Shit!" BJ kicked the door with no success in budging it. Another explosion went off back the way they came as a handful of zombies and plant-creatures approached.
"Any ideas?" asked Claire, aiming her pistol back at the coming horde.
"I got it!" The older duo turned to see Sherry climbing onto a nearby vent and began to crawl along it.
"Sherry! What are you doing?!" BJ shouted after her.
"I'll get the door! Wait for me!" his sister called back as she disappeared from sight.
Cursing, the former Marine spun around and kicked a zombie in the chest. Sending it staggering back into two others before pulling his sidearm and shooting them in the head one after another. "She's certainly tenacious." said Claire as she reloaded and took down another undead.
"It's a family trait, between the two of us anyway." BJ replied, switching to his shotgun and blowing the leg off a plant-creature. A nearby pipe exploded sending the rest of the small horde flying and given them a moment to reload, their ammo supply running dangerously low.
The door behind them swung open reveal Sherry standing at the threshold. "Come on!" she shouted over all the noise. BJ and Claire didn't need to be told twice as they all double timed it. Running by fires that were steadily spreading as pipes and boilers began to explode around them. Kicking down another door, BJ shot another zombie that stumbled into their path coated in flames.
Finding themselves out on a long walkway over the massive elevator shaft, the trio entered another door that led inside a large lift where an engine car for a train sat in the middle.
"Billy! Claire! We can use that!" Sherry called out when she saw the engine.
"Worth a try." Claire replied with a shrug with BJ nodding in agreement.
With time running out, they quickly checked the platform. Finding a large joint plug in the train car that went to the main panel for the system, they had Sherry stay put inside the engine for her own safety before heading to the control room to bring the systems online while BJ checked the hard cases piled up in the room.
Claire plugged the joint into the control panel and brought everything back on while BJ began searching through the military hardcases laying nearby. The former Marine becoming stunned when he found a couple RPG launchers with spare rockets laying within them along with a minigun stashed in the corner. "Fuck…where the hell were these earlier?" he wondered out loud.
"I think I got everything working here." reported Claire as the panel lit up. She pulled a lever and everything in and around the platform came online.
A nearby monitor came on, the screen grainy with static but the duo could make out a familiar face. "Leon! You're down here too?" The young Redfield shouted.
"Claire? BJ? That you guys?" The rooking police officer replied in both exhaustion and relief, "Can't tell you how happy I am to see you guys. This whole place is coming down!"
"We noticed." said BJ as the facility rumbled for emphasis, "We got ourselves a way out. If you're by an exit, get there fast."
"Don't worry…out me…Jus…et out…" The screen became broken with more static before the signal cut out completely.
"Leon? Leon!" Claire called out, but the officer image was long gone.
"You better get out of this, rookie." The former Marine said, going over to the stockpile of weapons and grabbing a launcher and a few rockets. "Low on ammo, better to be prepared." Claire nodded in agreement before she picked up the minigun easily despite its weight.
The brunette made sure her grip was firm on the large weapon before taking notice BJ was giving her a strange look. "...what?"
"Not going to lie…you look really hot right now." the former Marine said bluntly, causing the young Redfield to blush. They stepped out onto the platform as it began to descend to what they could hope was the way out.
A loud roar tore through the air over the explosions causing the duo to freeze in their tracks. "No way." said Claire as something large slammed into the top of the engine car.
BJ grit his teeth in white-hot fury, "Are you fucking SERIOUS?!" He shouted as the pulsing, mutating and growing form of his father rose up and let loose another roar. As the PA made another announcement.
"Six minutes to detonation! I repeat, T-minus six minutes to detonation!"
X
A/N: It's all coming down to the wire, all that stands in their way is an undying abomination and a Umbrella facility on the verge of collapse. Then again, it is Resident Evil.
Still taking my time on updates to avoid burn out, but with this one coming closer and closer to an end I'm pushing to reach the climax. So don't go too far, the next update could be here before you know it.