Chapter 17
Dr. James Marcus, or someone that thought he was anyway, moved into the foyer, looking to the top of the stairs where Ashford stood and Spencer sat in the wheelchair. "They've hurt some of my children and blown a hole in the side of our home."
Spencer sighed. "Sadly, this won't be the end of them being here." Pulling up a computer display, he turned it toward Marcus.
Marcus moved up the stairs, joining them, looking at the feed, seeing the docks camera showing Trent and the other survivors boarding their boat.
"They'll be back," Spencer said. "And they'll come in stronger numbers. I'm afraid our little home has been lost."
"We are going to risk a great deal if we return to the actual world," Marcus stated.
Spencer nodded. "I know, but the moment those fools arrived, I knew this would be a possibility. If they weren't all killed, it wouldn't be the last we saw of them."
Dr. Evelyn Marcus moved in, her high heels clicking. "Security feed from the plantation house shows the Dilo Licker is dead, and Mr. Gennaro has been taken. He was probably with them when they ran from the Tyrant Rex."
"Which is now dead," a voice called out.
They all turned, seeing Jeff Rossiter move in from the entrance double doors.
Rossiter shook his head, clearly frustrated. "Those people were well armed and prepared. They got Bill killed, and I think Mr. James and your man Kurtz were murdered as well. The Carno Hunters destroyed the exteriors of the Special Operations Complex. I'm going to go retrieve Dr. Atherton. Are we… leaving?"
Spencer sighed. "I'm afraid so." He pulled up a handgun and shot it.
Rossiter appeared shocked for a split second before falling to the floor, a bullet in his head.
Spencer sighed and turned toward Eveyln. "Have everyone pack their things. We're leaving."
"What of Norman Atherton?" Ashford asked as Evelyn moved off to get the family packed up.
"He's no further use to us," Spencer said. "We leave him here to suffer his fate." He turned toward Marcus. "James, please carry me to the airstrip."
Marcus nodded and picked up Spencer before moving with him down the stairs and past Rossiter's dead body.
"Sorry, Jeff, but business is business, I'm afraid," Spencer stated as he looked down at his dead body.
"I'm sure he knew deep down this was going to be his inevitable outcome," Marcus said as he carried Spencer through the double doors and down the front stairs before turning to the right and continuing onward down a side road that would lead them to the airstrip.
Looking down toward Marcus' right arm, Spencer could see that his robe was torn there, the entirety of the Mother Love tattoo exposed. "Are you… quite alright, James?"
"Of course, Oz," Marcus replied. "Other than the pain of losing a lot of my children, I'll live. Now, we have to leave the surviving Raptors here. I don't like that."
"I don't think it's feasible to bring them," Spencer said.
"They could be valuable bodyguards against our enemies," Marcus said.
"Perhaps," Spencer said. "And we do have a large cargo hold. You have my permission to have the leeches bring the remaining Raptors along, but we shouldn't bring anything else. We need to repair your robe as well. It looks quite… damaged."
Marcus chuckled. "Yes, it is." He could see the massive corporate jet finally and moved in the direction of it. "Where are we going to go?"
"My private castle in Italy," Spencer replied. "It's the only potential safehouse left to us. The only people there should be the caretaker, Patrick, and a few security officers. They won't be a problem. In fact, I'll call ahead so Patrick knows to expect us."
Marcus moved up the stairs leading toward the door of the plane. "Very good, Oz." Before he could move them into the plane, however, a hooting combined with a shriek sounded out in the forest, stopping them.
"That sounded like the Dilo Lickers," Spencer said. "Other than the one that had been guarding Mr. Gennaro, I thought the rest of them were locked up in NEST."
"Yes, they were," Marcus said. He set Spencer down on his feet. "Can you make it inside on your own?"
Spencer nodded. "It's only a few feet to the first chair."
"Lock yourself in," Marcus said.
As Spencer moved in, closing the door behind him, Marcus moved back down the stairs.
From the near distance, Dr. Norman Atherton stepped out of the foliage, his clothes ripped in several places. However, that wasn't the actual problem. The real issue was, he had grown in size, his heart had burst out of his chest, now exposed, and a massive claw arm had emerged from his right arm. Atherton was now a Tyrant, and he was leading the Dilo Lickers as they came out of the foliage as well.
Marcus sung his song, calling for the Leech Raptors, knowing that the sheer speed of the Raptors alone would get them there quickly.
The Dilo Lickers rushed forward, spitting venom from their mouths as their tongues lashed out, all the while, The Atherton Tyrant trudged slowly along behind them.
Marcus avoided the spit as best as he could, dodging tongues, grabbing two of them, one in each hand. He whipped the tongues, causing the Dilo Lickers to be bounced into the air before crashing onto the ground.
The Atherton Tyrant moved into a run, rushing toward Marcus, its claw extended outward, ready to strike, but two Leech Raptors leapt from opposite sides of him and sent The Atherton Tyrant spinning to the ground, being bitten multiple times for its trouble.
Marcus dodged several attacks from Dilo Lickers as more Leech Raptors poured onto the airstrip, attacking each other.
Jumping out of the way of the attack, Marcus turned, seeing movement. His family were on their way to meet them, being led by Dr. Edward Ashford. He held a hand out for all of them to stop where they were and to hopefully get them to back away.
Ashford held out his hands on both sides as he backed up, which was more than enough incentive for Catherine Marcus (James' wife), Dr. Evelyn Marcus, Alicia Marcus, Simon Marcus, Felix Marcus (young Jake Mueller), and even Dr. Brandon Bailey to back away from the battlefield.
Marcus turned back to the battle just in time to get rammed by The Atherton Tyrant and sent sailing into the airstrip's tower, hitting the side of the building hard. It was true that this wasn't the real Marcus, and as such, Billy Coen was just a man, highly trained as an ex-Marine, but still a man. However, the scarab's P30 drug was more than enough to compensate for Billy's lack of power and abilities, as that drug had been why this Marcus imposter was able to accomplish so much, and as such, he stood back up almost instantly and took off at a run for The Atherton Tyrant again, dodging the battle of the Dilo Lickers and Leech Raptors as he did so.
Evelyn shook her head from the foliage where they had all hidden, watching onward. "What the hell happened to Dr. Atherton?"
"He finally succumbed to the massive amounts of infection he's had for the last decade," Brandon said in response to the woman he loved.
"That doesn't make sense," Ashford said. "Atherton has been under control for years, and for him to become a Tyrant and release the Dilo Lickers… I don't understand."
"Sabotage," Catherine said.
Everyone turned toward her.
Catherine shrugged her shoulders. "Ozwell has been concerned that there was another party on this island before we got attacked tonight."
"But our security cameras didn't show any of that, mother," Evelyn pointed out. "There's no way to know this for sure."
"We'll check the security feeds once we're out of here," Brandon offered. "Maybe we can at least see from those what happened to Dr. Atherton."
Simon Marcus, and his fake brother Felix, had been watching the battle the entire time that the adults were talking, not paying any mind to what they were saying to each other. Simon pointed forward, seeing a break in the battle. "Look, we can get to the plane!"
The adults all looked to Simon before turning back toward the battle. It did appear that the Dilo Lickers and the Leech Raptors were moving off away from the airstrip. The Leech Raptors had gained the upper hand because of their superior speed, forcing the Dilo Lickers to retreat, but the leeches were latching themselves off of the Raptors in order to attack more directly, causing the Dilo Lickers to succumb to wounds, a lot of them dying on the spot.
Ashford nodded. "Let's move out."
Everyone followed after Ashford at a run, all trying to keep up with him as they made the mad dash for the stairs that would lead them to their safety.
The Atherton Tyrant flung Marcus away from him and sped toward the new targets, lashing out his claw at the first one he came to: Catherine Marcus, stabbing her in the gut, lifting her into the air.
Evelyn screamed as tears came to her face.
"Mom!" Alicia yelled, her anger becoming unbearable as she suddenly sprang into action, Evelyn unable to stop her sister, as Alicia actually spin kicked The Atherton Tyrant, sending him skidding back several feet before coming to a stop. He flung Catherine's dead body off of his claw and rushed forward, toward the new target, but Alicia upper cut him, sending the Tyrant flying upward into the air.
Evelyn's mouth dropped in shocked awe.
"Those treatments to save her life," Ashford whispered from beside her. "She's got… abilities."
The Atherton Tyrant soured back down toward the ground only for Alicia to kick him in the gut, sending him several feet away, skipping along the ground for a few more feet as he crashed. He immediately got back to his feet.
"Everyone, up the stairs!" Brandon ordered as he pushed Simon and Felix along up the stairs first. "Let's go, Evelyn! Edward! Come on!"
"I won't leave my sister!" Evelyn said. "You go, Edward!"
Ashford nodded to her and then moved for the stairs, going up them, pulling Brandon along. "Let's go, Dr. Bailey."
"I don't want to leave, Eve!" Brandon exclaimed.
Marcus ran back into the battlefield, moving past Evelyn as he joined his daughter in the battle, grabbing hold of The Atherton Tyrant's claw, pulling hard on it. "Get his other arm, daughter!"
Alicia obliged, grabbing hold of The Atherton Tyrant's smaller arm.
"Pull!" Marcus yelled.
They both pulled hard as The Atherton Tyrant screamed out in pain. The combined strength of Alicia's newfound abilities and the P30 coursing through the Marcus imposter caused them to successfully pull his arms out of his sockets, blood spewing everywhere as he dropped.
Shock didn't leave Evelyn's face the entire time that she watched onward at the attack, unable to comprehend what was happening. She was so distracted by this that she didn't see three Raptors, not sporting the leeches, moving toward her from behind. The leeches had been so concerned with eliminating the Dilo Lickers, that they'd lost their control over these three Raptors, and their basic instincts had returned, and as such, they struck.
Evelyn didn't even have a moment to react as one of the Raptors ripped her right arm off with its jaw. The other two knocked her to the ground, one of them ripping open her stomach, spilling her intestines. They both began to feast on her as she screamed, being eaten alive.
Marcus and Alicia turned toward the screams, and Alicia screamed herself. Thinking quickly, Marcus grabbed Alicia up in his arms and carried her toward the nearby stairs, moving up them. Thankfully, Spencer was standing in the open doorway, waving them onward, apparently having been able to get back up to unlock the door to let everyone else in.
One of the Raptors, the one that had Evelyn's arm in its mouth, rushed up the stairs to pursue, but Spencer slammed the door in its face once Marcus and Alicia were inside. Ashford, Simon, and Felix pressed their weight against the door to keep it closed as Spencer locked them in.
Marcus let Alicia down and touched her cheek. "I'm so sorry about your mother and sister, but you were very brave out there."
Alicia hugged Marcus tightly. "I'm a freak."
"So am I," Marcus said. "But it runs in the family."
"I'm just glad that Aunt Julia and Johnny evacuated a few weeks ago," Alicia said. "They didn't have to see all of this."
Marcus rubbed Alicia's hair. "We'll be reunited with them soon. I'll let them know where to meet us."
Marcus let go of Alicia as she moved to a chair and sat down. He turned toward Brandon, who was staring at him, tears in his eyes. "You and my daughter… I always knew, you know?"
Brandon wiped the tears and moved toward the cockpit since he was the only one amongst them that knew how to fly the plane.
"I'm sorry about your mother," Marcus said to Simon and Felix as they moved over, hugging their grandfather. He sighed and looked to Spencer and Ashford.
"Your children?" Spencer asked.
"They're still out there," Marcus replied. "They were trying to stop the Dilo Lickers."
Ashford clasped a hand to Marcus' shoulder. "We'll replace them. It won't be the first time we had to get you new leeches, James."
Marcus nodded, but he didn't appear all that hopeful from the expression on his face.
As the corporate jet with the Umbrella logo on the side took off from the airstrip, leaving Isla Tacano behind, a pair of black high heels clicked loudly as they moved out onto the strip, going toward the devastated body of The Atherton Tyrant. He was still alive but useless as he laid on the ground without arms.
"You've disappointed me, Dr. Atherton," Ada Wong said as she stopped a few feet away from him.
He turned his head, glaring at her. "You… betrayed…"
Ada smirked. "Yes, I betrayed you. I offered you a way to take over here and remove all of your opposition, but it was a ruse. My employers wanted the founding fathers of Umbrella back in the world. You were a means to an end. You weren't the first I did this to. Once you're dead, go have a conversation with Dr. John Howe in the afterlife. He'll tell you all about me."
She smirked, unholstered her handgun, and put several bullets in Atherton's head. Holstering the weapon, Ada then pulled a comms device from her breast and pressed a few buttons, calling someone.
"Is it done?" a familiar Russian voice, Sergei Vladimir, said on the other end of the line.
"They're leaving the island as we speak," Ada replied. "What do you want done here?"
"I'm sending a team to gather everything," Sergei replied. "We'll blow the island once we're done. Get out of there, Agent Wong. I look forward to your return to Russia."
"As do I." Ada hung up and sneered. "Bastard."