Resident Evil Black Ops III: Last Escape

by EpsilonChurchRVB

Very few had survived the destruction of Raccoon City. The Raccoon Trials would go on to last for years through intense unrest. Jill Valentine and Frank Woods were among the few survivors to be alive throughout the last days of the doomed city, all while being targeted by a relentless, powerful monster to silence them all. This is the story of their fates - of their last escape…

9. Chapter 9: Fighting in the Flames

Recommended BGM:

1. Resident Evil 3: Nemesis (1999) - Carlos' Theme

2. Resident Evil 2 (1998) - The Marshalling Yard (The First Half)

3. Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War - Bell's Theme

Bonus Track: Resident Evil 3 (Remake) - Fighting in the Flames

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Chapter 9

There was no time to waste, to ponder how that thing had quickly found her.

At least it's not after Frank.

Yet…

Jill turned the other way and ran without looking back, certain that the Nemesis' target within the restaurant was her and her only. Every thundering step was a heavy reminder that she had to do something and fast. The moment she turned back to the dining room, she caught a glimpse of the same young mercenary finishing untying what could only seem to be his other, much older-looking squad members, all looking frantic and panicked, just as much as she was feeling herself. Kravchenko seemed to have made his own escape, but she would have to worry about him later when more pressing matters were at hand.

"Hey lady, what's—?"

Before the youngest mercenary could utter another word, she motioned for the guy and his other squadmates to stay as silent as possible. She desperately looked around for something she could use to distract the Nemesis long enough for them to escape. She had ducked behind the service counter, and the trio of Umbrella grunts moved closer to her with experience. Whoever these guys were, they at least had the good sense to listen to her and cooperate together as the STARS killer charged into the kitchen, still screaming.

Gas. Fire.

A guttering oil lamp sat on the open booth closest to her. Jill didn't think twice; that thing would reach them in seconds if she didn't act quickly, and maybe a little burning oil might even do the trick. It wouldn't kill it, but it sure as hell better slow it down.

She motioned for the others to stay put, moving swiftly in a crouch, and snatched up the lamp before hurrying back, silently counting Nemesis' immense footsteps.

One. Two…

She stood up, leaned over the counter, and cocked her arm back. The hulking tyrant was just two more giant steps away from them inside the expansive kitchen when she threw the lamp at it, grunting with the strength it took to make the long distance.

The lamp flew, and everything slowed down to an almost complete stop. So much was happening inside her mind; there was just enough time for her brain to comprehend one event at a time.

The lamp shattered right beneath the monster's legs, glass and oil shattering in a splashing puddle before the tiny lake spread its flames into a massive blast of infernal heat; the humanoid titan raised its massive fists in a blind rage, screaming a spine-chilling roar of fury; the youngest mercenary yelled something and grabbed her waist, pulling her down, while the older deeply-scarred man grabbed the other in one hand with them both on the other and held them all together on the cold ground.

There was the familiar clap of power and sound, something she'd suffered once since waking up in her apartment, a displacement of air that slammed at her eardrums. She struggled to see or hear anything for almost an entire minute, vaguely hearing a pair of muffled voices behind her as the UBCS guys tried to shield her and each other. A moment later, time seemed to return to normal, and something began to burn.

At this rate, with this many explosions, the city might as well blow up…

The thought was vague, lingering within the depths of her disoriented mind until she finally remembered to breathe. Coughing up dust and smoke, she pushed herself up with the help of the youngest and the oldest. She pushed them all away, refusing to accept their help further. She quickly needed to see the aftermath.

The kitchen had been completely destroyed, blasted entirely, with utensils and cookware lying everywhere. The canisters she had seen leaning against the back wall had all been completely bent, except for one of them that had been the apparent source of the explosion; its smoking metal sides peeled back like jagged petals. Dark, putrid smoke billowed from the smoldering massive body on the floor. The Nemesis laid out like a fallen giant, its black retardant-looking clothes singed and burnt. The monster did not move.

"No Burger Town for tonight, I guess," the oldest said before momentarily wiping the fallen debris off his uniform. "Is everyone all right?"

"I don't mean to offend, but are you batshit?" the young, thick-hair-looking guy said, gazing at Jill as though the question was rhetorical. "You could've barbecued all of us!"

"She did us all a favor if anything," the one with the lowered cap said, his frightened expression unchanged from before. He turned to her and added, "Nice thinking there, ma'am—but could you explain what the hell was that thing anyway?"

Jill turned to watch the Nemesis, ignoring their questions, the .357 revolver aimed at its still legs; a low shelf blocked its head and upper body. The blast had been powerful, but after what she'd been through from the mansion and within the city, she knew better than to assume anything past this point.

Gotta finish it off. Shoot it! Shoot it, or you may not have another chance…

"I… don't think it's getting up," the eldest said, and he gently put a hand over her right shoulder as a form of reassurance. "C'mon, we should—"

The Nemesis twitched, a slight jerk of the fingers on the hand that was visible, and Jill's nerves caught on fire. She wanted out; she wanted to flee, stay as far away from this place as possible before it sat up and shook off the effects of the explosion, as the Arklay Lab's tyrant had surely done in the past. Plus, she needed to find a proper way to get into the sewers and look for Frank, praying that the fall wasn't enough to kill him or leave him permanently crippled.

"We gotta get out of here, now," she said, turning to the closest Umbrella mercenary. She wasn't sure she could trust them, but they weren't exactly terrible-looking with lack of survival experience either. The eldest had battle scars all over his face, and she could practically begin counting them up close, but his eyes were well-trained, almost as if he knew what he was doing. All of them looked similar in uniform and had the same weaponry as those she'd met in the parking garage earlier, and the thought that they were with Umbrella brushed off all positive thoughts she had about the trio of mercenaries with her. That is, if that's really who they claimed to be anyway.

I'm gonna need all the manpower I can get, though. And the youngest, good-looking one saved your ass, too. Give'em the benefit of the doubt, at least…

…but should I really tell them about Frank? What if…

She decided to keep these thoughts to herself for now as she hurried for the front doors briskly, ignoring their pleas for her to talk to them, following right behind her. She did have many questions for them and was willing to bet they all had questions for her, too, especially after seeing their reactions to the Nemesis' arrival… but they could talk elsewhere. Anywhere else.

As soon as the fresh air of the night hit her in the nostrils, she couldn't help but break into a run, the trio of military men pacing her, hurrying through the cool dark of the dead city as she remembered one place where it could be safe to rest and talk for a few minutes.

Jill's feet pounded against the bloodied and bullet-riddled pavement, skipping over the dead bodies she'd left behind after the gunfight from earlier, trying her best to put more wishful thinking on the fact that there would be no more Perseus agents waiting for her at her destination. The more she ran, the more she could feel her heart echoing in her ears as her breath came in ragged gasps of growing urgency.

From the fast-food restaurant, she ran downhill, past the local theater, taking a right at the decorative fountain she always thought was too tacky and intricate for a small, mountainside community like Raccoon. Another half block, and she quickly signaled them at the door to the left, leading straight inside a warehouse that sat across the vast construction site that would never see its completion date for a long time, or ever…

The heavily scarred man was in front, while the man in the green cap and the youngest one were right behind him, all of them nodding, their assault rifles trained and ready.

Jill pulled the handle, her mind racing with conflicting emotions about them, and let them inside, cautiously gesturing to be on the lookout in case Perseus had taken over the place. The trio of soldiers stepped inside, ready to shoot at anything that moved, and Jill covered for them from behind, aiming the revolver at both sides of the street before closing the door for good.

Further inside was a walkway she remembered going through after she rushed inside for safety from a previous encounter with a couple of infected dogs minutes before she was ambushed by Perseus just outside the local theater next to Burger Town. They most likely heard the shots when she tried getting rid of one of the canines before two more showed up to replace their fallen companion.

And the tyrant, just as well…

She couldn't shake the gnawing fear and uncertainty that whirled violently inside her as she turned to face them directly. Perseus and the Nemesis were actively hunting her down, unable to fully comprehend how much they would go through to silence the truth behind their wrongdoings. She was still unsure whether she could trust the soldiers before her, considering all their uniforms indicated they were part of Umbrella.

Whatever the case was, she didn't have the time to do any significant interpreting. Frank needs her help, and she needs their help, so she simply went with her first impression: they were one of the good guys. The youngest one helped her escape her deadly confrontation against the Perseus leader himself, and the others had helped protect her from the explosion back at the restaurant. Whether or not they would be of any more help was up for debate, but for the moment, she was willing to settle for any ally who didn't have plans to kill her.

"Should be all right," Jill said quietly, though this was primarily an attempt to reassure herself rather than the others with her. "Came this way a few minutes ago before…"

"Well, better safe than sorry is what I'd say, right?" said the youngest one, his rifle still up for another moment before slowly pulling his aim away at the dim corners of the T-junction, following the other pair's lead.

Jill nodded. She couldn't help but notice a subtle shift in their expressions. The dark-skinned man with the green hat gazed at her with a mixture of empathy and curiosity, his half-hidden eyes narrowing as he assessed her words carefully. The youngest seemed more distracted, though his features softened with a hint of gratitude and trust. As for the eldest of the group, besides his eyes of a hardened soldier, everything about him seemed unreadable, simply nodding in silent agreement. And she thought Wesker and Hudson were the only ones capable of holding a blank expression with no discernable features to digest…

Speaking of which…

"I'd like to ask you all something if you don't mind," Jill said, finally summoning the courage to confront them about their true intentions.

"Oh, my name's Carlos," said the youngest before anyone else could say anything to her. He turned and hesitated slightly. "And they are…"

"Russell Adler," the eldest sputtered, forming a soft smile as he held his rifle close to him as though waiting for someone to turn against him. "Wish I could say it's a pleasure, but under these circumstances, well…"

"Lawrence Sims," the guy with the green cap said, seemingly more relaxed as if a heavy burden had been thrown off his chest. "And… you must be Jill Valentine that we heard about, right?"

Jill studied him with furrowed brows, unsure what to make of the contradicting information Nikolai had told her about earlier. Of course, Umbrella must've told them about her, possibly about the Nemesis as well, and their initial reactions in front of her were all primarily just an act to gain her trust. She knew they couldn't be entirely useless, but she wasn't a fool about it either.

Which is why I have quite a handful of questions for them…

"And how would you happen to know about me?" she asked, gazing at Lawrence inquisitively. "Last I heard from one of your guys, they told me Umbrella doesn't tell you jack squat about anything of importance."

"That's true," he said, nodding. "But when Oliveira told us about a news report that he—"

"One of our guys is still alive?" Carlos interrupted, spitting out a sense of fervent desperation behind his tone as he stepped closer to Jill. "Where? Did they say who they were? Are they okay?!"

"Woah, woah, easy there, Oliveira," Russell chimed in, slightly pulling back his left arm and telling him something else like she was just a picture frame for decorative purposes. "She just got done dealing with Perseus and that… thing out there. You wanna get her trust? Let her speak her mind first before we ask her anything in return. It's the least we can do for her right now."

Carlos gawked at him briefly before looking down at the floor like a grounded kid. A moment later, he sighed, raised his head, and immediately apologized softly.

"Sorry," he said simply. "It's been a rough night for all of us, and…"

Jill nodded slowly, understanding that they, too, may have lost just as many people as everybody else who was still alive in this hellish nightmare. If she wanted to survive and work together with them, she'd have to put aside the differences between her and their horrible corporation that caused this whole mess. It's likely they may not be entirely aware of the true nature of Umbrella's bigger picture within the pharmaceutical field, but that remains to be seen.

"I get it," said Jill, trying to feel more sympathetic than hostility as she cocked her head sideways, looking back at the interconnected walkway, resisting the urge to express her deep hatred towards their employer. "I've lost people, too. Too many, in fact…"

There was an unsettling silence that grew between all of them. None seemed to want to speak up about their experiences in Raccoon, especially after what they all had gone through just recently…

…until Jill finally decided to break it up for them, sensing that they were already waiting for her to ask away the question she had in mind for them initially.

"I wanted to ask earlier," she pointed a finger at Carlos, "if you're the same Carlos who sent out a message about an hour ago, an hour and a half, maybe? It's hard to tell the time anymore."

"You heard that?" Carlos asked, looking somewhat surprised. "When no one answered, I didn't think…"

"You what?!" Russell interjected with a burst of fury as he stepped forward and faced Carlos, not giving any effort to hide his anger towards him, his voice laced with righteous indignation. "Perseus is out there trying to hunt everyone down, and you send out a distress call like it's some kind of sick game of hide and seek to you? What the fuck were you thinking?!"

Carlos gaped at him, and just as he opened his mouth to speak, Lawrence spoke up with a nod, voicing his own suspicions.

"It's possible that's how Kravchenko knew we were at the restaurant," he mused, his words heavy with implications. "Can't be sure, but considering how likely it would be for him to be tracking and listening to all open channels…"

"Jesus Christ…" Russell spitted out, turning his back on everyone and shaking his head in profound disbelief.

"If it makes you feel any better," Jill said suddenly, trying to have a cooler head with them, though she still wanted to omit any information about Frank for now. "I only caught part of it and couldn't transmit anything from where I was. Only thing I heard was something about a platoon and 'unknown forces' killing your kind. I'm assuming it had something to do with Perseus, right? Heard about the ambush from your pals Nikolai and Mikhail, who's err… not in a very good condition. Shot up by Perseus but survived. Managed to help stop the bleeding and is currently being taken care of by Nikolai inside the Ennerdale Parking Garage."

"The captain's alive?" Carlos paused for a moment, grinning ever so slightly before his smile slowly faded upon realizing where they were and what had happened recently. He turned around to face Russell's back and exhaled. "Look, I didn't explicitly say anything critical or where I was when I sent out that message. The only thing I said was—"

"Doesn't matter what you said," Russell interrupted him, still facing his back on him as he gazed at the ground, most likely as a way to try and calm himself down. "Tracking the signal is good enough information to them."

Jill couldn't help but think this whole thing was becoming too ridiculous of who gets to blame who at this point.

Boys…

"All right, listen up," she demanded loudly enough to get their attention, including Russell's, who now turned around to gaze at her with a piercing look of curiosity. "I don' got time to deal with high school drama right now. I'm in a bit of a hurry, and I'm trying to look for someone who needs my help. That thing that I just blew up - it's one of Umbrella's monsters; it's hunting me, and I very much doubt that it's dead, even now - and with Perseus added to the mix, means I'm not safe."

The trio before her exchanged wary glances, the weight of her words sinking inside their minds. After a brief pause, Lawrence stepped forward, his expression a mix of determination and concern.

"We can help you," he offered, his voice filled with genuine sincerity. "We ain't no experts on killing biological mutants, but with Perseus on the other hand, we can—"

"No," she replied firmly, her tone leaving no room for argument as she checked how many rounds she had left inside her .357 revolver and Samurai Edge. "I will only put you and everybody else in unnecessary danger, and that thing won't hesitate to kill anything in its way. It's best if I do this alone without the heavy weight - no offense."

"None taken," Lawrence smiled at her softly as he watched her finish examining the Colt Python she had in her possession before taking out the Samurai Edge. "Seems like you can take care of yourself very well after what you did to Kravchenko's group earlier."

Jill nodded briskly, slapping the mag back inside her custom beretta as she did so.

"Used to be part of the Delta Force before STARS," she stated cooly as she gripped the Samurai Edge tightly, her preferred weapon for quick work on murderous soldiers and zombies alike.

"The US Army Delta Force?" Russell asked in surprise, though more rhetorically rather than an actual question. "Impressive…"

"Yeah," Carlos nodded in agreement, grinning mildly. "A tall drink of water like yourself can surely survive a hellhole like this one after all."

Jill shook her head slowly, trying to keep herself from smiling as she masked her emotions in front of them. She could've sworn she saw a subtle shoulder bump from Russell for a fleeting moment, almost as if he was quietly trying to tell Carlos to behave himself.

After a short while, Carlos composed himself, cleared his throat, and added, "Do you mind me asking who you're looking for, exactly?"

Jill hesitated for a moment, breaking eye contact with them as she took a deep breath, thinking to herself.

Don't trust them. You barely know anything about them—and for all you know, they could still be working directly for the Umbrella heads. Think about it… What would happen if they found out that Frank was still alive? That is if they have yet to know.

But the Nemesis, however…

She felt a deep shiver down her spine just by the mere thought of a Tyrant stalking her, a killing machine that will stop at nothing until it completes its primary objective: to kill every last remaining STARS member in the city, which includes her and Frank… and right now, it currently has a hard on her.

That may likely change. It could already be on its way to Frank's location… Oh God…

Immediately, she was startled by Russell, who spoke up as soon as she silently reconsidered her final decision.

"We err… We're also looking for a certain somebody," he said almost tentatively. "Someone who… Someone with whom we actually haven't had contact in ages. After hearing that monster, I…"

"It's my partner from STARS, Frank Woods," said Jill, quickly turning around as she started to spill the beans, no longer caring about the consequences of them knowing his weeks' worth of survival at the hospital. "That thing killed our pilot, Brad Vickers, right in front of us, and… and it's coming for us next - coming for Frank if it hasn't tried to look for me by now. He fell in a sinkhole directly into the sewers, and I'm trying to…"

She trailed off, swallowing as she felt her posture wobble out of place in anxiety, trying to hold her emotions as much as she could.

"Woods, you said, huh?" Russell echoed, and he slowly grew a soft smile before putting a hand on her right shoulder for a quick moment, being able to notice her distressed state of mind quickly. "If you managed to survive this far, you shouldn't have to worry about him then."

Jill looked up at him, her narrowed eyes connected to his, studying him as she processed his words of acknowledgment and reassurance.

"You know him? Or do you know of him?" she pried, already feeling it wasn't the best idea to tell them anything about Frank. She should've known better than simply giving in to her inner pleas for help.

Russell looked back at Lawrence, who seemed to nod back at him as a form of particular agreement about something she had yet to know. Jill was about to open her mouth to speak up until Russell beat her to it.

"We go back," he started. "Ever since we discovered Perseus remaining a bigger threat during the Cold War, I built a team to stop them however we could. Woods was among them. After a while, we… I thought it was over, but…"

"Right… And look how that worked out for you," said Jill irritably, chuckling sarcastically. "Congratulations, you've done a great job protecting your country from a viral outbreak, thanks to your current employers and a group of Russian terrorists falling under your radar."

"It's more complicated than that," he retorted, his voice gripped by controlled annoyance. "You wouldn't understand."

"Oh, I get the clear picture," she said sharply. "Umbrella makes a virus, works with Perseus, causes two spills, and now both are trying to eliminate any evidence of this ever happening. And you thought it was over, so you join those responsible for all this? You're even more brain-dead than I thought."

Russell's piercing stare was met with Jill's defiant glare, her jaw set in determination. They stood locked in a silent battle of wills for a moment, each refusing to back down in the face of the other's scrutiny.

"Hey, look, we all want the same thing here, alright?" Carlos cut in as he stood between them, trying to break the tension once he noticed their eyes of offense and accusation. "Let's just put our differences aside and help try to look for this Frank dude—where did you say he was again?"

Their eyes were still locked on one another for several more seconds, even as Jill responded to Carlos' question.

"Sewers near the RPD," she said stoically before retreating back to face Carlos, hoping to clear her mind off the potential fault Russell or even all of them might've had in all this. "Some kind of… tremor underground caused part of the street in front of the building to give in as he ran to…"

She remembered why Frank was unwilling to listen to her warnings, remembering Gwen's passing - how it really affected him… she wanted to save this information to herself out of respect for Frank, knowing he might not be comfortable exposing his vulnerable side to most people out there.

"I just need to get to the sewers," she finished. "Most of the manholes are blocked by barricades and wreckages all across the streets of the RPD, and since the STARS killer would've been likely to be waiting for me at the station, I decided to do a detour - until I got here…"

"You sure you don't want us to come with you?" said Lawrence, his voice of concern still as potent as ever. "We were planning on heading to the station earlier, too, before that sonuvabitch showed up and made a huge scene as we minded our own business."

"Now that I think about it…" Jill paused, reminding herself of the environment back near the gate of city hall from her earlier excursions inside the city. She took out the blue gem she picked up at the station earlier, showing it to them briefly. "There is a way to get inside the sewers near the city hall's gate. If I can just get the gate open by using this and one other gem, look for a crowbar somewhere… I can get down there and look for Frank."

"No shit," said Carlos, almost in a mild surprise. "I saw something like that in the basement at Burger Town. A green gem."

Jill's eyes widened, unable to contain her rush of excitement. "Really? If we can get it… Carlos, we have to go back!"

"And go straight to where that monster is?" Carlos pointed at the door they came in from, shaking his head. "Do you have some kind of death wish, lady?"

"It's either A: I get that other gem, and not only do I get to find Frank, but unlock our way out of this city - a cable car that runs west, out to the suburbs - or B: We continue arguing about this until Perseus or that monster shows up and kill us all," she said harshly, rolling her eyes across Lawrence and Russell, who were standing on Carlos' both sides. "What's it going to be?"

Based on the looks they gave her, they seem to have tried their best to look for an alternative but could not find any. Even if there was, she wasn't willing to let the opportunity slide and wait for the inevitable to come either way. Hopefully, mentioning a possible way to get out of town might've given them a reason to let her go and proceed to do whatever they needed to do before meeting up at the cable car together. She wouldn't mind the extra backup but was still wary of their true intentions.

After having spoken to his teammates, Carlos finally nodded at her.

"I'll come with," he stated confidently. "It wouldn't feel right knowing you'll be headed straight toward that monster all by yourself. Plus, I … we can go look for your STARS partner together along the way, too."

Jill couldn't help but grow a soft smile. At least she'll have some company, even if it's with someone she has yet to build some trust with.

"Okay," she said, turning to the other duo afterward. "City Hall is just by the newspaper office building a couple of blocks away after cutting through the shopping district. Once you go through the gate, follow the path and keep to the left. You'll see signs for Lonsdale Yard, where the cable car is."

Russell and Lawrence nodded in understanding.

"Copy that," said Russell, his expression merely showing a satisfied look without worry or concern. "As soon as we check on Nikolai and Mikhail, we'll head to the police station to investigate some things before we rendezvous with you two."

Jill shook her head, her lips curling slightly.

"There's nothing at the police station left to explore," she said warily, hoping that her instincts about them were wrong in every sense of the word. "If I were you, I'd try getting your friends together and head to the central station while you still can."

"Trust me, ma'am, you'd be surprised by the things people manage to overlook," Lawrence stated almost smugly, making Jill's mind stir up with more questions about the true nature of their arrival at the city. "If you both get there first, don't leave without our asses."

"Don't keep us waiting for too long," she returned before motioning at Carlos to follow her, jogging away back to where they'd entered by without looking back.

Once she slowly opened the door, she checked for any possible dangers: zombie, Perseus, or Nemesis. After several seconds of a quick scan, she slipped out of the door, and once she continued to jog back to the restaurant, Carlos kept his pace without uttering another word, without any hesitation.

Perhaps she was wrong about them initially - or they could simply be playing along for now. She didn't know, but with everything that's happened recently, she was quick to accept any sort of help however she could, even if it meant making friends with the enemy of your enemy.

After taking a quick turn to the left past the fountain, Jill kept her senses on high alert, her pace unwavering before she could change her mind about returning.

---

The strength it took to turn the valve and unlock the hydraulic door that Woods found not long ago didn't take much - or maybe it just felt very light due to his superhuman strength. Thinking about his unique abilities kept reminding him of his deteriorating state, a curse that had been put upon him. Whether or not he could find something at the hospital that could treat his infection was still a mystery, but he tried his best to keep his focus on getting the hell out of the sewers before wasting his energy to do anything else.

He was now inside an abandoned office, having found it in disarray with a hanging light shining in the center.

Old folders, worn-out research papers, and books were laid on a desk in front, next to an ancient-looking typewriter. The whiteboard next to him on his right had a dusty map hanging on the wall, which he quickly snatched from its perch of clutter. His eyes quickly narrowed as he studied the intricate network of tunnels and passages that laid out before him until he found his location. He was in the manager's office, the top head who most likely ran the whole place.

Right… so where the fuck do I need to go from here?

Ah! Here we go.

Much to his surprise, the exit wasn't as far away as he thought, and his finger traced it to be located just across from his room.

Nodding to himself as he tried to forget that nothing came easy, he folded the map and stashed it inside his small backpack. The one thing he needed right now was some positive thinking, a type of motivation to keep him going.

Looking straight ahead at the office's far right wall, he realized that four lockers were standing before him and wasted no time rummaging through all of them, even breaking apart the ones locked in place with a dial lock.

All of them had been mostly empty, save for a couple that contained a half-empty box of shotgun shells to use with the M870 and a small red box of nine-millimeter bullets, enough to reload his current mag for his M1911 twice over. It could spell the difference between life and death in a heated situation, but every bullet mattered, and he wasn't willing to leave them behind either.

After putting everything inside his packs, he looked back at the locker before him, noticing a cracked mirror inside. He paused, examining himself thoroughly in the mirror. He saw his reflection more clearly than before, the sweat, blood, and grime all over his face—that thin shade of blue in his left eye again—and frowned.

Thirty years ago, who in their right mind would've thought that this whole viral shit was gonna happen? Who would've thought I'd be in the middle of it - all happening inside the US of all things?

There was a strange sense of regret and nostalgia, half-wishing he'd be in the middle of an actual human war rather than a battlefield with mutants and undead monsters. Even now, the idea of a "normal" war seemed too far-fetched to say out loud. People outside of the city, safe in the confines of their homes, would think he was a crazy man, and in fact, they'd probably be right. He was never the same man after the Korean War, never the same after the Vietnam War - and whether or not he considered himself human right now, he no longer knew anymore. The reflection staring back at him was a stranger, a mere shadow of the man he used to be. Deep-seated disgust welled inside him in the depths of his own reflection.

The man he gazed in the mirror was no longer the legendary Frank Woods. Gone were the days when his youthful idealism had once fueled his ambition, replaced by bitter cynicism and weary resignation. Gone was the human inside him, the hopes and dreams of a better future, all replaced by a single moment of vulnerability and isolation, a sea of regrets and missed opportunities, a smokescreen of bloodlust and retribution. Gone was his self-identity, stolen by Perseus and Umbrella, from the same factions responsible for…

…fuck!

With a primal roar of fury and frustration, Woods' fist collided with the cracked mirror, shattering it into several glittering shards of broken glass, his knuckles bruised and sliced with a collection of small and large cuts. The sharp sting of pain shot through his knuckles, a sensation he sought to welcome, a tangible reminder that pain meant that he was still human, embracing his small sense of mortality.

As he withdrew his hand, blood oozed from the gashes on his skin, and he closely monitored the healing process taking place before him. The physical pain was nothing compared to the torment he carried within, the weight of his sins and failures pressing down on him like a leaden weight…

…but as the t-Virus finished mending his blemished skin, he slowly took it as a sign that he was meant to survive, to move forward and do what needed to be done. It would explain why the t-Virus inside his veins had refused to finish him off. It's been waiting for him to do his mission, his final mission…

And I'm gonna make damn well sure that it gets done.

With a silent vow to refuse to look back into the past again, he strode out of the office through the only exit door and out into the putrid dampness of the sewer system.

In the corner of his eye to his right, as he took a mild jog across the tunnel, he saw several piles of dead bodies of people from varying levels of decomposition. Water rushing through the sewage pipes looked like massive waterfalls of liquified guts and fecal matter, with pieces of random garbage from across the city.

Ugh, smells like utter shit.

"Yeah, no fuckin' shit it does," he muttered to himself almost in shame, knowing full well that sewage water wouldn't be smelling like fresh bubble gum either.

There seemed to be another office he had just run past, but he never saw a door to enter. The room itself had a few windows that were too rusted and grimy to see through. Woods kept his focus straight ahead, trying to remind himself that he wasn't here for the scenic route but to escape from the sewer. Breathing in all kinds of nasty smells and strange chemicals with his new profound senses was starting to take a toll on his sanity.

The path began to wind into two different corners. He saw a row of bars that allowed him to see the other side of a bizarre passageway. Looking through, he saw little other than a few doors that led to different directions, none of which led to where he needed to go anyway.

Just focus on the damn path and follow it. Valentine needs you, remember? That damn tyrant may still be after her ass…

This triggered him to hurry and make a run for it, not wanting to predict what would happen if she fell into the hands of the Nemesis, the STARS killer that had been so relentless in trying to kill him at all costs previously. And with Vickers out of the picture and Valentine added to that list…

…an echoing roar of an abnormal creature was heard relatively close to his location.

Goddamn monsters…

It didn't matter whether it was Nemesis, another giant worm, or something else entirely. They were all monsters, mutants that made no difference. All of them were abominations to nature itself. Whatever it was that he heard, it wouldn't be enough to stop him from reaching his destination.

Up ahead was a door that he sought to go through, his way out of the sewers. Woods sprinted through the dimly lit walkway, his heart pounding in his chest, blood pulsing in his ears. His footsteps became louder and more aggressive, echoing in the confined space. The distant roar continued, but he pushed the thought aside, focusing solely on reaching the door that promised his escape. There was nothing that would stop him, nothing that could stop him now.

SPLASH!

In his blind haste, a deafening sound from something underneath had caught him by surprise. He'd failed to notice the dark shape lurking beneath the murky waters of the sewage canal before a monster erupted from the depths below.

Before he could react or see what kind of abominable creature was responsible for preventing his escape, he felt his body hurtling through the air as the monster took a good strike at the rails where he stood. With a resounding crash, Woods slammed into the nasty water, the impact knocking out the breath from his lungs and sending him tumbling head over heels, accidentally swallowing some of the foul water. Desperate and disoriented, he struggled to regain his bearings as the force of the water's relentless current swept him away over the edge of a massive waterfall, the deafening roar of rushing water filling his ears as he plummeted downward.

With a bone-jarring impact, he collided with the flooded ground below, the force of the fall driving the rest of the air from his lungs in a sharp gasp of pain.

Agh! Shit…

He slowly struggled to his feet through a moment of paroxysmal coughs of air, vile water, and disgust. Instinctively, he noticed another huge ripple of displaced water next to him before quickly throwing himself out of the way from the monster's grasp as it landed before him. His eyes stung from the sickly water hitting his vision, but he was too busy to care when his gaze was now locked onto the monstrous visage of the creature that had attacked him previously.

And what the hell are you supposed to be, huh?

Standing before him was an oversized-looking toad, an enormous organism bathed in the sickly glow of the sewer's dim light. Its head looked more prominent than the rest of its slimy body, and its skin was a sickly dark gray-bluish color. Armless, with stubby little growths as mere limbs that seemed to serve no purpose, it still held up a dangerous mouth of serrated teeth and feet with large claws—signs that it would stop at nothing to rip at his flesh for consumption. Caught between the raging waters behind him and the merciless predator before him, Woods knew that his only chance of survival was to fight back or look for a quick opening, waiting for the hideous creature to pull off its first move.

"C'mon, you ugly sonuvabitch! Show me what ya got!" he taunted the creature, aiming at its mouth with his handgun, the weapon that would allow him to maneuver around his target much more efficiently.

The moment he finished talking, the creature suddenly opened its mouth wide, or what seemed to be one of its mouths, as a smaller one erupted from within the grotesque creature's throat, letting out a gurgling, screeching cry. Its internal mouth immediately split into four large mandibles, each adorned with smaller rows of teeth that could easily tear him up without much effort.

"What the fuck?!" he cursed loudly, caught by surprise by the terrible sight of an organism that now looked more alien than earth-like, causing him to fire his gun without a moment's hesitation.

The successive shots found their mark, striking the thing's insides from the opened internal mouth, but the creature refused to yield, its primal instincts driving it forward with a relentless charge to feast - to swallow him whole if it could.

Now!

He dove underneath the shallow water, swimming forward as the amphibious creature narrowly missed him; he felt part of his wet cargo pants being sliced near his right ankle.

Rising back up to the surface again, he stood back on his feet, the putrid liquid at waist-length, and began to move away from it as much as possible, trying to put enough distance as much as possible…

…until another thunderous splash came from one of the enormous drainage pipes behind him. As the monster in front of him was busy trying to swirl its body around, Woods turned his head to glance behind him, and another of its kind was already on its way toward him, closing in on his location almost as fast as it had arrived.

Oh, for fuck's sake!

He needed a way out - to escape before becoming monster food.

Quickly, he scanned around the environment as the one in front of him finished recovering from its missed attack, turning around with a fearsome growl of frustration and hunger…

…and the one behind him began to open its mouth, revealing enlarged, toothy mandibles, ready to chew him up alive.

Gotta get up that railing above!

Instinctively, Woods fired all of his remaining bullets within his M1911, enough shots to stun the slimy organism in its narrow knees, causing it to become disoriented as it screeched in pain, trying to recover as fast as it could.

Woods sprang into action, immediately seizing the opportunity before the one from behind came any closer to him. His muscles coiled with pent-up energy as he launched himself over the staggered creature, his boots skimming over its wet tissue form. With a mighty leap, he cleared the distance between himself and the wounded creature, causing the second monster behind him to come crashing down against the injured one, missing him completely.

With a sudden burst of speed and energy, he grabbed onto the railing just in time before he managed to slip away by mere inches and began to pull himself upward and over the metal bars. Behind him, he could hear the enraged snarls from the creatures of the sewers as they recovered from their injuries. Without looking back, he ran across the lower walkway, needing to find a way to get back where he had to go.

Just ignore'em. Focus on getting the hell out of here first.

Nodding to himself, he sprinted forward, climbing up a set of stairs as he heard both creatures suddenly leap on the same walkway from behind. Reaching the top, he bumped into a gate and pushed it but refused to give in, denying him access to the other side. Cursing to himself softly, he decided to look back toward the stairs and saw both creatures climbing up relentlessly, having little to no problem using the tiny treads of stairs to reach him however possible.

"Am I that fucking irresistible?" he jested, but it was far from the best time to pull off any kind of joke right now. He had Mason to blame for his jokester personality in the midst of a terrible event, but since Mason wasn't here to follow up with a stupid, smart-ass answer, he brushed it all off, feeling more shameful than he'd like to admit even to himself.

Quickly, he turned his attention to the gate again, deciding it would be best for him to simply brute-force his way through. After all, he had strength almost no one had, even at his advanced age. He stepped back, leaning slightly backward, and kicked the gate with all the force he could.

CRASH!

The metal gate dented and gave way, slamming loudly against the ground and lifting a slight fog of dirt that reduced his visibility by a small variable. He coughed for a few seconds but continued moving through the same passageway he'd seen earlier through the barred window ahead of him.

That office from before…

Wanting to stock up on more supplies that could prove useful for his survival, he made a quick detour to the right, the monsters already catching up to him, and immediately slipped through a metal door with a battery attached to it on its right. He figured the battery was for some sort of weird locking mechanism but didn't bother with the idea that those giant frog-looking things were smart enough to interact with it anyway.

'Cept, they were smart enough to climb a set of stairs earlier.

As he lingered at the thought, one of them burst the metal door open, trying to fit their large, grayish body through the narrow doorway. They snuck in their wide-open mandibles, blindly searching for their missing meal of the night. Woods slowly backed away, merely staring at it in complete disgust as he silently waited for its next move, his pistol holstered and shotgun at the ready…

…and almost as suddenly as it burst the door open, it quickly gave up its chase and retreated. The door automatically closed itself, and all Woods could hear were wet footsteps before large water splashes were heard underneath. It seemed that the other one had done the same, but Woods wasn't willing to bet that they had entirely given up on him. If there was one thing that he knew about marine life was that not all of them were capable of surviving on land without being in water for some time. They could still be waiting for him in sewage water to come out of the room, patiently waiting for their prey to come to them instead.

Fucking monsters…

He laid the shotgun flat on the large desk next to the grimy window he'd seen on the other side and took out his handgun to eject the magazine and manually insert the nine-millimeter rounds he'd found earlier. It wasn't as practical as switching to an already loaded mag, but at least he was happy enough to have the ammo to deal with shitheads like those things out there.

After loading the last bullet with another round inside the chamber, he noticed a strange-looking love letter he hadn't seen when putting the Remington on top of the unsealed envelope. He thought about not reading it since every goddamn love poem he's heard from various people in the past had made him want to puke out his entire stomach, worse than smelling and ingesting sewage water itself. Then again, he questioned why a random love letter would be in the open for anyone to read.

And his curiosity peaked subconsciously.

Eugh… gonna fuckin' regret this for sure.

At least he'll have some time to kill, long enough for him to wait out those slimy creatures to stop waiting around and look for food elsewhere, enough time for him to make his escape without the extra hassle of dealing with them head-on.

He grabbed the envelope, slipped out the piece of paper, and began skimming through it, his mind already cringing at the first phrase he read on the letter itself.

My little darlings,

It's already been three months since we fled together. I find myself thinking back to the day you hatched… Your little voices made me tremble with pride…

Your adorable little bodies, brimming with incredible, destructive power... and, of course, that voracious, insatiable appetite—you are no less than the pinnacle of the Hunter series! And yet they ordered me to destroy you! They said you were unfit for use as weapons because of a few minor vulnerabilities!

So what if you're susceptible to heat? So what if your delicate mandibles are exposed when you feed? Haven't they ever heard of CHARACTER FLAWS? It is those very flaws that make you so very, very precious to me.

But we'll show them yet. Down here, we'll continue to walk this evolutionary path together! We'll prove to Umbrella that you, my beloved Hunter Gammas, are truly superior!

Woods immediately crumpled the paper and threw it against the grimy, opaque window, grunting in rage and revulsion.

The whole thing was worse than just a cringy love poem; it was a maniac, a fucking delusional maniac that created another type of Hunters, the same things he remembered dealing with back at the Spencer Mansion and its underground lab. But those things were an amalgamation of human and reptilian DNA. As for these so-called "Gamma" series, it doesn't take a genius to know they must've resulted from human and amphibian DNA as they were more amphibious in nature than reptilian-like.

To think that Perseus must've been involved in some way too…

Shit!

There was no time to start shifting fingers at everybody. Right now, he has to focus on his main objective: escaping out of this hellhole before Valentine runs into Perseus or, worse, the abominable tyrant stalker.

"Fire," he muttered as he grabbed his shotgun and strapped it across his chest. "Anything to light their asses."

At least the piece of love junk was helpful for something, telling him that fire was all he needed to get them away from him, to kill them in the most painful way possible. After reading all that hot garbage, they deserved to burn in the flames of justice.

After scanning and looking around the room, he found and grabbed a half-empty can of cheap cologne and a relatively small blue lighter. Both combined, and you pretty much have a homemade blowtorch with flamethrower capabilities. It's not the safest and most practical way, but enough to hopefully keep them at bay and kill them if possible. Initially, he briefly thought about spraying the cologne onto himself, but the thing smelled worse than the one Hudson would put on a casual day for drinking at a local bar. And that could burn your nostrils even if you were several feet away from him.

Wonder if I could use it as monster repellant. Wouldn't that just be wonderful for them to all fall like flies?

After giving himself something to chuckle softly about, he slowly approached the metallic door, trying to focus his enhanced senses and see if the Hunter Gammas were still around.

So far, so good…

"Hmph… as if," he whispered, reminding himself that he'd thought the exact same thing before the hunters caught him off-guard.

He turned the handle quietly, cautiously opening the door, but the hinges decided that silence was not their forte, squealing almost loud enough to echo throughout the open passageway. With the lighter and the cologne aimed in front with both hands, he slipped through the door and began taking several calculated steps, looking down at the water source below in the center of the room. He noticed that there weren't any rippling effects or bubbles forming underneath the water, which gave him a slight sense of calmness as he took in a deep breath afterward.

Could still be waiting for me on the other side. Can't be too careful around here.

Woods continued onwards at a slower pace, not wanting to endure more surprises beyond this point. According to the map, the catwalk he was about to go through led to a ladder near the end, which led directly to his destination.

C'mon… If you're there, just get it over with!

Just as he finished that thought, both of the monsters from before jumped aggressively onto the catwalk, each screeching and growling at him as they opened their mouths and mandibles. Woods wasted no time and immediately used the cologne and the lighter to blowtorch them alive. The lighter gave up its tamer flame, becoming a giant, raging firestorm as the cologne acted as fuel to light anything on fire before him. The hunters' wet tissue combusted across their entire bodies and crackled as they began to scream a high-pitched roar of pain and misery.

"HAHA! BURN YOU MOTHERFUCKERS!" Woods guffawed, feeling satisfaction grow as the homemade blowtorch kept making them twitch and flail.

In a desperate escape to relieve themselves from the immense pain, both hunters dropped themselves into the raging river below them, still screeching those piercing screams as they landed in the water head-on. It seemed that they didn't survive their third-degree burns for long as their crisped bodies floated aimlessly toward the waterfall down below, their piercing screams suddenly stopping altogether. Another splashing noise, and they were completely gone from view, unable to see anything past the end of the sewage waterfall.

"Good fuckin' riddance," he uttered softly, smiling as he threw the lighter and the can of cologne toward the waterfall.

Turning to his right, he paced faster, feeling satisfied that he didn't need to worry about any more of them coming his way. If there had been more of them, they would've most likely leaped to his location to avenge their fallen.

Time to finally get out of this shithole.

He slid down the ladder and jogged toward the exit door, leading upstairs and straight to a ladder that spelled escape for him. He stood before the door, pausing as he turned back toward the waterfall, ensuring none of them had survived their injuries. Another moment later, he smiled once more and opened the door to his escape from the sewer system, the hinges creaking in protest as he stepped out into a much less unpleasant smell of cooler air, something that told him that he was just within reach of getting back to the surface…

…and it was when he noticed a foul smell from somewhere.

He sniffed the air around him, trying to detect the source of the awful smell, and once he raised his arm to sniff himself, he wrinkled in revulsion.

Fuck… Least I smelled worse than this. What I would give for a hundred showers right now….

Quickly, he shook his head, trying his best not to sound like a spoiled rich brat. He hated people whining and complaining about shit that shouldn't matter in the slightest when it came to survival. For one, not only would it get you killed, but there is nothing to be gained from throwing a tantrum about it, either. You either adapt or you don't. Simple as that.

Climbing upstairs was a trip he enjoyed. His newfound freedom was already within his grasp as he got closer to the ladder leading to a semi-opened manhole. Once he reached the ladder and began climbing it, each rung brought him an immense sense of hope. Whatever would be waiting for him back on the surface, he did not care if it meant needing to get out of the labyrinths of the underground.

By the time he reached the manhole, it revealed a slit of moonlight coming from above through the edges of the rusted metal. With one simple push, it was enough to throw the manhole cover to the side on the surface, not feeling surprised at how light it felt compared to the ones he had to push before his viral enhancements.

As Woods emerged from the depths of the sewers, he found himself standing just outside a construction site, the skeletal frames of the half-built building looming overhead like a silent sentinel. Across from him, a power substation hummed with electrical energy ringing in his sensitive ears, its towering transformers casting long shadows across the deserted street.

Taking a moment to survey his surroundings, Woods felt a sense of unease settle over him, the same feeling he once felt back at his place. The air around him became tense, the oppressive feeling gnawing at his senses for an unprecedented danger approaching faster than he could realize.

Oh shit…

Something told him to jump to his side, and he listened to his instincts, barreling himself across the pavement painfully when the sounds of an unmistakable roar of an engine raged from the night sky above him…

…and a massive humanoid in black landed nearby with great fury and power, overpowering his hearing senses as he quickly stood up and watched the Nemesis roar its only learned word for mass murder and destruction.

"SSTAARRSS!"

But there was also something else that caught his attention.

Besides its hideous, now exposed head of decomposed patches of dead tissue and an irregular line of thick surgical staples, an enormous fuel tank was strapped to its back, connected to a long, metal nozzle that extended from its left hand, an oversized flamethrower.

"Are you fuckin' kiddin'—!?"

Woods had no time to finish his sentence when the Nemesis suddenly ignited the weapon, flames erupting from the nozzle with a deafening roar, combined with its own warcry to crave its hunger to kill.

Shit-shit-shit!

He ducked for cover to the nearest pile of debris as the air behind him combusted in a spewing jet of searing flame. In an instant, he came to regret his decision as the debris was made out of discarded piles of wood, material that could efficiently combust and burn within seconds, the roar of the flames echoing fiercely within his ears.

"Fuck this!"

He made a quick getaway toward the construction site, unwilling to face the tyrant with a giant flamethrower it had at its disposal. A rush of adrenaline surged through him as he ran toward a semi-opened metal shutter, not deciding to look back as he felt the flames' heat burning against his back with a massive ferocity that made him act faster than he could take his time to think. The Nemesis only took smaller strides, possibly due to the flamethrower being too big to run with.

Yeah, think again when it had a rocket launcher and still ran like a motherfucker…

Woods slid through the small gap and immediately lowered the shutter into a slam. He knew it was a feeble barrier, one that would only buy him precious seconds before the Nemesis inevitably broke through. Without wasting more time, he raced inside the building toward the stairs, taking them two at a time in haste. He no longer knew where to go or how to lose his tail, but one thing was for certain; Nemesis was coming for him with a strong vengeance, and considering its clothes had been ripped and burnt, it was apparent enough that it had already faced Valentine before it came after him next.

His only remaining hope was that Valentine was still alive somewhere in the city…

---

The absence of life itself was not without the palpable sense that one wasn't alone in the ruined streets of the city. The distant, anguish cries of the living and the dead were almost indistinguishable, the wails of the town's victims haunting their ears with each echo of the darkness' silence. After traversing through the destroyed barricades as they put more distance between themselves and the other pair of mercenaries, Obolensky couldn't help but feel a shiver down his spine. He felt this way mainly because their local rendezvous point was nearby, which meant their commander would also be around.

When he turned to look at Gray after realizing this, he didn't seem to feel the same way as he did. All he could read from Gray's half-hidden expression was a collective mind of seriousness with their current mission. Maybe the idiot thought he wouldn't get the full severity of their punishment for their recent failure to keep silent and watch over the Nemesis' encounter with the STARS.

That - or use Nikolai's betrayal to soothe out everything before that.

The pair had been mostly silent for the past five minutes since they left their positions near the parking garage. There wasn't much to talk about; even if there were, Obolensky wasn't the talkative type anyway, not after…

BAM!

A low, puppy-like whimper followed after the gunshot behind him. He cocked his head around, only to see one of the Cerberi had almost caught him by surprise, the infected dog's crippled body sprawled on the cracked pavement in a pool of its own blood.

"Watch yer six, mate," Gray reminded him.

Obolensky felt a painful irritation for both himself and Gray. He couldn't bring himself to say a simple "Thanks" or an "I know" to him other than to ignore him and continue walking toward the alley they needed to go through just around the street corner. His mind was too focused on their commander, how to deal with him, and what to tell him in return after reporting their findings from their earlier excursions. Kravchenko was someone he knew not to underestimate. He's made that mistake once and was prepared not to make that same mistake again.

He cursed silently, feeling a surge of frustration and dread suddenly wash over him. He had no desire to face Kravchenko, not after their initial mission had gone disastrously wrong. Tracing the Nemesis' location was not only a complicated process, but the thought that Woods and Valentine now most likely know of their presence in the city made matters worse for them. Assuming that they somehow survive future encounters with the Nemesis T-Type, there was also the possibility of bumping into the STARS pair face-to-face. An awkward family reunion to describe his potential meeting with Woods would be the greatest understatement he'd ever learn.

If only I'd taken the shot… if Gray hadn't fucked everything up… it would've been far easier to—

His thought process stopped abruptly, and he found himself working in auto-mode as he pulled out his sidearm when a strange, dark figure stepped out of the alleyway. His finger had just hovered on the trigger when the man in the hood suddenly spoke with a drawling voice, utterly unbothered by the weapon trained before him.

"Well, well…" their voice was laced with slight surprise, but Obolensky could tell a smirk was hidden under the hood. He immediately recognized the shadowy man before he stepped into the white shade of light from a flickering street lamp above them, pulling his hood down. "The pair who I was exactly looking forward to finally meet."

"Commander, sir," Gray said with the usual formalities that Obolensky felt tired of doing when it came to a selfish team-killing scumbag like Kravchenko.

Obolensky lowered his weapon and gave a forced nod. "Sir."

The commander nodded in return, his smile unusually wide. He slowly paced around them, gazing at them as he spoke with careful authority, while Obolensky and Gray merely kept their gazes forward with feelings of uncertainty mixing within.

"I figured the two of you would never fail to disappoint me," Kravchenko asserted, and Obolesnky could tell he was directly scrutinizing him longer than he'd liked. In his mind, he half knew the reason why he kept a good stare at him, primarily due to his past history with people like Woods, Mason, and especially Adler. After a tense moment of silence, he continued slowly pacing around and expressed their current situation as a whole. "I've attempted to contact the other squads from around downtown, all the way up north at the hospital, but everyone has proven unworthy of this type of work - which had finally led me to you."

The commander stopped to face them from behind and ended his statement with a firm tone, affirming Obolensky's suspicions that the commander was somehow not entirely pleased with them.

"Report."

Gray and Obolensky shared brief glances with each other before subtly nodding and turning around to face the commander, lowering their balaclavas as they did so.

Play along for now. You've got two things to work with here - good and bad news. Get the bad shit out of the way first.

"We've done as you asked," Obolensky started, flushing away any remaining turmoil he'd been feeling, trying to give the impression that there was immense confidence behind his words. "We arrived at the RPD and were able to confirm that Frank Woods had survived his test trials, as per your expectations. The Nemesis T-Type is functioning at its peak capacity and engaged with him and Jill Valentine, and both succeeded in escaping with their lives."

The commander did not seem to change his stern expression. He was still gazing at him with a piercing look in his remaining eye as though he could read his hidden thoughts without effort. He seemed to already know there was something he wasn't telling him. So Obolesnky felt compelled to divulge precisely what had happened during the encounter. He opened his mouth to reveal the details when Gray interrupted him.

"Bell decided it was the best idea to be a tool and shoot one of'em before we got the chance to see them all in action against the huge muppet," Gray revealed, further infuriating Obolesnky not just for destroying his own attempt at being truthful to their commander but referring to him by the revolting name that Adler had burned in his mind forever. "Eejit didn't think clearly when Woods finally showed up alive. Tried to stop him, but instead, killed a girl that was with them. As a result, the STARS may now truly be aware of our intentions to seek them through."

Obolensky shot a glaring look at Roman Gray, feeling a wildfire rage in the depths of his damaged soul. Every fiber of his being screamed for instant retribution, for payback against his stolen redemption for the accusation of their failure to stay hidden within the shadows. How dare he shift all the blame to him?

You know better than to try to shift blame to someone else. Not gonna end well for you either, Roman.

Gray looked at him back with disdain as though he were something appalling to look at. A moment later, Gray returned his attention to tell Kravchenko about something else again.

"Nikolai killed one of our own, sir," he explained. "Bastard stopped'em from killin' one of their platoon leaders. Langer's not to be trusted."

With this final say, the commander's expression had finally changed, but it wasn't the type they expected him to have either.

"This might work in our favor," he uttered smugly, slowly grinning as he rubbed his thin stubble across his chin. He stared at the ground in a semi-blind trance of pride and contentment, scanning the dead Cerberus that Gray had shot earlier.

Obolensky surveyed his commander in a confused state, unable to comprehend why their past mistakes could be turned into something for the better, at least from Kravchenko's perspective.

"Commander?" Gray inquired. Obolensky noted that he was also visibly bewildered, and all they could do was wait for Kravchenko to follow up on his statement or plan, whatever it was.

The commander began to pace around them again, further surveying his surroundings blankly before scrutinizing the pair with intent. Obolesnky kept a careful gaze away from him, sensing what was already about to come.

"Despite failing to remain a watchful eye on the Nemesis Prototype minutes earlier," Kravchenko stated cautiously, his words creating chills down Obolensky's spine, "you still have proven some value to me. After all these years, you kept a fixed promise to do what must be done for Perseus' cause. But there is one thing I must remind you of…"

Here we go…

Obolensky's blood froze. He knew that Gray must've warned Kravchenko about his planned treachery, about his hidden plans to uproot Kravchenko from his spot of power that he did not deserve. Bastard thought that being the most loyal to him would grant him immunity from his wrath, and Obolesnky would be the one to suffer from the consequences, using him as a martyr for their cause…

BAM!

Oh shit!

Obolensky kept himself still, feeling blood spray from behind him, and he knew what already happened. A rising shock of perplexity and fear rose from his veins when he felt his own blood rush throughout his body again; the nerves in his limbs began to tingle in a hymn of painful dread.

Roman Gray was murdered, shot to death by Kravchenko in cold blood…

…and Obolesnky dared not to move a single muscle, or he could be next.

"You see," Kravchenko continued, pacing around until he was now face to face with the only one standing before him. Obolensky felt nothing but a need to escape from here, resisting the urge to do so regardless. "Knight was a valuable asset to the group. Figured he also had his own plan for revenge after Wraith's 'unfortunate' passing, but a child's blaming game is something I could never tolerate in this type of work. This," - he pointed at Gray's dead body, his head laying in a small puddle of blood from the gunshot wound in his left temple - "will be you if you continue to disappoint me. Proceed to track down the T-103 and kill any other survivors that get in your way. Next time you see Woods, do not open fire on him." He walked past Obolensky, and all Obolensky could do was stare down at his partner's dead body, halted in a confused state of mind. "If he survives against the Nemesis, you leave him to me…"

Obolensky turned to face his commander again, who was still walking away from him, and shouted, "What about Nikolai?"

Kravchenko's footsteps echoed further away, ignoring his question entirely, and Obolensky was now left alone in his own thoughts, thinking to himself as he turned to look down at the corpse of his former partner…

Did you have plans to kill Kravchenko, as well?

If he had, why didn't he leave clues for Obolensky to catch up on? Obolensky had trusted Gray enough to express some of his dislikes to the commander himself, and even though Gray kept his mouth shut about it, he never expressed any internal disdain about him in return. Maybe he had other plans to keep him in the loop after trying to disguise himself as being the most loyal to Kravchenko.

So, were you really going after the commander after he set up your partner's death? Or were you really trying to rat me out after all this time?

The thick-bearded man said nothing to him, his expression frozen from a clueless gaze of something none of them ever saw coming.

The fear inside him turned to fury, a raging madness boiling within…

…and Obolensky couldn't help but kick Gray's body, his abdomen feeling like a dense pack of rubber through his clothing. He was furious that Gray had been so secretive about his true intentions, whether or not he was silently scheming against Kravchenko or if he really was trying to…

BOOM!

A distant explosion rocked the street around him slightly.

When he turned around, he saw the construction site's rooftop had gone into flames, and he could see the interiors were somehow already burning when, not even a few minutes ago, were all intact. The familiar, inhuman roar followed the explosion ahead, echoing like a loudspeaker throughout the surrounding dark streets of Raccoon.

"SSTAARRSS!"

"Nemesis…" he uttered softly before quickly scavenging whatever Gray had left in his pockets.

He had to see for himself who was engaging with the tyrant, not because it was what he needed to do, but because he was eager to see either Valentine or Woods in action against it. How they had been alive for this long made little sense to him, but he was about to find out one way or another.

---

The whole building was on fire, and the Nemesis' flamethrower, with its nozzle uncontrollably throwing up the flames of hell, could burn everything in mere seconds.

Bastard's gonna end up burning the entire city at this rate!

Woods' heart was pounding in his chest. The searing heat licked at every fiber of his being, even while he maintained his distance from the flames themselves. Every step he took was a battle against time and fire, the acrid smoke stinging his eyes and choking his lungs.

When he reached the top floor, the entire ground began to burn like an enlarged stove, the empty room of wood and steel slowly turning into a heated oven. The tyrant was still taking its time to slowly burst into every room below him, shaking the whole structure as it continued to burn everything in its wake, an attempt to destroy the entire building with him…

Woods could not allow the chance for the Nemesis to continue stalking him and burn the whole city down in the process. The creature was far too dangerous with a flamethrower than it was with a rocket launcher, and he needed to put it down for good - needed the space to engage with it elsewhere, anywhere in the building.

Rooftop!

The second it took for him to figure out his next move, the Nemesis suddenly burst inside the room from the barely plastered wall to his right, the dust and smoke filling up the room faster than Woods could've imagined. The tyrant roared in a bloodlust fury, prompting Woods to run toward the only ladder inside. Feeling the immense heat behind him, he climbed in small, hurried jumps, the ladder's rungs almost sizzling from the flames spit by the enlarged flamethrower.

After barely dodging the fire growing from below him, he ran through a series of catwalks, the dark smoke preventing him from catching his breath at any time. The fires made the supporting beams unstable, destroying the wooden frame below them.

He stopped suddenly, and there was a large gap between him and another ladder leading up to the top of the building. Part of the catwalk had imploded from below, giving in to the broken wooden ground, the whole thing already on the verge of collapse…

Alright… one jump… just one long jump…

Done this plenty of times before… nothing to it.

The roar of the flames below him echoed in his ears. He could feel the intense heat radiating from the fire, the blaze searing the air around him, heating the metal grating beneath his feet, his boots already burning up…

Just fucking jump!

He steeled himself for the leap ahead, his muscles tensed in preparation. Every fiber of his being screamed in protest, urging him to turn back and look for another route.

With a deep, choking breath, he gathered his resolve and launched himself forward with a defying scream of determination, his body soaring through the air with reckless abandon. Time slowed to a crawl for a heartbeat as he hung suspended in mid-air, the world around him blurred in motion and chaos…

…and then, with a resounding thud, Woods landed on the other side, his boots skidding across the ground as he propelled himself toward the ladder without further hesitation. Relief flooded through him as he made it without killing himself in the process.

The Nemesis was now something he had to think about next as soon as he stepped down to the rooftop from the catwalks above, the windchill of the night giving him a fresh wave of air to breathe in for a moment…

CRASH!

The Nemesis had thought otherwise.

As the creature burst from the rooftop's concrete ground in a thundering crash, the air seemed to crackle with a primal menace. Woods tensed instinctively, his muscles coiling like a spring as he braced himself when it landed in a crouch across from him.

The tyrant stood up, holding its flamethrower upward as it fired at the air in a primal rage, screaming for his blood, drowning out all other noise with its deafening intensity. Woods felt a surge of adrenaline course through his veins as Nemesis fixed its gaze and slowly advanced toward him, the flames of the building itself casting eerie shadows around them.

At that moment, Woods felt an intense torrent of emotions raging inside him. Fear threatened to overwhelm him with its suffocating grip, his heart pounding his blood with dread. Doubt gnawed over his own thoughts of desperate survival…

…but the thought that Perseus and Kravchenko were out there, killing innocent people like Gwen, slaughtering an already dead city, sparked a fierce determination that refused to be extinguished, his fists clenched as hard as they could. He was one of the few who could save the rest of the world from complete oblivion, from corporations like Umbrella, from people like Kravchenko, from abominations like the one before him…

"Alright, you wanna fight?!" he shouted defiantly as he unstrapped the Remington, pumping the shotgun in case he had forgotten to do so. "Let's fucking fight!"

Woods quickly aimed the shotgun and pulled the trigger. A resounding loud boom echoed, followed by various hits on the Nemesis' rudimentary skull with pellets that were merely just a nuisance for it, still aiming the flamethrower at him before igniting it in response.

The flames erupted from the flamethrower's nozzle in a searing torrent of heat and destruction, forcing Woods to frantically dive for cover behind a nearby stack of steel beam materials. He felt the blistering heat wash over him, the acrid smell of burning wood and metal filling the air as he tried to think of a way to deal with it head-on quickly.

Woods gritted his teeth against the searing pain in his back. He did not know if his body was capable of regenerating burnt tissue, but he was unwilling to find out the hard way. The Nemesis was still trying to melt the metal debris entirely, its footsteps growing closer to him by the second. Even as the flames danced perilously close, Woods refused to give in to fear, his mind racing with thoughts of survival and escape. Woods tried to wait for the perfect moment to strike, whenever that was…

…and Nemesis paused abruptly to cool down the weapon of death, the flamethrower hissing from an overheating issue that, thankfully, gave him the opportunity to strike at it.

With a swift and calculated movement, he emerged from his hiding spot; his shotgun raised and ready to fire again.

With another thunderous blast, Woods unleashed a volley of pellets at the Nemesis, the deafening roar of gunfire echoing across the rooftop. Each shot found its mark, tearing through Nemesis' neck and singed clothing as the creature staggered back under the onslaught.

The tall humanoid raged in a terrible growl, the primal roar prompting the creature to unleash another wave of flames toward him. This forced Woods to duck and weave to avoid the deadly inferno, trying to sprint around it in a large circle.

Despite this, Woods quickly found a working generator near the tyrant in the midst of the attack. He unholstered his handgun for a moment with his other free hand and fired several shots against the metal casing, causing electricity to crackle and surge through the air. In a blinding flash of light, the generator erupted in a shower of sparks, stunning the creature in place with an electric shock that surged across its body. Seizing the opportunity, Woods wasted no time capitalizing on Nemesis' temporary vulnerability.

Always watch your six, fucker…

With his fast reflexes, he holstered his sidearm, aimed the Remington immediately after, and fired at the gas tank strapped to its back, sending a couple of barrage attacks of gunfire at it. The pellets tore through the tank with deadly accuracy as the explosive fuel ignited in a fiery explosion, the heated wave of air knocking him back slightly as his ears popped from the ensuing chaos.

The hulking tyrant was knocked to its knees, its entire body now consumed in its own flames of hellish fire.

For a fleeting moment, Woods grew a smile at the thought that he'd finally defeated the stalker who had been trying to kill him for what must've felt like ages now, feeling a surge of triumph washing over him like a drug.

"Who's the one fuckin' standing now, huh?!" he taunted at it, pacing around to face its sloped head and shoulders in front of it. "Obviously not—!"

His triumph was short-lived as the Nemesis slowly rose to its feet again, its fiery gaze fixed on him with unrelenting determination, followed by another primal roar of rage and fury.

"SSTAARRSS!"

Still kickin'? What the fuck!?

Flames engulfed the monster completely, but it was far from doing any additional damage to it.

The Nemesis seemed to embrace the flames themselves; the damaged flamethrower hung loosely on its left arm, though it was determined to use the fiery machinery as a blunt weapon to kill its target.

The creature surged forward with renewed ferocity, its broken flamethrower crackling with erratic flames as it swung back for an incoming impact, and Woods knew he had to act fast. The ground rumbled with energy, the heat in the air vibrating with brutality as the Nemesis rushed toward him.

With lightning reflexes, Woods swerved to the right, jumping over a pile of burning debris. He ignored some of the quick pain the blaze brought all over his feet and legs before landing on the ground in a roll to dissipate any fire caught on his clothing…

…and the Nemesis had missed him completely, crashing against the falling catwalks as the steel bars echoed with a loud melody of total collapse.

When Woods finally stood up, trying to swallow up the pain he endured from dodging its attack, he saw the tyrant had already quickly recovered, turning around as it swung the burning flamethrower like a makeshift club, its lethal arc threatening to crush and burn Woods beneath its searing formidable weight…

…and the creature proceeded to dash toward him again, ignoring the pile of debris between them, capable of destroying it with its brutal strength, the relentless humanoid determined with an unbroken will to do what it had been programmed to do.

Yet, with another swift roll, Woods weaved out of the bashing flamethrower, narrowly avoiding the devastating blow as the blazing object sent sparks flying in all directions. The ground trembled violently again with the force of Nemesis' brutal assault. Any moment now, the entire structure could collapse, bringing Woods an almost guaranteed death.

As he scrambled back to his feet again, Woods knew he couldn't keep up like this. Something had to be done to get rid of it before the building did the work for it.

After a quick glance around the burning rooftop, his eyes fell upon a crane nearby, looming ominously in the distance.

Should've thought about using it before going through all this shit first.

Determinedly, he dashed towards the towering structure, his mind racing with possibilities as the Nemesis tried to remove the flamethrower from the heavy debris it had collapsed into. With a calculated leap, Woods reached the controls of the crane, his fingers flying over the buttons as he activated the massive machinery. The machinery sprung to life in a low rumble, its metal arms swinging into motion with mechanical precision.

Woods seized the opportunity without hesitation, pushing the mechanical arm into the Nemesis' way once it had seen him on the crane's controls, unleashing a devastating blow against the hulking beast. With a resounding crash, the metal arm slammed into the Nemesis' fiery form, sending it reeling back with a roar of agony and rage, the tremendous impact knocking over some of its exposed teeth.

"HAHAHA! SUCK ON THAT, YA BASTARD!"

The entire crane suddenly lost power, but this didn't deter Woods.

The loss of power meant that it gave him the opportunity to jump back on the rooftop, unstrap the Remington, and fire the remaining shells inside the shotgun directly onto the tyrant's neck and head, pumping each of them with full ferocity as the minor impacts tore burnt flesh off the monster.

The creature stood up again, refusing to surrender, denying death itself, growling and roaring to kill the target in front of it - to pursue its primary objective, whatever the cost…

"SSTAARRSS!" it cried defiantly.

Guy doesn't know when to give up!

With a final, desperate lunge, the Nemesis propelled itself forward, its brawny form still engulfed in flames as it bore down on Woods with one last effort. Woods braced for the impact, his heart pounding with adrenaline-fueled determination, trying to calculate the time needed to outsmart the Nemesis into thinking it could hit him at the last possible second…

…but in the end, it proved too much for the Nemesis to bear. It took one mighty roar before the creature finally succumbed to its injuries, its massive form crashing to the ground like a fallen titan.

"Fuckin' finally," he muttered, feeling out of breath before coughing again as the smoke was becoming denser all around the rooftop, telling him that he needed to get out of there as soon as possible. "And stay dead if you know what's best for you."

BOOM!

Behind him, several explosions were happening under the hole from which the Nemesis had come, probably from flammable substances stored on the floor below him.

The ground felt like it was about to collapse entirely, and Woods knew he needed to get out of there somehow, possibly jump to the street below him if he had to…

No, wait. A lift!

At the edge of the roof, a janitor's lift was hanging down from a slope of glass and metal.

Long way down…

Woods looked back to see if he had any space to jump, but the continuous explosions of fire and destruction caused him to leap over the railing without thinking twice. He started sliding down just before the roof above him finally collapsed altogether, obliterated by the flames caused by the tyrant itself.

He kept rolling away from some of the more minor explosions throughout the way, avoiding cutting himself from the broken windows as much as he could, despite being able to regenerate his wounds. In a miscalculation of motion, he hit the lip of a ledge with his right foot, unable to control his landing once he started to roll over and into the tiny lift with a large metallic thud.

Agh! Fuckin' hell…

The lift's metal ground was cold compared to other metals he had touched inside the building, making him somewhat relieved that it had yet to be consumed by the large blazes within the structure. When he slowly pushed himself up on his hands and knees, the lift started to descend several stories lower, swaying violently as he tried to hold himself on the railing…

…only for one of the cables to give in, snapping apart as Woods found himself falling again, but quickly taking a grip on the railing, the lift now hanging sideways by one cable.

"Just my lucky day, huh?" he said heavily, struggling to grip the lift tightly. Woods looked down, noticing he was maybe eight or ten feet from the ground. He could land the jump, but if he weren't careful, he could break a leg or two, and he didn't want to find out the consequences of regenerating broken bones if it came to it. "C'mon! Don't fuck with me this to me… not now!"

The lift continued to sway as the entire roof finished collapsing altogether; the explosions became louder and more powerful…

…and the remaining cable lowered the lift in a powerful jolt, so suddenly, it caught Woods off-guard before slipping away to a free fall once again.

Woods yelped in response before his back hit the concrete ground two seconds later. There was a subtle crack somewhere in his lower back, causing him to yell out in pain as his pain receptors paralyzed him in place for a quick moment.

Urgh! Fuck!

His left shoulder took some of the impact as well, dislocating it in the process, and his vision was blurred from the immense pain jolting across his arm, feeling like hundreds of blades and needles scraped his insides.

His lungs weren't saved by fall either. He struggled to breathe for a few moments, the lack of air almost making him delirious as he rolled to his back, glass crunching in between as he felt small shards wounding his back into hundreds of healing cuts.

Quickly, he fixed up his shoulder with a loud crack that sent sharp stings of pain throughout his body, trying his best to ignore it as much as possible with a heavy wince, gritting his teeth in protest. Once that was done, he blinked a few times to regain his vision back…

…but something above him began to move erratically, threatening to crush him alive if he didn't act fast. The lift's remaining cable started to snap, and instinctively, Woods rolled to his right as fast as possible.

The metallic lift impacted the ground in the exact place he was just a second ago, the loud crash ringing in his ears with a relenting force he could not ignore.

So much for trying to stay alive…

How much can a person go through in one hellish night like this?

He'd forgotten that he wasn't just any person either. The virus was still flowing inside his veins, and the only reason why he was still alive was because of the very same thing that had caused this whole mess.

Which is why I have to find Valentine before they get to her first…

Like they did with Serrano… and Gwen…

He slowly sat up, the pain in his body not stopping, but at least he could still move regardless. From the looks of it, the fire hadn't left him with any concerning burns either. His body might have also healed some of the burns he'd endured, but Woods decided not to dwell too much into the science of his strange body.

With Nemesis possibly gone for good, he had another obligation to rid of Perseus and Umbrella next.

Surging with determination, he slowly stood up, grabbing at his lower back for a moment as he looked back at the destroyed lift that would've crushed him if he hadn't moved in time.

Looking all the way up again, the building wasn't entirely covered in flames on the outside yet from the pieces of exposed wood, but it had been a very close call. There was a fleeting moment of uncertainty crossing his mind, asking himself how he survived all of that, but immediately brushed it all off, glad that he even has the chance to think for himself without being in a subconscious state of mind or worse…

Alright, enough pondering about. Gotta get going before—

"One twitch and you're a dead man," a muffled voice behind him shattered the growing silence around him, their tone firm and authoritative. Woods was unfazed by this, of course. Obviously they didn't know who they were dealing with, especially now compared to who he was before.

But there was something familiar about his voice…

His curiosity got the best of him, and he ignored his warning, slowly turning around to face the source of the commanding voice.

And then he saw him.

"Final warning," he said immediately, now holding his firearm with both hands, his aim unwavering.

Standing before him, bathed in the dim glow of the streetlights, was a Perseus soldier, a type of grunt he'd seen many times before in his lifetime. His posture was rigid, half of his features obscured by the balaclava under his hood, but besides his voice, there was something about him, something unmistakeable in the way he held himself - something he'd seen from one person he knew once, a person he thought was dead after all this time…

"Bell?"

---

Author's Note: Not exactly a two-chapter upload, but it is a very long one by my standards hehehe...

We see Woods fight his way through the sewers, fight off Nemesis, and encounter Bell in the end, while the latter is internally conflicted about his loyalties. Next, we have Jill having some trust issues with Carlos, Adler, and Sims. And... Bell's partner, Knight, is dead. That about summarizes pretty much everything that's going on in this one.

Review Responses:

OldGlory - Thanks, man! And yep. Kravchenko really does live up to his name as the rat that he's always been.

am6231291 - Never played any of the Alan Wake games yet. I own the first game remastered but I still have yet to play it. Seen some gameplay for it, and it really does look like my kind of game to play. If you're talking about the references I took when writing Woods' hallucinations, they're actually from Red vs. Blue, Harry Potter, and Silent Hill combined.

I know I sound like a broken record, but as always, thank you all very much for reading! Look forward to more!

I still haven't forgotten about the extra chapter I owe you all. It'll be there at some point eventually ;)