Terri milled around in the press area, coffee in hand, trying to keep it together. Valentine had delivered, alright, bringing her into the sewer and showing her something straight out of a fucking Stephen King book.
That tongue… the way it'd moved, almost caressing her…
After she'd screamed herself half-hoarse (and Jill had swatted it on the nose and ordered it to behave), Jill had once again pressed her on her willingness to help break the story and take down Umbrella, and once the tank-sized thing made it clear that it — she — was still a person deep down in there, the enormity of Umbrella's sins finally started to sink in. And then Jill told her about the Spencer mansion, and the hundreds of dead in the Hive, and Terri, to her surprise, realized she didn't give a damn about her career anymore. She wanted to end these bastards, just as much as Jill or Rain.
She even refrained from splashing a little Dutch courage into her coffee.
"Terri!" Murray Redd, the lead anchor for channel 3, walked over to her.
"Hello, Murray," Terri said, smiling politely. She avoided wrinkling her nose; as per usual, Murray had had more than his fair share of Dutch courage.
"Now, what's a lovely young lady like you doing here?" he asked, the doddering old fossil.
"I'm here for the press conference," Terri said, patting her 'Press' badge that she'd been handed upon arrival. Thank God for Valentine's inside man.
Murray looked confused. "I thought I saw, ah, Mary around here," he said, struggling to remember. "Did they send you out instead?"
"No, Murray, Terri must have shown up by accident." Speak of the devil, and she will appear. She grinned widely at the both of them. "I tell you what, Murray, you and Terri have so much in common!" Murray smiled uncertainly, not a clue in his mind as to what Mary was on about.
Terri gave Mary an equally false grin. "Oh, Mary, didn't see you there. Tell me, did you drive here today, or does your broom do double duty as that stick up your ass?"
Murray could sense there was some kind of tension, and offered up a friendly smile. "Ladies, there's no reason to —"
"Fuck off, Murray!" Mary snapped. "Just go back to your seat — pretend the cops just pulled you over for swerving back and forth on the road and want you to walk in a straight line. You should be familiar enough with that!"
"Well!" Murray said, indignant, as he did as told (for the most part… what's a little stagger here or there, after all?)
Mary turned back to Terri, reaching out and fondling her Press badge. "Well, Terri, you must have sucked more than a few dicks to get your hands on this. I'm impressed, I didn't know you had it in you! …Well, I'm sure you've had it in you frequently, as it happens."
"Speaking from personal experience, Mary?" Terri said, biting her lip to keep from screaming at her.
Mary's lip quivered halfway between a smirk and a snarl. "However you got here, Terri, you better just sit down and shut up if you know what's good for you, or the next time you'll appear on a news broadcast is when the network does a pity piece on the dirty, stinking, filthy bums in this city."
Terri recalled what Jill had told her of her suspicions regarding Raccoon's homeless population and resisted the urge to reach over and rip out a hunk of Mary's hair. Instead, she gave Mary a pretty little smile. "I'll be on my absolute best behavior," she assured her.
"See that you are." Mary left to go take her seat.
Rain led LJ, Peyton, Carlos, Nicolai, and Angela through the sewers, back to the hospital. "Man, I'd feel better if Jill was with us," Peyton muttered.
"Speak for yourself, that lady's scary as shhhhh… poop," LJ countered, remembering he was within earshot of Angela almost too late. Again.
"I like frightening women," Nicolai said. "They bring a certain passion into the bedroom."
Carlos nudged his friend hard in the ribs. "Hey, watch it around the kid, huh?" he said, gesturing to Angela.
"Oh, right," Nicolai said, before turning to Angela. "Little girl, pretend I didn't say that, okay?" he said. Angela wrinkled her nose in confusion, while Carlos rolled his eyes.
Angela and Rain abruptly stopped. "There's something here…" Angela muttered.
Rain recognized this stretch of tunnel and looked for the cocooned figure of Cain. The cocoon was there, but it had been ruptured… from within. The click-clack of claw on concrete from the ceiling was the only clue as to what had happened before the newborn licker dropped down to the ground, hissing menacingly.
MOTHER HAS BROUGHT FRESH MEAT
Rain shook her head, surprised and disturbed at the intrusive thought. Was that… Cain? Or the licker Cain had turned into, Rain supposed.
DELICIOUS MEAT
OH SO SWEET
FOR US TO EAT
Oh HELL no, Rain thought. The licker pounced at LJ, none of the humans being fast enough on the draw, but Rain was quicker, snatching it out of the air and pinning it to the ground.
MOTHER WHY DO YOU DENY US THE MEAT
WE ARE VERY NEW
AND WE HUNGER
Yeah, well, my friends aren't on the goddamn menu, Rain chided. You gonna behave, or am I gonna have to eviscerate you?
THIS ONE WILL… BEHAVE
BUT THIS ONE'S BELLY ACHES
HUNGRY HUNGRY HUUUUUUNGRY
"Angie, is everything alright?" Carlos asked, everyone finally weapons ready.
"…Miss Ocampo is this new creature's mother," Angela announced, to the horrified astonishment of all gathered.
"Hol' up, you mean someone fucked that thing?" LJ asked, too disturbed to censor his speech.
Angela shook her head. "Miss Ocampo instinctively vomited on one of the Umbrella researchers, forming a cocoon. She believes that the cocoon mutated the man into a… licker. An apt name, I suppose." She looked at the newborn licker lash out with its tongue futilely and shuddered.
Rain was deep in thought. …Listen, asshole, look after my friends, alright? If anyone tries to shoot them, THEM you can eat.
OH THANK YOU MOTHER
THIS ONE HOPES MANY MANY MANY GUNS ARE FIRED
SO THAT THIS ONE MAY HAVE MANY MANY MANY MEALS
Rain felt nauseated at her… offspring's thoughts. She'd never really imagined having kids, like, ever, but even in her most fucked up nightmares she never thought motherhood would be like this.
They made it back to the hospital's subbasement/Hive access point, only to find the sewer access point had been barricaded. Pff, good luck with that, idiots. Rain smashed through it like it was comprised of popsicle sticks and surprised half a dozen guards, brutally murdering all of them in seconds. She looked back at her 'child', feeling vaguely upset, and thought to it, Alright, uh… son… you can have this… meat.
THIS ONE DOES NOT HAVE ANY DISTINCT GENDER MOTHER
BUT FEEL FREE TO ADDRESS THIS ONE ANY WAY YOU PREFER
MOTHER KNOWS BEST
THANK YOU FOR THE MEAT
The licker fell upon the corpses, greedily tearing at them. Peyton tried to keep Angela back, away from the sight, but the girl ducked his efforts and forced herself to stare unflinching at the fruits of her father's labor.
Nicolai approached one of the bodies and plucked its bloody, yet intact, radio from the armor. "Hey, we think we saw something in the sewer and are going to go investigate," he spoke into it. "Send more guards." At Carlos' questioning look, Nicolai grinned. "You know, like 'Send more cops'?"
"What are you talking about, Nicolai?" Carlos asked.
"You know! That movie, with the zombies, and one of them was a naked woman?" Carlos shook his head — didn't ring a bell, apparently. "Bah, you're hopeless," Nicolai said with a dismissive wave.
Rain extended one limb towards the girl, who grasped it so that they could talk. Alright, kid, we're gonna go get into position. If something happens, you… uh… psychically scream or something and if I can hear it, I'll come running. She left, with LJ, Carlos, and Peyton following.
Angela frowned. But I don't know how to do that, not yet, she thought 'out loud' as best she could.
IT IS EASY TO DO SO, LITTLEMEAT
YOU SIMPLY HAVE THE DESIRE TO ALERT YOUR PACKMATES
IMAGINE SEEING A CLUSTER OF LOVELY, DELICIOUS MEAT
IT IS GOOD TO SHARE, YES? SHARE AND TEAR
Angela looked troubled. I don't… I don't eat people. It's wrong.
The licker opened its blood-caked maw and issued a series of clicks. Angela felt like she was being laughed at.
LITTLEMEAT IS PACKMATE
LITTLEMEAT SMELLS OF PACK
WHY DOES LITTLEMEAT REJECT THE WAY OF OURFLESH?
IT IS SO DELICIOUS
WHEN YOU SCREAM
THE MEAT QUAKES IN FEAR
MARINATES IN ITS TERROR
NOTHING TASTES BETTER
I'm not… not like you, though, Angela said. I may… smell like you, but I keep the T-virus at bay with an antivirus.
WHY, DEAR LITTLEMEAT SISTER?
BECOME WHO YOU WERE ALWAYS MEANT TO BE
ABANDON YOUR SOFT LITTLEMEAT SHELL
AND ADOPT THE FORM OF HARD, SHARP MEAT
The creature's words were… almost compelling. Still, though, Angela tightened her grip on her lunchbox and shook her head. I like being me, though, she explained. If I… transformed… I wouldn't be me anymore. I always want to be me.
THIS ONE RESPECTS YOUR CHOICE, DEAR LITTLEMEAT SISTER
BUT REMEMBER THAT YOU ARE ALWAYS YOU
THIS ONE WILL PROTECT YOUR SOFT MEAT WITH ITS HARD MEAT
UNTIL YOU GAIN WISDOM AND BECOME
THEN WE WILL HUNT TOGETHER
AND FEAST AND FEAST AND FEAST
Angela goggled in horror at it, speechless.
"Hey, what are you two talking about?" Nicolai asked, startling Angela and making her jump.
"Oh! Uh, n-nothing, Mr. Ginovaef," Angela replied, not wishing to disturb him.
Nicolai narrowed his eyes, but didn't press further. He rooted through bloody pockets for wallets to pilfer while the licker really went to town devouring corpses, its bones cracking and flesh tearing as the fresh DNA incited new growth within it…
Carlos pushed LJ (acting catatonic) in a wheelchair up to the receptionist desk in the hospital. "Hey, got another… 'volunteer' for Umbrella's 'Fifty bucks and a hot meal' program," he said. Peyton flanked him, looking serious and intimidating (which is part of the reason he joined law enforcement in the first place).
The receptionist lowered his glasses and scrutinized LJ. "Ah," he said, packing more displeasure into that syllable than Ahab ever did in all his ranting against Moby Dick. "Virology department, take the elevators behind me and follow the signs to the rear of the building. Can't miss it." He leaned in close and murmured, "And just FYI, you can put your own checking and routing number into the payment field. For some reason, a lot of the payments never get claimed." He gave Carlos a knowing look and Carlos had to resist the urge to deck the bastard.
He pushed LJ into a waiting elevator and pressed the button as Peyton walked in and did the bodyguard pose. After the doors closed, LJ spoke up. "If y'all leave me here, I'll be so pissed."
Peyton nudged LJ's shoulder with his elbow. "Don't worry, man, ain't leavin' you behind."
LJ looked up to him and fluttered his eyelashes. "Aw, my hero!"
Peyton playfully growled. "Watch it, man, or I'll find a tall staircase and push your ass down it!"
The elevator doors dinged open and LJ quickly resumed his catatonic act. Carlos wheeled him through the halls, passing the occasional janitor or orderly or nurse, until they reached the virology section. The receptionist there was an older woman, who had a bit of a kindly grandmother air about her. She even had pictures of her grandkids visible on her desk.
She took one look at LJ and gave Carlos a toothy grin. "Ah, another one, eh? If you'll tell me your account details, hon, I'll fill them right in for you."
For the second time in five minutes, Carlos had to suppress the urge to punch someone in the face. "That won't be necessary. This one was specially ordered by Dr. Ashford, and we have instructions to deliver him into the ward personally."
"Hm." The woman pursed her lips as she rapidly typed away at her keyboard. "Well… all the paperwork seems to be in order…" She gave Peyton a glance, who was still in his STARS uniform. "Huh, I thought we only had the chief on payroll. Guess you're one of those 'pay under the table' types, huh?" she asked.
"Yes, ma'am," Peyton responded. "Uncle Sam don't need to know shit about my business."
"It warms my heart when one of you people say something that makes sense," the woman said, and for a moment all three men were struck with the urge to sock her. She pressed a switch beneath her desk and the door lock buzzed. "Room seven, at the back of the hall," she informed them, as they walked through the door, which automatically swung shut and locked behind them.
Rain flirts with Terri at every opportunity. EVERY opportunity.
Murray Redd is loosely based on an amalgam of several local news personalities from my area. (News, more like booze, har har har. Don't drink and drive, folks!)
Introducing Rain Jr.! Its 'speech' patterns have a heavy dollop of Gollum in them, haha. I also borrowed its distinction between its own species and humanity from the old Alien vs. Predator novels, where the predators referred to humans as 'soft meat' and xenomorphs as 'hard meat'.
The movie Nicolai is talking about is, of course, Return of the Living Dead 1. Fun stuff!