Without You

by Dustchu

22 - War

Nemesis, almost ten feet of pure mutant muscle and aggressive homicidal tendencies crammed into a single body, supercharged by a mutant parasite to top it all off and completely controlled by Umbrella itself. Even as a prototype weapon it was something to fear, something to run away from if it came your way.

Why the fuck is it here? It should be destroyed by now, or hunting down S.T.A.R.S. members! Not at the college!

"I suppose your little future sight didn't tell you about this, did it." The man chuckled while Kevin and the others gawked at the sight of this monstrosity lumbering into the lobby, carrying with it a massive fucking chain gun, it looked like it had ripped it right off a fighter jet and decided yeah, this is about my size. "It completed its mission and with nothing better to do, I called it here to assist in this operation."

Completed its mission... Jill, no way.

Its original mission was to wipe out S.T.A.R.S. and basically clean up the police station, on top of just killing anyone in sight. But he didn't succeed in the games, he was killed by Jill, but here he was on what was probably the last day, completely intact and his mission was complete.

"Bullshit." I spouted, but even I couldn't deny the sheer fact that Nemesis was standing here in front of us, armed to the fucking teeth, menacing as fuck.

"Say what you will." He just pocketed his device and looked around. "Now, how about you drop the weapons, you and your friends are coming with us."

The chain gun spun for a moment.

I'm not afraid to admit I almost shit myself at the sound.

With no other choice, we went to drop our guns.

At least until the windows shattered nearby, showering the floor in sharpened pieces of glass and debris. That wasn't planned, because it drew the attention of the USS thugs and the man in black and their guns.

An opportunity if I ever saw one!

I raised my shotgun quickly and open fired on one of the thugs, sending a blast of pellets right into his gas mask and snapping his head back before sprinting for it.

"FUCKING SCATTER!"

I screamed, and my adrenaline kicked in, giving me that extra burst of speed I needed to get away from the group as they opened fire on us, and thankfully they were piss poor shots.

I managed to slide into cover near the staircase, where we had been led to and slid another shell into my gun. As the USS thugs started firing, I heard the chain gun spin up and couldn't help but peek out to see what had broken in.

The amorphous blob that was Nyx, having already swallowed up a Tyrant and several bodies, more than what I had seen in previous iterations. It stumbled in through the broken glass, as the undead corpses that made up part of its body wriggled and moaned, even the Tyrant growled and roared as it was forced to be used against its will.

Nemesis open-fired with its chain gun, spitting out 30mm rounds faster than I could really make out.

Whatever USS thugs survived ran away to get away from the blob as it absorbed every round Nemesis threw at it. Chunks of flesh flew off and splattered onto the ground like wet putty, but the chunk didn't exactly stay still on the ground, instead it slithered around like a snake.

What the fuck is Nyx doing here? Nyx, Nemesis, and Thanatos was running around outside somewhere, probably hunting down Rainbow and Yoko. That thing shouldn't even be at the college, it shouldn't be here, nor should Nemesis! Why is everything suddenly so damn different? Kevin did say a helicopter crashed nearby... it might have been carrying Nyx now that I think about it.

The portion that was blasted out jumped back onto its main body, assimilating it like nothing happened as it closed in on Nemesis, who stood unwavering and continued mag-dumping thousands of high-powered armor-piercing rounds into Nyx until the monster closed the distance between them.

The man in black ran up the stairs with two of his thugs, leaving the rest of us alone with what was about to happen next.

Nemesis drew back its chain gun and swung it forward, heaving its mass with the intent to knock Nyx back. But instead of making a solid impact, several tentacles shot out and wrapped around the spinning barrel, tearing its meaty appendage apart before getting hung inside of it, and eventually, the gun stopped, before spreading up and around Nemesis' arm, and up to his shoulder.

The hulking mutant threw a fist right into the center of Nyx, but it didn't do much aside from cause it to wobble.

I saw where this was going and only fear bubbled up through the sea of panic and confusion.

Nyx was absorbing Nemesis and despite his hulking size and obvious power... Nyx was gaining the upper hand. More tentacles shot out and slapped against the body of the pursuer mutant, pulling the two closer and closer. It was like watching fleshy goo falling over a person, and growing larger as a result. Nyx grew larger after pulling in Nemesis, and I swore I could hear bones cracking and snapping clean in two.

I remembered Nemesis had a unique infection going for it... that being the secretions of the parasite that enhanced its already mutant body, with Nyx absorbing Nemesis and possibly damaging the controller that kept it from mutating out of control...

We were utterly fucked.

The body of Nyx started to grow larger, more disfigured even as it moved the body of Nemesis around inside until the chain gun moved around to face the USS goons.

The chain gun spun up.

Yeah, we're utterly fucking boned.

---

Meanwhile: Down Below

---

My body burned, and so did my new wounds.

That girl was hiding with me in this train car after we got chased down here by Thanatos, but that wasn't the only thing going on right now. I could hear them outside the train car, skittering around and hissing, stuff I had seen before back in Equestria, stuff that would send skittish mares into a panic.

Giant spiders, and if that wasn't bad enough, those giant wasps that Dee had mentioned to me were buzzing around.

They were trying to get inside the train car, but luckily, we could lock the doors and keep them out.

I swallowed. I had heard about giant spiders and wasps back in Equestria, huge and ugly, dangerous too. I guess this world was no different, or maybe this was just another case of that virus mutating them into monsters.

What doesn't this virus infect and turn into a monster?

Yoko, the girl, made sure that the container with the blood in it was safe while I looked around the train car inside for anything we could use. But there wasn't anything I could find, except for one of those human guns, but I couldn't use it, I didn't know how! Something told me I wouldn't be able to anyway, with how it was shaped.

I swallowed and looked at the next train car, where a body laid on the floor of the car. Unmoving, like everything else we had run across, and no step closer to finding those other components.

Damn it. I slammed a hoof into the seat beside me.

"If I'm not wrong, the passage nearby should lead to a hive full of those wasps," Yoko told me and stood up before walking over to where I was.

A hive? Right, Dee said that's where one of the things would be. "Dee told me about that, we need something from there?" I turned to look up to her, and she nodded.

"Yeah, V-Poison." She aimed her handgun and moved into the next car, where the body was.

I was prepared to say something about that, how she knew where everything was.

But the glass shattering behind me told me I wasn't going to have a chance to.

The buzzing sound of those wasps filled the car, and glancing behind me I saw the wasps zipping inside towards us.

I shouted, "Go go go!" To the girl and she started to run towards the exit.

I kicked off the floor and went after her, but it was so cramped I couldn't go as fast as I wanted, at least until she opened the door and we were able to jump out onto the tracks!

I flew up and out, and whirled around to see the spiders crawling on top of the train and glaring at us, they started to move after us as the wasps burst forth from the windows, stingers primed.

Yoko had to backpedal towards the tunnel leading further underground, and she fired at the spiders, drawing their attention as the wasps decided I was a nice enough target to go after.

The buzzing was causing my heart to speed up and watching them zip around was confusing me, but I was faster than they were.

I zipped out of the way of one of their charges, avoiding its stinger before flying out of the way of another, as two more came from behind and tried coming at me.

They're fast! I ducked and spun around to avoid them. For good measure, I sped up my flight and dive-bombed straight down towards one of them, tucked my head down, and rolled in mid-air before slamming my hind leg down on top of the one wasp. I struck it hard enough that I heard a crack.

It fell to the floor with a wet smack as I landed beside the entrance to the tunnel where Yoko was. She had already run inside, and I turned tail to follow after her, to get away from the remaining wasps and the spiders giving chase after us.

Yoko ran off ahead of me and towards the door up ahead, the one that had a sign above it that read 'Emission Tower'.

The vent above exploded open, and more wasps swarmed out after Yoko and I, and I had to skid to a halt as they cut me off from her. She screamed and kept running ahead, slamming through the door and out of sight.

Meanwhile, the wasps that swarmed towards me cornered me in front and behind, leaving me with nowhere to go.

In a panic, I ran to the right where the hall led to a dead-end and a single door on the left wall. I didn't think about it and ran for the door, opening it and slamming it shut the second those wasps gave chase after me.

Once I was inside of the room, I made sure the door was closed shut and I tried to relax, but that was easier said than done. My heartbeat was skyrocketing and felt like it was about to explode, and I didn't like it. I was struggling to swallow, and panic was overtaking me on top of the exhaustion, I wasn't sure how much longer I could keep this going.

I paused. A-am I really thinking about that? I... It hit me while I was looking around the room. This wasn't like back home, where I could just fly super fast and beat all my problems with speed, where I could just jump headlong into things. No, if I did any of that right now I'd be hurt, or worse... I'd be killed and turned into a monster if I was lucky.

It felt like I was just now realizing the situation I was in. I could die at any time because of some stupid mistake, all of us could, and I had made a mistake coming down here. I could die, but helping Dee was at the front of my mind, so I didn't think twice about flying underground, where monsters were around every corner just waiting to get their claws on me.

I shivered and shook as fear welled up in my stomach. I couldn't deny it, not that I wanted to.

I was terrified.

I could die if I wasn't careful with my actions. Seeing all of those people dead or dying back at the police station, everything leading up to this point only reaffirmed that I was a fool to think I could just speed through everything.

I had to use my head.

I walked away from the door and looked around the room I was in. It was full of desks with weird devices on them, and a lot of boxes with glass on the walls and stuff that glowed, and showed images of colors and words I didn't understand. I didn't see anything in here that would help me, except for a plant nearby, colored green.

It seemed weirdly out of place, so I went over to look at it. It was a pretty ordinary-looking plant, but something about it... I don't know, it seemed important. I reached over to it and plucked it free from the pot it was in and tucked it away in a part of my mane, maybe it'd come in handy later.

Next to the pot though I found a piece of paper, it caught my eye and I decided to give it a read.

September 17th - We don't have enough V-Poison for the compound. I vaguely remember there was a wasp's nest in the emission tower nearby, but I shouldn't just recklessly wander over there to grab a few samples.

Granted that, I'm stuck without the necessary components needed to create Daylight.

I guess I'll head there after I get equipped with some protective gear.

Daylight? V-Poison? That's what I needed! It was in the wasp nest after all, and whoever wrote this had to wear protective gear.

I looked around the room, but I didn't see anything like that, let alone anything that would fit me.

I was a pony, not a human!

I was screwed with nothing to protect myself, and those few I had fought outside were already dangerous enough, and now I had to go into an entire nest full of those things.

I came down here to help Dee, but I wasn't so sure I could do this.

I was too scared to even think about going down there any further.

A distant roar shook me from my thoughts and I shivered again, Thanatos was nearby, he had found a way down here and was probably looking for us, looking for me.

I had to get out of here, out of this place, find a way out!

I slapped myself in the head and shook it.

No! I came down here for a reason! S-stop being so scared! My legs kept shaking and my wings were taut against my sides.

I wanted to run away, I wanted to fly.

I couldn't, though, I had to buck up and get that other component.

The roar again from outside, and I swallowed as I realized it was getting closer.

I took a deep breath and looked at the door, and rolled my shoulders and neck, loosening them up and spreading my wings. The door held back the wasps for the time being, and I was about to fly headlong right into them and down the corridor, and through the door out into the tower, and if that paper and Yoko aren't lying, then the next thing I needed to grab was going to be in the tower.

I had to go.

I gotta.

I blasted off from the floor and shot towards the door, where I spun around and kicked the door open. I hit it with enough force to cause the Wasps on the other side to be flung back by the swing, I even hit a few of them and sent them flying backward.

I shot out into the crowd of wasps hovering up above and stayed down low, and using every bit of my wing power that I could muster to avoid every one of the bugs. All of their stingers were primed and ready, and a few of them tried to dive-bomb down towards me and hit me, but I was too fast for them to hit.

I weaved out of the way of Celestia-knows how many of them before taking a sharp right turn towards the door leading into the tower. I burst through the open door Yoko had left wide open, and I burst out into the tower.

It was wide and open; perfect for flying around in unlike the tunnel from before, with plenty of open space.

But the room was also chock full of hives for the wasps to thrive in, there were dozens of them in here! All flying around from one place to the next, and when I appeared in here with a gust of wind in my wake, kicking up dust and sending papers flying.

I basically kicked the whole nest and woke them all up.

I dropped straight down onto the floor and zipped forward, and quickly scanned around for anything that looked like it could have been the V-Poison.

If it's like the blood, then maybe it's in the same container!

I rushed around, avoiding the wasps as they tried closing in on me from every direction, but even with my speed, it was hard to do. A dozen of them had dropped from the ceiling as I was making my way up, all of them dive-bombing at me, it was a literal wall of pain.

I couldn't dodge it in time, there were too many and no openings!

I just closed my eyes and shielded my face as best I could, as I flew upwards into the swarm.

It didn't take long before white-hot pain flashed through my torso, and the piercing of my skin. Another and another, I tried not to but I couldn't hold back the scream of pain.

"AHHHH!"

I lost control and spiraled through them, wings slapping a few of them and knocking the ones who had hit me away, but I still flew up and lost my speed before crashing into the wall.

One of them was stuck and I crushed it against me, before collapsing onto the metal floor.

Everything burned!

"Ahh!" I kicked and flailed, wings flapping wildly to bat them off of me. I reared up and punched the nearest one that had followed, and the next, but another had latched on and stung me from behind. My eyes shot open as I felt the stinger pierced my body, and a hot flash rushed across my body, my nerves felt like they were getting fried!

I shouted and screamed as I fought off all of the ones that flew at me, it was like a cloud of pain.

My vision was starting to blur, and I felt something in my gut, some kind of sensation in the middle of the pain.

Burst.

My eyes closed and I felt something burning in my hind legs, and my whole body reacted before my brain did. The buzzing from the dozens of wasps was drowned out by this ringing noise in my ears, everything went white for me as I flapped my wings, and I felt my body move. A loud crack-boom resonated through the silence and the rushing of wind past my ears, and I was flung forward through... whatever this was.

I felt weightless and out of control, I couldn't do anything about my movements at all, and nothing I could do could stop it. My eyes opened, but I didn't see anything except white, and glowing lights all around me, every color of my namesake flashing all around me. The lights formed into a proper rainbow before turning to streaks and I was falling, faster and faster like a nosedive.

It was like tunnel vision.

W-what's going on?! T-the pain... e-everything hurts so bad.

"You still got a job to do, kid."

I heard someone speak, all around me.

"W-who is that?" I shouted.

"Just a friend, kid, here to get you back on your hooves and moving!" The voice told me, and I felt myself going faster. "Your friend is counting on you right now, so you gotta keep moving and get that last piece of the puzzle."

I struggled to focus, and I could almost make out someone ahead of me, but I lost them. "P-piece? But I don't even h-have the second one!"

"That's where you're wrong, kiddo. You have both of the pieces, now get yourself out of this damn place and find that third piece, and escape this nightmare!"

A thunderclap and my eyes shot open, and the next thing I felt was my fur standing on end. I felt static electricity running up and down my body and I was breathing heavily, my lungs burned and I tasted blood in my mouth. I smelled something in the air, like copper. Everything burned, everything felt wrong, my bones felt so brittle it hurt to stand, and the stings... goddess it hurt so badly.

I felt woozy and sick to my stomach, that I almost dropped what I was holding.

I blinked, and fighting through the pain I looked down at my hoof and saw I was holding onto something, a large container full of sticky-looking yellow liquid.

It was the next component!

I wish I could have felt more excited, but the wounds those wasps had given me made everything hard to focus on. I felt some weight next to me and I saw Yoko's pack I had slung over my back... where did she go? I heard some rattling around inside of it and figured the other container was inside. Wait, how did I even get the container, where was it to start with?

I swallowed the knot in my throat and looked around, before peering over the edge and to the ground below. I just now noticed the burned corpses of the wasps all lying at the bottom, scorched by something.

I don't see Yoko anywhere, so how did I get her pack? For that matter, how the heck did I get the other container?! I was confused now, where was she at and why did I have her pack?

I shuddered and pulled the pack off and opened it up, before putting the container inside of it next to the other one.

"Seems I forgot about you."

I blinked and whirled around to the voice.

I saw another human stand on the far side of the tower, near those empty hives. They were dressed in a pretty fancy-looking red suit, one hand behind their back as the other pushed up their sunglasses.

"W-who are you?" Just looking at this guy gave me the creeps. "T-this place isn't safe."

He just smiled and my creep radar started going off. I zipped up the pack and threw it over my shoulder, and backed up. We had some distance between us, mostly the gap and the big tower in the middle with the box in it, but even so, I kept my distance.

"It most certainly isn't safe, least of all for a specimen such as yourself." He spoke up and pulled something out of his jacket pocket and held it up, and a flash of light came from it before vanishing. It blinded me for a second, but went away after some blinking, a camera? "Interesting you've managed to make it this far in one piece, but with all of those wounds, you don't have long I'm afraid... shame, I was hoping to work on you while you were still alive."

My eyes widened and I spread my wings, damaged as they were and as much as they hurt. This guy was definitely bad news, all of the red flags were going off in my head as he put the camera away. Who the hell is this dude and what does he mean? "H-haha, work on me, y-yeah, good joke..." I smiled awkwardly and backed up again, and started looking around. I need to get out of here and fast!

"I have the subject cornered in the Emission Tower." He said suddenly and when I looked at him, I saw he had his fingers to his ear, who was he talking to? Was he using telepathy? "Understood." He reached into his jacket again and started to pull out something, it looked like a gun with a glass tube on top.

Oh shit!

I jumped to the side and flapped my wings, taking flight as he tried to aim at me.

I almost missed it when a loud bang went off and the man stumbled to the side, hitting the wall and dropping his gun. He had been shot!

I looked around for the source and I saw Yoko halfway up a ladder, bleeding and holding her handgun. She looked pale, and hurt, badly. "G-get out of here!" She yelled at me and finished climbing up the ladder, keeping her gun aimed at the man in red.

"B-but what about you?" She was hurt really bad, her clothing was torn open by those wasps, she had been stung just like I was, but... worse. She wasn't going to make it much longer, but neither was I.

"Don't worry about me." She groaned and a hand flew to her side, where blood steadily flowed out. "J-just get those chemicals back to the others, we h-have to make Daylight, no matter t-the cost."

Was making Daylight that important? I knew it was going to help Dee, but she was willing to stay behind and die for it? My body was burning up, and I could feel myself getting covered in a cold sweat. Whatever was in those stingers was starting to mess me up, and bad, I needed to keep moving and find the last component for Dee, to keep him from dying.

I stared at Yoko and the man in red as he stood up, and rolled his neck to pop it. He turned to face Yoko, and his smile came back. "Yoko Suzuki, one of Umbrella's finest... a shame it had to come to this, you were one of Birkin's brightest."

"S-shut up!" Yoko yelled and kept her gun on him, her hand shaking as sweat trailed down her brow. "I'm g-going to put a stop to this, no matter what it t-takes!"

"From the looks of it, Ms. Suzuki, you're not long for this world, those wounds are fatal." He looked at her, still smiling as he looked down below at the corpses of the wasps I had killed. He walked towards her, not even bothering to try and stem the bleeding from his gunshot wound. "This particular breed of wasp is quite poisonous, from what I understand, how much longer do you think you have anyway?"

The pain of having to stay hovering was starting to get to me, it hurt with every flap, and everywhere I had been stung was starting to zap my energy. This wasn't like a regular sting, this was something that was eating away at me, I could feel it, we had both been stung badly by those things.

I swallowed hard and felt myself wobble in the air. My mouth was starting to get dry, and my vision was blurring. Was this it? Was I really going to die like this? I had come so far.

Then suddenly, a familiar voice spoke up again, "Hey kid! Keep moving!" it was her again. "You're stronger than you realize, don't let something like this stop you! Save her, save your friends, and get out of there!"

A burst of energy filled me all of a sudden; my second wind, and I glared at the man in red.

I'm not dying today, not like this.

I flapped my wings and kicked off from the wall near me, and shot towards the man in red. I slammed all of my weight into him and knocked him down, and grabbed onto Yoko. I didn't slow down in time and knocked her away a bit, but I managed to keep my hold on her before flying up and away from the platform.

"What are you doing?" Yoko cried as the man yelled, and tried getting back up.

I flew up the tower, where I saw an opening through the top of the tower. I kicked my wings into overdrive and flew up, faster and faster past hives and stray wasps! "I'm not leaving you behind! That isn't how I operate!"

I kept going faster as Yoko held on, and that opening turned out to be smaller than I was hoping. The top of the tower was blocked off by wasp hives, but they weren't that strong, and I wasn't going to let that stop me from getting out of here!

I flew faster and faster!

I closed my eyes and tucked my head down just as I connected with the hive itself, and it gave way. I burst through it and up, into the warm air and smoke-choked skies surrounding the campus. Once we were free and away, I flew away from the tower to get away from any wasps that might chase us, and over to a clearing down below.

I was breathing hard, carrying Yoko didn't help either.

"The city... my god," Yoko murmured, and I looked out into Raccoon and saw the fires had spread. So many buildings were on fire, and with my eyesight, I could see dozens if not hundreds of humans slowly moving this way, crowding every street and alleyway. They weren't regular humans, I knew that.

As I started to float down, and the streets and everything became blocked out by smoke and debris, I swallowed.

We need to get out of here and fast.

I landed on the ground and let Yoko go, and she collapsed onto her rump as soon as I let go. I followed her lead and sit down, letting myself take a breather. I let the pack I was carrying slide off and sit it on the ground and looked up into the sky as smoke began to fill it. All of the fires burning out of control were starting to choke the sky, so many...

So many bodies.

"I found... the s-second," I told Yoko and looked at her, and wiped the sweat from my forehead, and she looked up. "Wh-where's the third?"

Yoko looked at me, still holding the wound she had on her stomach. "It's underground, in the water treatment facility for the college." She told me and pointed to a door nearby, in a building opposite of the one we had just escaped from. "That's the last one we need... for the cure."

I took a look around as the burning pain subsided in my body for a tiny bit, and I saw we were back where Dee and I were before he collapsed. We weren't too far off from getting one of the first pieces to the puzzle, but then he passed out and those zombies swarmed us.

Now that I think about it, I didn't see them anywhere... maybe they wandered off?

The bodies of those army guys were still here, and I walked over to one of them.

It burned itself into my mind; the way the limbs were broken and contorted, the blood that covered his clothes, the smell of iron, and death. I stared for so long at him, unmoving, his life was just gone. I never dealt with death like this before, I can't even remember the last time it came up. Was this what death was really like in this world? Mine?

I heard moaning from nearby that caught my ear, it was one of the undead. The same threat we had been dealing with this whole time, the things that filled this city and devoured the innocent, the weak, and frail. I had fought off a few of them, face to face, but it was quick and I never stayed on one too long, least in all of the fights I've been in since I was here.

I was in so much pain but it didn't stop me from eyeballing the thing; I didn't feel sympathy anymore, I didn't feel sad, all I felt...

All I felt was hatred.

I hated these stupid things, so much...

My body reacted before I could think, and I blasted off from the ground and over to the monster. He didn't even see me coming, not that it would matter.

Time didn't slow like it usually did.

I just slammed my hoof right into the side of his head, I didn't stop moving either so I sent him flying. A snapping noise filled my ears, and I felt the side of his face crumple under the force in the split second I made contact.

I watched him fly until he hit one of those cars; slamming into the side and knocking it back a fair bit.

I wasn't nearly finished.

I don't know why but I lost control.

I slammed my hoof into his face again, and again until I heard a sickening squelch, and his face caved in, but he still moved. Every hit, every impact, he just kept struggling and gurgling up blood. His sounds muffled as the solid hits became meaty thumps, every hit was wetter and wetter until I was smashing my hoof into a gooey chunky mess I couldn't make out.

I finally managed to stop myself from bludgeoning him into a messy pulp long enough to pull away.

I felt sick after that.

Why did I even do it? I couldn't find the answer, and my eyes were just looking around for something, like an answer to it.

I couldn't find one.

I just felt anger and hate.

I sniffled and flicked my hoof to the side, sending a chunk of something flying before stumbling off of the body. I looked back to where Yoko was and saw she was staring at me. She turned away when we locked eyes, probably scared of what I had just done. I would be too if some random mare just turned some monster's head into goop.

I looked away from her and over to the door I needed to go into, limping as the poison in my body spread. On the ground nearby I saw a couple of potted plants, nothing special, but I saw ones that looked like the green one I had taken; the two I saw were green and purple.

These have to be useful. I plucked them free and tucked them away in my mane, as good a place as any.

With that done, I looked at the door...

Only one more to go.

---

2nd-F Passage

---

Blood was in my mouth, my joints burned and ached, but somehow I managed to keep myself from collapsing.

I peered out of cover, using a statue I had taken cover by to stabilize my newly acquired M4A1 Carbine, and fired off a few shots at the enclosing USS thugs that followed after me.

I could hear gunfire from all around, muffled through the walls of the college as we were basically at war with Umbrella.

I took down the first thug as the second slammed into the room nearby, getting away from my gunfire.

Time to run!

I could hear the chaingun of Nemesis, or Nyx, whatever the fuck it is- Nyxmesis I guess, going off nearby. It revved up and even from downstairs, wherever it was, I could hear the rounds ripping clear through the walls and shattering glass, wood, and tearing apart many meaty things; most likely stray undead or hidden survivors.

Hopefully the former more than the latter.

I don't know where the others had gone, but when Nyxmesis became a thing, we all just ran for it while the USS thugs dealt with it. But now there were more, way more than I had thought there was originally, and they were armed to the death and trying to capture me and kill the others.

A stray round from the floor tore open the carpet and took off my cap. "Fuck!" I stumbled back and ran for it, grabbing my hat as it fell and running away from the random spray of gunfire. Didn't that thing have a fucking limit to how much ammo it had? It was tearing through the damn building and if he was lucky, killing people!

I was lucky he didn't have the rocket launcher on him.

I slid around until I reached a door, and took cover before checking the M4. I had a dozen rounds or so left in the magazine, and my handguns and shotgun still on me. I was still alive, but not for much longer. Sweat soaked my clothing, and it felt like I had the flu; my nose was trying to run, my eyes were itchy and I was nauseous. I was surprised I was able to keep moving like this.

As I looked up towards the door, I got back up and headed for it.

Once my hand touched the knob, everything in my vision went black, flashed white, and I stumbled through. I didn't have any control over my body, my energy was gone.

Images of what was in front of me flashed by like a movie skipping scenes. My heartbeat filled my ears until it stopped briefly; pain shot through my body, like a white-hot lance.

"Gah!"

I gripped my chest through the armor, dropping my carbine and stumbling through the door onto a metal walkway.

My heart rate increased what felt like tenfold, everything was shaking and my vision had gone dark around the edges, and I saw red.

"Already on the ropes? Sad, I was hoping to have some fun with you."

I looked to my left and someone else I didn't know appeared seemingly out of thin air; it was a woman in a short-cut white dress, stark white hair, and sunglasses. She was looking right at me with this look in her eyes that just sent the weirdest vibes down my spine.

"Who the fuck-"

"You're in the presence of a lady," she cut me off, and I immediately felt ticked, "you should mind your manners."

"Fucking eat my ass." I spat out, blood in my mouth. It tasted horrible and was almost thick like soup. I had to cough it up, and I felt a burning in my chest; like heartburn.

"Someone will have to teach you a lesson."

She strode over to me faster than I would have liked, and I barely had enough time to lift my carbine to shoot-

I didn't get the chance to.

She kicked my gun to the side and knocked it down to the first floor down below. She then grabbed me by the shirt and slammed her fist right into my throat.

My breathing practically stopped as she spun around in a circle, and with a flair had kicked me over the railing.

I slammed into the floor with enough force to take the rest of the air out of me.

I blacked out briefly.

Fuck, bitch packs a wallop.

I gasped and my eyes shot open as I was able to breathe again, and rolled onto my side before slowly getting back up. I heard her moving around above and grimaced.

She's a lot stronger than I would have thought, and she's the second weirdo I've seen... who the fuck are these people?

I looked around for my carbine and was about to go grab it, but I heard a thump behind me, and whirling around she had jumped down to walk towards me.

Shit!

I took on a defensive stance as she approached, but she got past it easily enough; she jumped into the air and swung her leg around, and knocked me to the side before landing, and started to throw blows at me. She was too fast for me to react or even defend right, each impact was zapping my strength and I couldn't get any punches in.

She pushed me back with each blow, it was getting harder and harder to hold up my arms.

That's when the anger finally hit.

"GrrraaaAAAH!" I finally pushed back, hitting away her arms and kicking her in the gut, causing her to stumble back before charging in. While she was stumbling, I managed to move fast enough to send my fist crashing into her face.

She was caught off guard long enough for me to tackle her, running and picking her up with a yell. She slammed one of her fists into my back, again and again, but I kept moving.

I ran her and myself right into some pipes against the wall, it was hard enough that she yelled.

In true brawler fashion, while my blows were sloppy, I was still punching her in the sides and stomach as hard as I could.

I pinned her against the piping and just wailed on her as much as I could, random punches and even bringing up my knee to slam into her stomach.

She managed to get free however, bringing up her legs she wrapped them around my neck and swung to the left with all of her body weight, bringing me down with her, but one swift movement with her body and it was me that was sent crashing down to the floor and her getting back up.

She spat and adjusted her glasses as I struggled to get back up. "Just like a man, to hit a woman."

I spit onto the ground and glared up at her, as she reached into her jacket. "At least I don't have a whole stick up my ass." Uppity bitch.

An explosion rocked the building and some pipes nearby fell, and steam started to escape from a loose pipe nearby, causing the already hot room to get hotter. Another explosion did the same and it sounded much closer, but I had no idea what the hell it could have been.

The woman pulled out what looked like a taser from her pocket, and flicked it on, causing it to snap and crackle violently. "Hmmph, I don't know what the Director sees in you."

The Director?

I tried to crawl away from her and the taser as she approached me, very intent on using it.

"Time to-"

The wall next to us completely blew open, sending debris flying as a huge gray humanoid rushed through, plowing right through the woman in white and through the next wall leading outside. I heard the roar from him, the trembling of the floor as he ran, and the scream of her as she was... pushed away or whatever it was.

I watched, eyes wide at the scene.

I found myself licking my lips and standing back up from the destruction. I dusted off my pants and peeked out of the hole, through the crumbling stone and concrete, and the pipes he had torn down.

Thanatos had tackled the fuck out of her.

I didn't see him, or her for that matter.

"I suppose I'll take that as my cue to leave." I coughed again and shook off the pain before grabbing my M4, and continuing down the hall. I was stuck on the first floor, so I only had one way to go, either outside around the back or in front to face down Nyxmesis.

I groaned and looked behind me, and I saw that the door had been busted down from the opposite direction, and undead were pouring in; mostly students and faculty members that came out of hiding.

Guess they decided to join the party.

Looking outside again, I saw a few stray undead wandering in from the north, crowding the area behind the building.

Shit, there's a lot of them outside. I didn't know how many, but I wasn't about to find out. Panic was starting to set in, not many places to go, and Rainbow was still unaccounted for, we were in a losing battle and the evacuation chopper wasn't even here, to top it all off we had a massive mutant outside and an even bigger one inside. This is going to hell in a handbasket, and we all need to get the fuck out of here, and quick!

I rushed for the door leading back inside and bashed through it, back into the lobby.

Shell casings littered the floor everywhere, as did the torn remains of USS goons here and there. I didn't see the man in black anywhere, but I saw Nyxmesis lumbering towards the stairs right in front of me. Somehow he hadn't seen me and took the first step, and the immense weight alone from his mass crushed the wood and caused it to groan under his weight the more he put down.

I could still see Nemesis and the other tyrant, the former struggling still to break free from his fleshy prison, but it was a losing battle. He wasn't as active as he was before, and I wasn't sure why.

Nyx must be zapping his energy somehow, not like it'd help us in the fight to begin with. Fuck's sake, so of course this happens. It made no sense, but I didn't have any time to really dwell on the matter, I had to get moving!

I ducked and headed right, opposite of where the lumbering behemoth was going. I had to avoid him until I could get my hands on some major hardware, but from where, I had no clue. The rocket launcher could be anywhere, and it might be all we got to stop this fucking monster and get out of here.

If he can take a chaingun and keep going, who's to say the rocket launcher will do any good? Not to mention Thanatos is still here.

I heard a howling noise from the front door, followed by clawing noises at the wood. Snarling and barking told me all I wanted to know before someone upstairs started running.

"Seems your plans fell apart." The man in black shouted, and I saw he was headed into the left-wing of the school. Was he taunting me? "Even with all of your efforts, everyone has perished!"

"You keep on, I'll make sure you're one of them!" I took aim and fired at him, but even with full auto I missed him and only chipped the wood railing as he ducked out of the way. "Motherfucker!" I backed up and tried to get a better shot, and kept peppering the railing above but he kept dodging.
"Stop moving!"

I kept missing until the gun clicked empty, and I growled.

He just peered over at me with that self-satisfied smile on his face, like he was untouchable. I threw down the carbine and glared up at him, before reaching into my holster, and pulling out the Samurai Edge that Kendo had given me, his last gift before leaving Rainbow and me.

'Get out of this city, and live.' He had told us.

I planned on it.

I took aim and fired, without even thinking.

He ducked out of the way, but I managed to nick his shoulder and cause him to stumble back.

"You're fucking dead, you hear me!" I shouted up at him; I didn't know what it was, but another burst of energy had filled me... it was time to fucking end this.

I ran towards the stairs as Nyxmesis tried climbing them, and then falling over with a roar. The floor shook from the impact, the windows nearby shattered, and the moans of the undead could be heard from outside.

Even then, I heard chopper blades from outside; the evacuation chopper?

I didn't pay attention to it, and instead, I ran up the stairs to the second floor to follow after the man in black as he ran through a door, leaving behind a trail of blood in his wake. Every step was like a hot knife plunging through the soles of my boots, but I kept moving and chased after him, through the left-wing of the college.

---

The Water Purifying Facility

---

I flew into the building and was immediately hit with the sound of rushing water, and humming human machines. The place was huge; lots of huge pipes going from one side to the other, bridges across a pit in the ground full of water and tubes going down into it, and no windows. I saw a few of the undead in here, wandering aimlessly like the others, probably trapped in here.

I looked to Yoko who stumbled in here after me and sighed before looking at my own wounds. I didn't have anything to heal these with, no magic, no potions, no bandages... everything still hurt, still burned, but I was still moving. "D-do you know where it is in here?"

"I-I'm not sure, I remember it was here somewhere." Yoko groaned and leaned against the wall, "I know that it's not in a container."

I looked back at Yoko. "What do you mean?"

"I m-mean, unlike the V-Poison and T-Blood, the P-Base we need i-isn't... it's not contained." Yoko sniffled and wiped her forehead, before continuing, "we have to extract the P-Base ourselves and seal it in a case like the others before heading back."

I slapped a hoof against my forehead before dragging it down. It just couldn't be easy, could it? It seemed like everything was trying to stop me! I was so tired of it!

I flew up and looked around, and I saw a bunch of huge containers nearby, across the pit of water we had to get across. There were a couple of bridges, but one of them had fallen and the other was blocked off by a fence and some boxes; Yoko wouldn't be able to get across, not as hurt as she was.

"I have to do this alone." I looked at Yoko, who was already sweating really badly. She was as beaten up as me, and I was feeling it... but I don't think as bad as she was. "I... I'll be back, j-just... just stay here, maybe I can find something to heal both of us."

Yoko slid down the wall and clutched her gun, and just gave me a tiny nod. "J-just hurry, we don't have much time left."

I know. I swallowed and flapped my wings, fighting through the pain as I made my way over.

The pit down below was full of dark and murky water, and I saw some bodies floating in it; it made me sick to look at, even worse were the bubbles I saw arising from the wat-

Bubbles?

The surface of the water broke and out a mutant freak appeared.

"Ahh!" I tried to get higher than it had jumped, but I overcorrected my wings and lost some altitude; just enough for it to jump up.

I felt teeth clamp down on my leg, felt the hot pain of it piercing the skin as I was dragged down.

I flapped my wings hard! This thing had gotten a hold of me and was dragging me down! "Let go of me! N-!" I felt the water rush around my body, and it wasn't long until my wings hit the water and got soaked.

I couldn't flap them hard enough to escape.

I couldn't kick the thing and get my leg free.

"Nnng!" I tried and tried.

I was under the water before I knew it.

I was dragged down deeper...

Deeper...

No... this can't be... it...

Author's Note:

Big thanks to Shakespearicles for editing this and providing some amusing commentary on the chapter.

Comments

[Bronycommander]

another nicely done chapter!

[Kichi]

Well, if Jill is dead early, I wonder what is going to happen to the Umbrella Mercenaries, and if they are destroying the RCPD, I wonder if Leon and Claire and Sherry and Ada and Anette are going to be okay

[Wand3r3r3]

Hey, I'm really glad to see this story still here. Good on you, mister

[SonicDJM]

Wow, you where not kidding when you said to expect another chapter soon. The joy I felt when I saw the update notification in my inbox was indescribable. Judging on the update frequency increasing, I am making the presumption that you are feeling better than the beginning of this year. If so, then let me the first to say that I am glad that you are doing better and hope that you continue to stay in good spirits for the long term.
Now this was another well crafted update that I thoroughly enjoyed. I will admit I don't like ending chapters on a cliffhanger, but it did not detract from my enjoyment of the chapter at all. So Umbrella is after both Justin and Rainbow after all, not surprising but is interesting to refer to the person interested in them as the director, could this mean the head of Umbrella Security or the CEO himself, Mr. Oswell Earl Spencer? It would be most certainly interesting if it was the latter, but I am not putting any money on that. Also, I am holding out hope that Jill is still alive, granted it would be hard to write a scenario that would fit seamlessly, but I can think of two possibilities. One is that an event happened that would make any person assume that Jill could not possibly have survived but miraculously does and Umbrella is not aware of this. Or two, Umbrella decided that capturing those two where far more important than eliminating S.T.A.R.S and redirected them to the collage and the man was merely lying in order to see how much Dustin knows about the current operations in Racoon City.
Also, I was looking up Umbrella's CEO name and got conflicting information on his first name, is it Oswell or Ozwell? I am genuinely confused because the Wiki uses both names and I do not know which one is right. The last thing I want to mention is I noticed a few more interesting facts about the old generations that I found fascinating. For instance did you know that in the previous generation, Scootaloo had a sister that went by the name of Cheerilee. Yep the same one that is currently the Teacher in Ponyville in the current generation. All I am going to say about that is if familial relations stayed the same between the two generations, Scootaloo would either love it or hate it. I was wondering who out of the mane 6 was the oldest in terms of show generations and the answer was it was both Twilight and Applejack, who where both around since the franchise's debut in the 1980's. You would see them in gen 1 in different parts of the show. Spike was apart of gen 1 as well but he was part of the main cast and Twilight and Applejack where side characters (very ironic, looking at gen 4). Seriously, generation 1 of MLP was crazy and very different than generation 4.
Well that is all from me for now, hope to hear from you again.
With regards,
SonicDJM

[redsopine]

I stand corrected you topped nemesis getting goosed about by utterly owning him in a few seconds nice

[FridayPie]

Yeah, we're utterly fucking boned.

Nyx with machinegun

Next episod3: xenomorph queen with rocket launcher

[PointBreak]

11235768
several episodes later...

head crab with a glock 19 that shoots black holes