ResidentEvil-CityOfTheDead [Chapter: 31]

THIRTY-ONE

HE'D GONE THE WRONG WAY. TWISTS AND

turns in the cold and empty hall had led him to a

storage room - a dead end.

"There are now three minutes until detonation."

Leon turned back the way he'd come, and with

what felt like the very last of his strength, forced

himself into a stumbling run. He was too exhausted to

feel disappointed, to worry about his impending

death, to wish that things were different; it took all of

his energy just to keep moving.

He'd make it or he wouldn't; either way, he didn't

think he'd be surprised.

Claire hit the floor at the base of the stairs and

leapt to her feet, blood running down her leg in a hot

pulse of stinging pain. She staggered away, nothing

broken, but she knew her clawed leg was just the beginning

of what it would do to her, a prelude to the real

pain.

Mr. X was still bent over the railing of the steps, but

as she stumbled away, back toward the broken gate of

the platform, the monster pushed itself off. It turned

its immense body in her direction, the open blackness

of its empty eye socket drooling out some dark and

ichorous liquid. It would compensate for its altered

senses, she was sure - it would compensate, realign,

run at her again - and would slaughter her like the

merciless machine it was, there was nothing she could

do to stop it.

At least I'll die in the explosion...

Claire tripped on the metal bars of the gate, barely

catching herself, blood pattering to the ground as she

staggered another step, please let it be quick...

"Here! Use this!"

Claire spun, saw that Mr. X was positioning itself

for its killing strike - and saw the silhouette high

above, on the walkway over the train. A woman's

voice, a woman's shape, the shadowed figure throwing

something -

- who -

- that clattered across the concrete, landing between

her and Mr. X. It was metal, it was silver,

she'd seen them in movies, it was a machine gun

and Claire ran for it. Another final hope, another

chance, however slim, that she and Sherry would

survive.

She reached the weapon, dropped, saw X pushing

itself toward her, the thunder of its steps shaking the

ground and she scooped up the heavy gun, kicking

against the floor and rolling onto her back, her

shaking hand finding the trigger, her body moving to

accommodate the weapon. Stock on the ground, arms

twisted around the cold metal, aiming -

- please please -

The monster was only a step away when the spray of

bullets crashed out of the gun, a clattering, rattling

string of tiny explosions that shook Claire's entire

body and whammed into the gut of the beast, the

sheer force of so many rounds stopping it in midstride

and pushing it back.

- tattatattatatta -

She felt the vibrating metal trying to shake itself

free of her grip, so she held it tighter, the butt of the

weapon tapping against the floor at a manic pace. The

bullets were still pounding into the creature's abdomen,

so fast and so many that she couldn't hear her

own gasping cries of fury and pain and exaltation...

... and Mr. X was trying to move forward, but a

strange thing was happening, a strange and beautiful

thing. Its gut was being shredded by the endless stream

of rounds, its midsection gaining depth and texture,

black fluids coursing down its lower half from the

ragged, growing wound. X's mouth was open, an

empty hole like its eye socket - and like the socket,

thick liquid was pouring out, obscuring its pitiless

face.

- tattatattatat -

Claire held on, directing the hail, watching the

creature try to stand against the pulsing, crashing

spray. Watching it bleed. Watching as it seemed to

condense, its massive body crumpling, its torso sinking

down.

The bullets still flying, Mr. X raised its arms

and split in two.

Claire took her finger off the trigger as X's upper

body toppled to the cement, a wet slap of heavy meat,

and its legs collapsed, falling to one side, more strange

blood gushing from both halves. Pools of shiny black

grew around the massive pieces of its broken body,

forming stinking puddles. The creature was dead

and even if it wasn't, it didn't matter anymore. Unless

it could pull itself across the floor as fast as she could

run, her battle with the terrible mystery that had been

Mr. X was finally through -

- hell with all that, no time, MOVE!

Claire was on her feet in a second, ignoring the

squelch of blood in her boot and the pain that had

caused it, her gaze searching the upper platform for

her unknown savior. No one was there, and she didn't

know if another minute had ticked by, the warning

lost in the gunfire.

"Hey!" Claire shouted, backing toward the subway

car. "We have to go, now!"

No answer, no sound but the ringing in her ears and

the echo of her trembling words. If she wanted to save

Sherry . . .

Claire turned and ran.

* * *

"... two minutes until..."

Leon pushed himself to go faster, the twining

tunnel a blur of gray that spun past his aching,

breathless perception. He'd lost all track of the turns

and twists of the corridor and was rapidly losing

hope, a voice in the back of his mind telling him that

maybe it would be best to stop, to sit and rest

and then he heard it, and that tiny, despairing

whisper was obliterated by the sound.

The sound of heavy machinery stirring to life,

somewhere up ahead. Not far ahead.

Train!

Faster, legs distant, rubbery, lungs working, heart

pounding - one way or another, it was almost over.