63 Breaking Down

'I shouldn't have done it...'

I keep running and running, cutting through the fleeing civilians that were trying to escape to the frontmost carriage. I meet the same scene in, In every single carriage, they all keep forcing their body to push through, trying to be the first one to reach it.

'I should have stick to my plan...'

I jumped and used their head or shoulder as a stepping stone. I keep scanning for the couple and the deaf lady, but there was no sign of them. All I could see was the face of panic and terror. Some of the passengers could even be seen sitting still, accepting their doom. They were too tired to run anymore.

'I shouldn't have let it go inside my mind...'

The dark tunnel and corridor didn't make it even better. No one knew where they were going. No one knew who or what they were escaping from. No one knew who they stepped on, as the thing that filled their mind was one thing. Run! No matter what, just run! Away from those things.

'If I knew it would be like this... I should have stayed alone.'

And then I saw it. The light from the fire, the cry for help, and the monster that caused it. Nemesis stood, bare-chested while holding a square-shaped rocket launcher with his left hand. A pair of gauntlets that could form the light sword appeared to be more prominent as his third eye found my presence.

In his free hand, a man was being held by his head, while his wife was laid on the ground with a piece of metal pole staking her to the ground, unable to move. She was half-conscious from the loss of blood and the pain, but she still trying to reach her hand toward her spouse. She could see his face trying to smile for his beloved wife to soothe her, even though it was blurry.

"Paul!"

======

"Paul!" I said, calling his name. "Paul...! Hey!"

Tak!

"Ow! That hurts!" he muttered after I kicked his shin.

"Serve you right! Stop daydreaming and pick your character." We were currently in the game center near my school, playing Tekken 3. When I came, he was already here, playing all alone. Usually, he would stay near his wife, and never left her unattended because she was pregnant. Is it two months? Three months? I forgot, anyway her tummy was starting to bulge.

"Oh right... Hey Kimmy, which one do you think would fit me well?" he said, asking at the empty air beside him.

"It's not a horoscope, Goddamnit! And what does that have anything to do with it! And who are you talking with!?" I said, frowning.

"Huh!? Where's Kimmy!? She was supposed to be here!" he said, being panic with tears and snot started leaking on his face.

"How am I supposed to know? You're all alone from the beginning." I replied, is there something wrong with his head?

"Huh? From the beginning? Then... does that mean that... the Kimmy that I have been living with all this time just an illusion?" he muttered toward me.

"Not that beginning, Goddamnit! What the hell is wrong with you!?" I said. "Just pick a damn character!"

The timer run out and Paul got a randomized character. "Ah... see... the time's up and now you were left with a random character." And it was also Paul. Suddenly, I had relapses of memories of how many times I got "Deathfist"-ed by Michael's Paul. Ahh... I hate this character.

"Hey, Edward. Can I ask you a question?" asked, Paul.

"What?" I replied while delivering Electric Wind God Fist using Heihachi to Paul's Paul.

"What do you think of your father?" he asked.

"Huh?" It was an unexpected question, I thought he was going to ask my preference for woman, but who would ask that to a toddler anyway. Then, my health bar went empty. Ah... he used my moment of surprise to deliver an attack. What a low strategy.

"Ahh... Is it too sudden?" he replied, trying to brush it off with a chuckle.

"Before my small family decides to go on a trip around the world. My father was always working, barely had time for me or my mother. Sometimes, he went home early, but he just went to sleep after talking with my weak mom. Not the greatest example of a Dad, right?" I said while turning my eyes back to the game. Paul was still listening, quietly. "But I still love him. Why? Because even though he barely had time for us, he didn't abandon his family and always be there when really need him. He still makes time to teach me about things, like swimming, washing my face and hand, and using guns. Well, that last part was a bit too much for a kid, so pretend you didn't hear it."

His Paul was knocked out with a swift low kick by my Heihachi, ending the second round with my win.

"Do you think I will be a good father?" he asked. The round began with my Heihachi getting the Deathfist. Half of my life bar was taken with that punch.

"How much do you love Kimmy?"

Then, as if challenged, Paul started getting fired up, "How much? Is that even questionable? I will trade my life for her unending smile over and over if I can. I will even go to—"

"Shut up, SIMP! I get it already!" I responded, not wanting to hear his confession of love even more. My heart already bleeding knowing he had a wife, a good job, and wife, and happy life, and a wife. Did I already mention wife? And wife. "Do you love her more than your soon to be born child?"

"What!? You can't ask that, I love both of them equally!" he replied, not knowing his Paul's health bar was getting low.

"Then what would you be afraid of? The first step as a father, assuming it was married life, was loving your family, and you did it splendidly." I replied, delivering the last EWGF to finish his Paul. The game ended, and I saw his wife, Kimmy, approaching from the game store's window. I stood and tapped his shoulder while pointing toward his wife. His face soon was filled with a wide smile as he stood.

I whispered my last advice for him, "Remember it, Paul. The worst thing you can do is not being there for your kid. So don't ever question yourself anymore."

======

Crack! Burst!

I heard a cracking sound, and then the smile on his face was wiped off, along with his whole head. His body falls like a doll after its string got cut off. Kimmy was still trying to grasp her husband's hand with tears rolling down onto the cold metal ground.

"Nemesis!!"

I didn't know why I shouted his name but rage-filled my eyes as I charged with Blackbeard on hand.

Bam! Bam!

The two shots bored several holes into his flesh, staggering him. I pulled my fist behind me and jumped.

"Piston Punch!"

Puok!

His head was bent backward as he tried to balance himself. I kicked the ceiling to add power for my kick.

"Hammer Kick!"

The heel of my boots finally made him fall on his back. I summoned two katanas and stab it through his shoulder and to the ground. After leaving them alone, I jumped back and checked for Kimmy. She's still alive, although the metal pole pierced through her stomach. I took out a knife and reinforced it. With a Mediocre buff, it could even slice up steels, a simple metal pole was nothing.

I heard several footsteps coming. Jill and Mikhail came with M16s on their hands.

"Oh my God," Jill and Mikhail were speechless. The further half of the carriage was drowned in the fire. The back part of the carriage was missing. Probably caused by Nemesis. He was slowly trying to stand, but the Katana got in the way, giving me some more time.

[Don't pull out the metal rod, it keeping her from bleeding out. She will have shock from Cardiac Arrest if it is left unattended. Time for the Cardiac Arrest, in 20 minutes.] informed Regina.

"The baby?" I asked, feeling Kimmy's tummy.

[It's hard to say, Sir. I need more time.] she replied, burying my hope.

Mikhail approached us and looked at Kimmy while feeling his pulse in her neck. He then said, "Jill, bring her with you! I'll hold him off."

Mikhail proceeds to take out a C4 from his waist bag. I glanced at the C4 and asked, "what are you doing?"

He smiled and tapped my shoulder, "It's okay, kid. Let the adult take responsibility. You've done enough."

I didn't have time to react to his words because he keeps pushing me away, urging me to leave. I glanced between the C4 in his hand and his face. I'll I could see was a determined old man embracing his fate. "I can still help, Mikhail."

But he shook his head and said, "I'm already dead, kid. I know, you know, and the world know. There's nothing that could be salvaged anymore from this old bone. Let me have my last moment."

I grit my teeth, feeling helpless, and turned around, "good luck, old man."

"You too, youngster," he replied. I gave a last glance toward Paul's lifeless body and led Jill who was holding Kimmy to the front carriage. There was no threat except for Nemesis in this train, reaching the front-most carriage wouldn't take long either. So I stopped at the next carriage and summoned Blackbeard, intending to cut the coupler that connected one carriage with another, while Jill keeps moving knowing my plan. At any moment now, the C4 would explode, possibly shaking the train and caused it to derail. I can't let it happen.

However, I heard a rustling sound under the carriage seat next to me. "Luna? Is that you?"

It was the missing deaf lady. She covered her face using both of her hands, and tucked his body under the seat, hoping the danger goes away. It hurt my chest seeing her like this.

I nudged her shoulder rhythmically so that she knew it was not the monsters. She slowly opened her eyes, but she was startled to find me wearing a helmet, peeking at her. Light covered my helmet as it dematerialized into my inventory. Now, it was a familiar face in front of her. For a moment, her face flashed with happiness, before returning to grim.

She mouthed a few words together with sign language that I didn't quite understand.

[Installing Basic Sign Language Linguistic. Proceed?] asked Regina.

"Yes," I replied.

And then, together with my superb observation skill, I could understand what she was saying.

"What are you doing in here?" She asked.

I replied with my own Sign Language, "I'm coming to save you. You see the door over there?"

I pointed at the door leading to the next carriage and urged her to go there. "Keep running, I'll come to you in a moment."

"But it's dangerous," she said.

"It's okay, there's no more danger. After I finish here, I'll go with you."

She nodded and slowly crawled out, she saw the flaming carriage behind us and started to feel scared, but I sooth her by holding her cold hand. She finally gathered her courage and started moving. Now what's left to do was cutting the coupler. However, when she almost pass through the door, a hand stopped her and pushed her down on the floor, and locked it. I turned around just to see the smug face of that bastard Nikolai behind the door through the window.

"NIKOLAAAAI!!"

I shot the two bullets in Blackbeard toward the door, boring several holes that started to disintegrate half of the door. Luna was fine, but I was filled with anger, knowing what he intended to do. I dashed toward Luna but halted after two steps. 'Something's wrong. It's too quiet.'

I saw a red dot in front of me, sometimes it would vanish... and it was because my body blocked it. I turned around only to see a small rocket projectile filling my vision. In the next second, it would hit my face and explode. That moment felt like slow motion.

Boom!!

I was thrown away through the broken door into the next carriage. The explosion blast took half of the roof, causing the strong wind to blow inside the carriage.

The front half of my helmet was broken, exposing my face. Blood flowed from my mouth and I got a few burns and bruises all over my body. My ear was ringing from tinnitus, when I touched it, blood covered my hand. My ears seemed to be torn off.

My body was too tired, but I could feel a presence beside me. It was Nikolai, he rolled me over using his boots. He was saying something, but I couldn't understand what he was trying to say. He seemed to understand that I couldn't hear him, so Nikolai slowly mouthed the words.

"My..."

'My...'

"...employee...'

'...employee...'

"...paid me...'

'...paid me...'

"...to erase..."

'...to erase...'

"... those useless emotions."

'... those useless emotions.'

What? Who? I started to regain my hearing, although slowly. He turned my body to face Nemesis on the previous carriage. Under his feet was half of Mikhail's body. He was dead, without even activating the C4 in his hand.

"Ahh... You have a message from my employee," said Nikolai.

Then, I heard Nikolai's last word whispered in my bloody ear. "Stop being boring, my child. I'll be waiting for you. From your mother, Alex Wesker." he said, before going to the next carriage and locked the door behind him.

I couldn't comprehend his words. Even if I could, my focus was now moved toward Luna. She seemed to be hit by the shrapnel when the rocket projectile exploded.

"Lu...na..."

======

"Luna!" I waved my hand at her. The morning sun shone on her face as she waved back at me. While waiting for the bus to come, I looked around the shop, looking at every kind of flower. When she went in, I heard some of her neighbors gossiping nearby. Mostly, if not all, are a middle-aged lady. With my good hearing, it couldn't be helped if I looked like I was eavesdropping, but I'm not. Until the topic switched to Luna.

"Did you hear about that lady on the flower shop?" said Aunty A.

"Luna? Is there something wrong?" asked Aunty B.

"That girl, I heard she wasn't like that before," said Aunty A.

"What? Deaf?" Asked Aunty C.

"Hey, that's rude. Nowadays, it was called hearing impairment," complained Aunty B.

"Deaf is deaf, what else am I going to call it? Aunty A, continue," she said.

"Why are you calling me Aunty A... Anyway, she lived in Manhattan before moving here."

"Manhattan? That Manhattan in New York?" asked Aunty B for confirmation.

"Yes, she was supposed to marry someone there, but the Mito... Mito-something Incident happened and it took both his husband and hearing," said Aunty A.

"Poor thing, it must hurt her so much if she was forced to move here." muttered aunty C.

I couldn't help but glance at Luna. She came out while holding a flower in her hand and approached me. I didn't know what to do when she gave it to me. I mean, what am I going to do with it anyway?

Then she started mouthing some words.

"For..."

'For...'

"...that..."

'...that...'

"...girl."

'...girl.'

She pointed at the crossroad. I could see Sherry fidgeting, not knowing what to do while glancing at me occasionally.

"Ahh... She will misunderstand it." I replied after turning my head back at Luna, my ears started to get red from embarrassment.

And then, Luna replied, "It's good, then."

======

"Lunaa!!" I forced my word out of my lung and keep shouting.

"Lunaaa!! Run!!"

But it was useless, Luna couldn't hear anything. She was crawling, weakly, on the floor, while Nemesis slowly walk toward her.

I gathered every bit of my power and forced myself to stand. "Lunaa!!"

Tears started to fill my eyes. I could see Paul in her place. I don't want it to repeat. "Lunaaa... Moveee!"

Step by step, I started walking toward her. I didn't know who was faster between me or Nemesis, but I just keep walking. A single-shot, M79 grenade launcher appeared on my hand, something that I found inside the duffle bag.

Boom!

Nemesis's body was erupted with an explosion, staggering him on his track. But he recovered not long after, preparing to shoot the rocket launcher toward Luna.

"No!! Keep looking at me! I'm here!"

I keep swapping between the grenade launcher and other weapons. But it was no use. Nemesis pulled the trigger, and a rocket projectile flew toward Luna.

"Flow Motion!"

The world turned to an almost full stop. I only have 10 seconds, before everything turned to normal. I gathered every strength I had left to my legs and forced myself to jump. I rolled a few times on my landing spot, but at least now I stood near the rocket projectile. I grabbed the end of it and throw it toward Nemesis after giving it Reinforcement.

Ten seconds passed.

Booom!!!

The carriage rattled, and now the whole roof was blasted away. Nemesis was thrown off to the previous carriage, the damage was much bigger than the one that hit me before. My observation seemed to add effectiveness in my reinforcement as the buff instantly rose to Low level, unlike the usual Weak level. I glanced at the C4 in Mikhail's hand and Luna's weak body.

I took it and started charging at Nemesis. He was still trying to recover himself from the previous impact.

"Let's end this game, Nemesis!"

I reinforced the C4 and leaped to his face. A tentacle burst from his shoulder and wrapped around my neck. But it didn't impede me from shoving the C4 down to his throat. With my left hand still holding the C4, I reinforced it and summon Blackbeard at the same time.

Bam! Bam!

The coupler that connected my carriage to Luna's carriage was disintegrated into dust. The carriage shook a bit and started slowing down, while the main body of the train keeps accelerating away. The tentacle around my neck started to tighten, preventing me from breathing. Light Sword appeared on both of his hands as he tried to stab me with them. But alas... I was faster.

BOOOOOMMMM!!!!