Chapter 5

Jason released a terrified scream and threw a metal plate at Arthur's head when he walked inside the room behind Carlos, Sophia's reaction was far more worrying as she stood there frozen for a few seconds before jumping for her gun which she had left laying on top of a bed.

"Don't shoot! It's me, don't shoot!" Arthur screamed while cradling his aching shin from the plate's blow but Carlos just started laughing like a maniac.

"Damn I needed that, I really needed that" the asshole patted Arthur on the shoulder before snorting and giggling again.

"Yeah real funny" The only good thing was that the sharp hit to the shin had momentarily distracted him from the constant burn on his face "It's alright you too it's me, I just got a little hurt on the way back"

"I told you to be careful!" shouted Sophia as she dropped the gun and threw a pillow at his face.

Desperately Arthur dodged back and blocked his face with both arms managing to avoid something else touching his bandages and then pushed himself back on his feet, the next few minutes were taken as Carlos and Sophia started packing anything useful they had found while Arthur coached Jason back from under a cabinet.

Everything ready, the four of them divided the remaining vials of the cure between themselves with Arthur and the kids each carrying one while Carlos kept the remaining three safe in a little case on his backpack.

"Now what, are you finally gonna tell me where you have been hiding?" Arthur asked and Carlos sighed.

"I guess you guys are sticking around huh?"

"Well, I don't think we can make it out of the city by ourselves so…" Arthur shrugged

"Yeah… come on I'm holled up on the clock tower"

Still feeling a little weak Arthur was left to watch the rear as Carlos guided them through the hospital, outside the sun was already rising but it didn't make the scene they were facing any better just different.

Instead of hidden corners, barely visible zombies and the unknown they now could see the full destruction of the city, the streets covered in blood and every single death body laying around, usually with their face or belly ripped open, the scent of rotten meat being heated by the sun was disgusting and they could see much further but everywhere they looked there was a zombie shambling around.

"Damn I don't know what's worse" Arthur cursed "the day or the night on this fucking city"

"The day's worse" said Sophia without her usual eagerness "At least at night I could pretend it was all a nightmare"

"Have to agree with you there kid" commented Carlos as he used his gun to push one of the closer zombies down and stomp on its head "by night this city is creepy because we think it's a hellhole, in the day we can actually see we were right"

"Come on, we're getting in a car?"

"No, the tower is close by and we don't want to attract something worse than zombies there" examining the buildings around them with suspicion and Arthur remembered Nemesis should still be around hunting for S.T.A.R.S members.

"Then come on, just ignore the bastards unless they get too close, no need to waste bullets and attract more"

"Yeah…"

Their group picked up the pace but Jason started faltering only five minutes later, still too weak from starvation, dropping the shotgun. Arthur pulled out his own handgun and used the other arm to lift the boy on his chest.

"Sorry" Jason mumbled and buried his face on Arthur's shoulder

"It's alright I'm not gonna be shooting anything right now" Arthur told him and squeezed a little harder while ignoring the tantalizing scent from his body "you and Sophia are just gonna have to help me watch out Jason, if you see any bad thing approaching us warn me ok?"

"Alright" the boy nodded and slowly relaxed after a few minutes then pointed with his arm "... there's a crow there"

"I see it Jason thanks"

"A bad thing there" the boy pointed out the zombie they had just avoided from across the street.

"I see it too good job"

"A little piggy there"

"What?" Arthur asked confused and then saw the boy pointing at a graffiti of a cartoon pig, drawing on patience he didn't know he had he answered "that's a piggy alright but only living things from now on kid"

Meeting Carlos' eyes he saw the amusement on the man's face and rolled his eyes at him before focusing on their path again.

"A Birdy!"

They continued avoiding most zombies simply by walking much faster than they could, even Sophia could outwalk the slow things but Arthur started to get worried when he looked back and saw the small horde they started to gather, the zombies wouldn't catch them while they continued walking but they also wouldn't grow tired or lose interest.

"Ah… Carlos?"

"I see them don't worry"

Jason had stopped pointing out creatures and even Sophia had started to look back worriedly, the horde must have gathered at least a couple hundred zombies when they reached the clock tower, it was surrounded by a tall metal fence and Carlos lead them away from the front entrance until Arthur could see a van parked besides the building just below a second floor window.

Climbing on top of the van Carlos grabbed Jason's arm and pulled him up, grabbing Sophia under her armpits Arthur put her on top of the van and climbed on looking at the open window, it was just barely in reach if he jumped up "A little exposed isn't it?"

"Normal zombies are too dumb to reach it and I have other protection inside in case one of those freaky mutants show up" Carlos answered while looking towards the aproaching horde who had just turned the corner towards them "Think you can make it?"

"Sure" bending his knees Arthur jumped as hard as he could and managed to get both arms on the window up to the elbows, then he put his feet on the wall and pulled himself up with only a little push from the mercenary.

Turning around he laid down on the floor and extended his arms down to receive first Sophia then Jason before allowing Carlos to make the jump, not even a minute latter the horde had arrived, Arthur looked down but, while the zombie had managed to climb up they refused to jump up and just lifted their arms while moaning and pushing each other, he kept staring at them until Jason pulled at his pants and he rejoined the group.

Jill Valentine laid fully clothed on top of a bed, she was covered in blood and filth and moaning from pain, turning his head sideways Arthur could kind of see she would probably be incredibly hot after a bath and a week of rest and recovery, as it stood she looked like a starved homeless addict, her hair in disarray, signs of having lost weight too quickly and a myriad of bruises, scratches and burns.

"This is supposed to take care of us?" asked Sophia with disdain

"She's more impressive than she currently looks don't worry" Carlos laughed "Don't worry she's gonna be back on her feet soon after this"

Arthur released his bag and weapon on a chair and then slowly started approaching the pitifully looking Resident Evil main character, Carlos didn't lose time taking one of his cure vials and injecting it on a vein on her neck, a few seconds latter all her muscles seemed to lock up and veins all over her body started to become evident on her skin, it continued for a long while before her body fell back on the bed and she took a deep breath.

Seeming to get a huge weight off his chest Carlos laid back on his chair and looked up while everyone become quiet, looking at the woman Arthur noticed she seemed to slowly stop turning in the bed and moaning to fully fall asleep

"Alright now what?" Arthur asked of no one in particular and the silence stretched uncomfortably amongst them, finally Carlos answered.

"If you're right about Nikolai" Carlos thought out loud "and I think you're right, everything fits at least, then I can't get in contact with umbrella anymore and we need to get out of this city"

"Any ideias?"

"Yeah…" Carlos looked from Valentine to Arthur and Sophia a few times and came to a decision "Alright i'm gonna have to go check up on things with the controllers personally, they're holled up on Raccoon park, if I don't make it before she wakes up head to the disposal plant across the river from the park, there should be a helicopter there one of you can use"

"Jill can pilot it?" Arthur asked with a lifted eyebrow.

"It was part of S.T.A.R.S. training from what I was told"

"When are you leaving?"

"Now, just have to rest a little"

Sophia helped the mercenary reload and check all his guns and even stole a small automatic rifle which Carlos ignored before eating some food and leaving.

As they waited Arthur found a deck of cards and started teaching Jason how to play war, the boy had a little trouble at first but came to like the game and even made Sophia play with him, the sun rose on the sky and Arthur even managed to sleep a little, as they ate Arthur heard Carlos' voice from one of the radios left on top of a drawer.

"Chika do you hear me?" came his frantic voice "Arthur are you there?"

"Arthur here, Valentine is still sleeping… over" he said while pressing the button on the radio.

"Fuck, alright listen" came the gasping voice before some heavy breathing "I got ambushed by the controlers, they wanted to know where Jill is so they kept me alive, then Nikolai turned up and started killing everyone"

Carlos stopped talking and seemed to be recovering his breath, Arthur debated acting surprised but he didn't think it necessary so he just waited until the mercenary continued.

"I managed to escape and heard they are cancelling the mission… cough… the government is giving up on the city and decided to bomb it into oblivion" Sophia and Jason gasped before they started hurring to gather their things "The retreat point is still the same if Jill doesn't wake up in an hour take her to the plant anyway you have until three in the afternoon to get out"

"You coming back?" Arthur sent when Carlos stopped talking.

"Have to go after Nikolai, can't allow him to get out with the virus"

"I don't think that's gonna help at this point" Arthur tried to stop him "Come back and we can leave"

"I have to try… tell Jill i'm sorry"

Carlos started ignoring all other attempts to communicate so Arthur gave up and got out of his chair, bending over Valentine he checked her vitals and, seeming she was much better, started attempting to wake the woman.

40 minutes later on the sixth attempt the woman grabbed his arm and twisted it smashing Arthur's face in the floor and laying a booted feet at his back, she was breathing hard and still disoriented but her reflexes were great

"Get away from him!" screamed Sophia while she tried to bash Jill's head with a broken chair leg but the policewoman blocked on the forearm

"Everyone calm down!" Arthur screamed while still pressed against the ground

"Who are you?" Jill asked as she stole the handgun from Arthur's holster and released him, falling back on the bed and shaking her head in confusion.

"Arthur Mathers I'm new at R.P.D." He answered while massaging his shoulder "I was new at R.P.D. I guess, I don't think its gonna be a thing anymore"

"Shit, what happened?" she asked while trying to get her hair in order and fully wake up.

Arthur was thinking about what to say when Sophia decided to fill her in on everything that had gone on, it took almost ten minutes and had a lot of explosion and gunshot noises as the little girl seemed to be excited to talk with someone she knew from her father's stories even if they seemed to be very misogynistic, he had to cringe every time she told the policeman she was great even if she was a girl, after a while Valentine seemed to get herself in order by getting back in the familiar policewoman role and calming civilians even getting Jason to open his mouth a little.

Looking at them for a while Arthur started to scratch at his arm, he wanted to hurry them, he wanted to scream at them to get moving, he wanted to grab Valentine by the throat and shake her until she became the badass killing machine he had played with not this uncertain woman wasting time to think about things and god dammit he wanted to eat some meat, picking up his shotgun he gave some excuses and left the room.

Laying against the wall he looked at his bandaged hand for a while and poked at his damaged fingers, it didn't hurt so he became worried, taking off the bandage he saw the flesh below the bandage was red and swollen but no longer hurt "Shit"

"That looks like a nasty wound" Valentine started a conversation.

"It was" He said and had to smile at how ridiculous his next words sounded "Getting hit with acid by a giant leech was not something I ever saw in my future"

"I don't think anybody saw this in their future" She sighed and laid against the opposite wall "thanks, I heard you helped get me the cure"

"Not a cure" Arthur corrected "a viral suppressor, you probably still have the virus inside you it's just not active right now"

"What?" She asked, her voice worried

"Yeah I wouldn't go bleeding on someone any time soon if I were you" He said and snorted "At least it seems you were somewhat resistant to the virus and we got to you soon enough so there shouldn't be much trouble"

He took some kind of petty satisfaction by bullying the young woman, it was even somewhat true from what he remembered from the game's plot.

"Don't worry" he sighed when he saw her face filled with fear, it just wasn't fun anymore "We used the vial soon enough you won't become one of these things"

Valentine seemed to take a deep breath and center herself before she looked his way, he followed her gaze to notice he had been scratching his arm again, meeting his eyes she asked "What about you?"

"I'm not planning on getting out of this city" Arthur confessed with a strained smile "The vial only brought me a little more time I think"

Arthur had spent some time thinking about things and come to quite a few conclusions, first he wanted to live, having died once didn't make it any better he still feared the pain, the isolation and lack of sensation he had felt in death and he had the very unpleasant realization he would cross quite a few lines and do just about anything to survive if he hadn't meet Rob.

At the same time he realized that, being promised a third chance when he died, he just couldn't justify risking an evolved virus getting out into this world, despite the pain and the fear, death just wasn't as threatening when he knew for a fact it wouldn't be the end.

"Shit I'm sorry" Valentine said after a while.

"Don't worry I've came to terms with it" He told her and attempted to mess with her hair but she almost jumped away from his touch, he laughed "Come on let's get out of here, we have an helicopter to catch"

In the end Arthur decided to give Valentine all his best guns only keeping a 22. for himself, not only did she have the training necessary to use them, she didn't have a sobrenatural inability to hit anything more than 3 meters away from her.

As they made their way towards the extraction point Arthur found himself becoming more talkative, having accepted his fate he decided there was no need to keep his meta knowledge hidden anymore.

"You know I don't think this is gonna work" he told the group as he carried jason on his arms "I think the genie is out of the bag now everyone is gonna want a piece of it"

"The government wouldn't let this thing get out" Valentine disagreed "they're planning to nuke the city to get rid of the virus for god's sake!"

Arthur just laughed out loud before receiving a kick to the shin from Sophia and Jason was trying to cover his mouth "Come on Valentine don't be naive this virus can be incredibly useful and that means it can be incredibly profitable, I'm not even sure if they aren't right to study it"

"You're saying they were right to do… this" Valentine asked with incredulity and he shook his head.

"Did you know that just about everyone who developed the x-ray machine died from cancer and yet, nowadays there's one in every hospital?" Arthur made his point "they're mostly safe and save a lot of lives"

"You've got to be kidding me!" Valentine started raising her voice but he didn't stop

"Come on, they weren't ready to use this thing here but in fifty years? a hundred?"

"So you want them to create super soldiers?"

"Well that's the obvious use but some of those mutations can regenerate a lot, what if they could regrow limbs or allow the blind to see?" Arthur argued "they clearly need to get rid of the side effects but it has great medical use when they do, more than that, imagine a future where getting hit by a car isn't deadly but an inconvenience, where a child falling down the stairs or even a window would just leave a bruise and not kill them"

"It's too dangerous, they'd never do it" She said but even he knew she wasn't convinced.

"Ha and when did danger stop anyone from doing things" he almost started laughing again "Besides nuclear weapons can end the world they don't need a zombie virus"

At that Valentine decided to stop arguing and they made it to the park before starting circling it towards the river in quiet contemplation, it was Sophia that broke the silence "You really think they are going to continue using this thing?"

"They don't have much choice now really" Arthur considered his answer, he hadn't played all the games or read any of the extra lore but he could make an informed guess from what he knew "Umbrella probably has the virus in other facilities, the government must have gotten some samples from this place and any other medical companies who wanted a piece of the pie, and terrorist organizations, and anyone who thinks they can make money from this thing"

"Did you have to tell them that?" Valentine protested and Arthur realized the kids probably didn't want to hear about how everything wasn't going to be alright.

"Ah… forget what I just said" he backtracked "they're gonna blow up all the bad things and everything's gonna be fine… forever"

Everyone looked his way strangely but he chose to ignore them and act as if everything was fine even if he had the sudden desire to throw the child on his arms aside and kill both girls before eating their entrails.

Forcing himself to stop scratching his arm he wiped the blood on his nails on his own pants and focused back on watching out for more zombies and mutated monsters as they made their way across the river towards the disposal plant, then the radio started working again.

"So you made it little girl, it seems I really underestimated you" came the voice of a man with a heavy russian accent.

"Nikolai, how did you get this frequency?" Asked Valentine while gritting her teeth and motioning them all to get down.

"Come now girl, you didn't think that poor fool escaped by himself did you"

Arthur dropped Jason on the ground and pushed him behind himself while searching around. The asshole may have been speaking on a radio to gloat but these kinds of guys usually wanted to see the reaction of their victims.

"What did you do with Carlos you bastard!?" she whispered under her breath but decided not to answer directly.

"Not gonna say anything girl? How petty" came the mocking voice before turning a little more serious "You know at first I was just gonna put a bullet through your head but my employees decided they want more detailed analysis of the bioweapon's abilities and you are a surprisingly effective opponent. I always make my clients happy, farewell girl"

Pure reflex caused him to react when he heard the sharp noise of an approaching object, releasing his weapon he grabbed Jason by the arm and threw them both aside to hide behind an abandoned car, the boy started screaming like a banshee but soon his voice was muffled by the huge explosion and impact.

The rocket hit just ahead of where they had just been sending a wave of fire and shrapnell everywhere, Arthur felt a huge pain on his right arm, then his back hit the street driving the air out of his lungs and bouncing him head first into a street lamp, Arthur lost consciousness immediately.

Waking up to the wet noise of eating Arthur lifted his head from and moaned in pain before managing to look around, just ahead of him were too human zombies consuming the body of a small child, they laid on all fours over his body and used their mouths to rip into his belly with eagerness, from the left a third zombie grabbed his leg and bit down on his side waking him up fully.

With a roar of rage Arthur grabbed the shotgun still hanging from its strap and brained the zombie with all his strength driving it away from his belly, then he hit him again and again until its head was completely crushed.

Pulling himself up he noticed his right arm wasn't responding but he managed to get his left hand on the trigger and shot at the two remaining zombies who had turned his way only stopping when his weapon clicked empty.

He jumped the dead remains and started beating them with his bare hand, how dare they, he had managed to save exactly two people even after all the pain and fear and those motherfucking things had killed one of them, Arthur just saw red.

Eventually another zombie tried to grab his shoulder with its broken fingers and he was forced to retreat from the desecrated corpses and run, stumbling and cursing all the way until he got far enough to take a breath.

Looking down at his unresponsive right arm he saw it was barely hanging from his shoulder, covered in burns and metallic shrapnel, his entire right side was filled with pieces of metal blown up by the rocket but he could already see the wounds healing over the metal pieces.

Even after his adrenaline rush stopped he still could barely feel the wounds, in fact all he could feel was rage at the futility of his efforts and hunger.

Pushing himself away from the wall Arthur started to make his way towards the helipad on the building in front of him, he could barely think straight or remember why he had to go there but he still kept moving there was an asshole to kill.

Slowly Arthur gained speed as he stopped limping then his right arm stopped getting dragged behind and became heavier, stronger, better, looking down he saw exposed muscle pulsation as it swelled and broke through the skin on his arm, the muscle had grown from both ends of his arm and joined them back making his right arm three times its original size and almost touching the ground.

Eventually zombies just started ignoring him but he still bashed their heads in with his arm, it felt good to crush their skulls, it felt familiar, after arriving he heard the constant sound of shooting and even an explosion or two and briefly considered following the noise but no, he had a goal, get to the helipad, kill Nikolai.

As he started to climb the building he considered how he would know who was Nikolai but then decided he would just kill everyone on the helipad, one of them was bound to be Nikolai.

Dragging himself into the helipad he looked around and found a tall man standing over a body and looking at a tablet, as he finished pushing himself up the man turned his way and cursed before lifting a weapon and opening fire.

Arthur felt the bullets hitting his chest like punches splashing blood all over his shirt, he knew if one of those bullets pierced his head or a vital organ he couldn't kill Nikolai so he put his oversized arm in front of himself and charged the man.

Nikolai was an expert dodging aside with contemptuous ease and unloading a full clip into Arthur's back, he could feel his muscles shift and heal over the holes and he released an enraged roar, grabbing at the ground his claws punched into the metal and he swung himself around before ripping a piece of the platform and throwing it into the man, then he exploded again fire and shrapnell peppering his face and chest from a thrown grenade, it only made him angrier.

"Damn aren't you an impressive specimen" The man said as he pulled out a bigger weapon and started retreating "A pity you didn't appear earlier, it would have made for expensive combat data"

Arthur was almost mad with rage but he still had enough mind to block his head when the man shot at him twice leaving two glowing red lights glued to his huge hand, then they exploded again blowing up his entire hand up to his elbow and he finally felt pain once again.

To his side the corpse started moving again and he considering finishing it off, he could be Nikolai but decided to deal with the immediate threat first, throwing himself aside he dodged a third explosive light and hid behind a huge metal thing, using his good hand he climbed up its side and waited as his missing hand started healing, it didn't heal right becoming a long tentacle but he could use it.

Jumping over the metal thing he tried to kill the man with his new limb but he rolled aside and managed to shot him twice while he was in the air, grabbing one of the red lights he ripped it out of his chest and threw it back at the man with all his strength.

"You little… why don't you just die!" screamed the man and then both lights exploded, one destroying his left leg and the other sending the man flying and making him lose his main weapon.

With another roar Arthur used all his three limbs to charge the man again but he had already recovered and started aiming for his head taking out one of his eyes, the man hit him so many times he became disoriented and stumbled, at which point another grenade destroyed his new limb again.

With only two limbs and in terrible pain Arthur's rage finally started to fade and give way to fear, on instinct he covered his head with his remaining arm and turned his back to the man as another wave of bullets pierced his skin, he was going to die, he was going to die again and everything would be useless.

"Nikolai!" came the female voice as a woman burst out of a door on on the roof of the building causing the wave of bullets to end.

"You're still alive, such persistence!" the man laughed… no Nikolai laughed as he turned around and finished unloading his weapon towards the newcomer before reloading it.

Arthur stopped, this was Nikolai, he answered to the name he must be Nikolai, he was so close and he would fail now? He refused!

"I'll deal with you in a moment girl just wait" said Nikolai before unloading another clip on Arthur's back until the helipad was filled with blood.

Knowing the man was too far away and feeling too weak to fully regenerate his missing limbs Arthur just relaxed his body, he stopped struggling and held his breath, a few gunshots came from the place the woman had appeared from and Nikolai returned fire before shooting Arthur with a couple more bullets.

"Careful, you don't want to hit your friend do you" Nikolai screamed and started retreating towards the very wounded body laying on the ground "Say hello to our young friend Carlos"

Moving as little as he could Arthur turned his head and managed to look at Nikolai, the man seemed tired but he was still being careful, he had finally turned his back to him but was still taking quick glances at his body while lifting the wounded man up and putting a handgun against his head.

"Drop the gun Nikolai!" Screamed the woman as she climbed the last few stairs to the helipad "It's over"

"You're right it's over girl you're out of time you can accept it with dignity or die with regret!" Nikolai answered and ducked behind his hostage "We both know you're not gonna shot him"

"Take the shot chika" The hostage managed to get out and Arthur stopped paying attention.

Opening his single eye left he kept watching for a few seconds more but Nikolai seemed fully distracted. gathering himself Arthur attacked, he used everything he had and managed to push himself close enough to make one mighty pounce digging his claw into Nikolai's back and twisting him aside before biting down on his exposed neck.

Nikolai still shot him in the head six times but he trashed his head and ripped out his throat before smashing his skull up with a hammer blow then digging into his belly with his teeth feasting on his enemy, even ignoring the new bullets hitting his body.

Gorging himself on his prey's body he relaxed, letting himself go, he didn't need to think so much anymore, he didn't need to hurt, letting instinct take over he turned towards the next prey and smiled showing all his teeth, with a little food on his belly he was already feeling better.

Using the body of his prey he threw it at his next prey sending the wounded and tired couple sprawling before jumping them pinning the woman below his body and trying to tear her open to get at the juicy insides.

A huge blow to his head caused him to fall to his side while his skull healed for a few seconds then he turned and roared at the small prey aiming at him with a weapon.

"Arthur?" came the trembling voice and he froze, he knew that name.

He didn't want to but he made an effort to remember, he was supposed to protect the small prey, stumbling away from the prey he grabbed at his aching head and roared again, in a rage he grabbed the dead prey by the leg and smashed it back into the ground twice before throwing the remains away, then he retreated from the prey that wasn't prey even if it smelled good.

"Arthur!" screamed the little prey as she dropped her weapon and tried to approach him.

"Sophia no!" Screamed the female prey as she grabbed the little prey by the waist and dragged her away towards the metal box, the little prey struggled and cried but quieted down as he started dragging himself towards them slowly keeping all three in his field of vision "Shit, come on Carlos we have to get out of here now!"

As all three prey retreated, their fear triggered his instincts and he almost attacked them again but stopped when they managed to enter the metal box, getting up on his almost fully regenerated leg he locked eyes with all three and kept staring even as the metal box lifted from the floor and flew away, he stared until the box disappeared from his vision and even longer before turning towards the remains of the Nikolai and considering… he was still hungry.

He was almost finished eating it all when a bright flash of light filled his vision and his pain was finally gone.