Run Through the Alleys

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Chris looked grim.

The local armed forces could not stop that thing. BSAA entry approval would probably come soon, but against a monster of that class, even the BSAA would pay heavily. Many operatives might die.

"Stop watching. Come with me." Adrian clapped Chris on the shoulder. "We stick to narrow alleys as much as possible. That thing's frame is bulky. It might get jammed in tight spaces, and that buys us time."

"It also means we have no cover," Chris said, shaking his head. "All it has to do is stand at the mouth of an alley and sweep us with the minigun. We'd be targets."

"Relax. I know this layout. We won't take long straight alleys. By the time it sets up the gun, we'll already be around the corner."

Chris considered it. There was no better option, so he nodded.

And so Chris Redfield, star combatant of the BSAA, followed Adrian Voss, the local mercenary now known as the Mad Dog of Loplers, while the silver-haired, red-eyed T-Lilith ran with them through the alleys.

Soon the gunfire behind them faded. They stopped in a narrow passage to catch their breath. Chris contacted command again and gave a clear update on the battle, including the monster's armament and behavior.

T-Lilith tugged at Adrian's sleeve.

He turned toward her.

"Scared," she said quietly.

"Don't be. We can handle it." Adrian smiled and touched her hair, then pointed at Chris. "See him? He's an expert at dealing with monsters like that. Very impressive. With him here, we can definitely manage the big guy."

"Really?"

T-Lilith looked at Chris, her red eyes bright with expectation.

"I'll do my best." Chris had wanted to say impossible, but under that hopeful stare, it was the only answer he could force out. His smile looked almost pained.

T-Lilith looked at that expression and whispered to Adrian, loudly enough for Chris to hear, "He doesn't sound very reliable."

Chris's face tightened further.

Then T-Lilith lifted her head.

"It's here."

Every nerve in both men went taut.

"Where?" Adrian asked.

T-Lilith stood completely still. Then she suddenly grabbed Adrian's hand and ran back the way they had come. Chris did not understand what was happening, but he followed by instinct.

A thunderous crash exploded behind them. The wall beside the spot where they had been standing collapsed. Rubble sprayed across the alley as the black-armored Nemesis smashed straight through the masonry and emerged from the rolling dust.

"T-Lilith!"

The monster roared. It turned to chase, but the narrow alley fought against its bulk. After forcing itself forward and scraping sheets of plaster and stone from both walls, it gave up on fitting through cleanly and raised the minigun instead.

"Turn. Turn!" Adrian shouted as he heard the barrels spin up.

T-Lilith pulled him right into another alley. Chris was half a beat slower and dove after them, barely avoiding the stream of bullets biting at his heels.

"What did I say?" Adrian hauled Chris up from the ground. "We keep circling it like this. It can't catch us."

Then he took T-Lilith's hand and ran again.

"You saw it smash through a wall," Chris said from behind them. "And how is it locating us so accurately without line of sight?"

"Blame the unethical researcher who put a tracker in her." Adrian spat to the side. "Kelly must have sold us out."

"Miss Kelly wouldn't."

"Then explain how that monster keeps following us."

As they spoke, Nemesis reached the corner, carving deep grooves into the walls as it moved. Adrian's group had already reached the next intersection.

"Turn. Don't let it get that gun up."

All three dashed left.

"This way is too wide," Chris shouted. "It can follow."

"It's fine. See that low building? We go over it." Adrian looked at T-Lilith. "You first."

T-Lilith accelerated, leaped, and landed directly on the roof. Adrian and Chris sprinted side by side. Behind them, the monster had reached the alley mouth and slowly raised the rocket launcher in its left hand.

"T-Lilith!"

With that deafening roar, the rocket launched.

Adrian and Chris jumped at the same time. T-Lilith caught Adrian with her right hand and Chris with her left, then hauled them both onto the roof. The three tumbled forward and leaped off the other side. A heartbeat later, the rocket struck the building beneath their feet.

The structure erupted in fire, stone, and smoke. Lit by the blast, they crashed into the street in a mess of limbs. Chris rolled and shed most of the impact. Adrian wrapped both arms around T-Lilith, while T-Lilith protected his head with her own arms. The two of them rolled across the road and slammed into a green military transport.

Adrian felt as if his whole body had come apart. With T-Lilith's help, he forced himself up.

The street around them was packed with local soldiers. At least a hundred. Some were in alleys, some on rooftops. Snipers, machine gunners, RPG teams, grenade launchers, transports blocking the major roads, everything was in place.

He even saw a tank.

"That thing is inside. It's coming out." Adrian pointed toward Nemesis and shouted to the nearby soldiers.

At his warning, the local unit moved fast. An officer barked orders while soldiers relayed the target's location over radios.

Within moments, more than a hundred armed men had formed a firing line around the collapsed building.

Heavy footsteps approached through the smoke. Then they stopped.

The street went silent except for breathing and the crackle of flames.

A terrifying roar shattered the stillness. A large piece of burning debris shot out from the smoke toward T-Lilith. Adrian dove and knocked her down. The chunk smashed into the transport behind them hard enough to flip it onto its side.

The monster's silhouette walked through the burning ruins, broke out of the smoke, and stepped into the soldiers' ambush.

"What the hell is that?" The officer had heard the description from soldiers who survived the earlier encounter, but seeing the thing in person still filled his face with shock and fear. The sight of that inhuman monster put every soldier on edge.

"Fire!" the officer roared, forcing down his fear.

The next second, every weapon opened up. Grenades and RPGs burst across Nemesis's body. Heavy machine guns hammered it with metal storms. Snipers placed shot after shot into its ballistic faceplate. Under the concentrated fire, Nemesis actually began to stagger backward.

"We can fight it." Chris raised his gun, ready to join the barrage, but Adrian caught his shoulder.

"We leave."

"Why? We can kill it here." Chris stared at him.

"Trust me. Now. Move."

Adrian shook his head, took T-Lilith's hand with one hand and Chris's arm with the other, and dragged them into the alley behind them.

"Why?" Chris pulled free in the alley, confusion and anger on his face. He waited for an explanation.

"Just keep your eyes open."

Adrian did not explain. He only pointed toward the battlefield, his expression dark.

Chris might not understand, but Adrian did. In every Resident Evil boss fight, monsters like this came in stages. Dressed phase, shirtless phase, grotesque organ phase. William Birkin had practically made a career out of having more forms than anyone wanted to count.

There was no way this upgraded Nemesis would go down after one volley. When the fight entered phase two, those soldiers outside were in trouble.

A piercing scream of metal came from the street. The local tank fired. The shell detonated with a thunderclap and a rising fireball, punching straight through the black exoskeleton. Nemesis sank slowly to one knee and stopped moving.

"Cease fire. Cease fire," the officer shouted.

The barrage stopped at once. The ground around Nemesis had been plowed into craters. The monster knelt in the middle, smoke rising from its body, motionless.

A soldier held his breath and walked forward. He fired twice into Nemesis. No reaction. He took a deep breath, found his courage, stepped closer, raised his rifle, and slammed the butt into Nemesis's head.

Still no response.

The soldier let out the breath he had been holding and waved back at the officer to signal safety.

"OHHHHHHHHHH!"

The soldiers erupted in cheers. The officer exhaled and began reporting to command over the radio. The bold soldier slung his rifle and posed beside the kneeling monster, laughing as a comrade took a photo with his phone.

Chris looked at Adrian.

Adrian's eyes were wide and fixed on the fallen Nemesis.

The soldiers began cleaning the battlefield. The man posing for the picture looked at the photo on his friend's phone, joking as he prepared to leave.

Then he heard something strange behind him.

A blood-red tentacle shot out from a tear in the black exoskeleton. The poor soldier had no time to react. It pierced through his abdomen. He stared in horror at the bloody tentacle protruding from him and screamed.

The entire battlefield froze.

Adrian patted Chris on the shoulder.

"Time to run again."

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