The Mad Dog Falls

New chapter is live.

Settle in, take your time, and let's see what waits in the dark 🖤

✦

Sawyer's home was part of the warehouse, though it occupied only a small corner of it. The warehouse itself was enormous. It had once been a workshop, or so Adrian had heard, before being abandoned. He did not know the full history. Before he ever arrived in Loplers, Sawyer had already been the cleaner stationed there.

She led the group around to the main entrance, unlocked the heavy padlock, and shoved the doors open. The warehouse interior spread out before them.

Shipping containers of every kind were stacked inside, forming something like a maze. Kelly stiffened and pointed at them.

"Are those all bodies?"

Sawyer did not answer. She only gave Kelly a contemptuous look.

"Some are empty. Some hold cargo belonging to other organizations and are just stored here." Adrian clapped Chris on the shoulder. "What do you think?"

"It will do," Chris said.

"Good. Let's set the stage before that thing catches up."

"What. Are you. Doing. Here?" Sawyer asked from the side.

"Receiving a very troublesome guest." Adrian looked at her. "Now I need you to take Kelly and T-Lilith out of here."

"I. Don't trust you. Not to wreck. My warehouse."

"What is wrong with you? My word is good in Loplers." Adrian frowned. "Listen. Take them out. After tonight, I'll give you a hundred thousand dollars."

He named the price before she could object. At the moment, Adrian did not have anything close to a hundred thousand dollars.

T-Lilith hugged his arm. "T-Lilith wants to stay and help Adrian."

Adrian was about to refuse, but Chris spoke first.

"I think she should stay with us."

Adrian turned, displeasure plain on his face.

"She's safer with us. If Nemesis finds us and doesn't see her, it may switch targets." Chris paused. "And she is a powerful B.O.W. We need her combat strength."

Adrian still wanted to argue. Then he met T-Lilith's stubborn eyes and finally yielded.

"Fine," he said unwillingly.

"She isn't fragile," Chris said. "And I won't let anything happen to her. I promise."

Sawyer stared at Adrian with dead, expressionless eyes. Whatever she was thinking, she kept it to herself. At last, she only said, "Don't. Smash it. Too badly."

Then she left with Kelly.

"Satisfied?" Adrian ruffled T-Lilith's hair a little too roughly, displeasure written all over his face.

T-Lilith answered his irritation with a small, quiet smile.

"Then let's begin." Chris checked each magazine with professional focus. "We'll set a simple trap and try to kill it here."

Adrian shook his head. "Not realistic."

Jill had needed a railgun to finish Nemesis in Raccoon City. Adrian looked around at the containers and wondered where Chris had found the confidence to duel an apex B.O.W. using nothing but footwork and stubbornness.

"Even if we can't kill it, we hold it here until reinforcements arrive," Chris said. "Enough talk. Let's get to work."

Local military vehicles rolled through the streets of Loplers. Soldiers on board used loudspeakers to order citizens to stay indoors. After the brutal earlier fight, local forces had completely abandoned the idea of direct combat with Nemesis. All they could do was wait for support from the BSAA and UN forces.

Gang members split into several groups and followed Nemesis from a safe distance, reporting its position in real time. For the moment, the flames of battle burning through the town seemed to have quieted. Everyone was waiting for the dust to settle.

Nemesis, or rather the B.O.W. codenamed Suitor, carried its minigun and searched for the prize it had been created to retrieve: the new Tyrant-type B.O.W., T-Lilith.

Following the traces left behind, it reached the large warehouse near the district. The iron doors stood open as if waiting for it. With almost no independent will of its own, driven only by command, it walked inside without hesitation.

Rows of shipping containers filled the warehouse. Scattered traces lay on the floor and on top of the containers, dense and hard to distinguish. Suitor did not hesitate. It moved toward the area with the strongest trace concentration, heavy footsteps echoing between the rows.

The containers were packed tightly, with gaps barely wide enough for two people to pass side by side. Its field of view narrowed. Guided by its trace analysis system, it moved through the maze quickly. The traces ahead turned right, so it turned right.

At the corner, its lower leg touched something.

A wire.

A grenade exploded beside it. Heat and shrapnel slammed into Suitor. Caught off guard, the monster staggered.

"Now!" Chris shouted.

T-Lilith, already positioned on top of the containers, shoved with all her strength. An entire container slid from above. Suitor had not regained its balance and could not dodge in time. A mass of tentacles extended from its back, twisting together into a thick support that braced against the falling container.

At that moment, Chris and Adrian stepped into view in front of it and fired into its face.

Suitor failed to hold. The container slipped and crashed down, slamming into its body and pinning it to the floor. As the monster tried to push itself free, Norman walked out with an HK416 and aimed the underslung grenade launcher at its head.

He fired.

The explosion filled the tight space with light and force. The grenade detonated against Suitor's head.

"Doesn't seem that hard," Norman said.

"Did we kill it?" Chris asked, watching the burning container.

Adrian shook his head. "No. It won't be that easy."

"T-Lilith!"

As if proving him right, a bestial roar surged from the flames and echoed through the enclosed warehouse. Even Chris took an involuntary step back.

The burning container slowly lifted. A monster with flames licking across its upper body crawled out from beneath it. The skin across its upper body had split from the heat. Its face looked skeletal, part of its head sheared away into something grotesque. It stood, tore the bent minigun from its arm, and ignored Adrian's group entirely. Instead, it looked up at T-Lilith hiding on top of the containers.

"Run!" Adrian shouted.

T-Lilith turned and ran. The burning Nemesis would not let her go. Several tentacles shot from its back toward her. Adrian raised his rifle and fired in controlled bursts, severing several. The cut tentacles sprayed blood and made wet, shrill sounds as they retreated. Nemesis did not care. It turned, leaped, and went straight for T-Lilith.

"You've got to be kidding me!" Adrian cursed and ran after it.

He could not jump onto the containers. All he could do was follow the noise and estimate where T-Lilith and Suitor were. Chris and Norman followed close behind.

"Watch the tripwires," Chris shouted behind him.

Adrian was past reason. At the next corner, he dropped into a slide and skimmed beneath a wire, making Chris and Norman break into a cold sweat.

The plan had collapsed. They had rigged simple traps with grenades and wires, but now those traps were useless. Worse, they had become obstacles between Adrian and T-Lilith.

Another terrible roar shook the warehouse.

Adrian looked up and saw Nemesis on top of the containers, tearing off the metal plates that protected its body and ripping away the restraints strapped around it. Tentacles burst in and out of its flesh like a riot. Its body swelled violently. Its pants tore under expanding muscle. Its upper body inflated into a grotesque, top-heavy mass. The flame-ruined head split down the middle and opened into a vast mouth full of uneven teeth, tentacles whipping from within like tongues.

Its left arm changed rapidly. Muscle growth tore the skin apart, forming a clawed limb that dragged near the ground. Its other arm seemed to shrink, as if to balance the transformation. A dozen tentacles surged from its back and wrapped around the right arm until it matched the length of the mutated left.

In only a few breaths, the two-meter-plus humanoid B.O.W. had warped into a disgusting creature over three meters tall, swollen, top-heavy, and horribly alive.

"T-Lilith!"

The name came out distorted, almost unrecognizable, from that altered mouth.

This was Suitor's limiter release. Although Suitor used a Tyrant host, its mutation followed a completely different path from a conventional Tyrant's.

Chris stared at the thrashing monster, shock plain on his face. Even Norman had gone pale.

Adrian gritted his teeth and watched the monster bend its legs, then launch itself forward like a predator striking from the water. T-Lilith had already run far ahead, but she could not dodge in time. The mutated Nemesis slammed into her waist and back. Both B.O.W.s crashed down between the containers, causing nearby stacks to collapse over them.

"T-Lilith!"

Adrian ran toward the collapse. The fallen containers were suddenly thrown aside. The ugly monster stood, pushing out from under the wreckage.

As Adrian watched in horror, its tentacle-mutated right arm lifted T-Lilith high. Serpentine tendrils wrapped around her body and locked around her neck. T-Lilith thrashed against the tendrils, tearing at the ones choking her. No matter how many she ripped apart, new ones replaced them immediately.

"You son of a bitch!"

Adrian screamed and opened fire as he charged. Bullets punched bloody holes through Suitor's body, but the monster did not react. His AR-15 ran dry. He dropped it, drew the knife from his waist, jumped, and grabbed the mutated arm. Then he stabbed it again and again in a frenzy.

"Let her go!"

Two tentacles snapped from Nemesis's back and struck Adrian across the chest. He flew backward. Pain tore through his ribs so sharply he nearly could not breathe. Still, he forced himself up and charged again.

His eyes were bloodshot. He jumped, knife raised high, and roared, "Let her go, damn you!"

Then he stopped in midair.

'Why... did I stop? Damn it, I still have to save T-Lilith. She needs me. T-Lilith... T-Lilith? Why are you looking at me like that?'

Following the terror in T-Lilith's eyes, Adrian looked down.

He saw the monster's tentacle.

He saw his own abdomen pierced through.

'Oh. That's all. It's just my stomach. I can still... I can still...'

Adrian coughed up a mouthful of blood. Darkness crowded the edges of his vision. He felt consciousness slipping away. He tried to swing the knife toward the monster's arm, but his grip failed. The blade fell from his hand.

The tentacle threw him hard. Adrian hit the ground like a broken sack. Blood bubbled from his mouth. His hand struggled toward the Glock at his waist. His vision kept dimming. He could see T-Lilith, caught in the monster's grip, tears spilling from her eyes.

'Don't... don't cry. I'm coming. I'll save you.'

He drew the Glock, gritted his teeth, raised it toward the monster's right arm, and fired once.

The world went black.

Somewhere far away, he heard T-Lilith crying. He heard Chris cursing. Adrian still wanted to stand, but warmth was leaving him.

'So this is it. I'm going to die. Damn it... We were supposed to keep walking together. I'm sorry, T-Lilith. I'm sorry.'

✦

✦

✦

Want to keep going?

You can read ahead on my Patreon, with early access, previews, and extra story updates 🔑

https://www.patreon.com/c/EliasVane