Resident Evil: Waking Death Chapter 25, a resident evil fanfic

Resident Evil REwritten

A New Nightmare

" " -Spoken

' ' -Thought

( ) -Commentary. The smartass remarks that could be heard from the back of my head. For comic relief, and personal opinions. They're usually too snarky to be said aloud.

Welcome to the world of Resident Evil. Good luck and godspeed, you stupid, suicidal motherfuckers.

~~Badadumdunbum~~

Ever wake up from a dream, and vaguely remember said dream when its events occur in reality?

You know, that feeling of Deja Vu?

~~Badadumdunbum~~

#25 Cognitive Dissonance

~~Badadumdunbum~~

*Roy*

[All Eyes on You, by Smash Into Pieces]

While dumb and dumber were busy cleaning themselves up, I was taking the time to check my gear and look myself over for injury, finding a number of dully aching bruises, scrapes, and cuts. Nothing for the bruises, but the scrapes on my arms began to throb something awful once I'd found them, still dripping blood through my shredded sleeves. I tore the sleeves off above the elbow, reaching into my pack for a first aid spray. Impressive things, nothing like the ones in reality; almost like a spray-on skin graft with a local anesthetic, works instantly.

Adrenaline is a hell of a thing... Injuries can be a bit numb for awhile, until your mind has the time to consciously recognize them. Seen plenty of men hit the ground from bloodloss after a knife fight, unable to comprehend how much they were losing.

Rage is a hell of an anesthetic...

Can't remember where I heard that. I should, it's something I held dear to my heart, something that had meaning far beyond the source material. But those memories are-

Are... Where are they?! I can't remember.

A man, a soldier- No, a mercenary in yellow armor, with a scarred face. Yes, that's it.

But- But where did he say it? A bridge...

This isn't right, my memories aren't lining up. I'm forgetting something, something important, somehow connected to the memories of that man.

But what, and how? This is just more of this existential bullshit I hate dealing with, inconsistencies that should not exist. It feels like someone's fucking with my head-

As that thought manifested, the door to the STARS office opened, dumb and dumber both waltzing out with dopey-looking grins. For some reason, this irritated me far more than it should... Mostly because it reminded me of myself and Sa-

NO.

Just as that pandora's box of memories began to creak open, I slammed it shut. I can't afford to get all misty-eyed right now. Gotta focus, gotta kill something.

"Gimme a rundown of the gear you two rounded up, and while you're at it, wipe the stupid looks off your faces 'fore I slap some sense into ya." I spoke faster than I probably should've, my words coming far harsher than I intended.

Leon winced, visibly flinching like a scolded dog; Claire didn't take it as gracefully, rolling her eyes and hefting a small duffle bag. "Oh, eat me. We found a grenade launcher and some ammo, six rounds of 40mm HE, plus a bag of medical supplies. Maybe four or five boxes of 9mm, several boxes of 5.56, and a load of flashbangs."

I couldn't help myself, the first snarky thought that popped into my head came out of my mouth. "Well, you're the expert on load sizes, exactly how many is a quote-unquote load?"

Claire grit her teeth with a growl and opened her mouth to say something she'd regret when Leon stepped in front of her, attempting to defuse the situation. "Whoa, whoa, easy down. We've got six of them. It's my fault, don't jump her ass over it, man."

Christ, this idiot boy scout reminds me of myself. I hate it, so much. "Whatever, Rookie. But if your dick gets me killed, I swear I'm haunting both of you."

~~Badadumdunbum~~

*Roy*

After that incident, we moved down the hallway and into a small balcony overlooking the main hall with the Unicorn statue; we extracted the medallion and entered the library, clearing out the handful of undead infesting the place. Having done this, we re-entered the main hall...

"Last medallion, finally." Leon had just plucked it from the Lion statue, coming down the stairs at a trot as Roy slotted the first such trinket into the Maiden statue.

With a great rumbling, the statue began to shift and change, revealing a wrought-iron gate beneath it; the last two medallions fully revealed the door, and the darkened secret passage beneath it. "Goddamn. They weren't kidding."

"Uhh, hey guys? We've got a problem," Claire shouted from the computer terminal, checking the cameras. "There's another survivor in here, being chased by that thing! What'd you call it? A Tyrant?"

Ahh, fuckberries. Nothing's ever simple. Roy slapped the second medallion into the statue and spun on his heel, jogging over to the desk to get a look. "Whattaya got, Red?" Having gotten close enough, he brushed her out of his way and glanced at the monitor, seeing-

"REBECCA!" His eyes shot wide as he snatched up the monitor, its plastic casing cracking in his hands. On the screen, the young medic was hauling ass through the second floor of the RPD's East wing, juking and dodging the monster's massive fists, diving down a set of stairs, out of sight. "FUCK!"

The hallway she was entering was a dead end.

Roy dropped the computer and vaulted over the desk, making a beeline for the shutter into the flooded East hallway.

"Roy! Wait!" Leon shouted, hardly crossing the room at a dead sprint before Roy slammed the shutter up and into its housing, flooding the room with the ominous groans of the undead.

[Seeing Red, by State of Mine]

The STARS rookie brought that Warhorse to bear, splattering the walls with zombie grey matter, never stopping, not even slowing his breakneck pace. Leon and Claire had to sprint for all they were worth to catch up, entering the flooded hallway just as Roy collided head-on with a zombie that grappled his weapon.

"ARRRGH! MOVE!" He battered the creature with his fists and feet, finally dropping to the floor with an inhuman snarl, slipping out of his rifle's tangled sling.

In an instant, the rifle was replaced with his SE2 and blade in either hand, and in that moment, something changed.

"OUT! OF! MY! WAAAAY!" Leon's jaw dropped as he watched his friend dance among the dead, for lack of a better word; a whirlwind of steel and death, blood and water and lead flying, perfectly choreographed, from his boot colliding with someone's knee, to his blade slamming home in someone's temple, to his pistol barking less than an inch from someone's skull. With every growled curse, every grunt of agony, another body hit the water.

"Oh my god..." Claire muttered, barely perceptible over the gunfire, dumbstruck by the display of unadulterated violence on display. "I- I've never seen someone move like that before!"

'That is so cool!' Leon thought to himself, hardly able to believe his eyes. It was like something out of a John Woo movie.

Within a span of no more than twenty seconds, over a dozen zombies hit the floor, re-dead. When the last one fell, Roy sprinted further down the hall, slamming a fresh magazine into his weapon and smashing through a set of double-doors on the left-hand side, into the press room.

The pair could barely keep up, rushing into the room right behind him, just in time to watch him smash through the opposite wall. "Holy shit! He's like the goddamn Kool-Aid Man!" Claire screamed, skidding to a stop and rounding the desk as a cacophany of gunfire assaulted her ears.

Roy crashed through the plaster and drywall just as the Tyrant cornered the young medic, crumpled against the wall. Seeing her like that-

'It's not real. It cannot be real. This IS. NOT. REAL.'

But seeing her like that...

'It's real enough!'

The Tyrant spun, but before it could decide how to react, within the span of a single heartbeat, Roy slammed into the creature, attacking the monster with the fervor of a rabid beast, stabbing the Tyrant in every joint within reach, hampering, but not slowing the giant.

It took the bioweapon several swings to connect with him even once, and when its meaty fist finally slammed into Roy, beyond spinning him around, it didn't even phase him. He went with the momentum, and came back around to slam his knife into the giant's gut, clean through its armored coat.

Heart pounding, Roy immediately hopped back, abandoning the well-stuck knife. Another, larger blade appeared in his hand, and he holstered his pistol. For several long moments, the two monsters stared each other down.

And the Tyrant hesitated, like a massive grizzly bear staring down a honey badger. It knew it should be able to kill the smaller creature with little effort... But something about the angry, diminutive little bastard made the giant's testicles shrivel and retreat into his abdomen.

Then, the massive killing machine was in motion again, raising both of its mighty fists high into the air. Just as the giant swung, Roy swiftly sidestepped the blow and launched himself at the giant, slinging himself over its shoulder, hooking his knife around its throat in the process. But instead of simply cutting its throat and rolling away, he spun himself about and grabbed the blade in his other hand, slamming his knees into the Tyrant's back. From this position, he immediately began wrenching the knife deeper into the giant's throat, visciously sawing back and forth, trying his damnedest to tear the giant's head off.

Just as Rebecca thought it was over, the Tyrant managed to get his hands on Roy, and slung him clear across the hall, where he slammed into the block wall with bone-shattering force, even harder than she had been thrown. The giant clawed at its own throat, trying to stem the river of blood pouring forth as Roy rolled over and regained his feet, panting hard and coughing, but seemingly unharmed.

As the pair stared each other down once more, Roy drew another knife, a different one; it was a wicked specimen, viciously curved, with a razor edge. He took it in his left hand, and in his bloodied right, he drew his pistol. His eyes were wide open, entirely focused on the monster in front of him, but something was wrong. His pupils were razor-thin slits, and there was a strange, ethereal crimson glow to his irises.

While Rebecca was contemplating those eyes, Roy moved faster than she'd ever seen before. He raced across the hall in the blink of an eye, launching himself at the injured Tyrant once more, hooking his knife in its neck and swinging himself over its shoulder, opening an even wider smile across its throat. In that instant, as the giant fell to its knees, he pressed that pistol against its head and fired, again and again, until his gun ran dry.

*POW-Fuhl...!*

*Chk-tk!*

When his Beretta finally clicked dry, Roy wrenched his blade from the monster's throat and stepped back, brutally kicking the Tyrant face-first into an ever-expanding pool of its own blood and viscera.

Just then, when he turned back to her, she knew she was looking at a monster. Drenched in blood, he looked every inch a predator... But when he gazed at her with those vermillion eyes, she saw nothing but longing, and fear. The rage and bloodlust had evaporated as soon as they had appeared, but what concerned her was the fear. This man was utterly fearless in the face of certain death, blissfully unaware of his own mortality; he lacked any semblance of remorse in the application of violence, completely without empathy for his enemies-

No, his victims.

But he was genuinely afraid of her. Afraid... Of her?

'Such a curious creature,' She thought as he embraced her, his bloodied hands still shaking.

~~Badadumdunbum~~

*Roy*

It had been a few minutes since they returned to the main hall, but the bloodied STARS rookie was still breathing hard, sweating like he'd just ran four or five miles at a dead sprint.

'It's not real. It can't be real.' But he could feel it, as he wrapped an arm around the young woman looking over his injuries with such a worried look in her beautiful green eyes.

'She shouldn't be here, this- None of this makes any goddamn sense! I've never felt this before! This gnarled, creeping terror twisting in my gut, setting the hair on the back of my neck on-end. The Admin, Joe, he said this wasn't real. So it- It can't be... But how? If this isn't even real, then why do I feel these things? I don't know what's real anymore. ...What is real? What is reality? Is it flesh and bone? Is it some ethereal substance we cannot see, or even comprehend? I remember someone once said that if it can kill you, it's as real as it needs to be. If you can love it... Then it's as real as you make it out to be.'

Out of that resolution, another, even more disturbing thought struck the out of place young man.

'I don't know what's real, anymore... And I do not know if I can trust this Admin.'

Claire eyed him warily as Rebecca fretted over him, looking over his slashed hand and patching him up.

Leon was doing the same, though he was far more obviously curious than wary. "Jesus Christ, man. I've never seen you move like that before."

Roy shrugged tiredly, a sad smile on his face as he reached up to ruffle Rebecca's hair with his good hand. "Yeah, well, people can do stupid shit when someone they care about is in trouble."

She brushed off his hand, trying her best to sound annoyed. Trying is the keyword. "Stupid is right, you big blockhead. That was almost the dumbest thing I've ever seen you do, as bad as the last time we ran into a tyrant." The young medic rubbed his shoulder with a frown. "Shoulder hasn't been giving you trouble?"

He shook his head, still smiling. "Nah, like I told you, that anti-virus worked like a charm. You alright? I thought that thing had hurt you."

Rebecca smiled back at him. "Nope, threw me around, but I feel fine. Guess there's some benefit to the T-virus after all."

Claire looked between the two. "Okay, um, what the hell are you two talking about?"

"We were both infected by the T-virus while invetigating the Arklay mountains and Umbrella labs," Rebecca explained. "In a desperate attempt, Roy had the STARS Alpha team inject us with a prototype anti-virus, along with a blood transfusion from someone immune to the virus. So far, the only side effects we've experienced have been positive. A healing factor, and what seems like increased physical fitness, I think. Feels like I've gotten a lot stronger since then, and injuries that should have taken weeks to heal were completely gone within a day or two. Figures Umbrella would take something that could be a medical miracle, and instead try to turn it into a weapon to sell for profit."

Roy's eyes widened at the blatant exposition, but he said nothing. He tended to forget that his Kitten was a hell of a lot smarter than he is, and just as observant, if not moreso. He did note that she knew only what the other STARS members had told her; they they'd been injected with a prototype anti-virus, not a super-virus activated by the T-virus and Wesker's DNA.

But according to her memory, she had been injected with it, as well.

'Interesting,' He thought, mentally filing that tidbit away.

Rebecca stopped looking over his slashed hand for a moment to run her fingers through his shaggy hair. "Almost as stupid today as you were when you dove headfirst into the Yawn's mouth..."

Our protagonist blinked owlishly. He did not remember doing anything that retarded. He did his best to play off his reaction as a joke. "Did I do that? Think I might've hit my head..."

"You blockhead." The medic giggled at his deadpan tone, glancing back to Leon and Claire. "The Yawn was a giant venemous snake, about the size of a pair of Volkwagon buses back to back. The thing swallowed Richard whole, and the moment we'd killed it, Roy here took it upon himself to pry its maw open to drag him out."

Roy did NOT remember doing anything that ridiculous. Surely shooting the thing enough to kill it would've turned Richie into swiss cheese... Right?

Leon's jaw dropped. "You- You're kidding, right? Right?"

The young medic grinned, patting Roy's shoulder. "Nope! Headfirst, crawled right down its gullet while Jill puked her guts out at the sight, then pulled Richard out kicking and screaming. Dumbass here was shouting about how he would 'never leave a brother behind,' and how he 'refused to lose a man to a goddamn snake.' It was really touching, in a sick and twisted kinda way."

Leon stared at his friend, knowing in his heart he would never look at the man the same way again. That was just disturbing.

*Thoomb... Thoomb-Thoomb!*

All four people in the room flinched at the sound of heavy foot-falls echoing around the room, emanating from the shutter they'd come back in from.

"Ah, fuck! Doesn't anyhting stay dead around here?!" Claire cursed, spinning around and unslinging the M79 from across her back.

As Leon and Rebecca similarly raised their weapons, (Roy noted that Rebecca had her MP5 again... With a Knights suppressor on the end of it) Roy looked down at his hands, at the blood still dripping in time with his heartbeat.

They couldn't kill that thing with the firepower they had; using the 40mm was a gamble, thye only had six rounds, and there was no point, besides. They needed to get the hell out of the city, not waste time here.

[The Old Me, by Memphis May Fire]

"So it has come to this..." Roy closes his eyes for a moment, weighing his options. He bows his head in defeat, a long sigh escaping his lips. "So be it."

He didn't have a means of killing the tyrant. And he couldn't just keep juking and doding it forever, not as he was. He needed an edge... Though he was loathe to do so, he needed to become his old self again, if only for a short while.

Hands slick with his own blood, he reaches up to run his fingers through his hair, slicking it back. This is why he was known as the Red Death.

His eyes snap open, an ethereal crimson glow to his irises; an equally haunted yet terrifying look in his eyes, his features set in a fierce snarl. (Think Gladiolus' expression on the cover of his FF15 DLC)

Roy brings himself back to his feet, cracking his neck and rolling his stiff shoulders. "You three! Head down the tunnel and get out of here. I'll provide a diversion for the Tyrant while you get a head start."

Rebecca's eyes shoot wide as she looks back at him. "What?! No! That thing will-"

His terrifying eyes lock onto hers, the words dying in her throat as he snarled, "We don't have time to debate this!" He wraps a hand around the back of her neck, roughly pulling her to him for a kiss, ending the liplock with the words, "I'll be along shortly. You've got the most experience with Umbrella's monsters, I need you to keep those two safe, Kitten. Now GO!"