FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

Even with the soothing butter yellow scarf blinding his vision, the sounds of the abandoned subway set his teeth on edge. Roy walked with the softest of steps, not trusting his feet or whatever they would step on. The young boy Michael held him tightly by one hand, while wielding a sturdy colourful flashlight in the other, making sure that he would not be alone as they travelled further into darkness. James walked alongside him, smirking at his enemy's vulnerability, but at the same time also pitying him. Beneath the raging fires and rotting bodies, the subway was colder than they expected it to be, their skin pricking up slightly in anticipation of a coming chill that would never come. Always on the edge of it yet never enough to make one completely shiver. A teasing cold that forever left them unsettled, Roy moreso than anyone else even with his larger frame. But he was shivering from an altogether different cause as he kept on walking, his eyes blindly searching all over the place for some potent sign of freedom from this dark nightmare. "Are we there yet?!" said Roy nervously. "Nooot yet," said Michael. "We still gotta find that side tunnel, I'll know it when I see it." "How can you tell?!" "I been here before, I still remember the field trip! Don't worry, you'll be okay!" "B-but whut if we passed it, whut if it wuz too dark to see anythin'?!" "Um, I have a flashlight, duhhh!" "You do? ...well...uh...a-alrigh' then, just never seen ya with one before." "Well it's still bright outside! ...or was, it's night time now." "You uh...you sure about this service tunnel Michael?" "Roy, it's cool, don't worry!" "Ah ain't worryin'!" "You sure?" said FG. "You're nervous as hell man, you keep looking everywhere like something's about to jump out at us." "D-DON'T SAY THAT, DAMMIT! Wh-whut...whut if-" "Oooooh no a spooky train conductor's gonna come out for your tickeeeeeeet, ooooooooh!" "S-STOP IT!" "FG, don't bully him!" said Michael sternly. "That's mean, and you're not a nice friend if you're mean!" "I'm not HIS friend, I'm yours." "Well if you act mean to someone then I won't be your friend." "...alright. I'm sorry Roy."

With a nod of gratitude from both Michael and him, the three kept on walking through the long dark tunnels beneath Raccoon City. Roy kept himself on edge, constantly flitting his head around him with every breeze that came through the passageways, their whistling howls further amplified by what remained of the tunnel's acoustics. They sounded warped, frightened even of the circumstances. Occasionally they saw rats running to and fro between small passageways, chittering to themselves which Roy picked up on. As they started to pass more frequently, he began to turn more agitated than before. "H-huh?!" "What?" asked FG. "Ah heard sumbody." "That's just the rats." "N-nah ah thought...oh...heh, righ'." "I wonder how they survived all this." "Ah don' think they did." "Why not?" "They're sick. Ah can hear 'em, thuh way they speak, cryin' out, beggin' fer a cure." "...you can...hear them? What are you, some kind of rat doctor?" "Ah just know how they feel...don't take a genius to figure out when they feel sick...frightened...lost, alone. They don't understand how it happened, yet they know they're responsible fer all this. ...they never knew whut they would create, whut kind of apocalypse they befell unto mankind. ...it wuzn't their fault." "Roy?" "There wuz a man," he murmured, "he wuz experimentin' on sumthin', down in an underground lab. One group saw it, a human in white, mixin' sumthin' in a tube. Sum other men came in, huge, heavy an' all in black armour with terrifyin' faces that breathed deep, like monsters with large hollow eyes like an owl. One of 'em fired, too panicky...strange-smellin' water went everywhere...down into thuh sewers." "Dude, what the hell are you-" "Thuh rats didn't know...they didn't know...ah can hear 'em, all of 'em cryin' out, they don't know whut happened, they're beggin'...ah can hear 'em screamin', dozens of 'em in agony, thuh poison water runnin' through their veins. Families ripped apart, turned into creatures that would turn an' bite each other to death, females an' kids...h-hoh god..." Roy slowly slipped away towards one of the tunnel's walls and struggled to hold himself against it. He held Michael's hand barely as they waited, seeing the tall black raptor twitch with a sudden fear and horror turning all too real unto him. He grabbed at his head, trying to cover his ears as the sounds of the rats came from far away, all throughout the subway system as his voice began to crack with tears. "Ahm sorry....ahm s-sorry...ah can't help you...ah can't...please, it weren't your fault, it wuzn't your fault! Please...s-stop screamin'!" "Roy, jesus what's wrong?!" "They don't stop screamin'! They won't stop, can't ya hear them!? You hear those rats!?" "Well yeah but-" "They're beggin' fer help, but ah can't do nuthin', ah dunno how to cure 'em! But they won't! Stop! SCREAMING!"

As he grabbed at his head, he inadvertently pulled off his blindfold by accident, soon revealing the empty black abyss of a long railway tunnel out before him. His fears suddenly went into full effect, stumbling back before he turned on his heels too fast, and fell forwards over the steel rail tracks. "NO! N-NO! NO, IT'S COMIN'! IT'S COMIN' AFTER ME!" "ROY, CALM DOWN!" cried out FG. "MICHAEL! MICHAEL WHERE ARE YOU!?" "I'M HERE ROY!" said the boy, "IT'S OKAY!" "H-help me...hoh god help me...WHO'S THERE!?" A sudden touch upon his left leg from a passing rodent made him flinch and pull back further. The flashlight Michael wielded glanced straight towards his direction, as his mind twisted it into something all the more horrifying. The screams that only he could hear, combined with the blinding light created only one possible conclusion in his frayed mental state. "...no...no, no that can't be, y-you said they were empty, you said nobody wuz comin' through here anymore!" "Roy, don't move, it's okay!" "NO! YOU LIED TO ME, IT'S COMIN' AFTER ME!" He turned and ran as fast as he could down one side tunnel, his panicked voice echoing down through the dark empty corridors as he ran off into darkened corners. His ears kept hearing the scrabbling sounds of rats all around him, as well as frightened screams, loud and clear to him all too well. A light shined on him now and again as the others chased after him, but this only further gave him speed to his heels, his fear giving him wings. "GET AWAY FROM ME! G-GET THUH FUCK AWAY! I DON' WANNA DIE! PLEEEASE!" All he could hear was the voices of his friends calling out to him, echoing far far away as the tunnel warped their voices into the most deceptive of echoes. The cries of the rats from around him only further frightened him, screeching as a choir of the damned that only he could ever hear. Soon he saw something different amongst the darkness. A light shining from the end of the tunnel. But not the harsh glaring shriek of a train that he always feared. It was another light, a warmer light. The world outside welcomed him with open arms as he desperately ran further. "HELP ME! SOMEONE HELP MEEEEEEEE!" Bursting forth through the veil of darkness that had trapped him so inside the tunnel, the black raptor scrabbled up along a hill, an embankment that overlooked the train tracks outside of Raccoon City. He sat down upon the cool grass, panting heavily as he huddled his knees close, struggling not to break down with his tears. The screams were now gone. His mind finally could focus once more as he looked down on his left hand, the two rings glinting pale within the moonless night.

"...you...f-f-fucking old man, you didn't think this would happen did you? DIDN'T YOU!?" In a fit of rage he tried to pull off the white ring, grunting as he found it impossibly tight on his black clawed finger. "Couldn't have...found a way to...take it off-DAMMIT! GOD DAMMIT, GET OFF THIS FUCKING RING! Ah just wanted to help everyone, whut's the fuckin' point of this thing if ah hear all of 'em, an' ah can't DO ANYTHING TO HELP 'EM!?!? GOD DAMMIT FUCKIN' PIECE OF SHIT COME ON!" "ROY!" He was broken from his fit of rage by hearing the voice of FG from downhill. Clarity broke through briefly as he slowly walked down towards them, his steps shameful and tender as his claws softly tap at each other. "...hey." "Hey. You uh...you okay there?" "Fine. ...sorry." "Heh." "Just...i-i-it all got to me...ah felt all weak then ah...ah fell an' saw thuh flashlight in mah eyes an' thought it wuz...thought it wuz a-" "It's okay don't worry," said Michael. "You were scared like we were scared for you. You shouldn't run off like that, I got real worried about you!" "Ah know ahm...ahm sorry Michael. Wait is this...this thuh place we had to be?" "Yep, sure is! Good thing you ran down the right tunnel hehee!" "...huh...how 'bout that. Well uh, where to now?" "We gotta find Griffin Road, so let's look fer a road!" "There's a high spot up here, lemme go take a look." Roy climbed back up the hill after trying to shake off his shame, trudging up along the embankment as he looked all around the area. The city was far to the south of them, burning away in its own funeral pyre of disease and crumbling roads. The screams of the human populace were now fainter than they were before, but Roy put it down to just being now further away from them. Turning towards the northeast, he managed to spot something that was rather unusual. A large group of people, huddling around a large freight train down along the railroad tracks. "AH SEE 'EM! AH SEE 'EM!" "WHAT?!" said FG. "PEOPLE, DOWN THAT WAY ALONG THE RAILROAD TRACKS, WHOLE BUNCH OF 'EM!" "THAT MUST BE THEM!" said Michael excitably. "COME ON, LET'S GO!" With all three of them running off together, Roy, James and Michael dashed forwards along the railroad tracks, hoping that it would finally be the end of the road out of this city. The moment they saw a group of civilians all waiting around an old iron freight train, resting outside of an old disused train stop with a few pylons wrapped in scaffolding nearby, excitement ran through them all. "H-hey who's that?!" "Is that a monster?!" "NO wait, that's a little kid!" "HEY, I recognise those two! That's the circus guys back from the school!" "THEY MADE IT! THEY FUCKING MADE IT!"

A rousing cheer greeted them at last, as they soon noticed the survivors from the bus standing amongst the group of survivors, a mixed group of desperate forsaken people. They numbered at least a hundred, all of whom were either low-level Umbrella employees or relatives of such who were waiting for other survivors to come back to them. The Asian truck driver Dave was the first to greet them properly, bringing out a large hand to shake Roy's with as the crowd gathered around the strange newcomers, beneath the darkened skies of an autumn evening. "Damn you guys made it!" "Yeah," said Roy, "sure did...not without sum trouble but we made it." "Can't believe all you've done for us. Listen, from all of us you got out, we wanna thank you for everything. Wasn't for you, we'd be stuck in that damn city with that asshole cop trying to use us still." "Heh, righ'...everyone okay?" "All of us from the bus made it yeah, it's parked on the road up there beside the railway." "Is my mom an' dad here?!" asked Michael excitably. "Huh? OH, well uh, what's yer name kid?" "Michael! Michael Ipkiss!" "HEY! ANYONE HERE LOOKIN' FER A MICHAEL IPKISS!? MICHAEL! IPKISS, ANYONE HERE?!" "Michael?!" A voice came from the far back, as the crowd soon parted to reveal two adults in particular. A woman of long brown hair with a black top, and her husband of blonde hair wearing a blue suit with jeans. Michael almost felt his knees turn weak at who they were, as they felt the same in turn at recognising him. "...m-...m-m-...MOM! DAD!" He ran through the crowd and leapt into his parents' arms, their tears flowing with shock and joy at the reunion. Both of them clutched him desperately, not wanting to think of anything else, not even think that this could all be a cruel dream as their hands wrapped around their son. The crowd said nothing, merely watching respectfully as Mrs. Ipkiss said: "...I...I-i...hoh Michael...h-hoh! Oh my baby, I knew you'd come through I knew you would!" "I can't believe," said Michael's father, "I can't...I...I'd have done anything to have you here son, I...I'm sorry Michael. I did everything I could to try and get you out with us but-" "It's okay," said Michael, "I...I knew you'd wait fer me...I knew you...you...would never leave me." "How...how did you survive all this?" "...they helped me." He pointed towards both raptors, who began to look away with a mixture of regret and envy for the happy family. Both parents stood up, walking slowly towards them with both awe and gratitude for them. James turned nervous, while Roy stood firmly as possible as if about to be knighted as the boy's mother said: "Who...are you two?" "Mah name is Roy MacGregor. ...ahm from a circus group that wuz gonna be in town. This is...mah partner, James Campbell." "...thank you. Whoever you are, thank you so much for keeping my son safe." "...if you wanna thank sumbody, thank him."

He motioned his head towards FG who looked at him with surprise. "He wuz thuh one that found yer boy, saved him dozens of times practically...he wuz also thuh one that risked his life to go back an' save yer son from bein' held hostage back at his own school...ah wuz just taggin' alon' fer thuh ride to help out." "I...see. Thank you...James." "N-no problem," said FG. "I...I hope we can put all this behind us. I'm glad we were all able to make it." "We are too," said Mr. Ipkiss. "I can't believe all this happened from the very company we worked for, none of us even knew about what they were doing behind closed doors." "Yeah, Michael said you guys worked in reception right?" "We just handled the front desk, we never knew. I think most of us here never knew what happened, highest clearance we got here is this guy here who's our leader." "Jonathan Holstein," said a grey-haired man in white clothes. "I'm the one who lead the first group here." "But now...we're all here. Well...some of us. We'll be leaving in one hour and that's it. I just hope that...more families will be reunited like the ones you brought back, both of you." "It's alright," said James, "please, we're just glad that we could all get out of here all safe and sound. Nobody infected?" "No," said Mrs. Ipkiss, "nothing. We were very careful about that sort of thing, all of us will be safe from here on out." "Good. Well, how do you guys all plan on getting out then?" "We found this train yesterday," said Jonathan, "part of a surveillance group that I originally sent out for pH soil in one of our lowest-grade experiments had found it nearby and notified me of it. When I planned to evacuate everyone I told them about it, but we never told the people higher-up because their own plans were in effect. I don't know much of what happened, but from the way the reports shut down from the upper-levels I chose not to ask and just run with everyone else." "That wuz a very wise decision," said MG, "no tellin' whut they might have done." "In any case, our lives are in debt to you two for bringing back more of us. We cannot thank you enough for being able to reunite at least some of our people." "No problem. You need anymore help with this thing?" "We managed to fix it up mostly, it's practically up and running and all it needs is a good start of ignition. We'll wait one hour more for any last survivors and then leave. ...would you...like to come with us?" Both James and Roy looked at each other, knowing that they could not as they had their own score to settle. He looked at MG regretfully, as he in turn looked at FG with stern cold duty before replying: "...we appreciate thuh offer, but we got our own thing left to do." "Oh?" "Yeah," said FG, "we gotta...find the rest of our people and get out of here soon. We know where we're going next after this." "I see. Well then, I-" "B-but wait!"

Michael broke free from his parents to grab at FG's hand. "You'll be safe with us! You'll be safe forever, we'll be okay! We're all gonna be okay!" "I know Michael. But these are not our people, we have other places to be." "But...why?! You helped me, I wanna help you!" "I know...listen." The raptor bent down with a peaceful look. "All I wanted was to get you out safely. Now that you're safe, I can find my own way out of here. And I know it makes more sense to go with you guys somewhere safe, but that's not where I wanna go. I have to find my own way out of here, somewhere further on from here. I hope you understand." "I...I don't, I don't understand." "I know it's...weird, and I can't explain it. ...let's just say that I have to find my own way home." He gently bent his head down towards Michael's ear to murmur: "Raptors have to hunt their own paths." With such strange words, the boy tried to look as if he understood, simply hugging FG with arms around his neck before doing the same with Roy as he bent down to hug him. As he stepped back from both raptors, Michael asked softly: "Can you...stay with us until we leave?" "Of course," said FG, "I was planning on seeing you off already." With a smile coming back to his tear-streaked face, the boy walked off with his parents as both FG and MG joined them, relating the more pleasant parts of their adventures within Raccoon City. They also assisted in the loading of provisions on board the train, as well as not try to freak out any of the other few survivors that would soon join them in turn. Now and again there came a last straggler of a group, a tearfelt reunion and deep gratitudes towards some deity above. Yet all the while they waited, James knew that he had a score to settle with MG. He tried to take his mind off it, but he knew that the moment the train full of survivors would depart, he would be alone with his new enemy. A deep regret came soon from his heart, of wanting to reconcile or put behind past differences of a crime he had never committed. But the look in Roy's eyes gave him no mercy. He was going to make certain that FG would never leave this world alive. But around 7:40pm, on the eve of the quarantine of Raccoon City, there came an even greater problem than their own selves. A rumbling noise that came from the city, pounding from the streets and out through into the suburbs. Everyone started to notice it, feeling as if an earthquake had just begun. At first they were just as frightened as any mortal creature would be of such strange tremors. Then came the roar. That monstrous roar that both James and Roy had heard before. "...was that-" "Yes." "...what the hell is it?" "...ah get thuh feelin' we're about to find out."

Something began to charge from the road up above, stomping along the embankment. The closer it came, the more powerful its steps, shuddering throughout the ground with an earth-shattering force. Suddenly, the sound of crunching steel rang loud and clear throughout the deadened night, as a huge shadow leered above them. It was the bus, rolling through the air with a scarred crushing blow to the side of it as it slammed into an electrical pylon. Sparks fizzed uselessly throughout the air as it fell with a groan of metallic agony, the skeletal steel structure crashing down upon itself in the field nearby. From above, they saw an all-new horror come roaring from above. Framed within the moonless night, high above the traintracks themselves staring down upon them, was a gigantic grey body covered in oozing green and red wounds. Huge flapping ears torn and ragged with strips of red. Eyes piercingly bloodshot between darkened tusks mutated into jagged aberrations. Bullet wounds and mutated scars covered its entire body, flesh torn to expose the sickening wounds dead inside of the monster's corpse. The raptors couldn't believe it. The train inhabitants couldn't believe it either as screams came from the crowd, the monstrous aberration roaring high above them all, its huge slender snout tapering high above like a vile tentacle riddled with disease and rotting flesh as it readied to charge at the train. "...Roy?" "Yeah?" "...we heard that in the zoo didn't we?" "Yes...yes we did. Matthieu wuz righ'." "What?" "There wuz a zombie elephant after all. Oscar." "...god...dammit. That...is...fucking bullshit." Letting his rage overshadow his fear, James drew forth his blades and readied himself for a battle. "I am not letting this shit slide, we are almost at the end and THIS shit happens now?! No. Not when we're so fucking close." "Wh-...you gonna figh' that thing?!" "Why, you worried I'll die?! After what you've planned for me after all this?!" "But-dammit FG that fucker's HUGE, it's a goddamn elephant!" "I KNOW WHAT IT FUCKING IS! But either we do this, or everyone on that train dies and we came through this city for NOTHING!" "...yer right." Shaking his head clear of instinctive fear, Roy drew out his own blade and readied himself in turn. "Ain' no other way it's gonna go down." "Right, let's do this!" Before the monstrous elephant could properly begin its assault upon the screaming passengers piling into the train for safety, the raptors rushed forwards and readily began to distract it. They almost balked at the realisation this was a 13-feet tall undead pachyderm, with all the strength it had when alive combined with the unrelenting resistance to pain in death. James had to will himself to shout: "HEY! YOU!" The creature groaned as it looked down at the lizards beneath it, both of which had pulled out their handguns and immediately began firing at its face. The monster roared and turned towards them with evil eyes. "YEAH, COME 'ERE FUCKFACE, COME ON!" "YOU WANNA FUCK WITH US DUMBO?!" taunted Roy. "WELL COME ON LET'S DO THIS!"

Moving away from the train itself, the raptors lured Oscar away as it stampeded towards them, heading around the train and across the tracks as they both dodge-rolled towards opposite sides. The beast was certainly fast when it wanted to be, the ground practically quaking underneath its deadened thick feet, gnarled and worn as its trunk whipped out at FG's head and smacking him to one side. He fell in a short stumble, recovering quickly before it could crush him. Roy tried to attack the elephant's back legs, but it barely felt the pain of steel slicing into its thick dead hide as it turned swiftly to try and gore him with its twisted tusks. Roy backed off while firing a blast of ice towards the monster, the shrapnel shattering upon its face but not deterring it from charging. At the same time, FG tried to blast a scarring fire strike across the back legs, but the creature had made its choice. It charged across the field back towards the train, the trunk and tusks catching the side of the freight train and crushing against the rear of it as the people screamed inside. Seeing a much larger target, the elephant suddenly began to assault the train, slamming into it from behind as the screams intensified. It wasn't until both raptors came together to stab their blades straight through Oscar's legs, the monster roaring from whatever it could feel of its agony. With plunging scissors and cutting Great Knife, sawing through the grey flesh with repeating strikes and burning scars aided by their nanos, the beast could no longer ignore their assault. Suddenly backing up to kick them back, Oscar turned and brayed an unearthly scream, its fury personified as it turned and reared upwards. The raptors barely had enough time to roll out of the way before the crushing stomp, cracking down onto the railroad tracks behind the train, splintering pure steel into nothing but dust. Roy and James rushed back towards the field, trying to figure out a way to attack the upper body. The legs were far too strong to cut through, and no matter how deep the wounds became, it did nothing but antagonise the elephant. James had one idea however. "DISTRACT HIM, I'M GONNA CLIMB HIM FROM THE BACK!" "WHUT?!" "JUST DO IT!" With no other option for now, Roy fired off a few shots of his handgun to force Oscar to chase after him, the beast rampaging towards him with incredible speed before it tried to swing its trunk like a club. He managed to evade it, but the beast had now stopped long enough for James to scrabble up onto its back, grabbing hard at the deadened back legs and reaching the top of the elephant itself. He rushed towards the front, readily aiming for the face as he tried to impale through the skull. But the bone of the elephant was far too strong. His scissors only pierced halfway in, scraping the skull inside as blood faintly seeped down the creature's neck and back. Oscar roared with primal vengeance, swinging its trunk upwards to try and grab at the pest, the raptor dodging the wild flailing appendage as he tried to stab again, and again. Yet he could never pierce hard enough, eventually managing to stab straight into Oscar's left eye. The creature shrieked with a howling rage, the scissors twisting into its larger eye socket as James tried to plunge again.

But the elephant had managed to grab at FG's throat and wrapped its trunk around him, pulling him hard from his body and opening its mouth wide open. An unnatural array of vicious crooked teeth, bloodied and sharpened by the crunching of flesh and bone of many victims before him, stared up towards him like a monstrous cavern. The raptor choked and struggled at the powerful grip, grunting as he tried to kick his legs away from the approaching maw. Then he saw a swing of steel come down upon the trunk's base. Oscar roared and threw FG to the ground, seeing that the other raptor had clambered onto its back in turn, the Great Knife cleaving down on its trunk enough to stop it. Despite not cutting through the thick flesh itself, it was enough for MG who tried to swing down upon the back of the neck. But the trunk was ready to attack him this time, and he swiftly jumped down from the elephant's back. Then he had an idea, as the two stood together facing the unearthly monster. "FG, YOU DISTRACT HIM THIS TIME!" "WHAT!?" "AH GOT AN IDEA, AH NEED YOU TO KEEP HIM MOVIN' UNTIL AHM IN PLACE!" "WHY!?" "JUST DO IT!" Not taking chances, the raptor pulled out his handgun in turn and fired at Oscar, making sure it chased after him as Roy ran off towards the pylon-clad scaffolding. "HEY, BABAR! YOU WANNA EAT ME!? I'M FUCKIN' READY FOR YA!" The creature charged with blood-lust, its howl of fury echoing across the fields as the raptor kept ahead of him with a blast of wind beneath his steps. Rushing in a circle to keep out of its range, he occasionally had to either dodge its stampede, or the swinging trunk that could cripple him if used right. At some point, Oscar would become tempted at other prey, but FG made sure he became a primary nuisance with his harmless bullets, cracking off of its flesh-mangled face. "WHAT'S WRONG, YOU FUCKIN' DONE ALREADY!? COME ON! YOU WANNA KILL ME, OR YOU WANNA BE A FUCKING HEAD ON MY WALL!?" The elephant was somehow not as primal as the human zombies were. James had noticed this also with the lions of the zoo, the animals somehow not as affected, which made him think that perhaps he could antagonise it even further. The beast snarled with dripping grey lips, groaning with an unbound rage that burned deep within its deadened eyes. He also enjoyed pissing off his opponents, no matter what they were. He had learnt a good many insults for every single creature under the sun in his lifetime for just such an occasion. "AWWWW WHAT'S THE MATTER, YOU SAD BECAUSE YOUR TUSKS ARE FUCKING WORTHLESS?! LOOK AT THEM, I CAN'T EVEN SELL THAT SHIT LIKE REAL IVORY! YOU HEAR THAT, WITH YOUR BIG FUCKING MUDFLAP EARS?!, COME ON! COME ON YOU FUCKING POACH MEAT, KILL ME! KILL MEEEE!"

Whether it understood his insults or not, Oscar was enraged enough to regain its second wind before it would come charging at him again, with a sudden rush that surprised FG and made him drop his gun. The gunmetal was easily crushed underfoot, leaving the raptor defenceless despite the fact he was low on bullets already for the thing. As he ran desperately from the monster, Roy called out to him from high above. "FG!" He was standing upon the tall scaffolding beside the electric pylon. James wondered what idea he had, but he followed the next order regardless. "LEAD 'IM PAST ME, AHM READY!" The raptor on foot rushed as fast as he could, using one last spurt of wind from his nanos to come tearing past Roy, waiting for the right moment to strike. As the beast came charging past the scaffolding, he leapt from above with blade up high, roaring across the land. " DIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIE!" His Great Knife plunged deep into Oscar's neck, cutting straight into the spine through the sheer weight of the blade coming down upon it, severing what remained of its nerves and veins. The steel blade cut further and further, snapping the spinal cord to cut the head from the rest of the body as Oscar began to roar with a faltering stumble. Its legs began to shudder and fall over, cracking bone underneath the weight of its own fall as the disease lost all connection with the rest of its body. Oscar the elephant soon took one last fall, stumbling forwards before laying onto its side, a weakening groan coming from its lips as its eyes remained unmoving. What remained of its nerves were now fully dead, the back of its neck completely torn open to reveal the shattered spine and twisted veins that shrivelled like dying weeds. Bone shards stuck from its legs and neck, a last breath for the mighty hunter. Roy stood beside its body, watching its last moments with some solemn thought for the ruined creature. "Ahm sorry...none of you deserve any of this. Ah had to do it...put you to sleep finally." He slowly turned away once he was certain that the beast was dead, the night now fully covering what remained of the city outskirts. Somehow he still felt uncertain, unsafe even, the calm before the storm that Oscar had brought with it. It was only when he saw the train still standing upon the tracks, that he felt relief wash over him at a job well done. He did it. He had kept safe the odd-hundreds of people, or however much they numbered, from the last gasping death of the dreaded Raccoon City. "Phew...hhhh...glad that shit worked...seems no matter whut kinda zombie it is, long as you sever thuh head from thuh body somehow, s'all good. Makes sense ah hope...if it don't, then fuck it, still worked."

Heading back towards the train on his own, he saw the passengers had remained mostly unharmed, their cries of both shock and adulation coming over him with warmth as tears of relief came flowing. "You...you did it." "You and your friend...actually killed that thing." "I saw that thing prowling the zoo, I saw some people try to fight it but-" "That thing wasn't dead, I knew it wasn't. I could hear it breathing before we got out-" "You saved our lives...all of us...thank you." "Thank you!" "Heh...no problem." Roy felt rather humble from all the sudden praise, feeling the sense of ease not yet settle in as his arms shook still with adrenaline. He soon saw Michael amongst the crowd of people on board, his own eyes wide open with awe. "Woooooow...yer awesome, you saved our lives! Again!" "Heheh...y-yeah...damn that thing wuz huge...you all ready to go soon? Ah don' wanna see any other surprises on thuh horizon?" "Yes," said Jonathan Holstein, "we can't wait any longer, and after that particular close call I don't want to. None of us do, not when we're so close. Are you sure that you don't want to come with us?" "Believe me, if ah could, ah would. But ah have mah duty." "I see...I hope both you and your friend take care of each other." "We will..." Roy softly fingered along the handle of his blade, looking around the abandoned railway stop before asking: "Hey...where'd FG go?" "He said goodbye right when you killed that thing," said Michael, "then he headed off back to the train tunnel, said he thought he saw someone back there. But he told me that I should tell you something." "Huh?" "...see you some other world." His eye started to twitch with a sudden realisation as he started to turn hastily towards the tunnel, saying his goodbyes quickly. "...alrigh', you uh, you all take care alrigh'?! Ah gotta go catch 'im, so you uh-take care!" "You too Roy! And thank you!" "THANK YOU!" "TRY TO STAY SAFE OUT THERE DUDE!" As the train began to rumble with life above the sounds of gratitude, the freight doors closed as everyone settled in as the relief and revelation that they would finally escape certain death began coming over them slowly. Peace would not come quickly, for they had left many friends behind, and in turn their entire former lives with them. All they could hope for now, was that they would somehow find a new life far away, far from manipulative corporations or life-threatening diseases engineered by man as a weapon. Roy hoped the same for them too. But even more did he hope that he would find FG. As he ran back towards the train tunnel, he heard the engine come roaring from afar behind him, fading away in the opposite direction. His heart almost stopped from hearing it, making him gasp hard and nearly buckle under with fear, before standing up with the strength of fury as he marched towards where FG would be. He had his duty to perform still. And no matter what the two had been through, nothing would stop him from finishing it. Except that is, for the very fact that James Campbell was now absent from this world. A note had been left pinned onto a fusebox near the train tunnel outlet, taped over some company's logo with some childish-looking handwriting. It read:

Hope we see each other again Try not to get killed before then See you some other world

FG

For a moment Roy was speechless, staring at the note hard with both disbelief and outright betrayal. His look of anxious exhaustion from both the battle beforehand and the relief of the survivors now long gone behind him, was replaced by a twisted snarl of fury. He clenched his fists tightly until the black of his knuckles turned pale with grey, a deep growl coming forth from the pit of his throat. "....hhhh...h-hhhhh... RRRRRAAAAAAAARGH! _" With one single punch he crushed the disused fuse box inwards, crunching the note between his fingers as the weakened metal plate cracked inwards before he turned staring. His gaze pierced down along the road, his outrage unmoving as his fist bled slightly with pieces of paper turning red. "You promised...you fuckin' promised you would settle this you fuckin' son of a BITCH! YOU WON'T ESCAPE FROM ME! WHEN AH FIND YOU, I'LL KILL YOU FG! YOU CAN RUN ALL YOU WANT, BUT THERE AIN'T NEVER GONNA BE A PLACE YOU CAN HIDE FROM ME! AND WHEN AH FIND YOU AGAIN, YER FUCKIN' _DEAD!" Had he stopped for a moment in his rage to look pointedly at FG's last stop, the note had a clue left behind it that James had purposefully covered up. But Roy MacGregor found himself walking down the road with his own ideas, hoping that some inspiration upon the winds of a dark night would come to him to find his own path out there. Farther away he walked from the fusebox now ruined by his fist, its company logo crushed inwards behind the note. Sonic Engineering.