The lights flickered as Erick emerged from the ventilation duct, landing with a muffled thud on the metallic floor. The air in that wing was thick, filled with moisture and a chemical stench that was hard to describe. Each step echoed down the corridor like the building itself was holding its breath.
He knew he was close. He could feel that presence—dense, predatory, alive.
And then, the sound.
CLANK.
Something heavy hit the floor just a few meters ahead. As Erick turned the corner, there he was. Birkin. Or what remained of him.
The monstrously deformed arm throbbed with bulging veins, and the grotesque eye on the shoulder watched with unsettling awareness. There was something almost... curious in that gaze, as if it was trying to understand what Erick was.
"You're not one of them…" the creature growled, its voice distorted by mutation. "You're different."
Erick swallowed hard and drew his pistol.
"Different enough not to die today."
He fired.
The first bullets hit Birkin's chest and left shoulder but only served to enrage him. Birkin roared in fury and charged. Erick rolled to the side, narrowly dodging the monstrous claw that tore through the floor where he'd stood just a second earlier.
"I need to hit that eye... It's the weak spot."
Erick leaped to his feet and fired again—two direct hits to the eye on Birkin's shoulder. The monster staggered but didn't fall. On the contrary, it became even more furious.
The creature lunged again, this time with brutal jumps. Erick sprinted behind a large exposed pipe, firing as he retreated. When the gun clicked empty, he cursed under his breath and pulled the machete strapped to his back.
"I saved this ammo as long as I could… Figured it'd be better for the group. But now… it's just me."
Birkin slammed his fist forward. Erick barely dodged, sliding on the wet floor, and slashed the creature's flank with the blade. Viscous blood splashed onto his clothes, burning slightly like a weak acid.
His skin tingled painfully.
Birkin spun, striking Erick with the back of his hand. The blow hurled him into the wall, knocking the wind out of him. Erick spat blood and forced himself up.
"I'm… not dying here…"
Activating his feline agility, he darted in a zigzag, leaping over a stack of metal crates. From there, he jumped straight onto Birkin's back and drove the machete in deep.
The creature roared, thrashing violently.
Erick was flung back hard, rolling several times before crashing against a containment pipe.
Dizzy and breathless, he saw the monstrous shadow approaching.
"If it weren't for the axolotl regeneration, I'd already be dead…"
As Birkin raised his arm for the final blow, Erick spotted a brief opening and hurled the machete—it spun through the air and embedded itself in the eye on the shoulder.
The creature screamed in pain and staggered back. Blood poured from the wound.
Erick dashed for his fallen pistol. A final bullet had slipped from the clip upon impact. He grabbed it with trembling fingers, reloaded, and aimed.
"Keep this souvenir, bastard."
He fired.
The bullet struck dead center in the already injured eye, blasting part of the mutated flesh and sending Birkin into a nearly human roar… of frustration.
But instead of pressing the attack, the creature backed away, limping, clutching the wound with its good arm. Its gaze—what was left of it—still studied Erick with that same strange interest.
Then Birkin turned and fled, vanishing down the corridors like a wounded shadow, not defeated—but repelled.
Erick dropped to his knees, exhausted, his body trembling, soaked in blood and sweat.
"That wasn't a victory… it was survival."
He took a deep breath, tasting metal in his mouth. His body screamed for rest, but his mind was already thinking ahead.
"If that monster is still out there... I need to be ready for the next encounter."
But one thing was certain: he was still alive.
And he had faced one of Raccoon City's worst nightmares… and survived.
( Giveme Power Stone e add colet )