A Star's Descent

Chapter Seven: Empress

A Star's Descent

By evolution-500

Disclaimer: House of the Dead and Resident Evil are properties belonging to SEGA and Capcom respectively. I do not own any of these characters.

Chapter Seven: Empress

Kenneth J. Sullivan always tried to maintain a cool and calm demeanor, especially in the face of danger. It allowed him to be more analytical and cautious. However, his current predicament made it difficult to keep up the facade of stoicism. He was terrified. He and his team were blocked in, with no possible exit. In front of them stood a twelve-foot thing wearing some sort of armor, carrying a dual chainsaw, while behind them was a scorpion that he estimates to be, with the tail, three or four meters in height and one point five meters thick.

"This is bullshit!" Aiken cursed.

"MOVE!" Marini roared.

Before Sullivan even had a chance to react, the armored entity raised her weapon and smashed its frame against a table that was lying nearby off the floor. As the table flew up, Sullivan reflexively raised his arms and shouted in alarm. Pain flared from his arms and chest as he collapsed onto the ground.

"Kenneth!"

Gunfire filled the train car.

Sullivan tried to sit up, but found himself unable to. A heavy weight was pressing down on him, making it difficult to breathe. The table, he realized, was pinning him down, making him very vulnerable. The sound of multiple taps caused him to tilt his head back to look up. The scorpion was starting to move toward him.

With horror and alarm, Sullivan struggled underneath the table, desperately trying to escape, praying to whoever would listen.

* * * * *

Enrico Marini charged over to Sullivan's position as Aiken laid suppressing fire on the giant armored being. To his chagrin, the damned scorpion was laying its beady little eyes on the disabled Bravo, looking at him as if he were a ripe meal. When the bastard was no more than a foot away from him, Marini fired the .557 Tyrannosaur.

A deafening crack filled the air, followed by a shriek as the weapon jerked upward violently, the creature stumbling away backward in reaction.

'This should give me some time,' he thought as he looked worriedly back to his subordinate.

"Kenneth, are you alright?" he asked.

"I have a fucking table on me! Does it look like I'm alright?! GET ME OUT OF HERE!" Sullivan snapped.

"Just hold on," Marini said as he grabbed hold of the table. The muscles in his biceps and forearms strained as the table was lifted, and he had almost finished when the scorpion's tail darted for him, missing his skull by mere inches.

"HOLY-!" he yelled in surprise as the floor trembled from the impact of the strike.

Marini frantically raised the elephant gun and fired off another round, blowing a hole into the things shell, knocking it back several feet with a cry. As pieces of the shell flaked off with spiderweb-like cracks surrounding the crater that he blew into the creature's head, realization dawned upon the Bravo Captain as he recalled the contents of that journal.

Reaching into his pocket, he reloaded his weapon, then fired again. The scorpion shrieked, its legs buckling as the blast caused it to stumble away. Marini fired the second round and started to reload again. As the scorpion regained its footing, it raised its claws, protectively guarding its head.