RADICALISATION, resident evil [1] ✓

⤿ xxii. behind the mutation

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𝑝𝑎𝑟𝑡 𝑡ℎ𝑟𝑒𝑒: 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑑𝑜𝑜𝑟 𝑡𝑜 𝑓𝑟𝑒𝑒𝑑𝑜𝑚

𝑐ℎ𝑎𝑝𝑡𝑒𝑟 𝑡𝑤𝑒𝑛𝑡𝑦-𝑡𝑤𝑜: 𝑏𝑒ℎ𝑖𝑛𝑑 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑚𝑢𝑡𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛

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Umbrella Laboratory (NEST), Raccoon City — September 30th, 1998

     Mason feels like he is in hell.

     His skin burns. His head spins. His body aches.

     He can feel his insides moving; mutating, pulsing and contorting beneath his skin, and it's a sickening feeling. He wants to claw his skin off and rip his insides out so that they just stop moving.

     His body is moving without consent, stumbling through the hallway and ripping any infected his comes across to pieces, Licker or plant zombie alike. It's almost hilarious how they almost scream and wail at his arrival, trying their damndest to escape before he gets his hands on them. And the scary part is that he isn't even using his machete to dispose of them, just his bare hands and unnatural strength. Their bodies are almost far too easy for him to tear apart, and that should unnerve Mason, but he feels content; powerful.

     Forcing open the door to the hallway of the low-temperature testing lab, he works his way inside, uncaring as it closes behind him with a resounding bang that bounces off the walls. It's better that he's shut away from Leon right now, because he hasn't a clue if he is going to lose what's left of his mind once the G-Virus mutates him further than it already has. He doesn't want to hurt the rookie — ever, if he can help it. He doesn't want the rookie to see him like this, not knowing if he'll be able to pull the trigger.

     "You're not a fucking monster, Mase. And you never will be."

     The words from earlier — Leon's words from earlier — echo, painfully, inside Mason's head as his body convulses upon the cold white tile floor, his veins absolutely burning beneath bruise-purple stained skin. Mason would laugh at such naïve words right now, but there's only an endless, silent scream leaving his lips, eyes rolling back into his head as absolute agony stabs his shoulder several times, forcing his back to arch off the ground and then throwing him onto his left side in an almost possessed movement. He feels like he's dying; like he is burning alive.