Resident Evil: Exodus - The Tale of Elza Walker

Chapter 13 - Recycle

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The alligator rested on the catwalk within easy striking distance of the hole out of from where the human had first appeared and then subsequently escaped. Only the distance between them had saved it the first time. It would not the next time, for now there was none. It was a creature bred to near perfection over the long process of evolution for the sudden lunge and kill on both land and water. It was too veteran a hunter after its own kind to make the same mistake. It also knew about the black boxes which the humans carried that spat pain and death. This last human had carried one, and it had been a repeater. He had been too fast even for that, and the human's shots had gone wild. One had grazed its back, but only one. It was still whole, fit, and vital, and it was ready. Oh, it was so ready. It had been a long time since it had tasted human. It relished such sweet meat when it came, and now more was here. That was why it stayed right where it was, remaining perfectly still, waiting with the patience of a saint for the human that it was certain would return. It could afford to wait. The human, on the other hand, probably could not. That would be its fatal mistake. That is why the alligator would feast on fresh human tonight, instead of half-rotted zombie.

There were noises from the bottom of the ladder shaft. The human must be getting ready to come back up again. It was courageous, like some of the other humans the alligator had encountered, but it was a fool. It was no match for the superior speed and striking capability of its animal foe. The human would return to its certain death, no matter what it thought or planned. That the alligator knew, and so it continued to wait.

From just over the bottom edge of the opening a small object was raised, held by a human hand. The alligator moved slightly, tensing its muscles for the spring, but that was all. There wasn't enough of the human in sight to pounce, and the human was no doubt being cautious after its last encounter. Furthermore, the alligator wanted more of the human to eat than just a hand. It waited for more of the human to appear, so it could get a better purchase around it with its massive jaws and drag it back into the tank, where it would die and the alligator would feast. Suddenly the hand made a flipping motion and was immediately withdrawn. The object it once held made a small arc, hit the catwalk about a foot from the alligator, and rolled towards the western wall of the room. It stopped as soon as it hit the wall and rolled no more.

The alligator took in the object which the human had tossed out of the corner of one eye, while still keeping most of its vision focused on the opening in the wall. It was a black cylinder about the size of a rat. It did not move, nor did it make any sound after it had stopped rolling and come to rest against the wall. It made the alligator think of the smoking fruits which other humans in the past had used against it, with noxious vapors that made the eyes water and the throat raw. Yet this was no fruit of any kind, but more like a small piece of tree or pole. It was also made of metal, like the black boxes of the humans. Was this was some new kind of devilry that the humans were trying against it?

The alligator got its answer a second later, when the small cylinder exploded. Its earholes rang with the reverberating echoes of a thunderclap sounding from just under two feet away, and everything within visual range had turned blinding white in an instant. The pain was so great in its eyes that it had to close them, and it lashed about blindly with its tail trying to knock away a cylinder that was no longer there. The fact that it was now deaf and blind meant that it could only smell the human as it popped back up the ladder and through the opening, spraying darts of death from the little black box in its hand. These tore into the body of the alligator from snout to tail ... and as it died, it realized that it had seriously underestimated the abilities of this particular human.