Terrible family reunions (S2)

Sherry opened the hatch behind the room and found a ladder down. The tunnel down there had a different style from the orphanage. Old walls, broken pipes, moist atmosphere and dim lights...Everything in here seemed to have fallen into disrepair for a long time. Strange sounds were echoing in this place, but Sherry did not care about those anymore.

She rushed through the tunnel and at the end of it an elevator awaited. This could lead me to the sewer. Mommy will be there! Sherry cheered herself up while pressing the button. The old elevator shook a little bit. Hopefully before long it could take the girl to her mother.

But that wasn’t exactly the case, as Sherry realized that not only the elevator but also the whole room was shaking. The light bulbs on the ceiling popped before the ceiling collapsed, and a giant monster dropped down and howled. Despite its right arm has transformed into a claw, the monster was exactly the one Sherry encountered in the underground facility of the police station. Although, this time she got to take a closer look at its humanoid head.

“Daddy...?” Sherry gasped in horror. The innate fear made her stepped back and curled up at the corner of the elevator.

“What in the-” Katherine happened to catch up with Sherry, just to be stopped by this abomination.

Oddly, the monster turned its attention to Katherine as soon as she entered the room, sparing Sherry from witnessing the horrific scene that came next. A second head, a more monstrous one with golden eyes and white skull, was growing from its neck, while the original one slowly receded to its chest. After undergoing a drastic mutation, the monster has reached the next malformation.

Before Katherine could do anything, the monster swiftly grabbed her torso with the huge claw and smashed her on the wall, immediately concussing her. She wasn’t strong enough to break free or fight back, and she didn’t even have the strength to scream when the monster reached out its other claw, attached on which a parasite was eager to consume her flesh.

“Ah!!!” Sherry screamed in panic when the G-Embryo parasite squeezed through Katherine’s ivory fangs and drilled down her throat. Katherine fell on the floor unconsciously after the monster released her with a wicked, satisfying smile.

However, it was at this moment that Sherry felt her mind becoming clearer, as the connection between her mistress and her was broken. The commands in her head were gone and she wouldn’t need to obey Katherine anymore. But the situation didn’t get much better as she realized that the monster has focused back on her and charged at the elevator.

“DADDY, NO!” Sherry shouted in fear.

With the cable broken, the elevator fell down with the abomination howling on top of it and Sherry screaming inside.

It crashed in the sewer system and Sherry was thrown out. The fall didn’t do as much damage to her vampire body than to the monster, so Sherry quickly got up and ran away, while the monster was still twitching from pain in the elevator shaft.

“I need to run...I need to run...” Sherry tried to get as far away from her mutated father as possible, fearing that it would do the same thing to her like what it had done to Katherine.

However, the thirst was getting stronger and stronger since she hadn’t tasted a single drop of blood after she turned, while the falling shock and the running have exhausted her to a degree that she couldn’t keep on. Her legs quickly became numb, and the next second, she fell on the ground.

Sherry tried to move her arms, her hands and even her fingers, but they barely responded. She couldn’t think as clearly as before, as the only thing she wanted at this moment was blood. Without its nourishment, she would in no time become dormant and stay like this forever to conserve the energy.

No...I want blood...I want to see them again...Mommy...Claire...Sherry was scared. She wanted to cry but her body couldn’t even do that now. There was nothing she could do. She closed her eyes and awaited the inevitable.

She lost the track of time for a while but suddenly she smelled something. Metallic, fragrant and refreshing. The subtle but familiar, sweet scent in the air stimulated every cell in her body. That was the aroma of blood. Someone was coming. Someone she knew.

It’s mommy!

Annette Birkin, a mid-age blonde in a white lab coat, was holding a flashlight and investigating this area. She was going after the G when she heard a loud noise. But G was not the monster she would encounter this time. Not the worst, as she found her beloved daughter lying on the ground.

“Sherry!?”

“Mommy...It’s hurt...” Sherry murmured and pretended to be in pain, while trying to hide her joy and hunger.

“Sherry! Mommy’s here!” Annette ran towards the little girl in the school uniform in panic. She knew what the G was capable of, and what terrible things would happen to Sherry if it laid its hand on her. Had Sherry been implanted the G-Embryo, she really wouldn’t know what to do.

“How did you-”

Annette turned Sherry over to check for the symptoms, if any. The girl’s face was a little bit pale, but at least there wasn’t any signs of G infection. She sighed a breath of relief, however, immediately she noticed that there was blood on her uniform collar. She reached out her shaking hand to pull open the collar, only to see a pair of semi-healed up bite marks on her daughter’s beautiful neckline, as well as the crimson eyes and sharp fangs on Sherry’s face, who cracked an evil smile just now.

Sherry bit on Annette’s wrist and ferociously fed on her. Annette cried out in horror and tried her best to get her vampire daughter rid of her. She succeeded with great effort by pushing Sherry away, but the bite marks and the dripping blood on her wrist kept reminding her that she was infected, and her daughter has become a bloodthirsty monster.

“Oh, no...Sherry...” Annette stepped back to maintain the distance, and pointed her gun at her daughter. She didn’t have the courage to stop her husband when he injected himself with the G-Virus. Would she have it now, when facing her vampire daughter?

“Why did you do that, mommy?” Sherry got up, with her mouth covered in blood, and innocently gazed into her mother’s eyes, “I’m still hungry!”

“I’m sorry...I’m sorry...” Annette tried to pull the trigger, but failed. She found her fingers numb, or more precisely, out of her control. If her researches had taught her right, she was now somewhat under the influence of the vampire that bit her, meaning Sherry. She couldn’t kill Sherry, because Sherry was unconsciously commanding her not to.

But she couldn’t afford to waste more time here. Had she not returned to the NEST to create a vaccine, she would join the class of undead very soon. And the G was still out there, creating an army of G-Adults. Annette collected herself, turned around and ran away. As long as she stayed far from Sherry, she could keep her own mind clear enough to do what must be done.

“Mommy!? Where are you going? Mommy!” Sherry was shocked and yelled aloud. She didn’t have enough strength to chase after Annette but just stood there, “Why did you abandon me? Is it because I’ve changed? But I’m still your daughter...I didn’t mean to hurt you...I still love you and I want to share the love with you...”

Guilt, bafflement, anger or whatever she was feeling right now, was soon washed away by the returning thirst. That small amount of blood allowed her to wander further into the sewer system, but wasn’t enough to clear the red mist shrouding her mind.

She ran across a dead Umbrella researcher lying at a corner in the upper waterway, with a name tag on his coat said “Mayer”. He wasn’t drained by the vampires but died of suicide - a bullet through his mouth. Sherry grabbed his arm and took a bite.

“Ew...” Immediately she vomited. There was still blood in his veins indeed, but dead blood not only tasted awful but also couldn’t quench the thirst.

But she did find something useful - a sewer key - in Mayer’s pocket. Using it, she unlocked the door of the worker’s break room not far away. After she entered, Sherry quickly locked the door from inside to ensure her safety.

There were several lockers in the room, one of which with tapes on it at the back was being used to cover a large hole on the wall. Sherry happened to be able to crawl through the small crack, and behind it, she found a secret elevator that took her back into the police station.

It was the same place, but Sherry looked at it differently now. She had been hiding from all kinds of monsters in the station, but now, she’s one of them and the mindless vampires wouldn’t even bother her.

As expected, Sherry couldn’t find anyone alive in the station for her to feed on, and the thirst has become unbearable again. She walked all the way back into the S.T.A.R.S. office on the second floor of the west wing. This room had no windows, so at least she could keep herself safe from the sun and stay dormant for the morning time.

Memory fragments came up in her mind. It was in the hallway outside this room that she first met Claire. She was scared at that time and thought that lady in a red jacket was another vampire, and quickly ran away. But later when Claire came all the way to the secret tunnel to help her, she felt relieved. It turned that lady was the nicest person she’s ever met, and she really wanted to see her again.

Claire...Please come and save me...Sherry laid on the floor between the desks and quickly fell asleep, dreaming of sharing the sanguinary love with Claire.