The dust settled and Jake tried his best not to cough and attract the attention of whatever insanity Wesker had put down here. It wasn't easy as his lungs felt as if they were caked with sawdust. If he were a normal man he would have worried about cancer. But Jake was more worried about turning into a J'avo, and honestly, cancer would have been preferable to him than the alternative. With cancer, he would at least have some say in how he died. As a j'avo, he was a thing, a monster, no longer human. Completely at the mercy of someone else. No longer able to refuse a single order given.

He shook his head to clear it as he pushed himself up from the floor. The fall would attract whatever else was down here and judging from his most recent encounter with good old titbags, none of them were going to be pretty.

"Everyone ok?" He grunted. He could hear them moving around him in the darkness, their voices sounded muffled in the dust. He clicked on his light and turned in a circle. Better ascertain who was here that was human, or other...

"We're good," Chris muttered completely coated and brown in Jake's flashlight beam. Jake guessed he looked the same way. What he wouldn't give for a shower. 

He sneezed causing another cloud of dust to roll off of him. Great. Just great.

At least they hadn't encountered another Neman. He snuck a glance at Wesker and his giant minion of death. They were all coated with the same dust. 

"We should probably move," Claire's voice squeaked from somewhere behind Chris. 

"Well, how do we get back to the safe room now?" Jake turned to Wesker. 

Wesker looked him in the eye knowing Jake was not going to like the answer. "You'll have to go up."

"Like as in out?" Jill appeared behind Chris, she too was covered in dust and ash.

"Shhhh." Jake put a finger to his mouth. He could hear the faint sound of clicking against the concrete floors. He turned to the group. "They're coming."

#################

"We're going up." 

Leon's voice was firm.

"But Ja-" Sherry started. Leon silenced her with a look. 

"Sherry no offense, but Jake would kill me if I let you wander around down here with Anja." 

Sherry closed her mouth. Jake had already begged her to stay behind and get Anja out. She hated the very idea of her escaping and not him. They'd already played this game one too many times.

When she didn't argue further Leon nodded and turned to Birkin. "Order that thing to move out."

Birkin nodded, his face was almost translucent now and he had sweat stains on his white button-up shirt. He'd discarded the lab coat, it was just too hot for him. 

As everyone one else moved forward Leon hung back next to him.

"I met a man like you once in the ESR," he looked over at the cloned doctor. "He thought he needed to control the situation by using a B.O.W. and he wanted the superior technology."

"And did he?" Birkin replied not looking at Leon but concentrating on the Neman in front of him. It scraped its fingers against the wall to draw attention and Birkin ordered it to stop. It fought him at every turn, every loophole. It would lead in front of them but it wasn't careful. Finally he ordered it to move in complete silence which after flaring in anger it did. 

It clearly was a cognitive creature.

"No," Leon watched the Neman as they moved down the hall.  "He lost his friends, brothers, but he had to give it up in the end. It cost him his legs. That's what you have inside of you. Isn't it?"

Birkin hesitated before nodding. "It won't be like that for me."

"No, maybe not," Leon turned to face him. "This time you'll lose everything you worked for, not just your family. Not the things that really should have mattered."

"I had my own set of measures planned," Birkin admitted. "I never believed Wesker's story..." His voice drifted off as he stared at the creature in front of him. Thoughtful. "To think, all I had to was give Jake a shot like the others... and that's what he'd become. A real monster... Like the rest of the Weskers..." He looked thoughtful. 

"I'm not sure he's the real monster here," Leon gave Birkin a hard look. "Jake may be Wesker's biological son but he's hardly a Wesker." 

Birkin nodded before he found himself nose to nose with Sherry. She'd handed Anja off to Anna before getting in his face. "IF anything happens to Jake and it's your fault... Don't think I wouldn't hesitate to put a bullet between your eyes.... You son of a bitch."

Then she turned away, returning to Anna's side and taking her child away from her without looking back. 

Behind her, Leon grinned, but it was sad smile. Birkin's own selfishness had put Sherry in this position. Both of their father's had really. He stared at the back of the red-headed woman that was a clone of Jake's mother. Moving away from Birkin he pushed up next to Anna.

"How are you holding up?"

"I'm fine." Anna glanced over at Sherry, who was readjusting the straps to keep Anja in place. Anna had put the backpack with Anja's things inside of it. She took a sideways glance at Leon. "You're his partner?"

"Yeah."

"Tell me about him." Leon glanced over at her, not surprised. From what little he'd gleaned from Sherry, Jake's mother had sacrificed everything to keep him hidden from Wesker, while at the same time telling him his father loved him and would find him someday. She should have told him he'd died, Leon mused.  

"He lost his mother when he was 14," Leon's voice was low as the two of them drifted behind Sherry. "She was sick when she died, he hated his father, for it. Any other place and she could have gotten care. She was a brilliant scientist, why would she go back knowing it was so impoverished?" 

Anna winced at this but said nothing. "He's been a mercenary since then, hard life, but he was good at it. And now he works with me because he's too damn good at taking out B.O.W.'s to do anything else."

Anna nodded. "He can't even look at me."

"What do you expect? It's like seeing a ghost. And you aren't her, you just look like her."

"And share the same DNA," Anna said drily.

He was about to reply when Ada pushed up next to him. "Do you hear that?"

Everyone froze. In the flickering lights and dripping pipes, there was distinct tapping sound. Leon listened intently for a moment.

"It's just--" Birkin started but Leon held up a hand to silence him. He was watching the Neman intently as it cocked its head to the side listening.

"I think we're about to have company," Leon glanced over at Ada. He pushed Anna and Sherry back with Birkin and moved behind the Neman. If the creature turned and attacked them they literally stood no shot. He'd have to trust that Birkin would keep the creature under control.  

He'd have to keep Birkin under control. 

Leon wasn't under any illusions that should he turn his back on the scientist he'd get a knife in it. Or a claw. 

"What is this place?" He turned back to Birkin. "What do you have down here?"

Birkin, already white paled even further. "Everything," he whispered. 

#######

Jake listened to the skittering that was coming towards them at a rapid speed. Whatever it was, it was large. He turned to Wesker.

"What the hell is that?"

Wesker shrugged. "Guess we'll find out, won't we?"

Chris grabbed Jake's arm. "Is it possible that these things will escape topside?"

Jake said nothing for a moment before nodding. "Chris there's something you should know. These things, Nemans, they're intelligent."

"We got that much." Christ started to move away.

"No, Chris listen, I saw one operating a computer, it released the others, this is the distraction."

"A distraction?" Jill came up to the other side of Jake.

All three of them turned to look at Wesker. "You know as much as I'd love to take the credit for creating the Nemans you really have to hand it to Birkin. He figured things out faster than I thought he would. Hell, his revenge is kind of perfect."

"This was Birkin's idea?" 

Wesker simply raised an eyebrow at Claire's question. "Figuring out how to mutate those who are immune to the new C-Virus? Subverting those sharing my DNA, come on, you think I would have done it?"

"Short answer?" Jake snapped. "Yeah, you would have, if you'd thought of it first."

"They're kind of beautiful in their own way," Wesker continued. "Deadly, I'm betting he hadn't had time to try the plaga on them yet, probably bumped his schedule up. Which is why he's coughing so much."

"Meaning?"

Wesker got to the point. "Birkin tampered with the DNA to speed up the plaga's growth. It will take over at some point. Either he'll lose control over the Neman and it kills them all. Or," Wesker held up two fingers. "The plaga takes control and the Neman feels the need to spread the wealth. I'm really curious to see who wins first."

Jake punched the wall. 

"So as you can see," Wesker continued ignoring Jake's outburst. "We are running out of time."

His words echoed over the now silent hallway.  The scrabbling had stopped and the group tensed. Even the Ustanak peered into the darkness with clenched fists.

A low hissing came from in front of them. 

Fuck this, Jake thought. He'd take titbags again over waiting for the creature to show itself. He raised his Glock and fired into the direction of the monster. The bullet hit something with a loud thud as it embedded itself into something solid.

He heard the inhale from the creature, the sharp intake rose up from the floor to the ceiling. Whatever it was, it was huge. Jake clicked his light on and wished he hadn't.

In front of them stood what could only be described as the world's largest centipede. Segmented legs chittered against the floor as it began to move forward slowly, its antennae testing the air. It wasn't exactly a centipede, large gnashing jaws took the place of mandibles but to Jake, those were just minor details. 

Fuck, how do we kill that thing?

#################

"Move!" Leon managed to get them going at a jog. It no longer mattered if they were quiet. They'd been detected. Anja had started to cry, capturing the intense scrutiny of the Neman in front of them.

"Where are we going?" Sherry asked as she jogged. 

"There!" Leon pointed to the hole in the ceiling. It had very little to get on, but he knew there was a ladder inside. 

He glanced around, there were no other creatures... yet. 

"Ok, Sherry, up you go."

"What?"

"Now, don't argue. Take Anja."

Leon picked Sherry up around the waist and pushed her up into the tunnel. Sherry grabbed the ladder and hauled herself into the tunnel and started climbing.

"Anna."

The red-headed woman came next, without a word. He nodded at her and pushed her up into the tunnel next. 

"Ada." 

"No," Ada stopped in front of him. "I'm going with you."

"Ada, any other time, I would say yes. Well, hell yes. But I need you to get them to safety. And I know you can better than anyone."

"You really expect me to listen?" 

"I'm going after the others."

"Of course you are."

"I'm taking the doc with me." 

Ada looked over at the Birkin leaning against the wall, pale, and exhausted. "He'll try to kill you if he can."

"I figured. Go."

She stared at him for a moment, opening her mouth to say more and then snapped it shut. "You owe me."

"And you'll collect. Eventually... Move."

Ada nodded, turning she leaped up into the tunnel and grabbed the first step of the ladder, hoisting herself into the shaft without assistance. 

Leon listened as they climbed up. He then turned to Birkin. "Shall we take a walk, doctor?"

"She's right you know. I would try to kill you."

"I got it."

"And you still coming with?"

"My partner is still down here. And my friends." People I think of as family. Leon didn't say that out loud. He moved off into the darkness following the creature. 

They'd gone twenty feet when a loud inhuman shriek rang out in the flickering darkness.