Well…something new. I've finally outgrown my X-Men phase, and I'm into something more mature. Sorry, I kind of feel like I'm insulting all my old Marvel friends by saying this P No matter what anyone says, I'm now totally into Resident Evil. So here's a new story!

Chapter 1- A New Home, A New Life.

Claire's legs were aching her terribly, but she knew she couldn't stop running. If she stopped now, the monstrous thing following her would catch her, and she most likely wouldn't make it out alive. She couldn't have that, now could she?

She dared to turn her head to see the huge monster she had known as Steve Burnside chasing her relentlessly still; he was still flailing the large axe Alexia had equipped him with, hoping to somehow sever Claire from her body.

"CLAIRE!" Came Steve's roar again. But it wasn't loving; no emotion but rage lay behind the voice. Claire knew she couldn't stop. She looked forward to see a door. Could it stop Steve?

She wrenched the door open, thrusting herself inside. She slammed the door behind her, slumping down to a stop at the bottom to catch her breath. Apparently, somehow, Steve's axe, which he was slamming against the door, couldn't break through. She wiped the tears from her eyes. It was awful what Steve was enduring….

She found herself in some sort of dark lab…She looked around, and found a chair with a man securely strapped in. She couldn't see his face, so she cautiously stepped forward, her hands empty; unfortunately, she had no gun with her.

She gave a gasp of shock as she quickly recognized the imprisoned man. His brown hair, which was extremely similar to hers, was blocking his face except for his shining blue eyes, which were pointed at his feet.

"Chris!!" She cried out. She ran up to the seat, crouching beside the wood of the chair, trying to undo his straps. She pulled at the black leather secured by lead bolts, but wasn't successful at doing anything but making her fingers sore.

"Claire…?" Chris gave a low reply. To Claire's surprise, Chris didn't look up at her at all. He continued staring at the ground. If he hadn't spoken, Claire wouldn't have thought he'd acknowledged her presence.. "Get yourself out…I…I…GAH!" Chris gave a scream of pain, and Claire jumped away in surprise. She tripped over a chair as she watched her brother mutate as Steve had, into a huge monster. Chris gave an inhuman roar of rage as Steve managed to break through the door, demolishing a portion of the wall as well. Claire yelled out in surprise.

"NO!" Claire screamed, but she knew it was too late. Chris was approaching her fast, and if she didn't hurry, Steve's axe would surely take off her head much faster than it had broken through the wall.

Steve's axe took a blow for her, but she ducked. She crawled along the ground, hearing an inhuman shriek of pain as the axe instead hit Chris in the chest, knocking him into a wall. Claire crawled behind a desk, unable to see what was happening. Her only thought was to somehow make it out the door.

She rolled under Steve's huge legs, managing to make it out of the lab. She was running through a hallway, the cold getting to her easily. It seemed she was still in Antarctica…

She continued sprinting, passing through the hallway which seemed never ending, until she finally reached a door when she heard the roars of Steve and Chris, a sign they'd noticed her disappearance and were now following her…

She yanked on the door handle to find it locked. She panicked, her heart skipping a beat. Giving up, she threw her body full force into the wood of the door, and to her surprise it swung open. She ran inside, slamming the oak door shut behind her. She turned around, not daring to believe she was safe yet. And to her suspicions, she was right. She'd run right into the domain of another monster.

She heard a hiss, and looked up to see Nosferatu, the monster that was all that was left of Alexander Ashford. Claire took a step back. Where were all these monsters coming from?

Claire's eyes shot around. She located a door directly behind the monster: could she make it?

Claire steadied herself, and dove. She managed to get under the fabric of the skirt-like garment the monster was wearing, pulling herself forward along the ground while the monster had no idea where she was. She wrenched open the door to find a corridor identical to the one she'd come from. Taking it as her only hope, she ran. Suddenly, while she ran, she heard the laughing and mocking mixed laughter of Alfred and Alexia Ashford on some sort of intercom.

"Goodbye, Claire Redfield!" They said in unison. Claire found herself at a deadend. She'd been led into a trap.

She attempted to run back, but Steve, Chris, and Nosferatu were already in pursuit. She was going to back into the dead end again when the huge figure of the Tyrant fell from above and landed with a groundshaking tremor behind her. The laughs of the Ashfords rang shrilly through the air as the monsters closed in and Claire felt her heart stopping in fear, and suddenly the ground broke away and she was falling, her screaming reverberating through her ears and mind, an echo that shattered all reality…

"Claire!"

Then suddenly, she was sitting up. Her heavy breathing was making her heart hurt as she awoke. Thankful, she found herself awake and alive. She turned to see Jill kneeling beside her bed.

"Claire? Are you all right?" Jill asked with worry evident in her voice.

"Yeah, I'm fine. Sorry if I woke you up, Jill." Claire mumbled an apology. Now that her dream was over, a thudding headache was all that remained. Ever since Antarctica, Claire had been staying in the apartment of Jill and Chris, who were roommates (although Claire thought otherwise, Chris had heavily implied that they were only friends and partners). Chris was even more overprotective of Claire now that she'd been brought back. And on the first day they had arrived there, Chris had given her the biggest lecture of her life, which surprised Claire; Claire had never thought someone could make a longer and more stern lecture than her professor at university.

"Claire, I don't know what was going through your mind when you decided to leave your campus and come looking for me!" Chris had told her while she sat on the couch like a child being punished for wrongdoings. "You are damn lucky you weren't killed and only captured! What in God's name made you think it was okay to go after a huge enterprise like Umbrella just to search for me unassisted?! And you didn't even think to at least bring Leon with you for protection!" Chris had thundered.

"It was the fact I couldn't get a hold of you that made me go searching for you! I couldn't just leave my big brother missing somewhere in the world…" Claire had replied in a small voice. Chris instantly had felt guilty for yelling at his sister: after all, he had left Raccoon City without giving Claire any new numbers as he kept his head low from Umbrella. Claire had always depended on Chris since their parents had died when they were young: Chris knew that it was natural for Claire to be scared when she couldn't find him at all.

"It's all right. I was up anyway." Jill replied. Claire rubbed her eyes, brushing her long auburn hair out of her face. She pushed herself out of bed, yawning tiredly. "Nightmares?"

Claire nodded slowly. She took a look at the clock behind Jill. According to it, it was nearly 3: 00 AM.

Claire yawned again and looked at Jill. "Where's Chris?"

"Sleeping." Jill replied, covering her own mouth as she yawned.

"What're you doing up, then?" Claire asked Jill. Jill shrugged.

"I thought I'd gotten a transmission from Barry." Jill replied.

"I'm going to go get some coffee…is there any left?" Claire asked Jill as she began to leave the room she lived in. Jill followed Claire for a bit before going back to the fax machine.

"I'm not sure. You'll have to go check." Jill replied before leaving Claire on her own.

Claire entered the small kitchen. It was very cramped, and somewhat dark with a navy blue wallpaper with dark blue tiles and counters. Claire tiredly grabbed the coffee pot and dfound it to be empty. Grunting lowly, she opened up the cupboard door to search for more coffee, but found the jar empty.

"Great." Claire muttered to herself. Now she needed to go get some. It wasn't like she would go back to sleep now; she knew that if she did the dreams would only come back.

Going back to her room, she pulled out a pair of jeans and a red T-shirt from her closet. Hurriedly getting dressed, she pulled on her shoes and grabbed the keys for her motorcycle.

"Where you going?" Jill asked, poking her head around the corner.

"To get some coffee. I won't be long, and I've got my cell phone." Claire told her with a small smile. Jill nodded.

"Okay, but be careful." Jill told her before going back to the machines.

Claire opened the door and locked it behind her. She walked down the stale smelling hallway of the apartment building they lived in and pressed the button for the elevator. She waited, tapping her foot lightly in impatience. Finally, the elevator arrived and she stepped inside. She pressed the button for the main floor and the elevator gave a lurch as it began moving. Claire felt nervous using elevators: she'd seen horror movies where awful things happened to people in elevators…

She finally got out of the confined space and into the main lobby. Pulling open the door to the outside, Claire was hit by a blast of cold night air.

She took a deep, sucking breath and loved the fresh air. She hated being confined indoors; Chris nearly didn't let her go out anymore, thinking she could be in danger if seen outside. Jill always let Claire get away with getting outside when she could: shopping trips, lunches, just going out for rides in the car and on Claire's motorcycle were Jill's way of keeping Claire sane.

Claire was walking down the path to where her motorcycle was kept in the parking lot when she stopped. She had the feeling of being watched. She turned around, looking all around her. But the darkness was thick, and all she could see was the building and the few thick trees that were around the landscape. Claire continued walking cautiously towards where the path was. She was walking when she heard a crack, ever so quiet. She turned instantly around, pulling out a knife from a holster under her jean leg. She looked around but saw no one in sight. She began walking ever so cautiously towards where the parking lot was only metres away…

Claire had resheathed her knife and could see her gleaming motorcycle through the darkness when she felt a tingle in her neck. Her hand instantly darted for her neck and her fingers grasped around a small dart. Staring at it in horror, her eyes rolled over and her knees buckled. Using the last of her energy, she looked for her assailent, but could only see a dark figure jumping out of a nearby tree and laughing sinisterly as he approached…

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Chapter one finished. Read and Review please, and please tell me your thoughts!

Up next: Chapter 2: Attacking the Heart