Resident Evil

A light in the shadows

by Marie B.

She was trapped. In the narrow passageway, she had no chance to escape. There was one on the left and one on the right. Freaks, monsters, whatever there were called; they caught her, ready to rip her into pieces. They were growling menacingly, drool dropping from their hideous jaws. Step by step, they were getting closer. Their long claws were shining in the dangerous sunlight.

She was tired, she was thirsty, and she was out of breath. Only one bullet remained in her handgun. She could try to kill one of her predators, but she had absolutely no chance to kill the other. The girl heavily sighed. It was over. Just give up and let them do their job. No one could save her. The rest of her team was completely on the other side of the town. Why had she come that way? She got lost and ended up in a deathtrap. She was so desperate and dizzy from the heat and the lack of water that she didn't think about using her walkie-talkie to contact her friends.

As if they could do something, anyway…

Closing her eyes, she heard the beasts' heavy steps echoing closer to her. She could smell their horrible breath full of blood and rotten meat. She was going to die, but she didn't move. She didn't want to. She was exhausted and she wanted to sleep.

They were almost all over her when she heard them scream. They weren't screaming out of satisfaction of eating her, no, they were screaming in surprise and then in pain.

Suddenly, a violent gust of wind hit her, pushing her against a wall. Her head hit the floor painfully, the rest of her body following. She was on the hot rocky ground, half-conscious. She couldn't see clearly, but she saw in the distance, a few meters away from her, a third assailant.

It was fighting against her two previous foes, slashing them forcefully with its gruesome arm. That arm didn't look like one. Its appearance was closer to a bastard sword than an arm. It also seemed pretty sharp as it easily cut down the monsters into pieces with swift and violent movements. One could tell that this stranger wasn't human, even though it had a lean and yet solid silhouette of a man.

The battle ended in less than a few seconds. Two corpses were now laying on the ground, their blood spreading in every direction.

The girl was in shock, but she couldn't move. She was on the edge of losing consciousness. She wanted to see that person who just killed so casually her previous assailants. She wanted to know if he were her saviour or her ticket to Hell.

She didn't have that chance as the last thing she could see before drowning into oblivion was the stranger's shadow over her.

Soft footsteps echoed through her mind, waking her up from her world of dreams. She could see through her eyelids that she was in a dark or dimly lit room. Her head hurt like hell, but she could feel that she was lying on something soft. A couch or a bed maybe.

"Tap, tap…"

More footsteps. Someone was definitely with her in the room. Who was it? Where was she anyway? She wanted to know, but her eyelids were too heavy. She wanted to sleep, but her commonsense kept telling her to move, to be aware of her surroundings. However, whoever it was, it didn't want her dead…yet.

She felt warm and safe. It was way different from what she had felt outside, under the killing sun of Morocco. She then wondered if Chris and the others were looking for her. She got separated from them surely hours ago. What time was it anyway?

The girl finally decided to open her eyes. The room was dark, some soft beams of light passing through the only window. It was giving a golden shade to the walls and furniture, creating an eerie feeling to the room. There were a desk and a chair a few meters in front from where she was. A beautiful lamp was standing on the desk. On the opposite side of the desk, a shelf was half hidden in the shadows. It all looked to her as a restroom as she was actually lying on a small bed. There was an opening beyond the desk, leading to another room completely covered in darkness.

When the girl moved to sit up in the bed, she saw something entering the room silently: something tall and very human-like.

She wasn't sure if he saw that she was awake, but when he reached the desk and looked at her, she froze.

His whole body was hidden in the shadows, but she could feel his intense gaze upon her. It felt strangely familiar…

Who was this man? Because she was now aware that it was a man, no doubt about it: large shoulders, strong posture, tall and that distinctive scent of men.

She then heard him sigh and smile. She saw his lips move, but she only understood what he said after a few seconds:

"Glad that you're awake, Claire…"

That voice…it wasn't the same, but she heard it somewhere a long time ago. And odd enough, that man knew her name…

"Who are you?" asked Claire, shifting her weight on the bed.

"Someone who didn't keep his promise," replied the man, stepping into a beam of light.

A knot appeared in the girl's throat and she suddenly felt her body tremble. It was as though as if there were thousands of ants roaming inside of her body. She then slowly blinked, not believing what her eyes were showing her. It couldn't be him? It'd been what, six years? But the more she looked at him, the more she felt that the man in front of her was real.

He was tall, maybe taller than 6 feet. He was wearing an entire black suit with a sleeveless top that showed hard muscles on his torso and his arms. His jaw was well defined and had traces of a quickly cut beard. His face was glowing gold because of the sun, but the girl could clearly see the color of his eyes which were deep green. He also had long locks of fiery copper-brown hair that stopped over the connection of his neck and his shoulders. He was smiling and that's what Claire recognized the most.

"You've…" started the girl, trying to clear her voice. Her hands, who were now gripping the bed's blanket, were still trembling. She could also feel tears coming to her eyes. But she managed to keep her cool and shyly smiled back at the man.

"You've grown quite a bit…Steve…" she barely whispered, her eyes leaving his.

The man silently stepped forward, leaving the beam of light. He was maybe a feet away from the bed. He still had a smile on his face, but Claire could tell when she looked back at him that it wasn't a pleased smile…it was more of an apologizing smile. He had the same expression on his face as if he was telling her that he was sorry for something that she couldn't quite put her finger on.

"You didn't change much, Claire. You're as beautiful as I remember," he replied softly.

The girl was a little taken back by the compliment, feeling her face reddening. It was so unreal. It couldn't be him. It couldn't be Steve telling her this. But then, she felt the bed move and saw that the man was now sitting on it, just beside her. He didn't try to move further though. Claire relaxed. She wasn't even sure of his intentions. She wasn't even sure of what to think. There were so many questions running inside of her mind and the only thing he could tell her was that she was beautiful. But that also made her smile because it was the first thing he had said to her on the island six years ago.

"Steve…" she whispered, not sure of what to say first. The young man caught her gaze and it was then that she realized that he wasn't an illusion or a dirty trick from her mind. He didn't say anything. He just looked at her, waiting for her to continue.

"…how?" she simply asked. Her voice was shaky and she felt like crying. The next thing she knew was that she was between strong and warm arms. Her head resting against Steve's left shoulder; she let her tears fall freely. Her arms quickly wrapped themselves around the man's torso as a loud sob escaped her body.

Steve stayed quiet as he tightly embraced the girl. The only sounds that could be heard in the room were Claire's sobs and gasps and her ragged voice as she was trying to speak through trembling lips:

"St-steve…I've…missed…so much…"

When the brunette finally calmed down, the young man grabbed her softly by her two shoulders so that she could look at him. He still had that sad expression on his handsome features, but he finally decided to talk.

"Claire…I'm so sorry…" he whispered, now his turn to look away.

The girl tried to follow his gaze, placing a hand on one of his cheeks.

"For what?" she replied with the same tone.

"For everything…for not protecting you…for leaving you alone…for being alive and for not have been able to see you earlier…" dragged on the man before Claire could interrupt him.

"You don't have to be sorry, Steve. You've been through a lot…"

"You don't seem that surprised to see me alive…" he finally said, fearing the girl's answer.

Claire heard the hesitation in his voice and quickly understood what he was thinking. Maybe he thought that she didn't really care about him back then, that when he had died, she had forgotten about him. She couldn't deny that during those six years, it had happened to her to chase him from her thoughts, but she had never forgotten about him. The months following his death had been the most painful of her life. Even now, she couldn't even say why it had affected her that much. She had cared about him, surely had strong feelings too, but it wasn't as though as she had been in love with him. But then again, she had the impression that if he had survived back then, she would have eventually fallen for him one day or another. Pushing her personally feelings aside, she had also considered the fact that Steve had chances to come back to life after what Wesker had told her and her brother back in that Antarctic base. It was a possibility that had lingered in her mind during those years.

It was indeed a surprise for her to see him alive, but the possibility of his revival made her believe that she would see him again. It was sooner than she had thought however.

"I am really surprised, Steve…Don't take me wrong, I've thought about you each day during those long years. It's just…Albert Wesker had told us that there was a chance that you would come back to life and see me again..." she explained, a strange mix of expressions on her face.

It was Steve's turn to be surprised. He then smiled softly. "He said that…" whispered he, more to himself.

Claire heard him and slightly frowned. She was then going to reply, but quickly closed her mouth. She wanted to ask him something, but she already knew, deep inside, the answer. She tried anyway as it was of an important manner.

"Steve…if you're alive, that means that you are…"

"Infected."

The girl didn't know what to say. It was as she had thought. But Steve didn't seem to be angered or depressed. It seemed to her that he was taking the news quite lightly. But Claire had to agree that he didn't look infected at all. He looked healthy, his eyes were still of its original color-unlike Wesker's- and he wasn't showing any sign of an infected person's behaviour. He just looked to her like a normal, well-trained, young man.

For a few more seconds, neither said a word. They just stared at each other, trying to clean up their thoughts. Outside, they could hear violent gusts of wind, but inside, their slow breathing was the only perceptible sound.

Claire Redfield and Steve Burnside were finally reunited.

To be continued...