What Choice of Words Will Take Me Back to You?
It's the fall of her 25th birthday and Claire Redfield is in love.
She's in love with the man across an ocean working on a secret government operation from which he may never return.
But right now, that's the least of her concerns.
Claire looked at the turkey sitting in front of her, then to the turkey baster in her hand and back again to the turkey. Basting a turkey simply couldn't be that difficult and if she could fight off a horde of flesh eating zombies then by God she could cook a bird. It was Thanksgiving Day and it was her first holiday in recent memory that had a chance at resembling normalcy. Her brother was present, along with Jill and Sherry. Rebecca was coming in a couple hours, along with Carlos. It was a relatively small gathering, but it said a lot about the current state of their lives that they were all able to gather together for one evening without bloodshed.
Claire glanced over at the cookbook she had bought specially for the occasion before jabbing the turkey with a temperature gage and sticking it in the oven. She had several other dishes brewing at the moment and sighed as she looked around the kitchen. It looked like a war zone. Jill had been attempting to construct a centerpiece for the table but was failing miserably.
"You know, after all these years and everything I've learned about firearms and breaking into top security buildings it's incredible that I can't do one thing from a home ec class," Jill said as she tapped a knobbly stick against her chin.
Claire looked up from the green bean casserole with smirk on her face as she watched Jill observe the wreckage in front of her.
"I can't even tell you what this is supposed to look like," Jill said with a shrug. She walked behind Claire for the wastebasket and with a sweep of her arm dumped the mess into the garbage.
Claire snorted, "I think the whole concept of 'house-wife' is lost on us. I'm not sure that any of this is going to come out right," she said, gesturing to the various dishes in front of her.
"Well, you won't have to worry about Chris eating it. He'll put anything in his mouth that you set in front of him." Jill walked around to the center island to help cut up the remaining sweet potatoes.
"You don't have to tell me that," Claire said as she topped of the casserole. "You'd think he might volunteer to help since he's going to be consuming half of this."
As if in response to her statement, Chris let out a loud whoop from the adjacent living room.
"I didn't even know he had time to follow a football team," said Claire, shaking her head.
"He's a guy, Claire," Jill said as she dumped the orange chunks into the near boiling water. "It's all the same to them."
Claire conceded with a nod and continued to busy herself around the kitchen. She was happier than she could admit to have the company of her family and friends around. It had been three long months since she had last seen or spoken to Leon. She knew that if she worried about every possible scenario he could be in she would drive herself crazy, so she simply waited. It was something she had learned many years ago, after countless separations from her brother and partners that it was simply debilitating to worry about what's happening to everyone else.
Of course repeating to herself that Leon could take care of himself didn't always appease her nerves. She would cycle from worrisome to irrational anger at herself and Leon, Leon for taking the position in the first place and herself for getting tied up emotionally with him. She would fret, grow livid and denounce any future relationship that she could possibly have with him, but always, always, she ultimately would heave a heavy sigh and just try to distract herself. She kept her phone close by but after the first month she had broken the habit of checking it every five minutes.
She missed him. Missed him in a way that was ever intensified by the long silence and the growing concern that he may never come back.
"So…are you holding up okay?" Jill asked tentatively, as if knowing where her train of thought was heading.
"Hm?" Claire looked up from the counter to Jill's hesitant face. "Oh, yeah." Claire shook her head. "Totally fine. Wait, about what?"
"You know…the whole Leon thing. You get that spacey look in your eyes every now and then…I just want to make sure you aren't stressing out too much about him."
Claire attempted to smile. "Nah, you know me, I'm pretty resilient. Anyway, Leon didn't leave without giving me the whole 'You should move on with your life' lecture," she said, trying to hide the bitterness in her voice.
Jill put down her spoon. "What did he say to you?"
"Oh, you know," Claire pretended to think for a second, acting as if she hadn't gone over the conversation a thousand times before.
Leon stood just inside her doorway, tall and grim, his uniform crisp.
"Haven't seen that one yet," Claire said, commenting on his outfit. "Leaving me already?" She tried to keep her tone light but it sounded flat in her ears.
"It's a special assignment," Leon said slowly, like a parent telling their child a beloved pet had passed away, unsure of their reaction. "I'm to report immediately."
Claire's smile she had plastered on her face upon his entrance was looking more like a grimace.
"And I'm assuming you aren't allowed to tell me where you're heading?"
Leon nodded. "I don't know where they're sending me, but even if I did…you're right, I wouldn't be able to tell you."
"So that's it then," Claire said more to herself than to Leon. Her voice was soft, defeated.
"I won't be gone forever. But it would be best for you not to wait for me," Leon said. She knew that he hadn't finished his sentence, 'in case I don't come back.'
"Right," Claire said.
"I promise I'll find you." Leon lingered there for another moment. He had never been one for dramatic exits, or at least not intentionally. "Take care of yourself."
Claire remembered this moment clearly, he had begun to turn, his hand was already placed on the doorknob. But she had, without thinking, launched herself from the sofa and crossed the span of the room quicker than she had thought imaginable. She placed her hands firmly on either side of Leon's face and kissed him. He had been shocked, at first, but responded quickly to her. She remembered exactly where he had placed his hands on her back, how he kept her body pressed closely to his. And she remembered the feeling when he finally pulled away.
"I can't stay," he murmured, barely an inch away from her face.
She nodded. "I know," she breathed.
He kissed her one last time, and she inhaled deeply, trying to forever imprint this moment in her memory.
"I'll see you when I get back."
And with that he was gone.
"Nothing too special, just that I shouldn't wait for him," Claire said finally.
Jill raised an eyebrow but didn't press the subject.
"You know what? I think I got most of this covered in here, why don't you see what Chris and Sherry are up to."
"Don't be ridiculous, you have about ten dishes going on at once."
Claire waved her hand, "No, really, there's nothing left for them to do but finish cooking."
"Fine, but I'm sending Chris in if I don't hear from you."
Claire forced a laugh, "Thanks, but I think he'll do more damage than good."
"Hey, I heard that!" Chris's voice came from the living room above the sound of the blaring television.
"You're a monster in the kitchen and you know it," Jill hollered back as she walked into the living room.
Claire sighed, blowing her bangs out of her face. Her hair was still in its signature ponytail, but the length was much longer, hitting the middle of her shoulders. She was wearing one of the few dresses she owned since being in the business of killing zombies rarely called for formal attire. But it felt nice to put on something feminine every now and then. She smoothed her apron over the black fabric before she once again tried to put Leon out of her mind and focus on making the crust for the pumpkin pie.
"I have to say I'm impressed, little sis," Chris said as he stretched back observing the chaos in front of him that had once been their dinner. The turkey was sufficiently mauled since none of them had proper experience with carving a turkey, Chris and Carlos had offered to get their firearms out more than once. But in the end they had managed to get the majority of the meat off and all the side dishes had been thoroughly cleaned out. "Meat was a little dry, but what can you do—hey!" Chris chuckled as Jill punched him in the shoulder.
"I thought it was fabulous," added Sherry, standing to clear some of the dishes. "Despite what your idiot brother has to say."
"That's Captain Idiot to you, little one," Chris said and Jill rolled her eyes.
Claire smiled as she listened to her friends chatting lightly, their demeanors were drastically different compared to the last several times they had been together. The stress of fighting, sneaking around Umbrella's facilities, the late night collaborating…they looked like different people from the ones she once knew. They were healthy and smiling, no visible cuts or bruises…this is how normal people must feel.
Claire was about to comment on a remark Rebecca made about Carlos's new haircut when she felt her phone buzz in the small pocket of her dress. She had trained her heart to stop jumping every time it went off and this time was no different. She fished it out to answer, pausing for half a second when she looked at the ID and it read UNKNOWN.
"Hello?"
There was a buzzing on the other end.
"Hello?" she repeated in a slightly sing songy voice.
"Claire, it's –eon. Can you—ear me?"
Claire gasped as her heart hitched in her throat and her palms immediately began to perspire. She stood swiftly without realizing what she was doing.
"Leon?" she asked, not noticing when the chatter in front of her ceased immediately.
"Claire, it's Leon, I –from you—please, I'm—trouble, something has—mission –mpromised."
Claire's hands began to shake and she used them both to hold the phone to her ear. "Leon, I can't understand you, where are you? Are you hurt, what happened?"
"Can you—ania—coordinates are—4-24.56°E. Aga-46.55°N, 24.56°E."
Claire ran to the small nook in the dining room and snatched a pen and pencil and scribbled down the numbers.
"Leon, where is this, are you okay?" she asked, her voice rising in hysteria.
"I'm—just come-fast-I—you."
"Leon, you're breaking up, I-I can't hear you," Claire waited for a response but there was more static and then beeping. She looked down at her phone to see that the call had been lost.
She had the urge to slam the phone against the counter but she restrained the instinct. The only noise she heard was coming from an announcer in the other room, but she couldn't distinguish was he was saying.
She looked up at the five frozen figures staring at her; mouths open and all of them wearing identical masks of horror.
"Look, I don't care what you say Claire, you aren't going alone," Chris pointed a finger at his sister's face for added emphasis.
"He asked me for help, not my brother, not Jill, not anyone but me." Claire yelled back at her brother, her large hiking backpack lying open on her bed. After the phone call they had all stared at each other in shocked silence, before they all started speaking at once. Claire had run into her room trying to explain the phone call while simultaneously pulling her gear out of various spots in her room.
"You don't know what he said! You said it yourself you couldn't understand half of what he was saying!"
"Listen, Chris, I know you're my brother but I'm not going to let you—."
Chris cut her off with a bark of laughter. "Let me? You aren't going to let me come with you?"
Claire dropped the clothes she had been pulling out of her drawers onto her bed and stood straight with her hands on her hips, fuming.
Jill, who had been silent up until this point, stepped towards them. "Why don't we all come into the kitchen and discuss this calmly."
"There's nothing to discuss," Claire said fervently. "I'm going. End of story."
"As brave as that is, you don't even know where you're going and we aren't about to let you go off gallivanting into the unknown without talking it over and properly preparing you," Jill said firmly. "Now, let's all go into the kitchen and discuss this like adults."
With both the Redfields glaring at her back, they followed Jill into the kitchen where the others had been listening.
"I agree with Chris," Rebecca said as soon as they entered the room. "You can't go there alone. You have no idea what Leon is dealing with, and it has to be pretty damn bad if Leon is asking for help."
Claire sighed, exasperated. "I'm not dragging anyone else into this with me."
"You aren't dragging anyone, we're coming voluntarily," Chris said, plopping himself down in one of the chairs. "Leon knows better than to call my little sister for help and not expect me to hear about it."
Claire twisted her hands. "Fine, you're coming with me. Can we just get this figured out, the sooner we do this the sooner we can get over there." She looked at her watch, it had been eight minutes since he had called…she tried to keep her mind off all the things that could happen in eight minutes.
"I'm coming, too." Jill said.
"Oh, no you aren't," Chris said, turning to her. "You're staying right here."
"Excuse me, I think I'm old enough to make decisions on my own."
"You're age has nothing to do with it," Chris said straightening up. "You aren't going and that's final."
"Oh, so what was all that just now with Claire, you're allowed to tell everyone else what to do but we can't make up our own minds?" Jill said heating up.
"Enough!" Claire closed her eyes and took a deep breath. "Please, Leon is in trouble. And we need to help him." To her surprise, Jill and Chris stopped their bickering. "First thing's first, we need to figure out where these coordinates are." Claire pulled out the piece of paper from her pocket and placed it on the table.
"Good thing I always bring my laptop," Carlos muttered as he pulled out an impossibly thin computer from his bag.
"I have one in the back room," Claire muttered as Carlos pulled up a search engine.
"Let me see those coordinates again…." After a moment, he sighed heavily. "Of course."
"Where is it?" Sherry asked cautiously.
Carlos looked up at them grimly. "Romania."
Claire heart sank.
"Why isn't it ever Hawaii, or the Caribbean? No, it's always Romania, or some weird ass town in Spain, or freaking the middle of Africa," Chris grumbled.
"Yeah, well it gets better. The coordinates are roughly around the area of Targoviste, the old capital of Wallachia."
None of the information held meaning to Claire the way it did with Carlos, she looked at her companions who each wore similar blank expressions, except for Sherry.
"Targoviste? Why would they send him there?" Sherry asked, frowning.
"Beats me," Carlos shrugged.
"Excuse me, would anyone care to elaborate on what the hell Targoviste is?" Chris exclaimed.
"Oh, right. Sorry," said Carlos. "Targoviste is the old capital of Wallachia, the city Vlad the Impaler ruled in during the 15th century."
"Vlad the who?" asked Jill.
"Impaler," Carlos repeated. "He was known for impaling his subjects on wooden stakes. Supposedly that's how he warded of the Turks the first time they came a knockin', the land in front of his castle was covered with people impaled by the trees that used to stand there. Also, he's supposedly where the legend of Dracula originated from."
Claire placed her hand on her stomach, they had all seen things that made up nightmares, but it was always sickening to hear a tyrant choose to be so evil. Zombies, for the most part, never had a choice.
Carlos coughed loudly, "But I'm sure that has nothing to do with Leon. It's just…an interesting location. Full of history."
"Right…so how do we get to Leon? I have a feeling any commercial jet isn't going to let me take my firearms with me," Claire said. The adrenaline she had initially felt since Leon's phone call had worn off, leaving her to face the overwhelming reality of the situation. They had nothing to work with besides this location. She knew they had to make a plan, but she would much prefer to hop on the next plane to Targoviste and run in with her guns blazing until she found Leon and could get them the hell out. Zombies were easy, cut off their head, run away. But this…this could be anything.
Jill raised a delicate eyebrow, "Commercial? Come on, Claire, when's the last time we let you fly coach?"
Claire stared out the window of the plane as it passed over Eastern Europe. She had no way of knowing what country they were over, but judging by what time it was she guessed they were getting close to their destination. She had tried to sleep as much as she could during the flight, knowing that there would be no time to make up sleep once they reached Targoviste, but she wasn't very successful. Every time she closed her eyes, she heard Leon's broken voice, only this time it was accompanied by a movie playing in her mind with whatever he was fighting. It didn't help to think about what Rebecca had said, "it has to be pretty bad if Leon is asking for help."
She knew that he was more than prepared for anything the world had to throw at him, but Rebecca was right. He had to be pretty far in it if he was calling and asking her to come help him.
The plane jolted and Claire smacked her head against the window. "Ouch!" She sucked in a breath and rubbed her forehead.
"Careful, Claire. Jill and I can't have you fuzzy headed out there," Chris said from across from her.
"I think I'll survive," Claire said grimly.
"Let's hope so. We're going to have to keep it together out there."
Claire touched her Berretta lightly, as if to remind herself it was still there. They had brought enough guns and ammunition to fill a small weapons shop, but it never felt like enough to ease their nerves. They never knew what they were going to discover.
The plane continued to jostle them up until their descent not thirty minutes later. The small plane landed on the landing strip with a screech and the three of them began to gather their things. The pilot pulled into a dock and soon the plane's engine was cut. The two pilots stepped out of the cockpit and greeted them.
"Thanks for doing this, Jack, Aaron," Chris said, extending a hand to each of them.
The two nodded. "We'll be here when you return, just give us a call and we can be in the air and back towards the States in an hour."
"I like the sound of that," Jill said as they lined up to exit the plane.
An hour later, the three were walking the streets of Targoviste.
"Well, this doesn't look too zombie infested," Claire remarked as they took a look around the city. It looked old, dilapidated. Some of the buildings looked as though they had been partially restored, but mostly they were falling into disrepair.
"Don't say the Z word just yet," Jill murmured as they walked down the street. "I have a feeling that where Leon is it's not going to be directly in the city, but we need to have a look around just in case. Maybe get some clues if anything strange has been going on recently."
"Where do you want to start?" Claire asked, gazing at the various shops.
Chris shrugged. "Let's just start here and see where that gets us," Chris said as he ducked into a small medicinal shop.
Claire followed her brother into the store as he approached the counter.
"Hi, we were wondering if you could help us," Chris said, pulling out a photograph of Leon. "We're looking for our friend here," said Chris, pointing to the picture. "Have you seen him?"
The man stared at the photograph for a moment looking puzzled. "Ah, no, I no see this man," he said in a thick accent. "Police station…they have missing persons there," he said, pointing over his shoulder.
"Right," Chris put away the picture. "Do you mind if we asked you a couple questions? Has there been any strange activity in the town lately? Any disappearances, people acting differently?"
The man looked around his shop nervously. "No, no trouble here." He stepped out from behind his counter and began ushering them out of his store. "Police will help, but nothing here," he said, before slamming the door after them, flipping the open sign to closed and locking the door.
"That was definitely bizarre," said Claire as the three of them entered the streets again.
"Yeah, as soon as I mentioned 'strange activity'…he started acting strange."
"Do you think we should try the police station?" Claire asked.
"No," Chris responded immediately. "Whatever's going on I doubt that the local police have any idea. Or worse, they do and they're covering it up. Either way it's probably best not to let them know what we're up to."
"Do we even know what we're up to? Because as of right now we're just wandering around," said Claire irritably, readjusting her heavy backpack.
"If you have a place you'd like to start, I'd love to hear some ideas," Chris clipped back.
"Wait," said Jill, putting a hand on Claire and Chris' shoulders. "What about there?"
They had just rounded a corner and it was obvious what Jill was talking about. The buildings came to an abrupt stop, a densely green forest taking its place. Miles in the distance, with no discernable road leading to it, a large castle peaked out between the mountaintops.
Claire felt a chill ripple down her spine. "My spidey sense is tingling," she murmured.
"You aren't the only one. I'd say it's our best shot," said Chris.
Claire squared her shoulders, taking a deep breath. "Just hold tight, Leon, we're coming."
a/n-I apologize for any incongruities the story might pose with any other RE plotlines...it was just something that popped into my head one day and I thought I'd just run with it. Using a real place is also slightly worrisome, as I've never been to Romania I'm not sure what the landscape is like. I've done my best to research it as much as possible, but be aware that from here on out I'll be using a lot from my imagination. Please review, and constructive criticism is always always welcome...emphasis on constructive.