Disclaimer: Resident Evil and its characters are all property of Capcom Inc.

Resident Evil

Eden Project

By Marie B.

: First chapter: My friend, my Steve

It hurt. It hurt a lot. Claire Redfield came suddenly with the conclusion that the sky had fell down on her. Her head felt as if it were empty and just thinking made her wince in pain. She dared to open her eyes just to realize that she was kept captive in a sort of…torture room. The girl gulped and a shiver ran through her as she looked around her. There were various kinds of devices, each one seeming more painful than the other. As she tried to move, Claire sadly realized that she was tied to a metal chair. She sighed in utter frustration, thinking about how she could get away from that insane place.

Steve!

She was stupid. She completely forgot for a few seconds that she was with her male companion when that tentacle-thingy attacked them in the snowmobile. She tried to calm herself, closing her eyes. Obviously, Steve wasn't in the same room as she was. So, it was evident that he was somewhere else. But…where was she, anyway? Back to the base? Probably. The tentacle had come from where they had escaped. And who the hell took them back? Maybe Alfred wasn't dead, after all. Maybe he wanted to play more with them. These thoughts gave Claire the creeps as she continued to survey the room in which she was kept prisoner. That cross-dressing was crazy enough to torture her to death, or even worse…to rape her. The girl made a grimace. She had to escape no matter what. Then, she would go find Steve, kill a second time the bastard if they have the chance and go far away from that place. That plan sounded good to her. The first thing now to think about was how she would escape from the binds that were crushing her against the chair. She didn't have any weapon or anything sharp near her. Her strength alone wasn't enough to break the binds. She wasn't WonderWoman, anyway. In her pockets, she only had the lockpick that Rodrigo gave her on the island.

"Wow…a lockpick…How about a butter knife?" she thought sarcastically.

Knife? Man, was she having memory issues? She couldn't help herself to not laugh. Why didn't she think about it before? She was always keeping a small knife hidden in her boots. She just had to lean down a bit, drive her hand into her right boot and taa daa! The only thing remaining was to be able to cut through the thick ropes binding her. It won't take mere seconds and she sincerely hoped that Steve could wait for her.

"Please…let him be okay," she said to herself.

Claire was lucky. There weren't many zombies in what seemed to be a mansion which curiously made her remember the police station of Raccoon City and the Ashford manor on Rockfort Island. She had found her precious handgun in the torture room before she left. A boost of hope made its way through her body. She only feared that Steve didn't have as much luck as she did. She wandered in luxurious corridors, nice paintings hanging on the walls as decoration. She was so in thought that she barely noticed the giant tentacle coming from one of the paintings. It hit her hard on her right side, sending her flying on the floor. A small cry of pain escaped her lips. She quickly turned back to see the monster. It looked like the tentacle that attacked the snowmobile. The girl didn't waste time, unloading her gun into the flesh of the disgusting thing. After five shots, the tentacle returned to where he had come from. Exhaling, Claire got on her feet. Her right side ached like hell. She hoped she didn't have broken ribs, but it was the last of her worries when she heard a painful cry not far from where she stood. It was Steve, she was more than sure of it. It was Steve and he was in pain. Without thinking, she pushed her legs forward, heading for the door at the end of the corridor. Was she too late? After what seemed to be hours, she finally reached the door, pushed it open with all her might and found herself in another place, completely different from the luxurious corridors. It was dark and smelled like rotten meat. There were prisoner cells, various kinds of weapons, stairs and a metallic door. Her instinct immediately told her that Steve was surely behind that door. And through it she went.
The air was cold and made her shiver. It was dark but she could see an opening in the square-formed room in which she just entered. As she slowly walked towards the opening, she heard a soft click. She turned her head back and noticed that the sound came from the metallic door. She cursed under her breath. Perfect, she was trapped. The exit was without any doubt locked. She didn't have any choice, but to move forward. The opening led to a narrow passageway, metal armours standing on each side of it. Claire slowly breathed. She had the feeling that these armours were watching her, waiting to jump on her like predators. The grip around her handgun tightened and gave her enough courage to keep on walking.

"Steve…?" she barely whispered, as if she didn't want anyone else to hear her. She didn't receive any response. Her feet continued to move on their own, leading her to the end of the corridor. She suddenly stopped on her track, gasping loudly. Her mouth went dry and her legs were trembling. Half of it was hidden in the shadows, but she could still clearly see that the body trapped on a metallic chair by large binds belonged to her companion. He wasn't moving. Claire bit her lower lip. She couldn't move anymore. She was frozen into place. After what she had lived since a few days, it was the first time that she was afraid, unimaginably afraid. Was he…?

Before slumping even more into her despair, she managed to hear a soft groan from the boy in front of her. It quickly brought her back to her senses. She tried to speak; only an uncertain sound came out from her mouth.

"Steve?" she said, loud enough for the boy to hear.

Steve slowly raised his head, groaning in pain. "Claire…?" he managed to say, his voice hoarse and low. A smile found its way on Claire's face once again as she moved towards the chair. She noticed a red button beside it and quickly pushed it. The binds that held the boy retreated back, but there was still an obstacle to his freedom: a huge axe. With all her strength, Steve helping her, Claire tried to remove it, but it was pinned too deeply in the wall. She emitted a long frustrated groan, panting heavily.

"No! I can't do it!"

The young man wasn't saying anything. The brunette examined him rapidly. He was abnormally pale, his eyes staring at nothing, sweat shimmering on his forehead and on his neck. What the hell happened to him? She dared to put her hand on his shoulder, catching his attention. She was clearly uncomfortable.

"Who did this to you? Was it Alfred?" she asked, anger in her voice.

Steve shook his head slowly. With a great amount of efforts, he managed to speak. "That crazy woman…told me she was going to perform…the same experiment on me…that she did on her own father…She injected me with something…She's completely insane…uurghhh…" his sentence ended up into a ragged gasp. Something was happening to him and it was far from being good. His breathing became faster, his eyes were darting everywhere and he started to sweat a lot. Claire didn't know what to do. She didn't know what was happening and it was scaring her.

"What's wrong?" she shakily asked, putting her hands each side of his face. He was horribly hot. It was almost burning her hands, but she didn't let go, staring into his eyes which showed pain and terror. She could see him clenching his teeth that were strangely longer and pointier than before. An inhuman growl from his throat surprised her and she didn't realize that he suddenly shove her back violently with a simple move of his arm.

"Don't touch me!" he growled loudly. The girl was so astonished that she almost fell on her butt. She started to tremble uncontrollably. She could clearly see the deadly fangs in Steve's mouth. Terrified, she came to the conclusion that the young man in front of her wasn't Steve anymore. It wasn't human anymore. Whatever it was now, it was shaking violently, claws coming out from its fingers. The angry look on its face changed to a more scared one and Claire recognized Steve's voice as it spoke, pleading for her help.

"Claire! Help…me…Claire…help me…Clair-" What sounded like her name ended into a bloody groan. The girl assisted with utter terror at Steve's painful cries and pleas. She was petrified and tears were on the edge of falling down her cheeks. Suddenly, Steve's neck broke in a sickening sound, blood gushing vividly from it. Instinctively, Claire put her hands over her mouth as she was about to vomit. Steve's body continued to shake as it rapidly transformed, becoming larger and longer. His soft and warm creamy skin turned into a rough, thick and green one with scales like a snake. Bone-like excrescences erupted from his left shoulder, shining in the light like some sort of armour. The Redfield girl continued to watch the scene, unable to do anything, but to cry in total despair for her friend, her companion, her Steve to return to his old self.

"Steve!" she shouted as loud as her vocal cords could allow her. It was stupid and she knew it. It was stupid because Steve was no more. There only stood a 7 foot tall monster in front of her. She had to run, to escape. The green beast lifted up its head and pierced through Claire's body with its red crimson eyes, holding the now noticeable giant axe between its claws. The girl was even more convinced to run away, knowing that the boy she knew wouldn't look at her with such killing-intended eyes. It hurt. It really hurt. Claire never thought she would feel such intense pain as she turned away and commanded the hardest she could her legs to run like hell.

She couldn't say she was lucky, but as she was running like there was no tomorrow, she noticed that the monster didn't react immediately. It watched her running a few meters before it decided to chase after her, always with that goddamned axe. She could hear the weapon whistling through the air as the tyrant was swinging it from side to side, hitting the armours in a big sound ruckus. As she ran the fastest she could down the passageway, she noticed a metal gate coming down rapidly. If she didn't make it on time, she would be stuck with a raging beast ready to shred her into tiny pieces.

Only a few more meters and she would be safe. She suddenly let out of cry of terror and surprise when she felt the axe tearing her red vest from her back. She didn't realize first, but it was good thing because it pushed her forward with a great amount of force and helped her pass through the gate before it closed. It was really painful, but Claire managed to roll on her back. She made it. The monster was locked on the other side of the gate. Though, she soon realized that she wasn't completely safe. The door behind her was still locked, and what used to be Steve was hitting the gate with forceful swings. It wouldn't take much time before the gate would be ripped off. She was trapped like a mouse. She was defenceless, terrified and shaking like a dead leaf. Her back against the cold wall, she could only look with desperate eyes the once boy she had grown of, who she had started to get really fond of, smashing the gate with raging power. It wanted blood. It wanted her blood. Claire finally decided that nothing worse could happen to her.

She was wrong.

To be continued…
"Author's notes: (checks her pulse) No, I'm not dead. And I'm back with a new fresh story. A story quite depressing and mature, you'll see in the other chapters…I'll keep it rated Teen for the moment, but I may change it to Mature in the next chapters, it will depend on my mood. I came up with this story when I was seriously thinking about the story of RECV (yes, it's one of my hobbies :P) and how were acting the characters towards each other (Steve and Claire for example). I won't say more though; you'll have to wait for the next chapter. I hope you liked this first chapter. I wanted to describe largely that scene in which Steve transforms and how Claire reacts to that situation. I think I did a pretty good job. Anyway, leave a review like always. It's really appreciated. Later."