Section 2: At the Diner

Chris and Claire sat in a booth in the corner of the dining room. Chris had told Claire not to worry about going out in public, but at the same time, he didn't want the world to know that they existed, which is why they sat so far back. The waiter and come and gone. They ordered both their drinks and food at the same time. As much as Chris wanted to let Claire get out of the apartment for a bit, he didn't want them staying to long. Chris took a sip of his water and took a deep breath. Time to address the issue.

"Claire, there's something I've wanted to ask you since Antarctica."

Claire folded her hands on the table. "What is it?" she asked.

"When I couldn't get to you through that locked door, I heard you crying. You never said what happened to Steve. After I hit the self destruct system, I never got a chance to ask. When Wesker grabbed you and said that he had Steve, I saw you change. Ever since this happened, you haven't been the same. What happened?"

Chris saw her hands tighten and her lower lip quiver. She was chewing the inside of it. Avoiding his eyes, she looked at the collar of his Polo shirt. "I don't think we should talk about that here," she said softly. "there's too many people around."

Chris remained firm. "Claire, whatever happened, you need to talk to me about it. If you just keep it hidden, it'll start to hurt more. Now talk to me, I'm your brother."

Claire's actions didn't change, although she chewed the inside of her lip a little harder. Chris saw that her eyes were getting moist. She finally started to talk, her voice trembling at first.

"M-Me and Steve were...close. I met him on Rockfort, but you knew that. I always thought he was a jerk at first. Then he...saved me...when I was attacked, twice." Claire was trying to keep her voice low. The combined strain of this and the emotion she was feeling was causing her voice to shake. She breathed deeply and regained her composure and continued.

"The second time he rescued me, he shot his own father...I mean, he was a zombie, but still... We escaped in a plane, but Alfred had reprogrammed the auto-pilot, and we crashed in the Antarctic base. We almost made it out when we were attacked by Alexia. We got separated. That's when you found me."

Claire took a drink of water and regained herself again. "When you hurt your leg, you told me to go on ahead and save him. Well, I found him...but Alexia had injected him with...something." Claire was now desperately fighting back tears, and her voice shook again. "When I f-found him, he transformed and...and tried to kill me...He almost did, but at the last minute, he recognized m-me, and save me from one of Alexia's tentacles. She k-k-k-killed him."

Claire buried her face in her arms and locked her fingers behind her head, and began to cry. She wasn't sobbing, but Chris knew she wasn't trying to make a scene. He could see her back rising and falling as she cried. She spoke into the table.

"He said that he loved me."

Chris reached out and put his hand on her arm.

"So that's it. She loved him. I'm such a bastard for digging that up, but it had to be done. I hope you can forgive me Claire," he thought. "I'll help you through this"

Claire raised her head. Her blue eyes sparkled with tears.

"Excuse me," she squeaked and got up and headed to the bathroom, leaving Chris with her jacket and the puddle of water on the table top...

Section 3: Claire in Distress

"Thank God this place is empty," Claire thought. The bathroom was completely devoid of life except her. She dried her eyes and splashed water on her face, then dried it. As horrible as she felt about what she told Chris, she actually felt better. He was right; getting it off your chest was better than keeping it in. She looked at herself in the mirror. She was a wreck. Her face and eyes were red, and some of her hair had become frazzled. She undid her hair from it's usual ponytail and tied it back again. Instead of looking at her beaten reflection, she looked down at the water circling into the drain. She heard the door open behind her.

"I better get back to Chris," she thought. "I shouldn't be alone for to long."

As she left the sink, a big arm reached around and grabbed her head. Claire's lower face was buried in the crook of it's elbow. Instinctively, she reached up and grabbed it, trying to pull it free. The arm pulled her away from the mirror. Claire caught a glimpse of the owner of the arm in the reflection. It was a man in a black coat.

"Oh God, I'm being attacked!"

She tried to scream, but the man's arm acted as a vice, holding her jaw shut. She let out a muffled squeal as one of her arms pulling at his was twisted behind her back. She could feel his body behind hers and holding her tight, preventing her from flailing about. As Claire thrashed around, she lifted a leg and kicked at the sink in front of her. Her shoe knocked off the handle of the tap. She kicked again and pushed against the porcelain. Claire and her assailant were forced back, hitting the opposite wall of the bathroom and the towel dispenser. She heard him grunt as they piled into it and knocked it off the wall. He still held onto her. Claire tried to pull away as he adjusted his grip on her arm, but his arm wrenched her head back painfully. She shoved against the wall with her leg again and this time they hit the end of the bathroom stalls. The wall of the stall dented from their weight, but held fast.

The man released her arm, but Claire couldn't pull it from behind her back. It was pulled painfully up across her back and pinched against the man's chest. Her remaining arm clawed wildly at the hold on her head as she tried to scream again. She felt something sharp prick the side of her neck. Instantly, a wave of numbness spread like water over her neck and moved down her shoulder and up her face. Claire's jaw went slack as she lost feeling in it. The man must have injected her with something! The numbness stopped spreading, but Claire's vision was getting fuzzy. Her muscles grew more and more relaxed, then went slack. Her eyes rolled into the back of her head and she slipped unconscious.

The man released his hold on her, and let her fall unceremoniously to the floor...

Section 4: Opening Moves

Chris sat with his head propped against his arm, completely lost in thought. He was thinking about what Claire had told him. He still hated himself for bringing her to talk. It would take him awhile to come to terms with it.

"I guess it's because I'm her brother," he thought. "That's why I'm so conscious about it. She needed to get it out of her, and I feel bad for causing her pain."

Chris knew this was stupid. The pain in her heart was already there. What happened in Antarctica wasn't' his fault, but all the same, he felt responsible for not being their when Claire needed her the most. He just hoped Claire wouldn't hold anything against him. He frowned, and looked at his watch.

"She's been in the bathroom for ten minutes. What's keeping her?" he thought. Even after their talk, Claire should have been back right now. He stood up and hurried across the dining room. Already he had a bad feeling. The bathrooms were back by the entrance, and he couldn't see them from where he was sitting. He knocked on the ladies door.

"Claire, are you in there?" he called through the door. There was no answer. He stuck his head cautiously in the door (it was the ladies room), then walked inside. It was empty; Claire wasn't in any of the stalls. Chris's heart beat faster.

"Where is she?"

He was on his way out of the ladies room when he stepped on something that crunched. He looked down and saw a medical syringe on the tiled floor. He picked it and took a closer look. The plunger on it broke off when he stepped on it. The Umbrella company logo was embedded on the side, and it had a short needle. Chris ran his finger along the side of the needle, and a thin line of blood stayed on his finger. This needle was used recently. He looked up and saw the broken tap, then the smashed towel dispenser. There had been a struggle here. Chris's eyes widened.

"Shit! Claire!" He bolted through the bathroom door, then straight out the front door of the restaurant. He barreled into a man walking in. Chris roughly pushed him out of the way. The man nearly fell over from Chris's violent assault as he rushed passed.

"Dickhead!" he shouted at Chris as he ran into the parking lot. He stopped and whirled around looking for signs of his sister. There were no cars leaving the lot, but more were coming in. The station wagon was still there. It seemed that Claire had vanished into thin air.

"Fuck!" Chris swore. It had to be Umbrella. God, what was he thinking tonight! Why did he and Claire go out?

"Why did I have to take her out and talk to her? I put her in danger! FUCK!"

Now Claire was gone. He had to get Jill and Barry. But what could they do? They had no leads or any idea were Claire might be.

"Or it could be a trap by Umbrella." Chris saw it unfold in his mind. He could be watched right now. They would follow him to Jill and Barry, then they would all be dead. There were too many possibilities for Chris to think of. He took the most logical one. Umbrella took Claire, so they could get to him and his friends. Why they didn't go straight for him was a mystery. All he could do was play their game. He already knew what their next move would be. Claire had a cell phone. It had just one number on it: his. If they wanted him, they would call, and he would come. He swore that before they would even think about hurting Claire, he would kill them all.

Even if it killed him.