**A.N. I have no excuse this time. It's been years and I decided "that's it. Time to start writing again." so here we are. Sorry!**

Claire felt like she'd been crossing the bridge for over two years, and when it finally ended she saw nothing but disappointment. A metal staircase, no doubt leading to impending death, also blocked by fire, as well as some crates. Most of them were made of wood, and already on fire, but there was one conveniently made of metal.

I could just hop over the fire... thought Claire, but instantly knew that with her luck, her shoe would catch or she would trip on something and burn up. So, she walked over to the metal crate. She put her shoulder against it, sighed, and pushed.

Nothing moved but her feet, sliding on the wet dirt ground. She switched to her other shoulder, planted her feet, and tried again. Same results.

"Piece of shit crate...I will end you," she said. She put both palms flat on the crate and tried pushing it dead on, but it wouldn't budge. "COME ON! GIVE ME A GODDAMN BREAK HERE!" she yelled. She turned and sat down with her back leaning on the crate. She looked up as rain began falling on her face. "Ugh. Great." she said.

"Need a hand?" she jumped at the voice, looked around, and saw Steve standing on top of the metal stairs. "Or do you prefer sitting in the mud crying about it?"

"Fuck you, Steve, I'm not crying," said Claire.

"Not yet, anyway. Aren't you gonna ask how I got up here?" he asked.

"No."

"Well, while you were trying to push that crate, I hopped on the ledge down here," he pointed to a ledge below the staircase, "grabbed the rail, and climbed up. I can help you if you want?"

"I don't want any help from you," said Claire, standing and uselessly dusting off her jeans.

Steve sighed. "Look, I totally get the tough-girl act, but you'll die out here without my help. And I know you feel the same way," he said.

Claire looked up at him. "What I feel right now is annoyed," she said.

"Fine," said Steve, "be that way. I'll see you around, Claire." He hopped over the last step, out of Claire's view.

She looked down at the ledge and sighed. Gees, Claire, chill a bit huh? He doesn't seem so bad, she thought to herself. She walked over to the ledge, took a deep breath, and climbed up on it. It was so high, she couldn't see the ground below the bridge, so falling was definitely something to avoid.

Claire slowly stood on the ledge, reached up for the rail, and gasped as her shoe slipped on the wet cement. She felt herself falling, but suddenly stopped when someone grabbed her wrist. She shut her eyes, angry but relieved. "Steve?" she called out, keeping her eyes shut.

She felt herself get pulled up, amazed at his strength. She opened her eyes and looked up as she reached the top of the staircase, but Steve wasn't there. What she saw made her feel like falling would have been the best option.

The monster before her looked like nothing she'd ever seen, even in Raccoon City. It was over six feet tall, with only one giant arm longer than its body, all covered in veins. The hand at the end was still holding her wrist, and she was raised up past the staircase top and up into the air, her feet dangling into nothing.

The creature pulled her close to its face, which Claire thought looked a lot like a scrotum. It looked at her, mouth opened, but didn't make a sound. Claire was afraid to move, not that she could go anywhere, but couldn't look away from its eyes. Was this thing friendly?

Claire gasped when the creature pulled her even closer, staring at her. "H...Hi?" she said. She expected the sudden sound to set off the creature, but instead it shut its mouth.

When it opened it again, a sound came out, and Claire thought it sounded like words. She tried again. "Hello?" she said. The creature grunted, blinked, and made the same sound as before. It sounded like it was repeating what she was saying. If this was communication, she'd have to rush through it and find a way to get this thing to let her go. It was still holding her up by the wrist, and her shoulder was really starting to hurt.

"Are you...friendly?" Claire asked.

It tilted its head slightly to the side, and started lowering Claire to the ground. She felt relieved, but suddenly felt herself going up again, fast. She was throw away, slamming into a brick wall and falling to the ground. "Son of a bitch!" she said, holding her shoulder. She looked up just as a massive hand came at her and grabbed her by the face.

Unable to see, she was helpless as the creature lifted her up again and tossed her into the same wall. This time there was a crack and a sharp pain, and Claire hoped nothing was broken. She lifted her head and looked at the creature as it took a step towards her. She lowered her head, anticipating the grab, but instead heard gunfire. She looked up quickly and saw the creature get shot multiple times, knocking it back.

Steve ran into her view, holding two golden guns, shooting at the creature. It seemed dazed, and Steve gave it a solid kick, knocking it down over the staircase railing, and down below the bridge. He twirled his gun and looked at Claire, grinning. "You okay?" he asked.

"What the fuck was that?" asked Claire, pushing herself to her knees.

Steve walked over. "Dunno, but its head kind of looks like a scrotum," he said.

"RIGHT!?" said Claire. "I thought I was seeing things!"

Steve held his hand out to help her up, but she hopped to her feet on her own, hand on her shoulder. "So, you're welcome?" he said.

Claire sighed. "Alright...thanks, Steve," she said. "What took you so long?"

He shrugged. "I went inside since you didn't need help, but then I heard this weird growl and came out to see. Good thing I did, too," he said.

"Yeah, good thing...Look, I'm sorry I was a fuckass before, seems I could use a hand to get out of here," said Claire.

Steve smiled. "Damn right! You and me, we'll be like Batman and Robin!"

"No."

He frowned. "Not a Batman fan?" Claire shook her head, and Steve sighed. "This is gonna be lame..." he said. He walked over to the building he was in before, followed by Claire. There were several doors, so they went through the one to the left.

Claire looked around. "What's with all the lockers?" she asked.

"I think there's a pool around here," said Steve. "They kind of just toss us on this island, nobody really gets a tour."

"Wait, did you say island?" asked claire.

"Yep."

"We're on a fucking island?"

"Yep."

"As in a fucking island? With nothing but water around?" asked Claire, shaking her head. "No way!"

Steve looked at her. "Gees, denial much? You're on Rockford Island, babe, the prison island of no return," he said.

Claire grabbed his arm and shoved him against a locker. "Don't ever call me that again," she said.

Steve couldn't help but grin. "Relax, I was just joking around alright?"

She let his arm go and walked down the hall of lockers. "Whatever, let's just see where this leads," she said.

"I told you, I think there's a pool in here," said Steve, following.

"Ugh, it smells like rotten shit," said Claire.

Steve gripped his gun. "I don't think we're alone in here," he said.

Claire looked back at him. "No shit sherlock, we're two people. You can't be alone if there's two of us," she said.

He rolled his eyes. "Look smartass, I meant someone else is here. I think it's another prisoner," he said, pointing through a caged window.

Claire looked where he pointed and saw someone's shoulder sticking out from behind a doorframe. It looked like one of those steam rooms you see in spas. Along with Steve, she ducked down below the window, out of sight. "I don't think he knows we're here," she said.

"Yo check this out, I used this before to scare my cellmate, totally works," he said. He cleared his throat, and in a deeper voice said "hey scumbag, the hell you doin' out of your cell?"

Claire couldn't believe how much he actually sounded like a guard. He must've heard that a lot, she figured. "Don't think he heard you," she whispered.

Steve reached up and tapped his gun against the window. "Hey, you! Back in your cell, now!" he said.

There was a loud banging on the window and they both jumped away and saw the zombie, throwing his arm against the glass but staring vacantly into nothing. "I was afraid of that!" said Steve.

"So...he's a zombie. That guy was telling the truth," said Claire.

"What guy?" asked Steve.

"The guy who let me out...Ron something. He said there were zombies, but I didn't think it could happen again," she said.

"Again?" yelled Steve, keeping an eye on the window, hoping it wouldn't break.

"Yeah, like in Raccoon City. It was a tough night, and I really don't wanna deal with this shit again. Goddamn it, Chris," she said.

Steve grabbed her arm. "So many things you have to explain there, but for starters can we get the fuck out of here? That window doesn't look too strong!" he said.

"Just shoot it in the head," Claire said. "Shoot them all in the head."

He looked at her. "You're scary..." he said. The zombie realized the door was open, so it shuffled its way around and towards them.

"Shoot it!" said Claire.

Steve brought his guns up and fired, but there was nothing. "Oh shit!" he said.

"Damnit!" Claire jumped forward with the knife, and took a quick swipe at the zombie's legs. She heard the blade slice through skin, and the sudden attack knocked the zombie down on its back. Claire threw herself on top of it, sat on its stomach, and drove the tip of the blade right through its eye socket.

Steve stared in shock. "Je...sus...Christ...Who ARE you!?" he asked.

Claire looked back at him. "I'm Claire fucking Redfield," she pulled the knife out of the zombie's face without blinking, "and I fucking hate zombies." She casually wiped the blade on her jeans and stuck it in her belt. "Now what?" she asked.

Steve was still staring. "Jesus Christ!" he said.

She looked down at the zombie, and back to him. "What?" she asked.

"You're insane!" yelled Steve.

"What, this? This is nothing. You should see the shit I had to do in Raccoon..." she said.

"You really WERE in Raccoon City then? That's...I mean, that sucks, but it's kind of awesome!" said Steve. "What was it like?"

"If we wait around and tell campfire stories, more zombies will come, and then you'll see just how it was. Can we please get the fuck out of here?" she asked.

Steve tossed his empty guns to the floor and nodded. "Good point...let's check this pool out anyways, these guys kept a lot of shit all over the place so maybe we'll find something useful?" he said.

Claire reached down and grabbed something off the zombie. "Something like this key here?" she asked, waving the key up to him.

"Sweet! Now we need to find the door!" said Steve.

They left the pool area, not bothering to look inside. Back in the main building, Claire looked next to the door that was directly across from them. "You check that out, I'll head to those stairs over there and see what's upstairs," she said.

"Is it a good idea to split up?" asked Steve.

Claire sighed. "From experience I can tell you that we'll cover way more ground in way less time if we do, and who knows maybe we'll run into another survivor," she said.

"I doubt that," said Steve.

She grinned. "You'd be surprised how often it happens," she said. "Look, how about this...I'll go upstairs and just look around real quick, check out how many more rooms are up there, and come back down. Then we can check the rest together, okay?" she said.

Steve nodded and walked to the door. "Don't get grabbed by anything up there," he said with a smirk on his face.

Claire headed for the stairs, looked back and rolled her eyes. "You get grabbed ONE TIME and everyone's on your case," she said. They both laughed and went their own way.