Sherry hadn't expected being questioned mid flight on the chartered plane back to the States, Leon had pulled strings to get the flight back early. Anders was seated across from her, Claire was seated with Leon, the two talking quietly while Chris and Sheva were up in the cabin talking with the pilot.
"Rules were you weren't to question me without Chris or Leon within earshot." She didn't know why but something about how Anders had been acting since they had gathered for breakfast had her on edge.
"And if you think I'm letting you out of my sight until we talk forget it."
Leon caught her moving back a little and more.
"Claire, why don't you take Sherry up with Chris," He whispered to her.
Claire nodded getting up smiling. "Hey Sherry, we haven't gotten to talk yet, how about we go get some coffee."
"Yeah sure, coffee sounds good." The younger girl stood carefully.
"You okay?" Claire asked once they were away from him.
"Yeah, I'm fine, it's just he's a tad creepy, reminds me of some of the security team leaders." She leaned against the wall as they got to the kitchenette on the plane. Leon had pulled major strings, the plane was better than the ones she was used to flying in. "Thanks Claire. I have a feeling if he kept it up I might have lost it."
"You can always refuse the conversation with him you know, until we get on the ground. Leon, Chris and Sheva all have special clearance and can get us through the checkpoint."
Sherry accepted the cup offered to her. "It's tempting, but I did promise, and I don't want to break them. Wesker would do that to me all the time. Promised he'd let me go to public schools, hell I had to graduate collage on line." She held the cup in both hands.
"We should have looked for you. Leon was told you were going to live with a relative. He thought it was best if we didn't try to communicate with you. One of us should have had a normal life after that."
"You didn't have a choice, and I… I left to keep you and Leon safe. Wesker said if I didn't go…" She didn't look up. "I couldn't repay the two of you for getting me out of there with letting him kill you. It's why I leaked information to your brother actually. Whenever I could, to try to lead him on the path to help me kill Wesker," She looked up after a moment. "I just wish that I could have known about his bosses before then." One hand went up to the marking on her neck.
"You'll be safe from them Sherry."
How can I tell her I won't ever be free; they have reach in high places. Graham too, Ashley wasn't supposed to make it back. Leon was supposed to stay infected. And I lost one of my better operatives in that fiasco. Sherry hadn't exactly sent Luis, but felt responsible for his death because she had told him what they had been planning.
"Sherry?"
"Sorry, just thinking. You're right; we'll be able to bring them down. Until then I just have to keep giving their little splinter companies bad reps right? You're still with Terra Save right?"
"Yes, why?" Claire looked at the younger woman who smiled a little at her.
"Because I know of a few of their facilities that they have open to the public. The research done at them is all weak research, nothing military grade. That way there wont be a possibility of anyone getting infected." She let her grin fade.
"It's true about that then isn't it?"
"The shot when I got sick in Raccoon… It slowed the infection. I'm not going to change forms like my father did though. Wesker tried to get me to change soon after I was taken." She kept her head down.
Claire wasn't sure what to say.
"It's alright; you didn't know what would happen. I don't think Dad or Mom did either." Sherry smiled at her. "I don't blame you or Leon for this. You both did what you could, it wasn't easy." She set her cup to the side and hugged Claire. "And so you know, hearing Wesker bitch about you and your brother messing up his plans, hell even Leon messing with things helped me while I was there. Gave me the courage to fight against him," She pulled back grinning a little. "Never told him though, it would have put you all in danger."
"You should have had the childhood we thought you were having though."
"Yeah, well, what sort of life would that have been when you saw what I did at that age." She picked up her cup again. "I would have been watched by the military. At least with Wesker, if there was a situation where I lost control, someone was there that could handle it. Allowed me to come to terms with what I am. Though really I wouldn't wish this on anyone else, I can tell when I need to eat, normal people start smelling good enough to eat." She sighed. "And so you know, I have never done that okay? I'm scared if I give in I'll become a monster."
Claire shook her head. "You're not a monster. You never could be one." She did frown though, whatever Wesker had done to her had really messed Sherry up. "It'll be okay, we'll fix things. Becky'll probably spend whatever free time she has when she gets back working on the medical side of it."
"Only person who could probably fix what was done to me is my father, and he's dead." She yelped when they hit turbulence almost making her spill coffee on herself. Claire hadn't been so lucky, burning her hand.
"Ow fuck."
"Language," Sherry giggled reaching into the mini fridge for an icepack catching Claire's mock glare at her.
"Sorry about that, the pilot came on the radio. "Should probably strap in, we're going to have to punch through this storm."
"Well at least we have warning." Sherry headed back to the seats with Claire, the two changing topics to music. Claire fell into a seat next to them determined to help keep Sherry calm around Anders.
Sherry closed her eyes a moment and turned to him. She knew she needed to talk to him, and she hated rough flights, may as well pass the time. "Leon, you want to come over here too? Figure I better get this over with."
