Claire left the office and headed back to the first floor. She checked the computer again. Minimized on the tool bar below was a program labeled 'DOOR LOCKS.' She opened the window up and looked at the program. The last command entered was a lockdown of all electronically locked doors. The program now prompted her to enter in an ID number to unlock them. She took the security card out of her pocket. She looked at the back again and punched in NTC0394 into the prompt. The computer processed her command, then a message appeared on the screen. The doors were unlocked. An audible click over her shoulder confirmed it.
Claire went through the previously locked door. Ahead of her down the hall were finally signs of the attack: three zombies shuffled slowly towards her. Claire pulled out her twin guns and fired. The gunfire was much louder in the tiled hallway than it had been in the prison. Claire's ears were ringing by the time they fell. Their thick, coagulated blood slowly seeped out from their oozing wounds. Claire tried not to step in it as she stepped over the corpses. Further down the hall, she found two more doors. One was locked. Claire entered the other.
She was now inside a media room. A large projection screen hung on one wall. Along the room were several display cases, each housing different set of items. Some had guns, another had knives. One had a large jewel encrusted statue of an ant. Claire admired how gorgeous and well crafted it was. Below the case was a button. Claire pushed it. The lights dimmed, and a the projection screen lit up. Claire strode over to the center of the room and watched.
It was an old movie. The beginning was damaged by over exposure, and the edges of the film constantly wavered. It eventually focused, and depicted a pair of young children, a boy and a girl. Both of them had blond hair. The boy's was neatly combed over, while the pretty girl displayed her long hair flowing down her back and cascading over her shoulders. A gentle music box played somewhere in the back. The scene shifted from this loving scene to a horrible act of cruelty. The boy was plucking a helpless dragonfly's wings off. The girl looked anxiously over his shoulder, then directly at the camera and grinned. The look in her eyes sent a chill down Claire's back. The boy in the movie dropped the crippled dragonfly in a jar. The girl came to watch as the camera shifted to what was inside of it. A hill of ants swarmed over the wound insect. The movie ended with the children looking lovingly into each others eyes.
Claire made a face of disgust. "Who were they?" she wondered. A low groan of shifting wood made her jump. One of the displays in the room was sliding forward, revealing a secret compartment. Inside were more displays, all themed with nautical equipment. Model ships and maps adorned the cases along the wall. The room was very small, only a few square feet. At the end a golden wonder drew Claire's attention. On an ornamental gold plaque was a pair of handguns. Claire recognized them to be Lugers. The handles were richly decorated, and the entire guns seemed to be made out of solid gold. Claire plucked them off the wall.
The sound of shifting wood resonated again as the display case slid back. Claire was trapped. Near the ceiling and floor, heaters snapped on and turned red hot. Instantly, the room was sweltering. Claire could hardly breathe in the hot air. Quickly she put the Lugers back. The heaters turned off and the display case opened again. Cool air rushed in.
"This room is rigged," she realized. She figured everything in this room was valuable, and would produce a similar result if taken. "Damn! How can I get these out?" she thought. She decided to leave them there for now. They would be safe enough. On her way out of the room, Claire saw a ship's steering wheel propped against the wall. She recognized it from the inscription on the platform by the pool. Cautiously, she picked it up, half expecting a dart to shoot into her neck, but nothing happened. She exited the media room with the wheel. It was time she took a closer look at that pool.
Back at the palace doors, Claire was about to leave when a scream echoed through the lobby. Claire turned her head. The sound of it was familiar to her...
"Steve?!" she called. There was no response. The scream had originated from the media room. Claire dropped the steering wheel and bolted for the door to the hall. She vaulted over the zombies she had shot. The pool of blood had spread, and she slipped and almost fell in it when she landed. Claire burst through the media room door. An alarm was ringing out and lights were flashing. The projection screen had risen, revealing a set of monitors. One of them showed Steve banging on the closed display.
"He's panicking," Claire realized. She yelled for him to replace the guns, but Steve didn't hear her. Desperately, Claire looked at the panels in front of her. "There must be some way to open the door!"she thought. She pressed a few of the switches. Various images lit up: a gun, a knife, and an ant. Nothing happened. Steve had fallen to his knees in the room. Claire knew she had to hurry.
A message on the control panel stood out. "When two pairs meet, my anger will subside," it said. Once again, Claire was at the mercy of Umbrella's twisted puzzles.
"Two pairs...two pairs...what two pairs?" she thought. The picture of the ant flashed on the screen. She looked to her right and saw the beautiful gold ant statue. She looked the other way and saw the case of knives. All the tumblers in Claire's head fell into place. The screens had pictures of what was in the displays. Which two were the same?
"Guns, knives, ant, boats, guns, and planes... the guns!" her mind cried out. She quickly punched both corresponding switches. The alarm and lights switched off and the display case rolled forward. Steve tumbled out of the room. He was breathing hard and his face was streaked with sweat.
"That was too close!" he panted, doubling over. "But I found something, thanks to...you." he said hesitantly, sounding as if he regretted it. He aimed the Lugers he now held in his hands. "Pretty cool, huh?"
The gold Lugers reflected in Claire's blue eyes. "Oh, I need those. Give them to me." she said, sounding a bit like mother trying to coerce a child into handing over a stolen dessert. Steve scoffed.
"You've got to be kidding!" he responded. "I found it, and I'm keeping it."
Claire narrowed her eyes. He saw that she wasn't messing with him. She really wanted those guns.
Steve rolled his eyes. "Fine. Let's make a deal. I'll trade you for something fully automatic." he offered.
Claire sighed. She didn't have anything that fit his description. Steve shrugged.
"See you around Claire. Adios!" With that, he jogged out the door.
Claire called after him. "Hey, wait!" but he was already gone. She sighed in exasperation again. He was making things so difficult for both of them. She left the room to try and catch up with Steve, but he was already out of sight, and his footsteps faded away.
Back in the entry hall, Claire headed to pick up the steering wheel she had discarded. A flicker of red appeared near her feet. Claire stopped and turned around. The red light was a hazy dot. It weaved in between her legs, crawling up her form. Claire gasped as she realized what it was.
"Laser sight!" She dove to left as the dot centered on her forehead. The laser had swept over her one of her eyes, blinding it. A loud shot echoed in the hall. Whatever gun it was, the high caliber bullet it fired left a smoking hole where Claire stood. As she dove, a second shot was fired. This one landed near her feet, destroying more tile as it entered. Claire scrambled behind a pillar near the bathroom door and pressed her back against it. She had caught a glimpse of the shooter; he was standing on the staircase balcony. A high pitched voice rang out after the gunshot had echoed away.
"Redfield! How DARE you interfere with my operation!" it shouted, infuriated.
"What are you talking about?" Claire shouted back. She drew her gun and held it close to her chest. She knew she was at a disadvantage. The shooter had a better weapon, and had the drop on her. By the time she could line up a shot with her handgun, he would have sunk a round right between her eyes.
"You let yourself be captured so you could lead your people to this base!"the shooter yelled. Claire could hear the quiver in his voice. He was absolutely shaking with anger.
"I have no idea what you're babbling about!" Claire retorted.
"You don't fool me!" Claire peeked around the corner. She saw the shooter clearly. He was wearing a red military dress uniform. He was young, about her age, with blond hair combed over. Claire thought he looked familiar, but she knew that they had never met. He lowered the sniper rifle he was holding and raised his arm, as if to salute himself. "I am Alfred Ashford, commander of this base." Ironically, he was standing in front of a large portrait of himself that Claire had failed to notice earlier. He raised the rifle again, and Claire pulled her head back.
"Oh? You must be one of Umbrella's lower level officers to be in charge of a backwater base like this one!" she taunted. It might not have been the best thing to do in her current situation.
A loud 'crack' sounded. Alfred had smashed the butt of his rifle on the banister of the staircase, splintering it. "How dare you!?" he snarled. "The Ashfords are among the world's first and finest. My grandfather was one of the original founders of Umbrella Inc." He walked down the staircase, casually telling Claire his lineage.
"Now tell, me why have you attacked this installation?" he asked.
Claire sputtered. "Attacked?!" she asked incredulously. "This is ridiculous. If he really is in charge of this base, and if he is so high and mighty in Umbrella, then he should know who I am, especially if I infiltrated the Paris lab. I had nothing to do with this." she thought.
Alfred explained it to Claire. "Shortly after you arrived, my base was attacked. You must have informed your people of it's location." He was now midway down the staircase
Looking around the edge of the pillar, Claire saw him. She quickly slid around it, putting the stone between her and his rifle. "I still don't follow you. I really don't know anything about that!" she tried to explain to him. She doubted that he would believe her.
"Unacceptable!" Alfred cried. "How can you deny it? My base has been destroyed, and thanks to you, the experimental T-virus was released, creating countless zombies and monsters."
He shouldered the rifle again and looked down the scope. "Tell me, who do you work for? Who sent you?"
Claire ventured another peek around the edge of the pillar. The red laser sight flashed in her eye again. Alfred fired. She pulled her head back into cover as the bullet took a piece out of the stone right next to her head. She could feel the bits of rock against her cheek. Luckily, nothing hit her eye or cut her.
Alfred let out a light chuckle. "Have it your way then. You're just a rat in a cage anyway. I'll be sure to keep you entertained before I dispose of you." He laughed shrilly, and Claire, now smart enough to not look, heard footsteps going back up the stairs. She heard a door open then close. Claire waited for a few minutes and listened. She was sure she didn't hear anything. Cautiously, she came out from behind the pillar. He was gone.
Quickly, she ran the the door, picking up the steering wheel in the process, and ran to the platform by the pool.
