Chapter 9: Saving Sherry

Leon and Claire climb back to the top as they look down where Trenchy, Ada and Annabelle laid at the bottom. The computer went off again, warning them. "Leon, we're really out of time." Claire states and turns to him as he handed said a word since they got back to the time, "You stay here and I'll get the vaccine for Sherry's vacc-" Claire states, but Leon shook his head.

"It's too dangerous. I'll go with you and besides, Annabelle asked me to get Sherry the vaccine." Leon tells her as he finally spoke, Claire nods at him, "Thanks." she said and they started to walk. "Let's do this." he said as they were out of the furnace room, "I don't know what's going on here, but I don't think time is on our side." Claire informs him. The door open and Zombie stood in their way, they fired at them and the zombie's dropped. They walk through the doors and down the hall. The turn and saw the dead bodies smug against the sides. Walking pass them, the reach the end, but two zombies drop down and make the two jump back, "Get out of my way! Move!" he orders them as they fired at the zombies and moved forward, but the zombies on the sides stood up and the two ran and make a left and they fired at the zombie that block their path, Claire then turns around. "Leon, they're coming from behind too!" Claire shouts as she fires at them.

They ran forward to the door and turn and looks at the herd behind them, "Great! Do I really have to waste my bullets on you guys!" Leon questions them and they step into the elevator and the door closes as they went up. Claire looks over at Leon as he was leaning against the wall "I hope Sherry's alright." Claire wonders aloud, "She ran all the way here and did just fine." Leon said and then sighs. "Look, it won't take much longer. She'll be alright." Leon assures him as the doors open. "Yeah, I guess." Claire agrees and they ran through the hall. But then zombies block their path and they fired at them and continued forward, Claire peeks out and saw the coast was clear. "We need to find the entrance to the lab." Claire states and Leon nods. "Yeah, lets go." he said and they ran to the door, it slides open and they step in as Zombie were walking towards them, "Guess it's not going to be that easy." he states as Claire fires at them. "I'm gonna kick their asses." she snaps with rage in her eyes. Then a spider jumps down and they fired at it. It drops dead and they continued forward.

Then they turn as the zombie were blocking their path to Sherry and Jacob, they fired at then, then turn back as zombies were waiting for them in the center room and they fired at them as well. "Lets see what's back there!" Leon states and then they ran to a door.

~8~8~8~

Annette ran to a down a hall but stop when William drops down onto the ground, making her turn and looks at him. He was more mutated then before, hardly anything human left in him. He walks towards her "William!" Annette shouts as he steps back, "Don't you recognize me? I'm your wife, Annette." she said and showed him the ring.

William stops as he looks at the ring and tilts his head a little at her, Annette then loads her gun, "William I'm sorry. But I've got to put an end to G." she tells him and aims her gun right at him. He growls and charges at her with his claw arm raise and Annette fired at him.

~8~8~8~

Leon looks through the hall and saw Annette leaning against the wall as she was holding her wounds. "Claire!" he calls out and the two ran to her. "Annette!" Leon states as she pushes herself against the wall and she looks at him "G is… growing even stronger. If you don't stop this, Sherry will…" she states then inhales sharply. Leon looks down at the blood of her blood and then at Claire.

"Annette, please, Annabelle told us about the P-4 Lab on the lower levels, is that where the vaccine is." Claire asks her, Annette nods at her, "That's where we experimented on her." she said and then grips Leon's arm "Please. Help Sherry." she begs them. "Tell her… that even though I failed as a mother… I have always loved her." she whimpers as a tear slides down her cheek and her hand drops from Leon's arm.

~8~8~8~

The two walk through the hall, "Let's go." Leon said, "Alright." Claire agrees "We need to find a way to the lowest level." Leon informs her and then opens the door and walk into the next room. "What is this place?" Leon asks and they turn and found more Zombie plants in front of them, the fired at them and the plants collapsed "These things freak me out." Leon mutters and walks over to the ladder.

But he stops as the plant on the wall was breathing. "It's moving." Claire states "It must be their leader. It looks harmless." Leon said but then grips the ladder, "Lets hurry, we got no time to waste." he states and went down, "Right." she mutters and Claire followed him, but the zombie on the follow crawls to her, but Claire moved fast and slides down the ladder. They then step away from the ladder and keeping their eyes up then to floor above them. Then turn to the next ladder and Claire went down first, she was halfway when she saw one of the plant things, so she fired at it and it drops dead. Then she looks around seeing nothing else then continued down as Leon followed her, they reach the bottom and then to a door, "Through here." Leon states and they walk through a door, Zombie stood in their way, but they shot them down. They walk forward and turn into a waiting room, they look down at the corpses and walk forward, "Which why should we go?" Claire asks, "Let's head straight." Leon tells her.

They walk to the door and down the narrow hall. "It's so quiet." Claire states, Leon nods. "Yeah, not to mention." he states as the door opens, they walk inside and look around at what looks to be a surveillance room with monitors everywhere, "What is this? A surveillance room?" Leon asks as he walks to the desk, some of the screens were out, or static, but some were still working. Claire looks at the blood on the desk and ground. "Claire! Look at this!" Leon shouts. Claire looks at him then at the screen he was looking at. A crawler appears on the screen, "Wait a minute…" she states as the sentry was familiar to her, "We just cam through there." Leon states, the crawler jumps at the camera and knocks it out, making the screen go static.

Claire looks away and then the door shook, "It's coming!" Claire shouts, they were ready as they look around the room and the door shook again. "Where is it?!" Leon shouts. Then Claire looks up at a crawler jumps down from the ceiling, then another did and they quickly dodge the claw and moved away from the crawler. "Shoot it!" Leon shouts. They did so and the crawlers went limp "It could be here any second! Lets move!" Claire states and they walk through the door and the walls were covered in webbing, "What did this?" Leon asks as they walk down the hall. "It looks like a nest." Claire states as they look at the walls. Then stop as they look up at the ceiling and saw large larvas on the wall. "Goddammit!" Leon shouts as they fired at them, the drop to the ground and were dead. Then walk into the room and stumble back as they found something on the wall, "What the…!" Claire shouts, "It's huge!" Leon shouts as they look up and saw more Larva on the ceiling and they fired at them.

They drop dead and the mutated moth flutters off the wall and turns to the two, they fired at it and it drops to ground, they then turn and went to walk down the hall, but more larva crawls out and blocks their path, then two step back and fired at them. "Hey Claire! This is it!" Leon calls out and she turn to the door that was labeled P-4. "P-4 level lab, lets go!" Claire said and they both step inside and walk through the front desk as two dead scientists laid on the floor, they walk through the door, pass the stairs and walk into a testing room. The look around and walk up to the front "What the hell?" Leon questions, then Claire turns around and saw the zombie walking out of the room, "I think we can use this to formulate the vaccine." Leon states states and went to work.

Claire fires at the zombies and they drop one by one. "Come on! isn't it done yet?!" Claire questions as she reloads. The zombie stood up, but Claire fires at the head and it falls back, then a crawler crash through the window and Claire fires at it, it took a couple of tries, thanks to Leon's help and the crawler drops. Claire then turns back to Leon and he turns back to the counsel "Is it ready?" she asks him. A compartment opens and out pops a small vial, Leon takes it and held it up. "It's ready." he tells her and pockets it. "Good! Lets get back to Sherry!" he tells her and she nods. "Right." she said and then turns back around and they walk through the door, stepping over the bodies and through the next door and were back in the hall.

Mutated moths flutter off the walls and turn to them, but they fired at the moths and the moths drop. Then they turn down the narrow hall, seeing the larva on the ceiling, but they ran for it, then into the surveillance room and found a crawler in the wall, but the two try to run pass it, "We don't have time for this!" Claire shouts as mutated plants block their path and the crawler was right behind them, "At my signal, run." Leon whispers to her, "Now!" he shouts and they ran pass the mutated monsters and right to the door and down the hall, Leon looks back and saw that the crawler followed them. So they hurried back into the waiting room where the corpses were waiting for them, "They're blocking our way!" Claire informs him. Then he fired at the crawler as Claire fires at the corpses.

The crawler drops dead, then Leon turns and fires at the corpses, they drop and the two ran forward. They turn to the hall, but saw a crawler scurrying away, so the carefully walk into the hall, "Be careful." Leon warns her, she nods and they walk forward, then reach the turn, Claire press her back to the wall. He went to peek out, but they look behind them and saw a crawler pop out, they stumble back and Claire looks down the hall and saw two more crawlers and they didn't hesitate and fires at them. The crawlers drop and the two continued forward. They were back out and started up the ladder, but they stop as larva drop down from the ceiling, making them jump off the ladder. Then a moth came out of nowhere, picking them up and tosses them over the edge, at the bottom.

Claire screams a little and then pulls herself back on her knees, then both her and Leon found plants walking right towards them. "Not now!" Claire shouts as she pulls out the shotgun and fires at them. Then they walk to the ladder. "We gotta hurry!" Leon shouts, they reach the first stop, then up the next one, but as they were at the second stop larva drop from the ceiling, the two open fire on them, killing the larva. Then up the next ladder, "We're almost there!" Leon tells her and they reach the fourth stop. Two moths waited on the wall as the door open and a planet walks to them, "Shit!" Leon snaps as the moths flutter off the wall.

Leon and Claire open fire and the moths drop, then they turn their attention to the plant and fire at it and it drops as well. They then walk through the door and down the hall, "I hope we're not too late." Claire wonders, "I don't care what it takes, we're gonna make it back in time!" Leon assures her. They then make a right turn, 'Self-destruct countdown initiated. East area lockdown complete.' the computer comms said, they walk through the door. 'All employees must evacuate to the platform immediately.' the computer said and they were in the center, "We have to hurry!" Claire shouts, Leon nods and they went to leave, but a bar was thrown at the center and short-circuits the core, making the two flinch. "What the?!" Claire questions, "Goddammit! what's going on!?" Leon snaps ans they jump away from the way the came as they saw a large claw hand appear through the door and in comes William as he was waiting for them, or followed them.

"Is that William?" Claire asks and they started to fire at it, he swung at them, but they dodge him, then after a few more shots, William fell to a knee. "Now!" Claire shouts and the ran to the door, but it refuses to budge. "What?! it's jammed!" Claire shouts. Then they turn back ti William, "It's because it's system's down!" Leon tells her and they fired at William again. "It's coming!" Claire shouts, but she got a good shot in and William smack on the ground, limp.

The two pant, looking down at William and step around it, "Is it dead?" Claire asks him, Leon nods, "Yeah, he's dead." he tells her and the turn back to the center, then a crawler jumps down in front of them, but Claire fires at it and it was dead. "We need to reboot the system. Otherwise we won't be able to get back to Jacob and Sherry." Claire states. But then they heard groaning and Claire gasps. "What the?!" Leon questions. "Did he just transform?!" Claire questions. The two exchange looks at they were frighten. "Shit!" Leon swore as they watch William fall into his next form. Then he pulls himself up and roars then turns to them, "Here he comes!" Leon shouts as the two stood in front of them. "I don't believe this!" he shouts and they fired at William. The dodge his kick and make him go to a knee then they ran, "We might be able to get through a different door!" Claire shouts, they went to ran to a different door, but William jumps down in front of them and Claire falls back, missing his claw, Leon fires at him, pulling Claire to her feet, "How the hell did he get so strong?!" he questions as they ran to the next door. "He must of evolved!" Claire answers him "Is this what the G-virus does?!" he questions and as the door did nothing.

"It's locked!" she shouts, then they went to ran down the ramp, but William block their path and forces them back to the center. "What are we going to do?!" Leon questions as they ran to the last door dodging William, "We've gotta do something!" Claire shouts and they fired at William, dodging his kicks and ended up behind him. "Don't stop! Keep firing!" Leon shouts and one more fire was done and William staggers in his stop, then he fell over the edge. "We did it!" Leon shouts as they look over and saw no trace of William.

They relax for a moment, but then the room shook as something was crawling back up the wall, "What was that?" Claire questions and they saw William mutated even more. "Oh god!" Claire mutters at William jumps over to the wall above them. "You've got to be kidding me?" Leon questions and they fired at him. "He's getting bigger!" Leon shouts and Claire screams at the dodge him, then they look back and saw the ramp was gone, "This is crazy!" Leon states and they look back up at the wall, William jumps at them again and they dodge him. They then look down and saw William on the central pillar, "This is a nightmare!" Claire states as they walk sideways on the ramp and then William jump at them. The two fell back and as the stood back up, loosing track of William, "Where'd he go?" Claire asks as they look around. "He can't be far. Be careful." Leon warns her as they walk back to the central nerve, but then Claire looks up and scream as William was above her, he grips a hold of the two of them and they fired at him like crazy.

William growls and struggles with the two of them and then drops them back on the catwalk. William jumps down in front of them, but the catwalk broke and William dangles off the edge, "I would hate to see what would happen if this thing ever got out!" Leon shouts, "We need to finish him off right here!" Claire tells him, but William smacks his claw against the catwalk and Claire shouts as she went off the edge and was hanging from it, "Claire!" Leon shouts at her as she was right next to William. She glares at him and aims her gun at him, "I'm bringing you down!" she growls and fires at him.

William cries out as he lets go of the catwalk and was sent fall down into the dark abyss. "Did we go it?" Claire asks as Leon kneels down and grips a hold of Claire's hand. "We don't have time to wait around and find out." he states and pulls her up. "Once we give Sherry the vaccine, we're outta here." he tells her. She looks up at him and nods, "Alright. Lets go."