Ch. 10

"It was nearly eight years ago.." That beginning statement always seemed to ignite some sense of dark reminiscence. It was something Claire didn't want to remember, but unfortunately the events were burned so firmly into the back of her memories, it was like it had all happened just yesterday. The first time she'd ever seen a virus victim, pale purple flesh, those soulless eyes pointing towards her as bloody, half-deteriorated fingers outstretched towards her following a pitiful and lonely groan. The unmistakable call of the hunger for flesh haunted her nightmares, lurking in even the shallowest depths of her rest. Raccoon City became hell on Earth, and she considered her party to be lucky they'd made it out with only a few cuts and bruises. Everything happened so fast when the helicopters showed up. There were so many people buzzing around, taking blood samples, asking questions, giving full evaluations on their health and mental being, it made Claire's head spin. That was the last time she'd seen Sherry, as they loaded her into one of the helicopters. The last thing she heard about it was Leon had been brought in to the government for questioning, countless times. That's when he got his job. His new job.

'We both just..forgot..'

A part of Claire died a little inside when she admitted it. Neither her nor Leon knew Sherry's exact location, if they were treating her right, what she was going through. She was a kid for Christ's sake. Claire could only imagine just how scared she probably was, with all the confusion. Seeing her again gave her such a jolt, all the memories flooding back instantly. She'd grown into a beautiful young woman.

'And that jacket..my jacket..she kept it..'

The embrace made it all the more real as she felt Sherry bury her face into Claire's shoulder, faint tears staining the denim flap of her vest collar. It had been too long.

Sherry pulled away from the warm lock, her crystal blue eyes misty with tears. "I missed you both so much..it was horrible there..Mr. Wesker put me through so many tests..and people kept disappearing everyday..one by one.." An arm swept away some tears as Sherry slid her arm across her eyes, trying desperately to hold it together as much as she could.

"Wait..Mr. Wesker?" Claire inquired, the name catching her instantaneously. That explained a lot. Why wouldn't Wesker want the offspring of his old colleague.

Barry chimed in, assumptions and questions breaking apart in his mind in a wild tangent. "Albert Wesker? As in the chairman to former Umbrella, Wesker?"

A knot erupted in the pit of her stomach. Despite what she wanted to tell them, and probably should tell them, it would have left some plot holes, especially for Rae. It felt like her beginning situation, when she had first arrived at the facility. Scientists and other employees bombarded her with questions about this "specimen" she knew absolutely nothing about. Her entire life from age fourteen to her later teens consisted of this probing for knowledge of something she really did not know.

'They were asking about Rae..'

She could remember quite clearly, walking into the kitchen one morning as she was getting ready for school.

'I was just eleven when she died..'

Mom was crying at the kitchen sink holding a photo in front of her. She and dad had a huge fight the night before, shouting about something that made no sense to her at such a young age. Dad had said she'd doomed the entire family, and that the "boss" would not be pleased. That morning she'd asked her mother what was wrong, and to her surprise the weeping ceased immediately. An eerie calm caught her mother's expression as she came over to her, squatting down and placing the photo into her shirt pocket. 'Your aunt is dead..'

Those words stuck with her forever. Sherry had to think on it now, it was probably the most devastating and heartbreaking lie her mother had ever told. When she thought about it, she really hadn't lied completely. Her aunt did not exist anymore as she was, but she was still alive , in the literal since of the word. She looked nothing like her former self, but she still existed deep within her mannerisms and sense of caring. Sherry knew her before she became this "specimen". So technically, Sherry wasn't really lying when she told them she did not know, right?

'Clearly..'

They had started to look impatient. Sherry had no honest idea of what to tell them, other than she'd just forgot. That would have been lame. In either case, the sound of Rae clearing her throat brought the awkward refuge she was hoping for as they all turned their attention back to her.

"I'd hate to break up this heartfelt moment here but..have we decided how we are going to get out of here, and without waking Claire's former Ex-boyfriend?" A quick shove of a fist to the gut displaced that smirk on Rae's face, as she doubled over in pain. Claire gave her a heavy glare before noticing Barry looked a bit confused of the banter between them.

"We ran into uh..something..while we were looking for you two.." Claire attempted to explain it steadily, aiming to not make it sound as bad as Rae had mentioned.

RAAAAAAGGGGGHHHHH!

A savage roar broke her concentration, and wild looks started firing off every which way. It was strong enough to shake the foundation of the buildings, and it sounded close. Claire caught Sherry in a side glance as she watched the blonde run towards Rae and grasp on to her hand.

Rae nodded to them both, forcefully kicking a back door that looked to empty itself between two buildings, giving a short smile before nudging towards the opening. "Well, ladies and gents, I think that is the universal sign for 'we need to get the hell outta dodge', eh?" As they filed out of the building in a steady sprint, checking their heads and tails, Rae couldn't help but think. They were asking a lot of questions. She could only take a guess as to just how much they knew now, and how much they assumed. The media didn't get enough to cover the entire story of what happened at the facility, and to make things worse, Tricell chimed in and made it a huge deal while keeping certain things to themselves.

'Like how they are tracking us down..and the real reason..'

Her head was the one they had on the top of their list. Hilda was another story. And she didn't know where the hell the big green meanie came in. Honestly, she didn't think Tricell was capable of that type of thing, nor had that type of connection.

'They aren't very bright after all..that was someone else's doing..'

It still wasn't clear to her exactly why Tricell had been after both of them. They had to be working under someone else, and she was going to get to the bottom of this.