Code Veronica: Resident Evil IIIS

Chapter Ten: Another Way In

One would have thought that after everything she had survived and overcome during the Raccoon City outbreak, Claire would have leapt into action and easily disposed of this monster, but the truth was that she was so shocked and frightened that the young woman found herself unable to do much of anything. After escaping from the city with Leon and Sherry, she was so sure that the nightmare was over that Claire allowed herself to believe that the zombies and monsters created by the T-Virus were a unique occurrence that could never happen again… but there it was, standing right in front of her.

She kept hoping that it was some kind of a nightmare… that all of this was nothing but a really bad dream as she slowly scooted backwards across the blood stained floor to keep away from the advancing zombie. But how was this even possible, the young woman wondered, fumbling to load the clip into her pistol once she regained her senses after backing into the metal frame of one of the beds? The infected monsters that swarmed Raccoon City were the result of an accidental spilling of the virus, so how could that even happen at a secure facility? Maybe if they were storing it, and the attack ruptured the tanks? Or… or if they were experimenting with it on the prisoners?

Bang! Bang! Once Claire finally managed to load the clip, she did her best to aim the weapon with her shaky hands, before firing two shots. The first one struck the zombie in the shoulder of the tactical vest, but unfortunately a 9mm bullet didn't exactly have enough punch to break through, and the second shot did hit him in the forehead… only to make a spark when it ricocheted off the helmet he was still wearing.

By this time the monster was close enough to try grabbing for her again, forcing the young woman to crawl underneath the bunkbed in order to keep out of the zombie's reach when it dove onto the floor. She kicked him in the face several times while trying to come back out the other side, scrambling to get up so that she could get away before the chase could continue, but then the young woman stopped upon seeing even more movement.

"Oh, my God." She whispered, becoming a little pale in reaction to what she saw. "No… no, please, no."

Just as she was pulling herself back out from underneath the bunkbed, there was a groan from in front of her, and Claire couldn't believe her eyes when she saw that some of the dead prisoners were starting to move around. It wasn't all of them who were getting up after taking on the same features as the one chasing her, but there were still enough of them to trap her if she didn't do something fast.

Bang! Bang! Bang! Kicking the pursuing guard zombie one more time while coming out from underneath the bunkbed, the young woman started shooting even before she was all the way to her feet. There were a greater number of the infected prisoners, but since they were naked there was nothing to protect their heads, and Claire even managed to hit one or two of them during her panic. As if they were drawn to the sounds of gunfire, the zombies started growling and snarling as they shambled toward her as fast as they could. Even some of the ones on the bunkbeds were starting to move, but they simply rolled off onto the floor, allowing her to focus on the more direct threats.

Due to the tight quarters of the room, the infected prisoners were able to close in on her pretty fast, so the young woman doubled back, this time rolling across the top of the bottom bunk, and causing the guard zombie to snarl with frustration since it had just been reaching the other side while crawling under. Now that the previously blocked door was unobstructed, Claire had no intention of staying to fight, especially since she was outnumbered with only a few bullets, so she ran to the door and pulled it open.

Slam! Pulling the metal door shut as soon as she was through, the young woman turned the deadbolt, preventing the zombies from doing anything but groaning and scratching on the other side once they reached it. Safe for the moment, she bent forward and put her hands on her knees, trying to catch her breath while turning her head to see what was contained inside of this new area. The first thing she noticed was that it was slightly colder, but a lot more sterile looking with the intense white fluorescent light fixtures and all of the medical equipment.

None of the machines or monitors were on, leaving the room silent once the zombies back in the bunk house gave up on trying to get her, and in addition to all of the machines, there was an entire wall that was dedicated to rows of large storage lockers like… wow, just like the ones for storing bodies back at the RPD morgue. Was that what this place was, a morgue? If so, then it was better that she didn't open any of those lockers, because who even knew how many prisoners had been infected by… however the virus escaped?

"Stay focused, Claire." The young woman said to herself, looking around some more. "Gotta find the door release… no, need a different way in."

The last thing she wanted was to open the door and then have her companions walk right into all those zombies inside the bunk house, so she needed to find another way in for them. Besides the way she had come in, there were two other doors available, but which one should she try? One thing Claire had learned in Raccoon City was to try listening at each door before opening it, provided there was time and no trench coat wearing giants chasing her, so the young woman walked over to the nearest one and put her ear up against it.

She expected to not hear anything at all, since zombies didn't really do anything until they had a target, but instead she could hear the sound of air moving. It wasn't an air-handler room since there were no machines running with the noise, so… did this door lead outside? Turning the latch and slowly pushing it open, the young woman found not only that it did lead outside, but that she was standing in a small enclosure with a tall chain link fence between her and where Elza and Steve were still standing next to the rollup door.

"Claire?" Steve asked, startled to see her as they walked up to the fence. "Did you find the door switch?"

"No, but you can't come in that way!" Claire replied quickly, putting urgency in her voice. "The prisoners are infected, they're… they've got the T-Virus… it's just like Raccoon City in there!"

In response to this, the blonde woman cursed under her breath, but then reminded the young woman that she was safe for the moment, since there weren't any of the infected in sight. Just like a cop would do, Elza promised that they were going to find a way to get her out of there, but not before asking whether or not she had been able to find the communications equipment. Claire hadn't, explaining that this was the first door she had tried after locking all the zombies inside the bunk house, and this news seemed to start the wheels turning inside her cellmate's head.

First the blonde woman looked at the fence, her eyes moving upward until they fell onto the rows of barbed wire, and then finally shaking the chain link section as hard as she could as if testing it. Now she was looking down at the ground, moving back and forth across the whole area like she was searching for something specific, but having no luck at all by the time she came back to the group.

"Steve, take off your jumpsuit." Elza ordered after a moment of silence. "It's in the best condition, so we'll use it to cover the barbed wire and climb over, and then again once we're done sending a distress call."

"What?! You want me to give you my clothes?!" The young man exclaimed. "No way; its freezing out here, I… use yours if it's so important!"

Instead of saying something back right away, the blonde woman grabbed him by the scruff of the neck and forced him to accompany her a good distance away from the fence before letting him go again. The whole way there Steve demanded that he let her go, calling her a crazy bitch among other things that shouldn't be repeated, but then she stopped his talking by grabbing him by the front of the shirt and pulling him closer so that he was on his tiptoes.

"Okay, so you'd rather have one of the girls make the sacrifices, huh?" Elza whispered harshly, probably assuming that Claire couldn't hear from that distance. "I've seen the way you keep looking at Claire, but do you really think she's even gonna look at some little boy who won't do what's needed to protect her? Now get over there and man up."

Cursing under his breath after she pushed him forward back toward the fence, the young man tried to regain his composure by the time they got back to Claire, and then both women turned around once he started to take off the jumpsuit. The young woman couldn't help sneaking a peak when Steve wasn't looking, and apparently neither could Elza, and who could blame them? Steve was hot, not that the young woman was just going to come out and say that, and she tried not to stare at his well-toned body during the whole process of throwing the jumpsuit over the fence so that the two of them could safely cross the barbed wire.

"Jesus, it's cold!" Steve exclaimed, recovering the now partially ripped jumpsuit and getting dressed. "I hope you girls appreciate this."

"Your sacrifice means the world." The blonde woman replied coldly. "Now let's find the communications equipment and get the hell out of here… you first, hero."

Grumbling under his breath as he walked through the door first, Claire started to follow him, only to have her cellmate grab her by the arm to stop her. Steve could still be heard grumbling as he moved farther into the morgue, and the blonde woman waited until there was only silence before asking the young woman if she had noticed the same things that she had during the whole fence obstacle.

"Yeah, it was hard not to." Claire replied quietly. "He's really good looking."

"Exactly, and that's the problem." Elza replied, looking again to make sure he wasn't listening. "The guards beat me just as hard as they did you, and everyone else here… but there isn't a mark on him… come on, Claire… we need to figure this out."