Chapter 14:

"Veronica!"

Who…who's that?

"Veronica! Wake up, please!"

Sherry?

"Please wake up!"

Weary eyelids opened for just a moment to see Sherry crawl over to Claire. She could barely make out that Claire was also out, lying on her back as Sherry tried to wake her up. Heavy. Can't-. Darkness.

"Hey!" an unfamiliar voice called out. "Wake up."

She could feel someone shaking her body, pulling her out of unconsciousness. Suddenly, her eyelids were being pried open and a bright light was shining in them. An unfamiliar face of a blonde woman came into view, tired eyes studying her.

Veronica sucked in a big breath as she finally came to. She sat up in shock and realization as her thoughts quickly came back to her. Then the pain began to shoot through her whole body, especially her head. She groaned at any movement she made.

"Not infected. Good," the stranger said while putting away her flashlight. "You might have a small concussion from the fall and from that lump on your temple, but you should be fine."

The fall! Looking at the elevator, it was crushed to the floor, wires exposed and sparking dangerously. Considering that they were alive, they must have been projected from the car. It's a miracle she was even awake right now. Speaking of 'they', Veronica whipped her head around in worry. Sherry was gone…again. She vaguely remembered hearing her voice but then it was just black. Where did she go now!?

She didn't know where they had landed but it smelled bad. It was dark and dank and looked to be some sort of undercity mechanical room. There was one door near her and lots of palettes holding…something. There was also a crushed gate leading down to somewhere, but that wasn't important right now.

The lady had begun to crawl over to Claire to, Veronica assumed, do the same thing she did to her. She was wearing a white lab coat over a red blouse and white pants and her hair was lying over her shoulder in a braid. She looked like a scientist.

"Claire!" Veronica gasped and crawled over worriedly. She was about to reach for her companion but was stopped.

"Don't! She could be infected," the woman said while pulling Claire's eyelids back.

"W-who are you?"

"Not now," she told her before snapping her fingers in front of a waking Claire Redfield. "Wake up! Wake up!" Claire blinked as the flashlight shined in her face. "Open your eyes…" Claire jerked her head back at the bright light. "Hold still…" After a moment, she put the light away and grabbed a small notepad from her side to write in. "Not infected…"

"Is she going to be ok!?" Veronica asked, worried as hell.

"Calm down. She'll be fine. Her head injuries are not as bad as yours."

Claire groaned in pain before rolling to her side. Veronica reached over and began to help her slowly sit up. Claire was groggy but accepted her help, seemingly relieved to see her.

"Hey there. Take it easy!" Veronica replied, voice low to keep from overdoing the pain in her brain.

"Vee? Are you ok?!"

"I'm fine. Are you?" The young biker nodded in response. Then she began looking around the room.

"...Sherry?" Claire groaned at the soreness in her ribs. "Where's Sherry?"

"I don't know. She was gone when I woke up."

"Sherry…" the lady cut in, clearly distracted. "Sherry's fine."

With a wince from both of them, they got to their feet and watched as the lady continued to write in her notepad while looking over the remnants of their fall. It was like she was studying it. The girls looked at each other in confusion.

"Do you know Sherry?" Claire asked voice strained from dealing with her body pain. Veronica began digging for the pain pills for both of them to take. She wanted water so bad as she swallowed them dry, but she wasn't risking infection.

"...was an impressive display of strength," the stranger mumbled, writing furiously in her little notepad. She clearly wasn't listening. The girls began to walk closer, trying to get her attention.

"What happened to her?" Claire tried to ask, but it was no use. The lady looked distressed at some sort of realization then turned to look over the broken elevator.

"We have to assess the situation."

"Who are you?" She got no response.

"Ma'am?" Veronica tried. Still nothing.

"...I'm Claire, and this is Veronica," Claire introduced themselves. She thought maybe doing so would prompt the other.

"Uh, hi," Veronica awkwardly added.

"I didn't foresee this…" the lady muttered, her expression getting more worried.

"Excuse me, where is she?" Claire asked again with still no response. This was getting frustrating. "...Hello?" That finally seemed to do something.

"What…?" the blonde finally responded. Claire was about to repeat herself but she interrupted her with some form of an answer. "Oh, Annette." Then she turned to the girls urgently. "Tell me, what happened to William?"

The duo looked at each other in confusion. First, they finally get a name for this stranger, Annette. Now she was asking for someone else? Who was this lady?!

"William?" Veronica asked.

"I don't know. Who's-who's that?" Claire responded.

"The creature responsible for this," Annette said while gesturing to their surroundings. The girls weren't sure how to answer. Was this lady saying that the monster who attacked them had a name?!

"What…?"

"That thing is called William?!" Veronica hissed under her breath. Annette looked at them expecting an answer, but when she realized she wasn't going to get one, she continued to do her distant muttering.

"Seems to be evolving much faster than expected…" she said to herself while putting the notepad into her coat pocket. She kept looking at the crash site seemingly to gather more information before walking off towards the door.

"Hey!"

"Where are you going!?" Claire huffed, both girls still so confused.

"Look, I don't have time to play twenty questions," Annette said while turning to them, exacerbated by their need for answers. She took in a small breath before gesturing her hands down to 'calm' everyone in the room. "Everything is under control."

That was the worst lie Veronica had ever heard.

"We need to find Sherry-," Claire tried to say to stop her, but Annette only whipped around in anger.

"My daughter is not your concern."

Both girls were stunned as they watched Annette turn away angrily and quickly disappear behind the door. They stood there, too flabbergasted to move. Finally, after a moment, Claire spoke up.

"Sherry's…her daughter?"

"I can't believe we actually found her," Veronica muttered.

"What was her deal? With…everything?"

"I don't know, but I don't believe her saying that Sherry is fine. With how she's acting, I wouldn't trust her to look after my dog!"

"I agree. And if what Sherry says about her is true, I don't think trust is even on the table."

Veronica nodded in agreement before looking around the room. Her grenade launcher was sitting amongst the rubble, still intact. It must have fallen out of her hands when they dropped.

"She had a lab coat and everything. She works for Umbrella all right," she said while draping the gun over her shoulders. Claire sighed then gave the room around them a quick glance.

"So I'm going to assume that she's not with her soooo… where did Sherry go…?"

"Well, there's not many places we can turn to look for her."

"Think we should follow Annette then?"

"Maybe. She might lead us to Sherry or give us more answers."

Veronica walked forward and tried the door, finding it unlocked. Peeking in, they found a dimly lit office. There were tables with paperwork and shelves with neatly stored files. There was another door on the other side which they assumed was where Annette went. But once they got to it, it was locked.

"Damn! She really doesn't want us to follow her," Veronica sighed. She watched as Claire limped around the room to look for supplies. That fall really did a number on them. "Claire? Are you ok?"

"Yeah, I'm fine. Just sore as hell," she replied while looking at a note that was pinned to a whiteboard on the wall. "Hey, there's a note here about that 'G' thing we read about earlier."

"G?" Claire nodded but after reading the first few words, she turned to the other urgently.

"You might wanna read this."

Veronica walked over and began to look it over. She had to do a double-take at its contents. Neither of them read aloud. There was too much information to be said.

'The G-Virus clinical trial will be entering its final phase very soon. Before "G"—the new creature that will surpass humans—is born, allow me to predict a few things about its biology and biological functions.

Intelligence

The subject's intelligence will begin to drop immediately, with their linguistic abilities disappearing within a matter of days. Finally, they will lose their capacity to reason and their humanity. G will be a creature of pure instinct, driven only by a need to survive and reproduce.

Physical Abilities

Due to its unusually accelerated cell division—evolution—it will be highly adaptable to any environment. Furthermore, with its amazing ability to repair itself through regeneration, it will be extremely difficult to completely kill it with any conventional small firepower.

Reproductive Behavior

G's most remarkable feature will be its intense desire to reproduce. It will instinctively search out humans with DNA that closest matches its own and implant an embryo in them.

But the chances of success are very low and if the DNA is not a close enough of a match, an underdeveloped G creature will be produced instead. I suppose the only ones who might be a close enough of a match would be any biological children of the subject, though.'

"What the actual fuck?" Veronica whispered in disbelief.

"A new creature that 'surpasses humans'? Who are these guys?! I thought Umbrella was into pharmaceuticals then got a little bored and accidentally created a zombie virus."

Claire seemed to huff as she struggled to stand causing the other to notice. The older one went and grabbed the only chair in the room and rolled it over for Claire to sit. They had time to talk about this anyway.

"Thanks, Vee. My leg is killing me."

"Here! Let me see. Where's it hurt?"

"Oh! You don't have to do that. My leg is just sore. I think I landed on it during the fall."

"It's probably going to be really bruised then. If only I had some ice."

"Don't worry about it. I'll be fine! Thanks for trying though, gal pal," Claire weakly smiled. Veronica mirrored it then looked back to the paper on the board. The report told them so many things that were just unbelievable.

"What the hell is going on here? I thought the zombies were bad, but there's a virus out there that's worse!?"

"And it's trying to reproduce. Christ, what are these people trying to do?!"

"Fucking play god."

"Clearly this wasn't an accident. But to create a superhuman?"

"That's a lot more than I expected from them."

"So now we have to be even more careful. Maybe that monster had G and who knows, maybe that thing that popped out of Irons had it too!"

"Whatever it is, who knows what'll happen if you catch it." Claire paused.

"Your skin melts off."

They locked eyes as they came to the same conclusion. Everything was coming together. Veronica groaned, her hand coming up to press at her face to relieve stress.

"Let's hurry and find Sherry. I don't want to stay in this city anymore. Clearly, Annette isn't going to help us, so we should just keep searching for her," she sighed tiredly.

"But where? I can barely remember Sherry trying to wake me up, but I couldn't. Who knows where she went!"

"I know. It's all a blur, but why would she run away?"

"I think I heard that monster too. It's possible that it survived the fall and went after her," Claire paused as she thought of her next statement. "It would make sense if she really is his daughter."

"...William."

"But, wouldn't that mean…"

"At this point, I wouldn't be surprised. Not unless Sherry mistook it for her dad." Veronica shook her head in disbelief. "This shit just gets weirder and weirder."

"So where do we go now?"

It took a moment for Veronica to think of some sort of path with this new information in mind. Honestly, she didn't want to use her brain anymore regardless of how important it was. She thought being physically tired sucked, but this was the creme de la creme of crap. But she had to, for everyone's sake. Even through the fog in her brain, she could only think of one way to go.

"Wherever that ledge in the other room leads. It was broken apart, almost like that monster did it to chase her down. It might be the only way now," she explained. "How do you feel?"

"This is nothing. It'll pass once those pain meds hit."

There was nothing now to stop them from going. The room didn't have much except some special ammo for Claire's gun. With that in hand and after some fixing each other up, the two survivors made their way back to the other room.

Standing at the platform, they figured that this must be the way they went. The bars surrounding it were bent to fit the size of a hulk and there was a tunnel just beneath them that seemed to lead somewhere. Carefully, they jumped down and the horrible smell grew worse, hitting them like a freight train. It smelled like, well, shit.

"Ugh! What is that!?" Veronica groaned while shoving her nose and mouth into the crook of her arm.

"I don't know. It smells like the fucking sewers," Claire replied just as disgusted. They walked down the small tunnel and reached a corner. "Sherry?! Can you hear me?!" she called out. There was no response.

As they neared the end of the tunnel, they could hear the sound of rushing water through an open exit. However, once at it, they realized it didn't lead to a room in the traditional sense. It merely dropped off into a giant chamber that led down into nasty green waters.

Just peeking out they both groaned in disgust. There were large garbage mounds mixed with probably human excrements spewing out of giant holes on the sides of the walls. It was dimly lit and just plain disgusting. The smell was even worse here and it made Veronica gag intensely.

"Oh god…It is the sewers!" Claire said.

"Don't tell me we have to go through that," she groaned. The pair looked at each other then back down over the edge. "This is gonna suck, isn't it?" the girl murmured.

"Yup."

Claire crouched down first at the top of the landing then leaped over the edge, splashing into waist-deep waters. Then she looked up and held her arms out for the other. Veronica did the same and jumped over, barely needing Claire this time around. It still made her heart skip a little faster though. The fall itself wasn't too bad, so they were able to keep themselves standing above the grossness without getting soaked from head to toe.

"Ugh!" Veronica grimaced, nose wrinkling in disgust. Her body shivered at the cold water around her as well as the sludge beneath her feet. She could swear she had stepped on something chunky.

"Now, I'm going to smell like shit-literally," Claire grumbled before leading the way forward.

"No doubt, I'll be taking ten showers when I get home," Veronica said while putting her hair up. She was not going to risk her long hair dipping into the water.

"A hot shower sounds so nice right now," Claire agreed then looked over to her friend. She looked at her new hairdo and smiled. "This might be a bad time, but you look really cute with your hair like that!"

"It's an awful time, but, I'll allow it," Veronica giggled. Even in sewer-filled waters, Claire still made her blush.

Moving on, they could see a locked gate on a concrete landing and a blue herb sitting in the corner. There was a small mechanism next to it that seemed to require a crank of some kind. Continuing past it they followed the clear path in the water to another fork in the road. The left was blocked off by a gate while the other looked clear.

They went through the clear route with no problems. At the end of it, there was a landing for them to climb on. Not having to constantly wade through gross sewer waters was a relief to both girls. Not to mention that it was the pathway forward.

They carefully walked through the dark hallway to a small set of stairs that led to a metal door. Passing through it, the couple was taken by surprise at the sight of a cable car sitting against a steep slope that led down into a long tunnel. The wires connecting to it sparked every now and again which meant there was still electricity working.

"Cable car...here?" Claire muttered curiously.

"Where does it go?"

"My guess is, it probably has something to do with Umbrella," she responded nodding to the red and white umbrella insignia on the side of the car. They ascended up a long metal staircase then climbed a random ladder up to what may have been a control room. It was hard to tell from the windows since there were zombies inside.

"I can't see how many are in there," Veronica said while trying not to gather unwanted attention. Claire hummed and reached for her waist, pulling out a grenade.

"This looks like a job for some explosions!"

She motioned Veronica to go down the ladder then pulled the ring off of the weapon. She quickly opened the door, tossed it in then shut it behind her. Quickly, she ran to the ladder and held on as a giant BOOM went off. They both climbed back up and opened the door. There were no zombies left.

"Nicely done, gal pal!" Veronica exclaimed while giving said girl a high-five. With no trouble in sight, they began to take a look around.

It was a well-sized room with control panels lining one wall and on the opposite side, a glass wall that peered over into a giant well-lit area. There was a long catwalk that stood just above a pool of sewer water and there was a giant metal claw that had crashed through one of the walls.

"Where'd she go?" Claire huffed as she looked out of the window. Veronica picked up some fire grenade ammo from a chair then stood behind her. She gently placed a hand on her back and followed her gaze.

"We'll find her, Claire. She shouldn't have gotten far," she tried reassuring the younger. Said girl nodded with a small sigh before smiling at her companion.

She smiled back then the two turned back around to check the rest of the room. By the door was a desk with a dead computer and some papers on it. Next to it was a set of lockers, one padlocked that needed a code. Claire picked up one of the papers and glanced over it while Veronica took a look at what seemed to be a broken lift.

"We could jump down to the lift from here and down again into that room beneath us," she suggested before looking back at the other. "What's that?" she gestured to the paper in her hand.

"They're copies of emails sent to Umbrella HQ. One of the people working here was trying to get help during the outbreak by contacting a Director Owens. No one responded back and it insinuates that maybe he had a part in all this," she explained while setting it down.

"Jesus."

"Yeah. Well, too late now I guess and we know for sure who's responsible. Anyways, what was that you said about a lift?"

Veronica pointed out the broken lift then peered down. It was broken halfway between the room they were in and the one below them. Claire jumped down first then jumped again into the next room.

She waved the other down and with a little struggle, she made it down alongside her. The room they were in was another control room with a wall of windows on the one side and more control panels on the other. It was well lit and looked as if the workers had just left for lunch with how normal it was.

"What is this?" Claire wondered aloud.

As they peered around the room, the sound of muffled voices caught their attention. It sounded like there were two, both female. It seemed to be coming from the windows.

"Sherry…I told you, I cannot leave here until my work is done," a familiar voice spoke sternly. She sounded like she was speaking over a loudspeaker.

"Huh?"

"Annette?" Veronica whispered.

"That's what you always say," a smaller voice replied.

"Sherry…?" Claire gasped softly.

Rounding the corner, they walked up to the glass cautiously. Looking in, it stood high above a large garbage room with piles of trash lying everywhere. On the other side of it was a large door labeled 'Waste Disposal' that looked like the only way inside. At the bottom near the door, Sherry was standing staring up at a speaker and a camera looking down at her.

"Why didn't you stay in the house? It was safe there," Annette scolded. Sherry shrunk a little and it was sad to watch. Annette wasn't even there in person and she's giving Sherry a talking too? This wasn't the time.

"Hey! Sherry!" Claire tried to call out, but it was on deaf ears. The glass was too thick.

"I was scared. Those things were everywhere and-" the young girl tried, but it was also on deaf ears.

"You should've called the police!" Annette yelled. "That's what we taught you." Sherry groaned and reached up to her face for a second.

"I did, but nobody came. And you didn't answer your phone so-"

"Yeah, no shit no one came!" Veronica hissed. "Does she sound ok to you?"

"It almost sounds like she's hurt," Claire replied.

"Sherry, I don't have time for this!" Annette said one last time before static. The light on the camera shut off signaling Annette's departure. Sherry began to gasp out in pain and stumble back before falling to the floor. She looked unconscious, but still alive.

"Oh, no… Sherry! Sherry! We're coming!"

"Hold on, chickadee!

"We'll be right there," Claire muttered while taking out her gun.

The pair turned back to the room and began searching for a way to get to her. While picking up some random ammo lying about, they quickly found the door that looked like it led to the garbage room. However, it was locked via an electric lock and was made of thick metal like a safe door. There was no physical way of getting in unless they could unlock it. Claire pounded a fist against it once in frustration.

"Damn it!" A hand gently touched her arm, capturing her attention. She glanced over to find Veronica looking at her with a soft expression.

"We'll find a way. She's at least safe in there, so we have some time."

"But not enough! Just how do we get in, anyways?"

Veronica looked around the section of the room they were in and found six breaker boxes lining the walls, three on each side. There was a desk against the opposite wall with a corkboard above it, covered in paperwork.

"Look!"

She jogged over to take a look while Claire looked at the breakers. She pulled out a plug and looked at it curiously.

"Chess pieces?" she questioned more to herself. Veronica's eyebrows raised in surprise then down at a paper on the desk, before picking it up.

"They're what opens the door. Weird! They have to be put in a specific order in the breakers for it to work." Looking back on the corkboard, she found a pinned clue to the answer to said order.

"But we have a problem. We're missing three plugs. Three pieces."

"Ugh! Why does everyone in this city lose the keys to their doors!?"