Chapter 5 "The demon within."

Sherry pointed at the switch under the top drawer of the desk, set into a small metal plate. It looked like a light switch, but it had to be for the secret door, she just knew it.

Claire reached out and flipped the switch and behind them, a section of the wall a few feet across slid smoothly upwards, disappearing into the ceiling and exposing a dimly lit room lined with oversized bricks. Cool, damp air breezed into the office; it was a secret passage, leading somewhere Irons did not want anyone to know.

The trio stood and stepped toward the opening, Claire holding Sherry back with one arm until she'd looked first. The small room was totally empty - three brick walls and a stained wood floor, and only about half the size of the office. The fourth wall was dominated by a big old-fashioned elevator gate, the kind that pushed to one side.

"What is that?" Sparda wondered, confused.

"Are we going to take it?" Sherry asked. She was excited but nervous, too. Claire had taken her gun out. She crouched down next to Sherry and smiled, but it wasn't a happy smile, and Sherry knew what was coming before Claire said a word. "Sweetie, I think it would be safest if we went first and looked around, and you stayed here..."

Sherry\s face changed into horror."But you said I should stick with you guys."

Claire embraced her and tapped on her back."I promise we won't be long."

Sparda smiled back at her with a reassuring look. Claire pulled the gate open and stepped inside with Sparda following behind, turning for a last look at Sherry.

"Stay here, sweetie," she said.

Sherry forced herself to nod and Claire let the gate close. She touched something inside the elevator and the car went down,

Sparda's gaze darted around, and then he focused mostly at the ground confused beyond belief. The gentle trembling and the sound."It's just an elevator, seriously!" Claire broke the silence.

" What is happening to the ground!?" He asked. However the elevator stopped. Claire put her hand on the latch, took another deep breath, and pushed it open, the heavy door swinging in slowly on well-oiled hinges. She stepped back, pointing the handgun...

An empty room welcomed them, as dank and unwelcoming as the corridor, but with furnishings and a decor that made her skin crawl. A single naked bulb hung down from the ceiling, illuminating the creepiest chamber Claire had ever seen. There was a table in the middle of the room, stained and battered, a hacksaw and other cutting utensils scattered on top; a dented metal bucket and a mop, slopped against one water-stained wall, next to a portable basin with dried red patches inside; shelves, laden with dusty bottles - and what looked like human bones, polished and pale, set out like macabre trophies. That, and the smell - a thick chemical reek, sharp and acidic, that only just covered a darker smell. A smell like insanity.?

"Is this a torture chamber?" Sparda spoke again, he stopped for a moment and the question repeated it's self in his mind

Even looking into the room made her want to be sick; "nuts" was maybe the understatement of the year for the police chief, but there was nobody home, and that meant that there could be another secret passage somewhere inside. At the very least, she had to check for weapons.

Swallowing, Claire stepped into the room, glad that she hadn't brought Sherry with her; looking at the private little torture chamber was going to give her nightmares, it was nothing to expose a child to...

"Freeze, little girl, or I'll shoot you where you stand."

Claire froze. Every muscle in her body froze as Irons started to laugh from behind her, from behind the door where she hadn't thought to watch over it for any danger.

Irons's deep chuckle rose into the hearty, gleeful laughter of a madman, and Claire understood that she was going to die. "I suggest you remove your weapon this instant, unless you want to die." Sparda addressed Irons and his voice, it was the coldest tone she ever heard. Claire looked at Sparda and his eyes were...murderous.

A chill ran down her spin and she backed away from him slightly.

"Drop your weapon," Irons commanded, and the girl did so, hesitating for only a second. The Browning clattered to the floor, and Irons had to resist the urge to laugh again, scarcely able to credit how stupidly she'd acted. The Umbrella agents had obviously grown arrogant, walking into his Sanctuary as if they owned the place - and her smug, inflated conceit had cost her the game. However he waited to see what will unfold before him.

"Turn around, slow - and keep your hands where I can see them," he said, still grinning. Oh, what a gloriously easy conquest! Umbrella had underestimated him for the last time.

Again, the girl did as he asked, pivoting slowly, her hands empty and open. The look on her face was priceless. However the silver man did not move an inch from where he stood. Sparda was watching him, challenging him."Do as you told, or I will shoot." Irons threatened.

Sparda smirked." Go ahead and shoot me if you dare." His eyes focused. Claire tried to change the tension in the air."Calm down chief, I..."

Sparda held Irons arm and stopped."If you value your sanity, you will tell me everything I need to know." He said, dangerously cold, his eyes glowed in a moment.

Irons froze for a moment."You must a be a puppet, sent here for us." He said under a bated breath.

"I came to the city looking for my brother," She said slowly, her wide gray eyes fixed on the gun, worried the mad man might shoot Sparda. "He was with the S.T.A.R.S., and I just..."

"S.T.A.R.S.? Is that the best you can do?" Irons laughed bitterly, shaking his head."

He narrowed his eyes, studying her pale, anxious face. "And just who is your brother?"

"Chris Redfield, you know him - I'm Claire, his sister, and I don't know anything about whatever Umbrella did, and I wasn't sent here to spy on you I promise." She spoke quickly, all but stumbling over herself to get her story out.

"The Spencer estate, the accusations against Umbrella ... it was all a setup, they had him stirring up trouble to ... to distract me so they could steal Birkin's new virus...and destroy my beautiful town. How could they do this to me after everything I've done for them!?" Irons took a step toward the girl, barely able to keep himself from pulling the trigger in spite of his plans. Claire, took a step back, holding up her hands, palms out, as if to ward off his righteous fury.

"That's how the S.T.A.R.S. knew to get out of town," he snarled, "They were warned to get out of town before the T-Virus leak!"

He took another step forward, but Claire had stopped, her eyes going even wider. "You mean Chris isn't here? what are you talking about? what is this virus?"

"Siiiilence." Sparda shouted, making them both feel like their blood is frozen. He grabbed Irons by his shirt and pulled him back to face him.

"You human muck." Sparda's voice changed into deep and thick..slightly echoey like there is a human and a monster talking at the same time."How much did you help in creating this hell?...how much you wanted to bring the demonic strength into this world?" Irons trembled in his arm like a little bird ready to be eaten. Sparda felt something warm leak, he looked down and could not help but to smirk. The arrogant man was literally pissing himself."Pitiful little human. Start talking.." he gritted his teeth and his eyes glowed red.

"I...I only kept the secret. I know that umbrella is responsible for what happened to the city. They want to create a tough soldiers who can survive the impossible and and something happened in the lab..an attack resulted for the virus to leak out and infect everyone. Umbrella have have have planned for the Wesker soldiers to do many missions, however only one Wesker is known to be alive. I I heard they took fragments from body of a demonic entity to help with with perfecting the soldiers thanks to to to Spencer the founder." Irons cried."Please don't hurt me, this is all I know."

Sparda's expression changed into shock and he slammed the man to the dirty ground. Irons moaned in pain and slowly he drifted off. Sparda's arms trembled and obvious veins were growing all over until it covered his palms."Humanity...must be saved." he spat the words." I lost my family..for this muck?" smoke started to raise from him like he is burning inside out. He was lost in his own troubled feeling, not realizing Claire was literally crying as she tried to reach the door slowly.

Her shaky hand slowly touched the metal, cursing of how heavy it was. It meant she cannot open it fast enough. Sparda moved slightly and jumped into a pit in the ground.

The reality of what had just happened, what would have happened, hit her all at once, turning her limbs into rubber. Claire forced herself a few more steps away from the open pit and collapsed against one sweating stone wall, taking in great, whooping breaths of the bitterly scented air."What the hell happened to him?is he an infected monster like everyone else? impossible. He is so weird and.. where is the gentle helpful Sparda?" so many questions played in her mind.

There was a low, grunting sound from the corner, a bestial sound, the growl of a well-fed lion. Claire turned, raising the heavy gun, astounded that she could feel any more horror...

... and something burst up from the hole, something with flailing arms, and Claire fired, the shot going wide. A glass bottle on a shelf exploded as the thing hit the floor... Claire backed toward the door, the weapon still trained on the opening and heard the creature, the monster scream again, an echoing howl that faded away, falling away into some distance that she couldn't imagine. A second later, she couldn't hear it at all; it was gone. With that she turned around and went for the elevator, she had to be with Sherry.

"Come on, sweetie, let's get going," Claire said. Sherry Immediately ran to her happy, however her eyes looked behind her inside the elevator."Where is the man?" Sherry asked.

"I don't know." Claire whispered, worried. And the two went down together.

Once they were down in the room, Claire covered Sherry and pushed her behind her, horrified by the sight in that room. It was Irons, but only half of him. He had been neatly bisected, cut in two by a thing that had snatched him, and she was grateful that she was not here to listen to his agonizing screams and see the creature that took him; everything below the fleshy waist was gone, trails of torn skin and muscle hanging down over the oozing pool of blood that had replaced his legs.

"Sherry? Let's go, okay?"

Claire laid a hand on her shoulder, gently pulling her away from what was left of the police chief. Sherry let herself be led toward the dark hole in the corner, deciding that it was best to keep her questions to herself.

Claire went down the ladder first, and after a second, called up to her that it was safe to come down.

Sherry stepped carefully on the metal rungs, Claire helped her down the last couple of rungs, lifting her and setting her on the metal floor. Sherry turned and looked around, her eyes widening.

"Wow," she said, and the word whispered away into the dim shadows and came whispering back, reflected off" the strange walls.

"Yeah," Claire said. "Come on."

Claire started walking, her boots clanking out echoes, and Sherry followed closely, still looking around in amazement.

...Thank you for reading, please leave a review.