Claire stepped into the inside of a jet that had been sitting at the end of a very long runway nestled in the trees. As she looked around the cabin, conscious of Wesker following closely behind her, she became aware of the fact that this was not exactly a military-issue jet. She couldn't tell outside in the dark, but in here she could clearly see that this was a private jet. There was a couch running the whole length of the opposite side, and directly to her left were leather chairs stationed around a table. As she walked to the left into the cabin, Wesker opened the door to the right leading to the cockpit. Just like with the car, they were the only ones here.
"You can fly this thing?" Claire wondered out loud.
"It would have been very poor planning on my part if not," he responded dryly, disappearing into the cockpit. He has a point. The door swung shut behind him, although it was left unlatched. Once alone, the first thing she did was open the cabinets above the couch. She was still uncomfortably wet, and there had to be towels here somewhere. Finding none, she walked to the other side of the cabin. There were a couple of doors, one to the left and one to the right. The door on the left opened to reveal a closet. There was a shelf up above filled with what looked like cleaning supplies, but more importantly, there was a washer-dryer combo. Opening the door to the right, she had to flick a light switch to see what was inside. When the lights came on she thought she might be dreaming. It was a bathroom with a shower.
She couldn't help but think about how there were people without access to safe water on this same continent, yet here she was standing in a luxury aircraft with a washer and dryer, and a shower. She was glad for the amenities, though. After stepping into the bathroom and locking the door behind her, she started the task of taking off her boots and peeling off her clothes. She wrapped herself in a towel before quickly darting across the hall to toss her clothes into the dryer before coming back to the shower.
As hot water ran over her skin, she finally let the emotions that had been building up inside of her all day wash over. She felt her breath start to choke in her throat, and it built into gut-wrenching sobs coming from deep within. Wrapping her arms around herself, she allowed her tears to mingle with the water running down her face, taking care not to let her crying become too loud. So much had happened in such little time, and she didn't even know if Chris was alive. She had faith that he would have made it out, but there was no way to know for sure.
After a while, she straightened herself up and ran her hands over her face, through her hair. She had needed a good cry.
Stepping out of the shower, she grabbed a large towel from a shelf bolted to the wall and turned towards a large, foggy mirror that distorted her features. A single wipe with her hand revealed her face peering back at her with startling clarity. Still naked, she set a hand on either side of the sink in front of the mirror as she stared at herself intently. Her eyes were tinged with just the slightest bit of red around them, and they fell to the reflection of her mouth. She lifted a hand up to her face, lightly touching her fingers to her lips. The same place Wesker's lips had been not all that long ago. She remembered how it had felt when he ran his tongue along her bottom lip.
There was no sense in denying it now; thinking about him in that way did things to her . But how selfish could she be? Having these thoughts about somebody with such questionable morals, the man who had ruined her brother's life and many more. And she was pretty sure she still hated him. Despite having just showered, she felt dirty. This was going to be difficult to reconcile.
After plugging their destination's coordinates into the jet's computer, Wesker had taken his phone out of his pocket to take inventory of the situation. Much to his chagrin, Chris and Leon had fought their way back through the research facility and managed to flee into the sky before the first explosions caused each recording to go dark. He had known that it was likely to happen and wasn't surprised, but he was somewhat disappointed regardless. Satellite imagery showed fires still burning in the charred jungle, every living thing on the surface having been disposed of in the self destruct sequence.
The BSAA had an air carrier anchored near the scorched rock. They would eventually find that the name of the individual who owned the island was a cover for the group that had contracted his services. He was counting on it. While the BSAA played with his competition, he would emerge with the spoils, and whoever remained of his opponents would be even weaker.
Pleased as he may have been though, he could not help but think that not everything had gone as planned. Chris Redfield was still alive, after all. Seeing the look on his face just before they had made their escape, however...he relished in knowing that he had caused such a deep emotional wound.
As they achieved altitude the engines sounded slightly quieter, and he could hear the sound of water from the shower in the back of the jet. After that, all other thoughts were replaced by the mental image of Claire, her alabaster skin pink in all the right places, red hair plastered around her face as hot water ran over the figure that he had seen her clothes plastered to when he pulled her from the sea water. The weakness.
He reached over and shut the door to the cockpit, sufficiently dulling the sound of the shower running.
Having retrieved her clothes from the dryer and redressed, Claire walked back to the cabin and glanced under a curtain, trying to see out the window that it covered. It was completely dark outside and she couldn't see anything, but she assumed they were probably over the ocean. And I still have no idea where we're going. She dropped herself onto the couch face first, cheek pressed against the fabric as she did her best to try not to think about the future. It wasn't working very well.
If- no, when Chris and Leon made it out, if they spoke a word about what had transpired, Terrasave wouldn't take her back. They would have her labeled as a traitor and possibly even a terrorist if they thought she was working with Wesker. It was bad enough that she'd left her ship without waiting for back-up. There goes my career.
The door to the cockpit opened and Wesker stepped out, eyes glued to the screen that he held in his hand, the glowing rectangle reflected on his sunglasses. Apparently they had autopilot; Claire sat up.
"Your knights in shining armor have both survived their ordeal, " he disclosed, taking a seat in one of the leather chairs closest to the door, still looking at his screen.
Chris and Leon?! She felt relief wash over her, like a burden had been partially lifted. She wasn't sure that she could ever face them again, but knowing that they were both alive to be disappointed in her did wonders. He didn't have to tell me that was the next thought that crossed her mind. He could have just let me worry and imagine the worst if he'd wanted to be cruel. "Thank you," she said. "So where are we going?"
He seemed to consider his response before answering succinctly without further elaboration, "Iceland." Iceland? The redhead was well-traveled and had been to many different countries while working, but she didn't even know anybody who'd been to Iceland.
"What's in Iceland?" she chanced. Wesker had told her that he wouldn't force her into anything, but she was having a hard time taking him at his word. If not as a test subject or employee, why else was she here? Out of spite for Chris?
"What do you think is in Iceland, dear heart?"
And I'll take "Oh that should have been obvious" for 500, Alex. "It's another shitty lab, isn't it."
"It is a smaller private lab, yes."
"And I'll be...staying there?" Jesus shitting Christ, I will jump out of this jet before I willingly go to another research facility.
"That was the decision you made coming aboard," the blond replied, sounding bored. "And after asking where we were going." She was just now starting to sound concerned. I should allow her to worry he thought to himself. I should return to the controls and leave her here to her musings for the remaining hours of this flight. He didn't, though. After finally glancing up and seeing her anxiety-ridden face, he let out an audible sigh of exasperation. He took note of the slight redness rimming her eyes, her slightly puffy eyelids. She had unwittingly stumbled into several outbreaks already, after all; she would be naïve not to be trepidatious. "I will be the sole frequenter of the lab, and there will be neither dead nor alive test subjects. Your access to my lab will also be barred, for obvious reasons. There will be other areas for you."
The reasons were in fact obvious; he didn't want her getting into anything she shouldn't, or trying to sabotage his work. He didn't say that he wouldn't be working with viruses. The fact that he would be the only one in the lab, though, that was surprisingly comforting. While Wesker had been accused of many things, making mistakes in his work or being sloppy were not traits he was known for. And if he was telling the truth about not having any test subjects, that did also steady her nerves a little. In fact...ever since he had walked through that door a few minutes ago, with each passing second she was starting to feel marginally better than she had. This is the opposite of how I should be feeling right now. I should be very, very uncomfortable. Why isn't he being more of a dick? He was before, right up until...oh. Right up until we were about to leave. And then we kind of made out. And he did like it.
Whether he would admit it or not, he wanted her around. The realization hit her like a ton of bricks. That was the only logical explanation, unless he had some big elaborate master plan that she was involved in, but she didn't think that was the case. She also was pretty sure that Wesker wasn't 100% sold on the idea of her being there, though. Hell, neither am I.
Chris didn't say a single word to Leon throughout their entire escape. Not when Leon had grabbed him by the elbow and pulled him away from what was likely one of the worst scenes of his life, and not when they fought their way through the misshapen creatures that had made their way into the hospital and the less mobile ones that remained in the entrance. The Redfield was, however, emanating an intense fury that Leon could see as he sprayed bullets in short spurts at the bioweapons blocking their way. These were new to them, which meant it was likely some new kind of virus. And their heads were very hard to find, which led to ducking and dodging becoming more necessary than bullet expenditure. At least twice Leon had to yell at Chris to keep moving forward as he had stopped and continued to spray anything that moved, right up until he had to load a spare clip into his assault rifle. You always keep moving, Leon thought. He knows this. Is he going to be able to manage? He was going to have to. There was an ever-so-helpful voice letting them know that the island was going to self destruct.
Leon had not expected Wesker to be there at all. While his exposure to the infamous man was limited, he had heard enough about him to make his skin crawl and blood boil when he had put his hands on Claire. He wasn't angry at her though, at least not right now. Puzzled, yes, but not angry. He didn't think she was ever one to act on impulse without good intent; like when she had ridden her motorcycle into Raccoon City looking for her brother. She didn't have a bad bone in her body. But what could she have been thinking?
The government agent wasn't so sure that Chris was sharing the same faith in her, though. He knew he was going to have to talk to his brother in arms about this, but now was not the time. Right now, just like so many times before, they had to focus on surviving. Charles was nowhere to be seen as they sprinted through the massion-esque entrance area to the front door; there was no way anybody would have lived through being in that room when the gas hit those people.
Chris didn't break as they got into the jet and took off, just in time for the world to turn into hellfire beneath them. He didn't break as they flew to Brazil and got clearance to land on an air field used by the BSAA. He didn't break as Leon phoned his handler to tell them that there had been an outbreak on the island and that the island itself was likely no longer in existence. He didn't break when Leon got them a car, having picked up a passable amount of Spanish during a venture in Spain. He didn't break when he was driven to the hotel where Leon suggested they let the adrenaline clouding their systems cool, and he didn't break when they stepped into the well air conditioned room that sported two single beds.
Chris Redfield had his meltdown as soon as the door shut behind them.