During her argument with her brother, Chris, Claire Redfield had not noticed Elizabeth's abrupt departure. Instead, she was furious that he had not killed her when he first saw her.
" Claire, that's not what S.T.A.R.S. is about. I've told you often enough. We want to stop this kind of activity and then try to salvage what's left of the people who get screwed in the process.
" Elizabeth is one of those people. We have to help her. She already promised to help us by lending her crediblity when we inform the humanities organizations about Umbrella's activities. Can we do any better than to have the creator of the virus? " Chris said, exasperated by now. They had been arguing for the better part of hour now.
Claire paused. Her brother had a logical point, but she didn't like having to deal with that woman any more than she had to and said so.
Chris sighed. He knew how hard it was for his sister to accept Elizabeth as anything other than a madwoman bent on the enslavement of the world. The words of Claire's next statement shook him from his thoughts.
" Why are you so gung-ho about her anyway? Is there something more than ' We have to save her. It's what we do. ' ? "she asked, suspecting an ulterior motive behind his defense.
He groaned inwardly. He could admit that when he first saw her, Elizabeth was crying and looked vulnerable. She appeared to him as someone who needed help, not condemnation. Chris also could not deny that she was behaving strangely while she wept on her bed inside the laboratory. He had thought that all of the employees of the Umbrella Corporation did not feel guilt for the incidents which eventually led to the destruction of Raccoon City. Now, since he had met Elizabeth, Chris was not so sure.
" Claire, I think we need to know more than what we already do about Elizabeth. I mean, if she really is sorry about creating the T-Virus, something definitely must have happened for her to feel this way about herself and the whole situation. I want to know what. " He thought to himself, I think I want to know more about her for a different reason that I doubt that Claire will like at all.
Claire had calmed somewhat by now, and she said, " I agree with you. There is something up that is the real reason for all of this. "
She turned torward the facility and exclaimed, " Hey, isn't that Elizabeth? She's headed back into the lab. Doesn't she know that it's still dangerous in there? "
Chris looked as well and began to curse. He knew how to deal with zombies, but he suspected that Elizabeth had not even the slightest clue. He ran back to the camp and gathered his shotgun and some ammunition. The others had already noticed Elizabeth's flight torward the infected facility and were ready to follow her in and save her from herself.
Claire collected her weapon as well, and the group of former S.T.A.R.S. members, a mercenary, and a rookie cop began again to do what they had done before, relieve the world of a few infected zombies.
Their experience paid off handsomely as little time and ammunition was wasted in their pursuit of the scientist. Claire and Leon split off from the main group, as did Jill and Carlos, leaving Chris and Barry to attempt to find Elizabeth in three possible different directions that she might have gone. Chris and Barry were the first to encounter creatures infected by the T-Virus.
Chris pulled the trigger on his shotgun, letting loose an explosive spray that decimated the zombies. The zombies moaned and writhed until pools of blood spread from under their bodies.
Barry held his handgun in a ready position, and he looked further down the hallway that he and Chris had entered.
" Hey, Chris, where did you find her? Maybe she's gone back there. " Barry's low, thunderous voice echoed in the empty hallway.
The fluorescent lights flickered a little as Chris tried to remember where the room was. It was hidden somewhere in the floors below him, but he did not know how safe it was. He panicked at that thought. What if she had been...?
He didn't want to think about it, so he motioned to Barry, " I think she might have gone downstairs. Her lab was down there. I'm pretty sure of it. "
They explored the hallway carefully, preparing for any surprises. Chris stepped over a newly dead body on the green and white-tiled floor. The body had worn a white labcoat with a metal nametag that read, " Sorensen, Levi. " The torso had been eaten out by one or more of the flesh-eating zombies. They could never be sure after the fact. Chris caught himself sighing, relieved that the body did not belong to Elizabeth. Barry looked at him quizzically, thinking his partner's behavior to be odd in this kind of situation.
As they reached the elevator to the lower levels of the facility, the doors of the elevator opened to reveal Elizabeth struggling under the grasp of a zombie. She pushed it off again and again, trying to escape. It terrified her and reminded her of the time that the dog had lunged at her. The dog's jaws had come within inches of tearing her skin. She still remembered the way that the dog's teeth flashed in the fluorescent lights like lightning that had struck too close to where she was standing. Elizabeth's eyes were wide with fright, and she looked to Chris and Barry, pleading for their help.
When the momentary shock wore off, Chris and Barry readied their weapons and prepared to fire. Barry began to curse when it became apparent that he couldn't get a shot at the zombie without hurting the scientist. Chris dropped his shotgun to the ground and grabbed Barry's handgun away from him. His practice with sharp-shooting would come in handy now. He stood still for just a few seconds, long enough to shoot the zombie directly in its head. The blood and brain matter exploded onto the walls and onto Elizabeth, causing her to scream loudly and sending echoes throughout the hall.
She collapsed against the wall of the elevator as the zombie's body fell between the doors. Elizabeth was noticeably shaken as Chris ran to the elevator to check on her. Barry followed him shortly. Chris helped her up, supporting as her knees buckled when she tried to leave the elevator.
Chris gripped her shoulders and began to admonish her, " How dare you do something so stupid? You know how dangerous this place is. You made it this way! "
Elizabeth flinched at his words. He was right, and she began to weep. She had been so scared of her own experiment, yet hadn't she wanted to take responsibility for her actions? She removed a folded piece of paper from her breast pocket on her labcoat. It was tinged with the blood of the zombie, but the message written on it was still legible.
" Second planned outbreak in MA eminent. Prepare for new data. The Chairman "