Author's Notes: Thanks for the reviews guys, they're completely encouraging. I love feedback of all kinds. They made me sit down and write this chapter tonight so enjoy :)
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Chapter 2; Unarmed yet unscathed
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A few hours after being captured and deftly thrown into the same cell as Steve Burnside was, Claire Redfield opened her eyes and blurrily surveyed the scene that lay before her. As everything came into focus, she choked back a scream; her hand raised up to cover her mouth as she gagged. And gagged. Blood was everywhere; all over the bars, all over the floor, splattered upon the cell's once off white walls. She attempted to sit up and then felt a hand around her waist. Frantically, as if she was an animal instead of a human, she knocked it off and scooted away; fearing it belonged to whatever had created the mess of red liquid. Then she took several deep breaths that quickly turned into gasps as she felt something moving next to her. She looked behind her and saw the sleeping form of a seventeen-year-old boy. "Steve?"
"Huh?" he groggily rubbed his eyes and then saw the red. He sat up and reached past Claire who was staring at him and then brushed against her, dipping a finger into the dark mixture. He lifted it to his nose and inhaled. He began to wheeze almost immediately; his jaw dropped and his face paled. He looked back at her, accusingly. "Oh shit. This.. this," he stammered, the pitch of his voice increasing, "is real blood. Claire did you hear...see anything?"
"No.. All I remember is.." That was weird. Her sentence remained incomplete for she couldn't remember anything that happened recently, especially the events leading up to their imprisonment. Claire stood up, skidding in the blood. She shook her head a few times and extended her arm out to him, "Need a hand?"
"No thanks." He stood up and smiled wanly at her. "Hey Claire, about what I said in the Antarctic."
"What about it?" Her voice sounded muffled and Steve soon realized it was because she had moved over to the other side of the cell and her back was to him. She was still wearing her trademark jacket as she examined the large rips in the metal bars; bars that were supposed to keep prisoners in. Large claw marks streaked down them, followed by more blood. In some places there were large gaps where reinforced steel had previously been.
"Well I.." Steve was interrupted as a loud roar echoed from outside.
"We'll talk later." She motioned for him to come to her and then wearily eyed the door. The lock was slashed off, and long cuts ran horizontally across the steel door. The mark of a Hunter.. the mark of Wesker. "I don't suppose you have a weapon or anything?" Her voice's tone was unreadable, he couldn't tell what she was feeling. Her gaze turned to Steve then back to the door.
"I have this.." Steve waved a well-worn combat knife around. The blade gleamed and a small grin formed on Claire's face. "When the guard knocked you out he dropped it, didn't seem to notice. Or care. I don't think they have good security in this joint."
"Gimme." She grabbed the blade from his hand and made a few swishing motions in the air, still grinning. Steve personally didn't see how she could be so happy; they were in a blood-ridden cell complete with the prospect of a front row ticket to see Death himself. Oh well. He found her smile strangely magnetic and despite the fact that he was scared he soon found himself sporting a matching grin. He was standing next to a cute girl after all.. a cute girl who could die at any minute. He grimaced at the thought.
"Don't die on me Redfield." Although Steve sounded like he was joking, he was serious. Very serious. He didn't want to lose her like he almost had back at Rockfort Island with the Bandersnatch. His skin prickled up in goose bumps when he heard another screech from outside the room. He felt like shouting out, 'don't go, stay with me, in my arms' but the words vanished the minute they tried to leave his mouth. He flashed her a relaxing smile and a half-hearted thumbs up.
"I'll see what I can do. The same goes for you, buddy." She sent a wink in the general direction of him as she reached the door. The grin which was plastered on her face vanished the minute she turned away from him. She muttered under her breath as she sent her foot into the door, jarring it open. She stepped out quickly, taking a look in all four directions. Never leave a side exposed, her older brother had said more than once. Where was the Hunter?
Then she saw it. Standing up on its hind legs, the beast had its back to her. Click, click, click. Its long claws tapped softly against the tiled floor. A flourescent light in the corner flickered on and off, in sync with the Hunter's footsteps. Click, click. How she hated her life at times like this. Brandishing the knife, she advanced to meet death.
She thrust it into the monster's thick back hide, dragging the blade vertically along its spine with a cracking sound. The Hunter grunted in rage and spun around, exposing a mouth full of red stained teeth. His breath reeked of decay and slaughter. Claire shivered, sending her foot into its stomach while she yanked her knife out and dropped to the floor just in time to watch a paw complete with six long claws slash at empty air. 'This would never get old,' she thought as she rolled to the side, narrowly escaping a paw as they dug into the area where she had just lay. She could feel the adrenaline coursing through her veins as she locked eyes with her opponent. She slammed the knife into its head and yanked it out, only to slash the beast across the face repeatedly. The world was green as its blood proceeded to splash onto her. The Hunter had become hunted; it was hers in a matter of time. Redfields. They were always so goddamn sure of themselves.
She stabbed repeatedly while green liquid gushed out from its wounds. Eventually, the Hunter fell backwards in a bloody pool of death; a sour acidic smell infiltrated her nostrils as she sat there, panting. Claire lifted herself up away from the twitching shape and that's when she saw it. The body slumped against a wall. It was headless. Freakin' headless. She gagged and for the second time in the last twenty minutes, she found herself choking back a scream.
The scream was let loose when she felt a hand on her shoulder as she stared at the corpse. She spun around, knife in hand and saw.. Steve. "Burnside to Redfield, you okay?" His eyes showed sympathy but there was something else. Something she couldn't place. Something she didn't want to know.
"Well, the Hunter is dead.. and I'm not, so all is good?" Her hand gestured to the pile a few feet away.
"So I saw," he paused still looking into her eyes, "Uh.."
"There's a dead body behind me," she offered as she slowly stepped away from him, causing his hand to fall off her shoulder dumbly.
Steve sighed and then moved up to the corpse, kneeling down. "Blah, let me show you how it's done." He spotted a holster attached to the man's belt with a handle protruding from it. He laughed. "Hey! Look what we have here," he waved the gun deftly at Claire, "It's a glock."
Her hands reached down for it and then she heard him say, "Nono, finders keepers."
"Hey dork, I saw the corpse first therefore it's my find." She yanked it from his hand and smiled sweetly.
He grunted, still examing the corpse. After grabbing something out of the man's shirt pocket, he smirked. "Keep the gun, I have the ammo and a keycard."
Claire looked at the gun and noted that it was empty. She growled. "It's all fun and games until someone gets--"
"Hurt. I know, I know. But if you want this ammo, you're going to have to do something for me."
She blinked, startled by the words. She hoped he didn't mean something sexual. "Like..?"
He was about to say that he needed some Semi-Automatic Machine guns when there was a loud thud as the airvent's cover fell off and a Hunter screamed. "I don't know.. how about kill that Hunter up the hall?" He tossed her the ammo while pocketing the card.
She glared at him as she caught it and loaded the gun with a deadly precision. "Stay behind me, Steve. Here, you can have the knife." She handed it to him. "Lets go the other direction.. away from that Hunter." She didn't seem to be too enthusiastic about the chance of getting guts on her shoes again.
He followed her, the Hunter's screams in the background slowly fading with each step.
