Shattered Hearts

Chapter 4: Remembrance Part 2

Author's Note: Thanks for all the reviews, sadly yet this will be the last chapter for a while. I'll make more but it'll take me a lot longer to finish... blah, blah, blah...

Disclaimer: Applies as before, don't own the, never did... never will. All except made up characters belong to Capcom.

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Claire's eyes widened as her mind registered the thing she was looking at was indeed a zombie. The zombie staggered slowly closer to her with its half-rotten arm out to grab her. She wanted to move away but was frozen to the spot. The zombie reached out and grabbed hold of her leather jacket, digging its nails into the fabric, slightly ripping it as it moved in to bite her neck. Claire screamed as she raised her gun and fired six rounds into the zombie's chest, knocking it to the floor. She breathed heavily as her body slowed down from the adrenaline rush she received. Claire looked down at the now re-dead zombie and watched the blood pour out from beneath it.

'...Okay, it's puddled... It won't be getting back up... I hope...'

She took a deep breath as she turned around to head back down the corridor to start over again. This time she took the left door through the sitting room. While searching the room, Claire paused in front of an odd looking painting hanging above an end-table. The portrait was of two soldiers lying motionless on the ground surrounded by blood and fire. Claire didn't know what to think of it, but figured it might end up being part of a puzzle later; considering any residence owned by Umbrella had stupid things like these. Not thinking about it anymore, she walked on down the long room to one of the doors she hadn't been through.

Upon reaching the locked door, Claire looked at it for a moment, and then headed back to the fireplace to grab a tool. Looking at her choices, she decided that the fire hook would be the best decision for prying a door open. Picking it up, she walked back toward the door and jammed it between the door and its frame. Using her upper-body strength, Claire pulled the hook towards her and was glad to see that the door was starting to crack. Lifting the handle of the hook up, she yanked it out and tossed it to the side. Backing away from the door, Claire spun around and back-kicked the door causing it to fling open.

"See, huh... no sweat."

The room connected to the sitting area was a bedroom.

'...Of all things to be locked... how stupid...'

Entering the bedroom, Claire looked around to see two closets to the right, next to a dresser and a bed. She went over to the dresser and went through its drawers. The top drawer was filled with old torn moldy clothes. The stench itself was so bad, that Claire immediately closed it. Opening the second drawer proved successful, finding two magazine clips, a diary and shotgun shells.

'... I guess everyone has something useful in his or her dressers... I thought we were the only ones...'

Taking the items, Claire sat down on the bed and begun to read the diary.

September 11,

They can't keep us locked in here forever; we're like prisoners in this hellhole.

People are starting to disappear from the rooms. John was taken Wednesday and Tim Friday in the middle of the night. The people in the room next to mine started throwing up this morning, and they didn't look so well. I'm staring to feel sick myself.

September 14,

Today guys in the white suits came into my room; they said they were "checking" on me. They searched my closets and dresser, then left. Later in the evening I felt itchy and couldn't stop. I looked into the mirror, to see my face was pale and red.

September 18

Still so itchy... and hungry

September 21,

Hungry...

Th smll o blod s thck n my rom.

My romate cme tday...

Ugly face, so ate hm.

Tasty...

The rest of the pages in the diary were blank. Upon reading the last entry, Claire threw the diary on the ground disgusted. One of the worst things that Chris brought back from the mansion besides his injuries, were the notebooks left by the people who were living at the compound. The stages of virus contamination were practically laid out in the diaries. They went from being normal civilians, to eating other people, which made Claire want to throw up.

Wiping the sweat from her forehead, Claire got off the bed and moved toward the closet closest to her. Before she could open the doors, they flew open and a zombie grabbed her, pinning her on the bed. Kicking and screaming she tired to fight it off, but to no avail. The zombie, in the midst of the struggling, managed to bite her on the neck. Gathering all her strength, Claire pushed the zombie off her, a piece of her flesh going down with it. She looked down at the zombie chewing on the chunk of skin. When the zombie staggered to its feet to grab her again, Claire turned her head and quickly fired five shots into its head.

Watching it fall to the ground one last final time, Claire walked out of the bedroom. She back-tracked to one of the main hallways, anxiously looking for a bathroom. Taking a left down the corridor, she noticed a wooden door close enough to the wall leading to the next hallway to be what she needed. Without any more hesitation she entered the tiny room and shut the door behind her. The bathroom itself was filthy, grime was everywhere. She figured it would be this way, after all, all the other rooms in the mansion where out of shape and disgusting.

Climbing up on the sink, Claire reached into her pouch and pulled out a rag and a canteen. Opening the canteen she tipped it over and wet the rag then placed it over her wound. Rubbing it gently, she winced in pain. It wasn't a deep gash, but it still hurt like hell. Wetting the rag once more, she cleaned off the last bit of blood. Ringing it out in the sink, Claire put the cloth back in the pouch.

She looked across from her at the bathtub, which was filled to the brim with murky black water. Claire thought about empting the tub, but then remembered a humorous little story Jill had told her about the mansion incidence in the Arklay Mountains, and decided not to.

'...I'm not that stupid as to drain the tub... even if there's something I might need in the bottom... I need all the bullets in my gun... they're not to be wasted...'

Hoping off the sink, Claire left the bathroom, and closed the door behind her. Going down the long hallway, she took a right and stopped at a dead-end with a door. Opening the door, Claire looked around and saw that the room was a big empty lab with nothing in it but empty worktables and a metal door at the far back. Thinking that there was nothing in there that could harm her, she let her guard down as she walked across the lab to another door at the end. She was too bent on continuing with her search, that the thought of a lab room being placed in a residence hall, didn't strike her as being a little weird.

The metal door creaked open slowly and the silhouette of a tall man appeared in its doorway. Claire tried to see him, but couldn't make out a face in the dim red lighting. The man stepped forward into the light, revealing his short blond hair and red eyes. He had a rather unpleasant smirk across his face, which gave Claire shivers. There was no way of denying it; this guy had the same features of THE one person, who along with the Umbrella Corporation ruined everyone's lives. One guy that wasn't only after her, but her brother Chris as well: Albert Wesker.

"Why... Hello Claire... It's good to see you... alive…" Wesker said stepping forward a step closer to her.

"You- You Stay Away Wesker... or-"

"Or you'll what... kill me?"

Claire cringed at the sound of his voice full of amusement and sarcasm. She truly hated Wesker with every fiber of her being. He after all was nothing but a backstabbing traitor to her brother and his colleagues at S.T.A.R.S. He used them to the point of their own deaths and still managed to live after almost being killed by a Tyrant proto-type. Having him standing before her now, she knew the outcome would be nothing but pain and agony.

"To be honest Claire, I don't think you have it in you to kill me... Let alone the strength to..."

"SHUT UP!!" Claire screamed raising her gun towards Wesker's direction.

"...I see... Wrong answer Ms. Redfield," He said moving close enough to her so the barrel of the gun touched his chest.

"...Shoot me... only if you can shoot me without being too slow or messing up." He said smirking evilly down at her.

Claire's eyes widened at his mockery.

'...Shit...'

Wesker closed the distance between them completely, grabbed Claire by the neck and looked down at her, enjoying the facial expressions his strength caused her. Lifting her above his head, he smiled evilly and then threw Claire into the wall in the front of the room.

"What's wrong Redfield? Can't take the pressure?"

Opening her eyes slightly due to the extreme pain she was in, Claire looked over at Wesker; some blood started to drip down from her forehead and clouded her vision. From what she could see was Wesker standing before her with a look of disappointment on his face.

"Ah, too bad Claire, I guess you have changed since the last time I saw you, you've become weak, what a shame... I suppose you can't handle this either."

With that said Wesker pulling a switch out of his pocket, and then showed it to her like she was some kind of child. Pushing the button released a siren and the lights in the lab turned a dark red and began flashing. A section of the wall to the right of them, burst open with a loud crash, and steam filled the room.

"Well, Claire I hope you enjoy the performance... I certainly know I will."

Claire lifted her head up even though it felt like a ton of bricks and looked at Wesker, wondering what he meant, then realized whatever it was wasn't good. When the ground shook violently a moment later, Wesker laughed at her stupidity. The shakes came closer until an eight-foot tall monster appeared in the new doorway.

Even though it looked a lot different to Mr. X and the tyrant at Rockfort Island, the similarities were frightening. Its body was covered in attached rippling muscle, which jerked uncontrollably at its' every breath. The heart, if that is what you would call a heart, was exposed to the open air, so that you could see it beating. The monster moved its head over to look at Claire, acknowledging the fear in her eyes.

'...Oh god...' Was the last thought that went through her mind before the tyrant grabbed her with one arm and drove its' claw across her stomach. With the contact of the claw against her skin, blood spurted out of the rips in flesh and splattered down on the floor. Wesker watched this in delight; he always wanted to see a Redfield suffer to the point of death. The tyrant then hit Claire so hard across the face that it knocked her out of it's' grasp and right before Wesker's feet.

Claire moved her head off the ground to look up at him slowly.

"Had enough yet?" Wesker said looking down at her bloody stomach smirking.

She didn't respond, only staggered to her feet to half-face him, not being able to stand straight. When she tried to face him directly, she spit up blood, which was a definite sign of something wrong on the inside. Claire really didn't want to even ponder what could be wrong with her, not at that moment, one thought floated to the top: run.

Without hesitating, Claire turned around and ran through the door, not bothering to look back to see if they were following her. At that moment, she didn't feel the pain of her injury as she sprinted down countless hallways and doors looking for an escape. When she had ran so far as to run upstairs to a patio outside on a balcony, the pain hit like a heavy weight on her shoulders, she was out of breath and couldn't bear to run anymore. The tyrant could be heard a few hallways back, destroying walls and other objects which stood in its way, blocking it from its target.

Claire turned to look around and was face-to-face with the tyrant towering over her. It raised its arm to strike her down, but she moved out of its' reach and began shooting at its exposed heart. One thing she learned from her experiences in both Raccoon City and on Rockfort Island was that if it bleeds then it isn't invincible and can be killed. The only problem with this monster however was the fact that after fifteen rounds of nine-millimeter bullets, it hasn't bled a drop, which scared her far beyond anything else.

Claire began backing up against the wall that led inside, disposed of the empty chamber in her gun, reloaded and looked around for any possible options that she might have overlooked. From what she could see, there was a dead-end of the balcony to both sides of her and there was no way that she intended on jumping off. She raised her gun at the tyrant, not as confident as her brother, but still a good shooter.

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In that moment, Claire was no longer standing on a balcony face-to-face with a tyrant Wesker had sent after her; she couldn't see anything around her except for white. She didn't feel the pain from the extent of her injuries, but the wounds were still there.

"Claire...I'm sorry"

Looking around her new environment, Claire searched for the voice that called out through the silence, it seemed to be coming from everywhere with no starting point. The voice seemed a little familiar, but it didn't register in her mind.

"What?"

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Before Claire could shoot at the monster, it took its clawed arm and rammed it against the side of her head, slamming her into the wall, causing the wall to crack immensely. Wesker watched as the tyrant stood over her, observing her every moment to see if she had survived the onslaught.

"Your target is dead, there's no need for you now" Wesker said approaching the tyrant unwavering.

The tyrant turned around and looked down at him, somehow understanding, and jumped off the balcony. Wesker walked over to the barely breathing Claire and crouched down next to her.

"...W-why...am I...here...W-Wesker..." Claire barely managed to say, too injured to try to speak.

"Do you really want to know little Redfield, then I'll tell you...you were tricked I afraid..."

"W-what?"

"You see, I had someone call you to lead you here-"

Claire took a deep breath, gathering some strength to comprehend what it was he was saying.

"Where... is Sherry?"

"You mean Birkins little girl? Heh... I'm sorry to say this, but she is not here neither is your partner."

"M-my...Partner, I don't..."

"Let me guess, you never had a partner, well you're wrong Claire... you did"

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"I'm so very sorry Claire... is it at all possible that you could forgive me"

"...Leon... is that really you..."

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"Leon...you mean him... don't you?" Claire said as she tried to sit up, but her efforts were useless, just as her body was useless to any movement.

"Please don't try to get up, you'll only make it worse on yourself later...if you get out of here alive." Wesker said, rising to his feet to look down on her.

"Yes Claire, I'm talking about Leon S. Kennedy, I'm sure you two have kept in close contact since, right?"

"W-what have you...done to him?"

"Me? Personally, I haven't done anything to him. I do know, however, that he is injected with the new progenitor virus."

"Then...why am...I--"

"...Here? 'Why am I here,' you ask, well your just a pawn in our little game, we sent you into a trap and you fell for it. Mr. Kennedy is not here yet, so our little game has yet to be over."

Claire cringed as she listened to Wesker talk about her situation, and couldn't stand him talking to her like she was nothing. Moving herself up a little, she pointed her gun at Wesker's head, readying the trigger. She fired one shot at him directly, but it only grazed his ear because he moved out of the way too fast.

"Now Claire, why would you do that... you know I don't like it..."

Wesker grabbed Claire by the head, pulled out a combat knife and held it up to her mouth. He slowly moved the knife across her lower lip to the corner of her mouth, and left it there, blade pointed towards her. When she tried to struggle away, he cut her lips across both sides where they connected. This caused Claire's fresh blood to drip onto the knife until it slowly fell to the floor. Wesker removed the knife from her skin and kissed the wound callously, making it bleed even more.

Claire tried her hardest with what strength she had, to fight him off of her. Having him do that to her, was making her sick. Raising her gun up from her lap, she pulled the trigger and fired a shot into his chest. Wesker moved away from her, and struck her across the face, pushing her further into the wall.

"I'm not done with you yet Claire, although I don't think we'll have the liberty of meeting again," Wesker said as he left.

Claire felt the last bits of her energy drain from her body. It was to the point where she couldn't move anymore. Closing her eyes, she felt the gun slip from her grasp. She let the pain take over her body, feeling numb as her world slipped into darkness.

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To be continued

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