CLAIREMBER 2022
Day 13 - monster
"Alright, I'm here. So what's this 'bargain' you mentioned?" Claire said.
Frederic Downing smiled behind the glass. "So eager to get down to brass tacks. Suits me. I'll start with what I want."
"To get out of prison?"
"You are a smart woman."
Claire laughed, leaned back in her chair. "What could you possibly have that's worth helping you?"
"I have information."
"You already gave up all the information you had. It got you nowhere."
"Oh, I have an infinite well of information at my disposal. For example, you survived the Raccoon City Incident."
"Everyone knows that."
"Then you survived the incidents involving the T-Veronica virus in the South Pacific and Antarctic."
"Everyone knows that too."
"You weren't alone. There was a young man by the name of Steve Burnside with you. He died after he was infected with Veronica."
Claire watched Downing, bored.
"Albert Wesker took his body for research. Before he left, he told you the virus might revive Steve."
"Is there a point to this conversation?"
Downing leaned forward like a cat about to pounce. "I know where Steve is."
Claire maintained her composure. "You're lying."
"I'm not."
"Yes, you are."
"Dearest one, if I were lying, how would I know the last words he ever said to you? 'I'm glad I met you. I love you.'" Downing chuckled. "You never told anyone, not even your brother. I wonder if that's because you're aware of how pathetic it was."
She had frozen, but now she began to tremble.
"Wesker told you," she said.
"No. Steve told me. He's alive and well, albeit a bit on the green side. D'you know he works for Wesker now? He has dear old Stevie at his beck and call because he promised him a cure for the Veronica virus. Of course I didn't know it was you he wanted to be cured for – not until after I met you and put the pieces together. I hope it's a great comfort to you that, aside from his monstrous appearance, he's still the same, pathetic, lovestruck lad."
Claire leaned forward until only the glass separated them. "Tell me where he is."
"Get me out of here and I will."
"I don't have the power to do that, Frederic."
"You'll think of something. Even if it isn't entirely legal. That is assuming, of course, that you want to find Steve as badly as you've always claimed you do."
She couldn't punch him, so she settled for squeezing the phone handle. "You're a monster."
He snorted and stood. "I'll give you a few days to think things over. Don't take too long, or I might change my mind."
Hanging up the phone, he turned and left. After the guard who'd escorted him closed the door, Claire slammed the phone on its hook.
There has to be a way to get him to tell me where Steve is. There has to be. But how?
Only one thing was certain: she had maybe three days tops to come up with a plan.
And I will. I have to. Steve needs me – and this time, I won't fail him.
