Leon ran quickly down the stairs, gasping as he heard the grunts that chased him.
A roar echoed through the empty room, and as he felt the hairs on the back of his neck stand on end, he instinctively ducked, hearing and seeing the huge bone stake that crashed into the concrete wall and fell to the ground.
The bone was sturdy, for despite the force with which it crashed into the wall, it did not break.
After a while of running, he finally reached the elevator area and pressed the button. The elevator would take a while to get there, which means he would have to deal with those creatures following him.
Turning, Leon throws his torso to the side, dodging more bone spikes, and quickly moves to the side, dodging a strong attack from one of the Ooze that was chasing him.
This creature had bone spines all over its body, it was large, and its hands were more like large slabs of dense muscle and bone, which would certainly leave him in a precarious situation if he were hit.
Leon shoots the huge Ooze in the leg, knocking him down, and then runs forward and throws himself to the ground, literally sliding under an attack also coming from the huge hand of another Ooze.
The agent soon turns around, staying kneeling on only one of his legs, and fires at the back of the creature's head and legs. The shots from his customized matilda penetrated the seemingly soft skin of the Ooze and went through its body where some even hit the other Ooze further ahead, near the elevator.
This said Ooze ran towards Leon, jumped up and raised both huge arms, attempting a slashing and possibly crushing vertical attack at the same time as the other Ooze also advanced towards the agent.
Leon jumped back, dodging the first attack. But before he could shoot, the other creature leaped over the first Ooze and attempted a horizontal slashing attack.
Leon's eyes widened slightly as everything seemed to go into slow motion and his body acted without him needing to think.
He grabbed his knife as he crouched and moved forward, firing at the Ooze that was literally flying over his head and stabbing his knife into the head of the one that had fallen to the ground, which he quickly proceeded to roll over the creature's soft rubbery back and rip the Ooze's head open horizontally with his knife still stuck in its deformed skull as he unloaded his matilda into the other creature until it was no longer moving.
The Ooze at his feet began to wriggle and the spines on its body began to move in a strange way. Leon quickly threw himself to the ground with the knife still stuck in the creature's head and pulled his body back with great force and violence, literally decapitating part of Ooze's head before it could shoot the spines out of its body.
That move was already getting annoying, although still extremely dangerous.
The elevator arrived and Leon made his way down to the laboratory. According to reports, the place was probably empty, but it was more than likely that other creatures like those Oozes, or even Hunters, were still roaming around there.
Leon reloaded his pistol and checked the ammo in his rifle. He had plenty of rounds, but he had better be careful from then on, because he had used up more than half of what he had initially taken.
All he had to do now was destroy the laboratory. And to do that, he had to get to the place where they were testing humans.
"Kennedy here... I'm coming down to the lab." He said into his communicator, noting the floors that appeared on the small screen above the doors.
From the numbers available on the panel, the lab wasn't very big. But it wouldn't do for him to come out on top when the explosions started.
If Hunk was right, there should be an emergency exit in small capsules that led away down the river. He was counting on that.
"Okay. The first door with the password leading to the lab should be locked. According to Hunk, the password is 7395." The voice on the other end of his communicator said, and Leon didn't respond, just raised his pistol as the doors opened and walked at a quick pace out of the elevator while running his eyes over his surroundings.
There were a few blood marks all over the floor along with devoured and punctured bodies lying around.
In a way, he thought that that lab would be similar to the one in Raccoon, but to his surprise, it was somewhat different.
There was no reception room, just a long corridor that led to other branches leading to various wings and rooms such as offices and even a cafeteria.
There were rooms there, which provided the people who worked there a rest, and they didn't have to return to the surface for a long time. Considering this and the fact that the radio tower above was within a restricted area for unauthorized people, maybe this was why nobody had heard about this laboratory for so long.
The first iron door appeared in his line of vision and Leon entered the password. The first thing he saw was another corridor, but different from the others, the surrounding walls were glass, on the other side, containment or observation rooms it seemed.
And inside these rooms, hunters. Four to be exact.
Leon quickly exchanged his pistol for his rifle and picked up a single hand grenade. The last one he had. It would have to do.
Taking a few deep breaths, he ran down the corridor towards another metal door ahead, and of course, the hunters saw and heard him, jumping through the glass and starting to chase him.
These hunters, to the agent's fucked-up delight, were "ordinary" hunters, exactly like the ones shown in the files.
To his misfortune, however, these Hunters could still jump great distances, and it didn't take long for them to catch up with him.
Pulling the pin out of his grenade as the door opened, Leon threw the grenade to the ground while still running, throwing himself on the ground and turning around as he slid backwards.
The grenade exploded between the four of them, who were thrown a few inches into the air from the impact, and before they could do anything, Leon hit them with a hail of shots that penetrated their scales and exploded their flesh.
He hit them precisely, causing practically all of the Hunters to fall to the ground with no way to react.
However, as he fired, he felt his torso being grabbed and he was thrown violently against the wall.
He gasped and grunted in pain, thankful that the herbal mixture was still active and he was not slow to react.
To his misfortune, another of those stealth Hunters was there, staring at him with a predatory gaze and with its claws ready to literally impale him on the wall.
Leon shot at the arm that was holding him and began to shoot the Hunter in the head as he broke free. However, one of the normal Hunters jumped towards him and literally hit him in the side of the body with a punch-like blow, strong enough to throw him violently to the side.
Leon felt his body being dragged along the ground, but as he quickly recovered, he reloaded his rifle and began shooting at the two Hunters advancing towards him.
The Hunter who could camouflage was faster, and as soon as it got close enough, it tried a vertical claw strike.
The agent dodged it by rolling to the side and getting up, but he wasn't fast enough to dodge the second Hunter's attack, which hit him in the side of his body, throwing him back a few inches.
Leon grunted in pain, and due to the force of the blow, he couldn't react in time to the other Hunter that attacked him, and soon, he groaned loudly as he felt the side of his body, a little below his ribs being hit by the three sharp claws of the creature, literally opening a small part of the area hit and tearing out a rather disturbing amount of blood.
The agent soon remembered the claw wound on his chest, and gritting his teeth, feeling the adrenaline rush through his body, he turned just in time to dodge the ordinary Hunter's attack, and counterattacked with a shot to the back of the creature's head.
The second hunter attacked him soon after, a piercing attack with its three claws, however, Leon was quicker and dodged it by throwing his torso back and counter-attacking with shots to the monster's head.
Watchful, he heard the roar of the Hunter behind him and ducked an horizontal claw attack from the creature, which hit the enhanced Hunter in front of him.
Leon grabbed the last stun grenade he had and threw it on the ground, throwing himself backwards as he shot the common Hunter in the leg and shielding himself from the explosion soon after.
The explosion happened, and because he was still close, he was also hit. But unlike the two Hunters in front of him, he recovered quickly and hit them with a hail of shots.
The ordinary hunter succumbed to his injuries and the shots he was still receiving, and it wasn't long before he fell to the ground, motionless.
The problem was the enhanced Hunter, almost like a sponge of bullets. Leon couldn't imagine how difficult it would be to kill that thing with normal weapons.
His ammo ran out, and although the Hunter literally had several holes in its body, the creature was still moving.
With no choice, Leon grabs his knife and his matilda. In the creature's condition, ordinary bullets from a pistol with a higher caliber should already have some effect.
The Hunter roared and moved toward Leon, not feeling the pain in its body, but relatively slower than before.
The agent dodged, counter-attacking with two shots to the creature's head, which staggered a few steps but attacked again. A horizontal blow with its claws.
Leon ducks down and fires twice into both of Hunter's legs, bringing it to its knees on the ground. Advancing towards the creature, the agent stabs his knife in the middle of Hunter's deformed forehead, and seeing that the creature was going to react, he pulled his knife back, stepped to the side to dodge a blow, and stabbed his blade into the back of the monster's head.
He soon withdrew his knife again and violently stabbed Hunter in the side of the neck, giving the creature no time to react as he slashed the visible part of the front of the creature's throat, which was now bleeding much more intensely than before.
He shoots the creature in the head a few more times just to be sure and quickly tears off some of its clothing not protected by the vest and ties it around the wound, squeezing as hard as he could and drinking the last of his herbal mixture.
The relief was immediate, but he couldn't abuse it. There was a reason he only took two blends.
Taking a deep breath as he felt the mixture working, he stared at the bodies of the hunters on the ground.
Just imagining creatures like those swimming through the oceans made his body shiver.
Shaking his head and checking his body for other injuries, he soon continues his way through the laboratory.
After a while of walking, something caught his attention. Something that immediately made his heart beat faster.
In one of the rooms from which he watched through the occasional window, he saw a little girl, a child, lying on a stretcher with some tubes connected to needles in her arms.
Leon didn't even think first, he quickly walked toward the door while moving his hand to his communicator.
"Kennedy here. I found a test subject!" He exclaimed, looking around to make sure there were no creatures sneaking up behind him as he placed his other hand on the white door handle.
"What? Wait, wait, wait! What's the situation?!" The voice asked, and Leon ran his eyes around the room after opening the door.
"She's lying on a stretcher. A child. By the looks of it, a test subject. Get the vaccines ready." Leon said, walking a few steps toward the girl.
"If she sees you we'll have to kill her." The voice said, and Leon stopped suddenly, eyes wide in pure disbelief and his jaw locked by the immediate anger that arose.
"What? Didn't you hear me say she's a child?! She's a test subject, I know, but why are you going to kill her if we have the fucking vaccine?!"
"Because we don't take care of children, Agent Kennedy. Which means she'll stay with Terrasafe, which means we'll run the risk of her telling someone she saw your face. And remember that our secrecy is absolute." The voice said, and Leon ran his hand through his hair, internally wishing he could go back the way he had done that far and kick the fallen bodies of the hunters due to anger.
"Argh, you assholes... so she'll be fine if she doesn't see my face, right?! Right!" He said, cutting the connection and promptly taking off his vest, placing a few things on the ground.
As soon as he did, he took off his military shirt and tore it in a few places, tying the torn fabric over his head and mouth, leaving only his eyes showing.
He promptly put the vest back on after throwing the rest of the torn shirt aside and began to approach the stretcher.
As soon as he approached, he removed the needles from the little girl's arms and gently touched her on the shoulder.
"Hey... girl... wake up..." He called to her low, rocking her body gently.
The girl stirred, grunting slightly after some time of trying to wake her up. Slowly, she opened her eyes, and as soon as hers focused on Leon's, she screamed in fright and pulled away suddenly, where she almost fell off the stretcher, but was held by the agent.
"Hey, calm down!" he said as he saw that she began to struggle harder after he touched her.
Looking at her closer, Leon couldn't help but sigh. The girl was very young, she couldn't have been more than five, six years old. She had short brown hair, dark skin but too light compared to the civilians in the area, probably had immigrant parents, perhaps.
She wore a hospital outfit only and had some marks on her arms. A lab rat that survived, hard to imagine what those people wanted to turn that girl into.
Slowly, Leon raised his arms up, without moving from his spot.
" I am not going to hurt you." He said in Indian, seeming to calm the girl a little more. Well, at least she stopped trying to run away from him.
" I came to get you out of here." He said again, approaching at short, cautious steps.
The girl, though still frightened, did not turn away.
"My mother..." She said, watching Leon slowly kneel down in front of her as she, still frightened, turned away.
"I don't know where she is, but... like I said, I'm going to get you out of here. I can try to get you back to her." A half-truth that seemed to satisfy the little girl, who stopped moving away.
Slowly, Leon moved closer and entwined the little girl in his arms, trying to ignore the grunting and trembling of her body as he touched her.
He stood up with her in his arms, and was a little pleased when she hugged his neck and rested her chin on his shoulder and soon he was out of that room.
It didn't take long before he reached his goal.
Opening the front double door slowly, he ran his eyes around the large room. There was a huge tube surrounded by computers and screens showing various parts of the research conducted there. The floor was stained with blood and some of the computers were destroyed. Probably when the creatures there escaped.
The wall around the entire room had several smaller glass tubes that once housed the infected. In some of these tubes, for example, they still had the deformed infected that were not yet ready to be used, and Leon tried not to grimace at the sight of all those deformed human bodies.
And some bodies that were in such an extreme condition that they didn't even look human anymore. In fact, they looked like nothing he had ever seen in his life.
In the left corner of the room was a corridor that, according to his information, would lead exactly to the capsule that would launch him into the river.
"Kennedy here. I've reached lab central." He said over his communicator, approaching at a quick pace the computers ahead.
"Right. The central computer should be right in the middle. We're going to configure that computer to activate the self-destruct sequence without sensitive information being sent to some other base. What you will do is..." The voice was interrupted by the sound of something crashing against the floor.
Leon instinctively threw himself back and raised his pistol as his eyes focused on the creatures in front of him.
Two creatures. The larger one had several spines all over its huge body, legs covered with masses of flesh protected with stakes of bone, a torso as spiny as any creature Leon had ever seen. Arms huge and with bones so big that he could tell they were bigger than his torso. A head without eyes but with huge, sharp teeth.
This creature was holding a smaller one with something that looked like a tentacle. This smaller one had no arms, only legs. Its torso was nothing more than a blob of pulsing flesh sutured together and the human hands were stuck on the sides of its body without a way to be used.
The agent didn't even have much time to react, as the huge creature attacked him with one of its tentacles due to it being relatively far away from the agent.
Leon gritted his teeth and ducked, dodging the attack. However, he was not fast enough to dodge the second one, and all he could do was turn his body to protect the girl from the attack.
He grunted loudly as he was thrown to the side and groaned as he felt his body hit the ground, and especially as he felt the sharp pain on the side of his back.
"Hide!" He said to the little girl, letting her go and getting up soon after, already shooting at the creature.
The shots penetrated the monster's tough skin but didn't seem to have much effect.
That thing wasn't on the files either.
The creature reacted, and as a counter-attack, it hurled the other creature it was holding toward Leon.
The agent focused his eyes on the monster that was literally flying towards him. Despite the situation, he observed in detail the way in which the monster moved while still in the air.
And seeing the creature literally start to swell and seem to glow red in some parts of its body, it was not difficult to understand what would happen there.
Not to mention that they had records about this creature. They called it Chunk, a monster that exploded on contact, when shot, or close to living creatures. Little was known about them other than that.
He rolled his eyes and ran to the side, just in time.
The creature exploded as it crashed into the ground. An explosion of blood, acid, and chunks of bone were thrown everywhere at extreme speed.
It would kill anyone who was too close to the impact area.
Leon came out from behind his brief hiding place behind the huge tube surrounded by computers, gasping as he heard the bones of the creature's huge hand drive into the wall next to his head
The huge creature began to attack him viciously, and he countered by firing whenever he could, aiming mostly for the head.
The creature attacked him with its huge spiny arm, but Leon dodged to the side, firing a few more times at the monster's head.
Soon, tentacles attacked him.
The agent gritted his teeth and grabbed his knife, deflecting the attack of the first tentacle. The second tentacle attacked him, and he dodged to the side.
But before he could counterattack, a third advanced toward him, attacking his legs with the intention of knocking him down. But Leon jumped backs, put his hands on the ground beside his head, and with his arms, propelled himself upward, rising quickly to the point of firing again until he ran out of ammo.
It would never work that way, he wasn't doing much damage. He had to think of something else.
The creature attacked him again, this time a horizontal attack that would certainly split him in half if he was hit. In reflex Leon jumped over the blow, but, still in the air, he was hit by a tentacle that again hurled him away.
The agent groaned in pain as he felt his body being dragged along the ground, but was thankful that his vest had absorbed some of the damage.
It was then that, as he stood up, his eyes focused on a Chunk still trapped in a tube and an idea crossed his mind.
Running towards the computer in the center of the lab, Leon let himself slide on the floor, dodging a tentacle attack, and soon he stood up and jumped to the side, dodging a vertical attack from the creature with its spiky arm.
Firing a few more times at the monster's head, he reaches over to the computer and presses the number on the tube, which soon begins to slowly descend from the wall.
The huge creature, to his surprise, raised both hands in his direction.
Leon gritted his teeth again and started to run away, hearing the sound of bone piles being hurled towards him at great speed and hitting the ground with extreme force. These things could impale a human being or two with extreme ease.
Reloading his pistol, Leon stops running and fires one more time at the creature, remaining still while shooting.
The creature then again attacks him with its tentacles. But even so, the agent didn't move until said tentacles were extremely close to where he was standing.
He quickly threw his body to the side, feeling the air being cut inches away from the side of his torso and hearing the tentacles pierce Chunk's flesh behind him.
He watched as the monster was pulled by the tentacles, and aiming his pistol, he waited for Chunk to be pulled close enough.
As soon as it did, he fired, and the explosion caused the huge creature to roar loudly, kneeling on the ground and its tentacles that were not broken by the explosion of flesh, acid and bones to jerk upwards with some frenzy.
Putting his pistol in its holster, Leon rushed towards the creature, picked up one of the huge bone stakes that lay on the ground, and as soon as he got close, he drove the bone stake into the center of the creature's chest, so deep that almost 70% of the bone stake was sunk into the monster's flesh.
Leon backed away a few steps, slightly out of breath, but realizing that this was his opportunity, he ran toward the central computer, thankful to see that it had not been destroyed.
"What do I have to do?!"
"Press the keys W R and type in the numbers I will pass you! 944 366 101! The rest leave it to me." Leon did so, and the computer screen changed to blue, where some information passed at great speed across the screen, until a 30-second counter appeared.
"Now get out of there!" The voice said, and Leon turned around.
"Girl! Let's go!" He shouted, watching the little girl come out from behind one of the mobile metal tables scattered there and run towards him.
Leon quickly picked her up on his lap and began running toward the corridor that led to the capsule.
The creature behind him roared with the sound of the siren, and the red light that took over the place made it look even more terrifying.
The monster shot more bone spikes at Leon, who kept running, and missed.
When the creature got up, the agent had already placed the girl in one of the only remaining capsules, and when the monster moved, Leon had already entered the capsule and the metal door with a small glass window had already closed.
The capsule was thrown away and ran alongside the river, while a few seconds later they both felt the explosion that happened behind them.
Through the small window, Leon could see remnants of the lab being thrown by the explosion, and the bright light of the fire illuminating the river bottom.
Sighing, he sat down on the double seat and faced the ground.
He wouldn't say his first mission had been as intense as Raccoon city, but he would say it was a somewhat strong foundation to prepare him for things as horrific as those in that city.
And, well, even though it wasn't as intense, that mission certainly marked him in some way. It wasn't as if he was going to forget the time he first killed. And that, surprisingly, he didn't feel guilty about it.
Leaning his body forward, he props his elbows on his legs, and feels the light touch of the little girl beside him on his arm.
"What's your name?" he asked as he looked at her.
"Rani... Chawla." She answered, and with a small nod, he looks away.
She was just a little girl...
He couldn't save the victims of that place, much less save those test subjects... but he did save a little girl, and he certainly saved more lives that would be taken if those things continued to roam there.
It might not seem like much, but it was enough for him to feel at least a little satisfied.
Although he still felt that he could have done more.
Strange enough, he didn't feel as if that mission had been a success...
In fact, he could barely feel anything.
Looking at her reflection in the mirror, Claire sighs slightly as she fixes her hair into a ponytail.
She hated those socials and celebrations that Terrasafe occasionally held. Part of her thought it was a waste of time and money that could be going to those who really needed it. The other part just didn't like that kind of thing anymore.
The intense noise made her feel as if her eardrums were going to burst at any second. The strong smell made her drunk and dizzy and bothered her nostrils. And the many flashing lights bothered her eyes, making them burn with the diversity and intensity of each flashing light.
Even after all these years, she still couldn't quite control her... "attributes". Attributes that she hated.
Leaning her torso a little forward, she leaned over the sink and put on a not too strong lipstick just to strengthen the pink color of her lips, which had become a little darker over the years.
She didn't like make-up very much, it bothered her skin and the smell was horrible for her supersensitive nose. So whenever she had to wear some makeup, she just used the basics, which almost always just consisted of a lipstick and some earrings.
When she finished, she straightened her posture and looked at herself analytically. She looked beautiful, as always. But perfectly dressed for the very important meeting she would have with some members of the BSAA, a meeting that would follow another meeting with some members of the intelligence wing of Terrasafe.
She was rooting for it not to be another trip, but at the same time she was rooting to get out of there.
She had a home... or something that should be a home. An apartment not far from where she worked, in a building constantly watched by the BSAA and on USSTRATCOM's database and satellite images due to their partnership.
At that point, privacy was a privilege she didn't have, and more than once she checked her apartment for cameras. Luckily, and to her relief, she never found anything.
Leaving her apartment after grabbing her car keys, she takes the elevator down and walks past the reception desk almost as if in a blur.
It was about a five-minute drive from her building to the terrasafe building. And because of the short time, there were few times when she was really immersed in personal thoughts. It wasn't as if she had time to herself, and when she did, she hardly knew how to enjoy it.
When she arrived, she parked her car in the basement garage and took the elevator up to the reception desk.
She went through and over in her mind images and theories of what these meetings would be like, how they would go, and how they would end. Usually, it was always the same. Always bad news and images, where she and her team had to travel to help those affected by bioterrorism.
She was so caught up in her thoughts, worrying about the possible victims and destruction caused by an outbreak she didn't even know was real yet, that she didn't even realize she was being called until the caller put a hand on her shoulder.
The woman blinked a few times, staring at the person in front of her in mild surprise.
"Neil..." She said his name, still a little dazed by her own thoughts.
"Everything okay there, Redfield?" The man asked, and Claire placed her hand on the back of her neck.
Neil Fisher, a man known for his calm nature and his intelligence. A good man who did and sacrificed many things to fight bioterrorism.
He was tall, short brown hair with a short beard of the same color and dark brown eyes. Although he had a good physique, he had a more thin body.
He was respected by many and it was no longer any secret that he might become the leader of that organization at some point.
And of course, on top of all that, he had been her boyfriend for at least two months, much to Chris' chagrin.
"Yeah... yeah, sure, I was just...thinking." She replied, shaking her head as she started walking, hearing Neil's footsteps accompanying her.
"Worried about today's meetings, I take it?" He asked, and in response, the woman merely grunted slightly. "Hm, it wasn't hard to figure it out. Besides, it's pretty rare to have a meeting with the BSAA and one's own team on the same day."
"Thank you for confirming what I feared most." She said with some irony, glancing at the clock on her wrist, before stopping in front of the elevator and turning to Neil.
Honestly, she liked him, even though one of her friends, Moira, always teased her about dating a guy she worked together with who could possibly be her boss. But she didn't care. She couldn't stay with Sherry forever, and now that the younger girl was spending a lot of time at the Burtons' house and going to a school that was also being watched, she was alone a lot when she wasn't working, which made her a little lonely.
Neil was a good, kind man, although he was too serious and didn't have a good sense of humor, but it was nice to be with him. She just tried to pretend that there was nothing missing in him... which for her was the hardest part of the relationship.
But so far, everything was going well. Not to mention, Neil had some experience with bioterrorist attacks, so she was counting on that experience. She was counting on him being able to help her deal with it in the future.
"Hey, relax. If you go on like this, you'll end up freaking out. The world won't end if you actually rest, Redfield." He said, running his fingers gently over her cheek. In response, Claire just laughed in disdain, accepting the caress.
"Honestly, I feel like the world really is going to end if I end up relaxing." She said, hearing the elevator doors open. To her happiness, the elevator was empty.
"How can you take care of people if you don't even take care of yourself? Come on, you have to go on a date with me." He said, she sighed. "I mean, isn't it weird that we haven't even had one so far? Come on, you really need to relax."
She looked thoughtful for a while, and when he saw that she wouldn't give an answer, he just sighed lightly, pulled her close weakly, and gave her a soft kiss on the forehead.
"We'll talk about it later. But it's a good idea, you should at least think about it. Now go, the meeting starts soon and I have the slight impression that you didn't eat anything before you came." She didn't even need to answer, the look on her face was enough to let him know he was right.
They said their goodbyes and the woman stepped into the elevator, crossing her arms as the doors closed.
It's not as if she didn't want to go out, he was right, she really needed to relax a little more.
She didn't know if it was all that work that was making her tired, or if it was the fact that Sherry was growing up and hanging out more and more with her friends (most of the time it was just Moira, which made her a little worried).
It was that, a part of her just couldn't relax because of the constant worry that something would happen. And well, another part of her, a significant part, really didn't want to go out with him. This made her somewhat conflicted and even sad.
The elevator doors opened and she walked to the cafeteria on that floor, greeting a few familiar faces as she walked down the corridors.
She wouldn't say that she was very well known, but after her promotion, she received more attention than before. An attention that was often irritating.
The meeting time came sooner than she wanted, and with slow steps she walked to the room in which the meeting would take place.
Just before she reached the room, her eyes widened slightly as she saw the two people standing in front of the door, talking to each other.
"Chris. Jill." She called out to them, and they both turned toward her. Chris immediately cracked a small smile and hugged her as she approached.
"Hey sis, you look nice." He said just before they parted.
"Are you still the same, still on steroids?" She teased, turning to Jill. "It's been a long time." They hugged each other with small smiles.
Even though they didn't talk much, they both liked each other.
"Well, you know how it is, I have to constantly stay on Chris' tail to keep him from punching one of our superiors. I don't have much time for other things." Jill said, receiving an ugly look from Chris, which, as usual, was ignored.
"How's the brat?" Chris asked.
"She stopped being a brat a while ago, Chris. And she's doing well. She hangs out with Moira quite a bit." Claire replied.
"Burton's girl?! You let Sherry near her?!" He asked, somewhat indignantly.
"And what's the big deal? I mean, I know how Moira is, but Sherry knows not to be influenced by others so easily."
"Argh, you better be right. Come on, the meeting's about to start." Chris said, turning around and walking into the room.
There were already a few people in there, both those that Claire already knew and those that she didn't. She greeted them quickly before sitting down, and watched as Chris closed the door and walked to the front of the large table, turning on a projector connected to a laptop in front of Jill.
"Good morning, everyone. I'm Chris Redfield, some of you may already know me. I am one of the founders of the BSAA along with my partner, Jill Valentine. Although, this is the first time I've come directly here as this is the first time we'll be working fully together." He said, as the projection showed a 3D map just behind him.
"A few weeks ago, we picked up a distress call coming from a rather more isolated part of northern India. Near a river that dumps into the Bay of Bengal, Indian Ocean. Our agents were sent there along with some members of Terrasafe after we received a report of an outbreak in the area." The projection began to show images, both from satellites and photos taken by cameras already on site.
"We found no bodies, only blood, a mansion and a destroyed laboratory. Something that is strange, and an indication that some group may have passed through there. Probably this group of bioterrorists on which we just got more information." A few images of fallen and mutilated bodies flashed across the screen, as well as pictures and drawings of some infected in which no one there had ever seen before.
"This organization doesn't have a name yet, but we have received information that they have created a virus in mixture with the T-virus and plan to dump this virus into the oceans." Chris said, crossing his arms.
Claire stared at the images playing on the projector, hating the fact that she was right to feel worried. Just the thought of those deformed and some reptile-like creatures, clearly a mixture, swimming and spreading freely across the oceans made her stomach turn.
Should that happen, it would be almost impossible to stop the virus from spreading worldwide.
"Why was the lab destroyed? If it flows into the ocean, it's almost certain that their plan would have worked." A man a few seats away from Claire asked.
His name was Carter, one of the people responsible for organizing the groups that would go out on missions around the world.
"That's the question, we don't know." Jill replied. "When we received that distress call, the lab had already been destroyed. We found the survivors in the nearby town, and when we asked, all they said was that they heard noises of gunshots, and some time later, a loud explosion. Nothing else."
"Whatever happened, that's probably why the entire region didn't become infected. However, some of the creatures created in that lab, along with more samples of this virus, were sent to Europe. Not only that, but we have evidence that an American pharmaceutical company is connected to an outbreak in India as well." Chris said, and a few more images appeared on the projector.
"Both of these pieces of information end with this bioterrorist group. The BSAA will handle the case in Europe, but we will make some agents available to go with a group of you to Harvardville, a town near the incident, carrying vaccines for those in need." Jill said, and leaning her body forward slightly, Claire rests her head on her hand.
"Among the survivors, a test subject." A picture of a little girl appeared on the screen, and Claire's chest tightened at how young the little girl looked. "Her name is Rani, she's five years old, she was taken to the lab at the bottom of the river where she went through some tests and experiments, and for now that's all the information we've gotten from her."
"She doesn't remember how she got out, only that she saw a man wake her up and say he was going to get her out of here, as well as seeing that same man kill some infected in the area, but after that, she only remembered waking up in a bed with the other survivors just before our groups arrived." Jill said
"We are investigating that as well. But for now, this girl seems to be related to one of the Terrasafe members here. So she will be staying with you guys for a while. Although she was a test subject, we found no record of the virus in her body." Chris said, and this time, Claire who raised her hand.
"So someone gave her a vaccine?" She asked.
"Yes, that's what it looks like. We don't know who gave her the vaccine. It could have been this man she mentioned, it could have been someone else." Chris sighed. "In any case, we will provide aid to the survivors at the same time as we search for more about these bioterrorists. The sooner we find them, the better."
Claire this time was the one who sighed.
No matter how much she saw, she would never get used to the horrors those outbreaks caused.
