40. Claire

Claire had never been fond of shopping. Even when she was a child, she had found the activity boring and only tolerated it because her mother seemed to enjoy it. Likewise, Claire was only enduring the continuous dress up game for Sherry's shake. The girl seemed to be enjoying herself as she chose all kinds of dresses for Claire.

"This one!" Sherry said, waving a lavender dress. The design was pretty, but the cut was a little too low to her taste, and the color wasn't exactly favorable to her.

"Nope...I don't think lavender is my color…"

"Nonsense, come on, try it on, would you?"

"Eh...I pass. Why don't we just look for something else?"

"But I think it would look good on you."

"I think I'm more into darker colors…"

"Maybe we should ask Leon…"

"Why on earth should we ask Leon? He's a guy. Usually, they can't tell pink from salmon apart, at least I know Chris can't."

"Well, that's a good point." Sherry laughed "on my 14th birthday. He bought me a magenta dress thinking it was purple."

"I told you. Men are color blind and…"

Claire didn't finish the sentence as she crashed with someone and barely managed to stand her ground. The other party, however, didn't have as much balance as she did and fell unceremoniously to the ground. It took Claire a few seconds to recognize the woman.

"Ms. Smith!" She blurted out, "Holy shit! I'm sorry!"

Claire dropped by her side and helped pick up the things that had fallen to the ground around her. She was feeling guilty. It was like the fourth time she had bumped with the woman and had thrown her to the ground. It was becoming a very unpleasant and rude habit.

"It's alright, Mrs. Kennedy. It was an accident…" Ms. Smith said with a shy smile.

"Yeah, but I keep bumping with you like this. It's not right."

"You're too kind to me, Mrs. Kennedy…"

Claire smiled apologetically and offered her hand to help her up. Ms. Smith hesitated but took it. Claire noticed she was pretty nervous. Every time she saw her, the girl seemed to be uncomfortable. It made her wonder if Mrs. Smith was another member of Leon's fan club after all.

"Are you alright?" Claire asked, pulling her up.

"Yes, yes...I'm alright…"

"I'm really sorry…"

At that moment, Leon and Helena had joined them. Their sudden presence seemed to make Ms. Smith even more uncomfortable. The woman looked at both agents and smiled shyly.

"It's all right...I should go now…" the woman said and walked away as fast as she could.

Claire tilted her head. The woman was always uncomfortable around Claire. Perhaps, her suspicions about her being Leon's fan was right after all.

"Okay...that wasn't weird at all…" Helena chuckled."I've always thought Smith was weird, but that's over the top."

"I don't know...she's like...awkward…" Claire said, standing by Leon's side. She felt his hand on her lower back. The gesture had become Leon's habit; it was caring and protective; to her, it also gave her a sense of familiarity and security.

A part of her kept telling her that she was becoming soft and that she shouldn't rely too much on Leon for security. But another side of her told her it was alright to do it. It was messed-up, a complete contradiction, but Claire knew that her head was full of them these days.

"Well, she works with Mercer 24/7…" Sherry observed, "I'd be edgy too…"

"Aren't you under Mercer's command as well?"

Sherry made an unamused look. She didn't know that Sherry worked under the man. She had assumed that, like Leon, she was working directly under Hopkins. DSO had a complicated way to do things.

"Exactly, I'm lucky I just have to hand in reports now and then, but can you imagine having to deal with that man every day?"

"He can't be that bad, can he?" Claire chuckled.

"Oh, you haven't had the pleasure of meeting Andrew Mercer. He's worse than Simmons," Helena said, shaking her head. "Thinking about it, maybe it is better if you don't. He hates Leon. I don't want to think about what he'd do to his wife."

Someone worse than Derek Simmons? That sure said something about the man. Claire had met Simmons several times. The man disliked her almost as much as she disliked him, and when she learned about the man's secret plans. She couldn't be happier with the fate he got. Andrew Mercer was another story. She had never met him as Claire Redfield and as Clara Driscoll, or better said, Kennedy, she had only heard the gossip that ran around the office.

She knew better than to believe all the things that employees would say. She had heard endless of them between the walls of Terra Save.

"So he hates Leon?" Claire smiled, looking at him and grabbing his arm. Leon shrugged, but she saw a slight hint of amusement in his look. She knew that look. Mercer hated him, but Leon hated him almost as much." Who could ever hate him, huh?"

"As I have a fan club, as you call, I've got a hater club as well…"

"Lucky for you that there are more fans than haters then…"

"Yeah, not that I mind. Found your dress?"

"I don't know...ask Sherry."

Claire looked at the girl with a curious smile. Sherry giggled and shook her head.

"Nah, I vote we keep looking, but how about getting some lunch first?"

"Not a bad idea…" Helena grinned, "God knows we should feed your wife…"

Claire rolled her eyes. Her appetite hadn't been the best one in the past few days. She'd had several blood transfusions lately, and that certainly messed her up enough to find food disgusting.

"So, what do you want to eat?"

Before Claire could answer her question, she felt a sting in her ears. The pain was quick, momentaneous, but it created a sort of vacuum. A void without sound, the same sensation you'd have if you'd get if you were suddenly submerged underwater. Claire looked at Leon, but to her surprise, she found the man looking around in alertness. Something had triggered his agent mode, but Claire couldn't tell what. Suddenly, she felt the ground shake, and without notice, Leon was pushing her down.

"She's a promising subject."

"She is, indeed. Her body seems to assimilate the virus in a way that I'd never seen before."

"Very interesting...do you have any idea of why?"

"No, but we will find out…"

"Uh...Claire? Claire, wake up…."

Leon's voice woke her up from her short trance. She felt out of breath, and it was dark, but she felt a familiar warmth over her.

"L-Leon?" she whispered, confused, "What...what happened?"

" I don't know. The ceiling collapsed on us. We are lucky it wasn't concrete," Leon replied, "are you okay?"

"I…yeah, I think so," she replied, rubbing her temple.

"Good…"

Claire looked at him. Leon had used his body to shield her from the impact of the ceiling. It was something so Leon that she felt like rolling her eyes. She was relieved to see that he wasn't harmed and just covered in dust.

"You idiot…" she mumbled, shaking the dust off his shoulder. "You didn't have to throw yourself over me."

"Yes, I did." he smiled, "Unlike you, I won't have bleeding if I get a cut. Don't worry. I'm fine. As I said, these materials are lighter than they look."

Claire was going to argue about that, but Helena's voice interrupted their thoughts.

"Helena…" Claire mumbled.

"Yeah, at least we know she's fine…"

Leon pushed the piece of debris that had fallen over them with ease, and both of them got up to find a shaken Sherry and coughing Helena. Besides the evident shock and confusion, both women were unharmed.

"Is everyone okay?" he said.

"Yeah, I'm fine…" Sherry coughed.

"We are lucky the roof wasn't concrete...We'd be dead if it were," Helena said, standing up and patting the dust from her clothes, "What the fuck happened?"

"Your guess is as good as mine…" Leon replied, helping Claire up. He made a quick scan of her to make sure she wasn't injured. She, too, scanned him for injuries. Besides some minor scratches, the man was alright. She brushed off some of the dust from his jacket, and he snorted.

"I think I heard an explosion..." Sherry said.

"Shit…" Helena said, "We got company...the dead kind."

"Here? Why?" Sherry cried.

"Do you have to ask? Here…" Leon said, pulling out his guns. He passed one to Claire, "Listen, use it only if necessary, okay? Stay close…"

"I think I can handle a couple of zombies…" Claire said, taking the gun, "Don't worry."

"That's not what I'm worried about," Leon said, "if you get hurt, I don't know how long it'll take for you to get medical attention, and I'm not thrilled to have you bleed to death."

Claire did not argue with him. Her blood disorder was starting to become a liability.

"Okay...this is going to be difficult…" Helena said, scanning around, "Any ideas?"

"How about shooting them in the head and running?" Sherry suggested.

"That could work...but we don't know how many there are," Leon replied.

Claire began doing some math. She had studied the viruses several times, and she could estimate the infection rate without too much difficulty. She caught a glimpse of the zombies. Based on the zombies' general appearance, it was easy to guess the strain.

"Assuming they started the outbreak with one patient zero…" Claire said, "The infection spread rate should be around four or five people per infected. The average time of incubation depends on the strain, but in the worst-case scenario, it'd be about 15 minutes. So, there should be around 25 or 30 right now, and it will keep growing."

"How did you count them?" Helena asked, shocked.

"No, I've read and studied the virus enough to estimate the model…"

"Well, that's useful. I forgot you were a virus nerd…"

"Yeah, easy to forget. Judging by the color, the movement pattern, and the level of hostility…." Claire said, looking out, "I'd say it is T-virus."

"So regular zombies…"

"Most likely…yes."

"Well, better than J'avos…"

"Or the C-virus in general," Leon said, shaking his head.

Claire gave him a sympathetic look.

At least they still had a sense of humor. Claire looked at her wristwatch with a frown. She knew the emergency protocol of this building since she had participated in its original design, after all. Her time as Chief of Terra Save had taken her into designing several emergency responses for the most populated and most likely places in the city.

"The building must have entered into lockdown procedure by now. No one goes in or out. BSAA agents should be arriving in about twenty minutes to contain the hostiles, but by then, at least 50% of the people would be either dead or infected. If we can, we should lead as many survivors as we can." Claire said.

"You sound sure. How do you know?"

Her paranoia was the one to blame

"I designed the emergency procedure for this place…" Claire replied.

"What?" the other three said.

Leon, Helena, and Sherry seemed shocked. Claire was used to that reaction. It happened all the time.

"Well, not this place in particular. I mean, I made a general protocol for places like this. It's a mall. There are lots of people, lots of chaos, so it's easy to get in and out. It's a time bomb. Perfect place to put an attack."

"I think that just picked up my curiosity," Leon said, and Helena agreed.

"We can talk all you want when we get out of here. Now we need to find any survivors and lead them to safety."

"Sounds like an excellent plan...but lead them where."

"The rooftop. The easiest place to perform any rescue attempt and contain the hostiles…" Claire replied, "It would give us access to antennas and better signal to ask for help, too."

"If we can make it up there…" Helena sighed.

Claire's plan was good, but rescuing civilians and trying to lead them to the rooftop through a zombie-infested building wasn't exactly the easiest thing to do.

"T-virus infections are slow. We can avoid them. Make sure you get them right through their heads. You want to make sure they stay dead…"

"Okay, sounds easy."

"Sherry?" Leon said, looking at the youngest woman.

"It's alright. I can make it. I made it out of Racoon, right?"

Sure, she did. Claire thought, and at least this time, Birkin wasn't chasing them all over the place. Claire sighed, and she noticed that Leon was looking at her. She knew he was expecting her to say when she was ready. Claire gave him a nod.

"Alright," Leon whispered, "On my count...1...2….3."

The group stepped out. Their presence was an instant magnet to the enemies as they began to surround them at a fast rate. Claire got hit by an unpleasant wave of familiarity, and she grimaced. You knew something was wrong when shooting headshots at undead enemies felt natural.

As they moved through the infested corridors, a thought got through Claire's mind. Something was strange. T-virus infections were annoying and dangerous, but compared to other strains, they were almost a joke. It wouldn't be too difficult for them or the BSAA to secure the place and get rid of the infection. That should be a comforting idea, then why was she feeling anxious?

"Okay, I hate to be a party pooper, but we don't have infinite ammo…" Helena gasped, kicking the head of a zombie.

Helena was right. Even if the zombies were easier to control than other strains, they still were working with limited resources, and she doubted that they would find handgun ammo lying around the place. It wasn't one of Wallace's damn video games, after all.

"Agree to that, let's move. We need to save ammo. Let's go." Leon said.

"Well...I told you it wasn't going to be easy."

The zombies were easy to evade, so avoiding conflict wasn't too hard. However, instead of feeling relieved, the lack of challenge was making her feel more and more anxious. Why did their attacker "send" easy enemies at them? She wasn't complaining, but a part of her believed that there was something she was missing.

It's just like before.

She knew the voice was only in her head and that the illusion was only visible to her eyes, but that didn't stop her from feeling surprised. The group stopped in a ran-down grocery shop where they had decided to stop for a break. Leon, Helena, and Sherry had been talking, but Claire had missed most of their talk. Her attention was now on her doppelgänger, who was sitting on a shelf with a nerve-wracking smile.

Don't you think this is familiar?

Familiar? Reasonably speaking, yes. It wasn't like it was the first time she found herself fighting zombies, after all.

No. You know that's not it.

"Getting to the roof is starting to sound too difficult." Helena said, drinking some water, " especially if we are running out of ammo. I thought you said BSAA would be here in 20 minutes…"

"it's been almost 6 hours… " Sherry said, looking at her watch " do you think something happened to them?"

Claire was forced out of her thoughts by their words. It was rare that BSAA forces hadn't shown yet. It gave her a bad feeling.

"In normal circumstances...BSAA forces should have moved in already." Claire replied. Leon passed her a bottle of water, "Thanks...if they haven't reached us, then something must have happened."

It was the only logical explanation, but there was no reason for them to have difficulties controlling hostiles. T-virus zombies were overall easy to dispatch. Even if they were at a disadvantage, a properly trained BSAA soldier could get rid of them without any difficulty. Something was off.

Looks can be deceiving.

The lights began to flicker until they finally went off completely. The sudden lack of illumination was enough to send Claire into an initial state of panic. Unreasonable, perhaps, but her fear of darkness hadn't disappeared yet. Her muscles tensed up, and she closed her eyes for fear that she would see the same ghostly shadows lurking in the dark.

The unwelcome visitors never came. Instead, she felt someone hugging her to calm her.

"It's alright, I'm here, Claire…" she heard Leon's almost inaudible voice whisper in her ear.

She leaned into him and allowed the man to rub her back comfortingly. After a couple of minutes that felt like hours, the emergency light lit on, dimly illuminating the area.

Claire breathed in, feeling some relief, but her relief got cut short when a soft buzzing in her ear made the hair on the back of her neck raise.l it was enough for her to fall into realization.

"They're here…" Claire whispered in horror. Suddenly it all made sense. Why they had left easy enemies to attack them and why BSAA troupes hadn't shown up yet. "They are here…."

"They…?" Leon said, "Who?"

Almost as if it wanted to announce its presence, a howl that wasn't zombie nor human sliced through the silent air, and Claire was suddenly transported to another place and another time.

"Don't make a sound…"

"They will track us anyway. They will sense our scent…"

" Then, we need to find a way to hide it. "

"What the…?" Sherry began, but Claire quickly shushed her.

There was a tense moment in which no one dared to speak. Part of Claire was hoping that her gut was wrong, but she knew well enough that it wasn't. She knew that howl, and if it wasn't enough, the monster that appeared outside was enough to confirm it. The monster seemed hunched over, making its spine curve monstrously; it turned its faceless head sniffing the air, trying to track down for prey. Its large mouth was dripping blood, and Claire prayed, desperately, that it wouldn't smell their scent. Suddenly, it let out another howl and ran off searching for its next meal. The zombies had never meant to be their attackers. The zombies were there as an incentive for a larger predator.

"It's…." Claire's soft voice whispered, "It's gone…it probably found a prey..."

"What in heaven was that?" Sherry groaned.

"One of them…" Claire answered, "I've seen them before."

Claire and Leon exchanged looks for a couple of minutes. It was odd, but somehow, she and Leon could reach each other without even saying a word.

The agent seemed to know that Claire was talking about the eight months she'd been missing.

"That is bad news…" Leon said, looking at Claire.

"Y-yeah." Claire replied, "We...we need to get out and quick..."

Claire had stopped wondering how she managed to remember the monsters when she couldn't recall anything else. Saya had already made a theory saying that it was an automatic response to a survival instinct since remembering enemies was a way for her to survive.

" Bloody monsters… I want to kill'em all… "

" Ye can't kill 'em. Don't be stupid. Ye'll get yerself killed instead. "

" If we can't kill them... Then what are we supposed to do? "

" Run… Hide… Just stay away of' em. "

"No, we can't. Not in our current situation. Regular weapons won't harm it. " Claire replied, "Avoid conflict, and stealth is our best chance, even if we could harm them...it would heal in seconds."

"Regenerators…" Helena sighed. Of course, they had to be fucking regenerators; those things weren't on her good list.

"Yeah, more or less…" Claire nodded, "also, they can smell us, so we should try to hide the scent…."

"Disguise our scent? Will perfume work?" Sherry asked.

"I don't think that would work. They are ...they are like ...mosquitoes." Claire said, "They can track carbon dioxide, and flesh scent like mosquitoes does...:"

"Mosquito repellant…?" Leon said.

The suggestion was so simple that it almost sounded ridiculous, but there was a high chance that it could work.

"Yeah…" she said, rubbing the back of her head, "that might work."

" Alright, the outdoor section is just that way…" Leon said. His eyes locked with her, and Claire had an odd sense of Deja vú when he gave her a small playful smile "maybe we should consider carrying some aromatic candles with us..."

Claire didn't know whether to roll her eyes or break into laughter; however, she felt grateful that he was trying to distract her with silly comments. After finding the bug repellants and unceremoniously spraying them over themselves, the group had moved out.

It is a game. Exactly like before. Play by the rules, and you'll survive; act recklessly, and the result won't be too good.

Claire could not see her doppelgänger, but that didn't exempt her from her voice. A headache was starting to hit her, and now and then, an annoying buzz rang in her ears. Maybe she should have grabbed some analgesics before leaving the grocery store.

"Are you okay?"

Claire turned to face Leon. His expression was stoic. After his little break in the store, he had taken his super-agent no-nonsense mode once more. The man was scanning the surroundings as he walked close to her.

"Yes, I'm just anxious with all this…"

"We'll make it fine. Don't worry…"

"I know… " Claire sighed, "I'm sorry my thoughts are a little messed up right now."

"Don't apologize. I know this is probably harder on you than it is for us."

Leon was always considerate, and even when she hated being treated as a damsel in distress, it was a nice feeling how sincere his care for her was.

Their way through the devastated mall was fast. The "demons" seemed to have taken care of the zombies. Claire wasn't particularly religious, and she enjoyed a horror movie now and then, but she knew when to separate fiction from reality. The monsters weren't demons, but some poor soul that had been used mercilessly as a lab rat. Even though she knew this fact, she still kept calling them demons.

Claire made an abrupt stop. She had heard something move in the darkness; it sounded like a slight ruffle. Was it one of them? She sharpened her ears and waited. The sound was soft, but it wasn't monstrous; it was human.

"Did….you hear that?" Claire whispered.

"What?"

"Shhh…"

She was sure the sound was human. Monsters didn't moan that way.

"Survivors…" Sherry said with wide eyes.

Claire bit her lip and looked at Leon. If she had heard them, it was a matter of time before the "demons" would find them. Leon seemed to get her thoughts and nodded.

"This way…" he said.

The survivor group was small. It had only five people who had made it through the chaos. Among them, there was a mother and a few weeks old babies.

"Have you seen m'baby?"

"Your baby?"

"Yes, yes… they took 'im from me…"

The group was terrified, and no one could blame them for that. Heaven knew what horrible things they had witnessed in the last few hours. Claire's natural caring instinct kicked in instantly, and honoring her former job, she quickly gained the people's trust. She had seen many scenes like this during all her time in Terra Save active forces; people coped with the situation in many ways, but during the first 24 hours, it was mostly fright and distrust.

" We just came to do some Christmas shopping…" the woman cried softly with her baby fast asleep in her arms, "Why did all this have to happen?"

"I understand...this was something that nobody..could foresee." she said soothingly, "The most important thing now is getting out of here. Take you all to safety."

"Why should we trust you?" The man said, "As far as we know, we could die if we go with you."

"Perhaps, but if you stay here, it would be dangerous."

"Somebody will come to save us. We just need to stay hidden."

"It's not as simple as that…" Claire sighed. There was always that difficult subject that refused to see reason, "Some dangerous creatures are lurking in here. It will be a matter of time for them to find you, and by the time help reaches you, you might be dead. It will be alright. As long as you follow our guidance, we can take you out of here safely..."

"How?" the mother whispered.

"See those three over there?" Claire whispered, "They are government agents. They face situations like this regularly, and they know what to do. We can trust them..."

"Can we?" the man said skeptically.

"The situation is difficult and dangerous, but honestly, you have more chances by staying with us than hiding in this place all by yourselves."

It took her a few minutes to finally convince the group. She instructed them to pick their things and find something they could use as a weapon, assuring them that, hopefully, they wouldn't need to use it, but that having it in hand would give them a second layer of protection, just in case. Her speech was a practiced one; she'd lost count of the many times she'd given it during a mission for Terra Save.

Claire left the group and approached Leon, who had been watching her from a short distance. He had opted to let her handle it since that was more her area than his. As soon as she reached him, her Terra Save agent facade fell apart, leaving her vulnerable Clara face to resurface again.

"You did well…" Leon said, resting his hand on her shoulder and drawing circles on it with his thumbs.

"Well...at least I convinced them to come with us."

"It's the right thing."

"I know...they'll be safer with all of you around."

"Us…" Leon corrected, "You're looking a little ill…"

"Yeah...I've got a headache, that's all…"

"Need more time to rest?"

"No, we have already lost too much time. At this rate, they would feed on all the undead available, and I don't want to be the last box on the shelf…"

"Sounds reasonable. Come on then…"

They joined Helena and Sherry, who had kept their distance, saying they would stand guard. The two women seemed to have been talking about something when they arrived, but the conversation seemed to die as soon as they stepped in.

"They're ready; shaken, yes, but they have no significant injuries that could interfere with their mobility, so they shouldn't have troubles following," Claire said at their questioning looks, " but there are ...certain matters that might...complicate things."

"The baby…" Sherry guessed.

"Yeah...we can't explain to a baby why he needs to be quiet." Claire replied, "but we can't leave them behind…"

"No, of course not," Leon said, shaking his head. He'd rather get shot than let anyone behind, "We'll take the risk, and we'll cross that bridge if we get there."

You won't be able to protect them. It will be the same all over again.

The building was quiet, too quiet. The lack of sound was so unnatural that it made the whole place feel eerie. Claire's headache had evolved painfully in a few minutes. The pain was such that she could have sworn that something was nailing her skull into pieces: but despite the pain, Claire tried to act as normal as she could.

They had made it to the last floor safely. That was a win. All they needed now was to reach the roof top and call for help.

"Waaaaaaaaaaaaaaa"

Claire lost all the little color she had. The baby's sudden cry cut through the silence. At first, it was as if nothing had happened at all, but Claire knew better. Her eyes scanned their surroundings, waiting for the worst.

"Shut that fucking thing…" the man, Arthur, said, "shut it, or I'll do it myself."

Claire glared at the man. How could he say such a thing? She approached the woman, Karen, and tried to calm the baby.

It was at that moment that Claire sensed it. A slight shift in the air sent an electric shock down her spine. Out of pure instinct, Claire threw herself over Karen and pushed her to the ground right on time to avoid the attack.

A long snake-like tongue wrapped around Arthur's body; the man let out a desperate cry, but there was nothing to be done, and Claire was forced to watch helplessly as the man got dragged into the darkness. Claire wished she could turn off the noise for a moment as she heard the man's cries and screams, followed by the characteristic sound of tearing flesh.

The baby was still crying, and no matter what the mother or she did to calm it, the infant kept weeping. He was prompt, joined by the two teenagers. Both began screaming and crying in panic, and Claire saw Sherry try to calm them. It was too late, though, Claire could tell by the heavy feeling in her gut. Just like Arthur, they were caught by them. The only remaining one was Karen and her child, but with the infant's full lung cries, the strike would come.

She ran desperately through a dark and dam corridor. The smell of blood and rotten flesh was making her I'll, but she couldn't stop now. By her side, a small blonde girl ran, trying to keep up with her.

"we're done now…"

"Not yet…we can still make it. "

Claire sensed the attack before it came. The tongue wrapped around the woman's hand, but before it could pull her away, Claire had sliced it with a piece of broken glass that she had picked from the ground.

The creature let out a howl of pain, and she used the distraction to pull the woman and her child to a safer spot.

They were surrounded. The rain of gunfire started almost instantly. Claire knew well enough that those bullets wouldn't work, but if she didn't think fast, her friends would not make it out of this; but what could she do?

Sound is their strength, but it is their weakness.

Claire looked around until she finally found what she needed. The fire alarm. The ring would be loud enough to stun them long enough for them to escape. Activating it wouldn't be easy, though; she'd need to pass through the creatures to reach it, but that was something she was willing to do.

"Stay here…" she told Karen and then ran to the alarm.

She managed to dodge several hits and reach the alarm, but before she could press it, she felt the pain sinking to her back. One of the creatures had come after her and had landed a big bite on her side. Claire let out a groan as a wave of pain hit her nerve receptors. The creature had sunk its sharp fangs just off its lower back. She could feel the jaw with denture teeth cutting through her muscles: tearing each muscle fiber.

For a moment, Claire thought that would be her end. To her surprise, the creature released her, and her body hit the ground, sending another wave of pain. Ignoring the pain she was feeling, Claire took advantage of that moment of "freedom" to reach out the fire alarm.

The effect was instantaneous. The sharp alarm whistle rang through the place raucously, causing the creatures to stop dead. Claire also felt the result of the sound creep through her ears. The stunning sound was so intense that Claire hovered in pain. However, thanks to the adrenaline that was beginning to flood her body. Claire managed to make a run to where Helena was.

" They're stunned… It's our chance. We gotta go," Claire said, ignoring the acute pain and helping the woman out, "Come on…"

Helena was surprised by Claire's sudden appearance, but there was no time for explanations. Claire wasn't sure how long the effect of the alarm would last, and that was the only chance they had to flee. Fortunately, Sherry and Leon got their signal and immediately joined her.

Karen called them from the entrance of a department store. The group entered, and the woman lowered the metal curtains. Perhaps they would not be useful to stop the monsters if they wanted to get in, but at least it gave them a certain degree of security.

"Are we safe?" Sherry gasped.

"It looks clear…" Leon said, looking around, "Guess we made it out…"

"Barely…" Claire replied. She was starting to feel sick. The bite's pain was becoming more unbearable as the adrenaline began to go down, and the sound of the alarm had left her with a pulsating headache.

Karen was standing in a corner. Her face was a mixture of terror and remorse as she played nervously with her hands. The baby was nowhere in sight, and Claire feared the worst.

"I'm glad you're okay!" Sherry said, walking to her and resting her hand on her shoulder, kindly, " Where's the baby?"

"I laid him in one of the cribs in the baby area. I was hoping it would isolate the noise if he cried…" Karen said softly, "I am so sorry. They found us because of me..."

"It's not your fault!" Sherry said.

"But…"

"It's okay, don't worry about it. " Leon said, kneeling to check on Helena's leg, "I think we are safe for now. We'll be stuck in here for a while since we have an injured person. You better stay with your baby, just... don't wander too far on your own."

Karen nodded, and the woman rushed to join her baby. Claire sighed in relief. At least the baby was safe. Claire dropped to Leon's side as he checked the damage on Helena's leg. She could feel the unpleasant sticky sensation of the blood that was beginning to soak her. It would be a matter of time before the symptoms of blood loss began to appear.

" It looks fractured, but I'm not sure how serious the damage is," Leon concluded. Claire looked at it. She had seen injuries like that before. The muscle seemed swollen, and the bruising was a clear indication of a fracture. But compared to other fractures she'd had the misfortune to see, this one wasn't looking too bad. The lacerations and the scratches were only superficial as well, "I guess we are lucky, but we still need to clean and patch it."

"Great…" Helena cried, " I hope you know how to mend fractures, Leon…"

Leon shrugged.

"I can do it. We just need some things." Claire offered weakly. She wasn't a medic, but she had mended enough traumatic injuries in her life to know how to do it properly.

"There is a drugstore here. I can go grab them, "offered Sherry," what do we need? "

Claire had to admit that the fact that Sherry was so familiar with the place was beginning to make a mental list of all the things that they might need and could find in a conventional pharmacy, but her thoughts were starting to become foggy.

"Bandages, something to sanitize… Alcohol, hydrogen peroxide, or iodine. Whatever you find. Antibiotics ..." Claire replied. Her view was starting to get blurry, "And…"

The loss of blood was beginning to affect her, her breathing was increasingly difficult, and she was feeling drowsy.

"Claire?"

Claire lost her balance, and her body fell sideways. If it hadn't been for Leon's quick reflexes, her body would have hit the floor but instead fell against the agent's chest. It was at that moment that Leon noticed the bleeding.

His immediate reaction was to find the cause of the bleeding, but it didn't take long to find it. Claire could not see the wound. Her sight had become so blurred that she could barely make out the agent's face. But Leon's reaction made it clear that the injury didn't look good at all.

"Oh God…" she heard Helena say, " Leon…"

"Shit…" Leon's voice sounded panicked, "Sherry. We need to get those things. Now!"

"Y-yes…"

Claire's eyelids felt heavier and heavier to the point where it was difficult to keep them open. She let out a groan of pain when she felt pressure on the wound. Leon was trying to stop the bleeding as best he could.

"Hang on in there…" Leon whispered, "Stay with me, Claire. Stay with me..."

Claire tried to speak, but she found herself too weak to make any sound. Her surroundings began to feel more and more blurred until she finally lost all sense of her surroundings.