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53. Claire

"She is a remarkable case, indeed..." a male voice said.

Claire's head hurt, or to be more precise, every inch of her body felt as if it had gotten torn apart with a burning knife. She tried to move, but the weak attempt only made the pain grow.

"Most of the other subjects had experienced an uncontrolled mutation at this stage; her assimilation is almost perfect," a second voice said with excitement, "she might have a chance to reach the last phase..."

"It's too soon to say that. Now, it is time to start with phase 7. Prepare the vials of the virus. Now, let's see how she handles a higher dose."

Claire felt cold hands grab her arms. She tried struggling, but her body didn't respond. Her sight was blurry, and she couldn't see more than white, blurred shapes hovering over her. Claire tried screaming, but her voice never came out. Her throat was hoarse and dry. Suddenly, she felt a pinch.

The needle had perforated her skin, and Claire could almost feel the thick content flow into her veins. It hurt; it burned. It almost felt like tiny worms twisting in her veins, and the sensation grew and grew. Her thoughts became less and less coherent. But as she was starting to fade, she felt somebody lift her and carry her away.

Claire woke up with the ghostly sensation of the crawling worms in her arm and a cold grip. She instantly gasped and felt her heartbeat grow faster. The room was dark, and Claire was about to panic. Suddenly, Claire felt someone pull her into a hug. The person rubbed her bag, sending some warmth into her chilly skin, and she felt comforted by the familiar touch.

"It's okay," Leon mumbled in her ear, "It was a dream..."

It took her some minutes to remember that she was in Leon's room. She had stayed there with him, and she eventually fell asleep. Claire was suddenly wide awake. She was sleeping in Leon's bed and, currently, trapped between his arms. Claire blushed brightly, and she was lucky that the darkness in the room didn't let Leon see it, or he would have made a teasing remark about it.

There was a shuffling sound, and Leon turned on the light on his side table. The blonde stared at her with concern, and Claire rubbed her face, feeling the headache raise once again. The dim light lit the room, and that was enough to calm her uneasiness a little.

"You look surprised..."

"Sorry. I am not used to waking up next to someone," Claire sighed. "I'm glad I didn't attack you..."

"You attack your sleeping partners?" Leon asked, rubbing her back. His tone was low and warm, but Claire could hear the teasing in his voice.

"I don't have sleeping partners beside Midnight," she sighed.

That wasn't a lie. Claire was used to sleeping alone, so waking up next to someone would automatically set her alarm, especially after waking up from a nightmare. However, she was glad she hadn't tried to throw an unconscious sequence of self-defense on Leon.

"I just had a bad dream, and well..."

"Yeah, don't worry. I am sure I could have dodged that punch, though," Leon replied, smiling at her.

"Don't underestimate me..."Claire sighed.

"You know I wouldn't. I've seen you in action," Leon snorted, "Want to talk about it? The nightmare, I mean..."

Claire looked down, feeling drained, and Leon hugged her once again. It was strange and a little satisfying to be in his arms. Claire knew she shouldn't get distracted with these things, but after recovering at least half of her memories. The comfort of Leon's embrace was a welcoming gesture. She leaned into his touch and let him brush her dark locks with his fingers.

"My memory seems to be returning. I am starting to remember things even in my dreams, "Claire whispered, "I anticipate difficult nights. I will have to ask Saya for a sedative if I want to get any rest."

"Is that okay?"

"It's not the best, but between lack of sleep or that, I guess it's a better option."

"Is it bad?"

"My memories? Let's say I didn't go to a five-star spa," Claire sighed, "but I guess that is okay. I should remember," Claire smiled at him sadly. "Maybe I can help, Chris now..."

"You've helped a lot already, Claire. In fact, you have already helped more than anyone could ever ask you for."

Claire sighed. Had she? If her memories had returned a little earlier, perhaps Chris and the BSAA would have put an end to Mobius, and all those innocent DSO workers wouldn't have died tonight.

"Sometimes, it feels like I do more damage than helping."

"That's not true," Leon said, taking her hand.

Claire stared at his hand and sighed. She looked up and shook her head.

"I already woke you, and you need to rest. I won't keep you up with my dysfunctional drama. It isn't important."

"Claire, you know it is. I care, and I don't mind getting woken up if you are upset and need some comfort."

"I never thought you were so solicitous," Claire sighed, "is it your default, or just an upgrade due to our relationship status?"

Leon chuckled.

"I might not be as good as you, but I am willing to try. Being comforting has always been your thing, Claire. When we first left Raccoon, you were there for Sherry and me all the time; even after that, you were there when we needed comfort. However, I never paused to think who was there for you, and I want to make sure we change that."

"That's charming," Claire smiled. " But I just don't know if I should speak about it."

"If it makes you feel better, you should," Leon said, shaking his head.

Claire did not respond. The woman snuggled closer into Leon's warmth as she pondered what he'd said. The horrors Claire had lived and was, now, remembering were too terrible to share, especially with her close friends. It was painful to remember all the things she'd gone through, and if it was torturous for her, to her loved ones, it was even worse. Did she want to put that burden on their shoulders?

Chris would lose his mind if he knew, and Barry wouldn't be too far behind; would Leon be the same? She didn't know. Their relationship had suffered a radical change recently. Passing from friends to, technically, lovers meant that things were different.

"I will keep that in mind," she answered. "I'm not ready to talk about it..."

Leon rubbed her back, and Claire slowly relaxed. The events in her nightmares tormented her, but somehow Leon's presence seemed to soothe her.

"It might be silly," Claire said with embarrassment, "and probably corny, but you being here seems to be enough to make me feel better."

Leon snorted at that. He kissed her forehead and rested his chin on the top of her head.

"If that's so, then I don't mind having you move to this room," he whispered, "I have enough space to share with you."

"You want me to sleep here with you, permanently?" Claire asked, surprised.

"I don't mind," Leon smiled, "Do you?"

She didn't. Claire had to be honest to herself. It was ridiculous, but having Leon's presence in the room made her feel safe and protected. Maybe sleeping with him could help her more than putting herself into sedation.

"I don't..." Claire admitted, "but Chris might freak out if he finds out we are sleeping in the same bed."

"You are my wife," Leon shrugged, "Isn't that natural?"

Claire would have reminded him that their marriage was only a hoax, but she only shook her head. She had too much of a headache to argue about that.

"What's wrong?" Leon whispered. "Your head hurts?"

Claire stared at him, surprised. How had he noticed? Was she becoming that easy to read? Or maybe it was just that Leon was getting used to her tacit language?

"Just a little," she sighed, rubbing her temple. "It must be the stress. It was a rough day. It will pass."

"Yeah, it was."

"Tomorrow is going to be rough, too. I can imagine all the work awaiting us..."

"You should stay at home," Leon said, caressing her face. "Hiwamura can do it without you."

Claire shook her head.

"My memories are returning. I need to take this. I might be the only one who understands all this."

Leon said nothing. He pulled the blanket over her shoulders,

brushed her hair with his hand.

"Okay, then you better rest now, or I won't let you do anything.

Claire smiled and snuggled against him. It felt strange to be snuggling with Leon in bed, and yet it also felt right. They were together, and perhaps there was a chance for things to be alright.

"So, we have five bodies in the morgue that need to get checked," Saya said, checking the notepad in her hands, while Claire took off her lab coat and hung it on the hook. "Courtesy of BSAA."

Claire smiled apologetically at her friend. She had arrived at the lab a little later than usual, leaving the Asian to handle most of the frenzy alone. The cause? Much to the woman's embarrassment, it seemed that sleeping with Leon was -actually- a solution to her insomnia. After falling asleep in his arms the night before, the woman had no nightmares, and for the first time in a long time, she had gotten some full sleep. As a result, she had slept in, causing their day's schedule to get delayed. Both she and Leon had reported late into DSO, but naturally, Hopkins had not criticized them; in fact, he was surprised to see them there. After having a short conversation with the DSO chief, Claire and Leon finally headed to the lab. By then, it was almost noon.

The scent of Dhriti's aromatic tisanes, the sound of Wallace's games, and an irritated Hiwamura were the things that greeted them as soon as they crossed the door. Claire and Leon soon learned that BSAA had dropped some of the B.O.W.s corpses for them to study.

"Damn it, and I expected a quiet and happy holiday for a change," Hiwamura sighed.

"Nothing like a marathon of autopsies on the morning of Christmas,huh?" Claire said teasingly.

"After the night you had, I am surprised that you are here at all. I'd have taken the day off," Saya sighed.

"Duty calls," Claire shrugged. "Sorry about the dress, by the way."

"Don't worry about it. It served its purpose, and it died," the Saya shrugged, "For what I heard, you and Kennedy had one hell of a night."

"Yeah, somehow we always end up like that. Put in some zombies, and there you go, one hell of a date."

"Well, that's pretty much how you met. You can't deny that it would be a great story to tell your kids."

"Kids?" Claire said, raising an eyebrow at her, "Are you still with that?"

"Yes, once you formalize your marriage to Kennedy, the next step is children, right?"

"I give up with you," Claire sighed, rolling her eyes.

After putting on the biosafety gear, Claire and Hiwamura moved into the lab. The sight wasn't pretty; four of the mutant lizard-like monsters laid on the steel beds, covered with a black plastic bag to prevent the light from damaging the tissue. One of the bodies was visibly bigger than the rest, and Claire recognized it as the betta form that had attacked Leon and her at first; the other three were early pawns, half-developed. The fifth bed seemed occupied by a different body. The sight of it sent chills down her back.

"This one looks human," Saya said, pointing at the girl. "However, BSAA wanted us to take a look. The cause of death is pretty obvious. I guess one of these guys must have been responsible. There aren't any weapon damage signs, and clearly, no human would be able to tear a heart out like that in one hit."

That made Claire's heart twist. It was true. Those injuries could have only been caused by something inhuman. She already knew she had lost part of her humanity during the eight months she'd spent captive, but hearing those words made her feel the pain in her chest.

Of course. I am B.O.W., too.

"She has albinism, which explains the pale skin and the white hair," Hiwamura said, pointing at the dead girl. "Estimated age, 15 or 16, a Jane Doe. The girl isn't among the guests from the party, and nobody has any idea of why she was there. We could try DNA identification, but I doubt that would give us much information."

Claire stared at the girl with sadness. Under the bright light of the lab, Claire could see how young she was. She was younger than she was when she had ended up in Raccoon City. A child with a life ahead. Sadly, that life had gotten taken away from her by the hand of a group of mad scientists.

"Her DNA is unreliable. It wouldn't let us identify her," Claire replied, watching the girl's dead body on the steel bed.

Her hand twitched at the distant memory of the blood and the pulsating heart in her hands. Claire had to close her eyes and take deep breaths to push those thoughts away. She then walked to the body and began looking around.

"What are you doing?" Saya asked.

"Looking for something..."

It took her some minutes, but she finally found it. The scientists marked their subjects in different places -usually hidden- so that the mark could not disappear.

"There it is..." Claire said, looking behind the girl's left ear.

"What is that?"

Tattooed on her pale skin with a pale pink ink that made it almost invisible, there were a set of letters and numbers.

"TVR-2001XP05," Claire read, "I was right. It was a Veronica variant."

"What?"

" TVR stands for T-Veronica. I am guessing the numbers are her ID code, and P05 is her level. She was an alpha phase 5," Claire sighed.

"What are you saying, Claire?" Hiwamura asked, bewildered.

Claire picked the tools from the table and proceeded to take the samples for analysis from the girl.

"She looks human, but she's not human anymore," Claire said, looking at the girl with sadness. "Like me, she is infected by the T-Lyssa and T-Morpheus, genetically modified with different viruses until she turned to this. A perfect mutation."

Claire turned to the lizard-like corpses beside them and sighed.

"Those are pawns. The largest one is a betta form. The other three must have gotten turned, recently, 48 h or even less, I estimate."

"How do you even...?" Saya began, but her face soon paled in realization. "You remember. Your memories are back."

Claire gave her a sardonic smile.

"Luckily I did, or Leon might be dead."

"Do you remember everything?"

"No, not everything," Claire sighed, "and that is something I wanted to talk to you about."

"What do you mean?"

"I think I've got a severe case of repressed memories, not amnesia as we originally thought," Claire said, putting more samples into the rack. "I think I might be able to locate the place if I remember, so I'd like to try regression."

Saya stared at Claire as if the woman was crazy.

"Regression?" Hiwamura said, "You know that could backfire, right? You repressed those memories for a reason. Forcing them out through hypnosis might cause some damage, psychologically speaking."

"I know the risks, Saya. My memories have returned, so it is safe to say that all will be back soon, but I don't know how long that will take, hence why I am asking you. The sooner I retrieve those, the sooner we can get to Mobius and end their rampage."

Hiwamura sighed. The woman crossed her arms and tilted her head.

"Have you discussed this with your brother? With Leon?"

"No, not yet," Claire sighed.

Claire put the racks with samples into the small cooler, and the two women headed out of the autopsy room. Preparing the samples was an easy and quick task, and after some minutes, the two women were heading back to the common area.

To both women's surprise, there were some new guests in the lab. When they entered the common area, they met with Chris, Jill, and Barry, who seemed engrossed in a conversation with Leon. Helena had also arrived. She was talking to Wallace, and Dhriti was, as usual, preparing drinks for everyone.

"Chris!" Claire said, surprised.

The man turned to his sister, and with a faint smile, he greeted her with a hug.

"What are you doing here?" Claire asked, letting go of his brother.

"I didn't get a chance to check on you last night," Chris answered. "Since BSAA was expecting the result of the corpses, I decided to come myself. How are you?"

Chris pushed Claire a few steps from him and scanned her. Claire knew he would not find anything. Her regenerative skills had kicked in as soon as she had pierced the Alpha's chest and touched her blood.

"As you can see, I am peachy, "Claire said, "You should worry about Leon. He didn't come out unscathed last night."

"I am okay," Leon replied, " And like Chris, I am more worried about you."

"Leon told us you remembered something from your kidnapping," Jill said.

Claire sighed.

"Yeah, I did," she said, "and it might interest you since it has to do with why you came in the first place."

"The monsters?" Barry asked.

"Yeah, they are called gorgons," Claire said, taking a cup of tea and taking a sip. "Like the ones you met some time ago in that ship in Wales, Gorgons are also, pack B.O.W.s. There is an Alpha who "creates" the rest and becomes their queen-like figure. The infection takes some time, and depending on that, it may or may not get reversed after the alpha's death."

"Alpha?" Jill asked. "What do you mean?"

"Gorgons infect their pawns through a parasitic vector. These vectors have a direct link to the Alpha. If the newly infected has less than six hours of infection, killing the Alpha would most likely cure them. If they have less than 48 h and more than six hours, killing the Alpha will automatically kill the spawn." Claire explained, "the girl with white hair that you found was a Phase 5 alpha form."

"The girl?" Jill asked with wide eyes, "Well, I thought it was strange for her to be there, but this is unexpected."

"You say the pawns die if the alpha dies," Chris said, "So she died a little after we arrived..."

"So someone knew about that trick and killed the girl?" Barry asked, "Who the fuck would do that? The heart was pulled out of her chest..."

Claire saw Leon frown in surprise. He knew that Claire was responsible for the girl's death, but he had not heard the details of the B.O.W's demise.

"It was me; I killed her," Claire replied calmly.

"Wait, what did you...?" Chris said.

"I killed her. I was the one who dug out her heart," Claire answered.

"What? Wait, but how did you do that?" Barry asked, "there is no fucking way you'll have the strength to do that...that's humanly impossible!"

Once again, Claire felt the weight of those words hit her. Somehow, everything seemed to remind her about her loss of humanity that day.

"Well, you said it yourself," Claire said, looking aside. "I am certainly not fully human, am I?"

"What are you saying, Claire?" Chris snapped, "Of course you are!"

Claire looked at Chris. Her expression darkened, and she sighed.

"I can regenerate as long as I have infected DNA available," Claire said, "how does that make me human?"

"It doesn't make you less of one either!"

"Chris, I remember..." Claire said sadly, "Not every detail, but I remembered enough. I am an alpha form, just like that girl, and the only reason she attacked the party was that I was there. Some alpha forms have completely lost their humanity, so they follow their primal animal instinct. If they detect a potential rival, their instant response is to attack for territory. I was the reason why those people died..."

Jill covered her mouth; Chris cursed, punching the table; Barry was too shocked to speak, and Leon looked down silently. Claire saw that Wallace had stopped mid-game, completely ignoring that his character had just gotten killed, and even Helena was speechless.

There was silence in the room as everyone tried to absorb the information that Claire had dropped on them. She felt guilty for her boldness, but she had not seen any other way to give the news. The matter was urgent, and Claire saw no point in trying to mask the truth. They had to know sooner than later, especially if she was potentially a danger to them.

"Let me get this straight..." Barry said, "You're trying to tell us that you are like a B.O.W or something?"

"I am not like a B.O.W," Claire said, shaking her head. "I am a B.O.W."