Chapter 5: Misery's Crown

The Spanish military had come equipped with three Hummers and one of them had a mounted turret on the back. Each of the rumbling vehicles were adorned with the proud Crowned Rampant Eagle and the Saint James cross on each door. Within each vehicle were two soldiers and upon Claire and Sebastian's arrival to the clearing, one of the vehicle's men had stepped out to ask something of them in Spanish. Sebastian had answered and the conversation had carried on for a while.

Claire was fidgeting under the stares coming from the other Hummers as the two men spoke. She focused her attention on trying to make out the conversation, but she was useless when it came to the language. She mentally kicked herself for not paying attention in school. She had been a carefree spirit riding motorcycles and chasing boys before she had ever thought of becoming a freelance agent with a spotty mental health checklist.

"Alright, let's get moving." Sebastian suddenly said in English and Claire snapped out of her current musings.

Sebastian walked over to her and placed a hand on her lower back as he guided her to one of the Hummers without further explanation. In fact, he seemed to be avoiding her eyes altogether. Claire felt her nerves rise further as they neared the Hummer to the far right.

"Where are we going?" Claire asked as she looked up at him, trying to catch his eyes.

When Sebastian just sighed, she reached out to touch the hand he had at her back. Sebastian stroked a thumb down the skin of her hand as he opened the car door and allowed her to get in first.

Claire rearranged the holster on her side and slid into the vehicle. As she settled into the seat, she looked up at the two men in the front. They were both staring at her with serious expressions on their faces.

"Hello." She greeted with a nervous smile before she turned back toward Sebastian and began scooting over.

When she realized he was looking at her in a strange way, his eyes finally meeting hers, she knew then that he had no intention of getting in with her.

"What are you doing?" She asked, panic started to rise in her voice.

"I'm not bringing you with me, Claire." He said with a look of something flashing through his expression before it was gone.

"Hunnigan hasn't really had the time to tell us, but this situation has gone from complicated to an absolute shit show. This is going to be a bloodbath." Sebastian was shooting a cold glare at the two men in the front seat that had been watching intently. Both turned back around in their seats.

"That's not your choice to make for me, Sebastian!" Claire angrily yelled in response. "What about you? What happens if you go down?!"

"Sorry, Claire, but I can't risk it. I'll come find you soon. I promise." He said before he closed the door in her face.

Claire felt her rage crest and she lunged for the door handle. Throwing her shoulder into it, she let out a frustrated cry as the door refused to open.

"Let me out!" She snapped at the two men in the front. "Open this door now!"

The passenger soldier turned in his seat and aimed his gun at her. "Calm down." He commanded in a thick accent.

"Sebastian!" She yelled as she watched him from her window.

He was pulling on his gasmask and strapping the helmet to his head while conversing with one of the men before he got into the other vehicle. He had paused just before closing his door and turned his head towards her vehicle, the red lenses from the mask glinted in the sunlight.

Claire blinked as she tried to remember where she had seen a mask like that before. The engine of the Hummer started up and Claire could only watch helplessly while her transport pulled away, heading inland. While the other two hummers pulled out toward the coast.

Albert Wesker looked away from his screens as one of his devices began to beep. Routing the call to his monitor, he slammed his finger down to connect it. The familiar mask of Hunk appeared on his screen. With a drum of his fingers, Wesker took note of the sunny background behind Hunk and glanced at his clock.

"Status Report." Wesker commanded.

"Ada Wong has been confirmed dead." Hunk's heavily muffled voice filtered in through the screens.

"And the sample?" Wesker asked, gloved fingers paused their tapping.

"I collected what was left of Krauser for a specimen. He has been marked for pick up by the teams in the castle. Finding it insufficient, I am now moving toward the city of Lugo to engage a lab that was utilized by Dr. Luis Sera. We received reports from an unknown source about the lab's location."

"What's SRATCOM's next objective?" Wesker asked with a frown.

"Multiple teams are being sent in to engage Saddler. They're still trying to obtain the president's daughter."

Wesker hummed for a moment and typed some information into his computer. "Use that to your advantage and strike when they are fully engaged. Have you disposed of Ms. Redfield?"

"Yes, sir, she is out of the way."

"I'd sure hope so, I wouldn't want the dear heart to get in the way again." Wesker ended the call and turned to walk further into the control room.

He had preparations to make.

Claire arrived with her two escorts to a temporary base made up of about twenty men. Tents had been erected along the tree line and a few large vehicles were being prepped as their Hummer slowed to a stop. The two men swung their doors open and began speaking with a larger man who stepped up as soon as they had stopped.

The car door to her left popped open and a soldier stood with his rifle trained on her. He waved for her to get out.

Claire slid over and climbed out of the vehicle with her hands up at her waist.

"You can relax." The large man who had approached earlier said in English. He was deeply tanned, with deep set eyes that looked like they hadn't closed in days.

Claire lowered her hands and turned toward him. "I need to get to Lugo." She stated bluntly.

"No," The man said, shaking his head. "We've been given orders to restrict you here. Your government has asked for your protection until they can secure the city."

"I am not their employee and therefore not beholden to their damn commands." Claire responded with heat in her voice.

"That may be the case, but you are on foreign soil and as the Commandant of this temporary unit, you will follow my commands until I can release you back to your people." He held out his hand toward a fire pit that had sawed logs as chairs. "I am Commandant Molina. If you need anything, just ask. We are about to serve lunch. My men are setting up a tent for you as we speak."

Claire sighed and nodded to the Commandant. "Yes, sir. I'm Claire Redfield, by the way."

"Wish we could meet under different skies, Claire but you'll be safer here than Lugo."

The Commandant started to turn away before his eyes caught on her holsters. "Please hand over your weapons." He stated as he looked back up to her eyes.

Claire hesitated before reaching for the bow gun, the silenced pistol, and her Magnum. She handed all three over while eyeing the soldier who took them.

"Please at least give me back the Magnum after this. That one is special to me." She uttered with a lump in her throat.

"All of your weapons will be returned to you, Claire. Now the knife too, please." Commandant Molina replied with his hand out.

Claire handed the S.T.A.R.S. knife over to the Commandant before she followed him and the other soldier over to the fire pit. One of the men was cooking something over the fire, and Claire's stomach was twisting in the fact that she hadn't had a proper meal aside from protein bars in over 24 hours. She sighed, sat down, and put her face into her hands.

"Pelirrojo?" A voice called out.

Claire lifted her head and looked to see a jovial looking man holding out a plate of what appeared to be rice, meat, and vegetables.

"Paella." The man said with a smile, jerking it toward her.

Claire reached out and took a hold of the warm, well-worn dish. She smiled and bowed her head in thanks to the smiling man.

"Gracias." She said softly, using one of the only words she knew. Her first bite lit her eyes, and she was struggling with the urge to swallow without chewing.

"This is wonderful." Claire breathed to the man when she had swallowed the bite. She had managed to chew it first.

"Eh?" He responded with a small laugh.

"Um, bueno. Si, muy Bueno!" Claire tried again, feeling foolish.

The man laughed and proclaimed something else she couldn't understand before he turned and began serving the soldiers in the area. Claire caught the eyes of a few soldiers, and she lifted her hand in a small wave. Two of the men lifted their hands and gave her their tired smiles.

Feeling the telltale loneliness that often overshadowed her life, Claire distracted herself by finishing the food in her hands. Her thoughts began to drift.

Commandant Molina's voice floated over the campsite and Claire lifted her head to see him approaching.

"Sir? Is there a place I can relieve myself and wash up?" She asked, thankful that she could at least fully communicate with one person at the camp.

He stared at her for a moment before pointing to a shanty looking hut. "You can use the bathroom there. Once you're done, I'll have someone take you to the stream."

He was turning from her then and leaned down to scoop up food before he moved to speak with the other men. Claire was gripping her bowl tightly as she stood and moved to find where she was supposed to go.

Claire entered the hut and felt like the Paella might make a return appearance. Much like backwoods truck stop bathrooms in America, this was literally a board with a hole cut in the center that hung over what was a very deep hole in the ground.

She quickly finished her business and left the hut. A new man was standing there waiting for her. He lifted a hand and made a beckoning gesture.

The stream was located beyond a thicket of trees about twenty yards past the tree line. It wasn't very deep, but Claire made quick work of squatting down to rinse her hands, scrubbing her face, and rinsing her neck.

"Senorita?" The soldier behind her called.

She turned and watched as he tossed her something. A bar of soap landed in her hands.

"Oh my god—Gracias!" She called in earnest.

The soldier looked like he was turning red and quickly turned away.

Claire chuckled and began the process of pulling her tactical shirt off, so that she was left in her grey tank top on her torso. With no shame whatsoever, she scrubbed her arms, pits, neck, and face with soapy hands.

The act of washing had a calming effect that allowed her mind to wander briefly. She thought of Sebastian and felt the anger flare in her gut. Had that whole situation at the village been a way for him to manipulate her? Was any of that for real or just part of a tactic he could utilize on her? Something in the back of her mind had whispered 'no' but she brushed it off and vowed to let him know just what she thought of his betrayal when she saw him next.

Claire considered the camp; she couldn't stay here and just let Sebastian take care of the situation. She may not be ready to participate in a war, but she could do more than just sit safely on the sidelines.

The soldier cleared his throat and Claire moved to finish up her bird bath. She used the inside of her tactical shirt to dry herself off and opted to let the shirt hang and dry out later.

The soldier didn't meet her eyes as he led her back to camp.

"And I thought I was modest." Claire thought, bemused by the shy soldier.

Claire was led to her tent and with the afternoon sun peeking through the nylon material, she shut her eyes and vowed to come up with a plan after a short rest.

When Claire opened her eyes again, the sun had vanished, and she was greeted with the dusk light.

"Shit." She whispered softly into the tent.

She hadn't intended to have slept that long and she most likely would have slept for far longer, but a noise outside had jerked her awake.

She heard men yelling before the firing began and then the screams followed shortly after.

Claire felt momentarily paralyzed as her heart began to pound. When something skittered past her tent, Claire leaped up from her pallet and unzipped a small portion of the flap open. She worked the zipper slowly, trying not to make any noise that would draw attention.

Gazing out at the camp, she saw the silhouettes of men running past the campfire. Many of them were shouting out what sounded like orders. Dark shapes were zipping above their heads.

Claire watched as two men went down, one of them was yanked up off the ground and disappearing into the tree line with whatever beast had a hold of him.

A face popped into her line of sight, and she held back a scream as Commandant Molina looked down at her.

"Get up, we need to go." He said urgently as he faced back toward his men, his gun in hand.

Claire pushed apart the tent opening and saw he had her tri-holster in his other hand. She reached for it, and quickly slid everything on.

"What are they?" Claire uttered as another swooping figure darted down from the shadow of the tree line.

"We need to get to the Hummer and get to Fantassin Miniaturas." The Commandant continued, ignoring her question as he began moving toward the vehicles.

Claire ran alongside Molina as she watched his men continue to hold the line. Bodies of a certain type of creature lined the campsite floor and as she tried to get a better look, her eyes took in the creature that mostly resembled a grasshopper. Except grasshoppers weren't supposed to be the size of the average person. Claire briefly thought of the spiders she had encountered in Raccoon's sewers and wondered how she could be surprised by anything anymore.

Molina's gun went off right beside her and she snapped her head forward to see one of the large creatures fall before them. She pulled her Magnum up and fired as another creature came down for them from the encroaching darkness.

"More are coming! Cover me!" Molina yelled out as he pulled the Hummer keys from his pocket and moved to unlock the vehicle.

Claire was scrambling to lift her weapon as shapes seemed to materialize in different directions. There wasn't going to be enough time to shoot them all.

"Get down!" Claire screamed as three of the bugs dove toward Molina from the darkened tree line.

She fired shot after shot, but one creature managed to hit Molina from the side. She heard him scream as she ran around the Hummer, Magnum raised. She ducked as one of the bugs came down, its claw scraping the back of her bow gun.

Making it to the driver's side of the vehicle, she looked down in horror as the Commandant stared up at her with glassy eyes. A large hole had been made in the side of his neck and through his chest.

Still alive, the beast had crouched low, hissing at her before it lunged. Claire fired off a shot and watched as the thing's face caved in. She looked back down at Molina and recognized the stillness of a dead man.

Leaning down to snatch the keys off the ground, she kept her Magnum lifted as the sound of wings began to drone over the campsite. She was slamming the key into the door when one of the creatures zoomed out and made a grab for her back. Its claws closed around her bow gun and ripped it from its holster, jostling her in the process. Wasting no time, Claire swore and jumped in the Hummer.

Claire was panting as she slammed the door and squinted through the growing darkness for the other soldiers. Some of the campfires had been trampled in the flurry of the fight. It was hard to say how many men were left.

She didn't want to just leave them but as she started making out the shapes multiplying above, she realized that they had become overrun. Wherever the creatures were coming from, more had been drawn in by the firefight.

Putting the key in the ignition, Claire turned the Hummer over and scrambled to find the headlight switch. Just as Claire flipped on the headlights, a creature slammed into the driver's side door. The window cracked but held as the creature let out a deep rattling hiss. She was throwing the vehicle in gear and tearing off down the trail before it could try for a second attempt.

Claire's eyes found the campsite in the rear view mirror and she didn't see the silhouettes of the men running near the campfire any longer. She was whispering a small prayer for the soldiers and Molina when the tears began to slowly roll down her cheeks.

She was starting to feel like an agent of death wherever she went.

Claire had been driving for over a half-hour before she decided she was safe to slow the Hummer down and look around at the dashboard. There were several devices including a radio attached to the center console.

"Do I radio Fantassin Miniaturas or use the GPS to get to Lugo?" She thought as she picked up the radio mic.

Her options were a fork in the road. Hazel eyes flashed in her mind as did the crooked smile of Leon.

Claire set her jaw and placed the radio back down. She turned on the GPS and started routing for Lugo while her eyes kept darting up to peer through the darkness of the road. The location marker popped up swiftly and Claire eyed the route.

The GPS showed her that she was near Vilasante, an hour out from Lugo. As she put the Hummer in gear and drove into the night, she was surprised to see no traffic as she made it onto a main road.

Abandoned cars lined the roads the closer she got to the city and Claire was struck with the fear she knew from her time in Raccoon City.

The surrounding area of Lugo had a larger population... Had things really escalated so quickly?

As she neared the large city, she was met with the sight of fire and smoke filling the air. It was only then did she think about the fact that she would have no idea where Sebastian would be or Leon for that matter. Wishing she hadn't lost her equipment, she began pulling off the road when she spotted an opening in the large wall ahead. She was quickly exiting the vehicle after reloading her Magnum and stuck to the darkness.

Claire took in the Roman walls of Lugo as best she could in the dark while she neared the tall wall. Feeling a pang of sadness that Sebastian wasn't beside her, she let her eyes roam and noted the wall's masonry that gave way to an ancient charm that people often tried to recreate when they built castles or similar stone works in America.

Claire made her way toward the large archway and spotted a body lying on the ground not too far up. She squatted down and took in the sight of a Ganado that had on a baggy black robe and a large scythe still clasped in its hand. It was currently missing its head.

An idea struck her, and she let out a little moan of disgust as she worked the robe up and off the headless man's body.

Ducking further into the shadows, Claire set her Magnum down on the cobbled stone path and yanked out her remaining stash of clips. She proceeded then to toss the robe over her head before situating it appropriately across her body. She was minorly grateful for the warmth as she had left her tactical shirt back in her tent. Reaching back, she pulled up the hood to cover her hair and she leaned back down to scoop up her weapon. There was a tiny pocket near the stomach that she dropped her last three clips into.

Claire took a deep breath as she peered out into the building across the way. The intel Hunnigan had shown her earlier had depicted a large Cathedral. Wishing again she could speak and read the language, she darted out across the street toward a back alley.

Along the way, she bypassed many different bodies that were strewn across the ground. Some of them wore similar robes that she had on, and others seemed to be normal looking people who had lost their lives to the lunacy.

Claire didn't know how many times she was going to throw up a prayer this night, but she figured that it wouldn't be anywhere near the last.

She had nearly made it to what looked like a town square without incident before a shot fired off near her head. She ducked behind a pale blue car parked on the street and readied her Magnum. As far as she knew, Ganados didn't use guns, but she wasn't putting the action past them.

"Enfréntame, escoria!" Someone shouted from a building near where she had run past.

Claire peeked out and saw an older man with suspenders holding a rifle as he leaned out his window. She thought he looked normal enough, but her inability to communicate was going to be what got her killed first.

"Or maybe it's the enemy's robe you put on." She thought angrily to herself.

"Hey!" she yelled out to the man. "I'm an American! I'm not one of them!"

When another shot fired and slammed into the building beside the car, she looked around and felt the creeping sensation of a cage coming around her.

If she stepped out left or right, she would be an open target. The alley to her left was twenty feet away and he would have open sight on her as she ran through. The area to her right was filled with dark shops and shut doors. She would be taking a risk if she couldn't get in within seconds.

The man yelled out something else she couldn't understand, and she let her head thump against the car as she remained squatting.

Suddenly, she heard footsteps running her way and she jerked her head up toward the sound. The man in the building began shouting something in a more frantic tone and Claire felt her fear close around her throat.

A lone figure ran around the blue car she was hiding behind. A man—no, a boy—looked down at her, panting as he lifted a gun toward her. Without thinking, without knowing what else she could have done aside from never coming here, she lifted her Magnum and shot the boy in the chest before he could fire.

"Noooo!" The man from afar wailed.

Claire lowered her Magnum and observed the dark-haired boy who stood stock-still for a moment. He couldn't have been more than fourteen and he was making gasping sounds as he lifted shaking hands up toward his chest. Claire was standing to her feet, horror written across her features when he collapsed onto his back. The sickening thud of his head sounded like a thunderclap to Claire's ears.

Claire felt frozen as part of her soul died; she had shot a child.

The wailing man was moving toward her and the boy. She could hear his stumbling steps as he made his way from the building. Each of his sobs were like a curse being tattooed on her heart.

"I'm so sorry." She whispered to the gasping boy with agony lining her tone.

Claire darted out from behind the car, and down into the alley. She almost couldn't see through the tears as she stumbled around a large trash can and down toward the next connecting path through the houses.

In her state, she failed to notice the figure that stepped out from the alley behind her and followed with experienced, quiet steps.