Chapter 8: Impostors Kingdom

Ten minutes before the agency arrived with the Spanish military, Claire found herself searching around the donations area of the cathedral. The air in the cathedral was cool and it caused gooseflesh to rise on her skin as she pushed through the different donated clothing. Most of the clothes in the bin offered very little protection or were too large for her to wear.

Currently, her original black pants, her bra, and her boots were all that survived through the ordeal with Leon and Saddler. The black tactical pants were modest in its ability to hide the amount of blood that was currently making the fabric feel stiff. Claire finally settled on a red and long-sleeved shirt with F1 printed on the front; she'd look to raid a shop on their way out.

"Whose blood was all over you?" Sebastian called as he stood next to a window across the room.

The mercenary had busted out a small section in the corner of the window so that he could gaze out with the rifle he had retrieved a few minutes previously. His black duffle bag sitting next to his feet; the helmet and mask concealed within. Claire glanced at the bag and guessed that he had to be very careful about who would see that mask. She wondered if he had the motive to test her by revealing it.

Claire moved her gaze from the bag to him as she began finger combing her hair. She was thanking her lucky stars for finding some hair ties in one of the side offices.

"Leon's." She answered his question simply.

"Good girl."

Claire had begun to look elsewhere before her eyes snapped back over to his face at the way he said it.

He was gazing out the window but a smirk was growing at the corner of his mouth as he cleaned his Magnum with a faded looking red cloth. The tone made her face flush and she busied herself with her appearance again.

Flirting back and forth had been one thing. However, now there was a promise for something more and it woke something inside her that felt like it had been absent for a very long time.

Now that she was fully dressed and back within her faculties, Claire fully expected to feel shame or even regret at the way she had thrown herself at Sebastian when he found her in the cell and after he had cleaned her up.

Instead, she felt nothing but warmth and an odd sort of satisfaction. In her previous years, she'd had no issues gaining a date, but as it turned out, most men had no idea what it was like hiding from a pharmaceutical company from 1998 to 2003. Most would not understand the nearly paranoid way she had kept herself in shape, hid guns around her house, or positioned items in her house to let her know if there had been an intruder while she was out at work, school, or the grocery store.

In short, looks weren't the problem; specific trauma was. Sebastian though, not lacking in looks whatsoever, was on the other side of that trauma. Claire hadn't yet begun to consider how much of Umbrella's dealing he was previously involved in. That should have terrified her, but the warmth remained. Like a promise curling around her lonely soul.

It was something she was going to have to examine very soon.

"Something on your mind?" His teasing voice called after a few beats.

Claire gave him a knowing look and he laughed quietly in response. He looked down at the shirt now covering her chest and gave an odd quirk to his lips.

"You ever seen a Formula One race?" He asked, nodding to the F1 logo. The symbol for the highest class of international racing for open-wheel single-seater formula racing cars.

"Not in person, no." she said walking over and taking a seat on one of the pews. "Broke college student and all that. I do like watching when one of the bars dares to put it on. America doesn't seem too crazy about it with no American driver."

"That's because you guys suck at driving." He said before ducking when she tossed one of the frilly shirts at him from the donation box. He looked pleased with himself before he leaned back, and that odd quirk returned to his mouth.

"I lived in Monaco until I was about 10 years old. They have a track there that's made up of completely public roads around Monte Carlo and La Condamine. The church would sometimes take us to stand near parts of the track; It was my favorite time of the year as a child." He continued.

"I'd love to see that." Claire said as she smiled softly at him.

He looked up at her and set his gun down. His expression was curious as he walked over to her and took a seat with that odd expression never leaving his face.

"That depends. Who is your favorite driver?" He asked.

"Wait, are you telling me that in between stealing virus samples, and hiding behind poles, you have time to watch a motor sport?" She teased with a raised brow.

"Everyone has their vices, Redfield." He responded dryly. The amusement became a lure in his eyes.

"Kimi Räikkönen." She said, answering his first question about her favorite driver.

"Least you're not a Schumacher fan; it would be too easy. Rooting for Iceman though… I guess I understand." He sighed.

"His interviews and radio messages are gold. If you could put the physical words 'Fuck You' in a racing seat, it's Kimi." Claire retorted, shoving his shoulder playfully.

"Eh," Sebastian said with an uncharacteristic flap of his hand as he made the so-so gesture.

"Is there any reason they don't have a driver from Monaco?" She jabbed, enjoying the casual banter with him. Her mind seemed to be building a little area of notes for who this man actually was and what he liked.

Sebastian leaned in close, glancing down at her lips before opening his mouth with what she assumed was going to be something downright sassy.

The cathedral doors crashed open and three men with assault rifles were storming in with a clatter of boots. They shouted something in Spanish that echoed around the hall.

Sebastian stood up and moved in front of Claire's sitting form. As he responded back in Spanish, the now revealed mercenary positioned his hands behind his back in a military formation.

Claire felt her hackles rise as she saw the small pistol in one of his hands.

The men lowered the weapons and called back to what looked like another team at the door and the second team followed shortly after. The two groups stepped up and Claire blinked as Agent Orski walked in last.

Sebastian relaxed and discretely holstered the weapon.

"Orski?" She called in disbelief.

"Ms. Red—oof!" Orski started to respond before Claire pushed through and grasped him in a hug. He released her and settled a large hand on her shoulder. "Good to see you too, kid."

"I thought you were a King the Hill kind of guy?" She asked with a genuine smile lighting her face.

"The hill got bigger." He said as a serious look crossed his features. He looked up at Sebastian. "Good to see you too, Smith."

"Orski." Sebastian said with a nod. His eyes strayed back to Claire.

"We should call Hunnigan." The man beside Orski said, watching Sebastian's eyes.

The two men with Orski were introduced only as Diaz and Michaels. Orski was, unsurprisingly, their weapons specialist and their point man. Diaz was their tech specialist and was currently typing at his computer to connect their call with several small monitors cycling. Michaels was their field doctor with many titles that Claire couldn't recall after a moment; he was also their rear security support and he hadn't stopped glancing over at Claire since he had sat down.

It was something that did not seem to escape Sebastian's notice. The mercenary had continued to stay beside her while they waited for the call from Hunnigan. The men from the Spanish military remained outside while scouts went out to explore the city.

The computer beeped twice before the screen flashed; Ingrid Hunnigan was suddenly looking out at them. She looked far more composed than Claire had seen her last. Nevertheless, the Field Operations Support Agent smiled widely as she saw Sebastian and Claire sitting side by side. Claire assumed Sebastian had updated her on their separation earlier.

Claire took a moment to prepare her oral report. She had decided that she wouldn't say anything about Sebastian's secondary alias. Despite how she felt about his previous history, she imagined that someone of his past position would be even more hunted than someone who had simply survived Raccoon knowing too much.

"Claire, Agent Smith, it's good to see you both in one piece. I wish I could say I have good news, but I don't. Here's what we got." Hunnigan said as she clicked a few keys.

An alert sounded from the monitor and Diaz pressed a button. The second computer monitor flickered on and showed a focused and annotated map of the Spanish coast.

"Saddler has been migrating the people of Lugo toward Aviles. Our intelligence tells us he has a large freighter that's being prepped. The Spanish military has agreed to assist us with Naval support. We have the U.S. Navy coming in from about two hours out."

Claire jumped up from her seat next to Sebastian, remembering her conversation with Saddler.

"Hunnigan, what ships have gone out in the last three hours?" She asked quickly.

Hunnigan paused with her brow furrowing. "None. Well, no, that's not correct. We have had evacuations from Santander, but we screened—"

"No!" Claire whispered. She quickly explained the conversation with Saddler and his declaration about a shipment that had been sent to the U.S. Military. She went on to explain the comment that was made about spores.

"The Plagas reproduce from host to host. We screened evacuees at the Santander Medical Center near the bay. Those that made it onto the ships had no eggs." Michaels said impatiently, standing up while glaring at Claire. "Furthermore, it would have been nice to have known about this information a while ago."

"I was a little busy—" Claire tried.

"Doing what?" Michaels fired off, glancing over at Sebastian.

Sebastian stood up; his eyes hard as he looked down at the doctor. "Getting implanted by that very same problem." He said with a metallic ring to his rasping voice. "She was violently sick when I found her, Michaels."

The doctor was staring at Sebastian nervously. In fact, as Claire looked over at Diaz and Orski, there seemed to be a living wariness of her companion all around. Did they sense how dangerous he was, or did they know something of his background?

"You're infected?" Hunnigan asked severely.

"Yes." Claire said with an exhale as she refocused on the conversation. She looked back over at Hunnigan and gave the report about Leon and why Saddler had chosen to select her as another follower.

"She's now considered a high-risk, Hunnigan. Considering her relationship to Agent Kennedy, I move to terminate her assistance on this mission." Michaels said as he moved toward one of his bags near the pews.

Orski spoke up, a frown on his face. "Michaels, I understand your concern, but—"

"You don't get to decide where I stay or go." Claire interrupted, facing Michaels.

Michaels was moving toward Claire, a small device that resembled a speedometer held in his hand. "You are a risk to our security, and clearly not trained. The president's daughter is at risk, we are at risk, the population of Spain is at risk and we're working with someone who only has a degree in International Relations and can't even speak Spanish."

Claire snorted and stared down at Michaels with a look of disdain. After the last two days, her skin seemed to have hardened to petty remarks about simple things like her degree, or her lacking language skills. She knew her faults, and she knew them very well.

"I was asked to be here." She responded as she kept her temper in check and lifted her chin to meet his look head on.

"Michaels, even if I would entertain your thoughts about who should or should not remain on this team, we are currently on lockdown orders; Claire isn't going anywhere." Hunnigan called out. Her brows were pinched as she addressed Michaels.

"Fine," Michaels said as he stepped closer to Claire and pointed the new device toward her chest. "But I'm not going anywhere near her until I—"

Sebastian stepped forward wordlessly, knocked Michael's elbow up and snagged the back of his hand with his. With a twist and a compression of both the elbow and the wrist, Michaels had dropped the device and was crying out as he fell to one knee.

Orski and Diaz stood up.

"Sit down, all of you!" Hunnigan ordered harshly.

Orski and Diaz shared a look with one another before following the command. They sat back down, slowly.

"Smith, release him!" Hunnigan snapped.

Claire watched as Sebastian continued to stare down at Michaels in the submission hold. Michaels was whimpering, his legs shaking from the pressure that Claire knew was seconds from snapping. She stepped up and put a hand on Sebastian's arm in silence, the warmth around her heart was only growing from his response to her defense. He glanced back at her before releasing the man and slid the device on the ground back toward the doctor with the toe of his boot.

"Let's start with what that is." Sebastian said in a voice that left no room for argument.

"Thermal imaging." Michaels said through his teeth as he gently flexed his wrist and picked up his device. "We've worked with a few specialists to dial the detection capabilities for the Plagas eggs on the nervous system. The eggs, when an autopsy was performed, were found to be at a much lower temperature than the human body. We're currently conducting early-stage trials concerning cooling the human body to detach the eggs. We've learned a few things in these last two months."

"Lead with that next time." Sebastian warned as he sat back down. His eyes flickered over to Claire for a moment as if to assess her, before he was looking back at the doctor.

"Claire, would you please submit to the scan?" Hunnigan asked with her nerves lining her tone.

Claire nodded and stepped toward Michaels. As he came closer with the device, she watched him frown, but with a darting glance at Sebastian, he resumed quickly.

Michaels held up the device toward her chest and hit a few buttons with his left hand. "Please hold still."

Claire said nothing as her eyes trailed up the walls of the cathedral. Not having the chance to admire it previously, she noted that the cathedral was beautifully constructed. The design of it ranged from Romanesque style, with Gothic, Baroque and Neoclassicism elements. The main fixture held the Blessed Sacrament on a pedestal. Angels kneeled below, carved in gold as they beheld the faith. She clenched her teeth at the thought of its Bishop selling out his community with Saddler by allowing the lab to be built. The donations flowing like a river of blood for their 'gifts'.

"You're not infected." Michaels' voice interrupted her musings.

Claire's eyes dropped back down to his. "How is that possible? I was infected over an hour ago. Does it take more time?"

Michaels lowered the device and shook his head. "We've recorded it taking at least ten minutes for the parasite's eggs to sit within the chest cavity. The method of induction doesn't matter. Needle or by roaming parasite implantation, it's ten minutes and above."

He lifted the device again and went up to her neck before slowly looking around her chest and stomach.

"I don't see any evidence of the eggs in your body." Michaels said as he dropped his arm again.

"Did you have symptoms?" Hunnigan called. "Smith said you were sick."

"I did," Claire responded, turning toward the screen. "Mental confusion, muscle spasms, fever, burning sensation all over my body, and sweating. About ten minutes after Saddler injected me, he used whatever control he had to hurt me. I felt it."

"How do you feel now?" Orski asked.

"Fine. Sebastian used a rapid cooling method in the lab. I actually don't feel anything but exhaustion now." Claire replied honestly.

"That sounds more like a virus, not this parasite. The symptoms of the Plagas have been different. The pain you felt could have just been related to your other symptoms. Or, it simply could have been a trauma response given…" Michaels paused as he looked at the forming bruises on her neck.

The reported abuse by Leon and Saddler was evident. Michaels had the decency to look ashamed for a moment before he looked back at his bag.

Michaels started to take a step toward the bag before he stopped and looked back at her. "Ms. Redfield, can I take a sample of your blood?"

Claire followed Michaels over to his bag. He sat her down and applied the tourniquet, sanitized the crook of her arm, and quickly drew the blood. When he was finished, he put the vial in a case beside him.

"I'll have one of the military teams take this back to our lab."

"Why not just use the lab here?" Claire asked.

"Containment measures; Michaels will be investigating it while he is there." Hunnigan responded distractedly as she was typing on her keyboard.

Michaels set off quickly to one of the soldiers standing near the door. Claire watched him hand over the case and felt a low churning sensation in her gut.

Sebastian was watching Michaels' retreating form with a frown. Claire caught his eyes and he made a slight jerk of his head. He didn't like it either.

"I haven't read any reports of a virus being used." Sebastian spoke up.

"From what we have gathered, there hasn't been any sort of virus in Saddler's work." Hunnigan responded as she looked up from papers that could be seen in her hands. "Everyone we know he has injected has either gotten the Dominant or the Recessive Plagas."

"I need to get in contact with our Naval forces that took the evacuees. I had my assistant hail them, but they're not picking up." Hunnigan said as she began typing again. "I want you to hold your positions around the city. I'll investigate the theory of spores with our scientists. Leon had mentioned mines back in one of our last transactions. We may need to send a team there… We'll look to deploy someone toward Aviles in the morning. First, I need a more updated scope of this before I send more people to their deaths."

Hunnigan's voice held a weight that suddenly made Claire realize how long she had been on this mission. It was one thing to be on the ground, but Hunnigan was locked to information and dialog behind a screen. Claire could only assume how taxing it had to be to not only watch her original agent fail, but to send others out to meet the same fate.

"Thank you, Hunnigan. I appreciate your support." She looked around at the other men across from her. "And all of yours."

Orski and the silent Diaz nodded and gave her their attention. Diaz's smile was professional, but she felt he had been paying very close attention to her situation. Orski's smile was more genuine; she grinned a little at him. He was probably more surprised that she was alive than anything, but she'd take it.

Sebastian didn't smile, but the glimmer behind his eyes was enough for her to know his acknowledgment. His sudden stoic behavior did not escape her notice.

She turned as she heard the scuff of boots. Michaels was just returning from speaking with the soldier.

"Hunnigan, the Unit Commandant has been given orders to flush the homes on the east side. Our teams will remain in the west." Michaels said, facing the screen.

Hunnigan sighed and nodded.

"Flush the east side?" Claire asked, standing again, slowly. Remembering the scared faces in the windows she had passed, she continued, "What does that mean?"

"We can't take the chances with the remaining population. We don't have enough of the thermal devices built to be able to travel and screen them all." Michaels said evasively.

"Answer the fucking question." Claire said, her tight control on her temper starting to slip.

"They are going to execute them." Hunnigan said before her image cut out and she disconnected. Claire didn't miss the gutted look on Hunnigan's face before the screen went dark.

Claire's eyes were blazing. "Who gave that order?!"

"The Capitán General of Spain. It's out of our hands now; we must stop the spread." Michaels said, irritation creeping back into his voice. "We stand a better chance this way."

"Who's this fucking we you keep referring to?!" Claire snarled as she lunged and shoved Michaels back.

Her thoughts were going to the Raccoon City residents in 1998 who had probably been hiding in their homes as the missile hit the town.

"You're talking about slaughtering the remaining innocent people of this city whose only crime was trusting their government and their Bishop to keep them safe!" Claire's eyes were alive with anger as she pointed a finger toward the cathedral doors. Toward the people of the city.

"Claire, we don't have a choice." Orski said as he helped Diaz start putting away his gear. "As cruel as it is, we have more people to protect. Until we can get a cure, or a better screening process, this is what we must do. It's why we started evacuating people to Santander."

"Give me the device, I'll go and scan them; we should at least try! There are children out there!" Claire uttered desperately.

The image of the young boy she shot flashed before her eyes.

"This isn't time for your idealisms. You were sent here as the babysitter for Kennedy, not as—" Michaels began.

Claire's fist hit his mouth before he could finish. He stumbled back and hit one of the pews. Claire felt a momentary sliver of satisfaction run through her blood; Chris had taught her to throw a proper punch.

"I may only have a degree in International Relations, but I've been through enough to know how to conduct myself in unprecedented foreign affairs and in interpersonal ones. Orski was right, there's just some things you can't teach." She said sneering down at Michaels.

Claire turned toward Orski. "Call us when we have our orders; I need to sleep." She said curtly before walking past Michaels, and toward the front door.

"Claire," Orski called as he picked up a small bag. "Thought you both might want more ammo."

Claire grabbed the bag and touched his shoulder in thanks. She then turned and proceeded out of the room with a determined stride.

Sebastian followed Claire, giving Michaels a look before he passed.

Marked.

Claire passed the soldiers by the door and noted how they watched her closely as she descended the dais where she had been kneeling only hours earlier. She took in the courtyard quietly. Some of the soldiers were piling bodies into a fire in the center. The smoke was curling up into the night sky; there were still hundreds of bodies strewn about.

There was also a large pool of blood off to her right near a stone relief. There was no sign of Leon.

When she and Sebastian had left the catacomb laboratory, Sebastian had told her what he'd done to subdue Leon.

Sebastian stepped up beside her, gazing out at the scene.

"You did this." Claire said softly, looking up at him.

"I did." He said just as softly as he looked into her eyes.

Claire reached out and slid her hand into his. She gave it a tight squeeze and let out the angry breath she had been holding. Letting go of his hand, she proceeded to cross the courtyard toward the gate Leon had led her through previously.

"You're different when we're with others." She stated the observation.

"Of course." He said simply.

"Why?"

From behind her, he responded, "Don't confuse me for the honorable man, Claire. You know what I am."

Claire stopped and stared at him for a moment.

"But you came for me." She stated in confusion.

"I did." His slow smile was a sealed envelope.

Claire felt the hive of her thoughts speed up. She gave him one last searching look before she started toward the gate again.

"Where are we going now?" Sebastian asked as he followed close. Now that they were alone again, Claire noted he had decided to switch back to his Americanized accent. His real voice.

"I saw some shops and a building that looked like a hotel up the road. I'm going to grab some clothes and then I figured we could find a place to rest. I don't really want to sleep near Michaels." She explained before pausing to look back at Sebastian. "What do you think about the blood sample?"

Sebastian shifted his bag on his shoulder and shrugged. "It's protocol, but something seems wrong about this, and even more, you're not infected; I saw him inject you."

Claire looked down toward the ground and sighed. "I'm too tired to even consider what the hell he gave me. Maybe you shouldn't get too close; I could be contagious."

Sebastian cleared his throat and gave her a pointed look.

"Oh, right. Sorry, guess it's too late for that." She said as a small shy smile graced her features. "C'mon, you can hold my purse as I try on everything in the store."

Sebastian snickered, "Traveling the world didn't prepare me for domestication."

"Did you say something, dear?" Claire called over her shoulder.

Claire and Sebastian had found a small boutique that appeared to sell common clothing for women. Sebastian had gone in with his TMP in hand and quietly swept the store. When he emerged from the back room, he gave her a nod before walking over to the center of the boutique.

Claire quickly began shuffling through the clothing. The thought of the hotel reminded her that a hot shower was not far off. As it was, it had nearly been 24 hours since she had caught the nap in the temporary camp Molina had overseen. She felt her heart pang again as she imagined the faces of the men.

"Decisions, decisions." Sebastian called out with a whistle.

Claire glanced over and saw him holding a large sun hat that appeared to have a stuffed bird perched above. She let out a laugh. "Not your color."

Sebastian tossed the hat down and shook his head.

"Do you need clothes too?" Claire asked as she pulled out a pair of jeans that looked to be her size. She grabbed a second pair.

"No, I always bring spares."

"Let me guess, black, black, and just to change it up, black." Claire sassed as she threw an easy smile over her shoulder.

"I don't like making decisions in the morning." Sebastian said as he moved to check the window that overlooked the back alley.

Claire pulled out a simple, long sleeved, black button up blouse. She shrugged and tossed it and a grey colored one over her arm. Moving to the next station, she grabbed two black camisoles and a new belt. Grabbing a few pairs of socks, she also snatched up some more panties and bras; she had learned her lesson on the dangers of packing too light.

Claire had just made it to Sebastian when her eye caught on a deep red jacket on a stand. It was a biker style jacket with deep red leather. The leather was soft to the touch with a zipper pocket going across the right breast. The fasteners, waist buckle, and zipper were silver. No design was present on the back, but she thought she might be able to add something to it if she survived this.

She pulled it down and grinned to find it in her size.

"You were saying something about trademark colors?" Sebastian asked beside her ear.

Claire turned her head and gave him a winning, toothy smile. "Need to take your wins where you can get them, Sebby, and this right here?" She held up the jacket. "Is a damn score."

"Do you ride motorcycles?" He asked, his eyes tracking down to her smile.

"Oh, yes. I grew up as a grease monkey like my father. He helped me build what was to be my first bike; a 1982 Harley-Davidson Sturgis. He cried when that thing started up. He had salvaged it from a wreck yard. We would spend hours after school going over parts and the maintenance. The previous owner of the Sturgis had crashed it badly. I lost my second bike in Raccoon. I felt I needed to replace that, so I bought the same model last year. The 1995 Harley-Davidson Softail is my baby. Shopping sucks, but it keeps my father's memory alive."

She stopped talking and looked over at him. "Sorry, you probably didn't want to know all of that."

Sebastian was looking at her with an odd expression. One that looked half like surprise and the other like real interest. The expression moved to a kind one. "I did, actually. I like knowing who you are when you're not just surviving an outbreak and decking doctors."

"He had it coming." She muttered before holding the jacket up again.

"That he did." He responded, watching her admire the jacket. "Like a kid in a candy store for you here. You ready?" He asked as he began moving toward the door.

Claire nodded as she grabbed a black backpack from the wall and piled in her items. She spotted a bin of hairbrushes and tossed one in. "Speaking of young urges, how old are you?" She asked curiously as she slung the pack over her shoulder.

"Worried?" Sebastian taunted. "Afraid I might have a stroke before we're clear of the nightmare?"

"No, I was just wondering if I should be calling you 'sir' more often."

Sebastian paused and looked over at her with an expression she couldn't name this time.

"What?" She asked with a tilt of her head.

Sebastian blew out a breath and kept whatever initial comment he thought of first to himself.

"I'm 36." He revealed as he pushed the door open and held it out for her, maintaining eye contact as she quickly joined him by the door.

"Just ancient enough to tuck me in later … Sir." She said as she kissed his stubbled cheek and stepped out.

Claire heard Sebastian hum behind her, and she felt an odd sort of satisfaction that was foreign to her young and inexperienced heart.

"Noted." She thought.

Before Claire and Sebastian had made it to the area where the hotel was located, Sebastian asked Claire to wait in a nearby alley. He had explained a cache-point he had set up nearby but had booby-trapped. While she waited with his Magnum in hand, he disappeared up a roof ladder and out of sight. After twenty minutes, Claire was starting to become worried, but he had rounded a corner with a second bag over his shoulder soon after. She had sighed in visible relief.

"Please tell me there's something sugary in there." She said in a way of greeting.

"No, just explosives." He said with a twitch of his lips.

Claire and Sebastian repeated their same method as they neared the hotel that Claire had pointed out. Sebastian led with his TMP, watching for any movement. It seemed that the military had done a thorough sweep already.

A military Hummer had crashed into the side wall, leaving a large hole for them to climb through. Sebastian had paused and walked over to a fallen soldier's body that had died near the side of the vehicle. He looked over at Claire and asked, "Do you have any of your weapons?"

Claire had the sense to look chastised and shook her head.

Sebastian leaned down and grabbed the soldier's handgun with the holster, clips, and his combat knife with the holster. He walked over to Claire and put them in her hands. "I'll give you a pass since you softened up Kennedy for me."

Claire began strapping on the holsters as she said, "For once, I'm glad he got his ass handed to him." She paused. "Least I didn't have to tell Orski I lost my weapons."

"You'd rather admit that to me?" Sebastian asked seriously.

"Well, yeah. Orski feels like my dad with how long this week feels, and you—well you're different." She said trying to hide the flush she felt creeping up her neck.

"Interesting. How do you switch from being a spitfire to shy so quickly?" Sebastian asked, looking amused.

Claire put a hand to her hip and tapped her thigh with the handgun she held. "What is this, Roast Redfield Night?" She asked, looking at him from the side.

Sebastian gave her the hundredth knowing look of the week and turned to enter further into the lobby of the hotel.

Sweeping the lobby, Sebastian leaned over the front desk to grab one of the keys. He waved Claire over as he spotted the sign that showed which hall to follow.

As they neared the room, Sebastian spotted a cleaning cart. He reached in and snagged out a few extra complementary bars of soap, shampoo bottles, and conditioner bottles. He held them up for Claire to see.

"I see the domestication process is going swimmingly." Claire said with a gleeful laugh.

"Look," Sebastian said gravely, turning his head toward her as he located the room and unlocked it. "I didn't know how to tell you this earlier, but even after your science bath, you stink." He stepped into the room.

"I'll have you know that when you ditched me, I fought bugs the size of people, wore a dead-man's robe to blend in, fought Leon and got the Linda Blair experience, and then sweated my ass off from what could be a virus!" She protested as she followed him inside and shut the door.

"Oh, I don't mind, but I figured you did." Sebastian said with a nauseating smile as he began moving the spare furniture in the room in front of the window and door just like he had in the village.

"You can shower first; I need to clean and manage my equipment." Sebastian said, glancing over at her as he handed her the soaps and hair-care products. He took the bag of ammo from her hands.

Claire nodded and stepped into the bathroom without another word. She was unceremoniously dumping her backpack and items onto the countertop as she looked at the shower. She wasted no time in peeling off her clothes and turning on the tap. It took a few moments, but to Claire's relief, hot water began churning out of the spout as she pulled the lever for the shower head. If she was honest, it could have been artic cold, and she still would have sung like a songbird.

"Oh god," Claire sobbed, feeling actual tears forming as she stepped into the scalding hot water.

While she scrubbed her body repeatedly, she briefly wondered if she could wash away the emotions she had been holding back. A lot had happened in 48 hours and she hadn't had a true, singular moment to process it.

Claire scrubbed her auburn hair clean until the water stopped turning red from the left-over blood. She chose to acknowledge the strong emotions with quiet tears and rapid acceptance before she wrapped imaginary fingers around them and stuffed it in a box deep into her mind; she couldn't afford to break down now.

In truth, sexual tension aside, if it wasn't for Sebastian, she didn't know how she could have kept any of this together.

Humor had always been a natural coping mechanism in their family; the Redfield's hadn't been a family of big talkers. Jokes of being the red-headed stepchild were made as Claire began to develop a need to talk, talk, talk about her feelings. Chris had shrunk away from it in their adult years. He had much preferred kinetic outbursts.

Leaving her to do all the feeling and talking.

When she felt she might be scrubbing her own skin off, she shut off the tap and stepped out of the shower. The mirror in front was partially foggy, but as she stepped up with the towel, she swallowed harshly as she took in the bruises that spotted her legs, abdomen, chest, and neck.

"Most of this was from Leon alone." She thought as she touched the blackened patch of skin near her throat.

As she leaned in, she could see the bruises were in the outline of fingertips. Claire placed both of her hands on the countertop and held back a desire to scream as she breathed deeply.

She wouldn't leave Leon to this fate. She had decided somewhere along the way that she would kill him if she had to, but she wouldn't turn her back on him and leave him here trapped within his own body. If he was aware of what his body was doing…

"He most likely is writhing." She thought as she remembered what he had said in the factory.

"Hey Leon, I am beautiful up in the sky, I am magical, yet I do not try. To some I bring luck, to the others it's riches, but the man at my end does whatever he wishes. What am I?" She whispered their riddle softly to herself.

Turning to her clothes, she straightened her spine, and got ready for the third day. The doubts in her mind nipped at her heels.