Village

Part One:

-Tall Tales-

Chapter 1: Forest Deep

"Long ago, a young girl went with her mother to pick berries for her father who was hard at work...but the forest greeted them with dark, cold silence...bushes empty. Yet, determined to find the berries the rascal broke free of mother's grasp and vanished into the trees. Mother's worried cries faded fast as the girl ran on...over vine, under branch...and into the forest deep."

The small sound of amusement from the kitchen had Claire looking up from the storybook spread open on the lap of her and the small redheaded girl in her lap. "...is this funny, Mr. Kennedy?"

Strapping on his shoulder holster, Leon returned with wry good humor, "You and those stories...what's this one about exactly?"

"...it's just a fairy tale."

"Yeah? From where?"

She kissed the temple of the sleepy child she held so close, "Romania. It's about an ugly old hag that lives in the forest and protects it from those who would do it harm."

Leon's handsome face caught the light from the kitchen stove and never failed to take her breath away as he remarked, "...you reading cautionary tales to our kid over there?"

"Never hurts to be cautious, does it, sweet girl?"

In her lap, Gianna, affectionately called Gigi by her parents, sighed with tired features. Her small thumb poked between her lips, a sure indicator that she was exhausted and close to going down for the night. Leon paused at the side of the couch, leaned over, and kissed his daughter's red curls. "I don't think we need to worry about this one running into any forests where evil things dwell."

Claire gave him a warm smile, "Not with you to protect her."

He winked and rose to inform her, "Don't wait up, ok? I figure this meeting will take all night."

Claire rolled her eyes, "More stuff with that mess in Ohio?"

"Gotta close down all the mayhem that happened. Just part of the deal."

"You never were clear on what it was."

Leon paused at the door and gave her a thoughtful expression, "Still unclear. It wasn't like anything we've come across before." He didn't like saying it. He liked even less hearing it out loud, "Somebody's playing god again."

Claire shook her head with a note of exhaustion in her tone, "Never ends, does it, baby?"

Leon gave her a wink in return, "Easier to handle when you've got something to come home to."

He had a point. After nearly losing his life on that rooftop in New York stopping the A-Virus, he'd woken up in the hospital afterward a man with new convictions. He could drink his life away and have everything he'd done be for nothing...or he could live his life the way he'd always intended. So, he'd stopped running scared and pulled his balls out of his back pocket of finally go after the thing he'd been wanting for years - Claire.

He'd bought her a coffee, gotten her naked, and shown her what he'd been wasting on countless faceless bartenders for the last couple decades. She'd been more than ready to take to his bed, and less ready for the pregnancy that had followed. However, in true fashion, they'd both rebounded with aplomb. Gigi had arrived a short nine months after their first roll in the sack together.

They were still feeling their way together as a couple while juggling parenting, but he had to admit - it was the happiness nine months of his life. The short year since then had flown by until he woke up one morning and just realized he was happy. He was. He was simply content in a way he hadn't been in years. He wasn't sure what awakening Chris had fed him that day in Colorado Springs, but it brought him back from the edge of a very dark cliff with a very steep fall. Sparing New York from Glenn Arias had worked like a charm to remind him why he was fighting.

The little toddler on her mother's lap had driven home the urge to remember why he was living.

Smiling softly at him, Claire encouraged, "Be careful, ok? And wake me up when you get in. I don't care what time it is."

He wouldn't, he couldn't bear to rouse her when she looked like an angel sleeping. So? He lied, "You bet. Try some Dr. Seuss after reading her that dark shit, would ya?"

Claire chuckled lightly, "Sure thing. Why do you like Seuss so much anyway?"

"...I'm a poet and don't know it."

Claire winced with good humor and waved him away, "...quit while ahead, Kennedy. Beat it."

He was laughing as he shut the door. Claire gathered her daughter close to finish the story, but Gigi had fallen asleep in her lap. Carrying her gingerly, Claire took her up the stairs to her bedroom.

The little house was isolated on the outskirts of Falls Church, Virginia. It was a hop, skip, and a jump away from Washington D.C. where Leon served so sweetly as the Director of the Division of Security Operations. The job was more administrative than he liked, but he'd been careful to avoid too many dangerous missions since Gigi had been born. Claire had been happy to take a leave of absence from TerraSave to stay home for a while with Gigi.

It wasn't politically correct to say it out loud these days and she might lose her feminist card for thinking it, but she was glad to take the time off and be a mother. She'd honestly never thought she'd get the chance. As she laid their daughter in her crib, Claire adjusted the blankets on her small body and sighed with love.

She was so happy. She was always a little on edge about it. In their world, usually happiness came at a cost. What was their cost here? She and Leon had found each other later in life and started a family. They were good. Things were good. Good was always a precursor to horror when it came to survivors of Raccoon City.

The T-Phobos she carried usually didn't cross her mind. It hadn't even been an issue until she'd gotten pregnant. - The first time she'd had her blood drawn, she'd demanded the doctor check her levels to guarantee she could sustain a healthy pregnancy. She'd soared through with flying colors - easy time carrying, easy time delivering, easy time breastfeeding. It had all gone so simply.

There'd been nothing to worry about...until the morning Gigi had pulled herself up on the coffee table to start trying to walk. She'd grabbed the edge and lifted. She'd caught Leon's coffee cup with her sweet hand and tipped it over. The hot liquid had spilled all over the table and splattered on her face.

The cry had alerted Claire who'd been folding laundry. She'd grabbed for her daughter to find her face pink and splotches of welts signifying second degree burns. She'd run to get her car keys and take Gigi to the hospital, but by the time they reached the car...the burns were gone. A new kind of worry had set in when she'd carried the happy little girl back inside.

She'd passed something onto her daughter. She'd passed something through blood to the child. The realization had been a hard truth to swallow - Gigi was like Sherry. Gigi was a bioorganic weapon.

Leon refused to let Claire blame herself for it. He'd insisted that the plagas pieces he still carried and the exposure he'd experienced had likely warped his own DNA somewhere along the way. He'd held her and sworn, "It doesn't matter. Look at me, Claire. Do you love Sherry any less for it?"

The redhead had shaken her worried head no so Leon finished, "Exactly. She's special...you cannot tell anyone. Do you hear me?"

Claire had nodded rapidly and vowed, "I would never. You know that."

"Not anyone, Claire. I mean it."

She'd kept her promise. She'd told no one. Until Moira had babysat one afternoon and informed them when they'd gotten back from the movie they'd gone to see that Gigi had fallen down and smacked her head on a barstool...and somehow the knot that had been there had disappeared while she'd watched. Claire had sworn Moira to silence about it. She'd practically begged.

Barry Burton's affable but mouthy daughter had returned, "You fucking kidding? That's the coolest shit ever. I won't say a peep. Scout's honor."

Claire believed her. Moira was loyal to a fault. She'd never do anything to risk Gigi's safety.

So far, things were smooth sailing. Gigi seemed completely normal save for the ability to heal. She babbled like a toddler. She learned like one. She didn't seem odd or unusual or appear to be growing an eyeball from her shoulder. All, it seemed, was well in their world.

As Claire ran a bath to relax, she realized that the story about the old hag - Muma Padurii - might have been a cautionary tale for her instead of her daughter. It suggested never venturing beyond your world too far. It said to never take for granted the safety you thought you had.

She thought she was safe in her world.

She should have known there was no place safe for any of them.

She was just letting her hair down when the security system started blaring. There was a large rending noise as the front door was literally ripped from its hinges. Claire raced first for her gun in her bureau drawer and second for her child in the room beside hers. She might have faced the threat with more courage until she heard the growling.

Whatever was in her living room, it wasn't human. It couldn't be reasoned with or scared away. It wasn't going to run when she waved a gun at it.

Claire closed and locked Gigi's door and gathered the child to move into the closet. They curled in the dark with Claire holding the gun on slatted barrier while the light from the night lamp across the room flickered over her determined face. The phone on the floor reached Leon's voicemail and she hung up without a word.

The next call was made to her brother. If she couldn't reach one, she'd be sure to get the other. Chris answered and Claire whispered, "...someone's in the house...help me."

He simply told her, "Hide. I'm coming."

Claire kept that gun on the door unwavering. She felt Gigi stir and wrestle to be free of her mother's grip. The redhead soothed her, murmuring, "Quiet, baby girl. Quiet for mama."

And then?

A voice that shouldn't have been in her house called out in a sing-song tone, "Clllllaireeee...I know you're here. Why don't you come out and say hello?"

Natalia? What was Barry's adopted daughter doing breaking into their home? The girl had grown to a bright, beautiful, and capable young woman...but what was she doing with snarling things in her living room?

None of it made sense.

Claire simply dialed 911 next and let the call stay open as Natalia called again, "Claire- I know what's inside of you. I know what your child will become. How can you protect her? How can you stop the change? The first time it knows fear, it will ascend to what it's meant to be. It will destroy your world by simply existing...first you, then your husband, then your entire family."

The horror settled around where Claire huddled. I know what's inside you. What did that mean!? What did she want?

But that answer was coming too as Natalia cooed, "Come with me, Claire. Make this easy. I will take you both. I will let you realize your full potential. You can be so much more than a boring suburban house wife. You can be a wonderful goddess beside me! Won't that be fun?"

After the silence that met her question, Natalia's tone changed to hateful, cruel, and dripping with rage, "Bitch! Did you think you could stop me!? Did you think you'd finished me off on that island! You and your brother took mine and murdered him! I will tear your world down and watch you writhe in agony while it rots all around you!"

She wasn't Natalia. She wasn't Natalia at all. Somehow, someway...she was Alex Wesker. How!? Why!? When!? The questions were too many. The answers too few. The time was up.

The pounding on the door was coupled with snarling like dogs and snarfling noises that reminded Claire of wet snouts on wood. Her heart started pounding in her chest. What was the likelihood she could take them all with her gun? Chris, even if he raced for her, was somewhere too far to make it in time. She couldn't hold out here forever. She had to do something.

She started to lay Gigi down in the closet and Alex jeered, "I'm going to use her to make myself strong again. I'm going to drain her dry and bathe in her blood to finally find the power to bring him back."

Jesus Christ...she wanted to resurrect Albert Wesker. The horror ate around the edges of the world with bites made of fear. Claire felt her heart seize in her chest. Alex wanted to use Gigi to somehow, someway...bring him back. It wasn't possible. It couldn't. She wouldn't be the first or the last to try. It was simply too far fetched for even the most evil mastermind to muster.

It wasn't possible...was it? Could it be? The regenerative powers of Gigi were like Sherry. Surely, she'd have tried by now to use Sherry's blood to bring him back...unless...maybe...what if it had to be a child born with mutated DNA? Sherry had survived exposure and been gifted with complex healing. What if Gigi was capable of...more?

They'd take her and use her and abuse her and turn her into a guinea pig. She'd be gutted and drained dry and experimented on. They'd destroy her trying to bring back a madman. Claire felt the fire of rage hit the fear and battle for control. She'd die before she'd let that bitch take her!

A high pitched squealing sound split the air. Claire covered her one ear with the hand not holding Gigi. She thought her daughter would start weeping from the intrusion, but she didn't. She opened her eyes and they were blood red. Her teeth started to sharpen as Claire watched in horror. She clutched her mother and whimpered painfully.

Claire whispered, "...no. Oh god..."

The noise was forcing some kind of change within her daughter. It was activating something she had no name for. Claire felt her hand release her own child and let her lay on the floor of the closet. Gigi bowed, whining in her throat. She clutched wildly at her own hair.

Claire felt the gun turn on her own child instinctively.

She froze as the horror turned to fear and buried the rage beneath it. The child was hers. It was her baby girl. It was her blood. How could she turn her own gun on it!? Because it wasn't just her baby girl..it was something else. The baby reached for her and Claire whispered, "...oh god help me...I'm so sorry."

She clutched the child for a moment before something in her chest tightened. The fear turned to terror as she whispered again, "...oh, Leon...Leon, I'm so sorry...I'm sorry."

Gigi whimpered sadly where she clutched her mama as the noise finally stopped. Claire felt tears on her cheeks as she told her daughter, "...I'm so sorry..."

It wasn't Gigi turning that scared her...it was her. T-Phobos activated from fear. The terror for her child and the image in her head of that child eating Leon while he screamed and failed to fight back...it finally did what Alex had failed to do all those years ago on that island...it made Claire Redfield choke on her fear.

Her ribs felt like they'd rupture with the pain. Claire screamed and Gigi whimpered in fear. There was a crack of her shoulder popping out of place. She was changing. She was changing. She was turning.

The horror of it was the worst she'd ever known. The pain hit the terror and Claire, afraid for her child, shoved the baby out of the closet onto the floor where the little girl wept copiously and without any understanding as to why her mother had simply turned her away. Claire cried helplessly, tossing herself against the wall as she grabbed for anything she could find to try to bind her own hands and spare her child.

She shouted, voice breaking as her spine started to bow, "RUN, GIGI! RUN!"

Gigi was only a year old. Her comprehension simply didn't allow for that kind of thing. She couldn't understand. She didn't know. She couldn't listen and obey. The bedroom door was kicked open and Claire screamed and shot through the closet door at the motion that entered the jagged light, careful to avoid where she knew her daughter lay on the floor.

Something wailed in pain as it was struck and Claire's elbow snapped wetly as it was jerked out of place by the change. She collapsed against the wall, sliding to the floor as she vowed uselessly, "You touch her I will kill you!"

Alex clicked her tongue as she knelt to pick up the child, "You'll do nothing. Feel the fear, you stupid girl, and die like you should have the moment you awoke on that island. I have what I need of you...rot inside your own cage of terror."

Claire heard the sound of her leaving. She screamed, body jerking as blood sprayed the pretty pink wall as her lungs simply filled with it and it came out of her mouth as she coughed desperately. She tried to crawl free and maybe, maybe, maybe reach her child. Her phone tinkled prettily on the ground playing Leon's signature ringtone of Hot Blooded by Foreigner...and she swiped to answer it.

She collapsed to her side as something in her chest ruptured and blood spilled wetly down her cheeks with the tears she couldn't stop. Leon's cheery voice greeted, "Miss me already, huh? Wanna facetime me something dirty and make my night?"

She gasped and gurgled. Her finger brushed a bit of blood over his handsome face in the picture there on her phone. After a handful of seconds, his tone changed completely, as he queried, "...Claire? Claire, honey? Are you there?"

She felt her spine snap, one vertebra at a time. She heard the sound of feet on the stairs. She wept silently now as the pain turned to a numbness form her ears to her ankles. Leon's voice demanded, high and scared, "CLAIRE! ANSWER ME! CLAIRE!?"

The light from the door faded as her hand slid over that handsome face one last time. The fear was gone. The pain was gone. The love remained. It was the last thing she felt before the rest of the world went dark.

The closet door was ripped open and her brother's horrified and grief-stricken face was the last thing she saw before he lifted his gun on her. She whimpered. Her eyes leaked tears as her hand lifted. He took it, his shaking madly, and he whispered, "...I love you."

Claire gasped once more and the sound of the gun was followed by the horrible rasp of her brother's broken tears.

Leon's voice echoed around the closet where Chris knelt in his sister's blood and clutched her body to him, rocking. "I'm coming Claire! You hear me!? Hold on!"

There was nothing left to hold onto. She was gone. She was lost. She was half turned into a monster in her brother's clinging embrace. He rocked her, back and forth, back and forth, back and forth.

And he rose from the ground covered in her blood and soaked in a rage so deep and wide it should have scorched the Earth where he walked.

His hand curled around the phone and he lifted it to his ear. His breathing qued the other man to query wildly, "Chris!?"

To which he simply replied, "I'm sorry, Leon."

He dropped the phone in her blood. He closed her eyes like they were delicate butterflies that might never flutter open again...and Leon's terrified shouting chased him from the room demanding, "What happened!? Where is she!? CHRIS! CHRIS!"

And then?

There was nothing but silence.