Chapter 07:
Escape
"Three Minutes Till Detonation."
The elevator took Leon and Moira up to the next floor. He carried the unconscious Natalia in his arms cradling her to his chest. The doors started to open revealing a gory mess. The area was filled with undead each of them with bullet holes lodged into their flesh. The undead were holding machine guns and an assortment of grenades. He wondered why he failed to encounter these types while he was inside the facility with Claire.
"Holy shit," Moira stepped out of the elevator. "It looks like somebody did some spring cleaning." She tossed her crowbar aside. "Come on, I think it's this way." She ran on ahead of him.
"Alright, Natalia, let's get you out of here." Leon carried her following behind Moira. The second he turned the corner. He was greeted by Jill Valentine and Chris Redfield. "Chris, Jill, what a pleasant surprise." Their eyes lingered on Natalia. He hoped they weren't here to kill her. With Claire, he stood a chance but alone. He couldn't fight them both.
"We secured the escape route," Jill informed him. "It's just beyond there," She pointed down the hall. "There's an elevator, it will take us directly outside the facility. Our boat isn't far, we need to hurry." Leon went to follow but Chris jerked at his shoulder. He was so rough the force alone caused him to stop in place.
"Where's Claire," Chris asked, Leon didn't answer. How could he explain what happened to Claire to her brother? Leon failed to protect her, what happened to her. It was his fault, he should have gotten to her sooner. He should have tried harder. Claire's death was on his hands. Chris would never forgive him for it. "Where's my sister, Leon." He couldn't answer that even if he wanted to. "Damn it, you son of a-," He went to strike him, Jill got between them.
"We don't have time for this." Jill glared at both of them. "We all knew the risks of setting foot on this island. Your sister knew what she was getting herself into. Now, the two of you could duke it out, or, we could get out of here." She offered. "Your sister," She turned her attention to Chris. "She put everything on the line to save this girl." She glanced over at Natalia. "I would hate to see that effort be put to waste. So," Jill paused. "What's it going to be Chris?" She crossed her arms.
"Two Minutes Till Detonation,"
"I don't know about you guys," Moira pointed at Chris and Leon. "But I'm getting the fuck out of here." She took the boat key from Jill. "I have had enough of scary monsters trying to kill me." She walked on ahead. "Fuck this,"
"We will settle this later," Chris' eyes formed a piercing glare at Leon. "Now," He stepped back. "Let's get the hell out of here." He went on ahead with Jill. Leon followed behind getting on the elevator with Natalia in hand. The elevator took them to an area that was masked in flames. He figured there was a huge fight that took had taken place here.
"This way," Chris called out.
Leon walked through the wreckage carrying Natalia. While he was walking he saw the second one of those monsters laying on the ground. The monster's body was covered in bullet holes and was set ablaze. Purple blood continued to gush out of it, the monster's clothes were torn and tentacles were out on the floor spouting blood. On top of it's lower half was a giant storage unit. It was clear the monster tried to crawl free. The upper half was torn away from the bottom half. Next to the monster's head was an empty magnum.
"Don't worry," Jill approached him. "He's dead."
"Son of a bitch, wouldn't stay down." Chris glanced down at the monster. "Luckily my partner," He turned his attention to Jill. "Knew exactly how to take care of him." He draped his shotgun over his shoulder. "We should go." He walked on ahead.
"So you've met this thing before?"
"We've met a few times."
"Fair enough," Leon entered the elevator with Chris and Jill. His eyes remained on the monster as it laid there dead. "Shit," The monster began to move, it's body changing right before his eyes. "Chris, Jill, I don't think it's dead." He could hear loud roars coming from the monster as it started to grow in size acid dripped from its mouth.
"Trust me," Jill pulled out a remote bomb. "It's dead." She triggered the bomb. Several explosions went off causing the entire ceiling to collapse on top of it. Steel pipes lodged into its skin as more and more debris crashed down on top of it. The monster was now completely buried leaving nothing but a pool of blood. "Let's go." The elevator opened taking them outside the underground facility.
"Don't move," Umbrella troops aimed their assault rifles at them. "Hand over the girl." They pulled Moira forward. She was tied up in ropes and unable to move. "Do it or she dies." One of the troops pointed a handgun at her head.
"If I were you," Jill glared at him. "I wouldn't be pointing that gun at our friend." She warned. "You have no idea what you're getting yourself into." They pointed their guns at her. "Chris, do it." He threw a flash grenade at them. Jill flipped into the air wrapping her legs around a guards neck snapping it. She did a side flip landing behind the troop with the handgun. She jammed her knee into his back then snapped his neck from behind. "I warned you." Jill walked over to Moira cutting her free with her knife. "Moira, run." Jill pulled out her dual machine guns. She nodded making a run for it.
"Leon, get to the boat." Chris punched a guard knocking him out. "We'll cover you." He pulled out his shotgun shooting a guard at close range.
"Got it," Leon raced to the boat carrying Natalia. There it was on the shore, their boat. Not much further now, soon, the nightmare would be over. Just a bit further. "Come on," He could hear bullets flying past him.
"Don't these guys ever quit." Chris headed toward the boat with Jill running close behind Leon. The two of them would occasionally stop and shoot at the guards chasing them. "Jill, heads up," A umbrella troop walked up with a gatling gun.
"Moira," Jill yelled, throwing a flash grenade. "Start the boat." She continued to shoot at him. After a few shots, she rushed to the boat close behind Chris.
"You don't have to tell me twice," Moira put the key in the ignition. "Come on start," She turned it but it wouldn't start. "Damn this thing," Leon jumped onto the boat ducking fire holding Natalia close. "Fuck, I said start." She turned the key, the engine roared. Jill and Chris jumped onto the boat as she was driving off. "Whew, I'm glad that's-," Bullets started firing at the boat. "Fuck their gunna sink us, you guys do something." She ducked bullets as they flew past her. "You have got to be kidding me. The place is about to explode and you guys still wanna kill us." She crawled across the floor. "This is so fucked up." Leon placed Natalia next to her. "Huh?" Moira looked up at him.
"Look after her," Leon reloaded his handgun. "I'll handle this." He got beside Chris and Jill helping them deal with the Umbrella troops. "Jill, take the wheel, get us to safety, Chris and I, will keep them busy." She lowered her weapon taking the wheel.
"Hold on boys," Jill sped up taking the boat to the maximum speed limit. The entire island was caught in a roaring explosion blowing it completely off the map. A giant tidal wave occurred as result from the explosion. "Great," Jill's voice filled sarcasm. She raced through the currents as the tidal wave chased them once it hit, they were out of its range. Chris and Leon let out a sigh of relief after yet another close call. "It's finally over," Jill stopped the boat. "I need a drink."
"Make that two," Chris sat down taking a break. "Leon, what about you thirsty?" Leon fell back taking a seat on the floor. He checked his handgun to discover he had no bullets left. He threw it to the side taking a break.
"What the hell," Leon leaned his head back against the wall. "One drink isn't going to hurt." He let out a deep sigh. The nightmare was over but Claire. Claire was gone. Chris was never going to forgive him. Hard to blame him, Claire died while under his care.
"Chris," Jill called out. "Could you lend me a hand with the drinks?" Chris groaned getting up from his spot. He dragged his feet over to his partner. She took Chris into another room. Leon figured they were having a talk partner to partner. Which gave him time to check on Moira and Natalia.
Leon cracked the door to the only room with the light on. Moira was sound asleep with Natalia resting on her shoulder. Both of them were alive, Leon kept his promise to Claire. If she were here, she would have been in that room with them. He could picture her sitting in the middle of them. Moira's head resting on her shoulder and Natalia resting her eyes on her lap. But, the fact is, Claire wasn't in that room with them. She was gone and no matter what Leon did, nothing could change that. He just needed to accept it but part of him couldn't. Part of him, hoped, she'd show up again. "We did it, Claire, it's over," Leon whispered to himself. He shut the door to the room.
"There you are," Jill walked up to him holding two glass bottles of beer. "You should come and have a drink with us." She motioned toward the deck of the ship. "After what we've all been through." She handed him a bottle of beer. "I think we could all use a drink."
"You got me there," Leon took the bottle popping the cap. "Cheers," He tapped his bottle against hers. Together, they took a drink. "So, you talked to Chris." He walked beside Jill.
"Something like that," Jill took another drink. "Whether or not my message got through to him. That's another story." She took his arm. "Come on, join us for a drink. You got to face Chris sooner or later better to do it while he's drunk." She joked. "Besides, I got to know more about this Claire. You know the woman brave enough to throw a knife at me." She laughed. "I wanna know where that came from."
"I guess," Leon put one hand in his pocket. "I could share a few stories." He agreed. "I'm not sure where she learned to throw a knife. You might want to ask Chris about that one." He suggested. "She picked up a lot of her skills from him with those training videos." Jill laughed.
"Training videos," Jill clinched her stomach. "You mean to tell me that Chris left her training videos." She laughed again. "He couldn't show her in person so he left her videos instead. Wow," She put her hands on her hips staring at Chris who was blushing. "You're not really going for the big brother of the year award are you?" She teased.
"I was busy," Chris pointed a knife at her. "So what," He picked up a towel that was next to his feet cleaning off the blade. "I left her a couple of training videos. At least she watched them." He poured cleaner on the knife. "For the record," Chris continued scrubbing the blade. "I was there in the beginning. I was there to teach her how to aim, reload, and save bullets." He put the knife away. "That has to count for something right?" He asked. "Come on, Jill, you know better than anyone what I was dealing with at that time."
"I know, I was just teasing." Jill took a seat next to Chris. "So knife throwing where'd that come from?" She asked. "I can't help but feel there has to be some kind of story there. Being your sister, couldn't have been easy."
"Oh there's a story there alright," Chris picked up his beer bottle. "You see," He took a quick drink. "Every year I would visit her for thanksgiving. Claire would cook this big dinner for us. Every year," he repeated. "She would make homemade mashed potatoes. She would take her time peeling them and mashing them. She would work her ass off on those potatoes. So," He took another drink. "I would go into the kitchen and "help" her but instead." He smiled. "I would walk by stick my finger in the mashed potatoes and lick it. Every time I did it, it pissed her off. She would throw a knife at me and tell me to get out. Her accuracy with the knife throwing improved every time I walked into the kitchen."
"I bet it did," Jill took a drink. "I'd stab your ass too."
"I'm sure he did it on purpose." Leon took a drink. "You couldn't resist the urge to get on your sister's nerves could you Chris?"
"I live for that," Chris took a drink. "That's what siblings do."
Leon and Chris continued to share stories about Claire. The more Leon talked about her, the harder it was to accept what happened to her. Jill would sit there and listen to every story make a few comments here and there. But, it was easy to tell what she was doing. She wanted to talk about Claire to help both him and Chris accept that she was gone. By the time the stories were over, there were beers scattered on the floor. Leon was sure most of them belonged to Chris.
"To Claire," Jill raised her beer bottle.
"To Claire," Leon and Chris raised their drink to join the toast.
The three of them took a drink to honor her. After that last drink, Jill left to get a trash bag to clean up the mess. Leon felt a slight buzz but nothing serious, he was sure to keep an eye on how much he drank. He had lost both Claire and Ada in that facility. No matter how much he drank tonight, that wasn't going to change. "Leon, give me a hand over here," Jill called out as she went around picking up empty beer bottles. He gathered a few helping her. "Chris," She put her hands on her hips. "You overdid it again didn't you?"
"No, I didn't, I'm fine," Chris tried to get up but fell on his ass. "Okay, I might have drank one beer too many." He confessed. "It will wear off in a few, just let me sit here for awhile." Together, Leon and Jill cleaned up the mess.
"Well," She let out a loud yawn. "It's been one hell of a night boys," She tossed one more beer bottle in the trash "I'm going to get some rest, you boys try not to kill each other while I'm gone." Jill walked to Chris giving him a kiss on the cheek. "I mean it," She scolded. "Play nice," She walked to the lower level of the ship.
"So Claire's," Chris stared at his empty beer bottle. "She's really gone isn't she?" He glanced over at Leon.
"Yeah, she is," Leon sat next to him. "Chris listen, I tried to protect her. I wanted to keep Claire safe. There's nothing I could have done to,"
"I know," Chris threw his bottle to the side. "It's not your fault Leon." He lowered his head. "It's mine, I'm her older brother, it was my job to protect her. Claire asked me to trust her and I should have. If we had just worked together from the start, Claire would still be here." He rose to his feet. "I let my grudge with Wesker get in the way and now because I couldn't let that go. Claire's dead." He punched the metal wall on the ship. "I should have been there."
"It wouldn't have mattered," Leon assured him. "Even if our roles were reversed. Claire would have made the same choice." He let out a sigh. "That's just who she is, that's why she joined Terrasave. She wanted to save lives even if it meant losing her own." Leon rested his arms on his knees. "I think Alex knew that, that's why Claire didn't make it. She knew Claire would trade her life for Moira's. That's why she kept Moira alive for as long as she did." Leon walked over to the railing. "You were there in that facility too Chris. We've both seen what Alex was capable of. If she really wanted to kill Moira, she would have."
"You're right," Chris agreed. "So, what are you trying to say Leon?" He asked. "Are you saying Alex wanted to keep Moira alive?" He wondered. "If that's the case, why would she go after Moira at all?" He crossed his arms. "Those monsters they chased Moira too, Alex targeted her just like she targeted us."
"I think she targeted her but not with the intent to kill her." Leon pointed out. "Alex had two of them, not just one. They were armed with Gatling Guns and Rocket Launchers. Moira was on that island by herself for several months. Even if she could escape them. There's no way, she could escape them for that long." He explained. "Which leads me to believe that Alex targeted her only to keep from us from figuring out what she was after."
"What was that Leon?" Chris asked. "Say she did keep Moira alive on purpose. What reason would she have for doing that?" He questioned. "That makes no sense, Moira has nothing to do with her H virus or whatever goal she had. Moira knew nothing about it."
"She was after Claire," Leon answered. "She kept Moira alive so that Claire would come back to the island to save her. It was a cleverly placed trap that ensured her revenge." He clinched the railing. "I don't know why I didn't see it before. I mean, how could I have seen that? Nobody could have predicted that except."
"The person the trap was meant for," Chris finished. "My sister, she knew what Alex planned to do from the start." He rested his arms on the railing. "Claire knew she was walking into a trap. She didn't tell us because she didn't want us to get in the way of her doing what needed to be done." He let out a sigh. "Serves me right," Chris pulled out a knife. Wait that knife, it belonged to Claire. That's right, she threw it at Jill. Claire stole Jill's knife later in the fight. "I spent my life keeping things from her and in the end. She kept something from me." Chris held out the knife to Leon. "It's yours, take it," He accepted Claire's knife from Chris. "I gave it to her to keep her safe, I don't think she'll be needing it now that she's gone."
"I'm glad we met," Leon's eyes remained on the knife. The S.T.A.R.S emblem was carved into it. The edges were sharpened, blade cleaned. This must have been the knife Chris was cleaning while they were sharing stories. "That's what she said to me in her final moments. I don't know," He tossed the knife in the air. "It just feels like," He caught the knife by the handle. "There should have been more. Maybe that's the beer talking." He joked. "Or maybe," He ran his finger along the edge of the knife. "I wanted more but it doesn't matter. Claire's gone," Leon put the knife away. "There's nothing that I can do to change that." He walked off. "Good night, Chris, try not to drink anymore tonight. I don't want to carry you off the ship."
"Leon," Chris called out, he stopped. "If you wanted more then perhaps you should have given more." He offered. "Claire isn't the type of woman to wait around for someone to make a decision. She's going to keep moving forward with her life whether you're in it or not. So I guess what I'm trying to say is." He placed his hand on Leon's shoulder. "If you want her then go get her. Don't expect her to chase you cause she won't." He patted Leon's shoulder. "Now that's not me giving you my blessing or anything." He pointed at him. "She's still my sister so hands off." He warned him. "Don't make me kick your ass," Chris walked away.
"Okay, that might be the beer talking." Leon joked. "Are you going to make it to Jill okay?" He asked. "I could give you my shoulder or," Chris glared at him.
"I may be drunk but I have my pride Leon." Chris scolded. "If anything Jill will take care of me, she always does." He walked off using the wall as leverage.
Leon rested his arms on railing his eyes fixated on the ocean. The nightmare was over. He thought a lot about Claire but she wasn't the only one on his mind. He had seen what Alex had done to Ada. How badly she was wounded. But, he had seen her escape death before. Perhaps it was wishful thinking but he hoped Ada was alive and that somehow, someway, she survived the explosion...