There was a hallway, on the opposite side of the department, behind the empty waiting room. Not very dangerous as the other rooms, as if all zombies were culled beforehand, by someone outside the R.P.D. Some fresh corpses were still filling the floors. There was a fire from around the narrow corner - a wreckage of an R.P.D. helicopter. It was set ablaze with no way around it, most likely crashed a while ago.
I don't feel like getting third-degree burns right now, Claire thought, Must be a way to move this wreck.
Claire saw a door next to the wreck; it was forced shut. Some explosive power was needed. Explosive. Claire took the C-4 from her pocket and stared at it. She wasn't told much about explosives, but she saw how they work in video games and the pictures. Plant and detonate, fire and forget, all the same. The C-4 fit snugly between the wreck and the door frame.
Safely around the corner, Claire detonated the charge. The explosive punch not only rumbled the corridor's walls, shaking faint rubble down upon her, but it also scorched a path through the door. Near a door behind that one, there was a gold plaque on the left of it.
"Office of Chief Brian Irons."
Claire didn't know much about Chief Irons; known to be discreet and bitter. Out of nowhere, a shrieking scream was heard behind the double birch doors, before a gunshot silenced it. Claire rushed through the doors.
The office was small with many trophies on the walls and bookshelves, along with some gallant pictures and portraits. Above the bookshelf was mounts of stuffed animal heads, Chief Irons was famously known as a strong supporter of taxidermy, and was an expert taxidermist himself. The eyes of the stuffed game followed her while she examined the office.
The body of a young blonde woman in white was laid on the chief's desk. A suckling gunshot to the heart was present on her chest; she was dead; there was nothing that could be done to help her.
Claire peeked over the woman's body and someone in the brown leather swivel chair rotated around and faced her. It was a large man in his mid-forties, shifty eyes and a thick moustache. He had Claire in his sights, but he eventually lowered his aim.
"Oh, I'm terribly sorry, ma'am. I thought you another one of those zombies," he said with forced politeness. It was hard to tell if he was speaking honest or playing a charade.
"Chief Irons? What happened here?"
"How should I know?" He waved his Desert Eagle around dangerously. "Some wretched virus contaminated the city, and now it's full of monsters. There's no more to say than that."
"No, the woman… Did you kill her?"
"Oh… I had no choice." He and Claire examined the woman's body. "That's Mayor Warren's daughter. I was told to look after her, but I failed miserably. She was a real thing of beauty. Skin nothing short of perfect. Elegant figure. Such a waste of a beautiful person. When the infection hit the department, it was only a matter of time before she turned within the hour, like all the others."
"There must be some way to stop this."
"Destroying the brain is the only way to put those poor souls to rest, or whatever gets the job done.
"Still... It's nice to see another living human around here."
"Another?" he mused to himself, rubbing his chin, thinking about something. "For a minute I swore I'm the only one alive in the department. Tell me… who else is alive here? Do you know?"
"There's me, Leon Kennedy, Annette Parker and a little girl. Marvin Bra…" She choked, couldn't pronounce his name right. "Sergeant Marvin, he… he turned. That's all I know."
"I liked Sergeant Branagh; he was one of the good ones."
She waved her hand. "What the hell is going on around here?"
"I cannot make certain accusations right now. This is a terrible situation to indeed..."
"Things get worse before they get better." She uttered lightly, "They have to..."
"Before you bore me with your problems, I have to ask you to leave my office. I have other matters to attend to..." Brian rotated in his leather chair, slowly away from Claire and stared his weary eyes towards the large wooden cabinet. He frowned heavily. Claire caught his eyes peering on the vast selection of stuffed animal trophies and prestigious badges and photo frames. There was a slight glisten in his old eyes. "And to think taxidermy used to be my favourite hobby…"