Resident Evil and all its characters belong to Capcom.

I just wanted you to know that.

- VII -

Run!

Wednesday, 5:20 p.m.

"Can we leave now?" Claire asked.

"I still need to know who wanted to speak to me," Neil said convinced. "Do you imagine Pedro's the mole? Or maybe Gina, Lindsay? It could be anyone…"

"Neil! Stop it!" Claire shouted. "You can't just trust the word of someone you don't know."

"She's right Mr. Fisher," Jill added. "Even if you find that person and he or she gives you a name. What would you do after that?"

"You can't just fire someone without evidences Neil." Claire's voice sounded warm. She put her hand on his. "Come on, let's get out of here and tomorrow I'll be back at the office and I'll help you with that."

Neil felt the soft touch of Claire's hand and looked at her. The dim light made her hair glow and he got hypnotized by the freckles on her nose. He had always admired her beauty, but for the first time he admitted to himself that his feelings for the redhead went beyond the mere physical attraction. He smiled at her.

"Ok. I guess you're right."

Claire smiled and winked at him before walking towards the door. Jill and Neil followed her.

"We'll be home for dinner," the redhead said. "I'm starving."

"That doesn't surprise me. We haven't even had lunch," Jill reminded her. "We deserve a really good dinner tonight."

"You mean better than yesterday?" Claire frowned.

"Better than yesterday is impossible," the blonde said smiling. "But maybe we could let others cook for us."

The women laughed happily. Neil was frowning behind them. The mine was surely getting infested with BSAA agents soon and he and that guy would have to find another time and place for their meeting. He could probably convince Claire not to run to her brother and report everything to him. But Valentine wouldn't be that easy to stop. He clenched his fist in anger. It was all Claire's fault. Everything had ran wrong since the women had shown up. Why did the redhead always try to save everyone? He looked at Claire's ponytail from behind and couldn't help but smile at the thought that he was the one she'd come for this time.

They walked up the stairway to the fourth floor again, when they suddenly heard a loud hitting noise coming from the basement.

"What was that?" Neil asked.

"I don't know, but it didn't sound friendly, hurry up." Claire started running, Jill and Neil right behind her.

"It's coming!" Neil turned around and saw the huge, muscled creature dragging its chains up the stairs. "Jill, give me your gun!"

"Neil, what are you trying to do?" Claire looked at him fearfully.

"I'll distract it while you two escape. But I need a weapon, or at least ammo."

Jill hesitated at first, but then handed him her Beretta.

"Take it. It's fully loaded, but I still hope it is enough." She nodded at him.

"No way," Claire screamed. "We've come to help you. Leaving you behind now is nonsense!"

Jill took her arm and turned her around.

"I think he knows what he does. Come on." She smirked at her friend.

Claire stared at Neil in doubt. She couldn't believe Jill was just taking her away from him. The man smiled.

"Just go. I'll catch you up later."

Claire still stood there, without reacting. Jill pulled her arm again.

"Come on, Claire. Let's get out. Maybe the team is already there."

Claire doubted a second, but then remembered how Chris had told her once that she couldn't expect to be everyone's savior.

"Take care." She said before turning around and running towards the exit, Jill following her.

Neil stared down the stairs, holding the gun and waiting for the creature to arrive. Not even he knew what exactly was awaiting him, but he had seen enough to know that it wasn't a huge ball of cotton candy. He suddenly saw a shadow running up the stairs and took a deep breath, preparing himself for whatever was coming.

"Hello! There you are!" He whispered as the mutated chain man appeared in front of him.

The infected ran towards him, his bloody stare searching for something. When it was close enough, Neil shot once, twice, three times. But the beast didn't even tremble.

"Damn, you're a tough one."

He had to dodge when the creature came closer. But he couldn't avoid getting hit by the heavy metal chain that came flying towards him. The impact pushed him against the wall. Everything went black.

"Fuck!" Claire yelled when they arrived at the highest level. Jill stared up to the hole in the ceiling.

"What happened to the ladder?" The metal had been ripped off. It was impossible to reach it from where they stood.

"We need to find another way." Claire turned around searching for an alternative. "I hope Neil understands…"

They heard a groaning and heavy footsteps approach.

"It's coming," Jill whispered shivering.

"Neil…" Claire frowned. "I need to get back." Jill caught her arm and pulled her back.

"Don't be silly Claire." Suddenly a huge creature ran through the door, breaking the framework out of the walls. It was obvious that it had be human once, but now his whole body was swollen, its eyes were bloody and saliva was dripping from its mouth. The chains that hung from its arms made a clear sound as they scratched over the floor.

The women stared at their new enemy with fear. They had a short moment to contemplate the disgusting creature that seemed to suffer with every breath. It put its eye on them and screamed in pain.

"Claire," Jill shouted. "Run!" She pulled her friend's arm and they sprinted through the first door they found.

"Don't waste time closing it!" Jill shouted.

"I'm not new in this, you know?" Claire tried to laugh as they ran down the long hallway, the B.O.W. always right behind them, grunting and shaking the chains with a clashing sound.

Jill's heart hadn't pounded that fast since she had fought against Chris and Sheva. Not even her escape from the catacombs with Josh had given her such an adrenaline shot. She felt that something inside her, something that had been lost for a long time, was about to come back again. And though they were running for their lives, Jill was enjoying the situation.

The stairway guided them to a door to an even higher floor. They pushed the door open only to find themselves on a small balcony, from where they could watch the whole main area, and stare into the deep hole that was reaching down into the dark under them. They were trapped.

"Shit," Claire cursed leaning against the handrail. "Who would build a balcony up here?"

Nobody had the chance to answer her question. In that right moment the beast crashed through the door behind them and ran right towards Jill.

Claire needed just half a second to react. Chris would kill her if anything happened to his recently recovered partner. Intuitively, she ran towards her friend and pushed her out of the creature's way, being hit by the beast herself.

Everything went way too fast for Jill to avoid the tragedy. The creature couldn't stop early enough and bumped into Claire, breaking the rail and causing them both to fall.

"Claire, no!" Jill ran to the edge, getting ready to see the worst, nothing.

Claire wasn't religious. Not after all she had seen. But when she got aware of her situation, she said a little thank you prayer to what force might have caused it. She had actually caught the broken rail with both hands and was now hanging from the balcony. She took back the prayer when she realized that the creature was still holding on to her right leg, almost ripping it off.

"Goddamn!" She screamed in pain. It took the beast a while to understand its position to the top and the bottom of the space. It tried to reach Claire's left leg to climb up again, to which the redhead resisted eagerly kicking its hands.

"Claire, thank God!" Jill yelled in relief.

"Jill", the younger woman cried. "It's pulling me down!"

The blonde didn't even try to pull her friend up, knowing that she wouldn't be strong enough to handle the weight of both Claire and the infected. She looked around, trying to find something to throw at the beast.

"Jill, my weapon."

The blonde's eyes opened wide. Claire had her gun still holstered, but couldn't reach without letting go of the rail. Even with both hands it was hard to keep herself from falling. Jill didn't think twice. This was a matter of life or death, and it was Claire hanging there. Her friend. Chris' little sister. Lucky she had only given her gun to Neil, but had kept the holster. She took it off and fixed her feet with the belt to a still intact part of the rail. Closing her eyes, she leaned her body down backwards over the edge.

"Yes, good idea." Claire was still struggling with the beast's hands, resisting the force which was almost ripping her in two. "I'll be a foot taller after this," she screamed in pain.

Jill was hanging from the rail upside down, making her blood rush into her head. She reached out for Claire's weapon.

"Just a little more," she whispered. "Claire, I can't reach it."

Right after the words popped out of her mouth, magically and unfortunately, the holster loosened, freeing Jill's feet. She slipped down, far enough to hold on to Claire's waist to avoid falling.

Claire let go a deep scream from her throat. Having to carry the weight of another person now, her arms felt like splitting.

"Shit, that was close." Jill needed a second to focus. "Claire, hold on."

"I'm trying." Claire clenched her teeth, desperately endeavoring to keep the weight up. She couldn't even move her legs to keep the monster from climbing up her body any more.

Jill anchored the fingers of her right hand into the fabric of Claire's clothes while the left one pulled Claire's gun out of the holster. She pointed at the creature's head. But something stopped her from shooting.

"Claire, I can't." She was now the one who kicked the creature's arms with both feet.

"Yes, you can." Claire's face had turned red from the effort. "I know you can."

The B.O.W., tired of meeting the women's feet, stretched out its arm to hit them with the chains on its wrist. Jill was still struggling with herself. What was happening to her? Why couldn't she shoot?

"Jill, listen." Claire looked down to her friend, her voice sounding calm and warm. "No one is judging you. You're gonna make it. Just do it." She gasped. "Do it for Chris."

Jill's eyes widened and her heart pounded fast. Chris was waiting for them to come home. The man she had been willing to die for. There was no way to deny that he was more important to her than anything else. Even more important than her own insignificant life. No, she didn't really regret having sacrificed herself for him. Because Chris was worth it. And she didn't want to imagine a world without him, without his smile, his eyes, his lips. How often had they found comfort on each other's shoulder, celebrated victories and cried defeats together? Chris was far more than a partner. He was her friend, her soulmate, and though she knew it would have been a mistake, she had often wished their relationship would get to another stage. Especially during her captivity. How many nights had she dreamed he'd come to visit her? Hadn't it been that simple fantasy that had helped her survive all the torture and the experiments? She blushed when she remembered those dreams. She had thought her feelings for him had been gone for good. But there they were again. Wishing Chris had been there to see her, she pointed the weapon right into the creature's eye.

"Claire," she yelled. "There's something I want you to know."

"What is it?" The redhead asked in pain.

"When we get out of here, I'm going to ask your brother out!" Jill sound of the shot filled the whole ambience when she pulled the trigger.

The weight lightened immediately as the beast let go of Claire's feet. It was done.

"You did it." Caire almost cried.

Jill was the first one to climb up to the balcony again, before helping Claire. Once they were out of danger, they melted into a deep, relieved hug.

"Good job, Valentine. You've really made it."

Jill couldn't stop grinning, even as tears shot into her eyes. "I wouldn't have done it without you."

Stroking the blonde's back, Claire suddenly got aware of the situation.

"Jill, I'm hugging you."

"I know," the blonde said. "Isn't it great?"

The redhead nodded still embracing her friend tightly.

"But, are you okay with it?"

"I couldn't be better." The small tears had turned into a huge waterfall flushing down her face.

The women loosened their hug and smiled at each other when they heard a deep alarm echo through the whole facility. 'Ten minutes to self-destruction.'

Claire's jaw dropped.

"Are you fucking kidding me?" She yelled into the room.

"It wouldn't be the same without a self-destruct system, would it?" Jill giggled nervously.

They looked at each other and laughed before sprinting into the hallway again.

Hello again everybody, I hope you liked this quite decisive chapter. Jill seems to finally remember something important ;)

Thank you for reading my work week after week. You already know how happy it makes me. Special thanks to Thebigticket21, Sofistinha and PamPotterEvans for taking the time to review. You are the best!

Let me tell you that there are only two chapters left. Maybe two chapters + an epilogue. I'm still writing it. Also, I won't be really available next week due to work so I may update a little sooner.

Again, thank you so much for following my work. Have a great week :D