Long time no see I guess :)

I know, I know. You guys are probably annoyed at me. You're annoyed that I stopped writing Claire's Chronicle, and you're probably annoyed that I wasn't writing Unlikely Alliance instead. And what little SXK fans I have are probably annoyed that I wasn't working on Fate or any other SXK story I promised.

I just opened this fic up, read it a little more, and started writing. Whih is good because I have had sevre writer's block. So hopefully this will be enough to get me started on Fate and UA. And I'm really annoyed after watching the walkthrough of DS Chronicles. Next place these guys will go is to Steve's detention block for some reason. But it will happen ^^

For now, comment, suscribe and enjoy :)

*Shadow

Claire's Chronicle
Chapter 4

Claire inched the giant gates opened before she peered out from the gap like a cautious rabbit; fully aware that the fox could be hiding in any shadows or corners. Her crystal eyes zoomed over the motionless scene in front of her like azure dragonflies, zipping over the various objects in search for potential threats. Deciding that it appeared harmless, she squeezed in through the gap between the gates and took a step forward.

Her shoes caused seemingly loud taps on the red bricked footpath and Claire swallowed nervously at the deathly silence of the small garden. Up ahead were two grand doors that opened into the building. From the maps she had hacked, she concluded that it was one of the main laboratories, and therefore may contain something useful for her to escape. Although she did worry about what mutations and viruses she could find down there.

She took another step forward and climbed the three bricked stairs leading onto the small porch. The doors were looming before her now, petrifying her for some strange reason. She let out a slow breath before reaching out to grasp the golden door in her hand. Her fingers had just brushed against the cold metal door before she felt a familiar prickling on her spine and a horrible feeling in her stomach.

"Hello again Miss Redfield."

Claire swung around to face her attacker, her eyes darting for any possible escape route. When she found none, she chose to remain where she was and stand her ground.

There he was again, the same guy in black with dark shades, even at night. He had his black gloved fingers flexing slowly as he walked before they settled into hanging loosely at his side. Claire had a feeling that whatever was about to happen was not going to be good. If anything, she was in for a lot of pain.

"So, I was just happening to look over all of the emails that had come into our system ..."

Oh no, Claire screeched in her mind as he reached the stairs. The blonde man climbed all three steps at once with minimum effort.

"- and you wouldn't believe how ...-he paused briefly as he searched for the right word -...surprised I was when I found one that mentioned a Christopher Redfield. Would you happen to know who that is, Miss Redfield?" The tyrant stalked forward, heavily emphasising her last name to prove his point.

Claire took another step backwards as he stepped forward, and it soon came to her attention that the double doors had brushed up against her back. Despite this, the stranger kept his constant path until he finally came to a halt, barely a few steps away from her. He let out a low chuckle at her discomfort, and that sadistic laugh was when Claire fully understood that before this guy was simply playing. Now he was serious.

.ShadowForceSilver.

Claire raised her chin and gazed into the black shades with a look of defiance despite her fear. So he had found out about her relation to Chris, damn brothers were such a pain.

"I have no clue what yo-

She was cut off by the tyrant's sudden movement; the moment she had opened her mouth to speak, he flew forwards and seized the younger woman by the neck and threw her against the door. His grip was tight and threatening, and that only added to Claire's opinion that she was in for a rough time.

"Really? Ah, well this changes things." The hard line of his mouth turned upwards into an evil smirk and Claire only had time to utter a yell of pain before he acted again.

Tightening his grip even more, he swiftly turned on his feet so that he was facing away from the door. Claire felt herself thrown around like a rag doll and was let go to fly backwards. She landed on her back on the stairs in a rather unceremoniously fashion, resulting in a large cry of pain before she tumbled further down the stairs onto the dark paved path. Gasping for breath, she attempted to sit up but didn't count on the large combat boot slamming down on her shoulder and knocking her to the floor.

She cried again as she was crushed into the ground, with the stranger standing over her.

"So I'll take that as a no; you don't know him. Well that is rather funny isn't? Seeing as the two of you have the same surname."

He increased the pressure on her collar bone, making Claire gasp with shock and pain. The bone felt like it would snap as a toothpick would any second.

"Well that is unfortunate... I honestly think that you are keeping something from me, but then again; that would be extremely stupid. So shall we try again? Who is Christopher Redfield? WHERE is he?" The man spoke with a sense of fury and desperation; like his life depended on this scrap of information. Chris always had a knack for making enemies.

Regardless, Claire kept silent, despite the crushing of her shoulder. Her collar bone was seriously threatening to shatter under the pressure. She silently wished for help; not wanting to die here. Her wish was answered.

All she knew of her saviour's arrival was a loud gunshot and the feeling of something plastic striking her on the nose. Forcing her eyes open, she stared up into bright crimson irises, catching Claire in a sudden memory of a rather curious thing she had seen in Raccoon City.

...

Claire cautiously walked along the abandoned road, her Beretta in her hands as she took slow steps. The city was a shadow of its former self; something had obviously gone terribly wrong. It was a ghost town; sheets of paper flew loosely in the wind, a news reporter's van had crashed into a 7-11 convenience store and had burst into tiny flames of dancing colours, and the odd rotten or half-eaten body or two littered the streets. Claire's eye opened wide as she witnessed the destruction; she had fallen into hell.

A shadow that flickered across the road caught her eye and she turned her head to follow the figure darting out of sight into a side alley. No wait! , Claire thought as she raced after them, coming to stop at the mouth of the alley.

"Stop!" She called in a desperate tone after the retreating shape.

Halting, the figure slowly turned around to face her, silhouetted against the flames, causing their eyes to be the only feature she could see. They glowed an ominous scarlet.

After their silent exchange, the figure turned again before leaping the chain link fence in front of them and disappearing from sight, leaving a very confused and very fearful woman behind them.

Now that Claire thought of it, she always found those red eyes following her through the zombie infested streets.

...

Much like all those times before, the red eyes stared at her for a moment before blinking and disappearing. The weight lifted off her shoulder and she felt a rush of air as her attacker retreated. Recovering quickly, she pushed herself up to watch the shadow leap over the wall and run once again.

Silently she scolded herself; instead of either retaliating and punching him in the most vulnerable area she could find (despite being warned several times not to do so) or running to save her life, she had frozen and stared up at red coloured irises with her mouth gaped open like a fish. But she had no more time for personal scolding.

"Claire?" The younger person standing over her asked before uncertainly kneeling to her side. He sounded familiar.

"Steve! Boy, am I glad to see you!" she answered with relief. He reached out his hand and pulled her up, steadying her with his other hand as she stumbled over to one side.

"So you weren't joking about the prince of darkness thing, weren't you?" He gestured with his head at the wall the man had vaulted over.

Claire looked suddenly thoughtful and distant. "Yeah. I don't think he's human though... if that makes sense. It felt like he would crush my whole shoulder into a paste."

Steve scoffed and dismissed the thought, "If you have enough personal training with weights and stuff, I guess you can do a lot of things."

Claire decided not to contradict his argument; there was no use to him sulking off again. She decided to change topics entirely.

"So, how did you find me?"

Steve uneasily rubbed the back of his neck and bit his lip.

"Well, to be perfectly honest, I was looking for a way off the island first, but then thought it wasn't exactly right to just leave you here. Well, I saw this building in the distance and thought that it would be very lucky if a way off and you were here. And then I saw that man, uh... standing on you. So I thought I'll lend a hand."

Claire nodded and moved her shoulder around in circles, gritting her teeth at the pain. "Good thing you did otherwi-"

"Errrrrrr..."

Claire's eyes snapped towards where the prolonged moan had come from, her pupils darting around at all the shadows in the courtyard. While she was searching out one corner, another higher pitched moan came from the opposite side of the wall. Oh great, this was just great.

"Go close the gate," Claire said quietly. Steve must have not picked up the worried tone in her voice as he shrugged his shoulders and lifted his arms in confusion. Claire became increasingly annoyed and frantic.

"Hurry up and shut the gate!"

"Ok, ok!" Steve shot back before turning on his heel, mumbling about bossy women as he stalked towards the gate. He placed his hands against it as he tried to slowly push it close. But before he even took a few steps, a hand shot out from behind the gate and latched onto his own hand. Steve was terrified to see that the grey, decomposing hand was followed by an equally grey and decomposing face covered in blood. The milky eyes stared lifelessly at him as another groan tumbled from the walking dead.

"Holy shit!" Steve cried, jumping back and turning tail to run towards Claire. "What the hell are those things!"

Claire simply readied her weapon and pointed it at the slow groups of zombies shuffling through the open gate. "Think Dawn of the Dead, but real."

The zombies must have followed Steve to the laboratory, suddenly making her a little less grateful that he was here.

"Concentrate on the heads only," Claire told him, killing a zombie with a single shot to the head. The head exploded in a fountain of blood and bone.

Steve was quick to follow her instructions, shooting a few other zombies right between the eyes, leading to them dropping soundlessly to the floor. It didn't stop his questions though.

"Where did they come from? How did they get here!"

The fact that it was an Umbrella facility was the best reason; they always had little pet zombies running around. But she doubted that Steve would appreciate her humour right now.

"I don't know. Someone must have gotten on the island... spread a biohazard."

She quickly killed another few zombies after she had spoke, narrowing her eyes at the fact that when she killed one zombie, another would quickly step into its place.

"A what?" Steve asked hysterically.

Claire's gun clicked after a few more shots, making her throat go dry. This was bad, and the fact that the groaning had gotten louder did not make it any better than it already was. She turned towards the building behind her.

"No time to explain! Get in the building!"

As she turned to run, she roughly grabbed the collar of his shirt and pulled him along with her, much to his protest. When they had leaped up the stairs, Claire busied herself with trying to pry open the door while Steve continued to keep the zombies well away from them.

"It's stuck! Damn it!" Claire screeched as she pulled the door again, twisting the doorknob in both directions erratically.

Steve momentarily turned to face her, before placing his own hand on the door. "Push it!" He yelled back, conscious of the fact that the zombies had gained more ground in his distraction.

Not wasting time, Claire turned the doorknob again and pushed on it with all her might. The door flew inwards, with Claire and Steve landing on the floor in a twisted heap. Recovering quickly, Claire jumped up and slammed the door shut just as the zombies reached the stairs, the monotonous sound of their un-dead moaning abruptly cut off.