Author's Note: Hey, everyone! First of all, I would like to thank you all for the lovely reviews. Big thanks to my beta reader Colin (CJJS). Check out his stories if you haven't already!

Anyways, this chapter is a bit longer than the previous ones and there are quite a lot of things going down.

Also to the lovely Anon who commented on how Leon is incompetent in my story, I'm terribly sorry I'm not making him the big hero and all. Or maybe you think I should have him hit on Claire like a freaking douchebag. No, thanks, I'm not gonna do that. I'm trying to keep things realistic. I'm not gonna turn this into another fangirlish sex story. And you hate Steve, I get it. Nothing's happened yet though so you can't go jumping into conclusions. Anyways, I'll stop here, I don't wanna ruin the story because of some ignorant review.

Last thing, I promise. I recently made this drawing of Claire and Leon (yeah, he's in my story and I also drew him; I must REALLY hate him, anon). It took me quite a long time so I would really appreciate it if you checked it out. I think I'm really happy with the result.

anendlessvanity()deviantart()com/art/Claire-and-Leon-198754644

Replace the "()" with a dot . or just go to my profile page and click on my homepage. It's the featured deviation.

That's all I guess. Thanks for sticking with me this far, hope you like this chapter. Reviews are always appreciated! :]

Chapter Five: Explanations

Claire tried to come back to her senses after the encounter with St… She couldn't call him that; there was no possible way it could have been him. He was dead. It was just her mind playing tricks on her. She had spent most days regretting never looking for him, but she had come to terms with the fact that he was gone.

She would never really know how she felt about him. She didn't have the time. Before he died, he had told her he loved her. Sometimes she wished she would have said it back, but she didn't know if she could or if it was true in any way. She cared for him and had developed a strong bond with him during their struggle for survival in that dreadful island.

He was so young. Only seventeen years old when he died. He hadn't lived. He hadn't seen anything yet. He had so much life ahead of him. And it was all taken away because of a family of lunatics who wanted to have immortality. That's what angered her the most.

Immortality. It was stupid. The world was a messed up place and its condition only seemed to deteriorate as the years were passing by. Who would want to live forever in this hellhole?

"Claire? Are you alright?" she faintly heard Leon ask, as she was lost in thought.

She shook her head and snapped back into reality. "Y-yeah. I'm fine." She pressed a hand against her forehead. "I must be seeing things."

"What was that thing?" Leon said as he loaded his gun. It was a necessity now.

"I have no idea, Leon." She sighed. She didn't mention anything about Steve, seeing as how he must have been a figment of her imagination.

"Get your gun," he almost ordered her. "We gotta be ready in case it comes back."

"God, I really hope it's not another monster infested place."

Leon scoffed. "It's always that."

She sighed and shook her head. "Tell me about it."

"Let's go." Leon started leading her back upstairs. "Did you see anything back there?"

"I don't know." Claire said confused. She didn't have the time to check all the possible routes so she couldn't know. She looked around. "It's like a maze, and everything looks the same."

"You think we should go back and check it out?" he suggested.

"No." she said. "I just wanna get out of here."

Leon nodded. "Okay. Follow me." He took the lead once again. They went up a flight of stairs, which were thankfully much more solid than the previous ones and finally reached the top floor. It was dark and quiet. The quiet part worried Claire more because she now knew they weren't the only ones there. Silence was always a bad omen, like a tiger in hiding, waiting to pounce at its victim.

"Oh, there's something you should know." Leon broke the silence.

Claire turned to him waiting for him to continue.

"Chris called," he started. "He uh… He said he found a girl…" He stopped for a moment and seemed to ponder something. He looked uncertain, as if he didn't know how to continue. "He said her name was Sherry Birkin."

"What?" Claire said, looking disturbed. "That's insane."

"I know, that's what I said." he continued before she could say anything. "But he said they found her file on the system and all her info was there."

"Wha… H-How?" Claire seemed lost for words.

"I don't know, Claire. She was in a damn capsule."

"But the government took her!"

"I know but we never really knew what happened to her. I knew they'd never keep her safe but…"

"They used her for experiments?" The very thought made her blood boil. After everything Sherry had been through, especially with the death of her parents, all Claire would have wanted for her was to be safe to live a normal life. But there were people who wouldn't grant peace to anyone she cared for. Wesker was one of those people. If he was the one who had taken her… let's just say he was lucky to be already dead.

"Chris said she was a carrier of the G-virus."

"But we-"

"I know. Let's just find a way to meet up with Chris and the others and get Sherry out of here. Then we'll talk about the rest."

Claire nodded and tried to get Chris on the radio. She clicked the button a few times but there was no response. "No signal. They must be out of range."

"Dammit!" Leon cursed. "Same here. How the hell are we gonna find them now?"

"We need to find Lambert and Grimes, too." Claire pointed out.

"Shit, I forgot about them." Leon pushed a few other buttons on his headset, trying to contact them in case they were closer, but he had no luck. "Nothing."

"Let's just go, and hopefully we'll find them." Claire said and started walking with Leon.

What had they gotten themselves into this time? Whenever something like this came up, they somehow always ended up connected with that damn virus. Claire was certain that it was a vicious cycle, kind of like a heritage. No matter who created it or continued it, it would still keep going on, from one crazy bastard to another. This was no ordinary mission, and they needed to reunite with the other team and get out of the facility as soon as possible. They would have to request backup, but of course something always got in the way of that. When danger was involved, luck was never on their side.

She took a quick glance at Leon. He was facing forward, as alert as a predator. She used to remember him from the hours they spent together during the Racoon City disaster. They were both so young and scared, but they managed to stick together and help each other out through the worst. Claire really doubted she would have survived if she hadn't met Leon. They saved each other's asses on numerous occasions and they managed to save Sherry. Or apparently, so they thought.

Leon turned to her with a quizzical look on his face. She was thinking too much and doing a lot less. She had fell into a damn hole because she wasn't focused enough.

"Claire, you're spacing out." Leon commented without looking at her too long. He had to keep his eyes forward as they walked through maze like corridors.

"I'm sorry." Claire said and ran a hand through her hair. She held a tighter grip on her gun. "I was thinking about Sherry."

Leon threw her a sympathetic look. He was worried too, but he knew she was with Chris and Jill and she would be safe. The eerie silence had grown tiring. It was like something was waiting in the dark. Both corridors were so narrow and so similar. The sound of their boots was the only thing that could be heard. He stopped for a moment and took the time to assess his surroundings, looking for a quick way out. He went to one of the barricaded windows and tried to peek through narrow gaps. All he saw outside was a vast green area with debris deposited all around. Looking a bit to the right, he saw a river with two large tanks connected to it through long drainage pipes. They must have been using it for chemical disposal.

"Looks like we're way up high." He looked down, trying to tell the distance from the ground. It was quite high to the point that it would make one dizzy to look.

"So, I guess jumping is out of the question, huh?" Claire joked as she walked to him and took a look herself. "We need to find Grimes and Lambert." She looked at her watch. It read 10:23 A.M. "They have no idea what they're doing, and who knows where the hell they are."

"The lines are still out." Leon tried to contact them for the hundredth time.

"They can't be that far." Claire gestured Leon to keep moving forward.

They made it to an unexplored room that was covered in dark brown wallpaper, torn at the edges. It looked like another office, but it was much bigger than the previous ones. The sign outside the door was gone, leaving a lighter colored area with its frame. It was very neat and minimal. Framed photos were hanging on the walls, people and places, mostly in black and white. There was a notice board on the right side with a few notes pinned to it. A dark colored computer screen was on the desk along with a set of big speakers. There were stacks of papers neatly arranged, bearing no similarities with the previous rooms they encountered. On the far end of the wall was a mahogany bookcase with glass windows. Books were stacked everywhere along with sleek decorations of statues and animals, mostly cats. There was also a glass box with what seemed to be a collection of bugs. They were all pinned to the box with their names underneath in small black letters. There were tons of species along with some very disgusting insects Claire was better off pretending didn't exist.

She went to the computer and tried to turn it on, but there was no response. "The power's out." she said.

Leon turned to her and rolled his eyes. "Just plug it in, dummy." He pointed to the cables.

They both laughed, and she plugged the computer in. Leon turned it on and waited for the main screen to load. A message was displayed: 'Welcome to Suresnes Pharmaceuticals'. There were a few icons on the desktop, mostly of useless applications. He noticed one named 'Patient Log' so he clicked on it.

"Find anything?" Claire asked as she was busy looking around the room.

"Yeah, I think so. Come here." He pointed to the screen. "Look, I think it's an archive with all the patients in the facility." A huge list of names in bright green letters was displayed on the dark screen. There must have been a thousand names in there.

"Check under 'B'." Claire said. "Let's see if Sherry's in there."

Leon did so, and a file with her name and picture came on screen. Underneath was a long list of info and details describing her condition, symptoms, 'treatments' and basically everything there was to know about her. Even their own names were mentioned in there in the part about her extraction from Raccoon City.

"Damn, they kept close eyes on everyone." Leon stared at the screen.

"Yeah, they must have been at our tails for quite a lo-" Claire couldn't finish her sentence as soon as her eyes darted on a familiar name and grew wide.

There, under the letter 'B' was the name Steve Burnside. So he was really here.

"Click on that." Claire pointed to the screen with shaky movements.

"Burnside?" Leon said the name out loud. "Wasn't he that kid that was a prisoner with you in Rockfort Island? When you sent me that e-mail with your coordinates?"

Claire nodded. "That's him."

"I thought he… died?"

Claire avoided to look at him. Images of Steve dying on the floor flashed through her head. "He did. But Wesker retrieved his body."

Leon nodded. Claire was glad that he didn't continue with the questions. Emotional bonds were enough to compromise their mission. He just clicked on the name and an empty screen came on with the message 'No Data Available'. "It's empty." He stated the obvious.

Claire frowned at the screen. It couldn't have been empty. If there was a file on him, they would have at least have some data in there. It looked like someone had tampered with the files.

"That's weird." Leon said.

"Maybe someone didn't want us to see what's in there." Claire said.

Leon tilted his head and crossed his arms over his chest. "Why? What's so special about him?"

Claire shook her head repeatedly. "I don't know, Leon. I just don't know."

"Is she okay?" Jill asked concerned as she hovered over Chris who was holding Sherry in his arms. He had taken his jacket off and put it over her, trying to cover her naked body. She would be embarrassed when she woke up.

"She isn't waking up." Chris said. They had no idea whether that capsule was keeping her alive or not. If that was the case…

"We should wait a bit. Give her some time." Jill tried not to lose hope.

Sherry was supposedly twenty-three years old now, but the capsule might have slowed down her growth depending on how much time she had spent there. She was all skin and bones with pale skin like Jill's. Her hair was a dirty blonde color, maybe a little darker, but it was probably because it was wet. Jill or Chris had never actually met her, so if they hadn't found her file they would have never known it was her. But then again, maybe she had changed so much that Leon and Claire wouldn't have recognized her either.

While waiting or hoping for her to wake up, Jill took the time to take a look at her file. She found out after she was taken from the government she and was put it a quarantined facility where she was schooled until she was eighteen years old. She was involved in many experiments and projects as numerous scientists tried to extract the virus from her, but its dormant state wouldn't allow it to be identified. Later on, under orders from Albert Wesker she was transferred to a secret facility with the code name 'Oculus' whose location was disclosed. She was placed in a cryostatic capsule in order to maintain the virus, or better yet its antibodies. It was monstrous; she was treated as a valuable object rather than a human being.

"My God, Chris…" Jill whispered as she stared at the screen in awe. "She's been in cryostasis for five years."

Chris turned to her with a shocked expression on his face. "Five years? That's crazy." He turned to look at her. She looked like an innocent teenage girl.

"They used her as a freaking lab rat, treated as if she was just an experiment." Jill said with a disgusted tone in her voice. "It was all Wesker's doing."

"What about the government?" Chris asked.

"I don't know." Jill shook her head. She turned away from the monitor and walked to Chris and Sherry. "There's nothing in there about Wesker's involvement with the government. Maybe they never had her. Maybe it was just a cover."

"But why would they blackmail Kennedy to work for them?" It didn't make any sense. If it was a cover and it wasn't the government, could it be that Leon had been working for Wesker's people all along? Or maybe they were somehow involved. Everything was a freaking mess. They had a lot of questions that required answers.

"Jill, she's waking up!" Chris said as he felt Sherry move in his arms. He looked down at her. She was slowly opening her eyes. She blinked a few times, trying to adjust her vision and let out a small incoherent sound.

What would they tell her? That she'd been asleep for five years? That she'd been held captive ever since she was supposedly rescued? How could anyone say that to this girl?

"Uhh…" Sherry groaned as she opened her eyes, obviously unaware of her surroundings.

"Hey…" Chris whispered, trying not to startle the girl. She felt so fragile in his arms. "You're awake. It's alright."

Sherry only moved her eyes as if moving her head was too painful to do. "Wh-where… am I?"

Chris gave a pleading look at Jill. She would know how to handle this better than he would. Jill came over her, trying not to look menacing. "You're safe here, don't worry." She put on a reassuring smile. "How are you feeling?"

"…D-Dizzy…" Sherry winced at any attempt to move.

"Stay still for a while." Chris said to her, trying to keep her steady

"Can you tell us your name?" Jill asked.

"My… n-name?" Sherry looked around. "I…I-I don't know."

She didn't seem lucid. Chris turned to Jill. "Memory loss?"

"It's possible," Jill said. "Let's give her some time, though."

"Wh-who are you?" Sherry asked with a lost look on her face. "Where are we?"

"I'm Chris Redfield and this is Jill Valentine. We're with the Bioterrorism Security Assessment Alliance. You're in a pharmaceutical facility in France."

Sherry's eyes were fixed on him but it looked like she wasn't registering what he was saying.

"Do you know how you ended up here?"

Sherry looked around slowly and shook her head.

"She's disoriented." Jill said.

"All I remember… is lights… And people in white… All around me." She spoke slowly, as if it was all coming to her right at that moment. She probably had scattered memories of the experiments that they performed on her but couldn't have any awareness of the last five years because she technically was in some sort of coma. "Monsters…" she whispered softly. "Everywhere." She looked like a traumatized child. Her body was that of a woman's, but her eyes gave away the child she was. She didn't have the time to adjust to the changes all those years.

"Your name is Sherry." Jill said to her with a smile that was obviously trying to make her feel more secure. "We're here to help you." She gently placed a hand on her shoulder. Sherry twitched as if not expecting the touch. "It's okay." Jill reassured her.

"Redfield." Ian said. He had been standing in the back along with Elise. They had kept quiet probably because they didn't want to interfere in any way. Besides, if Sherry saw a lot of people standing over her, she might have panicked.

Chris turned to Ian who had spoken up.

"There's a map of the building here on the computer. From what I see there is an underground facility." Ian pointed to the digital map that was displayed on the screen.

"Underground?" Jill pressed a hand against her forehead and sighed deeply. "This is going to be another messed up job, I can tell."

"The entrance is on the B-wing of the facility, near what seems to be a Psych ward." Miles explained. Everyone was looking at him intently, listening carefully. "I don't know why they would need a psychiatric ward, but it seems it was intended for subjects who were… malfunctioning."

"Malfunctioning?" Jill asked.

Ian nodded. "It doesn't sound good."

"Well, we can't leave without checking every inch of this place." Chris said. He turned to Sherry who was lying still in his arms. "But we need to get Sherry out of here. That's our top priority."

"We've lost contact, Chris," Jill said. "Headquarters isn't responding, and neither is the other team."

"I noticed some activity somewhere in the facility." Ian spoke up again. "I don't know where it was coming from or what it was, but there are other people here other than us. It could have been the other team, but their position was too far. They couldn't have made it there yet."

"Maybe someone tampered with the lines." Jill concluded.

"If that's the case, someone doesn't want us getting out of here." Chris furrowed his eyebrows. He knew from the moment they set foot on the facility that it wouldn't be just a go-in-get-out thing. It never was, but now they had Sherry, and they needed to get her out as soon as possible. They also needed to find a way to get the lines up again. "Miles, check if you can find a communications room."

Miles nodded and turned to the panel. He started pressing buttons, his eyes fixed on the screen.

"What's going on?" Sherry asked. She was so lost; she had no idea who these people were, where she was, or who she was.

"Don't worry, Sherry, we'll get you out of here." Chris said. "Can you stand?" He slowly tried to let her go.

Jill came to help her stand while keeping the jacket on her so she wouldn't be exposed. Sherry stood with a little difficulty, letting Chris free of her weight.

Jill glared at him to turn around and he did. "Hold this until we find you something to wear." She fastened the jacket around her. Chris was so muscular that the jacket was long enough for Sherry, thankfully covering most of her exposed body.

"I found it!" Ian shouted and banged his hands against the panel. "It's not far from here."

"Alright, let's get going." Chris said as he loaded his rifle. He held it in both hands with a tight grip.

Jill also took her Beretta out, and she handed Sherry to Elise. Jill suggested that she and Chris who were more experienced should go first. Elise would follow with Sherry, and Ian would cover them from the back. Nothing had really happened yet, but there was no harm in being alert and ready. Better safe than sorry.

Sherry didn't speak another word as they exited her tomb. She just gripped the jacket close and walked with Elise, imitating her every step like a little kid learning how to walk. She stumbled a bit at first because her muscles had been idle for so long, but she soon got the gist of it with Elise's help. Chris and Jill walked alongside keeping their eyes forward and occasionally glancing to both sides. They worked well together, had been partners for so long they didn't need to say much; they knew each other's moves like their own.

"I think the next hallway leads to the Communications Room." Ian said. They followed his instructions and ended up in a room filled with computers, panels and three huge displays right in the middle. It looked as equipped as space station.

"This is not normal. A pharmaceutical company… even working as a cover for Umbrella's experiments couldn't be this equipped. There would be no reason to, unless there was something really fishy going on here." Chris looked around the room carefully. "Why would they waste so much money on this?"

"Let's not make assumptions. First, we retrieve communications. We ask questions later." Jill said to Chris.

"Miles, get to it. We need to be quick." Chris said. Ian did as he was instructed.

The room looked unreal with all those panels and displays. The control panel looked like it came straight out of a futuristic movie. Chris wasn't really good with computers. He only knew how to handle himself with a gun. Jill was no better, and he was thankful to have Miles on his team.

As they were searching around a bang was heard from somewhere in the room. Chris and Jill eyed each other as they simultaneously brought their guns at eye level.

"What was that?" Elise asked, startled with Sherry looking more scared by her side.

"Stay here, by Miles. We'll go check it out." Chris motioned to Jill to follow him. She nodded, and looked back at Elise. As soon as she gave her a nod she followed Chris.

They followed the noise coming from somewhere near the room. They were both starting to sweat by now and their uniforms weren't making it any better. Finally, it was clear enough to determine that the noise was coming from one of the numerous doors in the room. A tag on the wooden door was labeled 'Storage'. Jill eyed Chris in an attempt to let him know she was locked and loaded. He nodded as he took the lead. She took cover by the side of the door as he slowly opened it, ready to open fire.

The room was too dark to see, and Chris used his flashlight to shed light. He gasped upon seeing the man lying on the floor with blood smeared all over him. The man moaned in a very familiar sound, one he'd heard so many times before. During the outbreaks every zombie he had encountered moaned in the same creepy way. His eyes turned into button slits as he raised his gun to aim. Just before he pulled the trigger, the man mumbled something incoherent. He slowly put his gun down and turned to Jill, who had also retracted her gun.

"H-He…lp…" the man managed to let out before he groaned at the pain in his chest.

"He's wounded!" Chris ran to the man. Jill shed light on his body and pressed a hand over her mouth to conceal her unpleasant surprise. His abdomen was severely injured, and he was bleeding profusely.

"What's going on?" Elise yelled.

"Are you alright? What happened?" Chris tried to talk to the man, who was pressing a hand against his abdomen. His other hand gripped Chris's arm tightly, smearing blood all over his skin. He was no doctor but she could tell a wound like that was fatal so asking if he was alright seemed very ironic.

"Ils… s-sont morts…" the man spoke with difficulty. "Ils s-sont tous morts!"

He screamed as he plunged his hand into his wound in a desperate attempt to make the pain stop.

"Wh-what?" Chris almost panicked. He knew how to keep his cool in situations like these, but the man's screaming was making it difficult to remain calm. "I can't understand a word he's saying!"

"Girard!" Jill yelled. "Get over here! Quick!"

Elise ran upon Jill's orders and stopped dead at the doorframe. She stared at the screaming man with eyes wide open, apparently losing her ability to speak for a few seconds. "He-he's… Is he dead?"

"No but he's going to die soon." Chris said to her. "You need to help me here, Elise. He's speaking in French."

"F-French?" Elise asked.

"Talk to him!" he yelled. There was no time to lose. The man was fading fast. "What is he saying?"

Elise made a visible effort to control her fear and kneeled by the dying man while keeping a safe distance. The man mumbled something, and she had to get closer to listen. She carefully registered his words, and her eyes grew wider than before. "H-He's saying… They're all… d-dead."

Chris shot Jill a meaningful look .She had the exact same expression on her face. They were in trouble.

"C'est… mortel…" the man whispered in a lower voice slowly giving in to the pain. The gurgling noise from the blood in his mouth made it harder to make sense of his words. "Ils l'ont… l-libéré." He gripped Chris's arm with whatever strength he had left. "Sor… Sortir…" He let out a small cry, and his grip on Chris's arm loosened.

Elise's mouth hung open. Chris looked at the man as his hand fell on the blood soaked floor. He pressed his fingers against his carotid artery. No pulse. "He's gone." Chris looked down.

They all remained silent for a while, mostly out of shock. It was never easy watching a man die, especially when you are unable to do anything to save him. Chris turned to Elise, who was still staring at the same spot as before. She mustn't have been in the field too long. It seemed like this was the first dead body she'd seen.

"What did he say?" Chris asked.

She didn't answer, and so he placed a hand on her shoulder and spun her to face him. "What. Did he. Say?" he slowly pointed the words out.

"H-he said…it's deadly. They've… let it out. Get out of here." It seemed she was mostly terrified by the man's words.

Chris put both hands on her shoulders and ushered her out of the storage room. He closed the door, leaving the dead man inside.

"Go to Sherry." He nudged her forward and turned to Jill with a puzzled look on his face. She looked almost too scared to speak.

"Chris," she said with a pleading look. "What are we gonna do?"

Chris looked at Sherry, and then at Elise and Ian. They were staring at them with blank expressions, as if they were waiting for them to say something.

Chris didn't even know what to tell himself.

"We've got to get out of here." he only said to Jill, who was without a doubt thinking the exact same thing.

Hope you liked it! Don't forget to review if you did. It keeps me motivated! :D