Chapter 5: A Rude Awakening

Wesker was not expecting a message to arrive late the next evening. He had been sitting at his desk, receiving an update on a new research project when it arrived. His phone rang, and he picked it up, recognizing the caller as Ada Wong as soon as he answered it.

"They moved faster than expected. Neal leaked information, and they know you have the samples at your location. There's reason to believe that an old Umbrella employee is aiding them. Be advised to leave your location quickly."

"Is our friend Neal dead?"

"I took care of it before they could question him further."

"Good. Continue keeping tabs on them and find out who their inside man is. I want him taken out as soon as possible."

"Understood."

Claire was asleep on the couch when the alarm sounded. She sat up and checked her watch: 1:35 am. Damn the timing of Umbrella's disasters. She stood and gathered her belongings. She had shouldered her backpack by the time Wesker emerged from his room. He had a handgun prepared.

"We're leaving, Miss Redfield." He did not wait for an answer as the formerly locked doors opened for him. Claire despised herself for it, but she positioned herself as close to Wesker as possible.

"Is it a biohazard?" she asked fearfully.

"No, but it could quickly turn into one." He rushed down the many corridors, sometimes passing men in white lab coats or uniforms running in a different direction. Claire was surprised, having thought they were completely alone. That life should be so active nearby the slow-paced world of Wesker's dungeon seemed unbelievable. She noticed that Wesker had the metal briefcase of samples firmly gripped in his hands as they continued their course.

Suddenly Claire heard gunfire mixed with the sirens. They never slowed, not until they reached a door where Wesker quickly entered an access code. They stepped into a glass bridge overlooking a large lab filled with liquid-filled containers. Claire could see creatures suspended in them. Some of them were broken, and dead scientists lay about the ground.

"They would do well to avoid shooting the tanks," Wesker dryly commented. Claire had no idea who "they" were, and she didn't ask. As they exited the bridge, they met a zombie, but Wesker finished it with one blow to the head.

"There are more!" Claire warned, hearing moans from down the hallway they needed to navigate. Wesker paused.

"Those aren't zombies." Claire looked horrified.

"Then what?"

"Wraiths." That explains a lot, Claire thought sarcastically. Then it rounded the corner and began lurching toward them. Claire wasn't quite sure what it was. It looked somewhat human but with tentacles attached where hands should have been. It had no eyes and foamed at the mouth as it slopped forward. Claire desperately wanted a weapon, but Wesker dispatched the monster with multiple shots to the head. He grabbed her arm and kept her moving at an incredible pace until they entered a landing overlooking a large room with test tube strewn tables. Claire perked her ears up.

"Do you hear that sucking sound?" she whispered. Wesker and her scanned the room to no avail. Claire took another step and felt hot, putrid breath drift under her nose. Carefully, she looked downward and through the iron grating of the landing. Her heart nearly stopped. "It's underneath us!" she yelled, but it was too late. A tentacle swept over the landing, grabbed Wesker's ankle, and pulled him over the edge. "Wesker!" Claire watched in horror as her lifeline landed and began one-on-one combat with the creature. The briefcase remained on the landing.

Claire saw her opportunity and faltered. More creatures were entering the room, and Wesker had lost his gun. She bit her lip and grabbed the briefcase. She saw another tentacle creature coming for her on the landing, and she ran. An occasion zombie got in her way, but she smashed their heads with the metal case, sometimes pummeling them into the ground. Blood sprayed across her shirt and pants, some getting on her face, but she kept moving.

"Finally," she sighed, seeing a fallen guard. She crouched and stared at him a moment, making sure he wasn't going to move, before prying the shotgun from his fingers. "Hell yes." She favored shotguns. They could put a large hole in pretty much anything. She transferred the briefcase to her backpack and kept the shotgun ready for action. She wondered where Wesker was and suddenly felt a pang of guilt. She had left him to die. He was going to get her out alive, and she left him to die. Even though he was using her and he was a monster, she couldn't shake how human he looked with a bloodied hand and the undead advancing on his fallen form. She tightened her nerves and pressed onward, trying to navigate the halls without him.

The intercom crackled and a female voice started talking. Claire, frustrated as she was, mimicked the annoying voice.

"The self- destruct system is now activated," she mocked. "God, I hate that damn thing." She unloaded a slug into another zombie. Her chances of escape were slim, but not hopeless. She would never allow hope to be taken from her, even if everything else had been. Just then, the grate above her popped open and a licker slipped out of it. She instinctively fired, but missed. The licker pounced on top of her, sending the gun skittering away. Claire screamed and turned her teary face away from the foul creature's descending mouth.

The bite never came—only a few drops of saliva.

"Wesker?" He grabbed the licker and threw it away from them. Claire accepted his offered hand, which jerked her to her feet so quickly she thought it was dislocated.

"Move!" Wesker ordered, half-dragging, half-carrying her toward a nearby door. Claire was unsure how they managed it, but trees surrounded them by the time the explosion happened. It lit the night sky and cast long shadows behind them. In the light, Claire turned to Wesker and noticed that his clothing was torn, and blood decorated his body in large patches and lines. A dry, brownish coating obscured half of his face, and his sunglasses were gone. He turned to her, and red eyes connected with blue amidst the orange blaze before them.

"Are you okay?" She felt odd asking Wesker, of all people, such a question, but it was the first thing that came to her lips. She shivered in the night cold as the heat from the fire began to die.

"Do you have the samples?" he replied, much more concerned with them than his health. Claire nodded. "Good." He flipped his phone open, and Claire listened as he arranged for a helicopter to pick them up. "Do you need medical attention, Miss Redfield?" Claire sighed.

"I've survived worse." Wesker smiled somewhat and pocketed his phone. "What happened?" Wesker moved closer to her.

"Your friends are not the only thorn in my side. Rival researchers, companies, and governments are also a problem." Claire wrapped her arms around herself. "Cold?" Claire couldn't deny it. "I can tell it's cold, but it doesn't bother me," he commented absently. "Sometimes I can't even detect subtle differences in temperature." They stood closely until the hum of a helicopter was heard in the distance. "I'm afraid I can't risk you knowing our location, and, since I don't have a sedative, this will have to do."

"What will have to do?" Claire barely had time to ask before her world blackened. Wesker carried her toward the landing helicopter and held her for the ride's duration. She lay in his arms like a crumpled doll as he listened to a report on the public cleanup plan.