The sound was louder, closer, but nothing was opening the door.
"What do you think it is?" asked Leon, keeping his aim up.
"Shh!" said Claire.
"Maybe it's some giant mutant tyrant monster, coming to eat us," continued Leon.
"SHH!"
"Oh! Maybe it's Ada, and she's crying 'cause she feels bad for leaving me."
Claire lowered her gun and looked at him. "Leon, would you shut the hell up!?" she yelled.
"Claire...you might wanna keep your voice down, that thing could hear you," said Leon.
"Oh...my...God...I'm gonna shoot you," she said, raising her gun to aim at Leon. "I'm gonna shoot you right here, right now, and end this miserable day."
"What's your problem?" asked Leon.
"MY PROBLEM!?" yelled Claire.
Just then, the door broke open and something that looked like an arm holding a giant wooden plank started swinging around. Within seconds the arm became a torso, then another arm, legs, and finally a head. The monster roared as it forced its massive form through the tiny door, then looked right at the two.
"What...the hell...is that..." said Claire, switching her aim to the monster.
"It's like the embodiment of your anger, Claire."
"Leon, I swear to-" she was cut short when the wooden plank hit her shoulder, sending her flying into a wall behind Irons' desk.
"Claire!" yelled Leon. He brought his gun up and fired at the monster, but didn't seem to do much damage. He tried again, paying more attention now, looking for a weakness.
Claire popped her head out from behind the desk. "I'm okay...But I don't think we can fight it!" she said.
Leon looked the monster up and down, staring a bit longer at the giant mutant eye on its shoulder. That thing is NASTY, he thought. He kept firing at the monster's head, hoping to at least slow it down.
"We should get out of here!" said Claire. She stood up, hand on her shoulder, and looked at the door behind the monster. "Need to find a way around it, somehow..."
Leon nodded. "Or we could jump through the secret door," he said.
"What secret door?" asked Claire, looking around the room.
"I don't know."
Claire shot at the monster as well. "What do you mean, you don't know!?" she yelled.
"In movies, there's always a secret door when the monster has the hero pinned down," he said.
"No, in movies, the hero always pulls off some awesome stunt to get around the monster, and then locks it in the room and leaves," corrected Claire.
Leon turned around, half smiling. "You watch action movies?" he said. That's hot, he thought.
"Not the point, Leon."
"Okay okay...But you never know, there could be a door somewhere. Try putting that blue thing on the desk somewhere," he said.
Claire looked down at the blue square-shaped object. "What the hell is that?" she asked.
"It's a blue thing," said Leon.
"No shit..." Claire looked around the room, her eyes stopping on a portrait hanging next to her on a wall. It was ugly, and had three square holes in it. She took the item and stuck it in one of the holes, and nothing happened.
"Anything?" asked Leon, still shooting at the monster.
"Not that I expected anything, but no...nothing happened," she said. She looked at the item again, took it back out of the picture and threw it at the monster's head. It hit it right between the eyes, and its giant body collapsed to the floor.
"There, now it works," said Claire.
Leon blinked, staring at the stunned monster. "Whoa...I never would've tried that," he said.
"Which makes me the hero of the movie," said Claire. She hopped over the desk, hopped over the monster, and ran out the door.
"Hey! Wait for me!" yelled Leon, jumping over the monster but tripping and falling on his knees. The monster stirred, growling, and Leon got back up quickly. "I hate this place!" he said.
He ran out the door and bumped into something, falling on his ass.
"GEES!" said Claire.
Leon looked ahead and saw that he'd knocked her down too. "Sorry...Why were you just standing there?" he asked, getting up.
Claire got up as well. "You said to wait for you...so I did," she said, rubbing her shoulder.
"Really? The others never waited," said Leon.
"Well, I did, so let's go," said Claire. She turned and ran down the hallway, followed closely by Leon.
"So where are we going?" asked Leon as they ran.
"No idea, just somewhere far from that thing!" said Claire.
As she turned a corner, something fell from a ceiling vent and knocked her to the floor. "DAMNIT! WILL PEOPLE STOP KNOCKING ME DOWN ALL THE TIME!?" she yelled.
"Sorry," said Sherry.
Leon stopped and looked down. "Who're you?" he asked.
Sherry sat on top of Claire's stomach, looking up at Leon. "My name's Sherry. Who are you?" she asked, smiling.
"Can you get off me, please?" asked Claire.
Leon smiled back. "My name's Leon. Are you lost?" he asked.
Sherry rubbed her neck. "No, I'm looking for my parents," she said.
"In a vent?" asked Leon.
"Seriously, can you get off?" said Claire.
"No no, I was just in there to hide from the monster," said Sherry.
"Oh...Good idea. It's knocked out right now, but should be getting up pretty soon," said Leon.
Claire threw her hands forward and pushed Sherry to the floor, hard. She sat up and sighed.
Sherry glared at her. "What the hell was that?" she asked.
Leon grabbed the young girl's arm and helped her to her feet. "Seriously, Claire, we're gonna have to talk about that anger...You can't just go around pushing little kids," he said.
"She's not a little kid, she's twelve," said Claire. She stood up and put her gun to her belt.
"Um, that's a little kid's age, Claire," said Leon.
"Yeah, I'm not that old," said Sherry.
Claire wanted to keep arguing, especially with the fact that Sherry was the one who complained about the 'little kid' title earlier, but she noticed how tightly the girl was holding onto Leon's hand, and realized right away why she was agreeing with him. A crush.
"Whatever. I'm getting out of here," she said. She turned and walked down the hallway.
"Good idea," said Leon as he followed her with Sherry.
"Alone," said Claire.
"That's stupid," said Sherry.
Leon nodded. "We all need to get out of this place. There has to be some kind of rescue team on the way, I'm sure SOMEONE managed to call for help in this town," he said.
"But we need to find my parents first," said Sherry.
Claire stopped and turned around. She pointed at Leon. "You, your dumb rescue plans, and your idiotic ways have to stop following me and get out on your own. And you," she pointed to Sherry, "should've stayed at home and waited for your parents to come get you. For all I care, your mom's dead and your dad turned into that thing in there. As for me, I came here for one reason, and one reason only; to find Chris. And since Chris isn't here, I'm leaving. Any questions?" she asked.
Leon looked terrified. Sherry raised her hand.
"What is it?" said Claire.
"Who's Chris?" she asked.
Claire sighed, rubbing her eyes. She wanted to yell some more, but the question seemed so innocent, it turned her mood completely around. Instead, she dropped down to one knee and looked at Sherry sincerely. "Chris is my brother, and I'd like very much to find him. I'm sorry, I didn't mean anything about your parents," she said.
Sherry nodded. "You'd feel safer with your brother around, right?" she asked.
"Yeah..." said Claire.
"Well, maybe we should find him then. And hopefully my parents too," said Sherry. She stepped forward and gave Claire an unexpected but reassuring hug.
Claire couldn't help but smile, and looked up at Leon. "We have to find a way out of here, fast," she said.
Leon nodded. "There's a basement with a sewer access. If we head there, maybe we'll find a zombie-free escape route," he said.
"Sounds like a good plan," said Sherry.
Claire pulled away from the girl and grinned. "Yeah, but it came from a boy's mouth, so we'll have to keep on our guard," she said.
Sherry laughed, and Leon pouted as they got up and walked down the hall. Leon led the way this time, hoping he could find something that looked like a basement access. He didn't know the building, and wasn't even sure if there WAS a basement, but didn't wanna look like the idiot Claire said he was. Maybe we'll find Ada with everyone else, he thought.
In the sewers beneath the RPD station
"So, you're saying rats started all of this?" asked Ada. She sipped her tea, looking across the table.
"Yes, the virus spilled and spread that way. We should've made precautions for something like that, it seems," said the blonde lady, Annette Birkin.
Ada nodded. "It seems almost obvious. But my main question is, why did you make the virus to begin with? How were you planning on hiding it from the public?" she asked.
Annette set her cup down on the table. "We hide it in the underground lab, of course. The public doesn't go there, and we didn't anticipate animals having access either," she said.
"Those damn rodents," said Ada, sipping the tea again.
"May I ask you a question?" asked Annette.
"Of course."
"Why are you so interested in the virus? Didn't you say you were selling cosmetics?"
"Oh, well...You see..."
"You're not with Avon, are you? You're a spy!" said Annette, throwing the cup down and standing.
Ada grinned. "Lady, you're not too bright...Why would an Avon seller be in the sewers of an infected city, having tea, in the middle of the night?" she asked.
"IT COULD HAPPEN!" yelled Annette. "What do you want!?"
"The G-Virus."
"The G...What now?" asked Annette.
"Oh, come now Birkin, don't start playing dumb. You know perfectly well what I'm talking about," said Ada.
"You're not getting your hands on G. It belongs to my husband, and I'll ensure nobody gets into the lab to get it..." she trailed off.
"The lab, huh?" said Ada.
Annette blinked. "N...No!"
Ada jumped forward and sent a roundhouse kick to the woman's head. It didn't hit hard, but knocked her off balance and sent her falling over the railing. Ada leaned over and looked down. "Bye bye," she said. She turned and looked around, smiling. "Now, where's that damn lab..."