Sorry for the late update guys... Life hit me, ran me over, then threw it in reverse a few times actually, but I'm trying my best to get this done for you. Thank you to those who are still reading and giving me reviews. Now onto the good stuff.
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Claire heard the destruction of the labs behind her. If she lingered for just a few seconds, she would probably be caught in the cave-in of wires, walls, and electrical units. With every step, she heard walls crumbling, claws scraping, and that malicious roar. She and Wesker were running down the hallways, barely keeping ahead of the tyrant. It had awakened in rage, and made short work of the testing lab it had been stored in. Usually, a tyrant had to be provoked to unleash such anger, but this one felt nothing but hatred for everything around it. Claire looked up and could see its reflection in the circular mirrors they had passed by. The tyrant was mad and blind, and it didn't stop chasing them.
"What did you do to piss it off?" Claire yelled, rounding a corner. Her adrenaline shot up a few more levels when she saw they were headed for a wall. They were headed for a narrow dead end... not good. Wesker ran ahead of her and punched in a code into a rectangular crevice on the right side wall she had not noticed before. The wall then split open, allowing them safe passage through. They both ran inside, just as the wall had closed behind them.
The tyrant continually beat on the door, leaving indentations in the solid frame. Claire could hear the frustrated cries, and she wondered how long the door would hold. "Any bright ideas?" she asked. She looked around the large hangar in amazement. There were three helicopters and a small plane, but there was enough room to have a small army posted. How was it possible that all of this was underground? She began mapping out strategies in her head. The tyrant would surely break through, but she and Wesker had enough open space to maneuver around the giant beast if needed. They also weren't limited like humans were. They were faster, stronger, and could sustain physical damage that would kill a regular person. The problem was, they had no weapons.
She kept her eyes on the beaten door, watching it cave in with each powerful blow by the tyrant. A voice boomed overhead. Self destruction sequence initiated. Contamination detected in levels red and yellow. Self destruction in t-minus ten minutes. Claire saw Wesker hunched over his laptop. "This is your bright idea?" she scowled. "Blowing up the whole damn place?" She approached him intent on scolding him, but he pulled her into an embrace before she could smack him.
"Are you able to feel regret, Claire?" he asked in a husky voice. His lips were touching her ear, and she was suddenly aware of his warmth. His hands were on her hips and back, and he pulled her close as though he was afraid that she would leave him at any given moments. She felt a warmth in her heart, and leaned into his arms, relaxing into him. In a matter of seconds, she was calmed. Strange how it only took one touch from this man to keep her under control.
"I don't know..." she said truthfully. "But the time I spent with you, I would not take back." She pulled away slowly, and took off his sunglasses. She placed her hands on his cheeks, memorizing his face, every curve, every feature. Her fingertips traced over his lips, and she was certain she would never forgot the feel of them on her. In the beginning, she wanted to flee from him. She was angry that he had put her in such a predicament, but slowly she began to feel the hatred fade from her heart. Whether it was the influence of the virus, she had no idea. But she no longer hated the man before her. But she also had to admit, "I don't love you." That was also the truth.
"I know, dear heart," he said. He leaned forward and pressed his lips to hers, and the warmth in her heart grew. It was the most she had been able to feel in weeks. He pulled away and placed his lips on her forehead.
"Claire!" shouted a voice.
She snapped her head back, and saw Chris on the other side of the hangar. He had his weapon drawn, and Jill and Leon were behind him. "Chris!" she yelled. She stepped in front of Wesker, hardly able to believe her eyes. Wesker's hands left her body, and the connection faded. She kept her back to Wesker, taking one step toward Chris' direction. "Chris!" She was sure that if she were human, her heart would be swelling with joy.
"Wesker," Chris growled, now aiming his gun at his former captain. Chris' eyes grew wide moments later, and his aim was now at the door behind them.
Wesker roughly grabbed her arm and shoved her aside. Seconds later, the tyrant burst through, the thick metal plates that served as doors went flying passed Claire's head. She heard shots fired, but the bullets bounced off of the tyrant's body. "Claire, watch out!" she heard Leon yell. More shots flew over her, but she knew that the weapons were useless against the tyrant's armor like skin.
She jumped to her feet, and charged the tyrant with Wesker beside her. It swung its claw at her, and she blocked it with both of her arms, feeling the force of the impact move her a few feet to the side. While she kept one arm at bay, Wesker kicked at its knees, forcing the tyrant to kneel. It screamed in anger, and before Wesker could do anything, the other arm came down, knocking into Claire, sending her flying into a wall.
The arm came swinging back, but Wesker caught it. With a surge of inhuman power, he ripped the arm from the shoulder socket, and tossed it aside. The tyrant screamed and wailed, backing away from Wesker. Yellow and orange blood began spitting out of the wound, coating its entire right side. It roared again, and Wesker stepped back, caught in an awe-inspiring moment. Another limb shot out from the wound, more grotesque and hideous than the first. The tyrant began its first mutation, growing larger in size, and becoming much more violent and aggressive. The new limb thinned out toward the tip, forming into a sharp blade coated in blood and a slimy mucus membrane.
"Wesker!" he heard Claire call to him. She was on her feet, but she kept a safe distance from the monstrosity before her. She was frozen in place, amazed at the transformation just as he was.
Redfield, Kennedy, and Valentine ran to her, but Claire did her best to keep herself between them and the tyrant. The trio would be dead in a moment if the tyrant went after them and Claire was not there to intercept. He and Claire both knew that. She was doing her best to keep her family away from her.
"Claire, we're getting out of here!" Chris yelled to his sister. He pulled at her, but she pushed him out of the way.
"Then get your ass in one of those choppers and start it up!" she commanded. "Jill! Try to find a way to open the hangar to the upper levels. I'll distract it, so you guys get ready to go!"
"That's crazy," Chris said. He pulled on her arm again, but this time Claire picked him up by his tactical vest, easily lifting him from the floor.
"I said go!" she barked. "I'm not going to argue with you!"
"Come on, Chris!" Jill said, making the decision for the older Redfield. Jill clapped her hand on Claire's shoulder, asking her to put down her brother.
There would be another time for Redfield, Wesker promised himself that. Jill had ran into the control tower, and Redfield jumped into the nearest chopper, prepping it for evac. At another time and place, he would probably admit to being proud of Claire for taking command over her brother. It was so satisfying seeing Redfield cower in the presence of his younger sibling.
Kennedy, however, stayed by Claire. "I'm not leaving your side," he said in defiance. "Never again." He handed her a gun, and she nodded to him, accepting the weapon.
Claire ran to the tyrant, firing upon any area she deemed a weak spot on the body. Any part not covered in thick shelled armor was sprayed with bullets. She dodged and jumped out of the way when new limbs sprouted from the mutating mass. Any resemblance to a man was ripped away as the skin broke apart and muscles began to bulge outward. Kennedy kept up with Claire, doing his best to protect her. What a simpleton. However, he was no longer a rookie cop that missed his first official day. The emotions he had for Claire fueled his body, and kept him one step behind Claire. But the chivalrous intentions were futile.
Only Claire Redfield could handle the tyrant for the time being. He had to act quickly. For the first time since his childhood, he had wished there was more time. Even being immortal, Wesker realized that time still had a hold on him. But he couldn't spend any more of it on hopes and wishes.
Self destruction in t-minus four minutes and fifty-eight seconds.
Wesker heard the upper levels opening; the ceiling began to split in half allowing passage for safe air travel. Valentine was successful. The air was filled with a mixture of turning wheels and cranks, the wails of the self destruction warning, and the cries of the undead monster. Wesker quickly inserted a disk into the laptop he carried, and began to download all of Claire's data. His mind drifted back to the beginning of this little adventure as he saw the green bar run across the monitor. He calculated every possible scenario when it came to his master plan of researching the new virus strand, but he had never taken into account the transformation that had happened between him and Claire Redfield.
He would never tell her, but he had found the secret to their not entirely unwelcome connection. She would figure it out; Claire didn't need the enhancement of the virus to fit all the pieces of the puzzle together. She was smart enough without it. He heard Kennedy give out a cry of pain when the disk ejected itself from the laptop. Wesker slipped the disk into his pocket, and inserted a second one.
"Leon!" cried Claire. Wesker looked back to see how the fight was progressing. Claire was on her back, and the monster towered over her, trying with all of its might to crush her. The giant claw pressed against her, and Claire was only able to keep the nails inches from her face. Her arms were shaking, but she was able to keep a knee in between herself and the monster's abdomen. She twisted sharply, and kicked with all her strength, sending the monster flying.
Claire stood slowly, wrapping her arm around her waist. Blood began pouring out of her side; apparently, she had received a nasty gash. Kennedy was by her side, holding onto her. "You okay?" he asked her, but she didn't answer him. If Kennedy was not there to support her, she would have fallen to her knees. The second disk ejected, and Wesker slipped it into his coat pocket. He picked up the laptop, and hurled it at the monster before it could pounce on the Claire and Kennedy. The small computer shattered into hundreds of pieces the moment it collided into the monster's face. He stepped up to the cowering pair. "I'm beginning to think you enjoy being saved by me, dear heart," he said to Claire, keeping his attention on the tyrant.
"Hardly," she said weakly. She pushed against Leon again. "Leon, wait for me by the helicopter."
"I said I wasn't leaving you," Leon countered. He kept a firm grasp on her arm, but she moved it from her waist, and the wound was gone.
"Please, just go and wait for me," she pleaded. "Wesker and I can handle this. I'm going to blame myself forever if you die here because of me. Please... just go." She placed her hand on his cheek, hoping that the gesture would persuade him.
"I can't Claire," Leon said, cupping his hand over hers. "I love you."
If Claire could feel, she would have felt her heart leap for joy just now. If she could feel, she would have felt her heart break because Leon's life was in danger now, and the possibility of him dying before her would destroy her. If she could feel, she probably would have told Leon the same. But she couldn't feel those things. She wasn't even human. So, she couldn't answer him. "I know..." is all she said. "Please just do this, for me," she said desperately. She could hear Wesker fighting with the tyrant, and the countdown was down to one minute and twenty-six seconds.
Leon's lips were pressed into a thin line, but he shook his head. "You have less than a minute," he said. He squeezed her hand, but finally, he turned and ran to join Chris and Jill in the helicopter. "Thank you, Leon," Claire whispered. A dark shadow hovered over her, and she realized that the creature had grown in size once more.
Everything it touched, it destroyed. Even Wesker was having difficulties keeping the monster at bay. The ground now shook as the lower levels were beginning to implode. It was only a matter of time before the explosion reached this level. Claire jumped to the side, avoiding contact with the creature's multiple limbs. She saw more eyes sprouting out over the body, and she fired into every single one that she saw. No matter how direct hits she made, the creature would not back down. It came at them, and both did their best to avoid the bladed limbs that threated to slice away at their bodies.
Wesker had detached another limb, tearing through bone and flesh, but the monster kept regrowing everything it had lost. Claire managed to catch one of the limbs and snapped the blade in half. But the second the flesh was disconnected, it had regrown.
"This is useless, Wesker!" she yelled. "We have to leave now!"
Self destruction sequence activated.
She grabbed Wesker's hand and pulled with all her strength. "That's our cue!" She ran toward the helicopter, seeing it hover slightly above ground level. Chris was waving her over, yelling, "come on!"
Just a few more steps and she would be with her family again. Suddenly, Wesker was ripped from her grasp. She turned and saw a large tentacle wrapped around his torso. He was sharply pulled back, but she managed to hold grab onto him again. She wrapped her arms around him, keeping him from leaving her.
"Claire! We have to go!" Chris yelled with urgency.
Claire saw the creature set on fire. She was out of time. Red and orange began to seep into the hangar. The fires of the explosions below surrounded them. Black smoke filled the air, and the walls began to crack and fall. "Wesker, come on!" she shouted. She was losing her footing, and if the tyrant pulled again, she would lose her hold on him.
"Dear heart," he said, completely unaffected by his position. She felt his hand run through her hair, and she felt his lips again. This kiss was much different than the others. There was something... human about it. He jerked suddenly, and she felt a sharp pain in her neck. The shock caused her to lose her grip on Wesker, and he took the moment to push her toward the helicopter. She felt numerous hands on her as they pulled her away from him. Wesker's silhouette was far from her reach, and he disappeared into a blast of flame that consumed both him and the tyrant.
Before she knew it, they were flying high above the explosion. She felt a hot flash spread through her body. She could smell Leon next to her, and he was saying something in her ear, but she couldn't understand him. Something was invading her bloodstream, she could feel every single part of her being affected. The last thing her mind registered was Leon holding her close to him.