15

Claire ran into the lobby. "Hello!" she shouted desperately. "I have the pendant."

A smashing noise from a room to her left caught her attention, and without hesitation, Leon and Claire ran towards it. Entering a corridor, Claire took a sharp turn where Chief Iron's hands desperately grabbed onto her jacket. Claire tried to pull away, but his grip was too strong; "Your fault," he gurgled, adding, "Took too long."

Leon grabbed the chief by the collar of his shirt, "Get off her!" he growled, and pulled the Chief roughly away, causing the man the stumble to the ground. The downed Chief started a thrashing motion and the young pair looked on in horror, backing away slowly when the Chief's thrashing became more violent.

Suddenly, a sickening pop was heard and the Chief's chest erupted in a shower of gore and bone, as a rat-sized, maggotlike creature wriggled its way out from the bloody mess that was Iron's chest. Not wanting the disgusting creature to get anywhere near them, Leon and Claire instinctively opened fire on the maggot, instantly killing it.

Claire dropped her gun, and exclaimed "Oh my god!" as she wiped at her brow. "Sherry…" she added despairingly. Leon gently gripped her upper arm and turned her to face him. "She's okay," he reassured. "She's a smart kid."

"Yeah," Claire replied, and followed the young cop as he moved past the corpse of the police chief. "Jesus Christ…" Claire added under her breath as she passed the sickening sight.

When will this end...


The young pair entered a room filled with books, smashed bottles, and a few half-finished taxidermy projects that looked to have been thrown across the room. Their eyes were instantly drawn to the female body trapped under a large overturned table in the center of the room. It was obvious from the color of her delicate skin that she had been dead for a while, but there was no rotting smell or signs of decomposition. Her youthful face looked to have become frozen in time.

The realization of what had happened to the woman hit Leon in the gut. "Sick bastard..." he muttered under his breath.

Claire asked, "Who was she?" as she stood beside Leon. He replied, "It's the mayor's daughter." Claire felt sick when she remembered the entries in the police chief's diary, and her blood ran cold knowing the young woman had met such an end.

Looking around at the carnage in the room, Claire panicked about Sherry's whereabouts and began a frantic search of the room, knowing the scream she had heard before had belonged to the young girl. Suddenly, Claire's boot caught something, and she crouched down, sweeping the mess of books and bottles away with her hand and revealing a hatch in the floor. "Leon, here!" she called over her shoulder, and gave the hatch a pull, revealing a ladder that led down into the darkness.

She's smart... She knows how to survive... She definitely went this way

Claire's reassuring thoughts kept her frustration at bay at still not finding the young girl when she descended. Moving away from the ladder, Claire looked down the tunnel and towards a faint light source.

"Sherry!? Claire called, moving forward down a small set of stairs with Leon not far behind "Where are you!"

Please be here...

A faint sound of movement from farther ahead caused the pair to stop; from behind a chain-link fence, a little girl emerged. "Claire! Leon!" Sherry cried, happily.

"Sherry!" Claire beamed. "We'll be right there"

Claire and Leon approached the chain-link fence when suddenly, they heard the smashing noises coming from deeper within the darkened tunnel. They turned back toward the source of the noise, only to see the familiar, haunting silhouette of a massive figure accompanied by the thunderous sound of its footsteps, emerging from the darkness, overshadowing any sense of relief at seeing each other again.

Sherry suddenly screamed "No! Not Mr. X!"

Leon started to open fire, but after screaming at Sherry to run, Claire grabbed the young cop's forearm and pulled him with her as she ran forward. "Forget it, Leon. Go, go go!" Claire cried, as she swiftly followed the young girl. Sherry half turned. "Leon, Claire! It's behind you!" she cried. Refusing to look back, Claire cried to the young girl, "Don't stop!"

The trio rapidly descended another small set of steps, and rounded another corner into a room that ended in an elevator. Claire cried "Keep going!" when Sherry half turned again, as if looking for reassurance to continue on. Claire was hoping the elevator trick would save them a second time as they packed quickly into the small space.

With her heart racing in her chest, Claire slammed the button to descend wildly. The doors slammed shut, but the Tyrant crashed into them hard, and Claire looked on in horror as the giant used his mighty hands to slowly pry the doors apart. Leon quickly placed himself at the front of the group, and pushed his back against the bodies behind him, raising his firearm quickly in the hopes he could protect the pair from the horrible fate that was quickly gaining on the trapped trio.

Claire crouched, and grabbed onto Sherry as the young girl let out a terrified scream. Leon was firing frantically at the monster, but the nightmare didn't stop, and the doors were almost fully open. Leon swallowed back the fear, as he emptied the clip in his gun, fully expecting the monster to grab him at any second, when something unexpected happened. A huge claw ripped through the chest of the Tyrant, and thrusting it aside, pulled a mighty chunk from the giant's chest. The same creature that Leon and Claire had fought in the boiler room at the police station, had just saved them.

"Daddy?" Sherry whimpered quietly, Claire turned to the young girl, not quite registering what she'd heard.

The distorted monster turned back towards the elevator, and let out an unearthly roar.

Leon shouted, "Out of the frying pan and into the fire!" and quickly reloaded his firearm as the beast charged at the elevator.

"Daddy, no!" Sherry cried over the noise of the gunfire.

The force from the monster's charge caused the gears and wheels of the elevator to groan, and it lurched as it dropped slightly, causing the trio to fall into a crouch. Claire grabbed onto Sherry tighter, fearing the worst, while Leon raised his head to the ceiling of the elevator. A huge thud rattled the elevator from above. The wheels and gears suddenly gave way under the extra weight of the beast, and the elevator plummeted into the darkness below.