Resident Evil 2 Remake Novel: Claire's Story.
Chapter Three: The City of the Dead.
Previously in the last chapter.
There was silence between Leon and Claire for a bit as they were thinking about the zombie encounter at the gas station before the former broke it. "Live around here?" It may sound like a get-to-know-you kind of thing, but it was actually trying to get information.
"No," Claire replied, shaking her head a bit. "Looking for my brother, Chris Redfield. He's a cop, too."
"Well, it's a good thing we found each other," Leon stated, turning to stare at the road. "I don't know what to expect anymore…"
As Leon and Claire continued to drive on the lonely dark road in the police officer's car, they passed by a sign that said, "Welcome to Raccoon City, Home of Umbrella."
(In the Present; In Raccoon City; With Leon and Claire)
Raccoon City, the place Claire liked visiting whenever she wasn't busy with college to see how Chris and Jill were doing, was completely and utterly devoid of any life.
Everywhere Claire and Leon looked as they drive through the extremely dark empty streets in the city was just destruction, emptiness and eerie silence. There were abandoned cars piled up on both sides of the road, business stores broken into or barricaded with chains to prevent anyone from breaking in, electronic machines, along with light poles, malfunctioning and inferno fires. There was also not a single human within sight.
As Claire and Leon continued to drive through the extremely dark empty streets in Raccoon City to reach the police station, they heard a radio announcement coming from the city's speakers, making them become quiet as they listened to the announcement.
"Attention all citizens: Due to the citywide outbreak, you are advised to take shelter at the Raccoon City police station. Free food and medical supplies will be provided to everyone in need."
"Oh, my god, this is so unreal…" Claire muttered quietly, breaking the silence between her and Leon after the announcement ended. She was currently staring at the empty streets through her passenger side window, her blue eyes filled with shock and horror from how abandoned the city is, opposed to how crowded it usually is.
"The police station's not much farther," Leon stated, hoping to keep Claire's spirits up, while his own was dwindling a bit from seeing how bad things had become in the city he's meant to serve and protect as a police officer. "They'll know something about this outbreak."
"Yeah, but…what if we're the only ones left in the city, Leon?" Claire asked, turning to stare at Leon after asking that question with despair in her eyes. It was a very important one, equal to the living dead rising in the land of living. "What if there's no survivors?"
"No, Claire, there are survivors," Leon said firmly, not wanting to think about being the last people in an outbreak city. The mere idea frightened him very greatly. "It's a big city with exactly one hundred thousand people in it, despite what other people in the world say. There's no way we could be the last ones in the Raccoon City, I refused to believe it. There has to be survivors…there has to be."
Leon prayed silently he was right about more survivors in Raccoon City, otherwise he'll never forgive himself.
Claire didn't look convinced about the claim since there's so much evidence around, but she was willing to give Leon the benefit of doubt and settle back into her seat with an uneasy look on her face. She hoped there were survivors as well and she really hope her older brother was okay. If Chris had died or become a zombie during the outbreak…
'Don't even think about that, Claire,' Claire thought firmly, shaking her head a bit. 'Chris is very much alive, not dead or a zombie. He's tough, received a lot of training from the Air Force and did dangerous cases in the R.P.D with Jill. There's no way he could've died during the outbreak.'
Claire hoped she was right about Chris not dying in the outbreak in Raccoon City.
After driving for a few more moments in silence, Leon and Claire came across a block barricade with numerous abandoned cars on the other side, forcing them to stop the police car upon reaching it. They are close to the R.P.D, but in order to get there, they need to pass through this barricade on foot. They'll have to leave the car behind since it is now useless…even though the two can just turn around and drive onto a different street to reach the R.P.D.
"Looks like we're walking to the police station from here, Claire," Leon stated, turning off the engine. He didn't look happy at seeing the barricade, given the frown look on his face. "I hope you're prepared for the walk and the rain."
Claire heard what Leon said but didn't acknowledge him because her attention was focused on something through her window, something that caused her to rise upwards in her seat to get a better view of what she's seeing, a decision she would come to regret in a few moments.
On the sidewalk, two zombies were crouching all fours on the ground underneath a malfunctioning light pole and were currently eating a dead corpse, which is enough to make Claire feel physically sick. The sick feeling vanished when she saw the zombies stopped eating the corpse and turned their heads towards her, both letting out low growls upon seeing fresh prey.
"More like running to the police station, Leon," Claire corrected, not liking the two zombies on the sidewalk staring at her. It's scaring the hell out of her. Her words made Leon confused. Why do they need to run towards the police station instead of walking? It wasn't until he looked out through Claire's window to see the two zombies still looking at the latter that he understood why.
Yeah, good call," Leon agreed, also not liking the two zombies staring at Claire. Suddenly, appearing from out of nowhere, a zombie came up to Leon's window and started banging on it with palm hands while letting out loud growls, startling the hell out of the rookie officer. "Jesus Christ!"
Claire was startled as well from seeing the zombie appearing out of nowhere on Leon's window, but she couldn't dwell on it because she let out a yell from seeing a zombie arm hitting her window with a palm hand before the main body stood up.
Soon, the once empty street like the deserted gas station became filled with zombies and they have surrounded the police car from both sides before banging and shaking it roughly, trying to get in where the two fresh prey are. Luckily, the doors and windows were shut and rolled up respectively, but it's only a matter of time before the zombies break in and eat Leon and Claire.
"Leon, we gotta back up the car!" Claire exclaimed, glancing behind her to see if there are zombies at the rear end, which they aren't. "There aren't zombies behind us, so it's safe to reverse!"
"Right!" Leon quickly turned on the police car's engine, making the headlights come to life, but he couldn't back the car up because a pair of headlights caught his and Claire's attention, making them turn towards the light source. What they saw made their eyes widen in shock.
"What the?!" Claire gasped.
A distance away from Leon and Claire, a truck was driving full speed, yet a bit unstable, on the empty street, ramming two zombies in its path without stopping. The truck driver who is a middle-aged male was having trouble staying conscious and controlling the truck at the same time, which is due to a bleeding wound he got on his right shoulder from a previously dead person he accidentally ran over. His left hand was bloody from trying to stabilize the wound and his clothes were stained with blood.
The truck driver didn't have much time left in the land of living since he lost a lot of blood.
"Holy shit…" Leon muttered, continuing to watch the truck getting closer to him and Claire with wide eyes before realizing with a surge of horror it was going to ram them full speed. "Claire, get out! Get out of the car NOW! IT'S GOING TO RAM US!"
Leon and Claire began shoulder-ramming hard on their doors to force them to open, but because the zombies were on both sides acting like road blocks, the two humans couldn't open the doors, much less get out of the police car. They were trapped inside like caged animals with no way out.
"I can't, Leon!" Claire cried, realizing her efforts from trying to shoulder-ramming her door were useless since the zombies still blocked the doors. To make matters worse, the truck was nearly upon her and Leon. "We're stuck!"
"Hold on!" Leon shouted, giving up on trying to open his door and grabbing onto the steering wheel before bracing himself for the impact. Claire braced herself for the impact as well but grabbed onto the dashboard.
The truck got close to Claire and Leon within moments, but it was at that moment the truck driver finally lost consciousness from blood loss because of the bleeding wound. His last action before death took him was moving the steering wheel to the left, which made the truck impacted the abandoned cars before curving to the right and impacting the police car, along with the surrounding zombies.
Bam!
Screech!
The sound of tire screeching and metal screeching filled the air as abandoned cars were rammed through the block barricade with extreme heavy force, causing some vehicles to either be launched in the air, flip sideways to begin the metal screeching or hang upside down. The cars on the other side of the barricade met the impact but didn't share the same fate; they only got pushed backwards.
The police car Claire and Leon were in didn't get launched in the air, flip sideways or hang upside down. In fact, it just spun around and crashed into another car that served as a brake after getting forcefully rammed through the block barricade by the truck. Said truck was lying sideways a bit away from the police car.
Not long after the crash, Claire opened the police car door on her side and let out painful breathing as she stepped out, wobbling a bit on her feet but managed to find the strength to stay upright before walking away from the car. Her now soaked body wasn't broken or dislocated during the crash, but she did have a throbbing headache when her head bang against the dashboard. That was going to leave a bruise.
Claire had walked a few steps away from the police car when it happened.
Boom!
The police car exploded in a burst of flames, which is due to a gas leak, making Claire let out a startled yell and instinctively cover her face with one arm from the heat as she turned around to stare at the burning flames. She hadn't realized the crash caused the police car to have a gas leak. She was glad she walked away from it before the explosion happened, otherwise she would've met a fiery death.
But as Claire continued to stare at the burning flames of the destroyed police car, she suddenly had an ominous feeling inside her, which made her turned towards the direction where the truck is still lying sideways a bit away. Upon looking closely at it, she saw the truck is a gasoline truck.
Wait, a gasoline truck?
A gasoline truck that is…highly flammable when made direct contact with fire?!
"Oh, shit!" Claire said, her face paling dramatically as she quickly put two to two together. The burning flames from the destroyed police car are going to make the gasoline truck, namely the tanker, explode. The brunette turned around and had managed to acquire a few distance away before it happened once again.
Boom!
The gasoline truck, like the police car, exploded but in a larger burst of flames, creating an inferno fire. Unfortunately, the blast wave caught Claire and sent her flying towards a car where she impacted forcefully against it before dropping to the ground with a thud. Letting out a few painful groans while trying to push the pain her body's experiencing away, she slowly got onto all fours before raising her upper body up to adapt a kneeling position and stare at the inferno fire.
As Claire continued to stare at the inferno fire, the pain she had been experiencing a moment ago vanishing, she was suddenly aware that Leon had still been inside the police car when the explosions happened, making her entire body freeze, along with the blood in her veins.
'No…' Claire thought miserably, feeling tears pooling at the corner of her eyes. 'No, it can't be. There's no Leon is dead. He must've gotten out of the car before the explosions happened.' Claire very much wanted to believe what she thought, but because there's no voice coming from the other side, her hopes were dashing.
Just when Claire was about to sob at the implications her first male friend is dead and she was all alone in a zombie-infected city, a familiar voice came from the other side of the inferno fire, causing her to snap her head towards the direction where it came, tearful blue eyes filled with hope.
"CLAIRE!" Leon's call out voice came from the other side of the inferno fire. "CLAIRE, ARE YOU OKAY?! ANSWER ME!"
'Oh, thank the heavens!' Claire breathed out a huge sigh of relief, a smile appearing on her face. 'Leon's still alive and survived the explosions. Once we meet again, I'll kick his ass for worrying me.'
"YEAH!" Claire yelled, standing up from her kneeling position. "I'M ALRIGHT, LEON! HOW ABOUT YOU?!"
"I'M FINE!" Leon shouted, happy to hear Claire's voice. He had sadly assumed she died in the explosions. The rookie officer's happiness vanished when he spotted zombies rising from the ground behind him. "BUT I CAN'T STAY HERE! IT'S NOT SAFE! TOO MANY ZOMBIES!"
"Oh, shit…" Claire's smile of finding out Leon was still alive vanished when she spotted zombies walking towards her, forcing her to draw her handgun. "GO ON AHEAD! I'LL MEET YOU AT THE STATION! BE CAREFUL AND STAY SHARP, LEON!"
Claire's survival journey in the zombie outbreak in Raccoon City has officially begun.
And done! That's the ending of the chapter! I could've kept the chapter going and end it when Claire reaches the R.P.D after dodging the zombies, but like in Leon's story, I figure I would end the chapter here since there's pretty much enough plot of the story from the main game for you guys to enjoy.
Also, I want to point out something I mentioned in chapter three of Leon's story; you guys don't have to go back and see what it is since I'm about to reveal it in this story, but I would appreciate if you do go back to the story.
Every time I finish writing chapters for Leon's story, I would be copying the words and paste them onto blank documents for Claire's story but edit the words for her point of view. That way, I will be getting chapters for Claire's story done faster and won't have to spend weeks writing. While this may seem lazy, it's not because I will be able to update both stories faster. It's like killing two birds with one stone or, in Claire's storyline, killing two zombies with a grenade launcher.
Anyways, here is a new chapter for the novelization of Resident Evil 2 Remake and I hope you guys enjoy it.
Write a review if you like this story and enjoy the chapter.
Next Chapter: R.P.D.