Resident Evil 2 Remake Novel: Claire's Story.
Chapter Five: Marvin Branagh.
Previously in the last chapter.
"David! Marvin! You there?!" The male officer yelled, pausing directly in front of the camera feed and turning around to keep an eye on the zombie that was making its way towards him. He put his gun away to reach into his back pocket to pull out something. "I found a way out! It's in here!" The officer turned to look up at the camera and held up his right hand to reveal a small notebook that holds the information to escape the R.P.D.
The zombie that had been chasing the officer began to closed in on him and he quickly put the small notebook back in his pocket before taking out his gun and firing a bullet at the zombie's chest, staggering it but not stunning it. It then lunged at him and grabbing him in a power struggle as it tried to bite his neck, but the officer managed to push the zombie off and away from him with the cost of losing his flashlight.
"Send reinforcements! East hallway!" The officer yelled, giving one last look to the camera before running away from the zombie, which is starting to once again chase after him.
When Claire lost sight of the officer on the camera feed, she quickly typed in a few keys on the laptop to see where she could find him. The map of the first floor in the R.P.D appeared on the screen and the hallway the officer had been in with the zombie began flashing red. Claire now knows where she needs to go.
"I should help this guy," Claire stated, turning around and began making her ways towards the shutter that will lead her to the east hallway. "I hope I get there quick before that zombie overpowers him again."
If only Claire knew she was never going to reach the officer in time.
(In the Present; Inside the R.P.D; With Claire)
After reaching the shutter that will lead her to the east hallway, Claire ignored the taped-on warning sign and pulled the nearby lever downwards to have it rise upwards for her to pass through in order to reach the fleeing officer.
Beep!
A loud high-pitch sound filled the completely silent main hall for a moment before the sound of shifting metal was heard as the shutter began rising upwards.
Unfortunately, due to a fuse being missing from its power box on the other side, the shutter only raised several inches off the ground instead of rising all the way up, much to Claire's great annoyance as she quickly realized she would need to crawl underneath to reach the other side.
"Seriously? I need to crawl underneath to reach the other side?" Claire asked with a huff, clearly not liking the idea of having to crawl on the floor. "This sucks so much."
Releasing another huff, Claire got onto her hands and knees to get a look on the other side. Upon seeing pitch-black darkness, she pulled out the flashlight from her jacket with her left hand, turned it on and crawled her upper body through the opening underneath after calming her sudden nerves, along with taking a deep breath.
The first thing Claire noticed after crawling through the opening and raising the flashlight up to illuminate light was the large amount of stained blood on both the wall and the floor in front of her, which created a foul stench in the air. A grimace crossed her features upon seeing the large amount of blood and the grimace became worse when the scent assaulted her nostrils, forcing her to hold back a gag.
'Oh, this day is just getting greater and greater by each passing moment,' Claire thought with heavy sarcasm, the grimace turning into an angry scowl. 'It was supposed to be a simple visit to figure out what happened to Chris, not get caught in a zombie outbreak. Can it get any worse than it already is?'
While still in the crawling position underneath the shutter opening and trying not to gag from the foul stench of blood, Claire looked around with the flashlight to see if there was anything else for her to notice. Other than the long hallway she needs to venture through and the pitch-black darkness, there was nothing else important. The fact there wasn't any zombies around was a bonus plus, though there might be a chance they're hiding somewhere in the east hallway of the R.P.D, waiting for fresh prey to walk by.
Seeing there was no zombies around and deeming that it's safe for now, Claire crawled her remaining body through the shutter opening, stood up and shined the flashlight towards the long hallway where he couldn't really see much, due to the pitch-black darkness.
"Alright, here we go," Claire stated quietly, reaching towards her gun strap with her right hand to pull out her gun before she began venturing the east hallway of the R.P.D in a slow cautious manner. "Focus, Claire."
Splash!
The sound of water being stepped on echo loudly in the hallway, making Claire stop in her tracks before looking down with the flashlight to see the entire floor was flooded. She didn't know if the water is from the heavy rain outside or a restroom, but she didn't care as she had more important matters to deal with, namely helping the fleeing officer.
Pushing the topic aside, Claire continued venturing in the east hallway of the R.P.D. She had stopped twice during the venture. The first time was trying to get through a set of double doors that led into a huge room, only to find it blocked on the other side. The second time was hearing the sound of boards being creaked loudly, which came from a closet door at the end of the hallway. There was something or someone inside said closet and it wanted to come out.
Claire absolutely stayed clear of the boarded-up closet door.
Claire now entered another long hallway that was quite narrowed, due to numerous different objects on the walls. She came across another set of double doors and started to debate on whether or not she should enter though them. The reason why is because she needed to help the fleeing officer from the zombie chasing after him. But surely it wouldn't hurt to investigate a room that might have something important, right? There's a possible chance Claire may not be able to investigate it in the future as she would be busy trying to figure out a way to escape the R.P.D building.
Besides, it would only be a couple moments to find what Claire will need in the room and leave to resume her original mission of saving the fleeing officer.
After debating for a few more moments, Claire decided to enter through the double doors in the end, which led her into a press room that was messy and dark. There wasn't anything important for her since everything is useless, except a box of 9mm ammunition rounds next to a dead body. Thankfully, it didn't wake up when she reached to grab them, but she was going to make sure dead bodies are officially dead to begin with in the future when exploring the rest of the R.P.D. Claire did not want to die by a zombie who is faking to be dead.
Once Claire was done checking around the conference room, she left and resume venturing in the narrowed hallway where she came across a metal locker tipped over sideways from its previous spot, blocking the pathway. She would need to raise it upwards if she wants to get through to the other side. Grabbing onto the side with both hands, she began to shift the metal locker back to its previous spot.
It took quite an effort to shift the metal locker back to its previous spot, due to it being in an awkward position and heavy. But in the end, Claire managed to shift it aside and placed it back to its previous spot, giving her access to the other side of the east hallway in the R.P.D.
Once Claire walked through the pathway after taking a brief pause to catch her breath from shifting the metal locker aside, she noticed two more hallways. One leads to the restrooms and a door blocked by numerous different objects. The other leads to another long hallway like the one she ventured a couple moments ago, but mirrored, having many dead bodies piled up against the wall and blood splattered all around. There was also a single door leading into the huge room Claire tried to enter, but instead of being blocked on the other side, there was a yellow thick chain wrapped around the door handle, which is preventing any access.
The moment Claire entered the mirrored long hallway, she was assaulted by the same foul stench of blood, but it was extremely heavy, overpowering as well, and this time, she couldn't prevent the gag leaving her mouth when it invaded her nostrils.
"Oh, my god…" Claire muttered, staring at the brutal carnage sight before her and trying not to invade more of the extremely heavy foul stench into her nostrils. After a few moments, she recomposed herself and ventured through the long hallway. As she walked extremely slowly and carefully in case the dead bodies wake up from their fake sleep, she noticed a small room on her left.
Suddenly, a loud panicked voice pierced the completely silent air, highly startling the hell out of Claire, haven't expected to hear a voice. "OPEN UP! HURRY! OPEN UP!"
'The officer from the cameras!' Claire thought, recomposing herself once again and sprinted towards the source of the officer's voice. It was coming from the small room she noticed a moment ago.
Now, there was the sound of frantic pounding as the officer's loud panicked voice became more louder than before. "OPEN THIS GOD DAMN DOOR!"
"I'm here!" Claire shouted, bursting into the small room and running around a desk to reach a closed shutter that's currently moving back and forth because of the frantic pounding on it. She looked around to see if there's a lever nearby to raise the shutter up, but there wasn't any. She will have to raise it with her hands to create a small opening for the officer and she must do it quickly before it's too late.
"OPEN THE DOOR! HURRY UP!" The officer shouted right as Claire quickly kneeled downwards to grabbed the bottom of the shutter with both hands and began to try lifting it up to create a small opening for him to crawl through. "HURRY UP! OPEN IT!"
It took quite an effort to create a small opening since it's heavy like the metal locker in the narrowed hallway, but not in an awkward position. In the end, though, Claire managed to create the small opening. Not long after this happened, a human arm holding a small notebook immediately appeared from the other side.
"Here! Here! Help me!" The officer yelled, waving his arm around. He was currently on the ground in a crawling position.
"Here, give me your hand!" Claire ordered, grabbing onto the arm in a firm grip and began to tug the crawling officer through the small opening. The head came first, followed by the other arm and the upper torso. Soon, only half the body came through the opening, which left the lower body remaining.
"Hold on, give me your- give me your other hand," Claire ordered once again as the officer flipped onto his back, his remaining arm reaching out for her to grab, which she did firmly like the other arm she's currently holding onto. Once again, she began to tug the officer through the small opening but harder this time.
Just when Claire thought she had saved , things took a turn to the worst when she heard the sound of a zombie growling from the other side.
The officer let out a blood curdling agony scream as a huge gush of blood from his lower body suddenly splattered into the small room, including himself. His screams intensified when the pain he's currently feeling at the moment increased tenfold and he started to struggled, making Claire struggle as well as she tried to keep a firm grip on the arms she's holding onto.
"It's ok! I got you!" Claire shouted over the officer's loud agonized screaming as she tries her best to pull the him out of the small opening and into her side, but the zombie on the other side intended to drag its meal back to its side to devour all the living fresh. This was making the tug of war game, even though it's not really a game at all, much harder and difficult.
In a desperate attempt to save the officer from the zombie on the other side, Claire used all of her strength to pull him into the small room she's in. This action proved to be greatly approving as the tug of war came to an end with her as the victor and the zombie as the loser.
However…this action came with a very horrifying very grim result, one that will haunt Claire for the rest of her life.
Claire did manage to get the officer onto her side when the tug of war came to an end…but only his upper body. The lower body is still on the other side currently being devoured by the zombie. There were a few spilled guts on the floor when she dragged the upper body towards her.
"Oh…oh, my god…" An extremely horrified Claire breathed out, sudden tears threatening to spill from her eyes as she kneeled behind the officer's body whose arms were waving around in the air and muttering words she couldn't hear. The death she just witnessed was much worse and horrifying than the other officer getting his neck bitten by the zombie in the Mizoil gas station and it's making her breath heavily as if having a heart attack. "I'm so sorry, officer…"
Due to losing his lower body to the zombie on the other side and so much blood, it didn't take very long for the officer to succumb to death, his arms falling limply to the side and eyes slightly opened with the light in them completely fading away. The small notebook he held in his arm slid free and onto the ground.
For a while, there was silence in the small room, except the heavy breathing Claire was releasing from her mouth, her tearful eyes still staring at the half of the officer's body. Then the sound of pounding, along with the sound of a zombie growling loudly, filled the air the next moment, making her sharply look up to see the shutter moving back and forth but not bursting down.
It's a really good thing the shutter isn't a regular door, otherwise Clare would've been zombie chow.
It was then Claire noticed the notebook containing the information to escape the R.P.D was on the floor, and she reached over to grab it with one hand.
'The officer said this notebook is the key to escape the R.P.D but is it really true?' Claire thought as she held the notebook up to get a closer look. 'I don't want to doubt him since he seemed to work hard to get his hands on this, but at this point, I'll hold onto any hope to escape the R.P.D. I only hope the information in this notebook is true, otherwise I'm fucked.'
And done! That's the ending of the chapter! Claire has ventured in the east hallway of the R.P.D and tried to help the poor officer from the zombie chasing after him, only to witness the horrifying death that will haunt her for the rest of her life.
I'm extremely sorry it took three months to write this chapter, I just finished it last night, along with Leon's chapter. The reason why I didn't published them was because it had been late and I figure you guys would want to read them in the morning, so I decided to wait until tomorrow morning.
Next chapter will be Claire escaping the east hallway of the R.P.D and meeting Marvin Branagh. I know I did say she would meet him in the previous chapter, but since it's been three months I last wrote a chapter for this story, I decided to write it in the next chapter.
Write a review if you like this story and enjoy the chapter.
Next Chapter: Marvin Branagh (Part Two)
