No one said a word as Claire took the first step forward. No one said a word when they pushed past the door and entered yet another ominous, dark hallway, lit only by the flickering overhead lights. Moving slowly, cautiously, anticipating someone or something to pop out and attack them. Yet, with each step, nothing jumps out of the shadows. Leaning against the wall behind Claire as she peered over the edge, there was still nothing. Turning past the corner, everyone stayed eerily quiet, not wanting to tempt fate.
'… And whoever is puppeteering us…'
Lea couldn't help the twitches at every distant screech. Wails reverberated off the walls, and it was impossible to tell where they originated. Eyes wide beneath the cover, darting back and forth as she shuffled forward.
'… The doors conveniently unlocking… that butchered guy dropping as soon as Claire grabbed the keys… the fact we found each other damn near immediately… There is no fucking way that whoever kidnapped us isn't watching us right now...' The corner of her mouth twitched into a grimace. Back taut, feeling like a thread threatening to snap under the tension.
'… This is actually worse than Wesker… at least that fuck couldn't be bothered to keep tabs on me after… that…'
Another corner. Another stop to peer over the edge for anyone or anything malevolent. After a moment, Claire silently begins moving again. Moira tentatively followed, honey eyes alert and darting around the dimly lit area. Lea languished behind, struggling to keep her movements calm and controlled.
'… They always have a goal… no matter how fucked it is… there's always one… I'm swear if it's godhood again…'
Claire pushed open the red-lit double doors, the hinges groaning, timed almost perfectly with the low wailing of something far in the distance. Every hair not singed from Lea's body stood on end as a rush of frigid air poured out from what looked like the remains of a morgue. Teeth chattering, shivering hands reaching up to rub at her shoulders. Lea's clothed gaze stared enviously at the other two and their jackets.
"Hey, what's your name?" Moira whispered, rushing towards the knocked-over desks, rummaging through the drawers as fast as possible with shaky hands. The corners of Lea's lips curled into a vindicated smirk at the sight, rubbing at her shoulders as she trembled.
"It's L-" Lea froze, eyes falling to the floor as she tried to focus on what I.D. the B.S.A.A. supplied her. She cringed with every second that passed as Lea struggled with her memory.
"… Uh, you alright?" Moria asked, giving her a quizzical look as she moved across the room, idly looking over the counters for anything useful.
"Yep! It's… um… Lana… Westerna." Lea awkwardly drawled out as the name finally resurfaced, instantly burning with embarrassment when she peeked at Moira's incredulous face.
"… Like from Dracula?" Moira asked, quirking up an eyebrow at her, eyes meeting cotton. Lea could feel the heat radiating off her cheeks as she blushed harder from the embarrassment.
"At least they didn't name me Lucy," Lea tried feebly to laugh it off, her attempts at laughter sounding painfully forced. Lea cursed under her breath for jokingly suggesting that name and her inability to use the correct tone.
"Shh, we still don't know what's out there. Come on." Claire warned, the octaves of her voice falling down a few notes for a moment. The two quickly finished giving the room a once-over before falling back behind her.
Out and around the corner, the group found a ladder going down. Lea rises to the tips of her toes, peering over Claire's shoulder to the lower platform. A surprisingly small room, hardly lit by fallen lights, just as run-down as everything else in this building. Her gaze locked with the two corpses on either end of the room. One covered in a bloodied and dirtied white tarp. After a moment of focusing her gaze, she recognized the fallen butchered guard as the other corpse.
"Alright, we made it. Key's over there." Claire breathed a sigh of relief, stepping down a few rungs of the ladder before gripping the sides and sliding down. On the other hand, Moira chose to go down each rung, complaining about the smell. After a pondering second, Lea slid down like Claire, not wanting to waste more time than necessary.
Tentatively stepping toward the butchered guard, about fifty feet away. Forty. Cries of agony, but the other two didn't hear it.
'… Not safe yet…'
Thirty feet. Twenty. A loud crash that as all flinching back.
"Shit, what was that?" A scared muttering nearby, Moira, perhaps? Or was it herself? It certainly wasn't Claire.
Ten feet. Five. Then, finally, they're at the body, the air thick with apprehension as Claire kneels and inspects the corpse. The more experienced woman grimaced slightly at the sickly-sweet stench of death but ignored it.
"The key's gone."
'… The keys aren't on the belt… did it fall to the ground..? No... nothing… not a damn thing… maybe it's caught..?'
Claire pulled out the handgun from the guard's belt, quickly ejecting the clip and inspecting it alongside the chamber of the 9mm. Lea's eyes were trailing upward, looking at possible hooks and crevices. A shuffling step backward echoes in the room.
"Do you, uh… are you gonna use that?" Moira asked timidly, her voice just wavering a little bit. Shuffling of fabric, something plastic being clicked open.
"More reliable than any person," Claire responded without a beat. A click, then something being pulled out from under the corpse, quickly followed by something plastic clicking close and something heavy being holstered. More shuffling steps backward.
"If you say so," Moira said, her tone wary but dropping the subject. Lea opened her mouth to ask Moira a question when a metallic glint caught her attention. The keys, hanging off the side of a rusted water tank.
"I found the keys!" Lea excitedly announced, pointing at the rusted tank with a smile. A smile that fell as soon as she turned around and was met with the confused gazes of the other two women. "Uh… I really don't need much to adjust to the dark…" Lea mumbled under her breath, reaching a hand to scratch at the back of her head.
"Moira, shine on light on it, will ya?" Claire asked, unholstering her gun. Lea didn't miss how Moira's amber honey eyes flickered with fear as they locked onto the 9mm. After a moment, the pixie-haired girl shook her head and pointed the flashlight at the water tank. Lea quickly raised her hands to cup her ears and turned away from the pair.
A jolt of pain shot through her head the second the trigger was pulled, followed by a high-pitched ringing muffling all other sounds. The jingling of the keys as they were quickly scooped from the ground was barely audible, much less the loud, mechanical beep of the nearest door being unlocked. Lea shook her head, rubbing at her ears as if that would make the ringing go away quicker.
Turning around, the three started making their way back. Fifty feet, forty. Lea nervously glanced around the room as she followed Claire, her nerves filled with urgency. Memories start flickering in the back of Lea's mind, sidestepping her attempts to shove it down. Thirty feet, twenty. The temple, bullets flying back her head, debris coating her lungs, blood dripping down her hands. Ten feet.
The door crashes open, practically hanging off its hinges, as another mutilated shell of a person starts wailing, spewing blood and saliva everywhere. Without waiting another second, Claire aims and shoots, the bullet lodging in its throat and sending another jolt of agony through Lea's head. Lea's clutching at her head, hardly aware of the whine that escapes her lips.
A hand grips her shoulders, and suddenly, she's being pulled along and toward the ladder. Someone's shouting voice warbled as if from underwater, the horrid ringing muffling anything identifiable. Snapping back into action, Lea climbed the ladder as fast as possible. Sprinting down the hall, skidding around the corners. Eyes locked forward, ignoring everything behind her.
Slamming past the door and entering the frosted morgue, skidding to a stop at the sight of another one of those creatures baring its teeth at Claire. Lea's eyes went wide. Claire lashed out with her knife before Lea could try to launch herself forward. She slashed the cheeks, forcing the thing to clutch at its face. Spinning around, Claire kicks at the thing, sending it back into the knocked-over trolley.
Claire looked over her shoulder, shouting something indiscernible back at the two girls before running again. Lea's eyes flitted to the mutilated body in the corner for a moment before going against her instincts and following Claire and Moira.
Through the double corners, swerving around the broken door hanging off its hinges and down the hall. Skidding around the corners to a screeching stop. There was no one in sight except another one of those monsters. It shrilly cried out, charging her.
Lea cringed at the sound but forced herself to slip into a fighting stance. Closer and closer, leaving bloody footprints on the linoleum floor. Shoulders tensing, eyes locking with a bloated, malignant form. As soon as it reached out to grab Lea, she grabbed the closest arm, flipping and slamming the body into the ground. One swift stomp to the skull, crushing it beneath her heel. The ringing still hadn't let up, but Lea could feel the crunch, the wet slick of blood and tissue.
'… Doesn't matter… need to find the others…'
Lea's eyes roamed the corridor for anything familiar. After a few seconds, a flash of movement. Eyes snapped to the barred windows, and heaved a sigh of relief at the sight of auburn hair and a dirtied hoodie.
Relief was short-lived as the door at the end of the corridor flew open, and another one of those creatures toppled out. It wasted no time to start sprinting at Lea. Just as Lea slipped back into fighting stance, a shot rings out, the bullet lodging in the eye. The teen flinched but forced herself to close the distance, grabbing and slamming the skull into her knee. Once, twice, thrice, then it went limp.
A hand grabbed and pulled on Lea's shoulder, and it took everything in her to not twist it off, focusing instead on the flash of auburn hair and blood-spattered leather jacket as they started sprinting again. Lungs burned with every breath, muscles aching with every step. Mind blank for once as her gaze is locked forward, uncaring of whatever is behind her.
Another walking, screeching horror charges from the opened isolation rooms. Another shot rings out, bringing the monster down to its knees. Instinctually, Lea swings down into its temple with her shin, bringing it down. From the corner of her eye, she saw Claire quickly searching for something in the isolation room.
Before the three could continue their escape, something leaps out from the dark. Without thinking, Lea pushes Moira out of its path. Within a second, it tackles the teenager. She reaches out with her hands, keeping it as far away as possible. It clawed at her with its gored and reeking hands. Lea gagged at the stench. From behind the writhing creature, Lea's covered gaze caught the glint of the barrel pointing at the thing. She ducks her head to the side, squeezing her eyes shut. Another shot, and the splatter of something hot and putrid coating the back of her head and shoulder. Lea pushed the corpse off and flung herself back onto her feet. Running.
Slamming past the blue door, sprinting up the stairs. Claire practically rips the key from her pocket, shoving it into the lock and unlocking it. Yanking the key out of the lock, her hands push the door open, and all three rush past the threshold, slamming and locking the door behind them.
Moira and Lea collapsed, heaving and trembling, while Claire leaned against the door. Lea cupped her ears, closed her eyes, and focused on breathing through her mouth, trying to not gag at the never-waning scent of decay and excrement. The slowing thrum of her heartbeat. The feel of her now sweat-slick skin and sticky hair. Slowly, the high-pitched ringing ebbed, and the mumbling curse words of Moira right next to her brought Lea back down to the present. Behind the stained cloth, Lea opened her eyes, taking in the image before her. Moira, on her hands and knees, dry heaving and cursing up a storm that would put a sailor to shame. Claire, leaning against the door, breathing slowly and deeply, eyes closed yet focused.
After another blessed minute of rest and silence, Claire's cerulean eyes opened, darting between the two younger women. She knelt, helping Moira back onto her feet before switching to Lea, offering her hand and a tired but warm smile. Tentatively, Lea took Claire's hand and pulled herself up. They all exchanged glances with each other before Claire took the lead, slowly walking down the new corridor.
They had barely turned the corner before coming upon another corpse. However, Lea wasn't focused on the fresh carnage but rather on the extended barrel of a shotgun that lay just out of reach of the gnawed hands. Very little of his blood contaminated the gun, only the barest amount on the handle. Claire grabbed the weapon and slung it over her shoulder before moving past the body. Lea couldn't help but notice how Moira's already pallid skin grew greyer at the sight of the weapon, honey eyes locking with it as the three turned the corner.
Claire swipes at the wooden crate, shattering the fragile wood. She knelt to rummage through the debris before picking up a small pack of shotgun shells. She holstered her 9mm and grabbed the shotgun slung over her shoulder.
"You need a gun too, Moira," Claire said flatly as she started loading the shells. Moira froze mid-step, eyes going impossibly wider.
"No, I really, really don't. Sorry, I don't do firearms." Without a beat, the words rambled out of her mouth. Her eyes fell to the ground as they seemed to grow distant, far away. "Not after what happened," Moira asserted in a hush, her arms crossing over her chest, almost as if cradling herself. Claire swiped the knife through two more crates, grabbing another pack of shells and a handful of green herbs.
"Shit, I'm sorry. I forgot." Claire turned, looking at the brunette. She let out a small sigh as her eyes trailed to the floor, pondering momentarily. "Maybe we can find you something else." Claire raised her eyes to try to meet Moira, but the brash young woman scoffed, brushing past Claire.
"No, I'll just… be on flashlight duty or something. It's fine." Moira insisted, despite the waver in her cadence. Walking over to the surprisingly intact storage shelf in the corner, rummaging through the cluttered boxes for anything useful. There were a couple of 9mm bullets, which were hurriedly handed off to Claire. Then, there was something small and blue glinting in the light, but it was pocketed away before Lea could look at it. "Nice," Moira pulls out the discarded and surprisingly not dirty or rusted crowbar from behind a few boxes on the bottom shelf. "Blunt weapon. I can do blunt weapons." Moira moved to the other side of the room, inspecting the bright blue graffiti on the wall.
'… What the fuck happened…' Lea wondered to herself as she observed the pixie-haired girl walk over to the door, using the crowbar to rip off the nailed-on bar.
'… I need to step up and get my shit together…' With a muffled but loud grunt, Moira ripped the bar off, breathing laboriously.
"Lea," Claire quietly called out, her voice slightly hoarse. Lea stopped, turning her clothed gaze towards the more experienced woman. "You know how to use a gun, right?" Lea's gaze fell to the shotgun still in the older woman's hands, the barrel pointed to the ground.
"Oh, uh, yeah. My uncles and aunt taught me, but I only know basic shit." Lea said awkwardly, bringing a hand to the nape of her neck to rub at it. "I'm fine with the shotgun. It'll give me more distance." Claire nodded, handing the gun and shells over to Lea. Claire moved to the door, motioning for the two younger women to stay close behind her.
As soon as they pushed the door open, they were met with the menacing sight of flickering lights, blood stains drenching the walls and ground, and a lone figure dressed in something white and poofy. In an instant, Lea's jaw dropped in horror as she processed that it was a little girl. Before anyone could react to the sight, the girl ran off, eerily silent.
The three froze, staring ahead where the girl was for a long moment. Claire slowly started inching forward, the others shuffling behind her.
"Clarie, you saw that, right?" Moira tentatively asked as the group turned the corner, careful not to step into the coagulated blood puddle. Rounding the corner, the dark hallway was nearly entirely silent, save for the rasping yet even breathing of dozens of probably more of those things. Were they resting?
"Yeah, I saw… something."
"Something? That looked like a kid." Lea snapped before remembering that the two couldn't see as well in the dark as she could. "Fuck, I hope that's not a kid. She doesn't deserve this… no one deserves this." Lea tacked on, feigning uncertainty as another rush of anxiety flowed through her veins.
"Are you sure, Lea?" Claire paused, turning to face the teen, tone deadly serious yet unjudging. Lea inhaled sharply before nodding just as sharply. "Then we need to keep an eye out and bring her with us. No sudden movements, don't yell, and stay calm." Claire flicked her eyes between Lea and Moira, not moving until they both nodded or made affirming noises.
Bizarrely enough, no child was in sight when the three crossed the next threshold. The prison door was sealed and barricaded with large metal crates. There were no crevices she could have hidden in, nor lockers or unlocked crates. After a moment, Claire sighed dejectedly as her cerulean eyes trailed over to a metal divider lifted just slightly so that someone could crawl underneath it.
The group fell back into the routine of breaking the wooden boxes and searching the crevices between the metal crates. Luckily, the search yielded more ammo but did nothing to ease the dread settling in their guts.
'… There's no way that kid is infected… too quiet… too good at hiding…. how long has she been here..?' The thoughts rolled uneasily through Lea's mind as Claire and Moira started to lift the metal divider to eye level. Lea quickly slid under the divider. She gripped the bottom edge of it, holding it up while the other two crossed over before letting the barrier slide down as quietly as possible.
The horrid stench of dried, old excrement got more potent with each and every step up the stairs, making Lea gag under her breath. The rasping yet even breathing also got louder as they made their ascent, leaving no doubt in her mind that there were at least a dozen more of those poor bastards throughout this new area.
When they reached the last step, Lea immediately recognized this area as an abandoned detention center. Like every other room in this hellscape, blood and dirt caked the walls and floor, though some stains appeared fresher. The stench of urine and fecal matter emanated from the locked solitary cells, strong enough to force Lea to breathe through her mouth to avoid its inescapable odor. The hanging lamps didn't even flicker, so the only light source came from the tiny slivers of sunlight shining through the barred windows above. As Lea walked underneath one of the slivers of sunlight, she shivered in the minuscule warmth the feeble ray provided compared to the desolate prison.
A familiar electronic screech from a radio filled the relative silence, shocking them to a halt, heads whipping around to find the source of the noise.
"Fear what you will become and become what you fear." A husky feminine voice languidly said, slightly distorted by the radio waves. Claire lifted her now orange wristband to her ear quizzically.
'… She's the bitch… I can feel it in my bones…'
"Are you afraid? You can tell me. Talk to me." The mysterious voice continued, taking on an almost hissing, cold tone. With every word the mysterious woman said, the more her suspicions started nibbling at the back of her mind.
'… Why does she sound so familiar..?'
"Those bracelets change color in response to fear." The voice cryptically trailed on, frustratingly holding only clues and yielding no answers. Even though Lea couldn't see the face of their captor, she could envision the sadistic smile painting her lips.
"And who exactly are you?" Claire demanded, not an ounce of fear in her tone. Eyes hard, lips pressed into a firm frown, Lea practically sees the fury rolling from the woman in waves. For a moment, she was envious of Claire's fearlessness and collectedness. Why couldn't she be like that?
"So much suffering… you don't even know what to be afraid of yet." Just as suddenly as the melodic voice had come, the voice went silent, leaving the three with even more questions as well as a palpable and undeniable atmosphere of annoyance. The more experienced woman rolled her eyes and started walking again.
"Was she talking to us or at us?" Moira vented, rolling her eyes as the group entered the next room, a dark room lit by a singular fluorescent light in the corner, otherwise devoid of objects.
"At us. She was definitely talking at us." Lea concurred, walking over to the desk off to the side. Immediately, she took the map to the detention center before opening the drawers. She grimaced as she noticed that the drawers held nothing. "Here, found this," Lea said, walking up to the leather-clad woman and handing the dirtied parchment over. For a moment, Claire said nothing nor moved, just stared again with an exhausted expression.
Scrunching her eyebrows, Lea's eyes traveled over to where Claire was staring. Immediately, she understood Claire's expression. There was a path, possibly an exit, barred and locked off. Just next to the doorway were gears, clearly missing two vital parts.