Before the duo could take the elevator up, they did manage to find some more ammo hidden amongst the broken equipment and managed to reload themselves quickly. Despite having just fought a huge monster, zombies, Lickers and Ivys were still a huge problem. And with such a depletion of resources, they would need all the help they could get.
Heading back to the North Area was easy. Almost too easy. No enemies, no obstacles. Just a one-shot. By the time they made it back to the North area lobby, they found the couch they had blocked the door with shoved aside and the door wide open. In it, Annette was sitting at Sherry's side on a rolling chair, but she was hunched over asleep.
They ran in, causing Sherry to wake at the noise where she smiled in relief at the sight of them. Her skin had warmed back to a pink color and there were no longer any visible swelling or veins around her eye. The older girls smiled back as they stood by the bed, with Claire kneeling down beside Annette.
"Hey!" she exclaimed, happy to see she was ok.
"So glad to see you little Chickadee," Veronica added.
"I knew you guys would make it," Sherry whispered. Then her eyes darted down to Annette. "My mom needs help." Claire reached over and gently placed a hand on the blonde's shoulder.
"Annette?"
The doctor woke in a slight panic, but relaxed when she realized it was Claire. She hobbled up to lean on her arms then looked over Sherry.
"Sh…Sherry," she grunted out. The pain was making it hard for her to move or speak. "How are you?"
"Ok," the young girl meekly responded. "But you don't look so good."
Annette seemed to ignore that as she tried to rise to her feet only to gasp out in pain and stumble onto the floor. She was trying to reach a stand monitor that was monitoring Sherry's vitals.
"Mommy!?" Sherry cried out in worry. Claire rushed over to help Annette stand while Veronica stood by Sherry to hold her hand.
"Hey, look at the screen," Claire urged. Once on her feet, Annette glanced over the readings.
"Oh, thank god," she whispered. That sounds good!
"So, Sherry's gonna be alright?" Claire asked.
"She'll be weak for a little while but," Annette turned to her, "Yes, she's free of the G-Virus."
The room was filled with hope at the news. Veronica wrapped an arm around Sherry's shoulders to gently hug. Claire turned and smiled at the little girl.
"Did you hear that?" she asked excitedly. But the excitement was short lived.
Annette took a step towards them only to stumble again and grasp her stomach. Claire grabbed her before she could fall, but it was no use. She gasped out brokenly and began sinking to the floor which made Claire help soften the decent. She laid onto her back and whimpered; Sherry and Veronica following to kneel down beside her.
"What happened to her?" Sherry asked. The older two looked at each other before Claire carefully answered.
"She was attacked by that monster-"
"Don't…" Annette cut her off, her voice broken and strained. "Don't worry about me." She reached into her lab pocket and pulled something out before handing it to Claire. "Take my daughter…to safety."
In Claire's hand was the pink chip needed for the main shaft elevator. Annette then reached over to hold Sherry's hand, their eyes meeting for the last time. The mother looked over her daughter's face fondly as she took it all in.
"I'm sorry, Sherry…for everything."
Veronica could feel herself tearing up at the scene. This was Annette's final moments. It reminded her of her time with her own mom and how she missed her insanely. Poor Sherry lost both of her parents in one day. The worst possible pain anyone, let alone a child could have.
"Your life is what is important now," Annette whimpered before gasping sharply. Sherry seemed frozen like she didn't know what to do or feel.
"We can't just leave her here!" she pleaded. Again, the duo looked at each other almost unsure before Claire responded.
"You're right. We can't-" She was about to get up to try to carry her when the building began to shake and a siren began going off.
"Attention: Unauthorized removal of a [Level 4] virus detected," the damned robotic voice said over the loudspeaker. "Facility lockdown initiated."
"What does that mean?" Claire asked urgently.
"Self-destruct sequence will begin when lockdown is complete," the voice added.
"Self-destruct? This place is gonna self-destruct?!" Veronica questioned worriedly.
"It's the…self-destruct code," Annette wheezed before coughing, blood dripping from her lips. "In case the G-Virus leaves the building." Claire was about to try and pick her up again when Annette stopped her by grabbing her hand. "Please…Save my daughter."
Both Sherry and Veronica were now crying, Veronica had an arm over the young girl's shoulder to comfort. Annette began gasping for air and laid back onto the floor. Her head fell back lifeless as she passed away peacefully.
"No!" Sherry cried then laid onto her mother's chest to hold, tears streaming down her face.
"Sherry," Claire called, voice choppy with the lump in her throat. "Sherry…we gotta say goodbye to your mom. Come on." The building began to shake violently as the announcements of self-destruct repeated.
"I'm so sorry, sweety. It's time to go," Veronica whispered while gently tugging Sherry away.
"Please say goodbye," Claire pleaded. The lights were flickering crazily above them now. "Please Sherry, listen. She loved you, ok?"
"Sometimes it didn't seem like it, but she did. She risked everything for you," Veronica added.
"Please. We really gotta get going…Come on," Claire got onto her feet.
Sherry looked up at her then back down at her mom. She leaned down to give her one last kiss on the cheek before letting Veronica pull them both up off of the floor. Once steady, she ran into Claire's arms and hugged her tightly.
"You were right about this jacket." She raised her head to look up at the older girl. "I'm so lucky to have you guys." While a super sweet sentiment, the room was now shaking uncontrollably.
"Listen, we can talk more about that later. We gotta hurry now. Come on."
There was no time to mourn for the dead. She grabbed the young girl's hand then led all three of them out of the room. After a moment, she gave the hand to Veronica to hold while she put the pink chip into her bracelet. Walking into the main shaft they found the building crumbling in on itself with falling debris and breaking bridges. They barely made it across before the one they were on fell apart.
"Attention: Self-destruct sequence initiated. Use the Central Elevator to evacuate immediately to the bottom-level train platform," the robotic voice kept repeating.
"Sherry, can you walk faster?" Claire asked as they approached the elevator.
"Yeah."
"I don't wanna rush you, but we have to go."
"Is running an option for you, Chickadee?" Veronica asked.
"I think so."
"Can I hold onto your hand so I can keep track of you? Make sure you can keep up?" Sherry nodded. With the pink chip in hand, the elevator doors opened.
"Let's get the hell out of here," Claire said, determination in her voice.
They climbed in and watched as the doors slid close before the car began to slowly descend to wherever they needed to be. It was nerve-wracking at how slow it went, but it was also nice to relax even if for a moment.
Peeking out of the elevator windows, they watched as they passed a giant mechanical machine that rotated with fire and lightning. That must have been the facility's core that kept the place running and now it was destroying it all.
It was scary and amazing at the same time. Sherry even let go of Veronica's hand to watch it up close. All of this hid just beneath the feet of the people in Raccoon City and they had no idea.
Veronica's heart thumped in her chest. All of this destruction. She turned to her two companions and looked over their faces to remember. She took a step closer to Claire and grabbed her hand to hold. The other turned her head to look at her and squeezed in return.
"Claire…I," Veronica whispered before hesitating. She almost didn't say it but decided to just bite the bullet. "In case we don't make it, I just want you to know that, if it isn't insanely obvious, I like you…like a lot. Way more than a friend should and in one night. If we had known each other longer, maybe even more, but I-"
Claire stopped her by pulling her into a tight hug, her face pressed into the nook where Veronica's shoulder met her neck. Veronica couldn't help but hug just as tightly.
"If we didn't have a child with us, I would just kiss you like there was no tomorrow," she whispered back. "I think it's safe to say the feeling is mutual. Like I like you a little too much."
"I mean you could still kiss me. I won't stop you," Veronica giggled, the euphoria of knowing in truth how they both feel now in the open.
"Ew kissing!? You guys are gross," Sherry playfully groaned. The girls parted with weak laughs as they turned back to the young girl.
"You'll understand when you're older, Chickadee." Sherry scrunched up her nose in disgust before glancing back out the window again.
"Um, guys?" she asked, her voice nervous at the impending doom around them.
"Yeah?"
"Thank you for being so nice to me…For helping me. I'm really glad I met you."
"We're really glad we met you too, Sherry," Claire replied.
"Yeah!" Veronica quickly tacked on.
"But save your thanks until I get you out of this place. That goes for you, too," she nudged her partner with her shoulder. "We're gonna make it. All of us," Claire spoke confidently.
As if on cue, the elevator reached the bottom level. The doors slid open behind them, where they made a mad dash out. The room they landed in was composed of a plethora of monitors on the wall, but no one was at the controls. A lot of them had error messages due to the destruction. As they were picking up a first aid spray and a knife from the room, they noticed one of the monitors was still on but full of static. Though there was no time to stick around.
From there they took off running, trying find this train platform that they had heard over the intercom. All they could do was follow whatever open pathways they could find as they had no idea where they were supposed to go. Explosions went off around them and after taking a short lift down another floor, they were met with more Ivys.
"Sherry run!" Claire shouted.
Luckily the creatures were slow in getting up, so the girls just sped past them with no incident. In the next room over, they climbed down a tall ladder and were about to make it to the next door until they found it locked.
"Ten minutes until detonation," the automated voice above them . Ten minutes wasn't a long time. And they still had no idea where to go.
"Of course the stupid thing is locked-" Claire grumbled in frustration. Sherry looked over at the wall nearby and noticed a window.
"Hold on!" she said while climbing the railing next to them.
"Wait, Sherry!" Veronica called in a panic. They were still very high up.
"Sherry, what're you-" Claire tried but Sherry brushed them both off.
"I think I can open it from the other side!" she suggested.
They watched in slight horror as she shimmied along the pipe on the wall till she reached the window and climbed through. Only then did they breathe out in relief. But it was short lived as the familiar sound of clicking and gurgling filled the room.
Turning around, they saw an Ivy drop down from the vines hanging from the ceiling and hit the floor of their platform. It began getting onto its feet and heading in their direction.
"Goddammit your timing sucks!" Claire hissed out as she held up her gun. "Any fire rounds?" Veronica shook her head.
"Used them on all Birkin."
"The old-fashioned way then."
She shot the orange bulbs till it hit the ground stunned. Luckily for them, they didn't stick around to see it come back. The door behind them clicked then swung open with a smiling Sherry behind it.
"I got it!"
"Huh, nice work, Sherry!" Claire praised.
"Handy little mouse like you, we're lucky to have you," Veronica said while grabbing Sherry's hand again.
"We make a good team," Sherry said in finality before all three broke off into a sprint again.
The next few rooms were completely on fire, but the path at least was still traversable. Then, after shooting a lone zombie that was on fire, they made it to a long bridge that stood over some weird elevator ramp system beneath them. For what they weren't sure.
"Sherry!?" Claire yelled back, "Hangin' in there?"
"We're right behind you!" she shouted back.
"I got her! Don't worry!" Veronica yelled.
"Attagirl! Think we're almost outta here!"
Once they reached the door on the other side of the bridge, they passed through finding the train platform they were looking for! A lone car of a yellow train was sitting on the circular platform that looked as if it was meant to go down.
"Claire! Maybe we can use that!?" Sherry suggested.
"Worth a try!"
They all rushed to the other side of the car where there was a tiny staircase that helped you on. Once inside they ran up to the controls to see no power. However, there was a double set joint plug sitting on the dash. It wasn't for anything in the train, but there was a small office on the side of the platform outside of the car.
"What's that for?" Veronica asked. Claire hummed in thought before turning and heading towards the train door.
"What are you doing?" Sherry asked. Claire stopped in front of her and knelt down.
"I gotta get this train moving. I need you to stay right here with Veronica, ok?"
"Ok. I promise I won't move."
"Good."
"Be careful."
Claire nodded and had taken a few steps over before Veronica suddenly reached out to grab her hand. She didn't know why but watching her go alone made her feel uneasy. Like something was going to happen.
"You sure you don't want me to go with you?" she asked.
"I just need to get the platform moving. I'll be back in a jiffy."
Veronica looked over her face for a moment before letting herself do the one thing she wanted to do all night. She quickly leaned in and kissed Claire. It was fast and simple. Mostly to get the point across. Electricity buzzed between them in a way neither had felt before. Claire was surprised for a moment before kissing back and then they pulled apart.
"Please be careful," she whispered. Claire smiled softly.
"Always."
Then she was gone and out the door. Veronica couldn't help but reach up to touch her lips. The moment of the kiss replaying in her head over and over. It made her giddy. The sound of Sherry clearing her throat had Veronica turning with pink cheeks.
"You'll understand when you're older," Veronica repeated sheepishly.
After a few moments, the lights outside the train windows began to glow and the sound of machinery moving caught their attention. Then the platform began to lower, meaning that whatever Claire did had worked. Just as Veronica was about to see what the holdup was, the sound of roaring startled everyone.
Suddenly, something large and heavy slammed onto the train roof above them causing the platform to make a sudden descent by a good amount. It made everyone's stomach swoop low like on a roller coaster, but not in the fun way. The girls screamed and Sherry ran into Veronica's arms in fear. Veronica waddled with Sherry in tow and peaked out of the window to see Claire holding a large machine gun aimed at whatever it was on the roof.
"Shit!"
The door next to her did not open since the platform was moving as a safety precaution for anyone on board. So even if Veronica wanted to go and help, she couldn't.
"Is she going to be ok?" Sherry asked worriedly.
"Claire can take care of herself. I know she will be," Veronica tried to assure her.
Though anxiously, Veronica watched from the windows as the fight raged on. Every so often she would watch as the creature, which she figured was Birkin version four, would circle the train, climb the elevator shafts walls and plummet at the platform to chase Claire around. It was determined to kill her, and she was determined to destroy it. Veronica didn't know where the giant gun came from, but it was handy.
For the whole fight, she held tightly onto Sherry at her side, keeping them by the door in case they needed to escape somehow. From what she could see Birkin had evolved into a smaller more animalistic version of itself, but there were lots of eyes and lots of sharp spikes around them. It was faster than before, but Claire was able to dodge its attacks.
"Two minutes until detonation," the automatic voice above them said. It had been counting down each minute, but the number finally caught their attention.
"Think we'll make it?" Sherry asked, her voice scared.
"I hope so, Chickadee. I hope so." Sherry pressed her face into the shirt at Veronicas waist.
"I'm glad you're here, Veronica." Said girl pet at the child's hair gently to soothe and smiled.
"Me too, Sherry."
Despite the terror, she meant that.
A loud roar made them look out the window again as they watched Birkin fall to the floor unmoving. Steam left its body as it looked like it was almost melting.
"She beat it!"
After another few seconds, the platform finally stopped at the bottom level. And with it, the door finally opened and in came bounding Claire. She placed the gun down on the ground then jogged toward the front of the car for the control panel.
"Claire!" Sherry stopped her mid-journey and ran over to hug the other girl in relief. Veronica followed quickly do the same.
"It's ok, I'm here," Claire assured them.
"So much for coming back in a jiffy," Veronica joked.
"Tell me about it. Talk about it later. We are getting outta here!"
With that said, she ran to the control panel with the other two not too far behind. They could feel the car connecting to other cars behind them as well as the rubble of the destruction around them. In front of the car was now a long tunnel, leading to the way out. Claire looked over the controls and pushed a large red lever forward.
It seemed to be the right one as the train began moving into the tunnel. The horn went off and was slow to start but it began to pick up speed. Rocks tumbled down around them, the sound of thumping hitting the ceiling like crazy. Then finally the train was going fast and away from the destruction. They were finally safe…for now.
The girls sighed in relief at the hope of finally getting out of Raccoon City. They didn't know where the train was going yet, but anywhere but there would have been great. Claire turned from the control panel to face her partner beside her. They stared at each other for a moment before finally falling into each other's arms.
They squeezed tightly, Veronica's fingers grasping onto Claire's shirt as if to make sure she stayed. Not being in the fight was terrifying to watch and Claire knew that. She was lucky.
Claire pulled back for a moment to look into her eyes before leaning in and pressing her lips to Veronicas urgently. The other girl met her with the same need. It was as if the heavens spoke 'finally'. After all of the obstacles and the distractions, the lack of time and the interruptions, they finally got to have this moment. And considering how lovely their lips melted against one another, they hoped it would happen many times more.
They didn't really taste of anything but of dirt and sweat, but there was the taste of each other that they couldn't get enough of. But they knew they weren't alone, and they still had to be on their toes, so they parted with much hesitation. Blues eyes met brown ones that stared fondly back. Tender smiles were shared as they pressed against each other's forehead, despite wanting to kiss each other silly some more, but they couldn't.
"I'm glad we got to cash in on some of those kisses," Veronica whispered. "I've been waiting all night."
"A pro shooter deserves them after everything we've been through. You have plenty more waiting for you when we're in a safe place."
The thought made Veronica's heart thump in her chest and her skin shiver but in a good way. She felt like a puddle of goo when Claire kissed her once more with a final peck then let go to check on Sherry. She could only follow with wobbly legs.
Sherry had sat herself in a corner and she totally wasn't peeking from around the machinery to watch them from a distance. The older two merely chuckled as she retreated and stared at her shoes as to not look suspicious.
"How are you feeling, Chickadee?" Veronica asked as they stood in front of her.
"I'm ok. Feeling a lot better than before."
"Good. You let us know if you feel any different, ok?" Sherry nodded. Claire knelt in front of her and sighed happily.
"So, what's the first thing you wanna do when we get outta here?" she asked. Sherry thought about it for a moment before smiling.
"I wanna see where you live."
"Good, cause I," she stood up, taking Sherry up with her, "need to take a shower."
"Yeah," she giggled while scrunching up her nose. They had become a little nose blind after everything they had been through, but in the clean space it was now catching up. They reeked.
"Really? That bad," Claire lifted her arm to jokingly sniff at. "Oh…yeah."
