37 The Raccoon City Outbreak, Part 6

Word count 9,816

"Yeah, I'm almost there… You know me, I'll be fine… Sounds good. I'll be back as soon as I find Chris… I will, but I gotta go."

Claire Redfield put the phone back, going out of the telephone booth with a wry smile.

"Why does everyone think I'm going to get in trouble?" she wondered.

*CRASH*

Claire blinked, turning her head towards the gas station.

"What the…?"

That sounded like a window breaking. She thought in confusion, before cautiously moving towards the gas station.

"Hello?" she called out.

Silence.

She frowned, putting her hand on her holstered small-caliber revolver, before shaking her head and walking towards the entrance of the gas station. Just because it was a really rainy night, and the whole place made her hair stand on end for some reason, didn't mean there was anything dangerous here.

I've watched far too many horror movies. She thought in amusement. She opened the door into the gas station, pausing in surprise when she noticed that the lights were out.

"Hello?" she called out, cautiously entering. "Anybody here?"

She frowned when she noticed a lit flashlight laying on the ground, taking it before using it to try and better see into the building.

"Hello?" she called out again. She frowned harder when she saw bloodstains on the ground, not helped by the sounds of struggling coming from further in the building.

She continued onward, though she froze when after turning a corner she saw a police officer sitting still against a wall, a massive, bloody gash at his throat, his dead eyes staring forward.

"God… What is going on here?" she whispered, taking her SLS 60 from her holster.

She slowly moved forward, going inside the employees only part of the building and up the corridor towards the room where the sounds of struggle were coming from, opening the door to reveal-

Her eyes widened when she saw another police officer struggling with a man covered in blood.

"Excuse me, is everything ok?!" she asked, even knowing the answer was obviously not. The officer turned towards her, his eyes widening at the sight of her currently shining the torch towards their direction.

"Stay back ma'am, you must-"

And then Claire's jaw dropped in shock as the man covered in blood used the moment of inattention to get the upper hand, both men falling on the ground and then-

"Aaagh!"

Claire froze, the blood in her veins turning to ice when the man covered in blood sank his teeth in the police officer's neck, tearing a whole chunk of bloody meat out of him.

"Oh my God!" she whispered in horrified shock.

"Get off him! I said, GET OFF HIM!" she screamed, a mix of horror and rage at what she was currently seeing, and she pointed her gun at the apparent cannibal.

The cannibal slowly raised his head to look at her, and her eyes widened at the sight of milky-white eyes staring with mindless hunger at her.

The cannibal slowly got up, before taking a step towards her.

"Don't come any closer!" she warned, her voice firm despite the terror she felt. The cannibal took another step, and she shot him in the right shoulder. To her shock and horror, the cannibal hardly reacted, pausing only a moment before taking another step.

"I warned you…" she whispered, before shooting the next bullet in his head. The cannibal's head snapped back… before returning back in its original position, a dark, oozing red hole on his forehead.

He took another step. Claire stared at him in even greater shock, but the many hours of training with her brother made her instinctively pull the trigger again. The bullet caused the cannibal's head to snap back again… before he returned his focus on her, despite the man's right eye having popped from her shot.

Again, instinct made her fire a third shot, and she let out a long breath she hadn't even noticed she had taken when he finally fell on his back on the ground, unmoving. For a moment, she just stared at the two corpses on the ground, before she reloaded her gun.

Then, she slowly moved closer, her heart beating harder than it ever did in her 19 years of life.

"What the fuck?" she asked softly, taking in the sight of the unnaturally white skin with bulging black veins of the cannibal, its one remaining eye being unnaturally white staring blankly at the ceiling. She shook her head, feeling completely lost at what the hell was happening, before turning back and walking towards the exit-

A low moan behind her made her freeze. Slowly, she turned, her heart beating so hard in her chest she was afraid it was going to explode-

And then she froze again, wide blue eyes staring in horror and terror at the cannibal who was rising to his feet, his one good eye fixed upon her filled with mindless hunger.

"No way… you can't be alive…" she whispered.

The cannibal (or was it undead?) obviously didn't care about her words or any concern about what should and shouldn't be possible, as he, no, it slowly took a step towards her.

She didn't even try to shoot it again. She just stumbled back in fear and then ran towards the door she came from, smashing through it only to stop in horror when several low moans echoed in the room she had thought safe. Somehow, two more of those… zombies? were inside, and she quickly ran towards the entrance, eager to leave this place as quickly as possible.

"It's like... a nightmare…" she muttered to herself, avoiding the grabbing attempt of a zombie and running towards the entrance of the gas station-

Only for it to suddenly open, an incredibly tall guy wearing a long black coat, armed with some kind of glowing blue gun staring hard at her with narrowed black eyes, pointing the gun at her face. 'Is that a tricorn hat?' she wondered why he would wear something so ancient.

At any other moment, Claire would have enjoyed the sight of someone who looks like a supermodel staring at her with such focus, but the apparent laser gun pointed at her face and the undead moans behind her really shattered the moment.

So instead, she put her hands in the air and screamed. "Wait, don't shoot!"

His eyes narrowed. "Get down." he ordered with a commanding voice the likes of which she only ever heard from her brother when he was serious, and she immediately knelt.

"Raagh-"

*FWOOSH*

Claire felt the heat of the bright blue bolt passing over her head, and when she turned she saw the smoking remains of a zombie missing most of its upper body. Her mind boggled slightly at the sight, because seriously what kind of gun is that?

Still, she didn't waste time and immediately got up and headed for the door out of this hell, pausing a second when she heard the more familiar sounds of gunfire from outside the gas station.

"We gotta get out of here!" she said to the man currently looking around the room for any other zombies. She swore she caught a glint of amusement in his eyes at her words, though she had already passed him by, and made her way out of the building before she could truly confirm.

Once she was outside however, she stopped, staring at the dozens of zombies slowly coming closer to them, another man with blonde hair and blue eyes looking at the approaching zombies with a mix of fear and determination in his eyes.

"You alright?" came the calm voice of the tall man with the glowing gun, glancing at her with a measure of concern. She swallowed, raising her firearm towards the incoming zombies before nodding at him.

"Yeah… I think so. Thanks." she replied, because he did kill the zombie about to jump on her.

He nodded, his eyes calmly staring at the many zombies coming closer.

"Thanks me if you survive to make it out of here. For now…" he turned towards the blonde man. "Leon! Move your ass to the police car, we are getting out of here!"

The blonde man, Leon apparently, turned toward the man at her right and nodded once, before making his way towards the car in question.

Then the man at her side pushed her towards the car too.

"Get in there too! I'll cover you while you get inside!"

Claire opened her mouth to… ask about how he was going to handle so many zombies, or perhaps something else. Her words died out in her throat, however, when he drew another glowing blue gun, and began firing, deadly accurate blue bolts leaving smoking, headless corpses falling to the ground.

Deciding not to question someone who was obviously competent enough to know what he was doing, she got in the car and strapped on her seatbelt while Leon started it up. The keys were thankfully already in the car. Meanwhile, the tall man with the futuristic firearms slowly walked up to the car, killing zombies at every step, until he reached the door by her side.

"Right! Leon, floor it!"

And then in a swift move, he put his guns inside his coat, opened the door, and got himself inside in a second, before Leon quickly floored the gas and drove the car out of the gas station. For a while, Claire simply stared forward, her heart pounding in her chest, before she turned to the two men in the car.

"What the hell is going on?" she demanded.

"I don't know. Ask him, he seemed to know more. I just arrived here and met him outside." replied Leon, and she turned towards the man at the back. He threw an amused look at Leon, before nodding towards her.

"Right. But first, let's start with introductions, yes? I'm Aeon, leader of ISIS and one of the people in charge of Insight Corp."

Claire blinked. "That big pharmaceutical company?"

"The very same!" cheerfully replied Aeon. "And ISIS is the armed branch of the company. Why we need an armed branch is a long story I'm going to explain after the introductions are done."

"Right. Well I'm Leon, Leon Kennedy. I'm a cop… first day on the job." replied Leon, a wry smile on his lips at his words.

Aeon snorted. "Hell of a first day, isn't it rookie?"

Leon scoffed, a slight sardonic smile on his lips.

"You could say that, yeah."

Claire blinked. So she was with a cop and the leader of a paramilitary group, and they were driving away from zombies. Did her life become some kind of crazy movie when she didn't notice? She shook the thought away and smiled.

"I'm Claire. Claire Redfield." She introduced herself.

"Redfield? Are you Chris' sister?" suddenly asked Aeon, and she immediately turned towards him, hope burning in her chest.

"Yes! I'm here to find my brother, I haven't heard from him in months! Do you know him?" she questioned, excitement clear in her voice at finally getting news of her brother.

Aeon frowned for a moment, before nodding.

"Yeah, I met him during the Mansion Incident that happened a few months back. You won't find him in Raccoon City though, he left for Europe a while back. Went to investigate Umbrella, you see, after what happened in the Arklay Mountains."

Claire blinked, both relieved to hear her brother was apparently doing alright, since what she had heard about the recent deaths in the S.T.A.R.S. made her concerned, but she was a bit annoyed he apparently left for Europe without telling her anything. Aeon must have seen it in her expression, because he shook his head.

"Don't blame him, circumstances forced him to be careful about who he got into contact with recently. From what I know, he left a letter to one of his teammates, Jill Valentine, he told you about her?"

She nodded.

"Right, he left a letter for her to give you, but…" he waved. "Well, things went a bit crazy lately around here, so Jill wasn't able to give it to you."

She let out a long breath, happy her brother was far from here, but that still left many questions. Such as…

"Okay, thanks for telling me about what my brother's up to." she said with a grateful smile at Aeon, before turning serious. "Still, do you know what's up with… everything, really? Because I could have sworn we just fought zombies!" she exclaimed.

"I'd like some answers, too." spoke up Leon.

Aeon stared at them for a few seconds, before sighing.

"Alright, I suppose you might as well get some answers, considering what hell we are heading towards. I won't have time to get into too much detail, but I can give you a summary, at least."

"That'd be appreciated." commented Leon.

Aeon nodded… and then began explaining everything to them, about Umbrella, the t-Virus, the G-Virus, Insight Corp. and ISIS, Blackwatch, the Mansion Incident and the Raccoon City Outbreak among others. Leon and Claire listened in growing disbelief and horror at the sheer scale of what was actually going on in Raccoon City, a stunned silence only broken by Aeon revealing more and more secrets as horrifying as they were ground-shattering.

By the time he fell silent, when Raccoon City's streets came into view, burnt cars and corpses littering the streets, it took everything Claire had to remain calm. Zombies existed, monsters straight out of nightmares were literally mass produced by amoral corporations and governments alike, and the world was in reality one bad day away from total destruction, in the event things went horribly wrong and the t-Virus managed to spread beyond Raccoon City.

It sounded like madness… but Claire remembered the zombie that had killed that police officer awhile back, remembered how many bullets it took without dying, and she swallowed hard at the thought of those things spreading across the world. And worse, she was heading straight into a city full of those things. Though she was also trying not to think of the Mansion Incident, as Aeon had called it, in which a good number of her brother's teammates died. From what Aeon had told her, her brother could have very well been one of those casualties, turning into nothing more than another flesh-eating zombie.

The memories of the police officer's screams and dead body flashed through her mind, and she imagined her brother as either one of them…

She swallowed hard, bile rising up her throat at the very thought.

"Hey, you alright?"

Claire jumped, startled at the sudden sound of Aeon's voice that had fallen silent after he was done speaking, and she looked at him with wide blue eyes for a moment… before releasing a shuddering breath, noticing Leon glancing at her with equal concern in his own eyes.

"Yeah. Yeah, I'll be fine. It's just… a lot to take in."

Leon scoffed. "That's one way to put it. If I hadn't seen them with my own eyes…" he trailed off, looking grim, hands clenching tightly around the wheel. Claire had nothing to say to that, and neither did Aeon if his silence was anything to go by.

So instead, they kept on driving, going further towards the city of the dead.

"Right. Before anything else, I need to give you two a few things."

Claire blinked, torn out of her thoughts by the sound of Aeon's voice. She turned, seeing Aeon take something out of his coat and extending a hand towards them, revealing two… injections? She glanced at him, curiosity in her eyes.

"The vaccine for the t-Virus. When you can, inject yourself. It'll ensure that you won't turn into one of them if you're bitten."

Claire's eyes zeroed in on the injections, and she could see Leon glancing at them too. No wonder, considering they could be the difference between life and… well, undeath.

With a trembling hand, she took one, while Leon took the other. She stared at it for a moment, before glancing at Aeon who nodded at her.

"Right, and my second gift for you two are these."

He took out two… guns? They didn't look like any she knew, though they certainly looked dangerous.

"Las-pistols. Regular firearms aren't that good against infected, but las-pistols and lasguns are. So here, take them."

Claire took the guns, passing one to Leon who glanced at it curiously for a moment before putting it in one of his pockets.

"It's really simple to use, just point and shoot. There's no recoil however, so keep that in mind."

She nodded.

"Say, why were you at the gas station, Aeon? I mean, you are apparently the leader of over a hundred soldiers fighting in Raccoon City right now, so why go out of the city?" wondered Leon.

"A favor to Lieutenant Branagh. I heard he had sent two of his men to check the south of the city to see for themselves how bad the situation was, but then lost contact with them. I had no pressing places to be at the time, so I decided to check it out. Things are going well enough down in the underground of the city that I could afford a detour, and use the time to scout out the area. It was either that or send a squad to check, and a single person moving is easier to hide than a team."

Leon nodded.

"Is it really alright for you to leave your troops, though? I mean, aren't you their leader?" wondered Claire.

Aeon smiled. "I am, but I often leave overall command to Captain Geary. I'm the best soldier in ISIS, so I often go on the more dangerous missions. Basically, I go wherever I am most needed, and Captain Geary is more than competent enough to handle overall command while I focus on leading charges, holding chokepoints, and doing risky scouting missions."

"So you're basically pulling double duty as a commanding officer and a special forces soldier?" replied Leon, sounding impressed.

"Pretty much."

"Huh..."

The conversation died down, all three of them focusing on their surroundings as they drove deeper into the city, at least until they were forced to stop when the way ahead was blocked by a blockade of dozens of cars.

"Looks like we're walking from here." commented Leon.

"Agreed. I know the safest route to get to ISIS lines, though I can't be certain it's still safe now. The situation in Raccoon City is always changing… though it's for the better lately." replied Aeon.

"... Um, guys? Maybe we should start running." said Claire, eyes locked on two zombies outside eating a corpse laying on the ground.

Leon leaned forward and saw the same thing she did, a concerned frown on his face.

"Yeah, good call…"

"Too late." calmly replied Aeon, and a second later Claire screamed in shock when the car shook when a number of zombies suddenly slammed against it from all around them.

Where did they come from?! Thought Claire in fear, clenching hard the las-pistol Aeon had given her.

"Leon, we gotta back up!" she shouted.

"Incoming truck from behind! Hold on, everyone, things are about to get wild!" shouted Aeon in response, and both Claire and Leon turned, their eyes going wide at the sight of the truck driving at high speed straight towards them.

"Holy shit!" whispered Leon, voice wavering in fear.

He turned towards her, screaming. "Claire, we need to get out! Now!"

"Too late! We're surrounded by zombies, you get out, you die! Just make sure your belt is on and hold tight! Don't forget to get out of the car as soon as the crash is over!" shouted Aeon, and Claire hesitated, torn between wanting to get out of the car and stay inside, not knowing whether the zombies or the truck were the greatest danger.

She turned, seeing Leon try and fail to open the door at his side because of the zombie trying to get in, and made her choice. Her brother always told her that in a dangerous situation, she needed to remain calm and think carefully about her options, and right now, she trusted Aeon to know what he was doing.

He was apparently some kind of elite soldier, right? Leon might be a cop, but he was a rookie on his first day on the job. She'd rather trust the opinion of a professional. So she quickly checked her belt and then tried to prepare herself the best she could for the incoming crash.

Unknown to her, the driver of the truck had been bitten by a zombie at the outskirts of the city, and finally passed out from a mix of the pain, blood loss and the t-Virus infection growing stronger. The truck went to crash into the cars on the side of the road instead of them, before flipping on the side and crashing at high speed, slamming into the back of the police car they were in... but not as badly as it could have been.

Ears ringing and her sense of balance fucked over by the crash, Claire vaguely remembered Aeon's order to get out of the car after the crash, slowly opening the door and walking out, stumbling badly as she went.

"Claire, we need to run!" came the muffled voice of Aeon, who suddenly took her by the shoulders and dragged her away. She turned toward him, blinking, and then looked behind her just in time to flinch when the police car they were in blew up.

What caught her attention however, was the fire spreading from the car towards the truck.

The fuel truck.

Claire's blood turned into ice in her veins yet again tonight.

"Oh, shit!"

She turned away, focusing on running away from Aeon-

*KA-BOOM!*

"Aaagh!"

Claire screamed as she was sent flying into the air by the massive explosion of the truck, barely having the time to register Aeon's arms going around her before feeling his chest pressing against her back-

And then she heard Aeon grunt when they violently impacted a car which stood in the way, her smaller body thankfully being cushioned by Aeon's larger one, preventing any damage done to her. She coughed, quickly kneeling on the ground and glancing at the man who had protected her, her blue eyes widening at the sight of the heavily bent doors of the car they had impacted, the metal clearly showing where Aeon had violently impacted it by how bent it had become.

"Aeon! You alright?" she shouted, scrambling towards him.

"Yeah, I'm fine. Trust me, I had it worse before." the man shook his head, before looking at the fuel truck on fire and then at the burning police car.

She gave him a concerned glance anyway, because she really doubted he could just walk off slamming that hard into a car considering the damage said car was showing, but she nonetheless turned towards the burning police car herself. She swallowed hard at the sight. She and Aeon made it, but what about-

"Claire! Aeon! You all OK?!"

She let out a breath she hadn't even noticed taking, relief flooding her at the shouts coming from Leon from the other side of the burning vehicles. They all survived the crash. Thank God!

She got up, glancing at Aeon who did the same without showing a hint of pain despite what had happened. Either he was as tough as he looked, or he was putting up a show for her sake.

A concern for later, she thought.

"Yeah! We're alright! What about you?" she shouted back.

There was a pause, before Leon replied.

"I can't stay here, it's not safe!" he shouted, and Claire finally took a moment to look around, finally noticing all the zombies in the street who were looking right at her and Aeon, who already had his two plasma guns primed and ready to fire.

Claire quickly took in hand the las-pistol he had given her, glancing at all the zombies in fear.

"Oh, shit…" she whispered.

"Leon, go ahead! We'll meet you at the station!" Shouted Aeon towards Leon. She heard him shout an agreement, before Aeon took her by the shoulder and dragged her away.

"Stay close." he declared grimly, leveling one of his guns and blowing the upper half of a zombie standing in their way a second later.

"Right… right. Can't stop, gotta keep moving…" she said softly, pointing her new gun at another zombie's head, her eyes widening when a red laser bolt promptly melted the head of the zombie to almost nothing, the now headless corpse dropping dead on the ground.

Yeah, okay, laser and plasma guns are sooo much better than my own. She thought with relief.

After seeing what happened with the zombie she tried to kill with bullets, having a gun that could actually kill zombies in one shot was incredibly comforting.

As she and Aeon made their way through a side-street, the sounds of undead and the cold rain falling making her shiver and wish she had decided to wear something a bit more warm than just a pair of shorts and a shirt under her red jacket, the sight and sounds of so much destruction and death made her tremble in fear.

"It's like the end of the world…" she whispered.

Aeon scoffed. "Nah, far from it. Hell, we should be able to launch an offensive to get to the police station and the surrounding streets soon. Don't worry, Claire, things are far from as bad as it could be."

He fell silent, before whispering a few words with what she thought was grim satisfaction.

"I made sure of it. There won't be a second Yharnam on my watch."

She couldn't help but be confused and curious about what he was speaking about, but then they turned a corner and the sight of the police station made her focus on more important matters.

"The police station! We're almost there!"

Aeon nodded.

"Yes, but we'll have to be careful. Ever since it fell, it definitely can't be considered safe. Still, it's better than staying out in the street, so let's get going."

They ran onwards, Aeon killing any zombies standing in their way with Claire's help, until they finally made it to the courtyard of the police station, Claire immediately locking the gates while Aeon killed any zombies that ran towards them before she was done.

Then she stepped back, sighing in relief as the zombies were stuck outside the courtyard, trying and failing utterly to reach them. She then quickly made her way inside the police station, happy to no longer be stared at by the hungry undead and drenched further by the cold rain.

Taking a moment to enjoy the warmth of the police station entrance, especially with the lack of zombies in said room, she finally turned towards her companion, at last able to take a good look at him under the lights of the room and with the fact they were no longer in danger… at least for now.

The fact that he had taken his hat off and was shaking the water off of it certainly helped her have a good look at him. And there was only one thing to be said about the man, now that she had a good look at him.

Hot. Damn!

Claire had seen and met many cute guys in her life, even dated them (quite a few at the same time, too), but this guy blew them all out of the water without even trying, especially when the guy's body made it clear he definitely did not skip leg day. She had been right, he was like a real-life representation of the tall, dark, and handsome stranger that many women dreamt of meeting.

She shook her head. As happy as she always was to meet new people, especially when they were handsome guys she wouldn't mind getting to know better, there was something she needed to do first.

"Thank you." she declared, causing Aeon to turn towards her, blinking.

"For what?" he asked, sounding confused.

For killing the zombies at the gas station. For revealing what has to be secret information about what is going on in this city when me and Leon asked. And finally…

"Well, when the fuel truck exploded, you protected me, right? I saw the way the doors were bent after you crashed into it. That had to hurt, but you didn't even hesitate to protect me. So… thanks."

Aeon blinked, but shrugged. "It really wasn't anything impressive, but sure? Besides, I'm here to help this city and any civilians caught up in this mess, of course I'd protect you."

Then he paused and grinned.

"That, and you're pretty cute. I can't leave a beautiful woman like you to get hurt on my watch now, can I?"

Claire snorted, smirking at him.

"Like what you see, Aeon?" she replied, crossing her arms under her breasts and pushing them up.

Dealing with zombies and fighting for her life wasn't something she knew too much about, but flirting with a pretty boy she'd have loved to pick up at a bar on any other day? That, she knew about. Aeon's smirk widened.

"Not as much as when you saw when you looked at me, if the way you stared when I was getting the water out of my hat was anything to go by."

She blushed slightly at getting caught, but only grinned wider.

"No more afraid of flirting that you are fighting zombies, are you?"

She frowned in thought.

"Speaking of which, I might be wrong, but when you talked about Insight Corp. and the two women leading it alongside you-"

"Oedon is my wife, Lucy is our girlfriend… and more recently Jill Valentine and Rebecca Chambers joined in." he replied with a smirk.

She blinked.

"Huh, so that's how it feels…" she muttered to herself.

Aeon raised an eyebrow, and Claire shrugged.

"I had quite a few boyfriends in high school and college, more often than not at the same time, so I really can't say anything."

Aeon tilted his head at her words.

"Not anymore?"

She shook her head. "I recently had to move for my studies, so while I am still friends with quite a few people, I'm not in any relationship right now."

Aeon hummed in understanding.

"Well, I met all the women I am currently with while in one fight to the death or another, so… in my experience, fighting together with your life on the line causes people to bond pretty rapidly."

She grinned at him, not missing the underlying implication that this was exactly what they were dealing with right now. For a few seconds, they stayed in comfortable silence, before Claire tilted her head.

"Did we seriously spend several minutes talking about our love lifes?"

Aeon shrugged. "Well it was either flirting with a pretty woman or fighting more zombies, so it really wasn't a question in my mind."

Claire laughed.

Yes, she and Aeon were going to get along just fine.

Less than half an hour ago, USS Delta Team 'Wolfpack'

"Management needs you at the Raccoon City Police Department. Umbrella had a secret arrangement with the former Police Chief Brian Irons, guaranteeing the cooperation and discretion of the Police Department. However, with his arrest, pieces of information implicating Umbrella in a variety of… 'morally questionable' activities have been discovered. Get rid of this intel and make sure there aren't any police officers left to report anything. The prospect of extraction is high if this mission is a success."

"Copy. We're on it." replied Lupo.

"Good! Time is at a premium so get a move on, Wolfpack. Over and out."

"Maybe after this we can finally get out of here." commented Vector.

"About time." darkly muttered Beltway.

"Focus. We can't afford to fuck this up." ordered Lupo, and the team went quiet.

Because she was right, they really couldn't. The whole situation was a mess, and one which was becoming more and more costly for Umbrella. Especially when the company's enemies were somehow managing to contain the outbreak.

Last she heard, the underground was now being aggressively cleared by ISIS troops in the south and by Blackwatch in the north, and there were indications that ISIS and the surviving RPD officers were hoping to take back the police station soon.

And that wasn't going into the all-out war going on up north between the surviving USS soldiers and Blackwatch soldiers, one that the USS was losing.

In short, Raccoon City was becoming increasingly hostile to all Umbrella forces, and even the damn infected were starting to run out of numbers as the vaccine from Insight Corp. ensured they couldn't make more zombies.

A fact that Blackwatch leadership, amongst others, were more and more certain of, and USS Command had told Wolfpack that additional forces had been granted by the US government to try and take back the city.

All of that and more only furthered Wolfpack's desire to get out of this damned place before the nooses closed around their necks. Thus, it was with a mix of hope and grim determination that Wolfpack fought their way to the Police Station, before finally entering the building.

"We're in, Command. No signs of survivors so far." reported Lupo as they entered from a roof entrance.

"The intel you're looking for is in the Police Chief's office. Take care of it."

"Copy that, on our way."

They made their way towards the, thankfully, nearby office, searching said office for a moment before finally finding the problematic reports.

It was with outright relief that they burned it all to ash.

"There." confirmed Beltway.

"That's it?"

"That's it. Now we can get out of here." declared Beltway, much to the satisfaction of the entire team.

"It's about time. Management has been getting nervous. That should be it for Raccoon City. Now get out of there and we'll arrange your extraction."

And with that, Wolfpack was finally free to fight their way out of the building with renewed strength born from hope and relief at finally putting an end to this FUBAR of a mission.

Any infected standing their way was slaughtered with extreme prejudice, as if their very existence was a personal affront to the entire team.

And finally they made it outside-

*KA-BOOM!*

The entire team turned as one towards the direction of a sudden explosion, the air ringing with the moans of the undead that were attracted by the sounds.

"You think whoever that was died?" wondered Lupo.

"Probably?" replied Vector, not overly concerned in the face of finally being extracted.

"Delta Team, your priorities have changed. Extraction is postponed. Get over there and examine the crash site. Management doesn't have any more patience for this!" ordered Command, the voice sounding thoroughly pissed off at the unexpected development potentially getting in the way at the last minute.

Wolfpack glanced at one another in silence for a long moment, in disbelief at the order being given and their extraction being postponed again, but they slowly did as asked, moving towards the nearby street where the explosion happened.

"Is Command serious? Who cares if whoever it was that did this survived, they are not the only ones who will manage to survive the outbreak!" darkly grumbled Vector, hands clenched angrily around his weapon.

"Shut it, Vector. We go there, confirm that anyone around is probably dead, and then Command gives us our extraction. Now's not the time to complain." replied Lupo.

Vector grunt. "And if there are survivors?"

"Then we let them be or kill them, as Command decides, then we get our extraction." Lupo replied.

Vector grunted again, obviously not happy, but understanding, much like the rest of the team, that this really wasn't the moment to try anything, especially with extraction so close at hand!

So naturally, when they turned the corner of the street and found a blonde man with a gun (and not a laspistol like so many have in Raccoon City) who demanded to know who they were while introducing himself as a cop, things went straight to hell.

Mostly because the moment they began pointing their guns towards him, because cop, he ran off into an underground parking lot and closed the steel door down.

"Find that cop and kill him!" shouted Command.

"On it!" growled Vector, obviously thoroughly done with this city.

They covered him as he opened up the entrance, killing any incoming zombies, before they all rushed to the parking lot.

Vector saw the cop further ahead and took the shot, but Lupo growled when he missed, and the cop ducked and ran.

"I'm not one of those things! Stop shooting!" the cop shouted, before running off into a side-entrance and locking the doors behind him.

Oh, and to make matters worse, a whole pack of Lickers promptly appeared from the air ducts and began attacking them, forcing them to hold position and fight for several minutes to kill them all.

By the time they were all dead, the conclusion was obvious: the cop could be anywhere now.

"We lost him." grimly declared Lupo.

"You lost him?! Damn!"

They opened the doors, moving after the cop but not truly confident they could track him down.

And then Command spoke up.

"Management has run out of patience. We're going with Plan B. Delta Team, you're on your own…" spitefully declared Command before cutting off communication.

"... Do we know anything about Plan B?" wondered Vector.

"Maybe just a bad transmission, yeah?" joked Beltway, through there was a grim undertone to his words.

"Maybe." replied Vector, no more believing it than the rest of the team.

No, they all had a very bad feeling about this…

Claire kept turning the mechanism down until-

"There!" declared Aeon, taking the metal medallion now freed from the statue it was in and holding it up with a grin. Claire blinked, before looking at the medallion curiously.

"Huh, guess you might be right… Let's try it, then."

They went down the stairs, put it in one of the holes for the medallion in the statue there, and Claire blinked again when part of the base of the stone statue in front of them fell down, partially revealing a hidden entrance.

"Well damn. There really is a secret passage." said Claire, staring with surprise at the partially revealed entrance.

"Told ya." smugly said Aeon.

Claire shook her head with a smile, before looking at him.

"Okay, so we need to find the other two."

She paused.

"Remind me again why those three medallions were separated when the RPD apparently knew of that passage?"

"Because we didn't want to let anyone from Umbrella know of it, and considering the amount of zombies we came across that were killed by bullets in the station, they most likely did send a team in this place at some point?"

"Fair enough. Alright then, let's track down those medallions!"

"After you, my lady." grinned Aeon.

She snorted. "Chivalrous, are we? Except, you know, for the whole 'zombies everywhere'."

She paused, before grinning at him. "That, or you want to stare at my ass."

Aeon raised an eyebrow. "It's a damn fine ass." he replied without shame nor hesitation. Claire's grin widened. So far, Aeon appeared to be almost impossible to embarrass and very bold in his flirting, though the second part might have to do with her flirting back just as shamelessly.

Hey, it's been some time since Claire got a boyfriend, a rare state of affairs for her, and Aeon was incredibly handsome. Also, Claire liked soldiers and cops. She blamed her brother for introducing her to many of those. Still, she almost snorted at a thought:

Got into Raccoon City to find my brother, ended up fighting zombies and getting a (possible) boyfriend. Funny how the world works sometimes.

She shook her head and then glanced at Aeon.

"Problem with that is that I don't know where to go, and you do. So why don't you go first instead?"

Aeon smirked and opened his mouth-

"Yes, I'm totally going to stare at your ass. That's a problem?" she asked with a smirk of her own.

At this point, she was flirting back as much because of interest as it was because she wanted to try and make Aeon blush.

Surely he had to have some limits, right?

"Nope!" he replied cheerfully, before boldly passing by her and walking away. She followed, frowning after a moment.

Dammit, that black longcoat of his hid everything…

Aeon turned his head back, smirking smugly at her for a second.

She growled. The bastard knew!

Fine then! She was Claire Redfield, the woman that all the girls looked up to with awe and jealousy in high school and college, and she wasn't going to get defeated when it comes to flirting without putting up a fight! She was going to turn this man into a blushing mess if that was the last thing she did!

… Hopefully not literally, considering the countless zombies present in this damn city.

I cautiously walked through the bloody corridor, Claire closely behind me as I did.

Claire Redfield may have had some training in combat thanks to her brother, but my [Empathy] made it clear that she was thoroughly out of her depth here. I suspected her desire to flirt was partially fueled by a desire for stability, because considering what I knew of her flirting was something she could do without even really thinking about. And considering the way she tensed at almost every new sound coming from around us and how she stayed very close to me, she badly needed that stability.

She was still a civilian after all, even if a trained one with a strong will to keep going despite hardship. The fact we came across two victims of a Licker not long after leaving the main hall probably didn't help her nerves.

Still, I knew she could have handled it on her own if need be, and she needed experience fighting zombies, so I made sure to show her the ropes while at the same time letting her handle most hostiles we encountered while making our way through the police station.

Honestly, I had several reasons to be here, besides getting to know Claire Redfield. Making sure she and Sherry survived was one, killing as many zombies around the police station as possible for the future counter-attack was another.

I did take the time to contact Marvin and let him know about the two dead police officers, but at least neither he nor that blonde cop who canonically got cut in two in front of Claire's eyes were going to die here, so that was a good change to the timeline. Certainly, it'll give less nightmare fuel for Claire to worry about.

I did use the time we now had to talk with her about more of what was going on, and a few useful tips such as everything to do with the colored healing herbs which could be found throughout Raccoon City. I also gave her a lot of fighting tips against all the types of enemies that could be found in Raccoon City too, though hearing of all the things that wanted to eat us all didn't really help her feel safe…

"Really?" she asked, sounding somewhere between disbelieving and horrified that it might be true.

"Really." I replied grimly.

She swallowed. "That really… giant worms, and… people…" she trailed off, a far-away look in her eyes.

"Yeah. More horrors due to Umbrella."

She looked at me with wide eyes.

"And you fight things like that? Over and over again? How…"

She trailed off.

I chuckled darkly. "How am I still sane? How can I keep going? That's what you're thinking?"

She grimaced and looked away.

"I didn't…"

"Claire…" I sighed.

"This isn't the first time, for me. I've gone through something much like it before, except… worse. Far worse. And you know what I thought about it, at the end? Never again."

I chuckled darkly. "But then, here we are, aren't we? Humanity…"

I fell silent. "Humanity so does love its heroes and its villains. And this world is filled with them. And if not me… who else has the power, skills, and knowledge to win this war with as little death or destruction as possible? And yet, even then…"

I shook my head.

"This world is not a kind place, Claire, it only hid that truth until now. Most people, people like you, they think they are safe. That they will never need to worry about anything besides getting a job, a lover, a family, and then live their lives. But those like me… we know otherwise. And so, we have to make a choice. Side with evil, do nothing, or fight for our right to live in peace. I just made my choice on the matter long ago."

Claire stayed silent, blue eyes troubled as we kept walking.

"And my brother made his choice too, didn't he?" she eventually asked softly.

I nodded. "Yes. After what happened in the Arklay Mountains… he and most of the surviving S.T.A.R.S. refused to look away from the ugly truth they discovered. Not after the lives they paid to learn it."

Claire followed after Aeon, a deep frown on her face as she thought deeply on everything he had told her, even as she tried to remain wary of her surroundings. As he had put it, you never know when you might get attacked in a city full of monsters.

But despite the risks, she couldn't help but be lost in thought. What Aeon said… he wasn't wrong. Before tonight, her greatest concerns were her studies and her current lack of a boyfriend. But now, she had to worry about getting killed by zombies, about a conspiracy concerning bio-organic weapons of war, about the very real possibility that the entire world might one day be destroyed due to mutated monsters…

Sure, she had taken the vaccine Aeon had given her and Leon so she shouldn't have to fear turning into one of… them, but even so…

What about the rest of the world? And hell, what about her brother? Who was, even now, apparently investigating Umbrella in Europe?

Less than two hours ago, her biggest concern was why her brother hadn't contacted her in over a month.

Now, she had to worry about a potential apocalypse, though thankfully, the one in Raccoon City was apparently being contained.

She glanced at Aeon. One of the men in charge of containing said apocalypse scenario, and apparently not for the first time. She wasn't sure how there could have been another Raccoon City in the past… but then again, no one outside the city knew about what was going on here, did they?

Somehow, the US government had managed to keep the truth of the events here a secret, and well enough that no one outside of this place knew that anything beyond a "radioactive spill" was going on.

And considering everything else Aeon had told her…

Just how much did she truly know about the world, really? Just how many secrets were out there, hidden behind one conspiracy or another?

… Just how fragile was human civilization, really?

Claire froze when something jumped across the window at the end of the corridor they were walking in, at about three stories high.

"What was that?" she asked.

"Licker." calmly replied Aeon.

"... As in, those monsters whose tongue can act like a spear?"

"Yup."

"Shit."

"Nah, it's alright. They are pretty much blind, so as long as we walk slowly we could pass by one and it won't notice us… probably."

"Probably?!"

Aeon laughed softly.

"Well it's a good thing you're with a guy armed with plasma guns, eh?"

And then Aeon walked onward, seemingly without a care in the world.

She glared at his back and followed, not anywhere as confident as he was, but she pushed on, regardless of her fears. A few seconds later however, she finally noticed something odd.

Aeon didn't make any noise when he walked. As in, no sound at all. Even here, when he was seemingly walking without a care about possible danger, he was still more silent than Claire was while trying to be stealthy.

She couldn't help but be impressed, and a little freaked out, at the sight of a seven-foot tall giant of a man walking around without making a sound. Something that huge shouldn't be that silent! Still, they managed to reach the next statue without issues, and Claire quickly got to work on it.

"I've got it!" she shouted with both joy and relief when she got the second medallion.

*SKKKRRRRREEEEECCCHHH-*

*FWOOSH*

"What the-"

Claire stopped, blinking at the sight of Aeon calmly staring at the smoking corpse of some kind of mutated… thing dead on the ground in front of him. He turned towards her, some amusement in his eyes.

"Next time, shout louder, that way I'll be able to kill all the Lickers in the building when they'll come charging at us."

She blushed. She was just so relieved at getting the second medallion without anything trying to kill them that she… she fucked up. And if Aeon hadn't been there, she might not have survived it. She gulped and looked away.

"Sorry."

He sighed. "It's alright, no harm done. I understand, you aren't used to being on a battlefield. Just… be more careful, please? I can handle it, but if you end up on your own, that's the kind of mistake that can get you killed."

She nodded, silently promising to herself that she wouldn't make the same mistake again.

"Now come on. The last of the medallions is nearby, and then we'll check to see if Leon is near the building using the security cameras, yeah?"

Claire's eyes widened, before she nodded firmly. She hadn't thought to use those to see if Leon was nearby, but if he was…

They crossed through the library in the next room to reach the third and final statue, and this time, they thankfully weren't attacked after getting the third medallion.

Then they returned to the main hall, Aeon using a computer to look at the still functioning security camera…

And showing Leon stuck waiting outside of the building.

"Oh my God, he made it!" she exclaimed.

"Indeed. Come on, I know where he is. Let's go see how he is doing so far."

They went to the east side of the building, but Aeon stopped and frowned, looking in the distance soon after.

"You hear that?" he asked.

She tilted her head, before frowning too. "A helicopter?"

"Sounds like it, but I don't think it's one of ISIS… And it sounds as if it's coming closer?"

He shook his head. "A problem for later. Come on, let's see-"

*CRAAASH!*

"Whoa!" shouted Claire as she almost lost her balance as the entire building shook.

"What the hell was that?"

Aeon walked forward quickly, opening the door to the courtyard outside and stopping. She followed, before stopping to blinked in shock at the sight in front of her.

"Is that-"

"A helicopter half-buried through the police station? Yup."

Any further examination of the crash was interrupted by Leon shouting from beyond the wire barricades around the courtyard.

"Hey! Claire! Aeon!"

Claire ran downstairs, followed by Aeon, and she smiled widely at the cop on the other side of the gates.

"Leon! We really need to stop meeting like this." she said.

"Agreed. Next time, I'll even bring tea and biscuits." joked Aeon.

Leon smirked, relaxing slightly at the way they were greeting him.

"You alright?" he asked, probably just to make sure.

His eyes settled on the crash police chopper.

"That chopper came out of nowhere." he commented.

"Yeah, we're fine." replied Claire.

"And you?" asked Aeon.

Leon grimaced. "I got pursued by some kind of troops wearing black armor." he said.

"USS soldiers, most likely." grimly replied Aeon. "Good for you to have lost them."

"Umbrella Security Services, eh? Charming people. Shoot first, ask questions never." darkly joked Leon, a scowl on his face.

"Yeah, that's the USS for you."

Leon looked at the closed door separating them.

"I presume you don't have the keys?"

"No, we don't." sadly answered Claire.

Aeon pursed his lips. "I should be able to melt the lock if I use my guns, but…"

"That will open an entrance for the zombies, too." finished Leon, nodding.

Aeon nodded grimly.

"The station already has a few entrances too. And speaking of entrances, there's a secret passage under the statue in the main hall that leads out of the police station. Just put the bronze medallions in the holes there to open it."

Leon opened his mouth-

*KA-BOOM!*

Claire flinched, before looking back.

"The fire must have reached the fuel tank. That's going to attract all the zombies around the block." grimly declared Aeon, staring at the exploded chopper.

"Just when I thought it couldn't get any worse…" Claire grumbled, before turning back to look at Leon.

"Leon, you should get going." she said, noticing movements further beyond, and a lot of it.

Leon pursed his lips, before turning back towards them.

"Don't worry about me. Just…" he glanced at Aeon. "Get her to safety." he said.

"Don't worry, I'll get her there eventually. For now, you should start running, Leon." assured Aeon, his gaze fixed on the dozens of zombies slowly moving.

Sure, the majority were currently stopped by a fence being in the way… but some of them were in between that fence and the wire barricade where they were all talking, and they were coming closer.

"Leon, listen to Aeon. They are getting through the fence. Please, just go!" she shouted at him.

Leon began to walk away, before turning again.

"We're going to make it. All of us." he promised, before running away from here. Aeon put a hand on her shoulder.

"Don't worry, he'll live. If he managed to escape an USS kill-team, a few zombies won't kill him."

"I hope you're right." she said softly, before turning towards him.

"So. Secret passage, now?"

"Not yet. There are a few remaining parts of the station we have to look at, and we might as well see if there is anything of value in there before we take that passage."

Claire nodded. They could use all the weapons and ammo they could get their hands on. And so, they went to visit several new rooms, allowing Claire to get a grenade launcher of her own.

Thankfully, she had learned enough from her brother to know how to use it… though Aeon giving her a few more tips was certainly appreciated.

And she was able to put her new weapon to good use when they went to the former S.T.A.R.S. office, where Claire had to kill a Licker standing in their path.

The fact that the fastest way to kill a Licker required sending a grenade straight at them was a grim reminder of how tough these monsters were, that they could eat through conventional ammo with ease just to put down a single Licker.

True, having a las-pistol helped, but even then, it would take several more shots than a normal zombie to kill a Licker.

They did find a letter from her brother addressed to her in the office, but…

"That doesn't sound like my brother." she declared, after reading through it.

"Of course. It's coded. See these parts? They talk about him investigating Umbrella, this one is about him doing it in Europe."

Claire frowned. True, if you knew what was actually going on, the letter made a lot more sense…

She sighed.

"Alright, so it's confirmed that my brother is not in Raccoon City, which is good. But he apparently went to Europe to investigate a corporation that creates monsters, which is terrifying… I'm really not sure how to feel about all of this."

"Slap him silly for putting his life into danger without telling you anything, and then hug him tightly for surviving despite all odds?" joked Aeon.

She hummed. "You know, that's not a bad idea…"

Aeon snorted, before turning away.

"Come on. Before thinking of what you'll do when you see your brother again, we need to ensure you survive Raccoon City first."

"I'm coming." she agreed, putting the letter in one of her pockets. They went back in the main hall, and finally looked at the newly fully revealed hidden passage.

"It looks like it leads underground." commented Claire. "Good. We can finally get out of this hellhole."

Aeon sighed. "I doubt it'll be that easy to reach friendly lines… but progress is progress."

He smiled. "Give me a second. I've got two things to do first."

He took out a piece of paper, wrote something on it and then left the paper near the entrance.

She looked curiously at him.

"For Leon, if or when he comes here. That way he'll know where each medallion needs to go." he said, waving at the no longer hidden entrance.

She nodded in sudden understanding, before frowning in concern.

"Didn't you say you wanted to keep that passage a secret from Umbrella? If another team of theirs passes through here…"

"A risk I'm willing to take for Leon's sake." Aeon immediately replied. "I'd have told him when we met, but that helicopter crashing forced my hand. So this will have to do."

"Alright. And I agree, he could use the warning." she replied with a smile. Aeon nodded, then took out his radio.

"Alright, then I'm going to give a sitrep to Lieutenant Branagh, and then we can keep going."

Claire relaxed slightly, looking down at the passage.

Hopefully, she would be able to leave this city sooner rather than later. As nice as meeting Aeon and Leon was, she had a brother to track down in Europe before anything else.

After that… Well, she was probably going to have a long talk with her brother about this whole "viruses creating monsters and zombies" thing.

What she was going to do about everything she learned here today, she had no idea, but one thing was clear, she doubted she could just return to a normal life after this…

She glanced at Aeon and smiled. At least, whatever the future may hold, she knew the world had people ready to fight for what was right. Her smile turned into a smirk.

And she always did have a thing for soldiers...