4 Chapter 3 - A Way Out

"So nobody knows what caused this?" Claire questions Marvin as she inspects her equipment.

"There's a lot of theories..." Marvin admits. "But all I know for sure is that this place is crawling with zombies." He grunts out in pain, discomforted by his wounded abdomen.

"Yea. You're telling me..." Claire replies sarcastically. She pulls out the radio from her side and fiddles with it, adjusting the volume to mute.

"Hey, hey..." Marvin painfully points towards Claire. "Keep that on..." He takes a deep breath, attempting to control the unbearable pain. Claire stops to look at him a tad bit annoyed. "Just in case." Marvin pleads.

She looks into his eyes and lets out a light sigh. She complies by flipping the radio back up and puts it back onto her belt. "I'm not gonna be around long. Once I find Chris, we're outta here." Claire says.

"Marvin looks Claire from head to toe, soaking in all of her earthly features. With her some-what curvy 'assets', Marvin finds it hard to believe she is the sister of the Chris he knows. "You really Chris's sister?" Marvin looks at her face, examining it for traces of that big hearted muscle head. Her cute baby cheeks make it hard to believe, but she does share the same hair and eye color as him.

"Yeah. Why?" Claire says a bit more irritated than before. A dwindle of home sparks in her eyes as she walks over to Marvin. "Did you find something?" She asks a bit enthusiastically.

Marvin takes a good look into Claire's eyes. A familiar flare burns in her eyes and it is all Marvin needs to see. He lets out a soft chuckle but is quickly reminded of his side as he winces in agony. "He's on vacation. Europe, I think... Left weeks ago." He says while the pain subsides a bit.

"Vacation?" Claire says a bit confused. "That's... That's great news." Claire's voice subtlety shakes as she tries to process those words. Her facial expression dances between relief and concern. Deep down, Claire felt distressed. Something was off and she knew it, but she didn't know what exactly.

"Well, I've got more for you..." Marvin says as he quickly changes the subject to something more hopeful. He points towards the small notebook with his bloody fingers. "Looks like there might be a way out through this secret passageway..." He says as he hands her the now bloodstained notebook. He tries to lean back but a sharp pain jolts him back in place. He groans and presses against his wounded side.

"Good." Claire says while examining the notebook with Marvin's bloody prints. She quickly shifts her attention back to him, noticing how much pain he is in. "Hey..." She leans down towards him, putting her warm hands on him as he shivers in agony. "Hey, we should probably get you to a hospital." Her hands trail his body towards his bloody mess of a side.

"Oh, no... Forget about me." Marvin says, attempting to push Claire away from him. "I can take care of myself." He sits back up properly, trying to look more than he is.

"No, don't be ridiculous, you're gonna need some help-"

"Listen Claire!" Marvin snaps. He looks her in the eyes, pleading. "Save yourself." His voice is firm like a paper door. "So you can see your brother again." A crack leaves his voice but his words are undeterred. Claire shrinks down hopelessly, accepting his words. "Now..." He reaches for an object on his belt and pulls out a knife. "You'll probably need this."

"No, I'm not taking that." Claire backs up from it. "You're gonna need-"

"Shhhh-" Marvin hushes her as he stands up towards Claire as he hands the knife towards her. She feels the shake in his cold hands as it leaves the knife in hers. "And be careful." Painful memories flashes in Marvin's mind as he remembers... no... to warn her. He pulls her closer to him one last time before his side gives into the burning hot sensation of pain. "If you see one of those things-" A tear swells in his eye but he pushes it down. "No matter who they were-" He closes his eyes in pain as the trauma still burns fresh wounds into him. He opens them again with resolve. "You can't hesitate." Their eyes lock, communicating the pain far beyond his words. "Take 'em out if you can..." The wound on his side pierces into him as a harrowing reminder of the consequence of his choice. "Or you run." The pain on his side grows too much for him to remain standing. He buckles down to the couch again and lets loose a ghostly moan. Claire looks at the dying man with a heavy heart. She wishes she could do something but she knows there is nothing she can do.

She breaks away from him and she looks behind her to the giant goddess statue in front of her. Behind it, she finds a familiar lion statue behind it. She quickly paces up the steps and once she reaches it, she notices 3 scrolls at the base of the lion statue. She pulls the officer's notebook out and scrolls through the wheels until the symbols match the ones drawn on the notebook. The last piece rolls into place and the Lion's shield centerpiece rotates, revealing a medallion.

"Oh..." Claire pulls out the medallion and feels the circular medal with a Lion imprinted onto it. "Hey Marvin! I found one!" Claire shouts down towards him. She quickly steps down the stairs and puts the piece into place. The goddess statue vibrates and the ground beneath them trembles. The base of the statue begins to slide down revealing a row of bars too narrow for anyone to squeeze through.

Marvin looks at it in awe as the moving piece halts into place. "So Elliot was right..." He says under his breath.

"Yeah." She says confidently. "We're not out of here yet." Claire beams towards Marvin as he still seems not to believe his eyes. "We still got two more to find."

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Claire quietly pushes the door open into the outer west hall. A brush of cold air scraps against Claire's skin and the darkness of the room swallows up all the light from her flashlight. Her steps are slow and cautious as she pushes onwards. She checks the corner of another hall but it is blocked to the rim with furniture. Then the static of a radio catches her attention.

"This is 73- Bird- *STATIC* -Rescue- *Static*" Claire approaches a body leaning on the wall. Her gun is drawn but the body is motionless. She bends down to check the body. Slowly, she lifts the head up to see an ungodly sight. The officer's jaw sags down with two long claw like cuts tore from his flesh. The flesh that once connected to the jaw tears apart, dropping the jaw down to inhuman proportions.

"Oh god!" Claire whispers under her breath. She groans in horror as she studies the wounds. Then the sound of a metal like can echoes through the hall. "What!?" Claire snaps towards the source of the noise. "Who's there?!" She says in a firm voice. Her gun is raised up. Her light flashes into that general direction but the source of the noise is nowhere in sight. She slowly creeps forward. She turns an odd corner to a broken window. Rain pours from outside as the caution tape sways in the hallow wind. She pushes forward to an intact window in front of her as the ambient light from the moon slivers through the darkness.

As she creeps towards the window, a sound of rustling emanates from behind it. She steps a few inches closer and inspects outside the window to find nothing but the bushes swaying in the wind. As she turns from the window back to the unknown parts of the hall, a female bangs against the window. Claire flinches and points her gun towards her and notices her milky white eyes. Along with the female zombie, a male zombie is behind her, humping against her with great force. Claire watches in horror as the male zombie pounds against the female zombie so hard that the female zombie is literally thrusted into the building, breaking the window in front of Claire.

Claire quickly dodges out of the incoming body and runs into the operations room. She quickly closes the door behind her and pants against the door as she leans against it. She tries to calm her breathing down but the adrenaline is pumping her in. The shadow under the door frame begins to claw its way towards the door. Claire holds her breath as best as she can as a high pitched inhuman moan creaks through the door. As if it knew where Claire is, it croaks out right through the frame into Claire's ear. She closes her eyes as she tries to muffle whatever noise escapes her lips with her hands.

Then came silence. The frigid air scraps against Claire's lungs as she tries to pace her breathing. The shadow remains still as if it was always there.

*Slam!*

Claire yelps as she gets thrusted forward from the door getting slammed against. The female zombie lets out a hoarse scream as she slams herself against the door separating her from Claire.

*SLAM!*

Claire, in a terrified panic, slowly backs up from the door as the zombie's slamming shakes the door more and more. She quickly scans around her surroundings and sees a small window with an opening. Right as Claire makes a run for it, the door bursts open and the female zombie tumbles into the room. The female zombie roars at Claire but she is already sliding past the narrow window into unexplored territory.

Claire drops down into a new section of the hallway. Not far from her, is a corpulent zombie humping against a vending machine. It does not seem like it heard her drop down, so she attempts to sneak past it. However, right as she is about to turn the corner, the fat zombie sniffs the air around him. Claire freezes in place as the man begins sniffing harder. Her pulse rings against her ears and droplets of sweat slither down her body. The fat zombie snaps his head and stares right at her. He roars, lunging himself towards her with his desperate hands stretched out to grope her.

Claire quickly bolts to a room behind her, slamming past the metal door. With great haste, she closes the door behind her and leans against it with all her might. The zombie slams himself against the door, desperately grunting against the metal bars above. The zombie pushes the door with all his weight, forcing the door open as it sends Claire tumbling to the ground. The zombie bursts in to the safety deposit room but loses balance, falling down right towards her legs.

"Ahh!" Claire screams out as she feels the zombie's beefy moist hands wrapping around her slender legs. She tries to crawl away but his grip tightens around her. "Let go!" She screams. Pulling out her gun, she quickly unloads it into the man's decaying head.

*BANG! BANG! BANG!*

The fingers grasping her leg weakens enough for her to slip out of it. Claire stands up quickly while still maintaining her line of sight on the oversized man. The zombie slowly stands up and his milky white eyes locks onto Claire. He roars a mighty roar as he lunges at her one more time.

*BANG! BANG!*

"Why won't you just die!" Claire yells out. The zombie sways back after the last shot, stumbling back a few steps before finally collapsing down to the ground. She quickly begins reloading but never lets her eyes drop from the undying bastard. She raises her gun once again and slowly steps towards the zombie. Cautiously, she kicks the motionless body and remains on guard for several more seconds before dropping it.

A breath of relief escapes her lips and she slumps down against a locker. After calming herself down, Claire examines the locker she was leaning on and finds a grenade launcher locked inside with a couple of rounds on the side. To the right of the locker, a card reader seems to be attached. She knocks against the glass and determines that her handgun was not going to be enough to break through. Claire looks back at the blood stained metal door and slowly approaches it. She leans against the door and begins taking deep breaths with her eyes closed. With her gun drawn, she tightens her grip on it as she opens her eyes with unyielding determination. Without hesitation, Claire steps back out into the dark corridors of the R.P.D. ready for whatever fate has in store for her.