Chapter 19: What Lies Below

Rick had gone through two outbreaks back to back in late July with only bruises and small cuts. The third one had started a week ago and he had done well for himself. No bruises, no cuts, not a strained muscle. Just one wound. Then he arrived at the Raccoon City Police Station a few hours ago.

Shit went to hell then.

He had been clawed, he had been shot, he had been choked almost to death. Twice.

Yet, he would go through it all over again if it meant he could be spared from what he had just experienced. Walking in literal shit up to his johnson, surviving ambushes from zombies suddenly rising from underwater, sewer water to be exact, then killing huge deformed abominations, crawling and swimming through pipes with a giant eyeball on their oversized shoulder. Then there was the smell. It made him want to vomit on a permanent basis. He honestly felt dirty to his very soul. And on top of this huge pile of metaphorical shit?

He hadn’t found Claire or Sherry.

‘Where the fuck are they?’ he thought as he caved in the skull of a zombie by hitting it repeatedly with the butt of his shotgun.

Not hearing any more moans coming from the undead, Rick stopped to have a look at his work. There wasn’t much to see in truth. Only blood, gore and brain matter, everywhere on the floor.

Crouching down, he wiped the butt of his improvised weapon on the vest of his kill to clean it up. From a pouch at his back he pulled the last few shells he couldn’t put on his carrier belt. Four in total that found themselves loaded into his shotgun, with two more.

Looking around, he had absolutely no idea where he was. He had the feeling that the deeper he went, the farther was his objective. Having enough of it he went back on his steps. Right, a hundred feet, then left, forty feet, climb the ledge, take the stairs, skirt the left side to not fall twenty feet down to who knows where, then climb down stairs and jump off another ledge to be back in shit.

After a while Rick finally got back to an intersection. This time, he chose to go through the tunnel he had discarded earlier. So far, it didn’t prove to be a wise choice as one of those abominations rose from between trash with a loud scream.

Rick shot it in the head to make it shut up, then aimed for the bulbous protection on the shoulder. Two shots had been enough to destroy it. Knowing that one more shot wouldn’t be enough to destroy the eye and kill the beast, he switched to his MQ11 and unloaded the whole magazine on it while walking towards it. The thing gave a final, dying roar and fell limp into the dirty water, Rick sidestepping left to not be taken down with it.

A few dozen yards further the tunnel ended with to the left a ledge and solid ground. Climbing it and reloading his submachine gun, putting the empty magazine into a pouch, he walked into the small stone corridor which ended with a door.

‘Progress.’

Kicking it open, he almost didn’t believe it when he saw no sewer waiting for him on the other side. Instead what he saw was a huge tunnel with a cable car on the left that went down to the right. So far down he couldn’t see the end of it.

There was a ladder leading up to what appeared to be a control room above the cable car. Hoping at the very least to find a map of the sewer if not Claire or Sherry, he climbed it up and went inside.

Three zombies were laying on the ground. One near a console on the left, at the other end of the area, and two on the left. Slowly and silently, he walked to the closest.

‘Two bullets to the head.’ He looked at the one beyond. ‘Busted kneecap, stabbed through the eye. Alright, Claire went through here. This is good.’

In the corner behind the zombie was an open shaft. Cautiously looking down, Rick saw the elevator seven, perhaps eight, feet below. Not pondering for a single instant he jumped down, then, seeing the ground on his right, jumped down again.

The height had been higher however and as a result his weight carried him forward. His fall was stopped by putting his hand on the ground.

“Rick!”

Immediately drawing his sidearm, he aimed in the direction of the voice, only to see Claire stop right in her tracks with wide eyes. She probably hadn’t expected he would hold her at gunpoint.

Realizing it was her he put back his gun in his holster and stood up.

“Sorry about— Ugh!”

Claire made a rush to him and gave him a bone-crushing hug and nearly made him deaf when she shouted.

“I’m glad you're alright!”

It was obvious she was too, so Rick didn’t bother asking. “Where’s Sherry?”

“Behind a locked door. She needs help.” Any trace of the joy she had just displayed was gone and replaced by worry and frustration.

“Give me a minute to rest, reload and if you still have some food, eat and I’m good to go.”

“Let me help you with that, it will be faster.”

Since it was offered, Rick wasn’t about to decline. The first thing he did was remove his overall. He couldn’t stand wearing the thing anymore and threw it as far away as possible. Then he chose to sit down where he stood, to Claire’s surprise. He waved at Claire to back away a few steps and put his weapons down. The shotgun went on the left, his gun in the middle and his MQ11. From his back pouches he picked two regular magazines for the gun and one for the MQ, one box of 9mm and one of submachine gun ammo.

He started with the shotgun, taking four shells from the carrier belt around his shoulder and loading them from below. Claire had silently taken the high capacity magazine of the submachine gun and had already put half a dozen bullets in it.

He finally broke the silence. “Leon is alright.”

“That’s good.” Her answer was a bit subdued which didn’t sound like the Claire he knew at all.

“He’s somewhere in the sewer too. We split up at the gun shop.” The high capacity magazine on the ground ended in his hand and he began loading it.

“Hm.”

“I went to the orphanage. Found Irons.”

“...”

“Found the trapdoor and followed your footsteps. However, I got lost in the sewers. Then I found a scantily clad big-breasted blon—”

Claire finally reacted to that. “You did not!”

“No I didn’t. But I got a reaction out of you instead of whatever silent treatment you were giving me.” When Rick got no answer, he raised his head from his task at hand and was met with the unamused expression on Claire’s face. “What is it?”

She took a deep breath with her eyes closed then exhaled through her mouth. Putting another bullet inside the magazine she had in hand she gave an explanation.

“I was worried sick about you. I shouldn’t have since you don’t seem to care.”

“Claire…”

“I mean, we just met less than half a day ago and it’s not like we went through very traumatic things together. Nor did you save my life a couple times or nearly died from being shot or—”

“Alright, alright I get it.” His interruption was soft. He hadn’t raised his voice, there was no anger, no reproach, no dismissal. Just softness. “I’m sorry. You caught me unaware while I was utterly frustrated by my journey to get here. You hugged me too.”

“Not used to hugs?” A small smile drew on her lips. It was wiped away by his next few words.

“Usually when people hold me it's so someone else can give me a beating.”

“Oh! I…” Awkwardly, she tried to apologize but Rick dismissed it right from the beginning.

“Yeah, yeah you’re sorry. Not your fault, so don’t be.” The magazine was put down and he took the one already loaded inside the gun. Six bullets were missing. “The point is… I think before I feel and when you hugged me, I was thinking. Where was Sherry, if she was alright, if you were alright. What had happened to the both of you? If you needed ammo, if…” He let the words trail off. “Lots of ifs. Lots of possibilities. Very little emotions because it gets in the way of making decisions.”

The magazine being full, Rick put it back inside the gun. Claire was done with hers too and put it down.

“I understand. When I saw you, I felt relieved. I felt happy you were alive and looked well. I felt worried that your wounds had worsened.”

She imitated his way of speech to drive home how her own reaction had been different. Emotions were her thing. It always had brought her far. Always made her move forward. She was his total opposite.

“I’m fine. They don’t hurt anymore.” He took the chocolate bar she handed him and tore the wrapping paper before biting into it with gusto.

“I doubt that especially when you got shot.”

“I… heal… Nevermind,” Rick shook his head, dismissing the thought he had. “It’s a story for another time. We need to get Sherry first then get out of here.”

Claire nodded in agreement. “Yeah.”

“Take the submachine gun. It’s been a pain to carry it with the shotgun.” He pulled a normal size magazine from a pouch and put it on top of the high capacity one and pushed it towards Claire. He also removed the pouch with all the ammo for the MQ and gave it to her.

She put her hand on his and he pushed the boxes. “Are you sure?”

Rick nodded. “Your grenade launcher is a one shot and is relatively long to reload. You could switch with the MQ easily for suppression fire. I’m good with the shotgun.”

Reluctantly, Claire removed her hand and hooked the stock of the MQ to her belt. Suddenly remembering something, she rummaged through the bag and pulled out the sound suppressor. In no time it was attached to the submachine gun.

“By the way…” Rick undid the red leather knot around his waist and removed her jacket to toss it at her head. “I grabbed it on my way out.”

Claire, with her whole head now hidden, grabbed it and pulled it away. A smile was on her face. “Thanks. It was a gift from my brother. He got us ma—”

“Matching ones.” He interjected. “Didn’t you notice I was wearing his?”

She blinked and looked, really looked at the dark brown jacket Rick had on him.

“I borrowed it while Leon and I raided the armory. I was freezing my ass off. I’ll give it back once we’re out of this nightmare.”

“No, no, it’s fine.” Claire quickly refused him. “It’s just a jacket. After everything you did for me tonight… It’s a poor repayment. Chris would agree.”

His delivery was done with an unamused expression and very flat tone. “Your brother would give me a tap on the back and offer me a smoke.”

She burst out laughing. “Yeah, he probably would do that too.”

Rick finished his chocolate bar and equipped himself. Standing up he lent a hand to Claire who grabbed it and let herself be pulled to her feet. “Come on, let’s get Sherry then get out of here.” He walked a few steps forward then paused. Giving a look over his shoulder to her he asked her a question so outrageous she was surprised he wasn’t embarrassed. “What’s the way?”

She said nothing. There was no need for her to. The corners of her mouth turning up spoke volumes. Crossing the small distance separating them, she pointed at a recess at the end of the room on the left. Right next to a table with a TV and a VHS player. With her only free hand she pointed at it.

“There. There's an electric powered door. Like the one in the station’s basement. It needs six plugs to be opened and I spent the last hour and a half searching for them in the sewers.”

“How many do we need to find?”

She tucked her hand inside her jean’s pocket and pulled out three of them. “None.”

The first thing that caught his eyes was the plugs had all a different shape. The second was that they looked like chess pieces. A king, a queen and a rook. He had a real bad feeling about this.

“Let me guess…” He spoke slowly. “They need to be inserted in the right slot for everything to work but you don’t know which slots.”

Claire chuckled. “Your theory about the mansion’s architect having relatives in the same business trade is becoming more real with each puzzle.”

“The whole family needs to be wiped out.”

His tone was so cold that Claire believed that he might have been genuine with his words. Now, she didn’t wish death on anyone but if that somehow happened, she wouldn’t cry over it. Not after the hellish night she and Rick had been through that had been made more complicated by all those puzzles in the station. The card theme doors coming at the forthfront of her mind.

Both minds focused on the twisted puzzle right out of a brain so nutty it could entice a squirrel to store it in its tree hole, they walked side by side to their destination. There, was a huge metallic door on the left with powerful electric locks. On its right were three power boxes. All opened and with marks of labels being torn down on the inside of the lid. Right behind them, on the opposite wall, was much of the same. The only difference was the chess plugs. Claire showed him the note giving instructions on an information board located on the side. Rick took it in his free hand.

“The rook's next to the Knight, but not facing the queen.The king ain't next to the queen, but facing the Knight, right at the end, and the knight ain't where the case marking says.”

Seeing the stoic expression on his face, Claire mistook it for confusion. “It didn’t make sense to me either.”

“You are your brother’s sister, Claire, so I’m not surprised.” Rick replied nonchalantly. “But I’m not related to either of you.”

He let go of her hand, that neither noticed they were still holding, and made a ‘gimme’ gesture. Claire put the plugs she found onto his palm and he went about it. He gathered the three others already slotted, ignored her question about “How are you going to know where each needs to be now?” and faced the wall opposite of the door.

Without taking a moment to think about it, he put the Knight, Rook and Pawn in that order from left to right, then turned around to slot the others. Queen, Bishop, King again from left to right.

A loud beep rang. The round lock on the door turned and one by one the horizontal bars that kept it closed were removed from the left side of its frame by sliding right.

The dumbfounded look on Claire’s face was immediately replaced by a frown when Rick spoke up.

“How you made it to college is a mystery. It was an easy enigma.”

What hurt the most wasn’t the fact he mocked her, because he wasn’t, it was the fact he was genuinely curious about it.

Huffing in anger and protest, she walked with annoyance through the now open door, ponytail swinging slightly from each stomp of her feet. “Jerk.”

Realizing how bad he had sounded, Rick sighed. He didn’t really mean anything by it but that was something to clear up for later. That is if he bothered to remember and care about it in the first place.

They climbed down some stairs and found a green and blue herb. He didn’t even bother to ask himself why such things were in places like this anymore. Claire went immediately to a huge hydraulic door and pulled up a huge lever with a red light above it. Nothing happened.

“There is no power.” She remarked with annoyance.

Rick walked past her toward a door at the end of the area. From the transparent window of the room he had seen a huge electric installation. “I’m on it.”

Claire let him go on his own and waited patiently. Now that he wasn’t wearing that awfully ugly but practical, impermeable overall, her eyes unconsciously went to his jean-clad ass.

‘Nice.’ She thought then caught herself. ‘Did I just check Rick out?’

So taken by the realization, her mind wandered somewhere. It was only brought back to reality when she heard a loud beep coming from behind her and saw the red light above the lever had been replaced by a green one.

She activated the lever and this time the door began to move. The sound of burst metal drew her attention away for her to look in Rick’s direction. The door of the room he was in had been busted by a huge arm from the ceiling, which she recognized as belonging to the monster who’s been stalking Sherry since the boiler room. Not thinking twice about it, Claire ran to it.

“Rick!”

“Take Sherry and—” He jumped to the side to avoid a claw piercing the ceiling and missing him by a hairbreadth “Get out of here! I’ll regroup with you!”

She had tried to push open the door, not bothering to listen to what she considered drivel but it didn’t move an inch. When she felt the door getting hot, she pulled away and saw smoke and flames spreading around the room.

“GO! I'll be fine!”

Claire's first instinct was to not believe it. There was no way he would. Nobody would. But Rick wasn’t nobody. Time and time again, he had proven that he was more than just resourceful. He was a survivor.

She banked on it. She trusted him to get out of this trouble and join her and Sherry.

“You better come back to me in one piece!” She yelled and went through the now open door. She didn’t look back, not trusting herself to handle the sight of Rick fighting for his life and her being powerless to help him. Right now, Sherry needed her and that she could do something about.

She reached the schoolgirl in no time and crouched down to see if she was alright.

“Sherry! Are you okay?!”

“Hm.. Cl-aire?” The dirty blonde girl sounded very weak and in pain.

Claire turned her to have a better look at her and her mind went immediately blank for a second when she saw her face. Her left eye had turned yellow and some kind of infestation was spreading from it like red yellow veins on her skin.

“Y-you.. Came.”

Claire tried to give her a reassuring smile. “Of course I did. I told you, didn't I? Even Rick is here.”

“H-he… is?”

“Yeah. He caught up and he’s distracting some monsters so I can bring you somewhere safe.” Her smile became wider and a bit more genuine.

An angry and worried voice came from a speaker “What are you doing?!”

“Mommy?” That was the last thing Sherry said, not having the strength to speak more.

Claire almost roared in disgust. “I’m trying to help her!”

“You can’t save her!” This time the voice sounded resolute, panicked. Most of all it sounded heartbroken. “Sherry’s been implanted… You can’t… There is nothing…”

“I don’t believe that! There must be something! Some way! I’ll find it!”

“You don’t understand! William is still out there! And if I don’t stop him—”

Claire interrupted, speaking with the fury of a mama bear protecting one of her cubs. “I don’t care! You had the whole week to stop him and you failed! Sherry may not have a week! She’s your daughter for Christ’s sake! She should be your priority!”

One of her arms went below Sherry’s knees and the other under her upper chest. Pushing on her feet, Claire stood up carrying the schoolgirl in her arms. She had to get her out of here and fast.

“W-wait! Wait! I can treat her!”

That made Claire pause on her way outside the area.

“I… My lab is not far away! I can treat her there. There’s… Not enough time, Millions of lives are at stake… You… You need to hurry.”

“Mommy?”

“Mommy loves you, sweetie.”

From the loud clicking sound that echoed into the room, Claire knew the communication was over. She looked down at Sherry and smiled again.

“We’re going to make it. Be strong for a little bit more, okay?”

Sherry looked on the verge of passing out but still found the strength to answer. “Okay.”

Not wasting a second, Claire began to backtrack her steps. Her destination was the cable car upstairs. From how modern it looked, she knew it was the way inside Umbrella’s underground lab. Files and memos that she found scattered here and there in the sewers confirmed it.

She still couldn’t accept it. She had learned more about the outbreak in those sewers in a couple hours than her whole time in the R.P.D. Police Station. The big monster that Rick was currently facing turned out to be Sherry’s father and the voice she had just spoken with was her mother, Annette.

How could parents neglect their own daughter so much was something she couldn’t fathom. Especially not when every street, every corner of the city and its underbelly was crawling with monsters of all kinds. For a whole week. It still boggled her mind that she had to remind Annette that Sherry was her daughter for the woman to finally act like a mother and do something for her little girl.

‘What a fucked up family. Why have children if you’re not interested in raising them? Or able to raise them?’

Her thoughts drifted to Rick who, from what she understood, had a similar childhood, if not worse. Sherry was going to the most prestigious school in town while he went to the library to educate himself. One lived in a luxurious house and the other in the streets.

‘How can any parents do that to their children?’

Claire reached the cable car, intending to find a way to get inside. She had tried earlier but the door stayed closed. The display mounted on it telling her she didn’t have the authorization for it.

Sherry raised her hand weakly towards it and the display went from red to green and the door slid open.

“How…”

“My… bracelet.”

Looking down Claire saw a bracelet on Sherry’s wrist, wide and with a rectangular piece displaying a symbol that looked like the number one. Deciding it was a question for later, she got inside and scanned her surroundings. She found a bench against the wall and immediately laid Sherry on it. Putting the bag down she pulled out her jacket and covered the girl with it.

In a gesture of comfort Claire brushed Sherry’s hair with her hand. “Hang in there. It will all be over soon,” She said in a soothing voice that lulled the girl to sleep.

Straightening up she went back outside to wait for Rick. To be there when he’ll be back to show him the way.

‘He’s alright, Claire. He survived everything this hell threw at him, he’ll survive this. He’s fine. He got this. He’ll be back. Worse for wear but he’ll be back. He’s fine.’