Chapter 52: Full Circle in a Hellscape

Claire’s day has been going so well. She was in Harvardville as a member of Terra Save to help a small family relocate into the country after suffering from a viral outbreak. An occurrence that became more and more common as time passed. Her presence was also to check on the protest happening in the town and to make sure that it didn’t go overboard.

She had personally thought that the protesters were being tasteless by putting on generic zombie masks and behaving like zombies. It was disrespectful towards the victims of the T-virus and evil pharmaceuticals companies but also going against Terra Save’s work by acting like assholes while supporting the NGO.

It disgusted her even more that people with the mask were scaring people and behaving badly but when said mask was removed that crawled away like cowards. It wasn’t just disrespect at this point anymore. It was beyond that and damaging Terra Save’s image because those people were not supporting the cause. They were just having fun.

She had chased away such a guy earlier in the day while waiting with her friends to board the plane they had tickets for. Right before a real zombie came out of nowhere, attacked and infected two more people before she took it down for good. That had started a chain reaction, the two people turned and attacked more livings. As if it wasn’t enough more zombies came in from the depth of the Airport which spread the panic even more.

An announcement about mass evacuation on the speakers made it clear to Claire that the viral outbreak wasn’t just limited to her terminal but the whole Airport. She had tried to run back in the opposite direction, taking with her the child she was supposed to watch over. The crashlanding of a plane into the terminal had been the cherry made of vomit on top of a shit cake. Not only did it cut off her point of retreat, it was also full of zombies. And from the size of the plane she’d had said 300 at least.

Claire was able to get away with the child, taking along Senator Roger Davis and another woman working for him. The man had been here with bodyguards and was giving an interview when the outbreak began. His protective service had been the first to fall, trying to kill the very first zombie by putting half a mag in its chest and thinking the threat was eliminated. A waste of resources in her opinion. The thought had made her smile bittersweetly when she had it. It had reminded her of that one night in Raccoon City and most importantly of Rick.

She shook her head to not think about him. Not here. Not now. She was in the middle of a dark corridor with a white and red umbrella as only weapon to fight off zombies. Peak irony if someone had asked her.

Moving forward silently, eyes scanning for danger and threats, her ears ready to hear the shouts of the woman she had heard earlier and for which she had left the safe room she’s been waiting in.

Thinking of Rick now was a distraction she didn’t need. He had distracted her more than enough over the years, ruined all her dates and her dating life in general and it was enough.

‘No more distraction, Claire. Focus.’

Just as she thought that, someone with a flash light and a gun appeared from a side door she had missed. In a split second she recognized the blond hair, the blue eyes and the rest of the face that went with it.

“Le—”

“Get down!”

Claire didn’t think twice. She immediately bent her knees and crouched, hearing a gunshot almost at the same time then something heavy falling down behind her. Turning her head, she saw a dead zombie with a bullet hole right between the eyes.

‘How could I miss… Fucking Rick! I told you to focus, Claire! You almost died!’

While she was chastising herself, she took Leon’s offered hand to pull her up.

“Thanks.” She said politely.

He gave her a smile. “That was nostalgic.”

Claire smiled back. It was exactly how they met the first time in that gas station outside Raccoon City. She was escaping the zombies inside and when she reached the entrance, she nearly bumped into Leon who was aiming a gun at her. He shouted to get down too and took out a zombie , ready to grab her from behind.

“That it was.” She noticed two law enforcements behind hil. A man and a woman armed with tactical gear. They looked like they were part of a SWAT team. Tactical vest, submachine gun, sidearm, uniforms… The whole panoply for an intervention group. “You’re here for the Senator?”

“Yes,” Leon nodded. “Although we’re getting out everyone who is not infected.”

“He’s that way.” Claire pointed at the way she came from and began to lead the trio back to the safe room.

“So what are you doing here?” Leon inquired.

Holding her umbrella defensively she answered him while keeping an eye out for any more zombies.“I’m here as a member of Terra Save. Relocating a mother and daughter who survived a bio-terrorism incident. I was in the West Terminal when it all went to hell. A zombie was wandering and attacked people they more came in from inside the Airport then a fucking airplaned crashed and more zombies came out of it.”

“Huh.” he grunted. “Are you sure they came from inside the place first?”

“I saw them burst through a double door leading to the Main Hall. If it started there? I couldn’t tell.”

It only took five minutes for the small group to reach the safe room. Claire immediately went to the child while the senator ranted when he learned that the only help coming for him was Leon and the two officers with him. He wasn’t a happy camper.

“Do you have a plan at least?!”

Leon checked his gun to make sure of the number of bullets it had. “We’re going through the lobby.”

The Senator blew a gasket. “Are you insane?! The whole place is crawling with those things!”

His voice was starting to grate on Claire’s nerves. The man had been nothing but a nuisance ever since she met him. “He’s right. They’re slow so we can go around them if we’re cautious and don’t make noise.”

“Oh yeah?! And what does a member of an NGO know about the subject? Huh?”

Leon cut in then. Much like Claire, he was done with the man’s attitude and he had only met him five minutes ago. “She’s one of the rare survivors of Raccoon City, meaning she has more experience than most of the people in this room on how to deal with this kind of nightmare. Now, you can stay here alone or come with us. We’re going through the lobby anyway.”

With no other option the Senator fell in line and went with everyone else. Leon opened the march, gun aimed forward. It didn’t take long for the group to reach beyond the point where he and Claire met and walked the path towards the lobby.

Things became more complicated then. Zombies were everywhere. Leon didn’t spare his ammo one bit and shot any B.O.W. on the way to secure a passage through the horde. They were attacked from all sides and it wasn’t made easier by the Senator spraining his ankle and needing one of the two people with a machine gun to haul his ass.

Claire was in difficulty. She carried a child on one arm and bathed away zombies with the umbrella in the other. There wasn’t much success with it but at least she was able to put it in the one zombie that came way too close to her and tried to bite her.

“A bit of help, here!” She grunted, struggling with everything she had.

Unfortunately for her everyone was too busy running away or fighting.Two other zombies were coming her way. While her brain was raking itself at fast speed to find a solution to get out of the situation, the face of the zombie that was trying to bite her split open right in the middle.

Claire immediately recoiled and took a few steps back to get out of danger and only then did she realize that the bio-weapon she was defending against was hit by a fire exe at the back of the head. Looking behind the body she saw a tall and wide figure dealing with the two other zombies, swinging something so heavy that when their heads were it they were almost turned to paste.

She couldn’t quite tell in the dark who that person was but she knew they were quite adept at fighting. Whatever they swung was attached to some thick thread, allowing whoever had saved her life to completely obliterate the surrounding zombies at the speed of light.

A flash of light lit in his hand and he threw it at what she could tell was an entrance to the area. It bounced on the ground a few times before it rolled and exploded. In Claire’s opinion it had been as powerful as a grenade. The ceiling collapsed and blocked the way for any more zombies to join the fight. Quickly the other undead that were still alive were put down and another makeshift grenade was used to condemn another entry point to the area.

When the man, because from the stature of the silhouette it could only be a man in Claire 's eyes, got closer to pick up the axe, she couldn’t believe what she was seeing. She thought it was just a game of light and darkness playing with her sight.

“Who the fuck are you?” The male companion of Leon inquired while aiming at the man.

“Captain Rick Wald, BSAA.”

Claire had only one thought when she heard his voice and name.

‘FUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUCK!’