Chapter Text
“ Holy hell…” Claire whispered to herself as she looked out the window of the small recon helicopter. The village was huge but there was something moving. Groups of animals or humans moving all too familiarly.
“ Whatever those things are they certainly do move like BOWs . “ She reported in the passenger headset.
The pilot however was less concerned about that. He knew he was there illegally. The chopper was a BSDAA one but Claire had commandeered it. Granted, TerraSave often worked with the BSDAA and often tapped into one another’s intel and resources, but this was not cleared by either of the two organisations.
“ Miss Redfield, please. Your brother will have my balls for Christmas decorations, if we don’t turn back right now. When he finds out, I am screwed.”
Claire pointed at a large patch of grass a few kilometres outside the snowy village.
“ Don’t worry Mike. You’ll be out of here in no time and I’ll tell my brother I rode my bike here. Nothing will link me back to you.” She quipped smiling, using her camera to take some pictures of the gothic castle that appeared in the horizon.
She was about to be sorely mistaken.
“ I wouldn’t hold my breath on that, Claire. If you plan to disobey me, and guilt trip one of my pilots to fly you , you should check if you’re an open channel.” Chris’ voice came alive from the helicopter radio.
Mike went white as a paper sheet and Claire pinched the side of her nose, knowing what’s coming.
“ Chis, listen…”
“ NO!! You listen!! Have you lost your goddamn mind , Claire?! I gave express orders , that no one is to approach!! Mike !!! Bring her back!!”
“ Y-Yes sir!”
“ Mike you will do no such thing. Chris, I’m with TerraSave . We work with the BDSAA occasionally ,but we don’t answer to them. You can’t pull rank on me!!”
She could practically hear her brother’s anger , boiling over the radio.
“ The fuck I can’t !! You just hijacked a military chopper that belongs in my detail and are currently flying over forbidden airspace.”
“ You are bombing all the houses outside the village area. There still may be people trapped in these huts!!”
“ The only thing around the village are those abominations . We need to clear the area in order for me to send in my men to the village. Mike!! Pull back!!”
“ No!!” Claire yelled over the comms with newly found determination . “ You don’t know that!! There could be families trapped or left alive to be torn apart by those things!! I need to try and help them!!”
“ Mike , bring that chopper around, I’m not gonna fucking say it again. You are two seconds away from court-martial detail.”
The pilot nodded as he looked at Claire with apologetic eyes.
“ I’m sorry, Miss Redfield … orders are orders.”
“ Wait!! Mike, please!! Just let me-“
Claire didn’t have time to finish her sentence as a large arrow with the length and thickness of a spear pierced the floor of the cockpit and halfway passed through Larry’s right leg.
“ Jesus fucking Christ!!!!!” The pilot roared as he gripped the arrow sticking out of his leg, above his knee.
Claire grabbed the controls, trying to keep the helicopter in altitude. She had a plethora of questions.
Number 1: What the fuck just happened??!!!
Number 2: Is that a fucking arrow?!!
Number 3: How could wood and iron cut through steel??
Number 4: What sort of BOWs use weapons?
She could go on and on . Instead she opted for the most pressing one.
“ Mike!! Stay with me!! Can you keep us up??? I will see to your wound!! Just take the controls!
“ Y-yes… I th-think so…” the pilot growled, biting back his pain as Claire tore the leg of his pants making a tourniquet above the wound. The arrow had also torn through some wires, making the radio useless.
“ Good news , flyboy !! It missed your femoral artery . You are gonna be okay. This will help with the pain.” Claire reached for the medicine box underneath the passenger seat on the helicopter and retrieved the morphine syringe injecting Mike in the shoulder before taking out the disinfectant spray and spraying his wound around the arrow.
“ Fuck that hurts !! What’s the bad news?”
“ That whoever shot us with that fucking thing is probably reloading right now!! Turn back!! Get checked with the medic back at the base!!!”
Claire commanded , moving to the side of the aircraft and opening the side door, hooking her belt onto the rappel rope before kicking it into the void.
“ Claire!!! Are you goddamn insane?? You don’t have any heavy weaponry !!! They’ll chew you up out there!!”
“ I have enough!! And I’m not leaving people to die. Get yourself to safety flyboy !!”
Claire said , winking at the wounded pilot before rappelling down to the snowy ground.
She had just barely enough time to unhook from the rope , as the helicopter took off almost immediately.
“ Godspeed Mike…”
The youngest of the Redfield siblings, dusted off her pants and inspected herself and her equipment. Last thing she would need would be to get an infection from an unnoticed, untreated wound, or a death because of a faulty weapon.
Fortunately she wasn’t injured, as she inspected herself. She was wearing military steel tipped boots, military cargo pants, a grey turtleneck sweater, and her trusty red leather jacket. God did she love that jacket. Lastly , her hands ran through her thick ponytail, feeling its smoothness at the tips of her fingers, where the fingerless gloves let her digits bare.
Claire had also stolen a military utility belt from Chris and kept all her things , as well as a thigh pouch. She did a quick run of her tools. It’s contents were, a couple of MRE rations, a flashlight, a small medkit, a couple of adrenaline injectors for where things go south , a bag of green gelly beans ( her favourite), speed loaders and Krauser’s knife.
Leon had gifted it to her to make up for not giving her the USB drive , back at the White House . It worked.
This knife , like Leon’s was made from a very hard metal aloe , virtually indestructible and could slice through flesh , muscle , bone even metal.
But a knife wasn’t gonna get her very far. Damn it!!!
Curse Chris for putting a ban on all the military weapons she could take , in an effort to keep her from going in the village. No flak jacket, no AR-15, no grenades, no shotgun, Chris had even withheld her own highly customised FN Browning Hi-Power pistol. It technically fell under his authority as well. But that wouldn’t stop Claire… she had her own guns that could not be withheld by the BSAA.
Two guns completed her inventory. One kept in a off hand holster , a six shot QuickDraw Army , 6- inch barrel , singe action revolver chambered in the powerful 45 ACP. It had a smooth walnut grips and Claire had a gun engraver modify an angel’s wing on the butt of the weapon. That gun have been commandeered by her, in Racoon City all those years ago, so it didn’t fall under the army inventory. Same went with her second gun, her hammerless Smith and Wesson Ladysmith. A gift from her brother. She had customised it as well, replacing the 2 inch barrel with a 4 inch one and switching the original 5 round-38 special cylinder, with a modified titanium one. Now the revolver could hold 6 rounds of the powerful 357 Magnum cartridge. The wing was also engraved on that revolver’s handle and she kept in a waist holster , on her right hip. The same symbol was ever so elegantly carved on the back of her red leather jacket.
Guess those would have to do.
Claire looked around. Nothing but darkness snow and trees.
She took ahold of her flashlight before zipping up her red jacket as far as it could go.
“ Shit , it’s cold!!! I should have brought something heavier. Well no turning back now…”
Claire started walking towards the northern spot on her digital compass. Her notes had indicated that she would come to some houses before reaching the village .
It was about 4 hours later that she finally reached a wooden shack and she hurried to it. She didn’t care if she had to explain to the people inside her situation, or if it was abandoned. She just knew , she had to get out of this weather, before she froze her toes off.
She crossed the wooden porch and knocked on the door.
“ Hello? “ on her second knock , the door opened on it’s own . The latch was torn off.
Claire got in and closed the door behind her . She secured it with a wooden chair, otherwise the cold wind, would blow it wide open.
“ Is anyone home? I’m with TerraSafe. I’m here to help you!!”
Nothing.
“ Hello? Please, I’m not going to hurt you!!!”
The house was empty. Not much to it, just a living room with a shared small kitchen, a bedroom with a double bed and a tiny bathroom with only a toilet and a sink . A well worn couch was at the centre of the house overlooking the only window , which had a photo placed between the wood of the window pane and the dirty glass. A coffee table in front of it.
Claire turned on the lights so she could see it properly. It was a faded, discoloured picture of an elderly couple. They were standing outside the wooden house. The woman was holding a petite white dog in her arms and the husband was smiling, leaning onto a cane.
“ Happier times, I guess… “ Claire mumbled before letting herself fall back into the couch. It did smell somewhat musty, and the loud of dust was irritating , but after so much walking, she didn’t care. She closed her eyes for a moment.
A few minutes had passed when Claire heard footsteps outside. Quick footsteps.
That made her heart skip a beat as she quickly got to her feet removing the wooden chair and opening the door.
“ Hello!!! I’m sorry for breaking into your home, but I’m here to evacuate you to safety. I’m from Terra-OH SHIT!!!” She yelled as she was grabbed by the dark figure, who she thought was the owner of the house , by the neck and tossed her with such force, she smashed in the table, shattering it to pieces.
“ What the fuck?! “ she whispered as she tried to catch her breath. The figure walked in the house and the light , illuminated it. Claire saw a monster with sharp teeth and claws like a predatory animal. It had wolf ears and though it did wear human clothing, ripped dark pants and an opened shirt , it was covered head to toe with fur. It’s claws were long and curved. It’s teeth looked like the were filled down to fine points. It looked like…
“ You’ve got to be kidding me!!! A goddamn werewolf??!!” Claire yelled as another wolf beast jumped through the window.
Redfield quickly whipped out her QuickDraw army and put four bullets in the one in front of her . It was lightning fast as she was fanning the hammer like a cowgirl dropping the one monstrosity and put the remaining two bullets in the one that had crushed through the window. To its head ,to be exact. Only the wolf man didn’t die. He just shook his head and proceeded towards her.
“ That was two 45 ACP , hollow points rounds to the brain!! How are you still standing?”
The human-wolf hybrid, did more than stand as he howled loudly, into the night making another three appear , outside the cabin .
“ Calling for backup? Dick move, Fido!”
The creature charged at her but Claire ever so elegantly did a backflip and found herself behind it , before pulling out her 357 magnum, turning and pointing it at the base of his skull and pulling the trigger. The head exploded everywhere and she turned to the other two.
“ I see, I don’t need silver bullets for you doggies . “ she said smiling as she emptied the revolver on the other two , exploding their heads as well.
Claire pushed the cylinder out and ejected the spent casings on the floor. However before she could get her speed loader out , the roof above her was punched through by two more hairy, clawed hands.
Said hands ,grabbed her shoulders, the razor sharp claws digging in, trying to pull her through the sharp broken boards and out of the house.
“ Let me go!!! Let go!!!!” Claire yelled as she lost the floor beneath her feet, her second gun dropping to the floor.
She knew that the creature was stronger than her and if it managed to pull her through the opening, she would be as good as dead. But it’s arms where too strong . No matter how much she struggled , she couldn’t break free and stop the ascension.
Claire eyed wend wide and her heart almost broke out of her ribcage as she was pulled even closer to the roof. The sharp pointy sticks coming closer and closer to her face.
As she braced herself for the inevitable, she felt another hand, drawing her knife free out of the sheath .
“ What the-“
Claire was dropped on her ass, on the wooden floor and the animalistic screams of the werewolf filled the room as the hand the beast, fell right next to her. The other one clenched the bloody stump.
Claire looked up at her Good Samaritan.
It was a tall blonde man , of medium build wearing dark slacks, dress boots, a grey hoodie and a beige-golden hooded jacket. His blonde hair were combed back and his grey eyes were looking into her blue ones. The man was also holding an old looking, mean ass shotgun , and the Krauser knife in an ice pick grip, which was dripping blood.
“ Pull down his arm!!” The man yelled, ejecting the used shell, pumping the gun and snapping her out of her observation. The redheaded agent, got to her feet and jumped up grabbing the monster’s good hand and using all her weight, pulled down with all her might, making the werewolf face pull down, low enough for shotgun man, to get a good shot.
The bang was massive inside the little house and it exploded the wolf’s head , just like shooting a pumpkin.
Claire let go of the lifeless arm , that now dangled from the ceiling and took a few deep breaths before looking at her saviour.
“ Thank you.”
“ Yeah.”
“ My… my name is Claire .”
The man looked at her before flipping the knife, grabbing it by the point and holding it out to her. Claire smiled faintly before accepting her blade back.
The man gave her a weak smile of his own. His grey eyes were melting into hers…
“ I’m Ethan.”