The screech that the creature let out made her cringe. Claire watched it writhe about on the floor, claws grasping at empty air as it struggled to draw in its final breaths. Jill stood nearby, handgun still aimed directly at its exposed brain matter. Within a matter of seconds, its movement ceased, and Claire found herself holding her breath in anticipation.

"Is it...dead?" She eventually asked, eyes still glued to the corpse in fear that it would spontaneously reanimate.

"Yeah."

Jill paused for a moment before holstering her handgun and ascending the twisting staircase. Claire hesitated before following, neck straining as she turned to keep a watchful eye on the monster.

"Those stay dead." Jill commented despite having not looked back at Claire to observe her anxious behavior.

Claire felt her face flush. How did Jill know?

"Oh," she lamely responded, "That's good."

Somehow, Jill's presence made her feel incredibly small. Claire had never described herself as a nervous person in the past, but Jill seemed to inspire that quality in her. She blamed her anxiety on the situation at hand because, hell, who wouldn't be a wreck during the zombie fucking apocalypse? Chris's unexpected absence probably didn't help much either.

Jill came to an abrupt halt, pressing her ear against a door in an attempt to discern what might lie in wait on the opposite side. She furrowed her brow in concentration and eventually let out a soft sigh. Her gaze was intense when her eyes met Claire's and, when she rolled her shoulder in a half-hearted shrug, Claire wasn't sure what to expect.

"Quietly." Jill whispered, her right hand lightly resting on the doorknob as she drew her pistol with the other.

Claire could hear her heartbeat thrumming away in her ears, the sound of it so loud that it drowned out the subtle noises of her surroundings. If the door creaked as Jill inched it open, she wouldn't have known. She watched Jill step lightly through the threshold, handgun ready and body rigid in attention. Claire did her best to emulate her movement and gingerly closed the door behind her in a way that she hoped was soundless.

The bench that sat against the adjacent wall had been destroyed, its leather cushion roughly torn in various places. Claire thought about the claws on the creature Jill had killed before and grimaced at the sight of the blood that saturated the exposed tufts of plush filling. Several bullet casings were strewn across the ground, their metallic sheen standing out against the darkness of the dried blood that had been smeared across the hardwood floor. Claire swallowed hard before breathing in slowly through her nose in an attempt to ease her nerves.

Faintly, she made out the sound of wind and rain in the distance. Fine pieces of shattered glass were strewn across the floor, following the trail of blood around the corner ahead. Claire stepped a little closer to Jill, close enough to feel the heat radiating from her exposed skin, and her mouth suddenly felt incredibly dry. Her heart continued to race, seemingly fluttering into the base of her throat, and she felt sweat begin to bead along the nape of her neck.

Jill rounded the corner with a careful stride and Claire surprised herself by following suit. As soon as she began to move, she was stunned into stillness by the sight that greeted her. Another creature like the one before, one with claws and exposed brain and that terrible fucking hiss, was casually suspended from the ceiling. Before she had a chance to react, it jerked open its jaw, revealing rows of razor-sharp teeth and allowing its unnaturally long tongue to loll out.

She watched its tongue dangle in the air before extending towards the ground. It slithered slowly across the wooden surface, smearing the partially dried blood that surrounded a corpse. Claire flinched, feeling her stomach turn at the sight of it as it meandered across the back of the corpse's head. Claire didn't realize what was happening until it whipped the corpse into the air in one fell swoop, holding it suspended in the air by the makeshift noose it had fashioned with its tongue.

Jill started to move. Her stance was confident and steady as she approached the creature, her footfalls somehow silent as she moved past the dangling corpse. In that moment, Claire wondered if her initial assessment of Jill being some variety of psychopath was accurate. How could she willingly move past that thing? Claire wasn't entirely sure she would be able to do the same. The monster might have been distracted, but still...

It wasn't Jill's fault that her strategy failed, nor was it Claire's. A dull thud came from behind Claire, one that seemed to rattle the door on its hinges. Claire's eyes widened in both confusion and horror as she glanced back over her shoulder at the door they had passed through and then back to Jill. Jill was beneath the creature, handgun gripped tightly as she looked up at it with a blank expression.

Whatever was behind the opposite door was adamant about entering. Another thud came and the monster hissed, craning its neck as though concentrating on its surroundings in some way. It snapped its head from one direction to another despite not having eyes to see and Claire held her breath. The door suddenly gave way, swinging open and colliding against the opposite wall, and the creature leapt down from the ceiling.

Time seemed to move slowly. Claire spun around to witness a zombie come barreling through the door, stumbling forward and falling to the floor. She turned back just in time to see the creature knock Jill to the ground, pinning her down with a hard press of a claw against her chest. Jill thrashed beneath it, bucking her hips in an attempt to throw it off herself and gripping its limb to rip it away from her body. Saliva dripped from the monster's open mouth and it released its tongue, grazing the tip of it across the flesh of her cheek.

Claire became acutely aware of the shuffling of feet from behind her. The zombie was closing in on her, limping towards her with its arms uselessly dangling at its side. It opened its mouth to let out a groan and she watched blood drip from between its yellowed teeth, dribbling down its chin and onto its already soiled shirt. She stepped back, increasing the distance between them until her back hit the wall, but the zombie continued to advance and she glanced down at the revolver in her hand.

She flinched at the sound of the gunshot.. The bullet passed through the base of the zombie's throat, but it had done nothing to slow its advance. Claire squeezed the trigger again, pulling it in two consecutive motions, and the zombie crumpled to the ground. She stared at it for a moment, waiting for it to rise, but the loud wail of the other creature drew her attention away.

Jill had one of her legs bent with her knee shoved into the monster's chest to maintain distance between them. Her knuckles were white from the force with which she restrained both of its front limbs and Claire could see the tension in the tremble of her arms. The monster thrashed about in her restraint, saliva flying through the air as it whipped its head back and forth, and Claire realized what had to be done.

Three shots. She had three shots left to save Jill's life. Claire aimed down the sight of her revolver and attempted to line it up with the creature's exposed brain. The first time she fired, the bullet whirred over its head as the monster attempted to snatch its limbs free of Jill's hold. Claire's face grew hot in embarrassment and she tightened her hold on the revolver.

Don't fuck this up.

Claire's eyes fluttered closed. She thought about Chris and the lessons he had given her while growing up. How disappointed would he be in her now? Her stance wasn't right, her breathing was erratic, and she wasn't focused enough. Why wasn't she taking this seriously?

"Stop fucking around," Chris had once told her, "You need to take this seriously. It might save a life someday."

She could remember it—standing in the backyard behind their parents house with her hands wrapped so tightly around the semi-automatic handgun that her nails were digging into the tender skin of her palms. Chris had scolded her for that, told her to keep from locking her elbows and straining herself. The recoil of the weapon had surprised her and left her wrist aching, but she didn't dare tell Chris out of fear that he'd reprimand her once more.

Claire thought about Chris as she corrected her posture, taking on a boxer's stance as she placed one leg in front of the other. She shifted her body weight forward and angled her right shoulder towards the monster as she breathed in deeply, lining up the shot once more. There were two shots left, two fucking shots, and if she missed the first, she may very well end up using the second on herself to avoid being torn to shreds by the creature.

It shouldn't have, but seeing the soft tissue of the monster's brain blow out across the floor shocked her. Merely a second ago, the fucker was lashing at Jill with its claws, but now it was suddenly silent and limp as Jill shoved it off of her with a grunt. Claire watched its corpse hit the floor with an audible thump and Jill wasted no time in collecting herself from the ground and snatching up her own weapon that had been knocked from her grasp.

"You're bleeding." Claire whispered as she noted Jill's appearance.

Jill looked down at herself. The front of her shirt was torn, exposing a small strip of marred skin at the base of her ribcage. The cloth surrounding the area had been liberally saturated with blood and she pressed a hand against her abdomen. When she pulled it away, her hand was covered in blood that glistened in the moonlight that shone through the windows nearby. She braced her hand against her wound once again and mumbled for Claire to follow her to a door nearby.

Someone had gotten to the S.T.A.R.S. office before them. Desks, chairs, and various pieces of equipment had been knocked over, littering the floor with sheets of paper and office supplies. Claire hesitated in the doorway as Jill stood still, slowly taking in her surroundings in silence. She sighed and made her way to one of the desks, dropping to her knees to pull out the drawers.

"What are you looking for?" Claire asked.

Jill didn't answer. Instead, she continued to rifle through the contents of the desk until she procured what appeared to be a first aid kit. Claire found the speed with which Jill found it to be curious. It was almost as though she was familiar with the place.

Her thoughts came to a standstill when Jill began to crush a packet with the back of a flashlight.

"What are you doing?" She asked, approaching her in order to get a better view.

Whatever Jill found had been crushed into a fine powder and Claire watched her mix the red and green substances together, forming a disgusting brown end product. Jill scooped it into her palm and lifted the hem of her shirt, pulling it back to just beneath her breasts. Claire knew she should have allowed Jill modesty, but she couldn't force herself to look away. She felt her face grow hot as she watched the sleek muscle of her abdomen tense while she changed positions, sitting back on her haunches and packing the substance into her wound.

"These herbs have medicinal properties." She simply said, head still tilted downward to observe her work. "You might need them sometime. They grow all around Raccoon City."

Her bright blue eyes met Claire's and her expression was unreadable as always. Claire quickly looked away, cheeks still burning hot, and watched Jill drop the hem of her shirt from her periphery. Coughing awkwardly, she looked back at Jill.

"My brother works here," she told her, "He's in S.T.A.R.S."

Jill was silent. She pressed her lips together in a grim line as she slowly eyed Claire. Under her scrutiny, Claire felt increasingly uneasy, and she wondered what was running through the older woman's mind. She suddenly felt extraordinarily aware of herself. Was her hair a mess? Did she have zombie guts on her face?

"But, uh," Claire spoke up to hopefully relieve the tension between them, "He's clearly not here."

Jill kicked an overturned chair aside and made her way to the back of the office. She pulled something from her back pocket, a metallic object that shone in the light, and approached a computer in the back of the room. Claire watched her jam it into the tower nearby and a metal door slid open to allow a way into the locker room in the back.

"How did you know about that?" She asked in amazement and Jill shrugged, her back still turned to Claire.

"Some guy told me before he left." She said, voice strangely low. "Said there were supplies back here."

Claire followed her into the small room, eyes sweeping over the tall row of lockers. They were all identical with no hints as to who they belonged to, but one had to belong to Chris. Knowing him, his locker was probably loaded with all kinds of means of self-defense. He had become pretty paranoid ever since he became a cop and Claire never thought she'd be grateful for his neurotic behavior until now.

An audible click came from nearby and she saw Jill pull a tool out of one of the padlocks. Jill tossed the lock aside as though she hadn't just broken into a locker in the zombie apocalypse like some sort of badass and Claire bit her lower lip, debating whether or not to comment on it. Though Jill had quickly developed a habit of making her feel stupid, Claire couldn't help but admire her in many ways.

"You know how to pick locks?" She squeaked, her burning curiosity getting the best of her.

Jill hummed in affirmation as she began to search through the locker. She retrieved a backpack and set it on a bench behind her, tossing boxes of bullets and a first aid kit into it. Claire awkwardly stood nearby, feeling incredibly useless given her lack of lockpicking skills, and she meandered back into the office. She eyed the wreckage in an effort to discover even the slightest hint of Chris, but Jill soon called out for her.

"Take this." She said, passing her a second backpack.

The straps were heavy on her shoulders, but she didn't want to show it. Claire acted as though they weren't digging into her skin as Jill passed her a gun. It was intimidating to say the least, unlike anything she had ever seen before, but she guessed it was a submachine gun based on her totally legit, absolutely realistic experiences in video games.

"Um," she turned it, studying the dark sheen of the metal and the various odds and ends it had been customized with, "I...don't know how to use this. I don't even know what it is."

For the first time since she had met her, Jill laughed. It was a soft sound, a single breath, and Claire felt something deep in the pit of her belly.

"It's easy to shoot." Jill told her. "It's fast, but be ready for the recoil."

She slung her own backpack over one shoulder and gave Claire the slightest hint of a smirk. In response, she once again felt flustered, and she closed her eyes, shaking her head at herself. What the hell was wrong with her? Chris was missing and it was the zombie fuckin' apocalypse and here she was, lusting over some woman who she didn't even know. Was she really that desperate?

The muffled sound of a door slamming shut elsewhere within the station made her jump. Claire looked over at Jill, eyes wide in surprise, and Jill held a finger to her lips to persuade her into silence. She nodded at the wall that was shared with the hallway outside and pressed her back against it, standing beside the door. Jill motioned for Claire to mirror her along the opposite side, the side to which the door opened, and Claire nervously obeyed.

It seemed like forever. Loud stomps resounded throughout the building, accompanied by the rough slamming of doors. Claire wiped at the sweat that formed on the nape of her neck. She felt her heart hammering in her chest and looked down at her bare arms that were now covered in goosebumps. The anticipation only worsened as the footsteps grew louder and she glanced over at Jill again, her fear evident on her face.

"Listen," Jill whispered, "Whether it's human or not, I want you to run."

Claire wasn't sure what to say. Her lips parted and closed as she floundered for a response. Did Jill doubt her? Of course she doubted her. Hadn't she already proven how much of a dumbass she was?

"But what about you?" She incredulously asked and Jill smiled again—warmly this time, exposing her bright teeth and somehow easing Claire's nerves.

"I'll be alright." Jill assured her. "And I'll catch up to you. Just don't stop running."

Though she didn't care much for the plan, Claire had to admit that it was probably the best option. Her lackluster skills seemed entirely nonexistent compared to Jill's and she would likely end up botching whatever plan the woman devised. She was a hindrance more than anything, a liability, and the last thing she needed was to be crippled by some wound and become an even sharper thorn in Jill's side.

The stomping was close—the hallway, maybe. Claire cast Jill another uncertain look and she returned it with a smile. Whatever was coming their way was advancing, steps so heavy that Claire swore she felt the floor shake, and soon the door flew open and her body kicked into gear. Claire faintly saw the blur of that familiar leather trench coat as that asshole from before entered the room and she went unnoticed as she darted behind him.

She was halfway down the hall when she heard a loud bang and she winced. Claire wondered if she should turn around, if she should disobey Jill's instructions and make sure she was alright, but what the hell would she do if she weren't? That massive fucker was apparently indestructible and both of them were likely to die if she fucked it up.

So Claire ran. She sprinted down the length of the hall and passed through rooms without paying them much mind. Eventually, she stumbled into a library that was devoid of the dead and fucked up creatures, and she leaned over, bracing her hands against her thighs as she panted. The sweat that slicked her skin held tendrils of hair plastered against her face and she tugged at the tie in her hair, tightening her ponytail that had begun to come loose.

The footsteps were audible again as she stepped into the middle of the room and she quickly scanned the area. Claire didn't know where the hell she was going or what she was doing, but she knew she could hide from the fucking thing. She sucked in a breath as she shimmied in between two bookshelves that had been pushed so closely together that she could barely squeeze between them.

She heard the door creak open and she preemptively flinched, but the door clicked closed softly. It wasn't characteristic of the monster and, despite her best judgment, Claire moved to the opening between the bookcases, peering out to find Jill pushing a piece of furniture in front of the door.

"Jill!" She hissed. "Here!"

Jill gave her a curious look, but the rapidly approaching footsteps quelled her hesitance. She quickly sprinted over to Claire and studied the small space for a brief moment before maneuvering into the gap. Claire breathed in deep as she heard the door collide against the wall, presumably being thrust open, and the subsequent clatter of the table Jill had used as a barricade against the floor.

She didn't want to breathe. Claire took in shallow, erratic breaths through her nose to ease the growing tightness in her chest. The space was cramped and hot and she could feel Jill's shoulder pressed against hers, her skin incredibly soft and warm. Claire closed her eyes and tilted her head back, looking up at the ceiling as she mentally berated herself for even noticing the feel of Jill's skin in such a moment. Why was she like this?

The monster stomped through the library, moving methodically in a circle. Claire turned her head to the side to watch it from beyond the view of Jill's profile and felt her heart race. She chalked it up to terror, not the soft edges of Jill's face, and she bit her lower lip to hold in a breath when the monster approached. She could make out the wrinkles on its face, the stitching in its coat, and fuck, it was so close.

As quickly as it had come, the monster suddenly left her view. Claire let out a breath of relief as a door slammed closed and the echo of its footsteps grew faint. She hadn't realized that Jill had shimmied out of the space until she was reaching for Claire's hand, enveloping it in her calloused palm and encouraging her to follow with a gentle tug.

Though the creature was gone, she couldn't find relief. Claire knew this wasn't the end, that they could easily encounter that fucker at any moment or perhaps something worse. She wiped the sweat from her brow as Jill padded towards a door nearby.

"Where are we going?" Claire softly asked and Jill swiveled around on a heel.

"We're getting the fuck out of Raccoon City." She plainly said.

Claire was torn.

"But...my brother might be here."

Jill sighed and closed some of the distance between them. She reached out and rested a palm on Claire's shoulder.

"You said your brother is S.T.A.R.S., right?"

Claire nodded and Jill gave her shoulder a reassuring squeeze.

"Then he definitely has enough sense to get the hell out of Raccoon City, too," Jill declared, "I don't think he's here, Claire."

Jill had a point. Chris was stupid, but he wasn't that stupid. He was probably long gone from that god forsaken city. If anyone had the ability to make it out, it was Chris, and the conviction in Jill's stare was enough to convince Claire that he definitely had made it out alive.

"You're probably right." Claire whispered. "Let's go."

As they made their way through the precinct's lobby, Claire looked back at it from over her shoulder one last time as Jill pushed open the front doors.

Chris, she thought to herself, you better be alive.