Fight for the living

Bang!

The bullet shot from the pistol pierced Sam’s cheek, making her back off. Claire got up and kept shooting, but Sam was deliberately raising her arms to cover her head, although she’s been pushing backwards by the impact **** of the large caliber ammo.

“I’m sorry, Sam. But I can’t be with you...” Claire held her tears and grabbed the grenade launcher, “Not like this...”

“Claire! Why are doing this to me!?” Sam howled in anger.

“Goodbye, Sam.” Claire pulled the trigger and closed her eyes.

The flame round exploded on Sam and immediately set her on fire. She screamed painfully and stumbled towards to opened picture window. Before Claire could fire another round to completely finish her, she fell off the cliff.

Claire peeked out the edge with caution. Like Dustin said, beneath the valley was a river. The water would put out the fire on Sam, and if Dustin could survive the fall, a vampire could, too. Claire sighed helplessly. She could only hope that the vampire didn’t come back for her again.

She pressed the button on the control panel and the platform started to descend. With everything settled, she quickly ran back inside the tramcar. Sherry was asleep, but she was still suffering from the pain. Claire quietly sat in front of the bench, watching over the girl.

Sherry reminded her of herself, when she was at her age. Sometimes she felt lonely and scared, but she always acted tough and didn’t want Chris to be worried. What Sherry was going through was worse than anything Claire had encountered. The girl hasn’t given up yet, so she would stay with her and fight for her to the end.

The platform arrived at the underground station and docked the rail. Seconds later, the tramcar started moving along the rail and headed north. The NEST was located in the Arklay Mountains, not far from the city. Hopefully they could reach there in time.

Sherry groaned and coughed heavily. The parasite and virus inside her body were growing stronger. She couldn’t bear the pain and bit her own arm. When she looked at her arm and noticed that she’s wearing Claire’s jacket, she endured the pain and tried her best to calm down.

“Hey, are you OK?” Claire knelt down beside her and asked gently.

“Your jacket is so warm...” Sherry flipped around to face her and smiled. She sounded so weak, almost like she didn’t even have the strength to breathe.

“My brother gave it to me. You know it’s supposed to be lucky.” Claire looked at the child and tried to be optimistic, though the situation was pressing.

“I don’t know what I’d do without you.”

“Are you kidding me?” Claire stood up to cheer up the girl, “You were doing just fine without me until I came along and got you into all sorts of trouble.”

That’s quite an interesting assumption but it might be true. Sherry has been hiding in the station and avoiding the vampires for half a day, and she survived all kinds of dangers. If she hadn’t been taken to the parking garage of the Umbrella facility by Claire, she wouldn’t have been captured by Irons and...Thinking of that, Claire remembered that she’s still carrying the pendant Sherry dropped.

“I have something of yours.” Claire picked up the pendant from her pocket.

“I don’t want it.” Sherry sighed sadly and stared blankly at the ceiling.

“Really? Why not? It’s so pretty.” Claire looked closely at the golden pendant. It even had Sherry’s name carved on it. The pattern on other side, however, was a double-headed serpent, which was weird for a pendant given to a child.

“It...it’s from my mom...For my birthday, last year...” Sherry didn’t cry over the physical pain but she almost cried when she remembered that, “All I really wanted was for her to be home more...”

“I know it seems like your mom doesn’t care but...” Claire tried to comfort her, but she didn’t find it convincing.

Sherry’s condition was deteriorating fast. She curled up on the bench and groaned in pain. Claire didn’t know what she could do to ease the pain, so she held Sherry in her arms to warm her up.

Sherry was trying her best to keep her lips shut, as her losing mind was telling her to bite Claire’s arm. One bite, and all the pain would be gone. She quivered with the horrible thought and struggled to keep her mind intact.

“Hang in there, Sherry...” Claire patted her head softly.

“Now arriving at NEST.” A synthetic female voice came from the radio of the tramcar.

“It’s OK. I’ve got you. Come on.” As soon as the tramcar stopped, Claire carried Sherry up in her arms and rushed out.

The station outside of the NEST was quite empty. Without encountering any danger, they arrived at the front gate of the NEST. With Sherry’s clearance, the three layers of the security gates automatically opened.

“For your safety, stand clear until the doors are fully open.” The central computer’s voice came out, “Welcome, visitors, to NEST. You’re in the South Area. Please do not disturb our scientist at work. Enjoy your visit.”

“Here you go.” Claire entered the security room and placed Sherry on the bed, “Alright, now what...”

“Claire...” Sherry’s right eye has become more pink than the original blue now, “Please, tie me up on the bed...”

“What? What are you talking about?” Claire was shocked.

“If I turn, at least you won’t get hurt...” Sherry closed her eyes to hold her tears. Deep down she knew she’s beyond saving now.

“Hey, you won’t become a monster, trust me.” Claire smiled and went to check the complete on the desk beside the bed, “Huh...There’s gotta be something here. An e-mail...telling the staff to take the ‘DEVIL’ antiviral agent in the East Area to prevent G-mutation...That’s it...But where’s the vaccine for the vampire virus? Damn it...”

After checking all the files in the computer, Claire still couldn’t find the answer. But she didn’t have any other option now. She needed to find the “DEVIL” first.

“Hey...Sherry...I gotta go. You stay right here, though. OK?” She approached Sherry again to reassure her, “Don’t worry, I’ll get what you need.”

Sherry nodded silently and raised her left arm with the wristband. Claire smiled and held her hand tightly, before taking the wristband.

With the visitor clearance, she could walk in the South Area freely. But in order to get to the East Area, she needed to find a way to upgrade the clearance to authorized staff. She had no clue about where to go, but she had to keep moving forward.

“Sherry...I’ll be back soon, I promise.”