"Should we keep a bit more distance when we walk? I always feel like we're going to fall at any moment, especially with the weight of two people," Steve said, looking at the bottomless hole filled with yellow smoke below, his voice a little shaky as he stood on the rusty steel frame.
Who knew how deep it was down there? If they fell, they'd be dead.
However, the old saying holds true: an accident has either already happened or is on its way.
Steve's ominous words perfectly corresponded to this outcome; as it was fated, he simply couldn't escape this karma.
And sure enough, the next second…
"Crack…!"
"Bang… Poof… Boom—!!!"
No sooner had Steve's words fallen than a strange sound came from the rusty iron plate beneath his feet.
Before Steve and Claire could react, a strong sensation of falling immediately struck them.
Caught off guard, their feet suddenly lost purchase, and they rapidly plunged downwards.
"Damn it…!" Steve's curse echoed in mid-air.
Fortunately, the falling height wasn't very high, only about one floor's worth.
After a dull thud, Steve and Claire both fell heavily to the ground, their entire bodies aching immensely, indicating they had taken quite a tumble.
Especially Claire… she had already suffered a heavy blow from the Long-Armed Monster before, and now she was thrown down hard again; her whole body was so sore it was almost impossible to move.
However, just as Claire was about to ask Steve about his condition, a familiar low hiss suddenly came from her ear:
"Hoo hoo hoo…"
"Hoo hoo hoo… Hoo hoo hoo…!!!"
Claire was all too familiar with this sound; after all, it was a sound practically ingrained in her DNA.
Every time she heard it, Claire would instantly react as if she had hypersensitive nerves.
And without a doubt… this was the low breathing sound of a zombie.
Could this be a zombie nest?
At this thought, Claire's heart tightened.
She quickly looked towards the source of the sound, fearing that they had fallen into a zombie-infested nest, because if they were surrounded like that, they would truly be dead.
However… nothing could be seen within the yellow-mist-filled hole, and she couldn't feel anything in front of her even by reaching out.
Fortunately, the breathing sound wasn't intense, and the number wasn't large, which meant there weren't many zombies in this hole, only this one.
As long as they were careful to dodge and not get bitten, they would be fine.
But the breathing sound in her ear grew closer and closer.
Seeing this, Claire could only tightly close her eyes, relying on her hearing to search for the zombie's breathing sound.
And very quickly… Claire discovered that the zombie's breathing sound was coming from behind her.
"Click—!"
"Bang—!!!"
Without any hesitation, Claire trusted her judgment.
She raised the pistol, which had only one bullet left, and fiercely pulled the trigger, firing towards the direction behind her.
With a gunshot, the bullet roared out of the barrel and instantly hit the zombie behind Claire.
A mass of dark red blood splattered out, but unfortunately— this shot only hit the zombie's chest and missed its head.
A zombie not headshotted would not die from a single pistol bullet, so it continued to advance towards Claire.
"Steve—?!"
"Where are you? Come quickly… there's a zombie here, and my pistol is out of bullets!"
Realizing that her shot hadn't killed the zombie, Claire decisively shouted, then struggled to crawl forward, trying to buy as much time as possible.
She should have been calmer and waited for the zombie to actually appear in front of her before shooting; now all her bullets were completely exhausted.
Hearing Claire's cry for help, Steve immediately rushed over, following the sound, tightly clutching the ruger p-08 pistol in his hand.
He wouldn't allow any zombie to harm his only friend.
With that thought, Steve quickened his pace.
However… when he saw the ugly, tattered zombie in front of him, his expression instantly froze—
PS: Another rush job, not high quality, sorry.
It's been crazy busy every day leading up to the weekend, a humble wage slave (rolling away).
Chapter 9: Taking a Leave for Relapse
No kidding, I relapsed yesterday, feeling incredibly unwell, can't update…
Chapter 10: Destiny
Half of its face was badly rotted, and its entire body was clad in ragged clothes.
It was a very ordinary zombie, but for some reason, the moment Steve saw its appearance again, he immediately froze, and the ruger p-08 pistol in his hand was forgotten to be raised at first.
"Steve?!"
"Steve, Steve—?!"
Claire, beside him, didn't know what had happened.
She only saw Steve standing rooted to the spot as if possessed, so she shouted loudly to remind him, trying to make him snap out of it.
The zombie, upon noticing Steve, also slowly walked towards him, its arms stretched straight out, seemingly intending to grab Steve's shoulders and devour him madly.
However, the moment the zombie approached Steve, something happened to it, and it also gradually began to become dull and possessed, as if its remaining intelligence recognized Steve.
Therefore, it didn't strike a fatal blow but instead chose to turn its head, abandoning its attack on Steve, and walked towards Claire, who was lying on the ground.
Facing Steve just now, the zombie seemed extremely hesitant, but facing Claire right now was completely different.
After a fierce roar, it opened its foul-smelling mouth, revealing its blackened teeth, and pounced down fiercely.
"Hoo hoo hoo…"
"Roar roar roar—!!!"
Seeing this, Claire was helpless.
The pain throughout her body made her unable to move quickly.
Facing the zombie's attack, Claire could only block with her slender arms, tightly closed her eyes, and let out a loud scream:
"Ah————!!!"
The scream echoed through the yellow-smoke-filled hole.
It seemed that this scream completely snapped Steve out of his daze.
Looking at Claire, who was about to be attacked, Steve gritted his teeth, a strong resolve flashing in his eyes.
He raised the ruger p-08 pistol in his hand and fired a barrage of shots at the zombie in front of him, while also shouting loudly:
"Father…!!!"
"Bang bang bang—!!!"
Loud gunshots rang out, and all the bullets poured into the zombie's body.
Before it could react, the zombie had already collapsed to the ground, completely losing all signs of life.
After dealing with the zombie in front of him, Steve gasped for air, then half-knelt and slumped to the ground.
It turned out… that zombie just now was his father, who had been infected and turned into a zombie.
Because his father had privately sold information about the Umbrella Corporation, the Umbrella Corporation, in retaliation against their family of three, not only killed his mother but also detained him and his father on Rockfort Island Prison.
Not long ago, his father was infected and turned into a zombie, leaving him as the only person left in the world.
"Steve…"
Looking at the dead zombie on the ground and recalling Steve's loud shout, Claire finally understood why Steve had fallen into a daze just now.
It turned out that zombie was his father.
No wonder Steve hesitated to kill it.
If Claire saw her own brother turn into a zombie, she probably wouldn't have the courage either!
"Steve…"
"It's over, don't be sad anymore.
Perhaps this way, for your father, it's also a kind of release," Claire said, comforting him in a gentle tone as she slowly struggled to crawl to Steve's side.
This seventeen-year-old child was much stronger than she had imagined.
And when Steve heard Claire's comforting words, he couldn't help but lean on her shoulder and sob softly.
At this moment… perhaps only crying could make one feel a little better.
…And after an unknown amount of time, after resting for a while in place, Claire felt her pain quickly disappear, and the two continued to move forward.
After a short while, they escaped the military base and arrived at a secret passage, quickly walking out.
The area ahead suddenly opened up… and a tall castle actually stood not far away?
This made Claire even more curious about what kind of place this island was.
After all, it was a military base and a prison, so why was there now a castle too?
"Thump-thump-thump…"
"Thump-thump-thump…"
The footsteps of the two slowly echoed.
Every step closer to the castle, lightning and thunder would erupt in the sky, as if something even more terrifying was hidden inside.
But Claire and Steve had no other choice; they could only brace themselves and continue forward.
However, just as the two continued to approach the castle, a tall figure blocked their path from the side.
A man with golden hair slicked back, dark sunglasses, a cold face, and wearing simple tactical gear slowly walked out.
The newcomer was none other than the big boss, Wesker, who calmly questioned Claire and Steve:
"…"
"Claire Redfield…?!",
Although he had never met Claire, Wesker knew that Chris had a younger sister.
Therefore, after investigating the information, he naturally recognized who Claire was.
He also hadn't expected Claire to be detained on Rockfort Island Prison.
It was highly likely that this foolish sister, Claire, had come here searching for her brother Chris's whereabouts and was then captured.
However, this was quite convenient for Wesker.
He hadn't known how to lure out his nemesis, Chris, but now that his sister, Claire, had delivered herself, he only needed to firmly grasp this hostage, and he wouldn't have to worry about Chris not walking into the trap himself.
After all, given Chris's personality, it would be very difficult for him to abandon his sister.
"Who are you—?!"
Seeing the unfamiliar blonde man instantly call out her name, Claire's face immediately showed a wary expression.
Her subconscious told her that this blonde man in front of her was not a good person.
Facing the seemingly harmless Claire, Wesker did not immediately attack but calmly explained this very foolish question to Claire.
"Your brother, Chris Redfield, is the fellow who has repeatedly ruined my plans.
I wish I could tear him to pieces, but I didn't expect you, his sister, to suddenly deliver yourself to me.
I will capture you later and then inform your brother, Chris, of your kidnapping.
While helping you two siblings reunite, I will also send you both on your way in peace, because who told you two to repeatedly obstruct my path!"
Saying that, Wesker directly stepped forward, preparing to grab Claire's neck.
Claire subconsciously stepped back a few paces, then raised her pistol, ready to shoot, but at this moment, she realized that the bullets in her pistol had run out.
She repeatedly pulled the trigger, but not a single bullet came out.
"Stop—!!!"
Seeing this, Steve, who was beside her, immediately raised his two ruger p-08 pistols and fired.
Several bullets rapidly shot out, all heading towards Wesker, but the next second, something incredibly shocking happened to them both.
"Pfft…"
"Whoosh whoosh whoosh—!!!"
Facing the bullets fired from Steve's ruger p-08 pistol, Wesker showed no trace of panic.
With just a few slight movements of his feet, his tall figure suddenly flickered with several incredibly fast afterimages, as if he were teleporting, dodging all of Steve's ruger p-08 pistol bullets.
Not a single bullet hit him.
Even more terrifyingly, when the gunshots ended, Wesker was holding an orange-yellow bullet in his hand.
Undoubtedly, at this moment, he had already highly fused with the Progenitor Virus, truly gaining superhuman strength.
Not only his neural reaction speed, but also his strength, speed, and so on, were beyond human imagination.
"Bang…!"
"Ugh… cough cough… Let go of me!"
Taking a large stride forward, Wesker mercilessly grabbed Claire's neck, instantly making her face turn red and her breathing difficult.
She could only struggle forcefully in mid-air.
Steve, wanting to go to her rescue, was kicked tens of meters away by Wesker.
This was the power he so revered!
Absolute power that transcended all others—!
"Bang————————!!!"