Pyrrhic - won at too great a cost to have been worthwhile for the victor(s).
Serenity's POV
———
I wasn't sure where Lily ran off with Cameron, I could only hope the two of them were safe.
While the kids were gone, Claire and I had managed to finish taking out the drones. Claire had picked up one of the tranquilizers, but she couldn't determine what was in them, or what it would have done to any of us.
"Trauma bonding at its finest, huh," I tried cracking a joke with Claire.
"You could say that," She smiled and let out a small laugh.
The two of us kept walking. We were looking for the kids on this floor. We couldn't go anywhere without them.
As we were walking, Claire suddenly got yanked away. I was about to shout, but before I could, I noticed the person who took her. To my relief, it was Chris.
He pulled her into a small closet, and motioned for me to follow in.
I walked into the closet and closed the door. Chris released Claire, but he immediately held his finger to his mouth, telling her to stay quiet.
Claire wanted to question him. I can't blame her, though. I'm confused too. Ultimately, figured it was better to stay quiet, as Chris instructed.
Sure enough, through the crack at the bottom of the door, we could see someone walk past the door, heavy and determined footsteps. The footsteps belonged to a person, but they were still scary enough to be compared to those of a monster. Then again, people can be monsters.
Once the footsteps left, Claire turned to her older brother.
"Is that why you did that?" She asked.
"I had to get you both in here without any of us speaking a word. I didn't know what else to do," He explained.
Claire nodded.
I opened the closet door slightly, peaking out to check if the person was still around, but they were nowhere to be seen.
"Do you have any idea who that was?" I asked Chris.
"I don't know how— but, my best guess would be Wesker," He sighed.
Claire and I turned to one another, remembering when Wesker took Claire earlier.
"What?" Chris asked, confused.
"It probably was him," I sighed.
"How do you know?" Chris questioned.
"Doesn't matter," Claire spoke before I could speak a word. She probably didn't want Chris to worry, or get pissed off.
"Sort of does matter," Chris replied.
Claire didn't get a chance to respond to Chris, because we heard the footsteps nearing us again. They continued getting closer. I could feel my heart beating in my chest with anxiety. He was going to open this door. There wasn't a doubt in my mind.
The others must have come to the same conclusion, because they both readied their knives. I did the same as them. I stared at the closet door. There was hardly any light, but I kept my eyes locked on the doorknob anyways. I was waiting for movement. Any movement. I was going to be ready for Wesker.
Eyes still locked on the knob, the footsteps got even closer. But, as we heard the sound of the footsteps, they didn't stop at the door. They continued past. But I was so sure.
The three of us all allowed our bodies to relax, while I let go of a breath I was holding basically instinctively.
"Almost seems too easy," Chris said, his guard still not entirely down.
After a few seconds, we heard something above us. It sounds like someone was crawling around and dropped something.
The group of us shuffled around, questioning what we should do without speaking.
Before we could act on anything, something fell from the vent above us. The entire room started filling with smoke. I grabbed my shirt and covered my nose and mouth, and I assume the others did the same. It's hard to know with the room being so dark.
Chris made his way to the door and tried the knob, but it was locked from the outside.
As Claire and I covered our faces with our shirts, Chris found his way to us and wrapped his arms around the both of us. He was shielding us from a majority of the smoke or gas getting to us, but he couldn't cover his nose while he did it.
"Chris— it's okay," Claire told him, but he didn't listen. He kept his arms around us.
"Chris, please!" She pleaded again, but he didn't budge.
Once the smoke was mostly cleared, Claire and I moved ourselves out of Chris' arms. As we did this, Chris must've lost balance, because he fell back against the wall.
"Shit!" I exclaimed and rushed down to my knees. Claire did the same.
With both of us on the ground, Claire checked her older brother's pulse. His breathing was still steady, but he was fading in and out of consciousness.
As Claire examined Chris, I stood up and tried the door again. It wasn't opening, but I didn't stop trying. I was pulling the knob with all of my might. I kept wiggling it around. Pushing. Pulling. Whatever I could do. As I did this, to my surprise, it opened.
When the door opened, I was pushing against it, so I fell outside. Before my body could hit the ground, someone grabbed me. They put a hand over my mouth and pulled me back. Their hand must have been laced with something, because I already felt myself drifting unconscious. As I was passing out, I saw another figure close the door before Claire or Chris could make an attempt to get out of the closet. I tried to scream for them, but nothing came out. It's like trying to scream in a dream.
YOU ARE READING
A Reoccurring Nightmare (Carlos x OC)
Fanfiction(part 3 of 'We Were Never Strangers'.) Nearly four years since the events of Denver had passed. You were finally coming to peace with your traumatic past. You were slowly, but surely, learning how to cope with the loss you've experienced. Things wer...
