𝑩𝒐𝒖𝒏𝒅 𝑩𝒚 𝑩𝒍𝒐𝒐𝒅 | 𝘼 𝙍𝙚𝙨𝙞𝙙𝙚𝙣𝙩 𝙀𝙫𝙞𝙡 𝙁𝙖𝙣𝙛𝙞𝙘

Ｃｈａｐｔｅｒ ７

Laura's POV

Once we safely got out of the parking lot and onto the highway, it looked like "hell on earth" wasn't much of a stretch. Over half of the tall skyscrapers were on fire, with large amounts of blood staining some of their broken glass windows. Smoke filled the dark-orange tinted night sky. Several wrecked car can be seen along the highway, some of them being on fire with people still trapped inside. Civilians can be heard screaming, and seen running for their lives. Nothing but death and disarray surrounded our environment like a heavy storm. 'Was this a bioterrorist attack?'

I could tell Moira wanted to ask Claire about our mother-daughter relationship, since she probably has figured it out by now. She hasn't asked yet, because right now isn't the time or the place to do so.

I took out my phone out of my purse, trying call and get hold of Emile. To see if she and Tyler were okay. I was starting to get worried, thinking something bad might've happened to them. But thank god they were still alive and okay, since I was able to get a hold of Emile.

"Where are you now?! Are you guys safe?!?" I asked her, with a frantic tone of voice.

"Right now we're being escorted to safety by military troops in a military truck, and we're almost out of the city. They're evacuating as many people as they possibly could. Tyler's been worried sick about you."

"Can I talk to him then?"

"Sure thing, just a sec."

I waited for a moment on the phone for Tyler.

"Laura?! Are you there?!" Tyler asked, in a worried tone.

"Yes Tyler, I'm here."

"Thank god, where are y—" Then the line suddenly went dead, ending the call automatically.

"Tyler... Tyler! Dammit!"

"What happened?" Mom asked.

"The line went dead, something must've messed with the network."

"Hey Moira, can you turn on the radio? Maybe we can find out what's going on." Mom asked Moira.

Moira nodded her head and turned on the radio, cranking up the volume for us to hear. The radio was going all staticky at random, but still you could make out was being said.

"–according to substantiated reports, Seattle is right now currently under a bioterrorist attack. The perpetraitor respons–"

"–for the attack is still unk–"

"–at this time. The BSAA along w–"

"–the US government are currently under operations to maintain and control the current–"

"–entire city has been quarantined and there–"

Then the radio stopped working. Moira tried messing with all the buttons to fix it, but nothing worked. She leaned back against her seat, obviously frustrated as she groaned.

"Shit! It won't work. Well... there goes the radio too."

"Hey Moira, can you dig into my purse to grab something out it? It's Laura's birthday present."

"Sure thing Claire," Moira acknowledged Mom, as she grabbed it out of Mom's purse.

"Here Laura," Moira said, as I took my gift from her.

"I hope you like it Laura, it used to belong to my brother before he gave it to me a long time ago," Mom added.

I looked at the small rectangular box, wrapped in red wrapping paper. I unwrapped my present at a slowly. When I opened it, I was really suprised to see what it was. It was a regular sized custom combat knife in a black sheath. I took it out of its sheath, examining it. It was very sharp and shiny to the touch. At the bottom of the blade was a S.T.A.R.S. symbol.

"Thanks Mom, I—"

"Oh my god, Claire watchout!" Moira shouted abruptly.

The three of us spotted a man in black standing in the road, but he didn't look dead. He appeared much rather alive. At that point, it was already too late to slam on the breaks, so Mom tried turning the wheel to avoid hitting him. We started skidding across the road, ending up crashing badly onto the side of the road. Head first into a wrecked truck. After that I hit my head against the back of Mom's seat I blacked out, causing everything to go dark for me.

Claire's POV

Shortly after I crashed the car, I woke up. Lifting my head slowly off the emergency airbag. I felt a unpleasant migraine coming on quickly, while everything looked blurry and disoriented within view. I glanced over at Laura and Moira, to see if they were okay.

Laura was out unconscious in her seat, with a noticeable laceration on her forehead, bleeding a little bit. Moira was out like a light too, with a large bruise on her temple starting to form. Things could've been worse if I crashed into that man—but I'm just glad we weren't hurt severely.

'Who the hell was that on the road? Why was he just standing there like that?' I thought to myself, as many questions were racing through my mind. Until I recognized who that man actually was.

'Oh shit, it's him!!! I thought Chris killed him six years ago in Africa.'  I have to make sure that he doesn't find Laura—even if that means I must lead him away from the both of them, and quickly.

I unbuckled myself—glancing out the side window to see if he was still out there. There was no sign of him, and strangely enough, there wasn't any infected seen anywhere in the area either. I peered back over at Laura—worrying about what would happen if he found her and took her away. Then, I had an idea.

I searched underneath my car seat for anything, and pulled out a large camouflage blanket. Thank god Laura hid one here in case of an emergency situations. I covered her with the blanket, as I quietly muttered quietly to my daughter,

"Good bye Laura, I love you and you'll always be in my heart."

I really hope that they both get out of this hellhole safely. I quickly and silently got out of car. Beside me, I saw two small red glowing lights coming from a dark alleyway. Part of my gut was telling me to go into there, to find out what that was. On the other hand, my gut was also telling me to not go into that alleyway. Anything could be waiting for me in there, so I took my switchblade out of my pocket. Switched the blade.

Slowly, I start cautiously approaching the dark alleyway, until I hear something coming from behind me. I briskly turned around, seeing a B.O.W. trying to lunge at me. I react by swiftly jabbing my blade into its rotten skull. Collapsing onto the ground, with the knife stuck in its head.

I kneel down on the ground beside it, to retrieve my knife out of its skull. All of a sudden, I heard something else move rapidly behind me. Without realizing it, I feel something small but sharp being stabbed into my neck. My entire body going numb within seconds, as I struggled to maintain my balance.

I tried to stand up and charge at the person with my knife, but I was only getting weaker by the moment. Feeling like I would black out at any moment. After I collapsed roughly onto the ground, I glanced up and saw him, as he stepped out of the shadows.

'Fuck, I knew it. It's him.'

To me—it looked like he was smirking at me—as if I was some of grand prize. Before I blacked out, he said,

"No long time no see... Claire."