Resident Evil: Ghosts from the Past

Chapter Three

The sky was black; it seemed like all the stars in the galaxy where visible that night. Leon walked away from the window and looked towards the clock on the wall, 11:45 pm. Josh and Sheva were on watch until 12 in the morning; then it was Chris and Jill's turn. Leon fell back onto the sofa, resting his head on a pillow Jill had found in one of the cabinets. He pulled the blankets over himself and shut his eyes.

His thoughts were filled with sleeping. It was a rare occasion for him to get any; usually sleeping pills would do the trick but sometimes that didn't even do the trick. Leon felt himself begin to drift off into numbness until a bloodcurdling scream echoed through the house. He threw the covers off of himself and bolted to the room where the sound was coming from, gun in hand.

The screaming had come from Chris and Claire's room; he jerked to a halt once he reached the doorway. Claire was clinging onto Chris's shirt, her face buried into his chest as she took heavy breaths. Jill sat next to her, holding her hand in comfort as Chris whispered soothing words into her ear. Chris and Leon's eyes met up, his soothing words came to a pause; his jaw was set, eyes tired. Josh and Sheva came up from behind Leon, both with their guns drawn.

"What happened?" Sheva asked, relaxing her stance.

"Bad dream," Chris answered bluntly.

Both Sheva and Josh put their guns away, Josh looked at Claire, "She okay?"

"She will be," Chris said softly, as if he needed the words more than his sister did. He looked at the alarm clock on the bedside table, "Me and Jill's shift?" He looked down at his sister, "Hey, me and Jill have to watch the camera's okay?"

Claire said nothing; she slowly let go of Chris. Everyone seemed to leave the area, Josh and Sheva left to get some rest, Jill and Chris left for the basement, but Leon stood unmoving in the doorway. Claire wiped her nose with the sleeve of her shirt and pushed away the tears that stuck to her face.

"You okay?" Leon asked softly, walking into the room carefully.

She nodded, "You can sit down." Claire patted a spot next to her on the bed.

Leon obliged, sitting down on the covers of the bed, and watched her tuck her legs under her chin, "What was it about?"

"Everyone." She sucked in a shaky breath, "Everyone I've ever met was one of them. I was the only one left. I had a gun in my hands and I-I couldn't shoot. I had enough ammunition to kill everyone there but I couldn't do it. And that's when I saw Sherry…" She trailed off.

Leon watched as a few extra tears spilled over onto her cheeks, he embraced her; feeling her fingers grip his shirt tightly.

Her voice was muffled but he could understand, "Please tell me Sherry's okay."

He couldn't say anything because he himself didn't know how Sherry was. After Claire left, the authorities took Sherry away from him. He tried to get her back but nothing could bring her back.

She looked up at him with tear filled eyes, "Please, just tell me she's okay."

Leon stared back at her, "I don't know."

Claire buried her head into his chest and sobbed. He rested his chin on the top of her head and waited.

She buried herself into him, hoping to disappear. It was her fault Sherry wasn't safe. If she hadn't run off and gotten captured; Sherry would be with them. Claire felt herself become too tired to cry, her eyes were sore and she felt her stomach roll. She was exhausted from everything.

What Leon didn't know was that the nightmares came almost every night. But when Chris wasn't there to comfort her, she wouldn't be able to get back to sleep. Claire would sit on her couch with her gun and a bottle of beer, watching old movies.