Surviving Raccoon City

Clock Tower

"So, how are you holding up?" Claire asked, "You look like you got hit by a bus," she joked, taking the lead down the stairs towards the weapons room.

"More like a car," I snorted, remembering the crash that put me into this mess.

"This way, right?" she asked, motioning down the hall. "Yeah, first door on the right when you turn the corner," I informed.The armory was empty, well I plugged in the keys Claire explored the room. "Hey, one of these lockers has an SMG in it," she called out, sounding excited at the idea of having it. "What locker number?" I asked. "203" The terminal beeped as the locker opened. "Got it!" "Readout rest of the locker, please," I told Claire standing ready. "Sure, 102, 103, and 208," she said. I quickly punched all the codes in, hearing a series of clicks as the lockers opened. "We got some ammo, for pistol and shotgun," she said, coming around over to me with all the items. "Shotgun ammo completely useless," she said, packing the extra items into her pack and holding out the SMG for me. "Not quite, Leons got the shotgun," I said, taking the SMG from her. "Do you know how to use it?" she asks. "Nope, but shouldn't be too hard," I answered honestly. "Okay, now to the clock tower," We stood at the edge of the wooden floor, the rest of the path destroyed by an unknown cause. I bit my lip, rubbing the back of my neck in thought of how to cross the pit. "Think we could jump it?" Claire suggested peering over the edge. "It's not like its a far fall," she added, looking over to me. "Yeah, just a bruised butt and ego if we miss," I mumbled, shrugging to the idea. "Come on, Lara, it'll be easy," Claire encouraged. "Fine," Claire went first, landing gracefully on her feet, it almost looked easy. Keyword, almost. "Show off," I mumbled, letting out an annoyed sigh. I followed after her, just barely making it. My feet landed at the edge, the abused wood almost giving way. I shot my arms out, grabbing onto the railing to keep balance. "Woah there, Lara Croft," she teased, earning a playful elbow to her side. We left the library, now in the uppermost part of the lobby. It was dark and hard to see, so Claire led the way with her flashlight. I had misplaced mine again. I need to get one that you can attach to the hip. "There's two up ahead," Claire started shining the light on the two. "I'll get the one in the front; you get the one in the back," she ordered."Alright" As Claire took out hers, I approached mine with my knife. It had shoulder-length dark brown hair; I couldn't tell if it was a man or woman since its back was facing me. Claire's zombie let out a moan, gaining mine's attention. It turned around, and I froze in shock, my mouth agape. It was Jen, no doubt about it. "Jen?" I whispered in disbelief the shadows making it hard to make out her appearance clearly. She slowly walked over to me, her arms reaching out for help as she stumbled. Without thinking, I met her the rest of the way, helping her stay upright. "You're alive!" I beamed, as she gripped my shoulders tightly for balance. She looked up at me; instead of the dark brown eyes I was so used to, I was meet with milky white. I pushed her back startled. She staggered a few feet away before falling, snarling in anger. The action caused her hair to move behind her shoulder, exposing her torn shirt, a grotesque bite mark on her neck. She slowly stood up, her ankle bent inward as she stumbled forward. "I'm sorry," I cried, reaching out for her, burying my knife into the back of her head, silencing her snarls.I hugged her, bringing her down to the ground gently. I had hoped that she had made it out of the city, thinking she was safe and free of these horrors. But I was wrong.A soothing hand rests on my shoulder, bringing me back to my senses. I whipped my head around to face Claire, completely forgetting she was here. "You knew her," Claire asked, more like stated, knowing the answer from my behavior. I shook my head, yes, my grip on Jen tightening. "She was the reason I came to Raccoon," I said, my voice cracking as I spoke. "Supposed to be a fun visit. We haven't seen each other since we were kids." I continued smiling at the memories."I'm sorry," she whispered as I sniffed. "You didn't deserve to find her like this," I nodded, biting my lip to stop another sob, trying to stay strong. "Come on," Claire coaxed, helping me lay Jens's body down and pulling me up. "Thanks," I murmured, wiping my face with my sleeve as we entered the clock tower.Inside, generators were lining the walls of the room. A structure rests in the middle, supporting the large bell that hung from the high ceiling. Wooden beams laid under the bell, a bunch junk resting on top of it. The only thing that seemed useful was the bright orange toolbox. "How much you wanna bet it's in that toolbox," I said, pointing for Claire to see. "Hmm, I bet if we make the bell ring, it'll knock the box down, but it looks like we need a gear," she explained, pointing towards the generator. "Well, good thing I got one," I said, taking it out of my bag and handing it to her. She furrowed her eyebrows in confusion, taking the piece. "Why do you have this?" she asked, amusement lacing her voice. "Found it, thought it'd be useful," I admitted shrugging. Claire placed the gear into place and pressed the button. A ladder in the far back of the room fell, giving us access to the second floor. "Whoops, though that one turned the bell on," she said, heading over to the stairs. I followed after her, passing another terminal that was missing a small gear."Hey, I think I found the right one. But we need a small gear" I called out to Clarie who was now on the second floor. "I found one that might fight," she answered back. "Look up," she ordered. I looked up to see her dangling the gear. "Catch," she said, dropping it. I caught it with ease and placed it into the slot. A mechanical whirl filled the room, but that was it. "Hmm, I took it out of the generator up here, but it didn't fit, you think the large gear will fit?" she asked, leaning against the rail."Might as well try?" I said, heading over and grabbing it. "Here," I said, motioning to her that I was gonna through it. "Go ahead," I threw it up to her, and she caught it, disappearing to place the part. All the gears in the room began to turn, the minute hand on the giant clock face moved to the twelve, a loud chorus of dings went off, making us cover our ears from the high pitch. Each ding of the bell sent vibrations through the floor. On the fifth ding, the supports holding up the bell broke, sending the bell tumbling down, crashing through the wooden beams.The orange toolbox fell, landing a few feet away from the bell. "No wonder they had it off," I said as Claire ran downstairs. "Yeah, no kidding," she replied, grabbing the box and opening it. "Is this it?" she asked, holding up the small component. "Yeah," I nodded, taking the piece from her. I yanked the lobby door open, coming face to face with an unsettling broad chest, Claire cursing behind me knowing who it was. Not knowing what else to do, I slammed the door closed, leaning against it to keep him from opening it. "I wouldn't go out there," I said, not being able to deal with this shit. Its fist crashed through the door next to my head, wooden splinters showering over me. I let out a yelp crouching down as the door was ripped off its hinges. "What the fuck!" Claire cursed, pulling me back away from the doorway. "Get down," I yelled as he threw the door towards us. I pulled Claire down with me, covering shielding her with my body as the door flew over us, crashing into the bell with a ding. I got off her, and she pushed me behind her, "I got an idea," she said, taking the weapon strapped to her back and firing. A loud explosion followed as the Tyrant was hit with Claire's grenade launcher. It stumbled back and kneeled as if it was stunned. "Come on," Claire yelled, grabbing my hand and pulling me forward. "What the fuck does this thing want from us" she yelled, not slowing her pace as we ran. "Where'd you get that launcher?" I asked, coming to run next to her instead of next. "Found it," she answered, not slowing her pace as the Tyrant's heavy footsteps sounded behind us as he caught up. "This way!" I said, pulling Claire down the lobby stairs and into the secret passageway. The hallway was to narrow for him to fit, giving us a safe room for us to hide in. "Ha!" I taunted as the Tyrant stood at the entrance, its angry eyes peering into my soul. "Cant get us in here, asshole," I continued.It growled, slamming its fist into the concrete, breaking a piece off in the process. Claire and I both screamed, taking off towards the elevator, not waiting to see what his next action would be.We stood on the lift as it took us down, breathing heavily. We both shared a look before we both burst out laughing. "Your asking for it, Lara," Claire joked. "Can't believe you slammed the door in its face." I held my hands up in defense. "I mean come on; what the hell was I supposed to do" I defended myself, still laughing as the lift stopped. "What is this place?" Claire asked, stepping off and heading down towards the machinery room. "A secret passage that leads to the parking garage," I answered, turning serious again.We arrived at the broken catwalk, where I first met Sherry. "We found a little girl down here, Sherry, before some monster attacked us," I informed, jumping across the broken grate. "Why on earth was she down here?" Claire asked, following me. "Looking for her parents. But she was taken from us by the Chief of police." "Irons?" "Yeah, he's a scumbag." "But he's the Chief, she'll be fine, won't she?" Claire asked as we approached the manhole. "I thought so too till he forced her to handcuff us and dragged her out, locking us in here," I growled, climbing up the steel latter. "Shes at the orphanage, I'm gonna get her back," I stated, pulling Claire up. "Let's just hope Leon got his piece."