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… that's… Leon?
Before the lift hit the floor, Claire jumped off and ran toward the crumpled figure. It was Leon, and he wasn't moving, either unconscious or dead, but no, he was breathing, and as she crouched in front of him, his eyes flickered open. His hand was high on his left arm, his fingers wet with blood. "Claire?" His blue eyes seemed clear, tired but aware.
"Leon! What happened, are you okay?"
"I got shot, must've blacked out for a minute…"
He carefully took his hand away, exposing a small ragged hole just above his armpit, oozing red. It looked painful, but at least it wasn't gushing. Wincing, Leon pulled the shredded fabric of his uniform over the hole and put his hand back over it.
"Hurts like all hell, but I think I'll survive – Ada, where's Ada?"
The last was delivered almost frantically, Leon struggling to push himself away from the wall. With a soft groan, he fell back, obviously in no shape to move. "Lie still, just rest for a minute," Claire said. "Who's Ada?" "I met her at the station," he said. "I couldn't find you, and we heard that you can get out of Raccoon through the sewers. The city's not safe, there was some kind of a leak at the Umbrella lab, and Ada wanted to leave right away. Somebody shot at us, and I got hit – Ada went after the shooter, down that hall, she said it was a woman…"
He shook his head as if to clear it, then frowned up at her. "I have to find her. I don't know how long I was out, but not more than a couple of minutes, she can't have gone far…"
He started to sit forward again and Claire stopped him, pushing him back gently. "I'll go. I… I was with this little girl, and she's lost somewhere in the sewers. Maybe I can find both of them."
Leon hesitated – then nodded, resigning himself to his injury. "How's your ammo?" "Uh, seven in this one…" She patted the weapon that she'd taken from the squad car, tucked in her belt. It suddenly seemed like a million years ago, that wild ride. "…and seventeen in this one." She held up Irons's gun, and Leon nodded again, his head rolling back tiredly. "Okay, that's good. I should be able to follow in a few minutes… be careful, alright? And good luck."
Claire stood up, wishing that they had more time. She wanted to tell him about Chris, about Irons and Mr. X and the T-Virus, she wanted to find out what he knew about Umbrella, or if he knew the way out of the sewers, but this Ada might be facing down a sniper right now, and Sherry could be anywhere. Anywhere at all. Leon had closed his eyes. Claire turned and started down the intersecting hall, wondering if any of them had a chance to make it out of this madness alive.
TWENTY-TWO
A
You horrible, horrible woman…
A
Umbrella, Umbrella did this…
A
… can't let them steal his work…
She staggered toward the door to the cavernous room, one arm wrapped around her burning chest and stopped, tilting her head to one side, listening. Shots. Echoing through the chill air, coming from the adjacent dumping grounds and a second later, she heard a thundering hiss, more shots, splashing -
– A
The bridge, lower the bridge, don't let her es-cape…
Tired and aching, A
Hope it's a pack of tickers, you bitch, I hope they're tearing you to pieces in there…
A
William, it hurts so bad, I'm sorry but I can't…
A young woman crouched in front of her, a look of wary concern on her smudged face. She was dressed in cutoffs and a vest, dripping with sewer water and held a sleek and heavy handgun, not pointing it directly at A
"Get away from me," A
The girl moved back, a look of confusion on her dirty face. "Find what? Who are you?" The questions again, and the fury passed, leaving her numb. A
A
"Are you Sherry's mother?"
The girl's words stu
"What?! Who… how do you know about Sherry?" "She's lost in the sewers," the girl said, speaking quickly, her voice tinged with desperation as she shoved her handgun into her belt. "Please, you have to help me find her! She was sucked into one of the drainage shafts and I don't know where to look…" "But I told her to go to the station," A
The girl reached for her again, helping her up, and A
The truth dawned into her exhaustion and fear like a ray of bitter light. The drains let out into the filter pool – which hap-pens to be right next to the factory tram. The fastest route to the labs. It was a trick. The girl was using Sherry's name to get to the facility, to get information about the G-Virus. Sherry was still at the station, safe and well, and this was all an elaborate ruse…