Snippet #2393938

As Chris entered the small office Claire followed suit and closed the door quietly, slumping against it as Chris dialed in and connected to their only ally for the moment. Claire listened intently at their conversation but kept her head slumped between her knees with her hands on the back of her head, tying her hair a little tighter to keep it in form. She scoffed at the news of a loss of power, mumbling quietly,

"I thought they were working on improving the power systems.. that was before I was stood down"

Claire's own self-indulgent bashing of the Ark though was cut abruptly though when she circled back to what she'd realised she'd just heard - a leaked project, called Chimera was the cause of this and GM had definitely gone suicidal.

"Wait, did you just say a leaked project is definitely the cause? Oh that would be fucking right."

Claire stood up, moving so her face was next to Chris's as she stared into the screen, becoming more involved with the conversation. Claire glanced over the man on the other end of their tablet, trying to discern if he wasn't just spinning them bullshit. He looked genuine enough and Claire could feel the full effect of the Boost working it's magic through her body; she was at least going to be more level-headed for the next twenty four hours.

Claire's jaw tightened and her teeth clenched as Tanner relayed their current choices, and her eyes dilated in an almost hatred filled death glare. She shook her head at their second option, no fucking way was she saving Douglas Wahidin. Claire took the tablet off of Claire, feeling her blood boil.

"That stupid self righteous-" a noise outside made Claire bring her rant down to an assertive whisper, "I can't be believe he's still alive. Wait, no I can actually. He deserves to rot in his penthouse if that's where he's stuck. Getting downstairs was hard enough and now you want us to waltz over to his, probably the safest house on the ark, and escort that idiot to a safe place?"

Claire put the tablet down, taking a deep breath to calm herself. She knew she was probably overreacting, well, not overreacting necessarily, but in a dire state such as this, she needed to think logically. Logically, speaking, Claire knew someone like Wahidin was her best bet off the Ark at this stage. Especially for someone like her - someone who had nothing to contribute off the Ark; survival of the fittest and most convenient to keep surviving and all that shit.

Still, Claire shook her head and looked to Chris, she could see him giving her a 'don't be stupid' glare. But Chris knew better than anyone that Claire loathed Douglas Wahidin, her Father and almost anyone else whom rallied behind the egotistical flag of Nakatomi.. Then she cringed for a moment, realising the contradiction of her feelings; afterall, Claire Hartford used to be one of Nakatomi's leading scientists. But, Claire was resigned to not helping him.

"Fuck him." Claire hissed as she took the Tablet and looked square into his face. "Get someone else to rescue him. He left me with nothing, it's only poetic justice he gets left with nothing in return."

Claire turned the tablet off abruptly looking to Chris leaving Tanner and Howe out of her own self-indulgent loop. Her whispering voice was cracking, her overreaction sinking in too. But Claire was as stubborn as she was intelligent and she turned on her heel, searching the office they were stuck in for anything that might be useful.

"I don't want to talk about it Chris." she said without being prompted. "I don't care if it's your civil duty either. Douglas Wahidin is a brat in an old man's outfit. I wouldn't be fucking surprised if he did this on purpose... I mean, I was allowed to get away with almost anything... and he..." Claire stopped herself from reliving the memories of what was taken as too far in Nakatomi.

"Fuck yes." She hissed as she jimmied open a wooden desk drawer and discovered a handgun with a spare clip sitting neatly. "Shit." she finished as Claire remembered the genetic coding most weapons on the Ark used to fire. "Fucking useless."

Claire stood up, stretching, the building was oddly quiet now. So were the streets. She looked to Chris with an uneasy eye and turned back to the venetian blinds in the small office, bending the thin metal slightly to peer out into the foyer of her apartment building. Completely empty. Where the fuck were all the infected?

"Do you hear that?" She prompted to Chris, gauging if maybe she was just exhibiting more post-withdrawal symptoms.

Claire looked back out to the foyer and could see just out into the street. That seemed empty too. Claire took the silence as their opportunity to get to the Alamo now or never. She turned around and picked up a metal chair nearby, kicking it's leg a few times, the frail chair disassembled and Claire picked up a weak metal pole from it's rubble. She knew it would make sense to wait for Tanner's friend Howe... But she was positive she wouldn't help Wahidin unless he ended up in his building by the force of God. Putting her own ego and pride above what was probably right Claire readied herself,

"We should go now why the infected are... quiet"

In truth, Claire knew moving so fast and so quickly wasn't exactly a smart move. The two really should plan their moves more carefully, but the mixture of the entire unforeseen nature of whatever was happening, Claire's sudden anger that Douglas Wahidin expected rescuing and her own fear were more than enough to make her want to get somewhere truly safe and then rethink this entire situation and how to tackle it.

Claire gave Chris another look, giving him a resigned thumbs up while creaking the door open slowly. "Same as before." she said sternly, "I'll keep the back you the front."

Claire followed silently as she exited the office and crossed the foyer. Their short grace period and contact with Tanner allowed Claire to fully absorb her surroundings now. The foyer was plastered, smeared and painted with splatterings of blood, some human body parts, but also torn clothes, and belongings deemed unwarranted by whoever had run into the building looking for refuge. It was like the aftermath of a horror movie. A silent, eerie murder had occurred, but someone had taken all the bodies and moved them somewhere.

Claire reached the front door of the foyer and held it open as she stepped outside, making sure the building was definitely clear inside and nothing - nobody was following them. Claire breathed slowly as the door slowly closed, she was making sure no noise would echo in the street or the building.

Claire turned around and was pulled up short when she now realised why everything in her street and the blocks surrounding were dead silent. All the infected were in a stationary mode. Some sort of shambling around, some just standing still.

"They look like they're in standby mode" Claire whispered to Chris.

Claire shuffled quietly as possible, her smaller frame seemed to be an advantage to noise reduction. She stuck to the sides of buildings as they moved, careful to not try and draw attention. As they two moved down the street, they probably only made it three buildings down when someone from Claire's apartment building burst through the foyer doors turning and screaming at Claire and Chris when she saw them quietly crouching.

"OH GOD! HELP ME! THE WHOLE BUILDING!! HELP ME!"

Claire looked to the woman, her jaw simply dropping. Was she actually that stupid. Obviously she was a wife of someone else on the Ark, because only an idiot would run screaming into a street and draw attention to herself. Claire looked to Chris shaking her head. In all honesty, Claire wasn't sure if Chris was a savior type being a doctor and all could make him one or the other, but save for a few people, Claire was a survival of the fittest woman.

"PLEASE! OH THANK GOD, YOU TWO AREN'T INFECTED!"

Claire shook her head holding her index finger to her lips miming a shush. The woman was oblivious as she began to run towards the two. FUCK Claire silently hissed as the woman ran towards them. Claire watched as the infected the woman had seemed to have ignored burst to life at her sensory cues.

"They're activating!" Claire shouted, unable to think of a more poignant word for what was happening.

Suddenly the street was filled with guttural growls and the sounds of multiple infected vomiting blood up, a sickening wet splash as they heaved fluids onto the ground and proceed to follow the woman and then notice Claire and Chris. Claire nearly vomited herself, was the vomit some sort of infection attempt? If they pinned someone down, did their blood or body fluids ensure infection if ingested?. Honestly, who gives a fuck for the moment. Claire looked to Chris again then back to the woman, she had nearly twenty right behind her. She was limping.

"Fuck her." Claire said coldly grabbing Chris, "We need to move".

Claire did feel a twinge of some guilt, but her will to live was greater than her will to survive. Claire ran like hell as the other infected became aware of her and Chris now but their sprint through the streets were cut short when their next turn towards a substation transport terminal was completely swarmed with currently inactive infected.

Claire had to use all her quick thought processes to stop herself from yelling. She looked to Chris, a small glance of guilt crossing her face as he could see the disdain in his own eyes as the screams of the woman form before ceased. The Claire looked behind them, the infected down the street were beginning to bore of the woman and come towards Chris and Claire.

Claire looked back to their blocked pathway and stamped her foot in frustration, alerting the mob to her's and Chris's presence.

"Oh fuck."

Claire grabbed Chris again and pulled him into the foyer of another building nearby. Fortunately it possessed only big heavy wooden doors, designed to mimic old-style English mansion doors. Claire pushed the doors closed, but the mob was pressing hard against her small frame,

"CHRIS... I NEED HELP!"

As the doors shut tight as the two managed to bar the infected, and Claire noticed a further security device - an electronic roller door. Claire moved into action fast, hearing the sickening beating of the infected outside. This building's security office was right to the left of the front door. Bursting in, Claire hit the emergency lock down button, causing the roller security door to begin closing. The door only got two thirds of the way however when the power cut out.

"COME ON!" she shouted angrily.

Claire barely had time to continue her angry ranting however when another door to the opposite side of the security office - an admin office - burst open and an infected man burst out fumbling towards Chris. Honestly, Claire blacked out for a few moments and came to when she realised she and Chris were sitting with their backs to the wall of the entrance door to this apartment building.

"Oh Jesus.. We're fucked" Claire heaved looking around this small foyer around them. It was odd. Something about it was familiar to Claire. This foyer wasn't as big as Claire's apartment building.. But it was more extravagant, it had more detail put into it than her's and her's was nearly the best of the best to offer on the Ark. Then it hit Claire.. She and Chris had accidentally taken refuge in the very building she'd made very clear she wouldn't set foot not more than fifteen minutes ago.

Claire grabbed the tablet from the inside of her jacket pocket looking to Chris, quickly speaking to him as she dialed in to the Movie Appreciation Society

"I guess it's Wahidin's lucky day..."

The tablet bleeped as the connection was made, "Alright Tanner.. You have your wish. Chris and I made it to Wahidin's building. He's up at the top still? We'll help your buddy get Wahidin back to the Alamo. But I won't promise I'll try to keep him alive."

Claire stood up, her teeth clenching at this unforeseen event.

"Can this Howe guy come to us from wherever he currently is? Can he get through this building's basement somehow from his location... We've sort of got a contamination problem outside the building and in the street... Regardless... I think we'll wait until he gets here. Wahidin can wait."

Claire handed the tablet to Chris, tired and needing another moment to rest. Waiting for their next instructions, Howe to arrive and then the unavoidable - as it seemed - meeting with her once admired ex-boss.