The duo soon found themselves walking up the stairs where they were just now. They needed to get back to the mansion because they were convinced that the only clue was inside the mansion. The area was clear. Steve looked back, ensuring that there was really nothing behind them before they moved on.
"The boy and the girl..." Claire whispered to herself, deciphering the riddle.
"My bet is it's connected to that music box we saw," Steve guessed. Claire looked unconviced as she continued to move on. "Look, we have to go back to that room," Steve persuaded, walking in front of her, facing her. Steve was about to walk into the mansion when Claire spoke.
"Steve..." she whispered. Steve turned back, looking at Claire. She was holding her gun, pointing at something.
"What?" Steve, asked, annoyed. There was no time to waste now.
"You don't see them?!" Claire hissed this time.
As Steve looked up, he gasped when he saw the masses of bats gathered on top of him. The bats were faster than his reaction as the first thing it did was to fly down and meet the duo, the swarms of bats brushing past him. Somehow, Steve fell onto the ground clumsily, stunned that there were so many bats. Steve stood up, trying to focus at the masses of bats that were still flying towards him. Steve unleashed a few shots at it, killing a few bats while the rest brushed past Steve without bringing harm to him. The bats continued to screech in the sky, flying in masses so that they could outnumber their prey easily. Knowing that fighting an infinite number of bats was definitely not the wisest idea, the duo started to charge headfirst into the house.
"Claire? Claire!" Steve yelled, trying to get to her. She had difficulty getting rid of the bats that tried to suck her blood. No matter how Steve tried, it was impossible with all the swarms of bats going against Steve. It was as if he was going into the opposite direction of where was the current of a river was heading. "Right here! You wanna fight me?!" Steve taunted the bats. His reply was bats coming at him. Steve was able to intercept them, killing it.
"Get inside! Quick!" she ordered, running for the house together. The duo finally rushed in, slamming the door behind them. They were safe for now.
"What happened back there?" Steve asked, wondering why she did not move into the house earlier.
"I thought I heard a guy's voice," Claire replied. Steve surveyed the area for a moment, scanning for any mutants. Nothing.
"Let's get going," Steve continued. As Steve turned to face the staircase, he faced three zombies instead, moaning at them. Steve and Claire opened fire at them. It was as if a magician just sent them here. The duo were taken by surprise by they were able to kill the zombies before they could even touch them.
"They could be hiding anywhere in here..." Claire warned.
"You're right," Steve agreed. As soon as he spoke finish, something loud - like someone knocked on the door loudly - was heard on the second floor. Claire gasped.
"Give me a break," Claire sighed.
"You know... You're cute when you're scared," Steve commented.
"Oh shut up," Claire retaliated. Steve was about to climb the stairs when a dark green object fell from the ceiling, nearly making Steve a pancake.
"Here too?!" Steve yelled, opening fire at the monster. It was dead soon when Steve shot it at its face. Behind them were a mass of zombies as well.
"They're coming out of nowhere!" Claire yelled, opening fire at them. Another zombie tried to surprise them, coming out of the counter to grab them with its arms outstretched but it failed when the duo retreated towards the stairs. They ran up the stairs since they realised that they were about to waste time fighting them.
"Sorry, but you're not my type," Claire spoke to the horde jokingly before the duo turned their back at the horde downstairs. Something had just run past them, hiding behind one of the blind spots of the stairs.
"Come on, I'm ready for ya," Steve called out, walked slowly and cautiously, facing his right.
As they finished climbing the stairs, the creature leapt at them but their fast reaction saved them, missing the creature's grasp. The duo stood up unbalanced and the monster lunged towards them, reaching out its claws. They fell back a few steps, avoiding its claws that nearly hit them. They pulled the trigger furiously, managing to hit it eventually. The monster fell onto the ground, dead. Claire went to the room Steve suggested while Steve covered her, turning to face the stairs again. No zombies were coming for them. Steve went into the room as Claire entered the room.
"This is it," Claire spoke softly, walking towards the music box. The thunder boomed outside, lighting up the room for a short moment before the room became dark again.
They observed quietly at the music box. The shelve-like music box had a stage in front. As the music was played, a boy from one end walked toward the other end, only to drop down and restart again at the same place where it started. Claire understood what Alfred meant back then.
"So, we have to make them meet again," Claire spoke. Steve tried to push it down but it refused to back down and without a choice, Steve shot the two fishes that were blocking the boy's way. The boy made it to the other end and soon, he managed to make its way to the girl on the top after shooting a knight and a bear that were both blocking his way. As soon as the boy and the girl were both together, the curtains became shut on them, the music box moving to the right automatically. A hidden path.
"Well, that's a complicated way to open the door," Steve commented.
"Which means that someone really doesn’t want anyone to go inside," Claire explained as she went in first.
The thunder outside roared again. Steve went in as well and turned his back to the door. There were footsteps coming from the door. Instead of the usual zombies, they were greeted by another monster instead. This one has rotting skin and its right arm was longer and larger than its other arm. As soon as Claire opened another door behind them, she ran from the monster immediately, knowing that they had to go somewhere else. Steve did the same, following her and they ran through the bridge made of stone. Several zombie stood up and the duo groaned while they opened fire at the group of zombies. What a great time to be stopped at their tracks. The monster behind them had already jumped up through the broken roof. The creepy silence filled the air now.
"Great, now where's it gone?" Steve asked. Before he could finish, the growl of the monster already revealed his position, kneeling in front of them as it stood up. They sent a hail of bullets at the monster but it shielded its head, going through the hail of bullets slowly but steadily. Their efforts did not fail them when the monster flinched in pain. It finally died after a few bullets to the head. Steve yelled in celebration.
"Check that out! I think we did well!" he yelled happily.
Despite their victory, Claire kept silent. She experienced enough to know that it was too early to celebrate. Steve soon became vigilant as the atmosphere became suspicious. As they moved forward, a roar came from above, landing in front of them and the ground shoo. The duo took a step back, sending bullets at the monster's face. The monster failed to regain its balance after the landing and fell to the ground, its back landing on the ground. In front of them was a walkway to uncertainty and lionhead made out of stones lined up on the sides.
"Where do you think this leads?" Claire asked as they walked towards a building.
"To whatever secrets they don’t' want us to find out," Steve replied, walking towards the building now. The building looked more like a fort. The cicadas creaked as they continued to walk up the stone stairs.
The duo realised that the building must have been there for decades as sone of the pillars were in ruins. The duo looked for a moment but soon, they looked up in the sky when a voice came out of nowhere. This time, it was not Alfred that spoke. This one was a foreign voice, someone that they had not heard or encountered before.
"I attacked this island upon hearing the news of an awakening," the voice spoke. "But it seems it was all a pretence," The duo were still looking around, confused at the source of the voice.
"Steve?" she asked him, wondering if it was somebody he knew.
"Who is it?" Steve asked as well. He do not know who was the person either.
"Though, ironically," the voice continued. "I feel you will lead me to the truth, regardless,"
Claire was even more stunned when he finished his sentence. "Chris's little sister," he greeted.
"You're nothing more than a coward," he taunted, still confused as he spun around, trying to locate the source of the voice. "Show yourself, dammit!" Nobody turned up.
"He... he mentioned my brother's name..." Claire stuttered in fear, shocked that that person knew so many things. Suddenly, the vicinity was filling with moans of a zombie. Claire broke out of her fear, holding the gun up now. She could find out what has happened next time but now, it is not the time.
The duo leaned on the wall now, gauging the number. The sounds of it could easily be a horde. As they went out of cover instantly, a zombie that was dressed up like somebody from special forces tried to bite them but Steve shoved them in time. He looked that that zombie in horror when he noticed that a bomb was attached to it. Things complicate as the zombie was wearing a mask. Steve took his shots carefully while Claire stopped the other zombies, shooting them before they could distract him. With the help of Claire, Steve successfully took that explosive zombie down without exploding the bomb. The duo continued, turning right and saw a body leaning on the floor. The zombie roared at them as they moved near it but it must have realised that it made a wrong decision once Steve sent parts of his head everywhere with his gun. The duo hastened as they saw a group of them staggering towards them. After they climbed the flight of stairs that led them to safety, Steve started to speak, breaking the silence.
"I swear, if he was the one who attacked the island..." Steve said, leaving his sentence hanging in the air.
"Let's deal with that later," Claire told Steve. "Right now, we need to focus on how to get off this island," A extremely big door that was easily twice the height of them was standing in front of them. The duo looked up. It was still dark as the moon continued to shine dimly in the night skies.
"This is creepy," Steve commented on the fort-like building. "I know Alfred is here, somewhere," Claire went ahead of him, opening the door as it creaked. The interior now looked like some kind of a mansion. The walls looked grand and the height of the building was shown with a extremely huge puppet that was hanging in the air. This gave Steve the creeps. He looked to the top and saw that the coast was clear.
"This place is horrible," he told Claire in disgust. The old and dirty puppet was the most disturbing thing that he saw. The doll was old and there were limbs attached on its head, sticking out from it strands of hair.
While they were still looking everywhere, the same monster with the extremely huge arm jumped to the ground on their right, Claire gasped in horror, shooting the monster furiously while Steve moved away from the monster. As he moved back, he noticed a sub-machine gun lying on the ground behind him.
"Cover me!" Steve told Claire, rushing towards the sub-machine gun while Claire covered him, pulling the trigger furiously.
As soon as Steve grabbed the sub-machine gun with one hand, he spun around to face the monster again, shooting the sub-machine as he felt the recoil trying to prevent him to hit the monster. However, it still fell down from the hail of bullets. Steve reminded himself that he should hold the sub-machine gun with both hands next time. Before Steve could take a closer look at the gun, the same monster jumped down from nowhere. Seeing that they were wasting their time, the duo moved up, trying to ignore the monster unless it chased them. Once they finished climbing a flight of stairs, they looked below, only to see it disappear and the monster growling and landing at the same level at them. The duo pulled the trigger as quickly as possible, frustrated as the monster covered its head using its large hands. It took several shots before it finally growled in pain and let its guard down. However, Claire looked in fear. Looking in its eyes was as if she was staring at the grim reaper herself, another reminder of death that she did not wanted.
The duo looked at the route that they were about to take. It was just opposite them. Although there were no zombies, they knew that some of them would had turned up. Sure enough, a few of them staggered towards them.
"Zombies, zombies, zombies, zombies!" Steve chanted in anger as he shot another explosive attached to one of them. "It's like a damn video game!"
They panted, tired of all the running at the stairs. The wave of monsters were endless and they wondered if they nightmare would even end. Claire pushed the door open, revealing a dark corridor with only dimly lit lamps and lights on the sides. Steve picked up a clip which belonged to a sub-machine gun. Suddenly, Alfred's voice was heard.
"It's Veronica! The Veronica Virus!" Steve heard him saying, this time in fear and as if he was about to lose his mind. "No. I can't. I can't remember anymore! My head is ready to explode! Alexia!" Steve tip-toed to the window. Was it really true that Alexia is not dead as Alfred was mentioning? A eerie silence filled the air.
"Don't be so hard on yourself, brother," a voice of a lady was heard. "We can still have much fun playing our game," Steve managed to take a glance at the window and he saw a lady standing up. Steve crept, making sure that he was out of sight and did his best not to make any noise.
Now, everything was confirmed. The fact the Alexia is back from the grave is now true.
"Did you hear that?" Steve whispered.
"Yeah. She is still alive. I thought something was wrong," Claire replied.
"It's time to finish this," Steve continued, walking to the door as he made a turn.
Claire immediately leaned on the wall, ready to barge in at any moment. The thought of finding them excited Steve. Finding him would mean they can get out of the island. Claire pushed the door open and Steve charged into the room, his hands at the trigger, ready to fire. However, Steve placed the gun down. There was nobody around. The room was only filled with the sound of the music box. Where did they go? The duo looked at the room with their jaws dropped. How could they disappear so fast?
"There's probably another hidden passage in here somewhere," Steve suggested.
"Maybe. Let's look for one," Claire continued.
The duo looked everywhere but to no avail. Even the stone statue was misleading to them. The duo looked around desperately for clues and in frustration, Steve switched the lights off. Suddenly, Claire exclaimed.
"Look! It's glowing!" Claire informed Steve. Sure enough, the stone statue's eyes were glowing red at them. Curiosity took over him as they approached the stone statue and pushing it. Something instantly slid from the top of the bottom and Steve knew what happened: they escaped through a hidden ladder.
Once the duo were on the top, Claire looked at the cellar in surprise.
"This place is full of toys," Claire commented. "Why would he need these?" In fact, the cellar looked more like an enclosed funfair with a merry go round. The seats were replaced with wooden pony tails. Before they could walk another step, the merry go round suddenly came to life, the music echoing in the cellar. "This sure does not look like a study," Claire continued.
"He's too old for that," Steve spoke with disgust at his maturity.
"That's far enough," a voice demanded and a laser was seen in front of Claire. Claire pointed to the source of the voice immediately. "So, we finally meet, Claire Redfield. I'm Alexia Ashford and on behalf of my brother, I will now say goodbye!" she greeted with a deep voice. Doubts and suspicions were running actively inside Claire mind. One, how does she know her name? Maybe Alfred told her but second, her voice sounds so deep that she even wonder if she is really a girl in the first place.
The duo walked slowly as she went into cover at the merry go round. She had a sniper rifle and therefore, she should have a better advantage over them. Her laughter filled the air.
"This is where you two are going to die," she spoke. The duo looked at the opposite end of the merry go round that was blocked by a pillar which held the merry go round in place. The duo concentrated fire on the area, stopping her from coming out to shoot them. "You're going to regret this," she swore in frustration.
"What an arrogant bitch!" Steve yelled in anger. "Get your ass out of here!" Just then, Steve noticed her getting out of cover once more and her sent the bullets flying towards her. She yelped in pain as the bullets grazed her.
"Prepare for your demise!" she roared in anger. "Why won't you obey?!" This time, as Alexia got to cover once more, Claire signalled to Steve, tilting her head to their left flank. She wanted him to flank her and catch her off guard.
"You and your psycho brother makes me sick!" Claire yelled back in disgust at her. Steve grabbed the opportunity, running towards the left.
"I'll make you wish you'd never said that! No one disrespects my dear brother!" She screamed in anger. Steve clenched his fists in frustration. Her voice is getting more annoying by the minute and she had seen through their plans. She was moving around.
"Like we give a shit!" Steve yelled back in retaliation.
This time, Alexia came out of her cover crouching but her change in stance did not shock the two duo. Claire shot at her, forcing a bullet at his shoulder. As he fell onto the ground, the duo looked even more shocked now. A wig was floating to he floor and Alfred was now standing in her place, wearing her dress. Alfred screamed in fear as soon as he saw himself and ran as if he saw a ghost. Steve tried to grab him but Alfred jumped into a picture frame that was left wide open and it slammed shut at him. Steve pulled and punched at the picture but to no avail. Claire picked up a key on the floor. Was it the key?
"Shit!" he swore in anger, hitting the picture with his remaining strength. Their last chance of getting out of here was so close escaped from their grasp once more. "So Alfred was playing two roles by himself," Steve whispered.
"He couldn't bear the fact that his sister was dead," Claire concluded. Steve nodded his head in agreement.