....
As they finally put some distance between themselves and the gas station, Claire slowly turned her head toward the person who had just saved her life.
"Allen…?" she said, her voice filled with disbelief.
She was clearly shocked.
The man behind the wheel was Allen—her former upperclassman and an old acquaintance from high school. Someone she never expected to meet again, especially not here, and certainly not under circumstances like this.
"What are you doing here?" Claire asked, still trying to process everything that had just happened.
Allen glanced at her briefly before returning his focus to the dark, rain-soaked road ahead.
"Oh, hey, Claire. Long time no see," he replied casually. "Well, I live in this city. Did you forget? And shouldn't I be the one asking what you're doing here?" Allen said as he glanced in her direction.
Claire bit her lower lip lightly.
Only now did she realize that she had completely forgotten about that fact.
"I… I'm looking for Chris," she answered honestly.
"Ohhh, so you're looking for your brother," Allen said with a small sigh. Yeah, this was pretty much what he had expected, especially since he already knew the plot of RE2.
"Well, he's not here. Chris is currently in Europe, investigating something important."
He shook his head slightly.
"And didn't he tell you not to come to Raccoon City? Tsk… tsk… such a naughty girl."
Claire didn't respond.
She simply stared out the window, her expression conflicted and tense.
Seeing her reaction, Allen continued, his tone becoming a bit more serious.
"Alright. Since you already know Chris isn't in the city, how about I take you away from here instead? We can get you out safely."
"No," Claire said firmly, turning toward him. "Don't take me away from Raccoon City."
Allen raised an eyebrow in surprise.
"I don't believe you," she added. "You're lying, aren't you, Allen?"
It was clear that she wanted to confirm everything herself—especially the truth about where Chris had gone.
Allen sighed deeply.
"Seriously… why should I lie about this?"
He paused for a moment.
Seeing how determined Claire was to enter the city, he knew it would be dangerous to let her go alone.
"Fine... But I'm warning you—this place is extremely dangerous right now. The city is crawling with zombies."
"…Zombies?" Claire repeated quietly.
"Yeah," Allen replied.
"People are calling them zombies now. They attack living people, eat them alive, and anyone bitten gets infected by some kind of unknown virus," he said, his tone noticeably more serious now.
"We're currently investigating the source of the outbreak and trying to secure evacuation routes to get as many civilians out as possible."
Claire fell silent again, her thoughts racing as the weight of his words finally sank in. The city ahead wasn't just unsafe—it was already lost.
And yet, despite knowing that… she still chose to go forward.
"By the way, Allen… thank you for saving me back there," Claire said softly, her cheeks turning red as she spoke.
"You're welcome," Allen replied casually, keeping his eyes on the road as the car sped through the dark highway.
"Uh… Allen?" Claire continued after a moment of silence. "How did you even find me back there? I mean… it felt way too coincidental." She glanced at him, clearly puzzled. She had just realized something else as well—Allen was wearing what looked like a police uniform. 'Is he working as a cop now?' she wondered.
"Well," Allen said calmly, "the bracelet Chris gave you? I made it. I installed a tracker in all of those bracelets. When I noticed your signal moving toward the city, I figured you'd definitely run into trouble sooner or later, so I rushed to your location."
"You... you're the one who made this bracelet, and you put a tracker in it?!" Claire said sharply.
For a brief moment, she looked like she wanted to rip it off and throw it straight out the window.
But then she remembered something.
Earlier, her entire body had been covered by that strange, incredibly durable suit.
She immediately looked down at herself again, still confused.
'Where did this suit even come from?'
And why had it bonded to her body so perfectly?
"Hey, what are you doing?" Allen asked, glancing at her in confusion as she started fiddling with the bracelet.
"I'm trying to get this suit off so I can throw this bracelet away," Claire said with an annoyed huff.
Allen simply remained silent for a moment, clearly amused by the way Claire kept trying to remove the protective suit attached to her body.
"Hey, hey, it's pointless trying to take that suit off," he said with a small smile. "And besides, what's so wrong with me putting a tracker in your bracelet?"
"You know this is a huge invasion of privacy, right?" Claire shot back. "And I'm pretty sure you put other weird stuff in here too."
Allen just chuckles "but even so, if it weren't for that tracker, I probably wouldn't have been able to save you in time when you decided to come to this city and ended up surrounded by zombies."
Claire immediately fell silent after hearing that.
"Wednesday," Allen suddenly said calmly.
"Yes, sir," a calm, artificial female voice responded from the bracelet on Claire's wrist.
Claire froze.
"W–Wait... what?!"
"Can you help Claire deactivate the suit temporarily?" Allen continued.
"Affirmative, sir," Wednesday replied.
Moments later, the black nano-suit covering Claire's body began to dissolve into countless microscopic particles, flowing back into the bracelet until it looked like nothing more than a normal accessory again.
Clair stared at her wrist in shock, then slowly turned her head toward Allen, her eyes wide.
"I knew it!.... You definitely put all kinds of weird stuff into this thing, didn't you?"
"Well, yes," Allen replied casually. "But you have to admit, that bracelet just saved your life. It activates automatically when the wearer is in danger."
Claire opened her mouth to argue—but stopped. She clenched her fist slightly, then let out a quiet breath. Despite herself, she couldn't deny it. Without that bracelet, she would've been bitten… or worse.
"…Yeah," she said quietly. "Thanks… for that."
Her voice was so soft that Allen almost didn't hear it.
Her face was completely red now, like a tomato. She turned away and stared out the window, pretending to focus on the road ahead. For some reason, every time she was around Allen, she always ended up like this. It had been the same since her first year of high school, ever since she met him.
She knew Allen because he had been her senior back in high school. Their first meeting could be described as painfully cliché. At the time, a group of male students had been bullying her. It wasn't random—Chris had gotten into fights with them before, and unable to get back at him directly, they chose to take it out on his little sister instead.
That was when Allen suddenly appeared out of nowhere.
"Hey," he said calmly but firmly, stepping between them. "Don't you feel ashamed of yourselves, ganging up on a little girl? You should stop this stupid crap."
"Allen, what do you want?" one of the bullies snapped.
"Yeah, Allen, don't get involved. This isn't your business," another added.
"Oh?" Allen replied, his eyes narrowing as he stared them down. "And what if I do get involved?"
The sharpness in his gaze alone was enough. The bullies hesitated, then quickly backed away before running off.
"Tch. Cowards," Allen muttered as he watched them flee.
Then he turned toward her, smiling lightly as if nothing serious had happened at all.
"Alright. Try not to get into trouble next time, kid," he said casually before heading into his classroom.
From that moment on, Claire couldn't explain why—but she became curious about him. Almost obsessed, even. She started quietly gathering information: who he hung out with, what kind of person he was.
She already knew about Jill, of course. Chris had her photo—one he secretly kept hidden away in a safe spot inside his locker. Unfortunately for Chris, Jill clearly didn't return his feelings. In fact, it was obvious she had feelings for Allen instead.
That realization made Claire strangely jealous.
Allen wasn't just close to Jill either. He was always surrounded by women—Athena, Hera, Aphrodite, Hestia, Demeter, Persephone, and finally Raviel, the heiress of the wealthy Einzbern family from Europe. To Claire back then, they felt untouchable, like people from an entirely different world.
But a few months into the semester, she slowly began getting to know them. To her surprise, they were incredibly kind. They invited her to eat lunch with them, treated her warmly, and never once looked down on her.
Chris, of course, used that opportunity to get closer to Jill.
That alone was embarrassing enough.
Yet no matter how many times Chris tried—inviting Jill out alone, attempting to spend time with her—she always refused. Jill's attention was always on Allen, and only Allen.
That infuriated Chris.
Eventually, he confronted Allen directly, challenging him to a fight. Claire tried desperately to stop it. She didn't want either of them hurt—especially not Allen. By then, she had already realized the truth about her own feelings.
Chris noticed.
And instead of understanding, he forbade her from getting close to Allen ever again.
That broke her heart.
Even so, Claire still tried to maintain a connection—staying friends with Jill and the other girls, lingering on the edges of Allen's world, silently burying her feelings where no one could see them.
Time passed.
They graduated.
Claire was the only one left behind in Raccoon City.
Two years later, an invitation arrived.
It was a wedding invitation—from Jill and the others.
All of them.
With Allen.
She was furious when she read it. Allen had married all of them… while she had been left alone, watching from afar. Still, despite everything, their relationship couldn't truly be called bad—just distant. Unfinished.
In the end, she blamed no one but herself.
If only she had been born earlier than Chris.
If only she had met Allen first.
After the wedding, she tried not to meet Allen too often. Fortunately, the man lived in the Arklay Mountains at the time and only came into the city whenever he wanted to visit Jill, who worked in S.T.A.R.S alongside her brother, Chris.
After graduating from high school the previous year, Claire decided to continue her studies far away from Raccoon City. Part of that decision was because of her broken heart—she didn't want to keep seeing Allen again and again, knowing that he now belonged to someone else. Keeping her distance felt like the only way to protect herself.
But now, fate had cruelly brought her face-to-face with him once more after such a long time without direct contact. Seeing Allen again like this made her heart race uncontrollably. She felt embarrassed, conflicted, and painfully aware of her own feelings. No matter how much time had passed, a part of her still liked him—despite knowing that he was a notorious playboy, already married, and with multiple wives.
The realization made her chest feel tight. She hated herself a little for it, yet she couldn't deny the warmth and familiarity she felt whenever she was near him. Even now, sitting beside him, she could feel her pulse quicken, her thoughts becoming a mess of old memories and unresolved emotions.
No matter how much she tried to convince herself otherwise, her heart still reacted to Allen the same way it always had.
Not long after reminiscing about those memories, Claire finally asked what had been bothering her.
"So, Allen… why are you wearing a police uniform now?" she asked, narrowing her eyes slightly. "Don't tell me you're pretending to be a cop or something."
Allen chuckled softly, keeping his eyes on the road. "Hey, watch your mouth. Well… a few months ago, I got bored," he said casually. "So I bribed someone to get myself into S.T.A.R.S."
"…What?" Claire stared at him in disbelief. "Did I seriously just hear you say you bribed someone?"
"Well, yeah," Allen replied without shame. "I bribed Chief Brian so I could get into S.T.A.R.S through my own channels. Mostly because I wanted to work alongside Jill."
Claire could only blink, speechless.
"But after a few weeks of missions," Allen continued, "S.T.A.R.S got disbanded. So I bribed Brian again and became a patrol officer instead. You know… I actually kind of like the job. Catching criminals, keeping order—well, catching bad guys, to be precise."
He spoke so casually, as if bribery were just another item on a grocery list.
Claire finally let out a sharp breath, staring at him with a mix of disbelief and irritation. "Then why don't you just arrest yourself and throw yourself into jail?" she snapped. "You're clearly not a good person if you're openly admitting to bribery like that."
Despite her words, there was a faint tremble in her voice, and she had to look away. Part of her wanted to scold him properly—but another part of her found the situation absurdly ridiculous. She almost laughed.
Allen glanced at her and smirked. "Ouch. That's pretty harsh, coming from someone I just saved."
"Tch," Claire muttered, crossing her arms and turning toward the window, her cheeks slightly flushed. "You're unbelievable."
After spending some time talking—and scolding Allen more than once—Allen couldn't help but feel amused. For some reason, Claire was acting less like a younger girl and more like an overprotective older sister constantly nagging her little brother, even though he was clearly older than her.
Eventually, they arrived at the outskirts of Raccoon City.
Outside, the road to Raccoon City stretched endlessly ahead—dark, rain-soaked, and ominously quiet. The streetlights flickered intermittently, casting long, distorted shadows across abandoned cars and empty sidewalks. Not a single pedestrian was in sight, and the silence felt unnatural, almost oppressive.
Claire stared out the window, her expression slowly tightening. The city looked far worse than she had imagined. Burn marks scarred the asphalt, storefronts were shattered, and vehicles were left abandoned as if their owners had fled in a desperate hurry.
"This place…" Claire murmured. "It's already this bad…"
She couldn't believe what she was seeing. A city that was once alive now felt completely hollow—like a corpse waiting to rot. What disturbed her even more was the realization that none of this had appeared on the national news. No emergency broadcasts. No evacuation warnings. Nothing.
"Why hasn't this been reported?" she asked quietly, more to herself than to Allen. "Something like this should've been all over the news by now…"
"Because someone doesn't want it to get out," he replied calmly. "Information control. Panic prevention. Or maybe… something worse."
Allen paused for a moment before continuing.
"And honestly, that's not surprising. Governments do this kind of thing all the time. If they have any involvement in what's happening here—or even just failed to stop it—they'd have every reason to keep the truth buried for as long as possible."
His tone remained calm, but there was a hint of cynicism in his voice.
"Whether it's to avoid panic, protect their reputation, or cover up their own mistakes, the people in charge usually prefer controlling the narrative rather than letting the public know everything."
Claire swallowed, her fingers tightening unconsciously around her jacket. Whatever was happening in Raccoon City was clearly far bigger than she had expected—and deep down, she sensed that once they entered the city, there might be no turning back.
And somewhere within those dark streets, something far worse than either of them realized was already waiting.