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Chris had been trudging around yet another infested mansion for hours with no luck. It was a massive estate, so he wasn’t surprised he hadn’t found what he was after yet, but still. Cut the man a break, yeah?
A distress signal had been sent out from this place and so far, Chris hadn’t come across anything but zombies and the odd undead dog. He was finishing exploring the east end of the home—where there was evidence of a gasoline-based explosion but no survivors wandering around—and was on his way to the west end when he heard gun shots, finally the sign of some sort of life here. It was coming from the west end.
Chris broke into a run, trying to find where the sound had come from. He’d been searching for so long, he had no time to spare now that he had a clue. He tried to keep quiet even with all the gear on him making sound.
In every room he took a moment to stop, take in his surroundings, and move on if he didn’t find anything. There’s no way whoever was here couldn’t hear Chris’ own gunshots this whole time, so why hadn’t they come to him yet? A zombie couldn’t fire a gun, so why hadn’t this surviving human met up with Chris yet? They had to be the person who sent out the distress signal.
Chris heard more gunshots a few rooms to the right, moving as quick as he could while still watching his own ass. The rooms were dark, little to no light in them, and Chris did what he could to not trip over his own feet in the low-light. He passed through a few rooms absolutely littered with bodies of the dead. A massacre that took him aback.
Chris finally came through a door where he spotted a figure backing up on the floor as best they could. The room was so dark that he could tell that yes, this person was human, but couldn’t make out anything past that. Chris saw a few zombies around the room moving towards the prone person and immediately shot them down, blowing out their brains if they continued groaning from the floor.
Chris started moving towards the figure, gun lowered.
“It’s okay, I’ve got you, everything’s gonna be okay now.” Chris reassured the person as he reloaded his gun then strapped it to his back, raising a hand placatingly just in case they were startled or scared. He could hear their heavy breathing, each breath sounding pained. They were probably stressed out and injured. Chris got within arm’s reach of the figure when he could finally make out a face. A familiar face.
“Leon?” He said, stunned. Leon was staring straight back at him, looking just as surprised. And pale.
“Chris?” He asked back, voice hoarse and disbelieving.
“How the hell did you end up out here?” Chris asked, kneeling in front of Leon. He had a hand clutched to his side, and his ankle looked twisted at a particularly nasty angle.
“Sent for a mission,” Leon started, having to pause to breathe, “Sent me too late, into a death trap.” Leon shook his head, gritting his teeth. He shifted, pressing his hand harder to his side with a hiss. Chris frowned.
“Let me see.” He said, voice quiet. Leon resisted Chris’ hands trying to move his own for a moment before he gave up. The wound was nasty. A deep gouge, like he’d been half-stabbed.
“Got shoved into some,” A breath, “Splintered wood. Railing.” Leon explained the injury. Chris poked around for a moment, seeing a few splinters in the wound. Chris felt around the area, checking for any abnormalities aside from a literal stab wound. It clearly had missed any vital organs, and it didn’t seem like Leon was at risk for bleeding out anytime soon.
He reached up to move his hands down Leon’s arms, feeling the bones of his wrist and hands, just in case. He did the same with his legs, specifically checking the twisted ankle. Leon gasped, trying to writhe away from Chris’ hands.
It was bad, clearly broken. That explains why Leon hadn’t come running when he heard another human taking down the undead. He couldn’t.
“You need medical attention.” Chris said, standing up.
“Clever boy.” Leon taunted breathily. Chris sent him a glare. Way to bite the hand that feeds, Leon.
“C’mon, let’s get you out of here.” Chris sighed. He had cleared out the stragglers so getting out should be simple. And once they were out, Chris could call for someone to retrieve them. Leon grunted and groaned as he grabbed onto Chris, swinging his arm around Chris’ shoulder and gripping hard to stay up.
“Are there any other survivors?” Chris asked as he wrapped his arm around Leon’s waist, careful to avoid the wound.
Leon shook his head, “Not that I—not that I found.” He panted, trying to get his good foot under himself. Chris nodded in acknowledgement, helping situate Leon so he could limp with him.
Leon was painfully slow even with Chris’ help. He was clearly in pain, breathing hard and making bitten off noises of agony as they went. Chris tried to be patient with him, really he did, but they needed to get out of here.
They were probably halfway through getting back to the main hall and leaving when Chris heard it. Footsteps. Heavy ones.
“We have to go.” Chris urged, trying to get Leon to move faster. Leon made a frustrated sound, stumbling as Chris tried to urge them forward.
“I’m trying.” He hissed, voice strained. The footsteps were behind them, Chris taking on more of Leon’s weight to help them along. They were almost there, just reaching the main hall when the footsteps stopped. Chris froze for a moment, looking around carefully. He started moving forward with caution. Leon looked around with him, clearly trying to quiet and slow his pained breathing.
The footsteps that had been following them went off in a sprint, and then the wall next to the door they had just come through collapsed. Chris turned as best he could while still holding Leon, taking in the sight next to him. A hulked-up zombie was standing next to them. It reminded Chris of how Claire described the T-Virus infected creature that she had a run in with, but somehow worse. Thick veins ran down its neck, bits and pieces of its skin looking charred and bloody.
It turned to them and howled. Leon made an anxious sound next to Chris. Chris’ brain stuttered around, starting to take note of everything he had to do in this situation. First and foremost, he had to ensure Leon’s safety.
“Stay here.” Chris said, keeping calm as he lowered Leon to the ground to lean against a pillar.
“Chris—what, no you—” Chris was already moving away from Leon’s clinging hands, drawing the creature’s attention to himself with a firing of his gun. Chris pressed on his radio that connected him to his team.
“I’ve secured a survivor. I’m leaving him in the main hall while I draw away a B.O.W. Send in the retrieval group and have medical aid prepared for the survivor.” Chris spoke into the mic quickly. The creature hissed again. Chris barely heard the confirmation being spoken back to him before the creature charged.
He dodged, just barely. The creature had large claws and was using them to its advantage as it ran around. Chris ducked through a door and into a lavish room at the start of the east wing. The creature chased as expected, plowing down a wall as it went.
Chris unloaded a clip into the beast, flinching back at the high-pitched wails it let out in response. Chris found it easy enough to dodge, trying to keep on his toes and not get cocky. The retrieval team didn’t need to come in to find two injured men. Or worse, an injured man and a dead one.
Chris set up a careful dance of dodging shooting, dodging shooting. The creature was tiring from it’s raging about when Chris heard someone call to him from the main room. That voice wasn’t Leon’s, so Chris assumed his retrieval group had arrived. He went through one more round of bullets and then dashed for the main hall.
He ran through the opening in the wall made by the B.O.W., hearing the monster’s churning screams behind him. He looked around the hall, seeing one of the women from his group waving him down. Leon was nowhere to be seen in the hall, so Chris made his way to the woman. She led Chris to their aircraft, and they took off as quickly as possible, the creature rushing out right as they were out of reach.
Chris glanced one more look at the mansion as the aircraft took off, the screams barely reaching his ears the further up they got. He’d need to make a report of the area and just hope the creature kept rampaging in the mansion by the time they got back to blow it up and eradicate anything else in it.
Chris turned his attention to the inside of the carrier as he felt that they were a safe enough distance away. The retrieval group had laid Leon down along the ground on top of a cushion, their lead medic cleaning out the stab wound. One of the other members had Leon’s hands pinned to the floor, keeping him from interfering with the process and potentially hurting himself more.
Leon was wide-awake, hissing through his teeth and spitting aggressive words like a pissed off cat. Chris made his way over, kneeling next to them. Leon’s brow was furrowed with pain, teeth bared and gritted when he wasn’t busy being crude to the people saving his life.
“Leon.” Chris said. Leon turned to him, looking just as intense, pressing up against the hands holding him down again. It was clear that he was weak after his tryst in the mansion. The Leon Chris knew could take both of these people out in three seconds flat and still have time to aim a gun between Chris’ eyes.
“We’ve got you, relax.” He said. Leon stared back at him, seeming as if he was going to argue. And then he sighed heavily, body relaxing and sagging against the floor. His head thumped against the ground.
He was still breathing heavy, trying to regulate his airflow through the pain. The person holding his hands down gave Chris a nervous look before hesitantly letting go and sitting back.
Chris stayed next to them while the medic worked. Leon would groan here and there, looking pained in a way that tugged at Chris’ heart. Chris offered Leon his hand to squeeze when the medic moved to working on his ankle, feeling the bones and trying to reset or shift what they could before getting Leon to better medical care. Leon bit down on his own hand for all but two seconds before the other medic offered him a strip of leather.
Chris only realized that his retrieval team was quieter than normal when he didn’t hear the constant chatter that normally came with them. He took a moment to peek behind himself and saw them all watching him and Leon. He supposed it made sense. Leon was a top agent, he was renowned. Almost a legend. This may be their first time meeting him, and injured no less. It was a sort of spectacle.
Chris decided to pay them no mind, turning back to try and comfort Leon as best he could. The ride was going to be a few hours, so getting Leon stable and comfortable was the current priority.
Once his foot was set up as best they could get it for now, Chris helped position Leon along the seats against the wall in a comfortable way. He sat near him, watching the agent slowly relax and finally doze off.
Chris had no clue how long Leon had been fighting to get out of that mansion, how long he’d been injured and weak. He looked pale, gaunt, just generally unwell. Leon wasn’t a star pupil when it came to taking care of himself, but this was especially bad. Not that Chris could blame him if he was too busy trying to keep from getting eaten alive to feed himself.
What sort of agency sends their top agent into a zombie infested mansion alone like that? And too late to complete the mission? Chris would have been furious, but maybe Leon had already gone through all of his anger before Chris arrived.
Chris sat quietly for the ride. Some of the others in the aircraft offered Chris some of the rations they had brought and he gladly accepted, taking an extra set of them and setting it aside for Leon for whenever he woke up.
Leon woke up about forty-five minutes into their ride with a start, hissing and pressing on his side with the movement. Chris raised his hands placatingly when Leon turned to look at him with muted panic in his eyes. Chris offered him the ration he’d saved as Leon came back to himself and visibly calmed down.
The agent absolutely tore through the meal, almost vicious with how he tore apart the packaging to get to the food. Chris offered him his own canteen and Leon chugged some of it, not inconsiderate enough to drink the whole thing.
“So,” Chris started after another lapse of silence, Leon taking to laying back down, “What happened?” He asked. Leon turned his head to look at him. Chris watched his eyes flick behind Chris to look at the rest of the people before his attention went back to Chris. The others had started acting normal again after Leon had dozed off and were lost in their own conversations now.
“Got sent in there to stop a rumored experiment before it started. Sent in too late, everything had already gone to shit and anyone who hadn’t been infected was crushed by that huge B.O.W.,” Leon gestured down to his ankle, “Grabbed me and snapped my ankle real good when I got distracted by some zombies.” He let out a long-suffering sigh, closing his eyes.
“So you got all the way in there, realized that it was too late, and got caught up on your way out?” Chris asked. Leon nodded.
“Somehow an explosion went off in the east wing and it unleashed a hoard that came stumbling into the west wing, where I was. Almost impossible to fight through them all on my own, especially with that brute on my ass.” He frowned, talking as if this was just another day on the job and he hadn’t almost lost his life.
“Glad you’re okay.” Chris said, unsure of what else to say. Leon stared at him, eyes searching around his face before he finally shrugged and closed his eyes again. It was another hour of Leon sleeping and Chris sitting next to him before they landed again. Chris was the one who helped Leon up, adopting the same position they had on their way out of the mansion.
Leon was still slow, but seemed to be under less strain now, which was good enough for Chris. They brought Leon into one of the buildings run by Chris’ organization and were immediately swarmed by people. People needing Chris to start his report, people trying to check up on Chris and his retrieval team, and doctors trying to get a hold of the survivor.
Leon glared at anyone who reached out to him and effectively kept them from talking to him with his cold look. Chris led Leon to the medical wing of the building, keeping away the hands of pestering doctors for Leon’s sake. They were only trying to help, sure, but Chris didn’t need them up Leon’s ass already.
Chris was directed to a room and helped get Leon sat up and leant back on the medical chair. One of the doctors took the lead, directing Chris to help her get Leon’s shoes off. Leon did his best to shrug off his leather jacket, needing a hand from Chris when he winced from stretching out his stab wound.
The doctor ran down a list of questions that Leon answered lazily as she hooked him up to machines and started a routine check up to get things going. Leon had probably been through this process time and time again, just like Chris has.
“You’ll have to go in for surgery.” She said when she had finished checking over his two major injuries. Chris watched Leon barely hold in a groan. He said nothing as they got him set up to go to the surgical room. They wheeled him off, Chris waving him goodbye and Leon sending him an amused smile at the gesture before he was out of view.
It was while Chris was waiting for news of Leon that he realized that the agent hadn’t been contacted and hadn’t reached out to contact anyone else. No one had come or called to check on him. Chris was the only one here with Leon, making sure he was going to be okay.
That was… a depressing thought. Claire was normally contacted when Chris got seriously hurt and he would be welcomed back to the land of the living by her smiling face. Did Leon not have anyone like that. Was Claire normally Leon’s person for that?
Chris had other doctors flit around him trying to make sure he was okay, but he had gotten out with little more than a few bruises. He fell asleep in a stiff chair and woke up to a dark room with Kennedy back, staring at the ceiling disinterestedly.
“Nice of you to join the party.” Leon said, a smirk tugging at his lips. Chris rolled his eyes good-naturedly.
“Not all of us can live off of less than four hours of sleep.” Leon gave a rare laugh, relaxed against the medical bed. They sat in companionable silence for a moment.
“Feeling better?” Chris finally asked. Leon nodded.
“Yeah,” He paused, looking uncomfortable, “Thanks, by the way. I would have died had you not come.” Chris was a little disconcerted with how easily he said it, but still gave Leon a smile.
“Of course.” He said simply, not commenting on the casualness of Leon addressing his near death experience.
“You should rest more.” Chris spoke up. Leon scoffed.
“I’ve got work to do Redfield. I’m gonna be needed back, have to fill out reports, recount what happened, explain wh—” Chris raised a hand, stopping Leon from going on.
“I know the drill,” Chris said, “But you just got back and just got out of surgery. You need to recuperate at least a little until we get you back there.” Chris went on. Leon made a face, displeased. And then he relaxed again.
“Fine, but I want to eat first. Why don’t you fetch the two of us something?” He said, more of a demand than question. Leon let his eyes close, looking smug as he sent Chris off like a servant. Chris rolled his eyes.
“Sure thing, your highness.” He said back, turning around to leave. He heard Leon laugh quietly at the name.
Chris made his way out, to the cafeteria, hoping to find some sort of breakfast food to bring back.