Chapter Text
Leon’s hands are starting to cramp from how tightly he’s gripping the steering wheel. He hates driving. In fact, he tries to avoid it as much as possible, but with both the rejection email sitting in his inbox and Chris not answering his phone, he needed to get out of his apartment.
There’s a small bag sitting in his passenger seat. It’s small and inconspicuous, but he hates the damn thing. The objects inside are the very reason why he received the rejection email, and it makes him hate having to tote them around even more. If it wasn’t for Chris’s constant pestering, he’d try to leave them at home.
Turning down the radio, Leon pulls into a nearby gas station. He sits in his car for a moment after turning it off, staring at nothing before he steps out with a sigh. There’s a police cruiser sitting in front of the building with another car parked nearby. Leon tries his best not to pay it much mind as he fills his tank, but it’s parked haphazardly towards the door. He's pondering the reasons a cruiser might be here so late when a crash echoes from somewhere inside the building.
He stands there, frozen, staring in the direction the noise came from. After a moment of deliberation, he forces himself to walk towards the gas station’s building. He pulls out the pocket knife Chris makes him carry around as he carefully steps into the darkened store. There’s a few shelves knocked over with product spilling onto the floor. A few of the scattered chips crunch under his feet, and he mentally curses himself for the noise as he steps forward.
A guy sits slumped over near the ‘employees only’ door in the back. There’s a huge gash on his left side, and Leon’s eyes widen when he sees all the blood. The guy looks up and gestures a bloody hand towards the door before wincing and clutching at his side again. Leon swallows back the nausea that rises and continues towards the direction the man pointed.
He jumps when the door slams and locks behind him.
“Hey, what are you doing?!” Leon demands, trying the handle with little luck. “Let me out!”
When there’s no response, Leon steps back and takes a few nervous breaths. His hands start to tremble a little and he grips his knife tighter as he tries to center himself. There’s a trail of blood under his feet, and it only makes the tremors worse. He doesn’t know what’s in here with him, and he isn’t sure if there’s another way out.
“There’s nothing to get so worked up over,” he tells himself, hoping if he says it aloud, he’ll start to believe it. “There’s an officer here, and he’s probably already arresting somebody.”
With no other choice, Leon presses on further into the room. He holds his knife out in front of him, hoping that it’s a sufficient enough weapon for whatever he's trapped in here with. Any hope he had of making it out in one piece dies, however, when he sees the officer struggling against what could only be described as a human monster.
Leon must make some sort of noise because the officer turns his head in his direction. He starts to shout that Leon needs to get out of there, but he’s quick to get cut off when the thing tears a chunk out of his neck. It takes everything in Leon to not lean over and hurl at the sight, standing wide eyed and frozen as the creature feasts on the officer before setting its glassy eyes on him.
“What the fuck?” Leon shouts, grip tight on his knife as he stumbles back away from it. It’s fast, though, and it’s on Leon quicker than he can blink.
Doing his best not to pass out, Leon shoves the creature back and stabs at the first thing he can get a solid aim at. The knife sinks into the meat of the creature’s shoulder and it lets out what sounds like a howl of pain, barely discernible over the rush of blood in his ears. He tears his knife out and aims for the throat, not allowing the shake in his hands to be the reason he dies in this stupid gas station.
The creature drops to the ground. Leon takes his knife out again and stands there a minute to catch his breath. His heart is racing, and there’s a slight wheeze to his frantic breaths. He has to squeeze his eyes shut a minute to calm his heart down and try to get his breathing returned back to normal. It works a bit, but he can't stop the fine tremors that still run through his frame.
“Okay, think, think, think,” Leon murmurs to himself. He spots a handgun on the officer’s body and quickly grabs it, tucking it into the waistband of his jeans after flicking the safety on. Chris has taught him how to use it well enough that he’ll be able to defend himself against any other creatures that may be lurking nearby.
Taking a deep, yet shaky, breath, Leon continues looking around for a way out. There’s a desk sitting not far away from where he just was, a key hanging on a hook on the wall next to an outdated computer monitor.
“Oh fuck yes,” Leon says with a grin, some of the tightness in his chest loosening at the sight.
It takes him a minute to find the door the key belongs to, but when he does, he finally feels like he can breathe again— until he hears a guttural groan coming from somewhere near his right. He barely manages to duck out of the way of the creature’s swinging arm and pushes his way through his panic as he stumbles through the back of the store to the front door. It nearly hits him square in the nose when it suddenly shoves inward.
Leon only has a moment to recognize his boyfriend's younger sister standing on the other side of the door before he spots a creature behind her. “Get down!” he shouts, aiming with his recently acquired gun and shooting once Claire’s out of the way.
“Holy shit,” Claire breathes out, eyes wide as she stares at the dropped creature behind her. “We should get out of here.”
Leon nods, quickly helping Claire up as they hurry out of the store. Claire heads straight for the police cruiser, sliding into the driver’s side without a word. Leon pauses, his grip tight on the cruiser's passenger door handle, and looks back at his Jeep, contemplating if he can grab the bag left sitting in the front seat. Before he can decide, a hoard of creatures start closing in on them, and he has no choice but to get into the cruiser.
He’ll be fine without it… right?
“What the hell are you doing here?” Claire asks, glancing over at Leon as she floors it towards the city. “Shouldn’t you be in Lansing right now?”
“Shouldn’t you be in Ann Arbor?”
Claire shoots him an unamused look, and another knot loosens in Leon’s chest.
“Chris isn’t answering his phone,” Claire answers. “I’m worried. After he went to the Arklay Mountains, he’s been acting off. Has he said anything to you?”
Leon shakes his head. “He’s mentioned some bad dreams, but refuses to go into detail. He stopped answering my calls about a week ago.”
Claire raises her eyebrows in surprise. “Okay, I get ignoring me because I’m the annoying younger sister, but you? The same guy he’s been dating for the past five years? The guy he’s been sickeningly sweet with since you were teenagers?”
“We are not that bad–”
Claire shoots him another look, and he smartly shuts his mouth.
“Seriously, though. Something’s up if he isn’t answering your calls.” Claire shakes her head with a huff. “Also, don’t think I forgot about you ignoring my question.”
Leon chews on his bottom lip, trying to figure out a good way of saying it before deciding just to be blunt with it. “I got rejected from the Police Academy.”
“What? Why? I thought you said your entrance scores were excellent?”
“They were, but… they said… something about my asthma and anxiety. I don't know. Plus, they weren’t too sure of me anyway with the whole… omega thing.”
“Cut the shit, Leon. You haven't been taking your meds again, have you?" Claire asks, looking over when Leon stays silent. "Seriously? That's why you got cut from volleyball, and you're surprised you failed the evaluation?"
Leon turns away from her, crossing his arms over his chest. “I also may have had a mild panic attack while on tour of the academy because of all the overwhelming smells. They ended up sending me to medical and then home. I got the email the next day.”
“Shit, Leon. I’m sorry. I know how excited you were.”
“It’s whatever.”
“Shit, wait!” Claire says, sitting up suddenly. “Do you have your meds? Your inhaler?”
“They’re in my car…”
Claire huffs out a laugh. “Chris has back-ups of them in his desk. Once we get to the police station, you’re marching your butt straight up to the S.T.A.R.S. office and grabbing them. They’re in the bottom left drawer. Code’s LSK.”
“Cute,” Leon mutters, unable to help himself.
They approach the city, and it’s quickly apparent how the chaos has spread across the city. They exchange a weary look as Claire slows down. The road in front of them is blocked by a large wreckage of cars, and there’s a large fire slowly consuming multiple buildings. Leon curses under his breath, eyes scanning every last bit he can, trying to find a reason for all the destruction.
“What the hell is going on?” he asks, disbelief coloring his words as he looks around.
Claire stops just before the blockage, eyeing all the damage herself. “I was just here, like, two days ago… it was nothing like this.”
“I hope Chris is okay,” Leon says, sitting up a little as he looks for Chris’s apartment building. “And everybody else.”
Claire nods, eyes wide as she tries to take everything in. She opens her mouth to say something but freezes as she looks in the rearview mirror. “Leon, put your seatbelt on.”
“What, why?”
“Just do it!”
Leon fumbles for his seatbelt, clicking it into place just as the car’s rammed from behind by a large tanker truck. Leon’s head snaps forward and smacks against the dashboard before the airbag deploys. The cruiser goes spinning as the truck keeps pushing them forward into the blockage of cars.
When they finally stop, Leon’s vision is spinning, and it sounds like there’s three Claires trying to talk to him. He manages to stumble out of the car, nearly eating the pavement before he can stumble up and away from the car.
It promptly explodes.
“Claire?!” Leon shouts, clutching his head in pain and trying to blink away the double vision as he looks around for his companion. It's difficult to find her through the tall flames that have engulfed the car, and he can barely make out the sound of unsettling groaning through the ringing in his ears— likely attracted to the loud explosion. “Claire, are you okay?”
“I’m fine!” Claire calls back, relief filling Leon at hearing her voice. The groaning's growing louder. “I’ll meet you at the station.”
“Okay, be careful!”
“You too!”
~*~
Shoving the entrance doors closed behind him, Leon can't help but let out a slightly disbelieving laugh— he barely made it into the RPD. There are still loud howls of the undead coming from somewhere on the other side of the thick wooden doors, but as long as they’re not trying to tear his throat out, he doesn’t particularly care.
His footsteps echo against the floor, echoing through the silence of the main hall stretched out in front of him. It’s thankfully still lit up, but Leon can’t spot a single soul anywhere nearby. Somebody’s been here recently, though, if the laptop sitting on the reception desk nearby is any indication. The screen's still lit up, hinting that whoever was using it had just recently stepped away.
The panel to the west wing’s door is covered in bright yellow caution tape. It’s easy to cut through with his pocket knife, and Leon’s soon stepping back to allow the door to slowly open. Leon’s only been to Chris’s workplace a handful of times, and he's rarely ventured this far in. If memory serves him right, he only needs to head to the staircase and climb up to the second floor and walk down the long hall until he gets to the S.T.A.R.S. door. A simple enough plan and he’ll be back in the main hall to hopefully wait until Claire gets there. After that… they’ll figure it out when they get there.
Grabbing a flashlight off of the reception desk just in case, Leon makes his way into the west wing.
The hallway darkens considerably once he passes through the door leading into the hall. Even the streetlamps just outside the windows do little to help make the place feel even marginally less creepy. Faint echos of growling sound through the place, bouncing off the bare walls and making goosebumps raise along his arms. Leon grips the flashlight in one hand and his handgun in the other, slowly making his way towards the staircase at the back of the building, eyes scanning every shadow for any possible creatures that may jump out.
When he goes to turn right down the hall in the direction towards the back, he finds it blocked off with towering junk— a mix of an old desk, filing cabinets, and the odd chair acting as a barricade. Cursing under his breath, Leon readjusts his grip on his gun as he keeps pushing forward, hoping there’s another way through to get to the staircase.
He’s nearly to the corner when a creature crashes through a window. Glass is thrown all over the floor, but the creature seems unaffected as it stumbles to a stand before lumbering quickly towards him. Leon only has a moment to think before he’s raising his gun and managing to fire a shot straight through the thing’s throat. It gurgles on its own blood before it takes another stumbling step forward and crumbles to the ground.
“Is that why there’s nobody here?” Leon wonders to himself, staring at the mess of what could've been a human once laying on the floor. He has to take a minute to recenter himself before he peeks around the corner, looking for any more of the creatures. When he's sure the coast is clear, he pushes through and continues on his search for a way to the stairs.
He’s nearly to the back of the building when he hears the strange growling again, this time much closer. He pauses for a moment, listening, before he’s quietly approaching the corner, carefully peeking around it. There’s a couple of the creatures at the end of the hall, standing there and making the odd guttural noise. Leon nearly curses in frustration at the dead end when he sees a small plaque on the wall, denoting an entry to the operations room. Figuring he has nowhere else to go, he sneaks his way towards the door.
Just as he’s about to reach for the knob, the shattering sound of another window crashes loudly behind him. The noise captures the attention of the two creatures occupying the hall, and they swivel towards the sound. Leon curses when they spot him, immediately screeching and lunging for him. He rushes through the door, resting his weight against the door as they pound on it, desperate to get to him.
“Fuck, fuck, fuck,” Leon mutters, heart thudding in his chest as he looks for a way out. A door sits on the other side of the room, and Leon runs towards it, heart crawling up his throat as the creatures continue pounding on the door behind him. His hands are already starting to get clammy, and it takes several minutes too long to fumble with the lock on the door before he’s pushing his way into the next room, door slamming behind him. “Shit, okay, where am I?”
A room he’s never seen before stretches out in front of him. There's stacks of boxes throughout the room, and an oddly placed filing cabinet shoved into the corner. Not knowing if he should touch anything in here, Leon heads straight for the door to his left. This one’s locked as well, but he’s able to wipe his sweaty palms on his jeans before attempting the lock.
His heart still feels like it’s about to pound out of his chest, making it difficult to think past the fear and desperation he feels to get out of the west wing as quickly as possible. If it wasn’t for his need to get his medication, he’d stay in the main hall and wait for Claire to make sure she made it in alright.
“C’mon Leon, you wanted to be an officer. Officers wouldn’t sit there waiting to be saved,” Leon mutters to himself, trying to hype himself up despite the cold limbed fear pulsing through him.
At the very least, Leon’s in an area he recognizes now. The vending machines he’s grabbed a snack from the last time he was here are to his right, with the door to the west offices just a few feet down. He keeps his gun aimed in front of him as he passes in front of the door to the safety deposit room and slowly around the corner just after it.
“Almost there,” Leon says to reassure himself, spotting the staircase at the end of the hall. He takes a shaky breath, stepping forward and hoping the echoing through the room is not nearly as loud as he thinks.
There’s a dead officer leaning against the wall when Leon makes it up the stairs to the second floor. He snatches the box of ammo sitting next to her and stashes it in his pocket, apologizing to the poor woman’s corpse before turning in the direction he knows Chris’s office to be.
“Seriously?” he hisses to himself when he sees it blocked with large furniture. There’s no way he can move all of them without help, and without making a whole bunch of noise. “How the hell am I supposed to even get through? Shit.”
Running an irritated hand through his hair, Leon debates on the pros and cons of moving the blockage when there’s a groan behind him. It’s the dead officer from earlier, limbs moving awkwardly as she moves to stand. Cursing, Leon heads through the next door he sees.
The shower rooms don’t provide him with much in ways of a defendable area, but the dead officer doesn’t follow him in. Luckily, the wall separating the women’s and men’s shower rooms was blown through, allowing him to slip through and out into the hallway leading towards S.T.A.R.S.
“Oh thank fuck,” Leon breathes out, hurrying towards the door when the scariest thing Leon’s seen yet drops in front of him with a snarl.
It looks like a skinned human with a long tongue and sharp claws on the end of its pointed fingers. Leon suddenly can’t breathe– can’t move as he stares down at the horrifying creature. It doesn’t seem to see him, but it can definitely sense his presence. Just staring at the damn thing sends every last bit of Leon’s nervous system spiraling at an alarming rate. If he doesn’t get his inhaler soon, he’ll probably hyperventilate his way to a nasty death before the thing can even touch him.
The creature pauses to sniff the air, tongue lapping out as it searches for Leon. Leon moves as slow as a snail around it, not daring to move any faster on the chance it hears him. He’s surprised it can’t hear his heart doing its absolute best to rip itself out of his ribcage.
When he gets to the S.T.A.R.S. door, he throws it open– squeaky hinge be damned– and closes it so quickly he’s surprised it doesn’t break. He locks it behind him even though he’s pretty sure the thing would break the door down before trying the knob.
Allowing himself a moment to catch his breath, Leon stands near the entrance blankly staring at the desks in front of him. He doesn’t take anything in as he stares ahead, just trying to come down from the panic attack that nearly took over him. His breath is shallow at best, but it’s consistent enough to have him pushing forward towards Chris’s desk.
The meds are exactly where Claire said they’d be. He swallows the pills dry, making a face as they go down. Afterwards, he shoves the bottles into his jacket pockets, followed by his inhaler a moment later. He’s about to close the drawer when he spots a small black box hidden under some paperwork. Leon can’t help but stare at it for a while, debating on whether or not he should even grab it. Swallowing back the indecision, Leon gently picks it up, breath catching as his fingers brush against the soft velvet.
“Chris…” Leon breathes out, opening the box to the most beautiful silver ring he’s ever seen. He debates again on what he should do before deciding to just slip it on and ask Chris about it later. He has a sinking feeling Chris won’t ever come back to his desk anyway.
Chris’s leather jacket sits on a hook on the wall to his left and Leon doesn’t hesitate before slipping it on. It still smells like Chris, and Leon can’t help but bury his nose in the collar and take a deep inhale of the alpha’s comforting scent.
“Fuck, I miss you,” Leon whispers to himself. He sits there with his nose buried in Chris’s jacket for another couple minutes before he finds the strength to stand and make his way back to the main hall.
~*~
Miraculously, Claire’s in the main hall when Leon reemerges. She’s talking to an officer that wasn’t there when Leon first got into the precinct. Though, based on the way the man is clutching a hand over a large gash in his side, Leon can only guess what may have happened before he got there.
Claire turns her head quickly towards Leon when he stumbles over a tipped over office chair. A relieved smile appears on her face and she’s hurrying over to pull him into a hug. “I’m glad to see you in one piece.”
“Likewise,” Leon says quietly, pulling back to scan over her face, looking for any injuries. “How are you? How’d you even get in? I didn’t see you.”
“There’s a fire escape near the east office,” Claire explains, gesturing towards the large entryway. “Marvin here let me in and brought me to the main hall. He was just telling me about some secret entrance another cop found when you came stumbling in.”
“Secret entrance?” Leon asks, eyebrows raised in surprise.
Claire’s nodding before he can even finish asking the question. She produces a small notebook out of seemingly nowhere, opening it to a random page and showing him the drawings scrawled onto the pages. There’s a bit of blood on the pages, and he glances up to catch her reaction, but she isn’t commenting on it, so neither is he. “The other cop, Elliot, he somehow figured out another way out of here. A tunnel under the goddess statue.”
“He thinks there’s something in the other three statues. Not sure how he figured out the codes,” Marvin says. He makes a face as he holds the wound on his side. Leon reaches a hand out to help, but Marvin shakes his head. “It should get you out of here.”
“And get you to a hospital,” Leon says, hand twitching out again to help Marvin as the man sits heavily on a nearby couch, but it’s once more shooed away.
“I’m not the priority here,” Marvin says with a shake of his head.
“I’m not just going to leave you here–”
“It’s not a request,” Marvin says, voice firm as he stares up at Leon and Claire. “Both of you need to get out of here as soon as possible.”
“But–”
“I’ll just slow you down,” Marvin says, face grim. He reaches behind himself to grab something before revealing his knife. “Here. You’ll need this more than I will.”
“Marvin…” Claire breathes out. “We can’t–”
“You will.” Marvin holds out the knife once more before Claire’s reaching out to grab it. “Don’t… don’t hesitate. If one of them is coming after you, no matter what face it’s wearing, you either take it out or run.”
Claire nods while Leon stands there, uncertain. Marvin’s eyes flash over to him before he’s sitting back on the couch with a groan. “Now get going.”
Leon’s chewing on his bottom lip as he watches Claire carefully put the code into the lion statue. Her gaze flits between the notebook and the weird contraption in front of them, a level of focus Leon’s only seen on her face before when she’s studying for exams. A small smile appears when a medallion is revealed.
Claire grabs it and pockets it. She goes to move before thinking better of it and turning to face Leon instead. “Something Marvin said before you showed up doesn’t sit well with me,” she says, her voice hushed. She glances over in the direction of where Marvin’s still sitting on the couch. “According to him, Chris is on vacation. In Europe.”
“What?” Leon asks, face twisting in confusion. “There’s no way he’d travel overseas and not tell us.”
“I know.” Claire sighs, fidgeting with the notebook a minute before pocketing it, too. “Look, let’s just try to get out of here first. Once we’re safe, we can figure out where Chris may be. Did you find anything at his desk?”
Leon shakes his head, subconsciously pulling the sleeves of Chris’s jacket further over his hands. “I was mostly trying to grab my meds and get out. The halls were crawling with more of those things like we saw at the gas station. I, uh, stumbled across another creature, though. It… I don’t even know if it was human, if I’m being honest. I found a note on the way back through that called them lickers.”
“Lickers? Ew.”
Leon huffs out a laugh at her reaction. “Yeah, well, after seeing their tongue, I get it.” He shakes his head, trying to clear the image from his head. “C’mon, I think I remember Chris mentioning a unicorn statue in the lounge upstairs.”
“The one he always claims watches him whenever he has to walk through?”
“That very one.”
They’ve just blown through the gate in front of the maiden statue when Leon hears it. He can’t help but freeze, eyes darting around wildly as Claire hurries towards the statue, notebook in hand. Every hair on his arms stands upright as he strains his hearing for the telltale sound of nails clicking as the creature shuffles around looking for them. Claire pockets the last medallion and walks over to him, face twisted in concern at Leon’s frozen state.
“Wh–”
“Licker,” Leon whispers, eyes still darting around in an attempt to look for the creature. He pulls a shotgun from around his shoulder, thankful they thought to stop in the safety deposit room to grab it ten minutes prior. The weight in his hands is comforting as he gestures for Claire to stay quiet and behind him.
Claire nods, still eyeing Leon as she takes out her own handgun. They both keep their footsteps light as they carefully walk back towards the library door. Leon’s once again surprised it can’t hear the sound of his heartbeat pounding in his ears as he tries to keep himself calm as they make their way through the room. He does freeze in his steps when he spots the thing tearing into a dead officer, Claire nearly running into his back with the sudden stop. His hold on the shotgun shakes slightly, and he tightens his grip as they slowly move around it and take the final steps out of the room.
“What the fuck?” Claire breathes out, still remaining quiet despite the licker making no move to follow them through the door. “Holy shit, that thing was ugly as fuck.”
Leon can’t help but snort at that, nodding in agreement as he takes the few steps towards the nearby ladder. “I’d like to say that I hope that’s the ugliest thing we’ll see tonight, but with how everything’s going, I highly doubt it.”
“Yeah, we still haven’t seen Chris.”
“Claire!” Leon admonishes, even though he’s laughing as he says it. Something in the set of Claire’s shoulders appear to relax as Leon snickers. He doesn’t have time to guess what it could be before groaning sounds near the door that leads back out to the main hall. “Shit, I think those damn… things are awake again.”
“Zombies,” Claire says, grinning mischievously. “I know you hate admitting they’re real now, but you can’t deny it any longer.”
Fondly rolling his eyes, Leon chooses not to reply.
Marvin looks worse than before when they finally make it back to the main hall. When they go to get his attention and tell him they’ve found a way to get the entrance open, he snarls awake before physically recoiling as he appears to come back to himself. Leon insists on taking him with them, to get him to a hospital, but Marvin draws a gun on him, firm determination written all over his face. Leon can’t understand why the man doesn’t want to get help, why he wants to sit here and bleed out, but even after voicing his insistence and concerns, he gets dismissed once again.
“Get out of here,” Marvin says, looking at both of them. “You can’t save me, but you can save yourselves. Do that for me.”
Leon opens and closes his mouth before nodding resolutely. Next to him, Claire is quiet, but she gently takes his elbow to lead him towards the statue. She puts the three medallions in and they step back to allow the entrance to open up in front of them. Leon starts heading down, but Claire pauses to look back at the injured lieutenant.
“Thank you, Marvin,” she says. She gives him a sad smile, one which Marvin struggles to return. When she turns back towards Leon, it drops quickly and she bites her bottom lip roughly to prevent herself from saying anything else.
Leon watches the entrance close back up. Marvin’s still sitting on the couch, slumping back with a groan and looking more resigned once he knew the civilians were safe.
“We should’ve kept insisting,” Leon says, finally looking away from the passageway. “We… we could’ve saved him. Surely there’s a cure for this. There has to be.”
“I don’t know,” Claire admits. “I hope so. There’s only one way to find out, though, and that’s to keep going forward. It’s what Marvin wants us to do.”
Leon looks at Claire for a moment before sighing and nodding. “I just… I wish there was more we could do for him.”
“Me too.” Claire takes a shaky breath as she turns to look at a nearby elevator. “C’mon, let’s keep going.”
With one last glance towards the closed off entrance, Leon follows Claire onto the elevator.
As they descend the stairs, Leon has to wonder why there was such a complicated key system for what’s turning out to be a large machinery room for the police station. He shines his flashlight over the various machines, mind whirling with possibilities on what they could all be used for. He looks over at Claire, and she seems to be wearing a similar expression of confusion.
Suddenly, they’re greeted with the sound of footsteps on the walkway above them. They both freeze, gazes going up to catch sight of whoever it could be, but the person is moving quickly. They stumble over their own feet in their hurry, nearly faceplanting onto the grate as they try to make it to the end of the hallway. Leon meets Claire’s eyes and they quickly follow after the figure.
They turn the corner at the end of the hallway, and there’s a flash of white as somebody ducks into the blocked off room just in front of them. Leon goes to try and move the lockers that are blocking the entrance as Claire squats down to see who’s hiding inside.
“Are you hurt?” Claire asks. When Leon looks down, he spots a girl no older than twelve. She’s shaking her head and isn’t looking at either of them, though it’s clear she’s scared. “Do you need help?”
The girl’s speaking too quietly for Leon to be able to catch anything she’s saying, but she shakily points at something over his shoulder at the same time the walkway heavily rattles. An absolutely rancid smell suddenly fills his nose, and it takes everything in him not to gag as he turns around. The sight that greets him has him freezing in his tracks, Claire gasping behind him.
“What the fuck?” Leon questions as he stares at the weird creature. It clearly used to be human at one point, based on its body and the pained face that half-bleeds into the monstrous arm attached to the right side of its body. Leon pulls out his handgun, aiming at the thing and wondering what the hell happened to make the man turn into this hideous creature.
It moves towards them, steps heavy and shaking the grating under their feet. It lets out a roar and swings its monstrous arm towards the pair, who barely manage to stumble out of the way of its reach. Clearly angered from missing, the creature grabs the grating under their feet, ripping it up and causing all three of them to fall onto the floor below. Leon cringes as he lands, the wind momentarily knocked out of him, but he can’t afford to lay there and wait for it to come back. Despite the wheezing sound he knows he’s making, he scrambles up, barely avoiding the metal pipe being swung at him.
Claire’s shooting at the thing from the other side of it and it shows no sign of being affected by the bullets piercing through it. Leon aims his own gun, grip shaking as he continues struggling to catch his breath. He shoots at the human half, hoping desperately that they can at least down it for long enough to be able to get away. It doesn’t seem to be working in their favor– only angering the creature further as it swings the pipe at Leon again.
The face twists in pain, groaning out something that sounds like “help me” as the human hand tears at a spot on the monstrous shoulder. Leon can’t help but watch in slight amazement, aiming his gun at the spot the man is scratching at. A large irritated eye is revealed, instantly narrowing its gaze on him as the monster stumbles towards him again.
“Shoot the eye!” Leon calls over to Claire, aiming his gun at the reddened iris and managing to get a few shots in before it twists in pain trying to avoid the bullets. Claire is still behind it, landing a few of her own well placed shots as it turns towards her.
The creature roars out in pain, stumbling around as it tries to avoid all the shots to the eye. It gets too close to the railing in its movement, causing it to tip over and fall into the darkness somewhere below them.
“Shit,” Leon coughs out, stepping carefully towards the railing to peer over it as Claire asks the girl to lower a ladder for them. He rubs at his chest, cursing the fall as he makes his way over to the ladder.
~*~
“Are you sure this is the right way?” Claire asks, looking around the parking garage in worry.
“This is how my mom took me last time,” the smaller girl assures, smiling easily as she pulls Claire forward by the hand.
Leon looks around as they talk about trying to find a parking pass for the gate when he spots someone coming from the right of the door. On instinct, Leon pulls his gun out and aims it at the approaching figure.
“Sherry?” the man calls out, walking casually towards them. He spots Leon’s gun and puts his hands up in a reassuring manner. “Calm down, son, I’m only here looking for Sherry.” He shakes his head in an amused manner, and the insincerity of his smile sets Leon’s teeth on edge. He’s giving off what smells like a calming alpha scent, likely in response to Leon’s stressed one, but all it does is make him nauseous. When Leon doesn’t make any move to lower his gun, the guy’s face twists and he takes out his own gun, pointing it at Claire and Sherry. “On the ground, hands behind your head.”
“You can’t be serious,” Claire mutters, looking at him in disbelief.
The man’s face twists in anger and before Leon can react, he’s turning the gun on him and shooting him in the shoulder. Leon cries out in pain, knees buckling suddenly as he falls to the ground, handgun clattering onto the concrete somewhere near him. His limbs feel like lead as he raises a hand to cover the wound, feeling woozy from the sight of his own blood staining the brown of the jacket. From the corner of his eye, he sees Claire moving to kneel, eyes wide as she stares between the larger man and Leon.
“Tie her up,” the guy says, grabbing a pair of handcuffs off of his belt and tossing them to Sherry. He keeps his gun on Claire as he moves forward to kick Leon’s away from him.
“But–”
“Tie her up now or the next bullet will be lethal,” he warns, pointing the gun back at Leon.
Leon’s eyes flash over to Sherry and he gives her a slight nod, trying his best to comfort her despite the pain zinging through him. When the stranger reaches for something else on his belt, Leon lunges forward. He puts all of his weight into the shove, trying to topple the man and get the gun from him. The two of them scuffle for a bit, Leon’s shoulder hindering him from using his full movement. In the end, the arm with the injured shoulder is twisted behind his back.
“Stop!” Sherry cries out, looking terrified next to Claire.
The stranger mutters curses under his breath, dragging Leon by the arm towards the gate. He grabs a second set of handcuffs from his belt, shoving Leon to the ground and chaining him to the yellow bollard.
The stranger huffs, glaring at Claire as he stomps over to the machine and slipping a parking pass into it. “Sherry, come here.”
“What are you going to do to her?” Claire demands, eyes steely as she glares the man down.
“None of your fucking business.”
“If you hurt her, I swear to god, my brother is S.T.A.R.S. and I will–” Claire says before the stranger promptly kicks her in the abdomen and sends her to the ground with a grunt of pain.
Leon pulls at his handcuffs, freezing only when the overwhelming pain from his gunshot wound races through his arm. He suddenly has a difficult time breathing, but the yells from both Claire and Sherry pull him from the pained fog. The stranger pistol whips Claire in response to something she said, sending her to the ground. She doesn’t move from where she lies, and Leon starts pulling at his handcuffs again.
Sherry fights against the stranger’s hold as he tugs her through the gate just in time for it to shutter close. She looks back in fear at the both of them as she’s tugged along, still squirming against the hold. She looks even more scared than she did than in the machinery room, and Leon starts feeling more desperate to get out of his bondage.
“We’ll save you, Sherry!” Leon calls after her, pulling forward and nearly blacking out from the pain. He growls under his breath and kicks at the gate. “Fuck.”
Leon keeps trying to wiggle out of the handcuffs despite the overwhelming pain coming from his shoulder. Claire’s still knocked out, but she’s breathing so he focuses on his own predicament. He manages to get his feet under him a couple times to push his hands over the bollard but he slips both times. The second time, his foot slams into the gate and he curses at the temporary pain from it. He can’t help but kick at the gate again in frustration.
His chest starts to tighten as he tries desperately to get himself free. He can feel the anxiety of the situation slowly crawling up his throat, causing his breath to get more difficult as he tries to think of a way to save himself and Claire. He pulls at the handcuffs again and curses as he’s rendered immobile from the pain. His shoulder hurts and Claire’s still unconscious, and he can’t help but feel useless sitting there, wallowing in his own pain and fear.
“Leon?!”
The familiarity of the voice has Leon snapping from his anxious haze enough for his gaze to snap towards the gate. His eyes widen when he spots the two figures that appear. “Chris? Jill? Wh- you- you’re supposed to be in Europe!”
“What?” Chris asks before shaking the thought away. “What the hell are you even doing here?”
“Can we worry about that later?” Leon asks, tugging at the handcuffs again and cursing. The anxiety is still threatening to choke him, making breathing difficult as he tries to think of a way to get himself free. Even with Chris and his own calming and comforting scent nearby, he still feels like the panic’s going to tear him apart.
“Baby,” Chris says softly, startling Leon from his spiralling thoughts. “Leon, I need you to calm down, okay? Listen to me.” Leon nods, sitting back against the bollard with a shaky breath. “That’s good, okay. Can you take a deep breath for me?” Leon nods again. The breath isn’t as deep as he’d like, but he still manages to do it. “Okay, can you stand? I can’t reach you from here to get you free. The gate doesn’t open on this side without a key.”
Leon nods a third time, taking another shaky breath before carefully getting his feet under him. This time, he’s able to focus long enough to stand, but he has to lift his arms up enough to pull them off of the bollard and it pulls at his wound. He curses as he stands there clenching his teeth as the pain rides itself out. Once he feels like he can breathe a bit better, he steps over to the gate. Chris is murmuring something to him, but he can’t hear it over the rush in his ears. The second his hands are free, he’s clutching at the wound again and stumbling over to Claire.
“Claire,” he says, gently shaking her shoulder. “You’ve gotta wake up, please.”
Claire groans and Leon manages a small smile in relief. She cracks her eyes open and sees Leon. Her eyes move quickly as she wakes up, realising Sherry isn’t with them anymore.
“Fuck!” she curses, climbing to her feet and nearly knocking her forehead into Leon’s in her rush. She pauses when she sees the figures at the gate. “What the hell are you two doing here?”
“I was about to ask the same thing,” Chris responds, and his face twists between anger and concern. “Shit. Are you alright?”
“Probably have a concussion, but I’ll be fine.” She turns her back to Chris so he can undo her cuffs as well. “Better than Leon. Some fucker shot him in the shoulder and he’s been wheezing for the past fifteen minutes.”
Chris stills at that and Leon slowly feels the anxiety crawl back up. “I’m okay, I swear,” he says, even as his shoulder twinges in pain. He even pulls out his inhaler from his pocket and shows it to Chris, who shoots him an unamused look. Leon swallows thickly before allowing himself to take an inhale from it.
“Who was it?” Chris asks, gesturing for Leon to come closer. Leon does and he freezes a second as Chris reaches a hand through. He relaxes, however, feeling ridiculous for tensing up when it’s Chris and his boyfriend just wants to check his wound. “Shit. At least it went clean through.” His hand disappears for a moment before he’s sliding a small canister and a roll of bandages through the slats. “Spray the wound with this and then wrap it tight in the bandage. It’s… not ideal, but it’ll keep it from getting infected.”
Leon nods, accepting the items. His fingers brush with Chris’s, and he suddenly wishes they could get the gate open. “Why did you stop answering me?” he finds himself asking. “I worried myself sick all week. And then Marvin tells us you’re in Europe, apparently, without telling either Claire or I. But you’re not in Europe, you’re here, and it still doesn’t answer why you stopped answering my calls.”
“I’m sorry,” Chris says. Jill steps away from him to talk to Claire, giving them a small bit of privacy. “Look, after Arklay, things have been… difficult. For me. I was trying to shield you and Claire from it all, but seeing as you’re here now…” He shakes his head. “I know it doesn’t excuse me ignoring you, I’m sorry.”
Leon sighs, taking in Chris’s tired face and wanting nothing more than to wrap him in a hug. “It’s okay,” he says after a moment. “I love you.”
“I love you, too.” Chris gives him a smile and carefully reaches through the slat to cup Leon’s neck and pull him closer. He presses a kiss to Leon’s nose, right over where the smattering of freckles go over the bridge of his nose. It’s incredibly awkward and barely there, but it brings a smile to Leon’s face and Chris seems pleased. He turns towards Claire then. “Do you know who attacked you guys?”
“Chief Irons, I think,” Claire answers. She runs a hand over her face as she looks over Chris’s shoulder. “I have no idea where he took Sherry. Did he say anything after knocking me out?”
Leon shakes his head. “We’ll have to get a parking pass either way to get out. We can check his office?”
“Sounds good to me.” She turns back to Chris. “Can you help us?”
Jill shakes her head then. “We’re trying to get any and all survivors down to the subway to get them out. Any chance we can convince you guys to come with?”
“We have to get Sherry. I don’t trust that creep. I don’t know what he plans on doing with her.”
Leon starts to respond, but he’s interrupted by a wall behind them suddenly exploding like a bomb went off. All four of them duck to avoid any debris and shrapnel as the dust slowly starts to clear. A man larger than Leon’s ever seen before appears, face grey and emotionless as it turns its sight of them.
“What the fuck?” Leon says, stepping closer to Claire. He eyes his handgun on the floor near the thing and debates on the merits of grabbing it. He mentally apologizes to Chris before diving for it. Chris calls out his name in shock as Leon suddenly moves, hand barely managing to wrap around the handle of the gun before he has to roll away to prevent the thing from grabbing him by the neck. “Fuck, we’ve gotta go.”
“We’ll meet you at the subway once we’ve got Sherry,” Claire tells Chris and Jill. She shoots at the thing as she moves away from the gate. “Hey, ugly!”
“Stay safe!” Chris yells out, backing away with Jill as the thing stalks towards Leon and Claire. “Don’t do anything stupid!”