Chapter Text
One mission.
All he has to do is complete one mission. One mission in a single night. His other assignments have taken up much more of his time. What the hell is a few hours anyways?
They didn't tell him much. The mission was assigned to him on short notice, all he knows is that there's been a virus outbreak in Raccoon, which is exactly where he needs to go. The night is probably gonna be long, and they've told him that going there could get him killed — but that risk has always been in every mission.
Rain lashes down the road. It's already dark out, the moon shining somewhere in the distance, as he can see in the rear mirror of his jeep. The sound of the raindrops tapping against the windows is drowned out by some rock song playing on the radio.
It's almost too quiet on the road. Like he needs to be afraid of whatever's waiting for him in Raccoon City.
He isn't.
There's going to be a gas station in about ten miles. He needs to make a stop there to make it to the city. He's driven for several hours already — wondering what the hell he's gonna be in for.
Slightly turning down the volume of the radio, he takes a right, parking his car next to one of the gas pumps. He steps out of the jeep, muffling the music as he closes the door and looks around curiously.
A frown appears on his face as soon as he sees no one in or around the place. Taking a few steps forward, he notices the blood on the floor, and he just knows that it has something to do with whatever he's going to encounter soon.
He takes his gun in hand, then uses his other hand to twist the doorknob, entering the store. As he looks down, the first thing catching his eye is the flashlight on the floor, as well as the pool of blood.
Flashlights could be helpful. He picks it up, holding it in his hand as he keeps walking past the aisles. Near a door, hidden in a corner, a man is sitting in what seems to be his own blood, one hand covering his neck. He's bleeding out, fast.
"Did you get bit?" He asks the man, and he nods slowly as a response.
Shoot them in the head.
Those are his orders. If they get bitten, shoot them in the head. No questions asked.
While this man is still alive, he's not going to be for much longer — so he doesn't say anything and simply uses his handgun to do what he's been told.
The man had pointed to what seemed to be the door to the cooler of the store. The hair on his arms stand up straight from the cold as he makes his way through to another door that's ajar. While holding up the flashlight, he pushes the door open with his elbow, since he's still holding his gun in his other hand.
"Stop moving!"
A deputy sheriff is restraining a man with bloody hands. "Officer, you need help?" Said sheriff turns around at his words, letting go of the arm behind his back.
"Stay back sir, I got this!"
What happens afterwards goes quick like lightning. The officer gets pushed on the floor by the person he was restraining, and Jesus Christ—the sight of the officer getting an organ torn out of his skin is beyond disgusting.
When its empty eyes settle on him, he knows it is time to get moving. He aims at the creature, which makes sounds that are something ripped straight out of a horror movie, before giving it several headshots. It's put down, so he walks forward, then to the right, seeing there's a key on the wall littered with posters. The storage room key, apparently.
That's enough to get out of here.
As he walks back, he can see it getting up again, but he's quick enough to unlock the door and leave it behind, only to get back into the same part of the store again. Another zombie tries to attack him from behind the shelves, but he manages to run past it, though not without said shelf knocking over.
As he gets to the exit, pushing the door open, he bumps into someone, grabbing them by the arms as a result.
That person he bumped into just so happened to be you.
Merely about a minute after he entered the store, you arrived at the gas station, entirely unaware of the very recent quarantine of Raccoon City. After parking your car, you too saw the blood on the ground, and heard weird noises all around you that sent a shiver down your spine.
For some reason, you decided to go into the store for help rather than drive off again, only to bump face first into the upper chest of a guy you've never seen before in your life.
His hard gaze softens just a tiny bit when he sees you're still human, and seemingly not bitten. Neither of you have the opportunity to even speak to one another before the zombie that knocked over the shelf bangs its ugly face against the door, and a horde of even more of them begins to corner the two of you.
Seeing the car of the now deceased deputy still has its doors open, he gestures for you to jump into the car with him. "The car! Come on!"
And you do. You push one of them away before getting into the passengers seat, closing the door with all the speed you can muster, as he drives away from the gas station as fast as possible.
It's quiet for a second as you try to catch your breath. Your heart is beating so fast that you can feel it in your throat. "... Jesus fucking Christ."
"You okay?" He asks.
You blink a few times, but nod anyways. "Yeah... yeah, I guess."
"Live around here?" He asks, his hands loosely holding onto the steering wheel.
You shake your head, eyes rapidly moving around just to get a hold of where you are and what you're doing. "No, my uncle does. I was coming to visit him for a few days."
He just hums in response, still focusing on the road in front of him. "I didn't catch your name."
Before you know it, the words are rolling off your tongue already. "I didn't catch yours, either."
He lets out a small chuckle at your reply. "Leon Kennedy. And you are...?"
You tell him your name. For a split second, you think he's checking you out, very briefly eyeing you up and down — at least, as much as he can, since you're sitting down.
It's actually pretty cold outside for a September night, and the heavy rain is certainly not helping. You're wearing a jacket that ends at your hips with some tough leather straps on it, as well as a white, thin, long-sleeved shirt and a pair of black jeans and thigh-high boots, which thankfully enough don't have a painfully high heel. Had it not been for what the hell just happened, you would've felt a lot better, because you do actually look good. You even have some nice makeup on, for fuck's sake.
"What about you then? Why're you here?" You ask him, genuinely curious about his answer.
Obviously he knew the question was gonna come, it was inevitable.
The truth is that he was recruited by Umbrella during his first year at the police academy. He'd been at the top of his classes, a fast learner and quick to think and act. He was told some story about how they did good things for people, and somehow, he'd believed it. Well — partially, anyway. The assignments he's done before this point mainly consisted of gaining intel and killing people who actually deserved it. He was one of if not the finest agent Umbrella had.
So when they told him about what was happening in Raccoon City, he was surprised, to say the least. An outbreak that turned people into creatures? It sounded like something from a movie, yet it's true, and even for him, it's much more horrifying than he expected.
His goals are simple. First and most important is to get a sample of the G-virus, then there's also supposedly a man named William Birkin who needs to be executed for betraying the company. The government reportedly has similar goals, so he needs to get there first.
He's also been told to get rid of any remaining survivors. The first and only one he's met so far is you.
But he's never been one to go by the book. He'll kill the ones he wants to kill. Besides, you just might be useful to him.
But he can't tell you about all that.
Luckily for him, though, he's a good liar. "I'm a cop, actually. Today was supposed to be my first day, but I ran late."
Thinking he was telling the truth, you pout a little, feeling for him. "Oh. Way to kick off."
"Tell me about it."
The drive to Raccoon City is rather short. As Leon is driving, you try to look at him from the corner of your eye.
He's boyishly handsome. His short, dark ash-blond hair is parted in curtains, with icy blue eyes that make you feel a little intimidated whenever they meet yours. Not to mention how fit he seems too. You can see those muscles underneath his rolled up sleeves. He's wearing a gray vest over it, with a loosened red tie and vertical shoulder holsters, as if he's some old-fashioned detective. Maybe it's a strange outfit to pick for a first day on the police force, but you're certainly not complaining — because you feel yourself strangely drawn to him and his pretty face. He's a sight for sore eyes.
While you tried to be subtle, Leon still catches you looking at him, the corner of his lip curling upwards from pride. He would've teased you about it if you weren’t driving into Raccoon City just then.
"Attention all citizens: due to the citywide outbreak, you are advised to take shelter at the Raccoon City police station. Free food and medical supplies will be provided to everyone in need."
Your eyes widen after listening to the announcement cracking through the speakers as you drive into the city. "The police station? We should go there."
"Planning on it. Though it looks like we may have to walk. Road's blocked." The man in the suit sitting next to you mentions, nodding his head to all the cars behind the blockade in front of you. The rain is still pouring, streetlights flickering on and off, and for some reason you start feeling less and less safe in this city.
As you look to your right, you see what seems to be two people, on their knees, leaning over something resembling a body. Then it turns around, looks you straight in the eye, and you already feel your heart rate picking up again. "Hey, uh, Leon?"
You nudge him with your arm, and he looks at the sight you're pointing at. "Shit. We gotta move."
Just then, as if you needed to be scared once more tonight, a zombie launches himself onto Leon's window, which not even he saw coming. "Jesus Christ!"
The amount of creatures pushing at your car, desperately trying to get in and eat both of you alive, is getting higher and higher. Hastily, Leon tries to back up, but with the weight of all the zombies, the police car doesn't move.
Both of you look behind you as you see some small light in the distance getting bigger and brighter with each passing second. You feel your breath hitch in your throat.
"Get out. Get out now!" Leon yells after seeing the light belongs to a truck coming your way in rapid speed, seemingly not slowing down in the slightest.
Both of you begin to push at your doors. While his car is budging a little bit, yours seems to be stuck entirely, and you begin to become frustrated. "I can't! It's stuck!"
"Shit!" He exclaims before gripping the steering wheel with everything he's got. "Hold on!"
Without thinking, because you don't even have the damn time to do so, you put your hands on the dashboard, closing your eyes as you hope you'll still be alive after this.
Then the crash comes.
It happens faster than your brain can comprehend. You feel a small ache in your neck, the rest of the pain undoubtedly catching up with you later tonight due to the adrenaline in your body right now. Leon feels surprisingly well, considering he just bumped his head against the steering wheel.
He gets out of the car, though not without dragging you out with him, because your door is still stuck. He does it just in time, and only seconds after you stumbled out, the car catches on fire. While you're still focused on him, he looks at the wreck of the truck behind you, and he's already done with the night.
"Oh, fuck." He says, stepping back, tugging you on your arm before the truck blows up, and your backs hit a car from the huge explosion.
You groaned. Yeah. That one definitely hurt more. Jesus.
Leon blinks a few times and hisses in pain as he stands up again, looking around him. He recognizes the sounds from the gas station and sees a group of zombies surrounding the two of you, even walking through the damn fire, because of course they do.
He helps you up, your legs shaking, but you can still walk. "Time to run. Stick with me, okay?"
And he doesn't wait for an answer as he starts to jog, with his gun in hand and you coming after him.
The streets are a mess. Zombies everywhere, trash, wood, debris and other items on the ground, fire emerging from cars, streetlights nearly falling over, bodies on the floor.
You two go through an alleyway, and with every corner you need to pass, you're afraid that there will be another jump-scare, maybe even one that'll get you killed.
Thankfully enough, you make it through unscathed as you walk up the stairs. You get a small moment to breathe, looking up to see the R.P.D. in the distance. It was quite the building, with the lights and the clocktower in the middle.
All you need to do is get there without getting bit.
Pulling yourself together, you nod at Leon, the pair of you moving to get to the station. You hear the sound of glass windows breaking, zombies groaning and your heels tapping against the sleek surface of the road.
There's a few zombies in front of the white gate, but you dodge them easily, and by the time they're getting up, Leon has already shut the gate and locked it.
You look at the creatures banging against the steel. They're ugly, with ripped skin and blood and white, void eyes. It's a scary sight.
Leon begins to walk again, opening up the front door of the station, gesturing for you to walk in before him.
While it was undoubtedly just out of good manners, in a situation like this, you're not exactly keen on going in first.
All your thoughts fly out the window, though, as soon as you step inside. You've arrived in what looks like the main hall, and it's full of light, with grand stairs and a huge statue of a goddess in the middle. It looks like something out of a museum, with towering pillars on the side and in the middle of the hall.
Then you notice the blue, hospital-like curtains, convertible beds and papers scattered on the polished floor. There's some green boxes, on which stands a bottle of first aid spray. You shrug to yourself, putting it back.
All those things here meant one thing.
There have to be survivors, right?
Leon walks over to the brown desk. A typewriter, a computer, a box, a fan, a lamp and a few other things. He walks over to the computer, pushing a button on the keyboard, and both a map of the station and some camera footage pop up. You go to stand next to him when there's sudden movement on the footage, of what seems to be an officer shooting a zombie.
"David! Marvin! You there!?" He looks directly into the camera before taking a notebook out of his pocket, holding it up. "I found a way out! It's in here. Send reinforcements! East hallway!" And he shoots a zombie, letting it get close before pushing it off him again. The sight of it makes you worry for his life.
"We gotta find that guy." You say with determination, even though you're frightened to the bone.
Leon nods, and he walks towards a shutter. There's a big sign, made of some cut out cardboard, that says 'Keep Out!' and you look over at him. He opens the shutter by pushing down the switch on the left of it, the red light turning green as it only opens just a little — but it's big enough for you to crawl underneath.
He gets on one knee, his eyes locking with yours after he turns his head. "We should move."
You bite your lip, feeling a bit hesitant. "It says we should keep out."
The young man tilts his head, grinning a little. "Scared, sweetheart?" It's his way of lightening the mood, and he likes teasing girls from time to time — especially shy girls. You seem to be the latter.
"It's a zombie apocalypse. Of course I'm scared." Your tone is dry and there's a glare on your face, but it's the truth, and you both know it.
He gets his flashlight out, flicking it on. "Stay close to me, okay? My heart is fucking pounding, too, if I'm honest." He's not sure whether he's scared or if it's just the adrenaline, but he'd rather go in there with you by his side than on his own.
Letting out a sigh, you nod. "Okay."
He nods, crawling underneath the shutter. After taking a deep breath, you begin to get down too, hoping that there'll be answers about this whole mess waiting for you.
You get up from the ground, and what you see is not a pretty sight.
The floor is partially flooded, and both the floor and the walls are covered in blood like it's paint. You're really, genuinely scared that you'll die right here, right now.
This is literally the worst case scenario. You hate this, you hate being here and having to do this, you wish you could teleport yourself right out of here.
You're caught by surprise when Leon takes your hand. He shrugs casually. "Just a precaution." You raise your brow for a second but decide that you're actually more than content with it. It makes you feel a bit more safe, and his hands are warm compared to yours.
On your left, you notice a fuse box, which is missing — surprise — one of the fuses. That's probably why the door didn't open entirely. On your right, there's a door, but it appears to be locked after Leon fails to get it open.
He starts to walk, pulling you along with him, carefully peeking past the corner before you walk again. The second door that comes up is on your left. It's dark, and it seems like the body on the floor is the only one there. You don't hear any zombies groaning, so that's a good sign.
You decide to flick the switch on the wall, and the light turns on. There's a load of blood on the floor, and you try not to step in it, a disgusted look on your face. It seems to be some sort of press room, with a desk and some microphones on it.
Leon notices the small, red box on the floor next to the body — it's handgun ammo. That's probably gonna be useful for him in the future, so he carefully picks it up, taking it with him.
You're amazed at his boldness, how he doesn't seem afraid, just determined. You should probably be glad that you're stuck with a rookie cop during a night like this. He's somewhat trained for this.
After finding the drawers in the desk completely empty, you sigh. "Got a whole pile of nothin'."
"Me too." He responds, gesturing to the door. "We should move on."
Nodding, you follow him out of the room again, seeing a partially toppled cabinet right in front of you. The last thing you want to do right now is make noise, but it's the only way through, so you'll have to. Well, you want to, but Leon gets the cabinet upright before you can even begin to protest.
You two are both so engulfed by your own thoughts and being careful that you don't even say anything to each other. You're both on high alert and far away from reality with your mind. It's strange.
On the left is the women's bathroom. You open the door, the sound of water running getting louder immediately. There's two stalls with closed doors, so Leon carefully opens them, one at a time, with his gun raised.
Thankfully enough, he doesn't have to waste any bullets. The stalls are empty — save for the first aid spray you find on top of one of the toilets. You decide to take this one with you, and when Leon looks at you weirdly, you shrug, mimicking his words. "Just a precaution."
He snickers. "Women."
It's the first time that night that you smile. Not a big one, with teeth and all that — it's a small one, but it's there. It feels like the world has gone to hell, but for a split second, you forgot about it.
But you had to leave the bathroom, and what you see after doing so snaps you right back to your horrifying reality.
There's bodies all over the place, as well as dark, red blood, scattered paperwork, books and—more blood, because Jesus Christ, that's all you're seeing right now.
This time, surprisingly enough, it's not a zombie that startles you, it's the sound of someone yelling. "Hurry! Open up! Open this goddamn door!"
Both you and Leon quickly make your way through the wooden door to get to the man yelling. Just as you thought, you recognize him as the man from the camera recording. An officer.
"We're here! We'll get you out!" You tell him as Leon opens the fire safety door, and both of you give him one hand, and drag him into the room. Just in time, because from the banging sounds on the other side, he was probably about to get eaten.
"Thank you." He exhales in relief, and you only get a brief look at the officer before you hear more banging sounds, this time from behind the door you just walked through.
And a zombie busts through the door. Leon gets his gun out, but the officer doesn't. He's watching with wide eyes, probably because it used to be his... his colleague.
Jesus.
Leon puts it down with three headshots. "We can't stay here, come on!"
It all goes by like a blur. The three of you leave as fast as you can. A zombie breaks the window and falls through, two more appear from what sounds like a previously barred room, and you push them out of your way because you can't seem to get around them.
As you get back to the shutter, Leon pushes it up a little while he's underneath it, getting out quickly, after which you and the officer follow. When you're nearly out, something grabs you, and you see the face of not one, but two zombies at your feet.
"Fuck! Get off!" You pant in frustration and fear, trying to push them off, and Leon and the officer are now trying to pull you out, but it's not until someone else's hands grab your wrists as well that you finally manage to get out.
He takes a hold of the shutter, lifting it up just the slightest bit before forcefully pushing it down, smashing the heads of the two zombies that were trying to get you.
You're sitting on the floor, leaning on your arms as you look at the man by the shutter. "You're safe... for now." He falls backwards, against it, groaning in pain as you notice the huge wound on the right side of his stomach.
"Thank you." You breathe out, because he did just save your life.
He shakes his head, waving with his hand. "We gotta look out for each other." He speaks, extending his hand to you. "Marvin Branagh."
You tell him your name before he helps you up to your feet again, then looks over to Leon. "Leon Kennedy."
"Wish we could've met under better circumstances. This is my colleague, Elliot Edward."
You turn to the officer whose life you saved, thinking about how crazy this shit all is.
"How did you two end up here?" Marvin asks as he gestures to go sit on the makeshift medical beds in the room.
You sigh. "We met at a gas station nearby. The place was crawling with zombies, so we managed to escape and drive over here."
Marvin nods while sitting down, wincing in pain. "Well, you're not getting out that way again. How about that passageway, Elliot?"
The other officer takes a blue notebook from his pocket, opening it up. "The station actually used to be a museum. The statue you see here? There's those hollow spots where you can insert medallions." He gets up, pointing at them. "There's three smaller statues in the station where you can get the medallions. One is up here, on top of the stairs, one is in the lounge and one is all the way up in the east storage room." He uses a pen to write it down simply in the notebook.
"Then we go get them and get the hell out of here, right?" You ask.
Elliot shakes his head. "I wish it was that easy. Every room in here is filled with zombies, so you'll need to get past them, and the medallion up in the storage room requires a detonator, because that's the only way you'll be able to get to it—"
"We need to see it for ourselves, don't we?" Leon interrupts, because he knows where this is going.
Elliot nods, though he seemingly feels a bit guilty about it. "Unfortunately, yes. I would come with you, but I'd just slow you down."
You frown. "We may be younger, but—"
"He's infected."
Leon's direct but cold words cause a brief silence. Elliot swallows, his head hanging low when he explains how it happened. "One of ’em attacked me in the hallway, just before you pulled me out of there."
And you feel bad. Damnit. So you're standing here with Leon and the two officers that are probably the last ones alive, and both of them have been bitten.
You can't dwell on your sadness on the situation. Once you do that, you'll bawl your eyes out until you have not a single tear left, and that's the last thing anyone here needs right now.
Pressing your lips together, you stand up, determined to show the two men that you'll at least do your best to save them. Maybe they can be saved. Who knows. You'll be damned if you don't try.
You turn to Leon. "Then we should get going to find the medallions, right?"
"I think you should stay here. Let me handle it." He says, and you furrow your brows, because you're getting offended here.
“What?”
"It'll be faster, and I don't want you to get hurt. You don't have a weapon."
"Are you kidding? I'm not just gonna sit here, waiting for you to get us somewhere!"
Leon slightly rolls his eyes as he looks from the officers back at you, a small hint of amusement on his face as he watches the scowl on yours, knowing you'll just come with him either way, no matter what he tells you. He feels he’s going to have his hands full with that stubbornness of yours. "Alright. Fine."
Marvin stretches his hand out to you, a large combat knife in his palm. "Take this."
"Thank you."
"It should be good for now. There's a weapons locker room next to the West Office, try going there, I know there's some useful things inside. Be careful. And if you see one of those things, uniform or not, you do not hesitate. You take it out, or you run, because this place will eat you alive if you aren't careful." And he's talking to you, because he has the feeling that Leon won't hesitate either way.
You swallow, but nod. "Yes, sir."
Elliot takes out his gun, picking out the last few bullets he had, giving them to Leon. "These probably won't be of much use to me anymore, but you're gonna need them."
Taking a hair tie you find in your back pocket, you put your hair up in a ponytail, bangs hanging loosely and hugging your facial features.
Leon touches your arm, gesturing for the two of you to start on the plan you need to execute to get the hell out of here.
Find three medallions, and try not to get eaten while you're doing it.
Surely that can’t be too hard.