Chapter Text
The ride down was quiet, his eyes watching the world go by outside the one glass wall of the elevator shaft. The room just outside the elevator doors once they opened seemed to look like some sort of surveillance room with large monitors lining the walls. Leon's eyes scanned the screens devoid of the light that was usually there until they landed on video footage of a woman with a ponytail wearing a tanktop.
“Who’s that?” Bea spoke quietly as she approached the console under the screen. She looked so familiar where she had seen her before. Then it clicked, she had seen her on the campus of Raccoon City University. She had helped Bea with a flat tire last semester.
“It’s Claire!” Leon moves closer and changes cameras to get a better look at her.
She turned her head quickly to the camera, Leon must’ve activated the intercom while leaning on the console
“Leon? You’re down here too?” She asked, looking into the camera.
Leon leaned back and looked around the room once again “Yeah. But the whole place is coming down. Listen to me, you need to get out. Fast!”
Clair looks up at someone off screen before looking back to the camera once again. “I found a way out, We can make it!” Where are you now?” The footage started to cut out and her voice cut in and out intermittently. Leon stepped back and sighed “Damn it.”
As if the universe was playing a cruel joke, the intercom despite it all barked over the speakers. “Nine minutes until detonation.”
“We just can’t catch a break can we.” Bea sighed and looked at Leon who looked just as exhausted as she did.
They moved through the basement of the facility explosions ringing out though the large concrete spaces. They burst through another doorway only to be met with large burning vines.
“You’ve gotta be kidding me.” Bea groaned. “Can anything die down here?”
“Stay behind me, I don't want you getting hurt again.” Leon put a hand out when he saw the same type of zombie that had put that thorn in her arm hours ago. Bea nodded and stuck behind him as he took care of the zombies. Leon offered to go first down the ladder that lead further down into the lower part of the complex and only called up to Bea only when he made sure it was safe. It was as if he was trying extra hard to keep her safe since Ada had fallen into the abyss.
As if luck wasn’t already on their side the second Bea set foot on the concrete floor the large grey man from the greenhouse jumped down from the ceiling. Leon groaned and pulled out his gun and shot the man in the head, his fedora flying off his big bald head. “Uh…is this a fucking joke?!”
He grabbed her hand and ducked under the man's punch pulling her into the next room, their footsteps heavy on the metal grating, the way in front of them on fire. They turned quickly only to be caught by the large man, his hard coming out to grab Leon's head and lifting him up.
Bea was panicking now her eyes flicking to the gun on his hip then the propane tank next to the man. Without trying to second guess herself she lunged for his gun and shot the tank causing the man to drop Leon, his body toppling onto Bea's, knocking them both over the edge.
The fall knocked the wind from her lungs causing her to gasp before grabbing Leon by the shoulders and rolling away from falling debris, leaving him on top of her. He leaned up both hands on either side of her head for just a moment before quickly getting up then offering her his hand his ears turning a hot shade of red. She took it and pulled herself up looking up to see the man had disappeared once again.
“Are you okay?” She asked, looking at him with concerned eyes as she handed his gun back to him, their fingers bushing for a fraction of a moment.
“Yeah, I'm fine.” His eyes studied her once more. This was the second time in the last thirty minutes Bea had put herself in danger for his sake, the thought of someone risking their life for someone they met four hours ago made him blush a little. He had to shake these thoughts “now isn’t the time to get butterflies because a pretty girl blew up a propane tank for you” He muttered under his breath. If he had a quarter for every time a woman with dark hair blew up that grey man tonight he’d have enough for two gumballs.
The next room held a large platform that led down to the deepest part of NEST and hopefully the exit. Grabbing a nearby joint plug from a maintenance workbench the two moved to the center area and plugged it in the platform holding to life.
Behind them a large explosion was heard as well as the creaking of metal. The grey man now with a large mutated arm was walking towards the duo with an almost mechanical rhythm.
“You’re joking.” Bea sighed as it jumped onto the platform rattling the entire structure.
“I wish.” Leon sighs as he draws his gun to begin unloading magazine after magazine upon the beast. It swung at him, almost snagging his side, causing him to let out a frustrated grunt.
The whole building shook violently as the five minute warning went off. The shaking must’ve jostled the building enough that a large rocket launcher landed right on the platform, the lid popping open revealing their saving grace. It almost felt…intentional.
“Leon! Catch!” Bea shouted as she shoved the case to him with her foot, the case landing right in front of him.
“Hello gorgeous.” Leon chuckled and smiled as he picked up the rocket launcher and aimed it right at the man's chest and shot the launcher. The rocket whizzed by erupting in a beautiful display of yellows and oranges and then…a large cloud of black smoke.
When the smoke cleared all that was left of the man was his legs which fell knees first before flopping over and oozing blood. They were alerted that they had reached the bottom of the complex. Leon used the rocket launcher to clear the rest of the way through the zombie hoard coming at them.
They ran into the next room, the whole building coming down around them before spotting a train coming to the station. Their muscles burned as they tried to catch up to it Leon jumped on and offered his hand to Bea which she grasped tightly as he pulled her up. They sat there for a moment, their breathing heavy. It was over, they had made it out of hell.
Bea looked over and saw Leon gripping his shoulder causing her to sit up straighter. “Are you okay?”
Leon nodded and sighed looking at the bandages wrapped around his arm. “Yeah, I’m okay. I took a bullet to the shoulder for Ada.” He half laughed feeling a little silly since she had been lying to him the whole time.
“I can take a look at it once we get inside the train if you want.” She offered, tilting her head to the side. If he had some herbs on him she was sure she could whip up at least a painkiller. He nodded and stood up glancing at the wrist band one last time before taking it off and tossing it off the side of the train watching the glow quickly disappear.
They stepped inside of the train car the door hissing, For the first time tonight instead of being met with a hoard of zombies they had met two living people, Claire and a little girl with blonde hair.
“I’m so glad you made it” Claire sighed and looked behind him to where Bea was standing. She did an awkward little wave suddenly remembering the dried blood on her hands. She moved her hands behind her back embarrassed.
Leon turned to Bea then back to Claire. “Claire this is Bea, Bea this is Claire.”
“Its nice to see you again.” Bea smiled before turning her attention to the little girl sitting on a box in front of them. Claire seemed to follow her line of sight and introduced the girl to the group.
“This is Sherry.” She put a hand on the girl's back and gave her a small loving look.
Leon smiled awkwardly and simply said “Ok”
Before Bea could laugh at his ridiculously awkward response the whole train car shook violently “what was that?” Bea asked, trying to get a look out of the window of the train door but it was too grimy to see out of.
“I'm not sure.” Claire responded, reaching for the pistol on her hip. “You two stay here with Sherry. I’m gonna go check it out.” They both nodded and moved out of the way for Claire to move through the train
Bea rummaged through the boxes in the car trying to find herbs of some supplies to help Leon like she said she would and insisted that he sat down with Sherry. When she came back she had a fistfull of red and green herbs and a roll of bandages. “Let me see your shoulder.” she demanded, trying to ignore the screeching from a couple cars down. She knew Claire was a strong capable woman who had probably been through just about as much as her and Leon tonight.
Leon inched forward and let Bea undress his wound, a large bullet wound was had made its mark on his shoulder causing her to wince a little. She was sure it'd scar much life her own arm “Looks like someone already took the bullet out.” Bea commented as she pressed the wound feeling for any foreign objects that could be inside.
Quickly she tore the herb leaves into small chewable pieces and gave them to Leon. “This should help with the pain.” She then reached down for the bandage roll on the floor and wrapped it around the wound making sure it was tight enough to stay but loose enough to move.
“How’s that feeling?” Bea asked glancing over at him to make sure he wasn't hurt elsewhere, although there was a nasty bruise forming on his cheek. For a moment she considered leaning in and kissing it but she stopped herself. Now was hardly the time for romantic gestures.
He shook his head and smiled softly. “No, I'll be okay. Thank you.” The thank you was soft as he looked up at her concerned face. He found the crease between her brow cute, his thumb twitched wanting to smooth it out but he stopped himself. Now was hardly the time for romantic gestures.
Before he could say more and possibly make a fool of himself she had turned her attention to Sherry. Her voice is softer and more gentle when addressing the little girl. “Are you okay, are you hurt anywhere?” She tilted her head to the side.
Leon couldn't help but watch as she attended to the small girl, she was slower and gentler with her as she treated her cuts and scrapes. A large crash was heard again a few train cars away and Bea looked over to Leon “We should make sure Claire’s okay.” She spoke up as she opened the car door and looked back to Leon who was already getting up.
“Sherry, stay here okay.” Leon calmed her as she tried to get up trying to usher her back on the box she was perched on.
The two of them moved through the rumbling train cars the sounds of monstrous roars accompanied with gunshots filled their ears. They shared a concerned look and pressed forward, opening the next door only to be met with the sight of Claire unloading machine gun bullets into a monster beyond comprehension. Everywhere they looked there were teeth and bloodshot eyes.
“Claire!” Leon called out causing her to turn her head. Leon and Bea had braced themselves against the doorframe as the car swayed violently. “We gotta lose that car!” he called out his hands moving to work the lever that releases the coupler that held the cars together.
Meanwhile Claire was jamming a piece of rebar she had found on the floor into the large eyes of the monster causing it to screech and thrash, a familiar pus gushing out of the open wound. It never got less gross to look at. She pulled the bar out allowing more pus to gush out giving the eye the same look as a wrinkled up deflated latex balloon.
Claire quickly pulled away and wipe her hands on her pants before turning to run to the door where Bea and Leon were standing. Leon was ready to uncouple the train cars and Bea put out her hand to catch Claire as she ran. They clasped their hands together tightly as she quickly pulled her through the door frame as leon kicked the coupler apart, the car quickly getting swallowed up by the fire and destruction going on from the self destructing lab behind it.
The rest of the train ride was quiet. Clair worked the train and monitor its speed. Bea sat in the corner of the car and curled up on the floor and leaned against the nearest wall. She watched Leon simply look out the window reflecting on what Bea could only assume was Ada's betrayal. She knew he'd probably never tell a soul the whole story surrounding the mysterious woman.
The train had jolted to a gentle stop once it had reached the end of the rails on the other side of the Arklay Mountains, the sun was rising over the horizon warming their skin in a way that had felt better than it had in what felt like years.
Sherry was the first to speak up looking between Claire and Leon “So…are you guys, like, boyfriend and girlfriend?”
Leon laughed awkwardly “No, we’re uh…Well, we actually just met…last night?”
Bea felt herself listening extra closely to Leon's answer, did he have a girlfriend? The thought had never crossed her mind. What would it be like to be Leon’s girlfriend? She found her cheeks getting warm at the thought of it. “Knock it off, You're just trauma bonded.” she mentally chided herself.
“Yeah…” Claire spoke up “That would’ve been one helluva first date, though.” She laughed and looked at Leon.
“Look.” Bea coughed and cleared her throat feeling suddenly like she was third wheeling. “There's a truck coming up ahead. Maybe they can give us a ride to Wrenwood.”
Leon glaced at Bea seemingly sensing the awkwardness she felt and dropped the conversation. Everyone stepped back as Leon stepped forward to the signal the truck. Before he could even ask for help the driver stuck out his hand and flipped him the bird. Slowly he turned around and scoffed a small boyish smile on his face. “Well he was friendly.”
Sherry grabbed Leon and Claire's hands and led them down the road. In an attempt to stick together Leon found himself reaching for Bea’s hand, their fingers automatically intertwining. Sherry was going on about Leon and Clair adopting her to which Leon laughed.
Who knows what comes next. But right now with her hand in Leon’s, Bea's world felt lighter than it has in a long time.