Chapter Text
It felt like they’d been walking forever.
Hours had passed since they abandoned the train tracks and set out on foot…but with the seemingly endless road ahead, paired with the blistering sun shining down upon them mercilessly, the journey only felt that much longer.
Claire tried wetting her lips again and found she had no saliva left to spare. Her head was pounding, matching the rhythm her boots made on the asphalt with each lumbering step.
Leon was silent at her side, carrying a sleeping Sherry without complaint. The young girl had lost her energy fairly quickly – not surprising Claire in the least, given the physical and emotional tolls she had been forced to endure just hours earlier – and began to drag their progress to a standstill. Leon had scooped her up without hesitation and ignored Claire’s offers to carry her instead; in spite of her citing his shoulder injury, he merely shrugged off her concerns and set the pace once more. She had stared at him in exasperation for a moment before catching up and matching his stride, keeping her gaze on the never ending road before them.
I wonder if we’ll die out here, she thought with despair as she squinted at the shimmering, hazy horizon before them for any sight of civilization or road markers.
How cruel would that be: to escape the city of the undead only to drop dead of thirst and exhaustion on the side of some dusty, forgotten stretch of highway to nowhere? No, they’d come too far to fall in a place like this…
…but still…
“Leon,” Claire finally spoke, trying to clear her throat discreetly around the hoarseness of her voice. “I need to stop.”
He turned towards her immediately, eyes full of concern.
“We can’t stop,” he insisted. “There has to be something soon. We just need to make it to the first place we can find.”
She was doubtful such a place even existed. Aside from the ‘lovely’ trucker who had passed them at the start of their journey, they hadn’t come across any other humans – infected or otherwise – in their entire time on the road. The only markers of civilization they’d seen had been the ruins of a convenience store and some abandoned gas pumps countless miles back.
They couldn’t be more in the middle of nowhere if they tried. She gave him a tired, defeated look.
“I just-”
A distant rumbling silenced her instantly; Leon had heard it too, judging by the quick change of expression on his face, and they turned together to face ahead. On the horizon, a vehicle approached, losing its hazy edges and growing more distinct the closer it came. The pair stood in the middle of the road, both tense with anticipation but sending out silent prayers for deliverance. In spite of all of Leon’s forced optimism, Claire had a feeling he was nearing his limit too.
The pickup truck sped closer and closer before finally pumping its brakes upon seeing them remaining motionless in the center of the two lanes. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Sherry waking up in Leon’s arms, but Claire forced herself to watch warily as the truck rolled to a stop nearly parallel to them, its window slowly cranking down to expose a suspicious bearded face peering out at them.
“What y’all doing in a place like this?”
His tone conveyed all his mistrust and Claire was suddenly at a loss for words, not daring to look to Leon for guidance. The truth was not an option – and even a half-truth might do them no favors. Was there any news in the surrounding area regarding the state of Raccoon City? Would they be left to burn under the unforgiving sun if they even mentioned where they had come from?
“Our car broke down and wrecked several miles back,” Claire heard herself saying. “We’re trying to find a payphone or the closest town. Do you know how far that is?”
She watched as some of the suspicion died away in the man’s eyes as they flitted over her and Leon’s haggard appearances. Leon had shifted Sherry to his injured shoulder, hiding his bandages and the R.P.D. emblem stamped across his chest, leaving him looking just as weary and rundown as Claire.
“Where were you coming from?” the man asked, his tone softer but still guarded.
“Plentywood,” Claire answered quickly, running back over the contents of the map she had folded in her bike’s saddlebag in her mind. “They set up a detour completely around Raccoon City, diverted us out here into nowhere.”
She could feel Leon’s eyes upon her – most likely scrutinizing her for the lightning fast reflex of her lie – but she avoided his stare, focused solely on the man in front of her who was shaking his head.
“You lucked out – there’s something strange going on in Raccoon City. Thank god you avoided that mess.”
Oh, if only you knew…
Forcing a convincing smile onto her face, Claire felt her eyes betraying her and hoped the man didn’t notice.
“I guess. Still probably cost us the tire that sent us spinning into that pole. Car’s totaled and we haven’t been able to flag anyone down for hours.”
From behind the man’s shoulder, another face finally appeared. Claire looked into the eyes of the older woman sizing her up and could feel the sympathy welling off of her in waves. She held her gaze, hoping she understood how desperately they were in need of aid, and did her best to look as beaten down as she felt.
“Oh, Henry, look at them! They have a daughter,” the woman pleaded. “Won’t you help them?”
The man seemed to stare at the back of Sherry’s head – as she hid her face against Leon’s chest – for a long pause before sighing deeply.
“Town’s just 20 minutes or so back that way. Hop in back and we’ll give you a lift.”
“Thank you,” Leon and Claire echoed at the same time, staggering towards the pickup’s bed together. “Thank you.”
A mumbled response fell deaf upon their ears as they crawled into the back of the truck. As Leon handed Sherry to Claire, she winced in sympathy as he grit his teeth and bit back any sound of protest at the movement it caused his injured shoulder. He was climbing in beside her before she had a chance to set Sherry down and offer him her hand; they settled in beside each other just as the truck rumbled back to life and the man behind the wheel cut a U-turn and headed back the way he’d originally come.
The wind whipping through her hair might have been hot but it felt glorious on Claire’s sunburnt face; she let her eyes slip shut as she tilted her head back and relished in the sound it made in her ears. If she concentrated, she could almost pretend she was back on her motorcycle sans helmet, motoring across the dusty roads behind campus as she had done only weeks prior with her friends.
Seemed surreal that back then, she was only just beginning to suspect something was wrong with Chris. They always talked on the phone every weekend, barring any work constraints on his part. The first weekend with no call had left her puzzled but not overly concerned, knowing he sometimes had to work odd hours and would catch up on sleep whenever he could. But when he finally got around to returning her call, she wasn’t even certain she was talking to Chris at all. He was cagey and evasive, seeming stressed and only half invested in the conversation she was trying to hold with him – far from the goofy, laidback brother she was used to conversing with over movies and sports and shop.
The next weekend, he seemed to be more towards his old self, though still fairly subdued. He had apologized for his behavior and explained it as a mission gone wrong that left him out of sorts; she had believed him at the time, understanding that S.T.A.R.S. handled extremely delicate situations from time to time and that such a position was bound to wear him down at some point or another. He’d reassured her of his wellbeing and she’d taken him at face value, most suspicions silenced by the time they’d hung up.
And then he stopped calling altogether.
She’d called his number nonstop after the first week of radio silence, trying every hour she could to try and pin him down. The numbers she had written down for Jill and Barry had only been taken advantage of when she was certain something was wrong…and yet she couldn’t reach either of them as well. Jill’s voicemail had to have several dozen pleas from Claire to call back with anything; calling Barry’s number always resulted in a robotic voice supply ‘we’re sorry – the number you are trying to reach has been disconnected’, leaving her stomach churning in knots.
Claire had decided on making the journey to Raccoon City herself weeks before. She’d contacted her professors to let them know she’d be gone for potentially a week or more and had packed lightly for the long ride it would take to get to Chris’s. Her roommate and best friend, Michelle, had begged with her to reconsider, trying to come up with a logical explanation for why Chris had gone silent and pointing out the inherent dangers in making such a trip alone.
She’d merely scoffed at her concerns, certain of her ability to take care of herself. But God, how right Michelle had been… and Chris hadn’t even been in Raccoon City in the first place, having scurried off to Europe over a whole month earlier. He’d been phoning in from over the ocean and she’d been none the wiser as she trekked off to the city of the dead in search of his stale trail…
Blinking back into focus, Claire chanced a glance over at Leon, staring vacantly at the empty stretch of grassy plains before him. She might not have found Chris…but she had met Leon. And Sherry – still curled up between them, glancing all around with a childlike wonder that Claire was amazed (and relieved) she still managed to hold onto.
Honestly, she wasn’t sure what she would have done without coming across either of them. Leon had most likely saved her life back at that gas station, and even if he had unknowingly taken them straight into the heart of darkness, he’d at least shown initiative she wasn’t sure she could have scrambled to come up with in her initial state of panic. Sherry had given her purpose and drive: if nothing else, she had to stay strong and focused for the little girl who needed help more desperately than anyone else.
If she could only pick two reasons for how she’d managed to stay alive, it was the both of them.
As if intercepting her thoughts, Sherry snaked out a hand to take hold of Claire’s. She glanced up at her and smiled warmly and Claire couldn’t help but mirror the gesture, finally some of her inner turmoil abate, if only for a moment. The little girl reached out to Leon and took his hand gently in her other one; he blinked back into focus and looked from the tiny fingers grasping his wrist to Sherry’s face with a questioning look. Claire watched his eyes soften and a smile finally crack through the grimness that had settled on his face and felt the burden on her shoulders growing lighter in response.
His eyes found their way to hers and held and she found she couldn’t place the feeling it stirred inside her. Something close to being able to take on the world and anything it had to offer, so long as he was close at hand. It made her heart clench, as a traitorous voice in her head reminded her of her future plans…ones that didn’t include Leon or Sherry. Stomach suddenly soured, she tried her best to maintain a pleasant expression as Sherry excitedly pointed out the pasture of cows they were passing, and how she’d never seen one in person before.
The drive was over before they knew it. The small town barely peeked into sight until they were within a mile of it, coming over the hill with a slight jolt. Their driver pulled off at the first establishment, a restaurant on the shoulder with a payphone in sight. Claire leapt out of the truck bed first, groaning internally at how stiff and sore her legs were before turning and reaching to help Sherry down.
Leon refused her aid, leaving her rolling her eyes as he struggled to manage getting to his feet alone. She turned to Sherry and quickly asked for her jacket while he dropped down on the ground beside them; the red leather was thrust into his arms before he approached the truck’s cab, as she anticipated he would. Motioning at his chest in response to his raised eyebrow, his eyes quickly registered understanding and he covered the RPD logo on his armor before walking up to speak with the driver.
Claire focused on smoothing out Sherry’s clothes, fiddling with ribbon at her collarbone as Leon spoke with the man and his wife. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw the driver slip Leon a few green bills.
“Here, take this.”
“We couldn’t possibly accept-”
“Please. For the old lady’s peace of mind,” the man grumbled.
Leon merely offered a small smile in response.
“Thank you…”
“Make sure you get yourselves to a hospital!” the woman chided. “You both look like you got dinged up!”
“Sharon, they know to take care of themselves,” the man said as he shook his head, giving them an exasperated final look before putting the truck in drive and pulling away, offering a parting wave out the window without ever glancing back.
Leon and Claire watched him go for a few moments before slowly making their way towards the phone booth off to the side.
“I don’t have anyone to call, we should just make it look convincing,” Leon explained as he handed her jacket back and stepped into the box and picked up the receiver.
Claire glanced up and down the dusty road and noted the lack of traffic and counted her blessings once more that the old couple had shown up when they had. As she stood rocking on her heels, Sherry finished slipping back into her jacket and grabbed her hand; she gave it a tight squeeze and offered up a reassuring smile when she glanced down at her. Claire gave her one in return just as Leon finally dropped the pretense with the phone and stepped back out to join them.
“You got any cash on you?” he asked in a low voice.
“In my pouch,” she said after a moment, digging around for her wallet in her fanny pack. “Got about…30 bucks on me.”
“And I’ve got about 25 on me,” he sighed, glancing down at the two twenties the man had stuck in his hand. “We’ve got enough to get a room for the night at the very least…”
Nothing sounded more appealing than being able to lie down and rest; her feet ached just about as much as the rest of her bruised body and she wanted nothing more than to be able to prop them up somewhere. She stuck close to Leon as he looked both ways before crossing the vacant highway, leaving the payphone and diner behind as they strode for the dingy motel across the way.
The look on the clerk’s face as they strode in through the front was almost comical, and under any other circumstances Claire would have laughed…but for now, she kept her face neutral as Leon explained the situation to him.
“-several miles back, car’s completely totaled. Are there any taxi services or bus routes running through here?”
“There’s a bus station up the road about 15 miles,” the man replied quickly, hiding his shock as best he could to save face. “They run from here into Blackwater and beyond to-”
Claire tuned him out as she stared about the tiny lobby, taking in the tacky décor distractedly as she plotted moves out in her head.
Should there be enough money left over for 3 bus tickets after buying a room for the night…where would they even go?
She didn’t have anyone left but Chris to turn to…and he was out of reach. There was her apartment and school and friends to return to…but that was back on the opposite side of Raccoon City…
Did Leon even have anyone he could go to? He’d said he didn’t have anyone to call earlier…but maybe he meant he didn’t want to just yet. Sherry’s parents were both gone – did she have any other family out there who might come looking for her or would be willing to take her in?
The key dangled right in front of her nose jolted her back to reality, eyes blinking to take in the sight of Leon turning over her hand and pressing the cool metal in her palm. He was already grabbing Sherry’s hand and enclosing his other around hers before she even had time to recover, letting him lead them out the front door and back into the parking lot.
The sky was already tinged purple as they made their way towards their room; it was seated near the end of the line of doors that dotted the motel’s exterior, far from the road but not pressed up against the hedges that formed the perimeter around its back. Leon faltered for a moment before pulling Claire and Sherry both towards the vending machine he had spotted poking out behind one of the corners.
“Figure we should save our money while we can,” he murmured to Claire, earning a nod of agreement from her while Sherry pressed close to the glass to inspect her options.
Their arms were laden with snack food as they finally approached their room and Claire fumbled with the key in the lock. Letting herself in first, she found herself checking the corners out of instinct and tried to flatten her hackles, reminding herself there was no need for that here. It was a small, dingy room with a single uncomfortable looking bed, but that worked just fine – they wouldn’t be here for long.
She dipped into the bathroom while Sherry hopped up on the bed and tested its springs. It was clean enough, for a low-end motel; still, it had no first-aid kid under the sink and she didn’t dare go asking up front for one. Leon had been putting on a brave face but he needed his bandages changed and the wound beneath cleaned: there was no way she would allow the chance of infection to set in. Not when they’d already come so far.
When she returned to the main room, Leon was standing by the window, peeking out through the blinds at the street and Sherry was busy messing with the remote for the small television set adjacent to the foot of the bed.
“Here, give me some cash,” Claire said as she approached Leon’s side, waiting for him to rifle through his pockets for some bills. “I’m gonna go grab some stuff up the road.”
She was almost halfway out the door when Leon finally called out to her.
“Be careful.”
Pausing midstride, she turned and offered him a small, tired smile over her shoulder.
“Always.”
If she had thought the motel clerk’s expression had been priceless before, the look on the cashier’s face at the small general store was positively magical. She merely gave him a weak smile as he gawked at her appearance and pushed the medical supplies across the counter towards him.
“Hell of a night,” she supplied simply, grateful when he finally nodded and said nothing as he began to scan each item one at a time.
The antiseptic and gauze were probably too expensive, and Leon wouldn’t approve of how much money she was spending…but his health took priority over anything else. They could work around money – having him fall ill from his injury would not be so easy.
She’d jogged back across the street towards the motel, capitalizing on her second wind’s sudden burst of energy to get her back to the motel and in front of their room’s door. Thinking better of barging in unannounced, she raised a hand and rapped three times.
“It’s Claire. Everything good?” she called.
“Yeah, come on in.”
She heeded Leon’s words and entered just as he was slipping his pistol back in it holster on the small table beside him. It appeared he and Sherry had been busy in the time she’d been gone: his armor was in a pile in the corner, dirty and broken in several places. He was working on one boot while Sherry helped with the other as Claire rounded the bed and approached.
“Got some stuff to treat your shoulder,” she said, raising the bag in her hand up to see. “Grabbed some better snacks too.”
“What kind of snacks?” Sherry asked instantly, coming closer to see the second she was done helping Leon. Claire pulled out the pretzels and animal crackers she’d nabbed and handed them off to Sherry, watching her skip towards the bed to open them with a small smile.
Dining on cookies and chips and flat soda reminded Claire of the early days after her parents had died. Chris had only just joined the Air Force and had tried his best to keep both their heads above water…but when they didn’t go without food, all they could afford was junk food like this. Still, any night they got to eat together and joke around was a good one – she’d have given anything to have him here now with them.
“Are you alright?”
Sherry’s voice sliced through her thoughts, effectively snapping her out of her musing. Claire could only blink and take in the concern on the little girl’s face and realized she’d clearly let her emotions show; one sideways glance at Leon and he echoed Sherry’s worry and Claire felt flush with embarrassment.
“Just thinking about how awful I smell,” she lied quickly, giving herself a quick sniff and cringing at the accuracy of such an assertion. “I’m dying for a shower.”
“You’re up first,” Leon offered, waving a hand at the bathroom door.
“Nah, I’m gonna let Sherry go first and work on getting some of our clothes wearable,” she said, rising to her feet with a small groan.
Sherry quickly followed and Claire shut the bathroom door behind them. They both worked on stripping out of their filthy clothes together; Claire remained in her tank top and underwear as Sherry stepped into the shower and pulled the curtain shut.
“I’ll work on getting some of this clean,” Claire called over the clattering spray of the showerhead kicking to life.
Socks and underwear were priority and she only allowed her nose to wrinkle as the sink turned gray and black as she scrubbed each article of clothing with the bar of soap left there by housekeeping. They were smaller and thinner and would dry faster than anything else – and were more important than the other clothes, in the long run. First chance they got, Claire was swapping for new jeans and a shirt; her boots, she’d be sorrowful to part with, but she had the sinking feeling they’d never get the stink out of them.
Her jacket was non-negotiable. It was a gift from Chris, after all…and she felt a pang of regret for having left behind his nearly matching one that had hung from the wall in the STARS office. She glanced at it on the floor with Sherry’s other clothes and took in how carefully she had folded it while tossing everything else aside carelessly. A smile tugged at her lips as she realized it would be well taken care of by its new owner. Sherry would have a few years to grow into it…maybe by that time, Claire could get it professionally cleaned and looking and smelling less vile than it did currently.
A few years…there she was again, going off and thinking of a future where they all remained together. Her stomach twisted painfully as she turned and forced her gaze back on the sink basin; it was just so easy to envision Sherry and Leon with her always, even if it wasn’t to be. It wasn’t that she wanted to leave them – far from the truth, in fact. There was nothing she’d give more than to be by their sides for countless days to follow.
But Chris was still somewhere out there. She had a sinking feeling whatever he was off in Europe for had to do with Raccoon City. Why else would he go sprinting off overseas with no notice? There had been so many breadcrumbs she’d come across at the station of Umbrella’s control over the higher ups in the police force alone; and his note in the STARS office had been troubling her for some time now.
“Bet you can guess what we got up to under her extra-large umbrella.”
It had meant nothing to her at the time, grossed out by the thought of that and still too bewildered by the note’s contents itself to register anything else that was being said. But she’d had time in the hours between the train ride out of NEST to her standing before the sink now to think things over…and the more certain she was that he had written in code. She cursed herself for not having thought to grab it before leaving the police station behind.
“Jill, if Claire tries to contact you, please let her know I’m OK.”
“Chris, where are you…,” she found herself saying beneath her breath.
The noise of the shower cut off abruptly, jolting Claire back to the present. She made sure to wipe anything she was thinking off her face by the time Sherry poked her head out from behind the curtain. There was only one bathrobe hanging on the back of the door and Claire immediately set about wrapping her up in it.
“We’ll let your socks and underwear dry and get dressed again in the morning,” she explained, trying to halt her filthy fingers from helping finger comb through some of Sherry’s glistening, clean hair.
When the bathroom door opened and Sherry stepped out, a cloud of steam escaped with her, making Leon almost look like a specter as he sat on the edge of the bed and flexed his damaged shoulder gently. He looked up as Sherry skipped by and claimed her spot at the head of the bed, nestling into the pillows with the tv remote in hand.
“Come on,” Claire called to him. “You’re next.”
He blinked owlishly at her before slowly rising to his feet and shuffling towards the bathroom door. She pushed it open and ushered him in, immediately noticing how his eyes fell to her bare legs the moment he got a full glimpse of her.
“There’s no need for modesty here,” she told him plainly. “We’re both disgusting, it’s just about getting clean. Let me help you.”
She wasn’t sure how he would have managed on his own; Leon set his mouth and tried not to give any reaction but Claire could feel the tension in his muscles and see his eyes twitch when he winced as they worked his shirt and pants off. After a few minutes, there was a pile of dirty and ripped clothing in the corner that she swept to the side with a bare foot; Leon was already working on pulling at the dirty bandages when she returned to his side.
“Here, let me,” she said softly as she reached to undo the tie holding them together.
As she unwound the filthy gauze, her brow furrowed as she inspected the decent enough patch job. Leon must have read her face, shifting slightly beneath her touch.
“The woman I met…Ada…she patched me up.”
Claire paused momentarily, pondering that name. In the hours they’d spent on the road walking, they’d detailed to each other the things they had seen and endured in their time apart. Leon had mentioned Ada several times – her playing an integral part in how he ended up at NEST and on the train with them – but Claire could tell he was holding back. Whatever had transpired between the two had affected him deeply…and quite clearly, the woman didn’t make it out of the facility with him, otherwise she might be here with them now.
“She knew what she was doing,” was all she offered up as she continued unwinding the dirty bandages.
The bruising and swelling had already started, mottling his skin black and blue all around the wound. Claire grimaced as she looked at the angry red skin surrounding the exit hole from the bullet, reaching around to touch the back of his shoulder gingerly in search of a matching entrance one.
“I think the bullet went clean through,” he said suddenly, voice weaker. “I’m not 100%, though…”
“Shower and get it as clean as you can,” she instructed, as she drew her fingertips back. “It’ll make it easier to see and manage after.”
There was a moment where they simply stood in silence and Claire became overwhelmingly aware of their proximity. Stepping back from him, she returned to the sink and the socks she had left soaking in it.
“Give me your socks and underwear when you get in,” she said over her shoulder.
The curtain dragged shut around the shower swiftly; Leon’s hand snaking out to proffer up his boxers and socks was rather hesitant in comparison. Claire had no such embarrassment and took them from him easily, walking to the sink and setting to work on them with the bar of soap she’d set aside earlier.
There was nothing but brown and black water in the basin as Claire scrubbed everything as efficiently as she could, wringing each item out every so often to rid them of the dirt and grime that was sloughing off in sheets. She could only sigh with sudden exhaustion as she squeezed the last of the water out of one of Leon’s sock before remembering she had yet to clean her own underwear, still clinging to her dirty skin.
Casting a glance over her shoulder – suddenly hyperaware of Leon’s presence - she slowly slipped her panties off. She’d said earlier that modesty shouldn’t matter given the circumstances…and yet she suddenly found herself feeling vulnerable. There was no doubt in her mind that Leon was an honorable man and that she had nothing to fear from him…it was just…
It was almost like stripping off the last of the armor she’d built around herself during the course of the night in Raccoon City. Everything she’d shelved in those harrowing hours – all her grief, her fear, her doubt – they all seemed to be rushing back as she stripped down and set to work scrubbing her clothes as fast as she could.
Her vision was blurring long before she finished, tears burning hot trails down her cheeks as she worked to choke back her sniffles. Yanking her tank top over her head, she tossed it aside carelessly as she tried to pull her sports bra off and force it under the sink’s spray, breathing raggedly as she tried to focus on getting it clean. Through her tears, all she could see was dark brown and red spinning down the drain, mirroring the blood and guts she’d been forced to wade through in order to escape…
The sports bra was left sopping as she pulled back her shaking hands to stare at them with horror. They felt so unclean, so dirty…like there was something on them that refused to come off….
She hadn’t realized she’d begun to make noise until the shower curtain was drawn open suddenly behind her. There wasn’t even a moment to try and compose herself before she was being turned around and Leon’s hands were on her face.
“Hey, it’s okay. Shhh,” he was murmuring in her ear as she choked and gasped for air through a suddenly constricting chest. “Breathe, Claire. Just breathe.”
She was trying but all that she was managing was to work herself up more, tears freely streaming down her face. Leon was talking to her gently the whole time as he pulled her towards the shower, her uncooperative feet dragging sluggishly on the tile as she tried to follow his lead. Somehow he managed to get her over the lip of the tub, guiding her under the spray of the showerhead; her eyes closed to avoid the water rushing down her forehead to join her tears in blinding her vision.
Leon apologized profusely as he tried to untangle her ponytail holder from her ratty, knotted hair, finally working it out and tossing it aside carelessly as he tilted her head back. His fingers were working through her tangled hair, smoothing it out as best he could as it grew heavy and waterlogged, flattening down her back; Claire could still barely breathe, focusing solely on the rise and fall of her chest as she tried to control the cyclone of emotions that were battling inside her chest for dominance.
“It’s alright,” he was telling her gently.
Had it been from anyone else, she wouldn’t have believed them. But from Leon…it meant something. She trusted him implicitly – he wouldn’t lie to her.
Before she knew it, Leon was lowering them down to the tub’s floor. He had her pulled in close, tucked against his chest and drawn up between his legs as he held her tightly. Claire couldn’t care about their nudity or the press of their flesh against one another; all she could focus on was the steady stream of reassurances Leon was whispering in her ear and the cleansing spray of the shower still raining down upon them. She shut her eyes tightly and let herself cling to him, realizing suddenly she couldn’t bear the thought of being apart from him.
“Please don’t leave me,” she begged hoarsely.
“I’m not going anywhere,” he promised gently, tangling his fingers in her hair as he tucked her head beneath his chin.
They had remained in the shower together for quite some time, just wrapped up in each other’s embrace even long after the water had gone cold. It was only when Leon set about trying to wash her hair for her that Claire seemed to recover, sitting up and working her fingers through her tangled locks vigorously. He did what he could to scrub her down with soap in the interim, leaving her more intimate areas for her to finish up on her own.
The atmosphere had been much less tense afterwards, even as they both sat completely naked on the tile floor together; it was hard to feel indecent around one another after just minutes prior and Claire sat close as she examined his shoulder carefully.
“I think most of its out…but there’s some debris poking out of the entrance wound. I think I can get it,” she said softly, but warily. “It just is going to hurt…”
“Do it,” he insisted, bracing himself. “I don’t want it getting infected.”
It had been painful, as she had promised; he’d balled one of the towels into knots and almost tore it in two as Claire dug the tweezers in and fished around for the shrapnel. There were stars in his eyes by the time she pulled back, face grim and pale but triumphant as she dropped the bloodied slivers of wood and metal onto the floor.
By the time she had controlled the bleeding and applied the antiseptic, he’d been more than ready to tap out. Still, he’d forced himself to sit steady and straight as she re-bandaged him, only allowing himself to move when she was offering him a hand to help him back up onto his feet. Sherry may have had the only robe, but they had enough towels to wrap themselves up in before shuffling back out into the main room.
Outside the windows was dark and quiet, the only real light in the room coming from the television playing quietly in the corner. Sherry was now curled up in a tight ball at the end of the bed, having clearly fallen asleep while channel surfing, the remote clutched limply in her hand. Claire stepped closer to gently extract it from her grip and power down the set as Leon moved towards the blinds and pulled them shut.
As he laid himself down onto the tiny bed, pulling his feet up to avoid touching Sherry, Claire immediately burrowed into his side. She pressed her cheek against his shoulder as he wrapped his good arm around her tightly, pulling her as close as possible as he shifted into a more comfortable position for them both. For several minutes, they just lay there in silence, listening to the nightstand clock ticking softly away.
“What happens now?” Claire finally asked softly.
“I don’t know,” Leon answered truthfully.
Even in the brief amount of time he’d known Claire…he had the growing suspicion she was already planning on setting off again soon. The entire reason for her journey to Raccoon City had been to find her brother and he was running around somewhere out in Europe. Would she be satisfied knowing that he had avoided and escaped the city of the undead…or would she feel compelled to follow after him, much as she had before?
It seemed silly offering up the option of both he and Sherry tagging along with her…and logistically, it held no merit; he had no passport and Sherry presumably had no identification whatsoever outside of Raccoon City. They’d just slow Claire’s search down and stress and worry her further…and yet, Leon dreaded the thought of her jetting off to parts unknown alone.
Maybe they only truly knew each other for about 24 hours now…but they had gone through so much together. More than most people would ever experience in their lives, in fact...no one else would understand what they had seen and endured in and underneath the city. They were bonded now, with certainty, over the night they had survived together. The mere idea of her vanishing from his life – potentially forever – had his stomach twisting in knots, even as she remained curled up tightly beside him.
He found himself tucking her head beneath his chin once more, trying to squash the feeling he might drift off to sleep and wake up with her having vanished into the night without a single word in parting…
The soft glare of electric light poking through his closed eyelids woke Leon up some time later. He blearily forced his eyes open, wincing at the bright light in the otherwise pitch black of the room. The soft chatter that accompanied the weak illumination helped him jolt back to consciousness faster; a sudden piercing thought of anyone being alerted to their presence and zeroing in on their location had alarm bells ringing in his head.
A soft groan from the warm body curled up into his side had his eyes falling quickly to the girl still wrapped up in his arms. Claire remained slumbering, the flutter of her eyelids the only real indicator that she had been disturbed at all.
Taking a few steadying breaths, Leon slipped his gaze from her to glance around the room. The motel room remained relatively dark and quiet, as did the outside world beyond the windows, still asleep in the early morning hours and barely visible beyond the blinds. The small tv was back on – the source of the lights and sound, Leon quickly realized – and he let himself relax ever so slightly, heaving out a long sigh to calm himself.
Sherry sat at the foot of the bed, positioned directly in front of the tv’s soft glow. Leon glanced between her and Claire, weighing his options before calling out to the girl softly.
“Hey!”
Sherry turned to face him, wide blue eyes showing her surprise at finding him conscious.
“Did I wake you up?” she asked softly, face instantly apologetic. “I’m sorry.”
“No, it’s fine,” he whispered back, mindful of how close Claire still using him as a pillow. “Can’t sleep?”
“No,” she admitted, turning back towards the screen. “I feel like I slept a lot the night before…I woke up and couldn’t go back to sleep.”
Leon’s brow furrowed at that but let the matter drop. Claire had mentioned how hard a time Sherry had had escaping the city with her…she had neglected to go into full detail, but he would honor her hesitance and not pry. After all, he hadn’t divulged the entirety of his situation with Ada and felt that if nothing else, they stood on equal footing in keeping some of their exploits to themselves. When they were ready to share, they would – he had no doubt about that.
“Do you think it’ll be hard going to a new school?” Sherry piped up suddenly, eyes still on the screen in front of her. “I’ve never been anywhere but the academy.”
After taking a moment to process, it took all Leon had not to laugh lightly at such a question. It was good that Sherry had other things to distract herself with from the horrors they had just escaped – lord knows he found himself longing for some, anything to take his mind off of the zombies, the Lickers, the Tyrant…Ada…
“Not sure,” he answered truthfully, catching himself running a hand up and down Claire’s back and forming his hand in a fist to place on the bed instead. “We’ll figure something out, don’t worry.”
He didn’t have the heart to tell her he might not be involved in helping her relocate or resettle; after all the idyllic plans she’d laid out for them on the long walk from the rail lines, he’d hate himself if he was the one to bring a hammer down on her dreams. There was no way he could know what he was going to do starting tomorrow – he had no job to go back to, no home, little cash…everything was tied up in Raccoon City.
When would the nightmare even end, he wondered suddenly? NEST was destroyed, but the burning remains of the city still remained. As survivors, didn’t they owe it to the less fortunate to expose the truth of what happened? But what happened if they came forward…just how far did Umbrella’s reach extend? If they approached authorities, how could they be certain a hitsquad wasn’t waiting around the corner for them.
He’d seen the bodies of their soldiers down in the sewers and knew they had such resources at their disposal. His stomach soured as he realized how much he and Claire had to talk about later when they were both awake – and the lingering fear of her imminent departure still gnawed at him anxiously.
“What-?” Sherry gasped suddenly, drawing him back to attention to follow her gaze.
Whatever sitcom she’d managed to find had been replaced with an image of burning wreckage. It only took a moment for his eyes to adjust to the newsfeed scrolling at the bottom and he felt his stomach instantly plummet.
“Claire,” he said firmly, giving her a light shake. “Claire, wake up.”
Her blue eyes fluttered open slowly, still heavy with sleep as she gazed about in confusion.
“What’s…happening?” she said around a yawn, wiping her face with the back of her hand.
“Raccoon City’s gone.”
“…what?”
Fully alert now, she sat up straighter with wide eyes, finally taking in the broadcast playing out on the screen in front of them, the large print of “RACCOON CITY DESTROYED” practically taunting them.
“-a state of emergency had been issued earlier in the week, the result of a widespread epidemic that took the city by storm. Communications were lost completely in the last 48 hours, during which the federal government chose to act with staggering brutality and swiftness.”
There was nothing but ashes and cinder in all the images being flashed across the tv, all different angles of the still smoking wreckage that their choppers could get close enough to catch glimpses of. Leon could only stare, comprehending and yet still filled with disbelief. How close had they come to being consumed in the devastation…just how near to death had they actually been when they boarded that train and rocketed out of the city?
“The White House itself has already put out an official statement, emphasizing the fatality statistics coming out of the city in the days leading up to the decision to neutralize the whole site. ‘After exploring every possible avenue, the difficult decision to admit Raccoon City had fallen was made. In an effort to keep the greater public safe and out of reach of the danger the location presented, a thermobaric detonation was triggered, effectively sterilizing the area and halting the spread of the disease running rampant in its borders.’”
Surreal didn’t quite describe the feeling Leon had as he listened to the words being spoken. He could guess Claire felt similarly, her eyes glued to the newscaster reading her cards with a detached calmness that almost seemed to mock the severity of the situation being recounted. And it hadn’t escaped either’s notice that Umbrella had evaded any mention at all…
Sherry had abandoned her spot at the foot of the bed to come curl into Claire’s side, burying her face into the towel covering her. Claire patted her comfortingly, reaching for the discarded remote and swapping channels furiously. Almost every station had the same breaking news cutting into, image after image of the devastation taunting them on the screen. Eventually, he managed to find a channel with only weather and left it on that, throwing the remote aside as she resettled into a seated position against the headboard. Leon watched her silently, waiting for her to speak again.
“We leave first thing,” she said quietly, eyes on the bare wall straight across from them. “We find a bus or we find something else, we’re not sticking around here.”
Leon merely nodded in agreement, trying to force past the churning emotions in his chest as he tried to anticipate what lay out before them. Claire finally tore her gaze back to him, giving him a foreign look that left him feeling strange.
“We stick together, alright? Nothing forces us apart.”
A great weight he hadn’t known existed seemed to lift off his shoulders, leaving him practically sighing in relief. Instead, he merely nodded again, trying not to let himself smile when she still appeared so grim beside him. Whatever happened from here on out was manageable in his eyes – so long as Claire was within arm’s reach, he felt like he could take on all Umbrella had to throw at them himself.