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“Here.”
Chris took a hard right and disappeared behind the jut of a wall. The corridor stretched ahead of them, and the door they were after was at the end of it, to the left. There was nothing up here to the right and no reason to go there, but Leon followed nonetheless. Immediately around the corner, Chris pushed him against the wall, gently but efficiently, and then stood in front of him, covering an escape.
“Where is it?” Chris asked in the tone of a parent on the verge of losing their temper.
“What?” Leon said, matching Chris’ tone.
“Your injury.”
Oh.
“Nowhere. I’m fine,” Leon said and moved to walk past Chris, but was quickly pushed back again, harder this time. He barely suppressed a groan as his back hit the wall.
He was, in fact, not fine. He had encountered a large BOW in the basement of the supposedly abandoned building he was exploring; it had caught him off guard with how quick its movements were in comparison to its size. He had taken it down, but not before it had taken Leon down. He should have seen it coming; he almost deserved the injury for being an idiot. The thing had beat him in the chest with an overgrown arm and knocked him into a support beam. He had felt something crack, and now it hurt to breathe. At least his jacket had held up perfectly.
Then he happened upon Captain Chris Redfield. He had met the man before. Twice, in a sense. The first time Leon contacted him over the phone to tell him about Claire being in trouble on Rockfort Island, Chris had been so thankful he almost cried. The second time was years later, at a Terrasave conference, once again brought together by Claire. Chris had shook his hand and held on a little bit longer than Leon expected from a handshake like that. Chris had told him how good it was to meet him and, again, how grateful he was for Leon helping Claire out. They had promised to meet up again, to keep in contact, they had a lot to talk about. Chris had said that, “We should meet up again sometime.” And Leon had answered, “Sure.” But nothing came of it. Until now. By coincidence, they were both investigating a building where there were sightings of BOWs. They had agreed to team up, as they were already there at the same time looking for the same things. They both shook their heads over their respective employers not talking to each other, exchanged findings, and went on their way, together, Chris with vigor, and Leon with a growing pain in his side. And now Chris was pissed off.
“You’re usually working alone, right?” Chris said, looking Leon hard in the eyes.
Leon squinted. “Yeah.”
“Yeah, thing is, we’re a team now, and this shit,” he gestured towards Leon and his behavior, “doesn’t fly where I come from.”
“I’m fine.” Leon was getting annoyed with this bossy attitude. “Want to finish this or not?”
“No, you don’t understand. I don’t know what’s up with you or why you won’t talk to me about it, but the thing is, Kennedy, you’re putting me in danger too. If you’re hurt and I don’t know about it? You’re becoming a liability—to you, to me, and to both of our missions. Work with me here.” A tense silence, then Chris’ jaw clenched. “Please.” He looked at Leon with those concerned, sincere eyes of his.
Honestly, fuck this guy. And fuck Leon too, while at it. “I think it’s my ribs.” It was definitely his ribs.
“Thank you.” Chris breathed out. “Broken, you think?”
“Probably.” Absolutely.
“Okay, that’s,” Chris looked up and down Leon’s torso as if looking for the broken bones, “not great. Not much we can do about that. Does it hurt?”
“No, I’m fine,” Leon said without missing a beat.
“So that’s a yes for you, then, I gather.” They silently looked at each other for a moment. Leon stayed defiant, then a playful smirk spread across Chris’ face. When Leon didn’t answer, Chris sighed.
“Okay, so what do you think? Are you coming with me? Or should you wait outside while I go fix this thing, because you’ll be distracted by a moment of sharp pain, and the BOW will crush you into dust and then swallow you whole?”
Leon raised his eyebrows. That was specific.
“Don’t ask.” Chris shook his head. “And be honest.” He set his eyes in Leon again—so sincere.
“I think I’ll be good. I have a high pain tolerance, it’s mostly on my left side, and I’ve been moving fine thus far, haven’t I?”
“Yeah, not fine enough for me not to notice, though.” He looked at Leon for a good while, almost studying his face, waiting for Leon to change his mind. He did not. “But okay, I trust you to have my back in there.”
“Yes, sir,” Leon said flatly.
Chris blew a small amount of air out of his nose. Was that a laugh?
“Okay, let’s go.” Chris lightly slapped his shoulder, and they moved onward.
They stood on each side of the door that was their goal, stances ready, guns ready, and it did hurt… a bit. He was fine. If he breathed carefully, he was fine. He was fine.
In there, in the room, was a BOW, probably big, probably extremely dangerous, and they were probably under-armed. It was moving around in there, according to the crashing sounds and bone-chilling growls. Leon swallowed and wet his lips. Rolled his shoulder. Nope, bad idea. His ribs protested with a sharp sting, and he suppressed a wince. He was fine, he had to be, someone was counting on him. He met Chris’ eyes. He looked determined, ready. His gaze flitted over Leon, then it softened for a second.
“I’ve got your back too, you know?”
Leon felt his frown disappear. For some reason, he hadn’t thought about that, but his earnest eyes made him believe it.
Leon swallowed again, then he nodded.
Chris nodded back, put his hand on the doorknob, looked at Leon. Leon gave a nod again, and in they went.
The thing was dead. A huge mound on the ground. All mutated limbs and bulging eyeballs. Some form of G-mutation, probably. It must have mutated in the room, because the only way in was through the normal, human-sized door they had come in through.
“Good luck getting this thing out of here,” Leon said out in the air.
Fuck, it hurt. Everything did. Adrenaline had taken the edge off for most of the fight, but now that it was wearing off, he definitely didn’t feel great.
“Good point.” Chris laughed. “We’ll let someone else figure that one out… Leon? Are you okay? You look a little pale.”
He was fine.
“Yeah, I think so. It just… hurts a bit.”
“Got to be pretty bad then, for a tough guy like you to admit it.” There was a friendly teasing edge to his voice, he felt the faint flutter of a reaction to it in his stomach, but it was like his words didn’t quite reach through to Leon.
“Right,” Leon said.
Leon’s face went numb, darkness rolled over his eyes, and the floor tilted up and away from him. The monster had come back, hadn’t it? It had taken him and thrown him off balance. They always did that; came back when he thought he had won.
“Leon!”
Chris had his back, though, he had said so. Leon trusted him.
“Hey. Hey! Leon, wake up.”
Someone was patting his cheek. It would have been nice if it wasn’t so persistent. It was getting annoying. Leon groaned, voicing his annoyance.
“Thank God.”
The hand stayed put on Leon’s cheek. That was better. Very comfortable, warm, nice. He could fall asleep like this. Actually, he was already falling asleep.
“Hey!” A sharp slap on his face made him draw in a hard breath that triggered a coughing fit. His chest burned. He gasped and arched away from the pain when the coughing stopped, but that only made it worse. The room was slowly turning around him.
“Hey, hey, calm down.”
There were hands on his face again, large, warm hands, holding his head still. That stopped the spinning, and he opened his eyes.
Chris Redfield was over him. Frowning, but his eyes were big and worried.
Then he remembered, they were taking down a BOW.
He grabbed the front of Chris’ shirt. “Is it gone? Did you get it?” Speaking wasn’t as bad as coughing, but just about as bad as breathing.
“ We got it, remember?” Chris looked even more worried at that.
“Oh, yeah.” It was coming back to him. They did get it. How could he forget?
Fuck, his ribs.
“You passed out.”
“Oh.” That was what happened? Must have been. The BOW was lying nice and snug where he had left it. “That’s… inconvenient.”
“It’s okay. It’s done now. We just got to get out of here. Can you walk?”
“Sure.”
Chris stood up and took Leon’s hand, then he pulled to get him up. Leon got all the way to a seated position before a stabbing pain shot through his chest with such a force that he stopped breathing.
“ Stop, ” Leon choked out, and stayed seated with an arm cradled around his upper body. He couldn’t breathe. The air stopped before it got down into his lungs properly. Panic rose in his throat, and he managed to pull in one real breath, but then it got stuck, and he coughed again. The cough was hard and painful, and he may have blacked out again for a second, or maybe two.
When he opened his eyes, there was blood on the ground, and he tasted tangy iron on his tongue.
“Chris…” He lost his balance and toppled to the side. He couldn’t keep his eyes open anymore, either.
“I’ve got you.” Steady arms were already around him before he hit the ground. “It’s okay, we’re getting out. Just stay still, stay calm. I’ve called for help.”
That was good. Getting out of here sounded like a good idea.
Chris slowly laid him down on his back. Better, less painful that way. Then Leon’s hair was brushed out of his face, and a hand laid on his shoulder. Where the hell did they find this guy? He was so nice.
A growl cut through the air and made the hairs on Leon’s neck stand on end.
“Change of plans,” Chris said. “We’re getting out now.” There was a tug on Leon’s arms again, and Leon yelled out in pain.
“I don’t think I can get you over my shoulder like this. But I’m going to carry you, okay?” He spoke fast.
Okay what? Like Leon had a say in anything right now.
“Fuck!” Leon bit out.
Another growl and a loud crash a little bit over on the other side of the room.
“Right now. Come on.”
Then there were arms under Leon’s legs and under his back, and he was lifted off the ground like he hadn’t been since he was a child. God, this man was strong. And this was embarrassing. And this fucking hurt. Everything hurt, and he kept his eyes closed. With every step Chris took, it felt like he got stabbed over and over again. He couldn’t hold back the pathetic whimpers of pain that he had been pushing down anymore. Chris kept telling him he was sorry and shushing him. It almost wasn’t embarrassing anymore. Soon he couldn’t focus on anything but the burning pressure in his chest, and trying not to freak out about not being able to take a proper breath. Then it calmed down.
There was a lot of incessant noise, he must have left the TV on and dozed off. He should turn it off, he would rather go back to sleep. Had he been sleeping? Fuck, it hurt. The constant nagging from the TV made the pain worse, he had to turn it off, but he couldn’t move without the pain flaring up in his side, the chair he was in was already throwing him around for some reason. That was strange. The noise kept saying his name too.
Leon forced his eyes open to see what the hell was going on.
“Hey, there you are. Leon, can you do something for me?” Someone spoke through hard breaths. It was Chris. Right above him, so close. Was he hugging him? Leon wasn’t sure they were at the hugging stage yet exactly, but he sure as hell wasn’t going to complain.
“Sure,” Leon slurred. Really tired…
“Stay awake for me?”
“I am awake.“ Unfortunately so. He brushed his hand over his side, trying to find the knife stuck in there. When did he get stabbed? He couldn’t remember. And he couldn’t find a knife either. Everything was moving around in jolts and jerks, and it made his head hurt. He should just sleep it off. That usually worked…
“ Hey! Stay awake,” Chris barked. He sounded scared. What the fuck was going on?
“Calm down. Why are you so stressed?” Leon’s tongue wasn’t cooperating properly. Was he drunk? He couldn’t remember drinking today.
“Because I don’t want you to die.”
“Oh, that’s nice.” That was nice. This guy was nice.
Then the movement stopped. Leon sighed. Much better.
“I’m sorry, Leon. I'm trying.” Chris panted like he had run long and hard. He really should take a break.
There was a roar. It didn’t sound dangerously close, but not far enough for Leon’s liking.
Leon’s back was put against something hard and flat. He sat in an uncomfortable, half-leaning position against a wall. A large, warm hand was put against the side of his head, and a stubbled jaw against his cheek. “I’m sorry,” someone whispered into his ear, then he disappeared.
It was cold, it was better leaning against Chris’ chest. Chris… Chris had been carrying him. Chris had been running, while holding Leon. Running away from something terrible.
Chris said he was sorry. Leon’s heart sank. He was finally leaving Leon behind to escape. It hurt, to lose him so quickly after finding him again after such a long time. Leon had seen some bright moments in the future of keeping in contact with Chris. It hurt to be left behind, but he understood. It was better that one of them survived than none. The BOW was too fast and too strong. But the sore feeling remained, had it been the other way around, Leon would not have done the same. He would have gotten them both out of there or died trying.
Leon forced his eyes open, maybe he could get one last look before Chris disappeared forever.
Chris stood in front of him, facing the other way, legs shoulder-width apart, one slightly in front of the other, back strong, and arms forward. Shooting stance—not escaping.
A loud bang echoed through the hallway stretching out in front of them. Then again, and again. Another roar, closer this time. Leon straightened himself as much as he could, until the pain through his chest became searing. A dark ring crept around his vision.
More gunshots. The beast had slowed down. It must have, because it hadn’t reached them yet.
Then Chris’ stance changed, he reached down to his hip and pulled out something from a pouch. There was a sound almost like a sob from him, and what Leon could see of the side of his face was contorted in stress, or maybe something like sorrow. He was reloading his gun, and then the monster rose up behind him, loomed over them, a large, disgusting pile of flesh and sinew. Too many eyes and too many teeth in a mouth that screamed a promise of death to them. Chris wouldn’t make it.
Leon pushed through the agony of moving his arm across his body and drew his gun from his hip. He pointed it—straight through Chris’ back.
“Chris. Down,” Leon said through his teeth.
Chris whirled around and stared for a split second before he fell to the floor, and Leon made the shot. A hit, right in the ugly thing’s pile of eyes. It staggered. He pulled the trigger again. He shot until the magazine was empty. He thought most of the shots hit, they must have been hitting, as the two of them hadn’t been turned into a mess of blood and guts yet. He wasn’t sure, everything was getting numb.
Just as Leon’s gun clicked, signifying he was out of bullets, Chris rose again with a fully loaded gun. Leon held on, grasping the floor with his hands, as Chris finally put an end to the creature, and it crashed to the ground with a long, drawn-out growl.
For a few, good, long seconds, they just stared at it, breathing hard, Leon barely managing it. Chris turned around with a face like Leon had surprised him with exactly what he wanted for Christmas.
“Thank you!”
“You’re welcome,” Leon said, and then the darkness took him.
When Leon came to again, he was outside. Lights were flashing. A white, bright one, directly in his eyes, blinding him. Red ones, further away, blinking on and off, and far away, up there, were stars. A cold breeze brushed over his face, and he took a deep breath, and then immediately regretted it as a sharp pain shot through him. He gasped, and that only made it worse. A minimum of two pairs of hands were on him then. There was a ripping sound, and then cold air against his chest. Something was placed over his mouth and nose, and he felt his head clear a little.
“Sir, can you hear me?”
These people had to be paramedics. Leon grunted in response and made an awkward little nod to make his response clearer.
It seemed like he was getting out of this one as well. If it hadn’t been for Chris... Something stung in his chest that definitely wasn’t a rib poking into his lung this time. Someone was still talking to him, but he didn’t listen.
“Chris,” he breathed, and tried to look around. He couldn’t see him. He needed to know if the both of them got out.
“Here,” came a warm voice to his right. Chris stood there, a kind of saddened smile on his face. “I’m okay.”
Leon let out a relieved sigh. An overwhelming urge to hold Chris washed over him, if he could just put his hand on his arm. His body didn’t hurt as much anymore, he could probably reach out.
He did, but just then he was moved away, up, and onto a softer surface. It did feel better, but Chris was further away. He stood alone, lighting up on and off in the red lights.
It had been so long between the times they had met. Leon soaked in the sight of him, memorizing him for the next few years, until they would see each other again. It was a terrifying thought.
The movements stopped, they were taking him away now, into the ambulance and away from Chris.
But at the last second, Chris stepped closer.
“Shoot me a text when you know you’re okay, yeah?” Chris asked and touched the side of the stretcher.
Leon nodded, and then he was being pulled backwards.
“We should meet up again,” Chris said, a little louder as Leon was further away.
“Sure,” Leon said.
“Don’t say ‘sure’ . Every time you say that, you’re lying.” There was a strange mix of emotions on Chris’ face as he said it.
That almost made Leon laugh, but he held it back for the good of his lungs. He settled on a tired smile instead. Somehow, Chris knew more about Leon than Leon did.
Yes, sir, almost slipped out of him, but instead he said, “Righto, buckaroo,” and gave a weak two-finger salute.
Chris’ face cracked up into a bright smile and returned the two finger salute back to him.
Leon kept his eyes on Chris until the doors of the ambulance closed in front of him, his old friend disappearing from sight once more.
He would send that text. Leon owed Chris as much after this. He owed himself as much as well. They would meet up this time, Leon would make sure of it. And maybe he could find a way to get back into Chris’ arms.