Work Text:
October 1st 1998
Raccoon city was gone. Destroyed. Umbrella had ordered a nuclear missile to destroy Raccoon city and the zombies that were everywhere within it. The excuse that they had given to the public was that there was a deadly viral outbreak with no survivors and they needed to eradicate any possibility of it spreading further than Raccoon city. And although Umbrella liked to make out that this was the only reason for their decision, it was not. They had done it purely to cover their relation to the incident as the T-Virus was a virus that they had created and released accidentally. Now all that remained was ash and ruins. There were probably no survivors other than the three of them.
The now abandoned building they had taken shelter in had been used as a place to store trucks when they weren't transporting goods in and out of Raccoon City. It was lucky that the summer heat had stuck around because the building was open and they would have frozen during the night if not. The building was quite simple really, there was no floor so they were sat on the dry grass, the walls were mostly bare with only a couple of shelves which were stacked with manuals and a small, open kitchen with a table in the center for the truckers to eat at. They had decided to stay here for the night because the three of them were so tired. Almost immediately after they sat down in the building, Sherry had fallen asleep, leaning her head against Claire who fell asleep shortly after. Leon took his jacket off and placed it over Sherry and Claire to make sure they didn't get too cold and settled beside them but made the choice to stay awake and keep guard just in case anything appeared and he needed to protect them. Eventually he ended up falling asleep as the adrenaline of the day wore off.
Although he was the last to fall asleep, Leon woke with a start and immediately pulled out his gun ready to shoot whatever was poking him. Quickly realising it was Sherry poking him, he lowered the gun and asked “Are you alright? What’s wrong?”.
Sherry looked down and replied “Everything's ok, I'm just hungry. When can we go home?”
It was sad for him to see how sad she looked but no matter how unfair he thought this whole thing was or how much his entire body was hurting after what happened yesterday, he had to help her. Turning to Claire who was still fast asleep and snoring slightly, he reached out and shook her shoulder gently to wake her up. As she opened her eyes slowly, Leon said “We need to talk. Can you come outside with me for a second?”
Once they were outside, Leon asked “We need a plan. Where are we going to go? Raccoon city is gone and we can't go back.”
“Luckily, I live outside of Raccoon city and my apartment is probably still there. You and Sherry can stay there for a while until we have a proper plan. We can walk into town in the morning, it's probably not safe to go now, zombies or not.” Claire replied.
They stood in silence for a while before Leon said “Great. Thank you. Why don't we just go now though? I'm pretty sure I saw the keys to the abandoned truck on a shelf in there.”
“Sure.” she replied as she walked off and grabbed the keys while Leon followed and began to explain what the plan was to Sherry.
Claire was trying to get the truck to work with little luck so far and Leon had managed to find a couple of left-over oatmeal bars for them to eat. Breaking the silence, Leon asked “Okay I've found a box of oatmeal bars for us to eat. We've got raspberry, cherry and strawberry so take your pick?”. Sherry was the first to choose and quickly grabbed the raspberry one and began eating it while exclaiming “Yay! I love raspberries!” through mouthfuls of it. Claire grabbed the cherry one, leaving Leon with the strawberry one.By the time the truck was working, Sherry fell asleep again. Leon gently lifted her into the seat of the truck, did her seatbelt up and covered her with his jacket, before getting in himself. Claire asked “Are you ready? The drive shouldnt be too long but we’ll have to stop for gas soon”. Leon replied with nothing but a nod and began to eat the strawberry oatmeal bar while staring out the window.
The drive was surprisingly peaceful which meant Leon had a lot of time to think about the events of the previous day. He thought about how nothing about the events of September 30th was fair. How many people had lost their lives due to the actions of an evil pharmaceutical company. How this was the exact opposite of how he pictured starting his dream job as a cop would go. How he was now responsible for an eight year old who had lost both of her parents in one day. How his home had been destroyed and he’d have to find a new place to live which would be difficult. But he also tried to focus on the positives like surviving what was practically a zombie apocalypse. How he met Claire and saved Sherry. How he now has an opportunity to restart and get to know Claire who would be the only one to understand what truly went on in Raccoon city. He snapped out of his thoughts suddenly when Claire asked “It's weird right? Our lives are never going to be the same…”
“Tell me about it! I thought I was going to my first day at a new job, not to the centre of a zombie outbreak” Leon said through an attempt at a laugh. Neither of them knew how to continue the conversation so they just fell back into a comfortable silence while Claire drove with one hand on the wheel and the other on the cherry oatmeal bar she was eating.
The drive only lasted for another ten minutes before they reached the apartment building Claire lived in. She gently shook Sherry’s shoulder to wake her up and then helped her out of the car. She stood for a moment, glad to see the familiar brick red building she lived in, before she walked up to it and held the door open for the others. The three of them entered the lift as soon as it came, not wanting to walk upstairs in their still exhausted and aching states. Claire unlocked the apartment and showed Sherry to the spare bedroom, tucking her in telling her if she needed anything they'll only be somewhere in the apartment. Once she was sure Sherry was ok, she walked into the living room and sat down next to Leon. He was watching the first boring game show he came across and looked at Claire. She moved closer to him and rested her head on his shoulder, not caring that she only met him the day before, then fell asleep almost immediately.
October 2nd 1998
The birds were chirping gently and the sun was covering the room in a light glow when Claire woke up. For a moment everything felt normal then she realised it wasn't and that for at least a while she would be living with two people she just met and an entire city had been destroyed. Pushing these thoughts out of her mind, she stood up and walked to the kitchen area. Her kitchen was simple, just an oven, fridge and table with enough chairs to seat at least 4 people. When she opened her fridge and looked inside she realised how bare it was. She was glad that she at least had enough eggs and bread to make her, Leon and Sherry a good breakfast. it was the least they deserved after what they went through. as the eggs sizzled on the stove and the bread was in the toaster, the smell of food filled the apartment and woke Leon up. He remarked “Wow. Smells amazing in here! Need any help?”.
“No thanks. It should be done in a minute, we'll eat and then get Sherry up” Claire replied. Leon pulled out a chair and sat down while Claire plated up the food. All he could think about was how amazing it smelt and how it was insane how much they had gone through especially without eating anything other than the fruit flavoured breakfast bars they found yesterday. Seconds after Claire set the plate in front of him, he immediately began shoving the eggs and toast in. Claire laughed at him as she buttered the toast making a joke about how eager he was. “Don't judge me! I haven't had a good meal in days! Thank you by the way. For everything… I mean you're a lifesaver literally! I'd have nowhere to go if you weren't letting me stay here” Leon replied. They continued eating in silence but once they finished he turned to her “What are we going to do with Sherry? I mean both her parents are dead? Maybe she has family nearby?”. The small smile dropped from her face while she said “I'll go wake her up in a minute but I think we should let her stay with us for the day. We could give her an attempt at a normal day?”
“I agree she deserves at least that before going back to reality. We could watch a movie maybe and let her give us a makeover or whatever children like? I'll go to the shops and get some stuff”.
While Claire went to wake Sherry up, Leon took a quick shower and got ready to go out. Sherry and Claire left the guest room and Leon said “I'm going out now, I should be back in about an hour? Maybe two?”. Sherry nodded and timidly said “Wait! Can you get me some ice cream or nail polish? Please?”
“Of course I can. Any colour requests?” Leon asked. “Ooo can you get a glittery one or a pink one please?” Sherry asked. As he said “Definitely I'll be back in a while then. Bye” he opened the door and left.