Chapter Text
She had no idea how long she’d been there, hiding in that office, hearing the grunts and groans of zombies outside as she shook with fear. She had been surviving the last… 24 hours? She had no idea. By eating protein bars, chips, and soda she had found in a desk drawer. There was a weapons room she couldn’t get into and she didn’t want to make too much noise just in case something found her. She was trying her best to nap, her head on her jacket, when she suddenly heard the door open. She quickly got under the desk in the office, guarding herself with the only weapon she had: a lamp. She didn’t hear groaning or growling or any scary sound, just breathing and someone walking around. Whoever it was wasn’t dragging their feet, they were walking normally… Was this some sort of new creature or was it someone uninfected? She carefully peeked out from under the desk and saw a young man, maybe in his early 20's, blonde hair and a side part, bangs In his face, bent over a desk, he scribbled a note and placed it on the desk before crossing the room and trying to get into a computer. He had some blood on him but it didn’t look like his. He looked relatively okay and most importantly, he didn’t look infected. She didn’t want to startle him. She stood up and cleared her throat. He jumped and pointed his gun at her in an instant.
“Wait! I’m not infected!” She said, raising her hands. He stared at her, looking at her from head to toe, taking in her looks, from her frizzy bleached hair with light brown roots showing that fell just around her shoulders, to her blue-green eyes, lined with smudged black eyeliner. She stood at around 5 foot 5 and was wearing dirty jeans and a black 'Smashing Pumpkins' T-shirt, she had on a thin silver necklace and another necklace, much longer, adorned with a catholic saint along with some worn-out combat boots that were splattered with blood. She had a few scratches on her arms and face, but nothing too serious. Leon thought she was very pretty. He was confused but glad she wasn’t infected, He holstered his gun again.
“Jesus, you scared me, I’m sorry,“ he stuttered. “I thought I was the last alive,” He explained, walking over. “Are you okay?” He asked. She stared in shock, not daring to believe someone was still alive.
“Uh, yeah, yeah, I’m okay,” She said.
“What’s your name?” He asked, kindly, giving her a half-smile.
“Julien Conrad, I go by Julie though, um, what’s yours?” She asked, looking at his face. He was pretty, with handsome features and soft hair. She couldn’t help but get a little flustered.
“Name’s Leon, Leon Kennedy,” He said, shaking her hand. He was warm, soft, and gentle. A stark contrast from the cold, rough zombies and their violent nature. She didn’t think she’d ever feel touch again unless it was from the ripping claws of monsters.
“Nice to meet you, Leon,” She said, looking down at his torso. She saw his bullet-proof vest reading ‘RPD.’ “You’re an officer?” She asked.
“Uh, yeah, I was supposed to be. Today was my first day but uh…” He let out a sad laugh.
“Jesus,” Julie replied, frowning. She didn’t like police, but he was her only help now. Besides, it was his first day, he couldn’t be that awful. “Is there anyone else?” she asked desperately.
“Yeah, there’s another girl, Claire, I don’t know if she’s still alive but I really hope she is,” Leon told her. “How long have you been in here?” He asked.
“About a day, give or take? At least according to that clock over there, but I kind of lost track,” She said, her voice wavering and her hands shaking, thinking of how much she wanted more of his touch. She just wanted a hug after all of this, she’d been so terrified and needed to feel something, someone real, alive, uninfected. Leon noticed her body language and put a hand on her arm.
“Hey, are you alright?” He asked. She looked up at him with glassy eyes, her shoulders shaking. “Hey, c’mere, I’ve got you,” He said, pulling her into his arms. He was half a foot taller than her and her head rested on his chest, she clung to his warm body, muffling her sobs in his shoulder. He hugged her back firmly and patted her head awkwardly, blushing. “It’s okay, it’s alright, we’re gonna get out of here, I won’t let anything happen to us,” He comforted, hugging her a little harder.
“I’m sorry I’m crying all over you,” She laughed sadly.
“No, it’s okay. You’ve been through a lot,” He chuckled a little. She pulled back.
“When did you get here?” She asked.
“A few hours ago,” He told her. She nodded.
“How are we gonna get out of here?” She asked.
“Well, there’s an exit through the parking garage, we’ve just got a do a couple things first,” He told her.
“Can we get into the weapons thing over there?” She asked.
“Yeah, I have to get some kind of key though,” He told her.
“How old are you?” She asked.
“21,” He said.
“Really? Aren’t you kinda young to be a cop?” She asked. He shrugged.
“A little I guess,” He agreed. “What about you?” He asked her.
“I’ll be 19 in November,” She replied. He nodded.
“Are you from here?” He asked.
“No, I’m from Seattle, I’ve only been here for like 2 weeks, I go to school at Raccoon City College,” She explained.
“Wow. Out of all schools,” He joked.
“Yeah,” She agreed, laughing darkly. Leon stood there, fumbling with his pistol, thinking for a moment.
You got a weapon?” He asked.
“No, just that lamp in there, but it’s not super practical,” She explained.
“Okay,” He said, nodding. “I’ll give you my pistol-“ he started, but she tried to interject. “Don’t worry, it’s not the only gun I have,” He assured her.
“Okay,” She agreed hesitantly, taking the gun from him. He handed her ammo and gave her a hip pouch, their hands brushing together as he handed the items to her. “Thanks,” She said, clipping it to her jeans.
“Don’t mention it. Just aim for their heads,” He said with a kind smile. “Just stay behind me, I’ve got you, okay? We’re gonna make it out,” He said, patting her on the back. She nodded. He walked towards the door, making sure she was behind him. She stuck close, barely 2 steps behind. She wished she could hold his hand or something but she didn’t want to interfere with his mobility. She carried the gun pointed at the floor, finger off the trigger, the cold metal heating up from her hands as it became moist with sweat. As they stepped out of the room, she saw some sort of horrible creature lying dead and bloody on the floor. It had a giant head somewhat resembling a brain and slimy, twisted muscly limbs.
“What is that thing?” She whispered to Leon, tapping him on the arm as she pointed at it.
“No clue, had to get through 2 of them to get to the S.T.A.R.S. room, though,” He told her grimly.
“I heard a big crash a while ago and the building shook, what was that?” She asked.
“Oh, a helicopter crashed into the building,” He pointed towards the end of the hall where she could see a faint orange flickering glow. “Right over there,” He told her.
“What the fuck?” She asked.
“Right? I mean, aren’t zombies crazy enough?” He joked. She walked quietly with him as they made their way to the reception area. Once they finally got there, he opened a map. “Let’s go here,” He said, pointing to the library.
“What’s there?” Julie asked.
“I don’t know, I went in there earlier but I didn’t get to have a look around, maybe the key could be there,” Leon observed.
“Yeah, good idea, let’s go,” She said, starting to walk in the direction of the library. Leon followed alongside her, hoping they wouldn’t find anything too bad in there. When they got to the door, he stepped in front of her, gun raised towards the ceiling in one hand, door handle in the other.
“I’m gonna go first, alright?” He asked.
“Yeah,” She nodded, pointing her gun at the door. Leon slowly opened the door, looking inside. It looked harmless. The lights were on and there were no zombies in sight… Until he looked down. There were probably 4 zombies moaning and groaning and looking for blood. He beckoned Julie in. “Anything?” She asked. He pointed to the first level of the library.
“Just those guys,” He commented, glancing at her. She grimaced as she looked at the zombies. She had pretty eyes. He made a face, why was he thinking about that right now? He was in the middle of a zombie outbreak, he needed to stay focused. He cleared his throat. “Uh, I’m gonna…” He trails off.
“Yeah. I’ll help,” She nods.
“Okay,” He agrees. They both raise their guns at the roaming zombies and shoot. Considering she’d never shot a gun before, her aim was pretty good. She was surprised at the force of the gun and how loud it was though. She shot one in the head twice and it fell to the floor with a soft clunk. She heard 2 more fall as Leon shot his gun. She finished off the last zombie and looked over to Leon.
“You wanna go down there now?” She asked
“Yeah,” He told her, walking over to the ladder. He made his way down and looked around for any other threats, when he saw none, he signaled to her to come down. She climbed down and he spotted her to make sure she didn’t fall. When her feet were safely on the ground, they began to search the area. They found an old looking red leather book embellished with gold leaf.
“Should we take it?” She asked, looking up at him. He shrugged.
“Hey, I’ve seen that before,” He told her, reaching into his pocket and pulling out a photo. “Here,” He said, pointing at the photograph. There was a large statue holding a scepter embellished with a gem in his right arm and the book in his left.
“Hey, that’s the book, where’d you get this photo?” She wondered, looking at him.
“I found it in a roll of film, it was in one of the lockers in the Safety Deposit Room,” He informed her, folding the picture up and putting it back into his pocket. She picked up the book and they continued on walking. She liked Leon, he was kind, she was skeptical at first considering he was a cop but he didn’t act like one. He was really cute too, also uncharacteristic for a cop.
“Hey, why’d you become a cop?” She asked, suddenly speaking up.
“I wanted to do some good, I guess. I mean, I just saw all these bad cops doing bad things and I wanted to change that, help people,” He shrugged. She nodded.
“Plus donuts are a good benefit, huh?” She asked, nudging him playfully. He chuckled.
“Who am I to say no to a donut?” He asked, throwing his hands up. Julie giggled.
“Like a moth to a flame,” She muttered and they both laughed.
“It’s not like I’m gonna be a cop now, I mean… They kind of took my job,” He said, gesturing to the zombies. “I was probably stupid to think I could really change things anyways,” He muttered In a self-deprecating tone.
“Hey,” Julie said, grabbing his arm softly. “For the record, I think you would’ve been great, rookie,” She says, tilting her head and giving him a small smile as she rubbed his arm with her thumb.
“Thanks,” He replied, unable to stop himself cracking a half-smile. His cheeks flushed noticeably as he looked at her hand on his arm. She blinked a few times, coming down to Earth as she dropped her hand to her side.
“Uh, where to next?” She asked awkwardly.
“Oh, um, yeah,” He gulped. “Art room, I haven’t looked there yet either,” He said, looking from his map to her.
“It’s by the S.T.A.R.S. room,” She observed, pointing at the map where the art room was, just down the hall from the room Leon had found her in. She was so close she could feel the heat radiating off of him. She could smell his sweat, though he didn’t smell too bad, all things considered. He folded the map back up, putting it in his pocket again as he made his way towards the ladder. Julie followed suit and he extended a hand to her as she reached the top.
“Thanks,” She said, taking it. He pulled her up onto the second level of the library and they left. They made their way to the other side of the lobby and through the door, Leon placing his arm in front of her as a signal to wait. He shined his light straight ahead, in the direction of the S.T.A.R.S. room and saw nothing, but when he turned to the direction of the Art Room, something growled in the darkness and before he had time to react, it pounced. His gun clattered to the floor.
“Leon!” Julie screamed, fumbling with her gun. He grunted, trying to fight off the aggressive, bloody, and relentless creature. Julie raised her gun, pointing it at the zombie’s head and shot, its body hitting Leon’s with as he made an ‘oomf’ sound. He quickly scrambled away from the corpse, pushing the body off of him. Julie ran over to him, touching his shoulder. He jumped and instinctively slapped her hand away, making her flinch.
“God, sorry!” He said, breathing shakily and looking up at her apologetically. Julie shook her head.
“Are you okay?” She asked urgently.
“Yeah, yeah. I’m alright,” He told her, nodding and trying to steady his breathing.
“Here,” She said, offering him a hand. He grabbed it shakily and she helped him up.
“Thanks. I owe you one,” He said, sighing. He held onto her hand for just a second too long, his gloved hand resting against hers before he let go, picking up his gun from the floor. He shined the light down the hallway in the direction of where the zombie had come from but didn’t see anything. They walked over to the Art Room door. He stepped in front of her again, raising his gun in one hand and his flashlight in the other.
“Hey, can you?” He asked, nodding his head at the door handle.
“Oh, yeah,” She said, taking hold of it.
“On 3,” He told her. “One, two-“ She opened the door and he moved in quickly, scanning the room for threats, luckily, he saw none. “It’s safe,” He told her. She walked in, looking around.
“Hey, it’s the statue!” She exclaimed, pointing at the tall mass of stone.
“Oh, hey, you’re right,” He acknowledged, staring up at it too. Julie lifted the book up to the statue and placed it in its left hand. The statue granted them a scepter with a red gem, which Julie grabbed. Leon hummed.
“What is it?” Julie asked curiously.
“I found this box earlier that has a jewel missing, it looks just like that,” Leon said, pulling the box out of a side pouch. She handed him the stone and he put it in the box, they heard a click. He opened it up to find a S.T.A.R.S. badge.
“Holy shit,” Julie said. Leon examined the badge for a second, flipping it over, before pulling something out. He showed her what he found.
“Let’s go,” He told her, leaving the Art room and heading to the S.T.A.R.S. room. She stuck next to his side as the entered the room together. They walked over to the computer and Leon inserted the key. The door unlocked and he walked in and grabbed the gun. He looked at Julie .
“Where to next?” She asked.
“We’ve got a few more statues to check out,” He told her, reaching into a hip pouch and showing her a few medallions he’d collected. After investigating a Lion statue and a Unicorn statue, they ended up in a strange secret room. Leon have one last look back at a zombie lying on the ground. He had a sad look in his eye.
“Did you know him?” Julie asked.
“Kind of, his name was Marvin, I just met him tonight, but he helped a lot,” He told her, looking down.
“It’s an… Elevator?” Julie questioned, walking into the mysterious room.
“Looks like it,” Leon agreed. “Should lead us to the parking Garage… Eventually,” He told her. They went down and left the elevator, finding themselves in some sort of room for machinery. They walked through the halls of metal, their footsteps echoing, until they started to hear strange clanking noises. They looked at each other. Before they could speak, something horrifying crashed through the metal, It had a giant eye on it’s mutated shoulder and it was designed to kill. It pounced on Leon, taking him to the ground, Julie shot at full round at it, aiming for its huge eye. The platform they were on suddenly dropped down, the monster’s weight too heavy to bear. Julie quickly got to her feet and scrambled over to Leon, grabbing a flash grenade from his side and shoving it into the monster’s eye. It let out a horrible scream and clawed at its eye as Julie used the opportunity to drag Leon away as it was distracted. She grabbed his hand, helping him up and he yanked her in the direction of a ladder that was definitely not there before as they ran from the injured monster.