Note: All of these characters are property of Capcom, I am just borrowing them. For those of you readers who have never played Resident Evil, be warned that this story contains scenes of explicit violence and gore.
Leon stood in the ransacked basement weapons locker, adjusting his holster straps and thinking about where Claire might be. From what little he'd seen so far, the police station wasn't too bad. Cold, dim and stinking of the bodies heaped up in the hallways, but not as actively dangerous as the streets. It wasn't much to be greatful for, but he would take what he could get.
'Great way to start off the job' he though referring to one hell of a first day as a police officer in Raccoon City. He'd killed two of his fellow officers already and a woman in the tatters of a traffic control uniform on his way to the basement a few rooms from the RPD armament. He had to hurry now. They were only a few yards away when he ducked into this room and now that he found what he came for, it was time to go. Grabbing the black ammo case at his feet he raised his gun and kicked open the door.
There was nothing there. Not yet anyway. With quiet but quick paced footsteps he went down the hall until he came to the stairs leading back up to the main floor. Cautiously he ascended the stair with his ears straining. Reaching the top step he pressed his back against the wall and listened. The only thing he could hear was his heart beat pounding, as if desperately trying to burst through his chest. He could feel the tiny hairs standing up on the back of his neck.
With shaky hands he held his breath and jumped out from the hall pointing his gun ahead of him. "Ha!!!!" Nothing was there. Feeling a little foolish but mostly relieved he sighed and lowered his gun. Shifting the weight of the ammo in his left hand he crept around the corner stopping suddenly when he thought he heard something.
Standing perfectly still he listened. After a moment there it was again. He gasped realizing that he had been holding his breath as the noise came again. It was like nothing he had ever heard before. It was a wet slapping sound... almost like someone walking through sludge. His grip tightened on the ammo case as he raised his weapon and started to walk around the corner to examine the source of the sound. He reached the end of the hall, turned left-
-and froze, eyes wide, feeling as though he had been physically punched. Next to a planter that had been knocked over, dusting the floor with soil and leaves, was a balding man dressed in a suit without the jacket, with his back to him. He was crouched over a body of a young woman; but there was something very wrong about her, so wrong that Leon's mind couldn't quite accept it at first. His shocked gaze took in the sight before him. From the woman's blue dress uniform to her black shoes. Even the little plastic nametag pinned to her chest, what looked like "Marie" or "Maria."...
'Her... Her head is missing!' Once he realized what was wrong, he couldn't force himself to un-realize it, as much as he wanted to. There was only a pool of drying blood where her head should have been. A sticky puddle surrounded by fragments of skull and dark mashed hair and chunks of miscellaneous gore. The bald man had his hands over his face and as Leon stared in horror at the headless corpse, the man let out a low pitiful wail.
Leon opened his mouth not sure what would come out. To scream? To ask him why? How? To call for help? He honestly didn't know and as the man turned up to look at him, hands dropping away; he was stunned to hear that nothing came out at all. He was -eating- the woman! His thick fingers were clotted with dark bits of tissue and the strange and alien face he raised into view was smeared with blood.
'Zombie!' He thought as he took a timid step back. 'Oh God, not another one!' Just what the hell had happened here! What was going on?! His mind raced as the bald man rose and looked at him. Standing with his left side slumped down and head hanging, its arms were stretched out in front of him as he lurched forward. With that realization came a sudden rush of absolute terror. Leon stumbled backward; feverish panic turning his guts into liquid as the bald man came closer. He was huge. At least a good foot over his 5'9 and broad as a barn-
-'and dead! He's dead and he was -eating- the woman!' Without another thought, he turned and started to run in the opposite direction back down the hall toward the stairs he had come from, thinking maybe there would be a safer path if he had turned right. His plans however were dashed as his boots screeched to a halt on the linoleum floor. Just ahead of him, no more than four feet away there were another 5 or 6 of them.
Leon stepped back just before one of the creature's hands took hold of his vest. With his eyes wide and fear tearing into his senses he turned and ran back for the stairs. Looking into the dimly light staircase he could see figures moving at the bottom. His hopes of it being Claire dissolved when he noted the movement of the figures. Slow and lumbering. It was more of them... whatever they were.
Without the luxury of time to think of what to do, and knowing his options were slim, he opted for the hall with only one of those beasts. Heading left again he turned the corner and slammed into something hard. Stumbling back he shook his head and searched for what he had hit. Cold realization struck him hard as he watched the corpse like bald man fall back onto the floor with a sickening wet thud.
Raising his gun he fired twice striking the zombie in the head and neck. It fell over twitching and groaning madly before it finally stopped moving... but the sound of the moaning didn't stop... 'What..?' He thought, as he looked over his shoulder and saw that the zombies that were in the hall were getting a little too close. Leaping over the corpse of the woman he rushed down the hall. He had never been in this part of the station before and he silently cursed himself for not attending the tour.
Leon turned left then right and started down the long corridor ignoring everything except his urge to run. A moment later he collapsed against the wall gasping for air. A quick look behind him told him he lost them. Or at least he hoped that was what it meant. He wiped the sweat off his forehead as he checked how many bullets were left in his magazine. Only 4. That wasn't going to help him very much.
Kneeling down he opened the ammo case. There weren't as many rounds in there as he had hoped, but it would have to do. He placed a full clip in his pocket and began to reload the one currently in his gun. He had only loaded three more bullets in the clip when the all too familiar yet alien sounds of the creatures moaning could be heard around the far corner. He jerked his head up toward the sound and paused, hoping that his ears had deceived him.
It came again, louder than before and this time it seemed to echo. No, not echo, he thought. There was just more than one. His heart, which scarcely had the time to return to a regular beat, was thudding again as fast as the beat in his favorite heavy metal song. He felt an icy hand grip his lungs as the first one reared it's disfigured and half-eaten face around the corner.
Leon's hands trembled as he continued to load the gun with more panic in his actions. At least two bullets dropped from his grasp as he desperately tried to finish before they reached him. With a solid click he slammed the fully loaded clip into the gun and aimed. He fired twice striking the first two around the corner. They dropped to the floor but were quickly replaced with three more.
He fired again and again, taking down two more. The third lurched forward raising its arms as though it were wanting to hug him. It stepped over the bodies as four more rounded the corner. Firing three more times two of the five fell. He watched as three more came into view. Terror filled his senses as he realized he was quickly becoming out numbered. There was only one thing left to do. Run.
