That's Handy
Searching through the boxes turned up nothing other than some police gear and files, all of which you don't need.
What wasn't so useless, however, was the green herbs and boards you guys found by the stairs at the end of the final hall in that area. You used them to support the window at the end of said hall so that the banging and screeching woman outside couldn't get in, which brings you to where you are right now.
You spot the slightly hidden door first, having noticed it while Leon was hammering the boards into the wall, and bring it to his attention as soon as he turns to look at you.
"Any idea what that room is?" You ask, pointing at the door.
Leon takes out the map and looks at it for a few moments, searching for your current position before he confidently states, "It's labeled as the 'Dark Room'."
Dark room? As in 'room you can develop that roll of film in' dark room?
"Oh, that could be useful. We can develop the film." You offer up the roll as you say so, having put it in your pocket instead of your backpack.
"Do you think it'll be useful?"
"Good question. The answer? I have no clue, but we might as well try, right?" Better that you try it out and find out that it's nothing than not try at all and miss something important.
The brunet officer nods his head once, agreeing with your sentiments, then he pockets the map again and heads towards the room. "Okay."
The two of you approach the closed door with caution, but when you open it and tip toe inside, you quickly find that there was nothing to worry about. It's clear of any dead or undead people, and, if you're seeing correctly, it looks like there are even some supplies in here to gather. '
It's out of the way, discrete, and, most importantly, safe.
Your first observation of the room is how dark it is. You can barely see three feet in front of you, though the flashlight certainly helps.
There's a cute little lamp on a table in the middle of the room, and it lights up the typewriter and files scattered about the surface.
What really catches your attention, however, is the light switch mechanic on the far side of the room.
You slip past Leon through the door and make a beeline for the switch, ignoring his exasperated call of your name while you blow past.
A press of the button on the light thing proves fruitful, for seconds later the lights flicker on and illuminate the room in a fresh, lovely glow that makes you feel safe (even if you may not be).
"Ta-da!" You call happily, turning around with your hands spread out with a jazz hands gesture.
He doesn't look amused, but he doesn't scold you this time either. Looks like he's given up on telling you to stop wandering around.
Even without him getting on your case, the look alone is enough to make you feel guilty for being so irresponsible, but you really can't help yourself! The urge to turn on the lights was too strong.
Leon holsters his gun and ganders around the room, his sights locking on to the lockers just to his right.
Being as he's moved on to something else, that something else being supply gathering, you decide to take a peek at that book looking thing you noticed on your way in.
On top of a small surface is a book about the medicinal benefits of herbs, and, interest having been peaked, you take a seat on top of said metal thing and thumb through the contents of the journal.
After briefly reading through the journal, you feel pretty confident that you could cook up some good quality health concoctions. It's really straight forward: find the herbs, grind them up into a powder, combine or take on their own, and live. Even a little kid could figure this out, so surely you'll be fine.
While you read through the herb guide, you hear some of the lockers open and close while Leon goes through them, but you never look up to see what he's found. It's not that you don't care what he's found, more so that you're more interested in what you've found.
Once you're done skimming over the pages for a second time you take your drawstring bag off your back and place the book inside, finally looking at Leon again as he disappears into the other room attached to this one.
That's probably the 'dark' part of this dark room, and, if it's stocked properly, you guys can develop that roll of film you found.
You put your bag on again and follow him into the other part of the room, and the bright yellow sign is the first thing you see.
"Film contains evidence, do not leave out." You read out loud, gaze catching onto a red plant sat at the edge of a counter.
If you remember correctly, red herbs enhance the benefits of green and blue ones; though you aren't exactly sure what it'll do, it still makes you excited.
You pull some of the stems off and shove them into your bag, ignoring the look Leon throws you.
"Is that the developer solution?" You ask curiously, stepping up next to him to look down at the set up.
"I think so. We can develop that role of film now, I think. Hopefully it'll tell us something helpful..."
Now that you certainly agree with.
"Do you know how to do it?" You question as he takes the film out of his bag and begins to unravel it, feeling none to confident that the answer is yes.
There's a moment of silence that doesn't make you feel any better about your doubts, and his answer completely crushes it, "How hard can it be?"
Yeah, no. You're not gonna let him do it.
"Okay step away from the film developer, Kennedy." Your tone promotes a warning, but your expression betrays your humor, "I'll do it."
He eyes you skeptically, though the smile tugging at his lips shows that he gets the joke, "You can develop film too?"
"Um, no, what gave you that impression?"
Cue a deadpan stare.
"I know the gist of it. It takes, like, 20 minutes and you can't expose it to light..." Your friend loved photography so you know a few things, but if you can get your hands on some instructions, then you'll be fine. "I can stay here and do this, that way I'll be fine and productive, and you won't have me dragging you down."
His returned smile wavers at your suggestion, hesitance edging on both his countenance and his voice when he speaks, "You haven't been dragging me down."
You don't reply.
"Are you really okay with being here by yourself? What if one of those things wanders this way?"
His worry makes your heart flitter joyously (and gratefully), and you can't help but find it kinda sweet, but that doesn't change your mind.
"I'll be okay. I've got a weapon."
It's true, the likelihood of one of those crazies finding its' way to your door is so slim that the possibility doesn't really concern you, but it's much more likely that your chances of getting out of here get slimmer the longer you guys wait around.
You're confident that this is the right course of action, even if it means splitting up like stupid teens in the horror movies.
He looks like he wants to argue and disagree more, but your confident demeanor makes him think twice about it.
Finally, he concedes.
"Okay... I'll just do a bit of exploring and see if I can find any of those clues from the journal, and then I'll come straight back here."
"Sounds like a plan."
"But-" he pauses to ensure that your attention is on him, and, once he's certain that it is, he continues, "You have to promise me that you'll stay here until I get back. Even if it finishes before I get back, you have to stay put and wait for me... please."
Oh, well, how can you say no to that?
"I promise I'll stay here until you get back." You repeat back to him to let him know you understand and will stick around, something that makes him visibly relax. "I can take care of myself, though."
"I know you can, but..." He trails off and looks away from you, beginning to fiddle with his side bag slightly awkwardly, "I'd just feel a lot better if I knew you were safe here."
While you would like some further elaboration on his statement, you instead accept his answer and smile at him, "Well, I wouldn't want you to feel bad..." You leave it open ended, but the smile one your face makes him feel less nervous.
Your lighthearted smile melts into a frown as a worried furrow and downwards tilt of your lips replaces your joy, "Please be careful."
"I will be. I don't want to keep you waiting."
---
The development of the film takes about as long as you expected it would, and each agonizing minute you spend waiting is worse than the last.
You aren't sure what's worse, having nothing to do and being bored out of your mind, or being worried out of your mind because of how long Leon's been gone.
Not knowing if he's dead or alive, human or zombified man, and just waiting for him to return is eating at your sanity, and you're not sure how much longer you can wait around (even though you promised to wait until he got back).
Once the film was finished and you took a look at the photo once hidden in a veil of black, you found that the picture was of a white statue of a king looking man holding a jeweled scepter and a red book.
You haven't a clue what it's supposed to be for, but maybe it'll make more sense a little later.
At around the 35 minute mark, around 10 minutes after the film finished developing, Leon comes bursting back through the doors
It startled you at first since he barged in without so much of a knock, but you got over the surprise and minute amounts of fear in time to run over and pull him into a crushing embrace.
You know for a fact that your sudden affinity for physical gestures of relief and affection are because of your horrible paranoia and crippling concern for him, but that doesn't stop you from being internally surprised by the extremity of your reaction to his reappearance.
Even so, you keep your grip tight until you push him away at arms length (pushing away all intrusive thoughts regarding how nicely built this mans is) and do a quick once-over of his body to look for any signs of injury or wounds; and when your search comes up empty, you allow yourself a moment to relax.
"Oh thank god. I was getting so worried!" You exclaim, your fingers squeezing into the padding on his shoulders. "You were taking so long- I was afraid something happened to you!"
He seems taken aback almost by your extreme display of alleviated distress, but he doesn't find it annoying or disturbing; it really just lengthens his growing fondness for you.
"I'm sorry." He begins in a soft tone, reaching up and placing his hands on your shoulders in return, "I didn't realize I was taking so long... a lot happened, but I found lots of things that might help us out of here." A pause, then he timidly adds, "Oh- and, um, I'm okay."
He answered the question swimming in your brain before you even had a chance to ask it, but you're relieved to hear it all the same.
"Good." You slowly let your hands drop from his shoulders but don't step back, looking up at him expectantly as you await an explanation.
"Right, where do I start..." He returns his hands to his sides in time with you and uses his, now free, hand to run through his hair, "I found a lot of supplies, some shotgun shells, another pouch, some plastic red book thing- I got my hands on one of the missing buttons to that safety deposit room, and a key for one of those card themed doors too. What else..."
All the excitement seems to be messing with his brain, specifically the memory portion of it, but he recovers with the rest of the information not too long after, "Oh! You know those drawings and symbols in officer Elliot's book? It belongs to statues in the station, like the lion one in the main hall, and I got my hands on two of them; the unicorn and lion ones. There's another upstairs in a cell area, but we can't reach it right now."
It sounds like there's something he isn't telling you, but you decide that maybe you don't want to know. "That's great! How many did we need?" Thank god you're making some progress, not to mention, you're ecstatic that the secret tunnel thing is actually real.
"There are three in the book, so I'm assuming that many?" He doesn't sound particularly confident in that assessment, but the logic is perfectly sound to you.
Something he mentioned originally strikes a cord in your brain that makes you go silent for several moments, and, once you've had a moment to form a coherent thought now that you know Leon is safe and you aren't gonna be stuck here forever, you go back into the red room and retrieve the photograph.
"You said a red book?" You ask as you return to his side, looking down at the photo thoughtfully, "Like this one?"
When you point out the book in the picture his expression brightens with recognition, and you feel momentary triumph at having figured something out (even if you don't know what the something goes to).
"Yeah, that's it!" He confirms as he pulls the book out from one of his bigger pouches, brandishing it to you proudly.
"Any idea what it goes to?"
"That's what I was going to ask you."
Fair enough.
You put the picture down on the table next to the two of you and try not to feel disappointed.
"Leon? It's Marvin. I need you guys back here ASAP."
The sudden radio call stuns you both into silence for a few short moments, and once it settles into your brain that Marvin is calling for you, Leon fumbles the walkie talkie off his belt and responds.
"Are you okay, Marvin?" His worry is just as prominent on his face as it is in his intonation, and you're sure that you're no better.
"I've got something to show you. It's important."
Before Leon can respond, you snatch his hand holding the portable radio and squeeze your fingers over his to press the button, "We'll be right there!"
"See you in a bit."
After a moment of radio silence you drop Leon's hand and tug at the ends of your hair nervously, hoping that nothing bad has happened.
Realistically, if it was something bad then he would've sounded more panicked, but you can't keep the paranoid concerns from edging into your mind.
Leon is exactly the same, but he doesn't mention it either.
"I guess we should go ahead and go, then."
---
On your way back to Marvin, Leon describes two notes he found on his solo adventure.
One described a horrible sounding monster that is supposedly roaming the halls of this cursed place, and the other details the atrocious actions of some deranged person who personally sentenced multiple officers and, apparently, civilians to death.
You aren't too keen on meeting any of these things/people, and neither is your Leon
The both of you end up having to take an alternate route back to Marvin since the window you jumped through is a bit too high up to climb easily and safely, but it isn't too dangerous of scary.
There are a few of those things on your way and a lot of blood and eerie darkness, but the only real issue was going through the library which you can only assume is still occupied by the dead.
The two of you blow through the library without second thought, the key Leon found worked with ease on the locked door, and before you know it you're both approaching a sicker looking Marvin seated next to the police computer with all those security feeds and files on it.
"Marvin, are you okay?" You ask as soon as he's within earshot, gaze locked on his massacred side and bloody right hand.
The dying officer doesn't acknowledge your worried question and instead addresses your sudden appearance, "There you are... Come here and take a look at this."
You and Leon exchange a glance, then go over and look down at the screen.
Marvin maximizes one of the security feeds, and, at first, you aren't sure what exactly you're looking at. The image is blurry and decolorized, but when you finally see the subject of Marvin's radio call.
Standing at a fence outside of what you assume is the police station, is Claire. Alive, well, and stuck outside with those freaks wandering the streets - not that she would be any safer in here necessarily.
A bright smile flashes onto your gloomy face once you make out Claire's form, and Leon's verbal reaction about sums up how you're feeling.
"Yes! I knew she'd make it!"
"You know her?" Marvin gasps with lots of effort, looking up at your and Leon's hopeful faces.
You nod your head vigorously and reply right as your companion opens his mouth to, "It's Claire! She made it- w-where is that?"
Maybe, if she's not far off, you guys can help her inside and you can find a way to safety together; though, if you guys can't get out, then she won't be able to get in...
"We came into town with her." Leon explains, tearing his eyes from the screen to instead look at Marvin.
"You can get to the courtyard through the second floor, east side." He barely gets the words out before he's hissing and sucking in sharp breaths to ease the pain, but you know he won't want you to mention it or ask if he needs help again.
You barely keep yourself from trying to tend to him, but you manage and look away from him sharply.
"We're on it." Leon confirms, adding in a softer voice after, "Thanks, Lieutenant."
Marvin says nothing else, something you're glad for since it seems to put heavy strain on his energy reserves, and goes back to resting, clutching his side and huffing with exhaustion.
Your heart aches, but you remain silent and wait for Leon to plan your next move.
He turns his gaze over towards that metal shutter you first ventured through upon arrive here and sighs heavily, pulling his gun out of its' holster as he turns to that spade door just in front of Marvin's couch.
You're not too keen on going back into that death hallway where Officer Elliot died, but if it means that you'll get to see Claire in person, then you'll be able to push through the pain and fear.
How you're going to get to the east hallway is something else entirely; the metal shutter's opening and closing mechanism is broken or something, so you'll have to figure out another way back in there.
Looks like Claire is going to have to wait a little bit longer.
You haven't checked the right side of the upstairs area yet, so maybe there'll be a way into the east area from over there. Of course, you'll want to try and check first, but does the map even have the schematics of the upper floors? Guess you'll have to look.
"Can I see the map?" You ask as Leon takes out the spade key from his hip pouch.
He looks back at you curiously and clarifies, "Which one?"
"There's more than one?"
Leon suddenly takes on a sheepish expression as realization dawns on him, and he sounds it too when he speaks. "Oh... right. I knew I was forgetting to tell you something. I found a map for the upstairs when I went out by myself earlier."
Well that certainly solves your problems.
"In that case, give me the upstairs map. You can unlock that and I'll plan our route to Claire."
He nods his head in affirmation and takes the map out of his back pocket, handing it off to your awaiting grasp.
Once you've got it, Leon turns away to unlock the door and you unfold the map to do some searching; and it only takes a few seconds the for both of you to complete your objectives.
Marvin mentioned the second floor, yet you stupidly didn't realize that the route to the exit would be a straight shot; literally.
All you have to do is go in through the upstairs lounge and exit through a far door inside which leads to the hallway that holds the exit. It's horribly simple; so simple, in fact, that you feel kind of silly for even worrying about it in the first place.
"Okay, the way outside is pretty straightforward. All we have to do is go through the lounge upstairs and we'll find the hall that leads to the exit." Your explanation is a little oversimplified and doesn't take into account any horrors that may be waiting up there, but it should suffice for the time being.
Leon nods his head to portray his agreement with your half-plan, and with that, you depart to join Claire outside.
The two of you speed up the stairs after you say a quick goodbye to Marvin and walk along the east catwalk, finding an unlocked door that leads to the lounge marked on the map.
Your companion walks in first with his gun raised and senses sharp, but it just goes to waste since there's nothing of note lurking inside (not that, that's a bad thing).
It's not a very big room, but it is nice and bright and completely lacks any dead people or creepy things.
There's a green herb, which you swipe, on a table to the left and another safe tucked away behind the desk to the back, but not much else other than that. The safety and lack of cannibalistic undead humans makes up for the lack of supplies, though.
Leon spots the safe a few moments after you round the desk, and the sight of it draws a sigh from him. "Another one of these, wonder what's in it."
"Well, you won't have to wonder for long." You shoot back cheekily, dropping to you knees in front of the safe so you can work your movie magic.
"Should I give you two a moment?" He asks with a joking edge to his voice, amused by his own jest.
You don't dignify his joke with a response and instead press your ear against cold metal of the safe's door, wrinkling your nose up with distaste as the chilled surface burns your ear.
Why's it have to be so fucking cold every time?
You start your safe cracking and find the combination to be left 6, right 2, left 11, or 6-2-11.
The door clicks and the handle turns, and when you open it up, there's a small black nozzle looking thing sitting in the center of the box.
You reach in and take it between your index finger and thumb, bringing it up to eye-level in an attempt to figure out what exactly it is.
Unfortunately, you draw a blank, but Leon certainly doesn't.
"Is that a Muzzle Break?" He inquires from behind you, an excited edge seeping into his voice.
That hinting excitement makes you smile fondly, but you don't put it into words; you just turn and hold it up to him.
The rookie officer accepts the small gun part with vigor and takes out his gun so he can put it on, a nice, positive shine brightening his already lovely eyes.
Did you say lovely eyes? You mean blue.
Leon works on attaching the small bit to the end of the barrel of his gun, and while he does that, you return to your feet and glance over the counter, noticing a little travel pamphlet.
You reach over and swipe the pamphlet from the top of the counter, flipping through it briefly for anything interesting.
All it really talks about is the polices stations history of being an art museum, some stuff about the Umbrella Cooperation, and the cities old Orphanage, nothing all that interesting.
You replace the pamphlet back onto its' original resting place and direct your attention back to Leon only to find him already looking at you.
A feeling of awkwardness and slight embarrassment fills you when you meet his gaze, but you try to not make it too obvious.
"S-Should we go?" You mentally curse yourself for the broken speech at the beginning, but if Leon notices your internal struggle, he doesn't say anything about it.
He clears his through and replies just as awkwardly as you, "Right, of course. I'll go first."
The rookie cop does just that; he approaches the door and unlocks it with the spade key, pushing it open once the lock clicks.
What lay behind the door is another long hallway that stretches out in both directions; to the left is some boards you could use for the windows, and to the right is a window and sharp corner that opens up to another hall.
Some sort of weird buzzing noise fades into existence and steadily grows louder the longer you both stand there; you strain your ears in an attempt to make out just what the sound is, but the straining doesn't last long because the noise morphs into the unmistakable thrum of spinning helicopter blades.
For a split second you feel hopeful that it might be a rescue team, but when the quickly approaching propellor doesn't quiet or slow, you realize that, that's not going to be the case; moments later there's a loud crash, and the whole building trembles as the chopper collides with something.
"Oh my god..." You gasp, looking up at Leon with wide eyes.
He looks just as shocked as you do, though there's an unnerved and worried crease that stresses at his brow-line. "That didn't sound good."
"Should we see if we can help?" Your suggestion hesitant and doesn't sound all that convincing, mostly because you don't think going towards such a loud crash is a good idea since these monsters are attracted to sound.
"I don't think that's a good idea..." It sounds like refusing to help physically hurts him, but he doesn't take it back. "We don't know where it is, much less if there's anything lurking around it."
He brings up an excellent point, one that was already teasing at the back of your mind, but it still nags at your morals since you don't know if there was anyone alive on that helicopter or not.
Neither of you say anything else about it, so you try to move on.
You turn your head to the left and stare at the boards at the end of the hall for a few moments, then you start to tip toe over as silently as you can; maybe there'll be something helpful over there.
You hear soft footsteps following just behind you as you near the end of the left part of the hall, though Leon doesn't stop you to do it himself this time around, he just tails you.
There's a door up against the wall by the area you're nearing, and when you peek around the corner, sure to be very cautious, you see that there's nothing there except for another metal shutter and some sort of hand-crank thing that's missing the 'crank'.
Who the hell removed the crank from this thing? What purpose would that even serve?
"Well, that's unfortunate." Leon grumbles from behind you, probably also wondering why the crank would be randomly removed like that.
"It is, but I don't think we need to go this way to find Claire. The exit is back down the other way." Hopefully that explanation will make him feel a bit better.
It seems like it does because his miserable frown softens and he looks relieved, "Good, we should hurry, don't wanna leave her waiting for long."
You nod your head in agreement and step away from the crank-less shutter mechanism, going back towards the way you came so you can go through the exit and finally see Claire.
How long has it been since you were separated; since you first entered the city? It feels like it's been minutes, but also days at the same time (even though it can only have been an hour or two so far).
A giddy, happy feeling settles in your chest at the thought of meeting up with Claire again, even though you guys only met recently, and there's a bit of a skip in your step that betrays just how excited you are.
Leon calls your name and you halt in place, looking back at him curiously.
"We should check out this room first." He tells you, pushing his back against the unlocked door to open it.
He turns with the door so his back isn't to anything that may be inside, but it's clean of any crazies.
You stride inside after him and peer around curiously, noting the little magazine resting on a chair off to the side before starting to look at everything else.
A green lamp on a small table casts a soft white glow that illuminates the surface, and on this surface is a small card looking thing. There's statues, pottery, and just a bunch of art stuff in general, but the thing that grabs your eye the most is the huge red jewel inside of a scepter that a big white statue of a king holds.
It makes sense that there would be some art things everywhere since the police station use to be a museum, but whole-ass artifacts and jewels?
It's then that you realize the statue looks really familiar, like photograph-you-developed-not-20-minutes-ago familiar.
You shrug off your drawstring bag and take the plastic red book that Leon gave you out of it, visualizing the photo in your mind as you gaze at the big white statue.
What you notice is that the left hand of the statue is detached from the statue and resting on the table next to it, and the book you're holding is obviously missing from it as well.
You walk past Leon and go towards the left-handless statue, clutching the plastic book in your right hand while you reach for the porcelain white stone hand sitting on that table.
The carved hand is smooth and cool beneath your warm fingers, not as cold as the metal safes though, but something about it is also kind of weird; weird in a way that's hard to explain because you aren't actually sure what's weird about it.
Somehow, you manage to jam the red book back into the awaiting hand of the statue, and, once they're combined, you carefully push the little knob of the disconnected hand into the empty hole just under the sleeve; you're surprised when a click vibrates throughout the statue after you push it all the way in, but even more shocking is when the opposite hand begins to rotate with quiet clicks.
It rotates 90 degrees and remains motionless for a few moments, then the hand pops open and the scepter is freed from its' grasp.
Your eyes are as wide as saucers once the fancy mechanism finishes its' little song and dance, and when you look back to see if Leon noticed, you're surprised to see that he's hovering just behind you.
"Woah, that's handy." He breathes, unable to resist the pun even with his mind blown.
You look up at him with a deadpan expression, despite finding the mini joke kind of funny, and reply, "That was horrible."
A half-smirk curls at his lips upon hearing your disapproving tone, and he reinforces his lame humor with some more. "Horribly funny, yes."
Oh, this man is so ridiculous.
You groan over-dramatically and retrieve the scepter from the statues outstretched hand, reaching up and bonking him lightly on the head with it once it's in your grasp.
He laughs and grabs the top of the scepter when you 'hit' him with it and steals it from you, twirling it around as he passes it between his hands and observes the outside.
Something on the staff seems to. catch his attention, for he stops his fidgeting and begins to stare hard at it.
After spinning it slowly one more time, Leon reaches up and flicks a little switch looking thing on it, and, as a result, the red jewel is released and it slips out of the crown of the scepter.
Leon catches it with ease and holds it out for you to see, admiring it himself as it shimmers and shines in the dull light of this room.
Honestly, it's really beautiful. The glittering red reflects all sorts of light and it's absolutely mesmerizing, but you're sure that it's probably actually made of glass or something; there's no way they'd leave a priceless gem in the middle of a police station, so it's got to be a fake...
This place is weird.
"Well, that's cool." You break the silence after a few moments and look back up at him, "Want me to keep it in my bag?"
The brown-haired officer nods his head and hands the jewel to you, speaking as he does so, "The weapons locker key card was in here too."
That's probably the card thing you saw on the table before you got distracted by the statue.
"That's great!" You feel pretty positive despite everything at the moment, but also eager to see Claire, so you add, "I think we should hurry up and find Claire..."
He nods his head once and steps out of your space, trudging towards the door with his flashlight up and his gun hanging in his other hand at his side.
You and your punny companion exit the art room and zoom down the hall towards the exit with record speed, but all thoughts of Claire fly from your minds when you see butt of the helicopter sticking out of the building.
It's a black chopper that's half buried into the side of the police station, and there are bricks hanging loosely and dropping down onto the metal. The sound of the bricks clanging against the metal copter and raining down onto the ground below is unnerving when mixed with the pitter patter of raindrops and horrible silence of the night.
The body of the pilot hangs limply in the drivers side, but there's no blood or gore for once.
For some reason as you look at the mans lifeless body, you feel nothing; no fear, no empathetic sadness, no horror. Maybe it's because of all you've seen so far; regardless, you don't know if this is a good thing or not.
Leon approaches the helicopter slowly with his light shinning on the body and you follow closely behind.
"Hey!" A sudden call startles your attention away from the crashed aircraft, and the voice is very familiar calling your name, followed by, "Leon?"
You run over to the railing, Leon following moments after, and look over the edge, smiling widely when you see Claire standing down there behind the fence.
Leon leans over the railing next to you and calls her name excitedly, a smile working its' way onto his face as well, and yells, "Hold on! We'll be right down!"
"Ok!" She shouts back, a grin of her own brightening her pretty face.
It's hard to hear what everyone is saying over the roaring rain and thunderous bellows from above, but the message seems to go over well since you all got the gist of what the other was saying.
The two of you rush down the stairs by the crashed copter and miss the way it bursts into flames in your eagerness to converse with Claire, but it's not all that important when your lost friend shows back up at your chainlink fence.
You run up to the fence and look at her with a joyful smile, grabbing onto the metal and curling your fingers through it, "Claire! I'm so glad you're okay!"
Your enthusiasm seems to improve her own mood, for her small smile turns into a big one and her eyes light up, "So am I!"
"It's so nice to see you." Leon states in a softer voice, stepping up next to you with his gaze locked on Claire.
"How're you two doing? That helicopter really came out of nowhere."
Now that's the understatement of the century right there, but you'll allow it.
"Yeah... we're in one piece." He answers, his voice betraying just how tired he already is of this bullshit.
You reach down while they exchange pleasantries and yank on the door a bit, finding immediate resistance because it's locked.
An annoyed huff blows past your lips and you yank on it again even though you know it won't heed any new results, and, just as you expected, it doesn't budge; looks like she's stuck out there unless one of you can find a key.
"I'm guessing neither of you have a key, then." Claire comments after her and Leon observe your attempt to open up the door.
"Unfortunately, no." Leon replies for you, sighing himself at the doors immovability, "But how are you doing?"
The red wearing brunette tries to play off the question nonchalantly by raising her arm and resting it against the chainlink, but you can still see the weariness and exhaustion in her eyes. "You know, just surviving."
Even if her response makes her seem as cool as a cucumber despite it being the opposite, you still have to stifle a giggle with a fake cough.
"I'm so glad you're okay- have you found anything on your brother yet?" You inquire softly, curling your fingers through the chainlink again.
Claire's gaze adverts downwards as her countenance becomes much more somber, and her previously jokey, chipper tone dampens with her mood, "No, not yet..." She looks back at. you again and offers a half-hearted smile.
"Claire, don't lose hope... I'm sure we're going to find him-" Leon doesn't get a chance to finish his thought, for a huge explosion shakes the entire courtyard and police station.
You and Leon turn towards the source of the eruption, the helicopter, and are immediately blinded by a burning orange and yellow blast.
Flames bloom from the artificial hole in the wall created by the destroyed aircraft and sparks rain down on you from the fiery blaze. The fire illuminates the immediate area around it and it paints your faces orange, but it's the sound-wave that really makes an impact.
On cue, the monsters around you begin to rise, moaning and groaning as they blindly follow the source of the deafening blast.
"Dammit. You know what that means..." Leon turns to look back at Claire again with a grimace after he says this, but his attention is drawn by movement just behind her.
You look at the heads popping up from behind the fence and the body that's pushing itself up onto its' feet.
"Yeah...," Claire breathes, turning slowly and taking out her gun as she finishes with a forlorn, "Dinner time."
You can't help but wince at her joke even if it was meant to lighten the rising panic, but you understand that the humor is just a way of coping with the upcoming terror.
"Please, be careful!" You know your exclamation can't stop fate from screwing you guys over, but damn it you have to try.
Claire looks at you with her pretty blue eyes that expression her mental and physical exhaustion, but still she manages to spare a smile for you.
She reaches towards your hands, which are clenched around the chainlink fence, white knuckled and bruising from the unconscious force you're exerting, and lightly curls the fingers of her free hand over yours through the fence; it seems that your descending mental state was more obvious than you originally thought, because you physically relax your grip and tense shoulders when she grabs your hand through the fence.
"Hey, everything's going to be okay." She tells you in a soothing voice, looking you right in the eyes as she says it too.
You swallow the lump forming in your throat and nod your head once, glancing over her shoulder at the crazies wanting to go towards the noise.
Leon breaks through the silence with a warning tone, "Claire, I think you should go."
"Don't worry about me, you take care of yourselves." She's trying to be brave and collected by worrying about you two, but, honestly, she needs to take care of herself a little more urgently at this present moment.
As if they were waiting for a signal to freak the fuck out, the people on the other side of the fence begin to slam and shake the barrier keeping Claire safe form them; and, from the looks of it, there are a lot.
It seems Leon sees the same issues that you do because he, this time, yells for her to leave. "Claire, you need to go- now!"
The way Leon snaps at her gets her to move forward a few paces with her gun slightly raised, but she pauses and turns her head back towards you again, "Hey...," she begins softly, finishing with a hopeful gleam in her eyes, "Let's get through this. All of us."
"We will." You reply verbally and Leon dips his head to show he's acknowledging her request, and then she's gone.
You stand there silently with your hands still latched onto the fence, watching her quickly retreating form with distress rolling off of you in waves, but when the zombified people begin to gain on your side of the barrier, you let your hands fall to your sides and step away.
There's nothing you want more than for her to make it out of this hellhole in one piece, preferably one unbitten and unharmed piece, though you know that with the current state of the city, that may not actually happen.
Hopefully, you'll all escape from here with your lives, but even if you do, none of you will be the same going forward; you're already scarred as hell and it's only been a few hours, not to mention you still haven't found (Alex (much like Claire hasn't found her brother).
You don't even know if she's alive or not, and, with the state of the police station, you're beginning to lose hope that she is.
For now, you need to think about yourself and Leon; especially Leon, because something you can tell about him right away is that he would put his life on the line for you in a heartbeat.
Damn his wonderful personality.
All you can hope for is that you won't drag him down, that he won't get hurt by any means (your fault or not).
The night will end soon, it's just a matter if you two will live long enough to see the sun rise.
Please let this night end soon.