Demon Dogs
You and Leon don't linger at the cell for much longer and break away to quickly search the small area next to it, finding a memo about the missing power panel that powers the whole jail, said power panel, and a crank that goes to one of the numerous closed shutters in the area.
While looking at the power panel, desperately trying to ignore 'Bens' dead body just next to you.
It looks vaguely simple to fix, if only you had the necessary part to do up a quick connecting circuit.
"If we found some wiring I could probably do up a replacement panel part." You mumble as you mess with it, shifting all the parts to their correct positions save the missing one. You'd need a couple wires but you could do it without the part alright.
"You can do something like that?" Leon asks, looking over your shoulder at your work, "You just keep impressing me."
His praise makes your face hot and your heart all fluttery, but you push that down and simply nod, "Mmhm. The university had simple engineering courses as apart of the base curriculum for all students, and we learned how to make circuits and power sources out of nothing."
You never thought you'd be thanking RCU for forcing you to take that god awful class, yet here you are.
"Whichever we find first we can use, I guess." You sigh, realizing that finding the exact things you need is going to be a little tough.
He nods in confirmation, gaze drifting over to the brutally murdered Ben for a split second before sliding back to your much more pleasant face.
"Lets get out of here before that thing comes looking for us."
Right, after what it did to Ben you don't want to be the next poor sap in its path.
The exit out of the holding cells was the same as they entry way in, only much quieter with the shot down undead that lay unmoving in their cells. Shot like fish in a barrel.
The parking garage proved to be just as empty as it was before (save all the cars and junk everywhere), with no monsters in sight still.
This area is beginning to feel a bit like the main hall up in the police station, like a semi-safe space where you know things are relatively calm.
"I guess we go back to the kennel area, right? There was a crank thing over there for the shutter." You remind him, holding the crank in your left hand with your gun in the right.
"Yeah, I think that's out next move. Although I'm not sure where it leads to." Talk about the story of this night. Who knows where either of you are going in this giant fucking maze of a police station. "I guess we're about to find out."
Another common theme. Fucking around and finding out.
Leon leads the way forward towards the only other green-lit door in the area, both of you less cautious as you enter the room again knowing that you killed anything that might've caused any issues the first time around.
To the right, and then to the left, through the kennels, left, door, right, and there you are.
How the fuck did he remember all that.
"Alright, time to show me how strong you are." Leon teases after successfully leading you all the way to the shutter, somehow remembering exactly where to go.
You shoot a humored glare his way, fighting the smile trying to tug at your lips to feign annoyance. "You're going to feel really insecure about yourself after I do it." Fake confidence, hopefully it's not too heavy.
With that, you shove the crank into the proper hold and turn it until it's secure, then start to turn it counter clockwise as per the markings on the indicator.
It's a lot easier than you thought it'd be, although it's still a workout with the way you have to yank it upwards.
Crank, crank crank crank- after about a minute it's raised all the way up to the top, and there's nothing immediately on the other side. Good.
Leon lowers his gun which he had at the ready in case anything waited on the other side, relieved when nothing jumped out (literally or figuratively).
You're almost panting by the time you've finished opening the shutter, but you try to hide it by standing straight and smiling triumphantly, "S-See? Easy."
He snorts and shakes his head, clearly amused, "You did great." He goes for praise instead of teasing you some more, wanting to see that bashful face you make more than your faux annoyed one.
And you deliver, immediately becoming sheepish and looking away. "Well... thanks. But come on! Lets keep going."
You start marching forward without him, but you barely get up the first step before he grabs your collar and holds you there. He says your name disapprovingly, pulling you back gently so that you're right next to him.
Oh, right.
You tilt your head back and look at him with a guilty smile, completely forgetting about his little rule.
"Sorry?"
"Yeah, right." You look cute.
He lets your shirt go and looks away quickly when the thought invades his brain, clearing his throat awkwardly. "Let's keep going."
At that, he trudges up the steps quickly and looks between the two doors, seemingly deciding which one to go through while you stare at his back curiously.
What caused his sudden change? Who knows.
Besides a locker and some junk there's nothing else but the two doors, but you leave it up to Leon to choose which one to go through first.
He goes with the right door, pushing it open quickly with his gun drawn only to see a bunch of nothing.
Thank god.
Inside the first room is a bunch of storage and one of those weird glowing boxes you've seen everywhere, but nothing jumps out at you right away as interesting or useful.
Leon turns to the left down a short hall lined with mesh walls, meanwhile you walk further into the room in search of anything that might be hidden away.
There's nothing besides another area to the left, one that you want to walk right in to but ultimately decide against to avoid upsetting your light-brown haired companion.
"Leon, over here." You call, turning back to see where he'd gone.
As you turn he emerges from the small pocket of the room, nodding once in your direction to show he sees what you're pointing out.
Right before that hallway you miraculously find an electric part in an orange box, one that you opt to shove in your backpack for the time being, and on the other side you also discover some sort of power modulator. There are some mysterious growls too, but you both choose to ignore that for the time being.
Upon seeing it you crack your knuckles dramatically and stretch, hyping yourself up to look at it.
"I've got this one, officer." You declare, pushing past him as he messes with the switches.
If you've learned anything in school, it's that patterns are pertinent. And here you can clearly see that the switches connect different things and that the dial needs to be in the small red zones.
You flip each of the switches to see what they do individually and realize that they're moving the dial a different amount in different intervals.
Simple.
Each time you flip and unflip one of the switches you get closer, and in a matter of seconds you get both in the desired portion.
"I got it!"
Once you've figured it out a loud beep resounds throughout the area, and the visible red-lit door just beyond the window turns green thus indicating that it's now open.
The lights flicker on all over the place, and suddenly things are much brighter.
"Yes!" Leon exclaims excitedly, pulling you away from the panel and into his arms. "You did it!"
You jump up excitedly and hug him back, so excited for things to be pretty well lit for the first time in forever.
The moment is cut short by the sound of not too distant snarls, the noise putting both of you on alert instantly.
Celebration can wait, life or death doesn't standby patiently.
Leon pulls away and urges you behind him in the same move, shotgun drawn and his handgun holstered in favor of more firepower.
They might be smaller but they're faster and much more dangerous, the undead dogs you mean, so a heavier weapon might be the best move.
There's more barking and a lot of clanging, but nothing has shown up just yet.
Slowly, carefully, Leon creeps forward with his finger on the trigger, poised to shoot, as the snarling gets closer. You, too, have your gun raised and ready to strike, although you're sure his will do much more damage.
Movement behind the fencing catches your eye, and you realize one of them is right there.
"Leon!" You exclaim as it jumps the fence and lands on the ground right in front of him, unable to aim before he fires off the shotgun and blows it to pieces.
Gross and horrifying, but very effective.
It's dead in one shot, but as you pass you fire one more shot into it's skull just in case. You look down the fenced hallway to see if there's anymore, but it's empty.
Despite that there's still more barking and growls coming from god knows where.
"We've gotta get out of here!" He urges, not sure just how many of them are waiting for you guys out there. A sentiment you agree with.
The two of you run out of the generator room you're stuck in and burst through the door, unsurprised but still bamboozled by one of the dogs waiting right behind the locker you passed on the way up behind the metal bars.
Leon fires at it and lands most of the hit, although he only gets it's side so it's not a one shot this time.
While he cocks the gun for another shot, you fire your weapon and kill for good this time.
"Keep moving, I've got you!"
Grateful but determined to get away, he grunts and runs forward still.
He turns the hall and then there's another one. It lunges for him, but he raises the shotgun just in time and smacks it away.
You shoot it once, twice, three times, then he switches from his shotgun to his handgun and fires and fourth and final shot.
And now it's silent once more, the three K-9's dead-dead.
"Come on, there might be more." Leon whispers, trudging forward with heavy and quick steps.
You follow closely behind, glancing backwards every so often to make sure nothing is coming up, only for you both to get literally jump scared by another one of those things bursting through the floor vent.
"They just keep coming!" Your companion yells, shooting it a couple of times.
Fuck, you guys must've wasted so much ammo on these assholes. Please let that be the last one.
Upon entering the kennel room you realize that things could've been a lot worse had you not decided to take out those three earlier.
You both stop and stand there for a moment, panting and looking around the room for a moment.
"Thank god we took them out earlier." You comment after catching your breath somewhat, "You're a great shot."
"You're not so bad yourself." He breathes in return, sliding his magazine out of his handgun to check his bullets. You do the same.
Once you've both got a full magazine and a breath of 'fresh' air, Leon heads back towards the door. "Come on, lets get out of here."
He doesn't have to tell you twice.
You follow him out the door closely, straining your ears for any sounds that indicate that more of those K-9 monsters are around, but you hear nothing.
"Can we take a breather out in the garage?" You ask once you're close to the door, really needing a moment to rest.
As if he only just realized how tired you both are, he nods. "Shoot, yeah. I didn't realize we'd been going for so long."
There's no way of telling time at the moment, but you can only assume it's been a few hours of this nonstop nonsense.
Thank god.
You make a beeline for the door to the garage, showing no caution as you open it with your gun hanging uselessly at your side. Only, your safe-zone isn't safe.
The moment you open that door you're greeted by more of those monstrous K-9's.
It jumps onto the hood of the car the second it sees you, but you know you won't be able to raise your gun fast enough.
"Shit, Leon-" You cry.
All you can think to do as it lunges is close the door, and as it does, you step back and close it slightly.
It slams into the door with a loud 'thunk' barking viciously as it tries to get back up to reach you.
Leon yells your name and hoists his shotgun back off his shoulder, shoving you backwards and kicking the door open.
Two of them come from around the car, and he shoots them without hesitation. It blows both of them back, and gives him enough time to slam the door back harder and crush the head of the one that attacked you.
You now have your gun back in your hand again, and as the two he blew back begin to rise you step out and fire at them a bit too many times before they finally go down.
They make a whimpering noise, and then all is quiet.
Leon looks around with his gun raised still, scanning the remainder of the room for safety, then lowers it back down.
"Shit..." He lowers his gun once he's sure they're done, then strides over to you in three large steps. "Are you okay?"
He ghosts his hands along your arms and looks around you for injury, but all things considered it didn't really even get all that close to you. Still, once he's surveyed your upper half for wounds he looks at your face and places his hands firmly on your shoulders, concern creasing his brow.
"I-I'm fine." You confirm as he stares down at you, worried frown tugging at his lips, "I'm okay. It was just a scare."
Of course he believes you, but that doesn't halt his pounding heart or racing thoughts.
Slowly he slides his hands back down your shoulders until they're resting on your upper arms, allowing himself to relax despite the guilt he's feeling about this.
"I'm sorry, I should've gone first." He sighs after a moment, hanging his head in an almost ashamed way.
His brown locks hang off his forehead and sway slightly because of the movement, his hands squeezing your arms gently as he regathers himself.
You realize in this moment that a lot more of his emotional stake is riding on you living than you initially thought. You're not entirely sure what he thinks about you or your situation, but you know that he feels responsible for you and your well-being, even more responsible than he felt for everyone else you've encountered thus far.
At that thought your fright practically melts, guilt and a twinge of heart-warming sadness making your eyes heavy but not quite wet.
"Leon..." You whisper, reaching up (with steadier hands than you were expecting) to grab the sides of his face.
You press your palms delicately into his cheeks and look up at his face from underneath his drooping hair, trying to find his gaze although you don't have the slightest idea of what to say.
He finally looks away from the floor and at you instead, looking you right in the eyes, and you just stare back.
"Thank you." Is the only thing you say, captivated by his blue irises and immediately forgetting whatever comforting thing you were trying to conjure up.
There's no outward reaction from him, it's all internal as he savors your short thanks, then he yanks you forward and into his chest.
He crushes you in a hug unbecoming of someone who's gone through hours of the hard physical task of surviving, but it succeeds in making you feel warm and safe for the time being.
You hug it out, and then, as if some sort of invisible force was urging you to move, you turn your head to look up at him.
He gazes right back at you with a softness you weren't expecting, and then his face starts getting closer, closer, closer.
Both pairs of eyes begin to shut, lips pursing slightly in preparation for what happens next-
Then there's a distant crash, very distant, but it snaps you both out of whatever spell you're under.
His arms loosen from around you and you jump back and away from him as if you were just caught doing something you weren't supposed to.
Your face is hot and your heart is beating at a mile a minute, anxiously thinking about what almost just happened. Damn whatever that noise was and who/whatever made it.
Leon is in a similar boat, although he feels much less bashful and a little more warmhearted (also a little anxious). He doesn't have the slightest idea of what came over him just then, what came over either of you, but there'll be time to think about it more later on.
"W-We should get going, right?" You stutter, attempting to sound unphased but ultimately failing. "To the door we unlocked?"
It's as if you read his mind almost. He nods once in confirmation and glances away towards the door you came out of, "Yeah, right. I'll lead the way."
After what just happened you don't even think of arguing, simply nodding your agreement. "And I'll follow your lead."