Chapter Text
29 th of September 1998
Heading back home was supposed to be quick and easy. A couple of hours in a car and then crawling into your bed and sleeping the night away. It was not supposed to be your car breaking down in the middle of some empty road, and having to walk to the nearest gas station to call some tow truck to come and deal with the piece of shit you had left behind.
Maybe it was your fault for never bothering to check the thing. Alright, it was 100% your fault for never doing any maintenance. The piece of rust had been a sixteenth birthday present and even then you had cringed at the thing, wondering if it would even run before plastering a smile on your face and thanking your brother for getting it for you. Three years later and it was finally coming back to bite you in the ass.
The gas station wasn’t too far and not one you remembered driving past before because you were pretty sure you would have remembered seeing something so dingy and quiet. It wasn’t too late, but there was a singular jeep left at a pump and a police cruiser with its doors flung open and lights flashing, painting the area in blue and red.
Odd.
You moved forward with slow hesitant steps. Maybe you should have turned around, tried to find another place. Or hoped that someone had left coins in the phone booth, since your pockets were empty of them. But the idea of turning back around walking through the rain wasn’t that tempting.
Neither was staying in a place that smelt like gasoline with something faintly metallic and sickly sweet lingering underneath.
“Just ask for a phone to call for a tow, then you can leave.” You muttered to yourself, trying to mask the gnawing unease that lingered over you.
The door loomed just ahead, your eyes drifted down to the floor and the strange red splatters that rested there.
Please don’t be blood. Please don’t be blood.
The words chanted in your head as you moved forward, somehow your feet hadn’t gotten the turn around warning signal blaring in your brain. You weren’t surprised, they often had a habit of doing their own thing and getting you into shit. Stupid feet.
And stupid hands too for pushing open the door to the place despite the red handprint that was smeared onto the metal.
The doorbell chimed overhead, you shushed it before you could even think about what you were doing as you stepped further into shop. The smell was stronger here and more red liquid smeared the floor as something, or maybe more than one thing, groaned in the distance.
The hairs on the back of your neck stood up and for once your feet listened and took a couple of steps back.
Something slammed in the distance, a door maybe, followed by rapid footsteps and the shelf next to you falling as half rotted hands reached through in an attempt to grab you.
“What the fuck?” You rasped out, taking a couple of steps backwards.
This had to be a nightmare. That was the only logical explanation. You had fallen asleep behind the wheel or something on your way home and were bleeding in a ditch somewhere or laid in a hospital, having some terrifying lucid dreams due to the drugs they had you on. This couldn’t be real.
“Shit.”
You didn’t say that, and unless the half rotting man trying to climb his way through a shelf had suddenly developed the ability to do anything but groan and stare at you with blank white eyes, then you didn’t think he said it either. Which meant someone else…
You yelped as a hand wrapped tightly around your arm, pulling you to the side and forcing you to look into the bluest fucking eyes you had ever seen. His mouth was moving but his words fell on deaf ears as you blinked up at him and then down at the gun in his free hand.
This was all too much, the man before you, the hands still trying to reach for you, the stench that seemed to be coming from every direction. Your brain felt like it was ringing in your head, or maybe that was your ears – it didn’t fucking matter because you were about 90% sure you were ten seconds from having a breakdown or a panic attack.
Death by what could only be zombies? Or death by a handsome man with a gun? Neither was exactly how you pictured dying.
A chime cut through the ringing as you turned to see a young woman, maybe your age, step inside. Her eyes went wide at the hold of a gun clicking and her hands raised into the air as she looked between you and the man with the gun.
“Don’t shoot.”
“Get down!” A hand shoved your shoulder, pushing you slightly to the side as the woman did as the man commanded and ducked down. A single bullet fired between the eyes of the groaning man who had been reaching for the woman.
Impressive shot.
You barely had time to say anything before you were being led out of the door. Groans filled the air and rotting corpses staggered towards you. The man was saying something but you were too focused on the dead and not gagging on the smell of rot and blood to even comprehend what he was saying.
Fight or flight was taking action, your brain itching for one and your body for the other. You wished, just once, that they could work in tandem with each other.
A bang sounded on the door behind you and you didn’t have to turn to look to know what it was. A warm calloused hand gripped yours, nearly yanking your arm from your socket as you were pulled towards the police cruiser and shoved into the back while the man shouted something.
The sound of slamming doors and hands slapping against the windows made you flinch, the man pulling some fast and furious shit, reversing and spinning the car around and sending you sprawling across the back seat was enough to make you wince and glare at the back of his ashy blond head.
“A little warning next time would be nice.” You snapped before you could stop yourself as the cruiser sped towards Raccoon City, rubbing your side.
“I did say…” You rolled your eyes at him, all but pouting now as you adjusted yourself in your seat and frowned ahead. “Sorry – you ok?” He added, and you caught a glance of his baby blues in the rearview mirror.
“Fine...just being a shit night – the obvious aside.” You mumbled, turning your head to look out of the back window and finding nothing but the road. Hopefully they were all far behind now and couldn’t run.
Because running from literal zombies was one thing when you were faster than them but when they started running too...well everything was doomed. And things were already feeling pretty shit as it was. Dead car, dead people and a ride with two strangers who looked just as shaken up as you felt.
“What do you think going on?” The girl asked, her voice shaky as she looked to the man and then you.
“I don’t know.” The man muttered, his eyes flashed to you again before he turned to look at the girl. “Hopefully they’ll have some answers at the police station.” He added and you couldn’t stop yourself from leaning forward.
“Wait – you’re a cop?” You didn’t mean to sound so judgemental or like you didn’t believe him – but the guy looked only a couple of years older than you, and while that didn’t mean he couldn’t be a cop – there was something about his eyes and voice that just made him sound so…innocent.
His eyes flashed to you again, wide and bright as he nodded his head. “Yeah, Leon Kennedy.”
You muttered your name back with narrowed eyes, leaning back onto your seat and turning your head to look at the other girl.
“Claire – Claire Redfield.”
“Wait – Redfield – like Chris Redfield?” The question spilled from your mouth before you can stop yourself as she turned to look at you in shock. “The one who works for the S.T.A.R.S. unit?” You added, though you weren’t sure how many other Chris Redfields there were out there.
“My brother, you know him?” She didn’t really look like him but there was something there, a familiarity about her.
“My brother is a detective for the R.P.D, so I’ve met Chris a few times.” You explain as she nodded her head and a frown took over her face, lips digging into her bottom lip as though she contemplated asking something. “What?”
“I haven’t heard from him in a while, so I thought I would come here and see – you don’t have any idea, do you?” She almost seemed desperate and you could relate to it in a way, and you couldn’t help but feel bad when all you could offer was a shake of your head.
“Some things went down, no one really knows what but a lot of the S.T.A.R.S. haven’t been seen in the last couple of months.” You added though you didn’t think it would help, but you’re not sure what else you can give her. It’s not like you worked with the R.P.D, all you could tell her was what you had heard.
“So, you’re from here?” Leon asked, gaze flickering to yours again as Claire slumped back into her seat. You hummed a yes and he took that as an indication to continue. “Well, it’s a good thing we found each other then...I don’t know what to expect any more…” Leon trailed off, shaking his head as you scoffed.
The ‘Welcome to Raccoon City, Home of Umbrella’ sign all but taunted you as you sped past it, the buildings in the distance tall and ominous in a way that made your stomach turn. A sign of the complicated relationship with the city you had grown up in.
“Well...it wasn’t this.” You muttered before looking back to Leon. “So, what police station do you work for?” His hands stumbled on the wheel and his cheeks turned pink as he met your gaze again.
“Erm...today was actually supposed to be my first day at the R.P.D.”
“You’re the Rookie cop who didn’t turn up last week.” You cursed your mouth for moving without thinking, it was a habit you were trying to break. Especially when it made Leon shift in his seat.
“I got a call to stay away.” He muttered but you narrowed your eyes. There was something more to what he was saying, whether he wanted to admit it or not – his pink cheeks and shifty eyes did.
“After you missed your first shift?” You asked and he shifted again in confirmation, “And you just decided to come in today – why?” You asked, raising an eyebrow as you leaned onto the back of his and Claire’s seats to see him properly. He glared and you just offered a small smile.
“Do you always interrogate people you’ve just met?” Leon snapped.
“No, but I also don’t normally get in cars with strangers after nearly being eaten so I guess there’s a first for everything.” You sighed out as Claire snickered. Leon sent you another glare that had you rolling your eyes and slumping back into your seat.
You were curious, and honestly, it wasn’t like you were judging too much. Sure, your brother had bitched and moaned about the cop who hadn’t turned up like it would effect his work, but you had barely been listening as you packed your things to go and stay with a friend. And then you hadn’t heard anything from your brother since.
It wasn’t unusual. But adding that with the fact that Leon had been called to stay away, something wasn’t adding up – and the closer you got to the city, the more your gut churned in concern and the more you wondered if perhaps the dead weren’t just limited to the gas station.
…
You cursed yourself for being right.
Raccoon City looked like Godzilla had decided to make it his playground. Apartments were crumbling, cars were left open on the sides of roads or crushed together, their headlights casting jagged shadows across the roads and pavements. Fires burned in the distance, its smoke curling into the sky like some kind of warning.
A warning the three of you had ignored.
Or Leon had ignored because he was driving and it was much easier to blame it on him considering he could have noped out of here the moment he drove into town. He didn’t though, instead he looked around like he couldn’t quite believe what he was seeing. You couldn’t quite believe it either.
Raccoon City had been your home for nineteen years. It had been a place you wanted to leave and see burnt to the ground many times. A place that made you feel trapped, its leash wrapped tightly around your throat and pulling you back every time you even thought about leaving. You had hated this place.
Yet seeing it destroyed struck your heart, hurt in a way you never thought it would.
“Oh my god, this is unreal…” Guess Claire was on board with the disbelief train too, her head all but pressed to the window so she could look out, or maybe she was trying to listen close enough to whatever was being broadcasted outside of the car.
Leon gave her a half look, keeping the cat steadily driving forward as he spoke. “The police station shouldn’t much further -” He turned to look at you, clearly hoping you would know where to go. A map for the new kids on the block.
“Just up ahead.” You confirmed for him.
“They’ll know something.” He added, and he seemed so sure and determined.
“I wouldn’t be too sure of that.”
Claire sucked in a deep breath, turning to face Leon. “What if we’re the only ones? What if there are no survivors?” She seemed panicked, but maybe she was just realistic in the face of Leon’s optimism. And you could only agree with her, because judging by the outside, it didn’t look like there were many people running around and trying to survive.
“Then we should turn right the fuck around and get out of here.” You said before you could stop yourself, a sardonic smile painted across your face as Claire turned to look at you and Leon frowned.
“No.” Leon muttered, blue eyes burning as he shook his head. “There’s survivors. It’s a big city...there has to be.” He added. Hopeful, young and possibly stupid but at least he was pretty, and clearly he had some kind of need to help people if he was willing to continue driving through all of this.
Or drive as far as he could before the roadblock ahead appeared, blocking the car from moving further ahead. Leon said something about walking from here as put the car in park, you tuned it out as you moved to the window with a frown. Something under the blinking street light catching your attention.
It was like something out of a horror film, the kind where the viewer can barely see what is happening but can make out enough from the small flashes they’re allowed to see. Two people hunched over another person. Red staining the street below. Cold, dead eyes turning to look at the car. It’s face rotted and skin peeling away to show the muscle underneath.
“More like running.” Claire muttered as you leaned away from the window and backed up to Leon’s side.
“Yeah, good call.”
If only life was that easy. A hand, bloody and rotting, slapped against the window, followed by hungry eyes peering at you through the glass. And maybe you would stand a chance against one if you had a weapon of some kind, but his friends are eager to join in – and the odds weren’t looking exactly in your favour right now. No matter how good of a shot Leon might have been.
“On second thought…” You muttered, leaning away from the window.
“Leon! We gotta back up!” Claire was shouting and you agreed until two bright lights shine through the back window, illuminating every disgusting thing in its path.
“Are you kidding me?!” The words were rasped painfully from your throat as you stared at the truck barrelling your way, and you were already tired of the multiple choices of death you seemed likely to face. Instead, you turned back to Leon, leaning back on his seat. “Do something!” You shouted as he frowned.
“Holy shit!” Leon shouted right back, the truck only seeming to register with him now. “Get out, both of you! Get out NOW!” You didn’t need to be told twice, turning to your door and pulling at the handle only for nothing to happen.
You groaned, tugging again and ignoring the eager dead outside that just seem to be jumping with joy at the thought of you willingly coming out to them. “This is so not the time for some criminal child lock!”
“Hold on!” Leon shouted, gripping the wheel as the impact became inevitable.
You were not sure what to hold on to, other than that little handle thing that was always in the back of cars and never really used. Yet you clung onto it as though it was some magic thing that might save your life as the truck got closer and closer, screeching wheels against tarmac skidding to the side.
Your body jerked forward as you scrunched your eyes closed, the car propelled into a dizzying spin, only coming to a stop once it hit the roadblock with the sound of crunching metal and breaking glass.
But you were alive, maybe the handle thing was magic, granted; your head felt like someone had smacked it with a frying pan, and your stomach churned like it was ready to empty itself, but your door had been forced open in the crash and now you could stumble outside. Your knees ached from landing on them and your lungs burnt like the time you had ran that marathon. But you were alive.
“You okay?” Leon’s voice was raspy as he grasped your hand and helped you off the floor.
You scrunched up your nose, gripping his hand and ignoring his question. “Do you smell -”
It was a fact that explosions always looked cool in the movies – grand and exciting as the heros drove or dived away. In reality, it was less grand and more trying to duck out of the way to avoid your skin being burnt off, then followed by trying to run away before the truck exploded and ending up with your back painfully meeting the side of a car as you were blown off your feet.
Somehow, despite everything, you were still capable of pulling yourself off the floor, groan muffled behind your lips as you looked to Leon. He looked about as good as you felt, gripping his side and taking in the chaos before you and the burning cruiser. No sign of Claire inside.
Leon’s voice carried as he shouted for her while you squinted through the rain and the smoke. The dead didn’t seem to care that they had been run over, burnt and whatever else – no they were more focused on the two of you stood there, easy targets.
“Yeah! I’m alright!” Claire’s voice called over the other side of the cruiser. And look, you were happy she was alive, of course, but the pair of them shouting was only drawing more attention. “How about you two?” You tugged at Leon’s sleeve.
“We need to go.”
“We can’t stay here!” He was shouting again and you groaned in frustration. “It’s not safe!”
“Claire! Get to the station, we’ll meet you there!” You shouted, Claire wa shouting something back but you barely heard it as you clutched Leon’s hand and dragged him back towards the road and away from the fire. “There’s an alley up there, we can use it to cut through to the other side.”
Leon wa muttering something you didn’t hear as you led the way, maybe he should have since he had the weapon but you knew these routes like the back of your hand, plus he seemed more content to follow and mutter to himself about something or other. Honestly, you were more focused on getting off the streets.
“There it is.” Leon breathed out as the R.P.D came into view. Lights shining like a beacon.
“Come on.”
His hand was still clasped in yours as you pulled him forward in a light job, dodging the hands and chomping teeth as you weaved through the cars and past a bus. There were more dead at the end, but they were too distracted by whatever they were eating to focus too much on you and Leon slipping by them until the gates were locked and the pair of you were breathing heavily.
…
People often said there were certain places that felt like a second home. Work, a family members house or even a friends house. Yours was and had always been the R.P.D Station, for more reasons than the obvious one.
It stood grand, like it always had, despite the bloody footprints on the floor, the medical beds and boxes scattered all over the place and random items everywhere else, and not a singular person dead or alive in sight. Just a strange silence that felt wrong and made the hairs on the back of your neck stand up.
“Hello...is anybody there…?” Nothing answered Leon’s cry, no sound but the ones his feet made as he moved forward.
You didn’t follow, instead choosing to move to the side and look over the things people must have left behind, finding the perfect thing for you hidden half under some clothes. Small, sleek and easily placed into the waistband of your jeans with a nod of approval.
“Come on.” Leon groaned, and you turned to look at him where he stood before one of those newer models of laptops, pressing buttons and frowning at the screen.
“You don’t know how to work this?” You teased as he turned to glare at you. “Let me guess, police academy still has those clunky ones from a few years ago.” You added with a grin as he rolled his pretty eyes at you before levelling you with an annoyed frown.
In the warm light his eyes almost looked brighter, hidden beneath long eyelashes and that stupid fringe he had going on, even though it worked for him. You wished you had his eyes, imagine the things you could make people do for you with just a look.
Leon opened his mouth to say something, though nothing came out as you gently hip nudged him out of the way, bending down to look over the laptop and clicking a few buttons. A map of the station and the cameras popped up and you couldn’t help the smug smirk that took over your face as he frowned at you. “Easy peasy.”
“I would have figured it out.”
A retort was on the tip of tongue and cut off by the sound of gun fire, eyes falling back down to the laptop as Leon leaned down beside you to see a man, someone familiar, run into view of the camera. “David! Marvin! You there?” A zombie came into frame, trying to get to him but shoved away. “I found a way out! It’s in here! Send reinforcements! East Hallway!”
“Elliot.” Any humour fell away in a single second as you turned to face Leon, closer than you thought he was but you didn’t have time to think about that now. “We need to go help him.”
“Yeah, of course, I’ll go...you stay here.”
“Excuse me?”
“It isn’t safe.”
“Oh I’m sorry, and running through the streets after nearly being blown up twice was?” You really needed to stop letting your sarcasm take control of your mouth, but you had always had problems with people telling you what to do.
Even if he seemed like he wasn’t doing it to be a dick.
“It’s different.” Leon said, eyes meeting yours, cheeks slightly pink as you raised an eyebrow and waited for him to explain. “You froze up at the gas station.”
“I wasn’t exactly prepared for people to try bite me and a man waving a gun to come out of nowhere.” You retorted as his mouth opened and closed like some kind of fish.
“I wasn’t waving – it doesn’t matter, you’re a civilian with no weapons or means to defend yourself, it’s my job to keep you safe.” How honourable. Really, your heart swooned like you were some kind of Disney Princess and he was some kind of Rookie Cop Prince trying to protect you.
Your mouth though had other ideas, ones that fell in line with your brain’s stubbornness and need to show people you could take care of yourself, so you pouted and placed a hand to your chest. “And what happens if you’re out somewhere else and those zombies break in while I’m here all alone, sad and defenceless?”
“It will be fine. You’ll be safe here.” Despite the beautiful words that left his mouth, his eyes betrayed his annoyance.
“Or I just come with you and pop a few bullets in their skull with this.” Leon’s expression was priceless, his mouth falling open as you pulled the gun from your waistband to show him with a large grin.
“Where did you even get that? Is it even registered?” Was stuttered from his mouth, voice slightly high pitched.
“Because that’s the concern right now.” You gave him a wry smile, even as your heart pounded under his frustrated gaze. “Relax. My brother’s a cop. I know how to use it.”
“I don’t think that’s as comforting as you think it is.” He remarked deadpanned as you shrugged your shoulders, checking over the ammo. If he didn’t believe you knew what you were doing then that was his problem. “I can’t just -”
“Do you even know how to get to the East Hallway?”
“I can use -”
“Oops, try getting it back on now.” You grinned, slightly amused as the laptop shut down behind you and you shrugged your shoulders. He could easily move you out of the way, turn it back on and get the maps up but instead he just glared at you.
“You’re annoying, has anyone ever told you that?” He asked as you stepped away from the computer, moving towards the shutters and their keep out sign. Inspiring really, honourable that they think a sign is going to keep people like you out.
“It’s a quality you’ll come to love.” You sighed, pulling the lever and watching as the shutter only raised a few inches in the air, enough space for you to crawl underneath. “Now let’s go save Elliot.” You all but cried as you shimmed underneath while Leon muttered something behind you.
God, you were going to drive him insane. You were going to drive yourself insane or get yourself killed like this, but you weren’t going to stay behind nor were you going to admit that the darkened hallway was a lot more terrifying than you thought it would be.
You could feel Leon’s glare as he stood next to you, could see his glare as he clicked his flashlight on and illuminated the hall and the walls and floor that seemed to have been painted red.
“Why would you do that?” He asked in a harsh whisper.
You cast him a side glance as you moved forward. “You would have found some way to leave me behind.”
“I wouldn’t have…”
“Don’t BS a BSer, Leon.”
He opened his mouth before he frowned as he stepped down the stairs, looking down, light shining against the floor. The normally dull green was almost wavy and shiny, splashing around your boots like you were walking through a puddle. “Why is the floor wet?”
“Finally! My petition to turn this place into a swimming pool has been heard!” You joked with a lighthearted grin even as he turned to give you an unimpressed look that had you flinching slightly. “You don’t know me but I make jokes when I’m uncomfortable.”
“Looking forward to seeing what you do when you’re comfortable.” Leon muttered as he led you both further down the hallway, blocked off by a cabinet. Leon not even bothering to ask for help as he pushed it up with a grunt.
“If we get out of this hellhole then you might just find out.” You muttered back before you could stop yourself, snapping your eyes up to his face as gave you another unimpressed look though you could see the corners of his mouth tilting up slightly.
“What’s in there?” He pointed to the white double doors before the cabinet, only seeming to notice it now.
“Press room, I believe.”
And just like that he was pushing the doors open. You shifted on your feet outside, debating whether to follow him or to tell him that Elliot wasn’t in there and really the pair of you should head on your way. With a groan you enter as he flicked on the light, illuminating the room and allowing you to see the dead body and its bloody trail on the floor.
Leon looked it over, moving slowly and picking up something beside it. A box of ammo that he tucked into his pocket before he was heading back outside into the hallway, you following behind.
The water was flowing stronger here, obviously coming from the bathroom to the left, but neither of you move to check it, turning to the right and wincing at the sight.
A massacre was all you could call it. Bodies and blood everywhere. The smell burning your nose and stinging your eyes, your stomach turned as you moved forward. You refused to look too closely, less you see someone you knew.
“Jesus…” Leon muttered from beside you.
“Open up! Hurry! Open up!” It was the perfect escape from standing beside the dead, your feet moving you into the Watchman’s Room and towards the banging shutter. “Open this Goddamn door!” Elliot’s voice cracked and it made your throat clench.
“Leon!” You shouted, trying to tug up the shutter yourself and letting out a groan as nothing happened. “Hold on, Elliot, we’re going to get you out!”
Leon was by your side in a second, helping to lift the shutter up but like the other one, it only rose enough for Elliot’s hands to stick through, a tiny book clenched tightly in his left. “Help me! Please! Help me!”
You and Leon both reached for one hand each, clutching on tight as Elliot crawled through, laid on his back. The smile that had begun to make its way to your face dropped in the instant that Elliot screamed and blood splattered everywhere. On your shoes and legs, but you barely focus on that as you and Leon pull harder.
Elliot still screamed, his weight lighter as he slipped under the shutter. Or half of him did.
It was like one of those scenes in a horror movie. Where the main characters think everything is going right until they are faced with blood and intestines – and fuck, bile threatened to make its way from your mouth and onto the floor. Never in your life did you think you would have to see someone literally torn in half in front of your eyes. Never did you think it would have been someone you knew.
Your ears rung as Elliot screamed and whimpered, his eyes rolling around and skin turning whiter than snow. All can you could do is stare in shock as he succumb to the pain, screams fading away and body turning limp.
You wished you could give into the grief you felt like an all consuming presence. Curl up in a ball and cry for the rest of the night at what you had just seen. But you couldn’t. Not when the dead were violently banging against the shutter and the door to the hallway, not when Elliot risked his life for the little book in your hand.
Not when you weren’t quite ready to die a gruesome death.
The book fit snuggly in your back pocket, and your gun felt heavy in your hands as you raised it just as the door opened, not even giving Leon a chance as you fired off shot after shot until the body of the officer fell to the floor with a thump. None of them were perfect, but they hit and that was all that mattered.
You moved before Leon could say anything, striding out of the door with a purpose, his heavier footsteps following behind you. The window to the left smashed as a zombie fell in, but you ignored it, continuing down the hallway only to stop as a door up ahead burst open and two zombies stumbled out.
Leon was a better shot. There was no doubt about it as he fired and hit right between the eyes, normally it would evoke some kind of competition in you but all you could think about was getting back in the Main Hall and figuring out what Elliot meant by a way out. So, instead you focused on your own zombie, frowning as it fell before you were running toward the shutter.
He gestured for you to go first and you didn’t need to be told twice, getting onto your stomach and shimming underneath before turning back around to see Leon shuffling behind you, a shout leaving your mouth as a zombie gripped his leg while you gripped his hands.
Leon grunted, trying to get it off but the zombie was persistent, climbing further through and all you could see were Leon’s panicked eyes as you did your best to pull him further forward, because you would be damned if what happened to Elliot happened to him.
With that thought and a grunt, you managed to pull him further forward, half laid on your legs as the zombie clutched his foot just as the shutter came down. Brains splattered all over the floor and Leon’s hand gripping your thighs.
He didn’t move, and you didn’t move him – and you wished you were under better circumstances to make a comment about having him between your legs but your eyes were more focused on the man leaning against the shutter, hand clutched to his bloody side.
“Marvin!” It left your mouth in a strangled shout, and your hands were finally pushing Leon away as you scrambled to your feet to run towards the man, gently wrapping him into some awkward hug that had him patting your back with a weak chuckle.
“Well, I’d say I’m happy to see you but under the circumstances…” He missed out as you nodded, his hand resting on your shoulder in a way that you weren’t sure was comfort but more to steady himself.
“I get it.” You muttered back with a frown as you looked to his side. “Are you -” You couldn’t bring yourself to say the word as he nodded, a pained look taking over his face as you clenched your fists as though it would help hold back the wave of emotions. “You should have left.”
“And you should’ve stayed out of town – why’d you come back, kid?”
“Didn’t realise everything had gone to shit until we were nearly eaten at a gas station outside of town.” You said with a scoff before turning back to look at Leon who was staring at the shutter with wide eyes. “Leon – this is Leon, by the way, Leon Kennedy – managed to get us away and we came here.” You explained as Leon blinked at the use of his name and turned to look at you.
You tried to ask silently if he was ok, but there were so many emotions dancing behind his eyes – you understood that but you had mastered long ago the art of locking things behind doors and dealing with them at another time or never. Instead you held out a hand and pulled him from the floor when he took it.
“Marvin Branagh.” Marvin introduced, offering out a bloody hand for Leon to take once he let go of yours. Leon hesitated for a second before taking it. “You the Leon Kennedy I called to stay away?”
“That’s me.” Leon muttered, nodding his head and eyes drifting back to the shutters. Guilt strong in his eyes. “There was another officer...we couldn’t…”
“Elliot.” You whispered as Marvin turned to look at you.
He had always had this ability to see through masks people wore. A mark of a good officer who could spot a lie a mile away and a conflicting emotion with a single glance, and you were no exception.
You may not have been crying or anything, but you knew by the way he looked you over that you were feeling every bit of guilt, sadness and fear that you refused to show or allow yourself to be buried under. So you weren’t surprised when he placed a heavy hand on your shoulder, squeezing it and ignoring you as you winced.
“I’m sure you did what you both could.” His hand moved around your shoulder, pulling you away from the shutter and beckoning Leon to follow.