▎chapter three : raccoon police department.
▎content warning : gore, blood, violence, character death, resident evil 2 spoilers.
▎character pairing : leon kennedy x fem!reader.
▎taglist : @phoenix666stuff .
"ATTENTION ALL CITIZENS;"
The sudden announcement from the radio catches everyone in the cars attention. Claire, who was at first slumped against the door beside her, the side of her forehead digging into the glass uncomfortably, was now wide awake– paying attention to whatever the man was announcing.
With one hand, you held up your fingers to the radio, turning on the volume as you reached the city.
"Due to the citywide outbreak, you are advised to take shelter at the Raccoon City police station. Free food and medical supplies will be provided to everyone in need."
"God, this is unreal.." Claire mutters.
You bit your lip in worry as your eyes casted around the city's situation, feeling yourself warm up uncomfortably. If this outbreak was city wide, that means your family was no where near safe. Just the idea of your parents hurt or harmed made your grip on the steering wheel tighten. Had they perhaps turned into those.. things..?
"You two are headed to the station right?" You turned your head around to look at them, watching as they nodded as an answer. "The stations not much farther, I'll drop you both there."
Both looked confused as to what you were implying, "You're not coming with us?" Leon questioned, making you indistinctivly losen your grip on the wheel.
"I'm heading home, I need to know if they're safe." It was recklessly dangerous and stupid, but they're your family.
Knowing who 'they' is, Leon shakes his head. "It's too dangerous, come with us instead." He protests, shoving another plan right in your head instead. You shook your head immediately as soon as his words came out of the dirty blonds mouth, exhaling heavily.
The two newly acquaintances of yours only watched you from the back, noticing how you've tensed up and how you're mannerisms looked like you were beginning to get frustrated.
The car comes to a stop when you've reached a barricaded road, with cars lined up unorderly on the other side. You cursed under your breath, finding this whole thing severely frustrating. Your house was far from where you are, if you're walking there you might as well just kill yourself right now.
"Fucking hell. Looks like we're walking.." the two heard your exhausted sigh, watching as you rubbed your face with the palm of your hand.
"More like running." You turned to where the two were looking at, noticing two undead feasting on another human. You pursed your lips, brows furrowing in annoyance. You hear shuffling behind you, and you see the two pulling out their guns.
"Good call." Leon curtly nods before a yell comes out of his mouth as an undead bangs on his door, followed by Claire who gets the same fate. You watched as your car gets surrounded by undead, ignoring the rotting cannibal banging its head on your window while you tried to steady your breathing.
Claire yells out your name, "You gotta back up!" She orders you, nervously scooting away from the door next to her as she was now in between the passenger and drivers seat. You did as what you were told, revving the engine and trying to back up. The whole this was hopeless as those things were in all areas outside your car, soon if you don't thing fast they'll be inside.
"What the—!?" Claire yells, looking behind her when she noticed the lights flashing. You turned to look behind as well, noticing the large truck you passed by from earlier. And it was now heading towards you.
"Fuck! Get out!" You hissed out, unlocking the doors and shouldering your door to get it open. The undead were jamming their weights and strength on all your doors, leaving you and the other two stuck inside. The truck was getting closer and closer, and in the midst of your panicking Leon yells out a loud 'hold on.'
You did as what he told, bracing yourself the impact heading. The truck suddenly swerved in another direction, but it still crashed into the side of your car. You yelled a groan at the impact, your car getting flung forward at the impact. You crashed in another car, providing another impact that send you back to your cushioned seat, knocking the air out of your lungs.
Kicking your door open, you threw yourself out of the car, clothed knees scraping on the rough road. You stabilized yourself up, coughing roughly as you held your stomach. You notice Leon not so far from you, and upon seeing you he looks at the gas truck in front of you.
"Shit, get down!" He yells, running towards you and shielding you from the explosion the gas tank causes as soon as Leon reaches you. A pained yell escapes you when your back collides on the car behind you, grunting when you fall right on top of Leon who rescued you from getting barbecued.
Leon loses his hold on you, his arm falling to the side as you tried to regain your focus after your life flashed right before your eyes and blacking out for half a second.
"You alright there?" He pats your lower back, as if trying to snap you awake.
"Fuck no, I felt like that explosion took five years from my life." You groaned, putting your hands on his covered chest and pushing yourself up. You looked around slightly before holding your hand out for him, watching as he accepted your gesture.
"Claire?!" You called out, uncaring that the undead are slowly starting to get back on their feet, groggily walking towards you and Leon.
"Yeah?!" You heard her respond, followed by three shots ringing in the air. "You alright?!"
"I'm alright, how about you?!" She yelled out, almost sounding out if breath. You were about to call put to her again until the man behind you take a hold of your wrist, aiming his gun at the undead surrounding you.
"We can't stay here, it's not safe!" He yells at you, but also at Claire as if trying to inform her something.
"Go on ahead! I'll meet you at the station!" She responds, and Leon looks back at you, curtly nodding his head. You bit your lip, "But what—" he grips on your wrist tighter, looking into your eyes.
"She'll be fine on her own, she can handle herself." He mutters. You looked hesitant, but looking around you there was no need to be wasting anymore time. You nodded, easing up to him as Leon lead you to where his destination is.
You tugged on his arm when he goes another way, catching his attention, you dragged eachother to an alleyway, an easy way to the station that wasn't on the road. Stopping in your tracks when you come across an undead, it was still rising up from the ground, and Leon brutally kicked it back on the floor, giving you time to run from it.
Going up a set of stairs, the sight of the station makes him exhale a breath he didn't know he was holding. "There it is, the station." He mutters. You looked around you, noticing the amount of undead all over the gate.
"There's so much of it." A frown overtakes you, your voice low that even you barely hear yourself.
"Let's make a run for it, okay? I'll cover." Leon perked up, catching your attention while grasping your hand. You nod nonetheless despite wanting to break down right then and there, pushing back the bile rising up your throat.
Leading the way, he runs to a clear pathway, shooting behind you when an undead gets way too close for comfort. You flinch when blood gets on your exposed skin, not finding the strength to look back at the dead bodies left behind.
Leon notices your quietness, feeling guilty but in your mind right now your batting the heads of zombies while your brother is pitching. Everytime you hit the head, you'd be cussing out as if singing a song.
You both finally reached the large gates, with Leon letting you go in first as he trailed behind. He shuts the door, locking it. He turns to you, looking at you worriedly. "You alright? You're awfully pale."
The question caught you off guard, your little gorey fantasy world shutting off as soon as his voice reached your ears. You nodded, "Yep, just reeling in everything." You mustered up a small smile that wrote 'wtf' all over it.
Leon decided not to poke more into your situation nonetheless, he bobs his head to the stations wooden door, as if waiting for your signal. You turned on your heel, removing your eyes from the sight of zombies in front of you and took steady steps towards the door. Leon trails right behind you.
Cold hands rested on the large wooden doors, pushing it open. The station looked exactly like the museum you loved to visit once a year when you were still a little girl. Same interior structure, but now a difference purpose.
The lights were awfully dim, and while you were looking around Leon had already found some important stuff.. like ammos.
You snapped your attention back, now walking towards the wooden counter. You stepped to the monitor that was flashing a bright red on the screen. Leon is now beside you, looking down at the screen as you pressed on a key. The CCTV control service pops up on the screen and you bent slightly down to focus on the screen better.
"There has to be someone here." Leon mutters. On cam4, revealed a man being trailed by another undead, he was a police officer, of course judging by his uniform.
"God, that's not good." You hissed worridly, your face scrunching when he misses his shots at the zombie.
"David! Marvin! You there?" His voice was rushed and uneven from how his breathing was unsteady. He looked into the camera, showing something you couldn't pinpoint exactly what it was. "I found a way out, It's in here!"
You stood back up as he was cornered by the undead, not wanting to look at the scene unfold anymore. "Send reinforcement, east hallway!"
"We have to help him." You perked up, catching Leon's attention after looking at the cameras. He nods curtly, "I'll find him, but you stay here and check anything that seems valuable." You furrowed your brows at his words, unhappy.
"Like hell I will—"
"Listen—"
"No, you listen, Kennedy. I am coming with you and I don't give a single shit if you say it's dangerous." You glared at him, watching as he only rose a brow. "Jesus Christ, alright." He huffs, lifting his hand up in surrender as if there was a fight in the first place.
You smiled, pleased by the outcome.
"Let's go."
"Heugh—! hah.."
You watched from behind as the blond in front of you push back a toppled over cabinet, the action making the metal storage clank down in the floor.
Your whistle catches his attention, making him turn to look at you.
"What?"
He felt himself burn up at your little smug smile, and you just brushed off his confused question. You both resumed walking, the heel of your shoe softly padding against the tiled floor as you trailed behind Leon, holding the flashlight he found in the gas stations convenience store.
Both of you come across a bloodied corner after turning from where you came from, and your senses heightened at the sight. Your ears rang as you heard a man yell from another direction, and you immediately sprang into action without a single thought.
"Open this God damn door!" You heard the man from the camera yell, banging on the steel door I'm the process. Panicked, bent down and held on the steel doors handle, using your strength to pry the door open. The door seemed as if it was jammed as it didn't want to open up more farther, so when the man's hand came into view you had no choice but to pull him in.
"I've got you! Just crawl—" You bit your lip, hard, desperately trying to get the man on your side. You could see Leon try to get the door to open again, only for him to pause when the man whose hand you're holding let's out a gurgled scream as blood seeped through his uniform.
You could feel your heart thumping on your chest, the sight making your skin crawl. "Fuck— shit, hold on!" You sniffled, pulling him in again as he only cried out. The scream was agonizing, and it didn't help how you could hear his flesh being feasted on from the other side.
Falling back on the ground roughly, the man was now pulled on your side of the door, only to be revealed that his lower body is missing. His organs were out in the open, his blood rushing out and pooling around his body, soaking the back of his uniform.
Your breath hitched at his state, your hand coming up to hold your incoming scream.
"..Jesus Christ." Leon mutters, looking down at the body as the man loses his consciousness. Leon then changes his gaze to the steel door, the sound of your sniffles being silenced by the zombie on the other side of the door. He sighs before picking up the notebook of the officer, opening it.
Leon turns to you after inspecting the notebook, his lips pursing as a loud exhale escapes his nose at your state. He crouched down at your slumped form, squatting in front of you as you're back was rested on the bloody wall.
You trying to muffle your sniffles was absolutely destroying, just listening to you right now made Leon's heart burn. But you've gotta continue moving.
"Come on, we've got to keep going." He pats your shoulder gently, listening as your sniffles slowly start calming down. Your head was hidden in your arms, disliking the idea of the man in front of you seeing your tears, yet hear you are breaking down after a man gets torn in half.
Another zombie from the door you went from started banging on the wooden door, catching your attention. Your head snapped to look at the sound, and as soon as the zombie breaks into the room you stood back up to your feet.
Leon stands up, shielding you from the undead that just broke in. The undead staggers unsteadily before lunging itself at Leon. The dirty blond man grunts, holding back the zombie with his hand around it, choking it. He pushes himself and the zombie back to the wooden door, only to throw himself to the side when the zombie tried to bite his hand.
The zombie staggered back from Leon's throw, growling and gurgling blood admist the silence. It's white glare on Leon shifted back to you, and you could hear it's flesh mushing together when it twists its body to your direction.
Before the rotting cannibal could throw itself at you, your hand instinctively grabbed the nearest thing you could use to defend yourself on the desk beside you. Which was a desk lamp. It's light shuts off as soon as it gets plugged off from your sudden force.
When the zombie runs towards you, at a safe space, you brutally swung the lamp at its head. A chunk of rotting flesh of the zombies head gets chucked off from the pressure of your hit.
The zombie hits the side of the desk, and before it could even fix its balance Leon had already shot at its head, blowing it up. Blood gushed on the desk, and without wasting anymore time Leon grabs your hand, snapping you out of your somewhat shocked-state.
You both stepped out of the room, and you could see another zombie banging on the window of the hallway. It breaks in, and Leon cussed out loudly at it, but instead of defending both of you he holds on your hand tighter. "Let's just run for it!"
Letting him drag you through the hallways, your footsteps were loud and echoing through the halls. Your head is dizzy and you don't bother to watch where you're headed, as if you've completely trusted your life on the hands of the man in front of you.
He comes to a stop, putting a hand on your shoulder and you've realized the familiar place. You crouch down and laid your body straight on the bloody floor as Leon tried to make the gap on the gate slightly wider, but not wide enough for a zombie to crawl in easily.
"Hurry." You could hear him mutter. You've now crossed the main hall, and you see Leon getting down, crawling on the space of the door. A zombie suddenly let's itself known, reaching for Leon's leg before you could even realize.
"Damn it!" He curses, looking back at the zombie behind him. He could feel your hand on his arm, pulling him from the zombie despite his heaviness.
Then suddenly you notice a pair of black shoes and the same colored uniform pants those zombified officers were wearing. "Careful—" You started, reaching out your hand to the man as soon as you made sure Leon was safe from the bloody hands grabbing at him.
"I got it." He gruffly speaks up, pressing his foot down on the steel door, crushing it's body from the pressure. You looked down at the crushed zombie before looking up at the man, exhaling lightly.
His hand was pressed up on the bloody wound on his stomach, his breath heavy with his chest heaving up and down. His back pressed up on the steel door, slightly sliding down, "You're safe, for now." He grunts, face scrunching up painfully.
"Thank you." You perked up, your face showing nothing but genuine gratefulness.
"Marvin Branagh." He introduced himself, which followed by Leon doing the same. You stated your first name to the new acquaintance, his uniform reminding you of a particular death.
"..–there was another officer, and i couldn't save him– he–" You felt a hand on your shoulder, the same hand who held yours earlier. You trailed off your sentence, the officers death flashing and replaying in your head.
"I'm sure you did what you could, little one." Marvin takes a step towards you, bobbing his head in acknowledgement, his words providing some kind of comfort and reassurance.
"He died... for what?" Your voice was small, weak and fragile. With the bile rising up your throat, you found yourself having trouble trying to breathe again. God, you hated feeling like this, just breaking down in front of people. You disliked feeling weak. You disliked being seen vulnerable.
But you couldn't help it anymore. That one particular death would haunt you, especially because it was your fault. You could've saved him if you pulled him through faster. If you got there in time. If you weren't so weak.
Leon pulls out a specific notebook after those words escaped your mouth, flipping through the pages to find the little map that officer drew. He shuffles beside you, catching your attention.
"Died for this."
