A Sickly Sweet Reverie (Leon Kennedy X OC) [BOOK 3]

Chapter 5: Next time, I'm driving

"Alright, Hunnigan says if we take these stairs and pass through the education building, we'll end up back in the courtyard. There's an exit to the main road there."

I released the slide of my weapon, basking in the satisfying click of the bullet slipping into the chamber, "Lead the way."

I fiddled with the magazine, careful not to catch Leon's eye as he passed. I'm fine, whether he believes it or not, so all we need to worry about is getting out of here and getting some fucking answers.

With a curt nod, Leon moved through the door, and started hiking up the long flights of stairs in silence. We climbed up and up, the smell of plaster tickling my nose as we hit the first floor.

Leon slowly opened the door at the top of the stairs that led us into another wide corridor. A cool breeze swept through the hall from a few of the shattered windows along the outside wall. Chips of glass littered the floor, crunching together under my sneakers with each step.

I stopped, glancing out the broken window to the ground below. The body of what might have been a student was splattered on the campus sidewalk, surrounded by a pool of blood. Even in the darkness I could see shadows shifting under the latticework of tree branches and leaves in the small open courtyard.

I pulled my gaze away from the window and continued to trail after Leon, every step fueled by anger. How many young lives were lost? He opened a set of worn double doors at the end, depositing us at the back of a raised lecture hall.

"Where is everyone?" Helena whispered.

"Hopefully they got off campus," I murmured, shuffling along the back walkway toward the row of stairs on the left. The board was still filled with scribbles of the lesson that was being taught that day, college algebra.

As I took my first step onto the stairs, my foot banged into an empty soda can hidden behind the leg of a seat. The metal clanged against each step, each hit seemingly louder than the last, until it stopped at the base of the professor's desk.

Groans sounded as figures rose up from below the lecture seats, their dead gazes swinging toward me. The once youthful faces were now distorted and pale, the cracks forming at their mouths dripped blood as they curled their lips back to display blackened teeth.

Two stepped onto the staircase ahead of me while the other started dragging himself over the angled seats. I began to raise my weapon but hesitated. We need to conserve as much ammo as possible.

I stepped forward, pressing my shoe into the first's chest to send him falling back down the shallow steps. The zombie behind him staggered when the tumbling zombie bashed into his side, but quickly regained himself to continue his ascent. Leon fired, dropping the zombie on the stairs as I moved down, heading straight for the corpse I'd kicked down the stairs.

It began to rise from the floor but I pressed my foot into its shoulder to stop his climb. It snarled and snapped at the flesh of my ankle that was just out of reach. I raised my foot, bringing it down on the zombies head with a wet crunch.

Leon stopped at the bottom of the steps, studying me for a moment as I picked up my foot and scraped it along the floorboards. I avoided his concerned gaze, keeping my expression blank. After a moment, he continued past me toward the exit at the back of the class.

The next hall was almost identical to the last, the difference being the large vending machine painting the space in a fluorescent white light. A bloody handprint was streaked along the front, and the light reflected off more blood pooling at the foot of the machine. I stepped over the blood as Helena spoke.

"How did you...survive Raccoon City?" Her voice was steady, like she was hoping this kernel of knowledge may help her survive this night.

It was a loaded question. Training, luck, or over the backs of people who lost their lives. Marvin Branaugh's face flashed into my mind as I answered.