Words to Live by [Leon Kennedy]

thirteen. for now

September 29th.

"Leon..."

Paralyzed with terror, Josephine stood transfixed in the doorway, her gaze locked on a tall window. Beyond the glass, a gnarled tree with twisted vines and lush leaves supported eerie, humanoid-shaped plants. What rooted her to the spot, however, was the massive venus flytrap pressing the body of a scientist against the thick, splintered glass.

Leon matched her pace as she approached cautiously, a flickering purple light catching his eye. It illuminated a body clad in a yellow hazmat suit. "There," he pointed upward, guiding Josephine's gaze. "But there's no way we can get it down from there..."

Josephine's eyes dropped to the floor as she chewed her lip in thought. "They can't keep something like this around without a contingency plan..." she murmured. "These people might be reckless, but they aren't stupid."

Leon scoffed under his breath. "I'm not so sure about that last part."

"There's gotta be a way to neutralize it."

The deputy strode to a door in the back corner of the room. "Then let's find one." He motioned to the exit, allowing Josephine to take the lead through a curved hallway shrouded in leafy vines, heightening their unease. A door at the end came into view, labeled 'GreenHouse Control.'

"In here," the young soldier whispered, creaking the door open.

Inside, the room was filled with familiar equipment, reminiscent of what Josephine remembered from high school. For a brief moment, she felt grateful that science had always been one of her stronger subjects. Instinctively, the brunette was drawn to a monitor that dominated the entire right wall, positioned beside a window overlooking the greenhouse.

It was a digital map showing a room inside the greenhouse and what Josephine assumed was a ladder, both marked with a red lock. Beneath the map was a keypad, but instead of numbers or letters, it displayed strange symbols.

"Over here. We can neutralize it with this," Leon announced.

Josephine abandoned the monitor and leaned in close over Leon's shoulder, watching him press random buttons on the quaint control dock.

"Dispersal Cartridge empty."

Feeling her presence so near, Leon stole a glance at her over his shoulder, then huffed. But something else seemed to catch his eye as he left the control dock and began rummaging through random drawers. "Hey, what's on the map?" he inquired while fumbling around with a walkie-talkie.

Josephine strode back over to the monitor, responding. "Uh, there's a ladder and a...Drug testing lab?" She shrugged cluelessly.

The deputy reappeared beside her, nodding as she gazed up at the map. "Okay, that sounds pretty promising, right?"

"You see that red thing? It's locked."

He nodded, undeterred. "Stay here and look for the codes," he insisted, holding out one of two walkie-talkies. "I can go check it out."

"What happened to not splitting up?" Joey asked, worry lines etching themselves into her face as she took the walkie-talkie from him.

"It'll be okay. We're almost done," he reassured her softly.

Her gaze lingered on him for a moment, filled with concern, before she held the radio up to her mouth and spoke, "Testing, testing." Once her own static-filled voice echoed from Leon's radio, she nodded and led him to the door of the greenhouse.

"I'll let you know if I find anything." She reached for the door, but turned back. "But if you get into any trouble at all you come back here, okay?" Her tone left no room for argument—not that Leon would want to anyway.