The unicorn medallion seals into its rightful place at the statue with a groaning mechanism pushing aside another piece of whatever was blocking the path below. Behind you Claire is conversing with a bitten officer, something about the cop she had come into town with. Apparently the man had made it to one of the locked gates near the break room, so your next task was to get there and figure out if you could get him inside.
The two of you walk side by side up the stairway, quietness radiating from the brunette beside you. She had been distressed by Marvin's declining health and you both knew he wouldn't last through the night at this rate. Maybe not even the hour.
"So," you start, once you're walking inside the waiting room. "Is this cop we're looking for your boyfriend or something?"
Claire raises a brow at you, shaking her head with a chuckle. "No, we just met tonight. Why, you jealous?"
You manage a chuckle, though she's pretty correct. "Haha, fuck you."
She lets out a genuine laugh at your words, pausing at the doorway to let you pass through first when she's sure there's no sign of zombies. Claire wanders inside a room to the left of the waiting room while you stand guard outside, keeping a close watch for any unwanted visitors.
You wondered how long this would last; the looming threat of undead horrors. You'd been in the city for little over a couple of hours now but how long had RC been like this? Surely, by the state of things around town, it had been in chaos for a day or so at least. Would you make it out alive, and if you did, would the rest of the world be like this?
Claire returns just in time to swoop you out of the dark place your mind was dancing close to going. She furrows her brows, places a hand on your shoulder and squeezes gently. "You okay?" The gesture makes you blink rapidly, trying to focus on the present time rather than your own thinking.
"Yeah, just fine."
She tilts her head to the side, bangs fanning over her cheeks as she does. "What's up?" Claire's eyes simmer with curiosity and concern, searching over your face for signs of distress.
"I was just wondering about if we're going to get out of this and if we do, what if the rest of the world is like this?"
Claire nods in acknowledgment of your words. Truth is, she had thought about those same things from the moment she saw the first zombie in the gas station outside of town. But she was optimistic, Claire Redfield was not one to be held down or suffocated under pressure. And she damn sure would not die in this city.
"We're going to make it out, I know it. When we do we're going to find somewhere safe, and we'll worry about everything else after that. I got your back, Y/N, I won't let anything happen to you."
You allow your eyes to wander over her face for a minute, feigning that you were only taking a moment to recuperate, but in reality you're studying this angelic survivor you've found yourself stuck with. The distance between the two of you had considerably fallen during this small exchange, so much so that you could almost feel the warmth of her breath fanning over your cheeks.
Before you can reply, a choppy whirring sound rumbles throughout the hallway. Accompanying it is the sound of an aircraft, a helicopter, spinning rapidly out of control and into the side of the RPD. Claire grabs hold of the wall to steady herself at the aftershock of the collision, your own arms extending to catch yourself alongside her.
You sigh. "Well, fuck this place very much."
The rain tapping down on you is cold, rolling over your warm cheeks in quiet drips while you watch the scene unfold in front of you. Sure, she had mentioned a cop, she had mentioned they came into town together. What you hadn't expected was for him to be charming and, apparently, devilishly handsome in a puppy dog sort of way.
You're not sure why it makes your cheeks tingle with warmth–watching the two interact–but it does; there's no logical reason you should be jealous of him. One, there's an entire outbreak happening and flirting should be the very least of your worries. Two, he seems really sweet, he even asked if you were doing okay when Claire introduced you.
She doesn't have a key for the gate to let him in, which you do feel bad about. Who knows what else was out there? And even if this rookie cop did make your newfound companion smile like a high school girl, you wouldn't wish any harm to come to him. Especially not now.
Leon's eyes study something behind him, the corpses strewn about are beginning to reanimate themselves after the ridiculous helicopter crash.
"Leon, just go, please." Claire's voice tells him, his expression lingering with hesitation and worry. You step to join her, keeping an eye on the corpses behind him.
And, finally, Leon Kennedy turns on his heel to get himself somewhere safe–as safe as it could be.
"We're gonna make it. All of us."
:
"You okay back there?"
You glance up at Claire, sliding your newfound shotgun over your shoulder quietly as she works on twisting a valve you'd found downstairs into a pipe. The weapons locker had provided the both of you with a new weapon for your journey through the night; a sweet shotgun and Claire's grenade launcher.
"You've been extra quiet since we left Leon," she comments, smiling victoriously when the path clears of steam, revealing a shower room ahead of you. The rubble clinks and scatters to the side when Claire gives a gentle kick with the toe of her boot.
"Yup. Nothin' to worry about, Red."
She furrows her brows, a smile forming on her lips. "Red?"
"It seemed fitting."
Claire seems unsure of your words but writes it off as the stress of your situation. After all, it was a messy situation; being trapped in a police station during a zombie outbreak, as unreal as the situation sounded. Claire Redfield, an angel in leather, was built to survive this situation, you knew it. But what about you?
Claire found herself hoping so.
The hallway to the S.T.A.R.S office is dark and slick with rain, shattered glass scattered across the path allowing it to rush through. A trail of ruby blood litters the floor and Claire's arm extends to stop you from walking forward.
"Wait," she whispers, pointing her finger to a strange occurrence just ahead of you. Perched on the ceiling is...something. It has the anatomy of an animal without any skin, a creature purely designed with fleshy tendons and sharp teeth protruding from the mouth. When the two of you creep forward with hesitant steps, Claire clutching her grenade launcher with whitened knuckles, you stumble backwards when it shoots out a dangerously long tongue and yanks the corpse on the floor up to itself.
"What the fuck is that?" You whisper, removing the shotgun from your shoulders to match Claire's defensive stance.
The closer you get, it doesn't move.
You swallow, leaning close to Claire's ear. "I think it's blind, it hasn't even spotted us."
"Then it uses hearing, maybe."
The two of you exchange a glance, a quiet decision being passed between the two of you. You could risk shooting it and alerting it or slip inside the office as quietly as possible. The second option becomes favorable, but what if you need to pass through the hallway again? Anything could provoke it from now to then.
Claire swallows, "at the same time."
She slips a fire round into her weapon, you check the chamber of your shotgun and on a silent count to three, you both pull your triggers. The monstrosity lets out a piercing scream, similar to that of a bobcat, and lurches down from the ceiling. You just happen to be the unlucky target.
Claire shouts your name while trying to push another round into her gun, frantic worry overwhelming her. You reach your arms up to shield you from the dangerously sharp teeth, bringing the shotgun up with you. When the beast opens its mouth, you shove the barrel of the gun inside.
It wails, trying to fling your gun to the side with it's unusually long tongue, but you pull the trigger before it can. A spurt of dark blood splatters across your face, the licker screaming in your ears, and finally, a knife plunges into the squishy brain atop the head.
It collapses on top of your form, a heavy grunt escaping you in the process. But it appears to be dead. Claire appears over the licker, eyes staring down at you with concern. "Are you okay?"
You manage to free your hand from underneath the fallen monstrosity, giving her a thumbs up. "This is shaping up to be a great night."
She lets out a relieved sigh and helps you push the corpse off of yourself, offering her hands to help you up. As soon as you're standing Claire makes an effort to check you over, eventually satisfied that you're okay. Your legs burn when you step forward, and looking down at your bandages reveals a fresh ruby coating of blood.
Claire pushes open the door to the office, holding it open for you. You push forward to take a seat in the first chair you see, which just happens to be next to a jacket hanging on the wall.
"Hey, Claire? Isn't this the same patch on your jacket?" You wonder, fingers grazing the leather material before tugging it into your lap. "Is this your brother's?"
She turns to where you're sitting, rushing over to examine the jacket. "That's his jacket, definitely." A pause. "Now where the hell is he?"
You make your way inside the office tucked in the office, scavenging what you could and grinning at the sight of a battery.
"Hey, Claire! I think I found our next medallion solution!"
᯽ ݁
❛ a filler chapter! things pick up once we get to the bit where chief bitchons shows up.
♡ ⃕ ℛ