Gwen climbed onto Leon's back. He hoisted her up, cupping her thighs while she wrapped her arms around his neck loosely, making sure not to strangle him. He walked over to a jammed lift and hopped down with Gwen on his back. The archivist was impressed when he jumped down into the monitor room and landed without an issue. "Who're you? Super-Man?"
Leon chuckled as he readjusted her slightly. "I could be."
"You might look good in spandex," Gwen smirked, imagining Leon in a skintight suit. The blonde went to look over his shoulder to peer at her face, but she stopped him by placing a kiss on his cheek.
Leon pulled out a chair with his foot and allowed Gwen to sit down. He kneeled in front of her, placing a hand on her knee. "Stay here and rest. I'm going to look around."
Then, the two heard a loud groan coming from beyond the garbage room. Leon retracted his hand as he faced the direction of the noise. "I don't like the sound of that..."
Gwen's eyes squinted as she looked out the cloudy windows adjacent from where she sat. "What the hell could that be?"
"Not sure." Leon approached the glass, placing his hand against the cool surface. He surveyed the garbage room and his eyes locked on to a bright crimson object. He was able to make out what, or rather who, it was. "Ada!"
"She's in there?" Gwen gasped.
"Yeah." Leon knocked on the window, wondering if she could hear him. "Ada!" He received no response from the woman.
"Leon, we need to find a way to get to Ada," the archivist said, ready to stand up and help him.
The blonde stopped her before she could get up from the chair. "I'll find a way. You stay here and rest. I don't know what the hell that thing did to you, but you're still pale."
"But, Leon-"
The officer silenced her with a kiss. "Just rest, Gwen."
The young woman reclined in the chair, knowing she wouldn't win this argument. "Be careful, Leon. Who knows what else is down here with us."
The blonde placed a hand on top of her head with an affectionate smile. "I will. You focus on getting better."
<--------<<<<<<<<<
Learning what he needed to reach Ada, Leon departed from the monitor room in search of three missing plugs. Luckily, they were designed with chess pieces and he already knew where one was. Now all he had to do was bring the three remaining plugs back and place them in the correct power panels.
Before heading down to the lower waterway, Leon searched by the cable car and found a T-Bar valve. Searching his memories, he remembers spotting a sign with the picture of a T-Bar handle beside a door before Gwen was grabbed by the monster in the lower waterway. "Guess I'll be paying that thing another visit."
The officer backtracked and headed through the only other door he hadn't been through. Down the stairwell, Leon was nearly grabbed by a zombie in a neon vest, but he was able to draw his knife and stab the animated corpse through the skull. He went to reclaim his blade but was stopped by another zombie wearing a navy blue jumpsuit. The blonde pulled out his handgun and shot the dead man a few times before his body became lifeless. With both assailants dead, he yanked his combat knife out of the construction worker's head. "Sorry, but I'm going to need that back."
Leon found a lever on the wall, pulling it and unsealing the left tunnel of the lower waterway. He entered the murky water and headed down the pathway, hoping the monster from earlier was gone. Morosely, the slimy creature emerged from a pipe and obscured his path. Ignoring the pile of flesh, Leon ran around it and reached where he spotted the sign.
Using the T-Bar valve, he opened the shutter to the workroom lift. He rode the small lift up into an unfamiliar room. A dead body was sprawled out on the floor, the officer unsure if the man was truly dead. Peering through the bars on the metal door, Leon knew exactly where he was as he eyed the Rook plugged into the electrical panel. The blonde unlocked the door and meandered out into the corridor. He snatched the Rook and headed back into the workroom, where the corpse on the floor became sentient. "Shit!"
Leon grabbed his pistol and shot the zombie directly between the eyes, its head exploding and covering a portion of the room with blood. He descended on the lift and headed back the way he came, dancing around the mountain of flesh before it could grab him.
Before stepping up onto dry land, a passageway by the stairwell leading to the cable car and monitor room caught his eye. "Guess I've got no other choice..." He pulled himself out of the sewage, determined to find the two remaining chess pieces. So far, he was only in need of the King and Queen.
Down the path, Leon used the T-Bar handle again to reveal a new area-the bottom waterway. Unlike previous sections of the sewer, this one was much larger and seemed to be a maze with all the piles of what seemed to be mix of garbage, sewage, and body parts. The young man walked across the catwalk and down a ladder.
(A/n: The bottom waterway is the worst part of the game, in my opinion, because of the Lesser G monster and how many that appear in the one area!)
Leon passed by a corpse just as something sprung from the man's chest with a hiss and dove into the sewage. "What the hell was that?!"
Maneuvering through the bottom waterway was difficult due to the amount of large monsters prowling the area. All he could even think about when he spotted one was how one of its kind grabbed ahold of Gwen and did something to her. He wasn't sure what, but it could have potentially killed her if neither she nor him had any blue herbs with them. He was glad and relieved to know Gwen had the proper medicine with her because he couldn't afford to lose her, especially since he just got her back.
With careful timing and quick movements, dodging the monsters was a cinch. Leon wasted no ammo and made it to the opposite end of the bottom waterway. He passed through the door and entered the supplies storage room. Inside, he found the King, the Queen, and a flamethrower that was locked away. He grabbed all three and left, dreading how he would have to dodge the monsters once again in order to reach the ladder.
<---------<<<<<<<<
The journey back to the monitor room was rather peaceful, which didn't bode well with Leon. When he entered the monitor room, his eyes immediately traveled over to Gwen. Her head lulled to the side slightly when the door closed behind the blonde. Walking over to her, Leon checked on her condition. He had been gone for nearly an hour in search of the remaining three plugs and had been worried about Gwen every second.
Leon pushed a few inky strands from her face, placing them behind her ear as he saw her sleeping and peaceful expression. The color had returned to her face, which relieved him. Her cheeks returned to their rosy tint and were no longer deathly pale. The azure-eyed man kissed Gwen on the forehead before he ventured over to a small television with a video cassette player attached. He remembered the cassette he and Gwen had found earlier, placing it on top of the player. Leon wanted to know what was on the video tape but decided to wait in case the archivist was just as curious as him.
With the three pieces in his grasp, Leon returned to the power panels. On the bulletin board above the table, the officer saw a note regarding which plug belongs to which panel. Unfortunately, it wasn't a straightforward note.
****
Pretty sure the Rook and Knight are on the same wall and the Bishop and Queen aren't next to each other. The Queen and Rook were opposite each other, too.
*****
"Not that helpful, but it'll do," Leon exhaled.
He swiveled on his heels to place the plugs but went wide-eyed when he saw Gwen standing a few feet away with a gentle smile etched across her face. "Can I help?"
"That depends. How're you feeling?" Leon questioned.
"Much better. I don't feel nauseous anymore from the poison and I can breathe perfectly fine."
"It was poison?" Leon had no clue. Now that he thought more about her symptoms, poison was the only plausible answer he could find. He recollected reading a document in the station regarding herbs and their properties. The blue had been the only one able to cure poisoning. "I'm glad you had some blue herbs. I was afraid I was going to lose you."
"I'm always prepared. I've got plenty of green, red, and blue herbs with me. Now that I think about, I wonder what would happen if I mixed blue herbs with my blood..."
Leon grabbed her hand before she could retrieve the glass vial from her pocket, staring intently into her crystalline eyes. "No more cutting yourself. As much as your blood is helpful with injuries, I don't want you to use another drop."
"I... I can't promise that, Leon. If my blood can save you or anyone else, I will use it." Gwen broke eye contact for a second before locking her gaze back with the blonde's.
Leon closed his eyes with a heavy sigh before opening them. "I was afraid you'd say that."
The couple was silent, the stuffy air between them suffocating. They placed the plugs in the correct panels and the mechanical lock was released, the door now open and allowing them access to the garbage room.
"Hey, Leon." Gwen called out to her lover.
"Yeah?"
"Did you watch the tape?"
"No, not yet. I was waiting for you to wake up," he replied.
Before leaving the monitor room, the duo popped the tape into the cassette player and watched as the television screen came to life with a bright flash.
*****
"Please... Oh... please... stop... S-Stop!" A weak voice begged. An open briefcase laid before the pleading man and the sound of gunfire was all that could be heard. "Don't... don't... no... no... no!"
A soldier appeared on the camera feed, the man trying to back away as he lured something towards him while unloading an entire clip of ammo. "Over here, you freak!"
The firing continued until it was accompanied by a bloodcurdling scream from the soldier as he was attacked by whatever he was taunting. "Don't hurt him... Don't hurt him...!" The man on the ground begged over and over again as the soldier's body fell and the monster he was shooting prevailed.
Rats scurried from their hiding place and slurped on what appeared to be a shattered vial that held a strange liquid.
*****
"The virus..." Leon muttered as the tape ended.
Gwen glanced up at the officer. "Do you think the rats are the reason the virus spread through the city?"
"I wouldn't be surprised if they did," the blonde replied. "Rats have been known to spread plenty of diseases. I wouldn't put this virus past them."
"I wonder if this means Annette really didn't release the virus..."
"Could be. But why would Ada lie about something like that?" Leon wondered, meeting Gwen's gaze.
"I... I don't know, Leon."
Leon eyed the mechanical door they had opened with the electrical panels. "Ada needs both of us right now. We can ask questions later."
Gwen nodded in agreement. "Yeah, let's go."
Exiting the monitor room, the companions run down the stairwell and to the garbage room door. Leon pulled in the lever, but nothing happened. "Damn, power's out."
"There's another door behind us," the woman remarked, nodding towards the door.
They ran to the door and entered the room. Inside were numerous of panels and wires scattered across the floor. "If this isn't a power room, I don't know what is," Leon commented as he found a panel with switches.
"It's just like the panel in the generator room. Just keep flipping the switches until both needles are in the red, then the power will be restored," the archivist explained. Leon understood and did exactly what Gwen said. He flipped the switches up and down until both needles were in the red. The familiar sound of the power rebooting was music to their ears. Gwen smiled as the facility emerged from darkness. "Now we can get to Ada."
"That was easier than I thought it'd be," Leon sighed in relief.
"Yeah, I'll say."
The couple were about to exit the main power room when a large hand with sharp claws ruptured the ceiling and tried to impale them, jamming the door and sparking a fire. "Jesus Christ!" Leon shouted in shock.
With no way out, Leon and Gwen backed away from the approaching flames and kept their bodies low to the floor as the monster in the ceiling used its large hand to break through the paneling in order to reach them. "What the hell is that thing?!" Gwen wailed as Leon grabbed and pulled her towards him when the appendage pierced through the ceiling exactly where she once stood.
"We need to-" The creaking of metal and a roar interrupted Leon as the monster jammed its claws into the metal shutter, tearing it from the wall and tossing it across the room. "Run!" The officer grabbed ahold of Gwen's hand and dragged her along as they dodged the creature and ran down the hallway it had emerged from.
"It's the monster we fought before!" The woman shouted as it chased after them.
"It's still alive?! How's that possible?!" Leon yelled.
"As much as I would like to know the answer, I don't think that thing's in a talking mood!" Gwen nearly tripped over her own feet when she dodged the creature's claws.
Running down the passageway, Leon and Gwen wound up back outside in the rain. They jumped down a small ledge with the monster hot on their trail. The officer grabbed the flamethrower he recently found and fired away as the monster reached them.
While Leon held off the mutated monster, Gwen hatched an idea when she spotted a hanging shipping container. Fortunately, the controls for the crane were nearby. She ran over and pressed one of the buttons. The metal container was swung to the opposite side, ready to be brought over. "Leon, get out of the way!"
Wondering what she had in mind, Leon moved to safety just as she pressed another button. The shipping container swung around and collided with the creature's body. Leon smirked at the scene, watching as the monster fought for leverage against the heavy container. "Nice work, Gwen."
The archivist's smile fell when the monster pushed the shipping container back and targeted them. Leon took Gwen in his arms and tackled her to the ground in order to avoid being impaled by its sharp claws. Leon immediately got up and drew its attention away from Gwen. As he switched out his flamethrower for his shotgun, the officer shouted at the young woman. "Use the shipping container again!"
Gwen scrambled to the control panel and smashed her fist against the button. Just like before, the metal container was transported to the other side. Once it was in position, Gwen called out to her boyfriend. "Leon, it's ready!"
"Understood!" The blonde shot a few more shells, incapacitating the monster. He ran to safety just as Gwen pressed the other button. The container smacked into the creature, forcing it to use all its strength to push against it. Due to the rain, its foot slipped and lost its balance. The only thing keeping it from falling was its claws lodged into the shipping container. Gwen pulled out her pistol and shot the eye on its right arm, causing the claws to slip from the metal and fall into the abyss below. As it fell, the scream it emitted sounded like a mix between a human and a deranged beast.
Leon was breathing heavily as he ran a hand through his soppy blonde locks. "Let's hope that's the last of him."
"At this point, I wouldn't be surprised if this isn't the last time we see that damned thing. Ada was right-nothing down here stays dead." Gwen reclined against the control panel, allowing the rain to soak ever inch of her body and cool her down.
"Yeah. I'm not getting my hopes up too high. Let's go, Gwen."