Hey guys! Sorry for the delay. School has just been so hectic with the semester coming to a close. I hope this chapter makes up for it though! I wanted to thank all of you for messaging me, subscribing, and reviewing this story. You guys really know how to make a girl feel loved! Please enjoy. :)

"Do you think we've lost them, Leon?" Ashley managed to get out while panting for air, standing behind the agent. Leon scanned his surroundings, checking to make sure that the place was secure. He shuddered as a brief memory of the lickers hiding behind the one-way glass at the Raccoon Police Station crossed his mind.

"I think we're clear for now," Leon said as he patted the girl's shoulder reassuringly. He knew what his mission was to protect the President's daughter from all harm but he couldn't help but hope that the girl knew at least how to handle a gun. It would have made things a little easier to have another pair of eyes and an extra gun to keep them going. Her eyes widened in horror when he even mentioned if she could use a gun.

'You can't keep hoping that everyone you rescue is going to be like Claire.' Leon laughed to himself. He liked to think that he was Claire's knight in shining armor that night but the truth was that girl could have handled her own. Hell, Leon would even admit that she saved him a few times as well. It was unfortunate that either of them had to go through that situation but he knew that Claire could have made it out on her own had she needed to. Claire was a survivor.

"We'll rest here for a little bit and make our way through the town," Leon said. He would have liked to push forward but taking one look at Ashley, he knew that they had to stop. They had been trying to get past the locals for at least the past hour and any adrenaline she could continue using was spent. Even he was tired but he had a mission to complete.

"Leon, we're going to be okay right?" Ashley looked up at the agent in front of her. She had been worried about what Saddler told them shortly after Leon found her. She was infected…they both were. Ashley didn't know exactly what was going to happen to her, but she had a feeling it wasn't going to be much different from those things that were chasing after her and Leon.

"Hey, we're going to be fine, okay?" Leon said, placing his hands on the girl's shoulders. "I promised both you and the President that I'd get you back home safe and sound, and that's exactly what I plan to do." Leon said adamantly, bringing brief comfort to the young woman. Leon was a fighter; a protector. It's what made him decide to be a cop when he was younger. Even though he was probably dealt the shittiest cards known to man, Leon still felt the need to protect, probably more so now than ever before. After making sure Ashley had calmed down, he took out his communicator to contact Hunnigan.

"Leon, I've got some good news," Hunnigan said through the communicator.

"Thank God, Hunnigan. What do you have for me?"

"The President has deployed the BSAA to rendezvous with you." Hunnigan answered.

"Come again?" Leon was surprised to say the least. "The BSAA? That's Chris Redfield's organization, right? Who did they deploy?"

"An agent was sent in. Any more would have caused too much attention. You'll have to keep heading north from your location to meet though." Hunnigan stated while adjusting her glasses. She was slightly frustrated. Information was not coming fast enough to her and she couldn't give Leon much more information than she already had. She didn't even know the name of the agent that was sent in.

"The BSAA is involved now? What new information was uncovered? Shit. This is a lot more serious than we though. Is this a new potential bioterrorism attack?" Leon said, his mind racing.

"Apparently, word has been received that the locals you have come in contact with are infected with an unknown virus. The BSAA agent that was sent in is responsible for helping you escort the subject out of there and to gather any other information that may be useful. I'm sorry, Leon, but that's all I really have. Everything is really hush hush on their end. They're probably trying to keep things quiet to see how bad things really are over there."

'Damnit, this means that we really can be infected then.' Leon thought to himself.

"Things are pretty bad over here, Hunnigan." Leon muttered.

"I know. Okay, you're going to hit a large barn while you're heading north, near the outskirts of town. You won't miss it. This is your meeting point, which will be at 2000 hours. That should give you enough time to get there with the subject. Understood?" Hunnigan responds, genuinely worried for the agent. She was not going to let him fail.

"Got it. Kennedy out." Leon put the communicator away, taking a look at his watch in the process. They had a little over two hours to reach their rendezvous point. Leon takes a seat on the floor, leaning against a wall, figuring they could rest for a bit before moving again.

'This doesn't look good if the BSAA is involved.' Leon didn't know much about the agency, but he knew enough to know that they were only sent in when things got messy, and especially when it dealt with bioterrorism. The only thing he knew for sure was that Chris Redfield had a lot to do with the agency's creation. 'Maybe he's the one we'll meet up with,' Leon thought, perhaps just a little sarcastically. Leon had great respect for the man, but his fighting style was just too much. He reminded Leon of a bull in a china store. Leon tried to be a bit more discreet during his missions, and now since he had to look after Ashley, he wanted to keep any kind of attention away from them.

Leon loaded and reloaded his gun, a bad habit he had picked up during his academy days. He tended to do it while he was deep in thought. What really had him worried was the fact that he and Ashley were infected. Well they didn't know for sure but between Hunnigan's report and Ashley remembering being injected with something things didn't look too good. On top of getting out of here safely, he had to search for some kind of cure or antivirus, if there was one. 'One thing at a time Kennedy, it's time to go meet this agent.'

"Come on Ashley, we need to move," Leon said, waking the girl. He felt a little bad for cutting their break short, but they really had to keep moving. He hoped that they wouldn't have any kind of run in on their way.

They made their way back around and through an entrance into the town. The area was eerily quiet, but this kept Leon on high alert. He knew never to let his guard down because shit always seemed to happen when he least expected it. He moved slowly between the buildings, holding his handgun steady by his side. He turned back towards Ashley and signaled her to stay quiet, trying to keep their presence unknown for as long as possible. 'Just a little bit further. Come on Kennedy, you've been through worse,' Leon said to himself. His thoughts went straight back to Raccoon City and the nightmare he survived there.

The sound of their feet pounding on the pavement was almost deafening. They had been running for what seemed like hours and there just seemed to be no end to these things.

"Leon, what do we do?" he heard Claire say next to him. He probably has never been so relieved to run into someone. Having Claire with him kept him grounded. It wasn't just himself he had to save. He was responsible for Claire now too. The weight of his standard issue in one hand and holding Claire's hand in the other kept Leon from thinking that what was going on was just some kind of crazy dream.

'This is happening,' Leon said to himself. 'This is happening and I've got to get us out of here.' He looked over to the woman next to him. He probably could not have asked for a better partner for this either. Claire knew her way around guns, knives, and apparently had a mean right hook. 'Courtesy of her brother, I'm sure.' Leon had heard a little about the older Redfield from the other officers when he had visited the police department the month prior. From what Leon learned, Chris had an incredibly hot head and an excellent shot to match. 'I'd believe it, seeing what Claire can do.' He silently thanks all the high powers out there that Claire could handle her own.

"I think our best bet is to head to the police station. We can meet up with the other officers there and hopefully find your brother." Leon replies, squeezing Claire's hand for assurance. Claire looks towards the rookie and gives him a small smile, squeezing his hand back. It was really the small things like that that were getting him through the night. It gave him some type of normality, because let's face it—the walking dead was definitely not normal.

Claire let go of his hand and stepped in front of him to get a better look at their surroundings. Leon immediately missed the warmth. Sure he had only known the girl for a few hours but he was sure after this they would have a bond that would be unbreakable. 'If we get out of this,' Leon said to himself. He shook his head. 'Of course we're getting out of this. Claire and I are going to get out of this mess, get piss drunk, and then maybe I'll ask her out sometime.' Leon grins sheepishly to himself. He always did have a thing for red. He took another look at the woman standing in front of him. She was a few inches shorter than he was but she was thin, he would say frail, even. But he knew that those looks were deceiving. Claire seemed to have almost superhuman strength, using her body as a weapon at times. Her hair was tied up in a high ponytail, wisps of hair falling to frame her face. Claire's hair seemed to be almost an unnatural shade of red but even then it just seemed so Claire. It was then that he finally noticed the writing on the back of her vest and smirked.

"Made in heaven, huh?" Leon said, a hint of humor to his voice.

"Come on, Leon. Look at me. I'm basically God's gift to man," Claire said, her voice serious. She hadn't looked back at Leon when she said this; she was still trying to figure out the shortest and possibly the safest way to the police station. Leon snorted at her no nonsense attitude.

"Of course, Miss Redfield, how could I have forgotten?" His voice light and teasing.

Claire looked up at him, grinning. "Really though, it's a gift from my brother. Before my parents passed my mom always used to tell me that I was born my brother changed from a rowdy, annoying kid to an overbearing, protective brother. It kind of just stuck I guess. And Chris is still an overbearing, protective bear of a brother." Claire shrugged, sadness flashing through her eyes momentarily.

'Jeez, no parents, huh? Must have been tough. No wonder she's so close to her brother,' Leon contemplates. Leon was about to apologize for her loss when Claire beat him to it.

"Don't feel sorry for me though, my brother and I made due. And it probably helped that our parents left us a fortune to live off of. But anyway, I think the quickest way to get to the station is through the school. If I remember correctly, the school backs up against the police station so once we get through there we're home free." Claire grins at him again and Leon can't help but return the favor. Even if it was just for a little while, he and Claire were able to normal. For that moment, there were no zombies, no running for their lives, there was just them. Leon and Claire.

The sounds of people speaking Spanish shook Leon from his thoughts.

"Shit," he muttered. He looked over at Ashley and she seemed to have heard it too. "Looks like we've got company." Leon attempts to backtrack but stops after realizing that the villagers were coming from that way too. They were closing in on them and the only way they could move was forward. Leon raised his gun and he could feel Ashley move closer to him. His plan was to try and take out as many as he could and find a place that he and Ashley could hide out in until the villagers moved again. It wasn't the greatest plan but it was the only one he had. "You ready?" He asked. She nodded in reply, fear evident on her face. "Stay close, okay? It'll be okay." He seemed to be saying that a lot today. Leon moved out of the shadows of the buildings, and quickly took out two of the villagers that were closest to them. He quickly put away his side arm and grabbed the shotgun that was slung over his shoulder, ready for the onslaught that was about to come.

Leon quickly glanced behind his shoulder, hoping that the path behind them would be clear. It seemed that it was and Leon quickly pumped two rounds from the shotgun, putting more distance between him and the villagers. Taking another look around, Leon knew that the number of villagers that were surrounding them was too great. He had to find somewhere that he and Ashley could lose them. Leon looked around, releasing two more rounds into the mob when he saw it, an incredibly small alleyway that could probably only fit one person at a time. Leon hoped that would slow the villagers down enough for him and Ashley to find somewhere to keep low.

"Ashley, this way!" Leon exclaimed, grabbing the girl's hand. He pulled her across the way and shoved her into the opening of the alley. "Keep moving!" He commanded. Ashley began to run as Leon emptied the shotgun into the crowd. Leon turned around and ran through the alley, pushing Ashley forward. He could see the end of the alley and prayed to God that there was nothing on the other side waiting for them. Leon sprinted the last half of the way and reached Ashley just as she got to the other side. He looked behind him as he withdrew his handgun. The villagers had gotten tangled up at the chokepoint, none of them able to get through. Leon ran out of the alley and pushed Ashley behind him, surveying the area with his handgun ready. The area was secure. Leon noticed a small house about twenty feet away and grabbed Ashley's hand as he started to run. "We'll hide out there for a bit until everything calms down," Leon says, not looking at Ashley. He wanted to get to the house before the villagers got through so they could stay hidden. He knew they didn't have much time.

Leon was practically dragging Ashley by the hand; he knew that she was tired. They had been running all day and she could barely keep up. He made it to the door and used the momentum of his body to force it open. Leon slouched, resting his hands on his knees. The dim light in the room momentarily blinded him but he could feel Ashley collapse on the floor next to him. It didn't take him long to realize that they were not alone. He looked up and found himself face to face with the end of an assault rifle.

"Move!" he distinctly heard a voice say. That's all Leon needed to hear. He dove over to where Ashley was, covering her from harm. He looked up towards the door and watched as villager who had gone unnoticed by him was shot cleanly between the eyes. The villager fell to the floor, unmoving. Leon watched as a pair of feet moved to the door and closed it shut. The figure moved back towards the table and adjusted the lantern a little bit brighter. Leon couldn't believe his eyes. It was her. She looked exactly the same way she did six years ago, complete with her high ponytail. The woman moved towards him, crouching down. He noticed her eyes narrow slightly, almost scrutinizing him. A brief smile graced her lips as she held her hand out to him to help him up.

"Long time no see, Partner."

'Holy shit.' Leon was staring face to face with Claire Redfield.

And there you go! Wooo I'm so excited to write out these next chapters. Please let me know what you guys think or if you'd like to see anything in particular with this story! I'm always open to suggestions. :D