*Real quick note, I have no idea how the herbs truly work. I know they're a healing item, but there's no indicator that I had personally found that told me how they worked. So I made some shit up lol This chapter got a little weird writing wise, but oh well.

Chapter 9:

It was just as dark in the morgue as it was to the rest of that section of the parking structure. It made sense if the power wasn't on, which hopefully the generator room would fix. Walking in, they were met with a dead man lying by the door, but he didn't move as they passed.

The room looked like any other morgue you would see in movies. There were rows of metal cold lockers along each wall, but the middle of the room was a mess of cleaning supplies and carts. A piece of paper sat on a table telling them of a kleptomaniac who was supposed to be lying in one of the lockers. Perhaps he stole something that could be of use.

They decided to go through each locker one by one to see if there was anything that could be helpful in them. People hide shit all the time, as they so learned throughout the night. Walking up to the first one, they looked at each other expectantly, but no one made a move.

"Rock, paper, scissors to see who opens it?" Veronica suggested. Leon pursed his lips in thought then lifted his hands in preparation with a small smile. Might as well make this enjoyable somehow.

"Rock, paper, scissors," they both said in unison before showing their hands. Leon had paper and Veronica had scissors. He groaned as she jokingly snipped her fingers at his paper. Carefully, she watched him pull back the tray only to find...nothing. This went on with every locker, eventually finding some more red herbs. At one specific one, they pulled it out by an inch only for a body to be spasming uncontrollably inside.

"I'm just gonna close this," Veronica mumbled, pushing it back in. At the end of that line, Leon opened it to a dead body, but before he could close it, something caught his eye. By the corpse's shoulder was a flash grenade.

"Vee, take the grenade." She gave him a look.

"Uh-uh! You take it!"

"C'mon, just take it! He isn't moving!" She huffed.

"Ok fine! But if he suddenly jumps out at me, I'm going to punch you in the face." She hesitantly reached out for it then quickly snatched it from the tray. The dead man did not move, much to their relief. Leon quickly pushed the tray back in and then they continued onto the other wall.

Quickly moving down the line, they didn't find much, except for one that opened to monstrous sized cockroaches that made Leon shout in surprise. He shut that so fast, you would think his life was on the line. Clearly, he did not like bugs. Not that she blamed him. She wasn't exactly a fan either.

Finally, they made it to the end and found the body they were looking for. Veronica pulled back the tray watching the dead man carefully. Leon looked over and, low and behold, there was the pink diamond key by the hand! Looking for him was useful!

"The key!" He glanced up at her.

"Don't look at me! I'm not getting it this time!" Veronica told him while gesturing her hands up in the way that her hands were free from this.

"Ok fine! It's not that hard any-AH!" He shouted in surprise, backing away in time for the body to suddenly jump up at him and roll onto the ground. As if on cue, the corpse near the doorway began groaning as it got up from its spot.

"Great!" Veronica shot at the one on the floor while Leon worked on the other one. However, his gun emptied too quickly and the zombie was a speedy one. He lunged at Leon, arms trying to grab him at close range. Leon luckily caught it by the shoulders in time and reached behind him blindly.

He pushed, what he now realized was, the grenade he had into the zombie's mouth then shoved it away from him, pulling the pin in the process. The survivors ducked down in time for an explosion to go off, causing head chunk to splatter everywhere and a ringing in their ears. They both stood back up and looked in amazement.

"That worked! That was impressive!" Veronica blinked. They quickly left the room and made their way to the gate that closed them off to the generator room. On the wall next to it, was a box that held a mechanism meant to lift it. It required a crank as said by the symbol on it. The brunette gasped as she held up the tool she picked up in the jail and placed it in. She began cranking away at the box, the gate slowly rising with each turn. Once she was done, she kept the crank with her, remembering that there was a gate that needed it up in the station.

On the other side was a small set of stairs leading to a door. The generator room was just through it! It was lit only by a red emergency light on the wall, but seemed empty of any monsters. There was a chain-linked fence that separated the parts of the room, but it was easy to navigate. On a cart right when they walked in, was an orange box taped on the corner. Reading the label, they were happy to find that it was an electronic part!

Opening the box was easy enough and out popped a small cube that looked like it was meant to fit in the jail's lock. Now they just needed to get the door to the station open so they can go back up and grab the other one. While looking around, they found another gunpowder can and stashed it before heading deeper into the room.

They turned a couple of corners till they reached the other end of the room that held a breaker box against the wall. It sat right next to the window that looked out at the door they needed to get through. There were four switches and two meters that had a red point that the needle must reach. They tinkered with it for a second before successfully hitting the mark.

The machines around them hummed with power as the lights everywhere flickered on. The door outside unlocked with a loud buzz and the light above it turned green. Now they just needed to head back the way they came. Unfortunately for them, dogs barking filled the area as their worst fear was realized. There must have been someplace that still had the dogs hidden somewhere and they unlocked it on accident.

A dog had somehow made it inside the room and was trying to climb over the gate to get to them. Veronica shot at it once before the two bolted out of there. It seemed like more and more dogs kept coming and somehow they were able to dodge them. They had just made it out of the kennel when Veronica remembered they had a new key.

"Leon! The firing range! We have that key!"

"You sure we should?"

"It'll give us a little breather from these things!"

"Fine! Let's hurry!"

They ran into the firing range, only to find the two zombies in the room wandering around. The lights coming on must have woken them up. They snarled at the survivors and began limping towards them. So Leon and Veronica shot to the door with the diamond insignia and quickly ran in. This had to be a quick search. They did end up finding a new film and more red herb, maybe not the best finds, but it was something.

The two ran out of the room before the zombies could escape the range and got through the green-lit door. Once it was shut behind them, they could hear dogs scratching at the door before finally losing interest and wandering away. The two survivors stopped to take a moment to catch their breath before continuing.

"That was a close one!" Veronica wheezed between pants.

"What is the film for anyways? I really hope it was worth it." Veronica took it out of her pouch and looked over the label.

"It says '3F Locker'." She thought for a moment on what it could be for. Reaching into her pocket, she brought out the police station map and looked over the third-floor section. "Maybe it's a combination code. I haven't updated the map yet, but I think I remember there being a padlocked locker on the third floor west side."

"Hopefully it has something good in it."

"I sure hope so. C'mon, let's see if this way actually leads us up."

"If it doesn't, I'm gonna lose my shit."

After putting away the map, they carefully ascended a set of stairs that lied just around the corner. At the top, they were relieved to see that they were in the station, but where exactly? It didn't look like any place they had been in before. The walls were yellow wallpaper that looked green against the harsh lighting that lit up the room. Just down the hallway, they could hear the distant sound of zombies eating.

The windows that adorned the wall showed that it was still pouring outside, but all they could see were bushes. They didn't know where the hallway led to, but on their immediate right was a lone door. There were cleaning supplies lying around, so maybe this was a custodial corner. Among the supplies rack, they found some shotgun ammo, much to their relief at their low ammo supply. That last fight with the giant monster really screwed them over.

Deciding to take things one at a time, they decided to check the door first. Carefully peeking in, they found that the room was dark, but was quiet. Leon turned on the lights and was met with a green break room. There were a couple of tables with chairs, some lockers, a big box, and a dartboard.

On the table was another blue herb, a typewriter, an old hat, and a radio. The fridge in the corner was the definite telling sign that this was a break room, and if that wasn't it, the connecting room with bunk beds and a sink were. Thankfully, it was empty and the metal door could also be locked. This could be another designated safe room for them.

"Let's rest for a moment. We can get our things together and update our maps," Leon suggested. Veronica quickly locked the door and set her gun down before taking off her pads. Leon followed suit by taking off his gloves and setting his gun back in its holster. Then he began unstrapping his bulletproof vest with the help of his partner. Their skin and clothes were sweaty from the constant pressure of what they were strapped to and taking them off was a nice change.

"God, I'm already so tired," she groaned while watching him set his vest on the table.

"Me too. This thing is heavy after a while," he sighed as he began rotating his shoulders to relieve some of the aches. She was so used to seeing the vest that it was almost strange to see a regular police uniform without it. He looked very handsome as a regular officer, but it was sad to remember that he wouldn't be able to be one here anymore. She quickly looked away and decided on taking out all the supplies she had on hand, including what was in her pockets.

Leon followed suit with his two pouches and other supplies. They talked through what they had and what they could make with the gunpowders they had found. Around the room, they found some more high-quality gunpowder and ammo for Leon's handgun. In the room with the beds, they found a box of magnum ammo and a fuse. They took both, just in case they were useful for something.

They made more ammo for Leon's handgun since he used up a lot more than Veronica did. Especially since they remembered they had left behind shotgun ammo around the station, which they could get later. After that, they quickly updated the maps and the little book with their current status of things, as well as where they remembered supplies they had left lying around. They cleaned up their pouches, threw away pieces of information that were no longer useful then finally just took a moment to stop.

"How's your back?" Leon asked as they walked into the room with beds. Veronica crawled on one and laid on her stomach.

"Sore, but not like how it used to be. How are you doing?"

"Just have a few cuts and bruises, but nothing I can't handle." She carefully got up and turned to him.

"Let me have a look. Considering this is a zombie outbreak, I don't want anything getting infected."

"You don't have to do that," he said while sitting next to her.

"It's cool dude. Let me just see." He angled his body towards her and watched as she pushed his hair away from his face. He suddenly felt nervous by her closeness and her stare. Her hands were warm against his skin and it was distracting. Looking over her face, he realized she had long eyelashes that fanned against her cheek with every blink. That and she had pretty shaped lips that while looked slightly chapped, still looked soft. There was even a beauty mark on her face that he never even noticed before. She was cuter up close than he thought.

She didn't notice his staring but did see he was starting to bruise a little on his cheekbones, probably after being squeezed by the monster. They hadn't darkened just yet, but no doubt they would be by the end of the night. The wince he gave when she touched that spot was a good indicator that it would hurt later. Checking his forehead, there was a decent sized gash on his temple that was hidden by his hair.

"Yeah, you got a good one here. Maybe we could test those herbs on it and see if it really heals up."

"Um, sure. Go for it." She got up from the bed and grabbed the bag of herbs from the other room before returning. Sitting back in her spot, she opened the bag and grabbed a pinch of the green and red herb mix. The blue wasn't really needed at that moment.

"I'm not exactly sure if I'm supposed to apply it or if it's supposed to be ingested. Maybe we should try both?" He grabbed his own pinch of the mix and placed it in his mouth. It was dry and powdery but didn't really taste like anything. While he did that, she rubbed the herb with her fingers gently across the cut.

"Whoa!" she whispered in astonishment. Whatever was in those things worked like magic, 'cause the wound started closing over with new skin. It wasn't a full heal over, but it was doing a good job. "Shit's like magic I guess."

"Guessing by your reaction, the herbs work."

"Yeah! That's if we don't have any proper medical supplies."

"Fair enough." She closed up the bag then set it near Leon's thigh, before crawling back into the bed and laying onto her side. Leon shuffled back and leaned against the wall that the bed was pressed up against. His head tilted back as he relaxed, eyes closing tiredly. Lying down felt so nice, but they knew they didn't have time to lay for too long.

"What do you think that guy, Ben, was hiding? About Irons," she inquired, curious as to what the answer was. That and she was trying to keep herself awake.

"What do you mean?"

"He said he was going to expose him for something and that's why he was locked up. But expose him for what?"

"I'm not sure. The guy probably made it up."

"But if it was fake, why be put in jail?" Leon frowned, turning his head to her. He didn't seem to like what she was trying to imply.

"Chief Irons is a kind man who's done a lot for the city! Even if he had stuff on him, who would believe him?" She sat up, eyebrows drawing down in concern.

"Leon, it's possible that the guy might not be who he seems to be. I've never met him, but I mean…"

"So then you believe Ben?" he scoffed. She seemed taken aback by his sudden change in tone.

"I don't know! Geez, Leon! What is with you? You did the same thing back in the jail. Frankly, I'm still confused as to why you were so hesitant about letting him out once he started talking about Irons."

"I don't know what you're talking about," he shook his head. She blinked, her eyebrows furrowing more, annoyed at his attitude.

"You got all weird and said that you had to talk to the chief before letting him out. Dude, the guy might be dead considering how things are looking around us! That was super not cool! He had the parking pass and was ready to help us out if we helped him."

"I know but-."

"And what if he was right? That thing we read earlier about a superior officer. He clearly was a psycho but he was a superior officer. What if it was Irons?" she cut him off, putting two and two together.

"No way! Irons was a brave officer who cared for his community. He contributed a lot of resources to make it a better place. I met him once, he was a really nice guy. I looked up to him," he retorted, scooting towards the edge of the bed, his gaze at the floor. She followed him closer and sat at his side, sighing at his naivety.

"Leon, did you know that Ted Bundy was considered to be a really nice guy by his peers and his community?" He looked up at her in slight surprise and also confusion. "They thought he was charming and even volunteered at a suicide prevention hotline. Do you remember what he did to those people?... Some people put up a facade and sometimes you have to learn that the hard way." Leon's expression grew serious at that. As much as he wanted to believe that his superior was a hero, perhaps she was right. Seeing his face, she sighed guiltily and pulled away.

"Look, I really hope that I'm wrong. That whatever he was going to be exposed for was something minor that may have just been unfortunate circumstances. I really do," she looked over at her feet, suddenly feeling bad. "But Ben was a human being, stuck like we are. We should've just let him out regardless. Not like it matters anymore." Now it was his turn to feel guilty. Leon placed a hand on her shoulder comfortingly, her gaze meeting his.

"No, you're right. I'm sorry. I should've been better about the whole thing. It's just that, Irons helped me get into the R.P.D."

"I get it. I always try to see the good in people first too, but sometimes, it isn't always the case. I'm sorry, I didn't mean to go all crazy on you about it. I was honestly just really curious about what Ben knew. But it doesn't matter. What matters most is us getting out alive." He shook his head.

"Maybe going crazy on me was for the best. Because you're right and that's ok," he sighed. She patted the hand on her shoulder and was met with a small smile.

"Are we cool? Still partners?" she held out her fist, slightly nervous she ruined something.

"Yeah, we're cool. Of course, we're still partners! Wouldn't want it any other way," he said with a grin as he met her fist with his in a fist bump. She internally sighed in relief as she grinned back.

"Ditto."

"Hey, how did you know all that Ted Bundy stuff anyway?"

"I did a paper on him in a psychology class. It was semi-interesting but also really fucked up, let me tell you."

"Geez."

"We should probably get going. We've been here for too long already."

"Right."

They began setting back up, putting protection back into place and pouches on their person. Taking a last look at the map, they made a plan to head upstairs and use the crank they still had on the gate blocking the hallway. It would lead to a staircase that went up to the third floor, which is where the clocktower was. It should be a one-shot through and if it didn't work, they could use the path in the library.

Once they were ready, they took out their guns and carefully peeked out into the hallway. It hadn't changed as they walked through, but as they passed a window, a zombie slammed against it, trying to get in. The survivors continued to walk in hopes of getting out of there before it could break through. They may have had a hammer but no wooden planks to board it up with.

However, they would be spending a little longer than they thought there because three zombies were feasting on the remains of a body at the end of the hallway. They were all at the foot of a metal gate that needed to be opened in order for them to get through to the rest of the R.P.D. As soon as they turned the corner, two out of the three zombies noticed them and got to their feet.

The survivors backed away and began shooting when they got too close. As soon as the other two were down, the one at the window broke through almost grabbing Leon in the process. Using the hammer they wished they could use for its true purpose, Veronica quickly spiked it through the head and it fell back outside onto the wet grass.

Until they could find more planks, they would have to use some sort of blockade. While the other zombie was still distracted with eating, the two ran back to the safe room and carried out one of the foldable tables. They placed it in front of the window and put some sandbags they found lying around at the base to keep it upright. It would have to do for now. Since the last zombie seemed to be enraptured in its meal, it made itself a quick kill with the hammer.

The body it was eating at was only the bottom half of a torso. Legs were splayed and the stomach was almost entirely consumed. Veronica gagged but kept herself from trying to throw up by not looking too closely. Leon, however, seemed to be upset at their findings.

"It's Elliot." His partner looked at him, her face full of shock.

"That's Elliot!?" He nodded. "Where's the rest of him?!"

"On the other side of the gate. I tried pulling him under to safety since it couldn't be raised up, but he ended up being eaten before I could get all of him out of there."

"Oh my god!"

"So, be prepared for the torso," he informed, raising the fuse they found into view. He placed it into a small fuse box on the wall and the gate began to rise slowly. As it rose higher, the pair were taken by surprise to see the top of Elliot crawling towards them, growling and clawing at the floor. His guts were out in the open and dragging behind him along the ground. Leon looked at the fusebox and found a knife stabbed into the wall next to it. He took it out and quickly stabbed the undead man in the head. It wasn't hard considering it was just a torso with arms.

"I'm sorry, Elliot. I couldn't save you in time," he whispered as he put the knife away. Veronica touched his arm to comfort him before they walked over the corpse and out of the office. They made their way to the fire escape and up it. The rain was still coming down hard and the helicopter was still on fire. In the hallway, they were surprised to see that the building wasn't burning, but maybe the rain kept the flames at bay.

They carefully walked down the hall towards the gate and used the crank. It went up smoothly, leading to another part of the building. There was a doorway with a heart on it, which the map said it was Chief Irons' office and a staircase that went both up and down a floor. The door leading to their destination was up the stairs on the third floor through a storage room. It was very dark ascending the stairs to a dusty mess of a room. Tools and cleaning supplies were scattered near the railing by the stairs, including boards that they took note of for later. The floor was coated in a layer of dust and dirt. Breathing in, it felt like an attic.

There were a couple of lockers against two of the walls and searching them they found more handgun ammo and a flash grenade. Veronica took that since Leon already had two on him. There were two doors in the room, just opposite of each other. Opening the one closer to the stairs, they found the storage room. As the door creaked open, they could hear the moans and groans of zombies somewhere in the room.

The room was dimly lit with a single working light that shined in one spot. There was a door just across the way that would lead to the third floor in the main hall. Another door to their left was a heart door much to their disappointment. The pair carefully walked in, peering through the shelves of boxes to find their targets. They got near the heart door and found two zombies just standing around, groaning to themselves.

Deciding to just sneak past them to the door, they went back the way they came and tried getting to it. Only to find out it was locked from the outside. Jiggling the handle and the unfortunate luck of a zombie walking into view, caught their attention. So they decided to just take them out. Once the zombies were stunned and fell down, the survivors did some stabbing to finish the job. However, Leon pulled back his knife to see it bent and broken.

"I guess I used it too much. Luckily, I have more!" he said, placing a new one in the sheath for better access.

"Lucky me, that I have an invincible hammer," Veronica joked as they walked around. They did find a box of shotgun ammo and some blue herbs. In the middle of the room, there was a little alcove of shelves and, in the middle of it, on a box sat a giant gear.

"What could this be used for?" Veronica asked.

"No idea, but it could be important. Since it's too big to carry, let's just leave it for now."

"Ok, but now we have an issue. The door's locked. What now?" He thought about it for a second.

"We'll have to go the long way by going to the library. While we're on that side, we can also go to the linen room since we have that key," he recalled from their map updating session. "We can also check downstairs on this side since we haven't gone that way."

"That sounds like a plan!"

The two walked back out and down the stairs, not bothering with the other door since they wanted to stay on track. Going down the extra flight of steps, they carefully made their way to the bottom. There was a door that was swung open to a winding hallway.

Just across from that door was another that was barricaded and the window on it was boarded up. A zombie was pressed against the other side peering at them and trying to get through but to no avail. Not wanting to take any chances, Veronica used her hammer through the broken glass and killed it quickly.

Just as she pulled away, a slam against a window at the end of the hall made them jump. Veronica looked at the hammer in her hand and back at the window. Then she had an idea. She told Leon to stay and keep an eye on the thing for a moment. She ran back up the stairs and found the boards she saw and a few nails lying around on a shelf. She got back down in time for the zombie to break the glass.

She shot it with her shotgun to make it quick, then the two quickly began to board up the window. It was the only one in the hallway that wasn't, so this was good for them. Once it was boarded up, they continued forward by turning the corner and reaching the end of the hall. It was empty of zombies but there were two doors, each with a different insignia. One had the green club, while the other had the red heart. While they couldn't get into either, they didn't leave empty-handed. They found some gunpowder in a locker that sat against the wall across from the rooms.

Going back up, they made their way to the main hall. Looking over the balcony, they could see one lone zombie walking near the entrance to the building, but from their position, they couldn't see if Marvin was still there. Veronica swallowed nervously and looked up at Leon.

"You think he's…" she didn't finish, unsure of which outcome she wanted to say.

"Not sure, but no matter what we gotta keep going, ok? If we have to…" he hesitated then looked back at her, his eyes softening sadly. "I'll do it, ok?" She nodded slowly before they walked across the floor. As they reached the stairs, all they could tell was Marvin was still sitting where they left him, only his head was drooped over against his shoulder. Descending the stairs was torturous as they got closer.

"Marvin?" she called out softly once close enough. The lieutenant moaned then began moving. He turned towards them and started to stand up, the two of them wincing at the sight of his face. It was just like they thought. He was dead and he had become one of those things. He no longer clutched at his wounds, his skin pale and glassy. His eyes were fogged over in white and he barely had functioning limbs. He growled at them and began stalking towards them hungrily. Leon raised his gun and took a step back.

"Marvin...Aw, no...Dammit!"

"No!"

"Vee, look away," he called behind to her. She turned her head then heard a couple of gunshots go off followed by a thud. Looking back slowly, Marvin was on the floor dead for good. Leon sighed sadly as he stood over his fallen brother.

"I'll stop this, Lieutenant...I promise," he said softly.