*Things are about to get indulgent af! I'm a sucker for cliches lol

Chapter 10:

Leon had found and used a nearby piece of tarp to drape over Marvin's body in respect. Veronica watched as Leon's shoulders sagged in defeat when he was done. As he stood over it, she couldn't help herself as she walked up behind him then reached out her arms, her bottom lip quivering. He jumped in surprise as she wrapped them around his waist and laid her head against his back. Looking down at the arms squeezing him gently, he placed a hand on the ones gripping his vest, lacing his fingers with hers.

"It'll be ok, Vee."

She didn't say anything for a moment till he pulled away to turn to her. He glanced over her face for a moment but was interrupted by another growl coming from behind them. It was the zombie they saw wandering by the front door. It had finally noticed them. Veronica took this upon herself to shoot out her frustration at it, knowing Leon was still a little sensitive for the time being. Once it was down, the giant room became silent again and it was painful.

"Let's go," he whispered. He was about to turn towards the stairs but was stopped by a hand grabbing his arm. He turned his head and found her looking at him with sad eyes.

"Could you just...hold my hand for a little bit?... Please?" He was surprised by her request, but did it without hesitation, his hand grasping hers.

"You ok?"

"Yeah, I'm just...I need some reassurance right now." He nodded in understanding. The feeling of her hand felt nice in his during such a horrid time.

"Let's go," he said, squeezing it. Just as they were about to head toward the stairs, they realized that the underground room beneath the statue was open. They looked at each other confused then decided to go check it out. Nothing looked different except for the fact that it was open at all.

"Didn't this close behind us when we got down here?" Veronica questioned.

"Yeah. I even pointed out that there was this crank here that would probably open it back up if we needed to come back."

"Then how did it open? You don't think something followed us, do you?" Leon took a moment to think about it until he noticed a couple of bloody boot prints on the floor leading toward the elevator. He looked at his boots then at Veronica's shoes. They didn't look like they matched the print and he was positive the floor was clean when they first got there.

"No, but I think someone came the same way. Look!" he pointed it out to her. She walked over and pressed her shoe alongside it to see. They were almost the same size, only the boot was a tad bigger.

"Who else could've-," she blinked as a pretty face popped up in her head. "Claire!"

"You think it's her?"

"It has to be! Unless someone else is down here with us. It's about the same size as me, which makes it more likely to be a girl, right?" He nodded.

"Maybe she was able to find a way in after we left. She's probably still alive!"

"Hopefully we'll be able to run into her before we leave!" With that said, they left the room and went back up to the main hall.

Taking her hand in his again, Leon led the way up the stairs and headed towards the library. The room didn't look like it had any new enemies in it, so they could now search the room for supplies. They couldn't seem to find anything else, but they did find the broken walkway above them and the row of sliding bookshelves beneath it. One of them was being propped up by a jack with no handle.

"You know we could make a new walkway if we move these shelves. We would just need to fix the jack," Veronica suggested, nodding to the bookcases. She squeezed his hand before letting it go to move one of the shelves over and, funnily enough, she found a box of ammo hiding behind it. "Oo! Almost missed ya!" she mumbled as she picked it up then handed it to Leon.

"It's something we can think about if we find the handle. Until then, let's just use the walkway."

"Pfft! Too easy," she joked as they went over to the stairs. As they walked across the second-floor walkway, Veronica stopped in her tracks as she heard a muffled hissing coming from the door just across the room. Leon stopped, noticing her lagging behind.

"Vee?"

"Did you hear that?" They stood there quiet for a second and it happened again. Leon knew exactly what it was.

"There's a licker in the statue room. I got cornered when I detonated the bomb, remember?"

"Oh! Right! I forgot!"

"Don't worry. The door is barricaded, so it can't get in," he said, turning to walk again. However, he only made it a few feet before the wooden floor beneath him collapsed. He fell through and landed on the floor below them with a loud grunt.

"LEON!"

She looked over the edge of where he had fallen through to see him trying to get up off the floor. She turned and ran down the stairs towards him. He coughed through the cloud of dust and was brushing himself off while still kneeling on the floor. "Jesus! Are you ok?" She helped fluff the wood chips out of his hair then reached down to hook her arm around his.

"I'm fine. Landed surprisingly on my feet before falling over," he told her as she helped him up. He looked up at the hole he came through then over at the bookshelves. "I guess we have no choice, but to go your way."

"To think that was just a joke," she sighed. "Just another thing to look for."

"Well, we can start with the linen room and work from there to find places we haven't searched." She nodded as she looked up at his face. There was a patch of dust on his cheek, so without thinking she reached up and dusted it away with her thumb. "You trying to pinch my cheeks or something?" he grinned. She giggled as she did just that jokingly with both hands on either side of his cheeks.

"It's hard not to! They're just so pinchable!" she teased, now squishing them together.

"Ok grandma!" he laughed through puckered fish lips. She found it very adorable, including the fact that he was letting her. He gently reached up and took her hands down, freeing his face from her torture.

"Don't sass me, boy!" The brunette jokingly said in a grandma-like voice. The pair laughed as they began walking towards the door that would lead to the rest of the second floor. "It was just some dust!"

They passed through the lounge and to the second-floor hallway. Even though the linen room was right there, they took a peek around the corner to check if the licker was still dead. It was, much to their relief. Once that was done, Leon unlocked the diamond door to a small room with washer-dryer units inside it. Folded up linens sat on racks, as well as a blue gunpowder can and, to their surprise, another portable safe. It was randomly sitting on top of a dryer.

"Oh! Maybe it's the other button!" Leon said picking it up. "Can I give it a try?"

"Go ahead!" He played around with the buttons and solved it in no time at all. Out popped a white button for a keypad, similar to the last one in the other portable safe.

"We can get the rest of the stuff down in the security deposit room now."

They walked back out into the hallway and began heading back down to the first floor to get the extra supplies. Right after they passed the S.T.A.R.S. office, they picked up an almost forgotten box of shotgun ammo before heading through the locker rooms. Things still looked the same, but that didn't stop them from being careful while walking around. This proved to be a good thing to do because as they were descending the stairs near the safe room, a loud hiss stopped them in their tracks.

Their blood ran cold as they realized what the sound was as it echoed in the room. Shining a light down the hallway, they could see the faint hind legs of a licker sitting on the floor near the west office door. Leon tapped the brunette on the shoulder, gaining her attention. He put a finger to his lips then pointed to the safe room door, just a few feet away. Considering where the licker was, it should be no problem getting there as long as they stayed quiet.

Veronica swallowed nervously as the pair slowly made their way to the door. Thankfully, the monster didn't even notice their presence, too busy with whatever it was doing. As soon as they were inside, they locked the door and let out a sigh in relief. She leaned against the wall, trying to calm her nerves while he paced near the desk in thought.

"How did it get in here?" she questioned softly, one of her hands picking at her bottom lip nervously. Her back ached at the thought of that monster out there.

"It must have crawled in through a broken window somewhere. Who knows how many of those things are crawling around the city."

"That makes running through the streets not really a good option unless we are somehow quiet the entire time. You think the sewers are any better like Elliot said?" He stopped in his tracks to look at her. She looked like a nervous wreck, not a surprise considering the three long gashes on her back.

"No idea, but I'm willing to take the chance. Maybe Ada knows a better way out." She looked up at him, suddenly remembering the F.B.I. agent. It gave her a glimmer of hope knowing there was a professional somewhere in the building.

"Right! I wonder where she is! We haven't passed her at all since we've been here."

"Now that you say that, you're right! Maybe she's hiding?" She shrugged.

"Whatever she's doing, I hope she's ok! I really don't want anyone else dying tonight," she replied with a hint of sadness to her voice. He walked over to her and placed a hand on her shoulder, reassuringly.

"No one else will. We just gotta keep pushing through till we make it out. Ok?" She nodded before taking a deep breath.

"Yeah. Ok." She paused and looked over at the door. "So how do we get to the security deposit room? If it's just sitting there in front of it, there's no way we can get through." Leon thought about it for a moment.

"Maybe we can use something in here as a distraction," he suggested, taking a look around for something small. He remembered that there were a couple of items in the lockers he left behind and in one he found a small metal can that held ink ribbon for the typewriter. He held it up with a triumphant smile. "I'll throw this if it gets too close. If we need to, we'll throw something from our pouches." She bit her lip nervously before responding.

"Ok...ok. That's a good plan."

He went and stood in front of her again, placing his hand back on her shoulder. "We can do this. I know we can. The moment it notices us, I'll throw it. You just stay behind me the whole time. I don't want you getting attacked again." She reached up to pat his hand gently.

"Ok," she nodded. "What do we do when we're done?" He asked her to take out the map and after looking at it came up with a plan.

We'll go from there than straight through the west office. It looks like there is a boiler room here, possibly outside. There was a door we didn't go through on the third floor east side. It'll probably lead to this balcony area and maybe even to this room."

"Maybe we'll find what we're looking for there."

"Hopefully."

With that as their plan, they forged on and carefully walked outside. Peering down the hall, the licker didn't seem to have moved much. It must've been eating at a corpse, by the sound of it. Each step felt like a year as they drew closer. They were very happy that they were walking on tile, instead of wood because they certainly did not want a repeat of the events from earlier.

They finally reached the area, watching as the licker was picking at a body on the ground. However, as soon as they began walking towards the door, it seemed to have sensed them and whipped its head around. Leon's grip on the ink ribbon can tightened, ready for throwing, he just had to wait for the right opportunity. The licker began to crawl towards them backing them towards the hallway. This was it!

The young officer quietly raised his arm and tossed the can over by the vending machines on the other side of the room. It clanged loudly against the wall and fell onto the floor, catching the licker's attention immediately. Falling for it, the monster jumped away towards the sound with a loud screech. It clawed at the walls loudly, giving the pair enough time to get away and into the safety deposit room.

They shut the door quietly behind them and kept their voices to a whisper the entire time. Leon put the button into the keypad then Veronica told him the numbers on the lockers. In one, they found another pouch and the other had a knife. There was no need to use the room anymore, much to their relief. It would suck to go back and do this again. At least they could go up through the second floor whenever they would need to reach the safe room. The licker seemed to like the spot it was in. Before leaving, they split the loot, Leon took the pouch while she took the knife.

Near the top of the door were thin window slits that peeked out into the hallway. Leon checked through it and saw the licker still in the corner picking at a different dead body. He carefully opened the metal door, but unfortunately, it squeaked a little too loudly as he was stepping out. The licker turned its head and began stalking toward the sound.

Veronica dug through one of her pouches hastily and pulled something out to hand to Leon. She realized as she handed it to him that it was the spade key. He didn't bother looking as he grabbed it and tossed it over to the part of the hallway where the first window they jumped down from in the beginning. The creature hissed chasing the sound and disappeared around the corner.

Leon grabbed his companion's wrist and pulled her out of the room. They crept through and quickly got into the west office with no trouble. Once the door was closed, they relaxed for a moment before heading towards the other door. The main hall was still too quiet, but the pair persevered past the lieutenant's body. They made their way up the stairs to the east side, through the waiting room, and down the left hallway. Finally, they jogged up to the third floor and reached the door that opened to an open balcony area outside.

The rain had lightened a little, but not by much. It had been a while since they had been outside, the cold biting through their clothes. The small balcony area was mostly empty space save for two tables with chairs on the opposite side.

On one of the tables was a blue herb, so they took it. To their left, there was a ladder that led down to an outside area of the station. The courtyard was bathed in the orange glow of the helicopter fire that had happened earlier. This must be the other side that they couldn't reach before. Leon shined his light on the ladder and nodded.

"Boiler room must be down this way. I'll go first."

"Be careful." The young officer put away his gun and flashlight before grabbing onto the ladder handles. He turned and began climbing down, only making it a few steps before the ladder creaked loudly under him.

With a loud crack, the ladder suddenly broke apart in his hands causing him to sway in the air dangerously. Leon tried to get himself balanced but to no avail. The ladder swung back and caused both it and Leon to fall to the ground. The bang of the metal hitting the floor was loud, but not as loud as the unlucky officer's painful grunt.

"LEON!"

He glanced up, seeing her peering down at him worriedly through the rain. He took a moment to check on himself, finding that nothing felt broken, much to his relief. But it did hurt like a motherfucker. Getting back on his feet, he groaned rubbing at his hip that was beginning to throb. He shined his light up at the broken ladder, most of it now missing.

"Dammit."

"Are you ok?!"

"Yeah. I'm fine! That was not fun!"

"Yeah, no kidding! What is it with you and falling from large heights?"

"Guess that's my luck." She looked around then down at the wall.

"What do I do? You're kind of stranded down there!"

"You should stay up there and wait for me to find a way around!" She shook her head incredulously at his suggestion.

"Not happening! I'm not leaving you to fend for yourself. I'm getting down there one way or another!" she asserted. She put her things away and peered over the edge to look at the wall.

"Vee, no! That's too dangerous!"

"Too bad!"

"Dammit," he grumbled to himself, stepping closer to the wall just in case. She was a stubborn one. "Be careful!" He watched as she reached at her side and took out her hammer. She told him it was in case she fell as she tossed it onto the ground near him. He grabbed it and placed it far enough away where she wouldn't hit it on accident.

"Ok. This is just like rock climbing...only more dangerous," she muttered to herself.

She knelt onto the edge of the building and used one hand to grasp the concrete while the other grabbed onto the top remaining part of the ladder. Keeping her grasp tight, she swung a leg over and began sliding down till her one foot hit a small shelf to stand on. Once she had good footing on it, she swung over her other foot, placing it down, and slowly began to kneel.

Her grasp on the ladder tightened as she lowered herself into the small alcove that the shelf was in. Thank god for old fashioned architecture. It was deep enough where she could slide in and sit without the worry of falling. She sat there for a second, trying to calm herself down after succeeding in climbing down without dying. Now, this was the tricky part.

She has to use the leftover metal bar that the ladder was attached to, to climb down. It was going to be hard and slippery, but she had to try. Looking over the edge, she began to regret her life choices.

"Ok. I can do this!"

"You ok?"

"Not gonna lie! I'm regretting this a little bit!" She scooted near the metal bars and grabbed a hold of one of them. There was a pipe just below that looked like it could hold her for a second, so she began scooting down till her feet hit the pipe. Her foot slightly slipped a little causing her to grasp on tightly to the bar, her heart thumping in her chest.

She put her foot back and pushed through the fear, swinging a foot between the bars and holding onto the one. Slowly, but surely she began climbing down and it worked for a few feet till she was just below the pipe when her feet slipped on the wet brick. She yelped loudly and stopped moving, her feet slowly sliding against the wall. Her shoes couldn't get a good grip on the soaking wet brick wall. At this rate, she wasn't going to get down without falling.

"Shit!" she hissed, carefully looking over her shoulder. She bit her lip nervously realizing how high up she was. Leon was watching her carefully then walked closer and held out his arms.

"Just jump off! I'll catch you!"

"You sure? This is still pretty high!"

"Don't worry! I got you!"

"Ok!"

She twisted her body to him so that she would land forward instead of back. She took a deep breath, cursed under her breath, then pushed herself off of the wall. Falling into his arms, she felt them wrap around her waist before he began stumbling back way too quickly.

"Whoa!" They both landed onto the floor with an oof, Leon's arms tightening themselves around her waist. The wind was knocked out of both of them upon impact. Once Veronica got her bearings, she pressed her hands onto the wet concrete to quickly pull back and keep her weight off of him.

"I'm so sorry!" He shook his head, slightly sitting up and rubbing at his now sore neck.

"It was me that time. My boot slipped," he told her, finally looking up at her. He blinked past the rain and time seemed to slow down as he felt his chest flutter at the sight above him. Even as she was drenched, she was very pretty. Not that he didn't think so before, but now was sure something. Water droplets slid down her face, dripping off her soft lips and a blush had spread on her cheeks that he found adorable. Her hair was plastered to the sides of her face and cascaded over her shoulders dramatically. One of her legs was between his and one of her hands was on his chest.

Her eyes were wide as they blinked at him with long wet eyelashes. He almost couldn't look away, stuck in his thoughts. To him in the moment, she was just beautiful being framed by the rain above them. He wasn't exactly sure what he was doing as he looked over her face. Suddenly, her lips began moving and it took him a moment to realize she was talking.

"What?"

"I said thank you for catching me. You, uh, you can let go of me now," she said gesturing to his arms around her. He cleared his throat then dropped his arms and finally looked away.

"Right! Sorry. It's no problem. You ok?"

"I'm fine. Are you?" she asked while getting onto her knees. He followed suit by sitting up fully.

"Just peachy. It's not every day that a pretty girl falls into my arms," he smirked. The girl was so glad it was dark, 'cause she blushed really badly at that. If she wasn't already pink, she was now red. God was she a sucker for cheesy shit like that. Once she was up, she held out a hand for him to take, which he took and was helped up onto his feet.

"Ha ha. Very funny, Leon. If I didn't know better, I would think you were flirting with me," she teased as she fixed herself up. She was very glad now that he had given her the pads for her knees and elbows. Her joints might have taken a beating from the fall. Her companion smiled as he fixed his vest then reached up and pushed some of her hair behind her ear.

"Well...maybe I am," he said before turning and walking away leaving her speechless. Her mind was going at a million miles per minute and her face felt so hot, she swore she could see steam. Yeah, they may have been flirting all throughout the night, but it wasn't really a spoken thing. Frankly, she thought they were just getting along really well, even though she secretly hoped he was flirting back too. Him saying it out loud caught her off guard. She watched as he took out his gun then turned to her, realizing she wasn't behind him. "You coming?"

She blinked back to reality, closing her mouth that she didn't realize had fallen open till now. Swallowing nervously, she walked over to him, grabbing her hammer on the way and nodded. What she didn't know was that his face was just as pink. When she reached him, he began leading the way across the courtyard, past the fire, to a staircase. It looked like it led to another smaller building just across the way.

"That must be the boiler room," he pointed as he began descending down. She followed him, but said nothing, still slightly in shock. Once at the foot of the stairs, he turned to her with a nervous expression. "You ok? Did I…?"

She opened her mouth to answer but was interrupted by the sound of a door being jiggled in its frame. The survivors looked over at the boiler room door and saw that it looked like someone was trying to get out. They took a step closer only for it to slam open and a pair of zombies came stumbling out. Leon quickly took action and began shooting, Veronica falling suit quickly.

Once the two zombies were down, the pair made their way inside the boiler room. It was a small building with two rooms. The first room held all the machinery for the boilers and in it was another ink ribbon lying on a table. It was for the typewriter in the other room which held a desk, a whiteboard, and another black box. On the whiteboard was a key taped to it and circled with a marker. A note next to it was written, 'Someone lose a key?'

Veronica took it off and examined it. It had a green spade on one end, similar to the other shaped keys. Taking out her map, she looked through it and found the only doors they had found with the shape. One in the first hallway they went through and the other down the stairs from the Chief's office.

"Yes! We got it! The only other key we don't have is the red heart. That and we lost the blue spade one," she pointed out as she put her map away. Leon raised an eyebrow.

"We did?"

"Yeah. I accidentally gave it to you when we were trying to get away from the licker. It's now somewhere in the hallway that you threw it in," she said, rubbing her neck.

"Oh. I didn't even notice! Well, that's alright! I haven't seen any other doors with it anyways. We probably don't need it anymore."

"I hope not. Well, it looks like there's nothing else here. Let's head back and try to figure out how to get inside." She was about to reach the door when Leon reached out to stop her.

"Wait!" She turned and blinked at him in slight surprise.

"What's wrong?"

"Did...Did I go too far? Earlier?"

"You mean with the flirting?"

"Yeah. You, uh, kinda got all quiet on me," he sighed guiltily. "If you're uncomfortable with it, I can always just st-." He was suddenly interrupted by the brunette leaning over to him and pecking him softly on his cheek. She pulled back and smiled at his shocked expression.

"Leon, it's fine! I was just surprised, is all. If anything," she reached up and gave his arm a soft squeeze, "the feeling's mutual." With that said, she turned and opened the door. With her hand still on the knob, she looked back at his surprised form. "You coming?" A grin spread across his face as he followed her out the door.