Chapter 14:
Leon and Veronica both crouched down at the top of the landing then leaped over the edge, splashing into waist-deep waters. The fall wasn't too bad, so they were able to keep themselves standing above the grossness without getting soaked from head to toe.
"Ugh!" Veronica groaned, nose crinkling in disgust.
"That's a pleasant smell."
"Tell me about it. Try not to get your wounds wet. It'll get infected with god knows what."
Wandering around, they found a box of ammo lying amongst the garbage piles lining the walls before moving on. It was strange to see, but considering their situation they weren't about to argue with it. They were going to need all the ammo they could get. They continued down through a dark tunnel that entered into a wide waterway. On one end, there was a small concrete landing that they could climb onto and on it was an iron gate that was locked down. At its base was a mechanism that required a handle or crank to turn it. It must be able to open the gate.
On the other end of the waterway was a fork in the road. The left tunnel led to a dead-end with a box of shotgun ammo sitting on a giant pile of trash, while the right was a way out of the water. Crawling onto the concrete landing, they walked up a small set of stairs then raised their guns in shock at the scene.
There were two bodies slumped against the walls, blood splattered everywhere. They looked like they were part of some sort of militant group by the looks of their uniforms and gas-masked faces. Leon carefully kicked at one of the bodies to see if it would jump and found it dead.
Kicking the other, however, it began to groan, so he shot it with the new magnum gun they had gotten from the S.T.A.R.S. office. With a surpassing amount of force, the bullet hit its head and exploded on impact. As soon as it was down though, Leon groaned and reached up to his shoulder.
"Are you ok?" Veronica worriedly asked. Leon was about to answer when another zombie in a jumpsuit staggered down more stairs towards them. Getting in front of the young officer, Veronica cocked her gun and killed the zombie quickly. She turned and looked back at her injured friend. "Maybe you should leave the shooting to me for a while."
"I might have to take you up on that offer. I'm sorry."
"Don't apologize, Leon. Shoot only when you have to, and maybe use Matilda instead. The magnum looks pretty powerful!"
"Fair enough," he replied as he switched guns. Just as they were about to move on, however, he noticed something on the ground next to one of the bodies. It was a VHS tape.
"A tape? Here?"
"Maybe it has some clues as to what's going on here. I mean, look at these guys. They look like they were professionals," he said while picking it up and examining the bodies.
"We'll keep an eye out for a VHS player, then. Not sure if we'll find one, but you never know. Let's go." They continued up some more stairs, passing by another body, up to a walkway that looked over the waters they were just in. Moving forward, they were caught off guard by a body sliding down from a pipe near the ceiling and hitting the floor in front of them with a loud slam. It began to groan, so Veronica quickly put it out of its misery.
They passed by a locked door labeled 'Treatment Facility' and went up towards the other side of the walkway. Slumped against the wall was a dead body that groaned slightly once it noticed them, but was quickly shot down. Down the hall from it was a zombie that was wandering around, heard the commotion and began stumbling towards them. She shot that one too. They stopped and listened for any other groaning and was relieved to hear none.
"God, they're down here too," she sighed. "There really isn't any safe place in this city."
"That means we have to keep our guard up. Water is hard to walk through, so we have to be especially careful."
Looking around they found two locked doors, one with a similar label to the other that they had passed a few moments earlier. On the wall near where the zombie was slouched against was a breaker box with what looked like a chess piece plugged into it.
"It's a rook piece," Leon stated as he pulled it from the box. They watched as the walkway towards one of the labeled doors began rising, so he put it back to lower it into its original position.
"You know how to play chess?" He nodded.
"I've played with my grandpa ever since I was little. He taught me how."
"That's really cute! But why use it as an electrical part?"
"I don't know. We'll just leave it here, for now."
They walked across the walkway and took a right at the door that led to a long staircase down. At the bottom was a knife on a barrel and another waterway, but this one dropped off into another. Sighing, they slid back into the water and walked over to the edge. Peering over, they noticed it was a sloped edge that they could slide down on.
"Is this really the only way?" Veronica whined.
"Looks like it. C'mon!" They both climbed over and started sliding down with the running water. Veronica yelped as they dropped down with a splash. They quickly bobbed out of the water, their upper bodies now soaked.
"Argh! Shit!" the officer sputtered while wiping his face.
"This is so not rad!" his friend cried while squeezing the ends of her hair to get the water out. She took her hair tie from her wrist and tied her hair up into a high ponytail to keep it out of the way. It ended up being more helpful than she thought.
"I got my shoulder wet," Leon grumbled.
"Fuck. I'm sure my back isn't any better."
"We're probably going to get infected, no matter what we do. Maybe when we're safe, we'll spray them to be sure."
Finally looking up at their surroundings, they were horrified to find the part of the sewers no one really sees. There were large garbage mounds mixed with probably human excrements spewing out of giant sewer holes on the sides of the walls. It was dimly lit and just plain disgusting. The smell was worse here and it made Veronica gag.
There was another one of those locked gates on a concrete landing and a blue herb sitting in the corner. Continuing forward they followed the clear path in the water to another fork in the road. The left was blocked off by a gate while the other looked clear.
As they drew nearer that way, something large and lumpy swam across the murky water's surface towards where they needed to go. The survivors froze in place as they watched it bob around the water, blocking their way forward.
"What the hell!?"
"What the fuck is that?!" the young girl hissed quietly. Whatever it was seemed to pulse as it rested in place.
"I don't know. Should I shoot it?"
"It might piss the thing off."
"But it might move if we do. Do you have a better idea?" She thought about it for a moment before shaking her head.
"Fine." She raised up her gun in preparation. "Go for it."
Leon held up Matilda with a small wince and shot a single bullet at the mass blocking their way. It popped out of the water with a shrill scream and looked around for the cause of its distress. The pair stared in horror at it, a monster of grotesque proportions.
On one side of it was a hulking mass with a large arm and leg connected to it. The other side was smaller with a human-sized arm and leg, but its head was something they had never seen before. Once it got sight of them, the head stretched out into a long snake-like thing.
It roared and opened its head like a sick looking flower and began spitting something into the water. They were a trio of small creatures that hissed and swam towards them hungrily. Reacting quickly, Veronica shot them out of the water as quickly as she could before the pair ran towards the safety of the landing they saw. They climbed onto it and watched as the monster sank back into the water and disappeared.
"It can spit out babies!?" the brunette exclaimed leaning against the brick wall.
"We have to get past it somehow. Vee, how's your ammo doing?"
"Getting kind of low, to be honest. Yours?"
"About the same. But I do have 3 grenades. How about I throw one at it then we just book past it," he suggested.
"It's worth a shot. I only have flash grenades." He reached for his belt and took one of his grenades out for her to take.
"Here. Why don't we trade each other for one, so that you have a regular one and I also have a flash. I already have three of these."
"You sure?"
"Yeah. Just make sure you pull the pin and throw it as far as you can, ok?" She took it then gave him one of hers. He also gave her a first aid spray since she used hers on him before.
"Ok. Ready?" She nodded then the two jumped back into the water. They got close enough to the lump to see it before Leon threw the grenade as planned. It went off causing the monster to pop out of the water with a loud scream. The explosion showed that the top layer on the giant mass it had, had been broken revealing a giant glowing eye. It looked eerily similar to one from the monster they had fought in the basement to the police department.
Finding an opening, they tried running past it, but the water and the monster's hulking size wasn't any help. Its massive hand reached out and grabbed a hold of Veronica, lifting her up in the air effortlessly. She screamed trying to push herself out of its grasp and looked up to watch its head whip up and open.
"VEE!"
The head lunged at her, so in an attempt to stop it, she quickly reached up and held it back to keep it from eating her. She grunted trying to push it away and got a burst of disgusting liquid spewed at her in the process. She could feel whatever it was, entered her system causing her arms to weaken and it was getting harder to breathe.
There was the sound of a loud gunshot going off before the monster suddenly dropped her into the water. She stumbled back onto her feet in time to watch Leon shoot more magnum bullets at the eye then the monster let out a final screech before falling into the water dead.
Taking in a deep breath, Veronica felt her lungs spasm and she was thrown into a coughing fit. Leon ran to her side and started patting her back gently. She tried talking only to cough again into her arm. Her lungs ached for proper airflow and her legs were becoming a little wobbly.
"Le-on," she finally wheezed before another fit.
"What's wrong?!"
"Can't...breathe." He tilted her head up to look at him, his eyes darting across her face.
"It must be a poison. C'mon, let's get out of the water and I can treat you." She nodded as they quickly made it to the concrete landing and climbed out. Leon sat her down and kneeled in front of her while putting his gun away. He asked her for the herb bag and poured out a small pile of mostly blue herb with some green for her to take. After she swallowed it, they waited for a moment to see if it would work. Finally, after about a minute, she took in a deep breath without coughing.
"It's working. I can breathe better," she croaked.
"Good. I was getting a little worried there. Here, look at me for a sec." She stared up at him as he brought out his flashlight and shined it in her eyes. She resisted the urge to shut them as he examined them.
"Things look fine. We can only wait to see if anything happens down the line," he told her while putting his light away. She blinked her eyes repeatedly trying to fight the blinding spots in her vision.
"I didn't realize I was with a medical professional here," she chuckled, breathing going back to normal. He merely shook his head at her joke with a small smile.
"Police officers have first aid training and some take the same training as first responders. As an overachiever, I took the more intense route. That's why I was able to identify the symptoms of poisoning."
"Wow. That's incredibly helpful considering the situation!"
"Tell me about it. It helped me when you got caught by the licker too. I bet if I wasn't an officer, we'd both be dead." Leon stood up and helped his partner onto her feet. She was a little shaky but grounded herself the best she could.
"I don't know about that. Something tells me you'd persevere anything no matter what. You already do now, regardless."
"Maybe, but I would be clueless in a medical emergency." She shrugged at his response before hanging her gun around her shoulder.
"I'm sure if you were in this situation, you would've given me mouth to mouth instead of herbs. Not very helpful, but it's the thought that counts," she giggled playfully, receiving a smirk in return.
"Believe me. I almost did," he replied in a low voice while putting the herbs back in her pouch. His response gave her body a small jolt of excitement, causing her to bite her lip. Two could play at that game. Once he was done and looked back up at her, she got real close, reached up and gently cupped his chin with one of her hands, her thumb brushing across the small cleft under his lip. He was taken back by her boldness, but couldn't help but lean into her touch.
"Then I guess I do have my own knight in shining armor," she smirked before giving his cheek a small tap and walked away. Leon couldn't help the dopey smile on his face as he watched her walk with a small sway to her hips. He shook his head in disbelief then quickly caught up to her.
"So now we have another monster to watch out for down here. Who knows how many of those things there are," Veronica stated, getting serious again. It was nice to change the atmosphere when they were being flirty, but they had to remember where they were.
"They seem to like the waters, so maybe we should try and avoid it as much as possible."
"We can try. But now we know the threat that those things pose for us."
"And its weakness. We know how to kill them."
"As long as we have enough ammo. Speaking of which, how's the shoulder?"
"Not that great, but I'm hanging in there. The magnum doesn't treat me well. By the way, it's also out of ammo."
"Well isn't that great."
They carefully walked through the dark hallway to a small set of stairs that led to a metal door. Passing through it, the couple was taken by surprise at the sight of a cable car sitting against a steep slope that led down into a long tunnel. The wires connecting to it sparked every now and again which meant there was still electricity working.
"A cable car...Interesting," Leon muttered.
"Where does it go?"
"It probably has something to do with Umbrella," he responded nodding to the red and white umbrella insignia on the side of the car. They ascended up a long metal staircase then climbed a ladder up to a control room. Carefully walking in, they found it empty besides the control panels lining the wall.
On the opposite side of the room was a glass wall that peered over into a giant well-lit room. There was a long catwalk that stood high above a pool of sewer water and there was a giant metal claw that had crashed through one of the walls.
"Where'd she go?" Leon huffed as he looked out of the window. Veronica picked up a box of shotgun ammo from a chair then stood behind him. She gently placed a hand on his back and followed his gaze.
"We'll find her, Leon. She shouldn't have gotten far," she tried reassuring him. He nodded with a small sigh before smiling at his partner. She smiled back then the two turned back around to check the rest of the room. By the door was a desk with a dead computer and some papers on it. Next to it was a set of lockers, one padlocked that needed a code. Leon picked up one of the papers and glanced over it while Veronica took a look at what seemed to be a broken lift.
"We could jump down to the lift from here and down again into that room beneath us," she suggested before looking back at him. "What's that?" she gestured to the paper in his hand.
"They're copies of emails sent to Umbrella HQ. One of the people working here was trying to get help during the outbreak by contacting a director. I guess it didn't work," he explained while setting it down.
"Jesus."
"Yeah. Well, too late now I guess. What was that you said about a lift?"
She pointed out the broken lift then peered down. It was broken halfway between the room they were in and the one below them. Leon jumped down first then jumped again into the next room. He waved her down and with a little struggle, she made it down alongside him. The room they were in was another control room with a wall of windows on the one side and more control panels on the other. It was well lit and looked as if the workers had just left for lunch with how normal it was.
As they peered around the room, the sound of muffled groaning coming from the other side of the windows caught their attention. Rounding the corner, they walked up to the glass cautiously.
"I don't like the sound of that," the young man murmured.
"What is it?" his partner asked curiously as soon as they peered out into the room. It was a large garbage room with piles of trash lying everywhere. On the other side of it was a large door labeled 'Waste Disposal' that looked like the only way inside.
"Doesn't look like it's in there." He pressed a hand up on the glass and looked around worriedly. "Come on," he whispered to himself. Peering down, Veronica noticed a familiar splash of red amongst the trash.
"Leon! There's Ada!" she pointed out. Ada was slumped over, possibly unconscious by the looks of things.
"Ada!" A particularly loud growl from the other side of the waste disposal door tore their gaze away from the agent. Whatever it was, it was waiting on the other side of that door.
"We have to get to her before 'it' does!" Leon nodded in agreement, looking out at the agent one last time.
"We're coming, Ada!"
The pair turned back to the room and began searching for a way to get to her. While picking up some random ammo lying about, they quickly found the door that looked like it led to the garbage room. However, it was locked via an electric lock and was made of thick metal like a safe door. There was no physical way of getting in unless they could unlock it. Leon pounded a fist against it once in frustration.
"Damn it!" A hand gently touched his arm, capturing his attention. He glanced over to find Veronica looking at him with a soft expression.
"Leon, calm down. We'll figure it out. It hasn't gotten in yet. It's possible that it won't be able to. The door looks sturdy enough." She looked around the section of the room they were in and found six breaker boxes lining the walls, three on each side. "Look!"
There was a desk against the opposite wall with a corkboard above it, covered in paperwork. She jogged over to take a look while Leon looked at the breakers. He pulled out a plug and looked at it curiously.
"These are chess pieces!" he said, holding it up for her to see. Her eyebrows raised in surprise then down at a paper on the desk, before picking it up.
"Just like the rook piece back where we started!" She glanced over it then back at Leon. "They are what opens the door. They have to be put in a specific order." Looking back on the corkboard, she found a clue to the answer. "Since you know how to play chess, this should be easy to solve!"
"But we have a problem. We're missing three plugs. Three pieces."
"One being the rook, huh?" He nodded. "Just great. We'll have to find them around here somewhere. Right?"
"They have to be. They need those plugs to get through this door. If we don't, we'll figure something out." She nodded then led them back to where they came in. Against a nearby wall were a giant black box and a desk that had a T.V. and VHS player. She turned to her partner excitedly once she remembered what they had found earlier.
"Still have the tape?" He pulled it out and handed it to her. She pushed a couple of buttons, turning on the appliances before inserting the tape.
The two watched curiously as the screen flickered with static for a moment before working. Finally, an image appeared. It was of a man face down on the floor groaning in pain. Based off of the surroundings and the man's placement, they figured it was the dead man they had found the tape with. There was an open suitcase in front of him and broken vials of liquid spilled onto the floor. In the corner of the video, it was labeled 'A. Kirkpatrick' and was dated on September 23rd, aka just before the outbreak. The man panned the camera up, showing that it was attached to his head or helmet. You could hear frantic yelling in the background.
"Please...Oh...please...stop...St-Stop!" he begged while reaching for the suitcase. He tried crawling towards the sound of a gun firing and looked up to see one of the soldiers they had seen dead fighting against something. "Don't...don't...no...no...no!"
A pair of large deformed hands picked up the suitcase in one frame before the static cut in. The image came back with the man looking up at a familiar monster who was pouring the contents of the suitcase onto him and in his mouth. Despite being blurry, they recognized what it was.
"Leon, that's the monster!"
"OVER HERE, YOU FREAK!" the other man who was still standing screamed while shooting at it some more.
"Don't hurt him...Don't hurt him," the injured man begged as he watched the monster stalk towards the other. The image was getting blurrier by the second. All it took was one swipe of the thing to slam the soldier against the wall, splattering blood everywhere. Veronica gasped in shock, grasping Leon's arm for purchase. He reached up and squeezed her hand, still watching the video. That man was dead and all it took was one hit.
The one still recording on the floor gasped for breath and looked down at a rat who was eating at one of the broken vials on the floor. More rats joined it as the monster began walking back to him. As soon as it got close enough, they scattered. The last shot was of the monster's foot stepping on the broken vial before cutting out completely.
"Oh my god! Was that…?"
"The virus. I'll bet those rats spread it," Leon said, eyes glued onto the screen.
"That was it then. The start of the outbreak. It was the monster's fault."
"But who is the monster? Did you see how human it still looked in the video? When we fought it, it looked so much worse," he explained, finally looking over at her.
"I don't know. But I think we're going to find out soon."