*So I don't really know much about weaponry, so I'm basing everything here on the gameplay. The pacing of this chapter is a little weird because that's just how B scenario is, but just know that I'm aware that this isn't written as smoothly as it probably could be. Also, if you're wondering why things are already unlocked, worked with, etc, it's cause Leon got to them first!
Chapter 3:
Deciding to search the room for supplies, the two survivors went back to the first floor and started near the giant statue. At its base was a small makeshift medical area, where black leather benches sat surrounded by hospital partitions and deserted medical supplies. None of which seemed to be of any use anymore. While Veronica searched amongst the boxes, Claire checked the door with the teal spade insignia on it only to find it locked.
"Looks like we'll need a key to get in," she mumbled before making her way over to her companion.
On one of the benches sat a small red notebook with bloody thumbprints all over it. Veronica picked it up, wiped it down with a nearby rag, then opened it to examine its contents. On the first page was a letter written in barely legible handwriting. Drops of blood stained the paper enough to cause some of the ink to smudge, but it could still be read. Glancing over it, it was clear whoever wrote it was in a rush, but couldn't do it fast enough. She turned to Claire and began to read aloud.
"'To whoever is left,
If you found this notebook, then it means I've turned. I can feel the change happening and I know I don't have much time left. If I can use these last moments to save whoever is still alive, then I'll try my best to do so. This notebook has clues on finding a way out of the station and it's true. Fellow officer Kennedy was able to escape, but I told him to leave both me and this book behind. The kid was stubborn but he eventually listened. It's too bad it was his first day on the force.'" She paused then looked up at Claire. "Officer Kennedy? Who's that?"
"I think that's Leon's last name. He mentioned on the way here that he was a cop, but I didn't realize this would be his first day!" Claire replied in disbelief.
"Poor guy. This letter must be from a coworker of his that was able to survive this long. Leon would've been the last person he'd see alive."
"And he wouldn't allow Leon to take him with him since he was infected." Claire looked down at the book then back at Veronica in realization. "But, he also said that Leon was able to escape!" Veronica's eyes widened in excitement.
"Then we have a chance! We just have to figure out the clues!"
"What else does it say?" She looked back down and began reading again.
"'The medallions you need are back where they're supposed to be. There are people you can't trust out here and lots of mindless zombies walking around. I learned that the hard way. I needed to be sure that the rookie had enough time to get out of here safely and that he wasn't going to be followed. Just follow the clues and you'll be out of here in no time. Good luck.' - Lieutenant Marvin Branagh.'"
"Branagh?" Claire questioned softly, the name clearly sparking something in her memory. Veronica glanced back up at her companion and nodded. Claire took a moment to think before looking over towards the body of the first zombie they had shot at. "I thought he looked familiar," she murmured.
"Claire?" Said girl turned back to find Veronica looking at her questioningly.
"That zombie. I met Marvin a couple of times when I would come to visit my brother, but it wouldn't be for very long since he was always busy. I didn't even realize it was him," she replied nodding over to the dead man's corpse. Realizing what she was saying, Veronica gasped softly.
"Oh! I'm so sorry." Claire sighed before shaking her head.
"It's ok. I didn't really know him that well, but my brother did. It's just really sad." Veronica reached over and placed a hand on Claire's shoulder comfortingly. "But that doesn't matter right now. We gotta stay focused. Didn't it say that there was a way out?" Veronica gave a soft squeeze before dropping her hand back down to the book.
"It did! Leon was able to find it." She turned the page to find familiar-looking drawings on it. It didn't take her long to figure it out as she gasped in realization as to what it was.
"It's the notebook we needed! Hand me that page you found!" Claire reached into her pocket and handed the slip of paper over. Veronica slipped it into the book and matched up the drawings together. On one side revealed the whole plan for possibly getting out of the station via the Goddess statue next to them. On the other side was another illustration of a lady holding a jug and another code right beneath it. After looking it over, Veronica understood what it meant.
"I got it! The Goddess statue is our way out. Marvin mentions something about medallions and I think these are it," she explained while holding the book out for Claire to see. She pointed to highlighted circles amongst the three illustrations. Then she drags her finger to the plan with the Goddess statue where three circles surrounded by question marks are drawn. "It looks like they go into the statue somehow." Claire looks over at the wooden base and finds three circular holes that looked like something could slot into.
"That must be it! Now we just have to find these things that hold the medallions."
"Right. A lion with a shield, a unicorn with a shield, and a woman with a jug. The codes must be to unlock them or something."
"Ok. We'll have to keep our eyes peeled for them." Claire sighed before smiling at her newfound friend. "Nice job! You're really good at this!" Veronica giggled shyly as she put the notebook into her back pocket.
"Just trying my best! I do like a good puzzle," she said before clearing her throat awkwardly. She was not really good with compliments, so she felt a little stuck in replying back. Claire chuckled at that before giving Veronica a few pats on the shoulder.
"Cute," was all she responded with before walking back towards the front area. Veronica's heart felt like it was going to explode in her chest. She quietly took in a deep breath before following her.
Deciding on continuing to search the room for supplies, they began to search near the front desk. While Claire checked the actual desk itself, Veronica looked through the piles of equipment nearby. To her luck, she found another first aid spray, which she took since Claire had the other one. Nothing else seemed to be of much help. They were either used or broken.
"Hey! Come look at this!" Claire called for her. Behind the desk, she was standing in front of a table with a computer on it and the screen had the R.P.D. logo flashing. Claire clicked a few buttons to get it working till the security camera feed popped up. Seeing movement in one of the cameras, she enlarged it for the both of them to see. That hallway looked familiar.
"Hey! We were just there!" Veronica pointed it out as the hallway with yellow wallpaper near their safe room. Walking into the frame was the blurry figure of a large man stomping towards the camera. His footsteps were so loud, you would think he was made of solid rock. Despite the poor quality, they could tell that he was very tall considering his head reached the camera at all. His body was very large with hands that looked like they could crush a watermelon.
He was wearing what looked like a black leather trench coat with a matching fedora hat on top of its seemingly bald head. The girls watched in horror as the man looked up at them through the screen where they could see its pale grey face covered in markings. The blank stare it gave was chilling, and even more so when it pulled back a gloved fist and punched the camera's lights out. Static was all that was left.
"Bet he's not part of the rescue squad," Claire muttered angrily.
"What is he?!" Veronica whispered, horrified at the thought of dealing with something worse than the zombies.
"I don't know, but I don't want to stick around and find out. We should go. We can search this room later." Veronica nodded in agreement and followed Claire to an open entryway just across the room. Through it was what looked like a small reception area with rows of benches lying just across a set of windows that led into an office. On one of the benches sat a box of ammo for Veronica's gun, much to her luck, but nothing else seemed to be left around besides a potted plant.
A trail of blood and long scratch marks led behind a wooden divider to a lone door that presumably opened to the west part of the station. As the girls walked up to it, something large and fast crawled across the window next to them with a growl. The sound of a broken window from somewhere in the station indicated that whatever it was, was now in the building. They couldn't make out what exactly it was, but it was no ordinary animal.
"What was that!?" Claire stopped them both to listen for any more sounds in case something else was closing in on them. Veronica felt her heart stop cold at the sound of muffled hissing from behind the door they needed to go through.
"Claire, w-what is that?!" she whispered, too afraid to speak any louder.
"I don't know, but we have to go in there."
"Maybe we should look for another way in?" Claire opened her mouth to say something when the sound of distant thudding from the other wing of the department caught their attention.
"I don't think we really have a choice right now. Let's just take this slow and maybe we can sneak past whatever it is." Veronica wracked her head for any other solution and came up empty. She gave a swift nod while taking out her gun. The two girls prepared themselves before Claire took the doorknob in her hand. She slowly turned it and pushed the door open a crack to peek inside. With no sign of immediate danger, they both walked in and silently shut the door behind them.
Veronica swallowed the growing lump in her throat at the sight of the long dark hallway lying ahead of them. It was lit only by the outside lamps through boarded-up windows and a distant light lying on the ground near the end of the hall. It was lit over a body that was slumped against the wall but she couldn't tell whether it was truly dead or not.
The air smelled much worse there compared to the main hall she was just in. Trying not to gag at the odor of blood and decaying flesh, they began to carefully walk down the hallway. They could hear their shoes squelching against the tile beneath them. The sound of hissing that they had heard a moment before was louder now, its sound echoing in the wide space. Whatever it was seemed to be getting closer as well as the scraping of something sharp along the walls.
They found the source when they reached another hallway halfway through that was blocked off with tables and chairs. Crawling along the wall was a creature on all fours, with giant claws that latched onto the wall for purchase. It was too dark in the room to actually see what it was, but they didn't want to catch its attention. Claire decided to turn off her flashlight and continued walking past it towards the other end of the hall. The screech the creature gave was unsettling and it made Veronica sweat nervously.
Reaching the end, the floor and walls were splattered with blood. Lying beside the body that was slouched against the wall, was a flashlight, which she eagerly took to light her way in the darkness since Claire already had one. The guy didn't move which was a good sign, so perhaps, it was truly dead. The sound of static buzzing from its police radio was distracting though in such a cramped hallway. She could only hope it wouldn't attract any more of the dead.
Turning the corner, another loud hiss came from the direction they were going to. The bright light on the floor made it hard to see ahead in the darkness, but she could only make out so much. On the floor was the body of another officer only his head was split in half and it looked like it had hit the floor pretty hard. Veronica decided to not look any closer than she needed to.
Suddenly, Claire reached for the brunette's arm and pulled her out of the light to hide in the shadows. She looked up at the ceiling causing Veronica to do so as well and Veronica felt like she was going to puke. It was another one of those creatures crawling along the ceiling effortlessly. With the aid of the light, she could make out what it finally looked like. It resembled a human, only larger and with the skin completely gone. It was like a human body turned inside out. It had very large sharp claws on each appendage and sharp teeth beneath an exposed brain on its head.
It would screech and sniff the air before opening its mouth, releasing a long slimy tongue with a pointed end. It licked around its mouth like an animal before continuing past the girls. Despite being able to see it, it didn't seem to see them, but they weren't going to take any chances. Claire tapped Veronica's arm and signaled them to keep moving. Fighting the overwhelming urge to throw her guts up, she nodded and the two continued to quietly walk down the hallway.
Too nervous to say anything in case another monster showed up, the two girls carefully passed by a broken window surrounded by broken caution tape where the floor was drenched from the rain pouring in. Trying not to draw attention, they took each step along the water slowly so that they wouldn't make a splash. When they finally reached the next corner, they found the hallway cut off once more, leaving the only way forward through a pair of double doors.
Happy to see a way out of this dark hallway of death, they hurried a little faster towards them only to stop as hungry hands reached out at them from barred up windows. They both jumped in surprise as they watched a pair of zombies growl at them through the bars. Veronica slapped a hand over her mouth to keep herself from making noise as they scurried into the next room. Claire shined her light over the room and was relieved to find no monsters anywhere in it.
"Fucking hell, Claire! What were those things?" Veronica hissed, finally allowing herself a moment to comprehend what they had just encountered.
"I have no idea! You've been here longer, you've never seen them before?"
"No! The worst things I've seen were zombie dogs! Not skinless monsters like that!"
"Zombie dogs!?" Claire's eyes widened in disbelief. Veronica looked at her with exhaustion evident on her face.
"Girl, this outbreak didn't just infect humans. The amount of undead animals that have chased me through this city really shows how easy it is to get eaten. Dogs are fast." Claire blinked at her as she processed this new information.
"Well shit." Veronica nodded in understanding before finally taking a glance over the room.
Considering themselves safe, the girls relaxed, but decided to keep their voices down just in case. It was a large room that they figured may have been used as a meeting room at some point. The black and white tiled floors were filthy, but it was far less bloody than the outside. A dull light flickered on in the opposite end of the room showing desks and chairs piled up against the left wall. Claire found some ammo on a random desk before walking up to a wide dirty chalkboard that stood right under the light. Taped to it was a large piece of the map to the station.
"Yes!" Veronica whispered as they took it down to look over.
"Looks like it only shows the first floor, but at least it's something."
"Do you know the layout of this place at all by any chance?" Claire shook her head.
"I only know where the S.T.A.R.S. office is. The way I was taken before was supposed to be through the hallway back there," she nodded her head back to the double doors. "But since it's blocked off, it looks like we can go through this door and out this way," she explained while pointing on the map. "We can check all of these rooms for supplies and keep an eye out for Chris before heading up to the second floor. That's where it is."
"Ok. That sounds like a plan. Looks like it should be no problem getting there," Veronica said nodding to the broken yellow chain at the foot of the door onward. "Since I have the notebook, you can hold onto the map."
Claire nodded in agreement as she folded it up and placed it into her pouch. Walking over to the door, Veronica barely had her hand on the knob when Claire noticed something out of the corner of her eye. There were a few scattered papers on a desk nearby that looked official, but it was the messy scribbles on it that seemed out of place enough to catch her attention. Maybe there would be something about Chris on it.
"Wait," she said, stopping the other girl while she went and picked one up to look at. Glancing over it, she realized that they were notes left behind that were written during the outbreak.
"What is it?" Veronica walked over to stand next to Claire, who decided to read it aloud for the both of them.
"'Record of Events. September 25th: We're turning the station into a temporary shelter due to the massive sudden outbreak. All police personnel have been instructed to make the safety of the citizens their top priority as we try to accommodate as many of them as possible.'"
"That was just a few days ago." Claire nodded while picking up another page.
"'Addendum. One of the refugees attacked us in the middle of the night, resulting in the death of 1 officer and injuring 3 others. The person in question was quickly restrained. We believe this was simply a case of someone snapping under intense stress.'" She paused, eyebrows raising in concern. "An officer?" Veronica noticed the change in demeanor so she reached up to link Claire's arm in hers.
"Keep going. I'm sure it's not Chris." Claire nodded while swallowing the lump in her throat.
"'September 26th: A mob attacked the station today, resulting in a number of casualties. A few survivors were able to make it safely behind the emergency shutters, but surrounded as we are, it'll be hard for any of us to escape this place. We're not sure we can fix any of our comm equipment, so we remain cut off from the outside world.'" Claire stopped reading, her hands starting to shake at the thought of her brother going through all of this. Taking the paper in her fingers, Veronica turned the page and tilted it more for her to see as she continued for her.
"'September 27th: There was another clash on the west side of the station around 1 pm...Twelve people died, and there is only a handful of survivors left. Everything is falling into disarray in here. David Ford.'... Holy shit." She looked up to see Claire staring at the page, her expression full of unease. "Claire? Are you ok?" Scared eyes finally looked over at Veronica.
"God, Chris. What if he-?" Veronica shook her head and turned to face Claire fully. She reached out and gently grasped her hands, her eyes gazing into Claire's.
"No. Claire, we have to keep our heads up about this. We still don't know what happened yet. It's still possible that Chris is still alive. We're going to find him and we're all going to get the hell out of here! So, please, stay strong for the both of us, ok?" she pleaded.
She needed Claire to be there with her at that moment. It was heartbreaking to see the fear for her brother on her face, since Veronica knew all too well that she would do anything for her own sister. Sibling bonds are one's not to be messed with. That was something they had in common. In that moment, they only had each other, how could she not care about her? Claire took in a deep breath before nodding.
"Yeah, ok! You're right! I'm sure he's around here somewhere! We haven't even seen him as a zombie yet either, so chances are that it's possible that he's ok."
"Exactly. It's going to be ok, Claire. Are you still with me?" Claire gave Veronica's hands a soft squeeze.
"Yeah. I'm with you."
"Good. Let's keep moving. We have a lot of ground to cover!" She gave another final squeeze before they dropped their hands. Veronica decided to go first, her gun drawn as she slowly pushed open the door into the next room. It had no name, according to the map, but it looked like it was just a small storage room. It was deemed safe after a quick look around.
There was a desk right when they walked in and a whiteboard that stood against the wall behind them. On it was written 'Locker Room CAP' with the three letters circled. Glancing around, there were messily stocked up storage shelves and chairs piled up in a corner. On the other side were two doors, one with a red heart insignia, and the other that should lead them to the next hallway, according to the map. Both doors were locked with the heart door needing the right key and the other was deadbolted on their side.
On one of the chairs piled in the corner, Claire found another flash grenade, which she hooked up to her belt since Veronica already had one. There was also another potted plant sitting on top of a filing cabinet. While searching the desk for anything, Veronica found a couple of markers sitting unused. She picked up two and handed one to Claire.
"Just in case we need to make any sort of notes," she explained before looking around, the heart door and the whiteboard catching her attention. "Like those! I have a feeling that those doors with the shapes are important."
"You noticed that too?" Claire asked while taking out the map. Veronica nodded while taking out the little book to write the locker room code.
"Every door with a shape has been locked so far. I can only assume that there are specific keys for them. So far there was the blue spade and now the red heart."
"There's also a green club door. We passed it while we were sneaking by the monsters out in the hallway. It looks like both that and the heart door lead to the 'Records Room'," Claire explained while drawing some markings on the map.
"Interesting. Something to keep an eye out for if the rooms are worth going through." Claire hummed in agreement before folding up the map and putting it away.
"Alright. Let's keep moving." She decided to lead the way as she unbolted the only door they could unlock. Carefully, she walked through and out into the West wing of the department. Looking around, the room was splattered in blood, even up towards the ceiling. Veronica had a feeling that it had to do with the monsters they had seen. The girls tried not to talk too much until they knew the room was clear of any monsters, which seemed to be the case so far. Many of the zombie's looked like they had already been dealt with.
"Must've been Leon's handiwork," Claire mumbled as she walked over to the vending machines. The glass was shattered leaving the snacks to be free for anyone to take. She grabbed a couple of protein bars that were still wrapped up and handed one to Veronica. "Just in case." Veronica took it, though she felt like she didn't have much of an appetite.
"Oh, by the way, I heard from a couple of survivors, that didn't try to kill me, that I should avoid the water since they didn't know how the outbreak started. We should probably stick to water bottles if we come across any."
"That sounds like a good idea, but I don't see any easily accessible machines here. I don't think they work." Veronica shrugged in response. She was thirsty, but she could wait.
There were two other doors on either side of the room and a hallway on either side as well. A sign leading to the one across the way read 'Stairs'. That probably would lead to the second floor like they needed. The hallway next to them was dark and seemed to be the same blocked off one they couldn't pass through before. Veronica decided to be brave and search around the barricade for anything. To her luck, she was able to find a box of ammo sitting by a real dead body near it. She figured that out with a lot of poking and kicking.
Back at the junction, the girls' looked between the two other doors. One of them was labeled 'West Office' and the other was labeled 'Safety Deposit Room'. Veronica didn't know what that meant, but it looked important since the door was made of metal.
Deciding on the Safety Deposit Room, they walked in to find it surprisingly well lit and empty of any zombies. The walls were made of concrete and in the middle of the room, there was a keypad in front of a long aisle of lockers. Veronica looked at the keypad and noticed that the 2 and 3 buttons were missing.
"Can't open any lockers with a two or three in it. Are there any that we can open?" she asked. Claire went down the aisle and back around the other way.
"I only see locker's 106 and 109, but there's also a weapons locker in the back that has a grenade launcher. If we can find the keycard to access it, we can finally use those flame rounds we found." Veronica nodded as she typed in the numbers, but didn't respond. While she has fired a gun, the thought of using a powerful weapon like that was scary. Claire went to retrieve the items and brought back some ammo for her and a roll of film.
"I'm not sure what to do with this to be honest, but it's labeled 'Commemorative Photo' on it," Claire said, lifting the film into view.
"Let me see," Veronica held her hand out for it, which Claire didn't hesitate to give. Looking over the canister, Veronica hummed to herself. "Why would you need to be locked up? Maybe it's important! Do you know if there's a dark room anywhere in the building?" Claire took a moment to think about it before taking out the map.
"Looks like there's one just down the hall from here."
"Ok. Maybe we'll take a look at what this is for," Veronica said while putting the film in her pouch.
"Do you know how to develop photos?"
"Kind of. My friend was a photographer, so she showed me a few basic things. It's not much, but I can at least get the photo to be visible."
"Nice! That'll be really helpful if the film turns out to be important!"
The two girls exited the room and decided to head into the West office. Carefully opening the door, they found a large dark room, barely lit by the lights of the small side office that most likely belonged to the head of the unit. It was mostly filled with desks in the center and at one of those desks, a zombie was leaned over as if sleeping.
As soon as it heard the door open, however, it raised its head and tried to stand, but Claire was quick to stop it with a few shots. While she was reloading, another zombie began stumbling out of the office and Veronica took it upon herself to take it down.
Her hands still shook as she shot, but her aim was getting better. She still hated the sensation though. With it down, the office was deemed safe. The two began searching around for clues and supplies, and while it was easier to find the supplies, the clues for getting out of the station were harder to come by.
On a desk was a can of gunpowder and a note on how to use it. She told Claire, who was picking out a box of ammo from a locker, about her findings and read them out to her. Claire handed the ammo to her as she explained how to combine the cans for future use. It was a lot to take in, but Veronica was a fast learner. With what they had, they were able to create something new, which was acid grenade rounds for the launcher they needed to get. Interesting.
While Veronica checked the desks for anything, Claire searched the side office. There she found a safe, but no code to get in. Taking out her map, she made a note on it's location. While she did that, Veronica found a note sitting on the desk of someone named Elliot Edward. Picking it up, she read through it quietly to herself.
"Huh. Hey, Claire!"
"Yeah?"
"There's a note here! It's from a guy named Elliot!" Claire stopped what she was doing to listen as Veronica walked into the office to read it aloud. "'September 28 2:30 am. It's down to just me and 3 others. No weapons…no ammo…and too many skirmishes have drained us mentally and physically. We're not gonna make it…Officer Phillips once suggested we escape through the sewers. Apparently, there's a secret tunnel under this place left over from its museum days.'" She paused.
"Museum days? This place was a museum?" She arched an eyebrow and noticed Claire shrug before continuing to read. "'I brushed her idea off before, but now, it's not sounding all that bad. Yeah, there's no proof there's even a tunnel or that the sewers aren't infested with zombies, but I don't wanna sit here and wait to die, either. It's a long shot, but I'm gonna try to find out what I can about that tunnel. – Elliot Edward.' God, this was just yesterday."
"Elliot must've been the one who wrote down these clues! Leon figured it out, so the tunnel must be real."
"Yeah, or the only real way out is through the sewers. Do you think they're any better than running through the city?"
"For our sake, let's hope so." Veronica nodded as she turned back to the room and set the papers back on the desk. Shining her light around, she noticed something hanging down from the ceiling. It was shiny blue party streamers with plastic stars at the ends. There was a banner facing away from her, hiding what the occasion was for and it made her curious.
"That's nice. Someone was having a party," she smiled as Claire walked out of the office. As sad as it was to think about, it was nice to see that people were celebrating something happy before this whole mess began. She walked over to see what it said then shined her light up at the banner. Her smile immediately faded once she realized what it was for.
"Veronica?" Claire walked over and followed the other girl's line of sight. Realizing what it was for, she sighed sadly before looking down at the floor in disappointment. The banner read 'Welcome Leon' in bright yellow lettering surrounded by the streamers. It must've been for when Leon would start at the department.
"Oh, Leon," Veronica whispered as she lowered her light. She felt terrible for the guy even if she only barely met him about an hour ago.
"Poor guy. His whole career was basically destroyed because of this thing!"
"That's really sad! I hope he's ok."
"Considering that he got out, I'm sure he's fine," Claire sighed. "I hope he didn't see this though. I remember when Chris was first welcomed here, how excited he was. It hurts to think about what Leon's going through right now." Veronica nodded, shining her light down to an open desk right in front of them. Her flashlight lit up a clean wooden desk and a shiny plaque with his name sitting on it. 'Leon S. Kennedy'. She walked over and picked the plaque up to look at it.
"I think he did," she said before setting it back down. "Sorry, Leon. We're going to look through your stuff." She opened a couple drawers for anything useful and, to her luck, found something. It was a strange looking part of a gun. "What's this?"
"Oh! That's a speed loader!" She looked over it and asked for Veronica's gun. "Looks like it's for your model!" She fiddled with it before adding it to the gun and handing it back.
"What does it do?"
"It helps you reload faster! I think Leon left it behind for us. He asked me about my gun when we were driving here."
"Nice! Thank you, Leon!" Veronica said while putting her gun away. Claire flashed her light around once more and noticed another spade insignia door at the top of some steps. After looking at the map, she figured it would lead back into the main hall.
"This would be a great way to get back without going through that hallway full of monsters. We really need to find this key!" she noted.
"It has to be around here somewhere! C'mon! Let's keep looking! We've got a station to get through!"