Author's note: This chapter has been edited. All problems with by horrible spelling were corrected and a lot of new things were put in. More updates shall come your way.

"Nothing hurts my world,
just affects the ones around me
When sin's deep in my blood,
you'll be the one to fall.

"I wish I could be the one,
the one who won't care at all
But being the one on the stand,
I know the way to go, no one's guiding me.
When time soaked with blood turns its back,
I know it's hard to fall.
Confided in me was your heart
I know it's hurting you, but it's killing me."'

'Unholy Confessions'- Avenged Sevenfold

How long is the night?

Chapter 2

Walking into a nightmare

Ashley began to shudder at the sight of it all. Everything was on fire, destroyed beyond recognition. The shock was just too much to handle, crawling up her spine like a sheet of ice, and she could feel her legs turn into jelly and give out.

Leon caught her by the arm before she made contact with the ground. With an effortless tug, he pulled her up and continued to survey the disaster.

"Maybe it only happened here," was all he could manage to say.

Ashley felt tears threatening to pour out of her eyes at any given moment. When they did they burned the side of her face as a few managed to seep out, staining her now pale face. She just could not picture anything to be like this, not this way.

Leon gave her some respective space, looking towards the mess that spanned out before him. As Ashley became overrun with her emotions, having wanted so badly to return home, he decided to investigate some of the nearby debris.

As Leon neared the burning debris he checked everything out. Every car he passed, every object that now lay forgotten on the ground. Nothing appeared to be damaged that badly, except the buildings. Everything looked like no fighting had occurred. Leon wasn't convinced at all, having seen things look so perfect before, but in reality, they housed horrors beyond anyone's imagination.

Ashley's footsteps could be heard as she caught up to Leon. He unslung the well used shotgun that was strapped to his back and they both began to search the city for signs of any life. It didn't matter if it was a dog or a human being.

The first building that they came to was not ignited with fire. Broken glass from the windows littered the ground outside and a few tattered papers lay uselessly at their feet. They walked up to it and Leon kicked open the main door, looking cautiously inside with his shotgun pointed forwards.

It was an office building that they had entered. Papers were scattered everywhere, filing cabinets were tipped over and desks were flipped in random places. Leon cautiously walked over to the main desk and looked behind it. All he found was a broken, tipped over chair. He looked closer and could've sworn that he saw blood.

"Heh. Must be my imagination," he mumbled.

They then walked over to a pair of automatic sliding doors that stood out among everything else in the cluttered building. Stepping in front of them, they opened as Leon and Ashley walked through.

There was a long, dark hallway that stood before them that spoke of silent terrors at the end.. Leon took out a flashlight and gave it to Ashley and then took one out for himself to use. There was no way that they'd be able to see without them.

As they walked along, it was quite easy to tell how much damage had been done. Doors were ripped right off of their hinges and many other objects looked like they had been thrown around violently. Once again papers were scattered everywhere, this time they had been ripped up too.

Leon and Ashley entered the first room. A tall wooden door loomed over them, but Leon turned the cold metal doorknob without any thought as to what may be waiting for them on the other side. Instead of coming upon a grotesque creature, they came upon nothing. It was completely empty. There were no other doors and no windows so they turned around and tried a different room that was just across the hallway.

The next room was full of desks and divider walls. Leon became extra cautious now because anything could be behind those walls. As they rounded their first one, they came upon nothing.

"This isn't worth it," Leon whispered.

Backtracking, they made their way to the desk in the main area, glad to at least recognize something in this mess. Leon checked behind them to make sure no one, or nothing was following. Then, without any interruptions, they walked out the main doors.

The air outside was a lot clearer than the damp and stuffy atmosphere of the building, even though the air was smoggy from the burning debris.

"So this is New York City, eh?" asked Ashley.

"Heh. We should start looking in different places. Some how I don't think we'll find anyone in this mess."

"Should we find something to drive? It would be a lot quicker. This place gives me the creeps."

Leon didn't have to look far before his eyes set themselves upon an abandoned car. Walking up to it , gun still pointed forwards, Leon opened the door. The keys were still in the ignition so he turned the engine on and the car started up. He checked the gas meter and made sure that the tank was full, thankfully it was.

"Come on let's go."

Ashley opened up the passengers' door and hopped in. Once she had her seatbelt securely on, Leon stepped on the gas pedal. The engine sounded sick for a moment, and then quickly became a quite humming noise. The blond spun the tires and drove off into the burning city.

There were turned over vehicles on all sides of the road. The thick smell of burning debris was a lot worse here than at the office building. Leon managed to squeeze the car between everything that came in their path, expertly avoiding them. They had decided that they would head downtown, which would be a spot where people would most likely be gathering.

Dying neon sign lights flickered in the daylight. Restaurants were ablaze or had been demolished by some unknown object. Water still rose up, out of broken fire hydrants and the street lights continued to change color. The only thing the city was missing was noise.

Besides the crackling of the fires, or the crumbling noise of broken homes, there was none.

Nothing at all.

Leon kept his eye on the road as he veered between the abandoned vehicles. But before he could go any further, a huge object came into view. Ashley screamed as a bus came up fast, tipped over on its side and blocking their way too.. Leon slammed on the brakes, sending both of them forwards into their seats. Luckily they both had their own seatbelt on.

But putting on the brakes didn't seem to help at all. The car began to lean too far to one side and as Ashley let out a quiet scream, the car began to tip over. Screeching loudly, the car did as it was threatening to do, shattering all the glass windows as the vehicle made contact with the concrete road.

When it finally came to a stop Leon got out and quickly helped Ashley, who was still in one piece.

"You okay?"

"Yes. So now what?"

Leon looked around. "We should follow the main road."

Ashley nodded and they walked down the junk-filled street.

"Isn't the silence suspicious?" the girl asked.

"Yeah, you can say that alright."

Leon recovered his shotgun and they both went towards the buildings standing before them, nothing short of shambles .

On the wall of a once fancy hotel, was a massive splatter of blood. There was no doubt about it. Further up the road Leon and Ashley could also see more of the life liquid.

"Better keep an eye out for anything suspicious," Leon told Ashley.

"Was that blood?"

"Yeah. And I have a funny feeling that wasn't the last of it."

They continued to walk until they came upon a grocery store. It had massive windows, stretching more than fifteen feet high and was painted a pine green color. Leon peered in through one of them, but he quickly took his face away from the glass once he saw what was inside.

"What is it?" Ashley said in a panicked voice. "What's wrong?"

"Looks like a massive slaughter happened in there. Don't look inside."

The girl couldn't help it. As they walked away she quickly peeked inside and saw all the rotting bodies and blood splatter all over the place. She suddenly felt cold and began to rub her arms for some warmth.

She was walking rather fast and ran right into Leon. She thought that she had stepped on his shoe or something, but he was standing there looking straight ahead. Glancing upwards, she looked to the exact same place where Leon was staring, and froze.

"Looks like we got company," Leon muttered.

Reviewer responses:

Eddy- Don't worry there will be action, trust me.

Foggy Brains- It's in New York City.

Luna-Starr- Thanks for the review! I think your Infected with Dumbness story is the best! Gotta love the humor! I feel honored to have you reviewing my story!

Broden- Thank ya for reviewing! I will keep up the writing as much as I can.

Dizje- I know the chapter was a little short, but the paper I had all my stuff on disappeared so I had to come up with it from scratch. But don't worry the chapters will get longer as the story goes on.

Skyle- Wow thanks for the awesome review! I never knew I could be inspiring heh heh. I like putting cliff hangers in my story, they sure can grab some attention! I'll make sure to read your Resident Evil 4 fic as soon as possible!