Officer Andy Rivers was either dead, or he was sick in a way that Claire Redfield hadn't had the opportunity to observe yet.
The redheaded medic had paused at his cell once more before she departed back out toward the garage. The rules of patient care hardly seemed to apply anymore, however, Claire's role as his caregiver rolled around in her gut along with the knowledge that one wrong choice could have her in one of these cells just as quickly.
The blonde-haired officer was still turned toward the wall as he lay on his cot. His back was currently to her, but Claire couldn't tell if he was still breathing or not. His skin, much like Briggs and the other officers, had gone pale. However, there was something distinctly different to her while she squinted from her position outside the cell. One of her hands was wrapped around the bars of the cell while she gripped the beretta she had retrieved from the hanging holsters on the wall.
Fumbling with the flashlight Leon had given her the night she had crawled into the vent, Claire brought the piece of equipment up and flicked on the light.
Andy's still form was casting a distorted shadow on the cell wall, but Claire's eyes were drawn to the patch of skin at his elbow where his uniform sleeve hung too short to cover.
The skin at Andy's elbow had split and instead of blood or the viscous nature of serous fluid that occurred with inflammation and the body's attempt to heal itself, nothing was present. The skin appeared to crust backwards similar to when cheap paint flaked if it became contorted on a canvas after drying. The officer's skin was peeling from the joint and beneath it, the bulbous portions of muscle and bone were poking out openly.
Whatever was happening to Andy didn't seem like the transformation she had seen with the father holding his daughter upstairs, or to what she thought would have taken Briggs had she not intervened.
Andy appeared to be transforming in death.
Currently, the garage was quiet and unmoving in its shadowed atmosphere. The zombies near the garage gate seemed to have lost interest without the constant stimuli.
She was alone now.
"Where did G.I. Joe go?" She wondered while she crossed the space and moved toward the door that would lead back into the station.
The open manhole on the ground was beckoning her gaze and she wondered then if the masked man had been dumb enough to descend into such danger. Given his reluctance to share, well, anything, she wasn't sure if she could even be surprised by the possible choice. Claire shook her head slightly at her thoughts and continued into the station.
That man had a death wish, and Claire supposed if she had done anything, she had simply prolonged that fate.
Climbing the steps up into the precinct had Claire's heart pounding once more while her thoughts about the strange man in black fell away. The distant gunfire was echoing through the old building around her now. The precinct's acoustics were distorting the sound much like it had when she, Briggs, and Rita had come through this way before. Claire couldn't tell how close the shooter was.
Reaching the top step of the stairs, Claire felt the air leave her lungs while she viewed the now open windows with the nailed boards missing. Blood splatters around the windowsill created a mouth-like quality to each window, and if it wasn't for the light of the sun, Claire would have let her own imagination run away with her thoughts.
Raccoon City didn't require imagination anymore. Monster-depicted horror movies playing at the local cinema and campfire stories told in the dark of night were now living possibilities in the place they all used to call home.
As if on cue, a long, drawn-out moan was filtering from the walkway outside. It was a lonely, and unintelligible sound as a figure was shambling up the path. The sound was familiar on the vocal cords, and it was something Claire heard plenty of times in the back of her unit while she had rendered aid in the past. It was now a sound she didn't know if she could ever associate with anything else after this.
The long hall split off to the right toward the watchman's room and once more, Claire didn't know if it would be best to stand her ground or brave the chances of what may lie around the corner. She had promised Leon that she would stay within the basement, but that no longer felt like an option given her new knowledge, her inability to communicate the information, and now Andy's transforming state.
"And you're scared." Her subconscious whispered in the back of her mind. "Scared, alone, and you have seven bullets to your name."
Claire was taking a step forward as her heart jackhammered in her chest—to run or to widen her stance, she wasn't sure, but she stopped cold when her eyes caught on the boards lying beneath the window. The figure outside was coming closer.
Claire took active steps now toward the boards on the ground; her shaking hand was lifting the small dull metal scraps up before her eyes. In her hand lay one of the nails the eastern team had used to secure the boards. The top of the nail was malformed and slightly bent where the neck met the flat head of the metal.
Bent like someone had used a hammer to pry them back out—bent like someone had removed the barricades purposefully.
Someone inside the station had taken down the boards.
Had Leon or Rita noticed this when they had passed through? Judging by the bodies littered through the hall, they may have had their hands full.
Claire was slipping the evidence into her jacket pocket when the zombie crashed face-first through the window and into the hall.
"Time to go." She whispered to herself when she darted forward—mind made up.
Claire skidded around the corner and in through the shutter that separated the watchman's room. She nearly yelled out at the hunched form of a creature she was becoming all too familiar with. Similar to the beast she had fought in the garage, another one lay half propped on its haunches. Most of its head was missing, but the long tongue she had surveyed previously was still connected and it lay like an unraveled spool before it.
The shout of a male voice somewhere ahead took Claire's focus from the dead creature, and she was pushing herself toward the door of the eastern hall. The sounds were coming from the east office.
Claire was throwing open the door to the office with the clatter of the doorknob smacking into the workspace wall. The sound was nearly lost to the ongoing noise of battle in the room, but the creature that stood on the long center desk was whipping its sightless attention toward her. Its long tongue slashed through the air, and it was then that Claire took in the form of her rookie with a shotgun held up before him.
"Claire!" His gaze was furious when it met hers and was aiming the gun once more. Claire almost thought he meant to shoot her, but the form of the creature was arcing through the air at her sudden entrance.
Claire let out a yelp while she peddled back. The heel of her boot caught on the bottom of the doorframe, and she was falling backwards out into the eastern hall. Gravity had her ass landing hard down onto the floor of the hall, but she was too distracted to feel pain from the sound of the scraping swipe of claws that dug into the tiled floor square of where she had just stood.
Trying to be quiet but also gain distance from the threat, Claire was crab walking her body backwards when the creature screamed out. Prognathous lips opened and Claire was looking again into the dripping maw of a beast.
Leon's form was filling the doorway behind it and with his weight crashing down in a stomp, he pinned a boot on the back of the thing's spine and dispatched a shotgun blast into the top of its head. Gore and fibrous tissue were raining across the tile and splattered back onto the tactical pants of Leon's uniform.
The sounds of harsh breathing were now filling the silence as the rookie lifted his eyes to hers. Claire realized while she sat on the ground that the breathing was her own. Worse yet, the look that Leon was giving her had the sudden smile on her face wilting.
Back on the scenic route when Leon had pulled her over and during their time traversing the police station, the rookie's youthful features had only displayed so much of his emotional range. Claire was certain then that his good looks had probably earned him a lesser quality of fear than maybe some of the other officers he trained with and now worked beside.
Thinking then of his revealed Italian roots, Claire found herself comparing his beautiful features to that of the deadly Belladonna plant.
The blue color of his eyes shimmered like flints in their cooling anger and had transformed into a look that seemed well honed. Kind as he may be, something formidable lay beneath Leon's calm demeanor and it was now directed toward her.
"What," Leon began as he removed his left hand from the pump action of the gun and dropped it to his side. He was stepping over the mess of the dead creature and toward her in the hall. "Happened to you promising to stay in the basement?"
Claire let out a small hysterical laugh and was scooting back once more, not even aware of her reaction while Leon stalked forward slowly before he paused to take in the still empty hall.
"Let's see," Claire was wetting her lips while she took in the profile of his tightly clenched jaw. "Could it be the armed military man I found hiding in one of your police units? Could have also been the way I almost died trying to protect the wounded soldier when one of those things got into through your garage's manhole cover, but it also could have been how that same man held me at gunpoint after I wasted all of my ammunition trying to protect him."
Claire jerked in irritation when her back hit the hall wall that connected to the watchman's room behind her. Her head was whipping over her shoulder before she looked back at the blonde officer.
Leon was crouching carefully in front of her now. His elbow crossed over his knee while he took in her furious gaze.
"You tell me, Rookie. Should I have stayed down there with no radio, no way to further protect myself, and next to nothing in the way of back up?"
Leon was placing the shotgun back in a holster off his broad back behind him. His eyes didn't leave hers while she rambled. His hand was reaching out next and curling beneath Claire's left knee. Warm fingers were wrapping around her joint when Claire became aware of how much larger he was than her.
With a careful pull, Leon was sliding her frame across the floor and away from the wall.
The calculating gaze had altered into something else, and Claire could have sworn there was a level of fear reflecting at her now.
"Are you alright?" He finally asked while the anger from his own features was slipping away.
"Is there even a metric for that question right now?" Claire asked quietly while she sat up and rubbed at her arm. Leon had shifted her closer.
"Where is the military man now?" Leon asked, glancing back toward the watchman's room door.
"Gone." Claire breathed before she set her hand on Leon's at her knee.
She went on to explain her expanded encounter with the man in the mask and her patchwork job she had done. She also highlighted the information he had given her about the water and the clock tower chopper.
"You sewed up his wound?"
"I render aid no matter who it is, Leon. It's part of my job. It's also a smart thing to do if you know a little about the rules of war. Military men know full well the error that comes with killing a medic in the field. Emergency personnel are some of the most valuable people in a war zone; you don't kill them unless they have decided to pick up arms against you." Claire explained.
Leon was laughing quietly with a shake of his head then.
"What?" She asked with a raised brow. Her own anger was disappearing alongside his.
"You're really not like anyone I've ever met. You're also making it really difficult to focus on my role here, Claire. I'm inclined to cuff you to me at this point—duties be damned." The left side of Leon's mouth had begun to quirk up while he spoke, as if he'd like to do just that.
Claire felt her face turning red under his now vexing stare. She swallowed thickly and wondered when her own nerves had turned themselves inside out and found she couldn't stop herself from giving him a tilt of her head.
"Well, in all fairness, how many people do you actually know, city boy?" She asked while she tightened her hold over his hand and leaned forward to bring herself closer.
"None worth my time since moving here." Leon responded with a tiny smirk.
"I find that hard to believe given how much of a flirt you are even in dire straits." Claire gave a roll of her eyes but couldn't fight the smile any longer.
"Can't seem to help myself given the way you look at me." Leon was lifting his gaze when the bang of the zombie in the watchman's room met their ears.
Thankfully zombies didn't seem to be able to open doors yet, but the sounds the infected man was making certainly let them both know that it was trying.
Leon was rising to his feet and holding out his hand for her to stand.
"And how is it I'm looking at you?" Claire breathed while her small hand was wrapped around his and she pulled herself to her feet.
Leon kept a hold of her hand at his waist-side. His thumb brushed the skin of her knuckles before he finally let go and said, "I'll let you tell me that."
"Kennedy!" Rita's voice was calling out through the office behind Leon.
Leon was turning and stepping over the mess of the creature again when he responded back out to her and gave her the 'all clear'. When he looked back toward Claire, she followed him back through the eastern office.
"How bad is it?" Claire asked Rita who stood now at the door toward the main hall. "Was anyone hurt?"
"I don't know. No one is out in the main hall right now. Given the radio message we all heard downstairs, I think Kevin is still going through the western side of the station. I heard from Marvin on the radio that Ford—Officer Ford and Wes were grabbing supplies when this all happened. They found Wes but Officer Ford is still missing." Rita answered with a frown marring her features.
"Where are the survivors?" Leon asked.
He was sliding his hand along Claire's lower back and pulling her along while they began to walk. They'd need to secure the boards in the eastern hall again but first they'd need to regroup.
"Library, I think." Rita said when they finally crossed over the second shutter and into the main hall.
Another dead creature lay sprawled across the two steps that led into the main foyer. Its hide was riddled with bullet holes, and it didn't seem like it had gotten far.
Someone had removed the bodies of the fallen officers and citizens from where they had lain previously. A smear of blood was still covering the ground from where someone had dragged a body toward the front doors.
A laptop had been set up at the table near the front entrance. Currently it was showcasing a window that read CCTV Control Service. Four smaller boxes were lit up within the application and were titled CAM1 through CAM4. Only CAM2 was running at the moment, and it was showing a stairway she recognized from the western side.
"Looks like they were trying to get the cameras back online." Rita spoke quietly next to Claire when she walked up. The female officer was shuffling behind the desk, looking down at the maps and notes she had written earlier. Pushing through the papers, she lifted a messily scrawled note in a different hand and studied it for a moment. "There's someone outside."
"Outside the station?" Leon's ears seemed to have perked up from his new position near the reception room. Gunfire could still be heard coming from the western side.
"Yeah, someone noted a tactical van that was flashing a light of some kind from the passenger seat…" Rita trailed off for a moment before she looked over at the station's rookie. "We need to get Marvin and the rest back here. I don't know if we should be doing anything else before those boards go back up." Rita's tired blue eyes were wandering back over to Claire's. "Especially not after what you saw down at the Apple Inn—We're sitting ducks in here."
"Alright," Leon said after a moment. "Rita, let's figure out where Marvin is—Can you hail him? Damn monster in there had me dropping my radio." Leon gestured to the eastern side of the building before he directed his focus back onto Claire. "Claire, go check on the survivors. I'm going to look down the hall and see if I can spot anyone on the western side."
"I should probably back you up—" Claire began while she stepped away from the desk.
"No," Leon cut her off with another one of his stern looks. "Let's make sure no one else in there needs our help first. I need you to do that."
Claire bridled at his direct tone and felt her entire body freeze up before a sensation of true vulnerability came crashing down around her.
The man in the gas mask had proven to be a nice distraction. It was harder to feel sorry for yourself when you were helping others, but Claire found her thoughts wandering. Reality was probing at a sore in her mind and in her heart; she wasn't sure what to do with it.
Whatever was happening to their small mountain town almost felt like a blur behind the notion that she was very alone in her situation. Her brother had tried to warn her before he left, and she hadn't listened. Now, with Briggs…
Claire stared at Leon for a moment before she took a small step toward the small ramping incline toward the stairs on the northern side of the great hall. Leon's tone was more than likely to do with their situation than it may be in his command itself. If Claire was being honest, she had been leaning a little too heavily on the rookie officer and her emotions felt much too tangled for her to suddenly sort through. The bracelet Briggs had given her felt like it burned on her wrist.
"Yeah, you're right." She assented in her newly forming emotional state and made for the stairs.
"Hey," Leon's voice made her stop and glance back at him. He studied her for a moment and whatever she was feeling must have reflected something across her features because Leon's face shifted into something much softer when he continued, "Go check on our orphan and then come back to me, alright?"
Claire was nodding when he smiled slowly at her. She watched him turn and jog for the reception entrance before he disappeared out of sight.
"Command to Marvin, over." Claire's eyes drifted over to the still present Rita. The woman had the radio to her mouth, but her gaze was on Claire's. The slightly older, female officer seemed to have a mother's knowledge living in her eyes and it made Claire feel even more exposed.
The need to explain herself rose in the expanse of her throat but the medic tapered it down in lieu of their current focus.
Claire shook her head in embarrassment; her emotional state was all over the place and now wasn't the time to put it on anyone but herself. With that in mind, she quickly made her own way towards the second floor.
As Claire neared the single door that would lead into the library, she paused to hear the screaming cries of Liam just beyond the threshold. With a quick twist to the handle, Claire was heaving the heavy wood forward before she froze at the sight of a muzzle in her face.
Cindy Lennox lifted her head from behind the gun and let out a soft gasp. In her hands was one of the shotguns the officers had managed to locate in the storage rooms. Someone had rearmed the blonde waitress.
"Jesus, Claire." Cindy breathed while she lowered the weapon. Cindy was poised in front of the door while Mark Wilkins, the security officer, stood with a weapon of his own at another door on the left.
Claire's eyes drifted up toward the third-floor balustrade and spotted Officer Wes Drucker standing guard near the final door.
Katherine Warren lifted her head from one of the tables that held a few books piled around the green hanging shade of the banker's lamp. Her eyes were wet as if she had been crying earlier.
Behind Katherine stood Dr. Hamilton and in his hands was the screaming form of a very upset looking Liam.
"You guys alright?" Claire uttered as she closed the door behind her.
"My old man used to say to me, 'there ain't no place left on this earth that isn't a war-torn battlefield.'" Mark stated tiredly as he turned toward her. "After being out of the service for so long, I'd forgotten that little sayin'. This, though, was worse than even the hell I'd seen in 'Nam."
"We're ok in here. Marvin moved us pretty quickly. Is everyone safe out there?" Cindy asked after a pause.
"We don't know where Marvin, David, Kevin, and Elliot are." Claire answered while she stepped around Cindy and towards Dr. Hamilton. "Have you guys heard anything through those doors?"
"Heard shots on the third floor not too long ago, Claire." Wes called from above.
Claire stepped up to the doctor and reached for Liam's hand. The child's face was buried in the doctor's shoulder. Wet brown eyes were shifting up towards her when she cooed softly to the child. Liam was flexing a hand toward her in his agony, but he looked fine otherwise.
"You holding up, Ms. Redfield?" Dr. Hamilton raised his baritone voice a bit to be heard over Liam.
Claire glanced up at the doctor with a sigh and slight shrug. Both of them were used to death in their professions, but she knew that wasn't what the doctor was referring to.
Claire lifted her head back up toward Wes and called, "Do you have a radio?"
When Wes confirmed his equipment, Claire dropped Liam's small hand and turned toward the door back to the main hall. She touched Cindy's shoulder and gave her friend a soft smile before she leaned in a little.
"I knew your talents were wasted in that bar." Claire said with a firm squeeze.
"I just needed the money while I finished school." Cindy replied almost bashfully. "You know I want to be a nurse."
"Yeah," Claire acquiesced with a glance shot back toward Dr. Hamilton. She raised her voice so the good doctor could hear her. "Maybe after this is all over, we'll find ourselves working around the same hospital."
"Oh, no," Cindy said quickly. "I want to work in an emergency unit. Not plastic surgery—I mean, not like that isn't important but…" Cindy was looking away with a wince.
"I did work in the ER." Dr. Hamilton drawled behind them. "Who do you think reattaches body parts in trauma calls?"
"God, you're even less smooth than I am." Claire muttered softly to her friend that seemed to now be baking under the curious gaze of their pretty looking doctor.
Cindy was sputtering out a reply and the scenario was just so normal to Claire that she laughed good naturedly. In response, she couldn't help but catch the small smirk the doctor gave behind Cindy.
Claire gave a wave to the group before she announced she was going to return out into the main hall. With a quick parting word, she promised she would collect them all when it was safe.
"Marvin is returning with Kevin and Detective Elliot." Rita called when Claire jogged toward the reception room.
"And Officer Ford?" Claire asked as she paused near the reception shutter.
Rita maintained eye contact and silently shook her head before she said, "They can't find him."
Claire was biting her lip before she turned to press into the room. Rounding the wooden divider, she found Leon waiting with his boot propping the door open. His magnum was back in his hands, and he tilted his head slightly when she jogged up.
"Liam?" He asked quietly but didn't take his eyes from the still empty hall of the western side of the station.
"Dr. Hamilton's taking care of him." Claire said softly as she stared at his side profile.
Claire's eyes turned now toward the hall before them. The boards had been removed here too.
"Leon, I'm pretty sure someone sabotaged us." She was pulling the nail from her jacket pocket then and holding it out to him. "Someone wrenched these out from the inside of the hall on the eastern side. Look at how it's bent."
Leon was turning toward her now, his fingers brushing hers when he took the nail.
"Could this have been your guy in black?" He asked.
"I don't see how." Claire answered thoughtfully. "He blew the gates in the garage, and he was badly wounded. He needed somewhere to hide and rest. It doesn't fit."
"Claire," Leon stepped closer to her in the doorway and Claire was holding her breath. "My reaction to you in the hallway? That came out wrong—I was just worried."
"No," Claire admitted honestly to the change of topic. "Despite my reasons, and they were good ones, I still charged into the office foolishly and it could have ended much worse than that."
"It's my job to protect everyone while they're in my precinct." Leon was explaining slowly. "But you…You've become different."
"Different how?" Claire asked.
"You and the kid." One of Leon's hands came up and rested on her shoulder. "That's who I can't stop thinking of. This isn't just about having drinks after—this is wanting more when this is over."
The empty portions of Claire's newly fractured soul were opening at his words and that dangerous duality of hope was fluttering in her rising pulse.
Leon's fingers drifted from her shoulder then and were lightly touching the strands of her messy hair.
"What happened to your hair?" Leon's sudden question made Claire blink and reach up to touch her free hanging strands at her shoulders. A decent chunk was missing from the left side when the monster's claws had cut through it, and it made Claire frown in irritation.
Before her, Leon let out a soft chuckle.
"Lost a bet with a lawnmower. What's your excuse?" Claire gave a pointed look up to his own stylishly cut hair.
Leon seemed to home in on her smile when he said, "That's better, sweetheart."
Claire made a 'hmmph' sound at the back of her throat and opened her mouth to speak but paused as Marvin suddenly rounded the corner in front of them. He was talking to Detective Elliot who had Kevin's arm slung around his shoulder while he assisted the officer in his limping walk.
"That expression you made earlier." Leon began in a low tone so the others couldn't hear. "What was that?"
"Which one?" Claire was stalling while she fidgeted under his gaze.
"The one where I told you 'no', Claire."
Avoiding topics with a cop was always a fun time and she would know based on her time growing up around Chris. Claire was just thankful they didn't have a lawyer in the building.
"I think I just like being near you, rookie." Claire's whispered minimization of the truth seemed to be swallowed up as the men finally neared and began calling out to them both.
Leon held her eyes and Claire found she couldn't look away just yet. His slow smile spoke again to something he seemed to think he had won.
"Smitten?" Leon accused her before he stepped out into the hall to help Marvin.
The years Claire spent working around the fire house after her mother died had reminded her of the sensation she sometimes got when she stood at great heights. A feeling that replicated in her young mind with a tiny little voice that whispered, "Jump." before she would bat it away. It was a daring challenge to decide to live and seize opportunity despite how wrecked she felt inside.
Staring now at Leon while he slung Kevin's other arm over his shoulder, Claire recognized this was the feeling of already having jumped. It was after the jump but before the fall. A near-force that whispered like fate and suspended her in such a rush that she didn't know if she would land or crash.
"Smitten." She agreed softly to herself when she opened the door wider for the four men as they neared.
"Ow!" Officer Kevin Ryman hissed while the medic of Station 12 wrapped one of the Ace bandages around his sprained ankle to stabilize it.
"Look, I don't want to bruise your ego or anything, but Rita actually had her ankle bitten and she didn't make this much noise." Claire huffed from her squatting position in the great hall.
The late hour in the afternoon was tolled on the overhead clock near the northern side of the hall. It had taken Marvin, Elliot, Leon, and Mark hours to fortify the police station once more and reapply the boards to each window. As an extra measure, Rita had suggested pulling up more of the conference tables against the windows. Claire had watched Marvin smile at his female officer before he had remade the teams.
They still hadn't found Officer David Ford, and no one could hail Jill Valentine on the radio.
"I thought you were supposed to have the 'gentle hands' thing down when you worked in medicine?" Kevin muttered and winced when Claire clinched the clasp at his ankle a little harder than necessary.
Detective Elliot had pulled up a chair, effectively making a perfect circle of seats along with the rest of the survivors. They all had decided to take a small break before they made their next move. Claire oddly felt like she was in a 12-step meeting of sorts.
"Did you even solve your desk mystery, rookie?" Detective Elliot asked into the conversation that was already going on around them. The last detective in Raccoon City was twirling a toothpick in his mouth.
"Couldn't do that when you guys gave me the busy districts from sunup to sundown." Leon replied with a look thrown toward the tawny eyed detective.
"Yet you managed to make friends with Medic 12 over here." Kevin said with a smug looking smile crossing his features. He flinched comically when Cindy smacked his side.
Detective Elliot let out a strange sort of laugh that sounded like a long 'heh', before he crossed his heels in front of him and leaned back in the chair.
"Ah, hell." Rita muttered while she typed furiously on the laptop's keyboard from across the circle.
Marvin, who had been sitting back with a soft smile on his features, glanced over at her. "You know you can't strong-arm a computer, right? It only does what you tell it to."
"Yeah, thanks for that, lieutenant." Rita said with a dangerous looking side eye directed his way. When Marvin shrunk away a few people laughed. "Well, it's at least responding to most commands."
"It wouldn't dare do anything else with the way you're glaring at it." Kevin said with his easy smile over at Rita. When she flipped him off, he gave her a little wink.
"This is nice." Cindy piped up next to Kevin.
"What's in your cup?" Kevin asked while he leaned over and looked down at the drink Cindy had gotten from their pile of supplies near the center of the room.
"No, I mean, just sitting and talking. I feel like it's been one thing after another since I got here." Cindy finished but still pulled her drink away from Kevin's nosy inspection.
Katherine nodded in agreement from her position near Mark. Claire noticed that the mayor's daughter seemed to take a liking to the older man. Mark seemed happy enough to watch her back and when Claire looked over a few times, she caught the two talking quietly.
"God, alcohol sounds good right about now." Mark called out as he shifted a foot onto the top of his other leg. "But if we have to just settle for you upholding the memory of our dive bar, Cindy, I think I can live with that."
"I'm sure Mark," Cindy said with a small laugh. "I was like a therapist with unlimited amounts of alcohol from 5 p.m. to 1 a.m."
"We still need to check out that van from the 3rd floor." Marvin said when a few of the officer's chuckles had died down.
"Lieutenant," Kevin said carefully. "Respectfully, sir, let's give it another five before we try and figure out the next way to die."
"Guy gets an ankle wound and is calling it 'near-death'." Leon was smirking at his unit partner when Kevin shrugged with a matching expression of his own.
"Fair enough." Marvin was standing and breaking the circle first.
"Well, I should check our supplies. I think a few things are missing, but I also think things just got moved during the attack." Dr. Hamilton said when he shifted the sleeping child in his arms.
Wes, who had been mostly silent, was standing from his seat and reaching for the child then. Claire gave a sad smile while she watched the man of two children sit down and speak softly to the orphaned child.
Conversations continued for a few more minutes before Marvin was clearing his throat and capturing everyone's attention.
"We're going to start sleeping shifts momentarily. Check with Rita if you don't know your shift yet." The lieutenant began. "As of right now, we have a few survivors throughout the city we have made contact with."
"Is there really someone outside of the station?" Claire had raised her hand and spoken when Marvin's eyes fell on her.
"Yes," Rita confirmed for Marvin. "There's a R.P.D. tactical van sitting out there on Ennerdale. Someone has been using a flashlight to send an S.O.S. message."
"I…" Katherine Warren began to speak up but stopped as she hadn't raised her hand.
Marvin turned his head toward her and made a gesture for her to continue.
"Sorry," She said first before licking her lips and taking a deep breath. "I don't know if we should even talk about bringing anyone in before we figure out what brought down those boards and the strange man that's supposedly here too."
Claire had mentioned the military man in the mask to Marvin earlier, but she hadn't had the time to expand on all of the details.
"We have a bigger problem than that." Claire said then before she pulled the nail out of her pocket once more. "Those barricades were removed by someone from inside of the station."
Marvin was moving toward Claire and taking the nail in his own hand.
"Someone in here is sabotaging us?" Katherine asked with fear lining her tone.
Marvin nodded once and began a careful stroll toward the desk. "I've considered that. Claire, you're certain this man you encountered couldn't have taken down the boards?"
Claire sat up straighter in her chair and repeated the thoughts she shared with Leon to the group. It didn't make sense for the masked man to do so, but she couldn't completely rule it out. If she was going on gut instinct, she would say no.
"If the man isn't S.W.A.T., then who is he?" Dr. Hamilton's rich voice appealed next.
"Those choppers we saw—those were either military or something private. Someone outside of the city has to know by now that something is wrong here. We might have some form of a unit in Raccoon right now." Leon supplied thoughtfully.
"Officer Ford is still missing." Mark said after a beat. "How well did you know your officer, lieutenant?"
"David has been here longer than anyone else." Rita said, taking her eyes off the laptop she was still working on. "What are you suggesting?"
"Could he have taken the boards down?" Mark finished his thought.
Detective Elliot sneered and sat forward with his elbows resting over his knees. "You guys know who did the board pulling. Even if we don't want to say it."
"Who?" Claire asked.
"Irons." Elliot answered simply.
"The bloodhound is on the case." Kevin snickered toward Elliot with a lopsided smile.
"It's obvious enough that even you could have figured it out, Ryman." Detective Elliot pulled the toothpick from his mouth and tipped it up like a drink he was toasting.
"Is Irons still even in the building?" Rita asked before she looked over at Marvin.
"His door was still locked when we checked earlier." Marvin answered carefully.
"So," Leon said quietly. "What's next? I don't think protocol is going to be followed and I sure as hell won't be writing the report later."
"Alright," Marvin said after a deep breath. "We'll break into the chief's office, secure it—"
Kevin interjected by laughing and sitting up with careful consideration to his propped-up ankle. "This week just gets better and better. If he's in there, then what?"
"Do you know your English history, Ryman?" Rita asked into the building silence then. Her tone had become severe. "Ever read about the trial of King Charles I? Tyrant, traitor, murderer, and public enemy. Convicted and sentenced to death in 1649."
Kevin's mouth was hanging open.
"Are we suggesting that we kill—" Leon began.
Rita rolled her eyes and said, "No, rookie, we put him in the slammer until we can be certain. We're all in agreement that his little stunt with Ms. Warren was odd enough, but he abandoned his post in a crisis, and is our highest suspect in structural safety." Rita paused and took a breath. "All in favor?"
The heads in the circle were all nodding. Some were eyeing Rita with a curious eye.
"Won't be able to use the cells for the bitten victims anymore." Detective Elliot was saying carefully. "Speaking of which, my respects to the dead and fallen, but why isn't Rita sick?"
Eyes were once again turning to Claire and Dr. Hamilton.
Claire made eye contact with Dr. Hamilton, and he gave her a small nod.
"Rita was bitten by one of the K9 unit dogs when Briggs and I first arrived. I do think the dogs act as carriers, but Rita's wound was more of a crush injury from the blunt force of the jaws. I noticed it when I first dressed the wound. My theory is that she didn't actually have any of the animal's saliva in the wound. Her pant leg and sock were enough of a barrier because the dog didn't have that great of an opportunity to truly bite her." Claire explained.
Eyes were dropping down to the bandaged portion on Rita's leg.
Marvin was laying a hand on the blonde woman's shoulder before he said, "Lucky us then."
Claire could have sworn there was a small blush appearing on Rita's face before she said softly, "Thank you, sir."
"There's also the clock tower pick up that the man in black mentioned. He said that a chopper would be picking up a team in a day's time." Claire said while trying not to smile at the image in front of her.
"So, there is another unit in Raccoon." Mark uttered as he sat up. "Any idea who it is and what time this is happening?"
"The man wasn't necessarily forthcoming." Claire admitted with a shake of her head. "I don't know if there would even be enough room for all of us."
"We'll table that for now." Marvin instructed. "Not enough information for me to want to leave the safety of this building and with so many lives at stake. If we can get a hold of Jill, she might have more information on what she's seeing out there."
"Assuming Officer Valentine is still alive." Detective Elliot said with his catty smile dropping away. A clear note of respect had entered his tone.
"She's alive." Rita stated while she looked over at the detective. "And when she gets here, we'll leave the interrogation tactics of Irons to her."
Elliot was nodding with a slight smile touching his features. "Now that would be a sight to see."
"Alright," Marvin said, once more gaining everyone's attention. "Let's start gearing up for Irons office. I still want to focus on the person in the R.P.D. tactical van. Rita, I want you to coordinate with the rookie and Redfield on that. Detective Elliot, you, Wes, and I will work on the best plan to engage Iron's office."
"Am I benched?" Kevin asked in curiosity.
"Course not," Marvin answered with a close eye on his injured officer. "You'll be on guard duty."
"A glorified security guard." Kevin muttered sitting back into his chair heavily once more.
"Big bad officer, rolling his ankles while running down the hall." Mark said with a grin from across the circle. "If you're really nice, I'll even let you do the paperwork."
"Fuck you, Wilkins."
"Are we sure there's anyone still alive in there?" Claire asked while she stood on the third floor beside Rita and Leon.
The hour was starting to grow late. The sun was once again disappearing through the taller buildings of the Raccoon downtown area. The orange light filtering through the streets highlighted the mess that was Ennerdale Street. A black R.P.D. tactical van sat in the middle of the street that could only be viewed from the 3rd floor and was apparently the casualty of a T-bone incident. A grey sedan's engine was crushed into the passenger side door. The driver of the sedan was still slumped over the steering wheel and wasn't moving.
No flashing light could be seen now from the tactical van.
"Might be resting, or maybe the battery in the flashlight died." Rita answered when she set her hand on the windowsill. "I saw it earlier and it was a clear S.O.S. pattern."
"Do we have any fireworks left?" Leon was asking behind them. He was keeping an eye on the doors. The men had cleared the floor, but none of them were taking any chances now that it wasn't just zombies roaming the halls.
"No, but we have C4." Rita answered then.
"We have C4?" Leon asked in disbelief as both he and Claire turned toward Rita fully.
"We confiscate a lot of things from the public, rookie. Plus, it belonged to the S.W.A.T. division before everything went to hell." Rita gave a shrug before she turned for the western storage room. "I'll go downstairs and check where it's located. Computer is back up and running now."
Leon and Claire watched her exit through the storage room and Claire was taking a step toward the door when she noticed Leon giving her an odd look.
"What?" She asked.
"You're not going out there." Leon said simply.
"If whoever is in there was in that van when the crash happened, you might need me there." Claire said with a huff when her eyes roamed back toward the window. "This is also my job, Leon."
Warm fingers were under Claire's chin, and she jumped slightly and looked up into the eyes of her rookie. "Sorry, you're right. You probably are going to need to be there. What I should have said is you're not going out there alone this time."
"If I have to wiggle through that vent shaft again, I'd pay money to see you suck it in, Kennedy."
Leon hadn't really made a move on her since before Briggs had died and for that Claire was thankful. He was allowing her to set the pace for the moment, but she didn't have any complaints when the rookie backed her to the wall in between the two windows of the 3rd floor wall.
Leon's thumb was beneath her chin and was tilting her mouth up toward his lips while the knuckles of his hand brushed her jaw. His chest bumped into hers while he kept his mouth hovering over hers.
"Still have those cuffs?" Claire dared to ask while her lips brushed slightly against his.
"Ask me that again in a few hours." Leon said before he closed the distance and captured her lips with his.
After the jump but before the fall, Claire Redfield was weaving her hands into the rookie's hair when he pressed her further into the wall. Whether she landed or crashed, she couldn't be sure, but she found she didn't care as much for the result anymore.