*Ah yes, my beautiful Claire Redfield. What a babe!

Chapter 4:

Leon pulled out his gun and walked through the door slowly. The two of them were met with warm light and found themselves on the second floor of a library. It was a beautiful room lined with emerald green wallpaper and wooden trimmings, but if you looked down on the first floor, you were met with the ugly reality.

Looking over the railing, they watched as a zombie feasted on the back of a dead man and another zombie wandering around aimlessly. Dead police officers were splayed across the floor along with books that were scattered all over the place. They noticed that there was a walkway on their floor that was broken to their left and nothing to their right. As they were quietly walking across to the other side, trying not to get unwanted attention, Leon's radio suddenly hissed loudly. He reached up so fast to cover the sound.

"Leon, it's Marvin," Marvin's voice radioed in. "I need you back here ASAP." He sounded rough, clearly still struggling with his injuries. Leon clicked a button and leaned in to respond.

"Are you ok, Marvin?"

"I've got something to show you. It's important."

"Copy that, we'll be right there." As they walked to the first floor, they noticed a door that required the spade key. If their calculations were correct, it should lead to the main hall. Quietly, they crept up to the door, but just as Veronica got out the key, a zombie that was lying on the floor next to the door suddenly screamed at them, catching the attention of the other two zombies in the room.

"Fuck!" They backed away and Leon began shooting, gunshots ringing through the room. Then just as suddenly, his gun clicked empty, which meant he had to reload fast. Both retreated back while Veronica took the defensive mode, swinging her pole at the dead if they got too close while he reloaded his gun. They backed themselves up the stairs, and to Veronica's luck, her foot missed a step causing her to yell as she fell back and dropped her weapon.

One of those things grabbed her ankle trying to pull her down, but thinking quickly she pulled out the knife and stabbed it through the face. She kicked him back against the other two just in time for Leon to begin shooting again. Once they were all down and stunned, Veronica used the extra hammer she had and with the claw end of it, she destroyed the brain. Leon helped by using his own knife on the others.

They pulled back trying to catch their breath, Veronica bending down to rest her hands on her knees. Fuck that was close! She put her weapons away, finding the pole and pulling the knife out of the zombie's head. Leon found another knife in a dead police officer taking it in case he lost the one he already had. They did notice a door at the foot of the stairs, but they decided that since Marvin needed them, they had to forgo exploring anymore for now.

However, just as Leon was unlocking the spade door, Veronica noticed a strange-looking book on a table. It looked to be made of stone and it had a strange imprint in it. Taking it into her hand, she reached into her back pocket for the book and brought out both the book and the picture they developed.

Something told her to look at it one more time so unfolding it, she realized her intuition was right. The statue in the picture was holding a book just like the one she was holding. Perhaps this was important after all. She decided to take it, holding it in her hand as they made their way out into the main hall.

Looking over the balcony, they found Marvin still alive and clicking at the computer. The hall still looked safe despite an area open to walk in through. They quickly jogged down the stairs, Marvin looking relieved to see them.

"There you both are...Come here, take a look," he grunted, clicking a tab open on the computer. They walked closer watching him work through the pain to do it. Camera feed from outside of the station expanded showing a girl staring at the police station gates. Another survivor!

"Yes! I knew she'd make it!" Leon exclaimed. Both Marvin and Veronica looked up at him in surprise.

"You know her?" Marvin questioned, voice strained.

"Yeah, name's Claire. I came into town with her."

"You can get to that courtyard through the second floor...east side," Marvin pointed with his thumb towards the opposite side of the building.

"We're on it," Leon paused for a moment, eyes softening at Marvin. "Thanks...Lieutenant." Veronica nodded in agreement, wishing she could somehow help the injured man.

"Glad to see you're still alive, California girl," Marvin joked to her softly, trying to get her to smile. It worked as a sad smile spread on her face. Leon looked over at her then took out his gun.

"Ready?" he asked.

"Ready."

The pair began making their way up the stairs when something caught her eye. To their left on the landing, there was the golden lion statue that she had mentioned before. She pointed it out to Leon who agreed with her to get it after they went to see Claire.

They walked down across the balcony towards the door Marvin told them about. Carefully, Leon pushed it open revealing a well-lit waiting room of sorts. For some reason, the room looked as if nothing had happened. It wasn't trashed or bloody, just empty. It might have been the eeriest room so far looking so normal.

Veronica took a couple of leaves from a green herb that sat on a table used as a decoration and smashed them, as well as the red herb from earlier in her fingers, dumping them into their herb bag. While she did that, Leon checked behind the information desk that sat next to the opposite door.

"There's a safe back here that could be something useful." Veronica hummed as she walked over, looking at the papers strewn across the counter. There was a guide pamphlet sitting in the middle and curiously, she opened it and skimmed through it.

"Wow. This city sure is proud to be with the Umbrella Corporation, huh?" she mumbled. Leon walked around to peek at it over her shoulder.

"Yeah, I guess they do. I mean did you see the city limit sign a few miles out of town? It screamed "We love Umbrella!".

"True." She read a little more and raised her eyebrows. "What Elliot said was also true. This place used to be an art museum before it was turned into the police station. No wonder the place is gorgeous." Setting down the pamphlet, the pair walked up to the door which had the spade emblem on it. Leon unlocked it swiftly then brought out his gun. He cracked the door open, then pushed it away.

Gazing out, they were met with a dimly lit hallway, with light coming from emergency lights on the walls. They walked carefully to their left only to be met with the hallway being cut off by a metal shutter. A place meant for a crank to open it was left empty on the wall next to it. There were more boards lying around and there was a door to an art room as the sign above it said.

The young lady peeked into the room while Leon surveyed the hallway and found it to be empty besides a plethora of old dusty artwork and a very familiar-looking statue. She gasped softly and called for Leon as she walked in. Pulling the picture out of her pocket, she confirmed what she had suspected. It was the same king statue on the picture, and right next to it on a small table was a part of its hand that was empty. Fitting the book that she had found inside, it was a perfect fit, so thinking further, she placed it onto the statue with a loud click.

Suddenly the other arm of the statue holding the ruby scepter twisted till its palm was up. Then the fingers pulled away from the scepter allowing them to grab it. Veronica took it in her hand and examined it.

"What's so special about this?" she asked. Leon shrugged as he turned towards a small table to look around. On it was a thin white keycard that said was labeled for the weapons locker and Leon rejoiced in how they could now get the shotgun. Next to it was a magazine that talked about the jewel in the middle of the scepter and how it was sought after by a lot of people, but nothing really helpful.

Turning the scepter in her hand, she was surprised to see a small switch near the bottom of the jewel. Curiously, she clicked it forward and the jewel popped out freely into her hand. She held it up for Leon to see.

"Uh...what should I do with this?" He looked just as confused.

"I...guess keep it? I don't know."

"I guess so. Maybe I'll sell it to the highest bidder when we get out of here to pay for my therapy," she joked dryly as she placed it in her pouch. Leon nodded in agreement with a light chuckle.

"Can I get in on that?"

"We'll split it 50/50," she chuckled as they walked back out into the hallway. As they drew closer to the corner, Leon noticed there was a distant buzzing sound coming from somewhere outside. Veronica seemed to notice it too and glanced outside a window to see if she could find the source.

"Sounds like a helicopter," she whispered. It could get them out of there! Still listening, they realized it was getting louder by the second.

"Sounds a little low, don't you think?"

"Maybe it's landing?" As they drew closer down the hallway, the sound was suddenly very loud and very close. It sounded like it was heading their way at rapid speeds. Leon realized immediately that something was wrong and grabbed the young girl's hand quickly pulling her back the way they came from. Not even a second later, the helicopter zoomed into the building, crashing through the wall with a loud smash, leaving dust in its wake.

The building shook at the collision, stopping the pair as they stumbled. Veronica lost her footing and fell forward, but Leon quickly caught her in his arms. Her hands grasped at his shoulders for purchase while he gripped her waist. Glancing up at him, she felt her cheeks warm. His face was really close and his hands were warm on her hips. Pulling away quickly, she thanked him then looked back at the hallway they were in.

It was still intact, but upon closer inspection, it was cut off around the corner by the crash. The only way through was to go around or go through the door leading to an outside stairwell. They quickly ran out taking a look at the crash site, rain coming down like never before. The pilot's body was entangled in a metal mess, there was no way he could have survived.

"HEY!" a girl's voice suddenly shouted out to them. "LEON!?" The pair followed the voice and looked over the stair railing to see a girl standing outside of the fence in a courtyard. Familiarity filled Leon's face as he realized who it was.

"CLAIRE! HOLD ON! WE'LL BE RIGHT THERE!"

"OK!"

The two quickly ran down the stairs to the chain-linked fence where Claire was trying to open what looked like a locked door. Walking up, Leon grasped at the wire fence while Veronica stood by his side feeling like a sore thumb. Claire was a beautiful girl in her red leather jacket and jeans. Her soaked brown hair was up in a ponytail and she was frankly just plain beautiful. If the situation were different enough where she met Claire instead of Leon, she might've fallen for her. Wow, ok now is not the time to be in a bisexual panic. We are in a zombie outbreak, calm down!

"Claire...It is so nice to see you," Leon sighed. Veronica had to agree, seeing another living human being was very nice indeed.

"How're you doing? That helicopter just came out of nowhere…" she nodded up to the crash site. Leon glanced over at it for a second while nodding.

"Yeah...I'm in one piece." Claire nodded for a moment before her blue eyes flicked over to Veronica.

"Who's this?" Leon turned his head over and smiled.

"This is my partner, Veronica. Met her here along with another officer."

"Partner, huh? Hi Veronica! It's nice to see someone is still alive!" Claire grinned and Veronica couldn't help but mirror it.

"Likewise. It's really nice to meet you, Claire," said girl replied, rubbing her arm as the other's eyes met hers. Glancing over at Leon, his eyes were also on Veronica. Holy shit, both of them are looking at me and their both beautiful literally what the fuck! She cleared her throat and looked away, seemingly stopping the other two from staring. When Leon faced Claire again, she raised her eyebrows suggestively at him causing him to clear his throat as well in embarrassment. Even in the dark, you could tell a light blush had spread across his cheeks.

"I'm guessing you don't have a key in one of those fancy pockets?" Claire asked looking between the other pair's pouches.

"Unfortunately, no...But, how are you doing?"

"You know," she shrugged playfully as she leaned an arm against the gate, "just surviving." Both Leon and Veronica chuckled at that.

"That's good. Any luck with your brother?"

"Your brother?" Veronica asked. Claire looked at her and nodded.

"Yeah, I came here looking for my brother, Chris. He works here, but no, not yet."

"Claire, don't lose hope...I'm sure we're gonna find him-," Leon began when suddenly, a giant explosion from behind them interrupted him. Turning around, the helicopter had caught on fire causing the fire alarm bell to ring loudly into the night.

"Damn it. You know what that means," he stated grimly. Claire turned around at the sounds of snarling coming from behind her. A body was already sitting up near a bench at the end of the courtyard.

"Yeah...Dinner time," she mumbled, taking out her gun.

"Is there a way you can climb the fence?" Veronica asked fearful for Claire's safety, her hands reaching up to grip the cold wire only for Leon to shake his head.

"Barbed wire is a bitch to get through unscathed," he responded. Looking up, there was indeed barbed wire laced around the top of the fence. "Claire, I think you should go." Claire turned back to face them.

"Don't worry about me, guys. You take care of yourselves." The farther fence that surrounded the building was beginning to shake with the amount of undead trying to get in.

"Claire, you need to go- NOW!" Leon urged.

"Please be careful," Veronica pleaded, watching sadly as Claire began to walk away before turning again to look at them.

"Hey...Let's get through this. All of us," she concluded with conviction. The other two nodded in response before watching her run away into the night, deftly avoiding the dead. They pulled away from the fence as some zombies began to make their way toward them. However, they were safe due to the damn thing standing in the way of reuniting them with Claire. As Leon radioed in to fill in on Marvin, Veronica looked around for supplies.

"Uh, Marvin. I've got a situation here...We're surrounded by zombies!" There was no response, stopping Veronica in her search. "Marvin! Do you copy? "Again no response. "Marvin!?" Nothing. "Dammit!"

"We'll have to check on him as soon as we get back inside!"

"Yeah. The upstairs might be on fire, so we'll have to go this way," he pointed to the metal door. She handed him some bullets she found then turned to the door that was chained up. Luckily, a pair of bolt cutters were sitting on a toolbox next to it.

"If I remember right, this should be the area I was in earlier before you guys found me," Leon said grabbing the tool and cutting the chain with a grunt. "So be on high alert. I managed to take out the ones I saw, but who knows if there are a couple of ones I missed." Veronica nodded before twisting the knob to open the door.

Pushing it open, they were met with a dark hallway only familiar to Leon. The floor was drenched in blood coming from the pile of bodies lying about. Up ahead was, according to the map, the East Office which looked like they could cut through to the other side. The window shutters didn't reveal much other than it was lit better than expected and maybe one zombie standing around. Just to their right, was another door but Leon only shook his head when she tried opening it or peeking through the windows.

"You don't want to see it, trust me. Elliot's in there." That was enough for her.

Leading the way, he walked in and shined his flashlight at the office door that he hadn't gotten into due to it being chained up. To their left, there was the hallway that curved at a corner and it was pitch black. Perhaps going through the office was the better choice.

Just as he was about to cut it, a zombie began trying to crawl through a broken window that they passed. Veronica took her pole in hand and ran at the window, quickly spiking the dead man through the head. He grew limp and fell into the room dead. Turning around, she met back up with Leon at the door that he got open.

"Think we should board that window up?" he suggested.

"I think I saw some boards outside. Give me hand," she responded, running back out to grab them. The two quickly made work of the window, leaving a couple of boards left over. When they were done, they walked into the room and found it to be pretty big and sure enough, there was only one zombie. Leon quickly disposed of it, easy since it was only one and they had the space to run around. Once it was down, Veronica grabbed more green herb leaves from a planter that sat on top of a table.

She turned back around just in time to see a zombie slam itself at another window next to a dead body that was hunched against the wall. The pair quickly used the leftover boards from the last window to quickly cover it up before it could break the glass. Checking her pouch, the girl made sure to tell her partner that she was out of nails for the time being.

Leon checked the body on the floor next to them, finding some more ammo in a gun similar to his while Veronica found a weird canister on a desk. It was blue and had a round pin attached to the top. Reading the label, it said that it was a flash grenade

"What does a flash grenade do?" she asked, lifting it up for Leon to see. He looked up from reloading his gun then walked toward her.

"Just like it says! It's not necessarily a traditional grenade perse, but after you pull the pin, you throw it and it explodes with a bright flash of light. It'll blind and stun whatever it is that could be attacking you. Just whatever you do, say it out loud that you're about to throw it before you do. And close your eyes after you pull it. Try to make sure it's thrown away from you or me," he explained. She nodded and hooked it around one of her belt loops in case of an emergency.

They continued searching the room for more supplies, looking out for things that they needed for the other parts of the station. Leon decided to go through the desks, while Veronica walked into a side office meant for a higher ranking officer. On the desk sitting next to a toolbox, was a red valve that looked like it belonged up in the locker room on the second floor. Can't leave without that!

Before leaving, a yellow canister on the dresser behind the desk caught her eye and found it was higher grade gunpowder. Putting it away, she met Leon by a set of double doors that were blocked off by a chair with books. It would lead to the other side of the area, including the gate back to the main hall. They yanked it out from under the doorknobs, now unlocking the room on both sides.

"Find anything?" she asked.

"Found a fuse and some gunpowder," he replied, showing the fuse. "This will go on the box just outside these doors, opening back up to the main hall. Did you find something?"

"I found the valve for the upstairs locker room! We can now explore more of the second floor!"

"Wow! Great job!"

"Mhm! That and I found a jar of the higher grade gunpowder. You said it could make more shotgun ammo, right?"

"Yeah, when combined with the blue one, which I conveniently just found! So that's really good to have!"

"Do you think we should just clear this floor before we head back?"

"Maybe later. I want to check on Marvin first. Make sure he's ok." Veronica nodded but pursed her lips in conflict. She needed to tell Leon that Marvin wasn't going to make it, but she didn't have the heart to. He was so determined that the lieutenant would leave with them once they've found the way out. Maybe they could find help if they get out of the city, but will it even be enough time before he turns? She stopped herself a little annoyed that she wasn't saying anything. The least she could do was let him check on him first.

The two walked out, finding the hallway empty and mostly quiet. Perhaps Leon did get all of them when he was here. The floor was flooded with water but still reeked of blood. As they neared the metal shutter that Leon was pinned under when they first met, they found the remains of his attacker. Leon scowled at it before placing the fuse in the exposed fuse box attached to the wall.

As soon as it was in place, the gate climbed up noisily leading them back to the familiar main hall. The room was still quiet, save for Marvin's labored breathing that they could hear echo in the room. It seemed to still be considered safe as they walked over to the goddess statue.

Breathing a sigh of relief, they found Marvin lying across the bench he was sitting on when they left, unconscious, but still groaning in pain. He looked much worse since they had gone to see Claire. His skin was pale and splotchy, veins more noticeable and dark against his glassy skin. His hands were covered in blood and his shirt was drenched in it.

"Still alive," Leon breathed softly. But for how much longer? Veronica turned to the younger officer and opened her mouth to tell him, only for nothing to come out. "We don't have much time. We have to get him help as soon as we possibly can. Let's go!"

Scolding herself in her head, she followed him to the spade door and watched as he unlocked it. Instead of going through it, however, he turned and began walking to the reception area that they started out in.

"Uh, where are we going?" she asked.

"We have the bolt cutters now! We should go back to the Operations Room and open that chained door we saw. We should be able to get through to that side of the building regardless."

"But we should be careful. That hallway has a lot of broken windows. There's probably gonna be zombies everywhere."

They quickly made their way through the dark hallway. Surprisingly, it wasn't filled with those monsters, only a couple had managed to get in and wander around aimlessly. With their knives and other blunt weapons, they were able to silently kill the one's in their path and snuck past the ones they couldn't. The Operations Room hadn't changed since they were last there, which was a good thing.

They broke through the chains around the door handle and walked into the room. There was a desk right when they walked in where they found the detonator to the upstairs bomb trap. Carefully looking at it, Leon hummed curiously.

"It needs a battery. Without it, it won't go off, so we'll have to find one that'll fit."

"God, it seems like the list goes on and on, huh?"

"Never ends in a zombie apocalypse". Looking around, Veronica saw a clue to something that could help.

"Hey! This is useful!" Leon turned to a whiteboard that stood against the wall behind them. On it was written 'Locker Room CAP' with the three letters circled. "Since we're heading up there anyways, might as well open that locker!"

Glancing around the room, there were messily stocked up storage shelves and chairs piled up in a corner. On the other side of the room were two doors, one with a red heart emblem, the other that should lead to the hallway where the west office was, 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, Leon found another flash grenade, which he hooked up to his belt since she already had one. There was also another potted plant of green herb, but they were already stocked up for the moment. Taking a second on inventory, Veronica sighed tiredly trying to think about all of the things in the building that were useful. It was too much! She glanced back at the desk where they found the detonator and thought about maybe making her life easier.

Walking over to the desk, she began looking through the drawers. To her delight, she found what she was looking for, a black marker. She turned to her partner who was watching her curiously.

"Can I see the map please?" He reached into his back pocket and handed it to her. She unfolded it, placing it on the table.

"What are you doing?"

"I'm taking some inventory. Here, use the little book to make your own list, in case we lose the map," she told him, handing him the book and another pen from the drawer.

"Not a bad idea. I was starting to forget what we needed," he admitted while taking the objects.

"So, we only have this floor for now. What do we have, what do we need to get, and what have we left behind?"

"There's a green herb in here and that door is a heart key door," he began listing. She marked on the map where items were and what pathways were not open. Leon listed it manually in the booklet to the best of his abilities including the other areas of the station. Moreso about items to get, things to look out for, and objectives to do. Once they were done, they kept their writing utensils for future use then began making their way out into the hallway.