Chapter 6:

"Got any family?"

"I do. I live with my parents back in Los Angeles. I also have a younger sister and two dogs. We were born and raised there."

"Nice. What kind of dogs?"

"A black labrador named Cupcake and a small corgi named Sprinkles. While they constantly bark at nothing outside of the house, they're both good girls. Do you have any pets or siblings?"

"I don't have any siblings, but I do have a German shepherd named Benji. He is also a very good boy who barks at nothing," he laughed. "What's your sister's name?"

"Lily. She's 13 and she's my best friend. She's the one thing that's keeping me going in this hell," she whispered, suddenly feeling a little homesick. Leon could hear her sniffle against his shoulder and pulled back to see her tearing up.

"What's wrong?"

"It's just...She's very important to me, Leon. I have to see her again. I can't die here!" His heart broke at the girl's desperation to live and see her family. He felt the same about his own family, but he had to stay strong, just like she had told him earlier.

"And you won't. I promise you I will get you out of this city and you will see her again." The young girl smiled with watery eyes and leaned back in to lay her head against him with a sigh.

"Thank you, Leon. Maybe you'll get to meet her one day." He got back into his work as she said this.

"I hope that I do. After all this survivor bonding we're going through, it would be a shame to never see you again." She giggled softly.

"It would be a shame."

"I'm almost done. Tell me more. What are you into? Hobbies, movies, etc?"

"I used to love scary movies, but after this, I don't think that'll be the case anymore."

"Yeah, I don't think so either."

"Mystery movies are still great though. I love to try and figure out who did it before the end. My mom and I would spend our Sundays together having a small tea party in our pjs while we marathon them. Just like you, I also love a good mystery! I also love music. Any kind, anytime, any situation. You'll probably catch me singing, eventually. That and drawing."

"That sounds like a nice time. I didn't realize I was friends with a multi-talented artist!" he smiled excitedly, receiving a shake of her head against him.

"I'm barely an artist. I just like to do it for fun." He paused and pulled back to look her.

"If you love to do it, then you are one! Give yourself some credit," he said, his words full of encouragement. It made her feel good inside. Then he leaned back in and continued his work. "I bet you also sound great singing! Maybe I'll hear it one day."

"Maybe," she smiled against his shoulder. He paused as he thought carefully for a moment before asking his next question.

"Got anyone special in your life? A boyfriend waiting for you back in L.A. maybe?" She rubbed her head more into his shoulder, moreso to kind of hide her face. She didn't think he was going to ask her that, so it surprised her. It kind of gave her hope for something if they made it out of this alive.

"Nope. I'm a single pringle! I haven't been on a proper date in a long time." She felt him turn his head a little towards her.

"That's too bad."

"Why do you say that?"

"'Cause you're a great gal! I would've figured you were already dating somebody." She blushed, hoping that he couldn't feel her heart pounding in her chest at that.

"That's very sweet of you to say. It's interesting that you would think that, but no. I'm not with anyone right now." He seemed to pause at her response for a moment before working again.

"Well, you'll find that special someone eventually," he said softly, voice reverberating in his chest against her. He cleared his throat and adjusted a few bandages. "We can finish this conversation later. I think that about does it," he told her, pulling back and tying a knot on her side. He quickly pulled her shirts back down to cover herself, much to his relief. "It's gonna hurt for a while, so you're gonna have to take it easy for a little bit."

"I'll just look around and point things out to you for now, yeah?"

"Sure, but tell me if something feels wrong, so I can fix it." She nodded and, with Leon's help, hopped off of the desk. The young man found some wet wipes in the kit and cleaned off his hands, as well as his partners from the blood. He put his supplies away then fixed up his sleeves and gloves to how they were before checking his inventory. While he did that, Veronica took the windbreaker from the desk to hold it up for the both of them to see.

"Sorry about your jacket," she apologized, revealing the three long gashes that tore through the fabric like butter. Her own shirts didn't fare much better, but the jacket took the brunt of it. She could feel the blood drying against the skin of her back.

"That's ok. I don't think I plan to wear it much when we get out anyways. We can try and tape the inside for now, so you can still use it. Any protection is better than none," he said, taking it from her. He found some duct tape in a drawer and taped the inside together quickly. As he did that, his partner took a look at the floor to find anything that could be useful.

She was about to leave the room unsatisfied with her search when something caught her eye. It was yellow and hidden under a piece of paper that got knocked over it. She kicked it out of hiding and found it to be a battery. Just like they needed for the detonator.

"Leon, look! I found a battery!" He walked over the mess then crouched down to pick it up. "Will it work for the bomb?"

"I think so! Good eye! I also found a letter sitting over here. It has the code to the safe down in the west office. I'll have to check it later." As he put it in a pocket, Veronica glanced around then up at the wall, curious about the mural.

"So, what is S.T.A.R.S?" she asked, nodding her head up to the wall. He followed her gaze, realizing what it was.

"They're the Special Tactics And Rescue Service. They're a special forces division that deal with anti-terroism within the city...I think. I heard about them when I was applying into coming here. They were a big deal, but they fell apart." He lifted the now semi-fixed jacket up for her to slip her arms through then handed her, her elbow pads.

"What happened?"

"I've only heard a bunch of rumors, but apparently most of the members died in some great explosion up in the mountains. I think only like four or five of them survived out of like 12."

"Jesus."

"Yeah. I think they were also investigating those cannibal attacks….Which now that I think about it, it makes even more sense if the rumors are true. It's possible that they had seen all of this while up there and the explosion was to get rid of them," he theorized with his arms crossed in frustration at the idea. It all made sense to her.

"Shit! It sure does! If it's all true then whoever did this is one huge asshole!"

"Tell me about it," he sighed and looked over the room. "This was their office, I guess."

"You think any of them survived this outbreak?"

"Honestly, I'm not sure. I haven't heard of what happened to them when they came back. Maybe they were lucky and left town. I know I would."

They walked out of the small room and out into the open. There were desks sitting neatly against the wall, but everything looked cluttered. It seemed like they were just packing up, then decided to go on a lunch break with how normal it looked compared to the rest of the station. Looking around, they found more supplies on the desks: another flash grenade, more gunpowder, and a red herb. Since Veronica couldn't do much, she wrote down in the little book of their findings. Since they didn't have the second-floor map, she couldn't update any other maps.

While she did this, Leon checked a computer that sat in front of a barred off section of the room. Through the gaps, he could see another gun and informed her of it. After he tried hacking into the computer, he walked back to her with a shake of his head.

"Needs authentication. Maybe something needs to be plugged in," he told her. She wrote it down as a little note, then gave Leon the book. The pair decided that they've checked the room enough for the moment and walked out of the office carefully. On the ground, the licker's corpse was still there, having not moved, but they crept by it all the same.

They quietly made their way down the hall with Veronica hobbling a little in mild pain, but she pushed through to keep going. They were still cautious of anything that could possibly be there. To their relief, they found it was empty after rounding the corner. Thank god. They were not in the mood for dealing with another one of those things. There were only two doors at that end, both locked. One door had a pink diamond emblem on it and the other was a plain door that had a deadbolt on their side. Unlocking it, they were met with a giant bronze statue of a unicorn sitting against a balcony railing to a small room.

In the shield that the unicorn posed upon, was a small medallion with a unicorn carving on it. At its base was a stone box with 3 dials each with carved symbols on it. Taking out the book in a flash, Leon took a look at the clues before looking back up.

"This is one of the statues! We can get this medallion." Veronica watched as he turned the dials to the correct code. Two fish shaped like the Pisces sign, a scorpion, and a water jug. With the sound of stone grinding, the medallion was released from the statue. Leon reached up to grab it and held it in his hand.

"That's one!" the girl exclaimed.

"We're getting close and we know where the other two are!"

"Right," she said while walking over to the balcony's railing just past the statue. Peering over curiously, she realized they were above the reception room. "Speaking of knowing where things are, where are we?"

"I'll tell you!" She turned her head to see Leon picking up what looked like to be parts of the map from a table. "It's the map to the upper floors. We have the full set!

"Yes! That'll be super helpful!" She pulled out her map, unfolded it and added it to the others. According to the map, they were on the second-floor lounge right next to the library. Great! Just where they needed to be!

"Also found some gunpowder. Let's get back to the main hall and pop this bad boy in!"

They quickly made their way through the library toward the main hall, but before they could reach the stairs, something caught Leon's eye. He jogged the opposite way from the door, towards a dead end and to his luck, found some more bullets.

"Nice! Now, let's get the lion medallion while we're up here." They got to the lion statue and quickly inputted the code, which was a lion, a plant, and a bird. Just like the unicorn statue, the medallion was released and Leon handed it to Veronica. With a bit of a painful struggle for the young girl, they made it down the stairs to the base of the goddess statue.

Looking at the book, she placed the lion disc in the last spot of the three holes. To their surprise, the bottom half of the base to the statue began moving where it slid down into the ground with a low rumble. Bars lowered down in the plaques place, revealing some sort of entryway between the cracks.

"So Elliot was right," Marvin mumbled from behind them, causing them to turn in surprise. He was still lying down, but his head was tilted up watching them. They thought he was still asleep when they got there, but he must have heard the noise and woke up.

"Yeah, but the passage isn't open yet," the young officer pointed out.

"Just two more to go," his partner stated beside him. Marvin nodded his head once before falling back against the bench and was out cold. The pair looked at each other worriedly before placing the unicorn medallion in its place. The upper part of the base slid back against the rear part of the statue. They just had to get the last one.

"Ok. Let's move," Veronica said, about to walk towards the stairs but was stopped by Leon's hand on her shoulder.

"Actually, Vee, I need you to stay here," he instructed. She blinked up at him confused at his request.

"What?!"

"You're really hurt! You need to rest for a little bit. I don't want you overexerting yourself."

"But you can't go alone, it's not safe!"

"Look, I just have to cut through the west office to get to the safe room and grab the detonator. From there, it's one shot up to the statue. I think we cleared that pathway, so I'll be fine. I need you to rest while I'm gone. It'll be quick, I promise." She sighed, knowing that she won't be able to change his mind, not with a back like hers.

"Ok. But you get back here as soon as you can, ok, rookie?"

"I will. I'm going to leave the shotgun with you for now, for your own safety. Just try not to use it, if possible.

"Ok. Please hurry." He nodded at her before running towards the spade door and disappearing into the west office. Besides Marvin's breathing, the room suddenly felt so quiet. Deciding to follow his idea, she laid down on the opposite bench, but on her stomach to keep the pressure off her back.

After about a few minutes of lying there, she felt her eyelids beginning to droop. She was really tired and she was still in pain, despite that the pain meds that were slowly kicking in. Sleeping sounded so good right now. She couldn't help but close her eyes, just for a few minutes.

"Veronica!" She gasped and quickly sat up, a small stab of pain rippling through her back.

"Ow!"

"Take it easy! It's just me," Leon assured her. He had returned with the medallion in hand. "You were out like a light." She took a deep breath, trying to calm herself down.

"Sorry. I guess I was tired. How long were you gone?"

"Longer than I thought. A licker and a zombie cornered me after the explosion."

"Oh my god! Leon, are you ok?"

"I'm fine! I'm a lot quicker than I look. I had to take the long way around rather than through the library. The explosion blocked the door that way."

"Geez, this is why I wanted to go with you!"

"I know, but I think you would've gotten more hurt if you did. Besides, you looked like you needed the rest." She huffed then flicked him against the forehead with her finger. "Ow!"

"Dumby. Let's get this thing going," she said while slowly getting up. He put the medallion in its slot and stood back. The whole front part of the base, including the medallions, slid down into the ground creating a small staircase down to a white iron door. "Holy shit!"

Leon walked down it and, with a hard shove, opened the door. He flashed his light down inside where it looked dark and smelled like it hadn't been used for a long time. This was the way out.

"So, it goes underground...Huh," he mumbled to himself. "That's it - That's our way out," he nodded to his partner. Then he turned and began making his way to Marvin's sleeping form. "Lieutenant Branagh! Marvin!" The injured officer hissed silently in his sleep. "It's time to go."

"Wait, Leon!" He kneeled at the benches side and patted Marvin's shoulder to wake him.

"Hey, Marvin…" He shook him a little, only to have Marvin growl at him, quickly sitting up. The younger couple was taken aback by the feral reaction. It was getting worse. Marvin gasped for breath, stopping himself from hurting Leon and turned away. He still had some humanity left in him.

"We need to get you to a hospital right now," Leon urged. Marvin blinked confused for a moment, but pulled away.

No, no...I, uh," the injured man tried putting his thoughts together. He pressed on his injury, clearly showing that he was still in pain. "Save yourself…" Leon wouldn't hear any of it and got onto his feet, reaching for the other.

"C'mon, I've got you-." The older man just pulled away.

"GO!"

"Look, we can still make it out of here together, if you just gimme-," he was interrupted with a gun pointed at him. Marvin wouldn't shoot, they both knew that, but they didn't risk it.

"It's too late," Marvin stated lowly. Veronica could only stand there, feeling her eyes well up with tears. This was Marvin's end. She could tell Leon was about to argue with him and she couldn't take it anymore.

"Leon...he's been bit." He turned towards her, shocked by her statement. "He probably won't last much longer," she choked out the last few words, tears spilling down. Leon's face finally showed that he connected the dots and looked back at Marvin.

"I tried, Leon...But I couldn't stop it." The lieutenant began blinking back his own tears. He knew this was his fate and saying it out loud, made it real. "We can't let this thing spread. It's on you both now. Just go!" Leon took a step back.

"I understand," was all he said before turning to walk away. It didn't take a genius to see that he was trying not to get upset. Veronica walked up to Marvin as he inspected his bloody hand with pain in his eyes. She knelt down on the seat next to him and wrapped her arms around his shoulders. He kept his bloody hands away but didn't reject the hug.

"Thank you, Marvin. You did good," she whispered before pulling away. Marvin let the tears spill onto his cheeks when their eyes met.

"You stay safe, California girl," he spoke softly causing her to blubber loudly. "Leon, as my last order as your superior, take good care of yourselves, especially of Veronica here. Make sure that both of you make it out of this city alive and not infected."

"You can count on me, sir." Marvin looked at the both of them one last time.

"Go."

The two sadly left the lieutenant behind where he sat and walked down the staircase to the next part of their journey. The entrance began to close up behind them and they turned in time to watch it shut completely, leaving them in darkness.

"We won't let you down, Marvin," the young officer affirmed full of sadness. Veronica reached up to squeeze his shoulder comfortingly, not feeling so hot herself. She could feel his gaze meeting hers in the darkness. He flicked on his flashlight to illuminate the space around them, then sighed.

"You knew he was infected," he whispered. She looked away guilty and nodded.

"He told me he was bit when I found him." He tilted his head down trying to get her to look at him.

"Why didn't you tell me?" She finally looked over to meet his eyes.

"I...I didn't have the heart to. You were so sure that we could save him, that I wanted to believe that maybe it was possible. But he only got w-worse," she suddenly broke out into a sob, her body trembling.

Leon wrapped his arms gently around her waist, avoiding her injury as much as possible and pulled her close. She gripped at his vest as she buried her face into his shoulder. So much had happened in the last couple of hours alone, it was no wonder why she broke down. Now they had just lost another survivor. It was only the two of them now until they could find Claire. That's if she's still alive.

"It'll be ok, Vee. We'll make it through this and keep that last promise to Marvin. Ok?" He felt a nod against his shoulder. "From now on, no more hiding things like that. We can't afford to have secrets." They both pulled away, Leon brushing away the tears on her face once it was in view. "C'mon. We have to keep going."

"Yeah. Ok." She looked back at the now closed opening. "Think we'll come back?" He looked over at it then down the stairs.

"Who knows? It's possible that this might not work."

"Then let's get a move on and find out."