Chapter 7:
The pair of survivors carefully made their way down the small dark stairwell. Upon making it to the bottom, the lights to the small room flickered on automatically, bathing it in low, warm light. It was small, round, and looked like a study with wooden bookshelves as walls, and a desk. The floor was wooden boards with a giant picture of a compass in the middle. Nicknacks adorned a long dresser, including a model of what looked like the police station. It was quite impressive. Next to it was a box of shotgun ammo which Leon decided to take.
"Where are you gonna put that?" Veronica asked, still with a slight nasally tone from crying. Leon turned and revealed a new pouch on his other hip.
"I stopped by the west office safe on the way to getting the last medallion. Luckily for me, it was a new pouch. Since you're stocked on this ammo anyways, mind if I take this one in case I end up using the shotgun?"
"Oh! That's a good idea! Go for it!"
"Hopefully, we'll find another pouch for you. I know you're running out of space." She nodded in agreement as she walked over to the desk.
"What was this room used for? It's a weird place to put a study," she muttered.
"It was probably used when this place was a museum. I'm not sure if it has been used since then." The young officer searched the other way and found a mechanism that required a crank to turn it. Next to it on the wall, was a sign that showed stairs.
"Maybe we can get back this way. We would just need the crank to open it. If we find out that this doesn't work, that is," he suggested. Veronica hoped that wouldn't be anytime soon, but considering how much has happened against their wishes, it was very likely they would come back.
On the large wooden desk was another typewriter surrounded by piles of books. None of which looked to be of any help. There was also another big black box next to the desk against the wall. Considering that this was a police station, it would make sense as to why there were so many of them. Perhaps the room had been used recently. It was near a doorway, that led, to their surprise, to an elevator. Curiously, Veronica pushed the button and was even more surprised to see that it worked as the gate pulled back. The elevator seemed like it was safe. Where it would lead them to, they didn't know.
"Only one way to find out," Leon said, then gestured his arm out. "Ladies first." His partner snorted at that and walked in, him following behind her.
"Such a gentleman."
"I try," he joked as he pressed the button inside. The gates snapped closed and the car began moving downward. It took only a few seconds before it stopped at its destination. The gates snapped back open to a dark stairwell. The two survivors looked at each other then took out their weapons.
Leon walked out first, flashlight on and shining down the stairs. As soon as they were out of the car, the doors snapped closed behind them again with a loud clang. They slowly crept down the stairs, lighting down into the empty space of the room. Everything seemed to be safe, with no dead bodies lingering around. It was also pretty quiet, except for what sounded like hissing and the groaning of pipes.
They finally came upon an open doorway where the sounds were coming from. Walking in, they were surrounded by pipes and machinery, steam billowing into the air. Their shoes clanged beneath them against the metal walkway as they slowly made their way through. As they turned a corner, the sound of someone groaning in pain passed by overhead along with a giant shadow filtering through the floor. Whatever it was, it sounded like it was hurt and its voice was not entirely human.
"What the-!?" Leon said in a low voice, trying to not catch its attention. They stilled as they watched it turn a corner above them and disappeared, its groans becoming faint. Moving forward, they passed through a room with giant machinery on either side to a larger room at the end of it.
They stood on a metal catwalk above a giant room filled with even more steam and even more machines. The machines below them looked like they were what made the police station tick, like electricity and water. The sounds of hissing and the groaning of each part working filled the room.
The walkway would've diverged into two paths, but the left side was blocked off by a small blockade, while the other was only blocked by a lone fallen cabinet in what looked like an observation room above the machinery. Easy enough to move aside and it led the pathway forward. Once they got to it, Leon braced his hands on its side and began pulling it back. Veronica tried to help the best that she could by bracing her shoulder against it. With the two's teamwork, they pushed it till it was standing upright. Leon began to walk into the room first while his partner took a moment to rest from subtle pains up her back.
All of a sudden, something large and deformed dropped in from the ceiling, landing in front of the rookie with a loud thud. The survivors backed away and watched in horror as a monstrous amalgamation of a creature stood up. Half of its body was human with the blonde head of a caucasian man sticking out on the human side, but the other half was a deformed monstrous thing composed of exposed muscles and giant bone growth. The clothes fitted around it were mostly bulging at the seams or were torn away entirely.
"What the-!?"
"Leon move!" his partner shouted as she backed away from them. But it was too late, the thing lunged forward and snatched the front of Leon's vest, picking him up off the floor and running out of the room. He slammed the officer into the metal grate beneath them before rearing back as it's mutated shoulder seemed to expand even more so painfully. A giant red eyeball opened in the new space it created and rolled around before setting its gaze on Leon.
"Oh my god!"
"What the fuck!"
The giant eye flicked up to the other survivor in time for a round of shotgun shells to be shot at it. It blinked as if only irritated, so she shot again and again. That fourth time seemed to do something, as it shut closed and the monster groaned in pain. But its grip on the officer was still too strong, so the only thing it could do was pick him up by his vest and slam him over and over into the floor. She could only watch in terror as she tried to quickly reload her gun but she wasn't fast enough. As Leon grunted with each slam, the floor beneath them began to give way until the grate finally buckled through.
"LEON!"
Leon and the monster hit the floor below them painfully, both stunned. The brunette rolled over, groaning and clutching his chest trying to catch his breath. Veronica peered over the broken walkway, looking around for a way to get down quickly. Her back slightly stung from using the gun, but the adrenaline helped with that.
"LEON, GET UP!" Hearing her, he rolled onto his feet quickly, just in time for the monster to do the same. He backed away and watched it swing a giant metal pipe at him as it tried to get its footing.
"Jesus! Words won't work on this thing." It doubled over, the human part clutching its head.
"RUN! I'll find a way to get down!" Veronica shouted.
"NO! Stay up there! I got this!" he retorted before running away.
"As if," she muttered to herself, watching as the monster gave chase. She looked out to see where they were heading before deciding she was just gonna have to get down the old fashioned way. As she sat on the edge to climb down, she could hear Leon say something about how they had no choice but to take it down. Goddamn it.
She pushed off and fell onto the floor beneath her. Her knees felt the brunt of it as she fell forward from the momentum, hands catching herself roughly. Her left foot stung for a moment, but she shook it off. As soon as they were out of this city, she was going to do some hardcore training.
Standing back up on shaky legs, she ran through the puzzling maze of the room following the sound of gunshots, loud bangs, and dragging metal. After some winding turns, she found Leon just in time for the monster to corner him. With its giant claw, it grabbed his head and pushed him onto his knees. Leon grunted in pain from its squeezing, his hands blindly reaching up to try and pry it away. Quickly coming up with an idea, she reached behind her and pulled the flash grenade pin.
"Keep your eyes shut!" she yelled as she threw it at the monster's feet. Remembering Leon's instructions, she turned away and shut her eyes, hoping that it would work. It turned its body to see what it was only for it to be caught in a blinding flash. There was a sharp ringing in the survivors' ears after it went off but it faded away pretty quickly. She turned back and watched victoriously as the monster let go of its grip around Leon so that it could hunch over to recover from the flash.
Leon stumbled back in time for the light to be gone and looked over in surprise at Veronica. She pulled out her gun and began shooting at the back of the monster's head while it was down. However, all too quickly, it got back up and instead turned its interest towards her.
"Uh oh!" She began to back away before taking off in a sprint in the other direction. She needed to reload her gun, but running made that hard. She turned a corner and stopped, looking back to see where it was. It wasn't too far behind, slamming the giant pole against the environment around it, bending archways and breaking machines. More and more steam was being released into the air.
Handgun shots rang through the room from behind as Leon tried to distract it. She took this opportunity to quickly reload and tried to follow to get a better shot. It seemed to be taking damage as it fell to its knees. To their surprise, a man's voice mixed with the monster's groaned out as the man tried prying the eye open.
"HELP ME!" It was still somewhat human and for the moment, it was trying to help. Clearly this was the weak point that they could use. Leon used the rest of his clip to shoot at it, hoping it was doing something. Veronica decided to run around and meet Leon and shoot together. However, the human side didn't last long as the monster finally won over and got back onto its feet.
She took one shot then they both ran in separate directions just as the metal pipe slammed down where they stood. They didn't get far and turned around in their respective areas to see if it was following them. The room felt like it had filled with even more steam and all they could hear was its groans and the dragging of the pipe echoing around them. Their surroundings were getting more and more hidden in the fog.
"Damn. Where is it?" she could hear Leon say gruffly. He didn't sound that far away from her, maybe she could reach him. Just as she took a few more steps, the monster suddenly dropped down in front of her and grasped at her leg weakly.
"AH! Get off me!" she screamed, pulling back the gun and shooting the thing right in the face. It screamed in agony and let her go to clutch at its wounds. Finally free, she ran through the mist blindly, only to run straight into a familiar body with a yelp.
"Vee! It's me!" Leon assured her breathily, arms grasping hers.
"Fuck! Leon!" Groaning interrupted them as the monster limped into view from their side. Veronica cocked her gun and walked closer watching as it tried to keep its balance. It was beginning to look weak, maybe just a few more shots.
"Just fucking die already!" She aimed her gun and began repeatedly shooting at the eyeball. It stumbled back, its hand grasping at a railing behind it. Leon joined her when she finished her round and needed to reload. She shot one last time before it tried to lunge forward, only to stumble back.
Whatever was mutated with the human began to expand in its chest. Something seemed to be happening painfully inside its body as indicated by the sound of bone crunching and the tearing of flesh. It turned around to grip the railing again, but the sheer weight of it only tipped it over. The two ran over to the railing to watch it fall with a scream down into an abyss. The glowing eye could be seen until it disappeared into the darkness. A splash finally indicated to them that it landed somewhere.
"Holy shit!"
Just as Leon was about to say something, they whipped their heads at the sound of a loud clang behind them. A ladder from the second-floor walkway, that they were supposed to get to, was let down for them to climb. Leon reloaded his gun and began walking towards it.
"Somebody's watching us," he noted, suspicious at the lack of anyone calling to them.
"Let's hope they're good people," Veronica sighed. The adrenaline was beginning to die down causing her back to start throbbing a little. "Let's look around for more supplies, then head up there. I need a break to check on my back and I'd rather not do it here." They looked at each other with tired eyes before quickly embracing each other in a hug. He almost held her too tightly on the wrong spots.
"Easy there, rookie! I'm still hurting," she told him gruffly. He pulled away slightly and apologized before knitting his eyebrows downward in concern.
"Veronica, what were you thinking!? You could've gotten yourself killed!"
"I was not going to let you fight that thing alone! You almost did get yourself killed! It almost popped your head like a grape!"
"But your back-!"
"Doesn't matter! Like I said before, we're partners! Together, we beat that thing and we're fine now." He sighed in frustration, too proud to say she was right. "And frankly, I did end up saving your butt...again! At this rate, someone's gotta start paying me" she smirked playfully. He couldn't help the smile on his lips as he shook his head in disbelief.
"I think you're giving me a run for my money on my own job!" he chuckled softly. She wrapped the gun around her shoulders with a grin.
"Face it, rookie. Your job will be mine by the end of the night!" she giggled.
"Don't count on it. C'mon. Let's take what we need and get out of here!
They quickly went through the small area searching for supplies. Any door that they came across was locked and there seemed to be leftover bullets everywhere. Whoever was down here before them must have hid there for a while. They even found a regular grenade, much to Veronica's surprise. Leon decided to take it since he was more equipped in handling something so dangerous. Once they were done, Leon climbed the ladder first and waited at the top for his partner. She took a good minute getting up due to her back, but she made it through.
At the top of the platform was a walkway leading to two directions. One led back to where they were attacked and there they found some more gunpowder and a green herb. The other way led to another staircase that went up to a control room. Past it, the walkway ended with a drop-off, a section of the floor hanging in the middle of the room away from where it was supposed to be.
"How do we get through?" Veronica inquired looking over the edge. Leon hummed curiously then walked back into the control room. There was a lever that stood high against all the other buttons, so he pulled it. It seemed to work as the separated platform began moving over to continue the walkway. It locked together with a loud thud much to their happiness.
"That worked!"
Their footsteps clanged against the metal beneath them noisily as they made their way across. The walkway led them to a small room that looked like it may have been some sort of storage room or breakroom for employees. There was a desk with a typewriter on it and next to it was another giant box.
Against the wall was a locker and in it was another pouch, which Leon gave to Veronica to use since he had two already. Besides that, the room didn't have much in it, but to their surprise, there was a ladder that led to some sort of manhole above them. This could be their exit! Before they could check, Veronica groaned and bent down to rest on her knees.
"Can you check my back, please? It stings a little, but the pain meds are covering it up pretty well."
"Sure! Sit!" She did just that on the big box and angled her body so he could access her back. He helped lift all her tops out of the way and looked over the bandages. They looked alright, maybe a little dark where the gauze was, but it wasn't bleeding through. He carefully tugged them bit by bit just to peek under, it looked roughly the same as when he just fixed her up.
"Looks like it's holding up just fine. I think you just worked yourself a little too much with that fight. If we have any gauze left later, we'll change it. Now, let's rest for a minute." They took this moment to breathe and check their supplies. She had gone through half her shotgun ammo in that fight alone, she was gonna need more soon. They regretted not taking the ammo they saw up in the station, but it was too late now. Speaking of ammo, Leon was also running low. That fight took a lot out of them.
"What a night it's been," Veronica sighed tiredly.
"Tell me about it," Leon responded as he checked his gun. "Was not expecting it to get more and more screwed up as we go."
"Will it ever end?"
"I don't know. All we can do right now is hope we get out of here safely and hope that this thing doesn't spread."
"God, I hope not. I'm not sure if I could handle doing this every day. I can barely get through today without almost getting turned into something's lunch." He looked over at her and shook his head.
"C'mon. Give yourself some credit! You're doing a pretty good job at this whole survivor thing."
"Psh! I guess." He paused for a moment to think of something to prove to her that she was more awesome than she thought.
"For one, you're getting braver with the shotgun. You were kicking some major ass back there!" he smiled encouragingly. She looked back up at him and smiled softly.
"I guess I am."
"You are! Less than 2 hours ago, you were terrified of even holding the thing and now you just shot at a giant monster like it wasn't even shit!"
"It just kinda happened. I couldn't just let it kill you!... I was really scared, but I didn't really think about it." He shook his head.
"In this situation, it's normal to be scared, but you didn't let your fear stop you and that's what's important. You're more badass than you think!"
"That's only 'cause I had a great teacher," she said, elbowing him gently.
"I guess he's alright too," he shrugged playfully.
"He's more than alright! If it wasn't for him, I would probably be dead by now. He needs to give himself some credit too!" She said, leaning her head on his shoulder and closing her eyes. He didn't respond as he laid his head on top of hers and the two took this moment to sit in silence. After about a minute, Leon raised his head and turned to hers.
"We should go. I might fall asleep if we keep this up." On cue, his partner yawned as she raised her head.
"Ok. Let's go."