Chapter 8:
Hopping off the box, they walked over to the ladder and Leon climbed up it first. He reached the top and placed his hands on the heavy manhole cover. With a little grunt, he pushed the lid up just a tad to carefully check the surrounding area. Seeing no immediate danger, he shoved the sewer cap away with a grunt and climbed out. He turned to help his partner out of the hole then took out his gun.
Looking around, they found themselves in an underground parking lot for the police station. Police cars were skewed randomly around the room, some broken while others just left abandoned. There were a couple of regular cars as well as the square S.W.A.T. like trucks parked there too.
The walls were all concrete besides the iron shutter gate that was currently shut closed on the other side of the lot. A police car's lights on the outside were left on, shining into the room better than the actual lights of the place were. It was really quiet, save for their footsteps, the wind, and was that...howling?
That put them on edge as they drew closer to a yellow parking meter that sat next to their way out. While Leon tinkered with the machine, Veronica glanced around. There were three doors in the room. Each one had a light above it that was red, probably meaning that they were locked. If this didn't work, they might have to turn back or try to unlock the doors.
"Damn, need a keycard," Leon told her. She took a look at the screen trying to see if maybe she could find a loophole, but found none. Suddenly, a low growling came from behind them, causing them to turn slowly to the sound.
It was a Doberman dog, but it looked like it had caught whatever the zombies had. Its eyes were a filmy white and its jaws were drenched in blood. It had already sustained some injuries as seen on its snout and body.
"Leon?!"
"You gotta be kidding me…," The dog suddenly charged at them at a high speed, snarling in hunger. Veronica tried backing away as it leaped up at her but instead she was shoved out of the way, her body hitting the floor. She sat up in horror to watch as Leon was trampled back onto the floor as well with a shout, his gun knocked out of his hands. He used his arms to hold the dog back the best that he could. It's snapping jaws were mere inches from his face.
"Get off of me!"
Veronica quickly got back on her feet and pulled out her gun. Instead of shooting, however, she flipped it over and ran at the dog. She swung the stock up its jaw, sending it flying. Leon's hands were too in the way and the dog was moving too much, she needed to at least get it to back off. She turned the gun over and shot the corpse before it could get back up. As she turned and got on her knees to help Leon, a woman's voice called out from the shadows.
"Hey." Leon sat up onto his elbows, both of them looking into the dark part of the lot.
"Who is that?" he asked out breathlessly. Near a light, they could see the outline of a woman.
"Stay sharp." The dog began grumbling and was trying to get back up. Leon grabbed his gun at breakneck speed and shot it down before it could. The two looked at the dog until high heeled footsteps caught their attention. Leon raised his gun at the mysterious lady just as she did the same.
She was wearing a beige long overcoat that draped over black tights on long legs. On her feet were black stilettos and sunglasses over her eyes. A black-gloved hand aimed her handgun and a green plaid scarf was wrapped around her neck. Her outfit was an interesting choice in this situation, but who was anyone to judge. It at least looked nice with her short black hair that framed, what Veronica could only tell so far, a pretty face. The lady stood in front of them and reached in her pocket, gun still aimed.
"Lower it," she warned. "F.B.I." She pulled out a badge with certificates, showing them who she was. It looked pretty damn official. He was hesitant at first to lower his gun but ended up doing it, partially in relief.
"Sorry...Thank yo-," he was interrupted as she slowly aimed her gun to the dog's corpse and shot at it's still moving figure. This time it was down for good. They watched as she lowered her gun. "For your help."
"Surprised you both made it this far," she replied, keeping her voice low before turning and walking in the opposite direction. Leon quickly hopped onto his feet, pulling Veronica up with him, and followed her.
"F.B.I., huh? What's going on here?"
"Sorry. That information's classified."
"Are you serious?" Veronica scoffed. This was not a time for bullshit secrets, she thought.
"Where are you going?" Leon persisted, stopping the mystery lady. She turned, clearly annoyed at them.
"Do yourselves a favor: stop asking questions and get the hell out of here," she ordered then turned and walked to the door on the opposite side of the lot. The light above it, as well as another on the other side, was green. Whoever the lady was must have done something to unlock them.
"Hey! I'm not done talking to you!" the officer shouted as she disappeared behind the door. The two partners looked at each other then ran over to follow her.
"Zombies, lickers, a monster, and now zombie dogs. What next?!" Veronica grumbled as they reached the door.
"Don't know, but why do I feel like this is just the beginning?"
"Please don't say that."
Leon opened the door and walked into what looked like the entrance to some sort of barred off facility. They could hear the footsteps of the mystery woman's stilettos fading somewhere into the area. To their left was a small office and to their luck, on a wall inside it was a map. It was to this level of the police station called B1, aka a basement level.
"Looks like we're in the jail," Veronica read over it, holding it out for the two to see. It appeared that was all that there was on that side, but there was a hell of a lot more on the other. This included a firing range, a morgue, a generator room, and a kennel.
"Explains the dogs then."
"Those poor things. It looks like whatever is infecting humans can infect animals too. Just great," Veronica sighed. She was about to put it away when she noticed something near the firing range. "It looks like there's a path that leads to somewhere from there," she pointed out on the map.
"We are under the police station, and it looks like stairs. Maybe it just leads back up."
"I guess if we need to get back there, we know how." Leon picked up some ammo from a cabinet as she put away the map with the others in her jacket pocket. Now that she had a new pouch, it easily slid in without clumping up her pockets.
Walking out, they went through an iron-barred door that looked like it led to the rest of the jail. They carefully passed by a corpse that was lying face down on the ground that didn't seem to move, but they crept by regardless. Perhaps that lady killed it. On one end of the hallway, there was a door that was locked, leaving the only way through to be through a dark corridor of jail cells.
As they passed through, they noticed that the cells were closed much to their relief. Each one had about 2 to 3 dead people in them. Some infected reached out for them through the bars snarling hungrily. Considering they were in a cell, they were safe. For now.
As they turned a corner, they could see a cell lit at the end and the smell of cigarette smoke grew stronger as they got closer. Reaching the cell, they were happy to see a living man smoking on a jail bed alone. He looked like he was lost in thought, a pensive look on his face, but was snapped out of it.
"Hello?" he called out, hearing their footsteps, Walking into view, they ran up to the bars, the man doing the same. He was tall and lanky, his long brown hair tied back into a low ponytail and a pair of glasses on his face. The sleeves to both his blue button-up shirt and brown jacket were rolled up to his forearms. Around his neck was a lanyard with what looked like a pass.
"Hey," Leon greeted.
"Hi!" Veronica smiled, happy to see someone still alive.
"I don't believe it. Real humans," he chuckled nervously, but clearly still relieved to see them. He reached up to casually grasp one of the bars to his cell. "Hello, humans."
"You been here long?" Veronica's partner asked, looking around to see if he could unlock it.
"Long enough. Are we the last ones alive?"
"No, no, there's a few of us..."
"Oh...that's good news, I guess." Leon nodded. "Unless, of course, Irons sent you."
"Irons…? You mean Chief Irons? Is he still around?"
"Who cares. Hopefully, he's somebody's dinner by now." Leon leaned away, eyebrows knitting in confusion.
"What do you mean by that?"
"He's the bastard that locked me in here." The officer seemed to be put off by that.
"I'm sure he had a good reason." Veronica looked over at Leon slightly taken back. Why is he acting this way?
"He did." He took a long drag of his cigarette, then blew out slowly as he flicked it at the ground. "I was about to blow the whistle on his dirty ass. I'd have done the same thing too, I guess." She wondered briefly what it was and was about to ask when the sound of a door opening caught their attention. They all peered down the hallway seeing nothing. Ben began to look frantic.
"Hey! I'll make you guys a deal…" he leaned against the door again and lifted the lanyard into view. "Unlock this cell and I'll give you this. There's no other way outta that parking garage! Believe me!" It was a parking permit! Veronica was about to agree, but Leon cut in before she could.
"Sorry...I can't do that. I have to talk to the chief first." She looked at him incredulously.
"What?! Leon, we have to get him out!" The sound of another gate screeching open down the hall, caught their attention. Again there was nothing.
"Listen to your girlfriend, man! Look, we're all prisoners in this station. So either we play nice and help each other out-" The eerie sounds were growing louder.
"Shit. It's coming." The man began backing into his cell, clearly frightened beyond belief.
"What-what's coming?" Leon questioned, frantic for an answer as he grabbed onto the cell doors. He tried giving the door a few shoves, but it was futile. Veronica looked at the wall next to them and realized that it was an electric lock. They needed time to figure it out.
"C'mon-c'mon, don't be an asshole...ok? You need this!" His back touched the brick wall behind him. "Just get me the fuck outta here!" he screamed.
Suddenly, a giant gloved hand broke through the brick wall behind him and grabbed the man's face. Veronica yelped in shock as Leon drew his gun and aimed, but it was useless. The hand lifted the man off the ground, it's arm tearing through the wall like butter. The man screamed in terror as he was dragged up really high, his head being squeezed tighter and tighter.
Then suddenly his head popped with a loud crack, blood exploding everywhere and the screaming stopped. Both Leon and Veronica gasped in shock. The brunette suddenly didn't feel so good. She quickly turned away and fell to her knees. She couldn't watch it anymore. It wasn't something that could be unseen.
She just watched a man's head explode by an unseen large figure. Her stomach lurched as it replayed in her head, but there was nothing left to throw up. That man was alive and he just fucking exploded. It was one thing to witness the dead feasting on the dead, but he was alive and was killed like he was only a mere bug.
"Oh my god…" Leon whispered in horror as the body was dropped onto the floor, sitting against the wall. The man's head had collapsed into itself and one of his eyes was bulging from its socket. The officer listened as thundering footsteps faded away, hopefully far enough away from them. A small whimper from behind him caught his attention so he turned to find his friend huddled on the floor. Her arms were wrapped around herself and her body was trembling.
"Vee? Are you ok?!" All she could do was shake her head, shutting her eyes and trying to will the memory away. "Hey. Take it easy. I need you to breathe," he said kneeling at her side. She tried doing so, but it came in and out shakily.
"H-his head...I-It just f-fucking-," she stuttered through breaths. He gently placed his hands on her arms.
"I know just take a deep breath. C'mon, breathe with me." He began inhaling and exhaling, leading her to do the same. She slowly followed him, breathing in and out till she had calmed down. The grip she had around her body loosened as she opened her eyes to look at him. He smiled softly and rubbed her shoulders comfortingly, causing her to lean into his touch.
"Ok…Ok. I'm ok now. I'm sorry. That was just really fucked up."
"Don't apologize! You'd think we've seen it all by now."
"Yeah, you'd think. Just another breakdown, I guess. Mind helping me up?"
"Of course." He got up first and easily helped her onto her feet. Her knees still felt a little wobbly, but she grounded herself the best that she could. She avoided looking at the dead man's body, too afraid to see the remains.
Suddenly the sound of footsteps caught their attention. Leon drew his gun and aimed in the shadows. They hoped it wasn't the giant making a return.
"Who is that?" The footsteps began to sound like stiletto heels as it drew closer and to their relief, the mystery woman came into light. She nonchalantly nodded at them.
"It's just me, so you can put that thing away." He lowered his gun the moment she spoke, watching as she walked up to the cell bars. Her expression changed to one of surprise. He gestured to the body nervously as he tried to explain.
"I don't even know what happened- It just...happened so quick." She looked over at Leon with a concerned expression, as much as they could tell with the sunglasses.
"I told you two to get out of here." She gestured a nod to the guy. "You wouldn't want to end up like Ben, would you?" Leon looked up at her from the carnage.
"You knew him?" She crossed her arms, contemplating the scene.
"He was an informant. Had information of use to my investigation."
"So what he said was true?" She didn't say anything then began walking away. Leon followed her, a little ticked off at her attitude, his arm reaching for hers. "Hey, you can't keep walking away from us!" He barely grabbed her arm before she wrenched it out of his hand and glared at him. "We don't even know your name." Veronica walked up behind him, unsure of what to do or say. "I'm Leon Kennedy, and this is my partner," he gestured.
"Veronica Lopez." The mystery lady's mouth drew up into a small smirk at the both of them.
"Find a way out, Veronica, Leon. Before it's too late...Then we'll talk." She turned and began to walk away. "Name's Ada." They watched as she disappeared around a corner, her footsteps fading away till there was silence. The two survivors looked at each other then back at the body to the lanyard around his neck.
"Well, I guess the deal's on," Leon stated.
"God. Leon, we should have let him out as soon as we found him," Veronica whispered, her eyes finally settling on the carnage.
"I'm not exactly sure how we could have. It happened so fast and there's no key."
"The door has to be electronic or something. There's this thing on the wall that looks like it's connected," she pointed out. It was a silver breaker box with wires and electric parts that seemed to be missing.
"We wouldn't have been able to open it. It's missing some pieces."
"He didn't deserve to die like that. What was that thing anyways!?"
"I don't know and I don't want to find out."
She poked around a desk that sat against the wall near the breaker box and found a red crank tool and a piece of paper. She read through it while Leon checked the other side of the room.
"I got it! There are power panel parts in the generator room and the clock tower," she informed him. "A clock tower?" She vaguely remembered seeing the giant clock in front of the building. "It must be on the third floor to the station. We have to get back up somehow."
"Maybe that pathway we saw on the map will lead there." Veronica quickly pulled out the map and looked over it.
"It's right next to the generator room too! Just gotta get through the other section of this place." They made their way out of the jail, taking the crank with them, curious to see how it could help them. On the way out, they had to kill the zombie they saw in the beginning as it immediately started getting up when it saw them. It was a quick kill.
The parking lot seemed to be lit a lot brighter. Whatever unlocked the doors must have turned on all the lights as well. It was a nice change compared to the low light they had been in constantly. They quickly ran over to the other green-lit door, making sure that the other door was indeed locked as they suspected.
Peeking through the door window, it was very dark inside with a dim red light lit somewhere in the hallway. They carefully walked in and immediately tensed at the sound of a group of dogs barking and growling somewhere in a room nearby.
"They're probably in the kennel. We have to be careful," Veronica noted as she took out her gun. They decided to skip out on that part for now and go towards the way that could lead up to the station. Unfortunately, they found it to be electronically locked, a red light above the door glowing brightly.
Next to the door was a window peeking into the generator room. A bright light was placed on the floor in the corner of the room. That would be the place to go to electronically unlock the door. However, they had to get either past or through the kennel to get there. Near the door they came from, there was a fork between the path they were on and the other led to that other side.
Deciding to stall, they went to the firing range first. It was pitch dark inside, their flashlights shining brightly through the room. In the actual range, two dead officers lay on the floor, unmoving. They decided not to take any chances and crept through the room quietly. On a table across from the shooting booths, was a yellow metal box and a piece of paper. It said that inside the box was a broken key to a patrol car, but the buttons on it still worked.
They carefully opened the box and took out a bent car key. It said the buttons still worked, maybe they could find something helpful in the car. That is if it's in the lot at all. Moving on, they found two doors at a bend in the room. One door led to the range, while another was locked with the pink diamond insignia. That's right. I forgot there were these types of doors.
They decided not to go through the range door and instead peeked in through the shooting stalls. Nothing looked to be important. That is until Veronica noticed a box of shotgun ammo sitting next to one of the corpses. She gestured her fingers to her eyes then at the body. Keep an eye on it, she told him.
She got on her hands and knees and climbed under a stall. It wasn't too far, she just had to stretch her hand out. Her heart thumped in her chest as she gently grabbed hold of the box and pulled it away. She slowly backed up and out of the stall in relief. If it wasn't truly dead, it didn't hear her. The room was clear for now till they could find the diamond key.
They left the room quietly and decided to use the car key before they continued. Now they were really stalling. Once back out into the lot, Leon pressed the unlock button on the key, a car beep echoing in the room. Looking around, they saw a random police car sitting against a wall with its lights blinking and the trunk popped open. Inside it was a long gray gunstock made for a handgun. The young officer picked it up then hummed indifferently at it.
"This is for a gun like Matilda. It could help fire more rounds per trigger, but then it makes my gun all clunky to take out. I think I'm gonna leave it."
"So much for that. Well, we can't hold it off any longer. We have to go through the kennel." Her partner groaned, clearly evident he did not want another run-in with those dogs. "I know. C'mon, rookie," she said patting him on the shoulder.
The pair walked back to the dark hallway and took the right pathway towards their undesired location. Turning the corner, the hallway was blocked off by a blockade, leaving the only way to the other side through the kennel. The closer to the door leading to the room they got, the louder the barking and growling were. However, as they were about to open the door, Leon noticed a potted plant near the blockade. It was a blue plant and it suddenly reminded him of herbs.
"Hey. Wasn't there a blue herb option in that book we read earlier?" he whispered. His companion looked over then went and grabbed it. Remembering that she tore the page, she reached into a pocket and pulled out a crumpled up paper. It was a little worse for wear but still legible.
"Yeah. It's for poisons and toxins. It might also give a little protective boost if added to the other two colors in a triple combo. It looks like the picture! Should we take it?" she asked, tossing the paper on the ground. They had gotten what they needed out of it, it wasn't of any use anymore.
"Might as well. You never really know what we'll have to go up against next." She nodded and added the new herb to her herb bag. Finally, it was time to go in. Leon grasped the handle and slowly opened the door. Peeking around it, he found the room not to be crawling with dogs, instead, they were in cages stacked against the walls. They walked in carefully, relieved to see they weren't about to be chased down by those things.
The place was surprisingly clean besides some splatter of blood on the dog cages. The dogs barked incessantly at the survivors, teeth biting at the bars holding them back. Veronica walked in front of them and shook her head.
"I hate this, but we have to kill them." Leon looked at her a little sad but understood. Despite being zombie dogs, they were still dogs. But then again, they were also still zombies.
"I mean, do we have to?"
"With unlocking the door up to the station, we might unlock these things. We don't need them running after us in a group. Besides, we should put them out of their misery."
"Fair point," he sighed then nodded. "They were police dogs. They were officially good boys."
"I'm just gonna shoot with my eyes closed." They each took a couple of cages and sadly sent the dogs away. "That was probably one of the saddest things I have ever done. Zombies or not."
"At least we're safe now. Hopefully, there's no more running around." In the room, they were able to find some high-grade gunpowder before continuing. The room in connection to the kennel held a bunch of storage shelves holding giant bags of what could possibly be dog food till it reached a door. Past it was a continuation of the hallway that was blockaded, leading to another fork.
According to the map, the door right in front of them was the morgue, while the other way led to the generator room. However, that way seemed to be blocked by a giant metal gate, so they decided they would check the morgue first. It seemed almost counterintuitive to go into a room made for the dead, but there could be something useful inside.