*This is where shits about to get self-indulgent af as well as totally made up! I love this after story motel shit!

Chapter 21:

The four survivors walked down the empty desert road for hours. All of them took turns in giving Sherry a piggyback ride once she got tired of walking. She was only a kid after all. The sun climbed higher and higher in the sky, but considering how much rain they ran through, they weren't complaining. As they walked, they talked about their nights and where they come from.

Veronica found out that Claire and Leon had met at a gas station just outside of town. They both had to hijack a dead officer's car to get out of a mob of zombies and make it into the city. Turns out, that loud explosion she had heard at the beginning of the night, was of a gas tanker that exploded. It had crashed into their car and separated them.

"So that's why you showed up at the station later!" she said in realization.

"Yeah, it took quite the detour to get there. But I'm kinda glad we got separated. If we hadn't, I wouldn't have been able to save Sherry," Claire smiled down at her younger companion. She really was like a mom to her.

"So what happened?" Leon asked.

"Sherry is Annette Birkin's daughter. I found her while trying to escape the station, but she was basically kidnapped by some creep. I think he used to be the chief of police." Leon and Veronica looked at each other in surprise.

"Irons was alive?!" Veronica gasped. Claire looked at them in surprise.

"Well, he was until I showed up to save Sherry."

"Did you…"

"No. He had one of those G-Virus babies explode out of his chest. It wasn't a fun moment."

"How did that happen?"

"My dad showed up," Sherry cut in, her face a little unreadable.

"Oh."

"I mean he saved me at first. That old guy was going to hurt me, but my dad also put the virus in me." The other two looked at Claire in shock.

"Don't worry! She doesn't have it anymore. Annette was able to administer a vaccine, so she's free from the virus. I'm glad it worked though. I went through one hell of a fight to get to it."
"So what Annette said was true then! You defeated Birkin!" Veronica exclaimed. Claire smirked at her and nodded.

"I did! Three times! He didn't end up staying dead after that fight! He came again right after you guys talked to me on that monitor when the self-destruct stuff was happening."

"Then again on the train. Holy shit Claire!" Leon couldn't help but say in shock.

"So, then why did Irons take her?"

"Honestly, I'm not sure. I think it had to do with a pendent Sherry was wearing. It had the ability to unlock the case that held the vaccine down at the lab. He almost shot me for it. I had to find her at the orphanage down the street from the station. Then I had to get through the sewers and the lab."

"What an asshole," Leon muttered. Veronica squeezed his hand and he squeezed back.

"Well enough about me, what about you guys? How did your night go?" The young couple looked at each other than over at Claire.

"A lot happened. We met not too long after I showed up at the station," Leon responded.

"We worked together to find the way out, but not too long after we met with you, I got scratched up by a licker!" Veronica added. Claire's eyes widened.

"You what!?"

"I have three long scratches on my back to prove it."

"She saved my life is what happened. After that, we fought Birkin before he turned into that giant mess of a blob. He was still halfway human at that point. We survived and got away from it. Then we met Ada," Leon sighed.

"Who's Ada?"

"Ada is...was a mercenary. She tricked us into thinking she was an F.B.I. agent working on a case against Umbrella. Leon got shot by Annette trying to push her out of the way," Veronica continued.

"What happened to her?"

"She's uh…"

"She's dead. We tried to save her, but she fell down the main shaft at the lab," Leon explained. It was clear that the memory still stung.

"Then we fought Mr. X, er, I guess I should say the Tyrant."

"Oh! Are you talking about that giant grey trenchcoat-wearing motherfucker?!" Claire chimed in.

"You ran into him too?!"

"You bet I did! He sucked!"

"Tell me about it! He was like a psycho girlfriend!" They all laughed out of reflex at the thought.

"What a night it's been," Leon sighed. They all hummed in agreement.

The next couple of hours went like this. Talking about the horrors of the night they just went through, continuous walking, and sometimes minutes of silence. Sherry would often brighten up the conversation with talk about each other rather than about experiences. It was like one big survivor bonding party. Despite going what they've been through, it was a nice change. After about the third hour, they were beginning to get pretty tired and were actually considering resting on the side of the road.

However, Veronica noticed something in the distance. There looked like there was something shiny moving multiple times up ahead. When they got a little closer, they realized it was a highway and the shiny objects were cars! They all began to jog over to try and flag down a ride. It took them a couple of tries, but a man in a red pickup truck stopped on the side of the road.

"Geez son, you look like shit!" the older man behind the wheel grumbled at the sight of Leon.

"We went through some shit. Do you think you could give us a lift?" he asked. The driver looked at him then at the trio of girls behind him.

"Where yall headed?"

"Anywhere that's as far away from Raccoon City as possible!" Claire stated.

"As far as you can take us. A few towns over would be great," Leon added. The old man thought about it for a second before nodding.

"Alright. Yall can hop in the back. I don't want my seats stained. I'll take you three towns over and drop you off at the nearest motel. It may take a few hours."

"Thank you so much, sir. We really appreciate it!" The girls began to climb into the trunk, but the man stopped Leon before he could.

"What happened in Raccoon City? I was taken on a detour passed it."

"Hell, sir. That's all that's left." The man seemed taken back by the young officer's answer but then nodded. Leon quickly climbed in with the girls and then the truck began driving onward. After the first hour, Leon and Sherry ended up falling asleep in their companion's laps, not that they could blame them. Claire and Veronica decided to stay awake for their sake, and in the meanwhile, they decided to talk, woman to woman.

"So, you and Leon then?" Claire asked over the roar of the wind. Veronica blushed then nodded.

"You could say that. It kind of just happened," she shrugged, her hand reaching down to thread her fingers through her partner's hair.

"I don't blame you, honestly. He's one helluva hero."

"He's one helluva partner," she grinned. The next two hours were spent talking before finally, the truck pulled off of the highway. Like the driver said, they had made it three towns over and were stopping at a motel. The four survivors climbed out of the truck then went over to the driver window.

"We can't thank you enough, sir!" Claire sighed.

"It's no problem, young lady!" Suddenly, Veronica remembered something. She had a pocket on her plaid shirt that was buttoned and in it was her ID, her card, and some money. She had put them in there because she didn't want to carry a purse while walking to Raccoon City after her car had stalled. Pulling out a 20, she handed it to the driver.

"It's not much, but I hope this can be some sort of payment for the ride." The man hesitated then took the bill with a small smile.

"Thank you, miss. It's kindly appreciated. I'll be off now." They said their goodbyes then watched as he drove off.

The motel he had dropped them off at was a rather cheap one, but anything was better than nothing. The other two had kept their essentials as well, so paying for the rooms wasn't a hassle. They were able to get two rooms for the night, each with a full bed since it was all they could afford or was available. Not that it mattered. They could sleep on a padded floor as long as they were safe. Claire and Sherry would take one while Veronica and Leon shared the other. Claire went along with this just fine so that she could watch over Sherry and also let the other two have alone time.

When she offered, she made sure to wiggle her eyebrows at the young couple. They immediately turned red at the prospect but didn't argue. Before heading up to their rooms, they went to a small gift shop/convenience store to buy bottles of water, first aid supplies, some toiletries, and a few snacks. Getting up to their rooms, they drank so much of their waters so fast, it was almost unbearable. But eating was hard. After everything they had seen, they didn't really have much of an appetite.

The room was small, but it was plain and it was safe. The bed was kind of squeaky and there may have been spiders in the corners of the room, but they didn't care. Walking into the bathroom, they had never been so happy to see a shower that was offering hot water in their life. Also, the motel they were in had a laundry room, much to their surprise, so they decided to take the full opportunity to use it.

After taking a minute of taking in the room, Veronica turned to Leon, emotions suddenly overwhelming her. He glanced over from his water bottle then set it down before holding out his arms to her. She almost ran into them with how quick she went in for the hug. Their arms tightened around each other as they embraced. She couldn't stop herself from hiccuping against his vest free chest.

"W-we made it!" she blubbered. He lifted a hand to pet softly at the back of her head.

"We did, just like I promised."

"I hope this isn't a dream, 'cause I don't want to wake up. That was so scary!"

"I know, but we're ok. We survived! Starting tomorrow, we're going to start heading home. Since we're closer to my place, you can rest there till we can get you a flight back to L.A. Is that ok?" he offered. She pulled back and wiped her tears away.

"I don't want to be a burden-," she tried, but he wouldn't hear of it. He pecked her lips with a soft kiss to stop her.

"You won't be. I promise you," he whispered. She gave him a small smile then nodded at his proposition. All this talk about home had her thinking though. With some leftover change, the couple ran downstairs and found a payphone. They both gave teary phone calls to their parents, telling them that they were ok and that they would explain everything when they got home.

Apparently, the news had just reported that Raccoon City was closed off, but they didn't know why. No news helicopter could fly in to see how it was going and it worried their parents a lot. The last thing they said before ending the call was warning them about Umbrella. Before doing anything else with their free time, they all decided to meet up in Claire's room.

"How about this? While Veronica and Sherry take a shower, Leon and I can go and wash your clothes downstairs. Then when you're done, we'll switch. After we're all clean, we can meet back here and fix ourselves up," Claire suggested.

"You sure if we should?" Leon asked worriedly. He wasn't ecstatic at the thought of leaving anyone alone.

"We need to get clean somehow and I don't want to walk in sewage covered jeans for a few a hundred more miles." With that said, they all agreed then the two girls went to take their showers. Leon waited outside of the bathroom for Veronica to get undressed so that she could hand him her clothes. However, she opened the door with her shirts off, leaving herself in her bra and shorts. Before Leon could get embarrassed, she turned to show her bandaged back.

"Mind taking these off for me, rookie?" He cleared his throat.

"Y-yes! Of course!" He walked in and began undoing the bandages, letting them finally air out. As he did so, he couldn't help his eyes from trailing over her exposed back and shoulders. What he didn't realize, though, was that Veronica could see that from the mirror in front of her. Only, she didn't say anything. She let him and it made her heart beat fast in her chest when they traveled even lower. The tension was thickening in the air, but he cut it with a small cough as he pulled off the last dirty bandage.

"There!"

"Thank you," she turned to face him, unashamed of being shirtless. "I appreciate it," she whispered before reaching up to peck him on the lips. He was about to lean in and kiss her when there was a knocking on the room door.

"Leon! You ready?" It was Claire.

"Right. Almost!" he shouted as he was being shoved out of the bathroom. Veronica closed the door and undressed fully, then handed him the ball of clothes. He had to take a deep breath before walking out with Claire. Veronica had to do the same once he left to calm herself down. Yikes. Then she looked into the mirror for the first time. Double yikes!

The amount of dirt and grime on her body was disgusting. She was bruised all over the place from the constant falling and hitting things. The biggest ones were around her cheeks from where she was grabbed by Mr. X and around her waist from being grabbed by the monsters in the sewers.

Not surprisingly, her joints were doing pretty well since they had been covered by pads almost all night. There were minor cuts dotted all over the place and her hair was a giant messed up nest. But the biggest injury she had sustained all night was her back. Trying her best to see it, they were jagged and flaring a little red around the edges. If she didn't disinfect it soon, there was going to be an issue.

Jumping into the tub, she had never been so happy to be taking a warm shower. Watching the dirt go down the drain was satisfying and the warmth cascading down her body was a wonderful feeling. She was basically freezing for almost 24 hours straight. It took a couple of washes to get everything out. Standing in the water, she watched as some blood from her back slid down the drain. Memories of being slashed by the licker came to mind and it made it her toes curl.

Suddenly onslaught by the events of the night, she curled up onto the floor and began to cry. It was all so terrifying! They had almost died on multiple occasions. Some of them, she was alone for. If it wasn't for Leon, she didn't know if she would've made it out. If anything, the licker might have actually killed her. She was so lucky to be alive, but how was she going to live on with all of these memories. A knocking at the bathroom door interrupted her thoughts.

"Vee? You ok?" It was Leon. How long had she been in there? She sniffled and cleared her throat.

"Y-Yeah! I'm fine! I'll be out in a minute!" She turned the water off and wrapped a towel around her. She opened the door to find Leon with a pile of folded clean clothes in his hands. His cheeks were red, though, having now seen her in only a towel, but that stopped quickly when he noticed her puffy red eyes.

"Hey, you ok?"

"Oh, yeah. I'm fine. Just...just peachy," she croaked. He nodded, somewhat in understanding as he held out her clothes to her. Once she took it, he gave her a quick peck on the cheek then let her get dressed. Not really bothering with the tights till they leave, she slipped on her clean clothes. It was nice to wear something not moist and crusty. Once she was done, the couple switched spots so that he could undress. However, he merely unbuttoned his shirt then turned to her.

"Can you, uh…?"

"Of course! C'mere," she gestured him to lean against the sink to bend down a little. She reached up and began unwinding the bandages, but kept the gauze in place until it was all off. Considering that he was facing her, she tried keeping her eyes on what she was doing, but occasionally they would wander off towards his toned chest. Gosh is this hard!

He could see that she was struggling and found it kind of amusing that he was doing the same before. So instead of holding back, he placed his hands on her hips and pulled her forward to press against him. This caught her off guard and caused her to blush a deep red, halting her in her work. She sighed softly, reaching a hand up to caress his bruised up face. Brushing his hair away from his tired eyes, she sighed.

"Your hair is still perfect despite everything we've been through," she whispered. It had kept its shape the entire night and never seemed to get dirty. He chuckled and shook his head.

"It doesn't feel like it, but thanks, I guess." She giggled before leaning in and giving him a kiss. It was meant to be short, but the arms at her waist said otherwise. If anything, she gave in and leaned into it, deepening the kiss.

She knew Sherry was going to show up any minute at the door, but it was getting harder to pull away. Especially since they were beginning to slowly grind against each other and tongue was slowly being introduced. Oh how much she wanted to-! A few timid knocks on the room door tore them apart.

"Um, Veronica? It's Sherry! Can I come in?" Sherry's voice called. Veronica sighed and pulled away before heading to the door. Opening it, she gave Sherry a smile.

"Of course! Come in!" she said letting the young girl walk in. "Sorry, I'm unwrapping Leon's wound. We'll leave in just a second." She went back to tend to Leon, giving him a knowing look before finally finishing what she was doing. They had to be extra careful about it till they could get together and fix each other up. He handed her the rest of his clothes then started up the shower. Before she left, Veronica holstered the magnum to her thigh, too scared to leave without it.

The two girls went downstairs and found the laundry room. It was small and had two sets of a washer and a dryer. Veronica taught young Sherry how to use them before starting up her loads as well. While they waited, they both sat on the machines and talked.

"So Sherry, when we get out of here, what are you most excited about to do?"

"Umm...I want to see where Claire lives! That and go to a park!"

"That sounds like a lot of fun! I'm sure you'll be playing on the swings in no time!"

"What about you?"

"Well, I'm most excited about seeing my family. I miss them a lot! I have a younger sister that's probably about your age!"

"Really?"

"Mhm!"

"Do you think you'll meet Leon's family too?" That question caught her off guard. Sherry may have been young, but she wasn't that naive.

"You know what? I think I will be," she smiled. For the next hour, it continued like this before the clothes were finally ready. Heading back upstairs, the girls went there separate ways, promising to meet within the next half hour. The shower was off when Veronica walked in and the sound of Leon brushing his teeth could be heard. She had remembered to do that before jumping into the shower, considering that she had vomited not even an hour after meeting Leon. She was still embarrassed by that. Not that anyone could blame her for doing so.

She knocked on the door and called for him. He opened it and walked out in only a towel that was tied low on his hips. His hair was slicked back and his chest was glisteningly clean. The wound on his shoulder was angrily red though. She hasn't seen him this clean since the beginning of the night. The brunette swallowed and quickly handed him his clothes. He thanked her with a wink before shutting the door and changing inside the bathroom. She had to lay on the bed to cool herself down.

Once he was done, they used the phone in their room to call Claire and see if they could come over. She told them they could and to bring any medical supplies they had, so they did. Walking in, they found Sherry watching cartoons on the small T.V. while Claire was brushing out her hair. It was longer than what they had expected, but it was a nice look when it was down. She greeted the two with a smile then gestured them to sit on the bed.

"Alright, who wants to go first?" The pair pointed at each other, laughing once they realized that they did.

"Ok, ok. But seriously, he should go first. He got shot! Don't suppose you know how to treat a bullet wound, do you?" Veronica asked. Claire hummed then asked Leon to take off his shirt.

"Luckily for you, I do! Chris taught me in case of an emergency, but as soon as we get to a hospital, we should get it checked." For the next few hours, they all worked on each other's injuries to the best of their abilities. New bandages, disinfecting cuts, taking pain pills, makeshift stitching they found down in Umbrella's lab. As much as they hated the company, their medicinal stuff worked very well. It was no wonder why they were trusted so easily.

"I'm surprised we're all still alive, honestly," Claire said as her arm was being bandaged by a pretty awful cut from the Birkin fight.

"Same here. Who knew a bunch of ragtime civilians would be able to get through a zombie apocalypse," Veronica replied while tying the wound off.

"You guys don't think it'll spread, do you?"

"I don't know. All we can do is hope that it doesn't. We know it was spread by the rats, so as long as we don't see one, we should be ok," Leon added.

"Well, we should still barricade our doors before we sleep. I don't want some sort of surprise attack to happen."

"Agreed." When they were done, they looked over at the clock to check the time. It was 9 pm and poor little Sherry had fallen asleep while watching T.V. They whispered to each other good night before the young couple left to let the other two to get some shut-eye. They weren't that much farther behind. Once in the room, they pushed some unused furniture in front of the door and shut the curtains to keep the light from peeking out. There wasn't much they could use to block it, so they had to make due.

Veronica let out a loud yawn while they got ready for bed. Sleeping sounded so good at that moment. Even though they wanted to keep...doing things...they were so tired that they needed a night of sleep. Considering that they were alive and out of Raccoon City, they had plenty of time to do things together later. They wondered what to wear while sleeping, but knowing how far away from the city they were, they decided to just get comfortable. It was just for one night anyways.

Slipping out of her shorts and taking off her bra, Veronica slipped under the sheets of the bed wearing her black tank top and her panties. She was too tired to be embarrassed, all she wanted to be was comfortable. She stretched out and relaxed against the mattress. She looked over and watched as Leon shimmied out of his police uniform, leaving him only in his boxers. While it was very pleasing to see, she couldn't really react much. Her eyelids were getting heavier by the second.

Leon climbed into bed next to her then shut off the lamp on the nightstand. It spooked them both for a second, but they knew they couldn't sleep with the lights on. So instead, they got comfortable and cuddled close with hesitation. After everything, they had been through, what even were boundaries at this point.

He draped an arm over her hip while she curled up against his chest, reveling in the warmth he gave. He smelled like the soap they had used in the shower and something else. It might have just been her imagination, but she could almost still smell the cologne from yesterday. It was nice. Veronica could feel herself slowly slipping away, so much so that she barely felt a pair of lips press against hers for a quick kiss.

"Goodnight, Vee," he whispered.

"Night, Leon," she yawned back. She shut her eyes and quickly spiraled into dreamland, him not falling too far behind.