A/N: And here is chapter three! Not much to say about this chapter, other than that we are reaching the end of the Raccoon City arc. A little bit of foreshadowing in this one, though not a whole lot.

Agent Mac watches the child as she sleeps. She shakes in her sleep, but she's not vocal. She's silent. Silent, like she had to be in Raccoon City. Until she shoots awake, a hand over her mouth to muffle the scream. Sixteen years old, an orphan, and she feels responsible for the death of her thirteen year old brother. She ate the lunch Mac bought for her, using her FBI card because she would need to have many words with her higher ups, and this was the very least they owed this child.

Mac had been building a case after what happened to the S.T.A.R.S team in the Arklay Mountains, secretly, quietly, but it came to a near standstill when their funding was cut, the program closed, and most of them were either on house arrest or ran before they were placed on it. No one was talking. No one was available to talk. But this child is just sixteen. Sixteen years old and withholding names to keep the people she met and who protected her safe. That's something far too old for a child her age.

Her phone rings. Her boss. She steps out of the room and into the bathroom before answering, "Yes?"

"Mac, how close are you to closing the case on the Pachis girl?"

"She was there." There is silence on his end. A silence that suggests he knows more than she might want to believe. "You better not have been part of this, Matthews. If I can prove it, don't think for a second that I won't."

Matthews sighs. "I wasn't part of it. But there are certain members who... are around here that were. I only found out recently, when they started discussions to nuke Raccoon City." Mac allows silence to reign. "I didn't mean to put you in this position. I know how much you do for this country daily. Probably more than what nuking Raccoon City did for the safety of the nation."

"Safety of the nation is right! The nightmares that girl has- she's lucky to break an hour of sleep! And I don't think I'm even close to the end. She has so much to tell and share... and we're at fault." Mac sighs, running her hand over her face. "This girl is never going to get past this. She's always going to be haunted by what's happened. And me making her relive it- I take any excuse to give her a break. Any at all."

"The sooner you get it done, the sooner she can go on. The sooner she can find an after." Mac can feel that there isn't an after, not truly. This is going to follow her, and it just might consume her. There is a moment before he continues, "Agent, she's going to have to be taken to... a special place. They're going to question her again. They already have two survivors in holding, a Leon Kennedy and a Sherry Birkin. Ask her about them."

"Of course." It pisses her off, but some things have to be done. The big feds are going to step in, and she's not at all surprised considering this child expects to be killed at any given moment. Whatever else she saw in Raccoon City, it has given her reason to believe death is coming for her in the form of their government. Mac stills when she hears it: the muffled scream. "I have to go."

Indeed, the girl is awake, her knees folded into her chest and her arms hugging them close. She's never looked like such a child. She doesn't seem sixteen at all, not by the standards Mac has. But then again, Mac has never been good with children, has been known to treat them too much like adults and expect more than they could possibly give. This child has been taking it, like in a way she has grown up considerably. She more than likely has.

Her gaze flicks up. Dark eyes that are still on edge, still wary, but so very much afraid. Her hair is greasy as she still hasn't taken a shower, long, dark, but undoubtedly needing a cut to be rid what looks like burnt ends. Her eye bags are incredibly dark compared to the rest of her olive skin. One look at her, and almost anyone can tell where her family is from. "Are you... ready for more?"

"Anytime," Mac answers, taking out her pad again even though she hasn't taken notes in a while. Mac needs to know the extent of what she knows before she can have any of this on official paper, and if she has to make up a few details, well... There's nothing wrong with it in her fine opinion. "We left off on you and Marvin encountering the G-Virus and you looking for painkillers."

"Right. Well, after the fight with the G, I looked for anything to help Marvin feel better. I didn't want to run the risk of him getting hurt more or, worse yet, dying. All of my items were with Polo and the other survivor. I had ammunition, but that wouldn't do anything for Marvin's back."

"Did you find anything?"

"Yes and no. I found a red herb, which is virtually useless on its own."

A red herb was better than nothing. Korina wished she could find a green herb, amplify the abilities of the green herb, but she would have to keep searching, and she'd been apart from Leon long enough. By the time she returned to him, he had forced himself into an upright position, gun at his side. "I didn't find anything, but let me know if you see a green herb. It'll be a big help," she said to him, showing the red plant she had stuffed into one of the jacket pockets.

Leon took one of the leaves in between his fingers. "I think I have one." He pulled out what was indeed a green herb, and Korina sighed in relief.

"If you give me a minute, I can grind these up into a compound you can use." When ground up they produced a dough quality that allowed a person to eat them in relative comfort, and it produced a chemical in the body that sped up the healing process. No one knew how it came to be, but it was a closely guarded secret in and around Raccoon City. Most people in Raccoon thought they weren't real. "It'll ease your pain and any damage done will probably be healed right up," she told him.

He tried to play it off as unnecessary, but a slight movement made him hiss from the pain. He slumped back down. "Okay, okay," Korina hummed, tearing the leaves apart first. "These are big plants, so I can split them in two and save the second for later. In case of emergency or whatever."

"You sure you know what you're doing?" he grunted.

Korina nodded. "Mom liked to keep these around the house. They're so rare and so hard to grow, so she was proud that she could grow so much. Every year she would just go through and make a shit ton of healing items... She'd have me and Polo help, just in case we ever needed to know... Never imagined I'd use it like this." There isn't much to grind it up with. Korina takes the butt of her gun and cleans it off as best as she can before using it. "Dad was fascinated by them, which was why we started growing them in the first place. Shame we could never get it FDA approved."

"Oh, so you're just going to give me an experimental drug?" The tone of joking was obvious, and Korina chuckled. It was started to become more dough like. Leon scrunched his nose up at the object, probably doubting its abilities. "Does it taste good at least?"

"Nope. It's bitter as all get out." It didn't take much longer before it was ready. "If I had water, I would suggest drinking it first. But seeing as I don't, you'll get to suffer the aftertaste." Korina split it in half and used a bit of paper she found near the red herb to store it for later. Leon stared at it with distrust, and Korina took a bit off to stick in her mouth. She grimaced at the bitterness that flooded her mouth before offering it to him again.

Leon took it and murmured, "Bottoms up." His face contorted when he stuffed it into his mouth. He gagged a bit, and Korina tried not to laugh. He suffered over the aftertaste- which filled one's mouth for hours at a time- while it worked over the next few minutes. Finally he swallowed air and said, "Holy shit that was disgusting. How the hell do you eat that?"

"Only when I'm in severe pain." Korina helped him to stand, and even he seemed surprised at how little pain he felt. "Now it won't do much for a broken bone or any internal wounds other than pain maintenance, but it will heal most external wounds. It's a miracle thing, but FDA never approved it. Something about possible addictive qualities."

Leon stretched his back, and she heard a few pops. "Well, you're definitely not wrong. I feel damn near good as new." He paused and looked to her, guilt in his eyes that she couldn't understand. "I'm sorry. That was almost you back there."

Korina shrugged. "But it wasn't. And you should be sorry for scaring the hell out of me. Not saving my life."

Just then, the two heard a crackle. "He-hello?" a voice crinkled out. It was young, afraid, and just barely heard. "Are you two okay?"

Korina looked around for it, and she found it nestled between two garbage bags filled to the brim and heavy. She looked to Leon, and he shrugged. "Hi. We're doing fine. Who is this?"

"Sherry. Sherry Birkin." There was a pause before she asked, "Have you guys seen Claire? We got separated..."

"We haven't." Claire. If she knew Claire, then Sherry had to know- "Is Polo with you, sweetheart?"

"Uh huh."

Another crackle, and Korina sucked in a breath to keep from sobbing. "Rina?"

"Where are you?"

"We're-" It broke off into crackles she couldn't understand. She couldn't hear them. Korina wanted to break the damn thing, but she needed it desperately at the same time.

"You're breaking up, but we're coming, okay? Leon and Korina are coming, so you two just hang tight."

"So, since he was fine, we started to head for the parking garage, where it would come out at. Marvin insisted on taking the lead again, so I stayed in the back."

"The herbs really work that well?"

"It takes about two minutes for them to start taking effect. Like I said. Miracle plant. No one can explain it, not even geneticists and biochemists. Maybe they were put there for just that reason. For the dead to come back."

"Will it heal a bite?"

"Heal the bite? Yes. Cure them of the virus? No. The doctors tried that at the hospital, and there were tests done before the virus was released. In fact, it was engineered so that the herbs would do nothing against the virus."

"Why?"

"To create better weapons."

"What happened next?"

"Well. We ran into some dogs. And that survivor I mentioned."

Korina huffed, "Leon, I can climb up a damn ladder by myself."

"I'm taking point," he insisted. Both had their hands on the same bar. He straightened up to stand the full five inches he had on her. He wanted the authority, wanted to keep making up for something that wasn't his fault. It was frustrating the ever living hell out of Korina. "And I'm older, a cop, and more trained than you are."

Korina's face turned red as she shouted, "I've been handling myself!"

She glared at him, irritated he was treating her like a child. Had been ever since running into that thing. He pushed her to the side, and Korina had no choice but to take it. He was insistent, he was so sure, and she just... had to accept it. Nonetheless, she ensured her weapon was ready as he reached the top and she climbed up after him. It took a moment for him to open it, but he did and a soft light filled the small area. He helped Korina up, setting the flashlight down for a few moments.

Korina kept her eyes peeled. It was too quiet now, grating against her nerves even though she should have been thankful for it. Korina approached the opening of the parking garage with him and saw the one thing she had forgotten about: the lock needed a keycard. "Damn," Leon muttered, "need a keycard."

"I don't know where to find one-" Korina tensed up at the snarling behind them, even as Leon whipped around. "Dogs." Two of them, to be exact, and Korina lifted her gun up just in time for them to charge.

One went for Leon, and she didn't see if its teeth made contact. Korina had never been afraid of dogs- she loved them, actually, and was always admonished by Officer Douglas for being so friendly to the K9 unit dogs- but these dogs made her terrified. Granted, these actually wanted her dead. The snarled in her face as she pushed with both arms to keep it off, dropping her gun in the process. Somewhere far away, she heard Leon call her name.

It snapped at her face, and Korina turned away to keep it away. She could tell his name from his scratched collar, and tears pricked at her eyes. This was the one she helped to name and to train. Booze. She hadn't seriously thought they would go with it, but they did. His name was supposed to be something else, but he took better to Booze anyway. He took better to everything when Korina was involved. And now- "Booze, no! Booze!" He wasn't listening. He was long gone.

She tried reaching back for her gun, but if she let off even a little, Booze would lunge for her throat. "Leon! Leon!"

"Hang on, Korina!" He was struggling with his own dog. And if she let Booze get her, he would have two dogs on him. He wouldn't make it. She had to be strong for Leon this time.

A shot rang out. "Hey!" Another shot, and Booze fell limp on top of her. Korina scrambled away, shaking as she put her back against the wall. Booze- Booze attacked her, he attacked her, and another one attacked Leon, and fuck-

"Shh. It's alright. You're not there anymore."

"Booze was my dog, more or less. Seeing him like that was awful, but I couldn't quite grasp it fully. I still can't. He was my dog."

Leon asked, loud enough for her to hear, "Who is that?"

"Stay sharp." His dog began standing again, and Booze let out a most pitiful whimper. Korina grasped her knife in her hand. Leon shot the dog, and his gun trained on a woman as she approached, wearing a large coat and, for whatever awful reason, sunglasses inside. Korina shushed Booze as she slid the knife into his skull, and the dog was at rest. Korina returned to her position, staring up at the woman. "Lower it," she ordered Leon. "FBI."

Korina didn't care about the badge. She cared about Booze. It was stupid, she knew, but it didn't change anything. She loved Booze. She would come up just to see him, bribing one officer or another to let her in. She even taught him tricks in Greek. "Booze," she murmured, pulling the dog into her lap. Some of his face had rotted away. And his fun was sticking to her hands, revealing bald spots. "No, no, not my Booze."

"Thank you. For your help," Leon said to her before paying attention to Korina. She knew how she looked, holding that dog so close. But she had loved him. Booze was the first dog she trained, and her dad hated dogs so they never had one at home. In a way, Booze was her dog. Leon, whether he knew that or could just tell, was being gentle and understanding. "Hey... you alright?"

No. She wasn't. "We- we gotta find Polo. I have to get him back, and we have to get the hell out of here!" But how could she just leave Booze? They'd eat him... "I... I trained this dog. Obviously not for K9 unit duties, but... I would bribe officers all the time to let me into the kennel. He came to us as a pup, and I gave him his name. I taught him how to play dead, fetch stuff for me, and so many other things. He was so smart, and he-"

Arms wrapped around her. Korina stiffened. Only then did she know she was crying. "It's gonna be okay. He's in a better place now." Her throat clogged up. Hot tears raced down her cheeks as she bit her lip to keep silent. "We'll find Polo, and then we'll rest before getting you out of here. Okay?"

The woman, not at all harsh or demeaning or pitiful, said, "I'm surprised you made it this far."

And in an instant, something snapped. Korina's world was absolutely falling apart. The roads where she had walked down her entire life, with her parents, with her brother, with her small number of friends, were filled with the dead coming back to eat the living. She recognized some of them. She ran into so many people she hadn't even known she knew, people she hadn't even thought of for a long time. Add to it she had to practically kill her mother, her father was never going to come home, she left her grandmother in an infested hospital, and her brother was somewhere without her- oh. Something snapped.

"And I'm surprised the FBI's here," Korina shot back, rubbing at her cheeks. This woman, now that she paid attention, was pissing her off. Her mind was racing. Why was there an agent there in the first place, why- She gave one last kiss to the dog's head before gently setting him back down. But it greatly contrasted the anger she felt. "What the hell are you doing here, huh? And now? Now, when the city's gone! Where were the evacs, hunh?! Where was the fucking government to protect us from this shit?! To help at least some of us get the fuck out of here before there was a city of one hundred thousand infected?!"

"Don't be so dramatic." Korina could have shot her with a bullet right then and there-

"She has a point," Leon said, backing Korina up.

The agent said, "Sorry. That information's classified."

"Where are you going?" Leon asked next.

"Do yourself a favor," she said, turning to the two, "and stop asking questions and get the hell out of here."

Korina stared down at the dog and tried to calm her heart.

"FBI? You're sure?"

"Yes, I am. She said she was FBI and then didn't answer any more questions. She just tried walking away from us, like we weren't going to follow. Like we were actually going to leave. We didn't know where to go."

"Interesting... So where did you go?"

"Back into RPD. We had a way out now, which was good, and access to other parts of the facility. A lot of doors had been locked and we didn't always have the key. But we came back to worse. Inside there was this... thing. It was huge, bulky, and the dead were of little consequence to it despite its human appearance. The first time we saw it, it knocked out a camera. The first time we saw it face to face... There was no bullet that could stop that thing. Nothing the public has access to anyway."

"What did you try?"

"Shotgun shells. 9 millimeter bullets. The damn crossbow. Nothing pierced its skin. And the strength it had was- was unprecedented... It terrified me, Agent. And it hunted relentlessly."

"I see."

Leon almost tried to leave Korina in the garage, but she reminded him the kennel was somewhere near by, making it one of the most dangerous locations to be. So she stayed with Leon, and she forced herself to stop thinking about the past. She had to find her brother. Had to get the hell out of there. The two ended up by the cells, looking for a keycard that might be there.

And there was one, right around the neck of reporter Ben Bertolucci. He was around the county for plenty of stories, sometimes even in Raccoon City itself. It was no surprise to see him in the city, but it was a surprise to see him alive. "I don't believe it. Living humans," was his way of greeting them both, cigarette in hand. Korina almost asked for one herself. "And you... you're Korina Pachis."

"I-I am. You remember me?" He had asked her a few questions when he visited the unit a day or two before she had to leave.

He chuckled, as if she had said something funny or childish. "You and your grandmother. Wicked tongue that one, didn't like I spoke to you or your brother Apollo at all. Er, Polo, right?" Korina nodded, despite her heart panging at the mention of her grandmother. Her grandmother, who was probably long dead by then. "How is the squirt?"

"I had to send him ahead for his own safety. Have you seen him?" He shook his head, and Korina breathed in deeply. "Of course not. Thank you."

Leon looked between the two and asked Ben, "You been here long?"

"Long enough!" Ben took a drag. Korina really wanted to ask for him. Jayden had let her smoke one of his once, after a near accident that set her nerves on fire. "We the last ones alive yet?"

"There's still a few of us," Leon assured him.

Ben seemed happy about it. "That's good news, I guess. Unless Irons sent you."

Korina's brow furrowed. "Irons?"

"The chief?" Leon asked for confirmation.

The rumors. His constant denial. The quick downfall of the RPD. The half ass defenses- "What did you find?" Korina asked. "You had to have found something. You don't break the law, and when you do, you're very careful. On top of that, the RPD fell too easily, too quickly. So what did you find? What has he done?"

Ben's face took on something kin to haunted. "If it weren't you, Korina, I wouldn't bother answering those questions. Mostly because you, sweetheart, don't strike me as someone who does anything without a purpose. And you don't want to watch the world burn." He held up a flash drive. "Get me out of here, and you can have this."

"I can't do that without the chief's permission," Leon interjected before Korina could ask. "Is he still around?"

"Who cares?" Ben truly didn't. Korina wasn't sure she wanted to. "Hopefully he's someone's dinner by now."

"What do you mean by that?"

Korina swallowed. "Ben... how bad is it?"

"Don't check the orphanage," he replied, and Korina felt her heart seize. "He's connected to all of it- and I was going to blow the whistle on his dirty ass before he locked me in here." There was a sound at the end of the hall, and all of Korina's instincts told her to run. She palmed her gun. "Hey! I'll make you a deal. Unlock this door, and you can have this- there's not another way out of the parking garage."

He was right. There wasn't. "Leon, unlock the damn door."

"I can't."

"Leon, something's not right. Open the door!"

"I can't, Korina!"

"Leon, right?" Ben asked, desperation lacing his voice. "Look, we're both prisoners in this station. So either we play nice and help each other out- Shit. It's coming."

Korina could feel it too. Something was so wrong, so very wrong, and that was all she could sense. Leon placed her behind him, close to the wall, watching down the hall. "What- what's coming?"

Ben was afraid. Too afraid, as he backed closer and closer to the wall. "Come on, don't be an asshole! You need this! Just get me the fuck out of here!"

The wall behind him exploded, and gloved fist was very much visible. Korina covered her mouth before she let out a scream, muffling it somewhat. The hand grabbed Ben by his face and lifted him off the ground. He struggled against it, clawed at it, and Leon drew his gun. The wall tore apart like it was nothing as the thing moved Ben, lifting him higher and higher until-

Squelch!

"I thought it was the worst thing I would ever hear. The loss of life at something so much stronger than any human could achieve naturally. It was like an ant crushed by a boot. Ben didn't have a chance."

Korina screamed again. Ben's blood and brain matter exploded from his head, the hand having crushed it like a grape. Whatever it was retreated, and Korina could only stare at Ben. His head was still intact- mostly. It was shaped oddly, some parts having caved in and his eyeball threatened to pop out. His mouth was open in a forever scream. It burned itself into her mind, and Korina decided that of everything she wished she hadn't seen, this was probably the one she wished she hadn't seen the most. Leon pulled Korina to him, turning her away from Ben's corpse and directly to him. "Korina, don't look."

But she was frazzled. All that she had seen was toppling over, spilling out of the drawer she placed it in. Everything was shaking, and it was all her fault, all hers- "Why didn't I just open it? I knew something was wrong-"

"No, I should have- I should have listened." A sob broke free, just before they heard another sound down the hall. She turned, gun raised, eyes glassy, barely able to see. Ignored Ben's body.

The woman from before. "It's just me, so you can put that away." Korina didn't. "Hm. At least you have some fight in you."

"Don't fucking move." She stopped. "That's twice. Twice you've appeared in the nick of time. Convenient, don't you think? Before, with the dogs. Now, with whatever the fuck just killed Ben. How am I supposed to believe you're not connected to all of this somehow?"

Leon placed a hand on her arm, but she pushed him off. "Ah. I see how you made it this far now. Any lesser woman I'd dare to shoot me, but you would be all too willing to take on that challenge. You've survived this far, but you haven't survived solely because of him. You can carry your own weight. But I'm not your enemy. Ben would attest to that if he were still alive."

"Or he would say you are my enemy." They could never know. Fuck, she was so scared.

"Ben was an informant for my investigation. He had useful information." She sounded more inconvenienced than anything else, but her body language suggested she wasn't lying about that at least.

Korina let her arms fall. The woman cursed, and she began walking away. Korina would have let her without another word of complaint. Leon was not the same. He brushed past Korina and grabbed her arm, so that she had the audacity to give him an offended expression. "Hey, you can't keep walking away from me! I don't even know your name. I'm Leon Kennedy. This is Korina Pachis."

But she wasn't giving in. "Find a way out, Leon. Before it's too late. Then we'll talk." Korina watched her walk away, jaw set. "Name's Ada."

Leon turned on her. "You can't just go around doing that, Korina."

"Bullshit I can't." Korina turned on her heel. "We need to find Claire and Polo. Now. I have to get him out of here, and she's right. You should do the same."

"Ada? You're sure?"

"Yes. Marvin found her again before we lost contact. We got the key, went inside, grabbed the keycard, and Marvin found an audio recording device. I didn't listen to it, too exhausted mentally to care. It was... an ordeal, finding the key to the cage. Every move we made, we had the dead to fear, the monsters, the dogs, and... we began calling him Mr. X."

"Mr. X?"

"I... can't tell you more than that."

"I understand. Can you describe him?"

"Yes. He was tall, agent. Tall enough to reach the ceiling of the hall. And wide. He was a giant presence, and he walked around so heavily you could hear almost anywhere in the station. He kept you looking over your shoulder, and God forbid you discharge your weapon. He hunted you down. His strength was immeasurable."

"He sounds horrifying."

"He was... But there was a moment he didn't scare me."

"Why?"

"Because he had Leon's throat in his hands."

They had gotten the key off of Ben's body and made it all the way back to the parking garage. They hadn't heard him in a while and assumed he was gone for the time being. Hopefully forever, but they couldn't jinx it. Leon finally let Korina take point, and she stepped in front with her crossbow at the ready. She had taken out the dead efficiently, quietly, and that made it safe for them to continue on. The lickers were becoming less and less of a problem as he fired less and less bullets. However, running out of bolts was... well, it was more likely to happen.

When the wall exploded beside her, she fell to the ground. Only one thing could do that. She rolled onto her back when she heard a choking noise, and red filled her vision. He had Leon in the air, hand around his throat. Threatening to squash it. Korina took her gun and fired until it was empty. It wasn't the last of her 9 millimeter bullets, but she would need a minute to reload. A minute she didn't have as it let Leon go and turned its gaze to her.

The fear set in and took hold. Korina didn't back down. If he killed her, then so be it. His hand was a foot away from her when lights turned on. Headlights from the SWAT van to be exact. Leon was sucking in air as greedily as he could. "Korina-" He coughed, and the van sped forward. Korina threw herself back again, and the van narrowly missed her, but it hit Mr. X head on.

Ada exited the van. "This is getting old." Leon stood on his own two feet again, and the agent approached Korina. Whatever Ada saw in her, it made her respect Korina. Korina found she wasn't going to complain much about it. "I see you two managed to unlock the cell. I grabbed this off of his body." The flash drive. She damn near forgot all about it. Korina reached for it, and Ada took it back. She ensured the girl was listening with direct eye contact. "Get out of the city. Get this in the right hands."

"I will." Korina's promise was noted, and Ada handed her the drive.

"I saw footage of Irons dragging two kids. One of them looked like Apollo." Her brother? "He should be in the orphanage."

Then she whirled on Leon, eyes narrowed, and much less impressed with him for some reason. Korina didn't care to analyze it. "Saving your ass? That's twice. It's getting old."

"I didn't realize you were keeping score," Leon tried jokingly.

"This isn't a game-" The van was definitely moving. Korina pocketed the drive. "Nothing dies down here!" The van exploded, and Korina had to admit, for one moment, she did like her style. "I assume you have the keycard."

The orphanage wasn't far. But Ben told her not to go there. Chief Irons was involved with it... which meant there was probably some form of power there. She could read for herself what was on this drive, save her brother, get them both out of the city, and stop this from happening ever again. Leon and Ada discussed a bit away from her, but she wasn't paying attention. Reality was trying to hit her again, and she didn't have time for it. But she heard something about Umbrella and underground labs- nothing she wanted to make sense of.

Before Leon unlocked the gate, she said, "I guess this is where we part."

"What?" Leon looked more confused than he should have been.

"The orphanage is where I'm going. Sounds like you're heading in the opposite direction." Korina took the bit of herb from her pocket and placed it in his palm. "I'm done here, with this city. There's nothing left. Polo and I have to get out of here, and you have to finish what you started. I'll get this out, tell everyone about it, and eventually... you'll get some help."

Leon wouldn't take it. He kept one hand over hers. "I can't let you-"

"Leon, I survived before you got here. I'll survive after. And this is the least dangerous part!"

"You're just a kid-"

"Not anymore." Korina tried tugging her hand away, and he let her go. "I saved your life. You saved my life. I have faith you'll get out of here, Leon, no matter how far deep you go. Have faith in me now."

He was conflicted, overly so. Korina smiled at him. "The nightmare's over for me, Leon. It's time for you to let me go too." She took the keycard and slid it in. "Do us all a favor, Leon, and get out of this alive."

She ducked beneath the opening before it finished and took off in a sprint. The orphanage wasn't far, and she didn't need to stay out in the open for too long. It was more dangerous if she did.

"I made it to the orphanage just in time." Korina blows out a breath at the memory of it. The dogs, the dead, the fucking licker. "Marvin, the FBI agent, both of them died there. Marvin was bit and eventually succumbed to the virus. The agent was killed by one of the lickers. The other survivor saw me running after her and kept the door open long enough for us both to make it. Then she closed it and locked the door. I'd been to the orphanage before, and it didn't look any different. But there was a feeling to it. Something awful happened there."

Mac nods her head, listening along without writing still. "Was your brother there?"

"Yes. We entered, and she told me she had a deal with Irons. He wanted some sort of pendant. A necklace that belonged to a little girl. But when we got there... something had happened. Polo was still upstairs, alive somehow, and it had taken effort for us to get to him, and Irons died. Something burst from his chest like out of a damn movie. We found Irons' office and a ladder that led down to the sewers. The other survivor went down there to chase the kid, and Polo and I found where Irons had mapped out all the defenses and blocked streets."

"So you stayed and plotted your way out."

"Yeah." Korina took another deep, shaky breath. "But I understood what Ben meant. The orphanage... fuck. Those poor kids."