THE CRIMSON STONE

CHAPTER 4

"Acker, open up. It's me, Leon," said Leon as he banged lightly on the front door of the pawn shop. The front door seemed to be blocked by something heavy.

A sound of furniture being moved was heard not soon after Leon called out for Jeff and the door of the pawn shop opened.

"Sorry, I got protective after a few air head zombies tried to break into here when you left," Jeff said as he ushered Leon and Charlie into the shop.

"Good to know that you managed," replied Leon as he took out his communicator.

"Leon, what's up?" Tia said as her face appeared on the screen.

"I found two survivors, a man in his forties and a teenage girl. I need a transport to get them out of here," Leon said.

"Got it. A chopper will be sent immediately. I'll let you know where it'll meet you. But for the time being, keep them safe and yourself of course," Tia replied.

"Roger that," Leon said as he switched off his communicator.

Leon paused to look at both Charlie who was sitting on a sofa and Jeff who was leaning against the wall before saying,

"It looks like it's going to be a while before the chopper comes to get you both since we'll have to wait until the sun rises,"

"Wait, aren't you coming along with us too?" Charlie asked with skepticism clear on her face.

"I, have business to do here, kid." Leon answered as he took out his handgun to reload its bullets.

"Who do you work for, Kennedy?" asked Jeff asked in a standard manner.

"I work for the Bioterrorism Security Assessment Alliance or BSAA in short form," replied Leon curtly.

"Hmm, impressive," said Jeff.

"Well, I never heard of it before," said Charlie disappointedly.

"It was newly formed a few years ago. Forgive me for not asking earlier, but what is your name, girl?" asked Jeff.

"My name is Charlie. Charlie Evans," replied Charlie politely.

"Are you by any chance related to Joshua Evans, then?" Leon interrupted.

Shocked by his question since it was quite out of the blue, Charlie replied weakly, "Yes. He was my father. But he passed away when I was still a baby. Have you met him before?"

"Oh, I'm sorry. And no, I haven't. I've only heard of your father before. He worked under the Special Tactics and Rescue Search, STARS for short. He was a legend as he once saved a in Africa due to the T-virus that was infecting the area at the time. He was a hero, kid." Leon explained apologetically.

It was shocking news for Charlie to head that since her mother never once mention to her that her father was a cop from the upper unit. A legendary upper unit cop as a matter of fact. All this time she thought her father was just a normal cop. She never tried to push her mother into telling her about her father as her mother was sensitive about the particular topic. But instead, Charlie just smiled and said,

"Yeah, I know he was."

A few hours later…

While everyone was asleep, Leon went to check the window. It was getting brighter outside. It was then, that his communicator beeped.

"Leon, the chopper is already circling the perimeter of the city. Find a clearing and let us know when you're there. The chopper will come and get you," Tia spoke through the communicator.

"Roger that," Leon replied.

Right at that moment, Charlie woke up from the sofa she was sleeping on.

"Leon, where is Jeff?"

Alerted, Leon turned to look at where Jeff was sleeping a minute ago. However, he was not there anymore.

"What the-" Leon was cut short when the back door burst open and zombies came sprawling in like insects.

"Leon!"

"Quick, get behind me and try to unblock the door!" said Leon as he shoots the zombies one by one in the head.

Charlie did as she was told. However, the crate Jeff used to block the door was slightly difficult for Charlie to push since it was heavy. But determined not to die in the pawn shop, she gave in her best effort to push the crate out of the way, and luckily she succeeded. They backed out into the streets which unfortunately have more zombies.

When Leon was done shooting the zombies from the shop, he quickly motioned for Charlie to run with him in a direction. They ran down the streets as more mindless zombies burst out of shop windows, cars alongside the streets and even from alleys.

"AARGH!" Charlie screamed as one of them grabbed a hold of her shirt.

"Duck!" Leon warned as he turned around and shot the zombie's head.

Charlie ducked just in time, and she was eventually free from the zombie's grasp. She quickly ran to catch up with Leon.

"Thanks," Charlie said breathlessly.

Leon led them to the beach and immediately contacted the chopper.

"This is Leon, requesting back up!"

Not long after that the sound of the chopper was heard, hundreds of zombies arrived at the beach.

"This is Curtis, I would like you take cover, Leon," The pilot's voice beeped trough Leon's communicator and the chopper started shooting the enemies with its mini guns.

"Now, that's what I call back up," Leon replied.

Leon and Charlie quickly ran to find cover. There was a boulder at the edge of the water. And it was just enough to cover them from Curtis's turrets. Fortunately, it was effective. Most of the zombies got blast off quickly. The boulder vibrated several times as the zombies who tried to get to Leon and Charlie climbed it and got shot by the turrets.

A few minutes later, silence filled the once disastrous battle field. Blood was everywhere, dead bodies lay sprawled in piles of mess on the beach. Leon and Charlie came out from their hiding place as soon as the coast was clear.

"Climb aboard, people." Curtis spoke as a rope ladder dropped down from the chopper.