While Leon would have been perfectly content never seeing the faces of his team again, he figured that he had to go and talk strategy with them sometime.

Of course, that was made slightly more difficult by the fact that Alec seemed to be petrified of going downstairs.

"Dead on ground," he protested, moving even further away from the stairs. "Not high. High safe, ground not. Stay high!"

Okay, he had a point. From what he'd seen in Raccoon City, the undead couldn't climb. They had trouble enough walking. This way they only had one entrance to watch.

He didn't want to shout to the downstairs, and he certainly didn't want to leave Alec alone with a perfectly escapable window, so he pulled out his radio instead. "Brookes, all of you get your asses up here."

"Where do you get off talking to me like that?" Brookes demanded as he hit the top step.

"I don't have time to deal with your fragile ego, Brookes. Have you secured the first level?" Leon said.

"All the doors and windows are locked and blocked, sir," Myers informed him. "We pushed chests and tables in front of them."

Leon nodded. "Alright then, bunker down. We're going to wait here the night."

Franklin blanched. "Are we really staying here the night?" he exclaimed, his voice an octave higher than any male's had the right to be.

"If you want to go out there with those things at night, be my guest."

"But after the night, we're leaving, right?" Franklin's eyes were hopeful.

"We were given a mission," Leon replied. He figured that answered everything, so he set about fishing some food from his pack. Apparently though, the answer wasn't quite so satisfactory.

"You think that this mission is as important as our lives?" Kimberly asked.

"Forget it," Brookes interrupted. "First thing tomorrow, we're getting out of here. Who's with me?" he asked.

"And just how do you plan to get out of here without the main gate open?" Leon asked.

Brookes smirked. "Same way we got in."

Leon scoffed. "And you honestly think that by this point there's any chance in hell we're going to be able to get all the way there, and through the sewer without running into these things?"

Suddenly, Alec spoke up. "Not. All outside. Everywhere," he said quietly. "Guards at gate, dead on ground," he muttered. "You become dead on ground."

Brookes growled, and without any warning, grabbed Alec by the front of his sweater, slamming him against the wall. "And who the hell are you? What makes you think you know so much about any of this?" he shouted.

Leon's instincts reacted quicker than he could even think of a command to give his body, and he grabbed Brooke's by the back of his vest, throwing him across the room. The moment the hand released his sweater, Alec pushed himself back into the corner of the room, far away from Brookes. His eyes were impossibly wide as he watched the soldier who had just attacked him. His hand clutched at his sweater where Brookes had grabbed him, and his chest heaved.

Leon already had Brookes pinned against the wall, similar to the way Brookes had put Alec only moments before. "If it wasn't for him, you'd be dead, so I suggest you take that attitude of yours and shove it up your ass, or I'll do it for you." He gave Brookes a harsh shove, and let him go. "If you want to leave, then fine. It's your ass that'll be eaten alive. Now in case you didn't see it on the helicopter ride in, there's a helipad on the target building. If we get there, then we can get picked up, and we can get the hell out of here. It's our best chance."

He sighed and ran a hand through his hair, daring a glance out the window. There were no signs of any undead, save for smatterings of blood and abandoned tools. "I'll take first watch. Everyone else get some food, and then sleep," he commanded.

Surprisingly, he wasn't met with any arguments, and the entire team got started on their meals. They were all on one side of the room, and on the other…Alec sat curled up in the corner.

Leon sighed again, and went over to the corner. The moment he knelt down in front of Alec, the other flinched, and tried to get up. He was shaking though, and his hand still clutched at his neck.

"Stay still," Leon said, and reached for his olive-toned hand. He pulled it away from his neck, and carefully reached for his collar. Alec watched him warily as he pulled the collar of the sweater down, and frowned.

A large, angry bruise spread across even just the exposed skin. It wasn't fresh, but it was recent, and it looked painful.

He got up, and went over to grab his pack, before returning. He didn't get too close to the other as he went through his bag, grabbing a couple of things. One was a small pack, which he smacked against his knee. Instantly, it went cold, and he handed it to Alec. Alec let out a shout of surprise when he touched it, and nearly dropped it, so Leon grabbed his hand with the ice pack in it, and put it to his neck where the bruise was.

"Hold it there. It'll help," he told him, ripping open another package. This one contained a meal bar, which he held out to the teen. "Food. Eat it," he said, putting it in his free hand and getting one for himself.

Alec's eyes went between Leon and the food in his hands. He watched as Leon started on his own dinner. By then, the SRT team was already done, and working on setting up their sleeping packs.

Slowly, Alec took a bite of the bar, and then another, and another, until the last crumb of it was gone. The SRT team was in bed already, and probably close to sleeping. Leon had gotten out his sleeping pack as well, and had grabbed some clean looking/smelling blankets from the closet. He set out his sleep pack, laying it along the wall. He sat on one side of it, leaning against the wall and pulling out his gun.

Immediately, he saw a change in Alec. The youth dropped the wrapper of his food, his eyes growing wide and fearful.

"I'm just cleaning it," Leon assured him. "Now get some sleep. We're heading out bright and early in the morning."

Alec watched him for a few more moments before settling down on the palette of blankets Leon had lain out for him.

Leon's watch had been going for about an hour. Everything was quiet. He was getting stiff though, so he got up, sliding his gun back into its holster.

Through the silence, Leon heard a strange sound that he couldn't quite place. Then it hit him – it was the sound breath made when passed through chattering teeth, and he knew exactly where it was coming from.

Sure enough, Alec's slender form was curled in around itself under the entire palette. He was sleeping on the hard floor, clutching the blankets around himself as he shook.

A sudden and inexplicable wave of empathy struck him, and he felt the urge to pull the smaller man to him. He shook that off quickly, but still couldn't rid himself of the need to try to make him more comfortable.

As quietly as he could, he knelt down next to the shivering bundle, and lightly put a hand on his shoulder. The other work with a start, sitting up quickly, and staring at Leon with sleep-fogged green eyes that shone even in the minimal light.

"Come on," he said, holding out his hand as he stood. Alec looked at him questioningly, but oddly (considering his obvious caution when dealing with other people), he took his hand and allowed himself to be helped up. "Grab your blankets." Alec nodded and did as he was told, grabbing up his blankets, and following Leon over to his pallet. He sat down back where he was, and gestured to the rest of his sleeping pack. Alec took the hint, and settled down. Already, his eyes were starting to slide closed, and he all but collapsed into a little pile on the mat.

Alec stayed on his side of the pack from Leon for a bit, but after a little while of shivering, Leon reached over and pulled the other to him. He knew body heat would do much better at keeping the freezing youth warm.

Alec stiffened for a second, in surprise, but then relaxed into the older man, leaning his head on Leon's shoulder and squirming until he was flush against Leon's side. It wasn't long after that that the sounds of soft, steady breathing filled the air. He was finally asleep.

Things were peaceful for a while. Leon's arm was falling asleep though, from having it propped up on the younger man's slim shoulders. As gently as he could manage, he slid his arm out from around Alec's shoulders and wound it around his torso, hand resting loosely against his flat belly. His hand was only there for a moment though, before he felt something…strange.

A warm wetness coated his fingers, and he quickly pulled his hand back, cursing and turning on his flashlight. He wouldn't have thought it possible, but he was actually more unsettled that it wasn't what he'd thought it was.

Crimson liquid shone on his hand in the light, and his eyes widened. "Son of a bitch," he swore, moving away from the wall to sit in front of Alec.

The jostling had woken the mysterious young man, and he stared at Leon with eyes full of confusion and anxiety. Somehow, Leon doubted that his shaking now was just because he was cold.

"What? Why stare?" he asked, his soft voice catching in his throat. Leon ticked it off as proof the other was nervous. Scared, even.

Leon frowned. "Alec, I need you to take off your shirt," he said. Quickly, though, he realized that wasn't the right thing to say. Cautious, but still sleepy eyes widened in alarm, and he sat up the rest of the way, pulling his knees to his chest and wrapping his arms around himself. He felt his own adrenaline rise in response, and quickly tried to amend himself. "You're hurt, and I need to get a look."

He pointed to Alec's bleeding stomach, and Alec followed the gesture. Leon saw his shoulders tense even further and he looked back up. "Fine," he protested. "Not hurt. Little damage, not hurt." Leon made an observation right about then. Whenever Alec got flustered, he seemed to have a lot more trouble stringing words together. Going off the last few hours, too, flustered appeared to be his default emotion.

"I might be able to help, but I can't do that if I can't see it," Leon pressed. "I won't hurt you, I swear. You just need to trust me and lie back." Though he could feel his own impatience – not frustration, strangely, just impatience – mounting, he made no move to force Alec to do as he said. Instead, he waited. He let Alec consider his face for a moment, size him up.

Luckily for Leon, that seemed to do the trick. Hesitantly, Alec edged forward a little, eyes darting from Leon to the other soldiers in the room. Before he lay down though, he stopped, eyebrows pulling together. "Just help?" he muttered, his eyes searching and unsure.

"Just help," Leon assured. That did the trick, but only just. Alec pulled his shirt up and over his head, giving Leon, for the first time, a clear view of his upper body. Holy shit… He stared, eyes raking up and down the toned form…or more, up and down the spider web of scars that marred it. The marks varied in size and age, from thin ones like strands of silk to ones like the gruesome tear on his shoulder that wasn't even fully healed.

As Alec started to lie back, Leon guided him back, one hand between his shoulders and the other on his chest. He was careful to avoid any of the more fresh looking marks as he helped him back, and set to work examining the wound on his belly. It was a ragged tear, going from just under his left rib across to the top of his right hip bone. Blood had even started to soak into his pants.

"How did you get this?" Leon asked, pushing the waistband of Alec's pants down a little bit so that he could see the rest of the wound.

Alec frowned, squirming uncomfortably. "Tried saving man…panicked…think I am dead awake…" he said, almost…sadly. "Hur—Damaged...too slow."

It didn't take a genius to figure out the man was now one of the many infected. Honestly, Leon didn't give a damn. Doing that to someone trying to help you was inexcusable. Alec could say it didn't hurt all he wanted to, but Leon knew better. The edges of the wound were an angry red – a different kind of infection – and the sheer size of it.

"It's not your fault," he said nonetheless, and turned to find grab his first aid kit. He took the alcohol out first, unscrewing the cap and holding it over the top edge of the wound. "Alright, Alec, this is gonna hurt, but I need to do it, so just try to bear with me." Just to be safe though, he pressed his free hand against Alec's shoulder to hold him down.

Alec opened his mouth, presumably to protest, but before he could make a noise, Leon tipped the bottle and poured the alcohol down the wound.

This time, his mouth opened for a scream. Leon didn't blame him, but at the same time, it wasn't a good thing, and he quickly covered Alec's mouth, the bottle of alcohol sitting beside him with three fourths of the wound still left to go.

"What the hell?" came a growl from the other side of the room.

"Shut up Brookes! You and Myers, get over here!" Leon commanded, doing his best to hold Alec in place without hurting him. Tears had gathered in his eyes as he thrashed, grabbing at Leon's arms trying to pull him away.

Thank God, neither of them wasted any time, dropping to his knees beside Leon in an instant.

"Myers, grab his legs, Brookes get his arms," he commanded, and they were quick to comply. Alec hadn't stopped screaming, even with Leon's hand cupped over his mouth, but with free hands, he could afford to keep it there while he doused the rest of that wound, and the one on his shoulder, in alcohol.

Luckily for him, they'd come pretty heavily stocked with medical supplies on this one. He hadn't particularly liked the idea himself, but now he was grateful he hadn't made too much of a stink about it.

The gash wasn't very deep, or very wide. It was just long, and angry-looking. Regardless, it took stitches along the top of it, where it was deepest, which Alec was not too happy to sit through. Butterfly bandages held the rest together, just to be safe, before Leon wrapped the wound, from waist to ribs, and across his left shoulder, and got the others to let him go.

Alec immediately tried to sit up, to run, but Leon held him in place even as the others retreated back to their pallets like nothing had happened.

"Take it easy, Alec," he said, holding him in place with one hand and fishing around in the kit in the other. It was still another few hours before they would be mobile, and Leon wanted the kid to get some sleep before they had to get on the move. Since a mix of pain and upset seemed to have worn him sick and jumpy, Leon decided at least one, if not both, needed to be remedied.

He found the pain meds a moment later, popped the lid off, and plucked one out. He wouldn't give such a skinny person two, especially since they needed to be moving in the morning. But one was better than none, and hopefully it would be enough to get him sleeping soundly. "Alright, up you go," he said, gently easing Alec up to sit with his back against Leon's knee. "Take this," he told him, dropping the pill in his hand.

Alec looked at it dubiously, glaring at Leon with unfocused eyes. Another reason to get some medication into Alec? He looked pretty damn close to falling into either shock or hyperventilation. It was really just a race between the two.

"Your wound will heal faster now, and you won't get sick," Leon said, keeping his voice a quiet whisper to not disturb the others.

"Hurt more," Alec protested just as, if not more quietly. His voice shook unsteadily, just like the rest of him.

Leon sighed. It wasn't really surprising, he guessed, that he didn't understand that sometimes pain was necessary to heal. Someone that spoke like that – it would suggest a sheltered life. But he'd nearly outrun Leon with that gash, and God only knew what else, without even uttering a complaint. It didn't speak to a low pain threshold.

No, he just seemed confused. Confused, tired, and scared.

"That will help take the edge off so you can get some sleep," Leon said, gesturing to the pill still clenched in Alec's hand, "And when you wake up, it won't hurt as bad."

Again, Alec stared at him, his green eyes boring into Leon's own eyes as though he could read his intent in them. Maybe he could. Whatever it was, it worked because he popped the pill in his mouth, and accepted the water Leon offered to help him swallow it.

Part of Leon wondered how he knew how to take a pill so well, but was caught off guard by the sting of alcohol, but he brushed it off. Not really something he wanted to think about.

Now, Leon decided to turn in. "Myers, take watch," he commanded, helping Alec to lay down on the pallet. Since the sweater was now trash, leaving Alec bare-chested, he figured the youth would be even more cold than before. That in mind, he settled down beside him, pulling him close to his chest and tugging the blanket over them both.

From the way the slender, injured man curled into his chest, Leon was going to say that there were no hard feelings.