Leon polished off the last of his pasta, barely able to swallow it down where he was so full. Claire always made a good meal, her cooking skills outdone his at any time, maybe that's why she always cooked. He was good at other things though, he considered himself to be quite the handy man when he could find the time.
"Did you enjoy that?" Claire asked placing her cutlery neatly on her plate. "Fantastic, as always" He replied patting his stomach "although I don't think I could manage desert!" "Well that's a good job then, I gave desert a miss tonight" She said, gathering the empty plates from the table and making her way to the kitchen.
Leon rose from the table, giving his muscles a quick stretch before heading into the living room. He sat in the leather armchair that was opposite the TV, looking around for the remote. It was strange how he and Claire had never really become an item, sure he thought about it, many times in fact, but everything was perfect the way it was, he didn't want to jeopardise that. "So what's on?" Claire asked flopping down on the sofa, disappearing under the mounds of cushions. "Not a lot, I'm guessing you'll want Eastenders on?" "Nah, I'm going to try and read this book I got a few days ago, haven't got round to reading it yet" She said, whipping the small paper back fiction out from the side of the sofa. "Rebecca let me borrow it, it's meant to be quite good, about zombies or something" Leon glanced over giving her a sarcastic look "and you need to read the book why?" "I don't know!" She said "I guess it would be good to see what the writer makes of something they believe to be fiction and compare it to how things were for us" Leon laughed looking towards the window "So what is this book anyway?" "Ummm, Resident evil, by someone called S.D Perry" She answered. "Hmm, never heard of him" Leon said. Claire smiled widely at him before laughing "S.D Perry is a woman!" "Oh, well, I've still never heard of her" he replied looking slightly embarrassed.
Claire had fallen prisoner to her fantasy world, following every sentence religiously; this was by far, one of the best books that she had ever read. In one hour she had already managed to get to chapter 16, reading more and more quickly desperate to find out what was coming next. "Sooo, this is nice" Leon announced "Me watching some stupid documentary and you sat there completely silent with your nose in that book" He folded his arms across his chest and sunk into his chair. "Hey, I told you I was going to start reading this book" "yeah but I didn't think you were going to read the whole thing all night, I thought at least we'd have some conversation!" Claire glared at Leon from over her book, slowly moving her face into view "Excuse me, I cooked your tea! We've been talking all day, I just want to unwind, I haven't done anything wrong" "Well in that case then if your unwinding for the rest of the evening I'm going to bed, night" Leon stood up from his chair and shuffled towards Claire, he leaned over and brushed the bangs away from her face before gently laying a kiss on her forehead. "Ill see you in the morning" He said before slowly descending up the stairs.
"Want me to walk you home?" He said still grinning at me like a 5 year old child. "No I'm fine thanks Chris, I can make it on my own" I answered, gently patting him on the leg. "Ok well if your sure, but be careful ok" "I will, you know me". I slowly rose from the curb, wiping the dry dirt that had stuck to the back of my jeans away. I inhaled deeply before turning and walking towards the bottom of the street. "Claire wait!" Chris called from behind me, I turned to see him walking towards me, head facing the ground. "I need to talk to you about something" He said his gaze meeting mine. "Go on" I prompted. "I'm leaving for combat in four weeks, maybe sooner" He said, his face expressionless, blank. "Four weeks?! But you're due to get married in three and a half!" "I know" He answered "but in this line of work when I'm needed I have to go" "where are you going?" I asked "Africa, Malawi village" He responded still keeping eye contact "I can't go into too much detail, partly because I don't know all the details as of yet and partly because I can't even if I wanted too." I broke our gaze looking at the floor, I knew what this meant, he wouldn't be around for a while and I'd miss him deeply. "Hey kiddo, I wont be gone for long, a couple of months at the most" He said cupping my chin in his hand and slowly raising my head. "I know" I sighed "I just hate it when you have to go, I worry about you, I was worried when you were with S.T.A.R.S but I worry about you more now" I knew pleading with him was no good, he would go anyway and letting him know how I felt would make it harder for him. "You don't have to worry about me! I'm a Redfield remember? We take good care of ourselves" I smiled at him "Well if that's the case Redfield then you'd let this Redfield walk back on her own" He smiled back "Only if you call me when your home safe" "As always" I answered. I embraced my brother into a hug and made my way home as planned, looking back occasionally to give him a wave.
Leon awoke the next morning to the smell of bacon, the delicious smell filling his nostrils making his mouth water with anticipation. He stretched his tired body and rubbed the sleep away from his eyes before heading towards the door. "I hope you're cooking for two down there" Leon called from the bottom of the stairs "you know I am!" Claire responded "I know you can't cook so someone has to feed you" "Cheeky" Leon said whipping her with a tea towel before making his way to the fridge. Leon sat at the table his stomach rumbling demanding food, he watched as Claire buttered the bread before placing two slices of bacon on each. "Sleep well?" Leon asked "Not bad" Claire said walking over to the table "you?" "Fine surprisingly" Claire smiled at him "No nightmares?" "None" he smiled back. "So, back to work tomorrow" Claire asked whilst taking a bite from her sandwich "Yeah.. Can't wait" Leon replied sarcastically "how about you?" Claire sighed "Today, well in two hours to be precise" "Bummer" Leon answered polishing off the last bite of his sandwich. "Need a lift?" "No I'm ok thanks, I'm going to get the bus" Claire called out whilst heading up the stairs.
Claire finished applying the last coat of her mascara, she hated wearing make-up but it was a requirement for her job role. She stared at herself in the living room mirror trying to figure out why that one piece of stray hair wouldn't fall into place, it wasn't the end of the world though. She tucked it behind her ear and headed toward the kitchen where Leon was, "I'm off now" She announced "I'm meeting up with a few friends so I won't be back until later ok?" "Yeah sure" Leon answered "I'll be here" She turned and headed for the door, collecting her house keys from the mantelpiece and her coat from the rack in the hallway.
Leon looked at the clock it was 11:43, Claire had been gone for nearly 15 hours and he'd called her mobile numerous times with no answer. He tried again but this time her phone had gone straight to voice mail, he remembered that she said she was meeting up with friends, she'd probably gone to a bar and was having a great time but he was still worried. He was finding it hard to stay awake, he wanted to go to bed so desperately, his eyes were heavy and sore but he was determined to stay up for Claire. He was rapidly losing the battle to stay awake, he tried propping himself up with extra cushions, turning the TV up loud and even drinking coffee which he detested, but it was no good before he knew it he had fallen victim to the sand man and was in a sound sleep.
His heart was banging so hard against his rib cage he thought it was going to break free; he stood there frozen trying not to make a sound. He could hear them in the garden talking loudly among themselves before he heard the loud crash of something breaking the glass in the back door. The sound of foot steps crunching against glass grew closer as a brilliant white light shone into the living room, leaving Leon like a rabbit in headlights. His mind was telling him to run, but his body disobeyed, the light blinding him so he could see nothing. Leon's mind took control of the situation; he jumped over the sofa knocking the coffee table over in the process, cutting his shin on one of the sharp edges. He locked his gaze on the front door, he pumped his legs faster and faster but the door seemed to stay the same distance. He felt and incredible weight crash on top of him, 14-15 stone maybe, he crashed into the ground hitting his head sharply on the telephone socket resulting in a deep gash just above his eyebrow. "Calm down Kennedy, your making this worse for your self" He heard from on top of him, a mans voice, American, harsh. "What do you want?!" Leon yelled, his arms being twisted behind his back, heavy metal clicking into place on his wrists. "Just come with us" "NO!" Leon protested, writhing beneath the heavy weight on top of him. "This is just a dream! This is not real! I will wake up" Leon shouted, sweat dripping from his face. "Calm down Kennedy!" He continued to struggle and heard voices coming from behind him, footsteps moving closer to his head before feeling an almighty pressure on the back of his head. Leon could feel his mind slipping away, the darkness threatening to take over "It's just a dream" He mumbled, "Just a dream…."