RE: Inclination

A/N: Sometimes I wonder if I'm a review zombie. I thank everyone every chapter. It's almost like I'm calling out for brains. No, not really. Reviews aren't squishy, tasty gray matter. Thanks for them though. I can't really think of anything new to type… and for that I blame the K-pop I've been listening to this week. (It is a very good thing that I didn't have to do much editing to this, or there might have been Asian women dancing… and that's just uncalled for right now.) You should thank chunglo on youtube for his walkthrough of RE0. It's keeping the creepy outbreak level of this story up. ^_^

May 2006

She made mince meat out of the flannel shirt so that it was somewhat comfortable to wear in the heat. No wonder it was left in the otherwise abandoned off-duty cruiser. She wondered what poor, cold-blooded cop on night duty had bundled it under the seat. Once she'd ripped the sleeves off and tied it off just under her bra, it at least felt comfortable.

"Tie it a little lower," Leon said as he got behind the wheel. She glanced at him. "You smell like blood now."

"Tying my shirt lower isn't going to rid me of the scent of my own blood," Claire replied, climbing out of the back of the car. Leon had her weapons retrieved and set between the two seats in the front of the cruiser. She looked up at the fence, and cursed. "Shit, Leon, we need to go, now."

"Get in," Leon said. He didn't ask why they needed to go. He'd probably caught sight of it himself. Claire darted back to the car, all but diving into the passenger's seat. She slammed the door behind her, and Leon turned on the engine.

The sea of infected had drifted towards them as the morning wore on, like the tide coming in. It was eerie, though they hadn't gotten to the gate, they were getting steadily closer. The first of the undead were moaning maybe fifty yards from the fence.

Claire checked the weapons to be sure they were loaded and ready, and Leon pulled out of the parking space towards the exit gate. "Buckle up," he said.

She reached for the belt without question, glancing up momentarily to check the gate. It was shut. She gripped the door handle and nodded. Leon adjusted his grip on the wheel and gunned the car, nailing the gate and lurching the car out into the street. The cruiser complained a little, but kept going.

"We won't be able to drive all the way to the dock. They'd follow, and we may need time to gather supplies for the boat," Leon said. He kept his eyes on the road, eyes tracking it as it curved away. He jogged around bodies, but didn't bother not hitting any zombies. There were too many obstacles altogether to not hit anything.

"We're going farther away from where we need to be," Claire said, pointing at the curve in the road up ahead. "The car's a good idea, but…"

Leon smiled at her a little and turned the wheel sharply to the left, in the right direction to get towards the docks.

"Leon, that's a park!" Claire gripped the door handle again as the cruiser hopped the curb under much protest. The island grass kept the car from grounding out until Leon pulled the car onto a broad walkway. "And you call me reckless," she muttered.

"You on that Vespa? Yeah, you're reckless."

The park passed by with only the thunk of a few bodies that hit the car as it passed. That made Claire wonder about survivors… They hadn't gone anywhere but the hotel that would truly encounter them, but still she wondered. "Leon," she said softly as the cruiser exited the park and Leon looked for a place to park. The moans of the infected were audible in the area. The flock of them were somewhere not too far away.

His head tipped slightly towards her. He was listening.

"What about survivors?"

He turned his eyes towards her and pointed. First at her, and then at himself. She knew what that meant, they were survivors. But… What was that supposed to mean? Because he was on vacation that… Leon stopped the cruiser and climbed out, gun at the ready, and glanced around before he made a hand motion to her inside the cab. He reached back in for his shotgun and slung it over his shoulder.

"I mean it," Claire said, coming up to him to put a hand on his arm.

The wind shifted, and Leon reacted to something she didn't notice as quickly. Leon's hand grabbed her by the front of the flannel shirt she had butchered, jerking her to the side as he tipped his gun past her face, firing a shot.

Behind her a zombie body fell backwards.

The creature's body groaned out a dying gurgle as off-colored fluid bubbled out of the hole that Leon's bullet had created in the creature's neck. The shot hadn't been enough to kill the thing. Claire turned the Glock on it, squeezing off a few rounds. Beside her, Leon did the same. They both stopped firing as dark blood started to pool on the warm concrete around where the thing lay stinking.

Ok, Claire agreed with Leon's lack of care regarding survivors… a little. Out in the open, in the daylight, looking for survivors was not the best idea. Any survivors would be hiding. Most people, Claire knew, were not the kind that wanted to run out and face something like what she and her companion were navigating through.

"Focus," he said softly, dragging her to his other side before he started to move forward.

Claire nodded. It was true. And out here, so broad, any survivor would have come running when they heard the car. Her side was feeling a bit better, less throbbing, but she felt a little woozy still.

"How's your side?" Leon asked as they reached the street that lead down to the dock. Claire blinked, surprised. It was almost like he was reading her mind, and that was mildly annoying. "You lost a lot of blood, I think we should find you something to eat."

"I don't really fancy raw food at the moment," Claire said as they passed one of the dead bodies that had not revived as a zombie. The limbs of the woman, who had obviously been partying in a bikini, were akimbo. Several of them had fed on her, and there were insects that were feasting on her still. "As a matter of fact, I'm off sushi again."

"I'll keep that in mind for next time I take you to dinner," Leon said. "But I meant something more along the lines of convenience store. Twinkies? Hohos?"

"What about my figure?" Claire asked sarcastically. Despite it all, the idea of anything remotely like sustenance sounded good. Sugar, salt… one of those horribly preserved muffins in a plastic wrapper.

She was surprised that Leon's eyes trailed her form before returning to their path. "It'll be just fine, even with the Twinkies," he assured her.

Claire smiled at that and shook her head. "What am I gonna do with you?" she asked. "Bio-terror incidents turn you on."

"No, don't get me wrong. It's you in that rag that used to be a shirt," Leon said. "I told you to tie it lower." Leon paused and gestured with the nose of his shotgun to a small convenience store. "It's not a deep building, anything in there can't be hiding too many places."

Another of the hissing groans issued from behind them, and Claire turned, drawing the shotgun from over her shoulder and tucking the Glock into her belt. "Think you can handle that?" he asked her.

In response, she snorted. "Don't forget to look up," Claire warned as he headed over towards the shop. Leon nodded and lifted his handgun. He seemed most comfortable with that, rather than the shotgun, Claire noticed.

Claire turned to focus her attention on the creature shambling out of the alley towards her. Beyond it, she could see several more. She shifted her position a little before firing. The shotgun blast hit the three closest her and sent them stumbling backwards into one another.

From behind her, a gunshot rang out, then a second, and Leon grunted. Claire rolled her eyes. The macho thing was so annoying when it came to zombie situations. It was pretty dangerous, actually. She decided to move more quickly. Finishing off the small group of them that had stumbled from the alley, she checked up and down the street before ducking into the shop. As she moved, she switched from the shotgun to the Glock. In close quarters, she could hit the wrong body.

There were things she wanted to get to do with and to Leon that would require his in one piece.

Inside the store it was a little dark. Leon was struggling with an infected granny aged lady… CORPSE. Claire lifted her gun and fired, splattering blood and brain tissue on the wall beyond Leon and the dead woman.

She had to think of them like that. She and Chris had a long discussion on that, once. Corpses once they came back, people until they died from it. Never people when they could bite and infect you. Never ever.

Leon dropped the corpse to the floor of the shop once it stopped struggling and bent to pick up his H&K. With his foot, he turned the corpse over so that it was face down. Leon was proud of that stupid thing, Claire remembered. It was modified, or something. The scent of the blood in the shop was somehow less oppressive, even though she'd just added some fresh to the mix. Maybe it was because she had smelled it all day, but it didn't bother her as much.

"Thanks," Leon said, rooting through the shelves.

Why were the two of them being so normal about this?

"Weird when it gets familiar, isn't it?" he asked, apparently still able to read her mind. He moved to the end of the aisle, and tossed a wrapped Twinkie at her. Claire was halfway to shooting it before she realized what it was, and reached out to catch it with a slight fumble. She must be more sluggish from the blood loss than she thought, if she wasn't shooting things flying at her.

Leon continued talking. "After Raccoon… when we were fighting our way out of the area… I thought that. I was worried I was some kind of monster for it. And I was…" Leon shook his head, ducking to look at a shelf where his face was out of her line of sight. "Eat."

Claire obliged him, if only because her head was threatening to overwhelm her body otherwise. She was glad of him there, glad of… she ripped open the wrapper and turned to face the door. The sugar didn't smell, it didn't taste, it was just texture. Nothing to threaten her empty stomach to send anything back up. She kept her eyes on the door as she chewed on the texture that was the Twinkie, keeping the gun in hand trained on the doorway. Leon wouldn't be relaxed, of course, but that was no excuse to make herself an easier target than the injury already had.

"And you were?" Claire prompted, biting into the Twinkie. It had been years since she'd eaten one, but surprisingly it tasted the same, and she knew exactly what it should taste like. She breathed through her mouth, avoiding using her other olfactory senses.

"We tend to get separated a lot," Leon said, straightening. He had a few other things in his arm, and he opened one of them to eat himself. If the putrid scent of death affected his taste buds, or his stomach, he didn't show it. He had killed two of the three zombies in the room, after all. The dark, heavy scent of the congealing blood must not bother him. Claire wondered if it was conditioning, or if he had his sense of smell dulled by some accident like the one that brought the scar to his cheek. Leon crossed to the door and slid the burglar bars shut before he crossed the room and leaned against the counter. He relaxed against it and patted the top of it.

"Hmm?"

"I wouldn't suggest going behind it, but you could take a seat."

"Worried I'll pass out again?" she asked, crossing. She got up and took the seat without argument though. It was a bit of a finagle with the shotgun on her back and the Twinkie and pistol in her hands.

"Just trying to be polite." Claire tipped her head at that. "We said we'd both try to be nice," he offered.

Finishing her Twinkie, Claire licked her lips after swallowing. "You still haven't finished that line."

Leon paused, glancing down at the body of one of the zombie bodies on the floor. He was silent a moment, in which Claire didn't really know what to say, but then he spoke. "…and I was worried, knowing you were alone in all of that," Leon looked down and away from her. She started to talk, but he lifted a hand. "I know, Claire. You're capable of defending yourself, but…" Leon shook his head. "It's hard to express, I guess I just worry about you. But I've said that already."

"I was worried leaving the two of you too," Claire said. It had haunted her thoughts the same way his retelling of Sherry's confiscation had. It was one of the mysteries that kept her going. It was part of why she kept on with TerraSave, with Washington… besides helping people, she wanted to know. Sherry wasn't a bad girl… but if Umbrella got her… "And in Harvardville… that elevator, Leon I don't know what was wrong with me. There was just too much, I wasn't quite ready for it, or…" Claire lowered her eyes to her lap, staring at the fabric of her jeans. It was hard to express what she'd felt in Harvardville. Why she'd left him at the end… why she'd let him send her on to safety. She had been worried about him, but…

Maybe it was that line he'd said to her. She was a protector, he was a fighter. Maybe that had temporarily short-circuited her brain.

Another Twinkie entered her vision, and Claire blinked. "Eat some more," Leon said. Claire took the offering of food-like substance and unwrapped it. "You're highly resilient, you know. But nobody's perfect."

"Except you," Claire said softly.

Under his breath, Leon chuckled. "No, not me. Especially not me." He tipped his head back to stare at the ceiling and closed his eyes. "I get hot headed and I rush into things I'm not ready for. It's why I always end up outnumbered."

"Sounds like a pretty specific case to me," Claire said. "You sat through my long phone conversation about Rockfort… if you need to talk…"

"When we get out, I'll bore you to death over it," Leon said. "But right now we should keep from getting outnumbered." He nudged her arm with his shoulder before he straightened up. "How do you feel?"

Claire thought a moment instead of answering immediately. The sugar was helping, immensely. Leon actually talking rather than brooding or just listening to her was making her feel better. She probably wasn't as strong as she'd be if she got to take a nap, but Leon probably wouldn't let her do that. It was good for the shock, but bad considering the blood loss.

So instead she reloaded the shotgun. "I'm ready enough," Claire responded once she'd finished, sliding off the counter to stand beside Leon. She adjusted the shotgun back over her shoulder and picked the Glock up off the crummy little counter she'd been perching on.

He nodded to her and led the way to the door. She knew he would step through it first, but he glanced at her before taking the handle. "It doesn't bother you that I take point all the time, does it?"

"Given that you're the one trained to navigate this sort of catastrophic atrocity? Not too much, Leon. I bow before your superior knowledge base."

He shook his head with a soft chuckle and then dipped his chin in acknowledgement before reaching to open the security door with one hand, holding his Sigma in the other. Claire took a step back, tucked the Glock into her belt and took the shotgun off her shoulder. It was loaded. She had more ammo in her back pocket. Leon sighted through the door both directions before he stepped out. Claire followed, keeping up as Leon took a turn down towards the water.

The two of them used what Claire was sure was some sort of formation, filing down the street and occasionally changing places when there was a corner. That much, even without training, made sense to Claire. As much as the two of them could, they stayed to the shadows under the awnings of buildings, but it wasn't always possible. Once or twice they fired handgun or shotgun at zombies that lurched out of alleys, but most of their ammunition was utilized on things up ahead of them or behind them that had come out of a building they weren't anticipating. Thankfully, it looked like most of the zombies had joined the sea of them that were behind them. Unfortunately, as they neared the docks, they came again on wreckage.

Cabs, cars, some scooters made up the twisted wall of vehicles that blocked them from the docks. Somehow the fire that had started from the tanks and tires was still burning in the sunlight. Even in places where the metal wasn't high, the fire was imposing. Thick curls of black smoke from the burning rubber rose up towards the otherwise blue sky. The roar of the fire was like a song entirely made of bass and pop rocks. Leon blocked his eyes and looked at the buildings to the side. The faces nearest them were without hand or foot holds.

"We'll have to go around," he said. He glanced around, considering their options. He turned away from the sun and the smoke, rubbing his brow. Leon was sweating. He looked a little pale, despite the sun exposure. Claire hoped he was holding up alright. The running in the heat… he hadn't said once on the day they arrived that they should go down to the beach. Maybe he had been avoiding the sunlight or the exertion… if that were the case, this definitely wasn't the best idea.

Claire scanned the area as well, but as she looked, she saw that the tide seemed to have come in. She lifted her shotgun and fired at the nearest of them as they approached. Leon whirled at the noise, lifting and firing his weapon past her.

There was a strange hissing shriek. One of the zombie bodies shivered and lunged forward. Claire fired off a shot, but the zombie barely staggered. It lunged for her, grabbing her by the shoulders.

Nearby, she heard the noise of Leon's gun firing, and she gritted her teeth, shoving with all her strength to get the creature off of her. The slimy grip slipped and she shuffled back a step, bracing the shotgun before she squeezed the trigger.

That close, the creature was nearly blown in half. Both chunks fell separately to the ground, and the collateral spray hit her. Claire shook her head, leaning away from getting it in her eyes or worse… her mouth. The smell threatened to overwhelm her…

"This way!" Leon shouted, backing towards the direction he'd been contemplating.

Claire followed, reloading as she went. It was a good thing, too. Three more blasts from her shotgun and Claire would be just about out of ammo, or at least readily available ammo. Leon fell behind a few steps, slowing himself down to let her move ahead, and turned to fire a few times behind them. Claire darted down the alley. It was darker than the other ones, but it was mostly clear. She only had to fire off a single shot before she found a box that would boost them up to a roof. Shotguns were good at taking out multiple targets.

"Going up!" Claire called to Leon, scrambled up onto the box.

Leon backed up next to her where she stood. Claire jumped, dragging herself up, and scooted over, covering him with the shotgun. "I've got you covered, come on." Given the freedom, Leon put a foot on the edge of the box and threw himself up, grabbing the wall and hauling himself up onto the roof. "You got any shells for the shotguns?" she asked.

Sprawling on the roof, Leon brushed hair from his eyes and blinked up at the sun. He reached into his pocket and dug out the shells. "You're better with them anyway," he said.

"You ok there, 007?" Claire asked. She looked up at the sun and had to shield her eyes despite the sunglasses.

"Thirsty, is all," Leon said.

Below them, the low moan of the infected filtered up to them. The alleyway was filling up. "Well sweating out in the sun won't do you any good then. Let's find somewhere to hide in the shade until evening."

"I was kinda stupid yesterday," Leon said, pushing himself up to a crouch before straightening. He pulled his shotgun off his shoulder and emptied the extra rounds out to hand to her.

Claire took them, looking up at him. "Huh?"

"We should've moved at night."

Glancing at the alley, Claire looked up at Leon. "No, that wasn't stupid. We probably would've been hit by a flaming car. You saw the wall of them, and the entry at the hotel. At least now we're taking them by surprise."

"So it's good to be outnumbered?" Leon asked.

Claire tucked the shells into her back pocket and rolled her eyes. "Why didn't I ever notice how emo you get?" He stared at her when she said that, and she ignored his look and pushed past him, careful not to drop him off the rooftop.

"Don't call me that."

"Then don't act like it."