Just as the…thing was about to attack us, there was a gunshot and the creature fell straight to the ground from mid-air. I panted slightly, trying to catch my breath and after a second, I was finally able to see Leon standing across the room, his gun trained forward.
"Leon!" Will and I both screamed.
Leon hurried toward us.
"You guys okay?" He asked when he approached.
I punched him in the arm again.
"Ouch. What was that for?"
"For leaving us, genius."
"I didn't want you guys coming at all but since you're here anyway," Leon reached behind his back and pulled out an extra gun from his waistband, "I found this on one of the police officers down the hall. It has less than a clip but I brought extra in my suitcase," He handed the gun to Will, "Until you get there, I want you to have this, Lea," my brother pulled his knife from its holster and handed it to me, "Hopefully, neither of you will have any reason to use those."
"What about you, Leon?" I asked, concern and worry etched across my face.
"I'm going to start looking for Claire. Jill might even be here."
"Wait a minute," Will interjected, "You're not going alone."
"I've been through this –"
"Yeah, but Leon!" I interrupted.
"I'll be fine," He smiled at me, "And you'll be fine. You got Will with you. He's not going to let anything happen to you, right, Will?"
Will cocked the gun, turned to me and smiled.
"Last thing I would ever do."
"See," Leon looked at me with soft eyes, smiling slightly, trying to make me feel better, "If anything, we have our phones. This hospital isn't that big; we can meet up quickly."
"Okay…" I said, reluctantly.
"Don't worry, sweetheart," Will smiled brightly, "We find Jill or Claire, meet up and bam, we're outta here in less than ten minutes."
"We better hurry. We'll search this wing first, then let's meet back here in...well, I guess ten minutes is a good estimate," Leon ordered, his police training kicking in, "Will, take care of her. Lea, hit him if he tries anything."
Will glared and Leon flashed a grin at him. I walked over solemnly to my brother and looked up at him. He smiled, somewhat sadly, and grabbed me in a hug.
"Don't worry, baby sister. Nothing's going to happen to anyone," I squeezed him tighter, "Believe me."
I just smiled at him and whispered, "I love you, Leon."
"I love you, too, kiddo." He kissed my forehead and pulled away.
Will and I watched Leon turn and disappear around a corner, his gun out in front of him again. I glanced over at Will, who seemed to be lost in thought. He was worried about Jill, I was worried about Leon, both of us were in the same, sinking boat. Both Jill and Leon could take care of themselves, so I felt it was up to me to at least try to take care of Will.
"Will?" I said softly and I noticed he flinched slightly, probably startled out of his thoughts.
"Huh? What's up? You okay, Lea?" He asked, his voice sounding somewhat concerned.
"I'm fine. I'm actually worried about you."
He scoffed slightly, "I'm always okay," he said, bravado dripping off his words. He was so not okay, no matter how much he tried to pretend he was. "What do you say we go gear up?" He smiled a charming, confident smile, as he tried to discreetly change the subject.
I let it go and just nodded.
He stepped in front of me and we made our way back out of the operating room and into the cool, musty hallway. The smell of blood, an iron-y, bitter kind of smell, filled the corridor. Without even thinking, I latched onto Will's arm again, praying for this nightmare to be over with already. I couldn't even stand being trapped in this hell longer than five minutes; I had no idea how Leon and the others went through it as long as they did.
As we rounded a corner, Will held his hand out to me and whispered, "Stay close behind me." His arm shot out from behind the corner first, his gun taking in the sight of the room before his eyes. Then, the rest of his body followed and he stood there, quiet, for a long moment, "Okay, the door should be down the next hall."
Slowly, quietly, we started forward, soft moans echoing throughout the entire hospital as they bounced off of the blood-splattered walls. We only had a little more to go, then we would have all the ammo we needed and that made me feel a little safer. But just when salvation was nearly in view, there was a loud bang from behind us and a few pieces of the plaster from the ceiling above fell down around us.
"Leon?" I questioned, looking down the hall, then at Will.
A shadow appeared down the far end of the hall, where we'd just come from.
"I'm going to say that is not your brother."
I couldn't believe what my eyes were seeing. No more than ten feet away from us stood a man; I think it was a man anyways. He had tubes coming out of him, and hoses, all connected in every part of his body. His face was half metal, as was his body; he had long bloody claws, which had pieces of flesh dripping down its ends. On his back he had what looked like a giant custom axe, and some sort of R.P.G. This thing looked like something out of a really bad video game. On his forehead was a very peculiar symbol, one that I had seen before in one of those files my sister had…
"Umbrella!" I screamed.
"That can't be good news," said Lea.
"I don't think this guy is part of the welcoming party. We'd better go!" I grabbed her by the hand and ran into the closest door I saw; it was a stairwell. The way up was completely collapsed, so our only choice was to go down.
"Down the scary stairs, Will?" she asked with a doubtful attitude.
"Out to Mr. "I will skin you", Lea?"
"Touché!"
And so we made our way down, the whole time hearing in the background how the thing was still walking looking for its prey, and it wasn't going to rest until it got what it wanted, blood.
"We need to find Leon, Will."
"Leon is gonna have to wait, sugar. You saw that thing up there, if he gets to us we are dead meat. Plus, by the way Leon acts, and moves around creepy places like this one, I wanna say that he knows what he's doing." I said "He was in Raccoon City when the Devil went there, right? He will be fine, Lea."
"Yeah…" She said, although she didn't sound too convinced.
"He'd want you to get to safety, so that's what we're going to do."
Lea nodded and together we continued down the dark, stale-smelling corridor. The ceiling crackled slightly above us, small pieces of plaster falling, and we both stopped, horrified that he'd fall through at any second. After a moment of holding our breaths, the footsteps stopped. Before we could even glance at each other, the footsteps resumed, except this time, they were coming from the staircase behind us. He was on his way downstairs.
"Time to go," I whispered, grabbing Lea by the hand again. We rushed forward and came to a T-junction, "Left or right?" The footsteps echoed through the hallways, "Left or right, Lea?" I urged.
"Left!"
We sprinted down the left wing just as a huge shadow appeared by the staircase. I looked at Lea, putting a finger to my lips, indicating to be quiet. She nodded, shaking slightly. I could feel sweat beading down my forehead, my lips suddenly dry. I couldn't be sure, but I had a feeling I was shaking myself. The footsteps sounded closer, a lot closer. I wanted to risk a glance down the hallway but the sound of a door opening made me think otherwise. He must've gone into a room…
"Will…" Lea said so softly, I almost couldn't hear her. I stared into her eyes, saw how terrified she looked, and wanted nothing more than to protect her, keep her safe, "There." She pointed down the hall behind us and I quickly turned. At the other end of the hall was a door, an emergency exit it looked like.
"Left, huh?" I joked, smiling slightly. Lea tried to smile but it didn't take, "We're going to have to make a run for it."
Lea nodded in agreement. I checked around the corner, making sure the thing was still in the room. He was, but he wouldn't be for much longer. His loud boots clanked against the floor meaning he was coming back out.
I cocked my head in the direction of the door, silently telling Lea it was time to go. Without another word, we ran forward. I chanced a look down the hallway were the creature had been a moment ago and I came to a halt, against my will. He hadn't only been there a moment ago, he was there now. And he was even more terrifying up close. Before I could get my senses back, I felt a body collide into me, almost sending us both to the floor.
"Will!" Lea screamed, grabbing my arm. I pulled my gaze from the creature and together we ran toward the emergency exit. The second we reached it, I slammed my shoulder into the bar, allowing the escaping daylight into the dusty hallway. We were out into the parking lot before the thing reached the corner.
I could hear the blood pounding in my ears, my heart doing double-time. We were out of the hospital but far from safety. The creature was trying to force its way out of the small doorframe and with one good blow, it would come crashing outside after us. Our only hope was to get to Will's car and stock up on the supplies Leon had brought.
"The car!" I screamed and we both took off toward the vehicle before Will even finished nodding in agreement.
Just before we got to the car, a terrified scream erupted from the hospital and instinctively, Will and I turned simultaneously toward it.
"I'd know that voice anywhere. It's Jill!" Will tried to run forward but I grabbed his arm, holding him back.
Then there was another scream, this time from someone else. I'd know that voice anywhere. It was Leon.
"Leon!"
Back at the door, the hideous monster had stopped dead in its tracks and was now turning back inward, back toward Leon and Jill.
"We have to do something. That thing'll be on them any minute." I turned to look at Will but he was already rummaging through the trunk for the guns and ammo.
"You don't gotta tell me twice. Come on, we gotta hurry."
We both dug through Leon's bag and I finally came out with two semi-automatic handguns and some ammo. I stuck the knife Leon had given me in the top of my boot and packed the loose shells into my pockets. I looked over and saw that Will had found a shotgun and was loading it to capacity.
He cocked the gun and stared at me grimly, "Ready?"
"As ready as I'll ever be."
Will slammed the trunk shut and we jogged back toward the main entrance of the hospital. With one final glance at each other, we stepped inside, the wave of decay welcoming us back instantly.
"The screams came from upstairs. Come on, this way." Will started toward the left and since I was sure that's where the screams had come from too, I followed along immediately.