Chapter Three: Safety is an Illusion.

Interview Resuming/ 22/11/11/ Leonard Scott Kennedy.

I watch Adam's reaction carefully.

The young man takes a sip from his coffee and clears his throat before looking me in the eye with what appeared to be concern?

"So…You think I'm crazy?" I ask him.

The man doesn't speak. He reaches down and I cannot see what he takes hold off but a moment later a file slides across the table towards me.

I open it with shaking hands and papers and pictures come sliding out. I'm confronted with the horrors I faced. Half formed creatures and research notes with T-virus dotted on them…it's all I see.

T-virus G-Virus T-virus G-virus… "Fuck!" I yell before I swipe the files onto the floor. I refused to look at them.

"Everything alright in there!" I hear the guard behind the door yell.

"We're fine," Adam says calmly before leaning forward to look me dead in the eye.

"We received these research notes from an anonymous source, friend of yours?" Adam asks with a slight smile.

My eyes widen as I think back.

"We can use these Leon…I'll save the files,"

God…thank you Alex…

"Like I said, I don't want anyone else brought into this," I say barely above a whisper as I clench my fingers against the metal table.

Adam sighs and nods, "Leon…I promise you that this is strictly confidential, no-one else will be pulled in,"

I can feel the honesty in his voice and I look at him once more.

"I need to know the rest of what happened…carry on,"

Interview Terminated.

The heat from the fire was unfathomable.

Leon backed away from the raging flames. He was never driving again after this.

"Alex, we need to stop the bleeding…" Claire said softly.

Leon walked away from the car and up to Claire and Alex. The boy was propped up against the car with Claire kneeling beside him.

"You gonna be okay?" I asked Alex who turned and looked at me. He was quite pale and obviously in shock.

He looked down at his leg and saw that although the wound wasn't too deep but it was bleeding quite badly.

"I…I need a tourniquet...a belt…bandage…anything," Alex gasped softly.

Leon looked around for a stray rag in the dilapidated street and noticed all the blood splattered on the ground; Deserted cars, broken windows, Corpses.

The fire illuminated everything.

He shuddered at the gruesome sight before looking back at Alex who was giving him a pleading look.

Leon reached down to his belt and unbuckling it before sliding it out. He kneeled down next to Alex and looked at him.

"Tie it…just above the wound…tight," The boy explained.

Leon looked down at the bleeding wound before lifting the leg. He was met with a cry of pain from Alex who gripped Claire's hand with enough force to make her wince. He lowered the leg before looping the belt above the wound before tying it as tight as his could.

A scream ripped from Alex, his back arching and his free fist clenching against the ground.

"Okay, Alex" Claire whispered softly stroking the boy's hair.

Sure enough, the blood began to slow and eventually stopped flowing to some extent.

Alex opened his eye's slowly and looked down at the wound. He could see the jagged gash was not as deep as he thought but deep enough to be potentially dangerous.

"We need to get to the station…This is going to need stitches…" Alex explained grimacing in pain as he shifted his leg.

Leon looked at Claire, "There's an infirmary at the station…with any luck the supplies haven't been raided.

Claire looked worried as she looked down at the wound before looking at Alex, "Can you walk?" She asked.

Alex chuckled weakly, "I might need a shoulder…"

Claire complied immediately. She slid her arm under his and began to lift the boy up and hoisted his arm around her shoulders while he gripped her waist.

"Okay…" Alex whispered to himself as he shifted some wait on his bad leg. The pain was bearable but he wouldn't be running any time soon.

"So how are we getting to the station?" Claire asked, looking around, "The roads blocked,"

Leon looked over his shoulder and saw the large road block. Cars were pushed up against it as a sort of makeshift barricade. Leon wondered how none of this could have been reported. Seemingly dead people walking around and killing everyone would have been breaking news and surely the army would have cut off all entrances into the city.

"Leon!" Claire snapped.

Leon grit his teeth and looked around for any open areas or alleys that could lead to the station, a shortcut. Part of his police training and induction to the RPD required him to study maps of the city to look at all patrol routes. He could see from their position an alley which was just to the left of the barricade and could see a Gun store over the wall which lined the left side of the street, Kendos.

"This way," Leon said and began walking down the street with Claire and Leon following.

Aside from the fire the streets were silent. Crows could be heard aswell as the wind but other than that, Nothing.

"Does it still hurt?" Claire asked Alex who seemed to be doing well and wasn't slowing her down.

"It's not too bad…stings like hell," The boy admitted with a breathy laugh.

They kept walking until Leon suddenly stopped in his tracks. "Wait!" He hissed as a smell that he had been dreading hit his nostrils. Claire and Alex stopped in place watching Leon carefully and not even daring to breathe. He turned his head to the right to find the source of the stench and his eye's widened so much his eyes nearly fell out of his head.

There were two of them down the alley just standing in place and facing away. They swayed in place and Leon noticed how cut up they were. They looked more decomposed than the others they had seen so far. One was a man in a black shirt, his skin was yellowed and cracked and part of his abdomen was ripped away with entrails hanging from them.

The other was a girl, barely older than sixteen. Parts of her scalp were missing and an arm had been ripped away. She wore denim shorts and a tank top and her legs were missing chunks of flesh and muscle so the bone was visible.

"Move…quietly," Leon almost mouthed as he waved overhead to the others who looked terrified and unsure.

"Come on!" Leon hissed again and began to walk slowly. He didn't take his eyes off the people in the alley.

Ever so quietly they crept by the alley. They kept moving under a light crunch! Rang out.

The noise wouldn't have been noisy in any other circumstance but now it was light an explosive crash which echoed down the alley.

Claire paled and looked down; she lifted her foot from the glass from a shattered car window and couldn't help but look down the alley. The creatures were now facing them eye's wild and chests heaving.

"Shit RUN!" Leon yelled as the creatures began to shamble down the alley.

Gunshots rang out as Claire and Alex ran ahead trying to ignore Leon's yelling and the creatures snarling.

Claire moved as fast as she could with Alex hanging off her. They rounded the corner into the alley and stopped dead in their tracks. Three of them were dead ahead and had noticed the two frozen meals at the opening of the alley.

One snarled and began to shamble towards them with the others following them. The rotted creatures were almost upon them before a loud shot rang out and one of the creature's heads exploded to mush the others heads exploded shortly after.

"Leon!?" Claire cried out looking behind her.

She could see the cop running up to them, followed by the two creatures from the alley who were riddled with bloodless bullet holes.

"RUN!" Leon yelled.

Claire looked back towards the alley and saw a large man in a bloodied white T-shirt standing outside the gun store holding a Remington shotgun.

"In Here!" the man called before running back into the shop.

"Come on! Leon cried grabbing Alex's other arm and moving it around his shoulders. The three ran down the alley before literally throwing themselves into a shop.

"That was too close," Leon sighed as he braced himself against the cool wood of the door.

Claire propped Alex against a rifle display case before looking at the man who had saved them. He looked back at her with his eye's narrowed.

He cleared his throat with a sigh and placed his shotgun on the counter before folding his arms.

"Damn," Leon sighed with a small laugh, "Thanks for this," he continued before walking up to the man with his hand out to shake his hand.

"Leon…" Alex said cautiously.

Leon ignored him and carried on walking, "We were almost…"

The man suddenly lunged and Grabbed Leon's arm. He simultaneously pulled Leon's handgun from the holster, twisted his arm behind his back and pinned him to the counter before placing the gun to the back of the cops head.

"What the fuck!" Leon cried out as he struggled against the man's grip.

"Were you bit?" The man asked in a calm deep voice.

"What!?" Leon asked incredulously.

"Were you bitten," The man asked again just as calmly and pressed the gun harder to Leon's head for incentive.

"Do something!" Alex yelled in terror.

Claire quickly walked over to the man and placed her gun against his temple. "Get off him," She growled.

The man laughed before taking the gun away from Leon and letting the other man go. He backed away to the large glass window at the front of the store with his hands up.

"Okay…okay beautiful, no need to get hasty,"

Claire didn't let the man out her sight and kept the gun raised, she honestly didn't want to shoot him but at this current moment he was dangerous.

The man placed Leon's gun on the floor before kicking it over to the man who was leaning against the counter and rubbing his sore shoulder.

The man smiled again, "I just wanted to make sure none of you were bitten…you guys made some noise out there, bound to wake some of the dead,"

Alex limped over to the counter and took hold of Leon to steady him as he stood.

"Tell me you aren't suggesting what I think you are?" Alex asked as his brain worked overtime to process the information that was currently assaulting all reason.

"Call them what you want, Monsters, Zombies, Walkers, they're all the same walking dead meat, and if you get bit, you end up like them," The man explained with somewhat worrying flippancy.

Claire leaned against the counter unable to comprehend what the man just said.

"How long…since this started," She asked her voice cracking.

"Just after that shit with S.T.A.R.S a few weeks later the riots, and three days before you guys turned up…well…exodus," The man explained looking through the front window.

"Robert Kendo, nice to meet you," The man greeted as he walked up to the shocked trio and shook each one's hand.

Leon straightened up before leaning down to pick up his VP.

"Why was none of this on the news? Where the fuck is the military?" Leon asked as he holstered the weapon.

Kendo shrugged, "The Phones and the net are down, it happened so fast that the SWAT teams and UBCS soldiers barely stood a chance…guess they didn't know headshots were the way to go…"

"Headshots?" Claire asked raising an eyebrow.

Kendo nodded, "Yeah, only way to put them down, anyway don't suppose you guys are sticking around, where are you headed?" Kendo asked, before walking to the front door of the store and locking it.

"The station," Leon replied simply, "Our friend needs medical too," he continued, gesturing to Alex.

Kendo looked over at Alex and saw the fearful look on the boy's face.

"Don't worry kiddo, I can tell that's not a bite," Kendo said with a reassuring grin.

Leon walked up to him carefully so not to risk injury from the worryingly calm man. "Look…I know we owe you for saving us out there…but this store looks pretty stocked…if you could spare some ammo and weapons we'd stand a stand a better chance,"

Kendo thought for a moment before walking over to one of the display cases and pulling out a glock17 handgun and a small box of nine millimetre bullets. He loaded the clip before walking up to Alex and handing it grip first to the boy who took it tentatively.

"It's simple, point and pull the trigger, look down the sights and try to hit them in the head," Kendo explained before lowering the muzzle that was pointed at him in the boy's hands, "and don't point it at your friends," he finished with a grin.

"Thanks…" Alex replied, unsure.

"There's a bag under the counter, take as much as you need just don't weigh yourselves down,"

Claire touched the man's arm causing him to look at her as Leon walked behind the counter to start stocking up.

"Thanks and all…but what about you," Claire asked, concerned.

Kendo looked around the store then back at her.

"This is my home, I'll die here," He said softly, somewhat reminiscing.

Claire sighed and looked away from him before joining Leon who was stuffing the rucksack with ammo, a shotgun and a first aid spray he had found.

A dull thump suddenly caught the groups attention and they turned their heads to the front of the store. One of the creatures had reached the window and had begun clawing and hitting the glass, eyes wild with hunger.

"Shit!" Kendo growled, grabbing the Remington off the counter, "you guys need to go!"

Alex gasped and hobbled to the fire exit at the side of the store, "Hurry up!" he called after Leon and Claire who were frantically stocking up.

More of them were coming now…half a dozen, a dozen, they all seemed to melt into each other as they snarled and frantically started to bash at the window. It wouldn't hold for long.

"Okay, that's enough!" Leon called over the joint efforts of the creatures outside to break in. The window started to crack.

Leon and Claire ran to the fire exit before Leon turned to Kendo who looked determined as he raised his shotgun to the soon to shatter window.

"Kendo!" Claire yelled over the straining sound of glass and the creature's snarls. The man didn't budge.

There was an ear splitting shattering noise as the window finally gave and the dead started filing through, hungry and angry.

Kendo fired, one of the creatures heads exploding and splattering it's brethren with brains and blood and sent it crumpling to the ground, tripping a couple of them.

"Kendo there's too many PLEASE!" Claire screamed again as Leon opened the fire exit, ready for them to run through.

Kendo hesitated for a moment before growling, "fuck" And running to join the others. They piled through the door just as the creatures reached it. Leon and Kendo braced themselves against the door to close it against the weight of the crazed creatures behind it. Eventually they managed to shut it.

Growls and clawing sounded from behind the door which caused it to shudder and vibrate.

Kendo panted as he pressed his forehead against the wood of the door.

Leon placed a hand on his shoulder, "I'm sorry…if we didn't show up." Leon said apologetically.

Kendo shook his head, "Nah…" he turned to look at Claire and Alex.

"Dying in the town I was born I can handle, but turning into one of those things…never, Besides, we have to make sure the kids are safe," He said ruffling Alex's hair.

Alex huffed in annoyance before looking down through the narrow alley they were in. It looked deserted aside from the rancid stench of garbage and the stink of rotten flesh which was flowing from under the door.

"Can we get to the station from here?" Claire asked.

Kendo nodded, "Yeah, I know a way, keep your weapons ready," He said before walking down the alley.

"You guys ready?" Leon asked, shifting the bag of weapons and ammo on his shoulder, the muzzle of a shotgun and barrel of a rifle poking out the top.

"Yeah…just don't go too far ahead," Alex said looking down at his wound.

Leon nodded before following Kendo around the corner.

The alley seemed safe for the most part and the frenzied banging of the dead behind the fire exit door had faded.

As they rounded the corner they came across an open gate and a chain chain-link fence which led to a deserted basketball court. Graffiti was painted on the walls and the laughter of the kids who used to play in the area seemed to echo like the ghost of an old memory.

Alex rubbed his arms together and despite it still being summer he felt cold, he shuddered as the cold metal of his handgun touched his arm. He sat down on a bench with tears in his eyes. He felt the weight on the bench shift as Claire sat with him and nudged him gently with her elbow.

"How you holding up?" She asked with a smile.

"Shit," Alex said simply with a grim laugh.

Claire didn't respond, she just took his hand and gave it a reassuring squeeze.

Alex smiled in return.

On the other end of the area Leon walked up to Kendo while he shut and locked the gate to prevent them from being followed.

"Did…you see any kids like them?" Leon asked, the disturbing thought having entered his mind the moment he set foot in the playing area.

"Yes," Kendo said simply as he slid the bolt of the gate shut.

"Jesus…" Leon sighed as he leaned against the gate.

"When the dead started comin…I saw kids, families, hell…I saw a woman eating her own baby while it was strapped in a stroller…she just turned…faster than you could blink…" Kendo said. Growing pale.

Leon started to feel sick before he grabbed Kendo's arm and turned the larger man.

"What is this? A virus?" Leon asked desperately.

Kendo plucked his hand off him, "I don't fuckin know,"

The man walked past Leon and made his way to the gate on the other side of the court.

"We need to get going now," He called to the others.

Claire and Alex stood up and walked through the gate that was being held open by Kendo. Once they were through he turned to Leon.

"Are you coming?" He called across the court to the cop who still looked disturbed. Leon shrugged the bag back onto his shoulder before following Kendo through the door which was closed and locked just after.

"Look, you can see the station!" Alex called from up a flight of stairs. Leon looked up the metal steps and quickly jogged up them and saw Alex and Claire leaning against the rails. Sure enough Leon could see the station from the side.

It looked intact and the lights were on. The front courtyard was empty and the front gate was barricaded. He sighed in relief, there was a good chance people were alive inside if the gate was barricaded from inside the courtyard.

He looked at the surrounding area and could see some of the creatures walking around the street outside the station. The street was littered with bodies, some being fed on while and a bus was blocking half the street, wedged in between the station wall and some stores.

"We don't have time to be sight-seeing people, move," Kendo called as he walked down the metal catwalk.

Alex and Leon followed after him while Claire remained behind for a moment.

"Chris…please be there…" She pleaded out loud before following the others.

They walked down another set of stairs leading to a small opening blocked by a large metal trash can.

"Shit, more of them," Leon hissed as one of the creatures appeared behind the trash can and tried to grab them over it. He fired once into the former woman's head sending her toppling backwards and cracking her skull on the opposite wall with a loud grunt.

"Follow me over quick!" Kendo growled before hoisting himself over the obstacle.

"Wait damn it!" Leon yelled as he followed Kendo.

"Come on, I'll help you over," Claire offered a hand to Alex who took it and allowed himself to be hoisted over the trash can.

When they caught up with the two men they were shooting at the two remaining creatures in the alley who toppled to the ground instantly.

Kendo turned to the two of them and beckoned them to follow before opening the gate at the far side of the alley.

"Not far now!" He called as he ran through with the others following him into the street just outside the station.

More of the creatures were in the street but they seemed preoccupied with eating something that was a completely unidentifiable mess of blood and flesh, hungrily shoving chunks of wet redness into their mouths.

Kendo signalled for them to hide beside an upturned car.

"Okay, we don't fight them," Kendo ordered.

Alex scoffed, "I can barely run on this leg how do you think we're going to get passed them?" the boy asked before looking around the side of the car at the feasting dead.

Kendo followed his gaze before looking at him, "Look, from what I've noticed when they feed they won't notice anything else until they're finished,"

Alex gulped but nodded anyway.

"We'll go through that bus and out the back window," Kendo explained before standing.

"Ready?" He asked.

The trio nodded, the idea was crazy but it saved ammo at least.

"Okay…Go!" Kendo barked before they took off.

Claire helped Alex run, it was awkward and painful for the boy but they just about kept up.

They could hear the creatures show sudden interest with a snarl but as soon as they piled into the bus Kendo pulled the sliding door closed.

"Okay…let's not do that…again." Claire said before she was lost for words.

The seats were full of corpses. They were most definitely dead with some of them mangled beyond recognition. An elderly couple were slumped on each other's arms and there was a young man who was slumped against the seat in front of him, an eyeball hanging limply from the socket. The deaths were probably caused from the crash.

"Oh god…" Alex gasped at the gruesome sight. The smell that hung in the air nearly made him vomit.

"Come on…don't let it get to you we have to keep going…we're almost there," Kendo said reassuringly.

They walked down the isle of the bus trying not to disturb the bodies before they reached the other side and Kendo pried the door open.

They were greeted with fresher air, less rancid than inside the bus but still pleasant. They stepped down into the street and were face with one final obstacle.

There was a pile up of cars at the end of the street that were still burning, as well as a fire truck which was sticking outside of what was once a restaurant.

"Hey, look a gate! Leon called pointing towards the far end of the street. Illuminated by the fire was a metal gate. They ran up to it an Kendo began to pull on the handle. It was locked.

"Fuck…Looks like we have to climb over, Kid you go first," He said to Alex who looked at his bloodied leg before limping up to him.

"One, two, free!" Kendo grunted before effortlessly lifting the boy up and over the gate. Alex landed on his feet before crying out and falling forward.

"You okay?" Kendo asked from behind the bars of the gate.

Alex turned nodding before the colour drained from his face and pointed behind them.

"THEY'RE COMING!" He screamed.

They turned and saw that more of the dead were indeed coming. Some of them seemed to walk out the fire, flaming and snarling for flesh while the others clumsily shambled out from behind cars.

"Claire go!" Leon yelled as he urged the young woman to climb over the fence and hop down to the other side, and was followed by Leon who threw the weapon bag over first before climbing the gate.

Shots rang out as Kendo fired into the building swarm of ever coming undead.

"Robert HURRY!" Leon screamed from behind the gate.

Kendo growled as the creatures were almost on him. He turned and began to climb the gate with Leon waiting to grab his hands and pull him over. Kendo suddenly yelled out in shock as one of them grabbed his leg and sunk it's rotted jagged teeth into the fabric of his jeans.

It was only latched on for a second before a gunshot rang out and it's head snapped back before it fell to the ground.

Kendo toppled over the gate with a grunt and landed in a heap in front of Leon.

He looked up to see Alex standing with his pistol in his hands, the barrel still smoking and the boy was breathing heavily.

"Nice shot kid!" Kendo said after he had stood up, he clapped the boy on the shoulder with a large hand before turning to walk down the deserted courtyard. They were safe for now as the gate wasn't weak and seemed to be holding despite the creatures efforts to break through.

"Kendo…are you okay?" Claire asked, noticing the man's limp.

Kendo turned back to them, "Yeah…Hit my leg on the way down, thank fuck the kid's a good shot," He admitted with an embarrassed laugh.

Leon picked up the weapon bag before turning to Claire and Alex, "Come on guys…Let's get inside," he said before following Kendo down the path to the entrance of the station.

Alex and Claire looked at each other for a moment before following them to the front entrance.

RPD, Safety, security, life.

The sign seemed foreboding in the dull lights that shone on it. The cracked paint didn't help either.

Leon turned to the group, "Look, Whoever's inside will probably be on guard so let me do the talking. He slung the bag off his shoulder and handed it to Claire.

He then turned back to the door and pulled the handle before opening it and was promptly greeted with the muzzle of an mp5 submachine gun.

"Who…the fuck, are you,"

The voice was shaky and unsure, Leon managed to keep his composure as the man behind the gun came into focus.

"Marvin…" Leon said. He remembered the young man from his induction into the force, full of energy and a strong sense of justice. They hit it off immediately.

Marvin lowered the weapon and stepped back, "Leon…Jesus," he said with a slight laugh before rushing to shake the man's hand.

"Man…what…" Marvin began before Leon raised a hand to cut him off.

"Look, Marvin, I have three people with me and one's injured, before you ask, car accident," Leon explained.

The younger cop nodded and let Leon stand aside.

"Alright guys come in!" Leon called and held the door open to let them in.

Kendo strode in immediately while Claire helped Alex along.

"Jesus fuck, we just letting anyone in now?" A woman asked.

Leon turned to see four more people standing by the central fountain of the massive main hall. Another cop, brown haired and muscular, a young blonde haired woman who looked like a waitress, another woman in red who looked annoyed and suspicious and finally a terrified looking railway worker, his uniform stained with blood, his nametag read J. Chapman.

"Oh would you shut the fuck up, Alyssa!" The cop snarled.

Alyssa scoffed before storming out of view.

Footsteps suddenly echoed in the hall.

"Marvin is someone…" A brunette woman wearing a blue shirt came into view and stopped when she saw the group that had just arrived; she looked at each of them before she came across Claire.

"Claire…"

Claire's mouth almost dropped open when she saw the woman. She stepped forward slowly.

"Jill…" She breathed, barely above a whisper.

End Of Chapter.

A/n A few notes, Claire and Alex will not be romancing as I hate OC's getting with mains and I thought I would include some of the somewhat left out outbreak bunch. I've already started the next chapter so it should be up soon hope u enjoyed.