6

Okay, close your eyes," Claire said as she turned Leon's head and fished a small aerosol can from her pack.

"It's probably gonna sting a little..." She stated, and directed the spray just over the cut. He was lucky. The cut was shallow but any higher and the horrid thing could have blinded him. She felt Leon flinch under her hand when the air from the spray hit the wound, but he didn't make a sound. Something in his expression concerned her.

"Leon! What's up?"

He turned his eyes toward her.

"That thing…" he sighed. "It broke my skin… What if the saliva-"

"No!" Claire suddenly interjected. "That thing isn't a zombie…it's not infected." Claire swallowed, suddenly unsure. "Besides," she continued, "our poor unfortunate friend over there had a hell of a chunk taken out of him by that thing, and he hasn't turned…"

"Yeah…" Leon trailed off, not looking fully convinced. He then took her hand. "Just promise me one thing, Claire," he said, meeting her gaze. "If I do turn, don't hesitate to put me down." Claire placed her other hand on top of his.

"Don't worry," Claire soothed, trying to banish the horror of the thought. "I know how to take care of guys who try to plant an unwanted hickey…"

Leon smirked then. "I can believe it…"

Leon started forward again into the darkness. "You certainly know how to handle yourself in a bad situation. Most of the girls I know would have buckled under the pressure by now."

"Yeah, well…I'm not most girls." Claire smiled, and pushed ahead.

After making their way cautiously through the maze of corridors, and taking down a few more of the undead, they came upon stairs leading up to the second and third floors of the building. Thankfully, they hadn't encountered any more of the dog-lizard-things.

Leon directed the beam of his flashlight upward toward the high ceiling, just to be sure, and then clicked it off to conserve the battery.

"Okay," he sighed. "The second floor first?"

"Yeah," Claire replied. "Let's check out the S.T.A.R.S office, then we can go and grab the second medallion from the top floor."

Leon started a slow ascent up the stairs.

"Didn't you mention three medallions?" Leon questioned "Where's the third?"

"Yeah, about that," Claire replied as she looked back over her shoulder, and scanned the darkness for threats. Another white flash from the windows filled the corridor with light for a brief second. "I flipped through the book, but all that's written is 'moved from library for repairs big question mark.'"

"Great..." Leon sighed under his breath. He knew from a previous visit that the Raccoon Police station was pretty large...and he really didn't fancy having to search it high and low with whatever, unknown monsters might still be lurking in the darkness.

Seeing their way ahead blocked, Leon pushed a door to his right open slowly.

"Maybe Marvin will know -wow- " Claire trailed off, when she saw the devastation in the shower room – it looked like a bomb had gone off... "What the hell happened in here?"

"I'd hate to imagine," Leon replied, as he scanned the doorway inside and the large hole just beyond. "But it looks like we can get through here...just need to shut off the steam." He moved to the wheel, and turned it off. "I hope whatever made that hole isn't another, flesh-eating beast," Claire said aloud.

"You and me both," Leon replied, as he took steady steps over the rubble "If my memory is correct, then we should be able to get to the S.T.A.R.S office through here"

Claire moved to follow. "Lead the wa- WAIT!" Claire cut herself off and grabbed Leon's arm, stopping him, and looking urgently into eyes that must have been as alert as her own.

"Do you hear that?" she questioned.

Leon strained his hearing over the dying rumble of thunder and rain; he thought he could hear...

"Footsteps" he replied quietly.

The pair remained still for a moment, listening, until finally the menacing sound was lost in the rain as it beat against the building.

Claire looked at Leon worriedly.

She swallowed. "Why do I get the feeling that those footsteps didn't belong to a survivor?"

Leon gave a slight nod in agreement with his eyes not leaving the door they had entered through. "I'm gonna have to agree. It sounded like they belonged to something much bigger than us..."

Let's not stick around to find out who, or what it was," Claire said quickly, as she pushed forward. "I've had enough surprises for one night."

The pair entered another darkened corridor. Shattered windows let in the rain, blowing it inside like a torrent, while the flooring beneath their feet pooled with shallow puddles.

Leon dropped his firearm, and half-turned towards Claire.

"We're here" he said quietly, indicating the sign next to the door. Leon opened the door cautiously, glad that the room was well-lit. He did a quick sweep of the large office space, and Claire quickly followed him inside. She spotted Chris' desk immediately after noticing his favourite jacket hanging close by. She walked up to it, and ran a hand down the arm.

He went on vacation, but left this behind? Something isn't right...

"You okay?"

Claire turned to Leon's voice.

"I don't know," she replied "When I told you earlier that I'd found my brother, well I found out that he is actually on vacation..."

"Well, that's a good thing. Isn't it?" Leon questioned "At least he's safe"

"That's what I thought," Claire answered "But, something just doesn't seem right..."

Leon pushed a hand through his hair "You know your brother better than I do, but you might be overthinking things. I mean, with the night we're having, our every sense is gonna be in overdrive"

Claire crossed her arms "You think I'm being paranoid?"

"No," Leon stated "What I'm trying to say is maybe don't give yourself more worry than you need to"

Claire looked again at Chris' jacket. Leon was right. She wouldn't be able to survive this nightmare if her head wasn't completely in the game.

Leon placed a hand on her shoulder. "I'm gonna see if I can break my way into that gun locker," he stated with a nod. "Have a look around, maybe you'll find something that can help put your mind at ease." Claire nodded back with a forced smile, and started searching Chris' desk.

Claire searched thoroughly, but found nothing more that could give any information about her brothers sudden disappearance. She made her way over to where Leon was trying to gain access to the gun locker via a small PC.

"No luck getting in there then?" she questioned, as she sat herself down on the desk

Leon sighed, and he leaned forward onto his hands. "It needs a key card, or code...or something,"

He sighed again, and made his way towards the locked door, giving it another pull and frustrated kick "Shame," Leon smirked "That baby had my name on it"

Claire's eyes followed his to the lightning hawk magnum, hanging just inside. "Yeah, that'll pack a helluva punch," she stated "But the noise from that thing would pull in zombies for miles..."

"True," Leon agreed "Still. I'd feel safer having that to hand, especially if we find ourselves in a sticky situation..."

"Well, wishing ain't gonna change the fact that there's a steel door blocking our way. Let's find those medallions and get the hell out of here!"

Leon took one last frustrated glance at the weapon, and then followed Claire as she made her way towards the exit.

The pair made their way back to the stairway, and climbed the steps cautiously to the third floor, where a narrow passageway led into what looked like an attic. After a quick search, the pair spotted a statue in the far corner. It was behind a row of bars that had been broken on the right-hand side. Inside, piled around the statue lay several officer's bodies.

"It looks like they were caged up in here." Claire trailed off.

"Maybe they turned." Leon replied as he shone his flashlight on the mass of bodies.

Claire noticed a piece of paper on a desk to her right. "Or maybe not..." she stated as her eyes took in the written words. Claire passed the letter to Leon and he began reading.

"The fuck...?" He said under his breath.

"Someone caged these people up like animals!" Claire seethed. "And to make matters worse, it sounds like it was someone in charge! Don't tell me we have to worry about crazy cops as well as zombies…"

Leon cast the letter aside, and made his way towards the second statue.

"Lets just get the hell out of here..."

Claire followed, and as she watched him turn the small dials on the statue, the sound of claws scraping against metal above caught her attention.

"Leon!" she whispered urgently, as he took the medallion and placed it into his pocket.

"I know," he whispered back as his eyes shot to the ceiling. "It sounds like it's inside the ventilation system."

A screech caused the pair to suddenly flinch. Then, they heard the claws move rapidly across the floor above and suddenly stop. After a minute, Leon moved steadily forward. Keeping his firearm trained on a dark hole in the ceiling above.

"Is it gone?" Claire whispered from behind, raising her own firearm slightly.

Leon didn't get a chance to answer her; he chose instead to open fire after a huge, red mass fell through the hole with a hissing sound.