Resident Evil 2 Remake Novel: Leon's Story.
Chapter Two: Mizoil Gas Station.
Previously in the last chapter.
"No!" The truck driver mourned, feeling his breathing become quicker and frantic. "No…no…no…" He sped-walked towards the down woman, kneeled on one knee and reach out to lift an arm up to feel a pulse, but couldn't feel anything, much to the truck driver's great horror and sorrow.
Letting go of the arm he lifted to inspect for a pulse, the truck driver stood up from the road, looked at the woman's dead body for a few moments before turning around and began to hyperventilate, while taking off his baseball cap to reveal a bald head with side hair connecting to his beard. "What do I do? What am I going to do?!'
Because the truck driver was panicking on what to do during this accidental run-over kill situation, he did not notice the women he ran into was slowly getting back up from the road, her upper body limped froward and eyes staring at his unsuspecting back…
(In the Present)
On another lonely dark road with heavy rain pouring downwards, a jeep was driving forward with the driver listening to rock music on the radio. Said driver was a handsome young man who looked to be in his early twenties. He had short, dirty-blond hair with fringes on the side of his eyes, fair skin and blue eyes. He wore a navy-blue button shirt with a white shirt underneath, a long-sleeved jacket, blue jeans and white sneakers.
This young man was Leon Scott Kennedy, the recent rookie of the Raccoon City Police Department, also known as the R.P.D.
Ever since he was a young child, Leon always dreamed about being a police officer, having a strong sense of justice, upholding the law and protect the innocent people from harm. The very last part inspired him to get the job because he wanted to help innocent people. Not for fame or attention, but to become a role model for the next generation of people who wants to become police officers.
So, after earning top marks in the police academy and completing the training regimen, Leon finally achieved his dream of becoming a police officer in the R.P.D. He had been so excited when he got the acceptance letter that he went to a bar to celebrate and slept in the next morning after getting a bit drunk, something he doesn't regret. He was just glad he became a police officer after so much hard work.
However, for some strange reason, Leon didn't get to start his job as a police officer because he got a call from the R.P.D to stay away until further notice. He had been disappointed and greatly confused as to why he had to stay away for no apparent reason, but when he tried asking, the call ended, leaving him still disappointed and greatly confused.
The call Leon received from the R.P.D happened a week ago on September 25, 1998, the day he was supposed to start his job as a police officer. As a week passed by, Leon, who tried to contact the R.P.D but received radio silence in return, decided to figure out what was going on in Raccoon City, the place he's meant to serve and protect.
That's why Leon was driving on the lonely dark road; to figure out what's happening in Raccoon City when he was supposed to start his job on September 25, 1998. It is now September 30, 1998.
As Leon continued to drive on the lonely dark road, adjusting the radio to turn the music down a notch since it became a bit too loud, the lights of a gas station caught his eye. A look at the gas meter told him he was running low, so he decided to do one last pit stop before driving to Raccoon City. After getting close enough to the gas station, Leon turned on his jeep's right blinker and pulled into the driveway before parking in a vacant spot where a gas pump is.
Shutting off the engine and taking a momentary pause to stretch as he had been driving for a few hours, Leon got out of his jeep, shut the door and looked around, finding the gas station to be completely deserted without a single person within sight. Either the place was closed, which is impossible since the outside lights were still on, or the service really sucked.
Despite finding the gas station completely deserted odd, it didn't stop Leon from walking over to the gas pump he parked near a moment ago, grabbing the nozzle and placing it in his jeep. As gasoline began transferring from the gas pump to the jeep, the rookie officer spoke the words he wanted to say when he first looked around at the empty gas station. "No one's around?"
Leon took another look around at the completely deserted gas station and found an abandoned police car parked in the driveway with its right door ajar and interior lights on, along with the headlights. That itself was weird since police officers usually keep the car doors closed and lights off whenever they're done using said car or having it parked, so…why does this police car have its door open and interior lights on? More importantly, where is the driver?
"That's weird…" Leon muttered with a frown on his face, finding the completely deserted gas station and the abandon police car odder than before. He was starting to wonder if something had happened here. Once he arrives at the Raccoon City Police Department after finding out why he was told to stay away, he would tell them about the gas station.
Crash!
"Huh?" Leon's eyes slightly widen as he turned his head towards the convenience store when he heard the sound of breaking glass. So, it seems the gas station wasn't completely deserted at all. There was someone in there, either the officer to the abandoned police car or a thug robbing the place.
Either way, this was a case Leon should investigate before heading towards Raccoon City.
Narrowing his blue eyes, Leon walked around his jeep and paused when he saw splatters of blood on the ground, along with footprints. Now, that was extremely concerning and a bit disturbing. Who could've done such a horrific thing to cause an alarming amount of blood to be spilled on the ground?
'Definitely need to investigate this gas station before leaving,' Leon thought, slowly walking towards the entrance of the convenience store, being careful not to step in the splatters of blood. It can be used for evidence. 'I may not be wearing my uniform, but I can still act like a police officer since I brought my gun with me.' When he got close to the convenience store's entrance, Leon hesitated for a second before steeling himself and slowly opened the door.
The inside of the convenience store was completely dark and empty; not a single sound filled the air, which made it seemed like it was a haunted place. Despite this, Leon pushed through.
"Hello? Anybody there?!" Leon called out in the completely empty convenience store, taking a few steps forward. He got no reply after calling out. Spotting a lit flashlight on the ground, the rookie officer bent down to grab it before helding it up to get a look at his surroundings.
Aside from more blood splatters on the ground, the convenience store's interior was a bit of a mess. Some utensils from the shelves were scattered around or knocked over, which clearly tells there had been a struggle. This made Leon frown in worry. "Something's not right…"
Standing up with the flashlight in his grip, Leon began exploring the inside of the dark convenience store. He did this slowly and carefully like his training back in the police academy because he didn't want anyone or anything to get the jump on him. As he explored, he could hear the faint sounds of struggling somewhere in the back and a pained breathing near him.
Wait a minute…pained breathing?
Leon paused in his exploration after thinking about that before sped walking where the pained breathing was coming from. It didn't take him long to find the source of the pained breathing and what he saw caused his eyes to widen.
Sitting on the floor and against the wall was the gas station's attendant who was a plump, bald head middle-aged man. He wore a blue short-sleeved shirt, black slacks and brown shoes. He was currently holding onto the left side of his neck with his left hand, which seemed to be bleeding.
"You alright?!" Leon asked, running near the gas station's attendant and kneeling next to him. Looking closely, there was a fatal wound on the attendant's neck with blood profusely leaking out. Leon may not be a medic or a trained doctor, but he can tell the wound was bad. This man needed to get medical attention immediately or else he's going to die from blood loss.
Unfortunately, Leon couldn't provide medical attention and he doesn't know if the gas station has a phone to call an ambulance. He doesn't even have a phone with him, except his gun. The only thing he could do was pray that the gas station attendant doesn't aggravate the wound and keep still.
The attendant of the gas station didn't reply, except breathing heavily and letting out pain hisses whenever he moves his upper body. But he did, however, raised his right arm up, which the fingers are covered in blood, to point at an open door near him and Leon, who looked over to see it leads into the backroom. It didn't take genius to tell him the attendant wanted Leon to enter the backroom where the faint sounds of struggling could be heard. "Alright, I'll go see what's back there, but don't move. I'll be back for you."
Giving the gas station attendant one last worried look, Leon stood up and entered through the door that leads into the backroom. Like the store, the backroom was completely dark, but it had a right hallway with another door at the end, which stood ajar like the abandoned police car parked in the driveway. There was also a light bulb above the door, providing some bits of light.
Leon took a few steps in the backroom when suddenly, the door he entered through closed with a bang before the locking mechanism triggered, indicating he was locked in.
"Hey! What are you doing?!" Leon exclaimed, turning around and retracing his steps to bang on the door with his free hand. "Unlock and reopen the door this instant!" After a few moments of banging on the door, which was still locked, the rookie officer gave up with an annoyed growl before turning around to resume walking the dark hallway.
The faint sounds of struggling from before became louder and louder as Leon got closer to the end of the hallway. Upon reaching the ajar door, he hesitated like before at the entrance before steeling himself and slowly edging the door to open, holding the flashlight up to illuminate light.
The door Leon opened led him into a medium-sized office, which was completely dark like the store and the hallway. There was barely enough room to move around, due to the numerous stacked shelves with many supplies, but there were some pathways to walk through. However, Leon didn't notice this as he was currently busy looking at the source responsible for the loud sounds of struggling.
On the other side of the medium-sized office, two individuals were struggling against each other. The first individual was the officer to the abandon police car parked in the gas station's driveway. The second individual was another man, but his back was facing Leon, so he couldn't a look at him. The strangest thing about the second man was that he kept making growling noises.
"Stop moving!" The officer ordered, letting out effort grunts from shoving the second man against the wall. He was trying to get handcuffs on him.
"Officer, you need help?" Leon asked, announcing his presence and entering the medium-sized office.
The officer restraining the second man in front of him turned his head around upon hearing Leon's voice and held up a hand. "Stay back, sir, I got this."
Unfortunately for the officer, taking his eyes off the second man and presenting a hand up proved to be an extremely grave mistake. The second man took advantage of the officer's distraction by turning around with a loud growl and using a surge of strength to knock off him, along with himself, off balance. The two fell on the ground with the officer below who let out a scream and the second man on top of him.
"Hey! Hey! Get off him right now!" Leon shouted, taking a step forward to help the down officer, only to froze in horror when the second man bite into the officer's neck, causing him to scream in pain and a gush of blood to spill out. Sick sounds of flesh being torn and screams of pain filled the medium-sized office as the second man continued to bite into the officer's neck.
"Help me…" The dying officer moaned weakly, struggling to get the second man off him, but his actions proven to be useless. The second man had a strong grip on him, making it impossible to escape, and he lost a large amount of blood. It didn't take very long for the officer to give his last dying breath.
"What the fuck?!" Leon gasped as he continued to watch the goring scene in front of him in horror.
If the officer getting bitten into the neck was horrifying, it was nothing compared when the second man pulled a chunk of flesh away from the neck and began to chew on it, almost making Leon throw up from seeing something so disgusting. But he managed to hold the nausea in.
Suddenly, the man who killed the officer let out a growl as he finally noticed a presence in the office, making him look up at the illuminate light and that was when Leon finally got a chance to look at the face. Said face looked like a human, but it's not, given how decay it is with white pasty skin. Crimson blood was splattered all over the mouth with some dripping onto the floor and the lips had already been ripped away, revealing the teeth. Milky white eyes stared back at horrified blue ones.
This man was no longer a human being, but a monster that needed to be put down quickly before it escapes out in the open world and kills many more people.
"Freeze!" Leon yelled, quickly drew his hidden handgun from his waist – a standard 9mm with a twelve magazine – and aimed it at the monster who rose to its feet. His excellent marksman skills made it easy to hold a flashlight and shoot a gun at the same time. It was taught in the police academy. "I'll shoot!"
The monster ignored the warning and slowly made its way towards the rookie officer, arms outstretched to grab him, while leaving behind the dead body it killed a moment ago. Seeing that no words or warning could convince the monster to stop, Leon took aimed with his handgun and pulled the trigger to fire a single shot.
Splat!
The gunshot was perfect, landing between the monster's eyes, causing the head to snap backwards and making it stop in its tracks. However, it didn't die or collapse backwards like Leon thought it would do after firing the bullet. In fact, it had only momentarily paused the monster before its head moved back to the previous position with blood oozing down from the wound and resuming its slowly pace, much to Leon's disbelief. "What the hell?! That first shot didn't kill it?!"
Quickly realizing he would need to use more shots in order to take the monster down, Leon began spamming the trigger on his gun a couple times to shoot bullet after bullet, while moving backwards in the hallway to avoid the outstretched hands that was, upon closer inspection, covered in blood. The first three shots didn't do any damage, only making the monster let out growls that sounded angry, the fourth stunning it in its tracks once again, but the fifth finally made the monster collapse backwards on the floor.
Leon wasn't aware of the frantic breathing he was letting out, nor the sweat dripping down his face from the tension. Once he did, he let out a long uneasy sigh and wiped the sweat away with the sleeve of his jacket. 'That was extremely close. If I didn't have my gun with me, I would probably be dead like that officer.' Thinking about the dead officer made Leon look down in sorrow. If he didn't get paralyzed from seeing the gore scene, then maybe the guy would still be alive.
Not wanting to be in the backroom anymore, Leon quickly sidestepped the monster's body, entered the medium-sized office and took a right pathway where he found a door that would lead him back into the store, only to discover a problem.
The door was locked.
"You got to be kidding me!" Leon seethed as he kicked the door with his foot. "This door is locked as well?!" He was tempted to shoot the lock but didn't want to waste ammo as he was running a bit low from shooting the monster. It was then Leon remember there was another pathway when he entered the office the second time after killing the monster, so he backtracked his steps, spotted the pathway at the end of the room and walk in it to see a couple shelves, a desk at the end and a key rack with a lone key hanging.
"Better hope this key works," Leon muttered, putting his pistol away and walked over to grab the key. Once in his possession, he quickly walked back to the locked door, inserted the key in and turned said key, hoping it would work like he said.
Click!
'Yes! It worked!' Leon thought with a cheer when the door became unlocked, and he entered through it before shutting it. Once on the other side, he breathed out in relief and slump against the door. 'Alright, I better get out of here and use the radio in police officer's car to tell the R.P.D about-'
Crash!
Leon's thoughts were interrupted when he heard a mighty crash, making him jump and stand up straight before pointing his flashlight to see what caused the noise. What he saw made him freeze.
The source of the mighty crash came from a big cart for moving boxes around being knocked over, but the cart wasn't what made Leon freeze. It was the person on top of the cart, a person who looked very similar to the monster he killed a few moments ago.
"Another one?!" Leon shouted, quickly taking out his handgun and aiming it at the monster who was still on top of the cart it knocked over. "Where did you come from?!" He had no idea where this monster came from, but just when he was about to fire at it, a growling sound came from his right, forcing Leon to look over and see the gas station attendant walking slowly towards him with arms outstretched. "Wait, you're one of them?! How?!"
Leon's question to the gas station attendant was reply with a loud growl and a sudden lunged that forced him to duck in the middle aisle; he barely managed to avoid the hands intending to grab him. He ran to the other side of the store to put distance between him and the monster.
'Jesus Christ, that was fucking close,' Leon thought, trying to calm down his rapid beating heart. 'Why did I ask questions out loud instead of just heading towards the exit? Stupid, Leon, stupid.' Leon spent a moment mentally slapping himself, while keeping an eye out in case the monster starts coming down the aisle he ran through. 'But seriously, though, how did that guy turn into the same monster I killed in the backroom?' It didn't take long for the answer to appear in his head, making blue eyes widen. 'The neck wound! He must've gotten bitten by the monster earlier! That explains why he was holding his neck when I saw him!'
Leon wanted to feel proud for piecing such an important crime puzzle on his own without any experienced officers by him but couldn't since it felt wrong. However, thinking about the neck wound that turned the gas station attendant into a monster made the rookie officer think about something else. 'But why would the monster go for the neck instead of splitting the person in half with its hands? The only monsters who go for the neck is…living dead people…from comic books or movies…oh, my god."
if the instant realization of the gas station attendant turning into the monster Leon killed a few moments ago was bad enough, it was nothing compared when he realized exactly what he's dealing with, which made the blood in his veins become numb and ice cold.
Leon was dealing with zombies.
Real life living dead zombies. Not comic book zombies, not movie zombies, not even dress up zombies, just real-life zombies. The idea was laughable and absurd, but Leon wasn't laughing…he was just horrified. There was one million-dollar question he wanted to know: Who had managed to make the dead rise in the land of living?
Unfortunately, Leon's question has to be put on hold because he can hear another zombie growling in the convenience store and it was coming from his right once again, forcing him to look over. A zombie was behind a shelf, its arms through the metal bars like a prisoner in a jail cell, which is rather amusing. However, the amusement died when Leon realized what the zombie was trying to do. It's trying to block his only escape route, which is the entrance door.
"I don't think so!" Leon yelled, running towards the entrance door right as the zombie knocked the shelf over. He got through in time, but the close call almost made him lose his balance. Quickly regaining said balance, the rookie officer made his way towards the entrance door, but someone got there before him and opened the door.
The person that opened the door to the convenience store revealed to be a young woman who was very human like Leon and looked to be in her late teens. She had long, brown hair with a loose ponytail in the back and two bangs framing her face, fair skin and blue eyes. She wore a long-sleeved biker jacket, red in color and zipped up halfway to reveal a black shirt underneath, blue jeans with a dark brown belt, as well as a gun strap wrapped around her right leg, and leather brown boots.
Leon put the now turned off flashlight away in his jacket pocket and aimed his gun at the young woman with both hands on the grip.
"Don't shoot!" The young woman yelled, raising her hands in the air upon seeing a gun being aimed at her, one of them holding a gun. She was unaware of the zombie walking behind her, but not Leon, who looked over her shoulder and saw it.
"Get down!" Leon ordered, getting the young woman to comply with the order right as the zombie lunged at her, only for it to get shot in the head by Leon and fall backwards with a thud. It only took one bullet to take the zombie out, unlike the one in the backroom.
Leon turned his head to the right to see if the zombie that knocked the shelf over was behind him. When he saw nothing, he stepped outside and stood with the young woman he just saved, the entrance door closing behind them. "You alright?"
"Yeah, I think so…" The young woman replied, standing back up and holding her gun – a six-shot revolver – in front of her. "Thanks."
"You can thank me later when we're safe," Leon gave the young woman a brief glance before nodding his head towards the direction he had been staring at the moment he stepped outside.
"Holy shit…" The young woman breathed out.
The once completely deserted gas station was filled with zombies that were slowly walking towards Leon and the young woman, letting out loud moans or growls. The former had noticed the undead coming when he scanned the area after stepping outside.
As the zombies made their way towards Leon and the young woman, the former trying to think of a plan to save both him and the latter, they were startled when a zombie suddenly alerted its presence by banging on the entrance door and letting out loud groans.
Leon spotted the abandoned police car, which was still running, and got an idea. "Come on! Get inside the police car!" The young woman nodded her head, seeing Leon's plan. Together, the two dodged the incoming zombies and got inside the police car. Leon was in the driver's seat and the young woman was in the passenger seat.
For a horrifying moment, Leon thought he would need to go back inside the convenience store to get the keys for the police car, but he didn't need to do that because they were already in the ignition to begin with. Without wasting time, he turned the key to start the car.
"Hold on!" Leon ordered, shifting the gear handle into reverse before backing up the police car. Once it was out of the driveway, he shifted the gear handle once again into drive and pressed down hard on the gas pedal, making the tires screech loudly as it started driving full speed. Soon, Leon and the young woman were on the lonely dark road and driving fast, away from the gas station, away from the zombies.
"What the hell is going on?" The young woman asked a few moments later, looking at the rearview mirrors before turning to look at Leon.
"I don't know," Leon replied, focusing on driving before looking at the young woman who turned to stare back at the rearview mirrors. "Hopefully, they'll have some answers at the police station." Leon was referring to the higher up officers in the R.P.D.
"Wait, you're a cop?" The young woman asked with surprised in her voice.
"Yeah, Leon Kennedy. You are?"
"Claire, Claire Redfield."
There was silence between Leon and Claire for a bit before the former broke it. "Live around here?" It may sound like a get-to-know-you kind of thing, but it's actually trying to get information.
"No," Claire replied, shaking her head a bit. "Looking for my brother, Chris Redfield. He's a cop, too."
"Well, it's a good thing we found each other," Leon stated, turning to stare at the road. "I don't know what to expect anymore…"
As Leon and Claire continued to drive on the lonely dark road in the police officer's car, they passed by a sign that said, "Welcome to Raccoon City, Home of Umbrella."
And done! That's the end of the second chapter! Man, this took a while for me to write; I'm surprised I did a full chapter instead of doing part one and part two chapters. I think it's the determination I had inside me to see the chapter through without stopping after a specific cutscene or sentence like the officer finished being killed by the zombie.
Either way, I'm glad I finished this chapter.
I'll get to work on the second chapter in Claire's story after I finish writing the Kingdom Evil Remake 2 chapter. I already started working on it a couple days after I published the story; I don't want to spend weeks struggling to write a chapter.
Anyways, here is a new chapter for this story and I hope you enjoy it.
Write a review if you like this story and enjoy the chapter.
Next Chapter: The City of the Dead.