We didn't argue with Marvin. I think we both knew he was right. Leon and I needed to escape the police station, as well as Raccoon City and the best way was to stick together for the duration. Leon led me to the west office, where he checked the halls, finding two zombies near a vending machine. He shot one before it came close and the other one soon after. It was never going to get easier watching him kill those things, but it had to be done.

He opened the west office door, and we were greeted by the decoration on the wall that read "Welcome Leon!" – each letter was yellow on a blue circle, still hanging untouched. Leon looked up at the sign and sighed. "You guys went all out," he said. I wasn't sure if he was being sarcastic until he added "The sign – the zombies – it's perfect."

I snorted a laugh. "Wasn't my idea." I forgot about the sign. One of my coworkers put it up, with the help of another officer. Unfortunately, that never happened for real. While he looked at the desk he was supposed to have when he started, I searched the room for things we might need. I checked another office, connected to this one, noticing a key on the desk. I put it in my pocket in case.

"There isn't anything in here," Leon said, shaking his head. We headed up the stairs to the second floor. Just as we were about to start walking up, a zombie from a window nearby broke through the glass, scaring both of us. I noticed a piece of plywood on the ground, so I picked it up and hit the zombie on the head despite the fact it did not do much. Leon did the rest of the work, stabbing it multiple times before it fell on the floor. Leon boarded the window up immediately. "There are no more surprises." I could feel my heart still beating out of my chest.

The rain outside pelted against the windows as we made our way to the second floor. "So, how long have you been working here?" he asked out of the blue.

"Two years."

"Were you born here? In Raccoon City – I mean."

"I was but my parents moved to New York State five years ago. Raccoon City was just not in their plans anymore."

Leon nodded. "It's understandable. Well, at least they got out before all of this happened."

I chuckled and grinned at him. "Yeah, they are one of the lucky ones." I noticed he never mentioned his family but maybe it was too soon to ask about them just yet. "Did you just graduate from the Police Academy?"

He smiled at me, as we continued up another flight of stairs. "I did not too long ago. I was offered a job here soon after."

"I would congratulate you…" I cringed at my stupidity. Why would you say that to him? He's fully aware of the circumstances, idiot.

Leon's smile faded, looking down on the floor. "Yeah, but it isn't over yet. The city can still be saved. I just hope we can find more survivors." He stopped for a second. "Where is Chief Irons in all of this?"

"Nobody knows," I said. "Rumor has it he locked himself in the Orphanage."

"The… Orphanage?"

"Yeah, the fucker owns it."

He raised his eyebrows in surprise. "I'm guessing by your wording you don't like him. Why?"

"A lot of people don't like him," I replied, avoiding his question. We kept moving until we arrived at the top. People believe he was the reason for the many missing girls in Raccoon City but no one had the guts to point the finger at him, and even if they did, Irons' status as Chief of Police would help him bypass the charges.

We ended up in the Library of all places. No one was allowed back there except for those who were qualified. Maybe that was also owned by Irons, and he made up the rule to prevent police officers from figuring things out. I hated the guy, so my opinion was not impartial.

Leon pushed me back gently, pointing to the zombies below, and placed a finger to his lips. He climbed down, shooting a zombie that looked dead by lying on the ground. It wasn't dead. He went around the corner of a few bookshelves, where I heard more shots. I waited patiently, not wanting to get involved unless I had to. Afterward, he told me to come down.

There was another room connected to the library. A statue of a Unicorn with three slots below it. What the hell was this? On each slot were symbols of animals. I looked at the notebook from Elliot, and the sketches were of different statues with unique combinations. I tried a random combination, but it didn't work, so I looked again at the journal to refresh my memory. A fish, a scorpion, and a pot spilling water.

It worked when I put those correct symbols in the slot on the shield beside the Unicorn statue, turned to the left and right, and opened to a medallion of a unicorn. "I have it," I said. "Elliot was right after all."

"Good job," Leon said, patting her on the shoulder. "We need to look for the other two." I kept the medallion in my pocket.

The radio on Leon's uniform went off suddenly, scaring him to attention. "Leon, it's Marvin. I need you back here ASAP."

"Are you OK, Marvin?"

"I've got something to show you. It's important."

"Copy that, I'll be right there."

"The Library is connected to the Main Hall," I said. I hoped Marvin wasn't in too much pain. I couldn't find any medication for him to take for his pain. Even if it wouldn't heal him, he didn't deserve to die in such agony.

His injury became worse than the last we saw him which was only an hour ago. He had his hand on the laptop's keyboard. "There you are… Come here, take a look."

I glanced at the screen with Leon, seeing a young woman at a gate – probably somewhere in the police station. "Yes!" Leon exclaimed. "I knew she'd make it!"

"You know her?"

"Yeah, name's Claire. I came into town with her."

Marvin exhaled heavily, his hand grasping at his wound. "You can get to that courtyard through the second floor… east side." He winced, groaning again. I hated that I had to watch him helplessly.

Leon nodded. "I'm on it. Thanks, Lieutenant."

We went up the stairs, Marvin's groaning becoming louder but more muffled the further we were from him. "I wish we could do something for him," I said. "I hate – hate the thought of leaving him behind."

"I know, but… it's his orders."

I decided to change the subject, wondering about that woman named Claire. "Is Claire your girlfriend?" I asked him, curiously. How could someone like him not have a girlfriend with those gorgeous blue eyes of his?

"No, she's not. I met her at a gas station while she was running from zombies chasing her. We managed to escape in a car, but… once we arrived in the city, we were separated."

"Well, a third person is more than welcome."

We took our time, looking through each room upstairs to see if we could find something for Marvin. A herb or even a bandage at this point would help. There was no such luck, and as we made our way further down the hall, we heard a loud explosion, and the entire building shook violently. Leon caught me before I could fall to the floor. "What was that?!" I exclaimed.

"I don't know, and I'm not sure we should stick around to find out," Leon said. "Are you okay?"

My cheeks heat up. "Y-Yeah. I'm fine." He let go of me, and we continued, finding the origin of the crash was a helicopter hitting the building. I covered my mouth. What the hell was going on out there?

Outside, rain was pouring as we made our way down the steps. Leon checked out the helicopter with his flashlight. It creaked slightly as if the floor beneath it would give out at any minute. "Leon!?" a woman's voice below us, shouted.

Leon looked down. On the other side of the fence, there was the same young woman from the video Marvin showed us. We rushed down the stairs toward her. "Claire!" He placed his hands on the fence. "It's so nice to see you."

"How're you doing?" That helicopter just came out of nowhere…"

Leon nodded. "Yeah… I'm in one piece."

Claire's attention turned toward me. "I see you have company."

"Hi, I'm Alina," I said, smiling at her. "I wish we could have met under better circumstances but… here we are."

She chuckled. "I'm Claire. Nice to meet you." She tried unlocking the door to no avail. "I'm guessing you don't have a key in one of those fancy pockets?"

Leon shook his head. "Unfortunately, no… But how are you doing?"

"You know, just surviving."

"That's good. Any luck with your brother?"

"No, not yet."

I tilt my head. "Who is your brother?" I asked her.

"Chris Redfield."

That name rang a bell for sure. She glanced at me in concern. "Why? Do you know him?"

"I worked here as a receptionist. I saw Chris here a lot but – I haven't heard a word about what he's doing now after his latest mission. I will keep an eye out for him. If anyone can survive this, it's him."

"Thank you," Claire said, smiling at me.

"Do you have any medicine on you by chance? A herb? A bandage?" I asked. It was worth a shot to ask even if she doesn't. "There's a wounded police officer in the main hall and he might not make it."

Claire checked her pockets until she took out an herb. "Here, you can have it."

"You have my gratitude, Claire. Thank you so much."

"My pleasure."

"Claire, don't lose hope… I'm sure we're going to find him—" Leon's words were cut off by an explosion rattling us. He cursed to himself, as I wondered what caused it. Zombies from behind her were waking up from the loud noise. "Claire, I think you should go."

"Don't worry about me, Leon. You take care – both of you." She turned around and started shooting any zombie coming her away while Leon watched for a second.

Leon turned on his radio. "Uh, Marvin, I've got a situation here…" he said. "I'm surrounded by zombies!" He waited for a few seconds. "Marvin, do you copy? Marvin?! Dammit."

"We need to get the hell out of here," I said. I look around for a way out, but the helicopter is blocking the way up the stairs. The door which would lead another way was locked with a chain around it. Well, isn't this fantastic! On a few boxes, I see a cutting tool. I grab it, giving it to Leon. He cut the chain with it and we started running as fast as we could.

However, there were quite a few zombies in the hall near the watchman's room and the East Office. I slipped on blood as we ran with Leon did not notice until he looked back. Zombies were already on me, as I tried fighting them off. I kicked one in the stomach, watching as it toppled over, and began crawling away when the other grabbed my leg, biting into my flesh. I screamed, loudly which probably didn't help. Leon came to my aid, shooting at the zombie that bit me. He helped me up as we ran into another obstacle – the door was locked with a chain again.

He used the cutter tool again, as I tried keeping up while limping – my blood probably dripping everywhere.

We made it to the Main Hall – Leon finding a few useful items along the way. I almost collapsed on the floor as my leg throbbed. Marvin was asleep on the bench he sat on before, and when he opened his eyes, he was shocked to see us. "Alina, what happened to you?"

"Zombie got her," Leon replied. "We need to tend to the bite before it gets worse."

"We have a herb but… I was saving it for you," I said. I showed him the bite, and to my surprise, it wasn't bleeding as badly as I thought.

"Looks like you have yourself a dry bite. You're damn lucky. If it had gotten any deeper, you'd be in trouble." Marvin shook his head, even when I tried physically handing it to him. "Use it on yourself. If you don't, you won't turn into a zombie, but you might die from infection."

"What about you?"

"Told you…" he said in agony, clutching his wound. "Forget me. Worry about yourself."

I sat on a chair near him, rolling up my black pants. The bastard zombie's teeth went through the fucking fabric. Leon knelt, applying the herb to the wound. He tore a piece off from his jacket, placing it around the injury tightly. "That should do it," Leon said and looked down at Marvin, who fell back asleep. "Are you able to walk still? We have two more medallions to find."

The injury was painful, but it could have been worse if Leon hadn't saved me. I shook my head at his concern. "I can walk."

"All right," he said, nodding and lending me a hand from the chair. "Let's find the rest of these medallions."