When Leon fell asleep, I checked the pulse on his neck to ensure he was okay and still breathing. His head leaned against my shoulder, and we stayed like that for a while. We couldn't just leave. We had to wait for Ada to return. I hope she finds Annette, I thought, allowing my head to rest on his. I continued to make sure his bullet wound wasn't severe. The bullet was lodged inside his shoulder, but the bleeding stopped. Taking it out now might cause him to bleed out fully.

Ada returned to the room, looking a bit injured herself. She hands me a first aid kit to tend to Leon's wounds. "You're back – Did you find her?" I asked.

"I did alright. Right when I had her, she tried to kill me by locking me in the incinerator," Ada said, breathing quite heavily. "I'm just a little beat up but nothing bad. How is Leon doing?"

"He's asleep right now. The bleeding stopped."

She nodded, sitting up against the wall. "Annette still has the damn G-Virus with her."

"Was her daughter with her?"

"Not that I am aware of. Why?"

"Leon and I ran into William Birkin before we met you," she said. "He's… no longer human. He mutated into something awful. I think he might be the key to helping us with Annette."

"You're saying her husband has been mutated by the G-Virus?" Ada looked a little surprised. I nodded in confirmation. "Then the bitch is crazier than I thought."

"And the worst part is her daughter, Sherry, is caught in the middle of this whole thing," I said. "If we find Sherry, we might be able to lure him out."

"If you can find her. But be aware that this might hinder our ability to take the G-Virus," Ada warned me. She leaned her head back against the wall and sighed. "But if it's our only hope… then what choice do we have?"

"You think we can split up again?" I asked.

"We'll have to. I can take care of Annette but you and Leon find Sherry." She was listening to me, but I could tell by the sound of her voice she still didn't like me as much as she liked Leon. Ada stood up straight, heading for the door. Before she touched the knob, she turned to me. "Don't screw this up, kid."

"I won't." And with that, she vanished, closing the door behind her.

I felt Leon's forehead. It was a bit hot, but nothing too concerned about. He woke up, and I put the herb on his wound, while also changing the old bandage for a new one. He was able to move a tiny bit more and could talk. I helped him up slowly, careful not to strain his body too much. He staggered, groaning. I caught him, holding him steady. "Are you sure you can walk?" I asked him just to make sure.

He nodded and groaned. "I think the herb is working its magic… slowly."

"Sorry, wish I could carry you, but I can't," I said, grinning.

He seemed to laugh a bit. "I'm probably too heavy for you."

"Ada is chasing after Annette again. She's going to let us know if she finds her. We gotta find Sherry and hopefully lure William, who may come in handy when we go up against Annette for the last time."

"Sounds like a solid plan."

Leon handled the pain well. We left the small room, and he was walking slowly. I held his arm in case he fell over. I knew the herb would work soon enough but it made me worry. I checked for the gun he gave me and remembered he loaded it for me after I ran out. I took a puff from my inhaler, feeling the asthma creeping up on me. "Just… be careful," I said to him, quietly, my grip on his non-injured arm tightening.

"You know I will," he said, taking it slow. "Just glad I had my vest on, and I'm still relieved you weren't hit by it."

"I - yeah. Thank you again for saving me."

"It was worth the pain."

His words made me blush around him, but he didn't seem to notice it. We continue down the dark corridor, trying to find where Sherry might have gone. If she was hiding, then we might be searching for her for a while. I looked over at Leon, again making sure he was okay. He walked a bit better than before, and the herb did a good job healing him so far. "I'm fine," he said, catching a glimpse at me. "You don't need to keep worrying."

"I can't stop worrying," she said. "You were shot in the arm, and the amount of blood you lost from it… it was a lot. You don't have to go fast on my account."

"No, I'm okay."

"Good, because I would hate to see what might happen to your other arm if you lie to me," I said, smiling at him. Leon wasn't lying, but I wanted to let him know if he needed to slow down, he could. While retrieving the G-Virus was a top priority, his health was also important, and not even Ada would be able to convince me.

Leon chuckled at my joke, keeping the flashlight off for a bit to save battery. "What are you going to do? Bite me?"

I shrugged. "I'm not a zombie, but yes. I absolutely will."

He smiled at me slightly. "Luckily, I haven't lied to you, and I don't plan on it."

There was a sound of weeping somewhere. At first, it was far away but as we became closer, I could start hearing it more. As we became closer to it, the sound was a lot like a child's. It had to be Sherry, but where was she? Her sobs were getting louder, but we still couldn't find her until we noticed a vent door was open.

Leon peered in, putting his flashlight inside the vent where Sherry was. She covered her eyes from the light. He held his hand out, but she didn't take it. Not at first. "Your name is Sherry, right?" Leon asked her, bending down to her eye level. His voice was calm and collected as he spoke to her. She nodded. "Well, you are in good hands, Sherry."

She finally accepted his hand, crawling out of the vent.

The little girl had blonde hair much like her mother's wearing a formal white shirt with a blue plaid vest over it and navy blue shorts. She looked terrified – not that I could blame her but Leon's calm demeanor seemed to help. "I… want to see my mom!" she suddenly exclaimed.

"Hey, hey, it's fine. We will find her," Leon said. "But we all have to stay quiet."

Sherry's lip trembled. "Because of the… the monster?" she asked, her eyes widening.

Leon nodded. "That's exactly why."

Sherry started shivering. I was starting to wonder if she had seen the zombies before. That would be way too much for a child to see. I handed her the pendant she dropped before and she accepted, placing it in her pocket.

"Can we please find my mom?" she said in a quieter voice.

"Of course we will," I replied.

I wasn't so sure about the plan of luring William to Annette through Sherry. Something about the whole thing felt off. But it was the only plan we had. I just didn't feel good putting a child in danger, and I know Leon would feel the same way.

The door swung open, and a gun pointed at us. Annette. "I told you to stay away from my daughter!" she exclaimed. Almost instinctively, I stand in front of Leon and Sherry, hoping she doesn't open fire like she did before.

"Please, we just want to help," I said, raising my hands. "Don't shoot us."

"Your so-called affiliate wants the virus. You don't even realize who she is, do you?"

"Ada has her reasons – but please – "

"My daughter is sick!" Annette shouted. "Without the virus, I can't make a vaccine."

"Wait, is she sick from the G-Virus?" Leon asked.

"She is but showing no signs so far." Annette held the gun at us still.

"How was she infected? Was she bitten?"

"No. My husband infected her."

"I'm so confused – how?" I asked.

"That's classified. Now, if you excuse me, my daughter needs me."

I stepped aside and allowed Sherry to leave with her mother. She glanced back at me before leaving her fear not leaving her face even with Annette by her side. I felt a pang of guilt watching the two of them leave but if what the woman said was true about Sherry, then we didn't have a choice.

Ada was not going to be happy about this at all.


Ada was furious with the both of us for letting Annette go. "Her daughter needs to be saved," I said, defending our decision to let them leave. "Not to mention she had a fucking gun pointed at us!"

"You should have told me when she left! Now we have to look for her all over again."

"What about Sherry? She's been infected with the G-Virus, and you don't even seem to care."

"I care about my job, not some child I don't even know. She'd be better off with a bullet in her head like that other child – Emma."

I stared at her in disbelief, crossing my arms. "You can't be serious."

"You don't believe me? I'll do it myself if it means getting the virus."

I stepped in front of her before she could leave. "Don't even think about it," I warned her.

"Or what? You'll shoot me with your pistol, Alina? You have no idea how to even aim."

"I don't care. You think this situation revolves around you, but it doesn't. And the moment you met us, you showed us that."

"Why would I care what some receptionist thinks about me? You had a chance to leave and not look back and you didn't," she snapped at me. "Amazing. I don't have a clue what Leon even sees in you."

I raised my hand and slapped her across the face. She was stunned for a moment, her hand touching her cheek. Leon quickly stood in between us before it escalated further. "Stop!" he said. "Relax for a minute. We can talk through this."

Ada composed herself, standing up straight while she looked at me or rather through me. "Do you know who I am?" she asked me.

"I don't know… Satan?"

She stood there, fuming at me but I didn't care. She had it coming since the moment we met in the parking garage. "Leon, you are better off without her. If you come with me, we can finally put a stop to all of this." I glanced at Leon, hoping he wouldn't agree with her, but for a split second I wondered if… maybe he would.

"You mean to leave her?" Leon said, sounding disgusted with her suggestion. "Are you out of your mind? How will she return home?"

"Why do you care about someone you only met for less than 24 hours?"

"I am not leaving her behind," he said, firmly, his blue eyes glaring at Ada.

She crossed her arms, shaking her head in disappointment. "I should have known," she said. "Then I guess this is where we part ways." She left the room without looking back at us. What do we do now? I thought. Leon and I silently exchanged glances but we both had no idea what our next step was.

"We have to stop Ada," Leon said. "We… we can't let her possibly harm Sherry."

"You think she would?"

"Honestly? I don't know."

"There was shouting down the hall and gunfire. Leon dashed to where the shots were coming from. We heard Sherry scream out for her mom. Ada finally cornered Anette in a room but was injured herself, blood falling down her arm which she ignored.

"Ada put the gun down!" Leon ordered her.

Ada shook her head. "Not this time." But she seemed to falter a little. Annette pushed Ada away from her and started running with Sherry. Ada grabbed her arm. Not as deep as Leon's wound but enough to mess with her

We helped Ada to the room we were just in. She didn't say anything or try escaping. Leon put her brown coat around her and made sure a gauze was wrapped around her arm. "Do we leave her?" I asked. Even though I wasn't a fan of Ada, I didn't want to leave her there without at least patching her injuries.

"She can handle herself," Leon said, taking the radio we gave to her before. He closed the door behind us. "We need to find Sherry and Annette."

I nodded, agreeing. Setting out to the other rooms where they last were, we searched for both. There was a point in the search when I wondered if the woman had left the lab completely. It's always something, I thought. We were doing this back and forth nonstop it seemed like. Maybe we could finally get through to Annette and reassure her we weren't after her daughter.

A loud voice from beyond penetrated the walls. "That sick bastard!" Annette shouted.

I carefully approached her, with both my hands up to show I had no weapons in my hands. "Annette?" I said quietly. She jumped, turning around to face me. "We want to actually help your daughter."

"If I could find the sample, I had to help make the vaccine…"

"Where is it?" Leon asked.

She sighed looking very troubled almost on the verge of tears. "Someone took it."

"Who?"

"Chief Brian Irons." I wish I could say I was not surprised but I was. That man would do anything for his gain. What did he want with a sample?"

"Where would he be?"

"Police station, or maybe the Orphanage."

This is not good, I thought. I recalled telling Leon about how there was a rumor Chief Irons locked himself in the Orphanage. "Fuck. Why would he have it and how did he even take it in the first place?"

Annette shrugged and looked at her sleeping daughter. "I don't know. The man is a snake."

Leon and I witnessed firsthand what the Chief did to Ben Bertolucci – locking him in a jail cell and not letting him out while knowing full well there was a virus killing people. "What exactly are we looking for?" I asked her.

"What do you mean we?" Annette snapped at me. "Nothing is going to change the fact that he took the sample."

"We do want to help you and your daughter – so please, let us help."

Annette sighed, rubbing her forehead and sitting still for a moment. "He switched the locket with another. This one is fake," she said. "If you want to help, then you might have to take him down to get the necklace. Nothing can stop that man's fury."

"Why the necklace?" Leon questioned.

"It has the sample inside. Lord knows if he has used it for his experiment."

"We should hurry then," Leon said. "Let's check the police station first."

"You better come back," Annette warned us. "My daughter's life depends on it."

"Don't worry about us. We'll be fine."

We set out to hopefully take back the locket Chief Irons stole from Sherry. The whole thing made me feel nauseous even thinking about confronting the man. "Do you even know what we are getting ourselves into?" Leon asked me, as we started traveling into the tunnel that led us to the labs.

"Yes," I replied. I eyed him, for a moment. His expression was serious, considering what we were about to do. Taking a deep breath, I added, "Better the devil you know."