Chapter 17: Most Vital
A/N: Sorry for leaving you guys hanging after how that last chapter ended. It's that time of year where you hear Christmas music in the stores and you hear a certain someone's song start to play (we shall not say her name in case we summon her). If you work in retail like I do, then you understand lol.
Last time we left off, someone was trying to get into Rachel's apartment. Who could possibly have her keys?
Also just a quick warning: Things are going to get a bit gruesome at the end of the chapter. It's a Resident Evil story so of course there's going to be blood and gore sprinkled in here and there. I don't usually do horror stuff so I can't tell if this is tame or not. If you guys have a weak stomach when it comes to gore, feel free to skip the ending part and just read the author's note at the end. You have been warned lol.
Now let's get on with the story!
Disclaimer: I don't own Resident Evil; I just own my characters.
Enjoy!
/
Leon pulled out his gun and aimed it at the door.
"Hide in the other room. Now" he ordered.
Rachel quickly scurried to her room and shut the door. Leon rushed to the door just as the handle turned. When the door opened, he aimed his gun at the person on the other side.
"Freeze!"
Surprisingly, it was Isabella who opened the door. She screamed as she dropped the keys and held her hands up.
"What the fuck?!" she yelled.
Leon scowled and lowered his gun. Of course it was Rachel's annoying friend.
"It's Isabella" he called out.
He continued to glare at the girl.
"What are you doing here?"
Isabella glared at him in return.
"I should be the one asking that. What the fuck are you doing here in Rachel's apartment?"
Rachel opened her door to see that it really was Isabella. She went out into the living room, looking confused as to what was going on.
"What are you doing here, Issy?"
Isabella turned her glare to her best friend. She held up Rachel's keys in her hands.
"You forget something?" she asked.
Rachel perked up when she saw her missing keys.
"My keys! Why do you have them?"
Isabella stormed further into the room and tossed the keys on the coffee table. She looked pissed as she stared her best friend down.
"Kimberly from class gave me them. Apparently they fell out of your bag when you guys were packing up to leave class for the day. I ran into her when I was getting off of my shift at the clinic and she asked me to give these back to you" she said.
"I've been calling and texting you for the last thirty minutes!"
Rachel pulled out her phone to see that Isabella indeed had been texting and leaving her messages. She must have been so caught up with Ethan calling her and Leon helping her get into her apartment that she didn't bother to look at her phone.
"May I remind you that they still haven't found that sicko who is kidnapping girls off the campus?" Isabella said.
"I was freaking out thinking that you were their next victim and came rushing over. Instead of finding you, I find jackass here inside your apartment aiming a gun at my face as I try to come in!"
Leon made a face at her.
"Why didn't you just knock on the door like a normal person? And why would you think she would be inside when she didn't have a way to get back into her apartment?" he said.
"I wasn't thinking straight, ok? I was worried something happened to her" Isabella said.
"And how did you get inside here without the keys?"
"He helped me by picking the lock" Rahcel said.
Isabella looked like she was about to have a stroke with how pissed off she was.
"So not only does jackass know where you live but now he knows which apartment is yours and how to break in. That's fucking great. Why not just leave everything open so burglars can help themselves to everything!"
Leon scowled as Isabella continued to insult him.
"Will you stop calling me a jackass? You've been a pain in my side as well but you don't hear me calling you names"
"I'm not done chewing Rachel out, so stay out of this" Isabella snapped.
Leon's scowl hardened.
"You know what? No, I'm not going to stay out of this" he said.
"You're going way overboard with everything that deals with Rachel. You act like she can't think for herself and that she needs to be looked after all the time. She's not a kid. She doesn't need you to hold her hand and do everything for her"
"I'm sorry but since when did you become a Rachel expert? You've only known her for a few months and you think you know more than her childhood best friend does?" Isabella spat.
"I'm not babying her. I'm freaking out because like I said, there is still a nut job out there targeting female students from our campus and no one has found any clues about this sicko. And not to sound like a bitch but Rachel is a prime target for kidnappers"
Rachel gave Isabella a cold look.
"Gee, thanks"
I'm sorry, Rach but it's true" Isabella said.
"You're the shy, timid, quiet girl that kidnappers love to target cause they're easy to catch and they won't put up a fight. Jeremy always targeted you for that very reason and looked where that went? You'll be online again but this time it'll be a missing person case"
"Wow, what a great friend you are" Leon said dryly.
Isabella whirled around at Leon.
"Oh fuck-"
"Enough!" Rachel snapped.
"I don't need to hear you guys talking about me as if I'm not in my own damn home. I'm very aware about the kidnappings still going on, Issy. Kinda hard to forget when it's plastered all over the news every day. I can't help it that I'm a 'shy, timid, quiet girl'. Not everyone can be loud, brash and bold like you so I need to balance your personality out with mine so people don't think you're a bossy bitch"
Isabella gaped at her like a fish. Leon smirked at Rachel's comeback.
"She told you"
"Oh you're in the same boat as her, Leon" Rachel said.
"You baby me too. Offering me a ride so I don't need to take a cab? Always checking in on me while on campus?"
"That is called being a gentleman" Leon said.
"We call that stalking" Isabella muttered.
Leon made a face at Isabella then looked back at Rachel.
"You can't blame me for being a little worried, Sunshine. You've been a magnet for danger since I've met you. There are enough assholes out there in the world, I'm trying to not be one of them while also showing that decent guys are still out there. Nothing says decent like helping a girl break into her own home"
Rachel rolled her eyes playfully.
"I appreciate you guys looking out for me and worrying but I'm ok. I may be shy and timid but I'm not stupid or naïve. Whatever happens to me, I can deal with it. I've dealt with crazy stuff in the past just fine"
Isabella bit her lip. Yeah, she knew Rachel could handle bad situations. She just worried if mentally could handle another horrible situation.
The human brain could handle so much trauma before it broke.
She sighed. No need to think negative thoughts on what if situations. Nothing bad happened so no point in freaking out over it.
"Next time you're locked out, call me instead of having Prince Charming break into your apartment. I really don't want to get a phone call from you because your Landlord kicked you out…or have a gun pointed at my face" she said.
She gave Leon a dirty look. Leon in return made a face.
"Would you rather I'd let some stranger try to enter her house?" he pointed out.
"Touche. I'll let it go this one time since you were defending Rachel. However, you aim a gun at me again and you'll find out how long you'll stay alive as you bleed out from your vital arteries" Isabella warned.
"I already know which ones those are but I'm sure you'll find new ones for my sake" Leon said sarcastically.
Isabella flipped him off.
"I'm going home. Answer your phone next time, Rach. You really almost gave me a heart attack earlier"
"I promise" Rachel sighed.
Isabella muttered under her breath as she left Rachel's apartment. With the crazy friend out of the way, Rachel and Leon were once again alone.
"Remind me again how you're friends with her?" Leon asked.
Rachel laughed weakly.
"Her dad and my dad were on the same team in the fire department. I was the only kid who didn't run away from her whenever we had the family cookouts at the station"
"…yeah that explains a lot"
Rachel rubbed her arm as she looked at Leon awkwardly. How do you try to have a normal day after a federal agent helps you break into your home and accidentally aims a gun in your friends face?
"So... I guess this has been a weird day for you as it has been for me, huh?" she tried to joke.
"Honestly, this has been normal after the last few weeks I've had" Leon said.
The sad part was that he was telling the truth. After dealing with bioterrorists and fighting against the living dead, helping Rachel get into her home was the most normal thing he did aside from sleeping recently. He really had no life outside of work.
"Um, thank you for helping me today. I know I chewed you out about babying me earlier but I do appreciate what you did. You didn't have to, but you did"
"It's no problem at all. And I was getting rusty at my lock picking so this helped me out in case I have to open doors in the future" Leon teased.
Rachel snorted.
"How can I repay you for this? You really went out of your way"
Leon was quiet for a moment as he looked at her. That was a bold, loaded question to ask a guy. After a few moments of silence, he gestured to her couch.
"For starters you can sit down and prop your ankle up. Don't think I didn't notice you limping still when you came out of your room earlier. You're also favoring your other leg right now and have been since you came out here. You need to ice that so it doesn't get worse"
Rachel was surprised he noticed such tiny things about her.
"You saw all that?"
"You gotta have eagle eyes in my line of work, Sunshine. You can't miss anything or things will get bad real fast" Leon explained.
Such loaded words.
"As for how else you can repay me? Maybe let try this cheap beer of yours that you were talking about earlier"
Rachel laughed and gestured to her kitchen.
"Knock yourself out. Just don't touch my Chinese takeout" she teased.
"If it's from the restaurant three blocks from here, I'm not making any promises" Leon warned.
Rahcel shook her head and limped to her couch. She sighed when she sat down and was able to take weight off of her bad ankle.
'Too bad my paper isn't about the most vital limb on the body otherwise I would have talked about the legs. This pain hurts like Hell' she thought.
Leon came back into the living room holding up a beer can.
"You drink this stuff?" he said with mock disgust.
"Hey! That's my favorite brand! Don't knock it if you haven't tried it" Rachel argued.
"I have tried it which is why I'm knocking it. I drank this stuff back when I was in college" Leon said.
Rachel wore a shit eating grin.
"Oh, if you drank it back then, that means it's vintage beer. Classy"
Leon narrowed his eyes at her. Suddenly he wore a shit eating grin himself as he shook the can up and aimed the top at her face.
/
"You really think the liver isn't that important after I saw what was in your fridge?"
"You can live with half of it and it grows back over time. And you can function with one organ when it comes to the kidneys and lungs. As long as you have part of an organ you should be fine" Rachel countered.
Leon could have gone home after getting Rachel back into her place. Actually he should have done that a few hours ago. Instead he found himself sitting on the couch with her, discussing what she should write for her paper that she was assigned with today. They were arguing over what was the most important organ to save in a person.
He argued the brain while she insisted it was the heart.
"You can't function when blood isn't being pumped in your body. If the heart stops working you stop working. That's one of the first things you make sure is okay when someone gets hurt" Rachel said.
"Yeah but the brain controls how your body moves and operates. You lose that then you lose the person. Doesn't matter if your heart is pumping blood or your lungs are filled with air. If you can't function on your own, you're nothing more than a living husk" Leon said.
Rachel raised an eyebrow. Leon had a vital point, but the way he explained himself seemed…personal.
"I take it you've experienced seeing someone become a vegetable due to an injury?"
Leon had a deep, somber look on his face. Memories of Racoon City and Spain flashed in his mind. Mindless zombies shuffling around the streets. Not knowing who they were or where they were at. All they knew was they had to bite a living person and spread the virus that changed them. Empty husks of their former selves that died but their bodies didn't want to give up.
"Yeah…you could say that"
Rachel thought maybe he saw a comrade get injured while being a federal agent. She had a feeling she was going to experience stressful situations when she worked at the hospital. It was never easy trying to serve for others and help them.
She didn't know what compelled her to do what she did next but she raised her hand and patted him on the shoulder. Leon jumped a little at the small gesture. She gave him a sad smile as if she knew what he was going through but wouldn't say.
"It's hard trying to help others. You don't want everyone to see how horrible life can be because you've seen first hand how nasty a person can be if you let them. It's a thankless job, but someone has to do it"
Leon stared into her hazel eyes. Why did her words sooth him so much? She had no idea what he had seen and experienced all these years. She couldn't know what kind of Hell he had been thrown into when he went to Racoon City and yet she made it seem like she understood. Like she had dealt with her own kind of Hell.
Subconsciously he brought his hand up and clasped it over Rachel's hand that was still on his shoulder. He gave it a small squeeze. He had no idea what she dealt with in the past but he knew that she was strong. To still have compassion and try to help others when she had been hurt spoke volumes of how strong she was. She didn't need to be loud and brash like Isabella. The fact that she still continued on with her life showed she was a tough girl.
Sadly their little moment was ruined when Leon's phone went off. Hanging his head, he sighed and pulled out the damn thing.
"Damnit, Nathan" he muttered.
"Work I take it?" Rachel asked.
"Unfortunately. Just when I'm done for the day, I get called back in. Why bother giving me time off?" Leon muttered.
Rachel gave him a sad smile.
"I know winter break is coming soon so I'm sure Nathan will be home for that. Hopefully you'll get a break during that time"
Leon snorted.
"You're cute. You think I get a day off"
He got up and put his jacket back on. This was a random day, but strangely he enjoyed it. For a moment he didn't feel like an agent. There were no bioterrorists to deal with. There were no zombies. For a moment, he was just a normal person having random conversations with someone.
He craved this kind of normalcy. A time where the weight of the world wasn't on his shoulders and he could have a chance to breath. To be that rookie cop again.
"Try not to forget your keys again" he teased.
Rachel made a face at him.
"I won't. Don't need you pointing a gun at Isabella again. Kinda afraid of what she might do to you"
"I'm actually kind of scared to find out myself. Don't tell her I said that. She might get excited hearing about that" Leon said.
Rachel snorted and walked him to the door. He stepped out of the hallway and looked back at her. Hazel grey locked on to baby blue. The two of them secretly found comfort by looking at each other's eye color.
"Take care" Rachel said quietly.
Leon gave a single nod. He waited until she closed the door and heard the lock click in place before he left.
Letting out a sigh, he dragged his feet back to his car where he sadly had to go back into agent mode.
/
"Now what did you do?" Leon said.
Nathan made a face when Leon came into his room.
"What makes you think I did something?"
Leon held up his phone, showing an alarm message.
"Because I got a lovely text saying you were getting into stuff that you're not supposed to. How many times does everyone have to tell you to stop hacking into stuff?"
Nathan rolled his eyes and turned back to his computer.
"I wasn't hacking into just 'stuff'. I just so happen to be finding info about our dear friend, Jeremey. You did give me permission to find dirt on him" he pointed out.
He pulled up a few files and looked back at Leon.
"As you might have guessed, since he's Simmons's nephew that means he's got quite a bit of info on him. Some is random crap no one would care about. But I did find a few things that made me raise my eyebrow. Seems like Simmons wanted to make sure no one found out about Jeremy's history and went to great lengths to hide a bunch of stuff"
Leon walked into the room. His eyes were glued to the screen as he read the files.
"What kind of stuff was he trying to hide?" he asked.
Nathan hit a key on his keyboard. A most recent report popped up dealing with Jeremy.
"Well for starters he's been kicked out of not one but three colleges for reckless behavior. He was studying at these schools for a few months before he was asked to leave. The reasons for why he was asked to leave is left blank but I'm sure after a bit more digging I'll find something. What's even more odd is that Simmons donated quite a large sum of money to this college to keep Jeremy here. There was a report written for something that happened here but it was pulled shorty after Simmons gave the campus that huge donation. Seemed like he didn't want his nephew to get kicked out of a fourth college. Must be nice coming from a family with money. Not that I'm one to talk but still"
Leon just read the report feeling more confused than he did before. Instead of getting answers there were more questions.
What did Jeremy do that Simmons felt the need to cover it up with these other colleges? Did Benford know about this?
This whole situation with Jeremy was becoming more troublesome than he thought. What could he have done that would have made him get kicked out of these schools?
/
Thump
The female student that helped Jeremy in the hallway laid lifelessly on his bedroom floor. The last traces of life from her was the single tear that fell from her eyes and soaked into the wood floor. Jeremy looked at the body with blank, emotionless look in his eyes.
"Thanks for the help. I feel so much better now"
Now what should he do with the body? Obviously people would notice she went missing. A bunch of other students have been going missing all semester. Too bad the school was cheap when it came to security otherwise they would have known who was kidnapping these girls this whole time.
They charged all this money from students for classes and yet they didn't want to spend that money on keeping them safe. How typical.
Grabbing the girl, he picked her up and threw her body over his shoulder.
"Now for the fun part"
He went downstairs and headed for the basement. Flipping on the light, the room lit up, showing a mock surgical area put together. The stretcher still had blood from the last victim that Jeremy carved up when he was down here.
He threw the body on the stretcher and opened up his tool bag.
"Let's see what you have to offer" he muttered to himself.
He grabbed the girl's face and turned it this way and that, looking for something. He zeroed in on her eyes and noticed they were hazel color.
The same color as Rachel's eyes.
"Perfect"
He picked up the tool he needed.
"That color is a waste on you anyway. Too bad you didn't have blue or green eyes otherwise you wouldn't be in this situation"
He gouged out the eyes and put them into a jar with chemicals to keep them from rotting away. He shook the jar and admired as they swam around in the solution.
A perfect keepsake.
"They say the eyes are the window to the soul. You don't know what a person is truly like until they're gasping for their last breath. That's when you can tell when someone is a coward or not" he said to no one in particular.
Shrugging he went over to a fridge that had the word 'trophies' written on top of it. Like the title implied, he kept all of his…trophies…inside the fridge. Various types of body parts and vials of blood were stashed away in the fridge. Finding an empty spot, he put the jar of eyes in the fridge and closed it. He pulled a pen out of his pocket and marked something off that was taped to the fridge. He hummed as he counted out what was on the paper.
"Let's see. Got that, got that, still need this, have to find that. Just a few more things and we should be good to go"
He turned back to the corpse on the stretcher. Cracking his knuckles, a crazy glint flashed across his eyes.
"Now to take care of the rest of you. Can't let anything go to waste after all"
He pulled out a surgical saw and went over to the body. As he stepped away, the paper that was tape to the fridge revealed what he was checking off of.
A photo of Rachel. And freshly scratched off of it was her hazel grey eyes.
/
A/N: Yeah we're going there. Jeremy is the one behind all the kidnappings. Shocker right? Bet you didn't see that ending coming though, huh? Seems like the Simmons bloodline has a thing of turning random girls into their ideal woman. First Simmons with Ada and now Jeremy with Rachel. Why would he want to collect random body parts though?
It can't be called a Resident Evil story if there's no blood and gore moments thrown here and there.
Aside from that gruesome ending hopefully the Rachel and Leon moments were wholesome and sweet. Leon needs moments where he's not on edge and Rachel seems to give him that chance to escape the life he was forced into.
Now things are getting spicy. Hopefully you look forward to where this is going now.
Please review and tell me what you think!
Take care!