Best of Intentions: Tom Tom (ch. 19)

Leon Kennedy was hung over. His brain pounded at his skull like it was taking a sledgehammer to it with every beat of his heart. It hadn't been his brightest idea to get drunk before he started the first day of his job, a job that he would hopefully keep for the rest of his life -- as a police officer. But he hadn't expected to get dumped either, so the start of the rest of his life wasn't exactly smooth even before he started drinking. 

He didn't have an apartment, or even a plan really, beyond crashing at the precinct until he got his first paycheck. Maybe, if he was lucky, he'd hit it off with his coworkers and they'd let him sleep on their couch. Whatever happened, he was willing to ride it out. Getting dumped by the girl he thought he was going to marry wasn't a great experience, but after a night of drinking, he’d gotten all the negativity out. So, once his hangover cleared up, which would hopefully be before his skull cracked like an egg under his brain's assault, he was going to be fine. Better than fine, even. 

Because this was the start of the next chapter of his life. He was going to be who he always wanted to be. 

Only, as he stared into a rundown and dimly lit gas station on the road into Raccoon City, it felt like the next chapter of his life was darker and more horrific than he could have ever imagined. Blood coated the walls and floor, pooling and stretching towards the door which was similarly splattered with blood and gore. Laying in the middle of the pool was a corpse that was almost stripped clean of flesh, revealing gnawed muscle and red-tinted bone. The victim’s face was unrecognizable, having been ravaged by whatever mauled him, and was covered in dried blood.

Around him were footprints in the mud and blood -- boots. Four pairs. They stomped around the victim, the prints overlapping. It was difficult to decipher motivation from footprints, but… there was a frantic disregard to the body that Leon wasn't sure what to make of. People who were panicked to see such a grisly scene wouldn't stomp around the victim's blood so carelessly. Instead, it was more as if the people were trying to get away from whatever animal did this. 

Swallowing thickly, Leon popped the button to the holster of his sidearm, resting a hand on the grip of his pistol as he raised his flashlight up to find the trail of bloody footprints. All human. No animal tracks? Leon frowned as he slid the wedge into the gas station door, giving himself an exit to drive whatever this thing was out. Then, slowly, he stepped into the gas station with his pistol raised. He circled the body, his gaze drawn to it -- it looked like a movie prop, in a way. It didn't look real. 

His eyes narrowed when he saw something clutched in the victim's remaining hand that was lying about a foot from the rest of the body. A pamphlet, soaked in blood, but there was enough left of the cover for Leon to make out the front. Which brought his attention to the same pamphlets in front of every single magazine on the shelf by the cash register. It's not something that Leon would have paid attention to in any other circumstances, but he had to admit, the visibly rotting  man lunging for the reader with the bold text of ‘READ THIS IF YOU DON'T WANT TO DIE WHEN THE DEAD RISE!’ was pretty eye-catching. 

As was the crosshair on the zombie’s forehead that was marked with smaller, though no less bold text of ‘You have to shoot them in the head!’ and ‘Don't forget to double tap!’ He glanced down at the one that was clenched in the victim's severed hand -- it could have been shock, or just fear, but the hand held the pamphlet like it had been a lifeline. Out of everything the victim could have grabbed to defend himself with, he chose a pamphlet. 

Just as Leon was about to set the pamphlet down, a loud thump echoed through the otherwise silent gas station. He froze for a fraction of a second before he started to move, cautiously going around the snack isles and following the bloody footprints. Blood streaked across the drink aisle, leading to a back door for restocking. Blood was on the handle, and Leon put his ear up to the door. 

Groaning. Someone was in there and they were hurt. 

“Hey!” Slamming his shoulder against the door, he burst inside the back room. The smell hit him first -- rot and waste. “I'm with the police,  I’m here to-” Leon announced, his gaze falling on the people that were in the back room. There were four of them with three standing up, and they were absolutely drenched in blood, the scarlet liquid covering their clothes and faces. But it was only when they looked at him, their pale faces twisting into snarls, that it clicked into place. Their teeth were dyed red with meat stuck between them. 

Realizing his mistake, Leon back peddled with his heart jumping up to his throat. It didn't feel real. It felt like he’d stumbled onto a movie set or he was hallucinating. The men were quick to follow even as they stumbled forward as if they were drunk. He retreated deeper into the gas station, the door knocked open as the first of the dead raced after him. His gun was up, the pamphlet flashing in his mind as he aimed for the head. Only his finger wouldn't pull the trigger. 

Was he really going to shoot someone in the head because a pamphlet he never saw before told him to? What if there was a cure? Something that could bring them back, restore whatever damage was done to their brain- after all, they couldn't be brain dead if they were moving right? Even if they couldn't repair the necrotic damage, the people could still make it…

Leon found himself backing up as the four people chased him and he was looking for an alternative way to deal with them. He could try to trap them in the backroom. Put something in front if the door so they couldn't get out again- 

As he retreated, he felt something grab to the back of his boot. With his heart jumping out of his throat, Leon found himself stumbling as he looked down to find that the victim he found earlier was trying to gnaw through his boot leather. To little avail as the tendons in his face had been ravaged. 

The other hand that was latching onto him, however? That grip was like iron and Leon could feel the cold hand through his pants. The others started to press on, and- 

“Get down!” Leon heard a woman say, and he looked over to see a brown haired girl around his age dressed in blue jeans and a red leather jacket. More noticeably, she had a shotgun in her hands that was aimed in his general direction. 

He threw himself forward, landing near her feet before Leon heard the shotgun blast. She fired four times in quick succession, and each time the head of one of the zombies was reduced to red mist and bone shards. They fell to the ground like puppets whose strings had been cut. 

Leon felt a tugging at his boot and he realized he’d taken the top half of the victim with him when he dove. The zombie was still trying to chew through his boot, a milky blue eye staring at him for a brief moment before Leon made a judgment call. “I'm sorry,” he told the zombie, meaning it, but he still kicked it off with his other foot before he aimed at its head and he felt the recoil in his palm. Blood and brain matter splattered over a row of chips but the zombie went still. 

A small breath escaped him. Standing up, Leon glanced at the woman, who didn't seem hostile. “Thanks,” he offered, holstering his pistol. “I don't suppose you have any idea of what in the hell is going on, do you?”

“Not a clue!” She replied with an easy confidence. “I just know that my older brother told me to stay the hell away from the city, and that there's a whole military lock down going on. My name is Claire, by the way. Claire Redfield.” 

Military lock down? He hadn't heard anything about that. “Leon Kennedy,” He introduced himself, finding himself… uncertain. “What do you mean a military lock down? I drove in just fine.” 

“Then it sounds like the door just closed behind you,” Claire informed with a small shrug. “They've blocked off all the roads leading in and out of the city, and now they're setting up patrols to circle it entirely. Same for the city, I think -- I saw some helicopters flying towards it earlier.” 

Leon looked down at the zombies as he put the pieces together. Those things were in the city? “How bad is it?” He asked, considering his options for the briefest of seconds. Not that he really needed to. There was no way he was going to just run away when people were in danger. He just needed to know what kind of hell he was walking into. 

“Dunno yet. Haven't been there myself,” Claire admitted. “I just know that if it's bad enough that my brother called me to stay away, well… it was the first time I had ever heard him sound scared.” That didn't tell him a lot really, but given that Claire seemed like she was tough enough to chew iron and spit out nails, he'd just assume that her brother was cut from the same cloth. 

“Right. Do you know a way into the city?” He asked, and a grin pulled at her lips. 

“I was on my way to find my brother when I heard the commotion,” Claire said, gesturing for him to follow. “We have to hoof it, though. The military is closing the noose, and they're stopping anyone trying to get in or out of the city.” He offered a small nod, accepting that for what it is before Claire pointed at his hand and he realized that he was still holding the pamphlet. “You should read that on the way. It's pretty good to warn you on what to expect.” 

“Right…” Leon agreed, following Claire out of the gas station. He looked around but didn't see any sign of more zombies. That was something of a relief. He resisted the urge to glance over his shoulder as he left. He would be seeing worse than that, he felt deep in his gut. 

“You know my reasons for heading into this mess, but what's your story?” Claire questioned as they began walking during the late afternoon. He kept an eye on the sky, feeling like a helicopter was going to appear and catch them at any moment, but he only saw the darkening blue sky. 

“I'm a police officer- er, will be one. Today was supposed to be my first day,” He admitted somewhat sheepishly. Claire perked up at that, seemingly unbothered by the risk of capture. 

“I think the police could forgive your absence,” Claire noted and Leon offered a small shrug. 

“Maybe, but I wouldn't,” he replied. Being a cop was all he wanted to ever be since he was a kid. After the death of his parents… Leon wasn't sure where he would be in life if one good cop hadn't been there for him. The idea that he could be that for someone else, or better yet, stopping the whole tragedy entirely… it had a special kind of allure. 

“Well, if we don’t die, I can probably put in a good word for you with my brother -- he’s a cop too!” She offered with a grin. 

“I suppose that gives me another reason to watch your back,” He returned, breathing a little easier. It felt insane what he was doing, but this whole thing felt insane. With a quick laugh, Claire soon fell silent as they began to cross the distance. The dimming light of the setting sun helped them, as the closer they got to the city, the more activity they saw. 

Helicopters came and went from the city, but what their mission was wasn’t clear. What was clear was the military was rapidly assembling a barrier. It was around ten feet tall, a solid metal facing wall with a support being welded on the back. Leon’s heart beat a few ticks faster seeing it -- something like that gave the impression that the military expected a whole lot of something to start trying to bash their way out. 

There were gaps in the wall, however, and it was to one of them that he and Claire started to crawl towards. He kinda wanted to reveal himself -- it wasn’t like they had any ill intentions. They wanted to help. But, if the military was this spooked, then the most they could hope for was being turned around. But more likely they would be detained. So, he kept his head down as they crawled forward -- he wouldn’t be caught sitting on his ass when people needed help. 

“They’re looking the wrong way to catch us, so once we’re in the city, it should be too late for them to do anything about it,” Claire ventured and Leon spied their destination. There was a patrol between a gap in the wall, the soldiers looking in front of them rather than behind. There were groups of workers that rushed putting up each segment of the wall with another group getting another to go up. 

“Is that a fact or are you just crossing your fingers?” Leon asked and, in response, Claire held up her crossed fingers. Right. “Well… let's hope they don’t shoot us in the back.” That’d be a really dumb way to die. 

They crawled forward, watching as the patrol walked back and forth. Just as Claire said, their attention was entirely on the city itself, letting them get close without being noticed. After a few back and forths, they saw the gap in the patrol that’d let them sneak in. All that was left was to actually do it, and… Leon found his heart was beating at his ribs like a drum as both he and Claire sprung into action. 

Not too fast to catch anyone’s eye but more a power walk in a low crouch. He was more nervous than when he had suddenly found himself in a room full of zombies, and every step he took, he expected things to go horribly wrong. 

But they didn’t.

They slipped through the patrol before they hugged close to the construction crew, trying to blend in with both groups -- the patrol, if they saw them, would just assume that they were part of the crew, while the construction crew wouldn’t pay them any mind because they thought they were part of a patrol. Despite his anxiety, they slipped by both groups before they hugged the wall itself. 

Then, with a quick sprint across the street, they were in the city itself without anyone being wiser. 

“It’s a little alarming how easy that was,” Claire remarked as they continued to jog deeper in the city. Leon glanced over his shoulder to make sure that no one was following them, but the coast was clear. There was no military squad hunting them down and dragging them back out of the city by their ear. 

“It’s probably a lot easier to get into the city than out,” Leon remarked. Hopefully. “But now what? Is there somewhere in particular we’re going?” He asked, seeing Claire shrug. 

“Honestly, I wasn’t sure I’d get this far. I figured I’d look for the biggest mess, and I’d find my brother there,” she admitted. Well, that was one way to approach things. Though, there wasn’t much chance of that, Leon noted as he inspected the city around them. It took him a moment to realize what was so strange -- the city was silent. 

Every step seemed to echo out while the city itself felt like the people in it had just… vanished. There were cars on the road, some with the doors left open, while a street light went from red to green. There were neon signs advertising for people who weren't there. But, at the same time, things were just off. The occasional blood splatter sprayed across a window, or a pile of broken glass from where one got busted out., to bloody footprints and waste on the ground where people just dropped everything they had to run. 

They ventured deeper into the city, and Leon found himself gripping his pistol tightly. They walked a few blocks, and it was then that they started to see signs of something… more. It was almost like what the military was trying -- walls that blocked off roads and alleys, barricades made out of vehicles… or a road filled with bodies that all seemed to be pointed in a single direction. At least he assumed so. It was like they got run over a couple of times, leaving the corpses almost flattened. 

It was unsettling. The silence most of all because the city wasn't entirely silent. There were random sounds in the distance, like a gunshot that echoed out, but it was impossible to tell the source. It was somehow worse than total silence -- it was proof that they weren't alone in the city. 

“Well… you're a guy, right?” Claire questioned, breaking the oppressive quiet with a stage whisper, showing that she wasn't immune to the tension either. 

“Last time I checked, yeah?” Leon tried, not sure what to make of that opener. 

“So, you've totally planned out what you would do during a zombie apocalypse, right?” Claire asked and tried to ignore the heat crawling up his cheeks. He felt a little called out, but he couldn't exactly refute the question because… well… “Where would you go?” 

He swallowed a sigh along with his embarrassment. “A school,” he admitted quietly. “They're always located on main roads, they have plenty of food, and they're a natural stop for disaster relief.” It also helped that it was a place he and all of his friends would know. The best part of the imagined apocalypse as a teenager was surviving with your friends after all. 

It felt like a sick joke now. 

Claire considered that for a moment before her head bobbed in a nod, “Makes sense to me. Let's see if anyone else had the same idea that you did.” Hopefully. He couldn't stand the quiet and it'd be nice to have proof that there was someone alive in this city. 

Claire knew the city far better than he did, so he followed behind her as he paid attention to their surroundings. He could almost see the defensive stands that people made, or where they rushed to erect barricades. It gave him hope that the situation wasn't too far gone as they made their way down street after street. Before long, Leon spotted what looked to be a high school down the road. His heart clenched when he didn't see any lights on or activity. 

But that only lasted a moment. “Hold on,” Leon said, grabbing Claire by the shoulder as he pointed. She had no idea what he meant until the flash of movement he spied revealed itself more fully. It was a handful of men dressed in black body armor, their faces covered, and wielding powerful-looking guns. There was no identifying them, but they looked about what Leon imagined a black ops task force would look like. 

However, one of them was carrying a child under one arm. They looked like they were unconscious, limply dangling from a man's arm. Young, thirteen at the oldest but likely younger. They carried her through the front doors of the high school, two members of the squad checking to make sure that they weren't followed, before they too vanished into the building. 

“That was weird,” Claire summarized her thoughts with a frown. She looked to him for agreement and he found himself nodding. That didn’t look like a rescue operation, but appearances could be deceiving. Maybe the girl was sick or something, and there was a small base in the school where they could treat her? Or maybe the school itself was an extraction point? There were a lot of possibilities, but the entire thing felt off to him. “Should we try knocking?”

Maybe? There was so much that they didn’t know about the situation; it felt a bit… dangerous. Maybe they’d open the doors and they could find themselves on a helicopter out of the city as soon as they arrived, or they could be greeted with a bullet to the head. 

However, before they could make a decision, Leon saw more movement coming from the same direction. A heavily built man was hugging cover that protected him from the school, while a handful of others followed his lead. Claire gasped the moment she saw the guy taking point and she started to move out from the alleyway that they were crouched in. “That’s my brother-” she started before the silent city erupted into noise. 

Glass shattered from the school windows as gunfire flashed from them and the car that Claire's brother was crouched behind found itself full of bullet holes. He ducked down behind the engine block before emerging, firing back at the squad in the school. The others on the street also took up positions, exchanging gunfire while Claire gripped his wrist hard enough to bruise. “Leon, that’s my brother!”

Well, that simplified things a lot. 

“Let’s flank around. They don’t know we’re here yet, so we can use that,” Leon voiced, swallowing a lump in his throat. This wasn’t exactly what he imagined his first day on the job would look like, but he wasn’t going to let some kid get kidnapped because he was scared. Or because the kidnappers looked like a fully equipped black ops unit and the two of them were armed with nothing but a shotgun and a 9mm pistol. 

Claire looked immensely relieved that he was coming with her—that there was no question about what they should do. “I went to school there, so… I know a secret way in and out. Never thought skipping classes would come in handy,” she remarked, trying to inject some humor into her voice, but it fell flat. 

He offered a small nod as he followed her lead, slinking away from the gunfight as they went around the block to approach the school from another angle. They nearly stumbled when they entered another alley and came face to face with a handful of undead that were lingering there, clawing at a barricade senselessly. However, Leon made quick work of the issue by letting out a quick whistle. 

That immediately drew their attention, luring them out of the alleyway and onto the street. From there, Leon made a wide circle around the road, leading them on a chase before he once more entered the alley and grabbed hold of Claire’s offered hand to haul him over the barricade she already climbed over. That pamphlet really was stuffed full of helpful advice. 

The gunfight at the school was still going on when they approached it from the side. Claire darted across the street, weaving between parked cars. Leon was right behind her, and he tried to ignore the gruesome sight in the corner of his eye of someone who had been killed in their vehicle, ripped apart by the looks of it. Instead, he focused on the windows, making sure that no one was looking their way as they approached. 

The cops at the front of the building seemed like they were taking most of their attention as they were able to hop a fence that took them to the school grounds. They rushed to the side of it, crouching beneath a window. Claire looked in first, checking to make sure the coast was clear, before she scrambled around in the dirt for something- a suction cup. Leon watched as she pressed it to the glass before pulling at the glass which just popped out of the frame. 

“Thank you, budget cuts,” Claire remarked to herself as she climbed through the window and he was right behind her. There was a story there, but this wasn’t the time or place to hear it. 

They entered what looked like the science lab for the school, and they could hear the sound of gunshots echoing down the halls. 

“We need to locate the girl first,” Leon ventured. They had the element of surprise, and they had to use it to prevent her from becoming a hostage. Claire offered a curt nod in response as they left the classroom, peeking out first to make sure that the coast was clear. Leon only saw dark hallways before he stepped outside. 

The child would be located somewhere near the center of the building for protection, with easy access to the roof if he was right about them using a helicopter to extract. So, second floor, and a room without windows. 

With that in mind, they creeper forward in the halls, approaching a staircase. Claire was right behind him as he rounded on it, making sure that no one was coming down as he climbed up. With every step that he took, the gunshots got louder, and as he reached the top, he was able to peek out to see a man firing out the window with what looked like an LMG. 

It seems like they weren't the only ones to have the idea to flank the school. Good. It did complicate things, though. His pistol felt unusually heavy in his hands as he considered their options. He could try slinking down the other way, but if the soldier turned at the wrong time… they wouldn’t have any cover if he started shooting down the hallway. 

No, the best option was to take him down. To…

Kill him. 

He hesitated. There was just so much that he didn’t know. Claire had saved him, but the fact of the matter was, he barely knew her. He was taking it at her word that the guy taking point was her brother, and he didn’t even know her brother’s name. For all he knew, the squad was rescuing the girl from them. Not every cop deserved their badge, he knew, as much as he didn’t like the thought. 

Was he really willing to kill someone on the word of someone he barely knew? Leon wasn’t sure. Killing someone wasn’t something you could undo. And shooting a man in the back while he was distracted? That felt like… it felt like murder. 

He-

He hesitated too long as the man suddenly shifted, pivoting to run in their direction as whoever he was shooting at moved beyond the angle he had. Leon felt their eyes meet through the man’s visor, and if the man was shocked to see them, then he couldn’t see it. His reaction was clear, though -- his arms twitched up, the barrel swiveling in their direction…

Leon felt the recoil before he realized what had happened. For a moment, he thought he was shot, but instead of feeling it in his chest, it was at the wrist. The man’s head snapped back, a spray of blood arcing out, and his forward momentum carried his legs forward until he ended up landing flat on his back. Leon’s throat felt tight, and it took him a second to connect the dots -- he’d pulled the trigger on reflex, and shot the soldier in the head. 

Slowly, he let out a breath and swallowed whatever he was feeling down. Claire glanced his way, and his expression must have betrayed him because she looked concerned. Now wasn’t the time for it. “Let’s go,” he urged, looking away from the body. “They might have realized that they’re not alone.”

Claire offered a small nod of her head, following behind him as they continued deeper into the school. However, an issue soon revealed itself as he looked down the hall -- he had no idea where the girl was. Well, he had an idea, but that still left a lot of the building to cover. As it was, there was only him and Claire to search room by room, and that felt like too little.  

His gaze flickered up as he saw a black ball on the ceiling -- a security camera. He inclined his head to it, and Claire understood. She pointed out the way towards the principal’s office so they could get a better idea by checking the security feed. They still moved slowly, checking each room as they did. 

He spied their destination, and he approached it, seeing that it was marked with a plaque that read ‘Principal Sheldon.’ Rough name for the principal of a bunch of high schoolers. However, as he approached, there was something nagging at the back of his mind, even as he reached out to the door handle. It was just as he was about to pull the door open that it clicked into place. 

Would a black ops unit really not have someone overseeing the cameras?

The thought came a second too late as the plywood door before him erupted into splinters. He felt something stinging in his chest and side, with his leg giving out from underneath him. It was only when he hit the ground that he realized he had been shot, three red marks soaking through his undershirt and his button-down. Distantly, he heard the sound of Claire shouting as a shotgun went off, but it was like his head was under water. It was hard to breathe. 

All the same, he groped for his gun, but it fell from his grip somewhere. Dark spots danced in front of his eyes, but he still saw Claire spin to the side as she was hit before she collapsed to the ground. Blood bubbled up from his lips as he reached for her but he couldn’t move. Movement brought his fading attention up to the door, which collapsed as someone kicked it open. 

A woman in the same black armor emerged, looking down at him. Her expression was hidden behind a mask, but she seemed to hesitate just for a moment before all he could see was the barrel of a gun. 

A loud bang filled his ears, and he thought he was dead. 

Only for the gun that filled his vision to clatter to the floor, revealing the missing head of the woman. Her body fell back, falling into the office that she had been hiding in. Leon found a cold comfort in that as he rapidly bled out. 

“Well, that was a close one,” Leon heard a voice say and he had just enough strength to glance over to see a man… 

That was only a foot tall?

Must have been the blood loss, Leon figured as everything went black.