apocalypse | leon kennedy

chapter five: the agent and the chemistry

Too Close - Alex Clare

Leon and I continue our search through the area. We come up to another set of stairs and go up. We meet a control room. There's a panel with a lever on it and millions of other buttons next to it. Leon takes a gander around the room to see if there's anything we need.

As he's looking, I notice through the large window that outlooks the area below. I see part of our path has been cut off by an opening, then I also notice the large missing piece of our path hanging by metal cords in the center of the room.

"Hey, Leon. I figured out what this lever might do." I show him the missing path. He agrees with me and pulls the lever down. Just as I said, the missing piece moves itself into its place.

"Nice," Leon crooned.

We then make our way out the next door, which puts us where we moved the path. I look down over the railing and make sure there's nothing else below us. That battle we had with the man was traumatizing. Again, I'll have something else to get over. Once this whole thing is over I might just completely lose myself. Deep down, I feel like I don't even know who I am anymore.

We find another room at the end of the path. There's some random machinery again; it's not important. There's a locker Leon searches, there's a table with some random paperwork on it and more machinery. This room doesn't seem to be that much important.

We go down the only way we can go down, which takes us to a ladder that goes upward. There's a circular opening and it's blocked by something.

"Well, this is interesting," I say to Leon as he starts climbing. "Be careful."

"I know," he responds. He sighs and it sounds very uneven. He's stressed or nervous. Probably both.

He pushes up the circular lid with his fingertips, pushing it to the side. It looks like we are in a manhole. I'm not sure what he can see but he observes carefully.

"It's the parking garage. There's a gate just ahead of us. If we climb up, we can escape! Come on!" Leon makes his way out, waiting for me. I slowly climb up the ladder, he holds a hand out for me. I grab it and jump up on my feet.

"Well, let's go!" I say with enthusiasm. It's about to happen. I'm about to leave this hellhole. Leon and I can leave, finally.

We make our way to the gate but Leon checks out the security notice. We need a keycard... Great. Something I assume Leon does not have.

"Do you have the keycard?" I ask, looking around at the police cars. They've been crashed into one another, smashed against the cemented wall. There are trash cans thrown everywhere, construction fences too. SWAT trucks are destroyed as well. This place is a dump.

"No, I don't." He sounds disappointed. Leon doesn't see it, but I do. A small figure creeps around one of the beams. A dog? It hunches over, looking angered. Its teeth are bared.

"Leon... I think you should"—but it lunges at the both of us at the speed of light! It lands its claws on Leon, making him collide with the floor. His gun is flown out of his hands as well. I'm going to have to shoot this dog. Oh, god.

I raise the shotgun to the level of the dog's head. Leon is struggling to fight it off. Leon's going to get hurt if I don't do something soon. Come on, Flora.

But it's too late. There's the sound of a gunshot that wasn't mine. I didn't even notice the lady standing there with her pistol held out.

Leon acts quickly and grabs his lost gun and points it at the girl. They both have a gun stare down. I turn the barrel of the gun to her. My finger hovers over the trigger. My heart hammers.