The 0714 Files: File #1 Inferno (Remake 2)

Chapter 67

How far we've walked away from that train and the tunnel we surfaced from. I'm not entirely sure. Or, I should say, how far they walked. As Leon unexpectedly of all things picked me up and carried me. Something I've never experienced before in my life, and being in a man's arms like that... A man I just kissed for the first time on that train...

He didn't relent on putting me down until we reached a road some ways out. Where upon setting me down, he'd simply tried joking with that charming smile, "Thought you could use a rest," but I could see the red in his cheeks clear as day.

"Thank you," is all I said in return. Realizing at our nervousness around each other that our partnership has changed drastically into something else.

Claire had then prompted a questioning of everything I know. And it's when I turn around to see how far back the train is that I determine it certainly was far enough to tell her everything. Leon and Sherry listened only a few steps behind us as I went all the way back to my kidnapping. Coming clean to her about Umbrella's false intentions of having me kill S.T.A.R.S., glimpsing over the monsters I'd come across in the mansion and lab. And I decided somewhere along the line that I wouldn't kill them. I'd hurt enough people in my life and if it'd meant death, I was okay with it. Telling her that I was supposed to have left the city last Friday to meet Chris in Europe with Jill following behind, but it never happened.

Just like with Barry, they learned it all. Except this time, I didn't cry in the end. This time... I felt free, the crushing weight I've had on my chest since coming to Raccoon from Paris seemingly gone. One step closer to the point I could maybe begin healing. I finally explained to Leon what exactly caused the damage to my ribs. The monster chasing Jill that'd tried killing me. I even explained to all three what the numbers on my right arm mean.

"So... you and Chris were going to look for their HQ?" Claire states, well, more like she's thinking something through. Sherry is walking between us now, holding her hand, and she'd surprised me when she grabbed mine. Though the hug in the train should've prepared me for the affection.

She's dealing with her mother's death, I can tell. Her nose is red and her eyes are puffy from crying heavily at some point. But she's quiet now, like the man trailing behind us.

"That's what his letter meant," my story apparently clarifying the letter she'd found in the armory stating he was in Europe. "When I read it... I knew that wasn't him, we've always talked about going somewhere for vacation, but Europe was never discussed once," she explains.

There's a cool breeze on the road and I cross my arms over my chest as I shiver, but I don't put on the jean jacket. This is the first breeze, first breath of air I've had in over a week that doesn't have the smell of mold, rotting flesh, or sewage in it. I inhale happily, then release the breath quietly. "It wasn't," I promise her, "He found the headquarters himself, and because that's somewhere around where I was taken..."

"You believed you could help him infiltrate and get around," she finishes and I nod. "Are you still going to meet him, you know... After everything?"

It's then that I turn my head away from her and glimpse Leon's way, finding he's staring out to his left where a field of yellow tinted grass stretching on for several miles lays ahead. The same amount of distance away is the remains of the train and the emergency tunnel.

His eyes turn onto mine then and I blink, knowing he'd caught me staring and simply smile at him. The kiss unable to leave my head. It keeps replaying, and I'd be lying if I said that I didn't want to do it again.

I tear my eyes away to Claire who's watching me. Her eyes dart to where he's walking behind us and there's just the slightest turn of her chin upwards in understanding. But she says nothing, "I am still going to meet him," I admit aloud, refusing to look at Leon as I say it because I'm afraid to see if it'd upset him at all.