t - 5 minutes

~the station~

september 23rd, 1998

                                             the pain coming from your arm was almost unbearable, but the idea of letting those things get a hold of you was more than enough to keep you going. you make your way into the locker room and input your code, taking deep breaths trying to calm the pain or at least push it out of your mind. the key panel beeps letting you know your locker is now open. you walk over to you locker and grab your extra holster and the knife you kept up top. putting you holster on and sliding the knife was into your chest sheath you pause to listen hoping there aren't more of those things that were once your coworkers outside. when a sound from the main hall causes you to stop and listen harder. "hello ?! is anyone here?!" you hear a male voice yell, almost pleading. you don't want to give away your position but you know you have to make it back. you take one more deep breath, readying yourself for the trip back to the main hall.

                              you walk out of the locker room, gun at ready, waiting for something to come at you from any direction carefully but swiftly making your way to the voice you heard. you hear a groan that doesn't sound human and immediately turn around to see a familiar face. "oh god- dean, what happened to you-" you pause but the thing that once was dean lunges at you bearing its teeth. you quickly snap out of it and move out of the way only narrowly making it out of its grasp. you then stand your ground and aim, not making the same mistake again, you fire. closing your eyes as a few tears fall down your cheeks hearing the thud of a body dropping. you start running to the main hall knowing you aren't that far.  tears still welling in your eyes. you push the door open and look down from the upper floor of the main room, frantically looking around for someone, anyone, who could have been yelling from here. then you spot him. "hello ! are you bit ?!" you yell from the upper floor. "no ! are you ?!" the man yells from the front desk. you whisper to yourself thank god then reply. "no ! i'm coming down stay there !" you start running down the stairs thankful to see someone who's still breathing. he makes his way over to the bottom of the stairs you're running down.

                                 "are you okay ?" he asks as you approach him. he probably saw your arm in bandages. "yeah just a cut from a fall" you slightly unwrap your bandages to show him there are no teeth marks. you see him sigh  a breath of relief to himself. "my name is y/n. who are you ? how did you get here ?" he smiles which confuses you. "y/n ! it's me leon !" you think back to the call you answered a week ago. "the rookie who was supposed to start today." he nods in agreeance. "guess i picked the wrong day to show up." he nervously chuckles to himself. "well what matters is that you're safe, and breathing." you smile at him. just then you both here a loud thud from the emergency door to your left. you both pull out your guns ready to shoot at anything coming in the door. "y/n help me close this door !" you hear a familiar voice yell shakely. "martin ! oh my god martin what the hell happened to you ?!" you say running over to the door helping him close it. martin breathes shallowly in between winces holding his stomach. " i saw the chief, i thought i could help him. i-i tried to help him, but that was before he tore a chunk right out of me." he winces again breathing through his teeth  gesturing to his once blue uniform that was now stained a dark crimson.

                              marvin then pulls out a notebook riddled with bloody fingerprints. he sits down on a makeshift hospital bed the station had put out a few days ago. he thumbs through it trying to see if there was anything of use in it. you look over at leon who looks like he had seen a ghost. "hey leon, you should change into something that'll protect you better. i don't think that jacket will do much good for you." marvin pipes in through tapered breaths "leon she's right, i'll stay here and try to find you both a way out." you look back at marvin. "you mean the three of us ?" marvin shoots you a glance then looks down at his wound. "y/n there is no way in hell i'm making it out of this alive. the least i can do is help you get out." leon speaks up. "sir, we can't just leave you here. i'm sure we can get you to a hospital and you'll be okay." marvin starts to get annoyed and speaks aggressively "listen rookie, i already made peace with my choice." he looks at both leon and i then speaks again. "we can't let this spread. that's final."

                        you feel a build up of guilt and regret in your stomach as you lead leon into the locker room with spare uniforms. after closing the door leon turns you around forcefully. "we aren't just gonna let him kill himself are we ?" he harshly whispers. you look at him pleadingly. "listen leon. there is nothing we can do. we can't help him here and i don't know how much longer he has." he starts to get more aggravated. "you're not even going to try ?! what kind of friend are you ?!" you finally snap at him. "shut up ! you don't even understand the absolute hell i've been through today ! how many of your friends have you had to kill ?! huh?! get fucking changed and meet me out at the the computer !" you storm off leaving the locker room and leon behind. you walk back up to marvin with tears in your eyes. "marvin, i'm so sorry. i feel so helpless. i want to help you but i know i can't. i failed you-" he cuts you off before you can finish. "y/n, we didn't know. we didn't know it was going to be this bad. we didn't know what we were up against. we did our best. we couldn't have prepared for this, not in a million years." you look over at him the tears that were harboring in you eyes now flowing down your cheeks. you try talking but the guilt is gripping your throat closed. "y/n," martin addresses you with the most serious look you've ever seen on his face. "you have to promise me, that you'll kill me once i turn." you look at him in utter disbelief, how could he be asking you something like that ? how could he even think about asking you of all people ? marvin speaks up again still holding the same demeanor. "promise me. no, swear to me. i can't let myself hurt you, or leon. you're the only hope this city has right now." you try speaking through tears but you can't. you don't notice as leon walks up behind you in his uniform. "if y/n can't i will. that i promise you sir." you look over at leon still crying. you start to stand and stumble. leon reaches out to keep you from falling. you look up at him, his arm around  your side and just instinctively hug him, sobbing quietly into his shoulder.  he hugs you back placing his other hand on the back of your head while you cry.