Echo (Leon Kennedy)

Day One: Afternoon/Night

The walk has been surprisingly quiet from the van beyond. I expected a steady increase of mutants but so far there hasn't been any. I'm secretly grateful for that, being a little shook up after the van incident.

The gravel from the road crunches under our feet. Naturally, Leon walks ahead of me a bit, his pace faster than mine. I struggle to think of a conversation to start with him, if it's even appropriate to do so. Leon so far has given off a "strictly business" vibe, not wanting to engage in much conversation. Can I blame him? Not really. It is a highly stressful situation. I get a buzz in my pocket, from the only number in this phone, Ernie. Leon and I were assigned with our own far-range phones to keep in touch with our assigned government officials. Although I've only briefly met Ernie before, he seems like an interesting guy. Our brief phone call can make for something interesting during this long, silent walk into the city.

"Sorry, I'm not supposed to pick up to spam callers" I joke, picking up the phone. Ernie scoffs on the other end, "Ouch. Is that all you think of me?" He replies sarcastically. "Nah, a potential best friend by the end of this maybe" I tell him. Ernie chuckles, "How did the meet up with your partner go?" He asks, checking in on me. "Went good. I can confirm we haven't lost each other yet" I grin, seeing Leon turn around giving me a look before looking back on the road.

"Good. Any encounters with infected?" He asks, "One" I say shortly. "Was he terminated?" He says. I swallow, "yes" I answer. "Okay then. I'll call back in a day or two for another update. Good luck" he says briefly before hanging up.

Leon looks at me, "That how you speak to all government employees?" He questions. I shrug, "Only the ones who can't fire me on the spot" Leon turns back to face the road, "You shouldn't talk as much with them, might draw some unnecessary attention" he says sternly.

I pull the strap on my backpack higher over my shoulder, "is that why we're not talking on the road?" I ask him. "Do you have something to say that's critical to the mission or our safety?" He asks.

"No"

"Then why would we talk" he says bluntly. "Ouch" I say bitterly. He looks at me, eyes widen slightly "No offence" he says lamely.

"Offence slightly taken. We could talk to make this long boring walk a little less boring" I suggest. He shakes his head, "I don't think that would work"

"It already has. Throughout all this time we've been bickering, we've walked like half of a mile" I overshoot severely.

"It's not been half a mile" he disagrees

"Okay, sure. But it's made however much we've walked, a bit less boring, no?" I say, tilting my head as I wait for his response. He stays silent for a few seconds, before shaking his head. "Safety comes before curing boredom" He argues.

"I don't think talking lowly would kill us"

A tiny screech comes from the trees in front of us, a body on all fours crawling out. It bares it's teeth at us, hissing, before running towards us. We pull out our guns, Leon shooting it with his as I merely raise mine. After a few shots, it's down. Leon turns fully to me with a raised eyebrow. I look at him, shrugging my shoulders dramatically and sighing. "Okay, spoke too soon. My bad." I admit as he gives me a pointed 'I told you so' look.

Bushes rustle behind Leon, a mutant coming out from behind him in a flash, charging at him. I manage to gasp, pulling my gun back up and unloading on the mutant. Leon ducks at my gunfire, spinning around to shoot at the mutant. I end up killing it before he manages to shoot. It falls dead in-front of Leon, a curved bone extending from a hole in its back, looking almost like a tail with a pointed end to it, flops forward in front of us.