Fateful Nightmares (The Story Of A Raccoon City Survivor Pt 1)

Chapter 4 - cold and dark

I could hear Leon take in a deep breath beside me, the sound reflecting my own sense of relief at being back in the familiar main hall of the R.P.D.
Leon placed the items from his pockets onto the secretary desk, carefully examining his makeshift inventory. I stood nearby, watching him organize the supplies.
After a long moment, Leon looked up at me, his expression slightly more relaxed.
"Alright," he began, holding up the key card we'd found earlier in the art room. "Well, we can go back to that room you mentioned before. You said this card did something there, right?"
I nodded, remembering the weapons locker from earlier. "Yeah." I replied, trying to piece together a mental map of the station. The layout was confusing at best, and every corner seemed to hold a new surprise.
"Okay," he said, slipping the key card into his pocket. "Let's use it before we move on to any new area of the station." His voice had a hint of optimism, a spark of hope that maybe, just maybe, we'd find something useful.
I gave him a mock salute, trying to lighten the mood, something he'd been doing all night. "Sounds like a plan, Captain," I said, with a grin.
Leon smirked, shaking his head slightly.
He gathered his things and nodded toward the open grate on the other side of the room. "Alright, let's get moving. Stay close," he said, his tone shifting to one of focus and determination.
I nodded and took a deep breath and began walking towards the open grate on the other side of the room.
Suddenly I remembered something and came to a quick halt, causing Leon to bump into me. My determined mind stayed on track as I pushed past him, causing Leon to quickly step to the side. “I almost forgot.”
I could feel his curious eyes on me as I walked to the front desk Leon's inventory was laid out on. I followed his earlier actions, emptying the contents of my hip pouch out onto the wood. I sorted through the items for what we might need before reloading my gun and grabbing the small white cubic dial key, returning it to my hip pouch. After one last look over my laid out inventory I turned to look at Leon again. “Okay! Now I'm ready.”
He watched with an amused look as I brushed past him again, leading the way out of the main hall.

When we got to the safety deposit room I watched as Leon looked around, his eyes lighting up when they landed on the weapons locker across from us. As he broke away to follow through with why we were there, I turned to the keypad next to me. My eyes looked between the two blank square spots before I carefully placed the key into one of them. With the number 2 now accessible I stepped back to investigate the closed lockers, looking through transparent doors for the contents.
Leon approached me looking excited before his expression was replaced with curiosity. “What are you doing?”
I looked up at him. “I'm trying to see which lockers I should open.” I noticed that Leon now held a shotgun in his hands and gestured to it. “Nice.”
Leon looked down at the weapon in his hands and straightened his posture. “Oh- yeah, I thought so too. Could be useful.”
I stepped past him to circle around to the other side of the row of lockers. After a quick examination I returned to the keypad and put in the numbers 208 and 102. Two soft beeps echoed as they unlocked one after the other.
In one I found a roll of bandages and tossed it to Leon, who quickly caught it and inspected the supplies before storing it in his pocket.
In the other locker I found shotgun ammo. Though we both had shotguns, I decided to give the box to Leon, who took it gratefully. “Thanks.”
As I went to stand near the entrance with the man he looked down at me. “So what next?”
I thought for a long moment before looking at him. “Still have that blue key? I saw another door upstairs in the main hall that had the same symbol on it.”
Leon nodded and pulled the key from his pocket, holding it between his middle and index finger as he showed me. “I do.”
“Coolio!” With that I took the key from his hold and led him out of the room.

We returned to the main hall, and I led the way up the flight of stairs to the spade door. Leon took the key from his pocket, glancing back at me briefly before unlocking and opening the door.
Inside, a large library stretched before us, bisected by towering bookshelves. The side of the room where we entered featured large desks in neat rows. Scattered bodies, overturned chairs, and torn papers cluttered the space. The walls were lined with more bookshelves.
As the door swung open, a female zombie standing idle by a grand set of stairs lunged at us. Her clothes were tattered and stained with dried blood.
I quickly shot her twice in the knee, causing her to fall forward and faceplant into the floor. I hesitated to shoot her again, not wanting to waste bullets. Instead, I moved forward, deciding to end it without my gun.
The zombie let out a deep groan and reached out to grab my ankle.
I stomped on her wrist with enough force to hear a crunch, confirming it was broken. I stepped over her, one foot on either side of her body.
When she tried to use her other hand, my other foot pinned it to the floor. I leaned down, grabbed her head, and forced it to the side, hearing a small crack. My hand retrieved the knife from my thigh holster and drove it into the side of her neck, ensuring she wouldn't revive again.
Leon raised an eyebrow as he looked at me. "Quick thinking, but was all of that necessary?" he asked, his voice low, wary of drawing attention.
I shrugged, wiping the blood from my knife onto the tattered fabric of the zombie's clothing. "I don't want to end up without ammo if we get ambushed again like we did in the office.”
Leon nodded. "Okay, fair enough." He glanced around the library, his eyes scanning the bookshelves.
As I moved deeper into the library, Leon called out to me, holding a book with a damaged red leather cover. "Hey, I think I saw this in a picture—the statue from the art room earlier was holding it.”
I was about to respond when my gaze landed on a zombie sitting on the floor, leaning against the doorway on the opposite side from where Leon stood. Its head was slumped forward, its body still. But I knew better than to assume it was dead.
I quickly pointed my gun at it, and Leon joined me, aiming at the zombie. "It might be alive. Should we shoot it?" he asked, his finger resting on the trigger.
I paused, then grabbed a book from a nearby table and used it to nail the zombie in the head.
It suddenly sprang to life, its head snapping up as it lunged toward us.
I shot it twice in the head, and Leon fired once.
The zombie slumped back, falling to the floor with a dull thud.
I led Leon around the bisecting bookshelf, alert and ready for anything else that might come our way. The search for answers continued, and the danger was lurking around every corner- or at least that's what I was prepared for in my survival mindset.