Denouement

"So, what are we going to do now?" Sherry quietly asked shortly after she cleaned away the tomato sauce from her face with a napkin.

Upon hearing her question, Claire and Leon stopped eating and looked at each other. By the tone of her voice, they both knew that the young girl was referring to the dreadful events that happened last night back in the now zombie-and-monster-infested Raccoon City. It's been at least eight hours since they escaped that hellhole, hitched a ride, and rented a room in this motel and they hadn't uttered a single word about what happened or what they were going to do next.

They were all hoping that they wouldn't have to talk about it. The whole event was so horrific and surreal that it left them sometimes wondering if it had all been a fucked up dream that their minds had conjured up. But it wasn't, the aches and pains they felt in every crook of their bodies were stating otherwise.

"We can't just pretend that it didn't happen.", Sherry said. "Those zombies will find a way out and kill people in the other towns and cities."

Leon and Claire looked at each other again. Since that had been the circumstances of how they met back at that gas station, which had been a few feet near the city line and few miles outside the heart of the city, where things had been worse, they knew she was right.

"We are going to do something, Sherry," Leon declared, "After we get a good night's rest, we're going to go to the nearest town and find their police station. They'll have to know about what happened and if they don't, we'll tell them."

"What if they don't believe us? The zombies and monsters we saw are stuff you find in books and horror movies.", Sherry said, solemnly looking down, and shivered, recalling the many grotesque, flesh-eating creatures they encountered.

Claire set her paper plate down on the bedside table and pulled Sherry into a comforting hug. "They'll believe us, kiddo," she said, her voice full of optimistic confidence, "I doubt we're the only ones that escaped from there. Right, Leon?" She gave the rookie cop a side glance, urging him to step in.

Leon nodded and gave Sherry's shoulder a soft pat, all while admiring Claire's confidence, which he wished he himself had. "Yep, we can't be the only survivors. Everything's going to be okay once we get into the next town."

Sherry looked up at him and flashed him a warm smile.

She trusted him.
                         ———

Claire woke up in a cold sweat. Her hazy mind was flashing with images of stomach-churning lickers, rotting zombies, and that bulky son of bitch in a black trench coat that just wouldn't leave her the fuck alone.

For a hot minute, she thought that she was in her college dorm and that everything that had happened in Raccoon City had been one fucking messed up nightmare. But then her eyes finally adjusted to the darkness, recognizing the layout of the motel room, and she felt the warmth of Sherry's small, sleeping body against her; cold, hard reality slapped her, cruelly, against the face, telling her that it was all real.

She sat up, running a hand through her long chestnut-brown hair and wiping away a few tears, which were threatening to fall, from her eyes. Without looking, she reached out and grabbed hold of her hair tie from the bedside table. As she was pulling her hair into a ponytail, she took notice of Leon moving around in his bed, turning around to face her and revealing that he was wide awake.

The young rookie cop sat up. "Did I wake you?" He asked, nervously and almost apologetically.

She shook her head. "I had a nightmare," she answered, "Try to guess what it was about."

"Let me see," he looked up at the ceiling, pretending to think hard, "Did it have something to do with a city that has the raccoon species as its namesake and filled with zombified citizens?"

"Bingo." She chuckled, lightly.

He responded by letting out a small laugh as he laid back down. "If it makes you feel any better, I can't sleep either. I get so fucking nervous everytime I close my eyes. I feel like something's going to grab ahold of me any second or that when I open my eyes, I'm going to be face-to-face with one of those monsters." He paused to look down and shook his head, in what Claire could assume was disappointment and embarrassment. "I'm being paranoid, right?" He asked, his tired, blue eyes looking up to meet her own.

A wave of sadness seemed to have taken over her as she shook her head, since tears were threatening to spill. "T-That place left us both paranoid, Leon." she answered and hated how weak and tired her voice sounded—hell, she hated how her voice sounded overall. She didn't sound like the confident girl she had been just a mere 48 hours ago. She didn't feel like that girl anymore. She just felt...weak and scared...traumatized.

Raccoon City and its horrible monsters had broken her.

It had broken her and Leon.

She sat up and hugged herself, letting her fingers glide over the many nasty scratches and bruises that covered both her arms. Her skin was clean and yet, no matter how hard she had scrubbed in the shower, she could still feel the grime from the sewers and the blood from the zombies she shot down under her fingertips. Her mind was whirling; every little sound she heard would shake her up and even the simplest form of physical contact, like a tap on the shoulder, would have her reaching for her gun, even when it wasn't on her person.

Tears began to drip from her eyes and even though she was aware of Leon's gaze on her, she didn't wipe them away.

"Fuck everything!" she mumbled, "Fuck Raccoon City! Fuck Umbrella!"

She closed her eyes and sobbed, quietly, because there was no fucking way she was going to wake up Sherry with her ugly crying and let her see how broken she was.
As she continued, she heard Leon get off the bed and walk towards her before sitting on her side of the bed and pulling her into his arms.

She hugged him back and hid her face in his shirt, all while making sure that she didn't hurt the bulletwound on his shoulder. "I-I'm sorry that I'm staining y-your shirt with m-my tears.", she stammered.

He patted her back. "Claire, don't apologize," he said, soothingly, "Just let everything out."

She did as he said and continued to cry it out until her eyes became dry and she couldn't do nothing but sniffle. And Leon, now laying down on the bed, still held her tightly in his arms, not showing any signs of letting her go soon. She didn't mind it, really. His warmth and the sound of his slow beating heart put her at ease and for a moment, she forgot about everything.

But then, Sherry's question from earlier popped in her mind when she felt the young girl move closer towards her with a small snore. She tried to push it to the back of her mind, but couldn't, and looked up at Leon, relieved to find that he was still awake.

"T-This isn't the end, right Leon?" She whispered. "Even though they're going to blow that godforsaken city to smithereens, this is just the beginning. I'm right, aren't I?"

He didn't say anything, but from the look in his eyes, she could see that his answer was a dreadful and unwanted 'yes'.

"But, remember what I said earlier?" He said. " 'Long as we stick together, we'll be fine'. I mean it, Claire. No matter what happens or what Umbrella decides to hit us with, we'll be together—the three of us. We'll be fine. We're going to make it out."

She smiled warmly and closed her eyes. "Yeah, you're right....We'll be fine...together."