Surviving Raccoon City

The Last Piece

"Are you sure you're putting them in right?""Course, I'm sure.""Then why is it still off?" I teased. Leon grumbled as he switched around the batteries, correctly this time, and detonator turned on, giving us 10 seconds till it goes off."Told you so." I bragged as Leon hurried to place the bomb on the iron bars before coming back over to the pillar we were hiding behind. "Jeez, how long is ten sec-" A loud BOOM cut me off. I felt Leon shield me with his body as dust and debris fell around us, my ears ringing from the explosion. Once everything in the room settled, he let go and inspected the damage. I shook my head to rid the ringing as I headed over to the statue and turned the dials. Climbing up, I grabbed the ornament when a loud crash filled the room, startling me enough that I lost balance and fell. Landing hard on my injured shoulder, I cried out in pain, losing my grip on the medallion. It rolled away from me and under a bunch of clutter. "Shit," I mumbled, ignoring the pain in my shoulder as I chased after the piece. A familiar screech echoed, followed by Leon yelling "Holy Shit" Acting fast, I snatched the piece and headed over to Leon. Another one of those beasts had appeared and was attacking Leon. As I neared, the creature launched itself at Leon, who was to busy reloading his weapon to act. Picking up speed, I tackled Leon out of the way, rolling a couple of meters away. "That was close," I joked as he looked up me with a grateful smile. His eyes trialed behind me and widened. "Look out!" he yelled. I turned to look around when Leon pulled me close and rolled to the left, him now straddling me. Where we once laid, the lickers claws were impaled into the wooden floors. "No, that was a close one," Leon said, watching the Licker shriek in anger, trying to free its hand from the floor. Its mangled head turned towards us, shooting out its tongue towards us. Without thinking, I pushed Leon backward, so he fell onto his butt, saving him from being smacked in the head. As its tongue retracted, it latched onto my arm and dragged me towards it. "Not again," I whined, trying to wrestle free when Leon grabbed ahold of me. "Let go off her!" he yelled, bringing down his knife and slicing off its appendage. It howled in pain, retracting the rest of its mangled tongue. Leon's grip never faulted as he took the gun from my holster and fired at the Licker. With its hand still lodged into the floor, it was defenseless against the onslaught of bullets. The beast let out one more last cry of pain as it slumped over dead. "Think that's the last of em," I asked, shaking off the manged tongue from my now bruised and salvia covered wrist. I laid down, the adrenaline rush from the fight, leaving my system. He let out a shaky breath, "Heres hoping," he answered. "Did you get the last piece?" he asked, retrieving his fallen shotgun. "Yeah," I replied, pulling it out of my pocket and holding it up for him to see. "Good, let's not keep Marvin waiting," he said, holding out a hand for me to take. "Thanks," I replied, accepting the help. We both ran back to the lobby in recorded time, our footsteps echoing loudly in the quiet hall. I quickly put in the two medallions, watching in awe as the floor around the statue lowered, and a doorway appeared. "That's kinda cool," I said, Leon, nodding in agreement. I wonder why on earth this was built here. "Let's go wake Marvin," Leon said, turning around to face the deathly still Lieutenant. We both shared worried looks before I headed towards him, gently shaking the older man's shoulder. "Marvin?" I called out. Marvin jolted upwards with a snarl reaching out towards me. I let out a surprised squeak, stumbling backward as Leon wrapped his arms around my waist to keep me from falling over. I observed Marvin as he sat upright, breathing heavily. "Marvin?" I tried again, feeling Leon's grip on me tighten. "We need to get you to a hospital right now, sir," Leon stated, causing the injured Lieutenant to look at us. "No, no," he started turning away from us clearly in a lot of pain by just moving. Leon began to let go of me to help Marvin up. "Come on, sir, I've got you-" "GO!" Marvin shouted, pushing Leon away. The sudden yell caused me to flinch back, while Leon ignored Marvins plea. "Look, we can still make it out of here together, if you just gimmie," Leon tired again, but Marvin pulled a gun aiming it at Leon. The aura in the room immediately turned tense as Leon held his arms up in defense. "Its too late. I tired Leon, Lara.....""But I couldn't stop it. We can't let this thing spread. It's on you two now. Just go," His voice breaking. I felt my eyes water, realizing there was nothing we could do to help Marvin. "I understand," Leon said, voice void of any emotion. Marvin started to cry as Leon turned to leave, my gaze switching to Leon, who looked absolutely crushed from having to leave his superior. "Let's go," he said quietly, pulling me along with him. Leon pushed the heavy rusted door open, revealing a dark stairwell. Leon pressed forward as I took one last look at Marvin, who was lying down again. "I'm sorry, Marvin," I whispered, wiping my eyes before following Leon down into the dark hall.