Starting Over Again (Book 1: Leon Kennedy)

Chapter 10: The Unexpected Enemy

THE LIGHTS IN THE ROOM flickered on and they were surprised to see a well kept hidden office. On their left was a miniature replica of the whole department and in the middle of the room were shelves filled with books and in front of it was a desk with stacks on paper on it. On their right was an entrance to an elevator shaft. They looked around the hidden office to see if they could find any bullets, and luckily they were able to find a few. When the whole place was clear, they all set foot in the elevator. Justine pressed a button and the shaft closes and moves downward. They ended up in another dark hallway. There was a plight of stairs at the far end of the hall and another corner which lead to another room. They first checked downstairs and found more defense items and then proceeded to the other room.

There were a bunch of pieces of machinery there, water pressure tanks, generators. As they walked along the steel bridge, they heard a loud ruckus above them. Whoever it was sounded distraught and in pain. They ended up in a room filled with more types of machinery, this time bigger pipes attached it. Leon and Luca moved the locker out of the way and the moment they did, a monstrous figure jumped down in front of them, shoving the two men back; knocking Luca down on the lower floor while the monster grabbed Leon and repeatedly slammed him on the steel bridge. Justine didn't know what to do, she was horrified at what she was seeing and was afraid to shoot, not wanting to accidentally hit Leon in the process. Leon and the monster fell through the floor and Leon quickly got up and picked up his gun.

"Leon! Luca!" Justine called out, her heart loudly thumping because of fear as she looked down at the two.

"Stay there!" "Don't go down here!" The two men shouted at the same time as they ran from the monster, trying to shoot at it as they did so. Justine raised her gun and fired at the monster, she missed a lot compared to hitting the monster.

The monster was making a fuss as it roared, and Justine swore it said 'help me.' It was hitting the pipes, causing steam to come out of it. The floor below her was slowly starting to get hazy.

Her mind was in a haze, I can't just stand here and do nothing... ugh, shit-fuck it! She jumped down on the ground and the two men quickly spot her.

"What the hell were you thinking?!" Luca snaps at her when the two men reached her.

"I couldn't just stand there and do nothing-"

"-He's getting close! MOVE!" Leon shouts at them and they all ran. The monster staggers and falls on in knees. Justine got a good look at it when she saw a gigantic, bulging eye on its arm. It looked bloodshot. The monster got up and quickly charged at them, making them run in the opposite direction. Justine was in the middle of the two, with Leon ahead and Luca behind her. They were firing their guns at it and the monster staggers and throws the pipe it was holding towards them. It was supposed to hit Justine but Luca managed to push her out of the way. The pipe hits his rib and he yelped in pain, wrapping an arm around his torse while the other held on the steel post near him for support. The monster got up but it looked like it was in pain, the eye on its arm looking redder than before. It moved to the ledge and flipped over.

There was a gash on Luca's rib. Leon helped Justine up, and when she saw Luca's state she immediately rushed to him; all of the anger and annoyance she felt earlier gone.

"Oh, god. We need to patch him up, he's bleeding!" Justine panicked but Luca calmly shushed her.

"I'm okay... I'm okay..." Luca reassures her. "Let's go, let's get out of here." He wipes a tear on her cheek. "This is nothing... I swear I'm fine... see?" He quietly groans as he leans away from the pipe and begins to head back to where they fell, and as he did so, a ladder slid down.

"Would you look at that, someone's watching us!" Luca feigned a cheery tone. The two let Luca climb first, and then Justine, and with Leon last. They walked along the narrow halls and ended up in what looked like a control room. Leon investigated the controls, Justine quickly went to search for a medicine kit. She opened a locker and found one and quickly rushed to Luca, telling him to sit on one of the tables so she can clean up his wound. He had to lift his shirt so she could clean the wound thoroughly.