Chapter Text
Waltzing into the midst of a zombie apocalypse wasn’t really on his checklist for a successful first day on the job, though it’s true you can never truly predict the future — this was a bit much, wasn’t it? Leon had already witnessed one of his coworkers die, though he’d never truly had the pleasure of meeting him properly — never will, he’d been disembodied before his own eyes; Leon had likely shot and killed (hopefully? As morbid as it was) a fair few of his other associates too. His fortune had to be at an all time low. Still, there was nothing left to do now other than figure out what the hell had happened and get out of here, hopefully with Claire, the girl he’d met at the gas station.
It wasn’t easy shooting and running through the zombies littered around the precinct, and he’d only just touched the surface of the building. As far as he can recall, there were three floors and he’d not even completely explored the first floor. Finding three medallions around the building seemed easy at first — after all, one was just above the main hall, but now? He started to wonder just what was waiting for him.
It can’t be more gutting than seeing the bunting in the office, having to learn his very much dead coworkers’ names in order to receive the gift they’d left for him, the notes they left. The scrawls when the final deposits of despair really kicked in.
Nevertheless, Leon was pretty relieved to see a room lacking any undead activity. It seemed to be some sort of locker room after he turned the light on, despite it lacking quite a few, well, lockers. Perhaps calling it a storage closet would be more accurate. He rounded the corner at the end of the room and didn’t have time to blink before he was raising his arms and catching whatever it was that came flying at him.
“Woah!” His first thought was enemy, that he was incorrect in judging there weren’t any zombies in here — then the logic set in, zombies didn’t brandish weapons. A weak sob, maybe it was an attempt at a war cry, had him turning away from the clatter of — was that a broken mop handle? A strange sense of deja-vu hit him, but he was absolutely certain he’d never been attacked by a young woman with a stick before.
A young woman doused in blood, wearing what was once probably a white summer dress. Her hair was long and matted red (he could only just make out strands of blonde), it added little to the unhinged panic and fear in her eyes — which had tears spilling out like a leaky faucet, only the faucet wasn’t leaky it was on at full power. She pushed him away with a pretty meagre amount of strength before rushing past him.
Senses intact after the shock of seeing a survivor, Leon jumped into action and grabbed her wrist, perhaps not the best way to calm a frenzied girl down, but it wasn’t safe outside and he couldn’t have her running out.
“Hey wait! I’m here to help, I’m Leon, a police officer. Are you hurt?” He slowed his speech after the initial panic, and after ascertaining she wasn’t trying to dislocate her wrist getting out of his grip anymore, he let her go.
The girl turned to him slowly, as if scared of what she would see, though it seemed like she was a little bit placated by the sound of his voice.
“Leon?” Her voice was thick with fear and hitched through her heavy breaths, but he could see relief settle on her features.
“Yeah, Leon Kennedy. It’s, uh, actually my first day as an officer though.” He thought he might be able to get some semblance of a laugh out of her, but she merely stared him up and down, doe eyed in disbelief. Perhaps she wasn’t quite in a state for jokes. “So,” he cleared his throat after seconds of silence. “Are you hurt anywhere?”
He took a quick moment to look her over again, she had some scraped up knees but he couldn’t see any other clear major wounds. Though… he had to wonder where all of the blood came from, it was basically saturating the fibers of her thick knit cardigan and dress, even her hair — it was smeared across her face and neck. Perhaps she had a head injury?
“No…” She muttered, and this time Leon could hear a subtle lilt in her voice, which only became obvious when she continued. “I’m Lilian Penbrook.” Her voice shook as she balled her fists and began wiping away the tears on her face. Seems like she was beginning to calm down, it was a good sign. “It’s nice to meet you, I’m sorry that this is your first day though.” Leon was pretty glad that she had the energy to run with his terrible humour. Well, he found it uplifting, how else is he gonna cope with this shitter than shit situation?
One other thing, her accent. He didn’t realise at first until she introduced herself, but she wasn’t American, it seemed like she was English fit with a British accent. Could she have been studying abroad? Truthfully, it was the first time he’d met someone from the UK. The accent was incredibly charming, and although she was covered in blood, the girl herself was rather pretty too. Prettier than the dead ones trying to kill him outside, that’s for sure.
“Yeah, not quite the welcome I expected. Anyway, do you mind me asking how you got here, Lilian?” He asked, taking it upon himself to quickly scour through the lockers and containers in the room for supplies.
“I…” she took a long breath in before continuing, “I rent an apartment nearby here, I guess rented is more apt, anyway I- I-“ Leon, who had his back turned to her, quickly turned back to see tears welling up again in her eyes. They were already puffy and bloodshot, and Leon had zero experience with crying women.
He grabbed her arms softly and rubbed his thumbs gently in circles to attempt to soothe her.
“Hey, hey, it’s okay, you’re safe. You don’t have to tell me if it’s hard, okay?”
She shook her head and, despite the choking sobs keeping her from speaking clearly, she carried on.
“I was making ice cream when alarm bells started going off, there were urgent broadcasts on the radio and TV, and… when I looked out the window there were fires I didn’t notice before.” Lilian took deep breaths, “they were in the distance though, so I didn’t think much of it because I’m such a fucking idiot. I fell asleep after putting the ice cream in the freezer and woke up to another emergency alarm; this time I could hear screaming, and the fires were closer now.”
“What in the– is this hell? Am I dreaming?” Lilian gaped at the sight before her, peering out of her window at the state of Raccoon City. Just yesterday she was walking down that street with a bag full of produce to make ice cream, now… now there was — she almost gagged. She didn’t want to believe that there were just dead bodies littering the pavement, the road, blood splattered on the cars and just, well, everywhere! Lilian didn’t believe her eyes, convincing herself it was just a lucid dream — but she’d never had a lucid dream before, and try as she might, no matter how hard she pinched herself, she wasn’t waking up. Could she forcibly wake up from lucid dreams? She didn’t know.
“Shit, shit, fuck– what — you have to be shitting me.” Her eyes darted to the television, she scrambled to turn it on, hoping to any God out there that there’d be some kind of information on what the hell was going on. It wasn’t anywhere near Halloween, but maybe there was just a, you know, a trial parade or something?
There was nothing other than a local station airing a static message regarding a sudden virus outbreak in the city. Apparently people were turning into bloodthirsty and violent monsters who attack indiscriminately, the major portion of the alert was to head for the Raccoon City police station — a place she had visited surprisingly often, not for the police, but for the remnants of its museum history.
Taking another look outside, Lilian baulked. “This is really— you’re actually kidding me right now.”
As much as she hoped she could just stay in her apartment and wait it out, she knew no one would be saving her. It was at this point she wished she conformed to the norm and had some kind of weapon to bring with her, but nope. Best she had was a blunting kitchen knife and a lamp. No, she had a baseball bat in her wardrobe! Lilian sent a quick thank you prayer to her college friend Liam — hoping to God he was okay. She used to hate being dragged out to play pinch hitter in those games of baseball, but now? She could honestly kiss the guy.
Well it’s not like there were nails in it, but it should do the trick. Grabbing her keys and a small hip bag, again, she wasn’t the ‘fanny pack’ type but God did it come in handy now. She shoved her wallet in — because what if the rabid monsters gave her a fine, right? — and as a second thought rummaged in her bathroom cabinet for her first aid kit before squeezing that in too. Food and water might be important too, fuck. She grabbed a bottle from her fridge and in a hurry, not even bothering to think about nutritional value, she threw a few oat bars and a packet of cookies in there — letting out a sigh when she just barely managed to zip the bag up.
However, her brief moment of relief was short lived as a scream shot through her very core. It was close — it was very close, as in, in the building close. Then the groans and screeching met her ears and goosebumps appeared under her skin like a lice infestation. Paling, she tied her hair up, shoved a pair of loafers on — suddenly very glad she slept in her clothes, though a bit worried since there was absolutely no armour rating in a summer dress, she booked it out of her apartment. A mental farewell sent to her army of stuffed animals, she had a feeling she wouldn’t be seeing them again.
God, the bear her mother gave her…
“Shit shit shit,” she whispered, running down the hallways as quietly as she could — taking the extra effort to ignore every blood splatter. “I wish I knew how to drive, oh my god I don’t wanna go out there,” Lilian whined under her breath, eyes slowly clouding over with unshed tears. Obscured vision was NOT what she needed right now for God’s sake!
Deciding to head down the fire escape to the alleyway just beside her apartment building, her hand gripped the baseball bat like it was her lifeline. In a way, maybe it was. The creak and groan of the metal had her suffering sixteen heart attacks a minute as she slowly descended the building. Thankfully, she hadn’t seen one of those monsters yet. Lilian would soon regret even daring to think of such a thing, and by soon, about ten seconds after she thought so.
A muted thud behind her, she was about on the third floor of the building perhaps, her apartment being on the seventh, when she heard it. Lilian had made sure not to look into any of the windows of the fire escape, she knew some of them were open from other tenants, but she didn’t want to see whatever was inside. She turned around and almost pissed herself, her hands grew clammy and her face, already white as a sheet, grew to a ghostly shade.
A man was being eaten right in front of her eyes, about five feet away from her — a man had his face torn off his skull by, by someone’s teeth…? She’d seen enough movies, the thing now staring right at her was a zombie. Bloodthirsty and violent virus or whatever? This was a fucking zombie apocalypse!? The– the thing had its jaw basically hanging off of its face, still managed to maul another man of his somehow, Lilian wanted to puke but the window was open and it was getting closer. She ran, and she heard it growling behind her, the clang of its body hitting the metal of the fire escape, the shrill clunk of its heavy footfall as it pursued her. Maybe she would’ve laughed hearing it fall down the stairs if it wasn’t a fucking zombie!
Lilian could already feel a sweat coming on, though she knew it wasn’t due to the running. Finally at the bottom, she leapt off the stairs and ran into the alleyway – a shortcut she frequently took to the station. Her heart lightened for a second at the lack of undead plaguing the thin walkway, but, again, she should’ve known by now not to jinx herself.
A guttural and somewhat waterlogged groan turned her attention to a split in the alley, and of course there she was in all her zombie glory. Blood was bubbling out from the thing’s mouth, there was a woman beneath it with tear stains on her cheeks and a familiar face contorted into what could only be described as primal fear and pain. Her throat was torn out, she was bathing in a puddle of her own blood. That woman was her neighbour. She… might have been the screams Lilian heard before; her heart squeezed unbearably tight in her chest.
Doesn’t change the fact there is a flesh hungry monster currently stalking towards her to kill her.
Maybe it was adrenaline, maybe it was just pure instinct, Lilian wasn’t too sure but she definitely did not want to end up like her neighbour. Her knuckles were white around the bat, she steeled her legs and dug her heels into the asphalt. She had one shot, one good swing — she was known to be a heavy hitter — the ball just happened to be someone’s… something’s head this time. Vision obscured by tears slightly, Lilian couldn’t help but think it was a little less scary not having to see the things in full HD.
“Take this you ugly freak!” She yelled, probably sounded more like a cry of fear, as she swung the bat at full force. She felt the impact and the collapse of whatever bones were left, she could feel the squish and tear of flesh and it made her even more nauseous. A loud thud reverberated throughout her body, and her eyes fell to the body of the zombie she’d just hit and… where the fuck did it’s head go, there’s absolutely no way, was she superhuman or something? Lilian shrieked when it started moving, a quick peer over it — seeing whitened eyes staring back at her — told Lilian that no she wasn’t superhuman, and the head was very much still attached and there.
Not the time and place to consider an eye test, Lilian didn’t linger any longer and started running for the precinct without a second thought.
“When I got there, there weren’t as many zombies outside as there are now… there were a ton of cars and people rushing inside.” Lilian sighed, running a hand over her face. “For the first few days it was okay, well… it wasn’t bad bad, that is until one of the kids who got bit turned. Everyone had gathered in the main hall so there were a lot of casualties, the kid was killed in the end but… everything just fell apart.”
Leon listened intently, not bothering to comment on anything just yet. Since she had calmed down, recounting the story was a lot easier for her. Maybe it was unbelievable to the point that she’d just dissociated herself from reality, yeah, he understood that one. He was still struggling to comprehend the last hour of his life.
Her extended silence did prompt him to interrupt, however.
“What happened?”
She exhaled deeply, taking a short moment to pull up her cardigan that was slipping off her shoulder.
“More people turned, some people left to go find supplies, some people… couldn’t take it anymore. The officers, they did everything they could under the circumstances, I’m really grateful for them all. They sacrificed themselves for all of us honestly, their bravery was incredible.”
Leon nodded, unsure of what to say considering he wasn’t there — but he knew about Elliot’s courage, about the lieutenant’s.
“So, why are you in here then?”
She offered him a tense smile.
“I was fleeing, one of the survivors that went exploring for supplies came back bitten and hid it from everyone. There were only a few of us left at that point and, well it came after me. I ran into the reception room and–“ she started laughing bitterly, “they shut the shutters on me and the zombie.” She almost wanted to tell him it was okay after seeing his twisted up expression. “Anyway, I ran for it and ended up here I guess.”
“And, uh… the blood?” He held up her arm, looking down at the stained wool.
“I thought if I covered myself in blood they wouldn’t notice me, it didn’t work for the record. Now I’m just extremely uncomfortable and reek like a corpse.” How she’d later wish that was the extent of smelling bad. “I’ve been here for two days now, I don’t trust the water from the tap so I’ve been drinking the water I brought but,” she said as she unzipped her pouch and revealed an almost empty bottle. “My rations are dwindling.”
Leon’s lips quirked upwards unconsciously, Lilian raised a brow and asked him what was so funny, but Leon wondered whether he should say or not. Could it be offensive?
“Do you always speak like that?” This time she tilted her head in confusion.
“Like what?”
He was glad she didn’t immediately take offence or think he was mocking her accent, he didn’t mean any in the first place, and honestly he found both her manner of speech and the accent quite charming.
“‘My rations are dwindling’.”
She flushed and stepped back, Leon’s hands falling back to his side — he hadn’t noticed he’d been holding her arms the whole time.
“Wha– what do you mean! That is exactly what’s happening, what else am I supposed to say?”
“I don’t know, I’m running out of water?” He teased, and it honestly felt nice to let go of some of that soul crushing weight for a moment.
Her cheeks inflated slightly.
“Are you mocking me? You’re an awfully rude officer, Mr. Kennedy.” He spied a subtle smile pulling at the corner of her mouth, and a slither of pride ran through his chest. He got her to smile, she wasn’t crying anymore, that’s great .
“Sorry, sorry. It was cute I swear, I’ve just never heard someone speak like that.” He almost bit his tongue after realising what he’d just said — and that now was definitely not the time for it.
She flushed but due to the blood and hair over her face, she doubted the awfully charismatic officer noticed. Maybe he was just the type to flirt, or maybe that was his way of being nice? Still, she couldn’t delude him into thinking she spoke strangely, she spoke just as normally as everyone else!
“I have quite the crass mouth actually, cute is definitely not what I would classify it as.” Yeah, no, she didn’t even realise it. Leon just smiled and nodded.
“I’m looking forward to it then, Lilian. For now, I should probably take you back to the main hall… but I need to find a key first — do you mind waiting here?”
Lilian breathed slowly before jumping up to sit on the table, she was not in a rush to go back out there and face the undead — if Leon says so she’ll stay here as long as he wants.
“I don’t mind as long as you come back. Oh, also, call me Lily. It’s cuter, right?” She grinned with the perfect sprinkle of cheekiness. He found himself laughing alongside her as he checked the ammo in his gun and prepared to leave.
“It’s the person who makes a name cute, Lily.” With those parting words, he opened the door and hurried out, shutting it securely behind him.
Lily stared at the door for a good few minutes in complete awe, she couldn’t tell if he was smooth or if he was just a tease. She liked to think that was him calling her cute, but maybe she was delusional from the weeklong battle with the dead.
For the first time in what felt like a long time, hope and warmth bubbled up in Lily’s chest. She couldn’t wait for him to come back, and this time it wasn’t because she was scared, but because, for some reason, she had a feeling everything would be fine now.
As she went to run a hand through her hair, she grimaced at the stiff and dry clumps that wouldn’t allow any passage of her fingers through it. Okay, maybe drinking the water is a no no, but surely washing herself off and cleaning all this gross blood off couldn’t hurt? She has a cute guy to look good for now, what better time to dress to impress than an apocalypse, right? Besides, she wasn’t waiting to die now so she should probably at least try to look less like a psycho.
In all seriousness it was just getting absolutely disgusting, since she had a chance at survival now, she wasn’t going to look like a bum. Her dress was unfortunately never going to know the colour white again, but it felt nice, the sensation of all the grime washing off her.
“I really hope he doesn’t take long… I’m so sick of being alone now,” she muttered to herself, feeling her throat tighten at the memories. She never would’ve pegged herself as a crybaby, but I guess you would never know until you’re in the situation.
Leon’s words echoed in her head.
“It’s okay, you’re safe.”
She really hoped so.