For danvssomethingorother <3
It wasn’t supposed to go like this. Not even in Leon Kennedy’s worst nightmares had he imagined this. Leon thought he was used to nightmares, and he spent the entire drive imagining worst case scenarios.
Leon was going to drive into Raccoon City, only to be told that there was a mistake. They knew about him and his sordid past and they didn’t want that filth touching their police station. It wouldn’t be Chief Irons who told him that, either. No. It would be Lieutenant Branagh. The chief wouldn’t waste his time with it. After all, the chief couldn’t bother to call Leon in the first place to let him know his first day was delayed. No. It was Lieutenant Branagh.
Leon was going to drive into Raccoon City, only to be told that it had been a mistake. His lover of two years, Chris Redfield, was going to be tired of his relationship with Leon threatening his career. Chris being sick of that particular sword hanging over his head would explain the weeks of stilted phone conversations eventually petering into radio silence. Chris had been worried about Leon joining RPD, anyway, even though he refused to talk to Leon about why. It was fine. Leon could fill in the gaps.
Chris always liked to joke that Leon was the brains in their relationship, after all.
Meeting Claire at the gas station destroyed the first fear. They had far bigger things to worry about, after all. As for the second…
Claire, his lover’s little sister, hadn’t recognized his name at all.
They were surrounded by zombies in a destroyed city in a stolen police car, and Leon couldn’t stop thinking about how his lover’s little sister hadn’t reacted to his name at all.
Maybe RPD had bigger concerns than a brand new rookie, but Chris’s silence began long before Lieutenant Branagh’s call came. Warning him away, Leon recognized now.
His hand clamped over his mouth, sweat and blood and who knew what else making his new uniform cling to him, Leon pressed his back against the door and listened for the steady boom of that monster’s footsteps.
Mr. X, Leon had started calling the creature in his head. It wasn’t like the other monsters. It was more human-shaped, although no one would mistake that thing for human. It seemed one of its kind. Paired with how deliberately it was dressed and how single-minded it seemed, Leon had a terrible feeling about that monster.
Unlike the others, it seemed intelligent. At least somewhat so. It also seemed to have a goal. Leon ran and hid but it always seemed determined to follow.
To at least try and encourage himself on the drive to Raccoon City, Leon told himself that if Chris ended up breaking up with him, it wouldn’t be the worst thing in the world. Now all he could think was that there was no need for the world to follow up on that with an appropriate comparison.
His grip on his mouth was painful, fingers digging into his cheek, but Leon didn’t dare let go. He panted raggedly against his hand, his breaths making the leather glove damp, and he was terrified that the creature could hear him. Was the monster tracking him or just going after any target? If it was tracking him, how the hell was it doing it? How good was its hearing?
Leon used to think he was brave. Now he couldn’t stop thinking about that reporter, Ben, and how easily this monster had crushed his head. Now he couldn’t stop wishing, no matter how pissed off he was at Chris, no matter how selfish the thought was, that Chris was with him now.
Except if that odd note was right, Chris was in Europe trying to pretend that he wasn’t gayer than the fucking rainbow.
Insult to fucking injury, Leon thought, feeling sick and dizzy. Outside the door, those haunting footsteps remained as inhumanly loud and threatening as ever.
Were they closer? Farther? Leon couldn’t tell.
He had hidden several times before and Mr. X had left each time. Why stick with only one when there were multiple targets, Leon guessed. He wished he had paid attention to how long Mr. X looked before moving on. Was this longer than usual? Shorter? It was amazing how terror could fuck up one’s sense of time and space.
It sounded a little further. Maybe. Just to make hope spark in his heart. He needed to keep moving. Mr. X wasn’t the only thing here trying to kill him, after all. If all else failed, he was still armed. The knives he had found proved more useful than he expected, and if Matilda couldn’t do the trick, the magnum he found would give him enough time to run. He hoped.
At least if it crushes my skull, I won’t turn into one of those things.
Maybe later, when he wasn’t so terrified, that thought would be comforting.
Silence now. Leon swallowed and strained his ears. Was it gone at last? Or --
A massive fist tore through the wall. Before Leon could do more than gasp, that hand wrapped around his throat and picked him up like he was nothing. The rest of the monster broke through the wall and stood in what Leon thought had been a safe hiding spot. Leon choked and clawed at the hand but it didn’t do a damned thing.
Every ounce of training went out the window. Nothing in the police academy could have prepared him for a monster picking him up by the throat. Maybe there was some technique he had been taught that would be useful, but right then there was only blind terror and a crushing pain in his throat and a building pressure in his chest.
No no no no no.
Everything was growing dark. Leon couldn’t even scream.
He could feel the monster moving and felt something close to his face but couldn’t focus on any of it. His kicking grew weaker, his hands less scratching the gloves and more pathetically pawing at them.
Going to die --
As the shadows grew, Leon let his eyes fall shut. Behind his eyelids, he saw Chris grinning, mouth moving in a good-bye. The last time Leon had seen the man before everything fell apart.
Then the hand released his throat and Leon fell to the ground. He couldn’t even attempt to catch himself. He landed with a thump, bruising his right thigh and his elbow. With a choked wheeze, Leon curled into a ball.
He needed to run. Hide. Anything. But all he could do was shake and cough and wait for the world to stop fading in and out.
It’s going to crush my skull after all, Leon thought dizzily.
A shadow grew over him. Leon squinted, chest and head pounding. Mr. X crouched over him. For the first time, Leon noticed that the bastard had his hat back.
Before this thing kills me, I swear I’m going to knock its hat off again. Fucker.
For some reason, it didn’t break his skull open like a melon. It cocked its head and seemed to study him. Leon hoped it did it a little longer. Long enough for him to finish getting his breath back. Maybe he could hit it and run. Maybe he still had a chance.
Up close, its face was even uglier. Its skin was twisted and grey, looking like it melted and dried in gruesome wrinkles. The eyes were human-shaped but that was all, staring intently at him. Its nostrils flared like it was scenting the air. Or maybe just Leon.
“You,” Leon wheezed, “are one ugly motherfucker.”
It didn’t react to his words. There was no change in its expression. Then, slowly, one gloved finger touched Leon’s jaw. Those alien pupils widened and it sniffed the air again. This time, it shifted so there was no doubt it was sniffing Leon.
Just like that, Leon was so frightened he couldn’t breathe.