Classified Information

Chapter IV
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They were everywhere. Chris had his back against a decrepit support, the cracked tiles catching the back of his sweatshirt. He felt a palsied grip on the fabric and shoved into it. The zombie’s legs literally collapsed under Chris’ push, snapping like toothpicks. Still there were more of them, approaching as relentlessly as the legions of hell. He shouted again.

“Leon, I’m not fucking around!”

Still no answer, no sign of him near the bathroom door. The guy could be dead, for all Chris knew. He shook off another one, hearing it groan in defeat. He spun and shot it between the eyes. It did nothing to thin out the herd. They still came, shambling up the sides of the platform, all of them ravenous, all of them sporting the tumor-like eyeball somewhere on their body. He glanced back at the bathroom and saw the door ripped off its rusty hinges. Several walking dead were gathered around the doorway, tearing like hyenas at something. A jacket, leather, it’s pockets fitted for and full of ammunition and gear.

Leon’s jacket.

“Leon!” Chris yelled, making a break for the bathroom. He almost tripped at resistance around his ankles. He looked down and saw the zombie he had just shot, it’s head wound still bleeding, it’s hand clasped on his leg. What the fuck? He’d shot it in the head! Then he saw it, bulging from the creature’s lower back: that pinkish quivering eye. He shot it, instantly feeling it’s grip slacken. He stumbled back and felt more zombie’s clawing at him, gripping his sweatshirt. He unzipped it and hastily slipped out, letting the zombies take it.

He scrambled away from the pack, reaching the edge of the platform. This wasn’t working. From the looks of things, Leon was gone, and he wasn’t far behind. He had to think fast. His hands wandered down to his tactical vest, and he felt a cold, lethal weight on one of the clips. A hand grenade.

I’m sorry, Leon, he thought, pulling the explosive from the vest. He tossed it across the platform, toward the ever approaching horde of mutated, walking dead. He jumped off the platform, sprinting down the subway tunnel as fast as his legs would carry him. There were more zombies in his path, but the majority were behind him, shambling on, ignorant of their own impending doom.

He stopped for breath, far away enough not to feel the blast, but the reverberations still made the world around him silent, save for the internal whine of temporary deafness. His hearing came back to a rumble, quickly rising in volume. He looked back to see the tunnel collapsing, the faint, faint light of the subway platform disappearing behind a wall of tumbling debris. The noise finally faded and the last rock fell, leaving only echoes and Chris alone in the darkness.

…

Leon rushed for the door, readying his weapon. He could hear the echoing din of moaning zombies from just outside the door. He reached for the handle, ready to throw it open and fire. But the door ripped open on its own, ripped off its hinges by several eager ghouls. They grasped at him, clutching for purchase wherever they could, namely his leather jacket. He struggled for a moment, hoping to save it, before letting out a frustrated cry and dipping his head, smoothly letting it slip off of him. Never had one of his coats made it all the way through a mission.

The zombies tore at the leather eagerly, its texture passing momentarily for skin. Leon pulled out his knife; they were an easy kill, distracted as they were, so there was no need to waste bullets. He lunged forth, stabbing and slashing expertly. They wouldn’t go down unless the G-Virus tumor was destroyed, but he hit each mark, each disgusting eyeball meeting his blade.

Outside the bathroom was an absolute horde. Zombies were crawling over and past each other, crowding the platform. He couldn’t see Chris anywhere. He drew his gun, barely able to keep the wall of bodies at bay. From the peripherals of his vision, something caught his eye.

Chris, to his left, at the very edge of the platform. It looked as though his jacket had been snatched too. Leon watched as the majority of the zombies shuffled towards him. Chris ripped something off of his vest and tossed it, jumping off the platform a moment later and taking off down the tunnel. Leon couldn’t see for sure what the object was, but he had a pretty good idea. Shit…

He rushed towards the other edge of the platform, opposite Chris’ side. He jumped off, tucking himself against the concrete, beneath an overhang of the platform. He hoped he was making the right decision; he had no idea if it was stable enough to protect him. Hell, he thought. I’ve taken worse risks.

The boom followed a moment later, shaking the world around him. He closed his eyes and braced himself for any debris that might fall. If the overhang gave, there was no surviving.

But it never came. He opened his eyes. There were limbs and chunks of already deceased flesh and bone littering the entire area. He came out from the crawlspace and climbed back onto the platform. It was destroyed, from the middle on to the far side, where he’d last seen Chris. He flinched at the state of the subway tunnel. It had totally collapsed, no longer passable. From under and between the debris were countless arms and legs, most of them belonging to zombies, but any one of them potentially belonging to his new partner.

“Chris!” he shouted. No answer, save for his echo. He tried again. Still nothing. He sighed, defeated. Nobody could’ve survived a cave in like that. He turned away from the disaster, crossing back to his side of the platform and climbing down to the tracks, continuing down the tunnel. He retrieved his PDA from his back pocket as he walked. Luck as hell it hadn’t been in his jacket. He pressed a button for a satellite call, waiting patiently for a click of connection.

“Hunnigan,” he said into the thing. “Status report.”

“What’s happened, Leon?” She sounded worried. “We’ve been expecting an update for hours.”

“Sorry to keep you waiting,” he said dryly. “I’m beneath Raccoon City, and it’s officially a biohazard area. There’s some kind of outbreak down here. I’m not sure what’s causing it. The scout team is long gone.”

“Are you okay?”

“I’ll be fine,” he said. “I’ve lost most of my ammo and supplies, though. I’m pretty vulnerable down here. When’s my pick-up?”

There was a pause before she answered. Her tone was careful and measured.

“I’m sorry, Leon,” she started. “They’re not sending out for you until you’ve collected a sample of the virus.”

He seethed, trying to keep himself from throwing the PDA down the tunnel. Those slimy, greedy bastards. They would.

“Hunnigan,” his voice did nothing to hide his rage. “I’m going to die down here. There’s fucking zombies everywhere. I was almost ripped to shreds literally seconds ago. You’ve got to get me out of here. Fuck the sample.”

“It’s not up to me, Leon,” she replied curtly. “They’re expecting you to try and get around the sample retrieval. Our line is being monitored for your verbal and visual conformation. That’s the only way they’re going to come get you out of there.”

He wanted to scream at her, to say terrible things. He couldn’t be trapped here, in his own personal hell, the one place he was afraid of. But it wasn’t her fault. She was merely a pawn for the big guys behind the scene. Just like he was. He was expendable if he didn’t play by the rules.

“Don’t worry,” he said finally. “They’ll get their sample.”

“I’m sorry it has to be this way, Leon.”

“Don’t be. It’s not up to you.”

“Just be careful, get what you need, and get out of there. Did you locate the other operative?”

Leon caught a sharp inhale in his throat before it sounded.

“Yeah,” he started. “Yes, he’s been neutralized.”

“Are you okay, Leon?” She caught the falter in his voice.

“I’m fine,” he replied shortly. “End of status report.”

…

The tunnel was caved in at another point in his path. There was a branch, a hole that led him further underground, his thin beam of light the only illumination in the complete, utter darkness. Sometimes he heard noises, from which direction, he couldn’t tell. He made sure to keep his gun ready at all times. He was more vulnerable than he would’ve liked in the blackness, and didn’t want to be caught off guard. These things weren’t infected with Las Plagas, filled with murderous intent and ready to kill him; if he was bitten, if he survived an attack with just a bite, it would only be a matter of time before he was worse than dead.

If that happened, he thought, climbing over and under debris, slowly descending, he’d turn his gun on himself. Jill and Claire might miss him, but it was better than them coming to look for him and finding his corpse shambling around to greet them.

Not that they’d ever find him. His PDA was gone. It must’ve fallen out of his pocket back at the subway station. Where Leon had died.

Now he was untraceable and lost, presumably being hunted by the living dead, with no partner, limited resources, and no way to call for help. He tried not to think about how he was getting out of this, mostly because there was no way he could think of. He smiled, morbidly. His job put him in the greatest situations sometimes.

Chris finally hit level ground, and the tunnel of debris began to clear out. His eyes burned at the light, and he shielded them for a moment, before realizing that wait, there was light, this far underground? And not just light, but the buzzing, flickering artificial glow of fluorescent tubes.

His eyes adjusted and he looked around. He was in a concrete hallway, decrepit, and long since uninhabited. Across from the hole in the wall, which he now stood in front of, was an office door, the treated glass upon it shattered. Still, he could make out the red and white logo, half assembled upon the blood stained shards of glass.

Umbrella Corp.

He grimaced. He was in an abandoned Umbrella facility. He supposed he wasn’t surprised; their labs formed a convoluted, intersecting web beneath Raccoon and the surrounding area. But why were the lights on? There shouldn’t have been electricity…

Well, he thought, only one way to find out. He started down the hallway, into the belly of the beast.

…

“We’ve lost contact with him. His last report detailed a hostile outbreak situation. This mission cannot be compromised. We need you to finish the job. This is nonnegotiable.”

“Yes,” she said confidently, steadily, masking her devastation. Chris…

“We’re sending you in with Agent Redfield’s partner. You two should be familiar with each other.”

“Yes,” she said, although she didn’t know why she said anything. She doubted they cared. “We’ve met briefly.”

“This will be her first mission since her MIA status, but she’s the only other operative of ours familiar with the area. She’s capable.”

Not after you tell her what happened to Chris, she won’t be… but she pushed the thought away. She had a job to do.

“You’ll meet her at the drop zone. You’re being shipped out ASAP. Any questions?”

“No,” she said. There was no reply, no good luck or good bye, just a click and a continuous beep.

She pocketed the phone, staring blankly at her surroundings. She had just moved in, her several suitcases still sitting on the beige carpet of the apartment floor. She had been so excited to see everybody. But now, less than two days after her arrival, she was being told that one of her dearest friends was dead.

But, she still had a job to do. She began packing, collecting her weapons and gear. As she worked, she felt the initial shock of Chris’ death begin to fade. The hurt would come later, but now there was only fury. She would not let his death be in vain.

She finished packing, double checking that she had everything she needed. Then she left the apartment, not bothering to lock up behind her.

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It has certainly been a long time since an update. I've been extremely busy, but am hoping to catch up on the short break I have. "Ladybee," thanks for the review. It is still a ways away from the main pairing, but you won't have to wait too much longer. I don't plan on this fic being as long as some of my other ones.

Anyway, I'm really starting to get a feel for the direction of this story, so hopefully I'll be more active with it, with plenty of surprises in store. Until the next update, read, rate, review, and enjoy.