No more tears - Leon Kennedy

Chapter 3

"Should I kill myself, or have a cup of coffee?"

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Lucy, Helena! Are you three alright?" Hunnigan asked through the communications as I sighed, grimacing slightly as I tried to get up completely.

Darn... I think I made a wrong move when I got out of the car...

"Hangin' in there. But we need another way to the cathedral." Leon replied as I moved closer to them, trying to stretch to alleviate the pain.

"Well, I've found an underground route that may be safer..." Hunnigan responded as I quickly made a face.

The sewers... How romantic.

"The sewers, huh? Great." Leon complained as I sighed, pretending to ask Helena for help in moving the grate that separated us from the sewers.

And as Helena dropped down, preparing myself to do the same, I felt a slight pressure on my shoulder before I leaped.

I shifted to Leon, a bit surprised by his gesture.

"You gonna be okay?" He asked softly as I blinked several times, not knowing how to answer his impromptu question.

Does he... think I'm scared of the sewers because of what happened to us in Spain?

Then, I finally let a soft smile appear, which, for once, had a hint of honesty.

"You know, Leon... it's been a long time since I got over it." I replied softly as he laughed slightly, apparently pleased with my response.

"Okay. If you say so." he concluded as I took a deep breath and then dropped into the pit.

As I landed, I knelt for a few moments, slightly troubled by the height of the fall.

The last thing I need is-

That's when Leon fell on top of me, causing me to let out a cry of stupefaction as I rolled away, noticing that he had grabbed me by the shoulders.

While he seemed to stare into the area for a moment, I ultimately freed myself, exchanging a baffled look with Helena as I moved quickly.

Following the faint squeaks of what appeared to be a rat with our flashlights, several unfamiliar growls could be heard from where we had jumped, causing my poor little heart to skip a few beats.

"We should hurry." Helena commented as I nervously nodded in response.

However, Leon was strangely relaxed for someone whose life was at stake.

"What's the matter? Not a fan of sewers?" He asked in return as I let out a sigh, slightly upset by the bad timing of his joke.

As if we have time for his bullshit.

"Leon. We have to accompany Helena to the cathedral." I added, but he didn't even turn towards me, as if my comeback was foreign to him.

And as he seemed to phase out for a moment, I started to move ahead, slowly descending the stairs that lay ahead of me.

"It's gonna be a tough road."

As I shifted back to Leon and Helena, who hadn't moved from their spot, my gaze briefly encountered Leon's.

Quickly, I looked away, slightly surprised.

Was he staring at me for the whole time or something...

"Let's get moving. We don't have much time." Helena intervened as they finally started moving, allowing me to continue leading the way while keeping my weapon firmly in hand, being mindful of blind spots as I made my way through.

After crossing a section that resembled sewers in both appearance and smell, we found ourselves in what seemed to be a tunnel created for subway tracks.

Despite Hunnigan's warning about the possibility of losing network connection once inside, we continued to move forward, relatively confident.

It was when we heard screams, even bestial roars, echoing through the long passageways that I became more apprehensive about the expedition.

Even after facing and neutralizing the first infected, it didn't stop me from feeling a bitter aftertaste about the situation.

When there's noise, there's something.

As I stopped for a moment to catch my breath, I was startled when I felt a hand on my shoulder.

"You okay?" Leon asked as I quickly shrugged off his hand, grimacing at the thought of him being too close to me.

"I'm fine, Leon. No need to ask." I replied in a clear, almost cold tone as I started moving again, nervously scratching my neck not long afterward.

But despite the slight fog in my mind, I barely had time to calm down as a peculiar but loud creaking sound started getting closer to us.

Shit...!

"Train's coming!" Helena yelled as we all instinctively pressed against the wall, letting the infernal machine pass in front of us in a deafening noise.

"How are the trains still running?" Helena finally asked as the train vanished from our field of vision, giving us a few moments to catch our breath.

"There was no one at the controls... Zombie express." Leon reacted in his slightly joking fashion as I sighed once again.

Just as I was about to respond with something rather cutting, my hostile intention was interrupted by a relatively close scream.

Without surprise, we found ourselves facing the source of the scream, and especially a dog that had the misfortune of being contaminated, which we had to neutralize along the way.

As we progressed through the subway tracks, we encountered more and more infected, distasteful surprises, and particularly trains that kept passing by.

If only they had shut down the systems before they died!

But we were slowly getting closer to our goal, and when we were blocked by a train that had lost power as its lights went out, we had to think of a solution to get through.

"We're not getting that open." Leon commented as he tried to open the door on the side of the train, without success.

"I wanna have a look around in there. Boost me up on top." Helena suggested as Leon nodded, quickly giving her a boost as I dealt with the zombies that had caught up to us.

As Helena entered the train, a strange silence ensued.

"So ... what are you doing around here?" Leon eventually asked as I turned my head towards him, strangely surprised by his friendliness.

While I started to form words in my mind to say as little as possible about the reason that brought me here, I sighed.

"Well... I'm working..." I vaguely answered as he let out a slight laugh, shaking his head as I found myself smiling too, without even realizing it.

"Alright. Glad you found a job... times are tough, in here." he responded as it was me who hid my amusement, covering my lips with the back of my hand.

"Not sure if I'm satisfied with the working conditions, but..." I began to insinuate as the door opened, revealing a blank Helena on the other side.

As we entered the train, weapons pointed, we advanced cautiously, while Helena intervened.

"I was attacked as soon as I entered... Be careful." she warned as we nodded, positioning ourselves next to the door as a scream echoed from the other side.

It's a horror movie atmosphere today...