No more tears - Leon Kennedy

Chapter 5

"Man is the only creature who refuses to be what he is."

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It was around 11 p.m. The night was dark, rainy, and especially unsettling.

We had managed to escape the city thanks to a bus driver who happened to be passing by, which was fortunate since he informed us that he was heading to the cathedral.

However, we ended up being very few, as even the owner of the armory couldn't stay on the bus until we managed to leave the city.

I took advantage of this "break" time to settle in the back of the bus, leaning against the edge, dozing off slightly while my body, especially my lungs, felt strangely tired.

But I knew I was far from being out of trouble, so resting was the least I could do... while Leon and Helena finished their debrief on the situation with Hunnigan.

"90% of the population in Tall Oaks has been infected with the virus. That rounds out to about 70,000 hostiles." I heard Hunnigan explain as my eyes widened.

"We also received word that an organization named Neo-Umbrella just claimed responsibility for the attack." she added as my breath paused for a moment, the name being strangely familiar to me.

This sudden breathlessness led to a coughing fit, which I tried to silently control by taking small breaths.

"Neo-Umbrella?" Leon questioned as my hand nervously gripped the collar of my blouse, tears welling up slightly in my eyes.

"I know what you're thinking." Hunnigan added while, from the corner of my slightly blurry vision, I saw Leon nod.

"Yeah... This is Raccoon City all over again."

Hearing Leon utter those words, with such a broken and helpless tone, made me feel sorry for him: he was reliving his first nightmare, but in a much worse way.

As my cough finally subsided and I discreetly wiped the blood that had stained my hand on my handkerchief, I stood up and made my way towards Leon and Helena to continue following the conversation.

"That's all the news I've got. Now it's your turn to help me, I need to know what's in that cathedral." Hunnigan finally asked as I took a seat next to Leon, curiously staring at the screen.

"I've got suits breathing down my neck for info."

I glanced at Leon for a brief moment, understanding that he was thinking.

"Suits?" he eventually asked, his tone slightly hesitant as Hunnigan nodded.

"Specifically Derek C. Simmons, National Security Advisor." she replied, immediately making me clench my fist as she mentioned his name.

Simmons was far from being unknown to me; he was the one I was tracking, as he had been suspected of embezzlement, bribery...

Unfortunately, he was faster and smarter than me, as he probably was the very person behind the assassination of the president.

While Leon and Helena went back to talk to the bus driver, I grabbed Leon's phone on the way to ask Hunnigan a few questions.

"Hunnigan, what is Simmons doing right now? Who is he with?" I asked calmly with a tone that was too confident not to contain even a slight hint of hatred.

"What?" she asked in return as I sighed.

"Hunnigan, please answer my question." I insisted.

"Well, he's with his bodyguards, and on the phone, but I don't understand why..." she began to reply as I hung up, satisfied with the answer she had given me.

He would most likely strike again once he had the information he wanted.

Suddenly, the bus hit a zombie, and, because of the driver's mistake, the bus started to drift.

Caught by centrifugal force, we all ended up piled up at the back, and as the bus started to tilt slightly from where we were, I realized that we were not in a favorable situation.

The bus was going to fall, and the worst part was that we had started to be surrounded by the horde of zombies lurking around.

The other survivors began to cry for help as the bus was being attacked, while the three of us drew our weapons.

"We're going over!" Helena yelled as the bus continued to tilt even more.

As the bus finally fell and we had the chance to land outside, it exploded shortly after.

The moment I stood up was the hardest, where, without even realizing it, my face tightened with grief when I realized that we were the only survivors of this escapade.

"They escape the infection... only to die like this." Leon commented, his eyes slightly shimmering as I lifted my head to let the rain wash over my face, which was already swollen enough from the events.

"There's no time to grieve. We have to get to the cathedral." Helena finally responded as I stared at her for a brief moment, speechless.

"Is it because of Simmons that you're doing all this, Helena?" I finally asked, causing both Leon and her to turn towards me, taken aback.

"What do you know ex-" she began to ask in return when we were suddenly interrupted by the ringing of Leon's radio, which he promptly took out.

"Leon, Lucy, Helena! Are you OK?" Hunnigan asked as we exchanged glances, to which I nodded without hesitation.

"Yeah... For whatever reason, we're still alive." Leon replied as Helena took a step forward.

"We're cutting through the cemetery to reach the cathedral." she affirmed.

Shortly after the call ended, we started making our way towards the cathedral, being cautious of the infected that appeared along our path.

When we reached the gravedigger's house, hoping to find the key to open the large gate, an infected dog leaped out of the room, causing me to let out a cry of surprise.

The moment I noticed that it had the key, most likely to the gate, in its mouth, I quickly regained my composure and grabbed one of my flash grenades, which I activated swiftly.

"You're not going anywhere!" I asserted as I threw it away, instantly drawing my weapon to fire a volley of bullets in its direction.

Once the dog was neutralized, I let out a sigh.

"Holy shit, you've got sick reflexes." Helena remarked as I smiled at her, picking up the key on my way.

"I just didn't want to have to chase it through the entire cemetery..." I replied, feigning modesty as I savored this sweet moment of inner glory.

As we approached the gate and I turned the key to unlock it, I had a bad feeling, which was confirmed when a zombie leaped onto Leon, carrying him through the fence.

I found myself alone with Helena.

"I guess we'll find a way to meet later..." I murmured as I looked over the fence, noticing that Leon was already gone.

As we began to move forward on our own, we heard multiple screams from below.

"So, what do you know, exactly?" I heard Helena ask me as I turned towards her, not understanding the subject of her question.

"About what?" I asked in return, slightly skeptical.

As I reloaded my weapon, I noticed she had stopped in her tracks.

"You didn't come to the university to watch over the president, did you?" She insisted as my face froze, a slight smile appearing shortly after as I realized she had almost figured me out.

It was the moment where I had to make a choice, either align myself with her knowing we had the same goal, or remain silent.

"Something like that, yeah." I finally replied, forcing a smile to appear more convincing.

"I see..." She responded, calmly nodding her head as she seemed to think for a moment.

Noticing that we had reached the gate leading to the cathedral, I smiled once again at her.

"Come on, let's get out of here."