Meeting Phoenix (Part 2) (Patreon)

Leon x Phoenix(OC)

Words: 2,043

Contains: blood, killing zombies, zombie description, vomit.

Making their way through the streets, nothing really looked too out of place, except for the smoke rising into the air in some sections of the town. Some cars crashed but not the worst Leon had seen, not as bad as hundreds of people been infected at once. Compared to that, this was very tame.
"So, Leon was it?" Richard spoke up after a long silence was held between the two men. "You have a family?" He asked wanting to try and make small talk. His palms sweaty and on high alert, not really knowing what he was supposed to be expecting.

"No, I don't have a family." Leon replied as he stopped at a cross intersection, looking at the map to see where they needed to go next. It wasn't terribly hard to navigate as it was a typical country town in Australia. The roads wide and the tallest buildings were two story houses, however they were in the more expensive part of town.

"I grew up not too far from this town, if you can believe that? It's so strange seeing this place like it is right now. Do you know what's going on here or are you in the dark as well?" Richard asked still looking around, keeping an eye out for any type of movement.
"I deal with this kind of thing on a daily basis. I guess you're with me, so no point in hiding any information. You're probably going to be seeing more than you're supposed to anyway." Leon said mentally mapping out where to go next, before tucking the map in his back pocket.

"What do you mean?" Richard asked, looking to Leon with a furrowed brow.
Leon sighs as he thinks about how he can explain this. "You seen any zombie movies, or played any games with zombies in them?" He asked turning towards the Australian.
"Yeah I've seen a few movies. What? You're not saying that's what we're dealing with! The walking dead?" He scoffed and chuckled slightly, but his smile faded quickly when Leon didn't waver in his steeled expression. "You're serious?"
Leon gives a nod.
"As I said before, shoot for the head." And with that interaction over, Leon took the lead once again, making his way up a hill and passed a bowling alley. Loud banging could be heard from inside, catching both of their attentions.

Leon looked to the Aussie, seeing what he was going to do. Richard turns to the alley and steps forwards before stopping and turning to look back at Leon for confirmation. Leon nods and pulls out Matilda from his right hip, turning off the safety and facing it down towards the ground.
"Could it be survivors?" Richard asked holding his own AR with both hands in front of him, angling the gun away to the side.

"Could be... But we don't know, be ready." Leon explains as he walks to the double doors. He opens the first set of doors allowing Richard to go through, opening the second set of doors. As Leon enters the bowling alley, taking out his torch with his left hand, he holds Matilda in front of him. His arms extended right over left for stability. There is a tall counter on his right, an open room with a pool table and a couple of arcade games to his left. Directly in front of him were the bowling lanes, at least 5 of them. The power was off, and the dreary early morning light wasn't making it the easiest to see.

Hearing the banging once again, it was clear that furniture was being knocked over or kicked in some way. Leon looks to where the sound was coming from. It was the office behind the counter. Turning to Richard who had his gun trained on the door to the office, Leon's eyes softened seeing the sweat running down the side of Richards face. His hands continuously adjusting their grip on his rifle. As Leon steps forwards Richard removes his finger from the trigger. Stepping onto the tall landing of the counter, Leon stands in front of the door, pressing his ear against it. Listening only confirms his suspiscion. An unhuman groaning and gurgling was coming from behind the door.
He closed his eyes and looked to the ground, his dark blonde hair falling over his eyes. He couldn't just let this person suffer so he did what he needed to. He wasn't supposed to be clearing out the town, but for it to be repopulated, the next job was to do just that.
Opening the door slowly trying not to alert the infected person inside, he shines his torch to the ceiling of the small room to be able to see better.

Raising from the ground, over a mass of what was supposed to be another human, stands a woman. Wearing a shirt with the bowling alley's logo her back she turns around slowly. Her face covered in blood, half of her jaw was missing while the other half hung wide open. Her clothes covered in old and fresh blood that dripped from the roof of her mouth. Eyes sunken and glowing orange amongst the black veins on her face. Richard steps up behind Leon and looking into the room sees the horrifying sight.
"What the f-" Richard was cut off by the infected woman lunging at both of them, a shrill leaving her mouth. Quicker than she had lunged, Leon had put a bullet in her forehead. The woman falling to the ground at Leon's feet. He waited a moment with his gun trained on the back of her head before lowering it. She was now motionless.

Richard hurried out of the bowling alley, Leon following slowly behind him. The Aussie was leant over, hands on his knees throwing up in the bushes that lazily decorating the front entrance. When he was finished, Leon walks up beside the Aussie and holds out a small bottle of water for him to drink from.
"Here.." Leon offers, waiting for Richard to take the water. Placing a comforting hand on the middle of Richard's back, the Aussie rinses his mouth out and then swallows the second mouthful.
"You gonna be alright?" Leon asked.

"What... the HELL was that? Is that what we are dealing with in this town?" Richard asked looking up to Leon who seemed rather unfazed by what he had just seen.
"Yep. Now that you have seen how fast they can move be on your guard. It just takes a moment of hesitation and your neck is gone." Leon explains as he removes his hand from the Australian's back. He walks towards the road once again to continue their journey.
"Leon..." Richard called as he composed himself. He turns around to face the Aussie with a questioning glance. "I'm... I'm sorry you have to deal with this thing daily." He says with an upset look on his face.

"It's fine.." Leon said turning around to continue walking.

Richard follows Leon, power walking to close the distance between them both. Turning down the next left street Leon pulled the map out once again.
"The Medical Clinic should be at the other end of this road, but it still looks like a fair distance to walk." He explains and the Aussie nods.
"Alright.. And thanks."
Leon frowns slightly, a little confused at the sudden acknowledgment. "Thanks for what?" He asked putting the map back in his back pocket.

"For putting that woman out of her misery." Richard explained as he looked to Leon.
Looking Richard in the eyes he could see it was genuine and gives him a nod, Leon's expression softening. "I bet you don't tell your parents what you do, huh?" The Aussie joked trying to lighten the mood for himself.
Leon just smiled and gave a chuckle realising his answer earlier wasn't as descript as what it should have been. "I told you before, I don't have a family."

"Awe, mate.. I thought you meant you didn't have a girl, I'm sorry I didn't mean-"

"It's fine.. I was orphaned when I was about 7, can't remember how old I was exactly." Leon explained continuing to walk down the road towards the Medical Clinic.

-----*20 Minutes of Walking*-----

"This looks like the place." Richard says seeing the Clinic sign in front of the building. The windows smashed and lights flickering in the main entrance as some limping figures walk past the windows. Leon takes Richard's vest and pulls him backwards to hide behind a plant bed out of view. Quickly he pops his head over the bushes and then takes a longer look after seeing no one in the windows.

"Alright.. It looks like it's crawling with infected in there. You ready?" Leon asked pulling his assault rifle from his back. He removes the magazine to check nothing was jammed and smacks it back in with a click. When everything looks alright he glances up to the Aussie who was taking deep breaths, psyching himself up for what was about to come.
"Make sure you are positive what you are shooting is undead, and aim for the head." Leon once again drops that very important piece of information.
"Right. I'm ready... I think." Richard said leaning forwards and getting ready to follow Leon when he leads the way.

"Good enough for me." He said standing up and hurrying over to the entrance. Hiding behind a picture covered window, he leans around to see if the coast was clear. Normally he would go in gun's blazing, but he had someone else to worry about, and if he could get around with hardly any interactions it would be better for the Aussie's sanity.

Following his lead Richard keeps an eye on Leon's 6, staying close while walking backwards to make sure nothing comes up from behind them.
"What are we looking for, Leon?" Richard asks keeping his gun trained and eyes darting around for any slight sign of movement.
"We are looking for the storage room where the flu shot is being stored."

"Flue shot? You think what's causing everyone to become like this is a flu shot?"

"That's exactly what I have been told, so that's what I am going to collect. It's common for it to be administered through injection." Leon explained leaning up against a wall coming to a T intersection. Looking up at the sign on the wall he sees 'Storage' on the right. Looking left then sticking his head around the corner to look right he sees a group wandering around where they need to go.
Leon gestures to the right, points to Richard, to his own eyes and then towards the left. Richard gives a nod and thumbs up getting ready to take the left in case zombies come around from that direction while Leon takes out the group on the right. As Leon rounds the corner he follows, standing back to back as Leon's assault rifle unloads semi-automatically in the heads of the group.
"They're down, keep moving."

"Roger." Richard acknowledges as he turns to face forwards, not seeing anyone else coming.
Leading them both down to the end of the hallway, Richard can't help but glance down at the bloodied bodies as he steps over them. He feels the colour drain from his face but he swallows the accumulating saliva in his mouth trying not to throw up, again.
"This should be it. Cold storage." Leon exclaimed as he opened the door angling his rifle forwards just incase there is a zombie inside.
As the door opens a young lady is curled up on the floor. She's in a hospital gown and lets out a scream thinking the zombies had opened the door. Her hands over her ears from hearing the shots a minute prior.