Chapter 14: Back in Town
Hunnigan and Leon both surfaced quickly and swam to the overturned boat.
"Are you OK?" Leon asked.
"Fine...and you?" Hunnigan replied.
Leon nodded, and was about to ask Rebecca the same thing, but she was nowhere to be seen.
"Where is she?" Hunnigan asked, and she started to call out "Rebecca!" She did this a few times but there was no response.
After several seconds, which seemed like minutes, they heard a splash followed by coughing and sputtering, and more frantic splashing. They looked around and spotted the young medic as her head, followed by her flailing arms slipped beneath the surface. The two of them swam toward her, and Leon dove first. After several seconds went by, he resurfaced empty-handed. Hunnigan dove down next, and another several seconds later, she emerged with Rebecca in tow. Rebecca was conscious, but panicked, and her flailing arms were making things difficult. Leon then helped Hunnigan get Rebecca back to the boat, and together they hoisted her up on to the bottom of the capsized vessel. Rebecca lay there for several minutes, coughing and gasping, as her body tried to expel the water she'd swallowed.
"Are you going to be alright?" Leon asked.
Rebecca nodded and signaled with a thumbs up. After another coughing spell, she finally spoke.
"I think I'll be okay now. Sorry guys. It's a little embarrassing, but, although I've learned a lot of skills in my life, swimming isn't one of them. I guess the water has always kind of freaked me out."
A dense fog had settled along the coast where the trio stepped on dry land. Leon had salvaged a lifejacket from an equipment box under the overturned boat. After Rebecca put it on, Leon decided to get two more for Hunnigan and himself. Although the two of them were strong swimmers, none of them had any idea how far they were from land, and it had been decided that it was the smart thing to do. Fortunately, they didn't have far to go. Leon and Hunnigan had helped tow Rebecca in, and now they were on a small stretch of beach, shrouded in the thick fog. They could barely see in front of them, but they managed to make their way to the road. After they reached the road, they saw a sign that read "Kenwood Falls City Limits." The three of them decided the best thing to do would be to go into town, get dry, and then take Leon's car and make their way to the safe house at Mission Central. They knew that James and the First Family should have gotten there by this time, and they could brief them on the lab they'd discovered and barely escaped from.
After walking for about thirty minutes, their luck seemed to change for the better. Rebecca had managed to see the outline of a small building on the right side of the road, there were lights on.
"Guys look, over there."
Hunnigan and Leon nodded their approval and the three of them went to check it out. It turned out to be an auto-repair shop and it seemed like someone was working late. The shop was actually closed, but the mechanic was doing some late repairs. The young man looked concerned, probably because of the trio's appearance, and hesitated to open the door but Leon showed his DSO badge.
"Sir, may we use your phone?" Leon asked.
"I guess so, Mr. Uh..."
"Kennedy. I'm Agent Leon Kennedy and these are my colleagues, Rebecca Chambers and Ingrid Hunnigan. This could be a matter of national security, and we need your cooperation."
The mechanic, who was completely taken aback by what was happening, just nodded and led them into the office.
"Shit, the phone's out."
Suddenly, there was a loud crash like the sound of breaking glass. It was coming from the entrance.
"Sir?" Hunnigan asked, "Are any of your cars ready to go?"
"Yeah, why?" he replied.
"Because we all need to get out of here, and now!"
The four of them went through the door leading into the garage. They just made it through as three zombies came shambling into the office. They could see the walking corpses through the large window that looked out into the garage from the office.
"What the hell? What did you people bring with you to my shop?"
"I'm sure you know about the incident in Raccoon City right?"
"Yeah, who doesn't?"
"Well, it's apparently happening here too. We need to get into town fast."
"Right... Over there, the Camaro!" He exclaimed.
"What's your name sir?" Rebecca asked.
"Mark Connelly."
"Mr. Connelly, uh, Mark? I'm sorry to do this to you, and I promise we'll find a way to get you a new shop."
"Why? What are you doing?"
"This..." Rebecca pulled the pin out of a grenade that she'd managed to keep after the lab escape and tossed it through the garage window. The explosion took out all three zombies, and the survivors drove out of the shop, heading into town.
The drive to town was quiet for the most part. Mark was driving, Leon was in the passenger seat, and the women were in the back. Less than an hour later, they arrived in downtown Kenwood Falls. The street lights, and the light that was coming from the nearby buildings, cast an eerie glow in the thick fog surrounding them. Everything seemed normal, but Leon wasn't convinced. Raccoon City had been quiet when he arrived there back in 1998, and everyone knows how that wound up. They had used the GPS in the car to make their way back to the Sunrise Motel. The trio got out of the car, while Mark remained in the driver's seat. They went into the office to try and get the key to Leon's room again, but nobody was at the desk. The register on the other side of the convenience store section was also abandoned. "I have a bad feeling about this," Leon said.
Just then, they heard the sound of breaking glass, and Mark's screams could be heard as they looked out the window and saw a small group of walking cadavers ripping him from the car. Leon, Rebecca, and Hunnigan automatically un-holstered their handguns as the motel manager and his wife and daughter came into view, shuffling out of the back room. The friendly family that had been so cheerful less than eighteen hours earlier was now turned. "I'm sorry," was all Leon said as he fired three shots, each one entering the forehead of a different family member. "C'mon... We need to get the Hell outta here!"
Author's note: Well, it's been a very long time faithful readers. I think my last batch of updates was back in October or November, right around the time Resident Evil 6 was released. I apologize for yet another extended absence. I hope to rectify that from now on. I've finished RE6, which, IMHO, was great. I've also been playing the console version of Resident Evil: Revelations, which is also a great game, and takes place about a year before this story, so I may try to throw in a couple references here and there. Anyway, I thank you all for being patient and sticking around for this story. I also want to thank my newer readers and reviewers as well. I've started the set-up for the next chapter, so hopefully I'll have it posted within the next week or so.