In pursuit of a way out (S2)

Leon and Ada, having sneaked past the monsters in half of the city, reach the Spencer Memorial Hospital to find a way out of this hell. However, they just find another hell down there.

Chapter 11 - Fight Against The Unstoppable

In order to avoid the thirsty vampires on the street, Leon and Ada decided to use the subway network to travel underground. It took them longer, but as expected, there weren’t many vampires down there and they safely headed north until they were stopped by the wreck of a derailed train. By slipping through the crack on the wall, they managed to get in the subway station of Saint Michael Clock Tower, and later to the surface.

“Jesus...” Leon from far away noticed that the clock tower had been completely destroyed.

They entered the clock tower plaza and found multiple huge claw marks on the buildings and explosion debris around them, and something like blood on the ground. There must’ve been a fight in here, but between whom and where were they? Ada dipped the bloodstain with her finger to take a smell, and immediately she frowned.

“It’s not of a human nor a vampire. I don’t know what it is but it’s not around anymore.” Ada took a deep breath after wiping up the blood on her finger, “We should keep moving and be careful.”

“Yeah...” Leon remained alert and approached the portcullis that blocked their path, “Damn it, the chain was broken. I think I might need some help here...”

“Sure.” Ada came to his side and lifted the portcullis with him together, which was just a piece of cake for her. Leon widened his eyes again and was amazed at her supernatural strength. So this is the power of a true vampire. I might be able to save more people if I had such power, he silently sighed with emotion.

“What’s wrong?” Ada looked at Leon with confusion when she noticed that he was staring blankly at her.

“It’s nothing... Come on, let’s go.” Leon smiled helplessly and led the way. The hospital was not far away, since he could see the light of that building from here. Ada paused for a while and quietly caught up with him.

It was around 2 a.m. when they arrived at the Spencer Memorial Hospital. Leon carefully stepped in the lobby, and found out that it was like a war zone. There were corpses everywhere, and a lot of them were ripped apart by shots from **** rifles. Those were professionals’ doing, he thought. Some of the corpses, and even fully-turned vampires, were completely drained.

However, what interested him most were those multiple bloody footprints on the floor. They looked new, with three pairs of bigger ones and a pair of smaller one, and were leading deeper into the hospital. Are there survivors in the hospital, Leon wondered excitedly. If that was the case, he needed to go save them.

“I know what you’re thinking, but I don’t smell any living human in this building.” Ada placed her hand on Leon’s shoulder, and shook her head quietly, “I’m sorry.”

“Yeah... Yeah, I’m alright. Let’s keep moving.” Leon held her hand with a bitter smile while casting away the innocent thoughts inside his head. Of course it would be ridiculous to think that someone could still be alive in this hellhole, right?

Leon and Ada carefully walked along the corridor and reached the reception hall. There was a padlocked door around the corner with red light shining above it. Judging by the building structure, Leon believed that this was the way that would lead them to NEST 2 beneath the hospital.

“This thing is solid and strong...” Leon tried to break the padlock or the door, but failed.

“Let me have a look. It seems to be reinforced.” Ada came up to the door, but even with her strength she couldn’t break either of them. After inspecting them for a few seconds, she grabbed a pair of lock pick tools from her pocket and started to work on it.

“You know how to pick locks, too?” Leon was surprised and joyfully admired her skills.

“Hmm. I have plenty of time to learn things. And I mean plenty.” Ada glanced at him with a smile and quickly focused back on the padlock.

In less than a minute Ada successfully unlocked it and opened the door. Behind it was a downward corridor covered in ominous green light and a veil of mist above ground. Leon paused for a few seconds before continued heading down, followed by Ada. When he approached the door at the end of the corridor with a red “EXIT” sign above it, he wasn’t sure whether he actually heard someone screaming, or he was just extremely nervous and heard things.

They reached the hospital’s warehouse where dozens of Umbrella trucks and containers were piling up and blocking the entrance. It sure was quiet in here as they didn’t see any vampires or signs of fights, but just chaos. The platform at the end of the warehouse was still working, so Leon cautiously pulled the lever and it took them to the underground storage beneath the hospital.

Leon looked around with Matilda in his hand. It was dead silent in here and they went straight towards the surveillance room. After walking through a long corridor behind the room, they finally arrived at the entrance of NEST 2. Ada was disabling the UV lights in the sterilization room with her EMF Visualizer, while Leon was checking the directions on the wall.

“This place is probably larger than the NEST we’ve been to.” Leon gasped when he realized the horrible fact, “I’m assuming that Umbrella has been hiding this from the hospital staff. What are they doing down here?”

“Intel says that this lab focuses more on developing vaccines and weapons, to keep the viruses they engineered under control.” Ada replied with a sneer after shutting down the deadly UV lights, “Apparently they have failed.”

“Vaccines? Can they cure the victims?” Leon was surprised.

“Even if there were vaccines, it’s impossible to turn those vampires back into humans.” Ada sighed helplessly, “There is just no cure for ****.”

“But it might still help the infected before they turn, right?” Leon hasn’t given up on this slim hope yet as he stepped deeper into the storage with his eyes gleaming with excitement, “If they actually had made a vaccine, we have to get it! Maybe we can still do something... save someone...”

“Perhaps. I don’t mind doing some searching, but I need to remind you that the city will be bombed in less than 4 hours.” Ada gave a shrug and stayed close to him from behind.

“OK then. Let’s split up.” Leon thought for a second and made the decision, “I’ll look for the vaccine. You go find us a way out.”

“Are you sure? You’re not afraid of me leaving without you, are you?” Ada looked at him with concern, but soon disguised it with a playful smile. She didn’t know what was lurking in this NEST and she would feel guilty had something happened to him. But she knew this stubborn boy too well.

“Huh. Don’t worry about me.” Leon softly caressed Ada’s cheek with a smile, “We’ve been through a lot, and we’ll get through this, too. I’ll be fine. I promise.”

“You better.” Ada held his hand and stepped closer to share a short kiss with him, “See you around, handsome.”

Leon gently nodded as he watched Ada disappeared around the corner. He took a deep breath and went on searching the labs ahead. There were dormant vampires along the way and bloodstain was everywhere. It seemed that this place had fallen during the early stage of the outbreak, too. I need to be more careful, he thought.

On the second floor he found the main lab, where a large equipment was placed by the wall. The moment he got close to check on it, a female synthetic voice echoed in the room. “To begin vaccine synthesis, place the materials in the chamber.” So they actually have succeeded in making a vaccine, Leon smiled joyfully. According to the manual nearby, he would need a vial of culture sample and some test medical liquid to make the vaccine. Clear enough for him.

Luckily there weren’t many horrible things here that could pose a threat to him, although huge noises from like explosions startled him from time to time. With an override key he acquired on a nearby panel, he could basically go everywhere.

Leon easily got the culture sample from a lab back on the first floor. But when he was going to the incubation room, he was shocked to see the rows of dormant Tyrants in the tanks. He kept his footsteps as quiet as possible and safely got the test medical liquid from the storage. OK, time to go back, he thought with excitement.

Back in the main lab, he combined the vials in the vaccine equipment and successfully synthesized a large vial of purple glowing liquid. It’s not much, but the government should be able to mass produce the vaccine after analyzing it, and perhaps things like this incident would never happen again. Looking at the vial in his hand, Leon smiled.

“Leon!?” A familiar voice came from behind and he immediately turned around with Matilda in his hand.

To his surprise, it was Claire, the very same Claire Redfield that he thought was gone. But here she was, with an excited smile on her face. Her eyes were blue and there were no bite marks on her neck. She’s alive! Leon rejoiced to see her and lowered his gun.

“Oh my god... Claire, you’re alive! It’s so good to see you!” Leon quickly walked towards her and held her in his arms.

“Me too!” Claire sobbed slightly as she felt his warmth again.

She must’ve been suffering a lot after she failed to protect Sherry. She’s so cold... At first Leon thought it was just her being too afraid, but when he realized that the cold wasn’t just coming from her hands but her whole body, he felt a little bit weird.

And his suspicion has reached the top when he felt a cold breath on his neck.