MEMENTO MORI
ii. THE REALM OF THE LIVING
❝I GUESS YOU'RE STUCK WITH ME.❞

THE GRUESOME DEATH OF OFFICER ELLIOT EDWARD had been the turning point of Leon S. Kennedy as the true severity of the outbreak had hit him hard. He had encountered the death of the Sheriff at the Mizoil gas station outside of Raccoon City where he had been forced to watch helplessly as the zombie had ripped into his flesh and then, he had met Claire Redfield and Areum Song ━━ the two searching for the former's missing brother. He had lost Claire and Areum after the car accident, being separated by the oil fire that had been caused. In the end, he had been forced to head to the RPD alone as he avoided the monsters that wanted to kill him. But, it had all gone over his head as his mind focused on surviving. It was as if the world had slowed down on Leon and he was forced to see what was in front of him. Seeing the deaths in the police station struck a different chord, considering these people would have been his colleagues. He would have worked alongside them, learnt how to be a good cop from them, and perhaps, even had become good friends with a majority of them. But, they were gone ━━ rotting away as they stumbled through the halls for something to sink their teeth in.

Leon took in a shaky breath as he continued to apply a medicinal paste made out of the green herbs that were potted throughout the station ━━ something Lieutenant Branagh had taught him how to make ━━ onto the bite wound on the girl's ankle. He had already tended the rest of her wounds but left the one on her ankle for last. It wasn't as concerning as the others and Leon reckoned she would be able to walk perfectly fine after he bandaged it. He grabbed the last bit of the bandages and wrapped it around her ankle. Once he was done, Leon glanced at the girl's face and couldn't help the sadness he felt at her pained expression. It was the same way he felt toward the Lieutenant, seeing him doubled over in pain due to his injury. At least, the woman was unconscious and the pain wouldn't hit her till he woke up. Still, Leon hoped for a speedy recovery for both her and the Lieutenant.

"Her name's Ayla Özkan," the voice of Lieutenant Marvin Branagh filled the empty air of the main hall, causing Leon to look in his direction. "She's with the Raccoon Times," he continued, shrugging his shoulders but not without a wince as he took in a sharp breath. "Seen her around a handful of times before the city went to Hell."

"So, she's a reporter?" Leon inquired, taking a glance at Marvin's intensive wounds. It wasn't something a simple herb could fix. He needed immediate medical attention, but Leon doubted any hospitals would still be functional throughout the city. The best thing they could do was get out of the city and get Marvin to a hospital in the next city ━━ even he and Ayla could benefit for a visit to the doctor.

"She prefers the term journalist ━━ makes her seem more impressive or something," Marvin grumbled as he tapped away on his surveillance device. So far, all he had seen was multiple zombies through the station and not much of anything else. "There was this one time... a few years back, I think. The Chief and she got into a spat over a case," Marvin continued. "Of course, Chief Irons threw her out of the station ━━ the only reason he didn't arrest her back then was because she was technically still a minor."

Leon chuckled. "She's feisty, huh?"

"Oh, that girl has the devil in her, for sure," Marvin joked as a few chuckles escaped lips, but heavy coughs quickly replaced them. He took in a shaky breath as he reached for his water bottle, gulping down half of it to soothe his burning throat. The Lieutenant glanced in Leon's direction, noticing the concerned expression the young man wore. He sighed. "I'm fine, Rookie. I would just worry about her, not me."

Leon nodded reluctantly. He held concern for the both of them, feeling the need to protect them both. After all, it was why he became a cop to protect the people around him. "So, uh, you've known her for a long time?"

"I would say that I've known her for several years," Marvin responded after a few moments of quiet thinking. "I remember the first day I met her. She was 14, I think, and she came into the department with her advisor and demanded to see all the files we had on this local company. Imagine that? A little girl bossing around a whole group of adults."

The thought made Marvin laugh, shaking his head as he looked down at the ground. It was stained red with either his blood or someone else's. Leon wasn't sure, but he tried to smile to break down the tension that was brewing in the room.

"Well, long story short, this gal uncovered a whole drug trafficking operation in less than a week. Ever since then, she's been at the station often. Solving and writing about a lot of our cases."

"Sounds like she would have made a good cop," Leon commented. He couldn't help but imagine the possibility of himself working alongside Ayla. A smile formed at the thought of a brash journalist butting into his case. Initially, it would annoy him and he would want nothing but for her to be gone but eventually the two would become friends. Leon assumed he would enjoy the woman's company. From what he learned, Ayla was hellbent on exposing the wrong in the world and wanted to keep others safe ━━ just like he wanted to do.

"Never in a million years would Chief Irons let that girl join the police force," Marvin hummed, stealing another glance at the unconscious girl. "There's been rumors that she and this other reporter ━━ Bertolucci, I think ━━ were trying to write this exposé on him. It all kind of died down after everything that went down, I suppose."

"I don't understand," Leon mumbled. "What did Chief Irons do?"

Marvin shrugged. "No idea, but they think he's a bad man."

Leon didn't say anything further as he watched the peaceful expression of Ayla Özkan. She had dark circles underneath her eyes. No doubt, due to the stress and sleepless nights. She shivered in sleep, causing Leon to stand and grab his jacket. It was the one he had been wearing earlier before he had changed into the police uniform. He wrapped it around Ayla, making sure to cover up the skin she had exposed. He sighed softly, taking a seat on the couch next to her. He met Marvin's gaze. "What now?"

Marvin shrugged. "I guess we wait for her to wake up and then you can continue the search for the medallions."

"Right, the medallions," Leon sighed, nodding his head as he looked at the large statue of a woman in the middle of the main hall. He pulled out the small notebook that he had gotten off Officer Elliot Edward's corpse. It was the key to their escape. Leon sighed, leaning back but being mindful of Ayla's legs. Marvin was right, waiting would be the best option. After all, three heads were better than two.

━━ ━━ ━━

AYLA ÖZKAN USUALLY MADE GOOD DECISIONS and she applauded herself on the matter, but recently, it seemed that she was making all the bad decisions. Her intuition, along with the city-wide announcement from the fallen mayor, had told her to go to the police station, but she heavily regretted her decision. Even in her state of balancing on the thin line between consciousness and unconsciousness, she could still feel the blinding pain of her injuries. A whimper escaped her lips as she shivered slightly, causing her to clutch onto the fabric around her tightly. She assumed it was a jacket since her hand had brushed against something metallic ━━ something she could only imagine was a zipper.

She flinched, feeling a warm hand gently touch her forehead. "She's not running a fever, must be shivering due to how much blood she lost," the person spoke up. It was the same voice that had saved her from the horde of zombies.

"How much blood did she lose?" Another person spoke up, it was a voice that Ayla recognized. However, she could not put a face to the voice.

"Not enough to kill her, but she probably won't have enough energy to do much of anything," her Savior had answered. He was close, within arm's reach. Ayla could hear the sound of his breathing and his foot tapping against the floor. "You don't think she'll become like them, right?"

"I don't know, rookie."

No, no, no, no. Ayla refused to become like the wandering zombies, it was not how she wanted to go out. As she looked around the dimly lit hall, her eyes began to flutter open, determination filling her. There were two others near her ━━ a blond stranger and Lieutenant Marvin Branagh. The blond sat on the space by her legs while the Lieutenant sat on a couch across from them. She found herself wincing when she noticed the wound he was suffering from. His uniform was stained red and he looked sickly, closer to death than the living. He needed a doctor.

Ayla assumed she looked more or less the same, but she wasn't about to let a couple of injuries deter her. She didn't feel terrible, but her wounds made her feel tired. She let out a small groan as she tried to sit up, but she immediately felt a hand on her shoulder.

"I wouldn't do that if I was you," the blond warned as he kept his hand on Ayla's shoulder. He was an attractive man with dirty blonde hair, blue eyes, a chiseled jaw, and light freckles dusted across his cheeks. He was a few inches away, making her gulp as she listened to her heartbeat in her ears. But, she still sat up despite his warning. He watched her, helping her sit up. "How are you feeling?"

"I think I'm okay, thank you," Ayla said, looking over the bandages. She couldn't see her wounds, so she could only go off how she felt. She glanced toward the Lieutenant, giving him a nod. "Good to see you alive, Lieutenant."

Lieutenant Branagh gave her a weak smile. "Same goes for you, Ayla, but may I ask why you're still in the city? Civilians were supposed to be evacuated a couple of days ago."

"I, uh, stayed behind on the behalf of the Raccoon Times," Ayla lied as her eyes darted between Lieutenant Branagh and the blond stranger. "Someone needs to get the true story out there, you know?"

"No offense, but they shouldn't have made you stay," the blond added. Ayla nodded, but the truth was that her boss had no idea. She had stayed behind on her own volition. "I think you should have left too when you had the chance."

"I was doing fine till I got here. Didn't expect so many of them," Ayla whispered, shaking her head. "Why are you two still here though?"

"No way out, all the exits are blocked by hordes," the blond replied, clearing his throat. His eyes darted toward the front door, leading Ayla to believe that the front door must have zombies on the other side as well.

"Can't leave the way I came in either," Ayla mumbled, remembering her entrance into the police station. "Something blocked the way, don't know what it was."

"Something?" Marvin asked. He shared a glance with the blond, both having a silent conversation. "A zombie?"

"I don't know," Ayla truthfully said. "I didn't get a good look at it, but it was something huge."

"It's too dangerous to try to leave through any of the exits," Marvin continued, gesturing to his laptop where he was able to look at the camera feeds. Ayla got a closer look, seeing that most of the hallways were crawling with the dead. "But, Leon had gotten a notebook from one of the officers that found a way out through a secret underground passage. We just need to collect a few things to unlock the door."

Ayla followed Leon's gaze and noticed the tall standing statue built in the middle of the stairs. It used to have a panel, but it looked to be removed to reveal three circular holes where the pieces were supposed to go. It didn't feel right to her to hear about a secret passageway built within a police station, but she had to remind herself that the building used to be a museum. "Can't we just fit some random three circles into it? It's just a statue. How would it know?"

"We tried," Leon said, giving her a small smile. "But, it didn't work. The universe didn't want things to be too convenient."

"Alright," she said, standing to her feet as she grabbed her backpack that was sitting a few feet away. "What are we waiting for then?"

Leon stared at her with a shocked expression, but the Lieutenant's did not change. "But," he started, "you're injured?"

"Yeah, but so are you," Ayla added, pointing to the bruises that peeked out from underneath his uniform. There were two reasons Ayla wanted to help. The first one being she didn't want Leon to do everyone alone and risk the possibility of getting killed and the second one is that she knew the police station had many secrets lying around. She had the perfect opportunity to explore the places she never had access to ━━ including Chief Irons' office and the S.T.A.R.S. office. She gave Leon a smile as she patted his shoulder. "I'm sorry, but you're stuck with me now. I recommend getting used to it."

His lips curled up into a smile as he nodded. "Let's get searching then."

♡

HERE'S CHAPTER TWO! Progress is being made, but a bit slower than I would like because we still have such a long way to go and I would like to finish this book. However, it is a little hard because I have so many WIPs and I work full time and go to school full time (don't know how I haven't burnt out yet), so it does take me a while to get things done. But, hopefully, we will see more updates for this book because I do adore Leon and I am so excited for this book.

This chapter was more or less a filler! Ayla did get to know Leon / Marvin and figure out what is going on with the station! She will begin investigating in the next chapter and I am so excited because she is super curious. I am, also, so excited to develop Leon and Ayla's relationship! They are so cute in my mind already and I just need to transfer that onto the paper!

I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter! I think I will try to make the chapters around this length! 2000 to 4000 words will be the goal for them! But, I have a tendency to write longer chapters these days so we will see what happens!

━━ AMARA
[ original ] PUBLISH DATE ━━ 02.09.2019
[ rewrite ] PUBLISH DATE ━━ 09.17.2021