Chapter 17: Monster Circus

Mr. X, as Rick was now calling rocket guy, was nowhere to be seen on the second floor. He and Leon had moved silently but with extreme caution back to the small courtyard where they met for the first time.

When they re-entered the building in the East corridor, the latter had been baffled by the sight of the helicopter completely encased in the wall. It gave even more credit to Rick’s story about Mr. X’s strength.

When they reached the part of the corridor leading to the Waiting Room, Rick advised Leon to open the shutter leading to Irons’ office. Just in case on their way back they had Mr. X on their heels. They wouldn’t have the time to work the crank then.

A good idea in Leon’s opinion, who walked further down, beyond the art room where Rick and Claire got the red gem and killed a Licker. Once the crank was in place and the rookie cop was working it, he asked Rick a few more questions.

“Who’s Sherry? I understood she’s a kid in your story but you didn’t say much about her.”

Rick was gun in hand and was covering their back in case a zombie or Mr. X decided to show up. “Sherry is a kid we came across in the boiler room. She’s around twelve or thirteen.”

“Why did Irons take her away? That makes no sense.” The cycling sound of the crank turning and the shutter rising echoed through the corridor and Rick hoped it wouldn’t reach very far.

“Probably because she’s the daughter of very important people on top of Umbrella’s food chain.”

“Probably?”

“She was wearing a St. Cloud uniform… Very expensive private school. The kind you can’t get into if your parents don’t make six figures annually. In Raccoon? It means they work directly for Umbrella and are important people.”

The shutter was almost halfway up. “Alright, so Irons kidnapped her to… use her as leverage for… something he wants. But what was she doing here in the first place? Why wasn’t she with her parents?”

“That’s a good question. I’m not sure, really. From what Claire told me, Sherry’s parents were often absent for work and she spent the whole week alone. She also seemed to know Irons but didn’t particularly like or trust him… Maybe one of her parents told her to come here when the outbreak started?” Rick turned around to look at the new way opening, checking for monsters.

“Irons lost it so she had to hide. Or perhaps she just arrived here tonight. St. Cloud is on the other side of town with all the fancy houses. It took me three days to reach the precinct and I wasn’t nearly as far.”

“I suppose it makes sense but that’d mean Sherry is very resourceful.” Leon grunted from the effort, turning the crank was becoming harder.

“That’s the thing with kids raising themselves. We always are.”

Rick’s use of the plural of the first person pronoun wasn’t missed by Leon who chose to not say anything about it. He would remember however.

“So… What about you and Claire?” The rookie cop changed the subject as he finished with his task. He pulled the crank out of the slot, folded it at its hinge and put it inside a pouch.

“What about it?” Rick opened the way towards Irons’ office.

Leon walked right behind him with a knowing smirk on his lips. “She sounded nearly hysterical when she contacted me and very relieved when she heard you were unharmed.”

Rick understood then what his companion was implying. Chuckling a bit he stepped into the office. “I saved her life more times than I cared to remember. Almost every time I got hurt badly in the process. I swear she’s a meathead without any spatial awareness.”

Leon caught sight of the computer on the desk and immediately went to sit behind it.

“Then Irons shot me out of nowhere. I fell on my face. She thought I was dead and when I groaned in pain…”

“She thought you had turned.” Leon finished in Rick’s stead while looking at the e-mails. He had a frown on his face.

“Yeah. With her hands cuffed she would have been in danger if I had risen. So she made the decision to knife me while I was still down. It took a lot out of her to make that decision. Thankfully I was alive and between that and the bullet wound she felt like it was her turn to be the caretaker. Then we encountered Mr. X soon after. A lot of emotional rollercoasters in such a short amount of time. There isn’t anything more to it. I’d say we’re friends at the very least.”

Leon nodded and typed on the keyboard. “I transferred everything to the FBI. I hope it will be seen by someone honest.”

“Don’t forget the ledger.” Rick pointed at a red one on a shelf to the side.

Giving it a brief look, Leon ripped some pages. “I don’t know anything about financial fraud but it's still evidence. Maybe Ada will be able to make sense of it.” He put the pages inside a pouch for safekeeping.

The pair left the office then and backtracked to the Waiting Room. Rick opened the safe behind the counter and what they found was quite the surprise. A short muzzle for a pistol and a high capacity magazine. Leon took the muzzle and added it to his own weapon. A gift from a family member which he had called ‘Mathilda’ affectionately. Rick took the magazine and loaded it to his own gun. The one replaced was stored away.

When they stepped out of the room, arriving in the Reception Hall, they heard loud heavy steps from the first floor. Rick immediately signaled Leon to crouch down. From the gap in the stone rail, the rookie cop got a first look at Mr. X. It was walking with determination towards the reception room where Rick had started his partnership with Claire.

“Jesus. He’s huge.” Leon muttered in shock.

Rick agreed in a whisper. “Yeah. Fortunately he’s not fast and agile unless he has some space. With enough distance he can dash fast and hit like a truck but otherwise in closed and narrow spaces you can dodge if you have good timing and reflexes.”

He tapped on Leon’s shoulder and carefully moved towards the library. They passed the Unicorn statue, where he and Claire got the first medallion then arrived in the S.T.A.R.S. corridor. Their advance stopped there because of the presence of a Licker crawling on the wall.

The pair had a silent conversation with their eyes. They would silently move but not attack, for the simple reason that they didn’t know if there were more around the corner. It was the right call to make as there was another down the corridor.

This time Rick was more careful than Claire had been when she opened the door earlier in the night. It didn’t creak. Entering with silent but hurried footsteps inside the office, Leon closed the door behind them.

“I hope those things encounter Mr. X,” Rick mumbled.

Leon was all for the idea. “I'd really like to see them take each other out. Very much.”

Rick went to the computer near the armory and used the S.T.A.R.S. badge. Soon enough the fenced door slid to the side.

“Jackpot.” They both said at the same time. A smile of someone about to rob something successfully on their faces.

There was everything they dreamed of inside the armory. Everything they wanted and needed to survive. Plenty of ammunition, be it 9mm, .12 gauge for Leon’s shotgun, six boxes for submachine gun and even a full box of magnum .357 rounds.

Not only that but there were four R.P.D. pouches inside a crate. Rick took one and left the others for Leon who had less on himself. Quickly they put as much ammo as they could inside of them. Rick even took two boxes of .12 because Leon was full.

Then came the weapon. There were only two. A semi-automatic .357 Magnum and a MQ11 machine gun. The latter even had two high capacity magazines.

“Take the magnum.” Rick offered Leon while he took the MQ11.

The rookie cop hesitated in grabbing the gun. “Are you sure? You’re lacking a bit in the firepower department.”

Rick shook his head. “Maybe but with one good shoulder I won’t be able to fire it properly. Besides.” He deployed the submachine gun’s integrated stock. “Claire and I found a sound suppressor for the MQ earlier. She still has it.”

“Fair enough.”

With his qualms gone, Leon strapped the magnum at his left hip and took the magnum rounds. Since he had no space left he switched them with two boxes of 9mm.

Before leaving, Rick took a brown leather jacket on the wall. An angel was imprinted on the back with the words ‘Made in Heaven’ above it. It belonged to Chris and Rick felt neither remorse nor guilt in taking it. Not when he was freezing himself off and Chris wasn’t even in Raccoon City.

Carefully opening the door, they heard a Licker’s screech from the left. Before they could react, the one on the right launched itself, like a missile, to the left.

“Shit! It’s him!” Rick whispered loudly and began to run to the right. Toward the shower room.

Leon was right behind him, wanting to get as far away as possible from the fight between Mr. X and two Lickers. From a quick over the shoulder look, it wasn’t much of a fight. The colossus had just torn apart one of its attackers. Effortlessly at that.

They ran without stopping and as fast as they could.

“Let’s get down, it’s a Lickers nest upstairs.” Leon told Rick who went straight instead of taking left and climbing up the stairs to the third floor.

They took the ones that went down to the first floor and things became more complicated for them.

Leon aimed his shotgun and fired at a Licker on the ceiling before it could move. It barely hit the ground that Rick was upon it. Boot on its stomach to pin it down and cleaver in his left hand hacking at the monster’s brain.

“Dodge!” Leon shouted.

Without thinking, Rick hit the deck. An extended tongue from another Licker ahead nearly decapitated him. When the appendage came swinging again, Rick rolled to the side and severed it with a slash of his cold weapon.

Leon took the opportunity of the creature losing one of its means of attack and screaming in pain to run forward and shot it once to make it recoil and a second time to obliterate its brain, killing it for good.

Rick was already up and running and took point. They crossed the West Office like a breeze. When he opened the Spade door, he was confronted with a zombified Marvin. At its wrist was a broken cuff.

Taken by surprise, Rick’s body moved on its own. It landed a punch on the officer with so much strength that it stumbled backward and fell on its back. Without an ounce of hesitation, Rick swung his cleaver right into his attacker’s forehead.

“Officer Branagh.” Leon looked down with a bit of sadness.

Rick didn’t care however. His body was still pumping adrenaline and his brain was still in ‘fight or flight’ mode. Seeing Claire’s red leather jacket right there on top of the crate, he took it without thinking, tied it around his waist and began to run up the stairs, Leon following closely behind.

Entering the library again they were very careful. Only one small room separated them from the last known location of Mr. X. Who’s to say he didn’t turn around instead of following them?

Slowly, they got up the stairs and walked towards the door leading to the clock tower. When Rick felt the wood under his foot creak loudly he froze. He shifted his weight on his back leg and tested how sturdy the floor was.

“What’s wrong?” Leon asked from behind him.

Rick looked over his shoulder. “I felt my foot sink into the wood. Like… The wood is going to give in and I’m going to fall through.”

He held firmly the wooden rail with his left arm then because his shoulder was still wounded, offered his arm to Leon who grabbed it despite being confused. A step forward the wood creaked even louder than before. Another and Rick felt the floor unravel under him.

He gripped the rail tightly, his own weight and gravity putting immense stress on his shoulder. Thankfully, Leon had been ready and pulled him back before he could fall to the floor below. Not a lethal fall but it would have hurt a lot.

“Thanks.” He said to his partner while getting his feet on firm ground.

Leon gave him a simple nod of acknowledgement. “Good call you had there.”

Pain flaring in pulses in his shoulder, Rick turned around and grabbed the rail again but with both hands this time. His feet used the bottom of it as support and moved slowly over the newly made hole where he landed safely.

Leon imitated him but got off a bit too soon and the wood splintered under his weight. Rick caught him with his good arm, just like he had been caught before and pulled him up.

“I guess we’re even now,” the rookie chuckled.

Rick laughed with him. “Honestly, if that’s the kind of cooperation we can look forward to, I don’t mind not counting. With Claire you usually get bruised at best, get shot at worst and you count all of them.”

Leon dusted himself. “You make it sound like she’s a bad luck charm.”

Taking a second to think Rick bobbed his head. “That’s about it. A competent bad luck charm.”

The conversation was cut short when they heard heavy footsteps coming their way, getting louder and louder. Quickly they went through the door and arrived on the balcony of the third floor. From afar they saw a lone zombie facing away from them.

Rick whispered his plan. “Let’s do this quietly.” He tucked his gun in its holster and pulled out his cleaver and knife.

“Yeah, better not attract the big guy.” Leon nodded and pulled out his own blade.

They walked slowly the twenty feet separating them from the corner of the balcony. Rick skirted the wall on the right to have a better angle to see beyond the corner. A right decision.

“There is a second,” He whispered to Leon who was leaning against the rail.

“How far from the wall?”

“Less than a foot.”

Leon nodded and he counted down with his fingers. When he had no more to lower, he sprung from his position and took the zombie by surprise, stabbing it in the neck. Rick moved fast too and kicked the kneecap of the other zombie which was farther away and turning from Leon’s commotion. The undead fell to its side and took a cleaver to the spine followed by a knife into the ear. It didn’t move after that.

He turned around to see Leon grab a green herb lying around and walk through the door to the clock tower. He had only been there the once when he asked Jugs during her break while he was having a ‘forced visit’ at the precinct.

“Now what?” Leon wondered.

Rick used his flashlight to scan the pitch black room. “Now… We search and hope that what we’re looking for is here.”

Leon grunted and turned on his flashlight too. Rick went to the back of the area and found a door. Going through it he arrived at a corridor reminding him of the one he and Claire went through to reach the West Storage room.

‘It’s probably on the other side,’ he thought, remembering the layout of the 3rd floor as best as he could.

The only thing he found there was a plastic bottle a bit bigger than his hand. From the label it was gunpowder. Shaking it, Rick learned it was full. Not a bad find, if he had the tool to make bullets, which he did not. It still could be used to burn something however so he pocketed it.

‘Claire would joke about my hoarding tendencies.’

He walked back to the clock room and was blinded by Leon’s flashlight.

“Sorry, I thought you were… Nevermind. I think I found it.” Aiming his flashlight up, way up, he showed Rick a rectangular orange box. “I got the other from the same looking box.”

Rick walked to his companion to have a better view. “The question is, how do we get it?”

“There are stairs we can lower over here,” Leon moved his flashlight to what he was speaking of. “But I think we need a huge gear over there,” This time he exposed the mechanism of the clock on the right side of the room. It was missing a part. “And that is the issue at hand.”

Rick looked back up at the cardboard box and thought for a moment. “How high do you think the upper level is?”

Leon stared at him curiously then, his eyes went up. “Twelve feet?”

“I’m six and you’re what, 5’10”, 5’11”?”

“Eleven.” Leon answered with a smile which said he understood Rick’s idea. “Wait!” He sidestepped and showed Rick a heavy wood table right behind him. It was half a foot tall.

“I think we have our way out.” Rick grinned.

They moved the table in front of the clock’s cage. Leon got first on it and kneeled so Rick could step on his shoulders. He then stood up. Rick grabbed the box and shook it. Hearing something moving inside was such a relief.

“We got one.”

“Good.” Leon crouched down and Rick jumped off to land on the ground.

Just to make sure, Rick opened the box and let the electronic part drop into his palm. He handed it to Leon who tucked it inside one of his pouches and they left the room.

Instead of backtracking through the library, they crossed to the other side of the 3rd floor. At the end of the balcony was a door with a simple thumb turn lock. They opened it and stepped inside the East Storage room.

From there they went back to Irons’ office and took the elevator down to the garage. Leon led the way to the jail to open the cell where the keycard was.

“Shit, that’s a lot of them. Should the doors open…” Rick muttered to himself as he walked right behind his companion passing cells with at least two undead in them. All of them did.

“I try not to think about it.”

At the end of the way they turned left and Rick saw a similar electronic box that he and Claire found in Irons’ room of antiquities. Leon immediately went to work and within minutes current was back in the area. A loud sound rang all over the place.

The moment the door opened Rick went inside and took the keycard. To the side was an antiseptic spray and he grabbed it too, wondering once again why this kind of stuff was in the most innocuous places in this building.

“We have a problem.” Leon called from outside the cell, shotgun in hands aiming at the way they came from.

Rick joined him, gun drawn and saw the issue at hand. All the doors had been opened. He was sure that should they turn around the corner a dozen zombies would be waiting for them.

He shot in the head the lone undead coming out from a cell separated from the others and moved forward, Leon by his side. He put two more bullets into the zombie to kill it for good and they turned right.

As expected a whole group of zombies was blocking the way.

“Fire in the hole!”

Rick threw the one grenade he had right into the middle of the pack. It exploded and took most of them out. Leon released his main hand from his shotgun and drew his gun to finish with Rick the few zombies still moving.

“That was effective.” Putting back Mathilda in its holster, Leon aimed his shotgun at the corpses, just in case one of them played dead.

They advanced slowly to not be taken by surprise and that was perhaps what saved their lives.

Mr. X suddenly appeared from the jail’s entrance and was blocking the only exit. His heavy steps reminded Rick once again of his fight against the thing’s prototype model in the Spencer mansion months prior.

Once again, Rick ran solely on his fight or flight instinct. His body acted on its own. It grabbed his remaining flashbang at his waist and threw it a foot before Mr. X.

He closed his eyes and waited for the sound of the explosion. When he heard it, he recovered his sight and ran forward, Leon already ahead. They went around the colossus who was disoriented on its knees.

They turned right, passed in front of the prison’s office and took the door left to arrive in the garage once again. The pair didn’t dare to slow down, knowing they were chased.

Unfortunately for them, Mr. X wasn’t really stalking, he was chasing. As such, instead of following them, he made a shortcut. Through the thick brick wall. Leon was sent flying to the side and Rick found himself choked and raised into the air.

Despite suffocating and the immense pressure on his neck and throat, he drew his cleaver and attacked Mr. X’s wrist. The lack of oxygen made the hit weak however and his vision began to darken while bright spots appeared in it. He distinctly heard gunshots but they sounded muffled.

Suddenly he found himself projected against the wall to the side. A flash of pain at the violent impact of his injured shoulder against bricks made him scream in pain but at least he was free from the chokehold.

Rick felt someone grabbing him by the collar and pulling him up to his feet before dragging him away. As he coughed and tried to catch his breath, he regained his cognizance quickly.

His speech was parsed. “What… the fuck… Just… Happened?”

“I saved your life.”

Hearing a female voice he didn’t know, Rick looked to the side. There was a surprisingly tall Asian woman in a brown coat and huge sunglasses.Behind her was a huge armored vehicle stuck into the wall. Rick understood then that she had run over Mr. X.

Leon, who had been the one who pulled Rick up, made the introduction.“Rick, this is Ada Wong. The FBI agent I told you about.”

‘If she’s FBI, I’m the fucking pope.’ The street kid thought but said something else. “Thanks for the save,” He rubbed his throat, still feeling the hand of Mr. X on it. “I thought I was a goner.”

She gave him a nod and looked at his companion meaningfully. “You got our ticket out?”

Rick pulled it out from his jacket side pocket and waved it in front of her face. She snatched it without a word and walked toward the gate, her high heels hitting the concrete ground in loud thuds.

He gave a look at Leon who just shrugged and followed her.