Alan Han looked at the zombie sprawled on the floor and let out a sigh of relief, then followed Leon out the door as he kept watch with his gun raised.
Oh, and don’t forget to close the door behind you.
Seeing that, Claire straightened up and exhaled in relief.
“Thank you.”
“Thank me later, when we’re safe.”
Leon kept his gun trained on the steady stream of zombies coming from behind them, flexing the fingers wrapped around his pistol.
“Holy shit!”
Claire turned around, and the sight made her cry out.
Alan Han saw the horde too.
Goosebumps rose all over his skin, and the grogginess from just waking up vanished on the spot.
Bang.
Bang.
Bang.
The zombies inside the store kept slamming against the back door.
Leon cursed under his breath, then quickly looked around, trying to figure out a way out.
“This way!”
Alan Han beat Leon to the line he was just about to say and pointed at the police car nearby, its engine already running.
Leon nodded, fired a few shots at the nearest zombies to stop them from advancing, then ran for the police car.
Claire shoved away a zombie that was trying to lunge at her and climbed in as well.
Since he couldn’t drive, Alan Han decisively went for the back seat.
He shut the door, and only relaxed a little once he saw that Leon and Claire had both made it into the car safely.
“Hold on.”
Leon dropped the handbrake, shifted into reverse, and floored it, sending the car shooting backward.
Then he shifted again, drifted onto the road, and tore off into the distance.
Only when the zombies fell farther and farther behind did the three of them finally breathe easier.
“What the hell happened?”
Once Claire calmed down a little, she brushed the hair out of her eyes and looked at Leon.
“I don’t know.
Hopefully my coworkers at the police station can tell me.”
“You’re a cop?”
“Yeah.”
Leon nodded, then glanced at Alan Han in the back seat, still catching his breath.
“My name’s Leon S.
Kennedy.
What about you?”
“Alan Han.”
“And this lady?”
“Claire Redfield.”
Leon stretched a little, then turned to Alan Han.
“Han, you got to the Gas Station before we did.
Do you know what happened?”
Alan Han came back to himself and looked at Leon, strikingly handsome but still a little youthful, then at Claire in the passenger seat, all sharp energy and grit.
So this was more than a week after Raccoon City had completely fallen.
Some of his old memories were still in his head, which made the story he was about to tell a little more believable.
“I’m an intern at the Gas Station.
I had just started working when people came in asking for help, and that was when I found out Raccoon City had fallen.
We hid in the Gas Station for a week, but the zombies still found us in the end and trapped us inside.”
“I hid in there with someone I didn’t know.
Later, when a police officer noticed something was wrong while passing by during an evacuation and rescue run, that person went outside to get food and got scratched by a zombie.
By the time the officer came in, he had already turned.
I hit a shelf while struggling with him and passed out.
When I woke up, I saw you.”
After that, Alan Han said nothing more.
Leon listened, thought it over for a moment, then nodded and turned to Claire.
“So, do you live around here?”
“No.
I came to find my brother.
He’s a cop too.”
Leon glanced at her.
“Well, meeting like this must be fate…
no idea what’s going to happen next.”
The long stretch of road ahead gradually fell silent.
At some point, the outline of the city slowly came into view in the distance.
On a roadside sign, the Umbrella Corporation logo could just barely be made out.
…
“Attention, citizens.
Due to the disaster affecting the entire city, all residents are advised to head to the Raccoon City Police Station for shelter as soon as possible.
Free food will be provided to anyone in need…”
Listening to the broadcast coming in through the car window, Claire leaned back uneasily in her seat.
“Oh my God.
This doesn’t even feel real.”
“The police station isn’t far now.
They’ve got to know something.”
Alan Han looked out the window.
He had only just calmed down, and now his nerves were tightening again.
From here on out, things were about to go completely insane.
Leon eased off the speed as he looked at the barricade ahead, one eyebrow lifting slightly.
“Looks like we’ll have to go on foot.”
“No.
We’re going to have to run.”
Claire answered him with a trace of humor as she looked toward the street up ahead, where several zombies were crouched over a corpse and feeding.
“…Yeah, you’re right.”
Leon had seen them too.
Just then, quiet until now, Alan Han looked out the window and warned them both.
“Leon, back up.
There’s a zombie by the car!”
Leon didn’t hesitate.
He immediately shifted into reverse, but by then the zombies had already surrounded them.
Just as Leon was about to hit the gas harder, bright headlights flared behind them.
He looked carefully and realized it was a truck.
“Get out of the car!”
Leon shouted.
Claire shoved hard at the door, only to find it wouldn’t budge.
“Damn it, it’s stuck!”
Leon saw that the truck seemed to be veering off course.
At this point, all they could do was gamble.
“Hold on!”
He shifted into second and floored it, charging straight at the barricade.
The truck smashed into the police car from behind, and the barricade went flying with ease.
The impact left all three of them dizzy, but they still hurried to throw open the doors and stagger out of the car.
Before they could even catch their breath, gasoline started pouring from the damaged police car.
Then the flames on the dashboard flared, and the whole vehicle exploded.
In an instant, every window shattered.
Towering flames swallowed the car whole, and when they could see clearly again, all that was left was the frame.
The firelight lit up Leon and Alan Han’s faces.
The three of them had just steadied themselves after being blown back two steps when Leon saw the nearby tanker truck, its body turning red in the heat.
“Oh, shit.”
The next second, the tanker truck exploded.
Fire and shockwaves burst outward, sending both Leon and Alan Han flying.
Leon was hurled back first into a car door before crashing heavily to the ground.
Alan Han, on the other hand, skidded across the pavement on his backside, nearly wrecking his tailbone and feeling like his insides had all shifted out of place.
Leon struggled back to his feet and looked through the sea of flames.
“Claire!
Are you okay?”
Claire got up from the ground on the other side.
She looked a little disheveled, but she wasn’t hurt.
“I’m fine.
What about you two?”
“We’re okay, but…”
Alan Han looked at the zombies slowly closing in around them.
“We can’t stay here.
It’s too dangerous.
Go on ahead.
We’ll meet at the police station!”
Claire had caught sight of the situation on their side too, and shouted back at them.
Leon raised his gun and shot the zombies closing in as he answered her.
“We’ll wait for you there!”
After saying that, Leon looked at the growing horde and muttered in disbelief,
“This is ridiculous.”
Then he patted the still-stunned Alan Han on the shoulder and took the lead down a side road, avoiding the zombies around them.
Alan Han finally came back to himself.
Looking at the scene in front of him, he could only keep sighing inwardly.
What the hell is this.