Split

The Licker comes lunging through the window, glass flying everywhere. As it slams into the table, breaking it, Leon and Claire bring up their arms to guard their faces from the glass. As the Licker gathers its bearings, Leon grabs his shotgun, Claire aiming her handgun, and shoot at it. It only takes two shotgun shots and three from her handgun to bring it down before it can even get back up. As the thing lets out a dying screech, Claire and Leon reload their guns.

They look at the broken glass into the observation room. They look into it, seeing a torn up body, laying on the floor trying to reach for something on a shelf.

"Uh, I found this box," Leon says, grabbing it off the shelf again. He hands it to Claire before jumping over to the other side of the glass.

"I might know where the missing jewel is," Claire states as she looks at the box.

"Oh yeah?"

"Yeah, there was a statue in the upper east hall, where I found the weapon lockers card. It had a scepter in its hand, with a red jewel that looks just like these ones, but bigger,"

"This report has the combination for a safe over in that area too," He says as he jumps back over and holds up the paper, "Guess we should start with that area," Claire nods and they head back upstairs to the lobby area outside the chiefs office. Not having any other way to go, they head upstairs. Some lockers sit at the top of the stairs slightly to the right. To the right of the stairs, the room extends back a bit, some furniture covered in tarps taking up the space. A door sits to the right of the lockers, and another door is in the left wall against the back right corner of the room.

They head through the door next to the lockers, out onto a patio on the station roof. Some chairs sit at the far end, old, weathered, umbrellas struggling to keep them dry from the onslaught of rain. The wall of the station sits to the right, with some railing on the rest of the patio, except for a small portion on the left side a few steps away. To the left, down below is more roof, a much larger area. They can see the front of the helicopter that had crashed into the upper east hallway. It's still on fire.

"Hey look, those pipes," Leon states, pointing to some down below near them. Two pipes are side by side, one of them broken, water gushing out, "Maybe we can use those to put out the fire and get back to the rest of the station," Claire nods and they walk over to the edge of the patio, seeing a ladder where there's no railing. Leon heads down first. As he gets halfway down, the ladder suddenly snaps, a large chunk of it falling off, and Leon falls with it.

"You okay?!" Claire asks as she looks down at him.

"Y-Yeah," Leon states, "I think I broke the ladder's fall though," He pushes the piece off and gets up, "Maybe, stay up there, in case I can't get back from this side,"

"Okay. I'll uh, see if that other door leads to somewhere down there, don't die,"

"You too,"

As Leon turns around and starts exploring the area, Claire heads back inside, going over to the other door. She opens it up, entering another storage room, this one much more claustrophobic. Shelves and furniture are tightly packed, making the once spacious room a bunch of thin corridors that twist and turn like a maze. Down a path straight ahead, is a door. She takes a step in, coughing a bit from the dusty air, and looks down a path to the left. At the other end is a door with a heart symbol.

She heads down the path, but stops when she hears a floorboard creak somewhere else in the room. She stops and listens, then hears a faint moan. She looks to her right, where another split path is, then looks back down the path she's on. At the end, the path continues going right as well. She slowly makes her way down the hall, keeping her gun and flashlight up. She stops before stepping into the corner of the path, glancing behind a pillar to check. She spots a figure at the very end, their upper body swaying back and forth very slowly.

They suddenly start to move to the right, disappearing out of sight, their faint footsteps just barely audible and their moans. She quietly steps up to the door, inserting the key into the lock, which makes a small click. Turning the key, there's a louder click. The footsteps come to a halt. Claire turns the key back, quickly pulling it out before opening the door and stepping through, gently closing the door behind her. She stands on the other side of the door, listening as heavier footsteps start making their way to the door, the floorboards creaking.

They near the door, slowly coming to a halt. She holds her breath, feeling her pulse quicken and her heart beating in her chest. She finally breaths when she hears the footsteps start walking away. Shelves line the left and back wall, several boxes filling them up. Some weathered and armless mannequins stand directly to her right. A knife is plunged into one of their heads. A small wooden table sits in the back right corner of the room, a large bronze gear on top of it. Claire pulls the knife out of the mannequin and puts the knife into a sheath attached to her belt bag. She walks over and picks up the gear, which is heavy, but luckily it's just light enough to easily carry around.

"I have a feeling I'm gonna need you," She states as she walks back to the door. She puts an ear up to the door, not hearing anything. She quietly pulls the door open, and freezes when she sees a figure just a few feet away in front of her. She quickly notices that it's back is facing her. The figure stands there, their body swaying back and forth slowly. It must be the zombie she saw earlier. She takes a step toward it, bringing the gear up. As she takes another step closer, a board creaks under her foot. As the zombie starts to turn around, Claire slams the gear down with all her might, making a sizable dent in its head and sending it to the ground.

Some blood drips of the gear teeth. Claire steps over the zombie and heads back to the door she came from. She turns around, looking at the other door, then decides to head over to it. As she makes her way down the path, she spots a body, lying up against one of the shelves. Not taking any chances, she brings the gear up, and slams it against its head. The body twitches for a split second before going limp. She continues over to the door, and turns the knob. She tries to push the door open, but it won't budge, something's blocking it on the other side.

"Damnit," She mutters, "Well, might as well go tell Leon about this, and wash it off while I'm at it,"

Claire heads back to the patio, letting the rain wash the blood off the gear as she looks for Leon. He doesn't appear to be anywhere. Gunshots echo through the air. Claire grabs her radio.

"Hey, Leon, everything alright?" She asks into it.

"There were some zombies in this little fenced off area behind the station, but I took care of them. You find anything?"

"Yeah, a large gear that was behind another heart door. I've explored ever room I can, there's no other routes, I'm just kinda, stuck here,"

"Well, let's hope there's some place here. Ah, sweet!"

"What?"

"Found a clover key! I saw a water valve control before I got attacked, I'm a go turn that real quick and head back up to the roof, see ya in a bit,"