Having made up their minds, the group was in no rush to leave. As previously discussed, the dangers of the night far outweighed those of the day—a lesson humanity had learned through millions of years of evolution.
Under pressure from the others, Brad finally agreed to stay and wait until daylight to move out.
Lear leaned against a pillar in the Main Hall, staring blankly toward the main gate. Jill walked over slowly.
"What's wrong? Not going to get some sleep? There will probably be a lot of tough fights tomorrow," Jill asked softly, sitting down beside him.
Lear offered a faint smile. "I'm alright. I slept for quite a while earlier, so I'm not tired now." He turned to look at Jill. "You've been Tangling with that monster all this time; you must be exhausted. Go get some rest, I'll take the watch."
"Alright then, I won't stand on ceremony. I'll close my eyes for a bit."
Jill didn't walk away after saying this; she simply leaned against the wall next to Lear and slowly closed her eyes.
Listening to her breathing grow steady and deep, Lear silently took off his Police uniform jacket, draped it gently over her, and quietly watched her as she slept.
He suddenly realized that this woman, who usually seemed so incredibly strong, appeared remarkably fragile at this moment.
Sensing the warmth in her sleep, Jill pulled the collar slightly, curled her body, and leaned peacefully against the wall.
In truth, they didn't rest for long before dawn broke.
The night had been strangely peaceful; the roars of the zombies outside seemed to have vanished, replaced only by the intermittent sound of sporadic gunfire echoing from the distance.
When Jill woke up, Sherry and Katherine were still fast asleep. Brad had just come down from the second floor, clutching a ring of keys with an excited expression on his face.
Lear had his back to her, adjusting his gear. Jill looked down at the jacket covering her, a thin smile playing on her lips as she simply put the jacket on.
"You're awake?"
Lear heard the movement behind him and turned to see Jill wearing his Police uniform jacket, visibly dazed for a moment.
"Yeah, I am. Why, is something wrong?" Jill raised an eyebrow, meeting his gaze as she stepped forward and patted his shoulder.
Lear snapped out of it. "No, nothing's wrong. Get ready, it's time to head out. I'll go wake Sherry, could you please wake Katherine?"
With that, he started to turn toward Sherry.
"No need, Brother Lear, I'm awake."
Sherry was standing on the steps, looking at the two of them with a beaming smile.
"I'm awake too." Katherine walked up from behind Lear, her gaze lingering imperceptibly on Jill for a second. With a knowing look, she asked, "When do we leave?"
"Immediately. Get your things together quickly. The subway station isn't far from here; we're going on foot."
Lear holstered his gun and spoke in a low voice.
The five of them soon finished packing and prepared to head for the subway station.
"I'll take point, Jill covers the rear. Brad, you follow me. Sherry, you and Miss Katherine stay in the middle." Lear made the arrangements, and the group stepped out of the police station main gate.
As they walked along the road, stray zombies were occasionally drawn to them, but Lear quickly dispatched them one by one with his dagger.
He didn't use a gun, as the noise would only attract more zombies. In this environment, a dagger was far more practical than a firearm, despite being a bit more gruesome.
However, as they moved forward, Lear suddenly noticed that Katherine seemed to be testing her mettle.
It wasn't that she was entirely without fear of these zombies; she was simply enduring it, forcing herself to watch the entire process as Lear cleared the way.
"Miss Katherine, you really don't have to do this," Lear said, turning to her after finishing off a zombie.
"It's alright, Officer Lear. If I want to make it out alive, I don't think I can just rely on your protection," Katherine said, her face pale. "I'm sorry, it's not that I don't trust your abilities, but relying solely on others doesn't give me peace of mind."
Katherine paused before continuing, "Besides, I have a feeling I'll be dealing with these things quite often from now on."
Jill, who had been bringing up the rear, suddenly said to Lear, "Let Katherine watch. She's a strong, independent girl; she knows what she's doing."
Hearing Jill's words, Katherine gave her a small nod and a forced smile of thanks.
Lear said nothing more. He turned and continued leading the way, clearing zombies as they went. However, his strikes became faster, aiming for a lethal blow every time to deliberately minimize the bloodiness of the scenes.
The group moved quickly and reached the subway station in less than half an hour.
The fire shutter in front of them was tightly closed, a striking bloody handprint smeared across the metal. Seeing this, Sherry instinctively shrank closer to Jill.
"It looks like someone else was here and couldn't get in. This place must have been sealed off at the start of the outbreak," Jill said, gently putting an arm around Sherry as she analyzed the situation in a low voice. "If that's the case, things will be much easier for us. There probably aren't any Infected inside."
Lear stared at the gate, remaining silent.
If the U.B.C.S. had already established a camp here, there might truly be no zombies inside, but that crowd was equally difficult to deal with. The others were one thing, but God only knew what kind of trouble a guy like Nicholai would stir up.
As Lear sat in thought, Brad had already walked up to the gate and reached out to start pulling the shutter upward.
"Lear, give me a hand, it's a bit heavy," Brad shouted as he strained.
Lear snapped back to reality, shook his head to clear his wandering thoughts, and stepped forward quickly.
With their combined strength, they soon lifted the shutter enough to create a gap for someone to pass through. Jill was the first to bend down and slip inside.
Before long, her steady voice came from within:
"Come in, it's safe."
Sherry and Katherine entered in turn, followed by Brad, and finally Lear.
Once Lear was fully inside the subway station, Brad used his strength to slam the shutter back down, sealing it once again.
Lear turned around and began to observe the station's interior. It was pitch black and eerily silent.
"Looks like my judgment was correct," Jill said, switching on her flashlight. The beam cut through the darkness. "No ordinary survivors have been here."
Brad picked up the thread: "Exactly. I kept an eye on these subway stations when the crisis first broke out. Except for the ones near the stadium that fleeing citizens used as temporary shelters, there are basically no signs of anyone having been to the others."
"Are you... sure no one has been here?" Katherine, who had been silent, suddenly pointed toward a box not far away, her voice tightening slightly.
Everyone's eyes fell upon it simultaneously—stamped on the crate was a large, glaring Umbrella Corporation logo.
It was an Umbrella weapon crate.
It seemed the U.B.C.S. people had indeed arrived first, Lear noted to himself.
Jill stared at the logo and cursed under her breath, "Damn it. If Umbrella's people are really here, a fight is inevitable. Those guys are way harder to handle than zombies."
Just as they were staring at the crate, the sound of footsteps and several beams of light approached from the darkness of the distant subway tunnel.
(Translated by yourtl.app)