False Flag

Chapter 4

They made their way up the road quickly but cautiously, constantly scanning the landscape for potential threats. As they neared the building, they stopped to examine several corpses in front of the entrance. Given the uniforms and earpieces, they were clearly once the security of the compound.

"Whatever they were guarding, they didn't do a very good job," remarked Ada as she inspected claw and bite marks on one of the bodies. "Looks like something was hungry too."

Leon started to pat down the mauled corpse for some sort of identification but to his surprise found a bullet wound instead. He turned the body on its side to confirm a suspicion—the wound in the front was an exit wound.

"Ada, look," he motioned to the bullet hole in the back of the corpse's jacket. "He was shot in the back."

She knelt down next to him to take a closer look. "That explains why there's not as much blood around the claw lacerations. He must have been long dead before something decided to chew on him."

"Let's check the other bodies."

Every body they checked had bullet holes, though not every guard had been shot in the back.

"I've seen this sort of thing before," said Ada. "They let someone through, someone who had the clearance to get in. The second the guards turned their backs was the second the gunfire started. By the time the others realized what was happening, it was too late."

"Wesker?"

"No, this isn't his style. He wouldn't bother with subterfuge to kill a bunch of low-level security guards."

"The question is, if these guards have been dead for a while, who did we just hear—?"

He stopped talking when he heard the growling, a low rumble that seemed to permeate their surroundings. He quickly located the source of the sound and pointed his TMP at the wolf that stalked towards them.

"Leon," warned Ada, "look around us."

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw them. Several more wolves were joining the first; the whole pack had them flanked.

They made only a brief moment of eye contact, but both knew what the other was thinking. Slowly rising from their kneeling positions, they started to back up, weapons drawn, towards the safest place they had: the building entrance.

The still-advancing lead wolf began to shake violently, howling monstrously as tendrils burst from its back.

"Shit," cursed Leon, "they're infected with Las Plagas!"

They both broke into a run, closing the distance to the door as the rest of the wolf pack convulsed through their mutations. The door itself, they found, was heavily reinforced, the only opening mechanism a number pad with a card slot.

"Cover me!" directed Ada. She slid a card into the slot and her fingers started to dance over the pad. "I took this off one of the bodies. Don't know the code though."

The wolves were now no more than forty feet away now and still advancing. Leon opened fire with the TMP, striking the first wolf squarely in the head with several short bursts. That wolf dropped to the ground but that provoked the remaining wolves, which now ran to their targets.

"I need your shotgun!" Leon shouted over the sound of the suppression fire he was using to keep the wolves at bay. He'd managed to kill two more and do some light damage to the rest of the pack, but still they advanced.

Without turning away from her ceaseless input of number sequences, Ada handed her shotgun to him. He quickly dropped the now-empty TMP for the fresh weapon, pumping it just in time to shoot a wolf as it lunged towards him, hitting it where the parasite lay and knocking it back several feet. It didn't get back up. More wolves ran towards them and Leon sent them flying back with shotgun blasts.

Finally the light in the number pad turned green and the metal door hissed open.

"Got it, Leon, let's go!" Ada pushed open the door and ran inside.

As he turned to run into the building one of the wolves shot out its tendrils, catching him in the legs and knocking him down. He grunted as he hit the ground, rolling over just in time to catch the mutated wolf as it pounced on him. In his position, all he could really do was try to hold back the wolf's head—if Leon let it bite him in the neck it would be all over. It clawed at his arms and sides, breaking skin and drawing blood. His survival instinct was still cycling through options when the weight of the creature suddenly left his body—Ada had given it a swift and devastating kick that knocked it off Leon and probably broke its neck in the process. She helped pull him up and drag him into the relative safety of the building, slamming the door shut as the rest of the wolf pack regrouped for another attack.

Leon sat down against the wall, panting. Ada knelt down in front of him, checking his wounds.

"Leon, are you okay?" With one hand under his bicep and the other holding his fingers, she gently lifted up his left arm to inspect the cuts that had been inflicted by the claws. "Sorry, I was busy making sure this room was safe. I didn't see you get knocked down."

"I'm fine…just some flesh wounds." He enjoyed her light touch as she moved on to his other arm. It was a nice change from being held at gunpoint.

He moved to adjust himself to a more comfortable resting position but a sharp stinging sensation in his midsection caused him to suddenly suck in his breath and slump back down.

"Hold still," ordered Ada. She leaned in close and saw a slash about six inches long in the right side of his shirt. Before lifting up the hem, her eyes met Leon's, asking his permission; he nodded. The light was dim but she could see the bloody gash that now marred his abdomen. It wasn't a pretty wound, but neither was it life-threatening. She let out a sigh of relief at that.

"It's big, and a little deeper than I'd like it to be, but you'll live. The blood will clot but we should still cover it up." She unzipped the utility pocket in her holster and pulled out a roll of bandages and a small canister of first aid spray.

She emptied the contents of the spray over his wound and noticed his expression relax as the analgesic took effect. The antibiotics in the formula would take care of the rest. Next she carefully began to bind the wound, her head dipping close to his whenever she had to loop the bandage around his back.

"Thanks for not wrapping the bandages over my clothes this time," Leon quipped with an affectionate smile.

"No virus sample to chase after this time. Also this is a lot less complicated than a bullet wound." She paused with a sheepish look on her face at the mention of that incident, before leaning in to kiss him on the cheek. "I never really thanked you for that."

They both became acutely aware of the position they were now in: their lips hovered inches apart and her hands rested on the bare skin of his abs where the shirt was still pulled up. They knew how they felt—but they also knew they were in hostile territory, where the distraction could have deadly consequences. Reluctantly and somewhat awkwardly, they separated.

"Ada, promise me something."

"What is it?" asked Ada as she set off to explore the building's interior.

Leon got up to follow her, the movement made easier with a treated wound. "After this is over, I want to spend one day with you. Just one day, you and me, doing normal things. No biohazards, no weapons, no spy business."

"All right."

At that, Leon felt a renewed sense of purpose in his mission; the sooner they figured out the leak, the sooner he'd be able to take Ada back to headquarters safely.

"Let's get this finished then." He walked ahead of her to take point, and together they moved deeper into the building.

... ... ...

Author's Note: Sorry it's been so long since my last update, it's been a busy couple of months. If you're still here, thanks for sticking with the story! Thanks for all the wonderful reviews too, they make my day :)