Part 2

House

Leon lifted his face to the sky, letting the cool rain fall onto his face. It felt refreshing as the drops fell onto his forehead and down his cheeks. It was as if the rain washed away all his fear, doubt and worries and replaced them with a calm, rejuvenated feeling. He felt like he could take on the world now.

But, as Leon started toward the village map, a sinister, cold feeling of foreboding grew within him. Something was terribly wrong and he knew it. No matter how he tried to keep himself positive, dark thoughts crept into his mind.

Wiping away the rain from his face, he walked to the village map just below a welcome sign. Indeed the path he was on split into three separate paths. The West path seemed to be the business area, the North path took him to an old house and the East path took him around to the castle entrance.

He decided to check the businesses first, since there were so few shops. The path was covered with huge, bare maple trees enhancing the fact that the village was deserted. The only bright spot was a small garden in the middle of the village. There were several sitting areas with a large fountain in the middle. Dead bushes and flowers lined the once glorious space.

Thunder rumbled in the distance as Leon headed for the first shop. There weren't many and most of the shops were locked minus the bar at the end. Leon entered finding the large room is disarray. Most of the shops were empty and dusty, but the bar looked as if there had been a struggle. Blood covered the walls and floor. Tables and chairs were knocked over. A bloody handprint was smeared on the wall near the office. Leon dared himself to look. When he stepped into the room, he wasn't shocked to see a pool of blood surrounded by shell casings in the middle of the room. He saw something on the floor and realized it was an FBI badge.

Leon frowned and looked at the ID. It was 32 year old male named Steven Hawkins. Probably that other agent's partner. He thought to himself. But, where is the body? He wondered.

As Leon left the room, he heard something shuffling near the entrance. Holding up his gun, he moved forward slowly. He saw a shadow move quickly past the front door followed by a slithering sound. What the hell…?

Startled, Leon faced the direction where he thought the shadow had disappeared. Seeing nothing, he opened the front door and left. He hadn't realized that his heart was pounding.

"What was that thing?" He said out loud in confusion.

He suddenly felt ill, feeling a wave of nausea come on as his head started to pound. He waited a few seconds and the feelings past. Shaking his head, Leon continued to the house. He backtracked towards the village entrance and took the North path.

The rain had stopped by now. Leon could hear the wind blowing through the trees as he reached an old house. The gloomy building was two stories high and with the way the front door and windows were situated, it seemed to have a wicked grin. The bare oak trees that surrounded the building gave it an ominous appearance. Leon wasn't about to lose his nerve now. He had a job to do.

Stepping inside the front door, he checked the light switch. When the lights didn't come on, Leon pulled out his flashlight. Though old, the building was nicely furnished, with black and while marble floors covered with a light red carpet. The room had a green hue as he walked down the narrow hallway from his flashlight. Quickly sweeping the end of the hallway with his flashlight, he went through the door at the end.

Now he was in another hallway. To his immediate left was a door and to his right the hallway continued. Leon decided to check the room to his left first. But, the moment he stepped into, the door closed and locked behind him. Leon felt his mouth twitch.

The room had four suits of armor, two on each side of the room. As he continued forward, he eyed the armors suspiciously. At the end of the room was a painting of a man with something glittering in the light next to it. As Leon went to pick it up, a deer head that was mounted on the wall made Leon step back. With a squirt of blood, the head fell from its mounting and grunted as if its head was just chopped off. With a spasm the head disintegrated in a pool of blood.

The room suddenly felt cold to Leon and the room took on a blue hue as if something had just entered the room with him. Feeling the mild wave of nausea again, he picked up the glittering object, finding it to be a key. Happy to be able to get out this room, Leon quickly turned. He froze at the sight before him. One of the armors was poised with its weapon high in the air.

Leon walked forward gingerly, his footsteps sounding loud to his ears. Eyeing the armor as he walked by, the armor swung its axe at him. Leon caught this just in time and stepped back as the axe hit the floor were he was standing. The armor disintegrated at the impact. Walking forward a little further, he noticed another suit of armor poised near the door. He could see it twitching. Using the same tactic, the armor also disintegrated upon hitting the floor instead of Leon. Unlocking the door, he breathed a sigh of relief as he stepped into the warmth of the hallway and the nausea past.

Now I have a key to get around this place. Leon thought to himself. But, what did that? That was no virus. Suppressing a shudder, he continued down the hallway.

The hallway cut to his left, so he followed it till he reached a door at the end. As he came near, the wind from the next room blew the door open followed by the rumble of thunder and a flash of lightning. Startled, Leon shined his light and aimed his gun at the door in case something decided to attack him. When nothing happened, Leon blew out a breath and lowered his gun.

Going through the door, he reached yet another hallway. Large windows lined the wall as more lightening brightened up the corridor. Seeing a mirror behind him, he noticed another suit of armor in the reflection innocently resting against the wall. He bravely walked on as the hallway turned right into a dining room.

He walked along the table, passing a fireplace. He felt a gush of wind near the fireplace and backup just in time as a blaze of fire nearly set his pants on fire. With a snort of annoyance, he checked the door in front to find out it was locked. Turning to his left, he continued down the next hallway.

He barely took two steps when the room went cold all the sudden. He glanced at the picture in front of him of man with a hook. Leon swore he saw the man move. His mind denied it until the hook nearly buried itself into his neck. The sharp edge just grazed his throat as he jumped back.

As the picture came to life, Leon's mind tried to deny the reality of what was happening. His head pounded and nausea took over. Forcing himself to ignore it, Leon sprinted away from the hook swinging man. Running past the dining room table, Leon spun and started shooting. The creature took several hits without any hint of slowing down.

In Leon's mind, the creature's face was distorted and seemed to bulge in a surreal fashion. He kept shooting until the clip ran empty. Distracted at trying to reload, the creature took no time swinging its hook at him. Leon put his arms up in attempt to protect himself. The creature moaned as Leon used all his strength to push the hook aside.

Succeeding at pushing the creature back, Leon used the split second he had to get some distance away from the creature as it raised its hook to strike again. Finally, his mind registered what he was looking at. First thing that came to his mind was a zombie. The moan, the bloody cuts on the upper body and fowl smell that lingered in the room all reminded him of Raccoon City. He knew that smell all too well and had tried so hard to forget.

The zombie lunged at him while Leon unloaded another clip into it. Then with a final groan, the zombie dropped its hook and disintegrated. Leon panted hard trying to regain his breath. He walked forward and nearly collapsed. Grabbing onto a chair, he took a minute for the dizziness to wear off. Fear gripped him when it occurred to him that if this happens in the middle of a fight, he could seriously be injured or worse.

Rubbing his face and feeling a little better, he figured that he could get some answers from his little friend, Jules when he called again. Foremost on his mind was what did they do to him and was there a cure?

Leon blew out a breath and headed back to his original course. As he eyed the painting that the creature came out of, a thousand questions popped into his head. That zombie wasn't trying to eat him, it was using a weapon to try and kill him. No zombie was that smart or that fast. Had they perfected the T-Virus? Or was it just a different strain? Or was it a different virus all together?

Thinking about this just made his head hurt even more. Before continuing through the door at the end of the hallway, Leon rummaged through his backpack for some aspirin. At least he could get rid of the headache if nothing else.

Afterwards, he continued forward, unlocking the door with the key. In the next corridor, there was a short hallway half way down on his left and a door at the end. Leon headed down to the door at the end of the hallway, swinging his flashlight along the walls to see if there was anything there. Satisfied that nothing was going to jump out at him, he unlocked the door and entered the next room.

The room was fairly dark. Moonlight from the clearing storm filtered through a nearby window, letting in some light. The room seemed to have been used for sewing since there were headless mannequins littering the room. One was stationed near the entrance on a stone pedestal and another was handing from the ceiling by a thin wire.

After his experience in the room with the armors, Leon was wary of the mannequins as he surveyed the room. The rest of the room was in disarray with sewing baskets, needles and yarn scattered around the room. In the back was a desk.

Leon made his way back and rummaged through the desk finding another key and a flash grenade. He kept his guard up as he left the room, but the mannequins remained still. He figured he'd check the next hallway, so he left the room.

The hallway was short, opening up into small reading area. To his immediate right were a grandfather clock and a short hallway right next to it. To his left was a large pillar surrounded by overturned chairs and toppled bookcases. Books were strewn all over the floor. Going to the end of the reading area was a door with a metal plate, a set of stairs etched into it. The door was locked and the two keys he had didn't fit into it. He figured it led upstairs to the bedrooms. Leon retraced his steps back to the next hallway and walked down it, unlocking the door to his right.

The only light is this room was a bare light bulb that swung gently on the wire. To his left were dirty medical curtains that led to the end of the room. To his right were shelves of books and little dolls. Leon didn't like the looks of those dolls as he shined his flashlight on them, but he had always hated dolls and he didn't like clowns that much either. His footsteps echoed loudly as he rounded a corner to the left, he also saw some more mannequins hanging from the ceiling and slightly wondered what this room was used for. As he passed another little doll, it fell forward showing a large knife sticking out of its back.

Leon felt his mouth twitch. He had a bad feeling about this, a really bad feeling. He rounded another corner and saw a key at on the table surrounded by knife wielding dolls. Approaching the table, one of the dolls giggled as it jumped off the table swinging its knife at his ankles.

Leon jumped back as more of the little wooden dolls awoke and jumped at him. The room went cold again like in the armor room, taking on the same blue hue as before. He dashed forward and grabbed the key as he felt a knife slice through his shoe. Leon winced and spun, kicking the giggling dolls away from him.

Getting pissed off; Leon tossed a flash grenade causing the dolls to cease their attack and drop. He was slightly surprised that it worked. He stepped passed the fallen dolls and quickly exited the room before anything else happened. Like the armors, these dolls were being controlled by something. He hardly thought it was supernatural. It had to be some kind of parasite or virus or… something. He just didn't know what. Whatever it was, Leon was bound and determined to get to the bottom of it all.

There was only one door that he hadn't been through yet, the door in the dining room. He figured that his newly acquired key would open it. As he headed back, he felt a cold draft against the back of his neck. Leon spun, his gun and flashlight pointed at the window at the end of the hallway. He noticed he could see his own breath as the temperature dropped.

It was totally quiet besides the sound of his breathing. A cold breeze blew through the window causing the curtain to billow out. Leon swore he saw a face in the curtain. Was it just a trick of eye? He wondered. He swallowed and waited for something to happen. But, nothing did happen. He backed away slowly as the hallway seemed to go back to normal.

"That was really odd." Leon said grumpily. He had had enough of this. He headed back to the dining room and unlocked the door. It seemed to be a study with a door to his right. There was a small light on the desk with an old typewriter next to it. There didn't seem to be anything amiss in the room. He opened the door to the right and saw it to be some sort of dead ended hallway lined with deer heads and rope. Not seeing anything of interest, he started to leave the room when something caught his eye.

There looked be a person standing in front of the window to the right of the desk. It looked like a human shadow. As he approached the window, the person moved and walked away from the window slowly. Startled, Leon aimed his gun at the window, but the person ignored him and disappeared out of sight. Letting out a breath, he looked out the window to see part of the castle, some stone pillars and a waterfall. He also noticed a gate and remembered he needed a key for it.

So far, the keys he had found were just ordinary house keys. None of them would work for the main gate. As Leon pondered on what he might have missed, he started back to the front of the house. As he approached the main hallway, he could hear the sound of a chain being dragged across the floor.

The major tip off that something was wrong was the typical color of the room turning blue and the sudden coldness. "Oh, hell." He muttered as a shadowy figured moved into the doorway.

Leon raised his gun to do battle as the creature approached.

Click!

His gun didn't fire. Leon tried again as he started to panic.

Click!

The creature was nearly on top of him, so Leon bolted. His mind went blank as he ran through the dining room, into the study and down into the hallway. When he reached the end, he realized he was trapped.

Leon spun around waiting for the creature to come for him, but it didn't come. The hallway was normal. The deer heads stared at him with their lifeless eyes. He let out a breath and leaned against a shelf unit to check his gun. Apparently, it had jammed. He grumbled to himself as he fixed it. As he moved his weight away from the shelf unit, he heard something clatter to the floor.

At his feet was another key. The key was rusted and old, just like a key to a castle gate would be. Leon snorted at the irony of nearly getting killed, but because of it he found a key he had nearly left behind. What are the odds?

Leon shrugged and headed back the way he came. He was cautious as he entered the hallway were the creature had been. Nothing waited for him, so he left the house and headed for the path that led to the castle.

To be continued…

Author's Note: Hope you enjoyed Part 2. Please feel free to send me constructive criticism. I worked hard to add more detail and I hope I was able to deliver in certain aspects. If not, do send me a message or review to let me know what else I can work one. Thanks in advance and thanks for reading!