Creeecowwwwakkk
Just then, Leon's radio transmitter buzzed against his thigh. With a flash of his hand, it was in the palm of his hand.
"Leon, how's everything going?" Ingrid spoke on the other end.
"Not so great. I just survived another horrendous villager attack."
"How'd you escape?"
"That I have no idea. One minute, me and my friend here are about to be hacked apart. But as soon as we open are eyes again, they're gone."
"Hmm, that's out of the ordinary."
"To say in the least, Ms. Hunnigan," Leon said; "our easy route to the village has been destroyed due to a villager I had to get rid of."
"Is that right? Well, what else can you do?"
"There's a lake in the east that I can get to from here; across it is the church Ashley's supposed to be locked in. I'll have to go through a small mountain pass, which might be dangerous."
"Well, call me when you're got an update."
Leon nodded and then he was motioning to put the transmitter back where it was when Ingrid spoke again. "By the way, you said you had a friend with you? Is it Luis Sera?"
Leon lifted it back to his face. "No, it's one of my drivers. He managed to escape before they got the other one."
"Give your friend my condolences," Ingrid said.
Leon looked at Guntar who had no clue or idea what he was talking about, and then he nodded. "I'll do that, and I think he'll like that. I'll keep you in contact." Then the transmission went dead.
Guntar eyed Leon. "What was that, domn?"
"Oh, some lady in the U.S. She gives her regards to Arcano."
Guntar slightly frowned. "Well, she don't need to, but I thank her all the same." Then he began checking his Beretta and winced. "There ain't enough bullets in this baby to handle any more villagers; I'm almost out."
Leon grimaced when he looked at his stock; he was running out of ammunition too. He dreaded there was no other way for him to find any ammo in this devil-like place. If there was, then that could not have been right. These villagers resorted to axes and scythes, and not guns. Well, they did resort to chainsaws, but seeing the same 'thing' twice could not have been possible. Now, Leon has killed that 'thing' more than possible.
"Dammit!" he cursed; "this whole thing is starting to sound as crazy as the Supreme Court!"
Guntar sighed. "I don't get it either. Now is the time I wish this all was a dream. I can't help but feel trapped inside myself… I really feel like hiding."
Leon couldn't help but pat the man on the shoulder. "I know that feeling too. It's fear residing in you. I have that fear almost all the time, I'm afraid. It lurks in me from memory and childish horrors, remaining dormant inside me as though it's awakening would be the end of me. I can't tell whether I did escape Raccoon City or not. Whatever resided in it before the bomb could very well be inside me. I can't tell at all; I just know it's a residing evil."
Guntar looked at Leon, cautiously. "You fight it?"
"I try. But every time I do, I see them again. It's like…. Well, it's rather proverbial to say 'like' when I could say 'the same as'… At night when I can't sleep, I can still see their horrid faces, gaping at me almost longingly. They're not real, except in my mind's eye."
Whether by his words alone or not that helped him see better, behind the gate he could see movement from a silhouette. He kept a steadier gaze upon this, and he was sure someone was watching them.
Leon pulled back the hammer on his pistol and made his way back to the gate, leaving Guntar to follow behind in confused caution. They made their way back to the gate but stopped just when they were facing the iron doors. They stood there, just waiting.
Then they heard a voice form the other side speak to them; "Come on, stranger! I know you're there."
Leon blinked. "Who's over there?"
"Me, stranger."
"Who's 'me', I wonder. One of 'them', or an individual?" Guntar curiously spoke.
"Oh, smart mouth you got, domn." The voice seemed to have no distinct accent. Sometimes it changed from one dialect to another, shifting different persons in the two men's minds.
Leon planted his shoulder against the side of the iron door, and carefully with one hand he slowly pushed using the butt end of the shotgun. With the other hand, he had his pistol held just up to his face.
The gate opened, and suddenly Leon jumped forward and pointed both of his weapons forward. Where he pointed at stood a tall cloaked man, covered from head to toe by a black cover. His hood revealed no face, for a cloth was placed across the man's face; and only his eyes could be seen. Deep set eyes that held much mystery. He had a nice brown belt around his waist, with a brass belt buckle on the front.
Guntar was behind him, doing the same. But once he saw the stranger, he could only blink and stare. Leon, however, kept his defense up.
The stranger looked at the two of them like they were toy soldiers, and he chuckled. "Heh, you two seem a bit antsy. I suspect your welcome was… alright?"
Leon winced. "You call what happened just now a 'welcome'?"
The stranger folded his arms. "Well, compared to what I have seen, these are just an upgrade. But I can see why you're so upset, stranger. You're looking for the President's daughter, correct?"
Leon couldn't tell whether anything was safe; and because of that he grew a bit angry. "God, does everyone have to know anything these days?"
"Depends on what they need to know, stranger," the cloaked man said. "Governmental or social. But that's for the real world to handle right now; for here, you got something else to handle. And it's not going to be simple, stranger. You might need some more power, heh…"
Then with that, he unfolded his arms and unbuckled his belt; then with a swing of his arm his cloak opened. And behold, the man was covered in weapons, ammunition, herbs, and grenades! He had guns holstered in many different places, he had ammunition stuffed in small bags hanging from little hooks all over him, herbs were in special places on his legs, and he had grenades hanging from his shoulders. If Leon could put what he saw in simple words, he could say the man was stuffed with fun.
Guntar could not believe his eyes, and neither could Leon. All that weaponry, and Leon could create a lot of damage. It almost lulled him to move closer and examine the weaponry. But then there was the man who wore them, and that brought him back to the present.
"Do you like?" the man said.
Leon looked at the weapons again and then back to the stranger. But then he realized that he was at a loss of words. He looked at Guntar to see him staring in awe.
"Well, I can see you like, then." The man said with a chuckle.
Finally, Leon found out what he could say. "Well… do you have anything for a .45 USP Tactical, a Beretta .34 and this here shotgun? We're pretty low on ammunition."
"I know, my good sirs," said the man; "I could tell form your faces when you checked your ammo. But fear not; the Merchant is here to make things all better for you."
"Do we have to pay?" Guntar asked, and then suddenly he bit his tongue. Leon blinked in surprise to notice he hadn't thought of the cost.
"Yes, you bloody well do!" the merchant said. "Or else I'll take my business elsewhere. Do you have anything pesetas?"
Leon grimaced; he had nothing of the sort. But then Guntar stepped up and presented a medium sized bag that was clinking. Leon was incredibly surprised. Of course, over the cloth on his face, the merchant's eyes blazed with greed.
"Oooooh," the merchant 'ooed'; "that… is sufficient enough. Of course, if you could be so kind as to let me count…" the stranger held his hands up like a beggar.
Guntar eyed him, and then he looked at Leon as though not assure. Leon nodded to confirm. Then Guntar placed the bag in the merchant's hands, fearing he would just take off with it. But no, that wasn't so. The merchant spilled hundreds of gold nuggets onto his hand, his eyes sparkling like the nuggets themselves, and then carefully he counted. After a while of him counting in various languages (Japanese, Spanish, Russian, German, Spanish, Portuguese and etc.), he placed the nuggets in the bag again and then stuck it somewhere underneath his cloak. Then, he pulled out seven different ammunition boxes and bags to carry them. He placed the ammunition in different bags for the different weapons, and amazed both Guntar and Leon.
"Heh, a mighty find you had there, stranger," said the merchant; "here is your reward for helping a man like me got off with enough cash to keep me company." Then he quickly moved his hands and closed his cloak with a 'click' of his belt buckle. Then he slightly bowed. "Now, you must go get that girl. She won't like waiting for you, I think." The winds began rustling harshly, with the dirt flying and weeds dancing. Leon looked at it as though it precariously had dark tidings. And then the merchant had vanished.
It made them step away from the bags of ammunition once they realized the merchant had gone. But soon, Leon shook the feeling of dread off his back and checked the bags to see which had his ammunition. In one bag was ammunition for a different brand of a shotgun; something more police-like but the kind Leon had seen before: in Raccoon City. It was an RPD Force Shotgun, the likes of which Leon used in Raccoon City before and enjoyed to use. To see it brought a marvel upon his eyes.
Leon compared it with the shotgun he had, and knew which was best; the RPD Force Shotgun had more propulsion and had sate-of-the-art armor piercing bullets (according to the label on the side of the bullet packs). He discarded the shotgun, throwing away the memories of facing those people in the village. Then he placed in several bullets into his new weapon, and then cocked it with a snap. Guntar, while he himself was gathering bullets, jolted in surprise. And then he looked at the gun in surprise.
"Where in the world would a character like him have gotten that?" asked Guntar. "I would doubt he could have the ability to possess that kind of weapon."
Leon propped it against his shoulder, looking at it for a moment before looking back at the Spanish-Romanian. "Don't ask me. I can only hope these aren't defective."
Guntar slipped his Beretta into its holster, and stood. "At least we'll find out sooner or later, domn. But I still can't help but worry if that guy is gonna be caught by those villagers?"
"You care about him? What if he was working… for this Saddler?"
"That is why I'd pity him for wondering alone. Maybe the next time we see him, we could get some information out of him before he storms off like he did just now. Who knows, maybe the Commander-in-Chief sent him. If not, at least we'll ask him."
The thought was pleasant, but was it possible? What if Leon never saw him again? Come to think of it, he wondered if he knew those eyes underneath that cloak. Had he seem them before? Were they something he saw in a dream, or the past?
Leon looked at the hill above him. "But that shouldn't be our worry for now. Let's just hope we can get to the lake."
