Twenty: The Blind Side

The Salt Mines – 0500

Waking up after being dead was a bitch.

His first thought, upon doing so, nearly put Leon Kennedy into a coma of complete and utter disbelief. This happened, it seemed, for a variety of reasons but the most glaringly obvious one was that nothing in his world ever stayed dead.

Ever.

Including him.

He was bound standing, which wasn't the first time, probably wouldn't be the last, and left him a little woozy with it. His arms were above his head in restraints, leaving him dangling...but not really. His feet dangled without bearing weight, sure, but they were still tethered to a steel loop on a concrete pad. His shoulders were numb, probably from bearing one hundred and eighty pounds of pure muscle, but his head felt incredible.

Amazing.

He'd give his right testicle to know if it was whole. After all, a close range blast from a hand-cannon like his Magnum was bound to leave a gaping mess of a skull behind. He wasn't one hundred percent sure, but his head felt intact. Which meant either the virus in him had healed him up...or someone else had.

He tried his voice, gently, "Zoe?"

The blindfold he wore prevented him from knowing if he was dangling in the middle of nowhere or if he was surrounded by human carcasses waiting for slaughter or if he was just being used like a flag on a pole saluting The Texas Chainsaw Massacre that was clearly the basis for this funhouse of horror.

Honestly, it didn't really matter. He figured he was a waiting to die here or being used for bait. Seeing as Lucas had grabbed both he and the Ogre of bioterror out in the swamp, he was betting Claire was the target.

Of course, maybe it was Eveline. Maybe Lucas was gathering them like pinatas, hoping Eveline would come to the party and break them open for funsies.

Leon shifted, crinkling his nose to try to dislodge the blindfold. It gaped enough to show light beyond his nostrils. So the room where he was dangling was lit at least. He shifted again and called, "Yo! Anybody out there?"

So, that was stupid. It was bad-horror-movie stupid. It was. But sometimes? You just had to call out.

To his surprise, a voice answered, "Be quiet. Be still. Are you retarded? You want to bring the mold men?"

Right. Mold men. Durf. That made sense. They were gross. They stank. They were like looping vines of black rotting mold you find under your sink when you leave the water dripping and don't fix the pipe. Mold.

So much for a genius I.Q. He was the idiot who yelled out in the-what? He sniffed. He sniffed again. Mold, sure, and lack of fresh air. He was underground somewhere, he'd bet his other nut on that.

The voice moved closer, musing, "You're cuter than your pictures. Though you look like hammered shit at the moment."

So, a familiar person anyway. At least someone who knew his face. He answered, "Thanks. I've been mostly dead all day."

The voice chuckled, lightly, "Nerdy. Claire was always a big nerd lover." Female. That much was true. He listened to the rustle of sound and tilted his head.

"Who are you?"

There was a clunk of noise and a pair of hands playing with his belt. "I'm Jill Valentine. We haven't had the occasion to meet face to face for some reason. Probably because prior to Harvardville, you were too busy fucking anything with a pulse and afterward were too busy being a buttboy for the U.S. government."

Ah.

He pursed his lips. "Tell me how you really feel."

Valentine chuckled again. "Sorry. Habit to hate the "man", I think. I need your help. He took Chris somewhere in these fucking mines. I can't even begin to guess. The team is behind me, at least two hours. I don't think Chris will last that long. Baker...he beat the shit out of him during the move."

Surprised, Leon didn't even want to guess what she as doing with his belt. He felt it whip free of his pants and didn't even make a dirty joke about it, proving he could grow as a man...given the right set of horrible circumstances where he'd failed to kill Lucas Baker, himself, and any other bad guy he'd come up against - officially marking him the WORST hero in the history of the world.

"You didn't stop him?"

There was a sigh of sound and he jerked as Valentine pulled at his blindfold. He blinked as light rushed in again and Jill said, "I couldn't. I had to know where he was taking you. Revealing myself before that would have prevented me from finding his hideout. Chris would have killed me if I'd done that."

True. She clearly knew Redfield.

"Right. Claire? Zoe?"

Jill shrugged, "I didn't see them. By the time I'd found you, it was storming so badly. I stuck to you guys to track you."

"Great." He sighed, "Claire and Zoe are out there somewhere...looking for the components to a vaccine. Hopefully."

"If we're lucky, my team has found them by now. Claire is alive." She shook her head, moving to a far table, "I can't fucking believe it."

She was curvier than he remembered; all tits and ass and blonde hair. Age had been kind to her too. She was beautifully pale and flawless. No lines, no wrinkles, no age spots. He was betting it was the gift of the time she'd spent with Wesker. She was like Wolverine, they said, she simply aged slower than the average human.

He was dangling in a small room with a cell door across from it. She'd picked it, easily, and Leon glanced over at the table sitting beside the wall. It was covered in old rusty torture tools. A saw, a set of wire cutters, bolt cutters and bloody hatchets. There was a collection of rusty nails and what appeared to be bamboo slivers. Did it surprise him to know that Lucas Baker was a freaking sick puppy? Nope. Not even a little a bit.

Leon replied, finally, "She's a Redfield."

Jill nodded, shaking her head. She glanced at him as he wiggled and shook her head, "Don't."

"Why?"

"Look up."

Leon did, gingerly, and nearly swallowed his tongue. Above him, the world's filthiest, biggest, most disgusting circular saw was waiting to hack his face to pieces to bisect it from his neck. It was wet...still wet...with new blood. He glanced at her, brow lifted, and Jill nodded, "Yeah. I heard him screaming."

They held eyes for so long that she cleared her throat first and looked away, still trying to free him. "It wasn't Chris."

He said nothing.

She turned to look at him, "It wasn't Chris."

She said it again. Did she think saying it twice or fourteen times would change anything? If it was? Chris was deader than disco...without a head. Which didn't always mean dead in their world, sure, but Chris was probably super dead...without his head.

Leon shook his, clearing it. "Blowing my brains out scrambled my few good thoughts. I hope you're right. But Chris wasn't Chris when I saw him last. Not exactly."

Jill shrugged, crouching to look under the table. "Whoever he is, he's still my partner. He's still my Captain. He's still here. I'm going to find him."

"And if he's something else?"

She shrugged again. "Then I'll bring home whatever he is. Somewhere inside will be my Chris."

My Chris.

Possessive.

Hadn't he heard they were lovers?

It was rumored, but never proven. For all the knew, the other rumors were true - and Jill Valentine was sleeping with Ingrid Hunnigan. Leon arched both brows again. She rose and moved toward him. She had a set of jumper cables in her hands. Curious about it, he watched her hook one to the saw above his head and go around behind to use the other.

Leon waited, listening to her, and finally queried, "You and Redfield together?"

She laughed, from out of sight, and responded, "Can't see that it's any of your business, but no." Jill came around the front of him again, "He's my right hand. I'm his left. We aren't together, but we're always together."

Jill shrugged, "We are what we are. I'd have come here for Claire alone. But they've got him. I won't leave here without him - one way or another."

Leon nodded, liking the fortitude on her. She was gorgeous. He might have floated her direction once, if he hadn't turned his eye to a redhead with more sass than common sense. Bless her, she'd leaped into his arms and tossed reason to the wind. It was something they had in common.

By contrast, Jill Valentine was the cool head in the business. If she was here, alone, she had a plan to make sure it ended in her favor. He was sure of that.

So Leon mused, "What's the plan, princess?"

She rolled her eyes and pulled her pistol. His eyes widened as she aimed at him and grinned, "I guess you'll just have to follow my lead."

He tucked his tongue in his cheek and responded, "Not really my style."

"Yeah? Time to teach an old dog, new tricks I think."

"Woof woof, baby."

Jill laughed, shaking her head, "Claire always did have bad taste in men."

He winced, chuckling. Jill Valentine - Ball breaker. He started to retort and she winked at him, "Hold still, handsome. I'd hate to fuck up that pretty face any more than you already have."

He braced, closed his eyes, and waited for her to shoot him - or activate the thousand teeth of death that were suspended above him.

What choice was there here?

He had to follow the lady after all. Shrugging, he urged, "Hit it, hot stuff."

"You gonna kill me if I let you down?"

"Maybe with bad puns."

Jill laughed, rolling her eyes, "Did you hear about the graveyard? People are just dying to get in there."

He cocked his head, "I'm married, gorgeous. You keep that punning up and my wife might put another bullet in my head for flirting back."

Jill chuckled, "You're a weirdo, Kennedy. A weirdo."

"So they say. Shoot me and put me out of my misery."

She laughed. He winked. And Jill pulled the trigger.

The Salt Mines - Adjunct Dungeon- 0510

The stockpile was a bust. They didn't find anything worth stealing. Lucas had burned it in anticipation of their arrival.

But Zoe was a wizard at directions. She'd cut across the swamp and brought them to the mines. A short little trip into the cool dark found them surrounded by damp air and darkness.

And across from a room.

The room was wide and weird. It was full of black light and boxes. Zoe and Claire kept standing in the doorway staring across the narrow walkways suspended above the ground. It was an elaborate maze.

But why?

What was Lucas hiding in it?

Claire tapped her foot, blowing out a heavy breath. "What would he keep in there?"

Zoe shrugged, "I can't think of anything he'd both leave out for someone to stumble on, and take the time to hide in the center of this mess. What could he possibly have worth protecting?"

There was a pop of sound and the sloppily rigged together row of televisions on the wall beside them burst to life with a staticky shiver of sound and white noise. Lucas appeared, in his dirty old hoodie, grinning. "Hey hey hey. I knew ya'll would show up eventually. How was the walk?"

Claire narrowed her eyes. "Beautiful weather. Perfect for a massacre."

"I agree!" He guffawed out a laugh, "See...the thing is? I need Eveline. I need her to come here so I can just...take a little bit of her for my mea culpas ya know? I need to get back in good with the connections."

Claire felt like "the connections" was probably capital. The Connections...his employers?

"Hmm. Sorry. I don't think that's happening. However, can I interest you in a painful, embarassing, and probably emasculating death? I'll cut your dick off one inch at a time...of course...it'll only take me half a cut though, won't it?"

He laughed, snarled, jerked like a freak, and shivered. "I love you, Claire. I love you. Why couldn't you love me back? I'd give you those babies your pretty faced loser of a husband couldn't."

She laughed, shaking her head, "Idiot. It ain't him. It's me. I can't have them. He's good. He's gold. His dick is ten inches of perfect delight. He isn't a pathetic little turd that can't get it up without beating the shit out of a girl first."

Zoe winced, shaking her head, "Really?"

"Oh, yeah. Why do you think he never raped me? He couldn't. Because I wouldn't just lay there and let him hit me. And Lucas? He can't get wood without it."

Lucas snarled, eyes flashing, "You shut up, you cunt! You hear me?"

Claire shrugged, "What for? You coward. You pussy. You think I'm afraid of you? Come on out here and see what I have for you."

Lucas grinned now, eyes rolling madly. "We both got surprises, princess. Both of us. I got something you want alright. He's not as pretty as you when he screams though. But the eyes? The eyes are the same."

Zoe froze, grabbing Claire's arm. They knew what was in the center of the maze now.

Claire bared her teeth, "You get my brother...you nasty piece of shit?"

"Oh, yeah. Twice. The first time - my cunt of a sister let him go. We didn't get to play. But I played with him this time. He screamed. He screamed alot. He cried too."

Zoe made a small sound.

Claire laughed. "Liar. Show him to me."

Lucas shrugged. The screens flickered.

He was lying in the purple light in the fetal position. The black light made it seem to surreal. The blood was everywhere. He wasn't moving. He was so badly beaten that he was nearly unrecognizable. She might not have believed it was him - but for that tattoo on his wrist.

Claire licked her teeth, "You tie him up and beat him?"

Lucas chuckled, "Nope. Didn't have to. I showed him an old video of you. I claimed I had you. I showed the one of me taking your clothes off that time. I told him I had you naked and waiting."

Zoe made another sound of horror.

The video had ended with Lucas swallowing his balls. But she was betting he didn't show that part. She was betting her brother had offered himself for her release.

The noble bastard.

Zoe whispered, "Where's Leon?"

Lucas grinned. "He's at the center of another game. I played fair with him. I fixed him and strung him up. Even though he GUTTED me!"

Zoe touched Claire's arm as the redhead spit, angrily, "I'm going to finish it. He spilled your guts. I'm gonna spill your balls. I'm gonna split your sack and watch those pea sized pathetic grapes squish under my bare foot."

"Sweet talker!" He grinned, "One in the grave, the other in peril. Who gets you first? Who loses by default? Let's make it fun, shall we?"

A timer popped up on the screen beside him. He gestured, like he could see it. "There ya go. Two hours. Two. In two hours, the door to the mines seals forever and no amount of TNT or good luck or goddamn soldiers on EARTH will be able to find you. Two hours - to save the day Claire. Two hours. How do you do with countdowns?"

She flashed a grin at him, eyes firing. "Mother fucker, I was raised on Umbrella countdowns. I never lose."

"Oh, yeah? Game on."

The screen flickered off. The black-lit room where Chris was made a snapping sound and the lasers shot smoke into the air. Lasers. The little piece of shit had set up lasers all over the room.

Zoe blinked, shaking her head. "What kind of person can dodge lasers?"

Claire laughed, scanning the room. "The wrong Kennedy. I'm the wrong one. Sadly for us, the other one is prime evil."

Zoe shook her head again, "I can do this. I'm skinny. I'm small. I can get around the room. But I need you to shine a light on those lasers for me to guide me."

Claire nodded, pulling the little tv off the wall beside her. She plugged it into the outlet and rolled it toward the room. The second the white flickering screen touched the room, it showed the lasers in sharp relief.

She said, "I played a game like this once. A long time ago."

Zoe gave her a lift of brows and Claire added, "The same island that made it so I'll never have children. I'd say Lucas has been digging around in my head."

Zoe rubbed her arm, comforting her. "You can thank Eveline for that. Let's get your brother, find your man, and finish this."

Claire took a deep breath, considering her. She finally said, "You're ok with ending your family?"

Zoe shook her head, sighing. "It's mercy now. For them? Mercy. Go. Find Leon. I got this."

Claire nodded as Zoe ducked under the first laser and entered the maze. It was like a game of limbo with tragic results. If she turned wrong, stepped wrong, ducked wrong...it ended in pieces for her. Somehow? She wasn't afraid.

Because Chris Redfield was lying in the center of the maze - beaten to hamburger thinking he was protecting his sister. It was the least they could do for him now. He'd let Lucas take him to save Zoe. He'd let Lucas beat him to save Claire.

At this point, he deserved revenge. They all did.

They wouldn't stop until they were dead.

They had two hours until daylight.

They had two hours until they never saw it again.

They were officially on borrowed time.

Trusting Zoe to save her brother, Claire cut left down the hallway there to search for her husband.

They needed a miracle - it was time to start carving one out of the dark with their bare hands.

Zoe slid on her belly under a laser, feeling the heat against her scalp. She shifted and scooted left, rolled off the bridge and landed on a soft surface that wiggled, and tried to hold her feet as she went. The floor felt like a moonwalk or something and tossed her. She made a small sound, missed one laser, and felt the sizzle of another an inch from her face as she landed on one knee.

Zoe could see him now, just over the next rise. She tried to call for him. "Chris? Can you hear me?"

He was so still. She was afraid he was dead. She was afraid he was fake. What if it wasn't him in the center of the maze?

With no choice, she eased forward. She was halfway under the next laser when she heard the noise. Too close. Too close to do more than watch it happen.

The mold man was on the ground beneath the tiny bridge where she was crawling. The wide slats weren't any hope of protection. If she rolled, she'd be severed instantly by the laser currently sparking over her lower back.

She had no choice but to take it as the knife like arm of the mold man shot up and speared her through the slats. It hurt. It hit and stole her breath. It sliced her arm open above the elbow.

She kept crawling, quickly now.

It speared for her again and split her pants at the upper left thigh. The smell of her blood was sickening when it splashed and hit the laser, smelling like roasting copper.

She lost her shoe pulling her legs free and missed another slash to her legs by a breath.

Rolling, Zoe crouched through another set of lasers and reached the walk across from Chris. There was no getting through. It was a patchwork of shapes surrounding him where he lay. They weren't getting across without a magic mirror or something to reflect the rays.

And then she saw the box on the far wall. It was on the other side of him. It was right behind him against the post sitting there.

It looked like an electrical box. She was betting it was the way to turn off the lasers. She couldn't reach it...but he could. She needed him to wake up. She shouted, "CHRIS! CHRIS REDFIELD!"

He didn't stir. The mold man was coming. He leaped up on the walk across from her. He was pacing, trying to figure out how to get passed the laser to get her. She backed up on the narrow ledge, nearly out of reach. It shot that arm across and missed her nose by less than an inch.

She shouted again, "GET UP, SOLDIER! GET UP!"

He twitched on the ground. She felt awful. He was lying in so much blood. But it was their only chance here.

She shouted, "MOVE, REDFIELD!" The arm missed her ear as the mold man shot that knife like hand at her again. It caught her hair and took a chunk.

Eventually, he'd get tired of waiting. He'd just come for her. He could lose his feet and still kill her. She was running out of time. They both were. There was another mold man rising from the ground...right beside where he lay.

Her shouting had woken it.

Terrified, Zoe screamed, "Get up, Chris! PLEASE!"

The mold man near her lunged again. It hit the lasers and screamed, retreating, but it cut her cheek with its knife hand. The one beside Chris made a sound like a banshee wailing and lunged for him where he lay.

Zoe screamed, "CHRIS!"

And the bloody thing that he was rolled. The lunging face got a boot in it. There was a crunch of sound as he kicked it. It went up, it went over, and it landed right on the patchwork of lasers. The sound was instant - popping, crackling, burping and stinking. It smelled like roasting hair and rotten milk. It smelled like water left out to turn into algae.

The mold man screamed as it burned, catching fire in a burst of orange and stench.

The other one lunged for her, it's foot was cleaved in a lick of flames, and Zoe drove both her feet into its chest. It flopped, somewhat like a fish, and went down on its face beside her. She rolled her hips, kicked it in the side, and sent it careening over the bridge.

The world popped, swirled with sound, and lit up with a whoosh of pressure.

The smeared trail of blood had followed Chris to the electrical box. He was on one knee with the lever in his hand. The mold man speared his hand up like he'd kill him where he knelt and Chris rolled back, crawling.

The lasers died. The room was bright and ugly -splattered with blood as if by a crazy hand. Zoe raced across the narrow bridge toward and the mold man jumped up to join them on the ledge.

She grabbed Chris by his bloody shirt and dragged him. "Come on! Hurry! Help me please!"

He grunted, grabbing at her waist. She leveraged him up, looping her arm around his waist. They half ran, half limped together toward the far side of the room. Without the lasers, they were without weapons.

The mold man was so fast. He raced after them, hopping like a mad Tigger on his one good foot.

They were almost to the door when he speared that arm at them. Zoe shoved Chris to the side and ducked. It hit the wall beside her head and lodged there in the wet stone. She started to drag the other man with her and Chris turned back.

He kicked a boot into the mold man to send it spinning sideways. It hit the wall and dangled, stuck on its own claw. Zoe shouted, "Come on! Come on!"

But he didn't. He balled up his fist and punched the wailing monster in the face.

What had Claire said? Her brother punched things. It was what he did. Dying. Bleeding. Nearly blind. He still hit like a hurricane. He smashed the mold man into the wall and it was still, splattered against the blood in a wet streak. It's entire face collapsed around his fist as if it were made of clay.

Zoe grabbed his bloody shirt and jerked, spilling him forward. She took him out of the room and kicked the door shut. He didn't get far. He collapsed around the next corner and spilled to the floor on his hands and knees.

She didn't like how exposed they were, but she had no choice. He was bleeding everywhere. Her hands slathered and tugged, tucked and stroked. As much as she wanted to touch him, this wasn't how she'd envisioned it. He was cut to ribbons. What Lucas had done to her, he'd done to Chris.

He'd carved "Zoe" into his back in ugly strokes.

Making a small mewl of sympathy, she smeared salve over his back and the side of his neck. Chris shifted, breathing low and slow. His face was so swollen. She quickly covered it in slick salve, scooping his hair back to see the damage.

Lucas had pounded his face so badly that she was surprised he could see at all. She whispered, "How bad?"

And he answered, garbled and low, "Shadows. Light."

"How'd you find the box?"

"Instinct. Sound."

Damn. He was incredible.

"Can you see me at all?"

He shifted his hands, stroking her face. "No. But I don't need my eyes, Zoe. Cover them."

"You sure?"

"You ever seen Star Wars? They're not helping me here. I'm sure."

She tore off a piece of her shirt and wrapped it around his face like a blindfold. The second she did, he nodded. His hands shifted to her arms, rubbing gently. "I'm alright."

But he wasn't. Lucas had literally taken one of his eyes. The other was swimming in a pool of blood and inflammation. She said nothing and he finally quipped, "That bad huh?"

Again, she said nothing. Chris sighed, "Who's ugly now?"

"Not you. You big fucking hero. You saved us both back there."

"Not me. You. You're the hero, Zoe. I'm just the damsel in distress."

"Yeah? Then I deserve this."

And she leaned over and kissed his swollen mouth.

Chris grunted and grinned a little, "...tease. Kissing a blind guy is cheating."

She helped him up and the salve was working. He was on his feet. He was still blind. But he wasn't helpless. He said, "Claire?"

Zoe answered, "Leon."

"Right. That pansy. He'd need my sister to save him. Let's go help before he gets her killed punning bad guys to death."

She took a moment, watching him move. He wasn't even clumsy. He'd lost his eyesight before, she was nearly positive of that. She followed him, paused, and said, "I want to kiss you when you're not dying. I just...I wanted you to know."

He pursed his lips, moving down the cool hallway with her. "Let's get the hell outta here, Zoe. And I'll let you."

Seemed like a fair trade after all - for the girl that just kept saving his life.