Chapter 26: Grenades please.

Creepy and haunting. That was all that Amalia felt around her as she followed Leon down the hallways. That strange sensation from earlier was still on her mind. When she tried to remember, everything felt like it was flowing through a water lens…or was that seen through a cloudy lens…foggy cloud?

This was starting to really hurt her head. Just what had happened? And what was even more puzzling, Amalia wasn't sure that that event, whatever it had been, was the first time she had experienced it. There was just something about this confusion that felt familiar somehow.

"Ugh! This is a waste of energy!"

"Everything all right back there?" Leon glanced over his shoulder, gun now pointing at the ceiling, elbows bent. They had been keeping silent for a while now, Leon not wanting to draw any enemies over to their location.

"Y-yeah. Sorry, I just got frustrated with a thought." Please don't let her face be red. Please don't let her face be red. She didn't even know who she was asking, and she didn't care. The only thing that mattered was that they answered her wishes.

While they were, hopefully, answering wishes, maybe they could rid her of that herding feeling. She remembered reading that sheep and cows were herded by dogs and she was no fluffy animal nor did she produce milk to be consumed by humans worldwide. Plus, if they were being led somewhere, Amalia doubted there was a dog smart enough to turn on a computer and fix the monitors to the intended subject. Then again, aliens shouldn't exist either.

"Leon, can dogs operate computers?"

The blank look she received answered that question before he even spoke. "Never mind."

Entering what seemed like some kind of storage room, Amalia watched as Leon suddenly held a fist into the air, his arm held at a ninty-degree angle as he glanced through a broken glass window. Curious, she walked right up to the window, only to have her arm wrenched as Leon pulled her down to the ground.

"I told you to stop moving!" He whispered, though Amalia assumed he would be yelling if whatever had him halt wasn't wherever it was. "What part of 'halt' meant waltz right up to the window to you?"

"I didn't dance to the window. I've never been taught that. And you didn't say anything. You just held up a fist. I read that was to mean either something called a 'fist bump' or 'go for it,' though I don't know how either apply here."

If Leon's jaw clenched any harder, Amalia thought he might hurt his teeth.

He took a slow, deep breath in and after three seconds, slowly let it out. "When I hold my hand like that, I mean that you need to stop and take cover. Preferably doing it without making noise. There are two guards on the other side of this wall. Alright."

Amalia nodded. He wanted her silence and would remain silent…..

It only lasted ten seconds.

"Can I have a gun now?"

"No." He didn't even take a moment to think about it. "I'm doing this without guns so don't even start with me."

Before she could start arguing about needing her gun (because she could shoot, she hit Leon after all so she could hit something), Leon stood up, threw a grenade at something, and ducked down a moment before it blew the target or targets up.

Amalia looked over the window to see two Ganado soldiers disintegrate (which seemed handy for body disposal) through the leftover smoke of Leon's grenade. It was actually kind of cool to watch though. Maybe grenades would be better than guns. Peeking at the agent from the corner of her eye, Amalia smiled.

"Leon, can I hold the grenades?"

"HELL NO!"

Guess it was safe to talk now, Amalia assumed as she rubbed her ears, hoping that would tone down the ringing. Following Leon, Amalia muttered under her breath.

"It's not like I can't do it. Just pull and throw. Jerk."

"Don't even start with me, Amalia."

"….shitty jerk."

"Amalia."

Labs. Cold, evidence of once being sterile, labs. Why did they have to go through them? Amalia wanted nothing more than to turn around and take her chances alone then go through this place. Labs meant experiments, which meant test subjects for experiments to be experimented on, which meant bad memories for Amalia.

She almost froze in terror at the sight of the mutated body resting on a slab. Never had a locked door given one joy when Leon clicked his tongue at being unable to enter the room.

As Leon started messing with a computer lock for a different door, Amalia glanced back at the body.

It moved!

Blinking, Amalia saw that it was still lying on the slab. Had she imagined it? Was the place just messing with her? She could have sworn it's leg moved.

"You alright?"

"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"

Amalia would later deny screaming, but she was too terrified at the moment to do so.

"Hey, calm down. It's just me."

"L-leon." Of course it had just been him. This place wasn't good for her. "I'm just going to wait at the door, if that's okay."

If he was puzzled at her behavior, Leon said nothing. "Okay. Just be careful and don't go anywhere."

She was not going to argue. As long as she didn't have to stand near that body, she would gladly refrain from asking for grenades (not the guns though because one or two did belong to her, no matter what Leon said).

Walking to the lab's exit, cause only terrified people ran and she wasn't terrified, Amalia started counting spider webs to pass the time. After a few minutes, a gunshot echoed through the tiled area, followed by a, "SHIT!" and running footsteps. Leaning her head around the corner, Amalia quickly snapped back into place, just avoiding her nose slamming into Leon as she turned the corner.

She didn't even wait for him to say, "RUN!" before she was opening the door, let Leon run through, and slam it shut, barricading it with a shelf before following him down the corridor.

She knew it had moved.

TBC….

A.N. Here's the newest chapter. Now that I've finished moving and have access to internet that isn't my phone, I can update again. I'm not even going to apologize (except to say I'm not doing so) because I think you guys are sick of reading that. Life does tend to get in the way of wants, but I refuse to just let this story die. I really want to write the following stories after this and I can't do that till this is done. I also feel guilty posting any new stories (ones written but not typed yet) till this one is done. Please, please let me know what you think cause it helps me figure out what parts are liked and what aren't so much. I want Amalia to grow in personality and as a person and I can't do it alone since I'm still growing too (now that I can drink with my associates, I'm learning new interesting phrases).