Las Plagas: Resident Evil IV

Chapter Thirty Eight: Saddler's Will

Crying out in agony as the spiked appendage lifted him just a few inches off his feet, blood was starting to run out from the corner of Luis's mouth, adding to the red stain that now completely soaked the dark haired man's shirt to the point where blood was starting to drip onto the castle's shiny floor. He was shaking now, beginning to convulse as the appendage lifted him up higher, but without the slightest of physical exertion being shown by the elaborately robed man.

"Wonderful to see you out and about, Mr. Kennedy." Saddler said, not affected at all by the state of Luis. "When Ramon told me about your predicament down in the dungeons, I thought to myself, I wonder if the American can manage to free himself… and look at that, you did."

"Let him go, Saddler!" Leon ordered, aiming his revolver. "I said let him go!"

The Agent was about to start shooting, but then the spiked appendage suddenly started moving, swinging Luis forward, and then tossing him right into Leon so that they both ended up falling onto the floor. Briefly forgetting about the robed man while trying to get up, the Agent rolled the dark haired man over, attempting to help him, but… not having anything needed to give aid for a wound as big as the one he had. Luis tried to say something, but all that came out was a gurgling, choking sound, and then he was still, letting out one last breath as blood started to pool around him.

"It really is too bad, you know." Saddler said, sounding almost disappointed for a second as the appendage retracted up into his robe. "Doctor Sera could have had a bright future among the faithful here, but alas… his faith faltered when he needed it most."

"You son of a bitch!" Leon yelled, picking up the revolver and aiming. "I'm gonna… gonna…

Just as the Agent was about to pull the trigger, the robed man casually held up his hand, and then it was like every single muscle in Leon's body tensed up to the point of excruciating pain, causing him to drop the weapon as he fell over sideways. It was like some outside force had completely hijacked his body, using the pain as a method of control that got ten times worse whenever the Agent tried to move, resulting in a scream of horrific agony that echoed throughout the room.

"Oh goody, the eggs have hatched." The robed man commented gleefully. "Already the Plagas inside you are responding to my will, and in, oh, I don't know, a few days at most, you will be completely under my power… if you feel me, say ahhhhhh."

Suddenly the pain increased again, causing Leon to let out another scream, to which Saddler laughed a bit before walking away. As soon as the elaborately robed man had vanished through another door, the pain gripping the Agent's body vanished just as quickly, leaving him lying there in an attempt to catch his breath. Although the pain itself was gone, the lingering soreness in Leon's muscles was still around to remind him of it, making simple actions like standing up a lot more difficult than they should have been.

Poor Luis, the Agent thought as he leaned on a stone pillar to keep his balance, he might not have been the best of men, but… but no one deserved to die like that, especially after all they had gone through to get that far. Another thing that Leon was worried about was a sudden ambush once he was helpless, but no one came, so… was Saddler still evaluating him like they had talked about back at the church? Either way, he was sure that the alarm was going to be sounded at any moment, so the Agent had to find Ashley quick… and there wasn't time to do anything about Luis's body, either.

They were gonna pay for all this, Leon thought as he picked up the revolver and started moving. Saddler, Salazar, Mendez… well, Mendez had already paid for it, so was it just those two left who were running the show now? All right, gotta get focused, Leon… gotta find where they took Ashley, but… but there were several doors in this large room, so which one should he try? This area looked more like some kind of decorative area, with large paintings on the walls, and white marble statues, but… nothing to tell him which way the young woman was taken.

He could only imagine Tobias coming through there a few minutes before he did, and then finding some random, stupid clue like a speck of dirt that didn't come from this side of the lake, or something dumb like that. Of course, with the Agent's luck, that stupid clue would probably lead the hooded man right to Ashley, but unfortunately for all of Leon's many skills, tracking and detective work were not among them… meaning that he was gonna have to do this the hard way.

"Eenie-meenie-miney-moe." He whispered, pointing to a different door with every word. "Catch a tiger by the toe, if he hollers let him go, eenie-meenie-miney-moe."

With his finger stopping at one of the smaller side doors, the Agent prepared to move on, although saddened that he had to just leave Luis's body there for the time being, but making sure to remind himself that it would be recovered when this was all over. Lightning flashed through the room's windows, followed by a much louder crash of thunder just as he was opening the door he had chosen, startling him by both the noise and the sudden spray of water when he realized that it led back outside.

This whole castle seemed to set on top of some kind of plateau, probably a former mountain where the ancient parasites hibernated, so the drawbridge was really the only way in and out… not that he could see it from there. Off more to the side of the castle he guessed, the Agent found himself on a kind of partially covered walkway. Made of stone like the rest of the place, and with a short guardrail, which was nice to have because of how slippery the stone floor was thanks to the rain, the awning did nothing to block the sideways falling water.

So far there were no other doors that he could see form there, making Leon think that maybe he should go back and try a different one, but somehow he just knew that if he went back, than this walkway was gonna magically lead him right to Ashley. Stepping carefully so as not to slip, the Agent started down the walkway, feeling genuinely grateful for the single bulb fixtures that lit the way, because it had gotten dark as hell outside with the storm worsening. There wasn't a lot of light, but enough to see that some serious money must have been put into this place, since even out there on the walkway there were elaborate fountains and decorative benches... and people.

Nearly slipping as he ducked back around a corner he had just come around, it was only because of the most recent lightning flash that he had seen the robed cultists there at all, each just standing there as if completely indifferent to the rain that was completely soaking them. There were three of them that he could see, all in those same black robes, but… but hey, none of them were facing his direction, so was it possible for him to be able to sneak past them without fighting at all?

Taking advantage of the same darkness that concealed them, Leon crouched down into a squatting position, and slowly came around the corner so that he was skirting along the edge of the wall. Except for while under the cone of light from the one fixture on this wall section, the Agent was completely concealed visually, with the rain and thunder muffling his footsteps as well. So far so good; his goal was to reach the stone stairs that were on the other side of this section, past another fountain where the cultists were standing, and as long as he was able to keep skirting along the wall, there was no way they were going to hear or see him.

Well, one thing he could be sure of was that Tobias hadn't come through there, otherwise he had a feeling that the cultists would have been dead, or at least with a few bones broken. This meant that Leon had probably taken the wrong path, but there was nothing he could do about that now, so he just kept moving. Yes! Reaching the stairs without incident, the Agent stayed in that same crouched position as he started upwards, which was slightly more difficult to do, not to mention slower since the soreness hadn't quite left yet… but just a couple more stairs… and...

"Que mierda?!" Another cultist asked, startled when Leon walked right into him at the top of the stairs. "Lo encon…

Getting a lot louder with those last words as if trying to call out to the others, the Agent stopped him by punching the cultist in the groin, and using the low center of his squatting position to tackle him while he was stunned. With the others so close, it was too dangerous to risk shooting this guy, so once he was pinned down, Leon took out his knife and stuck it between the cultist's ribs just as he was trying to call out again. Again and again he stabbed the robed man, jamming his elbow into the man's discolored neck to keep him pinned, but then it was Leon's turn to be surprised when the cultist's whole head collapsed like a hollow melon, replaced by a familiar looking purplish growth.

Crying out when its bladed tendril sliced across his shoulder, the Agent rolled off and away from the possessed cultist as it slowly got to its feet, and now there was no way to kill it without making a lot of noise… or was there? Scrambling back to avoid another swing of its blade, the monster slowly turned toward him, slashing out with the tendril again, but in an unexpected move, Leon ducked underneath it while rushing forward. Colliding with the abomination, the growth let out a kind of inhuman shrieking sound as it was pushed over the guardrail, a sound that was thankfully muffled by the thunder as it vanished down into the darkness.

Taking out his revolver while catching his breath, Leon sighed with relief when he saw that the other cultists hadn't been alerted, so he turned away from them, continuing to follow the slippery walkway in the hopes that it would lead him to Ashley.