They emerged into the cavern just in time to see the Verdugo jumping heavily over a huge boulder blocking the only path to the other side of the cave. Leon noticed with some relief that when it jumped down from the boulder, it almost fell, and took off again at a pained stagger. It was horribly wounded. Hopefully that boded well for both them and Aurelleah.
He wasn't going to allow the violent and sudden abduction of his last charge to dishearten him, but damn it all, it had happened so fast. Again. When he'd heard that sound in the elevator, he'd assumed it had been the ball bearing that had ricocheted off the can. But it had been the Verdugo, and now the thing had Elleah.
The boulder in the path – he was beginning to hate boulders with a passion – wasn't the sort of thing he could climb, and the rest of the room was divided by a huge chasm, too far to jump. He looked around for some way to circumnavigate it, and Luis said, "There! I think there's dynamite in that cart up there. We can blow that stone out of our way, we just need to get it down here."
Leon looked to where he was pointing. There was a large mining cart on the third level of a disjointed rail system, but the whole thing was too high and treacherous for him to climb. "How do we get it down?"
Luis began looking around, reading the signs posted on the wall. Leon once again recognized how fortunate he was to have a friend who spoke Spanish on this adventure – he knew that, without Luis to read that map and those liquid nitrogen containers upstairs, they'd have been killed by the Verdugo – and waited patiently for him to read through all the notices.
"Los forasteros!"
Leon's temper flared a bit as he pulled out his Red. "What the hell is a 'forastero'?"
"Outsider," Luis answered promptly. "Okay, that lever over there should bring the cart down. Leave it to me."
He ran over and gave the lever a pull, but as he was heaving on it, a loud mechanical roar ripped through the cavern, turning the growing clamor of a handful of miners into a vicious cacophony of noise. Looked like someone had a chainsaw.
The Ganado with the tool in question stepped out from behind a stack of crates near Luis, whose eyes widened at the sight. Still, he finished heaving on the lever and danced back just in time to avoid the decapitating blow. Above them, the cart rolled down the track and onto a lift, which lowered the cart down…but only a few feet. Then something in the room beeped prohibitively, and it stopped.
Leon stepped forward with his Red, wishing he still had his shotgun, and started punching holes in their attacker's forehead. It took five to get him to fall down, and he clearly wasn't done yet. Just as Leon stepped forward to finish him off, however, a sickle flew through the air right beside his head.
He turned on his heel and was firing before the sickle hit the ground, putting a single bullet in every one of the five targets that had appeared behind him. They must have flooded out of a side room or alcove.
Well, he put bullets in four of the five and paused before shooting the last. The man was reaching into his pocket, and unless Leon was mistaken…
Yup. Dynamite. Not a large bundle like they needed to clear the boulder, just a small stick. Still, a good spot. Leon shot it just as the guy lifted it to light the fuse, and it exploded, killing three of the attackers and knocking down the other two.
He wanted to execute them on the ground, but Mr. Chainsaw was already up and getting his stalled tool running again. "Luis, get that cart down here! I'll take care of this guy!"
"On it!" Luis called back, and ran past him to a ramp leading up to more machinery controls. He shot the two stunned enemies as he ran past, then proceeded onward, hopefully to find something that would lower the cart.
Chainsaw man stood up and started coming for him again, but he just kept unloading rounds into the guy's head. He staggered, slowed…but didn't stop as his face was reduced to a bloody pulp.
Okay, this wasn't working. Leon racked his brains, trying to figure out where the best place to shoot might be, then remembered that Luis had mentioned that the Plaga took up residency in the chest, around the heart and lungs.
He aimed for that and let loose. Four shots, and the guy was doubled over, grunting in agony. He dropped the tool. Leon stepped forward and kicked the guy to the ground before picking up the chainsaw, which hadn't quite stalled. Reluctantly and out of the necessity to save on ammo, he stepped forward and rammed the tool into the guy's chest.
He screamed for about two seconds before the weapon tore a lung apart and killed his Plaga, a few tentacles of which shot out of his chest and wriggled fitfully before stilling. As he shut off the chainsaw and stepped back, he heard another loud beep and Luis yelled, "Leon! Throw that switch again now!"
Leon did so. The cart lowered the rest of the way.
He went over and checked it, and to his great relief saw a huge pack of dynamite. He grabbed it, positioned it at the base of the boulder, and lit the fuse just as Luis approached.
"Okay," he said. "Now we just need to – oh, shit, you got it."
He turned and they both ran to the far side of the room, skidding to a halt behind another minecart just before the explosion went off, filling the cavern with thunder. Rocks were blasted everywhere, a handful flying over the cart and shattering against a wall, and as soon as it was all done Leon stood up and jogged over, noting he deep dents in the cart as he passed. Good thing they'd sheltered.
They waited a moment for the smoke to clear so they wouldn't go sprinting off the edge if he'd misjudged the power of the dynamite and blown up the whole pass. When they were able to see, they saw that they had in fact damaged the path…but not enough to keep them from crossing.
As they began crawling carefully over the gap, Luis tapped on a piece of protruding stone and said, "See that, there? Plaga remnant, probably two centuries old. These things have been around a while."
"How'd they get down here?" Leon asked while pausing to glance at the fossil. Sure enough, he could see the partially destroyed Plaga, its tentacled head immobilized in the stone.
"The original Salazars built this castle for the express purpose of sealing these creatures away. They drove the infected into this cave and piled all the Plaga remains they could locate in here, then sealed it all off in the hopes that the species would never be rediscovered. Safeguarding this cavern was their single greatest duty – even governing the village was a secondary responsibility. It wasn't until Saddler resurrected the cult and brainwashed Ramon that this cavern was opened up."
A large, heavy double door ended the chamber, and when Leon touched it, he paused. The metal of it was warm.
Luis said, "Ah, right – the refinery. If you did not enjoy the dragon room, you will enjoy this one even less."
Great, Leon thought as he pushed the door open onto sweltering heat. At least maybe I'll finally dry off.
They stepped in, and Leon looked around. It was a huge, circular room with a mesh floor. The broiling orange glow of lava seeped up through the cracks, providing an odd, dark illumination across most of the chamber. Right in the middle was a round, solid platform. Tracks ran overhead, and as Leon watched, one of the mining carts from a different part of the cave trundled across to a large iron cylinder. It hit the end, dumped its contents, then began rolling back the way it had come. A massive set of iron shelves with a tall ladder set into the front sat against the far wall.
Leon and Luis both stopped as they saw the Verdugo. It was across the room from them, slowly twisting the hatch on a massive pair of iron doors. It looked to be having trouble turning it. Going by the heavy screeching it was making, it was rusted.
Lying on the floor behind the Verdugo was Aurelleah. She was pressed flat, unmoving, against the mesh floor. Against her throat rested her captor's bladed tail.
Luis pulled out his rifle and took aim. At first he aimed for the thing's head, but he reconsidered and instead aimed for its tail. Leon approved. It was good to know that, whatever other intentions he may have had with her, Luis's first priority was her safety.
Before he could fire, the Verdugo finished with the hatch, which unlocked with a loud, heavy clunking sound. With the completion of its task it leaned against the door, coughed up a lung or two, withdrew its tail, and turned around to pick up its prize.
Luis fired, catching it in the chest now that Aurelleah was out of immediate danger. It jerked back and hit the door, gurgling angrily.
When Elleah had been taken, she hadn't screamed or struggled. Leon had feared the worst, that it had killed or perhaps paralyzed her in its quick, tackling grab. But to Leon's intense relief, she seemed to be okay. With Luis's shot, she began rolling away from the Verdugo, and managed to put a good six feet between them before it stepped after her.
It didn't make it far. The door behind it, now unlocked, was throw open so violently that it sent the Verdugo flying halfway across the chamber.
Through the door lumber a giant.
On its tail…another giant.
Elleah saw these and kept rolling, finally taking to her feet and stumbling away just as one of them grabbed for her with a loud grunt. It missed, thank God, but it had been close.
She ran to Leon and Luis, eyes wide and terrified, and Leon's heart sank as he processed the new task before him. One of these things? Manageable. Two of them?
One of them looked more or less like the one they'd encountered in the pass hours ago. Brownish-grey skin and, like its brothers, knobby muscles and a somewhat hunched back. Unlike the one from the pass, it was better clothed, wearing bracers, less tattered pants, and a heavy leather face-mask. The second giant was cement-grey, and black leather harnesses crisscrossed across its chest, arms, and face. It was a really weird look for a monster. Kind of a cross between wrestler's garb and a kinky hooker's getup.
The grey one walked over to the Verdugo, which was stirring fitfully on the floor. It looked down at it, and Leon wondered if it was going to help it get to safety. The Plagas did tend to work together, after all.
Not this one, though. It grunted, lifted a massive foot, and brought it down into the Verdugo's chest.
The thing's black limbs jerked and spasmed for a moment before going still. The giant drew its foot up and whined in annoyance as it found it lodged in its victim's carcass. It started kicking, almost overbalancing as it tried to shake the impromptu shoe. The dead Verdugo remained stuck.
"Luis?" Leon asked. "Any advice?"
He was looked around the room, scanning the walls for ideas. "El Gigantes – they are incredibly powerful, aggressive, and stupid. Also, faster than they look, so running isn't much of an option. They will almost always go for either the loudest or closest target, so Aurelleah, stay quiet and out of the way. The only way I can think of to kill them is to destroy their Plaga, which is attached to their spine. Notice the hump?"
The grey Gigante was still trying to dislodge the Verdugo, and had spun around drunkenly. Leon surveyed the hump on its back and noticed it pulsing slightly. Perfect – he had a target.
The brown Giigante, which had been watching its sibling's awkward dance with mild, dopey interest, looked past it and spotted them. Its eyes narrowed angrily, and it roared and pounded its chest like a gorilla. Looked like it was game time.
Aurelleah stepped back towards the doors and pushed on them, but – shockingly – they'd locked behind them. Figured. She swallowed heavily and said, "Just tell me if you need me to distract them. Otherwise…"
"Hide," Leon said…but he bore her offer in mind. He knew how fast she was on her feet. If worse came to worse, he'd call her to distract one of them. He'd really rather not, though. She was running on fumes.
Luis was staring at the center of the platform. Whatever he saw seemed to interest him, because he said, "Keep their attention for a second," and began skirting the edges the room. Leon didn't know what his plan was, but he trusted him to come up with something.
Both Gigantes – the grey one still had the Verdugo on its foot, and it didn't look like it was going anywhere anytime soon – spotted Luis and growled. They began stamping after him, and Leon pulled out his Red. He wasn't about to waste magnum ammo unless he could get a clear shot at their spines.
He took careful aim and fired, managing to catch the grey one in the eye. It roared again and slapped its face like it had been bitten by a fly, misjudging its own strength and sending itself reeling back into its friend, whose eyes Leon also fired at. Blinding their opponents had worked well so far. He'd give it a try with these.
He missed on the brown one, but at least managed to piss it off. They were no longer focusing on Luis – they had eyes only for Leon.
Lucky me, he thought as they both began stamping towards him. He took two more shots at their eyes before running. He thought he caught the brown one's left eye before it raised a hand to its face to block. Hopefully that would result in some impaired depth perception.
He took off around the chamber, going the opposite way Luis had. He was right. These things were faster than they looked. Leon had to run hard to keep ahead of them, and it took serious bursts of speed to change direction and lead them away from Luis, or to evade when they got him against a wall. He couldn't put enough space between them to fire accurately, so he didn't bother wasting the ammo.
Come on, man. Any day now!
"Leon! Keep them occupied another minute, I have a plan!"
Keep doing what you're doing. Awesome.
"On it!" He hollered back. One of the Gigantes had turned towards Luis at his call, and Leon popped a couple shots at it over his shoulder to keep its interest. It worked.
Luis had been inspecting a large switch on the wall near the door, and now he cut a straight line across the room towards the metal shelving. He mounted the stairs and began inspecting some cables above it. Looked like a way to get equipment from the top shelf to the ground level, but it seemed to be broken. It wouldn't be carrying any crates.
That said, it might carry a person, and that seemed to be what Luis was interested in. "Leon, stay away from the middle of the room!" He yelled, then pulled out his rifle and aimed at Big Brown. "Oi, idiota! Up here!"
CRACK!
The Gigante clapped a hand to its head and wailed in pain, then looked around and spotted Luis.
It bared its teeth in a grimace of rage and started after him, leaving Leon with only the one. He really hoped Luis knew what he was doing – that shelving would definitely topple if the Gigante tore into it enough, and Luis was at the very top of it. He wouldn't survive that kind of fall.
Thankfully, he did know what he was doing. As soon as the Gigante reached him and grabbed for the shelves, Luis looped something around the cable overhead and threw himself off the platform just as it started to shake.
He slid rapidly down the steep-ish cable, and his opponent let out a low moan of confusion as he vanished. It took the thing several moments to figure out where he'd gone and turn around. By then, Luis had touched down on the opposite side of the room, one hand on the switch.
He whistled loudly. "Come on, ugly! Vámanos!"
Another roar. The giant started towards him, eyes locked on, hands out, and Leon suspected he knew what was about to happen.
The giant reached the platform in the center of the room, and Luis threw the switch.
The metal plate in the middle didn't shift slowly. Oh, no. The thing jerked abruptly apart, splitting down the middle, and the Gigante was standing directly on top of it when it did.
The thing screamed in shock as metal twisted beneath it, dropping it into the lava. That shock morphed into pain as it hit the molten pool some ten feet below. Part of Leon was gripped with a morbid curiosity – what did it look like when a monster fell into a pit of lava?
Of course, he wasn't about to go over and check. Blobs of the stuff were flying up out of the pit, and anyways, the whole time this had been going on he'd been focusing on not getting squished by Big Grey. He didn't have time to gawk at a giant falling into a pit of lava…even it would probably have been cool to watch.
Luis flipped the switch to close it again, but the mechanism stalled. Probably had something to do with the giant being on it when it had opened. It looked like the tracks had bent. They wouldn't be using that trick again.
Nevermind. Luis's ploy had made this fight much more manageable. With just one Gigante, he and Luis could take turns firing at its back – which is exactly what they started doing.
Luis ran around behind the thing and started firing at its spine. He got two shots off with his rifle before it whirled around in a rage and went after him…leaving Leon to start blasting away with his magnum.
At the first shot, a tentacle spurted out of the wound and began flailing around. It wasn't the entire Plaga, just a part of it, presumably like the Colmillos. Still, a good sign. That meant they were agitating the thing.
The giant howled and slapped at its back, then turned back to Leon. Luis's rifle thundered again, and the giant turned back around once more.
It must have realized that it was basically just turning in circles while they loaded it up with bullets, because this time it ignored Leon even when he shot it twice and dedicated itself completely to Luis.
He took off running around the room and the giant went after him. Leon began taking steady, measured shots at its back, trying to hit it in the spots he saw pulsing and throbbing the most. Invariably when he shot a throbbing mass, more tentacles shot out of it and it wailed in pain.
Leon was sure that the Plaga was close to erupting when the giant stopped, head swinging abruptly to the side. He thought it was about to turn around and come for him, but instead it peered at something against the wall, beside a large refinery tank, and—
Elleah.
It rumbled deep and stepped forward, reaching out. Leon couldn't see her, but he was sure she was hiding back there, probably squeezed in the space where the tank met the wall.
Luis realized what was going on and immediately began firing his rifle with rapid, furious precision. Leon followed suit, pumping as many rounds out of his magnum as he was able. Normally he didn't chain shots like this, as there was a risk of the barrel overheating and warping, but Elleah was cornered. They had no choice.
The Gigante's questing hand fell to the floor to support itself as it dropped to its knees, moaning. Its back split open along its spine, and a nightmare Plaga erupted from the massive wound. The thing was at least as large as Leon, and had the same body type as a B Plaga – the head munching kind.
Head munching? Forget that – this thing could take half my body off.
But its body was so heavy and large that Leon didn't think he could kill it quickly enough to keep its host from grabbing Elleah. Already the giant was shaking itself off and pawing at the tank.
Elleah shrieked and the thing growled excitedly. There was no more time – Leon had to act.
He unhooked a grenade from his belt and bellowed, "ELLEAH! GET DOWN! GRENADE!"
He leapt up onto the giant's back, using its leather harnesses to help himself climb. Evidently the Plaga hadn't been expecting that, because it didn't even acknowledge him. It just kept thrashing back and forth, squealing madly as Leon grabbed onto one of its twitching centipede legs to steady himself, pulled the pin on the grenade with his teeth, and stuffed it into a fleshy crack where the Plaga joined with the giant.
He scrambled off the thing's back and ran for it. Its long delay gave him enough time to put plenty of space between them, and when it blew, he was well out of way of the blast. He fervently hoped that the giant's own body would provide enough cushion to prevent Elleah being harmed by the explosion. He was pretty sure it would.
Pretty sure.
The grenade tore the Plaga apart, and the giant dropped with a short, confused grunt and a spatter of gore. It was stone dead.
Leon started towards the tank, but Luis beat him to it. He jumped over the fallen, outstretched arm of the Gigante and ducked out of Leon's sight. A few moments later…
He breathed a heavy sigh of relief. Luis was leading Elleah out, shaken but unharmed, from behind the giant's smoking remains. Her eyes looked a little crossed, probably from the explosion, and she looked a little punch drunk, but otherwise she was okay.
Luis had one hand on her hip and the other supporting her arm. She blinked and forced her eyes to uncross as she looked up at him.
Leon holstered his weapons and took a long drink from his canteen, resisting the urge to dump the rest of the contents on his head. Now that the fight was over and Elleah was back in their custody, he had a new problem to deal with: Luis was making moves on Elleah.
Leon was supposed to be protecting her, and though his briefing had focused on hostile locals and enemy combatants, he could only imagine that her dad would probably want him to make sure she wasn't getting pawed up by strange men. There was also the fact that she was pretty damn young, and finally, in a hell of a vulnerable position.
On the other hand…Luis clearly wasn't just trying to get some. If he had been, he'd have taken his chance when they'd been alone together; and Leon would have been able to tell if they'd been at it. She'd have shown some sign, he was sure.
No, it was clear that Luis was sincere about whatever this was. And if he was being honest, Leon's main worry about Aurelleah wasn't that she might fall for some dashing, flirtatious Spaniard. No, after all he'd seen on this wild ride he was afraid that, when push came to shove and he'd gotten Ashley back, he wouldn't be able to keep both of them safe.
He hated that he'd been ordered to prioritize one over the other, and he hated that they both knew about it – but orders were orders. He'd never let anything happen to either of them if it was within his power, but he had to acknowledge that it might not always be within his power.
He looked to the grey giant smoldering before them, then back to the pit into which the first had fallen. He even spared a glance for the Verdugo, which was still on the giant's foot.
He shook his head. This mission had already turned out to be more dangerous than he ever could have anticipated, and he wasn't too proud to admit that he needed help. If he could count on Luis to care for Elleah, that left Leon free to focus on Ashley. Elleah didn't deserve to think she was somehow worth less than her sister because of some stupid fucking orders from the bigwigs in D.C. She deserved the same care and protections that her sister did.
And it was pretty damn clear that Luis cared about her a whole hell of a lot. So, Leon rolled his eyes and turned his back on them. Luis would have to watch himself when they got back home, but until then…
All's fair in love and biowar.
Elleah felt like she'd been hit by a bus.
When the Verdugo had slammed into her, it had more or less sent her into shock. She'd barely been able to breathe, let alone scream, and she'd just laid slumped over the thing's shoulder as it had carried her away at a terrifying speed. She'd been able to feel an odd, dulled impulse from her Plaga – a vague notion that, since the Verdugo had failed to kill them, it was now tasked with carrying her back to Salazar.
She felt like she should have been able to feel this coming. The Verdugo had been in so much pain that its approach should have set massive alarm bells off in her head, but she hadn't even sensed it was alive thanks to the medication. She knew that meant it was doing its job, but she wondered – was it completely worth it if it meant her giving up her sixth sense about these things?
Her kidnapper had staggered to a crawling pace the moment it had gotten away from Leon and Luis, only picking up again when it heard them on its trail. Once they'd reached the refinery, it had fallen to its knees, retching in agony, and Aurelleah had tried to wriggle free of it. Its tail had come up immediately and hovered in front of her face, forcing her to still. Upon hearing Leon and Luis fighting in the previous room it had forced itself back to its feet and carried her over to that huge door. She'd heard something large growling on the other side of it, but hadn't been able to do anything about it. The Verdugo had dropped her on the ground and placed its blade against her throat as it had set to dumping all its remaining strength into turning the hatch on the door.
If it hadn't been so heavily injured, it would have gotten it open well before Leon and Luis had come for her. As it was, it had to stop to rest half a dozen times, and a few times she'd been forced to hold its tail up when it had drooped in exhaustion, the blade nearly slicing through her jugular.
Then the explosion had gone off and the Verdugo had thrown itself back into its task. Leon and Luis, as usual, had arrived just in the nick of time.
Her back hurt horribly, and as the adrenaline from the fight wore off it was only getting worse. Her breathing became quick and shallow as Luis led her out of the lava room.
"You okay?" Leon asked. She'd stumbled over a warped piece of floor mesh in the room that had held the giants, and winced. It seemed kind of small, and she wondered how they'd gotten the things in here in the first place.
She was going to say 'I'm fine,' but frankly, she wasn't. She was battered, bruised, tired, and getting hungry again. She hated to whine, but sometimes there was a time for it. "No. My back really hurts. And I'm getting hungry again. Would it be okay if we stopped for just a few minutes?" Her arm was starting to act up as well. Maybe it was time for those painkillers Leon had mentioned.
Leon nodded and slung his case off his back. Luis helped her over to a stone shelf and sat her down on it. This was better – she'd really appreciated the heat of the room for drying off, but it was getting to be a bit much. It was better over here at the end of the chamber.
Luis sat down beside her and pulled his backpack off, grabbing a few food items out. Leon rifled through his case for a minute before finding what he was looking for and bringing it over.
He held two pills out to her. "Muscle relaxers," he said. "They'll help with your back. Luis, that medication of yours won't be a problem with this, will it?"
Aurelleah hadn't thought to ask about side effects of the medicine. Given the alternative, of course, any side effect was likely preferable, but…
Luis, thankfully, shook his head. She grabbed the pills and tossed them down with a swig of water. "Side effects can include nausea and headaches in some cases, but you two don't seem to be having trouble with it. Sí?"
"Yeah, I'm fine," Leon said. "You, Elleah?"
She hadn't had any side effects, but her lack of ability to sense the Plaga was still gnawing at her. She paused a moment before replying, "No, nothing like that. But…"
"But?" Luis asked, brows creasing in concern.
She bit her lip. "I…should have been able to feel the Verdugo coming. Maybe the Novistador that took Ashley, too."
"Woah there," Leon said. "That's not on you. Keeping an eye out for these guys is my responsibility."
Luis handed her a sandwich he'd whipped up and tossed Leon the second half of his as well. Elleah took a quick bite before saying, "I know, but you can't do it all the time. I mean, look at…"
She was about to say, 'look at what happened to Ashley and I,' but she realized that that would be really harsh on him. She'd cut off a bit too late, however, as his expression hinted at…
Frustration? Sorrow? Shame?
Ugh. Now she felt bad. She tried to backtrack. "I just mean that these guys are…you know, hard to handle. And you know I need to be able to watch out for myself. I'm just saying, when the Verdugo was chasing me and Luis, I could feel it coming after us. I could feel it when it was trying to track us down after we'd hidden in the secret passage. And I feel like, if I wasn't on this medication, I'd have been able to feel it coming after us earlier."
Luis shook his head. "The tradeoff isn't worth it. This medication slows the growth of the Plaga and keeps it from damaging you. Without it, you could die."
She took a few more bites of her sandwich. "I know," she said once she'd swallowed. "I don't want to go off it entirely. But is there a way to cut down on the dose, so my Plaga isn't completely sedated or whatever?"
At the moment, she was taking one pill at a time while Leon was taking two. Leon looked strained by this suggestion, and so did Luis, but he said, "Well…I suppose we could give half a pill a try…"
She nodded eagerly. "That sounds perfect. I don't want to have any more of those cramps – at least, not really bad ones – but I'm sure that if the dose was cut down just a little, I'd be able to help a lot more. Feel when these things are coming after us, you know?"
Luis sighed and nodded. He pulled out the pill jar, dumped a few in his hand, pulled out a knife and began cutting them in half. He dumped these back in the jar for later. "We'll give this a try on the next dose – but if you experience any cramping at all, tell me immediately."
She nodded, finishing off her sandwich. "I will."
Woah. Whatever Leon had given her was hitting her like a Verdugo. The pain was almost gone already. She stood up and stretched very carefully, slowly bending her spine back and forth.
"Better?" Leon asked.
"Yeah," she said. "What is that stuff? It's awesome."
Leon snorted. "Let's just say it's not something you can grab off the shelf at Rite Aid. Come on, let's get going. Luis?"
Luis packed their things and stood up, reaffixing his pack. "Up ahead is a large cavern. Salazar mentioned introducing Novistadors to the cave, which I was against since they would be hard to monitor this far down, but given how much respect they've turned out to have for my suggestions, I'd say it's a safe bet that the cave is swarming with bugs. Guns out."
Leon nodded, but grimaced. Elleah thought she knew why. This was going to be rough without his shotgun.
They pushed open the next set of doors and started down the stony tunnel they found. A distant humming pervaded their senses and quickly grew as they continued. They turned the corner on a very disheartening sight.
Light shone down from a crack in the ceiling far, far above them in split beams, allowing them to see the room they were in. It was a colossal underground cave, all solid grey stone, and a sort of rough spiraling path upwards ringed a huge pit. She could see a cave off to the right, a ways along the path, and a huge door set with the cult's insignia across from them, maybe fifteen feet above their level. Just in front of them was a stone memorial-looking thing.
They could also see dozens of Novistadors droning lazily in the air.
If those all swarm us once, we'll be eaten alive! She thought in dismay.
Aurelleah pulled out her slingshot, Luis his rifle, and Leon quickly reaffixed his stock to his Red. "Aim for the wing joints and heads," Luis said quietly. "We will stay here in the cave entrance and take out as many as we can from a distance. When they close, we'll retreat slowly backwards, using the narrow tunnel to keep them from surrounding us. Aurelleah, stay behind us. Ready?"
They both nodded, and Elleah realized that they were so badly outnumbered here that Leon and Luis were really going to be counting on her. She swallowed heavily and hoped that her new ammo wouldn't throw off her aim too much.
Luis leveled his gun at a Novistador on the relative outskirts of the mob and fired. Its head exploded in a thunderous roar, and it dropped.
The humming in the cave redoubled as the swarm began flitting around angrily, but Elleah realized that the light didn't quite catch their group where they were standing. They were mostly in shadow, and the acoustics of the cave seemed to make it hard for the Novistadors to pinpoint where the sound had come from.
Taking advantage of the fact that they hadn't yet been seen, Luis fired again, and Leon also jumped in, aiming for one of the nearer ones. He caught it in the back and its wings seized up, sending it tumbling into the pit.
Elleah readied her slingshot, but none of the things were within range of it yet, so she waited while Leon and Luis pegged more, sending them toppling either into the pit or onto the stone shelf below.
Finally, one of them squealed a loud alarm and shot straight for them. The game was up – they'd been spotted.
Here goes nothing, she thought. She aimed at the charging monstrosity and let fly.
Its squeal was cut off and a hand flew to its neck. She'd been aiming for its face, but throat was good.
"Here they come!" Leon warned. "Cover your eyes, I'm gonna use a flash grenade!"
The guys had gotten a good dozen down before they'd been spotted, and there were probably only thirty left, all heading straight for them…and staring straight at them. Leon pulled the pin on one of those blue grenades and let fly.
FSHH-BANG!
Elleah could see the burst of light even through her closed lids and fingers, and the entire chamber was filled with wails of absolute agony. Seemed like the Novistadors weren't used to that much light.
When they all opened their eyes and resumed firing, Elleah saw that their enemies had changed. Something about the flashbang had turned their skin a weird, bluish green that was rippling like water.
Between shots, Luis explained. "Their hides adjust their colors—based on the colors and lighting—of the surrounding environment. The abrupt change—stunned their chromatophores—turning them blue."
"They look more green to me," Leon said. In the interest of saving on ammo, he ran forward to one that had just lit on the edge before the flash had gone off and drove a powerful side-kick into its chest, sending it flailing off the edge. Hopefully it wouldn't be back up.
Most of them had stopped dead in the air and were just wavering around drunkenly, and Leon and Luis took advantage of this to thin out the closest ones. Elleah stepped forward to get in range of some of these and began firing. The things would drop with one rifle shot or two pistol shots, but Elleah had to hit one in the head four times with her slingshot to get it down.
Make that five times. The one she'd picked had dropped out of sight only to come crawling back up the ledge a moment later. Elleah shot at it again before it could make it onto the ledge, and this time it was unmoving as it fell.
But now the Novistadors were regaining their grace and starting towards them again. Their hides were also starting to fade back to greyish brownish green.
"Flashbang's wearing off," Leon remarked calmly as one of them shot straight towards him, wings humming dangerously. He popped off two shots between its eyes and it dropped just enough to plow into the ledge rather than into Leon.
The fifteen or so that were left all wailed in concerted fury. All at once, six of them shot straight for them at top speed.
"Shit!" Leon swore, stepping back and taking quick shots. But the things were now weaving back and forth enough to throw off his accuracy, and he missed several times. One of them reached him, claws out, but Leon used its own momentum against it, dodging to the side, grabbing its clawed arm, and sending it flying off-course to bash into a wall instead of one of them. Elleah put several bearings in the back of its head while it was stunned.
Luis got two of them, but he and Elleah both had to dodge out of the way of the last two, which hit the ground and went tumbling tail over teakettle past them. Of course, this put them in the cave behind them, and that wasn't good. Like Luis had said, they did not want to get surrounded.
The remaining Novistadors were all advancing as well, though more slowly and methodically. Four were converging on Leon at once, and his gun was cracking loudly with the effort of keeping them all at bay. Luis swore and began picking them off while trying to keep an eye on the two behind them as they regained their footing.
Guess I'm up, Elleah thought, raising her slingshot. In an effort to keep them pinned, she began pegging the grounded Novistadors as quickly as she was able.
As she did, Luis warned, "Be careful if they rear back and start retching! They'll spit acid up to ten feet!"
"Okay," she said, and shot one in the arm as it dropped to all fours and began skittering towards them over the wall. It dropped with a squeal of discomfort.
She wouldn't have time to kill them both if they rushed her, and Leon was so badly swarmed that it was all Luis could do to keep him from being overrun, so Elleah was focusing on hampering her pair as much as possible to buy some time. She was loading up their joints with ball bearings, aiming for any crook in the arms and legs she could spot. There were quite a few, but it didn't take too long for her to immobilize one, at least temporarily.
The second one stumbled to its feet – she'd shot it in the knee and it had crashed hard – then reared back and began gurgling softly.
Acid.
She stepped to the side, away from Luis, and it turned to track her. She was glad – she didn't want him getting hit if she missed this shot or misjudged its efficacy. She loaded a slug, aimed for the throat, and just as its peculiar sound reached a wet crescendo, she let fly.
TSSSS—AAAACH!
The Novistador's throat exploded in a burst of acid as it tried to propel its burning attack out a pipe that had just gained an extra hole. Much of the acid still shot out of its mouth – most of it, in fact – but the sluiceway of its throat had depleted much of the pressure, and rather than spraying her face in a high-powered jet, the stream instead spattered the ground at her feet.
She yelped in pain as drops of the searing regurgitant ate through her pants and burned her ankles, and she jumped quickly back. Not wanting to give the Novistador time to recover, she quickly loaded more shots and began peppering its head with holes, periodically switching to the fallen one as well, to keep it pinned.
More quickly than she'd anticipated being able to manage, both Novistadors were dead, their riddled remains twitching feebly on the ground. She spared only a moment for herself to think in mild awe, They're dead. I did that. I killed those things, before turning away to help cover Leon.
The swarm had thinned, and he was no longer heavily pressed, but she still sent a good half dozen bearings sinking into heads and backs and leg joints of the remaining few to help conclude the battle.
After the last one fell, Leon heaved a heavy breath, wiped his brow, and holstered his gun. "Damn. That was fun. You two okay?"
Luis nodded, and Elleah chirped, "Yup!"
"Good," Leon said.
Luis turned around to survey the two Novistadors behind them. He put his hands on his hips and shook his head disbelievingly. "Mi cadenza, did you kill both of those on your own?"
"Huh?" Leon asked, leaning over to look past them.
"Yeah," she said as he walked over and gave one a light kick. It shuddered weakly and let out a gurgling hiss – it was the acid-spitter – but the hiss petered off after only a moment into a wet rasp that quickly fell silent. It sounded more like a reflex than a sign of vitality.
"Hell," Leon said. "You did this with a slingshot?"
He sounded impressed, and Elleah flushed with pleasure at the praise. "Yeah."
Luis was staring at her with an expression she couldn't quite read in the low light. She couldn't read it, but something about what she could see sent her heartrate, which had just begun to slow back down after the fight, hitching up again.
He walked over to the other Novistador and leaned down to inspect it. Then he pulled a heavy, serrated knife out of his belt, grabbed something, and began sawing.
When he stood up and turned around, he was holding one of the Novistador's huge, clawed hands. "I don't know any father who wouldn't want a trophy commemorating such an impressive kill by his child. No doubt he will want it preserved and mounted on his wall when you show it to him."
He stowed it in his pack as he said this, and the thought really excited Elleah. Telling a story was one thing. Being able to show her dad a bit of what she'd done? Awesome.
And the best part was knowing how much Christine would hate having that ugly claw sitting in her dining room. That was probably where dad would put it if he really liked it – the dining room, so he could point it out to guests and visiting dignitaries over dinner.
You see that claw there, on the wall? Yes, it is real! It's from a B.O.W. my youngest killed. I know she doesn't look like much, but…
That little daydream played out in her head as Leon and Luis walked over to inspect the memorial statue thing by the edge of the pit. She smiled happily as she pictured Christine's face, struggling to stave off a look of revulsion, both at the hideous conversation starter and at her husband bragging about the child she so hated. Maybe it was petty, but so was Christine.
She dragged herself back to the present as Luis read the plaque. "It says, 'The two lights shall shine on a new path.' I'm not sure what this means, as I am unfamiliar with this renovation, so I suppose we ought to look around. There are two small caves branching off from this chamber – they will almost certainly have something to do with it. They also may contain a few leftover bugs, so be mindful."
Leon nodded, and they all started up the path. As they walked, Leon said, "You know, Elleah, part of my job involves being trained in the use of just about every kind of weapon – knives, clubs, maces, axes, every kind of firearm from muskets to machine guns. I can even fire a bow and arrow with at least descent accuracy. But I've never even touched a slingshot. Think when we get home, you can teach me how to use it?"
Thrilled at the idea that Leon thought something she knew worth learning, she nodded excitedly. "Yeah! I'd love to!"
"Cool," he said as they reached the cave branch and slowed. Leon pulled out his Red, Elleah hoisted her Zinger, and Luis toted his rifle. They scanned the walls carefully for signs of camouflaged Novistadors, but saw nothing.
On the back wall was something interesting – a crudely etched stone mural. It looked very old, but part of it had been covered with a more modern-looking metal panel sporting a large, rectangular button.
Luis frowned. "Hm. It seems that Salazar has been defacing the history of Los Illuminados. Why would he do this, I wonder? Was it with Saddler's permission, or did he simply not realize its significance?"
"What's this about?" Leon asked.
"I do not know the meaning of the runes and symbols on either side," he replied, stepping forward and trailing his hands down the carvings. "But I believe this being here…" he gestured to a humanoid figure sporting winglike appendages coming out of its back, one leg propped up on a distorted canine creature standing beneath it. "…is meant to represent an old leader of the cult, one who had, through time, luck, and experience, retained some free will and gained a modicum of control over their Plaga. You see it erupting from their back?"
Elleah looked again at what she thought had been a pair of wings and realized that it could very well have represented the tentacles that shot out of the backs of some of the infected things they'd faced…albeit very artistically.
Luis gestured to the warped dog, which Elleah now saw also had tentacles shooting out of it in various places. In front of the pair was a man with a plumed helmet and a spear. "You see them exerting control over an infected beast here, which stands ready to attack an advancing soldier."
"And Salazar felt okay just writing over this stuff to make room for more puzzles?" Leon asked. He didn't sound impressed. "Jeez, you'd think he'd be a little more respectful of his new religion's history."
"You'd think," Luis agreed. "Now, the button – shall we?"
"Well, we won't know unless we give it a try. Just be ready to dodge if any spikes come shooting out of the walls or something." And with that he gave it a push.
It began glowing, and they heard the heavy sound of shifting stone out in the main chamber – accompanied by a resurgence of wingbeats.
They all dashed back out to the main chamber to see what had changed. Though Elleah hadn't noticed at first, the walls of the chamber were set with two colossal stone carvings, both of towering, angelic beings with the twisted heads of emerged Plagas. It was disturbing in the extreme.
Both of the 'angels' were carrying huge, round ornaments. Elleah didn't know what they'd been before, but they were now floodlights, one of which was projecting a ray of brilliance towards a huge pair of double doors further up the path.
"Well," Luis said as he aimed at the flock of four approaching Novistadors that had been clinging to some upper walls. "I suppose that more or less answers the riddle. Let's go get the other button after we finish our leftovers, shall we?"
"Yup," Leon said, and began shooting.
They took down three before the things reached them, but paused and looked at each other before blasting the last one. They nodded, and Leon said, "Elleah, want to finish that one off?"
She swallowed and stepped forward, taking aim at the bobbing, weaving target that had just drawn in range of her Zinger. "Sure," she said.
She really, really didn't want to miss, even if the stakes weren't high. She fired, more nervous than she'd been when they'd actually been fighting for their lives, and her nerves threw off her aim. She'd been going for the head…but missed.
No, wait – going by the thing's angry scream, she'd hit it, though she wasn't sure where. Then it passed through a beam of light and she saw that she'd managed to shoot an antenna off.
Eh, maybe they'll think I did that on purpose, she thought embarrassedly as she aimed again. This time she managed to catch it right in the gullet, though she'd been aiming for an eye. She got it twice more before it got to them, and as it landed it flopped down on the ground. She put a ball bearing in the top of its head before it stood up. She then put another through its eye when it reared back to try spitting acid, and it overbalanced backwards and did not get back up.
"Nice," Leon said. "How much ammo do you have, by the way?"
"The slugs?" She asked. "No idea. Most of my pockets are full of them, though, and my bearing bag, too." She pulled it out and showed him.
"That must be heavy," Luis remarked.
She nodded. "Yeah, but the Zinger is light, so it balances out. Uh, is this bridge safe?"
The next cave was across a huge stone bridge spanning the room, and it did not look structurally stable. Luis bit his lip. "Salazar and I managed to cross just fine, but to be honest, I think even you are heavier than him. Why don't we go one at a time?"
"Yeah, better safe than dead," Leon said. "I'll go first."
He began walking across. He looked nonchalant, but Elleah noticed him pause as he reached the center of the bridge. They'd all heard the slight crumbling sound it made, and Elleah, from where she stood, saw a stream of dust trickle down just under Leon's feet.
He only paused for a moment, then went on. The bridge held. He made it to the other side.
"You next," Luis said, and she nodded. Her heart hammered painfully as she walked across the bridge, and if she thought that it wouldn't groan just because she was half Leon's weight, she was mistaken. If anything, the sound seemed louder to her…though that was probably just because it was right under her feet. Unlike Leon, she didn't pause, and just kept walking.
Luis was last. He walked calmly across until he got to the middle of the bridge, then stumbled as a loud CRACK echoed through the cavern.
Bitter terror shot through Elleah as the stone beneath his feet gave way. He flung himself forward, but the section he threw himself on also cracked, and he scrambled desperately for a handhold on stable stone.
He got it, but even the part he'd grabbed hold of was groaning now. Elleah was frozen, torn between wanting to run over and help him up and not wanting to risk killing them both by straining the now damaged bridge and causing more of it to break off.
Leon had not frozen. Instead, he'd pulled out the spent piton cord Elleah had recovered for him earlier, twirled it over his head for momentum, and threw the hooked end right at Luis. It flew over his head and fetched up behind his back.
As he tried to pull himself up, not minding the piton cord draped back over his shoulder – he couldn't really grab it without letting go, and anyways, the hook was too sharp to grab – the stone cracked again. Elleah watched with dull pain as a crack spread across yet more of the bridge, stretching from one end to the other…before stopping.
Her shoulders, which had tensed up near her ears, relaxed a bit as Luis found himself able to pull himself up a ways. He got an arm over the rocky shelf, then another, and heaved himself over the edge.
The bridge split once more along the cracked seam, and Luis fell, howling, into the pit.
"NO!" Elleah screamed, reaching out uselessly, and Leon took several steps back, hands gripping the piton cord – which promptly went tight in his hands, jerking him towards the edge.
She gasped. The hook had caught on Luis's backpack, and he now hung from it, arms hooked desperately through its loops, as he swung back and forth.
Upon seeing Leon scooting towards the edge, she threw herself in front of him, bracing her feet as well as she could on the smooth stone and pushing back. For a terrifying moment his weight sunk into her, driving her towards the pit…before his feet hit a rough patch and the friction brought them to a halt.
"Ay caramba!" Luis wailed. "Do not drop me!"
Leon didn't reply. He just steadied himself, took a careful step back, and began crouching slowly into a position that would allow him better leverage and stability.
Elleah grabbed onto the cord as well, and let out a breathless cry as it wavered and tugged them both towards the edge. Leon stopped them, then yelled, "Stop! Don't move! Just hang on a sec!"
"Shit!" Luis yelled back. "Shit! Shit! Shit! Shit! Mierda! Shit!"
Leon once again tried to anchor himself, glanced back over his shoulder, then said to her, "Okay, here's what we're gonna do. Get behind me, and put your back to me. Hook your arms under mine from behind, and swing your legs over the ledge. You're gonna be the main anchor for both of us, okay?"
That was asking a lot of her, but of course she didn't hesitate. She carefully slid around him, keeping pressure on him to keep him from sliding away, and as soon as she was able, she did as he asked, hooking her arms back under his and sitting down with her legs over the edge opposite Luis. They just barely reached.
His armpits clamped down painfully hard on her upper arms, and she bit down hard on a scream as the gash on her left arm flared up. Though the pain of stretching and compression on the laceration was immense, she did not allow herself to make a peep. If she did, Leon would probably try to rework their position, and Luis couldn't wait for them to find a better solution. They could tear her arms off for all she cared, as long as Luis was okay.
Speaking of…
"Coño! Mierda! Hijo de puta!"
Elleah did know what any of those words meant, nor did she recognize any of the others phrases that were flowing out of Luis's mouth in a steady stream, but Leon seemed to catch a few. He called down, "You are the chattiest, most profane piñata I have ever met. Definitely not for kids parties."
"Fuck you!" Luis wailed.
I know that one, she thought dizzily.
"Okay, we're steady, climb up!"
The pressure on Elleah's arms redoubled as Leon tensed to compensate for the shifting weight of the piton, and she had to force all the breath out of her throat in a silent scream to stay quiet, only taking another shallow breath when her head started to pound. If this kept up much longer, she was going to pass out. Probably would have already if not for those pain killers Leon had given her earlier.
The stone was digging uncomfortably into the backs of her legs as her position of anchor was tested, but thankfully the angle was alright, and the pain in her arm completely distracted her from the pain in her legs.
Then, after maybe twenty seconds of continuous agony, her arm began to prickle strangely, and a cold numbness spread down it, starting at her shoulder and sweeping down to her fingers. She was really glad for that – she could hardly even feel her injury anymore, except in a sort of dim acknowledgment sort of kind of way.
Sort of kind of…? Sort of kind of what…? Sort of kind of hurts…
Ten seconds after that, the line went slack as Luis pulled himself over the edge, panting heavily. Leon carefully released Elleah's arms, and she pushed herself dazedly away from the ledge and laid back on the ground. She was tired.
Leon paid her no mind. He scooched over to Luis and said, "You okay?"
Luis sounded like he was still recovering from the scare, but that was okay. He was okay. Right?
"Yeah. I'm okay. That was a little close for comfort, though."
He's okay, she thought as she closed her eyes. He's just hunky-dory. That's good. I think I need a nap.
She heard them discuss the bridge before standing up. She felt Leon nudge her with his toe and say, "Okay, come on, time to—are you alright?"
She didn't reply. She was tired. She needed a nap.
A light clicked on above her and she squinshed her eyes shut, turning a few degrees away. The light was directed downward, then…
"Oh. Oh, no. Jeez, Elleah, your arm, I didn't…"
"What the…? Shit! Her wound must have reopened. How'd that happen?"
She felt one of them helping her up, and she hoped they wouldn't let her slow them down. Hopefully they would just leave her propped against a wall or something while they went off and…did whatever it was they were supposed to be doing.
"I had her hook her arms through mine to help anchor me so you could climb up. If I'd remembered the arm, I would have…"
What he would have done, she wasn't sure. Before he could elaborate, Elleah drifted off.
OoO
Woo, two boss fights back-to-back! Fun stuff. Hey, welcome to my newest reader, Chase Thomas, and thank you for the kind comment! I appreciate it :)
Man, things are really picking up with my job. I didn't have anything yesterday, though, so no excuse not to have updated. I just lost track of the day. But I do have work for the next four days, including a shift in an hour or so, so I figured I'd upload before I left. Hope you all enjoyed the chapter ^_^
By the way, I've given up translating the swears. They're swears. They're flexible. Given the context, they're pretty identifiable, too. You want to look them up, have a ball! Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to watch this adorable little house finch fluttering around on my patio. Awwww, so cute!
Sincerely, the Topaz-
HEY! THAT'S NOT FOOD, STOP TRYING TO EAT THAT!