Kyle Brody's House

Kyle Brody's House

10:00am

Leon and Claire stood in the cool morning, staring up at the dilapidated old house that had once been the Brody's residence.

The house looked in need of renovation, but they both suspected that nobody would be wanting to buy the house of the only survivor of a spate of child murders, who later went insane.

The house was not that far from the main road, but that didn't make it any less creepy. The building was surrounded by a coldness that they both felt. It also had quite a large front garden, which meant they were still fifty plus metres from the main road.

After the dream, Leon was trying not to trust his emotions – but the house still gave him a strong sinking feeling that was hard to push away.

He heard Claire gulp.

"I don't like it…" Claire said "…I don't like it at all"

Neither Claire or Leon were the easiest people to be scared, Leon knew that Claire was tough as old boots and just as hard to terrify – But Claire herself was feeling pretty shaky. She didn't know quite what it was…but it was almost as bad as the feeling she'd had in Racoon.

What was it? Neither of them knew exactly for sure, the town was visually unspectacular, and there was nothing particularly creepy about the place during the day.

"Me neither" Leon replied "But we'd better look around anyway"

They both walked up towards the ruined house, both taking comfort in the fact it had been abandoned for a very long time.

The door creaked open, and they were hit by a wall of musty air that made you cough just by breathing it in.

"Geez, somebody needs to leave a window open in here" Claire said, wrinkling her nose.

"Got any air freshener?" Leon grinned.

She rolled her eyes.

"As if – Got a vacuum cleaner?" she replied.

They both laughed. At least their sense of humour hadn't been entirely ruined by the town.

Inside, it was like an antique house that had just been left to rot – Dust coated every surface, thicker in some places, but the house still had eerie imprints of its last owners. Underneath a layer of dust in the sitting room were dust coated chairs that had once been fine antique specimens but were now sadly lying in state of disrepair. On the mantelpiece was a photograph, now yellow with age. Leon gently removed it, and wiped the layer of dust from its surface. A family, mother, father and son. The son, presumably, was Kyle Brody.

"Is that the kid?" Claire asked, peering at the photo.

"Think so"

"The kid who never spoke after he was kidnapped by Rustin Parr?"

"Yep"

"Did he go…insane?"

"Unfortunately, yes"
Claire sighed.

"Poor kid" she said "That's the definition of a poor life"

Leon nodded, and replaced the photo.

The whole lower floor was either rotting or had deteriorated to such a point that it was barely worth looking at.

"Upstairs?" Claire indicated the stairs.

"Good idea – Maybe we can find Brody's room"

Claire nodded, and they walked up to the stairs.

Leon looked doubtfully at the stairs. They were over fifty years old, and neither of them wanted the unique experience of going through a set of stairs as opposed to up them.

Thankfully, the planks didn't look like they were rotting – So they set off up the stairs.

The wood creaked under their feet, and as they got to the top, they checked out the landing.

Three doors. Claire peeked inside one.

"Huh. Just the parent's room. Nothing"

Leon tried the second door.

"Store cupboard" he said, blankly, when he was greeted with the sight of a dusty wooden cupboard with a few practically unidentifiable objects inside.

The final door was obviously Kyle Brody's room.

Very slowly, Leon pushed it open, dust falling off it as it slowly opened. They stepped into the musty air of the room.

Their jaws dropped almost simultaneously, and Leon felt a warm tide of fear flow up through his body from the toe up.

The room was furnished with a table, bed…and about five hundred pieces of yellowing paper, each with demonic, screaming faces and unidentifiable scrawls that looked like nordic runes, and one dominant symbol that vaguely resembled a stickman.

There was a phrase, scribbled heavily across the thickly papered wall; 'LEAVE ME ALONE'

"Leon…" Claire said "…I don't know how it is, but this…scares me"

"Yeah…" Leon murmured "…You're right. I don't like this Claire, I don't like this at all"

General Store

12:00pm

They were both very relieved to leave the house, after taking photos and filming the room, they made the very wise decision of getting out of there. More of Kyle Brody later, they both decided on the way back down into town, the woods were their primary concern.

Leon strode up to the counter of the only General Store Burkittsville had, and said as politely as he could manage

"Can I have a map of the Black Hill's forests?"

The shopkeeper leaned over the counter, giving Leon his most mysterious and damning look.

"I've sold three maps of the Black Hill's Forest. Two of them went missing along with their owners"

"Who's the third guy then?" Claire asked, innocently.

The man grinned.

"Why, you of course" he said, indicating Leon.

Leon handed some money over, and the shopkeeper took it, hungrily, handing over a folded up piece of paper that resembled a map, which Leon tucked into his pocket.

"Although I'd be careful" he warned "The woods can be dangerous – There's talk of evil things in that forest…"

Leon shook his head.

"Ah, I don't think we've got anything to worry about" he said, despite that his mind said otherwise.

The shopkeeper shrugged.

"Very well" he said "If you insist"

"He seemed a little uneasy about us" Claire said, as she and Leon walked across the pedestrian crossing, being persistently beeped at by several cars waiting behind the crossing "Do you think he's suspicious about us?"

Leon shook his head.

"Nah. Not possible, I mean we only arrived yesterday, I don't think word spreads that quickly around here"

Claire looked around.

"Well, we're here – So I say we start to pack for our little 'hike'"

Leon nodded in agreement.

"Good idea" he said.

Holiday Inn

1:00pm

Claire finished packing the third pair of socks into her rucksack, and then pulled out the small GPS device they had bought in New York, pressing the ON button. There was a shrill beep, and the LCD display lit up, displaying various numbers and co-ordinates that Claire felt she would understand better if she had listened to her teachers in her Geography classes. Either that, or let Leon work it out.

"Uh…Leon?" she said, and Leon looked up, clicking the clips on his rucksack shut.

"Yeah?" he replied.

"Do you know how this works? I'm not a new technology person"

Leon shrugged, and took it gently from her, and pressed a few buttons.

"Yep…" then he put on a California surfer twang "…I'm like totally up to date with the latest gizmos, dude"

Claire giggled.

"As long as your navigation skills are better than your surfer dude impersonation, I think we're safe!"

He grinned, and was suddenly surprised to feel her hand brush his leg. His skin tingled, and he looked at her. He was once again aware of her tremendous beauty, even in a pair of jeans and a shirt. She was, however wearing that sexy red jacket of hers that made Leon wilt every time he saw her.

He took her hand and squeezed it, encouragingly.

She smiled, the smile that he loved so dearly and made the clouds part when all seemed so gloomy.

Leon wanted to tell her how he felt, how things had changed, how he felt she looked…

He opened his mouth…and shut it again.

"Let's go" he said, mouth dry.

"Yes, let's" she replied, looking him in the eyes.

Then, an uncontrollable urge made itself present in Leon, and without warning, he slipped his arms around her, staring into her eyes aggressively.

"I want you…" he whispered "Right here and now, I want you Claire, goddamnit"

She threw her arms around him, and kissed him full on the mouth, Claire feeling his tongue slip against hers, and then into her mouth. She gazed into his eyes, saw the deep primal lust for somebody permeate his eyes, witnessed the fires of love burning…for her…

"Then have me" she whispered in reply, and kissed him again "Have me right now…"

He began to unbutton her jacket as they kissed.

"This is so stupid…" he muttered as they kissed, yanking off her jacket.

"Right…" she replied through the kiss "…Then let's both be stupid for a couple of hours"

He pushed her down onto the bed, and unzipped her jeans, feeling her hands remove his shirt as she unbuttoned his own trousers.

"Why are you letting me do this?" he asked.

"Because I love you" she replied, gazing at him with her clear, beautiful eyes again.

His mouth opened and shut, he didn't know what to say.

"Ditto" he said, simply, and then fell on top of her, allowing himself to finally give in to the urges that had ravaged him ever since the end of their adventure in Raccoon City.

'I love you Claire' he thought, and then he said it.

"I love you too" she replied, as if to confirm her earlier statement.

They finished about two hours later, Leon grunted for the last time, and collapsed on top of Claire.

They panted with exertion.

"Whoa…I've…never done that with you before" Claire gasped.

"I've never…done it with you either"

They lay there for a while, considering their options, and holding each other.

"It was…good, wasn't it?" Leon asked.

Claire smiled up at him.

"The best, Leon, the best" she kissed him on his lower lip.

"Thanks" he replied, and grinned boyishly "You weren't THAT bad"

He giggled as she playfully slapped him on the side of his neck.

"Come on" he whispered, stroking her chest "Let's get changed"

Black Rock Road

2:30pm

Claire shouldered her backpack, and looked up doubtfully into the dark woods. Sure, it was just a forest, but there was something about this particular forest that unsettled her. She was sure Leon felt it too, despite his cheery demeanour.

She turned to Leon, who was getting the GPS out of the car, and unloading his own backpack.

"For the last time, are you sure this is necessary?" she asked, anxiously "It feels…bad"

He frowned

"Bad?" he asked.

"Bad" she replied "As in, this place is not a good place"

"Well, neither are Umbrella's labs – But that's never worried you in the past"

He sighed, looking at her worried expression.

"To tell you the truth, I'm spooked too. But if Umbrella scientists were out here, we should know what they were doing, whether or not this Blair Witch turns out to be real"

She nodded, smiling a little.

"I guess I'm just a little scared"

"Me too, baby, me too"

He gently kissed her on the forehead, and adjusted her backpack. The wind was cool, but at least the sun was out in a clear blue sky. Perhaps, she thought as they locked up the car and trudged off the long, repetitive tarmac road and into the leaf mould that indicated the start of the Black Hills Forest, it would be okay after all.

They rested after about four hours of walking and chatting by a large tree, what kind Leon didn't notice, but it was very thick and extremely old from its look. Leon had made a note of their co-ordinates, and told Claire that it was quite easy to find their way back from where they were. Despite how confident he seemed, how he felt was another matter.

It was a mistake to go out into the woods. A total mistake.

Not because they could get lost or anything, what worried him was that the place, as Claire had said, felt bad. It was not a good place, the persistent darkness despite how bright it was loomed all around them. He was almost scared to see the sun go down and the night begin. He was also scared for Claire, she was as worried as he was, and both were beginning to doubt as to whether they'd find anything. The sun was setting, the reddish orange light slid slowly across the countryside and created odd shadows as it filtered through leafy branches which, had once seemed threatening, but now seemed mildly unpleasant.

"Tell you what" Leon said "Let's walk for another hour, see if we can spot anything, and then we'll camp down for the night, and walk back in the morning"

Claire nodded. She was afraid, Leon noticed. He was too…but how? He could feel it in his bones, as if something very old and unfamiliar was trying to give him a kick.

"What about Rustin Parr's house? Is that around here?"

"It might be" Leon remarked "And I'll see if I can work out where it is using the map tomorrow morning"

"Okay" Claire said, standing up "Let's walk"

Night swept across the landscape. Shadows became the all encompassing, and light was banished. Claire and Leon sat huddled in their tent, the halogen light illuminating the tent and their own shadows against the stretched material of the tent.

Leon held Claire by his side, enjoying the warmth of her body against his own, feeling her gentle breathing as her own arms were wrapped around his body.

"Leon…" she said slowly "What…do you think happened to those students who went missing here in 1994?"

"I…don't know. Really I have no idea"

"I'm not sure either…did the witch get them, or just some psycho with an axe and a grudge?"

"Who knows…but they barely had any idea where they were going"

She nodded.

"I guess so"

He rubbed her gently.

"You're freezing" he said "Why don't you get into your sleeping bag?"

She smiled softly, and nodded.

"Okay" she said, and pulled away from him, so that she could wrap herself up in her sleeping bag.

"Night" she said.

"Night" he whispered, and slipped into his own bag with a loud yawn.

Leon didn't know what woke him up. He just was. Checking his watch, he saw that it was 3:00am.

Three in the morning? What prompted him to wake up this early?

As this mystery swirled around him, so did the light. He was pretty sure he wasn't dreaming this time, but there was something wrong. He looked around.

Leon looked at the side of the tent. A faint feeling of fear boiled up from his stomach, as he saw…a shape. It was outside…but…it wasn't human…

His heart began to thump hard, and loudly. He'd seen a lot to scare him, monsters and hideous zombies were pretty bad, but this was something above zombies…it wasn't the same kind of fear. Zombies and monsters were very real, but this was something on the verge of dreams, something dark and unreal.

Please say this is a dream he thought as he saw the shape begin to press the side of the tent Please say that I'll wake up in a minute, that this experience will be over…

He nearly gasped, and tried to hold in any exclamations.

"Claire…" he whispered.

No response.

He nudged the sleeping form of Claire, and very slowly she came to. Claire blinked softly, and turned to him.

"What's…up?"

She saw his pallid expression, his fearful face.

"What?" she asked.

He grabbed her, pulled her close to him, and pointed at the tent wall.

She turned, and the colour drained from her face.

"Oh god…" she whispered, feeling her own heart begin to pound as the thing outside began to press harder against the tent wall.

"Go" he whispered "Grab your bag and go"

He pushed her, and at that moment, everything happened at once. The tent shook, as if in an earthquake or savage storm, and both of them, scared as they had ever been, grabbed what they could and belted out of the tent door, into the velvety dangerous night.

Leon kept his eye on Claire as they ran, his heart thumping loudly. He heard Claire's gasps, her terrified breaths, and felt his own body almost turn limp as he heard from behind them, a giggle. Not an inhuman one…a ghostly, baby's laugh, like a happy child on a summer's day.

It was behind, to his left and right…

Then, suddenly, he felt himself blunder into Claire, both of them tripped and fell over. They immediately grabbed each other, squeezing hard, Leon heard Claire begin to cry into his chest.

"I heard…a baby…a baby…I swear!!" he gasped, through her tears.

"I heard it too…I heard it too…" Leon replied, closing his eyes and holding her tight as the night closed in on them.

END OF PART TWO

Authors note: Sorry about the delay!