As Cold Blood Runs:

As Cold Blood Runs:

Chapter 11: Eternal Promises

Leon:

A New Encounter: 5:30 Fort Renard, US Army Intelligence Base, New York State.

"Good afternoon, Commander Kennedy. I hope all is well." As I exited the car, I saw Mick Stevens standing in front of it.

"I've been better," I said, rather roughly. His face actually contorted into one of sympathy, and he removed his sunglasses, wiped his hands on his dark green fatigue pants, and looked at me.

"Yes...I've heard," he told me. "My condolences are with you and your sister."

"Thank you, sir," I replied, hoping I was addressing him correctly.

"Sir? Commander, you're my superior now," he laughed. "I may be a marshal, but legally, you're my superior."

"You don't say," was all I could manage. Everyone else got out, and Stevens greeted them all. Once he was done with that, he motioned for a small group of combat-ready soldiers to come over.

"Yes, before I start, I know I told Lieutenant Thompson I had a force of 25 men, but the Pentagon boys couldn't provide them, so I have a smaller, but more experienced, team of five," he said. There were two medium-height women, one of which I recognized as Sarah Chase. Two of the three men were Nicolas Garret and Greg Turner, whom we had previously

"Commander, you already know Sergeant Chase, Lieutenant Garret, and Corporal Turner," he said. She came up, and shook my hand. The others just stood and saluted.

"Glad to be working with you again, sir," she told me. I smiled and nodded.

"Who are the others?" I asked.

"Meet Sergeant Jason Greene," he said, and a tall blonde man stepped forward and saluted. "He's one of the best snipers we have."

"Good, we'll put him to good use." I told Mick. "The other one?"

"Private, First Class Jessica Mason. She's a topography expert, and a pretty good shot with a rifle herself," he said. She was taller than Sarah, and black headed. She saluted, and stepped back in line.

"OK, now that you've met your team, now let's get you a place to stay. You may want to get your bags," Mick said, as he motioned for a large transport vehicle. A man nodded, and pulled the large diesel-powered van over to us.

"We have a large off-base home for you to stay on," he told us as we climbed in. "It's not much, but it's the best we could do." The van pulled away, and a few hundred feet ahead of us after we passed back through the gates, we saw an elaborate, four-story, brick house. It had large windows, a large yard, and it made the great home in Albany look like a 4 wall dirt floor cabin.

"Holy shit...this is our house?!" Chris shouted.

"Like I said..." Mick smirked. "It's not much." The van stopped in the drive, and we all climbed out.

"Well, take a couple of hours and get acquainted, all the furniture, appliances, anything you need, is there. We'll be back at eight with the others, make sure you're in full uniform, which I'm sure you'll find in your closets. Get some rest, and we'll see you in a few," Mick said as the van pulled out of the driveway. As the van barreled down the road, headed back towards the base, Mick threw something out the van. A key.

"Holy shit, this is a damn mansion," Jill said as she admired the house.

"Like I said, work for the government and you get paid full due," Ark said. "Leon, get the key, and let's get inside."

"Hey, I thought I was in charge?!" I asked.

"Oh, yeah," Ark said, sounding like a complete retard.

"Now...I'm getting the key, and then we'll get inside," I laughed, picking up the key to the house, and I proceded to open it up. The inside was just as elaborate as the exterior. The walls were white, with white furniture in the living room. Holy shit, there was a big-screen...a really big-screen TV.

"Damn, we're living like kings now," I said, and I headed into the large dining room. A large table, with twelve chairs, all padded, were in the room.

"Oh sweet madre y Christo," Carlos muttered. He sat in one of the chairs and kicked his feet up on the table. "This is sweet!"

"I'm going upstairs!" Sherry shouted, and the Kleins decided to follow. We heard their lighthearted and pleasured squeals of delight, and we knew that this could be home...for awhile. Claire came over to me and grasped my hands.

"Oh, Leon," she gasped. "This is so beautiful."

"I know," I told her. "It's so immaculate, I wonder why the government blew all this money just for us?"

"Probably because that this is a damn suicide mission," Seth said. "They think we won't make it...we'll have to prove them wrong." Becky, who had her arms wrapped around his waist, disagreed.

"Personally, I think it's so they don't have to give us cash," she said. "Trying to pay us off...without really having to do it."

"Well, for what ever reason," Barry told us. "It's a private piece of heaven. There's just one little thing missing."

"Kathy and the girls?" Chris asked.

"Yep," he said, grimacing. I guessed having his family so far away was hard for him.

"Well, I say we head upstairs and get some rest. The banquet begins at nine tonight, and we're to be on base at seven," I said. "And that's an order."

"Yeah, right," Chris said. "I think he's a little power hungry."

"Watch your mouth," Ark said. "He's your superior...and so am I."

"Great..." Chris replied. "This is just so damn great."

"Ah, get over it," his sister told him.

"You're only saying it because you want to..." he started.

"Christopeher Daniel, don't get me started!" she shouted, her face turning beet red.

"Well, it's true!" he shouted back.

"Both of you, knock it off," I told them. "I'm tired, and I'm going to find my room. If anyone else wants to get some rest before we have to go, then go for it. If not, then keep quiet for those that do." With that said, I took off my jacket and headed upstairs.

"Sounds like a plan," Claire said, and followed. I looked back, and the rest were headed upstairs also.

A promise made to keep

I opened the door to the large bedroom. Like the rest of the house, everything was white. Not to say it didn't look nice, which it did, it was just...white. I opened the closet, and saw racks of uniforms...of two different sizes.

"Kennedy..." I said, pulling out the camaflauge shirt with my name patched on it. Those were the bigger sizes. Investigating the smaller ones, I noticed the name 'Redfield' on them. Couldn't be Chris', he was taller than me. Claire?

Stevens, you dog, I thought with a grin. I hung them back up, and took off my tshirt and jeans, leaving me in my boxers and an undershirt. I laid back on the bed, and closed my eyes, and began to fall asleep. Images of Claire floated through my head, and I was deciding as to whether or not I should ask. What, you say? Just read on. But mostly, I was tired. As I was about to enter a deep sleep, I heard the door open...Claire had come into the room. She looked at me, her face red.

"Oh...I didn't mean..." she began.

"Oh, hell, get used to it," I told her as I sat up. "Take a seat...what's on your mind?" She came over and sat down beside me.

"Well, the others have their own rooms, and I can't seem to find mine anywhere," she said.

"Check the closet," I said as I pointed towards it. She gave me a strange look, stood up, and checked the closet.

"Oh my," she said, obviously noticing what I had earlier.

"Trust me..." I said, fearing that she was angry. "I didn't have a thing to do with it. I'm sure I could stay in another room if you don't want me here."

"Not want you in here?" she laughed. "Why wouldn't I want you in here?" She came back, and sat on the bed beside me. I put an arm around her.

"Got a big night ahead of us," I told her.

"Yep," she answered. "Could be dangerous."

"It will be," I told her. "Which brings me to something else." I had snapped a decision in my head. It sounded too fast...way too fast, but I couldn't let something happen to her without saying this.

"What is it?" she asked.

"Well...we've known each other for a while, right?" I asked.

"Yeah," Claire told me, unsure of where I was going.

"And we love each other, right?" I asked.

"Leon, what are you getting at?" she asked, sounding annoyed.

"Well..." I said, slipping off the bed, onto a knee. "Would you make me the luckiest man in the world by becoming my wife?"

"What?" Claire asked, her face flushed and an excited look in her eyes.

"Marry me," I told her.

"Well..." she began. "Yes! Yes, I will!" I jumped up, embraced her, and picked her up off of the ground.

"No matter what," she said as tears flowed down her face. "We'll be together forever now."

"You betcha," I told her. "You betcha."

Chris:

"Well, it doesn't sound like anything's going on," I said to Ark, Barry, and Carlos. "I just hear some talking."

"That sounds like him," Ark said. "He's not too good at jumping onto opportunities."

"Hey, dammit, that 'opportunity' is my sister, jackass!" I shouted.

"Jeez, he sure is uptight," Carlos muttered in his Latin accent. "Now he's even spying on her."

"I just don't like the idea of them sharing the same room," I told them. Frankly, I felt like ringing Stevens' neck personally.

"Hey, just trust them," Ark said. "Leon's not a bad guy, he's one you can trust."

"It's not him...I'm just worried about Claire," I told them as I pulled my ear from the wall...

"YES! Yes, I will!" What the hell?!

"Haha, what did I tell ya?!" I shouted as I barged from the room. "It's asskickin' time!" I ran and barged into the room, just to run into Leon and Claire as they were on the way out.

"What the hell are you doing?!" Claire shouted.

"I was about to ask you the same damn thing!" I shouted back.

"Whoa..." Leon laughed. "You actually think..."

"Yeah, I do think, and I want to know what just happened!" I shouted. God, I could kill him right now.

"He just proposed to me, Chris," Claire said.

"What?!" I asked. Now I was dumbstruck.

"Yes, he just proposed," she said. "And I accepted." Proposal? Does this mean...my sister's getting married? What's up with that?

"........." I was speechless.

"What's going on?" we turned our heads, and Barry, Ark, and Carlos came out of the room.

"You've gotta be kidding me..." I told my sister.

"No," she said. "I'm getting married."

"Huh?" Ark was dumbstruck also. Carlos' jaw was to the floor. Barry, laughing the whole time, shook Leon's hand.

"What's so hard to understand?" she asked. By this time Becky and Jill had both come out.

"Oh, great," Leon groaned. "Not again."

"What's going on?" Jill asked.

"It seems that my sister is getting married," I said.

"Oh my God!" she shouted. "That's great! Congratulations!" She ran over, and she and Claire hugged each other.

"Yeah, it is," Claire replied.

"HEY!" everyone shut up, and looked and saw Seth poke his head out the door.

"Shut up!! I'm trying to sleep!!" he shouted, and he slammed the door. We heard muttering, then silence.

"You know, he's right," Barry said. "We've got a busy evening ahead fellas." He went to his room, and Carlos, Ark, Jill, and Becky went upstairs to theirs, leaving me, Claire, and Leon.

"Well, I don't know what to say," I told them. "But I'm all for it."

"Really?" Claire asked.

"Right, just as long as I give away the bride," I joked.

"You got it," Leon said.

"Congratulations, guys, and please, try to keep it down." I headed back into my room, and closed my door.

Leon

"Wow, I'm suprized he took it that well," I told Claire as we went back into the room. I plopped down on the bed, and Claire layed down beside me.

"So am I," she said. "That was just to easy." She layed an arm across my chest, and closed her eyes.

"I can't believe this," I told her. "I'm living in a magnificant house, and I've got the most beautiful woman in the world beside me."

"It's amazing, isn't it?" she told me.

"Things are going to get bad tonight," I told her. "We gotta be ready for anything."

"I know, I know," she said. "But right now, at least we can enjoy this moment."

"Yes," I told her. "And after tonight, we have our whole lives ahead of us."

"We do," she said. "Forever..."

With a last heaved breath, Claire Redfield fell asleep.

Things are changing faster and faster. But it all will sum up to one final battle...one final assault. Or will it? The end keeps drawing nearer and nearer...or will it only be the beginning of something worse? You'll have to read the next chapter of As Cold Blood Runs.