Disclaimer: I don't own Resident Evil 4, or the plot. This is just a novelization.

Los Illuminados

Chapter One -

Staring out the window, his vision locked in place. There was nothing to look at. Everything in this rural part of Spain was lifeless. The trees beared no leaves, and there lied no signs of animals or civilization. But even though it wasn't much of a sight, Leon S. Kennedy was able to gaze upon it and lose himself deep within his thoughts.

'Car rides. They're always too long. Or maybe my patience runs out all too quickly. I wouldn't be suprised,' Leon slouched a bit in his seat, still not taking his eyes away from his eerie surroundings. He fixed his elbow down on the door's armrest, and leaned his head on his closed-fist. 'Then again, maybe I take times like these for granted. Right now I could be thinking about my so called mission. Like how I got into this mess. After all, I had just completed my special training via a secret organization working directly under the president's orders, and was just about to assume the role of protecting the president's family, when this-' Leon immediately stopped his thoughts when he heard the two Policia begin to talk.

"...the one who gets the short end of the stick?" The one driving laughed. The other riding shotgun turned towards Leon, revealing a mocking smile.

"Yo. Who are you really? Come on and tell us," the Policia asked. Leon looked at him for a second, then stared back out the window. These guys didn't need to know anything more than what they were briefed on. But as Leon turned back towards the window, the Policia continued. "You are a long way from home, cowboy. You have my sympathies."

The sympathies comment hit a nerve with Leon, and the phrase 'cowboy' didn't help either. But Leon managed to keep it to himself. "I guess that's the local's way of breaking the ice," he paused for a second, "Anyway, you should know what this is about. My assignment is to search for the president's missing daughter."

"What, all by yourself?" the Policia seemed determined to make this long drive a difficult one.

"Well I'm sure you boys didn't just tag along so we could sing Kumbiyah together at some Boyscout bonfire. Then again, maybe you did."

The Policia turned away from Leon, giving the driver a funny look as he did so. "Oh, you crazy American. It's a direct order from the chief himself.
I tell you it's no big thing."

Leon felt confronted, but he needed to trust these guys. They were the only back-up he had in this lonely, rural part of Europe. And even if the popular belief is that this whole operation is nothing but a wild goose chase, Leon had to trust these guys. "I'm counting on you two," he said bluntly. The Policia sitting shotgun shrugged as the driver looked over towards him.

'These guys seem like they want nothing to do with this whole thing. I thought that the chief of police in Madrid would have taken this a lot more seriously,' Leon's began to think as he returned to his previous position. He sighed, trying to keep his mind clear, but failing horribly. It was then that he remembered the picture he had of the president's daughter. He sat up straight, and dug into his back pocket. After a minute's worth of searching, Leon finally managed to retrieve what he was looking for.

The picture was of Ashley Graham, daughter of President Graham. As Leon took in her appearance, he found himself recalling her by everything but her face. All he was taking in was an orange sweater and a plaid skirt, held around her waist with an expensive brown belt. But it's been weeks since she's been missing, so chances are she wouldn't be dressed in the same attire. He'd have to remember her by her face, but admitting such a thing came off a tad bit embarrassing to Leon. Why? Was it because the only way he could describe her face was beautiful? Leon stopped looking at the picture, and back out the window.

'It was right before I was to take on my duties of protecting the president's daughter when she was abducted. Great timing. According to our intelligence, there's reliable information of a sighting of a girl that looks very similar to the president's daughter. Apparently, she's being witheld by some mysterious group of people. Who would of thought my first job would be a rescue mission?' Leon recalled as he thumbed a corner of Ashley's picture. His thoughts diminished, and he quickly realized that the car had stopped.

"Just up ahead is the village," the driver said, using the rearview mirror to speak to Leon. The other Policia turned to look at him too.

"We'll stay and watch the car. Don't want to get any...parking tickets."

The joke wasn't amusing. As Leon stepped out the car, he mumbled, "Right...parking tickets." Followed by a quick slam of the door.

Leon took in his surroundings, but found them as boring as the view out of the cardoor window the entire drive there. The sky was painted a foreboding gray, with dead trees' branches forking up towards it. Lifeless leaves scattered across the dirt, creating an array of browns and reds. At first glance some even seemed blood-stained. Leon couldn't deny the feelings that were beginning to form inside of him. This place felt tainted and dark. But the vibe meant nothing to him. Leon forced the thoughts to the back of his mind.

A trio of ravens scattered into the air as the special agent continued along a beaten down path, snaking between trees and rocks. The air was still and chilly, which struck Leon as odd. It was so warm back in the Madrid Airport. He was glad he still brought his jacket. Underneath it he had nothing but a tight, black tee-shirt and his handgun holsters. He'd run the risk of catching hypothermia. And all over some 'silly goose chase', as everyone believed.

Leon kept his eyes on the ground in front of him mostly, being weary of where he stepped. But out of the corner of his eye, he noticed the tree's to his right became more spread apart. There lied an old farming truck, parked directly in the path Leon was following. The truck's windows were tinted a disgusting brown, and its chasis was rusted almost completely. Leon couldn't believe that a truck in such condition could still drive, but he had to hope if he was going to get past it. Someone obviously had to own the mess on four wheels. Just as he was about to touch the hood of the truck, a strange feeling echoed inside of him. Leon pulled his hand away, and looked to his left.

"Nice house, if you can even call it that," Leon said to himself as he looked upon the building. He could have sworn he'd seen someone looking out a subtle crack in the window. "Two stories high, and built with rotting wood it seems. Not to forget, the trademark boarded up windows."

Leon casually walked up to the house, and paused for a second on the front patio. The place seemed kind of quaint actually. Yet that eerie feeling made the hairs on the back of his neck stand tall. To make things seem more suspicious, the front door remained wide open. Leon reassured himself that it was nothing, though. All he had to do was talk to the locals, show them the picture he was given, then leave.

Leon repeated the thought over and over again in his head while he knocked on the front door, even though it was open. When there was no reply, Leon took a step in. "Hello? Is anyone home?" he yelled loud enough so it could be heard within the entire house. Still no response. Leon shrugged, and completely walked through the doorway.

The first thing he noticed was the lack of furniture. Leon was almost completely sure that the house was abandoned now. Even so, it wouldn't hurt to look around. He moved down the short entrance hallway, each step followed by a hollow echo. The hallway opened up to a bigger room, one with a make-shift table and chairs. And across on the other side of the table was the figure of a man, hunched over, tending to a fire. The fire's violent orange glow acted as an evil aura for the man, making Leon hesitate a bit before approaching.

"Excuse me..." Leon moved closer to the villager, while reaching for the photograph of Ashley at the same time. "Ah, excuse me sir?" he said again, now that he was within three feet of the man. There was no reply. It was then that Leon caught glimpse of something within the fire. It almost looked like the bones of a human hand. But as Leon was about to look closer, the villager stood up straight, paused, then slowly spun to the right, until he was looking at Leon.

'Well he looks normal, but acts like nobody I've ever seen before,' Leon thought. He then held the photo up, so that the man could get a good look at it. "I was wondering if you might recognize the girl in this photograph?"

The villager stared at Leon for a second, then looked down at the photograph. But only for a split second. The moment he did, the man appeared to grow angry and gave Leon an unwelcomed look. "Qué carajo haces aquí? Lárgate, cabrón!" the man spat, then turned away from Leon.

"Huh, sorry to have bothered you then."

Leon didn't need to know Spanish to tell that he wasn't welcomed in this man's home. He pulled his arm back and looked at the picture himself. For a second he felt himself get lost in the picture, hoping that she was okay. Even though he had no idea what type of person she was, or ever met her before. Leon sighed and placed the photo back into his pocket. He was about to turn around, when a suspicion aroused. Trusting his instinct, Leon quickly looked to his right, just in time to spot an axe held high above the villager's head. The villager let out a Spanish swear as the axe came down towards Leon, who stumbled to his right, nearly tripping over his own feet. A feeling of panic lurched inside Leon, as he just managed to narrowly escape the attack. He took a few more steps backwards, creating distance between them, then drew his handgun.

"Freeze!" Leon shouted. The handgun's lasersight danced along the villager's face. Yet the villager recovered from his failed attempt, and started to drag himself along towards Leon again. "I said freeze!"

Thoughts raced through Leon's mind. He didn't want to have to kill someone, but everytime the man stepped closer, Leon's trigger finger twitched more and more. 'Is this guy working with Ashley's kidnappers? Is that why he's attacking me?'

The villager was nearly within striking range of Leon again, and there was an obvious fire in his eyes that proved he was after Leon's blood. But still, Leon didn't fire. Instead, he started taking steps backwards, and towards the entrance hallway. The bright red laser moved eratically between the two, yet never strayed from the villager's vital points.

As soon as Leon backed behind the corner, he aimed his gun down and spun around, making a run for the front door. The villager didn't start into a sprint, suprisingly. Instead, the man continued to almost drag his feet forward, axe still held high. The man acted almost possessed, as if killing Leon was the only thing on its mind. 'Why isn't it giving chase?' Leon still thought. He was inches from the front door now, and was just about to run outside, when out of nowhere it slammed shut on him.

"What the hell!" Leon swore, as he reached for the doorknob. He managed to open it slightly, but was greated with twice as much force pushing back. He backed away from the door, and watched it slam shut again, followed by Spanish swears coming from the other side. Obviously he fell into some sort of trap. These weren't villagers. These were twisted murderers. They probably killed anyone entering or leaving the village.

'Damn!' The villager was right behind him now. Leon instantly reacted. He twisted his torso to the left, and kicked his left foot off the ground. The momentum caused him to spin on his right foot, while his left foot stayed high in the air, until it connected with the side of the villager's face. A sickening crack echoed within the compacted hallway. Leon recovered from his attack, planting himself on his two feet and bringing his handgun back to eye level, as the villager staggered backwards, dropping the axe and bringing both hands to his face.

There was a calm within the fight. Leon lowered his aim a little, and just watched to see if the man was okay. The villager was still staggering, facing away from Leon. He could hear heavy breathing coming from the man, followed by wet sounding coughs. Blood, no doubt. But after the third, disgusting coughing, the villager let out an animalistic growl, and broke into a full blown dash straight at Leon.

Leon didn't have any other options now. He brought his pistol back to eyelevel, the red bead from it's laser sight aligned perfectly with his attacker's left eye. The man showed no signs of yielding. Leon calmly pulled back on the trigger, feeling the gun's recoil rattle within his wrists and elbows. A flash of yellow erupted from the end of the pistol, and the weapon kicked upwards for a brief second. As the bullet connected with the villager, he reeled backwards once more, this time in a mass of crimson. The man's body held an akward postion, before growing limp and falling face first onto the floor. Leon holstered his pistol again, and knelt down next to the body.

'Who are these people? Why are they trying to kill me?' the question kept running through his mind. He quickly remembered the other villagers who were holding the door shut. Leon stood back up, and ran to the window closest to the door. Even though it was boarded up, there remained a slight space in between two pieces of wood, which gave him enough room to glance outside.

Surely enough, two more villagers were braced up against the door, each one of them wielding a sharp object of the sorts. When Leon heard the sound of a truck starting, he looked past them. The mess on four wheels or as he called it earlier started down the path he came in on, heading straight towards the Policia! The trees blocked his view. Leon struggled to find some angle, allowing him to see what was happening. As he did, the sound of someone yelling echoed through the forest, followed by two gunshots, and tires screeching. But it wasn't over with. The sound of two large masses crashing into each other sent a chill down Leon's spine.

"Shit.." he swore, pushing himself away from the window. He had to find another way out of this house.

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