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49. Helena

"Those two are taking their time," Helena said, looking around, but she saw no signs of the couple in the crowd.

"They probably met some people on the way," Hunnigan said. She had arrived some minutes after Leon and Claire had left the table.

"Oh, maybe agent Kennedy decided to take Clara to the courtyard," Marie suggested.

"Courtyard?" Helena asked.

"Yes! David and I went earlier. The place looks beautiful with all the ornaments, right?"

"Uh, yup," David answered, "It's the perfect place for couples, so I wouldn't be surprised if Kennedy took her there."

"Oh, so it is like that," Helena said, resting her chin on her hand.

Helena shook the drink inside her glass, thoughtfully. It didn't sound like something that Leon would do, but if there was something that Helena had discovered in the past few days, it was that Leon's behavior changed when Claire was around.

Suddenly, the lights in the hall flickered, and Helena looked up with a frown.

"Oh? That was weird," Sherry said.

"Voltage variation," David shrugged, "It's Christmas season. With every house in full lights and the snow, it's not weird that it happens."

"Uh, maybe you're right," Helena said. Her recent experiences with monsters lurking in the dark were starting to make her a little paranoid. She began to understand Claire a little.

"Well, that makes sense," Sherry nodded, "I hope we won't get a blackout or something. It would ruin the party."

"Relax," David smiled, "even if that happened, the building has a power plant."

Helena sighed. In her experience, power plants weren't as trustworthy as everyone thought.

Suddenly, they heard a scream. Helena automatically stood up, and her leg complained a little.

"Huh? What happened?" Sherry said with wide eyes.

The scream turned to screams. Helena saw several people running and shouting things.

"Oh, my god..." Marie said, covering her mouth, "Is that blood?"

"Blood?" Helena said, looking around.

Several security men were trying to calm the guests and keep them away from the courtyard entrance. The men had their clothes stained with what at first glance appeared to be blood.

Helena automatically on alert. The agent took her phone and tried to call Leon as she made her way to the spot where people were making a fuss. What she found was not pretty. Several of the guests were on the floor. Their clothes seemed covered in blood. It was easy to sense that beneath the fabric, the wounds weren't something to take lightly. Several of the other guests were doing what they could to help as the ambulance arrived.

"What happened?" Helena asked.

"No idea," Hammil answered. The man was putting pressure on the wound of one of the women. "We heard the screams, and they came inside like this."

"Did they say anything?" Helena asked, "What attacked them or what happened?"

"They were saying nonsense about monsters in the dark or something like that."

Monsters in the dark? Helena's heart sank. To Hammil, the words made no sense, but to Helena, they made a chill run down her spine.

"The courtyard is completely black; they probably confused the attacker since it was so dark..." Cook said.

"The courtyard is dark? I thought it was overwhelming with lights," Sherry said.

"There's light in the building, so it has to be something about the circuit of the courtyard..." Helena said, "Shit. Leon isn't answering his phone..."

"Leon?" Hammil said, and suddenly, his eyes widened. "Crap, I told him to take his wifey to check the courtyard. You don't think he's out there, do you?"

"I wish I was wrong, but I think he is." Helena said, "He and Clara..."

"Oh my god!" Sherry said, looking at Helena in horror, "What do we do? If they got rid of the lights, that means..."

"The monsters in the courtyard are from the new strain," Helena said. "That would explain why Leon isn't answering his phone. He won't risk it by answering the call."

"What do you mean?" Hamill asked.

"Those B.O.W.s are vicious. They hunt down people by following their sound," Sherry said.

"What? Then Leon is in trouble!"

"Leon and Clara have faced them several times before," Helena said, "They will know how to avoid them."

"Even though we need to help them!"

"Agree..." Helena sighed.

"Harper..."

Helena turned around as Hopkins and Mercer approached them. Hopkins seemed visibly troubled, while Mercer's expression was unreadable.

"What's happening?" Hopkins asked.

"Sir," Helena said with a frown, "it's a BOW attack. I am certain."

"Here?" Hopkins said, shocked.

"Are you sure about that, Harper?" Mercer said.

"Yes, sir. We need to contact BSAA immediately."

"I'll call Adams," Hopkins said, "Andrew, you go with the President."

"You don't need to tell me twice."

Mercer glared at Helena and walked away. The man was never reserved with his distaste for her, but Helena could not care less.

"Hopkins. Leon and Clara are out there."

"What? Are you sure?"

"Yes, sir. We need to help them somehow," Hopkins said, frowning. "Helena, you have experience with this. I'll leave it to you. In the meantime, I will do my best to get BSAA here asap."

"Yes," Helena nodded.

Hopkins walked off, leaving Helena trying to come up with a plan.

"What do we do?" Marie said with urgency.

"What else? We go out there and help them," Hamill replied.

"No, you will die right away if you go out there," Helena said, "It'll be more helpful if we do remote support instead. The courtyard has security cameras, right?"

"Ah, yeah," David said, "I can access them, and we can use the night vision to find them."

"Can you do that from here?" Sherry asked.

"Sure, I can hack into the CCTV from my tablet," David nodded.

"Excellent. Do that," Helena said.

"How do you expect to help Leon from here?" Hammil asked.

"The monsters are scared of the light. Maybe we can make a path here?" Sherry suggested.

"That could work, but how are we doing that?" Helena said, pinching the bridge of her nose.

"The lights from outside are movable," Hunnigan said, checking her tablet. "Maybe we can use the lights from the building to make them go away. In the meantime, we could try to fix the energy supply to the courtyard."

"Don't we need an electrician for that?" Cook asked.

"Harry Wagner from the maintenance department could help. I saw him just a while ago!" Marie said, "I'll look for him."

"Please do that," Helena nodded, "Hunnigan, can you work the lights?"

"Of course."

"David, did you get the cameras?"

"I did, and I think I just found them. Look..."

David showed Helena his tablet. He was right; he had found Leon and Claire. The couple was crouched behind a topiary. If the situation had not been so grave, Helena would have commented how close together they were. With the resolution of the camera, it almost looked like they were kissing like teenagers.

"What the fucking hell are those?" Hamill asked.

Helena's attention diverted from the couple, and she noticed the numerous monstrous beings that lurked around the courtyard. Unlike Leon, Helena had only encountered the new B.O.W.s once before. The image shocked her as much as it shocked the others. These creatures were not like the ones they had fought in the shopping mall. These monsters looked like large lizards without faces and extra limbs. The camera didn't show it, but Helena could imagine that their skin was pale and splattered with red.

The monsters were dangerously close to Claire and Leon, but Helena guessed that Claire had, once again, remembered what to do to avoid them.

"How is it that those things aren't attacking them?" Cook asked.

For Helena, the answer was simple: Claire. The woman knew, exactly, what to do in that situation. She was guiding Leon through the ordeal, just as she had when they were in the shopping mall. However, Helena wouldn't say that out loud.

"Those monsters are blind. They orient themselves using hearing or smell," Helena explained, "Leon and Clara are safe as long as they are quiet."

"Well, I don't know how long that will last," David said, "There's one heading straight at them."

David was right. One of the B.O.W.s was moving straight to their position. Even if they were quiet, the creature would find them. Leon nor Claire seemed to have noticed, or if they did, they had no way of moving without getting unwanted attention. Those monsters were, literally, everywhere.

"Oh, no!" Sherry cried.

"They are on the east side, right?" Helena asked.

"Yes, "David replied, "It isn't too far from the entry."

"Good."

Helena picked a wine bottle and limped her way outside. She heard some rustling, and she swallowed. The courtyard was completely blackness. If she couldn't see a thing, she couldn't imagine how bad it was for Leon and Claire. Helena took the wine bottle and threw it with all her strength to the opposite side from where Leon and Claire were.

"Did that work?" Helena asked.

"Yeah, you're a genius. That got some attention..." David smirked.

"Maybe we can distract them, to open a path for them," Hammil said.

"Yeah? And how do we let them know we are doing that?"

"With the lights," Hunnigan said. "I think I've got them."

"Perfect," Helena sighed, "How are they, David?"

"They haven't moved," David answered, "I can't blame them. There are still a lot of those monsters around them."

"Leon is playing safe," Helena said.

Leon was cautious, especially if he knew Claire's life was on the line, too. Helena stared at the screen, biting down her lip. However, something was a little off. Helena knew Leon well; being partners meant that they had to learn how to read each other's body language. Even if the image wasn't clear, Helena could tell that Leon was holding Claire closely against him.

Leon was protective by nature, but Helena found that he seemed tenser than usual.

"Ah, guys. Look at this..." David gasped. The man's voice pulled Helena out of her thoughts, and she looked at the screen that David was signaling.

"What the hell?"

Helena was shocked. In the upper screen, standing stagnant was the frail figure of a girl. She was probably in her early twenties, making her younger than Sherry. The girl was wearing a long-sleeved dress that reached a little past her knee. Her hair was short, sweeping over her shoulder, and the oddest thing was that despite being surrounded by the monsters, the girl was unnaturally calm.

"What is she doing there?" Sherry asked. "Why aren't the monsters attacking her?"

"I don't know..." Helena replied.

"Gosh, we need to do something!" Hamill said. "That poor girl! They will kill her!"

Something felt wrong about that girl. It was Helena's instinct telling her that the girl wasn't as innocent as she looked.

"Can you do a close up of that girl?" Helena said.

"Eh, yeah, but the resolution is pretty bad. I don't think we can see much."

David zoomed in, and the girl's face showed clearly on the screen. Nothing looked wrong with it. The girl didn't seem infected, but something was off with her. Someone couldn't be so calm in such a situation. Suddenly, the girl's face turned to the camera, and her eyes stared at them coldly, making Helena shudder.

"Is she...looking at us?" Cook asked.

"Don't be stupid. There's no way she could know we were here..." Hamill said, "Right?"

"Yeah, even if she knows that there is a camera, she wouldn't know we are watching it." David said, "Uh?"

"What?"

"Shit!" David groaned, "something is going on. I think Leon and Clara were found!"

"What?"

Gunshots echoed into the hall, causing several people to shriek in fear. Helena looked at the screen with horror. The monsters had begun their hunt, and Leon and Claire were out of sight. David started jumping through the screens looking for the pair in desperation. The beings were wreaking havoc in the courtyard, but there were no signs of the dauntless couple.

"The girl is gone!" Cook said, "Look! She's not there anymore!"

"Where did she go?" Hamill asked, "Do you think she got caught by the monsters?"

"Who knows," Helena growled, "we need to help, Leon. Hunnigan, how are the lights?"

"I can't do anything until the power is back there," Hunnigan replied with a frown, "They are doing what they can, but it takes time."

"Shit," Helena groaned, and they chose the perfect time to attack. No one here has the weapons to fight back."

"What do we do?" Sherry said, "Wait for the BSAA?"

"It could be too late if we did," Hamil replied.

"But what do you expect us to do?" Cook said, "Leon, is the one with experience with those things!"

Helena hated to admit it, but Cook was right. She had her share of experience fighting B.O.W.s, but she could not compare to Leon or Claire. Those two had been at it from the beginning, and during missions, Leon usually took the lead.

It's no time for you to be sulking, Helena. Think.

"What I'd kill for a flash grenade right now," Helena said, pinching the bridge of her nose.

"BSAA is on the way," Hopkins said, rushing to them. "What has happened?"

"Leon and Clara are on the run," David replied, "I'm trying to find them, but...shit..."

"Now what?" Helena said, turning to the man.

"The cameras..."

Helena turned to the screen and groaned in frustration. One by one, the screens turned into static. Suddenly, a wave of blood-freezing howls echoed from the courtyard, followed by bangs, and everyone exchanged looks of horror, feeling helpless.