Chapter 11: Legacy

The main battery fired off twice more before the air finally fell silent. Claire Redfield could barely hear over the sounds that were spilling out from her throat. Her hands were buried in the dirt as she squeezed the grains of sand in her hands as hard as possible. Her eyes were upon the ground in refusal to look back up at the canyon wall.

The gunfire in the valley had stopped somewhere between the first cannon fire to the last. Claire briefly noted that aside from the sounds she was making, the valley was now silent.

There was something fundamentally clear to Claire about the specific instances of grief she had experienced in her life; the safety of disbelief was a net she had kept slung around her shoulders as she moved from one crisis to the next. She had traversed through the last six years without any emotional anchors and she was constantly watching her life fall apart from far away. When the call about Leon came through, the first crack had appeared and now Claire was starting to understand how much she truly despised what she had let herself become.

It took a man who killed without mercy to show her kindness. It took a man who had never experienced gentle touches to show her what passion looked like. A ladder that fell in the dark; she had always been heading towards him.

And now he was gone.

The sounds of footsteps were the last thing she noticed and she noticed them way too late. Not even lifting her head, she watched as dirty brown boots filled her downturned vision. She let out a broken sob as she finally dared to look up.

The remaining eye of Leon Kennedy was staring down at her.

"Leon," she moaned in despair. "Please help me, Leon."

Something changed in his face, and he was flinching under her stare and her plea. She watched as hands began twitching at his sides and he took a hesitant step back. Sorrow crossed his features, and Claire got one of her glimpses of the fallen agent underneath.

His hands relaxed, and suddenly his focus had intent once more.

"What's wrong, sweetheart?" he crooned gently before he looked over his shoulder. "Were you crying over the mercenary? Plenty of them out there."

Leon reached for her and she fell back on her bottom. A mournful cry spilling from her throat as she tried to scoot away from him.

Claire tried getting to her feet, but Leon was steadier on his. He scooped her up bridal style and clamped his arms around her back and beneath her knees. She hung limp in his arms for a moment as her head lolled back. The stars above were bright in the dark valley as tears rippled down the sides of her cheeks.

Taking a steadying breath, she lifted her head to take in her silent captor. It was then that she realized that not only was Leon walking, but he now had a bandage over his eye. Whatever the creature was doing to him, it was also healing him rapidly. Keeping the host healthy was vital after all.

"Did you kill him?" she asked, her voice breaking as she stared into Leon's good eye.

"The mercenary? I never did like competition." He said simply as he looked toward the sea and continued to march.

"Did you fuck him?" He asked after a few moments.

"Fuck you."

Leon chuckled.

"You've given up in there haven't you, Leon?" She said reaching up and grabbing his chin with one hand. Her tears were starting to dry on her face. The anger awakening was a rattle of something deep in her chest; like a slumbering beast opening its eyes.

Leon's ruby eye met hers and he stopped walking.

"You failed Ashley, you failed your country, and you have failed me." Claire said as her voice began to grow in the darkness. "But you failed me years ago. After I came home from Rockfort, you were so distant with me but always wanted me close. Why, Leon? Why did Hunnigan call me to reach you if the truth is that you never fucking cared about how much it hurt me to be left by myself in the end! I am always alone! You left me alone! I needed you!" She was screaming now.

"I was always there for you! I answered every phone call, saved every letter you sent from overseas, and opened my door at any hour of the night. Why? What was it all for?"

"Answer me!" She thundered as he continued to stare at her.

"I was trying to protect you."

Claire paused and looked at him closely. He was swallowing hard and his hands twitched again from where they held her back and knees.

"From what?" She demanded. A hand reaching through and creating a small window for the man underneath.

"From the government. Our people." Leon whispered cryptically as he closed his one eye. He lowered her to the ground and let her go.

"No, fuck you. You tell me now, before I die in this hell with you. You tell me why!" Claire shoved him back and he stumbled.

It was the wrong thing to do. Leon's face muscles twitched.

"Claire." His voice was a grave warning.

"'The government'. Is that your answer for it all?"

Leon was breathing heavily now as he looked at her. Violence was bleeding into his features, and she knew it was only the matter of moments.

"When Saddler finds out, what he's going to do to you will be much worse than what has become of me!" Leon seethed, his beautiful face contorting.

"Find out about what?!" She yelled right back, unbowed.

Leon reached out and grabbed her throat in a crushing grip. She grunted as she wrapped her hands around his wrists, her teeth gnashing as she held his eyes.

"Time's up, sweetheart. I hope you enjoyed it because as I see it, you and I are going to make up for lost time." He said as he pulled her closer.

"Coward." Claire rasped as she released one of his wrists, reared her fist back, and struck with all the energy she had left. Surprisingly, Leon let go and she stumbled backward.

Leon began to laugh as he spit blood onto the ground and she was shocked to watch a molar roll forward in the dirt. Leon's eye was alight in excitement.

"My, you do hit hard." He said as he rubbed his jaw and flicked his hair out of his face.

"I'm going to rip you right out of him, and there won't be anywhere for you to go." Claire snarled, speaking directly to the parasite this time.

"It's just you and I now, Claire. Your agents in charge of your care, the mercenary you opened your legs for, the connection to your agency, it's all gone now. Soon, I'm going to be the only thing you have left. You're mine."

"You're mine." Sebastian's voice whispered in her mind.

"No, I'll never be yours again, Leon." She snarled.

Claire was reaching for her gun and grunted as she was disarmed and slammed to the ground within seconds. Rage couldn't make up for a lack of training, but it could still make her a difficult captive. She looked up as Leon walked over and came to kneel beside her face.

He was not holding back when he hit her in the face then. Claire was certain that if she had not been so angry, she would have blacked out from the pain alone.

Leon stared down at her; his face devoid of expression once more. As Claire rolled on her side, she sucked in a breath and found the void in his eye staring back more unsettling than the cruel looks he had given her previously. She could feel her left cheek swelling as she put a hand up to her face.

"You don't bleed easily." Leon said with a hint of curiosity, he was looking at her strangely. "Let's explore that."

Without another word, he grabbed her by her arm and yanked her up. She said nothing as the cuffs went over her wrists and he pushed her forward. Claire walked forward as expected; it was time to see what was on the boat.

Anders Orski grunted as he lifted Michaels onto the back of the truck. Men were whipping past the vehicle, shouts filling the air as the teams retreated and called out to their different units. The main battery had decimated more than half of the Spanish army that had set out with them eight hours ago. There had been radio silence from Hunnigan and the agency since the last transmission in the cathedral. All transmissions had been cut and teams no longer had the ability to hail one another. Just before everything had been cut, one of the Comandantes had alerted them that the Prime Minister, José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero, was dead. The country was falling fast, and the answer had been beneath their feet and in the water the entire time.

With the USS George H. W. Bush aircraft carrier lost, his fear that the United States was about to be pulled into the next major war over Spain became a reality. The NATO sanctions would slowly kill their citizens at home, whereas the war crimes were going to mount, and someone was going to need to answer for that.

When the teams and the military had arrived, the Ganados had been something they prepared for. When the creatures that walked on two legs and had the face that opened like the devil arrived, they had figured it out. However, when the ground began to move like quicksand at their feet and the parasites began to surface from underground, that's when people started to die. The main battery had just been an insult.

The mines they had been looking for were beneath their feet and there was no way they had the fire power currently to kill them all.

"Orski," Michaels croaked.

Orski snapped out of his thoughts as he glanced down at the doctor and his twisted, bloody leg.

"We need to get back to Santander. We must get a message out to the private lines." Michaels said, panting as he reached for the medic bag.

"I'm going to stay here. You and Diaz get the lines opened back up. We need to create as much noise about this as possible now. This is no longer a closed operation. I'll get up there on that plateau." He pointed to the top of the valley where one of the first shots had fired. "I'm going to wait for the rest of the military to warn them about the mines beneath. I'm also going to wait for Ms. Redfield, and Smith. They're bound to show up soon."

"They're going to die, Orski. She's not going to be able to stop them even if she gets Agent Kennedy back. This is much bigger than one fucking agent, and it should have been treated as such from the start." Michaels seethed as he dumped the alcohol on the mangled tissue of his limb.

Orski scooped up his backpack, jumped out of the truck bed, and thumped on the side three times. The truck's driver turned the engine over.

"You're right, Michaels, but I'm not leaving that girl out here."

Orski turned then and began weaving through the bodies of people that moved in a flurry around him. With his eyes set on the ridge in the valley, he turned on his flashlight, and tried to walk as carefully as possible.

The deck of the cargo ship was well traversed. Dirt, muck, and what Claire assumed was excrement, created a gritty surface beneath her boots. The TEU containers were placed in wall formations around the rim of the deck, and the middle sections left enough space to travel in a straight line from stern to bow. As Leon led her slowly through the weather deck, she became aware of the noise vibrating around her. The closer they got to the first stack of the containers, the more she could feel the rumbling vibration rippling across the deck.

Claire slowed down as they neared the stack. Within the metal box, she could hear scrapes and the furious clicking of something moving around.

"What is this?" Claire breathed as Leon came up close to her back.

"Would you like to find out?"

Claire cried out as Leon slammed the side of her face against the surface. Whatever was inside was jarred into action and began to pound against the wall. Screams that sounded like they were lifting out of the depths of hell began to bounce back and forth inside.

Claire struggled against Leon's strength as she tried to push away from the wall. Before long, Leon was yanking her back and pushing her forward once more.

"The U.S. is going to blow this ship out of the water before you ever get to land. You know that, right?" Claire asked viciously over her shoulder. Her bruised face was throbbing in pain.

"That's what we're counting on, sweetheart."

"Stop calling me that." She demanded as she jerked her chin forward again.

"Would you prefer 'Red'?" Leon asked in a satisfied tone.

As Leon led her down to the lower deck, she began to take note of what she thought were wires running up the walls. She stepped closer and shrank back when she realized they were pulsating softly.

"Don't mind the mess; she likes to stretch out." Leon supplied beside her as he too gazed at the vein-like ropes.

"Who?" Claire croaked.

"Ashley." He said with a saccharine smile.

Claire's horrified eyes met his.

"What did you do to the woman you swore to protect, Leon?" She watched as he clenched his teeth and wrapped his hand around her elbow, tugging her away from the evidence of his failure.

"Ms. Redfield," The familiar voice called ahead of her. Saddler sat waiting in what looked like the mess hall for the deck's previous hands. "I'm so glad you could join us again."

His sickly eyes were studying her closely as she was brought forward. The Lord's eyebrows lowered as he stood and took the last step to her.

"So," he said with disappointment lacing his tone. "You managed to remove the eggs in time. How disappointing to return a gentleman's gifts; you Americans have no true sense of culture."

Claire tried to hide the confusion on her face. She had been correct about her previous assessment; Saddler had every intention to infect her in their last encounter. So, what had gone wrong? Was it a defective sample?

Claire turned her head slightly to look over at Leon.

"I was trying to protect you."

"When Saddler finds out, what he's going to do to you will be much worse than what has become of me."

Claire felt fear rising in her chest as she swallowed. Leon hadn't just been referring to what he thought was the failure of the eggs. He knew something.

"You don't bleed easily."

Claire began to desperately run through her injuries since her arrival. Bruises, nothing but bruising. Her mind flickered further back.

When had she last been sick? The common cold? Sniffles?

Claire's breathing began to pick up.

"That's of no concern to us now. I tried to give you a simple gift, but now we'll need to try something a little more aggressive. I'm afraid it won't be too gentle. Leon, take our guest to see her." Saddler said, interrupting Claire's internal panic attack.

Leon's fingers around her elbow felt like the snap of a serpent's jaw as he moved her down deeper into the ship.

Orski paused as a sound caught his attention in the darkness. He had been fortunate enough to cross the distance of the valley with little incident. The plateau's height would allow enough sight under the half-moon that provided the soft touches of light from above.

Unholstering his firearm, Orsk carefully moved around the sparse trees and bushes. Rocks had fallen from above around the incline of the canyon, and a few of them were blocking a circular structure ahead of him. Squinting, Orski realized he was looking at a large metal pipe that was jutting out of the canyon wall. His eyes lifted toward the buildings at the top of the canyon. He knew in the states, they placed similar pipes that lead to the inclines for storm drain run offs. In his home of California, this was prominent as it helped with preventing mud slides and assisted in long-term structural fortitude for homes spread across the land's valleys.

The sound started again. It was soft, like the friction of a hiking boot on a trail.

Orski stepped up to the rocks surrounding the pipe. One of them was blocking the hole. Part of the hole was uncovered due to the shape of the rock's lower half.

Orski squatted slowly and lifted his flashlight into the hole. There was a shift, and then angry hazel eyes were staring up at him.

"Smith." Orski uttered before he lunged forward and started to pull at the rock.

As they neared a large metal door, Leon unhooked the cuffs from Claire's wrist and she stumbled forward. She turned around and looked at him in confusion while she rubbed her wrists. He had disarmed her previously, patting her down for any other weapons.

"You won't need these when you come out." Leon said, swinging the cuffs while he watched her.

Claire released an angry breath and turned to look at the door. She couldn't immediately hear anything coming from the other side; leaving her guessing as to what lay within. With one last backwards look to Leon, she opened the door and pushed inside.

The door slammed behind her and she jumped with a soft curse. Her eyes turned forward at the long hold.

The first thing she noticed was that the rope-like veins from the wall were also present in this room. Except here they seemed to be growing furiously, as if they were trying to climb the walls and escape. Some of the larger ones had already begun to crack the concrete foundation.

The clicking she had heard earlier reached her ears as she took a hesitant step forward. The ground ahead was moving. The lights above hung in a single row and were around ten feet apart. Some areas were in near darkness from the left and right side of the room.

Several crates lay on either side of the room, creating a hallway for the next section that looked like it split into a hedge maze of metal and concrete.

Claire took a deep breath and took another step forward. As she crossed the hall-like structuring of the first crates, she turned left around a bend of more boxes. Before her were the first inklings of her newfound situation.

Creatures the size of small animals skittered back and forth across the crates and over the ground. As she stared, she understood she was looking at the parasites that invaded hosts. An arthropod that had a pronged tail, four jointed legs, and a flourish of antennas near what looked like its mouth.

Claire reached for a weapon that wasn't there and she swore in her mind. This is what Saddler had in mind; to give an adult Plaga access to her body. No waiting for the eggs to hatch, no transition into madness, just complete control.

Claire clenched her jaw and took a step back, her boot scuffing slightly on the ground. The creatures in front of her paused before turning toward the sound. Their tails whipped back and forth as they seemed to take her in. None of them moved forward.

Claire's breathing had started to hitch and she waited for the attack, but still they remained, as if waiting.

The sound of a pained cry echoed ahead, lifting from over the boxes to her current position in the maze. It sounded human.

"Ashley." Claire thought.

Claire kept her hands near her waist, taking slow steps as she moved closer to the Plagas. Two of them moved aside, as if making way for her passage.

Instead of relief, Claire felt her heart ramp up in tempo as she watched more and more of the creatures step aside.

She pushed on and started to move through the zigzagging path. The further she stepped, the greater the number of Plagas that stared up at her. The rope-line veins on the walls became bigger the further she went. Some of them were crossing over the path, forcing Claire to almost need to climb over them.

Claire heard the cry again.

A sound chittered above her, and Claire slowly looked up.

Beyond the hanging lights, she realized that many eyes stared down at her from the dimly presented ceiling. She began to turn in a small circle then and she took in the sheer number of her enemies. There had to be thousands of them.

Finally, Claire rounded the last of the crates. Before her was a small platform that she noted was an elevator system. The faded looking platform sat in the back of the room; metal doors lay beyond.

Before the platform was a large lumpy mass. Claire's fear-filled mind was reminded of a spider sack she had found in her garage one summer. Instead of white, this mass was pink and brown, and it was the entire source of all the veins she had seen earlier. The walls around it were clustered with the pulsing tendrils.

Before the mass, sat the misshapen body of a blonde, sickly-looking woman. Ashley.

"Oh my god." Claire whispered as she felt her legs begin to shake.

Ashley sat perched in a simple chair. Her legs were splayed crudely and revealed a very distorted looking opening to her vagina. From her hips to shoulders, growths had burst forth and stolen the human shape she had been born with. The mutation was contorting her torso to large central point that connected the bubbled mass behind her.

Ashley's face had retained most of its shape but had been partially swallowed by the mass behind her. Her eyes were closed in what appeared to be great pain. Pale, almost grey, hands rested on the anatomy that was now her stomach.

Claire watched as Ashley squirmed and pulled her legs further apart. She cried out again and Claire's eyes widened as pointed legs pushed through her folds and the body of a grown Plagas pulled itself out.

Ashley wasn't just made into a prisoner. She had been turned into a queen.

Claire felt the bile work itself up her throat and she covered her mouth.

"Kill me." A shaken whisper reached her ears.

Claire had shut her eyes in her moment of sickness. She looked up at the sound and saw the vessel-blown eyes of Ashley staring down at her. Sweat trickled down Ashley's forehead while she gaped at Claire.

"Kill me." Ashley whispered again, a hand twitching toward Claire.

Claire felt the tears slipping down her face as she beheld the young college girl. The picture Hunnigan had shown her in Leon's home almost reflected nothing from the girl's current state. Her brown eyes were lost among the shattered vessels, her once blonde hair covered in what looked to be dirt and whatever else had accumulated since her capture. Ashley's waxy skin was almost translucent; Claire could see every black vein.

"I'm so sorry." Claire shuddered out in a breath.

Ashley closed her eyes, her face buckling for a moment before she opened her eyes again and stared up at Claire. She repeated her request.

Claire glanced around for something, anything, that would allow her to comply. As she took a step, she heard the screeching sound of one of the Plagas that rested near Ashley's feet. Behind her, the entire hold responded in kind.

Claire slammed her hands over her ears and she flinched back. She spun around when the clicking of tiny legs began their march.

To protect their queen.

The Plaga beside Ashley leapt onto her lap and lashed out with its pronged tail at Claire.

The serrated edge caught Claire's hand and she yelped, yanking her hand back. Claire looked down to see her blood begin to drip off her finger. Her eyes narrowed as it hit the ground. Claire's expression turned from confusion to shock as she looked down at the blood.

Now she understood; she knew Leon's secret. He had kept this from her and the agency.

He had been right to.

Claire looked up from the blood as the Plagas reached the stairs.

"Kill me!" Ashley screamed from behind her.