Spanish Translation!
Correr = Run
Mierda = Shit
They go down the trail for a long while before they hear anything other than the forest creatures. At first, they walk close together and keep their guard up with every step, but after a while of seeing nothing, they relax a considerable amount. Claire doesn't dare lower her gun and Luis keeps his eyes high, but they aren't practically stepping over each other to move forward.
But of course, that's the perfect chance for something to slip through and before anyone can react, a gunshot echoes far too close for comfort. They all shout in surprise, but Claire spots someone hiding in the trees and she shoots them down in a matter of seconds. The body falls and she feels satisfaction from her hit.
That satisfaction is short-lived when Ashley screams behind them and she turns to see Diego on the floor, his blood soaking into the gravel below. Claire gasps as dread washes over her, but Luis is already grabbing them and they're moving forward again at a running pace. "Leave him! He's already dead!" Luis shouts as they stumble along with him. Claire knows he's right, she saw the empty look in Diego's eyes, but it hurt to move on so quickly.
"There!" Ashley points past them toward a brick house. "We need some cover!" They're already heading in that direction before anyone can really think it through and once they're inside, Luis slams the door shut with a hard snap. He locks it with a thick piece of wood and then backs away from the door like he's expecting someone to burst through it at any moment.
Claire pants as she tries to figure out what just happened. "That...was that an ambush?" There was only one person from what she saw. And that one person just so happened to have shot Diego of all people. She knew it wasn't going to be a good outcome no matter who got shot, but...he had a family. He had someone to go home to and now, they don't even have the time to go back and tell his wife about this. She never should've let him get involved.
"I don't think so." Ashley holds her knife at the ready. She's obviously been trained to use it, but seeing it on someone so young and previously thought innocent is a little unnerving. It reminds Claire of Sherry. "There would've been a mob, but..." She chews at her lip again, her eyes looking to Luis for guidance. "How did they get guns?"
"I don't have a good feeling about this." Is all Luis says, his gaze trained on the door.
Claire takes the initiative and held her gun up in front of her, away from anyone living but ready in case something came in. "Alright, well, we can count on these people not being friendly. They also have guns, which means we can't hesitate to shoot them first. If we want to make it to Leon, we'll move quickly and together, alright?" She looks to Luis when she says the next part. "No one's splitting up."
Both Ashley and Luis echo out their agreements, either not about to argue with her on this. Good. With that confirmed, Claire points her gun forward and takes a glace out the boarded-up window. She can't see anything moving outside but keeps her guard raised as she opens the door, prepared for an attack. As she steps back into the street, Luis and Ashley follow closely, the latter of the two watching their back. They make a good team, all things considered. With all eyes open and watching, they're about to make it down a few houses before they see another living -but infected- person and when they do, Claire shoots them down quickly. As they get closer to where the body lay, she's able to get a quick look at the Ganado. It's exactly like they described it. They seem like regular people, but there's something really off about them and it's clear they aren't alive anymore.
How this place got infected in the first place is beyond her, but Claire's just glad that the path leading here was closed off before anything could get to the village below. With how many people have gone missing along this trail, it only makes sense to close it and now, she's starting to see where those people could've gone. Either they were killed by the Ganado already here, or they got infected as well. Either way, those people are now beyond saving and she doesn't waste the time feeling sorry that she wasn't here to stop them. It's cruel but she can't afford a heartache over people she doesn't know at the moment. There are more pressing matters.
Except the guilt does come when they make it to the middle of the town, the buildings now circled around a giant bonfire that has yet to be lit. Even from this distance, she can see Ganado circling the pile of branches and sticks as they shout something she can't understand. One of them has a torch in their hands and it thrusting it into the air over and over, like they're celebrating something. It sends a bad feeling into her stomach and she slows them down until they're all hiding behind a brick building.
"What are they doing?" She asks in a whisper. Claire doesn't look away from the group both in an attempt to keep an eye out for attacks and just to better understand what's going on.
"They're preparing." Luis's voice answers. "I've seen it before and trust me, it means no good." He sounds nervous and that makes the bad feeling worsen. She can tell that they're about to light the pile and although that typically wouldn't be considered unusual behavior, something about it reminds her more of an offering than a casual bonfire.
There's a shuffle beside Claire's leg and she snaps her head to look, but breathes out a controlled sigh when she meets Ashley's gaze. They both share a relieved smile -Claire probably scared the girl as well- before they look back. After another minute or so of the Ganados doing nothing but shouting and raising their weapons, Claire looks back at the other two. "We should go around them. Leon obviously isn't here but we don't necessarily have to go through them either."
Ashley nods encouragingly and even turns to look behind the house they're huddled behind. "There should be a clear enough path along the back of these houses. If we time it right and stay quiet, then we should be able to get past them without causing a scene." Claire silently nods. It's not foolproof, but it's the best they've got. With one last glance at the group of Ganados, Claire locks eyes with Ashley again and points a finger at her, signally for her to call the shots this time.
The girl takes it in stride and crawls forward, nearly silent as she shuffles behind the house and waits on the other side for them. Once Claire and Luis have both cleared it, she looks past the wall of the house a few times, her fingers up in a signal to wait. Claire stays on her hands and knees with bated breath, just wanting to get going forward as fast as they can, but she knows impatience will only get them killed. They're already running low on bullets and Ashley's knife definitely won't do well against a pitchfork or ax.
Ashley's fingers shoot forward and she begins crawling again. The bonfire must be set now, because as she moves across the gap between houses, orange light reflects off her side. It only lasts for a few seconds, though, before she's back behind another house and Luis takes his turn to wait for an opportunity. It feels like forever, just waiting for him to move, but then Ashley signals again for him and he makes it across with a crouched run. He does a little spin to get behind the house faster and once he's cleared it, he presses his back against the stone wall, just behind Ashley.
Claire crawls up to the side now and peeks through the gap. As she thought, they've now lit the pile and she can feel the heat radiate all the way from where she is. It makes her face feel sticky and her eyes burn slightly just from watching. How those Ganados can get so close to it is beyond her. She'd probably get burns if she tried dancing around just feet away from the fire, regardless of whether the flames are actually touching her or not.
As she watches the fire a little longer, Claire realizes that it isn't just branches and twigs piled on top of each other. There's something else shimmering from the heat but she can't quite make it out. She squints her eyes at the pile, trying to see what that could be, but then Ashley makes a soft hissing noise and Claire's focused on what she has to do again. She crawls across the gap quickly, feeling her heartbeat quicker with every second that passes while she's exposed, but she relaxes once she's hidden again. The heat is off of her and she feels almost cold in comparison.
"Stay sharp." Ashley whispers, mostly to Claire. "This is going to take us forever if we get distracted." With that reminder, the girl takes lead and crosses another gap just as she did before. Then Luis follows like he did last time and then Claire. They get into a rhythm with it, looking and waiting for each other behind the houses before they move on. It's only once they're two houses away from their escape that the plan goes wrong.
As Ashley crosses the second to last gap, she suddenly gasps and practically throws herself at the next wall, her chest moving quickly as her eyes go wide. Claire stares in surprise at the sudden outburst but she too freezes once she hears the familiar shouting of Spanish getting closer.
"Se enteró que?" A harsh voice yells and it's too close for comfort. Claire holds her breath as she presses her entire body to the wall, her eyes darting between Ashley and the gap. Next to her, she hears the click of a gun and doesn't need to look to know that Luis is pulling out his weapon. She should be doing the same thing, but what if she moves and makes a loud noise? The Ganado are actively listening for them now. She can hear footsteps get closer as well and she can only take so much before she's pulling out her own gun, not caring about the noise it'll make.
"Allí!" The shout is all Claire needs before she's running out from their hiding place and pulling the trigger as the tip of her gun lines up with faces. She shoots three bullets into the closest one, letting him fall to the floor with a heavy thud, and then moves on to the next. Luis joins her with his own gun and Claire's ears ring as they're both firing into the quickly forming crowd. They down at least five people before the Ganados begin to get too close and they have to move. Claire grabs Luis's arm just as she finishes a magazine and pulls him along as they go to Ashley, who's already leading them out of the town square.
"This way!" She yells over the sounds of crackling fire and hysterical yelling and Claire's eyes flick to where she's pointing. There's another trail ahead that leads to a large mansion on top of the hill. The sun is low enough that it's getting difficult to see without her flashlight out, but she doesn't have time to pull that out now that she's getting chased.
They round a sharp corner to try and get more distance between them and the mob and Claire feels Luis push past her just as an ax flies beyond. "Shit!" She shouts as she now runs alongside Luis, feeling her heart spike even more with the realization that they still may not make it, even if they outrun the Ganado. They're willing to throw their weapons just to land a hit. It's insane and it makes Claire feel like she's going through Raccoon again. New things are always popping up and making their situation worse.
They get to a long stretch of road and it brings Claire no comfort at all. She grits her teeth as she and Luis run faster, finally catching up to Ashley. There's nothing for them to hide behind and Claire's scared to stop for even a moment. She can still hear the shouts from behind her and they're only getting worse as they go along. Something hits the ground behind her and Claire curses again.
"Mierda!" Luis shouts and he twists around, his gun raised as he empties the rest of his magazine into the Ganados closest. Claire turns back to watch him, her own gun at the ready in case he needs the backup but then Luis is running after her again, his ammo officially out. "Correr!" He hisses and Claire doesn't need to be told twice. She starts running for her life again and waits for another opportunity to turn back and fire some more rounds, if she can. "Shit!" Luis pants as they get closer to Ashley. "They're faster...than I...remember!"
Claire can't even bring herself to respond beyond just letting out a pathetic groan. Of course they're faster. Of course. It's just their luck that these Ganados would be better equipped and faster than the last ones they met last year. It's ironic that right when Claire thought the plaga should've been killed off by now, thanks to Leon's efforts, they've only gotten stronger. She lets out another groan as the hill goes up more steeply, making her legs begin to burn as well as her lungs with how quickly she's breathing.
She runs until her thighs threaten to give way underneath her and Claire chooses that time to spin around and empties her own gun into the heads of the Ganados closest to them. She takes out one with a lit stick of dynamite -she's beyond thankful that they didn't get the chance to throw that- and the rest of the Ganados around them explode. But there are still more and her gun clicks, signaling that they're now officially fucked. She spins around again and lets Luis help her up the slope at a slower pace.
"There's another village ahead! We can take shelter there!" Ashley shouts and she rounds the top of this hill, disappearing from their view. Luis pulls Claire along as they follow suit, rounding the crest of the hill themselves before they can finally see what she was talking about. More buildings reduced to just walls of brick and most don't even have roofs. Ashley immediately runs into one of the few houses that's at least whole and the pair follow, slamming the door closed and blocking it off with any furniture they can find. Claire feels her chest ache just from how heavily she's breathing. Her hand lands on her shirt where her lungs are and she takes a moment to control herself again. Ashley holds a finger to her lips as they hear the mob grow closer, but she doesn't stop herself from looking through cupboards and drawers. There isn't much and Claire's heart sinks with every empty drawer the girl pulls.
With nothing else on her, Claire reloads her magazine with the last box of handgun bullets. It's not much, just enough for another reload after this, but it'll have to do.
Before anyone can even face the door, more shouts are calling out at them and the door jolts. The only thing keeping it closed is the overturned dresser in front of it and Claire silently thanks whoever left it there for them. She raises her gun to the side window and waits until a Ganado smashes it open. She doesn't flinch at the sound or feels her heart race when she sees that same Ganado crawl inside gracelessly. Instead, her heart settles into an even pace as she shoots at its head, blasting it open with a couple of good shots. Then, she aims for the one behind it and the one behind that one.
The door gives way and Claire spends the rest of her bullets on those near the window before she's reloading and aiming for the door this time, bursting a few heads. She meets those tentacle things Luis was talking about before, but the fleshy things stop moving before she can really register it. She keeps her breathes even and slow to stop the rising panic from this never-ending attack.
There has to be an end to them eventually. She knows there will.
But then her heart dips when she aims for another head and the gun clicks instead of firing. Shit. She should've been counting her bullets. Claire lowers her gun and takes a step back, looking at Luis and Ashley. Dread washes over her when she sees Ashley prepare her knife and Luis hands her a long stick, as if it'll do anything against the Ganados. With a grim smile, he turns back to the mob and throws one of the clay bowls from the cupboard. It hits a Ganado's shoulder and shatters on impact, but it does little to no damage at all. This really doesn't look good at all.
A gunshot runs out from somewhere in front of them and Claire gasps at the sudden sound. She crouches down, remembering the first Ganado they met and tries to find cover. All she can really do is hide under the overhang on the counter and hope nothing hits her. She watches as the bullets pierce through the Ganado as well, making more than half of them fall, but it brings her little comfort. Something worse could easily come in and kill them faster than that mob, especially with a fully loaded gun.
The gunshots stop and Claire waits with bated breath, expecting...well, anything at this point. She prepares herself for the worst, imagines a mutated and pulsing monster to come through with a gun pointed right at their heads. She's ready for the mental image of the A plaga, or B plaga, or whatever else type there is now. There could be twisting tentacles instead of a head or the opposite. A human head on top of a bug body. Any way Claire can imagine this monster coming in to kill them just prepares her more and more so that when it does, she won't freeze up in horror. She'll be able to use her pathetic stick and fight back until she either wins or dies trying.
But then, when a figure does come through the door, it's a lot smaller than she expected and it's not a monster at all, yet, the sight still has her gaping. Her lungs stop and she just stands there, the little twig raised in the air, as if it would've done anything. The dread is replaced by relief and Claire nearly falls over as she lets out a long sigh.
"Leon!"
