Her mind spun in free fall.

Ashley dreamed a multitude of memories and memorandums let's set a race on the beat dow nroadwhat

willyouworshipwhentheymeltthegoldifyoucanfindthetimethenyoumightmovemecountingallthewrappersand

throwingtheminthebinhereinthecarwe'restuckandslowwithredlightscaughtonthedashboardalwaystheradioisturneduploud

whoneedstotalk,changethestationjumptheditchandhitanotherdrivebyandnowI'mcaughtbetweenthebeltandtheseatthisnever

wasanopenrunoutstreetifyoucanfindtheliesthenyoumighttrustmereadbetweenthelines,checkthecabinetsweloadtheglovecompartment

likeawasheranddryerIwashmyhands,ItakeastepbackbutIlovethatspeedysensationripitoutandtossthoseblownoutshoeswecouldbefake

butthat'sforyoutochooseifyoucanseethesignsthenyoumightfindmecountingallmychangeandspittinginthewindalltherage,it'sinthenews

checkthestands,IfoundanotetheredoyourememberwhatwecamehereforIfoldthedollarsbutthenlessismoreifyoucanfindthetimethen

youmightmovemeifyoucanfindthetimethenyoumightfallasleepintheglowoftheheadlightscloseyoureyestothewindshieldstaccatobreaking

overwristsandheadsmangledmetalinfullswingthecarcrashissingingmehomesweetnotesofshatteredclimaxdownthewindowshardstothe

gutterfendersscrapeliketeethonwireopenwidehoodtrunkconflagration,spitinthemirrorrainhidesyourtearswithgasolinerainbowswaiting

forafireforasparkoffsomethingotherhugtheroadwithrubberslickgripthenlaymedowngentleinsteelenfolding,coldandrawwithpowertosparein

yourburningbellyheatmeupordownwhichevercomesfirstIcan'tbeparticularwithwreckagetobackmetostackmeuprubbleandasphaltisrubbing

intolacerationstheglassundermyskinburnslikepinpricksbutI'llsurvivetowalkfreeyetI'llclawmywayouttoagrayhomecomingyoustillhavemiles

toskidoverweighstationsandweightyroadfullofpeoplewithoutdestinationspointhemintherightdirectionbacktomeandthebentframeprisonwithfires

tolightthewayandbloodonthebumperthey'llknowitwhentheyseeitandhowcouldtheynot

It landed in a frozen moment. How easily it all came back.

That old familiar feeling.

She could barely breathe inside the cabinet, the air musty and choked with dust. But the terrifying sounds of struggle coming from below made her cower beneath the moth eaten coats and jackets, too afraid to crack open the door.

Even with the cabinet to muffle the noise, the cacophony was deafening. Not a moment passed without the house resounding with gunfire and screams. Outside the walls seethed a raging mass humanity, howling for blood. She flinched as a particularly loud shot echoed up the staircase. Something heavy hit the wooden stairs and rolled downwards. A window shattered.

Luis was yelling something, his words incomprehensible through the firefight. Ashley couldn't tell if Leon responded. There was the banging of heavy footsteps charging up the stairway. The cabinet doors clapped violently against their frames as something heavy was dropped against them with a sound that was nearly deafening in the small space. Ashley put her palms to her ears and came close to screaming.

A gun was going off on the second floor now, just outside of the cabinet, but she wasn't experienced enough to distinguish whose it was. Other sounds were leaking through her wooden surroundings: the clatter of booted feet up ladder rungs and the growling of madmen. With a shudder, she realized they were scaling the house, and now her protectors would be forced to defend both floors. The gunfire from downstairs continued unabated, so at least she knew neither of them had yet been killed.

A shout came from close by. "Leon! Get up here!"

She could hear Leon let off a few more shots to cover his retreat and then dash upstairs. There was a multitude of panicked shouting follow by a distant impact shortly after, and Ashley guessed he must have pushed down one of the ladders. Someone cursed. A parasite ripped out of its host with a wet pop.

Then it was over.

The gun blasts ceased and the omnipresent crackle of torches faded away. In the silence that followed, a door closed downstairs. Footsteps approached her cabinet. There was the brief grating of wood against wood and then the cabinet doors were opened, bringing in not fresh air but the stench of blood and bile. Leon's haggard face greeted her eyes as she squinted against the sudden light.

"You okay?" he asked.

Unable to speak, she nodded, and rose shakily to her feet. Leon took her arm and helped her up and out. She averted her gaze from some of the corpses, trying hard to suppress her gag reflex. She tried to concentrate on other things, distracting herself. "Where's that other guy?"

"He ran off after they all left. I don't know what he thinks he's doing, but I'm not going to follow him. We have to keep moving."

Ashley felt shaky at the very thought of more fighting. "We can't stay here for a bit?" she pleaded, already knowing the answer but desperate for some sort of handle on the situation.

"No," Leon said firmly, "we really need to keep moving. I saw a couple ways out from the windows, let's go down there."

Ashley didn't move, leaning against a table and taking deep trembling breaths.

"Miss Graham," Leon started, and then paused. "Ashley. I know you're frightened. But our best chance to get out of here is to try and avoid them." He put a comforting hand on her shoulder. "I think you can do this."

He was just saying that to make her feel better, she thought. She wasn't brave like him. Nothing in her life previously had prepared her for this kind of situation. Still, his hand seemed warm and strong on her shoulder, and she drew strength from it.

"…Bad feeling about this," Leon muttered almost to himself. Ashley couldn't help but agree. The structure seemed, if not haunted, then at the very least dangerously unstable. The moon reflected off the corrugated metal sheets of the roof and cast the scene in an eerie glow.

Leon nudged her, pulling her attention away from the unsettling sight. "You should hide. I'll check it out, see if we can stay here for awhile and maybe I can fix my transmitter."

She bit her lip, torn between two illusionary safeties: the one brought by secreting herself in some nearby brush, or the one gained from his close presence. She wasn't at all sure she wanted to be left alone outside, or that she wanted him to go in by himself.

Leon was looking at her. "Ashley?"

"Do you think that's a good idea?" she ventured.

"You'll be safer out here than in there if something happens. You've got room to run if you need to."

"But what about you?" she said worriedly.

Leon smiled wryly. "If it comes down to that, I'll probably be running right behind you." His face grew serious. "If I don't come out in fifteen minutes, though, you need to get as far away from here as you can."

She opened her mouth to protest, horrified at the thought. "Leon-"

He cut her off. "Ashley, you need to promise me you'll do that. Don't come in after me, don't stick around to see what happens next – just run."

She bit her lower lip, extremely reluctant to give any sort of confirmation. "Leon…"

"Promise me."

"But where-"

"Ashley," he said, looking her in the eye now. "Promise. You need to do that."

She sighed. "Alright. I promise."

"Okay. Go hide over behind that woodpile, you should be able to see from there."

She did so, crouching down in the uncomfortably cold leaves. She watched as Leon cautiously turned the handle to one of the doors and peered inside before slipping through.

The next thing she heard was the screech of tortured metal. She watched with disbelief as the door handles twisted themselves in the wrong directions. Jumping to her feet, she raced to the door and tugged futilely at handles, her promise quickly abandoned in her need to save Leon from whatever trouble was befalling him inside, but she was unable to move the latch.

The sudden explosion that ensued shook the structure to its very foundations and knocked her to the ground.

Stumbling back to her feet, and still dazed from the blast, Ashley stood unsteadily and took the scene in before her with absolute horror. The building was on fire! With a moan she sank back to the dirt, hand covering her mouth. If Leon was still alive, then he was trapped in a burning building.

She was alone, and without him to guide her, she was doomed. There was no point in running away.

Hope sparked back into her heart when the resounding clatter of gunfire began emanating from inside. Scrambling back to her place of safety, she waited anxiously as the sounds of fighting intensified and the flames grew higher. Smoke began obscuring the moon, and it soon became difficult to see. Sections of collapsed wall began lighting small patches of the surrounding forest with a firelight glow.

She only started to breathe again when a familiar figure flung himself through one such opening to roll singed, but mainly unharmed, on the cold forest floor.

Leon was soot blackened and grimier than ever, but seemed none the worse for wear as he beat out a small fire on his pant leg. Shielding his face from the flames, he ran over to Ashley's position.

"Are you okay Leon?" she asked in wide-eyed worry, gripping his darkened arms in her own pale hands, as if to assure herself he was in one piece.

"Fine," Leon mumbled through a cough, still suffering somewhat from mild smoke inhalation. "I got the key."

"Key?"

"I'll explain on the way. This bonfire is a little too obvious for my taste." Gripping her firmly by the hand, he moved them back off towards the gate.

"Wrong country."

The little man on the balcony's smile wavered a little, uncertainty tugging at the corners. Of all the responses he had envisioned to his mocking greeting, a non sequitur hadn't been one of them. "Wrong country, Mr. Kennedy?"

"Yeah." Leon pointed in a generally northward direction. "France is that way. With a good horse, you might be able to get back before they miss you."

The strange man was beginning to understand the edges of the joke, but still attempted to hold his smug superiority in place. "And why would they miss me in France?"

Leon frowned. "Napoleon? You're Napoleon, right? Short, ugly face, gay hat. You fit the bill. This is Spain. Although come to think of it, I can't imagine why anyone would miss you."

Salazar realized he was being played for a fool. "A brave attempt, Mr. Kennedy. But it will take more than that to get under my skin."

"It'd be easier if I had something sharp."

Salazar gritted his teeth. This was not going the way he had planned it in his head. "Empty threats, my American friend. You'll never get the chance. You see, we want the girl. You, on the other hand, are not worth a penny. You can die."

Leon smiled, and it was feral. "You first. I'd like to know if all midgets go to Heaven."

"Then I won't be seeing you in Hell," Salazar snarled.

"I'll take the elevator down. You'd better bring a step ladder if you're going up, though."

If there was one thing that set Salazar's brain on fire, it was tall people who looked down on him. "¡Usted morirá aquí!" With his bodyguards in tow, he stormed away, leaving the newly risen stonework to block Leon's path.

Ashley gave Leon 'the look'. "You just have to infuriate everyone, don't you."

Leon shrugged. "He started it."

"I hope you know what you're doing," she sighed.

"I'm all over it."