THE CRIMSON STONE

CHAPTER 8

The metal grating screeched as the guards opened it which caused Leon to wake up. He rubbed his sore head as he tried to get up and realized he was in a cell. He got up from the stony ground and was immediately seized by the guards who came into his cell. Leon's hands were brought to the back and it was tied together with a rope.

He was semi-dragged by the guards towards the dungeon's arena. The gate opened before them and he was thrown into the arena, landing on his side. The gate dropped back down with a loud thud. And he was alone.

Leon got up and another gate, opposite from the one he entered started to lift up. No sooner than that, an ear splitting screech was heard.

"Please, not another monster," Leon whispered to himself.

Not sooner after that, a spider-like creature appeared from behind the gate. It looked like a mutated woman, as its long black hair was seen on top of its tiny head. The beast screeched once more.

"Just my luck," Leon muttered sarcastically as he dodged the toxic the creature started spitting at him.

Leon kept avoiding the toxic by sprinting away from it. That is, until it charged at him. It was fast as its size was big. The creature managed to knock Leon down with one of its legs. Leon fell on his face, and just as he turned to get up, the creature was already on top of him, ready to stab him with the serrated blade at the end of its hind leg.

His sight was suddenly illuminated by an orange ray. The ray however, produces a strong force, that even Leon got pushed away slightly. The creature squealed in pain. And it was eventually, silenced. The orange ray disappeared and Leon was able to see who his rescuer was. But to his surprise, it was non other than Charlie herself was the one who saved him.

"Are you okay, Leon?" Charlie asked as she came to him after the creature subsided.

"Terrific," Leon replied sarcastically and rolled to his side.

"Here, let me help you with that," Charlie said indicating the rope that tied Leon's hands together.

But before she could finish doing so, the stomach of the creature suddenly burst open and unleashed hundreds of tiny crawling centipedes in one shot.

"Charlie, watch out!" Leon warned her.

Charlie, who was still fumbling with the rope, quickly drew out both her palms and aimed it at the swarming centipedes. The orange ray shot out from both her palms and burnt the centipedes. Nothing was left accept for a pile of ashes.

Charlie's body suddenly gave in and she dropped to her knees and coughed blood out. Leon, whose rope was loose, thanks to Charlie, managed to reach into his pocket for his knife which he used to cut through the rope to free himself. He then went over to Charlie.

"What happened to you?" Leon asked as he held her shoulders to stable her.

"Steax injected some kind of liquid into my body. But I broke free before he could inject the second syringe which he said could-"

"Finish you off." Leon finished her sentence.

"Yes. He killed my mother, Leon! And he said I happen to have what she had before she passed away..." Charlie said as she placed her head on his shoulders.

Leon's thoughts were wondering if the syringe Steax injected in her contained the T-virus. Or was it just some other chemical substance meant to extract the power she has, by taking her life away.

"Listen, Charlie. Since when did you have super powers? Because I think that's what he's after all this time," Leon asked as he brought her face back up.

"I don't know, Leon. I'm just as confused as you are about it."

"And how did you escape him?"

"I threw him off and he got electrocuted as he landed on his computers with the chemicals spilled, and everything. It was a mess,"

"Huh, pretty impressive. Glad that you're okay,"

"Do you think he's dead?"

"I doubt it. The bad guys are always hard to die,"

"Yeah, I thought so too,"

"The injustice of life," they said at the same time as they sat down next to each other.

Later...

As they were going down several corridors, Charlie suddenly has the feeling that she has to find out how this nightmare would end. After all, it's about her past. She wanted to know the truth about her mother, her father, and her whole family. There's very little that she knows about them. Aunt Trudy kept avoiding answering her questions related to her mother every time she asked. And she thought this was due to her being sad about her sister's death. So, she never pushes it.

"Hey, Leon..." Charlie asked pausing to look at him.

"Yeah? What's wrong?" Leon said as he too stopped walking and looked at her.

"As much as I want to leave this place, can I please follow you until the end? I have to know the truth about my family." Charlie begged him with pleading eyes.

"Negative, kid. It's too dangerous. And I can't afford to let you turn into a zombie too," Leon replied as he shrugged off her pleading face and started to move again.

"But you are weaponless. All your firearms are gone. And I can help protect you with whatever it is, that's in my body!" Charlie called after him.

"I have my plans. And one of it is to get you out of here safely. It's my job." Leon explained.

With that in mind, Charlie gave up. She knew it would be hard to persuade an agent, especially one with a mission. But it was worth a try. After all, life and death will determine the end of this nightmare.

They continue down the corridor until they encounter a large door. With Leon at one side of the door, he signaled Charlie to go to the other side just incase there was an ambush on the other side of the door. Leon then opened the door.