o1 Chapter: Foreigners

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The government agent glanced up just in time. His sea green eyes watched a wrinkled hand raise a weapon barely above its owner's head. He swung. And Leon instinctively ducked and rolled to the side. The blade sliced empty air, and the force of the swing brought forth wind that grazed his leather jacket. Just in time. Swiftly finding his feet once again on layers of wooden boards, the officer took arsenal in both hands. He stood and aimed. A single finger gripped the trigger, ready. "Freeze!" he commanded.

But the man continued his zombie-like tread. A groan emitted from his lungs. The axe screamed for lust in the air. The Spaniard took another step forward.

"I said, 'freeze'!" Kennedy repeated. But he knew the native wouldn't listen. Well, if his mind was already made... then so was his. Leon pulled the trigger. The silencer muffled the noise that erupted from the barrel as the gun reeled upwards from the onset explosion. A bullet rushed out and fiercely, quickly dug itself into the opponent's forehead.

The man didn't die, but the weapon clattered to the floor as he groaned once more and gripped his damaged cranium. What the hell... Leon thought before releasing another shot into the native's leg and gaining the wanted response of the other falling on his wounded knee. He didn't think twice. The officer roundhoused the attacker square upon the temples whom immediately grunted, keeled over, and died. Perhaps the bullet to the head finally gave its intended effect. The body went limp, laid out like a person ready to make a snow angel.

...He doesn't look like a zombie, Leon thought. Memories of the past, nightmares as they were, would have emerged had not the sound of sputtering gas catch his attention. Forgetting the corpse, he sprung to the partially broken window panels. Hand resting one of the thin tiled boards, he peered through to the outside world. The truck, his earlier ride into the village, drove off. Voices followed, maybe some English he couldn't recognize. Then there were gunshots. Eyes shifted to the left, then to the right. He couldn't see anything! Then there was the sound of a vehicle screeching and crashing and bumping like a toy down a set of stairs.

"Shit!" Leon breathed to himself and turned away from the windows.

Then there was the sudden banging on the doors. Had he locked them? He didn't remember. But he was relieved if he had.

"¡Un forastero!" someone shouted from behind the barricade that had let him in. The stranger continued knocking, slamming, on the entrance like a madman.

Guess I shouldn't go through there... the officer concluded and readied his weapon. Maybe there was another way out. He breathed in. There better be. He went back to the room where the fireplace laid, glanced at the still corpse, grimaced, and continued into the next room. The smell of something rotten broke his once fresh air. Leon looked to his right. It was a cabinet, but he could barely tell; it was almost hidden underneath the stairs above. But... he could see the bones. Skulls hung over the counter, and spiders had recently taken nest upon them. Looks like they killed a lot of people... Hope Ashley's okay.

Ashley, the name of the president's daughter. She was the girl Leon had been sent to bring back. Just a day before his assignment to protect her, she had been abducted. Talk about good luck. And apparently she had been spotted within the rural part of Europe he was now in. With an seemingly unhappy bunch of people. Perhaps their parents never let them watch too much Barney in their younger days. Leon shook his head. What was he thinking? His sight disappeared from the miniature landfill of broken skeletons and up to the stairs. He immediately saw a window. Perfect.

Glass shattered and scattered to the grounds of the frontyard and the upstairs' room. Leon had ran up the flight of steps and tackled himself into the only other escape that he saw. His arms were the only shield against the sharp and transparent renmants. He fell. And rolled just before his body hit the patch of soil and dirt. If he hadn't... Well, it would have hurt. He made sure his handgun was still in hand. It was.

"¡Ahí está!" The voice was nearby. It was different from the last one. So, there were more.

Kennedy ran. He had to check up on the other officers. Maybe they escaped in time. He followed the trail in hopes that the inhabitants were as slow-paced as their fellow villager inside. And they were probably going to be mad. Leon had left him dead. Maybe they would think he was sleeping. Too bad – he forgot to give the guy his blankie and bedtime story.

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"...Anybody here?" Sora quietly asked as he peered outside the Gummi Ship's opening hatch.

He looked to one side side. There was a trail that led to a nearby bridge, a long one which crossed over a ravine. The boy could barely hear the rushing waters from below. He looked to the other side and saw mainly trees, some which their ship had crushed to make the needed space to land. He sighed; the place was empty.

"Wag-agh-ah!" Suddenly, Goofy tackled the teenager from behind. Sora let out a cry of surprise before he made his first bellyflop onto the new world, with Goofy dogpiled on top. The canine chortled and itched his snout in apologies. "Sorry, Sora. I tripped."

"It's okay... Goofy," he uttered.

"Goofy! Get ouffa 'im!" The Keyblade wielder's second companion came stomping out. He waved his wand angrily and gave a few more aggrivated stomps of his webbed feet. His eyes narrowed in an effort to make himself look more displeasing.

"Shucks. I didn't mean to do it, Donald." Goofy proceeded to get off his friend and helped him to his feet.

Sora smiled. "Thanks." He looked to the other end of the trail, which unfortunately disappeared underneath a myriad of withering trees and paling bark. Arms stretched behind his back. He kicked the ground lightly with the front of his slightly large shoe. "I dunno about you guys, but... this place sort of gives me the creeps. Kind of like Halloween Town, you know?"

"Really?" responded the duck and gave a brief moment of thought. He grazed his featherly white hand across the lower end of his beak. "...I thinks this place rooks like a dump!" was the supposedly observative comment. Then he squawked in shock. Sora and Goofy nearly did the same, though gasping was probably a more fitting word.

The sound of a car running drowned what was once silence. Cries of another language the trio had never heard of followed. And what eventually came into view from the trail covered by trees was a blueish vehicle, its paint scratched from years worth of damage. A second one followed its side. The doors were open. And no one was inside either of them. Sora grabbed his friends and pulled them back by the collars of their shirts. "Get back, you guys!" The four-wheeled things sped past. One collasped into the ravine and engulfed itself into flames before the river below quickly doused it out. The other? It amazingly traveled across the bridge halfway before slamming into the sides and dismantling the ropes that held the hovering crossway. Both the bridge and car fell. Luckily, no one was inside them, Sora had thought... He didn't know of the drivers' worse fates.

"What was that?" the boy finally asked and dared himself to look over the cliff. The second car had twisted and fallen on its top. The front was gone, hidden beneath the water that looked like foam.

Goofy gulped. "Maybeh the Heartless are 'ere too!"

"...You don't think the people inside..."

"Freeze!" Sora turned, as did his two companions.

"Raise your hands!"

It was Leon. His shoulders rose up and down to sync with his heavy breathing. And again, his gun was up in a threatening notion. But he found the group strange. A kid... and two other... people? They didn't seem to be a part of the crazy hell that was starting, but he didn't let his guard down. He gave a strange look at the two-legged dog and duck. "...Take the wrong flight to the nearest theme park?"

"Uh... What's he talkin' about, Donald?" Goofy scratched his head, totally confused.

"Like I'd know!" the wizard shouted, again angry though he maintained his gaze at the much taller human. His mouth opened. But before he could make a nasty statement, Sora ran to him and slapped his hands right on his friend's beak. Donald gave a few resilient sounds, each more disgruntled than the last.

"We're not here to cause trouble! But maybe have you seen this guy named Pete? Big, annoying guy? He's the one that's been causing a lot of trouble all over the place!" He glanced to the ravine in concern. "Him and the Heartless might have done something bad to whoever were in the cars!"

Leon lowered his weapon. Heartless? Were they the group that kidnapped Ashley? Or was it a trap? He noticed the blocky ship docked nearby. Or was he having a delusional daydream? The man relaxed his shoulders. "Care to fill me in?" Just when he thought he was the fish out of water.