Chapter 2

They made it to the farm and climbed over the wooden fence, entering the enclosure. Leon had passed through it earlier, and when he had first arrived, the animals had been alive then. But now the chickens, pigs, and cows were all dead. One of the cows was even missing a head.

They had been running since they left that cobblestone house in the Village Square. Voices from all around quickly enclosed them. Leon's plan to backtrack to the path he had entered with the police officers was futile when a dozen or so locals blocked their way.

"Come on, Ashley! You gotta move faster!"

Ashley was lagging, causing him to slow down for her. Her breathing was shallow. She was running out of steam, but he couldn't let her falter; the voices of those hunting them grew louder, and the orange light of their torches was becoming visible. He grabbed her wrist, forcing her to run at his pace.

A sudden squeal alerted him, and a weight clashed with his, knocking him over. He let go of Ashley to not bring her down with him. It seemed there was one animal still alive: a giant black pig. It was running in circles; its squealing grew more frantic as the volume of voices increased.

"Te encontraremos!" voices shouted.

"Are you okay?" Ashley said hastily, holding her hand out for him to grab.

"Yeah. Thanks."

"¡Ahí está!" a woman shouted, spotting them. She began hauling herself over the fence, and more followed.

Leon grabbed her hand again, and they ran out of the enclosure. He turned around at the sound of a cry. Villagers had swarmed the fenced-in area; the pig had knocked one over. Another rammed their pitchfork through the animal. The poor thing cried before another person buried an axe in its neck, killing it.

Leon's face tightened. It may have just been a pig, but it was still a living thing that had died, bewildered at the cruelty surrounding it.

"What the hell is wrong with these people," Ashley cried out.

He led her to a wooden suspension bridge. It swayed unsteadily from the potent storm. They had no choice but to cross; the path behind them was now a blockade of villagers. The bridge rattled as they ran across, and he eyed the two-story house ahead of them. The gate had been sealed shut earlier, but now it was open. Someone opened the door to the house. He looked hard for a moment and then recognized the face: Luis.

"Over here!" Luis shouted, waving at them to come in.

Villagers also cut off the only other path available. It wasn't ideal to be trapped in a house, surrounded by people trying to kill them, but there was no other choice.

As Ashley ran through the gate, he pushed it closed and locked it.

"Come on!" Luis was holding the door open for them, shutting it as soon they entered.

He and Ashley both bent down, hands on knees, breathing heavily. He eyed Luis.

"You, again."

"Hey," Luis said with a grin slapped on his face. "Listen about earlier, I—"

"Yeah, about that." He grabbed Luis by the collar and shoved him against the wall.

"Hey, I see you found your 'missing señorita.'"

Ashley shot him a glare. "This 'señorita' has a name, and it's Ashley. And you are?"

"Name's Luis."

"Great. We're all acquainted," Leon said apathetically. "Now, I want to know what a former Umbrella researcher is doing out here" —his grip tightened— "where everything seems to be going to shit.

Luis' smile faltered. "Good question, but unfortunately…" he nodded towards the window.

The gate burst open; they were in. He released Luis. "Ashley, hide."

The room was cramped; there was nowhere to hide.

"Here, help me," Luis said, crouching beside a knocked-over wooden cabinet.

Leon rushed over and helped him lift it, revealing a dark passageway in the wall.

"It leads outside," Luis said. "She can use it to sneak out back and get out of here."

"Ashley, go! I'll find you once we're done here."

She got down on her knees and looked at him for a moment, fear in her eyes. Then she crawled into the hole. They dropped the cabinet back down.

Luis pulled out a Mauser C96. "Hope you stretched, cowboy. We're in for a hell of a time." The trademark grin was back.

Leon shook slightly from the excitement running through his body. He pulled out his SG-09 R. "I do hope you shoot more than you talk."

"Ah, you're no fun."

The windows shattered; men and women crawled over each other, trying to get in. He began shooting in all directions, constantly turning around to ensure one wasn't about to grab him. Luis was laughing like a madman, kicking some and shooting others. The Spaniard grabbed a knife off a table at one point and plunged it into a man's eye.

Leon was transported back to Raccoon City for a few moments, remembering when he and Claire got separated after that semi-truck rammed into their car. The streets were flooded with the dead and the infected who were devouring them. They came at him from all directions, leaving no time to breathe or think, only to act on instinct. He felt that now. These people, whatever had happened to them, walked with no thought of their own. They grabbed at him, clawed at him, and one tried to ram a machete into his shoulder and almost had. But Luis shot the man just in time.

Leon eventually pushed a cabinet over, blocking one of the windows, but it did little to help. They wouldn't stop coming. He thought of Ashley. Despite not knowing her for very long, an immense feeling of guilt washed over him. He had just told her earlier not to worry about him dying, but now he very well might, leaving her to fend for her own.

"They just don't stop coming!" Luis shouted, shoulder-butting a woman into the wall. He looked out a window. "They're putting up ladders! Get to the second floor!"

Leon ran up the stairs, and a man began climbing through the broken window. He shot him, sending the villager flying back out. Multiple people were climbing the ladder, and he pushed it back. They screamed as they hit the ground, some landing on each other. The ladder fell swiftly, landing on a few who twitched in pain. He could hear Luis still shooting downstairs, then nothing.

"I'm out of ammo, cowboy! You wouldn't happen to have any spare rounds, huh?"

Leon rummaged through his pockets and pouches. "I'm out!"

All that was left in his pistol was five bullets. Two men entered from a doorway that led to a balcony. He rushed into them, knocking them over, and used three of his precious rounds, killing them. He knocked over the ladder that was leaning against the balcony. When he entered the house again, Luis was there, a kitchen knife in his hand.

There was one other door upstairs that led outside; Luis tried the handle, but it was locked. He kicked it hard a few times, but it wouldn't budge. "Damnit!"

Leon looked out the second-floor window; they were surrounded. These people wouldn't stop coming. He heard a large thumping coming from the stairs.

"Oh shit," Luis said.

A large bulky man was wearing a cow's head; a bloodied rope was tied around his neck to keep it on. The cow's tongue freely swayed, limp and blue from lack of blood. The eyes had been plucked out, and the skin surrounding the sockets was ripped, leaving bits of rotting flesh visible where maggots were crawling around. The man was carrying a sledgehammer.

The pungent smell of sweat and death finally registered with Leon, and his vision blurred momentarily. The brute was almost to the top of the stairs.

Leon lifted the strap of his shotgun over his head, crouched down, and aimed the gun. He couldn't afford to miss with only one shot. The mob outside was also lifting the ladders back up.

"Luis!"

"Yeah, I got it." Luis pushed the window ladder back down.

The large brute lifted the sledgehammer over his head and began to swing. Leon shot him, and the man tumbled back down the stairs – high-pitched screams emitted from the cow's head.

Leon looked down; the man's right arm was nearly blown off, attached only by threads of muscle. Blood poured out, pooling around him. The brute tried to stand up, grabbing the sledgehammer with his left hand and using it as support, but he slipped in his own fluid and fell back down. He started rolling around in agony.

Leon could hear more entering through the windows downstairs, and amidst his rushes of adrenaline, he had forgotten about the balcony ladder; a few entered from the doorway.

He pulled out his combat knife; Luis was armed with a kitchen knife next to him. He could only hope Ashley was somewhere far away and safe.

Ashley huddled in the hole. Fear washed over her in the darkness when the cabinet dropped behind her.

She heard screaming and thought Leon and the other man were yelling, but she couldn't tell.

She tried taking a few deep breaths, but that didn't help. Ashley clenched her fist, her nails digging into the palm of her hands. Tears threatened to spill from her eyes, but she blinked them away, getting sick of all the crying she had been doing the past few days.

College was where she should've been right now, worrying about keeping up good grades and relationships with her friends, not being chased down by crazy people who were set on holding her captive. Her mind raced to her parents; she wanted to run into her dad's arms and have him tell her everything would be all right. That this whole thing was just some nightmare she would soon wake from.

Ashley began to crawl in the passageway. The floor was dirt, and her fingers dug into it. Suddenly the sensation of dozens of tiny legs tickled across her hand, and she yelped, shaking her hand violently. Whatever it was, it fell off her. She crawled faster now.

The sound of rain became more prominent, and she could see outside. She crawled out and stood up. All that was behind the house was the large stone wall of a cliff and a set of stairs leading to the house's second floor.

The shouting from inside was becoming more chaotic, and she heard a loud crash. Peaking around the corner of the house, she saw a ladder had been knocked over, and bodies lay on one another. Others began to pick the ladder back up, ignoring those who had fallen. More and more of them kept piling in through the gate. The only way out for her was up.

She ascended the stairs briskly, almost slipping on the wet surface a few times. At the top was a path leading out under a wooden portcullis; she could escape. But then she thought of Leon. There was no way he would survive this, even with the help of that other man, Luis. The two of them would eventually be overrun no matter how skilled they were at combat.

Ashley spotted a door and then looked back at the path once again. She had been terrified watching him fight that dog, or monster, whatever it was, back in the village earlier. Angry as well that she couldn't help him in some way. If he hadn't survived that encounter, she would have been hauled back to the church by those freaks.

She decided that if Leon died, she was as good as dead, too; running away now would only seal her fate. She rushed to the door, undid the lock, and swung it open.

"Leon! This way, hurry!"

Luis and Leon looked surprised at her arrival but quickly made their escape. The three of them ran for the path, and as soon as they passed under the portcullis, Leon turned and shot the chain, causing the wooden gate to fall. One of the villagers almost made it through but was crushed.

The three of them had made it, and despite the odds, they survived.

Luis leaned against a wall, panting heavily. And Leon touched her shoulder, giving her a small smile. Pride swelled up inside her.

And then something else swelled up inside her. She suddenly felt dizzy and leaned against the wall.

"Ashley, what's wrong?" Leon asked.

Ashley tried to answer but started coughing uncontrollably. Blood came out, and she tasted iron and spit red. "What's happening to me?" she asked distraughtly.

Luis walked towards her. "Is this the first time you've coughed up blood?"

She nodded.

Luis inhaled deeply. "Plaga," he muttered.

"What?" Leon said.

"Those 'people' trying to kill us have the same thing inside them. The plaga takes control of the host and alters their mind. What you're experiencing right now are the beginning symptoms."

"I don't want to become like them," Ashley said.

"Well, you're in luck. In the early stage, the parasite – the plaga can be removed. All you need is the right equipment." Luis revealed his chest, a dark, jagged scar running up it. "Don't worry. I have a plan. But you're going to have to trust me?"

Ashley eyed Leon. He was staring at her, and she shrugged her shoulders.

"Fine," Leon said.

"Great! Partners then." Luis turned around and began walking away.

"Where are you going?" Leon asked.

"Things to take care of. Don't worry; I'll be in touch later."

"Why are you helping us?"

Luis paused. "Because it makes me feel better." He walked away, and soon, he was out of sight.

Leon put two fingers on an earpiece and began talking to someone. "No, it's too dangerous. We're gonna get out of here and find someplace safe. Condor One out."

"Who was that?"

"Hunnigan. They can't get a chopper out here cause of the weather. We'll walk for a bit longer, then take a break."

"Leon… I'm not going turn like those people did, right?"

"No. I'll make sure that doesn't happen."

They had been walking for a couple of miles. The sudden silence was odd to her. The past hour had been such a whirlwind of chaos, but now, only the whistling of the wind and the rain was heard.

Leon walked ahead of her. He seemed to have an endless supply of stamina. She, however, was thirsting for rest, and soon, her legs would give out.

Leon stopped moving. "We'll take a break in there," he said, pointing towards a large shed.

The inside of the shed smelled musty, but at least there was a lantern, so it wasn't completely dark. She spotted a large spider that had stopped spinning its web when she stared at it. Her skin suddenly felt itchy.

"Well, I'll be damned," Leon said, shuffling some boxes out of the way and lifting up a gun with a scope on it.

He began wiping dust off the weapon and searching some drawers she was sure were empty. He opened the last one taking out what she assumed was ammunition. The box was white, and in red lettering, it said: DRAGONFLY. There was also a picture of a stag on it.

"What kind of gun is that?" she asked. Ashley had never really cared for guns, but she wanted to talk. The silence was getting to her.

"Bolt-action rifle." Leon aimed it towards the wall and squinted into the scope. "They're typically more reliable than a semi-auto and pack a helluva punch."

"You know a lot about guns?"

"Well, when you do what I do, it's good to know about different types." He sat down in a dusty old chair, placing the rifle in his lap and examining it.

Leon made no indication to continue the conversation. She took the time to examine him. His hair was dark brown and swooped down in front of his icy blue eyes. If she was being honest with herself, he was pretty handsome. There was something else about him, though, a sort of sadness; she wasn't quite sure.

Earlier, she had seen it when they were talking in that village house. He was there, but his mind seemed to be elsewhere for a minute; a pained expression was on his face then. She felt guilty for wanting to know why; it wasn't any of her business. But she felt there was an interesting man under that stoic mask he was currently wearing.

"So, what will you do when we get home?" she asked.

"More missions."

"Surely, you do something other than that?"

"Not really. But what about you; what do you plan to do once you're home?"

"I think I want my mom to hold me." She smiled wistfully. "When I was younger, and I got scared or upset, she would always hug me and stroke her fingers through my hair. I bet you don't hear many twenty-year-olds asking for that."

He gave her that small smile once again, the same as earlier. She felt her face heat up a bit.

"You're never too old to want something like that, Ashley."

"What are your parents like, Leon?"

He seemed to hesitate before answering. "I don't really remember much about them if I'm being honest. They died when I was young."

"Oh. I'm sorry."

"Don't be. From what I do remember, it was mainly things about my dad. He was quiet; he never raised his voice, not even when I was acting up and deserved a good yelling. He always knew what to say to de-escalate a situation or to put someone in a better mood. Unfortunately, I didn't inherit that from him." Leon chuckled, but then his expression suddenly gave way to sadness. "I miss him… I miss them both."

Ashley was surprised at the sudden confession. Leon didn't seem like the type of person to tell anybody that, making her think he didn't mean to say it aloud. Her earlier suspicion was correct. There was a great deal of sadness surrounding him.

She stood up and sat down next to him. "What happened to them?" she said softly. It was an intimate question to ask someone she didn't know well, and under normal circumstances, she wouldn't have.

"They were killed while out on a walk together. I don't know if it was a robbery that went wrong or whoever did it just did it for the sake of it. The cops never caught the person, so I'll probably never know."

Ashely placed a hand on his shoulder, listening intently.

Leon hunched forward. "It's why I became a cop. I just wanted to make the world a safer place if I could. But right now, it feels like every problem I fix, two more arise, so I guess I'm not doing such a good job."

"You're doing more than most, Leon. And for what it's worth, I'm glad you're the one who came to my rescue." She squeezed his shoulder lightly and let go.

Leon slowly stood up. He looked like a man ready for war: a rifle in his hand; a pistol in his holster; a shotgun slung over his back; and a knife in a sheath.

"I think it's time we get a move on." He offered a hand, and she took it, letting him pull her up.

"And Ashley, thanks."

"For what?"

"Listening, I suppose."

She smiled gently and nodded.

The two walked out of the shed, back into the rain and the darkness surrounding them.