The Witching Hour - V
The grey sky was thick with silence. The occasional infected corpse would notice Leon and Aleksandra, but they rarely had to use ammo. For a while, the couple walked without striking up conversation. She figured Leon didn't want to bring any more attention to them, so she followed behind, her eyes scanning the dark alleys for any signs of the T-virus. But once the cobblestone streets faded into dirt paths and the buildings became trees, Leon surprised her.
"What happened to your team?"
Aleksandra's eyes darted towards the usually quiet man. Surely he could think of more productive topics to talk about. He placed his pistol in its holster and stuffed his hands in his jacket pockets. Leon Kennedy was no longer an American operative on a mission. He was now just an ordinary man taking a long walk with a woman. Aleksandra copied his own movements and widened her steps to fall in by his side.
"We were assigned to exterminate any signs of the T-virus and retrieve people of special interest. But reports with accurate numbers didn't come in until after we had deployed. They tried to get a hold of us on the satellite phone but by then, our ranks had been depleted until there were just five of us." Aleksandra kept her head down as she recalled her commanding officer's scream when a Licker pulled him to his death in a small ravine.
"And Stella…" Leon asked quietly.
"It was always my plan to go find my family. I sent a letter to the BSAA, reporting the situation. Stella was the only one left at the house. My brother was already picked up by the Spetsnaz." She watched Leon's head turn to her. Aleksandra contemplated if Leon had ever encountered a true Spetsnaz. Or better yet, if he had ever defeated one.
"How do you know that?" Leon inquired.
Aleksandra kicked up a cloud of dirt and smiled nonchalantly.
"Because they already took my father." She walked ahead of Leon and left him with his own thoughts.
Night approached fast as the war zone finally came into view. Twisted metal that resembled cars made a steel barrier on the edge of town. Leon climbed up first and extended a hand towards Aleksandra. They had been kept warm by the leather jacket and Aleksandra found solace in a warm hand. A single gun click killed the happy emotion. From the bottom of the barrier's opposite side, a brutish man with a horrid five o'clock shadow aimed his gun at them.
"Have you been bitten?" he asked cautiously.
Aleksandra stared at the man, and raised her hands."No…I'm BSAA and he's an American agent. We've been separated from our team." It wasn't a complete lie.
She turned her shoulder towards the armed man. He looked for the BSAA patch and grinned when the turquoise, green, and gold stitching was found. The man grasped Aleksandra's forearm and pulled her down to the group below. She turned around to signal for Leon but the other men were already laughing with him at their mistake.
"Forgive us…this war has everyone on edge," the man said apologetically.
Aleksandra nodded and followed the burly man into a tavern. There were numerous soldiers sprawled across the floor in half slumber. Several younger men smiled politely at Aleksandra, and she guessed that it had been a long time since a woman walked through. Leon's boots clumped a steady pace behind her.
He led them down a small corridor and into a room downstairs. It was dark, save the small desk-lamp illuminating various maps on a wooden table. Three men were bent, plotting lines across the battle-front, each with their own distinct specialty stitched across their chests. The blue, grey, and white insignia on the first man alerted Aleksandra that she had German military in her midst. The 'Armee de Terre' badge on the second confessed his French origins. The third was the one who greeted Aleksandra and Leon. He stood before them and stuck out his hand.
"Lieutenant General Frank Parsons…United States Marine Corps."
Aleksandra shook the officer's hand and gave her name and rank within the BSAA.
"It's a pleasure to meet you both. We're told that you lost your unit. We can equip you with enough firepower to see to your getting through the war zone safely, but we ask that the BSAA stay out of our affairs." He handed Aleksandra an American issued M16A4 and a pair of magazines. Aleksandra studied the gun. She had used such a weapon so many times in her life and yet it felt as if she was shooting for the first time. There were still so many questions to be answered. Why were there military branches present when it was the BSAA's job to take care of bio-weapons? And where had the BSAA disappeared to? It was their job to work alongside the military if things got out of control. It was standard protocol. You work together until a solution is found. But they were already being ushered out of the room. Aleksandra pushed another stranger's hand away from her shoulders.
"Sir, why are there different military branches stationed here? I can't help but notice the German, French, and American insignias."
Lt. General Parsons stared at her for a long moment before shaking his head in disbelief.
"You don't know?"
Aleksandra shook her head. She didn't understand what was going on. "You're in for quite the surprise, Ms. Smirnov."
The door was shut in Aleksandra's face. Leon was already at the top of the stairs, checking his weapon. In a war zone, you wanted to know your weapon was at its peak form. Aleksandra hurried up the stairs.
"Do you know anything about this?" Aleksandra hissed through gritted teeth.
Leon snatched her own weapon away and gave her the M16 he had just checked. Aleksandra felt the heat rise in her cheeks. She was perfectly capable of checking her own weapon.
"I was given a single mission – to bring back Charles Westcliffe. I failed that mission. I was told nothing more by the government." He clicked the magazine into the rifle and exchanged guns once again.
Aleksandra inhaled deeply and almost sighed in frustration.
"Then who told you more?" She watched Leon dig in his pocket for a crudely folded paper and calmly handed it to her. Aleksandra scanned over the paper, immediately recognizing the formal language as her own. It was the report she sent to her superiors.
"How did you get this?" A slight tremor shook the tavern. They were already amongst the other soldiers when the second tremor was felt. Aleksandra stood motionless, reading and re-reading the report.
Leon's eyes stayed on the front door.
"Claire Redfield gave it to me before I left for my mission. She was the one who told me about your whereabouts, remember?"
It all happened so fast. She knew she heard Leon yell at her to get down, and even felt the impact from his body clashing into her. But she didn't remember the Volkswagen busting through the tavern wall or the terrorized shrieks from outside. But the debris and dust settled around them long enough for the giant figure to make his entrance detected. Aleksandra had seen this mutated body before the prototype was leaked onto the black market. She had seen the grotesque features and the twisted muscle laced around its body when her team had taken hold of an illegal fighting ring. Rich foreigners would buy the mass produced bio weapon and stage a sick sport similar to cock fighting.
She had seen Nemesis before.
"Oh, God…" She felt Leon's hand wrap around her wrist as they followed the mob down the corridor. Nemesis didn't hesitate to follow, and every once and awhile Aleksandra would hear the horrified yell from one of the soldiers. The tremors became louder and more violent as Leon pushed Aleksandra through the crowd. The river of bodies flooded the downstairs room, and the target on everyone's mind came into view: an underground passageway. Somewhere between the room's entrance and the passageway, Aleksandra lost Leon's grip. She tried to turn and push through but the mass hysteria was too much.
The passageway was wider than she expected, and she eagerly grabbed onto the wooden pillars lining the path. A loud crash told her that Nemesis had broken through. Heads bobbled around her, and it didn't take long for the soldiers' dirty faces to start blending in with their fatigues and uniforms. Rubble from the ceiling dusted Aleksandra's hair as she called out to Leon.
And then she felt it.
The same warm hand that had guided this far was clasped around her fingers, pulling her towards the wave of people filling up the passageway. It was like a maze, every new turn held a new series of passages.
The dark path was illuminated by rapid gunfire; a violent source for light. The ground shook underneath as Leon led her through the old labyrinth. They finally came to a junction and slid into the darkness of their respective corners; silently waiting for Nemesis to pass them by.
And it did.
But with great terror comes great destruction. The World War II – era passages had stood the test of time. They had stood against the forces of war. They had withstood Hitler's tanks and grenades and the airborne Nazi's air raids. The solid oak pillars moaned in pain when Nemesis passed by. The rusted bolts shook in fear and twisted themselves from their wooden shackles. The wooden beams shuddered from years of being infested with termites and struggled to hold tight against Nemesis. Aleksandra felt her heart stop as an aged beam collapsed between them.
Aleksandra hacked and coughed through the grey cloud, her fingers trying to find a hole in the mess between then. There was small hole, amidst the splintered wood and bent nails, that Aleksandra's hand found. She whispered Leon's name, not wanting to draw any more attention to their presence. A gloved hand intertwined its fingers around Aleksandra's and she exhaled in relief.
"Are you alright," he asked through his own gulps for fresh air.
Aleksandra checked over herself and replied with a quick 'yes.'
"We've got to separate. There's no going around this mess. We'll meet back up on the main street." He gently squeezed her hand and then let go. Aleksandra was now alone. She readied her assault-rifle and kept to the passage ways.
Eventually, the earthen path turned into cement. She had found the sewer system. Eagerly, she climbed up the first manhole she found and gently pushed the metal plate up to get a solid view. It looked like another damned alley. The sound of tanks roared nearby and Aleksandra could hear the multilingual yells following.
She heaved herself out from the manhole and checked for any infected.
Scrape, scrape, tssst. Aleksandra aimed her weapon at the limping shadow walking towards her. She waited until a street lamp fell upon the creature before squeezing the trigger.
Aleksandra jumped to her feet. She had to find Leon. It was, of course, an infected man. His skin was a sickly grey, the T-virus' trademark when death lingered nearby. His jaw was hanging loosely, as if someone had tried to fight him off with blunt force. Many people still didn't know how to stop the infected in their tracks, and usually lost their lives because of it. She fired once; a single shot to the head, and the man collapsed to the ground. Aleksandra squinted through the shadows. The man was in uniform. Specifically, he was in a military uniform. His skin was already beginning to rot, meaning he had to have been infected for a while. Why would a military man be this far into infection? In his post mortem grasp was the object making and odd sound while he walked. A tattered arm, pulled from its owner in a horrid attempt to feed. It was the arm that caused Aleksandra to cover her mouth in disgust. The arm had a BSAA badge. And this was a fresh appendage.
Leon's breath caught in his throat. A tank was rolling nearby to the beat of rogue militia firing haphazardly into the night. Leon pushed himself against the wall as a loud explosion rolled the tank to its side. He waited for a moment, armed with his given weapon and grimaced when he heard a wounded man scream out. Leon ran towards the street and froze when the attacker appeared. A Licker stood in front of the wreckage, his bloodied tongue sensing Leon's presence. To his right, a pack was slithering their way out from the war torn streets. They knew a meal was nearby. Leon took a step back, hoping that perhaps someone from the militia had survived the wreck. The Licker beside the flames launched itself into the air, right above Leon.
Three shots.
It took three shots to take down the Licker. But it wasn't from Leon's gun. A figure stood amongst the wreckage, his features shadowed by the night. Leon raised his weapon. He didn't know this man or whose side he was on. The stranger did the same.
I have given quite a bit of thought to what you asked of me. But I can't do this. I can't do this while my father is who knows where and my brother hides his family in fear. I was offered the mission in Germany and I plan on taking it. Don't ask details and please don't expect me to return.
-Aleksandra