Salazar had brought us to a room with very creepy looking decorations- at least I had hoped they were decorations. There was a big, slimy, pulsating flower looking thing on the back wall, and the rest of the wall was just… slimy. He had told us to wait in there, and if we moved he would feed us to his 'cute pets', which I didn't really feel up to finding out what those were. We were sitting on steps in front of a stone table when Ashley said something.
"D-do you think he's coming for us…?" She asked. She had been crying almost the whole time after the midget dropped Leon down that hole.
I sighed for about the twelfth time. "I'm sure he is, Ash."
"What if he dies?"
She asked the question that had been on my mind for hours. What if Leon died? I didn't think I could handle that. I would probably just give in and let them turn me into one of those filthy Ganado freaks. "He's coming back, Ashley. I know he will." I didn't actually know, but I had to lie for her sake, and possibly mine too.
Just then, the doors in front of us opened and in came a whimpering Salazar, whose hand had been bandaged, followed by his bodyguard. There was still no sign of the one who had gone after Leon; that gave me hope.
"What's the matter," I asked, looking at the bandage on his left hand. "Play too hard with your bed buddies?"
He gave me a stern look. "You shouldn't be so sarcastic with the man who will be in control of your life sometime within the next few days."
"Leon won't let that happen."
Salazar laughed coldly. "You think the American has the power to stop the Las Plagas transformation? He has also been infected. Soon enough, he will join us; become one of us… just like you."
"I think you're forgetting something." I retorted. "I was injected with the little egg things hours after Ashley. If she's just now ready for this 'ritual', don't you think it's a bit too soon for me?"
It seemed as though that was exactly what he wanted me to say. "Ah, yes… Ms. Ryan… we've prepared a special ritual for you…"
Just as he said that, I got a horrible pain in my chest, ten times worse than when I got caught in that trap. With every cough, at least half a cup of blood came pouring out of my mouth.
"Emily!" Ashley shouted.
My vision went blurry, and the last thing I heard was from Salazar:
"She's ready…"
…
I was having a nightmare, except in that nightmare it felt so real. I dreamed that I was back in the village and it was dark. So dark, in fact, that I couldn't see anything. The only light came from the occasional flashes of lightning.
The weird part was I couldn't control anything I was doing. I could see, but it was as if someone else was controlling every movement I made. I was just standing there for a while, occasionally looking around at my surroundings, until I saw two familiar looking people walking through the village.
Mom? Dad? I called out to them, but my voice wouldn't work. Mom! Dad! Still nothing. Before I knew it, I was running towards them. I wanted to open up my arms and hug them, and have them tell me everything was going to be okay… but that's not what happened. Apparently I had been carrying a kitchen knife, and was now trying to slice them with it. I tried to stop, but my arm kept moving. I was crying on the inside, wishing everything would stop, that I would just die and I wouldn't have to witness their deaths again, when suddenly the scene changed. I was standing in front of the church we had found Ashley in when I saw a very muscular man wandering up the path through the graveyard, weapon ready.
Leon! I tried to shout, but no sound came out. Leon, please help me!
He had spotted me, and I was sobbing now. I didn't want to hurt anyone, but my legs began moving on their own. There was a loud gunshot, and I jerked awake in a cold sweat.
Gasping for breath, the remnants of my dream slowly fading away, I looked around to find I was in a boat driving in the middle of the ocean. Ashley lay asleep beside me, and there were two oblivious Ganados driving the boat in front of me.
"Ashley, wake up." I nudged her arm gently as she slowly returned to consciousness.
"Wh… where are we?" She asked, still a bit drowsy.
"On a boat somewhere…"
We didn't say much after that, just looked around, trying to find any clues as to where we might be headed.
About thirty minutes later, we arrived at a very run-down looking island. The men forced us out of the boat, threw us over their shoulders, and began walking through an area with many other freaks loitering around. There was a big, muscular guy carrying a Gatling gun and I just prayed Leon wouldn't have to fight him.
Speaking of Leon, Ashley wouldn't stop screaming his name. "Leon! Help!" She shouted over and over again.
The men took us through doors and into a very dirty building that had rotten meat all in it. I felt like I was about to puke. I would have fought the men carrying us, but whatever they did to me during the ritual had left me feeling weak and tired, and I didn't think I would have been able to win. About ten minutes later, we arrived at our apparent destination. There was a metal door with bars just above eye level on it. There were a lot of boxes set up around the room, which I decided to sit against while Ashley continued to bang her hands against the door and yell for Leon. I was pretty sure the men in the room with us were getting pretty tired of it, but before I could say anything, one of the men approached her, and threw her down on the ground.
"Ashley!" I stood up, ready to beat the hell out of him, but then all of the sudden my head felt lighter than air, and I got extreme tunnel vision. I had to sit back down immediately or else I most likely would have passed out again. Too bad it was for nothing; one of the Ganado smacked me hard in the head with the butt of his gun, and I fell unconscious on impact.
