The path beside a large tower brought them to another heavy door, leading to the next area. Rose and Leon had to work together to push it open, their breath straining from the effort. Leon had the shotgun strapped to his back now, looking like the warrior he was, and Rose eyed it as they heard the telltale sounds of movement just down the hill the crested. "How many more shells you got?" She asked, nodding to the shotgun.

Leon pulled the green box out of his pocket and opened it, frowning. "Three." He dumps the contents into his hand and tosses the box over his shoulder, then grabs the shotgun and loads two new rounds into the empty chamber. "Better make them count."

The sun was sinking low on the horizon, casting long shadows across the farm. Thick clouds loomed overhead, pregnant with the promise of rain. Rose and Leon, weary yet determined, trudged through the muddy path that wound between the dilapidated barns and overgrown fields. They had narrowly escaped a horde of Ganados, infected villagers who had become unrecognizable shells of themselves, driven by a sinister force. The tainted air was heavy with the scent of decay, mingled with something far more dangerous: desperation.

"Stay close, Rose," Leon instructed, his voice barely above a whisper. The tension of past encounters tightened his shoulders. He had taken a protective stance in front of her ever since he'd noticed the signs of her stiff leg—a reluctant partnership forged in the fires of survival.

Rose nodded, gripping her weapon with trembling hands. It was clear she hadn't expected danger to be this palpable. The twisted tales of the village she had heard from top-secret intel now floated in her mind, painting a vivid picture of dread and despair. She looked up at Leon as he stopped to scan their surroundings, his sharp blue eyes scrutinizing the environment.

Rose bites her lip, wondering how lucky they would be to find more ammo. She had been pretty good at avoiding shooting as much as possible, but she would have to reach for another magazine for her own gun soon. If they kept being attacked in hoards like that last one, their ammo would deplete fast and they'd be left with nothing but knives and quick thinking. More houses and barns came into view the closer they got, and it was a small farm with chickens and cows and a couple pigs running around. More upsetting were the two ganado's still tending to the property. A woman to the right, her back to the Americans, and a man in the barn a few feet away, tending to the straw a cow was munching on.

"There's the windmill," Rose pointed ahead. A large windmill was slowly teetering around to their right, taunting them to walk right in between the residents of this area. They walked through, minding each step, and Leon snuck up on the man and wrapped his thick bicep around the ganado's throat, jerking suddenly to break his neck. Rose watched him, impressed, and fighting the attraction that move had given her towards her partner. They slunk through the barn and over to the other side, climbing over the rotten picket fence and under a gate that was lifted. There was a second gate shut tight against them, and a door to the right that they went through, hoping to find some sort of mechanism to open up the next area for them.

A beeping sound greets them when they walk through, and Rose sucks in a breath at the wired bomb trap in front of them.

"Careful," Leon says, his eyes studying the contraption.

Rose's heart pounds, remembering how it felt the last time she'd been blown up. Remembering the recovery period. She didn't want to go near it. But they needed to disarm it so that it didn't become a problem later if they had to make a quick escape. Leon moves closer to the bomb, examining it closely. "I've seen these before," he says. "I should just need to..." His fingers delicately prod at the device strapped to the wall. The beeping increases with Rose's thumping heart and she grits her teeth against her nausea, watching as Leon risks unaliving himself. "Almost got it," he promises beneath his breath as he flips the tiny metal switch under the wire. The red blinking light turns to a solid green one as the bomb disarms with an audible click. He stands straight again, wiping the sweat from his brow and offering Rose a relieved smile. "We're clear."

"Nice work," Rose says faintly, still white in the face. She hoped this wouldn't be a common thing. They continue on through the room, finding another herb in a pot behind a ladder. Rose scoops it up, adding it to the rest of them, and follows Leon up the ladder. They were inside the windmill now, and the stone wheel that operated it was spinning round and round, slowly, keeping up it's labor like everything was right in the world. There was a wall of gears that she and Leon walked over, finding a lever. "Do you think this will raise the gate?"

"Only one way to find out," he said, eyeing the gears. "It looks like there's one missing."

Rose groans, eyeing the broken wall that had a bridge attached to the closed-up barn, and a door that was on the other side of the room. "Split up? Meet back here when we find it?"

Leon nods, heading towards the bridge. She watches him go, then turns and heads for the door. Outside, there's a balcony and she sighs again as she realizes she's going to have to jump down. Rose grits her teeth against the pain and jumps, rolling so not to hurt herself further, and freezes when she stands, hearing the sounds of people-ganados- entering the area. One of them sounds heavy, grunting, and his footsteps thundering against the ground. She peeks between the fence panels and her eyes widen upon seeing a huge man wearing a grotesque pig mask approaching the barn that Leon had just disappeared into. About five regular-sized ganados' right on his tail.

"Crap, she says, eyes scanning for a way to help him. She darts down the small path, spotting a treasure chest. Curiosity makes her take a moment to open it, revealing a pretty silver and sapphire armlet inside. It sparkles, even in the descending darkness, so she plucks it up and jumps back into action when she hears the huge hammer the pigman was carrying collide with the barn door twice. The wood shatters, leaving Rose to panic. She can hear Leon shooting, the sound cracking through the air. There's a door at the end, held shut by a chain and lock. For the first time, she pulls out her own knife and wedges it in between the chain and the door, putting all her effort into breaking the chain. It cracks, then crumbles to the floor and she practically kicks the door open in time to see Leon had lured the pigman out of the barn and was now out in the open.

"Leon!" Rose gasped, her heart pounding in her chest.

"I'll distract it!" he yelled, stepping forward. The way he looked at her—the steel in his gaze—beamed both courage and reassurance that he would protect her.

Leon fired off several shots, the bullets barely grazing the creature, yet enough to draw its wrath. The Ganado charged, swinging the hammer with a head-spinning arc. Rose gasped as Leon sidestepped and rolled, the hammer smashing into the ground where he had just stood, sending debris flying. Leon was out of bullets in his pistol and switched to his shotgun as Rose fired the remainder of her magazine into the pigman's back. It did nothing but enrage him, and he turned around slowly as Rose quickly hit the mag release and slammed another magazine into place. Leon only had three shots with that shotgun, and she hoped his aim was true.

"Rose, now!" Leon shouted, urging her to aim for the exposed flesh beneath the mask. She took a deep breath, forced herself to focus, and fired her gun. The bullet struck true, causing the creature to stumble.

But it wasn't over yet; the Ganado unleashed a horrendous roar, pivoting toward her, its fury igniting. Leon rushed back in, and without thinking, he slammed the butt of his weapon into the creature's side, disorienting it just long enough for Rose to take another shot. This time, the bullet found its mark, and the creature fell to the ground in a heap. Just to be sure it didn't get back up, he fired one shell into his head, then turned around and fired at the three regular ganado's that tried to get the jump on him. Rose turned quickly as well, taking out the last one who'd tried to sneak up on her. Blood sprayed over her clothes and stained her skin, stinking to high heaven and making her wrinkle her nose.

Panting, they stood in the thick silence, the aftermath of their battle surrounding them. Rose looked at Leon, their earlier fears now transformed into an exhilarating adrenaline rush. "I can't believe we did that," she said breathlessly. "Did you find the gear?"

Leon nods, pulling out the gear and showing it to her. "Let's go before more of them show up."

They replaced the gear pretty quickly and Leon gave the lever a firm pull. "It's working," she said, a small smile forming on her lips. Leon smiled back, keeping his grip on the lever until the gate was fully raised. When there was a shudder in the walls as the gate fully ascended, he let go and they headed towards the exit. Descending the ladder, they made their way through the now-open gate, stepping onto a wooden bridge. It swayed slightly as they started across and Leon stayed right behind her, in case he needed to grab her quickly. It seemed a little ridiculous to her, because if this bridge went down, they were both likely to go with it. The sentiment was gentlemanly, though, and she appreciated it.

Rose focused on each step as the bridge creaked beneath them. They reached the midpoint, and she could feel the tension in the air, the weight of their situation pressing down on them. The far end of the bridge seemed so close, yet so far. Suddenly, a loud snap echoed through the air, and the bridge lurched violently. Rose's heart skipped a beat for what felt like the millionth time this mission as she stumbled, but Leon's hand was already there, gripping her arm firmly.

"Hold on," he shouted, pulling her back to her feet. With a shared look of determination, they pushed forward, each step a battle against the swaying structure. Finally, they reached the other side, and Rose let out a breath she hadn't realized she'd been holding.

"That was too close," she complained, her numbness fading away to let her shiver in the cold air. She was wearing a jacket, but it still let the breeze in to chill her.

Leon gave her a reassuring smile. "But we made it. Let's hope we don't have to come back that way."

"No kidding," she grumbles, looking back at the bridge with a grudge. The windmills shadow had receded behind them, letting the house loom above them in its own menacing light, but Rose couldn't help but look behind them with a sense of accomplishment. They were a good team. They worked well together, and they were friendly. Maybe she would be able to get him to talk more about what was bothering him. She got the sense that he wouldn't give her much, and was worried about angering him, or distracting him, so she started off with something lighter and more subtle.

"So Leon," she began, trying to keep her tone casual. "Do you ever miss the simpler missions? You know, the ones without creepy villages and ancient curses?"

Leon chuckles bitterly. "You mean the ones where the biggest challenge was paperwork? Sometimes, yeah. Didn't have much time for the easy stuff."

Rose smiles at that, empathy making her dip her chin a little lower as they walked around the building, clearing it before walking up to the gate guarding the front door. She couldn't help but to think of her own missions. "I guess I can see that. It's definitely never boring." They continued walking around the house in silence, peering around at the grandness of it and eyeing the cart blocking the way onward with disgust. There was a dead cow in the cart, already rotting and stinking up the stale air. "Do you ever wonder what life would be like if you weren't doing this?" She asked, glancing at him as he pushed the cart to the side, revealing another bridge. This one was made of stone.

Leon paused for a moment, likely trying to decide if he should let her psychoanalyze him or not. He was well aware she was just doing her job, making sure he was level-headed enough to protect Ashley when they found her, but it was still annoying to have someone poking and prodding at him. "Sometimes. But then I remember that this is where I can make the most difference. It's not always easy-hell, it's almost never easy, but it's worth it."

Rose nodded, appreciating his honesty. She could see the weight he carried, the burden of this mission and his time before the DSO. But she also saw his strength and his determination. She peered over at the faded wooden sign nearby. It had 'Lago' printed on it. "The lake should be just over there," Rose said, even though it was obvious, She didn't want to press her luck with him. She led the way once again over the bridge and started the descent down the hill it let off to. They rounded a corner, just for a ganado to yell out in Spanish that he had seen them. Leon and Rose dove to the side trail as an explosion shook the foundation of the wooden structures above them. Debris rained down on them, and Rose closed her eyes against her will as phantom pain licked away at her limbs, memories of fire and smoke and the smell of her own burning flesh assaulted her nose. Distantly, she was aware Leon's presence and that she needed to pull herself together. She was supposed to be the psychologist, not the patient. The DSO should have never cleared her for duty, no matter how much she'd begged to get back to work.

Leon had noticed her distress and placed a hand on her shoulder. "Rose, are you okay?" He asked, voice steady but full of concern.

Rose took a deep breath, forcing herself to focus on the present. "Yeah, I'm fine," she replied, though her voice wavered slightly. "Just...memories."

Leon nodded, understanding swimming in his baby blues. In a way, it comforted him too, that someone else could understand past trauma. He'd kind of just assumed she'd been coercing him to talk to her with the guise of knowledge she'd learned from some textbook...but he was starting to put together the dots that made the bigger picture. She'd been through something terrible, too. That changes things ever so slightly. "We need to keep moving," he urged her gently. "Can you stand?"

"Yes," she replied, pushing herself up with Leon's help. "Let's go," she said, determination hardening her features. They carefully navigated the debris-strewn path, keeping low and alert for further threats. As soon as they descended the remainder of the hill, a woman screeched and charged at Leon with a pitch fork. He acted fast, shooting the woman and watching as her body flew backwards with excess force and she thumped to the ground. "I'm half tempted to grab the pitchfork," Rose mused.

Leon let out an amused sound. "Maybe find something a little more compact?"

Rose smirked, but her eyes were already looking towards the dark tunnel up ahead. "Compact and deadly, got it." A whooshing in her ear made her look up to see two men atop another wooden bridge, throwing stuff at them. "Oh, what the hell," she grumbled, dodging an axe meant for her head. Leon grabbed her arm and they turned to take off in the direction they had originally been going into the tunnel. As expected, the tunnel was dark and there was lots to trip over. Leon pulled out his flashlight while Rose walked slowly with her gun at the ready. The light disturbed some bats who were sleeping on the ceiling of the tunnel, and Rose flinched away as they screeched, flying right towards them. She threw her arms up to protect her face and felt the oddly hairy wings flutter against her forearms as the bats tried their best to avoid the intruders and made for the exit.

Once they were free from the tunnel, the area opened up into another small cluster of houses. There was a house with two windows facing them and an open shed to the left. Down a wide path overgrown with dead grass and weeds, was a slightly bigger, better-kept house. Rose could hear the grumbling of more Ganados meandering about and cautiously crept towards the shed, only to stop again and groan when she heard the familiar beeping of another wire bomb trap. "Not again," she muttered, scanning the inside for the source of the beeping. The wire was stretched across the entire expanse of the room, making it impossible for them to maneuver around it. They could either try to crawl under it or disengage it. Leon moved over to it quickly, eyes darting around as he approached the device.

Suddenly, a loud shout echoed through the air, and they turned to see a man on the other side of the shed staring at them. "Leon, hurry up," Rose warned as he got to work on the bomb. She raised her weapon, moving to get a better angle, when more shouts answered the original, and the man who had caught them pulled out something from his pocket.

The bomb beeped and flashed green. Rose watched in horror as the Ganado lit the stick in his hand, and it lit up, sparking like a firework. "Holy shit!" Rose yelled as she fired at the Ganado. Somehow, she managed to hit the dynamite, and it blew up before it could be thrown and the Ganado died by his own attack.

"Watch out!" Leon yelled, pulling Rose back just as another stick of dynamite was hurled towards them. They ducked behind the shed as the dynamite exploded, sending debris flying. Rose peeked around the corner, shoving her panic down. There were three of them, she counted. "Let's circle around and take them out from afar," suggested Leon. Rose nodded and they darted out of their hiding places as the Ganado's advanced. They went around to the way they came, just to have more dynamite thrown at them threw the windows of the house across from them.

"Fuck!" Rose cursed for the first time, pumping her arms as fast as her legs would carry her to stay out of the blasting range. She hated explosives. All kinds, it didn't matter how they were built! Her body carried the scars of such weapons, and she wasn't about to add more to them.

Rose went around to the other side, entering the house while Leon drew their fire. It was an unspoken arrangement that just kind of happened, and Rose felt a little bad but knew he could handle himself. Jesus, how much dynamite did these people horde? Thankfully, the door to the house was already blown off it's hinges, and Rose was able to enter with no issue. There was a woman throwing dynamite at the window in the main space, and she could see a man through the doorway in the next room.

The woman turned around when Rose entered, and the agent wasted no time rushing at her, throwing their bodies to the floor. Rose broke her fall with the woman's body, and sat up, straddling her as she grabbed ahold of her head and began smashing it into the floor until she was unconscious.

"Te encontré!"

The man had come out of the other room to see what the ruckus was. Leon's gunshots came from outside the house as he took care of his assailants. This man was empty-handed as he slowly approached. Rose got to her feet, taking with her a kitchen knife that had been discarded on the floor not too far away. She moved, and the Ganado jerked to the side to block the exit. "Alright," she relented and once again rushed towards him. She swung the knife out, going for his throat, but he caught her wrist with surprising awareness and strength and twisted her in a way that forced her body to turn with it, lest the bones in her wrist broke. Rose gritted her teeth, feeling the pain radiate from her twisted wrist.

With her free hand, she grabbed a nearby pot from a dilapidated table and swung it towards the Ganado's head. The pot connected with a dull thud, causing him to stagger back slightly, loosening his grip on her wrist. Unfortunately for her, the woman she'd knocked out was already climbing to her feet. Taking advantage of the loosened grip, she yanked her wrist free and slashed at the Ganado's arm. He roared in pain and Rose avoided the arms of the woman by ducking low and driving the knife into the man's side. He gasped, his body convulsing as he crumpled to the floor. Rose didn't have a moment to spare as the woman lunged at her with fury in her eyes. Rose quickly rolled to the side, narrowly avoiding the woman's grasp, adrenaline pumping through her veins, and faced her opponent.

The woman, now fully recovered, grabbed a broken chair leg from the floor and swung it at Rose. Rose blocked the attack with her forearm, wincing at the impact but managing to hold her ground. She countered with a swift kick to the woman's knee, causing her to stumble. Seizing the opportunity, Rose grabbed her own knife from it's holster and flipped it in her hand before piercing the woman Ganado's shoulder with the blade, forcing a scream of agony from her. The woman dropped the chair leg and fell to her knees. Rose yanked the blade out of the Ganado's flesh and then immediately reinserted it, this time through the neck and up into her skull. Blood poured from the wound, down the hilt of the knife, and painted Rose's hands red.

Rose's own blood was pumping loudly in her ears, roaring with the excitement of what had just happened. There was one final grunt from Leon and a body collided with the outside wall of the house, before Leon emerged, observing the gruesome sight laid out before him. His eyes quickly scanned the room, taking in the bodies sprawled out on the floor and the blood splatters that now decorated her boots. He locked eyes with Rose, who was still catching her breath and gave her a nod of approval. "Nice work," he said, his voice steady despite the chaos around him.

Rose wiped the blood from her hands onto her pants, trying to regain her composure. "Thanks," she replied, her voice sounding a little shaky. "Think we should check the big house? They must have been guarding something."

Leon agreed, reloading his gun and leading the way back out into the newly cleared area. For some reason, Rose felt ashamed by how long it'd taken her to dispatch two threats. There were several bodies strewn about the yards. Leon had been busy and had taken care of twice as many as she had in the time she'd been in that house. The closer we got, Rose's ears pricked with a new sound.

"There's someone in there," she whispered, her head cocked to the side to try and figure out what it was they were hearing. Something or someone was banging against something inside the house. Leon approaches the front door first, eyeing the lock with annoyance before pulling out his knife and breaking it off. They go in single file, guns ready to fire if needed. Instead, they are greeted by an empty front room. Just some rotting furniture and useless trinkets. Rose frowns at the sound of another wire bomb. Leon chuckles at her reaction before disappearing into the hallway to disarm it. He calls her over when it's clear and she follows down the hall after him into another dirty room.

There's a bit more in this one, not a lot of it useful. Rose takes it upon herself to search around, picking up a framed black and white photo of a man and what is presumed to be his son. She carefully sets it right side up, propped like it should be. She hadn't taken the time to consider how these Ganado's had used to be people, too. They'd had lives before Los Illuminados. The weight of what she'd been forced to do settled heavily on Rose's shoulders as she gazed at the photo, imagining the family that had once lived in this house. The realization that these enemies were once ordinary people, now twisted and controlled by a sinister force, sent a chill down her spine.

Leon noticed Rose's somber expression and came to stand just behind her. His body heat was comforting, and she had the fleeting thought to lean against him. "It never gets easier," he says sullenly. "Taking lives that don't deserve it." Rose turned to look at him and he met her eyes. "We'll get these sons of bitches and stop it from happening again."

The warmth from his body radiated from him into her chest as she looked into Leon's determined eyes. His words resonated with her, and she found herself admiring his unwavering resolve. "I know we will," she replied softly, feeling a newfound sense of hope. He gave her a sincere smile, his lips parting to show his teeth, and Rose felt her heart flutter. She bit her lip, cleared her throat, and then stepped away from him, towards where the pounding of a body hitting wood could be heard louder than anywhere else in the house. What was she doing? Neither of them had time to develop crushes. It was too dangerous, a distraction, and a sure way to get them fired. There was a bookshelf blocking the way into the next room, so Leon moved it and she wordlessly stalked in, scanning the room for anything of use.

Leon plucked up a box of shotgun shells and a box of handgun ammo, which was a relief, but she rounded the corner to find the source of the loud banging. A Ganado was growling and striking an axe to the floor, creating a racket. Leon stormed up, kicking the Ganado in the head and firing his pistol at his head. He slumped over and Rose found a trap door just underfoot. She tried to focus on the task at hand, rather than the sheer power and strength in Leon's body as he dispatched each threat with ease.

Leon's smile was so hard to ignore, though. It stuck like glue to the forefront of her memory.

There was a piece of wood nailed vertically over the trap door, and so she waved Leon over so he could pry it up. He heaved open the door and stuck his flashlight down, looking down before lowering first himself, then helping her down into the narrow crawl space. It was a small tunnel underneath the house, dark, with no light source other than Leon's flashlight. They followed the curve of the tunnel to find a wiggling, body-shaped, wrapped object on the floor. Their eyes met, having another silent conversation.

'you ready?'

'do it.'

Leon nodded before ripping open the bumbling package. Rose pointed her gun in the face of the man that emerged and Leon used his light to blind the guy temporarily while they got a good look at him. He's got shoulder length dark brown hair, brown eyes, stubble over his strong jaw and high cheekbones. Decently built, but not all that muscular. He's also got duct tape over his mouth. Leon rips it off.

"Ah! Little rough, don't you think?" says the man, squinting up at Leon. His accent has a Spanish lilt to it, but no so bad that they couldn't understand him. " That hurt, you know? The light, amigo, I can't see."

Determining that he isn't a threat, whoever he is, Leon repurposes the flashlight to face the wall and Rose lowers her gun. The mans eyes dance between Leon and Rose, taking a little extra time to examine Rose close enough that she shifts uncomfortably. Leon, taking notice, hands Rose his light and then crouches down to roughly slam the man on his front and untie his hands from behind his back. The man grunts, not appreciating the treatment. A grin plays on Rose's lips, wondering if that was because of her. Hoping it was because of her. She shook her head, trying to push the intrusive thoughts away.

"It seemed like you really wanted to talk," says Leon tersely.

Once he is free, the man rolls out of the way and sits up, rubbing his wrists. "Okay, I have only one, very important, question." He pauses, looking between the two of them with a serious look on his face. "Either of you got a smoke?"

Rose's eyes widen as she bites back a surprised laugh. Leon huffs, also not having expected that. "Got gum," he says not at all apologetic to let the man down. Rose giggles, unable to hide it.

"Ah, figures. Senorita?"

"Sorry," she shrugs apologetically. The man slumps in disappointment and heaves a sigh.

Loud, thudding footsteps echo down the tunnel they'd just come from, and the new guy's eyes widen as he begins to panic. "Oh no! Not this guy!"

Rose whips around at the same time that Leon does to see a huge, hulking man with a scraggly black beard, a low-brimmed hat, and a charcoal trench coat folded over his huge frame.

"Who are you?" Leon demands, but the man doesn't answer. "Stop right there!"

Before they could react, the man lunged with surprising speed. Leon was the first to move, attempting to intercept him, but the brute force of the man's attack sent Leon crashing into a stack of hard wooden crates. The impact was so severe that his head bounced off the stone wall and Leon was knocked out cold. Rose managed to fire one bullet into his back, but he turned to her with just as much speed.

With a powerful swing, he struck her, and everything went black as she lost consciousness.