Chapter Text
A crossroad. Right or left, you didn’t know which way to go. You could hear them moaning over your loud panting. How could these people chase you that fast with missing limbs while bleeding out? The signal on your phone was out for a long time now; you couldn’t get intel about your mission anymore, and only a few bullets remained in your nine-millimeter. How would you get out of this hellhole alive?
You looked back and saw a mutilated person further ahead, then two, three. You couldn’t stay here any longer, and you wondered which path was the way to go. A wave of adrenaline flowed through your body, and your legs started moving on their own. You ran into the right path of the crossroad, not caring about where it would lead you; all you wanted was to get away from these crazy people. The sun was setting fast; you wouldn’t see much in a few minutes. As you progressed down the path, it started to get narrower until you felt the branches of the trees slapping your face. The blood ran down your cheeks to your neck, soaking the hem of your shirt. You could feel the blood pumping in your legs as you were struggling to keep your pace. Your muscles started twitching, and you started stumbling on the rocky path, trying to avoid the roots of the trees sticking out of the ground. The end of the trail was growing closer and closer with every step you made.
You exited the path, looked over your shoulder to see if you had distanced yourself enough from the hoard of people, but upon taking a couple steps forward you got your foot stuck on one of the roots sticking up from the dirt. You fell face first, crying out in pain as your whole body collided into the forest floor with wounding force. You spat the dust and particles of dirt from you had inhaled and that had flown into your mouth, and managed to turn on your back to see the path still laid out before you with no one in sight. Only, you could again hear the blood-curdling moaning, despite your heavy panting and pounding heart that tried to drown out everything else, you still heard the shuffle and groans from beyond.
Shaky pants escaped you, and you tried to sit up, but a jolt of pain ran through your rib cage at the effort. You let out a loud cry and fell back down on the ground. Did you break some ribs? You lifted your shirt to see your bruised right side. It seemed only to be sprained, but still, it hurt like hell.
The moanings got louder. You lifted your head, and the hoard of people was getting closer. You grabbed your nine-millimeter and started to shoot at the first monster coming out of the path. One shot in the leg made them fall, making the second one following right behind trip over them. They both started crawling towards you as more appeared out of the darkness. You crawled in the opposite direction, trying to ignore the throbbing pain in your ribs. You shot again at the first crawler, right in the forehead. As for the second one, your aim was less precise and only shot them in the shoulder. They didn’t even flinch and kept crawling towards you. “Fuck, fuck, fuck!”
A sudden jolt of adrenaline ran through your body, muting the pain as you stood up and started running.
You ran, and you ran, and you ran.
You crossed a small knee-deep river, and you didn’t have the time to take a look back to see if you could still see them chasing after you and if you had another option to get away from them. You had to get as far as possible, and alive.
It was pitch black at this point, so you turned the light attached to your earpiece on. You got out of the river and continued to go deeper into the woods, not knowing where it would lead you to. You slowed down your pace to a light jog until your legs gave out and you collapsed on the ground. You had no energy left, and the adrenaline started to wear off, and the pain in your ribs came back. Your ankle wasn’t hurting as much as you thought it would, fortunately. You didn’t want to think about what would have happened if you had sprained it or worst, broke it.
You took out your phone from a zipped pocket on your pants, but still no signal. A frustrated sigh escaped your lips, and you put the phone back. You took a short moment to catch your breath and stood up with all the efforts you had left. You couldn’t hear the moaning anymore, only the river nearby. You sighed in relief and continued to go deeper into the woods.
After a mile, you stumbled upon a small gravel road, large enough to let a small SUV pass. You followed the path until you arrived at a two stories house that seemed to be abandoned. You pulled out your gun from its holster and entered the house. You made sure the first floor was clear before going upstairs; clear too. You went back down to lock the door. You found a switch, turned it on and to your surprise, the room lighted up. You heard your phone chimes and retrieved it from your pocket to see a one bar signal. You went back upstairs again, then got a two bar signal. There was hope! Signal means you were closer to civilization, which means you were soon out of the woods. You still needed at least a three-bar signal if you wanted to make a call that wouldn’t be cut off in the middle of the conversation.
You walked from room to room on the second floor, trying to find a spot that could give you three bars. You walked into a small closet with a ladder leading to an attic. “Great.” You sighed. You hesitate a moment. Bad things always happen in the attic, but your desire to get out of this place alive was stronger than fear. You climbed the ladder and pushed the hatch on the ceiling, revealing a pitch black room. You only had your earpiece flashlight to help you see. You got excited as you saw the third bar appearing on the corner of your phone’s screen. You were about to press ‘call’ when a loud bang resonated downstairs.
Someone had broken down the front door.
You exchanged your phone for your gun and quietly exited the attic and closed the hatch behind you. You slowly made your way to the top of the stairs, making sure you didn’t make any sound. You held your breath as your foot came in contact with the first stair and it made a small creek. The first floor became silent, and then you heard footsteps again. You made it to the bottom of the stairs, lights were still on, fortunately. You made your way to the back of the house where you could hear the intruder looking for something, opening and closing doors.
A door was separating you from the stranger that entered the house. It couldn’t be one of the people chasing you earlier since you didn’t hear any moans and it seems that person was cautious not to be detected. You held the doorknob in a shaky hand and with a deep breath and all your courage, you opened the door.
“Freeze, or I’ll shoot!” You cried as you entered the room. The intruder spun on his heels and you were blinded by a flashlight, and a gun pointed at you. A familiar face spoke your last name.
“Agent Kennedy?” You lowered your gun. “What are you doing here?” You spotted a switch on the wall and turned it on. The room lit up, revealing Leon S. Kennedy standing in front of you. You put your gun back in its holster and sat down on the nearest chair you saw.
“You’ve been out for over 12 hours, and you were getting farther from your objective. They sent me as a backup.” Leon replied. You sighed and rubbed your face with both your hands, forgetting you had wounds all over your cheeks from the branches back in the woods. You quickly removed your hands, small streaks of blood on them. You sighed and slumped on your chair. You felt so unprofessional, getting lost and losing contact with your agent and now, having back up by one of the best agents in the D.O.S.
“I have something for that, wait here,” Leon said as he walked out of the room. He came back a few minutes later with a black duffel bag. He opened it and handed you a small medical kit. You nodded as a thank you and proceeded to clean your face.
“How does it look?” You asked Leon as you had no mirror to see yourself.
“I’m pretty sure you had better days.” He smirked. You scoffed and shook your head. You handed him back the medical kit, and he put it away in the duffle bag.
“So what’s next?” You asked as you stood up. “Are we that far from the destination?”
“Not much,” he replied, “but we gotta move if we want to get there in time.” He swung the bag on his shoulder and headed to the door.
“Wait, where are we going?” You frowned your brows.
“We’re getting you some rest before we go on with that mission.” Leon opened the door of the house, revealing a black government issued car parked in front of the porch.
“We?” You asked.
“I’m coming with you. Orders from above.” Leon unlocked the doors of the car and climbed behind the wheel after putting the duffel on the backseat. You let out a sigh. Great, you felt like a real incompetent, getting babysit by another agent because you got a little bit lost. You had enough signal in the attic to call for info about your whereabouts and even use the GPS, but your higher-ups had other ideas.
The car ride was quiet with occasional questions from Leon about where you were at with your mission. You kept dozing off with the adrenaline finally out of your body and safe with another agent, and you felt less on edge. Leon woke you up by shaking your shoulder lightly. You had arrived at a creepy motel with a flickering light post. Leon saw the look you gave to the place. “It’s the best we can get.” You both got out of the car. You stayed outside as Leon went to the little reception to get a room, looking at your surroundings. He came back with two keys. You thanked him, and you headed to the second floor to get to your room that was side by side. You wished each other goodnight before locking yourself into your room. You managed to take a quick hot shower before collapsing on your bed, still wrapped in your bath towel, your wet hair soaking the pillow.