SAVEGUARD ⟼ leon s. kennedy

xlviii. the other woman

ｃｌｅｍｅｎｔｉｎｅ

When I wake up, it's like I'm having an out of body experience.

At first, I think it's another fucked up nightmare, another manifestation of the PTSD and anxiety.

But it's all very much real.

I'm sitting crumpled on the floor, my wrists tied behind my back with zip ties and handcuffs—as if I could break out of either. My legs are tucked uncomfortably beneath me, because sitting on anything except my knees is painful.

I don't know where I am, or how I got here. My mind is foggy, and there's a raw pounding ache coming from somewhere at the back of my skull, but I try to focus, squeezing my eyes shut to try and remember.

I remember three days ago, Leon left my apartment at five in the morning. I remember the doorbell ringing ten or so minutes after he left, how embarrassed I was because of how swollen my eyes were from crying. I remember thinking he had come back, I remember the hope I had that he would say he had the solution for this heartbreak to go away.

Instead I saw two men in a gas mask, similar to the one Arthur had on the Semiramis.

Next thing I know, I'm in this empty warehouse, with no light except the natural light filtering through one window right across from me. The walls are lined with containers, of all different colours. Sometimes noises comes from inside the containers, but I don't know if I'm imagining things.

The pain in my head is making it difficult to keep my eyes open, but now that I'm awake, I can't let myself drift back into unconsciousness. I have nothing to defend myself with, nothing to help me cut these restraints.

Through all of it, the fear, the worry and anxiety, the way my legs are shaking from how terrified I am, how my eyes are dried up with no more tears left to cry; through it all, a small thought persists.

I just know this has to do with Lansdale. Being away from Leon didn't help. It didn't make me safer. All that ache we put ourselves through was for nothing, because I'm still here at the mercy of psychopaths.

He somehow found out I had something to do with the death of his son, and now...

Now I have to wait for the same fate to find me.

○

I know it's been at least a few hours since I woke up, because the light in the room has changed from the mixed hues of pink and orange of a sunset, to the bright white of a full moon.

I've been trying to keep myself from panicking. I can't do anything right now, and losing my clarity of mind won't help.

But it's so difficult, because I'm so scared. So alone.

I try to pass the time by thinking of Leon. The only good recent memories I have are of him—his corny jokes, his smirk, the way he held my hand on the ship, how he counted with me when I had my panic attacks. How warm he was, sleeping next to me, how excited he always seems to be to be around me—

A sharp clap thunders across the warehouse. "You're awake!"

The voice jolts me through my core; it is anything but a friendly one.

Maybe being alone wasn't that bad.

"Sorry to keep you waiting, but that boyfriend of yours really asks a lot of questions," a female voice says.