A Kennedy Promise

Under The Statue

"I don't have time for this!" Helena grumbled, narrowly avoiding a flaming arrow.

The trio had entered the small room and pulled down the lever on each side of the doors. They got separated by metal bars, with Juliet by Leon's side. A statue emerged out from the walls and shot a flaming arrow at Helena. She ran towards the statue to avoid the incoming fire. Helena slammed the button at the foot of the statue, and it retreated back to the walls. The doors opened, and they moved forward. However, they were met with more statues on both sides. All at once, the statues fired flaming arrows everywhere. Juliet's instincts kicked in. With Juliet's help, the two finished faster than Helena, who was grumbling under her breath the entire time.

They advanced into the next room, which needed them to aim at the mirrors with their lasers. Helena had picked up another one of those statues in one of the rooms. They eventually went up the stairs and out to the balcony. The rain was getting heavier. There was one more statue behind the metal bars. Helena tried to reach inside the bars, but the statue was too big to get it out. Juliet knelt down to examine a dead body beside the bars. The man wasn't zombified, and most probably killed himself before he could turn. Juliet felt queasy and quickly looked away. She never saw Joseph's body, and she knew it was for the best. Leon spotted the semi-auto sniper rifle beside the dead man. He picked up and examined the gun.

"I know how to get the statue," Helena said, pointing to an engraving on the wall. "It says here that you have to ring the five bells."

"Huh, I feel kinda bad for shooting up antiques," Leon replied. "But let's get to it."

Juliet and Leon split up, shooting two and three bells respectively. The bells tolled and the metal bars raised. Helena quickly swiped the statue. A distant sound of a door opened, catching their attention. They hurried out of the tower and back onto the second floor of the cathedral. Similar to earlier, both Leon and Helena placed the statues on the pedestals at the same time. Finally, the stairs underneath opened up. Helena rushed ahead, leaving the two to catch up. However, Helena stopped dead in her tracks when something foul-smelling walked up the stairs. Everyone else in the cathedral had stood on guard too. Out came a beast with holes all over its body.

"What is that thing?" Helena asked, backing away.

"You're asking me?" Leon questioned.

One of the male survivors shot the monster, but it released some sort of blue gas. The male survivor covered his face and crumbled to the floor. Another survivor quickly attended to him but screamed when he had already turned. Everyone scrambled out of its way.

"Look out for its gas!" Leon shouted as he tried to usher some of them from its path. Not everyone listened to him, or the other two ladies for that matter. "Everyone, out of the way! We'll take care of this!"

In a matter of seconds, more survivors had turned and attacked the others. Helena focused on shooting the infected survivors. Meanwhile, Juliet had gone on the offensive and rained bullets on the monster with her shotgun.

"Juliet! Don't get too near!" Leon called out, using his sniper rifle from a safe distance.

Juliet got out of his line of sight, and he immediately pulled the trigger. The beast seemed to stagger for a moment, before releasing more of its gas. Leon continued to shoot with his rifle, but the beast kept on going and terrorizing the survivors. Helena threw a grenade at it, which finally brought it down to its knees. Juliet landed the final shot with her Hydra. The beast let out a last screech before finally dropping dead. The trio heaved a sigh of relief. Looking around the cathedral, only a handful of survivors remained. The remaining people huddled together and cried. Some others prayed for their own safety.

"You all right, Juliet?" Leon asked her quietly.

She finally looked him in the eyes after stepping foot in the cathedral. She nodded slowly and hugged him. Leon gently caressed her hair. Meanwhile, Helena had approached the disintegrated beast, which left an underground keycard. She hurried down the steps and swiped the keycard. The door opened, and she called out for them. They pulled away. Leon grabbed her hand, and they walked towards Helena. The trio went through the door, entering some sort of underground lab. Leon dreaded the place, but Helena didn't look too fazed about it. She ran ahead of them, opening a door which led to an empty room. There was a chair in the middle of the room with dried blood right next to it. Helena squatted down and examined the chair.

"Wait... I remember this place! Deborah must be close!"

"...Who?" Leon asked, but it wasn't met with an answer.

Helena rushed into the hallways and into a lab. She panicked when she saw a body on the operating chair, but it wasn't who she was looking for.

"Come on, where are you?" she mumbled, moving away from the chair.

"Who are we looking for?" Leon asked again, but Helena didn't reply.

Leon had enough of the silence. He forcefully made his way in front of Helena and blocked her way. "I'm getting tired of you stringing me along. Are you gonna fill us in here, or what?"

"I will," she finally answered, but her eyes shifted around. "It's just... we're running out of time. Please, Leon. Bear with me just a little longer."

Leon moved out of her way, and she ran past him. Juliet came up beside him.

"Something tells me she hasn't been your partner for very long," she said, as the two followed Helena. "Are you sure we can trust her?"

He sighed, "Let's just wait and find out. Come on."