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CROWS CAWED and flew around the graveyard, their beady eyes dark as their midnight raven feathers. A haunting symbol of the death that lied underneath the dirt below the church. The church had a large bell on the top, where the ringing noise saved the two agents from getting hoarded by villagers coming at them.
Aside from the Ganados roaming and guarding the church with weapons and fire, the place was eerily quiet. Way too quiet, making Seraphina worry something bad had happened to Ashley Graham. Or why they hadn't done anything yet.
"Hunnigan, it's Leon. The doors locked. I can't get in." They pulled on the church doors only to find it locked. How lucky. This time, Leon called in first.
"Didn't they teach you how to pick locks at the academy?"
"There's some sort of indentation like something might fit inside," Leon replied with a faint laugh at Hunnigan's comment. There's many things they didn't teach him. I assume it's locked until we find it."
"Well, there's no use standing around. Leon, you have to find some way or something to get inside."
After clicking off the radio, the two spilt up to find the insignia and keys to get inside the church. It would prove to save more time in their dire mission. Leon searched behind the church and Seraphina went off to a bridge area that hung over a seaside cliff.
Created with loose wooden planks, one misstep would land her right into the crashing waves of the ocean. The gaps in the bridge displayed the frightening height and how far the drop would be from the ocean.
Don't fall...
Don't fall...
A sharp pain pierced her stomach from the inside, not physically but her body shook with fear as she stepped over the bridge. Each step sounded a squeaky, rigid noise and Seraphina's legs stiffened as she crossed over.
In a shed by the ocean cliff side, there was another note, the writing scribbles messy. There were way too many random notes lying around in this Spanish village, but nonetheless it read:
Closure of the church-
Regarding the three fugitives, the apprehension of Luis is our top priority; the American agent and the woman a distant second.
What Luis stole from us is far more important than the girl.
Unless we get it back, the girl will become useless to us. We must get it back to execute our plan in the end.
If it gets in the wrong hands, the world would become a totally different place than what Lord Saddler has envisioned.
At all costs, we mustn't let that happen.
Nevertheless, we're not letting go of the girl. To ensure that the agent does not get to her, I have locked the church door where the girl is being held.
Anyone who needs access to the church must first get approval by Lord Saddler.
There is a key beyond the lake but it should be safe now that the "Del Lago" has been awakened by our Lord. No one will get across that lake alive.
Plus our same blood courses through the agent's veins. It'll be just a matter of time before he joins us. Once he does, there will be nobody else left that will come looking for the girl.
P.S. the woman the agent is with is an outsider. Whether she will be able to join us or not is a matter of time.
Next to the note was a flimsy printed picture of where the great lake resided. Grime and age worn the print. If the sign with the skulls hanging off of it wasn't enough, these pictures and written notes were ominous reminders. They had to get to Ashley Graham fast, or else the Los Illuminados cultists would lay their filthy hands on her.
I should tell Leon, Seraphina thought as she slipped the photo away into a pocket. Like it was a cue for the world to reign its hatred, the sound of a chainsaw buzzing caught her off guard. Charging towards her, a woman with wrapped bloody bandages around her head had a opening for her grimy, dirty mouth.
"¡Te voy a hacer picadillo!" She screamed with a pitchy voice, sidestepping as a way to dodge the aim of Seraphina's gun. Hurriedly, Seraphina swept under the woman's slow attacks and placed a knife in her throat. Crimson liquid gushed out, but seemingly stunned the woman when she should have dropped dead.
Seraphina stumbled over the loosely nailed wooden planks on the bridge, backing up from the chainsaw woman's range. Aim for the head. She has to drop dead after multiple shots. There's no way anything could survive that...if it doesn't work, she runs.
Like a cornered rat, the attacker closed in and she flinched as a string of ammo soaked into the body of the chainsaw woman. Bits of smoke rose from the barrel. Stepping back further to get away—a warm, hard thing or person bumped into her back.
Shrieking, she aimed the gun back at whatever was behind, but only found Leon. Landing right into his chest area, Seraphina placed down her weapon to furrow her eyebrows together. As if she's perplexed at the sight of him.
Why did I not hear him approach?
Bang, Leon took the last shot to knock the woman off of her feet. Landing into the ocean with a scream and painfully loud splash, they safely assumed she wouldn't resurrect herself.
"Jesus, you scared me."
Leon holstered the gun away. "Sorry."
"Look at this," Seraphina showed him the note along with the eerie photograph. "We can't get inside the church unless we cross the lake. I'm getting worried...if the same blood thing is true, we should hurry."
He nodded, noticing how much more confident Seraphina became in making decisions. She's changed...but has he?
"Sounds like we have something waiting for us, don't want to keep him waiting, do we?"
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PAST THE empty area littered with scraps, there were many crows flying around in hopes to scavenge for trash or maybe even bother the two with their sharp beaks. A part of the village was built over a overgrown swamp, Ganados walked around in the waters or bridges to spot their next target. The water was a brownish, muddy color.
Fog dimmed their visibility and peripheral—yet it didn't stop Leon from using his scope in the darkness. Each shot made her flinch, shooting the heads of the villagers right off with a bloody mess. Pieces of skin and brain splattered onto the floor.
When they reached the top of the hill, a massive lake stood out in the distance. The smoky water hardly visible, cloudy with mold and dirt. A little fishing boat steered towards the center, seated with two Ganados and an unconscious body.
"¡Rápido! ¡Del Lago!" One of the men said as he spoke loudly to the other man, his booming voice carried over to the pair watching from above. "Tenemos que irnos."
The unconscious body wore a blue jumpsuit with the word "policia" as it got dunked into the grey water. Another cop to go missing again. The fact that Dean could end up in this situation alone is unnerving. She really hopes he can avoid the grasp of the Ganados...
Dean can handle it. I have to trust him.
"Holy shit," Leon saw the familiar policeman's body float limply in the water. The boat drove away, leaving a darkly shadow underneath that shook the ground. A large, slimy mouth with rusty teeth rose out of the water, swallowing the body whole. "Those were the guys I was with when I came here."
The Del Lago.
"And we're crossing the lake with that thing in it?"
"Of course," Leon held out his pinky finger, although it seemed childish he did it as a way to reassure her. "Promise you'll stay with me to the end as my partner, even if we end up in that monster's mouth."
Seraphina scoffed and linked to their fingers together.
"Okay...I will."
With their promise now deep inside the heart, Leon settled out with the small fishing boat. They hopped inside, but it barely had enough space as there were plenty of harpoons on the boat. The rusty engine sputtered as it started, shaking flimsy. Maybe the boat will break down before they even get to the other side.
The harsh wind bristled their hair—a looming shadow of the Del Lago swam underneath the surface. Bursting and breaking the calm waters, it roared and nearly flipped over the boat. Leon held onto Seraphina's wrist as he tried desperately to latch on.
In front of the boat, the hook slipped and sunk straight into the water. Both screamed as the boat accelerated forward, the hook stuck onto the Del Lago and reigned all chaos upon them.
"Oh my god, Leon we're screwed!" Seraphina swerved the boat last minute before they crashed into floating debris. He grabbed onto the harpoons, aiming steadily for the monster as it swam before them.
"Use these and hit it!" He launched the sharp harpoon, landing into the monster's flesh. She picked up one, shakily aiming for the monster as they could hardly get still while being pulled forward by a massive weight.
Before they can continue to pierce the skin, the monster roars with his teeth in display and knocked over the boat. Both shrieked in surprise as they rose to the surface, coughing out water.
"Get back to the boat, hurry!"
Hearing his distressed order, Seraphina swam hastily with big strokes as the cold water lapped against her skin. It almost felt like ice or soaking in ice water. The adrenaline through her veins made that forgettable, even if it was just a moment.
Soaking wet, the two climbed back to the boat as it got dragged forward again, yanking Leon forward. With the water adding weight, their movements were becoming sluggish and slow. With a last, hard effort, they took the harpoons but realized the lake was quiet again.
"It's coming back up," Seraphina told him as the surface of the water rippled. The Del Lago resembled some sort of reptile and amphibian cross, the fleshy scaly skin breaking the waters. Roaring primitively, the monster's mouth went straight for them.
Like the sound of a whip, the harpoons whizzed past them and sunk into the monster. Crying out in pain, the monster thrashed and seized movement after long seconds. Thank goodness that was over. Everything did run much smoother when you had a partner...
The rope connecting the hook suddenly roped around Leon's ankle, threatening to drag him down the water. He exclaimed in a struggle, bringing out his knife. Not wanting to slash his leg, Seraphina started to hack away at the other end of the rope with her own knife.
Snap. The rope broke, leaving the hook to sink to the bottom of the lake. Leon slumped backwards, sighing as he tried to settle his beating heart and catch his breath. Seraphina felt just as winded.
"Thanks. You saved me again." Leon sat back up, although tired but knew better than anyone he had a job to accomplish and headed for the dock on the other side of the lake. And he truly wondered how many times he got close to death, only to be saved by someone...too many times to count, that's for sure.
Seraphina remained silent.
When the pair finally docked and got past the nightmare of the lake, something struck Leon in the chest. He keeled over, crying out in excruciating pain and holding onto his body.
"Leon...? Hey, what's wrong?" She tried to hold onto his arm, but he swatted her away and continued to scream as his own blood continued to attack him. He didn't want hurt her in this moment.
Same blood. Same blood... Leon swore he was going crazy. Not wanting to stay out in the open, he went inside a small house.
Seraphina quickly followed, trying to lie him down gently before Leon would get hurt trying to. Helplessly, she tried to alleviate his pain by holding onto his arms. It did nothing as Leon let out a last groan before collapsing into unconsciousness.
Oh god. What do I do? How do I fix this?
I'm so sorry, Leon.
I'm not a capable nurse, after all.
Not wanting him to become uncomfortable by lying down on the stiff floorboards, she lifted his head gently onto her lap and felt for a pulse on his neck. Still strong and steady. Good. It didn't affect his breathing and mostly looked like a sudden faint. What concerned her the most was the dark veins, as if his blood turned black with infection.
He said it himself—they needed a cure to this strange virus, fast. This entire possibility scared Seraphina greatly, as frustrated tears formed in her eyes. It was like the hell of Raccoon City all over again.
Waiting for him to wake up, her fingers softly touched his ashy blonde hair. A cherry flush dusted his cheeks, still radiating with warmth. Seraphina was digging herself into a deep, dark hole. And it was all her fault.
What are you doing?
She can't crawl back of out the abyss now.
A part of her wants to break that promise. To stay forever, even if he was joking to make her feel better, it isn't far from what she feels. From the moment they met, there was an indescribable feeling that she couldn't reason or justify with.
I know it's wrong for me to feel this way.
It's better to stay silent.
While unconscious, Leon's mind flashed with startling images. The blood flowing through his veins. Little parasites swam inside his body. A large, spindly parasite sat in the middle of his bones, right on top of the lung. Pain ebbed like spikes stabbing his skin.
In a dreamy daze, Leon glanced at his arms and wrists to see red blood in his veins. Spreading over his body, Leon gasped and panicked when he sat up from the floor. No one was around. Instead, Seraphina lay on the floor in a pool of blood. Pale and cold.
IT'S JUST A DREAM.
The first thing Leon saw was the view below Seraphina, who laid his head on her lap. This time he woken up for real—evident by his normal condition and not disease-ridden self. At least not yet. In a jolt of surprise, he sat up and glanced down at his wrists. Not even his dark veins remained.
Nothing.
Before they could talk, a familiar beeping noise came in from Leon's radio. Hunnigan spoke first;
"Leon, it's been six hours since our last transmission. I was starting to get worried."
"Don't you mean lonely? Anyway, I started to feel dizzy. Then I guess I must have lost consciousness." Leon glanced at her, as Seraphina tried to not acknowledge the fact she was caring for him so affectionately when he was unconscious.
"Lost consciousness? Maybe that has some connection to what the village chief was talking about?"
"Hm. Can't say. But I'm all right now and so is Seraphina. We're gonna continue the mission."
Clicking off, Leon stood back up on his feet. Still a little bit weak, but it was nothing that could stop him. He needed to get rid of that parasite fast, along with his partner. Things would turn bad if they both turned and got infected. Seraphina's already been through one virus, two is too much.
An anonymous letter sat on the bed, reading:
There's an important item hidden in the falls. If you are able to get it, you might be able to get Ashley out of the church.
But I'll warn you, the route to the church isn't a walk in the park by any means. They've deployed what's called an "El Gigante" so God Bless.
About what's been going on in your body...if I could help you, I would. But unfortunately it's beyond my power.
Seraphina furrowed her eyebrows. Somebody has been watching them and trying to figure out who was perplexing. Luis met them not too long ago, then left. It was not like he had something to owe. Dean didn't know their location, so it wasn't him either.
"Somebodies been watching us," Seraphina muttered.
"I think I know who it is..."