┆ ° ♡ • ➵ ✩ ◛ °
BEFORE Dean arrived at the point past the bridge, Hunnigan informed him of the point where the helicopter was supposed to land. He had been doing work by himself for a while, until he was told they had secured Ashley Graham. His focus was past the president's daughter, now instead on the Las Plagas.
The parasitic virus, disease, whatever it was... didn't spread by airborne or touch. So he figured he was safe for the time being. When the radio beeped in, Hunnigan's face popped up on screen.
"Hey, Dean. I was wondering if you had a spare radio. Seraphina hasn't been able to have access to you for a long time now."
He smiled. "Sorry. I don't. Just a battery."
"Alright. We can do nothing but wait till we get you guys back. Keep in contact with me and check in."
"Hunnigan? I have to ask you something but I don't know if you can disclose it..." Dean had a serious look on his face.
"Sure. Ask away."
"I wanted to ask about my partner, Seraphina. Can you tell me something about her? I wanted to know where she worked before joining, roughly six years ago."
Hunnigan sighed. "I can't divulge in gossip, so I'm going state the facts that I know are true. There's hardly any files that track records of six years ago. Seraphina said she wasn't working back then. Courtney just brought her cousin in because she had no income."
"So, she had no association with F.O.S or any other agencies until then?"
"No, I believe so. It does seem unusual, but Courtney's reputation is not unreliable."
Dean nodded his head to himself. "Got it. I just had questions..."
Clicking the radio off, Dean knew that he was lying.
And I'm also the one being lied to.
┆ ° ♡ • ➵ ✩ ◛ °
IN THE PRESENT, Seraphina saw Dean covered in bruises, a reddish and purple color all over his body. Some scratches and minor wounds appeared, but other than that, a gun was pointed at her chin. It took a moment for the two to process what was happening and not long before Leon pointed the gun at him.
"Stop! Both of you, put the gun down!"
Seraphina held her breath as the two placed their weapons down. Her heart felt like it stopped before beating again. It was hard to believe her eyes—Dean was alive and well, even if the Ganados were after his blood and lusting for his death.
Dean's eyes widened by the revelation, putting the gun down. He had thought Seraphina was an intruder, someone would attack him. A expression of pain crossed his face before he sighed.
"Sorry, I thought..."
"You're alive. Thank god." She sighed a breath of relief. Ashley looked more confused than Leon did, but was more pleasantly surprised by Dean's handsome features.
"It's nice to see you guys, alive and all..." Dean grinned and looked over to Leon. Leon's face looked like stone compared to the rest of them. He was being more than obvious. "Hunnigan told me there's something I should do. So you guys go on ahead and take Ashley out of here to the location. I'll meet up again."
"Are you sure? It's a bit dangerous." Seraphina furrowed her eyebrows, a genuine sense of worry. Saying it's a 'little bit' dangerous is an understatement.
"I'll be fine. I made it this far," Dean smiled and looked at Leon, ignoring his sour look. Trying to remain professional, Leon held his outside thoughts and nodded courteously. "We'll able to meet properly next time."
After picking up the supplies and discussing their plans for the rest of the mission, they should make it back to the states much easier. Seraphina spent a lot of time with Dean back when she was getting trained and prepared for the Spain trip. She had to put a little bit of trust.
Ashley was silent until he left, joining Seraphina's side with a hand on her arm in a playful manner. Seraphina had no idea why the president's daughter had warmed up to her so quick and it was quite odd. As long as she was okay, it was fine...
"Hey, when we get back, I should take you guys out for a treat of mine. It might be not much compared to what you guys are doing for me, but I can try."
Ashley smiled with her hands behind her back shyly.
Seraphina gave her a weak smile. That promise of better pay and an bigger apartment was not even on her mind anymore. Her own aunt wrapped her up in something again...
"Of course. But let's focus on getting out first."
When they arrived to a large barn, there were sounds of scuffling and muffled noises. Leon held onto the door handle and nodded at Seraphina to indicate some danger was behind it.
"There's something inside. Ashley, you should hide."
"Got it." Ashley took off and hid in a nearby box large enough to fit her. Leon held up his pistol but hesitated before going inside. There was a palpable amount of humidity and dread in the air, yet Leon felt like there was something he wasn't telling himself on purpose.
In reality, he wanted Seraphina to stay outside and held guard Ashley, but knew she would reject that idea right away. Partners until the end.
Squeak..., the door creaked loudly and revealed the rusty barn inside. There was no light and made the place dark and dim. They were both quiet enough to hear the sounds of their own breaths. Seraphina had a knot in her stomach, making the feeling of anxiety worse.
The pair said nothing until Seraphina felt a gust of wind behind her back. She gasped as the Bitores Mendez showed up once again, the chief of the village looked scorned and angry. Taking a hold of Leon like he weighed nothing, began to choke him.
"Let go of him, you bastard!" Seraphina yelled out as she aimed for the head of the Bitores Mendez, even if bullets barely hurt him. Instead the chief threw Leon towards the wall of the barn, the harsh impact injuring Leon severely. The barn was shut and locked in.
Before she could pull the trigger, a powerful fist into her stomach made her fly back. Seraphina coughed as she tried to get back up, but saw another punch coming her way. This time it was going straight for her head.
Barely missing the punch, she got up and stumbled backwards before Leon knocked a barrel full of kerosene over. The foul-smelling liquid pooled at the Bitores Mendez's feet, which made him distracted for a moment before Leon narrowed his eyes and brought out his pistol.
"Hasta luego."
The bullet set the barrel of kerosene on fire, the flames rapidly rising up. Leon took Seraphina's body by the waist and shielded her before the barrel blew up and swallowed the chief whole. The amber flames and heat ramped up, while they got back up on their feet.
In a horrific scene, the Bitores Mendez stood there and didn't fall dead. The heat melted off his dark coat, giving her a sense of deja vu. Roaring primitively, the body spilt and elongated to revel in a insect-like body and spine. Arms sprouted out of the spine, like a centipede.
From the bare back of the chief, long claws bursted out of his skin with flesh tearing apart. Now sitting on two legs was a extremely long spine, with many arms and a head still remaining. The sight alone made her shake and tremble, wondering what the hell that thing was.
Human...or an insect. Leon noticed her terror and shook her arm.
"I'm right here, don't forget. Shoot his spine! Don't stop shooting!"
Listening to his orders, Seraphina backed away to give some space. With a forceful click, Leon slipped off his gun holster and loaded his shotgun. The sound blasted in their ears as the chief shuddered with each bullet, his knees shaking and desperate to stand.
With two people aiming for the knees and spine, the Bitores Mendez monster's spine was disgustingly beginning to separate. A nub of flesh and bone. Seraphina ducked her head as a talon nearly swiped for her face, quickly moving back.
Falling with a squishy noise, the spine fell off as the legs continued to walk on its own before falling limply. Except it wasn't that easy, as the monster wasn't going out without a last fight. The top half was still alive, now using its claws as arms and leaped up on the railing.
"This has to be a joke," Seraphina muttered miserably as she joined Leon's side again as the monster leaped up scary heights towards the roof. Now it was much more agile and light, hopping way too fast for her to land an accurate shot. Bringing out the rifle, Leon aimed for the monster as he continued to hop around. "Leon, watch out!"
Unfortunately, by a second, Leon had gotten swiped by a claw. It sliced into his arm, throwing off his rifle and aiming of the scope. An easy injury when Seraphina decided to take the attention off of him and onto her. The talon stabbed into right above her heart, piercing her enough for the Bitores Mendez to throw her around and land onto the ground.
Loud and frantic shots rang out when Leon set up the rifle again. It was six years ago again, when he was scared of losing her. Fire blazed around in the barn, suffocating the air with smoke. Seraphina cried out in pain, weakly not being able to do anything and struggled getting onto her feet.
What am I doing? I have to get up.
As if someone had heard their desperate calls, the Bitores Mendez finally fell dead with a last shot. He coughed out blood as a glass eye fell out disgustingly rolling onto the floor as the chief was officially dead. Hopefully no more severed body parts coming back alive.
Leon picked up the false eye. Then bent down to meet Seraphina, who had a nasty wound that was bleeding profusely. The fight drained his ammo and injured the both of them to tatters.
"I-I'm okay..." She sat up and brought out a bandage with gauze. Leon didn't say anything as he silently took the medical supplies and pressed onto her wound, wrapping it up. "Thanks. Let's go get Ashley."
Leon had a deep frown. He didn't say why.
Maybe they were too tired and exhausted to acknowledge what even just happened as they were both quiet as Ashley came back worriedly to them. Ashley noticed her wound and approached Leon.
"Hey, are you guys okay?"
"It's not deep, so it'll heal." Seraphina said to reassure the girl. Ashley nodded but knew she was trying to downsize the severity of her own injuries.
It was best to not push it.
Past the lift and staircases, they found the strange gate where they initially came from. The one with the face and one eye, which the glass eye of the Bitores Mendez fit perfectly. The strange colored eyes...
Past the gate was a ancient castle, lit up with torches. Screeching on it's tires was a truck just waiting for them up top of the hill, running down the hill to crash into them. A single villager drove the truck recklessly until Leon shot the driver down within a second. Loosing control of the wheel, the truck flipped over on its side as gas leaked.
All three of them flinched once the gas tank bursted into flames, enveloping the truck in fire.
They were saved from a car crash. Too close.
The trio ran in a panic as another crowd of Ganados ran up the hill with torches of fire, shouting orders at each other and profanities at them.
"¡Agárrenlo!"
"Quick, to the other side of the bridge!" Leon glanced at the crowd before turning to the bridge and ran away from the crowd closing in on them. He grabbed one lever as Seraphina grabbed the next, pulling on it hastily to lift the bridge up. Ashley caught her breath and saw the bridge cut off the angry hoard.
Up the staircase was further into the creepy, old castle. A smell of mold permeated the room with dust floating in the air. Seraphina really hadn't expected to be visiting an historical castle when she came to do the rescue mission...
"Morir es vivir...morir es vivir..."
The sound of hushed speech sent chills down her spine. People were crawling around the castle. They had black cloaks draped over their bodies and face, revealing only the lower half of the face and mouth.
"Cógedlo, cógedlo, cógedlo..."
By the way they were speaking and dressed, they must have been a part of the Los Illuminados cult. It was extremely unsettling. They were completely entranced and brainwashed. A figure with a red cloak and an animal bone for a head pointed at them.
"¡Allí está! Mátalo!"
Fire rained down on them as Leon shielded the two girls with his body and hid behind the stone wall. They were using slingshots to launch cannonballs they were on fire! What era was this village living in?
The cultist's deep and dedicated sense of following their leader hadn't stopped one bit—flames exploded all around them as stones flew from the debris. Worst of all, her wound began to hurt again as blood seeped through the bandages.
The rifle went off in precise time, each bullet making a sharp noise and hitting the cultists operating the cannonball slingshots or whatever trap they had made in the castle... if it weren't for the fact that she came from the United States, Seraphina would have thought she was currently living in the medieval times.
This is just...way too much.
The radio beeped in as Hunnigan appeared. "Leon. Where's your current location?"
"We decided to lay low at a castle, but it looks like it was a bad move."
"Meaning...?"
"Well it appears that this castle also connected with the Los Illuminados. They must not get any visitors here because they're giving me one hell of a welcome."
"Sounds bad. I have an idea, Leon. I need you to—"
The radio screeched as the window glitched out. Leon furrowed his eyebrows and saw the screen disappear.
"Hunnigan? Can you repeat that?"
Silence.
Leon huffed. "Great. Just my luck."
Seraphina couldn't have said anything else better.
Castles like this could only hold vague riddles and even more complicated puzzles. There were a great amount of swords lying around, one platinum and one gold sword. The cultists were relentless as they came in groups with their chains, maces and white painted faces.
Getting outside onto the balcony was a breath of fresh air, away from the claustrophobic feeling of the rooms. Frankly, Seraphina hadn't enjoyed seeing the Victorian-era style of furniture and architecture. It gave her the creeps, no matter how hard she tried to look at this already grim image.
Footsteps behind them made her raise the pistol, but she saw Luis at the end of her gun and put the weapon back down. Luis held up his hands in a fake surrender, surprised to see the trio still kicking and going, even with a minor injury.
"Woah. Take it easy. Leon, I have something to say. I've got something for you guys," Luis searched for his pockets and vest with his hands. "Ah, shit! I must have dropped it when I was running away from them."
"Dropped what?" Ashley asked.
"A drug that'll stop your convulsions. Look, I know you're carriers. You've been coughing up blood, right?" Luis looked at Leon first.
"Yeah."
Ashley nodded her head in shame. "Yes."
Luis peered at Seraphina. "And what about you?"
Suddenly, the flashbacks and sounds of voices in her head came back.
"Yeah. I've been hearing voices, but I don't know what they mean."
"Damn it," Luis muttered in frustration. "That means the eggs have already hatched. For Seraphina it must mean they've been trying to control her. We don't have much time."
"Control? What are you talking about?" Leon questioned.
"I have to go back and get it." Luis's tone sounded serious and grim. Seraphina really didn't like where this was going or what he was trying to imply.
"Let me come with you," Ashley suggested.
"No. You both stay here with Leon. It's safer anyway, as he's better with the ladies." Luis began to walk away. Better with the ladies?
What a strange comment. Seraphina wasn't sure if she agreed...
"Why are you—?"
Luis stopped walking while not facing them. "It makes me feel better. Let's just leave it at that."