Resident Evil Series Fan Fiction ❯ Tenebrae ❯ Scenes from a Waking II ( Chapter 5 )

[ Y - Young Adult: Not suitable for readers under 16 ]

His ears were ringing so badly that he could only barely understand what he himself was saying. Her mouth was moving, quickly, frantically, as her legs kicked out over the long fall. Desperately he tried to stretch his arm down further.

â€œAshley. Ashley, take my hand okay, just reach up a little further. You need to do this. Come on Ashley, I know you can.â€

Her grip was loosening- he could see her stiff little fingers slowly giving way. Face etched with fear, she bit her bottom lip hard and stared helplessly up at him.

Oh God, she couldnâ€™t do that. He couldnâ€™t stand it when she looked at him that way. It made his heart feel like it was contracting. With a sudden surge of energy he wiggled his way further out over the edge, extending his fingers.

â€œAshley. Please. Reach up, you can do it.â€

Her eyes were wide and glassy, pools of unthinking terror.

Please, he mouthed. Please.

Something in his eyes must have broken through the panic, for with her last ounce of strength she swung one arm up. Moving with a speed he hadnâ€™t known he possessed, he grabbed it firmly with both his hands, hauling her up until he could lift under her arms. Gathering her close to his chest, he threw his weight to the side and rolled away from the precipice, taking her with him.

She was lying on top of him but that hardly seemed significant as they both gasped for breath, allowing weak limbs to relax and regain some token strength. They were pushing too hard, he knew. They needed a rest. He didnâ€™t know how it would be possible, but they had to stop if only for a little while.

The feeling of something wet against the side of his neck pulled him from his thoughts, and he realized Ashley had buried her face there, and was quietly sobbing. Gently he reached up and softly patted her on the back, knowing they couldnâ€™t lay there for long. His hearing was gradually returning- the loss of which had been the result of a near miss by a catapult. The operator of said catapult had met his end shortly after by the work of Leonâ€™s rifle, but Ashley had been tossed violently to the side and had slid over a nearby ledge. It had been a close call, far too close for Leonâ€™s taste.

â€œAshley. Ashley, we need to go.â€

Still letting loose a few silent tears onto his skin, she nodded, but made no move to get up. As unwilling to move as she but bending to necessity, Leon sat up and hoisted both of them to their feet. It was a few seconds before she looked up, a few tears still glistening on her cheeks in the moonlight. Tenderly, Leon brushed one of them away with his thumb, sending her embarrassed gaze back to the ground.

â€œOkay?â€ He asked softly.

Wordlessly, she nodded.

As they moved off through the reaches of the castle, Leon reflected that somewhere along the way this mission had become quite personal.

Ashley was dead on her feet. Her shoes dragged against the stone floor with every step and Leon was afraid that should the need arise, and it often did, she would be unable to move quickly. They were in drastic need of a place to rest, and Leon was now pressured to search harder than ever for somewhere to hide.

Salvation came in the form of a small, blocked in stone room on the edge of the one the castle wings. Located in a relatively out of the way place and hosting only one small window and a heavy iron door, it was their best chance for a breather.

No sooner had Leon shut the door and wedged a heavy beam into the bar lock than Ashley slumped to the floor. She needed to be off her feet, if but for a short time. Adrenaline could only carry a body so far.

Leon settled down next to her, taking worried stock of his steadily dwindling ammo supply. He conserved as much as possible and looted what he could, but at this rate without finding a new source of bullets it wouldnâ€™t be long before he would be using the butt end of his weapons. And as exhaustion slowly set in, he was becoming more concerned about his state of combat worthiness. Fatigue would drag him down, make him more unaware. He couldnâ€™t protect Ashley like that.

He wasnâ€™t interested in considering when her safety had become all important. Tripping together in the dark the only sane thing they had to cling to was each other. And in some deep way she needed him- depended on him. There was a time when everything fit neatly under the mission but more and more her need meant something to him.

Blinking quickly Leon squeezed the bridge of his nose, trying to clear his head. Too many thoughts, none of them about what was happening at hand. He needed to be focused, too concentrate on keeping them alive. But he was so tired- a little rest couldnâ€™t hurt.

Ashley was shivering despite her sweater. The cold and vaguely damp stone did not make for the best sleeping position. Wishing not for the first time that he still had his jacket, Leon wrapped his arms around her and leaned her against his side. Placing his loaded handgun safely in reach, he closed his eyes to the sound of her breathing.

What places he walked, where even the walls could swallow you.

Ashley was gone, vanished behind a layer of impassable stone, barricaded from what little safety he could offer her. He felt guilty, like it was his fault. He felt like he had failed.

Now it was a race to reach her.

The sewer reflected noises at odd angles, mixed into an ambient audio level that ebbed and flowed like the water itself. Grimly he realized it would be extremely difficult to discern the position of any enemies by sound alone. Twisted by strange acoustics even his own watery footsteps seemed to come from every direction. And with the walls and ceiling distorted by the wavering liquid reflections he didnâ€™t trust his eyes all that much either.

It was perhaps for these reasons that the first attack caught him by complete surprise.

Something solid and heavy caught him in the midsection at the same time an alien screech reverberated through his ears. The breath knocked from his lungs, Leon smacked painfully into the wall and fell with a splash into the shallow water. Moving with a tightly controlled urgency he rolled back upright, bringing his shotgun to bear. He had little time to think about it- at the first sign of some strange luminescence heading quickly towards him he fired.

The buckshot caught his invisible enemy at close quarters, tossing it violently onto its back. Whatever sophisticated camouflage the thing possessed momentarily faded as it thrashed through the water, releasing deafening screams in its pain. His first impressions were of a large insect like creature, but he wasnâ€™t interested in a live biology lesson- heâ€™d settle for an autopsy. Chambering another shell he fired into what he judged to be its head, putting an end to its cries.

There would be more. There was no way he was lucky enough to have met the only such creature.

Steeling himself, Leon stepped further into the dank reaches of the tunnels.

Relief was not a strong enough word to cover the feelings that flooded through Leon when he held her safely again, a subtle quaking still running through her fine bones. She was soft and warm but even more importantly, alive. He had never felt as helpless as when she had disappeared into the door, leaving him to stand and wait for her return. His mind had never thought further ahead than that. They were each a crutch to the other, a necessary support. Should one of them fall, the madness that surrounded this place would crush the one left behind, like a limb separated from its host, withered and dying.

Then she raised her head from his chest to meet his gaze with hazel eyes that said things they didnâ€™t have the time to explore. And brief touch, heart to heart, and then need drove them further down the darkened path.

When this was over, maybe they could talk about it.