Chapter Text
Leon Kennedy’s whole body jerked as he gasped awake. Chasing his breath, his eyes darted around, trying to remember where he was. He remembered now; he was at the encampment Chris Redfield had set up in the forest. Shivering from the cold, he let out a final sigh as his heartbeat began to slow. It was still dark, but he decided it was time to get up.
“What the fuck?” He whispered after sitting upright, still a little numb—his dreams were rarely this vivid, but since coming to Romania, they had all felt feverishly real. He had already been in the country for a week and a half, but his sleep remained restless each night. Eyes darting back and forth behind closed lids; limbs twitching; uneven, heavy breathing.
Reaching to put on his coat, he pulled out the Polaroid photo he’d been keeping in the zipped pocket. He needed to see Claire’s smiling face for just a moment. To see the two of them happy. It felt like a rarity these days, but that’s why he was on this assignment—it might be better for both of them to have some space.
When he walked into the tent that was being used for intel purposes, he found that Chris, Charlie, and John were already awake.
“Nice of you to join us, sunshine.” Chris said sarcastically. He’d already made coffee for him, as he always did for the team. He handed Leon his cup, but he and the others were too invested in what they were seeing on the laptop to look at him.
“Anything interesting come up?” Leon asked before taking a sip. They were still catching him up on the information they’d gathered; what little they’d gotten, anyway.
“As far as any research goes, no.”
Leon noticed the equipment on the table as well as a sample of… something in a jar. “What the Hell is that?”
“It’s a sample Rolando found from a shack outside the village parameters.” Answered Charlie. Leon took a close look at this ‘sample.’ All he saw was a wriggling black thing.
“Is it alive?”
“That’s what we’re trying to figure out.” Replied Chris. “The body we recovered from there was covered in that stuff, but the subject had been dead for some time. Couldn’t get any information from it.”
Watching the thing pulsate like a beating heart, Leon felt he was definitely going to need his coffee for the day; after a full day of zero activity, he knew that today they’d have to give him something to do. Something other than sit around and go through the paperwork that the BSAA had sent them.
Chris went on, “Whatever it is, it’s fungal in nature. It might just be a local contamination and nothing that needs to get us involved. All the computer is showing is that it’s got something called quorum sensing. It’s when one cell triggers a change in a molecule’s behavior, it has a ripple effect on the entire colony.”
“Most bacteria have this function; it’s completely natural.” Added John. Leon was asking himself if they were out there for a genuine threat or a science experiment.
“Chris,” Jill appeared at the tent’s opening. She held out a cellphone, “for you.”
“Is it who I think it is?”
Jill nodded.
“Fuck. Tell him I’m busy right now.”
“He says it’s urgent, and I’m not gonna get stuck with him giving me the brunt again.” Jill said, sounding more like a disgruntled wife than a soldier on a mission. Chris relented and swiped the phone from her hand. Jill chortled, used to his irritation with their boss.
“Yes?” He didn’t even give any pretense that he wanted to hear from him right now.
The caller said, “We just got word from our agents, it’s about the village.”
“What happened?”
“There’s been a sort of uprising, if you can call it that. We believe infected mutants have attacked the locals.”
“Are you shittin’ me?”
The other men in the room had no idea what was being said, so they tensed when they saw Chris’ reaction.
“We can still investigate discreetly, but we have to move fast. Send one of your best men out there to bring back intel. I have to make a few calls.” The man hung up without notice.
Chris turned the chair around and grinned somewhat sardonically at Leon. “Guess what, ‘best man.’ You’re on recon duty.”
Leon’s eyes narrowed. If he hadn’t known Chris for over a decade by now, he’d take this personally—if there was one more thing Leon hated as much as being sent on an investigation that ended up being wasted time, it was recon. “Yippee…” He grumbled and then downed the last of his drink.
…
“I don’t know what kind of wackos could be living way out here; it’s best that you don’t interact with them unless it’s essential.” Chris said as he drove the two of them to the drop-off point.
“Something already tells me these aren’t the neighborly types anyway.” Leon agreed. It was more of a bitter statement, as the locals in the town where he and Claire were staying had been very accommodating and welcoming. Granted, with them being tourists, it might’ve just been their jobs to make sure they had a good time, but most seemed very eager to show them around, directing them to the best restaurants and museums and asking them about their lives in America. Claire and Leon always had to have a cover story for what their jobs were. Leon still told people he was just a cop, while Claire would say she was a policy analyst for a research company, which wasn’t entirely a lie.
Chris drove the truck slowly. One wrong move in snow this thick could mean a lot of trouble. He’d had close calls with black ice a few too many times. “I dunno what this ‘uprising’s’ all about, but I’d planned to send you out there anyway, be our espionage guy. We all have our hands tied.”
Leon didn’t answer. When Chris briefly looked over, he saw Leon trying to get a signal on his cell phone. He still had a flip phone; the BSAA had demanded that all their high-ranking members move on to the new smartphone. “Damn it.” He muttered to himself.
Chris knew who he was trying to call. “She’s probably not even up.” He was right; it was around seven in the morning, and only a hint of sun was out. It was hard to tell with all the clouds. It got dark around five in the afternoon there, so they had little daylight to work with.
“Doesn’t matter anyway, calls don’t come through for me out here.” He paused. “I doubt she wants to talk to me anyway.”
Chris didn’t want to get into it; it didn’t feel like the right time… but it’d be a lie if he said he didn’t care. It also wouldn’t be soon before he got some man-to-man time with his brother-in-law again, either. Chris already knew everything that was happening—he’d even been the one to suggest they join him so they could have a free trip to Europe, but his own plan had backfired.
“How is my sister?”
Leon sighed, “We had a few good days. Great, in fact. But to be honest, our first night here, she started having nightmares again. She won’t talk to me about them, so I don’t know if they’re about the baby or something else.”
“That’s more than she’s ever talked to me about it.” Chris commented. “I’m not thrilled about her being at that house alone, but this ended up being a bigger operation than we thought.”
“Honestly, I needed to be away. I think she needs time to be alone, and I need to focus on other things.” Leon started to think back to what he said earlier, “I can’t exactly say it’s all her; I’ve been having some fucked up dreams myself since we got here.” It couldn’t be a coincidence that he and Claire were going through this at the same time. Maybe her energy was catching up to him after six months of endless stress.
Chris hadn’t had anything of the sort; he shrugged. “I’m no psychiatrist, I don’t know what to tell you.” He reached the coordinates the BSAA had given him and parked. Chris readied all the communication gear they were going to need. “We’ve got a few hours before we have to be back at camp, so be quick. Report anything of note you see along the way to me.”
“Will do.” Leon said, putting his earpiece in. Once he stepped out of the car, there wasn’t a goodbye or hand-wave or any sort of gesture—they were so accustomed to their line of deadly work that certain things just weren’t a part of it. Personal relationships had to be put aside in a job like this; too much emotional attachment was a liability. It was a miracle that Chris was married to one of his longtime work partners, let alone that he got to have his brother-in-law also on the job with zero conflict of interest. They were that good at what they did, and their employers knew it. It was based on trust.
When Leon walked off into the cold sea of trees, it was a long and silent trek. It was taking so long that, at one point, he began to question if he was even going in the right direction. It really felt like going through a time loop. He was too far along to turn around, and besides, he didn’t mind the silence. Better than something coming out of the shadows and trying to kill him.
He was already shivering when a noise in the nearby bushes got his attention, but it was only a fox. It looked at him curiously. Leon smirked, relieved it wasn’t something bigger. “Maybe you can point me in the right direction?” The sound of his footsteps must have spooked it. Perhaps this made up for all the times foxes shrieking late at night had scared him awake growing up. The kit ran off, disappearing as quickly as a flash of lightning. Fast fucker. Leon thought to himself, amused. If he had to run, getting through the layers of snow and ice would make that tricky, even with his traction boots.
Leon had to make a small drop down, and as he stood up straight, the fox ran out in front of him again with a loud yelp, catching him off guard. It didn’t stop to stare this time; it was gone. Something besides himself had scared it that time. Leon wasn’t sure what other wildlife Romania had, but he was sure it was the big, sharp-clawed, person-eating kind.
Leon could tear through plague-ridden mutant humans and dogs like a hot knife through butter, but he was still not keen to deal with a pack of wolves or a brown bear. Though, the bears would be hibernating, right? Something about regular, non-zombie predators felt like a much bigger threat now compared to what he was used to dealing with. It didn’t make much sense, but he’d stopped questioning it by now. Even on his and Claire’s honeymoon in Alaska, when she’d made Leon stop the rental car so she could get a picture of a kodiak bear with her babies walking down the road, Leon did not like the look the mama was giving them. The moment Claire snapped a photo, he didn’t wait to see if she was satisfied or not; he took off.
Coming around the ledge the fox had fled from, Leon saw the result of whatever had scared it. It was a wolf that had been chewed to bits. Jesus… Leon thought. He would think he’d be seeing the fox torn to shreds by the much bigger creature, but clearly something else was lurking around here. Keeping his hand on his combat knife, he continued.
If he died by a hungry bear out here, he’d haunt Chris the rest of his life… and Chris would make fun of him for dying in such a lame way, probably.
His mind had been on death lately. One would think it was obvious, given his line of work, but it wasn’t normally like this. Leon didn’t spend his time thinking about the undead and the creatures he’d had to kill—he struggled not to think of the lives lost at Raccoon City for a long time—but he was a more focused individual than that. Give him a job to do, he’ll do it. His mind didn’t typically wander.
But in the past few months, his thoughts had gotten darker. The only solace he had was his wife, but whenever he tried to speak to her of happier things or make plans, she would just pull further and further away from him. In a way, though, that was also a distraction. Doing everything in his power to try and make Claire happy kept Leon from thinking about morbid things. The success rate wasn’t always very high. This trip had been one of those attempts at a distraction, and a true chance to rekindle some lost affection… but it all came to a head the morning before—she snapped at him and he snapped back. He didn’t even kiss her goodbye before leaving.
Leon was trying to reach her earlier, not only to check on her but also to apologize. He wanted to hear her voice before heading into the village, where he definitely wouldn’t be able to contact her for a while. He would’ve liked to hold her after the nightmare earlier; he almost expected to feel her roll over and embrace him, as she always did when he woke up like that.
He slowed down when he saw a castle almost as big as the mountains surrounding it, looming over a small village coming into view. A brooding Carpathian landscape of oppressive gloom.
“Finally,” he said quietly to himself. He pulled out the high-powered binoculars from his pack and surveyed the area from a distance. He had to admit, the castle was impressive, but it looked… haunted. That’s what Claire had told him: that this place feels haunted. Now he understood what she meant.
Didn’t see that on the travel brochure. He thought sarcastically to himself.
Looking down at the actual village itself, he didn’t see anyone around. Perhaps it was because it was too cloudy and foggy to see clearly, but if there had been an ‘uprising,’ Leon expected to see a lot more fire and smoke. He was going to have to get closer to see anything of value. A voice came in through his earpiece.
“Alpha to Whelp. I’m taking a look at your coordinates. You make it yet?” Chris said, coming in loud and clear. Leon still rolled his eyes whenever he heard that codename. It had been Chris’s ‘joke’ when he first had Leon work with his Hound Wolf Squad. After he first gave Leon the name, this was their first exchange:
“Alpha to Whelp, you come in?”
“Yes.” He’d replied, scowling like a teenager.
“You gotta say it properly, soldier.”
“…Whelp to Alpha, loud and clear.”
“I just wanted to hear you say it!” He’d cackled.
Now that Chris was all laughed out about it, he didn’t force Leon to say it anymore, unless they were both wary of being monitored. “Yeah, but the fog’s too thick from up here. I’m gonna have to get down there to survey the terrain anyway. It’s a pretty steep hill.”
“Don’t slip.” Was all Chris had to say before cutting contact. Good ole’ Chris. Leon took care with every step down the path, never losing sight of the castle. He noticed off to the side was a large factory—surprisingly, it was still in service despite the place looking like it had been abandoned for centuries. Wasn’t that the reason the BSAA had sent them there? Some teenagers came across something supernatural, and rumors started to spread? Leon didn’t recall the details, nor did it matter at this point. Go down, get some information, leave. That’s all he was there for.
He’d seen it all by now; he wasn’t convinced he’d run into any surprises. This place reminded him a lot of the small village in Spain, though this castle was clearly built centuries later than the stone castle of Salazar. Like Spain’s abandoned hamlet, he could see the remnants of Christianity around this place, although he was less familiar with these adornments. Orthodox, as opposed to Catholic. The iconography was still all the same to him. This village was also already in shambles, probably from the alleged ‘uprising.’ Going inside a building with a tall, pitched roof, he saw the carnage firsthand. Yup, something tore this place apart all right, but it appeared to be the work of an animal rather than a person. The same animal that ate that wolf, maybe?
He heard glass crackle when he took another step inside and looked down to see he’d stepped on a toppled portrait. It was so destroyed that the details were hard to make out, but it was an all-too-familiar sight for him. “Someone was mad at Mary.” He muttered to himself. Not much farther inside, he found the chewed remains of what looked to be an older man. In his hand was a humble wooden cross pendant. It looked like his neck had been broken, with deep bite marks that ran from his collarbone down his chest. The fact that the bite marks were deeper in front implied he had been bitten from behind, and the tapering showed he may have been dragged briefly until he was abandoned.
Leon reported all this to Chris, along with the fact that this didn’t appear to be the work of the undead or a bioweapon. The teethmarks were too distinct for that. Before he left the home, he saw a note on the inside of the front door; he’d almost missed it.
Ferește-te de umbra ei
His rudimentary Latin from his old church days hadn’t really come to his aid in Romania as it had in Spain, but the word umbra was very close: Shadow. Very helpful, he thought sarcastically. Farther down the misty mountain trail he went, surrounded by the primeval forest. The way he had gone would take him into the village via the mining factory, having come from the northern side of the Alps. Considering how treacherous the terrain had been even for someone as experienced as Leon, he really began to wonder how a group of teenagers just happened to wander their way into this village. If the BSAA wasn’t convinced the rumors were a hoax, then he’d surely find something if he investigated the factory first.
Crossing a ravine via a large stone bridge, before he reached the other side, he saw piles of withered crosses and icons, as if they were a warning. There was another note: Pleacă. Nope, no luck there. He could assume it was either telling people to stay out or people trying to leave stay in. Leon didn’t see what was so intriguing about the factory; all it looked like was a giant storage facility and processing plant. Those were everywhere where he’d grown up in Pennsylvania. Still, there might be some valuable intel inside; no stone was to be left unturned.
He pried one of the sliding doors open and made his way inside the darkened building. Compared to the rest of the village, which still consisted of wooden homes, this place stood out like a sore thumb; a remnant of the industrial revolution. The villagers missed the memo on that, it seemed.
For the most part, besides a fuck ton of metal scrap, there was nothing of interest… until Leon went downstairs. This place wasn’t impressive at first glance, but, apparently, it went much farther underground than anticipated. He’d expected this place to be entirely abandoned, but what caught his eye was a wall full of pictures and maps that had been covered by a cloth. Behind it showed a map of the village as well as large photos of… people. They didn’t look like anyone Leon had heard about, even during the briefing. In the center of it was a woman bearing a ceremonial mask.
Great, another cult?
He took another look at the remaining photographs: a pale woman from the 1930s, a woman in a mourning gown whose face was completely covered, and some kind of creature straight out of Lovecraft. He tried to speak to Chris through his earpiece, but the signal down there was shoddy at best. With nowhere else left to look in here, it was best for him to take what he could and continue with the rest of the area.
When he turned around, he was caught off guard by a figure standing at the other end of the room. The sudden presence almost made him flinch. “Jesus!” He hissed. The figure didn’t seem hostile… yet. The large hammer it was holding wasn’t very comforting. Also, how heavy was that thing that it could hold something so big with ease?
It spoke to him in perfect English, “And what do we have here?” The man dressed in a longcoat took several paces forward, “Someone taking things that don’t belong to him?”
Leon took the man’s words as a threat. “You live here?” He asked, incredulous. With how isolated this place was, it was a miracle he spoke something outside of his native language. Granted, based on his accent, Romanian wasn’t his first language either.
When Leon spoke, the man looked surprised. “Huh! Doesn’t sound like you’re from around here.” Leon said nothing; he was placing his hand on his pistol, just in case. “Ah-ah! I wouldn’t do that if I were you.” Warned the man in a singsong tone. Leon didn’t trust him. There was something supernatural about the man, although he looked completely normal, minus the hammer made of mechanical parts. “So, you with the big boys that have been snooping around the parameters?”
Leon didn’t want to give himself away, but he was baffled that someone even knew about their operation. The BSAA was always covert about its missions. Who was this guy, and what would Leon even say? I was on a morning stroll in the dead of winter and thought I’d take a detour through the spooky village? Yeah, that made sense. This man certainly wasn’t the type who was going to answer any questions if asked.
“The strong, silent type, eh?” The man crooned. “We’ll see about that.” Leon knew that was a threat. As he swiftly went to grab his pistol, something was flung at his arm, leaving a cut and making him lose his grip. Some kind of metal object—but what truly befuddled Leon was that the man didn’t physically throw anything at him. It just flung itself off the ground toward him! The man laughed, “I always love seeing the look on people’s faces their first time.” Had he done that? Before Leon could react, the metal object flew back and hit him from behind, almost knocking him down. He didn’t give the man a chance to do it again. He took out his gun and fired several times… it took him a few seconds to realize none had landed. They were all floating mere inches away from the man’s face. It took him back to that one scene in The Matrix… Except this was real!
Leon paced to think of his next move. It might have to be close quarters after all. He reached for the knife he had in his shoulder harness, but he wouldn’t have a chance to retaliate, because once he saw the bullets being flung back at him, he tried to duck. One got him in the leg. “Fuck!” He winced in pain. He couldn’t get back up fast enough.
“You got some fight in you, kid. I like that.” He then pulled Leon closer, using the bullet that was lodged in his calf. Leon cried out in agony; it felt like being yanked by a harpoon. Once he was at the man’s feet, the bullet came back out—another shock of anguish. “You just might be the person we’ve been looking for.”
“What the fuck are you?” Leon demanded, head spinning.
The man knelt and got close to his face. “You’ll find out soon enough.” He replied with a cocksure grin. Leon didn’t know what he hit him with after that, because all he remembered next was dark.