Leon walked slowly across the room until he reached the blue door. Before opening it Leon paused and pressed his ear against the door.
He could hear muffled noises coming from within. Not willing to take any chances, Leon equipped his Handgun then forcefully kicked the door open.
Leon's eyes widened as he saw a tied-up man squirming in the corner of the small room. Moving quickly, Leon knelt next to the man and removed the masking tape that had been covering his mouth.
"Oh thank god! Finally. I've been stuffed up in this room for two fucking days. Sweet Jesus. Thank you." The man paused, inhaling oxygen as if it were his first time trying it.
“Who are you?”
"Name's Leon. Why were you tied-up in here?"
"I work here as a biomedical engineer. I was in charge of examining different strains of viruses and how they interact with one another.”
He sighed, “The work was difficult, but the idea of finding a cure made everything worth it. A few days ago, I overheard the Warden talking with a woman about how he had everything he needed to start a new world. Let's just say he found out I was listening and here I am now."
As the man spoke, Leon took a few moments to take in his appearance. The man seemed to be middle aged, with dark brown hair that was slicked back. His eyes were the same identical hue of brown as his hair, which contrasted starkly with his noticeably pale skin complexion. The one feature that stood out most on his otherwise average looking face was his nose, which was long and crooked at the tip. He wore a long white lab coat dotted with many various stains, which seemed to line up with the man's story.
Once the man finished speaking, Leon cut the ropes that were tying the man down and then helped him to his feet before responding, "So I'm guessing the Warden is the big cheese around here?"
The man stretched out his limbs, relief written all over his facial features.
“Yea he runs this place. Warden is a strange, strange man and he likes things done a certain way. Now, not that I mind, but why exactly are you here?"
Leon reached into his pocket and pulled out a picture of Ada, revealing it to the man.
"Have you seen this woman?"
The man seemed instantly taken aback, "Th..th...that’s A… why are you here?! Who do you work for?”
Leon took a cautious step back as the man’s demeanor took a turn for the worse.
“Hey what do you know about this woman? Where is she?”
Leon flinched as the man responded with his feet rather than his words, lifting himself off of the chair and bolting for the exit. Leon, being in much better condition than the man, was able to reach the blue door first.
"Where is she?!" Leon immediately got closer to the man, allowing urgency to creep into his voice.
"Well..I..uh, I overheard Warden talking about Ada betraying him. Something about her knowing too much…listen man I don’t want any trouble.”
“Everything is going to be okay sir, I work for the U.S Government.” Leon extended his hand towards the man, who breathed a sigh of relief before accepting the hand.
“If I had to guess, the Warden is probably keeping her in the cell block, at the far northeast corner of this mansion..."
"Can you take me there?"
The man nodded his head, clearly put on edge by Leon's aggressiveness. "Yea I suppose, but we will need the O Key, which Warden keeps in his storage room. The room is at the end of a hallway connected to the first door on the left of the main hall."
Leon grabbed his chin as he digested the new information before speaking, "Well I went down that path before and got attacked by a herd of zombies."
"Damn it, that means the basement has been opened. We need to get through that path."
"I think I know a way, let's head there now. No time to waste."
Leon ran through the exit without waiting for a response, thoughts of Ada running through his mind. Their relationship was both complicated and simple in the most extraordinary of ways.
Most people meet at work, school, or a party, but not them.
They met smack in the middle of the zombie apocalypse in Racoon City. The pair had been through so much together, saving each other's lives on multiple occasions and putting their lives on the line for one another in the process. They’ve also fought many times, literally coming to blows with one another. But even then, Leon knew they only fought to protect one another from outside forces. Twice Leon thought he lost her, and both times he felt this undeniably dreadful feeling overtake his body, a feeling as if he had failed his most important mission.
Yet again, Leon found himself in the middle of nowhere, with his life on the line, all for Ada Wong.
Shaking himself away from these thoughts, Leon climbed down the ladder to the first floor of the dining room hall, with the man close behind him.
"Hey, do you know what's behind those double doors?"
The man nodded his head, "Yea, it's a food trap for the basement. We use it to throw live animals through the doors which activates a chute trap. The animals would fall directly into the basement where the infected test subjects would hunt them down."
"And you guys thought that was a good idea?" Leon responded coolly.
"Listen, all I ever wanted to do was a find a cure. I never questioned the Warden's methods."
"Fair enough."
The pair walked in careful silence until they arrived at the first room on the left side of the main hall. As Leon examined the room, he noticed it was exactly as he left it. The small desk was still wedged underneath the doorknob, meaning the infected were still in the hallway.
"Alright hero, what's your plan?"
Leon smiled, "You see that hatch in the ceiling? I need you to give me a boost so I can get through it."
An expression of understanding passed over the man's face as he looked up towards the hatch. "Right on, come on then!"
The man walked under the hatch then put out his hands so that Leon could put his foot over them and get a boost. Once he could reach the ceiling, Leon twisted and then pulled the hatch open.
"Before I go up there, what was your name?" Asked Leon.
The man smiled, "Adam. Name's Adam."
With great effort, Leon lifted himself up into the hatch.
Looks like some sort of secret pathway. Moving quickly, Leon crawled down the narrow pathway until he reached another hatch that looked identical to the first one.
Leon quietly opened the hatch, revealing a small looking, seemingly empty room. With a grunt, Leon dropped down to the floor below and began to examine the room he was in.
This is definitely the storage room. The room was small, yet the gray colored walls were littered with files cabinets, bins, and lockers. To his right, Leon noticed a door that undoubtedly led to the pathway where he was attacked by a herd of zombies.
After what seemed like hours of searching, Leon finally stumbled upon an old box inside one of the many storage cases. The box itself was mahogany and had an inscription of a gargoyle, similar to the ones Leon saw in the main hall of the mansion. Leon opened the box carefully, revealing the O Key.
Hold on Ada, I'm coming. Leon dropped the mahogony box on the floor and grabbed one of the smaller cabinets and dragged it under the hatch. After climbing on top of the cabinet, Leon leaped up into the hatch and began crawling back down the pathway.
"Help!"
Shit. Leon moved as fast as he could until he got to the hatch. He jumped down and equipped his Handgun all in one swift motion.
"Leon, shoot em!"
Leon followed Adam's voice and aimed his gun to the right, spotting a zombie on top of him. Leon took a second to steady his breathing and then pulled the trigger. The strong recoil from the gun barely affected his aim due to his years of experience.
A bullet zoomed right by Adam and pierced the zombies skull, killing it instantly.
"Oh thank god. I opened the door to look around the main hall and a fucking zombie rushed in here."
"Try to be a little bit more careful alright."
The man picked himself up off the floor and began to dust off his clothes, "Yea, I will be. Did you get the key?"
"Yea, I got it."
"Alright Leon, I'll get you there, but if anything happens to me I'm going to haunt you for the rest of your life."
Leon couldn't help but to smile, "Let's go."
Leon aimed his Handgun and followed closely behind Adam as he entered the main hall.
Head-shot.
Head-shot.
The two zombies in the main hall dropped to the ground instantly. Leon reloaded his weapon while checking his inventory: Hunting Knife, 19 Handgun Ammo, 3 Shotgun Ammo, 1 First-Aid Spray, 1 Green Herb, W Key, O Key.
Adam paused once they got to the door and motioned for Leon to open it. Once opened, Leon tightened the grip around his gun and entered the room behind Adam. Left side, clear. Right side, clear.
Leon looked around the room curiously, "This is a kitchen."
Adam walked over to one of the two doors leaving the room before responding, "Leon the prison block is down these steps. Follow me."
Before heading down the steps, Leon noticed something shimmering by the large industry sized sink in the kitchen. Leon got closer and smiled as he picked up the item and equipped it, 1 Flash Grenade.
After picking up the grenade, Leon took a few seconds to observe the kitchen. It was filthy, and to make matters worse there were blood stains slathered all over the surfaces of the room.
Noticing that Adam left him behind, Leon headed down the flight of steps. Once at the bottom, Leon found himself in a large, dimly lit room that reminded Leon more of a dungeon than a prison block.
Leon's eyes widened in shock the moment they adjusted to the surrounding light levels, allowing him to see what was in front of him.
"Ada!"
"Don't take another fucking step!"
Leon glanced left and cursed under his breath when he noticed Adam aiming a gun at his head.
"Don't move Leon."
Despite the gun to his left, Leon couldn’t help but to look forward as a pang of pain struck his heart. Ada was on her knee's, with her hands tied behind her back. Standing next to her stood an elderly man, which Leon recognized immediately from the painting in the red door room.
"Let her go!"
"I don't think your in any position to be making demands." Adam's voice cut through the air smoothly, causing Leon to once again glance over at him.
"Allow me to reintroduce myself, Leon. My name is the Warden and I am the head master of this magnificent establishment that you currently find yourself in. And that over there, is my property, Ada Wong."
As he spoke, the Warden pointed his gun towards her.
"I don't give a shit who you are. You're just another scumbag like the rest of them."
The elderly man, who had been pointing his gun towards Ada moved the weapon closer to her head.
"I would watch what I say if I were you."
The Warden smiled menacingly, his crooked nose quickly becoming a much more befitting feature of his.
Leon looked forward again into Ada eye's. There were cuts and bruises all over her body and her face was smeared with dirt, yet she still managed to look as provocative as ever. Her customary long red dress clung to her curves ever so slightly, and her dark hair hung just below her right eye, accentuating her facial features perfectly. Ada seemed to notice Leon looking towards her and gave a him small hint of a smile. A signal.
"What do you want from us?"
Leon asked the question just to bide his time. He had a plan, but unfortunately the Warden was too close for him to escape unharmed. He would have to trust that Ada could handle the rest.
"Want? I desire nothing from you. However, you came all the way out here to steal something that belongs to me, and for that, you must pay."
"Now!"
Leon screamed loud enough for Ada to hear him and then dodge rolled forward while simultaneously throwing the Flash Grenade he had equipped. Leon could hear the gunshot he just dodged behind him and then suddenly he felt a force bang against the back of his head. As his sight went blurry, the last thing Leon registered was the flash grenade detonating before he ultimately lost consciousness.
X-X
"Where is she!? Dr. Wong don't let her go!"
"Shoot, just shoot!"
"She's getting away!"
X-X
Ada smiled as she wedged one of the chairs from the kitchen underneath the door that led downstairs.
That should keep the boys downstairs a little while. First things first though, I need my guns.
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