Chapter 10

Watch Over Him

The sun was still high, giving the illusion of calm. Blue sky, no clouds, jungle lining the muddy water as we pushed through. The engine purred dully as I steered us upstream, with my good hand on the motor rod, watching the banks obsessively as we travelled forwards, forwards, forwards. Krauser sat at the stern of the small boat, gun ready, for what I wasn't sure, but considering some of the water based foes we'd encountered I couldn't really fault his paranoia. The girl sat between us, hugging herself tightly, eyes trained on the base of the boat. Earlier I'd managed to coax her into a stilted conversation but had soon lost her to silence. She knew who Javier was but seemed unsure as to why we'd want to see him. She knew nothing of an Umbrella contact visiting Javier at least, if she was telling the truth that is. However, the thing that worried me the most was her lack of reaction to her situation. She didn't seem to be as horrified or terrified as she should be considering how we found her. She seemed more confused, insulated. Perhaps it was her way of dealing with all of...this. We were taking this one step at a time, no need to rush in without information and get ourselves hurt or worse.

Yet, despite our caution, nothing hindered our journey up the river. I wasn't sure exactly what I'd been waiting for but it never came. Perhaps I'd expected that thing from the church to follow us. Maybe it was. I let my mind wander, just for a minute trying not to think about exactly where I was and what was happening.

"Hey!" I looked up, startled, to see Krauser looking back at me, "I'm losing you here, watch where you're going will you?"
"Sorr..." I'd started to say automatically, before I saw exactly what it was I was supposed to be looking out for.

Bodies, hundreds of bodies floating in the water. I swallowed, nose wrinkling at the smell. Women and children, young men, old men, all in different states of decay. I heard Maneula gasp before she moved to away from the side, in the very centre of the boat, eyes trained strictly on the base of the boat now. I felt sorry for her, young girl like that having to see all of this death. No one should have to see this, I thought, no one. I steered as best I could but couldn't help but bump into a few, or come close enough to see more than I ever needed to. I looked to the left and saw a small village nestled into the bank, empty of BOW's. Were these the inhabitants, here around us now? Krauser was muttering something that I couldn't hear over the sound of the engine, but I'm sure wasn't pleasant. Finally he turned back to me.

"These aren't the same as the others," he said, his voice clear of tone, "they're dead but other than that they seem unharmed. They don't show any of the hallmarks of being under the influence of the virus."
"It looks like..." I swallowed as we passed the corpse of a young boy, wide eyes staring blankly at the sky above, "like they all drowned. Maybe they were running from something, but that doesn't account for them dying."
"Maybe something pulled them in," Krauser said darkly, looking back to the sea of bodies, "or pushed them."
"But...why?" I asked in a hushed voice.
"Who knows," he shrugged, looking to Manuela for a moment with an unreadable expression, "I don't think I want to anymore."
"Hey look," I said, mainly to distract him, "we're clearing them, and there's the dam."

I let out a nearly inaudible sigh of relief as we left the inhuman sight behind us and moved beyond towards the towering grey monolith of the dam. We docked at the short pier in silence. Krauser got out without a word and began scouting the area. I helped Maneula from the boat and un-holstered my gun. I gingerly tried my shoulder and found, to my relief, that it was much easier to move and didn't scream at me any more for the movement. I tried holding my gun up with both hands and, despite a slight twinge, it was fine. I holstered it and pulled out my knife, trying a few practice swings and a jab forwards.

"Ah!" I exclaimed softly as a shot of pain lanced up my arm, "dammit."
"What the hell are you doing?" a rather unamused voice said from behind me; I turned to see Krauser, with Manuela behind him, watching me.
"I'm fine," I frowned, "and don't look at me like that or I'll show you just how fine I am. Where do we go from here?"
"Uh huh," Krauser said, his face and voice still neutral enough to tell me he wasn't impressed, "girly here says she came though the dam, so I guess that's where we're going too."
"All right," I said, sheathing my knife and un-holstering my gun again, "lead on."

The dam was cold and filled with dark corners, which made me uneasy, and broken lights which made me even more uneasy. It also wasn't the easiest place to navigate, with long winding corridors, artificial waterways, high walkways and deadly drops into deep water. Of course it didn't help that the place was teeming with BOW's.

"Fucking spiders now!" Krauser spat, kicking the carcass of a very oversized tarantula and pushing it into the water, "Where the hell do these things keep coming from?"
"It's the virus," I said, watching as it floated away, "it gets into everything, all the local wildlife. You saw those amphibious creatures back at the village, they were probably frogs once. These spiders are probably from the surrounding jungle. It mutates everything it infects on a genetic level and creates what you see here."
"Fucking Umbrella," he said darkly, stalking forwards, gun raised, "just wait until I get my fucking hands on them for putting me through this."
"Now you know how I feel," I said with a smirk.

He turned to look at me solemnly for a moment, noting my smirk and shaking his head.

"Nothing really bothers you any more, does it Kennedy?" he said as we carefully rounded a corner.
"Are you kidding?" I said with a derisive laugh, "This stuff scares the shit out of me. Think I like being food for mutant monsters?"
"Huh," he was almost smiling as he looked at me over his shoulder, "trying to fool me into thinking your human now are we?"
"You'd know all about that," I said back, "I mean are you gonna keep calling me Kennedy or what?"
"You can talk," he said gruffly, smirking, "Leon."
"Jack," I said back, testing the name on my tongue, frowning, "no, it doesn't work, never mind. Sounds wrong."
"Ha," he exclaimed, shaking his head, "guess we're destined for a second name relationship."

It was a long hard slog before we reached some sort of conduit between the main pipe systems. We entered first, Manuela following behind, and did a quick scan of the area. The room was small, filled with twisting pipes and a few control panels that seemed to be broken. I walked over to one, tapping on a unlit button just to make sure.

"No power," I said to no one in particular, "but the electricity is running. I wonder why these panels are shut off?"

Krauser turned to look at me, opening his mouth to say something. That was when the voice started.

"Manuela," it hissed desperately, "Manuela, you must come home."
"What the..?" Krauser said, gun raised, looking back and forth.
"Wait, I know that voice!" I said, thinking back to the video recordings we'd been shown in the briefing, "that's Hidalgo!"
"He can see us?" Manuela was looking at the speaker in the corner with a look of sadness on her face.
"There must be cameras," I said, "he must be in a control room somewhere."
"Manuela," it continued, "please my child, please don't run from me any longer."
"Javier!" I called out, "Show yourself, then we can talk!"
"No!" Manuela seemed suddenly afraid, though not for herself, "Wait, I'm coming father!"

And with that she started to run. Krauser and I stared after her, dumbstruck, before we gathered our wits and followed. We rounded the corner just as she vanished out of the door, and that was when we saw the bodies that were previously obscured by the wall. As she passed them the dead bodies of the dam workers groaned and pulled themselves from the ground, nails breaking off as they clawed their way up the walls. I halted, brought up my weapon and pulled the trigger without hesitation, dispatching two. Krauser shot the other three, clean through the skulls, and we sprinted for the door Manuela had fled through.

"Father?" Krauser said with an angry tone, "Kept that one quiet didn't she?"
"Not the time," I said, raising my gun to dispatch another worker, "or the place. Leave it."

Surprisingly he did. I was surprised how at how anxious I felt, I'd barely known the girl for an hour, I wasn't even sure about her, who she was, what part she had in this and yet letting her out of my sight was making my heart beat faster in my chest. She just looked so...innocent. I didn't want any more innocent people hurt by Umbrella, I swore never again and I meant it. So when we found Manuela just through the next door, her head in her hands, all I wanted to do was sigh in relief to find her unharmed; but no time for that, focus Leon, keep your mind on track. She looked up and shook her head as we approached.

"Leon! I'm sorry, I didn't mean to..." she started, eyes welling up.
"It's okay," I said, slowing to a stop before her, "just, for gods sakes, don't run off alone like that again, understand?"

I hadn't understood why she'd said she was sorry. I thought she meant for running away without any protection, for putting herself in harm's way because that's what I'd been so afraid of. That she'd get hurt, that anyone else would get hurt. It had never even entered my realms of possibility that the reason she was sorry was that there was a man with a gun standing beside me. We'd run right past him as we entered, so focused on Manuela. I didn't even have time to turn around before he brought the butt of his rifle down hard on the base of my neck, sending blinding pain rushing through my nervous system. Everything seemed to happen at once...

I collapsed to my knees and my gun fell from my limp hand.
I heard Krauser yell, I heard bullets fired and Manuela scream.
My vision blurred, I tried to right myself, then...
"Manuela my child, you've come back."
I didn't have time to think before a heavy weight barrelled into my side and I was plunged into unseen water, cold, thick, invading my lungs, the weight holding me down under the suffocating chill. I tried to hold my breath but it was useless, I'd had the wind knocked out of me, I could feel the water rushing into my lungs, filling up the spaces where air should be, stealing what little consciousness I had left. We moved in the water, the weight and I, pulled along by a strong current. I felt arms close around me as I went limp and, just as I faded into darkness...

"Leon!"

I felt the pain through the haze of near death.

"Fucking wake up!" another slap across the face and I blinked my eyes open.

It was still dark. Suddenly realising I had no air in my lungs I pulled in a long breath and choked

"Thank Christ," I heard Krauser sigh.

I was pulled upright and a large hand slapped me on the back as I coughed roughly into my cold, wet hand. I looked up into the gloom and saw Krauser outlined by a faint light of unknown origin. I coughed again before trying to talk.

"Where are we?" I asked.
"Fuck knows," Krauser growled.

He took hold of my hand and hauled me up onto my feet. I steadied myself on his arms as a wave of dizziness assaulted me.

"Whoa, careful, you took quite a hit back there," he said, puting his hand on my shoulder.
"Bastard didn't pull his punches," I spat out as I reached behind me and rubbed the back of my neck, hissing in pain, "I should have been more careful. Fuck! What happened?"

I leaned back against the nearest wall once Krauser was happy I was alright. The room was long and narrow, almost entirely dark save for what looked like a few natural light sources coming in from the ceiling. We must be away from the dam, I thought hazily, somewhere still underground. I could hear the rushing of the water and looked down to see the small inlet where Krauser must have dragged us out of the stream. Krauser leaned against the opposite wall, only a few feet away; I could see his eyes in the dark as he watched me.

"Ambush," he said, "it was Havier alright, he had some goon with him. He hit you, turned on me and took a few shots. The girl screamed and that distracted him. I didn't want to miss an opportunity and did the only thing I could to get out. I put us both into the water and hoped that there would be an outlet somewhere close."
"Good thing you were right," I said, relaxing as my senses came back to themselves, the shock wearing off.
"Yeah," he said in annoyance, and odd tone to his voice, "but it's not all roses. I have no idea where we are, we now have no weapons, we've lost the girl and Havier..."
"Then we get our bearings first," I said, rubbing at my neck gingerly, "then we try and find some guns and regroup here."
"Fine, I'll go recon, you stay here," he said authoritatively, "you might still be disoriented, it's best if I..."
"Krauser," I interrupted, frowning, "what's wrong?"
"What?" he said angrily, "What the hell is that supposed to mean? How about from the little list I just made of our current deep shit situation you take your fucking pick..!"
"No," I said, pushing away from the wall and letting my hands reach out for him, feeling his body in front of me, running my hand up his arm. I felt his body stiffen under my touch, still wet from the water.

"What do you think you're doing?" he said dangerously.
"You're hurt," I said in my best matter of fact tone, "don't lie. Why didn't you say something?"
"It's not the main priority right now is it?" he spat, trying to push me away.
"Don't fuck with me Krauser," I said back darkly, stilling his resistance.

He became strangely quiet. I slid my hand further up his arm, wet skin under my touch, until I felt torn flesh and heard hissing pain. I instinctively reached down and found my knife which, thankfully, had remained buttoned into its sheath, and cut through the seam of my shirt, ripping a strip off.

"You ever try to hide a bullet wound again, or any wound for that matter," I said as I wound the strip of wet cloth around his arm, ignoring his grunt of pain, "I'll make you regret it."

I tore off another strip and double bound his arm as tightly as I could. He didn't make another sound, just stood there and took it. I was still angry, yes, but also a little disconcerted. I couldn't see his face properly because of the darkness, I had no idea what his reaction was, was he angry, hurt, amused, homicidal? I began to wish he would say something, even if it was just to bite my damn head off. I cleared my throat as casually as I could, deciding to break the silence.

"We'll need to find some dry bandages or material, these wet clothes won't help the bleeding stop as well," I looked towards the other end of the room, wishing I could see it, "and some medical supplies. That's our first priority, alright?"

Silence. I lost my temper.

"Krauser god dammit, what the hell's the matter with you..!" I started, but didn't get very far.

I felt him come at me more than saw him. I couldn't move in time, he slammed me into the wall and again, just as in the locker room, I felt that same fear rush into my system, that same panic that I'd pushed him too far, that I was out of my depth and now he was really going to hurt me, and this wasn't the time or the place for us to fall out and come to blows, not when we needed to stick together and...
...then his hands were around my back and I was pulled against him, hot solid chest crushed against mine, fingers clutching into my soaked shirt, mouth hungrily crushed against my own. I went rigid in his grasp, shock, panic, my arms flailed for a moment before clasping round him to find purchase, trying to claw him off me. What...why..? He forced his tongue into my mouth and I let out an unflattering groan, he ground my body up against the wall hard, jolting the tender spot on my neck. It flared in pain and I instinctively bit down. I tasted blood and he pulled back, the heat suddenly gone, just two sets of ragged breaths filling up the balmy gloom between us.

I still couldn't see his face. Fuck what was that? I...I don't...

"I'm going to find supplies," I said, grasping for something to say, steadying my breathing, "stay here."

I slowly felt my way to the end of the room, which wasn't as far as it looked, listening to his receding breaths with a mixture of anger, guilt and confusion. My neck throbbed continuously but I pushed it to the back of my mind, along with everything else, and focused solely on finding the door and then the handle. Medical supplies, I said to myself, find supplies and figure the rest out later.

AN: Sorry it's been so long since I last updated this story and all the others! I'm trying to find time as best I can but am still really busy with uni work so please be patient! Thanks again to everyone who reviewed and put a fav/alert! You guys are the best and it's one of the ways I know it's worth writing, as long as someone out there enjoys it.

Thanks to:
Victory Is For the Weak
Shadowave
NarutoAnimeFanGirl0e
Mrs little
The Vampire Brooke
Imajineer
MadHatterMCR (I hope Leon was a little less wussy in this chapter, I did realise that he was becoming a little soft so I hope it'll be remedied!)
Thanks for asking for more! Hope you all enjoy this chapter and hopefully I'll have another chapter out as soon as possible!

Maiko x