Resident Evil: Vengeance

Chapter 1-1: Loss

Eastern Warehouse District – Miami, FL

May 25th 2014

21:15 EST

It was as if she was watching everything unfold before her in slow motion. In that brief second, time ceased to hold its sway given what she had just witnessed. The thunderous discharge from the high-powered sniper rifle was still ringing in her ears even as she looked down from the roof. The skylight above the garage had shattered from where he had fallen through. His voice was the last thing she could acutely remember.

"Ada! Sniper above!"

She'd barely had time to turn when the red dot honed in on her chest. At the last second she had thrown herself backwards with the bullet striking the guide rail instead of her. Leon had then begun firing in the direction of the sniper and before she could take action, the same roar exploded once again.

Her breath had caught itself in her lungs as she watched him stagger after the round had effortlessly passed through his chest. Now he was lying on the cement slab of the garage... and he wasn't moving.

"Leon…" she whispered before realizing that the sniper was still out there.

Pushing herself against the doorway that lead down from the roof, the loud shot could be heard a third time as a piece of cinder block exploded from the frame in front of her. From a brief scan of the warehouse roof, there could only be one place where the shooter was firing from – an old water tower at the edge of the perimeter that held a clear line of sight.

I have you now, you son of a bitch! Ada quickly reached around the corner and fired three rounds toward the top of the tower.

To her surprise however, there was no return fire. Where had he gone?

Taking her binoculars, she scanned the tower and nearby roves but saw no sign of the shooter. He had simply vanished. Her attention then turned back toward the loading bay… and Leon. He was still lying on his back amidst the shattered glass; his arms slowly moving.

It was she who had roped him into helping her on this mission; it was her fault that he was laying there. Without further thought, she planted her right foot up on the guide rail and jumped. Reaching out with her grappling gun, she fired toward the building to give herself a safe place to land.

"Leon!" she yelled as she ran to him. He was still alive, but there was so much blood; the metallic scent heavy in the air. And he was so pale… what if he…?

She shook her head to quell the doubts forming in her mind; believing that by not thinking about it the worst would not befall them. As she knelt next to him, she assessed his wound – A clean shot right through his upper chest. Ada began to fear that his lung had been hit as blood was already running from the corner of his mouth.

"Ada..." he gasped as he tried to raise himself up on his elbows.

"Easy does it, Mr. Kennedy," she replied as she afforded him a smile he was so accustomed to. She then took his hand and held his back to steady him. "Can you get to your feet?"

He grunted in pain and then stopped. "No… I… I don't… think so…"

Pulling her hand away from his shirt, she noticed that the blood had turned a dark shade of crimson. Her eyes widened. "Oh my God…"

"Bad… I know. Went through… my lung." He was gasping in shallow breaths as the ability to breath was becoming more arduous for him.

"Wait! Don't move!" she said before quickly sitting down behind him. Taking his head in her hands, Ada gently lowered him until his head rested upon her legs. "There. Lie still, Leon. I'm going to get you out of here."

"Don't have much time… Ada," he gasped. "Listen…"

A sudden bout of fury began to well within her; knowing the horrible truth he was about to say. No… she couldn't think about that.

"Shut up, Leon! Just… shut up!" she snapped as she reached for her communicator. "I'm not listening to that type of talk from you. You're a survivor, and I'm not going to let you die here!"

Pushing the button on her ear piece she sent the call. "It's Wong. I am putting in a call for an immediate medi-vac at the warehouse site. Gunshot wound through the chest, probable lung puncture. Send the chopper for extraction."

The garbled static on the other end came to life as the radio operator replied, "Transmission received, Agent Wong. Notice that we have no units in the immediate vicinity. ETA thirty minutes."

"He doesn't have thirty minutes!" she yelled into the mic. "If you can't do better I'll get him out of here myself!"

"Negative! Repeat, negative on your last! You are to proceed as planned and retrieve the product at all cost. That is your mission! Do you understand?"

"Damn it!" she yelled. Pulling the device from her ear, Ada flung it across the yard.

"Hey…" she heard him whisper. "Just… sit with me… okay? No running off… this time."

She looked down into his blue eyes. His gaze was silently telling her what she already knew – he wasn't going to make it out of this warehouse alive. Not with that wound.

"Leon…" she began before he interrupted her.

"You are so beautiful… you know that?"

That caught her off guard. "Leon, please… don't…"

"Fifteen years… Ada. Fifteen long years… and I've been afraid… all that time."

She took her right hand and rested it on his head while gently placing her left over his wound. His hand found hers. "What were you afraid of, Mr. Kennedy?" she asked softly.

"Of you… of us. Afraid of how… I felt about you. I don't want to die… with any regrets… with no words left unspoken between us. That night… in Paris… It was more beautiful than I could have… possibly imagined."

Her eyes began to sting, and soon his face became a blur from unfamiliar tears.

"Those secret… rendezvous we had. I looked forward to them… more than you can ever know."

Then he said the words that would haunt her forever. "I love you… Ada Wong."

Closing her eyes, the wet trail of a tear ran down her cheek. How much flirting had the two of them done with each other over the years since Raccoon City? The looks… the banter… the touches. Was what they did that first night together merely stress release as she initially tried to make herself believe or had it been something more? Something she had tried hard to bury?

She cared about him more than any man in her entire life, but the first rule in her line of work was clear – do not form emotional attachments to others. Emotions were liabilities that could be ill afforded. For years she had let that be the guiding principle she had lived by… even when it came to Leon.

So she made quips, flirted with him, and stayed just out of arms reach each time the two of them encountered one another in the field. But then she had finally relented hadn't she – that night in Paris when she snuck off to be with him? It had been in the dead of night when she had arrived with a bottle of champagne, and a kiss she had initiated. Why had she done that? And why had she continued coming back to him for all of these years? What was it about him that had finally caused her to break her own rules? The answer was screaming back at her, but her stubborn will had refused to heed it.

A new tear ran down the other side of her face. "Leon… I…"

She opened her eyes and looked down at him. His eyes were staring back, but… they were lifeless; looking past her into the great void. His breathing has ceased and now his body lay still in her arms. Shock and sadness were the strangers that found their way to greet her.

"Leon?" Her hand went to his face.

"Leon!?" Ada shook him gently in an attempt to stir him but deep down knowing that her efforts were in vain.

Shutting her eyes tightly, her teeth grit with anger as she bent over his lifeless body. "No…. not like this…" she whispered as old, forgotten emotions began to take hold of her.

Her mind flashed back to that first night. She could clearly remember the way that he had looked at her when she had slowly walked up to him in a tight red dress. His eyes had been filled with a genuine hunger that she had never seen before. She could still recall the way his muscular body had writhed under her as she took him at her pleasure. It was that night where doubts and questions had been laid aside. He had given himself willingly to her, and she had taken great pleasure in that fact.

Looking down at him now, she knew now what it was that she had truly lost, and she could hold back no longer.

"LEEEEEEOOOOOON!" she screamed.

Anger – it was burning within her veins and coupled with it was the crushing weight of her sadness. Now she was enraged with hatred. Emotions had been a part of her being that had taken many years to suppress, but now it seemed all of that was about to change. With Leon's death, she felt overwhelmed – defeated. Fear, rage, hate, anger, sadness – each one of them was taking a piece of her heart to consume, and she bore no defense against their assault. All of her training was lost to her for Ada had no way of coping with this kind of loss – a loss to her heart.

Bringing her face to his, she gently kissed his lips. "I'm sorry, Leon," she whispered before gently closed his eyes.

The tears – she was having a difficult time seeing as they flooded her. She began to cry – an act she hadn't done since she was a little girl. In the days of her early womanhood, she had believed that she'd finally forgotten how. Deadening herself emotionally was part of who she wanted to be – a woman able to survive in this world without regret. Now, it was surprising to her just how easy the act was. Leon was dead and nothing she could do would change that. He had been the one bright spot in her life; the one attachment that she had allowed herself to keep. Now, he was gone – taken by these terrorists, and she had no one to blame but herself! It was she who had brought him here to watch her back while she saw to her own mission… and she quickly began to hate herself for it.

Soon, voices in the distance brought her mind into focus. They were speaking in Arabic. Fortunately for her, the time she had spent in the Middle East made translation an easy matter.

"The shots were fired in this area. Fan out and search for the intruders! Hallar, take your men and search above on the second floor!"

"I thought I heard a woman screaming nearby. Do you think that one might be wounded?"

She didn't know how many hostiles were out there searching for her. Taking the Sig in her hand, Ada pulled out the clip – there were ten shots left, and she had another three clips in reserve. More than enough... she thought.

Gently setting Leon's head upon the ground, she stood and turned to face the incoming threats. They would be on her in less than a minute. Narrowing her eyes, the hatred in her heart soon twisted her lips into a sneer. Her blood was boiling with a rage that she hadn't felt in years. It was almost like welcoming back a long, lost friend – or an enemy she had tried hard to keep away but knowing that it was only a matter of time before their paths crossed again. It had now caught up with her, and today she would welcome it with open arms.

Ada's smile grew wide as she made a silent vow to herself that none of these bastards would live to see the morning sun.

Next: Chapter 1-2: Rage