What has changed, Leon?
Years after the Raccoon City outbreak, another disaster strikes the U.S., where the president's daughter has been kidnapped in an act of terror. Countless amounts of help get sent out to rescue Ashley Graham, but they all mys...
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
___________
Through the broken brick of the courtyard, a flow of sparks and flame burned in the air as the smell of putrid smoke rose. Leon was first to peer over the ledge and get a better look for any danger, although Ashley was quick to join in, much to his dismay and Seraphina nudged right beside him afterwards. They were all struggling to get a glimpse but it almost seemed like a children's game of pushing.
"Can you...guys step back?" Leon asked, the slightest hint of awkwardness laced in his voice. His eyes flickered towards the shoulder digging into his arm and the other woman's arm pushing up against his own. It was amusing to watch Leon as he debated on whether he should push them away or they'll take away the contact themselves...
"No!" They both said in unison.
Sighing with exasperation, Leon peeled his eyes away from them and looked in the distance. A unusually long, red cloaked figure stood with a tall staff in his hands. What resembled a human was dispelled when seeing his head—a animal skull for a head. Perhaps inside the clothes and skull there would be a transformed, ugly monster, but nobody wanted to find out for themselves.
"Huh. Courtyard's gotta be through that gate," Leon pointed out as the tall figure left the front to enter a door and hide itself away from view. "Don't think our hosts are gonna roll out the red carpet. Things just keep getting better."
"We have to be extra careful now. I'm sure there's eyes everywhere here." Seraphina noted, glancing back to make sure Ashley was still in view and safe. In the hands of the cloaked monster was a staff with a strange, crimson lantern attached to the end. That same red color struck a cord in her...the color was oddly familiar and popped up everywhere. But where could she have first seen it?
When they walk down the stairs, multiple cloaked men's shadows stretch along the torch lit walls. Their shadows distort enough to appear like ghastly monsters although that fear quickly dissipated when the shadows cross a gate in front of them. Leon is quick to motion them to stay low and away from view, but Ashley's terror makes her whimper quietly.
"What are they—"
"Shh. Keep your voice down." Leon warned her.
For once, Seraphina can hear the cloaked zealots speak. Their voices are in a low murmur, their steps synchronized as if they were marching together and like they were in a trance.
"Cerebros, cerebros, cerebros..."
"Corazones, corazones, corazones..."
Hearing their eerie voices made her shiver. The rumination of the castle's disarraying walls and possible danger seemed to cave in, as all three of them remained quiet without a single word. The silence was becoming quite suffocating, there wasn't a single word of reassurance as if the danger had already reined them in.