Mechanical Animals: Resident Evil 4

2

The path beside a large tower brought them to another heavy door, leading to the next area. Rose and Leon had to work together to push it open, their breath straining from the effort. Leon had the shotgun strapped to his back now, looking like the warrior he was, and Rose eyed it as they heard the telltale sounds of movement just down the hill the crested. "How many more shells you got?" She asked, nodding to the shotgun.

Leon pulled the green box out of his pocket and opened it, frowning. "Three." He dumps the contents into his hand and tosses the box over his shoulder, then grabs the shotgun and loads two new rounds into the empty chamber. "Better make them count."

The sun was sinking low on the horizon, casting long shadows across the farm. Thick clouds loomed overhead, pregnant with the promise of rain. Rose and Leon, weary yet determined, trudged through the muddy path that wound between the dilapidated barns and overgrown fields. They had narrowly escaped a horde of Ganados, infected villagers who had become unrecognizable shells of themselves, driven by a sinister force. The tainted air was heavy with the scent of decay, mingled with something far more dangerous: desperation.

"Stay close, Rose," Leon instructed, his voice barely above a whisper. The tension of past encounters tightened his shoulders. He had taken a protective stance in front of her ever since he'd noticed the signs of her stiff leg—a reluctant partnership forged in the fires of survival.

Rose nodded, gripping her weapon with trembling hands. It was clear she hadn't expected danger to be this palpable. The twisted tales of the village she had heard from top-secret intel now floated in her mind, painting a vivid picture of dread and despair. She looked up at Leon as he stopped to scan their surroundings, his sharp blue eyes scrutinizing the environment.

Rose bites her lip, wondering how lucky they would be to find more ammo. She had been pretty good at avoiding shooting as much as possible, but she would have to reach for another magazine for her own gun soon. If they kept being attacked in hoards like that last one, their ammo would deplete fast and they'd be left with nothing but knives and quick thinking. More houses and barns came into view the closer they got, and it was a small farm with chickens and cows and a couple pigs running around. More upsetting were the two ganado's still tending to the property. A woman to the right, her back to the Americans, and a man in the barn a few feet away, tending to the straw a cow was munching on.

"There's the windmill," Rose pointed ahead. A large windmill was slowly teetering around to their right, taunting them to walk right in between the residents of this area. They walked through, minding each step, and Leon snuck up on the man and wrapped his thick bicep around the ganado's throat, jerking suddenly to break his neck. Rose watched him, impressed, and fighting the attraction that move had given her towards her partner. They slunk through the barn and over to the other side, climbing over the rotten picket fence and under a gate that was lifted. There was a second gate shut tight against them, and a door to the right that they went through, hoping to find some sort of mechanism to open up the next area for them.

A beeping sound greets them when they walk through, and Rose sucks in a breath at the wired bomb trap in front of them.

"Careful," Leon says, his eyes studying the contraption.

Rose's heart pounds, remembering how it felt the last time she'd been blown up. Remembering the recovery period. She didn't want to go near it. But they needed to disarm it so that it didn't become a problem later if they had to make a quick escape. Leon moves closer to the bomb, examining it closely. "I've seen these before," he says. "I should just need to..." His fingers delicately prod at the device strapped to the wall. The beeping increases with Rose's thumping heart and she grits her teeth against her nausea, watching as Leon risks unaliving himself. "Almost got it," he promises beneath his breath as he flips the tiny metal switch under the wire. The red blinking light turns to a solid green one as the bomb disarms with an audible click. He stands straight again, wiping the sweat from his brow and offering Rose a relieved smile. "We're clear."