Mechanical Animals: Resident Evil 4

17

"Ashley?" Rose shook the girl, wincing when she accidentally shook her a bit harder than she had anticipated. The blonde's head wobbled as if it were attached by a limp rubber band, but she remained fast asleep. Her skin was graying, black veins crawling up her arms. "Oh, no," she whispered to herself.

Since Ashley wasn't waking up, she spun in her spot, looking for anything she could use to get them out of there. The room itself was fairly large, with a sliding gate keeping them locked in. There were computer servers of some kind lining the wall by Ashley's head, and her wrists were zip-tied behind her back. Rose looked around for her backpack, but it was gone. A quick inventory of herself told her all she had left was what remained in her pockets. A couple of magazines of 9mm ammo, her knife, and a light bag of money. "Damn," she cursed, disappointed by how vulnerable she was.

She quickly took out her knife and broke the zip ties, though Ashley was still knocked out. Where the hell was she, anyway? And how did she get here? The last thing she remembered was...Leon. Her breath caught in her throat as the memory came rushing back to her. Leon had watched her fall into the ocean. But...was that right? She didn't remember crashing into the water. She didn't remember anything after she'd let go of Leon's hand. It had been clear to her that he was going to die if she hadn't chosen his life over hers. The rest of that bridge was going down, and he had no intention of letting her go, so she'd chosen for him.

Rose walked over to the bars, peering out into the dark room beyond. At least it was warm in here. Before she'd fallen, her eyesight had been decent, but the darkness would nearly blind her. She'd kept a flashlight for utmost visibility. But now it was like her eyes had super adjusted and she could see the crates lined up along the walls and the door at the opposite side of the room, clear as early evening.

"Ashley!"

Rose spun around, her heart leaping when she saw Leon pressed to the observation window a story above them.

"Leon!" She yelled and ran over to stand by Ashley. The look on his face would have made her laugh if the situation was different. He looked like he'd seen a ghost, at the same time his world exploded and he wasn't sure if he was going crazy or not. He clutched the bars harder, his knuckles white. His gaze darted between Rose and the girl on the table. He had to focus on getting to Ashley, but there was something wrong. The way she was looking at him—it was like he didn't even recognize her.

"Rose?" His voice was barely a whisper, the disbelief dripping from the word. "Rose!" He looked like he was going to pry the bars apart to get into the room with them. "Rose! How?" He did a double take at her eyes, finally noticing the color change. "What the hell is going on here?" His gaze flickered between her and the eerie transformation he had just witnessed. Her eyes—those bright eyes—had shifted. The color was wrong now. They were... different. Unnatural, almost predatory.

Rose took a deep breath, holding his gaze with a calm that belied the chaos around them. She didn't seem scared. She wasn't running for cover. She was standing there, grounded, as if everything had already changed, and she had accepted it. "It's really me, Leon," she said softly, but the words carried a weight that settled on his chest like a stone.

He blinked, his grip loosening on the bars for a moment as he processed her words. His mind flashed to the hell they'd been through together, back to the time they spent fighting through the horrors of the village and of the castle. He was stuck in a whirlwind, trying to keep his bearings. "Your eyes..." He trailed off, unable to process the full extent of it. "What happened to you?"

"I don't know. I can't remember anything after I fell. I woke up in here. What are you talking about? My eyes?"

Leon continued to stare at her, his world turning topsy-turvy and he kind of wanted to through up. Those bastards had to have done something to her! It was the only thing that made sense. He set his mind on his next task. "Hold on, I'm coming for ya."