Mechanical Animals: Resident Evil 4

23

Leon's brow furrowed and he groaned as he started to wake up. Rose was just putting the suture kit she'd found away, and lowered Leon's newly bandaged shirt. She'd stitched up Ashley pretty fast as well, having done her first lest Leon woke up to find Ashley topless. The girl had giggled about it, finding it endearing, but in practice, they both acknowledged that'd be horrifying.

"Rose?" Leon asked, his voice strained and raw from the yelling he'd been doing in his sleep. Even when he was passed out, Leon suffered nightmares, and it had killed something inside of Rose to see him like that.

"I'm here," she said softly, grabbing onto his hand. He squeezed her hand in his, grounding himself.

"I feel...better."

Rose chuckled around a new wave of tears and nodded. "Yeah. It worked. Las Plaga's didn't get you," she said lightly. He smirked, trailing his hand up her arm and cupping the side of his face. Their eyes met, and she leaned down so their faces were closer. But at the last second, Leon turned his face away, dropping his hand.

"But it did get me," he said lowly and Rose heaved a heavy sigh.

"We will talk about this," Rose promises, empty and full of false hope. "But right now, we've gotta go kill this asshole and get out of here."

Leon nods, swinging his legs over the edge of the chair and testing his strength. He was back to a full 40 percent. Feeling slightly more rested and a lot more like his blood was clean again. It wasn't a full nights sleep, shower, and decanter of whiskey, but it was enough to get them through the rest of this day. Ashley came back around, smiling and hugging Leon as tightly as she could without hurting them both or irritating their stitches. They'd have to be taken out, cleaned, and redone by someone else later, but right now it was enough to keep their chests closed and stop the bleeding.

Ashley motioned around the room, awe on her features. "So, all of this? Removing the parasites...This was Luis?"

"Yeah," Leon confirmed, walking up to the next set of doors past Ashley. "We're alive. Thanks to him."

They walked through the doors, finding shipping containers and bridges awaiting them. The long patch mostly unencumbered by debris, though things were stacked up high on the sides. The doors at the other end were sealed, so they doubled back and lifted Ashley up onto the container.

"You're getting good at this," Leon teased as Ashley climbed up and ran over to drop down a ladder for the agents to follow.

Ashley giggled girlishly. "Right?"

Rose chuckled, shaking her head in amusement. As they climbed up and ran across the top of the containers into a small concrete room, Ashley checked in with Leon.

"Are you sure you're alright?"

"I'm good," Leon confirms. Ashley shared a look with Rose, but they didn't have any reason to think he was lying. They opened a door that led to a cave, stalactites and stalagmites thickly layered throughout the area.

As they wandered in, Ashley sighed, glancing around the room with worry. "That woman who helped us...do you think she's alright?"

Rose snorted, sharing an amused look with Leon. "Yeah," Rose answered comfortingly, patting Ashley on the back.

"Oh, I'm sure she's fine," said Leon, a bit of irony and admiration creeping into his voice. Ada was like a cockroach. Albeit, a pretty one. "She's not the type to roll over that easy."

"Sounds like you know her well," Ashley said, looking over to Rose as if this were a tea party and she was about to see drama. Rose was also curious, though, and looked over at Leon, waiting to see what he had to say. He had yet to tell her how he knew Ada, despite having grilled Rose how she knew her.