A Sanguine Vision (Leon Kennedy x OC) [BOOK 4]

Chapter 9: Trap

I am SO sorry this has taken so long. I've been so busy with school that I haven't been reading as much as I should be. I am a firm believer that reading makes you a significantly better writer so I was struggling with this one. I hope you enjoy <3

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A bolt of lighting cracked through the main atrium as the flashbang exploded into a blanket of white that practically tore through the delicate skin of my closed eyelids. The first eruption of noise sliced through the white haze, slamming into my eardrums, clearing the way for the second grenade just a moment later. It was like two boulders had been hurled together, and the pieces were raining down onto the earth in the form of waves of shrill continuous ringing. The sound was almost painful, taking over the room and leaving even my own thoughts distant and muted.

A body barrelled into my back through the cloud of white, throwing me face first into the soldier beside me. My cheek met the hard kevlar of his vest, but before I could swing out a blind fist toward the new body at my back, Leon's familiar hand curled around my upper arm. Though he must have been only mere inches from my ear, his voice sounded like he was whispering from beyond the veil. It only took me a second to parse through the ringing to piece together what he'd said.

Run.

My fingers curled around Anderson's vest as I finally dared to open my eyes. The light was dying out like the final rays of sunlight sinking beneath the horizon line, giving way to the gruesome room once more. In front of me, Anderson's hand was clamped over his eyes, teeth bared. Leon was beside me, his own pale blue eyes straining against the adjusting light, his hand still curled around my arm. Chris was only a few yards ahead, eyes blinking against the residual stinging before he echoed Leon's earlier command.

I flung into motion, Leon dragging me toward the staircase while my fingers dug even deeper into Anderson's kevlar vest, pulling him forward as he finally opened his eyes, cheeks wet with painful tears.

The flashbang had worked just as I had hoped. Previous necropsies had shown that B.O.W.s generally have very sensitive eyes. When their heart stops and their bodies reanimate, the integral structures within their retinas rapidly degrade, leaving them with poor vision and a preference for dark environments. Hopefully the light from the grenade had done enough damage to buy us a few precious moments.

We climbed the stairs two at a time, feet slamming into the wood as the hunter howled in dismay. Even though its eyes were still closed, its modified hearing could still detect us just fine. It turned toward the sound of our boots, throwing out a blind talon that collided with the wooden railing and sent chunks of wood flying. Reynolds yelped as he evaded a second swipe of talons through the next section of railing. The hunter's frustrated cry chased after us as we tore through the already ruined upstairs doors. Two rotting figures turned toward us, the flesh of their faces left torn and dangling from their cheeks as they opened their jaws in delight. Black spit dropped from their throats as they cried out and came clamoring toward us.

"Straight back!" Leon called, raising his weapon and firing at the two stray corpses ahead. The two figures dropped onto the rotting carpet, blood from the new bullet wound spilling down their warped faces.

The hall looked similar to the one Leon and I had first been through, but this section seemed to be a little more taken care of. Various ceiling tiles above were missing, but no debris was left beneath. Holes in the walls had been crudely patched up with a thin metal sheeting and plaster. Wires of varying sizes rose from the floor and snaked along the edges of the hall, splitting off every so often to dive back into the floor or the walls. I tore my face away from the ground as we passed through to the first intersection on our way toward the back.