Got Smoke?

Separated

Leon and I headed to the back of the church where there was a cliff overlooking a lake. I immediately warned him to get down. Silently, I took out my sniper rifle to take a look at the figures in the boat. Leon took out his binoculars and did the same. Two of the villagers had taken the bodies of the dead cops and tossed them into the river. The boat sped away. The water was calm for a second before something huge leapt out of it and swallowed the two corpses whole. Shit. That wasn't something I wanted to deal with but we needed to cross the lake to find the insignia. I gave Leon a knowing look before the two of us headed down to the mouth of the lake. We jumped inside a boat filled with harpoons. At least that could guarantee our safety, somehow. Leon steered the boat, heading towards the other island but the thing from before reappeared and almost swallowed us as well if not for Leon's fast manoeuvre.

"I'll steer the boat! You take care of that thing!" I exclaimed, swapping places with Leon.

"I was afraid you're going to say that."

"Hey now, don't back out on me, partner!"

He smirked. "Wouldn't dream of it, partner," he said, grabbing a harpoon as he eyed the water, looking for any sorts of movements.

The boat rocked violently and the creature surfaced again, mouth wide open. I steered the boat left just in time before it could eat us. Leon shot it right through its tail and suddenly we were being dragged forward. I tried hard to steer the boat away from the cliffs. The creature kept attacking us out of nowhere, but Leon managed to throw clean shots. Finally, the thing was dead but when it started to sink into the lake, Leon winced in pain. I looked down, noticing that the anchor ropes were wrapped tightly around his ankle, almost biting into his skin. I whipped out my knife and hacked the rope off.

"Thanks. I really didn't feel like taking a cold bath."

"You're welcome, but you owe me," I joked, but he agreed.

I docked the boat as soon as we arrived on the other side. We were attacked by the villagers the moment we set foot and they sent a huge boulder down our way. Leon and I managed to avoid it, but we ended up being separated.

"Amara! Amara, you okay?"

"Fine! But ugh, I can't get around this," I replied, looking at the one track path ahead of me. There was no way to get back to the boat, but it looked like I could get back onto the mainland by foot. I would take a longer time of course, but I didn't have any choice. "Just go, Leon! We'll meet up back at the church. Find that insignia."

"Roger," Leon said. Just before I turned to leave, he called out to me again, "Amara. Stay safe, okay?"

"Only if you'll do the same."

"You got it."

I walked up the path, finding myself in a dense forest. I didn't like the looks of it, but I had to make my way back to Leon quickly. I updated Hunnigan about our locations, but soon I was cut off from contact. Damn, there was no signal here. All the more reason to get back to the mainland fast. I tried to avoid conflict as much as possible, so I took the harder route where it was mostly rocky terrain. I started to have a major headache and I was forced to stop for a moment. I thought I was crazy when I saw a flash of white passed by me. It almost looked like a man wearing a white lab coat, or maybe it was one of those villagers trying to plot another way to kill me. Either way, I had to move on.

I heard footsteps approaching me. It was faint, but it was clear that someone had been following me for a while. I took out my knife silently as I continued to walk at a steady pace. With a swift flick, I threw my knife at the direction the person was hiding at. My knife struck into the tree, just above the person's head.

"You always had a way of greeting people," the female spoke in an unwavering voice, smiling at me.

"You," I mumbled, noticing her red Chinese dress. "...Who the hell are you?"

She laughed, moving closer towards me. "I didn't think you would recognise me straight away. After all, you've just... became an agent."

It was obvious that she knew something that I didn't. I thought hard to remember who she was, recalling my past missions. Then it clicked. "Ada Wong," I said through my gritted teeth. "Yeah, I definitely remember you."

She smiled again as if mocking me. "That's me, alright. It's nice to see you again, Amara."

"Save it. What the hell are you here for?"

"Always to the point," she said, turning away from me. "You know I never reveal secrets."

"Sure. You never tell the truth anyway, so you don't need to feed me with your bullshit. You either have a part in this religious cult, or you're trying to take something that they have. Whatever you're doing is all for the wrong reasons."

"Wow, I'm impressed. I think you've figured me out."

"Thanks, but I don't need to see you again. There's no reason."

She shook her head, her eyes staring back at me. "I'm afraid this won't be the last time. After all, you and your cute partner need all the help you can get."

"What do you know about my partner?" I asked, frowning at her.

"Just enough," she replied simply. "Anyway, I'm here to warn you about something."

"What?"

"You should be careful around the Ganados."

"Ganados?" I repeated.

"Yes, that's the infected villagers that you had encountered. They're much different from your usual undead."

"Thanks, Sherlock. I didn't freaking noticed that."

Ada stifled her laughter. She walked back to the tree and took my knife out. She twirled it around her fingers before looking back at me and gave one last grin. "Leon might be in danger if you hang around here for too long. Watch out for the ones wearing cloaks. You wouldn't want to have something else in you."

She threw the knife back at me and I caught it easily. By the time I looked back, she was gone. Damn it. There were so many things that I wanted to ask her. I wanted to know how in the hell she knew Leon and what else she knew about the Ganados. And more importantly, I wanted to know what was in my body. The village chief said something about that too and Leon mentioned about having the same blood as them. I shook my head, dismissing my thoughts for the moment. I wouldn't get any answers by standing around, so I placed my knife back into its sheath and headed back to the mainland.