Resident Evil: End of Days

Escaping the Vatican

Dawn gives way to noon, and noon to evening. The Vatican practically rumbles to life with marching feet of angels striding about the walls of the Square and the Basilica, while the Revenants stroll about the square below and along the halls under the protection of the saints. Chris and I bunker down in the safety of the Belvedere Palace, where we've been moved from the palace in St. Peter's Square. All the while Cristiana whimpers quietly in my arms. She doesn't understand what's happening, and with her being carried around from place to place, her sleep and mine are almost constantly disrupted. 

Even Chris is finding it amusing that both of us are trying to stay awake, me more so out of instinct to protect Cristiana.

"Get some sleep," He tells me. However, I shake my head in refusal. "I can't afford sleep right now. Food I'll happily eat however much I can so that Cristiana eats too, but sleep?"

"Leon..." Chris looks at me, "Get some sleep. That's an order."

"But..." I fuss, but he shakes his head. He's not taking no for an answer this time.

I grumble and snuggle up to Cristiana for the time being. I try to close my eyes, but I can't help but think about Lucifer's impending attack on the Vatican. Worse, Chris and I still don't have a place to go to escape should the attack happen. 

Chris glances over at me. He smiles and asks, "What's wrong?"

I look back at him. I shake my head, replying, "I can't sleep...worrying about us."

He nods, not breaking his eye contact through the window outside of the palace where we're staying. He asks, "Worrying over where we should go next?"

I nod.

He sighs and tells me, "I...may or may not have an idea."

I look at him, and Chris continues, "Zakros tells me that back during the World Wars, the Catholic Church used to harbor Nazis escaping Germany through the ratlines and send them to Argentina, South America."

"The ratlines?" I ask him. "Like an underground railroad system?"

He nods and looks back outside, watching the night sky carefully for demons. "He tells me that if we follow the original landmarks for the ratlines and get ourselves safely to South America, we may have a clear shot to Rio de Janeiro."

"Won't Lucifer follow us there?" I ask him. "I don't know about you, but that's quite the risk."

"It's a good one," Chris counters. "Better to go to Rio than stay here and get caught in the crossfire."

...he is right. If we stay we'll get caught in the conflict, and if we leave, we may be safe following the old underground railroad landmarks to South America. I take a breath, then another. This is our best bet to escape the safety of the Vatican.

"Where do we go?" I ask him.

"Genoa," he responds. "Then from Genoa, we take a plane to Rio."

I nod and look at Cristiana. I frown. I can worry about her well-being all I want, but we don't have a choice.

I look at him and nod. "Okay, then let's go."

He gives me a look, but I explain, "Chris, if we don't leave now, we're going to get sucked into this war and we could lose the baby from this. I can't fight if she needs me."

Chris nods and stands up, as well as I. He marches to the door and knocks, and the Revenant he was speaking to earlier peeks in. He has wavy hair and looks like a pantomime from the face paint he wears. Is this what a true Revenant is supposed to look like?