A Kennedy Promise

Caved In

They landed hard on a rocky walkway. Thankfully for Juliet, Leon had broken her fall. The trio scanned their surroundings. They had ended up in some sort of cave. It was impossible to see the path ahead of them.

"Welcome to the centre of the earth," Leon said.

Leon took point as the two ladies followed right behind. For most parts, it was easy to walk across from platform to platform. And for other parts, they needed to jump across. Juliet wasn't feeling too confident, not with the distance or with her heels. It took a while for Leon to persuade her. He promised he would catch her. Juliet felt like her legs would give way at any time. With a deep breath, she jumped but landed short. She slipped on the stone surface and fell back. Leon's instincts prevented her from falling off. After that jump, she wouldn't let go of his hand. They crossed the next walkway when it suddenly crumbled. Helena had already made it to the next platform and was safe. Leon pushed Juliet forward, but he wasn't too lucky. He was slipping as he held onto the edge of the walkway. Juliet hurriedly reached out for his hand and hoisted him up.

"Close call," Leon breathed out. "Thanks."

"Guess we're even. Let's keep it that way," Juliet said.

After pushing persistent zombies off the walkways, they finally reached another platform but had no way to get across. The bridge was raised, and the crank was on the other side. Leon quickly searched for another way while Helena covered their backs. There was a small platform on the right side, which had a path connecting to the opposite end of the bridge, but it didn't look too stable.

"Well, someone's gotta go over," Juliet pointed out.

Leon looked at her and immediately shook his head. He knew what she was thinking.

"No no no, Juliet, don't."

"Come on," she insisted. "Besides, you'll cover me, won't you?"

"Yes, but-"

That's not the point, he tried to say but he couldn't finish his sentence. Helena stepped up to offer, but Juliet was already pushing Leon into position. Reluctantly, Leon boosted her over. She landed on her feet and at that same time, the platform tilted. Juliet slipped all the way to the bottom. She cried out for help as the undead crawled up to her. Leon instantly switched to his sniper rifle to keep the undead away from her. One of them had gotten a hold of her ankle and was almost impossible to shake it off. It managed to break her heel just before Leon shot at it. Juliet hurriedly climbed up and onto the next platform as the one she was on disappeared into the abyss below. She grumbled, having no choice but to take out her other heel. She had to break off the other side to continue walking. Out from nowhere, an undead leapt towards her. Neither Leon or Helena were quick enough to shoot it off her back. Juliet, however, didn't need the save. She used her heel as a weapon and struck the undead right in the skull. She pulled back the shoe with force, which broke off the heel in the process. She calmly wore back her shoe before moving ahead. Leon tried to hide his wide smile but failed. He let out a soft chuckle before returning to look at her through his scope.

"Ugh, not these guys again!" Juliet groaned.

Up ahead, there were at least several shriekers and bloodshots. She narrowly avoided a whopper ramming right into her. She rolled out of the way and ran full speed ahead to get away from them.

"Yeah, no. Screw you!"

She threw an incendiary grenade at the horde. The whopper got caught off balance and slammed onto the wooden walkway which fell apart. Every single one of them dropped down. Juliet turned to face Leon and gave him a thumbs up. Cute, he thought. Without further interruptions, Juliet brought the bridge down and the two agents reunited with her. Leon pulled her into a hug.

"You did well," he praised, and she bashfully looked away.

All of a sudden, the platform they were on shook violently. It seemed like there was a chain reaction as all the other platforms began to collapse. Leon urged the two women to keep on moving. They ran across the falling walkways and made it to the exit. As if it couldn't get any worse, the walls crumbled and water poured in like jet streams. There was no turning back either. Water crashed in and pushed the trio down a tunnel.

"Oh God! What do we do?" Helena panicked, frantically blocking the water from her face.

"Hell if I know!" Leon shouted.

Like a trip down a slide at a water park, they splashed into the cold body of water below. Juliet wasn't much of a swimmer, and she definitely wasn't prepared to be holding in her breath. Leon grabbed her hand and swam towards a small opening at the top for a breath of fresh air. Helena followed suit.

"Everyone OK?"

"No!" Juliet answered. "This was totally not the bath I expected after going down the garbage chute."

"Is there even a real exit out of this place?" Helena fussed.

"There's gotta be one," Leon said. "We should get going. Juliet, hold onto me, OK?"

She nodded. "I'm never letting go."

"Good."

At the count of three, they took in one deep breath and went under the water again. Something huge swam past them. Rocks dropped down and blocked the way, forcing them to take an alternative route. Several corpses were floating in the water, grabbing at them if they got too close. They went up for air again, but this time, it didn't last too long. Juliet was suddenly pulled down, followed by Helena. Leon quickly dived in and caught up with the shark-like creature which had Juliet in between its teeth. Helena had her leg caught up in a rope attached to a harpoon lodged into its side. Leon hurriedly got to Helena's side and retracted the harpoon. He managed to get on top of the shark and pierced its left eye with the weapon. The shark screeched in pain and parted its jaws slightly, allowing Juliet to wiggle out. Leon did the same thing to its right eye, seemingly with more force. The current began to push them faster and harder, and suddenly, they were thrown out of the tunnel again. Leon landed in the water while Helena and Juliet got up to high ground.