A Kennedy Promise

Marketplace

"Are they gonna be all right?" Helena asked.

"Let's just hope that Jake kid is as good as he thinks he is," Leon answered.

The two agents walked away from the fire, but Leon noticed that Juliet wasn't moving. Leon placed a comforting hand on her shoulder. She looked up at him.

"I'm worried about Sherry," she said.

"I know, but we've gotta get a move on. We'll meet up with them at the building," Leon persuaded, and she nodded.

Hunnigan rang them and let out a relieved sigh. She had been trying to contact them ever since the plane went down. Hunnigan told them that the building wasn't too far off and that they should stick with their current route. The trio headed out of the scrapyard and into an outdoor market up ahead. Just as they turned a corner, they saw something drag a man into one of the shops.

"What was that?" Helena questioned.

"Trouble," Leon replied.

They quickened their steps. The man was unfortunately nowhere to be found. The headed towards the main gate, but it was sealed tight. There were three separate locks on the door. Leon quickly scanned the map onto his phone and found out that the keys were scattered around the market. A pig head suddenly fell from a pile of carcasses near them. A new type of monster crawled from underneath the pile. The bottom half of the monster came out of its mouth before reattaching itself.

"Guess that's why the whole street is on lockdown," Leon said. "The residents were trying to keep it out."

They shot the monster and the two halves disconnected. However, that didn't kill it at all. Instead, the two halves found its way back and headed right towards them. Juliet stepped forward and used her Hydra to blast the monster away. The two halves separated once more and remained that way.

"Let's get out of here before it comes back," Juliet said, and the other two agreed.

They hurried to the first location and picked up the key. They got to the second key without incident. The third key was in a bathroom at the back of the market, but the gate was locked from the other side. While Helena took the high road, Leon and Juliet stood outside the gate and waited for her. Juliet frowned.

"I don't like it," she half-whispered. "It's too quiet."

As if on cue, a nearby screech got their attention. However, no monster was in sight. Helena ran up to them and unlocked the gate. The trio opened up the bathroom, only to get attacked by two of the monsters which crawled out of the toilet bowls. At the same time, another monster had crept up behind them. They each took down a monster with some struggles. One of its hands detached from its body, despite the monster being 'dead'. It attacked Leon in the face, and he wasn't able to get it off. Juliet forcefully tore it away from Leon's face and headed to the kitchen beside. She threw the hand inside a microwave and slammed the door shut. She turned the heat all the way up. The microwave beeped loudly and a few seconds later, the hand blew up. Thick goo seeped out. Juliet stuck out her tongue in disgust. Leon came up beside her.

"Oh, wow," he paused. "That was uh... something else, huh?"

"I've got it!" Helena called out to them.

The trio rushed back to the gate and inserted all three keys. They made sure to shut the door tight so that they wouldn't be followed. However, a monster had ambushed them and attacked Helena. Helena had her back against a meat mincer machine. Leon shot the monster, allowing Helena to turn the tides. She grabbed the monster by its head and pushed it into the machine. She huffed, dusting her shoulder.

They finally made it out of the marketplace. A lone building stood in front of them, but it wasn't the one Sherry mentioned. There was a small signage to the side which read 'Medical Research Centre'. Leon suddenly put his hand up, and the two women stopped. A woman had entered the building through the door at the top. From the back, she looked exactly like Ada. Juliet already knew that things weren't going to go smoothly. Leon hurried up the steps and tried to open the door, but it was shut tight. They opted for the door below. Upon opening it, they stepped into some sort of walkway. There were test tubes filled with experimental objects in them, similar to the ones they saw in Simmons' lab.

"Over there!" they heard someone say, but it was an unfamiliar voice.

Ahead of them was an elevator. The trio made a run for it. Halfway through, Ada appeared on the walkways above and enabled lasers to prevent them from getting past. They slid underneath the laser beams and hurried to the doorway. Helena and Juliet each shattered the two fuses to disable the trap. They made it inside the elevator, which went all the way up. There was only one room for them to enter. They cautiously walked into the dim room. Leon tried the other door but it was sealed. They were locked in.

Suddenly, drones came out from the vents. When it got too close, its LED light changed from blue to red before exploding. Ada's voice came over the speakers next, telling them and the other group to "have fun with the prototypes". No matter how much Leon yelled at Ada to stop, she would simply ignore him. Hunnigan came to the rescue by pointing out to the group to get to the control panel. While Leon worked on it, the two women kept the drones from getting too close. After what seemed like forever, Leon flicked the last switch and the lights on the drones all went out. The door opened, and the trio rushed out. Leon ran ahead of them.

"Ada, stop! We have to talk!"

"Sorry, not in a talking mood," she replied from the other side.

She tossed a smoke grenade at them. Leon had made it past, but Helena and Juliet were forced to stop in their tracks. When they finally made it past the smoke, Leon was already far ahead.