Among Us [Volume 2]

Chapter 9

"Then let's go. I'll keep you safe, I promise."

I slowly get into the boat. I grip the edge of it really tight, trying to ignore the spears next to me. Leon starts the boat, keeping an eye out for the creature, I hope.

Suddenly, the damn thing surfaces right in front of the boat, screeching at us for entering it's domain. When it dives back down, the boat flies backwards. I keep a death grip onto the boat to avoid falling off. I watch in despair as the anchor falls into the water. I start trying to muscle the anchor back onto the boat so that we may move and get the hell out of here. I guess the anchor catches onto the damn creature below, because the boat jerks forward and starts flying across the water.

We're being pulled by it! This is such a fucking nightmare!

Leon grabs a spear, and chucks it at the tail of the creature-or-Del Lago. A tree branch in the water nearly knocks me out of the boat, but Leon grabs my leg and pulls me back from over the edge.

After impaling Del Lago five times with the spear, the boat stops. We both turn to see it swimming towards us, jaw open. Both of us grab a spear and chuck it at the inside of it's mouth. It howls in pain and then dives under.

The boat starts moving again, so I sit back down, not wanting to fall into the deep dark water. Leon propels a few more spears into Del Lago, before it finally dies, it's body slamming against the surface of the water. I watch as it slowly sinks to the bottom, but the sound of rope scraping against the boat catches my attention. Leon looks over as the rope attached to the anchor slides off into the water.

The damned anchor is still attached to the fucking beast, are you kidding me?!

"...Ivette..." Leon whispers, but I sense the urgency.

I slowly look down to see my foot tangled up in the rope. I yelp, as it wraps around my leg and tightens. At this point, I'm going to be dragged down.

Leon grabs hold of me, takes his knife and starts hacking away at the rope, trying to disconnect it from my leg. I grip onto him tightly, as the pain increases. I'm hoping that if I lose anything at all, I lose just my leg and not my life.

"C'mon" Leon hisses "C'mon"

Eventually, the rope snaps, and I'm let free. I lay down on my side, trying to catch my breath.

"I hate this place."

"I know, sweetheart." He starts the engine of the boat again. I don't get up until we arrive at the pier on the other side of the lake.

Leon helps me off the boat, and as he does, I notice that he's slightly paler than usual. He hunches over and lets out a pained breath.

"Are you okay? Le?"

He shakes his head.

I look around. It's quiet, and there's an empty house up ahead.

"We can rest in that house up ahead" I say.

He straightens his posture for a moment, but then starts stumbling, letting out groans. "Ack!" He coughs, and looks at his gloved hand.

Blood.

What the hell is going on with him?

I throw his arm around my shoulder and allow him to place most of his weight onto me. I kick the door of the house open, and look around. As I suspected, no one's home.

He lets out a loud moan of pain and then slides off of my shoulder, collapsing onto the ground.

"Leon?!"

I turn him over, and quickly place my hand on his forehead. He feels hot, which could just be a result of us battling an angry lake monster. I place my ear on his chest.

135 beats per minute. Tachycardia. I hope he's not having a heart attack at a time like this. Then again, I wouldn't blame him.

I move to close the door shut. We'll be safe here for now. I place his head on my lap, and begin busying myself to pass the time. I start reloading all of my weapons, remembering to keep an eye on his vitals constantly.

After what I would consider to be around an hour, he wakes with a start, nearly head butting me. "Whoa!" I place my hand on his shoulder, easing him back down. "You're going to give yourself an early death if you don't take it easy!"

"What happened...?" He mumbles.

"You collapsed, remember?" I question.

"Kind of..." He rubs his chest.

"Are you feeling okay?"

"A little better than earlier... that's for sure." He sighs, handing me his communicator "You should probably... get in contact with Hunnigan..."

I take the communicator from him and radio out to her.

"Ivette? It's been six hours since our last transmission. I was starting to get worried."

"Don't you mean lonely?" Leon mutters

Even when he's feeling like shit, he still manages to mouth off. Amazing. He's lucky he's not feeling well, otherwise, I would've smacked him for that.

"I know, Ingrid, I'm sorry. Leon suddenly wasn't feeling too well, and then he lost consciousness."

"Lost consciousness? Maybe that has some connection to what the village chief was talking about...?"

"I hope not. He's doing a lot better now though, so we're going to continue on with our mission."

"Got it. Stay safe, you two."

I disconnect the transmission and hand Leon back the communicator. I used to have my own, but it was taken away after I insulted our support agent "way too many times". He was stupid anyway, I mean who names their kid "Bobbert"?

Yes, not Robert. Bobbert.

"Are you sure you're feeling okay enough to start moving now?" I ask, as Leon stands up. He seems fine at the moment.

"Yeah, I'm okay." He says. His eyes shift over to something behind me.

Another note.

There's an important item hidden in the falls. If you guys are able to get to it, you might be able to get Ashley out of the church.

But I'll warn you, the route to the church isn't a walk in the park by any means. They've deployed what's called an "El Gigante", so God bless.

About what's been going on in Leon's body...
If I could help him, I would.
But unfortunately, it's beyond my power.

"Beyond my-Wait, who left this letter here?" I ask, peering at the letter for any clues.

"Someone who knew we'd be coming this way" Leon says. He does not seem concerned about what's going on inside his body at all. I simply don't bring it up because last thing either of us need is extra stress.

"Luis, maybe?"

"Maybe."

I open the door and look outside. There's a thunderstorm, and it's nighttime now.

"Let's kick some El Gigante ass"