-RESIDENT EVIL IS IN THE PROPERTY OF CAPCOM-

The pic on the right is 'the clawer' aka Garrador. The one that Leon dealt in the prison area of the castle.

ps: I OWN NOTHING. Except for Tiffa and her storyline. Everything else belongs to Capcom. AND A DIE HARD FAN OF LEON SCOTT KENNEDY.

VII.

Leon opened the metal door with ease, revealing a hallway and another door was on the left side. It was strongly made and there were openings on the walls, making you able to see what was behind that door.

It was a prison and as expected, the door was locked. We walked deeper into the hallway and a letter was nailed on the wall.

We turned left and there was a dead end. There were silver heads of a horse on both opposite sides of the corner of the room, letting out flames from its mouth, blocking access through the other side. But the door to the other side is shuttered down.

"Dead end." Leon looked around the surroundings and his eyes stopped at the huge portrait of a man mounted on the wall. He walked closer to the portrait and extended his hand towards it.

He pulled out a key that sticked on the portrait and I stared at it in awe. I never noticed that there was a key there. He sure has sharp eyes.

"It's a Prison Key." Leon filled after a moment of examining it.

"Doesn't look like one to me." I commented with a frown.

Leon shrugged. "Let's just see where this goes."

We walked back to the prison door. I could see from the window that there was only one cell and something... someone was inside. That made me uneasy.

"What a sturdy door." Leon commented. "A prison, perhaps?" The key fit perfectly on the keyhole, turns out that the door was a shutter.

Leon must have noticed the change of atmosphere. He faced us. "Stay here." He commanded.

I swallowed and nodded. "Just be careful, okay?"

Leon nodded and proceeded to descend the flight of stairs.

I looked from the doorway to gaze at the person that was chained on the wall, he was most likely dead. I don't feel a slight threat at all. Or so I thought.

There was a lever beside the body and Leon slowly and cautiously approached the cell and kicked the metal door. When Leon was about two steps away from the body, that was when I noticed...

The person was alive...

It let out a growl as it tried to break free from the chains that bound him to the wall and Leon, naturally having a quick reaction, backed away a few feet from the monster.

It was a monster. It let out long sharp claws as it blindly swings it back and forth before walking slowly.

I was about to move my feet to help him when suddenly the door shuttered down, blocking access towards the prison.

I dashed to the openings to watch Leon fight off the blind monster. Leon shot the bell on the corner, making the monster charge towards it and sticking out its sharp claws on the wall, breaking the bell in the process.

It struggled to pull out its claws from the wall. My instincts told me to help Leon as quickly as possible. I pulled out my rifle from my back and aimed at its beating back. It was like its weakness, its heart is on its back, trembling and beating so fast. It has the shape of a spider.

I fired and it hit solidly on its back, making it whine in pain as it flinches. Leon looked at me and nodded. I nodded back as the monster recovered from pain, it swung its claws towards Leon's direction and he quickly ran away to avoid getting impaled from its claws.

It hit the wall again and I aimed at its stunned back and fired. It flinched again and whined, Leon firing its back as well, severing the damage.

It started to walk again, slowly, waiting for stimulus. Leon fired the remaining bell and it swung its claws towards it, and stuck the wall.

I could feel myself sweating, firing at this distance was not easy. But I'm trying to stay my shooting more accurate. My shots depend our life on it. Every shot is worthy and important.

I fired at its back again and it whined again in pain. Leon shot his back and it let out a groan before hitting the ground, dead.

I pulled my eye away from the scope and sighed in relief. I turned my gaze to the side to see Ashley smiling brightly at me. "That was a close call."

I wiped my sweat on the forehead with the back of my hand, taking a deep breath. "Yeah,"

The door lifted up and we joined Leon who was still investigating the blind monster. "I saw his eyes. They were sewed out." He informed us.

"Looks like it." I shrugged. I actually care less. "Come on, let's get moving."

Leon nodded before going back to the cell and pulling the lever down.

"What do you think that lever's for?" Ashley asked as we exit the prison area.

"Let's find out." I just said.

When we just about to proceed to the hallway to the horses, three Zealots emerged, the other one going back, leaving us with just the two.

I pulled out my Punisher and shot at the lantern just as it hovered them, making it drop on their head and making them dance with the flames.

We proceeded on going to the left hallway, except that the horses no longer blew flames and the door was opened.

Three Zealots were there, two are taking cover in the horses and the other one standing on the middle, holding a dynamite.

The two Zealots pointed their cross bows at us as the other one lit up his dynamite. And before he could throw it, Leon shot the dynamite on his hand, making it explode immediately, killing the three of them.

We pressed forward and Leon cautiously looked over the wall to check if there were more hostiles and luckily, a Zealot was just there standing, facing the corner. Leon aimed his red laser on his head, creating a solid headshot.

The area was practically cleared, only a gate was only there waiting to be opened. Leon took the right doorknob while I took the left, guns in hand as we nodded at each other and opening the door with extreme caution.

An army of Zealots were waiting for us. Five were lined up from the opposite side. Two on both corners were holding a flail with a wooden shield. The other two cross bows and the leader just stood on the middle, pointing his finger at us.

Despite the threat, the place really looked elegant. It's a shame that this place's swarmed with parasites.

We moved to the side, my Punisher the shield's weakness because it can blast a hole through anything. When the Zealot with the shield was eliminated, shutter from opposite sides of the room opened, another two sets of shielded Zealots charging towards us.

There's too many of them.

We ran and descended the flight of stairs and a single Zealot was patrolling. I shot him on the knee, making him kneel. Leon performed a supplex on him, decapitating him.

The vase broke, revealing a hand grenade. I was about to reach for it when Leon went and grabbed it before me. I mentally screamed.

Leon kicked the door open and slammed it shut. After a few moments, the Zealots starting to budge through the door.

"Oh God, what do we do now." I mumbled to myself, making it a statement rather than a question.

"Leon," Ashley called out, worry filled her eyes.

Leon nodded. "Yeah, calm down. We'll figure something out." He said as he paced around the room.

"It's prone to break in any moment." I reminded, referring to the door.

"I know that."

I noticed both corners of the room. The floor protruded and it seemed like it could be stepped on.

"Ashley, will you step on the other side?" Leon requested as he just stepped on the right side.

Ashley nodded without hesitation and stepped on the left floor and I heard something operated from above.

Ashley screamed. "Tiffany!" She called out and I turned on my heels to see a Zealot ready to swing his flail at me.

Where the hell did he come from?

I froze on my spot, too shock to move. Leon shot the Zealot on the knee, making him kneel and that was when I snapped back.

I kneed him hard on the face and it slammed on the floor. Leon knifed him to death.

I joined Leon and Ashley as the door opened and six Zealots broke in and some on the open ceiling.

Leon pumped on his Riot Gun and fired at them and me with my good, old Punisher.

Parasites protruded on their decapitated bodies, making it rather difficult to deal with it. Leon pulled out a flash grenade and threw it at a distance, and before it could meet with the ground, we covered our eyes with our arms to avoid getting blind.

Parasites died and others were whining and covering their eyes. And that was our cue to our escape.

We ran pass the Zealots and before we could get a step on the stairs, a flaming arrow was shot at the floor.

It'll only take a few moments for the flash grenade's effect to wear off.

Leon faced us. "Okay, here's the plan," he started quickly. "There's a crank over there and what we're going to do is to make a move for it." He paused. "You operate the crank, Ashley," He instructed.

Ashley nodded quickly. "Okay," she agreed.

"Tiffa, we'll cover her." Leon said to me.

I agreed and cocked my gun.

"On three," Leon instructed and held out three fingers. The middle, index and thumb.

We nodded and he started to descend his middle finger followed by the index, leaving him with a thumbs up.

He made the thumbs down and we made a run towards the staircase and shooting the archers on both opposite sides of a balcony.

Ashley spun the crank as fast as she can and the Zealots that we dismissed emerged from the staircase.

Leon pulled out his machine pistol and began shooting the wooden shields nonstop.

An arrow flew past my arm and that made my heart skip a beat. I fired at the archers several times until they all decayed.

What's taking Ashley so long?

After a few moments, a passage of stairs descended, and three leader Zealots with scythes came running for us.

Leon fired at the hands of the leaders, making them drop their weapons. More came from the stairs and I turned my attention at them while Leon dealt with the leaders.

Once the area was swept clean, we took the flight of stairs and there revealed a gate at the distance blocked by water.

"Look, there's a crank over there!" Ashley exclaimed as she point at the crank from a higher ground.

"Who will go up?" I asked Leon.

Leon looked at Ashley then me. "Ashley," he called and I felt that tensed her up. "Can you do it?"

"B-But why me?" Ashley whined.

"I think it's a better idea for you to operate the crank since the two of us can cover you." Leon explained.

"Okay," Ashley sighed. "I will do it."

"That's the spirit!" I smiled at her. "Don't worry, I'll make sure not to hit you." I reassured her. Ashley gave me a weak smile.

Leon half-smiled and nodded. We walk towards the wall and Leon performed the piggyback with Ashley.

When Ashley got on her feet, she bent down to look at us. "Watch out for me!" She reminded and ran away.

I felt my heart beat rapidly as Zealots appeared out from the doors from both opposite sides of the platform. Leon and I pulled out our fancy rifles. Leon aimed at the left side while I take care of the right.

"Let's make a bet." I started simultaneously firing at the Zealots.

"Is this really the right time to make bets?" Leon scolded me and I rolled my eyes.

"Whoever has the most head shots wins." I challenged him.

"And the prize if I win?"

"If you win," I emphasized the words. "I'll do everything you tell me to do."

"And if I lost?"

"You'll buy me a new gun." I grinned and fired at my succeeding shots, which was a solid head shot.

"Call." He accepted my challenge.

I chuckled. "Now what did you say earlier?" I asked cheekily, referring to what he said that this is not the right time to make bets.

"Shut up."

Zealots emerged from the stairs and I switched my aim at his head and I fired. Turns out that Leon aimed at his head too.

I looked out from my scope to glance at Leon who was smirking at me. I glared at him and turned back to my shooting.

Leon made no effort in executing those head shots and I think I'm forgetting something...

When Ashley was fully finished operating the cranks, she stood by the edge of the wall and called out for Leon. She jumped down, caught her and we quickly made our way to jump on the lifted floor so we could pass through the other side.

When we opened the gate, no more hostiles followed. I breathed a sigh of relief, we survived the mess.

"How many head shots did you make?" I asked Leon as we make a walk around the hall. The merchant was there; perfect timing.

"Nine," he informed me.

My eyes went wide. In that five minutes, he made nine head shots? What a monster.

Wait, I did forget something.

He's a freaking government agent.

Of course.

He's more trained than me.

"How 'bout you?"

"You don't wanna know." I mutter, upset.

Leon smiled, amused. "Why?"

Because I only had six head shots. Six. I thought that I could rub that all over your face but...

"It's not fair!" I whined.

"Why?" He asked again, his lips were twitching.

"Because you're an agent!" I pointed my finger at him, with a small glare.

"What about that?" He asked dumbly.

"Oh, I think you know what I mean." I rolled my eyes. "You are more trained than me. The last time I held a rifle was--"

"Excuses, excuses." Leon shook his head at me.

"That's not fair!" I repeated, frustrated. "Who made this stupid bet anyway?"

"The girl who challenged the mighty Leon S. Kennedy."

"You--"

My sentence was cut short when we heard Ashley coughing from behind us. We looked at her as she continues to cough and there was blood all over her palm.

Leon rushed to her and put a hand on her shoulder. "You alright?"

Ashley slapped his hand away from her shoulder and ran pass us. "I'm fine! Leave me alone!"

I reach out for her but my hand didn't catch her arm. "Ashley, wait!" Leon and I called out in unison when bars shuttered down, separating us from Ashley.

Me, too stunned to react, just watched Ashley run from the other side and her back touched the wall.

She continued to cough and some bars of metal appeared from the wall that bound Ashley.

"Ashley!" Leon called out.

The walls started to rotate. "What's going on?" Ashley exclaimed just right before the wall completely rotated and she was gone.

The bars descended as the trap ended. "Don't worry Ashley, we're coming for you!" Leon exclaimed.

When everything seem to calm down, I noticed that I had stopped breathing.

"Well..." I turned to look at Leon who was looking at me with a stern look. "That escalated quickly."

Leon sighed and he pulled out his radio and tried to make it work. Talk about crisis.

"Hunnigan, what happened? The transmission got cut off." Leon's eyes widened and followed by a look of shock. "Salazar! How'd you...?"

My eyes widened and rushed to Leon to examine his movements. "Where's Ashley?" He demanded. His expression now laced with annoyance. He rolled his eyes. "Thanks, that should keep me company 'cuz boredom kills me." He snapped.

Now what the hell did he thanked Salazar for? I don't like where this is going.

He pulled his radio back to his belt and sighed. "How did Salazar get to contact you and not Hunnigan?"

"Ashley was right," he sighed again. "They've jacked the line."

"What?"

"We have to go get to her before they do." He turned on his heels and hovered himself on a wooden door. "We have to move, fast."

I nodded and followed him.

Behind that door was an open underground passage and the smell that came from it was not pleasant.

"It reeks!" I complained as I cover my nose.

"Not fond of sewers?" He asked before jumping down and I unwillingly followed.

Everything was dirty and disgusting. Expect that from sewers.

"Why did you thank Salazar?" I asked him as I remember his heated conversation with Salazar earlier.

"Oh, that..." He trailed off and we heard a noise and some running footsteps splashing the water.

"What the hell was that?" I asked as I cling to Leon's back. Okay, I officially hate sewers now. I've been in the sewers six years ago but only zombies, rats and huge B.O.W. spiders surprised us. But the sound that I heard right now made me reminisce on those memories that I should forget by now. "Leon, what did Salazar do?" I asked him again with a warning voice.

"He released his insects for some exercise." He informed me. "To entertain us."

"What the hell is that supposed to mean?"

Leon just shrugged.

How thoughtful of Salazar. I appreciate it, so much. Please insert sarcasm here.

When we got our right turn, something from the opposite side caught my attention. I feel like there is something out there.

"Wait," I whispered to him and extended my arm at his way. I pulled out my rifle and aimed at the corner.

Just right there, something was camouflaged there but you can clearly see it moving. But I'm still not quite sure yet if I'm just paranoid.

I fired and the camouflaged monster was revealed, turns out to be an oversized insect. It hit the ground and whined before decaying away.

It left me dumbfounded, staring at the distance I fired. I turned my gaze at Leon who only looked at me with a satisfied expression. "Leon," I stuttered. "What in God's name did I just shot?"

"Who knows?" Leon shrugged.

"Salazar," I retorted with an eye roll.

We moved forward and retrieved its eye, which was the only thing that's left of it. It looks like a treasure to me.

A ladder was going down and two camouflaged insects were just there. Is it just me or their camouflage seem useless to me?

I fired my rifle at its eye, which was blue and the other one green. We got down the ladder just to claim ammos on the dirty water and climbed up again to the opposite side and go straight to the metal door to our left.

It turned out to be an underground prison slash sewers. The same insects protruded on the open ceiling and came running towards us. Leon fired his Riot Gun at the insect and I took the advantage of shooting it with my rifle while it was still on the ground.

The prison cell door barged open, revealing an aggressive insect charging towards us. Leon pointed its red laser on its body and it dodged and dodged. When it was about to unleash an attack on him, Leon quickly kicked it, making it hit the ground. He shot it with his Riot Gun repeatedly until it died.

Leon examined the prison cells while I examine the dirty water succeeding.

"Find anything?" I asked as I try to see my reflection on the dirty water and as expected, I couldn't.

"Luis' memo," Leon informed me. "These things that have been roaming around here are called Novistadors."

I peered over my shoulder to look at him. "Novi-- what?" I asked with furrowed eyebrows, can't get the word right. "Kinda mouthful."

"Novistadors." He pronounced slowly.

"Yeah, what you said." I turned around. "Anyway, the other side of this stench is a passage so we have to find a valve somewhere to drain this water out."

Leon nodded. "Let's try over there." He pointed a succeeding way to the right with his eyes and I nodded.

We proceeded on that way and we saw the walls have been destroyed, it looked like a wrecking ball hit it. We followed and passed through the crashed walls and there was a metal door.

Leon opened the door slowly and checked the area, gun in hand. The area was clean, we proceeded inside.

The lights were flicking on and off, giving off a creepy atmosphere. Leon turned the valve while I opened the wooden boxes and treasure chests.

I checked the clip on my Punisher because I don't have extra ammo anymore, and was frustrated to find out that I only have six shots left.

I have to make these six bullets worth the shot.

I sighed, and returned the clip on the gun and I turned to the opening with the water now drained.

"Let's go." Leon beckoned as he opened the door to our exit.

"Leon, I--"

My sentence was cut short when we heard a inhuman noise coming from the open ceiling, two Novistadors camouflaged crawled on the walls and coming to attack us.

Leon pulled out his Riot Gun and pointed the red laser blindly, and I knew that he wasn't aiming at the monster.

"Leon!" I called out, as the monster was practically on his side.

I fired my Punisher four times on the monster's eye because that's what I can see through the camouflage. It's just a slight glint that only I seem to notice.

The Novistador backed away and it revealed its black appearance. I looks like a gigantic mosquito if you ask me.

Leon fired his Riot Gun at the second Novistador in front of him.

Two more shots and I couldn't take the risk of wasting it. I pulled out the Semi-Auto Rifle on my back and aimed at the Novistador tackling Leon and ready to spit him something.

I shot it on the head and it let go of Leon and decayed right away.

Leon fired at the other Novistador and it hit the ground which gave him the advantage to shoot it to death.

"We have to hurry," Leon mutter, breathing heavily. "More will come."

I nodded and we made a run towards the pool now drained. Leon jumped first and I followed. The sounds of the Novistadors were close behind us but we ignored it, seemingly it'll just slow us down.

When we made our exit, I breathed a sigh of relief that we finally got away from those insects.

When I opened my eyes, I wanted to close them again. I couldn't process what I was seeing right now.

No, my eyes must be playing tricks with me.

I'm kinda nervous. And scared.