Got Smoke?

Lose Myself

Luis and I made our way to the upper levels of the castle where Luis had accidentally dropped the pills. There were many of the cultists around the area, and the only way to enter the room was to shoot our way in. Luis was an excellent shooter and we worked well together, maybe even better than when I'm with Leon, but I'd never say that out loud. I spotted a clear red pill bottle at the corner of the room, and I confirmed it with Luis. The only problem was that there was another parasitic organism in the room. Its hands were armed with sharp claws and its eyes were stitched shut. I made a signal to Luis to be absolutely quiet while heading inside the room. My guess was that it had accelerated hearing,  so making even a small noise would get the creature to lunge at our direction. My theory was proven right when a cultist entered the room with a spear. The creature was fast, running towards the cultist and ripping it to shreds. Luis, who just happened to be next to the creature, was unable to get away from it without making a noise.

"Over here, you son of a bitch!" I yelled, hoping to get the creature away from him.

The creature turned around, whipping its menacing claws around and slicing a vase clean into two. Luis managed to run away from it just in time. I threw a grenade right at the feet of the creature and it exploded. I used this opportunity to shoot it right in the head several times, but it still wasn't dead. Luis distracted it next, throwing the broken vase at the other end of the room. The creature ran towards the wall and got its claws stuck. That's when I saw the Plagas on its back. I quickly grabbed the spear from the dead cultist and plunged it right in the back. The Plagas disintegrated, and the creature fell with a piercing scream.

"Is it dead?"

"I guess so," I whispered, inching quietly towards the pill bottle. I grabbed it quickly and shuffled out of the room with Luis.

"You got it! Now let's find Leon," Luis said, taking the bottle from me.

Luis said the Leon might be somewhere in the centre of the castle. We didn't waste any time to head to the destination. I shot a couple of cultists along the way as we entered the mezzanine. At the same time, Leon had just entered the mezzanine from the other door.

"Leon!" I shouted, gaining his attention.

He smiled, going up towards me and giving me a brief hug. "You're alright," he said, ruffling my hair before turning to face Luis.

"We got it," Luis said, triumphantly holding up the sample in one hand and the pills in the other.

Just then, we heard another person walking towards us. I didn't see who it was, but a brief flash of purple crossed my vision. Instinctively, I told the two of them to get down when something came fast at us. I suddenly felt an excruciating pain in my upper left shoulder. I looked down to see a tendril piercing through me. I immediately coughed out blood, and my vision became blurry. The tendril retracted itself from me, and I fell onto the floor, my body going limp. I could feel myself fading in my own pool of blood. I heard Leon shouting for me, but I couldn't get myself up. I could see the cloaked man throwing both Luis and Leon across the mezzanine. Both of them hit the wall, and the sample rolled away from Luis. The cloaked man picked up the sample and kept it inside his robe.

"Now that I have the sample, you serve me no purpose," the man spoke, laughing at Luis.

"Saddler!" Leon yelled, grabbing his gun.

"My boy Salazar will make sure you will face the same fate as this girl. Apparently, she's not strong enough as we thought she'd be."

With that, Saddler left. Leon came running towards me, resting my head on his lap. I could barely keep my eyes open. Luis came next with the pills in hand.

"Amara, stay with me, please!" Leon begged, tears already forming in his eyes. He placed pressure on my wound, but it only caused me to cough out more blood. "Amara!"

"L-Leon... go..."

"What? Amara, I can't leave you like this!"

"Leon, listen to her," Luis cut in, and Leon looked away from me briefly.

I nodded slowly, thanking Luis mentally. "You- you need to... get to A-Ashley."

Luis took me from Leon and laid me down carefully. He placed the pill bottle in Leon's hands. "You need to take this and so does Ashley, if not, it'll be too late. I'll make sure Amara's going to be alright."

Leon gave me a quick kiss on the forehead. He grabbed the bottle tight then nodded at Luis. "Save her, please."

"You better get to Ashley," Luis said, immediately turning to face me.

Leon got up and left in a hurry. Luis continued to attend to my wound, ripping the cloth from his shirt to patch it up. My vision was starting to get dark, and I knew there was nothing Luis could do to save me. Luis must have fought back his tears but failed. I could feel his tears falling onto my face. I used the last of my strength to grab his hand, and he immediately clasped it.

"Amara, I'm going to get the first aid kit. There's one around here. It's just a few rooms away. When I come back, I'll fix you up."

"L-Luis..."

"Don't," he whispered harshly. "Please, don't. I'm going to save you, Amara. I'm going to. Please, don't go to sleep. I'll be back."

I managed to nod. He then released his grip from mine and rushed out of the mezzanine. I stared up at the high ceiling, forcing myself to keep awake. The lights above were getting dimmer, and my breaths were getting shallow. I doubt I could live to see Luis returning in time. I laughed bitterly, unable to believe the fact that I was weak. I failed Ashley, Leon, Luis and myself. I thought it was time for me to go until I saw someone else approaching me. The lady in red.

"You're not supposed to die, Amara," she said, squatting down beside me. She took out a needle and syringe and jabbed it into my shoulder, just above my wound. "This will help you to stay alive for a few more minutes. There's nothing else I can do unless Luis comes back soon."

I tried to speak, but I couldn't. She soon got up and left. I looked at the direction she walked away, and my eyelids fluttered closed.