Shots were heard everywhere. Even though the earmuffs pretty much lessened most of the noise, nothing can escape the impact of a bullet escaping the metal shaft of the gun. The bullet went straight to the heart, more or less the bulls-eye of the paper target fifteen feet away from me.

I nodded to myself in triumph and reloaded my handgun. I was the only girl staying in the gun range which made some guys rather swoon over me. Not many people can see a girl in boy’s action every day. Then the bell rung, signaling for a break and a quick absence on the job. Not before long, my name was exclaimed over the P.A., requesting me to go to the President’s office.

And did I mention I was in the U.S Government? Maybe not. I hung my earmuffs on the hook beside me and placed my gun on the table below it. Eyes of men follow their gaze upon me as I make my way out of the room.

My assistant, McCaine was there to escort me to the office. “What’s the status, Simon?” I asked him as we turned around a corner. “Well, you see, the President’s daughter was kidnapped around the area of Spain….” He said as he rummaged through clipped papers on a folder. I saw from the corner of my eye, a peek of Ashley’s face. “Ah, and of course, you need me to get the job done…” I replied, my hand on my chest, acting in a manner of sarcasm. He smiled and came to a stop in front of the President’s door. He gestured me to go in first.

I opened the door and there, the President sat in all his glory. Another man seated in front of him, looked at me rather questionably and sat more comfortably on the chair. I narrowed my eyes to the dirty blonde and sat beside him, grabbing my towel that hung around my neck and onto my lap. Who’s this chump? Whoever he is, he won’t get in my way, I thought to myself as I directed back my sight to the President.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I got out of the office, Simon greeted me with his presence out the door and immediately filled me with information on the mission. My face, still paralyzed, not because of the mission, but the thought that I get to work with the so-called Leon Scott Kennedy. I mean, I am a one-woman army. I work alone. He’ll only bring me down.

“You shall start immediately…” Simon said as he finally came to a stop on the information which I didn’t listen to at all. I hadn’t noticed it, but I was back in my quarters where all my things are assembled and ready for the field. I swung the bag over my shoulders and head to the bathroom to change and put the things in the bag on me.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The trip was long alright. Long enough to kill me. Kill me more than the field might have done. Not a peep out of my partner. And not one from me too. It was awkward. Also awkward enough to kill me too. I wonder what this man might have done to make the President ask for his presence so badly? And for me to join with him, then Ashley’s safety would be doubled. I wanna know what makes him tick. So that I’ll use it against him. Like I said, I work alone.

The car came to a stop. I rolled my eyes as the Spanish music plays, one of our escorts makes a quick bathroom break outside. He should have manners. Has he forgotten the presence of a woman in the car? I looked over to his buddy in the driver’s seat. He doesn’t care at all. He even gestured Leon to grab a cigarette. After Leon refused, he turned to me. I never smoked.

Now that I’ve noticed it, Leon caught my eyes. Looking into the sky with his knuckles supporting his chin reminds me of the statue of the Thinker. His blue eyes meet mine as he finally noticed that I’ve been observing his facial features for the past seconds. I look away, I don’t want him to notice that I’ve been distracted.

The man who took a break outside finally got in the car and the trip started once more. From the corner of my eye, I could tell Leon’s smiling as he stared out into the sky again, the very same way he did before.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Soon, we had gotten to our destination. The trip was officially over and I was the first one to get out of the car.

“Don’t want to get any parking tickets….” The driver’s buddy said as Leon made sure they weren’t coming.

“Right, parking tickets….” I finally heard Leon’s voice since he’s the only one of the guys with an American accent.

“Jeez, who were those guys….” Leon added as he turns to me. I shrugged my shoulders in return.

 I grabbed my handgun from my holster and walked my way through. Leon followed behind me. We reached a house and decided to ask one of the people there first.

Before I could even step on the front porch, a hand was on my shoulder. “Maybe you should let me first… You know… Just in case…” Leon said as he overtakes me. I rolled my eyes and let him take the glory. He opened the door and walked in, making me in charge of his back.

A kind of a ‘friendly’ bond can be visible between us now. But still, it never hurts to have a ‘friendly’ competition along the journey.

“Uh, excuse me…. Sir?” I heard Leon start as I finally let my guard down. I looked over to see a man fixing the fireplace to a warm temperature. Leon looks at me in a ‘guess I’m gonna break it down for him’ kind of way and gets closer to the man.

Leon took out the picture of Ashley that I saw on Simon’s folder and gets ready to ask the questions. The man turns around rather sinisterly and looks at the picture Leon faces to him. Judging from the facial features of the man, I say something evil is afoot and I peeked through the window where the two drivers who escorted us goof off in the car.

“I was wondering if you could recognize a girl in this photograph?” Leon asks. The man replied something in Spanish. Leon reacted by the tone of his voice that he doesn’t know a thing about her and began to hide the picture again. I gripped my gun tighter as the man makes his hand over to an axe beside the fireplace.

I was shocked at the scene as the man tried to hit Leon with his axe. I aimed my gun at his head, but not ready to shoot yet, for I know that Leon might move in case the man attacks and I just might hit him.

“Freeze!...... I said freeze!” Leon shouted. I rolled my eyes and shot the man right on the head.

“You didn’t gave him time to think!” Leon scolded.

“Think? The first one word you shouted was enough to give him time…. And he’s still holding the axe! Assault on a federal agent is evident enough….” I replied sternly as I checked the man for pulse. There was none.

An engine was turned on outside. And Leon and I both peeked from the window I had peeked through before. There were men everywhere. And the truck rammed the car that escorted us, followed by screams and a crash. I looked away from the scene and tried to control my breathing.

“Shit!” Leon exclaimed.

There came a ring somewhere until Leon grabbed his phone.

“Is everything OK?” a female voice said.

“There was a hostile local… My partner had no choice but to neutralize him… There’s still others surrounding the area…” Leon replied.

“Get out of there and head toward the village… Take whatever measures necessary to save the subject…”

“Understood.”

The transmission soon ended and I was on the first step on the staircase, gesturing for Leon to follow.

“There’s no way through…” Leon said, heading back downstairs.

“Yes, there is…!” I said as I dove right through the window and made a safe landing on the ground. I looked back at Leon above and he smirked. He followed and made a safe landing beside me. I shot the man right behind Leon, making him jump at the sudden sound of the bullet beside his ear. “Are you crazy?!” he scolded me once again. “I can’t kill the guy any other way….” I replied sarcastically. He smiled evilly and did the same with me, he shot his gun right beside my ear.

“Now that’s just plain dumb!” I now scolded him, holding my ear from the piercing sound. Then I heard a thud behind me. A corpse had fallen behind me. I guess we owe each other big time now. He cocked an eyebrow and tipped his head as a sign of agreement and gratitude for before.

“Now that I’ve heard your voice…. What’s your name?” he started a conversation as we started walking.

“Haha…. Its Laura… Laura Wong…” I replied as I grabbed a box of handgun ammo in a shed not far from where we stand.

“Wait…. Wong?” Leon asked, a bit interested on the subject now.

“Well, yes…. Why?”

“Do you know someone named… Ada? Ada Wong?”

I stopped dead on my tracks. I try not to remember that woman, that woman that took everything away from me. I gripped my gun tighter and looked at the ground.

“I…. I might have….” Was the sentence that escaped my mouth involuntarily.

“Well, who was she?”

“She’s… my sister….”

“Ah, that explains it….”

“Explains what?”

“You look just like her….”

And it was true. I DO look like that wretched witch. It all started about three years ago.

She left me for good for the Umbrella Corporation. She was my only family and I get to know the lesson of survival. Being dependent is the most effective way of surviving. For in the end, the provider will be gone and you will be left with nothing. All those years of striving by myself, I got a place, a place where I finally belong, the U.S. Government.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Well, I guess we could sit here for a while…” Leon said as we reached a small shack after a few kills.

“Um…. Sit? As in, rest?” I asked to make sure. He nodded, he was serious. “We have no time to rest, Mr. Kennedy….. Ashley’s life is at hand…. And you just wanna sit here and let the time pass by?” I said, my hands on my hips as Leon heads inside the shack. He gets out after he’s heard my comeback.

“The more we’re energized, the faster we can get to Ashley….” He snapped back at me.

Well, he does have a point. All these killing makes you fatigued and stressed. “Fine…. Just…. This once…” I murmured and got inside with him.

There’s a sickly stench inside the shack. A scent that made me dizzy. I looked beside me and saw a corpse of a woman impaled with a pitchfork on her face. I narrowed my eyes in disgust. Leon was unaffected.

“D-Don’t tell me, you’re gonna rest with that thing in here…” I said as I covered my nose.

He rolled his eyes and got the pitchfork out of her distorted face. He placed the pitchfork on the desk beside the hanged corpse and carried the dead body over his shoulder and dumped it outside.

“I am NOT…. Holding your hand…” I mocked and sat on the floor. He chuckled to himself as he comes back in the shed, dusting off whatever remained of the corpse.

He sat beside me as he placed back his gun back in his holster and took out his knife. “How bout you? Got a knife?” he asked me. I scoffed, giving him an expression that says ‘duh’. I squeezed my fists and two large blades appeared out of my gloves. Leon was surprised at the mechanism.

“I had personally asked Simon to order one of these for me….” I said as I gave them a punch in the air.

“Cool… Retractable blades….” Leon said, eyeing the blades as I slid them back into the gloves. Something vibrated on my right thigh and got my cell phone out of my pocket. It was a transmission from Simon.

“Laura!..... Your tracker isn’t moving… Are you trapped?” He asked me, worried.

“No…. We’re resting…” I said, smiling that he once again, placed a tracker on me, possibly on my food before I left.

“R-Resting? Don’t you know you have a serious matter at hand?!”

I switched it off before I could say anything and sighed in relief.

“Haha…. Talk about avoiding the action…” Leon said as he stretched his arms in the air and began to lie on the ground, looking at the rotting wooden ceiling. “Hey, Laura….”

“Hm?”

“Do you think we’ll be getting out of this alive? And with Ashley?”

“I… hope so…. I never failed on a mission…”

“I can see that you’re still alive, yes….”

“I…. I wanna live so I can kill my sister…”

“You hate Ada that bad?”

“Of course… Would you do nothing if the only family you have left you for good?”

I got him thinking. He was thinking for a while so I lay down beside him, the thought of ruining his future was permanently gone.

“Hey, Leon?” I started, my hands on my stomach and my eyes on the ceiling. “You’re the very first partner I ever had…..” I added which made him look at me.

“Ha…. No wonder you’re so cold….” He said, smirking. I rolled my eyes, thinking that he’ll never take me seriously.

I sighed and placed my left hand on my side. To my surprise, Leon’s hand was there. And I found my hand on top of his. It felt so warm. I don’t want to take it off. He smiled and I was shocked that he didn’t react negatively about this.

“And maybe you’re gonna be the first partner that won’t die on me…..” Leon said as our eyes met.

“As long as you don’t leave me, then I will be….” I said as I now held his hand rather than just lay on top of it. He smiled and took a strand of my hair away from my face with his other hand.

“Haha…. And I thought you don’t want me touching you ever since I held that dead body….” Leon chuckled.

He got closer to me, closer that we could share our body heat. I folded myself like a baby in a womb, secretly yearning love from this man. He kisses my forehead, letting me know that I’m all he has in this mission.

“I….. I hope we’ll get out of this alive… AND with Ashley…” I involuntarily said, but meant it with all my heart, remembering the past question Leon asked me.

“Does that mean you like me, then?” he replied which made me smile.

“Maybe, if you start getting serious by now…” I said sarcastically as I kissed his cheek.

“…… Well, I guess that’s enough ‘resting’ now….” He said, a sense of half-stern and half-playful tone in his voice.

He was right, I—we were totally energized. I was grateful for the time of relaxation, a time to be free from all the paranoia and violence. Sometimes, letting go will help you stronger. But it is enough to make me forgive my traitorous sister?