The air in the mine is thick with ash, smoke, and blood. You taste it in your mouth, copper and your own grief, burning at the back of your throat. The gun in your hand is still warm, but a lack of ammo renders it useless now. It trembles in your palm, and you don’t know if it’s the adrenaline or the horror that’s doing it. Either way, you can't stop yourself from shaking.

Leon had drifted from you, stuck in an altercation with the man who did this, the man who drove a blade through Luis' back. 'Major Krauser', you think the agent had said.

Luis is on his knees, staggering himself upwards and trying to follow after Leon despite your protests for him to stop, to wait, to rest. After reluctantly helping him over to the government agent, his body finally starts to give up as he fires those last shots from his gun, protecting you both one last time.

As Leon rushes over, telling him to stop talking, he laughs. Weak and pained. Even now, he smiles. “Not looking too great, eh?” he says, voice hoarse but soft, as if it’s just the three of you in the world and not a nightmare of chains and parasites and monsters that never stop. His eyes linger on you.

Desperate, you press your hands against the wound, even though you know it’s useless. You can feel the life ebbing away under your fingers. It...terrifies you. You’ve seen death. You’ve dealt it. Everyone in this hellhole has. But not like this. This wasn't supposed to happen. You were so close, so close to leaving these mines and finding Ashley, so close to leaving together.

Luis gives Leon a key, along with some words that don't quite reach your ringing ears. Then, slowly, he reaches up, barely, and his hand finds your arm. His fingers are slick and cold with his own blood. Amigo… you look worse than I do." The joke falls flat, much like the grin he's trying to force onto his face.

You don't know what to do. What to say. You haven't felt helplessness like this since Raccoon City.

In the distance, the mine groans. Next to you, Leon reloads his gun with an expression of anger, and betrayal. The world keeps turning. But for you, something has stopped.

Luis Serra was dying.

And you weren't fast enough to stop it.