Title: Into the Light
Author: Malenkaya
Rating: R for violence and swearingSummary: (RE movie fanfic, 2nd in trilogy) What began as a mindless effort to survive has developed into a race against time to stop Matt's sudden mutation as Alice, Rain, Michael, Matt and J.D. re-enter the Hive in search of a cure.
Disclaimer: I do not own Resident Evil or its characters.
Feedback: Please! I live and breathe reviews! Flames, as long as their explanatory, are fine.
Author's Notes: Yay, first chapter of "Into the Light" is finally up! :) A thousand thanks to all who've continued to read and review all throughout "Fading Away" and I hope that all of you, as well as any new readers, enjoy this next installment of the trilogy!
And there is finally a M/A scene for all those who have been asking for one! LOL!
"Y" is, again, for spaces.
Thanks again, enjoy the fic!
Into the Light
Chapter One: So Close, So Far Away
The Hive was no longer just a tomb anymore, no longer just an example of experiments gone wrong.
The Hive was a prison.
Umbrella had locked it's own teams down there when it had realized how bad the situation was, left them to be torn apart, mutilated, by their own sick creations.
But they hadn't locked the Hive up in time. Because the world above her was shattered, thrown into a thousand pieces by what had already escaped the Hive- zombies, Lickers, God knew what else... and, of course, Hades. Quite possibly the worst mutation Umbrella had managed to create- and completely by mistake.
She'd thought that Nemesis, when she'd first seen the test results, was terrible- but, then, one simply had to look at the names to realize which was the worst of the two. Nemesis, God of vengeance; or Hades, God of the Underworld?
Whatever the case, Umbrella's fixation on Greek mythology was surprising. Especially considering their general names like the Lickers and the applicable but cliché "zombies".
Really, Umbrella's virus carriers were so much more proficient than Hollywood zombies- because they, above all others, could be brought back from the dead, and then cured completely.
Except Umbrella refused to administer the serum to the population of Raccoon City. It hadn't been tested yet, she realized that- but people out there were dead anyways, as a result of their experimentation. They owed it to them to at least try.
But, as William Archangelo had explained to her thousands of times, they owed nothing to Raccoon.
To Archangelo, the people of Raccoon were simply toys, simply more "specimens".
But she couldn't bring herself to care anymore, and she didn't want to argue. It might ruin her chances with the diabolical Umbrella employee in charge of Raccoon City's fate.
Because as much as she detested the arrogant bastard, he was her only hope of escaping the Hive.
Not that he was being much help right now.
"I told you," she explained patiently, "I'm the only one down here. I can make it to the train station, you'd only have to open the doors for a moment—"
"Ms. Alderic," Archangelo cut in smoothly. "I am fully aware of your... capabilities- and yet there is too much risk in your plan. Like I've told you before, you're going to have to stay down there until we're able to send another team to get you."
"And when will that be?" she demanded.
"I'm unable to say at the present time."
God damn it, Archangelo. "Sir," she began instead, "There's no food or water down here, the place is full of zombies. If you don't send a team down here soon, it's going to be too late."
She forced her voice to remain calm, forced herself not to voice any of the insults she longed to hurl at him. Her rescue depended on her performance.
"I'm sorry to hear that."
And then he hung up on her.
She stared in disbelief at the Umbrella issued cell phone she held in her hands. Part of her noticed the red light blinking, signifying the cell was nearly out of batteries- but the other part of her was all too caught up in Archangelo's words to care.
He was sorry? He didn't fucking sound sorry.
She'd never spoken to Archangelo personally before, but had heard from her teammates that he was a complete dickhead, an arrogant moron who couldn't care less about her team.
Naïve as she was- she was 24, but guilty of acting younger occasionally- she hadn't believed him. After all, nobody liked their boss.
Except, in the two weeks since her team had disappeared, probably been horribly mutilated, she'd realized, based on her frequent phone calls, that not only were their comments about him true- but almost complimentary to him, based on his actual personality.
It was because of his arrogance, his complete indifference to her fate that she was trapped here, probably destined to die along with the rest of her team. She had no family- nobody would miss her or report her missing. All thanks to Archangelo.
God, she hated him.
But this wasn't the time or place for it. When she got out of the Hive, she'd take her records, all she knew, to the police and expose Umbrella to the public. The Corporation was evil, and despite the ignorance she'd managed to display, refusing to believe what she heard about them in favor of the enormous paycheck they granted her, she'd finally realized the truth.
Umbrella needed to be shut down.
But for now, Olivia Alderic curled up in the ventilation tunnel she had wedged herself into and cried.
y
The whole house had fallen silent after her proclamation.
When they should have been discussing ideas, theories, any strategy they had to infiltrate and carry out another inspection of the Hive, instead they were separated, all involved in their own activities and none of them talking.
They were all thinking about the same thing though. About Matt, about his mutation- and about infiltrating the Hive again.
Rain sat in the kitchen with J.D as Michael stitched up her neck. They were all quiet- Alice hadn't heard anything from them since they'd left except the occasional whispered profanity from Rain.
Whatever Michael was doing, it sounded painful. Though, Alice mused, there was a reason for anesthesia, after all.
That was mainly the reason for J.D's presence, to distract Rain, and she could hear him joking around with her every once in awhile. She'd answer, in the same teasing tone- but both sounded stiff, their laughter forced.
Alice sat where she was in the living room armchair, the chair's base swiveled around so she was looking at the doorway to the room her, Matt, Rain and J.D shared.
The bedroom Matt was sleeping in right now.
The file was still in her hands, and while she should have been studying it, looking for information that would prove useful to entering the Hive, instead she was staring at the door, thinking about what she was going to tell him.
The team had voted her as the official spokesperson in telling Matt what had happened. Despite a slight bit of resentment, she understood the reasonability of the decision- she was probably the only person Matt would listen to right now.
Not that it had stopped him from hitting her.
She shook the thought aside in irritation. She couldn't hold it against him- it hadn't been his fault, after all. It had been Nemesis in control, not Matt.
But she still couldn't shake the feeling that she had somehow been betrayed.
Fortunately, her thoughts were interrupted by the squeaking of bedsprings from the door in front of her.
Matt was waking up.
The rest of them knew it too- Alice could tell by the way conversation in the kitchen had crashed to a halt.
They were all silent, staring at the door—
Which opened, and Matt came out, shaking the sleep out of his head, his hair mussed. His white shirt and pants, both Umbrella issued and stocked in the house, were wrinkled and messy, and he looked like a little boy woken from a nap.
He looked up at her, and she was relieved to see his bright blue eyes instead of dark red ones.
"What happened?" he asked.
She stared at him, suddenly realizing that, despite all her careful planning, she still had absolutely no idea what to say to him.
As if sensing the awkwardness between the two, conversation in the kitchen suddenly reached a chipper high point, all three occupants talking loudly as if trying to stifle the silence.
He looked in surprise at the kitchen and then back at her, his expression showing sudden realization that something was going on, that something important had happened in the time he'd been unconscious.
"Alice, what happened?" he asked again, his tone demanding now.
She stood up. "We should talk in your room," she told him softly as she made her way past him.
She sat down on the mussed bed as he shut the door behind him, coming to sit in front of her. Fixing her with those inquiring eyes he asked quietly, "What's going on?"
She sighed. "What's the last thing you remember?"
A flash of guilt spread over his face as he answered. "I was fighting with Rain, yelling at her- I told you to shut up."
He looked straight at her, his face painfully earnest. "I'm sorry about that. I am. I just- God, I don't know why, but I haven't been able to control my temper lately."
She flushed. If he was this upset about what he'd said, how would he react when she told him what had happened?
"Matt," she told him softly. "I'm not mad. I promise. Nobody is. But there's something I have to tell you."
And she told him. She told him about him hitting Rain, J.D, her; told him about Michael knocking him out, about their reading session, about all Umbrella had done to him.
She told him he was mutating. That they were re-entering the Hive.
When she'd finished, there was utter silence in the air. Matt stared at the ground, his expression blank as she watched him anxiously, waiting for some kind of reaction.
She had been prepared for him to be shocked, to be upset, even angry.
But she'd never thought he'd react the way he would.
Instead of saying anything more, he only pointed to the door, his chin balanced on his other hand as he continued to stare at the floor. "Go."
"Matt, please-"
He looked up at her, and the expression in his eyes was pained rather than angry. "Just go, Alice."
As she slowly rose, making her way out of the room, she barely made out his last words as she opened the door.
"I need be alone for awhile."
And she closed the door, walking quickly to the kitchen to talk to the others, blinking away tears as she did so.
y
It was twelve o'clock now.
More than five hours had passed since she'd left Matt in the bedroom, alone with his thoughts.
He still hadn't emerged.
Michael had gone to bed hours earlier and her, Rain, and J.D sat in the living room together, watching TV. Most reception had been cut off and the screen flickered dully on all stations besides the one they were watching, a black and white cartoon one. The colors made it look positively ancient, even though the image currently superimposed on the screen was one of Dexter blasting off in his spaceship through the hole in his laboratory roof.
Rain and J.D sat on the couch together, lit only by the flickering light of the tv. They both looked tired, lost in their own thoughts as they stared at the screen, Rain's head on J.D's shoulder. Her left eye had already begun to swell up, turning a dark black color, and next to J.D's right black eye, not quite as bad as hers, the two made almost a comical impression. Along with the rest of the house, both wore Umbrella-issued clothing, J.D dressed in a pair of boxers and a tee shirt and Rain in another men's tee.
The clothes in the house had been fit for both her and Spence, and after trying on three different pairs of pajamas, Rain had finally given up on her search for a decently fitting pair of pajamas in favor for the shirt, which she absolutely swam in, the black fabric reaching almost down to her knees.
Both Rain and J.D were completely tuned into the tv, impervious to the thoughts racing through her head.
She too was dressed in her night attire, a simple pair of pajamas, with her hair brushed and her face clean. Completely ready for bed in all shapes and forms, the only thing that stood between her and sleep was nervousness at entering the bedroom.
She wanted to give Matt his privacy, let him think things over- but she also wanted to rid herself of that reasonability and give way to her instincts, which was to run in there and somehow try to help Matt.
Finally deciding on a resolution, she stood up abruptly. J.D and Rain both turned to look at her, Rain asking sleepily, "Are you going in to see him?"
She nodded wordlessly and J.D cast her a comforting smile. "He'll probably be happy to see you. Don't worry."
She nodded again, and with a quiet "good night" left the room, entering the bedroom slowly.
She shut the door softly behind her.
The lamp next to the bed was on and Matt sat on his side of it, his back turned towards her.
When they'd first started living together, all six of them, her and Rain had shared the bed, J.D and Matt, the foldout couch.
But after Rain had recovered, after Matt had become more hostile, the two had switched places, mainly to exert a calming influence on both, and Matt had chosen the left of the bed instantly. "It's good luck," he'd explained to her, and she'd been absolutely fine with that explanation.
Now he sat there, his back to her, and she wondered as she stood in front of the closed door if she should say anything.
Making her way to the bed, she slid onto it carefully, trying unconsciously to be as quiet as possible as she began to pull back the covers—
And stopped. She didn't care what was going through Matt's head right now, she had to say something. "Matt?"
He turned to look at her then, and she was shocked to see the tears streaking his face, moving forwards instantly to put an arm around him as he turned fully. "What's wrong?"
A stupid question, she knew. There were a thousand things wrong. And even if he had something particular in mind, what advice could she give him? "It'll all be okay"?
Neither of them was naïve enough to believe that.
Matt shook his head, took a deep breath before answering, "I just- I can't control it. I hit you, I hit Rain, J.D- and it's only going to get worse."
"You didn't hit me," she told him softly.
"What?" he asked, sounding confused.
She hesitated, but it had to be said: "You threw me into a wall, actually. But you never hit me."
He sighed. "What's the difference?" he asked rhetorically, before turning to face her, his eyes bright. "Before I mutate, I'm going to hurt you again. All of you. And when we go into the Hive, if anybody dies, it'll be my fault."
She shook her head. "Matt—" was all she could get out before he threw himself into her arms and hugged her tightly.
She returned the embrace as tightly as she could, her heart shattering as she did so. Matt was too strong for this, shouldn't have to break down the way he was.
He didn't cry, but gripped her forcefully, making his need for contact and reassurance painfully obvious.
When he finally pulled back she gripped his arms tightly still, looking into his eyes, marveling at the way his face shone like an angel's in the dim lamplight.
And then she kissed him.
And he kissed her back.
It was both sudden and expected, tender and forceful, and as Alice kissed him, a tiny part of him wondered if she was doing the right thing, if they weren't just reacting with physical intimacy to emotional intimacy.
Matt's hands fumbled over the buttons on her pajama top as he began to unbutton the first two—
And then pulled back abruptly, panting. His face was flushed as he looked at her longingly, asking softly, "Are you sure this is what you want?"
She stared at his lamp lit face, unsure. It was all passion, felt like only passion—
But she loved him. And she trusted him.
That was all she needed.
In answer, she leaned forward, capturing his mouth in another kiss, breaking it only for a moment as she tugged his shirt over his head. His hands returned to her pajama top, to the buttons he'd been unbuttoning earlier.
And as he lowered her gently onto the bedspread, his hands dancing over her body, eyes intense with passion, the noise of the cartoons next door, the worries over the Hive and Kaplan- all of it vanished, leaving her in a world where she knew only tonight.
y
It was big, and it was smooth, and it was covered in chocolate, and as J.D shoved it into his mouth, ripping off another bite, he couldn't help but reflect on how delicious a brownie, after so many weeks of shitty oatmeal, tasted.
He ambled into the living room, still chewing on the brownie, and received the shock of his life when he realized the lights were on, the TV was off, and Rain was sitting on the couch reading.
Catching his disbelieving expression, Rain rolled her eyes at him before pointedly returning to her book.
Unable to help it, he asked, "So what are you reading, anyway?"
She closed the book in answer, waving it at him. "A baby book of names." Off another disbelieving look she shrugged, saying defensively, "It was the only book down here that's not about fucking geography, all right?"
He shrugged, grinned at her. "So what's my name mean then?"
"Jacob means 'supplanter', and Dominic means 'belonging to God'" she said lazily, continuing to flip through the book. She'd obviously looked both up already.
He nodded. "So what's yours mean?"
"Closest is Rainy," she said cheerfully. "Which means 'mighty'."
J.D snickered. "Sounds good to me, Rainy."
She looked up at him, amused. "Call me that again and I'll kill you."
He snorted at that. "Yeah, I bet you will." She laughed, and he grinned at her. "I'm tired though, so it'll have to wait until tomorrow."
He turned and made for the bedroom door, throwing over his shoulder, "Happy reading, Rainy," before smashing the last of his brownie in his mouth and opening the door—
And slamming it shut again, feeling his face flush as he turned to look at Rain, who looked amused. "Why didn't you tell me Matt and Alice were in there?" he hissed at her.
She snickered. "Where's the fun in that?"
He rolled his eyes, walking over and falling on the couch next to her—
And then, grabbing the blue throw pillow next to him, grabbed it and whapped Rain in the head, hard enough to make her drop the book she was reading.
Rain whipped around, searching for a throw pillow- finding none, she grabbed for J.D's instead, yanking it out of his hands even as he tackled her to the couch, tickling her ribs as she laughed helplessly and whapped him on the head with the pillow—
And then, in attempt to kick him, kicked the table, sending a mug to the floor with a muffled crash.
Both bolted upright, J.D still straddling her legs, and stared at the bedroom door.
Not a sound was heard from inside either of the rooms, so they focused instead on the coffee spilling over the carpet from the broken mug for a moment before Rain, reaching forward, shoved the magazines covering the table onto the floor as well, effectively hiding the stain.
She looked at him, and they both laughed as she extracted her legs from underneath him, both shifting back into sitting positions as Rain picked her book up off the floor.
J.D wondered if Matt and Alice, judging by the silence now emanating from their room, were sleeping yet.
Either that, or they just had very heavy doors.
That conjured up images, all sorts of bad images, and he shook them off, trying to focus on something else.
"So how long do you think they've been, uh-" he started to say intelligently.
Rain quirked an eyebrow, grinning at him. "Having sex?" She volunteered helpfully.
He rolled his eyes at her, and she laughed. "I doubt before now. They don't seem the type to, y'know, be secretive about it."
He nodded. "It isn't exactly unexpected though, is it?"
Rain threw her book down in a fit of exasperation. "It's fucking annoying, is what it is. I wanna go to sleep."
"Looks like we'll be sleeping with Michael, then," J.D told her, wandering off towards the room him and Kaplan had shared.
He was halfway there when he realized Rain hadn't moved. Looking back at her, he realized she was staring at the door, her look hesitating. "In Kaplan's bed?" she asked, looking disturbed by the idea.
He shrugged at her. "We don't really have a choice," he pointed out. Stretching his hand out to her, he said softly, "Come on."
She walked past him in response, completely ignoring his outstretched hand as she opened the door to the room. J.D rolled his eyes as he spun around to follow.
They tiptoed silently into the room, noticing as they did Michael asleep on the sofa bed.
Making their way through the darkness, both reached the king sized bed, crawling into the lush covers on either side. As his eyes adjusted to the darkness, J.D could see Rain lying next to him, the blankets pulled up to her chin. Her expression was thoughtful, almost timid, and he asked quietly, "What are you thinking about?"
She looked at him in the darkness, faltered- and then said quietly, "It feels like Kaplan's here."
J.D thought about pointing out how nonsensical the statement sounded, but in the end, vetoed the option. Normally he wouldn't have been able to resist the opportunity to bug Rain about it- but with her staring at him with those huge brown eyes, that uncommonly timid expression on her face, he couldn't bring himself to bother.
The fact that he missed Kaplan too- and, despite himself, understood what she meant- helped as well.
"I know," he whispered instead.
She lapsed into silence, staring up at the ceiling.
And then she rolled over, wrapping her arms around him as he pulled her closer to him in return. Her soft hair, loose from it's ever-present braid, brushed against his jaw as she settled her head into his shoulder and he rested her chin on the back of her head.
She gave a small sigh and seemed to visibly relax, and J.D couldn't help the surge of protectiveness that rushed through him then.
Rain was never timid, was rarely vulnerable- but with firstly her virus-related injuries, the loss of Kaplan, and now, her new black eye, she suddenly seemed so much more fragile than he'd ever seen her before.
Rain was his best friend, practically his sister. What they had went deeper than stupid fights, or the temporary love lovers shared.
He would do anything for her.
He hoped she knew that.
J.D closed his eyes, and let blackness wash over him.
y
The cold metal of the mesh cut into Olivia's back as she leaned against it, her feet up on the edge of the pipe in front of her, wedged in the most uncomfortable position possible.
Reaching out to her side, she flipped off the cell phone, resolving to stop leaving it on all the time.
Archangelo wasn't going to come for her. No one was.
And so she leaned her head back against the mesh, trying vainly to squeeze the blood and gunk, the same stuff that resided on all of the clothes she wore, out of her hair.
Giving up on the futile activity, she clasped her hands in her lap, the only place there was room for them, and closed her eyes.
But even without the uncomfortable metal, the drenched, filthy clothing and the endless loneliness, the sounds of the monsters who journeyed the Hive kept her awake long after dawn.