Sorry to those who are actually interested in this story about the long wait. Also, thank you to Bloom2000, Ellaine7, and Drunk Bookworm for the reviews. It made me feel special. :D

Alice

The first thing that entered my thoughts was the cold, heavy feeling leaking through my veins. It was a struggle trying to wake up. I was crawling up to the surface of consciousness, slowly making my way back to reality.

When I was able to open my eyes, I was instantly blinded by the bright lights. I blinked back tears. My vision swirled as it was filled with white. I looked up at the fluorescent lights, my mind trying to process their meaning.

It was cold. I was laying on something hard and metallic. The air was too clean, seeming to burn in the back of my throat.

I began to sit up. A piercing stabbed through different parts of my body. With a scream, I noticed the wires sticking into my arms. I pulled them out with shacking hands. With a yowling cry, they slide out of my skin which immediately began to bleed around the metal of the needle. There were more of the wires spread out around my body. The needles clanged against metal as I threw them away viciously.

I tried to stand, but my legs were unstable underneath me. I fell to the ground hard. I crawled until I reached the operating table I had been laying on for god knows how long.

With effort, I managed to get onto my feet. Shakily, I walked to a mirrored window. Slamming my hand against it, I yelled for someone, anyone. But there was no there that was going to help me. I was alone.

Matt. Where was Matt?

I tried to think through the drugs. It was like trying to dig through smoke, images flashing and going before I could grasp them. I was able to piece the puzzle together after a while. I remembered the Hive, Umbrella, the T-Virus, Spence, and Matt. The last moments with Matt before the men in white took him away.

I walked more steadily to the operating table. I picked up a blood smeared needle. I moved slowly to the door, my legs dragging underneath me as I tried to control my movements. I took the needle between my fingers and worked on the electrical lock. Sparks flew as I succeeded. The door unlocked and I walked out.

Instead of being in an underground lab like I had expected, I was in the Raccoon city hospital. The halls were quiet as I walked down them; the only sound was the padding of my feet on the linoleum floors. There was no sign of activity anywhere. The regular sounds of cough and sneezing of those who were sick was mysteriously absent. The place seemed deserted. I looked into the windows of various rooms, all empty and abandoned.

I walked into what seemed to be a doctors' break room. There was still coffee in the pot, but it had long since cooled. After searching through cabinets and closets, I found a pair of blue scrubs that were close to my size. I pulled them on thankfully. I also managed to find a doctor's lab coat but no shoes.

As I was searching, I wondered where everyone was. A sick feeling began to bubble up in the bottom of my stomach. This situation was too familiar. I tried to ignore it, but the more rational part of my brain knew the truth. Still, I couldn't accept it.

Leaving the break room, I continued walking down the halls. The lights began to flicker above me. They then turned off in sections until only the emergency lights were left on. The halls barely glowed with red which bounced against the white walls as I was submitted to the dark. I could only see a few feet ahead of me at a time.

Ahead, I saw a blue light gleaming out of a window to a room. Checking around myself first, I went over to the door. Peering through, I saw that the blue hue came from the lights of a computer. Other assorted colors beamed from the workings of other electrical devices. The light wasn't enough to see what else was in the room.

I grasped the handle and pulled. Locked. Digging into the pocket of the scrubs, I took out my previous needle and began working on the lock. With a satisfying beep, the door clicked open.

I walked in cautiously. A loud slamming noise came from behind me. I jumped, twirling around to notice it had only been the heavy door closing shut behind me. I scolded myself for being so skittish. I moved closer to the lights, trying to avoid the obstacles of various things in front of me. Different pieces of equipment was scattered throughout the room and on the floor, making the task even more difficult.

Of course I tripped. I tried to right myself so I didn't do a face plant into the ground. Flinging my hands out, I grabbed onto something solid. Squinting in the dark, I could make out various buttons and lights of the thing I was holding onto. They seemed to be monitoring devices with various cords and wires attached to it. Ahead of me, a cardio monitor beeped steadily, if somewhat fast. When I moved closer, the rate increased. Someone was here with me.

In a blur of action, the equipment was thrown, crashing into me. The momentum caused me to tumble and fall over various tables and electronics. They sparked, obviously broken. A sharp corner dug into my back as I landed hard. Before I could recover, rough fingers circled and clenched around my throat. I gasped as I clawed at the hand that was crushing my wind pipe. The skin seemed cracked and tightly stretched over bulging tendons and muscle. It felt unnatural, the size and shape of the hand and arm weren't right.

I heard a roaring in my ears as blood tried to bring oxygen to my brain. I gasped, trying to breathe as my vision blurred, the lights mixing into the dark room like it was dripping paint. My legs flung out wildly as I tried to kick the person off of me. I landed a punch against what felt like a jaw bone. My captive made a pained intake of air that hissed from the contact.

"Let… go…" I croaked out, but still it managed to sound like a whinny whimper.

"Alice?" A familiar voice asked. The tension on my neck instantly went away. I coughed loudly as I opened my windpipe again. I gasped in air at the same time as I coughed, trying to force air down to my lungs. I became light headed as blood rushed to my head.

"Matt?" Did you just try to KILL me?" My voice sounded scratched like a cigarette addicted Grandma.

"I thought you were one of those Umbrella guys." Matt responded. "I'm so sorry. Are you ok?" He asked, the black blur that was his face moving closer to mine as he tried to see me in the dark room.

"Yeah, I'll live. But sheesh, you have a tight grip." I said, rubbing at my sore throat. I felt the beginning of four long welts rising at the skin. His fingers felt longer than I had expected, thicker too, easily covering and wrapping around my neck with only one hand.

"Sorry." He said, sounding slightly sheepish. I couldn't help but feel a little laugh leap past my lips.

"It's fine. I would have done the same. Well maybe not the whole choking thing, but maybe more something along the lines of punching their lights out. That's more style." I joked, trying to lighten the mood. I was awarded with only a slight chuckle in response.

I began standing up. Once I was up, it seemed I was looking directly into him, closer than I thought.

"Come here." I said, reaching out and finding a hand. It was the same distorted one. I pulled him closer to the brightest light source in the room, which was the computer. I felt around and managed to find a mouse. Once I moved it, a login in page popped up. I had enough light then to actually see Matt.

I met his eyes first. I couldn't make out their blue color, but instead they seemed black. He looked skinnier than he was before, his cheek bones and jaw gutting out from underneath the skin. There were dark circles around his eyes too. My fingers traced over his skin, which felt feverish. He looked so sick.

I instantly wanted to hurt every Umbrella agent on this planet. How badly had they tortured him, experimented on him? They didn't even feed him, those demented bastards. My hand clenched at my side as I bite into my bottom lip, trying to tame my anger.

Back to my examination, I looked down from his face to survey the rest of him. His chest wasn't nearly as skinny as his face, but it was covered in different probes and needles. Long scratches and stitches covered his chest, making him look like a mad scientist version of a jig saw puzzle. He had nothing on but a small sheet around his hips.

Then to the most important part. His left arm was completely changed. The skin was dark and rough. Long tendons ran up and down his arm. The three scratches from the Licker dug deeply into his shoulder, the skin around them black and the sinews under the surface were green and bulging. The infection seemed to make his arm become longer as well as twice its original size. The infection seemed to stop right at his shoulder blade and collar bone.

"Here. Let me help with those." I said, taking a taped probe that was on his chest between my fingers. "This hurts a little." I warned. I looked up and Matt just gave a nod, bracing himself. I pulled it out. He hissed in pain, but remained quiet until the rest were off.

"Did I get them all?" I asked, squinting as I checked his chest in the dim light. I ran my hands over the skin, fingers becoming slick with blood and sweat.

"Yeah. You did." Matt answered, his voice lower than before. He covered my hands with his good one. We stood there for a while. I lowered my head to gently rest against his chest as his chin lowered on top of my head. We stood there for a while, taking a break to escape from our ever messed up lives. Shaking my head, I returned back to reality.

"We should get moving. It's not safe here." I said softly, my voice barely louder than a whisper. Taking one last deep breath, I stepped back slowly. Matt lowered his hand and I pulled mine away from him. Shrugging out of the lab coat, I draped it over Matt's shoulders.

"Thanks." He said simply, gifting me with a half-smile that curled up one side of his face. He pulled his arms through the sleeves and buttoned it up.

I made it through the room, only bumping into the assorted items instead of falling down again. Matt followed close behind. We made it into the halls, the emergency lights still glowing red overhead. We walked in comfortable silence that had a hidden undercurrent of tension.

We both were constantly checking all around us. We were braced for the worst, at least that's what I thought until we stepped outside into Raccoon City. Nothing could have prepared us for that.

So if you hadn't figured it out yet, in my version, Matt wasn't turned into Nemesis. I wanted to make it seem like they started but didn't finish before the outbreak. I may bring it back later if anyone wants.

If you have any suggestions on how to make this story great, please share. Also any questions or comments too. Thank you so much for reading!