Chapter 4: The Bleeding
The lying, the bleeding, the screaming
Was tearing me apart
The hatred, deceiving, the bleeding
"We're about three miles from the hospital." Alice heard Mikey talking as she walked back over to the news van. She really didn't want to stay, didn't want to find out just who and what would be waiting at that medical center… but Claire made one hell of an argument.
"That's not too bad," Claire said. "We'll lock and load before we leave. According to that transmission, the medical center is surrounded… who knows how many there will be. Everybody get geared up and we'll go."
The others nodded and dispersed, going to gather some weapons. They were all apprehensive about going somewhere that they knew there were many undead, but they also wanted to help those that they could. That was more credit than the blonde had given them.
Once everyone started getting ready, Claire turned to look at Alice once more. "You need some weapons?" she asked.
She actually smirked at the notion. "Of course not," the blonde answered. "I thought you'd have figured that out by now."
"Just making sure," Claire shrugged. "If you're coming – which you are – you should get ready. I'm betting we're going to be driving head on into a fight."
"Let's hope it isn't a trap," Alice commented before heading back to her bike. She'd been keeping the magnums on her person, but she'd get out her other weapons that way she wouldn't have to waste the time to do it once they got to the hospital.
She methodically checked the weapons, making sure they were fully loaded and ready to go. Nothing irritated her more than not having enough ammunition. As she slung the shotgun over her shoulder, Claire joined her again. "Jesus Christ… packing enough heat?" the redhead asked.
"You have no idea," Alice told her with a grin.
There was a moment of silence as Claire tried to figure out just what the other woman meant, but then she bypassed the comment. "We should see what we're up against and figure out a plan to get those people out safely instead of going in guns blazing."
"I can't make any promises," Alice admitted honestly.
Obviously Claire didn't like the admission, but she nodded just the same. "Let's get going." She headed back to her Hummer and got in so she could take the lead.
As the convoy hit the road again, Alice traveled parallel to the yellow Hummer this time. Usually she hung back just a little bit, but this time the trouble wasn't going to come in from behind them, they were heading straight into it.
When they moved from the highway to regular city streets, they found a familiar scene. The roads were congested with abandoned vehicles, trash, and other debris. The bigger vehicles could barrel their way through the obstacles, but Alice had to weave here and there on the motorcycle – though it didn't slow her down one bit.
The street they were on was lined with houses and businesses that had seen their better days. The other buildings gave way to an open space on the right, which offered up a view of the hospital. Even from the road, they could see what they were up against: there were at least a hundred, probably two hundred undead surrounding the building, all trying to get inside.
Alice really hadn't expected a group that big. Maybe fifty or sixty… but most definitely not nearly two hundred. She wasn't going to let that stop her – not at all.
When the hummer slowed down, Alice actually sped up. She could practically hear Claire swearing as she did so – the redhead had mentioned something about formulating a plan instead of going in guns blazing… That just wasn't Alice's style though.
As she moved ahead of the others, Alice pulled out one of her submachine guns. The noise from the vehicles was drawing the attention of the mass of undead. Though the thought of taking on a crowd like that by herself was exhilarating, the blonde knew that it could prove to be quite dangerous.
She took the second entrance into the hospital's parking lot, opening fire on the undead that were breaking away from the rest. So as not to damage her precious motorcycle, she brought it to a stop at a distance she deemed acceptably safe and got off. If she let anything happen to it, she'd have no way of traveling – and she couldn't have that.
Alice didn't even glance back as she heard the other vehicles coming up behind her. Both submachine guns were in her hands and she set to work. This was the best opportunity for a fight she'd found in some time, especially with a group of infected this large. Umbrella would notice the carnage, so she'd have to get out of the area as soon as possible – but she'd already planned on that.
The infected were breaking off in waves, but getting gunned down just as quickly. Not only was Alice shooting, but so were the others in the convoy. She was the first to run out of ammo, but she defaulted to her Kukri blades effortlessly. No one else was crazy enough to get close enough for hand to hand combat, but it did save a lot on ammunition.
The blade in her right hand was pointed backwards, but the one in her left was being held the right way. The varied grips gave her a wider range of motion and a better variety of attack possibilities.
Her first undead victim had his head sliced clean off, as did the second and third. It didn't really matter how sharp the blades were because with Alice's strength, they would go through their intended victims one way or another. The blonde cut off other limbs as necessary as she hacked her way through enough undead to lose count – and her brutality showed itself. Now on a much more personal level of killing the infected, she couldn't hold that at bay as easily.
Only when the gunfire stopped and she pulled one of her blades out of what had once been a person's brain did Alice glance back at the others. She'd been completely in her element and it had scared them. They'd seen her fight before, but she'd been smart enough to hold back. Now they knew something very serious was amiss, because no regular person would have been capable of dismembering all the bodies that were now laying in a large area around her feet.
They could be scared all they wanted. She'd decided on the way here that once they were done rescuing the people here, she was going to leave.
"Let's go," she told them before turning to head for the nearest entrance.
Only Claire and two others were going to accompany her inside. The rest would stay outside and watch over their supplies and vehicles. Just because they'd mowed down all the infected in the immediate area didn't mean it was completely safe.
The entrance that they approached was blocked to keep the infected out. That didn't mean it could keep Alice out. She had the others stay back for a moment and with two well placed, powerful kicks, she not only opened the door, but managed to break it and made a great deal of noise as the blockade fell apart on the other side.
Whoever was in the building would definitely know someone was coming inside.
"Get us all shot," Claire practically hissed as she walked up behind Alice and followed the other woman inside.
"Nothing happened," Alice pointed out as she walked down the dark hall. Her heightened senses picked up scant amounts of noise, which guided her direction.
"Do you even know where you're going?" the redhead demanded quietly. She was just a couple of steps behind Alice, and the others were behind her.
Alice didn't offer Claire a response, mostly because she didn't have time to. The ambush didn't surprise her, she'd heard it coming – there were suddenly three people around them, all holding guns. She recognized the two men standing in front of them and if she had seen who had come up behind them, she'd recognize the woman too.
"Drop your weapons," Carlos demanded. He and LJ were the two in front of her – as soon as they saw her, their own guns were trained on her instead of the others she was with.
Alice had half a mind to give them reason to shoot her, but then she also knew they already had plenty of reason for it. She wasn't about to just drop her weapons though, so she settled for sliding the blades back into place at her belt.
"I said drop them," Carlos pointed out. His focus was on Alice, he didn't care about the other three with her – they weren't the biggest threat here.
"Hey, take it easy," Claire spoke up. "She's part of the reason we made it inside and got you all a way out."
The man's attention briefly shifted to the redhead. "If you're defending her, then I have to assume she hasn't told you everything," he said.
Alice heard movement behind them – what should have been the steady sound of footsteps coming around to the front of the group was hindered by what she assumed was a limp. "She's good at that." It was Jill's voice, and it was more cold and harsh than she remembered.
"What are you talking about?" Claire questioned. "And would you all drop your guns? We aren't here to hurt you."
"You should be pointing your gun at her too," Jill spoke again. "Last time we saw her… she tried to kill us."
"I bet she didn't tell you that she's infected," Carlos added. Even in the dim light, Alice could see a large scar jutting out the top of his shirt, covering part of the left side of his neck.
There was silence for a moment before Claire stepped up beside the blonde, facing her. "Is that true?" she questioned.
"It is," Alice answered without pause, nodding. "Everything they've said is true."
"I don't know how long you've been hangin' with her, but she's bad news," LJ said with a nod.
Alice knew this was a bad idea, her worst fears had been realized. This was exactly why she'd wanted to leave the convoy before coming to the hospital. "You three have the right to hate me; I won't stop you from getting your revenge if that's what you want."
The three didn't even hesitate as they readied their guns, but were forced to stop short of shooting her as Claire stepped ahead of the blonde. "Whoa, now just wait a second. We're all civilized people here. I don't know what the hell happened between the four of you, but I do know that Alice just helped get you three a way out of the building and if she didn't, you probably would have died here. Now let's all go outside calmly and figure out what to do from here."
Carlos was the first to ease up, holstering his gun. "We have a few others here with us. We'll go get them and meet you outside," he said. He motioned for LJ and Jill to put their weapons away as well before they turned to head back and get the others that were holed up with them.
"Come on, let's go back outside," Claire told Alice. The two that had come in with them were already heading back out the door. The blonde offered a nod, going back outside with the other woman. "Now… care to explain what just happened? And why the hell didn't you tell me that you're infected?"
"I told you I wasn't like you or anyone else in this convoy," Alice pointed out, heading back for her motorcycle. This time, she really was going to leave. "And what they said is true. The last time I saw them, I nearly killed them. In fact, I was pretty sure they were all dead."
"What are you doing?" the redhead asked, watching as Alice started packing her things away on the bike.
"I'm leaving," Alice answered simply.
"What is it with you and leaving? So your past came back to bite you in the ass… you're just going to run from it?"
"I figured you would want me to leave now that you know the truth: I stab my friends in the back and I'm infected." Alice stopped what she was doing so she could face Claire. "Umbrella is still hunting me. I'm putting your people in danger just by being here. If they find me, they'll kill every single one of you."
Claire was silent for a moment. Actually, she didn't offer a response. She was torn – she wanted Alice to stay, but if what she'd just heard was true… she had a lot of lives in her care.
"Exactly," Alice finally said with a nod, turning to finish what she'd been doing. "I'm making the decision for you. I'll leave and you won't have to worry about me or having a run in with Umbrella."
"Alice, just stop for a minute," Claire told the other woman.
"No." The blonde got back onto her motorcycle, glancing over at the hospital as those she helped rescue came out. "I can't stay… even if I want to."
She didn't wait for a response, bringing the bike beneath her to life with a roar of its engine. The kickstand was up and she was back on the road before the redhead could offer up any more protests.
It hurt to leave; Alice could admit that much to herself. It would have hurt much, much more to stay though.
So who saw that coming?
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