Chapter 14
Trouble
"This is better than I thought." Wesker announced.
"The material enables us to monitoring and control the subject, Sir. If things will continue to go our way, she'll be here in no time."
"I can't wait. This invention of yours is making my victory clear. And the drama… it's definitely entertaining…" Wesker grinned.
"What's up?" Claire asked when she and the others entered the computer room.
"Clear as hell." Mikee answered.
"Locking the zombies in is definitely a smart idea." Chris said while looking at the monitors.
"It was Carlos' idea." Kaplan replied.
"Well, I just thought that if you can't let them out, let them in." Carlos smiled.
"We made sure that they will be sealed, if not forever, at least for a long time." JD added.
"And then why not just kill them while they're trap? I'm mean, burning those houses will be easy." Betty asked.
"We thought that fire or any kind of big destruction might get the attention of the other armies of undead nearby." JD answered.
"And we can't afford that." Kaplan agreed
"How long did it take before you were able shut them in?" Alice inquired.
"It was like forever." Carlos replied. "They were so many; we thought the plan will fail."
"We don't even know how to start. That church you saw when you first got here was the first container."
"That's explains why it broke down."
"Yup, and besides that church is already old." JD responded.
"It was the first place we assumed will be perfect for the entrapment. You know, a lot of doors." Kaplan continued.
"Except for this mall, which served as our headquarters, a safe house, we looked for the largest establishments here in the city and trapped the infected there." Carlos added.
"But there might still be a few roaming around." Rain stated.
"Few that can be handled…" Claire responded.
"Do they die in there? I mean they're certainly hungry. But wait… they're already dead!" LJ asked
"Come to think of it, we never checked what happened when they don't feed." JD analyzed.
"Well, the first zombies you trapped in the church lived, how long have they been there?" Chris said.
"A very long time. The T- Virus really messed up with the chromosome structure of human. Normally, we should be seeing skeletons roaming around by now, not rotting humans." Kaplan assured.
"Damn. And I thought eternal life will be fun." LJ joked.
"It'll be fun, if it's in heaven." Betty responded.
"Or if it's with you…" LJ winked.
"God, you have anything more to say? I can't stay here longer." Rain said, disgusted.
"Well, one last thing, speaking of the containers, it's time to check the seals tomorrow. Who's coming?" JD announced.
"We're on it." Claire stated. Claire looked at Chris, her brother nodded.
"I'm in." Rain said.
"You go ahead guys, I'm stayin' here with my Babe." LJ smiled at Betty.
"Thank god!" Rain exclaimed.
"Carlos? Alice?" JD inquired.
"I'll go. Alice will stay." Carlos answered.
The blonde looked at the soldier with questioning eyes but didn't argue.
"So, that's it. Tomorrow after sunrise, we'll go."
Everyone nodded and soon they were all heading out of the computer room into their respective places.
Alice, Claire and Carlos were walking towards the store that served as the redhead's room when they notice someone peeking from the entrance. It was Kmart, but when she realized she was caught, she immediately hid.
"K—"Alice uttered.
"You want to talk to her?" Claire asked.
"I think she's scared at me…" Alice's grip on Carlos' arm got tighter.
"I'll ask her."
"No, I think it's better if I just talk to her tomorrow…"
"You sure?"
"Ugh… yeah…"
"Goodnight, Claire…"
"Goodnight, Alice, Carlos."
"Goodnight." Carlos answered.
As soon as Claire was out of the scene, Carlos put his arms around Alice.
"Are you okay?"
"Nope."
Carlos leaned and kissed the blonde on the forehead. "How about now?"
"Better." Alice smiled.
Carlos kissed her again but now in the cheek." Now?"
"Getting there." The blonde teased.
The soldier smiled then suddenly stopped walking and grabbed Alice in the waist.
"I bet this will bring you to heaven." Carlos winked then enveloped the blonde in his arms before he kissed her tenderly in the lips. "Now?"
"Are you an angel?" Alice laughed, the soldier joined her too but suddenly stopped and looked at her.
"What?"
Carlos didn't answer, instead he looked at Alice's back. The blonde turned and saw Kmart.
"Kmart…"
"I think we should talk." Kmart was not looking at her.
"I'll be in our place." Carlos said the exited.
"Follow me." Kmart said then began walking. Shortly, they were already at the rooftop.
"I'm so sorry, Kmart." Alice started.
"You had a bad dream?"
"Yeah… I'm sorry for scaring you. A bad dream is never a good excuse to hurt people."
"I forgive you, Alice." Kmart smiled.
"You're a very good kid." Alice walked closer to the kid but Kmart suddenly backed off. The kid was shocked with her own body's reaction, too.
"I—I didn't mean—" Kmart uttered.
"No, I understand. I scared you. Your reaction is normal." Alice's smile slowly faded.
"No. I really do forgive you, Alice. I'm not … scared."
The blonde fell silent. She knew that Kmart was trying to act matured but she also knew that deep inside, the kid developed some kind of fear in her. Kmart was trying to conceal it.
Alice was so lost in her own thoughts, she didn't notice that Kmart came closer to her, the next thing she knew, the kid was already hugging her.
"See? I'm not scared of you. I'm not just trying to act mature here."
"But…"
"I know you'll never hurt me, unless something comes up."
"No, you're wrong. I'm not supposed to hurt anyone even if something comes up…"
"Then, knowing that you didn't mean what you've done is enough to forgive you. So let's just forget about it. Besides, it was not my first time to fall hard on the floor." Kmart smiled.
"You're a very nice kid, Kmart. Thank you for understanding."
"I know I am. You love me, right?" the kid chuckled.
"That's funny. But I really do love you." Alice said.
"I love you, too big sis."
"Big sis?"
"Yeah, having a big sister has always been my dream. And now I have a bunch and I'm never gonna lose any of you just because of freaking dream." The kid smiled.
"Well, it's definitely a pleasure to have a little sister like you. Sometimes, you make me feel like you're older than me."
"I'm just a smart kid, I guess."
"And certainly a proud one." Alice smirked
"I know right!" Kmart giggled.
"It's getting late, we need to rest."
"I know, let's go!"
Alice walked Kmart first to her place before heading to Carlos.
"See you tomorrow!" Kmart bid goodnight.
"Yeah, goodnight little sister." Alice smiled.
The blonde was starting to walk away when Kmart run towards her and gave her a quick hug from the back. Before Alice could turn around, Kmart was already running back to her den, leaving the blonde with not just a curve in her lips but warmth in her heart.
The next day, Carlos and the others took off to check the establishments that served as the 'Jail' for the undead. As soon as they were out, Alice went to the computer room to monitor. The group that went out was divided into two groups, Rain and Claire went with Carlos, while Chris came with JD. The team separated immediately after leaving the Hummer, Carlos's team went to a warehouse near the mall while JD and Chris head to a gymnasium located on the other side.
Alice and Mikee were looking at the monitor that was set on the location where Carlos and his team checked. The team was starting to rebuild and check the seals when the monitor went black.
"What happened?" Alice exclaimed.
"Wait, I'll check the cables." Mikee answered then looked at the cables. "The cables are fine; I think this monitor is busted."
"No, that can't be. I've been constantly checking on everything in this computer room. Everything is in perfect shape!" Kaplan responded.
"Something must have happened, I'm going." Alice announced.
"No. Wait, I'll call Carlos." Kaplan ringed Carlos but no answer was made.
"That's it." Alice hurriedly grabbed her weapons and head outside.
"Fix that, I'll follow Alice" Mikee said as he grab his shotgun.
Alice was running on her way to the warehouse when a little girl, holding a candy appeared. The blonde stopped.
"Hey, sweetie. What are you doing here? Let's go back to the mall."
"No. Come with me quick!" the girl giggled then run as fast as she could.
"No, wait! It's not safe!" Alice just walked briskly in order to catch up with the kid. She grabbed the girl and carried her.
"No. You must put me down. He's waiting for you."
"Waiting? Who?"
"We have to go there. He needs you."
"Who? Who needs me? Where is he?" Alice immediately thought of Carlos.
The little girl pointed her tiny fingers to a large ballet studio a couple of blocks away. Alice hesitated for a while but decided to go. The little kid held her hands as she tried to drag the blonde to come with her. Soon, they were already standing in front of the studio. Alice checked if it was being used as a jail for the undead but figured it wasn't because of the absence of seals.
"He wants me to give this to you." The kid handed Alice a red rose.
Alice smiled and realized that it was indeed Carlos. He's the only one who knows how she loves roses, except for her mother. It was just him trying to surprise her. The little girl opened the door and danced her way into the wide dance floor. Alice followed her; the studio was full of mirrors. She immediately disliked her appearance but decided to ignore it. Carlos loves her anyway.
"Where is he? Alice asked the girl.
"I don't know." The kid shook her head.
"You can come out now, Carlos." Alice shouted. The little girl continued to dance in the middle of the studio as the blonde walked near one of the mirrors. She looked at her reflection and was about to smell the rose when something emerged from the petals, a worm. She immediately threw the rose away. Alice hates worms.
Just then a loud bang came above them. Alice grabbed her pistol and aimed it to the roof. The little kid was as shocked and was frozen in her place. The blonde motioned her to come near her but as the kid made her first move, something fell from the roof. A licker.
Alice run towards the little girl but was too late. The licker used its tongue to catch the kid.
"No!" Alice screamed.
As the blonde made her way to the monster to help the girl, the licker squeezed the poor kid's body until everything inside the girl's body burst out of her system. Blood splattered inside the studio, covering every mirror.
Tears fell from the blonde's eyes as the licker released the body of the little girl. She was frozen for a while until anger flowed inside her. She aimed her pistol to the licker and fire until the last bullet. As soon as she lost her last bullet, she took her blades out and attacked the licker. The monster crawled on the wall and escaped the attack. Alice run to the opposite side of the hall as the licker was about to attack her from the back. But before the monster could reach her, the blonde threw one of her blades to the floating licker. It landed at the right place. The monster stumbled on the floor as the blade hit it on the head.
Suddenly, the door opened revealing Carlos and the others together with Mikee.
"Son of a –" Rain's jaw dropped.
"Alice! What happened?" Carlos asked and hurriedly went on Alice's side. The blonde walked to the licker and grabbed her blade.
"Are you okay? " Mikee examined the blonde.
"Oh my god." Claire gasped when she saw the body of the little girl squeezed to death.
All of them asked Alice about what happened but the blonde didn't answer. She slowly went to the door to leave but was stopped when the monster suddenly moved. The monster was able to throw Alice out of the studio. She hit the wall of another building and fell on the floor hard.
"Trap it inside!" JD shouted.
Everyone immediately run outside the studio and before locking the door, JD and Chris threw their grenades inside. It produced a big explosion.
Carlos hurried to Alice and helped her get up. They watched as the studio burn to pieces. They heard the cries coming from the undead roar in the air.
Suddenly, JD handed the key to the Hummer to Chris.
"Go back to the mall. Rain and I can handle the seals. I'm afraid this can attract a lot of trouble than we can handle…"
AN: Longest chapter I've ever written! R&R :D