Author Note: Continuation to Secret's and Flies that starts three months after the end. Love, betrayal, suspense and action are on the menu for this story as we watch our favourite band of Umbrella renegades give it their all too hopefully bring a final end to their hellish lifestyle. To do that, assistance will be required for some, unconventional characters...
I do not own the characters & this will be very different from any RE movie and/or video game plot (to date)
Please read & review as you wish!
B.
Update 03-June-2016: Thank-you for all the avid readers/comments/predictions/thoughts & ideas :) I appreciate it all!
You all have great imaginations and if I don't incorporate your ideas here, it's not because they were bad, they just did not fit with my dynamic.
Without further adieu, I hope everyone is ready for the next installment with our band of misfits!
Chapter Fourteen
Alice and the rest of the team watched as Mason and Jacob were carried away, the creature's black silhouetted wings looked like a parachute, horns glinting in the moonlight as they screeched at one another. The most basic form of communication. There was no use wasting anymore ammo on trying to take them down, the unwanted noise would only attract more. If they had any chance of saving them, they needed to make it into the Pentagon. Suddenly a bright red light shot straight up, like a laser attempting to cut a hole into the night sky. That had to be where the Red Queen was, using the light like a beacon, like Commissioner Gordon signalling for Batman.
"What the hell were those things?" Luther asked scanning the sky with his gun encase any others try to swoop down and take off with more of the group.
"More of The Red Queens minions. We need to get into that building if we have any chance of saving them." Alice replied.
"And ending this once and for all," Jill added with a smile.
Alice smiled back, motioning them to follow. The entire front end of the hum-v was caved in, smoke rising from under the crumpled hood that now resembled a balled up piece of paper. Now if they failed, there was no telling what would be unleashed once again. Not that it was worth returning to the White House, by now it was probably overrun by her creatures. They continued as a group, everyone scanning the horizon for more monsters and watching each other's backs. Luther and Jill took the rear, while Ada and Leon flanked left and K-Mart and Chris to the right. Finally Alice and Claire lead the charge, the weapon Ada had provided Alice slung over her back.
Suddenly the mangled, corroded gates of what used to be the Pentagon appeared before them. What was once their nations Department of Defense, now looked like an abandoned building for squatters to take refuge in. The place was eerily quiet. No guard dogs, security cameras, machine guns, nothing. It put Alice on edge. What exactly was the Red Queens game plan? She readjusted the duffel bag on her shoulder, hoping this was the one time Wesker was not double crossing her, but this bitch had proven time and time again that she was not going to die.
Nothing about the once fortified building made it stand out as belonging to Umbrella. They had grown accustomed to their futuristic decor of slick black walls, illuminated floors and large glass windows. The only identifiable piece was the spray painted Umbrella logo in the center of the doors leading inside the building. As they stepped over crumbling walls with claw marks deep and wide and iron fencing bent into pretzel's, Alice noted the lack of gun turrets, or a surplus of clone soldiers awaiting their orders. Only the odd small black security camera following their every move.
"She's watching us," Alice called the the group, "Watch your backs,"
Surrender Project Alice and your friends will live the Red Queens voice echoed in her head.
Get out of my head! Alice shouted back, feeling the ice pick pain once again from the Red Queen burrowing deeper into her subconscious. Her body began to tremble, head pounding as the young, yet robotic voice repeated the same phrase over and over again, trying to break her.
You're all going to die here...you're all going to die here...
Alice could feel blood trickling from her nose as she closed her eyes, trying to focus all her energy on keeping the Red Queen at bay. With the T-virus flowing through her, the ability to resist her control was difficult, but not impossible. Her hands trembled, nostrils flaring refusing to give in. She has gone this far, sacrificed so much to see this through, like hell she was going to roll over and play dead. Another rush of pain hit as Alice fell to her knees, her head pounding as if a marching band had taken refuge in her brain while she screamed in pain and frustration.
"Shit, Alice, what's happening?" Claire asked, rushing to her aid.
"S-stay back," Alice warned behind clenched teeth. Her jaw was locked so tight that she was afraid her teeth were going to break.
You were warned The Red Queen taunted and just as quick as it started it stopped, her mind clear.
That was when a gun shot rang out.
Claire looked over her shoulder in shock. Jill Valentine, the woman she had a rocky start with, but had come to accept as one of their own, had her pistol aimed at Luther. He had now doubled over, hands going red with blood. Jill stood stoic, eyes hard, with the barrel still smoking.
"Shit! What the hell!" Chris yelled. He then eyed Ada taking out her gun to shoot Jill as he stood in her line of fire, "Like hell you're shooting her!"
"She just killed one of our own!" Ada replied watching the blonde turn towards K-Mart, her finger itching the trigger.
"K-Mart down!" Claire yelled as the girl dove for the near by cement barrier just as Jill pulled the trigger, missing the young blondes shoulder by centimeters.
"Damn it Jill! What hell has gotten into you!" Chris yelled as the woman kept turning and firing not caring if she was hitting anything or not.
The rest of the group scattered for cover as Jill fired blindly in a circle, her eyes never blinking, arm straight finger pressing the trigger systematically over and over again. The bullets hit metal, cement, ground, but never flesh. Ada and Leon were with Chris behind what remained of a cement wall. Ada once again took aim as Chris swatted it away.
"I told you once, I'll shoot you myself the next time." Chris growled.
"She's a threat, she needs to be eliminated." Ada snapped back.
"I'm not going to let some ex-Umbrella operative be the one to make that call."
Ada lowered her gun, "She's not the woman you love Redfield, remember that."
Alice and Claire hid behind a cement blockade, the bullets ricocheting off the top as dust sprinkled their hair. They could hear K-Mart screaming somewhere and when they peeked over the top, Claire noticed the blood smear left by Luther. He managed to get behind a barrier with K-Mart and stay out of the line of fire. What the hell had come over her? There was no way she would betray them like this, and her movements, it was almost as if she wasn't herself.
Claire turned to Alice, noticing her nose was still bleeding, "Alice, I-" She stopped, her eyes glazing over and lunged for Alice's throat.
"Shit Claire!" Alice yelped before the redhead had her pinned to the ground.
Claire was strong, her hands were gripped tightly around her neck, squeezing her neck like a tube of toothpaste; trying to get the very last bit out. Alice grabbed Claire by the shoulders, shoving her off and rolling to the side gasping for breath. The gunfire had ceased, Jill had run out of bullets, but the familiar click of the trigger being pulled echoed in air. That was when it all came together. Before she could warn the rest of them what was happening, she was struggling with the woman who was no longer her lover.
Chris emerged from his hiding place as Jill instantly spun to him, clicking her emptied gun. He raised his hands to show a sign of surrender, inching closer as she still attempted to shoot him with an emptied gun. Her body was shaking, eyes welling with tears, but still refusing to blink.
"Jill, sweetheart," Chris said in a soothing voice, "Put down your weapon."
He could see Jill attempting to do that, struggling between her physical need and mental commands. She eventually lowered her arm, dropping it to the ground.
"Good, now let's talk,"
Her brown eyes flashed with the Umbrella logo for a moment, it was so quick that if Chris wasn't looking he would have missed it.
"Terminate Project Alice," She replied in a robotic tone before lunging at Chris, tackling him to the ground.
They pounded the asphalt hard, Chris's head bouncing off the ground disorientated for a moment. Jill was already straddling him, thighs like steel pressed into his ribs while she punched, getting a few slugs in before Chris finally blocked with his arms. She was strong, and kept going, never losing pace. He tried to find a moment when he could grab her wrists to stop her, but it was useless, she was too fast.
"God damn it Jill stop it!" Chris grunted, blood smearing his cheeks as he tried to restrain her powerful punches.
Alice broke away from Claire again, this time with a punch to the face, regretting it upon impact. Claire stumbled back, shaking it off while grabbing a piece of rebar from the ground. She swung wildly at Alice who rolled to the left and then the right, the metal digging into the ground displaying the power behind each swing. Alice sprung to her feet, using her shotgun as a sword to block as fast as she could.
Ada took aim on Claire, "You just say the word Alice and she's done!" She yelled.
"No! Do not shoot her!" Alice yelled as she prepared herself for another strike.
"Are you both out of your mind, they need to be eliminated!"
Chris finally grabbed a hold of Jill's wrists, feeling her arms tremble, knuckles red and raw. "Jill, stop, what did those assholes do to you?" He asked, searching her eyes for any sort of answer.
"It's the Red Queen, she's controlling them somehow!"
Those damn Medusa bugs. It all made sense, it was why only Jill and Claire were being controlled. Something must have been implanted in them, a backdoor by Umbrella in the likely event those Medusa Bugs were removed from their chests. Now that they were within her range of the Red Queen's command centre she was activating them like sleeper agents.
It was smart, the Red Queen knew she couldn't control her, so she would use those closest to Alice to do her dirty work.
"You can't be serious, the damn computer is doing this!" Chris growled as his arms trembled, unable to hold Jill back much longer.
Ada lowered her weapon and nodded to Leon to grab the duffel bag, "She's right! Leon and I will go shut her down!" Ada called.
They sprinted towards the main doors as neither Jill nor Claire seemed to care, both of them fulfilling their programming and nothing more. As they approached the doors a blinding white light shot out into the night sky. Ada and Leon stopped, shielding their eyes for a moment and dropping the duffel bag, ready to battle whatever the hell was coming for them. Two figures appeared in the door way, glowing red scarabs on their chests. As they stepped out of the light, Ada and Leon drew their weapons, but before they could even get a shot off, machine gun fire erupted and they dove for cover while bullets cut the cement like butter.
They returned fire from their positions, but the figures moved with agility and speed, dodging each bullet well before it was in their line of fire. It wasn't until Leon was about to put a bullet in his mouth that he realized he was looking at Jacob Mason. His split second indecision got Leon a sucker punch to the gut, knocking the wind out of him and bringing him to his knees as Jacob's knee collided with his chin. Leon dropped his gun, barely using his arms to block another punch that was aimed for his jaw.
"I didn't think steroids were easy to come by in the end of the world." Leon grunted, punching the young kid across the cheek.
K-Mart, who was watching everything from a distance trembled behind her cement barrier. Luther was leaning against the pillar beside her, his skin going pale from blood loss as his hands were red and sticky. She grabbed the cloth and pressed it into his wound as he let out another wail in pain from the bullet traveling further into his abdomen.
"Shit, Luther, shit what, what do I do?" K-Mart stammered.
"You need to end this," Luther replied with a cough, blood trickling out of the corner of his lips, "Leave me, they need you more than I do."
K-Mart shook her head, crying harder, "I can't, Luther no,"
"Yes you can, Angie would want you to."
She looked over the barrier seeing the discarded duffel bag about twenty feet away. Everyone was preoccupied at the moment, teetering on the edge of injuring loved ones or recent comrades. She witnessed Ada explaining the weapon to Alice in the tent, it was possible, she could do it, run so fast that this could all be over like the snap of her fingers. Luther was right, and she hated that the most, for it meant leaving him to die, for them to loose another person they considered family.
"You're sure you'll be okay without me?" K-Mart asked one last time.
Luther coughed again, spitting more blood all over himself, "I'll be fine, I promise."
He was lying, K-Mart knew it. She had seen enough people die over the years to know when their time was up. She leaned in and hugged him, kissing his clammy cheek before taking off in the direction of the duffel bag. She didn't stop running, swiping the bag with her hand and swinging it over her shoulders, continuing into the bowels of the Pentagon.
"K-Mart, stop!" Alice yelled.
The young blonde looked over her shoulder and shook her head, accelerating with adrenaline and out of sight. Gun fire erupted behind her as her heart skipped a beat, but there was no time to think about that, she needed to end this if she wanted those she loved to stop dying. The halls to the Pentagon were hollow and dark. The only indication she was heading in the right direction was a red light illuminating the floor. She replayed Alice and Ada's conversation, that the weapon needed to be as close as possible to the Red Queen for maximum damage. How was she going to know what or who the Red Queen was? She knew nothing about it besides it being a computer, was it a server room? A hologram? Command Center?
I'll know it when I see it, K-Mart thought and kept running through the barren halls using the red light as her guide.
- /-
God damn it stop this! Please, stop! Jill screamed in her head so clear that for a moment she thought she said it out loud. What the hell was happening to her? How could those bastards get a hold of her once more? She was a computer, a holographic little girl, how the hell did she get to be so powerful, so self aware.
You will follow your orders this time Chief Security Officer Valentine. The Red Queen echoed in her head as she kept pulling the trigger on her gun even though she had expended her magazine thirty seconds ago.
Did she really shoot Luther in the stomach? Did she really try to kill everyone, the people that risked their lives to keep her alive? The people that could have easily executed her as another Umbrella Operative, but chose not to. It was Alice that saved her life, who saw the potential to bring her back from the dark side and regain her trust, her lost friend and renegade from Raccoon City.
Like hell I am bitch Jill retorted as she dropped the gun, focusing on Chris's voice over the homicidal kid trying to hijack her brain.
You will terminate Chris Redfield and then Project Alice The Red Queen echoed once more.
Her body lunged forward, knocking Chris to the ground and began to beat him senseless, her arms moving on their own as she tried to stop, to resist the control, but her own self will was no match for the Red Queen's power.
- \ -
She thought she was just going to wipe the blood from Alice's nose, concerned that their one chance at defeating the Red Queen was succumbing to her control. It was like a light switch, her bodily functions no longer her own as the fingers meant to gingerly wipe blood reached for her neck and squeezed as tight as they could.
Stop! Please, don't make me do this! Claire yelled in her head, staring intently stared into Alice's eyes, watching the life slowly being sucked from her. Alice had been blindsided by the fact that her lover and ally turned into a weapon to kill her.
You will terminate Project Alice, you will not defy your orders The Red Queen's robotic and juvenile voice echoed in her head over and over again.
She was too strong for Claire, there was no way she would be able to overpower the computer. The only thing she could hope for was Alice to figure out what was happening and end it before one of them ends up dead.
When Alice's fist collided with her cheek she knew it was a love tap compared to the true force she had with the T-Virus inside her. Alice knew what was happening, and it brought relief that she didn't really want to kill the woman she loved.
I love this woman, please, don't make me do this Clare pleaded feeling the emotion of pain, but not shedding a single tear as she swung the rebar at Alice wildly, counting her blessings every time it missed.
Project Alice is a threat to your Queen, she must be eliminated. With that Claire lunged at Alice once more just as she was spouting off the revelation that they were being controlled.
"I'm so sorry Claire, I love you." Alice replied, knocking the rebar out of Claire's hand.
Do what you have to Alice to end this, I love you Claire said in her mind, hoping she was able to convey her understanding in her eyes.
She felt the power behind Alice's toss, knowing now exactly what the T-Virus did to her after all these years. Airborne, her breath caught in her throat as she collided with a cement wall. It crumbled beneath her weight as a sharp, hot pain flared up her left side. Her neck snapped back as she hit the rubble with a thud, vision blurring while the Red Queens voice finally stopped echoing in her head.
The last thing she saw was Alice taking off after K-Mart into the Pentagon.
- / -
Ada wiped the blood from the corner of her mouth from Mason's hefty upper cut. It was the last move he made before she round-housed him across the cheek sending him to his knees. She pulled the gun from her hip and fired, blowing a hole the size of a quarter into his skull. His body slumped over at her feet, the red scarab in his chest going dark now that it's host lay dead. She saw the young kid, K-Mart they called her, take off into the Pentagon with the weapon as Alice followed a few minutes later. Claire was slumped over in a pile of rubble and sedated for the time being. She looked to Leon who had the younger Mason stuck in an arm bar, pulling it back so far he snapped bone.
"I've got this, go after them!" Leon called.
She stopped for a moment to reconsider before nodding, taking off into the Pentagon.
K-mart turned down countless corridors, hoping that her instincts of following this red light were not leading her astray. She came to a halt, suddenly feeling the weight of the duffel bag slung over her shoulder. The ceilings were high, the glass walls streaked with blood from where dead Umbrella Operatives who at one time, occupied those seats. There were maps of different countries, graphs showing the amount of infected to those who were potentially still surviving. Even at this stage in the outbreak Umbrella was still looking for a way to make a profit.
One of the monitors was displaying vital signs to Jill, Claire and Alice along with CCTV footage of what was happening outside. It was as if the Red Queen was literally inside their heads. Jill's vitals were strong, her heart rate racing as she kept fighting Chris as the wrestled on the ground. It was hard to tell if she was struggling with him or the Red Queen more. Claire's were weak and her video feed was black, maybe unconscious, it was hard to tell. Alice did not have video footage, it was a GPS tracker, watching her movements in a computerized map of the Pentagon. She was on the way to K-Mart.
"Who are you?" The Red Queen suddenly spoke, aware of another presence in the room.
In the middle of the room was a large oval platform where the holographic projection of a little girl with hardened eyes and a furrowed brow began to materialize. K-mart knew the Red Queen was the computer, but did not know it was literally that of a little girl. An eight year old was currently in charge of a Corporation that was hell bent on destroying the earth.
"None of your god damn business," K-Mart replied as she dropped the duffel bag and unzipped it, extracting the weapon.
"You will die down here," The Red Queen taunted.
K-Mart armed the weapon, following the exact same sequence she saw Ada show Alice in the tent back at the White House, looking the little girl in the eye. "if I do, so will you." She pressed the green button as the countdown began.
K-Mart backed out of the room, turning back down the hall she came from when she heard a loud growl from the end of the hall. A long, slithering tongue wrapped around the corner, followed by large talons digging into the tiles. The lights flickered over head as K-Mart could see the side hall that would lead her back towards the entrance, but to get there she was going to need to play chicken with whatever was around the corner.
Activate bio weapon in main corridor, seal all exits The Red Queen ordered over the intercom.
K-Mart jumped at the sound of a thick Plexiglas dropping behind her as the deformed head of a Licker appeared in the flickering lights, howling at her. She took off, cutting left as the Plexiglas locked into place, her eyes wild as she stared at Alice who had managed to catch up to the young teen. She could see her blonde heroine screaming and pounding the glass, but it was soundproof. She watched her pull out her weapon and fired at the plastic the bullets bouncing off like rubber.
"Go! Get out of here!" K-Mart yelled back, a single tear falling from each eye.
Ada had caught up with them as well, the young blonde watching the once Umbrella assassin tried to pull Alice away from the barrier knowing there was nothing more they could do. The only thing to do was get as far away from the blast radius as possible before it exploded. There had to be only a minute or so left on the timer by now. It should still be enough time for them to get to cover.
K-Mart closed her eyes, smelling the decomposing, infected flesh behind her. It's spiked tongue was trying to coil around her ankle and sweep her off her feet. She raised her machine gun, pulling back the safety and spun, firing bullets at a rapid rate into it's engorged head. Blood sprayed her face and body as she slid beneath it's elongated torso and made a break for the far end of the hall, putting as much distance as possible between her and the now wounded and pissed of creature.
Moments later a sudden rapid beeping, signalling the end of the weapons countdown echoed in the halls. She crouched into the corner, squeezing her eyes shut as the thunder of the Licker running in her direction was suddenly muted by a loud explosion.
Alice pushed Ada into an alcove for cover as debris and fire raged down the hall they were running through, incinerating anything in it's path. The red light that illuminated the halls went dark as the control of the Red Queen suddenly left her body. The weapon really worked, the computer was destroyed and Umbrella was finally crumbling to it's knees. The heat from the flames was sweltering while pieces of ceiling and rubble collapsed around them.
Ada was knocked unconscious, a piece of ceiling hit her in the head, blood trickling from the wound. Alice checked for a pulse and felt one before she stumbled to her feet, bruised but still standing. The main hall smelt of burnt flesh as she walked back towards the entrance, knowing that if the licker didn't kill K-mart the explosion would have. As she made it back to the main doors that had been blown completely off, her ears were still ringing. Like an octopus's limbs deprived of their head, the ground was suddenly littered in dead bio weapons. Everything, even the creatures, were connected to that central computer. For some reason, even with her body flowing with the same disease that made those creatures rabid, Alice was able to stay alive.
She headed for the pile of rubble off to the left, where she had thrown Claire in order to sedate her long enough to go after K-Mart. She smiled, for the first time in almost eight years they were free. Claire and her were allowed to love one another like they always wanted to, but this time no secrets. It was time to rebuild, time to replenish the human race and take back the planet they fought so hard to protect.
"Claire, it's over, we won." Alice whispered. She pushed away a few fallen pieces of rubble as the colour drained from her face.
A four inch piece of rebar was sticking out of Claire's abdomen. Alice leaned in close, listening for a heartbeat, a pulse, anything to prove that she was still alive. There was nothing, her skin was cold and clammy, her army fatigued soaked in sticky brown red liquid like tree sap.
Alice began to weep, pulling her in close just to hold her one last time. "I will always love you." She whispered in her ear and kissed her dry lips.
As much as she wanted to stay, she knew that would not end well with the others, especially Chris. He was already on a war path, and this would push him over the edge. No one would believe it was an accident. She was safer on her own, and that broke her heart just as much as seeing the one person she cared about, the one person she wanted to save from all this, dead by her own doing.
Alice removed the gold necklace Claire always wore around her neck. It was simplistic, the charm was that of a Celtic knot. Claire always said it would give her good luck. She tucked that into the pocket of her pants as she stood, wiping her eyes with the backs of her hands.
Before anyone took notice she took off into the darkness.
T.B.C.
I know that this is a hard chapter to digest, a lot happened and I'm sure you have more questions and are wondering how I could do this to our favourite duo when I too love them to pieces.
There will be one final chapter (short, but I feel necessary) and that will wrap up this story. I hope you all enjoyed and please let me know what you think...I'm quite curious to hear your reactions
Always open to suggestions/comments/concerns/praise/ etc.