The two men dropped Cora, who curled up into a tiny ball with her ribs aching. She hoped they weren't broken again. That would be horrible - being constricted to her bed again.
Salven, however, moved with that snake like agility that he had displayed many a time before. He ducked under the arm of the first one, crouching in an odd way. His leg shot up, taking the man in the crotch. Then he pounced backwards. The first man was heading towards Salven with a grim look on his face. Salven drew his gun.
"Come on." he said. "Just drop it."
"This isn't over." threatened the man, but he left. Cora exhaled, slowly getting to his feet. Salven flashed her a cocky grin.
"Well?" he asked.
"Well, I don't know." Cora said quietly. "What am I supposed to do?"
Salven didn't answer, but simply lead Cora back to her room. Not before he grabbed her ass though.

Cora looked out the window over the sea, speeding brightly beneath her. She rose a hand to shield her eyes from the sun glinting back off of her from the water.
"Another outbreak." Reeve said, smoking a cigarette. "Perfect. Just fucking perfect."
"Could be worse." Cora said, still looking out the window.
"How so?"
"Eh, this is just a small facility. We just gotta blow the place up and get the scientist that we're supposed to get."
Cora laughed harshly. Just. They made it sound so simple. The other team members gave her an odd look, then shrugged it off. Scythe sighed. Cora was still fragile emotionally in some ways, yet in other ways she was as harsh as the most grizzled vet who had been in hell ten times over.
The chopper landed, and the island was beautiful. Cora didn't even notice as the long grasses tickled her knees.
"Where's the facility?"
"To the north." Ada said.
"Alright, let's go then." Scythe said, and with a woop he leapt ahead, laughing. Reeve followed.
"Watch your heart, bro."
"My heart's fine. Not like your grease slathered ticker there."
"Hey, I eat healthier than you."
"Do not."
Cora distanced herself from the banter, isntead making her way towards the facility.
"Cora!" Scythe called.
"Yeah?" she said back in a montone.
"Go scout ahead."
"Yeah." Cora nodded once and loped ahead, glancing around. She had a dagger in her left hand, and a pistol in her right hand. She skidded to a stop, her combat boots sinking slighly into the mud around the facility. A zombie shambled aruond the corner - it appeared that she had tried to make a run for it. She might have been pretty once - her mane of black hair was slathered with blood and matted to her head, sticking out in some places and laying flat and dull in others. Her eyes were white, but Cora pictured her as a brown eyed girl, with a rosy glow in her cheeks and a spring in her step, excited to be here. Excited to be alive.
Cora fired once, and the woman crumpled like a rag doll, and didn't move again. Cora crept around to the entrance, stepping delicately over the woman's corpse. Her mouth was wide open, in a twisted 'oh!' to the sky.
Cora didn't look at the zombie's corpse after that. She made her way to the door and opened it a crack. The hall was empty. She unclipped her radio.
"It's clear. Make your way up. Over and out."
The rest of the team joined Cora quickly.
"Ada, Tweek, Foxx, you make your way to the control room and get files. Cobra, you go to the columns of this place and set up detonation with me. Reeve, you and Cora are going to find the scientist, Dr. Tara Simmons."
"Yes sir." the others saluted.
"Yeah, sure Bro. C'mon, Cora." Reeve said, and with that he was off. Cora followed him quickly.
"What if Dr. Simmons is dead?" Cora asked.
"Then we snap a photo to prove she's dead, take any files or samples on her body, and leave."
"Fair enough."
"Cora..." Reeve trailed off.
"Eh?"
"You OK?"
"No, that zombie didn't get me by the front. Thanks."
"I'm not talking about that." Reeve said cautiously.
"Oh. You mean Hulio." Cora said flatly. Reeve was silent for a while.
"You shouldn't be here."
"I'm just as much a member of Team Biohazard as you."
"No, but you're fucked up. Look, Cora, you shouldn't be here."
"I should." Cora said calmly. A group of zombies trudged around the corner. Calmly, Cora raised her gun and fired , pivoting smoothly. It was just like the shooting range. Then why did she feel the bang at every fallen body?
Hulio. The name ran through her mind. Oh, God, I can't do this.
But Cora had to do this, which was why she closed her eyes while she fired. Not every head exploded now, but the two made short work of the zombies.
"Good job."
"Thanks. You too." It was generic speech, made to cover up the holes inbetween killing. Cora was getting quite used to it - at first, she had tried to make conversation all the time. Then she realized that they were all mentally preparing themselves for killing again. Just because zombies weren't human didn't mean that killing them was any easier on the consience.
Finally, after Cora realized that she was running low on ammo, they reached a door.
"This is is." Reeve said, and shouldered it open. Lana Simmons was lying still on a bed, her breathing shallow and her face pale. She tossed and turned.
"Please, no." the young woman muttered. "Please, don't.. stay away, please. NO! NO!" with a throat ripping shriek, she began to convulse.
"She's infected." Reeve said. "Shit."
Cora took careful aim with one of her daggers, then flung it. The woman was pierced between the eyes in mid convlusion, and then she lay still. She let out one final gasp, and then her breathing stopped.
"Nice throw." Reeve said, but he was staring at Cora as he began to pat the body down. He grimaced. "Still warm." He pulled out some paper and read it, frowning.
Cora grabbed her knife, wiping it on the dead woman's lab coat. For a second, the tip of the dagger hovered close to the row of marks on Cora's arm, akin to the crosses in a grave yard, without actually piercing the skin to make a new mark to join it's fellows.
Then she sheathed the knife.

A/N : Thanks to Cappy for the kick in the pants, and to Shak for the talkage and everything. You guys raaaawk.