Title: Into the Light
Author: Malenkaya
Rating: R for violence and swearing
Summary: (RE movie fanfic, 2nd in trilogy): What began as a mindless effort to survive has developed into a race against time to stop Matt's sudden mutation as Alice, Rain, Michael, Matt and J.D. re-enter the Hive in search of a cure.
Disclaimer: I do not own Resident Evil or its characters. Except Michael, and Olivia, and William, and this plot. I own a few things, anyway. Just not the baseline :)
Feedback: Please! I live and breathe reviews! Flames, as long as their explanatory, are fine.
Author's Notes: Hope you all had a happy Christmas, and sorry this update's taken so long:) Again, a thousand thanks to all those who have reviewed and commented upon "Into the Light" thus far! Particularly for chapter five: Susan LeGrow, Nikolai Burnside, rain1657, Faded Writer, Lolo, Serpentia, and Gabzilla; I am eternally grateful!:) And again: please feel free to critique, I'm completely open to comments and suggestions.
Thanks again, enjoy the fic!
Into the Light
Chapter Six: Hidden Away
"Archangelo?" Olivia hissed in disbelief.
William leaned back in the chair he'd placed in this position specifically, resting his feet on the table in front of him. "You're not happy to hear from me, Ms. Alderic?" he asked, his tone bored. "How disappointing."
Her face, magnified on every screen displayed on the wall in front of him, twisted. "Why are you calling?"
William leaned forward. "I am calling, Ms. Alderic, because we may have found a way out of the Hive. If you're still interested, of course."
She looked irritated. "You've left me down here for over a week, and now that I've met up with the Umbrella team, you've finally gotten around to sending a team down for rescue? Nice coincidence there."
William frowned. "I'm afraid I don't understand what point you're trying to make, Ms. Alderic," he said arrogantly, glaring at the screen as if she could see him.
"I'm saying, Archangelo, that you can forget it. I'm not working for Umbrella anymore, and once we leave, I'm distributing your priceless documents all over the world."
William laughed, and Olivia looked aggravated. She'd obviously assumed that the threat to distribute all files documenting Umbrella's past activity would be effective. And as far as threats went, it was rather effective- except for one small exception.
"It's unfortunate, then, that you're not going to leave," William said, feeling almost cheerful. As close as he'd ever been, anyway. "Or have I forgotten to mention that?"
On screen, Olivia paled. "What are you talking about?"
"Umbrella has very conveniently agreed to block off the Hive once again," he said easily. "With the Raccoon situation, of course we don't need anything else spreading through the city." He paused. "But, most unfortunately, that leaves you and your newfound friends with absolutely no way out. Except, of course, for the route of escape I'm offering you."
She was silent, her face twisting, and he smiled. "So let's try this again, Ms. Alderic. Are you interested, or not?"
There was a moment of silence, and then Olivia answered. "Yes. I'm still interested."
"Good. Look at your phone."
"What?" Olivia asked, sounding confused.
William sighed. The ineptitude of these people never failed to astound him. "Just look at your phone, Ms. Alderic."
Olivia obliged, and he reached forward and tapped the key on the speaker he was using in place of a phone. A map of the Hive flashed across the screen, and he pressed send.
"A train will be waiting for you on the northeast corridor of the first floor in a hidden station. A key and further instructions will be waiting there for you." He paused, watching as the locations lit up on the screen. "And Ms. Alderic? Don't try to escape through there without my knowledge. I assure you, it's heavily guarded." There was a silence. "Is that clear?"
"Where will I be going then?"
William erased the map from his screen, allowing it to flash back to Olivia. "Rejoining your friends and family, of course," he lied smoothly.
Never mind the fact that her one remaining family member had just lost her life in a tragic incident exactly one week ago today. It hadn't been his fault, after all. Left up to him, he couldn't care less what happened to the woman.
No, she had simply been stupid enough to stay home and wait for her daughter to return from a doomed mission instead of escaping town- or attempting to, at least- like the rest of Raccoon's denizens.
Unfortunate as it was, she'd deserved what she'd gotten: eaten alive by zombies.
Not a nice way to die.
William sighed contentedly. It was times like these that made William glad for the money and prestige he had to keep him well away from these incidents, and for the fact that he was currently about a thousand miles away from Raccoon's city borders.
In fact, there were only two things to be upset about at this particular time: his daughter, and the hamsters.
And as for the second part, well, that would be taken care of in time. And Lea was at least smart enough to stay downstairs and safe until he could come and find her.
Olivia finally answered, her voice suspicious. "And what about everyone else here?"
William smiled. "That, Ms. Alderic, is the one condition of my act of generosity."
"You want me to kill them," she said flatly.
"Don't be ridiculous," William said, irritated by her drama. "Just slip away. They won't even notice you're gone."
Olivia snorted. "And leave them as good as dead."
William shrugged. "It's your choice, Ms. Alderic," he pointed out. "Your life and freedom, or loyalty to a group of people you barely know."
She hesitated, her expression afflicted as she looked out the window where the other hamsters were situated.
William tapped the keyboard again, and the adjacent room flicked across the screen. Some kind of semi-normal activity had been restored- Parks and Addison were looking over files with Cahill, and Salinas and Ocampo were involved in some sort of perplexing game involving often violent hand movements.
Olivia's expression softened as she looked at them, and watching her face closely, William realized suddenly what the problem was.
J.D Salinas.
But then a brief flash of guilt crossed her features, and William smiled, realizing that he was being ridiculous. Olivia barely knew him- there was absolutely no reason to believe he'd prove an obstacle to his plans.
William sat back and smiled. "Well, Ms. Alderic? Have you reached a decision?"
There was a pause. And then Olivia, in no uncertain tones, told him, "Fuck you, Archangelo. We will find a way out."
And then she hung up. Actually hung up on him.
He disconnected the line, feeling perplexed. Apparently, her bond to the group had already become stronger than he'd envisioned.
But then, Olivia had always been a weak-minded sentimentalist. William could not count how many ridiculous complaints he'd been forced to endure from the woman since she'd started working for him.
If she hadn't been such a brilliant lab experimentalist, if they hadn't needed her plans for an anti-virus so badly, he'd have fired her years ago.
But all in all, it was, William supposed, exactly the kind of thing he should have expected from her.
And after all, it wasn't necessarily- or even probably- her bond to the group that had elicited her answer.
It was probably her bond to J.D. William had seen the kiss, just like Cahill had, and while he'd watched with both disgust and interest, wondering exactly when the whole thing would blow up in their faces, he'd never thought it would actually mean something to them.
But like it or not, J.D was the key. Take that component out, ruin the pathetically sentimental bond between the two, and shatter all illusions Olivia was holding of an actual relationship and she would fold.
But William could worry about that later. For now, he had a meeting to attend.
Reaching forward, he unplugged the phone system.
Olivia wouldn't be calling him now.
Not until he found reason to call her again.
y
Olivia snapped the phone shut and shoved it in her pocket, still quivering with rage.
She couldn't believe that Archangelo had just showed up like that, had actually implied that she would betray these people just to save herself.
Olivia was a lot of things, not all of them good qualities, but she was not a backstabber.
She glanced out the window quickly- everyone was still involved in what they'd been doing before, and Olivia smiled slightly.
She owed a lot of that to J.D. Whether he'd seen how upset she was over the call or had just felt she deserved some privacy, he'd managed to get Matt, Alice, and Michael all involved in looking over the files again; and had even managed to divert Rain's attention with a few well-placed words.
Not that it mattered. She was sure they'd be just as outraged to hear Archangelo's pathetic attempts to win her over as she was.
Pulling open the door, she walked into the room.
The color hitting her eyes was freakishly dim compared to the sterile whiteness of the lab room, and she blinked a couple of times to refocus.
When she had composed herself, the group was staring at her, obviously waiting for answers.
Alice asked first. "Who was it?"
Olivia opened her mouth, ready to spill Archangelo's words and all the information he'd given in the conversation- and then stopped.
She wanted to tell them. And there was no reason she shouldn't- she had nothing to hide.
But, then, they still didn't trust her. And admitting Archangelo was attempting to bribe her into betrayal of them wouldn't help at all.
Olivia smiled ruefully. "Another one of Archangelo's calls. Apparently he's blocked off the entrance you used to gain access to the Hive; there's no way out."
"Did he say anything else?" J.D.
Olivia looked at him, feeling instant guilt for the answer she gave.
"No," she lied.
y
When Rain had signed up for guard duty with Matt after Alice had decided to take the first night off, she had apparently, for some reason, assumed it would actually be interesting. That the monsters roaming the corridors would actually try to break into the room despite the steel door and attack them, and they'd actually have something to do.
Judging by the behavior Matt had seen from her thus far- including loading and reloading her MP-5 and debating the different uses of a blowtorch- what she obviously hadn't been prepared for was the actual reality of the job, involving sitting and staring at the door.
"I'm bored," she announced.
Matt smiled at her. "Anything else?"
She considered. "Also, this sucks. I could be sleeping, for chrissakes. I thought this would actually be interesting."
Matt snorted, shaking his head. "Yeah, well, there's a reason people weren't exactly clamoring to sign up, you know."
She rolled her eyes. "Like A-lice, you mean?" she asked, drawing out the name intentionally.
He blushed, and she grinned. "Yeah, sort of," he admitted.
"Well, it's a good thing she's not," Rain said with a slight snicker. "'Cos then you guys would have been too engaged in… other activities to bother with actually guarding."
He laughed, giving her a lighthearted swap she easily dodged. "Yeah, well, it's not like we'd need to anyways."
She quieted, staring at the door. "Sad, but true."
He was silent for a moment, and looked at Alice where she slept in her sleeping bag, her hair a tumbled mess of curls around her head. Her eyes were closed, her mouth slightly parted, sound asleep.
He loved watching her sleep. Every night they'd shared a bed, every time he'd woken up before her, he'd just lain there and watched her. There was something so completely unguarded and unworried about her when she slept. She was always completely peaceful for once, with no worry about the group or their situation or the days events to sully her thoughts; and in all the times he'd seen her sleeping, Matt had never seen her involved in nightmares.
Sleep was obviously an escape for Alice, and lying there, surrounded by her aura of peace, she was beautiful.
"I just wish we had more time alone right now," Matt said quietly.
He realized he'd spoken aloud only when Rain turned to look at him, her MP-5 resting at her hip, wearing that oddly perceptive look she got in her expression only when something serious to her was discussed. "Why? Besides the obvious, I mean."
He shrugged. "For all I know, I could be gone in less than seven days," he pointed out.
"Seven?" Rain asked, looking confused.
"Today was day one, and it's pretty much over," Matt reminded her.
"Oh."
"And I just wish I could actually spend some time with her before- something happens." Matt finished quietly.
Rain nodded. "Yeah, I know what you mean."
She looked hesitant then, like she wasn't sure what to say. Rain had never exactly been good with words.
Then, in one quick flurry of movement, she hugged him tightly; and before he could even wrap his arms around her she'd pulled back, settling back into her former position and resorting to her classic pretending-nothing-just-happened method of changing the subject.
"So what should we do to keep busy?" she wanted to know. "We could play rock-paper-scissors, or use Olivia's head for target practice. Your choice."
Matt actually had to look at her grinning face to be sure she was joking before rolling his eyes at her in response. "What do you have against Olivia, anyway?"
She shrugged. "She's shifty, and she's boring," she proclaimed. "And useless."
Matt snorted. "And that's adequate reason to kill?"
"In some states, yeah."
Matt stopped himself before he rolled his eyes again, and she grinned at him, obviously catching his look as he tried to formulate an appropriate response.
Fortunately he didn't have to, because at that moment a high scream was heard down the corridor.
Both of them bolted to their feet immediately, heading for the door.
Matt was there first, and he opened the door slowly, glancing around the corner to see up and down the corridor.
It was empty.
Rain started to hurry out into the hallway, and he grabbed her arm. "You stay here."
She looked insulted at the prospect, and he hurried to explain. "Look, somebody has to wait here to open the door. And that scream sounded human."
"So?" she said belligerently.
He glared at her. "Are you high or something?" he demanded. "You're terrible with people. Look at Olivia."
The scream repeated itself, louder this time, and Rain faltered. "Fine," she said, looking distinctly unhappy with this turn of events.
Matt turned and bolted down the hallway, hearing vaguely a thud as Rain shut the door again.
Banging through the double doors marked "Observation and Office", he stopped.
The spotless, silvery corridor broke off into three more here, and he paused, conflicted with which to choose.
The one to the right was the same as the corridor he'd just run through, empty and plain; the one to the left of him led to a staircase, and the third, to a set of heavy chestnut doors.
Matt stilled his breathing and listened, waiting silently for a repeat of the scream he'd heard—
And stopped, looking slowly at the staircase.
The grey carpeting covering the flooring in the small room continued down the stairs to another plain, more fragile-looking steel door.
Inside the room at the bottom of the stairs, Matt could hear the sound of chewing, of snarls and slobbering as whatever was inside consumed another meal.
Looking down at the carpet, he realized blood had begun to seep under the doorway.
Turning away in disgust, Matt glanced back towards the door which he'd just come through.
Whoever the scream had belonged to, she- or he- obviously hadn't reached a happy ending.
Shaking his head, Matt grabbed the doorknob and pulled open the door—
And the screaming began again, breaking into an even higher pitch. Turning back, Matt realized suddenly that it wasn't the staircase the screams were coming from, but the room in front of him.
Steadying his gun in front of him, he opened the right door cautiously and crept in, expecting to see a woman running, screaming, from some sort of Umbrella mutation.
Instead he saw the image on the screen displayed in front of him. An image of a woman, probably sixteen or younger, running from a pack of zombified Rottweilers, still screaming. Her face was spliced down the middle, bite wounds clear in her neck and shoulders, and blood flowed freely down her arms and face as Matt hurried down the aisle towards the machine running it.
The dogs reached her and tackled her, sending it to the ground as she continued to scream, the screams magnifying themselves and echoing around Matt in the tiny room—
And then cutting to an abrupt halt as he flicked the switch.
The image faded slowly as the projector dimmed, leaving the last image of the unfortunate woman, her arms being torn from her body by the hungry Rottweilers with blood spurting freely from the wounds, firmly implemented in Matt's brain.
Looking down, Matt glanced at the logo on the bottom of the screen, reading it before it faded away.
Umbrella Corporation Testing Program A.
The logo faded from the screen, and Matt finally took the opportunity to look around the room he was in.
It was a theatre, a media room of some sort. The double doors through which he'd entered led down the wide hallway he stood in now, the carpeting and material on the aisled seats a rich pattern of reds and oranges. The seats themselves were high and thick, more like boxed in office chairs than those traditionally found in a movie theater, and, staring at them, Matt realized exactly how well something could manage to hide behind them.
He flicked the safety off his gun, holding it ready in front of him as he continued his scan of the room.
It was almost a majestic room, with a high ceiling and full screen, but with the slight lighting emanating from dimmed bulbs on the side walls, everything looked dingy and old; almost haunted.
Umbrella had obviously used this theatre often, in presentations or simple enjoyment.
Their logo was on everything, from the backs of the chairs to the now empty screen.
Matt wandered slowly back down the aisle, sweeping his gun from side to side as he did, keeping an eye out for any Umbrella creatures.
He'd reached the doorway, and was about to push open the doors when a door to his right caught his eye.
Set in the middle of the entrance, the rooms the door led to were obviously where the media tapes and files were kept.
Matt jiggled the handle. It was locked.
He stared up at the tiny row of windows encircling the room at the top- there was obviously a staircase leading to a higher level- and wondered if he should bother looking inside.
The tapping, a dry, sudden click of nails on a tile floor, wiped the thoughts from his mind and Matt stepped back, staring at the door.
There was something in there.
Matt shook his head, turning back to the entrance. He was alone, he had one weapon, and no idea at what was in there- there was no way the odds favored him.
They could come back tomorrow and check this place out. Until then, he was going back to safe, boring guard duty with Rain.
He reached forward for the door handles—
And then a resounding thud echoed through the room and he heard footsteps rapidly ascending the stairway.
Matt took a few steps back, allowing himself some space between the doors and the back of the theatre and waited, hoping whatever it was would move on by, not know he was there.
At this point, he had no other choice. There was no way he'd be able to successfully make it past whatever waited outside.
Matt heard snarls, the same snarls he'd heard at the bottom of the stairways—
And then the doors flew open, and they bounded in.
They looked almost like dinosaurs, small and slender, with pebbly black skin, long tails, and tiny hands with long, sharp-looking claws.
Both were identical, seeming almost to smile at him, a malicious glint in their narrowed red eyes as they squealed, sounding somehow innocent despite their appearance—
And then a flap erupted from their necks, forming a hood around their faces, and emitting a border of long, silvery spikes.
Tipped with, if Matt was looking closely enough, some sort of poison.
He smiled. They were monstrous enough, but tiny, too, barely his height and perhaps one hundred pounds together.
Matt lifted his gun and took aim, sending bullets at them—
Which ricocheted, flying every which way and imbedding themselves in the walls and seats.
Obviously, guns weren't going to work.
The only problem now was that Matt didn't exactly have any other options.
"Rain!" he shouted, praying she could somehow hear him and that he wouldn't attract the attention of anything else. "Rain!"
They bounded forward, shrieking.
y
It was five o'clock a.m.
Rain fidgeted where she sat on the desk, staring at the wristwatch Matt had left behind when he'd run out of the room.
She wondered where he had gone, and why he was taking so long. Maybe he'd run into something along the way, maybe the survivor was insane, or evil—
Rain smirked. Or maybe Matt had just gotten lost. That boy had the worst sense of direction Rain had ever had the misfortune of witnessing.
But whatever he was doing, it had to be funner than what she was doing sitting around here. Which was pretty much nothing.
Olivia stirred, and Rain jumped, glaring suspiciously at her. The medic's curls were tousled over her face and her breathing was slow and even: she looked asleep.
But then, she could be faking it, Rain thought darkly.
Then she sighed. She was being ridiculous, she knew that. But she just didn't trust Olivia. Especially with the phone call incident. The whole group might have believed that bullshit Olivia had told them, but Rain hadn't. The girl had been blinking way too much to have been telling the truth.
Looking down, Rain smirked when she realized Olivia and J.D were holding hands.
Olivia had about the most obvious crush on J.D she'd ever seen, and the only person who hadn't seemed to notice yet was J.D himself.
She wondered idly if he liked her as well. He was holding her hand, yeah, but then, J.D was asleep. It didn't mean anything.
She doubted anything would come of Olivia's crush. J.D wouldn't jeopardize the group's safety to confide in her, and anyway, he'd talk to her if anything was going on.
Leaning back, letting her hands balance her weight on the desk, Rain stared at the ceiling, her gun sitting forgotten beside her. Matt had been fifteen minutes already, and if he didn't need help now, he probably never would.
She was still leaning back, staring at the ceiling, when the shouts finally registered to her.
"Rain!"
Matt, sounding panicked, and annoyed.
Jumping off the desk, grabbing her MP-5, Rain hurried towards the door—
And then stopped, cursing as she realized she was going to have to wake someone up to stand by and let them both in when they returned.
She heard Matt shout again and winced as she shouted, "J.D!"
He didn't even move, and she let out another curse of frustration. J.D slept like a fucking bear, for chrissakes.
Dropping to her knees, she shook him roughly. "J.D, wake the fuck up."
He finally did, gazing at her blearily. "Rain, what the hell—"
"Just wait and open the door when I knock," she said, not bothering to explain further before making her way back across the room and hurrying out the door, slamming it behind her.
She rushed down the steel corridor and banged through the double doors at the end of it—
And then stopped, this time with a curse of exasperation. The room on the other side of the door branched off into three other directions, and Rain had no idea where Matt had gone.
The corridor to her right looked empty, deserted; the massive double doors in front of her looked completely untouched, as did the stairway to the left of her.
"Matt?" she said softly, hoping he was nearby.
Not a sound, and she let out a low growl of frustration—
And then heard the tiny creak of a door opening.
Rain glanced towards the sound, down at the bottom of the staircase. The door was ajar and a dim light spilled forth from it, revealing a red fluid she hadn't noticed before.
"Matt?" she repeated.
Again no answer, and so she stepped up first to the massive double doors in front of her, yanking on the handles.
They were locked.
With a small smile of triumph- that ruled out one option, anyway- Rain turned to the stairs, readjusting her grip on her weapon as she descended them.
The door opened slowly, with an ear-piercing creak and Rain shivered in disgust as she saw the scene set in front of her.
A lab technician lay on the floor, surrounded by a pool of blood and dark green mucus. It's face, arms, all of it's body had been literally shredded and bitten into on the surface- but the cause of death was clearly the evisceration whatever had killed him had carried out on him.
Rain frowned. Judging by his appearance, the man had been dead for days, if not more.
Whether something had chosen to snack on him after his death, Rain didn't know. But the screams couldn't have come from him.
She was in the wrong place.
Standing again, turning to leave the room and find Matt, something caught her eye.
A key, shining on a necklace the technician wore.
Bending down in front of the body again, Rain reached forward and brushed aside the bloody mucus covering the man's through, brushing her hand off on her pants with a disgusted grimace. Grabbing the necklace in her hand, she gave it a sharp yank, trying to break the chain—
And stifled a disgusted gasp as the man's head dislodged from his body completely, exposing a tangle of fried, silvery strands of brain matter in what had once been his cranium.
Rain shook her head, dropping her gun to reach down and grab the key from where she had dropped it by the man's now-unattached head. It might prove useful, if Matt was in someplace she couldn't gain access to—
And the hand which grabbed the back of her jacket and yanked her roughly to her feet startled her, making her drop the key. She squeezed her hand automatically, feeling for the trigger of her gun—
And that's when she realized, as she came to a full turn to face it, that her gun was still on the floor with the body.
Balancing herself and preparing to run or fight, whichever was better, Rain finally saw the person's face.
It was Matt, his veins standing out from his head in thick lines of purplish red, his eyes bloodshot and wide, his face rippling.
"Rain." His voice was different too, low and almost threatening, as if he was struggling to keep his anger at bay. "Rain, get Michael."
She stared at him, as if in shock, and he shouted, "Rain, go!".
The words vibrated through the room, and Rain turned and ran.
y
Olivia was surprised at how quickly she'd gotten to sleep. Locked down here, in a maze full of mutations and viral exposures, in the very place where she'd been afraid to sleep for over a week now, she'd expected to wake up with nightmares within the hour.
Instead she'd only woken up when Rain, sounding worried, had shaken J.D awake.
Though instantly curious at the reason behind the awakening, Olivia had been drowsy, but happy to see that up until Rain had woken him up fully, J.D had been holding onto her hand.
He was pacing now, in front of the doorway, holding an assault rifle in his hands.
Evidently, whatever Rain had said had been important.
Everyone else, however, was still sleeping. Rain hadn't exactly bothered to be quiet when she'd woken up J.D, but then, what was the point? They'd all passed out within minutes; everyone was too tired to wake up with small interruptions.
She looked up at J.D through eyes shaded with eyelashes, taking in the worried expression on his face. She thought about saying something, but dismissed the thought as quickly as it'd come.
Dishonest as it was, she wanted to know what was going on. And faking sleep might be the only way to do that.
She didn't have to wait long.
J.D jumped at the barrage of knocking on the door and hurried to open it. Olivia clenched her eyes shut, wanting to make sure nobody saw she was awake.
She didn't have to worry about it, since nobody seemed to be focusing on her. Rain just brushed past J.D, ignoring his questions, and stepped over her sleeping bag, heading obviously to either Michael or Alice.
"Michael! Michael, wake up." Michael, obviously.
Olivia heard groggy murmurs, and Rain's short reply of, "It's Matt. Bring the anti-virus."
Alice's voice pitched in. "Rain, what's going on?"
Obviously she'd heard Rain's last sentence, because she sounded fearful but resolved, like she already knew what she was going to say.
Rain's response came slowly. "Matt- he's mutating again. I don't know how bad."
Olivia heard the unzipping of knapsacks as the group stocked up on weapons, or something, and then a thunderstorm of footsteps as they hurried past her again.
The door opened, and a short, hissed argument between J.D and Rain ensued on the topic of who was going to be left behind. Rain won, and the door slammed behind her.
J.D sat down and sighed.
Olivia turned away from him, taking care that her motion's were fluid and slow like a sleeping person's would be, and opened her eyes, letting all the information sink in.
Anti-virus, mutating, Alice's worry….there was only one explanation.
Matt was infected.
y
Alice was the third person to descend the stairs into the tiny, crammed room, and she watched without comment as Michael rushed up to Matt and, with no time wasted, stabbed him in the back with the needle he held in his hand.
Matt crumpled, and she hurried forward, feeling the shaky release of adrenaline as she collapsed to her knees next to him, lifting his head into her lap. Brushing the hair spread across his forehead aside, she gave it a light kiss. His eyes were closed now, and she felt a thud of relief seeing that the veins in his face were receding back under the skin, into their normal state.
She turned furiously to Rain then, asking shortly, "What happened?"
Rain straightened from where she was collecting her weapon, shoving what looked like a key into her pocket. "I don't know."
"How can you not know?" Alice asked, trying to keep the aggravated tone out of her voice and failing miserably.
"I just don't, okay!?" Rain said, raising her voice. "We heard someone screaming, so he went to look for her. "
"And you just stayed behind and did nothing?" Alice asked accusingly.
"He was the one who told me to!" Rain shouted. "He said he could handle it—"
"Well he obviously couldn't," Alice said bitingly, and Rain looked ready to explode at the accusation.
"Look, both of you, shut up."
Michael's voice, and Alice turned to him, ready to unleash the same anger on him.
"We don't know what's down here," he said reasonably. "So we should probably keep it down."
Their surroundings finally registered to Alice, and she glanced around the room.
It was a simple room, looking almost like an old fashioned living room. The décor was done entirely in pale yellows and dark browns, very contemporary and somehow depressing, and the pale light flooding the room came from a hooded lamp on the coffee table. A couch and two chairs surrounded the table, and Rain collapsed into one, looking exhausted, as Alice took a moment to marvel at all the fucked-up rooms the Hive seemed to host.
She turned back to Michael. "It's only one room," she pointed out, brushing her hand over Matt's head almost absent-mindedly.
He shrugged. "I doubt that," he said easily. "I'm willing to bet a thousand dollars that closet over there leads to a whole series of other passageways."
Glancing at it, Alice realized he was probably right. In this place, there was something hidden everywhere: why would this room be any different?
She would have noticed, if she hadn't been so busy blowing up at everyone around her.
She turned to look at Rain, who sat slumped on the couch, looking exhausted. "Look, Rain, I'm sorry. I didn't mean what I said," she said quietly. "I'm just worried about Matt."
Rain shrugged, a slight lift of her shoulders which to her suggested absolute, and completely obvious, forgiveness. "Whatever."
Then she sat up, looking at her hard. "You can trust me with him, you know," she said, completely serious. "I'm not going to get him fucking killed. Or mutated."
Alice smiled. "I know."
Rain nodded. "Good," she said finally.
Michael cleared his throat, and both women looked at him. "We should probably get out of here," he pointed out. "The three of us together can probably carry him."
He looked down at Alice, adding softly, "We can find out what happened tomorrow."
Alice smiled at him. "Thank you," she said quietly.
And then she sat up slowly, helping to get Matt's arm wrapped around Michael and herself, Rain lagging behind with the gun for defense purposes.
She already felt guilty for blowing up at Rain. The brunette obviously felt bad about what had happened, even if she'd rather die than admit it.
She was just afraid for Matt. They all were.
Because seven days right now, unless they found the virus first, he'd be gone forever.
End
A/N: Thanks, everyone, for your patience with this chapter... have a happy new year! Next update is a regular time, on January 14th.
