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: After seeing all those clever disclaimers out there, I wish I had one. Any suggestions? I own nothing here but my own ideas.

Feedback: Please! I live and breathe reviews! Flames, as long as they're explanatory, are fine.

Author's Notes:

Thanks again to those who have reviewed Into the Light thus far, particularly for chapter twelve: masked-in-your-shadows, rain1657, XMaster, Faded Writer, Darkside Alexis, Schneebly, and Hellspawn. Please again remember to leave your emails with your reviews so I can thank you for them and answer any questions you have. Thanks goes out also to all those who read and don't review, even though I beg you—continuously—to do so. It's still very appreciated.

Regarding thank you notes. I just don't have time to write them right now, and I am sorry about that. I'll write everyone back as soon as I can, probably this weekend.

And to all the new reviewers… firstly, welcome :) Secondly, because it's been questioned a few times now, updates are always every second Friday.

I'm very excited about this chapter. It's one that I've had planned out since before I even wrapped up "Fading Away", so it was fun writing it. It's my longest chapter yet, lol. And guess who's back? (Not Kaplan. Sorry. Just someone who's been rather AWOL lately)

And another thing… I don't know if there's going to be a third part to this trilogy. It's just—I've spent two years on this already, and it's getting hard to continue. Some days all that makes me write is the knowledge that all of you are waiting for an update and deserve one for being such fantastic reviewers:) But… I don't know. Maybe I'll just make it a quick wrap-up of events instead; it seems so unfair to leave so much in the air to you reviewers. I'll let you know what's happening when I decide, but all comments on this are muchly appreciated.

Still hate fanfiction (dot) net, for those wondering.

Thanks again, enjoy the fic!

Into the Light

Chapter Thirteen: Awake in the Darkness

The phone was ringing.

William sat back patiently to wait. Patience wasn't in his nature, wasn't even a part of his vocabulary usually, but for this, he could wait.

He'd been surprised, despite himself, at Olivia's refusal to betray Umbrella's ex-S.W.A.T. team. At her refusal to betray people she barely even knew.

He scoffed slightly. Clearly, Olivia was even less intelligent than he'd remembered her as being.

But it didn't matter. Unfortunately, Olivia's part was now almost necessary to his plan for the team. He supposed he could probably, if he had to, manage without her, but… it was so much more simpler with her doing her part, and William preferred things to run smoothly.

So he'd taken some time to think about it. He was packed up now, ready to get the hell out of Raccoon. Apart from a few specific files—those of the Hive included—the memory on his database had been erased, leaving nothing for Crawford to find should he look for him.

And even if something went wrong with the files… Raccoon was going to be decimated by the time Crawford got around to sending more teams down here. It was unfortunate, but William didn't see any other way around it. The longer Raccoon City stood infected and zombie-ridden, the more likely any chances of the rest of the world finding out about Umbrella's involvement became.

So William had packed, made preparations. Less than a day after he left Raccoon, the city would be nothing but ash.

Unfortunately, that left nothing for William to do but think about this situation with Olivia. He'd watched the monitors for the past few days, observing their haphazard efforts to find the anti-virus with nothing more than slight amusement. It was a useless effort; Addison had less than two days left now. To put it bluntly, he was completely fucked.

Some people thought he was cruel to let them suffer that way. Word had quickly gotten out among his higher workers of the ex-S.W.A.T. team's presence in the Hive.

But he wasn't doing this only for his own amusement or research. He was doing this for Lea. If they got out, they'd stop at nothing to ensure the world knew what Umbrella had done.

That would mean prison for William. At the very least. And Lea… who knew what would happen to her if he was gone?

Really, he had the best of intentions.

Eventually he'd come to a conclusion, watching the slow decay of the relationships down in the Hive. Particularly the tension between Olivia Alderic and Rain Ocampo.

Forcing Olivia to betray the entire team—particularly J.D—was damn near impossible.

But with a bit of encouragement, he could push her in the right direction.

The ringing stopped.

"Hello?"

Olivia's voice, sleep-ridden and tired. She'd gotten up, concealing the phone, and moved off into a room adjacent to the one they were all sleeping in—including Michael and J.D.

Pretty inefficient guards, all things considered. They were lucky they weren't working for him.

"Olivia," he said smoothly. He would have once called her 'Ms. Alderic', but times were tense and chivalry was an effort he didn't have time for anymore. "How's the search going?"

Even from here he could see her eyes narrow, and smirked despite himself as she answered edgily, "I'm pretty sure you already know."

"I do," he acknowledged. "Which is why I called. To offer you a deal."

She sighed. "I already told you, I'm not backstabbing these people. If that's your suggestion, Archangelo, you can go to hell."

"Of course not," he lied smoothly. "I do, however, need a favor from you."

She didn't answer, and he continued. "I need to know, that, should I release you all, you'll stay quiet. You'll disappear into the woodwork, and this'll all fade away."

Her eyes were dark with suspicion as she said, "You're just going to trust me at my word?"

"It's all I need to do," he said simply. "You drop your end of the bargain, Umbrella will take care of it before I even know about it."

There was silence, and then Olivia said, "And what exactly are you going to give us in return?"

William smiled, watching onscreen as she tensed. J.D had woken up.

"The anti-virus."

xxxxx

J.D awoke feeling like his head had been detached from his body. His neck screamed in pain, and his head felt cloudy and dim.

As he opened his eyes, taking stock in the world around him, he realized that he'd fallen asleep across the table, his head and shoulders hanging over the edge like a limp rag doll.

Putting his hand to his head he sat up slowly, glancing around him.

Michael was asleep in one of the chairs on the far end of the table, his head lolling off to the side in a lesser interpretation of the same rag-doll pose J.D had woken up in.

Everyone else was still asleep, sprawled out over sleeping bags and the floor.

J.D frowned. There was something wrong, something he couldn't place—

"And what exactly are you going to give us in return?"

Olivia's voice, quiet and muffled, and he realized she was no longer in her sleeping bag.

He glanced towards the sound of her voice, seeing her enclosed in the small room offside their own. She met his gaze through the window and then turned away, glancing down as she hung up her phone.

J.D glanced blearily at his watch. 5 am.

Who the fuck was Olivia talking to at this hour?

The guilty expression on her face all but gave her answer as she slipped the cell into her pocket.

Archangelo.

She came back into the room, and before he could say anything, he heard Rain's voice as she asked harshly, "Talking to Archangelo again?"

He looked at her in surprise where she was sitting up in her sleeping bag. He hadn't even heard her wake up.

"I didn't—" Olivia stammered slightly, looking at him as if for help. J.D just shrugged. "Yeah."

"Why?" he asked her, unwilling to believe that it was for malicious intent and unable to leave it at that.

She shrugged slightly, offered a weak smile. "He wants me to betray you guys, actually, to get my way out of here."

Rain snorted slightly. "And what, you're taking him up on his offer?"

J.D sighed. "Rain."

"I told him to fuck off, actually," Olivia corrected her.

She glared at him, completely ignoring Olivia. "What, you're just going to take her word on it?"

He sighed again. Why was he always in the fucking middle? "Rain, why would she have told us if she was planning on actually following through on that?"

"Umm," Olivia said. They both looked at her, and she sighed. "Look, I'm sorry. I know this is making it hard for you to trust me. Just—I can't make you trust me, but I can honestly say that I'm not going to take him up on his offers. I promise."

"Thanks," Rain said sarcastically. "I feel so much better now."

"Rain."

She glared at him. "I think we should disconnect her fucking phone."

"Look." Olivia again. "Can we talk about this in the morning? I promise I'll let you all know what's going on then. But it's eight a.m., and like I said, there's nothing I can say right now that's going to make you trust me."

Rain stared at her, then turned and left, opening the door and slamming it closed behind her.

J.D let out a sigh of pure exasperation, and Olivia looked at him apologetically. "J.D, I'm sorry. I swear I'm not working with Archangelo."

He nodded, forcing a small smile. "I know. I trust you."

And the funny thing was, he did. Maybe it was a stupid thing to do, but Olivia was an honest person by nature. If she was lying to him, that made all of her previous actions—telling them about Umbrella, explaining Archangelo's phone calls, completely backwards.

He leaned forward, kissing her gently on the forehead, and said, "I'm going to go check on Rain."

She nodded, looking slightly irritated but grudgingly understanding, and he almost laughed at the two conflicting emotions playing across her face.

And then he stood and left the room.

Rain was still in the hallway when he closed the door, obviously waiting for him, and he couldn't help but marvel at her ability to predict his reactions to her behavior.

She was pacing up and down, obviously pissed, and he couldn't really blame her for it. Olivia's story was difficult to believe even for him, and Rain hadn't trusted her from day one.

"Rain," he started, and she wasted no time, getting into it right away.

"She's leading us into a trap, J.D."

He shook his head. "You don't know that, Rain."

She glared at him. "What proof do you have that she's not?"

There wasn't exactly a reasonable answer to that, and so he said carefully, "Look, Rain, don't you think you're making it a little personal here?"

She stopped and turned to look at him. "Personal, J.D?"

He nodded. "Yeah."

She barked out a laugh. "You're the one who's fucking her and won't listen to a goddamn bad word about her—"

"Hey!" he barked at her. "Back off, Rain. That was fucking uncalled for."

She stared at him thoughtfully, obviously realizing exactly how upset he was as she answered, "Fine, I'm sorry. But I'm not the only one making it fucking personal, J.D."

A silence followed, during which Rain narrowed her eyes at him, obviously wanting either a vehement denial or outright confirmation from him. J.D just shrugged, unsure of what exactly to say to that.

Finally loosing patience, Rain spun and grabbed the door handle, obviously giving up on her fight, and J.D grabbed her elbow. "Look, Rain, would you just trust me?"

She laughed at that, and he realized, with a sickening sense of dread, that maybe Michael had been right about what he'd said. "That's easier said than done, J.D."

He let go of her arm automatically, hurt despite himself as he stated, "You don't trust me."

Rain shrugged. "I don't trust Olivia, why should I trust you?"

Irritation won out over rationalization, and he snapped, "What exactly is that supposed to mean?"

"Do you love her?"

The question came out of nowhere, blindsiding him, and he stared at her as if trying to discern whether or not she was serious. "What?"

She just raised an eyebrow at him, and he felt his face heat up as he asked hotly, "What exactly does that have to do with anything?"

"Yes or no, J.D," she continued, completely unaffected. "It shouldn't be this difficult to answer."

"Yes," he said vehemently, glaring at her. "Yeah, I do. So what?"

She shrugged. "So love fucks with your head," she said shortly, staring at him. "Everything you say and do is about her. How the hell am I supposed to know I'm listening to your opinions and not hers?"

He shook his head, exasperated. "That doesn't even make any sense!"

She shook her head, obviously disgusted. "Forget it, J.D."

She turned to storm out again, but he grabbed her shoulders, forcing her to face him. "Look. Whatever you believe, Rain, you can trust me. Okay? I care about you. I would do anything, fucking anything, to keep you and the rest of the group safe—even if that means going against Olivia."

That shook her, and he could tell by the momentary flash in her eyes before she turned her head away, and the uncertainty in her tone as she answered, "Whatever, J.D."

He nodded slightly, and then, unable to help himself, added, "But I'm not going to turn against Olivia until you prove, beyond all reasonable doubt, that she poses a threat."

She was more herself again as she snapped, "Fine," pulling away and stomping back into the room. He didn't stop her this time.

Instead he stood there, knowing that his words were true, knowing that, if it came down to it, he'd betray Olivia to protect Rain and the rest of the group.

And knowing that, despite that knowledge, he hoped he'd never have to put it to the test.

xxxxx

Archangelo never wasted time.

He was a self-involved, arrogant asshole. He had no qualms whatsoever about forcing others to do work that he himself took credit for. And he lied more frequently than most people spoke.

But he always had a schedule to suit his arrogant, self-minded personality, and never once did he compromise that schedule with anything so mundane as common decency.

That's why Olivia was lying underneath the blanket of her sleeping bag, eyes screwed shut in the picture of innocent sleep, her cell phone clutched in sweaty hands and ears pricked for the sound of people awakening or the phone ringing.

She didn't have to wait long.

The phone announced itself with a shrill ring, and she pressed it into the blanket underneath her, covering up the sound with her hands as she scrambled out of the sleeping bag as quickly and quietly as was humanly possible.

She stole a glance at the room's occupants before the scurried into the adjoining room—they were all asleep again. Even J.D, who, despite his admonitions of trusting her, had faked sleep for a good three hours before actually falling asleep again.

She wasn't sure whether or not he trusted her. He loved her, she knew that—but Rain hated her. Rain didn't trust her; and despite how many times Olivia tried to tell herself that it wouldn't matter to J.D, that it wouldn't affect his opinion of her, she couldn't help but worry.

She flipped the phone open, leaning against the desk inside the room to catch her breath as she said, "Archangelo."

"So do we have a deal?"

She couldn't help but be astounded at his complete lack of preamble as she responded, hissing quietly, "What deal, Archangelo? You didn't tell me anything."

She heard him sigh arrogantly over the phone, like her stupidity was both astonishing and painful to behold, and then, sounding bored: "I give you the anti-virus and open the main doors so you have a chance, albeit a very slim one, to escape. Whether you choose to bring your newfound friends with you or not is of no interest to me. If you manage to escape, you destroy all evidence of your time with Umbrella and never speak of this again."

Olivia hesitated. The words were clear and contained nearly everything she'd wanted to hear, and a part of her wanted to just believe him. To drown out everything, including her instincts, and focus only on that tiny ray of optimism.

Yet that simple instinct, that pure understanding of the way Archangelo's plans generally included a private twist amusing only to him, made her say instead, "I don't believe you."

He sounded amused this time as he responded, "There is one more factor."

Olivia bit back a frustrated sigh, knowing that Archangelo's extra factor could either make or break her final decision. "What?"

"Rain Ocampo."

Olivia did sigh this time, unable to appreciate the irony of Archangelo being the only one who apparently shared her apprehensive views of Rain. "What about her?"

"Eliminate her."

She barked out a harsh laugh before lowering her tone slightly to whisper, "Were you not listening earlier? I'm not going to hurt anyone on the team, and that's final."

"Funny," he responded, his voice deceptively smooth. "I would think Rain would only be too happy to give up her own life if it meant saving Addison's."

"I don't—" Olivia cut herself off. "Why Rain?"

The answer was pure, simple, and uncomfortably close to her own feelings. "She doesn't trust you."

She forced a careless shrug, knowing that, somewhere, Archangelo was watching her. "So what? She hasn't trusted me since I first got here, why would that matter?"

Archangelo laughed over the phone, and she couldn't help but wince at the sound of it. Whenever Archangelo laughed, it meant he knew something she didn't, something she should know. "Do you really think you're that important to J.D Salinas, Olivia? That he would take your word over Rain's?"

"Yes," she said instantly. The words were strong and confident, belying the nervous ache in her stomach. What was he getting at?

His voice was almost pitying as he responded, "Take a look at your phone, Ms. Alderic."

She did, spacing out the screen so it was wider and configuring the volume levels.

The screen went dark, and then J.D and Rain, their images grainy and colorless, filled the screen; obviously a video clipped from the security cameras in the Hive.

They were both speaking in angry tones, their expressions intense, and she felt momentarily uncomfortable listening to the file until she heard her name.

"I don't trust Olivia, why should I trust you?"

She couldn't help but smile at the words. Was this the 'evidence' Archangelo was trying to persuade her with? It was nothing she hadn't heard before. Olivia didn't particularly like Rain, but if there was one thing the brunette was, it was honest, and bluntly so.

Then Rain asked, "Do you love her?" and Olivia, both curious and afraid of the answer, turned up the volume slightly.

J.D answered in the affirmative, and despite having expected the words and the flash of happiness they brought about, Olivia hadn't expected the sudden guilt that washed over her in waves. This was a private conversation, and she was sitting here listening to it like she was at a movie or something.

She raised her hand to the dial, ready to at least flick off the volume—

And then J.D's next words, shockingly loud, filled the speakers.

"I would do anything, fucking anything, to keep you and the rest of the group safe—even if that means going against Olivia."

She just stared at the phone, trying to decide how she felt about it, trying to reassure herself that it didn't mean anything, trying to get her emotions back under control—

Archangelo didn't give her time. The image flicked out before anymore was said, and she lifted the phone to her ear automatically, listening as Archangelo asked smugly, "Still sure he's on your side, Olivia?"

"He's not—" She shook her head slightly. "I don't care. The answer is still no, Archangelo."

And still she stood there, the phone glued to her ear, unable to quench the desperation still coursing through her. Blind, unreasonable hope that they could still work something out for the anti-virus, that the video didn't mean anything—that J.D hadn't just betrayed her.

Archangelo laughed. "Well, luckily for you, I wasn't speaking in reference to killing Ms. Ocampo."

"So?" she asked, tired of his games. "What were you saying?"

"Look at your phone, Ms. Alderic."

She did as she was told, watching as a room lit up on the map splayed across the screen, one she recognized as the large, circular office room they'd come across a couple of days ago on their way to Lab B18.

The camera zoomed in on the wide, circular column set into the middle of the room, and Archangelo began to speak.

"Inside that column is a short staircase leading down into a circular room. Inside that room are three doors; one leads directly back upstairs into the office rooms—"

"And the others?"

"Are of no concern to you," he answered smoothly. "You know the password to open the doors and where the panels are, I expect?"

"Same as the doorway itself?" she guessed warily. Every code to every room in the Hive was already firmly implemented into her brain; the ones she hadn't already known she'd used the files Michael and Rain had found to memorize.

"Of course," he said. "All you need to do, Ms. Alderic, is get Rain into that room and leave. I'll take care of the rest."

"The rest?"

"I'll lock her inside," he clarified. "She'll be just fine until you and your friends come back to collect her."

"And the anti-virus?"

"I'll send you the co-ordinates of it's location at 12 a.m. exactly on Day Eight."

"Day eight?" Olivia couldn't keep the edge out of her voice as she hissed, "Archangelo, Matt doesn't have time for your fucking games!"

Archangelo's voice was cool as he replied, "It's your choice Olivia. Promise not to expose Umbrella, take care of the situation with Rain, and I'll give you your anti-virus. Take it or leave it."

She wanted to say no. Every fiber in her being, every moral aspect of her character screamed at her to refuse, not to betray the team that way.

And yet that nagging part of her brain, the same part that kept playing the goddamn video, kept whispering out undeniable logic. Saying that J.D, Rain, all of them would understand—Matt would have the anti-virus, after all.

"You have to promise that nothing will happen to Rain," she said, trying to sound tough and hating herself for the wavering, uncertain tone that escaped instead.

Archangelo's voice answered, smooth and assured as he drawled, "Ms. Alderic, I give you my word."

She hesitated once.

"You have yourself a deal."

xxxxx

"We have twenty four different labs to go through before Friday," Alice said flatly, leaning back in her chair, the file balanced in her lap.

She could almost feel Michael shifting nervously across from her as Matt laid a comforting hand on her shoulder. "We still have two days, Alice—"

"One and a half," she mumbled tiredly.

"One and a half days," Matt continued firmly, undeterred. "Alice, it's enough. We're all working together, and if the anti-virus is down here, we'll find it."

She sighed, leaning against him slightly as she mumbled, "I wish I could be as confidant as you about all this."

She was surprised to feel him stiffen underneath her, and then, as a sudden flash of resigned understanding went through her, she pulled away just in time to avoid falling on her face as Matt stood. "You are strong enough, Alice. I'm sick of telling you that—"

"Matt—" Michael started, and Alice sent him a look as Matt snarled, "Stay out of this, Michael."

"Do you know how fucking sick I am of you whining about this?" he continued, turning to stare at Alice again. "You're not even the one who's fucking infected."

That stung, despite her efforts to distance herself from his words, and Michael looked outraged. Alice gave him an almost imperceptible shake of her head, warning him not to say anything.

In the past few days, Matt's temper had been steadily worsening. Nothing they hadn't expected, but Alice had the most experience with the Matt/Nemesis fluctuations and knew that, as long as they stayed quiet, it'd blow over fairly quickly.

She was just glad Rain was sitting a few meters away with J.D, talking rather than arguing for once. There was no way she would have been able to keep the brunette from responding, especially considering her own recent moods.

Matt cut himself off suddenly and Alice refocused on him as he crumpled visibly, the anger fading from his expression. "Alice, I'm sorry—"

"No," she said automatically. "Don't, Matt."

He pulled her into a hug and she returned it almost automatically as he placed a soft kiss on her neck.

She couldn't help but feel guilty. Matt had been peculiar lately, shifting between sudden rages and his own genial, if quiet, mood—but his complaints had always been so ridiculous, she'd known he hadn't meant anything he'd just said.

This time, though, was different. She knew that with the fear Matt was feeling, her own worry and despair over their consistently failing efforts was only acting as a catalyst to his own hidden emotions. She should have been comforting him, reassuring him instead of it being the other way around.

And yet she couldn't understand the way Matt was so able to hide his emotions away, hold this faith in such an improbable outcome. How he could trust the team, trust her so inexplicably with his life.

She heard a sudden commotion behind her and pulled away slightly, turning to look back behind her, Matt's arms still around her.

Olivia was approaching Rain and J.D, looking hesitant. "About this morning—"

"I think you should tell the group about what happened this morning," Rain said sharply.

"Rain," J.D cut her off, and looked up at Olivia. "Don't worry about it. I trust you."

Rain sent him a sharp look, and he glared at her. Alice watched with a raised eyebrow, waiting for her to blow up at him, and was surprised when the two simply shared a brief nod of understanding.

Olivia, not noticing, continued. "Okay," she said uncertainly. "I really think it'd be better if we talked about this though—"

"Fuck off, Olivia," Rain said simply.

Olivia looked outraged. Rain looked bored. And J.D simply closed his eyes and stared at the ceiling, obviously not wanting to put himself into the middle again.

Apparently noticing that they were looking, Rain glanced over and asked, "So are we leaving yet?"

Olivia closed her mouth, casting a slightly mutinous look at J.D, who only shrugged. Rain smirked, obviously well aware of what was going on with the two people next to her, and Alice couldn't help letting out an exasperated laugh.

Rain was being a bitch where Olivia was concerned. The whole team knew that.

But Alice also knew from experience that Rain was stubborn, and would never, ever submit to a lecture from her over the subject.

"Yeah, we're leaving."

xxxxx

"Nothing. Nada. Nyet. Nein. N—"

"Would you stop, Rain?" Matt asked sharply.

The brunette glanced up, looking like she wanted to argue; and then, seeing the look on his face, stopped.

Alice sighed, feeling slightly guilty for the last two words. Having a Russian mother and growing up in Germany had given her a fairly wide grasp of both languages, and during their time in the Spencer mansion, Rain had decided to learn both.

To the surprise of no one, after learning a few choice swear words and phrases, she'd given up on them. Alice, however, hadn't actually expected her to retain any of what she'd learned so far. She hadn't employed the swears, after all—although that could have simply been because she was so well acquainted with the English versions already.

She sighed again, realizing that she was just avoiding the point.

Rain's words were just words, mumbled to herself in an attempt to keep her thoughts from the same subject Alice herself was avoiding.

Thirteen labs today, and no results.

They hadn't even seen any monsters, which made Alice tense about the prospects of tomorrow. They'd been in the higher floors, where all the zombies and less dangerous—if there was such a thing, in the Hive—mutations had migrated towards.

Tomorrow they explored the last eleven rooms, traveling deeper into the Hive, and Alice had a sinking feeling that they'd be paying for today's relatively easy mission with a hellish one tomorrow.

They had all ended up in the office room Matt had found Lisa inside, a fact which made Matt obviously uncomfortable; he'd insisted on checking the room three times, Alice accompanying him once—it was all he'd allow.

Neither of them had seen Lisa.

Alice had no idea where she'd gone; if she'd been eaten by her fellow virus-carriers, or just disintegrated, rotting into ashes and melding into the carpet.

They'd set out their sleeping bags, cleared some space. The room wasn't exactly enviable for protection, and so whoever was guarding tonight would be traveling back and forth around the circular room, watching through the windows for any signs of trouble.

Not for the first time, Alice thought wearily that they should have found another room to stay in. Something less exposed.

But Olivia had suggested the room when they'd passed it, quite possibly because half the rooms in the Hive were spaced out and hidden on this floor, and Alice—all of them—had been too tired to argue the point.

Yet instead of sleeping, they were sitting in a circle on the floor, as if around some stupid campfire, going over their plan of action for tomorrow.

Alice glanced at Michael, trying to refocus on his words—

Rain yawned.

Michael stopped talking, and they all turned to stare at her; Rain looked too tired to care. "Sorry."

Alice saw Matt's brow furrow, his mouth twist into a frown, and headed him off before he could blow up at her. Not exactly a reasonable course of action, considering that interruptions only served to irritate him further, but letting him and Rain get into it would be suicide. They only had three anti-virus capsules left to last them over three days, and Matt's reaction to them weakened every time they were used.

The strains of the virus in him were obviously adapting themselves to fight off the weaker version of the anti-virus by now.

"Rain's right," she said simply. "Sorry, Michael. But we're all tired, and I think we pretty much have tomorrow figured out; we should get some sleep, and start fresh tomorrow."

Nobody looked like they wanted to argue. Matt brushed his hair back from his face, asking wearily, "Who's guarding?"

"I will," Rain volunteered instantly.

"Me too," J.D stated.

Alice glanced at them, wondering what was up with the two; less than a day ago, they couldn't even be trusted in the same room together.

She knew it had something to do with Olivia; something had happened, something neither felt the need to inform her, Matt, or Michael about.

For once, Alice was glad about that. She didn't need J.D's little love triangle further complicating things right now.

"Good," she said simply. "Good. We'll go to sleep, J.D and Rain will guard, and we'll set off at—"

She checked her watch. It was past two a.m. already, and she sighed. "Seven. Five hours or so, is that enough?"

Michael shrugged. "It'll have to be, I guess," he said simply.

Rain shrugged, grabbing her gun as she stood, nudging J.D slightly. "Let's go."

He got up and followed the brunette, and Alice didn't miss the worried, suspicious glance Olivia cast them both as she got up and headed for her sleeping bag.

Her expression was almost guilty as she unfolded her sleeping bag, lying down in it.

Matt left abruptly, not sparing either of them a glance, and Alice breathed a heavy sigh, knowing he was still upset.

Knowing that the tension, the fearful recognition of the time they had left hanging over all their heads was finally starting to affect him too.

"Alice?" Michael asked quietly.

She turned to look at him, surprised at the sincerity in his face. There were times when he could look so young, so much younger than all of them. It wasn't because of his age—

Rain was younger than him, and she rarely, if ever, had that sort of expression.

It was because Michael had yet to be fully infiltrated into their world, to be exposed to Umbrella. He'd already become a part of their team, but with a lack of their experience, he still had a look of innocence to him, almost painful to see.

"He's going to be okay," Michael said, his tone reassuring if not slightly uncomfortable, and Alice smiled, grateful for his words.

"Thanks, Michael."

But even as she gave him a quick, spontaneous hug, one he returned with no small degree of sincere awkwardness, and headed back to her sleeping bag, she couldn't align herself to what he had just said, couldn't make herself believe it would all be okay.

They were just words, after all.

xxxxx

Matt, Alice and Michael were sleeping. Olivia was either faking sleep or actually sleeping, Rain wasn't sure which.

And no one was guarding.

Her and J.D had both talked it over that morning, and decided that the safest plan was to just pretend nothing had happened. Not Rain's favorite course of action, but J.D was right about one thing—if Olivia thought this had all blown over, she'd fuck up again. If she knew they were watching her, she'd be hyper-alert, and probably find some other way to contact Archangelo.

Rain was willing to bet Olivia had more than just a business relationship with Archangelo. She'd run the thought by J.D this morning, knowing that it would piss him off but wanting his opinion on it anyway, and he'd responded with almost comical shock. Apparently he didn't think it was even remotely possible, considering the terms she'd described him with before.

She'd told him that he wasn't the most objective person to decide, he'd shrugged and said you couldn't ever tell with a person, and then hit her with the disturbing news that Olivia was apparently firmly positive that her and J.D had or were having some illicit affair or something.

That's when Olivia, somewhat thankfully—though Rain would never admit it to her—had intervened, and Rain hadn't brought it up again.

Still, it was fucked up, the idea of her and J.D. It would never work, for one thing. When J.D pissed Rain off, she ignored him. When Rain pissed him off, he either ignored her or fought with her.

But if they were actually in a relationship, they'd have to talk about their issues. And no matter what Rain did, she simply couldn't imagine them actually sitting down and talking and playing house like Matt and Alice were so familiar with doing.

In short, it was a fucked up idea, but Rain wasn't surprised Olivia had thought it. She barely even knew the girl, and she could already tell she was a worse 'hopeless romantic' than Alice.

Olivia shifted suddenly, and Rain honed in on the sound. She still couldn't tell whether Olivia was sleeping or not, and stifled a moan of frustration as she rolled over onto her back.

This was fucking stupid too. Besides a ten minute stretch, during which she'd actually fallen asleep before being awoken by Michael's horrifically loud snoring, she'd been lying awake for two hours now, waiting for her to get up and do something suspicious.

It was part of the plan, yeah. They'd decided to 'fall asleep' on the job and thus be able to watch Olivia without her knowledge.

Except J.D had made his expectations of Olivia actually engaging in suspicious activity pretty clear when he'd fallen asleep—for real—ten minutes after starting 'guard duty'.

So now she was lying here on her own, doing nothing in particular, and thinking about how she was going to kill J.D the next morning. Whether she caught Olivia doing something suspicious or stayed awake all night doing nothing, there would be hell to pay when J.D woke up in the morning.

Olivia sat up.

Rain's senses were instantly on hyper-alert. Eyes still closed, she shifted again slightly, wondering if she should bother with a fake snore or some other sleeping noises.

Olivia stood slowly, and Rain realized there was no point in bothering; Olivia wasn't paying the slightest bit of attention to her surroundings.

She peeked one eye open, watching as Olivia gave the room one cursory glance before grabbing a handgun off the table and a knapsack—her knapsack—slinging it over her shoulders and hurrying off.

She was leaving. She was taking whatever she'd stuffed into Rain's knapsack and actually leaving.

Rain muffled a swear into her pillow, pissed at J.D for putting her in this situation. If she stopped to wake him up, there's no way she'd reach Olivia in time.

In the end she slid out of her sleeping bag, grabbing her gun from the floor beside her and following where Olivia had disappeared.

She stopped next to the inner column, holding her gun up and out of view as she peered around the corner.

Olivia stood there, looking nervous and tense as she finished typing numbers into a keypad—

And then the wall, the fucking wall, moved out of the way, and Olivia glanced once more around her, lowering her gun to her side.

Her gaze reached the edge of the column, where Rain stood—and then dropped, even as Rain tensed, prepared to move out of sight range. Hoisting the knapsack on her shoulders, she walked inside.

Rain started to follow—and then stopped, feeling, for the first time, an intuitive knowledge that she was being set-up somehow.

There was no way Olivia was escaping into a concrete column.

For a moment, Rain glanced back at the team, at their sleeping forms, and debated waking them up.

The thought was pushed from her mind as quickly as it'd come. She had her weapon, she could handle Olivia.

She stepped forward into the light, not hesitating once as she stepped into the column.

It was blank, and empty, and a staircase set into the floor beckoned to her almost before she had even stepped into the room.

Olivia was gone, had probably gone down the staircase, and Rain pulled out J.D's lighter, still in her possession and comfortably heavy as she flicked it on, lighting up the darkness and casting shadows into the corners as she descended the stairs.

The first thing she noticed about the dimly lighted room she stepped into was that it was tiny, and the three doors it contained were heavy wood and closed—

And that besides her knapsack, propped carefully in the corner now, the room was empty.

Olivia was gone.

Rain's frown of confusion quickly turned into a scowl of annoyance, and she turned to head for the stairs—

And saw that they were gone. Somehow, in the twenty seconds she'd been standing here, staring around her, a concrete wall had slid down, effectively trapping her inside the room.

xxxxx

Olivia hurried up the stairs and out of the room, already feeling a smothering sense of guilt.

It's okay, she told herself, trying to believe the words. Rain will be fine, if not completely pissed off at you, and Matt will get the anti-virus. We'll all get out of here.

She forced herself not to glance at Rain's empty sleeping bag as she crawled into her own. Not to think about the bullets she'd taken from Rain's gun when the brunette had fallen asleep momentarily and slid underneath one of the computer stations. It was overkill, maybe, but Rain was a good shot and Olivia hadn't trusted Archangelo to get her out of that room without a fight.

But everything would be okay. Rain would be fine. Olivia had stuffed enough food and water—plus a book of crossword puzzles Michael had apparently smuggled into his own bag—into the knapsack she'd left down there for Rain.

They would get up tomorrow, and Olivia would stall until they could get the anti-virus. They would cure Matt, she'd admit what she'd done, and they come back and rescue Rain.

She just hoped that J.D would be able to forgive her. Would understand why she'd done it.

Olivia squeezed her eyes shut as she dropped her head onto her pillow.

Everything will be okay.

She repeated the words in her mind, shoving the strains of worry away as she forced herself to fall asleep.

xxxxx

Feeling the first start of unease, Rain asked, "Olivia?"

Nobody answered, and she hurried forward, yanking on each door, realizing that they were all locked, that if Olivia had even been in here, she was gone now. "God damn it!"

She was trapped inside an empty room, with no idea how to get out—how would they even be able to hear her upstairs?

And then the lights went out. Rain forced herself to breathe, flicking her lighter back on and lifting her gun as she asked again, forcing a tougher tone into her voice, "Olivia?"

Both doors on either side of her opened, and although she wanted to hurry forward and see who was there, what they were doing, something held her back.

Someone shuffled into the room, and Rain held the lighter further out in front of her, feeling like a wimp but unwilling to move closer—

And the figure turned it's head towards the sudden light, letting out a throaty moan, and she felt her breath catch as she saw it was a virus carrier, it's brains and blood matted into it's hair—

And then the moaning was increasing in sound and she realized suddenly that there was more of them, that they'd be pouring through the doors soon—

She had backed up into the concrete wall, and something bumped into her back. Reaching behind her, she realized it was another panel, a solid loop set into the top.

She remembered suddenly the gun in her hand, and, feeling desperately stupid, pulled it up, aiming it at the first of the zombies as it shuffled closer to her, pulling the trigger—

Nothing happened. A dry, raspy click seemed to echo through her brain, and she realized with a thud of horror that it was empty, that Olivia had stolen her fucking bullets—

She swallowed, dropping the gun uselessly beside her and, with a last look at the lighter, letting it flicker into darkness.

She let her body move into autopilot, punching, kicking, elbowing the virus carriers as they crowded in around her, and for a moment it worked. She could hear the sickening crack of bone as she snapped another's neck—

And then one had managed to get in close enough to latch it's mouth around her neck, to rip open a bite already there that had nearly healed by now.

She shoved it away, but it was too late; they were all around her now, and Rain realized suddenly that she was screaming as she hit them away, trying to wake up someone upstairs, realizing that it was useless, that she was already fucked as she reached back and grabbed the handle on the panel, trying desperately to avoid being pulled into one of the rooms as J.D had been so many months ago—

She realized that she was bleeding, that she was getting light-headed again even as she continued to scream and scream—

And the room faded into total blackness.