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. Also, I ripped off a couple lines from The Shawshank Redemption. Kudos if you can recognize them :)

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

Author's Notes:

Hee. I learned a new trick for getting more reviews fast: kill off a main character. I was very surprised, and wonderfully happy with, the responses last update. Fourteen reviews, yay! Thanks so much to: masked-in-your-shadows, Xmaster, rain1657, Schneebly, -, SangloLancer200, kk, LCO100, nikki-da-latina, Hellspawn, Wongster, Kagii, Gabzilla and Jen Drake.

Par usual, thank 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.

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

About the "ending the fanfiction" note last chapter—I meant for the third part of the trilogy. "Into the Light" is only the second part of the trilogy, and I have no intentions of stopping until I reach the end:) So you can all stop worrying. But for those wondering—there are only about five chapters left after this one for "Into the Light".

And regarding the third part… I think I'm going to write a little five-chapter fanfiction, just to wrap up the loose ends, and leave it at that.

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

Thanks again, enjoy the fic!

Into the Light

Chapter Fourteen: Means To An End

While Rain was downstairs, wide awake and fighting for her life, Matt was upstairs, fast asleep and in the middle of a very strange dream.

In the dream he was sitting in the forest directly outside the Spencer Mansion. He was close enough to see the tops of the roof, the smoke from the fire Alice was building inside clear and solid in the early night air.

He was sitting in front of a tree stump, on which was balanced a broad, intricate chessboard made of a smoky silvery glass. A pale pink liquid ran through the board, the color of water mingled with blood, as Matt tried to explain to Rain, sitting cross-legged across from him, the components of the game.

"You see, Rain, chess is a game of kings. Organized. Dignified. And—"

"Totally fucking inexplicable," she interrupted. "I hate chess."

Matt sulked. "I should have played with Michael."

A flash of anger went through Rain's eyes. Then, before Matt could do or say anything, she burst into tears and, bringing the board over her head, shattered it across the ground.

As Matt watched numbly, the pink liquid inside—his anti virus—darkened to the color of blood, pouring down the shards of glass and sinking into the ground underneath them.

"I'm sorry, Matt. I didn't mean to, I'm sorry—"

Rain was crying, but it was Alice's voice he heard even as Nemesis surged through Matt and leapt over the stump to meet Rain—

And then he was in the circular room of the Hive, the same room him and Alice had been taken in so long ago. The black and white tiles were shiny and new, and the angel, statuesque in the corner, stared down at him condemningly.

She was singing, a high sound of fear and loss, a keening wail like the sound of glass shattering over ice, and then Matt realized.

It smelled like smoke.

"Alice?" he asked, and she appeared around the corner. "It's burning. The house is on fire."

She nodded grimly. "You did it," she said hoarsely, her eyes wide and teary. "It's your fault, Matt. You lost the anti-virus, and now I have to burn you. So no one else gets hurt."

He shook his head, eyes wide. "No," he pleaded, watching as she lit a match. "No, Alice, Rain lost it, but it's okay. We're going to dig into the Earth to find it."

"You can find it in Hell," she spat at him.

She dropped the match.

And then Alice was screaming, twisting and crying as her skin bubbled and burned—

Matt sat up, breathing hard.

"Matt?" Alice asked, her voice sleepy as she sat up with him. "What's wrong?"

He could still hear her screaming, and he frowned in confusion, watching as her expression contorted to match his—

"Rain," she said shortly.

And then they were both up, running for the concrete column in the middle of the room where the screaming was coming from.

They both circled around the column, Matt struggling to keep his calm despite the frustration her could feel rising up inside him—this was fucking hopeless, they'd never find her in time—

And then he felt it, a smooth panel nearly invisible against the white backdrop.

"Get Olivia up!" he barked at Alice, and she didn't even bother acknowledging his request before hurrying over to the sleeping bags, shaking Olivia roughly.

J.D and Michael were both waking up now, J.D wiping the back of his hand over sleepy eyes and muttering, "What the fuck is going on?"

Michael was more alert already, gazing around the room and looking back up to Matt and Alice, blissful ignorance clear on his face. "Where's Rain?"

Matt wanted to snap at them, was fighting to keep his temper as he stood there staring at him. Couldn't they fucking hear Rain? Was it that hard to understand what was going on?

And then his furiously narrowed eyes caught Alice's terrified one's halfway across the room and he realized, suddenly, that he could no longer hear Rain screaming.

And then Olivia was hurrying over, Alice having briefed her on the situation in less than a minute, to enter the code, and J.D and Michael, understanding now that something was seriously wrong, began a barrage of questions that Matt didn't bother answering, rushing in through the doorway and down the stairs he found as soon as possible—

And slamming into a concrete wall.

He could hear J.D upstairs, demanding now to know what was going on, the fear in his voice masking the undercurrents of denial, and forced the sounds out of his head, leaning against the wall, letting the border between Nemesis and himself shift and shimmer as he focused on the sounds inside—

And heard a heartbeat, a single, tapping thud amid the moaning of the dead, weakening even as Matt stepped back—

Letting the border break completely, letting Nemesis take over—

And raising one arm, bulging red with twisted veins, smashed it through the concrete wall.

xxxxx

Echoes of shattering concrete resounded through the room and J.D swore violently.

"If he caves in that room, he's going to kill her!" he shouted at Alice, slamming his fist into the wall.

Alice was pale, almost white where she stood in the doorway; but she managed to glance at Michael, saying quietly, "Get the anti-virus."

Eyes wide, Michael left amid the sounds of another smash; the entire column shook this time, and J.D shook his head. "Great. That's just fucking great. He's mutating too."

He bit the words off as he looked at Alice, and Alice's eyes were like ice as she met his gaze evenly. "J.D, unless you have a better idea, shut the fuck up and let Matt take care of Rain."

Another thud, more shattering concrete—

And the moans of what had to be over fifty zombies was suddenly audible in the quiet air.

Thudding footsteps resounded, and Alice was moving out of the way, letting Matt through the door—

Already halfway mutated, carrying Rain in his arms and covered in blood.

J.D didn't want to guess how much of it was Rain's.

He dumped her unceremoniously on the ground, stumbling slightly himself as he crossed the threshold into the room, and Alice snapped, "Shut the door, Olivia."

Olivia, whom J.D hadn't even registered was still there, leaning against the wall, looking pale and terrified, did so, even as Matt stumbled off into the room.

Michael followed, pulling out a syringe and prepping it quickly even as Matt dropped to his knees, clutching his head and screaming violently.

Alice's face blanched with pain as she watched Matt, but she dropped to her knees, pulling a trembling Rain to her and snapping at J.D, "Go get the first aid supplies."

He did, returning with a myriad of supplies, cloths and water just as Michael was returning, another surgical needle in his hand.

"Go check on Matt," he told Alice abruptly, and she nodded, standing and letting J.D take her place, pulling Rain's head onto his lap.

She was still unconscious, and as he brushed a strand of hair, damp with sweat, from her face, he could hear Alice saying quietly, "Michael, she's going to need at least two doses, she's lost a lot of blood—"

And then heard Michael respond, his voice grim, "There's only one left."

Alice didn't respond to that, but as she hurried off to Matt, J.D knew she didn't have to.

It had just become Rain's life versus Matt's.

If they didn't find Matt's anti-virus before tomorrow morning, they were going to have a pretty fucking difficult decision on their hands.

Michael opened up the first aid kit, handing J.D a roll of gauze, and, syringe in hand, they went to work.

xxxxx

Two hours had passed, and both Matt and Rain were still completely unconscious.

Michael watched silently as J.D shifted, wincing slightly as he tried not to jar Rain, still asleep across his legs.

But she was already waking up, staring blankly at the ceiling and calling out softly, "Matt?"

Alice stood up from where she'd been sitting with Matt and hurried over, even as J.D asked, his voice uncommonly tender, "Rain, you okay?"

She scowled slightly, eyes still closed, obviously still out of it. "I heard Matt. Where'd he go?"

"Uh…" J.D glanced at Alice, and Michael smiled slightly as he mouthed a fairly obvious 'What the fuck?'

Alice just rolled her eyes at him. "She's probably fairly disoriented, J.D. Wait a few minutes."

Michael could have told him that, but for now he was content to stay where he was, watching and observing the scene taking place in front of him.

Alice leaned forward, smoothing Rain's hair away from her face. "Hey Rain!"

Recognition flashed across the brunette's face, and then her eyes were open and she was glaring at Alice. "I'm not a fucking hospital patient."

Alice just laughed, and Rain relaxed slightly, leaning back into J.D and screwing her face up thoughtfully.

Obviously assuming Rain was attempting to remember what'd happened, Alice started to explain, "Matt got you out. You were in one of the rooms, you—"

Rain shook her head, bringing one hand up to cover her eyes. "Shut up, I'm trying to think."

Michael laughed, despite himself. "Yeah, she's definitely okay for now."

He could have cursed himself for the added 'for now', for the silence that went through J.D and Alice following the words. There was no reason to assume Rain wouldn't be okay. One dosage of the anti-virus would last her through most of the day, and by tomorrow, they wouldn't have to worry about it anymore.

Hopefully.

Rain, for her part, barely noticed, flashing him a small smile before looking back into her hands again. "Shut up, Michael."

J.D spoke up, his voice uncharacteristically quiet. "Do you remember anything about what happened?"

"I remember that you fell asleep," Rain answered dryly. "Other than that, no. I'm guessing there were zombies involved though."

J.D sighed. "Olivia said that she was awake for awhile, but didn't see you leave. Do you—"

Rain's eyes snapped open. "What?"

J.D looked up at Michael and Alice, the wary look back on his face. "Uh, Olivia just said—"

Rain's expression went stony.

Before anyone could move, she was up and stomping towards an obviously terrified Olivia, who sat on her sleeping bag near the wall.

"What the fuck did you do?" she shouted at her, lifting her by the shoulders and slamming her into the wall, injuries apparently forgotten. "What the fuck did you do, Olivia!"

Despite being injured and a good four inches shorter than Olivia, Rain's rage alone made her capable of inflicting a fair bit of damage, and both Michael and Alice stared in shock as the brunette stepped back, letting Olivia fall to the floor.

"Rain," J.D admonished, his tone more shocked than angry as he hurried forward, grabbing her arms and pulling her away gently, as if afraid he might break her. "Rain, what the hell are you doing?"

"Fuck off, J.D," Rain swore violently, shoving J.D away and starting for Olivia again.

"Back off, Rain!" J.D shouted at her, yanking her back forcefully this time. "What the hell is your problem?"

Rain struggled briefly, but J.D's grip was tighter this time and she finally gave in, pointing at Olivia. "J.D, she planned this! She locked me in that fucking room!"

The room went silent, everyone turning to stare at Olivia, who stared, ashen-faced, back at them, seemingly speechless.

It was Alice who finally spoke up, her voice dripping with forced calm. "Look, Rain, Olivia was asleep when we all woke up," she said carefully, holding up her hands as if in surrender. "She had nothing to do with it."

They all looked back at Olivia, just as Alice added, "Right, Olivia?"

Olivia stared at her, wide-eyed.

And then she burst into tears.

And Matt, stumbling around the corner, rubbing heavily-lidded eyes, asked groggily, "What the hell is going on?"

xxxxx

What followed next was not an attractive scene.

Olivia sat on the floor, still crying. J.D was shouting at Rain. Michael was shouting at J.D not to shout at Rain, regardless of that fact that Rain seemed to be holding her own fairly well at the time. Alice was standing aside, plainly lost in the unintelligible chaos.

And Matt just stood there, blinking and quiet, wondering what in the hell was going on.

The scene was diffused drastically when Rain suddenly collapsed, both J.D and Michael rushing forward to catch her, and the next five minutes were spent in a vain attempt to convince Rain that, injured and weak as she was, she wouldn't even be able to beat a four year old and thus, renewing a fight with Olivia was an exceedingly dumb idea.

Rain had finally conceded their point, relaxing slightly and flashing one last glare at Olivia before stalking off.

And then collapsing. Again.

So now, like many times before, they'd split off into groups of two. J.D was sitting with Olivia on one of the sleeping bags, both looking guilty and exhausted as they talked quietly.

Alice stood with Michael, looking tired, harassed—and yet focused, more so than she'd been all week as they went through the lab diagrams and possible plans.

After Matt had woken up and the chaos had died down, Alice had barely talked to him; she'd only stood by, wringing her hands and staring at him like a worried mother before giving him a light kiss and hurrying away.

She was distancing herself from him, forcing herself not to think about what was going on so she could focus all her energy on the next two days ahead—the two days, that, basically, decided Matt's own fate.

Alice had always worked best under pressure.

Matt was desperately proud of her.

For his part, Matt was sitting by one of the sleeping bags, looking over a sleeping Rain. She had seemed fine, surprisingly so, to him, but Michael had warned him that adrenaline and anger had been fueling Rain before; when she woke up, she'd probably be feeling as bad as she looked right now.

Her eyes were screwed tightly shut now, and he allowed himself to glance over the rest of her body, wincing at the numerous bandages covering her, at the thought of how many more there would have been if they hadn't found her in time.

He remembered the last time they'd been here, Rain's nausea, loss of sight, weakness and shockingly fast deterioration within a matter of hours.

Of course, Rain had a dosage of the anti-virus now. Things were different.

But she still needed another, and nobody knew how long the one she had was going to last.

"Matt?"

Rain was talking, now, and with a small degree of surprise, he realized she was—had been—awake for awhile now, judging by the tone of her voice. "Yeah?"

"Do you believe me?"

Her voice was uncommonly small; and yet furious, scared and angry at the same time.

"About what?" Matt asked, pretty sure he already knew the answer.

"Olivia."

She opened her eyes then, but didn't look at him, staring instead at the ceiling, and he answered honestly, "I don't know."

She scowled slightly. "Why not?"

"Why did you just give up on it?" he asked quietly. "If Olivia actually did something like that, the Rain I know would get her back for it."

"How?" she asked quietly, her expression defeated. "What exactly is my fucking proof, Matt?"

He shrugged. "I guess you don't have any," he admitted.

She sighed. "Yes or no, Matt?"

"I don't know," he repeated. "But something about the way she's been reacting to this whole thing—standing back in the shadows, alternating between looking guilty and scared—my guess is she played some part in it."

He paused then, and asked, "Did you every think that maybe she just didn't know you were following her?"

"Yes," she said. "But it doesn't make any fucking sense. Why would she go downstairs, lock down the entire room, and then head back upstairs again?"

Matt nodded slightly, conceding her point, and she continued, "And anyways, what good is saying anything going to do? All it's going to do is make her smarter about what she's doing."

He nodded, not really listening anymore as he watched J.D and Olivia from across the room. Olivia was definitely upset, there was no doubt about it; but she was just as obviously hiding something, and even Matt could tell from a mile away.

J.D was, in a lot of ways, a lot smarter than Matt in understanding the different sides of people. More shrewd, more cynical to the world.

But where Olivia was concerned, he was completely blind.

Matt reached down, taking Rain's hand in his, and it was a mark of how upset she was that she let him, squeezing it tightly.

He realized, suddenly, how completely betrayed, exposed she must be feeling right now.

She was completely convinced Olivia had something to do with her attack, and nobody would even consider the theory.

"I'll watch Olivia," he promised her quietly. "If something's going on, I'll protect you and everyone else. Don't worry."

She turned to look at him then, and smirked; but the laughter was gone from her eyes, and all she said was, "Thanks, Matt."

"Matt?"

Alice, standing with Michael, J.D and Olivia. "We have a plan."

xxxxx

Nobody was watching her anymore; all eyes were on Alice.

And yet, Olivia couldn't shake the feeling that they were all staring at her, that they all knew what she had done.

She wished she hadn't listened to Archangelo. She'd known she couldn't trust him, had let her emotions get in the way of simple logic, something she didn't often do.

And now Rain was injured, dying even, and their situation had become that much harder.

And she had nothing to show for it anymore.

Part of her wanted to call Archangelo and scream at him. A larger part of her wanted to burst into tears, throw herself into J.D's arms, admit what she'd done, and beg forgiveness.

And still a bigger part of her felt horribly guilty, knowing that Archangelo had played on her dislike of Rain to use her to his advantage.

And she had taken the bait, no questions asked.

She hadn't known what would happen to Rain in that room. Maybe she should have realized it, maybe she should have been more cynical to his words; but she'd been desperate to make herself useful to the team, leaving herself completely open to Archangelo's uses.

And despite all that, some nagging part of her brain still wondered: If she had known what was going to happen, would she have done it anyway?

"Olivia?"

Alice, glancing at her, and she shook her head slightly. "I'm sorry, what?"

Alice gave her an understanding smile, though somewhat forced, and Olivia was glad for the effort Alice made to keep her temper. Thankfully, the entire team had chalked up her emotional breakdown earlier as a sign of stress, and had been walking on eggshells around her ever since.

"We're going down into the Hive further now, but I think everyone should come along this time. We already know it's not safe in here, especially for one person left on their own, and there's no guarantee we'll end up back here."

Olivia nodded. "Yeah, that makes sense."

Alice nodded, looking relieved. "Good. Let's head out."

"I think someone should stay here with Rain." J.D, looking irritable and worried, and for a moment Olivia hated him, remembering the video.

And then she wiped away the emotion, feeling even more guilty than before. She didn't have the right to be angry at anyone anymore.

Alice looked guilty. "Look, J.D, it doesn't make any sense for anyone to stay here. We have less than nine hours to go through the ground floors of the Hive, and we need all the people we have."

"Look, Rain's just going to slow us down," J.D said bluntly. "She can barely walk—"

"I can walk just fine," Rain herself interrupted, looking irritated, not uncommon. "And if you're done talking about me like I'm not even here, let's go."

Alice looked worried now, as if debating her own choice; and then she asked, "Rain, are you sure?"

She shrugged. "I'm not staying here," she said flatly, turning to glare at Olivia, making it all too clear exactly why she was going on the mission with them.

Olivia forced an oblivious look onto her face, completely ignoring the guilt that flashed through her as J.D sent her a sympathetic smile.

"All right then," Alice said slowly, looking around the group. "We have eight hours, forty five minutes, to go through eleven more rooms. There's probably going to be more action this time, so stay alert. I…"

Olivia tuned her out, focusing on maintaining her calm.

And knowing that, some time or another, the group was going to find out what she'd done; she had no doubt Archangelo would find a way to use the incident to his advantage.

And wondering, when that time came, what the hell she was going to do.

xxxxx

Walking through the bottom floors of the Hive was like walking through a cave.

Alice hadn't noticed it her first time down here. She doubted anyone had. But upstairs, efforts were still made to create a semblance of normalcy. Every room had the fake windows, the bright lights, the eerily realistic sounds of traffic filtering in through the sound system.

But down here, on the last three floors, it was as if whoever had built the Hive hadn't even bothered with that vain attempt. The walls were no longer sterile and white, but a dark, cloudy grey; the floor was black linoleum, and the lights were dim, casting shadows in every corner.

And there were no windows whatsoever.

That, quite possibly, was what unnerved Alice the most. She was used to being able to see inside the labs, keep an eye on what was going on on every side of her.

And now she was completely blind, going forward without knowing, beyond a simple map, where she was headed.

On the slightly optimistic side, the mission had been ridiculously easy so far. None of the doors were locked down here; part of Alice was beginning to sincerely doubt anyone would keep an anti-virus so important in any of these rooms, where anyone could reach them.

In fact, part of her was beginning to doubt the anti-virus was even down here. The Hive only had eight floors, besides one more compact one at the bottom of an elevator shaft the entire group had agreed not to bother searching unless it was a last resort.

And they were on the last floor. They'd gotten through eight labs; they had only three more to go.

The entire group was straggling now. Matt was getting irritable again, Olivia looked like she was about to jump out of her skin, Michael looked exhausted, and J.D looked almost more mutinous than Matt.

And Alice didn't even want to think about how Rain was doing. She knew the brunette was getting steadily worse; even from here she could hear her harsh breathing echoing through the corridors. She knew that J.D and Matt had fallen back to help her, while Olivia and Michael were up ahead with Alice, navigating.

And that was all she wanted to know. She already felt guilty enough dragging Rain along on this mission—but what had the alternative been? Leaving the brunette alone, upstairs, completely defenseless? Or leaving someone to protect her and heading down here with only one person experienced with Umbrella's mutations?

Still, she didn't allow herself to look; she wouldn't allow any emotion to enter, anything that would shatter the miniscule vestiges of hope that still remained. She had to be strong right now, had to keep looking, even if she herself was beginning to believe that Matt was doomed.

And so she kept walking, and kept looking, and kept pretending she had the situation under control.

Because the only other option was failing, was letting Matt die, and that was unacceptable.

"Alice," J.D said harshly, and she ignored him. "Alice!"

She turned back to look at him, not wanting to, but knowing that J.D had reached his straining point and wasn't going to quit until he did.

She immediately wished she hadn't. Matt and J.D were both on other side of Rain, supporting her almost completely, and Rain's face was almost paper white, blank and empty.

If she hadn't glanced up at Alice just slightly—just enough for Alice to see the anger in her eyes, anger and frustration at her own weakness that slowed down their group—Alice would have thought she'd already stopped breathing.

She pushed the thoughts away vehemently. "What?"

"This is stupid," J.D said shortly. "We've been at this for eight hours already, and Rain isn't going to survive the rest of today if we keep this up."

Alice stared at him. "Are you suggesting we just quit?" she asked incredulously, barely aware that her voice was rising. "Just stop, J.D, and forget about it?"

"I'm saying," J.D said, his voice barely controlled, "That we should take a break."

"Unacceptable," she said in a clipped tone. "We have forty five minutes left, J.D. Rain can handle it."

"Are you trying to fucking kill her?" J.D asked disbelievingly.

"Rain isn't the only fucking casualty, J.D!" she shouted at him, finally losing her temper. How could he just stand there, when they had less than a day left for Matt, weighing the chances of their success when Matt's life was at stake—

"Alice," Michael said quietly. "Maybe J.D has a point."

For some reason, instead of bothering to look at Michael, Alice looked at Matt; and was haunted by the look in his eyes, a look of sadness, of guilt, of barely concealed frustration—

A look of defeat.

And at that moment, a wave of hate for J.D washed over her, so strong it almost knocked her over, and all that she could think was, "Fuck you, J.D, fuck you"—

And she realized suddenly that the words were out there, that she'd said them aloud.

And by the time her words had registered on the rest of the group and they were looking at her in shock and something akin to fear, the anger had already vanished, replaced full force with guilt and sadness.

She shook her head slightly, knowing that her cheeks were bright with both anger and shame. "I'm sorry," she said softly. "I am. But we don't have a choice."

"Alice"—

And J.D's tone had changed to, was pleading now instead of angry. "Alice, if something comes out, if something attacks us right now, we're all going to die. Not just Matt, not just Rain, all of us. There's no way we're prepared for this situation—"

"I can't." Her voice broke slightly, and she noticed the look on Matt's face change to an expression of worry, and hated herself for causing him more pain. "I'm sorry, J.D, but we can't stop now."

They were all still staring at her, and she felt horribly guilty as she offered, "Look, we haven't run into anything yet. Maybe it's safe. Maybe—"

She stopped. What was the point? She was in the wrong. She was sending the group along this stupid fucking roller coaster, and there was no way to rationalize that. This mission could very well kill them all, and what good would words do her then?

But Matt was going to die if they did nothing.

She noted absentmindedly that the wound across her thigh was searing, the rough bandages, soaked now in dried blood, scraping constantly against it.

"Let's go," she said quietly.

And she turned and left, knowing that they would follow her.

Thirty five minutes later, they had come to the last door, and though Rain was barely standing anymore, all of them were overtaken by relief: this was the end. Whether the room had the anti-virus or not, they'd be done this search; they'd have their answer.

Alice sucked in a heavy breath, and stepped forward, pulling open the heavy door.

And when it swung open to reveal the monster standing in the doorway, alight and crackling with electricity and heat, she remembered, with a sudden flash of guilt, her own words.

"We can't stop now."

They'd reached the end.

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...This is the end of the fic. Everyone dies, in case you were wondering.

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I am, of course, just kidding :) Next update is May 13th.