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, "Candleburn", the title of this chapter, is from the fantastic song by Dishwalla. It just seemed to fit, lol.

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

Author's Notes:

Thanks goes out of course to all my fantastic reviewers, particularly for chapter fourteen: Darkside Alexis, Rain With Attitude, SangoLancer200, maskedinyourshadows, rain1657, XMaster, Destined To Fight The Shadow, Gabzilla, Kagii, and KagomeKia.

Thanks also goes out, par usual, to those who read and don't review—I appreciate it, though I beg you to review at least occasionally as well :)

And to all those wonderful people who congratulated me/commented on/mentioned in any way, shape or form in reference to the Cinderella play… it went on last week, and it was fantastic and great fun; I miss it, but on the good side, I have more time for writing now. :)

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

Thanks again, enjoy the fic!

Into the Light

Chapter Fifteen: Candleburn

It was a shapeless mess, a huge, silvery mix of metallics and crackling blue light, and as it burst into the room, opening it's mouth loudly and letting a scream rip through the air, only static echoed through the room, scratching through Alice's head and terrifying her a thousand times worse than any other sound had yet.

As she stumbled back, barely registering the fact that she had pulled out her gun and was holding it at her side, she realized the monster was emanating, burning with heat like a candle burning down to the ground, a firecracker set off too early.

"Matt!" she shouted, bringing the gun up to aim, "Get Rain out of here!"

She barely spared him a glance as he gathered the sick girl in his arms, disappearing with her down the corridor, the frustration in his eyes evident even from here.

He didn't want to leave them alone to fight. Alice didn't blame him.

But she couldn't fight, couldn't survive if she was worrying about him mutating again.

Olivia, Michael and J.D were flanking her now, and Alice snapped, "Olivia, what the hell is this thing?"

"I don't know," she answered immediately, sounding fearful. "I wasn't involved in any of the experimentation down here, I haven't even seen the files—"

The monster leapt, and Alice was lifting her gun, aiming at the monster—

And then Michael was screaming as the monster locked it's jaws onto his shoulder, sending them both crashing to the ground—

And blue electricity was running through him, Michael was jerking and shaking violently, uncontrollably—

As the bullets the other three sent flying at it pinged uselessly off it's body.

This was her fault. She had dragged them down here, gotten them into this—it was her fault.

And the next thing she was aware of was heat, all compassing and burning, and the sound of her own voice screaming as she dropped her gun and threw herself into the mess, trying to distract the monster's attention away from Michael.

What was less than a minute felt like an eternity, and then the monster was pulling itself away from her, screaming piercing static as she lay on the ground, quivering still involuntary, freezing and burning hot at the same time.

J.D was watching, looking horrified, and Olivia had pulled Michael over to the far side of the room, was tending to him even now.

"The grenade, J.D!" she shouted at him, and her voice, raspy and dry, tore through her throat, lacerating it.

She saw J.D hesitate, saw his expression change as he realized how close she was to the monster, that she would be inevitably caught in the resulting explosion—

"Do it!"

The world exploded around her.

Alice wasn't sure whether she passed out or not. All she could hear was a ringing sound, and all she felt was heat, pressing in around her, at all sides.

Then there were hands gripping her, and she looked up blearily to see J.D, lifting her from the rocky debris, carrying her towards the wall where Michael and Olivia still were.

Her mind was foggy, and she forced herself to focus, pushing J.D away when he tried to check her shoulder, at the wound there. "I'm fine."

He did a double take, and she realized, with a sudden, uncontrollable urge to laugh, that she sounded exactly like Rain.

"I'm not," she admitted, and J.D looked slightly relieved.

"You're coherent," he said simply. "That's something, at least."

"How's Michael?" Already the heat was dying away, and the roaring fire in her shoulder had died down to a painful tingling.

"I'm fine."

Michael was there then, looking down at her as he added, "Thanks, Alice."

"Yeah," she said dully. "Yeah, no problem."

J.D's expression was edgy as he grabbed her arms again, pulling her into a standing position, and she pulled away gently. "I'm fine, I can walk."

He shook his head, expression grim. "We don't have much time."

Alice stared at him, eyes wide, taking in the seriousness of his expression and wondering why she hadn't noticed it before.

She shook her head violently to clear it, and saw that Michael and Olivia were already at the end of the corridor—

And the cause for that was suddenly obvious as she looked back towards the wall where she had been.

All that was left now was a mountain of tumbled walls and foundation, slight bursts of flame still burning on around it—

And that mountain was moving, shaking, shuddering, and tumbling to the ground as the monster stood once again.

"God damn it," J.D muttered next to her, and the words would have been funny had Alice not been completely stunned, knowing that there was nothing left to do but run—

And then, with a trilling sound of bells, the sprinkler system went on.

J.D sighed. "God damn it," and Alice turned to look at him in disbelief, unable to understand how he could make such a deal out of the water splashing around them—

And then she realized the room had gone dark.

She could barely see the monster ahead of her—his electricity, the flaming blue lights around him, had gone out.

It opened it's mouth to scream, and nothing more than a gurgle came out.

Alice turned her head away as it began to melt into the ground, hearing Olivia gag behind her, wanting to gag herself as she watched the blue mess trickle fluidly into the water surrounding them, knowing exactly what she was standing in now.

In less than a minute, it was over. The monster had vanished, slid into the ground, mingling into the water which still flooded into the room, the sprinklers still alive and working surprisingly well.

Alice cleared her throat. "Well," she said simply, her voice absurdly calm considering the circumstances. "Let's find Matt and Rain."

"No need," Michael said, and Alice turned to see Matt walking towards them in the corridor, Rain still in his arms.

"Someone's blocked the staircase," he said shortly. "This floor is flooding."

Despite the situation, Alice couldn't help but want to laugh. In the timespan of a single day, Rain had been attacked, they'd run up to the last anti-virus capsule, they had less than two hours left before Day Eight, her and Michael had been electrocuted, and now this. What the hell else could possibly go wrong?

Instead she just shook her head tiredly, nodding at Rain. "Is she asleep?"

Matt nodded, and she sighed. "Good," she said simply. "We'll stay in one of the rooms off corridor. None of the doors lock, and the rooms are all waterproofed—finding one shouldn't be a problem."

"And what about the anti-virus?" Michael asked quietly.

"What about it?" she snapped at him, and then instantly felt guilty. Michael hadn't meant anything by the comment, she knew that—but what exactly did he think she was going to do? They'd searched everywhere. Every single fucking room in this building.

The anti-virus wasn't here.

And sometime in the next hour, Alice knew that she was going to have to regroup, formulate a new plan.

But right now she needed quiet, something to clear her head before that could happen, and everything right now was nothing more than another barrier to that.

"Look, Michael, I'm sorry," she said quietly. "Let's just—let's just find a room."

He nodded.

And then their tired little group of warriors was picking up their weapons, everything that had been dropped, and struggling forward to yet another impossible destination.

xxxxx

"Beep-beep!"

Rain giggled, leaning forward to peer at the tv as the top of cliff loomed—

And laughing outright when Wile E. Coyote met his fateful end at the bottom of the cliff, the Road Runner running off again.

At twelve years old, Rain knew that she was getting to old to watch cartoons. But still, it was a Saturday morning. It was a long weekend, and she didn't have any homework, or anything else to do.

Besides, it was fun to watch the bad guy get what he deserved in the end.

Nothing like the way real life was.

A crash echoed from downstairs, and Rain winced as she heard her stepdad shouting again, reaching forward to turn up the television, drowning out the noise from downstairs.

Her hand closed around her arm, at the narrow line of bruises still healing there, unconsciously as she stared uncomprehendingly at the tv.

Any minute now it was going to start. Any minute the crashing would stop, and Rain would hear—

Her mother began to scream.

Rain squeezed her eyes shut, clamping her hands over her ears on either side of her head in a vain attempt to drown out the noise. She couldn't go downstairs, she wasn't allowed to. Her mother had told her countless times to let her handle it, not to get involved.

She could guard her daughter from the violence, but not from the screaming.

And in a few months, there was going to be a new baby, too. A little brother or sister, maybe. And maybe then Jake would stop hitting her mom and her, would get a job or something.

And if he didn't, Rain would at least make sure he didn't get near that baby. She couldn't protect her mother, but she sure as hell wasn't going to let that creep near her little brother or sister.

Sudden silence, and Rain pulled her hands away from her ears, opening her eyes cautiously.

The cartoons still played across the screen, absurdly loud, and Rain reached forward and flicked off the tv.

The resulting silence was almost tangible, smothering and sinister, and she swallowed nervously as she stood, staring at her closed door.

She couldn't even hear Jake yelling anymore.

"Never, ever come downstairs again, Rain," her mother told her furiously as she bandaged Rain's sprained ribs, bloody arms and knees. "Do you want Jake to hurt you too? You're not a part of this, stay out of it."

But how could she not be a part of it? She lived here too, didn't she?

Rain had made up her mind.

Standing slowly, stealthily, she crept forward to the door and opened it cautiously, half-expecting to see Jake on the other side of it.

There was nobody there, and she walked forward quietly, down the darkened hallway, down the stairs to the kitchen, shining slightly with the barest flickering of the sun, halfway through a sunset.

She could smell the blood before she reached the room, the metallic taste assaulting her senses as she stepped into the room.

Her mother was spread out across the bright yellow tiling, covered in it. The color was almost more vivid even than the scent, fading into the floor and her mother's white dress, stretched out over her swelled stomach, staining everything it touched.

"Mom," Rain choked, still standing in the doorway. "Mom."

And she was there before she even realized she'd begun to move, falling to her knees next to her mother.

She wasn't even bleeding anymore, and her eyes were wide open and staring as Rain started to sob. "Mom, wake up."

Hands covered in blood, she pulled back slightly, turning to reach up for the phone on the table—

And gasped as she realized that Jake was there, holding the phone and smiling down at her.

There was something wrong with his eyes; they were twitching, and Rain thought about mentioning it to him, but was afraid to.

"You're mother was a whore, Rain," he told her.

She'd heard the words before; she didn't know what they meant. She knew they had something to do with Michael—Mikey, Rain called him—her mom's other boyfriend. The nice one.

The one that made Jake really angry.

"She deserved what she got," Jake continued, conversationally.

And then she was on her feet, screaming at him, hitting him. "No! You're a liar, I hate you—"

And the words failed her as he grabbed the back of her neck and slammed her head into the wall next to them.

She struggled as he dragged her up the stairs, knowing that her head was bleeding, watching almost absentmindedly as blood splattered across the grey carpeting.

She could hear the bathtub running. She hadn't even noticed it before, but she could hear it now, and she realized suddenly that there was something very wrong about the sound, that it could mean nothing good—

She struggled harder, barely registering that she was crying as he twisted her arm behind her, shoving her into the bathroom.

The bathtub was full, water pouring over the edges—

And burning hot as he shoved her head underneath.

She was choking, and she could hear him laughing as she struggled weakly to throw him off her, to get the air she so desperately needed.

Her head was singing, mind flimsy from lack of air, and still some part of her knew that in a matter of minutes this was all going to be over. Her eyes were going to close, but that door was going to open, she'd hear voices, people shouting—police would crash into the bedroom, pushing aside Jake and pulling her out of the bathtub. One of the paramedics would do mouth-to-mouth, and Rain would wake up in the hospital two days later to learn she no longer had a mother.

Any minute now.

But the water was smothering her and the darkness was closing in on her already, and back below the layers of childish hope and innocence, the adult part of her realized the truth—that there was nobody there. Nobody was coming for her.

It was already too late.

xxxxx

J.D had strong hands.

It was something Olivia had noticed about him right from the start, almost immediately after she'd met him. He had large hands, long fingers, and while they lacked the almost graceful appearance of Matt's hands, they were strong and somehow so much more agile-seeming.

When he kissed her, he always kept those hands on the small of her back, pulling her close to him, and she loved the way it felt; like being pulled into something more powerful than herself. Like being protected, a feeling she'd never experienced, had never expected to want to experience.

Now that feeling was a sort of guilty pleasure. When he pulled her to him, almost immediately after they'd found a room to stay in and the rest of the team had scattered, she'd moved along with him willingly, knowing that, for now, their was nothing romantic in the way J.D held her.

J.D was simply scared, and expressed it by reasserting control over those around him. He couldn't help Matt, couldn't help Rain, and she knew it comforted him to know that she was there, that she was safe and available.

But part of her still felt guilty, as he ran those strong hands over her back and she thought about what he'd be doing with those hands instead if he found out what she had done. Hit her? Strangle her? Or simply step back, hands raised, like she was a contagious disease he couldn't touch anymore.

Rain was already deteriorating, and it terrified Olivia. As long as Rain was still alive, there was still hope; she could still make it right.

But if Rain died, it would be Olivia's fault. She wouldn't have made a stupid mistake, but actually murdered Rain.

Somehow, that didn't sound like just a dumb mistake.

Olivia pulled back abruptly, and J.D let out a tiny sound of confusion mingled with annoyance.

She wanted to laugh at the expression on his face as he looked at her, but found that she was just too tired anymore.

"I'm sorry," she said quietly. "It's just—"

"Rain," he said, and she flushed. "Olivia, seriously, don't worry about that. Rain was upset, she was lashing out; that's just what she does. She didn't mean any of it."

She could feel tears building up in her eyes as she said, voice quavering, "No, J.D, you don't understand."

"Olivia," he said softly, taking her hands in his, strong hands encompassing ones frail and weak. "None of this is your fault."

She could feel the tears slip over her cheeks, and was frustrated despite herself at her lacking ability to control herself around J.D. This wasn't what she'd wanted to do, breaking down in front of him. She'd wanted to sit up straight and tell him, not guilt him into feeling sorry for her first—

His expression was distinctly worried now as he asked, "What's going on?"

"I'm so sorry," Olivia choked out, knowing that by now it was too late to go back, was too late to do anything more but tell the truth. "I didn't mean to, J.D, I honestly didn't—"

"Mean to what?" he interrupted her.

"It's my fault!" she rambled, completely and horribly aware now how off track she'd gotten. "J.D, it was my fault, I was the one who—"

She never got the chance to finish. J.D had jumped to his feet, expression one of shock and worry, and shoved through the filmy glass door separating their small room from the larger office one.

"I was the one who made Rain go in there," she finished brokenly.

xxxxx

Rain was screaming.

That was the first thing that registered in J.D's mind, pushing past the worry for Olivia and wary curiosity of what she was trying to say, and before he knew it he was up and shoving back into the room, Olivia's words all but forgotten.

The sight which greeted him wasn't a common one. Rain was sitting up in the middle of the room, obviously having just awoken from a nightmare. Alice was kneeling next to her, engulfing the brunette in a hug as Michael and Matt stood by, faces showing expressions of shock and awkwardness.

And Rain was crying, just sobbing, something J.D knew none of them had ever seen before—he himself had never seen it.

Rain rarely cried. And when she did cry, she cried quietly, tears sliding silently down her face into oblivion, not heaving, gasping sobs of painful fear that she was emitting now.

J.D didn't even stop to think, not knowing what, rationally, he would do if he did. Instead he just surged forward, dropping next to Rain on her sleeping bag.

Rain turned to him immediately, latching onto him like her life depended on it, and not knowing what to do, he wrapped his arms tightly around her, holding her to him and muttering nonsense he wasn't even sure was coherent to her anymore.

He felt rather than saw Alice shepherding Matt and Michael into the room with Olivia, obviously wanting to give Rain some degree of privacy, and was thankful for it. Right now, he highly doubted Rain was conscious to anything going on around her, but later, when she remembered breaking down this way, he had no doubt she'd be fairly pissed about it.

Her fingers were painful as they dug into his back, and he shifted his hands to her lower back, pulling her closely as he moved one hand up to smooth her hair.

It seemed like an eternity before her sobs began to fade, the brutal sounds gradually drifting into her own, casual by comparison, silent tears and she pulled back slightly, breathing heavily, almost as if she was gasping for air.

She latched her hands onto the front of his shirt, holding on tightly and staring at the material bunched up in her palms. Obviously embarrassed, she refused to meet his eyes, staring down at the tearstained material as she muttered, "Sorry."

He just held her close, continuing to rub her back even as some part of him laughed at the reaction Rain would undoubtedly treat him to had he ever tried this before. He didn't say anything, because he wasn't quite sure what to say. "It's fine," and "Don't worry about it," were two statements Rain had never taken seriously, and "What's wrong?" sounded too completely idiotic to even be worth vocalizing.

"What was it?" he finally whispered quietly, and Rain shuddered. "Rain?"

"My mom," she breathed out quickly, as if she kept the words inside any longer they would lock themselves there forever. "Jake. I kept waiting for them to come, J.D, for somebody to find me, and nobody—nobody did."

"Come where?" he asked quietly, his hands tracing circles over her back now, and she sighed, a dejected tone which broke the silence with no words at all.

"My house," she said. "Jake had just killed my mother, and he was trying to drown me."

She'd stiffened, obviously not wanting to reveal anymore, afraid that she would go beyond her limits of composure.

"It was just a dream," J.D said softly. "You're awake now."

It was the wrong thing to say. Rain shoved him away abruptly, showing a strength he'd had no clue she possessed at the present time and spat, "It wasn't just a fucking dream, J.D. Do you think I'm a fucking wimp or something? Like I'd wake up because of a stupid nightmare and act like such a baby—"

"Rain," he interrupted, suddenly realizing the source of her anger. "Don't. You're not being a baby, all right?"

She snorted, and he cut her off before she could say anything. "Look, you're not the only one being down here is affecting, okay? You're infected, you're exhausted; and even if you weren't, everyone has their breaking point. It's nothing to be upset about."

"No, J.D," she said softly. "You don't get it."

He wanted to reach out to her, but she had already pushed herself away, and so he held himself back, twisting his hands together and saying, his tone almost pleading, "So tell me, then."

Her face blanched, and he knew she was caught between pretending nothing had happened and telling him—and then she dropped her eyes to the ground and said quietly,

"It wasn't just a dream. All of that—I mean, it happened."

"I know," he said simply. "I know, Rain, but it wasn't—"

"You don't fucking get it!" She was looking frustrated now, and he stopped, waiting for her to continue. "Those were memories, J.D, fucking memories. I don't know why they were there, but they were, and it was like reliving the whole goddamn thing all over again, and I—"

She stopped, clamping her hands over her eyes and stifling a short, sudden sob, and he moved forward automatically.

"Don't, J.D," she said quietly. "Leave me alone."

"Why?" he asked recklessly. "Rain, you can't just play this all off like it didn't happen."

"I don't plan on it," she said, looking tired. "But what's the fucking point? It won't help anything, and we don't have time for this. Not now."

J.D wanted to protest that, but he bit his lip instead, knowing her words were true. It wasn't right, and it wasn't fair—but Rain was right. They had to pull together, start over again for Matt's sake—they didn't have time for this.

And all he could do for now was play along with it, and pretend like it wasn't eating away at him, knowing that Rain was going to be lying awake, alone, all night remembering the events of her nightmare.

Rain let out a heavy sigh. J.D looked at her, and said, "Everyone's outside now. You okay with letting them in again?"

Rain snorted. "Do I have a choice?"

J.D made a face at her, but couldn't manage to get up the energy to complete it, ending up with more of a grimace as she added, "I look like shit."

"You look fine," he said, unable to help a small smile. She sent him a look, half-glare, half-exasperation, and he snickered slightly. "Yeah, you do."

She punched him on the arm, a lessened but still surprising amount of force behind the blow, and laughed. It wasn't a particularly happy laugh; more one of tired, exasperated amusement, but it was laughter all the same and he was glad to hear it.

Things were so fucked up right now. Matt was hours away from his last day, Alice appeared at times to have shut down emotionally because of it, and Olivia seemed about two steps away from a nervous breakdown.

And now Rain had already broken down, a sight that was, for her, almost terrifying to see; Rain never had fallen apart like that before.

And yet some part of J.D knew that this was only the beginning. Rain was sick, her physical and emotional capabilities were being totally fucked with by the virus currently running through her systems, and they had hours to go before she could get the rest of the anti-virus she so desperately needed.

He heard the door open behind him and looked back, flashing a smile at a nervous-looking Olivia that was horribly forced.

He felt rather than saw Rain drawing away from him again as she lifted her arm, wiping her face hastily on her sleeve, and knew that she was pulling away again, putting up emotional barriers again and closing herself off from the rest of them.

And normally, that would have been okay. That was just the way Rain was, sick or not. It was like her own personal motto or something: sit back, pretend nothing happened, and if anyone actually attempts to bring it up, shut them up before they can get anywhere with it.

But this time, things were different, and J.D had a sinking suspicion that their problems weren't going to go away so easily this time.

xxxxx

It was a quarter to twelve, and beside him Matt could feel Alice twitching nervously, glancing at her watch every five minutes, and all the while trying to hide it from him.

Part of him was glad to see her nervous, and afraid for him again. It reassured him to know that she hadn't completely shut down—that there was still a part of her that probably couldn't shut down her apparently inbred ability to care for and worry about those around her.

But another part of him, one that was far less selfish, hated himself for being glad for it. Seeing Alice in pain, especially because of him, only made things worse on both of them.

"Tomorrow is my birthday," he said abruptly.

Looking back later, Matt wasn't sure why he'd said that. Nobody needed to know; it certainly wasn't going to help anyone.

Part of him believed that he'd told Alice just to break the silence. Just to stop her from looking at her watch, from gazing nervously around her—to give her a break from her brave attempts at holding back the tears.

And yet a part of him, that same selfless one, realized the truth—that he did it as a comfort to himself as well. Somehow, it was important to him that she, and everyone else in this world, knew the day that he had been born on—knew that he'd lived for twenty-eight years and had done good things with those years, fighting against Umbrella and to avenge Lisa's death.

Knew that he'd been a good person before he'd become a monster.

He wondered if he'd still be conscious. If he'd know what he was doing, and be unable to stop it.

Alice swallowed hard, before she turned to him, and smiled slightly. "Twenty eight years, Matt. Almost half a century—you're ancient."

He snorted. "I think I have a few more years still before that," he said dryly, and was gratified to hear Alice laugh next to him.

He wondered if he'd hear that laugh again if he became Nemesis. If he'd ever have the chance to.

"I wish I were dying," he said without thinking, and Alice sucked in a harsh breath next to him.

He felt guilty when he realized that he'd ruined the game they'd been playing. The one which cast them into some nice play where nobody was dying, where nobody was hurt; where they were out in the world, at some coffeehouse or whatever, and Matt was telling his girlfriend that his birthday was coming up the next day.

But Matt didn't have a lot of time left, and he was tired of being strong, and being angry, and not allowing himself to feel sorry for himself.

Alice's voice was strained and sad as she whispered, "Why?"

In the darkness, he found her hand and grasped it tightly.

"Because I don't want to hurt you," he whispered. "Because I don't want to hurt any of you."

His face was wet, and he realized that there were tears there—that Alice was crying slightly as she said, "Maybe you won't have to."

"I don't—" he began, and faltered only once before continuing. "I don't think I'm going to have a choice, Alice."

"Don't say that," she said automatically. "Matt, don't, just—"

"It's almost the last day," he continued, unwilling to stop, knowing he was hurting her but knowing that it would hurt her even more if he left her with the hope that there was still possibility of recovery. "Look, maybe you should just give the anti-virus to Rain—"

"Stop," she said, and while her voice was harsh, the tears flooding her face belied the anger in her tone. "Matt, stop. You have one day left, and until then, I'm not giving up on you."

She squeezed his hand, and then he was breaking, crying like a little kid, and the funny thing was that, sitting here, in Alice's embrace, he didn't feel bad about it. He could tell that she was crying too, could feel her tears soaking his shirt as he kissed her forehead clumsily.

He knew that somewhere in the room, the others were probably watching, completely unsure of what to do, and knew that normally he would feel like such a child for this—completely stupid for his tears.

But right now, he was breaking down in a way he hadn't allowed himself to do since that night he'd found out about the Nemesis infection, and sitting here on the filthy floor, wrapped up in Alice and all that she epitomized—all that was still good in the world—was like being home again.

xxxxx

It was two minutes to twelve.

They were all sitting there now, all sharing identical expressions of sad weariness.

Matt and Alice had pulled apart again, though they still sat side by side; and the expressions on their faces were scary, a depressing mix of hopelessness and fear.

Rain's expression where she sat by the wall next to J.D's was carefully blank; she was staring at the wall, looking exhausted and tired, dark circles ringing her eyes. J.D sat next to her, looking moody and tired, staring at his watch as if willing it to move slower.

Olivia sat here next to him, looking for all the world like she didn't know how to look, her face a curious blend of guilt, of nervousness, and of true sorrow for someone she still barely knew.

Michael glanced down at his watch.

There were five seconds left, and he counted them down silently, not having to look up to know that everyone around him was doing the same thing.

The second hand hit twelve, and it might have well been a silent alarm, or a clocktower chiming loudly to announce the time for the effect it had on the group—a dead silence settled over them immediately, and like death itself, they ceased to move.

And then Alice said, her voice flat and edged in sorrow, "Happy birthday, Matt."

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Ahhh! I cannot tell you how long I have had that last phrase in my head (months!) before finally writing this! It feels good to do so finally :)

I was planning to have updates every week after this, and I still will if I can—but since I'm behind, I dunno. So chapter sixteen will be up either May 20th or May 27th.