Chapter 3:
Alice drove for almost two hours in the dark and abandoned roads outside of Raccoon city. Lindsay was still unconscious and both Peter and Alice were growing very worried about her condition. Rae and Miranda were both deep in thoughts and the silence in the car was disturbing. It seemed that each one of them was grieving or worrying about something: Peter for the loss of Matt and Clair, the sisters worrying about their father and Alice… Only God knew what she was thinking. From the distance, they could see the lights of the Lasson-Pierre air force base.
"There it is." Alice broke the upsetting silence. "How's Lindsay back there?"
"No change. She's breathing, but not reacting to anything." Peter replied and looked at her with concern.
"She'll be okay. She's strong." Alice said. She didn't know how, but somehow she knew that Lindsay was gonna wake up soon. "Only few miles ahead there's gonna be a safe place for all of us, warm clothes, food and a doctor who'll take care of our injuries." She said, not sure why she felt the need to reassure the other people in the car. She increased the speed of the car. She too, wanted to get there and leave the responsibility for the living population to the U.S. Army. As the car came closer to the base, the light became stronger until it was dazzling. Alice stopped the car at the gate. Two soldiers stood there and looked at them.
"Are you lost?" One of them asked.
"No, this is the place we need." Alice said. "We're coming from Raccoon City. The whole city is in chaos. Everyone died. I have some survivors; two civilians and two foreign. They're wounded." She said.
"And you?" The other guard asked.
"I'm Sergeant Alice Donovan." She presented herself. She thought it would be useless to tell them that she was a secret operative.
"Please wait, Sergeant, until we get an authorization to let you pass." One of the guards said and grabbed his communicator. She could hear him conversing with the commanding officer for few moments and then he opened the gate. "You can pass, Sergeant. Drive straight and take left on the second turn." He said. Alice nodded and went back into the car.
"I have a killer headache…" Lindsay moaned and covered her eyes with her palm.
"Oh, Lindsay. You're awake." Alice said in a slight surprise.
"Yeah…" Lindsay moaned. "That spotlight…"
"The spotlight is what woke you up?" Alice asked in surprise. Lindsay hummed and slowly nodded her head.
"The light was too strong." She said as Alice drove the car to where the guard sent her.
Everyone in the base were still comfortably sleeping in their beds when the base commanders got the order to send three of Lasson-Pierre's best flight units to bombard Raccoon City. The skies were dark and thick rain started falling and knocking on the barracks' tin and wood roofs. Distant explosion sounds woke the soldiers who stayed in the base and they went out of their barracks, wearing their only thin pajamas. Lindsay, Alice, Rae, Miranda and Peter were among them and they were standing close to each other and watching the skyline burning with fire and smoke that rose from Raccoon City. The sight was awful and beautiful at the same time and the noise was deafening.
"Are you scared?" Peter asked and put his hand on the small of her back. She looked at him for a moment and then turned back to look at the red and orange night sky.
"I have no reason to be scared." She replied after thinking for several moments. He took her hand and caressed her thin fingers. The skin of her palm was scalded and she pulled her hand from his with a hiss of pain.
"Let me see that." He said and took her hand. The skin of her palm was red and part of it was raw and scorched. "You ought to have a doctor take a look at this." He said softly. She nodded her head and looked into his eyes for a moment. Then she turned around and went back to the barrack where she, Alice, Rae and Miranda were sleeping. Peter was about to follow her when Alice stopped her.
"She needs some time for herself." She said. Peter looked at her with disbelief.
"How do you know everything?" He asked.
"I don't. I guess most of the time, but I'm usually right." Alice smiled. "She's not mad at you because you hurt her hand. She's mad at the world."
"Did she tell you anything?" Peter questioned that Lindsay would tell Alice what she was thinking and feeling, since Alice didn't seem capable of understanding other people's emotions.
"No, but I know she needs to be alone with her thoughts for a while. You're her best friend, you should understand." And with those words, she walked away from there. Peter sighed. He wasn't sure that it was the right thing to do, but decided to listen to Alice and leave Lindsay alone for a while.
Lindsay was sitting outside of her barrack. It was cold and raining, but she didn't care. She looked at the dusty sky and listened to the bombing sounds from Raccoon City. It was a horrible sound and her ears were aching, but she didn't want to move away from there.
"Hey, there." She heard Peter's voice. "What are you doing outside? You'll get sick." He said and took a seat next to her.
"It's okay, I'm not feeling cold." She said.
"I haven't seen you in breakfast today."
"That's because I wasn't there. I don't feel like eating." Lindsay replied.
"It's gonna be okay. You'll see" Peter said and patted on her shoulder. "Listen, Linds. I've decided to resign the OSIR."
"Me too." Lindsay replied.
"I thought you'll be doing that." Peter said. He looked at her and could see how deep the sadness in her eyes was. "You know, I thought a lot last night and… You remember how you told me once that you always wanted to live in a big house in the suburbs with your husband and raise three kids and a dog?" A smile rose on Lindsay's face.
"Yeah, that was awhile ago, I can't believe you still remember that." She said.
"Well, I thought about it last night and I wanna marry you and live in a big house in a suburb with three kids and a dog." He said. "Would you like that?" She started at him with shock.
"Would I like that?" She repeated his question. She looked at him with confusion.
Take your time. You don't have to answer now."
"Yeah," Lindsay replied.
"So, I'll leave you here to think, okay?" He got up and was about to leave when Lindsay took his hand.
"I said yes. I'd like to marry you and live in the suburbs with three kids and a puppy." Peter turned around and looked at her as if he didn't expect that answer. "It was a puppy, not a… dog." She smiled innocently. "Why are you looking at me this way?"
"Because it's really sweet, the way you said that." Peter replied. "Can I, ummm, kiss you?"
"We're gonna wait to the wedding for that." Lindsay smiled and started walking away from there.
The skies were dusty for days after the army's bombings destroyed Raccoon City and the grounds of Lasson-Pierre were covered with thick mud that stuck to the soldier's shoes and forced them to polish their boots few times a day. It has been two weeks since Alice, Peter, Lindsay and the sisters ran away from Raccoon City and disturbing news came to their ears.
"They wanna send us to one of Umbrella's research facilities for tests." Alice stormed into the barrack she shared with Lindsay, the sisters and ten more female soldiers.
"What tests?" Lindsay asked in suspicion. After what she saw in Raccoon City, she knew that Umbrella was only capable of bad and evil deeds.
"They wanna make sure we're not infected." Alice replied. "They claim that the virus might have evolved in our bodies and combined with our blood cells and made us smarter zombies. In other words, they say we're biological threats for the population."
"But we're not, that's a lie." Lindsay protested.
"They want us dead. We've seen too much and now they wanna keep us from talking." Alice said.
"They can't make us do that. Can they?" Miranda asked.
"Of course they can't. They must have permission from your father in order to do that, and he wasn't found yet." Lindsay said.
"And what about you?"
"They can't send Peter and me anywhere. We're not citizens of the States and Alice has the right to refuse. We all do. Umbrella doesn't own any of us."
"They're not gonna let the two of you out of the country, Lindsay." Alice said.
"Okay, then let's give them blood samples." Lindsay said.
"Let me discuss this with the commander of the base. Maybe he's gonna agree to this." And he did, but decided to keep them in quarantine until the results of their blood-work from Umbrella came back negative.
"It's really boring here…" Lindsay complained on their fifth day in quarantine. They were locked in a big room that was practically empty, except for four beds. They were getting food and water four times a day, by a fully protected guard and had a common shower. "Poor Pete. I hope his not dying there from boredom." They were separated from him and didn't see him since they were locked.
"Hopefully," Alice said. "Or you won't have a groom."
"I didn't know you knew about this." Lindsay said.
"Know about what?" Miranda always liked to be updated.
"Peter asked her to marry him and she said yes." Rae said. "God, I really wanna read something…"
"I see everyone know about this except for me. How can it be?" Miranda asked.
"Maybe because you looked for some hot soldiers." Rae replied.
"I think you're jealous." Miranda said and threw her pillow on her sister. "Because boys never looked at you."
"Maybe it's just because I don't dress like a slut and think I'm cool." Rae said.
"Yeah, but I don't hide behind books all the time."
"I want people to like me because I'm smart and not because I offer free and easy sex." Rae said.
"Hey, the two of you stop fighting. It's bad here enough without hearing you fight about boys, books and sex." Alice got mad.
"Man, it's so dark here. I really miss the sunlight." Lindsay felt like a flower that didn't get enough light. Darkness made her feel feeble and weak.
"Yeah, all this darkness makes me tired all the time and I'm never tired." Alice said.
"We noticed." Lindsay smiled faintly.
"I bet you did." Alice smiled. "So, when's the wedding?"
"I don't know. I want Pete to meet my father first. They're both chemists and I'm sure they'll like each other."
"I knew you were a princess." Alice joked.
"Well, you can say that. But I haven't seen my father since I started working for the OSIR." Lindsay said and Alice could see by the look in her eyes that she missed being a spoiled rich girl.
"Why's that?" Rae asked.
"He's mad at me." Lindsay replied.
"Why?" Miranda joined the conversation.
"Almost four years ago my mom got really sick. She had a brain tumor. The doctors caught it too late and she was given less than a month to live. It was around Christmas and my father asked me to come and spend the holiday at home, for her, but I planned a fabulous ski trip with a group of friends and didn't want to give it up." Lindsay said. "He never forgave me for that." Tears were flowing down her face and she buried her head in her pillow and cried.
"I'm sure he'll forgive you. Just say that you made a mistake and you're sorry for that." Miranda said and touched Lindsay's shoulder. "He'll surely be glad that you admit that you were wrong. Parents like that."
"That's really sweet of you, Mira, but I'm not sure it's gonna work." Lindsay said.
"You've got nothing to lose." Alice said. "Will you trust me if I tell you it's gonna be okay?" She smiled. Lindsay raised her head and nodded.
The tests results came from the Umbrella labs only four days later and proved, as expected, that all of the five survivors from Raccoon City were not infected with the T-virus and could be released and go on with their lives. It was a cold, rainy and depressing day, but none of them felt depressed or sad. Never before had they understood the true meaning of freedom and now they cherished it more than they ever did.
"So, where do we go from here?" Rae asked when they stood at the train station. They were being sent to live with their aunt in Florida.
"Nowhere, Rae. Dad's gone. There are no survivors from the city." Miranda said. "We're alone; unless you consider Aunt Rhonda who's gonna take over our lives."
"I'm sure she's gonna be nice to you." Lindsay said. To the sisters' request, she and Alice came to wait with them for their train.
"Oh, you obviously never met Aunt Rhonda." Miranda said. "And if you will, you'll never want to meet her again." Lindsay smiled. In the nine days they were locked up together she got to know the sisters and understood that Miranda liked to exaggerate about everything.
"Is she really that bad?" Lindsay asked Rae.
"She's not my favorite person in the whole world, but she's not horrible either." The teenage girl replied.
"She's saying that because Aunt Rhonda runs the local university's library." Miranda argued. Lindsay smiled. Miranda hated everything and everyone that had something to with books.
"I can teach you a little Karate. You could use it if she gets really annoying." Alice suggested. Miranda nodded in excitement. The train entered the station and people started coming out of it. "It looks like we won't have time for Karate, Mira, but you can email me if she gets on your nerves and I'll make sure someone will kick her ass." Alice joked. Miranda nodded and hugged Alice. "Hey, this applies to you too." She smiled at Rae.
"Well, I don't use violence to solve my problems, but thanks for offering." Rae said.
"No reason to be bitter, Rae." Alice petted on her shoulder.
"Hey, Linds, you're gonna invite us to the wedding, right?" Miranda asked.
"Miranda, it's not polite!" Rae said angrily.
"It's okay." Lindsay smiled and patted Rae's shoulder. "Both of you are invited to the wedding. It would be a pleasure to see you there." She hugged Miranda. "Stay in touch." And then she hugged Rae. "You're a very special girl, Rae. You'll probably have a fabulous career one day, but you have to chill out a little bit. You know, books are a great way to have fun, but they're not friends. It would be a shame to waste the best time of your life reading. Try to have some fun on your last high school year. It won't come back again."
"Don't worry." Rae smiled.
"And make a lot of new friends, eh?"
"I have to. All of my old friends are dead zombies…" Rae said bitterly. "I have to go now, or Mira and the train will leave without me." And she went on the train. She took her seat inside the train next to Miranda and looked at Alice and Lindsay through the window. The waved the two women as the train started moving.
"Those two are something." Alice said. Lindsay agreed. She always wished to have a sister and hoped that Rae and Miranda appreciated each other's being.
"They're wonderful, aren't they?"
"Definitely." Alice replied and they went out of the train station. The sky started turning orange, pink and purple and both of them looked up at the color war that was taking place above their heads. It was something they wanted to remember forever, as hopeless as they may have felt that moment, they knew that the only sure thing was the sky. People lived and died, came and went and it wasn't easy to say goodbye, but the sun always rose in the east and set in the west.