Author Note: Continuation to Secrets and Flies that starts three months after the end. Love, betrayal, suspense and action are on the menu for this story as we watch our favourite band of Umbrella renegades give it their all too hopefully bring a final end to their hellish lifestyle. To do that, assistance will be required for some, unconventional characters...

I do not own the characters & this will be very different from any RE movie and/or video game plot (to date)

Please read & review as you wish!

B.

Update 07-July-2021: Minor edits/corrections to match the changes to Secrets and Flies.

Calm Before the Storm

- 13 -

For a moment, K-Mart thought she had gone deaf. The explosion sounded like an atom bomb going off.

"Why did you let her do that! WHY!" she yelled, bashing her fists against Chris's chest.

"Angela had her reasons and I wasn't going to be the one in her way." Chris stated, his eyes focused on Jill who was trying to conceal the tears.

"She was just a child Chris, she didn't know what she was doing." Claire snapped.

"Angie made even myself look weak, so lets not let her sacrifice be in vain."

K-Mart broke down again, this time wrapping her arms around Chris weeping into his chest. The one person she felt she could relate to the most was gone. They'd bonded in the short time they knew each other, becoming more than friends, almost sisters. She knew Angela was unstable since the loss of her child, but never once thought she was suicidal. K-Mart couldn't help but feel responsible, volunteering her for this mission without her permission.

"I understand that this is a loss to your group," Leon stated, catching scowls and narrowed eyes, "Instead of letting her heroic act go to waste, we should move, before more of these creatures attack again."

Alice nodded, seemingly unphased by what just happened, "Agreed."

She headed for the driver seat when Chris grabbed her shoulder, shoving her back against the side of the truck. "You cold hearted bitch! No remorse, no regret, nothing over what happened!" He yelled.

K-Mart coward into Jill, suddenly scared of Chris's short temper that ignited as easily as a fuse on a dynamite stick. She saw Alice grit her teeth, remaining silent. It wasn't her fault she was being so callous, it was the T-Virus. K-Mart had seen this before, in Nevada. Being one of the few people who had seen Alice's abilities while infected, K-Mart knew that deep down inside she was beside herself with grief.

"How dare you say that!" Jill snapped, "This woman has risked everything so you could keep breathing and you repay her by belittling and insulting her at every turn. This is not what I signed up for."

Chris backed off Alice, turning to Jill, "What are you saying?"

Jill narrowed her eyes, "We're through."

The whole vehicle went quiet, awaiting Chris's explosive temper to erupt once more. It never did, instead a loud roar off in the distance caught everyone's attention. Alice shoved Chris aside, sliding back into the driver's seat and putting the truck in gear.

-/-

The drive was painfully slow, trudging over corpses picked clean to bone by scavenger creatures. Most humans were long gone before they had shown up and the BOW's had formed their own version of a food chain. Claire was beside Alice in the cockpit, watching the green radar screen that at the moment was better equipped to detect enemies than the cracked windshield in front of her. She had her leg propped up on the dash, pistol resting on her lap as they bounced along the dilapidated road, inching closer to their destination.

"Are you okay?" she whispered.

The back of the truck was silent, the team harnessed in their seats against the walls. The mood was somber, some over Angela's sacrifice, other's awaiting whatever hell was going to appear before them at their next destination. K-Mart had cried herself to sleep, her head resting against Jill's shoulder.

"I'm fine,"

Claire frowned, "No you're not, I can tell."

Alice remained silent, her eyes squinting through the glow of the headlights as she tried to maneuver the five ton military vehicle over bodies and man made barriers. They were a sad attempt left by those human occupants of Washington DC long ago. Well before The Red Queen made this her Base of Operations and before anyone knew Alice and her rag-tag team of misfits were to be their salvation.

Now was not the time to grieve Angie's death, everyone knew that and yet they couldn't turn it off like she could. Claire understand her inability to feel, inability to love when she's a weapon on a war path, fighting The Red Queen's control every chance she can. And yet, she was still trying to get a human reaction, a rise, anything out of Alice and for what? To confirm that her love is not lost on an animal? To make herself feel better about everything that's happened? It was juvenile, and Alice wanted nothing to do with it.

"This is not the place nor the time to talk semantics about my ability, or inability to show emotion."

Claire shrugged, "There's always time Alice, especially when it's grieving the loss of a friend." Claire turned and looked out the window biting her bottom lip to stop from shedding tears, "I know you're not...yourself right now, but I'd like to think that even with the loss of someone close you, you would take a moment to grieve."

Alice rose her eyebrow, "I feel like we're no longer talking about Angie."

"When you left months ago, I understand you had reasons for not telling anyone." Claire replied and continued before Alice had a chance to interject. "The whole time you were gone I wasn't afraid you'd never come back. I knew in my heart you eventually would, you always do, but as more days passed, I was afraid you were dead."

"Claire-"

"No, it's important that you hear me out."

Alice nodded, taking note of a large structure appearing on the radar up ahead. They were getting close. She could feel The Red Queen trying to burrow her way into her head. Her constant nagging was like a sharp, ice pick pain. The Red Queen's ploys to get her to turn against her team members, her friends and confidants, were getting stronger. Alice was able to block her out, but who knew what would happen when they reached the Pentagon.

"I used to have dreams about you dying, about you never coming back to me and that got me thinking, what if I died, or K-mart, or Jill, or Angie while you were gone. We would've never got to say goodbye, never got one last kiss or one last hug. Those thoughts kept me up at night, made me cry until I had no more tears to shed. Until Angie's sacrifice, I really thought I couldn't cry again."

Claire looked Alice seeing her rock solid, eyes focused on the road. A large building was beginning to appear in the glow of the headlights. They were close to the Pentagon, close to The Red Queen. Her heart raced knowing that their were within reach of ending this tyrannical and dangerous rule for good.

"We're not going to loose each other, I promise." Alice replied sincerely as reached out with her right hand, stroking Claire on the thigh, "Everything I've done, it's all been so we can be together and safe."

"I know that, which is why I've always been on your side, so please don't shut me out."

Alice turned and smiled, cupping her cheek in her hand as the redhead closed her eyes, wanting to sleep. She was able to break through her Project Alice programming and feel pure love for the woman, her emotions rising to the surface and with it the pain of Angie's death. A single tear fell from her eye.

"Alice look out!" Jill cried form the back.

Alice turned to the windshield and slammed on the breaks, but not in time. The front end of a vehicle collided with the back end of a rusted tank, jolting everyone in their seats.

"Are you okay?" Alice asked, their cracked windshield now completing smashed.

"Yeah I'm fine," Claire whispered, dazed, "What the hell did we hit?"

"It looks like an abandoned tank from when our fellow soldiers attempt at taking down The Red Queen."

"Seat belts really do save lives." Leon called as he undid his harness, the rest of the team following suit.

Ada activated the back hatch, the doors slowly opening, the vehicle shaking. They were now stranded without a vehicle to get them safely back to the White House. Mason and his son Jacob switched on the lights to their guns, pushing past Ada and walking down the ramp.

Within moments, talons pierced them both through their shoulder blades. Ada, Leon and Chris took aim at the large vulture like creatures looming overhead. Their wing span alone was the size of the vehicle. The vultures cried the bullets pierced their gullets, but with little to no effect. Both men were whisked off over the vehicle and towards the Pentagon. Alice and Claire, blocked by the team at the front of the vehicle, watched the creatures sore through the sky towards a red light in the sky.

An offering for their Queen.

T.B.C.

Hope you all enjoyed! Please let me know what you think :)

Always open to suggestions/comments/concerns/praise/ etc.