Night had completely fallen as the group made it to the front lawn of the main building. Cass looked back to where they had come from, but nothing had followed them… yet. The dark sky seemed to taunt them as fires burned in the distance. There were no signs of the helicopters that the government had promised.
Infected people slowly walked toward them, and Cass used the gun to make sure they stayed down. As she and the other survivors kept the infected at bay, large footsteps caught her attention. The monster that had chased Kevin's group slowly walked toward them with an unflinching stare. In its hand, it carried the head of the other giant creature. Kevin turned the rifle on the monster and fired as the other members turned to face it. Soon the air rang with the sound of gunshots and explosives. Cass started to run toward the group when a gunshot from behind her made her turn.
Daniel had her gun in his hand and had it pointed toward her. She looked down to see blood staining her pants. Adrenaline blocked out the pain, but Cass stumbled to the ground in shock. She pointed the gun at him. However, his hands grabbed hers.
"Sorry, ma minette," Daniel said as he wrestled the gun from her hand. "You've done enough running. I told you that you needed rest."
Cass elbowed Daniel in the chin and knocked the gun from his hand. Quickly recovering, Daniel pushed her down onto the ground with a laugh. She struggled to get back up, but he had her securely pinned to the ground.
"My kitten has claws," he mocked her with a smile. "Don't worry. I'll take good care of you. Afterall, Albert was so fond of you…"
Cass kneed him in the groin and pushed him off of her. "I'm not going to be beat… by some discount Wesker-wannabe!"
Cass grabbed her gun, but Daniel had gotten to the other one. They held each other at gunpoint as they both winced in pain.
"Don't you want to learn about your mother?" Daniel asked in a teasing voice.
"What?"
"You're a lot closer to Umbrella than you think."
"What does that mean? You're lying."
"Come with me. I can show you that I'm telling the truth." Daniel held out a hand and continued, "All I need is your cooperation… Besides even if you do escape today, do you think Umbrella won't come to collect you? Running gets tiring after a while. Wouldn't it be easier to just accept our generosity?"
A bullet hit Daniel in the shoulder, and he took cover behind a fence. Kevin strode toward Daniel's hiding spot with a look that could kill, but an Umbrella helicopter descended nearby, causing Kevin to race in front of Cass protectively. Daniel seemed to have noticed the monster was defeated and climbed into the helicopter.
As the helicopter flew into the sky, Kevin lifted Cass up and took cover behind the fence. Cass looked back to Kevin's group to see them all looking at the Umbrella helicopter with disappointment. A burning sensation in her legs caught her attention. She limped to a bench and lifted her pantleg. Kevin checked her wound and sighed in relief as he began to bandage her leg.
"The bullet grazed your leg… you should be fine," Kevin said and gave her a smile.
"I don't feel fine… but thank you. Really… thank you, Kevin," Cass said as she tried to hold back tears.
She found herself engulfed in a bear hug. Kevin clung to her desperately and whispered, "I'm sorry. Just let me have a couple minutes… if you really hate it… I'll stop but please…"
Cass slowly returned the hug and felt Kevin relax. After a few minutes, she looked up to see Kevin's group looking at them with a mixture of confusion and curiosity.
"So… who is this mystery person?" one of the men asked, and Kevin turned to give them an irritated scowl.
The sound of helicopters made a chill go up Cass' spine, but they didn't appear to be Umbrella's. As they got closer to the ground, Cass smiled at a familiar face. Gats smiled in return and shouted, "SO WHO WANTS TO GET THE HELL OUT OF HERE?!"
The members of Kevin's group shouted excitedly and climbed into one of the helicopters. With Kevin's help, Cass limped into the helicopter with Gats. As they lifted off into the air, Cass took one last look at the city below them. Fires raged as the infected searched for more people to eat or turn. With a shiver, Cass looked away to see Gats eyeing her wound.
"We'll get you to a hospital ASAP," Gats promised.
"And the cure," Cass said and turned to Kevin, who pouted before pulling it out of his pocket.
"I still think that you should use it."
"Not to worry," Gats said reassuringly. "We have scientists waiting at the hospital. We should be able to synthesize the cure pretty quickly. Especially with a sample on hand."
Kevin still looked grumpy as Gats got into the co-pilot's chair. Cass took his hand in hers and continued to look down at the city as they flew away. A gentle weight on her shoulder made her turn back to him. Kevin rested his head on her shoulder and gripped her hand tightly in his. She doubted that he had fallen asleep that fast but just smiled at his brazenness.
"Please…" he murmured sleepily.
Cass smiled and rested her head on top of his. Her eyelids grew heavy, and she soon fell into a deep sleep.