All right, my faithful readers, your patience with this story has paid off once again. Here is the tenth and final installment of my little story. Only ten chapters you ask? Yes, dear kiddies, there are only ten. Why? I think that will become abundantly clear by the end of this chapter. Don't lose complete faith though. I'm toying with the idea of an epilogue, just to make sure you all don't kill me. Yet.
Now, please read on and enjoy. Oh, the writing of an epilogue will largely depend on if you, my dear readers, want one - so let me know.
Warning - major character deaths (actually, I think it should just be called carnage).
Alice honestly didn't know what happened in the few moments immediately following Claire's murder. When reality came crashing by like ten tons of bricks, she realized there was no time to think or plan – there was only time to act.
Reborn from the ashes of utter sorrow like a vengeful phoenix, she rose from her spot with a single goal: killing Wesker.
Jill and Carlos had managed to get a hold of Chris and fell back behind one of the helicopters for cover. Apparently everything had already gone to hell, because gunfire pierced the air in a nearly nonstop torrent.
Alice's eyes dilated as she tore apart some of the deck, using her telekinetic abilities to propel a group of soldiers overboard. Wesker wasn't in immediate sight, but she'd find him. First, however, she had to make sure the others could hold their own so she fell back to the bit of protection they'd gotten themselves.
"We're not going to make it out of this," Carlos said as she joined them. He'd just finished getting Chris out of his restraints.
"Give me a fucking gun," Chris demanded. "I want to kill the bastard that shot Claire."
"You're not going to kill him, I am," Alice said, almost too calm. "I'll be the only one able to get close enough. You need to find K-mart and get the hell out of here, all of you."
"We can't just leave you," Jill protested.
"You can and you will," Alice told her. "I'm not giving you a choice in the matter. We never expected it to come to this, get yourselves out now."
She didn't give them more time to argue, grabbing one of Carlos's pistols before turning and leaving the bit of cover offered by the helicopter. The dozen agents that were closest got taken out by the pistol and Alice snatched the carbine from a fallen body. She used it to gun down more of Umbrella soldiers, doing her best to avoid getting shot herself.
There had only been about twenty soldiers on deck when everything started, but more were starting to flood out from below deck. It would only be a matter of moments before they were overrun.
"Go now!" Alice shouted to the others. She would be able to keep the cover up just long enough for them to slip away to find K-mart, then get off the ship.
The three emerged from behind the helicopter. Jill and Chris took the lead, their aim to get below deck. The blonde only had time to spare them a quick glance before having to focus on not only holding off the soldiers, but getting her hands on another weapon.
Gunfire suddenly erupted next to Alice and she spared another glance from the fight at hand. "Carlos? Go with Jill and Chris!" she ordered.
"And leave you by yourself? No way," the man shook his head, taking out a few other soldiers.
Another wave of Umbrella soldiers rushed up on deck as Alice swore under her breath and scooped up another gun. This was just getting worse and worse. They needed to throw this fight around in their favor – but they'd never taken on this many before.
Alice opened fire as another handful of soldiers rushed them. Each went down in turn, but not quite fast enough. The first indication of trouble was hearing Carlos groan. The blonde looked over in time to see him drop to one knee before jerking as he was shot again. She took out the soldiers that posed the most significant threat before dropping down next to her fallen comrade.
Carlos reached up and took hold of a few grenades, offering them to Alice with a shaking, bloody hand. "Take these… send those bastards… to hell," he told her.
"You got it," Alice replied with a nod, taking the grenades.
"Go. Don't waste… your time with me," the dying man said through labored pants for air.
"Thank you, Carlos." Alice stood and pulled the pins out of all three grenades at once. Another swarm of soldiers was closing in on her. She waited until the last possible second – right before the grenades would have exploded in her hand – to toss them into the approaching mass.
Her actions had the desired effect. The Umbrella soldiers didn't have time to stop and turn around. Those impacted by the initial explosions weren't the only ones to get caught in the fire. Alice's pupils dilated as she manipulated the flames that spilled forth from the explosions until fire consumed the whole of the deck.
As the flames died away, Alice relaxed. That cut out a large chunk of those on board. Without missing a beat, she headed below deck. Wesker had vanished from sight and she knew he was somewhere below. He wasn't going to get away that easily, not after he had killed Claire.
She could hear gunfire from somewhere ahead of her. That couldn't be good. There were only so many people that would shoot at each other. She increased her pace and rounded a corner just in time to take a bullet herself. Pain seared through her shoulder, but it didn't faze her in the least.
She bent to scoop up a discarded pistol before pulling K-mart aside for cover from a doorway. "Take this," she instructed, handing the gun over to the teen. Chris was across the hall from them and Jill was lying motionless in the middle of the floor, having taken several bullets. "You two need to get out of here. Now."
"Yeah, we tried that," Chris snapped, the stress of the situation getting to him.
"Come out and give up!" It was Luther's voice coming from the opposite end of the corridor. "You're outnumbered!" The shoot out had stopped momentarily while Luther and the other soldiers waited to see if they would obey.
"When I move, you two get out of here," Alice told Chris and K-mart.
"Alice, we can't just leave you," the teen protested.
"You can. You have to, K," Alice said. "I need to make sure you get out of here." She didn't wait for further protests as she stepped out into the hall again.
"Project Alice, I order you to stand down," Luther commanded.
"Too bad," the blonde replied. Her pupils dilated and the soldiers around Luther were sent flying back into the far wall. She heard movement behind her and had to trust that Chris and K-mart were leaving. Her focus had to remain where it was.
Luther reached to grab at his head, pain filling every single inch of it. Blood began to seep from his eyes, nose, mouth, and ears. He was trying to fight it, but the effort was futile as he dropped to the floor moments later, lifeless.
Alice's eyes returned to normal after that and she continued her trek further into the ship. She would have stopped to arm herself again, but she didn't think it would be necessary. She'd deal with Wesker on a much more personal level.
It took her a few minutes, but eventually she found Wesker. He was in the large training area on one of the lowest levels of the ship. He wasn't alone though, Rain was with him.
"I knew things would turn out this way," he said with a sneer. "Progress always has a steep price to pay."
"Your progress stops here," Alice stated, slowly closing the distance between them.
"No, this is just the beginning," Wesker replied. "You and I could have ruled this world, but I never expected you to understand logic."
"What are you talking about?" the blonde questioned. Ruling the world? He must have gone mad at some point.
"He's infected," Rain cut in before the man could answer. "On the same level as you, but with a different strand of the virus."
"Now you've gone and ruined my surprise," Wesker chastised with a shake of his head. "No matter, she would have found out when I killed her."
"Why am I not surprised?" Alice asked. "Sorry to ruin your plans, but I'm not going to be the one that dies here. You are, Wesker."
"Rain, shoot her," the Umbrella Chairman ordered.
There was a hesitation before Rain lifted her M16. At first, she aimed at Alice and the blonde actually thought the other woman was going to follow his orders. Right before pulling the trigger, Rain swung the gun around at Wesker.
Only a handful of shots managed to escape the gun. The Chairman showed an impressive display of speed – one that even surprised Alice – by dodging the bullets and closing the little distance between himself and the dark haired woman. He grabbed Rain by the throat, yanking the gun from her hands. He used the weapon to hit her in the gut and then over the head before literally throwing the woman against the far wall – hard enough to leave a dent.
The distraction, though not a desirable one, gave Alice time to come up behind Wesker. She kicked the back of his knee before bringing her forearm against the side of his face as he dropped down.
Wesker recovered more quickly than Alice would have liked. He hadn't even completely dropped to his knee before he was coming back up, twisting to face her. She saw his eyes flash red behind dark sunglasses before a fist connected with her jaw. She ducked to miss his next swing, plowing into his gut with her shoulder. He grunted and stumbled back a few steps before regaining his footing.
The next thing Alice knew, he had a hold of the back of her shirt and swung her around with all the added strength the virus gave him before letting go. She was flung through the air and when she connected with the wall, it wasn't strong enough to withstand the impact. The metal gave way with a sickening howl as it broke apart, letting her fly into the next room to hit the far wall there and drop to the ground.
Everything spun around her for a few moments as she slowly pushed herself up. Alice could feel blood running down both her arms and across her back. The jagged metal cut her deeply in several places as she'd flown right through it. Get up, she told herself, finish this.
She could hear gunfire from the other room. Rain must have been back up. Alice got to her feet and stumbled back over to the opening in the wall she'd made. Just as she thought, the other woman was back up – she looked worse for wear, but was still fighting.
Wesker was dodging the bullets from the machine gun with ease; it was alarming. The ammunition didn't last very long and Rain swore rather loudly once she was out. Wesker was upon her in the blink of an eye and grabbed the woman.
"I expected better of you, Rain," he said with a shake of his head and she struggled in his grip. With his free hand, he pulled out one of his Desert Eagles. "What a waste." He brought the gun up and shot her point blank, letting her fall to the ground and she slackened in his grip.
Wesker turned to figure out what had happened to Alice, only to find himself face to face with her. "You've taken everything from me," she accused lowly, jerking one of her hands up. She'd yanked a piece of metal free from the wall, and now that metal was embedded as deeply in Wesker's stomach as she could manage.
The Chairman only smirked – that damn arrogant smirk that ignited even more fury in her. He pulled her hand away from him then yanked the piece of metal out of himself. "You still have one more thing to lose, Alice: your life."
She didn't even have time to react as his fist connected with her several times. With his enhanced strength, the pain was blinding and it was all she could do to even stay on her feet. How could she think that she could win? She was just one person, Umbrella was huge…
The next thing she knew, Alice was pulled back against Wesker and his arm was locked around her throat. She struggled to free herself, but he was just too strong. "How does it feel, Alice?" he inquired. "All your little plans have come crashing down around you, your friends are dead, and now you're going to join them. Everything you've fought for was for nothing."
Was he right? They fought so hard to bring Umbrella down. They'd gotten so far. Nothing was left though. In the end, none of their struggle mattered – nothing mattered anymore.
"Would you like me to kill you quickly? Just get it over with?" The Umbrella Chairman tightened his grip on her.
"You can go… to hell," Alice managed to choke out.
"Why don't you save me a spot? Actually, don't bother. I'll never die, you can rot alone," Wesker told her. He was about to continue speaking, but stopped abruptly – a grunt was the only thing that left him. A few moments of silence passed before a spasm rocked his once sturdy body and he let go of Alice.
"What have you done?" he demanded, tone accusing.
Alice actually hadn't done anything. Wesker had sealed his own demise – and hers as well. When he grabbed her, he hadn't even considered the fact that they both had open wounds and there was no telling what would happen if their blood mingled. The thought had never crossed his mind, because according to himself, he was immortal.
The man stumbled backwards a few paces before dropping to his knees, a cry of pure agony escaping him. There was no such thing as immortality, not for any of them.
Alice got a taste of what he was going through as it felt like her veins ignited with fire, emanating from one of the wounds at her back. She couldn't be completely sure, but she thought she understood. She and Wesker were infected with two different viruses. They both had open wounds and the way he'd had her pinned against him, it was inevitable that their blood would mix.
Everything was starting to go hazy for the blonde as the fire inside her body got more and more intense. If hell was truly waiting for her, she was certain this was just a small preview.
A seizure sent her to the ground and was quickly followed by another. No wonder Wesker had been shouting. A war of the viruses within the body was taking place in both of them, and it was nothing less than utterly excruciating. Alice couldn't even find the strength to cry out her agony.
Shh, it's all right now. The voice sounded so far away, but was so incredibly familiar. It couldn't be real though.
"Claire?" Somehow, her own voice managed to find a way to work.
I've got you now and everything is going to be fine. Just relax. Suddenly, the redhead was beside her. She wasn't clad in the usual Umbrella garb, just simple clothes, and there seemed to be a glow about her. Alice felt an incredible amount of comforting warmth as loving arms surrounded her.
"H-how?" It was getting harder to speak, even though she didn't really feel words were needed.
Don't you worry about that. I'm here to take you home. All you have to do is close your eyes, Alice. Just close your eyes.
The blonde was more than happy to comply. She did as Claire bid her and as her eyes closed, she felt no more pain.
"Alice!" K-mart shrieked as she and Chris burst into the large room.
"K-mart, stop!" Chris called after the teen.
She didn't listen to him, running across the space that separated them from their fallen friend. She dropped to her knees next to Alice, reaching a shaking hand over to touch the woman. "She… she's dead."
Chris walked over to Wesker, whose body was still being wracked by involuntary tremors. There was no sign of life though. "He's dead, too," Chris announced after a moment. He shook his head and walked over to K-mart, pulling her to her feet. "Come on, we have to get out of here. We can't do anything else."
It wasn't the ideal end to their struggle with Umbrella, but somehow Alice had managed to cut the head off of the serpent. That gave what few survivors were left in the world more hope than they'd had since the outbreak.