Hey there again! This one is way longer. My friend Shevvy inspired me to write this one the way I did. He does like strawberries haha! I wanna thank my beta, UnwantedSlag. Hon, you are beyond awesome. Thanks for being patient with me :)

I don't own anything, so don't sue me, because I won't be able to pay a penny. Please remember to review when you reach the bottom. Yes, Reviews = Happy Dance :P

Chapter 8

The room was dark, and had a faint moldy smell to it. 'No windows I take it.' Alice sat up slowly, stretching her legs out in front of her. The annoying headache was still there. Alice rubbed the sore muscles in her shoulders, moving up to rub her neck. Everything hurt. Not remembering was becoming a bitch. Mainly because after blacking out, she woke up with aches, pains and bruises being completely oblivious about what happened before. Today's special was a very sore back, a lightly split lip and a bruise that was slowly turning blue down her left side, a few inches above her waist.

The door flew open suddenly, causing Alice to squint at the intrusion of unwanted light. "Oh, you're up! Awesome, wanna take a shower?" Alice eyed the young woman. She had light caramel skin and grey eyes. Her hair had been tied back, but it was definitely a dark brown color. "I, uh-" Alice started but was quickly cut off.

"I'm Liz. Don't worry, I'm kinda useless. They don't even let me carry any kind of weapon around here. They think I'm gonna end up shooting somebody in the foot." Liz made a snorting sound. "Anyway, showers are this way." The young woman turned abruptly, moving down the hall. Alice lazily got up, and followed Liz down a few hallways, before they stopped. "Here you go." She pushed the door open and pointed into the dimly lit room.

Alice peered through the door and saw a few showers, toilets and basins. There was a small window that had been boarded up. There were two towels near every shower; they looked to have been fluffy at one point. Alice eyed the young woman standing next to her. Liz looked nervous.

"You look nervous." Liz' head shot up. "I..I-" she started but Alice put up a hand to silence her. "You saw what happened earlier." Alice stated quietly, it was more of a statement of fact than a question. Liz nodded and looked down at her feet again. "What happened exactly?" Alice was trying to be gentle. This girl was clearly spooked. When Chris told her what she had done, the feeling that he was leaving a few things out was creeping up on her.

"You were there. You did it all. You know what happened." Liz was fiddling with her hands. "I don't remember. And the only things I have been told were cryptic." Alice moved toward the bathroom, only to be stopped by Liz' hand on her arm. "He stopped you from hurting anybody else. Leon was going to hit you over the head with something. It was as if you were searching for anybody who was infected inside our camp. Emma, Leon's girlfriend. She was infected. You were going to kill her. Leon was freaking out, but Chris, that guy that was with you, he took your arm. Pulled you to face him. Your face looked weird. Like you weren't there. Like your body was a meat suit and there was no soul in it anymore. He was talking to you. Slowly, softly. The way you would talk to someone you love. Then you were back and collapsed. He freaked out, but picked you up and ordered Leon to kill the infected and to tell him where our infirmary was. He took care of you."

Liz wringed her hands, but then pulled something out of her pocket. Clearly the conversation was over; she pushed a small bottle into Alice's hand. "He likes you. He risked his life for you. Leon was going to shoot you and him. He saved you." With that the young woman turned to leave, closing the door behind her leaving Alice to be alone.

Alice opened her hand to get a closer look at what Liz had pushed into her hand. A small pink bottle looked back at Alice. "Shampoo?" It had a sticker of a strawberry on it, indicating the flavor. "Shampoo." Alice slowly repeated, confirming her question.

Alice dried her hair after having slipped back into her clothes. Alice concluded that a shower was the best idea Liz had ever come up with. Pulling her hair closer to her nose, Alice smelled strawberries. She smelled like strawberries and soap, it simply felt amazing. She couldn't remember the last time she had a good shower. But this one topped it all.

Alice placed everything back where she once found it. She did however leave the shampoo on a basin however, not being sure if she was going to see Liz again. Heading out, Alice closed the door behind her, but only made a few paces before walking into something. Or rather someone. "What the- Oh." Alice looked up to see Chris in front of her. His hand was on her upper arm, keeping her balanced. "Thanks." Alice whispered. Not actually sure what she was thanking him for. For saving her twice already? By keeping her from harming innocent people, or for keeping her balanced when his mere presence made her knees like jelly?

Before Alice could even move away, Chris pulled her in for a hug. Shock was written all over her face, but gradually relaxing in his arms. Eruptedly he pulled back, his brow was furrowed. "Strawberries?" Alice felt a blush creeping up her neck, turning her ears pink first. "Yeah. This girl, Liz, she uh, gave it to me. Figured I might ju-" Alice was cut off when Chris kissed her, lips brushing against his hers, and everything was then forgotten. Everything seemed to slow down as he pulled back after a minute or so. Alice felt something snap within her.

Grabbing Chris by the shirt, Alice pushed him against the wall. Standing on her toes, and pulling his head down a bit. Alice planted a searing kiss to Chris' lips, gently running her tongue along his bottom lip, Alice nearly squealed when he opened his mouth to her. 'Squeal Alice? Seriously?' Alice mentally smacked herself. Easing her tongue over Chris', pulling a soft moan from Chris. Noticing his grip on her hips had tightened a bit, Alice felt the urge to dare his tongue to duel her for dominancy. Just as her luck would have it, he seemed to be up for the challenge. Deepening the kiss even more, Alice felt her knees getting wobbly, darn bloke.

"Uhhem." The sound made both Alice and Chris pull away, that and the fact that breathing was very much needed. "We're leaving in 5minutes. Suggest you get a move on." The man was gone almost as soon as he had arrived.

Alice looked down and noticed for the first time how close they really were. And that it seemed to feel like she had ingested fire, with the proof splattered all over her face. "Come on. We need to get a move on." Chris started moving, pulling Alice with him. His hand settled in the small of her back. It wasn't going to last, Alice knew this. She would always know this; he would grow close to her, and get killed. It reeked of Umbrella every time. "Stop thinking Alice. I'm not going anywhere." Chris whispered into her ear. Alice released his hand when they stepped outside.

Three men were standing near the entrance. Alice noticed the man who interrupted them earlier was among the group. The leader was clearly visible. He was standing on the right. He had that air about himself; he presented himself like a leader. Seeing them draw closer, the man looked up.

"Took you long enough. Leon Kennedy. You must be Alice." Leon stretched his hand out toward Alice. Not wanting to seem rude or ungrateful for their help though Alice reluctantly shook his hand. Leon looked young, around 30, 35 maybe. Could be close to Claire's age, but Alice didn't exactly know how old she was either not precisely. Leon was wearing what looked like the same outfit Carlos had worn when they met. Black pants, black shirt, black boots, complete with the vest that supported the Umbrella logo. It made her sick. Sick to think that this was what she had stooped to, this was how low she had gotten. By receiving help from a man who so obviously worked for Umbrella it was wrong. Not like she was so innocent herself, she too worked for them, but stopped emotionally when she saw everything they did. But that doesn't exactly count, does it? Leon was speaking again, but Alice didn't feel like listening at all.

"This is Alan and James. Say hi guys." The men mumbled their hellos. "Let's get going. Fill-ins will be done along the way." Leon and his band of un-merry men started walking in a north-western direction. Alice had to admit, Leon was a good looking man; he had a fairly light skin tone, brown eyes and hair and his shoulders were broad. Alice couldn't help but think how many troubles he carried with him all the time. But he worked for Umbrella no way was she even going to dare and find out more.

"Stop thinking." Chris whispered into her ear once again. Alice looked over her shoulder at him but no more words were spoken. No more words were needed. Alice knew that this was it. That if she was going to be able to end it, she would. No matter how the niggling feeling seemed to get, well, nigglier. Wait; was that even a proper word?

Alice sighed and decided to walk a few paces behind the rest of the group; distance was needed in her opinion.

"You mind filling us in on this set up you have here?" Chris broke the silence that had taken over for the last half hour. They were in the middle of nowhere. Rundown buildings were scattered all over, but no sign of the undead. Alice couldn't help but feel uncomfortable at this little bit.

"Uh, yeah." Leon only grumbled. "Well, about a year ago, the boys and I here found a bunch of survivors. Like a whole bunch quite a few in-fact. Half the town's folk here. They moved around a lot. So we got this idea of clearing out a city block, and set up shop. Was going good until more people started arriving. We couldn't tell them to go away, so we took them in. We cleared out more space as we needed it. But like you saw earlier, those damn munching fuckers are drawn to us. A few at first, and then more and more show up. That's how we found this abandoned Umbrella facility. Raided their stock of food, guns, the works y'know?"

Alice stopped walking at the mention of Umbrella. "We, uh, tapped into their power supply and some smart guy we have in camp figured out a way to redirect some of that electricity. They don't need it, and we do." Alice felt a feeling of nausea flood her, but didn't throw up. She felt a flash of sadness, but shed no tears, she felt anger, but didn't cry out. She just stood still, and waited for it to pass.

"Alice?" Chris must have noticed she wasn't behind him anymore. Alice saw him make his way over to her, but froze. There was a small rock floating in front of Alice. It looked like invisible hands were holding onto it, cradling it like it was the most precious rock in the world. A few more rocks joined the first in the air. "Alice?" She saw him, moving closer, like he was afraid of her. Alice wanted to walk over, and hug him. She wanted to tell him that she doesn't know what's going on, but it felt familiar somehow. Alice wanted to tell him not to be afraid of her, because he was one of the few that she would give her life for. But Alice did neither, nor did she move.

When Chris finally reached her, Alice looked into his eyes. She could feel the fear radiating off of him, something emitting from him, Alice could see the three men standing behind Chris. Their weapons were out, but weren't aiming. Alice pleaded silent, unshed tears within her eyes, but nothing was working the way it should, and the fear of crying dawned on Alice, that if she wanted to cry, she most likely would end up wetting herself instead.

Something made Alice reach up and touch Chris' face. "Save me." It was barely a whisper, but he heard it. Alice knew he heard it. "Save me."

Alice didn't black out this time. She took off running in the direction they were headed. She didn't even register that Chris was calling her name, or that the four men were running after her. Leon and his goons must be worried that she was going to raid their stash. A giggle escaped her lips, and was surely carried down to the men following her. 'This is fun.' Alice silently told herself.

Shaking her head Alice stopped again, and stared at a very small building. It had the Umbrella logo on it. The dull ache was back. Alice felt sluggish, shaking her head like she was trying to shake an unwelcome memory from her thoughts. Blinking rapidly, Alice found herself back on the Arcadia, staring at Jill, and the closest helicopters. She could feel herself wanting to slow down, to stop Jill from doing something stupid. "Jill, don't do this." Alice's voice felt strange to her own ears. She was only greeted by a sly smile from Jill. "Save me Alice." Jill inched forward, but Alice picked her up. Those feelers were back, Isaacs called them psychic powers. Alice called it an inconvenience. "That's what they all say, remember. Save me Alice. Well this time, please anyone." Jill punctuated every word. "Jill, please don't do this." Alice would resort to pleading, to save the life of a woman she once dared call a friend, even if she didn't particularly like her. "Umbrella is recalling its malfunctioning product." Jill's neck twitched the same way Wesker's had.

It all happened in a flash. Jill was in the air, her black hair framing her face. She looked like she was floating. She was bleeding. Alice made Jill's nose bleed. Her eyes and ears following suit. Alice felt her hand twitch, as she was forcing blood from every single place that she could find on Jill's body.

"Alice?" Chris was right next to her. Shaking her head, Alice was back in DC. Standing in front of the Umbrella facility. "You okay?" Alice glanced at him, and saw a mixture of fear and worry etched on his face. "I know what I did to Jill. I saw it." Alice turned her head to see that Leon and the other two men were opening the doors to the facility.

"She's not what she seemed, Jill. She said 'Save me Alice.'" Alice turned to Chris again. "What the hell is happening to me?"

So sorry for the late update. I had some trouble with my email, and stuff. I feel like crap that I couldn't reply to the lovely reviews I have gotten so far. But, fear not, everything is working again. Except writers block kept me busy. Hope you liked this chapter. Please review; before you leave :) they really do give me the happy dance.

UN: Just wait, this story will be amazing, just don't blame us for leaving you on a cliffie you'll love us afterwards ;}