Chapter 5

Impertinent Behavior

Grasping hands were already in, grabbing Matt's arm and reaching for Alice before the door was halfway shut. Matt yowled and fought to unlatch the fingers as Spence added his weight to Alice's against the door. Fingers twitched around gun triggers when Anise sank to a crouch and tried to catch her breath. She stared at the bloody, jagged holes in her hand for a long moment before she realized she was injured. "Damn dog," she grumbled.

Sudden movement from the doorway caught her attention. Matt had yanked the fingers from his arm and was kicking at the arms and bodies trying to shove their way inside.

"The ax!" Alice yelled, nodding toward the floor where she must have dropped it. With a vengeance, he chopped at the arms until the door jerked shut. Spence threw the lock, Alice sank to the floor, and Matt stood panting, his knuckles white against the ax handle. The male commando slowly lowered his piece to its holster. Spence looked over the reunited group, briefly meeting Anise's eyes and squinting in vague recognition or irritation. She wasn't sure which and, frankly, didn't give a flying leap. She was far more concerned with the gun that was abruptly pointed at her face.

Rain's gun. Her really big, scary as fuck, overly-accessorized, whose power had lifted a grown woman clean off her feet, took two hands to hold it was so massive, gun was aimed right between Anise's eyes.

"Rain, what are you doing?" Her squadmate asked.

Yea, what the fuck? Anise echoed in her head

"She's a survivor." He glanced at Alice for confirmation, who nodded quickly.

"Kap, the last survivor I encountered tried to eat me." The sweating commando snarled, not letting her aim waiver as she stared down the sights of her intimidating gun.

Anise remembered her decision about whether to hate or forgive Rain for snapping Terri's neck. Rain had done for her what Alice had done for Matt, even if the commando didn't know it. That settled, her sassy nature reasserted itself. Her eyes looked past the muzzle to meet Rain's dark, chocolate gaze, and she held up her hands in mock surrender. "I promise I won't bite."

A dark, manicured eyebrow rose slightly, though Rain still seemed eager to squeeze the trigger.

Feeling giddy with adrenaline and fear, Anise smiled her infamous prankster smile, full of teeth and the promise of trouble. "Unless you want me to." She winked for good measure. "I think I'd enjoy biting you."

Her impertinent behavior was rewarded by Rain's lips twitching and lifting on one side. The commando snorted and lowered her gun, held out a strong hand to Anise, who grabbed hold and stood up. Anise readjusted her rumpled clothes and looked back at the attractive commando, blinking in surprise that Rain was several inches shorter. Having not realizing just how petite the woman was, Anise stared at her awkwardly. The other woman was looking Anise over, and she fidgeted nervously.

Though several years of physical conditioning had shaped Anise's natural curves with firm muscle tone, her simple outfit and lab coat were covered in gore and worse. Anise wondered what the gun-wielding badass was thinking as her eyes traveled back up to inspect Anise's blood spattered face. Anise was light skinned, hazel eyed, had a slightly wider nose, full lips pulled into a grin, round chin and an old scar that stretched from the corner of her eyebrow to the hairline. Dark eyes locked on her own and had her biting her cheek, unsure if she should be afraid or not. Rain's gaze flickered away. Released, Anise let out a shaky breath.

Kap's gaze was caught, a nod shared, and Rain turned back to Anise, her voice both amused and deadly serious. "Bite me, and I'll kick your ass."

"I'm sure you would." The playful woman agreed, enjoying the exchange, however disconcerting.

Free of immediate danger and those piercing brown eyes, Anise relaxed enough to examine the room they were in. It was basically empty, except for a chair and a table with a monitor and keyboard setup. Probably where a guard would normally sit on watch. There were three doors, two of which led to certain death. The other was open, leading to a brightly lit hallway that ended in a door that protected what she assumed to be AI core room. It was one of the few places she had not managed to sneak into; being super sneaky and idiotically adventurous only got her so far, even with her tablet and neat hacking programs. What she wouldn't give to be running from an angry Belst instead of hungry undead.

Anise tried to distract herself by wondering why there were only two commandos there. Where was JD? One? She remembered screams. Oh. Right. JD must have been on the dinner menu too. She shivered at the thought of being eaten alive.

Spence spoke into the quiet room, his voice overly loud and making Anise wince painfully. "So who the hell are you?"

Still feeling cocky and adrenaline-high, Anise responded glibly to the arrogant man. "Well, I'm either extremely lucky or just plain fucked. You?"

He scoffed. "Why aren't you out there with the rest of your coworkers?"

"Why aren't you?"

Spence scowled and clenched his fists. "I don't know," came through clenched teeth. "What's your excuse?"

Anise licked her lips, decided to stop pushing the temperamental man's buttons. She gave her half-truth story again and when she was done, the group shifted awkwardly, suspicion and doubt clear on all of them. Their heavy silence was only broken by the mobs that pounded and clawed at the doors. The stench of blood and fear tainted the air between them. It was a very uncomfortable few minutes.

"What's in the bag?" Kap finally asked.

Happy to have a distraction from the staring group that didn't involve thinking about teeth and guts, Anise quickly shoved both hands into her canvas messenger-style bag. Rain and Kap flinched, both of them retraining their guns on her. Anise blanched and slowly pulled out a few cans of juice. "Sorry," she breathed. "Anyone thirsty? I have plenty."

The commandos glared at her for a few seconds before Kap lowered his pistol. Several breaths later, Rain's lowered as well. Tension bled from the group in a unanimous sigh, and Anise almost dropped the drinks in her hands. Despite Spence giving her shit about walking around with a fridge in her purse, he, and everyone else, eagerly grabbed for the liquid treats. Anise claimed the lone chair by the control panel and Rain, surprising her, hopped up on the table only an arm-length away. The others spread themselves out as much as the small room allowed, standing or leaning on the walls.

Matt sipped his drink, gazing thoughtfully at the Umbrella logo on the side of the can. "I'm glad not everyone in Umbrella is a heartless bastard." That got the group's attention. He raised his juice in salute to Anise, then continued on, "Corporations like Umbrella think they're above the law. But they're not. There are hundreds of thousands of us all over the world who think the same."

"Like your sister?" Alice's soft voice interrupted. "We ran into her earlier," she filled in the rest of the team.

Matt's features tightened, and he nodded. "Some of us provide information. Others give their support. Some take more direct action."

While crushing her empty can, Anise considered the backers behind Project Afterthought. They were probably part of the same invisible rebellion as the siblings. Umbrella was too big, too arrogant. Most people couldn't see the danger behind the wonderful improvements to health and home that Umbrella brought, but the backers could, and it was why they'd poured millions into Project Afterthought, somehow managed to keep it hidden from upper management.

Anise was damn grateful for that now. She was nodding as Matt talked about the plans to expose Umbrella's less tasteful R&D projects. Weapons development, illegal genetic experiments, viral research. They needed proof of the illegal R & D. So his sister had worked her way into the Raccoon City facility to get it. She needed help though. Lisa had confided in Matt about an informant she'd had; someone who could give her full access. Codes, classified records, the works. Who? Had they died down here like everyone else?

"Alright, why the fuck did we find you sneaking around the mansion?" Rain demanded, leaning forward and putting her hands on her knees.

"I lost contact with her a few days ago. I was worried so I decided to sneak into the Hive to find her." Trusting Umbrella employees with a story about trying to steal company property? Idiot. Commandos were employed to prevent that kind of thing. "You aren't going to shoot me for trespassing and stealing company property?" He asked half jokingly. An idiot with a sense of humor, she amended.

Kap and Rain seemed to consider it. Anise squinted at his crumpled name tag, 'Kaplan,' it read. He shrugged and deferred to Rain, who spoke up. "Nah, if we make it out alive, you deserve to walk away. Fuck it, I'll even help you blow the lid on this shitty place."

Anise scrubbed her uninjured hand across her face. "How do you propose we get out of here? Those," she paused to come up with a good word to describe the not quite dead clawing at the only exits, "Damn zombies will happily eat us for dinner if we open the doors. The Red Queen's core only has the one door, and it leads to where we're sitting." Uh... "Right?" She didn't know. Escaping the AI's core hadn't been included in her Hive training.

Kaplan started pacing. "We'll never make it out of here in time. We're all going to die."

"What do you mean, 'in time?'" Spence clenched a fist and took a half-step in Kap's direction.

Rain explained when Kap continued muttering to himself about dying. "You remember those blast doors we passed on the way from the Mansion?" When Alice nodded, she continued. She sounded irritated and maybe even a bit stressed, but Anise couldn't detect any fear in the woman's voice. The stoic Latina was probably a bitch to play Poker with. "They'll seal shut in about," she checked her watch, "Two hours."

"Why?" Quietly terrified, Alice asked.

"The only fail safe plan the idiots in charge came up with. In case of emergency, seal the place up and screw any unlucky bastards still down here." Anise answered bitterly. Kaplan looked surprised that she was so well informed. Rain's brow arched, though she kept silent and fiddled with her own injured hand.

Scowling, Anise folded her arms across her chest. She really had thought that her keeper was yanking her chain when he'd shown her the classified plans. His sense of humor was a little twisted sometimes, especially when he felt like her pranks had gone too far. Doc Belst could be a bastard, but he had always meant well. She wished he was around to yell at her or something.

Red-faced, Spence began raging at the commandos. "You couldn't have told us earlier? Before we were half a fuckin mile underground!"

Exchanging sour glances, the two squadmates remained silent.

Anise huffed. "If we can't escape before they close, we won't see daylight again."

"We have to get out of here." Alice straightened from her relaxed position and strode over to the table. She grabbed the bag sitting next to Rain and marched into the lit hallway.

"What are you doing?" Kaplan demanded.

"I'm going to turn her back on," was tossed back.

Anise assumed she meant the AI, which explained the power outage earlier. Having to turn the AI back on meant that they had probably used some sort of EMP charge to turn it off to begin with.

Kaplan objected, "That's not a good idea."

"She'll know a way out."

Not having any better ideas, the group followed Alice into the core. "That homicidal bitch killed my team." Rain added as she stomped along behind Kap and Alice.

There weren't even a dozen of them, but the small space made it feel like a mall on Black Friday. Anise glanced at the low ceiling before turning her attention to Alice, who unzipped the bag and started pulling out a briefcase-sized box. Some essential bit of hardware. A processor? Data core? She knew more about mitochondria than she did computers.

"Kaplan, that circuit breaker you were talking about, can you bypass it?" Alice questioned.

"Yea."

"So do it." Alice ordered. Anise wondered what they were talking about.

"Why?" Spence questioned, making Anise feel less like an ignorant moron. That did not mean she liked him. He just had his useful moments.

Alice didn't look up from her work reinstalling the AI's component. "Leverage. If she won't help us. Fry her."

"Good plan. Threaten a homicidal AI." Anise snarked. The amnesiac favored her with a half-smile, shrugged and continued on her chosen mission.

Right in front of Anise, the Red Queen projected her image. "Shit!" She jumped back a foot. Rain snickered quietly. "Bitch." Anise muttered and flipped Rain the bird.

"Ms. Barrows," greeted her. "Your continued good health is gratifying."

"Fuck you." Anise was not going to thank the artificial bitch for keeping her alive. She glowered at the reddish hologram, not sure if the disembodied voice or little girl image freaked her out more. The image flickered and disappeared. Before Anise could ask what had happened, Kaplan proposed that her systems must have been damaged by the first charge. EMP charge, totally called that, Anise silently crowed.

"I gather that everything has not gone as planned?" The computer asked.

Rain jerked forward, grabbing for the power switch in Kaplan's hand. "Let me do it. I wanna fry her ass!" Everyone but Anise leapt to keep the AI talking, eventually got Rain to calm enough to stop pushing, to stand panting and baring her teeth at the camera on the wall.

"Not yet." Alice patted Rain on the arm. The soldier flinched away and growled so low that Anise was sure only she could hear it. Was this woman an animal?

"I did warn you, didn't I?" The Red Queen taunted them.

"Tell us what the hell is goin on down here." Rain demanded, angry as a wasp's nest.

"Research and Development."

Anise snorted.

"What about the T-virus?" Matt added.

"The T-virus was a major medical breakthrough. Although it clearly also possessed highly profitable military applications." It commented.

"Well how does it explain those things out there?" asked Kaplan, his voice pitched high, his arm gesturing frantically toward the other room, where Anise could still hear the zombies scratching at the doors.

"Even in death the human body still remains active. Hair and fingernails continue to grow. New cells are produced and the brain holds a small electrical charge that takes months to dissipate. The T-virus provides a massive jolt to both cellular growth and those trace electrical impulses. Quite simply, it reanimates the body."

"It brings the dead back to life?" Rain simplified, her voice irritated and stretched thin. Did anything scare her?

"Not fully. The subjects have the simplest of motor functions. Perhaps a little memory. Virtually no intelligence." Red Queen pronounced. "They are driven by the basest of impulses. The most basic of needs."

"Which is?" Kap squeaked out.

"The need to feed." The damn AI was certainly melodramatic, Anise thought. If it could project itself, it'd be smiling.

Again, Rain asked bluntly. "How do you kill them?"

"Severing the top of the spinal column or massive trauma to the brain are the most effective methods."

Alice looked over to Anise, who met her gaze uneasily, noticing the questions dancing in her eyes.

"You mean shoot them in the head." Rain clarified.

"Why did you kill everybody down here?" Matt finally asked what Anise was too scared to voice out loud.

"The virus escaped into the air conditioning system and an uncontrolled pattern of infection began. The virus is protiant, changing from liquid to airborne to blood transmission, depending on its environment. It's almost impossible to kill. I couldn't let it escape from the Hive. Sooo, I took steps."

Rain glanced at Anise before speaking. "Steps?"

"You must understand. Those who become infected, I cannot allow you to leave."

"Whoa! Whoa. We're not infected," Spence sputtered. He didn't notice Rain cringing, and her hands scrubbing together. Anise did, though she remained silent, weighing her options. Rain caught Anise watching her fidgeting hands and opened her mouth to probably tell her off, but the AI interrupted.

"Just one bite. One scratch from these creatures is sufficient, and then you become one of them." The Red Queen finally dropped the bomb. During the pause, the team glanced at each other uneasily. Their eyes settled on Rain and Anise.

Rain lifted her bloody hand to point at Anise's injury. "Joined the Royally-Fucked-Club, huh?"

She considered her wounded digits, noted that the bleeding had almost stopped, tried to guess how many hours it would take to fully heal. Making a fist, she decided to keep her mouth shut and just flip Rain the bird. Telling them that the T-virus was not a threat to her health wouldn't make her any friends right now. Friends were something she was desperately short on at the moment.

"My systems indicate that my main drive circuit breaker has been disabled. May I ask why?" The Red Queen's voice cut through the tension.

Alice answered. "Insurance. We need a way out. You're gonna help us. If you refuse, we shut you down for good."

The Red Queen took a full thirty seconds to respond. "You realize that disabling me will not put the odds in your favor."

"We'll take our chances." Anise wasn't sure who spoke, but was pretty sure they all felt the same.