The first thing she noticed when she woke up was the smell of death and decay. She opened her eyes to find everything dark and constricting. She had no idea where she was.
She tried to move and found that she was only immobilized by a thin piece of cloth. She ripped open the cloth, and sat up. She was sitting on a metal table, inside a black bag. She noticed lights over top of each table in the room, and medical equipment lay out on a small rolling tray. 'Morgue', was the first thing she thought of. The second thing was 'where is Rain and Alice?' She quickly gets out of the bag, finding herself in the same clothes as before, and still covered in blood. She looks around, seeing no lights or hearing any heartbeats close by she moves towards the door. She can hear heartbeats coming from the floor above hers, so she stays as quiet as possible. She walks over to an elevator, and looks at the number. 'B' she thinks confused for a second before realizing it means basement. She skips the elevator and heads for the stairs, going up them two at a time. The smell of death grows stronger as she ascends the stairs. She slows down as she reaches the first floor, listening for any sign of someone in the hallway, finding none she moves through the door. She walks towards what she believes is the front door, only to stop when she hears a faint shriek from inside the building. She doesn't know who it is, but it sounded feminine and like the person was in pain. She hears the same person scream two more times, before it stops and she starts to head to the door again. She finds the exit and is suddenly frozen in place. The street was chaos, car alarms going off, cars abandoned, fires, and blood, lots of blood. She looks around trying to find some explanation to the destruction. She sees a newspaper with the headline 'THE DEAD WALK!' and realizes that what happened in the hive somehow escaped and is now happening in this city. She hears distant gunshots and is snapped out of her revelation. She doesn't know what to do. She doesn't have a clue where to start, she can't kill all of the infected, there are too many of them and she wants to find Alice, Rain and even Matt.
"Laura?" She hears Alice's voice call softly, recalling that was the name they decided on calling her. She quickly turns around, she finds Alice in a white paper gown that barely covers her and a lab coat. Alice has a patch of hair missing and what looks like incision wounds where the hair is missing. She also has a couple wounds on her neck. She is looking at Laura with a shocked expression and looks close to tears. Laura furrows her eyebrows in confusion, and then remembers waking up in the morgue and that most likely Alice thought she was dead. Alice quickly approaches Laura and pulls her into a hug. Laura stiffens automatically and tries to remain still, not knowing what to do. "I thought you were dead." Alice says softly, the pulls back holding onto Laura's shoulders and looks into her eyes, searching for something. When she seems satisfied with what she finds she releases her grip and looks around. She spots a police cruiser and slowly walks over to it, still sore from her wake up call. She hopes there is a weapon she can use inside the car and luckily finds riot shotgun. She pumps the shotgun, loading a shell into the weapon, and looks back over at Laura.
"Rain?" Laura asks sadly.
"I don't know," Alice honestly answers, then looks around. "We need to move, find transportation, weapons, and I need something to wear." Alice led the way, walking down the street, towards a surplus store, where she knew she could find all of the essentials. They walk in and Alice imminently goes to the counter holding the handguns, grabbing a P14, then a holster to put it in. she walks over to the clothes and grabs a orange tang top and blue jeans. Laura turns around, watching the front door, while Alice changes. She turns around when Alice gives a yelp of pain, and watches as she sinks to her knees holding her arm out. Laura can see perfectly in the dark room, and she notices something moving under Alice's' skin, traveling up her bicep. Alice looks like she is remembering something, and its causing her to panic. The movement stops and Alice takes a couple deep breaths, looking over at Laura and says, "Let's get moving." She quickly finishes putting her shoes on, then grabs a second P14 and holster, strapping both to her legs. She grabs a mesh shirt, putting that on and grabbing two more holsters, handing them to Laura and instructing her to put them on. She walks back over to the counter, and grabs two Glock 17's and handing them over. Laura was trained to be proficient in any weapon she can use and easily racks the gun, loading the next bullet into the chamber, and holsters them. Alice walks behind the counter, and pulls two MP5K's out, setting them on the counter. She put a Dual shoulder rig on, then attaches the MP5K's to it. She takes out a UMP-9 and hands it to Laura with a sling to attach. Laura puts the sling on so the weapon is in front of her, ready for use while Alice attaches a shotgun holster to her back and stores a Mossberg 590 in it. Alice grabs a couple extra magazines and loads them, handing Laura extra magazines for her weapons once she loads them. Alice walks back into the office, finding a motorcycle helmet on the desk, and keys in the desk drawer. "Got a ride, let's move." Alice orders, as they walk outside she hands Laura the helmet.
"No, you take it. I don't need it." Laura refuses, pushing the helmet back into Alice's hand. Alice looks torn between accepting what Laura told her and insisting on her taking the helmet, finally deciding if she could survive a bullet to the head then she could survive a crash. Alice shivers at the memory of Laura getting shot and pushes it aside. Alice mounts the bike first, strapping on the helmet and turning the bike on, then waits for Laura to get on. Laura looks around deciding where to go, "Where are we going?" she asks Alice.
"We're going to try to save as many people as possible," Alice declares. Laura focuses on any heartbeats she can hear, besides Alice's and her own. She focused on the closest ones, and finds five in one general area.
"That way," Laura tells her, pointing down the street, and then getting on the bike behind Alice. Alice starts the bike and the engine roars to life. Laura and Alice both know that this will attract the creatures, so they don't hesitate to drive towards the heartbeats, Laura giving Alice directions. As they weave in and out of the abandoned cars, and occasional walking corpses, Laura focuses on the five heartbeats, until suddenly there is only four. "Alice, hurry," Laura commands, fearing for the safety of the other four people, and Alice listens. She can only speed up so much because of obstacles, but she speeds up none the less. They approach a church, though Laura has never seen one in person, she knows that humans go there to worship their god or gods. She can hear the heartbeats suddenly speed up, more than likely in panic or fear. Then another heartbeat stops, leaving only three people left. As they get closer they have to circle the building, seeing undead covering every entrance, to try to find a way inside. Laura suddenly realizes there is another sound coming from in the building, the sound of claws and flesh scraping over stone, and hissing, the same sound the creature from the hive made when tracking and following them. She hears at least two possibly a third. Then she hears something else, gunfire, which Alice seems to also hear.
"The thing that killed Spencer, at least two," Laura informs her, while looking for an entrance. She sees a stained glass window and points it out to Alice, the only problem is it is elevated so they can't get in from the ground. Alice sees a tipped over dumpster underneath the window, its laying so that the lid is like a ramp and the dumpster is just far enough away from the window to gain the proper height. She points it out to Laura, so she knows what's happening then drives further down the street, to gain the appropriate momentum.
"We're going to need more ammo, I'm out." Laura hears a faded female voice say inside the building. She hears what sounds like flesh hitting the floor and a hissing sort of growl, then a click of an empty gun.
"We need to get in there now," Laura tells Alice, the distress in her voice making it obvious to Alice what is happening. She breaks and turns the bike around, then guns it.
"Shit, I'm out." says a male voice inside the building. She hears a growl and they are closing in on the window, the headlight shining through the glass, but they can't see inside. They fly up the ramp, the bike then flying towards the window, then crashing through the window. The glass shatters, making some cuts on both Laura and Alice as they fly through it, and over a table and some candles. They land in the aisle, between rows of pews, as the three people dive out of the way. Alice slams into a creature that was in the aisle, throwing it to the other side of the room, and then skids to a stop once out from in between the pews. She quickly takes off her helmet, as Laura dismounts the bike.
"Move," Alice commands as the people stand in the aisle, she revs the engine and heads back towards the window, when a creature drops down on the other end of the room. She takes off towards it, back flipping off of the bike as it heads for the creature. The creature grabs the bike, colliding with it and being forced up into the air, and grabs a hold of it. Alice grabs her twin P-14s and fires two rounds at the same time at the bike, puncturing the gas tank and causing it to explode into a fire ball, killing the creature. Alice holsters her guns, and grabs her dual MP5Ks firing at another creature, on the wall above where the first one was killed, then at the chains holding a cross to the wall. The creature lands on the table, knocking candles and books off of it, and gets ready to pounce. It jumps, only to be slammed into the ground as the cross falls from the wall and traps the creature under its weight. Laura turns towards where the third creature was sent, after being hit by the now destroyed bike. Seeing it coming out from underneath a votive stand she grabs her UMP-9 and opens fire on it as it jumps at her, the force of the bullets sending the creature flying back into the stand, dead. The creature underneath the cross struggles, as Alice approaches it, pulling out her Mossberg 590 she aims one handed at the creatures head. The creature waves its tongue around trying to grab her, but not being close enough to. Alice fires, blowing the creatures head apart, making brain matter fly out, and landing on the boots of the woman approaching Alice. This causing the woman to look down at her boots appalled.
"Who the fuck are you two?" the woman demands. Laura looks at this woman, noticing a holster on her shoulder and thigh. She is one of three people left inside, two females and one male. This woman had a dangerous space around her, not as dangerous as Rain or Laura though. She has short black hair, and is wearing a strapless blue top, and miniature black shorts.
"I'm Alice, this is Laura." Alice introduces them as she pumps the shotgun, expelling the empty round and automatically loading a new round, and puts it back into its holster.
"Jill, this is Peyton, and Terri." Jill introduces them in turn, as the woman named Terri keeps filming them with a handheld camera.
"We need to keep moving," Laura tells Alice in a hushed whisper, eyeing Terri then turning away from the camera.
"You guys should probably come with us, safety in numbers." Alice tells them, heading towards the back of the church with Laura and the rest on her heals. Laura grips her submachine gun, raising it towards the door as Alice gets ready to open it. She looks over at Alice then nods, Alice throwing the door open and Laura firing at the undead, taking each of them down with headshots. She leads them outside shooting the undead that come near them, leading them to the graveyard that is open enough so she can see any incoming threats. Jill is supporting Peyton, who appears to be injured. Laura can smell his blood, knowing he is infected by the decaying smell he is giving off, but not saying anything.
"We need to find somewhere to stop for a moment," Jill tells them as Peyton starts to slow down.
"Un ah, I don't think that's a good idea, there might be more of those… things." Terri says panicked.
"If there were more we would have seen them by now," Alice informs the group, as Laura starts to slow down. Laura hears another heartbeat, which sounds to be close. She stops and looks around, trying to find the source.
"So you know what they are?" Terri asks, surprised.
"They're bio weapons from the Umbrella lab underneath the city." Alice tells her, as they catch up with Laura who was ahead of the group. Terri turns her camera back on and points it at Alice.
"How come you know so much about Umbrella?" Terri asks Alice.
"I use to work for them," Alice answers as they come to a stop near Laura. Alice leans over close to Laura and asks, "What is it?"
"Someone else is out here, alive." Laura answers as Peyton sits down on a head stone with a grunt of pain.
"damn it," Peyton grunts, causing Alice to pull draw one of her handguns and point it at him, in turn causing Jill to draw her gun and point it at Alice. Alice draws her second gun and points it at Jill.
"Hold it," Jill tells her. "What do you think you're doing?" she asks as Laura points her weapon at Jill, ready to defend Alice if necessary, and forgetting about the extra heartbeat.
"He's wounded, the infections spreading." Alice explains looking at Jill.
"I'm fine," Peyton pants out.
"We should take care of him now. He'll be more difficult later." Alice tells Jill while looking at Peyton's shocked expression. Turning back to Jill she says "you know that." Jill shakes her head, no longer aiming at Alice.
"No, if it comes to that, I'll take care of it myself." She notifies Alice, as she walks towards her, ending up with Alice's gun to her throat. Laura drops her gun, with Alice's safety no longer threatened and continues to look around, still hearing the heartbeat.
"As you wish," Alice comments, holstering her guns, then turns to Peyton, "It's nothing personal, but in an hour maybe two, you'll be dead. And moments later you'll become one of them, you'll endanger your friends, try to kill them, and probably succeed. I'm sorry, it just the way it is." Laura becomes aware of another sound that startles her, digging from underneath them.
"We have to move," she tells Alice as a body breaks free of the ground and grabs Terri's leg. Alice runs over to Terri and kicks the undead in the head, making it let go of its prey as Terri scrambles to get up. Laura lets her gun hang by its sling as she unsheathes her claws to save ammo. *Snikt* both her and Alice attack the group of undead that are coming to life under their feet and digging their way to the surface. Jill and Peyton break a few necks while Laura slices into their brain with her claws, Laura pays attention to Alice as she kills multiple undead with moves that would make any human jealous, but Laura knows that with the right training anyone who is enhanced by something can easily do what she is doing. She can smell that Alice was injected with the virus, but it smells different, not the normal smell of decay but something she can't explain. Alice does a spinning heal kick off of a headstone, breaking the undead neck on contact, as Jill knocks another down and then beaks its neck. Fists are flying and Laura is slicing into their heads, but more keep coming. Alice does a mule kick to the undead behind her, breaking its neck and looks around, noticing the amount of undead.
"There's too many of them, let's get out of here, this way." Alice tells them moving away from the growing crowd as Jill helps Peyton get up and follows along with Terri, Laura bringing up the rear killing anything that gets close. They make their way out of the grave yard and into the street. They keep walking, but slow down as they get further away from the crowd. *Snakt* Laura puts her claws away so she can easily operate her weapon, but also gains the attention of Terri.
"What are you?" the woman asks in wonder as she points the camera in Laura's face, causing the girl to growl, getting Alice's attention.
"Hey, get the camera out of her face," Alice tells her angrily as the group comes to a stop, Alice moving to stand next to Laura.
"What, I just want to know. I mean did you see what she could do? She had knives come out of her skin!" the woman defends herself.
"How did she do that anyway?" Jill asks suspiciously, glancing at Laura before looking back at Alice. "Do you trust her?" she asks tightening her grip on her gun.
"With my life, and she has saved it multiple times, along with others including you guys." Alice tells them, standing between Jill and Laura, while Terri continues to film. Alice isn't trying to protect Laura from them hurting her, knowing she can take care of herself, but protect her from their judgmental glances. "Take the camera out of her face. It's the last time I'm going to ask." Terri reluctantly does as asked. Alice and Laura walk to the front, leading the group further away from possible danger. Laura gives Alice's hand a squeeze, showing her appreciation for what she just did. Alice gives Laura a little smile, and then both focus on the task at hand. Jill joins them in front of the group and starts talking to Alice like she didn't just accuse Laura of being a danger to them.
"Those were some pretty slick moves back there, I'm good but I'm not that good." Jill compliments her, but has questions dancing in her eyes.
"You should be thankful for that," Alice replies cryptically.
"What do you mean?" Jill asks confused, but relieved she didn't have to ask about why.
"They did something to me, I barely feel human anymore." Alice tells her, as they come to a stop again. The payphone they stop next to suddenly starts to ring, "we should keep moving, before the sound attracts anything." They start walking again, but every phone they pass starts to ring, "keep moving." Finally Alice has enough, walking over to the next phone that rings and answers it, "hello?" she asks looking around.
"God, I thought you'd never answer." A male voice says back, Laura can hear the conversation, but watches the perimeter for any threats.
"Who is this?"
"I can get you out of the city, all five of you." The man replies, ignoring Alice's question. Jill signals that someone is watching them through a security camera. "But first we have to come to an arrangement, are you ready to make a deal?"
"Do we have a choice?"
"Not if you want to live beyond tonight, no." the man replies casually. "My name is Doctor Ashford. I run the advanced genetics and viral research division for the Umbrella Corporation. The only thing I require you to do is save my daughter, Angela, she was suppose to be evacuated but wasn't. She's hiding in her school, if you find her I'll help you escape the perimeter, but you have to hurry the corporation realized they can't contain the infection. At sunrise this morning the city will be completely sanitized by a five kiloton precision tactical nuclear device. They will claim it was a meltdown at the nuclear power plant. Do we have a deal?" Alice looks over at Laura, knowing she heard the whole thing.
"Deal," hanging up after she replies, Alice leads them away from the phones. They look for a place to regroup, finding a city bus that is empty, they board it. Alice and Laura reloading their weapons as Alice explain what is happening.
"His name is Dr. Ashford. He runs the advanced genetics and viral research division of the Umbrella Corporation."
"Wait," Terri says, pulling out her camera, and repeating Alice. "So his name is Dr. Ashford and he runs…"
"The advanced genetics and viral research division of the Umbrella Corporation." Alice finishes for her, reloading her shot gun, while Laura paces the length of the bus looking out all of the windows for any danger.
"What's he want with us," Jill asks, blowing the smoke from her cigarette out of her nose, causing Laura to scrunch her nose up at the smell.
"His daughter, Angela, is trapped in the city. Umbrella was suppose to evac her, but she didn't make it. She's hiding out in her school. We find her he'll help us escape the perimeter."
"No fucking deal," Peyton tells her, "find the building with the thickest walls and the strongest doors and we barricade ourselves in. we sit tight and wait for help."
"There won't be any help. According to Ashford Umbrella know they can't contain the infection, so at sunrise this morning Raccoon city will be completely sanitized." Alice tells them, pumping her shotgun when she finishes.
"What do you mean by sanitized?" Terri asks confused.
"Precision tactical nuclear device," Alice replies simply, looking at Jill, knowing she will know what it means.
"What yield?" Jill quickly demands.
"Five kilotons," Alice informs, causing Jill to scoff.
"Fuck me,"
"Stupid," Peyton mutters.
"What does that mean?" Terri asks, lost in the conversation, but still recording.
"It means it'll destroy the infection," Alice tells her solemnly, "And all evidence of it." Laura stops pacing when Peyton shouts.
"It's bullshit. That's bullshit!" he points at Alice, "No fucking way would they get away with that!" he states heatedly, "it would be all over the fucking news."
"Cover up," Terri says, letting the new information sink in.
"Cover-up's already prepared," Alice continues, looking at Laura then back to Payton, "A meltdown at the nuclear power plant."
"A tragic accident," Terri adds, knowing how the world would see it.
"Not even Umbrella is capable of this."
"Not capable?" Jill asks, reentering the conversation, "Peyton, you were there at the bridge. You know exactly how far umbrella will go." Peyton grabs the pole in front of him, pulling himself up with a grimace.
"So what do we do now, huh?" Peyton asks sounding defeated.
"I think we should be out of here by sunrise." Alice replies, getting to her feet and exiting the bus, Laura following her closely. Alice led the group down the street, with Laura at her side, heading towards the school. Laura could still hear a extra heartbeat following them, nudging Alice with her shoulder to gain her attention, and standing close enough so the others couldn't see. She holds her hand up and touches her thumb to her pinky, signaling the number six, and taps her chest. Alice understandingly nods her head and continues leading them. Laura breaks off of the group, walking a few feet away and scanning the area, while watching the group.
"Where is she going?" Jill demands, as she catches up to Alice, following Laura with her eyes.
"Don't worry about her. She can take care of herself." Alice replies, glancing at Jill quickly then focusing on where they are going. Laura couldn't see whoever it was stalking them, but as they walked to the top of an overpass she could hear a sixth heartbeat. This one was strong and steady, unlike a human heart.
"What if there is no way out of the city, and he's watching us on these like this is some sort of sick game?" Jill asks, only for Alice to stop suddenly, Laura jogging towards them. "What is it?" Jill asks Alice when she stops.
"What's going on?" Peyton asks quietly.
"Wait," Alice says absentmindedly.
"Sunrise ain't going to wait," Peyton tells her.
"No," Alice stresses, Laura finally standing next to the group, hears the heartbeat get closer. "There's something down there." Alice tells them looking out over the side of the overpass.
"Where?" Jill asks, trying to see what Alice is seeing.
"There," Alice says, pointing to an area with a burning car and support pillars.
"I don't see anything," Peyton tells her dismissively.
"She's right," Laura tells them, causing Peyton to rack his gun.
"I'm getting sick of this bullshit," he says walking over to the railing.
"Peyton," Jill tries to stop him, but she walks right by her. Sudden rapidly fired gunshots ring out from somewhere, striking and killing Peyton.
"No!" Jill shouts, firing her pistol at the monstrous being as she works her way towards Peyton's body, but being forced to take cover.
"Nemesis," Alice mutters, mostly to herself, "Run. Just go." She tells them, turning to Laura, "watch them, I'll come find you." Laura hesitates a little, but considers that an order and following it. She runs after Jill and Terri as Alice approaches the railing, putting herself in the beasts' line of view.