Chapter 28: Still Alive
Alice and Chris only traveled in the ventilation system until they passed the flooded floors. The man shifted the full duffle bag on his shoulder as it knocked against the assault rifle on his back, while the brunette woman carried the pack they had crammed with explosives. They took to the stairs at breakneck speed. The two came onto the roof to see Bennett at the controls of the airplane, and Kim Yong standing behind it.
It really didn't matter to the brunette that Bennett was stealing her plane. Would've been nice to have been asked, she thought sarcastically. Suddenly the man in the suit noticed Chris and Alice's presence on the roof, and brought up a pistol.
"Oh shit!" Chris said as he and Alice ducked down behind a large roof vent in front of them while the thief fired. Luckily for them Bennett was a lousy shot, but Alice had no idea why he was even shooting at them in the first place. The ex-project counted three shots, and then heard Claire's voice immediately prompting her to draw a revolver and break cover to keep his attention away from the redhead.
"Open this door!" Claire demanded, and Alice could only assume she was talking to Angel or Luther.
At the brunette's emergence, gun aimed directly at the thief, Bennett rushed to close the airplane's windshield and take off. Alice's diversion was a success, but she still wondered if she should fire. The propellers buffeted the air as they moved the craft forward.
The end of the line was fast approaching for the Bennett. Alice watched the moving plane, and noticed that Claire and Angel had filled the space next to her followed by Chris and Kim Yong. They all ran after Bennett when his stolen plane fell off the edge of the prison.
"Ha-ha, take that!" Angel yelled down at the falling aircraft, and Alice was surprised to hear such animosity from the soldier.
Right before the plane would have crashed into the countless undead below, it leveled out, but still managed to construct mincemeat out of the undead on the ground leaving a bloody trail in its wake until it gained enough altitude to clear the horde.
Angel sneered in frustration as Bennett flew west towards the shore and Alice shook her head.
"He's headed for the Arcadia – idiot," she said.
The soldier faced Alice with Bennett's shortcomings as Claire moved hastily to the duffle bag at Chris's feet.
"He killed Luther," the soldier said, and his previous hostility was explained.
"What – why?" Alice asked stunned.
It was Kim Yong who answered timidly, "Lu-Luther was going to make him take the tunnel. Bennett just snapped. I'm so sorry."
"That's not all," Claire stated as she continued to prep a submachine gun. "The south-gate was breached by some – thing with an axe. The undead are going to be on us any second."
Alice had hardly any time to absorb the redhead's words, because the stairs had become clogged with undead and they spilled onto the roof from an entranceway ahead of them.
"Alice!" Claire got the brunette's attention as she tossed her the weapon. The ex-project caught it deftly and sprayed the mass with lead. Chris managed to bring his assault rifle up, and began to gun down the nearest undead. The soldier and Claire were the next to add their bullets to the suppression.
The undead horde was so thick that the survivors couldn't move from their position on the edge of the rooftop, but it became horribly apparent that they needed to. Alice looked around and saw an embedded elevator to her left. The structure was their best option at the moment.
Alice was nearly out of bullets so she shouted to the others as she ran. "Come on!"
They all made for the elevator. Claire and Angel kept up their fire as Alice went straight to the duffle bag Chris had just dropped from his shoulder. The ex-project grabbed the MP9 she had loaded earlier, and went back to the front line with Chris on her heels. They set up next to each other and continued to keep the undead at bay. The corpses were beginning to pile offering them somewhat of a barricade that caused the infected to stumble and lose momentum.
Chris saw an opportunity to line up a double kill-shot; he aimed and at the right moment pulled the trigger.
"Ha! Two with one bullet, beat that Alice!" he bragged.
The brunette grinned mischievously as she reached behind her back and pulled out a timed explosive.
"Everyone get back!" Alice commanded as she flipped the ignition switch, and threw it into the back of the horde. The survivors ran behind the cover of the outreaching concrete. The brunette used her own body to shield Claire though she was already relatively well protected from the coming detonation. Alice put her hands on the wall above the redhead's shoulders to keep her pressed against it. The intimate position left little space between their bodies and Alice relished in the feeling. She almost moved in to kiss Claire full on the lips forgetting the dangerous situation, but the explosion brought her back to the present as it wreaked havoc.
The blast registered in Claire's ears, and she thought she could feel the fire seep its way through the hard cement at her back. A moment before she would have sworn Alice was going to kiss her, and she'd hoped for it. She saw the brunette open her mouth to speak to Chris who was hunched down next to them, but her ears were filled with a loud ring that didn't allow her to hear anything else, so she read Alice's lips.
"Top that."
"What is wrong with you two? This is not a competition!" Claire yelled louder than necessary because she couldn't hear herself speak.
Alice and Chris looked like two children that had just been scolded, but the redhead had a point. It was time to stop messing around. The ex-project released Claire from the wall, and walked away from the elevator drawing the undead to her as she fired upon them. The ringing the younger woman had been subjected to dissipated, and she could hear every shot the taller woman made.
"Head to the shower block," Alice said and Claire was about to argue against the brunette's obvious attempt at sacrifice, but Alice subdued her. "I'll meet you there."
Kim Yong went to the controls and shouted, "This thing has no power!"
Alice pulled out another charge from her pack and Chris read her intent. "We won't need power."
Angel pulled the gate down on the elevator, and Alice armed the devise then chucked it on top of the elevator. The brunette started to run as everyone inside the structure pressed themselves to the floor. The detonation tore through the pulley system, and sent the elevator on its rapid descent.
Alice was hit by the blast from behind; she staggered but managed to stay up right. The cable that had saved her plane when she landed was resting broken at her feet. She followed it with her eyes and saw that it was still tied off. The brunette armed another five-second charge, put it back inside her bag and picked up the cable quickly. She lopped it once through her belt and held it securely with her free hand. She made a break for the edge of the building as she threw down her machine pistol and pulled the pack off her shoulder to drop it behind her. New undead joined the ones that had survived the explosions. They followed their target without the slightest hesitation as Alice neared the boundary of the towering prison.
Her heart skipped a beat as she placed a booted foot onto the raised edge and jumped off the building. She was thankful that Claire wasn't around to see this particular stunt. For the longest time Alice played with her life like it was a game. She constantly challenged herself to do it bigger; do it better. The redhead was wrong – it was a competition – it was Alice against the world. And every day she fought to find that adrenaline to prove to herself that she was still alive.
The air stung her eyes as she fell and caused them to water, but she refused to close them. The shockwave from the compounded explosions rushed past her as the slack in the cable ran out. The cord was almost yanked from her grip, but she held on and was swung around the side of the prison to an outreaching courtyard packed with undead. At the right moment she released the cable, snatched her revolvers, shelled out a couple rounds to clear the immediate area, and tucked herself to roll into the landing.
She rose in a fluid motion and the undead tightened the circle around her. Eight shots left, the ex-project mentally kept track of the rounds in her dually-wielded guns. She fired at the undead closest to her. Six. Two more infected collapsed the ground. Four. Alice turned around to kill the undead at her back. Two. There were too many, the brunette was about to be overrun with no time to reload, and the only back up weapons on her person would be no match for the horde.
The brunette contemplated if this was the end, it couldn't be, but she was surrounded and outmatched. Claire, before Alice could really think about what she would leave behind Chris stayed true to his word.
"Alice!" Chris shouted as he punched a hole through the undead with his assault rifle from a doorway. The opening was just slim enough for Alice to run through. Infected moved in to cut her off, so she brought up her revolvers and unloaded the last two bullets into their heads. Empty, the brunette thought, but two more creatures were on a path to intercept her. She regrettably threw her revolvers behind her and un-holstered her double-barreled shotguns in a single action.
The ex-project wrapped her pointer-fingers around the forward most triggers and aimed for the two undead in her way. She fired into the infected and from such a close range the quarters tore massive holes through their torsos, not only severing the spines, but completely removing multiple vertebrae in the process.
The coins continued on their route, and embedded themselves into a few undead nearby as well as the walls on either side of Chris. He threw up his arms to defend himself but was spared from the onslaught. Alice was almost to him so he jumped up and grabbed the gate above him using his body weight to bring it down. The brunette slid feet first beneath the closing entry with just inches to spare.
The former S.T.A.R.S. member gave her hand up and they both laughed with relief.
"That was close," the brunette stated.
"You alright?" Chris asked concerned.
Alice gave him a friendly smile. "Fine, thanks," she nodded in appreciation.