The silence pushed on her eardrums, making her head pound almost as painfully as her heart.

"Carlos I-"

"Damn it Alice! I don't want to hear that you are sorry, and I don't want to hear that you had to do it to protect us!" His voice had returned to its normal volume, and his expression seemed to have lost some of its rage. He stalked forward and wrapped his hands firmly around her upper arms.

"I love you Alice!" He shook her slightly for emphasis. "I don't care if it puts me in danger, I'll leave the convoy and we'll go and never look back. You don't have to do this alone! I have enough grievances against Umbrella to justify a vendetta! Let me help you." He stared at her hard, but she refused to lift her eyes from the sand.

"I'm sorry… About LJ," she said in a ragged whisper. A tear slipped down her cheek and he felt his heart break.

Carlos visibly deflated.

"Oh, Alice. I'm so sorry. I don't blame you for that; I know it wasn't your fault. Come here." He pulled her into his arms as she broke down into sobs. "Shh… It's okay. It wasn't your fault. Shh…" He rubbed circles on her back, but his soothing words only seemed to make her shake harder.

"I've killed so many people Carlos! And I could kill so many more! Without even trying! I could kill you! I couldn't live with myself if that happened! I-" The rest of her words disintegrated as she lost her battle against her tears and collapsed into his shoulder again.

"Shh. Calm down. You're not going to get me killed." He rocked her back and forth as he had done on the day she had saved him from the flames. "I'm not going to go down that easily. You know me better than that. Hmm?" Her cries quieted and he pulled her face back to stare into her eyes. "I'm sorry that I yelled at you. But you've gotta stop leaving me like that. That's what is going to kill me Alice, living without you." He stared at her for a moment before a grin quirked over his serious expression. "That was the cheesiest thing I've ever said wasn't it?" She smiled and nodded before they both dissolved into laughter, collapsing into one another. After a few quiet moments of clutching each other like they would disappear, Alice pulled back.

"LJ was infected when I came to camp."

"What?" She winced. In hindsight maybe that hadn't been the best way to phrase that particular sentence. Carlos's voice was both surprised and accusing, but he was waiting (somewhat impatiently) for an explanation. "Did you know?" She shook her head, refusing to look him in the eye.

"No. He avoided me the whole time I was there. I wondered… But I just assumed that it had something to do Jill and Angie…" She paused, bringing her gaze up to meet his. "What happened to them Carlos?" She whispered. His gaze flicked over her left shoulder and back to her eyes.

"Later." He took her hand and shifted them toward whoever was coming their way. She discreetly whipped her eyes on her sleeve before turning to Claire, who was now only a few feet from them.

"Everything okay here?" Both parties nodded, but did not speak. "Good. So what's all this about Umbrella being here?" Alice's brain seemed to go into overdrive. In her emotional upheaval, thoughts of Umbrella had been pushed to the back of her mind. Her eyes narrowed as she focused on Claire. Carlos squeezed her hand in silent support, but she could tell that he was just as curious.

"The undead were a trap. Or more likely some test; Umbrella loves treating me like a lab rat in whatever manner will result in the most casualties." She gritted her teeth and spoke through clenched teeth. "These creatures were stronger. My guess, they are some newly created pet project of Isaacs'."

"Sounds like him." Carlos's hand had dropped from hers, his arms now crossed across his chest, adding to the enraged look on his face. "So? You're still here. Guess his plan didn't work. Again." He smirked at the idea. Alice only shuddered.

"He was able to shut me down." The grin dropped from Carlos's face and Claire only looked confused. "I was moving, trying to get back to the main fight, and then I just… wasn't anymore." She looked at the sand again, her own arms crossing in a defensive gesture. "He must have rerouted the satellites at some point. I could see you guys fighting, but I couldn't-" She paused again to suck in a deep breath. "I tried to fight it, like I used to, but it didn't work. So I followed it."

"Followed 'it'? What's 'it'?" Claire didn't look any less confused.

"The signal. From the satellite. It hurt like hell, I thought my head was going to explode. But then there was just this… pop. And I was free again." She shrugged. "They tried it again when I was heading for their tent, but it didn't bother me as much that time. I think I managed to break something, or at least damage it enough to keep them from having total access." She glanced at Carlos when she said this. Although her face remained stoic, his beaming smile more than made up for her lack of outwardly displayed emotions. She gave him the tiniest of smiles, but her gut continued to churn. They weren't in the clear just yet. Umbrella had wanted something, and whatever it was, they hadn't gotten it. Alice was willing to bet that years of being underground had done little to improve Umbrella's hatred of failure, or their zeal for destroying human life to meet their own ends. She had the strong and impulsive urge to spit on Dr. Issacs at the moment.

"What tent?" Alice's attention returned to the present, and she focused on Claire again.

"I'll show you." And with that she turned to lead them to the roof.