Author's Note: What's that? A new chapter?! Say it ain't so! I have a new computer. REJOICE! I will FINALLY finish things now. I'm so ready!

p.s. This is largely unedited, so I apologize for typos. I'M JUST SO EXCITED!

It took far less time than anyone would have suspected to locate the chopper containing Dr. Isaacs.

"I suppose they are just as arrogant about the security of their computers as they are with everything else." Carlos deadpanned as they scoured the remaining crates for supplies.

Alice snorted.

"This you say to the spy who was working to steal from them before this whole mess started." Alice hoisted a bag of ammo onto her shoulder and moved towards the door of the roof; Carlos followed close behind carrying a box of medical supplies. "Although, what security measures do they really need to take when the little population left is worried about where their next meal is coming from, provided they don't get eaten first," Alice said grimly.

"We're still around aren't we?" Carlos said with a smirk.

Alice responded with a grin of her own as they made their way down to Claire and the others.

"Any luck?" Claire called down from her perch on top of a truck, surveying the area for oncoming threats. "We need to move out as quickly as possible. We still need fuel. And then we need to get the hell out of here."

"We have ammo and medicine. And a location." Carlos responded with a grin. It seemed nothing could dampen his current mood, not that he was complaining. Alice felt tendrils of unease twisting in her stomach. There was something she needed to know, something only Carlos could tell her. She just wished she didn't have to ruin his good mood so spectacularly. "We're ready to move as soon as we throw this haul in the truck."

Carlos and Alice moved toward his truck as Claire began issuing orders for her convoy to prepare to move out. There was a palpable sense of relief in the air as survivors climbed into the already loaded vehicles, the slamming of car doors oddly final. Everyone was ready to move on from this place.

Alice climbed up into the seat next to Carlos. Kmart had decided to ride with Claire, or perhaps Claire had made the decision. She still seemed to be giving the teen some lingering glances after her disappearing act during the attack. Alice felt another stab of guilt that she hadn't gotten Kmart back to her friends sooner. It had been so long since she had needed to worry about checking in with others.

She looked over at Carlos who had revved the engine and was waiting to take his place in the line of vehicles pulling out. Feeling his gaze on him, he glanced over and gave Alice an uncharacteristic soft smile. Alice's gut churned.

"Carlos," she began nervously. They took turns stealing glances of each other as he drove slowly and cautiously around the now empty storage container. Maybe this wasn't the best time. Her eyes darted down and away before settling on the view out of the passenger window. Not that there was much to see through the dust cloud kicked up but the moving tires. She frowned. That was a bit unsafe actually.

"What is it Alice? Out with it." Carlos kept his eyes on the vehicle in front of him, but Alice could tell that he was just as focused on her answer.

"Maybe not now," Alice responded.

"Why not? We have to move slowly on this sand. We'll be here for awhile. Alone. Now seems like the perfect time for whatever conversation has you making that expression." Alice grimaced. Leave it to Carlos to call her out inside a closed vehicle where she couldn't run from things. Not that she wanted to run. Not anymore, at least not without Carlos. She took a deep breath to steal her nerves.

"Carlos, what happened to Angie and Jill?"

Silence reigned for several long moments. Alice watched as Carlos' eyes became hooded and distant. The muscle in his jaw twitched. The moments stretched in minutes. Alice debated how long she should let them continue stretching before she apologized and changed the subject. She had just decided to bring up Umbrella when Carlos spoke.

"We were somewhere in Kansas I think," his voice was soft, reverent. "We had left Detroit after we couldn't find you. I wanted to stay and keep looking but Jill…" He trailed off, a ghost of a smile coming to his face. "Jill knew you didn't want to be found. 'Let her go Carlos,' she said. 'Let her have some peace. She has enough monsters hunting her without adding her friends to the list.' Plus we had Angie. Dragging a sick kid around a city rapidly being overrun with soldiers and the undead… That's no place for a child.

"So we packed ourselves into a stolen car and we gathered what food we could and we started driving west, trying to outrun Umbrella, and then the infection, when it started spreading. And we were fine, for awhile. But you know how people are. News traveled of the virus and people started to panic. All of the law enforcement was sent to areas were the tvirus was spreading, so there was no one left to deal with the rising panic. Nowhere was really safe and we had to keep moving. We were staying in a barn, out in the middle of a corn field, in a little area I wouldn't know even if I saw a picture. LJ was supposed to be on watch when Jill woke me up in a panic. She had woken up and couldn't find Angie. She was supposed to be asleep right next to her. LJ had of course fallen asleep and didn't know where she had gone. We searched all over that field, all through the night and into the next morning. It wasn't until we regrouped at the barn when…" Carlos trailed off, his eyes misty.

"She had run out of antivirus hadn't she." It wasn't really a question. Alice had somehow always known how this story would end. Carlos just had the unfortunate job of confirming it.

"We found her lunch box. It was empty. Jill had managed to break into an Umbrella facility before we left and steal a few extra. We hadn't talked about it but everyone was worried that we were starting to run low. We were trying to decide the best place to hit to get some more, but with all the rioting and chaos, we weren't even certain which facilities were still active." He paused to sniff. Alice watched as he visibly shook himself, regaining some composure. "I guess Angie thought it was a lost cause. So she decided to remove herself before one of us was forced to remove her."

There was a long silence after that. Neither one wanting to point out the similarities between Angie and certain other parties who had the habit of running away before an issue really became an issue.

"So… What happened to Jill?" Alice finally asked. Carlos let out a sad sigh.

"Jill and Angie were always so close, you know? Losing her… it really took something from Jill. She got very reckless. Not with LJ or I, but with her own life. We were just outside of Salt Lake when we got caught up in a massive fight with the undead. Soldiers, S.T.A.R.s, forest rangers, citizens with guns, and so many undead. LJ and I were holding our own, fighting our way out, but Jill refused to leave. 'We all have to make a stand,' she said. 'This one's mine.' LJ and I left before we saw what happened. But there is no way she made it out. She was right in the thick of it. And she wasn't leaving."

Alice couldn't help but feel a little pride for her friend. And perhaps a little envy. Sometimes she wished that she could just stop. Stop running, and fighting and surviving. Choose her spot and go out with guns blazing. But she couldn't. She wouldn't give Umbrella the satisfaction. Or the privilege. As long as she was alive, she was a moving target. Dead, she was a traceable asset for them to pick up at their leisure. No, she was far safer for everyone else alive. And someday, if humanity ceased to exist, and all that was left was Umbrella and their greed, then, on that day, maybe she could finally rest.

'Until then,' she thought, looking over at Carlos, 'if this was her purgatory, perhaps she didn't mind so much.'