"NO, No, no…" Carlos could see her lips still forming the simple 2 letter word but could no longer hear it. He though she was finally going to accept it but suddenly her attempts to keep the blood flowing and oxygen pumped into her lungs became more rushed, fierce maybe even harsh if you didn't know Alice was gone then you might conclude that the smaller woman was trying to beat her. Carlos allowed a few minutes of this then rose to his feet and made his way behind the sobbing woman fully prepared to drag her out of here kicking and screaming if need be. If he was honest if looked rather likely that this would be the case.

He stood behind her and took a deep breath before wrapping his arms around her small waist and beginning to pull her away.

"I'm so sorry but there's nothing we can do for her now," He mumbled in her ear trying to calm her down as she struggled in his arms trying to escape his embrace. She suddenly fell still and he thought she had come to the realisation that it was over but the peace only lasted a second.

"She's breathing, Carlos let me go she's not dead," She suddenly started shouting as the squirming resumed with a renewed desperation.

"Claire stop it she wouldn't want this!" He shouted back shocking both of them in to a few seconds of silence before the struggle continued.

"Please just look, look at her chest it's moving," She pleaded.

What harm could it do and anyways perhaps she would go quietly if he did. So as if to humour her he took a step toward the brunette on the floor and made a show of looking down at her chest. "See she's no-" He stopped mid-sentence and simultaneously dropped Claire as he saw the barely visible movement of his friends' chest. Claire ignored the fact she had been dropped and quickly made her way back to her original position automatically searching for a pulse in her wrist. A smile actually spread across her face as she felt the faint throb under her fingers. "I can't believe it." Carlos said as he dropped down next to Claire his mouth ever so slightly ajar as though to emphasise his words.

Claire with a watery smile on her face began to run her fingers over Alice's cheeks gently trying to rouse her. "Come on Alice open your eyes come back to me come on." Carlos could hear the desperation in her voice and just stood a few feet away watching the scene in silence he knew that there was nothing he could do at this point his job was done.

The feeling started to come back slowly but it was definitely coming back as the strange nothingness drifted into a distant memory. Struggling to remember where she was or why she just focussed on what she felt around her first the hard floor that she felt like she'd been lying on for weeks not minutes then the strange tingling that ran through her cheek at regular intervals. Initially she thought this was a side effect to whatever was happening to her that was until her ears slowly started picking up a voice mumbling to her, not that she could make out what they were saying, and realised they were stroking her face. She struggled to place the voice at first then the memories of everything that had happened rushed through her head ending with the electrocution.

Eyes shooting open she tried to focus on the world around her that looked dull and blurry. She could make out the person leaning over her staring down at her but wasn't sure who she was looking at. Squeezing her eyes shut then opening them she tried to correct her vision but nothing happened she continued to blink quickly but still her world was a blur.

"Who's there?" She asked slightly sharper than she had intended.

"Alice it's me, Claire," Glancing round at Carlos she frowned in worry, "she doesn't remember me." She mumbled out quietly as silent tears began to once again stream down her cheeks.

Snapping her attention back to Alice as she felt her move she was taken by surprise when Alice sat and wrapped her arms round her settling her chin on her shoulder to whisper in her ear. "Don't be stupid I'll never forget you Miss Redfield." A smile broke across her face as her own arms encircled her waist. "I just can't see right," Alice said in a more serious and louder tone so whoever else was in the room could hear she would guess that Carlos must be there but if there were more she couldn't tell.

"Right then let's get out of do you think you can make it without becoming zombie food?" Well she was right about Carlos she thought as his voice boomed through the room.

""I'm a little blurry not paralysed they don't stand a chance," Alice replied in her cocky manner as she untangled herself from Claire and stood up offering her hand to Claire though she was slightly off to the left.

"All the same I'll go first," Carlos said shaking his head.

"I'll go last you just make sure you don't fall down a lift shaft or something," Claire smirked though there was some worry behind her words as she knew it wouldn't be easy making the climb back to the surface. One false step and all that would have been for nothing.

The easiest part of getting out of here unfortunately didn't come first as they knew the minute they opened the door the swarm of undead they could still hear on the other side would be on them before they took one step out the room. Looking around Alice cursed under her breath at her lack of sight.

"Hey Carlos any vents in here?" She asked knowing she'd never tbe able to see them even if there was.

"Eh…" She could hear him shuffle as he observed around the room yeah right hand corner of the wall right in front." Carlos replied steadily wondering why it mattered.

"Big enough for your fat ass?" Was her next question.

"Glad to see your sense of humour wasn't affected. And yeah I think I could squeeze through but we don't know where it goes." He replied finally realising what she expected them to do.

"Doesn't really matter as long as we can get past that horde waiting for us out there unnoticed we can find a way back to the surface in peace. Plus I don't really trust my hand eye coordination with my knifes right now wouldn't want to behead you by accident now would we?" She asked rhetorically as she made her way to where he had said bumping her hip on the side of a desk as she went. Running her hand up the wall her fingertips grazed the bottom of the vent. "Perfect nice and high out of their reach. Come on I'll give you a leg up."

Two minutes later and the three of them were sliding as quietly as they could through the vent beneath them through the thin sheet of metal they could hear the moans of the hungry undead below them. Carlos thought their luck had run out when he saw a faint light ahead assuming they'd have to drop down earlier than expected perhaps even in the middle of the horde. On the contrary on hitting the end he found that the only way they could go was up where a small circle of light appeared at the top.

"I think this heads all the way out," He whispered back a smile playing on his lips thinking it was about time something went his way. Ascending the ladder through the small vent wasn't the easiest thing in the world but without having to worry about being ambushed both Carlos and Claire began to relax as they slowly watched the light ahead of them. Alice on the other hand only had one thought on her mind. Her sight. What if it never came back into focus? What if it disappeared completely? What if she never saw Claire's eyes again? She felt a gentle squeeze round her calf and looked back at the darkness trying to make out the blurry shape that was Claire.

"You okay? Why'd you stop?" She asked softly.

"Sorry just a little stiff," Alice replied quickly beginning to climb again as a tear ran the length of her cheek and dripped off her jaw.

Finally escaping the end of the tunnel they found themselves standing in the dessert the sun beating down on them. The daylight helped slightly with her sight but only to the point that she could now make out the colour of Claire's hair and small things like that which had been too dull deep underground to make out.

"Come on let's go K-mart will be getting annoyed," Claire said slipping her hand into Alice's so she could guide her a few seconds later and they were sprinting towards where they had left the truck.