At dawn the next morning, Alice awoke to the sound of the truck's door closing. She opened one eye and caught a glimpse of Ryan's black clad figure walking with Katie towards the nearest bonfire, where a few others were already gathered.
Settling herself back into her seat, she closed her eyes again, preparing to drift off when she heard the truck door open again.
Thinking that Katie or Ryan were retrieving something, she didn't move or say anything until a hand suddenly gripped her by the throat and made her open her eyes in panic.
Leering at her mere inches from her face was most certainly a bandit.
"Scream and I'll slit your tongue right outta your mouth, got it?" He snarled.
Alice glared at him, glancing out the windshield towards Ryan, the only one at the bonfire who could see inside the truck. But Ryan's gaze was on Katie, not scanning the surrounding camp. Alice had to think fast or risk being wounded.
"I can make it worth your while." Alice purred quietly, narrowing her eyes seductively.
Without missing a beat, the bandit shifted in the driver seat and released his hold from her throat.
"No funny business, ya hear me?" He reminded her.
"Oh, certainly." Alice replied huskily as she began to concentrate on Ryan's T-Virus aura. She slowly reached for the man's thigh and began to teasingly slide her hand from his knee to his groin, buying a few more seconds.
She was trying to focus her Telekinesis onto Ryan's body, so that she could move his head towards the truck to notice what was going on... but she couldn't quite get his head to turn.
Upping the ante, Alice reached for his belt as she tried to broadcast her Telekinesis to the bonfire itself, making it flare up slightly... but Katie unknowingly intervened and made the rising flames fall back down to their previous level.
As Alice unbuckled the bandit's belt, she noticed that other bandits were hiding around the edge of the camp, ready to strike...
Wait... ready to strike! Her wrist blade! Alice realized that she had a chance after all. She'd completely forgotten about her wrist blade.
Getting ready to slit the bandit's throat with her wrist blade, Alice suddenly saw the bandits nearby moving to a better position as Ryan stood up and strode towards the truck, talking over his shoulder towards Mikey, who just joined the group at the bonfire.
Suddenly a gunshot rang out and Ryan dodged to the side, his back to the front brush guard of the truck as he started giving the assembled group the orders to organize themselves for a defense.
"Katie, take the left! Mikey, Chase, LJ, take the right! Everyone else, get all the others ready! Go go go!" His voice boomed out from the front of the truck as the bandit inside with Alice glared at her lividly.
"I said no funny business!" He snarled as he reached for his knife.
Taking her chance, Alice grabbed him by the throat herself and extended her wrist blade right into his flesh, silencing his growl of frustration.
Scrambling out of the truck, Alice grabbed the first weapon from the back of the truck she touched: Ryan's G36K.
Without even a second to put it back, she swung it around into her grasp and peered through the integrated tactical sight, firing at a pair of bandits that she saw across the camp.
Ryan started letting off bolts of electricity from the other side of the truck, moving towards the truck to grab one of his guns. But as he reached over the side of the truckbed, he was tackled to the ground by several bandits at once. He let out a rage filled snarl that sounded almost exactly like that of an angry guard dog.
The moment that Alice heard the snarl, she spun around on her heel and dropped to her knees, scanning under the truck for what she thought was a dog. What she saw though, was the exact moment where one of the bandits slashed Ryan's throat wide open in a burst of dark red blood.
Alice's face changed from calm coolness to fiery fury in an instant. She'd lost Ryan once already, she wasn't going to lose him again! She instantly fired his assault rifle at the still crouched bandits, killing them almost instantly in a hail of bullets.
Crawling under the truck towards Ryan, she shoved the dead bandits aside and lifted his head, running her fingers along the side of his neck in search of a pulse. After a few heartwrenching seconds, she felt a weak one in his jugular and felt tears stinging her eyes.
He was still alive.
Katie was busy fighting off several more of the bandits, using the bonfire to her advantage. She had her back turned to Alice, who suddenly felt a hand grab her arm.
Getting ready to lash out, she realized at that moment that the grip style wasn't from over her... it was from Ryan.
"Leave me. I'll be alright." He said over the scattered gunfire and roar of flames. "Finish them off, I'll be right behind you." He reached into one of his vest's pouches and pressed a taped pair of fully loaded magazines for his G36K into her hand.
She took the ammo, and reloaded the gun, returning the single empty clip to him as he smiled at her, his eyes full of trust.
Rising to her feet, she started to stride out into the open, which caught the attention of over a dozen bandits, one of whom was wearing metal armour on his arms and a white hockey mask over his face.
Without even batting an eye, she aimed at his face, and fired a round right through his left eye, then fired at each of the other bandits in rapid succession.
Within a minute, more bandits were being drawn to her seemingly unprotected position in the center of the camp, She emptied the first magazine, then pulled it free, flipped it around to load the second one into the breach, and rammed it inside.
The moment that the ejection port slid closed with a brisk click, she directed her gaze towards the truck, spotting Ryan rising to his feet, his eyes shining like beacons against his black attire.
A bullet whizzed past her face, grazing her cheek, and the sudden sting of pain snapped her back to reality.
With a grunt she threw the assault rifle towards Ryan, and guided it to him with her Telekinesis. He caught it with one hand, and fired at the very bandit that grazed Alice's face with a single bullet.
However, his gunshot was the very last one to be fired, and it echoed around the camp with a ringing finality as he rested the rifle on his shoulder casually.
"All clear! Check for wounded and any fatalities!" Claire's voice called out from somewhere behind the tanker truck.
Immediately Alice sprinted towards Ryan, and forced him to drop his rifle as she thundered into him, tightly hugging him.
"Tell me you're okay? I saw them..." Alice began, her voice full of worried panic, but she faltered as his eyes locked onto her face.
"I can't." He stated point blank.
"What?" Alice asked, confused at his reply.
"I can't talk anymore." He responded, indicating his blood covered throat with his hand.
"I don't understand..." Alice whispered. How was he telling her this if he couldn't speak?
"Tell me this... How do you hear me?" Ryan asked, his eyes completely serious, despite the strange question.
Alice replayed the question over in her mind... wait... Mind?! Telepathy!
"In my head." Alice replied. "You're using Telepathy to talk to me!" Now it made sense! His vocal cords might have been destroyed, but not his brain!
Ryan's mask moved like he was smiling, and he gave a nod. "Exactly. But I think that only you or Katie can hear it... I think it's from the T-Virus."
Alice gave a choked laugh, her eyes stinging with tears. Even though he was now physically a mute, he could still hear his voice; sweetly confident to her ears. "We'd better let everyone else know about this... like, now." She laughed slightly.
Ryan nodded, then crouched down to retrieve his G36K, slinging it over his chest by the dangling shoulder strap. "One second, gonna grab the rest of my weapons."
Alice gave a nod as he turned and grabbed his M3 and his bow from the back of the truck, and slung them onto his back. He then followed her towards Claire, who was lining up four of the bandits on their knees, three of whom were wounded. The last one was knocked out (courtesy of Claire deadly right hook) and was sprawled out at the end of the line.
"Claire, we've got something to tell you." Alice announced as Claire reached for her Glock. "Wait. If you're going to execute them, let Ryan do it. Save the ammo."
Claire gave Ryan a glance, then nodded at Alice. "Fry the bastards, Ry. ALL of them."
He nodded and his vambrace began to spark with electricity. He grabbed the first bandit by the face, instantly electrocuting him, smoke pouring from between his fingers as the man's face began to burn.
"So what's the matter, Alice?" Claire asked as Ryan released the man, who crumpled to the ground, twitching for a few seconds before going still, his face melted beyond recognition.
"Ryan was wounded..." Alice began, trying to decide on the words to use.
"Doesn't look like it." Claire narrowed her eyes as Ryan snapped the second bandit's neck with a loud crunch.
"His throat was stabbed, but the wound healed itself... the Virus, remember." Alice explained, but stopped to watch as Ryan slit the third man's throat with both of his wrist blades at the same time.
"Go on..." Claire was warily watching Alice, trying to figure out what was not being said.
"Ryan can't talk anymore!" Alice suddenly blurted out, breaking her usual calm coolness. Even Ryan stopped to stare at her sudden exclaimation. He was standing over the unconcious bandit, as if he was about to stomp on their face.
"What?" Claire stared blankly at her, then at Ryan, then back to Alice.
"Well... he can talk... but not with his mouth..." Alice started to babble, the realization of how absurd she sounded hitting her like a ton of bricks. "He can still talk, but he uses Telepathy...er... he talks with his mind... but we think it's only because of the T-Virus... so only me and Katie can hear when he talks..."
Claire turned to Ryan for confirmation, her eyebrow raised. He gave a nod and slammed his foot down on the bandit's face, destroying it almost instantly.
"Try it on me." Claire ordered, her face as serious as her tone. "Tell me what type of weapon you couldn't use in that computer game you played with Mikey."
Ryan's gaze was locked onto Claire for several seconds, but Claire's expression remained expectantly waiting for his voice to sound in her mind.
"Tell Alice... I can't hear anything." Claire said after a few more seconds.
"The fire sword. The minions were fireproof." Ryan's voice instantly sounded in Alice's head. She turned to Claire and repeated his words.
"Shit... This is going to take some getting used to. Okay... from now on, you go EVERYWHERE with Alice. Never leave her side... at least until we can figure out the range of this... Telepathy crap." Claire ordered Ryan, who gave a nod to show he understood.
"Alice..." Claire turned towards her with a serious expression. "You're his voice for everyone else now... We can't hear him, only you and Katie can."
Alice gave a sigh. She'd forgotten that Katie didn't know yet... Shit.
Honing in on her T-Virus aura, Alice located Katie at the ambulance, which struck Alice as unusual. Her instincts started to prickle uncomfortably, and she beckoned for Ryan to follow as she started to run across the camp towards to small group of wounded people.
They heard her approach and parted for her to slowly approach the partially closed rear doors of the ambulance.
Dread rose in her throat as she pulled the door open, revealing Katie sitting with several bloody spots on her torso and one on her arm.
"Katie!" Alice called out, hauling the doors wide open, but she faltered when Katie turned to face them, her eyes puffy and red. She'd been crying.
Instantly wrapping her arms around Katie's shoulder, she pulled Katie's head to her chest.
Standing in the embrace for several seconds, she opened her eyes and saw that someone else was in the ambulance's gurney...
It was K-Mart.
"What happened?" Ryan's asked, stepping closer to K-Mart, his eyes full of concern.
"What happened to K-Mart?" Alice asked into Katie's ear, which made them separate.
"She was shot in the stomach and shoulder. I've done what I can, but she's not going to be able to fight anything for a few weeks... at the very least." Betty came around the side of the vehicle, wiping her forehead with the back of her hand.
"Are the bullets still in her body?" Ryan asked Alice, who repeated the question directly to Betty as if it was her own.
"The shoulder passed right through... but the stomach one didn't... I can't get it out unless I can get an X-ray to locate it." Betty replied, shaking her head in defeat.
"I have an idea." Ryan said as he glanced at K-Mart's pale face, unconcious from the shock her body sustained.
"Ryan has an idea..." Alice explained, then glanced at Ryan with a 'what the hell are you doing?' expression on her face.
"I can sense the bullet's location... and it seems I can control magnetism in a way." Ryan replied, holding up his hand, which had a scalpel firmly adhered, defying gravity's pull as he moved his hand around in a circle.
"I know where this is going..." Alice shook her head. "But I can assume you'd do it on me, if I was ever shot."
Ryan's mask moved into a wide smile. "Damn right I would."
Alice moved herself and Katie out of his way as he removed his guns, bow and even his body armour from hsi body. She caught quite an eyeful of his muscled chest through the tight fitting black t-shirt he was wearing, and bit her lip. Dayum.
He handed the bow and his M3 to one of the lightly wounded survivors, and his vest and G36K to another and told Alice. "Tell these two to take my gear to the pickup truck and put it all in the back."
"He wants those in the back of the pickup truck. Can you take them there, please?" She asked aloud, and they calmly nodded, and took the gear away.
Stepping into the confined space of the ambulance, his eyes began to shine very brightly and the air around him lost the electrified buzz, only to be replaced with an odd pulsing energy.
He slowly and very gently inserted his index and fingers into the bullet wound in K-Mart's torn shirt, clearly concentrating intensly as the pulsing aura increased in intensity.
"The bullet broke into two pieces... They're easy to get, but I now need your help, Alice." Ryan's voice sounded in her head and she quickly nodded. "Focus your Telekinesis in between my index and middle fingers... now."
Alice focused on the exact spot, and she felt the familiar solid shape of a bullet. She nodded to give confirmation that she had it in her mental grip.
"Now, slowly start to move it straight upwards. I'm holding the bullet's path open." Ryan instructed, and she slowly began to remove the first chunk of the bullet.
With excrutiating slowness the bullet fragment slid out of the gap between Ryan's fingers, and floated into the air in front of Alice's face. She plucked it out of the air and held it in her hand as she waited for Ryan to locate the other fragment.
The seconds dragged by as he focused on his search. To Betty, Katie, Alice and the onlooking survivors, his hand was seemingly completely stationary.
"Got it. Same strategy... but this piece is smaller... ready?" Ryan relayed his successful search to Alice.
"Yes." Alice replied as she also found the very tiny tip of the bullet, beginning to remove it in the same fashion as the other piece.
Ryan gave a small grunt, which mildly startled Alice. Apparently he could make SOME noises... just not actual speech. She refocused on her task, and withdrew the other piece of the bullet.
Once it came into view, she noticed that it was very sharp. This piece would have caused severe damage had it been left in K-Mart's body.
Taking the two pieces in each hand, Alice waited for Ryan to remove his fingers from K-Mart's wound.
"Rebind the dressing, she's going to be alright." Ryan said to Alice as he took the broken bullet from her hands and carefully reattached them together, slotting the small sliver like fragment into the missing chunk of the bullet.
He turned to Katie and locked eyes with her. "Can you hear me speaking, Katie?"
She nodded. "Everything you said to Alice, I heard. Why?" She asked, confused.
"I can no longer talk with my mouth. I was stabbed in the throat during the raid, but now I can talk to you and Alice with Telepathy... with my mind. Sadly, no one else can hear me." Ryan explained. He held up the reassembled bullet. "Can you fuse these back together?"
She took the bullet out of his hand and clenched it in her fist. Her yellow eye began to glow red, then after smoke began to seep out of her fingers, she stopped. Her eye faded back to yellow and she held out her hand.
Ryan took the newly repaired bullet and began to closely examine the design.
"This is just a 9mm pistol bullet... nothing special." He said, more to himself than towards Alice or Katie, though they both heard it regardless.
He stepped out of the back of the ambulance, then turned to Alice. "I'll be in the truck. Claire's going to want to get moving after the raid. Let everyone know to pack up."