Cain made himself scarce the moment he began to lose control of the situation. "I need all troops near the City Hall evac site to converge on to the takeoff area and provide aid."
While Carlos and Jill were working on taking out his goons, Alice seized Rain and dragged her around the side of one of the curved edifices, providing both of them some cover.
She had definitely administered a bit more of the antivirus than she should have, and probably a tad too soon after the last dose as well. That much was evident from Rain's visible discomfort, but Alice didn't see many other options. Most of them were things she refused to consider at all.
Ending up half-draped onto Alice's lap, Rain pressed her face against her front and tightly clenched the leather of her trenchcoat with her good hand, attempting to clear her head and quell the sick feeling now stuck in the back of her throat. It wasn't quite as bad as how she remembered her initial infection to be, but it was damn close.
Alice removed the TomCat from Rain's belt, which nobody had bothered to remove when trying to contain her, and peeked around their cover to shoot at a few of the troops. "Sorry," she apologized to Rain, rubbing her back. "I know that was a lot."
The touch elicited a growl. It quickly died down when Rain realized it was just Alice, but didn't cease. Though her urges had yet to really subside, those directed at Alice were becoming significantly lesser than the rest. The sense of similitude between them was stronger.
When more of that hellish virus entered her system, Rain felt as though she was crammed into a smaller box than she ever had before. It was a clear box. She could see and hear through it, but her body was going rogue and letting the inhuman desires dictate its actions. Before, she could manage the tiniest amount of influence over herself, which was what made her seem slightly clumsy. That ability was gone.
The fear that she wouldn't be able to break free became quite visceral quite fast. The urges were so loud, but Rain finally found herself being louder.
"You can get through this." Alice loaded more bullets into the chamber. "I—" she cut herself off, swallowing the lump in her throat. "Back on the train, when you wanted me to shoot you, you told me that you didn't want to be wandering around without a soul. Right now, I know you still have it. I still see you in there, so I know you can come back to me."
"...I...'m 'errre... wi-th you... you ccc..." Rain's mouth felt foreign. She knew how she needed to move her lips and tongue to produce the desired sounds, but getting them to cooperate was proving to be a ridiculous challenge. She let out a frustrated huff and tried again. "Youu... crazy... bitch." That came out clear. She stiltedly released Alice and slumped against the concrete wall. Moving was getting easier. "Go. M'fine."
"You positive?"
Rain drew her remaining gun, giving Alice a nod. She returned it before taking off and promptly taking out some guys with their backs turned.
Rain shakily mopped the blood off her face with the hem of her t-shirt. The thing was already ruined, anyway. Then, she opted to remove her bandana and place her busted arm in it, tying the ends around to the side of her belt. It was a shittier sling than the one she made earlier, but it'd at least keep her currently useless limb out of the way.
With effort, she got back onto her feet. She didn't feel confident enough in her ability to avoid much of anything, so keeping out of sight was probably her best bet for the time being.
All while that was happening, L.J., Terri, and Angie made it back aboard the escape vehicle. L.J. kept the both of them safe in the process and found himself attempting to convince the stubborn pilot to take everybody with him. The guy wasn't budging. He didn't even seem to care that he had the barrels of two pistols aimed his way.
"Our orders are to not let any more citizens past the perimeter."
"Yeah, well, you're bouta make an exception. Or else."
Still nothing. The guy continued to block the entryway to the controls.
"This isn't working," Terri whispered.
There was no other option then, was there? L.J. slowly tightened his fingers on the triggers as a final warning.
When he made the decision to fire a couple of rounds, Terri covered Angie's eyes. The guy collapsed, and L.J. grabbed him by his belt and collar and threw him off the side of the ramp.
Cain switched channels on his earpiece. With Project Alice properly joining the fray, things were going even further south. "Priority overload. Initiate launch proceedings."
"Detonation set at T-minus five minutes," someone replied.
"Oh. Goddamn." L.J. eyed the numerous aircraft controls. There were a lot more than he thought there'd be. He half-jokingly asked, "Any chance you've got an idea how to fly this bitch? 'Cause I've only flown one on Playstation and there's a helluva lot less buttons on that."
"Um... I mean, I've flown a helicopter more than a few times," Terri answered.
He stared at her blankly. "Are you yanking my chain right now?"
"No! I dated a guy that used to pilot the Raccoon 7 news chopper, and he would take me out on flying lessons as dates." She hesitated a moment before sitting down. "It shouldn't be too different, right?"
"...Right. Probably not?" L.J. positioned Angie to be between him and the half wall behind the seat, putting her out of the way of any potential harm. "I'll keep watch while you figure all that out."
'Okay, Terri, think. You don't want to explode tonight, or be responsible for six other people exploding.' She did recognize a lot of the controls. 'Okay, okay. Good. I can do this.' Taking hold of the throttle, she got the rotors spinning.
The sound tripled as two smaller helicopters began to approach.
BAM! BAM! BAM! Rain paused to remove her empty clip and load a fresh one in. BAM! Another troop dropped. She wondered how many more Cain's cowardly ass could have possibly sent over.
A voice boomed from over a speaker, "Surrender, or we open fire." Bright lights locked onto where Alice was standing near the entrance of the round building.
Rather than listen to the demand, she sprinted straight through the structure's doors, moving faster than the helicopters' miniguns could keep up with. A sea of shattered glass was left in her wake as every round struck nothing but the windows she was running alongside.
When she reached the exit on the opposite side, Alice dove straight through and got herself out of view.
Unfortunately, doing so also put her directly in front of three guards with their rifles drawn.
She lifted her hands in a show of surrender.
"Drop it," a guard ordered, indicating her gun.
Rain finally pushed herself off the wall and unsteadily made her way over to a parked van.
Alice let go of her weapon.
Before it hit the floor, she dropped onto her side and caught it, firing three quick shots.
BAM! Under the ribs.
BAM! Throat.
BAM! Stomach.
The trio landed in a wounded pile.
"No, no, no. Don't come this way." Carlos watched the searchlights steadily grow closer to where he and Jill were behind a stack of storage containers.
Taking notice, Alice rushed back out in the open and got the attention of the pilots by taking aim at them. She couldn't get a clean shot with the lights blasting her straight in the eyes, which was a problem.
But the bigger issue, however, was that she soon found herself out of ammo.
Rain, facing the sides of the choppers from her new position, had a much better view. Despite the distance, she could clearly make out the dark-suited people inside. She quickly managed to strike one of them, causing their aircraft to veer into the one beside it. They both crashed.
Alice flashed her a thankful grin, not caring that her mouth hurt too much for her to be doing so.
"Hey!" L.J. yelled. "We're ready to blow this joint. C'mon!"
She waited to make sure Rain was joining them before following the others.
Carlos boarded.
Jill boarded.
The helicopter was steadily beginning to rise.
Alice boarded.
Rain paused, glancing over her shoulder with a frown on her face. It was more than difficult to tell with all the noise from the spinning blades, but she could've sworn—
"Rain!" Carlos called.
"What are you doing?" Jill asked. "Get your ass over here!"
"Hurry!" Angie added.
Alice kneeled at the end of the ramp, extending a hand out to Rain.
Trying to shake off the weird feeling, she jogged the rest of the way over (she couldn't yet manage any faster than that) and jumped. Alice got a solid grasp and started to haul her up.
Before she could finish, the weight unexpectedly increased and made her arm completely straighten, zeroing out her progress.
"I won't let you leave me here to die!" That voice. Cain. Peering below Rain, Alice found him hanging off of her legs.
"Ugh, let go, dude!" Rain struggled to no avail. Of course she was strong enough to bust Alice's jaw when she seriously didn't want to and too weak to make Major Cocksucker release her when she needed to.
His last couple of remaining goons latched onto him mere seconds before the aircraft ascended too high for them to reach. The heaviness doubled, causing Alice to start slowly sliding.
In an effort to not drag her down with her, Rain tried to release her grip, but that only made Alice's tighten further.
"Don't you dare!"
"You're not gonna be able to pull me up! You'll fall out!"
"Watch me!"
Carlos seized Alice by her empty shotgun holster, in turn causing him to start losing traction as well, albeit at a lesser pace.
"The two of you would benefit from cooperating and remaining by side!" Cain shouted to the infected pair.
Jill took hold of a strap on the back of Carlos' tactical vest with one hand, using the other to anchor herself with one of the mechanisms that closed the hatch. They all came to a stop.
"Project Alice... The virus caused you not to mutate, but to evolve! Imagine what you can achieve with my help and Umbrella's resources!"
Alice would prefer not to imagine that at all. It sounded like a nightmare. With the added support, she risked removing her hand from the edge of the ramp. Barely, just barely, she got her fingers hooked onto Rain's belt and pulled most of her upper half aboard.
"Project Rain, you require much further study! You won't make it without us!"
Rain didn't know what was going to become of her after this, but she was certain that handing herself over to Umbrella would only result in her ending up as more of a freak. "Piss off!"
Tugging the pistol free from Rain's holster, Alice aimed at Cain.
"Killing me... It won't solve anything, you know!"
"No, but it's a start!" She brought the hammer back. "Now, get off of my goddamn partner!"
She shot him right between the eyes. He released Rain. Both he and the Umbrella goons plummeted down to the ground. And with that, Alice was able to get Rain properly into the chopper. "I've got you."
The sky was growing lighter.
"Get that hatch closed," Jill said.
"Uh. Sure..." The news chopper didn't have a back door. "If I controlled the hatch, where would I be?" Terri muttered to herself. "Here?"
Alice guided Rain into the set beside her, which was next to Angie. The girl regarded them with concern.
"Are you going to be alright?"
When Alice attempted to give her a reassuring smile, Rain noticed that she now had a slight underbite from that punch earlier. She looked away, her gaze instead landing on the dark stain near the collar of her shirt that was peeking out from under her coat. Not a better sight. Worse, actually. Rain wondered if the bite was going to have any effect on her. Hopefully, it wouldn't. Rain did not want to pass any of the shitty things the virus did to her onto Alice.
"Here comes the missile," Carlos pointed out, watching from the shrinking gap between the ramp and the helicopter body. "Hang onto something!"
There was a positively blinding flash of light and an ear-shatteringly loud boom. A dome-shaped blast rapidly began to consume the remains of Raccoon City and its citizens.
The chopper had gotten past the perimeter, but not far enough. A burning heat could be felt. The force of the blast was causing Terri to lose control and she couldn't do anything to stop it.
They were rocking violently.
They were spinning.
The trees of the Arklay forest were growing closer.
They were falling out of the sky. Fast, fast, fast, fast, faster—
Panicked, she cried, "Oh god, we're going to crash!"
A metal rod dislodged from the wall, sailing straight toward a wide-eyed Angie.
Alice didn't hesitate even for a second. There wasn't time to. She put herself in between the shrapnel and the young girl. It lodged itself deep into her abdomen and she went limp almost instantly, blood pouring past her lips. L.J. cursed in surprise when she fell partly onto him, then began to loll in the opposite direction, threatening to slip from her seat and cause the rod to push itself all the way through.
Rain got a hold of her jacket and prevented that, but was left unable to properly brace herself with her only functional hand occupied.
Suddenly, everything went dark.