It was strange how empty the place was. After getting the door to her room open, Alice expected to have to sneak around and take down a few Umbrella employees. She knew shouldn't complain about that not being the case, but she couldn't rid herself of the unease settling in her gut. The place wasn't meant to be empty like this. She could feel it. A nagging voice in the back of her head kept reminding her of the Hive. Of how they arrived and even though hundreds of employees worked and lived there, not a single soul was in sight.

Only time would tell if her worries were justified or not, she supposed. For now, Alice was going to keep her guard up and focus on her current priorities.

One: Poking around and finding out if Matt ended up here as well. There had been mention of putting him in some sort of program, hadn't there? He was starting to mutate when they took him away, and Alice hadn't gotten the chance to administer the antivirus to him. She hoped that somehow, someway, he was alright.

Two: Rain, who was trailing a few steps behind her. If Rain was going to turn, Alice was certain that she would have already...

But she did, didn't she? Back on the train, her eyes had become that same unnaturally bright blue Spence's did when his corpse began to crawl toward Alice on the platform, and there was something animalistic—something dead—that glazed over them before she lunged at Matt, attempting to tear into him with the same vigor as all the undead they encountered before.

But then Rain seemed to snap back into her own body. She spoke and responded. She walked out ahead of them with that confident, practiced check-every-nook-and-cranny-for-potential-threats walk that came with her job.

Now, she was following after Alice with a borderline blank expression that was a far cry from her usual semi-pissed one. She couldn't remember Alice's name. Just like how Alice couldn't remember her own name at the start of this mess. Alice's memory still consisted of nothing but small fragments, but the effects of the nerve gas weren't meant to be permanent. Gaps would start to fill themselves eventually. She didn't know if she'd be able to say the same about Rain, though. Not without knowing the cause.

After a bit more wandering, they came across a computer. Whoever used it last hadn't taken the time to log out. Lucky, lucky. Alice quickly made her way into the patient database.

Abernathy, Alice J. || RM: QUAR. 05 \\ ADM: 09/28/2002 \\ DOB: 03/22/1996 \\ ...

'Abernathy, huh? Thank god it isn't Parks... Wish I knew what the J stands for... Admitted on the 28th and today's apparently the 29th...' A frown quickly worked its way onto her face as she read the next line. '1996? That can't be right.'

If Alice was born that year, that meant she was what? Five? Sure, she wasn't certain of her exact age, but she knew she was probably somewhere in her twenties. It must have been an error. She attempted to access her entire file, but higher clearance was required to do so.

'Damn. Don't even have the decency to let me see what you did to me?'

Melendez Ocampo, Rain || RM: QUAR. 08 \\ ADM: 09/28/2002 \\ DOB: 04/16/1979 \\ ...

Rain's file was also inaccessible. Figures. 'Kaplan would be able to get in. No problem,' Alice thought, which was immediately followed by the sound of his final scream replaying in her head. '...I'm sorry, Kap. You were so close.'

"Alice?"

"Hm?" She needed that code. What were the chances she could find it?

"The hell are we looking for, anyway?"

"Matt. He was with us before we were taken. If you're here, I'm sure he is too. Somewhere. I'm also thinking..." Something dripped. Alice trailed off.

Drip...

Drip...

Slowly, she turned, finding Rain standing there with red streaking down her right hand.

They were huddled close together on top of the pipes in the service tunnels, watching the horde of undead below hungrily reach for them. Alice was pressed against Rain's side, gently repeating her name.

"What?" Rain finally rasped, squeezing her injured palm and watching the blood drip off her fingertips. The monsters fought to be directly beneath where it landed.

"We have to do something about your wounds."

"...I'm fine."

Alice eyed Rain with worry and tentatively placed a hand on her arm. Rain quickly shrugged it off. "I'm said I'm fine!"

She was not. Not even ten minutes later, she could no longer see well enough to confidently fire her gun. By the time they were out of the tunnels, she had started vomiting and needed help to keep upright.

Alice took Rain's wrist, confusion very briefly flitting through her when the wound wasn't in the crook between her thumb and pointer finger. That skin was already scarred. Instead, the blood was coming from various small marks littered across the backs of her fingers. Teeth marks. Deep ones.

"Don't look at me like that." Rain pulled away and wiped her hand on her shitty gown. It was sporting significantly more red spots than earlier. "I'm fine."

"But what—?"

"Started biting a little too hard."

Alice stared, clearly hoping Rain would continue. She didn't. Alice stood. "Wait here."

She headed down the hall and quickly sourced some gauze from a cabinet in one of the rooms. She also decided to snag a couple of lab coats she spotted. They were probably the closest thing either of them was going to get to proper clothes for a while.

Upon returning, she held out her hand for Rain's. "Let me see."

Rain did not move. Alice could practically hear, "I can wrap it myself" about to leave her mouth.

But then, finally, she held her hand out, not actually placing it in Alice's, instead sort of hovering near it.

Alice started to dress the injuries.

The silence was tense.

"Why did you do this to yourself?"

No response. Not at first. "Because if I didn't, I might've done worse to you." Rain raked her nails over her skin. "When you were walking ahead of me, when you were sitting there... all I could think about was ripping you apart."

Alice paused.

"I don't trust me. It isn't a good idea for us to stick together. You should just ge—"

"Get rid of you? You said something like that on the train, and my response hasn't changed: No. This is fixable. I know it is. You're strong. I'm not sure if I knew you before all of this, but I know you wouldn't have made it into one of Umbrella's commando units if you weren't." Alice finished wrapping up Rain's hand. "And I know you wouldn't have held on down in the Hive as long as you did, either. You can hang in there for a little while."

"...You're fucking crazy, you know that?"

Alice only gave a brief smile in response.

"What if I attack you?"

"You won't," she answered easily.

"But what if I do? What then, huh?"

"You won't. I won't let you."

Rain snorted. "Wow. Fucking crazy and kinda cocky."

"I refuse to give up on you. Partners, remember? Let me know if there's anything I can do to make things easier for you."

"Well," Rain's gaze drifted down, then quickly darted back up to Alice's face, "you could cover those up so that I don't have to keep smelling your blood."

Alice spared a glance at the injection sites dotted across her body. "Alright then. I'll be back." As she walked back around the reception desk, she tossed one of the lab coats over. "Here. I grabbed these for us. Look up Matt for me while I'm gone, will you?"

"What's his last name?"

"Addison."

Rain slowly typed it out and hit the enter key.

Addison, Matthew W. || RM: QUAR. 15 \\ ADM: 09/28/2002 \\ DOB: 05/30/1978 \\ ...