"How are you holding up? Nothing new happening?"

Alice kept her gaze firmly locked on the sidewalk ahead of them. She mimicked the low volume of Rain's voice. "Nope. You? I can practically hear you thinking from here."

Rain waited for a second before asking, "...Did I know who I was working for?"

"Not fully, no. You and your teammates weren't high enough clearance." Alice slowly exhaled. "I knew, though. I was one of the security officers in charge of guarding the Hive's entrance."

Rain was seated on a metal folding chair in a bland, small-ish, cold meeting space. J.D. occupied the spot to her right, and a stern-faced woman with brown hair in a small bun was to her left. Behind them were more chairs. J.D.'s knee was fighting with Rain's to take up the gap between them. It was something they often did when seated next to each other, and the action had become a mindless one. Their attention was on the person speaking.

"—in the event that the Hive is breached, the Red Queen goes offline, malfunctions, or some other crisis occurs. Chief Abernathy is one of two officers stationed at the entrance, and..." An exasperated sigh. "Goddamnit, where the hell is Parks?"

"Running late, as per usual." A safe voice. Safe and familiar, but slightly off. Sharper. Alice? Someone in an expensive coat with a head of short blonde hair stood. Definitely Alice. She strode to the front of the room. "We'll start without him." When she turned to face everyone, Rain thought that her face seemed different as well. It was quite...

Blank. Blank in an off-putting kind of way, rather than the stoic, "I don't want you to know what I'm thinking" way that Rain was more used to her wearing.

She had never seen this woman before.

"Right before everything went down," Alice continued, cutting through Rain's thoughts, "I decided to try and help a mole that managed to infiltrate the Hive. We were going to expose their real research, but Spence became privy to the plan and decided to throw a wrench in. He had his own goals in mind."

"Spence..."

The room was flooded with a foot of water. Rain was sitting on the raised entryway, fighting to maintain consciousness. She felt like complete and utter shit. Her vision had started to deteriorate, but she could tell that the man in blue standing beside her was Matt, and the woman in front of her petting her damp hair was Alice.

"I won't take any part in this."

"Okay, but you can't just..." There was a third person. A weasely guy that Rain could vaguely recall. He was aiming a gun in their direction. "You can't just wash your hands of this. We work for the same company. You knew what they did."

"He was your boyfriend, right? Husband? Whatever."

"Yeah. Emphasis on was."

"I was trying to stop them."

"No." A chuckle. The weapon swung toward Matt. "You really think that people like him will ever change anything? No. Nothing ever changes."

"What changed?"

"Well, the whole betrayal and leaving us to die thing was kind of a turn-off."

"No, I meant with you. Why did you decide to turn on Umbrella?"

Alice shrugged her shoulders. "Couldn't tell you. I'm in a similar boat to you. I can't remember much. Only yesterday and about three things further back than that. My home's self-defense system was kind enough to blast me with nerve gas before your team showed up."

"Hold up. Both of us—? Why didn't you tell me that earlier?"

"I did. I implied it."

Rain sent her an unamused look.

"We all already have enough on our plates. I didn't want to add more to yours."

"But partners look out for each other. I'd like mine to keep me updated on what's going on with her so I can do that properly. Do you know if the effects of that shit are gonna wear off, or...?"

"I've been told that they will. Don't worry about me." Alice gave a reassuring smile.

It all had the opposite effect.

One of the payphones they were walking past began to ring. It was so loud that the speaker was crackling something awful.

Peyton rested his hand on the handle of his pistol. "That noise is gonna attract those things our way."

"You're right," Alice agreed. "Let's pick up the pace."

The ringing ceased.

Then, a different phone received a call.

Followed by a third.

A fourth.

Yuri stopped, doubling over as he started hacking. Red droplets hit the concrete. Not a great sign. "Wait..." Another cough. "I need a minute."

A fifth phone went off. Terri looked between it and Yuri, pursing her lips as her curiosity got the better of her. She answered it. "Hello?"

Rain could faintly hear a man's voice on the other end. Terri held the phone out in her and Alice's direction.

"He says he wants to speak with one of you."

A security camera on the overhang above swiveled to face them. Jill pointed it out with a quick jerk of her head.

Everybody watched as Alice took the handset from Terri. Rain moved closer so that she could properly make out what was being said.

"God, I thought you'd never pick up."

"Who is this?"

"Dr. Charles Ashford. We've technically met before. I run the advanced genetics and viral research division within Umbrella," the man replied. Alice's grip tightened. "I can get you out of the city. All six of you... But first, we have to come to an arrangement."

"Not giving me much of a choice here, are you?"

"You don't have one. Not if you want to live after tonight. Come sunrise, Umbrella will be sending a tactical nuclear device to sanitize this city with a five-kiloton explosion."

"Lovely. There's no way to stop it?"

"I'm afraid not, which is why I need you to do something for me. My daughter, Angela, is trapped within the perimeter with you. She was meant to be evacuated, but things went a bit screwy and she's hiding out in Raccoon City Junior School. Find her, keep her safe, and I'll have you out before dawn. Do we have a deal?"

Alice turned to Rain for her input. Even if Rain wasn't too keen on doing dirty work for some random sleazebag, she figured it was probably their best bet. Especially given how the threat of being blown up just got added to the mix. And hey, someone was in need of help. She told her as much.

"If this turns out to be some sort of ploy—"

"I can assure you, despite what I may have participated in, my interests do not lie in you and Rain. You could go ahead and try to destroy Umbrella as a whole after this for all I care. My only concern is my daughter. Do we have a deal, Alice?"

"We do." Alice placed the phone back on the hook. Then, she faced the group so that she could relay the new objective to them.

Peyton scoffed. "Yeah, no fucking way. I'm sick of trying to wade past these monsters. I say we find a building with thick walls and strong doors, barricade ourselves in, sit tight, and wait for help."

Yuri and Terri were quick to support that plan.

"There won't be any help. According to Ashford, at daybreak, Umbrella will be eradicating the virus with a TNW."

"What yield?" Jill demanded.

Alice repeated what Ashford had told her. Jill pulled out a cigarette, muttering in disbelief under her breath as she lit up, "Fuck me..."

Terri panned between them. As expected, she was back to filming. "Wait, what does that mean?"

"This place is gonna be nothing but a crater," Rain explained, turning her head away when the camera lens found her. "And all the evidence of this mess will be gone."

"That is bullshit." Yuri finally straightened up. "They wouldn't. They couldn't. Everyone would know, it would be all over the news."

"Please. They'll do whatever they can if it means covering their asses, and they have all the money and influence they could ever need to disguise the explosion as something else."

"No way. Not even Umbrella's capable of this."

"Not capable? Peyton, you were there with me in Arklay. You saw the shit they were getting up to. You think people playing around with human life the way they were are opposed to dropping bombs on us?"

Peyton was silent. Yuri looked as though everything he ever knew had been flipped onto its head. Terri made sure to get a good shot of them.

"So. I'm afraid we're not too familiar with this city's layout. Does anyone know where the school is?"

"Yeah... Yeah, I do. I pick my niece up from there twice a week," Peyton said.

"Then let's get going."