Peyton felt Yuri's ruined neck for a pulse. There wasn't one. He let his hand drop away and informed Jill and Terri.
"Jesus christ..." Jill turned to face the railing Alice and Rain went over, watching as Terri slowly started walking closer to it with her camera ready. "I thought there was something strange about those two, but I didn't expect that..."
"Yeah, I don't think any of us did." Peyton went to pull Yuri's dog tags off.
Unexpectedly, the dead soldier lurched upright, snarling as his fingers closed around Peyton's arm.
"Shit!"
Jill and Terri whipped back around, finding Peyton trying to wrench himself free while simultaneously keeping Yuri's face away. Jill unholstered her Beretta. "Move your hand!"
BAM!
Yuri fell limp again, a hole blown into his forehead.
"Thanks."
"Let's just get to the school and find the kid before this night gets any shittier."
Once again, Terri attempted to approach the railing. "Wait, I want to get—"
"No time. Sunrise isn't going to wait for us." Jill seized the woman by the sleeve of her blazer, dragging her along as she continued down the overpass. "Come on, Peyton."
...
When Alice, still restraining Rain, began to fully tip backward, she knew one thing: When they landed, she needed to take the brunt of the impact. The virus had sped up the rate at which her body could heal, and Rain... Well, it was clear that the changes she underwent were not the same as those Alice did. Alice wasn't entirely sure how well her partner could handle directly hitting the dirt and gravel below, and she didn't intend to find out.
Not even halfway into their plummet, Alice collided with a piece of concrete jutting out of one of the support beams. She could hear something in her body crack. Pain exploded throughout her chest and immediately flared up again with every breath. They spun once before making contact with the ground. The second impact was worse than the first. Alice landed directly on her shoulder. A numbness spread through the arm attached to it soon after. She released her grip without meaning to.
Before long, Rain was back on her feet. There was a slight clumsiness to her movements. The kind that zombies often displayed, but with a surprising quickness. If she had been injured anywhere near as bad as Alice was, it wasn't immediately apparent.
She went in for the attack. Alice managed to hold her off with her good arm. Moving the numb one was proving to be a challenge.
Up above, a gunshot rang out.
Rain was stronger than Alice remembered.
Luckily, so was she. She pushed her off and, with difficulty, got herself standing. Everything hurt. She had definitely broken something. Multiple somethings.
"Rain..."
The other woman charged at her. She stumbled out of the way just in time.
"You've gotta snap out of it."
Rain gave it another go. Alice was a hair too slow and Rain got ahold of her. An arm wrapped around her front, and Rain's momentum swung her so that she was pressed against Alice's back.
Alice grabbed her arm and twisted around, freeing herself and forcing Rain into a bent position.
Alice managed to swing her leg over her back. Her other foot left the ground as she spun, causing Rain to fall forward when the entirety of her body weight was suddenly hanging from her front. Alice's back hit the dirt first. Another immense jolt of pain pulsed through her ribcage. She gritted her teeth and brought her legs down with Rain locked between them, effectively pinning her in place, an arm in Alice's grasp and her head trapped between the ground and her thigh, which was protected from any attempts at biting by the utility pouches she had strapped there.
"Fight it off. I know you can. You've done it before, and you can do it again."
Rain continued to wildly squirm about. Everything was pins and needles. Her body wasn't her own anymore, the urges overtaking her were screaming louder than any of her actual desires or thoughts. She was panicking. She was panicking, goddammit, and she was trying as hard as she could to regain control.
Rip bite tear kill rip tear scratch kill rip tear kill.
Kill.
Kill her.
Eat her—
'No!'
"Come on! I know you're still in there."
She tried to speak, only to get stuck on the first sound of every word she attempted to say.
"I need my partner. I need you here with me, Rain!"
After a bit more struggle, it happened suddenly. Like accidentally snapping a rubber band against your skin. Rain relaxed significantly in Alice's hold, back in the driver's seat. The first thing she did was loudly curse.
"There you are." Alice released her.
Rain rolled onto her hands and knees, attempting to scrub the blood off her face. What had she just done? "I..." She more than likely killed Yuri back there. Tore into his neck like an animal and killed him. She was reeling. Her voice came out strained. "Fuck me... I didn't mean to... I didn't want to—"
Alice sat up, trying and failing to suppress a groan. "I know you didn't." She glanced up at the overpass, sending a silent apology to the U.B.C.S. soldier for not reacting fast enough.
"...How bad is it?"
"What?"
"How bad are you hurt?" Rain clarified.
Alice blinked, seeming taken aback. "Not too terribly. Could be worse."
"Don't give me that shit. I can see you wincing every time you breathe. I bet you busted more than a few ribs. What's wrong with your arm?"
"Dislocated something, probably."
"I'll pop it back in for you." Rain went to pull her bandana back up. It was only then that she realized that her right wrist was fucked. It was hanging limp and entirely unresponsive. There was no pain, though, and she could move her fingers if she really tried. Odd. "...Hold on. I'm going to need both hands for this." She picked up a broken stick and, using the bandages already wrapped around her hand, made herself a splint.
Watching with her expression kept purposefully neutral, Alice asked, "Is that the only thing you broke? Just sore otherwise?
"Not even sore. I could feel it when we landed, but it didn't hurt." For all she knew, she could have had a few more fractures as well. Since none of her limbs were at an odd angle and no bone was exposed, it was difficult to tell. If she did, at least that probably meant they weren't too severe? The lack of sensation was definitely an issue. Hopefully, she wouldn't unwittingly aggravate something and worsen it to the point of becoming noticeable.
"So you didn't actually feel that punch then, huh?"
"No." She pulled Alice's coat down a bit so that she could see what she was meant to be doing. "It... He was starting to provoke me, and that was what set me off. I should have still kept my cool, but there was the blood, and he was injured—almost everyone was, and I already couldn't think straight anymore, and I... I let my brain slide right out of my damn head." Before Alice could formulate a response, Rain popped her shoulder back into place.
The other woman forced her yelp into a hiss. "Give a girl a warning next time, will you?"
"Sorry. That feel right?"
"Think so."
Rain readjusted Alice's jacket, then removed her own. "Here. You should keep that in a sling until it fixes itself." She tied the sleeves together and made a makeshift one.
"Thanks. Let's keep moving. We need to get to the school."
Rain helped her stand. Images of Yuri's bleeding, writhing form continued to flash through her mind. She swallowed. "What're we going to do if we run into the others again?"
Alice bit the inside of her cheek. "I don't know. We'll have to figure it out when we get there."
