Alongside a handful of abandoned bicycles, the front parking lot of Raccoon City Junior School was occupied by an R.P.D K-9 unit van and a burning Civic. Jill checked the van for anything they could use, finding a penlight in the glove box and some ammunition on the dead handler slumped over in the driver's seat. Since Peyton already had a light clipped to the belt of his S.T.A.R.S. uniform, she kept the one she found for herself and divvied up the bullets between the two of them.
After they had properly reloaded, they ascended the staircase leading up to the school with their firearms drawn and Terri trailing not far behind.
They quietly pushed open the double doors of the building. It was even darker inside than it was outside. Both flashlights did a quick sweep of the corridor, checking for threats. There didn't appear to be any.
A framed map of the school hung on the wall. Jill gave it a once over. "We're gonna have to split up to search this place."
"No way! I'm not going by myself. Look at me!" Terri gestured to her disheveled state. She was nursing a number of scrapes and cuts, her hair was an utter mess, and her white clothes were stained with dirt, blood, and grass. Without a doubt, she was in a worse state than either Jill or Peyton. "I'm as good dead on my own. You guys are the trained professionals here. I'm just a reporter. Soon-to-be reporter."
She was probably right.
"Fine. You and Peyton take the second floor. I'll take the basement." Jill pointed to a stairwell on the map. "If you don't find the kid up there, make your way to these stairs back here and start searching the first floor." Then, she traced her finger over to a different set of steps on the opposite end of the school. "I'll head up this way when I'm finished and we can meet in the middle. Sound good?"
"Yeah."
"Works for me."
"Great." Jill unholstered the revolver she had got from that guy back in the church and held it out to Terri. "Let's get started."
Terri's eyes widened as her gaze flickered between it and Jill. "I told you, you can't give me a gun. I've never used one before."
"If you do end up alone and only have yourself to watch your back, you oughta have something to defend yourself. Come on. There's nothing to it. Think of it like that camera of yours. You point, and shoot. Try to hit them in the head."
A beat passed. Terri finally accepted the weapon.
Without another word, Jill took off down the hall. Terri watched her until she fully disappeared around a corner. Then, she turned to Peyton, who simply gestured for her to follow him.
BLAM!
Brain matter splattered onto the brick wall of the alleyway. A zombie fell limply to the ground. Rain lowered her Beretta and stepped over its legs to get past it.
"Looks like South Campbell Street is down that way," Alice pointed out as they made it back onto the sidewalk. "What did Peyton say? To head right?"
"I think so." Rain scratched absently at the scar on her arm.
Another messed aspect of what she had done to Yuri was that it made her feel better.
Not mentally, of course, but she felt relatively normal again physically. She was no longer burning up despite the sharp chill in the air. The absolutely intolerable sensation of thousands of small bugs crawling just beneath the surface of her skin had all but gone away. She could finally hear her own thoughts again because her animalistic urges weren't screaming to get her attention. Instead, they had gone close to dormant.
God, it shouldn't have taken killing a fucking guy to get herself back under control.
...
And to think, mere moments before the confrontation began, Rain was about to tell Alice that she needed to break away from the rest of the group, that she was teetering quite dangerously on the edge of something she didn't want.
'Should have tried to speak up sooner, dumbass. Shouldn't have engaged at all, actually. Now look at what's happened.'
Rain spared a glance over her shoulder at Alice. Her breathing was still uneven and slightly pained, but she was walking more normally than she had been when they started.
The sound of tires crunching over debris became audible.
"I hear a car," they both said almost in synch. Alice began her sentence a few seconds later than Rain had.
They paused, waiting to see if it would start coming their way.
Headlights appeared in the distance. It was going in the same direction as them. And quite fast.
Rain motioned for Alice to follow her into a nearby shop and get out of view.
"Hey, wait!" a voice called, and the vehicle increased its speed even further, making an abrupt stop beside them. Since she had given her jacket to Alice, Rain went ahead and casually placed her hand over the mark that was left exposed on her forearm. There were three men inside. One in a fedora with a short beard in the driver's seat, another with thick brows and spiky dark hair in the front passenger seat, and a red-haired guy with a pale face in the back. The man riding shotgun asked, "You need a lift out of here?"
Alice shook her head. "We appreciate the offer, but we're not interested in trying for the perimeter and there's somewhere we need to be."
"We're not heading there either. At this point, that'd be suicide. We're on our way to Raccoon City Junior School." One of them must've inadvertently given it away their facial expression, because he followed that up with, "Did you get that call as well? From Dr. Ashford?"
"...Yes. We did," Alice confirmed.
"Huh. He didn't say he made a deal with anyone else. Come on. We can take you with us." He gestured for them to climb aboard before turning to the driver. "Right?"
"For you two? Yeah, there's room," was the answer, which elicited an eye roll from Rain.
"You don't want us riding with you, man. Trust me."
"...Are you sure? It'll be safer and quicker."
Rain sighed and bit her lip in thought. Beside her, Alice winced as she coughed. Although her stubborn self likely wouldn't admit it, Rain figured it would probably do her some good to rest. Plus, it would get them there faster, and it was kind of imperative that they arrived before or around the same time as the trio they ended up separated from. Assuming those three made it there in one piece, that is.
(Despite not applying too much pressure with her teeth, Rain could taste that she had begun to draw blood. It was strangely placating in the same way gnawing on her fingers had been. She had a solid grip on herself now. Things would be fine).
"You know what? Alright."
"Alright?" Alice quietly echoed, furrowing her brows.
The car doors unlocked with a click. Alice took the spot beside the redhead—Nicholai and Rain sat next to her. Once they were in closer proximity to the guys, Rain started to pick up on fresh infection. A brief inspection of her surroundings led to her spotting the red-stained dressings on Nicholai's leg.
It also made her get a better look at what he was wearing. More specifically, at the small logo on the front of his vest. It was shaped like the top of an umbrella.
'Aw, hell. No way. Fuck me.'
The driver, L.J., started off down the road.
Alice saw it, too. "So... You're with the U.B.C.S.?"
"Used to be. 'Till Umbrella left us for dead in this place."
"How did you hear about us?" Carlos, the one with the spiky hair, turned to face them. "Did you run into our teammate by chance? His name's Yuri. We lost him a while back."
Alice and Rain exchanged an awkward glance. Then, Rain turned her attention to outside the window and decided she was going to keep it firmly affixed there for the duration of the ride. "Yeah. We were with him earlier."
"What happened?"
Alice sucked in slow a breath and lied. "We don't know."
