"Terri?"

Terri's gaze dropped to the floor. "Peyton... He, um..." She shook her head. "It was too late. They got him."

'He's...'

Peyton, a great son and uncle. An exemplary S.T.A.R.S. officer.

Jill's partner. Her best friend, whom she saw more often throughout the week than she didn't.

'Gone?'

The news was an immediate sucker punch to her gut. Once it fully began to set in, the grief and devastation were like a massive weight settling upon her shoulders. She tried to swallow the lump forming in her throat.

"Jill, I'm—"

"Save it," she bit out. "I don't need to hear it."

Terri let her head hang.

Jill drew a slow, uneven breath, sounding dangerously close to tears. "It's not like it was your fault, anyway. This shit—all this shit is Umbrella's fault. They let this happen to this city."

"They'll pay," Rain stated firmly. When Jill glanced over her, she caught a flash of sympathy—of understanding about what she was currently experiencing in her otherwise unreadable eyes. "For everything."

Only then did Terri become aware of her presence. She visibly tensed.

"That one," Jill stopped to dry her face, "should be fine now, but I'm watching her... and if that changes, I'll personally take care of it."

Alice's eyes narrowed slightly at that. Rain reached around the small girl standing between them, presumably Angela Ashford, and lightly smacked her arm with the back of her hand before mouthing, "Relax. It's fine." Terri thought she seemed less growly and terrifying now.

What was she, exactly? Terri considered asking, but if Alice wouldn't answer the same question, Terri figured that Rain would be even less willing. Plus, she did tell her not to bother her with questions earlier, and Terri was most definitely not looking to get on her bad side.

(Rain told her to keep away, too. She spent a lot of time maintaining distance from everybody unless she was trying to aid someone, like when Terri tripped earlier while running from those bioweapon-things and Rain was quick to double back, helping her back to her feet while keeping them away. It was clear she was intent on helping others, but Yuri...)

'You didn't mean to kill him, but you did. Because you're...' Terri frowned, trying to figure her out. 'You and Alice both have Umbrella connections. Were you experimented on by them or something? Were they trying to turn you into one of their bioweapon-things?'

"Okay, serious question, who are you people? What do you have to do with Umbrella? You said earlier that you'd share."

"I suppose you could consider us disgruntled ex-employees," Alice answered after a moment. She paused again before continuing. "Rain was practically in the dark about what they were truly getting up to, but I wasn't. Yesterday... an incident occurred. Everybody died except for us, and they took us not long after so that they could... run tests. And experiments. Against our will. We only got out because of the outbreak."

"So you were complacent in what they were doing?" Jill asked.

"For a time, yes."

"And you only had a change of allegiance when they tried to turn you into lab rats?"

"No. It was before that. I'm not sure what triggered it."

"Not sure?" she echoed with raised eyebrows.

"Listen. We're both amnesiac," was the out-of-the-blue response. "I genuinely can't tell you because I can't recall that far back. But know this: I'm not whoever I was before, and right now, I can't imagine a world where I don't personally aid in Umbrella's downfall."

"Well. I can get behind that."

All of a sudden, Alice instinctively pulled Angela closer to her. She and Rain reached for their holstered weapons, their guards fully snapping back into place.

"What is it?" Jill's hand found her own pistol.

"Sounded like L.J. to me," Rain said.

"Who?"

Gunfire began to sound off elsewhere in the building, accompanied by faint yelling.

Without another word, Rain bolted out of the room.

Alice quickly directed Angie closer to Jill and Terri. "Stick by them. They'll keep you safe, okay?"

Angie nodded. "Okay."

With that, Alice began to follow after her partner.

There was awful, spine-chilling screaming. The number of shots being fired lessened. In the space between them, barking and indistinct talking was audible.

Inside the cafeteria, Carlos, L.J., and Nicholai had unwittingly walked into a mix of zombified school staff and R.P.D. K-9s having a feeding session. The three had taken cover behind an overturned lunch table. Nicholai was lying in a puddle of blood on the floor. L.J. was attempting to tend to him while Carlos fended off the monsters.

"This is bad, bro! This is real bad!"

"Keep applying pressure! We're almost out of the woods!" Carlos landed a few hits on two of the dogs. The shots slowed them down but didn't kill them.

Click. Click. Click. Out of ammo. He cursed under his breath and hurried to pull a fresh clip from his vest.

One of the dogs increased its speed. It was growing quite close.

BLAM! A round right passed through the side of its head. It landed limply and finally stopped moving.

The second dog prepared to try what the first failed, only to be struck down the same as it had by another bullet.

Carlos turned, finding Rain and Alice at the cafeteria entrance. Both had guns drawn. They made quick work of taking out the remaining monsters.

"Thanks for the hand!" Carlos hastily put his rifle down. "Wouldn't happen to have any medical supplies, would you?"

Rain and Alice did not. The smell of meat was especially strong.

"Goddamn, he's already soaked through this shit, too." L.J. was pressing a sweatshirt someone left behind against Nicholai's side. The poor guy was in a bad state. On top of the sickly pallor and full body sweats he was already sporting from the virus, it now also appeared as though the zombie dogs had tried to maul him. His uniform was slightly shredded. Scratches and bites of varying severity littered his skin.

Without a second thought, Rain removed her jacket. "Here. Use this."

L.J. set aside the sopping sweatshirt and replaced it with the coat. During the transfer, Rain caught sight of the literal chunk missing from Nicholai's side. A white sliver of rib was visible near the top of it.

"There has to be a nurse's office around here where we can find what we need," Alice said.

Jill, Terri, and Angie entered. Even though Angie had undoubtedly already bore witness to nasty things throughout this whole ordeal, Alice still called out to her and told her not to look. Then, she asked about the location of any nurse's offices or first aid stations.

"Is it even worth it...?" Nicholai questioned with half-lidded eyes. "I've already been infected for a while, and this..."

"Hey," Rain cut in. "We have the antivirus. You'll make it. All you need to do is pull through this first, alright?"

He managed weak a nod.

"You're definitely the fastest," Rain told Alice. "You make the run."

Alice was already on her feet before Rain had even finished speaking and promptly took off.

Nicholai started to lose consciousness.

"Hey, stay with us." Carlos jostled him.

"This isn't time for a nap, Ginovaef. Wake up."

Nicholai's eyelids fluttered shut and stayed that way.

Not long after that, Rain could hear his heart slow to a stop.

His uneven breathing ceased.

He stilled completely as Alice returned.

Dead. Just like that.

L.J. took off his hat and held it to his chest. Carlos was silent. Rain couldn't stop staring. There was a heavy feeling in the air.

Dejectedly, Alice passed the now unneeded supplies around so that everyone could patch up their minor injuries.

The tingling from Nicholai, which had left him when his life did, returned with a vengeance. Rain watched him as he sat up sluggishly.

With an empty, hungry look in his eyes, he reached for L.J., whose back was turned.

She acted upon her first instinct and punched him straight in the nose. The sound of the impact made L.J. startle. "The hell—?!"

Nicholai's head smacked against the linoleum. He tried to rise once more, but Rain quickly started pressing down on his chest to keep him in place.

"C'mon, man! Don't do this!"

L.J. removed his hand from where it had flown to his heart. He shook his head in disbelief. "Girl, he's gone! Look at him. Put the poor motherfucker outta his misery."

He hesitantly pulled one of his pistols from his waistband and shot him in the forehead.

A small amount of blood splattered onto Rain's arm. She quickly released Nicholai in order to wipe it off. She still couldn't tear her gaze away from him. Yet another red puddle began to form. This time, beneath his head. Almost like a twisted halo.

After a moment, she began to hear a speeding train.

Then, she could see herself in his place, could see Matt aiming her own Colt right between her eyes.

"Open the doors!"

"...Rain?"

Blankly, she muttered, "You don't know that for sure."

"I've seen what happens. Once the switch is flipped, it don't go back the other way. That's it."

On the other side of the walls around the city, within one of the tents Umbrella used to set up camp, Dr. Charles Ashford carefully watched the CCTV camera positioned closest to Raccoon City Junior School.

A pair of doors opened.

The two groups he had watched enter earlier exited together. Each party was missing one person, but they had his daughter with them.

"So, how many of you guys are there?"

"What do you mean?" Carlos perked up slightly. "Have you seen my other partner? Yuri?"

Terri instantly began to regret her question. When she took too long to answer, Jill stepped in.

"A while back, yeah." She paused. "He didn't make it."

A payphone began to ring at the bottom of the stairs. Alice answered it.

"Let me speak to my daughter."

"First, you tell us how we're getting out," she told him.

"There's a helicopter already being prepped. It takes off in forty-seven minutes. It'll be the last transport to leave Raccoon City before they detonate the missile."

"I take it this helicopter isn't laid out especially for us."

"No. It has another purpose, and it'll be lightly guarded."

"Where is the evac site?"

"May I speak to my daughter now?"

Alice passed the handset to Angie. "Here. It's your dad."

"Hi, Daddy!"

"Hey, sweetheart." Ashford breathed a sigh of relief. "Are you okay?"

"When can I see you?"

"Soon," he replied. "These people will bring you to see me. I'll see you very soon. I promise. Can you put the lady back on?"

Alice was given the phone. "Where do we have to go?"

"City Hall. I suggest you make haste."

"Will do." She hung up.

Static began to distort the camera feed. Ashford was being disconnected. He tried to fix it to no avail.

"Computers. So unreliable." That voice, distinct with its German accent, was one Ashford was familiar with. It belonged to someone he secretly wasn't fond of.

He turned his chair around and was greeted by Major Timothy Cain flanked by a couple of Umbrella soldiers. He was the very same man responsible for the orders to let no other citizens through the perimeter.

"Just like people." Cain walked closer and shut the lid of Ashford's laptop. "You really thought I didn't know about this?"