It wasn't long after they took off that Rain fell asleep. She seemed so out of it and tired that it wasn't much of a surprise.

Alice kept driving until she felt as though she had gotten them far enough away from the facility, eventually pulling into an empty parking lot beside a nature trail.

The sky was growing dark. She wanted to finally try and get some rest herself.

Unfortunately, her current headache decided that was a good time to turn into a full-on migraine. She laid awake half-reclined in her seat for about three hours before she couldn't take it anymore, instead choosing to keep herself busy by recording a couple of new audio logs.

"The skin has closed over and that's about it."

Alice finished removing her dressings and tugged her gloves on. The material was stiff enough that you couldn't tell anything was missing... Unless she tried to bend her middle finger and the tip didn't move, that is. The dull pinching sensation indicating that her body was quickly healing had yet to go away, so that was a potentially good sign.

Beside her, there was movement.

"But it's weak..." she trailed off completely, hitting the stop button on her recorder.

Rain could hear a voice. She expected that. At least one sleazeball scientist was going on some fucking thing she didn't really understand whenever they woke her up. The all too familiar feeling of dread washed over her.

But then, she slowly realized that she could properly move. As in, she wasn't being restrained in any way.

She felt off. Nowhere near as much as she had since the start of her forced stay in Umbrella's labs, though.

She was warm. Not burning like she would be if the bloodlust was getting far too decent of a hold on her, just warm. As if Alice was near. That feeling of similitude accompanied it.

"Good morning, sunshine," Alice greeted. She was right there.

Rain remembered being freed, seeing her in the testing room, the things the other woman said... but there was a sight haze to it all and Rain assumed it was either a dream or drug-induced hallucination. It wasn't?

When the words finished processing, she shot her a dirty look for calling her that. Alice simply kept smiling in response because god, she missed that face.

After a moment, Rain couldn't help but return it.

Holy shit, she was out. Alice kicked ass like she always did and got her out of that hell. They were actually sitting next to each other, and Rain was sorely tempted to flip the script and tell the crazy bitch that she wanted to kiss her.

"It's good to finally have you back. You've been out for," Alice stared at her watch, "about twelve hours?"

Rain groaned a little in disbelief.

"Yeah. Impressive." Alice tried to keep her tone on the lighter side. "I don't think even I was passed out for that long after I got out."

Rain went to speak but, following a short silence, all that came out was a frustrated sound. She still couldn't. Her mouth didn't want to cooperate.

Honestly, she should have expected as much. She didn't exactly have a proper time frame, but it seemed like quite a while since she had last gotten words out. It was all thanks to frequent injections of the virus, which were primarily used to keep her over the edge.

The ability would return. Rain was confident about that. Though, it was apparently going to take longer than she would've preferred.

She knocked the side of her fist against Alice's arm, then against her own midsection, extending it out to represent the shrapnel that struck Alice during their not-so-smooth arrival in Arklay. She followed the motion with an inquisitive expression.

Alice was able to pick up on what she was trying to ask. "You wanna know what happened to me?"

A nod. 'Of fuckin' course I do!'

"Well, I don't exactly recall the crash," she answered. "...Do you?"

...Yes. Rain recalled all the screaming...

The alarm blaring.

She recalled falling out of the chopper because the rear hatch wasn't completely closed, because she had grabbed hold of Alice when she went limp, was awkwardly fumbling to get a belt on her with one hand before worrying about herself, and struggling immensely to keep both of them from knocking around the cabin like pinballs.

She recalled tumbling through the air, colliding with loads of branches, and making a harsh landing in a shallow part of the river, clouding the water around her red—

But if Alice didn't, Rain wasn't going to fill her in. Not necessary. Plus, knowing her, she'd probably feel guilty about it when Rain didn't want her to. Rain would do it again if need be. It wasn't as if any of it hurt, anyway.

She gestured to indicate that she kind of did, then signaled for Alice to continue. 'What happened after that?'

"Umbrella put me in a facility similar to the one you were in."

Rain unconsciously let out a half-growl that made her displeasure regarding that new knowledge apparent. 'I can't believe they got both of us, man! That's shit! How the fuck did that happen?' She motioned again for Alice to go on.

Alice vaguely talked about her own stay in captivity and her escape, going into more detail when getting to the part where the others showed up. Rain was glad to hear they all survived.

(She also noted that Alice was pausing a whole lot, which she didn't usually do.)

"Hope you're not offended that they didn't join my search. They might've if I let them." She went on to tell the story of her departure after that, as well as her reasoning for it.

Rain understood and agreed. They were way too much trouble to keep hanging around. Her more so than Alice, probably. Alice wouldn't lose control and rip someone's throat out like an animal, or...

Or—

Rain made a claw gesture with her left hand and grasped Alice's shoulder where she had bitten her, raising an eyebrow while also making an apologetic noise.

Alice blinked at the sudden subject change. "That? Don't worry. It was months ago."

'Months? Christ, does that mean it's two-thousand-three already?'

"About three months," she specified. That was a yes. "I'm sorry. It took me a while to find where they were keeping you. Hell, it took me a while to confirm they even had you at all. I only knew for sure when I was already inside the building."

Given that and everything else, Rain was sort of surprised that Alice didn't give up and assume she was dead for real. It must have shown in her expression because Alice said, "Don't look at me like that. Of course I kept going. I wasn't planning on stopping until I got a concrete answer."

'Yeah, 'cause you're stubborn and you care too much.'

Alice hesitated for a beat. "What if it were me instead? Would you have given up?"

Another passed. Rain realized she was one to talk (or think?) when the first thing to enter her mind was, 'No. I sure as shit wouldn't have.' She shook her head. Firmly.

"Then you shouldn't be shocked." Alice pushed a hand through her hair and stifled a yawn. "But moving on—"

Rain re-grabbed her shoulder, shaking her a bit. 'Hold up, you didn't answer my question.'

"Oh, that's right. I don't think it had much of an effect. I have some insensitivity to pain that I assume is because of you, and... I don't know, I feel more... connected to you through the virus than I did before? Do you get that feeling, too? That strange sameness?"

Rain did. And it was stronger. She nodded. When the rational part of her brain told her not to attack Alice, the part corrupted by the virus was now willing to agree. Like us, it thought. That sentiment had settled there back when Alice was cradling her face.

"I'm not sure what that means, but uh..." There was a long stretch of silence. "...But..."

'Is she seriously dozin' off on me?' Rain noticed she was a bit tired-looking, but damn. 'Did she not get any shut-eye herself?'

Alice's eyelids slowly slipped shut and her head tipped forward.

Rain let it happen. If Alice was falling asleep in the middle of a conversation, then she clearly needed the rest.