When the tall, slender figure stumbled out of the elevator onto Alexia's research level, Alfred rushed to get up from the shelter of - and froze.
The ants had largely died off on this level from the cold. The figure that stepped- no, stumbled- out of the elevator was caked in blood. The events downstairs had occurred too quickly to register, but things must have gotten worse after.
The figure moved slowly, leaning against the wall for support. "Aunt Callie?" Alfred called quietly. The figure stopped, and looked up, the bright reflective eyes burning against the blood that looked black and mottled in the dim light.
Finally, she spoke. "Alfred?" She sounded exhausted. "What…where did everyone go?"
Alfred let out a relieved breath. She was responding. He stepped forward, cautiously. "What do you remember?"
He thought her eyes narrowed, but she answered him after a moment. "We were in the elevator, and the smell was so strong…" Marigold's hand drifted up to her faces, touched her mouth. "There were bodies everywhere." She blinked slowly. "It's…I'm sorry, I don't remember much. I'm not sure what happened. I was on a meathook when I came back to myself."
The hand at her mouth touched her shoulder, and Alfred saw the neat hole in the fabric there. The injury would have healed by now, he realized. " I bit him again, most likely. Wesker. I got a strong impression he showed up." There was a question in her eyes. "I think so, with the blood in my mouth, anyhow."
Alfred's mouth went dry. Grayson has assumed that Marigold had fully turned. Alfred knew better, obviously, but there was a phase to this none of them seemed to understand fully. "You really don't remember?" He asked, stepping forward a little more confidently. He would be able to settle her and get her to rest for a bit while they determined next steps.
Marigold stopped at his tone, looking at him sharply. "No. Alfred, where are the others?" A thread of anxiety wove into her words."
Alfred started to move to one side, trying to lead her toward the botanical lab. If anything had heat and running water right now, it was there. The fact that the hyphae were still thriving said as much. "Grayson tried to help you when you fell," he started, "but you weren't you for a while."
Matigold stopped moving forward, eyes growing huge. Alfred saw her slowly realizing what he wasn't saying. "Is he…?!"
"Alexia's stabilizing him now…." Alfred said, hesitant. "Did you know this would happen? Is that why you were trying to give everything away." Alfred tried to keep the bitter tinge out of his voice. Everyone had finally come back, and he had been about to lose them all in the same day.
Marigold shook her head, "No, I…I thought there would be an ambush, and I didn't want anything important taken off me. I'm not that good a fighter when everything else is even." She touched her shoulder again, bewilderment mixing with the horror of what she'd done.
She looked at Alfred through the mask of gore. "Whatever's in the botanical lab might not help this."
Alfred shook his head, leading her along - carefully- to where she could sit somewhere comfortable and get access to the only thing that might relieve her symptoms. "No, but I hide things better than Alexander did, and you need to see the research for yourself."
Segers has seen the fight on the cameras, and starting to wonder if he'd going to be getting out of here alive.
The three day timer had an override, Segers knew. Alexander had been preparing for his sister to arrive here at the facility once, and the credentials he'd created had been stowed away rather than deleted, a sentimental oversight; or maybe he'd thought she'd be coming back one day.
It didn't matter. The burning plane up above and the brutal, personal way he'd taken the woman down told Segers just enough about the kind of person he'd aligned with. He was here on a personal vendetta as much as on orders, and didn't give a shit whether Segers lived or died once he stopped being useful.
The Ashfords seemed to have their own plan to get out of here, but there was one more option other than throwing himself at the mercy of the psychopath. Once Wesker found a terminal, this place would only have an hour befor it went up
The PABS crew were making their own way back down, presumably to confront the psycho. He waited, letting the woman leave to try to find her people again.
When the elevator doors opened, Segers grabbed the nearest pack, with his chelator samples, and started hobbling towards the elevator.
He'd made it to the chrome doors when they opened suddenly, spilling out three furious, heavily armed people. Their eyes lit on his uniform, and Segers quickly backed away, putting his his hands up. "Easy, easy, I was just coming to look for you guys."
The woman in PABS gear didn't lower her weapon. "For what," she spat. "He just torched our ride out."
"Yeah, I know," Segers replied. He was having trouble keeping his energy up. "The rest of my unit's gone. I go back with that guy, I'm probably going to end up on a slab, considering what he just did to the blonde back there." He winced, the filter over his mouth feeling clammy.
The younger woman noticed it. "Are you sick?"
Segers chuckled. "I'm probably the least likely one to get sick here. The black shit on the walls are putting out spores, and the blonde warned me that you don't want to have them settling into your system." He lowered his hand. "I got one extra vial of the thing that'll flush it out, but I know where it got put together- and I also know where we parked the jet. He looked at the guy who was probably ex-military. "Assuming one of you can fly it.
He pushed on. "There isn't anyone else left, and I think the only one of them who gave two shits about anyone else just tipped over the edge. Your team seems to have a fucking clue of what it's doing. If you're willing to drag my ass along - this stuff will knock you flat - while the supers are busy having their slap fight, I will walk you to the fucking jet myself and hand you the keys. But we gotta move. He got admin access a little while ago and this place is going up a lot sooner than everyone thinks."