Chapter two:

In the morning, Jill opened her eyes and felt a brief pang of panic. Had Alice stayed, or had she tried to slip out again? The second she tried to move, Jill realized Alice's head was on her shoulder, and her arm was draped across Jill's middle. Jill smiled to herself, gazing slightly down at Alice's peaceful, slumbering face. She set her arm around Alice's shoulders and settled in, never having been so comfortable before.

The moment was ruined by knocking on the bedroom door. The sound jolted Alice awake. She raised her head and realized she had been wrapped around Jill. A hesitant smirk came to her. "Morning."

"Good morning," Jill returned, amused.

The knock repeated. This time, Carlos' voice came with it. "Breakfast is ready."

"We'll be there in a minute," Jill called out in return. After Alice had sat up, Jill sat across from her. "Feeling better today?"

"Yeah," Alice softly said. "Sorry I used you as a pillow."

"How dare you," Jill teased. "I was actually comfortable."

There was another knock before Alice could respond. This one was from Angie, who popped her head into the room. "Can I borrow a hairbrush?"

"Come in here. I'll brush it for you," Jill offered.

Angie entered the room as Jill and Alice got up to prepare for the day. Jill helped Angie with her hair while Alice headed to the kitchen. Carlos had whipped up some breakfast for the group, and L.J. was shoveling it down the hatch. Alice made herself a plate and joined L.J. at the table. Carlos handed her a glass of orange juice.

"We must have had quite a storm last night. Pictures fell off all the walls of the house," Carlos commented.

"No, that was…" Alice trailed off and chose to smile. "Yeah. I guess so."

"We'll have to put them all back. I told the man we'd only be here a few days, and I promised he'd never know we were here," Carlos went on.

Jill and Angie entered the kitchen. Jill made Angie and herself a plate before joining Alice and L.J. at the table. Carlos was the last to sit down. Jill glanced over at Alice, a tacit way of suggesting Alice broach the subject of infiltrating an Umbrella facility. Alice nodded to say she got the message.

"So, where did we plan on going next?" Alice asked.

Carlos sighed at that. "I don't know. I'm running out of connections up this way. We might have to try motels and head west. I know a few people towards the coast."

"We need to hit an Umbrella facility," Alice said, deciding it was best not to beat around the bush.

L.J. choked on his eggs. "I know you didn't just say what I think you said!"

"They're tracking me, and I fear that they're close. If we can hack the computers and access the trajectory of their satellites, we can stay off the grid. Stay safe. Otherwise, we're just asking for them to come knocking," Alice explained.

L.J. dropped his fork dramatically. "They're tracking you, and you're just now telling us? I been out here, hanging with you all this time, when they could've come down on us while we were sleeping or some shit?"

"Hey, knock it off," Carlos snapped. He looked seriously at Alice. "I agree it's a good idea to learn the satellite trajectories. It'll be damn dangerous breaking into a facility, especially when they're still looking for us, but I suppose it's a necessary evil."

Jill nodded gratefully. "Thank you, Carlos. I agree. If you're not okay with helping us, L.J., that's fine. Someone needs to stay behind with Angie."

"No one has to stay with me," Angie said. "I'd be all right alone for a little while. Really."

L.J. scowled. "I'll do whatever you need me to do. I mean, shit, I'd be dead if it wasn't for y'all. I just don't like the idea of going back into the belly of the damn beast when we've been trying to run away from its teeth."

"Which facility were you thinking about hitting?" Carlos asked.

Alice hadn't gotten that far yet. "I'm not sure. Every major city has at least one Umbrella facility. We should try to find one that has the least security. Somewhere that's vulnerable."

"How about Albuquerque? I've been to the Umbrella facility there a few times. It has both surface entrances and a helipad on the roof. There are plenty of buildings around it to offer cover. I don't remember very heavy security either," Carlos suggested.

Alice hummed. "That's a far drive."

"Like I said, we need to head west anyway. I know some people in New Mexico. They'd offer us a safe place to stay," Carlos went on.

Jill held up her orange juice, toasting. "I'm sold. When do we leave?"

"Whenever you'd like," Carlos said.

L.J. shoved another bite of sausage into his mouth. "Can I at least finish eating first?"

XxXxX

They left their current safe house after breakfast. They'd secured an SUV to use, one that they often switched the license plates on, for their travel. Alice and Jill sat in the middle row, Angie was in the back, and the boys were up front. It'd take fifteen hours to reach New Mexico from their current location, though they planned to stop about halfway for the night somewhere. Alice was jumpy, feeling that the long drive would give Umbrella a chance to intercept them.

Yet, she had Jill to keep her mind off things. Jill, who was holding the whole car together. She played road trip games with Angie, let L.J. pick the radio station, and helped Carlos count how much ammunition they had left. Alice watched her profile as she bobbed her head along with L.J.'s music and reloaded their handgun magazines.

"I spy…something yellow…" Angie said from the backseat.

Jill hummed as she looked out the window. "Is it that billboard down there?"

"No," Angie said with an amused chuckle.

Alice smirked at Angie and then again at Jill. Jill pointed at a coupe ahead of them. "Is it that car?"

"No, but you're getting warmer…" Angie went on.

Discreetly, Alice pointed at a truck on her side of the road. It had a yellow bumper sticker. Jill saw it and nodded. "That bumper sticker? The one on the semi."

Angie groaned. "You guessed it. All right. Your turn."

"I think Alice should give it ago," Jill said with a sideways glance.

Alice laughed, but Angie urgently tapped her on the shoulder. "Yes, you should!"

"Fine," Alice relented. She looked out the window. "I spy…" her voice trailed off. The Umbrella logo was flashing in her mind. She tried to power through. "I spy…" she looked up at the sky and got a feeling that shook her to the core. "They're coming! Underpass!"

L.J. swerved under an upcoming overpass. A moment later, a massive fleet of Umbrella helicopters and planes flew overhead. Yet, they were not slowing or stopping. They continued to head eastward. Everyone clung to the windows, watching as they went.

"Those weren't for us," Jill quickly realized.

Alice shook her head. "No. There's something else going on."

"Then, it's not our problem," Carlos said. "I say we keep going as we are."

Jill looked over at Alice, who was holding her head with her eyelids snapped shut. She put her hands on Alice's shoulders. "Hey, you okay?"

"They're in my head," Alice whispered so only Jill could hear.

"We should stop soon," Jill announced. She set a soft hand on Alice's cheek and lowered her voice. "We're fine. We're okay."

Carlos looked back and saw Alice's expression. "All right. It's almost nightfall anyway. We'll pull off at the next exit and get a few rooms. L.J."

"On it," L.J. seconded.

As they returned to the road, Jill released Alice and returned to her side of the car. Yet, Alice didn't like that Jill was far from her. She quietly took Jill's hand, and Jill gripped her fingers in return. The rest of the journey to a motel was somewhat tense and silent, except for the sound of the radio. They secured adjoining rooms.

Before Carlos and L.J. settled into their room, Carlos stopped to talk to Alice. "Are you all right?"

"Yeah," Alice lied. "I'm fine."

"You can talk to me," Carlos assured her.

She smiled at him in an attempt to calm his nerves. "Like you said, whatever is happening back east isn't our problem. We're on a mission. If we don't deviate, we should be okay. I'm just a little tired."

"Okay," Carlos said, though he wasn't buying it. "If you need anything, I'm just next door."

"I know. Thank you."

Carlos nodded and went into his room through the doors that connected their rooms. Angie waited until Carlos was gone. Then, she sat on one of the beds with a serious expression. "Why'd you lie to him, Alice?"

"I didn't. I'm okay," Alice promised.

Angie knew when the adults weren't going to be entirely honest with her, and she wasn't going to push it. Jill, who had been in the bathroom, came out to find Angie with a concerned expression. She looked over at Alice and then back at Jill, conveying her worry. Jill nodded and patted Angie on the shoulder.

"I think we should get some rest. We have a long trip tomorrow," Jill said.

Alice liked the idea of getting some sleep, though she was worried her nightmares would return. She settled in on her bed, Angie settled on hers, and Jill chose to lie beside Alice. Nothing was said as Jill inched closer to Alice on the mattress, closer and closer, until her head was on Alice's shoulder. Alice instantly felt calmer. She shut her eyes and tried to match Jill's breathing, which she felt flicking rhythmically along her neck.

Sleep soon came to the group, and nightmares plagued Alice again. It started out as the usual nightmare, yet she didn't wake when she saw the face of Dr. Isaacs. The nightmare kept going. Dr. Isaacs was in a boardroom, surrounded by men with little Umbrella logos pinned to their jackets, and they were talking about the T-virus.

"It's spreading at a geometric rate," Dr. Isaacs said.

"How long?" a man with blonde hair and sunglasses asked.

"Months. Weeks. Hard to say," Dr. Isaacs continued. "We can't contain it. I recommend that all operations move underground immediately."

"And the people on the surface?" another man asked.

Dr. Isaacs had that smug look. "Consider them already lost."

A torrent of images, of screams, of Undead, came to Alice. Entire cities were overrun with them. Alice saw herself walking alone, moving like a ghost through a sea of corpses on the ground. She saw L.J. and Carlos on the ground, dead. Angie wasn't far from them, also gone. Jill was beyond that, dying. Alice kneeled beside her.

"You've lost us. You lose everyone," Jill said with her final, gasping breath.

In the motel room, the furniture was shaking. Smaller items had started to float as Alice tossed in bed. Jill, who had still had her head on Alice's shoulder, was jolted awake. She saw Alice was having a nightmare and gently tried to wake her.

"Alice. Alice, wake up."

When Alice's eyes opened, the furniture stopped moving, and the items crashed to the floor. Thankfully, it was nothing so big that it made a loud noise. Angie slept through it. Alice's breathing was rapid as Jill took her face in her hands.

"Alice, I'm here. I'm here. You were just dreaming."

Alice finally saw Jill's face. She wrapped Jill in an embrace, holding her as closely as she could. She relaxed when she could feel the movement of Jill's back, the rise and fall of her lungs that told Alice that Jill was alive and well. Yet, tears were in Alice's eyes. She spoke in a low whisper. "They failed."

"What?"

"The T-virus wasn't contained. It's going to spread. They can't stop it," Alice explained. "The world is going to end."