Chapter four:
Carlos' contacts had come through. There was a small house outside of Albuquerque available to them. The key had been left under the mat. They moved inside where L.J. put on the television. The President had given a speech earlier in the night, and it was being played on repeat. Jill and Alice helped Carlos onto the sofa where they could take a better look at his leg.
"You're right. The bullet went clean through," Alice confirmed. "I can wrap it for you if there's a first aid kit around here somewhere."
"I'll go check," Jill offered.
L.J. shushed them. "We gotta hear what the Big Cheese is on about. The feed is looping back."
While Jill searched for a first aid kit, the others listened to the speech. "I regret to inform the Nation that there was an incident that has caused a dangerous viral outbreak. The outbreak began in Pennsylvania and has since spread throughout the East Coast. Our attempts to counteract this virus have failed. We have continued to offer military and medical assistance to the impacted areas, but we will not be able to prevent it from spreading to other areas of the country. At this time, international travel and air travel are indefinitely suspended. We ask you remain in your homes while we formulate a plan to limit the damage…"
"This is some bullshit," L.J. grumbled.
Carlos shook his head. "What can they do? We've all seen how fast it spreads. If anyone was infected and got on a plane, the T-virus could be anywhere."
"Including here," Alice pointed out.
Jill came back with a first aid kit she'd found in the bathroom. "What'd I miss?"
"Nothin' but a stupid motherfucker in a suit, acting like he knows what's what. That boy has his head so far up his ass he can see his own colon," L.J. answered.
Alice took the first aid kit and began tending to Carlos. "We need to look at the satellite trajectories. Find a safe path out of the country. If we want to live, we need to get as far ahead of the outbreak as possible."
"They just said that international travel is restricted," Carlos said.
Alice smirked at him. "Since when has something like that stopped us?"
"I ain't staying in this country with those things. I'll tell you that," L.J. said.
"But won't it spread everywhere eventually?" Angie asked.
Alice sighed. "Yes. But it'll take much longer to go overseas. We can find a safe place over there and prepare ourselves for what comes next."
"Live today, fight tomorrow," Jill said.
"Exactly," Alice confirmed. She gently cleaned Carlos' leg and bandaged it for him. When she was finished, she smiled at him in a way that made Jill glare. "There. All fixed up."
Carlos grinned back at Alice. "Good as new. Thanks."
"You bet. I'll look at the trajectories right now. If we want to escape, we should think about leaving before sunrise. I'd recommend getting some sleep while you can," Alice said.
In the house, there were two bedrooms. One had two twin beds, and one had a single bed. Carlos and L.J. took the twin beds, and Jill told Angie to take the single bed. She planned to sleep on the floor of the bedroom while Alice stayed on the couch. Alice was engrossed in the files they had stolen from Umbrella while the others prepared to rest. Yet, rest wasn't coming easily to Jill.
Jill kept thinking about the way Carlos and Alice had smiled at one another. She didn't like it one bit. Every time she replayed the moment in her head, she'd huff and try to find a comfortable position. That left her tossing and turning on her makeshift bed of blankets and pillows.
Once Alice had worked out a route for them to take, she figured she needed some sleep. She then thought of Jill and how she'd overheard her say she'd be sleeping on the floor. That simply wouldn't do. She went to the bedroom and peered inside. Angie was soundly asleep on the bed, but Jill was clearly awake on the floor. Alice waved to get her attention, gesturing at her to follow.
Jill left the floor and followed Alice to the living room. "What's up?"
"I found our route. It'll keep us off main roads and it'll avoid the satellites. That's if we keep pace. It's all about timing with staying off the grid."
"Okay. Is that what you wanted to tell me?"
"No. I wanted to offer you the couch. You can't have been comfortable on the floor."
Jill felt herself smiling at that. "How thoughtful of you. But I wouldn't want you to have to be on the floor. You hurt your shoulder in there. Did you put anything on it, or did you use everything on Carlos?"
"It's a scrape."
"Scrapes can get infected. Let me look at it." Alice allowed Jill to look at the scrape from the bullet. It was nothing serious, but Jill pulled out the first aid kit anyway. She put ointment on the scrape and a bandage. "There you go. I hope I did as good of a job as you did on Carlos."
Alice got a smirk on her face. "Meaning what?"
"Meaning nothing. It's late. You can have the couch. I'll go back to my pillow bed."
Jill turned to leave, but Alice caught her wrist. "Wait. It's a big couch."
"Is it?"
"I mean, it'll fit two. If we squeeze together."
Jill gulped at the notion. "Really? Okay. In that case, I call little spoon."
"I'm sorry?"
"Little spoon. I call it. You got a problem with that?"
"No. Not at all."
Alice spread out on the couch first, and then Jill squeezed onto the edge. Alice had to hold her snugly against her chest to keep her from falling to the floor. Despite that, it was an extremely comfortable arrangement. Jill held onto Alice's arm, feeling the rise and fall of Alice's chest against her. Eat your heart out, Carlos, Jill thought to herself.
"Goodnight," Alice muttered.
"Goodnight. Sweet dreams."
They fell asleep after a few quiet moments. It wasn't long after that when the nightmares returned. It was the same one as last time, right down to the sea of corpses and Jill's final words to Alice. The house shook from the dream and items floated, as per usual. Yet, when Alice woke, she had Jill in her arms. She held tighter to her as tears fell from her eyes. They dropped to Jill's shoulder, and soon Jill was awake. She felt Alice's tears and urgently squeezed Alice's hand.
"Alice? You okay?"
"Just nightmares again."
With a great degree of difficulty, Jill turned to face Alice. Her heart broke when she saw the trails of tears on Alice's cheeks. She boldly leaned forward to kiss Alice's cheeks, wiping the tears from her skin with her lips. "Is that better?"
"Yeah, it is," Alice muttered.
Jill saw the opportunity to lean in, just a tad, and capture Alice's mouth with her own. Alice's heart nearly stopped after the brisk kiss was over. Jill waited for a reaction, any reaction. Alice merely leaned in for a second, softer kiss. Jill pulled Alice closer by the neck. When they parted, Jill started laughing.
"What's so funny?" Alice asked.
"I couldn't sleep because I was jealous of you and Carlos."
"You were jealous?"
"Uh-huh. Like a schoolgirl. But I guess I had nothing to worry about, huh?"
"No. You have nothing to worry about," Alice assured her with a laugh of her own. "He's my friend. But you…"
"Me what?"
"You're what makes me feel human again." Alice held Jill against her with a long breath. "I can't lose you, Jill."
Jill softly kissed her forehead. "You won't. I swear."
It was a promise she wasn't going to be able to keep.