Chapter six:

Three years later…

It had taken years to track down Jill and Angie. Alice had to fight to survive the apocalypse and avoid Umbrella's reach, all while trying to locate the top secret facility that housed Jill and Angie. She had to infiltrate an Umbrella facility in Texas to find out where Jill and Angie were taken, and then she had to infiltrate an Umbrella facility in Missouri to dig up the schematics for that building. Alice had to resupply her weapons and prepare for extraction. When all was said and done, she found herself outside of an underground facility in Upstate New York.

It was dangerous enough to be in New York, given the sheer number of the Undead that still roamed there, but it was going to be even harder to reach the underground facility. It was going to take a combination of computer hacks, explosives, and acrobatics. She began by hacking the exterior door, hidden in the sewers of the city. Then, she had to blow a hole in the interior wall. After that, she had to work down an elevator shaft.

She made it down the shaft, but Umbrella knew she was there. She took down the first few security guards with a pair of large blades. From there, she accessed their computer network. She knew that Jill and Angie were there, but she wasn't sure where they were in the facility. Angie was in a holding cell in the science division. Jill was in a room on the administrative floor, which confused Alice. Why would Jill be given her own office?

Alice went to the administrative floor first. She engaged with a few more security personnel along the way, still using those blades to ensure she'd save ammunition. When she made it to the office, she saw "J. Valentine" on the door. Alice's heart leapt. After being apart for so long, they were about to be reunited.

The reunion wasn't going to go as she expected, of course.

She opened the door. Inside, the solid white room had a single desk. Jill was seated at the desk, though she looked different than Alice remembered. Her hair was long and blonde. She wore a purple suit, and something was glowing red in the center of her chest. Her head was down as if she was asleep. Alice approached cautiously.

"Jill? Jill, it's me…"

Jill's head slowly rolled up. Her eyes opened and flashed with Umbrella's logo. Her voice was cold, almost robotic. "Project Alice…why did you turn on Umbrella?"

Alice froze in place. "Jill, it's me. I've come to get you out of here."

"My orders are to remain in this facility."

"Your orders? You don't work for them. Jill, what's going on?"

"I am Security Chief Valentine. I work for Umbrella." She paused as new orders came through. She stood and pulled a gun from her desk drawer. "I am to apprehend Project Alice."

Alice saw the gun in Jill's hand. She quickly spun in place and kicked it from Jill's hand. Jill gave her an emotionless, cold stare that made Alice shiver. What had they done to her? Alice retreated as Jill lunged towards her. The walls began to open, revealing an array of weapons. Jill grabbed a staff with blades on either side. Alice prepared her knives, trying to figure out how she could bring Jill back to her.

The fight commenced. Whenever Jill came at Alice, she blocked the blows with her blades. Jill got a few jabs in with the blades, and Alice had no choice but to defend herself. The last thing Alice wanted was to hurt Jill. It was killing her to fight her, and she hated to see the way the shallow cuts she'd given Jill were starting to bleed. Jill was showing no mercy, no humanity. She lunged forward and held Alice down on the floor, pressing her staff into Alice's shoulders.

"Jill, don't do this," Alice said. She saw the Umbrella logo plainly in Jill's eyes. "It's Alice. It's your Alice. Please come back to me." The logo briefly flickered like static on a screen. Alice realized then that Jill was still in there somewhere. Something was connecting her to Umbrella, perhaps the glowing device on her chest. Alice got the idea to pull the device off.

After Alice removed the device, she chucked it across the room. It shattered against the corner of Jill's desk. Jill let out a gasping breath and fell weakly on top of Alice. Alice moved the staff aside and gathered Jill into her arms. Jill breathed heavily, trying to piece together where she was. She felt Alice's arms around her and readily returned the embrace.

"Alice?" she asked.

"Yes. It's me. Is it you?" Alice asked.

Jill pulled back to gaze into Alice's eyes. Jill's eyes were clear and bright as she grinned. Without another word, Jill kissed Alice. Alice kissed her back, hard, pulling her in nearer. It was her Jill.

"I'm sorry, Alice. I'm sorry. I didn't mean to attack you," Jill apologized as she looked over Alice's wounds. "Are you okay? You're not badly hurt, are you?"

"I'm okay. We need to get Angie and get out. They'll be here any minute," Alice replied.

Jill nodded and quickly stole one more kiss. "Let's go. I know where she is."

They took weapons from Jill's collection and went into the hallway. The Umbrella troops were moving in. Jill was somewhat faint from the effects of the device, but she was able to hold her own against the troops. She moved with Alice to the laboratory floors where Angie was in a holding cell. They were just in time, as Umbrella was planning on eliminating Angie after completing their study of how the T-virus had helped her walk again.

Jill knew the codes to open the cell. When they opened it, Angie ran to embrace Alice. She was much taller than the last time Alice saw her. "Alice, you came for us."

"Of course I did. C'mon, we have to get out of here," Alice said as she returned Angie's hug.

They moved to the most reasonable exit, though they were met with heavy resistance. Alice and Jill shot down the Umbrella troops standing in their way. To conserve ammunition, they started breaking necks and using blades. Against the talents of Alice and Jill, the Umbrella soldiers didn't stand much of a chance.

Alice set explosive charges behind them. She wanted to shut down the facility permanently. They waited until they had reached the surface to detonate. Alice had a car waiting for them, a big Hummer that was somewhat reinforced, so they could survive the onslaught of Undead waiting for them. It was almost more difficult to get through the zombies than it was to escape, just given how outnumbered they were on the surface.

They drove away from the underground facility, heading westward. "I told Carlos I'd try to find him and L.J. after I got you back. The last time I heard from them was about six months ago. They were still in the country and heading west. I say we go west and see if we can find them."

"Six months? How long were we gone?" Jill asked, having lost time after being made security chief.

"Three years," Alice admitted.

Jill felt tears in her eyes. "You spent three years looking for us?"

"Yeah," Alice said. She looked over at Jill, feeling emotional as well. "You promised I wouldn't lose you. I wasn't going to let you break your promise."

Jill glanced back at Angie. "You might want to close your eyes for a second, Angie."

Angie covered her eyes as Jill leaned over to kiss Alice. Angie peeked through her fingers and saw them kissing and couldn't help smiling. They were adorable together, Angie thought.

Alice and Jill held hands as they drove westward. Finding Carlos and L.J. was going to be like finding a needle in a large, and very dangerous, haystack. Yet, Alice swore she'd try to find them, and she had made a promise to stay with the team. They were like a little family, and they needed to stick together.

They drove until they got out of New York. At that point, they needed to stop for the night. They found an old neighborhood that seemed mostly deserted. One of the houses had a storm cellar, so they decided to stay there. They found some canned goods in the house's kitchen and barricaded themselves in the storm cellar.

"Angie, you've grown up," Alice commented.

Angie smiled at that. "I have. You saved me, you know. They were about to liquidate me."

"What'd they do to you?" Alice asked.

"Studied me. The way the T-virus reacted in my body. How it made me stronger. They wanted to see if they could replicate that. I don't know if they ever did. I just know they were done with me. But I'm lucky to have friends who care enough to come back for me. What'd they do to you, Jill? I thought I saw you working for them."

Jill shivered. "They had me under their control, but Alice brought me back."

"By the way, if you'd rather I sleep in the house, I wouldn't mind," Angie commented with a suggestive smirk.

Alice and Jill both felt a blush on their cheeks. Alice waved Angie off. "It's too dangerous up there."

"All right," Angie agreed. She settled onto a blanket on one side of the cellar. "Just let me know if I need to plug my ears for a bit."

As Angie went to sleep, Alice and Jill settled on their side of the cellar. Alice couldn't resist whispering. "I call little spoon."

"You call it, huh? All right. I can't argue with that." Jill chuckled and held onto Alice. "Do you still have nightmares?"

Alice clung to Jill's arms, the ones she had missed for so long, and nodded. "Yeah. The same one. It hasn't changed. I lose everyone."

"But you got us back, right?" Jill muttered. She kissed Alice's neck. "I'll always find my way back to you."

"If I hadn't been with you at the border, Umbrella wouldn't have found you and taken you."

"No, Alice. We would have been taken either way. Umbrella wanted Angie too. They'd have come for her, and I'd have gone after her. So, you can't blame yourself. The only difference would have been that Angie would've been killed by Umbrella, and I'd still be working for them. You saved us. That's the truth."

Alice thought about it and then felt a bit better. "I'm so glad to have you back."

"I'm glad to have you back. I never stopped thinking about you, Alice. It's like you were always with me even when you weren't. Now that we're together again, we can pick up where we left off. Or where we had just started…"

"I'm looking forward to surviving the end of the world with you."

"Back at you, honey."