Chapter six:
Alice, Carlos, Claire, and Artemis opened fire on the approaching vehicles. While a few of the drivers were killed, they also shot out a few tires. The Umbrella troops had no choice but to stop and exit their vehicles. To conserve ammo, Alice drew her blades. Artemis followed suit. Together, they charged into the fire.
Artemis realized the choppers were going to be a problem. They had men shooting from above. She charged towards one chopper, using the hood of a car to get closer to them. She then fired the harpoon from the Slinger on her arm at the helicopter pilot. It broke through the glass and went into his chest. When she pulled, he stooped over the controls. The chopper lost control, slamming into the chopper beside it.
Alice was putting on a show of her own on the ground. She spun in a circle, slashing as she went. Her boot found the face of one soldier, causing him to fall backwards onto his fellow soldiers. They started to collapse like dominos. With them down, Claire and Carlos easily picked them off with perfectly placed head shots. It soon appeared that every troop was down.
Yet, one man wasn't entirely dead. He popped up behind Alice. Artemis jumped from the roof of the Umbrella vehicle, drew her dual blades, and sliced him into pieces like sushi. When the pieces fell, Artemis looked over at Alice. "You missed one."
Alice felt herself chuckle. "Let's look at their computers. If we can figure out where they came from, we should be able to find whoever opened the portal. Then—"
"They can tell us where the gateway is so that we can close it," Artemis finished.
"Exactly," Alice said. "You know, Artemis, it's like we're on the same wavelength."
"Funny, isn't it?" Artemis played along.
After searching the vehicles, Carlos found a laptop computer. He opened it and tracked the origin of the message. "I've found it. We should take one of these cars. It's a bit of a drive."
"Let's do this," Alice and Artemis said in unison. They each laughed afterwards.
Carlos climbed behind the wheel of a black SUV. Alice sat up front with him while Claire sat in the back with Artemis. As they drove towards the coordinates of the Umbrella facility, Alice noticed a nasty scratch on Carlos' cheek. She instinctively reached over to inspect it, using her coat sleeve to gently blot the blood away. Artemis glanced over at Claire with raised eyebrows, prompting Claire to stifle a giggle.
"I feel asking if they want to pull over and have us step outside for a minute," Artemis whispered to Claire. "You'd think that two people with that much chemistry wouldn't waste it."
"I guess some people let the fear of losing someone hold them back from trying for something good," Claire whispered in return.
All their whispering had brought their faces closer together. When they realized how close they were, they immediately backed off. Artemis gulped. Claire was a gorgeous woman, as the Admiral had noticed. Yet, she still considered herself married despite the circumstances. Then again, she knew she'd never return to her reality. Even if she did, it had been years. Her wife had most likely found someone new, leaving Artemis no home to go to. She quite liked Claire Redfield's company, her toughness and underlying tenderness. But what did Claire think of her?
Claire wasn't a girl's girl…normally. She had been attracted to Alice when they met, but that crush was squashed the second she saw Carlos look at Alice with such fondness. There was also something about Alice, an edge perhaps, that wasn't Claire's cup of tea. Artemis didn't have that same edge. She was softer and funnier, a version of Alice that hadn't been broken by Umbrella. Claire appreciated it. She appreciated the age on Artemis too, thinking of her like a whiskey that had been sitting protected in a bottle for just the right amount of time. But she was hesitant. She'd lost so many. Even if she hadn't, she'd never thought of women in such a way before. It was as exhilarating as it was terrifying.
"We should be coming up on the facility any minute," Carlos eventually announced.
Alice pointed at some high rocks. "We should try for up there. See if we can get a better vantage point."
They found a place to park and then scaled the rocks. They stretched out on their stomachs, sharing a pair of binoculars they'd found in the Umbrella vehicle. The facility below was an old building surrounded by high fences—and hundreds of undead. It was the first time Artemis had seen what their reality had come to. It nearly brought her to tears.
"That's what this planet has become? Everyone is walking around like that, no soul, no memory…just monsters?" Artemis asked.
Claire sighed. "Yeah. This is our world."
"Damn," Artemis mumbled. "I never thought I'd miss the creatures of the other world."
"We're going to have to think of a way to get through all that," Carlos said.
Alice looked again through the binoculars at the undead. "It's a good thing we like a challenge."
"In the world I just came from, we had a saying: To kill a monster, you need a monster. I say we use them against each other," Artemis suggested.
Claire looked over curiously. "How do we do that?"
"We catch a few. Strap explosives to them. Have them walk back to their friends. Then, boom! Like suicide bombers but ones that don't know what they're doing," Artemis suggested.
Alice smirked. "It's not bad. Except for the part when we're supposed to catch the zombies."
"I've caught bigger monsters. It's just about knowing how to set a decent trap and having the right bait," Artemis said. She saw the unsure glances being exchanged by the others and put a hand in the air. "I'll be the bait. I don't mind. My friend used me as bait on more than one occasion, and he never minded. In fact, he thought it was hilarious."
"I saw some ropes in the back of the vehicle," Carlos said.
"We do have the explosives," Alice went on.
Claire glanced at Artemis. "You're either insane or brilliant. I can't decide which."
"We'll go with both. Come on. The sun is getting low. We won't have much time to pull this off," Artemis said.
The team got to work creating a trap for the undead. Artemis shed everything, even her armor, down to her tattered cargo pants and tank. She did a few stretches to ensure she'd be ready to run. Claire walked up to her with a handgun. "You'll want to take at least this."
"All right. If you insist," Artemis agreed.
Claire nodded at that. "I do. Be careful. They aren't very fast, but one bite or scratch will get you infected."
"I'll be fine," Artemis promised.
"I hope so," Claire returned.
They smiled at each other, and it was Alice and Carlos' turn to exchange glances. Artemis gestured to a few stragglers nearby. "I'll go after the ones on the edge. I'll try to get more than one to follow me so we can catch a bunch at once."
"We'll be ready," Alice returned. "Good luck, Artemis."
Artemis sighed and started jogging towards the undead, quietly singing to calm her nerves. "They say that in the Army the coffee's mighty fine…"
As she took off, Claire stood at the ready with Carlos and Alice. She shook her head. "That woman is crazy."
"She's unorthodox," Carlos said. He smirked at Claire, playfully bumping her shoulder. "I think you could be good friends."
Claire ignored the tinge on her cheeks. "She has a wife in her reality."
"In her reality. But we're in a different world," Carlos went on.
Claire pulled her sunglasses down so that Carlos would see her glare. "Do you want to start this right now?"
Artemis had gotten the attention of a small group of undead. She was running at top speed back to the trap with the group in pursuit. As they got closer, Artemis waved her arm to signal Alice, Carlos, and Claire to be ready. They prepared to grab the ropes, waiting until Artemis had made it safely through. When the undead followed, they were ensnared in the impromptu net.
"Avoid their mouths," Alice instructed as they readied their explosives.
With a degree of difficulty, they began strapping explosives to the undead. When they were all rigged to blow, everyone except for Alice retreated to their vehicle. Alice stayed back to release the ropes holding them in place. Once they were freed, she bolted to the vehicle. They drove off, towards the facility, and then kept going.
They moved to a safe distance, one where they could keep an eye on the situation. Using their binoculars, they watched as the confused suicide bombers gave up looking for them. They soon wandered back to their fellow zombies, the bright red dots of the explosive vests shining.
"Oh yeah. They're mixed in there good. We should blow them now," Artemis suggested.
Alice looked next. "Perfect. Carlos, hit the switch."
"You got it," Carlos agreed.
He hit the switch. The suicide bombers went off like a chain, creating a massive reaction. Though not all the zombies were killed, they had gone from a few hundred to maybe a couple dozen. They could easily handle the remnants on their own. When Artemis saw her plan had worked, she gave everyone a high-five.
"To kill a monster, you need a monster," Artemis repeated.
Alice nodded at the facility. "Wait until you meet the monster that lives in there. You think you've seen evil? You haven't seen anything yet."
