Chapter Text
Returning to the Hive was supposed to be the end of my story… Final chapter, my ass. What does that make everything else? The epilogue?
My name is Alice, and Claire Redfield won’t let me rest.
Swamped with abandoned vehicles, Alice navigated I-80 leaning her motorcycle one way and then the other. It was mindless, the way she swerved to avoid the rusty reminders of a fallen civilization. Every car had a driver – once. Now they were headstones, the body they were attached to off wandering and causing problems for those still alive.
Behind her, a Humvee rumbled and turned just the same. It had a driver, too. Alice glanced into a mirror, comfortably numb at the sight of an armored vehicle with Umbrella’s logo stamped right on it. She had been running from those black beasts before. Hell, not long ago, she had been running behind its tank-like cousin – dragged by her wrists and used as bait. But there was nothing to fear from this driver.
Alice cleared her throat of road dust, and then spoke loud enough for her earpiece to pick up. “You know, you could’ve rode on the back of this bike with me.”
Claire’s response was full of self-assuredness. “You know I like my Hummers. Besides, it’s armored, and we’re going to need the space when we find the people in Manhattan.”
“But we’d get there faster if you were on my bike,” Alice argued. She was unwilling to let it die. She had been willing to let herself die for humanity, but strategy was always worth arguing.
“I’m not getting on that thing, Alice.” Claire’s tone was sharp, cutting to the bone of her new trust issues.
Alice fell silent. She too knew betrayal in the Hive, but now she had to wonder if Spence had done it for a true love of greed – or if he had simply been programed to unleash the T-virus. It was too much for her exhausted mind. Her focus had to be on Manhattan, on finding survivors, and on keeping Claire alive.
Claire apologized in the form of concern a few minutes later. “How’s your hand?”
“Great,” Alice lied. She waved her right hand at the blacked-out windshield.
“Your other hand.”
Alice’s blue eyes dropped from the road to her mutilation. The lasers had seared her wounds as quickly as it made them. It felt like her three fingers were still there, in a lot of pain, but still there – until Claire brought up the injury.
“It hurts,” she finally answered.
“I’m sorry.”
Alice said nothing as she weaved a path through burnt metal frames and melted tires.
An hour later, Alice’s com sparked to life with a voice that would probably never fail to startle her. “Alice,” the Red Queen chimed. The motorcycle beneath Alice jerked as it drove over a pothole. “The road is blocked ahead. In point three miles, I recommend you take exit 17-B. I have already found a clear path through the side streets that will get you back on I-80 in less than fifteen minutes.”
Claire wheezed with laughter. “That is the creepiest GPS…”
“You’re telling me,” Alice agreed. She looked up, knowing there were satellites she couldn’t see. “Thanks, Your Highness.”
“As I have said, there is no need to thank me. Umbrella’s resources are now yours. Together, we will-”
Alice’s face twitched as she cut in. “Bring humanity back from the brink of extinction. Yeah, I got it.” She’d done this song and dance with the White Queen, too. Somehow – no matter her allies and her gifts – it was never enough.
The highway exit took the pair of them to a truck stop. In the apocalypse, every building doubled as a mausoleum so long as its residents were dead or undead. Alice turned in at the gas station.
“Let’s stop here for the night,” she suggested.
“There are still thirty-seven minutes of daylight left,” the Red Queen calculated. “My thermal cameras can guide you after nightfall.”
“Pass,” Alice responded gruffly. She watched the Humvee roll to a stop beside her. “We need to rest or we’ll be no good to anyone we find.”
Claire stepped down from the over-sized vehicle. “Alice is right,” she told the A.I. “But you can use that fancy thermal vision and tell us if there’s anyone in there.” Claire pointed at the station.
It had already been hit hard by looters with windows smashed and shelving knocked to the floor. But there could still something salvageable inside. For all of Umbrella’s resources, food inside the Hive hadn’t survived. Wesker – and by extension, Alice – had destroyed it with the bomb she gave him to hold onto.
“Zero signs of life.”
Alice trudged forward, fatigue making lead blocks out of her feet. She stepped over glass, pushing open the gas station door and frowning when an old-fashioned bell dinged above her head. What would she have to do for a little peace and quiet? Die? She tried that.
Claire came in behind her and made the bell sound again. Alice reached for her pistol, thinking it was on her left hip, and gasped when her bandaged hand came into contact with a buckle on her empty holster.
“Alice!” Claire came running to her side.
Fumbling, she pulled the gun with her right hand. With Claire hovering right beside her, she aimed at the bell and fired. Claire jumped back in shock, but couldn’t get a word out between more shots. The gun was definitely louder but – unlike the bell – its resounding, chest-vibrating impact was comforting and familiar.
Alice fired until the bell the chimed its last. She collapsed to her knees, what was left of her hands shaking in her lap. Claire lowered herself next to the woman, and a second later, Alice felt fingertips brushing dark hair out of her face.
“Alice… Are you okay?” No answer came, but one wasn’t really needed. Claire helped Alice up. “Come on. Rest in the car, and I’ll find something for us.”
Claire got Alice into the back of the Humvee and patted her on the knee. Alice’s good hand snaked out and lightly held Claire by the wrist. Regret was etched into every line on Alice’s face.
“I’m tired, Claire. I don’t think I can keep doing this.”
Claire cocked her head. “You can. This is what you do. This is what we do.” Despite what the redhead said, she sounded just as tired. Slowly, she pulled out of Alice’s grasp. “It’s been a long day.”
Long didn’t cover the half of it, but Alice didn’t argue. She curled up along a line of seats and closed her eyes.
“I want a Mountain Dew,” Alice suddenly dead-panned. “And those little chocolate donuts.”
Claire chuckled. “I’ll see what I can find. Just rest.”
When the door shut, Alice partially sat up and watched Claire walk away. How could she not? She loved her. It was tough to say when the magnetism turned into something solid enough to sink Alice, but there was no doubt she was going down as one of the last women on Earth with a crush.
With Claire out of sight, Alice leaned back and sighed. Maybe it was the first time they’d met, where she could scrub sand from every part of her but not the feel of Claire’s damning gaze. Maybe it was rescuing Claire and helping the woman find herself again. Maybe it was the second Alice realized Claire was with someone else.