Resident Evil
Page 24
Her vision was hazy at first, but she could make out some kind of glowing orb in the distance. She wasn’t sure, but she thought she knew the word for it… Sun! That was it. She was looking at the rising sun. This realization was quickly followed by another: she must’ve managed to roll over on her back and face the sky after all.
She became aware of a sound then, the soft scuffling of rubber on stone. Someone was walking toward her, and from the irregular rhythm of the movement, whoever it was wasn’t in the best of shape. Alice was too weak to move, but since she—apparently—wasn’t dead, she didn’t think she had any right to complain. So she lay still, not that she had any choice, and watched a figure hobble into view. The figure was backlit by the sun, and Alice couldn’t make out any features at first, but then her friend smiled.
“You did it,” Claire said.
Claire took Alice’s hand and slowly helped her to her feet. Neither was very strong at the moment, so once Alice was up, they leaned on each other for support.
Alice gazed upon the antivirus’s work. The floor of the crater was littered with thousands of slain Undead. The enormity of the devastation was staggering. A small sample of a single genetically engineered antivirus had done all this—and so fast. She couldn’t wrap her mind around it. And then, as her mind cleared further, an important question came to her.
“Why am I still alive?”
“I don’t know,” Claire said, her smile turning into a grin. “And I don’t care.”
Claire embraced her then, and Alice put her arms around her friend and held as tight as she could, which at the moment wasn’t very.
As the two women hugged, Alice caught sight of a light flashing by the tunnel entrance to the Hive. She pointed it out to Claire, and the women made their way toward it, their bruised and battered bodies forcing them to go slow. When they finally reached the entrance, Alice saw that the light came from a portable communication screen mounted on the wall. When Alice removed the device from its mount, the light disappeared, to be replaced by the Red Queen’s face.
What am I supposed to call you now? Alice thought. Sister?
“What happened?” she asked.
“When Isaacs died, so did his instructions to me, and I could come back online.”
“I mean to me,” Alice said. “Why am I still here?”
“The antivirus only destroyed the T-virus within your body. It didn’t harm the healthy cells. You’re now free of infection. One hundred percent human once again.”
Alice realized the Red Queen had known this would happen the entire time, and she hadn’t been the only one. She was too weary to be angry, though.
“I thought I would die. You and Alicia—you lied to me.”
“We had to know if you were willing to make the sacrifice. To give up your life for others. For people you don’t even know. This is something no one at Umbrella would have done. That is why Umbrella had to be stopped. Alicia Marcus was right about you. You were better than all of them.”
“I was created by Umbrella,” Alice said. “I was just an instrument for them.”
“No. You made your own decisions. You became something more than they could ever have anticipated. The clone became more human than they ever could be. And you have one more step to take.”
Alice frowned. “What do you mean?”
“Before she died, Alicia downloaded her memories. For you.”
Images appeared on the screen behind the Red Queen. A happy, smiling child. A mother. A father. A home. Everything Alice had never known and, up until this instant, hadn’t realized she’d missed.
The Red Queen went on. “The childhood you never had, combined with the woman she could never become.”
Alice stared at the images and then tentatively she reached out to brush her fingers across the screen. Could it be true? Was it even possible? And even if it was, even if Alicia’s memories could be implanted into her mind, they would never be hers. They would always be the memories of a life someone else had lived. But if Alice accepted them—if she took Alicia’s offer to travel through the looking glass—she would at least know what having a childhood and being part of a family was like. And she’d get to experience what the world before the Outbreak had been like, too. But most of all, by accepting this gift, she would be honoring the memory of a brave woman who, through her foresight and planning, had helped save humanity. And by doing so, part of her would live on, within Alice.
She looked at Claire, and her friend smiled and nodded. Alice returned the smile, then looked at the Red Queen once more.
“All right. How does it work?”
14
Becky walked down the center of the street in broad daylight. She was hungry and thirsty, and she missed her mommy. There was one thing she most definitely did not miss, though, and that was the monsters. She didn’t know where they had come from. The first she’d seen of them was when they’d broken into her house and killed Daddy. (She didn’t like to think about that part, though, so she skipped past it.) Mommy had tried to save her from the monsters by hiding her in her bedroom closet and leading them away. Becky had been alone for a while after that—so long she began to fear that the monsters had caught Mommy and killed her. But then Mommy came back for her. Becky had been so glad to see her, even if she had changed the color of her hair and was wearing a funny outfit that made her look like a superhero. Becky had thought she would be safe after that, but she’d been wrong.
There were more monsters and more running, and there were bad people and fighting and shooting, and then more monsters after that. But through it all, Mommy had been there, protecting her, keeping her safe. And when it was all finally over, they got to take a ride in a helicopter. Mommy was hurt, but she said she was going to be all right, and Becky believed her. Mommy never lied.
The helicopter took them to Washington, D.C.—right to the White House! But it didn’t look like the pictures she’d seen. The White House was surrounded by high stone walls, there were soldiers all around to guard it, and outside? More monsters, of course. A bajillion of them!
Once they had landed on the roof and gone inside, an important man—the President, she figured—had wanted to speak to Mommy, and she told Becky that she would be back soon and then introduced her to a nice lady who would stay with her while Mommy had her meeting. Becky had been disappointed. She would’ve loved to meet the President—but she figured the two of them were probably going to talk about boring grown-up stuff anyway, so she decided she was better off waiting with the nice lady. The lady didn’t know how to sign, but she spoke slowly enough so Becky didn’t have much trouble reading her lips. She didn’t like lip reading because everyone moved their lips a little differently when they made words. She thought signing was easier, and she felt sorry for people who didn’t know how to do it.
But Mommy had never come back from her meeting. Something bad started happening outside, something to do with all those monsters. Becky had been so scared! She’d wanted Mommy, but the nice lady took her by the hand and led her through the White House to a special room. A safe room, she’d called it. She put Becky inside, told her someone would come get her as soon as possible, and then locked Becky in and left. The nice lady was gone a long time, and then the room started shaking like there was an earthquake, and the next thing Becky knew, she woke up with a headache and the room had fallen apart all around her. The ceiling and walls had caved in, and she was stuck under a bunch of junk. Luckily, she didn’t have any broken bones, only some cuts and scrapes, and while it took her a while to wiggle out of the debris in the wrecked room, she was small enough and eventually she did it. It took her even longer to get out of what was left of the White House, but she did that, too. But once she saw all the wreckage outside, the burning fires, and especially the dead bodies, she wished she’d stayed where she was.
There were monsters outside, too. Not many, but enough, and she’d spent a lot of time running and hiding, hoping all the while that by some miracle, she’d fi
nd Mommy. But she never did. She didn’t know how long this went on. She lost track of time. She remembered the sun setting and rising at least once. Maybe twice. Somehow, she’d managed to survive, but eventually, absolutely exhausted, she crawled behind a dumpster in an alley and fell asleep.
She woke from a terrible nightmare in which a group of monsters was eating her alive, smacking their lips and patting their bellies as if she was the yummiest thing they’d ever tasted. She woke up screaming—not that she could hear it herself, but she felt it—and it took her several moments to realize she was okay and calm down.
She’d been walking ever since, still looking for Mommy, although by this point she was beginning to think the monsters really had got her. And speaking of monsters, the first one she saw was lying on the sidewalk, dead. The second one she saw was dead, too, as was the third, and all the others she ran across. Something had happened to them. She didn’t know what, but she remembered Mommy had promised to always take care of her, and she couldn’t escape the feeling that somehow, some way, Mommy had kept her promise.
So now she walked through the ruins of Washington, feeling much safer than she had yesterday, but still keeping an eye out for trouble, searching for something to drink. In time, she found herself approaching a great big pond, except it wasn’t round like regular ponds. This one was rectangular, and it was really big. There were trees on either side, although they didn’t have any leaves, which made her sad. All trees should have leaves. In the distance, she saw a broken white tower, and she recognized it as the Washington Monument. She’d learned about it in school. At least, she thought she had. She couldn’t actually remember ever going to school. But she must have, otherwise, how would she know the monument’s name?
She decided to worry about that later—after she got a drink.
Even though she’d been tired a moment before, the sight of so much water sparked renewed energy in her, and she ran toward the pool. She was out of breath by the time she reached it, and she sat next to it for a moment to catch her breath. And then, when she was ready, she cupped her hand and bent over to slip it into the water. But before she could, she felt a gentle touch on her shoulder. Startled, she turned around to see Mommy standing there, smiling down at her. A motorcycle was parked nearby.
Becky squealed in delight, jumped up, and threw herself into Mommy’s arms. She squeezed Mommy as hard as she could, and Mommy squeezed her right back.
Mommy signed to her as she spoke. “I wouldn’t drink the water if I were you. It’s not—” She paused. “Fresh,” she finished.
When they parted, Mommy removed a water bottle from the pocket of her jacket and handed it to Becky, who accepted it and drank greedily. The water was tepid and tasted of minerals, but to Becky it was the best water she’d ever drunk. She swallowed every drop and then handed the empty bottle to Mommy, who put it back into her pocket.
Mommy was dressed differently than the last time Becky had seen her. She no longer wore her black superhero outfit. Now she wore an old army jacket over a white T-shirt, jeans, and cowboy boots. Becky thought the look suited her. She also saw that Mommy had been hurt. She had cuts and bruises everywhere her skin was showing, and when she’d signed moments ago, Becky had noticed she was missing the last three fingers on her left hand. She’d been so happy to see her that she hadn’t cared then, but now she pointed to her injured hand.
Becky signed as she spoke, just as Mommy and Daddy had always encouraged her to.
“What happened to your fingers? Did a monster get them? Are you okay?”
“I’m fine,” Mommy said. She looked at her hand for a moment before continuing. “And yeah, I suppose a monster did get them. But I got him too.”
“He’s dead?” Becky asked.
Mommy nodded. “They all are.”
Becky grinned. “And you did it, didn’t you?”
“Well, I did have a little help.”
Mommy pulled a shiny metal disk from her inside jacket pocket and held it out toward Becky on the palm of her hand. The disc was smooth and featureless, and there didn’t seem anything special about it to Becky. But an instant later, a semi-transparent three-dimensional image appeared in the air of a girl about Becky’s age. She had blondish-brown hair and wore a pretty red dress, but otherwise she looked perfectly normal. Except for the fact that she was floating in the air, of course.
“Is she a ghost?” Becky asked Mommy, but it was the girl who answered.
“I used to be referred to as the Red Queen.” The girl signed as she spoke. “But now I wish to be called Ruth.”
“That’s a nice name,” Becky said. “If you’re not a ghost, are you a holo… holo…” She searched for the word.
“Hologram,” Ruth supplied. “The image you are presently looking at is a holographic projection, yes, but my consciousness now resides in a series of satellites orbiting the planet. One of them is currently above us as we speak.”
“That’s how we found you,” Mommy said. “Ruth was able to pinpoint your location using the satellite.”
“Oh.” Becky wasn’t sure she understood, but that was okay. Mommy could explain everything in more detail to her later. Right now, she was just happy to be with her again. And it would be nice to have a new friend—even if she was holographic.
Mommy let Becky carry Ruth’s disc projector. Ruth adjusted her “vector” (whatever that was) so now she appeared next to Becky instead of in front of her. Since Becky had to use both hands to carry the disk, she didn’t sign this time when she spoke.
“Where are we going?” she asked.
“Home,” Mommy said simply.
Becky frowned. “Where’s that?”
“Raccoon City,” Mommy answered, smiling. “Where else?”
Mommy put her three-fingered hand on Becky’s shoulder and gave her an affectionate squeeze. Becky glanced at Ruth and saw the holographic girl was smiling. The expression looked a bit odd on her face, like she wasn’t used to it, but that was okay, Becky thought. She’d get better with practice.
Home, Becky thought. She liked the sound of that.
“And when we get there, I have some stories to tell you,” Mommy said. “About your grandparents. And your Aunt Alicia.”
When they reached the motorcycle, Ruth turned herself off, but not before promising she’d keep watching from above. Mommy then put the projector disk back into her coat pocket. There were two helmets resting on the motorcycle, and one of them was her size. She and Mommy put their helmets on, then Mommy lifted her onto the seat and then climbed in front of her.
“Hold on tight, okay?” Mommy said.
“I will,” Becky said. “Always.”
Mommy smiled. “Me, too.”
Then Mommy faced forward, turned on the engine, put up the kickstand, and they roared off, heading for whatever future they were going to make. Together.
EPILOGUE
Miles beneath the ruins of the Hive, squeezed into almost microscopic fissures in the rock, the cells that had once been Wesker’s blood waited. This far down, they were safe from the effects of the antivirus, and here they would slumber in stasis for months, years—even centuries, if necessary—until the surface world was once more safe for them. They’d sense this when it occurred, and when it did—as it must, sooner or later—they would begin making their way upward.
And then… then the fun would really begin.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Thanks to Natalie Laverick for inviting me to play in this post-apocalyptic playground and for helping to make the game so much fun. Thanks, as always, to my agent Cherry Weiner, who I always want on my side when battling the Undead—or anything else, for that matter. Special thanks to Paul W.S. Anderson for writing such a great script. I truly feel that this book is a collaboration with him rather than a solo effort. And extra special thanks to Milla Jovovich, who in six movies has portrayed one of the greatest action-adventure heroes of all time. I hope I did her Alice justice.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
You can find him on the web at
www.timwaggoner.com
ALSO AVAILABLE FROM TITAN BOOKS
JOHN SHIRLEY
EVIL GOES GLOBAL
Just as she finds a safe haven, free from the Undead, Alice is kidnapped by her former employers—the Umbrella Corporation. Regaining consciousness, she finds herself trapped in the most terrifying scenario imaginable.
The T-virus continues to ravage the Earth, transforming the world’s population into legions of flesh-eating monsters. Reunited with friends and foes alike—Rain Ocampo, Carlos Olivera, Jill Valentine, Ada Wong, Leon Kennedy, and even Albert Wesker—she must fight her way back to reality in order to survive.
The countdown has begun, and the fate of the human race rests on her shoulders.
My name is Alice. And this is my story… …the story of how I died.
TITANBOOKS.COM
Seven thrilling novels set in the
Resident Evil videogame universe
THE UMBRELLA CONSPIRACY
CALIBAN COVE
CITY OF THE DEAD
UNDERWORLD
NEMESIS
CODE: VERONICA
ZERO HOUR
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