Resident Evil: Resurrection

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“Nnf.” Carlos squeezed his eyes shut and lifted his head slowly as the sunlight glaring in his face woke him. He rubbed at the sleep in his eyes for a moment before looking down at Alice, who was still nestled in his arms. A moment of pause drifted past as he stopped to stare at her, looking at her sleeping face. While resting like this, she seemed… at peace, almost happy. Her face held no tension or anxiety, her lips were relaxed and there was a calm about her that Carlos couldn’t say he’d ever seen before, either in the waking or unconscious states. Slowly he began to lean in, tempted to kiss those full, soft lips, but Alice groaned and he pulled away with an immediate silent rebuke for even thinking about what he was going to do. He was not on good ground with Alice after last night he was sure, and that aside he did not deserve to kiss a woman of such importance and in this place or her current condition. He was a monster, a beast in disguise – a Jekyll and Hyde creature of far worse proportions – and she was a woman trying to get through this hell on Earth and possibly save human beings as a species. The two were not meant to be a match; he was meant to die by her hand and she was to walk over him and the ocean of other bodies towards the salvation of this world.

He looked away then, trying to stare at anything except her, but when he turned his head and looked elsewhere, he found himself staring at their reflection in a large standing mirror, embraced together in the bed. Prickles rushed across his skin as he stared at the image they made together; Alice had peeled off her outer jacket and most of her weapons in the night, leaving her in a thin, ratty sleeveless shirt and pants, while Carlos was wearing his pants and black short sleeved shirt and the blankets from his bed wrapped around his shoulders. From the angle of the mirror, together they appeared to be nude in their embrace with bare arms and throats, and for something that was indeed so wrong, it looked so right. He found himself wishing they could be the couple in the mirror, still embracing after a night of uniting as lovers, but they were nothing of the sort and never would be, that had been assured last night.

Carefully he slipped out from beneath Alice, sliding his back along the headboard of the bed until he had one foot on the floor. Carlos placed her in the bed and wrapped the warm blankets around her before getting his second foot out of the bed and moving towards the door. Just as his fingertips brushed the doorknob, he heard the telltale deep inhale of a waking soul, followed by, “Carlos?”

“Bathroom,” he said quietly while turning and trying to give her what he hoped was a reassuring little smile.

Alice sat up and rubbed the hair out of her face, before looking around the room for a moment and remembering where she was and how she’d fallen asleep. She blinked then, quite clearly startled, and looked down at the bed she was in before up at Carlos again, in time to watch him leave and close the door behind him. She had slept! It wasn’t the restless black of the unconscious, it wasn’t the fever-dream state of the weary or sick - it had been actual rest that she’d experienced last night, after that initial horrible nightmare. She looked herself over, still trying to find some kind of trick or deception, still having a hard time believing that she’d slept soundly for the first time since she couldn’t remember when, but there was no other shoe dropping. She’d slept, she’d been comfortable and felt safe, and she…

She’d been in Carlos’ arms.

That was the difference, she realized. Alice had slept in all kinds of beds or lack thereof, she’d slept indoors and out, she’d slept in the same vicinity or bed as others, she’d held others or been held by them, and the results had always been similar. This time though, Carlos was the only factor that was different from the rest, and she had slept like she used to in the days before the T-Virus was part of her vocabulary.

Alice swung her bare feet out from under the blankets and over the edge of the bed, curling her toes against the thick shaggy carpet on the floor with a little smile playing on her face. She felt so… so good! It was unusual to wake feeling rested and calm, and even more so to feel this odd near giddiness twisting her insides as she thought about how she’d just spent the night embraced in bed with Carlos. No part of her was hearing wedding bells down the road anywhere but it still felt nice to have that human contact and experience these very human emotions she’d thought long dead. Her gaze lifted to the door as she strapped her weapons back on and got dressed in a hurry, and a quick smile flashed on her face as she laced her boots up tightly. She was going to go sneak in on Carlos in the bathroom and if he was in the shower, well… her mind was racing far beyond reality quite quickly, but regardless, Alice wanted to go peek in on him in the bathroom so they could delight in their bonding time together and forget the ugliness of last night.

Her steps were light as she strolled down the hallway. In a life that was a constant rain of shit, even something as simple as a good night’s sleep had boosted her spirits and rejuvenated her weary soul while it was at its lowest… though some little part of her was nagging that it wasn’t the sleep making her this way, it was who she had been with. A little smile tugged at the corners of her mouth as she reached out with one hand to push the bathroom door aside, but it swung open before she could reach it, and Carlos bolted past her with his gun out.

Immediately the dreamy air about her was shattered into a thousand pieces; Alice had her twin knives out and was thundering down the stairs right behind Carlos with an all business grim stare upon her face as he swept the main living area and she went to the other rooms to do the same. Each of them cleared one room after another before Alice and Carlos met up in front of the couch together; she holstered her weapons and looked at the blanket strewn across the furniture with bits of rice and sausage skins on it. “Hung is gone,” she said slowly, while looking up at Carlos, waiting for him to finish that sentence and explain to her why it was such a big deal if they had one less person to worry about, or why he felt the need to sweep the house on full alert.

“He has the case,” Carlos bit out, his voice loaded with dark connotations.

A chill of horror streaked through Alice’s spine as she ran for the front door, throwing it open and looking outside. “Fuck!” she barked, pulling out her rifle and blowing the heads off the two undead struggling to climb their way up the stairs but slipping on the ice slicking each step.

She could feel Carlos standing behind her, but his hand on her shoulder told her that the chillingly grim expression she’d seen etched into his features last night wouldn’t be there right now if she turned around. “Any tracks he might have made in the snow were obliterated by these bastards,” he ground out.

“There will be more,” Alice countered. Neither of them had to declare that this meant they were leaving; it was unspoken and immediately acknowledged.

The happy atmosphere was entirely gone as Carlos gathered weapons and rations, and Alice gathered tools and supplies. They met back downstairs in under five minutes, having long ago learned how to pack in a flash and leave the unnecessary. Together they hurried to the truck, but as soon as it was loaded and Alice had gotten up into the driver’s seat, Carlos pushed her door closed and took a step back.

“What are you doing?” she asked impatiently. “Get in.” When she took a better look at his face, she saw the dead set determined stare he was giving her and something in her stomach churned uncomfortably. “Carlos?” she asked, barely a whisper.

He shook his head slowly, denying her request. “The case is gone, Alice,” he said in what sounded like a brave voice, even though the disquiet was plain in his eyes, “You know what I will become in a matter of hours, or at most a day or two.”

“We can still get it!” she urged. “He can’t be far, we will find him!”

He did not answer.

“We don’t need it!” Alice added, panic rising. “I’ll just… cut my arm, bleed a little into a cup or something, and you can drink it, and…” Her voice died away as she stared at him, his form unmoving, his feet planted firmly in the snow. Alice’s throat tightened. “Carlos,” she said in a strangled, pleading whisper. “Don’t do this.”

Still he did not answer.

The distant groan of an approaching swarm of undead echoed in the mountains, and Alice reached along the seat beside her. “Please Carlos.” She was begging now.

“I would rather die by your hand than at theirs… again,” he finally replied. “And I would much rather die by your hand than return to being one of them.” Carlos unfastened his vest, letting it drop into the snow and leaving him with only his shirt to protect him against the biting cold… or hot bullets. “I said you would be the one to do it and I knew it would come eventually but I had been hoping it would have been a while off still. Alice, please, you know what has to be done.” He turned his palms forward and spread his arms out wide, making himself a large target. “All I ask is that you lie to me before you do it. Tell me something good.”

“Carlos,” Alice said in a trembling voice as she lifted her rifle off the seat and propped it against the truck door, taking aim. She knew there was no arguing or pleading with him at this point. “I…”

“It’s alright,” he assured quietly, while closing his eyes. “I want you to do it. Thank you for the time we shared together, I enjoyed it very much. Please do not worry about me, you will be ending my suffering and ensuring I don’t become one of them, carrying out my wishes. Goodbye, Alice.”

Hot tears streaked down her cheeks as she closed one eye and took steady aim; the worst possible thing she could do right now was miss her mark and cause him terrible suffering instead of ending this quickly. “Carlos. I love you.”

There had been no farewell kiss this time. That was too bad. Even though his heart was pounding in his chest, he kept his arms out wide and his expression calm and brave, trying to think about pleasant things and not the rifle he had heard her cocking while he said his goodbye. Those last three words she said, though, they caught him by complete surprise. His eyes opened wide with shock at her words just in time to see her pull the trigger with a shot that echoed over every mountain peak.


That was… a good lie.


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Don't worry, this isn't the end.
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