Resident Evil: Resurrection

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Their initial embraces and attempts at chopped conversation while trying to hash out everything that had happened was interrupted by the first groan of many as they were approached by creatures that had once been men and women visiting the park - or fleeing to it during a time of desperation - as well as the park rangers. Together, and now that they didn't have to try and protect one another's useless bodies, the two of them wiped out the small swarm without much struggle, but by the end of it Carlos was left panting and leaning against the truck. "It's been so long," he said quietly, before running his hand through his hair, pushing it out of his face.



"Since what?" Alice asked, all business now that she'd been reminded that they didn't have time to play around here. They were in the middle of a valley, enclosed in mountains, and possibly in one of the worst strategic points she could think of, easily surrounded should more come after being attracted by the noise or the choking scent of blood on the wind.



He glanced at her for a moment, not sure if he should say anything, but decided that to hold back would be pointless since really, she could dip into his mind if she wanted to. "Since the last time you gave me a boost," he said, trying to phrase it nicely.



Those clear eyes blinked with surprise before Alice turned her head to look at her companion. "You... you need more?" she asked.



Carlos nodded. "I'm not... done yet." It was an uncomfortable subject, but he could still feel the urges in him. They were nowhere near what they had been back when he was a mindless beast that craved only to do harm and consume living flesh and blood, but they were still there. "That, and my wounds need further healing. I'm not a third what I used to be yet." That was a lie; he wasn't even an eighth of what he used to be, he never would have been winded after such a short amount of time doing so little as to stand and shuffle around here and there while shooting into the distance.



The accusing or disgusted stares he'd been anticipating did not come. Alice nodded, opened the truck door and pulled out that familiar metal case, and Carlos found himself remembering that this was not just anybody… this was Alice; the two of them did not judge each other in such ways, they were accepting and cemented together by all the horrors they’d gone through together. She began to work at filling the vial, but didn't stop at one; instead, she loaded one after another after another, until all six in the case were full, and she handed the gun to Carlos, looking only a little paler for the job.



"One at a time," she said, though it sounded almost like she was asking him not to rather than telling him. "Those are for... for just in case." In case they were somehow parted again. She watched him load one of the vials and stared as he pulled the trigger. Carlos winced but that was it; he seemed relieved when he was putting the gun away and locking the case. "Does it... hurt?" she asked quietly.



"No," he lied again, keeping his rocky exterior firmly in place. He didn't even know which 'it' she was referring to but really, it didn't matter. It didn't hurt was the answer and that was that. "Do you hurt anywhere?"



"My head," Alice replied simply enough. She somehow doubted that her headache compared at all to what he was feeling; it had felt like ten hangovers swirled into one when she'd woken up from the exact same state he'd been in, and she had screamed and thrashed. He was keeping composed but there were little telltale signs that he was in agony, particularly the way he kept himself facing away from the sun or in the shade at all times. "It's nothing major. I'll drive; we need to get on the road. Here."



She tossed two cans and a bottle of water at him before walking around to the other side of the truck and getting in. It was not lost on Carlos that she had given him a tin of sardines and some kind of canned fruit; these were the truffles of the canned food world where healthy foods were rare and protein was rarest. As he got into the truck and slumped down into the passenger seat, he opened the can of sardines and stared at the fish for a moment before glancing at Alice as she started up the truck.



I would be happy if you ate it all Carlos.



That Alice was gone. It seemed as though every time he was parted from her, when they were reunited, the Alice he returned to was different from the one he had left... sadder, angrier, more detached. The way she had spoken to him when he was a mindless killing monster was entirely free of fears, masks or pretension, because he had been exactly that: mindless. Here and now, she was a woman further ravaged by anguish, but on top of that she wasn't speaking to a creature that could only groan or call her name, this one could make judgments and even a single look of contempt would cut away at her confidence. The easy camaraderie they'd felt together while reunited at Claire's caravan was still there, just... not quite as easy as it had once been. Carlos decided then that he wanted at very least to have that camaraderie back. "First things first," he said in a playful tone while putting his feet up on the sandy dashboard and leaning back in his seat, scratching the side of his face. "I need a razor, a bar of soap and an ice cream pail full of water." The uneasy smile that broke out on her face was slow at first, but by the time it reached her eyes it had blossomed into a full smile and her shoulders had lost just a little of their tension. There, Carlos thought confidently, that was a start.



She apparently took him very seriously, however; amidst the banter and casual talking in the car between long silences as they each fell to memories of the recent past and the horrors of their lives as they were prone to doing, he noticed that the signs were starting to tell them they were in California and approaching a city. "Is there something we're after?" he sought carefully, wanting to prepare himself if they were about to walk into a world of shit and knowing that at very least Alice would answer this frankly. They had supplies to last a long while so he couldn't imagine what they were doing going into a city unless there was a mission on her mind.



"Razor, soap, ice cream pail," Alice quoted back at him with a smirk before turning onto an off ramp that lead into the city.



Half of him wanted to laugh but the other half wanted to scream. She's testing me, he realized, as the truck sped on down pavement, leaving their journey quieter within the cab. During those moments while she'd been inside his mind, he'd felt little gleaned parts of hers, too. He knew without her telling him that there were dozens of clones of her walking the face of this country, training and preparing themselves for a set date upon which they would go after Umbrella. He also knew that she thought little of the ones that were going to die in the process, clones too weak to serve much useful purpose other than act as food for the starving masses of the murderous infected. Surely she understood that he was becoming like her more with every transfusion, so therefore this was most certainly a test for him. He could resurrect like Alice... he could create death with his mind like her as well, though not nearly to the degree she could or with such precision and control over it. Now... now they found out if he could survive like her as well, he supposed.



It was hard to accept the thought that she would be using him in such a way, purely like a commander testing out his soldiers, but in that exact mindset the STARS member in him understood perfectly why she would do such a thing and commended her strength for it in the face of their friendship. Carlos felt his tension rise as he stopped paying attention to the road and instead looked down at his bare arm, where he began to pick away at small remaining bits of burnt flesh and he smoothed his fingers over fully healed skin. He could feel her blood coursing through him, healing him, drowning that call to bite down into her flesh and consume her body whole even deeper into his mind. What worried him was the concern that perhaps he would be dependant upon her blood from now on. What if he went a month without it, a year, two years? Would he become one of those things again, or possibly something worse? Would he force her to go through the agony of shooting him between the eyes for real? No, he wouldn't let it come to that. If he felt the urges coming back and his body reverting into one of those monsters again, he would do the honorable thing first and put that hot bullet between his own eyes so Alice didn't have to. She was quite possibly the only chance this world stood at surviving extinction, and he refused to stand in her way or become a stumbling block - Carlos wanted to be a stepping stone instead. He lifted his head and took a breath to inform her of this, but started when something smacked against his forehead.



"Razors," Alice said playfully before also tossing a bar of soap at him, which he managed to catch now that he wasn't enveloped in his own world deep in thought. "Soap. You can use one of your empty cans for a bucket, I'm done searching that place." The black, sludgy blood and bits of entrails and fragmented skull – he could identify fragmented skull and brain matter without even trying now – spattered across her clothing was evidence enough of what she’d gone through to get these supplies. She climbed back into the cab and paused as she caught the expression on his face. "Are you going to tell me that they're not the right brand?" she asked with just a little testiness in her voice, mostly playing but partially not.



When the hell had they stopped? When had she gotten out of the car? Carlos looked around the dry, dusty little pit stop of a town, before over to Alice once more. What had happened to her testing him, and making sure he was good enough to serve her purpose, and... "They're fine," he carped out intelligently, while staring at her with an awkward tilt to his head.



Alice smiled then and reached out, flicking him on the forehead. "The dark brooding thing looks good on you and all, but you make for poor company when you're miles away from me even though you're sitting next to me. Where did you go?"



His shoulders slumped and he leaned back in his seat, staring into her familiar eyes and finding something old rekindled there. Carlos relaxed; he had his friend back, or at least some of her, and the Alice he'd once known wasn't completely dead, she'd just needed some time after the shock of his resurrection to bring that part of her back to life. "Absolutely nowhere," he said as the truck started off and they rumbled round the parking lot once to go back the way they'd come. "Any plans for where we make camp?"



She pointed up at the nearby hills. "It's easier to guard our campsite from the top of a mountain where they have to struggle to get up than from the bottom of a valley where inertia helps them run faster towards us. Plus, there were brochures for vacation cabins up there, with individual water wells and good hunting. We could actually bathe, and have something fresh cooked for dinner."



Those thoughts made Carlos' mouth water, though the baser male part of him had perked its ears up at the thought of Alice taking a bath. He shook that off, though he could have sworn he'd seen a guilty little glance from her as she spoke about bathing as well, but if it had been there before it was gone now. That momentary little awkward spark between them disappeared as Carlos cleared his throat and examined the package of razor blades. "Oh good," he said congenially, "These only expired two years ago. Lucky me." He caught the smirk on her face and then caught her eyes; when their gazes locked, Carlos smirked right in return and he watched curiously as relief seemed to fill Alice's eyes, like something she'd lost had been returned to her.









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