Aurora couldn't remember the last time she had felt real pain. The woman had become accustomed to the dull pain that death had brought, she had welcomed it like an old friend. Pain was just another senseless emotion that betrayed her, she pushed it away with the rest.
The fire engulfed her body like a blanket, she could feel her skin blister and start to crack. Dry, painful screams failed to leave her throat as the horde came closer to the fallen helicopter. Aurora couldn't more but she was aware of the heat melting her skin, and the pain making her beg for death that never came.
Moment by moment went by and Aurora knew that it was the end. Her painful, pitiful end. This was her punishment? It almost didn't seem fitting, Aurora always had this morbid thought that it would be Alice that would have finally killed her, not some shitty helicopter.
Mangled hands broke through the raging fire and tried to grab at whatever was inside. Aurora couldn't move, nor could she scream as the hands tore, and ripped and pulled at her skin until they got bored. And by the end, when the fire had burnt itself out and the horde had went back to towards the prison, Aurora was nothing but a pile of lifeless mangled flesh and bones.
~~~
Alice would have laughed at the irony of her sleeping in a prison cell. It was almost fitting, it would have been better to see Aurora caged up in one of them, then it would have been perfect.
The night was restless, Alice's mind was on hyper-drive and wouldn't stop thinking of all the worse case senario's. And then when sleep finally came, it only brought nightmares.
And she could hear everything too, it was making her more paranoid then she was before. The survivor was tired, and couldn't think straight. Alice would hate to admit it, but she felt more at easy with Aurora's presence. When the other woman was around, she felt safer knowing Aurora would have her back. But this wasn't one of those times.
But there was a silver lining to the whole ordeal; the prison had working showers. Okay, granted they were cold as fuck but it was still flowing water to cleanse herself, right?
Luther had just stepped out of the showers, and Alice was about to start undressing when something made a loud noise, almost as if someone punched the tiles on the wall.
Alice grabbed the Magnum from the holster that was hanging on a shower head, and glanced around for the source of the noise, but she didn't see anything.
"Luther?"She called cautiously, maybe be forgot something?"Luther?"
The entire room was quiet, suspiciously so. The woman slowly approached the other side of the room with her magnum gripped in her hands. She scanned the room, but didn't see anything except a rack of towels. They seemed too... casually placed, and for some reason red bells went off in Alice's head.
Someone was watching her.
In one quick movement, Alice ripped the towels from the rack and revealed Wendell behind them. Alice's jaw clenched in fury, she was going to kill him, the fucking pervert.
Wendell's eyes widened comically as he raised his hands in defense"Take it easy, hunny"He eyed the large gun pointed at him. She wasn't going to shoot him, was she?
Alice's eyes went ablaze with anger"Move"She told him with a raised, furious voice that rang through the hollow showers. It would have taken so little effort to shoot him, just one movement of the finger...
The Peeping Tom stood and tried to walk around Alice with his hands still in the air"Okay. I'll just..."He stumbled over his words as the gun followed him"-just be on my way"
Alice reached out and roughly grabbed him by the collar of his dirty green shirt. He hadn't been going fast enough, in fact he couldn't have been going slower. Alice dragged him towards the door with the barrel of her gun pressed under his chin, daring him to struggle.
"Okay! Okay, take it easy"Wendell cried out, pitifully. She was a lot stronger then she looked, and ready to kill him without a care. Maybe this wasn't such a good idea, after all there was always Crystal.
Against her better judgment, Alice pushed him towards the door and kept her gun pointed at him"Get out of my sight"She told him in a low, menacing voice. Wendell nodded, but then suddenly went still and pale as he looked over Alice's shoulder.
She saw the reflection in his eye, and spun around just as the mandibles started to open in the infected's mouth. Alice pulled the trigger and wasted no time as she turned to her left, shooting another infected square in the head while he was running at her, he stumbled and feel at her feet.
The Ex-Umbrella agent turned back to Wendell but could do nothing but watch as in horror as he was pulled down a hole in the ground. How long had that been there?!
There had been one mindless zombie left. Alice barely raised her gun when a flash of black knocked into the infected, brutally ripping it apart, and letting the disassembled zombie fall in pieces around them.
Alice couldn't speak, couldn't comprehend who was in front of her. All words escaped her and she was left gaping like a fish out of water.
There was a single, broken chuckle"Need a hand?"The infected hand was waved in the air playfully. Alice wasn't fast enough to catch Aurora before she felt against the tiles.
~~~
"This is impossible"Crystal shrieked, pointing out the painfully obvious.
Alice didn't look away from Aurora's body, that they had set down in the almost bare infirmary. The presumably dead woman hadn't moved since she fell.
Aurora's clothes were almost non-existent. They had looked as if they had been ripped off her body, and that would explain the fresh scars that covered her. They looked like someone had clawed at every inch of her body, from her shoulder's down.
She was covered in dirt, maybe from climbing from the whole. Dried blood was painted on her, it was probably her own. Alice just couldn't bring herself to a conclusion, how had Aurora survived?
"Nothing's really impossible anymore, is it?"Alice didn't want to go into details. She wasn't interested in getting to know these people, and the less they knew the better. What would she say anyways? Aurora was infected with a strain of the virus? They'd kill her, Alice was surprised they hadn't tried yet.
Luther stepped up"Is she infected?"He would be the civil one here. Here was their leader
Alice stepped closer to the bed. She had already examined the woman's scars and wounds, and it didn't seem like anything was wrong. They were healed, and Aurora wasn't any less infected then she was before, however the scars were going to stay and Aurora was just going to love that.
Alice sighed to herself. I'm never going to hear the end of it.
"No"Alice spoke up after a moment.
"You're joking, right?"Bennett cried out"We saw that fucking plane go up in flames! She wasn't going to survive that or the zombies surrounding it. We should get rid of it, now!"
Claire pushed herself off the wall she had been watching this unfold from"Over your dead body"She glared at the once producer"This doesn't involve you anyways. You have a giant hole in the ground, spurting zombies. Go deal with that"The red head wasn't sure why, but she felt like this woman was an important link to her past, unlike Alice.
"She's alive, we checked her for bites"Claire told Luther, she was calmer but her voice still had an edge to it"Aurora would have turned by now, if she was bit"
Well, at least Claire's on my side. Alice ran a hand through her hair. She hadn't even gotten to shower because of all this. And after this, she wasn't sure she wanted to.
"Claire's right"Alice agreed"Aurora's alive, and no one is getting rid of her"She shot Bennett a dirty look"You'd have to go through me first, and I could kill all of you"
Bennett sulked off when Luther told him to leave. He left while muttering to himself about how they were all going to die because of these women. Kim had followed hot on his heels, secretly agreeing to himself.
Luther rolled his eyes at them, Bennett was always an issue, when he wasn't being a stuck-up asshole, he was just too impulsive. And as long as Kim followed, Bennett would continue to think of himself better then the rest of them.
Crystal stared at Luther, concern flooded her features. The basketball player was their unofficial leader, he had to make a choice"What do we do now?"She asked. Aside from the women, there was a hole in the showers that zombies had crawled out of.
Luther stepped away from the bed and shrugged his broad shoulders"Until she wakes up, we don't know where that whole goes. Angel and I will cover it up for now, until your friend wakes up"He turned to Alice"Sorry you couldn't use the showers"
"It's fine"She was use to being covered in grime at this point"I should clean her up"Alice sighed. It wouldn't be the first time for either of them.
"I'll find something for her to wear"Crystal offered, ready to step out of the infirmary.
Alice covered the smirk. Somehow, the idea of Aurora in a prison uniform made her feel a little better"Thank you"
~~~
It was bright, her eyes were burning. Hadn't she ripped them out already? Maybe I've died. Aurora hoped to herself, not ready for another round of torture. Some sort of afterlife would be nice, not Heaven of course.
"Aurora? Can you hear me?"Alice. That was Alice's voice, it was almost welcoming. So whatever this was, wasn't paradise, Alice was here too"That's good, keep moving your hand"
I'm moving my hand? Aurora didn't feel anything, it was all numb. Where was she? All she remembered were the zombies that kept coming, and feeling like her arm had been torn off... and then nothing. But now she was with Alice?
Alice had leaped away just in time as Aurora gained consciousness and sat up, narrowly missing each other's heads.
And then, there it was. All the pain came rushing back"Oh bloody fucking hell. What happened?"She moaned, her voice felt raw.
"Well-"
Aurora had looked down, her body was covered in make shift bandages. Except her chest, her bare chest. I'm naked? Why am I naked?"Why am I naked? Alice, what the fuck!"
Alice rolled her eyes as Aurora struggled to pull the thin sheet up her body, but the thin sheet didn't cover anything she hadn't already seen"Stop moving"Alice scolded"You're going to hurt yourself"
Aurora held the sheet with one hand, and gently held her side with the other. She pinched her eyes shut in pain. Alice was right, sudden movements were not her friend. Her entire side burned with pain"Okay, no move moving"She glanced around, they were in some sort of hospital? It was dirty, and almost empty aside from a few beds
"Where are we?"
"The prison"
It came back to Aurora. Alice had landed her plane on the roof of the prison safely, and then Aurora's helicopter broke down in the air and crashed. The fire, the zombies... the pain. Aurora winced again as another wave of pain hit her.
Alice gently grabbed Aurora's shoulder and pushed her back down, Aurora gave little resistance to laying down, Everything was sore"You're still injured"
"I'm not healing?"
"Not correctly"
Aurora didn't look down, she had already glanced at the scars that covered her body. There were a lot, but it made sense, she had been ripped apart"It's fine. I can work with it, I'm as alive as ever"
Alice nodded, but she still couldn't wrap her head around it. Aurora was alive, she shouldn't be but she was alive. The woman's indestructible and you're letting your feelings in the way. Alice scolded herself.
Aurora blinked at the dark ceiling"Any surviver's?"
"Six other people. The leader was a basketball player, and the one who doesn't trust us was a movie producer. But it's nothing to worry about"Alice shrugged, purposly not mentioning Chris. They didn't need to talk about that just yet
"How long..."
"Two and a half days"
Aurora sighed deeply, a lot must have happened in two days"Get me some clothes? I have some explaining to do"
"You should rest"Alice argued. The woman couldn't sit up, how was she going to get up to do anything?
Aurora pushed herself on her elbows, covering the pain with a forced glare"You're not telling me something, obviously we don't have time for me to relax. Get me some clothes or I walk out, naked"