Burning Up

You Against Me

At the sight of that bright blue color, Rain's eyes widened. In an instant, she was back to fighting for freedom. "Hey, we already agreed to your bullshit! You don't gotta use all that!"

Alice's protective side flared up and she instinctively surged forward, only completing a single step before Cain's P-14 jabbed into her sternum. "Stay put," he ordered.

"I've read her file. Umbrella still has yet to understand her, and you think giving her another large dose of the virus is a good idea?" There was a slight waver to Alice's voice.

"New things cannot be learned unless you dare to tread unexplored territory, Project Alice."

A soldier loaded a vial into a jet injector and began to approach.

"Get offa me!" Rain made slight progress toward standing before being shoved back down with twice the force. The side of her face was pressed into the concrete. Her arms were twisted so that they were folded behind her back. "Get offa me, dammit!" She got one of her legs out from under herself and managed to turn partly onto her side, kicking at the shin of the guy holding the virus.

Completely thrown off balance, he fell. Glass shattered. There was a strong, bitter smell. The insects were inside her brain.

Cain let out a short sigh. "If you want the others to live," his weapon swept over where the others were restrained and on their knees, "you will comply."

Rain begrudgingly stilled. Alice could hear the panic seeping into her breathing and see it in her eyes, which were so dilated that the blue was no longer visible. They almost looked like their original color.

"...Rain—"

"If this is it for me, it is what it is," she cut in. "If you have to take me out, that's what you'll do, you got that?"

'I don't.' Alice refused. There wouldn't be a need to, anyway. She would hold onto that stubborn hope for as long as possible.

"Don't hold back."

'I don't want to put you through more than I already have.'

Another full dose was prepped. The tip of the injector was placed against the side of Rain's neck. Alice was made to watch with worry churning in her gut as the trigger was pulled. As she had when she received the antivirus, Rain became completely tense. However, pained squirming—borderline spasming, really—accompanied this.

She snapped out of it abruptly.

Cain smiled. "Release her."

The troops complied with their superior's orders. As their grips loosened, Rain tore away from them, latching onto the man with the injector and toppling him over. She tore his helmet off, ripping into his face and windpipe with her teeth.

The other soldiers lifted their SIG rifles.

"Hold your fire."

Blood and viscera were spattered onto the ground. The screams turned into gurgling, which soon faded into silence. The two men scrambled over to the helicopter to stand with everyone else.

When Rain was finished, when the body trapped beneath hers was a red mess above the shoulders, her attention shifted over to Alice and Cain.

Alice tugged at the zip ties around her wrists. Were they not even going to cut her loose for this? She threw a questioning glance over to Cain, who was in the process of backing away. He raised his eyebrows in a purposefully ignorant expression. "Is there a problem?"

'Prick.'

Noticeably more coordinated than she was at the overpass, Rain sprinted at Alice. Alice quickly sidestepped out of the way and Rain skidded to an immediate halt, relaunching herself at her.