Burning Up

Looking Out

When Alice woke, it was no lighter outside, but she felt well-rested for once, and her head was mercifully ache-free.

She pressed the heels of her palms into her eyes, trying to rub away the last remnants of sleep before checking her watch, then double-checking it upon seeing the time.

'Oof. Guess I beat Rain's twelve hours.' As Alice thought that, she began to realize that she no longer felt her partner's presence.

The adjacent seat was empty.

She couldn't help her small jolt of panic. "...Rain?" She sat up straight, looking around. "Rain?"

Past the window, on the side of the road leading into the parking lot, there was a dark shape that appeared as though it could've been a crouching person.

With a cautious grip on one of the pistols sitting in her shoulder holsters, Alice stepped out of the car.

The closer she got, the more certain she became that it was indeed a person. If they heard the crunching of the thin layer of frost on the ground beneath her boots, they didn't make it known.

DESIGNATION: PROJECT RAIN ((FUGITIVE - HIGH PRIORITY CAPTURE)) || THREAT ASSESSMENT: LEVEL 8

Alice breathed a sigh of relief, dropping her hand from her weapon and picking up the pace.

(Rain's ID updated itself back when Alice was driving, which was... certainly concerning.)

It was only once Alice was practically beside Rain that she glanced up, acknowledging her presence.

A body was lying halfway in a ditch with its head sitting almost completely backward on its shoulders.

It wasn't human when it ended up there. Alice could sense that the virus had claimed it. She assumed Rain was responsible for the broken neck.

"Must've gotten out of a nearby quarantine zone."

Rain's confused countenance intensified. Alice continued. "I didn't get to tell you yet. The TNW didn't contain the infection. Outbreaks have started popping up around the country." Come to think of it, she was fairly sure she heard about a new one in Canada over the radio yesterday. She was focusing so much on the road that she couldn't dedicate a whole lot of attention to the broadcast, though. "The outlook isn't good." The zombie on the ground in front of them was further proof of that. Another attempt at containment failed. "And the virus has been dubbed a mysterious 'cannibal disease' of unknown origin. Go figure."

Rain took a deep breath, trying and failing to suppress the low, guttural noise that was beginning to rumble in the back of her throat again. Apparently, that was just something she did now. She could already be quite intimidating without producing that noise. It was the type of thing that would cause you to promptly head back the way you came if you heard it from between the trees in the forest.

Alice could practically see the righteous anger radiating off of Rain as she stood. Using all her strength, she slammed her foot into the zombie's side and sent it swiftly tumbling further into the ditch. It didn't even have the opportunity to reach the bottom before she was heading back in the direction of the vehicle, her feelings regarding the news conveyed clearly enough.

Alice decided to give her a few minutes to cool off. She understood. It wasn't easy to hear. It was anger-inducing, though perhaps for slightly different reasons to her than Rain.

After locating which pocket she stuck the keys in, Alice unlocked the car doors. Rain continued to lean against one of the quarter panels, uninterested in getting in.

Alice slowly walked over and popped open the trunk, digging around until she unearthed the granola bars in her bag.

Offering one to Rain crossed her mind, but, "Hey, do you know if you can still have normal food, or...?"

Thanks to Umbrella, Rain did have the answer to that question. Grimacing slightly, she shook her head and indicated that it'd make her puke. She could manage to keep water down, but aside from that, no. Unfortunately not.

"We'll figure something out," Alice tried to reassure. She felt awful for her. The idea of not just unwillingly desiring human flesh but also having no alternatives existing to sate yourself with? She couldn't imagine. "Are you fine right now?"

There was a firm nod and a dismissive wave. 'Eat. I'm alright.'

A minute passed. Alice didn't move.

Reaching over, Rain lifted her arm for her and brought the food closer to her mouth.

"Okay, okay. At least let me get the wrapper off."

Crinkling could be heard. A lot of it.

More than necessary, really.

Rain watched Alice struggle with the aforementioned task. It could have been open already if she had removed her gloves and made things easier for herself.

With a roll of her eyes that carried far less irritation than it would've for anybody else, Rain gestured for Alice to pass her the bar. She did so almost begrudgingly, allowing Rain to easily slice through the seam of the packaging with her talons. She would prefer not to have them, for her hand to be fucking normal, but at least they were useful sometimes.

"Thanks."

Rain studied her for a moment longer. She pushed against Alice's shoulder and furrowed her brows. 'You good?'

"Yeah, I'm fine."

Rain pointed to Alice's left hand and—

And... Well. Alice struggled to decipher what followed. It obviously had to do with her fingers, but she couldn't pick up the specifics.

"Uh..." she uttered for maybe the fifth time before Rain got fed up with her inability to get her thoughts across. Trying to speak only resulted in her getting stuck on the first sound, so she carved into the side of the nearest tree, smelled burnt.

Ah. "Not going to let me get anything past you, are you?" The pinching sensation had ceased while Alice was asleep. "It's not—" She cut herself off when she saw the look in Rain's eyes, which were searing into her with the same intensity as the laser. "Sorry. I guess it's a force of habit." She slipped off her left glove.

Two of her previously injured fingers were perfectly fine. The tip of her middle was still gone, though. "It's not too bad."

Rain stared at her in disbelief.

"I'm serious. I was missing more." She went around to the passenger side door and grabbed her marker from inside, alongside an unimportant piece of paper from the glovebox that she then proceeded to give Rain. Alice wasn't sure why she didn't think of that earlier. "And as far as I'm concerned, as long I can hold a gun, I'm fine."

Rain sent her an appreciative grunt. She scrawled out, youre somethin else. Id be way more Fuckin upset - thats my favorite finger.

"Wow." Alice couldn't help but laugh. "Surprise of the century right there."

Rain jokingly flipped her the bird.

She shot her a grin in response, stuffing her uncovered hand into the pocket of her jeans.

Something metal was already occupying it.

"Oh, I almost forgot. Here." She pulled out the dog tags. It wasn't until later that she noticed that the name on them was J.D.'s, not Rain's. Alice wondered if Rain took them off his body down in the Hive, or if he gave them to her at some point beforehand. She wasn't sure what the pair's relationship was, or if Rain remembered him or not, but they seemed like... good friends?

Her eyes immediately widened in realization, and she took the tags from Alice. She thought they were gone forever!

WHERE DID YOU FIND THESE?

"With your uniform. Umbrella was keeping it all for testing. I figured that you'd want them."

Rain seized Alice by her biceps, giving her a thankful squeeze. Then, she shook her. Thoroughly. And giddily. It was a slightly unexpected reaction from her. Especially since she seemed to have the perpetual air of being vaguely pissed off, but Alice was glad to be able to make her so happy.

"You're welcome." Alice brushed her bangs back out of her face. "Now, I don't know about you, but I'm starting to freeze my ass off out here. I say we head west. Find someplace warmer."