The last chapter was about twice as long as it usually is. I apologize in advance for the difference in length you may see for a while. Some chapters may be longer than others, or they may be the same length give or take some hundred words. I hope I didn't scare anyone away with the darker undertones of the last chapter, but they were things that need to be talked about. The darker notes will be sticking around for the foreseeable future, at least for right now. There aren't any trigger warnings in this one, as I will skip over the memories of what happened to Rayne.

Disclaimer: As always I don't own the Resident Evil series, the movie or the game. There are times when I wish I did. Now, onward to the story my friends, and remember to aim for the head!

Later that night in Rayne's Cell (Back to Rayne's Pov)

I jerked awake suddenly, a silent scream frozen in my lungs. My hand wrapped around the gun I had placed beneath my pillow. I took a moment to slow my breathing and take in my surroundings. I almost jumped out of my skin again when I spotted Claire sitting down on the bed frame next to my makeshift hideaway.

"You were a close friend of mine, right?" Claire asked for clarification. While she did remember me more clearly than most, it stood to reason that it was always better to ask for confirmation after the shit she'd been through. Sometimes it gets hard to tell what's real from what's not.

"Of course. I'd like to say I was your best friend, but I believe that the position was filled by K-mart and LJ." I joked, my heart calming down noticing it was only Claire around.

"Was I a good person? I can't remember fully." She asked, her voice tinged with longing and anguish that could only come from not being able to remember who you were except in fractures pieces.

"The best, why would you ask?"

"I just...I have a feeling I let people down." This made me snort.

"You didn't let anyone down if anyone feels that way it's me. I'm probably the worst failure there is right now." I tugged at my sleeves wincing as the pulled away from my skin. Once I had them loose, I pulled the sleeves up and let them get some air. Claire saw what I did and quickly grabbed one of my arms.

"Why? Why would you do something like this?" She seemed pissed and more than a little bit worried about me. It made me smile, remembering how she was when she had her whole memory. Which then made me frown, I remembered that I couldn't feel the same about her as she did for me. Not because I didn't have feelings for her, but because I also loved Alice and it would feel like I was cheating if I acknowledged how I felt about someone else as well. Even in an apocalypse, I reeled in my feelings because of how society would view someone with more than one partner, even if they all agreed.

"We struggle, we fight, we watch our friends and loved ones die." I shrugged. "Survival is pain."

"Is it worth it? The pain?" Claire asked, her eyes asking an unspoken question.

"Someone has to go on. Otherwise what is all of this for?" I replied, my voice tired and sad. "Get some sleep Claire, you'll need it in the morning."

The Tower (Nighttime)

I explored the empty prison alone, unable to get any more sleep. I had briefly stopped by Alice's cell and just watched her for a little while, taking in the peaceful rise and fall of her chest as she slept. It gave me a sense of peace, knowing she was alright. I could barely sense the T-Virus from within her, likely caused by whatever Wesker did to her in the plane before the crash. She and I had two very different strains of the virus. When she bonded to it, it was at a cellular level, easily removed or overwhelmed by a cure. On the other hand, there was me, mine was at a genetic level. It bonded to my DNA it was a part of me, much like my hair color was a dirty blonde and my eyes blue. It could be suppressed, but never removed. As I moved around my boots echoed down the empty hallways and cell blocks. Dark and desolate, it was spooky as all hell.

"Light sleeper?" Luther spoke up from behind me, making me jump out of my skin.

"Fucking, Jesus Christ. Don't do that. God damn." I turned to see Luther sitting in the shadows, wide awake and keeping vigil. "I guess you could say that. I've been having problems falling asleep lately."

"I know the feeling." Luther seemed to sympathize, getting to his feet. "Come on, I want to show you something."

"Uh, alright?" I guessed anything was better than just wandering around aimlessly.

The Boiler Room (Nighttime)

"It's not exactly how it was designed to work," Luther says throwing wood onto a roaring fire. A makeshift bonfire had been erected beneath one of the water heaters. "but it does get the job done."

"It may not have been the intended way for them to be used, but if it makes hot water, who am I to complain." I shrugged, for some reason noting that Luther was acting nicer and less like a playboy than before.

Shower Block (Nighttime)

Luther proceeded to show me the way to the showers. There was row upon row of communal showers. One of which was on already. The tepid water steaming in the night air. I looked around appreciating the subtle normality of it all.

"This is pretty nice, quite civilized in fact," I said impressed.

"I wouldn't call it exactly hot, but we do our best. I plan to show your friends this when they wake up later." He said, placing some towels down beside the stall. "These are for you."

"Thanks, but why are you being so nice to me? Earlier you were all over Alice." I was curious to know.

"You look like you've been through some things that many people wouldn't understand. Plus I got told off by Janice that Alice is not exactly available. So even if I was interested, I know better than to go after someone else girl." Luther explained, giving me a pointed look.

"She...we aren't...I mean I'm not..." I stuttered, face blooming into a blush. "I haven't exactly been able to tell her how I feel, and even less so after recent events." I calmed down feeling put out.

"Hey, whatever it is that happened you just need to talk to her. Shutting her out will only hurt both of you, and probably those around you as well." He said knowingly, the tone causing me to tense up and stare at him searchingly.

"You know...no...no no. How do you know?" I started to panic now, my breathing coming out fast and short, I was having a panic attack.

"Woah! Woah, Woah Woah. Easy now. I know...I know because it happened to my sister." Luther said carefully walking towards me making sure not to spook me too badly. "Only she wasn't as strong as you. When we got to her she was already dead. She had given up on living, we just didn't know it yet. You though, you haven't given up trying. Just by being part of a group and moving day by day you keep fighting what happened and try to move on. You are so much stronger than my sister was." Luther had reached me by now and carefully pulled me into his arms rocking me back and forth as we sank to the ground, I dissolved into a crying mess in his arms.

Unbeknownst to them, Wendell had been hiding in the shadows hoping to get a peek at some of the girls when they were showering. What he hadn't counted on, however, was seeing one of the new people have a break down in Luther's arms about something in her past. So Wendell decided to quietly excuse himself from the room only to be met by a gun to the side of the head, and ushered into the room for Luther and me to see.

"Wendell, what the hell?" Luther inquired, holding me and being shocked to see his friend held at gunpoint by none other than Claire.

"He was planning on peeping in on anyone looking to get a shower, more than likely the women. Guess he had a slight guilty conscious when he saw Rayne have a panic attack." She explained, anger tinging her voice as she spoke about women getting showers. Ah, she was angry he could have seen me and others getting washed. I wiped my face off and stood up with the help of Luther.

"Claire it's alright. Let the sad peeping tom go, he didn't see anything. I'm sure Luther and Angel would make sure he never did again." I coaxed to Claire. She seemed to calm down and shoved Wendell away from her and to the ground.

"Get out of my sight." Claire bit out, uncaring that he seemed to have landed in a scuttling pile of roaches and bugs on the floor.

"Oh shit!" Wendell jumps to his feet vigorously brushing the bugs from his person and viciously crushing the ones on the floor beneath his feet. "Little fuckers!"

We watched in stunned horror as Wendell stepped back and into the waiting arms of the zombie we just noticed emerge from what seemed like nowhere. Upon closer inspection, it looked to have dug its way up through the earth. Its fingers were broken and bloody from the journey, its nails have gone completely. Its clothes were torn and filthy, and dozens of bugs that had crawled from the earth with it scuttled across its body. It was a ghastly sight indeed.

"Shit..." Wendell uttered as the zombie moved with lightning-fast reflexes, grabbing Wendell and pulling him in. The creature's jaws and lower face split open to reveal a set of mandibles. Claire tried to get a clear shot but was unsuccessful as Wendell was moving too much. Wendell's screams were soon silenced by the creatures mandibles crunching into his face and swallowing his head. He was still alive when he was drug back into the shadows by the mutated zombie when a hoard of them rushed forward from where the other one disappeared. They were incredibly fast, and very hungry.

I snap to and grab my gun from my side holster, instantly making my way to Claire and both of us going back to back to cover each other on instinct. Somethings are just muscle memory, even with the real ones slow to return. Luther races to get a better weapon of his own, staying close to cover us if needed, he returns with Wendell's old gun. It seemed he must have left it behind when Claire caught him leaving. We watched as the tide of small bugs and roached accompanying this new undead swept across the ceiling above us.

As the undead lunged at us, their mandibles spread wide, we all dove to one side, narrowly avoiding getting caught. We all fired any chance we got, all missing, all but one having done so accidentally. If you looked closely in one of the corners was one of the barrels used to keep motor oil for the blazing torches. The shots I had fired pierced holes throughout the drum. The motor oil hemorrhages across the floor.

"Get back!" I shouted to Claire and Luther, as I focused my fire on the metal grating at our feet, causing sparks to fly and igniting the motor oil. The ensuing flames engulfed the undead.

"Behind me," Luther called, and with Claire's help be pushed over another barrel of oil adding more fuel to the roaring inferno in front of us. Claire, Luther and I watched as some of the undead staggered and fell. While still more of the blazing creatures disappeared down a gaping hole in the floor. Several of the blazing creatures attempt to charge towards us but are easily dispatched by Claire and myself. One gets passed, but is quickly killed by Luther, it lands by his feet dead.

Shower Room - Minutes Later

Luther then nudges the burnt corpse away from himself and we all survey the room. The shower room is covered with smoking undead remains.

"Nice work, I knew I liked you guys," Luther said with a smile, making me shake my head and give a watery laugh at the absurdity of it all. Poor Claire just seemed a tad lost, but shook her head anyways. Everyone had since been drawn in by the sound of gunfire, Alice and Janice looking at Claire and me worriedly. I shrugged and we all looked down the giant hole in the floor.

"The fuck is that smell?" asked Bennett, the greasy slimeball.

"They must have burrowed their way up from the sewers," Alice said calculatingly.

"Wendell did say he heard things moving behind the walls," Luther explained.

"Well, he wasn't wrong." Janice piped up wrinkling her nose at the rancid smell the hole was emitting.

"So those things could burst out anywhere?!" Bennett exclaimed.

"If there's more of them," Angel replied.

"Oh, there'll be more of them," Bennett said snidely.

"It pains me to admit, but he is right. There is no other food source around for them, meanwhile here we are all boxed in and waiting to be eaten. No offense of course." I supplied to the rest, greatly diminishing any hope they had that this was all of them.

"We have to get out of this place!" Kim Yong says, panic rising among the group.

As the group descends into panicked chaos I note that Bennett seems oddly calm. I shake my head and quickly grab ahold of the groups' attention before things become worse. I then lead them down into the Dungeon to meet an old acquaintance. Out of everyone Bennett and Kim Yong seem to be the most vocal about this being a very bad idea.

Dungeon (Approaching Daylight)

"Are you fucking crazy? Who knows what that man's done!" Bennett exclaimed, practically spitting venom.

"Honestly, I doubt he's done anything more than becoming a victim of right place wrong time. If you know what to look for it's pretty easy to tell when someone's lying, tell me. Did any of you even bother trying to talk to him and get his side or did you just assume that because he was in a Maximum Security Cell that he must have deserved it?" I already knew the answer, but I wanted to see how they'd react.

"They didn't want him getting out!" Kim Yong reiterated proving my point.

"He's dangerous!" Bennett exclaimed.

"It is the blind leading the blind with you two isn't it," I said, not expecting an answer. Chris just sat patiently in his cell, waiting for the arguing to stop and his cell to be opened.

"Angel, what do you think?" Luther asked his friend.

"I think we don't have much choice," Angel replied, shrugging his shoulders. "No offense, Rayne. I just don't know you well enough to trust your judgment if it weren't for extenuating circumstances."

"I'd like to say none taken, but some were taken," I replied honestly.

"It's alright, we trust you," Janice said, reassuringly.

"It's him we don't trust." Alice backed up, looking pointedly at Chris and Bennett.

I nod, getting the key from Angel. I can hear Bennett annoying the crap out of him in the background and I honestly feel bad. I wondered if anyone would mind if I locked Bennett inside in exchange...yeah, it might be frowned upon. Once I had the key plugged into place I turned it until I heard the lock disengage, then I slid the bar from the door on this side and opened it. Chris calmly stepped out and walked over to Bennett, leaning down beside his face.

"Boo!" The girlish shriek that emitted from Bennett had everyone smiling at his humiliation.

"Alright then, let's get the hell out of here," Alice says ushering everyone out of the room and back towards the staircase. Claire and I walk beside one another, Alice and Janice close behind. Chris is following behind us when he stops dead as soon as he spots Claire, he looks as if he's seen a ghost.

"Claire?!" He's stunned, upon closer inspection when looking between the two individuals it is easy to see that they are related, likely brother and sister.

Claire herself seems to be confused, then she focuses on his face. Her eyes seem to glaze over as they did on the roof meaning she was lost to her memories. What takes only a few moments, probably felt like forever for Claire.

"Chris!" Claire exclaimed, rushing forward to embrace her brother, overjoyed to find him alive. "I thought I'd never see you again."

"It would take more than the end of the world to keep me from my little sister," Chris said softly, hugging Claire to himself. I couldn't imagine the pain he must have gone through emotionally not knowing if she was alive or dead for all this time.

"Isn't that sweet," Bennett said disgustedly, making me turn and deck him in the face. He crumpled to the floor holding his nose and whining about it being broken, only Kim Yong seemed to really care are I turned back to the family reunion. Claire turned towards us and stared at first Alice, and then lingered on me.

"I remember now, we were friends. Albeit not the closest. I see you kept your promise." Claire said to Alice as she removed herself from her brother's arms.

"It wasn't easy, and there were hiccups, but yeah, I did. It's good to have you back Claire." Alice reassured, holding no hard feelings for how things ended between them. Claire then carefully walked over and stood in front of me.

"Hey, Red. Good to finally have you all there again." I said, unsure of how she would react to how I have been since she saw me again. Claire stared into my eyes, and then carefully took in my forearms and leg. Her eyes missing nothing as they noted how tired I seemed or it all.

"You look like shit. I'm glad she got you back from him, I...I doubt I'd have been able to keep my end of the promise had she failed. I'm so so sorry that he got you on my watch. It never should have happened, I should have let Chase of LJ take care of him hen I had the chance." Claire started beating herself up over it and i just pulled her into a hug, her face tucked into my chest.

"Hey, now none of that. You did what you thought was right at the moment. None of us knew just how insane he had gotten. Nothing, I repeat, nothing that happened to me was your fault. You don't get to blame yourself for something out of your control." I took a deep breath and let it out slowly. Pushing Claire away enough so I could see her face. "To be honest...I should take my own advice. Just...just be here, like Alice, Janice, Luther and them are when I need you. It...it wasn't fun what I went through. Actually, for a while I thought about ending it all if I ever got free."

"Don't you dare!" Claire demanded, temporarily forgetting about blaming herself to be mad at me for my thoughts.

"I won't not now. Do you want to know what stopped me from going through with it back then?" I enquired.

"What?" Asked Janice, backed by Alice and Luther.

"I remembered you, Alice, K-mart, LJ, Kama, and everyone else. I remembered why I was fighting in the first place because I had people who needed me. I couldn't afford to give up, because they wouldn't give up on me. I knew when I came too and he had taken me that you guys would turn the world upside down trying to find me. I'd do the same for you. So I fought. Physically and partially emotionally he broke me. He could never really break me mentally, not really. I'd just retreat into my head when things got really bad until he left. After a while it became safer to stay in my mind, it wasn't too long after that when Alice finally found me and set me free." I smiled a small smile at my group of friends. Angel having known Luther's story from being there for so long managed to piece together what happened to me, everything made sense then.

"Come on, I think that's enough tears. We've got work to do." I chuckled, wiping my own tears from my face, my heart feeling a lighter than before. "Is there anything I can get you, by the way?" I looked at Claire.

"Yeah, a gun. Large caliber, and semi-automatic." She grinned, having wiped her own tears away.