All the Time in the World

"Careful."

Alice didn't know why she'd stumbled. Exhaustion maybe. Or she'd been distracted by all those strange new memories that were dashing around her mind like tiny, silver fish in an aquarium. Either way, she was glad Claire was with her and caught her arm to keep her from falling. The last thing she needed right now was for her poor battered – very likely broken – ribs to take another blow. Her left hand hurt like hell, too, she'd have to check how functional it still was once they got back to the Peak.

If you still had those T-virus powers, you'd be on the mend already, and in a lot better shape, she thought.

Did she miss them, though?

Hell no!

She'd been serious, back in Japan, when she had thanked Wesker for making her human again. She wouldn't have traded that for anything.

Becky. You'd trade it for Becky, wouldn't you?

Alice pushed that thought far, far away. Becky was dead. Buried beneath the ruins of the White House. Gone, just like Carlos and Jill and LJ and Luther and all those others.

But Claire's still here, she reminded herself.

And right now, Claire was looking at her with a concerned frown on her face.

"You okay?" she asked.

Alice laughed – and stopped when the laugh turned into a cough.

"No", she said. "But I'll live, don't worry. What about you?"

Claire shrugged.

"Same, I guess. C'mon, let's go home."

Home, right. The Peak had to be home to her by now. Alice didn't know how long exactly Umbrella had kept and tortured her at Umbrella Prime but considering that Claire probably hadn't been in the best shape after that Osprey carrying her to the Hive had crashed near Raccoon City and that, now, she seemed to be in pretty good health – well, she had been before they'd gone down into the Hive – it had to be several weeks at the very least. Long enough, in any case, for Claire to consider this place home.

Long enough to find someone to be with.

She pushed that thought away, too, because it reminded her of that tiny sting of jealousy she'd felt when she'd seen those two together. She didn't want to feel like that, especially not towards Claire, and she didn't want to think of Carlos, either, because even though it had been a good one and a half years since he'd found his end in a ball of fire it still hurt to think of him. Her heart had almost stopped, down in the depths of Umbrella Prime, when she'd seen the photos of Becky's "family" and recognized the girl's "father". And then, only minutes later, he'd been there, only he'd been just another of Umbrella's carbon copies – Look who's talking, a tiny voice whispered in her mind – which hadn't mattered because she still hadn't managed to bring herself to shoot at him. Or any of the other familiar faces.

"Alice?"

Claire touched her shoulder and this time she didn't just look concerned, she also sounded concerned.

Alice shook her head. She really had to stop this. At least till they were back at the Peak.

"I'm fine. Just a lot going on in my head, right now."

She gave her friend a quick smile.

"You're right, let's go."

They slowly made their way around the crater, climbing over the fallen bodies of the Infected, leaning on each other for support. It took them until noon to reach the other side. At least Alice assumed it had to be around noon – the sun was hanging in the sky straight above them, glaring down on them. She was dirty and thirsty and tired enough to sleep for a year, or ten, once she was out of here. Only that the getting out of here part would be a problem, she realized as she was standing next to Claire by the ropes they'd used to climb down into the crater, staring up at the rim. She had to tilt her head back all the way to be able to look up that far.

And she only had one good hand to hold on to the rope because, right now, her left hand was pretty much useless.

Fuck.

It was Claire who finally said out loud what was on both their minds.

"How the hell are we supposed to get up there? That's gonna take forever!"

Alice lifted her right hand to shield her eyes from the sunlight. It really was a long, long way up. And then, suddenly, it clicked. She dropped her hand and laughed, turning to Claire who, obviously, hadn't got it, yet, as Alice could see from the slightly puzzled look on her friend's face.

"It doesn't matter", Alice told her and gestured at the carcasses all around them. "It's over. We got time."

Claire blinked. She took a look around. The crater was strewn – piled, almost – with what remained of the Infected. Isaacs' demented clone had dragged an entire army down here in his attempt to get and finish Alice. They were all dead. Every last one of them. Alice saw understanding dawn on Claire's face and when her friend turned back to her there was a spark in her eyes Alice had last seen a long, long time ago.

Of course, there would be new challenges. Survival would be a struggle – one they still might lose, even without Umbrella trying to kill them all. And it would take time for the anti-virus to spread over the entire planet. Maybe years. There still might be monsters to fight, along the way. There still were bits and pieces left of Umbrella. Their soldiers who had retreated upon the Red Queen's command. They still might pose a threat to the survivors. There probably were a hundred and one things that needed to be taken care of at the Peak. They'd have to explain about Doc. The folks at the Peak would have to settle on a new leader and decide whether they wanted to remain here or move somewhere else. She herself had to decide where she wanted to go from here.

Right here and now, though, standing at the bottom of this crater, surrounded by the evidence that they indeed had won this time - none of that mattered. Right here and now, they had all the time in the world.