Chapter Twenty-Four.

Integra stood atop The Bus with her arms crossed and watched the shack that covered the elevator shaft collapse. The ground inside the fenced off area suddenly sunk ten feet, and with it, her heart.

"Do you think she's alright?" Jill asked, lowering her rifle as she crouched next to Integra.

"Seras? She's fine. It's the others I'm concerned about."

What she didn't say was that she felt humanity's last chance had just been buried under tons upon tons of rubble.

"What do we do?" Jill asked.

"Nothing is coming up from this end, so let's drive over to the quarry tunnel and see what shape it's in."

They both went down the roof hatch, and Integra told Leon where to drive. He drove The Bus around the pit where the facility had been, running over stray zombies as he skirted the fence.

Leon slowed after half an hour. "I see Claire," he said.

Integra looked through the windshield. Claire was walking across the scrub land, wobbling slightly. Integra opened the side hatch and went out with Jill, assault rifle ready to dispatch Claire if she had become infected. Claire put a hand up as they got close. "I'm fine," she said. "Yumiko is dead."

"What happened?" Jill asked. "Where is everyone?"

"They're with Seras at the tunnel entrance. Carlos has been shot, and Heinkel is wounded too. We were attacked by Alice clones and Jack Krauser."

Claire stumbled and fell. Integra and Jill went over to her, while Alice came out and helped bring her aboard The Bus. Lying her down on the table in the back, Jill looked into Claire's eyes. "She has a concussion," Jill said.

The hatch was closed and The Bus began moving again. It pulled to a stop at the top of the large basin and Integra once again stepped out, this time with Alice. They walked down the hill where Seras stood next to Heinkel as she sat over Yumiko's corpse, her chin against her chest. Carlos was sitting against the rock wall overlooking the quarry with a bandage tied around his leg.

"What happened?" Integra asked.

"I killed Wesker. Dr. Isaacs had become a mutant, and I killed him too. Wesker had rigged the place to explode. Only he could turn it off. I'm sorry."

"Forget it," Integra said. "Heinkel, we need to burry her and get moving."

Heinkel nodded. Integra noticed she was bleeding. She had been shot low in her chest on the right side. With any luck, they could remove the bullet if it was still there and keep it from becoming infected.

Seras walked over and picked Yumiko's body up. Integra helped Carlos hobble up the hill, while Alice walked next to Heinkel. They set Yumiko down in The Bus while Carlos and Heinkel's wounds were tended. Jill did most of the work, while Ashley helped her.

"Too bad Rebecca isn't here," Jill said.

"Who?" Ashley asked.

"Rebecca Chambers. A STARS field medic. Best doctor in the world."

Seras closed the hatch and went to a chair to sit down. She looked tired and Integra thought she would enjoy being on a regular vampire's sleep schedule from now on.

'Where to?" Leon asked.

"Wherever you like," Integra said. "I'm out of ideas."

"I've always wanted to go to Alaska," Leon said.

"Alaska sounds nice," Seras said.

"Alaska it is, then," Leon said. He threw The Bus into gear and headed north. Ashley, having helped Carlos all she could, took her seat next to Leon and began to chart a course northward.

"Well, was it worth coming over to the states?" Carlos asked.

"It was," Heinkel said. "Even though Yumiko is dead…I suppose she's with the Lord now and those Umbrella bastards are burning in Hell where they belong."

They were all silent. Carlos was the first to break it. "At least we got this sweet ride."

Again, silence, then Heinkel laughed. Soon they all joined in, and began discussing how they might decorate the outside.

The end.