Chapter 17 : Platform Zero
The forest swallowed us whole.
We moved through trees and undergrowth, putting distance between ourselves and the mansion's lights. My senses mapped the terrain—no zombie signatures, no pursuit, just the natural silence of woods that didn't know the world was ending.
Rain stumbled against a root. Kaplan caught her before she fell.
"I'm fine." She pulled free, testing her weight on both legs. "Just tired."
"You were bitten." Matt's voice carried an edge of fear. "You should be... I mean, everyone who gets bitten..."
"Everyone who gets bitten turns into one of those things." Rain examined her bandaged arm in the faint moonlight. "Except maybe not everyone."
I stopped at a small clearing, checking our surroundings before signaling a halt. "We need to rest. Figure out where we are, where we're going."
"Raccoon City." Kaplan pulled out a compass he'd apparently acquired during the chaos. "The mansion's about fifteen miles from the city limits. If we head east, we should hit a road within a few hours."
"And then what?" Spence spoke for the first time since we'd escaped. "Go back to our lives? Pretend none of this happened?"
"Our lives are over." Alice's voice was flat, matter-of-fact. "Whatever we were before tonight, we're not that anymore. Umbrella will be looking for us. All of us."
She was right. The suit had made that clear—we were investments, subjects, data points in an experiment that had cost five hundred lives and might cost millions more. Running wouldn't change that.
But for now, running was all we had.
"Rain." I crouched beside her. "How's the arm?"
She unwrapped the bandage slowly, revealing the wound beneath. The bite marks were visible, but the surrounding tissue looked... normal. No discoloration, no spreading infection, just clean pink edges that were already starting to scab.
"It's healing." She touched the wound carefully, wincing. "Hurts like hell, but it's healing."
"That's good. That's really good."
"Is it?" Her eyes met mine. "Or is it just delayed? Maybe I turn in an hour. Maybe tomorrow. Maybe next week."
"J.D. turned in less than an hour. The progression was fast once it started." I checked my own arm, the bite that had proven my immunity. "If you were going to turn, you'd be showing symptoms by now."
"Or maybe I'm different. Maybe my body's fighting it slower."
"Or maybe you're immune, like me."
The possibility hung in the air. Two immune subjects in one group seemed unlikely—but then, everything about tonight was unlikely. Zombies, Lickers, enhanced humans with abilities that defied explanation. One more impossible thing barely registered.
Alice knelt beside us, examining Rain's wound with the clinical detachment of someone assessing equipment. "The tissue repair is accelerated. Not as fast as yours, Harrison, but faster than baseline human."
"What does that mean?"
"It means you might be developing the same resistance he has. Partial integration without full transformation." Alice touched Rain's forehead, checking for fever. "Your temperature's normal. Pulse is elevated but stable. If you were turning, you'd be much worse by now."
Rain laughed—a broken sound that held more relief than humor. "So I'm becoming a freak too?"
"Maybe. Or maybe you're just lucky." Alice stood. "Either way, you're alive. That counts for something."
We rested for another fifteen minutes, drinking from a stream that probably wasn't contaminated and eating energy bars Matt had somehow kept in his pockets through everything. The food tasted like cardboard and desperation, but my body needed the calories.
Kaplan plotted our route on his compass, muttering about magnetic interference and urban navigation. Spence sat apart from the group, staring at nothing, lost in whatever guilt or fear occupied his mind.
I watched him. The virus thief. The man whose actions had killed everyone in the Hive and would soon kill everyone in Raccoon City.
Should I tell them? Would it change anything?
The answer was no. Spence's guilt was his own burden. Exposing him now would only create division when we needed unity. There would be time for truth later—if there was a later.
"We should move." I stood, checking the treeline. "Dawn's in a few hours. I'd rather be somewhere with walls before then."
The group organized itself without discussion. Alice took point, her enhanced senses making her the best scout. I followed, then Rain supported by Kaplan, then Matt and Spence bringing up the rear.
We moved through the darkness like ghosts, leaving the nightmare behind.
But the nightmare wasn't finished with us.
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