Memories of Yesterday

Epilogue

Alex lay with her head against the Jeep's steering wheel. The pain in her back had dimmed to a dull ache. Kevin had his head resting against the roll bar. They had escaped by the skin of their teeth to be certain, but they were alive. Alex squinted into the distance, trying to decide their next move. The interstate was only three miles away. They could get some medical attention, maybe tell the authorities the truth about Raccoon City. But no one would believe the story, not with Raccoon Incinerated. Alex sat up, turning to look back down the highway. Black smoke billowed into the sky turning the bright morning into a hazy imitation of dusk. Kevin was the first one to break the silence.

"Penny for your thoughts."

"Trying to decide what to do now."

"I wonder if Jill and Carlos made it out."

Alex said nothing. She didn't dare hope that Jill had escaped alive. Hope was for fools and she had long since given up hoping for anything . Alex turned back around, her eyes once more searching the road in front of her. So many choices...

"Kevin...Alex..."

Alex jumped, her eyes straying to the radio on her belt. She reached for it slowly, her eyes flicking up to meet Kevin's. He said nothing as she lifted the radio to her mouth and clicked the talk button.

"Jill?"

"Oh thank God, you're alive. Is Kevin with you?"

"Yea, but we're both pretty banged up. Where are you?"

"In a chopper, northeast of Raccoon. What's your position Carlos and I will come pick you up."

Alex breathed a sigh of relief, both of them had escaped. The echo of a chopper floated through the quiet moment, interrupting her new found joy. She knew that couldn't bee Jill and Carlos, it had to be an Umbrella chopper. She stepped out of the jeep, her face turning grim as she weighed her options. Kevin stared at her with a look of confusion and worry. She forced a smile and pressed the talk button again.

"Jill just south of you is a large clearing. I want you to land there and pick up Kevin."

"Pick up Kevin? What about you?"

Alex wet her lips, taking a deep breath. "I can't Jill. There's a chopper near us...it has to be Umbrella. If I go with them, I may be able to cover your escape. Hell I may even be able to convince them you're dead."

There was a long pause. Kevin's face betrayed his feelings all too well. Alex smiled sadly, it was the only way.

"Alright."

Alex breathed a sigh of relief. She quickly explained to Jill how to get to the clearing. The clearing would have been where Alex would have wound up if she had been able to escape on the train. The dirt road that lay only feet from the stopped jeep, would take Kevin right to it. He was injured, but should still be able to drive and the trees that canopied the road would cover any dust the jeep might churn up. Alex would send Kevin on his way, then call the Umbrella chopper to pick her up. Jill listened carefully and said they'd be there in a few minutes.

Alex slipped the radio back onto her belt and turned slowly to look at Kevin. He looked so tired and somewhat sad.

"You could just leave."

"Kevin, if I try to leave, anyone with me would get hurt. I...I..." Alex's voice broke a bit as her thoughts turned to her brother and finally to Chris. "I couldn't take it again, seeing someone I care about die."

Kevin nodded, seeming to understand. At least one of them did. Alex had no idea why thoughts of Albert and Chris would come hand in hand.

Could her feeling for Chris go far deeper than mere friendship? She shook her head, that part of her life was certainly over and there was no getting it back. Chris was gone, Raccoon was gone, and she was not the same person she was so many years ago. Her only chance of seeing Chris again would be from a jail cell, when/if he took Umbrella down. She was, after all, the enemy. Unless of course she left Umbrella, but that was not an option. Besides, Chris thought of her only as a friend and Alex didn't know what she thought. Romance in the midst of this type of war was certainly not an ideal situation.

"Here, take these with you."

Kevin held his arm out, in his hand were several papers. Alex reached out, confused, and took them. In neat handwriting, each one was labeled "G". Kevin smiled, shrugged, and started the jeep. As he pulled away and turned down the gravel road, Alex smirked.

"Do me a favor!" The Jeep stopped for a second, Kevin turning his head toward her. "Tell Chris that I'm still looking forward to seeing him at my trial...and tell him he was right!"

Kevin nodded and disappeared down the road. Alex gave him a full five minute head start before she flipped through the radio's channels and contacted the chopper. A brief security check and the chopper agreed to pick her up. Alex slipped the radio back onto her belt, her eyes falling to the papers in her hand.

She reached into her pocket and withdrew the lighter Kevin had given her. Her thumb rolled easily over the lighter's steel wheel. The flame sprang to life and Alex touched it to the edge of the papers. She slipped the lighter back into her pocket, withdrew a single cigarette and lite it off the papers, before letting the papers fall from her hands. They fluttered through the air and finally landed in the tall grass, where they burned to nothing more than ash.

The chopper arrived in short order, Alex limped inside and immediately noticed she was not the only Umbrella employee on board.

"Looks like you aren't the only survivor this time Mr. Death." The pilot smirked and lifted the chopper into the air.

Alex said nothing. Hunk would deliver the sample she could not. Umbrella would still get their hands on Birkin's research. Alex reached up and pushed her sunglasses firmly into place with the tip of index finger.

Umbrella's trade in blood and death would continue...