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The ventilation duct groaned under their weight as they crawled forward, putting distance between themselves and the horde below. Marcus glanced down through the metal grating—dozens of zombies stumbled and reached upward, jaws snapping uselessly at the air. Not smart enough to climb. Not yet, anyway.
The duct trembled with each lurch of the undead mass underneath.
"Keep moving," Alice called back, her voice tight. "Don't stop."
They pressed on, the narrow shaft forcing them into single file. Marcus kept his eyes on the structure around them—rust spots, loose bolts, the way the whole thing swayed when the zombies below hit it hard enough.
Classic horror movie setup, he thought darkly. Any minute now, someone's gonna fall. Probably Kaplan, buying everyone time while the duct collapses. Then he'll show up miraculously at the end to save the day.
He'd seen it play out in the original timeline.
Not this time.
Marcus reached out subtly with his telekinesis, just a whisper of force stabilizing the weakest joints. The zombies below pulled and yanked at the duct with mindless persistence, but it held—always just barely, but it held. To anyone watching, it would look like dumb luck. Pure chance that the bolts didn't give way.
They reached the end of the duct without incident. One by one, they dropped down into a maintenance corridor, boots splashing in shallow water. The moment the last person was through, the duct finally tore free behind them with a screech of metal—crashing down into the zombie horde below.
Everyone stared at the wreckage, faces pale.
"Jesus," J.D. breathed. "We almost—"
"But we didn't." Alice cut her off, jaw set. "Keep moving."
The corridor led them upward through the Hive's infrastructure, pipes and conduits running along the walls. Marcus felt it as they climbed—the Licker, moving parallel to their path somewhere in the adjacent tunnels. Tracking them. It had been following since they'd left the Red Queen's chamber, and if he didn't intervene...
Well. A few more people would die before they reached the exit.
And they were so damn close now.
The corridor opened into a familiar space, and Alice stopped dead. She turned slowly, taking in the laboratories lining both sides of the hallway, the empty rooms visible through reinforced glass.
"What's wrong?" Matt asked.
Alice didn't answer. She stood frozen, staring at the labs like she'd seen a ghost.
"She's remembering," Marcus said quietly.
The others watched as Alice drifted toward one of the rooms, drawn by something none of them could see. Her hand pressed against the glass, eyes distant. Marcus could almost see the memories flooding back—the experiments, the test subjects, the T-virus in all its horrifying applications.
"Oh my God," Alice whispered. Then louder, spinning to face Ryan and the others. "I know where the antidote is!"
Ryan and Kaplan exchanged sharp looks. Hope flickered across their faces—the first real hope since they'd been bitten.
"The T-virus," Alice said rapidly. "It's stored in pairs. Blue vials contain the virus. Green vials contain the antidote. They kept them together in—" She was already moving, leading them down the corridor. "Follow me."
They reached a small laboratory half-flooded with water. Alice splashed in without hesitation, heading for a sealed cabinet on the far wall. Matt lingered at the entrance, watching her with a complicated expression.
"How do you know all this?" he asked, voice hard.
Alice stopped. Her back was to him, shoulders tense. "Because I was going to steal it. Your sister and I—Lisa and I—we were working together. I was the inside contact."
Matt's face went dark. He lunged forward, grabbing her arm. "You betrayed her? Did you—"
"I don't know!" Alice wrenched free, turning to face him. "I don't remember what happened! My memory's still full of holes, I don't know if I betrayed her or if something else went wrong, I just—"
"Hey." Marcus stepped forward, voice cutting through the tension. "Save it for later. Right now, your friends are dying. Find the antidote."
Matt released Alice's arm, jaw clenched. But he nodded.
Alice dove deeper into the flooded lab, searching through submerged equipment and overturned storage units. Seconds stretched into minutes. Ryan gripped J.D.'s hand tighter, both of them watching Alice's increasingly frantic movements.
Finally, Alice surfaced—empty-handed.
"No," she said, voice hollow. "No, they're gone. The antidote—it's not here. Damn it!"
Ryan's face went gray. Kaplan closed his eyes, leaning against the wall like his legs might give out. J.D. just stared at the water, her grip on Ryan's hand the only thing keeping her upright.
Spence had been quiet through all of this, standing near the entrance with a strange look on his face. Now he stared at the lab like he was seeing it for the first time—or maybe remembering it for the first time.
His eyes went unfocused. Glazed.
"Spence?" Alice said slowly.
Memories crashed through Spence's mind in a wave—Alice meeting with Lisa in secret, planning to expose Umbrella's experiments. Then someone else, pulling him aside. Offering him money. So much money. All he had to do was get to the virus first.
He saw himself stealing the case, blue and green vials nestled in foam. Saw himself release the T-virus—just a little insurance, they'd said, to cover his tracks. The airborne strain spreading through the ventilation before he could make it out.
The Red Queen's protocols activating. Gas flooding the corridor as he stumbled onto the train. Then nothing.
Alice was watching him now. They all were.
Spence's eyes moved—slowly, deliberately—to the pistol Alice had set on a nearby table. The only gun they had left. Every other weapon spent, ammunition exhausted.
Alice followed his gaze. Understanding dawned in her eyes.
They both moved at once.
Spence was closer. His hand closed around the grip and he spun, leveling the weapon at the group. His smile was ugly.
"Well, well," he said. "Bet you didn't see this coming."
"You son of a bitch," Matt snarled.
"Yeah, yeah." Spence waved the gun lazily, keeping everyone at bay. "Here's the thing, though. I'm actually the only one who can get you out of here alive. The antidote isn't gone—I know exactly where it is. And if you stick with me, we can all walk away with more money than you can imagine."
"We're not going anywhere with you," Alice said flatly.
"Your loss." Spence's grin widened. "But let me tell you how this works. Nobody knows Umbrella like I do. Nobody. And if you think you can expose them, fight them, change anything? You're dreaming. They'll bury you. They'll bury everyone you've ever known."
He was warming to his subject now, gesturing with the gun. "I'm offering you a way out. Join me, split the profits, and we all live like kings. Turn me down?" He shrugged. "Well, the antidote's in the train where you found me. Without me, you're all zombie food."
No one spoke. They stared at him with a mixture of disgust and fury—and something else. Something almost pitying.
Alice's eyes were the worst. "I don't know what you were to me before," she said quietly. "But whatever it was? It's over."
Spence frowned. "What—"
The zombie hit him from behind.
It had been shambling through the flooded lab, drawn by voices. Now it lunged onto Spence's back, jaws clamping down on his neck. Blood sprayed.
"Fuck!" Spence screamed, pistol firing wildly—crack-crack-crack—bullets tearing through the zombie's torso. The creature fell back into the water, but the damage was done. Spence spun and put two rounds through its skull, chest heaving.
When he turned back to the group, the gun was shaking in his hand.
Matt started forward. Ryan moved with him. If they rushed him together—
But Spence still had enough presence of mind to swing the pistol toward them. "Don't even think about it."
They froze.
Marcus, who'd been watching the entire scene with cold detachment, finally spoke. "You should get that antidote. You've got maybe six hours before you turn. Probably less, given how deep that bite is."
Spence's face twisted. He wanted to shoot someone—Marcus could see it in his eyes. But bullets were precious now. And with zombies potentially around every corner...
"This isn't over," Spence spat. He backed toward the exit, gun trained on them until he was through the door. Then he turned and ran.
"Goddamn it!" Matt slammed his fist against the wall. "We just let him go!"
"Not necessarily."
The voice was mechanical, female. Familiar.
Everyone turned. A monitor in the corner of the lab had flickered to life, showing the Red Queen's young girl avatar.
"I told you before," the AI said, with what might have been smugness. "I'm a bad girl."
The image on the monitor changed. Security camera footage—a corridor somewhere above them. Spence ran through frame, still clutching his neck.
Above him, clinging to the ceiling, a Licker tensed its grotesquely muscled body.
Ready to drop.
End of Chapter 47
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