EPILOGUE
THEY SAW THE AFTERMATH OF THE EXPLOSION
from ten miles outside the city, a black and
billowing cloud that rose up into the early morning
light and hung over Raccoon like a terrible storm
or a bad dream, Rebecca thought, a recurring
one. Umbrella.
She didn't say it aloud, because it wasn't necessary.
John and David hadn't gone through the Spencer
estate nightmare, but they'd been at the Cove facility,
witnesses to what Umbrella was capable of; they
knew.
Nobody spoke as David stepped up the speed, his
knuckles white on the wheel. For once, John didn't
crack any jokes about what might have happened.
They all knew that it was bad; before Jill, Chris, and
Barry had left for Europe, Jill had wired them with
her suspicions about another accident, and asked
them to keep tabs. When the phone lines had gone
down, they'd loaded up the SUV and left Maine to see
what could be done. The only question was how many
people had died this time.
Maybe this is the end, finally. A blast like that...
Umbrella can't cover this up so easily, not if it's as bad
as it looks.
John finally broke the silence, his deep, mellow
voice uncharacteristically subdued. "Fail-safe?"
David sighed. "Probably. And if there was a spill,
we're not going in; we'll circle the city and then call
for help from Latham. Umbrella is surely sending in
its cleanup staff already."
Rebecca nodded along with John. They weren't
technically part of the S.T.A.R.S. anymore, but David
had been a captain before, and with good reason.
They fell back into a tense silence, the dawn-touched
trees spinning past the utility vehicle, Rebecca wondering
what they would find...
... when she saw the people, staggering up into the
road, waving their arms.
"Hey..." she started, but David was already hitting
the brakes, slowing down as they neared the threesome
of ragged strangers. A cop with a bandaged arm
and a young woman in shorts, both of them holding
weapons, and a little girl in a pink vest that was much
too big for her. They weren't infected, or at least not
showing signs that Rebecca could see, but they
looked like hell nonetheless. With their ripped clothes
and their faces pale and shocked beneath masks of
dirt, they certainly could have passed for walking
death.
"I'll talk," David said, his crisp British accent mild
but firm, and then they were pulling up beside the
Raccoon survivors.
David opened his window and killed the engine,
the young cop stepping forward as the woman slipped
one grimy arm around the little girl's shoulders.
"There's been an accident, in Raccoon," he said,
and although they were obviously tired and wounded
and badly in need of help, there was a wariness in the
cop's tone, a guarded, careful note that suggested just
how bad things had been. "A terrible accident. You
don't want to go there, it's not safe."
David frowned. "What sort of accident, Officer?"
The young woman spoke up, her mouth a set and
bitter line. "An Umbrella accident," she said, and the
cop nodded, and the little blond girl buried her face
against the woman's hip.
John and Rebecca exchanged a look, and David hit
the switch to unlock the doors.
"Really? Those tend to be the worst kind," he said
gently. "We'd be happy to help you, if you'd like, or
we could call for help..."
It was a question. The cop glanced back at the
woman, then met David's gaze for several long beats.
He must have seen something in David's face that he
felt he could trust; he nodded slowly, then motioned
for the woman and girl to come forward.
"Thanks," he said, the exhaustion finally coming
through. "If you could give us a ride, that'd be great."
David smiled. "Please, get in. John, Rebecca -
- would you assist... ?"
John grabbed a couple of blankets out of the back as
Rebecca reached for her medical kit, careful not to
uncover the rifles tucked next to the wheel well.
An Umbrella accident. . .
Rebecca wondered if they knew how lucky they
were to have survived it, but another look into those
three exhausted, shell-shocked faces told her that they
probably did.
They started talking even before David turned the
vehicle around and in a very short time, they discovered
that they had a lot in common, as the child
fell asleep and they drove back the way they'd come,
leaving the burning city behind.
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