"My god, this place is huge!" Kim steps down the medicinal aisle when the TV crackles to life behind her. She turns her head toward it, "What the hell?" She brings her body around and walks toward it. She leans around the counter and gasps at the sight. The message is written in a weird font, flashing every three seconds. Complete Obliteration of Operation Washington will begin in forty-six minutes. You have forty-six minutes to reach minimum safe distance. "Oh, god. Why is Umbrella doing this?" She reads the message one more time, watching the time change one minute. She turns away and walks down the aisle, eyeing the different bottles of medicine. "Hmm, nothing made by Umbrella, isn't that strange?" She picks up a bottle of pain killer, another bottle of hemostat liquid, a HUGE box of medicinal gauze, and a jug of water. She steps through the door, dropping the supplies as she walks to the spot Rico was once standing. "NO! Rico!" She bends down at the blood trail and follows it down the road. She walks back to her dropped items and places them into her bag, her face grim and taut. She slings the bag over and begins her slow and grim trek to the city limits, keeping her sight on the tiny blood trail. She tightens her grip on the USP as she lifts it and fires two rounds into the zombie, all without looking up from the trail of dark crimson. She blinks twice and watches as a small drop of rain slides down her cheek, dripping off at the tip of her nose. A single tear follows the same path as the raindrop. "This sucks. This sucks badly."

This 'Steven' creature is imperfect. It was easily killed, only took two of us. Those two perished, turned to muck, decayed. The Dr. Inman copies roar and drop the cleaned bones. They clatter to the ground as the first one snorts, the smell of fresh blood enters its nostrils. It's the male food. The other one roars and they both run through the hole, out into the wet early morning. That food first, the strong female last. The one in front throws its head to the left and growls. Chemicals... They couldn't, they wouldn't. Dr. Inman growls at the lapse of the tiny part of her brain that's still intact. The food won't live. Nothing, not even Julie, can stop us.

The pain in my arm is numb, there, but not nonexistent. Where am I? What is pulling me along the asphalt. I feel my skin tearing against the concrete, but I can't see a thing. All I know is that my body is covered in pain, the thought very disconcerting. I can barely breathe, I can barely.. "Breathe!" Rico looks around, his eyes instantly adjusting to the light. "Who are you?" The man turns his head to him, the face reminiscent of a demon. "Major Heller? What are you doing with me?" "Ha ha ha. Don't concern yourself with that, uh, Commander Piker is it? It's all a matter of time, actually, there it is." Warning.. Complete Obliteration of Operation Washington is imminent. You have forty-two minutes to reach minimum safe distance. Warning.. Complete Obliteration of Operation Washington is imminent. You have forty-one minutes to reach minimum safe distance. Warning... "What do you plan to do with me?" Major Heller laughs, the raspy laugh is craze-stricken, "I was planning on letting you and Lieutenant Rogers walk to your doom, but the infection you got will prove most entertaining on the plane-ride out. I plan on seeing how well Static Heaven does on a human host." "Static Heaven?" "Oh yes, it is the mastered form of the Ender Virus. It turns your brain into static and puts your mind into a state of heavenly bliss." Rico groans and slides his hand over the USP attached to his upper right thigh. "Tell me, is there an antigen?" Major Heller laughs again, the sound striking mild fear in Rico, "Yes, but it's on the plane. Either you come with me, get the antigen, or, you can kill me, save Kim, but end up killing her as Static Heaven takes over. Your decision." Rico smiles and shoves the barrel of the USP right on Major Heller's protruding spine, "Say your last prayer, God won't hear it." He fires once, the round puncturing his body with the sound of a pencil piercing a thick steak. Major Heller grunts several times, the sound then stretching into a gurgling death-spasm. Rico stands to his feet and grabs the keys off his belt-loop. "Mine."

"Where did you go, Rico?" Kim looks down at the thinning trail as the rain picks up, washing the blood away in a small crimson tide. She bursts into a sprint and her steps send small backsplashes of water into the air. Warning.. Complete Obliteration of Operation Washington is imminent. You have thirty-eight minutes to reach minimum safe distance. Warning.. Complete Obliteration of Operation Washington is imminent. You have thirty-seven minutes to reach minimum safe distance. Warning... "Shut up, just shut the HELL UP!" Kim aims at the speaker attached to the streetlight and fires, the bulb exploding and the speaker sizzling out. "Ah, the sweet sounds of silence." Kim lowers the Desert Eagle to her side and keeps her pace, the lightning hitting something far off, the loud SHH-KAOW reverberating off of the empty streets. "Damn, I wonder what that hit?" She watches the street ahead of her and spots the body slumped in the street, shaped against the early-morning light. "Rico?" She quickens her pace and slides along the asphalt up to the body. "Major Heller?" The body spasms at the mention of his name... "{COUGH} Commander Piker went that way... He.. He's infected..." Major Heller coughs three times in succession and dies, the prolonged breath hissing softly. "Hmm. Well, I guess he's going for the antigen. But where is it? That's the question of the hour, isn't it?" She taps her boot into the asphalt and pushes off, jumping over the cooling body. The message repeats itself, alerting her that three minutes have passed since the last warning. "Great! Shut up!" Kim pounds her feet and pumps her weak arms for speed, each step getting harder and harder to make. "This can't end, it can't end here!"

Hmm, the female food stopped at the dying food. Maybe they deserve to live, after all, They did kill the man responsible for this. They have good intentions after all. Dr. Inman roars and kills the other one, which was starting to walk forward. No, they must live. I'm the one who's supposed to die. Dr. Inman nods its tiny head and turns around, walking back into the city, not really understanding the message, but fearing it none the less. It is I that must die. The thought repeats as three Licker-Zs jump onto its shoulders. They can't kill me, I must reach the center of the city. Dr. Inman wraps a tentacle around each of the Licker-Zs tongues, ripping them from the backs of their throats. The three shriek and fall to the ground, their last breathes raspy. No challenge, my only challenge is going to live. Good, you can die in peace now. Yes, Julie is right. I can die without regrets.

"The plane, that's it. Ok, get it started, go back for Kim, leave. Get it started, leave, go back for Kim, no.. Leave, get the plane started, and go back for Kim. AHH! No!" Rico bangs the side of his fist into the wall of the plane, becoming frustrated at his lack of focus. He slides the key shakily into the keyhole, turns it, and opens the door, lowering it onto the slick asphalt. He takes a step onto the small stairs and falls forward, feeling awkwardly lightheaded. He places his hand on his forehead and says, "Oh, god forgive me. Ok, up we go." He pushes himself up and climbs into the plane, instantly looking for a case, vial, anything that might hold the antigen. He growls in frustration and sits down in the pilot seat. He slides the large key into the ignition and turns it toward him. The engine turns over and the propeller begins to spin. A golden flash covers his face and he says, "Hello?" He stumbles out of the plane, turning the key as he does so. He grabs the slowly spinning propeller and grasps the golden-colored vial, "Someone likes me. Someone really likes me!" He pops the top off of the vial and chugs the liquid inside. "Hmm, tastes like hone... God Damn It!" Rico tosses the vial aside and grasps his head in both hands, "Who hides a vial of honey? Honestly?" He turns back toward the city, just as Kim comes running toward him. "Rico!"

Kim waves her arms and runs up to Rico's slumped body. "Hey? You ok?" Rico groans and holds his gut, buckling over and vomiting onto the asphalt. "Hey, easy, it's ok." Rico looks up at her, a weird fire burning in the depths of his eyes, "Run. Into the plane, go. I'm feeling weird.." "Rico.. Let me help you." He pushes her toward the plane and growls, "No. GO!" Kim nods and jumps into the plane, giving him a couple of looks before she closes the cabin door. "Bye, Rico." She turns the key and pushes the throttle forward, speed-reading the simple instructions pasted on the dashboard. "Alternate the pedals, to move the rudder left and right. Then push the throttle forward, BUT, after I pull the choke. Oh, can't they get anything right!" Kim rereads the step and follows it, but in reverse order. The plane roars as it catches speed, lifting off of the ground slightly. She throws the throttle forward, the plane lurching up higher. The back of the plane lowers dramatically, "What the hell... Static Heaven.. Oh no Rico!" Kim grasps the Desert Eagle she set in the copilot chair. She grimaces at how wrong this has gone so quickly. "Just ten minutes ago, your face was beaming with the thought of escape. Forgive me." She brings it up and checks the clip, ready for anything, she hopes.

Something happened with the male food, he's no longer food. Think, Ender had a side-virus, what was it? Dr. Inman roars and the words barely form, "Static Heaven..." Julie smiles in her mind and Dr. Inman runs back toward the hospital, not really knowing where the male food is.

"No! Rico! Don't!" She fires at his shoulder as he is grasping the wing. The window cracks and the cabin decompresses, the air becoming thinner by the minute. "Won't last much longer." She aims again, targeting his bleeding and shattered shoulder. "Kim! I can't control it!" Kim stumbles back at the voice that is barely filtering over the rush of wind. "Rico? Tell me! How can I help?" "Nothing, just go!" Kim shakes her head, "No! I can't! You'll tear the plane apart!" "Fine! You have to kill me! It's the only way!" "But.." "No! It's the only way!" Kim nods and aims the gun at his head, "I love you Rico!" "Same here. I love you too! NOW DO IT!" Kim lets her tears run freely and pulls the trigger, crying out in surprise as she misses. A hole appears in the side of the plane and Rico is standing in front of her. "Go! Get out! I can tell what my body wants to do and it isn't pretty." Kim nods and runs back into the cockpit. She pushes the cabin door open and looks at the dirt nearly thirty feet below her. Something pulls the other side of the plane down and she flies back, banging her head against the ceiling controls, rendering her unconscious.

There. It's the food. "Rico, isn't it?" "Yes, but I'm not the real Rico. You must be the conscious of Dr. Inman?" "Yes, the girl lives." "No. She can't!" Dr. Inman roars and sends the three whips at the small form of Rico Piker. Rico ducks to the left, nearly having the side of his face ripped off. Dr. Inman brings her right arm up, the long, hooked claws tearing through his chest. Rico screams in pain and says, "Stop! It hurts!" Dr. Inman nods and brings her arm up, then throwing it to the left, ripping Rico's head off. "Forgive me." "I do..." Dr. Inman smiles and jumps out of the plane, dragging Rico's body with her. I can die without remorse.

"Oh, my head..." Her last few words are lost over the sudden, and loud BOOM floating around the plane. "They destroyed the city? Oh, they've done it now." 'Rico!' She runs into the back of the plane and shrieks at the blood trail leading out of the hole. "Thank you, whoever did this." She looks at the control panel and says, "I'm barely 124 miles from the city, and I have no fuel. Better land, but where?" Kim grasps the controls and gasps as they are locked, a piece of the cabin door jammed into it. "Perfect, just perfect." Kim tosses the Desert Eagle into the pilot seat and sits down, her body numb and tired from the whole experience. Her mind begins to doze, dreaming of black, just sleeping.

Ten Minutes Before Complete Obliteration. This is it! It all ends here. Let's go! Dr. Inman roars and wraps the three whips around Rico's neck, a new head regenerating from his scabbed shoulders. Nice try, but I think I now have full control of Rico's body. Thank you for killing Rico. No! How could I! Well, if I can't kill you, I'll make sure you're here when the bombs begin. Dr. Inman pulls her left arm back and tears his arms off, new ones sprouting right behind them. NO! I can't kill you. Oh yeah, this is it! Rico jumps forward, keeping a mental note of the time left, six minutes. Dr. Inman steps to the left and Rico crashes into the asphalt, sending huge chunks into the air, a few bouncing off of Dr. Inman's rubbery flesh. Dr. Inman roars and slashes upward, her clawed hand cutting Rico into five pieces. She screams in frustration as the five pieces melt away, leaving her to her thoughts, well, Julie's thoughts. All personnel have one minute, thirty seconds to reach safe distance. Warning, this is not enough time to reach minimum safe distance. Warning, minimum safe distance cannot be reached. Warning minimum safe distance cannot be reached. Dr. Inman roars in accomplishment and walks down the cracked street, pleased with the fact that at least one of them will live. She passes the hospital as the first row of bombs set off, the booms shaking the city, causing buildings to crumble and streetlamps to topple over, the bulbs shattering on impact. Dr. Inman smashes her right arm into the glass wall of the grocery store, the pain overcome by the sense of right. This is the total accomplishment of my work, this moment. A bomb explodes under her, completely evaporating her body. The rest of the city explodes, the shockwave shaking the plane as it clears the Vermont border.