They’re all assembled in the employee lounge.

Cumberland is standing in the corner.

Jill is sitting next to Chris. Her head is on his shoulder.

Chris is staring straight ahead. He’s holding Jill’s hand.

Claire is pacing.

Leon steps into the room. “They’re gone.”

“Shit,” Claire mutters. She turns around and kicks a chair, sends it flying.

“Where do you think they’ll go?” Jill asks, raising her head.

“Who knows? They could be anywhere.”

“Ada would know,” Leon says.

“Can you get in touch with her?”

“Yeah. But I haven’t been able to reach her for a couple of hours now.”

“He took her, you know,” Chris says. “No way Rebecca would just go with him.”

“She loves him, Chris,” Claire says.

“That doesn’t mean she’d go with him. I know Rebecca.”

“He’s right,” Leon says. “She wouldn’t just leave. Not now.”

Claire knows they’re right, but she doesn’t want to know what that means.

The door to the lounge suddenly bursts open. Ada stumbles in. Her hair is greasy and a mess, her eyes are black, her lips dry and cracked. She’s clutching her shoulder. She’s been shot.

Leon dashes over to her.

“You have to get out of here,” she says. Her voice sounds raw, desperate.

“What happened?” Leon asks. He puts his arm around her and tries to pry her hand off the wound. Cumberland approaches her, concerned.

“I went back… It didn’t make sense, something was missing, so I went back…”

“Why didn’t you tell me?” Leon says angrily. “You could have been killed.”

“I didn’t want you to get hurt.”

“She’ll be alright,” Cumberland says after taking a look at the bullet hole. “The wound isn’t that bad.” He sets about cleaning and dressing it. It won’t take him long.

“You all have to get out of here now!” she moans as Leon touches one of her eyes.

“What’s going on?” Claire asks.

“I had to find out why Hollum wants Wesker alive…”

“Who did this to you?” Leon demands.

Ada chuckles bitterly.

“My former associates. Where’s Wesker?”

“He’s gone.”

“Shit…”

“He took Rebecca with him.”

“We have to find them.”

Claire’s PCD starts beeping.

Hollum is trying to get in touch with her.

They look at each other, panicking. They look at Claire. She puts the PCD on the rickety table, takes out her pistol, and shoots it. It shatters into a million pieces. Everyone is standing. “We have to split up,” she says.

“Where do we go?” Jill asks.

“I’ll figure out a way to contact you all,” she says. “Right now we need to get the hell out of here.”

No one knows what to say.

Chris wants to go with Jill.

Claire wants to get Cumberland back into protective custody.

Leon doesn’t want her to go alone; he’s also worried about Ada.

Jill is eager to leave the Facility; she doesn’t care who she leaves with.

Ada knows she works best alone.

They all stand together, in a circle, facing each other.

“This is it,” Claire says at last. “Good luck, everybody.” They nod.

Then silently, one by one, they file out of the lounge, down the dirty, musty smelling hallway, and out into the cold night air.

They all think it’s a little too dramatic.

But life is like that sometimes.

Part Two is entitled Villainy. Look for it, won't you?

I love you all.

pia Z