Death and Rebirth

Pan awoke to Carlos shaking her rapidly “Pan…Pan…Pathera!” He called Pan Shot up from beneath him and hit her head on the steering wheel “ouch!” she whimpered rubbing her head. Carlos ducked down at the sound of birds hitting the trucks window. “What was that” pan asked wide eyes. “Infested birds” Carlos growled loading up a gun. “I wanna help” Pan demanded sitting up in the trucks seats. “stay here We’ve got it covered” pan pouted at the fact that her request was ignored “But I wanna help!” she yelled again. Carlos groaned in frustration “Pan stay” he demanded before jumping out of the truck and firing off rounds into the sky. Pan watched him and the rest of the convoy scramble to get the children inside the bus and everyone into the trucks. “I’ll show you” Pan muttered as she opened the trucks door and leapt out into the flurry of birds. She ran and grabbed a Riffle that had been dropped. She didn’t know how to fire it, but she had a better idea. K-mart screamed huddled into a corner between two of the trucks. Pan sprinted to her, a crow flew at the frightened teen aiming for her face, K-mart screamed again awaiting for the birds beak to drill into her eyes. There was a gust of wind and a stomach curdling crack. Pan smacked the bird with the riffle like a baseball with a bat. “oh!” K-mart gasped as pan grabed her by the wrist and took off running towards Mikey’s truck, swinging at the bids as they went. Mikey reach out his arms to them “come on!” He called urging them to run after, Pan pushed K-mart ahead of her to Mikey before whirling back around. To hit a few more birds. “Pan!” Mikey called holding the door open a bit “come on pan!” he called Pan swung the riffle again. “Aussie close the door!” She called back. “no get in, are you crazy!” Mikey called back “Mikey just close the door!” K-mart yelled as a bird pasted Pan and headed for the two. Pan’s eyes darted to the bird, and within a flash Pan leapt back and snatched the bird in her hand and crushed it “wha-“ Mikey gasped as Pan was crouched down on the ground like a feline. She reached up shoved Mikey back into the truck closing the door. She spotted Claire trying to get the children back into the buss, but birds where breaking the windows.

“Pan?” Claire asked as Pan ran up helping her get the children inside, giving Claire time to shoot birds down. “come on everybody get inside” Pan called helping the kids inside, sounding like one herself almost with her high pitched voice. “hurry go” she called pushing the last child inside. “I need to reload!” Claire called, Pan picked back up her riffle and held it up ready to swing at the birds “then do it!” Pan called Claire rolled her eyes and bit and reloaded her gun as Pan swung. A bird clipped her wrist causing Pan to yelp and drop the riffle. The birds now freely flew at her, Pan ducked using her flexibility to avoid being struck by the crazed birds. Claire watched her in confusion her movements where fast, unnaturally so. “ Pan!” someone called out over the chaos. Pan looked up “Alice!” She said with a smile, she had forgotten about the birds, and one struck the side of her cheek knocking her to the ground. “Pan!” Mikey called getting out of the truck and running two her. He knelt down at her side. “I’m ok, no harm done” Pan explained sheepishly “ouch!” She cried Mikey had touched her injured cheek “ok maybe not completely” She added. Time seemed to slow down; Alice had focused on the birds, her T-Virus abilities made the birds drop dead from the sky. Mikey covered Pan with his body as the birds dropped down.

Alice swooned that tactic took a lot out of her as she was still getting used to the powers the T-virus bond had given her. She shook her head and focused her eyes, “pan!” she called slightly out of breath as she ran to Mikey, Pan pushed Mikey off of her “Alice!” Pan called bolting to her viral sister. The two girls embraced, Alice held Pan closer to her, resting her head on top hers. “Where the hell have you been” Alice breathed pulling away from her slightly Pan beamed up at her, her eyes nearly glowing “with Carlos..” Pan said turning around pointing at him. “well well well, We’ve almost got the whole gang together” Carlos said with a smirk Pan looked up at Alice “L.J’s here too” She said Alice gave a short tired laugh and looked up to see L.J hopping out of a truck. “And Valentine?” Alice asked Pan shook her head.

Pan sat at a distance from everyone and watched Carlos, Alice, and Claire talk. “Hey” Mikey said sitting down next to her. She looked at him shyly from the corner of her eyes “what was that back there?” He asked “you leapt through the air like some kind of animal” Mikey added. “um..” Pan stammered. “it was kinda neat you know” He added, Pan looked up at him surprised and smiled a bit. Her head snapped up as someone’s feet came into view “hey um I just want to you know…” K-mart said, Pan looked confused for a moment and then smiled “what else are friends for right?” She asked K-mart looked taken aback but nodded stiffly “yeah…right…thanks” She managed Pan giggled. “Alice what happened to you….why did you leave after Detroit?” Carlos asked Pan had picked up the conversation with her hearing, She stood up and slowly walked over to them. “I didn't have a choice. They were using me….using us” Alice said dryly looking behind her to see Pan just a few feet behind her. “what do you mean?” Carlos asked a hint od confusion and worry, he reached out and grabbed Pan’s hand drawing her to him. “They were tracking me. I couldn't be around you. Any of you…I had left with Pan…but they caught her… I needed to find her and I would've gotten you all killed.” Alice said. “That's why you disappeared?” Carlos asked softly. “Broke into an Umbrella facility and hacked into their computers... ...downloaded the satellite trajectories... ...and stayed off the grid….went out hunting for Pan…had to make sure I didn’t cost her her life… but when I hacked the system…I saw someone had already come for her, and then I had to find them” Alice said smiling down a bit at Pan, pan broke away from Carlos and hugged Alice, she chuckled at her and rested a hand on the top of Pan’s head. “And after the world ended? Why stay out there alone? We could have helped you find Pan…helped you hide from Umbrella” Carlos asked feeling like something was being kept from him. “It's just safer if I'm not around people.” Alice said simply though she had to think on it, it was just the way she was used to, after losing so many people…she didn’t want to risk losing anyone else.” Why'd you come back?” He asked Alice stayed quiet and looked down at Pan “ I felt her near…. I felt her in trouble…I felt her hurt…and I heard her in trouble…I knew she was close by…” Alice said never taking her eyes off of her, Pan’s eyes flashed with the Virus symbol as did Alice’s. Pan had never understood the strange bond she and Alice had, it was like they were two parts of the same puzzle, only Alice was stronger, more skilled, almost like the newer model of an outdated product, the outdated one being Pan herself. Bother girls DNA had bonded with the T-virus, But in different methods. Pan was flexible, fast, and has strange abilities herself. But her body was frail, and she was not physically powerful, her mind had been reduced to the complexity of a child’s because of the Virus and how it worked against her brain. She wasn’t all that different from the infected zombies on the inside. She had just learned to control the longing for flesh.

Alice looked down at pan’s scratches; Pan rubbed her hands over her upper arms and looked away. “What gave you those?” Alice asked. “A Plaga…” Pan whispered, she went back into a daze as more memory fragments flew through her brain. “It was chasing us…And I went back, because she fell, and it was coming” Pan murmured, Alice looked down at her “Plaga?” She asked Pan nodded. “what’s a Plaga?” Alice asked “damn” Carlos cursed looking around “what time is it?” He sighed He turned around and looked up at Chase “Chase, what time is it?” He called Chase looked taken back but looked down at a small watch which he had somehow managed to keep working. “Well Carlos, it’s 12:14 why?” He asked Pausing “you got somewhere you’ve got to be?” Alice asked tilting her head to the side. “Nah I guess I’m just paranoid….” Carlos said walking past Alice, He stopped and looked back at her and then smiled down at Pan “welcome home” He said and walked off completely. Pan looked up at Alice “Carlos is acting strange.” She muttered Alice smiled down at her and gave a half hearted laugh as she laid a hand on Pan’s shoulder “He’s always been strange pan” She said dryly. Alice quickly looked up to see Claire looking at her from a short distance, she eyed Pan wearily. “Hey….you got a minute?” She asked Alice, Alice looked down at Pan “I’ll be right back” She said almost as if instructing Pan to stay put. Pan nodded slowly before plopping down on the ground Indian style and began to draw in the sand with her finger.

Claire led Alice a good margin away from the others “Everyone’s grateful for you helping us out.” Claire said stiffly with a heavy sigh. “But how long am I going to stay” Alice said, she wasn’t surprised, she saw it coming she hadn’t expected to be welcomed into the convoy. “Don’t get me wrong….” Claire said looking off she gazed over all the people she had helped all the survivors they had had left. “We really are grateful. They're all talking about what you did. And they're scared.” Claire said Alice looked her dead in her eyes “I don’t blame them…People have a habit of dying around me” She said coldly glancing back at Pan whom was still drawing in the sand. “Not just you…” Claire said darkly also casting her eyes on the oddly behaving Ebony skinned girl. K-mart stood next to Mikey & L.J as they watched pan. “She’s like a little kid…trapped in a adults body…” K-mart said Mikey sighed “she’s just playful…and light hearted….not many are like that anymore you know?” He said. “Trust me…I know that girl…ain’t all there…just like that other one over there” L.J said pointing to Alice. “They’re not like us” He added. Pan looked up feeling someone staring at her, seeing the three she waved at them with a cheerful smile on her face.

Chase walked up to Pan; she looked up at him and smiled. “Hey…hey cowboy, can I try on your hat?” She asked standing up, he towered over her, and she was only 5 feet tall. He looked down at her and laughed, but took his hat off and put it on top of her head. Pan grinned “It fits you” He said trying to hold back his laughter. Pan lifted the hat away from her eyes “I had always wanted to be a cowgirl when I was little..” she said flash backs came into her mind from when she was a child. She was sitting in a pure white room, in a long white night gown, there was a little TV in the room, she had a dolly & a horse toy, and three men in lab coat watched her from the observitive window. Pan handed the hat back to Chase before walking off. She stood on top of a hill, the air was dry it wasn’t as hot as the night before, but it was still warm enough to break a sweat. She looked out over the land, voices echoing in her head. “Go! Keep moving, I’m right behind you” “Pan! What the hell” “The Plagas!” “Leon grab her!” “Ada!” “Go!” “Pan get back!” Pan grabbed her ears and shut her eyes. “Stop it, stop it, I’m sorry…I messed it up” She whispered softly to herself or rather to the voice “I’m sorry…I messed it up again” She added. Opening her eyes she saw Mikey reaching an arm out to her, Pan jumped back away from him “Sorry id didn’t mean to scare you…” Mikey said drawing his hand away. “Are ok?” He added. Pan looked at him blankly “Everything I touch Dies…Everything ….everything we go near….” She muttered looking over at Alice. “What are you?” Mikey asked Pan looked at her feet “nothing” she said quickly before scurrying off.

“Alaska…” Alice said sardonically, “We can’t just ignore it, we have to check it out” Claire said looking between Alice & Carlos. “Any idea what kind of journey that would be…” Carlos sighed, they were having a hard enough time keeping fuel in the trucks as it was, let alone finding food for all of the survivors, and such a journey would cut their numbers more than they had been cut already. “Yeah a long one…and at the end of it what?” Alice asked. Claire leered at her slightly. Alice sighed “you have no guarantee there is anyone alive up there…” Alice added. “These transmissions say that…” “They are dated six months ago…” Alice cut in Claire got quiet. “How many radio broadcasts have we responded to? How many times have we gotten there too late?” Carlos added in. Pan eavesdropped on the three of them from behind a truck. “The transmissions say that there's no infection up there. It's isolated. Safe.” Claire said as she spoke her voice became more pointed as she went on “This convoy trusts me with their lives.” She added. “These people don’t need pipe dreams…” Alice added in. Carlos looked at her skeptically “maybe that’s exactly what they need.” He said he looked around at the convoy “Look at them, Six months ago, there were 50 of us, then 40, now there's less than 30. They're starting to give up. They need some kind of hope.” He said with a sighed, “I hate to say it, but maybe Claire is right” He added.