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With a bone-jarring impact, Carlos went flying across the cab, his head striking against the passenger-side door. Belatedly, Carlos realized that fastening his seat belt might not have been a bad idea.

The tanker skidded on its side along the ground, finally coming to a halt. The zomboids swarmed all over the truck, making it impossible for Carlos to see how close he was to the fence.

He hoped it was close enough.

Something caught his eye on the passenger-side sun visor. Reaching up, he pulled it down to see a half-full pack of cigarettes, along with a purple cigarette lighter that was inscribed with the words BAD MOTHERFUCKER.

Carlos couldn’t help it. He laughed. “I’ll be damned. L.J., you sneaky sonofabitch. Always had something going on the side…”

The zomboids started to claw their way into the cab. Carlos ignored them, instead lighting L.J.’s distinctive lighter.

First he lit the fuse.

Then he lit the cigarette.

Not a bad life, after all.

After he took a long, satisfying drag on the cigarette, the world exploded.

Alice braced herself in the passenger seat of the Hummer as it plowed forward into the burning ground left by the destroyed tanker. Luckily, this was the only surviving vehicle. The ambulance never would have made it through this, and with that big hole in its floor, neither would the 8x8.

Joel and Dorian kept the kids calm in the cramped confines of the back. Kmart was wedged in between Claire in the driver’s seat and Alice.

As they drove their bumpy way through the inferno, Alice saw tears in Kmart’s eyes. “Hold on!” she cried.

Kmart, though, turned her head as they went through. By the time the Hummer slammed through the perimeter fence, she was completely turned around.

Looking at Carlos.

The Hummer came to a halt at the helicopter. Claire and Kmart ran ahead to open it; Dorian went about halfway between the Hummer and the chopper; Joel stayed in the Hummer, and the three of them herded the kids in while Claire went to the controls.

For her part, Alice held her sawed-off in one hand and the red journal in the other, keeping an eye on the undead. They were starting to work their way through the tanker’s fire, making a beeline for the new hole in the fence.

The rotors sprang to life. Alice heard Claire say, “That was the easy bit.”

Once the kids were all on board, Dorian and Joel got in behind them. That left just Kmart and Alice outside. “C’mon,” Kmart said.

Instead, Alice handed Kmart the journal. “Here.”

Frowning, Kmart said, “You’re not coming?”

She shook her head. For one thing, she’d made a silent promise to Carlos. For another, Claire had indeed been right. If she stuck around, more people would die. She was better off alone.

“Take care of the others,” she said to the teenager who would need to assume the roles L.J. and Carlos had assumed in the convoy, helping Claire to keep it all together. “They need you.”

With that, she turned and ran toward the weather station. The undead started pouring through the hole in the fence. Alice took out two of them.

Turning around, she saw the helicopter lift off, Claire’s semi-steady hand at the controls. It wasn’t a smooth takeoff, but it got the job done.

Alice wished them godspeed and luck. Without her around, they might just make it.

Then she turned and headed toward the weather station—when something caught her eye.

It was a big ditch, ringed with lime. In it were dozens of corpses.

Every one of them looked like her. In fact, they all seemed to be wearing the same red dress she wore when she’d been in the Hive with Spence, Matt, and One and his team.

What the fuck?

Alice had thought she couldn’t possibly have been more angry at Dr. Sam Isaacs.

She was wrong.

Pulling out her Kukris, she headed into the weather station. Kmart had found the full schematics for this station, including how to operate the hydraulic elevator, so it was the work of only a moment for Alice to summon it and have it bring her down into Umbrella’s complex.

She arrived to a darkened corridor, which split into two. The one on the left was smeared