Resident Evil. Retribution by John Shirley Page A

men ran.
    The panic quickly reached a fever pitch, and the sickness of the Undead spread with remarkable alacrity. Now the kogal spread it, leaping onto a man’s back and biting him; and the J-pop girl birthed another Undead, and that one made another…
    Alice backed away, gun in one hand, chain in the other—and suddenly the fleeing crowd parted around her, leaving her exposed. She was the only one not actually running.
    The Undead, as one, instantly turned toward her.
    The J-pop girl raised her arm, pointed, and unleashed an unearthly howl. Majini tentacles exploded from her mouth, whipping frenetically. The salaryman and the kogal flanked her and lumbered toward Alice.
    Other Undead, awakening from a momentary death, transformed with radical speed, getting to their feet and turning their milky eyes toward her. There were too many to fight with a gun and a chain.
    A strange creaking, evolving into a rumbling, came from behind Alice. She turned, prepared to run, and saw a 109 Department Store building. It was beginning to split open, the front halves of the big structure parting like giant doors. Blinding white light shafted out from within—where nothing else was visible.
    There was nowhere else to go. Once more, she accepted the unspoken invitation, and fled into the light.
    Pursued by the crowd of Undead, Alice sprinted into the building, blinking, eyes adjusting to the burst of luminescence—it was like the corridor of milky, glowing glass she had left behind, but taller and wider.
    She didn’t run into the building alone—the Undead were close behind her. She heard their clumsy but relentless feet, their gasping and burbling and the clacking of their jaws.
    A corridor appeared out of the glare, but before she was halfway down its length, she heard an Undead pelting up behind her; lunging, pushing her off balance. Alice stumbled against a wall, then had to turn and face her adversary.
    The Undead J-pop girl was out in front of the crowd of Alice’s pursuers. Having only just died, her young body was just as strong as in life—and far more relentless. There was no time to get a bead on her head. Alice spun, swinging the chain, her motion making it difficult for the creature to grab her. The chain’s lock connected solidly with the girl’s face, breaking bone. The jaw sagged down, coming to rest askew.
    But she kept coming, oblivious to pain, clawing at Alice with long, brightly painted fingernails— fingernails with glitter on them. Her broken jaw wagged back and forth.
    Alice shot her in the forehead, stepped out of the way as she fell, swung the chain around the neck of the salaryman, yanked it hard to pull him off balance so he fell on his face. She fired past him at the kogal, the round tearing off a chunk of her skull but not nailing her brain. The kogal leapt at her—Alice dodged, and the girl sprawled atop the salaryman, knocking him down.
    Four more Undead—two men and two women— came next. Behind them, about thirty paces back, surged a horde of the things, too many to count.
    Alice fired at the closer group, blowing a heavyset blowsy housewife’s head apart. The creature went down, and right in the path of three that were following her. They tripped over her, as Alice had hoped, ending in a confused tangle of limbs and snapping jaws.
    Something grabbed Alice’s ankle, and she looked down to see the kogal gnashing at her leg. At that moment she was grateful for the boots. The salaryman was like a crushed beetle, limbs wriggling, trying to stand. Alice kicked the Undead girl in the face, stepped back, and fired, aiming carefully so that the .45 slug smashed through her forehead, penetrating and angling down into the salaryman’s spine.
    There was the sound of clomping feet, bubbling snarls, and she turned to see the three Undead she’d tripped up, double-time marching toward her, side by side. Alice fired three times, from right to left, woman-man-man. The tall woman took one right between the