#{have some random color and fluff because matt's an animal-loving dork XD}

[freewillacquired]

Matt felt something when Alice touched his forehead. It was almost like a shock from static cling or something, but not in a bad way. He grinned sheepishly as she said she was perfectly capable of going on a burger run. "Yeah, I know, I just feel a little bit like an asshole asking, given our current situation here," he said. "But if you want to, I'm not gonna argue. I could eat my own shoes right now, I'm so hungry." He nodded at her suggestion of resting until she got back. "Okay. Thanks, Alice." What had he done to deserve a friend like her?

He took the walkie talkie and chuckled. "So you can rush in and save me again like my knight in shining armor? I'm gonna get a damsel-in-distress complex if you keep on doing that, you know." Of course he was joking, because he really had appreciated Alice coming for him. If she hadn't, Matt was sure he'd still be in that laboratory, and god only knew what more those scientists would have done to him by now. She saved his life and his sanity, he was damn sure of that. "Got it. Be careful, okay?" If Alice died buying him some burgers he'd never forgive himself.

The moment she was gone, Matt felt like he was going to cry. And he felt antsy. Anxious. That's weird. What's up with me? Was it just because Alice was apart from him? Was whatever Umbrella did to him really causing that much of a link between him and Alice? TO some extent they'd already proven that there was something connecting them, but it felt even more pronounced, ironically, now that she was away from him. Shrugging off the feeling, Matt laid back down on his cot, fully intended to try and get some more sleep.

A couple minutes later, however, he heard some shuffling across the dark room of the bunker. Shooting up, Matt sat still to listen again. Some scurry and... chattering? What the hell? Reaching for a flashlight, he shined it in the direction of the sound, seeing something quickly move away from the light. "Woah, what the fuck?!" Matt said, now fully awake and in fight or flight mode. He searched around with the light, trying to see what the hell was in here with him, wondering why it was only now making an appearance. Or maybe it had last night and we just weren't awake. There was a terrifying thought.

But... the noise sounded familiar? In a way? "Wait a second..." Matt mumbled to himself as he got up to search around for what he'd seen. Shining the light all around, he'd spotted a pair of reflective eyes looking back at him. The eyes... of a very scared raccoon. Instantly Matt relaxed. He'd worked with several raccoons for animal rescue agencies, and actually liked them. He had to be careful, though, because they could be dangerous... especially if they were sick. "Hey, little guy," Matt said softly, crouching down to look less scary. "You okay?"

He started to run down the list in his head of rabies symptoms. The raccoon was thin, but its coat looked good and its eyes were clear. There was no foam around its mouth and it didn't seem to be moving in a hindered or uncoordinated manner. Matt decided to take a chance. "What'd you do, get down in here and then not be able to get out? Don't you dig?" Rummaging through their supplies, he got a water bottle and poured it into a small cup. He pushed it out towards the raccoon, back off a ways and sitting still. Slowly, the raccoon wandered towards the water, lapping at it before picking the cup up in its little hands and sticking its nose right into the water.

"A raccoon? Really? That's a little on the nose, isn't it?" he said to a god he wasn't sure anymore was real. "Well, you're not rabid, that's for sure. Who knows if I can even get rabies anymore. I wonder which would win in a celebrity deathmatch, the T-virus or the rabies virus. I think I'd be collateral damage regardless..." He sat still and let the raccoon fuss with the water as much as it wanted, and then smiled as it curiously came closer to him. "Hey... You lonely? Probably hungry too, from the look of you. If you hang around, I'll share some of my food with you. How about that? You like fast food?" he said, keeping his voice soft.

The raccoon came up to him cautiously and sniffed Matt's hand when he offered it. Turning it this way and that in its own little hands, sniffing and inspecting it, it was disappointed to see that there was no food being offered. "Aw, you're cute. Don't worry, buddy. Food's comin'. And I'll help you get out of here too, okay?" He reached for the walkie-talkie. "Hey Alice... just to let you know for when you get back here, I made a friend. He's hungry too. I'll give you a hint, it's the name of a city we're both very familiar with."

Matt smiled warmly as Alice reassured him once again. How many times had she done it now since she came and rescued him from Umbrella when nobody had asked her to? Despite everything she’d suffered, she hadn’t left him behind. No one had ever done something as selfless as that for him, ever. “Thanks, Alice. You know… I couldn’t have asked for a better friend than you through all of this,” he said. He was alive and free and had a second chance, all because of her.

He nodded at her assurance that they’d make Umbrella pay for everything. Whether that turned out to be true in the end or not, Matt knew they would give it their best damned try. It was something solid to live for, something to keep him focused so his fear didn’t get the better of him.

Having a very religious upbringing, Matt had always wondered at the whole “god created you for a higher purpose” or “god has a plan for you” explanation whenever someone went through hard times. It never held water for Matt and seemed more like a bullshit excuse. But right now, he could almost feel that higher purpose bolstering him. Maybe this was what he was meant to do… to help bring down the Umbrella Corporation.

“No, no, don’t do that… It’s okay. I’ll wait. I am pretty hungry, but… there’s no way I’m gonna ask you to go out and get food on my account. I’ll be okay. It’s just… whatever they did to me… it’s like I’m burning energy like crazy. Even my skin is really warm, like my body’s running hot for some reason. It’s like I have a fever, but I’m not sick. Hopefully it’ll just level off after a while.” He could hope, but he knew that probably wasn’t true. “Yeah, maybe I just need some more rest. Probably best not to do anything too crazy after just being someone’s lab rat for months.