— Alice workes for the Umbrella Corporation, a pharmaceutical company that survived the initial outbreak because of a handful of covert research labs located under major cities. Even when the cities fell, the labs were able to keep operating, conducting research into Cordyceps and the ways it mutates hosts. In at least one instance, this involved working with FEDRA to gain human test subjects — those newly infected and those with crimes punishable by death who would thus not be missed.

— When Alice discovers that demand outweighs supply abd Umbrella has started essentially snatching people off the streets to satisfy their constant need for new test subjects, she tries to do something about it. Her security partner, Spence, causes an outbreak in the facility in a misguided attempt to help her. Most people die.

— After fighting her way out of the facility, Alice and her remaining ally, Matt, are captured by Umbrella and experimented on. The corporation is trying to find a way to use Cordyceps to their advantage — if they can find a way to make certain people immune to infection, they can leverage that to regain the power they've lost since the world fell apart.

— The experiments transform Matt into one of the infected creatures much faster than usual, but Alice is successfully granted a level of "immunity" to such changes. She is technically infected, but her infection is stable and will never increase or cause typical mutations. The Cordyceps exists within her body, but it does not control her.

— With the help of a scientist who needs to get his daughter, Angie, out of the city (she has the same sort of immunity as Ellie), Alice escapes the city during an orchestrated outbreak that causes a significant portion of the city to fall. Along with a handful of others, they leave Detroit and spend a few months on the run. Alice begins to see Angie as a sort of adopted daughter, and she's devastated when Angie is killed on her watch. They might not be able to die of infection, but they can still be torn apart.

— Blaming herself for not being able to protect Angie, and fearing that Umbrella might still be looking for her, Alice leaves her little group and strikes out on her own. She stays away from Quarantine Zones and other areas with known Umbrella or FEDRA presence, always keeping an eye out for anyone in need whom she can help.