AN: Feel free to skip this.
I'm not entirely sure where this is going, but I love the series and I'm a big fan of the zombie apocalypse, so I say we just go with it. Femslash, language, gore… violence? I mean you'd better know there is violence in a zombie flick, otherwise you need to go home and rethink your life. Mostly AU (Some characters are the same, but I have changed a lot. It's probably fine, I'm like twelve.) post RE:Apocalypse, Eventual Claire/Alice. I'm sorry you will have to be patient for anything romantic, I want to establish my characters before I throw relationships at them, some hinting or blaring alarm bells for other relationships.
Okay, I think that's everything. Sorry for talking your ear off. Now sit back, relax, and enjoy Alice talking your ear off, because every inch of this is her POV… OH PS. an a**load of this is OOC because I've read more fanfics than I've seen the characters so I'm not really sure where my headcanon ends and the original characters begin. Does anyone else picture a cannon hat? Just me? Okay.
Enjoy, and please give me a heads up if you like it, hate it, or just saw an A**load of grammatical/spelling mistakes. The plot is mine, the rest isn't, probably for the best really. I would spend too much time hanging out with Milla and Ali.
Chapter 1 - Survival
I never thought I would see the day, but I am grateful for the cold. The snow yesterday laid down a fresh layer of powder which had frozen overnight into a crunchy crust that sounded like a chorus of bells in the utter silence of the dense forest. I took a deep breath and the cold seared my throat as the smell of decay filled my nostrils. I rose to my feet with care, trying not to make anymore noise than was necessary. I drew my kukris as the lone being drew near, the hairs on the back of my neck rose, and I knew that it wasn't human anymore.
I crouched, waiting for it to reach me, its slow pace chafed against my paranoid need to remain hidden. I wanted to leap out and get it over with, but there was a chance that it had friends nearby.
Finally after what felt like months of waiting, the creature staggered into view. I took a half-step forward and it tripped on something, its body falling in slow motion to the snow. It let out a soft groan and struggled to get traction on anything, digging at the snow at a sluggish pace. The poor thing looked so sad, I walked over and it hissed at me, grabbing for my boot as I sliced through its neck. The creature stopped moving, collapsing into the dent in the snow that it had made for itself.
They're all like that, crippled by the cold, some even froze in place as the wind off the lakes sent freezing sleet flying into the sad monsters, knocking them into the thick snow and then encasing them in an icy layer that only made walking on foot more dangerous. You never know what you're tripping over until it bites you, and if I'm being honest, my boots had saved me more than one uncomfortable experience. The T-virus had never affected me the way it should, but a bite still hurts like a mother fudger, and I don't like limping on the best of days.
Looking around, I realized that my camp had a rotting corpse in the middle of it, leaking tainted blood everywhere. Nothing's worse than waking up in the middle of the night with a rotten blood-soaked sleeping bag frozen to your body. I kicked the corpse once to make myself feel better, and began packing up my camp. It wasn't much to clean up, but it was still annoying that I would have to keep moving. The temperatures were already dropping, and while the T-virus keeps me healthy, I hate to depend on it.
I slung my backpack over my shoulders and started walking west. The Eastern States were overrun with infected, the wilderness no better than the cities. Every hunter along the coast had fled to the woods, getting themselves, and all of their prey infected as they died of accidents, starvation, and attacks from predators of all kinds. The North-west is my goal, I'm hoping that I can finally be alone, after everything that had happened with Umbrella Corp. in Raccoon, I don't think I could handle meeting more stragglers, or soldiers. They all fall behind eventually, not even Jill and LJ could keep up… I'm so tired of all the death.
I tuned my senses to my surroundings, listening to the echo of each footstep, the crunch of the snow and wildlife around me, smelling for blood and decay, watching for any change in the trees clustered so tightly together. It was a few hours of hiking, and my legs were starting the slow burn of over-exertion, I didn't get tired like humans, but as the T-virus kicked into over-gear, compensating for the extra damage done by pushing too far, my temperature rose like a weak fever. Injuries weren't so bad, they didn't take so long to repair as constant abuse did. I'd need to stop soon before the fever got worse and actually started affected me, it had been days since I'd stopped for more than a meal.
I pressed onward, and I realized that the way my footsteps echoed had changed. I tilted my head, trying to pinpoint the difference and its meaning. There was something big to the North of me, and anything in the middle of nowhere was promising. I picked up the pace, letting the rising burn of my fever fend off the freezing air surrounding me as I trotted over the crest of a small slope.
The small log cabin was sitting in a clearing, and judging by the lack of smoke rising from the chimney, and the darkness inside, it was uninhabited. Even better, nothing's worse than sharing with a bunch of humans waiting to become snacks. I turned the handle and had to slam my shoulder into the wood to get the frozen hinges to bend. They gave a squeal of protest, but even the hinges knew better than to resist much. As soon as I got my head in the door I grimaced. Two dried, leathery bodies lay frozen to the floor, their milky eyes open and tracking my movements.
The one closest to me attempted to roll onto its stomach to crawl towards me while the other exhaled in a hollow rattle of phlegm inside lungs that probably resembled a football more than an actual organ. Watching them struggle to move, their pathetic advances making so little ground that a toddler could beat them in a race. It was just depressing to think that these things were inheriting the Earth. I walked over, and snapped their necks, one right after the other, and dragged their bodies out into the snow, tossing them in a heap by the meager woodpile.
I chipped some of the ice off the hinges of the door and shut it, this time with less noise, and barred it shut. The place was surprisingly untouched, probably a result of the frozen hinges, and the remoteness of the place. I set out my sleeping bag on the small cot in the corner, determined to get a few hours before searching the square room.
The morning that greeted me wasn't so bitter cold as last night, but it was blinding to look out the window and see the sun reflecting off of nearly every surface. It was the light that woke me from my sleep, and my watch indicated that I'd gotten four hours of uninterrupted sleep. It was a minor miracle that I'd stayed down even that long, if it wasn't insomnia, it was nightmares, or infected that woke me long before I could get anything that even resembled a nap.
I stretched my cold joints and rolled out of the cot, getting things cleaned up and stowed away. My pack was the only thing I kept with me after I blew up my motorcycle. Nightmares and heights both, are far more forgiving to cloth and metal frames than they are to delicate machinery. As soon as my things were set away, I began digging through the cabin looking for anything the inhabitants had left behind. There wasn't any food left, a result of their predicament I'm sure, but a few bottles of water and a 12 gauge shotgun in excellent condition made it more than worth the stop, even if I would have traded it all for a couple of camping meal rations.
The gun and ammunition added a bit of weight, but it wasn't enough to slow me down really. I looked around the cabin one last time before a glint of light behind a stuffed badger caused me to stop. It was a set of keys. I took them with a grin, and started searching the grounds. A few minutes of searching and I found what I was looking for, a shed hidden about thirty feet from the cabin. I had a weird feeling about the shed, if they'd had an escape why didn't they get out? I knocked on the door, listening for any sign of movement. I waited for the hairs on the back of my neck to rise, they always did when there were undead about, but nothing happened.
I unlocked the shed, and inside was a snowmobile, a couple for shovels, an axe that had a beautiful edge on it. I tucked the axe into my belt and straddled the snowmobile. The vehicle held under my weight, and the engine turned over just fine, the tank was even full. I let out a breath I didn't realize I was holding in. They gave up. In that cabin. They just gave up. Their escape was right here, their supplies couldn't go far, but they had a way out and they gave up. Fudging cowards, this is why the whole world is overrun, those who know how to survive don't have the will, and those with the will don't know how. The only ones who make it are the few and far between who have both, too bad I'm the only one I've ever met.
I revved the engine and drove out of the shed, making my way west far faster than I expected.
The speed created an interesting shift in my travel. I didn't have to worry anymore about the infected following me, but the mindless travel was enough to put me into a trance-like state that was dangerous on occasion. If I lost focus at the wrong moment, I could plow right into a tree. It also means that fuel will be a problem, I was lucky to find anything at all in that shed. I'm going to have to head further south, hit up some of the towns between here and Montana, hopefully by then I'll have found… Something.
It was a day and a half before I found a town, and the fuel gauge had been running the line on empty for the last hour. I'm not going to waste my breath on hope, but in a town this size, there had to be something. I rode down what I can only assume was main street back when the world gave a shit about having main streets. The place was big enough that it wouldn't be worth checking the cars. I scanned for any centers of movement where people would have left their vehicles, and preferably some other supplies. I'm good on water, but to be honest, despite eating only every other day, my rations are getting down to the wire.
Between the buildings I saw a glimpse of something promising, a large building that looked like a strip mall or a department building. It could be exactly what I need. I took a sharp right, keeping an eye out for the infected, a place like this shouldn't be as dead as it looks. The hair on the back of my neck tickled, but I hadn't seen a single one of the infected that it predicted. I pulled into the parking lot, and grabbed the hunk of hose I used as a siphon from my backpack. No matter what I found here, having a ride that could get away was more important. Infected I can rid myself of, but survivors are all dead weight.
I filled up the tank and found myself an extra gascan for the road. I hid the snowmobile between a yellow Hummer, and a beat up Jeep, and headed into the biggest store on the strip. The letters had all fallen off, and the grimy edges of the original letters had long ago been worn away by the vestiges of time. I pushed the door open, my pistol drawn. My instincts are screaming that something is inside this place, and I don't know why it's bothering me so much, maybe I've spent too long administering mercy killings.
The store was silent, save for the crunching of glass beneath my feet, one of the big bay windows broke some time ago, leaving a nice warning system for anyone inside. The shelves were mostly filled with clothing, the place was in surprisingly good shape considering four years worth of survivors beat me to it. I picked my way through the mess of broken glass, spilled clothing, and blood that spattered the floor in a patchwork. More than one person had died in this mess, but something about it felt wrong.
I heard the softest hint of a footstep, maybe forty feet away, maybe a little more, the tiles of the floor and the metal roof made it hard to gauge distances. I hadn't been inside a building besides that cabin in months. I whipped my head around, checking for anyone following me, and I realized the problem. No bodies. Whoever is running this ambush is alive, which means that I can turn the tables. I looked around for a good spot, hazards, and vantage points before I made another move. I didn't want to give myself away with a stupid mistake. "Hello?" I called, "Is there anyone in here?"
As soon as the words left my lips, I ran for the nearest steel pole, climbing up into the rafters. As surely as I know I am not human, I know I did not make a single sound as I ran across the thin metal rafters spanning the upper half of the store's headspace. I kept my pistol drawn as I got closer to the source of the careful footsteps. So far I could only hear a single set, but the size of the building warranted caution.
A young woman, barely old enough to be called that walked under my hiding space, her tiny pistol held in shaky hands. She may not have been confident, but she definitely knew how to stay quiet. I took the risk of being caught and dropped down behind her, my boots clacking against the floor her only warning before I hooked my arm around her neck and put a gun to her head, "Scream and you die." I rasped, I wasn't exactly talking to myself constantly.
To the girl's credit, she didn't make a noise except the clatter of her gun falling to the ground. She clung to my arm, trembling like a leaf. "Where are the others?" I asked, needing to know my full predicament.
She shook her head, "N-no others. Just m-me." The girl shook hard enough that I was tempted to believe her, but she couldn't be more than seventeen, someone had to be helping her.
"Bullshit." I pushed the tip of my gun harder into her temple, "Where are the others?" The hairs on the back of my neck rose and I whipped around, looking for the infected.
The sudden movement must have scared her, she whimpered, "There's n-no one else." A line of cold drew down my forearm and I realized she was crying. A cacophony of cracking glass sounded from the lobby of the store. "Oh god, th-they're back." The girl shook in my arms. "We need to hide." She mumbled.
I looked at the girl, and released her, "Take me there." I commanded in a low voice, there were enough infected that I didn't want to risk a fight, not with a non-combatant. I would never admit to the chill of fear down my own spine, it had been too long since I'd seen a horde of this size. Could I even survive the onslaught of bodies pouring into the front of the store? No wonder I'd been on edge since arriving.
She backed up, her eyes on the horde as she led me back towards the grocery section. She hugged her pistol to her chest, eyes wide as she stumbled over her own feet. "Turn around and walk you idiot." I snapped, my voice low. They were making enough noise that we might escape to her hiding place unnoticed, if she would just move her ass. She nodded, following my orders without a thought, walking much faster than she had before, taking me through what used to be the freezer section.
This aisle was fairly clean in comparison to the others, probably the work of the girl's. She'd made it into a solid escape route, one that gave me a false sense of security. I didn't watch my feet, so I didn't notice the infected that grabbed my leg until I was already falling to the ground, my pistol flying from my grip as I slammed into the tile. I looked down and saw what used to be a woman, her jaw hanging from its socket by sinew alone, dragging what was left of her rotting body out from under the freezer. I fumbled for anything in reach, my other weapons caught beneath me or at an awkward angle that would take time to retrieve, my hand caught on something plastic and I swung it over my head, slamming the bag of fish into the zombie's head, exploding both into a disgusting splatter of rotten meat, and slime.
I got back to my feet only to find the girl was gone, continued on without me. Good riddance, damn girl would probably get us both into trouble, especially if this kind of panicking was a common routine for her. I ran down the aisle only to find the stupid girl waiting by her hiding place, doors into the back room. "Come on." She hissed, looking over my shoulder, the horde was doing a surprisingly thorough sweep of the place, and coming our way. I followed her into the back and she took me into one of the storage freezers. It had thick doors that slid open instead of relying on hinges, it was actually a pretty slick hiding place.
Undead relied on pushing their way through, they wouldn't be smart enough to try to slide the heavy doors open, and the thick insulated metal was too strong for them to push their way through. Even the girl had to really put her back into it, struggling to shut the door after I slipped through. After the door shut, I had a chance to really look around.