Chapter One- Discovering K-Mart
They were running low on food, and water, and Claire's shoes were worn out. No amount of duct tape was going to be able to repair them again, she thought dryly as she leaned against her yellow Hummer. Carlos, LJ, Chase, Mikey, and Otto were collecting food from the Hannaford. Getting slightly impatient, she turned to the other two men on top of the bus. "I'm going to go check out the K-Mart." She said just loud enough for them to hear, and they nodded. They would have offered to go with her, but the safety of the rest of the convoy was important.
Claire slowly jogged across the parking lot, pulling out her handgun, and switching off the safety mechanism before opening up the door and slipping into the center, her eyes taking in the blood and infected that had already been killed, but by who? She thought, as she tapped a couple of the corpses with her foot to ensure that they were dead before stepping over the bodies. She made her way over to the shoes. "Score," Claire mumbled to herself as she sat down on a bench trying on a pair of sneakers. She prefered sneakers to her army boots.
Claire heard a soft shuffling noise come from inside one of the dressing rooms and she sighed inwardly. "Can't a girl get some shopping done in peace?" She whispered to herself as she tied the laces up on her new shoes and made her way over to the dressing rooms, and pulled open the door. To her surprise, there was a little girl huddled in the corner, whimpering softly and curling up into a ball, trying to make herself even smaller. "Have you been bitten?" Claire asked sharply. The girl shook her head no, and bit her bottom lip, her tears welling up at the redheads sharpness. Claire felt sorry for scaring her and she knelt down on the ground beside the trembling girl, inspecting her closely. She appeared to be about 14 years old, and was severely malnourished. Had she been tempted to lift up the girls shirt, she'd probably be able to count every bone in her body, Claire thought dryly.
The girl pitched herself into Claire's arms, burrowing her head into her chest and started sobbing quietly. Claire was shocked. None of the other survivors had ever taken to her like this, she thought, her eyes going wide as she gently ran her finger through the young blonde's hair. "You're okay now. I promise." Claire murmured softly, kissing the top of the girl's head. Claire reached into her pocket and keyed the walkie talkie. "Hey Carlos. I found a survivor here," Claire said softly. "I'll be over there in a little bit, out." Claire said, and she focused on the girl that had positioned herself in her lap. Claire smiled at the girl. "We need to find you some clothes, and food." Claire said.
"O-okay. " The girl stuttered softly, her voice breaking a bit.
"Do you have a name?" Claire asked, toying with a lock of the girls hair.
"I never really liked it, and my family is dead. " Claire's heart broke for the young girl. Everyone had lost people, but this girl had seemed to lose more than her family. She was losing her identity. Claire ran her fingers up and down the girls spine.
"Do you have a name you'd like to be called?" Claire asked as she moved the girl from her lap, and stood up, wandering the aisles searching for clothes and other items that they'd need along the trip.
After a few moments went by in silence, the girl nodded. "K-mart." She said softly, biting her bottom lip, hoping that the redhead who saved her wouldn't think that it was foolish. The redhead smiled and hugged her gently, being careful not to crush her.
"Well K-mart, my name is Claire, and after we gather things that we need here, I'm going to introduce you to some of my friends, okay?" Claire introduced herself to the younger girl, and finally released her long enough to hand her a few weeks worth of clothes, and packing her a backpack. Claire hesitated, and headed down the electronics section of the store, until she found what she was looking for, an Ipod, a laptop, and a portable DVD player, and she started collecting some DVDs and CDs and began tossing them into the cart. She knew that she'd have to amuse the girl somehow, especially if K-mart decided to ride in the hummer with her, which secretly she was hoping the girl would choose to do.
"Otto. If you want to come in with the kids and let them get stuff, go ahead. " Claire spoke into the walkie talkie, and sighed as she pulled K-mart into a half hug, grabbing the last few items that they'd need for her- a couple of blankets, a sleeping bag and a bag to carry her stuff in.
"Once you meet everyone you can choose where you want to ride, okay?" K-marts head jerked up quickly and a frown crossed over her delicate features, as she struggled to hold back tears that threatened to fall. Claire wondered what it was she'd said.
"Y-you don't want me to stay with you?" K-mart asked, her bottom lip trembling. Claire tensed up.
"Of course I do, I just thought if you liked one of the other adults more, you could choose to stay with them." Claire said trailing off as she opened up the back doors of the hummer, and began loading in the clothes. "Now how about we get you some food!" Claire said, grinning at the younger girl, who nodded. K-mart hadn't dared to go outside and into Hannaford to go get food, but now that she had someone- no- people to protect her she felt a little braver.
Claire picked out a shopping cart, and eyed the girl. "What do you like to eat?" Claire asked, smiling at her new shadow. The girl thought about it, and lead the way down the cereal aisle. She really didn't like to say much, Claire thought to herself, watching the little girl closely to make sure there was no danger, even though the guys had already cleared it. K-mart picked up a box of her favorite kind- fruit loops. And Claire smiled. "Those are my favorite too!" She said cheerfully and placed a few boxes in the cart, before moving to the next aisle where there were all sorts of snacks, and candy, and K-mart began tossing things in. "You stay right here, okay? I'm going to go get some cases of soda, alright?" Claire said, thinking that she could get the shopping done even faster if they could separate a bit.
"No!" The girl let out a yelp, clinging to Claire's legs. She came up to Claire's stomach and Claire spun around reaching for her gun when she heard footsteps running in their direction. She let out a sigh of relief upon seeing Carlos, who stared at the red headed convoy leader hugging a younger girl, and he chuckled.
"Never thought I'd see the day Redfield." He muttered, squatting down so he was on the girls level. "Hi there, I'm Carlos, what's your name?" He asked softly, causing the curl to bury her face even further into Claire's shirt. She peeked at him, then buried her face again.
"K-mart." She mumbled into the material, her cheeks bright pink.
"You'll have to tell me about that later! " Carlos said chuckling to himself. "You push the cart Claire, I'll load the stuff." He said. "What's next on your list?" He eyed the cereal and candy.
"Soda, juice, energy drinks and water." Claire said, pointing to the next aisle. "Then some canned goods. If you can handle those, K-mart and I will hit up some other things." She smiled at Carlos who nodded.
"Will do." He said, turning down the aisle to collect what the convoy leader asked for. Claire grabbed a small red basket at the front of the store and grabbed some hygienic supplies- tampons, band aids, shaving cream, razors, and even some soap and shampoo just in case, then she picked up a large package of toilet paper only to find Carlos with the cart filled with everything she asked for and more- including coffee. Claire stared at it like it was liquid gold. She hadn't had a cup of coffee since they ran out a couple of weeks ago.
"There's a bunch of smokes in a case over there. Thought we could grab them to, divide them up." Carlos said, motioning towards the front of the store. Carlos got a mischievous look upon his face as he scooped up K-mart, and then set her on his shoulders., causing her her to squeal and giggle. Claire smiled as she watched Carlos pick the lock on the case and start tossing the cigarettes into the cart as well. After clearing the case out, he pushed it over to the hummer, and opened up the hatch in the back, and started stocking the supplies she'd gathered in there.
"Don't worry Claire, we already packed up the deuce. It's packed with food. Most of the survivors are riding with the kids now. " Carlos had spotted Claire's frown. "There was plenty of food in the K-mart. " Carlos set the girl down gently when she reached out for Claire.
"Thanks Carlos, I want to get a few more miles in, there's a motel up the road. Think we'll have time to clear it?" Claire asked looking up at the sky. It looked like it was going to rain. Carlos frowned and looked at his watch.
"If we leave now. Betty's just finishing gathering up some medicine and stuff ." Carlos said, as he closed up the trunk, opening a box of the fruit loops and holding it out to the girl who dove into it, munching happily, mumbling a soft thank you through the mouthful of fur.
Claire and Carlos sat on either side of the girl. "I got a dvd player for my jeep just in case." Carlos said, using his head to motion to the girl.
"Great minds think alike old man." Claire teased him, as she stole a few fruit loops from the box. "I have to take K-mart to see Betty in a little bit, make sure she's healthy. " Claire ruffled the girls hair gently, "Then hopefully the motel still has some running water." Claire grumbled. It had been almost a week since her last shower and she really needed another one.
"There she is now. I'll help her load, we can drive to the motel, then while we clear, K-mart can be checked out." Carlos glanced over at the girl and saw she was sound asleep. Carlos tapped Claire's arm and pointed at K-mart. "She must be exhausted. I'll put her in the front if you get the door, and you can give the order to move out." Carlos said, gently lifting up the girl, yet again surprised by how little she weighed. She couldn't weigh 60 lbs maximum, her shook his head as he gently set K-mart down in the passenger seat, and covered her with the blanket Claire offered.
"Lets hurry up and load Betty up." Claire said nervously. "I don't want to leave K-mart alone." Claire said as she and Carlos jogged over to the ambulance where most of the other adults were located. "We're going to drive to that motel we saw the signs for." Claire said. "Get some beds and a shower for a change- stay there overnight. I don't like the clouds that are starting to come in." Claire said, hoisting the supplies into the ambulance for Betty, and stocking them where they normally went. "I have a girl I want you to check out when we get there Betty. Her name's K-mart. I found her in the dressing room, and she looks terrible." Claire muttered softly as they closed up the back doors and began heading towards the hummer, firing it up and began leading the convoy down the road.
K-mart whimpered in her sleep, snuggling close to the red-headed convoy leader, seeking out her warmth and protection even in her sleep. Claire reached down, gently rubbing circles on the girls back, and the girl fell back into a peaceful sleep. Fifteen minutes later, they reached their destination, and Claire hated to do this but she began shaking K-mart awake gently. "K." Claire said softly. "K-mart." The girl blinked sleepily and shot up.
"Sorry, I didn't mean to fall asleep!" Claire laughed softly.
"It's fine K-mart. I have to bring you to see Betty, then I have to help Carlos and the others clear the motel. " K-mart look petrified at the thought. "I'll be ten minutes tops!" Claire promised and K-mart bit her bottom lip before nodding. "Then we'll get you cleaned up and to bed, okay?" Claire searched K-mart's chocolate eyes and she nodded again, and took Claire's hand as she led the girl to the back of the convoy to the ambulance.
"This is Betty, and she'll take really good care of you, okay?" Claire said, before disappearing to clear the place with Carlos and LJ.
Claire and Carlos finished securing the motel in record time, finding only two zombies in one of the rooms. They both sat in the ambulance and quietly spoke to Betty, every once and a while glancing at K-mart who was munching on a carrot stick. "You need to make sure that she gets a lot of liquids into her tonight before bed. She's extremely dehydrated and underweight. " Betty said, studying K-mart carefully. "She has lots of cuts that I tried to clean, but they'll need to have the bandages changed later. I'm worried about infection." Betty said, handing the bandages to Claire.
"Okay. I can handle that." Claire said softly, and stifled a yawn. She still hadn't slept in over 24 hours and she was tired. as hell. Carlos had already put K-mart onto his shoulders, making the girl giggle. Claire chose some clothes out of the back, and some dinner for her and K-mart then headed to the room at the end, where the girls showered, dressed, ate their dinner, and passed out for the night.
AN: I was going to keep going, but I had to end chapter one some where! I hope you enjoyed chapter one. I'll try to post chapter 2 tomorrow or monday (depends on my schedule which changes every day!)