A/N: This is just the beginning of what could turn into a long series. We'll all find out where it goes together. The idea for this story hit me while listening to the song Not Alone by All That Remains. Feel free to let me know what you think of the story - love it, hate it. Let me know.
I'd also like to give a shout out to my awesome beta andrella07, without whom the story would be riddled with mistakes.
Disclaimer: I don't own anything, I'd appreciate not being sued.
She'd been getting their signals for several days now. No, she wasn't following them. She was just traveling through the countryside, looking for survivors to help and zombies to kill. Her motorcycle and small radio were her only company.
Alice disappeared after the escape from the Detroit Umbrella facility. She had left Carlos, LJ, and Jill behind. It was done out of necessity though. Umbrella could track her, take control; she couldn't be around people, it wasn't safe… for them.
Ever since, she had been on her own. She watched the world fall into the deepest depths of destruction, and she felt the weight of it on her shoulders.
The T-virus wiped out the United States in a matter of weeks following the Raccoon City incident. Within months, it had swarmed across the world. The population of the human race had reached beyond six billion, and now the infected boasted nearly that many.
The few survivors learned to stay on the road. If they stayed in one place for too long, the undead would find them. Staying on the road seemed to be the only way to survive.
Their methods worked well enough. As many people as was reasonable were surviving. It wasn't easy. Living on the road still had its dangers. Zombies could still catch up, and they could be waiting just around the corner. Being on the road merely slowed down the inevitable.
Alice was on foot now. An unfortunate accident during the night destroyed her motorcycle. It wasn't all that surprising – it had happened before. That didn't make it any less annoying. The T-virus made her stronger, both in body and in mind.
Her powers only seemed to grow. She was getting stronger, faster, more resilient, and could do unexplainable things with her mind. She'd first found out that part in the Detroit facility. After that, it had come in bursts. It mostly happened at night with the nightmares.
All the super mind powers in the world weren't helping her at the moment. She'd be on foot until she found another vehicle that she could get running again – that was a rarity nowadays, especially so far out in the middle of nowhere.
She had begun moving again with the first light of morning. The desert stretched as far as the eye could see. Everything – humans, animals, and plants alike – were dead or dying.
She hadn't been walking all that long when something caught her attention. An abnormally large flock of crows were circling just beyond the large sand dune to her west. Something big must have died, but something was off about those crows – she could feel it. They weren't regular crows, they were infected.
And the infected went after the living.
She pulled off her sunglasses, stowing them away, and yanked back the fabric she'd had wrapped around her to protect her from the glaring sun. Alice started up the large dune, hastening her steps as she heard gunfire. If nothing else, someone was alive on the other side. With the amount of crows, though, they might not be alive for long.
At the top of the dune, she found the group of survivors she'd been hearing the broadcasts from. There were a surprising number of them, but if they didn't get away from those crows, there wouldn't be anyone left.
No, they weren't going to get away. She needed to help them, but how? Even with the walking arsenal that she was, she didn't have enough firepower to take out all those crows.
Oh well, some of the best plans weren't plans at all. They were merely desperate improvisations. That seemed appropriate.
Running down a sand dune could be tricky and dangerous at best, but that didn't stop or slow her down. She didn't have time to waste by walking. From what she could see at a distance, their bus had crashed and they'd evacuated several people, but there were some still outside.
Flames suddenly came out of nowhere. A flamethrower had been attached to their transporter. It was a good enough idea – until the man was swept off the truck by the birds, leaving the weapon to spew flames in every direction. Two people were in its path.
Now close enough, she recognized the man. Carlos. He saw the flames coming, turned to try and protect the girl in his arms.
All she had to do was will the flames to stop. It was like they hit an invisible barrier. They were hard to command, fire was uncontrollable by nature. She kept a firm hold on it, spreading out the flames and forcing them upward. It was a span of no more than ten to fifteen seconds that she had stood there and the entire flock of crows was falling back to the ground as ash.
Those ten to fifteen seconds took more strength and energy than she could have imagined. The world began to spin and darken. She lost consciousness before she ever began to fall, and never would have known the difference if she hit the ground or not.
Apparently mental superpowers weren't as sustainable as physical ones. In the process of saving her friend's life and making a lot of roasted crow, she'd put herself into a miniature coma.