Authors Note: This is a Claire/Alice based story, not your thing? Click away. If you haven't clicked away, welcome :) this is my first time writing RE fanfiction, I'm not the best with plots, however wanted to write a story about Alice & Claire's relationship evolving. So this will be a multi-chapter story. It's based during Extinction, amidst the undead attack in Las Vegas.
Disclaimer: I do not own the Resdient Evil franchise, none of it, zero.
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Claire feels herself falling – hears the sound of her own breath hitching within her throat as her knees heavily connect with the hot ground below.
Taupe coloured sand is disturbed by the sudden force, lifting into the air, settling just as quickly.
She feels her hands become weak, allowing the now bullet less gun to drop by her side. She sees it rest inertly and without sound and her heart clenches within the confines of her heaving chest. No gun – no bullets – no life.
Her empty hands moment's later crash into the sand, palms flat against the ground as she lets out a barely hearable groan. Pain shoots up her back, dispersing through her limbs like an electrical shock, her blood feels as though it's frozen, turned to ice within her veins, the feeling makes her shiver and quickly Claire shuts her eyes.
She's on hands and knees, in the middle of the Nevada desert, surrounded by a hoard of undead – the screams from her convoy haunt her mind recklessly and she wants to stand, wants to open her eyes and just see what's happening, but the searing pain that throbs throughout her body paralyzes her, makes her breathing labored, her head clouded and dizzy. She regrets eating the offered breakfast K-mart had insistently held towards her that morning, the dirtied can filled to the brim with pale apricots and a thick syrup, Claire had thought it smelt pungent and slightly of mold, but food was limited and K-mart had frowned at her with puppy-dog eyes so reluctantly she had forced the goopy fruit down her throat. Mistake heeded on that one! Now the food was threatening to make a mid day appearance, sitting heavily in Claire's stomach.
With her eyes still shut Claire let out another groan, her body felt heavy as though at any moment she'd turn into stone and the pain that coursed through her every vein had reached her chest, with every beat of her heart she felt a coldness prickle over her skin, she coughed and the taste of blood covered her tongue as the warm liquid trickled over her chapped bottom lip, the crimson stood out against the insipid colour of her flesh and as is dropped silently to the sand below Claire shook her head, inhaling a shaky breath.
She felt vulnerable in that moment, the sudden realization that she was physically unable to stand up and the sight of blood dripping from her agape mouth made the redhead want to scream; she had been too busy when fighting the onslaught of undead to comprehend, let alone feel the sharp pain of her flesh tearing violently as one of them had clung onto her arm, the grip of their hand was strong and Claire had been pulled back, the undead creature hungry for fresh blood, teeth blackened and gnashing together as it easily countered her of balance.
She had fallen although managed to hold the undead at arm's length, stopping it effectively from biting her neck, she'd never been so close to the infected before, most times she was shooting from afar or enclosed in sturdy metal of the hummer. Now however she struggled beneath the violent thrashings of the undead, her muscles burning from the straining of keeping it at bay. Her adrenaline was probably the only thing allowing her to hold off the undead and as she felt it begin to drain away her heart sunk forcefully, making her gasp loudly, she couldn't breathe, couldn't get air to fill her lungs – the weight of the infected was crushing her chest and she could feel herself beginning to panic.
Screaming filled her ears, it was loud and forceful, almost gut wrenching in the way it sounded so defeated, scared…it seemed to echo endlessly and for a moment Claire tried to see who it was, only to find that when she steadied her breathing the yelling stopped. It was her. She felt physically sick at how unrecognizable her own scream was to herself. The undead that held her against the sand was becoming more aggravated, Claire wasn't about to be an easy meal however and reached desperately for her gun, grinding her teeth together as the force of having to now hold the infected back with just one arm took its toll, she was visibly shaking and a light coating of sweat covered her forehead.
Smacking the ground around her desperately Claire felt for her gun, the cooled surface of it against her fingers made the redhead breathe a silent sigh of relief, grasping it tightly and with her fingertip on the trigger Claire aimed for the undead, the barrel close but not touching it's temple. She pressed the trigger cogently however the bullet chamber merely clicked over; desperate she tried again, nothing but a click. She was out of ammunition. Panicking, she continued to pull on the trigger, thrashing beneath the undead in a futile attempt to gain the upper hand, she wanted to scream at the bastard to get off her, but knew it'd not understand let alone comply with her wishes. The feeling of rough hands pulling at her dirtied shirt made Claire jerk violently forward, another undead had swarmed on her, its grasping hands pulling her slightly across the ground.
Grunting from the vicious tugging the two infected were doing with her body Claire let out a low scream, emitting more like a growl than anything else, she could hear the yelling of someone in the distance and footsteps got louder as she fought urgently to free herself from the clutches of the undead.
"Claire!" The yelling became coherent seemingly within seconds and the panicked voice of K-mart reached the redheads ears, "Claire!"
"Run…" Claire had spoken before her brain even had a chance to register, she sounded more confident than she felt, as though being pinned by two hungry undead was an everyday occurrence for her, a walk in the park. She couldn't see K-mart yet knew the teenager was frowning, the girls breathing was heavy, matching her own… "Get back to the hummer and stay there, go…" K-mart didn't move, however she also didn't speak so Claire continued, "Go, now! Before more come,"
She was speaking about the undead however the sentence seemed so casually spoken that an observer could be mistaken to the disparity of the situation, Claire heard K-mart shift and listened as the quick moving footsteps faded into the distance. The feeling of suddenly being alone made Claire wish K-mart was still around, however she couldn't see sense in allowing a defenseless girl to stand around and watch as she tried in vain to get two growling undead off herself.
Kicking her legs brutally Claire managed to free herself slightly as she moved backwards, her gun still held in her hands as with the other she reached to her belt, grabbing a worn looking blade tightly she plunged the weapon forcefully into the head of one of the undead, the sound of the knife penetrating the skull filled the air and congealed blood covered Claire's hand, moments later the infected slumped unmoving to the ground, blade wedged execution style in his head.
Not hesitating in the slightest Claire threw a punch towards the second undead, it was clumsy and her fist connected powerfully with an exposed rib, the creature seemed stunned, perhaps just slowed and taking the small moment of uncertainty on its part Claire stood quickly, her arm wrapping tightly around the zombies neck and jarringly pulling sideways she listened for the cracking of bones, it came quickly and with a broken neck the undead fell with weight to the sand below.
It was then she felt herself falling, dropped her gun and fell to her hands and knees.
Shaking her head slowly Claire forced the memory of the fight out of her head, looking down upon her shaking arms her eyes rested on the gash close to her wrist, where the undead hand had grabbed her, it was bleeding and strokes of her blood tracked down her skin, she hadn't been bitten but Claire knew there was a chance she could still be infected, tears burned the back of her eyes and she sobbed lowly as fear began rising in the pit of her stomach – how she wished the clumpy apricots and syrup would soak up the emotion before it stabbed at her heart. Releasing a breath Claire allowed her arms to falters, welcoming the physical pain of hitting the ground below as for a second it distracted her from the emotional ache.
Shutting her eyes against the bright sun Claire felt a warm tear escape, it clung to her cheeks almost painfully and sighing against the pain that consumed her body Claire felt the confines of reality starting to fade, darkness lured her to the edge of consciousness and slowly, without really knowing, Claire drifted into a fitful unconscious state.
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Authors Note: Reviews are my power source...No, seriously, they are...:)