"Claire?" K-Mart gave another try, after seeing the older woman move. Claire could hear the distant, exhuasted voice but she didn't acknowledge. She was too deep into her thoughts, lost in denial and still reeling from the head injury. She has to thank the younger woman, though. Claire did have a concussion and every time she were to drift off to sleep, K-Mart would say something. In fact, the younger woman barely moved. K-Mart's been by Claire's side since Claire remembered waking up in this place. Wherever they were. The one time she actually did open her eyes is when she heard Wesker. There was almost another fight between Wesker and Chris. The place was still dripping with tension. At that moment Chris was on the other side of the basement room. Half of it was filled with cots, a corner with medical supplies and another corner with food. K-Mart was standing in front of her, poised for action. Claire rose, the room spinning with a hand on K-Mart's back. She stayed awake long enough to hear a short explanation that they were rescued on transport from Umbrella, who Wesker no longer worked for. Alice was captured when she was thrown overboard and he had sent out a team to retrieve her.

At this moment Claire was falling back to sleep, but instead of K-Mart waking her up, or trying to get her to talk, her brother had stopped guarding the room for once. His large, calloused hand was resting on her cheek. He was heart broken, much like herself. He barely spoke, because his best friend and ex-partner just tried to kill him and succeeded in capturing him. "I'm sorry." The whisper was in her ear, and this time her eyes did shoot open. She didn't realize how honestly unaware she was. She thought she was awake this whole time, but in reality she was drifting in and out of conciousness. K-Mart's eyes popped open. When did the younger blonde pull a cot up so close? K-Mart was resting with her legs crossed on the cot, stroking the back of one of Claire's hands while Chris was stroking her cheek.

"Don't ever apologize, Chris.." K-Mart smirked, even though Claire's sentence was slurred, almost unrecognizable. "Just shut up." A small laugh emanated from his throat and he leaned down to leave a kiss on her head, just below the bandage before walking away, his combat boots echoing around the empty room. Claire squeezed K-Mart's hand and slurred something else, "Any word on Alice?" The younger woman raised a brow - not what Claire was expecting, but K-Mart didn't look sad, just confused.

"Do you know how long you've been out, Claire?" K-Mart started, slowly. Claire shook her head, no. Which was probably a bad idea. She just remembers the ship, to be quite honest. Chris ran to confront Jill, Alice tried to take on a plane and Claire was shouting orders for everyone to get below, taking K-Mart by the shoulders and begging her to follow. The younger woman still was bruised up. K-Mart only went below when Claire begged her to be the leader. Claire hesitated herself, when she turned. Unaware of what she was seeing. Carlos - of all people - her best friend, her mentor was holding a gun up to her head. Then it all went black, by the searing pain in her head, she's going to guess she was hit over the head. After a moment of silence and the look of sheer confusion on Claire's face, K-Mart cleared her throat. "Days..." She trailed off. "Alice is... fine. It was close to two weeks..." She trailed off, again, furrowing her eyebrows at the furious look that was contorting Claire's face. Not because of what K-Mart said, but she had a dream - or so she thought it was a dream. Alice's voice echoing in her head, a low, husky joke that just seemed sad more then anything. "I guess I can't always be there to save her." Then a light stroke of Claire's arm.

Everytime she thinks about it, Claire feels like a teenager all over again. Alice was her hero. She'd follow the woman anywhere. Chris, K-Mart and Alice meant everything to her, above all else. Forget her own life, if they were alive, that's all that mattered. K-Mart was like the little sister she never had. Chris was her brother, another hero and the one person she could cry on. But, Alice... Alice was different. She never really had time to think about it, but silences with the other woman were comfortable. Conversations was endearing, but most of all she felt safe. Like Alice's side was where she was meant to be. Claire sat up, slowly. The room spun for a moment and she felt drunk, but it disappeared and she gingerly touched her head.

"We almost thought we lost you..." The sadness in K-Mart's voice echoed in Claire's head. Claire shook her head and was going to reach up to pull K-Mart into a hug, but a head of brunette hair rushed by her and jumped on K-Mart's lap. K-Mart laughed out of surprise and Claire went back to looking confused. "K-Mart..." The young girl used hand symbols along with her voice that was slightly slurred. It couldn't be... "Mommy said you like collecting these. I don't know why, but she said it was different. Why is it different?" The young girl opened her palm and revealed a large bullet. K-Mart's smile could light up a whole arena. "There's not many like them. It's special." K-Mart paused... before pointing to the girl. Claire couldn't help but point out K-Mart was speaking clearly and loud, and that the girl was using hand signs each time she talked. "Like you!" K-Mart said, excitedly, poking the young girl lightly on the chest. That warmed Claire's heart like nothing else. She's only met this young girl for a few minutes, but she was the light in the dark of the apocalypse. Just like K-Mart was in the desert and continues to be.

"I'm going to tell Mommy that!" The young girl jumped up.

"Becky!" K-Mart called out, before the young girl hurried off.

"Can you get mommy for me?" The young girl nodded excitedly and finished hurrying off. Claire didn't think anything of K-Mart's request. Why should she?

"She's deaf?" K-Mart stopped admiring the rare bullet and looked up, nodding. There was something almost heartbreaking about that... in a good way, of course. Claire was going to ask about the bullet, just to keep the silence at bay, when a familiar voice made her heart stop.

"You rang, K?" Claire's head turned, a little too quickly. She did she Alice stop just in the door way of the room, looking surprised, holding that little girl in her arms but she had to put her head down in her hands. The headrush made her want to throw up her empty stomach. Unfortunately, though, she still needed that. Wish she didn't in this apocalypse. A pair of hands was instantly on her knees. She was still wearing the ripped, dirty jeans that Alice herself had given her. "Whoa, Claire." It felt like ages since she's heard Alice's voice, or seen the other woman. Anyone really, but Alice was different. Alice's voice was deeper, like it housed a thousand years of struggling. "Slow down. Let someone else handle the action for once." A small, amused smirk curled up Claire's lips.

"You know I can't just sit back." Alice laughed at Claire's retort, just as Claire looked up and straight into a pair of piercing blue eyes. Which caught her completely off guard. Her breathing stopped for a minute. Alice looked just as worn as her voice was. Even in the tight fitting... what exactly kind of armor suit is that? Alice looked away first, leaning down to talk to the girl.

"Can you find a can of food?" Alice was also speaking clearly, but amazingly, the other woman knew sign language. The little girl didn't hesitate to run off. A voice was cleared behind them and K-Mart attacked Alice in a quick hug.

"Thank you, thank you, thank you!" She practically sang, before running out of the room. There's that comfortable silence as Alice sat on the cot next to Claire. Both of them weren't afraid to just stare at each other, that is until the little girl ran back.

"Here, mommy!" Claire's jaw about dropped and Alice cleared her throat.

"I haven't been out for 9 months, have I? Who's the father?" A small laugh escaped Alice's throat, but she ignored the questions for a moment to grab the can of food and pry it open with the same knife she stole from Umbrella. She could feel Claire's intense gaze, but it wasn't nerve wrecking. It was almost heart breaking. Just like she couldn't leave Becky to die. Sure the young girl had a few memories and was a clone - but she was living, a human. Her heart broke and now Becky was her responsibility. That wasn't a bad thing, though. Once you find the light in the darkness, you keep it. When it makes you happy, you go after a Licker and risk your life. At the same time, Claire's own heart was breaking. This woman in front of her wasn't the same woman from the desert, or the same woman that had rescued her in Alaska. This woman seemed to be emptier. She could see in Alice's eyes... whenever Alice wanted to look up. Alice probably wouldn't exist, if it wasn't for the little girl that just called her mommy.

"You're not a monster, you know." Alice stopped in the middle of what she was doing, just froze. It was almost comical, the spoon was halfway to her lips filled with some kind of soup, but she dropped it back in the can and peered back over at Claire, under her hood. Like she was trying to hide her face, filled with sorrow. She hated it - how smart claire was, how observant. She would never freely admit it, but she's only known Claire for a few days and the woman meant everything to her. Her best friend. Neither of them wanted to admit it, to be honest. It's shown in the way they don't even acknowledge each other in the day, but once every one was sleeping, they chatted until they were hoarse. Alice just glared. "People, especially the one's in this convoy that's been through hell, mistake a monster and someone in control. You have power and that scares them. Of course people die around you, much like they die around me. We're both in a seat of power. They've known me long enough to respect me. But, I'm a natural with words, with a gun..." Claire paused, realizing she was rambling and looked away. Alice placed a hand on top of Claire's, just as a motion of respect.

"Thank you." Claire furrowed her eyebrows in confusion, quickly looking back at Alice.

"For what?"

"Finding the words I couldn't. You're not only a natural at what you listed. Your intimidating, with what you listed, but with beauty." Claire raised a brow, almost mockingly but Alice just got up, patting Claire's hand. She was going to try and get some rest, at least for the night.

That Alice walked away on the verge of tears, this Alice's laugh was humorless, trying to be filled with humor. This Alice's voice was low and almost lacking emotion. It was there, but it was disappearing.

"No, and no one. It's a long story." Alice stroked the young girl's hair, almost absentmindedly, before the young girl looked up and asked if she could go play with K-Mart. Alice nodded her head and asked, slowly and in sign language for her to be careful. The young girl ran off and Alice looked after her, dismayed but yet Claire noticed she hasn't really smiled. That simple thought, that Alice was losing her emotions, becoming a shell broke Claire's heart. She had taken the food that Alice had offered, but she just held in her hand, absentmindedly. Almost looking angry. That was just Claire's personality - she cared for everyone else, but hated whenever she showed emotion. She was supposed to be the strong one. The one that never faltered. Just thinking about it made her jaw grit. She was almost frozen in place.

Alice meant so much to her, it scared her.


I already have chapter 2 written up.
Just give me a reason to post it.