(Sequel to "The Searchers". Now that the survivors are reunited they must make their way from LA back to their home in Alaska. What dangers await them on the way? Alice/Carlos, Jill/Chris, Claire/Sam.)
(Planning)
(Los Angeles)
The sun peeked over the horizon, illuminating the city from the top down. Its rays outlined the tops of the skyscrapers and then worked down, reflecting off the thousand of windows that remained until the entire city was bathed in the warm glow of morning.
The very first light had held the promise of another golden morning in LA but as the dawn progressed the actual state of the city was revealed. Broken windows, broken buildings, choked streets, rusting cars and all the other debris of a city that had been ravaged by the actions of man, nature run amuck and time bore witness to the wreckage that was once the City of Angels.
From her vantage point on the fifth floor of what had once been luxury apartments Alice Abernathy-Olivera surveyed the scene before her. Figures moved slowly among the choked ruined streets. Figures that she knew were the victims of the Umbrella Corporation's T-Virus but no less dangerous to the uninfected for being victims. Still there were indeed fewer of them than there had been only a year before. Even as she watched one extremely staggering zombie fell to the broken concrete and didn't get up again.
"Hmmmm," commented the man standing beside her. "A little more of that and maybe we can just walk home without any interference.
Alice smiled at her husband Carlos. "That would be nice but even with all the zombies in the world removed we still would have interference. If from no one else Umbrella will be after us."
"Just because we blew up their little research lab here," Carlos pretended to grumble. "Just no sense of humor those Umbrella types."
Now Alice laughed. Trust Carlos to keep things light when he could. Moved by a sudden impulse she leaned over and kissed him.
A heart felt sigh came from behind them. "Would you two PLEASE act your age?"
Without looking back both figures reached back and pulled their adopted daughter K-Mart to them.
"This IS acting our age," teased Carlos. "Because it certainly isn't YOUR age. I better not hear you've been kissing any boys."
"Oh don't worry Daddy," the teen grinned. "I'll make sure you don't hear of it." Before her father could respond she turned serious. "Everyone's ready to go. How's it look?"
"Not bad," her mother said thoughtfully. "Clear enough for us to get going anyway."
The trio embraced before heading into the next room. Waiting there was the rest of their party. Alice smiled again as she saw the way the other five members of their group had arranged themselves.
On the right was their friend Jill Valentine, the former Raccoon City STARS officer that she and Carlos had met in the hell that had been that place. With her was her adopted daughter Angela Ashford Valentine. Standing protectively close to both of them was Jill's former partner Chris Redfield. The trio had recently been reunited here in LA where Chris had been living in a survivors' colony and Angela had been held captive by Umbrella before being rescued by the group. From the way the three of them interacted Alice was willing to bet that if, no WHEN, they returned to their new found homes in Alaska that Angela would be changing her last name again. After all, a daughter should have the same last name as her mother and father.
On the other side was Chris' sister Claire Redfield, the former leader of the survivors' convoy where Alice had been reunited with Carlos and found K-Mart. Standing with her and trying not to appear to anxiously fussing over her was Sam Treadwell, an ex-Umbrella helicopter pilot that they had taken prisoner during the battle between the convoy and Umbrella troops supported by the mutated Crimson Head zombies created by an Umbrella scientist. Initially distrusted by pretty much everyone by his professed hatred of Umbrella and his apparent conversion to their ranks Sam had gone on to prove his dedication and loyalty to his new friends again and again.
Alice, confirmed by Jill who had been sharing a house in their town in Alaska with Claire, had suspected there was something going on between the ex-convoy leader and Sam. That had been more than confirmed during the groups last adventure. Sam had repeatedly braved heavy ground fire to deliver assistance to Jill, Chris and Angela when they were trapped inside the Umbrella facility. And his feelings for Claire, and hers for him, had not only been given away been the use of certain names between them pn the radio but by his reaction to her being wounded and having to be left behind temporarily. In spite of his fear for her safety he had done his job and trusted to Alice and Carlos to get Claire back, which trust had not been misplaced.
For a few days they had been guests at the colony where Chris had found refuge after escaping from Umbrella. The survivors there included genuine doctors, a rare item in this post apocalyptic world, who had operated on Claire. While she recovered Alice and the other adult members of their group had looked for a place to hole up while Claire recovered and they planned their return home.
It wasn't that they weren't welcome in the refuge that had been established in the tall building bordering one of the city's parks. They simply didn't want to draw Umbrella's anger, and possible attacks, on to the people that had done so much to help them. Not that Umbrella really needed an excuse to do anything it decided upon. But there was no point in drawing undue attention to the colony. Alice knew the world spanning corporation had eyes looking for her and for Angie too as a matter of fact. So they kept a low profile and away from anyone except their own group.
This place they were at now was perfect. Chris had found it on one of his early explorations, before the rest of the group had come to LA. Six stories high it had been built as luxury apartments, with all the safety and security features that came along with that. The bottom floor had been windowless and those windows on the upper floor were of laminated construction capable of withstanding repeated high velocity bullet strikes. The exterior doors were steel as were those blocking the emergency stairway at each floor. Finally the building had its own generator, unused until their arrival, and an untouched food storage locker which included antibiotics and other medications.
"Looks like someone was ready for disaster," commented Jill after their first sweep of the building.
"But never got a chance to use it," agreed Chris.
"I wonder why?" put in Angie. "It's sort of spooky."
Jill agreed with her daughter. There had been no signs of, well, anything here. No bodies, human or zombie. No signs of a hasty evacuation where someone had grabbed what they could before fleeing. There were no signs of looting. Although the individual apartment doors were locked the front door had been closed but had opened with a simple pull.
"I suppose," said Carlos thoughtfully, "That the infection and then the panic came on while everyone here was away at work or some other place. The tenants were unable to get back here."
"Bad for them but helpful for us," said Chris.
So they had moved in. Into the fifth floor to be precise. It just so happened that there were three apartments on that floor; one for Carlos, Alice and K-Mart; one for Jill, Angie and Chris and the final one for Claire and Sam. They had rested, made short excursions to rebuild their supplies, including ammunition and waited for Claire to regain her strength, which took place quickly under Sam's constant careful nursing.
The building was so comfortable that there actually was some half-hearted debate about whether they should stay here instead of making the long and probably dangerous journey back to Alaska. But Alaska had become home as well as a refuge, a place the infection had never reached and there was the possibility of a normal life.
"Besides," Jill sighed, "Umbrella will be coming after us sooner or latter. Up there we would have help." She wrapped her arm protectively around her daughter and hugged her.
Alice nodded. Not only were the majority of the residents of their and the other Alaskan towns well-armed and tough survivors in their own right but the remainder of the Alaskan National Guard possessed heavy weapons, a great deal of combat experience and along with everyone else a definite distaste for Umbrella.
"The day will come," Carlos said thoughtfully, "When Umbrella may force us to deal with them once and for all. But in the meantime we have our lives to live and while we need to be careful if we let concern for Umbrella dominate us the corporation has already won."
"Well let's just get home," put in K-Mart. "I miss Sparkles."
Alice and Carlos bestowed identical smiles at their daughter. When they had married and adopted her they had moved into a house of their own. A house that came with something K-mart had said no family was complete without. A dog. A dog that the teen had immediately fallen in love with and found her affection returned five-fold.
"Home AND Sparkles then," agreed the girl's father.
The group immediately pitched in for the sixty-four thousand dollar question. How were they to get home? They had got a lot of information from the colony and Chris had been exploring a good deal of the sprawling city so they knew LAX and any smaller airport they knew of had been trashed early in the infection panic.
"Perhaps when we get farther up the coast we can find a plane," said Sam hopefully.
The discussion turned to the harbor. But, talented as the members of the group were, nobody was a sailor. There were rumors of survivors who had taken to the ocean, much like the riverboat that Jill had traveled on up the Mississippi River for a while during her search for Angie. But rumors were all they had. And the colony had provided information that some of those sea-going survivors were maruaders.
"I guess," said Claire, "that we're going to be getting back to where we were not too long ago, a vehicle convoy traveling up the coastal rodas. Or what's left of them."
"I don't think we're going to be driving at all to begin with," remarked Chris. "Those last satelitte pictures that Mikey was able to send us shows us the streets are pretty well impassable even if we were able to get any of the vehicles around here running. So at first we're going to be walking."
Maps were spread out and compared with the downloaded photos. A tentative route was picked out and agreed upon.
"First light in the morning?" Alice proposed.
Heads nodded.
"Let's all get packed and turn in early."
Carlos grinned and began to whistle. Heads cocked sideways as the group tried to identify the tune and then a barage of pillows from a nearby couch bombared him.
"What? No one likes Willie Nelson?"
"Yes, but 'On the Road Again'?" laughed Alice.
"On that note," Jill pushed Angie towards their apartment. "Good night and see you in the morning."
(To be continued)