Claire sat in the lobby of a cheap desert motel. Alternating moaning with her head in her hands and pacing like an expectant father. Alice, thank all the deities, had not been killed by the collision and was taking a concussion nap in one of the rooms. Carlos was not so lucky. The bite and scratch marks to his face were confirmed by a tearful Betty as being infected.

Claire had set up a system for dealing with infected convoy members. A perverse variation on the buddy system, someone would stay with the infected so he could go about his life, putting affairs in order, while he was still mobile. The buddy would keep an eye on him in case his condition deteriorated rapidly, but otherwise just stood back out of the way.

Jill was usually the buddy in question, this was one of Claire's methods that she had initially disagreed with when it first happened in front of her. However when Claire had offered her the opportunity to "just shoot him, here and now" she had recalled her partner, Payton, and realised she was still not able to just shoot another human. The random bandit gangs didn't count, it was a general agreement by all that they had chosen to leave humanity behind. So Jill would follow the infected around until the infection was at the later stages. The poor soul would then be handcuffed to what ever was available until he turned. Then and only then, could Jill or Claire put them out of their misery. The alternative of killing someone that had fought, lived, laughed and traveled with them was too great a thing to contemplate.

When ever it had happened, Carlos had mentioned Alice. If she could bond with this virus, then someone else could as well. To date, it hadn't happened, but in so much as anyone could sleep well at night, it kept their conscience clean.

Cleaner.

Slightly less soiled.

So here sat Claire, waiting for the infamous Alice to come out of her Hummer induced sleep while Jill walked around with a still cheerful Carlos, Jill's teeth clenching so hard to stop the tears, Claire was sure that some of them would be broken by the evening.

24 hours. No one had made it past the 24 hour mark.

Slamming her chair down in frustration, Claire walked out of the dusty motel to the dusty car park that they had settled in. People were taking turns on the roof, acting as lookouts to the return of the birds that the fire canon missed. The heat during the day was so intense the watch was being changed every 30 minutes. Any longer than that and there was a very real possibility of heatstroke.

"Any news Claire?" A voice called form above.

"Noting yet Sergei." She called back. The camp side legend of Alice the wonder woman meant that nearly all her survivors were aware of who the blonde was and what she was to the point that they had all asked after her at some point. Claire reasoned it was like a favourite storybook character, she wondered what Alice would think when she woke up to a hundred people greeting her like a long lost relative. She smiled at the thought until her eyes caught onto the sombre figure of Jill walking along next to a still bloodied Carlos.

"Hey Red." Carlos called over cheerfully.

Claire shook her head at him. "Taking your life in your hands there Olivera." Carlos has never used that name with her. Jill had used it from the get go, intending to get under her skin, now however it was no more than a term of endearment, no one else in the convoy had tried their luck with it though.

Carlos shrugged. "Nothing to lose."

He looked terrible, Claire noted. It wouldn't be long now before Jill would have to subdue him. As if reading her thoughts he stood up straighter. "We are gonna head out a way. Get some privacy. There's a shack about 2 miles out, we passed it heading in. It had some shade, far enough that no sound will reach."

How could he be so fucking cheerful, so casual. Claire wanted to shout and scream and rail to the skies on his behalf, but she wouldn't dishonour their friendship like that. If he could go to his death with a smile, she was damn sure she wasn't going to turn into amateur dramatic theater.

"I'm so sorry Carlos." She went to his open arms and hugged him, knowing this would be their last goodbye.

"So am I Claire. But you know what they say, we had a good run eh?"

She half laughed, half sobbed and pulled away from him. "Thank you for everything. I'll see you one day soon."

"Just don't make it too soon. You two have to lead these people, try not to kill each other." He laughed as she punched him in the shoulder. "C'mon, lets get out of here." He spoke to the still silent Jill.

"Did you speak to Kmart?" Claire asked as they walked away.

"I did." He nodded. "She's pretty upset, she still sitting with Alice, waiting for her to wake up. I don't think she wants to face anyone just yet. I wish I could have seen Alice one more time. She takes a bit of getting used to Claire, but if you can keep her around, you won't regret it."

Claire didn't think Alice would be staying around considering the welcome she got. Maybe she would stay for Jill. Claire also didn't think that the stories about her held as much truth as Carlos seemed to believe. She had stopped in to check on Kmart after Carlos and Jill had settled Alice in the motel. She looked at the unconscious woman and was struck by how fragile she seemed. So small and human. Not the larger than life superhuman that they had claimed her to be. She was as dusty as they all were from traveling in the sand. Her clothes were battered from riding a bike through the unforgiving terrain. Her hair was a blonde and brown mix that seemed to fall at different lengths all over, as though Alice herself had just hacked off bits of it as they got in the way. She was pale despite her time in the sun and all together too slight to be the great savior of mankind.

But she was also their friend and Claire would hold the guilt for a long time that she was responsible for not giving Carlos the chance to say goodbye.

She turned back to the motel as Jill's truck moved out of site down the road until all that remained were the wavy heat lines coming up from the asphalt. Time to check on Kmart again.

Kmart's eyes were swollen but she had at last stopped crying. She knew without a doubt that as soon as she went back outside and fell into the normal routine, it would start again. Just as she knew without a doubt that had Carlos not done what he did, Claire would have been up on the tanker and would now be the one being taken away by Jill to wait for the inevitable. As much as she loved Carlos, as much as she would miss his presence, she didn't think she would survive if it had been Claire. The tears threatened to come again at the thought, so she pushed them down and took a large gulp of air to steady herself.

The sigh seemed to rouse Alice as she started to come around with a groan.

"Did anyone get the license plate?" She asked dramatically causing Kmart to giggle.

Alice opened one eye toward the sound and lifted her arm to block the suns rays. She noticed the bracelet of carefully wound and colourful electrical wires on her wrist. "I'm pretty sure I didn't have these when I went to sleep." She smiled at the teen.

"I gave them to you, kinda like an apology."

Alice looked confused. "You ran me down?"

Kmart giggled again. "No, they don't let me drive, but I was in the Hummer, making a lot of noise, it was probably distracting. I'm so sorry, we were trying to get away from these birds and we got rid of most of them, but there were some left and we were speeding away, we don't usually go that fast, but it was really scary, and Claire, well she was trying to watch behind us to make sure that everyone was safe, Claire is the convoy leader, anyway Claire was all driving away at super speed and I'm all OMG and Claire is all trying to make it better and we couldn't see Jill and Carlos was bitten cos he went on the tanker instead of Claire, which is awful cos he was attacked by one of them, but Claire should have been there and she wasn't so we were racing down the road to get away and how come you didn't see us anyway?"

Alice just looked at Kmart like she was from Mars. "Wow. Um, well, wow. Wait, Jill and Carlos? They're here?"

Kmart nodded. "I thought you knew that, wasn't that why you were there?"

Alice sat up to get her bearings. "No, I was looking for them, but I was only there because of the crows. I thought they had found undead, and if there are undead, there are usually survivors. How many of you are there?"

"Nearly a hundred. Pretty cool huh? Claire started the convoy a couple of years back and it just kept growing. I'm Kmart by the way." She stuck her hand out ignoring Alice's open mouthed look at her name.

"Um, OK, nice to meet you Kmart, my name is Alice."

"I know, we all know. Jill and Carlos and LJ, they tell stories about you at night. We wondered if you were real you know? But here you are and Claire feels terrible that she nearly killed you. Claire's really nice, she doesn't usually run people over, in fact I think you are the first, I mean she runs over the zombies and all, but not people, you'll like her, everyone does, she's really awesome. Wow I just noticed your eyes, you have really pretty eyes."

Alice started laughing, "You can really talk can't you? What are you, 15?"

Kmart nodded excitedly. "Uh huh, that's really amazing, most people think I'm older, I look older when I have make up on. Guess that's kind of silly really, wearing make up at the end of the world, but it's a kind of fun way to pass the time. You should totally let me do your make up one day."

Alice looked suddenly terrified, electrical bracelets were one thing, but she wasn't sure she wanted her make up done. She was about to politely decline when the door opened and a gorgeous redhead walked in and locked eyes with her.

"You're awake."

A gorgeous redhead with minimal people skills, this should be fun Alice internally sighed.

"Sorry, sorry, it's been a rough couple of days. I'm Claire, Claire Redfield and I'm truly sorry for knocking you off your bike. Having spent a good while with Kmart I know she has probably talked your ear off by now so I will assume you know where you are and what's going on."

Alice reached out her hand and smiled. "Alice, but I gather from Kmart you all know that."

Claire took the outstretched hand and faltered as she met Alice's eyes for the first time. "Carlos.." She choked slightly. "Kmart, go see if Betty needs any help with anything." She smiled at the teen brushing her hair back as Kmart's eyes teared up again. When she was out of the door, Claire turned back to Alice. "I'm so sorry about Carlos, he was really sad that he didn't get to speak to you."

"Me too, when did he die?" she bowed her head.

Claire looked confused. "Um, he didn't, I mean he will, he was bitten by one of the infected birds."

Now Alice looked confused. "So where is he?"

"Jill took him out a few miles."

Alice jumped up from the bed. "Shit, how long ago?"

"Um, about 20 minutes, I'm so sorry."

"Fuck. So he's probably dead now."

"Well, we think he probably has about 3 or 4 hours."

Alice ran her hand through her hair. "So why is.. I mean, what.. OK help me out here. Jill took him out about 20 minutes ago, but she is going to let him wait 3 or 4 hours before she shoots him?"

Claire's eye brows were so scrunched up they had met in the middle. "No, she took him out about 20 minutes ago, but she is going to wait for him to turn before she shoots him."

"You don't shoot the bitten straight away?"

"We can't, neither Jill or I can do it. We tie them up, wait for them to die, do it then. I have enough death on my hands, we can't do it. We have a system, it keeps us sane." She chuckled humourlessly.

Alice strode quickly to the door. "You know where they are?"

Claire nodded.

"Show me." And Alice ran outside followed by a seriously confused Claire.

Alice had grabbed her bike, glad to see that it hadn't taken much damage and was still ride able. She checked the bag on the back and pulled out a small case containing a small odd looking gun. She unhooked the straps carrying all her belongings from the back seat, dropping them into the sand just as Claire caught up. She straddled the bike and kicked it into gear. She held out her hand for Claire to climb behind her, when the redhead was settled with her arms around her waist, she took off down the road at great speeds.

Kmart ran out of the ambulance when she heard the bike roar to life. She watched as Alice sped out of the camp with Claire behind her, she heard Claire yell out that she would be back in a few and then they were gone.

Claire had ridden bikes her whole life, both as a rider and a passenger, but she had never felt the need to hold on for dear life as she had right now. She wanted to ask why they were going to Carlos but she didn't think she would be heard over the noise.

Just over 10 minutes later the shack came into view shortly followed by Jill's army truck. Claire pointed it out, probably unnecessarily, and they slowed down to a crawl as Jill came around the corner gun raised.

For the first time in hours a smile broke over Jill's features. "Bout time you woke up."

Alice waited for Claire to get off the bike before she put the kickstand down and walked over taking Jill into a hug. She put the brunette down and walked over to a pale and sweating Carlos.

"Alice, good to see you one last time." He croaked out.

Alice rolled her eyes, "Always the drama queen Carlos." She rolled up his sleeve and without ceremony pulled out the odd looking gun, turned it onto his arm and pulled the trigger.

Carlos laid his head back to the wooden planks of the building he was propped up on. "Don't think I'm not grateful, but I think it's too late this time."

"Well lucky for you, those lovely folks at Umbrella have been working on a better anti-virus. I took the liberty of liberating some on my last visit."

Claire walked over to where Alice was squatted down. "You have anti-virus? You can save him?"

Alice nodded and gave her a quirky grin. "You did want him saved right? I mean he can be kind of annoying, I should have checked first. Sorry bout that."

Jill burst out laughing before grabbing Alice and hugging her until her feet left the ground. "Damn I missed you. I didn't think we would see you again." She did her best to cover a sob and wipe her eyes of the tears she had been fighting all day.

"To be honest, I didn't think I would find you either, not like you can send a text message anymore."

Jill nodded still wiping her face. "Where's Angie, Alice?"

Alice looked away. "I lost her. I got into an Umbrella facility and got enough Anti-virus to keep her going. We were traveling to find you again, but the drugs just stopped working as well as they used to. Maybe her body got used to it, I don't know. I got through what should have been 6 months worth in a few weeks. In the end, she just wanted to go. I'm so sorry Jill, she died about 5 months back, I've been looking for you ever since."

Jill looked at Carlos. "I'm glad you're back. When he wakes up, I'm pretty sure he will be too, he was more upset that he didn't get to say goodbye than anything else."

Alice nodded and Jill kept speaking. "I'm sorry about Angie, thank you for trying. I made my peace with it a long time ago." She sat down next to Carlos and was about to introduce Claire and Alice properly when Alice whipped her head round, her body going rigid.

Jill jumped back up and drew her guns, unconsciously so did Claire, as she reacted to the perceived threat."

"We have company, quite a few of them it seems."

Claire checked her Glock, she had come out with Alice and hadn't stopped to get her usual ammo and weapon stash. She checked Jill and she too only had the one gun, Alice it seemed had none, just the two crooked swords on her back.

Over the dunes to the side of the road, the familiar groan became clearer, followed by the stench of death.

"Shit, Jill get Carlos in the truck, get back to the camp and warn them we have incoming. Alice can you help me try and pull them away, give the camp a chance to get ready?" The redhead starting mentally planning how to deal with the 40 odd stumbling creatures heading toward them. She was about to bark at Jill to get moving when she realised the woman had put her gun back in its holster and was smirking at her. She looked at Alice who had the most bizarre expression on her face, her head tilted to one side as if trying to understand why Claire was so bothered.

"It's OK, I'll take care of it." She said softly to Claire as if not to startle her.

Claire looked at Alice and suddenly realised who she was talking to. Still there were 40 of them and Carlos was injured. She handed her gun to Alice hilt first. "Take my gun, Jill can provide cover when they get closer to us."

Alice took the gun and with a serious expression she spoke to Claire. "Thank you, this will come in handy." With that she turned around and whipped the gun at the closest undead that was approaching, nailing him in the forehead with enough strength to knock him off his feet. He didn't get up.

"Right, one down." And Alice took off at a leisurely run toward the rest of them.

Jill burst out laughing as Claire just stood there in confusion. She walked over and threw her arm around the redheads shoulders.

Thirty feet away, Alice hand reached the shuffling creatures and drawn her weapons, the two swords from her back, and was quickly and efficiently disposing of their uninvited guests. Claire was aware that her mouth had yet to close.

She whirled and spun in place, the blades were as much a part of her as the badly cut hair and ragged clothing. With an economy of motion that Claire truly envied she cut and stabbed her way through the hoard and made no effort to hide her delight in doing so. Those eyes that Claire had thought stunning when she first saw them, were now alight with joy at the ferocity she was displaying.

"You're drooling Redfield." Jill whispered in her ear.

"You have no idea." Claire whispered back.

Alice finished the last of them with a particularly effective swing that had her land on one knee, blades in the air, head down, like a pose from an action movie as the last zombie fell to her blades.

A noise started behind her as Claire noted with alarm that the remaining crows were heading toward them. As she was about to run forward and warn Alice that they had arrived, Jill tightened her hold and kept her in place.

Alice looked up slowly and sneered, as the crows came within reach, her eyes became black, the pupils dilating to cover the blue as a wave of energy pulsated out from her and ripped the crows from the skies, imploding them as they dropped lifeless to the floor one after the other.

She walked away from the carnage as casually as if taking a stroll with a smirk on her face. As she reached Claire she casually handed over the keys to the bike.

"I'll take Carlos back in the truck, can you bring Jill back on the bike?"

Claire just nodded, silently.

Alice winked at her. "Thanks." And she moved to Carlos, lifting him without effort into the truck before heading out.

"You need me to drive?" Jill asked, still smiling at Claire.

"Huh? No, no, it's all good. Climb on."

And they rode back behind the truck.

20 minutes later they arrived in the camp to scenes of jubilation, a shaky Carlos was back on his feet with most of his colour restored. LJ was alternating slapping his shoulder and punching Alice good naturedly in the arm. Kmart was hugging Carlos and crying as most of the convoy lined up to do the same and introduce themselves to Alice.

The Alice.

The only woman to bond with the T-virus.

The Alice with the superhuman skills that had taken on Umbrella and saved Jill and Carlos and LJ and Carlos again.

That Alice.

Kmart walked over to the bike, hugging Jill as she walked past her. Jill stood next to LJ smiling as a confused Alice met with the convoy that all seemed to know her.

"So that's Alice eh?" Kmart offered to Claire who hadn't taken her eyes off the blonde yet.

"Uh huh."

"Carlos said she made the birds explode and that she killed a zombie by throwing a gun at it, and that she took on a hundred zombies all at once and killed them all. Did you see it? Was it awesome?" Kmart asked excitedly.

Claire realised that Kmart had stopped talking. She looked at her with a slightly blank expression. "Uh, what?"

Kmart walked back to the group shaking her head and saying someone about adults being weird.