I'm back! This time I wasn't even gone as long... though I'm pretty sure you all are going to wish I stayed away because by the end of this chapter... you might hate me. Read on, dear kiddies, and try to enjoy, yeah? Oh, and leave me some feedback too - I think I've proved more than once that more feedback makes me update faster.

Chapter 2: Dying Breed

All I wanted was your honesty

Something more than this, something more than me

Death can take me if I can't be free

The transmission that Alice heard the night before didn't offer up a location for the convoy in question. They couldn't be too far; she had picked up their message after all. Then again, she had about a ten mile reach in each direction, that left it open for a lot of possibilities. If they got moving first thing in the morning – like she always did – then they would have a head start in whatever direction they were heading.

The open, abandoned highway offered solace under the scorching sun. She knew that at one time the Midwest was full of lush, green fields, but that wasn't the case now. Plant and animal life was starting to wither and die alongside the human race. Extinction seemed inevitable for mankind; no longer being human was both a blessing and a curse for Alice.

After being in the city and dealing with Umbrella, nothing made her feel more free than being out on the open road. If she couldn't be free, then death could have her. She would find a way to do more damage to herself than the T-virus could mend before she let the corporation have control of her.

Right now, she didn't have to worry about that. Umbrella had no idea where she'd gotten off to and she would keep it that way. Even if they had some suspicions to her whereabouts, there was a lot of open country she was heading into and not even they could search it all without taking quite some time. She was the proverbial needle and her haystack was the size of a whole country.

She had headed north along I-29 so that she could hop onto I-80 in Council Bluffs and from there head through Omaha and continue her journey westward. If there really was any decent sized group of survivors out there, her best bet was those two cities. The group would need to find supplies and both choices would offer that – and a large undead population.

That meant she could very well find a group of dead people, if she found anyone at all. They hadn't sounded like they needed help; perhaps that was why Alice was seeing if she could find them. It would be a lie to say she wasn't curious. She thrived in this world because Umbrella built her for it, but she had to wonder how others managed.

Council Bluffs offered her nothing in the way of living people. There were quite a few undead and she took out as many as she could without wasting too much of her ammunition. They were once people, yes, but now she felt compelled to end their existence of misery. No one would ever want to continue on as one of those.

While in the city, she made a gamble of stopping to fill up on gas. She ran the risk of getting herself surrounded, which was never a good idea. Luckily, her bike's tank and the fuel can were quick to fill up again. Alice barely spent twenty minutes in the city before she was back on the highway.

The drive between Council Bluffs and Omaha was only four miles and she made it in less than ten minutes. Omaha was a larger city, so she picked her way around it with a little more care. It would be a shame to blow her cover already and killing a massive amount of infected would draw attention.

Instead of checking for supplies, she just continued through the large city. There was still no sign of the supposed convoy she'd heard from the night before so she had to assume she had either gone in the wrong direction or they were already dead. That had happened plenty of times before; people made a recording then let it play over and over again only for help to show up far too late.

It was just as well though. That meant less contact with people and less of a chance of Umbrella finding her. If she was in a group, that would obviously be easier to find than a lone traveler. Her curiosity from before could be sated by the thought that they had likely died before she could catch up.

Just when she had settled with the thought that she could now have a nice, normal day of surviving on the road, she spotted vehicles in front of her. Abandoned vehicles were never a surprise; they were as plentiful of flies on rotting corpses. These were different, however – they were on the road and they were moving.

Apparently she needed to give people more credit because someone was obviously still alive. They were heading in the same direction as Alice, but she was gaining on them. From what she could see there was a yellow Hummer at the front of the line, followed by a news van, an ambulance, and a commandeered military transport truck.

They seemed to have noticed that their presence wasn't the only one on the road, because the vehicles slowed and pulled off the side a bit. Alice could already see a few people getting out and they were packing some serious heat. Well that was exactly what she wanted to deal with.

She slowed the bike as she approached the stopped vehicles, not wanting to spook anyone enough to shoot her – that would just be annoying. As she came to a stop, she surveyed the handful of people pointing guns in her direction. At the helm was a redheaded woman who exuded leadership and authority. Maybe this was the Claire Redfield mentioned over the radio?

"What do you want?" the redhead asked calmly, her expression nearly impossible to read behind the dark aviator sunglasses she wore.

"First, I want you to stop pointing all those guns at me," Alice replied, just as calm as the other woman. "Most people who do that don't even live this long."

"And that's supposed to give us the incentive to put them down?"

"Yes, actually, it is."

After a moment, the redhead nodded to the others and they eased up on their weapons – they were still at the ready though. "So who are you?" the woman asked.

"My name is Alice. I heard a transmission about a convoy last night. I'm assuming that's you?"

The redhead studied her for a moment, sizing her up, before offering a nod. "I'm Claire," she confirmed. "Do you need help?"

Alice scoffed at the notion. "No, I don't. I was just curious to see if the transmission was true."

Claire's brow quirked over her aviators. "You were just curious?" she repeated in disbelief. "Curiosity is a dangerous thing these days."

"You have no idea," the blonde replied with a shake of her head. "But there's always something more dangerous lurking around the corner."

Again, Claire was silent as she studied the newcomer. Something was off about her, that much was obvious. What that was, she couldn't place, but she didn't think it was anything good. "Look… we're all heading in the same direction… you could follow us for a while if you want. This interstate goes on for quite a ways."

She mulled over the offer – the only tempting part of it was the defiant and strong redhead she was talking to. Claire was every bit the leader that Alice refused to be; the hero to the people of her convoy that Alice wouldn't allow herself to be for the world. "Okay, I can do that," she finally agreed.

Claire took the answer with a nod, turning her attention to the others with her. "Let's get moving again," she told them. The small group dispersed and went back to their respective vehicles.

Alice returned to her bike and got back onto it. She waited until the others had taken off again before she started the motorcycle up and fell in line behind the military truck.

So far, she was fairly impressed with the group. They were smart enough to stay on the road and not hole themselves up in a death trap. Plus, they had a very strong leader that made her presence and authority known with just a look – and that was saying something considering her eyes were hidden behind sunglasses.

The convoy stayed on the road for what was left of the afternoon. They didn't stop again until about an hour before sunset. That would give them enough time to set up camp – since they did more than make a campfire and lay out a blanket – and settle in for the night.

When they did stop, Alice was given proper introductions to the members of the convoy. The ones that stood out most next to Claire were a nurse named Betty and a communications guy named Mikey. While Claire was obviously the one in charge, those two seemed to be the ones that helped her hold everything together. Mikey was a talkative young man with an Australian accent – and in another life, Alice probably would have found him charming. Betty was a very compassionate woman who seemed to be genuinely concerned with helping others – her profession before the outbreak was a testament to that.

Alice mostly kept to herself while the convoy set themselves up for the night. They set a perimeter up around the area to alert them to any incoming threats. She wasn't about to tell them that she could do a better job than their electronics could ever hope to though. That would raise far too many questions and frankly, she didn't want to deal with it.

Most of her attention fell to the leader of this ragtag band of people. Claire did everything with purpose and confidence. She took it upon herself to keep these people safe and she obviously took the task with all seriousness. The more Alice watched her, the more she wanted to approach the other woman.

As the sun fell closer to the horizon, Claire pulled her aviators off. That gave Alice a much better look at the woman. The redhead was nothing short of beautiful – a stark contrast to the ugly world around them. Despite her best efforts at fighting it, that just drew Alice in even further. Whether she would ever admit to it or not, the depressing state of the world – and even her own existence – made her yearn for something better, something more than herself.

If Claire noticed that she was being watched, she didn't show it. She went about what Alice assumed was business as usual without a hitch or falter. Only after everyone was settled in and tucked away safely for the night did she seem to relax a little.

Claire returned to the yellow Hummer briefly, it looked like she was just checking on the two occupants sleeping inside. They all slept in their reinforced vehicles; it was the safest place considering attacks in the middle of the night weren't uncommon.

Then something happened that Alice didn't expect. The redhead left the Hummer – which she was absolutely positive had enough room left in it for the woman to sleep in – and went to the news van. While most of her focus had been on the redhead, she had noticed that Mikey stayed in the van – he was the only one that stayed in the van.

The blonde felt something she had nearly forgotten about rear its head and it struck her with an unforgiving vengeance: jealousy. It didn't matter that there was more than one possible explanation. In Alice's mind, there was only one reason Claire would go to the van, and that thought was reinforced when the back door closed behind her.

Mikey and Claire were the only ones in that van – it could have easily held two or three more, but they were the only ones. In the back of the vehicle, no one would be able to spy on them. No one would be the wiser anyway, because everyone but Alice was already asleep.

With all the unbearable thoughts bouncing endlessly through her head, the blonde had no hopes of sleep that night. Instead, she went over and stoked the dying campfire to life and sat down by it. She glared daggers into the obviously offending blaze. Each time her thoughts collided together, the flames grew a little bigger and brighter, only to dissipate when she realized what she was doing again.

She wasn't exactly sure how much time had passed, but she guessed it was a couple of hours when she heard the van opening up again. Claire came out of it, shutting the door after herself. When the redhead noticed that Alice was still up, she looked like a deer caught in headlights temporarily. Apparently she wasn't expecting anyone to be up.

Alice returned her attention to the fire as the redhead recomposed herself and actually approached her. "What are you still doing up?" Claire questioned.

"Couldn't sleep," Alice said with a shake of her head. "It happens a lot."

The redhead stopped about two feet from her, looking down at the blonde. "You really should try and get some rest. It won't do anyone any good if you fall asleep on that bike."

"Maybe you should take your own advice," Alice's reply was a little colder than she intended it to be.

Claire merely brushed it off without missing a beat. "How long were you traveling alone out there?"

Briefly, Alice glanced up at the other woman. "Since about a month after the outbreak," she said simply.

"That's a long time to go without being around anyone," Claire commented. "Especially if it was by choice."

There was a bit of silence before Alice offered up another response. "Maybe I like being alone." Her statement had the desired effect: the redhead only lingered a moment longer before nodding and heading back to her Hummer, leaving Alice alone for the rest of the night.