A/N: i have nothing to say, just read on!

When Alice and Ben glanced at each other, Claire quickly realized that she had actually misspoken. She hastily reworded her statement into a request.

"Can you help Betty to check for any infections, please?"

Alice nodded while Ben merely stayed silent. Claire somehow knew they could detect the T-Virus from their bonding with it.

"C'mon babe, time to play doctor." Alice purred as she started to happily skip towards Betty's busy ambulance. Ben easily fell into step right behind her, smirking at her hidden innuendo.

Amidst the small group standing at the rear of the medical vehicle, Ben towered over them his six foot six inch frame was easily visible to Claire from beside the last red zombie's corpse.

"So, these fuckers are V-ACT's." One armed survivor said as he kicked the corpse with a chuckle. Claire recalled his name was Chuck, but was nicknamed Chuckles from his constant jokes.

"V-ACT's?" Claire raised an eyebrow at his incoming joke.

"Very Active Creepy Things." Chuckles said as he laughed.

"That's actually their proper classification code. V-ACT's are advanced mutations of the T-Virus, they don't die for certain unless burned or decapitated. Notice the claws and higher motor skills compared to 'standard' undead." Alice said suddenly as she returned to speak to Claire about the infections. She pointed at the creature's hands, which had two inch long claws instead of human fingernails.

"Still, I like my acronym for them." Chuckles said as he turned to walk away. "Much cooler anyway."

"So, humor aside, how many were infected?" Claire asked once Chuckles had walked away.

"Zero. We were lucky. Ben and I can detect only each other's T-Virus, no one else was infected. However, a stray bullet hit Ivan in the shoulder, he'll be fine." Alice replied quietly as Ben quietly approached behind her.

"Good, but we're moving out anyway, gotta get on the road in case there are more following us." Claire nodded her head with a brief glance at Ben's silent approach behind Alice.

"Then I shall assist with preparing the Hummer, unless you wish otherwise." Ben said as he wrapped his large arms around Alice's small waist from behind in an affectionate embrace.

"Alright, you and K-Mart do that. Alice, you help me gather the rest of our stuff." Claire agreed to his suggestion and it allowed her to be alone with Alice for a few minutes, at least. They walked away without another word.

When K-Mart approached Ben she suddenly sprinted into his chest and hugged him tightly. Her Uzi was hanging from a shoulder holster under her left arm while a single Glock was visible under her right.

"Thank you for helping us Ben." She said into his shirt as he returned the hug a little awkwardly.

"It was no bother, K-Mart. But I must ask you something rather personal." Ben replied as she released him, confused at his impending question.

"Go ahead, what is it?" She replied as she looked up into his glowing blue eyes.

"What is your real name?" Ben replied as she suddenly smiled at his simple question.

"Dahlia. But only you, me and Claire know that. To everyone else, I'm just... K-Mart." K-Mart said with a shy smile at his growing trust for her. She actually was slightly attracted to his strong silent type personality, but knew that he was with Alice, so she controlled her sudden desires. She was seventeen, so it was hard... Very... hard... Damn it!

"Well... Dahlia, Claire said we are to pack up the Hummer. I know for a fact that she and Alice are not being entirely truthful about gathering your possessions. We can take our time... A little." Ben said with a smile as he began gathering the supplies that were nearby. His eyes slowly fading back to normal as he spoke.

About twenty minutes later, a red faced Claire and a blushing Alice returned to the Hummer and wordlessly joined what little was left to pack up. Ben didn't even have to read Alice's face to know what had happened between them, but he knew it. He just hoped that they were both happy and that it didn't become a scandal amongst the convoy.

When they'd all packed and driven away, K-Mart and Alice had traded places in the Hummer. Alice was in the front beside Claire while K-Mart was sitting beside Ben. The older women were focused on the road while K-Mart was beginning to doze off with her head resting against Ben's huge bicep.

"She seems to like you Ben. What's your secret?" Claire said a few minutes after K-Mart had fallen asleep with her slender hands wrapped around his forearm and her cheek against his huge arm.

"I have no secret, I'm just... A ladies man." Ben joked with a smile. He was referring to quiet Alice and spirited K-Mart and knew that he was forming a bond with stoic Claire, slowly.

"Well, maybe Carlos should take some tips from you. He's quite the wannabe ladie's man." Claire said with a smile, even Alice smirked at the jab.

"Ben, do you want the three off the left side, buddy?" LJ's voice called over the radio on the dashboard.

"Got it, I'll take them." Ben said as he extracted his arm from K-Mart's grasp and withdrew his assault rifle. After he had returned Chase spoke up over the radio in an annoyed tone.

"Damn partner, are you tryin' to outshoot me?"

Taking the radio from Claire's offering hand Ben smiled widely as he replied to the jealous cowboy.

"I'm in the lead vehicle of the convoy, if you want some action, I'll gladly trade places with you in the tanker." He knew for certain that Chase would not let even Carlos, who rode with him, drive his beloved truck, especially since Ben's driving skills were unknown even to Alice.

"Ben, I drive this rig, nobody else touches the keys to my truck, you feel me, partner?" Chase said in reply to the thought of Ben driving his iron horse.

"Fine, just don't complain about not getting any kills. You feelin' me... partner?" Alice said to Chase after she snatched the radio from Ben.

A few minutes of silence from the radio meant that he understood. Alice tossed the radio back onto the dashboard with a smirk tugging at her lips.

"What's so funny Alice?" Claire asked when she saw the inexplicable smile on Alice's face.

"Ben and K-Mart." Alice replied without even looking at Claire or behind her. She just stared out the bars of her window with her smirk firmly in place.

Claire glanced at the rearview mirror and immediately smiled.. Ben and K-Mart were asleep K-Mart had once again wrapped her small arms around his huge arm and was resting her cheek on his shoulder. Ben was asleep with his head lolling down to his shoulder where K-Mart's blonde head was resting. They looked really cute together.

"It's a shame that he's always so quiet, maybe he'll open up for you." Alice said when she glanced over at Claire's smiling face.

"Maybe. But, maybe you will too." Claire teased Alice, who instantly went as red as Claire's hair. She knew what Claire was referring to, but remained silent, staring very pointedly out the window.

In the morning, Ben suddenly jolted awake with a distinct blue glow in his eyes and an angry expression on his face. Alice immediately recognized it as a nightmare, even though he'd been immobile for the whole night.

"You okay babe?" Alice asked when he blinked the glow away from his eyes.

"Umbrella nightmare. They threw me into a room with several T-103's and no weapons." Ben said with Telepathy, but vocally said, "I'm fine."

Claire was starting to recognize the Telepathy that Ben and Alice seemed to share, so she asked them a question she'd had all night. "What is it like to have Telepathy?"

Alice and Ben were momentarily surprised that she knew the name of their secret ability but Ben explained the sensation of speaking with the mind. She nodded understandingly, then posed her next question.

"So what is a T-103? Is it a monster from Umbrella?"

The shock on Alice's face was very obvious, did Claire just hear Ben? "How do you know about them, Claire?" Alice asked in a hushed whisper.

"Me and a rookie cop survived Raccoon City and he'd mentioned several of them were deployed into the city. I was wondering what they were because of those V-ACT's yesterday." Claire explained as she drove past several abandoned vehicles on the road.

"A T-103 is a B.O.W that is the crown jewel for Umbrella. It is the classification code for the one hundred and third form of what is known as a Tyrant. They are the deadliest B.O.W that Umbrella has ever made." Ben explained to Claire, who was imagining what a T-103 looked like.

"What do they look like?" Claire asked, sounding very tense.

"Very tall, muscular, and wearing a metallic coat. That's standard, When they haven't transformed yet..." Alice described in a quiet voice.

"And when they do transform?" Claire asked, motioning for Alice to continue.

"They get claws, their heart is exposed and the lose the coat. They also get much harder to kill." Alice explained with a faint note of fear in her voice.

"Sounds attractive." Claire joked as they drove towards a large warehouse outside of a small town. "Do either of you want to join the raid for supplies?" She indicated the abandoned warehouse with two fingers.

"Sure, we'll come." Alice said while Ben simply nodded. He extracted his arm from K-Mart's sleeping grasp and retrieved his AK from between his knees.

When Carlos and his team of other survivors approached Claire simply pointed at the large warehouse and primed her carbine. He nodded and motioned for the team to enter a nearby metal door.

Ben and Alice were waiting on either side of the door as Carlos took three running steps and kicked the door right off its hinges with an echoing BANG! They immediately entered the dark building with their guns at the ready, Alice had an M37 shotgun and Ben had his AK47.

While the two Hybrids were searching the upper catwalks, Claire and the rest of them searched through the large storage area, which was surprisingly untouched. They gathered their much needed medical supplies, food, and surprisingly even some ammunition.

"Betty, Gus, bring your vehicles to the loading bay, we got a big haul." Claire said into her radio as they gathered their booty. Gus drove an old M35 cargo truck for the convoy, so he'd be needed for all raids and Betty needed the medical supplies.

While Claire was directing the relocation of the supplies, Ben and Alice were walking overhead on the network of catwalks throughout the facility. They already took out two undead each when the M35 and Betty's ambulance arrived at the loading docks.

"Alice, do you want to drop down and help with the resupply? I can finish with up here." Ben said as he pulled his tomahawks from his third kill.

"Alright, just speak if you need me." Alice teased as he swung her legs over the railing. She blew him a quick kiss before jumping down between Carlos and Claire like a cat. She startled both of them.

As Ben finished searching the catwalks he suddenly sensed the T-Virus was very close. It seemed to be... Above him?

Looking up, he immediately began to scowl at the source of the T-Virus clinging to the ceiling.

It was a large creature completely devoid of flesh with an exposed brain and very large claws on its front limbs. It was crawling in a low (though inverted) stance and had a long tongue flicking back and forth as it silently approached the noises and voices of the raid down below.

Ben instantly knew that it was a B.O.W, but only Alice had shown him the major ones like the Tyrant series and luckily the V-ACT's. He didn't recognize this ugly...thing.

Very carefully raising his AK, he aimed at the tauntingly exposed brain and pulled the trigger.

Down below, Alice was easily hefting large crates into the back of the M35 two at a time. As she reached for a first aid kit, she suddenly froze. Her mixed blood was warning her of danger but she was surrounded by other humans, so that could only mean…

"BEN!" Alice yelled as she looked up at him raising his AK at a stomach wrenching creature on the ceiling…

A Licker Beta…

The throb of his russian assault rifle reached all of their ears at Alice's sudden scream. Ben suddenly yelled down to them as they took aim at it.

"NO! DON'T SHOOT! IT'S MINE!"

Alice was wired for the kill, but Claire grabbed her arms as she prepared to jump back up to Ben's side. The blue glow in her eyes faded at Claire's touch, but the fear didn't.

The creature shot out it's long tongue with blinding speed as Ben riddled it with nearly thirty 7.62mm rounds. He easily dodged it and slung the assault rifle onto his back as he withdrew his dual Colt M1911a1's.

The creature dropped down onto the catwalk as Ben fired the pistols directly into the exposed brain with an audible snarl. The bullets seemed to be doing minimal damage, so he switched to his tomahawks.

The creature swiped it's claws at Ben's shins, but he backflipped away and landed beside a dead soldier's headless body. He saw a single M2 fragmentation grenade on it and snatched it up.

"Snack time, you ugly freak." Ben snarled at he pulled the pin and threw it down the creature's throat. He jumped off the catwalks as the creature exploded from the inside.

When he'd lightly landed beside Claire and Alice, he was surprised that it was Claire that hugged him and Alice that swatted his arm, even though she was smirking.

"Nicely done, Ben. Frag grenade down the throat was a great way to kill whatever that thing was." Carlos said when Claire had released him.

"That was an L-251 B.O.W, the Licker Beta. Raccoon City was crawling with them when we'd escaped." Alice said with a frown. Ben smiled slightly at her pun.

"Interesting. I assume that they're tough bastards?" Claire said with an intense glare up at the dripping remains of the Licker on the mangled catwalk.

"Yeah, especially in numbers." Alice replied as she tossed the first aid kit into Betty's ambulance. She walked back to Ben's side while slinging her M37 onto her back. Ben knew that she was referring to Raccoon Cathedral, where she had killed three of them at once, singlehandedly.

Betty had seen the whole incident from her ambulance and quickly approached Claire. She quietly whispered into her ear. "That is probably more kinky than talking in their heads. Imagine a bunch of those if they weren't trying to kill us."

Claire raised both of her eyebrows at the thoughts that fluttered through her head but reminded Betty in a serious tone. ""But still… the fact remains, they DO try to kill us."

Closing Remarks: meh, i got nothing :P