CH 07

The training room is usually empty, very few people actually visit the room. The members of the militia would prefer to catch some sleep instead of honing their close combat skills during their free time.

Today, two people occupied the training room. The sounds of fighting could be heard by anyone who would pass by.

Alice easily evaded the flurry of blades and countered with a roundhouse kick of her own, which disarmed one of Jill's blades from her hand. The blonde was left with one weapon now but she didn't let it deter her.

Jill grunted as she charged, feigning to strike from the above and Alice bought it for a split second until she noticed the shifting of Jill's muscles. The brunette flipped herself backwards, seconds away from being decapitated.

They traded more attacks and counterattacks, Alice being weaponless and Jill with a sword to her advantage.

Alice had noticed Jill's bouts of listless depression for the past few days, though she would usually just stay close to Alice. The brunette would have to think of ways to keep Jill busy like asking her to look after Becky while she's away on the field, or keep K-Mart company – much to the annoyance of the teen.

As the days go by, it would get worse. She had caught Jill throwing up in the bathroom toilet in numerous occasions, if she would ask about it, the blonde would always answer that she's fine. Even Becky had noticed how pale Jill had become and urged her to stay in bed until she would feel better.

Jill did that, however, for only a few hours and then spent the rest of the day patrolling around the White House.

Alice wondered if this was a form of a withdrawal symptom from the drug that Jill was receiving from the scarab, to keep her docile enough to follow the Red Queen's orders.

When Alice asked Jill to have a sparring session with her, she had a plan to wear the stubborn blonde down until she's too tired and sore to stand and hopefully would get the rest she deserves. The brunette always loved a bit of challenge, so she asked the blonde to fight her with a pair of katana blades while Alice is completely unarmed, even choosing to not use her telekinesis.

Jill threw the blade at her unexpectedly – it was like the blonde wasn't thinking straight anymore – Alice instinctively manipulated its trajectory to keep it from slicing her right ear. She may have a superb healing ability, but she doesn't want to find out whether she can regenerate a lost body part or not.

Alice could literally see them coming now, Jill's attacks were more reckless and desperate. It was clear that she is getting exhausted and with each attack that Alice blocks or parries, the blonde is closer to giving up.

The attacker stopped her assault and walked backwards, her chest heaving in labored breathing and her hair sticking to her face and neck with sweat. The two women circled each other as Jill picked up a discarded katana then twirling it once with a flick of her wrist.

"Ready to give up yet, Valentine?"

"I may be feeling shit, but..." Jill shrugged her shoulders, "Nah."

Jill's tenacity, especially with her current condition, is impressive. Alice doubted if she could actually beat her in a fight without the aid of the T-virus, or perhaps they would have been equals.

As the blonde charged at her once again, Alice's senses detected a familiar presence. The alluring scent was almost calling to her and it was too tempting for her to ignore it, so she gave in and turned her head only to see a pair of observing green eyes.

Jill wasn't aware of Alice's distracted state and swung her blade, expecting her attack to be blocked again.

But nothing came to stop the contact of cold metal to warm flesh.

Alice yelped, more in surprise than in pain, her hand shot up in an instant to where the sword had cut her. Hot, red blood ran from the side of her neck down to her upper chest, staining the white shirt that she was wearing.

Jill's eyes widened in horror at what she had done, "Shit! Alice! Shit! I'm so sorry!"

"You bitch!"

Frantic footsteps resounded in the room before a fist connected to the blonde's head, the impact effectively brought her down to the floor. Claire didn't bother to see if she had knocked the blonde out and immediately turned to face Alice.

"Alice? Oh god, you're bleeding!" The redhead's hands trembled as she put additional pressure on the wound, which Alice wasn't putting much effort in, and hissed out angrily, "I'm going to murder her!"

Although the redhead's concern for her and anger towards Jill was quite unnecessary, Alice thought it was endearing. The wound was no big deal, it would completely heal in the next few minutes, depending on how deep it was. Jill, on the other hand, was lying unconscious on the floor thanks to Claire.

"I'll be alright, Claire." But her reassurance fell on deaf ears.

"I need to take you to a doctor."

Alice used her other hand to take Claire's hand from her neck, "I'm fine. See?"

She stretched out her neck for Claire to see, the bleeding had slowed but the wound was still yet to close. Claire watched in fascination, her brows slightly raised. Alice had told her that she wasn't quite human once again and also about her superior constitution. But the redhead never had the opportunity to see T-Virus' healing properties on her body this up close.

Alice wiped the blood off from Claire's hand with her shirt before doing the same with her own, then walked past her to check on Jill.

The brunette kneeled down to see if she had injured herself during her fall. Luckily, the blonde didn't fall on the katana blade that she wielded moments ago. Alice lightly tapped on her cheek to wake her up.

Jill groaned and groggily opened her eyes. When she saw Alice above her, she immediately sat up and checked for the wound that she had accidentally inflicted on the brunette. "Fuck. I'm so sorry about that."

"It's alright. Claire knocked you out, we're even." Alice smiled, jabbing her thumb behind her, pointing at Claire. "How are you feeling?"

"Worse shit." Jill said, trying to ignore the scowl Claire is giving her.

"Okay." Alice nodded slowly and then effortlessly picked Jill up, bridal style. Fortunately, Jill was too weak to protest. "Don't fight me, Valentine. I'm taking you to your bed and you're going to actually sleep this time."

Behind her, Claire was fuming.

"Um..." Jill's head was throbbing in pain, but she tried to change Alice's mind and hopefully avoid Claire's wrath. "I can stand on my own."

"Yeah, Alice. Put her down."

Upon hearing the redhead's clearly unhappy tone, Alice turned her head over her shoulder to see Claire's frown. She thought she saw a hint of jealousy on her expression but just assumed it was just anger towards Jill.

"Do you want me to carry you, too?" She chuckled. It was meant to be a joke, but Claire wasn't smiling.

"No. I just want you to put her down."

Alice blinked, "Don't be like that, Claire."

"Don't be like what?" Claire crossed her arms. Her body posture is suddenly defensive, like she's hiding something.

"That."

"Um, Alice. I'm fine now, really. I can walk to the room on my own." Jill said, trying to ease the tension which was mostly coming off from Claire. If Alice noticed her apparent discomfort, she didn't show it as she turned around to walk out of the training room. Jill sneaked a glance Alice's shoulder and saw Claire following closely behind, arms still crossed and a deadly glare directed at her. She knew that the redhead hated her, but for whatever reason, she isn't sure yet.

So far, only three people are openly friendly towards her. Alice was a given, having already experienced Umbrella's mind control and was very understanding of Jill's past actions. Becky sometimes calls her "auntie Jill" and the blonde wondered if Alice told her to or it was just the girl's own choosing. Chris, being friends with her since their college days – which Claire wasn't enthusiastic to find out from her brother – was very amiable towards her.

When they reached their room, Becky was there.

Upon seeing the blood on Alice's shirt, Becky was close to tears. It was like a stab to Jill's heart, feeling guilty about the cause of the child's distress once again by injuring Alice. Though the brunette was completely healed by now, the blood was still there and the child clung to her mother as soon as Alice put Jill down on her bed.

Becky was sobbing now and Alice put her arms around the girl. The girl had her hearing aids on, so Alice doesn't have to pull her away from her embrace so she could read her lips. "Oh, don't cry..."

Claire gave Jill a look, wordlessly telling her that this was all her fault. Jill looked away in shame, she knew she would never get into Claire's good graces, and perhaps even Becky's, after what she had done. She inwardly berated herself for being so careless.

"Hey, I just had a little accident." When the girl was still unconvinced, Alice added. "Mommy's a superwoman, remember? I'm fine."

This was Alice's way of telling her daughter that she isn't quite human, the first time she told her this she was a little confused but accepted it with innocent understanding that her mother is more than capable to protect her from the bad things that lurk outside the walls.

Becky calmed down and sniffled, she turned to Jill and signed, "Are you okay?"

Realizing that the girl was addressing her, Jill looked at Becky and mustered up a smile. She nodded wordlessly before looking away, she couldn't handle seeing her upset and being the cause of it, even if it wasn't intentional. The mattress shifted under a new weight as Becky climbed on the bed to get closer to her and then surprised her by giving her a brief hug.

"Don't be sad, auntie Jill."

Alice tenderly smiled at the sight before her, partly amused by Jill's surprise and touched by Becky's forgiving nature. She brushed back Becky's brown curls and said, "I want you to look after Jill, okay?"

"Yes, mommy." Becky smiled up at her as she signed.

"Good girl." Alice bent down to kiss her forehead before she gave a half-smile to Jill, who wanted to say something but opted to just clench her jaw shut and purse her lips together in a slight pout. The brunette turned to Claire, "Can we talk?"

The redhead shrugged one shoulder, arms still crossed, and held her gaze at Alice for a second longer than necessary before responding. "Sure."

Alice gestured for her to go outside then followed her. She closed the door behind her but not before she caught a glimpse of Becky helping Jill remove one of her boots while the blonde tried untie the laces of the other one. With the brunette's superior hearing, she could still hear their conversation going on inside.

"It's okay, Becky. I can do it myself."

"No. I'm helping you because mommy told me to babysit you."

"You're not babysitting me."

"Mommy!" Becky called. The girl knew Alice wasn't too far away to hear her.

"Okay, okay! You're babysitting me. Jeez..."

Claire was smirking now. It seems that with the thin walls, she also could her them, though not a clearly as Alice could. She finally uncrossed her arms and put her hands in her pockets. Her eyes met Alice's and she tilted her head to the side.

"You want to talk?"

Alice sniffed surreptitiously, making a last-minute check if anyone was close enough to eavesdrop. She led Claire farther away from the room, so there won't be any chance of Becky or Jill overhearing them. "You need to cut Jill some slack."

The redhead frowned, "Excuse me?"

"Look, Claire..." Alice sighed, she knew how stubborn the redhead can be. "I know you don't like her. But – "

"Of course I don't like her, she tried to kill you!" Claire raised her voice a little, clearly unimpressed that the brunette is defending Jill.

"It was an accident and I got careless anyway."

Claire scoffed, "She almost cut your head off."

"And you knocked her out." Alice said calmly, she doesn't like to argue with her so tried a different approach, "Though it was unnecessary, but I think that was kinda sweet of you to do so."

It seemed to work because the redhead was quiet for a moment. She looked away as she crossed her arms once again, a faint blush on her cheeks. "Yeah, sure..."

Alice had the spontaneous urge to touch her, but she resisted it and kept her firmly on her sides. "Will you promise me to be nice to her? She's going through something and I need you to understand."

After a moment of silence, the redhead relented.

"Fine." Claire sighed, "I'll try."

The brunette smiled and stepped closer to her. Claire noticed this and looked at Alice. When their eyes met, she leaned down to brush her lips against Claire's forehead and whispered, "Thank you."

She felt Claire shiver and felt a shot of satisfaction within her. When she pulled back, the redhead's blush darkened as she stammered. "You're... welcome."

Suddenly, that initial satisfaction wasn't enough. She craved for more, but didn't know how to get it. Alice wondered if this is the new side-effect of the T-Virus in her, craving to be near to an uninfected flesh as much as possible. Perhaps this is what the undead felt – if it was possible for them to have feelings – to be close to them and then consume them. But she doesn't want to devour Claire, she wanted something else. Alice wanted to preserve her uninfected state, keeping her purity unblemished. To protect. She have felt like this towards other humans in the Resistance in varying degrees, but not as strong as she felt for Claire. She was also scared of herself, she doesn't want this craving to escalate maliciously for fear of hurting the redhead.

Alice settled for running a hand through Claire's soft locks – convincing herself that this would be enough for now – and marveling at how the color of her hair beautifully contrasted her eyes. She subconsciously licked her lips when she caught Claire glancing at them.

The brunette was too wrapped up in her that she almost failed to notice another presence nearby.

There was a shuffling of feet, then she heard labored breathing followed by the occasional hiccups. Alice forced to break herself free from whatever state she was in and let reality come back to her. When she caught a whiff of the newcomer's scent she instantly knew who it was.

"K-Mart?" Claire looked behind Alice.

Alice turned around to see a very upset looking teenager. Her eyes were swollen, like she have been crying, but her expression was despondent, barely controlling the torrent of emotions inside. Her heavy breathing combined with the hiccups made small spasms on her chest and shoulders.

"Oh my god, K... What's wrong?" The redhead immediately went over to the teen to wrap her in a comforting embrace. K-Mart instantly clung to her and buried her face on her chest, she wasn't crying, but it was like she wanted to hide herself from the world. "Please, tell me what's wrong."

Alice knit her brows in concern for the teen. She haven't seen her this upset before, even back in Nevada when she told her that she won't be coming with them to Alaska.

K-Mart inhaled, before breathing out shakily. There was a long pause before she muttered a name which Claire didn't catch at first, but Alice did. The brunette's nostrils flared out in anger, instantly recognizing the unwelcomed stench that embedded itself on K-Mart, and instantly marched away to confront the bastard who made K-Mart so upset.

"What? What is it?" Claire asked the teen.

Alice instinctively growled like an angered wolf when she heard K-Mart whispered the name again with so much fear and vulnerability in her voice. The dangerous scowl on her face made anyone who saw her cower in fear and those who were weren't fast enough to get out of her way were promptly pushed aside by her telekinesis.

"Wesker."