Chapter 7

Still a little bit of you laced with my doubt

Claire Redfield never thought it would be possible in the world they found themselves in, but she was actually happy; happier than she had ever been, even before the Outbreak.

She was lounging on deck on a Bertam 800; the luxury fishing yacht they'd found floating off the coast of the Bahamas where they had spent two blissful weeks on a small uninfected island. Unfortunately they couldn't settle there, as they would've soon run out of supplies, the island not offering enough natural resources to live off of. And then there was the looming threat of Umbrella finding them should they remain in one place for too long.

She watched as Chris reeled in his fourth catch of the morning. Luther was on three already. With no more trawlers to empty the ocean, fishing had become a lot easier. But Claire had yet to catch anything, and she didn't particularly like losing, even though it was intended as a leisure activity rather than a competition. Well L.J who was in charge of the kitchen would beg to differ; fresh fish was always a popular meal and a welcomed deviation from their usual diet of processed foods.

It's been months since they found the Arcadia. At first Claire had just anxiously waited for Umbrella's counter-attack. After weeks of quiet and the 2185 passengers growing restless, Claire sprang into action, assuming the mantle of leader which nobody had seemed to want to or dared to question.

After systematically planning what needed to be done, she had met with every individual on the ship and assigned them to work in various units based on their skill level: The Kitchen Crew, The Cleaning Crew, The Engineering Crew, The Navigation Crew, The Medical Crew and The ADF.

The latter was headed by Chris and was an acronym for the Arcadia Defence Force. It consisted of seven hundred men and women being trained as soldiers with the main purpose of defending Arcadia against any possible threats. With the large armoury and fully equipped and functioning Hanger Bay, the Arcadia was better armed than most small countries had been before the Outbreak.

They may not have been in the desert any longer, but Claire Redfield and her people upheld the same principle of survival: Keep on moving. And since everyone was confined to the ship, it meant keeping busy. Claire made sure that each passenger had some responsibility, no matter how minor the task. She'd seen first-hand how idleness effected the psyche, she herself would go crazy if she didn't have a purpose to her day.

They tried to find as many safe places to port as they could, allowing the passengers some time off the ship. Unfortunately protecting such a large group on the mainland was an almost impossible task so disembarking happened very rarely. Luckily though, the Arcadia had been built for defence and luxury, a strange hybrid breed of a Cargo, Navy and Cruise ship. They had access to indoor swimming pools, a recreation centre and a large gym as well.

Life was good.

"It's been six months…" Claire stated as she took her cap off her head and ran her fingers through her hair, before placing it back again. "Do you guys think we should do anything… special?" She asked her two companions uncomfortably. Celebrations weren't really her thing. Organizing them and attending them.

Luther turned to her and lifted a brow.

"Do you think she'd want you to?" He asked.

Claire frowned at him questioningly.

"Alice doesn't strike me as someone who would find the celebration of a six month anniversary that important. But then again, I'm not living my three-way fantasy with you two so I wouldn't know exactly what she's into." He grinned at her, but sobered at Claire's perplexed expression.

"Oh my god." She breathed raggedly. "I meant six months on the ship. Should we do something for the passengers, boost morale and all that?" She looked helplessly from Luther to her brother. "Do I need to do something for Alice?" She asked her eyebrows scrunched together.

Claire Redfield was a practical girl; she didn't need much in a relationship: honesty, respect, trust, understanding and great sex. That was about it, and Alice provided her with all of that and so much more. Claire didn't need all the extra frilly things.

"Well, have you ever done something for a one month? Three months? Birthdays?" Chris asked. "Has Alice said: 'Oh my god, it's been almost six months, I love you so much Red, we should totally do something'." He mockingly gushed in an insanely high pitched voice that sounded nothing like Alice, or like anything the brunette would ever say for that matter.

"No." Claire winced at the thought of Alice saying that to her. "We don't talk about stuff like that."

"Well has she ever done something special for you?" Luther queried.

Claire thought about it somewhat. Alice often lead a small team, sometimes including Claire, usually including either Luther or Chris, to go on raids on the mainland to secure food, find fresh water and continue the ever stressful search for fuel. Their levels were at 93% at present, but Claire didn't want to risk running out.

Without having to solely focus on surviving from day to day, they'd started looking for more luxury items if there was time for it. That included the eighty foot yacht they were sitting on at present and all the fishing and tackle gear on board. They already had a few Umbrella speed boats and Jet Ski's in the Docking Bay, so it was the only sea craft they'd added. Well that and a few lifeboats whenever they could find any to replace those that the original crew of the Arcadia had fled on.

The first few raids were also spent primarily raiding clothing stores to get the passengers out of there yellowing stasis-outfits.

Arcadia was their home and the post-apocalyptic world was one giant mall for them to go shop at for free, if they could manage to make it out alive again, of course.

Alice usually found Claire cigarettes, she wasn't sure how the brunette did it, but she would always surprise her with a pack as soon as Claire ran out. Then there were the gifts that Alice had brought her from Japan.

"She brought me a full carton of smokes and a Beretta 90two, when she got back from Tokyo." Claire said with a goofy grin.

Even though she couldn't fully comprehend the gesture when she had had her amnesia, it had been the perfect gifts.

Both Luther and Chris chuckled.

"I dunno how you managed to land the hottest girl on that ship Sis, and she even gets you. You've managed to not fuck it up yet, so just go with what you guys usually do." Chris advised as he affectionately placed his arm around her shoulders.

"I'm not even sure when our 'anniversary' is." She air quoted still wondering if she was a bad girlfriend, trying to remember when last she did something nice for Alice and whether Alice would even want her to for that matter.

"Maybe you should count from that time I caught you 'recording transmissions' on the navigation bridge." Luther teased with his own air quotes and Claire hit him playfully on the arm.

"You don't know how close you came to being shot that day." Claire glared at him with obvious mirth.

"Would've died a happy man." He grinned.

"What am I missing?" Chris asked, looking at the two suspiciously.

"Nothing." Claire glared at Luther for real this time.

No need for Chris to hear details of her and Alice's sex life, it was already the most talked about thing on the entire ship. One of the numerous negative effects of being around so many people, in such close proximity, without much entertainment other than being in each other's business.

"Alice and I haven't exactly spoken about… uh whether we are in a relationship or not. I met her and we- uh…" she looked like she was struggling to find the right words.

"…had sex." Chris continued for her. "Jeez Claire, we used to talk about these things all the time. Why are you shy now?"

"I'm not shy." She defended honestly. "Alice is different. We just are and it just works. I can't explain it properly. And I don't like it sounding as though she's just someone I have sex with."

"Aw, everyone knows you two are madly in love with each other." Chris grinned at her.

"Yip. So much so, that you have sex all over the ship. Whenever you can. I heard the other day that you guys had sex, on the shaft of one of the propellers while the ship was still in motion." Luther gossiped like he was a hairdresser at a beauty salon.

"Can you two be any more gay?" Claire rolled her eyes.

"Actually with you and Alice keeping each other company that leaves us a whole ship full of women to pick from." Chris answered smugly and Luther returned the look as their fists bumped together in front of Claire.

"Ugh, boys." Claire muttered shaking her head and rolling her eyes again, but couldn't contain the slight tilting at the corners of her mouth. Luther had become one of her closest friends and Claire was elated to have her brother back.

Life was definitely good, which meant that soon things would most likely go horribly bad.

…..

Claire walked into the gym where she knew she would find
Alice. The brunette was a creature of habit. Claire had noticed over the last few months the specific order in which Alice cleaned her blades and her guns, the sequence in which her quarters were stacked. Every Monday, Wednesday and Friday after lunch, she would go with K-Mart to the shooting range – formerly the white room where the passengers had been kept in stasis – and instruct the young blonde on how to handle and shoot a weapon, as well as train her further in physical combat.

It had been Claire's idea, which her two favourite girls had been eager to agree to. There were two thousand strangers on the ship with them, Claire was determined to not make the same mistake she had done with Slater. She has taken extra precaution not to have everyone walking around carrying. And instead, all ADF guns were kept locked up in the armoury after Chris had finished his drills. She and her officers, the people Claire knew and trusted, were the only ones continuously armed on the ship.

After their shooting lesson, Alice would come to the gym and stay till she left completely drenched in sweat from head to toe. Claire had also noticed that a lot more of the ship's passengers had developed a sudden urge to work out during those times as well.

She cleared her throat as she walked passed a few guys standing with their dumb bells hanging uselessly at their sides openly gaping at Alice where she lay upside down on her back on a sit-up bench, dressed in a pair of tiny shorts and a sports bra. She was already saturated in sweat; her hair looked as though she had just stepped out of the shower. And with each determined movement she made, her abdominal and oblique muscles rippled and her quadriceps stretched and quivered hypnotically.

The sight got Claire every single time and she didn't even spare a glare at the guys watching Alice, as the brunette stretched out her hands above her head, placed her fingertips on the floor, unhooked her feet - briefly doing a handstand - before lithely dropping her body into a push-up position and started her very unhealthy set of reps straightaway.

With great difficulty, Claire drew her gaze from Alice to where K-Mart was sitting on an exercise ball staring and drooling at the brunette. The young blonde had received a lot of interest from others on the ship, but it was going to be hard for anyone to dethrone Alice off of the pedestal K-Mart had placed her on.

Knowing that Alice would probably be at her push-ups for ages, Claire went to the brunette and crouched down by her head.

"I think you broke K-Mart." Claire grinned and Alice chuckled knowingly in a low husky tone, continuing her rapid reps, as beads of sweat rolled down her temples and gathered under her chin.

Claire was concerned about the strenuous exercising, but Alice had assured her that her muscles healed as fast as she abused them. What then worried Claire was why Alice had fallen into her routine with such vigour. She noticed the way the brunette stalked around the ship, looking like she wanted to jump overboard and start swimming to shore. She hoped that Alice wasn't feeling trapped with her and perhaps missing her days on the open road. Hell, sometimes Claire missed those days too.

"I was hoping we could take one of the jet skis and go to the mainland." Claire suggested awkwardly.

Alice nimbly jumped up onto her feet and Claire rose as well. She lifted a quizzical brow at the redhead, who took her time running her gaze up Alice's glistening body before looking up into her eyes.

"It's to say sorry you had to stay behind during the last raid." Claire bit her lip nervously.

She and Alice had had a small disagreement because Claire insisted that Luther and Chris take a team on a raid, because Alice needed to help her solve a dispute among the kitchen crew. Claire hadn't assigned Alice to any specific duty on the ship, but she always joined in on the raids and the redhead had noticed how edgy Alice became when there was too long a period in between her getting a chance to go to the mainland.

Alice wasn't happy at having to stay, but when Claire had told her that she wasn't sure how the kitchen crew would react and thought they might give her trouble, Alice had abruptly stopped her objections and devotedly remained on board to keep an eye on things. And Claire felt like shit. She had deliberately played on Alice's emotions and didn't like it one bit.

The brunette had muttered something about being 'a guard dog' and after Claire had finished her meeting with the crew without any hassle, Alice had gone to spend four hours in the gym. Claire hoped that Alice would like her surprise. And she really hoped Alice wouldn't build too much bulk from all the exercising. She was already perfectly toned with exquisitely lean muscle all over her lanky body.

The redhead felt sort of stupid for all the subterfuge needed to surprise Alice. Claire herself preferred someone just telling her: 'Hey I got you a present, it's a new knife, I got it on sale, I'll bring it to you at seven a clock.' But just because she was like that, didn't mean that Alice didn't appreciate a romantic gesture once in a while. Well as romantic as Claire Redfield could manage without feeling completely uncomfortable and phoney.

"You mind if I shower first?" Alice gave her a lazy grin.

She was always so much more relaxed after her work outs, that's why Claire had chosen that particular moment to approach her.

"I'd offer to come wash your back, but I wanna get to shore before the sunlight goes." Claire explained, suddenly not as happy with the plan as she had been a moment ago.

She loved her shower time with Alice. It saved precious water.

"Aye Aye Capt'n. See you at the Docking Bay in twenty." Alice winked and mock saluted before walking off.

Claire watched Alice saunter up to a still gawking K-Mart who she then grabbed into a bear hug and the young woman shrieked and did a good job of pretending to struggle out of her grasp at the prospect of being covered in sweat. Alice's jubilant laughter rung through the gym as everyone watched the playful tussle with amusement, before Alice finally let go, lovingly kissed K on the forehead and exited the gym.

Claire was beaming at the scene, her heart swelling at the adorable sight. But when K-Mart's bright red face turned toward her, she smirked knowingly at the blonde who she knew was a lot more affected by the touching than just simply being 'grossed out'.

She really needed to talk to Alice about toning it down a bit. Claire remembered being K-Mart's age, she'd already had three girlfriends by that time. If a woman like Alice had been giving her such attention, Claire would've passed out dead from sexual frustration already. She frowned and wondered if she should speak to K-Mart about masturbation.

Before she could talk herself out of it, she approached the young blonde determinedly.

"Hey K." She greeted awkwardly. "How did it go at the shooting range?" Claire decided to ease into it.

"Hey, it went well, Alice said I may be a Glock girl like you, and I'm pretty awesome with a shotgun." She smiled back excitedly.

Claire chuckled distractedly then abruptly grew serious again.

"K… Uh…" Claire frowned, not sure why it was so difficult to just ask her. It was a natural thing and they'd had the sex talk when K-Mart was younger. Well that was more a hypothetical scenario, this, well this might come across as a suggestion if Claire wasn't careful in choosing her words.

K-Mart stared at her expectantly.

"Do you… Do you know what masturbation is?" Claire blurted out, a bit louder than she intended and looked around the gym anxiously and was grateful that most of the crowd had thinned out after Alice's departure and the ones who remained were actually focused on exercising. "I mean do you know how to do it? I meant, why some people choose to do it and how they go about doing it." Claire was bright red at this point and K-Mart folded her arms across her chest and smirked as though she was thoroughly enjoying the show.

Claire finally gave up on her inarticulate ramblings and just stared at the girl in hope that K would respond in some way and indicate she understood what Claire was trying to talk to her about.

"I'm nineteen Claire." K-Mart stated casually. "I know about sex and I know about masturbation. I know what to do with guys and girls." She candidly told the stunned older woman.

Claire gaped at her like a fish out of water.

"You haven't… Have you…" Claire choked out, her voice noticeably rising in pitch.

She suddenly felt very lightheaded as she wondered whether K-Mart was having sex and who she was having it with and right under her nose too.

K-Mart's features softened as though she pitied the woman.

"I'm still a virgin Claire." K-Mart sighed at the look of relief from Claire. "I bet you weren't a virgin when you were my age, were you?" She told Claire sternly.

"Things were different back then." Claire mumbled the first excuse that came to mind. Not even she bought that one.

K-Mart only chuckled at that.

"As far as learning that stuff, well Alice answers my questions like I'm a nineteen year old who's asking her. She doesn't laugh at me, and she tells me straight out how it is. It's easy to tell her stuff and to ask her stuff."

Claire's face fell and her heart ached that K-Mart felt she couldn't come to her and talk about these things. She and Chris used to talk about sex all the time growing up. They were best friends. Then again, he was only two years older than her, which made it a lot easier.

Upon seeing Claire's crestfallen and somewhat guilty expression, the blonde continued.

"You're my big sister Claire." She told her sincerely. "You told me about safe sex, and when the right time should be. And when I meet someone, I'll come introduce them to you first. Because you are the most important person in my life and that makes it hard sometimes to speak to you about other stuff. Much like you found this conversation rather hard to have with me." K-mart smirked perceptively. "You're my family." She stated caringly. "And Alice is kinda married into the family. She doesn't know me as the clumsy kid who used to fall over her own two feet and followed Carlos around everywhere."

Claire didn't say anything as she grabbed K-Mart into a tight hug. She wasn't sure when it had happened, but the blonde had grown up into a beautiful young woman seemingly overnight.

"God I love you so much." Claire said squeezing her tighter.

K-Mart chuckled in her firm grip.

"I love you too, Claire." She answered softly while she keenly returned the embrace.

Alice adjusted her gun holsters as she entered the Docking Bay where Claire was waiting for her. She had dressed in a hurry, excited at the prospect of leaving the ship. She returned the redhead's welcoming smile and was grateful that Claire immediately got onto the Jet Ski and eagerly mounted the watercraft behind her.

Alice knew that Claire was having a blast exploring and figuring out every inch of the Arcadia. The redhead was curious and that curiosity often lead to her stressing about how difficult the upkeep of the technologically advanced ship would be.

Claire spent her days making sure every unit on the ship was functioning smoothly, but mostly she spent her time in the engine rooms. Though her and Alice still saw each other often, the brunette was excited to spend some alone time with Claire that wasn't limited to a tiny cabin.

They reached the beach after a few minutes, Alice already feeling like she could breathe easier again. She focused her senses for any Undead and was distracted and confused by Claire's frantically racing heartbeat next to her. She looked over at the redhead questioningly.

"Uhm…" Claire worried nervously at her bottom lip. "I got something for you." She announced and motioned for Alice to follow her up the secluded beach and to a deserted dirt road.

Alice watched as Claire removed a plastic covering to reveal a BMW Motorrad K1200R - similar to the one she had ridden when she'd first met the redhead - and grinned excitedly.

"When did you manage this?" Alice exclaimed, hurrying over to the bike and running her hands affectionately over the smooth shiny metal.

"Chris and Luther helped. That's why you couldn't go on the last raid. I'm sorry; I know you need to get off the ship as much as you can…" Claire trailed off and averted her gaze guiltily.

"It's that obvious huh?" Alice questioned softly.

"You stalk around the deck like a caged lion." Claire chuckled nervously. "Sometimes I wonder when you're gonna freak out entirely and just -" She stopped what she was saying and Alice frowned.

"-And just leave?" Alice asked intuitively and when Claire still wouldn't look at her, she stepped forward, gently lifted Claire's chin, and caringly pressed their lips together. "I'm not planning on leaving Red." Alice whispered.

Claire nodded uncomfortably and stepped away from the brunette.

"Yeah I know." She said looking embarrassed and motioned to the BMW. "Coz you have a bike now." She grinned sheepishly. "We can come and get her tomorrow and keep her on-board, so when you feel like you need some space or to just relax," She shrugged, "you've got an option." She swallowed thickly and handed the keys to Alice. "I snuck away a few times when you were at the range with K to fix her up, so she shouldn't give you any trouble. I'll wait on the Jet Ski off shore, you have a few hours till sunset and then I'll take you back to the ship. I brought a book, and the Undead won't get me, so take your time." She smiled genuinely at Alice who was just staring at her with a mixture of incredulity and adoration.

"Thanks Red." Alice smiled appreciatively, getting onto the bike and starting it up. Wanting to hug the engine to her chest and just feel the vibrations run through her entire body.

She couldn't believe that Claire had found the time to find and fix a bike for her. The redhead was indisputably the busiest person on the ship. There was always something that needed fixing, some crisis to be managed, some argument that needed mediation.

"See you later." Claire said still looking very awkward before turning to go back down to the beach.

"Claire…" Alice's soft tone and use of her real name had her halt instantly and turn to the brunette with uncertainty.

"This means a lot to me." Alice started softly. "Sometimes I feel like I can't breathe on that ship, with all those people around me, the small passageways and cabins…" She watched as her words started to cause a slight panic in the redhead's eyes. "But never when I'm with you." Alice admitted honestly. "You always make it better." She smiled gently and a relieved Claire responded to the endearments with a silly lopsided grin.

"Come with me." Alice requested stretching out a hand to the redhead.

Claire didn't need to be asked twice as she took Alice's hand and gave it a gentle squeeze before mounting the motorcycle and circling the brunette's waist.

Alice was grinning wildly when she sped off down the deserted road.

….

"Claire this is Mikey, come in Claire."

The radio crackled in Alice's cabin and the brunette groaned at the interruption and held on tighter to a naked Claire who was already moving to the side of the bed to answer the call. Claire chuckled, but managed to reach out and grab the radio.

"This is Claaaire." She moaned her own name as Alice circled the redhead's nipple with her tongue and sucked it into her mouth. Claire burst out in a fit of giggles and tried to shove Alice away. "Wait Alice, let me see what he wants first."

"You're still holding down the talk button Claire." Mikey's amused voice came over the speaker and Alice burst out laughing rolling away from Claire who was hitting her playfully.

"What's up Mikey?" Claire asked trying her best to remain composed even though the rest of her crew had all heard what had just happened over the open channel.

"We've received a transmission from two survivors hauled up in a gun shop a few miles outside Jacksonville. They're secured for now so … no rush." Mikey's smirk was audible even over the static of the radio.

"Thanks Mikey. Will be up in a few. Claire out." She replied, dropping the radio and diving onto a still snickering Alice.

Alice flew the Helicopter to retrieve the two survivors Mikey had radioed about earlier that morning. She had opted to take a team of six of Chris's men, she could've done it herself, but Chris insisted that they needed field training. The two survivors had reported about twenty Undead surrounding the building. The co-ordinates they'd been provided with indicated a small town, so the minimal Undead made sense.

Alice soon landed in the street closest to the gun shop that still allowed for the Chopper to be set down comfortably. The team jumped out and spread out fast and efficiently and Alice was impressed by Chris's proficient training. She sensed the Undead horde and stood back as the small squadron disposed of them within a few minutes.

Ever since Claire had gotten her the motorcycle, things had been going even better between the two of them. Just knowing that Claire understood and tried to help her, had made a world of difference. The brunette felt considerably less trapped and a lot more relaxed. She didn't have that strong need to kill Undead any longer. Though she still enjoyed it and craved it at times, the redhead had consumed her and invaded Alice's senses in a manner that made Alice forget about her nightmares.

Alice frowned as she heard Choppers in the distance and her eyes widened when she looked up and saw over ten Umbrella Helicopters and five VTOLs closing in on their location. She had no time to get everyone back in the helicopter and fly off. Umbrella would easily catch up to her in the air, where they'd be even more vulnerable.

Of course they would show up the exact moment she finally understood the foreign feeling of true happiness that had had her perplexed over the last few weeks, Alice thought. She would've laughed out loud had she not been concerned about the team that had accompanied her to their fate.

"Run!" She shouted at the ADF team before drawing her submachine guns and aiming it at the sky.

None of the aircraft fired at her even though she was shooting at them. Alice frowned at that, but these were Umbrella soldiers and she needed to distract them from the Arcadians long enough for them to get away

That was enough of an incentive to fire at the gas tanks. This was no coincidence. It was all part of the plan, Alice was just happy that they'd lured her away and hadn't gone after the ship. In spite of Chris's expert training, the ADF were nowhere near ready to face superior Umbrella operatives.

She took out three Choppers before the rest set down on the ground and hundreds of Umbrella fighters came streaming out from all around her.

The squadron she'd been with had not retreated, instead they stayed and were firing at the Umbrella army. Apparently just being in the presence of the Redfield's had rubbed off on them. But three had already fallen, and the other three soon followed before Alice could even think of saving them. There had never been any hope against such a massive onslaught.

Alice clenched her jaw as the army closed in on her. She only had one way of getting out of the situation and she needed to make it count. They weren't here to kill her, but to capture her or she would've already been showered with bullets.

Alice breathed in steadily, closing her eyes and gathering all the power she could conjure within her, before she garishly cried out and took out every single soldier in the vicinity with a colossal psionic blast. She grew dizzy instantly and the last thought she had before losing consciousness, was that she hoped Claire wouldn't go crazy when she didn't arrive home that night.

….