Claire's breath was caught in her throat while K-Mart's teeth lightly scraped across the sensitive flesh. The younger blonde gave Claire no moment of respite to catch her breath, but after relinquishing K-Mart's hands from her waist, to K-Mart's puzzlement, Claire pushed K-Mart behind her and swiftly withdrew her pistol to aim at the creature's head (or what was left of it) and squeezed the trigger.

The shot rang unnervingly in Claire's ears, but she felt immediate relief when the zombie dropped in a crumpled heap from its fatal wound. This time, Claire approached it carefully and kicked it once then twice, but it never moved an inch. After making extra sure it was finally killed, Claire slacked her shoulders to release the tension in her muscles.

"What the hell?" K-Mart cried out.

Claire turned around and raised an eyebrow at her. "It wasn't dead yet," she simply stated, and shut her eyes briefly - finally feeling exhaustion hit her hard. "Everybody knows you shoot a zombie in the head," Claire said and K-Mart growled in frustration.

"I thought I did shoot it in the head!" K-Mart declared in surprise. She raised her arms up and then placed them on her hips in disbelief - she looked so much like a generic teenager then and Claire cringed at the reminder of their age differences. Claire wondered if she would ever get over how much younger K-Mart was than her, but then K-Mart suddenly shifted her composure and walked over to Claire to wrap her arms around her neck once more, and she looked older again with a mature resolute gleam in her eyes.

"K-Mart, not now," Claire halfheartedly groaned. She felt K-Mart's hands start roving up and down Claire's waist again. "No more fooling around… ever again," Claire joked and pulled K-Mart's hands off her hips, but K-Mart only placed them back onto Claire's waist immediately.

K-Mart pouted and gave the most ridiculous puppy-dog eyes expression Claire had ever seen her use. K-Mart had used the same trick many times to get her way and always, Claire would bend to her will.

"But Claire," K-Mart whined, "It's not my fault that the big bad zombie almost ate our brains while we were making out." She bit her bottom lip to suppress a giggle as a slight shade of pink crept onto Claire's cheeks. She shuffled uncomfortably from K-Mart's yearning eyes and rubbed at the back of her neck.

Claire ran a hand through her messy red hair and sighed heavily. She looked away from K-Mart's exaggerated puppy-dog eyes and focused her eyes elsewhere in the dingy store.

K-Mart felt her heart flutter as Claire ran a hand through her messy red hair - she always could not resist Claire's lusciously red locks and the way her hair was always so attractively tousled always brought a wave of desire towards K-Mart's core. K-Mart then mindlessly reached out to grasp a strand of Claire's red hair and played with its ends. She twirled the red strands around her forefinger and smoothed it out, feeling the soft, fine texture of Claire's hair. K-Mart was smiling and wasn't even aware of it.

Claire watched the younger girl play with her hair and saw a softness in K-Mart's eyes which reflected a maturity beyond her years. Claire could not figure out which K-Mart would appear at times - she could be childish and playful, very much suitable for her age or sometimes, thoughtful and quiet. When K-Mart would become silent and become deep in her own thoughts, Claire would watch her closely and not say a word - she would watch as K-Mart dove into her own far-off thoughts or float through a world in which innocence had tragically become a hazy afterthought. She was so young in years, but she had been forced to mature overnight because of the ugliness overshadowing the world - not very unlike how reality worked before a zombie apocalypse, but this world gave her no chance to just be a normal teenager. There was a deep sadness she would never allow Claire long to see which was what made K-Mart so complex and intriguing for Claire to observe and slowly peel away the layers to the girl's true self.

K-Mart boldly ran her hand through Claire's head and tangled her fingers in the thick head of red hair. She placed her hand against Claire's scalp and firmly pressed down to pull Claire's face closer to hers. Their lips nearly touched, but K-Mart instead placed their foreheads together and simply breathed in Claire's scent deeply while her lips grazed softly against Claire's.

When K-Mart opened her eyes a thin veil of tears were glazed over her green eyes making them look sorrowfully beautifully. A whisper of sadness permeated from the younger girl and Claire was mesmerized by the intensity of the moment they shared. K-Mart smiled widely despite the glint of threatening tears pooling at the bottom of her eyes. The smile hid a tragedy only K-Mart knew. Claire felt as if K-Mart wanted to say something, tell her something she yet did not know, but instead K-Mart giggled as the tears dried up and vanished from her eyes as if they were never there.

Claire was taken by surprise from the sudden shift of the tension in the air and only watched as K-Mart inched her face even closer towards Claire. Claire realized the reveal was only brief when K-Mart shattered the sad moment by kissing Claire's nose and then poking her cheek immaturely.

Claire made a surprised noise and K-Mart then poked out the tip of her tongue playfully and then said, "Come on, let's get going!" and walked towards the backroom. "I spotted an exit back there when I was hiding earlier. Come on, I'll show you." K-Mart walked on ahead without waiting for Claire.

"W-wait, K-Mart!" Claire cried out and jogged forward to catch up. She paused when the darkness of the backroom greeted her. "K-Mart! Where are you?" She yelled out and strained her eyes to catch a glimpse of the blonde head of hair, but was then blinded by a light coming from a door being cracked open.

K-Mart stood at the opened exit with the sunlight streaming forward and illuminating the room with a dreamlike glow. K-Mart eagerly ushered Claire over. "Come on! Unless you want to stay here in this mass grave!" K-Mart shouted through cupped hands. She smiled which looked misplaced after saying such a grim sentence - it was strange to Claire to hear such things coming from such an angelic face. Claire walked towards K-Mart and left the store behind with K-Mart quickly following close beside her.

Claire's eyes hurt a little when the sun directed its rays into her sensitive pupils - she was so used to the shadowy room of the store. She hovered a hand over her eyes to shade the blinding light and eventually her eyes became adjusted to the shift in light. Claire immediately walked towards the front of the store to confirm something before they moved on.

K-Mart silently followed close by her side, but looked curiously when Claire changed their direction back towards the store. When Claire spotted the chains and the lock on the store door's front entrance, she felt an anger rising beneath her chest. Claire didn't even have to guess who it was who chained the doors and left them to die. She quickly looked around and deduced Steve Burnside was not far possibly watching them. Claire only wished she could see the look on his face when he saw them escape from his trap.

"Claire, what's up?" K-Mart's soft voice called her out of her thoughts.

"That Steve Burnside guy tried to kill us. Asshole," Claire seethed through gritted teeth and started to shake from the rage overcoming her. She nearly lost K-Mart and her life because of the stupid guy and all she wanted at the moment was to get equal.

K-Mart placed a soothing hand on her shoulder and said, "How are you so sure?"

Claire turned around quickly and said, "Who else could it be, K-Mart? It was only a while ago when he threatened us. He was probably watching us the whole time waiting for the right moment to take you away to Wesker again."

Wesker's name made K-Mart freeze and the girl once again looked distant and sad. Claire immediately regretted ever mentioning him and she quickly placed her hands on K-Mart's trembling shoulders. "Hey, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to say his name," Claire sincerely apologized. "I know how much it affects you, forgive me," she softly whispered and pulled K-Mart's head to her chest. She felt the girl tremble slightly and wondered what kind of horrors K-Mart was subjected to. Claire's heart grew heavy with guilt and helplessness when she remembered the terrible time when she thought she had lost K-Mart forever.

K-Mart sniffled softly, but ceased any more oncoming tears. She looked up at Claire's face and gazed at her protector and wondered what would ever happen to her if she were to suddenly disappear and leave her alone in such a scary world.

"Please, don't leave me, Claire," K-Mart begged like little child and grabbed a handful of Claire's vest in her hands where she twisted the fabric tightly in her palms.

Claire hugged K-Mart tightly and placed her chin atop K-Mart's head. "You don't ever have to worry about me leaving you," she firmly vowed. K-Mart smiled and Claire did too, but then a disembodied voice broke the silence and Claire immediately pulled away from K-Mart, pushed her behind her while taking her gun out of her holster to ready herself to shoot on sight. The voice belonged to Steve, she would recognize the snugness in his voice anywhere, but she couldn't place exactly where it was coming from. K-Mart stood as close to Claire as she could until it looked like they were joined at the hip.

"Didn't think you would make it out," Steve's calm voice called out from nowhere in particular.

Claire surveyed the entire area quickly with her eyes, but couldn't place a specific spot due to the echo effect of such large and empty streets.

"I was hoping you'd be dead Claire, so I can take the little cutie off your hands," Steve's voice echoed.

Claire desperately searched the buildings, the windows, the alleyways, but saw no sight of him. She felt K-Mart dig her hands into her back fearfully while trying to help find Steve's location, but she had no luck either.

"Come out you fucking coward!" Claire was tired of the games and wanted to end things without the unnecessary dramatics. This was no horror movie and Claire didn't exactly like how Steve was playing up the whole evil villain thing.

"Tsk Tsk, watch your language around the young lady," Steve annoyingly reprimanded and angered Claire to a point of blind rage.

"Have you always been such a prick?" Claire dished out her own insult, but Steve only laughed and his laugh echoed profoundly throughout the deathly still streets. For a moment, Claire thought she finally found the location where Steve was hiding, but she was still not completely sure. "I'm sick of your hiding little boy" she barked and her words seemed to have struck a nerve.

"Shut your mouth, you bitch!" Steve roared, clearly angry from Claire's words.

Claire couldn't help but smile. It seemed Steve had some fire in him after all and wasn't just Wesker's new lapdog. She then felt an urgent tug at her back and looked behind her to see K-Mart gesturing with her eyes towards the building to the left of them. Claire followed K-Mart's eyes to the top of a building up towards the roof where she saw a vague outline of a figure. From what she could tell, it was Steve. She spoke once more to him to confirm his location.

"Aw, I'm sorry did I hurt your little feelings," Claire teased, and Steve immediately responded.

"I said shut up!" Steve yelled. "You'll get yours soon just wait. I will take K-Mart to Wesker, but before I do I'll make sure I'll have my share of fun with her. He never said I couldn't." Steve laughed and his laughter echoed from the spot where Claire had her eyes on.

Claire immediately shot her gun in the direction of Steve's location and she heard a pained groan echo followed by an agonized scream.

"You shot me in the arm! You'll pay for this, you bitch!" Steve shouted out hysterically and Claire shot towards the roof again, but Steve had already departed from the area - his groans and moans faded away in the distance.

Claire was breathing heavily and she had hoped her shot was more fatal because the little bastard deserved an untimely end. She then cursed herself for missing and the repercussions of her missed shot frightened her. If Steve somehow did get his filthy hands on K-Mart it would be her fault for not ending him here and now. She shuddered from the thought, but tried to shake the possibility away from her mind. She thought to go after him, but didn't want to risk putting K-Mart in any more danger. She'd need to bring her to a safe place before going after Steve herself.

"Claire, you alright?" K-Mart asked, and touched Claire's cheeks pink from adrenaline.

"I can't believe I missed," Claire growled softly and looked at the rooftop with fiery eyes.

"He's gone. Ran away like the coward he really is," Claire sighed and turned to K-Mart to pull her close to her hip. "Come on, we won't let a little prick like him stop us from going back to Carlos and Alice." Claire smiled for the first time in a long time which brought a smile to K-Mart's own face seeing Claire's beautifully brightened expression.

K-Mart kissed Claire once on the lips and then once more on her cheek. "Thank you for always being here for me," K-Mart softly whispered in Claire's ear and then gazed appreciatively at her protector.

Claire took K-Mart's hands in hers and gave her a small smile. "You don't have to thank me for protecting you K-Mart because whether you want me to or not, I'm always here for you." Claire spoke softly, gently and unlike her usual apathetic tone and K-Mart realized her words were sincere.

K-Mart hugged Claire tightly and felt the older girl's muscles underneath her vest and felt safe - she knew as long as Claire was by her side, she'd have her own personal sanctuary.