"…It was created viscerally. The primal instincts of any creature, magnified into a simple urge."

There was a pause on Rain's end as she mulled it over carefully. A can of peaches was clasped casually in her hand and her cheeks bulged slightly with the slice she'd just added; juice dribbled down her chin but she didn't seem to take notice. Finally she swallowed and fixed K-mart with a pointed stare. "You sure know a lot of big words." She mused, wiping her chin with her sleeve. K-mart seemed un-baffled by Rain's tease, but instead smiled smugly.

"Just admit it, I'm right." She countered.

Rain shrugged then shook her head. "You're not, though I admire your effort to prove me wrong."

"That's not true!" By now, K-mart was looking quite undignified. "We all know the zombies are just shells of people, driven on by the virus to fill one simple need. To eat."

Rain didn't look like she was about to reply, but the presence of Claire returning from the basement caught her eye. She followed the woman's gait until the taller redhead settled into the recliner adjacent to her and gave K-mart a coy smile, "I have to agree with K-mart here. You haven't given us one bit of good information to prove it wrong, Rain." Her green eyes danced over to Rain and settled on brown.

Rain shoved another peach slice in her mouth and again took her time to reply. As she opened her mouth to do so, Alice appeared as if from nowhere and settled on the ground beside K-mart. "I'm also interested to know why you think the Infected retain human functions." A look of knowing flashed behind the blonde's eyes that Rain didn't miss.

"I didn't say all Infected,"

"You didn't clarify that before." K-mart cut in.

"…Just that there are Infected who aren't as primal, that keep a mostly normal humanity." Rain finished. She huffed, finished with her peaches, and got up to throw the can away and place her fork in the sink to wash.

"So, what the T-virus was meant to accomplish in the first place? A super-human?" Claire offered.

Rain seemed to think about it for a moment then nodded. "More like a monster, but yes."

"That would require not only a near perfection of the virus, but a suitable human." Alice added.

"Who is to say they haven't already reached that perfection, or found suitable bodies?" As almost an afterthought, she added, "What would make a suitable body, anyway?" She was lost in thought as she roughly scrubbed at her fork. "A freak?" Her hand slipped off the sponge in her anger and the fork sliced the pad of her thumb. Blood welled to the surface and, like snapped from a trance, she stared curiously at it. When she spoke again her voice had dropped several pitches in volume and taken a rueful tone. -"Can things ever go back to the way it was before?"

The MK14 rested on the brunette's hip, relaxed but poised for the ready. A crack of thunder rumbled in the distance, carried by the bitter breeze to their ears. Claire sat with her back to the wall, cap drawn over her eyes and arms crossed over her chest, completely at ease. The last rays of sunlight were being chased away by bumbling grey clouds and the wind picked up. Dark brunette hair tossed listlessly in the gathering storm, stinging her face but she never blinked. Like a statue, everything about Rain seemed still and calm. Behind her, Claire was finally starting to doze off. No matter how long she had tried to get Rain to take a break, she ended up just giving up, and eventually knew nothing would get past Rain and let herself relax.

"You can feel the storm building. It's like it's building inside me too."

Claire glanced from under the bill of her cap at Rain's profile, blinking curiously. "It must be the namesake." She replied, shrugging at herself in loss of how to reply.

Rain frowned, the crease furrowing her brows in thought and Claire found it sexy -the way her eyes unfocused just so slightly and her lips pursed in thought. Rain shook her head, eyes focused on the red-gray horizon. The first drops of rain fell onto her nose and they both looked up curiously. Claire tipped her ball-cap over her eyes and watched Rain, unmoving and unfazed by the growing precipitation. Her eyes were dark and her hair, pulled back, was being whipping about in the angry wind. Again, Claire wondered why it was Rain seemed so different; how it seemed nothing could ever deter or harm her.

When Rain spoke, a foreboding chill crept down Claire's spine and she hugged her jacket closer against the cold.

"I don't know. Something bad is coming. I can feel it." A crash of thunder rolled just overhead and the heavens opened to let the rain fall.

"So where exactly are we going, anyway?"

"West."

"Just…West?" K-mart echoed, pushing for more details.

Alice merely shrugged, "That's all we've got right now. We can't stay here any longer."

"This place is perfect, though!" K-Mart frowned, looking at the house she'd started to hopefully think could be home. "Why?"

"Rain feels it's time to move on. I don't know what's driving her, but something tells me to trust her." Truth be told, she could feel the dark creeping in on them as well. "Besides, it'll be just like a road trip. Me, you, Claire and Rain, all crammed in one vehicle for hours on end…" she frowned, suddenly displeased with the implications of finally moving on. Maybe she'll opt to drive the motorcycle behind the truck just for the peace. It was a nice bike, after all, and she'd hate to leave it behind.

"Sounds like a blast." K-Mart huffed sarcastically, "I wonder if Rain knows how to play I-Spy…"

"So, what? This like the military?"

"Hardly," said the balding man, his lips pursed in barely hidden annoyance. These military brats were all the same, cocky and arrogant, but at least this one had some credit to back up the high ranks. "Don't fret, your job will be very important, kind of like the S.W.A.T team of Umbrella." He smiled plainly, trying to use words the woman would understand.

The brunette furrowed her brows, knowing he was being an ass about this whole thing. "Look, bud, I'm not stupid .I was looking over the files and military background was preferred, so I'm curious why."

"For protecting the assets of Umbrella. It's essential you be prepared for anything and everything." He stated, glancing over the woman's resume. "You seem to fit the bill, and you've got enough credentials to land in our special commando unit. One will be pleased."

"One?"

"Your commander."

"Why do I feel like I'm signing up for mall cop duty?" Rain grumbled.

The bald man gave a toothy, malicious smile that showed his cigarette-yellow teeth, "I assure you, Miss Ocampo, you'll get just what you're looking for. Just sign the dotted line."

The Escalade was silent save for the rush of the wind whistling past K-Mart's cracked window. A light jam of classic rock droned softly in the background and everyone was too tired to keep up a conversation. They'd left early that morning and the sun was dipping below the horizon in front of them. It'd been a long day of travelling, and all four women were in need of a little stress relief. Rain drove, with Claire occupying the passenger and the two blondes sat sprawled in the back seat. An old town was rolling into view and a few infected stumbled about along the road.

"Are we there yet?" K-Mart spoke from the backseat. Rain glanced at her in the rearview mirror to find the teen with her head back, staring open mouthed at the ceiling. She chuckled when Claire opted to throw one of the CD cases at K-Mart's stomach. The redhead had been sorting through the dozens upon dozens of CD's that she'd found stashed throughout the car. Nothing interesting had caught her eye, and after having played a song off of almost every one of them, she was growing frustrated. K-Mart tossed it back and they chuckled for a bit. Rain, however, watched them with a curious expression for a moment before grabbing a 'Ladies of the Eighties' case and rolling down her window.

After a moment of concentration, she tossed it out the window with surprising force and lodged the case into a zombie's head. It crumpled to the ground and K-Mart nearly launched out of her seat in excitement. "Holy crap, Rain! How'd you do that?! That was wicked!" She grabbed a CD of her own and aimed it at another zombie, but missed entirely.

Alice frowned, then after grabbing her own case and rolling down her window, launched one at a zombie. It hit it in the head, but bounced off and the zombie only pitched forward face first into the dirt. Claire, already caught on, was carefully zoning in on a particularly fat zombie strolling down a sidewalk. Her throw was good, catching it on the side of the face, but it, too, clattered to the ground.

Fifteen minutes had passed and, depleted of CD's, the girls tallied up their scores. "Rain 10 for 10, Alice 12 for 15, me at 8 for 13 and K-Mart with a score of 3 of 18."

"You all cheated." K-mart objected.

"Don't worry kiddo, you'll get the hang of it next time around." Alice added in. She watched the road in front of them as it passed and suddenly pointed to a sign along the side of the road. "Twenty miles until Albuquerque."

"We'll spend the night here and continue in the morning."

Alice glanced into the rearview mirror and met Rain's eyes with a slight nod. "Sounds like a-" The car lurched to a sudden and painful stop, before the momentum caught up and the rear wheels skidded sideways. The car was thrown off its wheels and all four occupants were tossed ruthlessly to and fro inside the Cadillac. The car vaulted, somersaulting into vicious corkscrews that pounded the top and sides of the car until finally it skidded to a halt just off the bank of the road amidst a screeching of metal.

The room was cast into flickering lights and a muted conversation filled the living room. Claire was leaned against Rain's side and the Latina had one arm draped over the redhead's shoulders. Rain's feet were propped against the coffee table as they watched Taxi on the small television.

"Queen Latifa has to be one of my favorite actresses." Claire commented.

"I'll have to agree to that. She's not my favorite, but I do enjoy just about any movie she's in." Rain commented before a wicked smile turned her lips. She nodded to the screen. "But Gisele? Whole reason I watch this movie."

Claire took a moment before she chuckled, "Yea. When she frisks the cop? Best fucking part." They both erupted into soft laughter before Claire shifted to watch Rain. "I have to admit, I thought tonight was going to be a major letdown. Thanks for proving that wrong."

Rain lifted a brow but didn't take her eyes of the screen for a few seconds, but she smiled and nodded. "I had no idea Chris had a hot sister, otherwise I wouldn't have made him call off that debt I owed him."

"Nice bribe. Should've made him throw in fifty bucks." Claire smirked, "Debt free with a badass babe in your arms. Have to say, luck was on your side tonight."

"Yea," Rain started, smirking at the redhead resting against her side, "I'm going to have to agree to that, Red."

It smelled of smoke.

Her head throbbed and, at first, she had forgotten where she was but the smell of smoke was telling her something was wrong. Terribly, terribly wrong. She turned her head and found shattered glass everywhere, and blood. She looked behind her to see that K-Mart was relatively unharmed but just rousing from a nasty hit to the head. Alice was still out cold and Rain….

Was gone.

She straightened out, fear spurring her to ignore the pain lancing through her battered body. She unbuckled herself and carefully climbed through the broken windshield. "K-mart, stay here with Alice and try to wake her up. I'm going to try and find Rain." She tried not to let the panic show in her voice. K-mart nodded and settled closer to Alice. Claire turned and scoured the landscape. There were cars packing the highway. Most were overturned or in various stages of damage. Some had just been left and a few she noted sadly still contained bodies. She wrapped her arms around her torso against the pain and wasn't surprised to feel gooey warmth.

"Rain!" She called but she received no answer. She walked back along the highway in the direction they had come from. "Rain!"

"Red, move!" Rain appeared out of nowhere, a look of pain and desperation marring the parts of her face not covered in blood. She bulldozed Claire out of the way with a roar just as something both terrifying and shocking soared just over their heads right where Claire had been standing. The giant axe buried itself into the side of a car and Rain was tugging Claire away. "Get back to the car! Get Alice and K-mart and get somewhere safe."

"No." It wasn't an answer of disbelief or anguish, but simply a word that offered no room for arguing. Rain met her eyes for a brief moment, mouth parted to say something but she closed it and made a beeline for the Cadillac with Claire right on her heels. She wrenched the driver's side door open and reached into the glove box to retrieve the Magnum she always kept there before handing it to Claire. She noticed K-mart was still trying to wake Alice and pointed to the duffel bag that had previously been at their feet now wedged in a corner. "Guns and ammo in there. Use them if you need them." Then she turned around and looked at Claire. "Don't you dare get yourself killed." She paused, looking like she wanted to say something else, before she focused on something behind Claire. "Run."

Then she was off; running, but not in the same direction Claire had. Claire had moved down the highway, away from the Cadillac, but Rain had run right at whatever it was that had been chasing them. Claire turned, red hair flashing as she watched Rain quickly advance on a massive infected beast. He was twice as tall as Rain, if not more, and it had just pried its weapon from the car and was bringing it down in an angry arc at Rain. The brunette fainted to the left, reaching out with one foot to the side of a car. She kicked off and was in the air, eye level with the Axeman as she brought out two Glocks and let a flurry of bullets loose into his head.

Claire watched as the Axeman aimed to swat Rain out of the air. His hand caught her foot and she spun sideways. Claire took off towards the infected with Magnum raised and hammer kicked back. Rain latched onto his hand and swung under his arm and used both feet to kick the axe out of his hand. The crude weapon dropped with a thud that shuddered the ground and kicked up a plume of dust.

"Claire!" K-mart had emerged from the Cadi, arms holding up Alice as the blonde shook off a concussion. Claire stopped and looked between them and Rain before sighing. K-mart watched in horror as the Axeman grabbed a hold of Rain's leg and brought her crashing to the ground. "I can handle!" she said. "Go help Rain." She shouted. This fight seemed much too big for Rain to handle alone, and she didn't intend to let Rain die because she was scared and wanted Claire's help. She had Alice, as out of it as she was. Claire nodded, turned and was after Rain before K-Mart could say "Be safe."

Rain had secured herself a spot between two overturned cars and had opened fire with the AK47. Claire watched as the Axeman advanced, unphased by the bullets that pocked his gruesome hide. Rain spotted Claire's red hair and stood swiftly to make her way quickly through the maze of cars to her side. "We need something bigger to kill him." She looked around slowly, before nodding her head to the left. There was an overturned semi with a biohazard sticker on the side. "Red, I need you to distract him." She met the taller woman's eyes, "Can you do that?"

Claire would've smiled, had the gravity of the situation not been weighing down on her. "Roger. Hey," she caught the brunette's arm before you could dart off and tried to offer a smile, "Be safe, okay?"

Rain paused, mouth agape in a wordless fashion, but she nodded and gave a dry swallow, "You too, Red." Then she was gone up and over the nearest car and towards the semi. Claire darted in the opposite direction and loosed four bullets at the B.O.W. The wasn't as nimble, by far, as Rain climbing and vaulting over the cars, but she managed to stay ahead of her pursuer. She was just about to cut around a truck when she cast a glance over her shoulder. The Axeman had stopped and was turning around, his axe poised, to lock onto Rain.

The Latina had maneuvered to the semi and had unhooked the hose. She stood atop the gleaming side with the nozzle pointed at the Axeman. She had a wicked smirk on her face as the Axeman closed in. In her other hand she held a lighter. Rain kicked at a valve by the hose and simultaneously lit the lighter under the tip of the hose. The gas that had been shooting forth erupted instantly into a brilliant and terrifying flame and seemed to engulf the brunette behind it.

"Rain!" Claire jerked forward, but immediately stepped back and covered her face from the intensity of the fire. The Axeman was cloaked in flames and he stumbled backwards into a truck. His massive form nearly halved the vehicle, but the flames caught onto the undercarriage and the once-was Honda exploded. The flames kept up for only a moment more, then the flamethrower ceased to reveal Rain behind it, her foot on the valve and a smirk on her face. Her eyes sought out Claire from across the graveyard of cars and she smiled.

"I love fireworks." She said.

Sorry it took so long, but life is a bitch. I'll hopefully get back into the swing of things again. Gimme some reviews and it might get up sooner! ;) Also, thanks to everyone for pushing me to pick it back up. You are all awesome! Keep it up!