Chapter 10
RoaR
"I think she's going to kill you, H." K-Mart whispered with genuine concern after noticing - along with everyone else - the overt glares Alice was directing at Helena.
The woman on the receiving end of those glares seemed unperturbed by the aggressive attentions though.
"She could actually literally kill you with just a look." Rain reminded, also very worried about Snowflake's wellbeing.
The usually calm and collected Alice was acting completely nutty.
"Let her." Helena shrugged. "I'm really not afraid of dying." She looked up, locked eyes with Alice mid-glare and smiled brilliantly at the shaggy blonde, who responded with an indignant huff and angrily stalked off.
They were all gearing up for the big Las Vegas invasion. Everyone was nervous, save for Alice and Claire. The former seeming to not give a shit about the raid and the latter pumped up with excitement.
"You wanna man the turret today?" Claire came up to them and directed at K-Mart.
And then there were two who were excited about going to their possible deaths.
Cameron drove the fuel truck, Jill the RV and in the front was Claire at the wheel of the Humvee, Helena next to her. Rain, and Sarah in the backseat. K-Mart was strapped into the turret seat and Alice and Cameron sat in the back on top of the Humvee's storage lockers. They were a few yards in front of the rest of the Convoy to take out any immediate threats they might run into.
It was as they were nearing the city when everyone had a collective reaction that only Rain deemed necessary to verbalise.
"Whoa!" She exclaimed at the sight of almost a thousand Undead mulling aimlessly around what seemed to be an old fenced-off weather station.
"You think there are survivors in there?" Sarah asked. "Must be what's attracting them."
She got a few contemplative nods in agreement as Claire drove closer to get a better look. They could just ignore the station and move on the now most probably abandoned Las Vegas to loot, as was the original plan.
"Maybe we should come back later." Rain smirked, knowing that the crazy women she kept company with wouldn't back off so easily.
"Whatever you guys decide." Claire stated, still looking as eager as ever.
Helena turned to her and frowned. "You honestly don't have a plan regarding this?" She motioned to the Undead, sceptical at Claire's lack of interest.
"Nope. I don't really care what we do." Claire shrugged and Helena chuckled knowingly.
"Careful now, darling or you'll go blind." She whispered so only Claire could hear and the redhead predictably went crimson.
"Louder, louder than a lion, 'cause I am the champion and you're gonna hear me roaaaaar!" K-Mart scream-sang from atop the roof as she filmed the scene in front of her.
"Well that's optimistic." Sarah chuckled.
The singing suddenly stopped and there was a dip in the rooftop.
Claire looked up and scowled. She could hear light footfalls crossing to the front of the Humvee, before there was a heavy thud on the hood and Alice's booted legs became visible through the windscreen.
"I'm going to fucking kill her." Claire growled as her already white-knuckle grip on the steering wheel tightened even further. She resisted the urge to hit the gas, knock the infuriating woman off of her baby and then drive right over her.
She can't manage a fucking conversation, but she feels she has the right to trample all over Xena? Sacrilege!
But then every muscle in her body went slack and she gaped at the sight of Alice's toned legs which went on for a few weeks before they stopped in a tiny pair of olive shorts. Eight Shuriken stars were spinning fast on their axis as they orbited the duster-less blonde even as she leapt from the hood of the Humvee and landed gracefully on the desert sand, like she was the nucleus of some gorgeous atom and the metal stars were whirling electrons.
Everyone simultaneously scrambled out of their vehicles, though to provide back up or get a better view, no one really knew.
They all halted, lined up in front of Xena, standing off against a sea of Undead separating them from a fenced-off shack. Without further preamble, Alice drew her Kukris and sent the Shuriken shooting into the horde at speeds almost too fast for the naked eye to follow. The Undead started dropping like flies as Alice danced threw them; stabbing and slicing with impressive skill and an intimidating ease. She had quite a large surface to cover, but her deadly trek was shortened by the idiotic zombies attempting to swarm her and the Shuriken taking out the Undead furthest from the blonde, working their way in.
Claire watched as Alice got angrier with each zombie that fell. Even over the loud groaning of the massive horde, she could hear Alice's grunts and growls that built up to savage screams, eventually letting out a disconcerting cry as she beheaded the final zombie with both of her blades. The decapitated Undead still stood for a few seconds; Alice crouched down on one knee in front of it, blades extended, head bowed down, eyes closed and chest heaving laboriously, before it finally collapsed to the ground along with the rest of the defeated.
"Well fuck me sideways and call me Dorothy." Rain smirked, as her friend slowly rose from the massacre.
Alice flicked the gore off her blades and hooked them onto her back as the eight bloody Shuriken came timidly drifting back towards her, neatly stacking themselves, before lowering into her waiting palm.
When Alice turned around there was a collective intake of breath as they saw that she was completely covered in infected blood. Her pupils were still blown as she creepily stared back at them with obsidian eyes. There was no mistaking the agonized expression on her face as her eyes settled on Claire.
Chest painfully constricting, the redhead walked forward in automation. Not caring as she trampled over the zombie guts toward her destination, she was being drawn in by the mesmerizing blonde like a magnet. When she was only a few feet away, Alice took a step back and Claire froze.
"You'll get infected." She whispered at Claire's forlorn expression.
The redhead hadn't realised her feelings were so intensely reciprocated. That Alice was also suffering under a burden… She just thought Alice was avoiding her because she was embarrassed that the kiss had made her lose control… But the way the blonde was looking at her in that moment…
What Alice had just done, that took immense control and focus. How could a kiss have caused her to lose that?
"You were amazing." Claire whispered in awe, her eyes finally leaving Alice's blood covered face and briefly scanned over the mass of dead Undead.
A slow lopsided grin crept its way onto Alice's face at the veneration in Claire's voice.
"I didn't have sex with H." Claire blurted a lot more directly than intended.
Alice looked at her sceptically.
"We- I- She… helped –" Claire scowled not quite knowing how to explain what had happened without it sounding scandalous and erotic and mutual. "Uhm, stuff happened, but separately." Claire spread her palms wide apart, "but nothing happened together." She finished with a big gulp, bringing her palms together and interlacing her fingers. "She's just my friend." The last part was said a lot more confidently as she unclasped her hands and shoved them into her pockets.
Alice smiled affectionately at the rambling redhead. Believing her because she hadn't smelled Claire and Helena's scents mixed at all. If she had she might've disembowelled Helena on the spot.
"I need to go clean up." She softly explained and Claire just nodded, wide eyes appraising the woman in front of her as though seeing her for the first time.
"I want to kiss you so badly." Claire blurted, still a bit dazed. She hadn't even realised she was aroused until it registered that she'd spoken the words out loud and her lower belly tightened in support of the statement.
The pained look was back on Alice's face.
"I'm sorry, Red." Was all she whispered before she hung her head, turned around, and walked off in the direction of Las Vegas.
…..
Claire took two steps to follow, then reconsidered what she was doing and turned back to the others whose gazes immediately snapped to anywhere but her. She smirked as she watched them pretend to intensely stare at absolutely nothing. They were in the middle of nowhere, with just hills and mountain tops in the distance. Not even the city was yet visible. Only Helena met her gaze with a knowing smile, which she returned as she walked towards her friend.
"In politics, strangely enough, the best way to play your cards is to lay them face upwards on the table." Helena told her cryptically and Claire's smile brightened.
"The path of least resistance is the path of the loser." Claire answered with the decision she had just made. The one she was sure Helena could see written all over her face.
"Where are you going?" K-Mart frowned when Claire walked right passed them.
The redhead stopped and flushed, looking as though she was struggling for an answer.
"Uh… I… uhm." She coughed uncomfortably. "I-I have things to attend to." She nodded briskly, unfortunately catching the knowing and amused look on Helena's face before rushing off.
It wasn't medically possible for her to go blind. Was it?
….
They decided to first go and stock up in Las Vegas, since Cameron detected no warm bodies in the structure in need of rescue. It had been Alice's suggestion strangely enough. Claire had scanned the lanky blonde for any injury or weaknesses, deciding that the most probable reason was that Alice needed to regain her spent energy after her magnificent display. She didn't miss the suspicious look Alice sent toward the fence though. So because Claire didn't expect to find anything of value, she backed the shaggy blonde and everyone else agreed.
Where Alice seemed happy to avoid the tiny structure, Helena was the only one who seemed to want to argue, dragging her feet as she kept staring back toward the dingy shack like it held unbidden treasures. When Claire queried her reaction she just shrugged it off and said it was something in her gut, a curiosity, but that she didn't mind waiting till morning.
"Is K-Mart upset with me?" Claire asked Cameron a bit later after they'd stocked up and was getting ready to head out of the city to set up camp. As predicted, the majority of the Las Vegas Undead had all been at the weather station. There was definitely something weird going on there to attract so many of them, and Claire was glad that Alice had suggested they rest up and approach the harmless yet still so very creepy little building refreshed, stocked up and with a plan.
"Yes." Was the simple reply.
Claire loved talking to Cameron. It was either yes or no with her. No maybes and vagueness and confusing wide blown pupil stares.
"Do you know why?" She was genuinely confused at having been snubbed for the majority of the day.
"She told me that you and Helena have your own secret language." Cameron recalled. "That she knows something important was said after Alice killed all the Undead to show off for you, and she doesn't know why you are excluding her when she ships Clairice," Cameron's nose crinkled adorably, "so hard."
The terminator had clearly reiterated some of K-Mart's words verbatim and Claire couldn't help but smile at her, but faltered at the glare she received.
"I don't like it when K-Mart is sad, Claire." Cameron stated earnestly, then turned to continue sorting through the ammunition she'd gathered.
Claire's grin returned full force after hearing that.
…
The city was large, and they had split up to gather supplies. K-Mart was off with Jill and Rain, and since Claire had made it her business to know exactly where everyone was ever since Helena's abduction, she easily found them in a clothing store and had to bite the inside of her cheek to stop from laughing at what she saw.
In spite of the heat, Rain was dressed in a large grey ankle length coat and top hat. K-Mart was wrapped in a blue feather boa, wearing pink bunny ears. And Jill was grinning widely while she filmed them singing and dancing along with K-Mart's ipod.
"I wear your granddad's clothes, I look incredible," Rain sang in a deep throaty voice, as K-Mart turned and danced with her back to the Latina, "I'm in this big ass coat, from that thrift shop down the road." She pretended to spank K-Mart's ass a few times and then they grinded together while Jill hollered encouragement.
"I'm gonna pop some tags, only got twenty dollars in my pocket," K-Mart continued, whipping out bills from her top and throwing it in the air, "I-I-I'm hunting, looking for a come-up. This is fucking awesome!"
They all burst out laughing and Claire did too, until the blonde spotted her and blushed, the joy leaving her instantly and Claire felt her heart shatter at being the unintentional cause of it.
"Hey, Kid." She greeted sheepishly.
"Hey." Came the less than enthusiastic reply.
"Can I talk to you for a sec?" She tentatively requested and looked up at Rain and Jill, who got the hint and left them alone.
"About what?" K-Mart asked, still not looking at the redhead as she tenderly packed her camera away.
"I was hoping to get your advice on something."
K-Mart's head snapped up and Claire could see her fighting to not show her interest.
"I've been thinking that it's about time I got to know Alice better. Show that I'm interested… like in a gay way, and maybe we can work through her… problem." Claire frowned not quite liking calling it that word, but already struggling with articulating herself, she decided to let it go. "But I'm not really sure how to approach women – anyone really – uh… romantically, I guess. And since you started it all, I was hoping you'd help me out."
K-Mart let out a deafening shriek and started doing a nerdy little dance that warmed Claire's heart and made her grin like a fool.
"Clairice is on!" She shouted and Claire sighed, everyone would probably know within the next few minutes. Subtlety was not K-Mart's strong suit.
…..
"It doesn't taste like fucking sweet nectar or vanilla or apples – well sometimes you do get a sweet aftertaste." Rain was saying all passion and seriousness. "Drink enough pineapple juice and your good to go." Her brows knitted together in confusion. "Fuck, once I tasted cappuccino…"
Claire wasn't sure how she found herself sitting around a campfire with a group of lesbians talking about this specific topic – no doubt K instigated it to help her out. Considering how 'completely clueless' she was.
"It's pussy." Rain concluded bluntly. "Therefor it tastes like pussy. If I wanted to taste fucking apples, I would eat an apple. I eat pussy, because I love the taste of pussy."
Claire was both intrigued and horrified in the same breath. K-Mart was giggling softly next to her, whether at what Rain was saying or Claire's obvious discomfiture, she didn't know. Probably both.
"I love the smell of apples." Helena stated whimsically.
Claire had a sneaky suspicion that H and Sarah were high. They went off together an hour ago and came back giggling like idiots with bloodshot eyes. Not the most responsible thing to do during a zombie apocalypse, but hell, the convoy had Cameron and Alice. They could do anything.
"Sharing is caring, Snowflake." Rain told her, confirming Claire's thoughts.
"We were just testing it out. We kept some for everyone." Sarah defended.
K-Mart's eyes brightened at this and Claire sighed. She never cared much for drugs, even though some of her brothers enjoyed a blunt or two after returning from a tough mission, very adamant that Marijuana was not a drug, but an herb.
"You better have, bitches." Rain smirked at them. "Now as I was saying," she looked pointedly at Claire and continued most definitely on a point that she was not on before, "everyone is so focused on the clit, they forget what an integral part nipples play in the whole experience."
"She gets distracted by body parts." Jill shrugged, and Rain nodded sagely.
"Some women's nipples are more sensitive than others." She just continued after taking a sip of her whiskey, which would probably explain the clipping narration. But it was Rain, so no one could really tell. Sex was her favourite topic. "You'll be able to tell if she's into it or not. If not, move on, explore. You'll find her spot. Some women have quite a few. Other's whole bodies are amazingly responsive." Her voice dropped during the last sentence, and Jill flushed even though Rain wasn't even looking at her.
Claire took in the information like the eager student she was, then when a question popped into her head she opened her mouth, blushed, shut it tightly again and then scowled. She took a deep steady breath and leaned closer to Helena.
"Do lesbians shave?" She whispered at her friend, hoping that being high hadn't diminished the raven haired woman's usual discretion.
Helena's head turned unbelievably slowly toward her and a Cheshire grin spread across her face. Claire breathed out in relief when Helena leaned forward to softly whisper back at her.
"Are you referring to any place in particular, darling?" Helena grinned impossibly wider as Claire reddened even further.
Fuck, Claire missed being able to just Google everything.
"Regardless of whether they are gay or straight or somewhere in between, it's all a matter of taste, dear." Helena winked at her and Claire nodded that of course that made sense. She was overthinking things again. But fuck, she was way out of her depth, and she wanted to get a majority opinion at least. She liked to shave, for the simple reason that she liked the feel of smooth skin against her clothes. She felt lighter and cleaner somehow. And she unfortunately knew from spending too much time in the company of her brothers that most of them liked women shaven too. But women's tastes were different right? She couldn't even begin to think what preference she herself would have.
"Is it better to shave before – before – " Claire asked out loud to the group without having meant to and stopped abruptly, wondering when her brain would melt from all the heat spreading across her face.
"You think Alice calls her Red cause of her hair, or how red she always gets?" Jill asked, smiling fondly at the red-faced redhead.
"Neither." Everyone's heads turned as one to Cameron who had surprisingly answered.
"So why then?" Rain asked.
"Alice said it was private." Cameron stated as though it was a simple fact of life, and everyone knew the futility of even trying to persuade the Terminator otherwise.
"I like shaven, maybe a little landing strip." Rain shrugged. "If my partner does that for me, I'll grow her a little muffhawk if she's into that."
And Claire nodded mostly in thanks that they weren't teasing her about the question.
"I'm partial to a little hair." Helena smirked. "Gives it a rather natural feel."
"I prefer to be cleanly shaven. Better sensation." Sarah added casually, while chopping at a piece of wood with her pocket knife.
Claire couldn't believe how they could just speak about these things like it wasn't private. Even if she had known at that stage what she wanted and liked, she was very sure it wouldn't be up for public discussion. Were all lesbians this… open? She wondered. Most of them were drunk and high though, so maybe not. Claire didn't see herself being comfortable with any of the things she'd heard, and yet her body still seemed to respond with a few excited tummy flips when someone got a little bit too graphic with their descriptions.
They'd been at it for a few hours, Alice asleep on the bus, Claire glad for the distraction of the conversation to stop herself from going in there and doing something idiotic and most likely embarrassing, when she finally came to a conclusion.
"So what you're telling me is that women are all different, some like some things, where others don't at all and some like some things sometimes, even when they don't necessarily like it at other times. That someone can't possibly prepare to be intimate with a woman, 'cause you don't know what you might get when you get it, and that might even change while you're getting it?" She scowled at her own inarticulateness.
It was a vague summary, but an adequate one nonetheless because a unanimous 'Yes' was her reply.
And Claire sighed. Shit, she was going to epically fail at being a lesbian.
…
In the morning Alice's obvious agitation at something other than Helena had everyone else tensed as they approached the creepy shack, easily taking down the few Undead that had managed to gather there overnight.
So after they had pulled the Convoy right up to the fence's gates, Claire rushed to catch up with the lanky blonde who was pulling ahead of them and laid a gentle hand on her arm.
Alice froze up as though a gun was being held to her head and Claire reluctantly let go, her fingertips still itching with the need to touch any part of Alice again.
"Sorry," she whispered abashed, but then put on her mission face, "but if you know something, I'd like you to tell me." She met the blown pupils staring directly into her. "I don't like surprises."
Alice's jaw clenched as she narrowed her eyes toward their destination.
"I smell death, Red." She whispered before turning back to Claire again. "A lot of death…"
When she walked off again Claire could only watch her go, heart pounding in her ears, completely unsettled by the encounter.
"You and Cam hang back for a minute, Kid." Claire told K-Mart, who looked as though she would protest, but Cameron was already slipping a protective arm around her shoulders and K-Mart leaned into the Terminator seemingly forgetting all rhyme or reason.
The rest of the group had all halted at Claire's request and were staring after Alice whose shoulders and back remained tensed as she walked on. They only followed when Claire drew her guns and continued toward the structure.
She frowned as Alice veered from the entrance of the building toward the right of it. The lanky blonde had yet to draw her weapons and still all of Claire's hair was standing at attention, her gut boiling with an unexplained sense of impending doom. She never got this nervous, not even during the Brotherhood's most dangerous missions.
Focusing entirely on Alice was probably not the wisest choice, but she trusted the women at her back to pick up her slack, and she was glad for it as she instantly saw the look of abject horror that crossed Alice's features. She hurried to the blonde as fast as she could, stopping dead in her tracks when she was confronted with what Alice was blindly staring at.
Ignoring the nausea brewing in her belly, Claire focused on the eerily silent blonde, bright green eyes wide and vulnerable staring at the dozens upon dozens of deceased copies of herself that lay in the mass grave in front of them.
Clones.
Oh, how Claire had longed to see those beautiful green eyes, but not with that look of wounded revulsion in them. She needed Alice to not look like that anymore. It made Claire's chest hurt, in fact, the redhead was pretty sure she was about to have a heart attack. She didn't know what the fuck to do.
A loud gasp she inexplicably recognized as Helena's, as though the woman walked around gasping like that all the time – drew her attention away from Alice. She sent pleading eyes to Rain and Jill, hoping they would know what to do.
When all they did was helplessly stare at their friend with watery eyes, Claire turned back in time to see Alice falling to her knees. Without thought she moved toward her, but a long slender arm went up to stop her in her tracks.
Alice brought her lanky limb down again, splaying her palms on the ground, digging her fingertips into the hardened dirt, her entire body pulsating with emotion.
Fuck, she looked as though she was about to explode and Claire turned panicked eyes to her companions and motioned for them to back away, which they did, but not far and Claire didn't have the focus to argue with them, she needed to do something about the woman falling apart right in front of her.
"Alice…" She choked out, her voice thick and cracking with way too many feelings. The hunched body stilled and Claire held her breath as a shaggy blonde head rose and wide, almost entirely black pupils seemed to stare right through her.
"They need to be stopped." Alice's voice was laced with virulence as she determinedly stood up again and turned toward the shack already shaking on its foundation. The wooden walls splintered apart like a tornado was blowing through them, carrying all the debris up into the air and a few hundred yards off into the desert, till only a single metal structure remained, surrounded by nothing but sand, a fence, a mass grave and a bunch of grief-stricken women.
Alice didn't look back as she walked forward and pressed a button on what Claire identified as a lift. The elevator doors instantly opened with an obnoxious ding. The blonde entered without a word or any further thought on the matter and Claire finally snapped into action rushing to join her, but was met with Alice's vacant obsidian stare and expressionless features, as the doors closed and separated them from each other.
"Fuck!" She banged on the metal. Of course Alice wouldn't want or ask for help. Of course she would fucking go by herself. Claire couldn't even be mad at her because it was exactly what Claire would've done. She frantically circled the shaft, wondering how deep it went, obsessively pressing the up-button each time she passed it.
"She probably stopped it from coming back up." Jill guessed and Claire knew she was most likely right.
"She can take care of herself, Claire." Sarah offered.
"I know." Claire admitted, but that's not why she wanted to be down there. She'd seen some fucked up shit in her life, but a mass grave of clones of herself was not one of them. She just wanted to be there for Alice. But the woman was too fucking stubborn to even be consoled. And it wasn't like Claire Redfield was all that natural at consoling, but fuck if she didn't want to try for Alice.
Then Helena was at her side, sliding an arm through hers and Claire relaxed a little at the comforting touch.
"She was so distraught… How could she take out an entire building without hurting any of us with that state of mind, and still be afraid of kissing me?" Claire softly wondered.
"I've felt that look on her face before." Helena murmured for Claire's ears only. "When they took my Christina I was focused and determined on my vengeance. Hatred and rage are easily identifiable. It drove me, gave me purpose. Perhaps not the healthiest of emotions to experience, but it allowed for little distraction once a goal was set." Claire turned to look at her now and watched as some of that hatred flickered over Helena's face, before being replaced by remorse and eventually settling on compassion as she met Claire's gaze again. "I don't think Alice is quite use to feeling what she does when she kisses you." Helena smiled. "I venture that though rage and vengeance is unfortunately something she's grown quite used to, the novelty of having the incomparable Claire Redfield in her arms was quite a bit of a shocker." Helena smirked and Claire playfully pushed her away even as she blushed brightly.
"She's like fucking Magneto." K-Mart said behind them still in awe at the powerful psionic display they'd just witness.
"Maybe Jean Grey." Rain corrected, though her usually joking tone was gone and she instead sounded strained with worry. "Magneto can only control metal." She said almost to herself scowling at the elevator that still hadn't returned.
…
Next Chapter: Mothers and Fathers
A/N: So life's busy happening. Big changes. Looking positive, very excited xD Not trying to be vague on purpose, it's just work stuff. That's why updates will be slower than I'm used to posting. Anyway, glad you perves enjoyed the sex in chapter 9. Hope you remember it, cause next sex scene will be in chapter 33.
Kendra: I can't keep up with your work schedule lol so I'm just gonna post whenever and you'll just have to wait, babe.
Guest/Guests: I dunno if this is one excited reader or a few, but thanks for the positive feedback lol
Starr: Come closer so I can assess the damage to your lip hehehe Haven't had time to start PoI, maybe when I go on leave in December. But those youtube vids sure are promising xD Thanks for putting me onto the series.
MindFullofStories: Glad you are, cause Alice is definitely not in Wonderland. Shame, Poor Alice, she really needs to get laid. K and Cam are in robot lurve with each other xD
Avienda: I get off on many things. Not sure how you know which scenes I enjoy writing though… Are you some hacker that's spying on me? Creeper…
Monkey: You flatter me, but in all honesty I AM still K-Mart – basically a hormonal drooling teenager at heart lol Yeah I figured you were thinking of Assassins Creed. Honestly babe, I dunno what a crack!fic is supposed to be. Only that it's statistically impossible for so many hot lesbians to find each other during an apocalypse. Yeah there's a serious plot going, but the coincidences are still rather farfetched, so I went with crackish so people won't start moaning about that. What makes you think we're going to LA? lol They call me the clit-whisperer where I'm from hehehe call me anytime, you've got my number ROTFL
Tlc125: How do the Thanksgiving day dates work exactly? Is it a different date each year? Happy Thanksgiving regardless, I hope you had a wonderful time with your family. I'm thankful that you're reading this story. Always appreciate your feedback. You're so decent and proper in your reviews, I feel bad that you're gonna read all of my profanity and sex talk. Sigh. Mwah Shorty