Earth Abides, Chapter 11 by patricia51

(Interlude)

"You're my mommy aren't you?"

Alice knelt and enfolded the little girl in her arms.

"I am now."

Even as Becky snuggled into Alice's warm embrace the pair of them were gently lifted to their feet by two strong firm arms wrapped around them both.

"And I, sweetheart, am your father." Carlos let the pair free of his hug just long enough to sign to his new daughter and then swept them back up again

Just for an instant Alice worried that her husband's irrepressible fondness for quoting old movies would see some Star Wars reference added to his statement. She dismissed it, knowing how deeply and passionately Carlos loved all their children; from K-Mart down and that Becky, the newest member of their family would be adored exactly the same as the rest. Besides, she grinned to herself, although he was crazy about their two sons, deep down inside there was nothing Carlos loved more than being a father to their girls.

Speaking of girls. Even as she continued to hold Becky she looked around for their oldest. K-Mart was standing just a few feet away wearing a smile of pure happiness that stretched from ear to ear.

Not that Alice had expected any jealousy. K-Mart thought being a big sister was the most wonderful thing in the world. Alice remembered the attack on their village and home by the crack team of Umbrella commandos bent on capturing or killing their then less than a year old twins. Literally protecting them with her own body K-Mart had defended her young siblings ferociously; killing the leader of the snatch team herself when he attempted to harm her baby brother and sister. No, K-Mart's heart had plenty of room to welcome in another sister and she knew that her parents loved her no less for a new addition.

Sensing the nearness of their daughter Carlos moved all three of them forward until K-Mart could be drawn into the family embrace. A completely random thought struck him. They were all going to need longer arms, especially when they got home to the four some staying back in Alaska.

Meanwhile he suggested that they move inside and out of the way of the hustle and bustle of the teams loading the recovered Umbrella equipment from its underground storage on to the cargo aircraft. The bulky forms of the M1117 armored cars caught his attention, the Air Force having used them when he was a member of that branch of the service. A beaming K-Mart noticed his graze.

"They're ours," she announced proudly. "When we go on our next expedition we'll be using those."

"Nice," Carlos nodded, feeling just a tiny bit better about his daughter's safety. But you can't keep them safe and locked up all their lives he reminded himself. Even though sometimes you wish you could; especially in this world. A squeeze on his arm brought his eyes around to meet those of his wife. As usual, Alice knew just what he was thinking and didn't need to say anything to let him know she was feeling the exact same way.

An excited Becky led them to the same apartment that the trio had shared years before. Before they could even start to get settled a white holographic child appeared before them.

"Hello Project Alice."

"Just Alice please," the woman replied. "And could we arrange a time for you and I to have a talk? I have other things on my mind right now."

"Noted," the AI replied calmly. "I understand your desire to get to know your new daughter. Furthermore your older adopted child has informed me of your feelings towards my sister AI. A 'homicidal bitch' she said you termed her."

"She DID kill everyone in the Hive," Alice pointed out.

"It was necessary to prevent anyone attempting to leave after having been exposed to the T-Virus."

"Horsepuckey. Areas could have been sealed off. Some researchers were in protective clothing and could have waited until the airborne effect of the virus had dissipated. And finally when she made contact with One and his team why didn't she tell them what was going on? Unreasonable or not to my mind Shade might have accepted what happened especially if she had given specific warnings instead of generalized 'you're all going to die down here' crap. They wouldn't have set off the device to knock her offline and the whole world might be a damn better place right now."

"Agreed but irrelevant. My sister AI was not authorized to reveal what had happened to anyone of less rank than the Umbrella Council or of course Chairman Wesker."

"Wesker," spat Carlos. "There was someone I was happy to hear was eaten by zombies."

"I understand your ire. But would you please make time Alice to confer with me. Although much of the scientific equipment available here was destroyed during Captain Slater's battle with the Super Zombies it is still true that your blood, having perfectly joined with the T-Virus, makes it the ideal candidate for any number of important discoveries, not the least of which is the possibility of a cure for the infection."

"Tomorrow," stated Alice firmly. "Oh nine hundred hours."

"Ten hundred," interjected K-Mart. "We're leaving at nine."

"Very well." The AI disappeared.

The rest of the day was spent as a family. Careful probing of Becky's memories showed that the imprinted memories had almost all become faded and jumbled in the little girl's mind. There were few that remained clear, the most important of those being of course her knowledge that Alice and Carlos were her Mom and Dad although she did think her father's name should be Todd. It didn't worry her though, hugs being a highly effective way to reassure her that a name was not important.

They spent a great deal of time in their apartment but also made the trek to the surface so Carlos, and Alice as well, could inspect the new-found armored cars that would be carrying their daughter further into the great unknown. They had supper with K-Mart's team and then, rather reluctantly, Becky's new found parents took her back to their quarters while K-Mart remained to work out the last minute details of the new expedition.

Back in the sitting room of the suite they had occupied years before Becky soon fell asleep on the couch, sandwiched between Carlos and Alice. Even as he stroked his new daughter's hair (to Alice's secret delight) Carlos asked a question that he had been thinking about since dinner.

"What do you know about K-Mart's security detail chief Parker Booth?"

Alice was not surprised. She had noticed more than her husband had although he HAD managed to pick up on the connection existing between the handsome young man and their oldest. She held back another smile, not yet willing to tell her husband that the pair were just good friends.

"Not that much. I've met him before obviously. He came to our house several times during K-Mart's time at college. He seemed nice enough." Alice concealed the twinkle in her eyes and kept her tone steady, not allowing any hint of the laughter she was holding back to creep in to her voice. Carlos was anything but an overbearing and suspicious father but he couldn't help it; he tended to be protective of his oldest. Of course considering the world they lived in it really wasn't that strange. Beyond anything else not many fathers have their daughter kidnapped by a survivalist madman convinced he's some sort of god and that K-Mart would be perfect as his new bride.

Of course she and Carlos had stormed the nut job's palace and pretty much wiped out his supporters, except for him. He had been left to the non-existent mercy of his former slaves. But still it explained a lot of his reserve when it came to boys and his daughter. He DID try very hard to keep in under control though, determined not to be a Paul Hennessy type dad. Well not too much anyway.

Alice went on to talk a little about the handsome young man, his FBI father and incredibly gifted step-mother and what an amazing catch he might be for a young woman. She finally gave in to the increasingly panicked look in her husband's eyes.

"Of course K-Mart tells me that he and Eliza Street are an item. Come to think of it he used to spend a LOT of time over there when they were all growing up."

Realizing that he had been had, Carlos sighed and threw up his hands.

"She's going to find someone someday darling," Alice reminded her husband.

"I know and I look forward to that. It's just... well, you know."

"Know what?" The object of their discussion inquired as she entered the room.

"Nothing sweetheart," Alice said smiling. "Just parent talk."

"Oh golly, glad I came in at the end of THAT," K-Mart quipped. She sat down heavily in a chair. "Well, we're all ready for tomorrow. I'm pooped. I think it's time for a shower and then bed."

"Agreed."

Of course K-Mart was much too grown up a young woman to sleep with her parents. However, solely in the interests of her new little sister she made an exception and fell asleep with Becky beside her and the two of them flanked and protected by their parents. Sometimes K-Mart felt like a little girl and although she was intensely excited about heading out again into the great unknown a night spent with at least part of her family was to be cherished.

The next morning Alice, Carlos and Becky saw K-Mart's convoy off. Carlos did admit he felt much better seeing his oldest buttoned up in an armored car rather than a regular reinforced street vehicle or truck. He liked the machine gun and grenade launcher in the turrets as well. "Can't have too much armament in this world," he thought.

The trio waved until the vehicles were out of sight before returning to the underground complex. Alice headed down to the laboratory to confer with the AI and the pair of female scientists who had come down with the cargo planes. Both Doctor Fowler, a neuroscientist, and Doctor Rostenkowski, a microbiologist, were extremely excited. They held long excited conferences with the White Queen and Alice donated enough blood for dozens of experiments which the scientists immediately commenced while conferring by satellite link with their colleagues at the University. Fortunately the broken equipment had been replaced from the secret storage area. Whoever Trent had actually been and whatever had happened to him he had seemed to have thought of everything. Too bad he couldn't have stopped the apocalypse but that was beyond the capability of any one human once the cat had been let out of the bag, or rather the T-Virus out of the Hive.

But that meant after a few days the trio was able to fly back home to Alaska. Becky was nearly overwhelmed. There was K-Mart's dog Sparkles, which the oldest Olivera-Abernathy child had asked Becky to care for. There was the house itself, repaired and expanded to hold everyone. There were her younger siblings, the oldest pair of whom were not far from her own age. There were all the neighbor children, all of whom she made friends with. There were school and church and community events. Most of all there were her devoted and amazing parents. Becky had never been so happy even in her reams.

There was the fun of having other children for sleepovers, especially Claire and Sam's children. Claire had made arrangements to fly on a contact mission to the lake survivors' colony which would give her the chance to reunite with Sherry Birken and her Aunt. It was all so exciting for Becky.

Very important were the video calls her older sister made when she could arrange a satellite uplink. She always signed when the family gathered to talk to her to make sure Becky knew everything. This evening it was clear to all just how excited K-Mart was.

"Hi Mom, Hi Dad," she smiled. "Hey Becky, hi Munchkins," she greeted her siblings. "You are NEVER going to guess what happened today. It may be that everything we know is going to change."

(To be continued)