Chapter 29

Chapter 29

Dreams of a Haunted Past

Authors note: Wow! I can't believe how many reviews for this story I have gotten! I want to thank you all, and I also want to apologize for not really getting the chance to reply to each and every individual comment. I just want all of you to know that I really do appreciate it. I also want to apologize for how long it's taking me to write this story, I've had a bit of trouble with writers block, but after writing an X-Men movie, one shot, I think I'm out of my rut! Now without further adue, Chapter 29…

My head snapped up, as I awoke from another dream in a cold sweat. All around me little fires burned, as well as rocks, litter, and the two bikes floating. This wasn't the first time I had ever awoken to something like this, and I instantly knew it was Alice.

I looked over at my lover, who was tossing, mumbling and turning in her sleep. I placed my hand onto her shoulder, and gave her a gentle shove.

"Nooooo!" Alice sprang upward, my sights peering down the barrel of her nine millimeter.

A second later everything fell to the ground with loud bangs, and all the fires went out. Alice fell back against her pillow. "Shit."

"Another bad dream hu?"

She placed a hand over her forehead, and nodded. I looked over at our means of transportation, and winced. They had been reduced to nothing more than mangled, twisted pieces of metal from the impact.

'Or her fucking telekinesis.'

She feared the power more than she hated it. She chose not to use it, even when it could have been more useful than hand-to-hand combat. I didn't much blame her, considering the agonizing headache that was soon to follow every time. I got up, and made my way over to the demolished Honda and BMW, grabbing my radio, I turned it to a particular frequency that both of us tended to avoid.

"This is Clare Redfield's convoy, current location the Desert Trail Mote. Latitude, 35 longitude 115, Broadcasting for any survivors."

I held up the transmission device. "Looks like we've got no other choice." Alice nodded, and I made my way over to her, holding out my hand. She took her fingertip less gloved hand in mine, and I hoisted her to her feet. "I'll get the saddle bags, and what's left of the gas while you get the sleeping bag."

I began gathering the bags together, tying one gas can to each bag. Alice walked over, and tied it to my saddle bag. Hoisting them over our shoulders, we began heading towards Latitude, 35 longitude 115. I couldn't help but be thankful that the sun hadn't risen yet.

If nothing else, I was looking forward to seeing Carlos and cocky ass L.J. again.

My feet dug into the sand, as the two of us trudged on in the midmorning sun. I could make out an army green 8x8 Cargo Carrier; sun yellow H2 Hummer, a Paramedic Ambulance that had R.C. on the side, KT - 3 News Van, an Enco Fuel Tanker, and a faded blinding yellow School bus, all in a circle.

The Convoy.

Black speckled the sky above them, and instantly I began running. Crows could be one of the most dangerous creatures, due to the T-virus. The 8x8 Cargo Carrier moved to the rear of the bus, pointing to the sign that there were people inside, and they were conducting an evacuation. I pushed myself even harder, when I saw that the flamethrower someone had been using against the winged beasts started swinging around uncontrollably. I bolted around the back of the 8x8 just in time to see an arc of fire headed straight for Carlos, who had his body curved protectively around a sandy-blond boy.

Panic ran through my veins as I watched it creep toward Carlos. Too many good people were dead, and I didn't think I could bare the loss of another. I wished that it would somehow split, and miss him, and that's when the fire within my body exploded.

I felt the fire as is split, and move around him, before I twirled my finger, making it spiral and twist as if it had a mind of its own.The fire was seductive, the control over it enticing. He found himself toying with it, pushing it forward, and then drawing it back. Concentrating hard, I split the flame, each tendril more intense than when they first emerged from the flame thrower. With the same expert aim I had with a weapon, I threw them at each one of the crows.

Soon, the sky was covered in an inferno ceiling, strangled caws of dying crows filling the air. One by one they all caught on fire before falling to the ground, scorched and dead. I controlled the fire, tamed it to my will, before suffocating it.

Smirking, I met Carlos's dear in the headlight wide eyes. "I see you can't go one minuet without me coming to save your fucking ass."

"You've always had a way of making an entrance Rain." suddenly, I was overwhelmed by exhaustion, as my eyes rolled back, I dropped to me knees. I could barely register the feeling of Alice's arms wrapped around me, before I slipped into total unconsciousness.

'This shit has really got to stop.'

When my eyes fluttered open, all I saw was a blurred image of a foreign room. I had to blink a couple of times before my vision came into focus. For the first time since the night before my team infiltrated the mansion, I slept like a fucking rock.

I felt something on my arm, and looked down to see a black and red bracelet made entirely of electrical wires.

My head suddenly felt like it was about to split in two when I sat up, my arms felt like a thousand pounds, when I moved to hold my head as I lied back down. I sensed Alice, as she walked into the room.

The bed creaked, and shifted as she sat down next to me. I removed my hands, and focused my eyes.

"How are you feeling?" she asked, placing a damp washcloth on my head, dabbing away the sweat.

"Fan-fucking-tastic" I groaned. "What the fuck happened?"

"We discovered you can at least manipulate fire."

"You mean I'm the fucking female version of Pyro now?" I asked, removing my hand from my forehead.

"In a sense yeah." Alice ringed the cloth, before drenching it again in a small bowl of water she had brought in with her. "Yesterday, you managed to not only divert the flame away from Carlos, but you also somehow ignited the crows as well, before passing out."

It vaguely came back to me in blurred black and white images. The sound of hushed whispers forced my head to turn and see several small children staring at me through what was left of the window. The noise had been one of them shushing the others, and as soon as they realized I was looking at them, all of them ran of laughing.

"What's up with them?" I asked with a smirk.

"They didn't think we were real." Rain turned her head to see a girl standing In the door way to the old, shabby hotel room. She had blond hair that was pulled back into a messy ponytail, and surprisingly was the only one to have make-up on. He legs were covered with a pair of jeans, with combat boots covering her feet. Upon her shoulders was a black Evanescence shirt. She had dozens of similar bracelets on her arms. "They tell stories about you two at night like you're Dracula, the bogyman or something like that."

"Really?"

The girl nodded. "Carlos used to talk about you a lot."

"This belong to you?" I asked holding up my wrist, as I sat up, my head ache dying down by the moment.

She nodded again. "Gave it to you last night-for luck. Looked like you needed it."

I smiled. "Looks like it worked. What's your name?"

"Kmart. It's where they found me, Claire and the others."

"You have a name before that?"

"Never liked it, and everyone I knew was dead." Kmart shrugged. "Seemed the time for a change."

"Listen, there's a memorial for those who-who died, so I'm going to go do that okay?"

I looked at Alice. "Mind if we join you?"

Kmart shrugged, and the two followed her out of the motel where they found a group of about twenty people standing around ten wooden markers, each with a name scratched sloppily into it.

ELIZABETH "BETTY" GRIER

ALYSSA ASHCROFT

CINDY LENNOX

DAVID KING

JIM CHAPMAN

KEVIN RYMAN

YOKO SUZUKI

MARK WILKINS

JARAD PETERS

OTTO WALKENSKI

A woman with hair the color of blood stood at the center of the circle, in front of the graves. I assumed it was Claire Redfield. "Does anyone want to say something?"

Nobody spoke.

L.J walked over to the cross with the words 'Elizabeth "Betty" Grier', and hung a necklace with a wooden cross on it. I was stunned to see tears streaming down his face. I looked back on the slightly annoying street thug, and realized that, that part of him was nearly beaten out of him now. He was possibly the worst one grieving.

Carlos brought the red head woman over to us. "This is Claire Redfield. She's the one who put the convoy together."

"Thank you for your help." Claire addressed me.

"I wish I could have gotten here sooner."

"Excuse me, I have something to attend to." She walked off. She hid her broken spirit better than most, but it was still apparent.

"Don't take it personal." Carlos said indicating to Claire. "In the last six months she's lost half the convoy. Pretty soon, they'll be more of us dead than alive."

Alice looked to the sky, as I checked my watch. There was still another hour left before the satellite passed over head.

"What is it?"

Letting out a breath she turned to Carlos. "Nothing."

"Alice, what happened to you?" Carlos asked. "Why did you leave after Detroit?"

I took notice of how she sucked in a breath. "I had no choice. They were using me, I was endangering all of you."

"What do you mean?"

Alice looked out towards the convoy, and I knew she was thinking of Angie. "They were tracking me." She said after a moment. "I couldn't be around you-any of you. I'd have gotten you all killed."

"That's why you disappeared."

At that moment it became clear that Carlos had been looking for us ever since that night I left him.

"I hacked into there computers, and downloaded the satellite trajectories. We stayed off the gird-ceased to exist."

"After the world ended, why did you two stay out there alone?"

"We're better off alone." I answered for her, and Carlos shook his head. "It's just better off if we're not around people."

Now Carlos did smile. "So why'd you come back then?"

I shrugged. "We lost our rides."

"That's all?" Carlos prompted.

"Well, I was all out of smokes." Alice added.

"Carlos actually laughed at that. "Then you defiantly came to the wrong place."

I burst out laughing too, Alice following and we all just let loose with several seconds' worth of giggling.

"Hey, I'm going to go for a walk, I'll see you in a while." Alice nodded, and watched as I walked off. I walked through the camp. Several children were pulling the same act they were back in the hotel. Staring, whispering, and pointing as I walked by. I couldn't help but marvel at the thought of being a legend of some kind.

Claire intercepted me as I walked by the Hummer. "Got a minuet?"

I nodded.

"We're all really grateful for you helping us out-"

"But how fucking long are we going to stay?" I finished for her.

"Don't get me wrong," Claire said quickly. "We really are grateful. But people saw what you did. There a little scared."

"I don't blame them; people have a habit of dying around us."

"It's not just you." she looked over at the graves, and at that moment, her name clicked with me.

"Is Chris your brother?"

Her head snapped in my direction. "Y-yes, what about him?"

"He used to be one of my drinking buddies. We used to go to J's bar all the time."

"Do you know if he made it out?"

"I'm sorry, I don't." Claire's face fell. "But he's a tough mother fucker; chances are that if anyone could have survived that horrific night, it would have been him."

"Claire, Alice and I found something the other day, which might help you and your convoy."