A/N - ... On a note that you may appreciate, I did not lose my arm in my 2nd car accident this year. Luckily, my drunk brain did not have it dangling out the window when the idiot in a big ass van plowed into the side of my friend's car. No, I wasn't driving, my sober friend was.

I've never seen quite the rainbow of colors making my arm an impressive eye attraction. And I've never had quite such a huge lump on my head. *grumbles like an old woman about things hurting*

I'm done complaining now. :D

Chapter 34

Another Mutant Sister

Dim lantern light greeted her sleepy eyes. Anise yawned and sat up from whoever she had been resting her head on. Around her came the sound of soft snores, the steady rhythms of sleeping people. Her watch said it was about one in the morning, and she didn't need sensitive ears to hear the storm still raging. Her eyes found Buck beside her, sound asleep. On her other side, the owner of the lap she had been very comfortable on, was Alice. Green eyes twinkled at her in the poor light. "Hey," came Alice's soft whisper.

"Hey." She whispered back. It was so nice to see a living face from her past, Anise had to hug her again. Alice flinched, and the taller woman dropped her arms.

Thin fingers curled into her, and Alice's frame tightened. "I'm not used to people anymore." Her voice dropped to a wet whisper. "Especially ones that aren't afraid of me."

Feeling awful for the woman and wanting to show her that not all of humanity had become complete dickheads, Anise settled into the hug again. With her face pressed to blonde hair, she inhaled the woman's scent. The familiar stench of infection almost completely covered faint traces of body odor and citrus soap. It was so strange to smell it outside of the Hive, the 'dining hall' where the things had been kept, and away from zombies, though it was often buried under the reeking odor of rotting flesh and other un-nameables. Oddly enough, its smell did not inspire fear in Anise, as it had not when she realized Angie stank of it.

In fact, it was almost comforting. Anise chalked that up to Alice's presence in general. Even back in the Hive, the woman had been almost maternal, protective, strong, and caring. Alice hummed comfortably and squeezed just a bit tighter.

"I gotta pee." Anise felt she had to give an excuse as she dropped out of the embrace.

Alice chuckled and gestured over her shoulder. "Over there." She watched Anise's eyes narrow unhappily. "Need help?"

Considering the question seriously, Anise took stock of her aching body. Her ribs complained loudly, her stomach growled impatiently, and her muscles trembled weakly. "Yea," she groaned.

With Alice's gentle help, Anise stood. After making sure that her legs would hold her weight, they moved to the large, covered bucket in the corner. She bit her cheek and pulled her pants down. Awkwardly, she let Alice support her as she squatted and relieved herself. Unable to pull her own pants back up for fear of falling over, her face flushed in embarrassment while Alice did that for her. A muttered 'thanks', and they returned to their square of packed dirt.

Settled back in their previous place, Anise heard someone roll over in their sleep and checked on Buck. He was snoring pleasantly, with a half smile on his stubbled face. The cellar's other occupants were two men, two women, and a small boy, who might have been eight or nine. They appeared healthy and clean, and the males all had the same slant to their lips, the same curve of chin.

"They're all related. Cousins. The kid's parents are the couple on the left." Alice supplied.

Nodding, Anise dug into her bag for food. She tore into a protein bar and shoved it in her mouth. Chewing, she pulled out another and offered it to Alice. The woman took it, and Anise pawed through her bag again, looking for more. She found her homemade trail mix and a bag of dried apples. While considering what to start with and chewing the last of her bar, she looked up, dropped both items back into her bag, and snagged several jars from the shelves that she had belatedly noticed.

'Peaches' read one label. 'Mincemeat' was in the second jar. The last one, 'leek and potato soup', had her drooling. She struggled to pop the seal until pain made her give up, and she held the jar up to Alice, who smiled indulgently. A satisfying pop later, she handed it back. Anise sniffed to make sure it was still good and promptly tipped the jar back. Letting the tasty stuff slop into her mouth, she felt completely content in that moment. Buck was safe, there was good food in her belly, they had found more survivors, two creepy monsters had failed to eat her, and a friendly face from her past had shown up. Truly, she couldn't ask for more.

Well, she could, but she sure as hell knew the chances of the universe answering with anything other than flipping her the bird.

"It's really good." Anise offered the jar to her quiet companion.

Alice also sniffed at the soup and tipped the jar back for a taste. She smiled and dumped more in her mouth. "It is," came the soft agreement.

They passed the jar between them until it was empty and both of their stomachs were satisfied. Well, almost satisfied. Anise drank thirstily from her canteen, and they munched on her dried apples for dessert. A particularly loud crack of thunder startled both enhanced women and one of the sleepers. The man sat up, fear plain in his dark eyes. It was the kid's father, if Anise remembered right. "It's just thunder." Alice spoke with reassurance.

He continued to gaze around for a few more seconds. His shoulders relaxed, and he blinked groggily. The man surveyed his sleeping family. Apparently satisfied, he nodded at the women and laid back down. He draped an arm around his wife's torso and snuggled into her. Moaning sleepily, the woman pressed herself into him, and they both fell back into an even rhythm. Brimming with jealousy, Anise averted her eyes, thinking of Rain and the overly brief time they had had to snuggle like that.

Beside her, Alice murmured in sympathy. "It's hard. Seeing couples together." The woman's words were right on point. Anise missed having someone to cuddle up to, fall asleep with, wake up to kisses and morning sex.

"Yea. Since Spence, have you been with anyone?"

"Carlos."

Anise blinked at her. "Really?"

Chuckling, Alice replied, "Yes."

Why wasn't he with her then, she wondered. "Is he alive?"

"He was the last time I saw him." Alice did not elaborate. Her eyes drifted to the sleeping people.

Anise accepted the closed topic. "You tired? I can keep watch now."

Green eyes slid back to meet Anise's gaze. She could read the relief at the dropped questions. Alice smiled. "The others didn't even think about keeping a watch. Except Buck."

"I'm surprised they've lasted this long."

"Me too." She made to lie down.

"You can use me as a pillow, like you let me." Please, Anise thought. She was still damp from the storm, the extra warmth would be very welcome to help fend of the chill from the cellar's floor.

Alice's eyes widened slightly, but she nodded.

"Thanks."

A bit of squirming later, Alice was comfortably situated with her head in Anise's lap. Unlike Padmé's intense effect on Anise, having Alice there merely brought to mind encounters with other pretty women, how they had made Anise feel, the lust that warmed her belly, flushed her skin, pricked her nipples. She remembered admiring the former Chief's many attractive features in the past, thought a few lewd thoughts about her, one in particular that had ended in Anise losing a chunk of her arm.

Instead of the familiar pang of arousal, seeing Alice curled up in her lap brought out the same protective feeling she had toward Buck. For a long time, Anise's mind was consumed by that strange bit of weird. She realized that, like she had with Rain, she had developed an incredibly powerful attachment to Alice in a ridiculously short time. Thinking on it, she had gotten pretty attached to Buck super fast too. Differently though. Each person meant something different to her, but they all felt like family nonetheless.

Her parents would probably ask her if she had been replaced by an alien clone if they were there to see her pulling strangers and freaks around her, anchoring herself to them, falling in love with them, and being supported by them. Anise had always made friends easily, being an extroverted kind of personality, it was a simple matter for her to strike up conversations with strangers, make plans with new acquaintances, or walk into a group at a park and end up playing volleyball with them. No, it was the part where she opened up her heart, felt absolutely comfortable, and trusted these people that her family would have questioned.

Real trust had been something that friends often found very difficult to inspire in Anise, yet Buck, Rain, and Alice had earned it with warp speed. Trusting someone to guard her ass while gallivanting around an infected city was not the kind of trust she was philosophizing about at the moment. That was another difficult kind of trust, almost easier to earn, if only because you knew if you covered their ass, they'd watch your's, because they would know it was the only way to keep their ass safe. It made her head hurt.

With a sigh, she expertly pushed thoughts of her family, old, probably dead friends, and Rain aside. She focused once again on the infected woman and the questions she had about her. Absently, her hand brushed Alice's chin-length hair away from her face while Anise wondered what the blonde woman had been up to, why she was alone. "I'll tell you everything later, Anise." Alice mumbled.

Her hand stilled, locks of blonde hair still caught in her fingers. Heat rushed to her cheeks as she realized what her hand had been doing.

"You don't have to stop. It feels nice."

"Weirdo." Relieved that Alice didn't mind, Anise chuckled and resumed her caress.

Humming lightly, Alice smiled, shifted minutely closer. "Goodnight."

"Night."

While Alice drifted off, Anise continued to fiddle with the soft blonde hair. Vaguely, she was reminded of petting Bruce Banner and smiled at the thought. She wondered if he would remember her by the time she made it back to Have, and if he did, how long he would sulk for before he jumped into her lap, pushed his wet nose into her face, purred like a chainsaw, and demanded to be played with. Bruce would undoubtedly sulk if he remembered her, the little fuzzy butt would be that kind of drama queen, like most cats were.

Above them, the storm seemed to be moving on. The wind had died down considerably and only a light rain was falling. No other sounds reached her ears, and she was incredibly happy about that. She was quite content to sit in the slightly stinky cellar, surrounded by snoring people, even if it was underground. At least nothing was trying to eat her.

About the time she heard the birds begin their morning songs, Anise's eyes were heavy with sleep again. A lot of naps was her body's natural reaction to exertion and injury. Who was she to argue with that? Alice was still sleeping, so she nudged Buck. He sat up and rubbed the sleep from his eyes, grumbling softly. "Is it morning?"

"Almost. I need to sleep again." She replied, keeping her voice low, not wanting to disturb anyone else.

"OK." Buck stood up and ambled over to the bucket. He crouched down and Anise averted her eyes, though her ears unfortunately kept her informed on his obvious actions. While he zipped up and stretched, Anise gestured at the sleeper in her lap. "She mention who she was?"
"Said her name was Alice." He canted his head to the side. "Taking a stranger home to bed?" He teased.

Rolling her eyes, Anise grinned back. "The Alice." When Buck still didn't seem to get it, she tried again. "From the Hive."

He stared hard at the sleeping woman. "Oh, crap. For serious?"

"Yep. She saved my life. Estella wasn't exaggerating about her either."

"It's no wonder you're so comfortable with her."

Anise glanced down and stroked a stray lock of hair. "She feels like family." She looked back up into his familiar blue eyes. "Like us."

"Another mutant sister?" He grinned toothily.

"I guess so." She yawned, and her eyes fluttered. "Night."

"Night."

The next time Anise awoke, it was to the sounds of heated arguing.

"The storm's over, if any walkers were out there, they'd have been all over us by now. We'd be hearing them scratchin at them doors."

"No," came Buck's voice. "We should wait for the ladies to wake up. They can tell us for sure."

Anise blinked dazedly, her eyes focusing on the man that had woken up last night. "Now, how the hell are they supposed to do that? Not like they got some zombie-radar, huh?" The air in the little cellar was tense, and Anise guessed that someone would probably throw a punch soon.

"Now that you mention it, I do." Alice spoke into the argument, earning Anise's sleepy stare. That's right, Angie had mentioned something about knowing where infected were, where Alice was. She heard the strangers mutter under their breaths about people losing their mind out in the Godless new world.

"And I've got superhearing." Anise purposely made her voice high and chipper. It had the right effect, starting the strangers laughing. Rudely, disbelievingly, yet it broke the tense atmosphere. While they were distracted, Anise met Alice's eyes. "Anything?"

Alice took a breath to think. "There's a small group nearby. You?"

"I count eight."

Everyone's eyes had settled on them. Doubt warred with curiosity. The little boy spoke, much to their surprise. "Are you two superheroes?"

Anise grinned cheekily, and Alice giggled softly. It was distinctly feminine, gentle, soft as a silk dress. Once again, Anise was surprised that her libido wasn't raging at being in close proximity to the attractive woman. Weird.

"Are you?" The little boy looked completely serious and upset that he was being laughed at.

It was Buck that answered the kid, crouching to put him on level with him, or at least closer. "How'd you guess?"

"The blonde lady says she has zombie-dar, and that one has superhearing." His brow furled cutely as he spoke, very matter-of-factly, much like Denny.

"Now, Bobby," his mother chided.

"No." Buck interjected. "They are. Really."

Anise rolled her eyes, knowing the strangers weren't going to believe it till they saw it. She stretched and got to her feet. Over all, she felt much better than she had a few hours ago. Briefly, she fussed with her backpack, wished for something other than her fists to fight with, glanced at Alice and grinned appreciatively when Alice pulled a hunting knife from her boot and handed it to Anise. "We're opening the door."

Without hesitation, Buck picked up his rifle and readied it. "I'm a go."

Anise opened the door quietly, and Alice jumped outside with a silenced pistol, her shotgun stowed away in a sheath on her back. Right behind her, Anise exited as well, watching with a smile as Alice's Rain-perfect shots took down the clot of zombies stumbling toward the cellar.

No other immediate threats leapt to Anise's attention, though she could hear what sounded like a handful of zombies out near the fence. They had time to pack the family up and get out or to find out if the obvious damage to the fencing could be easily repaired. She looked to Alice, saw the recognition of near, but not immediate danger. The blonde refreshed her gun's magazine. "Let's move quickly."

Anise nodded and yelled down to Buck. "Clear!"

When the strangers made their way to the surface and looked around with gaping mouths, pained expressions, and drooping shoulders, the man that had woken up during the night cursed up a storm. "What in God's almighty name happened to the house?"

His wife looked around, made a cross over her chest. "Did that use to be child?"

"Maybe." Anise replied. "It certainly wasn't a kid anymore when it made me feel like a turkey on Thanksgiving and tried to eat me."

The man seemed ready to burst like a shaken soda can. Anise was grateful that Buck laid a hand on his shoulder and smiled at him. "You got a working car?"

Suspicioun clouded his face. "Why?"

"Because unless you were keeping zombies in a cage that got opened overnight, your fence is damaged." He gestured to the nearby dead.

The woman clutched Bobby to her. "We don't. Never saw the need, what with the farm providin, the fence keepin us safe, en not a one of us wantin to leave here. There's a few trucks hereabout, but ain't started one up since we got the fence up."

"The animals!" And the other couple ran toward the barn that Anise had not tried to take shelter in. She blinked and realized that she could hear sounds of life in it. How in the hell had she missed that? And how the fuck did the lion not either? If it did, why in the world did it think Anise was a tastier snack? Bloody hell.

Several hours later, the two places where the fence was down had been repaired, the couple dozen infected invaders exterminated, and the group was back together, eating a home cooked meal around an enormous table. Anise ate heartily, was glad her appetite was not questioned, and shifted her ass from cheek to cheek, easing the aches caused by the saddle. It was a ridiculous situation to be in, saddlesore and eating with farmers after a morning of fence repair and chores. But, her few odd horseback adventures from childhood had been handy when she had sat on watch with Buck's rifle, because her injuries made her more useful out of the others' way while they repaired the damaged fence and tracked zombies.

Horses, four cows, a couple flocks of chickens, and a collection of outdoor cats helped keep the farm running, drew the undead to claw at the fence, and the farmers happy. It was absurd. Remarkable. Stupid. Practical. Delicious. Heart-warming. Anise could not wrap her head around it. She decided to get a couple of the vehicles that were rusting in another barn in working order, convince the farmers, whose family name was Bayberry, to follow her to Haven, and find a way to bring all those animals too. She saw how Buck wanted to argue with her decision, but as his eyes drifted to the remains of the lion and then the demon child, she knew he understand what she did.

The T-virus was mutating, making the infection more dangerous, or a more powerful strain had been introduced by the world's greatest jackasses in Umbrella. Either way, fencing that would keep out regular zombies indefinitely weren't enough. He would help her convince the Bayberrys to leave. Anise would have to take on the mantle of leader again. Oh well. At least she had Alice to share the freak burden with.

Alice tilted her head and caught Anise's eye. She frowned and looked away, went back to pushing food around her plate. Anise thought about taking the plate and eating what was on it if Alice wasn't going to. Without a word, the plate was set in front of her. Buck eyed them strangely and went back to his lively discussion with James about corn.