Author Note: Some of the timeline will be off for this one, but I was not planning on following the script of the Resident Evil movies, but instead using the characters you all love to create my own story line. Please, enjoy, be courteous, & review (I do take constructive criticism!)

Disclaimer: I do not own the Characters, but a girl can dream right?

Without further adieu…here comes Chapter Six

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Update Oct-25-2015: As I prepare to add more to Calm Before the Storm I figured I should go back and look over what I posted almost two years ago to the story that started it all. This way I can make some editorial changes while also refreshing my memory on what things I left off with in the end.

Update Dec-18-2019: I haven't created any FF in awhile, and would like to get back into it, specifically with some RE stuff. To do so, I figured I would edit some old work to try and get some ideas percolating in my head before the Christmas holidays

- 6 -

- Alice & Claire's Stateroom -

Sometime had passed since Alice surprised Claire with her own birthday present. As much as she wanted to lay in Alice's arms for the day. her ever growing paranoia of someone, specifically Chris, coming to pound on their door demanding an explanation for why they were late for their morning duties, was giving her heart palpitations. Alice tried to explain that she had nothing to worry about, without ruining any of the upcoming birthday celebration activities, but when she could see Claire visibly unable to relax, she caved to the birthday girls' wishes.

Most days neither of them took an ounce of care into their appearance. They were survivors aboard a freight liner in the middle of the ocean, who was their left to impress? However, with this being her birthday, Claire decided that for once she would pamper herself; apocalypse style. As she was scrubbing her face, Claire came to the realization that this was the first time in fifteen years she would be celebrating her birthday with Chris. He was the only family she had, and she'd be damned if today was going to be put to waste. When there became no one to celebrate with, what was the point in remembering your birthday? Nowadays the fact of living to see the next day was worthy of a celebration.

Alice looked up from slipping on her red stockings, catching Claire's reflection in the mirror. Her red hair, usually down and framing her face, was pulled back into a messy bun with stray strands falling loosely around her square jaw. Claire's eyes were bright, a smile on her lips, excited for what was in store for the day.

Claire excited the bathroom, dressed in tight, black army pants and an olive green, low cut tank top. Renegade chic as K-mart would say. She stopped at the door, catching Alice's open-mouthed stare.

"What?" She asked, suddenly self-conscious.

"I don't think I've ever seen you with your hair up." Alice confessed, slipping on her army boot before getting up from the bed and walking over to Claire, "You look beautiful," She said and kissed her cheek.

Claire could feel her cheeks burning. "Thank-you,"

"Ready to face another day, birthday girl." She stated, seeing the frown on Claire's face, "What's wrong?"

"This is my first birthday with Chris in fifteen years. What if he doesn't remember? I mean I didn't even remember and it's my birthday."

Alice smiled, cupping Claire's cheek, "I wouldn't worry about Chris. Let's go get some grub before all the good looking food is taken."

Claire nodded, knowing exactly what Alice meant by "good looking" food. She opened the stateroom door, as they headed down the vacant hall leading towards the Mess Hall in the centre of the ship. The hall was narrow, forcing them to walk single file, with Alice in the lead.

"I see we made port for the first time in days." Alice called over her shoulder as she pushed open another door that led to the main area.

"Is going ashore my birthday present?" Claire quipped with a smile.

Alice stopped them just before the swing door to the mess hall, "I need you to close your eyes,"

Claire looked at her, hands on her hips, "May I ask why?"

Alice smiled, "Please, I promise you won't be disappointed."

Claire closed her eyes, feeling Alice grab her hand and guiding her through the open swing door to the mess hall. Everything was quite, which was unusual for this time of day. The large room should be full of voices of survivors enjoying their breakfast, or lunch for that matter. She reached to squeeze Alice's hand, but there was nothing there.

"Alice," Claire whispered as she opened her eyes.

"SURPRISE!"

Luther, Chris, Alice and K-Mart were standing around one of the cafeteria tables, wide smiles plastered across their face. K-Mart was able to convince a few of the female survivors to join in on the celebration, helping her decorate the place with makeshift streamers to make it seem more festive. Claire was stunned, as if a bright camera flash had just gone off in front of her eyes, blinding her for a moment.

"A surprise party, for me?" Claire finally breathed beginning to feel lightheaded.

K-Mart ran over and gave her torso a giant squeeze, as she stumbled to keep her footing, "Happy Birthday Claire! You deserve this." She stated followed closely by another tight squeeze. "This is not only for your birthday, but a thank you for everything you've done for us."

"What?" Claire said, looking to Alice.

"We owe you so much more than this, but we can only work with what we got." Luther replied, giving Claire a hug and kiss on the cheek.

Claire was speechless, still processing everything as K-Mart and Luther led her to the table with the cake. Her mouth salivated at the sight of chocolate cake; a delicacy she thought died with the human race. She watched as Alice distributed some small pieces to those who attended the party, all of which gave their word of thanks to Claire before leaving the room.

"How on earth did you find the ingredients for a cake?" She asked.

"Luther did some digging in the rations and some survivors offered supplies they were holding onto." Alice explained, handing Claire a plate with a large piece of cake.

Claire smiled, feeling her brother's strong hands clasp her shoulders. She spun, embracing Chris with a hug as he gave her a kiss on the cheek.

"Happy Birthday Claire." He said, seeing the tears in his sisters eyes, "I know we haven't-"

"It doesn't matter. All that matters is you are here with me now." Claire replied, hugging her brother once more.

- The Mess Hall -

After a few embarrassing stories of Claire as a child were shared by Chris, and the last of the cake had been consumed, the party had come to an end. Luther volunteered to check the transmission at the bridge as the rest of them were cleaning up the party aftermath. Within minutes, Luther had returned out of breath and a glint in his eyes. Someone had answered their distress call. Their message was garbled, but Luther was able to make out the coordinates, placing them not far from where they were anchored.

This was the first time since Alice's recording was sent over the airwaves they had received a response. There was hope after all.

Alice walked over to Claire, putting her mouth to lips, "Does this beat my birthday present?" She mumbled with a smile.

Claire blushed, shaking her head as Chris approached.

"Sorry to cut this celebration short, but we should figure out a plan of action for the search and rescue mission." He stated, eyeing Alice as she walked to where K-Mart was, handing her the pile of streamers in her hand.

Claire nodded, "Agreed, Alice and I will meet you and Luther up at the bridge in five."

Chris gave a curt nod before walking to Alice and leaning in close to her ear, "Did you tell anyone about Jill?" He whispered.

Alice shook her head, "I didn't want to spoil Claire's birthday, but if their are survivors, we could use the man power."

Chris nodded, "She's conscious, and ready to talk."

With that Chris walked away, heading out of the mess hall with Luther to the bridge. Claire approached Alice at the table, gently touching her shoulder and whisking her away from her dreamland.

"Are you okay?" She asked.

Alice smiled, "I'm fine, let's finish up here and meet the guys up at the bridge." She replied, getting back to work.

- The Bridge -

"So, based on the coordinates, this is where they're located." Luther stated, pointed at a red "X" he had marked on the map.

"Did they say how many survivors?" Claire asked while hunched over the map, studying it carefully.

They were all huddled around a topographical map of Mexico spread out over the chart table. Yellow circles surrounded neighboring towns that might potentially be stocked with supplies and most certainly the infected. From the shore, it would be quite a hike, but once on land they could find a vehicle to help transport the supplies and survivors back to the boats.

"Ten, but who knows how old this transmission is or how accurate." Luther replied.

"We should get the survivors first," Alice interjected, "They may have enough supplies to sustain us until we make port again."

"Agreed," Chris replied as Claire and Luther nodded.

It had been awhile since they made a supply run, and a team of four would not be enough to secure the survivors, supplies and fend off an potential wave of undead. There was too many unknowns, something Alice did not like factored into her rescue missions.

"We need more manpower, and firepower, for all we know this could be a trap set by Umbrella." Alice stated, meeting Chris's eyes.

"Always the buzzkill huh?" Luther quipped with a smirk.

"Alice is right, we have to be alert at all times." Claire replied, smiling at the blonde, "Manpower is doable, firepower is a different story, we are running low on almost everything in the armory thanks to our last run-in with Umbrella."

Alice did not trust the survivors, it was a known fact amount the crew, and has ruffled feathers with some survivors in the past. Recently she had, had a feeling that something strange was happening with the passengers. She could smell their fear, but fear of what or whom she was still unclear about. It had crossed her mind to give K-Mart the task of snooping around to see what she could dig up.

"I know you're not going to like this, but we need to use the survivors." Chris stated, "We can call a meeting, asking for four strong, able men to come with us."

Alice stayed silent, not wanting to cause trouble, but someone needed to address the elephant in the room. She agreed they needed help, and adding Jill to the team would not be enough. She looked at Claire, as her smile turned to a frown, able to read the blondes mind.

"No," Claire said, shaking her head, "No way is she joining the team."

"Who?" Luther asked, looking from one woman to the other.

Alice locked eyes with Luther. "Jill Valentine." She stated.

"You can't be serious," Luther spat, shaking his head is disbelief. "The crazy bitch in lock up, you want her to roam free?"

"She's not an animal, nor a drone of Umbrella. Not anymore"

"Unbelievable!" Claire spat, "You are willing to put all of our lives at risk because of your gut feeling?"

Chris put a hand on Claire's shoulder, her body visibly vibrating with anger, "I know it seems crazy Claire, but I believe Alice. I saw her before and after we ripped that thing from her chest, she's a different person now."

Claire shrugged off her brother's arm, eyes stinging with tears "How can you be so sure?" She asked, looking at Alice, "She could kill us."

"I would trust her with my life." Alice replied, seeing the pain cloud Claire's eyes.

The room went deathly silent as Claire looked to the floor, hurt by her last statement. The way she talked about Jill made her sick with anger, like being sucker punched in the stomach. The need for Alice to hang onto a shred of the past was effecting her judgement of the present. It was a loosing battle, and eventually she would once again be compared to their prisoner below deck.

"I know how it feels to be treated like a threat when you're anything but, but I also want to be cautious. She did consider us the enemy, and wasn't exactly, co-operative when we took that bug off her." Chris offered, trying to break the silence.

"What do you think Claire?" Luther asked as all eyes suddenly fell upon her.

It was a great question, but a better one would be what the hell is Alice Abernathy thinking? This whole conversation had taken a turn for the worst. They were supposed to be excited about the possibilities of growing their Arcadia family, but Alice just had to bring Jill into the mix. That green jealousy demon was rearing it's head once more, but she needed to keep her temper in check. It was usually no issue to blindly follow Alice, for she had knowledge and experience greater then all of them combined, but she needed to think rationally and not emotionally. There were about sixty people below decks that depended on them, and were unaware of Jill even being stowed on board. If it were truly up to Claire, Jill Valentine would have been dead a long time ago.

The only thing Claire was ever certain of was her trust of Alice, but for her to keep that trust alive she needed to talk with Jill, face to face.

"Claire, you know I would never intentionally put any of us in danger," Alice said, meeting the red head's eyes once more, "You above anyone else here knows that."

Claire ignored Alice, turning to her brother, "How long would it take to get a team and the boats prepped?" She asked.

"Couple of hours, three at the most." Chris replied.

"I want you and Luther to find some volunteers and ready the boats."

"Aye, aye Captain," Luther replied with a fake salute.

Claire approached Alice on the other side of the table, "It's not my trust in you Alice, it's her. I need to talk to her before I make up my mind."

Alice smiled, "I understand, thank you Claire."

"We'll meet you top side in two hours" Claire called over her shoulder, "With or without Jill." She added before exiting the Bridge with Alice right on her heels.

Once they were clear of the bridge, Claire pulled Alice aside, gripping her wrist tight, "Please don't make this another birthday I want to forget okay?" She whispered, kissing Alice on the cheek, "I hope you're right about this," She breathed.

"I am, I know it." Alice whispered before continuing down the hall.

T.B.C.

So what did you think? Was Alice out of line? Should Claire trust Jill?

Send me your predictions/comments/concerns/rants & praise (if you so choose) :)