Chapter 5 - Take On The World

A/N: Thank you all for your long wait, the moment you have been waiting for is finally here, please enjoy, and if you feel like it, tell me what you think. Reviews make the world go around.

We probably argued for hours more after that. Supplies, needs, whether or not we'd need to take out the damn base. We ended up voting. K and LJ both voted no, and as much as I hate being on the same side of anything with Jill, anything that lets me damage Umbrella and protect K-mart at the same time… I had to agree. Since last night, K hasn't said a word to me. The other three were in the jeep, so the silence was even worse.

"Talk to me." It had been hours since we'd started the drive up to Salt Lake, and it was already starting to drive me nutty. Over the last month, even if I said nothing, she would talk to me constantly.

"Tell me how you survived. I saw you get bit over a dozen times Alice." She pulled her foot up onto the seat, and hugged her knee, her head falling to rest on it. It was her listening pose, and while this isn't what I want to talk about, it's something. Maybe if I tell her what they did to me, and Matt, and so many others, then she would understand why I need to do this. Why I NEED to end Umbrella.

I told her everything. My escape from Umbrella, the experiments, killing nemesis. "They saw what I would do, what I did do, and… They left me. I saved their lives time and time again, and they dumped me in the middle of a horde, with no idea that I could ever survive." I bit my lip, it hurt to talk about, more than I ever imagined it could. What hurt more than telling yet another person about my pain was the concern, and worry in K-mart's eyes, my pain hurt her too. I had let another person get too close. "After that… I stuck to the Canadian border, hiking the wastelands. I just wanted to escape it all. And then.." I smiled. "Then I ran into you short-stack."

Peeking at the girl rewarded me with the edge of her smile. She looked back up at me, "Yeah I did save your ass didn't I? You were totally lost without me." She teased. I shook my head and shoved her shoulder. "Oh come on and admit it. You may have saved me from that horde, but without all my supplies you'd be face down in a ditch somewhere." K-mart joked.

I rolled my eyes, "Oh yeah, totally. And you would still be locked up in a freezer in middle of nowhere North Dakota."

K scoffed, "Oh whatever." She shook her head, playing with the colorful bracelet on her wrist, "You gonna tell me why we're headed for Salt Lake? I mean we have more than enough shit to take on those Umbrella guys. More guns and weapons than we can even carry."

I sighed, rubbing my neck, trying to get the kinks out from driving for too long. "It's not a supply run, not really. A tank would be nice, but… I want you to stay there, we'll find you a good place to hole up, and then after." I hesitated to lie to her. None of us have a sure chance to get out alive, and not one of us could make any promises. "There's no way to know what's going to go down. All of us could die down there, but if I survive, I will come back to you, just as soon as I possibly can."

"Alice you can't protect me from everything." K shook her head, "I mean I know you're like zombie superwoman, but even you get run down. Those dicks from the hotel got the drop on you." My blood boiled just thinking about them again. "You have to let someone back you up, and no offense to Chris or whatever his name is, but I trust me a lot more than I trust them."

I couldn't argue with her there but, "These aren't undead just stumbling around, waiting to get killed. These are trained operatives, strike teams, they received the same training that I did. You'll drop in minutes, even if we do find armor. Chris, Jill, LJ? They are all expendable. But I'm not letting anything happen to you."

She thought about it quietly, "What if something happens to you?" She was more subdued than I expected.

I didn't know how to respond to the emotion in her voice, so I remained silent, driving due north. It was another hour before I decided it was time to stop, pulling into a crumbling gas station. "We'll be in Salt Lake tomorrow morning. Chris said the Hive would be close by. We should be back that night… If everything goes well." I hated not being able to tell her that everything would be okay.

K-mart moved to open the car door, then paused, "Thank you Alice." She leaned over and kissed my cheek. Blood rushed to my face, and warmth overwhelmed me. I opened my mouth to speak to her but she was already gone, helping the others unpack the sleeping bags.

Teenagers are fucking crazy. I tried to talk to her about it, but she spent the rest of the night with Chris and Jill, trying to talk to her got me nowhere. She was 'learning' how to light a fire, and setting up a tent, when we both knew perfectly well that she was an expert at both. Little punk. She did look cute fumbling over the flint and steel by the fire. The kiss though, that confused me, she never really made any moves or acted like we were more than just friends, but hormones do weird shit to a person. Hell, there was a time I would have jumped Jill given half a minute and some privacy to do it in.

Everyone else settled down to sleep, and K set up her bag next to mine by the fire. She looks so young in her sleep, all of them do, the lines of worry and fear relaxed into peace and trust. Trust in me to keep a good watch on them. It's amazing what exhaustion will do for even the most paranoid. Jill probably would have stayed awake just to spite me if it weren't for her injuries. She'd gotten a lot of abuse in that place, and her body was in recovery.

Salt Lake City was quiet, the carefully regulated streets were dusted with debris, and abandoned vehicles, some ransacked, others covered in blood and gore from attacks. The silence was eerie, put me on edge. In the distance I spotted a roaming group patrolling their grounds like a bunch of organized predators. I looked over my shoulder at the Jeep, I wish I could talk to them without stopping, warn them to keep it down. An arm appeared in front of my chest, and I bit back the urge to snap Chris' wrist. "Right around that corner, and two blocks down is the depot, the armor we'll need is in there."

I nodded, and turned the corner, my hackles rising at the same time as the horde came into view. "Looks like we weren't the only ones interested." The sheer number of infected swarming the street suggested more than just a roaming group like the ones in North Dakota, this was a hunting party. Either someone was alive in there, or they liked to wait for the hopefuls. Whatever it was, it meant one hell of a party for us.

"Wait here army boy." I muttered to Chris, "I'll make a splash before you rush in, all tactical like." He made noises of protest, but I shut the door in his face. I grabbed what I needed from the trunk and walked out to face the crowd. I primed the bag of explosives, and threw it into the heart of the mob, still 50 ft. or more of the horde between the bag and the front of the building. I gave a sharp whistle and watched as all their faces turned to me in unison. The coordination would have disturbed me if my blood weren't singing a song of crimson violence. I wanted all eyes on me, and I wanted to be the one that killed every single one of them.

I braced for the explosion and was rewarded with the center of the horde blowing outward in an enormous bubble, more of them caught turning and moving. Limbs, grey matter, disintegrated body parts rained down on the pavement, leaving only a fraction of the original group. They began running for me as fast as their damaged limbs could manage. Shells rained down at my feet. Sounds of gunfire were all around us, echoing through the empty streets. Bodies fell like ash raining upon the ground, coating it in an ever growing road-block, while more came to join the fray like moths to the flame.

I ran out of clips after what seemed like an eternity, I don't even know if Chris or Jill ever joined me. I dropped the damn limited machine guns, and drew my Kukris, picked up from who knows where, and rushed the masses. Blood flew, and bone shattered beneath my blades, bodies littered the ground, and unlike the last time, not a single beast ever got close enough to bite me.

Another eternity passed, blood and rage and violence reigned before my eyes. I would look for a new target before I'd finished making the killing blow until I ran out of targets. Where are they? I spun, looking for something else to lay into, my heart pounding in my ears. I blinked blood out of my eyes and found an empty street. Nearly empty anyway. A bunch of survivors stood by a yellow car, three guns pointed in my direction.

Fear glinted in their eyes, the kind of fear that I could feed on, enjoy before they died. I felt the lazy grin spreading across my cheeks, walking towards the sheep, I flexed my hands on the grips. The wood held in my group without sliding too much, the blood felt good but it wouldn't do to get shot because of a slip. Such dangerous prey made my blood boil and my ears began to ring, it would be so delicious to hear their cries, to finally experience their death with all my senses. Movement behind the survivors made me tense, but it was only a child. A defenseless teenager walked towards me, her eyes wide, not with fear but concern.

"Alice?" She asked, her voice confused me. Affected me strangely, and I couldn't understand it. A moment ago I wanted to watch her blood spill across the pavement, and laugh as I would see her stand up and stumble away mere minutes after her frail body stopped working. Now I, "Alice are you okay?" I want to protect her.

"You should be in the car." I shot a glare at the other three, their lives are worthless to me, but I got the sense that killing them would distress her more.

"It's okay Alice. You made it safe for us, remember?" She kept saying my name. Each time, I could feel my pulse slowing, the ringing died away, and I felt myself returning.

I barely remember what happened, but I looked around and it didn't matter. Bodies. Everywhere. Carnage. Carnage that I wrecked, bodies that I cut down. I looked down at myself and saw the gore dripping from my clothes, and felt vomit rising. I dropped my blades to the ground. "Alice?" K-mart ran to my side, hovering over me.

I shook my head, not wanting her to touch me. "I'll be fine." I rasped, "Let's clear that armory." I cleaned my knives and tucked them into their sheathes, my hands trembling from the after effects of that rush. As soon as we empty that damn armory, I'm getting K-mart out of here. I can't afford to lose control like that with K-mart so close, I was so ready to kill her… I feel sick to my stomach just thinking about it.

I let Chris lead the rest of the sweep, keeping the rear safe with K-mart. He, Jill and LJ made for a tight formation, never letting an infected body escape. We spent maybe another three hours clearing the building before we found the vault dedicated to keeping the arms and armor safe. "So much for leaving tonight." I muttered, bone tired. "I say we secure the vehicles, and set up camp in here, it's as good a place as any to make camp."

Chris nodded his agreement, "You stay here, keep an eye out with K-mart, you've done more than enough for one day." I sat on my heels and that seemed to be agreement enough for him. He whistled and did some stupid army gesture, and the others went back outside.

"Aren't they coordinated." I scoffed, wishing desperately for something to take my mind off of this morning. If I'd had a cigarette I would have lit up immediately, let the buzz of the nicotine take the edge off. Damn this shit is getting crazy, I haven't smoked since escaping Raccoon. I almost envied the three for their discipline, well Chris and Jill's discipline. LJ just knew how to follow simple orders, but their self control; Maybe I envy them a little.

K-mart sat down next to me, quiet. "Yeah, real coordinated."

"I'm sorry."

"Don't, don't you dare." K snapped, sounding like she was starting to tear up. "You don't get to apologize."

I shut up, feeling smaller by the minute. She hates me, and I don't blame her. If I thought it would make her safer, I would shoot myself in the head right now. That would be selfish. Leaving her with those assholes would be reckless. So many died on their watch, Uri, Nicolai, that reporter chick, Chris is a god damned captain of the S.T.A.R.S. and where the hell is his unit? If they can't keep trained soldiers safe, what can they do to help a little girl. A girl who did manage to set up more supplies than most survivors could ever hope to see, and all while hiding in a mother fucking K-mart of all places.

Her scavenging skills are not to be underestimated, and she is well read, educated. She knows where this is going and she looks forward to it, she's received better training for this than most soldiers. I don't know where her parents are, but I'm grateful they gave their girl so much. She'd be so much better without a maverick like me endangering her, she knows more than enough to live on her own. I just brought her with me because I'm selfish, and I was sick of being alone.

I was jolted from my reverie by the sound of a bucket being dropped at my feet. "Let's get you cleaned up while the others hide the cars." I stared in surprise as K grabbed a sponge, from who knows where, and dipped it into the bucket of water, water just murky enough that it couldn't be our bottled stuff. Damn it, while I'm feeling sorry for myself, K is already putting her talents to good use, taking care of others.

"You would make a great leader."