Apocalypse by SLynn
Summary: Three years have passed since the explosion and life has drastically changed for everyone. This isn't the world they imagined they'd be saving.
Spoilers: Up to 'Fallout'
Rating: PG-13
Disclaimer: I'm just borrowing and will return them all when I'm done, virtually untouched.
Notes: My beta is out of town for the weekend, so forgive me my mistakes.
Chapter 2: Alone
It felt so good to be outside.
Claire ran just behind Micah, not knowing where they were headed, but enjoying herself none the less. It was strange and new and exciting. And scary, but only a little. For the past three years the only time she'd been outside was when they'd moved houses. Of course, they moved every few months, sometimes sooner, but it wasn't the same. It wasn't like this.
"Wait up," Ando called after them.
"Quiet," D.L. admonished.
At that, Claire and Micah slowed their pace, but not a lot.
"How much further?" Claire asked, taking in as much of her surroundings as possible.
"It's just around the corner," Micah answered, pointing the way.
Claire nodded and then immediately stopped and tensed up.
Micah stopped too, but only after realizing she was no longer right behind him.
"Don't mind them," he said to her, gently tugging on her arm, "they're just drifters. Like us. We ignore them and they ignore us."
Claire wasn't convinced, not entirely until she looked back at the others. Ando and D.L. were still moving, ignoring the other people on the street just like Micah had said, seemingly oblivious, but Claire was only really easy when she saw Matt do the same. Saw him give the group across the street a hard, probing look. One she knew well; that she'd seen him give countless times.
Catching her eye, he smiled and gave her a little nod.
It was safe.
"Come on," Micah said, pulling on her arm once more.
Claire joined him again, but it wasn't as much fun as it had been just moments before.
She knew why Matt was so protective, why he was so worried for her all the time. People were after her, bad people. Claire understood the danger.
The government, what was left of the government, wanted her like they wanted all of them. They wanted to contain her.
The organization, the one her father worked for, wanted her like they wanted knowledge. They wanted to exploit her.
And then there was Sylar. Sylar who was out there still collecting. Collecting and destroying and hoarding. And killing, still killing.
He probably wanted her most of all.
Her father had seen to it that he'd had forgotten about her once, but he couldn't stop Sylar from relearning that there was a girl out there who was invincible.
"We're here," Micah said, pulling her out of her thoughts.
"What do we do now?" she asked.
"Wait," Ando supplied, as he headed around the corner and out of sight.
Claire looked at the other three confused.
"Ando goes first," D.L. provided. "He checks to see if any militia members are out. He's the only one with a card. Micah hacked into their system and bumped up his status. So now, even if they check, he's in the clear to be out past curfew."
Claire nodded, getting it now.
The cards had only been in effect for the past year, but she knew how they worked. In order to get anything nowadays you had to have a card. The cards were like a lifeline. Without one you couldn't get a job, you couldn't get rations, you couldn't do anything. Being caught on the street without one was cause for instant internment.
It was the new world order.
The militia, set up by the new government, had decreed it not long after they isolated the 'hero' gene. Only those without the gene got a card. If you happened to go in, get checked, and have the gene they hauled you off for further testing and internment.
Many people had refused first, out of principle, but times were hard. Things had changed. People were afraid.
"It's clear," Ando said, returning after only a few minutes.
"Let's go," D.L. said.
The five of them headed as a group around the corner and down the dimly lit street. The city they were in was better preserved than most and still had intermittent power. Claire knew that she'd been told the name of the city, somewhere outside of Baltimore, but she just couldn't remember it now. Not that it mattered. Nothing that trivial seemed important anymore.
Together they approached a sturdy set of doors equipped with some type of electronic alarm.
Micah placed his hand on the keypad, the light went green and the door gave an audible pop.
He gave Claire a big smile which she couldn't help returning before they made their way inside.
"What is this place?" Claire asked as Ando turned on a few lights and D.L. secured the door.
"Just a warehouse," he provided.
"I can see that," Claire said, "but what's in it? What's it for?"
"Provisions mostly," Ando said. "Food. Blankets. Sometimes we find arms."
"Guns?"
Ando nodded as he continued to look through a crate he and Micah had just opened.
"So, this is how we get our food?" Claire asked.
"Don't look so surprised," D.L. answered with a grin. "We have to eat."
"No, I'm not," Claire tried backpedaling, "I just thought when you guys went out…"
She stopped talking feeling Matt's gaze on the back of her head.
"You thought there'd be a little more action?" D.L. asked, still grinning.
Claire just kind of shrugged, pretty much confirming it.
"Sorry," D.L. said, sounding anything but. "Next time."
"Let's just get through this time," Matt put in, looking around the room as if at any moment he expected half a dozen armed men to jump out at them.
But Claire had laughed, the first honest laugh anyone had heard from her in a long time. It was a nice sound.
They were only in the warehouse for about ten minutes. Just long enough to get the things they needed and get out again. Micah was sure to relock the alarm and they were back at the safe house in under an hour.
It wasn't much of an excursion, but Claire was glad she'd gone.
"Everything go okay?" Hiro asked as they unloaded their goods. Three years living among them had vastly improved his English.
"Just fine," D.L. commented with a smile, watching as Niki hugged Micah.
"Good," Hiro said, clapping Ando on the shoulder with a friendly smile of his own.
Claire watched on for a moment as the goods were unpacked and sorted before slowly retreating out of the room.
She liked everyone she lived with, would do anything for them. They'd saved her, protected her, they were her family now, but it was moments like this that just reinforced how alone she felt.
They all had a history that was beyond this.
Niki, D.L. and Micah were a family, a real one, even before everything happened.
Hiro and Ando were friends. They'd grown up together and worked side by side for their whole lives.
And then there was Claire.
Maybe that was one of the reasons she and Matt stuck by each other so often and for so long. Maybe he felt a little like an outsider too.
"You disappeared."
"That'd be new, wouldn't it?" Claire commented back, trying to lighten the mood and lift her own spirits.
"I wish that there was something I could do for you," Matt said, sitting down beside her.
"I'm okay," she returned back almost automatically.
Matt smiled wryly and shook his head.
"Your pain," he said softly, "it's so loud. I can't…"
"I'm sorry."
"Don't be sorry," he said quickly. "I just, I want to help, Claire. I've been trying to help and I know I haven't done a very good job of it."
"No," she argued, "you have. If it wasn't for you… just after… I don't know what would have happened to me. Sometimes I feel like you're the only one I have left."
"Everyone here…"
"No, they're great. They are," she continued, "but, I didn't know them before any of this happened. We were just strangers. All of us."
"So were we."
"But it's different somehow, you know?"
Matt nodded slowly in agreement.
"Sometimes it just really hits me; I can't go home. It's really never going to be like it was again. When I ran away, they erased me from my mother and brother's memories. They wiped me out of my only real friend's life."
Claire paused, regaining herself a little.
"Peter was the first person I met that understood. Who was like me. I always felt like he connected me to everyone else."
"I know what you mean."
Claire turned and looked at him, smiling sadly.
"I guess I forget."
"Forget?"
"That it isn't just me. That you lost your wife," Claire answered tentatively.
Matt sighed, burying his face into his hands. Even with everything that had gone wrong in his marriage, he'd still tried to make it work; had still wanted it to work. Losing her hadn't been easy. None of this had been easy.
Claire responded by wrapping her arms around him, leaning her head against his shoulder.
"We helped each other, right?"
Matt chuckled a bit, nodding in agreement and closing his own hands around hers.
"I thought I was the mind reader."
Claire laughed, squeezing him once more before finally letting go.
"Matt," Hiro called from the doorway.
They both looked at him, unsure how long he'd been there.
"Sorry," he apologized, "but Audrey is here. She wants to talk to you. To all of us."
"I'll be right there," Matt answered, unmoving from his spot.
Hiro pressed his lips together looking decidedly uneasy before nodding and shutting the door back on the two of them.
"What's going on?" Claire asked concerned.
"They're getting closer."
"But we've been…"
"Micah picked it up today. They definitely know we're in the area. It's not safe here anymore."
"Where is it safe?"
"D.L. thinks up north."
'Sylar.'
"We have to risk it," he answered to her undeclared statement.
"What happens to Audrey? To Mohinder? Do we just…"
"I'm hoping to convince them to come with us," Matt sighed. "It's just a matter of time before the government is on to them. I'm surprised they aren't already."
"And if we can't?" Claire asked, the worry in her voice causing it to crack slightly.
'If Audrey stays…'
"I won't leave you alone," he said resolutely.