I'm ready to get this show on the road. Our girls have been through so much. So I've been working on this lovely chapter. Hope you all enjoy.

And please, please, please leave some feedback. I need my fix. I'm not above begging. I need the good stuff, y'all. I swear I can quit whenever I want, I just don't want to. Please help me get my fix.

"There is no wall."

"No."

"No actual gate. No drawbridge. No moat."

"No."

"There is barely even a fence."

"Six years is hell on chain link and barbed wire."

"You couldn't keep a pack of children out of here, much less an Infected horde," Claire grumbled in disbelief. She had never seen a real military fort before. They had come across the odd National Guard facilities that were little more than clusters of buildings, but she had expected an honest military fort to be… grander, more imposing. At the very least a little more fort-like.

As it stood currently, all she could see was the road leading into the base, flanked by crumbling guard shacks and long chain-link fences topped with coils of barbed wire that ran in opposite directions. The road itself was blocked by aged orange barriers, the kind used in road construction. The only things marking this nondescript location as military were the wooden sign proudly welcoming them to United States Army Fort Lewis, and smaller signs declaring that photo identification was required for entrance and every vehicle entering the fort was subject to search.

"Most bases were built when the country didn't face any sort of domestic threat," Carlos explained with the patient amusement of someone accustomed to most people's ignorance of the military. While he wasn't technically military, Umbrella invested a great deal in their operatives, including training on par and often with American military forces.

Claire scoffed and lifted her binoculars back up to their eyes, carefully scanning for any side of the Infected, any hit of movement. "Maybe. But I thought national security would merit something a bit stronger barbed wire."

"The dead hadn't started walking when they built Fort Lewis," Alice said dryly from her perch atop the Hummer's hood. She rarely used binoculars, as if she never needed them to see regardless of distance. Instead, she had nimbly climbed on top of the Hummer and stood, shielding her eyes with her hand. "Walls weren't necessary. And, it's concertina wire. Not barbed wire." Her words were neutral, but as she leapt to the ground, Claire suspected that there was more shifting under her calm exterior.

"Barbed wire will just snag your clothing, scratch you up. At worst, a few puncture wounds," Carlos explained, packing his pair of binoculars safely in their carrying pouch. "Concertina wire is just a coiled razor blade. It won't snag. It'll just slice through just about anything. Try and crawl through it or over it, it'll shred you to ribbons. It will slice you clear down to your femoral artery and you'll bleed out in five minutes."

Blinking appreciatively, Claire leaned into the Hummer and placed her binoculars in her glove box. K-mart whistled lowly and handed the redhead her fingerless leather gloves and ball cap.

"Be glad all we have to do is walk in the front door." Alice took a long swig from her canteen without sparing a glance for any of the other lieutenants.

K-mart arched a brow at Claire, who shrugged and finished pulling on her gloves. Alice had been particularly detached since they had arrived just outside the gates of their destination. Her exact mood was hard to gauge on a good day, let alone one when she seemed even more closed off than usual. She was more terse than usual, each word almost accusatory in its brevity. But then, Claire couldn't be sure this was as recent a development as she thought. She had scarcely spoken with Alice in days.

Not since the night she had finally broken. Not since she had wept in the comfort of Alice's arms, felt the fragile safety of her embrace. Not since Alice had held her until she had fallen into a fitful sleep, held her through the dreams that had awakened her. Not since Claire had left the warmth, the solace, the escape of accepting the respite Alice had offered her. Not since suffering the excruciating shame and loneliness of spending the rest of the night masturbating in an abandoned gas station office.

Her face burned at the memories, and Claire quickly fumbled for the cap of her own canteen to conceal her reaction. Maybe she should talk to the other woman. After they were finished in Fort Lewis, once they were fueled up, had all the supplies on the trucks, then… then they would talk.

"Let's mount up," Claire slid behind the steering wheel of her Hummer. "Alice, Carlos, you think you guys can move those barriers out of the way and bring up the rear?"

"Not a problem, boss." Carlos touched two fingers to his brow in a mock salute and sauntered back towards the fuel truck. Alice gave a half nod of acknowledgment and followed him without making eye contact.

The rest of the fort was as dismal and colorless as the entrance, only this time, it seemed designed that way. All the buildings were the same shade of tan brick and brown tin roof. Each bore a small brown placard with white numbers and was additionally marked by matching brown signs designating the barber shop, the middle school, the gym, headquarters battalion. The roads were simple two-lane thoroughfares.

No building was easily distinguishable from the other, some were larger or smaller than others. Some were annexed to large gravel parking lots full of Humvees and deuce and a halfs and even a few tanks. "The PX should be on the right, just after this intersection." Alice's voice crackled over the radio.

"Yup." K-mart answered promptly. "We see it. Just up ahead, the giant building with the giant parking lot."

"Roger."

"Pulling off now." Claire said, to no one in particular. The parking lot was mostly empty. There were a few cars, parked with no concern to parking lines or order. As they pulled up to the front, Claire noted it was actually two buildings connected, one being the PX and the other being marked "Commissary."

"Hand me the shotgun."

K-mart half-climbed into the backseat, reached for Claire's shotgun, handed it to her. "Let me come this time?"

Hesitating midway through the inspection of her weapon, Claire bit her lower lip. K-mart wasn't a child anymore, but… nor was she that old either, barely old enough to drive. But how many half-sized Infected had they come across in the past six years? Infection didn't care how old the victim was. Finishing her inspection of the weapon, she handed it to the teenager. "Do not be a hero, K, or so help me…"

"I won't." K-mart assured her and all but leapt from the Hummer with the shotgun cradled in her arms.

Alice approached with a brow arched at the girl and clapped her on the shoulder with a half nod of approval. "Don't shoot unless they're close enough to smell them."

"Everyone stay in the trucks until we give the all-clear." Claire shouted over her shoulder at the remainder of the convoy and fell in beside Alice. It felt a little uncomfortable without the bulk of the shotgun against her shoulder even if she still had both her pistols. "Seems quiet."

Without a reply, Alice slinked up to length of doors like a cat investigating a curious object. They were glass doors, but someone had pulled down the aluminum roll doors used when closing for the night, making it impossible to see inside. Placing her hand on the glass, the older woman immediately shrank into herself. It was if Claire could physically see Alice leave her body, disappearing to leave an empty, fleshy shell behind. And suddenly she was back.

"Get back!" She barked, stumbling away.

The aluminum doors rippled like paper as the weight of a hundred, a thousand corpses thundered against it and collided with the glass. It was the sound of a mallet thudding against raw meat that echoed in the empty lot, a sickeningly wet sound. It was then she noticed the heavy chains wound around each set of double-doors' handles. Chained and locked from the outside. Claire instinctively pushed K-mart behind her. "Get in the Hummer." She commanded, but her voice was little more than a whisper. "Go."

"Move," Alice was right behind Claire, her hand on her back, propelling her forward. But instead of pushing her into the driver's seat, she wheeled her around and threw open the back door of the Hummer in one fluid motion, all but tossing the other woman into the back seat. The movement felt surprisingly effortless for Alice, and Claire had a brief moment to be impressed before she roughly collided into the cracked canvas of the seat.

The awe at the woman's physical prowess quickly wore off and was abruptly replaced by a seething bubble of anger. How dare Alice manhandle her like… like a child? This was her convoy, and Alice had no right to just toss her around whenever the mood suited her. She felt her face burn; her ears blistering. Before the convoy leader could snap back with irritation, Alice leveled a gaze of pure ice at her over the center console, and the anger cooled to a lump of solid lead in her belly. "I know the way. We can't waste time now."

"We. Are. Going. To. Talk." Claire said tightly, hedging the growl out of her voice as she pushed herself up so that she was sitting instead of sprawled.

Snorting, Alice unceremoniously shifted the Hummer into drive, an insufferable smirk plastered across her face as the vehicle lurched forward. "First time for everything."

Oh snap. Shit's gonna get real.

The more feedback, the more real it gets. For real. True story.