Disclaimer: I own nothing

Resident Evil: Guardian
Chapter 6
"Background"

Thinking of the words to say
I'd like to think that this was fate
Reference to a song you love
Spell confusion with a K
Like a star without its strings
I'm hanging here on these two wings
For that smile and those eyes
I'm falling

If time could stop, how could I make this more poetic?
When there's nothing more pathetic to be said

You bring me out, show me light
I'm sorry if I hide, I'm too afraid to look inside
You carry through, you make me smile
If it were you and me tonight
I would tame the stars and save the brightest one for you
For you...

Amber Pacific - "Poetically Pathetic"

Black, hot, rich, fresh; those were the first things that I thought of as I brought the steamy cup of liquid to my lips.

Only to spit it all out a second later.

Gross, sick, rotten, vile; those were my next set of choice words.

"Jesus LJ, what the hell did I just drink!?" I exclaimed to him, still spiting in an attempt to remove the taste from my mouth.

"What? It's just a homemade cup of joe." He said, looking slightly hurt.

"That was not a cup of coffee man, that was more like a cup of crap." I said to me then glared at Carlos who was grinning wildly.

"And what's so damn funny?" I questioned him.

"That you can't even handle a cup of raw coffee, that's what's so damn funny." He finished with a triumphant smile.

"Okay then mister tough guy, let's see you do better."

He didn't reply, instead he took a nice long gulp of; and I use this term loosely, coffee.

Carlos' eyes bulged from disgust but out of sheer will, he swallowed anyways. His face curled up into a scowl and he poured out the remaining contents of his cup.

"Told ya so." I said, not even caring to hide my smirk.

All eyes were on LJ as he stared holes into both me and Carlos.

"Man, you two just don't have good taste." He said, then took a drink from his cup.

He himself choked and seemed very surprised, then, noticing our curious faces, grumbled to himself quietly.

Carlos and I shared grins.

Just then, Mikey and Chase walked over to our circle of three out of curiosity I guess.

"Hey, what's all the yelling about?" Mikey asked.

"Just trying out LJ's coffee from hell." Carlos answered and I snickered.

"Coffee?" Both asked.

"I'll save you two the trouble; don't." I said.

The didn't listen, Mikey took my cup and took a hesitant sniff, he made a face and handed it back to me.

Chase didn't even seemed fazed by our warnings. Instead he picked up a cup, and took a slow sip.

He swished it around his mouth a bit, then swallowed. Then, he went for another, and another, until the whole mug was empty.

The rest of us stared, astonished.

"How did you do that?" I finally found my voice.

He shrugged and motioned to my cup, I gave it up, and just watched him gulp it down.

Oh god, I feel nauseous.

"How'd you make this crap anyways?" Mikey asked LJ.

He thought about it for a moment, "Uh; just mixed water, sugar, chocolate, crushed peanuts." He started, counting off his fingers along with a mental list.

"Oh yeah, and some grounded up pieces of coal." He finished.

Everyone was silent for a minute.

"Coal? As in made for fire coal?" Chase asked, disbelievingly.

"Yep."

Chase raised an eyebrow, glanced at his half empty cup, shrugged and chugged it down.

The others just rolled their eyes and I stood up.

"Where you off to?" Carlos asked me.

"Get some water and hopefully something to take the taste of crap from my mouth."

"The beer's all gone." Mikey called after my retreating form, "Finished it all yesterday."

Well ain't that just great.

I waved to let him know I heard, then walked back over to the trucks.

It's been well over a month since the convoy first found me boarded up in my own personal fortress. And it's been a rather eventful month indeed.

How so? Well take for instance how I learned that Carlos and LJ are actual survivors of the first breakout. They even claim to know who or what engineered the plague, but for some reason, they refuse to tell me or anyone else for that matter.

Weird eh?

But yeah, back to my point. It's been great being around people again, honestly I think it's helped me gaina sense of normalcy once again.

I approached the area where the rest of the convoy's parked at. This week we took shelter by yet another trucker rest stop. There was unfortunately no gas or food around anywhere, but we did find a large supply of water, turns out the water mains here are still up and running, fresh too.

I started filling up my canteen, during which I had the distinct feeling that someone was watching me, but I shrugged it off.

Bad move Nathan, very bad move.

"Surprise!" A voice called out as I felt something drop on my head and water splash all over me.

What the hell?!?

Now as of right now, I was ready to crack some skulls and kick someone's ass. But then I realized something that instantly calmed me down.

I knew that voice.

"Alright, you're in trouble now K!" I playfully yelled to the one and only person who would dare push my buttons.

Kmart

She is so dead!

The blonde in question instantly began a crazed dash away, straight towards the safety of the convoy vehicles. I myself started pursuit in a sprint of my own.

Without question, I was much faster.

As I caught up to her, I gently tackled her to the ground and then executed the most terrible, horrid, wickedly evil action that any zombie or fiend could not even hope to compare to.

I tickled her. A lot.

"Nathan! No! No! Please! Mercy! I Give, I Give!" She attempted to reason through breaks of breath and uncontrollable laughter.

I laughed and started to tease, "Not a chance Kmart, now what did you use?"

She started squirming and clutching her ribs in a pitiful attempt for defense, "Wh-What?" She managed to say.

"What did you use for this?" I replied, freeing one hand to point to my now soaked head.

"A water balloon! Now would you please stop!?!"

A water balloon? Wonder where she got that from. Oh well, back to torturing.

"I didn't hear the magic word." I continued to tease.

"I said please!"

"Wrong! It's actually Nathan is the greatest person ever." Man, aren't I conceited?

"What!?!" Her face was blushing like mad now, I doubted she could breath well.

"Just do it." I coolly stated.

"Fine! Nathanisthegreatestpersonever!" She had to say it fast from lack of air.

I smiled and released my grip allowing Kmart to catch her breath.

"You suck." She said after a moment of silence.

I grinned, "Hey, you're the one who started it."

She rolled her eyes and playfully shoved me, I grabbed her hand and fell backwards on purpose. She fell on top of me and we both started laughing until a very loud whistle ended our fun. We both glanced up to see LJ looking kinda impatient.

"Hey you two love birds! Hurry up, it's lunchtime!"

Kmart immediately glared daggers through him for the whole "love birds" comment, but I just rolled my eyes and held my hand out to help her up.

"Lunch?" I asked her.

"Duh."

Yep, just your average everyday life in the saddle.

"Are you kidding?" I asked Claire desperately, glancing back in forth between her and the now setting sun.

"Sorry Nathan" Claire said sympathetically, "But you're the only one with night vision and that makes you best qualified."

Damn, she has a point.

Not to long ago, Mikey was up and around declaring that the sentinel proximity system we have, was malfunctioning. No it wasn't just malfunctioning, it was completely and totally screwed. Rotation was messed, batteries dead, and their motion sensors were going off every minute.

So what should we do? Without those sentinels, we can't sleep securely, unknowing if a rotter was crossing our perimeter. Claire's solution? Simple, make the dude with the NVG's, yes that's right me; take the entire night watch.

Dammit, this is gonna suck.

I slumped my shoulders and nodded to Claire in defeat. She mouthed a thank you, then moved on to her hummer.

I myself headed towards my humvee, sulking over the fact that I wasn't going to have a great night tonight.

By the time the sun was almost completely set, I was entirely suited and geared up. I think I got a couple weird stares from a few people. Truthfully, I don't really think I needed all the ammo, batteries, armor, and extra attachments to my rifle. But I was gonna be alone out here tonight, not taking any chances.

"Bring on the darkness" I said to myself, boredom already settling in.

A couple times while I was still on base I think I was given a few full night graveyard watches. But I never remember it being this boring…or this frightening.

Maybe it was because I was on shift with one or two other guys, or maybe because there was no danger, no war going on.

Or maybe because there wasn't any living dead in existence who's sole purpose is to crawl up from behind me and take a chunk out of my throat.

A shiver went down my spine and I nervously checked the area behind me and the humvee thoroughly.

Nope, nothing.

Paranoia sucks.

I took in a deep breath and relaxed myself. I need to get a grip, there's nothing else out here, nothing but rocks, sand, dirt, and me.

Unfortunately, I spoke to soon, because two hands popped out of the shadows and pounced on my back.

"Christ!" I jumped up and fell off the humvee, I scuttled away, flipping on my NVG's and raising my rifle.

Only to stare up into the face of a smiling girl.

"Gotcha" Kmart grinned triumphantly.

"What the fuck K!" I nearly screamed at her, careful to not wake the others, "I could've shot you!" It was true, my rifle was aimed directly at her and my finger was on the trigger, all I needed to do was a twitch and…

"Could've, but didn't." She replied, acting as if nothing even happened.

She held out her hand to help me up and after a moments hesitation, I took it, still glaring.

"Oh lighten up" She said smiling. I just rolled my eyes, still pissed.

We stood in sour silence for about a minute, she staring at me, I avoided her eyes.

"Fine I'm sorry" She finally said, her face pulled up into a frown, "I was just trying to have a little fun, I didn't mean to upset you."

I glanced at her and saw sincerity in her eyes, Don't asked why but I got this sudden sense of guilt, she was just playing around, right?

Guess I can be too hard on her, can I? Might as well try and make amends.

"I think I might have pissed myself" I said out of the blue, falsely checking my pants.

Kmart cocked her features into a confused stare, but I caught glimpse of a small smile, which grew, and grew, and grew until it was a full pledged laugh.

At the sound of her laughter, I think I went all tingly…and I don't know whether this knowing this makes me joyful or fearful…maybe a little of both.

"Should've seen your face" Kmart broke my train of thought, "Was like you had a Z right on top of you."

"Screw you."

She just smiled and clocked me on the helmet.

"Might wanna take this off."

"Why?" I questioned.

"Because, those goggles make you look stupid." She said with a smirk.

I realized now that I was still wearing my NVG's, no wonder the world was so green.

I slid off the goggles and removed my helmet, I turned to see Kmart giving me one of those "Duh" looks.

"Whatever" I said.

We sat on the hood of the humvee and just talked for a while, mostly about stupid stuff, like our lives before…well at least my life, I had learned from Carlos that Kmart doesn't really enjoy revealing a lot about her past, and I can't say I blame her.

I had just finished telling her the story about my mom's reaction to me enlisting, when she brought up a question that I hadn't seen coming.

"Do you miss your mom?" Out of the blue she asked. Her eyes locked with mine for a second before she turned away.

I wasn't expecting her to ask that, but I answered anyways.

"Yeah. Lots." I said simply, but truthfully.

"Your dad?" She looked…sacred to ask, wonder why.

"Nope, never met him." I stated bluntly, but still 100% truthful.

"Wh-" She stopped, having second thoughts about asking.

I shook my head, "No it's fine. He died when I was still in the womb. Drunk driving accident."

She looked at the ground then to me.

"I'm Sorry."

"Don't be" I said, "It was his damn fault."

She opened her mouth to ask but I answered before she could.

"He was the drunk." I revealed, "Killed two people in the other car, paralyzed the third. Their family's lawyers caused my mother a lot of grief in the months that followed." Then I motioned to myself, "And then I came along."

To tell the truth, I hate telling this story, no I mean I really hate this story. But for some strange reason, I just wanted to get this off my chest, and it actually made me feel better doing so.

"What about you, do you miss yours?" I asked, hesitant to do so though, this conversation was on thin ice right now.

She started nibbling on her lip furiously out of discomfort and I immediately regretted asking her.

Dammit Nathan, you stupid retard.

"Did you…did you ever find out what happened…to your mom?" She asked me, possibility to dodge my last question.

I nodded and broke eye contact, deep in thought.

"When I first enlisted, the country was still in the early days of infection." I started my tale, "Nobody knew what was going on, we all saw news reports of rioting and panic. National Guard sent out to restore order, the president declared Marshall Law on affected areas, everything was going to shit. Mom thought there was going to be a civil war on home soil, can you believe that?" I asked Kmart who's eyes were locked in with my, focused on the story.

"Yeah." Was all she said.

"See? Well anyways; The two of us weren't to worried on it though. The chaos was at least a few states away. There was no chance that it would really effect us." I smiled grimly, "Oh the irony."

"My mom's boyfriend, Mark Grant, he was a doctor, well he had told us about how hospitals around the state were being filled up and to capacity with injured patients. There was always something dealing with a rabid person, or a crazed homeless person. Each, involving one thing; bites."

I saw Kmart shiver and realized just how cold my voice sounded.

"So what happened?" She asked through the silence.

"Well" I started in thought, "Nothing for awhile really. It wasn't until I left for basic that odd stuff was happening around my hometown."

"Like?" Kmart asked, full interest on the tale.

"The first letter I got from my mom said that there were disappearances all over the place. First it started with pets, then the homeless, and eventually neighbors." I said, rethinking my past over.

"The second letter I received from her was a bit unnerving; apparently when Mark went to work earlier in the week, a crazed patient bit him."

Kmart's eyes went wide as she realized where this story was going.

"This event really spooked mom out, told me that she and Mark were going to stay at her sister's house. My Aunt Karen lived in New Mexico, far from the holocaust that was taking place. They were going to leave come Friday. I didn't give it a second thought."

I paused for a moment but Kmart stayed silent, out of respect I guess.

"Then it happened, the officers at base crowded us around in the barracks to brief us on something important." I sighed, "And then they dropped the bomb, they told us everything they knew. What we were up against, how to kill them, they even informed us on the fact that the infected didn't even have a pulse. They didn't use the term zombie, but the thoughts were swimming in my head and everyone else in my unit. The brass didn't have any clue exactly how it spread yet, but they did know that it was highly infectious and with a 100% mortality rate." I subconsciously brought my hand into a fist, the memories still fresh in my mind like it was yesterday.

"They showed us a video, it was an autopsy conducted by the CDC. Everything was going well until a guy removed the heart. A second later, the body sprang to life, tore off the mask of one of the doctors and bit down on his chin. I'll never forget the look in the poor bud's face as the undead gripped him…or when he released a high pitched scream of pain and surprise."

Kmart silently whispered a "God" before she ushered me to continue. I smiled slightly before starting up again.

"So yeah, that was an eventful day. And I'm sure that I would tell mom everything about it next time mail comes around."

I frowned grimly, "Only problem was, when mail call finally came, there was nothing for me. I figured it was because mom was still settling in up by my Aunt's. But the week after; there was nothing for me. I started panicking and asked my DI about it." I felt something grip my hand and realized Kmart held it in hers. I gave her a small smile, gulped and continued. "I wasn't ready for his answer. The city; my hometown, was hit by the infection and swarmed by the undead. He said it all happened on May 14, Thursday…one day before mom was supposed to leave town." My voice was grim, emotionless.

I felt her grip on my hand squeeze as to comfort, it helped a lot actually.

"My mom was six months pregnant." I suddenly blurted out quietly. I had promised myself to never let that detail out…but something about Kmart just relaxed me, and a voice told me, just spoke in my head: It's okay, let her know, it's okay to let it out.

And so I did.

Kmart's reaction wasn't what I expected. I was thinking there would be some silence as a respect and then it would just get awkward. But no, instead, she pulled me in and hugged me, a heartfelt hug for me.

"I'm so sorry." She whispered and then we pulled apart.

The silence came then, but it wasn't awkward, no it was more like a break, a simple break from discussion, a chance to think of something to say.

"It's Dahlia." She said out of nowhere.

I blinked, then turned to her, confusion written all over my face.

"What?" I ask

She's blushing like mad, it was cute, "My name, my real name, it's Dahlia."

It took me a minute, but then I got it.

Her name you idiot! She's telling you her real name, she never told anybody it before!

Play. It. Cool.

That voice in my head is a real ass.

I stayed silent for a moment, Kmart's eyes intent on me.

"Well" I finally spoke, "I guess you were right to change your name."

"Really?" She asked surprised.

"Oh yeah" I said grinning, "Dahlia sounds so stupid!"

"Nathan!" She said with a look of mock hurt and slapped my arm playfully.

I laughed and held my shoulder as if I was in pain.

I guess that means the serious conversations are over.

"Hey K?" I asked as we laid across the hood of my humvee

"Yeah?"

"Why'd you come out?" What? I was curious.

"Huh?" She asked, clearly puzzled.

"I mean, why'd you come out. Out here; with me, by the humvee.

She sat up from laying down on the hood, silent for the moment, probably thinking of the right thing to say.

"I don't know" she answered quietly, "Some nights I just have trouble sleeping. If I stay in the trucks, I'd just toss and turn all night."

"So you instead take a walk outside?" I asked.

She smiled timidly, "Well…sometimes I just like to stare up at the stars." She pauses to glance up and I follow her gaze.

"It just calms and relaxes me I guess." She finished, then laid back down.

I nodded understandingly, not sure what to say. So instead, I just stayed silent as both lay, relaxed and tired; staring up into the night sky.

The two of us sat like that for a while, until my eyelids became heavy and the world became all but a blur.

I vaguely remember Kmart going limp and resting her head against my shoulder before I lost consciousness all together.

A voice woke me from my slumber.

"Nathan. Hey Nathan? Soldier boy, get up."

I cracked an eye open and the unforgiving glare of the sun blinded me for a minute.

It took a bit until my eyes readjusted and I met a stare with Claire.

"Oh good, awake now?" She asked, slightly annoyed.

It all hit me full force then. I was supposed to keep watch! Not fall asleep, I put the whole convoy in danger!

"Oh man Claire, I'm sor-" I attempted to apologize put she put a hand up to silence me.

"Don't." She said, "I'll let it slide for now. But don't let it happen again." She was being merciful, I should feel grateful.

"Now take her back to our truck. A car hood isn't the best place for sleep." She said, pointing at something behind me.

No, not something; someone.

I turned to see Kmart asleep beside me, clutching my arm and using it for a pillow.

I chuckled, and the events of last night came swooshing through my head.

"Take a nap yourself." Claire said, breaking my train of thought. "We're moving out today and I don't need you passing out behind the wheel."

I nodded a thankful smile which Claire returned and walked off, leaving my attention to the young girl sleeping beside me.

I picked Kmart up bridal style and started carrying her over to the yellow hummer, careful not to wake her.

For a sixteen year old, she wasn't that heavy, I didn't strain or anything.

I reached the lead hummer and carefully set Kmart down on the back seats. I removed my BDU over-shirt and draped it over her body as a blanket. Satisfied that she was snug and cozy, I shut the door as silent and delicately as I could, then walked back over to my humvee.

And through it all, with this stupid grin plastered to my face.

Why? God knows.

But am I complaining? Nope, not one little bit.

Ok, bear with me here folks. This is my very first attempt at a romance so if it's anyway at all chessy or poorly executed, just cut me some slack.
Oh, and happy MLK Day. I'll be sure to enjoy my Monday before I go back to school and get raped up the ass by Finals.

Well anyways, R&R, gimmie some feedback and tips if you got any.

Wish me luck
-Tomato