Disclaimer: I own nothing...anyone else notice that it seems to be a common theme on this site...one of these days, someone is actually going to own something.

Chapter 17: Dauntless

For the first time in a long time, the sun rose before Alice did. She even woke with a bit of start before she realized what was going on, but Claire laying naked beside her told her all she needed to know. They had to get moving; they were already a day behind the brunette's schedule, so Alice woke the redhead with a kiss.

"Good morning," Claire greeted with a smile.

"A little past I'm afraid," the brunette said as she got up from the bed and started to gather her things. The redhead sat up on her elbows a little confused.

"Someone's in a bit of a rush I see."

Alice responded with a noncommittal noise, and the furrow in Claire's eyebrows deepened, until she figured out what the brunette was doing. She was putting distance between them; Claire was tired of the mixed signals and the games. Alice would give an inch, then revert a mile. She'd only wanted to wake up in Alice's arms; spend some time with her without worry of the future, because no matter what – they'd be together to meet it. It was not to be.

"You coming?" Alice was already completely dressed, and it spurned Claire to want to say no. She knew the brunette wouldn't leave without her, but she would fire with fire. If Alice wanted distance, distance she would get.

They were in the plane flying south, when Alice turned on her camera to record another video log. "May 6th 1150 hours, leaving Rockaway Beach headed for Medford, San Francisco, then refueling a little past Los Angeles." She switched off the device and then glanced behind her; Claire was looking out the window seemingly oblivious to her gaze.

Hours passed but it felt like they stretched endlessly. The brunette looked at her watch for the time after checking it only half a minute ago. Claire hadn't said a word since they'd left and Alice was beginning to worry.

"Did I do something wrong?"

"No," the redhead said without pulling away her focus from the passing landscape beneath them, and Alice sighed. The bland response was wreaking havoc on her thoughts, but the brunette couldn't figure it out.

She said no, but then why won't she even look at me?

It was nearly 1800 hours when Los Angeles appeared on the horizon, stacks of black smoke poured from the city. Big cities were always so prone to burning, and with the buildings practically stacked up on top of each other it was no surprise to see half the city demolished.

"City of Angels," Alice said morbidly to herself. Structure after structure had broken windows, charred walls, and the occasional splatter of old blood. There wasn't a single undead to be found until they neared the center of the city, where they gathered like flies on road-kill around a concrete complex. "I don't believe it."

"What?"

"Over there," the brunette motioned out the windshield to a building with the words HELP US written on the roof in some kind of white substance, and the redhead saw a handful of survivors trying to get their attention. Alice banked the plane to fly around the building. "No way we're getting in there." The prison was surrounded by thousands of the undead all clambering for the meals waiting inside. Claire could see the wheels turn in the brunette's head with reckless abandon.

"You aren't seriously thinking about landing, are you?"

The taller woman turned the plane again and headed straight for the roof of the building to do a low flyover. The survivors on top got the message, and prepped the area for her touchdown.

"This may get a little rough," Alice said rolling her shoulders and psyching herself up for the landing.

"Alice – stop! Think about this for a second!" Claire pleaded, but Alice was deaf to reason, she was already aligning the plane for the final descent.

The brunette pulled back the throttle to slow down, but she misjudged and the aircraft dropped dangerously low. With a slight adjustment Alice was able to tilt the nose of the plane back up, and they barely crested the rooftop.

Claire braced herself as the wheels connected, bounced a few times and then stayed planted to the structure. Alice did everything she could to bring them to a stop, but she realized that it wouldn't be enough; they were quickly running out of rooftop. But then the landing gear caught on a steel cable set up like a tripwire, and it decreased their speed just enough to keep them from completely falling off the building.

The brunette released the breath she'd been holding until the aircraft started to teeter. The heavy engine in front of the plane had set off its balance to the point where the ex-project knew that there was nothing she could do now to keep them from their fate. Claire gasped and Alice shut her eyes, convinced that any second she'd feel the sensation of falling.

That second never came; the largest of the survivors, and certainly the most athletic, had jumped up to catch the tail. His weight, coupled with another from the group a moment later, brought the plane back to rest on the roof where they maneuvered it away from the edge.

Claire couldn't believe they were still alive; she would've been gracious, had she not been so stirred to an adrenaline-filled rage at Alice.

"Just because you have complete disregard for your life and mine, doesn't mean I do! Next time you want to go off halfcocked for a suicide mission – leave me out of it!" Claire spoke quickly, and with venom, then waited for the brunette to open her only means of escape.

The taller woman pulled back the windshield and emerged from the plane, Claire quickly followed suit. The black man who had held the plane down looked up at the pilot.

"Nice landing," he said.

Alice watched the redhead jump off the wing and walk away, her gait determined and her gaze threatening.

"I think technically it's called a crash and burn," the brunette responded, but she wasn't referring to the plane.