Thank you all for your good wishes and reviews! Know that I feel a lot better than yesterday (thought maybe Evil Alice disassembled my jaw they way she did for that wolf…) and as such, have been able to write this chapter without fear that it is drug induced babbling, haha. None the less, I think the drugs did have some affect - seriously this chapter is actually somewhat light-hearted, but it isn't without a little dose of Evil Alice cruelty so enjoy!

Chapter 11: Wartime

Alice couldn't fall back to sleep after Claire left; she didn't even try. The redhead had gotten her release, but Alice didn't get hers and the sexual tension had her wired. The blonde didn't mind at first, but as the minutes dragged on into daylight she was trying to think of anything that would free the pent-up energy.

Back before the outbreak, she'd just hit the gym. Now, doing pushups and running was a waste of time. Her muscles never deteriorated and her heart never needed to be strengthened. She was always at optimum power and now it was a burden. The only thing she could practice was her mental capabilities. Her focus could always use improvement. It had taken Alice months of struggle to influence more than one object but mere weeks until she could control three or more at a time.

Alice thought of one of the questions K-mart had asked her the other day; the one about enhancing her own strength. She'd tried something like it a few days after meeting Beth – it hadn't worked. Alice found that out after having the genius, drunken notion to jump off a building and see if she could make herself fly. Alice was completely immune to her own mental control, but she never really understood why. Like she did when she lifted the Hummer, Alice used her physical strength as much as she could and then only applied her mental influence on the vehicle when it wasn't enough.

There was one more talent her mental abilities allowed her. As long as she was familiar with how something worked she could alter it from the inside, without having to see it. The barrier to that particular skill had been breached a year ago and she'd been using it ever since. She could dispatch undead with about as much effort as aiming and pulling a trigger – simply severing the brain stem or removing a vertebra with the spinal column still attached, while not as satisfying as physically shooting them in the head, it could be more effective; especially, when she could focus on twenty at a time.

Alice was merely passing through the town with only one goal in mind – to pick up her friend Jack and if he couldn't be found she'd settle for Jim; at this point she'd even take Patrone.

The previously raided liquor store didn't hold much, but she found one bottle of Old No. 7. As she walked back through the broken glass door she saw the horde approach her. They'd probably followed the sound of her bike. Her blood had given her warning, but she was too concerned with finding good alcohol to care much about it.

Now however, she faced the beginnings of undead army. Their ranks were full of disorder but they were formidable just the same. By the looks of them, they hadn't been able to infect any new recruits for a while. The first to reach her were like a calvary, in that their flesh was still fresh enough that they retained more of their human speed than the others.

They still had a way to go however, and if Alice was quick enough she could swallow some aqua vitae. Alice twisted the top and brought the square bottle to her lips. It was a sweet kind of burn that filled her throat as she downed a good portion. A refreshing sigh escaped after she swallowed the last time and she let the bottle drop to her side as she used her freehand to un-holster a handgun. She hardly had to look as she took another drink and began to fire on the charging infected.

One empty clip and a near-empty bottle later, Alice had to dodge an undead from behind causing her liquor bottle to smash on the concrete wall of the store beside her. The blonde looked at the broken neck of the bottle in her hand.

"You son of a bitch! I wasn't done with that!"

She jammed the jagged edge of her newly created bar-fight weapon into the undead's skull and released it when the corpse fell to the ground. Alice let her anger build though she was happily indulging in her intoxicated state. She was certainly a mean drunk, but she hadn't always been that way.

Attacking from behind – you should get a new trick ya' spineless bastard, Alice cursed and then thought for a moment more. Now there's an idea…

Next to start their assault was the typical infantry of the undead – the slow, rotted, first-to-be-infected type. The first to approach her would get to be her guinea pig. An undead construction worker, courtesy of the orange vest and leather work gloves, volunteered with a loud moan and a deteriorating gait. You'll do, Alice thought with a smile as she began to focus. A slight pressure filled up the space in her mind that wasn't clouded with inebriation until the infected froze in its tracks. Alice held it in place. She concentrated for a moment longer; her pupils expanded and the undead's entire spine was ripped from its back.

Alice looked on in wonder as the mass of bone, each vertebra still connected to the last, fell alongside its owner. She couldn't help the laughter escaping her lips anymore than she could help her aggressive desire to do it again.

Refining the ability to cause destruction from the inside into a more efficient means of killing was necessary if Alice really wanted to do damage to the undead population everywhere she went. So she developed it as quickly as she could but also used it sparingly. If Umbrella ever emerged upon a town she'd passed through and found nothing but once-infected corpses with no real visible signs of damage – well, it would seem quite suspicious and she had no doubt that some good, little Umbrella dog would begin to spot a pattern and track her.

Still there was the question of how to release her built-up energy. She decided to work on improving her range. A general rule for the scope of her mental prowess was that the further she was from something the less influence she could have over it.

In the time just before dawn, Alice got out of the Mustang and set out to practice. The only objects to use around her were tiny rocks and rooted trees, but those were all too boring and wouldn't be a good enough workout. Well there is…Alice looked over at the vehicles. She glanced at the yellow Hummer. Claire would kill me if anything happened to her Beast…She shifted her gaze to the Mustang and shrugged. She was sure nothing would really happen to it.

Alice took a few calming breaths after sitting with her legs crossed on the pavement. Her blue eyes focused on the muscle car as it began to rise into the air. She tried to keep track of every yard it rose, not really paying attention to fact that the sun was rising behind her as she did so. It was a long process to lift such a heavy object, but she was becoming very satisfied with the new heights she reached.

The vehicle was nearly twenty yards in the air when Claire and K-mart walked out of the house and broke her concentration. The Mustang plummeted to the earth and she was so tired she couldn't muster the focus to stop it fast enough. Oh shit.

The raven black, high performance machine was built for speed – not for surviving an impact by landing on its wheels with said speed. It never stood a chance. Alice merely grimaced as the vehicle came crashing down. The front end collided with the pavement first, thanks to its heavy engine causing the entire body to compress in a devastating display of what happens when sheet metal and gravity combine. All four wheels popped off and one put a dent in the Hummer. Bits of glass and other debris flew as each windshield cracked. None of it went far enough to hit Claire or K-mart, but Alice was struck with some of the shrapnel-like pieces of metal and broken glass.

When the wreckage and dust settled, Alice rose from her sitting position to see Claire running to her.

"Jesus Christ! Alice!" Claire held up her hands in complete disbelief keeping her attention on the destroyed vehicle. "What the fuck?"

Not quite the reaction I was expecting, Alice thought. Especially, considering… The blonde looked at her left arm; blood ran down underneath her leather jacket to drip to the ground from her unmoving fingers. The flow began to increase as her heart struggled to pump with every liter lost. Such a mess – I hate it when I cut arteries.

Claire was still cursing, her profanity becoming ever more colorful as Alice tried to clear her head from exhaustion and blood loss. The shredded metal in her shoulder had to be pulled out if her healing was going to begin. She could only lift her other arm far to brush her fingers against the black piece. The unsuccessful attempt drained her of what strength she had left but before she could completely collapse, K-mart caught her. The last thing Alice remembered was Claire calling her name.

When she came to, she was naked underneath the sheets of the bed inside the house. Sunlight was pouring in the window, but Alice couldn't discern the time. She could already feel that she wasn't wearing her watch and she began to panic until she noticed Claire pacing at the end of the bed.

The redhead was just about to make another pass when, during her turn, she saw that Alice was awake.

"Hey!"

Claire approached and then sat on the mattress next to her.

"Hey yourself," Alice greeted but before Claire could speak again she asked, "where's my watch?"

The redhead twisted backwards to grab the device off the nightstand and hand it to her. Alice checked the time as Claire questioned her.

"How do you feel?"

7:23:54.

"I'm fine," she replied and sat up to look at the blood-stained bandage wrapped around her shoulder, completely unconcerned that she was topless in front of the redhead. Unconscious for the second time in one day, but I'm fine. She began to remove the dressing and Claire tried to stop her.

"Don't!"

Alice stilled her motions and met the redhead's eyes.

"Trust me," she said and smiled as she remembered last night's similar conversation. Claire seemed to realize it too and surrendered.

Alice unwrapped herself and the redhead's jaw dropped when she saw the unmarred skin.

"I'm beginning to think this was all just a clever ploy for me to get you naked and in bed."

The blonde laughed whole-heartedly and was a little disappointed that she hadn't devised such a plan.

"Seriously," Claire said. "What were you doing?"

"Exercising."

The redhead lifted an eyebrow. "Exercising?"

"Yep."

"Well," Claire gave her body a once over before she continued, "I think we need to come up with a little less destructive way for you to expel some energy."

Alice's smirk went from one ear to the other. "I couldn't agree more."

"No time like the present," Claire jested and then pulled Alice in for a kiss.

When they broke apart for air Alice thought of the teen. "Wait, where's K-mart?"

"Washing your clothes or something," Claire mumbled as she began to trail kisses down the side of Alice's neck.

"Not anymore…"

Claire looked back and immediately did a double take. The teen was standing in the doorway, Alice's black, folded clothes in hand.

The blonde watched silently as the pair made eye contact and blood ran to both of their faces in a complete blush. Though the redhead was blocking K-mart's view of her, Alice pulled up the sheets and began to laugh.

The teen took it as a sign that it was ok to drop the clothes off, so she set them on the end of the bed and made a quick exit.

Claire dropped her head face in her hands in amused embarrassment. "Oh god."

Alice was still snickering when the redhead composed herself and finally commented on her perfect skin.

"So, the T-virus heals you?"

"Yes."

Claire shook her head. "Wish I would've known that sooner."

She was worried, Alice realized. Really – truly worried…

"It's going to take a lot more than a little piece of metal to take me down for good."

Claire seemed to be soothed by this because she went back to her playful mood with a smile.

"I still cannot believe you demolished that car."

"Hey – I got some good use out of it first."

Now it was Claire's turn to laugh. "That you did," she drawled.

So far a chapter titled "Wartime" that was pretty cute, right? Made me laugh anyways.