Thank everyone for your reviews, it was awesome to hear from new people and as always it was awesome to hear from my loyal reviewers. You all make me smile immensely. Hopefully I can return the favor, after all this chapter is titled: Comedy Hour XD
Chapter 14: Comedy Hour
Alice was never happier with the consistency of time than she was that morning when the sun heralded the next day. Claire didn't mention anything about the previous night except to thank K-mart for showing them the meteor shower and the teen seemed ridiculously happy though she said not a word. The teen's above average bright mood and Claire's sensitivity to the blonde were nothing but thorns in Alice's side.
She had a completely sour state of disposition and every little thing aggravated her beyond belief. When they stopped to eat a quick dinner and then find more fuel Alice's irritation was quickly escalating to the point where she was ready to act on it.
Claire held out a can of food to the blonde as they sat in the Hummer, but Alice wouldn't even look at it. She hadn't eaten since joining the survivors and she was stubborn enough not to start now.
"Alice, you haven't eaten in days," she tried to plead.
"I don't need to."
"I don't believe you."
"I don't care if you don't believe me," Alice retorted.
"You may not need to eat or sleep as much as we do, but I know you still need to do it. I can tell you're fighting exhaustion."
Claire was on to her; there was a heavy ache to her muscles – almost to her bones and even the sleep she'd gotten the other night hardly touched it.
"Forget it, I'm fucking not hungry."
Claire shook her head and Alice could see that she was teetering on the edge of losing her patience. The blonde wondered what it would take to push her that far.
"Get out," Alice demanded. "It's my turn to drive."
The redhead fumed as she left the driver's side and Alice took her place at the wheel. The blonde started the engine so she could drive the rest of the way to the nearest small town as Claire and K-mart finished eating.
Alice was so ready to kill something. Please let there be something undead, she begged as they crossed into the heavily forested town. It was as if nature was taking the place back; it was as if it hadn't been hit by the infection so bad. The further north they got the greener things were becoming and that was a good sign.
Alice saw another sign, this time for a gas station up ahead. She pulled into the drive and parked next to a pump. Her blood was silent, but Alice pulled out a pistol anyways.
"This place is dead," Claire said.
Alice raised an eyebrow as she looked at Claire.
The redhead added, "-no pun intended."
"Just fill it up," Alice got out off the vehicle and began to walk away.
Then there it was like a gift from God – Alice's blood twitched beneath her skin.
She hollered in joy. "Yes! Finally!"
Claire whipped her head around to stare at her in disbelief as she took the pump from the fuel dispenser.
Oops, got a little excited there, Alice chuckled as she thought. She looked around for the source of her singing blood. At first all she saw was abandoned buildings in the empty one-road town, but then down the street was the beginning of a horde.
She called out to Claire. "Fill it up quick and then pick me up."
"How the hell am I supposed to know where the fuck you are?" the redhead yelled back as she quickly removed the gas cap. Their eyes connected and Alice had to admit that she liked the fire she saw in Claire.
"Just follow the corpses!"
The blonde took off at a run, confident that Claire and K-mart would be just fine. After all, the threat was down the road and Alice would be there to meet it first. She counted six undead and in a single wave of telekinesis she cut through their spinal cords and they collapsed where they stood.
More emerged to replace those that had fallen and Alice rushed to meet them, but as she passed a building on her left her blood's tempo picked up the pace. She dispatched the infected on the road just like she had done to the group before them, but there was still something making her blood twitch. The building that seemed to trigger it was a bank.
Alice felt like a regular desperado when she entered the building; guns drawn, hood up to hide her face from the out of order security cameras. The bank teller's desk was empty, not that she'd really expected someone to be there, but it would have been funny to see the expression on their face as she strolled in. Enter a bank, gun in each hand – a few years ago this would've caused a stir.
The open vault at the back of the building was shrouded in darkness; the outside sunlight couldn't enter enough to penetrate it, but Alice was sure she'd see whatever was in it soon enough. She was wrong. As she walked into the vault she discovered it was empty and the tremors in her blood were beginning to die down. Whatever it was had never been in the bank, but behind it.
Alice ran outside and sprinted to back of the building. At first all she could see were trees. Saplings covered the foreground a few yards from the bank and a completely mature forest was beyond that, but when she focused her attention she could make out a path where someone or something had trampled down the grass and brushed past the trees to flee into the woods.
The blonde only made it past the saplings when Claire and K-mart emerged on her heels. Alice was even impressed to see the teen with her shotgun.
"I know I told you the Beast could off-road it, but this is not quite what I meant," the redhead commented.
Tree cover was way too thick for the Hummer to maneuver back here and Alice just assumed that Claire would wait for her. Should've know better there, she thought.
"What are we doing here?" Claire asked as she looked nervously about.
Alice's blood was still quiet but she wasn't ready to give up. She took another step forward and looked to her right. She could suddenly make out a tree a few feet away that had been hidden by others before. A chunk had been taken clean out of it, leaving decimated bits of bark and wood chips to rest on the forest floor below. The dehydrated wood was stained with dark blood. She walked up to it, and saw that between two roots of the oak and poorly shrouded in dry leaves was a large impression in the soil. The blonde kneeled down and removed the leaves; from the tip of the claw marks to the heel of the print was roughly twelve inches of distance.
"What is it?" Claire questioned and then followed to see what Alice was doing. "What-the-fuck…is that from a bear?"
Alice chuckled with dry amusement as she said, "well, it certainly wasn't from Goldilocks."
"Not funny, Alice."
"No appreciation for my humor," the blonde paused for emphasis, "I'm not sure I can bear it."
"Alice!"
"What, you don't get it?" Alice questioned, she thought the joke had been fairly obvious – then she was hit like a ton of bricks. Claire wasn't scolding her, she was warning her. Alice heard a kind of thunder almost as if something was literally knocking down trees to get to them. She turned on her heel to see a bear charging full force and just when it crossed the line to her blood's awareness, her veins caught fire.
The grizzly was colossal, infected, and pissed off.
"Fuck me," Claire stated, her jaw dropped.
Alice smirked. "Now's not really the time for that, Claire."
The redhead didn't respond, but somehow Alice knew she'd hear about it later.
Claire and K-mart stood on either of side of the blonde and Alice rushed the creature, shooting into its bulk. The bullets pierced into its mangled flesh but it didn't stop its attack in the slightest. Alice couldn't keep a hold of her pistols as the bear collided with her. It had her completely pinned to the forest floor; the only thing stopping it from biting her head off was her forearm placed snuggly against its neck. She could feel its hot breath on her face as it grunted above her. The smell alone nearly made her pass out.
Alice thought back to how she'd subdued the wolves, but there was no way she was putting her hands into its mouth, especially after that rancid stench. Alice pushed it off her with a wave of psychic energy and crawled to her feet as the bear rose on its own as well.
The muscled body covered in golden-brown fur was nearly ten feet tall and Alice had to crane her neck just to meet its filmed-over eyes. The grizzly brought back a large paw to swing at her, but she rolled under it. The bear followed up with another swipe that Alice couldn't dodge. Its curved claws dug into her side and cut through the flesh they found there, while the force of the blow sent her into a tree.
Alice got her legs back under her and turned just in time to see the grizzly begin its attack on Claire and K-mart. Everything had happened so quickly that the two survivors hadn't been given a chance to move. The beast fell on all fours, causing Claire's shots from her handgun to miss and it barreled into her, knocking her to the ground and leaving her as it continued forward; its true goal now within its reach – K-mart.
The teen had her shotgun in the crook of her shoulder and aimed it as the grizzly lifted itself to two feet and let out a massive growl. Alice was certain the roar would've made K-mart freeze, but instead she pulled the trigger and the slug doused the beast's shoulder with pellet holes. Its throat rumbled again, this time coagulated blood spraying in a pink mist from its drooling lips. Alice jumped on its back and wrapped her right arm around so that the bear's neck was being squeezed in the bend of her elbow. It couldn't be choked to its new death but if Alice could just get her other hand around to grab its muzzle she could snap its neck.
The grizzly was too feral, and Alice had come close to losing her hand or being thrown multiple times.
"K-mart!" she yelled. "Shoot it again!"
The teen shook her head wildly. "I'll hi-hit you!"
It was the truth; even with the bear between them, the practically point blank distance from where K-mart would be shooting meant there was virtually no way the blonde wouldn't be impacted with some of the shot.
Alice dug her fingers into the creatures fur but she was about to lose her grip so she shouted again. "Just do it!"
The girl raised the gun and Alice could almost hear her exhale as she pulled the trigger. The 12 gauge's shot ripped through the beast again and it subdued the bear enough so that Alice could finally reach around and break its neck. She grabbed it's cold, wet nose as her other hand got a firmer hold behind the bear's ear and she twisted its head with one vicious motion.
The leaves on the dying trees shook as the grizzly fell to the forest floor. Alice climbed off the furry mass and K-mart ran to help her. The teen took Alice's uninjured arm across her shoulder to help her stand and the blonde smiled at her.
"I'm proud of you kid. I guess you could pull the trigger on me after all."
Alice's wounds were small in the grand scheme of things and they would heal quickly anyways. She was only concerned for Claire; she hadn't seen the redhead since the bear had knocked her aside. The pair took a few steps in the general direction of the last place they'd seen her.
Alice reclaimed her arm from K-mart's shoulder and nearly fell to her knees when she saw Claire limp on the ground but managed to stay up long enough to stumble to her. Alice pulled the woman into her arms and felt for a pulse, immediately relieved when she felt the strong current of pumping blood in a vein beneath the skin of Claire's neck.
"Is sh-she ok?" K-mart stuttered next to her.
Alice checked the redhead over for any physical signs of damage and found only a bump on the back of her head. She scoured the ground as well and saw the rock that her head must of hit. The blonde could lie and say Claire would be just fine, or she could tell the truth – that head wounds were tricky. Before she could decide, Claire opened her eyes and for the second time in one minute Alice was flooded with relief.
Claire brought her hand to her temple as she closed her eyes in pain. "Ow, which one of you hit me with a train?"
Alice laughed and was surprised to hear K-mart laugh as well, almost as surprised as Claire was.
The redhead cocked an eyebrow. "Laughter does not answer my question, and it certainly isn't making the pain go away."
"Al-Alice," K-mart responded. "It was de-definitely Alice."
Alice knew that Claire was hurting a fair amount, she'd probably be a mass of bruises in little time but the redhead's smile as K-mart spoke to her told her she wasn't feeling it.
The blonde shook her head. "You rat – see if I ever let you shoot me again."
Claire was immediately in scold mode as she looked at the teen. "You did what?"
"She ma-made me do it."
The redhead's look of death was turned on Alice, but all the blonde could do was be happy that Claire was alright.
"I can't leave you two alone for one second – can I?"
Alice looked at K-mart to find the teen already doing the same and they shared a knowing, deviant smile. Probably not, the blonde thought.
"You think you can stand?" Alice asked and Claire nodded. She helped the redhead to her feet as K-mart collected Alice's fallen weapons and the three of them set back out for the Hummer.
So, I have to admit I've been looking forward to writing that bear fight since chapter one, the wolves were spur of the moment, but taking on a grizzly was in the books since I came up with the concept for the story. And all because I wanted Alice to make ridiculous bear jokes like: "No appreciation for my humor...I'm not sure I can bear it." Hopefully it was awesome, and let me know what you thought was the funniest part of the chapter! :)