Thank You to all who have continued on with my story. I have loved this experience so much. Delay on the updates, but My real life work has gotten a bit in the way of my wicked fun pastime. I will be updating with longer chapters soon. Tomorrow is my Birthday! :)
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Kansas: United States Base Camp
Claire felt the spark and urge to work with the battlefield medical team the instant she woke up the day after meeting Logan and his crew. That was the redemption she was looking for. She took that drive and overworked herself in the Medical Tent with Emma that following week. She absorbed as much as possible, from learning how to remove fluid from the lungs to fixing a dislocated limb. It was harder to do on someone else, even though she had done it multiple times on herself.
Claire found herself by the end of the week searching down Edgar at any moment she could. Peter was not her first choice when it came to changing her position. He had been traveling and bringing back Specials from all around the world with Hiro. Twenty to thirty people were brought to the camp each trip ever day. Ando's supercharge was helping Hiro, and two other teleporters they had discovered, on their journeys. The camp was slowly expanding with international flavor. Thankfully, there were Specials with language abilities to make the camp still function with a steady pace. The surge in population seemed to fuel Claire. She was determined to find Edgar. She went to the dining hall every evening, meeting with her new friends. They had similar fears, ideas, and a sense of humor. A support system was being formed. It was something that Claire truly needed with a growing Special population.
Claire found that there was quite a bit of international displeasure with her, not just a national distaste.
On this particular evening she found herself to be a target of a very angry Special, from Scotland, with an ability to turn anything into stone. The mad had spotted her as she sat down to eat dinner with her friends. He pushed his way through the crowd, swearing up a storm. He grabbed her, after shouting at her in something she think was English, before attempting to turn her into to stone. He hated her. Claire could see it in his eyes. She felt her body stiffen starting with her arms and felt it creep up to her neck. Sadly, the poor Scotsman did this when Sylar was present in the tent. Peter and several other Commanders had the pleasure of walking into the incident as it begun.
Sylar watched Peter watch the interaction before stepping in very slowly and collected. He wanted to see if Peter would step in, or any other Special. No one was, not even her "friends". Claire's popularity really was an issue. He didn't bother to grab the man with his ability, but with his bare hands by the back of the neck and tossed him hard onto a table. The man had the wind knocked out of him by the force. Sylar wanted to scare the others without the use of his powers. He stalked up to the man looking very bored, aware of the entire camp watching him. No one dared to interject.
He picked up a serving knife and leant over the man. He very slowly slashed the man's skull with a knife, nearly scalping him. The man screamed out and that was the only noise to be heard within the tent. The silence was terrifying. Claire watched, feeling the stone slowly begin to dissolve. She closed her eyes. The man began to apologize and cry out for someone to help him. Sylar grabbed him by shirt and threw him toward the exit once he felt the message was sent to the rest of the crowd. Emma ran to the man's aid and slinked him off to the medical tent with a few other medical members. Sylar took in the audience and smiled.
"Now you know how we treat each other in the United States."
Claire was able to pull the rest of the dissolving stone off, taking some skin with it, but couldn't shake the dread. Did she have to wait for all these people to die off to have a decent reputation or social life? Sylar had come to her aid. Sylar. Logan and the others did help her on pull off the rest of the stone. She turned to exit the camp, but Peter stopped her. He pulled her outside to a corner, letting people slowly slink out of the tent. The crowd was eerily quiet. They averted their eyes when they saw Claire. Sylar walked out cooly, the crowd parting for him. Claire managed to avoid Sylar's eye contact. He probably thinks she owes him one. Peter patted her on the back, like she was a small child.
"Are you okay?"
She glared back at him.
"I'm fine, Pete, I don't need to be rescued. I would have figured something out."
Peter stared right back with an intense look. He ignored her tone.
"Emma told me you wanted to be on the battlefield. I think its a great idea."
Claire was shocked to hear him agree with one of her choices. He even hated her simple breakfast choices.
"You can supply your blood, be a human shield. It fits so well."
Claire nodded, still a bit tense from her interaction with the Scotsman. Not to mention talking to Peter after weeks of silence was odd as well. She had a strange feeling that he truly just wanted her as a body out on the battlefield. Maybe their connection was truly done. Maybe he wanted her out of the picture. He stood awkwardly away from her. She shook the thought that he wanted to get rid of her. He clearly didn't want to be near her.
"Well, Great. When should I start?"
"Tomorrow morning, We have two more days, and our first attack begins. Don't tell anyone though? We gotta be on our toes with information." He whispered to her.
With that Peter had whirled around following Edgar and some of the Commanders toward their War Room tent. Claire rolled her eyes at his attempts to be Batman. Mysterious her ass.
She spotted Logan and Meg looking for her. She waved them over. They jogged over to her.
"Well, it looks like I'm on Team Battlefield Medical."
"Seriously, that's awesome. Now we don't have to wait till dinner to see you."
"Plus we can see you show off your inner badass."
Claire laughed.
"I sure looked like a Badass in there. I was going to be a Great Stone Statue of Badass."
"It was one unhinged person, some people can't take the pressure of what needs to be done. They need to blame someone. Plus I doubt anyone will mess with you after what Sylar did to that guy."
Claire shrugged. She half-believed that.
"I think he sees me as his own personal punching bag."
"So we're heading back to our campsite, its getting kind of late. Want to join us?"
"Uh, sure, which section are you guys?"
"Just follow us."
Claire followed Logan, Meg, Felix and June back towards the training area. They made her laugh about the Scotsman accent and some stories from their training. She slowed her steps as they began to walk into the Limited Section.
"Uh, guys, that's the Limited Section..."
June and Felix skipped ahead. They were a couple, so they rarely interacted with the other three. They always seemed very bored with the rest of them. They just linked up with Logan and Meg due to their position on battlefield. Claire sometimes felt better when they weren't around. Logan turned to her and for some reason he looked a little villainous in Claire's eyes. Meg laughed a weird laugh, like Claire was clearly not in on a joke.
"Claire, you didn't know we were sectioned off here from the start of our stay?"
"No, because you guys ate in the dining hall. Limited Specials don't get that."
"Claire, We are the medical battlefield team. We get some perks."
Logan walked up to Claire, putting his hands on her shoulders.
"Claire, we all have things in our past we regret. We try not to judge each other for those things. Can you let go of ours?"
Claire looked up at his charming face. She knew she would be a hypocrite if she judged them.
"I can let it go. Can I know what you did to be put here?"
Logan chuckled sheepishly.
"I was a firefighter...who liked to start fires. I made a big mistake once, some people got hurt."
Meg showed Claire her power. Black Spikes grew out of her hands.
"I tend to lose my temper and I give out some nasty hugs. But I'm a trained Emergency Room Nurse. I never killed anyone. Just showed some people not to mess with me."
"Felix and June?"
"They use to rob banks together. Cliche huh? They would kill the everyone, then bring them back after gathering their loot. Their healing ability gave them that chance to steal."
Claire shuddered. Now her ick feelings about the couple made sense. She wasn't sure if she could get that out of her mind.
The sky was growing darker and it seemed like the Limited Section was coming to life.
Claire looked at Logan.
"Fine, I will go, but the second I'm not comfortable...I'm gone."
He nodded and turned putting his arm around Meg.
She followed the two of them, who seemed at home with the shady characters coming out of their tents. Claire noticed that it was set up much like the other Living spaces. Two or Three tents around a campfire.
As they walked through the space, she noticed a large fire pit. Many Specials were mingling, laughing, even drinking.
"How'd they get alcohol?"
"There is a Special with an ability to ferment things. I heard he fermented living things as well though."
Claire gulped a bit, but Logan grabbed her hand. He guided her through some tough looking groups of people. Claire kept her head down. She almost was frozen in Stone at the "good" side of the camp, she didn't want to know what they would do to her here.
Logan brought her to their campsite. June and Felix were busy making s'mores. Meg seated herself next to them, grabbing a fist full of Marshmallows.
Claire seated herself across from the creepy couple. Logan handed her a stick and Marshmallows.
"Thanks."
"So Claire, Can you ask why you jumped?"
Claire stuck her stick in the fire. She loved her Marshmallows burnt.
"Well, my friends and family had just stopped this guy, Samuel. He wanted to reveal Specials to the world by killing a ton of people. Show off Specials with Power, so I kinda made a spur of a moment choice to show my power. I felt like it was the least intimidating thing to show off. Oh Wow, that girl can throw herself off things. What's so scary about that?"
Meg laughed at her joke.
"People can be scared of the silliest things."
"My dad wasn't too happy. He had tried to hide me for years. He stopped speaking to me."
Logan looked at her sadly. Claire chomped on her burnt Marshmallow.
"My dad stopped talking to me when he discovered I had a power. Kicked me out long before your jump. When your kid can start the grill up with out matches or a gasoline...gotta get rid of that. Don't want a freak."
Claire frowned.
"I hate that word. I used it a lot before all of this."
"I never did. I found my Spikes." Meg showed her Spikes off. "They are part of me. Nothing different about that. It's like my eye color...or my bra size."
They all laughed at her joke.
"This is really nice. To openly talk about things, I don't get to do that with anyone lately."
Logan pulled out a large flask of something looking highly alcoholic. He handed it to Claire. She frowned and shook her head.
"Sorry, my ability doesn't let me drink. My liver works too fast. I don't enjoy drinking nasty things for no reason."
Logan looked shocked.
"Your power is a curse."
"You have no idea."
Meg took a large swig, handing it back to Logan.
"So...you are going to live forever?"
Claire shrugged.
"That's the theory. Who knows...maybe in 90 years my heart will just time out. Like it knows to stop, but I highly doubt that. It's a curse."
"Sounds thrilling though. You'll be here to see so much."
"Like watch everyone I love die?"
Meg sighed and took another chug.
"Yeah, but then you meet new people...who will die. Just Rinse and Repeat."
Claire had to laugh at her naivety.
"Maybe I'll meet another Special with my power. I've heard of a few in the past. They end up either being killed or killing themselves."
"Well, You got Sylar right?"
Claire nearly gagged.
"Don't remind me."
With that the conversation switched to old tv shows they all watched and music they truly distaste. Claire felt normal for an hour or two. She pretended in her mind that she was just on a retreat, drinking with coeds. Being normal, young adults. Claire realized that the group was becoming very intoxicated. She stood up and looked over the rest of the camp, her curiosity of this life growing. Other groups were getting very drunk as well. Small fights were breaking out in different areas. There was a sense of anarchy. No one controlled the area really. It was every man for himself. Claire turned back to the campsite to find Felix and June gone.
To Claire's surprise, Logan and Meg were engaging in a very heavy make-out session. Her heart dropped a bit, but she was also a bit relaxed. She didn't need to feel any extra feelings for someone. Not in War Time. She laughed at the situation and looked around to find the best way to exit.
Claire noticed to her left, beyond one or two campsites were some trailers. They looked dark and unmoving. She could exit the Limited Section by going around the very-much alive epicenter. Claire didn't want to push through the campsites on her own. She didn't want to interrupt the make-out session and walked quickly towards the trailers. With each step Claire tried to be as quiet as possible, not drawing any attention to herself.
Once she reached the trailers, she let out a sigh of relief. She crept through the trailers, there may have been about six or seven of them clustered together.
Claire passed a darkly striped trailer and turned to take a left toward the exit.
"Hello Claire."
Claire paused and looked to her left to find Sylar leaning up against the trailer.
"What are you doing?"
"What am I doing? I'm just relaxing around MY trailer...in MY section. So don't get all preachy with me. What are you doing?"
Claire rested her hand on her hip, showcasing her annoyance.
"Just was hanging out with some friends."
"Oh, so you found out their little secret. I'm surprised you didn't spurn them."
"That would be wrong. Anyone can be forgiven for their mistakes."
Sylar's eyes flashed.
"Anyone?"
"Not you. Not by me."
Sylar crossed his arms.
"Are you going to thank me for earlier?"
Claire rolled her eyes.
"I knew you would hold that over me. I would have figured something out."
"Well, no one else certainly felt like stepping up for you."
"I don't expect anyone to fight for me."
"Your little friends didn't either."
"They were scared. Again, I don't expect anyone to fight my battles. So next time don't bother. Plus I thought you'd love to see me turned into a garden decoration."
Sylar chuckled.
"I thought it would be a little neat-o. But whatever Peter does or doesn't do...I like to do the opposite."
Claire sighed.
"Yeah, that doesn't bother me one bit."
Sylar raised his eyebrow and slowly walked toward her. She took a step back defensively. Sylar paused at her body language.
"We aren't friends, Sylar. These chats don't fix things, nor what you did in the tent. It means nothing."
"Oh that's right. You have Logan from 90210. He dyes his hair you know?"
Claire looked at little sad. She saw parts of her friends she wish she didn't know. Sylar picked up on her face.
"People aren't exactly what they claim to be, huh? Did you let him in and he broke your heart?"
Claire snapped her head up at what Sylar was implying.
"No, it never was like that. He and Meg have something going on. I don't need something like. I prefer friendship."
Sylar groaned and rolled his eyes.
"Do you want some Unicorns and Rainbows on that childish thought?"
Claire huffed and turned to walk away. She was shocked he didn't stop her with his powers.
"Training tomorrow will be quite productive since you'll be there. I can show them true survival. Let's show them what we are all about."
Claire didn't change her pace. She kept walking. Ignoring his words, but smiled to herself. She was going to rock it.