A/N: I am so sorry this took so long to update. I wasn't even sure if I could update today, but I managed to find sometime. I've been really busy, I've had essay after essay due every single week and I've had so many tests. I won't be able to update for the next two weeks because I have to study for exams. My last exam is on the 13th so hopefully by the end of that week, I'll have another chapter up. Comment. Let me know what you guys are thinking!
Standing by the edge of the boat, Lila watched as the waves crashed against the body of the ship. Even though it had been peaceful in the recent weeks they had spent in Arcadia, she knew that it wasn't going to be long until something happened. She had a feeling that Umbrella wasn't done with them and was going to come for them soon.
"Lila look!" Cheryl yelled happily as Luther raised her and spun her around. She giggled wildly as her hair flung everywhere.
Lila smiled, seeing Cheryl happy made her more than happy. Luther had gotten his memories back after he was taken to another base by Umbrella; they had taken him and put the small machine on his chest. Apparently, it was Umbrella's last base and it was somewhere in England. He said that from what he could remember, there were many other survivors being experimented on and there were all kinds of monsters they held.
It spooked Lila, thinking about all the people Umbrella experimented on and turned into monsters. The group wanted to do something about it, but they knew that they couldn't just leave the ship unprotected, so they decided to make it to Alaska, where there wasn't any infection. Start a colony there and then head to Umbrella to finish them off.
Chris watched from a distance as Luther put Cheryl down and the little girl happily ran to Lila, jumping into her awaiting arms. He smiled when Lila fell to the ground on impact and started tickling Cheryl on the floor. He liked seeing a happier Lila. He'd been so used to seeing a serious Lila, that seeing her happy was a good change.
"Lila Marks, huh?" he heard his sister ask as she approached him.
Looking back, Chris just gave her a questioning look and went back watching the two. Claire leaned on the railings her brother was leaning on and joined in watching Lila and Cheryl. "I don't know what you're talking about," he lied.
"Well it's either the little girl you love to stare at or it's Lila," Claire said smugly and looked at her older brother with a smile on her face.
Chris looked away from both Claire's view and from Lila's. He didn't know what it was that drew him to Lila. He guessed it was because out of all the people on the ship, he was closest to her, having known her for more than a couple of weeks like Alice. They had been through a lot back in the prison, seeing her and Cheryl had kept him from losing his mind.
Shrugging, Chris turned his back on the view of Lila, his back leaning against the railing. "Any news on Umbrella?"
Claire shook her head and kept her eyes on a happy Lila and a giggling Cheryl. "She's cute. You should really go for her," Claire suggested.
Chris groaned and gave his sister an annoyed look. "Because we're not fighting an apocalypse right now," he replied sarcastically. It was weird for him to be having such a conversation with Claire. It was bad enough that they hadn't seen each other in over five years since the viral outbreak, but since the apocalypse, it had changed them and to be having a conversation about girls was weird. It also didn't help that she was still missing some of her memories.
Holding up her hands, Claire had a smirk on her face. "Touchy, I get it. Big brother doesn't want to talk about girls with his little sister," she teased. Even though she couldn't remember everything about her brother and what kind of relationship they had before, she felt comfortable around him. Like with him, Claire could let her guard down and stop acting like a soldier.
The siblings watched as Leon approached Lila and Cheryl. A little while after, Lila started laughing at whatever he said. Chris felt a bit of jealousy in the pit of his stomach as Lila and Leon started to flirt with one another. He could see Lila's smile reach her eyes, she was genuinely happy.
Claire laughed when she saw the twisted look on Chris's face. "Right, I don't know what I'm talking about." She clapped Chris on the back and walked over to Alice, who was busy looking at the transmitter hoping to hear more information about other survivors.
Lila was in the training room with her dagger trying to practice on her hand-to-hand combat. She didn't want another Seattle incident to happen again. If it wasn't for Chris helping her last minute, she knew that she would have been done for. Lila wanted to improve herself, to be able to protect herself and the people she loved and cared about better. It just wasn't good enough that she was good with guns, she needed to be a better soldier.
She flawlessly swung it around, her blonde hair flowing everytime she spun, imagining that she was fighting infected off. Her eyes were closed, each swing she would see an infected, soon her swings became more violent.
She felt the blade make contact with an object with a clang. Her eyes shot open fearing that she hit someone, only to reveal Chris holding up his own dagger, holding off hers. "I'm sorry, I wasn't looking," she apologized.
Chris just shook his head and dropped his dagger to his side when Lila dropped hers. "You're swinging with too much force. If you do that, you're going to tire out quickly," he instructed her. "Here," he said walking up behind her. He held her arm. Being so close to her, he could feel her hair on his cheek as he guided her with some moves that could help her.
Lila started to breath heavy. She could feel Chris's breath in her neck. It made her shiver uncontrollably and made her sweat. She had never been this close to a guy she was attracted to before. It was hard for her to concentrate on what he was teaching her.
She turned her head, so that her lips were just inches away from hers. Her eyes darted from his lips to Chris's intense blue eyes. Her breathing became more and more ragged. Lila could feel the tension they were both emitting; it was enough to suffocate her. He inched closer and closer, her heart began to beat wildly against her chest.
Chris kept his eyes on Lila. Her blue eyes mirrored his own. He felt like he was being seduced by her gaze, like he couldn't break away from it even if he wanted to. Chris found himself being pulled closer and closer to her and soon their lips met.
They kissed with an intense passion. As if everything they were feeling, anger, happiness, sadness, frustration was all poured into that kiss. Lila twisted her body so that she was now face to face with him; her left arm snaked to the back of his head to pull him closer and his arms snaked around her waist to pull her closer.
The 'clank' from Lila's dagger when she dropped it to the floor both snapped them out of their drunken feelings. They broke apart after what seemed like hours. Speechless, Lila mimicked a fish out of water as her mouth opened and closed, trying to find something to say.
"I-I'm so sorry," she apologized with a distraught voice and ran out of the training room before Chris could say anything.
Chris helplessly watched as she disappeared out of the room. He ran his hand over his face and groaned in displeasure. He couldn't believe he just kissed Lila Marks. It was obvious she had no feelings for him, so why the hell did he have to do that? He angrily threw his dagger to the floor and walked out of the room.
Lila slammed her door shut, leaned on the door for support and sunk to the floor. She closed her eyes and tried a number of breathing exercises to keep herself from crying. She felt so conflicted, confused and guilty. She shouldn't be having these feelings. There was too much at stake to be feeling the way she was for Chris.
Her body trembled uncontrollably. She didn't understand what was happening to her. She was never like this. Usually she was more focused and never really paid any attention to guys. Even when she was in her teens, she focused on her marksmanship competitions and practiced almost everyday for hours. It also didn't help that she grew up in a military base and that many of her peers were intimidated by her grandfather.
After awhile, Lila finally managed to calm down. Like a robot, she got up and went to her bed. She rested her head on her pillow a single tear slipped from her eyes. It wasn't about Chris anymore that she was crying. She was now mentally and physically exhausted. Since the apocalypse and being entrusted with Cheryl's life, Lila never gave herself a moment to cry.
She never gave herself a moment to fully grieve Lucy's death, her parent's death and the loss of the life she once knew. Lila had been putting up a strong front for six years now and everything came crashing down on her. It hit her like a ton of bricks. She started to feel like she was losing control of everything from her feelings to herself. It was becoming extremely difficult to hide her real emotions.