Chapter 2

"Good luck K-Mart…Claire." Alice said her eyes met Claire's perfectly and stayed there for a good long moment. It was a second of peace in the chaos around them. Claire wanted to say something but her jaw was stuck. She tried to pry it open with all her will power. She could see Alice standing there, waiting. She should've been running or she'd be overwhelmed by a mob of Undead. Still, Alice waited.

Damn it, Claire had better say something before Alice died standing there. Nothing came out though. Not even a simple goodbye. She had a speech's worth to say; come with me, I'll miss you, or even…I love you. For some stupid reason she just couldn't say it. The chance was lost as the Undead swarmed in closer.

She had to go and so did Alice.

Claire lifted the chopper into the sky staring at the horizon in front of her even though her eyes wanted to look down. She wondered if she would see Alice again. She wondered if she'd made a mistake…

Claire was starting to wake up, she lay in an odd state of half asleep and half awake. She could hear Alice talking and the plane rumbling. She was too comfortable to move so she stayed quiet and listened.

"My passenger is still as talkive as ever. Whatever that thing was, it was injecting her with some sort of drug…something that causes memory loss. I just hope the effects aren't permanent." Alice sighed. She could hear the beep as Alice turned the camera off.

Claire noticed that when Alice thought she wasn't looking or could hear, she'd talk to that little camera she carried. It must've been awhile since Alice got to talk to somebody. She knew the feeling all too well.

She cracked her eye open and watched the back of Alice's head for a minute. It was nice to have company again. Not just anyone's, Alice's company. It made Claire feel relaxed for some reason as if the hard knot in her chest had been loosened. Even though Claire panicked for a second back in that town, it felt familiar like she and Alice had done been in that situation before. It felt almost like home….a very sad, terrifying home of course.

"Alice?" she said, her voice still groggy from sleep.

"She speaks." Alice replied.

"Look, I'm sorry about back there. I don't know what happened." Claire said. Then she paused for a moment. "I don't remember anything." That was a lie; she remembered one thing but she felt too uneasy saying it out loud. She could see Alice watching her from the reflection in the window. Her blue eyes stayed put for a long while but turned away rapidly as she saw Claire had noticed. "I don't even know my name." she admitted feeling a little pathetic. Who couldn't remember their own name?

"It's Claire." Alice answered. "Claire…Redfield."

"Claire." She muttered.

"Sound familiar?"

"Not really." she shrugged. She looked out at the ground below. It looked so empty, so abandoned. She hoped she couldn't spot any more things wandering around. "I'm guessing those were the Infected you mentioned before?"

"I'm afraid so."

Claire chuckled darkly as she stared down at her tied up hands. "No wonder you didn't want to tell me." She said under her breath. She felt her stomach twisting but she had to know. "How many are there?"

She could see Alice's reflection frowning. Claire could tell the woman wished somebody else could tell Claire what was going on. "The infection has spread worldwide. There aren't that many survivors left." Alice said heavily.

Worldwide…Claire's heart slowed to a stop. The whole world…was dead. A few brief memories surfaced. She remembered coming home and saw an emergency news flash at the bottom of the TV screen warning people about a virus. She had ignored it at first because it wasn't anywhere near her at the time. Then as the days passed she watched the virus marching its way closer and closer. She started to prepare just in case; she only bought enough for a few months. She thought she could just wait it out. When the virus hit, it hit hard. Claire's memories seemed all scrambled together after that. She remembered shouting, running, the Undead chasing her around every corner, and watching so many people die even her friends…even her family…until she was only one left. Claire gripped her knees tightly and stopped trying to remember. She didn't want to remember that.

"Sorry I didn't have better news." Alice said.

"Me too," Claire said quietly. She lifted her hands up. "Can you untie me now?"

"I think we should get to know each other a little better first." Alice said. Claire narrowed her eyes.

"Figures." She grumbled and tried to find a more comfortable spot. Her lower half was going numb. "So…why do you make those videos? Do you think someone will see them one day?"

"That's why I started them but the longer I looked around the more I realized…that might not be a realistic idea. So, I thought I'd watch them." Alice shrugged. "To see where I've been I guess."

Claire made an "mmm" sound. "Could I see it really fast?"

Alice picked it up and held it back. Claire took it and managed to turn it on. She turned it around to face her. "This is…Claire Redfield?" she glanced up and Alice nodded reassuringly. "Talking to the future Alice who will be watching these…" She could hear a small chuckle from the pilot's seat. "As you can see you've decided to hold me hostage."

"You're not being held hostage."

"I beg to differ." Claire held up her tied hands to the camera. "Anyway, I don't know what you're motive is since I haven't tried killing you for at least twenty-four hours."

"I will take that from you, you know." Alice faked a threatening tone.

Claire smirked. "I don't know what to make of you right now. You're kinda of quiet. Maybe because you've been alone for awhile…maybe you've just seen too much lately. Or maybe it's just me, you do seem kinda reserved like your trying to hide something. I'm guessing it had something to do with what happened back when we knew each other." Claire looked up to see Alice was doing her best to appear aloof. "And uh, just so you know…you're not very good at it." She whispered to the camera.

"Hey!" Alice turned around to glare at Claire.

Claire chuckled. "It was a joke!" Alice's expression didn't change. "You're supposed to laugh, you know ha-ha." Alice's fierce expression softened and she turned around.

"I can see I'll have to find some kind of editing software." Alice said.

"Oh come on!"

"It was a joke Claire…you know ha-ha?" Alice grinned mischievously.

At sundown, Alice had decided to land the plane. Most of the coast was covered in trees and the roads nearby twisted and turned too much. Alice was forced to land on the beach. Landing in sand didn't go so well. The plane had hit the ground with a hard thud. Now Claire's neck was sore from being jerked forward so violently.

As she climbed out of the plane, she looked at the tree line on the edge of the beach. With the sunlight fading, the forest was nearly black inside. She swallowed hard, anticipating the Undead to pop out at any moment now. She tugged at the rope on her wrists as she jumped down onto the sand.

Alice walked over to the trees and got a bunch of sticks. Claire watched as the woman made a fire. Claire would be happy for the warmth later but right now she was starving. Fate had an awful sense of humor because now she could remember BBQ's…juicy steak, ribs, and cheese burgers. Claire came over and took a stick out of Alice's hand.

She trudged out into the freezing water and held up the stick. Her body stayed perfectly still until the very last second before she thrust her arm down. When she pulled the stick out of the water a fish was wiggling wildly on the end. Claire chuckled triumphantly.

"Sorry about it this but I'm hungry and you're better than canned beans." She came back to the fire and held the fish over it like a marsh mellow. Alice watched her with an impressed expression. "I got really good at it, you know with being out there alone for months." Claire explained.

"No complaints here." Alice said and sat down.

When the fish was warm enough, she pulled it away from the fire and offered it up to Alice. She still had Claire's knife and with it she cut her half off. Alice used the knife to cut off small bites but Claire ate the fish like she had been the past few months…like a Neanderthal. She didn't realized how she looked until she saw Alice staring at her with an amused smile.

"What?" Claire said with a mouthful. "I'm hungry." She bit into the fish and tore off a good bite.

Soon, the sunlight faded completely. While the part of Claire facing the fire was toasty, her back was frozen. She felt her muscles tighten to keep herself from shivering. She didn't want to look weak in front of Alice, at least not again.

Alice seemed to notice though; she unzipped her coat and came to sit beside Claire. The jacket was big enough to wrap around the both of them when they sat close together. Claire's shoulder was squashed up against Alice's. Their skin touching. Claire's heart fluttered and she found she could no longer make eye contact with Alice. She stared awkwardly at the fire.

The world seemed to completely disappear beyond the light of the fire. For all Claire knew that was all existence seemed to consist of; her, the fire, and Alice. She watched the flames flicker and dance, her eyes glazed over as her thoughts roamed. She let her eyes drop and travel along the ground before finding Alice's boot and roaming upward to stare at the side of Alice's face.

The firelight bathed Alice in a golden light. Her eyes shined as if they themselves had been on fire. Her mind was far away, thinking about who knows what. Claire noticed her empty shoulder and felt the urge to place her head there and wrap her arms around Alice. She fought to keep still instead. She didn't know if that was something she usually felt the need to do or if it was just an Alice thing.

"Alice, were we friends?" she wondered. Alice turned to look at her, surprised at the sudden noise. Their eyes came together instantly as if they were magnets being pulled together. Claire held them there without any trouble but Alice looked away quickly.

"I'd like to think so." Alice replied.

"Close friends?" Claire dared to ask. She was doing her best to figure out why she had a memory of her face glued to Alice's without blurting out the obvious. Alice's breathing became uneven as if she could sense what the question was trying to ask.

"I…I don't know." Alice said. "You didn't really verbalize what you felt like." Claire remembered her dream, remembered how she felt like she wanted to say something but couldn't.

"Oh," that was the best thing she could say? Stupid! Claire resisted the need to hit her forehead. She sighed and stared down at her feet. "Was I a good person?"

Alice looked at her like she'd said something crazy. "Why would you ask that?"

"I dunno; I just feel like I let people down." Like I let you down, she thought as she remembered Alice standing there waiting for Claire to admit something…anything…before they might never see each other again.

Alice stared at the fire. "You're not the only one."

"It's a good thing nobody ever said you had to be perfect." Claire said. She turned to look at Alice only to find those ice colored eyes already focused on her. She felt a hard bubble of air form in her throat and she could no longer talk. Alice's eyes traveled down to her lips and watched them painfully for a second. Claire stayed put wondering if she did if Alice might come closer…

"I'll keep the first watch." Alice choked out and got onto her feet. She pulled her revolver out and spun it around her finger as she paced back and forth on the other side of the fire. Claire clutched Alice's coat closer and stretched out to sleep. She couldn't understand why she felt disappointed.

The all too familiar silence fell over the world again. Alice sighed and leaned her head back, enjoying the cool breeze run its fingers through her hair. The wind tossed it around almost like a kid was playing with it. A kid…Alice hadn't seen one of those in a long time. She missed their laughter and their little pudgy faces the most. Hell, she missed a lot of things.

There was one thing she didn't miss though. That would be Claire because Claire was only a few inches away from her now. It was fate somehow showing it had some sort of mercy reserved for Alice. It was bittersweet though, it always was. She was with Claire but she couldn't have Claire.

Claire had been asleep for three hours now. It had taken that long to get control again. Alice felt it was safe to sit by Claire's head and listened to her soft breathing. She'd nearly lost it before; nearly leaned forward…Alice screwed her eyes closed. Not again, she thought. She couldn't do it again.

Claire seemed to be holding up better. Alice had been caught off guard when Claire collapsed onto her, scared. That was it though; the fear was quickly washed away, buried under a heavily fortified wall. It was nice to see that despite her memory loss, Claire's strength hadn't deteriorated. She'd definitely need it.

Still, the memory of Claire's face pressed against her shoulder was burned into her flesh. So was the feel of Claire's hot breath tickling her neck and Claire's soft cheek teasing her skin. Alice's body felt full of air and she hoped she didn't develop the ability to simply float away. She wished it could've lasted longer.

Alice shook her head. What're you doing? You tried this before and look what happened. She told you no. Her eyes wandered down to find Claire. The woman sighed heavily in her sleep and rolled onto her back. What did you mean when you said 'I can't' anyway? Why couldn't you let this happen?

It was pointless trying to ask now. Alice might never know. Claire probably doesn't even remember the desert. That would be Alice's luck too. Then it would really be like nothing had ever happened, the way Claire seemed to have wanted it. Alice felt an ache from her chest. She could feel it coming from her heart. Yeah, I know…you're busted…I'm sorry. I tried, I really tried.

"…Alice…" Claire mumbled. Alice felt her eyes nearly bulge out of their sockets. She turned to see if Claire had woken up but she hadn't. "…Alice…" Claire whispered. Then a worried expression stained Claire's face. A small sad whimper escaped. "…Alice?"

Alice bit her lip, wondering if she should do it or not. Her fingers slowly made their way down to Claire's hand. Claire twitched from the feeling and seemed to be waking up but went to sleep again. Alice squeezed Claire's hand gently.

"I'm here," she whispered but she doubted Claire could hear it through her dreams. But then Claire smiled, a happy smile, one that was untainted by fear or sorrow as if Claire had no memory of what happened to the world. As if Claire was in the middle of paradise. Then she rolled over and began mumbling about how she hated rocks in her boots. Alice couldn't help but chuckle.