Trigon by Red Hope

Chapter 5

"That was so worth it," K-Mart repeated, again.

Claire shook her head and continued grinning at her friend's happiness about the bath. She and K-Mart were strolling away from the shore after getting into clean clothes and collecting their things. Like her friend, she felt revived by the bathing and then playful swim.

K-Mart started towards the convoy with Claire at her side. "I guess we'll drop Alice off outside Uniontown."

"Yeah." Claire was shoving her cap behind her back between her waist and belt. Her hair wasn't dry enough for it just yet.

K-Mart didn't press any further. She didn't like the idea of leaving Alice behind, but there was little she could do about it. She inwardly sighed.

Claire was stepping over some fallen branches, which made her look down at her footing. She paused after an apple core caught her eye. "What," she murmured and knelt down.

K-Mart was confused until she was next to Claire. She squatted down and shifted her things into her left arm. "Somebody else was out here... with us?" She apprehensively looked at her friend.

The leader frowned and picked up the apple core. She noted it'd been cut out by a knife. "It looks that way." She dropped it and twisted around, but she didn't have any clear sight of the creek where she and K-Mart had been earlier.

K-Mart was slightly flushed and nervous about the news. "Who..." She shook her head and argued, "You can't see a darn thing from here."

Claire combed her fingers through her damp hair then tilted her head back. She stared at the large branch about fifteen feet or more straight up. "No... but I bet from up there you can."

K-Mart dropped her head back then quickly looked at the leader. "Claire, who..." She found a raised eyebrow directed at her, and the answer dawned on her. "Why... would Alice do that?"

"I'm not totally sure," Claire quietly replied, but she was thinking hard about it. She continued heading back to the convoy. They'd been away for too long as it was already.

"It's not like she could have heard anything from that far." K-Mart's stomach slightly twisted in worry. "Unless we were screaming," she rambled. She looked at her friend. "But she could see us probably."

Claire sighed at K-Mart's muses.

"Why would she watch us?" K-Mart tried again.

Claire bit her bottom lip after she thought about it so hard. She looked at K-Mart once it hit her what Alice was doing up in the tree. "She wasn't watching us... she was watching over us."

K-Mart opened and closed her mouth a few times then turned her head forward after she heard the noises from the convoy straight in front of them. She wasn't sure what to make of Claire's conclusion, but she wasn't going to feel all that comfortable once she was in the Hummer again.

"Don't bring it up either," Claire softly ordered the teen.

"Got it." K-Mart wasn't up to doing it anyway. She was too embarrassed to discuss it. Although there was some part of her that was both curious and warmed by Alice's concern for them. She put away her thoughts and took Claire's things then went directly to the Hummer.

Claire spotted Carlos beside the cargo truck and fueling it up from the gas tanker. She beelined to him and checked on the convoy's status. She realized that he didn't take the opportunity to enjoy the creek yet so she told him to do so before they left soon. Carlos was grateful for the leader's concern and promised he would after fueling the news van.

Claire had promised to meet K-Mart by the food van, but she first decided to seek out Alice. She quickly discovered the outsider seated on a rock and enjoying the creek's scenery. For a moment, Claire admired the older woman's beautiful profile, but she it aside and neared the outsider while she retrieved her hat from her waistband.

Alice detected Claire long ago, but she didn't acknowledge Claire until she was upon her. She peered up curiously and studied the depth of green in Claire's eyes under the hat's brim. Alice was reminded of salvation from far in her past. She shook away her past and focused on the convoy leader.

"We'll be near Uniontown this afternoon," Claire mentioned.

"I know." Alice wasn't sure why the obvious needed to be stated.

Claire folded her arms and shifted on her boots. She didn't want to repeat earlier because being cordial was important for the last few hours. After all, Alice had saved her life yesterday. And also released her from months of sexual frustration. That wasn't enough for Claire to ask what Alice would do after Uniontown. But it was enough for her to offer one more chance at hospitality.

"You can stay one more night," the leader politely tempted. She bit the inside of her lower lip after how it may sound to Alice's ears. Her assumption was right when a smirk caressed Alice's lips.

"That's kind of you." Alice held the leader's eyes for a long moment then finally turned her head away. "But I need to move on." She rested her hands in her lap but propped her right boot against the side of the rock. "Thanks though."

Claire nodded. Half of her was relieved while the other half was uneasy about Alice's pending departure. She nodded once more then started to turn on her boots. "See ya in the Hummer."

Alice glanced at Claire's back and grinned at being invited into the Hummer for the afternoon. She lost her grin though when Claire pivoted and faced her again. She wondered why there was a glint in Claire's eyes. It caused her to go still.

Claire tugged on her hat brim and asked, "By the way, how was your apple?" She excitedly watched a hint of guilt build in Alice's eyes. Gotcha, Claire silently proclaimed. She felt she'd won a battle, finally, now that she'd read Alice.

But Alice easily recovered and that smug satisfaction spread over her lips that made her too dangerous for most humans. "It was... juicy," she purred.

Claire parted her lips, but she couldn't recover thanks to Alice's affect on her. She left it alone and turned with her weak knees. She used all her strength to simply walk away and not react to Alice's unspoken admission to being in the tree. Claire briefly shut her eyes while she continued taking steps away from the odd stranger. Finally far enough, she looked upon her bustling convoy and clung to the weird normalcy that the convoy offered her. She refused to let Alice's tantalizing mystery bait her further. Only last night would be Claire's one falter and soon she could forget it and forget Alice.

Right on time, the convoy began departing the state park and returned to the main road that would take them south towards Uniontown. Like usual, Claire was in the lead and behind her the convoy's vehicles faithfully followed her. Initially the drive was quiet with Claire driving, Alice pretending to sleep in the back, and K-Mart struggled to focus on her geometry textbook. But she was failing and mindlessly doodled in her notebook while the textbook's words drained out from her mind.

Claire switched CDs and stole a glance at her friend, who was obviously distracted. "What you studying?"

K-Mart shrugged and muttered, "Geometry." She opened the window a crack, but the afternoon was already starting to cool off.

Claire sensed the teen's disinterest in the textbook. She considered why her friend's mood was deflated now after they'd had a nice bath and lunch together. She peered up in the rearview mirror and studied Alice's still features. Claire knew Alice was anything but asleep, but she didn't blame Alice for her personal space. Most likely Alice felt like a third wheel around her and K-Mart. But then again, Claire remembered that Alice apparently liked K-Mart. She frowned.

K-Mart leaned her right elbow on the door handle and rested her head in her palm. She turned to a clean page in the notebook then started doodling shapes. K-Mart started with a few circles and made designs then she played with triangles.

Alice slowly opened her eyes and glanced at K-Mart's reflection in the side mirror. She curiously noticed K-Mart's position and narrowed her eyes in pure interest. She shifted in the comfortable seat, stretched her legs, and closed her eyes again.

K-Mart tangled her fingers in hair. She'd put her cap on the dash earlier.

Claire looked at the doodles, which were more logical than imaginative. She softly grinned at the perfect triangle then briefly caught K-Mart darkening tiny circles at the three points of a triangle. Claire looked back at the road and decided on what would help K-Mart's funky mood. Finally an idea came to mind.

K-Mart tapped the mechanical pencil's tip against the triangle's top point. She tapped it a few more times until Claire's voice cut through her thoughts.

"Put it away," the leader ordered. She felt curious brown eyes on her. "We'll play celebrity."

K-Mart sighed and looked back at her notebook. She wasn't in the mood. She started spinning the pencil over her left thumb in an old habit from school.

"Come on, K," Claire tempted. "You love this."

K-Mart humored her friend and asked, "Dead or alive?" But that question was always based on the year 2014, before the apocalypse.

"Alive," Claire replied.

K-Mart continued spinning the pencil on her thumb. "Male or female?"

Claire switched the song on the CD. "Male."

K-Mart distantly stared at her notebook, but her mind was working quickly. "Are you a movie star?"

"I did movies, but I wasn't that famous for them," Claire explained.

K-Mart lifted her head from her hands. "What were you famous for then?"

Claire grinned at her friend. "Singing."

K-Mart jotted a few notes down related to the game. "What year were you born?"

Claire rocked her head a few times until she recalled the year. "1935."

K-Mart hastily did the math and replied, "You're seventy-nine now." Well, technically she knew older but it was all relative to 2014. She traded the pencil to her right hand and jotted down the year.

"My age doesn't matter though," Claire replied.

K-Mart wrote the infinity symbol beside the birth year. She puckered her lips and carefully considered her next question.

"Where were you born?"

K-Mart lifted her head after Alice's question drifted from the back. She peered back at Alice and joked, "Welcome back to the living."

Alice shot a grin at the teen, but she looked at Claire's profile. She wondered if she'd get an answer.

"Mississippi." Claire found a pencil's eraser tip pointed at her.

"You're a country singer," K-Mart declared.

Claire chuckled and replied, "Definitely not country." She grinned at K-Mart's glare.

Alice drummed her fingers on her knee. "Rock and roll," she decided after putting the time period and location together.

K-Mart twisted in the seat and looked at Alice. "Do you know who she is?"

Alice was compiling a list in her head, but she looked at K-Mart. "Not yet."

Claire was grinning and happy that K-Mart's mood was improving now.

K-Mart wrote down the latest clues then considered her next question carefully.

"You have four questions left, K." Claire wagged a finger at the teen. She allowed only ten questions for the celebrity game. And right now, K-Mart hadn't questioned a name yet so that left no more than three inquiry questions.

"Hey I have five," K-Mart argued.

Claire pointed at Alice in the backseat and reminded, "Peanut gallery used one."

K-Mart grumbled and complained, "She asked it... not me."

"Oh then I have nine left," Alice teased.

Claire now clicked her tongue at Alice and K-Mart teaming up on her. "I don't think so." She held up four fingers. "That's it, girls."

K-Mart sighed and went back to her mental list of questions. She usually liked one that often helped her narrow down the celebrity in a rush. But if the answer wasn't useful then it was a total waste to her. She decided to go for it and asked, "Sing me one of your songs?"

Claire normally would do it right away. Yet apprehension tickled her stomach because Alice was in the back.

K-Mart reached over and turned the music down. "Now we're ready." She waved a hand at Claire. "Sing for me." She sensed her friend's anxious manner and knew exactly the cause, which made her smirk.

Claire sighed and picked a popular song that would be a huge clue, if not to K-Mart then definitely to Alice. After a nervous breath, she licked her dry lips and grinned as her confidence returned. "I gave a letter to the postman, he put it in his sack. Bright and early the next morning, he brought my letter back." Claire grinned over at her friend and grabbed the pencil from K-Mart. She held the pencil up in the air and sang, "She wrote upon it." Now she wrote in the air while she sung, "Return to sender, address unknown. No such number." She continued writing in the air but kept her eyes on the road. "No such zone." She tossed the pencil to K-Mart and pointed her finger at her. "We had a quarrel, a lover's spat."

K-Mart laughed after catching the pencil. She knew the song and joined for fun. "I write I'm sorry but my letter keeps coming back."

Claire winked at her friend and solo sung, "So then I dropped it in the mailbox, and sent it special D. Bright and early the next morning, it came right back to me."

K-Mart chimed in with Claire. "She wrote upon it. Return to sender, address unknown." She lifted her left hand and wrote in the air. "No such number, no such zone." She tossed her pencil into her lap and pointed at Claire. "Elvis."

Claire laughed at the teen catching her finally. She nodded happily and decided, "You know the King then."

Alice had watched the entire musical show go on and was secretly impressed by Claire's voice. She grinned, canted her head, and purposed, "And how is Elvis still alive?"

K-Mart sharpened after Alice's good point. "He died a long time ago, Claire."

The leader was turning the radio's volume up. She smirked at K-Mart and argued, "The aliens kidnapped him. He's still alive."

K-Mart's jaw dropped, but she grabbed her notebook and swatted Claire's arm. "You cheat."

Claire snickered but put her hand up from the second attempt and blocked K-Mart's notebook. "No hitting on the driver now." She shook a finger at her friend.

K-Mart rolled her eyes and muttered, "Wait 'til later, cheater."

Claire smirked, but she was satisfied with herself. She loved teasing K-Mart at times like this.

"Cheaters never prosper, Claire." K-Mart slammed her textbook closed for extra effect.

Claire evil laughed and argued, "But they sure get the last laugh." She enjoyed her friend's fiery glare.

"I hate you," K-Mart stated with pure mockery.

Claire chuckled, reached over, and messed up K-Mart's hair. "I hate you too, K." She pulled her hand away before K-Mart got her.

K-Mart growled because she couldn't do anything about it when Claire was driving. She instead grumbled and fixed her disheveled hair.

Alice rather enjoyed the pair's teasing and could see the closeness between them. Deep in Alice she envied the pair because she lived on in solitude. But she'd chosen the path and refused to regret her choices. She wasn't meant to be with humans, anymore. Her purpose in life didn't include others despite a part of her still yearned for it after all this time.

"How much further are we from Uniontown?" Alice checked.

Claire was serious after hearing Alice. She cleared her throat then tapped the GPS's sleeping screen, which lit up. She studied the overview map and reported, "We're probably another twenty minutes."

Alice nodded once. "Alright." She made her choice. "When we're ten minutes out then we should stop."

"It's still a good distance even from there," Claire argued.

K-Mart looked at the outsider and second Claire's observation. "We can get you in closer."

"It's risky." Alice shook her head.

"Not that risky," K-Mart debated. She was well schooled by Claire on when getting too close to a town was just too close.

"I could do with the walk," Alice rebuked.

K-Mart became confused then it dawned on her. "You're going into the town." Her eyes grew slightly bigger. "Are you crazy?" But Alice's smirk gave her the answer. "Why would you risk that?"

"I need transportation... supplies," Alice explained.

K-Mart was in disbelief and fought, "That town will probably be crawling with undead."

"Exactly." Alice grinned at K-Mart's surprised stare.

Claire flexed her hand on the steering wheel. She could tell that K-Mart didn't like Alice going into the town, but Claire and K-Mart could do nothing about it. She looked in the rearview mirror and explained, "Alice is more likely to find a car and supplies in the town with undead because no sane person would go in there."

K-Mart let out a breath and muttered, "Everything is untouched." That part made sense to her. However, going into the town was the crazy part.

Claire focused on her driving and guessed, "You've done this before."

Alice now stared out the window next to her. She ignored Claire's comment. She didn't want to get into her life.

K-Mart felt the upbeat mood defuse and started to get darker. She inwardly sighed because she didn't want this to happen after it'd been fixed moments ago.

Alice couldn't shake Claire's hard stare so she redirected the conversation. "Where will you go from here?" She glanced at the leader's profile. "Will you go to Reston?"

K-Mart's interests in the underground facility were renewed by the questions. But after studying Claire, she could tell that their future was unsure.

"I don't know," Claire admitted after a minute. "Possibly."

Alice saw the leader's dislike for the underground haven. She didn't understand it either and decided it wasn't her place to dig into why. She instead calmly offered, "Your people may like the break from being on the road so much."

"It would be safe too," K-Mart quietly added. She was staring at her friend. There was hope shining in her amber eyes.

Claire sharply looked at K-Mart and snapped, "Nowhere is safe."

K-Mart looked away after being reminded by Claire for the countless time that they could never be safe. She hated that it was true.

Alice had curiously watched the transition between them and felt deeply for K-Mart, who probably wanted a few days of no fear about the world. However, she also agreed with Claire that no one was safe from the undead or even Umbrella. It was a fact of life now.

Claire sighed and shifted in the seat. She put the window up until only a crack was left. "We'll stop up here, Alice." She grabbed the radio and reported to the managers what she planned to do. True to her word, she slowed down then rolled into an intersection of two major roads. She parked the Hummer in the middle of the intersection then hit the unlock button.

"Don't forget your gear in the back," K-Mart softly reminded Alice.

Alice hadn't forgotten but was warmed by the teen's concern. She hopped out of the SUV and quickly hooked her kukris onto the back of her jeans. She went to the rear, opened the door, and dug out her single leather pack, which was worn from years of use. Alice slung it on then peered over her shoulder at the huge diesel tanker. She spotted Carlos on the passenger side, and she exchanged a nod of goodbye.

K-Mart had her window down by the time Alice approached her side. She wished the bars weren't in the way. "Do you think we'll see you again?"

Alice grinned and joked, "If you're lucky, no." She gripped the pack's left strap near her shoulder. But she lost her grin after K-Mart gave her a sadden look. "It's hard to say what Fate will bring us." She offered a thin smile. "Take care of yourself, K-Mart."

K-Mart returned the smile despite she didn't want Alice to go. "Don't forget us."

Alice wasn't sure what to say back so she nodded then walked around the front of the Hummer. She had to thank Claire before she went on her way.

"You know where to go?" Claire checked with Alice. After Alice's nod, she nodded too and leaned her left arm against the windowsill. She wasn't sure what to say now and actually realized this was hard despite just this morning she was looking forward to this moment. "Thanks too... for..."

Alice raised an eyebrow and waited for Claire to painfully finish her words.

Claire cleared her throat and managed, "For yesterday... you had good timing."

Alice held down her smirk, but her amusement was clear in her eyes. She wondered which occasion was good timing and decided both were probably good in Claire's book. "Oh my pleasure."

Claire's stomach fluttered then fire shot down between her legs. She didn't expect Alice's husky voice.

Alice no longer controlled her trademark smirk. She decided the window's bars were the only thing that separated them physically from doing anything. And well, K-Mart's presence along with the rest of the convoy didn't help them.

Claire watched the heat enter Alice's eyes. She recalled that her favorite color was blue, and Alice's eyes shined Claire's favorite shade.

"Thanks for the... hospitality," Alice drew out, low. She savored Claire's internal struggle and easily smelled Claire's renewed excitement. But last night was their one and only time. Alice took a step away and seriously ordered, "Stay safe, Claire Redfield." She turned on her heels and started down the intersecting highway.

Claire sighed after gaining control over her attraction, but she called out, "Be careful out there." She shifted the Hummer into drive but kept her foot on the brake. She continued watching Alice's receding figure down the road. She wondered if Alice would look back at them.

K-Mart was also transfixed on Alice and slumped into the chair after Alice was gone. She put the window up all the way.

Claire stared at the last spot she saw Alice but there was nothing but overgrown wildlife. Alice never looked at them again. She released a worn breath and pulled her foot off the brake.

K-Mart put away her books while the Hummer sped up again. She knew they'd been making camp in half an hour or so. She was sure they'd enter into northern West Virginia by then. "Well," she commented, "She was sure different than other hitch hikers we've picked up."

Claire rolled her eyes and argued, "We don't pick up hitch hikers."

K-Mart shrugged and sat up in her seat. "I guess she was our first."

Claire shook her head at K-Mart's rambling.

"She was pretty hot too," K-Mart brought up. "Fuckin' weird but fuckin' hot."

"K-Mart!"

K-Mart slightly ducked and smirked to herself. Damn she loved those types of reactions from Claire, and they were super rare. She mentally chalked one up for her win. Oh she knew now that Claire found Alice attractive, at least physically. K-Mart suspected that Alice's brash attitude wasn't totally annoying but also invigorating for Claire.

"Let's focus on finding a camping spot," Claire ordered her friend. She then pointed at K-Mart and sharply reminded, "And no fucking cussing."

K-Mart silently shook from laughter. She definitely hit the nail on the head about Claire's attraction towards Alice. It was just too bad that Alice wasn't staying with them. She instead went along with Claire's attempt to get back to normalcy. But K-Mart suspected grabbing at normalcy after meeting Alice would be like chasing a ghost.

Continued.