Claire had not gotten much sleep that night; her dreams had been plagued with nightmares. She ended up tossing and turning in her sleeping bag and woke up at every hour and half hour mark. Eventually she had gone outside for some fresh air, attempting to clear her mind.<br/><br/>The porch out back was closed in by a barricade made by whoever had been here before they took over. It didnâ€™t look like much, only held together by wires and tape, seemingly thrown up with haste, but she wasnâ€™t worried about it. A lot of people threw up their half-assed barriers in a hurry. She knew from experience that it would hold back an attack if one or even a few of those things tried to break in. What was more reassuring was how the area seemed to be void of infected. It certainly put her at ease, and encouraged her to stay out here to get some fresh air. Maybe she could get use to it here. It might not have had the same feel to it as their old place did, but at least it was safe and they didnâ€™t have to constantly worry about those things getting in.<br/><br/>She stayed outside for awhile, finding the cool night air to be more welcoming than the indoors. It was early enough that it was cool out, and she was sure that it was too early for her to stark barking orders at everyone. They all needed their sleep after the events of the other day anyway. Until they cleaned that place she was more in favor of staying outside. Maybe it was because she didnâ€™t feel as crowded out here. She never has liked the feeling of being crowded. It wasnâ€™t to the point where it was a deep seeded fear or phobia thankfully; it was more of a discomfort. When she eventually did go back inside she couldnâ€™t help but frown while she looked around. The thought of doing some cleaning while everyone was asleep came to her, but quickly lost motivation when a yawn made her realize she was still pretty tired.<br/><br/>â€œYou couldnâ€™t sleep either?â€ Clare inquired when she noticed Adira sitting on the couch. She took a seat next to her, trying her best to smile in spite of everything. It wasnâ€™t much, but she felt that especially now she had to being even a small amount of positivity into this group. Even if it was just a smile, she hoped that it would be enough, if not she would just try harder. â€œI donâ€™t blame you,â€ she continued, â€œI wasnâ€™t able to get much sleep either. These sleepless nights have been going on for awhile, but I think last night was the worst for me since the start of this shit.â€ It was not often that she opened up to anyone. She always kept to herself, probably feeling obligated to be that â€˜strong leaderâ€™ stereotype just to get by. The reality was that she was just as human as everyone else here.<br/><br/>Sometimes she needed to unwind a bit, and Adira was usually the person she shared her feelings with.<br/><br/>Why? Well, she really couldnâ€™t say for sure. When she took the girl under her wing she doubted she would last long in the group. Now, she seemed to be pulling her weight and that was something impressive. Claire knew that Adira had potential. Even if she was not strong enough to kill one of their own or even look one of those things in the eye, perhaps her constant worrying has done something good for them. After all, it was because of her that they even had this location as an option. If it wasnâ€™t for her they would not be cautious about things. She really was a big contribute to the group in her own way.  Part of her wished she was better at expressing herself. That way, maybe Adira wouldnâ€™t feel so left out from time to time. It always made her feel bad whenever that happened; she needed to work on keeping everyone involved.<br/><br/>She sank back against the couch and stared at the ceiling for a long time. This city has only been in hell close to a year and already things looked like they were going to fall apart, which was actually a little unnatural. Paint was chipping off the walls and there were cracks in the ceiling. There was not any electricity, so the darkness of the place only made it seem more dismal than it already was. Would this place even be able to hold out as long as they would need? How long would it be until they had to move again? She knew she shouldnâ€™t worry about that too much but still, she needed to be able to keep her composure. Maybe this position really was starting to get to her head a little. If it was, that was another reason she needed to just sit and unwind a little bit.<br/><br/>â€œI want to get started on a plan, but I guess Iâ€™m just eager to get this over with.â€ She said, looking back to Adira. â€œI donâ€™t even know where we should go from here, so from now on I will need your support. I know you donâ€™t like to be in the middle of the action, but this is how things need to be.â€ Not once has she mentioned why she was fighting. Everyone always assumed it was because of the obvious, Excelleron had to be stopped before it took over the world, but in reality there was something deeper. She always seemed almost too determined to end this, and sometimes even she found herself questioning her own motives. Her life before this had not been anything amazing, her family had not been poor but they werenâ€™t rich either, she didnâ€™t have a lot growing up. If anything she would say it was relatively normal.<br/><br/>How she ended up being the leader figure for a survival group still stumped her. Before this, she never would have thought she was capable. Now it just sort of consumed her.<br/><br/>Claire stood up from the couch and stretched, â€œAs soon as weâ€™re all awake, I saw we go look for something to eat. Then we can gather supplies and come up with a plan. As always, youâ€™re in charge of the map. This is a new area for some of us, so Iâ€™ll need your help in crossing of the areas that we shouldnâ€™t go near.â€ Maybe this would be a good enough compromise, though she had a feeling that she might be dumping too much on Adira first thing in the morning. She knew Adira didnâ€™t like to come out with them but she needed someone to look over the map as they went. It wasnâ€™t like she dragged her out often, so once in awhile was fine, right? Leave it to Claire to get down to business. â€œIt might take days, maybe even weeks of preparationâ€¦ Iâ€™ll need you to scout out some weak points, too, find out where we can infiltrate Excelleron.â€