Author's note: I love this fandom SO FREAKING MUCH. I mean, seriously guys, who creates a character like Elyza Lex to help deal with canon grief and within days transforms it into something viral? I love you all. Virtual hugs for the whole Clexa/Lexark fandom. And I know, I know, you might be saying, but Chels17 you already have multiple unfinished fics... To which I would say, don't worry, I fully intend on finishing them all! But how could I not jump on this bandwagon? I seriously tried to NOT think about creating a story for Elyza Lex, but... but... then I did. And I'm not even sorry. I already love this so much. Plus, I quickly realized how the story is going to end, and in a frenzy actually wrote the entire outline for it after I had just barely started writing this first chapter. Now I have goosebumps because it's officially my headcanon, and I'm pretty sure you'll enjoy it, so stick with me here and hold on tight! PS - I know the title is ridiculous... but I absolutely love it, and I'm betting you'll remember it. ;) Because when Clexa/Lexark is around, zombies must not have blood!


"Great. This is just great," Alicia stated, sarcasm dripping from every word. She was with Nick, Chris, Travis, and Daniel out looking for supplies when they saw them - a whole horde of the undead now heading in their direction.

"Where the hell did they all come from?" Chris cried out in disbelief.

"The question you should be asking, boy, is how are we going to get out of this mess," Daniel retorted.

"Right," Travis agreed. The two alpha males always took control of these situations. "There are only about twenty of them, and we move a helluva lot faster, so let's be smart and we can take them. That's about four for each of us."

He looked to his girlfriend's daughter. "Can you handle that, Alicia?"

She glowered at the oncoming mass of undead flesh. "Yes. The nausea left me two weeks ago." She gripped her baseball bat even tighter. "Let's send these walkers where they belong."

"Alright, Alicia!" Nick was impressed with his sister. "Chris, how does it make you feel to know a girl's got more balls than you?"

"Shut up, idiot."

"Both of you shut up," Daniel added.

The five of them held their line and braced themselves for the impending attack.

Ten seconds. Nine, eight, seven, six...

That's when the first bullets started to fly, but they came from behind the undead. A lone figure out in the distance was laying waste to the walkers in front of them. One solitary, deadly bullet embedded in each skull with necessary perfect aim, since if the shooter missed, they could have all been shot instead.

"Holy shit," Alicia said, voicing the collective thought of everyone in the group.

Already more than a dozen zombies were dead by the time the rest hit the group, leaving them each only one or two to take out, which they did with little difficulty. Alicia automatically rolled her bat in the grass to clean it off as she watched the horizon for the shooter to approach them.

Daniel whispered to the group, "Don't let your guard down just yet. We can't trust him before he talks."

Nick laughed out of surprise. "Pretty sure that 'he' is actually a 'she'." He snickered again as everyone squinted in the sunlight to get a better look, and sure enough, he was right.

Weapons were still at the ready as the young, blonde woman approached with her hands held up for them to see.

"Hey, there, I'm not here to take down anyone but these fellas," she said as she nudged a partially crushed zombie skull with her foot.

Alicia eyed the girl cautiously. She was definitely intrigued by the stranger, but not willing to make any judgment on her just yet.

"You're a pretty damn good shot," Travis commented, clearly impressed.

She smirked. "...for a girl?"

"No, no, that's not what I meant," Travis protested in vain while Nick and Chris snickered behind him.

She laughed. "It's okay. I've gotten that a lot in the last few months. At least, from the few living people I've come across."

"Have you been following us?" Alicia asked bluntly.

That caught the girl off guard. "Well, uh, yeah, actually. I've been watching you since you first got to the area on a freaking plane. Who the hell still has a plane to fly? Didn't you realize you'd be surrounded by walkers as soon as you landed?"

Travis answered. "Our friend - a man in our group - it's his plane. We were on his boat for some time in the Pacific before he decided he wanted to use it to fly to the other side of the country and see what it was like. We hoped that maybe, just maybe things wouldn't be screwed up over here. Not yet." He shrugged. "It was worth the shot."

The blonde just nodded as she took in all this information.

"Well, this is certainly a disappointment for you then," she said dryly. "Sorry about that. Welcome to what used to be New D.C."

Nick swept his gaze over the surrounding devastation. "We seriously have bad luck. Can you imagine if a third D.C. is ever built?" He laughed. "That would be pretty impressive."

Travis nodded. "Humans have proven to be a resilient species. If we could survive after The Bombing, we can survive this."

Alicia scoffed. "Seriously? Have any of you had a U.S. history class? This is so completely different. Yes, The Bombing left earth as a desolate wasteland and it was miraculous anyone survived, but they didn't exactly have masses of the undead coming after them either... Creatures who have no conscience and no drive other than eating the flesh and brains of living people, reducing our 'resilient species' to absolute monsters." She lowered her voice, adding gravity to her words as she looked at the weapon in her hands, which moments ago was plastered with human remains. "And those of us who don't succumb to the sickness have to become monsters as well."

"Beware that, when fighting monsters, you yourself do not become a monster... for when you gaze long into the abyss. The abyss gazes also into you."

All heads snapped back to the blonde when she spoke; they had momentarily forgotten about her during their history lecture.

"Exactly," Alicia said, head slightly tilted as she really took in the girl in front of her for the first time. "You know Friedrich Nietzsche."

The girl smirked and nodded. "Don't act so surprised. First, Mr. Brooding over there doubts me, and now you too."

Alicia suddenly felt a burning sensation forming somewhere near her stomach. She couldn't quite pinpoint what it was, but she felt it radiating through her body until she felt tingly all over and let out a slight shudder. She was a little embarrassed at getting called out like that, but being embarrassed had never felt quite like this before.

She quickly resumed her stoic expression. "I didn't mean to offend you... Hey, what is your name, anyway?"

The blonde girl gave a genuine smile and stepped forward so she was only a few feet in front of their group.

"I'm Elyza. Elyza Lex." She frowned when she saw Travis and Chris wince. "What's wrong?" she asked defensively.

Travis spoke up, "I'm sorry. It's just that... We lost his mom, my ex-wife, just a few weeks ago. Her name was Liza. The wound's still fresh, ya know?"

Elyza nodded and looked him in the eye. "I'm very sorry. I know how you feel. I started out with a group too." She shrugged. "I'm the only one left."

"You can stay with us!" Chris offered a little too eagerly.

Daniel shushed him. "We hardly know her and certainly don't know if she would even want to join us."

"I'm pretty easy to get to know. Open book." She gave a faint, but genuine smile. "And if you don't mind a badass fighter joining the ranks, I'm in."

Travis grinned. "Well, if you don't mind me being 'Mr. Brooding' every now and then, we'd be happy to have you. Wouldn't we, Daniel?"

Daniel frowned, but nodded his head. "I hope you're as good at finding food as you are at fighting."

Elyza just smiled, figuring that was going to be about as warm of a welcome as she could expect from the surly man. He seemed like he did have a good heart, though, underneath the gruff facade.

Travis cleared his throat. "Okay, let's move guys. We don't want to be out here in the open for too long. Remember, our objective here is finding anything that could be of use to us: food, water, weapons, matches, tools, blankets, flashlights... anything like that. Now with Elyza we have an even number, so let's pair off into three groups to cover more ground. Elyza, let's have you go with Alicia. Chris, you're with me. And Nick, go with Daniel. Just be sure to stay within hearing range."

Alicia wasn't quite sure how she felt about getting paired up with the new girl. She was somehow excited and yet also nervous about having to make small talk with her. Alicia wasn't one to really socialize with people. Plus, it was just easier for her to not show any emotion at all.

Elyza smiled as she walked up to her. "Alright, partner. Where to?"

Alicia shrugged. "I don't know. This seems to be more your forte than mine. You know this area better."

"Fair enough. I just didn't want to intrude on the family excursion."

Alicia rolled her eyes. "We're hardly a family. More of a ragtag team of barely-survivors, some of whom happen to share DNA."

Elyza raised a questioning eyebrow and smirked. "You guys are that close, huh?"

"Oh, shut up. You don't know anything about us."

"Then help me know, little Miss Blasé. If I'm gonna stick around, I might as well learn about you guys."

Alicia side-eyed her incredulously as they started to walk. "Little Miss Blasé? Really? What's with you and giving people stupid nicknames?"

Elyza smirked, determined to crack this girl eventually. "Admit it. You're impressed I know the word 'blasé'."

"Knowing a five-letter word is hardly a remarkable achievement."

Damn. This girl was harsh. And moody. And Elyza loved it. What fun was life without a little challenge? Sure, being in the middle of a zombie apocalypse was challenge enough, but this one was going to be a little more enjoyable.

"Why are you smirking? Stop smirking. You think I'm funny, do you?"

Elyza stifled a laugh. "Yes, actually. You're so stiff. Lighten up!"

"Lighten up? Really? Look around you, Elyza. What is there to feel light about?"

"How about the fact that you're alive?"

"Sometimes I'd rather be dead."

"I don't believe that. In this world if you'd rather be dead then you would be. I think there are probably a lot of dead and undead people who would rather be alive, don't you think?"

Alicia dropped her head. "You're right," she admitted with a sigh. "I don't mean to be so negative. It's just that... I don't know. Obviously I want to live, but I don't know what to live for. Not anymore. I mean, life should be about more than just surviving," she commented thoughtfully. "Don't we deserve better than that?"

"Yes, we do," Elyza responded sincerely.

The girls looked at each other as a strange familiarity was settling between them.

"What is it?" Elyza questioned carefully.

Alicia looked down, eyebrows furrowed as she tried to mentally reach for whatever was just beyond her grasp.

"I don't know. It's probably weird, but it was almost a déjà vu kind of feeling, I guess. Like, I feel like I've heard or said that before, but I don't remember when."

She looked up hesitantly, hoping her new ally wouldn't think she was crazy. Instead her eyes met another pair of furrowed eyebrows; she was equally deep in thought.

"No, not weird. I was thinking the same thing. Maybe from a movie?"

Alicia frowned. "I don't think so. It felt more real." She quickly shook her head in an attempt to get rid of the odd feeling. "Anyway, let's focus and try to find something useful."

Elyza nodded in agreement, but couldn't as easily forget what she had felt, even if she couldn't explain it. This girl had made her experience a lot of new feelings in just the last twenty minutes. Elyza smiled to herself, wondering what other new things this potential friendship could bring.


Author's note: Yes, The Bombing they're referring to is the nuclear war in the world we love that is The 100. I've taken some artistic liberties in launching this timeline of FTWD about 150-200 years after The 100. So TonDC was the second iteration of Washington, D.C., and the New D.C. of this story was the third. TonDC probably didn't make it into Alicia's history books since the Grounders didn't have a written language to keep that kind of record, and that's why Nick was saying that building a third capital city (instead of a fourth) would be quite impressive. And yes, that Friedrich Nietzsche quote is where The 100 2x07 title comes from, which coincidentally is the episode where Clarke and Lexa first meet. :)