Chapter 2
Alicia was woken from her deep sleep only by the sound of movement and sunlight filtering through her eyelids. She panicked for a moment, before she remembered why she was in a stranger's bed. She looked around and found the source of the movement, it was Elyza, pacing around the room and gathering certain items off of shelves and out of closets before stuffing them in grey duffle bag. As well as items that belonged to Alicia herself. Alicia smiled softly, enjoying the view and smiling deeper whenever Elyza would curse about not being able to find an item, quietly, she noted, Elyza cursed quietly, probably to not wake her up.
"Good morning," Alicia said finally, stretching and yawning.
"Hey! You're up, great, so I checked the amount of gas we have and it's not enough to last us all the way back to the docks so we might have to spend a night in an abandoned apartment or something." Elyza listed off feverishly, still pacing the room.
Alicia smiled at the sight of Elyza stressed, but she frowned slightly. "Elyza?" She queried softly.
"Yeah sexy?" Elyza said with a bright, and beautiful smile while zipping up her leather jacket from halfway open to all-the-way closed. Alicia was saddened by this action, one, because she knew that Elyza must already be overheating in that thing and two, because it meant the end of Alicia being able to see any cleavage. Not that she wanted to admit that she did miss it… at all. But as soon as Elyza saw the frown on Alicia's face she paused, waiting for Alicia's response.
"Why… why are you doing this? I'm sure you have better things to do than rescuing girls from alleyways." Alicia tried to laugh but the atmosphere was much too sober. "But seriously what's in it for you?"
Elyza sighed, and leaned against a wall before meeting Alicia's piercing and gorgeous eyes. "Honestly?" Elyza asked before sighing again, looking down at the floor. "I'm not sure." That wasn't completely a lie. The girl was definitely worth every second you could see of her but usually Elyza needed more than just a pretty face, rocking body, beautiful hair, gorgeous eyes- the point was that this wasn't normal. And Elyza honestly had no idea what drew her to the girl other than her looks. It was almost a sense of Déjà vu, but not that she had seen her before. That she had loved her before. This scared Elyza, because she had never fallen for someone this intensely, she had crushed, lusted, and for a very brief and misguided time, stalked. But this was altogether completely different.
That was an answer that completely threw Alicia off. This didn't help answer any questions, only raised more.
"I'm not sure why, but what I do know is that I want to do this. But you definitely have my word that there aren't any ulterior motives at play here." Elyza deadpans, meeting Alicia's gaze, but it was Alicia that had to look away, Elyza's expression was much too sober and even pained looking. "Anyways, I can get you to the dock and then I'll be out of your hair."
"Out of my hair?" Alicia laughs, "You're the one risking everything and I'm the one who owes you everything."
Elyza smiles at this, before chucking the duffle bag towards Alicia. "Pack whatever else you need for the trip and whatever you want to take with you to the dock." Elyza instructed, with a newfound pep in her step. "And yes, you can take the candles."
Alicia wasn't going to ask her that, not right away anyway, but she packed her candles nonetheless and put her jacket back on.
She then got out of the bed and followed Elyza downstairs, handing her the bag. Elyza got the bike helmet from the shelf and handed it to Alicia. "Don't argue, just put it on, make sure you hold on and when we get on foot you need to be quiet, follow my movements and stay close, whatever you do don't wander off." Elyza rambled off. Elyza had never felt this kind of need to protect before. She decided to try her best to ignore the frighteningly new emotions coursing through her and focus on helping the girl. After all, Alicia belonged with her family, and as much as Elyza hated it, that didn't include her. Not in the slightest.
Alicia nodded, taking in all of this information as she pulled on the matte black bike helmet and tightened it. She lifted the visor so Elyza could see her face, but mostly so she could see Elyza's better.
Elyza stepped out of the house, and Alicia followed right behind her. Elyza stopped, unzipped the duffle bag and pulled out a 9mm Smith and Wesson handgun. Elyza loaded it, cocked it and offered it to Alicia. Alicia was hesitant to make a move towards the gun, she didn't feel entirely safe around guns, plus she had very little experience with them. Elyza picked up on this hesitation and looked into Alicia's eyes.
"I only do this in case of emergency, if you do shoot this you have to understand that they will come. But if we get in a bind I want to know that you have a little more protection than that knife, however big it may be." Elyza said, her expression soft and honest. Elyza offered the gun again and Alicia took it, it was heavier than she expected but not too heavy. Elyza got behind her to explain how to work it.
"You probably won't need to use it, but just in case we do, the safety is there, turn it off and on." Elyza instructed and Alicia quickly understood how it worked. "Good, make sure that you use both hands because it gives off more kick than you would expect, especially considering you don't have much experience." Elyza said into her ear, using both her hands to hold both of Alicia's to the gun to show proper hand position. But Alicia found it hard to concentrate with Elyza's body pressed against her back. "when you shoot, just aim down the barrel and remember, aim for the head or they won't drop. Got it?" Elyza asked, releasing her hold on the girl and taking a few steps back.
Alicia was admittedly disappointed that the lessons ended so soon but she nodded nonetheless. She looked deeply into the eyes of a smiling blond and thought for a second that Elyza might try to kiss her, but Elyza just cleared her throat loudly instead.
Elyza then started walking towards the bike, talking over her shoulder along the way, hands stuffed into her leather jacket's pockets. "Keep the safety on when we ride but keep the gun in your hand, and keep it aimed at the ground unless I say otherwise. Got it?"
"Yeah," Alicia said as she watched Elyza unlock the gate and bring the bike out front. She then went through the gate and waited for Elyza to finish locking up the gate before she hopped on the bike behind Elyza, using one hand to hold onto Elyza and the other holding the gun pointed towards the ground like she was instructed to.
"Ready?" Elyza asked with a cheeky grin, eager to rev up her beloved matte black 48 Harley.
Alicia smirked back, "Yeah, let's go."
Elyza started the bike and took off at a slower pace than usual, careful to make sure that Alicia didn't fall off with just one hand but to her delight, Alicia just held on tighter and Elyza felt comfortable enough to resume her high speeds. She could feel her blond hair waving wildly in the wind, and -whether it be to avoid her mane, or to get a better look- Alicia's helmeted chin rested on Elyza's right shoulder. Elyza smiled, trying her best to remember this moment, riding at high speeds, watching the sun get higher in the sky through her aviator sunglasses and a beautiful girl pressed against her back. She would've prefered her to be pressed against her front but beggars can't be choosers.
She didn't know about this one though, usually she would get a gut instinct to whether they were gay or straight but with this one she had gotten a straight vibe but the girl's behavior begged to differ. In less than 24 hours there were multiple moments in which a kiss wouldn't have be unexpected. But as forward as she could be, Elyza was always respectful first, making sure that the girls were always comfortable with what was happening before it happened. That lesson on the porch almost led to a kiss but Elyza decided to cop out to gather more intel first, as hot as teaching Alicia to hold a gun was, their thing whatever it was, would have to wait.
As confusing as Elyza's feelings were, Alicia was just as confused. If someone would've asked her what her sexuality was, three days ago, she would've said straight without the slightest hesitation other than the expected 'why the hell would you be asking me this isn't it obvious' type of hesitation. Now? She wasn't so sure. She would find herself trying to steal glances at the blond Australian beauty -her cleavage, ass, muscle outline, even collar bones- like some kind of fifteen-year-old sexually depraved boy. That and she would have this weird voice in the back of her head screaming at her to lean in and kiss her if Elyza got close. Luckily she could ignore it or muffle it usually but it had been becoming louder and louder. Like she was possessed by some kind of horny, and very gay demon. Possibly born in the essence of Elyza herself.
Elyza herself pondered whether this strange attraction could be just a very strong case of classic lust. She hadn't gotten any in a few months, not that she wouldn't be able to, but the human population that she was willing to bang got smaller and smaller by the day, due to the fact that she wasn't desperate enough to hump a biter, an undead one anyway.
Elyza refocused on the road ahead, seeing that they were beginning to get into the more populated areas, which meant more walkers, and higher risk. She slowed down to limit her noise output and to be warier of her surroundings. As soon as they saw their first walker she felt the arm around her tighten a little more, Elyza looked down to see that the hand that was holding the gun was shaking slightly, this girl was not comfortable around those things at all. She felt a pang of empathy and remembered when she herself had found herself terrified of them, but that feeling soon passed for her after killing so many. But for the girl's sake she hoped that she wouldn't have to get used to it, honestly no one should have to.
She pulled up to a street with several cars that seemed relatively untouched and apartments that weren't wrecked in riots or fires. She looked down at her tank meter and decided at the meter being as low as it was, that they would need to get more gas pretty soon or abandon the bike. Elyza pulled up to an empty portion of the street and killed the engine, looking around before making any movements to get off the bike. When she saw that the coast was clear she got off and helped Alicia to get off the bike as well. Elyza felt her heartbeat quicken just by holding the girl's hand to help her off and mentally chastised herself for somehow allowing this girl to have that much of an effect over her.
Alicia took off her helmet and Elyza couldn't help but smile at Alicia's gently frazzled hair, even though it a strange way it only made her look even hotter. Alicia frowned, before realizing what it was and then proceeded to straighten out her hair with the bike's tiny mirror as Elyza scoped the place out for the second time, and it was still clear. She then took the duffle bag from Alicia and put on her own shoulder.
"We need to get gas to get to the coast, so we have to siphon off from some of these cars and- oh holy fucking shit." Elyza said, her jaw dropping as she saw in the distance an entire horde heading for their direction, the bike had that effect but she had hoped that she could get gas and drive off in time to avoid them but that didn't seem like a reasonable option anymore. "God fucking damn it, we need to take shelter now." Elyza said to a terrified looking Alicia. The horde was too far away for her to notice before, about a thousand meters off now, but even though those fuckers were slow as a motherfucking turtle without legs they still managed to creep up on you if you weren't careful. With her precious cargo -Alicia- she wasn't going to risk anything.
Elyza ran up to an apartment door, which was thankfully unlocked and went through it, room by room to make sure it was empty, which it was, cleaned out of all supplies but still at least it was safe. Elyza dropped the duffle bag off on the floor and made sure that all of the doors were locked, the windows also thankfully had bars on them just in case that the horde tracked them to the apartment. Elyza looked out at the slowly approaching horde which by some small miracle had only come for the sound of her bike, and not because they saw the two women.
Elyza closed the window curtains and walked over to Alicia who seemed to be ok but pretty emotionally overwhelmed.
"What's the plan?" Alicia asked with a deep breath.
"We wait them out, wait for them to disperse and get gas for the bike or start walking towards the docks on foot. Either way, it probably involves a sleepover because those things just love to stick around for several hours." Elyza said unsmiling.
"Alright, that seems reasonable." Alicia said slowly, seemingly trying to calm herself down more than anything else.
Elyza looked out the window, careful to do it slowly and wary of biters seeing her. She looked at the sun and guessed that it was probably eleven already because they drove slower to be careful of biters on their way here. Elyza made it her mission to distract Alicia from the monsters outside, as a way to protect her from further anxiety, making the girl uncomfortable always seemed to work as the best distraction with this one. She joined Alicia on the couch that Alicia had apparently managed to find.
Elyza fake yawned, stretching her hands out to where her right arm rested behind Alicia's head, who seemed to notice but didn't mention it. "So." Elyza drawled slowly, making sure that Alicia looked up at her patented impassioned, hungry stare before continuing. "All this time and nothing to… do." Elyza drawled out, glancing at Alicia's plump lips and spreading her own into stunning smile.
Alicia seemed to laugh and blush at this cheesy line which only made Elyza smile wider. Alicia then shifted to better face Elyza, "Hmmm, are you sure that there's absolutely nothing we can do to entertain ourselves?" Alicia drawled back with even more sexual tension packed into the line. It left Elyza absolutely speechless. If she had any less self-control then she would've taken the girl right there, so she decided to not move a muscle. To avoid provoking herself into doing anything stupid and rash.
Alicia laughed. "hmmm, someone's quiet, seems like I beat someone at their own game huh Elyza?" Alicia said teasingly and Elyza's face dropped, realizing she had been played.
"Very funny, but I'm warning you, you do that again and I will take away your ability to speak." Elyza threatened sexually with hungry, smiling eyes.
Alicia nodded with a smile, not wanting to provoke the Australian beauty any further. "Oh, I know, let's play a game."
"A game? Well I can think of lots of games we can play, but, I'm not sure it's a good idea for you to moan with the biters right outside." Elyza said lazily with an eyebrow and the corner of her mouth raised.
"Ha-Ha, very funny." Alicia said, her voice dripping with sarcasm before continuing. "I was thinking maybe that, we would each have seven questions that we can ask each other and you can only pass on one of them, and you can choose whichever question you wish to pass on." Alicia explained.
"Alright then, you can ask the first question." Elyza said, intrigued by the game and whatever Alicia was planning.
"Why did you move to L.A.?" Alicia asked, with a devilish grin.
"Wow, just wow, I told you that was personal and that's the very first question!" Elyza laughed good-naturedly. "But considering that's the first question, I'm afraid of the others so I guess it shall be the truth from me."
"I moved to L.A. to get away from my family, because I had recently come out and they reacted badly, I don't want to get too deep into the details but it was bad enough for me to cross an ocean to live alone." Elyza said, trying to act as if what she said didn't hold any meaning. Even though to her it really did.
"I see." Alicia said with understanding and felt kind of bad to force her to answer such a personal question. But if she was right then Elyza would feel no shame in asking questions that were just as personal. "Your turn."
"Ok, let me think." Elyza said rubbing her hands together and laughing evilly. "When did you kill your first biter?" Elyza asked.
Alicia shifted in her seat before answering softly. "Never."
"Never! How did you manage to survive without ever having to kill one?!" Elyza enthused unconsciously scooting closer in her excitement.
"That's another question Elyza, you will have to wait." Alicia teased, quite pleased with her own game. "It's my second question now."
Alicia paused thinking of what to ask. "You seem older than me but how old are you?"
Elyza smiled. "That's a lame question but I'm 21… and even though it's a waste of a perfectly good sexual question, how old are you?"
"I am 17 years old, turning 18 in the next month." Alicia answered, bringing her feet onto the couch and resting her head on her knees.
"Convenient, don't you think?" Elyza teased. "It's your turn darling, make it good."
"Why do you always make sexual comments? Of all the things to do in the apocalypse?" Alicia asked, guessing that it was a way of coping somehow.
Elyza sighed, "I dunno, I must just have a dirty mind and unfiltered mouth. My mum always would punish me every time that I would let a curse slip or said anything remotely sexual. I would have to hide that part of me, as well as my sexuality and as soon as I came here I promised never to filter myself for anyone."
"Deep. Your turn." Alicia said, hoping to lighten the mood.
Elyza laughed and took a moment to think before an evil smile graced her face. "Top or bottom?" She said and laughed, eagerly awaiting Alicia's answer.
"What does that mean?" Alicia said, crinkling up her nose.
"Ugh, must you be so bland! It's referring to the bedroom." Elyza explained.
Alicia was still slightly confused, until she realized that Elyza was probably talking about bunk beds, a strange question but a valid one. "Oh! Top for sure, Bottom just makes me feel like I could get crushed." Alicia answered.
Elyza's mouth just hung open. She had no idea what to do with that information. She felt bad for Alicia and whatever terrible and most likely heterosexual encounter would push her to have those fears. "Ok then, good to know." Elyza answered awkwardly, still shocked at the answer.
"My turn. What is your biggest fear?" Alicia asked.
"Well I'm not afraid of much at all, not even insects or reptiles, or even death, but I am afraid of death in the people I love. So I think my greatest fear would have to be the love of my life dying in my arms." Elyza answered solemnly, seemingly depressed at the thought. Elyza felt another wave of that Déjà vu roll over her and an image popped into her mind. It felt like a memory but she didn't recognize it. It was gone as soon as it had come and the only thing she remembered from it was furs, a strangely thick black liquid soaking the soft furs and an overwhelming sense of loss and pure pain.
"Why do you have to get so deep with these things Elyza this is supposed to be a fun game!" Alicia complained, knocking Elyza out of her thoughts.
"Alright! Alright! Sorry ok? My turn." Elyza stopped to think of her next question. "Are you truly straight or do you think you have some kind of attraction towards the same sex?" Elyza asked, loving the way that Alicia's face drained of color.
"I um, I pass on that one." Alicia answered quickly, hoping that Elyza would drop it. Elyza picked up on Alicia's reaction and slightly regretted asking the poor girl so soon. She knew just as much as anyone how much it sucked to be in the closet. She cursed herself internally for being so stupid as to ask so soon.
"Why do you wear that damn jacket all the time like a damn never-nude?!" Alicia asked, still frustrated by Elyza's audacity to ask that previous question.
"I pass." Elyza said immediately, trying to drain her features of any emotion.
"No, seriously why?" Alicia asked, with frustration. "Are you hiding something?" She reached to unzip the jacket but Elyza scooted out of reach.
"Damn it Alycia, if you undress me I will do you the same favor! Don't test me!" Elyza threatened, hoping that it would deter the girl. It was an empty threat but if Alicia got aggressive, Elyza wasn't sure she would be able to stop herself in the heat of the moment.
"Elyza stop it with the innuendo and the comments!" Alicia yelled at the Australian, completely done with the whole situation.
"Alicia, you're only mad because of the question I asked, just calm down." Elyza said, trying to keep calm herself.
"No I'm not!" Alicia said, absolutely enraged by the blond. "Just because you're a horny lesbian doesn't mean everyone else around you is too! Stop fucking daydreaming!"
She crossed the line, Alicia knew it, Elyza knew it and it was just a mistake that made the whole room silent for several tense seconds. Elyza was the first to speak, "I'm sorry, alright? I'm sorry."
Alicia knew that she should've been the one apologizing, that Elyza had every right to ask her that question. And overreacting in this way was doing her zero favors if she wanted to hide it. But that didn't mean that she was ready to admit it. That's why she was mad, because the question shoved an issue in her face that she wasn't ready to address. "No, I'm sorry, for snapping. But, if you tell me why you wear that jacket all the time, maybe I might want to open up a little bit." Alicia offered. She needed to talk about it to someone and she also felt like she needed to know why she wore that damn leather jacket all the time.
"Cupcake I don't think I want to do that right now; I just can't tell you ok?" Elyza pleaded, and she never pleaded either, with anyone. She definitely wanted the girl to open up about her feelings but she couldn't risk it at the cost of revealing her secret.
The rest of the evening was sitting, laying and shuffling around the house by the two girls, ever so often looking through the windows, and every time they checked there were still walkers. They inspected the apartment a little closer and found it was absolutely barren. There were no fixtures on the walls, no decorations, very few pieces of furniture including only one twin sized bed with no blankets. They also had avoided any form of conversation since their fight.
In addition to that, the apartment was drafty as hell, Elyza seemed to get along fine with that damn jacket but Alicia found herself shivering more than once. When it came time to eat and go to sleep they wordlessly took several food items out of the duffle and ate beside each other silently on the couch. They were both too tired to argue about whether they should both sleep on the bed and instead they just did. But it was a little harder no to touch each other considering they were both on the tiny twin bed. They decided to lay facing away from each other, their shoulder blades and butts couldn't help but touch due to the limited space.
Alicia tried to sleep but the apartment was still drafty, and if possible even draftier than before as the sun fell. She started shivering quite quickly, and she wasn't the only one that knew it. Elyza could feel her tiny shiver fits against her back and immediately felt sorry for the girl. She had on her jacket so the temperature wasn't a problem, but as much as she couldn't risk revealing her secret she couldn't risk the girl getting no sleep either. At least, not in this way. She decided to try to see if she would cuddle first, so she wouldn't have to take off her jacket.
"Hey, you seem cold and I can hold you to try to warm you up if you w-." Elyza was cut off by Alicia's scathing tone.
"Elyza for god's sake, now is not the time for you to be trying to get into my pants." Alicia said.
"That's not- I was trying to- ugh! God damn you Alicia I was trying to be nice!" Elyza tried to defend herself. "I thought it was worth a shot to ask so I wouldn't have to take of my jacket." Elyza said as she started unzipping her jacket and worming her way out of it.
Alicia turned and gasped at what she saw by the tiny amount of light in the room. There were scars, marks, bite marks, up and down Elyza's back that was visible in through the arm holes in her white tank top. She didn't say a thing, instead turning her body and tentatively reaching out to touch them. When she did Elyza's back muscles flinched a bit before relaxing, allowing her to trace the marks. Without thinking she pushed up the hem of Elyza's shirt up to the back of her neck to where she could see all of Elyza's back except for the small portion which was covered by the back strap and clasp of Elyza's black bra. Elyza granted Alicia's curiosity and pulled off the tank top altogether, tossing it onto the floor. There must have been at least ten, maybe more. And Alicia took the time to trace and count them all. Twelve, twelve clear bite marks and a few other incoherent scratches.
"Are you going to take the jacket?" Elyza offered. And Alicia took the jacket, put it on and resumed tracing the scars, some deep, and others just faint lines. They were all completely healed and didn't seem recent at all. Alicia finally found something to say.
"How?" She asked, knowing she wouldn't have to elaborate herself.
"A horde, a couple months ago they sneaked up on me while I was getting supplies and they managed to get me to the ground and attack me before I could get away from them. And when I got home I just treated my wounds and waited to die. But it didn't happen. I haven't been bit since but I think that I may be immune, not that I want to test it anytime soon." Elyza explained quietly, relaxed only by Alicia's warm breath and fingers gracing her back.
Before she had a chance to second-guess herself Alicia gently kissed a particularly deep scar near Elyza's shoulder blade and reached her arms around the blond Australian and hugged her tight. "That must've been scary." Alicia said slowly, holding on tight and cursing her inability to come up with anything more profound.
"Yeah, it was." Elyza said quietly, glad that Alicia wasn't able to see her pain stricken face. Alicia let go of Elyza only so she could scoot closer to the blond and lean her face against Elyza's upper back, continuing to trace the scars. Some of them looked painful, and deep, holding the memory of each individual tooth within Elyza's skin. Others were only grazes, or scratches, found only under a gentle touch and not so easily seen as they were felt. Alicia hadn't realized she was crying against Elyza's still nearly bare back until she had felt the hot droplets fall down her face and even onto Elyza's back.
That was it for Elyza, she had tried to keep her emotions stable as the memories of each scar came flooding back, the pain, the tearing, the sound of her own inhuman scream. But as soon as she realized that Alicia was crying, it was the straw that broke the camel's back. Never in her life had she loved anyone more than how she loved Alicia in this moment. She herself started to sob nearly silently. Feeling Alicia caress with more pressure to calm her as a reaction and worked to help her regain her emotions. She soon stopped crying under Alicia's soothing touch and Alicia followed in suit. They both fell asleep soon after, their faces coated with their salty tears but their sleep was peaceful; and filled with sweet memories that did not belong to them.
A/N: Hey, I hope you guys are enjoying reading it as much as I enjoy writing it. Please leave a review, tell me what you're thinking, feeling, or wanting. Thank you for all of the reads so far, And normally I would update faster than this, I just didn't realize so many people had already read it. Much love to you all.