Ch.8
~Last time~
"I will go ahead, make sure the road is clear. Those people are probably at their precious store getting ready, but I have to make sure." I said, going to get in the car.
After hearing Brylee say 'be careful', I waved out of the window before driving away.
~Now~
After driving about three miles ahead I stopped and waiting for the group to catch up.
"It's really hot." Brylee said, walking next to Nick, on the drivers side where I was.
"Uh...yeah. We're in Mexico." I said, leaning my arm on the window as I drove around five miles.
"You can drive up ahead to the hotel if you want. Take Chris with you." Travis said, nudging his son.
"Are you sure you guys will be okay?" I asked, sitting up straight.
"I'm sure we'll be fine. Go on ahead and check the hotel." Luci said, moving to stand next to Brylee.
"Thank Luci...Well, come on Chris." I said, unlocking the car door for him to get in.
After waving goodbye to everyone, I sped off.
"You really hate driving slow." Chris said, holding onto the window.
"My mom taught me how to drive...she hated people who went under thirty-five miles an hours." I said, letting the breeze cool me down.
"She sounds like a cool person." he said, leaning out the window.
"She was...how about your mom?" I asked, looking over at him.
"She worked a lot. Always loved being able to help people I guess." he said, shrugging as we came up to the hotel.
"So many people must have seen the sign lit up..." I said, looking at the crowd pushing the gates.
"It's a pretty big hotel and with no other electricity...I wouldn't be surprised if people miles out saw it." he said, staring intently past the people.
"What is it? What are you staring at?" I asked, trying to look through the crowd.
"Alicia. My step family is in there." Chris said, his eyebrows furrowed.
"Don't do anything. Stay back until the others get here." I said, leaning against the seat and rolling up the windows.
And wait we did. We waited for hours before Erin was tapping on my window.
"So, what happened?" she asked, leaning against the car door.
"Nothing. We waited for you guys to come. Chris recognized people inside the gates, but there were so many people trying to push their way in." I said, sitting up.
"Um...there is no one there." Luci said, pointing at the gate.
"They must have let them in while we were asleep and didn't notice us." Chris said, rubbing sleep from his eyes.
"Who did you see in there?" Travis asked, moving next to his son.
"Madison and Licia. Looks like they're helping whoever is in charge." Chris responded, getting out of the car.
"How do we get their attention? The gate is locked." Brylee said, pointing at the lock on the gate.
"Make noise? The crowd was making a bunch of it earlier." I said, getting out of the car and locking it.
After a few minutes, a few people came out of the hotel to see what the noise was about.
"Chris?" Alicia asked, looking closely at said person.
"In the flesh." he said, making Alicia look at her mom.
"Who are all these people?" Madison asked, looking at Luci and all of us.
"Friends. Their colonia was getting ready to be overrun by a gang who ran a store. We saw the lights come on and thought it would be safe here." Travis said, looking at the woman.
"Colonia?...Is Nick with you?" Madison asked, remembering her fight up at a store where they were making a trade.
"Yes." Nick said, walking forward with a solemn face.
"Oh my god. Let them in Elena." she said, turning to a woman with short black hair.
"Are all of you clean? No bites, infection, sickness, injuries?" Elena asked, moving towards the gate with her keys.
After getting a no from everyone, she unlocked the gate. Travis ran to Madison and hugged her, while Chris stayed by my side as we walked in. Nick seemed to stay by Brylee's side as well, not seeming to pleased to see his mom again.
"Nick, please you have to let me explain what happened." his mom said, looking at him with pleading eyes.
Alicia rolled her eyes at her mom before walking up to her brother.
"We believe it was Daniel who set the place on fire. It wasn't mom, we had nothing to do with it." she said, moving closer to him.
"Why would he do that?" Nick asked, letting his sister hug him.
"We don't know." Madison said, still holding onto Travis.
"After I get all of your names you are free to go into the hotel and I will give you rooms. If you have a family let me know and I can put you together to keep more rooms available." Elena said, walking towards the hotel.
After grabbing their bags out of the car, everyone followed behind her, Chris and I staying near the back.
"You have to apologize to them." I said, holding onto his hand.
"I will...just not right now. I want to give them time to talk to each other." he said, looking at his dad and Madison.
"She seems like a nice lady." I said, following his gaze.
"She is, but she is very clingy to Nick. Brylee should be careful." he said, making me look up at him.
"What do you mean?" I asked, looking at Brylee, Alicia, and Nick talking up ahead.
"You seriously haven't noticed? Brylee likes Nick and it seems he likes her." he said, shrugging his shoulders.
"There is no way..." I said, slowly looking between the two.
"There is." Chris said, making me whack him on the shoulder.
"And what are you two talking about?" Brylee asked, as we caught up to the three.
"Nothing." Chris said, shaking his head.
"Hey." Alicia said, looking at Chris.
"Hi..." he said, staring at her.
"We'll leave you two alone. Brylee, Nick, let's go find our rooms...and have either of you seen Erin?" I asked, grabbing Nick and Brylee's hands and pulling them away.
"Alaina!?" Chris said, very loudly, looking at me with wide eyes.
"Now or later." I said, shrugging as I continued to pull the two away.
~No one's P.O.V~
"Alaina?" Alicia asked, looking at the blonde girl as she walked away with her brother.
"Yeah. Her and Brylee are cousins...basically sisters. Travis and I found them in a village near the colonia, so we all went there together. Travis likes taking care of Brylee when Ai isn't around." Chris said, looking at the ground.
"What did she mean by 'now or later'?" she asked, moving to start walking again.
"She told me I'd have to apologize, but I wanted to wait until Madison and Travis caught up..." he said, following along.
"You don't have to apologize. It's my fault for accusing you of that so quickly and then yelling at you...I was the reason you ran away..." Alicia said, looking at the ground now.
"You weren't false when you made the accusation...I was so mad at your mom and even my dad for everything, so I froze." he said, walking though the doors.
"It still wasn't my place to call you out on it. I'm sorry?" she said, looking up at him as they reached everyone.
"I'm sorry too." he said, smiling at her.
~Alaina P.O.V~
I watched the two come closer and it looked like they were actually talking. Not long after, Chris smiled at her.
"Good..one less thing to worry about." I said, leaning against the counter as I waited for my room key.
Brylee and I were sharing a room, while Chris and Nick would share a room.
"What do you mean?" Brylee asked, leaning her head to the side.
I nodded towards the two as they continued talking and Brylee finally nodded her head in understanding.
"Oh yeah..I forgot to tell you. Erin is with Luciana. They are sharing a room." Nick said, making me glare at him.
"You just now remember this? I asked where she was like ten minutes ago." I said, shaking my head.
After getting my key, Brylee and I headed up to our room to unpack and settle in.
"Finally we can take showers." Brylee said, pulling fresh clothes out of her bag.
"Same. I never thought I'd see the day." I said, pulling clothes out as well.
After we showered and changed we decided to roam the hotel.
"I see you put the showers to use." Alicia said, walking up behind us with a male.
"Yep...It's been forever." Brylee said, smiling at Alicia.
"This is Hector, Elena's nephew." Alicia said, pointing at the guy.
"I'm Alaina, Brylee's cousin." I said, shaking hands with both of them since this was my first time directly talking to Alicia.
"I'm Brylee." she said, shaking Hector's hand and smiling at Alicia.
"Are you guys looking around for anything in particular?" he asked, looking between us.
"Not really, just looking around." I said, shaking my head.
"Would you like a tour? I worked here before the outbreak, so I know where everything is." he offered, making Brylee and I smile.
"Sure. Maybe Nick and Chris would like to join us." Brylee said, pointing to the two boys walking towards us.
"I'm sure they would. I have to go now and find my mom." Alicia said, looking at Hector.
She said goodbye and went down the hall before disappearing.
"The group of people who were at our gates yesterday are in the basement. A few of them need medical attention so Madison, Alicia and Elena are always down there." Hector explained, as we waiting for the boys to catch up.
"What's going on?" Nick asked, looking after where his sister ran off to.
"Hector is Elena's nephew, he was going to give us a tour and Brylee saw you guys and said you might want to come with so we waited." I said, looking at Chris.
"What about Alicia?" Chris asked, staring after said girl.
"She's helping the people who were at the gates yesterday. Some of them were injured and they are being held in the basement as they heal." Hector said, motioning for us to start walking.
Chris made an 'oh' expression before we all started walking.
"Let's get this tour started." Hector said, leading us through the flights of stairs.
We went all over the hotel with Hector telling us the different areas as well as the areas that were off limits.
"Finally, the kitchen. I heard you had brought quiet a bit of food with you." Hector said, turning to look at us.
"Yep. Chris and his dad went supply running while we were heading to the colonia and a few of us did runs while we stayed there." I said, standing next to Chris.
"Alright. Well, I should get going and see if they need help in the basement. Feel free to walk around." he said, waving as he left.
"He better not go near Alicia." Nick said, huffing at the guy.
"Wow...protective older brother." I said, making Brylee laugh.
"Let's go find something to do." Brylee said, grabbing my hand and yanking me away from the kitchen.
The boys followed behind, shaking their heads at Brylee.
~A/N: WHOOOOO! Hella long chapter, I think the longest so far. Hope you guys like it. And yes the characters are acting OOC..mostly because it no longer follows the show and the characters have no worries at the moment and no one hates anyone since no one has done anything stupid. A character from the past will be appearing soon though, so keep your eyes open :D Much love to those who are following the story 3 Bye for now :)
