As expected, Madison fumed upon their return to Elyza's residence.
Alicia simply did not have the energy to engage. She kept her eyes lowered and focused on the ground as she trudged to the front door.
"You can't just run off like that, Alicia. Look at me," Madison followed the young woman.
"Chill out, jeez," Ofelia called and jogged from the car to catch up with the two while Elyza gathered Ofelia's findings from the trunk. "Here, you're not you when you're hungry," Ofelia laughed and tossed a half-melted Snickers bar from her pocket at the mother of two.
"This isn't funny, Ofelia," Madison scolded. "There are better places to scavenge than a library!"
Elyza carried a full backpack on each shoulder as she joined the group. "I thought it was worthwhile. We found all this stuff and I learned something new."
"What did you find at the library?" Madison glanced at each of the over-stuffed backpacks.
"Water, protein bars, candy, batteries, clothes," Ofelia tallied on her fingers. "And I grabbed a DVD of Titanic just for the hell of it."
"I love that movie," Alicia smiled, eyes still pointed downwards.
"See? Worth it." Elyza breezed past the other blonde and opened the front door. "Let me get this stuff up to the kitchen and I'll show you guys the trees and chickens."
"Oh, that's right," Ofelia lit up as she climbed the stairs behind Elyza, Alicia and Madison at the tail end. "Did your parents go all out with the preparations as soon as the dead started walking or what?"
They reached the top floor and Elyza set the bags down on the kitchen island. "We always had the trees, fruit's always better straight from the source. As for the chickens, I found them while I was raiding another house up here, figured it wouldn't be a bad idea to keep them."
"How many are there? Trees and chickens," Alicia asked.
"Two apple trees, an orange tree, avocado, plum. Six chickens, they eat whatever falls off the trees. I still have chicken feed in the shed though, just in case." Elyza led the group back down the stairs, through the pool room, and out the side door. A chain link fence separated the grass from the concrete of the driveway. "I do shooting practice over here, away from the chickens," she emphasized, then walked along the side of the house before turning the corner to the majority of the backyard. "And there you have it, my own little grocery supply."
The yard itself was twice the size of the base of the house. There were two steel roll-up doors on the back wall of the house, similar to the doors of the food bank they raided. The back of the yard was tiered up the mountain, with a wooden staircase cutting down the middle for easy access to the levels. The fruit trees stood in a line on the other side of the yard, flanked by towering eucalyptus trees. A made-from-scratch chicken coop the size of a small RV sat behind the line of trees, obscuring a portion of the concrete wall that surrounded the entire property. Black, red, and brown chickens strutted throughout the yard, clucking and turning their heads in darting movements to inspect the newcomers.
"Are they friendly?" Alicia watched the chickens slowly draw closer.
"Usually, yeah," Elyza approached the chickens steadily. She spoke gently as she scooped up a black chicken with a missing toe and carried it over to the group. "This one's pretty docile, want to hold her?"
Alicia nodded and cradled her arms to support the chicken Elyza handed over. The hen settled into her arms. "Nick thinks chickens are evil."
Madison laughed, a first for Elyza's ears. "That's because your grandfather's rooster attacked him when he was five."
Everyone chuckled. Elyza pointed at a red chicken pecking at the grass. "If any of them are evil, it's probably that one. I swear she glares at me."
As if on cue, Nick turned the corner and strolled over to join them. "Those things better stay away from me."
"Here, just pet this one," Alicia smirked and moved toward her brother.
"Hey, watch it, it could peck your eye out!" He jumped back, hands up.
"She would never," Alicia stepped back to stand beside Elyza and shifted the chicken to one arm so she could pet its back with her other hand. "She's sweet, see?"
Nick stepped forward to get a better look.
The hen turned her head to watch him with one eye and let out a long, low cluck.
"Okay, nope, she has it out for me," Nick backed away.
Elyza laughed and reached over to pet the animal, but the chicken did the same thing. "I think she's trying to protect you, Alicia," Elyza lifted both brows in astonishment.
"She's always been great with animals," Nick commented, still keeping his distance. "Even evil chickens."
Alicia shrugged and continued stroking along the hen's back and neck.
Ofelia pointed at the tiers ascending the mountain. "Those would be perfect for gardening. You could grow carrots, potatoes, all sorts of stuff."
"I suppose I could," Elyza placed her hands on her hips and tilted her head. "Huh. We'll have to look for seeds on our next outing."
"Speaking of," Madison interjected, "what's the plan for the next run? We need more clothes, trying to sew up all these holes would be a waste of time."
"Feel free to use the clothes in your room. But if you don't want those then sure, I wouldn't mind a little shopping," Elyza smirked. "I need to find more laundry detergent anyway."
"You have a working washing machine?" Alicia looked up from the hen.
"And dryer. I imagine nobody's doing much washing nowadays, so finding detergent shouldn't be hard."
"Okay, I hope you realize how privileged you've been through all this." Nick stated. "I took my first shower in two months yesterday, and these-" he motioned to the slightly oversized gym shorts and crewneck hanging on his frame, "-are the only clean clothes I've had in three months, and they're from the room I'm staying in."
"I realize that," Elyza's apologetic eyes met Nick's. "I wish I could have met you guys sooner. One day out there is too long, let alone three months or more. But I've had my fair share of hardships through this."
Alicia pictured the photos on Elyza's mirror. She recalled Elyza's story of the people in Iraq, especially the young children who succumbed to the same fate as the poor souls groaning and gurgling in the streets of Los Angeles. The hen lifted her head to stare at Alicia when the girl stopped petting her.
Nobody ventured forward to ask Elyza what exactly she'd seen and experienced. Something about the way she spoke implied enough.
"If you guys want anything off the trees, just go ahead and grab it." Elyza offered. "I think I'll go upstairs and hang out."
Ofelia and Madison made a beeline for the apple tree and Nick plopped right down under the orange tree and rested his back against the trunk to watch the chickens.
Alicia stood motionless for a moment, the only thing grounding her to the earth was the chicken rubbing its head against her chest. She turned her head to examine her family. They seemed to be content staying outside in the sunshine, separated safely from the undead. Alicia set the down chicken, steadying it on its feet before letting go and rounding the corner to the side door to enter the house. She climbed the stairs up to the top floor, and a light sense of bewilderment dawned on her. Elyza wasn't in the kitchen, nor was she seated in front of the TV. Alicia quickly realized the giant box-like structure toward the ceiling on the left side of the gargantuan room was the last remaining hiding spot. She scaled the wooden ladder to the door of the cabin, painted to look like the heart of a jungle. After a soft knock and an inviting "come in," she pushed the door open, crawled inside, and closed the entrance.
The shack certainly had enough room to seat six adults. Light streamed in from the half-circle window in the wall, illuminating the exotically painted interior, which portrayed lush plants and vibrant flowers. A bookshelf beside the window held novels of all genres, a pair of sleeping bags sat rolled up in the corner on the other side of the window, and multiple pillows leaned up against all the walls.
Elyza, seated smack dab in the middle of the cabin, lifted her gaze from the copy of Dear John in her lap. "Hey there, princess."
"Hi." Alicia smiled. She scooted over to position herself in front of Elyza, back rested on a pillow against the wall. "That's a good book."
"Yeah, this is the millionth time I'm reading it," she chuckled. "Kind of heartbreaking, but fuck if it isn't well-written. What's your favorite book?"
"Don't make fun of me." Alicia clasped her hands together and twisted her wrists. "It's considered a kids' book."
"I promise not to make fun of you," Elyza smiled genuinely.
"Fever 1793."
"I remember that one," Elyza shut her book and slid it across the floor to the shelf. "I think I read it in fourth grade. Nobody else in my class really liked it, I thought it was interesting."
Alicia cracked her knuckles and tensed her brow as she sorted through her mind in an effort to convert her thoughts on her favorite book into words. It certainly evoked strong positive feelings within herself, and she wished she could rave about it articulately, but even basic sentence structure and word formation evaded her in the moment. She clicked her teeth together, barely separating her jaws enough to create the space needed to clamp them back together to produce the sound.
"Take your time, you can tell me about it whenever," Elyza reassured. "If I'd known you liked it I would've looked for it at the library."
Alicia huffed through her nose and hummed a brief, single tone. "Next time."
"Of course." Elyza uncrossed her legs to slide across the floor, settling beside Alicia. "Any others books that pique your interest?"
"I'm actually not much of a reader, it's hard to find something interesting."
"Not even a series with multidimensional characters?"
Alicia shrugged. "Can't relate to them, usually. And...I don't know, they can be confusing. I think a character's good and it turns out they're bad, vice versa, and everyone's always asking me 'how could you not see that they were bad?' As if it was obvious..."
"It might be to them. It's... unfair that they don't realize it might not jump out at you the same way. 'Unfair' isn't the word I'm looking for, but whatever." Elyza waved her hand, dismissing the inaccuracy.
"Yeah. But I guess not everyone learns about that by looking through a diagnostic manual," she smirked at the blonde. "Which, by the way, fails to explore the intricacies of the disorder."
"I figured that, you're not simple like it made you out to be."
"I hate that thing." Alicia chuckled and swayed side to side, nearly touching Elyza on each movement to the right. "Not too fond of most psychologists and psychiatrists, either."
"Did you have to see them a lot?"
"Constantly." She rolled her eyes. "And unless they're a specialist, they're likely to be severely under-educated on autism. Even then, it's questionable. They're always like 'you can't be autistic, you're a girl. You can't be autistic, you can talk. You can't be autistic, you're bad at math.' Blah blah blah." She groaned. "It's ignorant, it's annoying, and it's ableist."
"Ableist?"
"Ableism is discrimination or prejudice towards disabled people. And like homophobia or racism, it's not always obvious. Like, nobody's gonna come up to me and say 'I don't respect you because you're autistic.' They might believe and spread inaccurate information and then fight me on it when I tell them they're wrong, or they'll say autism's a tragedy. They won't listen."
"I think I can understand that." Elyza nodded. "I'm gay, so I've experienced my fair share of prejudice."
"You are?" Alicia's heart skipped a beat. She couldn't quite pick out what it was, but something stirred up something inside her. Hope and excitement were her best guess, though she'd never explored the prospect of an interest in girls. "I had no idea."
"I actually thought I came on a bit strong a few times." Elyza snickered.
"Like when?" Alicia stopped swaying and scrunched her eyebrows when she peeked over at Elyza.
"Like when I came out of the shower with nothing but a towel on and you were there ogling me like I was a fresh snack." Elyza grinned wolfishly.
"But I...I don't- I'm..." Alicia bumbled over an explanation and denial. Surely the little "average" body language she exhibited was telling, wasn't it? Denying that she'd ever been attracted to a woman felt like an irrefutable lie, and any interest in men was certainly out of the question. After Matt's death, she felt as though she could examine her preferences without guilt, but never actually embarked on that journey. Then again, she couldn't blame herself for paying more attention to surviving. "Sorry."
"Don't be," Elyza laughed, "I mean, I do look stunning in nothing but a towel."
Alicia tapped her middle fingers against her ankles, a smile stretching her lips. "I guess I can't disagree with that."
Elyza dramatically feigned offense. "You guess? Alright, I see you."
"Would 'suppose' be better?" the brunette offered jokingly.
"I guess." Elyza quipped. "But you'd have to 'suppose' you think I look 'nice' with no shirt."
Alicia yelped at the reminder. "At least I didn't say I need to 'get in there,'" she countered.
"Ah, touché," Elyza chuckled and shimmied her body down to lie on her back. "But I must say, for someone who's supposedly not into girls, you gawk at me a lot.