Until Dawn

Chapter Thirteen

We didn't stop driving until mid-morning the next day, deciding to pull over briefly at a small petrol station just outside of South Carolina to fill up the petrol tank and let everyone that was left stretch their legs. If the radio message that we'd received in Washington D.C. was correct, we had just over a day and a half to reach Florida before the boats started to leave and there was still a fair distance that we had to travel to reach our destination in time.

I stepped out of the car behind Janae and stretched out my back, feeling my bones grind together before they popped unpleasantly back into place. I watched in silence as Alex stepped out behind me, followed by Red who gave me a small nod before heading over to where Nicky was sitting quietly with Morello on a bench outside of the small convenience store. Watson was filling the tank and our spare petrol can in silence, her head resting exhaustedly against the side of the car and I knew exactly how she felt. With a heavy sigh, I walked painfully towards the small building that was attached to the store, with a sign that said 'toilet' hanging from the door.

I slipped inside the thankfully unlocked door, knowing that I had a shadow following me, but paying Alex no attention as I went straight to the sink and turned on the tap. I splashed my face with the cold water, washing away the blood and the grime that had my skin crawling for the past twelve hours before looking at my dripping face in the mirror. I studied the tired person looking back at me, noticing the dark circles under the bloodshot, haunted blue eyes that I hardly recognized as my own. The once white bandage that was wrapped around my head was now dirty and splattered with blood and I felt an overwhelming urge to take it off, along with the clothes that I was wearing, covered in the blood of zombies and friends who we had lost.

I caught Alex's eye in the mirror, from where she stood watching me by the door, her eyes still somehow holding some warmth as she held my gaze. I felt completely drained but still grateful that she was still here, living and breathing, when both of us should most definitely be dead after the past few days.

"I don't think I've ever looked this bad," I commented in an attempt at humor, watching as that familiar sparkle entered Alex's eyes as she stepped closer to me, studying my reflection intently.

"I don't know," she drawled, a smirk pulling at the corner of her mouth as she spoke. "I still remember that hut in Java, after you dropped your pants in front of that entire village and then proceeded to spend the rest of the day throwing your guts up."

I snorted weakly at the memory, remembering the virus I had picked up in the Indonesian village and how miserable I had been for the rest of our stay. "That was pretty fucking horrible. I don't think I've ever been so embarrassed in my life."

"Yeah," Alex chuckled in agreement, stepping even closer until I could feel the warmth of her skin through my clothes. "But I still thought that you looked beautiful then, just like I think you do right now."

"Biased," I managed a smile as I felt her breath on my neck and her arms wrap around my waist, pulling me close.

"Yes, but no less true," Alex murmured into my ear before pressing her lips against my temple. I took the comfort that she was offering me gladly, surprised when tears welled up in my eyes, when I was sure that I had no more left. They poured down my face in a constant stream as my fingers gripped the edge of the sink until my bruised knuckles turned white.

"We're alive, Pipes," Alex whispered softly in my ear, her voice full of a surprising amount of sympathy and concern and lacking her usual harsh bluntness. "We're both here and I'm going to make sure we get to Florida, if it's the last thing I do."

"But what about everyone else?" I cried softly, my body shuddering with the force of my sobs. "Big Boo and Jones and Poussey and Taystee! They're all dead! What was the point of all this, Alex? What was the fucking point of leaving Litchfield, dragging these women with us when we can't save any of them!"

"Piper, you can't save everyone," Alex spoke, looking directly into my eyes in the mirror as she held me tighter. "We didn't drag anyone with us; they all wanted to leave. And if they had stayed at Litchfield, they wouldn't have had a chance."

"But it doesn't even matter, because they still died." I whispered. "It's all so fucked up."

"Yeah, it is," Alex sighed, pressing her face into the side of my neck. "Everything is fucked up and everyone is dying, but we're free, Pipes. You and I, Nicky, Lorna, Red and Watson; we're all still alive and we're all going to make it. We're going to get on those fucking boats in Florida and we're going to get the fuck out of this Hell hole, I promise."

I knew that I had a choice to make and the decision was easy; choose to believe Alex's words or give up now and probably die. My WASP-y self-preservation instincts were still intact and I choose to believe Alex and her promise that we'd make it to Florida alive. With several deep breaths, I finally managed to compose myself, taking my hands off the sink to wipe the tears from my eyes. I rested the side of my head briefly against Alex's before pulling away from her warm body reluctantly. Her hands drifted from my body, sliding over my hips before pulling away and it sent warmth shooting through my entire body.

It was crazy how her touch could affect me even after all these years, no matter what situation or shit we were in.

"I love you."

The words blurted from my mouth before I could stop them and while I was embarrassed, it was more than fitting. There was no right time or right place in this new, horrible world, at least not anymore; we could both die tomorrow and I didn't want her to never know how I really felt. I know that I had told her that I hearted her back at Litchfield, but that had been a mere shade of the true feelings that I had for this woman. I wanted her to know the depth of my feelings for her, to know that she wasn't just a convenience to me.

I met her eyes briefly in the mirror before her hands were turning me around and I was looking straight into her eyes. There were no tears, and there was no look of profound relief on her face, as if she hadn't expected the words. There was only contentment and that small smirk pulling at the corner of her lips.

"I know."

/

It was late afternoon as I sat in the back seat of the car, playing cards with Nicky while Alex watched from the seat in front of me. We were less than an hour out from Florida, with just a day left to reach the city and spirits seemed to be lifting as the possibility of safety loomed closer. I watched with a smile as Nicky slammed her hand down on the small pile of cards between us, matching two sixes together and picking up the deck.

"You're running low, Blondie," Nicky gave me a grin as she waved her thick pile of cards in my face teasingly. "Guess your college education doesn't help you here, does it?"

"My college education hasn't helped me since the second I entered Litchfield," I snorted in response, my eyes on the cards as I laid down one from my small pile. "If anything, it's only gotten me in trouble."

"Ain't that the truth," Nicky chuckled, her eyes gleaming as the pile continued to grow higher and higher. "Was she a handful before prison, Vause?"

"You have no idea," Alex grinned, giving me a wink before turning to face Nicky. "I still remember that time that she almost got us arrested when she tried to go down on me in a temple in Jakarta."

"Ha!" I laughed evilly as I snapped my hand down on the two ten's on top of the pile, causing Nicky to tear her intensely curious eyes from Alex and to stare at me in parts disbelief and outrage.

"Hey!" Nicky cried as I picked up the large pile of cards and added it to the three that I had left. "You cheated!"

"What can I say?" I was still chuckling as I shot at glance at the smirking Alex. "We work as a team."

Alex's smirk turned into a warm smile, her eyes softening momentarily before she turned her gaze on Nicky. "She was a handful, but it was that college education that got us out of a lot of shit, too. She is the one who talked the guards out of arresting us, after all. Sneaky WASP."

"There's a lot of abandoned cars coming up," Janae's voice pulled us from our conversation and I leant on the back of Alex's seat to look through the front windscreen. Cars were indeed left abandoned on the road leading towards Florida, some still filled with belongings and others with blood smears covering the windows and far in the distance; I could see a long line of black.

"What is that?" I murmured, squinting my eyes as Janae weaved between the cars that were beginning to pile up. "It looks like..."

"A wall," Morello spoke up, leaning forward in her seat as we all stared at what was slowly defining itself into a giant wall. "Why would they tell everyone to come to Florida and then block it off?"

I squinted into the distance, my eyes barely able to make anything out except the large black wall and the long line of cars that were between us and Florida. It wasn't long until the abandoned cars were parked so close together that we were forced to stop, unable to move any closer. I sighed in frustration and glared at the Toyota parked in front of us, the doors left open and the back windscreen covered in bloody handprints. We sat in silence as we all contemplated what we should do and Nicky was the first to speak the obvious.

"Well, I guess we should probably grab what we can carry and start walkin', huh?" The blonde ran her fingers through her wild mane of hair as she let her gaze travel along the other women in the car.

"We're still a half an hour drive away from the city, which means it's going to be dark before we can get to the gates and that wall is obviously there for a reason," I summed up the situation with a frown, wondering why things couldn't just be easy for once. "They're obviously trying to keep something out and it's not hard to guess what. But we can't hide out here until morning, because they could be gone by the time we get there."

"See?" Alex jerked her chin towards me as she stared at Nicky. "That college education is totally worth her being a pain in the ass."

I raised an eyebrow at Alex as Nicky and the other women in the car attempted to cover their snorts of laughter. Back handed compliments had always been Alex's style, right after her blunt observations. I rolled my eyes as I continued to contemplate our current situation before finally sighing and glancing out the window towards the sun which was still high in the sky, but not for long, I knew.

"We're just gonna have to go," Janae finally said, staring at the tall black gate through the front windscreen, her bottom lip caught between her teeth. "We don't have a choice. Like Chapman said, we can't wait until tomorrow, not if we want to get the fuck out of here."

"Everyone grab what you can carry," It was Red who got us all into motion as she unbuckled her seat belt and picked up her shotgun. "But pack light, 'cause we're going to have to move fast."

I leant into the boot of the Hummer, grabbing my already packed rucksack, and Alex's, which was filled with some water and food and a whole lot of ammunition. I passed Alex her bag with a smile before sheathing my already loaded hand guns to my thighs and strapping my shotguns to my back. I checked to make sure that all my daggers were in place, before following Alex and Lorna who had already gotten out of the car and were scanning the road around us. It would be unlikely that we would come across any zombies before it got dark, but you never could be too sure that weren't hiding in the shadows between the abandoned cars that lined the high way.

I pulled Janae to the side of the group as we cautiously started walking towards the gates that loomed in the distance, moving as quickly and silently as possible. Watson eyes were understanding as we held each other's gaze for a long moment, speaking without words, before she hefted her bag more comfortably on her shoulders and then left at a ground eating jog.

"Hey!" Nicky's eyes were wide away she stared at Janae's retreating back before turning her confused gaze to me. "Where is she going?"

"Scouting," I replied simply with a small shrug of my shoulders. "We don't know what's between us and those gates, and we need for Janae to get there before its dark, so that they know we're coming. This would all be for nothing if we ended up getting there, when the gates could be crawling with zombies, and they decide not to risk opening the doors for us. We need Janae on the inside to force the issue."

"Smart girl," Red gave me a nod, which I returned with a smile before turning to watch Janae, who was now far in the distance, dodging between cars and God knows what else. Alex moved up on my left side, her free hand coming to rest on the small of my back as we walked. She didn't look at me, her eyes constantly scanning our surroundings, but I could see a smile pulling at the corner of her lips as I leant into her side.

I kept my eyes focused on the gates, praying that nothing else would come between us and the safety that awaited our rag tag little group while hoping more than anything that nothing would come between me and Alex. At this moment in time, things finally seemed to be looking up and I wanted it to stay that way.

And I pitied anyone or anything that stood in our way.