A/N: Heeeello, and thank you for your patience! I am just about to be getting out of school and instead of increasing; my workload has decreased as the semester draws to a close. This is great news because I managed to get a moment to sit down and write this chapter for you! I hope you enjoy it and if you like it, feel free to check out my other stories and subscribe directly to me to receive notifications when I update (which will be soon on everything)! Also, feel free to drop a comment and we can discuss this story, we're about to get into the thick of it and I would like to know what you think! ~TGF
Chapter Twenty: Antibiotics
Alicia woke with a jolt to Elyza bumping her shoulder lightly. A part of her had believed that Elyza wouldn't have woken her up, but instead and just left on her own to keep Alicia safe. Alicia wouldn't have put it past the other girl, Elyza was the type of person to put everyone before herself. If she could keep Alicia safe, she would and they both knew it. Alicia chose to completely ignore the implications of what that meant.
"Come on, Alicia, everyone is asleep." Elyza whispered, nudging her arm once again, a bit more insistently. The movement roused Alicia from her drowsy state. The brunette sat up and rubbed at her eyes, trying to wipe the sleep from them as best as she could. She felt sluggish, like she'd only gotten thirty minutes of solid rest.
"I'm coming, calm down," she said, her voice laced with sleepy irritation.
Elyza was kneeling on the ground next to Alicia; her jacket was on and her backpack was fully assembled. She was ready to go and her blue eyes shown earnestly in the low lighting. She was alert and grim, her lips settled into a hard line, obviously unhappy with their current mission. After Alicia was fully awake, she slipped on her shoes and the wrinkled button up she used as a pillow.
They used the backdoor through the kitchen to get out as silently as possible and stumbled into the darkness together. The sky was still pitch black and the air was brisk, the wind blowing just enough to cut through their long-sleeves. The darkness above held a clearness to it that Elyza hadn't seen in a long time, almost as if the Earth was already starting to revert to times before humans had been hell-bent on destroying it.
She could have stood there all night, enjoying the constellations and the stillness that was their new lives. She allowed herself to marvel for a split second before remembering they had things to do and very little time to do them. There was no time for enjoying life anymore, only surviving.
Elyza predicted that the sun wouldn't be up for another couple of hours. She had waited a solid two hours and carefully listened for any sounds that anyone else was awake in the house before waking Alicia. She had developed a loose plan during that time, as well.
Nobody would know they were gone until the sun came up.
Together, the girls made it to the cement wall. Elyza boosted Alicia up, and then she swung herself onto it. They perched on the top and Alicia got a full view of what they were up against. With the distorted lighting, she didn't get the full scope that Elyza had earlier in the day, but she seemed to get the gist of what they were up against. Her eyes widened and that little furrow between her eyebrows developed like it always did when she was concerned.
"Do you see why I didn't want to do this?" Elyza asked once she noticed their predicament. Her voice was low and husky as she whispered.
"You did want to do this though," Alicia clenched her jaw and shot Elyza a glare, "but without me. Do you think I'm dead weight?"
"No, I don't." Irritation bubbled in Elyza's stomach but she tried to keep it out of her voice. "Like I've said this whole time, I just don't want you to get hurt.
"Newsflash, Lyza, we're all going to get hurt at one point or another. No matter how hard you or anyone else tries to keep me safe, I will get hurt or even worse, I'll die. You said yourself that it's stupid for me not to know how to defend myself, didn't you?"
"Yes, you should know how to defend yourself," Elyza sat down on the ledge, letting her legs hang over the side and her boots scrape lightly along the cement. "But you shouldn't unnecessary put yourself in danger, that's all I want."
Alicia mimicked Elyza's movements in a much jerkier movement, obviously pissed. "You must not know me very well, then, or else you'd know I only put myself in danger when the people I love and care about are in the same position."
Elyza swallowed hard, she knew Ofelia meant something to Alicia and that was the reason she was so hell-bent on doing whatever she could to help the older girl. "Fine, let's just keep moving. This way," Elyza gestured towards the left, the squat building in the middle of the compound must have been the medical bay and she wanted to get them as close as possible before dropping them into unknown territory. The wall curved inward further up, getting them nearly thirty feet closer to the building and it was—for the most part—empty of dead bodies and potential dangers.
Elyza intended on causing a distraction that would draw the zombies away from the hospital, which she believed was the building surrounded by all of the dead bodies. It was their best bet and causing a distraction shouldn't be that difficult once she got them where they needed to be. The only problem would be getting Alicia to comply.
They crouched low and moved quietly together. Elyza warred with the idea of giving Alicia the extra gun she had tucked in the backpack. Revealing that she had been keeping something from Alicia, or from anyone would be a risk. But risking Alicia was something she couldn't really bare to think about. Providing the brunette with a means of protection would be the best way to ensure her safety. Giving her the gun was the only option, so without questioning herself further she made the decision.
When they reached their drop off spot Elyza deemed appropriate, she paused and pulled the backpack from her shoulder. "Do you trust me?"
Alicia frowned and nodded instantly, "Yes, what's going on?"
It warmed Elyza's heart how willingly and wholeheartedly Alicia seemed to believe that. She'd never had someone trust her so fully in such a dangerous situation, "Here," Elyza dug around in her bag and pulled the gun out. "Keep your bat close, but don't put this gun down, understand?"
"What? Where did you get that?" Alicia spluttered.
"It doesn't matter," Elyza avoided her eyes by scanning their surroundings again. "Do you remember how to use it?" she asked once Alicia had taken it.
"Yeah," Alicia nodded.
"Good, stay here," Elyza replaced the backpack and dropped to the ground as silently as possible, holding her hand to Alicia for them both to remain silent when she noticed there was going to be an argument. "Just...I'm going to draw them away from the door. You run in and I'll meet you there."
"What?" Alicia whisper-shouted incredulously. She looked about ready to physically fight Elyza. "Elyza! How are you going to draw them away?" She bent forward, her entire body nearly over the edge. If she wasn't careful, she would have fallen.
"Just trust me," Elyza whispered back. "Stay up there until you get the signal!"
Elyza was already too far away to hear Alicia's angry, "What the hell is the signal?"
The blonde kept moving faster and faster, as the moon was bright and cast the fields and buildings before her in a silver glow. Early in the day, she had seen a tank across the complex, it was in the process of moving or transferring what looked like fuel containers. Elyza only hoped it was fuel because it was her only chance at causing a loud enough distraction. If she could get one to explode, they would be able to get in without being caught by any of the dead.
Once she found the tank and the gasoline, she set up several dozen feet away. There were zombies all around, though none of them seemed interested or noticed she was there. The gunshot was going to draw them too her, so she tried to stay as far away from them as she could.
The first shot missed, or at least Elyza thought she missed. The noise echoed through the compound and made her flinch. Her ears rang, but she aimed again anyway. She was so focused she didn't hear the angry steps behind or or notice Alicia until she was slamming into her.
On instinct, Elyza allowed the other girl's momentum to carry them forward until she flipped the brunette over her shoulder. She straddled her attacker's waist and held her gun to their face before even realizing it was Alicia.
"What the hell are you doing?"
Alicia wiggled out from underneath her and they both stood. When their feet were under them, Alicia shoved Elyza's shoulders. "You're all brawn and no brains, aren't you?"
"What do you mean? I thought I told you to stay back there!" Elyza gestured wildly to her right with her gun.
The brunette huffed and grabbed her bat from where it had fallen on the ground. "Shooting at a barrel of gas isn't going to cause it to explode. Do you know anything? This isn't the movies, Elyza. This is real life, the gas to air ratio is all fucked up, maybe if it was pressurized or something it would, but it won't."
Elyza blinked several times, her shoulders slouching as Alicia continued to rant about some physics thing or other. Maybe she was being an idiot for thinking this would work, but she hadn't really thought her plan through.
"You are an idiot, aren't you? Did you even fully think about what we're doing?" Alicia was nearly shouting now, and the noises they were making were drawing the dead's attention. There were three moving in on them now. Both of them prepared to fight, Alicia hefting her bat and Elyza pulling out her knife.
"You have to go into everything half-cocked, don't you?" Alicia continued, "You don't think about your own damn safety." She swung her bat, hitting the nearest zombie with a sickening crunch and splattering blood across her clothes. Elyza shuddered, realizing Alicia probably wished it was her head she was beating in that moment.
They dispatched of the other two zombies and Alicia grabbed Elyza by the lapel of her jacket, pulling her in the direction of the fuel cans. They dodged zombies and killed the ones they had to until they stood before the canisters.
"Give me your matches," Alicia wiggled her hand in Elyza's direction without looking at her. Her green eyes were busy analyzing and searching for something along the ground. She dropped her hand when Elyza didn't act fast enough and pulled herself up and onto the tank, which was nearly three feet off of the ground. She fiddled with something on the other, darker side, disappearing for a moment and leaving Elyza alone.
When she came back around, she held up a long rope tied around itself. "Matches?"
Elyza held them out, opting to stay silent at the annoyed tick in Alicia's eyebrow and growl of urgency and anger in her tone. She didn't want to get her head chewed off by another living human.
"Go stand guard," Alicia gestured to Elyza as she began prying off the lid of a container. "You've irritated them and now they want to eat you."
Elyza did as told, turning her back to the brunette and scanning their surroundings. The number of zombies on this side of the compound seemed to have doubled in the short time they had been there. It was Elyza's own stupid fault, it was idiotic to think that shooting at the fuel would actually work. Alicia was right, this wasn't a movie but the blonde wasn't very logical when it came to Alicia.
Mostly, she just wanted to keep the other girl safe and out of harm's way. Maybe she needed to learn that Alicia could take care of herself and didn't need any help from anyone else. If anything, Elyza's attempts at furthering their relationship was falling on deaf ears. If Alicia didn't have the same feelings for her as she did for Alicia, then she really needed to back off and reevaluate her feelings.
It wouldn't do either of them very good for her to be pining after someone she couldn't have. It would just cause more problems and blind Elyza's judgement. As she stood guard, Elyza promised herself to keep Alicia at a distance from now on.
"Come here," Alicia barked, gesturing for the blonde to move closer. She held out the end of the rope, "Take that as far as you can."
"What about you?"
"I'll stay here until all of the rope is used up, once it is, I'll be right behind you."
Elyza nodded, realizing that Alicia was using the rope as a long distance fuse so they weren't close enough to the fire that would be caused once they ignited it. Elyza got about twenty yards away before the rope pulled tight in Alicia's grasp.
The brunette allowed it to settle heavily into the gas and followed the rope all of the way back to where Elyza was sitting, hitting another zombie over the head in the process.
"Alright, here," Alicia handed back the matches.
"What?" Elyza's eyes widened and Alicia laughed at the comical expression of confusion on her face. She looked like a puppy with her head tilted to the side.
Alicia rested a hand on Elyza's arm, "I'm not mad at you anymore...well, I am irritated, but I think that's just how you make me feel all of the time. Anyway, I just didn't want you to get yourself hurt with the matches while we were so close to an ignitable substance."
A weight seemed to lift off of the blonde's shoulders and she allowed an easy smile onto her lips, "Asshole."
"I try," Alicia shrugged, "now light the fuse."
Elyza did and the fire ate at the rope instantly. It charred the grass and shot like a star through the rope and into the gas container. Alicia pulled at her until they were both running back in the direction they had come. They only got a couple of feet before the entire thing combusted, tossing liquid fire into the air and splattering around them onto the grass. It sent Elyza's ears ringing again and she was certain she'd be deaf by the end of the endeavour.
An orange glow took over the night, much harsher and blinding than that of the moon. The fire danced across the faces of the dead as they moved towards the sound. Elyza couldn't count on her hands how many dead she had killed in that short time span. They seemed to double and triple in their path as the seconds ticked by.
She never lost sight of Alicia, though. They stood as close to each other as they could and tried to keep track of the other like an anchor in a tempestuous sea. Once they reached the outer edge, up by the wall, they were mostly ignored. The zombies moved blindly towards the burning gasoline pile, attracted by the heat, light and sound it emitted.
"You are brilliant!" Elyza laughed, high off of adrenaline as she pulled Alicia into a hug. She ignored how angry the brunette probably still was at her.
When they pulled apart, Alicia was smiling at her. "Thanks, now let's move, we don't have much time before Nick and the others find out what we did."
Elyza nodded, the noise wasn't going to go unnoticed by anyway within a ten time radius. Together, the girls made their way to the medical bay. It wasn't taxing since they had caused their distraction, but as they got closer, it became more difficult to move through the mass of actual dead bodies littering the ground.
The smell made it harder to focus on their surroundings and not on the bodies beneath them. It was sickly and seemed like it was heavily clinging to everything as they came to the entrance of the medical hospital. Alicia and Elyza exchanged a look, trying to convey their distaste. There was nothing either of them could do about it, so they pushed forward.
The medbay was much like any other hospital, except on a much smaller scale and with less supplies. The doors were tightly closed a simple zip tie keeping the two handles together. It look like the bolt lock had been broken at some point and this was a last attempt at keeping whoever out.
Elyza slit the tie easily with her knife and pulled the door open. It creaked loudly on its hinges, echoing through the building.
Both girls stood back, as if expecting an attack right from the start. They shared another look when nothing came at them, before cautiously moving forward and into the darkness before them. It was probably the most danger Elyza had ever been in and it sent a cold thrill down her spine. All of her senses were on high alert as Alicia moved forward first, brandishing her bat threateningly.
Elyza gestured to the right, further down and deeper into the hospital. The lights were completely shut off, making the windowless hallway even darker. They closed the doors behind them, not wanting to draw any dead in after them.
It was slow going as they could barely see three feet in front of them and there was always the threat of a zombie surprising them. Elyza took point, shining her flashlight in the direction they were heading while Alicia stood a couple of feet to her left and scanned behind them and down any adjacent halls.
Neither of them wanted to be surprised. Neither of them really wanted to be killed, either.
They ran into a few of the dead, but they were mostly stragglers, weak from lack of food source and light. Signs pointed them in the direction of the infirmary, but when they arrived, all they found was a room full of the dead and a closed door. There was no way they would be able to get in without getting killed first.
"What should we do?" Elyza asked, turning to Alicia for guidance. She was done treating the other girl like a damsel in distress.
"If we draw them out it could cause a scene. We can't use our guns or we'll attract even more." Alicia reasoned, cupping around her eyes to avoid the glare of the glass as she looked in. There were zombies dressed in military uniforms and lab coats. She counted nearly twelve that she could see before one slammed up against the door and frenziedly growled at her. It's breath fogged up the window, and she barely managed to suppress a scream as she stumbled away.
She held her hand to her chest, trying to recover her breath. Elyza ran a hand over her back soothingly before looking in after her. She tried to get a good view but couldn't see much due to the small size of the window. "The best option we have is to filter them out. Let out a few and then kill them until the room is empty."
"That leaves one of us to kill and the other to hold the door."
"I can do the killing if you'll let me borrow your bat," Elyza suggested.
"Alright," Alicia nodded. Elyza was the most experienced with dealing with the dead, she would be the best fit for killing them. If Alicia was being completely honest, though, she just didn't want anymore blood on her hands. She knew it was illogical to think of these zombies as living people because now they wanted to kill her, but she couldn't help but feel guilty.
Elyza took the bat from Alicia's outstretched hand and stepped backwards until her left heel was touching the opposite wall. Alicia tested the handle, making sure it was unlocked before nodding to Elyza, "Ready?"
"Yeah, only let out a few at a time," Elyza warned, taking a deep breath to calm her nerves and find her center of gravity.
Alicia opened the door halfway and Elyza tapped the edge of a metal food cart resting just within arms reach with the bat. The sound echoed quietly through the hallway and attracted the attention of the dead in the infirmary room.
Blue eyes met green just as the first zombie came stumbling out, in search of a meal. The girls nodded to each other before Elyza focused on the threat before her.
It took a lot of energy out of her and her aim wasn't the best. When Alycia let a zombie out, she would surge forward once it passed the lip of the door. She would hit it first in the sternum to knock it onto the ground, then dole out a couple of swift hits to the skull until it broke and splattered her with blood.
Elyza had experienced an autopsy before, but hadn't been able to see the brain up close. What she found here was more like pink mush, as if something was eating away at the flesh of the brain even after death. She didn't understand it and didn't need to, as being a doctor was not what she was meant to be anymore. Now, all she was was a survivor.
So she kept moving.
Alicia pressed her shoulder into the door, fighting against a dead doctor as he tried to escape. He had a pair of those binoculars on used for microscopic surgeries and his teeth were gnashing together disgustingly. The door closed with a thud and satisfying click.
She watched as Elyza brutally killed those she let out and couldn't help but wonder how she did it so nonchalantly. She noticed the way Elyza's face twisted into a grimace, her lips forming a thin line and her eyebrows coming together in a frown. It was clear the blonde didn't take any pleasure in what she was doing, but did it purely out of necessity.
Blood splattered every which way as they continued and soon enough, Alicia was covered in it as well. There was no getting around it, especially as Elyza continued to bludgeon the zombies to death.
As the body count built and all Alicia could see into the room was more zombies, she wondered how many more could be left. The bodies were building up, making it even more difficult to get the door shut when she needed to. As more zombies realized what was going on, they settled against the door, their weight and strength making it difficult for Alicia to get the door closed once again.
"I can't hold them much longer," she gasped, her shoes loosing traction as she slid backwards. She pressed her shoulder harder into the door and used all of her upper body strength to shove the door closed.
Elyza finished off the last one of this round of zombies and stood up straighter. She rushed to Alicia's side, using her added strength to try and get the door closed before they were overrun.
As the door inched closer and closer, it stopped. No matter how hard they pushed, something was wedged between it and the threshold.
Elyza glanced down, noticing the ankle of the last zombie she had killed. "Can you hold it for a second?"
"Yeah," her voice came out strained, but Alicia nodded nonetheless. She shifted her position and gritted her teeth together. "Go."
Elyza pulled away from the door and they lost precious inches. Undead hands scraped uselessly at her arm, as they tried to force their way out of the room.
The blonde grabbed the body of one of the doctors and pulled, dislodging his leg from the door. This only seemed to send the zombies into more of a frenzy.
Alicia cried out and finally lost her foot. The door slammed against her, the handle digging into her back and she fell forward, her head hitting the cement wall hard.
She crumbled to the ground and Elyza was left gawking. The undead came surging out of the room, stumbling over each other in their need for blood and it was Elyza's blood they wanted.
"Alicia!" she shouted, it was impossible for her to get back to the brunette through the throng of zombies intent on eating her.
Elyza's heart was thundering in her chest as she tried to see over the group - nearly ten in total - and find Alicia. Her initial instinct was to draw them away from the injured girl. She beat her bat against the metal cart again, louder and with much more purpose. It drew the horde's attention and they began chasing after her.
Since she was so outnumbered, Elyza pulled out her gun and clicked off the safety. The noise she would have to deal with, but she couldn't risk getting killed. She aimed, breathed and shot, grimacing at the recoil. She emptied half of her clip into the horde before resorting to the baseball bat.
After a brief altercation with several of the undead at once, she knew she had no choice but to retreat. There had to be another way around and some way to find somewhere safe. Turning on her heels, Elyza ran back down the hallway the way she had come, her heart aching with every step she took away from Alicia.
As she turned the corner to try to find another way around, she stopped in her tracks before nearly slamming into another zombie as it headed towards her. She grabbed the edge of the wall and yanked herself back around, gasping for breath. She was trapped with no way out.
A cold, pale hand grabbed her arm before she managed to jerk away and head back the way she came. She stopped halfway between the two hordes, heart hammering and defeat beginning to settle into her gut. She didn't have enough bullets or strength to get out of this on her own.
Acceptance settled in just as she realized she wasn't going to survive this. She was cornered and unable to get out, but she wasn't going to go down without a fight. Elyza raised the bat and clenched her jaw, resolved to taking as many of these monsters down with her.
As she scanned the decaying, slackened faces before her to try to plot her strategy, her eyes landed on the door. Her heart was fluttering wildly and as the notion of survival sent her blood pumping and rushing through her veins.
Instead of standing her ground, the blonde rushed towards the nearly invisible supply closet. Her hands shook as she fumbled with the doorknob, slick with zombie blood. Once it was finally open, she stepped into it, just as a zombie caught onto the edge of her shirt and was nearly dragged in with her.
Elyza slammed the door shut behind her, squishing the hand in the door and sending blood splattering over herself. With a gasp and a sigh of relief, she slumped against the metal shelf behind her. She rubbed the sleeve of her jacket over her face and it came away stained with blood.
She took a moment to recover her breathing and evaluate her surroundings. It was a overcrowded janitor closet with chemicals and cleaning supplies hanging on the shelf above her. She managed to move some buckets, mops and brooms out of her way so she had a spot to rest against the back wall.
Her stomach dropped like a stone when she remembered Alicia. Out there, dazed and confused, she had been caught completely off guard. There was no telling if she was still alive and Elyza's eyes filled with tears. One moment, Alicia was there, badass and beautiful, her brain working at an astounding pace to get them out a situation Elyza had put them in.
It was all her fault too. She dug the heels of her hands into her eyes, tossing the bat to the side when it bumped her forehead to keep the tears at bay. It felt like her heart was squeezing itself tightly in her chest when all of the sudden, it was all too real how easily you could lose someone in this world.
And Elyza just had.