Chapter Text
This was not how she imagined her day would go.
Here she was, sitting in an abandoned store and across the way from her, not even ten feet away, was a woman casually plucking away at a ukulele. Her eyes were closed and there was a peaceful smile that Alicia had quickly learned her companion could quickly and easily shift into a cocky, irritating nopenotsexyatall smirk when she looked towards the brunette.
“Why are you staring at me?” the blonde asked.
Because despite the fact you’re a little dirty–I mean we all kind of are, one of the perks of the world ending is a saddening lack of showers–and you got weird paint on your face, I can’t help but notice you’re kind-of-definitely beautiful? Oh, yeah. The black paint brings out your blue eyes, and I can’t stop staring because even though there is a high probability we will die right now, I feel pretty fucking peaceful.
Holy shit stupid, say something. Anything. You’re gawking.
“You got a little something on your face.” Alicia smirked back, gesturing vaguely at her entire face.
“Oh yeah? Thanks.” She reached towards her face with three fingers, rubbing lightly at some dirt on her cheek while slowly lowering her ring and index finger until just the one was directed towards the brunette. “Did I get it?” She grinned.
Nope, not gonna smile. Not gonna smile– "Dick," and unable to hold back the glee building up inside her, her face broke out in a grin as well and she laughed.
The blonde giggled alongside her, and the teenager hadn’t realized there was anything left in the world that could still conjure that bright, all-consuming happiness in her chest.
How the fuck did she get here?
Alicia supposed it started with a bad decision, eventually chaining one to another and another, until you were either dead or in a shitty situation. But wasn’t that just how it was when it was the end of the world?
She needed to get some air and needed some actual time alone, so while her family had taken a pause in their journey, she excused herself–not without protest from her mother, of course.
Mom, it’ll be fine. There’s nothing fu–nothing. Nothing out here. Take a look around at this expansive nothingness. I’m just going for a walk. I’ll be back.
And with that, she walked off as quickly as possible, the sound of her music drowning out her mother’s words the further away she got.
This entire situation was overwhelming, and while she loved her family they were such a pain in the ass. If living with them everyday pre-the-world-going-to-utter-shit wasn’t enough with the day-to-day bickering, she basically wanted to brain herself now that they were all stuck together to just survive. No real solitude. No real time to just be by herself and think–or not even think. Just having peaceful moments alone. (Or well, before it would’ve been peaceful moments with Matt, but any time intrusive thoughts of her… ex-boyfriend came to the surface, she swallowed thickly and pushed them away, refusing to imagine his sweet face being distorted into one of these terrifying creatures. The last thing she wanted was to cry in front of her family.)
So Alicia walked, her thoughts being carried away by the music. Her feet automatically carried her, and her only purposeful action was occasionally checking her surroundings to make sure she wasn’t about to bump into a walker.
When the last song ended, she looked up and paused the music. Around her were brick buildings of various sizes, abandoned cars parked by the sidewalks, and various pieces of debris that always seemed to be the standard decor for hauntingly empty downtown areas of cities everywhere. How very dystopian chic.
Checking the time on her phone–and noting the battery was at 49%–a little more than half an hour had passed.
Oh shit. Mom’s going to be pissed.
Stashing the phone in her jacket pocket, Alicia began to power walk down the sidewalk before abruptly stopping at the corner and looking left, right and backwards with wide eyes.
…Fuck me. Which way did I come from?
Panic rising in her chest, she sprinted down the street that seemed the most familiar before chancing a left turn and realizing she didn’t recognize those buildings at all. She turned around, tearing down each sidewalk, desperately hoping a building, a street sign, or just fucking something, would spark her memory so she could return to her family.
Every now and then, she’d pass by a walker but as slow as those things were, her concern for them was at a minimum.
Until Alicia turned the next corner.
But in her defense, while she arrived to this moment through a series of bad decisions on her part, this was just ultimately shitty, fucking awful, rolling three doubles consecutively in Monopoly bad luck.
In front of her was a much-larger-than-she-would’ve-liked conglomerate of stumbling, uncoordinated mess of walkers heading her direction. The group was wide enough to stretch across the street from sidewalk-to-sidewalk, and the mass of decaying flesh and monstrous growls seemed to consume each area they stepped towards.
If she wasn’t trying to fight down the overwhelming rush of fear and adrenaline now flooding her body, Alicia would be regretting the past forty five minutes of her life and kicking a couple cars. Maybe later.
But for now, she ran. Never mind the fact she’d been running the past ten minutes and her lungs were already burning, and her terror, and racing thoughts–where do I go what do I do oh God have they seen me yet–dampened her coordination. She almost tripped on a slightly misshapen piece of sidewalk and ate concrete, but she was “lucky” enough to only stumble slightly before continuing to Get the Fuck Away.
As fast as she was going, a hand shot out from the alleyway she ran by and dragged her in, the force of both their actions ended with Alicia colliding and crashing onto the person. Before she could scream in surprise, a hand shot up to her mouth and covered it.
“Don’t fucking even–if you drag their attention here I fucking swear I would not hesitate to use you as a distraction so I can get the fuck away.” Despite the harshness of the words themselves, there was a certain lightness to her savior’s tone that implied she was joking.
She hoped, anyway.
“Come on, let’s go before the herd sees us.” The woman with the Australian accent quickly got onto her own feet and dragged Alicia to hers, before forcefully pulling her down the alleyway.
The brunette was still dazed from the chain of events that occurred within the past minute, and so she followed the blonde dumbly, staring at the back of her head. The back of her beautiful fucking hair that seemed to glow despite the occasionally patches of dirt and dust that pretty much covered everything these days.
Alicia hadn’t realized how quickly her heart was beating, and how she was choked up by breathlessness.
She was still shocked to the core by the encounter, and she was sure if she stood still she’d be wobbly and shaking. Part of it was the terrifying situation she’d escaped from, but it wasn’t the nightmarish imagery of walkers behind her that was etched in her brain.
It was the flash of bright blue eyes that met hers directly and pierced her soul. And despite the woman’s brow furrowing while she warned/threatened Alicia, there was something deeper in her expression. There was a dancing, playfulness that she pinpointed at the center of the blonde’s emotions, and she couldn’t help but be drawn towards that. She couldn’t help but feel protective of that–like that light was meant for her. Once again, her feet were moving automatically, but they were being guided by more than just the woman–it was as if a greater force drew Alicia towards her.
No. You’re just not thinking straight.
Right. She was still in shock. Her mind was just churning out random bullshit that didn’t make sense at this point.
but why did every particle of her being seem to reject that idea
Her savior turned around a few more corners, leading them further and further away from the herd with each step. Eventually she led Alicia into a small, indoor shopping plaza. There were several shops on the left and right, and stairs that led upwards to supposedly more stores.
Everything was in as much disarray as the rest of the world, but there was a surprising lack of corpses.
“Come on. Up here.” The blonde gestured for Alicia to follow her up the stairs. Her eyes trailed down to her other hand, which she just noticed was carrying a shotgun. “We’re safe from the herd for now, but they’ll make their way over here. We just gotta wait it out. They’ll leave us alone if they don’t have a reason to come in.”
By the time they got to the second floor, Alicia was aware and back in control of her senses and self. She glanced around the hallway, briefly checking out the store fronts as they passed by. A used bookstore, a record shop, several different kinds of little offices, a couple small restaurants–but eventually they headed into a convenience store.
Shit was all over the floor. Glass, boxes of cereal and food that had fallen to the floor, shelves that were knocked over…
“Nice place you got here,” Alicia deadpanned automatically. Of course, the snark processor portion of her brain was the first to establish itself.
“Hey princess, you are more than welcome to head back to your castle outside. You know, the one that consists of asphalt, corpses, and no protection from the walkers?” The tone of her words were teasing, but she still looked back and smirked at Alicia. Who in turn reflexively decided to snapshot that beautiful asshole face into a memory that she was going to frame in her mind living room forever.
God, what is wrong with you?
“Why go through all the trouble of saving me if you’re willing to just let me go?”
She shrugged, before she sat down beside the back wall of the store. “I’m not gonna make people do shit they don’t wanna. I saved you, but it’s still your life. Do what you want with it.” Beside her was a pile of miscellaneous crap–clothes, books, some pencils, a skateboard, more guns, and a ukulele? She picked it up and began to play a soft song.
Alicia’s smartass responses were stalled as she sat across the woman and stared in awe. Her eyes darted around her figure and took in every detail, from the rips in her jeans to the scuff marks on her boots, and God of course she was wearing a leather jacket. Because why the fuck not? She probably raided a store down the street–”The Gap for Badass Beautiful Women. Sale on Combat Boots, so you can look great while you step on me.”
But her face was what got her. It was covered in some kind of charcoal or paint or whatever that masked the majority of her face, but she could tell. Somehow she just knew at the core of her being how soft her skin was, how it felt under the palm of her hand, and she could clearly envision the taste of her li–stop.
She tried. She really did. Alicia tried to direct her eyes towards the floor and keep them there, while she nervously played with the hem of her shirt and twirled the cord of her earphones around her finger. But without fail, her eyes would be drawn back towards the stranger’s face. Her mind would full stop and thoughts of moving to sit next to her and touching her face would drift into her head and then she’d once more stare holes into the floor tiles, hoping the woman wouldn’t see her sheepish face, or how red her cheeks were getting.
And that’s how a series of bad decisions led to a not-so-great situation, and yet Alicia felt completely at ease, probably because she was a calm, capable, almost-adult, and not because she was smitten and or in-love with someone she’d met maybe half an hour ago. Thirty five minutes tops.
After their giggling fit, the woman’s face relaxed into an eased smile, and Alicia’s own matched her expression.
Her fingers were ready to begin plucking again, but before that she took a deep breath.
Despite herself, the brunette held her own breath, eagerly awaiting what she was going to say next. The ukulele was cute and great, but her voice went in through her ears and straight to her heart.
“…So anyway, here’s Wonderwall.”
But before she could even play a single note, Alicia reflexively reached for the closest thing near her–which was luckily an empty box of cereal–and chucked it as hard as she could at her head. “Stop. Fuck you.” Her words barely made it out of her mouth, her laughter choking her and leaving her breathless.
“Ow, what the fuck.” The blonde laughed as well, and it was hard to imagine that in this moment the world had gone to shit.
Why does it feel so easy to be around her?
Alicia took deep breaths and looked back towards the other woman, a big smile still on her face. “By the way, I’m Alicia.”
“Elyza.” She held out her hand, and the teenager eagerly accepted the invitation to move closer towards her, but purposefully paused a split-second so it wasn’t too obvious. She crawled over and took her hand, and the two young women met each other’s eyes with wide smiles.
Several seconds passed, and neither let go of the other’s hand.
Alicia willed her heart to calm down, afraid that at the rate it was beating, the walkers outside would hear and fly through the windows to kill them all. Elyza’s hand radiated a warmth that soaked into her bones and filled her. A comforting warmth. A safe warmth.
She was safe with her.
The other woman suddenly jerked her hand away, and Alicia was left colder–but she could never be freezing in the presence of the other.
Elyza looked away from her. “…So. Uh. Why are you walking around on your own here?”
Oh God did I freak her out? “I’m traveling with my family. I went out for a walk and…” My feet just went where ever the fuck they wanted, and here I am. The words with you hung off the edge of her thoughts, but she didn’t dare entertain them, even if it echoed inside her soul. She cleared her throat and glanced off to the side as well. “What about you? Why were you walking around alone?”
Her shrug left her shoulder brushing briefly against Alicia’s, and she felt the heat going to her face again.
“Surveying the area. Seeing if there’s anything I can scavenge. Seeing if there’s any people left.” Elyza nudged the brunette more fully, and when she looked up she was blessed with the sight of her fuckingadorable grin. “You’re pretty lucky I was around, huh? I never usually go out as far as where I found you, but I couldn’t find shit and I refuse to go back empty-handed.”
“Yeah, it was truly meant to be,” Alicia deadpanned, but as soon as the words were spoken, her heart almost exploded. She swallowed thickly, “So what? I’m your spoils for today’s adventure?” She cocked a brow at Elyza.
“Spoils? I’d rather say you’re my booty.” She cracked the joke without an ounce of shame, and waggled her eyebrows for emphasis.
“Oh my God. I’m so glad there are windows so I can jump out them into the welcoming embrace of the walkers and be saved from your terrible jokes.”
“Rude, I’m hilarious.”
“I bet you were pretty glad that the world ended, huh? You didn’t have to worry about your failing career as a comedian anymore.”
“Have you ever tried to demoralize the walkers to death? A few perfectly placed witty insults and their heads just explode.” Elyza’s hands mimed an explosion and she quietly added, “Pow.”
“I prefer to just run away and never see one again.” I mean, it’s a good thing I’m completely unarmed and vulnerable, right? That’s how I got to meet you.
“Ah, that’ll be the day. But for now I get to put Walker Vanquisher on my resume and this time it is not an embellishment.”
“This time?” Alicia grinned.
“You know, you’re supposed to put a couple white lies here and there when you’re getting a job. Everybody does it.” Elyza grinned back.
Her face is like. One foot away. I could totally kiss her. I’ll get black shit on my face. I’ll take one for the team.
“You planning to go back to your family after this?” The blonde’s words interrupted Alicia’s train of thought, and she blinked, her brain scrambling to gather itself after so suddenly being ripped from the fantasy.
“Uh. Yeah. They’re probably worried sick. My mom’s going to kill me.” She sighed into her hands.
“You want me to help you get back to them?”
The offer surprised the teenager, and she looked up blankly at Elyza. Elyza who was smiling sheepishly and looking like a big ol’ dork. A big ol’ adorable, fucking, kissable dork.
“I’d appreciate that, actually. I got lost and couldn’t figure out how to get back to the main road. But uh.” That actually reminded her. “Where’s your group? You can’t just be…” She couldn’t finish her sentence, because as soon as she had said group Elyza’s face grew solemn. “Shit. Sorry. You don’t have to talk about it.”
She shook her head. “It’s fine. Long story short, shit got fucked. Now I’m just walking around the country, dicking around, having a good time.”
“Is trying to fight for your life and scavenging for supplies having a good time?” Alicia furrowed her brow.
“It can be alright. But you shouldn’t be so gloomy about life. Before everything happened it was true, but also now. Especially now. What’s the point of it all if you can’t be happy, you know? Find a way to turn this shitty situation into something happier. After all, shouldn’t life be about more than just surviving?”
Immediately it was as if time stopped, and a heavy silence filled the room. They each searched the other’s wides eyes looking for answers. The silence was choking Alicia, and a wave of deja vu washed over her. Her hand twitched as she resisted the reflex to just hold Elyza.
What the fuck?
They both blinked and snapped out of their trance.
“…Sorry. I got preachy.”
Alicia shook her head. “N…no. You’re right.” A pause. “Um. If you want… you can come with us,” she mumbled and shrugged. “Safety in numbers right? Besides, I’m sure they won’t mind since you saved my life and all. Great way to win brownie points with the fam.”
Elyza raised her brow. “Really? Are you sure that’s alright…?”
“Yeah,” she smiled.
“It’ll have to wait until tomorrow morning though…” She crawled over to the closest window and poked her head over the ledge. Alicia followed after, and did the same. More walkers were surrounding the area, and it would be impossible to get out now without being mobbed. “By then the area should be cleared out. Got any objections to a sleepover?”
The brunette glanced around. “…Is there booze in this place?”
“Aren’t you a little young?” She arched a brow.
“Oh okay, Officer Elyza,” she threw her hands up in the air. “Sorry for the underaged drinking. Add it to my rap sheet along with breaking and entering and damaging public property.” She rolled her eyes.
Elyza chuckled before crawling past Alicia to get to the back wall. She tried to contain a shiver when the other woman leaned closer, and the breath from her lips teased her ear.
“You know, the last time I had a sleepover with a pretty girl and she called me officer, there were a lot more handcuffs involved and a lot less clothes.”
God, this was going to be a long night.