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“Could you walk faster?” Lilly asked Carley, who was lagging behind because she wanted to store her energy. “No need to get cranky, man,” Carley replied, jogging towards Lilly til she was beside her. They were on a supply run while the men were at the motor inn. Why? Because Lilly and Carley had a huge argument the previous day, the group decided to send them on a supply run so that they could get along for once. What a stupid idea.
Even though Lilly is the leader of the group, she decided to go with their wishes, and Carley had no choice but to come with her. “I don’t get why you agreed with their idea. I mean, you could have scared their pants off, but instead you decided to go along,” Carley added, only to receive a harsh scoff from Lilly while walking a bit faster.
“I like it better when your mouth is shut. You draw too much attention,” Lilly finally replied, looking around the surroundings. “Well, I used to be a news reporter, you know. Of cou-”
“Be quiet,” Lilly snapped at her, looking her straight in the eye and pointing her rifle at Carley. “Hey, what the hell are you doin- " She got cut off again by a gunshot, it went at the side of her head and hit a walker behind her, “I told you to be quiet,” Lilly hissed as she continued to walk, her finger off the trigger.
“Ah, yeah… right. Sorry.” Carley mumbled, catching up to her. They stayed silent for a while, silently killing walkers in their way, but neither ever said a word to each other.
They arrived where Carley first met and saved Lee, outside the pharmacy. There were no walkers in sight. Too good to be true. “Stay close to me,” Lilly said, raising her rifle, being cautious of the surroundings. “Yeah…” Carley replied, raising her pistol. “Come on, there’s gotta be leftover meds at the pharmacy, then we try our luck for food at the gas station nearby,” Lilly stated, walking cautiously towards the broken building.
They snuck inside by the broken wall, still, no walkers. “The hell… No walkers..?” Lilly mumbled under her breath. “This might be our lucky day,” the reporter responded, looking around the pharmacy. “Ugh, please don’t jinx it,” the older woman groaned, “come on, let’s take this all,” she added, looking at the leftover medications and some energy bar laying around as they both got into work on picking them up and putting them in their bags.
As Carley was taking a bottle of antibiotics, a hand suddenly grabbed her wrist tightly, groaning loudly as the walker tried to get a chunk out of her. “Shit!” Carley cursed loudly, struggling to get free. Lilly heard the commotion and ran towards as fast as she could and hit the walker in the head multiple times using the butt of her rifle til the face wasn’t recognizable. “Fuck, thanks…” Carley said, breathing heavily, “You okay?” Lilly asked, checking the younger woman for bites.
“Awwww, you? Concerned for me?” Carley joked, earning a glare from the other woman. “I’m responsible for everyone in the group. In case you forgot about that,” Lilly coldly replied. Carley scoffed softly, looking at the shelves. “Hey, look what we have here,” Carley said, taking a small box from the shelf. Lilly took a peek. “Seriously? Condoms?” Lilly responded in a tired and frustrated tone.
Carley placed the box of condoms in her bag. “Seriously, you’re just wasting space,” Lilly said, deadpanned. The reporter smirked at her. “Nah, I think these are pretty useful,” she replied smugly. “Just… try not to be so loud with Lee tonight, okay?” Lilly reminded her, Carley choked on her own spit. “Lee? Ah, yes, whatever you say,” the short-haired woman stammered. They were staring at each other awkwardly, then they heard groaning and moaning from outside. “Shit, walkers. Come on, we have to go.” Lilly grabbed Carley by the arm and dragged her out, but only to find out there were too many of them, probably around three dozen. “Fuck! Go back, go back!” Lilly exclaimed as they ran back further in the pharmacy.
Lilly spotted a hole near the storage room, and she pushed the younger woman towards it. “Go! I’ll be right behind you!” Lilly barked, shooting at the walkers coming on their way. Carley immediately crawled through the hole and shot the walker near her. Lilly followed her as quickly as she could. Two walkers were coming towards Carley from behind. She aimed her rifle at the walkers and pulled the trigger.
Without hesitation, they ran, and ran, and ran til they were out of breath. They stumbled across a bar. There were still walkers around, but not so many like before. “Come on, let’s go!” Lilly yelled at her as she kicked through the door and shot the walkers inside. Carley went inside first and grabbed a sturdy chair to barricade the doors, placing it underneath the knobs as the undead tried to barge in.
“We should stay here for a while,” Lilly said, looking around the room. There were whiskeys, vodkas, basically every alcohol was left untouched since the start of the apocalypse. Carley looked at the drinks. “We should drink for a bit,” Carley suggested, holding a bottle of vodka. The older woman scoffed and glared at her. “Oh yeah? And what? Risk our drunk asses getting eaten by walkers for what? For a drink? Yeah, no thanks.” Lilly refused, Carley shrugged, and began putting bottles of drinks inside the bag as many as she could.
“Seriously?” Lilly asked in an annoyed tone, first the condoms, now alcohol? “We need supplies, Carley. Not wants.” Lilly scolded her, “Come on, I bet the others would love to drink for once in a while.” Carley replied, “Just this once, please?” she added, pleading to Lilly. The ex-military sighed in frustration. “Fine, do whatever you want,” Lilly spoke, sitting in front of the counter, patiently waiting for the walkers to stroll by, while Carley opened the vodka and took a sip from the bottle.
“Huh,...” Lilly mumbled softly, observing the younger woman who was now beside her. “What?” Carley questioned, placing the vodka down on the counter. “Nothing, it never crossed my mind that you like drinking alcohol, that’s all, ” Lilly replied, staring at the bottle. “I bet you haven’t tried drinking before,” Carley smirked, taking another sip. “Of course I haven’t. That’s because I’m a responsible and disciplined woman,” the older woman responded. Carley put her hands up, “Ooooh, sorry Miss I’m too busy for fun, that you’re stuck with someone who wants to blow off some steam for a bit.” Carley said in a sarcastic tone, sipping on the bottle.
Nah, Carley wasn’t actually sipping. She was chugging on the bottle, “Slow down, Carley.” Lilly said in an unusually soft tone, taking the bottle away from her. She checked, and it was already almost empty. “Jesus…” She was shocked. Maybe this is what everyone needs right now. A drink, she sighed deeply, and gave the bottle back to Carley. “Just… Take it easy,” she mumbled softly. The news reporter giggled drunkenly, took the bottle from Lilly, and drank it all in one go.
Lilly shook her head gently. Now she’s going to have to take Carley’s drunk ass back to the motor inn. Lilly looked at the window, the sun was setting. “We’re staying here for the night. Get back to the others by tomorrow morning.” Lilly announced, “mmh… Whatever you say bosssssss…” Carley slurred, opening another bottle of vodka as Lilly started to fortify the place while the short-haired woman continued to drink.
By the time Lilly finished fortifying the place, Carley had finished two and a half bottles. She was giggling uncontrollably, spewing words that Lilly couldn’t hear properly. “All right, I think that’s enough, Carley,” Lilly told her, taking the half-empty bottle from the younger woman. “Noooooo! Give it baaackk to meee!” Carley slurred loudly, probably attracting walkers nearby.
“Hey! Shut the fuck up, okay? It’s already bad that you’re drinking in the middle of a supply run; the least thing you can do is to be quiet,” Lilly hissed at her. Carley groaned in pain, and her head plopped down on the counter. “Y’know… No oneeee had ever said that you’re doing greattttt for the groupppp,” Carley hicked, obviously so drunk at the moment. Lilly just let out a small tch and sat down beside her. “Sooooo, I’ll be the oneee to say it… You’re *hic* doing so great for the grouppppppp… Even.. If the others don’t admit it,” Carley paused, looking at Lilly, “We’re *hic* grateful… foorrrr the thingsss you diddd for us…” she mumbled. Lilly’s eyes softened for a moment; they always fight back in the motor inn, so this was new to her.
“I… uh… Thank you.” Lilly replied, rubbing her own arm. Her face was flustered for a second. Carley lifted her head and leaned close to Lilly. Too close that she can smell each other’s breath. Then, without a word, Carley pressed her lips against Lilly’s. The kiss was soft. The older woman’s eyes widened when she felt Carley’s tongue poking her lips, asking for permission, to which Lilly opened her mouth, and the news reporter immediately inserted her tongue inside Lilly’s mouth as their tongues clashed for a moment. Carley gasped softly. She broke the kiss and looked at Lilly in the eyes. “Mmh… I loveee youuu, Lillyyyyy…” She slurred again, then closed her eyes, “I… uh… *hic* like youuuuu for a whilleeee.. And I don’t know.. *hic* how to tell you…” she confesses, tears flowing down, but she then passed out on Lilly.
“Jesus Christ…” Lilly muttered under her breath as she gently lifted Carley up, placing her on a soft couch near the counter. She was sleeping soundly. Lilly took off her black jacket and placed it on Carley, warming her up.
‘Well shit… What a messy day…’ Lilly thought as she took her rifle and stayed awake for the rest of the night.
—
The next day, they got back to the motor inn in the afternoon, around three p.m. The group was very worried for them that they literally started planning on how to run things without Lilly as their leader. “Man, what the hell happened?” Kenny asked, staring at Carley, who looked like a goddamn mess. Carley smirked at Kenny, showing off to the group what she got for them. “Check it out, guys!” she exclaimed, placing all the drinks in front of them. “Thought it might be nice to have a drink for a bit,” she added. Lilly just went to the supply room in silence and didn’t interact with anyone.
“Is she alright?” Lee asked, the reporter shrugged, watching Kenny open a bottle of whiskey. “I don’t know, I got drunk last night, and couldn’t remember anything,” Carley replied, her eyes widened, she probably said something stupid when she was drunk. Lilly was acting weird on their way back. “You got drunk on a supply run?” Lee asked in a curious tone. “I drank more than I expected,” Carley added defensively, holding her hands up.
“I’ll talk to her later,” She sighed softly, hoping she didn’t say anything weird or make Lilly uncomfortable.
That later turned into weeks.
Lilly hasn’t spoken specifically to Carley after that run. Carley did try to talk to her, but Lilly would leave the room immediately. Even when Lilly is doing rations, she would hand her food to Lee and tell him to give it to her. Lee was suspicious because normally Lilly would just give their rations to whoever got one that day.
“Are you okay?” Lee finally asked when Lilly was checking the perimeter. “Yeah, why?” She bluntly replied, checking the area for nearby walkers. Lee shoved his hands in his pockets, walking beside Lilly. “You’ve been avoiding Carley since you guys went back from that run. Did something happen back there?” Lilly stopped her tracks, looked at the ground, and her grip on her rifle tightened. They both stood there in awkward silence and then turned her gaze to Lee.
“No, nothing happened. Carley got drunk and passed out, that’s all,” She replied and continued walking, ending the conversation quickly. Lee sighed and jogged back to Carley. “So, did she say anything?” Carley asked, hoping that Lilly had said anything at least one small detail about what happened. “No, she only said that you got drunk and passed out,” the older man replied, sitting beside her, watching Clementine and Duck passing around the soccer ball.
Carley let out a frustrated sigh, “Fuck, that’s it. I’m gonna corner her tonight and confront her,” the reporter snapped, feeling frustrated at the situation that is slowly killing her from the inside. She heard Lee chuckle and glared at him, “What’s so funny, huh?” Carley asked, still glaring at him. “Nothing, good luck with that. Let me know how it went, okay?” Lee smirked, standing from his seat and going up to Kenny.
‘Now, how do I confront her? Should I say? “WE NEED TO TALK!” or “Why are you acting this way?” God, this is so difficult.” Carley thought, hoping her confrontation with Lilly would go smoothly tonight.
—
It was around midnight now, and everyone except Carley, Lilly, and Kenny. Kenny was on watch duty, Lilly had just entered her room, and there was Carley. She was pacing around her room, rehearsing every minute on what she was going to say to Lilly.
‘You know what, I got this!’ She encouraged herself and left her room nervously. She went towards Lilly’s room and knocked three times.
“Who is it?” She heard Lilly’s voice, but she didn’t answer because she knew that Lilly would just ignore her, so she barged into her room. “The fuck, Car-”
“I want to talk about what happened during the supply run weeks ago.” Carley caught her off, sitting on the chair near the door.
“You’ve been avoiding me since that day. What the hell happened when I was drunk? I literally have no memory here, and you just started ignoring me all of a sudden!” Carley exclaimed; she clearly wants this over with.
Lilly took a long, deep sigh and looked at Carley. “You really want to know what happened? Fine.” Lilly said in a serious tone, the kind of tone that would make you sit properly on your chair. “You said that you liked me for a while and then you kissed me!, but I didn’t know how to respond to that. And when you mentioned you have no memory of it, it bothered me…” Lilly snapped back, brushing her hair away from her face. “Truth be told, I like you too. I just never showed it, love makes me weak, and I need to be strong for the group!” She exclaimed, standing up to assert dominance.
“Fuck, I really did that…? Shit…” Carley murmured under her breath. “Now you got your answer, get out,” Lilly hissed at her. The young woman stood up and faced her directly. “No, if you think love is weak, I’m going have to teach you and prove it to you that it’s not. You like me too, right? Let me help you learn how to love,” Carley insisted, grabbing Lilly’s hand.
“I really like you, Lils. Please… I want to make this work…” She pleaded softly, and the older woman stared at the shorter woman in front of her, sniffling softly and quietly.
“I… uh… okay…” Lilly replied, Carley’s face lit up, “Really?!” she exclaimed, “Keep your voice down and yes… I’m being serious…” she replied. Carley leaned closer to her and pressed her lips against Lilly’s. The kiss was soft and quick, the reporter pulled away, but she felt Lilly grabbing her by the arm and pin her to the bed.
“Screw you, Carley. For making me feel this unfamiliar feeling,” Lilly cursed under her breath and kissed her. It was rough; she shoved her tongue inside Carley’s mouth immediately, not giving Carley time to react as they continued making out. The short-haired woman struggled to keep up as she felt the woman on top of her sliding her hand underneath Carley’s shirt, sliding her hand up and down gently on the skin.
“Ah..!” Carley gasped as Lilly broke the kiss and started giving soft kisses on Carley’s face, first it was the tip of the nose, her temple, then her cheek, then towards her jawline and neck, “Ngh… Lilly…” Carley groaned softly. Before Lilly could continue, she felt Carley pushing her away gently. “I.. uhm.. Not ready for you know…” Carley stammered shyly. Lilly felt like an idiot for trying to push Carley into this.
“Right, right… I’m sorry… I shouldn’t have done that,” Lilly quickly apologized as she lay down beside Carley. The news reporter turned her body to face her and stroked her cheek with her hand. “Hey… I’ll let you know if I’m ready…” Carley reassured her, giving her a soft, quick kiss on the lips. “We have condoms too, so we can have safe sex,” She teased, smirking at her.
‘What are yo-”
“Your dad’s got a big mouth, you know. I heard about you being born with a dick. So I took my chance taking those condoms back in the pharmacy,” Carley explained. Lilly groaned in embarrassment; she never thought her dad would announce that shit out loud.
“But hey… I’m really serious about this. About us. Let’s take this slow, okay…?” Carley said in a soft tone.
“Yeah… of course,” Lilly smiled for the first time in months, kissing Carley on the forehead and pulling her closer. “We should get some sleep,” Lilly said, stroking Carley’s hair. The younger woman snuggled closer to her. “Yeah, goodnight, Lils,” Carley murmured, pressing her face against Lilly’s chest.
“Goodnight,”
The room grew quiet, save for their slow, steady breathing. Outside, the world was still as dangerous as ever, filled with walkers and uncertainty, but for the first time in months, Lilly felt a weight lift from her shoulders. She had Carley here, warm and trusting, and that was enough for now.
Maybe this was the start of something new, a life where they could lean on each other, fight together, survive together. A life where love wasn’t a weakness, but a reason to keep going. And as Lilly held Carley close, feeling the steady beat of her heart, she let herself believe that, finally, they could face whatever came next… together.