Chapter Text
Alicia couldn’t sleep. It had been difficult to lately, the getting to sleep part. Instead of sleeping she wandered through whatever house they were staying in, looking at old pictures of the family that lived there before them. But her family was long gone, somewhere north to find their relatives and Alicia had gotten stuck out here on her own. The monsters that walked the street terrified her but they were unpredictable at night, hard to see and often near silent. Venturing out during the day was her only hope to find her family, if they were still alive. Tomorrow Alicia would move on to the next place with her backpack full of supplies and her ipod fully charged.
There was a sudden banging noise that made Alicia jump. It was from the back and when she looked to see what it was she found that it was just a walker that had stumbled and fallen in the neighbor’s yard. Since she had been on her own, Alicia had found herself becoming increasingly more paranoid. The lights stayed off every time she was in a new house, the only source of light was a candle every now and then, typically carrying one with her, wanting to carry more but without the weight that it added to her pack, and the candle usually stayed in whatever room she was sleeping in when it was lit- the windows and any other crack completely blacked out.
There was another shuffling noise, distant and quiet that Alicia assumed was the same possibly dead thing just struggling to get out of whatever mess it had found itself in. Alicia held up another set of photos of the previous tenants, side by side. One was of the happy couple, darker skinned, adorable in their own right. They were young, probably in their mid twenties with their hearts showing in their eyes as they kissed in their wedding dresses. One woman had her hair cut close to her head and the other had dreads that didn’t quite get passed her shoulder blades despite that her head was tilted back to meet her lover’s lips. The second photo was of their baby boy, a small smiling albino child. Albino as in his skin had no pigmentation, no tan, no redness beneath his cheeks although he may have had just a fairly light complexion. His blue eyes beamed into the camera, his teeth filled with gaps while they still grew in, his hair growing in a flurry of gloriously blonde wisps.
What happened to them, the family here before Alicia? Whatever it was, Alicia found herself worrying for the boy. He would grow up in a relatively decent world but would forever be struggling to accept the fact that this wasn’t really his home, it wasn’t really his family.
Alicia placed the photos back on the shelf above the fireplace. She began imagining scenarios of how the child lived before. Coming home from his first day of first grade and hugging his moms who had been at home worrying all day instead of working, concerned that they would have to pick him up because something happened. But he comes home and hugs them and they shower him with kisses and take him for ice cream for being good on his first day. They love him unconditionally and he loves them and it never changes. She found herself smiling at the thought, smiling back at the little boy in the photo. Alicia could still remember her first day of first grade, her teacher, the kid that picked on her in her class. The one that she became best friends with. Her teacher staring at the chalkboard when she lost her first tooth while sitting in the front row on the carpet, the woman had turned around with a smile, announcing to the class that Alicia had lost her first tooth, like the teacher herself was a psychic or a mind reader or something. But it never registered with Alicia and she still found herself beaming with a new gap in her teeth.
The memory made her smile.
But the world was beyond screwed up now. The dead were walking and the living were doing everything they could to deny that it was even a remote possibility. The sound came again, this time louder. Alicia headed back towards the kitchen opening the blinds to see that the walker had gotten itself further tangled in the fishing net that fishermen dragged across the ocean floor to catch fish. The neighbor could have been a fisherman but whoever they were they left stuff all over the place. Leaving the fishing net by the pool was a stupid idea. The walker, flailer now, smacked its head against the shed but didn’t flinch. It would be out there for a while, struggling, probably attracting a few more.
Alicia sighed, knowing that she would have to leave in the morning as quickly as possible. So she went back to the living room to pick up one of the water bottles that she had snagged from the kitchen and piled, along with the rest of the salvageable food, by the television.
There was a flash of black, darker than the black that was forced by the night, a silhouette. Alicia’s back hit the door to the basement, just below the landing. Her mouth was agape, staring into the, what appeared to be colorless eyes of someone else. She would have fought back, would have being the operative words, except she wasn’t one of the dead. It wasn’t just because there was no smell of decaying flesh or strange pigmentation in the skin. It was because the cold barrel of a pistol had been pressed beneath her jaw.
“Hey cutie.”
She was blonde and a little bit shorter than Alycia but she was gorgeous and intimidating, especially with a gun in her grip. The way she smirked was terrifying.
Alicia didn’t have anything to say to this woman. She was at a complete and utter loss for words. She could hardly think let alone form any sense of herself. A list of possible responses flew through her mind rapidly but she couldn’t pick one.
“I- what-” She took a breath and tried again, hesitating even when the woman raised a brow, her smirk continuing. “Who are you?" The blonde just stared at her for a moment with those smiling eyes. She had turned her head enough that her eyes caught the full moon’s light and sparkled blue.
“You are adorable.” The stranger dropped her gun and sidled back a few steps before leaning over and crashing on the couch. Her arm reached out for the bag of chips and she swung her legs up, crossing them on the arm of the couch. She rustled in the bag of chips, crunching on a handful.
Alicia stepped around the edge of the couch, shaking and nervous but curious of as to who this australian stranger was and how she got in. Alicia had locked all of the doors and barricaded the sliding glass door in the dining room off the kitchen. She was just hoping that she hadn’t missed anything. But the blonde was hardly paying attention.
“Who are you? How did you get in here?” The brunette asked, keeping her back to the wall and trying to keep her eyes on the woman, also trying to keep an eye out for anyone else that may have followed her in.
The pistol rested on the blonde’s abdomen, on her faded blue tank top and not her leather jacket. The gun was within reach, one of her hands, the one that wasn’t digging in the bag of chips, was a little too close to it. Alicia kept one hand close to her back, subtly looking for a weapon. Her fingers skimmed something but it was too small. If she could get to the fire poker then she may have a chance. It was still a good few feet away.
“That’s cute,” her australian accent showed a little less when she said that but that didn’t stop Alicia from shuddering. She looked up, her eyes smiling, but went back to ignoring her. “But the tough act doesn’t really suit you.”
Alicia swallowed hard, more aggravated by this woman’s presence in her momentary place of solitude than anything should could have said. Still, despite the threat of being shot, Alicia leapt for the fire poker and spun to hold it towards the intruder.
The blonde was just as fast, standing quickly with the bag of chips hitting the floor, spilling a little, and holding the pistol up towards her opponent.
“Oh, come on, cupcake. Don’t make me shoot you.” The blonde watched the end of the fire poker in case Alicia swung at her. Her hands were shaking wildly. There was no way that she would act with a weapon that heavy, especially with an untrained hand.
“Stop calling me those names.”
The brunette’s hands wavered. She was shaking, uncertain, unable to act with a level head.
The intruder adjusted her stance, ready to jump into action. “Then what should I call you?”
She stopped for a moment, hesitant because of the smirk that seemed to fade but not entirely disappear from her face. When she tried to speak she needed to stop and try again. “Alicia.”
“Put the poker down and we can talk.”
“Get. Out.” Alicia swung the poker with a wild step forward.
But her movements were just that: wild and unpracticed. The blonde had ducked beneath the swing and grabbed the poker, pulling it from Alicia’s hands. She turned back to swing her fist but Alicia was flat on her back, smacking her head against the floor after her feet had been swept out from beneath her.
All that she could think of was how horrible a way this was to go. This was the apocalypse. The dead were walking in the streets, killing their friends and family, devouring their flesh. But Alicia was here, on the floor of some random family’s home with a gun held on her and her head spinning from hitting the floor. She was going to die here where that little child had played with his Legos and toy cars. She would die without her family knowing whatever happened to her. An unfortunate end to a life that had yet to begin.
“Hi, Alicia. I’m Elyza.” The blonde knelt next to her with the gun still trained on her, unfortunately it wasn’t pointed at a place that would kill her quickly. “Mind if I bunk with you tonight?”
Alicia just stared at the sparkling blue eyes, not realizing that she nodded.
“Cool,” Elyza stood and held out her hand for Alicia to take. The brunette grasped her forearm, surprised by Elyza’s strength when the blonde nearly lifted her to her feet. “Do yourself a favor, don’t try that again.”