Chapter Text
They have to drive back about 50 miles to find a small suburban neighborhood with a pump station. They fill up enough gas cans that it becomes a real challenge to carry them all back, so they have to take two trips. It takes up the whole morning but they manage to find what they need. After a quick break for lunch, they repeat the process of transporting the cans but closer to the bandit camp this time. Once that’s done they climb the hill with the perfect view of Trader’s End and observe them for a while. Today there’re a lot more people gathered in the courtyard. They form a circle, some are sitting in picnic chairs, others stand around, gesturing wildly and yelling at something. Someone, Alicia notices, as she points the binoculars towards the center of the circle.
Two men are fighting each other, viciously trying to take the other down with fists and elbows and knees. Both are bloody and bruised but one of them seems to have the upper hand. The bandits cheer for him and he delivers a brutal punch to the battered man’s face. He drops to the ground and the bandits go crazy. The same bald man from yesterday is there too. He approaches the victor and throws him a paper bag. The man opens the bag with a frantic urgency, taking a piece of dried meat and swallowing it whole.
The bald man pats his back, looking friendly for a moment. Then he pushes the man towards the small clearing with the shipping containers. Two armed men accompany them. The bald man takes a key chain from around his neck and opens the container. The armed men point their guns at whoever’s inside as the bald man pushes the winner of the fight in, with his bag of dried meat. Alicia desperately tries to see inside the container, tries to get a glimpse of her family, but it’s dark inside and no one seems to dare to approach the door.
The bald man puts the key chain back under his shirt and goes to join his men at the courtyard. Alicia puts the binoculars down and recounts everything she’s seen to Elyza. “I can’t wait for these fuckers to burn.”
The sun is still high when they make their way down, so they drive to the cabin to wait for sundown. With hours to spare, Alicia uses the paper towels and a pen she finds in one the drawers to sketch a couple rough blueprints of Trader’s End. She studies them, trying to figure out the fastest and most effective way to distribute the gasoline around the main building. They need to make sure to cover the entrances so no one can escape once the fire starts. It will be the perfect trap.
Meanwhile Elyza sits on the loveseat, completely bored out of her mind. She unwraps one of her lollipops, throwing the plastic up in the air and hitting it like a ball. Alicia looks up at the noise.
“Isn’t that like your third one today?”
Elyza doesn’t reply, sucking eagerly on her candy, lips already turning red. “I like sweets.”
“You have a sugar addiction,” Alicia argues.
“Well, if you won’t give me any…” Elyza trails off with a pout, a smirk hiding in her eyes.
Alicia rolls her eyes at the line, but she abandons her drawings and goes to sit next to Elyza. She pecks her on the lips before she lays down and puts her head on Elyza’s lap, her legs dangling over the armrest of the loveseat. Elyza watches her, twirling her lollipop in her mouth. She lets it go with a pop and offers it to Alicia. The girl accepts it. They pass the candy back and forth until it’s finished. Elyza thinks Alicia might be right about her addiction because she immediately wants another one. It must be a symptom of nicotine withdrawal. She focuses her attention on the girl instead.
Alicia has her left arm raised and is trailing her fingers over a rough tattoo of a squiggly spiral. Elyza’s seen it before but she never thought much of it.
“What’s it mean?”
Alicia glances up at her before dropping her eyes back to the tattoo. “I got it for someone I cared about a lot… someone from before the outbreak.”
“Boyfriend?”
“Matt,” she affirms. “We were going to graduate together. We had plans for college.” She pauses. “He was bitten when it all started. It feels like it was a long time ago.”
Alicia doesn’t seem to be heartbroken over it anymore, just a little nostalgic.
Elyza puts her hand over Alicia’s, intertwining their fingers together. She tries to think of something that will cheer her up. “Ah, so you went from the high school sweetheart to a sexy older woman.”
Alicia snorts, looking up at her like she’s ridiculous. “Please, you’re like twenty-three.”
Elyza gasps. “I’m twenty-two!”
“My point exactly.”
Elyza hums noncommittally, thumb rubbing over Alicia’s knuckle.
“What about you? Did you leave a trail of broken hearts before the world went to shit?” Alicia asks teasingly.
“Not really.” Alicia seems surprised so Elyza elaborates. “The girls I slept with, they weren’t looking for a relationship. Neither was I. No commitment means no broken hearts.”
“Ah, so you’re one of those people.”
“Was,” Elyza corrects without hesitation.
Alicia looks at her curiously. “What changed?”
“Apart from the whole world as we knew it?” Elyza asks as if it isn’t obvious. “But I guess I did. I just… don’t want to be alone anymore.”
The couch creaks with the movement as Alicia straddles Elyza’s lap, assuming her position from this morning.
“You’re not.”
And then they’re kissing, picking up where they left off. Alicia cups the blonde’s face, lips crashing in a gentle but passionate dance. Elyza sucks her bottom lip and her fingers clench at Alicia’s waist. They taste the sweetness of the lollipop in each other’s lips.
Their kisses are curious at first, relearning what it means to be close to someone again. They go from playful nips to deep sensual kisses, slowly falling into the perfect rhythm. Alicia pushes the flannel off her shoulders and lets it fall to the floor. She opens her mouth deepening the kiss. When Elyza’s tongue meets hers and she feels the cold metal of the piercing, a shiver runs down her spine. She’s never kissed someone with a tongue piercing before, but she finds that she loves it. It makes her bolder, stokes the fire in the pit of her stomach. Her hands travel down Elyza’s torso, grabbing the bottom of her t-shirt and pulling it over her head.
Elyza’s chest heaves and Alicia finds she can’t take her eyes off of her breasts. They’re covered in a simple black bra, skin pale and creamy. Alicia pulls her bottom lip into her mouth, her lustful staring making Elyza’s skin flush.
“You are so not straight,” Elyza teases.
“Never said I was,” Alicia replies, voice low with arousal. She kisses Elyza again, hands roaming the exposed skin starting at her shoulders, down her arms and up her ribcage until she has Elyza’s breasts cupped in her hands. Elyza’s hands are still at her waist, clenching and unclenching with need. “You can touch me too, you know,” Alicia says, words husked against the blonde’s mouth.
Elyza can’t help the moan that leaves her throat at those words. She slips her hands under Alicia’s shirt, up her spine until she touches the edge of her bra. Her skin is so smooth and warm she’s instantly addicted. She wants to know what it tastes like. Elyza presses another deep kiss to Alicia’s lips before moving her mouth down to her jawline. She bites gently, just because it’s one of the things about this girl that drives her completely crazy. She leaves little bites and kisses all over her neck until she stops at her pulse point where she sucks and licks until Alicia is squirming. Her piercing drags over the sensitive skin and Alicia squeezes the flesh in her hands before reaching behind Elyza to snap her bra open and take it off her. She then takes her own shirt off and presses her body to Elyza’s. The blonde groans into her neck.
Alicia grinds against her and Elyza cups her ass to help her. Bringing their mouths back together, Alicia palms at the blonde’s chest like a horny teenager, which Elyza guesses she technically is. Not that she’s complaining. Alicia’s thumbs are playing with her nipples and Elyza thrusts up her hips in a desperate attempt to relieve some tension.
“Fuck, I-“ Alicia grabs one of Elyza’s hands and moves it to the button of her jeans. Elyza doesn’t waste a moment to pop it open and push her hand inside. She feels the warmth first, then the wetness that slides against the pads of her fingers. Three gentle swipes and the girl on top of her is shuddering in pleasure. “Ah! Fuck me,” she gasps, lips parted against Elyza’s.
“That’s the plan, gorgeous,” Elyza says, trying to sound cocky, but her voice is low and breathy and it comes off as incredibly turned on – which, she is.
Alicia drops her hands to Elyza’s jeans, unzipping them and sliding a hand under her underwear to touch her. Elyza’s just as wet as she is and Alicia gives her a filthy kiss as she slides her fingers up and down her center before focusing on her clit. Elyza jerks her hips up chasing the press of those fingers that feels a little too gentle. She whimpers into Alicia’s mouth and takes her hand out of the girl’s pants to grab her ass again. Alicia doesn’t seem to mind, focusing on bringing Elyza to the edge first.
After some more teasing, Alicia drags her fingers down to Elyza’s entrance, dipping her middle finger in just to the first knuckle. Elyza is so ready for it and she groans when Alicia finally pushes two fingers in, spine tensing in pleasure.
“Good?” Alicia asks to make sure she’s enjoying it.
“Yeah, I’m-“ Elyza pants as Alicia moves in and out tortuously slow, rubbing every ridge and bump inside her with her long fingers. Elyza really appreciates those hands. “It’s not gonna take much.”
Alicia smirks, drinking in the sight of the blonde woman panting and practically fucking herself against her fingers. She twists her hand a little to rub her thumb against Elyza’s clit in wide circles. From there it only takes a few more thrusts before Elyza’s throwing her head back in pleasure, bucking her hips so hard Alicia almost falls from her lap. She grabs the back of the couch and chuckles, palm pressing down at her center to help her ride her orgasm and control her hips at the same time. Alicia presses small kisses on her jaw, her chin and the beauty mark above her lip as Elyza comes down from her high.
Elyza turns her head a fraction to capture her lips in a sweet kiss. But Alicia still hasn’t come and she’s the most turned on she’s ever been in her life. She whimpers into the kiss, demanding Elyza’s attention.
Elyza hooks her fingers into her belt loops and lifts her off her lap, dropping her on the cushion. Alicia looks confused by the change in positions but her eyes widen and darken when Elyza kneels on the floor between her legs.
Her underwear is pulled down along with her jeans and her legs automatically open to accommodate Elyza’s torso. The blonde leaves faint love bites over her stomach and thighs until Alicia’s practically trembling in arousal, desperate for release. The girl threads her fingers between the blonde strands and pushes her down to where she needs her the most. Elyza laughs at her eagerness, teasing her with gentle puffs of breath over her center.
Alicia moans, hips jerking up urgently, but all Elyza does is lick where her thigh meets her center, tasting the nectar that is coating the inside of her thighs. She hums, loving how the girl tastes. Alicia’s looking down at her, skin flushed from her forehead to the top of her breasts. Elyza smirks.
“You’re such an asshole,” Alicia whimpers.
Elyza makes a tsk sound. “That’s not very nice.” She finally dives in, licking a stripe up her center and giving a gentle suck at the top. “You should apologize.”
“F-uck! I’m sorry, I’m sorry,” Alicia pleads. Her short nails dig into Elyza’s scalp as she tries to pull her back to her center. “I take it back.”
“Mhm, in that case.”
The talented tongue is back on her, parting her folds and drawing shapes on her clit. She sucks it into her mouth and uses the flat of it where her piercing rests so Alicia feels the contrast between the softness of the muscle and the hardness of the metal. It drives Alicia crazy, drawing the most obscene moans from the back of her throat. Elyza loves to see her like this, to be able to give her so much pleasure. She’s always been a giver, a top, if you will, enjoying giving attention to the girls she slept with a lot more than receiving it. It’s no different with Alicia but at the same time it feels completely new. She wants it to be so good for her. She wants to eat her out until she sees stars. She wants to worship her.
Elyza sinks her tongue into her, pushing it upwards so her piercing rubs along her walls. Alicia throws her head back, one hand in her hair as she sobs into her arm. Elyza fucks her with her tongue, coating two fingers in her wetness to massage circles on her clit. Alicia completely loses it.
Her moans are so loud Elyza fears the walkers will hear. Alicia’s legs are shaking, her spine bowing towards her as she comes. It’s a long orgasm; a whole minute passes before her muscles relax and she stops jerking at the sparks of aftershock. Elyza licks her lips, wiping her cheeks and chin and pulls up Alicia’s pants so she’s not cold and exposed. She sits next to her and Alicia, muscles feeling like jelly, falls into her side.
They get more comfortable, laying back in the small loveseat, a mess of limbs dangling over the edge. Alicia’s head rests on top of Elyza’s breast as her breathing gets back to normal. Elyza trails her fingers up and down her spine, unable to stop touching her.
“I really like your tongue piercing,” Alicia says after a while, resting her chin on Elyza’s chest to look at her.
“I noticed.” There’s a smirk on her lips and her eyes. Alicia leans up to kiss her, slow and tender, without the urgency of their previous kisses. It makes Elyza’s stomach do a back flip, even after everything they’ve just done. This kiss is lazy, unhurried, like they have all the time in the world when nothing could be further from the truth. It tastes like a beginning, like the promise of a thousand other kisses to come. Regrettably, it can’t keep going for long; they have some unfinished business to attend to.
Elyza cups Alicia’s cheek, pulling away from the kiss. “Hey-“ but Alicia cuts her off, leaning in to capture her lips again. She sucks on her bottom lip and it feels like this is going somewhere again and they really have no time. “Babe, we can’t. It’s almost time.”
Alicia whines, red-kissed lips pouting at her and it takes every last ounce of her self-control to resist her. She sits up and Alicia is forced to follow. Elyza picks up her discarded bra and t-shirt, putting it on before turning to the girl and realizing she’s still pouting slightly; probably doesn’t even realize it. Elyza leans in, planting chaste, playful kisses on her lips until she’s not pouting anymore.
“There’ll be plenty of time,” Elyza tells her, “For… you know, us.”
“Yeah?” Alicia asks hopefully. “Does that mean you’re staying with us?”
“What do you think?” Elyza smiles, leaning forward to plant a kiss on Alicia's cheek.
They finish getting dressed in silence, stealing glances here and there. The sun is low in the horizon and Elyza knows if they want to make it for the guard change they need to leave now.
They drive Betty to the spot where they hid the cans of gasoline and park her there. They keep to the shadows as they approach the camp, eyes never leaving the watchtower guard. Dry leaves crunch beneath their feet. When they are within hearing range of the watchtower guard, Elyza brings her finger to her lips and crouches behind a tree. She takes the knife from her sheath and Alicia’s fingers tighten around the bat.
Sundown comes fast. A man crosses the courtyard and approaches the watchtower. He whistles.
“About time you showed up,” guard #1 says as he climbs down the ladder.
“Abel was telling me about the clients arriving tomorrow,” guard #2 explains.
The two men stand next to the tower. “Who they taking?”
“The girl in green. Pretty little bird.”
“Oh yeah? That’s gonna cost them,” guard #1 says as he starts to leave.
“I know!” Guard #2 calls at his retreating back. “Tomorrow we feast!” He laughs at his own joke.
They have a small window to act and they know it. Elyza grabs a stone and throws it at a bush a few feet in front of them. It makes the expected noise, drawing the guard’s attention.
“What the-“ he mutters.
He aims his automatic rifle in the general direction of the noise. When he doesn’t see anything he approaches slowly. Elyza throws another rock, guiding him into her trap. When his back is to her she comes out of her hiding spot. The blunt side of her knife connects with the side of his head and he falls to his knees. But instead of knocking him out as Elyza was expecting, it only disorients him.
“You bitch!” He growls when he sees her. He throws out a punch, catching her in the cheekbone and making her stumble backwards. He pounces on her and wraps his hands around her neck, pressing hard on her trachea. She paws at his hands, desperately trying to get some air into her lungs. He’s a lot stronger than her and his rough hands are feel like iron claws, relentlessly squeezing her neck as much as she fights him. And suddenly, just as the black spots start to cloud her vision, he stops, falling limply on top of her. Elyza pushes him off of her, taking gulps of much needed oxygen as she looks up at her savior. Alicia stands, eyes wide and frantic, and her bat still held high.
“Two to one,” Elyza rasps, referring to the times they’ve saved each other’s lives. “I need to catch up.”
Alicia holds her hand out to help her up. “Are you okay?” She asks worriedly, cupping her face and seeing the bruise that’s already appearing around her eye. She touches it and Elyza winces, pulling away gently.
“I’m alright.”
She crouches to put two fingers on the guard’s pulse point.
“Is he dead?” Alicia asks quietly.
“No. But he needs to be.” Elyza positions her knife at the side of his neck. She glances at Alicia. “You should look away.”
Stubbornly, fiercely, Alicia keeps her eyes fixed on the man. Elyza pushes the knife in. She takes his rifle and slings it over her shoulder. It’s time for part two of their plan.
Betty is parked with the gas cans half a mile down the path. They wait until nightfall and then a couple more hours to make sure everyone is asleep. Next they fill the saddlebags, piling the other cans of top of the motorcycle and pushing it forward themselves. Without a guard by the tower and everyone else sleeping, they can approach the camp at their own pace. Elyza parks Betty by the watchtower and grabs two cans of gasoline. Alicia copies her.
They start at the main entrance, pouring the flammable liquid all over the door and the frame. They do the same to windows and walls until the whole first floor has been covered in gasoline. The smell fills their nostrils and Alicia worries it’ll wake someone up. Elyza’s pouring a line of gasoline from the door to the courtyard, far enough to be safe.
“Do you wanna do the honors?” She asks Alicia.
The girl lights a match and holds it over the gasoline. She takes a deep breath and drops it. The fire catches immediately, traveling fast towards the building and then it envelops the house in a second. It’s bright and hot and neither of them expected it to happen this fast. Elyza has to cover her eyes and take a couple steps back.
Soon the heat starts to feel suffocating and the wood starts to darken. The fire reaches the second floor. The windows are clouded with smoke but the noises are unmistakable; the bandits are waking up.
People are yelling, a window opens, someone is dying of asphyxiation. The main door shakes as someone kicks it from inside. The burning wood breaks and crumbles, part of the frame falls with it. A silhouette moves through the smoke and then someone jumps out of the building. His clothes are on fire and he runs through the courtyard, finally dropping on the ground and rolling in the dirt. He’s screaming in pain and when Alicia sees his face her blood runs cold.
The face she’d never forget.
“It’s him,” she whispers to herself.
“Who?” Elyza asks confused.
The man seems to be putting out the fire on his clothes.
“Oh no, you don’t.” Alicia sprints towards him, Elyza yelling at her to stop. She stops next to his head and watches him try to breath through the pain. His skin is charred in places where the fire has touched him. He looks up at her with those beady eyes and reaches out his hand. Alicia swings down her bat against his head again and again until the bone breaks and the blood splatters around.
"That's enough," Elyza says touching her arm. "We need to go, now."
"What?” Alicia is perplexed. She lets the bat slip from her fingers. “What about my family?”
"Look,” Elyza points at the entrance of the building, “they're trying to get out."
The bandits seem to have gathered whatever water supplies they had inside and are using buckets and bottles to throw it at the flames, faces covered in shirts and bandanas. If they clear the door enough to escape, Elyza and Alicia are done for.
"Alicia, we need to go," Elyza reiterates. "We'll come back for your family tomorrow. These bastards will be vulnerable then."
"Wait, no!” Alicia desperately tries. “Wait, you have the rifle! Use it!"
"What for? Do I just shoot randomly at the door? I can’t see shite! And think about it, they haven't seen us yet, if I shoot they'll know." Elyza reasons. "They'll come looking for us."
Feeling powerless Alicia puts her hands in her hair. The smoke coming from the front door is thick but she still can see glimpses of hands and arms working to extinguish the flames. Something in her snaps and she makes a decision.
"We need an explosion."
Elyza throws her arms up in frustration. "And how do you suggest we do that?"
Alicia's mind reels. Fire, gasoline, vapors, pressure, explosion. Fire, gasoline, vapors, pressure, explosion. It dawns on her. Her eyes snap towards the watchtower where Betty's still parked. Elyza follows her line of sight.
"No bloody way!" She exclaims.
"It'll work!" Alicia argues, following Elyza as she makes her way to her motorcycle.
"It's not gonna happen. We're leaving."
"Elyza, please," Alicia pleads, grabbing her arm to look her in the eye. There are tears there but Elyza thinks they might be a result of the smoke. "I wouldn't be asking you if I didn't think it was the only way."
Elyza shakes her head with a frown.
"Tomorrow someone's coming to take a girl away. If we don't make sure they all die tonight, this, all this, will have been for nothing."
Elyza stares at her, blue eyes boring into her soul. At the main entrance a wooden beam falls over someone. A man is giving orders. The Traders are a resilient lot and there are too many of them still alive.
Betty's motor rumbles as Elyza puts the key in the ignition. "I hate this plan," she says. "I fucking hate it."
She walks with Betty, pushing her until she's staring right at the entrance of the building. Alicia stands besides her, not daring to talk in case she changes her mind. Elyza leans down to rest her forehead on the motorcycle’s dashboard and pats the seat like it's an animal. "I'll miss you girl."
Before she can reconsider what she’s about to do, she holds the breaks down all the way and gives it gas. The back wheel screeches as it skids on the dirt. She watches the speedometer until the arrow trembles close to 50mph and it gets really hard to hold it. And then she releases the breaks.
Betty thrusts forward, enough momentum to cross the courtyard and crash against the front wall. The next five seconds pass and nothing happens. Alicia's heart is pounding hard against her ribcage and she crosses her fingers, muttering "Please, please, please," under her breath.
And then Betty explodes.
The noise is deafening; the windows shatter, the ground shakes and both girls are knocked back on their asses by the shock wave. Alicia groans as she tries to sit up. She winces when she feels a sharp pain in her elbow and realizes she’s bleeding. The scrape looks worse that it probably is so she ignores it. Her ears are ringing and the wall of smoke is so thick she can’t see the building anymore. What she can see is Elyza laying motionless beside her.
“Elyza,” she calls crawling closer. She pats the blonde’s cheek but gets no response. “Elyza, come on, open your eyes.” Ear against her chest, she tries to hear her heartbeat or feel her breathing but she’s still feeling disoriented by the shockwave and her ears haven’t stopped ringing. She grabs her face, tears stinging in her eyes, a mix from the smoke and panic. “Come on, you fucking asshole!”
Elyza’s chest expands as she takes a huge gulp of air and then starts coughing.
“Elyza?! Oh, my God!” Alicia buries her face into Elyza’s neck and sobs in relief. “Oh, my God. I thought you were- I thought-“
“I’m alright,” Elyza wheezes. “Just got the wind knocked out of me, is all.” She pats Alicia’s back, her mind and vision clearing as the oxygen reaches her brain. “Did you just call me an asshole? Again?”
“I thought you were dead!” Alicia reasons as she sits back on her heels.
Elyza sits up with some difficulty; the rifle’s been digging into her back so she takes it off, throwing it away. “And that would make me an asshole?”
“Yes!”
The blonde’s eyebrows rise in surprise. “Okay, I’ll try not to die then.”
“Good,” Alicia says and she’s being 100% serious which Elyza finds entirely too adorable.
The sky is starting to lighten and the breeze is slowly blowing the smoke away. The building is still burning but most of it has been consumed or charred. The stone in the structure keeps it standing but it’s clear that nothing inside has survived. Alicia stands and helps Elyza up. They watch the results of their efforts with a mixture of awe and horror, both covered in soot and sweat and framed by the twilight.
A series of loud thumping noises break the silence. They’re followed by muffled voices screaming and more banging on something metallic. Alicia gasps, “Mom.” She runs to the small clearing, dust rising as she sprints down the dirt slope. The voices sound clearer with each step.
“Mom!” She screams at the containers.
“Alicia?! Alicia!” Her mom’s voice comes from the green container and she pulls at the chain pointlessly.
“Mom!” She sobs, pressing her hands to the metal. “Mom, I’m here! I’m gonna get you out!”
“Alicia, baby, oh, thank God!” Madison says sounding choked and emotional. “We heard an explosion, are you okay?”
“We’re fine, Mom, I’ll explain later.” Elyza stops at her side, resting her palm on the small of her back in support. There are other voices coming from both containers, excited murmurs and pleas for help. “Are you all okay? Nick?”
“I’m here sis!” Nick says. “We’re all here!”
Alicia doesn’t know if she wants to laugh or cry.
“We’re starving, but we’re alive,” her Mom adds.
“Mom, the doors are locked. I can’t-“
“Baby, listen, Abel is the only one that has the key,” Madison says. “He’s the leader; a big guy with a shaved head. He keeps it-”
“Around his neck,” Elyza finishes, having heard this before from Alicia.
“Who’s that?” Her Mom asks worriedly.
“It’s fine, Mom, it’s just Elyza.” Alicia glances at her. “She’s a friend. She saved my life.”
Elyza frowns and Alicia grabs her hand, lacing their fingers together.
“Oh, in that case, thank you Elyza, for saving my daughter,” Madison says, “I am in your debt.”
“It’s- it was nothing. She’s saved my life twice already, so we’re more than even.” Alicia squeezes her hand and smiles at her, a sweet little grin that almost distracts Elyza enough to forget about the task at hand. Almost. She coughs. “But we should, uh, we should find this Abel and get the key.”
“Wait, he’s dangerous!” Madison exclaims. “You girls don’t understand-”
“Mom,” Alicia cuts her off. “He’s dead. They’re all dead.”
There’s a pause. Alicia knows her mom is connecting the dots or at least trying to with the information she has.
“Did you- was that-“
“Mom, I- I’ll explain everything, okay? But first I need to get you out of there.”
“Okay, honey, just, be careful?”
“I will.”
Alicia tugs at Elyza’s hand, guiding her around the shipping containers and towards the courtyard.
“So…” Elyza starts, “I’m a friend, uh?”
Alicia rolls her eyes. “Oh, come on. You know you’re more than that. Did you expect me to tell my mom that I kinda have a girlfriend while she’s trapped in a shipping container?"
“I’ve been promoted to girlfriend,” Elyza says teasingly, “Nice.”
Alicia blushes, punching Elyza in the arm faintly. “Shut up.”
Elyza grins, an open, honest grin for once. No teasing, no smugness. Alicia’s blush only gets worse.
The lightness of the moment is short-lived when they see the courtyard. Elyza counts eleven walkers, feet dragging their rotting corpses towards the source of warmth and until a while ago, noise. Two of the walkers are hunched over the guy Alicia beat with her bat and said bat is laying beside them where she dropped it. Elyza takes her knife out, approaching them silently.
She shoves her foot between the smaller one’s shoulder blades, pushing her into the ground. She growls and fights to move, but Elyza’s boot is firmly planted on her back. The other walker looks up alerted but she’s already plunged the knife into his nape before he has time to react. She repeats the action with the walker under her foot, silencing her mid groan. Elyza picks up the bat and hands it to Alicia.
Alicia takes it, impressed. “I probably shouldn’t say this because you really don’t need to have your ego stroked any more but… that was pretty cool.”
With a confidence that surpasses even her normal levels of smugness – and most of it is just for Alicia’s benefit, because she knows the girl finds it annoyingly charming – Elyza shrugs, pulling her aviators out of the breast pocket of her jacket and putting them on. “I know, babe. But thanks.”
As expected, Alicia laughs. She tightens her fingers around the bat and swings it around a couple times. The sun is peeking between the mountains, bathing the land in the orange light of the early morning. “Shall we?”
The walkers are mostly distracted by the huge beacon of heat, a couple of them have even made it inside the charred building. First they take care of the ones outside. They work side by side, never letting the other out of their sights. Elyza stabs, Alicia swings, and one by one they clear the courtyard.
The stone pillars of the building irradiate warmth when they approach the main door. The front wall is partly destroyed where Betty exploded and Elyza can still see pieces of her motorcycle strewn around. She takes off her aviators and steps inside. The roof is partly gone, either consumed by the flames or in pieces on the floor. Rays of the morning sunlight shine through the gaps, showing the particles of ashes and dust floating in the air. There are bodies laying in every corner.
Alicia stands close to Elyza and a somber silence envelops them. The reality of the situation washes over them like a cold shower. They have killed. They have taken human lives. And even when they know these people deserved their fate, even when they understand that in the long run it was the right thing to do, it’s very different to see the destruction they caused with their own eyes. One day they might tell the story of how they ended the reign of terror of the human traffickers, how they single-handedly burnt down every last one of them. One day they might be legendary, the slayers of the Trader’s End. But that day is yet to come and right now they stand in a burnt down building surrounded by the bodies of their enemies with the weight of their actions heavy on their shoulders.
“I am become death…” Elyza mutters under her breath.
Some of the bodies are almost completely burnt or spread out in pieces by the explosion. Elyza doubts those will be waking up. But others are in better shape, probably dead by suffocation and she can already hear some of them groaning into their new undead life. A leg kicks from under a fallen wooden beam.
“We need to hurry” Alicia says tugging at her hand, “they’re already turning.”
Elyza agrees; there’s no way she wants to be stuck in a major hazard of a building surrounded by new walkers, even if most are burnt and weak. She keeps her knife up just in case.
They don’t have much luck with the first two rooms. In what seems to be a living room, Alicia kills two walkers with her bat, one that has lost his leg and crawls on the floor towards her and another with dark veins on his neck and face, probably dead by asphyxiation.
Elyza crouches next to the burnt bodies, some of them still feebly snapping their jaws but unable to move. None of them have any keys around their necks. They find more of the same in the kitchen. They work swiftly, killing any walker that gets too close and ignoring the harmless ones that can barely move.
In the third room, a spacious study with tall windows, two healthy looking walkers – probably the ones that came from the courtyard – are hunched over another body, the sounds of flesh ripping and chewing making Alicia’s stomach churn. The walkers are too distracted feasting to notice them approach.
Once they’ve dealt with them, Elyza and Alicia push their bodies off of the man they were eating. It’s Abel. Elyza rips his shirt open and snatches the keys, breaking the chain. She observes his dirty face, the hole in his stomach where his intestines are spilling. He’s very much still in one piece and she knows he’ll be turning soon. She also knows destroying his brain would be merciful but she refuses to let this monster walk the earth for another day. Undead or not.
“Rest in pieces, bitch,” she spits, plunging her knife into his eye.
With the keys secured, Alicia shoves the bat into her backpack so she doesn’t lose it again and they run back to the shipping containers.
“Mom, we have the keys!” Alicia yells when they reach Green. Next to her, Elyza starts trying every key, hands shaky and sweaty.
“Baby, are you okay?” Madison asks.
“We’re fine, everything’s gonna be fine,” Alicia assures. The jingling of the keys is nerve wracking and Alicia wants to scream even thought she can see Elyza is working as fast as she can. Finally, after about six keys, the padlock clicks open. They pull the doors apart and Madison steps out, face pale and thin, blinking rapidly at the light. “Mom!” Alicia sobs, body crashing into her mother’s arms. She cries and cries and her mother holds her close, kissing her hair and squeezing her tight.
“My baby, my sweet, brave Alicia.”
“Mom, I was so scared,” Alicia hiccups. “I’m so sorry, I’m so- so”
“Shh, it’s okay. You were so brave.”
Alicia feels someone hugging her from behind and she turns her head to see her brother’s face, eyes teary and hollowed. “Nick!” She hugs her brother, relieved tears running down her cheeks again.
“Hey sis,” he rasps, rocking their bodies back and forth. “Thanks for saving us.”
She shakes her head against his shoulder. “I left you. I let the Traders take you.”
“And if you didn’t we would’ve all been fucked.” He leans back to look at her face mock-serious. “Learn to take a compliment, jeez.”
She laughs, her heart so light it feels like she’ll float away. A hand rests on her shoulder.
“Hey, Alicia,” Travis says. He seems a little timid. “It’s good to see you.”
“Travis,” she breathes, hugging him hard. She might’ve had her differences with the man but after a year of living and surviving together, he’s become something of a father figure. He’s taken aback for only a moment before he wraps his arms around her. Over his shoulder he sees Chris, Ofelia and Daniel and a few other people she doesn’t recognize. She lets Travis go to reach for her friends. Chris and Ofelia sandwich her in a hug and Daniel pats her back in gratitude.
“About time you showed up,” Chris jokes and Ofelia slaps the back of his head lightly. He lets her go with a chuckle.
“Thank you for not giving up on us,” Ofelia says seriously, rubbing her back before stepping away, her expression so open and thankful that Alicia has to look away. The other captives in the green container are an Asian couple with a teenage boy and a black woman about her mom’s age. Alicia’s overcome with the notion that there’s only one young girl in Green. Ofelia was the girl the Traders would have been selling today. A chill runs down her spine, the terror of what could’ve been making her chest feel tight. She hugs Ofelia again.
“I’m sorry it took so long.” She squeezes harder. “I’m so sorry.”
Ofelia looks at her strangely and Alicia knows she’ll never tell her what almost happened to her because it would only cause her pain. It’s a secret she’ll have to keep forever.
When she’s all cried out and has made sure all her family and friends are real and alive, Alicia realizes Elyza has opened the red container and a group of about eleven people are shaking her hand and crying gratefully into her shoulder. Elyza looks up at her over a sobbing older woman and gives her a tired smile. When the woman lets her go, Elyza looks over at all the people they rescued, people who had lost all hope and now are filled with the desire to live. She smiles sadly, stepping away from the scene. Alicia tells her mom she’ll be right back and follows her.
“They’re not here?” Alicia asks coming to stand next to her at the edge of the forest. She’s talking about the people the Traders took, back when Elyza was with her old group.
Elyza shakes her head, crossing her arms in a reflexive defensive posture. “Not that I had any hope. It was almost a year ago, they’re probably not even alive.” Elyza sighs. “I didn’t even know all their names. I just thought that maybe… if they were still alive and we rescued them…”
Alicia tugs at her wrists until her arms unfold. She laces their fingers together, leaning into her so Elyza’s blue eyes are fixed on hers. “It wasn’t your fault. You have to know that.”
Elyza looks away and Alicia cups her face. Her fair skin is covered in ash and dirt, her eye and cheekbone bruised. Her lips are pale and chapped and her usually sharp eyes are stormy with doubt and vulnerability.
“You need to let go of that guilt, it’s not yours to carry.” Alicia rests her forehead on Elyza’s and their eyes close. “It’s time to let it go.”
Elyza sniffs and nods faintly.
“Yeah?” Alicia asks.
“Yeah.” Elyza hugs her, the smell of smoke is strong but not enough to mask what she knows is Alicia’s scent. “Thank you. For everything. For making me help you, for giving me a reason to keep fighting. I- I-“ Whatever Elyza is trying to say she translates into a kiss. Her eyes are shut tight as her lips capture Alicia’s and she pours everything she feels for the girl into it. It’s hard and full of emotion and it grounds Alicia. It lasts only a moment but it leaves her panting into Elyza’s mouth.
“Ahem,” someone coughs behind them and Alicia's head snaps up towards the noise, her eyes widening and a blush spreading all over her cheeks and ears. Thankfully it’s not her mom, just Nick. And Chris and Ofelia. They have been caught red-handed and there really is no way to spin this so Alicia grabs Elyza’s hand and pulls her towards her friends.
“Uh, guys, this is Elyza.” Her blush is still in place as her brother and friends look at her with tiny, teasing smirks on their faces. “Elyza, this is my step-brother Chris, my friend Ofelia and-“
“Nick,” the boy introduces himself. He holds his hand out, his chin rising defiantly. “Her older brother.”
“Ah,” Elyza breathes understanding. This is his own version of ‘if you hurt her I’ll kill you’ speech. She shakes his hand firmly. “Nice to meet you.”
“You saved Alicia’s life, then?” He asks.
“Yeah. When I found her she’d just fallen flat on her arse and a walker was about to have a good snack. She was ‘kinda useless’,” she makes quotation marks with her fingers and Nick frowns a little offended. She hurries to explain. “Her words, not mine.”
“Oh, shut up,” Alicia snorts, slapping her arm lightly. “What happened to ‘two to one, I need to catch up’?” Her friends look confused at that. “I saved her life twice and she only saved mine once so now’s her turn."
Chris, Ofelia and Nick look impressed and Nick realizes maybe he doesn’t need to protect her sister, not from this Elyza woman. And maybe not at all, considering Alicia did survive without them, save all their asses and manage to get a girlfriend in the process.
“So how did you guys find us anyway? And what the fuck what that explosion?” Chris asks.
And so Alicia recounts her story as they walk back to the group and make their way to the courtyard. Some of the strangers crowd around her, listening to her adventure from the moment the noises stopped and she crawled out of the closet to the moment the containers opened. Obviously, she leaves some parts out, like most of their time at the cabin, which she’ll treasure forever.
There are gasps and murmurs as the burnt building comes into view. When she reaches that part of the story she doesn’t give a lot of details and some people look at her like they’re afraid. Alicia doesn’t let that get to her; they did what they had to do.
The four cars in Trader’s End are parked close to the shed and Elyza notices the padlock on the door first. “Hey, anyone knows what’s in here?” She asks, getting only shrugs and head shakes in response. She tries all the keys like she did at the containers while the people start separating in groups.
Red container separates into two groups; one takes the black pick-up truck and the other takes the jeep. The Asian family and the other woman that were in Green with Alicia’s family seem to know each other from before, or maybe they’ve been stuck in the container for longer. In any case, they say their goodbyes and take the minivan.
“Woah,” Elyza says from inside the shed she has finally opened. “Hey, before you leave… you might wanna take a look a this.”
It’s an armory. Rows of automatic rifles, shotguns and guns cover one of the walls. The other has shelves filled with boxes of ammo. In a chest on the floor there are holsters and belts and other accessories. In a corner there’s a wooden rack with all kinds of sharp weapons: machetes, swords, even a fire axe.
The place is not that big so one person of each group goes in to take whatever they see fit. Travis picks some guns and two rifles, a few knifes and a couple machetes. While the others fill their arms with weapons, Elyza moves around, her eyes jumping from one deadly thing to the other until something captures her attention.
“Beauty…” she says. Her hands curl around the handles of two twin sawed-off shotguns. They’re short and not that heavy, with a flowery design engraved at the sides. She wraps one of the belts around her waist, buckling the straps on her upper thighs and holstering the shotguns. She pulls them out fast and aims, repeating the process a few times to get a feel for them.
That’s how Alicia finds her when she enters the shed, shotguns pointed at the wall and a smug expression on her face. Elyza sees her out of the corner of her eye and makes a show of blowing the tip of the barrel and holstering them with a flourish. Alicia snorts.
“Oh, come on. You know I look hot as,” Elyza drawls. She takes some boxes of shotgun shells, passing them to Alicia. The girl raises her eyebrow unimpressed. “You made me destroy my ride, you’re carrying my stuff.”
“Fine,” Alicia says with a long, pained sigh. She throws the ammo in her backpack. “We’re leaving, by the way.”
Their group takes the other pick-up truck. It’s longer but older than the other one, and the red paint is faded and chipped but it fits all eight of them. No one looks back as they leave what’s left of Trader’s End and soon the only proof that it ever existed is the faint column of smoke in the distance.
Travis is in the driver’s seat, with Madison and Chris at the front with him. Daniel sits with Ofelia at the bed of the truck with Nick, Alicia and Elyza. Ofelia’s head drops onto her father’s shoulder, falling into a well deserved, peaceful slumber as soon as they hit the main road. Nick leans back with his head almost out of the truck, letting the wind ruffle his long hair. Alicia and Elyza sit in front of him, Alicia’s feet tangled with her brother’s. Elyza’s arms are wrapped around her, one thrown over her shoulders and the other on her lap, where Alicia is playing with her fingers.
Elyza hugs her into her body, pressing a kiss to her temple. Now that it’s over, now that they can finally stop planning and worrying, Elyza realizes she’s become a different person than she was before she found Alicia. Before her, she would’ve never risked her life for someone else. Before Alicia, she would’ve never thought she’d feel this way for another human being. And she’s also sure that her heart used to feel a lot smaller than it does now.
They road they travel is empty and they head north, away from the woods an in search of a town where they can find some provisions and refuge. The future is uncertain, as it always is living in this kind of world, but Alicia knows they’ll be fine. They walked into hell and survived it, slayed the devil himself. And she found something that gives her the will to keep going, a reason to fight and live another day.
She found love, and with it, she found strength.
Epilogue
The house – more like a mansion – is easy to clear. Daniel and Madison are their best shots, followed closely by Elyza who’s having too much fun with her new shotguns. The walkers drop at their feet one after the other and they pile them in the garden outside.
Whoever lived in this house clearly had a lot of money, which is not strange considering they are still in Los Angeles County. The kitchen is well stocked and everyone but Alicia and Elyza are ravenous so the girls explore the rest of the house while the others eat.
There’s an interior pool, nothing too big, but as soon as Alicia sees it she feels like crying. Her clothes are off and she jumps in before Elyza has time to appreciate her nakedness. The water around Alicia turns gray as she rubs the dirt and ashes off her skin. She leans back against the wall of the pool, arms spread at her sides, breasts floating just under the surface and sends Elyza the hottest, most suggestive look the blonde’s ever seen. Elyza’s ripping her clothes off and jumping in in record time.
Later, when they’ve properly celebrated being alive and together, they join the others in the living room. Travis is asleep on the couch and Madison looks up when they enter the room. Her eyebrows fly up to her hairline and her jaw drops when she sees the love bites covering her daughter’s neck. Alicia looks at her strangely, clearly not having seen herself in a mirror. Elyza next to her looks like she wants the earth to swallow her whole. She might be full of cockiness and bravado but ‘I just did absolutely sinful and delicious things your daughter in a pool while you were in the house’ is not exactly the second first impression she wants to give.
Madison decides not to comment on it, which Elyza appreciates, even though she knows the woman is not going to let this go for long, not until they have a nice chat. Elyza is dreading it.
“Yo, guys,” Chris says, stomping down the stairs. “Ofelia and I just found the biggest walk in closet ever. There is so much shit.” And then he runs back up.
With nothing better to do and looking down at their own dirty and torn clothes, Elyza and Alicia follow him.
Chris definitely wasn’t exaggerating; the whole room is actually huge. The closet alone is bigger than the cabin where Elyza and Alicia stayed. Alicia briefly wonders who lived here and makes a mental note to find clues.
Ofelia steps out of the closet wearing one of those ridiculous Kentucky Derby Hats, paired with a purple wrap dress and huge sunglasses. “Hello, dahlin,” she says with a terrible southern accent. Alicia completely loses it.
There are some acceptable clothes too, from clean underwear to basic t-shirts, skinny jeans and even a warm hoodie that Alicia claims as hers forever. It feels heavenly to be clean and warm and laughing with her friends again.
Elyza sits on the carpet, leaning back against the side of the bed and watches the other three put on a show with the jewelry and accessories. Alicia joins her minutes later, pushing her legs apart and sitting between them, her back against Elyza’s front.
They watch Chris and Ofelia try to guess (and fail) the code for the safe they’ve found hidden behind the row of long gowns.
“Hey,” Alicia says suddenly.
“Yeah?” Elyza asks amused.
“You know what I just realized?”
“What?”
“I don’t know your last name,” Alicia twists in Elyza’s arms, putting a hand on her neck and looking at her in bewilderment.
Elyza chuckles, then rolls her eyes and mutters something too quiet for Alicia to hear.
“Come again?”
“It’s Lex. My name is Elyza Lex.”
“Lex,” Alicia repeats. “As in Lex Luthor.”
“Piss off!” Elyza says in between chuckles; not the first time she hears that one. “It’s German, alright?”
“Mhm,” Alicia hums, twisting back into her previous position. “Your name sounds totally fake, but-” Elyza pinches her side and Alicia gasps, squirming away from her hand. “But! Lemme finish!” Elyza stops to hear the rest. “But, my feelings for you are totally real.”
For once Elyza’s the one groaning at what is probably the lamest line ever uttered by anyone, ever. She drops her head into Alicia’s shoulder and feels the girl shake with laughter. “You know that was terrible, right?”
“Now you know how it feels.”
Elyza lifts her head to look at her, at the smugness drawn all over her face. Alicia seems so proud of herself, lips pressed in a smirk and eyes twinkling. Elyza’s really, absurdly, stupidly, honest to God, so in love.
“Fair enough.”