Chapter 1
The sound of her brother and mother’s shouts in the hallway is what woke Alicia. She sat up with a start, immediately concerned that something had happened before she realized it was just another fight between the two and she collapsed back onto her pillow with a heavy sigh.
“You can’t keep me locked up on this boat forever mom! I’m not a child anymore.” Nick yelled.
“You have always been and will always be my child Nick. And I will keep you here as long as I see fit.” Her mother shouted back.
Alicia surmised they were fighting once more about Nick taking part in the supply run on shore that was scheduled to happen later today. It had been an ongoing battle between the two ever since the group had decided they needed to stop and pick up some essentials in town a few days ago. Though that’s not to say her brother and mother didn’t argue about anything and everything before this either. Alicia had tried to talk her mother into letting her go as well, but when she realized there was no way her mother was going to give in she decided to give up rather than waste her energy fighting a battle she had no hope in hell of winning.
Alicia rose slowly and began to get changed out of her PJs and into her usual plaid shirt and a pair of jeans as the shouts continued from outside her door.
“Mom quit being so selfish. It’s not safe for just Travis and Daniel to go out there alone. Let me help them!”
“You and I both know you don’t want to get off this ship to help anyone other than yourself. I will not let you go with Travis and Daniel just so you can run off and find drugs.” Her mother said back with a hint of finality in her tone.
Suddenly another voice joined the mix. “Madison, he may have a point. Daniel and I could use an extra hand, it would move things along much faster and we could bring more supplies back with his help. Plus Daniel and I will be able to keep an eye on him if he comes with us as opposed to him sneaking off on his own.” Travis said, his voice much calmer than the other two.
Silence followed as Madison slowly chewed over her fiancé’s words. “Fine.” She said after about a minute of deliberation. “But you are not to leave Travis and Daniel’s sight.” She said sternly.
At this new development Alicia began to quicken her pace, hastily throwing her black converse on her feet before bursting out of her room and into the hallway.
“If Nick is going, so am I.” She said, looking at her mother who had an expression of slight surprise on her face. She clearly didn’t think her daughter was awake to hear the conversation (how could she not though? Their bickering was loud enough to wake the dead).
Alicia was so sick of being trapped on Strand’s stupid boat. She hated the boring white walls and brown floors that she paced day in and day out. She was going stir crazy and wanted more than anything to be able to truly stretch her legs and walk freely through town (well as freely as one can walk in a zombie apocalypse).
The brief look of shock that had appeared on Madison’s face when Alicia first spoke was replaced by one of anger. “Alicia we already discussed this. You and I will stay and watch the boat with Chris, Strand and Ophelia. We both agreed that you would not be going into town.” Madison said, her hands resting on her hips.
“That was before you said Nick could go! Mom I am more than capable of defending myself out there you know I am. I’ll bring my bat and I won’t wander off. Please mom I just need to get the hell off this ship for a few hours.” Alicia responded, her green eyes flashing in annoyance at her mother’s clear double standards.
“Enough Alicia. You are not going and that’s final. We both know that a few hours of ‘freedom’ could very well lead to your death and that’s not something I will allow.” She began walking towards Alicia and reached her hands out in an attempt to grasp her shoulders. Alicia felt anger burn deep in her stomach as she slapped her mother’s hands away before they could reach their destination.
“This is bullshit.” She said with as much venom in her tone as she could muster before spinning on her heel and marching upstairs.
Once she reached the main level of the extravagant ship she continued out onto the deck before sitting on one of the couches there and letting the cool sea air whip her hair around her face and clear her mind. Why did her mother have such little faith in her? She had already proven herself more than capable of taking care of herself on their last trip to the ground when the walkers from that plane crash had attacked her, Nick, Daniel and Chris.
Her mother was being overprotective, but she didn’t understand that there was no point in trying to protect her daughter in the middle of a zombie apocalypse. The dead ruled the world now, and that meant there was no more hope, no more safety, no more happiness. There was just one solitary thing driving every living person now – survival. Home and the comfort it brought no longer existed for anyone, Alicia knew that, and her mother would need to accept it sooner rather than later.
It had been hard for Alicia when that realization first hit her. She had spent the night curled up and shivering on the rooftop deck as her tears streamed down her face and she let her old life, her old self, her old hopes and dreams leave her. She no longer had any use for them. Who she was, what she wanted, and how she felt before everything went to hell no longer mattered. She would never go to Berkley, would never marry Matt and start a family, would never be happy. She had resigned herself to this hollow life that night, boiled everything down to a single need for survival. Some days she found herself wondering why they even bothered trying to survive when the world was so dark and empty now. She often wondered what exactly they were surviving for, but she resigned herself to the knowledge that survival was simply an instinct and no matter how foolish and pointless it felt to try and keep moving forward, something deep insider her would always keep her fighting on the most basic level.
But if she was going to continue surviving, she sure as hell wasn’t going to do it on this god forsaken boat for a second longer than was necessary. If Nick was going on the supply run then so was she, with or without her mother’s approval (and it would most definitely be happening without her approval).
She was brought out of her rather dark and delinquent thoughts by the sound of someone opening the door to the deck before closing it again and walking towards her. Alicia turned her head slightly to see Ofelia walking towards her. If it had been anyone else coming to join her Alicia probably would have gotten up and left, but she had grown to like Ofelia and rather enjoyed talking to her. Plus, she could use her help to get around her mother and join the supply run later today.
“Hey.” Alicia said with a small smile as Ofelia sat down beside her.
“Morning.” The raven haired girl said in reply. “So did your brother have any more luck convincing your mom to let him go on today’s run? The screams died down before I could hear the final verdict through the floor.”
Alicia rolled her eyes before responding. “Oh he convinced her alright, with a little help from Travis. Now if only he could use his powers of persuasion to get my mom to let me join them.” She finished with a huff as she crossed her arms over her chest and glared out across the seemingly endless sea.
“You hate it here.” Ofelia said. It wasn’t a question, she was merely pointing out the blatantly obvious.
“Don’t you?” Alicia asked, turning to look questioningly at the girl beside her.
Ofelia shrugged lightly before responding. “It could be worse I suppose, we could be dead. Besides, I’d never been on a ship before this and I’ve found it to be quite relaxing. I enjoy listening to the waves and looking up to the stars at night. Plus I feel safer out here in the middle of the ocean than back on the land.”
Alicia was forced to choke back a very sarcastic laugh at the other girl’s comments. Relaxing? Are you kidding me? There was nothing relaxing about being trapped on a boat with your make-shift family and three strangers. It was suffocating and Alicia needed to get off this ship before the weight of confinement completely crushed her.
“Nowhere is completely safe anymore.” Alicia said darkly. “But even if it is moderately safer here than back on land I’d still rather be back there where I can actually breathe and don’t have my mother’s eyes on me 24/7.”
She felt Ofelia’s gaze on her but she refused to meet it, continuing to stare blankly at the flow of churning water being pushed out behind the boat by its motor.
“You’re planning on sneaking out to join the supply run today, aren’t you?” Ofelia asked, though her tone told Alicia she already knew the answer.
“Yes.” Alicia said simply, still not looking at Ofelia.
“And how exactly are you planning on getting past your mother?” The other girl asked, and Alicia could hear the smile in her voice.
“Actually, I wanted to talk to you about that.”