All the Pretty Girls

Still grinning to herself, Alicia made her way to the couch where she plopped herself down rather ungracefully. The couch really was quite comfortable, and she slung her feet up onto the coffee table in front of her much the same as Elyza had done earlier before resting her head on the cushion behind her and closing her eyes.

After a few moments of sitting like this, however, Alicia became aware of just how quiet the apartment now was. The only noise that reached her ears was the distant sound of the water running in Elyza’s shower. As irritating as Elyza’s constant flirting was, it had distracted Alicia from realizing the gravity of her current situation. But now she found herself alone for the first time since finding Elyza, and the silence was deafening. Alicia quickly found herself being suffocated by it as the events of the day began to creep up on her and settle in her chest. Before she could start to completely freak out about being in some strange girl’s apartment miles away from her family with no knowledge of where they were or if they were even alive, she stood up and began to inspect Elyza’s apartment more closely in an attempt to distract herself.

A large lamp on a side table to the right of the couch was the only source of light in the living area, but it was bright enough to allow Alicia to clearly see everything around her.

The brunette’s eyes were quickly drawn to a record player sitting on a small table between the television and the curtains leading to Elyza’s bedroom which she hadn’t noticed earlier. Next to the player was a long, waist-high shelf that was filled to the breaking point with vinyl records and Alicia quickly moved towards it to get a closer look.

She began rifling through the hundreds of records Elyza appeared to have, and was mildly impressed by the girl’s wide range in music taste. She had everything from AC/DC to Vance Joy to Eminem. Alicia even saw a Thomas Rhett album and, while she wasn’t a huge country music fan, she did enjoy a few of his less ‘twangy’ songs. Before she was able to make it through even a quarter of Elyza’s albums however, she was startled by the blonde’s raspy voice directly behind her.

“Do you know any of that music Little Bean?”

Alicia turned quickly as her hand flew to her chest in shock. She hadn’t even heard Elyza approach and yet the girl now stood just a foot behind her.

“Jesus Christ Elyza you scared the shit out of me! How the hell did you get out here so quietly?” Alicia asked as her heart rate began to slow back down to a more normal rhythm.

Elyza chuckled at the brunette’s stunned expression. “Sorry about that, I don’t try to sneak around its just kinda habit now. Anyways, see anything you like? Besides me of course.”

Alicia rolled her eyes before turning back to the massive record collection she had been admiring earlier.

“Actually, I have to admit you have pretty good taste in music. Though I’m a little upset I haven’t seen Kaleo’s album yet. They’re one of my favourite bands.”

Elyza raised her eyebrows, she was both shocked and impressed that the brunette seemed to share her rather broad and some might say unusual taste in music.

Alicia felt her body stiffen slightly as Elyza knelt down beside her, they were close enough that she could feel the heat of the blonde’s body next to her and could smell her vanilla shampoo.

The blonde reached beneath the table the record player stood on and plugged its power chord into the outlet on the wall. Alicia watched as the other girl stood up once more and dropped the needle onto the record that was already in position on the machine and waiting to be played. Moments later JJ Julius Son’s smooth voice flowed out of the speakers as ‘All the Pretty Girls’ began playing softly. Elyza turned to face a still kneeling Alicia, a small smile on her face.

“They’re one of my favourites too, which is why their album was already on my record player. You’ve got good taste in music Little Bean, it’s good to know you’re not just a pretty face.” She winked and turned back to the record player to adjust the volume slightly.

For once Alicia wasn’t bothered by the other girl’s flirty comments, she was too lost in the music to be as affected by Elyza as she had been earlier.

When she was satisfied with the volume of the music, Elyza began walking towards the kitchen to get the two girls something to eat for dinner. Alicia hadn’t noticed how hungry she was until that moment and she quickly followed the blonde before sitting down on one of the bar stools placed along the island.

“Normally when cooking for a pretty girl I make something a little more extravagant, but I’m hopeful that you’ll cut me some slack due to the fact that the zombie apocalypse has severely limited my menu options.” Elyza said, pulling two cans of fried beans out of the cupboard across from Alicia.

The brunette didn’t respond, instead choosing to continue enjoying the music playing behind her as she watched Elyza poor the cans’ contents into a pot before setting it on the gas stove and lighting the burner beneath it.

Once finished, Elyza turned around to face the brunette across the island from her, crossing her arms on the counter and leaning on them slightly. She studied Alicia silently, eyes roaming across the young girl’s face while a small smile played along the edge of her pink lips.

As much as Alicia wanted to look away from the gorgeous blonde that stood across from her, she refused to let herself falter beneath the other girl’s quizzical gaze. So she kept her emerald green eyes locked steadily onto Elyza’s sky blue ones, despite the fact that her heart continued to flutter irregularly the longer she looked into those beautiful pools of blue.

Soon Alicia couldn’t take the silence any longer and she asked the blonde another question that had been running through her mind for some time now.

“So, what exactly were you doing alone in the middle of a street fighting a hoard of walkers miles away from your apartment?”

“Practice.” Elyza replied simply with a light shrug of her shoulders like it was the most obvious thing in the world.

“Practice?” Alicia repeated in confusion.

“Yes Little Bean, practice. How can I be expected to fight of walkers during a real threat if I don’t practice on them in the meantime? I’m damn good at killing those undead shit-heads, but that doesn’t mean I won’t get rusty if I don’t keep my skills up. ‘Sides, it gets kinda boring hacking away at that immobile block of wood behind you, I needed a challenge.” Elyza turned to stir the pot of beans that had begun to boil slightly on the stove behind her.

Alicia was still frozen in her seat looking at the back of the girl across from her in shock, her mouth hanging open slightly. When she had recovered enough to close her mouth, she spoke once more.

“So you mean to tell me that you went out looking for walkers so that you could practice killing them in preparation for a ‘real’ life or death scenario? Do you have any idea how insane that is? You literally put yourself in a life or death situation to practice for one.” Alicia couldn’t believe what this girl was telling her, or how calm she seemed to be about the entire thing. Like looking for walkers to fight despite the obvious dangers was completely and totally normal.

Elyza grabbed two bowls from above the stove before turning to set them on the island and looking back up to Alicia’s still stunned face with a smile plastered across her own.

“Well when you put it like that, I agree it does make me sound like a bit of a nutter. But I know you saw me mowing those fuckers down like it was my day job, which means you also know I am more than capable of handling myself.”

Alicia gave her an exasperated look before responding.

“Oh yeah Elyza, I saw you ‘mowing those fuckers down’ alright, right before I jumped in and saved you. If I hadn’t been there your cocky Australian ass would be out on the streets right now shuffling along with the rest of the dead.” Alicia crossed her arms in front of her chest and looked at Elyza defiantly, daring her to dispute any part of what she had just said.

Elyza waved her hand in the air dismissively. “Eh, minor details.”

Ignoring the glare the brunette shot across the island at her, Elyza faced the stove behind her once more and turned the burner off before distributing the pot’s contents evenly between the two bowls she had set out earlier. After putting the pot back on the stove and throwing a spoon in each bowl she walked around the island and slid one bowl in front of Alicia before sitting down on a stool beside her.

The girls began eating in a comfortable silence, the only sounds filling the apartment being the clinking of spoons and the music that continued to flow through the record player’s speakers.

After a few minutes however, Elyza broke the silence with a question of her own.

“What about you? What were you doing out on the streets alone?” She asked.

Alicia swallowed the spoonful of beans she had just shoveled into her mouth before responding.

“I wasn’t alone. At least, not at first. I was on a supply run with my brother, my mom’s fiancé and another guy we had met a few weeks ago. We were in a grocery store when a huge hoard stormed the entrance and we got separated. I was looking for them when I heard you shouting.” Alicia explained.

Elyza looked at her in confusion.

“So, you’re telling me you abandoned your search for your family to follow the shouts of some random stranger?”

Alicia shrugged.

“Yeah. I mean I had no idea where they had gone, but your yelling told me you were close so I figured I might as well try to help you if I could. I wasn’t about to just let someone get attacked by walkers if I knew I could help.”

Elyza shook her head and looked at Alicia in bewilderment for a few moments before speaking again.

“You have no idea how unprecedented you are, do you?”

Alicia was forced to look away from the blonde’s smoldering blue eyes as her cheeks flushed red, but this time her blush wasn’t the result of one of Elyza’s flirtatious advances. What Elyza had said about her, combined with the almost reverent tone she had used when speaking, made Alicia feel more vulnerable than all of the girl’s previous words combined.

In an attempt to move the attention away from herself, Alicia asked the girl beside her another question that had been bothering her.

“So how did you learn to fight so well? I can’t image you would have picked up that much skill over the few weeks since the apocalypse started.”

Still refusing to look beside her, Alicia scooped another spoonful of beans into her mouth as she waited for Elyza to respond.

“My dad taught me. He was a sergeant in the military before being wounded in battle. His injury stopped him from being able to fight, but he was a damn good sergeant and so the military transferred him here from his base in Australia to help train other soldiers. My mom and I moved here with him when I was about 12. She was a surgeon and worked long hours at the hospital, so most days after school I would spend time with my dad on the base.” She paused briefly to collect her thoughts. Alicia didn’t miss the fact that she talked about both of her parents in the past-tense, nor the hint of sadness that had crept into her voice as she spoke of them. After a moment of silence Elyza continued.

“He used that time on the base to teach me all there was to know about fighting with guns, knives, and even hand to hand combat, much to my mother’s disapproval. But I loved it, especially when he let me train with the knives, and she could see how passionate I was about learning and honing the few skills he had been able to teach me. So she allowed my father’s afterschool lessons to continue and when I was 15 they also enrolled me in Kendo classes which is where I learned to use the katana you saw me with earlier.” Elyza was silent again, and Alicia chanced a glance over at her.

Elyza was blinking rapidly and shaking her head slightly as though she couldn’t believe all that she had just revealed about herself. Alicia was beginning to understand that, while the girl seemed to be talking almost constantly, it was rarely about anything to do with herself.

Alicia understood this girl’s apparent desire to keep her personal life personal, and so rather than press her about why she had suddenly decided to open up she remained silent and allowed the blonde some time to be alone with her thoughts in peace. After a few moments of silence, Alicia spoke again in an attempt to lighten the now very sombre mood.

“So… what you’re really saying is you have a very particular set of skills, skills you have acquired over a very long career. Skills that make you a nightmare for walkers.” She said in her best Liam Neeson impersonation.

She was rewarded for her efforts by the small smile that turned up the corners of Elyza’s mouth as she turned to look at the brunette once more.

“You swing a bat better than Barry Bonds, have a wicked taste in music, and now you’re quoting one of my all-time favourite movies at me? I think I might be in love.” Elyza said, earning an eye roll from the girl beside her in response.

The two finished the rest of their meal in silence and once Elyza was done cleaning their bowls she began lighting candles that Alicia now became aware littered the apartment. Once she had finished lighting the fifteen or so candles that were spread throughout the apartment she flipped off the lamp beside the couch so the space was only lit by the flames flickering softly around them.  

Alicia raised her eyebrows questioningly at the blonde who had just turned around to look at her. Normally Alicia wouldn’t have thought much of the girl using candles to light the apartment, but her previous flirting combined with the very... intimate atmosphere the candles created had her wondering what exactly the blonde’s intentions were.

Elyza met Alicia’s questioning look with a confused expression of her own before everything clicked in her brain and she rolled her eyes before putting the matches away in the kitchen.

“Relax Alicia, I’m not trying to ‘set the mood’ or anything like that. I enjoy flirting with you immensely, but I’m not a complete perve. I just prefer to use candles to light my place at night, it draws less unwanted attention and sometimes the lights randomly go off and I can’t see shit so this way I’m prepared.” She crossed back to the living room and sat down on the couch much the same as she had been earlier.

Satisfied with the girl’s explanation, Alicia got up from her stool at the island and retrieved her bag from beside the door before joining Elyza on the couch.

“What’s in the bag gorgeous?” Elyza asked stretching her arms above her head and watching as Alicia unzipped the backpack at her feet.

“Just my phone and the few supplies I actually managed to grab before the walkers showed up.”

As soon as Elyza got a look at what was inside the bag, she sat up quickly and leaned towards the other girl.

“Oh my god you found tampons?!” She said excitedly.

Finally, someone who gets it. Alicia thought, remembering Nick, Travis and Daniel’s unimpressed reactions to her excitement over the supplies that she was now pulling out of her bag.

“Yeah I picked them up right before we were overrun by walkers. I’m glad you’re as thrilled about them as I was, my family didn’t really seem to get what the big fuss was. I’ve also got some cans of food in here, we could split it all between us if you’d like. It’s the least I could do for you helping me.” Elyza nodded with an enthusiastic smile.

“That’d be great! You can also try charging your phone if you want. I know you can’t text or call anyone, but I’m guessing from the headphones plugged into it you’ll want it for your music.”

Alicia returned the other girl’s smile. Her phone’s increasingly low battery had been a constant worry in the back of her mind for the last few days and she was relieved to know she might be able to have her music for a little while longer.

When the two had finished dividing the bag’s contents evenly on the coffee table, Elyza put her half of the supplies away in the kitchen and bathroom before grabbing Alicia’s phone and plugging it in in her room to charge. Alicia returned her share of the supplies to the backpack and placed it back beside her shoes next to the door.

She turned to see Elyza emerge from her bedroom and walk towards the record player with a blanket and pillow under her arm. The music had stopped playing a few minutes ago, and so Elyza unplugged the machine once more before standing up and facing Alicia.

“This couch isn’t exactly a California king I know, but you should be comfortable enough on it for tonight.” She said as she placed the pillow at one end of the couch before laying the blanket out along it.

“No this is great, thank you.” Alicia said from her spot by the door.

Once Elyza was satisfied with the positioning of the blanket and pillow she straightened up to look at Alicia.

“If you need anything I’ll just be in my bedroom. Goodnight Little Bean.”

Alicia didn’t even bother rolling her eyes at Elyza’s use of her apparent new nickname, in fact it was starting to grow on her despite her earlier insistence that the blonde use her actual name.

“Goodnight Elyza.” She replied. And with a small smile the blonde turned back to her bedroom, pulling the curtains closed behind her.

Alicia made her way to the couch, sliding under the blanket and letting out a breath she hadn’t realized she had been holding as her head hit the pillow.

The silence that had overwhelmed her earlier was back with a vengeance, and so was the panic it brought. She could feel her chest tightening and her breathing increase as she laid on the couch without anything to distract her from the fucked up situation she now found herself in. She couldn’t stop her mind from running through any and all possible scenarios that could arise the next day, from the happy to the downright terrifying. She knew there was a very real possibility she wouldn’t find her family alive tomorrow, but perhaps even scarier was the idea of never finding them at all.

She thought perhaps she should feel like crying, but all she really wanted to do was scream. She refused to let herself break though, swallowing the scream building in her chest and forcing her breathing back to a normal rhythm. She wasn’t sure how long the laid there with her eyes open trying to keep her fear at bay as sleep continued to evade her. When her eyes finally closed, her dreams were filled with dead family members, bloodthirsty walkers, blonde hair, and blue eyes.