Chapter 10
“Alicia?”
Elyza’s voice was thick with concern. She had let Alicia stand in silence for as long as she could bear it, but after minutes without her speaking or even moving the blonde couldn’t take it any longer. Plus she was well aware that the longer they stood out here in the open, the more dangerous their situation became.
It was that concern in the blonde’s voice that finally brought Alicia’s focus away from her mother’s hastily scribbled note in front of her and back to her surroundings.
She could feel the warm but relentless wind whipping off of the sea and around her body. She could smell the salt of the water, and the stink of the fish beneath its surface. And she could hear the sound of Elyza’s boots lightly hitting the wooden boards beneath them as she walked closer to the brunette. But it wasn’t until the Aussie’s hand gently touched her shoulder that Alicia was completely broken from her trance.
“I was right, Strand made them leave. But she says they’ll come back tomorrow for a few hours to meet me.” Alicia responded in a voice that sounded nothing like her own. She felt hollow, and her voice seemed to match that feeling.
“Well that’s good then! We’ll just come back and catch ‘em tomorrow!” Elyza responded, her voice full of the optimism that Alicia knew she should be feeling as well.
But try as she might, she just couldn’t shake the horrible feeling that was now rooted deeply within her chest. She had come so close to them, to her family, all she had left in this world. After she had spent most of the morning trying to come to terms with the fact that she may never see them again, she had seen them with her own eyes. And yet here she stood, alone and empty at the end of the dock they had been at just minutes before.
Except she wasn’t alone, Elyza was here. As she could feel the blonde’s piercing blue eyes boring into the back of her head as she waited for Alicia to respond. But even Elyza’s presence couldn’t do anything to dull the pain of coming so close to her family and having them slip through her fingers.
Sure, her mother had said that they’d be back tomorrow. But Alicia couldn’t shake the feeling that things wouldn’t be that simple. It was the zombie apocalypse, after all.
“Yeah.” Alicia replied dully before pulling the pocket knife her mother had used to secure the note out of the wood post it was buried in. She flipped the blade back into the body of the tool before shoving it into the pocket of her jeans and carefully folding her mother’s note.
She turned to face Elyza just as she slipped the note into her back pocket. She couldn’t bring herself to look into Elyza’s eyes though, afraid of what she might see there. Pity? Hope? Concern? She wasn’t sure which would be worse.
Instead she began walking back down the dock the way the two girls had come, speaking to Elyza as she brushed passed the blonde.
“Let’s get out of here. We’ve lingered too long, more walkers will show up soon and I don’t want to be here when they do.”
To Alicia’s surprise, Elyza didn’t respond with one of her usual sarcastic remarks. Instead she simply followed the brunette back towards where Obama waited for them on the road.
The car ride back to Elyza’s apartment was much different than the drive to the docks earlier in the day. There was no music, no laughter, no flirtatious jokes, just a heavy silence. Alicia realized that in the 24 hours she had known Elyza, this was the longest the other girl had gone without speaking a word.
She knew the blonde was concerned about her silence, she could feel her eyes glancing over to her every few seconds. But Alicia couldn’t bring herself to say or do anything to put Elyza’s mind at ease, instead she just stared blankly out the window at the scenery flying past her.
She didn’t even know why Elyza was so concerned about her, anyways. They had only known each other for a day, it’s not like they had any sort of relationship that required them to care about each other. Alicia had helped Elyza, and now Elyza was returning the favour, that was it.
Though Alicia had to admit to herself she felt slightly guilty for thinking that. After all, just this morning she had felt sad at the thought of never seeing the smooth talking Aussie again. There was something about the blonde that just stuck, and Alicia was sure Elyza felt the same way about her.
It’s this stupid apocalypse. She thought to herself. It heightens everything, that’s all.
Alicia was brought out of her thoughts when Elyza pulled to a rather abrupt halt in front of her apartment.
“Home sweet home, Little Bean!” The blonde said with a grin.
Apparently a 20 minute car ride was the maximum amount of time Elyza could go without talking, or flirting. Oh well, it was nice while it lasted.
Without saying a word, Alicia grabbed her backpack at her feet before swinging open her door and stepping out of the car into the warm evening air. She shut the door as silently as possible behind her, so not to attract unwanted attention from any nearby walkers, and began walking towards the door she knew led to Elyza’s apartment.
“Ooooh I hate to see you go, but I sure do love you watch you leave!” She heard the Aussie say behind her, a huge grin evident in every syllable she spoke.
Alicia had no doubt that Elyza was staring directly at her ass while she walked up behind her. She whipped around quickly, just in time to see Elyza’s eyes dart up from her butt to her eyes. Alicia glared at the other girl, but that didn’t seem to deter her in the slightest.
The corner of Elyza’s mouth pulled up into one of the biggest grins Alicia had seen yet, as she spoke.
“Ah come on, can you blame me?”
Begrudgingly, Alicia had to admit to herself that seeing that cheeky grin and hearing the spark back in Elyza’s rough voice actually made her feel a little bit better, as if things were getting back to… normal?
God, if this is what normal looks I may have to seriously reevaluate my life. Alicia thought.
But still, it was nice to have Elyza trying to lighten the mood a little bit, even if it did involve very heavy (and perhaps mildly inappropriate) flirting.
Alicia had to fight to keep her glare in place as Elyza breezed past her to the door, clearly pleased with herself and definitely well aware that she had gotten through to the brunette exactly as she had intended. Alicia let out a sigh before turning to follow the other girl up to her apartment.