Just Surviving

Chapter 2

Waking up back in the bunker felt like some really sick deja vu, Alicia thought with a sigh, bringing herself into a sitting position before wiping the fever sweat from her brow. The littered bodies of the dead were a new touch. Really spiced up the place with its rancid stench and blood, but the sound of arguing from the decidedly not dead floating through the half closed door was what really caught her attention.

Taking a deep breath, she forced herself to stand. Taking careful, measured steps to the door as she readied her arm in case she needed to attack.

"I'm so sick of arguing about this, Lex. Can we please just leave? We have what we came here for. Just make sure she's still breathing, leave her some rations and let's get the hell out of this radiation infested mess."

"But the bite is so old, Linds! I mean her entire arm is gone, who knows how long the infection has been inside her but she's fighting it. We have to get her back to the lab. Help her kick the fever for good so maybe, just maybe, we can actually do what we're supposed to be doing and find a cure. Let's just wait and talk to her when she wakes up. If I'm right, we'll take her back to Miller, heal her up, take some blood samples, and be done. Easy."

"They'll kill us as soon as we land after one look at her.'

"So we won't let them see her."

Alicia pulls the door open as she clears her throat, "Maybe I should get a say in this."

Two soldiers dressed in black turn to face Alicia with their helmets off. The blonde with a wide smile as the brunette rolls her eyes.

"Of course, I just assu–"

"Wrong." Alicia says cutting off the blonde. "You assumed wrong. I don;t need or want your help. So feel free to get out of this irritated mess." Rushing her way past the two Alicia starts to head for the exit before the dizziness takes over, both the soldiers reaching out to steady her.

"How about we get you back to  bed and talk this out, huh?" without waiting for a response the blonde leans down to carry Alicia bridle style back to bed. "You alright, gorgeous?" she asks once she sets Alicia back down.

"Alicia"

The blonde smiles down at her as she pulls the blanket back over Alicia's body. "Lovely to meet you Alicia. I'm Elyza, and this ball of sunshine that is for some reason, more than happy to leave you for dead, is Lindsey."

"She's the smart one then."

Her comment brings another wide smile to Elyza's face and a smirk to Lindsey's. "You have no idea." replies Lindsey as Elyza rolls her eyes as Lindsey continues. "Tell you what, let me run back to our evac point for some shit to make you feel less like you want to take a nice little nibble out of my carotid while you two play a necessary and lively round of twenty questions. If you're still alive and talking when I get back, I'll let you rethink my intelligence."

Waiting until Lindsey made her way further down the hall Elyza turned back to Alicia with another dazzling smile. "Guess she likes you."

"Then you both have questionable taste."

"We'll see." Elyza replies, smile still in place. "So how about we cut to the chase? How old is the bite?"

Rolling her eyes Alicia forces herself to sit up much to her body's protest.  "Lost my calendar, a few months is my best guess. What's with the uniforms?"

"We work for an organization that considers themselves to be the last light and hope of the world." Elyza pauses before her next question, noticing the look on Alicia's face. "I take it, you've heard of us?"

Alicia shrugs. "Just heard that line enough to know I should already be running."

Nodding Elyza takes the skin of her lip between her teeth before sitting at the end of the bed. "I can see that, but Linds and I, not to mention the rest of our buddies you'd meet are all a bit... unorthodox compared to the rest of the organization. Not big rule followers if I'm being completely candid." She turns her head back to send another beaming smile Alicia's way. "They even came up with  a name for us after our unit got demoted."