LEARNING TO FORGIVE YOU

14.

["One more time, Alex."]

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Alex panted heavily, her eyes falling shut before opening back up every second. "Get her in the truck." Madison ordered, not speaking to anyone in particular.

Strand immediately stepped forward, bending down and scooping the injured girl carefully in his arms before walking towards the bed of the truck.

Alicia didn't release her grip on the older girl's hand once, instead, she walked with her to the truck, only letting go for a second when they reached it to climb in before helping Strand lay Alex down. Once they were both in, Alicia gently placed the older girl's head on her lap, softly playing with her hair to calm both herself and Alex down.

"I'm so sorry." Alicia said quietly as Liza and Ofelia climbed into the bed of the truck as well.

"It's okay, Alicia." Alex replied, looking up at the girl whose eyes were glistening with tears. "I'm okay." she continued, placing her hand on Alicia's arm that was gently wrapped around the older girl's neck, embracing her as she laid her head on Alex's.

The rest of the ride was silent but peaceful, still, no one dared to say a word. At one point, Alex realized they were down by the LA river, meaning they were really heading towards her house. Or more specifically, Strand's, but she wasn't lying when she said they were next-door neighbors.

After almost 30 minutes of driving, the light-skinned girl heard the clashing of waves against the shore, signaling that they had made it to the beach.

Travis parked the truck in a rather large driveway before hopping out, Chris following right behind. Alex groaned as she sat up, her hand shooting to her lower abdomen. Liza helped her out of the truck, passing her over to Chris and Travis.

"Get the fuck off me!" she exclaimed when she realized that Travis was one of the people helping her. She attempted to push the curly-haired man away, but he kept his arm wrapped around her shoulder. "Alex, just let me help you." he said, his tone annoyed.

"No, fuck you! You've done enough already." she responded angrily, moving her arm away from him and putting all her weight on Chris.

The poor boy stumbled back slightly, but Nick quickly shot into action, helping the two of them stand straight. He placed his arm gently around her body, trying to keep his hand as far away from her wound as possible, while Alex wrapped her arm around his shoulder.

"I think she can walk on her own, but someone might need to help her." Liza said, crawling out of the truck.

Nick was about to offer his help, but someone was faster. "I will!" Alicia exclaimed, walking over to Alex. "C'mon, I've got you." the brunette said gently, allowing the older girl to unwrap her arms from the two boys, who smirked at the younger girl with a knowing look.

Alicia wrapped her arm gently around the taller girl's waist, smiling softly up at her with a slight blush across her cheeks. "Thanks," Alex said, looking down at the shorter girl as she placed her arm over her shoulder, returning the smile. Madison sent the two a confused look, while Nick and Chris smirked at them knowingly, but the two girls decided to ignore it for the time being.

"Anyone hungry?" Strand asked as they all walked into the large villa. "Help yourselves." he said, before walking away to do god knows what.

>>>

After some time, Alex decided to finally wash the blood off her hands. She winced as the water touched the wounds on her bruised hand. After she was done washing them, she dried them. Just then, Liza came into the kitchen, walking towards her son.

"I love you, Christopher." she said, hugging him tightly. Alex turned around with a confused and concerned expression on her face, having heard what Liza said, and it sounded like a goodbye.

Looking at the woman, Alex could see tears building up in her eyes as she looked at the ceiling, trying not to cry in front of her son. Liza then pulled away and quickly walked away. Alex followed the woman, confused about what was going on and concerned for her since she really liked Liza. Liza gave her that motherly love that she hadn't felt in a long time.

"Liza." Alex called out for the woman as she followed her. "Liza, what's wrong?" she asked when she reached the woman standing by the water. The older woman turned around, tears in her eyes, before lifting up her shirt, revealing a zombie bite on her side.

"Shit." Alex mumbled, her eyes widening for a second before they too glistened with tears. "Yeah." Liza said, nodding her head sadly. "Didn't notice 'til we were clear."

"W-what do we—what do we do?" Alex stuttered, slightly panicking.

"There's nothing." Liza simply replied.

"Whoa, hey." Alex said when Liza reached for her gun.

"I don't think I can do it." Liza said as she held the gun in front of her. "I have to, but I don't... think I can."

"No, don't ask me to do that, Liza. You can't ask me that." Alex responded, shaking her head as a lone tear rolled down her cheek.

"Please, don't make Travis do it." Liza begged. "It'll break him."

"No, we don't know. We can—we can fix it." Alex protested.

"I know." Liza replied, holding the gun out to Alex.

Alex looked down at it with trembling hands before taking the gun from the older woman. At that moment, Travis came jogging towards them with a concerned expression on his face. "What's going on?" he asked as he came closer. "Alex." he said when he saw the gun in her hand.

"She has been bit." Alex said, answering his unspoken question.

"What?" Travis asked.

"She's infected." Alex said.

"That's—that's okay." Travis responded, coming closer to the two women. "That's okay. We have meds now."

"No." Liza said, finally turning to face her ex-husband.

"Yeah, you got the antibiotics from the base, right?" the curly-haired man questioned.

"They don't work." Liza replied, shaking her head.

"We—we can treat you." Travis said.

"You can't." Liza said. "Please, Travis."

"Tell Chris I did it." she told him, glancing at Alex for a second, who nodded reassuringly at her.

"No, goddamn it." Travis said, shaking his head. "I'm not gonna—you're not doing anything," he said as Liza began to walk away from them. "I'm not gonna let you do it, Liza."

"Listen—" He said, turning the woman around.

"I've seen it." she said, cutting him off. "I've seen what it does. The bites don't turn you, but the infection's not treatable."

"The infection kills you like anything else. Then it happens, it doesn't matter how you die. You come back, we all come back." she explained, while Travis shut his eyes, trying not to cry in front of her.

"Don't let that happen to me." she begged him. "Don't let our son see that, okay?"

Travis moved his head around, trying to look everywhere but at Liza when she started sobbing. "You've got to protect him from this, okay?" she said as she tried to lock eyes with him. "Promise me." she said, before they locked eyes. "Promise."

"I'll protect him." he said, repeating that sentence over and over again as he nodded his head, while Liza broke down sobbing as she sat down on a rock. Travis then turned to Alex, who stood there with tears in her eyes, before he reached his hand out towards her.

Alex tilted her head to the side, her bottom lip trembling before she handed the gun over to the curly-haired man. He turned back to Liza, placing the gun to her head, his hands trembling as his breath caught in his throat.

"It's okay." Alex said, placing her hand on his hand before taking the gun from him. "I'll do it." she said, her voice sounding like a whisper, her voice trembling. "May we meet again." she whispered, bending down to hug Liza one more time before placing the gun to the woman's head and pulling the trigger.

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