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Chapter 6: It's Not Just Zombies

Chapter Six: It's Not Just Zombies

It had been nearly three days since Elyza had left the Blakes, meaning four days since the world had decided to end as she knew it. Her phone was complete crap and she had given up on it while she'd been drunk the first night. She'd thrown it against the brick wall of the abandoned storage locker until it had fallen apart in her hands in her anger.

Every night since, she'd slowly but surely depleted her reserves of alcohol, trying to cope with the tragedy that was now her life. The only thing that kept her moving was her desire to see her mother again. She hadn't managed to go far after the incident at the gas station and she hadn't moved much since.

After finding the storage building, Elyza had broken in and discovered an unused 7x7 storage unit on the first floor. She had rolled in her motorcycle and parked it in the corner before taking out her backpack and rolling out her fuzzy blanket.

The only things she had had in her carry-on bag were a blanket, her book, toothbrush, toothpaste, sunglasses, cellphone charger, and a set of pajama clothes that she hadn't managed to fit back in her suitcase. She had the gun and the three pocket knives she'd gotten. There were only fifteen bullets left in her Glock and she was worried that she'd run out of bullets sometime soon.

But after three days of sitting in that storage unit without sunlight and drinking herself into a stupor, she was ready to get moving again.

On the morning of her fourth day on her own, she awoke with a much more minor headache than the other days. She'd refrained from drinking more than one beer because she was trying to prepare herself for moving the next day.

Slowly and painfully, Elyza stood up and cracked her back. Every joint in her body hurt from sleeping on the chilly cement floor. Her hips throbbed as she moved them, trying to stretch them out as she cleaned up her space.

She felt disgusting. It had been days since she'd last showered and she wasn't sure when she would get the chance again. Her hair was greasy and her face felt like it was covered in a heavy sheen of oil. She didn't know how much she had managed to sweat in the last couple of days but she was acutely conscious of the heavy layer of grime on her skin.

She couldn't even begin to wonder what she smelled like. Pushing the thought from her mind, Elyza shoved her things back into her backpack and unlocked the nearest, empty compartment on the motorcycle. She'd taken to calling it Blaze because the name reminded her of the Blakes and she hated just calling it 'the motorcycle' since she didn't feel comfortable calling it hers.

After packing away her blanket, she pulled out the map with Bellamy's handwriting on it. She was halfway to Santa Monica and she regretting wasting so much time wallowing in her own misery. The Jahas were out there still, she might not know if they were alive, but she needed to find out either way.

Elyza pulled on her leather jacket before yanking open the unit door, allowing in sunlight from the glass window opposite it. Blinking hard through the pounding in her head as her eyes adjusted to the penetrating sunlight, Elyza groaned in pain.

This is why I hate drinking, she thought depressingly before rubbing her hands over her face. She grabbed her aviator sunglasses from the inner pocket of her jacket and put them on. As she maneuvered the bike into the hallway, she heard a noise. Fearing it was an infected, she settled Blaze down carefully on its kickstand and yanked the Glock out of her waistband, flicking the safety off in the same motion.