Together We Survive

The Right Decision

The next few days passed with little change. Every morning I would emerge from our temporary accommodation in the wooden cabin and station myself at the end of the stony pier that formed a finger like extension a short distance into the ocean, where I would wait expectantly for the Abigail to appear on the horizon. Despite the previous day's lack of success, I returned to the same position over the following days without exception. Refusing to allow any doubt to invade my mind, I was well aware of Elyza's opinion as she scoured the beach perimeter routinely to drive back any walkers. She never tried to sway me from the task but it I could tell that she thought it was pointless.

Only four days after our arrival at the beach did she finally voice her concerns, waiting until I had returned back to the cabin for the evening to confront me.

'Anything?'

I shook my head in response, sinking down onto the wooden chair with a sigh. She knew full well from my expression that there had been no sighting. Silence filled the room and I could imagine the gears turning in Elyza's head as she carefully formed her next words.

'How much longer are you willing to wait for them?' she inquired gently, a tone I rarely heard from the outspoken girl.

'Why? Have you got other places be?' I muttered, instantly feeling guilty for speaking to her in such a way when all she had done was help me.

'Supplies won't last forever Alicia, this can't go on much longer.'

I pretended not to hear the truth in her words, fixing my eyes forwards on the dark wooden panels in front of me. It was far easier to believe that they would return soon than face any other possibility.

'Have you considered that your family might not be returning here?' she said hesitantly, ankles crossed in front of her as she rested back against the far wall, not risking a glance over to see what my expression had just morphed into.

'Don't say that.'

Pushing herself up from the floor she stretched her stiff muscles before turning to face me, her patience wearing thin at my insistence that we would soon be seeing my family again.

'More walkers are converging on this beach every day, we can't wait here forever on some false hope. You have to start thinking like a survivor.'

I snapped my eyes up to hers, for once they were not concealed by aviators and I was not about to let her rip away any hope I had of being reunited with my family.

'There is no way my family would leave me here! They will come back for me and I'm not about to go traipsing aimlessly across the country with some stranger who gets some weird kick out of taking down walkers. Don't tell me what I have to do!'

The words spilt from my lips in an angry torrent, rising slowly from my chair as I stood face to face with the blonde. My hands were clenched in anger and I saw a similar emotion lighting the icy depths of Elyza's blue eyes but rather than retaliate she stepped away from me, the tension still leaping between us as she stooped to pick up her blades from the floor.

'Where are you going?' I asked as she shrugged on her leather jacket, my voice still dark with annoyance as she kept her back to me, nothing to betray her emotions.

'Checking for walkers, you're lucky this stranger actually gives a damn about the two of us seeing it through until morning,' she replied, her voice strained as she fought to hold back all the comments that could be flung in response.

Weapons strapped firmly across her back, she shoved a handgun into its holder and strode out of the cabin without another word, leaving me staring at the empty space in which she had just been. The anger seeped away the moment I was alone, leaving me feeling dismayed at how I had just behaved. I had no right to speak to her in such a way and I wanted nothing more than to take my words back. Without her help, I would never have made it back here and this was how I repaid her kindness.