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What Do You Fear? [randomname98766789 and Amaranthine]

Alicia watched her mother drive away and as terrible as it was to leave her sole living parent behind, she had something that she needed to do. Alicia was unable to focus on anything but trying to get towards the opened doors to the main building, and that was what cost her. A decayed hand grabbed her by the arm, coming in out of sight from the brunette. She screamed as it pulled at her, though luckily as soon as she had originally hit the ground she had pulled her knife out. The handgun that she had been keeping since Bryce had taught her to shoot was in her bag - which was left on the truck that was now out of sight. The only thing she had to protect herself with was one little knife and though it took down the creature that had grabbed at her arm, more of the dead shambled closer. Before she knew what was going on, four were hot on her trail and there was only so far she could retreat. Eventually, her back was against a fence.

It was at that point that she heard her name over the groans and the crackle of the fire. She had been about to put her knife in to the skull in to the closest of the dead, but a moment later it fell to the ground as the loud bang of a bullet being fired rung out. Between the shouting and the gunfire, the attention of the dead had turned away from her and that allowed her to get to safety as the remaining three fell. Alicia knew that Bryce was there, she had recognized his voice, but she didn't catch sight of him until the immediate chaos had quieted down. As soon as she could Alicia ran towards Bryce, closing her knife but keeping it ready.

"Oh God, I thought I might have lost you," she said as she reached him, wrapping her arms around him tight for a quick moment. There was unfortunately little time to focus on appreciating being reunited.

----

This wasn't the first time that Anna hadn't had a home to stay in and it likely wouldn't be the last. Like always, she would survive. That didn't mean she had to like it though - as soon as Nick spoke, stood in front of a corpse, she knew what was coming. Very quickly, there was no more smile on her face and it was replaced with an unimpressed, tight-lipped frown. There was no denying that she absolutely hated what was about to happen, and her grimace made that incredibly clear. Her gut's reaction to the stench of ripped open corpse was to want to puke. Anna still had minimal interaction with the dead - a couple episodes of being chased, a knife in a few heads, one time being gunked up. She was at the point where she was always armed (nothing new; as a druggie in the slums of Los Angeles, carrying a switchblade in your pocket was pretty much mandatory) but the smell of them, even when not torn up for some corpse-get stew, was still atrocious. Of course, given the amount that were coming in, she couldn't afford to be picky - and it made the scent of them already overwhelming, which decreased her gut reaction as the body was torn apart.

"I really hate you," she said, straight faced with a matter-of-fact tone, as she watched him go hands-first in to the open body. Anna didn't actually hate him, but she sure as fuck hated what was about to happen. After letting out a sigh she looked to the clouds for a moment before taking the plunge. There was an obvious reluctance every time she dipped her hands in. The infected poured in around them, basically ignoring the pair now that they blended in. As Anna pushed off the ground and rose back to her feet, she looked to the man beside her. Now virtually safe, though Anna didn't trust the blood to keep her okay nearly as much as Nick did, they had to get moving. The estate had fallen, engulfed by flames, and there was no way that anyone could turn back.

"So... Just you and me now, huh?" With nowhere in mind to go, they could just do one thing - walk away. With any luck they would find somewhere safe to at least spend the night and then try to figure out where to go next.
 
“Princess, you will never lose me.” Such a promise was difficult to uphold even without the dead roaming the Earth. Yet, Bryce was so confident in his love and connection with Alicia to make such a commitment. The reunion was short-lived with a brief hug and a kiss stolen by Bryce, planting his lips onto her temple. Without time for anything else, he decided to reach for her left hand, interlacing their fingers together with his right one. With the flames building and the smoke billowing, it was becoming difficult to see. Therefore, Bryce wanted to ensure that Alicia was by his side and neither got separated. “Follow me. I think I know the best way out.” His voice was loud, shouting over the fire, groaning, and various gunshots throughout the estate. This place was lost. Turning with the brunette, Bryce picked up a jog, pulling her alongside.

“We’ll find your Mom soon. Let’s just focus on getting out of this place, first. We’ll find somewhere to hunker down for the night.” As they ran, he wanted Alicia to be aware of the plan as well. Although it was important to find her mother, Bryce also realized that the day was nearly over. The sun was setting and within the hour, it would be dark. It was too dangerous to roam about the open road without a clue of where they were going at night. Bryce intended on finding an abandoned building or house to use temporarily.

Again, the plan was nice, but the execution needed accuracy. They first needed to escape this fiery trap before they even thought about settling down for the evening. Keeping that in mind, Bryce fired a few shots with the gun in his free hand, taking down the infected as they were approached. This route had significantly fewer infected, but the fire was more dangerous in this area of the estate. “Let’s go for these other gates. They should still be open.” Looking over the horizon, sure enough, he saw this entrance with an open gate from escape attempts from others before them. It was their ticket to safety (for the time being).

--

Like Anna, Nick often did not have a home to stay. Technically, with Madison, he did, but he scarcely used his access. Most of his days were spent, crashing wherever Anna crashed, spending time with her and their friends. It appeared they were going to relive the old days in a sense. But, before that happened, Nick and Anna needed to make a daring escape. The second following his suggestion of covering themselves in walker guts, he spotted the frown on her face. It replaced that beautiful smile of hers that he had seen for the better part of the last two days. Like he had said, it was not unexpected. Nick had not figured out who hated this idea more: Anna or his mother. Either way, they both were disgusted by the concept, especially when Nick was taking chances with the camouflage as his only protection. This time, it was different. This time, he was asking for Anna to take that chance as well. Before she even said a word, Nick decided to remind her of the beach. “You’ve seen it work before. It has worked for you, too, back on the beach. Just get through it. We’ll wash off as soon as possible. I promise.”

Now, Nick might not have wanted to wash off immediately following an opening, but he was certain Anna did. Keeping the infected blood on his body would have meant leaving the opportunity for further exploration and wandering among the dead. Unfortunately, only one in this pairing had such desires. When she commented about hating him, Nick chuckled quietly. This was classic Anna, snarky, snappy, and sarcastic: these remarks were often signs of affection, though. Nick learned that lesson quickly. Again, it almost felt like old times again (minus the infected guts, of course).

Within seconds, Nick had expertly covered the entire front of his body with the blood from his face down his shirt, pants, and even shoes. Right before the brunt of the horde arrived, Nick slathered Anna’s backside, ensuring that every inch was covered. After requesting she do the same for him, they both rose simultaneously among the dead. “That’s right… but keep quiet. You remember what to do. Go slow. I’ll lead.” With confidence and no hesitance in his step, Nick began slowly swaying and waddling into the crowd, hoping she would not get lost anywhere. They were heading right into the teeth of the monster.
 
Never losing each other - such an improbability in the world that they faced to day, but Alicia knew that no matter what if they ever found themselves parted they would reunite. He kissed her temple in a fluid motion as she turned away from their hug, and their hands clasped together tight. Alicia gave her fiance's hand a tight, supportive squeeze. Because of the loudness around them, Bryce had to yell for her to hear him but even then she barely could - she caught enough to be able to know to follow his head, though. Bryce was fast and had the endurance to match, but Alicia wasn't too shabby herself. She had kept herself fit when she was still in school, maybe not to the degree that Bryce had but at least a couple times a week she had joined him in his morning runs. The exercise hadn't done much for her before the fall, but nowadays the built up endurance proved useful. Alicia was able to easily keep up with Bryce.

She kept her knife in her free hand, ready to strike at anything that got too close. Several of the nearest dead fell to gunshots, and there was an obvious route for them to take. The infected moved in from several directions, and there was a blaze behind them. Bryce's attention pulled her to the opened gates in the distance, and she nodded to her fiance. That would be their best chance to get out alive and safe, and once they were freed from the chaos the pair would be able to figure out what to do next. Strand would most likely drive the truck back towards the Abigail - if all went well, perhaps they would meet up there the yacht had docked just a couple days back. For now they would have to move, though. Alicia had never been more motivated to run than she had as her and Bryce dashed towards freedom, hand in hand.

Along the way, Alicia downed several of the dead that got in the way. Each time her hand left Bryce's only for moments, only to reunite with him as soon as her knife was pulled from a rotting skull.

----

Using the dead's innards to mask the smell of being alive may have worked before, but Anna still wasn't about to put her faith in it. In the short term yes, it had helped her once, but she would be damned if she trusted a little bit of dried blood to keep herself safe infinitely, a stark difference from Nick's nonchalance about the dangers of walking among the dead. Until they were in the clear and had left the horde and fallen estate behind, the handle of her knife was going to be planted firmly in her palm. On the topic of said knife, she pulled it out of the pocket of her shorts (why had she chosen them over the perfectly good jeans at the bottom of her bag? Oh yeah - she hadn't expected to end up head to toe in the innards of corpses) after wiping the excess goo off on her legs and made sure it was open and ready to be used before she dared to move. As soon as Nick was off, the obviously bothered woman followed close behind him. In theory, weaving through the infected wasn't much harder than weaving through crowds of people. The main difference? The infected wouldn't move out of her way if she murder-glared them - and Anna had to be prepared to be grabbed at any second.

Which was worse - the smell or the fact that she was covered in guts? Frankly, the adrenaline that spiked her heart rate was enough to keep her from thinking about either of those. Her and Nick wove between bodies, him rarely more than a body ahead of her, and each one brought them closer to freedom, but also more trapped within the center of their numbers. Anna was doing her best to stay calm and every body that didn't chow down made her feel a bit better about her safety with the horde.

For the most part she didn't lose sight of Nick, though any time that he vanished past one of the infected she dashed to fill the space between them. After a couple times she grabbed his hand as she reached him again, and her main hope was that he wouldn't immediately assume that one of the dead was grabbing him. Hopefully the whole "finger locking" aspect of the way that she grabbed his hand would save him from a punch straight to the skull, which is what he would have got if he hit her on instinct.
 
Even if Alicia had not been able to keep up with her fiancé, Bryce would not have left her behind him. In fact, she gave him a run for his money at times, it seemed. Their morning runs made for amazing memories together (especially because of those hot, tight pants she would wear), but this was much different than one of these relaxing runs. Just like she was thinking about, Bryce knew that the most likely location of Strand and her mother was the Abigail. Bryce knew exactly where to find it, but that was not helping them right now. However, he could not help feeling urgency. After all, what if Strand made them leave from where they were docked? If they were out onto the water, how was Bryce and Alicia supposed to find them? Again, the problems could compound themselves, but it was not something he needed to think about right now. It needed to be a singularly-focused idea of getting to those damn gates and running the hell away from the estate. If they made it that far, then they could evaluate their situation. One step at a time was the only way they would survive.

They reached the gate, taking down the infected as a dangerous tandem. Even though he knew Alicia could handle herself, Bryce was panicking each time her hand left his, even though she put down the creatures like an expert. The fire was only thirty feet away from spreading towards the buildings around the gates when they reached it. However, Bryce did not slow down when they reached entrance, with good reason. Just as they turned the corner, an explosion near the area they had just left occurred. It sent debris flying near them, but it did not reach them past the gates. That was a close fucking call right there. Still keeping it strong, Bryce simply pointed towards the hills. “I don’t know where the fuck we go right now. Just keep running and make our home tonight in the first place we can find.” It was the desert, though. It was not like they would find a plethora of options. They just had to hope the locations they first found was good enough.

--

Nick and Anna’s perceptions of the safety of walking among the undead were starkly different. Whereas Nick would never worry, Anna always worried. He could see it in her face and they had not even started. It made no sense to the man. If it worked, it worked. Nick could not foresee it failing him. Besides, he just felt like it was natural for him to roam among the infected. It was not a decision to make. It was not tough to convince himself this was safe. Nick could see himself doing it often, as he already used this method at least five or six times since he first discovered it. When she removed the knife, Nick wanted to tell her to sheath it again. After all, it looked unnatural. He did not know to what extent the method worked if one did not truly act like one of the infected. That was why Nick felt so connected to these undead creatures. He just slowly moved and waddled his way through the crowd, bumping shoulders whenever necessary. Nick knew to not move out of any paths, no matter how close they were to touching. He had not been failed before and did not anticipate it happening now.

Thankfully, he managed to stay calm like he always did. His eyes were just blank, looking ahead and slowly trudging. While it might not have felt like they were moving very quickly, Nick knew they were making progress. The gate was wide open and becoming bigger as they approached. They would be home free soon enough, just keep strong. Nick wanted to reassure his ex-girlfriend, in case she was feeling rattled, but that was not a possibility. Whenever the hand touched his, he had felt Anna’s hand so many times that it was familiar to the point where he did not even need to look.

Eventually, they reached the edge. “Keep moving like this… until we get to the gate.” Just in case Anna was too worried about escaping quickly, he wanted the brunette to understand that they needed to stay this way until they were clear. “Just keep moving towards the road. We’ll follow it for now.” Nick added, going through the plan in his head. Now that they were clear of the shit behind them, he found it helpful to think about what their next move was going to be. “You okay?” Nick questioned when they were a few feet away, ensuring that all was well.
 
There were little other options. They would want to make their way back to where the yacht had docked, and hope that Strand hadn't taken to the waters already. Would Madison wait on the shore for her, whether the man took off or not? As much as she hoped so, as she hated the idea of being torn from the entirety of her biological family in one go, Alicia also knew that she would be fine if in the end just her and Bryce remained. They would always look after each other and ensure eachother's safety, no matter what might happen. From the start they had been that way, long before romance had been a part of their relationship. They were barely out of the way when an explosion sent debris flying and flames high in the air, so close that Alicia could feel the added heat on her back after moments. Luckily, none of the debris flew far enough to reach them as they were now in the clear.

Just like Bryce, Alicia was unsure of what to do right then and there. She knew that if they ended up going through Valle de Guadalupe they would likely be able to hold out there for the night, but Alicia hoped that there was some place much closer where they could retire. They could, in theory, make their way back there - but they had also left the place with more than one body waiting to take a bite. As Bryce explained the plan, which was barely one but was still the best that they had, Alicia nodded.

"I think you're right. Let's find somewhere to hold out for the night and rest up. We can work on a real plan in the morning once we can see again. Let's go." She squeezed her fiance's hand tight and hoped that they would come across somewhere to stay rather quickly. While she didn't want to hold up too close to the estate in case the horde got distracted and fanned out a bit, she also couldn't think of any buildings close enough for her to worry. They likely had quite the trek in front of them.

----

They may have been alike in some ways, but Anna trusted nothing other than her own hands to keep her safe. Well, she would probably trust Nick but at the same time he had just left her behind at one of the worst points in her life without even taking a moment to ask why - even just for the sake of his own closure. As much as she wanted to believe that he had her back, and worked under that assumption at least for now, there was still a very big part of her that was prepared for him to walk away once again. She didn't believe that hope had any affect on anything, but she was grateful that he hadn't left her behind both when they had first laid eyes on each other again and now. She wasn't as calm as he was amongst the sea of infected bodies, didn't move as naturally as he did and frankly she also wasn't as acutely aware of the specifics of how the whole "innards keep them from attacking" thing worked. However in the end she cleared the crowd along with Nick, and when he said that they were to continue to the gate, she didn't argue.

A couple minutes later and they were in the clear, past the gate. They had gotten through the horde of the infected and the entire time her knife had stayed tucked close to her body, the sheen of sharp metal obscured by the underside of her arm. While the masses were distracted, lured towards the pops and crackles and the light of the blaze that the estate had fallen to, they would still want to be careful.

"I'm fine," she assured him in a low voice, keeping quiet as to not pull any attention her way - the last thing they needed was to alert the infected that something was up just as they had gotten in to the clear. He had mentioned following the road and well that would probably work in the short term, it wasn't like they could follow it forever. She was tired and sore - which was mostly Nick's fault. Not only that, but night had come and they couldn't wander aimlessly without even being able to see in front of them. They would likely want to find somewhere to stay for the night.
 
During the night trek, Bryce kept Alicia’s hand tangled with his own. For the most part, they were silent while searching for somewhere to stay. Occasionally, Bryce spoke up when he wanted to check on Alicia, to ensure that she was alright. Without water or food, things could become disastrous. Thankfully, they had a nice meal right before the fire started, so they should be held over for the night. When they finally reached somewhere usable, Bryce decided he would check it out first. Leaving the gun with Alicia, Bryce decided to take the knife with him inside of the small, one-story house. It looked somewhat run down in the first place. Inside, nobody could be found. Likewise, no items they could use were found either. All essentials had been removed from the home. Bryce returned to the front porch and greeted Alicia, informing her that they had the all-clear to enter and make the house their home for tonight. After Alicia stepped in, Bryce closed the door, locked the door, and decided to move a nearby table in front to ensure they had extra protection from the outside world. Once satisfied, Bryce moved with her towards the bedroom in the corner of the house.

Their bags were both on the truck with Madison and Strand, so there was nothing to worry about regarding luggage. Simply, Bryce placed their weapons onto a nearby table, so they could grab them at a second’s notice if needed. Before settling down, Bryce peeked out the window just beside the bed one more time, ensuring that there was nothing outside. The horde was way behind them and not a single living soul was spotted on the entire trip. This felt like the safest place for the night, but they had a hard day of work tomorrow.

The male simply decided to kick off his shoes and plop down onto the bed. Patting the mattress beside him, Bryce offered a gentle smile at his Princess, wanting her to join him. “Hey… how are you holding up now? We should get some rest soon and get moving in the morning. We can figure out where we’ll go from here. Tonight, though, I think we should just worry about getting sleep.”

--

Soon, the daylight would vanish from the sky. While Anna seemed worried about it, not thinking they could keep this act going at night, Nick disagreed. Again, it was probably an idea that she could never comprehend or understand because of his prior actions of walking among the dead. They had quite different views about everything involving the infected, it seemed. To Nick, this was practically a cheat code, in essence. They could move wherever they wanted, whenever they wanted, and however they wanted. Unfortunately, he had the feeling that Anna would kick his ass if he dare suggested they keep wandering around this night without stopping somewhere to temporarily hold up for the night. Since Anna was doing fine, Nick went silent again and started walking with her at a faster pace. They were finally far enough away from the dead to not draw attention if they moved quicker. Even though they did walk faster, Nick remained silent. It was like a stroll for him. There was not much urgency and he was almost lounging. The road would lead them right into the city, where they came. There were so many dead there already, but Nick thought it was the perfect place.

“I think we should go back the way we came in the city. After all, with all the infected there, nobody would dare try going there. This will keep us safe there. We can use the infected like a wall of protection. Maybe we can raid some of the houses just inside the city for supplies.” He did not intend on following their path all the way back to the coast so they could meet up with the Abigail. He just simply knew that the city was full of the dead and it was a perfect place for them to hide, at least in his mind.

“What do you think?” Nick asked, but had the feeling that her reaction was not going to be the greatest. Perhaps the nearby town was a valid option as well with less of the infected. It had a smaller population to begin with, but Nick thought it was the ideal place to run into other survivors. Nick knew that people were much more dangerous. “If you think that’s fucking crazy then I understand. That’s what I think we should do, though.
 
Alicia didn't want to leave Bryce alone to investigate the small abandoned house that they came across, whether she was left with the gun or not. Being armed outside of the house wouldn't help if something bad happened to him inside. For a couple minutes her anxieties ran high as she stood guard, only to relax when Bryce's perfect face popped out the front door and beckoned her inside. Inside the house was dark, barely illuminated by moonlight that shone in through the windows. It was enough to be able to see each other and the floor, but little else. Regardless, it would work for the night. There had been no dead seen for at least twenty minutes and if all went well, things would stay that way. In the morning, they would be able to start their journey back towards shore - something that the young woman was rather dreading given that this time she knew how far it was. It was more than possible, and if they moved unhindered (and remembered the right path) they would likely arrive at the spot where they had original come to shore by the end of tomorrow. Would things be that easy? Well, that was a question that would have to be answered on the go.

After setting the gun down on the table, Alicia was summoned towards the bed. Bryce's sweet smile was all she needed to feel confident that everything would be okay. The brunette smiled back towards her lover as she took her shoes off, using the toe of one foot to remove the shoe of the other, but besides that she kept everything else on - a rarity. Normally she liked to at least take her pants off to sleep, but the last thing she wanted was to literally be caught with her pants down (or more like off) if something happened to occur while they were there. After freeing her feet she fell on to the bed next to Bryce, her back hitting the firm mattress hard enough to bounce slightly before settling. Her legs were hanging off the edger of the bed, bent at the knee so that her feet rested on the floor, and while one of her hands settled open-palmed on her abdomen, the other searched out Bryce's. "I think that's a good idea, we'll come up with a better plan once we're well rested and not rushing. I'm doing alright, I just hope that we can find my mom quickly - what about you?"

----

Her issue with night time wasn't the dead - it was not being able to see what was right in front of her. This wasn't L.A. where they could go nearly anywhere any time they wanted with the streets lit up and cars flying by at all hours of the day. Anna could see in his eyes that he didn't agree with what she had to say, but at least he was smart enough to keep his mouth shut and not try to argue with her on the subject. By now her knife was closed but still palmed and she walked with her hands in her pockets. Their slow pace was atypical for her and each step was deliberate, one foot in front of the other. More often than not her gaze was on her boots, old Docs that predated even his initial arrival in her life, and the ground beneath them. Rarely she glanced over to him, both trying to read his expression and figure out her own thoughts. That was one thing that the silence was good for. Anna didn't mind the silence as they walked - she didn't do small talk and at the moment there was nothing worth saying. When there was, one of them would speak - in their case that was Nick, as he mentioned going in towards the city. The expression on her face said it all, and he took the words right out of her mouth: that was, in fact, an absolutely crazy idea.

"You said a total of one right thing there - that the whole idea is fucking nuts." When had anything ever been too crazy for her, though? She'd held herself over the edge at the top of a water tower before, dashed through traffic like she was invincible, and jumped off high cliffs just for the rush of falling through the air before hitting water. She was open with testing the waters with the city - though she wasn't about to move central. With every one of the infected that they passed, she started to feel more comfortable walking among them but she would remain cautious for the sake of protecting herself. If they were lucky they would find somewhere to rest for the night as well as food and drink so that they didn't starve and/or dehydrate, and if not she was hightailing it out of there without giving him a chance to try and convince her not to. "Probably a good call though, stick to the edge for the night and see if we can get any supplies. We have... Well, I tossed the other half-empty tortilla chip bag we were munching from in to my bag on my way out but that's about it. Don't even have anything to drink."
 
Bryce immediately laced their fingers together the second he felt Alicia’s skin contact his hand. “We’ll find your mother tomorrow. Don’t worry. I feel confident that we will. I’m fine. I am just disappointed that the estate didn’t work out. I really thought it was going to be special for us. I don’t know what happened or what went down, but it didn’t sound like anything good. I never thought our little group would get separated, either.” Bryce learned about Nick’s antics, declining to join his mother and sister on the truck, walking away towards the pack of the undead. Despite the animosity in the relationship between the siblings, he was certain that she worried about Nick, to some extent. Thinking about his Princess worrying made him frown. After all, he was her knight in shining armor, right? What kind of fiancée or guardian or protector was he if he could not eliminate all threats? Obviously, it was impossible to ensure undoubted safety, but Bryce felt like he could have done more to help keep the Clarks together. Not wanting to think about the negative, Bryce turned his attention onto the one constant positive note that had existed his entire life.

One leg gently hooked over Alicia’s, sliding in between hers. His other hand cupped her face gently, thumb stroking the side of her face. “We’re going to be alright, Princess. I don’t know what is awaiting us tomorrow, but I’m happy to face it with you. There’s nobody else I’d rather face the end of the world with. I love you more than I could ever put into words. I promise you that nothing will ever rip us apart. I won’t let my hand out of yours for as long as I live. I love you, Princess.” After declaring his love for her again and promising to do a better job of being her protector, Bryce pressed a firm kiss onto her full lips. The moonlight was shining on her face, giving her such an angelic aura (or maybe that was just how she always looked, Bryce thought so, anyways). His eyes closed, soaking in the moment. “I can never lose you. I just can’t.” Bryce knew they were close to at least being separated today. Alicia was probably close to death if he had arrived five seconds later to the scene. It made him cherish this moment even more.

--

The woman’s reaction was expected. Honestly, Nick never anticipated for her to understand the sanity of walking among the infected like he did. Oh well. At least she used logic and reason, agreeing with the plan. They could stick to the outskirts of the city, pick their spots, and slide into a house when they spotted a clearing. Perfect idea. They had shit for food and water, though. “Since there are so many infected in the city, there’s no chance everyone evacuated. I’m sure homes are still full of food and water, somewhere.” It might have been fucked up, but Nick found himself grateful that those dead were likely residents of the city. It also meant their homes were full if they were not ransacked. The important thing here was ensuring himself and Anna had the chance to keep themselves sustained. Surviving without food and water was more of a threat than any human or infected creature. Supplies were important, but they had none other than the clothes on their back and whatever they fit into their pockets. However, Nick did not worry about it. Instead, he decided to approach this situation like he did with any other situation in the world: one step at a time.

Nick took each day as it came, especially true when on his drug benders. He could think himself into a haze if he tried. Nick found that planning was not his forte, so he winged almost everything. They had a quasi-plan for tonight. After that, they would play it by hear. The next forty-five minutes to an hour progressed the same as the last: silent. Nick did not utter a word to Anna, only giving her a reassuring stare when they entered into the city, being met with loud, guttural moans and groans of the undead. There was an open patch near one of the interstates, so Nick decided to lead them towards a house down this particular street. On the corner, he saw a convenient store, but it looked looted already. They had a choice to make. “Should we check it out?” It might have food and water, even a little helped. It was risky, though. What if the horde caught up to them or heard them? What if the clearing closed and they had to walk further before finding a house they could slip into without making any noise to alert the infected? Was the risk worth it if they got food and water?
 
Bryce was right to think that Alicia was at least a little worried about Nick - though vanishing was a norm for him, that never made it any easier. Every time he came home she wanted to believe that it would be the last time he had to, but every time she ended up disappointed. Alicia wasn't even surprised - especially not given that he was under the influence of Anna again. This time things were different, though. If they ended up back on the Abigail, there would be no place for him to return to - this time, Nick was gone for good. That was a hard pill to swallow. Alicia truly appreciated Bryce attempting to quell her worries, and she offered the male a content smile as she looked up at him from where she was. As much as she didn't want to move, Alicia was also struck with a sudden urge to kiss him.

It seemed that the pair thought alike - Alicia didn't even need to move. Brcye's gentle touch on her cheek made her roll her head just slightly to kiss his thumb, and as he whispered assuring words to her the hand she kept on her belly trailed up to rest lightly against his. His protective nature made her feel at peace, and though nothing would quell her worry about what they would face from here out, Alicia was content knowing that this was the man who would have her back every step of the way. Even if they somehow didn't meet up with Strand, Madison and Ofelia she knew that he would stay by her side - Alicia just really did not want that to happen. If she had to be stuck with only one person in her life it would be Bryce, but friends and family were still very important. While you couldn't trust everyone, the more people that you knew that you could trust, the better.

She kissed him back and held his cheek in her palm as she did so, not wanting to let him leave the little moment that they were in. When the first kiss finished and their faces started to pull apart she stole another, shorter this time but still filled with all of the love that she had him. "I'm so glad that you showed up when you did, babe," she said, facing the harsh reality of how close she had been to royally fucked. "I never want to have to leave you, and I know that if I have you by my side we can get anything done."

----

Anna felt a lot more sure of herself before the groans of the undead took over. After that point she was... well, hesitant. The natural instinct was "fight or flight" not "follow your ex in to a horde of things that could eat you" and she was very, very good at making the call as to whether she was ready to raise her fists or get out while she could. Not doing either one of those felt unnatural, but there was a clearance near the highway and as long as they didn't venture too far in they would likely be okay - provided she didn't end up walking in to one behind a closed door and end up spooked. Driving a knife through something's skull was likely the kind of thing that would draw the attention of the other infected and make them clue in that she was a meal waiting to happen. Or yelling - yelling too.

They slipped through the crowd unnoticed and made their way on to an empty street. The neighborhood was desolate minus a few shuffling bodies in the distance that spared the pair no more than an idle glance before continuing aimlessly on their way. While Anna wasn't keen on walking in to darkened buildings without a clue what might be inside, seeing if they could find anything to last them through the night would be useful. They could do a more thorough investigation of the store in the morning if need be, else they could just check out the nearby area and figure out what they were going to do from here. If they found nothing right now they would still survive until the morning. For all the knew, wherever they ended up staying for the night would have some supplies they could nab while they figured out what they wanted to do next.

"Let's try, but be quick about it," she agreed, nodding to him. Her fingers flexed around the closed knife in her hand, fingers drumming against the solid metal of it as she was prepared to need to use it.
 
Bryce did not want to think about what happened if he had been late to saving Alicia. That was a rabbit hole he knew would likely end in a dark place. Thankfully, it was not a reality they faced. Returning his attention onto the brunette, Bryce thought about something he spotted in the closet just a few feet away. It was not necessarily a necessity, but Bryce found it intriguing. After all, they needed to pass the time somehow, right? “I’ll be right back. There’s actually something I think we can use in the closet.” Even a few short strides into the closet felt like an eternal distance. Thankfully, it did not take an eternity for him to return by her side. Sitting down beside Alicia, Bryce revealed a guitar. As if he did not have enough talent by being a star athlete, he was also talented with the guitar. His singing was not nearly as good, but Bryce thought it would be adorable for serenading Alicia. “Okay, Princess… what should I sing for you?” After only a few seconds, Bryce suddenly shushed her playfully whether she was attempting to speak or not. “No, no… I know what to play for you. I got it now.”

Out of all the music Alicia liked, Bryce could take a decent guess at her favorite song. His fingers began strumming the notes of “thinking out loud” by Ed Sheeran. At the time, Bryce did not quite understand the meaning behind her liking it. Now? It sounded like their song, so it ended up being more than just serenading Alicia. It was ‘their’ song, now. He declared it in that moment. Yes, Bryce did learn every word to just about every song in preparation for a moment like this.

When it was time for the lyrics, Bryce sang freely as well. Although he knew being quiet was necessary, they were so isolated that he thought a quiet serenade was not going to hurt anything. After all, he hoped it would bring Alicia a bit of happiness. Their eyes were locked together during the entire time as Bryce kept pace with the song. His voice had improved since last time he tried to sing. He regretted not doing this before since it was a classic, romantic move, but better late than never, right? He was watching Alicia’s face the entire time, now facing her, hoping that she would appreciate it.

--

No longer than a second after Anna agreed with checking out the store, Nick began shuffling at an angle, heading towards the looted building. At this point, he highly doubted any structure had items worth taking. On the other hand, they would never know if they did not try. What if the store was looted, but a few items were left behind? What if they could use something that nobody else could? Nick felt the ideas swirling around in his mind, making it a necessity that they explore the convenience store. Keeping a slow pace, they reached the entrance of the building. It was not quite the size of stores he knew of back home, but it was not too small either. The only downside: the majority of the store was unseen. Without proper light, they had no way of knowing whether anything wait for them inside or not.

Taking the risk, Nick ducked inside, underneath the broken door. There was glass all around, so he twisted and turned to avoid cutting himself. That was not an injury anyone needed to deal with in a time like this. Luckily, no creature (alive or dead) was inside the store. The pair made a clean sweep, checking each aisle and corner. Nick opened various drawers and flipped over boxes, finding nothing useful. In the end, Nick and Anna would find a few snack bars and a couple bottles of water, but that was it.

They managed to escape the store before the horde gained too much ground. Nick suggested they travel one more block and gain some distance before settling in a house. They moved slowly, but fast enough to gain distance without gaining attention. In the end, they finally turned down a block that was mostly empty. Deciding on one of the nearby houses, Nick pointed towards a house with an open door. “Let’s check it out. It should be empty but let’s take it slow.” Deciding on the location, Nick took the lead again, staying relatively close with Anna so they could inspect the house together and decide if they were using it as their temporary residence tonight.
 
Alicia was a sucker for love songs - long before Bryce had become her fiance or ever her boyfriend, that had been a recurrent theme and until the day that they were forced to flee their home that had stayed true. What she hadn't realized was how devoted Bryce was to caring for her - even before the infected had started to rise he had kept track of her favourite songs and somehow even learned one of them. In a way watching him pick up the conveniently stashed guitar and a play a song that was very much an example of their current relationship only cemented the idea that he too had cared for her as she had him, long before their relationship had really begun. They may have been close, but Alicia had never realized that he had taken the time to learn her favourite songs. She figured that this wasn't the only one that he had learned, as he had played some of her favourite songs before, but this was the first time that she realized Bryce had likely done that specifically for her. After all, there was no guitar on the Abigail as well as minimal time spent away from her - he had definitely not learned it in the little time since they had united.

The brunette's expression displayed pure bliss; soft, relaxed eyes and a toothy smile with lips barely spread to reveal pearly whites. She stayed as she was, laying down on the bed while he played to her and sang along, softly serenading her with sweet words about everlasting love that would never fade no matter how long they loved each other. While before the turn she simply loved the song for the sake of loving it, now Alicia was purely enamored by the meaning of the song and what it meant in relation to her and the one true love of her so-far short life.

For a moment Alicia was able to forget the hardships of the day. As Bryce's fingers made easy work of guitar strings she had never been more sure of herself - a feeling that only grew with every day that passed. Undeniably, Bryce loved her just as much if not more than she loved him. It was hard to fathom anyone caring for another person more than she cared for Bryce, but he almost made it seem possible. Her soft green eyes never left his for a moment, lips turned up int he sweetest smile. The entire time her hand rested on his thigh.

That is, until the end - she pulled away just long enough to offer him several soft claps. After that she pushed her torso up, straightening her back so that she sat up next to him. Though the guitar was in the way, it didn't stop her from pressing a soft kiss to his lips.

----

A couple of snack bars and some water was better than nothing - though Anna had been hoping to get at least a little bit more than that for the effort that they had put in to lurking around on their toes. She wasn't too surprised though, the edges of the city had a lower population of infected than the center would, and given that this one was close to a way out of the city it likely got hit early and hard. They got out without even a scratch, and their adventure continued. The silent pair wandered another block or so before Nick pointed out an open door. The fact that it was open meant that it wasn't locked or otherwise hard to get through - but it also opened the place up to the risk of the undead being inside its walls. An open door meant that anything could walk inside, not just them. Luckily, they were still armed and, thanks to the blood and innards that coated their bodies.

"Sure, let's go." Her reply was simple. After the brunette nodded to her ex slash lover slash fuck buddy slash whatever the fuck that they were doing. They were lovers but not quite, fuck buddies but still something more - there was no certain label for whatever they were doing and while she was generally okay with that, it didn't help the uncertainty in her mind. Nick was the only person that she had ever struggled to stay noncommittal with - their relationship had began quick and intensely, with little thought in her mind as to if it was the right call. As if history repeated herself, she was one again drawn in without thinking her options through. Being lost in him was easy but being in love with him was one of the hardest things that she had ever done, through until this day. Sex was easy but love? Actually giving a shit about someone? Fuck was she terrible at that.

Anna reached the door first and didn't subscribe to any of that "men first" bullshit - she was the one with the knife in hand, after all. She unsheathed her weapon as they made their way in to the darkened home and worked as a pair to secure the building. Anna had expected at least one of the dead to be inside, but the place appeared to be empty. They ended their hunt back downstairs and only once they had assured themselves that nothing was waiting for them to drop their guard did she close the front door. Even after that, she was prepared to the strike - one of the infected would likely make an easy target had it followed them inside. Once she closed the door behind her and glanced in each direction to see if anything wandered to either direction, she leaned back against the wall beside it. "Guess this is it for the night, huh?"

Not ideal - they didn't have enough water to even spare enough to wash the gunk from her face. But the house was empty and the street was pretty much clear. This place was likely the best option that they would find.
 
The audience was comprised of one person. In reality, it felt like Bryce was playing at a sold out stadium with hundreds of thousands watching. Yes, there was that much pressure imposed on himself. He wanted his rendition of her favorite song to be flawless, beautiful, and everything she ever wanted. Bryce hoped he would not forget the words, forget the strings, or trip over himself. It was very nerve-wracking, probably as nervous as he had been in quite a long time. Of course, Bryce knew Alicia would not particularly care if he sucked, but Bryce was determined that the music would sound beautiful.

By the time the song ended and the last string had been strummed, Bryce sighed out in relief. He could judge his own performance and realize it was not bad at all, but the look on Alicia’s face took all doubt away. After she clapped in approval, they shared a kiss. Bryce broke it only for a few seconds, so he could shed the damn guitar and have more room for his fiancé. Once it had been placed onto the ground beside him, Bryce wrapped both arms around Alicia, pulling her tightly against his chest.

“I am so thankful that you don’t find me too cheesy.” Bryce mused, laughing softly against her mouth. “I doubt that will be the last time I serenade you, if you liked it. I know dozens of songs that you love and I think I could play them all when the time is right.” The Ed Sheeran song felt appropriate tonight. Bryce could never express his love deeply enough with words. No amount or combination of words existed that could quite capture how much he loved Alicia. So, saying it through music was a cute idea in his opinion.

“I love you, Alicia. After all the shit we’ve been through, we’re still together and we’re still here. I think that speaks volumes about our love. I’ll never forget how my heart stopped when you knocked on my door on the Abigail and we admitted our feelings. That was one of the best moments of my life. Hearing you say yes to marrying me is easily the greatest moment of my life. Basically, my happiness revolves around you. I don’t care how bad things get. Knowing that I have you makes everything worthwhile. I know the world is falling apart around us, but I am still happy because I have you and I love you. I don’t know when we’re ever going to have the chance to have our little ceremony, but I look forward to it.”

--

The pair encountered no trouble when sweeping through the house, thankfully. Nick had enough excitement for one day. It was time for rest, for sleep, and for recovery. Once the door had been closed and locked behind them, Nick listened to his ex-girlfriend make quiet, simple conversation. Agreeing with the brunette, Nick decided to take a position adjacent to the woman, resting against the wall and trying to relax. “Yup. That’s right. This is the best we can do tonight. Maybe we’ll search through more shit tomorrow. I’m sure there’ll be chances.” Nick responded, his mind already swirling, thinking about the future and what courses of action gave them the best chance at survival.

Sure, the walker innards and blood and guts kept them safe from the infected, but they still needed food, water, and other essentials. Plus, humans were a problem they would encounter. No amount of blood on their bodies would repel humans. Surviving was not as simple as Nick once found it. The infected were the least of his worries, though. Nick hoped Anna could finally see that soon, they should not fear the infected, but embrace them. More than likely, another person or starvation would be the death of either of them.

Regardless, it was time to crash. Nick made no attempt to move, but he did intend to speak briefly with the woman. “I don’t know if you thought it was a good idea to walk away from my mother and I’m sorry if you preferred something else, but I thought this was best. I had to do what was right for me, but I’m glad you decided to stay with me even when I decided to go my own way.” Nick felt like he needed to tell her this.

She did not ask to be on their own. Maybe she thought there was strength in numbers. Nick did not know, but he also understood she was not a big fan of Madison, either. Perhaps she was fine with the idea. Either way, Nick wanted to make it seem like he was not trying to be a dick and boss her around. Nick felt like this was the best route for him to take, especially now since Anna joined him. It might have been a different feeling if she went elsewhere, but Nick was happy with his choice now. It was liberating and freeing, in a way.
 
"Oh, you're definitely incredibly cheesy. I love it, though," Alicia remarked with a sweet, toothy smile on her lips and teasing tone in her words. Bryce was sugary sweet and had enough cheese in him to feed a mouse for life. However, Alicia had absolutely no problem with that. Her fiance was a sweetheart and she wouldn't want it any other way - and she had a way of being just as cavity-inducing as he was. Together they were quite the pair - which meant that they were the couple that everyone hated being around because of how constantly lovey-dovey they were. Alicia had never imagined herself being that way, but with Bryce nothing else made sense. As soon as he laid eyes on her she never wanted to pull away and that happened every day without failure.

It killed her to let him move, even for a second. As soon as Bryce put the guitar down, Alicia was once again claiming him for her own. As he wrapped his arms tight around her, keeping her in a protective hold, Alicia's hands found his cheeks and she held him gently by the face. Her thumbs traced along his cheekbones in soft, language strokes, and she was still grinning when she leaned in to kiss him. Alicia was absolutely in love with him and the sweet serenade was just another example out of a million in the many ways in which Bryce made his affection obvious. Alicia would need to up her game it seemed. She displayed her affection in words and touches rather than grand gestures, but that slight competitive nature that she had gave her the desire to at some point do something even more amazing for Bryce.

"You know... we got interrupted earlier, when my mom came by. I think I still owe you a massage." She smiled against his lips before pulling away - just barely, and only long enough to speak. It was as they were touching that she had remembered that, and given the way that Bryce had just treated her she now had the desire to offer him a token of her appreciation as well.

----

For a moment she thought she was about to have to tell him to fuck off, that she came this way on her own accord and that if he didn't want her around all he had to do was was so. Her features hardened for just a moment, prepared to have to defend her own actions, only to relax once more once Nick had finished speaking. Her tongue flicked out quickly, licking the corner of her lips, and she eyed the darkened ceiling as she mulled over a response. Saying "thank you for leaving your asshole family behind" was probably at least a little harsh but there didn't seem to be a better way to say things. Anna was nice enough with most people - until they started grinding on her. The Clarks had gotten on her nerves long before society had fallen apart.

"Is it bad that I'm kind of glad you decided to walk away from them?" Anna turned her head to face him as she spoke, raising an eyebrow. "Like they're you're family and they love you and all that crappy shit, but I dunno... I never belonged there, so it's nice to be away from it." That made sense, at least to her, and it was a nice way of saying "of course I'm happy we left Queen Cunt and her stink eye behind". She had her reasons, some beyond the fact that his people simply weren't hers. A main one? The fact that everyone knew damn well what they were up to and she didn't even have a chance to decide if she liked it or not before. People knowing wasn't what bothered her, though - it was the ones who thought that her personal business was anything of their concern. For example, that was the difference between Alicia and Madison: both knew, but only one acted like they had some kind of say in things.

"The place was nice but... Fuck, man. I can't stand people who think they get to have an opinion on what I do. I never even talked to your mom but from the damn moment you pulled me out of that cell she had a hate boner for me that never let up. I could have stayed a mile from you at all times and you'd still think that I personally must have caused the whole 'dead rising' thing based on her reaction. I never even got a moment to think about what was going on before she had her nose in it." Maybe she was venting a little, but Anna was just happy to be free of it all. Without judging eyes around them, they had the best chance of figuring out what was going on at any time. It wasn't perfect but it was them and there was no one trying to tell them what the right or wrong thing was to do. Now they stood a chance at a moment of peace and quiet. Nothing about trying to survive on their own would be easy though.
 
“Is that right? I recall this information as well. I suppose you should go ahead and get started then. It’s been a few seconds since I’ve felt your hands on me and we both know that’s far too damn long!” Bryce responded in a tone laced with sweetness and love again. He knew that his Princess pulled away so she could speak to him, but man, look at those lips. He traced them with his eyes before turning his orbs slightly upwards. Again, he was locked into a trance with those pretty, green eyes of Alicia’s. It was pure magic, causing Bryce to lean his head closer. Their lips brushed together again, one hand snaking around the back of her neck. “On second thought… let me kiss you first.” Chuckling softly against her mouth, Bryce wrapped his other hand around the small of her back. Could anyone blame him?

Just taking one look at those lips was enough to send him into an out of control rampage, searching for a kiss. He wished that Alicia’s lips were the only pair of lips he had ever tasted. None were as sweet, pure, and gentle as these. For future reference, though, Bryce knew that her lips were the only one in his present or future. He could not imagine going a full day, or even hour, without their lips colliding. Although their relationship was still technically on the new side of things, he had lost count long ago with how many kisses they shared. Bryce knew this: it was not enough.

Pulling back from her lips, Bryce finally released his hands from her body. She wanted to offer him something in return for the serenade, it seemed. So, he would let her choose what exactly she wanted to do. With that in mind, he flashed her another pearly white smile before laying down, flat onto his back. “I’m ready whenever you are, Princess. Just tell me where I need to be.” He whispered, placing his right palm flat onto one of her legs. He quickly realized it was impossible to just not touch her in some form.

--

In response, Nick shook his head with a resounding ‘no’ when Anna asked if it was bad that she felt happy he made this choice. The last thing he meant to do was offend her when bringing up this statement, though. He simply wanted to thank her for sticking by his side. Maybe his family did love him, but lately, it felt like they had given up on him. “They have no business disliking you. I’m sorry you had to deal with them at all. It’s not bad you feel that way. I feel that way, too. I’m glad to be away from them, as harsh as it sounds. I know they are my family, but, I need to make my own way, you know?” Listening to her rant made him smile. Maybe it should not have, because that was his mother she was ranting about. Yet, she just looked so cute when she vented to him. It felt nice – they were at least talking to each other. They were talking about how they felt. Nick had no idea if they would ever have a relationship again, but if they did, this was a great first step towards repairing the damage they both did.

“Man, if I had a dollar every time that bitch told me how bad you were for me or told me to stop hanging out with you, we wouldn’t have been staying in that abandoned church. We would have been getting high in the nicest mansion in all of Los Angeles.” Chuckling quietly, Nick proved his point. Madison always rode his ass about Anna. “Even now, when I first took you out of the cell, the first chance she got, she warned me to stay away from you. I don’t know what the hell her problem is with you.”

Nick sighed quietly and rubbed his hand over his face. “I’m glad to be away from her now. I know you’re the one that had to deal with that bullshit, but it pissed me off, too. Every time she insulted you, it felt like she was insulting me, too.” Nick had always been protective over Anna, that much was obvious when they first got together. Even when his mother had a say in it, Nick felt the need to stand up for her, and he did, often causing fights between himself and his mother. “Maybe this is wrong, but I don’t care if I never see my family again.”
 
Being locked in a loving look with Bryce left Alicia feeling like she was puddy in his hands, and with every second that their eyes stayed met she wanted to kiss him even more. Bryce, it seemed, had the same inclinations and the grin that had continued to grow on her lips faded so that she could return the kiss properly. Even then she couldn't stop smiling, and as his hand found her neck, her hands stayed on his kiss. She had to force herself to let him pull away, but she had just offered him a massage. So she helped him on to his back, laying him down against the bed. For a moment she straddled his waist and looked down at him, perched precariously over his crotch, and then "helped" roll him over - which was more a playful push than anything.

"Here's perfect." In the end she was straddled over his ass, the reverse image of this morning when he had been above her. Then she playfully smacked his ass and gave it a squeeze, turning the tables on an action that was typically done in reverse. Alicia was being playful and a little bit cheeky, and with a silly grin on her face her hands rolled up slowly from his ass. Unlike when he had massaged her earlier in the day, clothes were involved right now. As tempting as it was to strip nude and do the same to Bryce, they had a busy day and Alicia was feeling on the more tired side of the scale. She didn't need an excuse to see him shirtless but she used what she was about to do as one, and as soon as she pulled her shirt off of his lean, muscular body she took a moment to simply admire.

"I have one sexy husband to be," she remarked as she ran her hands symmetrically along the sides of his back, leaning in just slightly as her fingers wrapped around the tops of his shoulders. At that point her thumbs pressed against the muscles that extended from his neck down to his scapula, a thick band of muscle that was a good place to start kneading in her opinion. If Alicia was being honest she had never given a massage before, but she always paid utmost attention every time that Bryce touched her. Because of that, she figured that she had the theory down and would likely be able to treat Bryce to the kind of appreciation that he truly deserved.

----

Anna didn't really know what it was like to have family, at least the forged-by-blood kind. Part of her was jealous that Nick got to know what it felt like to have a mom that loved him and that his worst family issues came down to the fact that his daddy got distant. Part of her, a much bigger part, thought that the concept of blood relations was over-rated. Having a vagina in common with someone mattered very little - hell, she'd come out of the snatch of the first person to ever call her a liar or a whore. Besides the fact that she kept herself distant from the concept of family, Anna wasn't blind to the way that Madison had treated Nick, both in the past and now. At least in her eyes it seemed like Madison only cared about her children when they weren't doing what she wanted, and because Nick had the title of "family fuck up" he got the brunt of that attention.

"Did she ever even ask you how you felt about everything - nearly dying fleeing the compound, forced sobriety, me? Any of it?" She huffed a bit and shook her head. While she may not have been really paying attention, she rarely had seen mother and son interacting - unless he was getting chided for one reason or another. She could have missed things, sure, but she didn't have high hopes for that. Madison would think that she was trying to turn Nick against her but the way Anna saw it she was just pointing out her observations. Obviously she was biased, but she'd also spent a year and a half dealing with him on the daily and was no stranger to the strained relationship between the pair. "Or did she just want to try to tell you what you should and should not do?"

After saying that, Anna let out an audible exhale as she shook her head and finally started smiling again. "Fuck.. that church." She would say that they had memories there but given how high they had constantly been, she didn't actually remember too much. The place had pretty much been junkie communion and it was also the last place she had been before everything had happened. "Man, I was there when the soldiers or whatever the fuck found me. Still fucked outta my brain, too - woke up with a gun to my head and no fuckin' clue what was going on. At first I thought I was being arrested or something but next thing I knew I was in some jeep and then... well, guess you know where it goes from there. I was on a wicked bender, not even sure how many days it lasted but it started on the 11th and I don't really remember anything after that."

For a moment she wondered if he would remember the significance of that number - it marked what would have been their anniversary. Of course, she didn't know that he had ended up at the church on that very day and that was when his adventure with the undead had begun, just a couple days before she found herself curling up there because she didn't want to wait until she got back to the apartment before shooting up again (even though she knew that Josh was talking about taking Molly and her out of the city... she hadn't pushed the whys of it all or even taken it seriously).
 
The male listened to his fiancée. She wanted him on his stomach, so Bryce moved. It was Alicia’s turn to have some fun with his own ass instead of vice versa. He chuckled and playfully wiggled his butt at her as well. Being a star athlete, he did many front squats, back squats, leg presses and other things like that. It made him develop quite the ass. Many at their high school argued Bryce had the nicest ass among all the guys. Hell, Alicia seemed to like it as well, so he was quite pleased with her reaction to him. Bryce crossed his arms, pressing his face into his forearms, turning his cheek. “I’m glad you think so, Princess. You’re the only opinion I care about, after all. You always know, you can put your hands over me whenever you want. You just need to ask. Hell, forget that, you do not even need to ask before you touch me. Surprise me when you want. Run your hands all over me. You know how much I love the way your hands feel on my body.” Being shirtless for Alicia was something he enjoyed. He loved the way she looked at him without a top on.

He would have undressed further if she asked, but he knew they were not in a safe place. Bryce looked over his shoulders at the brunette, flashing her a smile. “Oh, that feels good, Princess. You sure as hell know how to give massages. I hope mine were nearly half as good as this… oh, God…” Bryce groaned out, flashing a smile at the girl. Yes, this did feel incredible. Bryce sighed quietly to himself as his eyes closed, focusing on the way it felt to have the girl he loved on top of him and massaging him.

“We should do this more often. I love touching you. I love being touched. You’re so amazing. I love you and I can’t get enough of you.” He murmured softly. “You know, maybe I did give you a massage this morning. But I want to give you another one. How about I give those cute feet of yours a massage after you finish?” Bryce asked with a suggestive look towards her. Even if the touch was non-sexual, he still enjoyed it. Bryce wanted to touch her again before he went to bed.

--

Perhaps Nick should have been more thankful. There were some people that did not have a mother or father in their lives. Nick had a mother and father until his father died. Even then, Madison was still there for him. Perhaps she did try to care for him, but Nick felt like it was annoying at times. Madison did not understand her son, at least in Nick’s opinion. To answer Anna’s question, Nick only chuckled lightly. She probably already knew the answer. “Believe it or not, she did not ask me how I felt about anything.” Nick responded as if it was a surprise. Clearly, he felt annoyed just thinking about the way she acted. “I mean, it is like she thought that she should control every part of my life, just like I could not think for myself or have desires for myself. It was like… she couldn’t let me do any fucking thing without watching me like a hawk. It felt like she was just waiting for me to fuck up again so she could give me another lecture. I just don’t think she cared about what I felt. She probably had this idea of her perfect family and how her perfect children would act. I just never fit that role well enough for her.”

The atmosphere of the room changed when the couple thought about the church. Indeed, they did not remember too much. Nick just had generalized memories about the church. They always spent time there, together. They always had each other and friends at the junkie getaway. Nick had his best highs in that place. Hell, even if he had all the money in the world, he would probably have kept his business there. After Anna told him about how she ended up in the cage, Nick realized he did not share his own story about ending in the cell. It might not have mattered, but Nick felt like sharing. “Damn, dude. That’s shittier than what happened to me. I was in the quarantine with my family back in our home. These soldiers just came into our house. They came to get this old lady that was Daniel’s wife, to take her out. Then, those assholes just grabbed me. I ran like a bat out of hell but there were too many of them. Shit, I barely even remember the ride there because I was high out of my mind.” Nick recalled fondly.

The 11th, it was a date Nick did recall. It was the same reason he decided to be at the church. “You know, I haven’t told you this… but back then, I went to the church a couple day after… the 11th. I guess it was right after they took you or something. I don’t know. But, I just thought I’d stop by there… maybe you’d be there, because… it was… you know, the 11th.” Nick murmured softly, aimlessly kicking gently at the floor as he felt awkward talking about his feelings, admitting he wanted to see Anna again. That was the whole reason he was at the church, even if he was with Gloria, he secretly only wanted to see Anna.
 
"Like I need an invitation to touch you," Alicia remarked with a smile still on her full lips. The sentiment was true - Bryce didn't need to give her permission to. Whether he liked it or not, and she was sure that he did, he was stuck with her clingy, grabby hands and the way she loved to be in contact with him constantly. If it were possible for her to be touching him at every moment, Alicia would be. Now Alicia didn't exactly check out a lot of butts - but this was one that she had long before they had gotten together. Though she had rolled her eyes at conversations about the best off of their grade or the football team or whatever, she had completely agreed that Bryce had it all - she didn't even need to see the competition to know that. Now that ass was all hers, Alicia made a point to admire it just as she did his abs, muscular arms and those beautiful curls on his head. She truly loved every inch of his body and doubted that would ever change.

"Would you believe me if I told you this was my first?" She asked as her palms moved outwards, digging the heels in to Bryce's flesh and starting to move downwards along his back. This was her first time but she had an excellent teacher. Though she could picture Bryce acting like this was better than it really was for the sake of making her feel good, Alicia was confident that Bryce was being honest with her and she appreciated it. Worst case she discovered some tips, tricks or sweet spots to make him feel even better. She hoped that he would offer her little tips, as she wanted to be able to give Bryce the best experience possible. "I had a really good teacher, though. Incredibly handsome - so hot that I couldn't not pay attention... I might have been more interested in the way that he touched me, but I think that I picked up at least a thing or two along the way."

She was being playful - obviously, she was talking about him. When he spoke up about massaging her again after she was done, Alicia paused for a moment, hands stilling on Bryce's side as he gives her a sly look; his request was innocent enough but she knew that the connotation it would have with him. Alicia didn't really mind that, though. At first she just gave him a half-hearted shrug as if to say "eh, sure". It was a soft teasing, meant to make him wonder for just a moment. If he was watching, he would have seen the light in her eyes that said she was definitely okay with that, but she spent a couple more seconds with that somewhat neutral expression before she started to massage him once more and her lips turned in to a wide smile. "I would love to make regular massages something that we do, and if you so desire my feet are yours once I'm finished. I have to say, you're very committed to making sure that every part of me is looked after. Not a lot of men would offer their lady a foot massage, especially as eagerly as you do. I'm not sure when I'll be done though... Maybe never. What if I just never stop?"

A tiny laugh escapes her lips at the very end of her train of thought, obviously pleased with both Bryce's love for touching her and her own for him. There was no universe in which Alicia Clark would be able to deny anything that Bryce wanted to give her - especially not this one. Before long her hands were low on his back, kneading laterally of the indent at the small of his back. She was, unfortunately, nearly out of back to massage and would be finished rather soon. However, Alicia slowed her pace down to drag what was left out. She was serious about never wanting to stop touching him, and I just want to be extra thorough was her excuse to not stop this time.

----

Anna had been taken the morning after the quarantine would have went up, though she was unaware of that as the quarantine zone hadn't affected the downtown church or the apartment building that her and Molly lived in - the main two places that she frequented. However, it was obvious that one way or another they had just barely missed each other. She knew that they likely had been close to running in to each other before given that there were only so many places to score dope. Not to mention ever since Molly had gotten knocked up, Anna had started spending more and more time away from the one place she had ever called home.

For a moment she was quiet, just thinking about what he had said, the coincidence of it all, and trying to ignore the fact that he had just said he had been hoping to see her. Things between them may have been on the mend but they still weren't easy and Anna imagined that she wasn't the only one with a bit of salt left in her system. Somehow, despite the obvious pain she had caused him, there had still been a part of him that was waiting for her - and for what? To remind them both of her fuck up? She'd missed him too, more than anything in the damn world, but Anna had told Molly to stop talking about him long before that day. Part of her felt like shit for trying to to move on, even if that had never gotten past "trying". Then she lowered herself to the ground, pulled her slightly spread knees towards her chest and rested one forearm on top of them. She raised a hand up to Nick in a request for him to join her on the floor.

"I mean... that's probably not the first time we've ever nearly run in to each other. Used to think about it all the time, what would happen if I ran in to you - wonder if I'd get mad or cry or yell or just walk away... If you'd even notice me. Never could decide on one reaction." She doesn't look at him whether he goes to sit beside her or not, a common theme in any time she's ever tried to actually talk. It was like looking in his eyes would freeze her up and shut her down, but as long as she didn't dare to peek she would be distant but okay. "Think I mighta seen you around once or twice but even if I wasn't hallucinating, even thinking of saying something wasn't an option. Pretty much just avoided the likely spots for you to show up, friends 'n' shit. Mol used to see you around once in a while. Not sure if you ever saw her or not but I dunno... I guess she thought she was doing me some good by telling me that you were still alive or something? Had to tell her to stop when Gloria being with you became a common theme."

She skirted around a lot of subjects (the fact that opioids didn't make people hallucinate, for one) and her tone stayed mostly flat, not betraying her feelings on any of that. Nick would likely know what she thought about the Gloria thing, though - the two had history that predated his existence in either of their lives, and not the good kind. Anna figured that Gloria would likely have absolutely loved having the opportunity to trash talk her after the breakup. They weren't even properly together before Anna had reached the point of telling him he could have one or the other around, after accidentally noticing a conversation between the two that basically came down to Gloria calling her disease-ridden (a false accusation). She'd explained the history, that about a year before meeting him a then-boyfriend of Gloria's had lied to her about being single, and whatever they were doing had to end if he was going to tolerate that kind of shit. That had been the cause of their first argument (she figured she had a good case and from what she could tell he hadn't liked his not-girlfriend telling him who he could talk to) and had ended in her admitting that she hadn't even been talking to anyone else since they met, despite repeated noncommittal answers as to if there other people in her life before that ("what I do when you're not here is none of your business").
 
Alicia had a point: permission was not needed before Alicia started touching her fiance. In fact, Bryce preferred she said nothing, allowing her hands to talk for her whenever she desired to touch him. Some might have taken an issue with just how clingy Alicia was, but not Bryce. It was part of everything that made her absolute perfection in his eyes. There was no such thing as too clingy or too much touching in Bryce's opinion. If they would have dated before the world ended, Bryce had no doubt they would have been "that couple" everyone hated because they were always touching, kissing, and being sugary sweet with each other. It would not have mattered to Bryce, though. Regardless of what anyone else would have thought about the way they operated their relationship, Bryce would have been ecstatic. More than once, a girlfriend of his expressed clear jealousy with how much Alicia was around him and basically clinging to him when they were only friends. Bryce should have seen it then, but he did not. Now, Bryce could see it clearly: Alicia Clark was the epitome of perfection. It was not an opinion, it was a fact. If someone tried to tell him different, god help them.

Listening to her affirm that this was her first massage before talking about her hot teacher, a smirk spread across his lips. "Is that right? A hot teacher? That's funny. I had a student once in my massage 101 class... I was giving her a massage and she was naked... you should have seen her ass. If you think mine is nice, phew... that ass was the greatest thing I've ever seen. She was lucky that massage didn't turn into me taking her right then and there!" Bryce teased back, obviously talking about the massage he gave Alicia earlier. Honestly, even though she was the one that received the massage, Bryce dared think he enjoyed it more. After all, he touched her body, he saw her nude, and he expressed all the love in the world for her in that moment. What more could he have wanted? Upon her answer of him giving her a massage, Bryce shot her a glance. He could sense in her words she was teasing again, so it was no surprise to him when she could not hold that neutral glance for long. She smiled such a beautiful smile at him, Bryce could barely stand just laying here and not kissing her right now.

It seemed regular massages were now in order for the couple. Bryce would keep it in mind. She talked about something else that was true: most guys would have to be forced to give a foot massage, because most guys (and probably most people, in general) found feet disgusting. Yeah, Bryce understood it - it could be the smell or something like that at times, but if it was taken care of well, he did not see what was disgusting about it. Maybe he was just weird. "Well, first of all, that's because most guys don't have a girl with feet as cute as yours. I mean, I was always terrified you felt me get hard when you'd used to dangle your legs across my lap when you were barefoot. You have no fucking idea how horny that made me, as crazy as it might sound. I'm glad you don't think my little fetish is weird, though. That just proves to me why I'm so lucky, among other things. After all, you are a goddess, and angel. I don't know how any guy would not want to kiss, touch, and worship every damn inch of your body. From head to toe, I want to kiss every inch at least twice a day, if I could. You are absolutely fucking gorgeous, Alicia. Rest assured when I tell you that no part of your body turns me off. As far as you never stopping, I don't think I can exactly complain about that. I wouldn't be upset with my Princess touching me for the rest of my life." Bryce pointed out, throwing another smile at her back across his shoulders.

--

Anna was correct. It probably was not the first time the pair almost had a run-in with each other. "Honestly, I wondered about the same situation. I didn't know what I'd say or do if I saw you. I told myself I'd yell at you and be pissed, but I knew better." It might have sounded hypocritical since Nick left her without giving her a chance to explain herself, but it was true. Nick did not hate Anna nearly as much as he wanted to think he did. In fact, he held no hate towards her. It took a couple days for him to calm down, but once he did calm down, he could not bring himself to reach out to Anna. That was his biggest mistake. After that, he just convinced himself that Anna was dead to him. "I'll admit something: I didn't exactly avoid places I knew you would hang out." Again, it probably did not even make sense considering how shitty he had acted towards her. "I guess there was always some part of me, deep down, that wouldn't allow myself to push you away. I tried to, honestly, and I'm not proud of it - but you're too damn unforgettable."

At this time, Nick finally decided to sit down beside the woman. Just like her, however, he did not look into her eyes. They were FINALLY talking to each other. The last thing he wanted was to ruin that by forcing eye contact between them both. Face it, neither liked the eye contact during serious shit. "I thought being with her would have helped me move on. In reality, it only made me miss you more. How fucked up is that? I took my girlfriend where I knew my ex was hanging out, because I actually wanted to see my ex, not my girlfriend."

Chuckling pitifully, Nick could only imagined how that would have worked out. "I know that sound stupid now. I barely missed you, though. I find myself thinking about how it would have played out if we were there together." Nick added with a shrug of his shoulders. "I think... it would be something like when I saw you in that cell. You're back in my life now. I saw you for the first time in forever. I want to keep you in my life. I guess that's really why I decided to help you. I wanted you back in my life, whether you hated me the entire time or not. A life without you... isn't much of a life at all, no matter what we are or what we aren't or if you hate me or whatever. I realized it that day when i saw you."
 
"I wouldn't say it feels normal," Alicia started as her fingers stilled; though her massage had finished, she still had no desire to move. For another thirty seconds or so she just sat there with his ass between her thighs, fingertips softly running up and down in a rhythmic motion. Eventually she would get off of his back, let the tides turn and his eager, soft touch caress her, but this was not the moment for that. Looking down at his wide, happy smile had Alicia feeling absolutely serene. "But you're right, it's just another body part. What makes it any more gross than hands or lips or anything else? If you take a moment to think about any body part too much they can be disgusting, but that doesn't stop people from swapping germ-infested saliva all the time. The strangeness is just from the stigma, I think. You know, you get told something's wrong or gross so you still kind of subconsciously react that way even if you know it's not?"

At that point she shrugged her shoulders and then fell to the bed beside him with her head near his. Her long brown hair spread around her, hanging over the edge of the bed, as she rested her hands loose on her abdomen and angled her head enough to smile back at her fiance and meet his gaze with her own affectionate stare. The bumped her side against him, laying close enough to touch, and as she spoke she caressed his half with the toes of one foot. The gesture was intended to be affectionate rather than arousing, but the fact that it might get Bryce going occurred to her after she started. Either way, she was feeling too at peace to consider stopping. Besides, Bryce was welcome to start his massage whenever he so desired now. "I'm not sure that I'll like it as much once we've been on the move for a week and unable to clean ourselves properly, but I don't think that either of us are going to feel very sexy if that ends up happening. Which, hopefully, it will not."

"I could be down for the worshiping thing though," she tacked on with a playful wink as she slid her foot farther up Bryce's leg. Part of her wondered if he could even possibly hold off.

----

Anna's spine stiffened as Nick talked about Gloria, but she didn't really have a right to judge. She had known that something was up whether she wanted to admit it or not, but part of her wished that Nick would have outright said that he wasn't actually involved with her. They had been over, though, and it wasn't like she had kept her hands to herself since the pair had broken up. In some ways it made sense - he needed someone to lean on, someone to tell him that he was right to hate her. Anna had hurt both of them, after all.

"So, what, you think that we'd run in to each other and suddenly everything would be alright? That your girlfriend wouldn't hate you even looking in my direction? One look and suddenly it's like nothing else ever mattered? That's a fun fantasy, but that's it - a fantasy." All of that sounded nice in theory - but that was it. Anna wasn't a stranger to disappointment and even if he had hoped that such a meeting would have felt good, she wouldn't have. "I would have left, probably. Maybe punched her in the face first - incited by her calling me a whore or a life ruiner or maybe just because she was with you and that alone would make me want to. Just once, though - I might hold a mean grudge but more than one hit would have opened myself up to someone pulling a knife on me and I'd rather not have to go there." The women had never actually met, at least not face to face. Anna didn't know anything about the other woman except that she didn't understand the concept of fault. Therefore, her opinions of things were at least slightly biased and based on a handful of interactions that were now long in the past.

"I mean, I'm surprised she even touched you after I was done with you but even still... That's terrible." She meant him thinking about wanting her, wanting to see her. It didn't bother her, wasn't her shitty one-sided relationship, but there was an irony in his actions that Anna was sure Nick didn't realize. "You see how that's terrible, right? Wanting me when you're with her? That's a lot more unfaithful than I ever was with you. Fuck if you'd been pining over someone else and I found out... I would have rathered to find you balls deep in some bitch. Sex can be a mistake but that? Knowing there's a part of you that's not all in, that'd walk away if the right thing happened?" In the end she just shook her head, not finishing the thought out loud. She'd left the one person who had genuinely good to her since he walked away because she couldn't take feeling like that.
 
Again, Bryce agreed with his fiance. If they were on the run, without access to properly their bodies, Bryce would have felt different. Thankfully, they both had showered and gotten clean not that long ago. He knew it would not always be the case, especially now since they were on their own. Therefore, Bryce had every intention to take advantage of this opportunity, since they were quite clean now. Feeling her foot run across his leg might not have been inherently sexual, but it did make Bryce moan. He knew that Alicia could understand all his buttons and know which buttons to push for this reaction. Finally, he forced himself up, but not before stealing a kiss from her lips. Bryce crawled down the bed, sitting upright and stretching his legs out over the bed. Meanwhile, he pulled Alicia's feet into his lap with a wicked grin on his face. "Until then, I'm going to enjoy your feet while I can." Bryce admitted, starting to slowly rub on the soles of her feet. Bryce spent approximately five minutes touching, massaging, and eventually kissing her feet. His focus was on Alicia's soles, moving to her toes only sparingly.

Once he felt satisfied, Bryce decided to keep his promise about worshiping the rest of her body. He started up her legs, touching and massaging every inch of her leg, pressing kisses in between her thighs. The male even attacked her crotch, pressing his face up against her clothed crotch. Then, he moved upwards, focusing on her abdomen and chest, moving his lips across every inch. The last major area was Alicia's arms and hands, still kissing her, taking his sweet time.

When he finished there, it left only her face and lips. So, happily, Bryce found himself on top of Alicia, kissing her lips while his hands were cupping her face. It turned from a massage to a makeout session quickly. He knew they would need to get some sleep soon, but he just wanted to have one more passionate kiss with Alicia. "I love you, Princess. I love you so fucking much. I don't even want to go to sleep. I just want to stay up all night and kiss you." Bryce whispered, chuckling quietly as he thought about the need they had to get some rest. The only problem was: going to sleep meant he had to stop kissing and touching Alicia.

--

Yeah, it sounded moronic, didn't it? Nick did not deny that. "I'll be honest with you, I don't know what I exactly expected. Like I said, I never thought clearly. I just wanted to see you again, that's all. I didn't even expect you to say anything to me. I just wanted to know that you were alright." Nick admitted with a languid shrug of his shoulders. What else could he say? He should have known that interaction would have been less than desirable. Nick felt like an idiot for saying what he said now, but it was too late to take things back. At least she knew that he thought about her. That was the point, after all. Plus, Anna had a good point. It did not make much sense for him to have acted the way he did. It was stupid on his behalf, but nobody ever accused Nick of thinking things through very well. "I mean, I was never emotionally invested with her. We were together. We just fucked a couple times, that was it." Nick clarified. He never considered himself and Gloria as dating. It was quite physical and only physical. Gloria might have felt differently as it felt like his friend tried to increase their status, but Nick never budged.

After all, Nick would have never been able to take on another relationship after Anna. They had something special, something more than sex. Sex was something he could have found with just about any woman. The emotional connection, though? Nick needed that with Anna. "Needless to say, after you and I were done, I just couldn't bring myself to be with anyone else. I might have tried something once or twice,for fun, but it was only fun. I realized that you were the only person that made me happy." So, perhaps it would have been different if they saw one another at the church.

Nick and Gloria were not together, and he was sure that Gloria would not have liked seeing Anna, it was not like they were invested or anything like that. "It's all just a fucky situation. I should have done so much different, but I guess I don't do myself much good just thinking about the shit. That's something else I hate, I can't stop thinking about it, regretting what I did. I know I'm horrible at apologizing or taking responsibility for my own actions, but I'll do my best to make up for what I can, if I can."
 
Her smile grew in to a close-lipped grin as Bryce's reaction became obvious, and the entire time she looked at him with an unending love in her soft green eyes. She loved knowing the way she affected him, how easily she could push his buttons but at the same time know that it was safe to do so. As much as she would have loved to lay there face to face in the bare bed forever, Bryce clambering away to make his way to the middle of the bed was no surprise. He pulled her feet in to his lap and she arched her feet against his hand, rolling the heels against the side of his palms. She sighed as his hands worked expert magic on the soles of her feet and then started to work his way up her body. While she hadn't expected this now, had been more referencing the idea of him worshiping her at any time, Alicia definitely was not about to say no. She hummed and sighed the entire time, rolled her hips towards him as his face neared her covered core, and as he rose inch by inch her fingers were lost in the thick locks of Bryce's curls. By the time he reached her lips one more kiss was not enough.

There was a gentle passion in the way that Alicia kissed him then, at least at first; soft, romantic, needy. Luckily, Bryce did not want just one more kiss either and it quickly turned in to something much more heated. With Bryce on top of her she was able to grasp at him and run her fingers along him - his face, his neck, down his chest. While one hand focused on the upper part of his body, the other had stilled on his side with the fabric of his shirt held tight. "Mm, that's very tempting - I was thinking the same thing. If we didn't need to be on the move tomorrow I would suggest we skip on the sleep, but we're going to want our energy. The longer we stay still, the less chance we have that my mom and them will be waiting for us at the Abigail. I know they'll stay as long as possible... But we don't know how much time is possible."

That wasn't something that Alicia wanted to think about, so she didn't. Instead, she leaned in to take a soft, loving kiss from her boyfriend. Towards the end her lips opened just just far enough for her tongue to slide between them and caress the soft flesh of Bryce's lower lip, and before there was even a reaction time she had pulled away. "I really, really would love to just stay with you like this all night. I'd like that every night."

----

"I never tried, not really. You know me, though - I don't like to be alone." The implication was that there definitely had been people since they split, but she wasn't very interested in talking about specifics. The closest things had gotten to serious was with a douchebag who thought he could control her because he let her live in his shitty ass trailer at the edge of the city when Molly kicked her out, and wouldn't let her meet the dealer so she relied on him to score. Neither of them had ever loved each other, it was an arrangement of convenience, and within four months she'd been calling Molly to pick her up because he had thought it was cool to try and lay a hand on her (the first time could have been a mistake, the second time she'd walked away with some nasty bruising and a split lip, but broken his wrist in return - and then called the police herself when he threatened to report her). Her standards had been low at the time, though. She'd been in a rut, past the point of feeling like she stood any chance of getting out with it. Sean was older and hot and crystal made her feel alive again, and Anna had let herself fall apart so that she could feel anything at all.

"Hard to picture you being cool with casual sex, though - you made a relationship out of me for fuck's sake." Anna wasn't being judgemental or anything of the likes, just remarking about how strange a concept it seemed given that he had fought against staying casual in her case. There had always been something between them, though. Anna had known since the day the day they met that she wanted to keep Nick around, she had just hoped to be able to do so without having to complicate things. They got complicated anyways, and before she had even realized what was going on he had basically been living in Molly's cramped apartment with her. Ironically, it had taken him explaining every way in which they were already together (everything other than skipping on condoms basically, though that was one thing she wouldn't drop until six months later when a late period made her too anxious to not get on birth control) for her to agree that adding a title to the mix would change nothing.

There was a moment of silence between the pair after that. Anna used that moment to lean just slightly in Nick's direction so that their shoulders touched and she could rest her temple against him. She was tired, worn out from spending the better part of the day active with him (both in bed and then on the move), but at the same time she had no desire to get up and find a bed. Breaking the moment would bring an end to talking. "Don't think it really matters, though - thinking about the could-have-beens and all that. We both fucked up, we both don't know how to say sorry without lowkey trying to blame each other... There's some shit that can't just be left in the past but other than that we'll just drive ourselves crazy trying to fix the shit that doesn't matter now."
 
"Well, Princess, I don't care where we are, I don't care what the situation is: when we lay down for the night, on a bed, on the grass, in an abandoned building - you will be in my arms. That's something applicable for every situation. I don't think it is something we'll ever need to worry about. As long as we're physically together, I can guarantee you this: I will kiss you for as long as I can and I will hold you as tight as I can before we sleep. I could not imagine it another way. I doubt I could even fall asleep without you in my arms now." Again, it was a cliche and it was cheesy, but it was also very truthful. Bryce could not picture a night without the brunette beauty. If, for some reason, they ever became separated - Bryce knew his night would be full of tossing and turning. The worry about her safety would be obvious, but the physical aspect of not having her body in his arms would also inhibit his ability to sleep or rest peacefully. Alicia was important to him in so many ways. She was his lifeline, more or less.

When this final kiss ended, Bryce decided to make an executive decision. "Okay, let's actually get some sleep, then. At this rate, you might convince me not to sleep." Bryce answered with a soft chuckle. No, she was not asking him to skip sleep. Even she suggested they should get some rest, but when they kissed and touched, it was practically a plea for him to get naked with her. That's how it felt, anyways. Her touch was so electric and fantastic - Bryce felt the fire in his body erupt whenever either occurred, especially when they occurred together. Reaching down the bed, Bryce pulled the (thankfully) thick blankets up around their necks. Bryce wrapped his arms around her tightly, pressing a kiss onto her lips again. "Good night, my beautiful fiance. Sleep well. I'll be right here if you need anything. I love you so much." After the statement ended, Bryce decided to peck her lips one more time just for emphasis. He did not bother staying awake to keep watch. Maybe he should have, but they were barricaded in quite well. Guns were close. if someone was getting into the house, they would hear it and react adequately.

After all, they both needed proper energy for tomorrow. After gazing into her eyes one more time, Bryce just took a mental picture of her perfect face and closed his eyes. His breathing was soft, slowly rolling off against her lips since their faces were so close together. His body sunk into the mattress and he felt comfortable all snuggled up with his fiance, underneath the thick covers.

--

Maybe it did not make any sense, but hearing Anna did not try to move on in a relationship with someone made Nick feel so much better about himself. They were the same, they shared similar feelings. When the woman spoke about her not liking to be alone, Nick definitely understood where she was coming from. Hell, it was the same for him as well. Nick did not like being alone, and face it, he was a young man with certain physical needs that everyone had. Since he was not in an emotional, invested relationship with Anna, he found it acceptable to seek out other women for those needs. After all, he was under the impression that himself and Anna were never seeing each other again, much less starting a relationship again. Even so, he still pined for the dark-haired beauty and could not bring himself to even try to fall for someone else. Gloria might have been on his ass about wanting something more than just a fuck buddy, but that was never acceptable in Nick's eyes. They were nothing more than friends. Even then, Nick had a sour view about Gloria considering the nasty shit she had said to Anna.

Similarly, Nick was not in the mood to talk about specifics. Since there was a chance they might have something here again, the last thing he wanted was to think about Anna with someone else (again). She was right about it sounding odd that Nick was okay with casual sex. It was much different than when they were together. "Yeah, I see why that is surprising. I guess I just didn't want to be alone, kind of like you said. Plus, I knew there wasn't anyone else out there that I wanted a relationship with." He did not say it outright, but Nick basically told Anna that she was the only woman he could see for himself in a relationship. She was on a high pedestal in his eyes. No other woman even came close to her. "I just don't want a relationship with anyone. Sex is... sex. Before you, I could never see myself wanting some long-term relationship. After you... you're the only one I could see it with." Nick did not mean to get all sappy on her, but it was the truth. He knew that he did not need to explain himself, but it sure as hell felt good to say something to Anna without insulting her or yelling at her for once.

After the silence began, Nick let it simmer. He felt Anna lean into him, so he did the same thing, their heads gently touching. Again, if they were together since being reunited at the compound, they were either yelling at each other or fucking, there was no in-between. Nick did not know the definition for whatever this kind of state was, but he sure as hell enjoyed it, even if they were both covered from head to boots in walker guts and innards. "You're right about that. I've never been good at sorry or taking responsibility. I know that I fucked up. We can't just forget about everything, but I believe we can work at a better future, whatever that is for us. We've talked about it and yelled about it. I don't think there's much more we can say on what happened."
 
Okay, okay. Bryce was right - they needed to get to bed and anything more that they did would just be putting the inevitable off. Alicia knew both herself and her fiance well enough to know that if they didn't make a strict call to stop then they would not - neither were kidding when they said that they would spend all night kissing each other if given the choice. Luckily even the desert cooled down at night, much more so than Alicia expected. She thought she may have heard that before, and that the drastic drop was related to the fact that there were no asphalt roads and large buildings to keep the head from dissipating, but it had been one thing to hear about it and another to observe it personally. Of course, this just made Bryce's desire to hold on to her as they slept much more reasonable. The brunette tied her hair back with the band she kept on her wrist so that it didn't become too much of a mess over right - she was ridiculously prone to bedhead for someone who stayed so still when asleep. She knew Bryce didn't judge but, like everything else she had, her hair brush was in her bag... Which had been left in the truck. She wanted to stay neat out of personal desire on top of wanting to look good for the love of her life. Beside that fact, it was just more comfortable - no hair would end up in anyone's mouth or nose.

Alicia rested her head against Bryce's chest as he pulled the blankets up over them, and after getting snuggled under them she snuggled up to him. They shared one last kiss, her raising her head from his chest to meet his lips with ease, as she rested her hand against his abdomen and tangled one of her legs between his. Maybe it wasn't practical to mingle so tightly with him, not if an intruder of some kind came around, but Bryce wasn't the only one who couldn't sleep without her touch. Just thinking about having to spend the night without Bryce was terrible, not to mention thinking about what could have happened to seperate them in the first place. Luckily, Aliciai wasn't able to focus on that with his warm weight around her. It was only a couple minutes after they had curled up together that sleep had taken her.

Alicia did not rise until the sun peeked through the curtains and right in to their faces. The hot, bright beam against her closed eyes was more than enough to rouse the young woman, and a low grumble escaped her tired lips as she started to move against her lover's chest. Her hand grasped at his shirt, pulled it in towards her torso, and then released it as all of her limbs extended in various directions to stretch. Had Bryce not been awoken by her movements, he likely would have been by the tender kiss she left on his cheek. As much as Alicia didn't want to wake him up, she was up. "Hello my prince, morning has come," she whispered in a soft tone, breath hot against his ear as she resisted the urge to stretch her back until after everyone was fully awake (also because that was much easier to do standing).

----

What Nick said was ridiculously sappy, and Anna wasn't lost on the fact that this was the first time they had touched casually since being reunited. She could have responded in tune, said that he was the only person she had ever wanted to be with. In that sense he was her first and only which she thought mattered a hell of a lot more than anything else. She had been content in her ways, taken her body back from the people who spent so long telling her that it wasn't hers to control, and turned it in to a weapon. She couldn't undo anything that she had done, but just as Nick didn't like hearing about it (and she couldn't blame him for that) she did not like to talk about it. She wouldn't say anything like that though, because he made her weak in ways that she just didn't want to be and she didn't know how to be sweet without feeling like she was giving a part of herself up. Love was like that, though. It was giving someone a piece of yourself and expecting them not to mistreat it - and she had mistreated him, so he had every right to not want to go through that again. The fact that Nick still wanted to try again made even less sense than trying for the first time.

So on the subject, she didn't know what to say. She could be outright, say that she didn't trust him to not walk away again and that no matter how hard she tried she couldn't shake the feeling that she was about to be left truly alone for the first time in her life, with not even a soul to care - among other things. How fucked was that - he was the one who had been betrayed but there she was scared that this wouldn't work? She'd jumped off cliffs before, stood on the edge of tall buildings, faced death and come back from it; none of that had terrified her, but one dumb boy had the ability to turn her in to a mess? The fear was the same thing that had got her before, turned her in to a ball of stress and sharp words and put her on edge that every thing he said or every time he walked out the door would be the last. It hadn't been healthy, not at all, so how was she supposed to feel okay when she already felt that way and it was just the beginning? It was easier to just fuck. Right about then, Anna wished that they were just fucking - but she'd been the one to start talking so this was her fault, and even if they hadn't been having a moment they were still covered head to toe in corpse innards which wasn't exactly arousing.

"I'm trying." Little more than that could be said without revealing her insecurities and maybe it was dumb that she was trying to move on when she was the one who fucked shit up but that was all that she could give him right now. Anna could have lied to him, that would have been the easy solution - told him that all was well on her side and she respected any trouble he may still have had. If she had been a reasonable person, that would have been how things genuinely were. She couldn't say the stuff that was going through her head because he would tell her that she had no right to be the worried one, or maybe they'd start fighting because she rarely could express genuine feelings without getting defensive - and her defense was to get on the attack. "I'll be by your side, have your back... Give some damn good head along the way."
 
Only when Alicia fell asleep did Bryce decide to close his own eyes. For the first couple minutes, Bryce watched the way Alicia’s face looked peaceful when she slept. Her breathing was even, and her body was relaxed. Yet, even in her sleeping state, he could feel his lover’s arms tight around his body. Even in sleep, she was quite the clingy girl (which warmed his heart). Finally, Bryce closed his eyes, resting his head only inches away from her face. His dreams were full of sunshine and rainbow, well, not literally, but it involved seeing Alicia in a wedding gown, walking down the aisle towards him. Everything was beautiful in his dream, but Bryce knew it was an even brighter reality. The male remained asleep until he felt the soft touch of a pair of full, pink lips pressing against his cheek. “Hmm..” He grumbled to himself, wiggling slightly against the bed. His blue eyes opened, peering upwards at Alicia. He saw those lips inches from his face, her green eyes bright. Bryce finally fully woke up, giving her a smile once he fully came to. His hand first reached upwards, sliding his fingers through Alicia’s long hair.

“Good morning, Princess. You’re up before I am. That’s new.” He commented with a quiet chuckle, leaning close to nuzzle their noses together. It sounded like everything was under control outside the house. Bryce sensed that everything was safe around them, meaning he could relax for a few minutes. “God, you must be an angel. I love seeing your face when I first wake up. I don’t want that to ever change.” He whispered quietly, pressing a soft kiss to her cheek as well. Slowly, he rolled on top of her, covering her body with his own.

She was wrapped up tightly, pressing another kiss onto her forehead. “Ugh, let’s get moving babe. I’d love to stay here longer but I know if I stop getting up… you’re going to make me stay here longer.” Chuckling quietly, Bryce finally forced himself to sit upright onto the edge of the bed. He reached down to squeeze her hand gently, finally standing up to his feet. Once Bryce was standing, the young man stretched his back out, his arms as well. Reaching down, Bryce pulled his shoes on. It was time to get moving, so Bryce reached down to grab the gun and knife from the nightstand.

Waiting until Alicia was awake and armed, Bryce leaned against the door. It might have been something quite small and minute, but he enjoyed watching the brunette maneuver around and get ready for the morning. Whenever Alicia was ready, he reached down to take her hand. The first thing he did was walk towards the window directly above the front entrance. Checking the surroundings, it looked like everything was safe. He saw nothing around them. Deciding it was safe to move, Bryce moved downstairs with the brunette holding his hand, only releasing it long enough to get the door unbarricaded.

--

Being sappy was quite uncharacteristic of Nick Clark. It went without saying, but Anna should not expect this side of Nick to always be open. It was likely a combination of high emotions combined with their dangerous situation, close proximity, and alone time. Come to think of it, since being reunited, this was the first time they were alone. No, Nick did not count the times they were in the same room together with the door closed. There was always someone else around: Strand, Madison, Alicia, the people at the estate… it never stopped. Now? There was not a person even on the same block as these two, assumingly. Nick liked it that way. Nobody could bother them. Nobody could ruin this moment. Nobody could interrupt them. That was why Nick loved hanging out at Anna’s so much – they did not have anyone watching over them (well, Molly often interrupted them, but Nick learned that she was part of the deal with Anna, so he eventually got used to it and found her less annoying at time went forward). Perhaps these were the reasons contributing to Nick’s odd behavior tonight. It felt unnatural, but it also felt important to say the things he did.

The following words from Anna’s lips were not the things Nick wanted to hear. It took every fiber of his being to not roll his eyes. Did Nick realize he fucked up way back when? Yeah, he did. It was wrong of him to walk out on Anna. On the other hand, let’s not forget who’s fault it was – Anna’s. After all, what did she expect? Would Nick just laugh it off, tell their friend to get out the bed, and everything would be merry again? It was sickening to think about. In all honesty, Nick hated himself for wanting Anna. She did the one thing that nobody should ever do in a relationship – cheat. That was the one unforgivable offense (at least, used to be in his mind) of a relationship. He always said to himself that he would work through anything, but once someone cheated, that was it. Things were always easier said than done. Things were always easier thought about, but when real life happened, plans changed. Nick would have found it preposterous if he knew the way Anna felt worried about him walking out.

The only reason he walked out was – there was a good reason, because she cheated. On the other hand, Nick was quite worried as well – what if they did start over and she started fucking other guys again? Maybe she could argue that just fucking wasn’t as bad as becoming emotionally attached with someone else. In Nick’s opinion, that was just her being pathetic, not trying to be the bad guy. Nick had to stop going down this road, or he would say something he would regret. He was trying his hardest to forgive. If Nick had to be honest, he would guess that his desire to be with Anna was not something he could control. His rational being and rational part of himself said to get away from her, she was bad for him. But, he could not – either could not, or would not, Nick did not know. “Yeah, that’s all I can really ask for anyways. Having you in some capacity is better than not at all. We don’t have to figure shit out tonight. We don’t have a deadline. We can just chill and do whatever we feel like.” Again, it was uncharacteristic. He was not asking for a definite yes or no or label for their relationship/friendship/whatever this was. Instead, he was simply going with the flow, which was his way of helping to compromise for her, to make this process less stressful on her.
 
"Sun was right in my eyes," she replied when he mentioned she was awake first, and then she scrunched her nose up to express just how bothersome that was. In the end, she just looked squinty-eyed and kind of squished - that faded quickly though as her nose met Bryce's and they went through their gentle, quiet morning routine. Bryce was right about the fact that she would have kept him in bed if he didn't get up then - had he laid back down or closed his eyes, Alicia would have taken it as an opportunity to cuddle up with him. Likely, she would have ended up back asleep and that would not have been productive given that they had to be on the move as soon as possible. With the truck, her mother, Strand and Ofelia likely would have made it to where the Abigail awaited it before night had ended. They had a goal and as much as Alicia would have loved to stay curled up in bed with the love of her life, that just was not a viable option.

There wasn't much to do in terms of getting ready - she hadn't tossed aside any clothes the night before, figuring that was the best bet in case they needed to be on the move quick. Because of that, all there was to put on was her shoes (she was still grateful that she had been wearing her runners when they had to leave the house behind instead of something less suitable for a lot of walking and running) and grab the pistol off of the end table. Bryce had the gun, which was likely empty or close to it by now, so she pocketed her knife. After that she was pretty much ready, but she did pause in front of a mirror to run her hands through the tangles of her hair. Though it wasn't as bad as it would have been if she had not tied it up the night before, she definitely would not be letting it down right now. That could wait until she had a proper hair brush.

They made their way downstairs hand in hand, and Alicia wouldn't have wanted it any other way. As Bryce peered out of one window, she peered through another on her way towards the kitchen. With a lack of light the previous night, a thorough search was not easy. While she doubted they had missed much if anything in their cursory run of the house, finding something to drink would help the days' trek across the desert. It seemed she was in luck because there were two unopened bottles of water in the fridge, which smelt rank in its own right, and while that wasn't a lot it was better than nothing. After doing a quick check for anything munchable and coming across nothing, she made her way back towards the entrance in time for Bryce to have finished unbarricading the door. He likely expected that she would take his hand, but was instead met with a bottle of water that she would quickly replace with her own hand once he had a chance to move it.

"Found these but no munchies, not surprised. The smell of the fridge probably deterred anyone from looking in it enough to find the water. I figured it was better than nothing." Once she had the chance, she grabbed his hand immediately. "Time to get going my love?"

----

Anna could feel it, or maybe her mind was making up something that wasn't really there. That wouldn't be surprising and it wouldn't be a first, but it was like liquid liquid lead pooled at the base of her tongue and leaked down her throat, settling on her diaphragm to keep her from breathing. She hadn't even said anything wrong, just that she was giving him her effort, and he was already going back to thinking like she hadn't already said she was in the wrong ten times over, so maybe she was right to feel like that moment's hesitation before he replied was filled with judgement. People were allowed to have feelings and fuck up and she wasn't the only one of course, that was why she had let him walk away. She didn't hold that against him anymore, had for a long time, but that didn't change the fact that it still effected her worries whether she wanted it to or not.

Thing is, the feelings were there. The feelings were undeniably, one hundred percent there and they had been from the day she had met him. It took the back burner for a while, she wasn't about to force him to come back when he had a good reason to walk away after all, but she had never stopped caring - she was just really, really good at repressing shit. However, one of the last things she ever wanted to do was be a source of pain for him again and she was pretty damn sure that she wouldn't but "pretty damn sure" wasn't enough. Ronnie was a one-off stemmed by post-traumatic stress and a man's refusal to take no as an answer. That didn't make it okay, but those were the facts - and the fact that Nick wouldn't even listen to the idea of that being a major cause made the subject impossible to breach. She wondered sometimes, if he'd seen the way her eyes had been glazed over or if he'd shown up two minutes earlier when she had still been telling him to stop, he might take her a little more serious. Was it bad timing or would he have accused her of being the worst person in the world even if he'd seen with his own eyes that she hadn't wanted it? Under no circumstance did she expect him to just forgive or forget, but instead of giving her a little bit of empathy he had just made talking about anything related to it impossible on her part. (Maybe that was her fault for telling him about John when she had, but now there was no chance to correct that.)

"I know you're not actually okay with that." She tried really hard not to sound tense and make it obvious that something had gotten to her, but Anna had no idea how well that worked. Her first move was to try to run her fingers through his hair, an idle motion that she didn't even think about until her fingertips met clumped, bloody pieces and pulled away. Instead she leaned in towards him and pressed a dry, close-lipped kiss to his forehead. By now she'd lost the ability to care about the grossness and it wasn't she like was licking his forehead or anything (which, if she was being honest, was something she had definitely done when playing around with him before). She had a million reasons why she didn't want to rush but she figured there was one that he could at least appreciate, even if he'd think she was being a little bitch for any of the other ones. "Look - my heart's in it I promise. I just... I wanna be sure that I can treat you like you deserve before I ask you to fall back down this rabbit hole."
 
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