In denial//clexa-lexarke an

"No"

Their last stop for a while was a secluded mansion, which belonged to Strand. He informed them that the manor had a very sophisticated and up-to-date infrastructure that allowed it to power itself, so they would have electricity and running water so long as the systems received the necessary maintenance. The place would be safe and its systems would allow them all to stay there for an indefinite period, which was why it was their safest bet, and hence why they were headed there.

It was nearly 2 a.m. when they finally arrived at their stop. The second they all entered the mansion, Strand stated that there were five rooms, two of which were master bedrooms and the rest had twin beds, he made it clear that everyone would have to share a room except for him of course and he headed to one of the master bedrooms.

Everyone was exhausted and they each headed to their rooms almost automatically paired: Madison and Travis to the other master bedroom; Daniel with Ofelia; Nick with Chris; and Alicia with Elyza to the other bedrooms.

Alicia threw herself on the bed as soon as she entered their room; Elyza closed the door behind them and leaned on it as she stared at Alicia's limp body on the mattress. She looked beautiful just lying there with her hair all over the place. Alicia had closed her eyes but she knew Elyza was by the door staring at her, "What?" she asked Elyza. 

"Nothing. I was just thinking it's a shame there's two beds instead of one." She said as she finally moved to her own bed next to Alicia's. Alicia was too tired to bury her laugh so she let it free and Elyza bit her tongue at the feeling Alicia's laugh gave her.

Alicia wanted to sleep, but she had to solve the mystery of how Elyza had showed up at just the right time. "How did you find us? How did you know where we were?" she asked.

"Lucky I guess," answered Elyza. Alicia laughed again, not believing her for a second.

Elyza liked seeing her like this, relaxed. She didn't know if it was the exhaustion from having just gone through hell combined with the lack of sleep that was making her this way, but she didn't care. She was just grateful to get to see her in this state.

Alicia turned her face to Elyza without moving her body and opened her eyes this time when she spoke, "I'm serious. Why did you follow us?" she said softly. 

"I didn't really plan on following you." she lied, "I heard you and your mom talking last night about... Anyways... early morning I might have, maybe, hypothetically speaking, broken into your truck in hopes of finding a map for my possible future adventures and I might have, maybe, found the base you guys talked about marked with a pen. Hypothetically speaking, of course" she said as she conjured up an innocent face to hide her guilt, never losing her comicality.

"You broke into the truck?!" Alicia said, raising her head slightly from the mattress, "to steal a map?" she added, only to express her confusion, and how absurd the idea was to her.

"Hey, maps come in handy in a zombie apocalypse. I lost mine a while back. And by lost I mean it got drenched in zombie blood. And I said hypothetically" said Elyza.

"You could've just asked for it" complemented Alicia.