Surviving or Living

Chapter 6: An Unpleasant Encounter

Alicia was looking outside, her head rested against the car's window and her headphones in her ears so she could listen to the music. They were driving for almost 5 hours, and never met living people. Only dead ones. They were now in Nevada, not too far from Las Vegas, when they suddenly saw some buildings outside. Madison stopped her car, and so did the others.
"What's going on?" Travis asked getting out of the pickup truck.
"I guess we should probably take a break"
"Yeah I agree" Elyza said walking a little around the car.
"Not too long" Daniel said taking his shotgun. "We don't know what we can meet here"
Elyza finally stopped next to the car when everyone was out, and she winked at Alicia, her little smirk on her lips. Alicia rolled her eyes like always, but this time a little smile was on her lips. As she felt her cheeks starting to blush, she quickly lowered her eyes pretending to look at her phone, making Elyza chuckle.
What the hell ? Alicia though.
"Hey !" Daniel suddenly said. "There's someone over there"
He pointed his shotgun to the direction where a group of people was approaching.
"Infected?" Victor asked.
"I don't think so" Elyza said pointing her gun to the same direction as Daniel. "They're too fast"
As the group of strangers was approaching, they could have a better view of them. There were a girl, who seemed to lead the group, and two men.
"Elyza Lex !" The woman exclaimed stopping in front of the others. "What an unpleasant surprise"
"Anya ?"
"You both know each other ?" Madison asked.
"Yeah" Elyza said between her teeth. "She's my ex girlfriend. What the fuck are you doing here ? Aren't you supposed to be in jail?"
"Oh I was. But thanks to this situation, I'm free now" Anya said with a smile. "I didn't get to thank you, by the way. How was your short jail time ?"
Elyza didn't responded, she was still glaring at Anya.
"What's going on?" Travis asked frowning.
"Oh you didn't tell them for the armed robbery?" Anya asked with a smile.
"Armed robbery?" Travis exclaimed, and Madison gasped in surprise, moving a bit to place herself a little ahead of Alicia.
"Yes" Anya said. "This little blonde over there is a coward. She was so scared she cooperated with the police."
"You forced her to do this!" Alicia suddenly protested, approaching Elyza. "She didn't want to do this. That's why she called the police"
"That's what you told her ?" Anya asked looking at Elyza, then she looked at Alicia. "Who are you, her new girlfriend?" She returned her stare to Elyza. "A bit young for you, don't you think?"
"I'm not her girlfriend" Alicia exclaimed. "I'm just a friend"
"And what she said is true" Elyza said threateningly. "Now leave us alone."
As Anya wasn't moving, Elyza shoot so the bullet left a simple cut on Anya's shoulder. Surprised, Anya looked at her shoulder then back at Elyza.
"Next time I shot you between your eyes" Elyza said threateningly.
Anya slowly stepped backwards, ready to leave with the two other men.
"Good luck with your new family" Anya said sarcastically. "I know you always dreamed about having one, but squatting one ? I'd never thought you would do that"
With that, Anya started to walk away with her friends.
"Armed robbery?" Travis exclaimed, and Elyza quickly faced him, lowering her gun.
She slowly nodded, a bit ashamed, and looked at Alicia.
"How do you know?" She asked, then glared at Nick.
"He didn't tell me anything" Alicia said. "I listened to your conversation"
"So you both knew ?" Madison exclaimed. "You both knew and you said nothing?"
"Mom she made a mistake" Nick said. "But it's the past"
"No" Madison exclaimed. "It's not a simple mistake. It's a serious thing." Then she looked at Elyza, her eyes showing great betrayal. "You did this, and you stayed around our kids ?"
"I think we should talk about all of this calmly" Victor suddenly spoke.
"No. There's nothing to talk about."
The tears started to appear in Elyza's eyes, and she raised them to look at Alicia when the brunette was trying to defend her.
"But mom she called the police! And cooperated with them. That means she did the right thing"
"Alicia please get in the car" Madison said.
"But mom ..."
"Alicia!" Madison suddenly spoke loudly.
"It's ok princess" Elyza said with sadness in her voice. "It's not the first time this kind of thing happens to me. And it certainly won't be the last."
With that, she quickly walked toward the car and took her backpack and her gun machine, then took her motorcycle from the pickup truck, mounted it and drove away, without anyone to stop her. Alicia glared at her mother, her arms crossed on her chest.
"Get in the car" Madison repeated herself.
"Sure I will" Alicia exclaimed.