When Kamille walked back into the hotel room with yet another scotch-filled glass in her hand, she wondered how Strand had survived this long with all his drinking. Nonetheless, if it made him feel better, who was she to argue it?
Alicia was laying more blankets on Strand when Kamille set his glass down on the bedside table. She took a seat on one of the chairs at the table by the balcony as a comfortable silence filled the air.
"You have excellent bedside manner," Strand spoke, watching Alicia look after him. "Andrés could take a few tips."
Alicia smiled with amusement as she continued to tuck him in. "I volunteered at County USC through high school." Strand groaned as she applied pressure to his bandage and continued, "The nurses taught us that what you don't say to patients is as important as what you do say."
Strand sighed. "For instance?"
Alicia paused a moment, before saying, "I'm not gonna tell you it's gonna be alright."
Kamille took a sip of her own glass of water, distracting herself from her free-running thoughts as Strand breathed out deeply.
"Why on earth not?" he asked Alicia.
Despite Alicia's back facing Kamille, the Brit could picture the frown on her lips as she said, "Might not be."
Strand tried to laugh, but it was hurting more than anything, resulting in a groan. "I changed my mind. Your bedside manner is abysmal."
Alicia released a breathy laugh. "You didn't seem like someone who liked sugarcoating."
Strand closed his eyes. "I don't. Never needed it."
"Same," Alicia agreed, earning the injured man's attention, and Kamille's. "No one did it for me."
"You said you raised yourself," Strand remembered, referring to a conversation that seemed like long ago to Kamille – when they first arrived at the hotel – though it was only a week ago. "What does that mean?"
Alicia thought to herself, distracting herself with Strand's bandage. "Erm... I was helping everyone else. I was doctor to Nick. Detox, withdrawals. And then my dad."
Kamille realised that Alicia rarely mentioned her dad. She knew he'd died in a car accident, but that was it. Alicia never wanted to talk about him, but hearing this conversation... it was starting to make sense.
"And your mother?" Strand asked curiously.
Alicia nodded. "Had her hands full."
"You've got her all to yourself now."
Alicia shook her head gently. "I didn't want it like this... I'm still not sure she actually sees me."
Strand watched her carefully. "Then make her."
Alicia nodded slowly and it went quiet again. Kamille knew Alicia enough to know that the younger girl would be stuck in her mind after that. Madison was always a sore subject for her, that much had been made obvious when her and Adam first met her. Kamille admired Alicia's mum, but she had to agree that she seemed to put Nick first before everything, even when he wasn't there.
Standing up, Kamille approached Strand and Alicia, resting a hand on Alicia's shoulder. "I'll take it from here, love. You go sit down."
Alicia didn't argue as she stood up, squeezing Kamille's hand gratefully, before sitting in the chair Kamille was just sat in. Kamille took Alicia's seat on the bed, pressing her hands to Strand's bandage and applying pressure to stop the bleeding for as long as they could.
Kamille glanced over her shoulder at Alicia, seeing the brunette focused on the glass of water, probably lost in her thoughts.
"Madison told me that you're both together now," Strand spoke up, earning both girls' attention. "Congratulations."
"Thanks," Kamille spoke for the both of them, offering a small smile to him.
Strand reached for his scotch glass and took a sip, his head propped up on a pillow. "Tell me. I know when you both met. But I don't know how."
Kamille bit her lower lip and looked to Alicia, who was barely paying attention. "Alicia. Why don't you tell him?"
Alicia suddenly looked up. "Huh? What?"
Kamille smiled at her adoringly. "He wants to know how we met."
Alicia's expression softened as a small smile graced her lips in remembrance. "Okay, well, it was when we were heading to the Abigail for the first time, when our car ran out of gas, so mom sent us all out. I got separated from you guys though, when infected chased me away.
"I tried to hide in an abandoned garage, but I cut my leg on the broken window and couldn't walk. I thought I was done for, honestly." Alicia shook her head. "That seems so long ago now. But yeah, so I guess I must have passed out. I woke up feeling very confused about where I was. Then I saw this strange girl eating from a can of beans in front of me and thought I was gonna die."
"Gee, thanks," Kamille mumbled playfully, earning a laugh from Alicia.
"As all great love stories begin," Strand teased. "What happened next?"
Alicia leaned back in her chair with thought, a nostalgic smile tugging at her lips. "So, I woke up and Kamille was there. I tried to threaten her with the shotgun mom gave me to protect myself, but she outsmarted me."
Strand looked to Kamille as the older girl chuckled.
"I took the shells from her gun," Kamille explained like it was yesterday. "I believe she said she could put four bullets in my head if I didn't tell her who I was. Which was funny because she only had three shells left, and they were in my hand."
Alicia rolled her eyes, a smile on her lips, as Strand chuckled to himself, before groaning from moving too quickly.
"I told her who I was and how I bandaged her ankle up," Kamille continued. "I don't think she trusted me though."
"I didn't," Alicia confirmed with a grin. "Not one bit. But you were my only choice and you didn't look like you wanted to kill me, so..."
"Then I introduced her to my brother, Adam," Kamille said, a twitch to her smile before she remembered that it was okay to miss him. "Bit of a handful, but we agreed to help her get back to her family."
"And they did," Alicia finished, meeting Kamille's eyes. Her eyes shone with gratitude, even after all this time. "And I realised that I couldn't leave her behind."
Kamille felt her stomach do somersaults as Alicia gave her a weak-in-the-knees smile.
"What a wonderful story," Strand said, interrupting their moment. Kamille wasn't sure if he was being sarcastic as he said, "I don't think I've ever met two people more perfect for one another."
Kamille felt her cheeks growing warm and decided to distract herself by staring at Strand's bandages and the pressure she was putting on them.
"How much time have we killed?" Strand asked, before coughing a little.
"About an hour," Alicia said. "Mom should be back in another hour or so. The medicine will help."
"Let's hope so," Strand mumbled before taking a sip of his scotch.
"They'll be back," Kamille said with certainty, knowing for sure that nothing could stop Madison.
Strand cracked a smile. "You sound very sure of yourself, Kamille... tell me I'm going to be okay."
Kamille raised her eyebrows. "Pardon?"
"Go on, say it."
Kamille hesitated. "But I can't promise that."
Strand shook his head, seeming to have a point. "Just say it."
Kamille glanced at Alicia, who seemed just as puzzled as she was, before looking to Strand. "You're going to be okay."
Strand smiled, chuckling to himself. "Ah, there we go. It's the accent. It almost makes me want to believe you."
Kamille breathed out, shaking her head with amusement. She heard Alicia chuckle from behind her and saw as Strand was trying everything to get his mind off the wound to his abdomen. It seemed to be working.
–
It was more than an hour later when Madison and Elena returned, beeping their horn loud enough for Alicia to rush downstairs.
Kamille stayed with Strand, waiting on the medication that Andrés was hopefully collecting right now.
It didn't take long for Andrés and Oscar to return with the medication and medical supplies.
"How has he been?" Andrés asked, already laying out the equipment.
Kamille stood up with confusion. "Good, but where are the others? Madison?"
Oscar shook his head with annoyance. "You're lucky we got this. She almost screwed up the deal."
Kamille grew worried. "What do you mean? What happened? Where is Madison?"
Oscar crossed his arms, watching Andrés get to work. "The truck."
Kamille looked to Strand, about to ask if she could check on the blonde, but he was already nodding his head, signalling for her to go.
Kamille left the hotel room, about to head downstairs, but she bumped into Alicia on the way down; the younger girl was stomping up the staircase angrily.
"Woah, woah, Alicia," Kamille stopped her from continuing. "What's happened? Where's Madison?"
Alicia shook her off harshly. "She's just let the whole of Baja know we're open for business."
Kamille furrowed her eyebrows, about to ask what she meant by that, but Alicia got away from her again, storming past her and to their shared room.
"Alicia!" Kamille called after her, running to catch up with her. She had to speed-walk just to keep to the same pace as the angry brunette. "What do you mean by that? What happened?"
Alicia stopped walking suddenly, causing Kamille to almost trip over her own feet.
"She thought she saw Nick," Alicia said, her voice full of venom. Kamille realised her eyes were tearing up. "She almost ruined the trade because of what she thought she saw."
Kamille was lost still, trying to understand why Alicia was so upset.
"Andrés is up there right now with Strand," Kamille told her reassuringly. "He's going to be okay."
Alicia groaned out loud. "No! You don't get it! She turned on the generator! The hotel sign lit up and people from miles away could have seen it."
"What?" Kamille raised her eyebrows with shock. That didn't sound anything like Madison. She wouldn't endanger everyone like that, unless...
"She wanted Nick to see it," Alicia read her mind, smiling bitterly. "She didn't care that we could have attracted hundreds. She wanted him back."
Kamille didn't know what to say as she watched Alicia clench her jaw with frustration.
"She will do anything for him," Alicia said, looking down to her shoes. "I'll never be enough."
"That's not true," Kamille said, using her hand to guide her chin to face her. "You're angry and you have every right to be, but Madison cares about both of you. She made a mistake. She'll see that."
Alicia was staring right at Kamille, yet the latter felt like her mind was elsewhere.
"I'm going to sleep," Alicia said, unclenching her jaw and breathing out. "We'll have to deal with this in the morning."
"I'll check on Strand and see you in a bit," Kamille said, resting a hand on Alicia's forearm and squeezing it gently. "I'm sorry."
Alicia shook her head, evidently fed up, and turned to leave. Kamille watched her walk away and felt guilty for not being able to help. She didn't know what to do and doing nothing was worse.
–
Kamille stared ahead with a slackened jaw, unable to acknowledge what was happening. Madison turning on the generator the previous night, even for a minute, managed to attract around fifty people, all pressed against the hotel's gates, begging for entry.
Some were shouting in Spanish and Kamille was never good at picking up second languages, so she couldn't quite make out what they were saying, even after Hector had tried to teach her some phrases a few days before.
Alicia was a smart girl though, knowing more of the language than she let on. She was able to shout some things back at them, along with Elena, Hector, Oscar and Andrés, presumably apologies. It wasn't working though, since the people were growing more and more restless.
"It was a mistake!" Elena called out, apologetically.
"Yeah, her mistake," Oscar said, looking to Madison with narrowed eyes.
"She knows," Alicia said sternly, directing her stare to Oscar.
Last night, when Kamille returned to their room, Alicia was in bed, trying to fall asleep but still angry at her mother. By morning, when they discovered they'd been found due to Madison's mistake, Alicia had let her anger for her mother disappear. Either that or she had pushed it so far down because of the circumstances that it was no longer present. Either way, Kamille was very concerned for her girlfriend, who had been quiet since her outburst the night before.
"We can't stand here forever," Kamille said aloud, feeling guilty with all the eyes of the helpless staring back at her. "We have to do something."
"We can't let them all in," Elena said, shaking her head. "We don't have the supplies."
As everybody thought to themselves, Kamille noticed Madison stepping closer to the gate, her face pale like she'd seen a ghost. When her eyes followed Madison's, she gasped when she saw Travis making his way through the crowd and to the gate. He was alive.
"Let him in!" Madison shouted, trying to push people out the way for Travis. "He's with me, let him in!"
Kamille and Alicia sprung to action when the others hesitated, helping Madison to let Travis in without letting everybody else through.
"Travis!" Alicia called, pulling him through as Kamille shut the gate, only angering the crowd further.
Travis moved forward and looked between both Clarks before pulling them into a desperate hug. Kamille breathed out as she stepped away from the gate. She looked to the family reunion, still surprised to see Travis. When he left, he was looking for Chris, so where was the troubled Manawa boy if not with his father?
"I'm taking him inside," Madison said to Elena, already leading him towards the entrance.
Travis caught Kamille's eyes and Kamille saw the defeated expression he wore. She wasn't sure what he'd endured on his leave, but it couldn't have been good. Especially because of the lack of Chris.
Kamille patted him on the shoulder as he walked past, before staying with the others to think of a plan.
"The car park," Alicia said, realisation on her face. "We can't leave them here. They need help. We let them into the car park and check them out there."
Andrés nodded. "It's better than nothing." He looked to the crowd and shouted something in Spanish, pointing in the direction of the car park. It seemed to work as the crowd was rushing that way desperately.
"Everybody to the car park," Elena said, before leading them all there.
It took a while, but after sending everyone to the car park, the group managed to set up a makeshift medical wing using what little supplies they had. Kamille and Andrès attempted to check on everybody's injuries, the former helping English-speakers and the latter everyone else. Alicia joined in, checking the minor injuries and recording who was injured severely, who wasn't, and if anybody was infected.
Oscar, Hector and Elena attempted to settle everyone in temporarily, but between the six of them, Kamille knew it wasn't possible for them to accept these newcomers. They barely had the supplies to last for half of them, let alone all of them.
"Take this, it'll help with the pain," Kamille said, handing a woman with a sprained wrist some painkillers and a bottle of water.
"Are you going to kick us all out?" the woman, Valeria, asked from the bed she was sat on. She looked up to Kamille with sad eyes.
Kamille swallowed hard as she shook her head. "We're yet to come up with a plan. I can't promise anything I'm afraid. But I'll try my best to make sure you're okay."
That wasn't exactly a lie, and Kamille hoped she didn't give a false sense of hope to Valeria.
"Gracias," Valeria mumbled, before standing up and leaving the mini tent setup they'd made for patient privacy reasons.
Kamille breathed out shakily, praying to Allah that things would work out. They were bad now, but it couldn't stay like that for long. Surely there was a bigger plan at play here.
After a moment of collecting herself and stressfully tying up her long hair, Kamille stepped outside the tent, AKA the strung up bed sheets hanging around her, and looked to see who was next. As a middle-aged man stepped forward, she caught sight of Madison approaching Alicia in the distance. It seemed important as the blonde led her daughter away and out of the car park. Kamille hoped there wasn't anything wrong.
It was about twenty minutes later, five more people looked at for Kamille, when Alicia returned and was stood waiting outside the tent for her.
"Can I borrow you for a second?" Alicia asked, her voice hoarse.
Kamille met her eyes and saw they were puffy and red as if she'd been crying. Thankfully, Kamille had served those with major injuries first, so after announcing her two minute break to the others, she led Alicia to the side behind a pillar and out of prying eyes and ears.
"What's wrong?" she asked when they were as alone as they could be, resting a hand on Alicia's arm.
Alicia licked her lips and glanced at her shoes before meeting Kamille's eyes. "I'm sorry for letting everything out on you last night. And being distant this morning."
"You were angry, I get it," Kamille said understandingly, still distracted by the dried up tears on Alicia's face. "Alicia, are you okay?"
Alicia sucked up a breath before nodding slowly. "I... I think so, yeah. I've talked things through with my mom and it's as good as it's going to get. I just wanted to let you know. And apologise."
Kamille pursed her lips, but nodded before stepping forward and pulling Alicia in for a hug. She felt the younger girl wrap her arms around her torso and tuck her head into her shoulders, making her close her eyes and simply hold her to let her know she was there for her.
"Thank you," Alicia said when pulling away, before clearing her throat. "How are things going down here?"
Kamille knew not to intrude any further into Alicia's reason for crying, figuring it was family stuff. She just wanted to be there for Alicia, which was enough for now.
"It's okay, I guess," Kamille replied, glancing out to the tents, before looking back to Alicia. "How are Madison and Travis?"
"Mom said he's not doing so good," Alicia said sadly. "He went looking for Chris and things didn't go so well..."
Kamille widened her eyes. "He's not... you know, is he?"
Alicia shook her head. "No, no, he's okay. He's just– he didn't come with Travis. And now Travis is hurting. And I feel like it might be my fault."
"Alicia, you can't blame yourself for Chris," Kamille said, shaking her head.
"I made a fuss and I pushed him away," Alicia explained, a hint of guilt present in her voice. "We could've... we should have helped him."
"He tried to hurt you," Kamille reminded her, suppressing her anger as she was reminded of the fear that the Manawa boy created amongst the Clarks. "You and Madison. I don't think he could have been helped. And even so, your lives weren't worth the risk."
Alicia pursed her lips, nodding, but Kamille sensed the thought still lingering in the brunette's mind.
"We should go back and help," Alicia finally spoke, nodding to the tents. "Come on."
Kamille let her intertwine their fingers as they walked back, and brought their joined hands to her lips, kissing Alicia's hand gently, supportively.
Alicia spared her a small, appreciative smile before they separated to their own tents, continuing to help everyone out.
–
Kamille yawned, before seeing to another patient, putting a small, supportive smile on her lips to reassure them.
The Brit had been awake most of the night, staying in the car park to help anyone who needed it. Her and Andrés sutured wounds, provided medication to those desperate, supplied food and drink, and simply spoke to those with frightening thoughts in their mind.
Alicia had tried to convince Kamille to go to bed with her late into the evening, but Kamille refused when she saw how many people needed help. Not only would it lighten the load on Andrés' shoulders, but it was also her duty as someone with the ability to help. Allah didn't give her this knowledge to simply keep it to herself.
A deep part of her knew that it might help her feel better for all those people she couldn't help since this whole thing started. It didn't, but it was worth a shot.
For the most, everyone was polite and patient, waiting their turn and putting those with serious injuries first, even strangers. However, there were two people, two guys – the only Americans there – who were loud, disruptive and rude. They seemed unappreciative of the fact that they'd been let in there at all, even when they turned up in the middle of the night, and Kamille would have preferred to kick them out, but aside from their obnoxiousness, they hadn't given her enough reason to do so.
At one point, early in the morning, Kamille had to approach the two and crouch down to tell them to be quiet.
"Finally!" the guy on the right said. "My buddy over here has been asking for help since we arrived! Do you speak English?"
Probably better than you, arsehole.
Kamille refrained from glaring at him as she said, "A lot of people here are also asking for help. We're only treating serious injuries first. You're going to have to wait your turn."
"I think she speaks English, bro," the one on the left joked, nudging his friend, before groaning with pain. It seemed he'd hurt his shoulder.
"The sun hasn't even risen yet and you guys are being a bit loud," Kamille said calmly, not giving them the benefit of the doubt. "You're going to wake some of these people up."
"Sorry," the one on the right mumbled.
"Can I get my shoulder checked or not?" the one on the left asked rudely. "I think it's dislocated. And no offence, but these people don't seem that bothered about what we're saying. I'm sure they don't even speak English."
Kamille narrowed her eyes at him. "Unfortunately, I do, and I'd rather not have to listen to your crap." She moved forward and tried to move his shoulder, causing him to squeal in pain. She tried to hide her smile of amusement as she said, "It does seem dislocated, but I have to check on others. You'll have to wait your turn to be seen."
Kamille stood up as both guys began to talk between themselves. The Brit didn't stick around long enough to hear what they had to say, instead moving onto somebody who had shown up a few hours ago with a stab wound.
A few more hours passed and thankfully, it was Andrés who tended to the obnoxious Americans. Kamille was still making the rounds before taking a small break to have a drink of water and some biscuits on the side. She was exhausted, managing only to get a few hours sleep, scattered through the night in half an hour increments. Her body was tired, but her eyes managed to keep awake as she made sure everybody was okay.
She was finishing the last of her biscuits, trying not to fall asleep on the stool, when she felt a hand rest on her back.
"Hey."
It was Alicia, and Kamille breathed out, feeling relaxed with her presence. The younger girl sat on the stool behind her, awake and refreshed and smelling like the fancy hotel soap they had in their shower. Kamille leaned on her shoulder, feeling Alicia wrap an arm around her torso and pulling her close.
"Hey," Kamille got out tiredly, closing her eyes, promising herself it would only be for a few seconds.
She felt Alicia press a gentle kiss to the top of her head and rest her head on hers.
"You need to get some rest, Kam," she said quietly, not wanting to startle the tired medic. "You've been up all night."
"I'm fine," Kamille said, but her groggy voice and half-lidded eyes weren't entirely convincing.
She felt Alicia smile against her head. "I love you, but I am ordering you to go to bed. I'll hold the fort for you and Andrés. Hector, Elena and Oscar will be down soon to help me. We can keep things going whilst you both catch up on some sleep."
Kamille stopped listening after the word 'bed', merely humming halfheartedly in response to the silence following Alicia's words. She couldn't help it that her girlfriend was that comfortable and felt like home.
"Come on," Alicia said, a hint of amusement in her voice.
Kamille forced her eyes open as she felt Alicia stand her up. Yawning again, she nodded and stopped Alicia from holding her.
"I'll go," she promised, meeting Alicia's alert eyes. "I'll be down in a few hours though."
"Yeah, yeah," Alicia said, rolling her eyes playfully. "Go on. I got this."
Kamille breathed out slowly, a tired smile on her lips. "Thanks, darling."
Alicia pressed a kiss to her cheek before letting her walk off to go get some rest.
A few hours of rest and a shower was enough to freshen Kamille up and send her back down to the car park to do her bit. She admitted to feeling a lot better after some decent rest, but now she had to help out.
"Kam, you're up," Alicia said with a smile when she noticed her girlfriend approaching her. She kissed the Brit's cheek before asking, "How are you feeling?"
Kamille mirrored her smile. "A lot better. Thanks for that... how have things been down here?"
Alicia nodded, looking around. "Good. Everybody has been seen to. We're just maintaining morale. It's all under control."
"Did I hear that right?" Madison's voice was heard, and soon she appeared by both girls with a hopeful expression.
Alicia nodded. "Yeah. Andrés and Kam have checked on everyone. We've just served breakfast. Everyone seems appreciative."
Madison nodded gratefully. "That's good."
"Oh, what is that smell?!"
"Dude, don't say it."
"Wait, don't say what?"
Kamille, Alicia and Madison located the source of the voices, not that it was hard seeing how loud they were, and Kamille recognised them as the boys from earlier that morning.
One of them laughed loudly. "Don't say it!"
"What, that it smells like 'mexcrement'?"
Both began to laugh as Kamille clenched her jaw with annoyance.
"Your countrymen," Hector commented, looking to Madison.
"Can we kick them out?" Alicia asked, a hint of annoyance in her words. "Seriously, they're actually awful."
"I figured those plonkers would have left or been booted out of here by now," Kamille said, rolling her eyes.
"Where did they come from?" Madison asked, staring at them.
"They showed up late last night," Hector said.
"And let everybody know of their arrival," muttered Kamille with a peeved voice.
"Andrés says that one's got a dislocated shoulder," Alicia added. "He didn't have the heart to send them away."
"My man needs medical attention!" one of the guys shouted loudly, causing a few heads to turn his way with disgust. "Hello? Por favor!"
"Alright, I'm gonna go see what I can do," Madison said, a judgemental expression on her face as she reluctantly approached them.
Kamille raised and lowered her eyebrows knowingly. "Good luck."
Alicia nudged Kamille in the arm to get her attention. "You hungry?"
Kamille saw she was motioning to the pan of stew that had been made earlier. She shook her hand and intertwined her fingers with Alicia, already dragging her away to the side.
"I wanna give you something."
Alicia smiled with confusion, shaking her head. "What is it?"
Kamille felt her heart beat speeding up at the brunette's smile; she somehow had the ability to make Kamille feel like the only person in the world and it was an indescribable feeling.
Kamille leaned forward and kissed Alicia, eyes closed and hands resting on her face. She felt Alicia kiss back beneath her, her lips moving slowly and passionately against her own. When Kamille pulled away, she saw Alicia's eyes flittering around with embarrassment.
"What was that for?" the younger girl asked, finally meeting Kamille's gaze.
Kamille was smiling toothlessly, pushing a strand of hair from her eyes. "So much has been happening within the past day, and it's happening quite quickly, and I never got chance to do it because of everything. I don't know when I'll have the chance to do it again, so yeah, I hope that was okay."
Alicia breathed out, lips pursed to suppress a smile. "Thanks."
Kamille raised an eyebrow. "Thanks?"
Alicia was smiling now, mirroring Kamille's expression. "Yeah, thanks."
Kamille tried not to laugh. "Thanks for what?"
Alicia shrugged, as if Kamille should know. "For being here."
Kamille squeezed Alicia's hand. "You're welcome."
//
they have my heart okay