I’ve continued to listen to Transmissions from Colony One, the show referenced here, and while it still suffers from “what is happening, everything is incomprehensibly noisy and I have no idea why [spoiler] is apparently dying now????” at times during action-heavy scenes, it’s also honestly...pretty dang cool. A bit like The Martian, but with an ensemble cast on Mars instead of just one guy, and a substantial shot of BSG-style gritty depression.
To be honest, I would dump it for precisely that BSG-style gritty depression (and for having what looks like a mostly VERY white cast playing substantially more diverse characters), but I’m just too much of a sucker for Mars scifi. Once I made it through one whole season I kinda figured I was in it for the long haul, though S2 has longer eps than S1 and S3 looks like it has even longer eps than S2. But audio drama length creep is a whole separate topic.
Alicia, faced with about 4 types of guns and absolutely no idea what she was doing, was in what one might call a sticky situation.
Look, she had known Elyza was a little eccentric, but this was a whole new level. First of all, were they even friends? This felt like an activity that was required even at least a basic level of familiarity. I mean, Elyza hadn’t even properly introduced herself.
Well, not that she had to. I guess there’s something to be said about a reputation that precedes you.
Then again, nothing Alicia had ever learned about Elyza’s “reputation” included having a collection of arms and three very visible, very cool tattoos.
Oh god, she did not just call them cool. She was not about to idolize this brilliant idiot.
Anyway.
“Alicia!” Elyza called from upstairs, jolting Alicia away from her inner monologue, “I can’t wait all day, princess! There’s literal zombies outside!”
Alicia heard Elyza laugh loudly to herself. Alicia groaned.
Deciding against the rest, Alicia rashly grabbed for the shotgun and ran for the stairs. As she began to climb, her attention snapped towards the porch. A walker, having flung itself at the glass pane, had shattered the window.
“Elyza!” Alicia yelled, freezing up. She frantically tried to maneuver the gun, placing her finger over the trigger. The walker began to slink towards her at a hastening place, another immediately behind. She could hear Elyza’s steps coming frantically from behind her, but she couldn’t think to move. She clicked the trigger three times, missing twice, and managing only to momentarily slow the Walker’s pace with a shot to the leg.
Before she could take another shot, the Walker crouched downward onto its injured leg and fell to the ground, stretching out an arm to reach for Alicia’s leg. Alicia shrieked, recoiling; she stepped backward, but instead tripped over a nearby bookshelf. Bruising her leg, she cried out in pain as the Walker drew closer.
Without warning, Elyza charged out from behind her, pressing the tip of her revolver directly to the Walker’s head. With a loud crack, the skull blew straight off. Alicia covered her ears as Elyza disposed similarly of the rest.
“Come on,” Elyza said, tapping Alicia’s shoulder with fervor. Her expression was dark, focused. She was still looking out towards the broken window, “we need to get upstairs where I can take out the rest from a distance.”
Alicia nodded, but found quickly that she may have underestimated just how badly she had hurt her knee in the fall. She tried stretching it, but the agonizing pain immediately stopped her. Alicia grimaced, realizing how stupid she must have looked. She missed three shots, tripped over a bookcase, and now she could barely move her leg. If this was indicative of any kind of pattern, they’d both be dead in under five minutes.
“I can’t,” Alicia whispered, looking up to meet Elyza’s eyes. Elyza paused, finally focusing back on the injured girl. She softened, giving her a look of understanding. Alicia’s stomach turned.
“I’m gonna pick you up, okay?”
Alicia nodded, apprehensive. Elyza leaned in slowly, running her hands down Alicia’s sides carefully to wrap around her back. Alicia inhaled sharply, her eyes darting to Elyza’s. Elyza paused, and for a split second, Alicia thought she might have looked nervous. Whatever moment they had quickly dissipated, however, as the low moan of another walker interrupted the silence. Elyza quickly fastened her hands around Alicia’s back, lifting the girl up with surprising ease.
“Faster,” Alicia commanded anxiously, watching as the walker limped towards the open window.
“Don’t like my pace?” Elyza said, the smirk evident in her voice. Alicia’s eyes widened, did she just… flirt with her? Right now?
“Shut up and take me to your bedroom,” Alicia growled, gritting her teeth and ignoring the previous comment. Elyza barked out a laugh, and Alicia turned pale. Oh god. She hadn’t meant―
“Haven’t heard that in a while,” Elyza giggled quietly, trying not to attract more attention from the walkers than they already had. Alicia choked, cheeks reddening. Elyza tightened her hold on the girl, telling her to please, stop squirming so much before laughing at her own innuendo.
By the time they had made it the bedroom, the walkers had begun to dissipate. A crash from outside had momentarily distracted their attention, leaving the broken window vacant. Alicia let out a shaky breath, finally letting go of the tension that she had been holding.
“Easy,” Elyza whispered, taking an uneasy look outside her window. She loosened her grip on the other girl, setting her down delicately on the bed sheet. Alicia rolled her eyes, unsure how otherwise to discharge whatever moment had transpired between them. Elyza just smiled at her.
“You’re an interesting one,” Elyza remarked, raising an eyebrow, “not really what I expected.”
“Please,” Alicia huffed, “you’re one to talk. At this point I think I think this might actually be a kidnapping.”
Elyza laughed, shaking her head, “Mm, you got me. I put that bookshelf there for the express purpose of you tripping over it and falling on your ass.”
Alicia grimaced. She had that coming.
Before they could continue to bicker, another loud bang rang from outside the house. Alicia’s face fell; if the walkers managed to overrun the army, they weren’t just in danger, they were absolutely dead. This wasn’t the first time the fence had broke, but it was usually resolved in minutes.
“I’m gonna check it out,” Elyza declared, setting out for the bedroom door.
“Wait!” Alicia called, surprising herself. Elyza stopped in her tracks, turning around expectantly. Alicia stumbled over her words, unsure why she had called out in the first place.
“I, uhm,” Alicia stuttered. She didn’t have any idea of what she had wanted to say.
“Don’t worry, Licia,” Elyza smirked, putting a special emphasis on her name, “I’ll be fine. I’m practically invincible.”
Alicia balked, mouth hanging open. That whole sentence kind of made her want to throw Elyza out a window.
Maybe after kissing her a few times.
God, had she hit her head?
“Right,” Alicia responded, too worn out by the situation to offer anything more. Elyza nodded and headed quickly down the stairs, the hungry moans of the walkers following quickly behind. Alicia sighed, stretching back into Elyza’s bed. Her head stung dully as it hit the pillowcase, a headache forming just behind her eyes. She groaned out in pain again, the ache in her leg refusing to abate.
Unable to sit well with just her thoughts, she opted to scan the room once again. Unsurprisingly, she learned little the second time around. It was just posters. Copious amounts of posters. Embarrassing amounts of posters. There was one thing that caught her attention, though.
It was a drawing of a woman. She was tall, tan and covered in odd looking face paint. She wore what looked like armor over one shoulder, and a loose red cape over the other. Alicia thought she looked kind of ridiculous.
On the other hand, she would, under the right circumstances, totally wear that.
“Alicia!” Elyza called, finally returning from her small investigation. Alicia let out a breath she didn’t know she was holding.
“What’s going on out there?” Alicia asked quickly, sitting back up. She immediately regretted it, as another sharp pain shot through her leg. If she had managed to fractured her calf on a bookcase, she was going to shoot something.
(Actually, wasn’t that how she got in this situation in the first place?)
“It’s not so bad,” Elyza said, shrugging. She stepped in the room, and Alicia immediately took in her bloodied outfit. The blood was new, crisp. She could barely tell whose it was.
“What? Are you okay?” Alicia leaned forward instinctively, pulling Elyza by the hand toward her. Elyza complied, a hint of surprise on her face. Alicia thought briefly that no one should be able to look that pretty while covered in so much blood.
“Just dandy,” Elyza grinned. Alicia sighed, deciding against questioning where exactly she got her stupid personality. Instead, she rolled up Elyza’s sleeves and ran her hand over the clean skin there. No cuts. No bruises. She didn’t even want to know how many of those things she had mowed down.
“Idiot,” Alicia rolled her eyes, pushing Elyza away gently once she finished with her inspection. Elyza shrugged again, sitting down next to Alicia on the bed.
“The army should be able to handle the rest. I helped out with a few dozen.”
“Oh, shut up,” Alicia said, unable to control her growing smile, “you probably shot two max then rolled around in the bodies.”
Elyza gasped, feigning horror, “I care about my hygiene, thank you very much. More importantly, I care about my jeans. I don’t stain these babies just for kicks.”
“Reasonable,” Alicia smirked. Elyza returned the favor. Their eyes met again and a long pause ensued, each girl unsure how to proceed without making the other one uncomfortable. Alicia, for her part, did not mean to do exactly what she did next.
“Thanks, um, for saving me out there, by the way,” Alicia said quietly, “I probably would have died.”
(What she did next, meaning: forever inflating Elyza’s ego to unfortunate proportions.)
“Couldn’t let a pretty girl down,” Elyza joked, smiling broadly. Alicia swallowed, licking her lips. Her stomach was turning again. Gosh, she even felt sort of light-headed.
“I think I should go and check on my family,” Alicia declared suddenly, breaking the eye contact. Elyza’s eyes widened, leaning back from their close proximity. Alicia felt herself shiver as the tension broke, but hoped to God that Elyza hadn’t noticed.
“Uh, yeah, makes sense,” Elyza responded, narrowing her eyes, “but can you walk?”
Shit. She had totally forgotten about that small detail.
“Of course I can walk,” Alicia boasted, rolling her eyes. She attempted to show Elyza this by swinging her leg over the bed. Instead, she keeled over in pain almost instantly and let her leg fall halfway onto Elyza’s lap. Elyza let out an amused snort. Alicia huffed in embarrassment.
“I don’t have any crutches on me, but I can carry you again if you want,” Elyza offered, wiggling her eyebrows subtly. Subtly meaning, of course, that she shot them up and down in a matter that they may as well have been flying off of her face.
“No,” Alicia deadpanned, shaking her head solemnly, “I’m not gonna have you carry me to another bed just to be stuck again.”
“What should we do then, know-it-all?” Elyza teased, unphased by yet another round of machine gun fire roaring just outside her window.
“Well, don’t you have a first aid kit anywhere? Diagnose me,” Alicia responded, having her own try at whatever stupid flirtatious undertones Elyza was trying to insinuate. Elyza laughed hard, head flying backward at Alicia’s half-hearted attempt.
“Oh, boy, that one made me sweat,” Elyza giggled, winking at Alicia before getting up from the bed, “I’ll take a look around. Don’t go anywhere.”
And for the first time since she met Elyza twenty minutes ago, Alicia didn’t want to.
