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Abby didn’t think things would change so much.
First, it started with the Fireflies disbanding. After almost a year of waiting and searching for non-existent leads for an imaginative cure, all but a few left to regroup at Catalina. Abby and her father were some of the minority remaining.
Only a month after the majority of the base packed and left, the hospital was breached. Abby had woken up in the middle of the night to half of the base rushing to barricade the door as a horde of infected had overrun the hospital. It had taken them nearly all of their supplies and a solid two weeks to secure the hospital. Somehow, they hadn’t lost a single person to the horde. Though, they all knew they wouldn’t be so lucky next time. They had to move.
They first considered regrouping with the rest of the Fireflies at Catalina, but it would be a long, dangerous trek down to Santa Barbara. Fortunately for them, they heard word of a new group nearby. The Washington Liberation Front. Rumor had it that the WLF had recently overthrown FEDRA, and their ranks were more sparse than ever. They need new soldiers— but most importantly— doctors. After all, overthrowing the military did not come sparingly or without injury.
At first, the rest of the Fireflies had been skeptical. Aside from the usurpation, they had little to no information about them. They had no idea if they were friendly to outsiders, or if they were as dangerous (if not more) than the undead. But just as her dad had told Abby and the rest of their group, the enemy of my enemy is my friend. The WLF was sure to support them if they knew of their shared contempt toward FEDRA. The worst that could happen to them is being turned away.
——————— ;
It took the Fireflies a week to arrive at their borders. At first, the leader of the WLF, a man named Isaac, had been distrustful of them. However, his paranoia proved to be a lesser cause than the desperate needs of his people. Their shared disdain for FEDRA had also helped immensely to convince him to surmise a compromise. In turn for shelter, protection, and resources for the Fireflies’ research, they would treat the soldiers and citizens of the WLF. The Fireflies agreed.
——————— ;
Years passed, and their family grew bigger, and bigger, and bigger. Eventually, the amount of incoming migrants started to decline. There were now less and less people joining the WLF, before eventually the borders had been shut. Aside from merchants, no one else had been allowed into the city. No one… until Ellie.
It was a long, boring night. As what seemed to be the usual these days, Abby was currently being punished with maintenance duty. Her crime? Skipping school with Owen (again). Typically, she’d be forced to attend supplementary school to make up for the classes she’d missed. However, Abby and Owen didn’t show up to those either. The superintendent, tired of constantly wrangling the two, had exiled them to clean the main floors until the wee cracks of dawn. It was boring, manual labor, and it would’ve been slightly bearable if they hadn’t been separated— which of-course they were.
——————— ;
Hours passed, and Abby had been mopping the same floors (begrudgingly) for the eleventh time that night. She had considered escaping her punishment, but unfortunately for her, there were guards standing post right in front of the main entrance. One of those guards was Manny, who was taking a keen interest in making her suffer (he’d sullied the floors with his filthy boots for her to clean, and even ate her favorite from the mess right in front of her (while letting a crumb or two fall to the floor.)) Poor Abs didn’t even get a whiff.
Luckily for her, this inhumane cruelty came to a long-awaited end once the guards had finally rotated. Not only did she no longer have to deal with Manny, but now she was almost completely done with her punishment. After all, if the guards rotated every six hours, then she only had a few minutes left before she was dismissed.
Unfortunately for Abby, her dopamine boost was abruptly replaced with adrenaline as the front doors swung open with a loud bang. Bewildered, she watched as six men— heavily armed from boot to helm— marched into the base. Flanked by the soldiers was not one, but two scavs. Abby hardly got a glimpse at the girl in the man's arms before they had disappeared into the medical bay.
——————— ;
A couple weeks had passed since that dreadful night of mopping. Abby, alongside Owen and a small group of friends, had decided to spend the afternoon at the marketplace. Though, this time, they only left home after educational hours. The trek to the main market was long, since it was located (very conveniently) in front of the main gate.
When they finally arrived, Abby and Owen immediately separated from the group. They traded scraps of cloth and alcohol for cute little trinkets and ornaments. Owen got a cute gift for Mel, while Abby acquired new coins to add to her collection.
They wandered the market for a while, simply watching and commentating on the vendors stock. Since it was mid-day, a large crowd had gathered in the square. Although it was easy to navigate for Abby, Owen was more privy to failure (thanks to his slower processing speed.) In his attempt to swerve past a particularly large group of consumers, Owen tripped on someone's foot. Before he could barrel into the crowd, he yanked on Abby's shoulder to keep balance. Unfortunately, his actions resulted in Abby being launched into a random passerby.
Before Abby could balance herself and whirl back around to smack Owen, she had come face to face with the unfortunate stranger she had bumped into. Not just any stranger, though, but that girl from maintenance duty— the same exact one who had been perched in the strange mans arms. Except this time, she was fully conscious— and Abby could at least make out her face now.
As Abby began to mumble out a sincere apology, she was suddenly met with a solid kick to her shin. She let out a pained wheezing noise, one hand clutching her bruised leg. She glared up at the girls face, which had since morphed from alarm to realization.
“Sorry..” The girl mumbled, voice meek enough to be mistaken for sarcasm if it weren’t for her rosy cheeks. Clearly embarrassed, she outstretched a hand for Abby to grab.
Owen, equally as flustered, cringed when Abby ignored her hand and chose to lift herself up instead. He went stiff, bracing himself for Abby to start swinging (though, hopefully not at him). Luckily for them, or rather the girl, Abby turned to Owen, and to his dismay, proceeded to kick his right shin.
As Owen squealed and suffered, Abby had started a conversation with the new girl. Thanks to her charm, she had found out a number of things about her. For example: Her name was Ellie. She was a Firefly. She came here all the way from Boston (Massachusetts to Washington State…!) The man she had been travelling with was Joel Miller. She was fourteen. She liked to draw. She was learning to play the guitar. She collects cards; just like how Abby is obsessed with those dumb coins.
Since that fateful evening, five years had passed, and things continued to change. Now older, she was moved from the shared bunks with the other children, to her own separate room. Well, technically she was meant to be sharing it with someone else. Fortunately for her, that someone else wasn’t Owen, or Manny, it was Ellie.
Since that day at the market, they’ve become good friends. They ate together, patrolled together, snuck-out together… Abby did just about everything she did with Owen, but with Ellie… and more.
However, like Owen, there were times that Abby could not stand her. That time was now.
“Jesus, Ellie!” Abby groaned, pushing Ellies crate of Stuff into the corner with a Herculean effort. “Exactly how much shit do you have in here?”
Ellie laughed sadistically from where she was lying on the bed, which earned her a vengeful glare in return.
“You told me to only pack one box,” she argued, letting out a puff of smoke towards Abby's direction while holding up one finger for effect. “So… I packed one box.”
“Smartass,” Abby grunted, scowling. She dodged the incoming cloud of smoke before leaning forward to pry the joint out of her fingers. At first, Ellie laughed, before letting out a genuine cry of anguish as Abby successfully stole it from her.
“Where do you even get all this from, anyways?” Abby mumbled, right hand holding the joint to her lips, and the left swatting away Ellies grabby hands. “Thought that Issac was cracking down on stuff like this.”
Ellie grinned, hands behind her head as she leaned against Abby's pillows. “Remember yesterday, when Joel came back with that group from Jackson?”
Abby took a puff, before leaning in to blow the smoke into Ellies face as petty revenge. “Yep.”
Ellie coughed, side-eyeing Abby before continuing on with her explanation. “Remember one of the girls from the group— the one with the black hair and eyelashes? Her name was Dina?”
Dina. Something ugly coiled through Abby at the mention of her name. Of course she knew her—she was the one constantly burning through Ellies time. She would come through with Joel and the others to base, and then proceed to hog Ellie for /weeks/.
“Sure, yeah,” Abby murmured, fixing the scowl on her face into something more neutral.
“Her and the old white guy, Eugene, gave me a jar full of them. Already rolled up and everything.”
“Really? What’d you trade for it?” Abby asked, turning away momentarily to crush the joint onto the ashtray. “Shit must’ve been expensive.”
Ellie had that dumbass grin on her again. Abbys lip twitched.
“She said that if I gave her a tour of the stadium, then she’d give me a jar.”
Abby raised a brow. “Just a tour?”
“Well,” Ellie hummed, grinning as she glanced down at her knee, “I also showed her the zoo that you took us to the other week, then the market.. and after that, I took her down to the beach.”
Abby scoffed, “so a date. With you, of all people? I don’t believe it.”
In response, Ellie let out an exaggerated gasp, her voice husky from the smoke. “Really, Abs? You think I’d lie to you?”
“Absolutely.”
Ellie rolled her eyes, smiling. “When have I ever?”
“Like right now,” Abby smiled back, flicking her forehead. That seemed to be the last straw for Ellie, since before Abby managed to pull her hand away, Ellie had lunged forward with the pillow she had been initially resting on. With Abby caught off guard, Ellie smacked her right across the face in one smooth movement. Defenseless, Abby covered her face with her arms before being swatted at again.
In retaliation, Abby pushed forward and wrestled Ellie against the bed. Now straddling her knees, Abby smushed Ellie's face side-ways into the bed, while Abby’s other hand pulled the pillow towards the opposite direction. In the seconds that passed, her bicep bulged with the effort of prying away the pillow. Unfortunately for Abby, despite her near victory, Ellie was a sore loser.
Right before Abby managed to successfully capture the pillow, Ellie proceeded to crane her neck and bite down on Abby’s fingers like a rabid animal. Abby recoiled, which gave Ellie the opportunity to kick Abby square in the chest, causing her to be almost launched off the bed entirely. Ellie let out a breathless laugh, simultaneously releasing the from her grip as she enjoyed the look of pure surprise on Abby's face.
Unfortunately, this prideful oversight proved to be a fatal error. Abby, fueled by her thirst for vengeance, had quickly propelled herself back onto the bed, grabbing the pillow and proceeding to beat the ever loving shit out of her.
After the seventh or eighth smack, Ellie had begun to pitifully flail beneath her. But despite the reoccuring ‘oomph!’ and ‘ow!’ noises, Ellie continued to giggle hysterically.
“Mercy!” Ellie yelled, half-laughing, half-crying as she brought up a shaky hand to her face.
In response, Abby slowly lowered the pillow, which prompted Ellie to do the same with her hands. With her face no longer being shielded, Abby immediately yanked the pillow up once more, and smacked her right across the face.
“See what happens when you try and mess with me?” Abby grinned, her voice breaking off into a small wheeze from the exertion.
“Fuck you,” Ellie panted, her face fixed into a scowl similar to Abby’s own.
Abby laughed, her heart still racing in her ears. She shifted her hands to rest comfortably beside Ellie’s hips. For a moment, neither of them talked— both too busy catching their breath. So, in the mean-time, Abby took a good long look at Ellie's face.
Her hair, undone from the tussle, was now spread across the pillows. Her cheeks were still bright red— maybe even a little brighter— and even her nose had a little color to it. Before Abby could remark about her resemblance to Rudolph, she was suddenly drawn to a bundle of hair stuck between her lips.
Without pausing to think, Abby used her thumb to part them, before gently pulling the hair away and allowing it to fall onto her sides. That’s when she noticed that strange face Ellie had given her. Her eyes, once blown askew, were now half-lidded. Her lips were also pursed ever so slightly—as if she had been pouting.
“What?” Abby frowned, recognizing the look from before.
Then, as quickly as it came, it disappeared.
“Nothing,” Ellie murmured, chest deflating with a shaky exhale.
Abby's eyes narrowed. Instead of questioning Ellie further, though, Abby began to clamber off of her. She heard a loud exhale (re: of relief?) before Ellie had pushed herself off of the bed.
As Ellie made her way to the mirror to fix her hair and clothes, Abby had leaned over to grab the joint on the ash-tray. She frowned when she noticed it was out— as if she hadn’t put it out herself. Sighing, she reached into her pocket for a lighter, before lighting the end and bringing it to her lips.
“Hey, Abs?” Ellie began, glancing at Abbys reflection in the mirror.”
“Hmm?”
“Are you and Owen still together?”
Abby coughed on the smoke, her scowl deepening. “What kind of question is that?”
“It’s just that, usually people who break up don’t even look at each other, but you two hung out the next day. Why’s that?”
“We’ve decided to just, be friends.” Abby puffed, watching the smoke as it curled upwards. “Besides, he wasn’t really my type anyway?”
Ellie wandered back, voice curious. “Oh really? What is your type then?”
Abby scoffed, “Are you trying to set me up?” Then, she added with a light-hearted grin, “or are you trying to ask me out?”
“Maybe— you haven’t answered my question, Abs.” Ellie pouted, which gave Abby the urge to whack her face with the pillow again. “C’mon, maybe I could help out a bit.”
Abby paused, her thoughts coming in loose jumbles. “Well, they’d have to be someone with good music taste. Maybe have some—I don’t know—nerdy hobby? They have to be funny, too. Can’t be aloof. Not blonde, either, otherwise we’d be called siblings too much.”
As Abby trailed off, she’d noticed that Ellie seemed a little too interested. She had that same look on her face again—but worse. Her lips were bunched up together like a crouton, and her eyes looked like small slits as she narrowed them even further. It was the same exact face that Owen made when he tried to…
Oh.
Oh.
…
Abby burst out laughing.
“Oh my God, are you trying to *kiss me?*” Abby cackled, eyes watering. She was so dense. How did she not realize?
Surprised and flustered at the accusation, Ellie recoiled. She was completely red in the face now— her nose even brighter than the last time (re: Rudolph)— which made Abby laugh even harder. In fact, she was laughing so hard that there were tears in her eyes.
“I wasn’t!” Ellie lied, smacking Abby's shoulder. Luckily for Ellie, her humiliation was soon to end as Abby barely had any more oxygen left to spare for laughter.
“How did you even manage to seduce Dina, of all people?” Abby wheezed, genuinely surprised.
Ellie huffed and crossed her arms, straightening her posture as she began to regain her confidence again.
“Unlike you, Dina had more than one functioning brain-cell, so she caught on quickly.” Then, Ellie added with a glare, “it’s not my fault you're more dense than a rock.”
Abby giggled in response, the sound of which helped loosened Ellie’s shoulders more.
“Here, let me show you how to actually flirt with someone.”
Ellie’s heart skipped a beat as Abby moved even closer. A jolt of electricity powered through her body and into the very neurons of her brain as she cupped Ellies face. For a moment, Ellie couldn’t breathe. She had to manually inhale so that she wouldn’t turn blue on top of being red (if that happened… would she turn purple?)
“Usually, when two people like each other very much,” Abby began, wearing that shit-eating smirk. (Ellie wanted to wipe it clean off.) “They sit together, look deep into each other’s eyes, and then slowly get closer like this.”
With a gentle maneuver, Abby pulled Ellies face nice and close. Ellie, emboldened by the proximity, finally pressed their lips together. Abby let out a small squeak, hands steadying on Ellies shoulders. Meanwhile, Ellie firmly wrapped her hands around Abby’s waist. Thanks to the tilt of Abbys head, it allowed for Ellie to deepen the kiss.
Surprised, Abby let out a questioning grunt, which instead came out as an embarrassingly high squeak. Before Abby could kiss her back, Ellie pushed Abby backwards, causing her back to hit the covers with a small ‘oomph’.
As an entire minute passed by, Abby finally tapped Ellies shoulder, to which she responded by pulling away. Now seperated and panting, Ellie moved her elbows to either side of Abby's bicep, which kept her from face-planting into her chest as she caught her breath.
“So you’re not a complete lost cause after all,” Abby grinned, sounding a bit loopy from the lack of air. Or the weed. Or the kiss. Or all three.
Ellie laughed in response, rolling over onto her side. “Really? That's all the compliments I get?”
“That's all you deserve. If I’m too nice to you, then you’ll start to think that you’re better than me.” Abby said.
Ellie grinned, “I already am.”
Abby rolled her eyes, refusing to dignify that statement with a response.
A couple more seconds passed by, and Ellie felt that post-whatever-just-happened clarity pass over. Suddenly, that pit in her stomach dropped, and a wave of anxious energy crawled through her bones.
“So.. what about Owen?”
Instantaneously, Abby let out an exasperated groan. Her hands quickly covered her eyes.
“Jesus, Ellie! What’s with you and Owen?” She grunted, half-way between a whine and a cry of anguish.
Ellie leaned back onto her elbows, looking down at Abby through the cracks of her fingers. She still had some of that confidence from before running through her, but faced with Abbys glare, it had dried up faster than a puddle in summer.
“You don’t.. like him anymore, right?”
Abby uncovered her eyes, glaring up at Ellie while resisting the urge to strangle Ellies stupidity out of her brain. “He’s dating Mel, Ellie. Has been for a while. He’s also gone and got Mel pregnant. Owen’s about the last person I want.”
Ellie let out a small sigh of relief, before resuming her twisting and pulling of her ring and pinky finger, which signaled to Abby that she had another question coming up.
“So what about us?”
Abby’s gaze softened, “Aren’t you talking to Dina already?”
“No I’m… I don’t know. She’s been on and off with Jesse for a while, so I don’t think it’s really that serious,” Ellie answered.
“And we are?”
Ellie looked up at her with big, hopeful eyes. “I hope so.”
Abby hoped so, too.