Chapter Text
Silence.
Rhea craved the silence that came with being outside the carefully constructed walls of Salt Lake. Where the only thing that she could hear was the distant chirps of birds and the rustling of leaves as the wind brushed through them. That is why she found herself sitting on the ruined edge of a small building on the outskirts of the city, for the silence. These moments of calm that were stolen in the early morning hours, before even her early bird of a sister was awake, had turned ritual for Rhea.
It had almost become muscle memory for her to slip out of the barracks and out the window without a breath of noise. Climbing up the rusted fire escape was no longer a task that left her breathless and exhausted at the top of the 12-story building. Now Rhea would let her mind wander as she leaped across building roofs and the small wooden bridges she had set up years before, connecting her to the edge of the city. And without fail, she would find herself at the same decrepit rooftop, and she would sit there on the edge, looking off into the distance, reveling in the complete silence.
This morning was different; she barely remembers the trip over, hardly even thinking at all. All Rhea could focus on was the tightness in her skin and the endless humming of generators that were driving her up a wall. But now here she was on her roof, so far outside the designated safety zones set up by the fireflies that she would forever be under lock and key if anyone found out, and for the first time, it wasn’t nearly far enough.
Rhea sighed, resting her head in her hands. The sun was just starting to peak over the horizon, and with it came the knowledge that she had to leave soon. That “soon” was 15 minutes ago, but who needed to eat breakfast anyway?
She finally pulled herself away, taking one last glance at the horizon before reaching into her denim jacket for her pocket watch. The shiny thing had been something she had found in one of the boarded-up shops on one of her unauthorized excursions to the outer city. The watch was held on a metal chain, the same rusty bronzy color as the outer shell. The face of the watch, on the other hand, was a stark navy blue, with the numbers and hands a shining bronze. She had spent three months scavenging parts and fixing it up till it looked brand new, and it showed.
6:23 am
“Shit,” she breathed before bolting toward the center of the city.
∩≡U≡∩≡U≡∩≡U≡∩≡U≡∩
The window to the bunks creaked open, its sound harsh against the quiet, empty room. Rhea figured most of the people had already left to go to breakfast. She sighed, stepping into the room and slowly closing the window behind her. She got away scot free this time, but Rhea knew she couldn’t keep cutting it this close if she didn’t want to be caught.
Stepping farther into the room, Rhea headed for her bunk before feeling a hand grab her shoulder. She spun around, pulling out her butterfly knife from her pocket and holding it up to the neck of her assailant.
“Whoa there,” Owen says.
“Fuck Owen, what the hell is wrong with you?!” Rhea says angrily before pocketing her knife and storming over to her bunk to grab the rest of her things.
“Wrong with me?” he asks, surprised, gently rubbing his neck.” What the hell is wrong with you? Do you know how long Abs has been waiting on you? You were supposed to meet her for some extra firearms training or whatever half an hour ago. And now she roped me into coming to get you when I should be at my post. But, of course, I find you not in your bunk but sneaking back inside the dorm, through the window of all places. What if someone saw you?!”
“Shit, that was today?” Rhea asks, ignoring the part about her sneaking out, as she quickens her pace, rushing around the cramped room.
“I don’t know and I don't care, I just need to hurry your ass up so I can get back to doing my own shit instead of babysitting your ass.”Owen sighs, contemplating before. “No one saw you, right?”
Rhea scoffs, slinging her bag over her shoulder and glaring daggers into his back as she follows him to the door. “What, was Abby too busy to come get me herself?” she snarked back at him. “And you can’t babysit me, I’m almost 15.”
“Tell that to her when I let her know of your little late-night adventure, or better yet, your dad,” he threatens, opening the door to the hall before pushing her in front of him as they make their way towards the dining hall. There were a lot more people moving around than usual, leaving the corridors feeling cramped and claustrophobic. She didn’t recognize most of them, though, making it feel worse.
“Don't you fucking dare, or I will be happy to inform my father of you and my sister's late-night activities,” she whispers just loud enough for him to hear as she traverses the crowded hall. Factions of fireflies from across the country had been showing up constantly these past few months. They are almost always battered and bruised when they get here, leaving the rest of us scrambling to get those who need it medical attention.
“Fuck, it isn't like that, and you know it.” He looks at her sternly, gripping her arm. Her only reply is a smirk back, before ripping her arm away and marching out in front of him. “ God, you're such a little shit.”
“Fuck you, and by the way, no one saw me, I'm not fucking dumb,” Rhea responds confidently. It's forced, though, and she barely gives a shit what he responds with, more focused on the uncomfortable feeling of so many people brushing past her. The walk feels endless. There were too many voices, but at some point, she thinks she overhears Owen talking to someone over the walkie-talkie about her, Abby most likely. Bits of conversations from those around her float past her ears, names, places, snapshots of stories; it was too much, she just wanted to ignore them all to go back to the quiet of her roof.
Before the voices can all stream together into a jumble of sound, there is a rough yank to her arm, and Owen pulls her down a second hallway.
“Don't yank on me,” Rhea sneers, ripping his hand from her arm.
“Maybe if you were actually paying attention, I wouldn’t have to direct you,” he snips back.
“And maybe I should have stabbed you,” Rhea mumbles before coming to a stop behind him.
“Ha, you a killer, that's cute. Now Abby is in the corner there,” he pointed to the back of the cafeteria. ”She wants to have a word with you before drills.” Wait, when did they get into the cafeteria? Rhea thought, “And I would better start thinking of a good apology speech because you're definitely going to need it,” giving her a mocking pat on the shoulder before walking off with a cocky grin.
“Bitch,” Rhea said under her breath.
Collecting herself, she began walking over to Abby, who was talking with an older guy decked out in full military gear. Not an uncommon occurrence to see, the fireflies were practically a self-trained militia anyway. A fact that Rhea always hated thinking about these days.
As she approached, she caught the tail end of the conversation, which piqued her interest.
“... nah, it was absolutely brutal there. I'm surprised any of us made it here in one piece,” the man said. Hmm, he must be a part of that faction of fireflies that got here a few days ago.
“Yeah, well, I can only imagine taking that trip in the winter; you're bound to get a little banged up,” Abby replied, gesturing to a bandaged wound on his arm.
“Yeah, sucked ass when no one could tell us why we up and abandoned Boston either.” Rhea had been wondering the same when fireflies from across the country seemed to be deserting the QZs and grouping up here. Rhea, for all her sneaking around and eavesdropping, unfortunately had no more information than the guy did. They were keeping their plans very hush-hush.
“No kidding, I would be pissed as well. I bet you I could…” Abby trailed off, noticing her approaching, eyes immediately meeting Rhea's. Her eyes turned dark as she glared at Rhea's form. Shit, she's so fucked. “Hey, I have to go.” Abby said, not taking her eyes off of Rhea, “I will make sure to tell my father you dropped by to say thanks.”
Rhea tucked her head down, suddenly super interested in the little feather doodles covering her shoes. Maybe if she didn't make any eye contact, she would get lucky, and Abby would just walk right past her. But then again, when was Rhea ever lucky?
Abbys rough hand grasped her arm, dragging Rhea out of the cafeteria and into an unoccupied room. Rhea refused to lift her gaze the entire trek there. She knew that Abby would be fuming, but this seemed excessive even for her.
Only when the door to the room was slammed shut did she lift her eyes to meet Abby's. She was pacing back and forth, practically tearing a track into the ground, her braided hair swishing back and forth.
And it was silent.
But not the silence of the rooftop, no, this was a lethal silence that seemed to consume the space, consume Rhea, and it was just waiting to implode on them.
Abby suddenly stopped her perfect hair, coming to a crashing stop. She pinched her nose between her fingers and took a long breath.
“What. The. Fuck. Were you thinking?!” Abbys voice was calm, and yet that made each word more devastating.
“Look, I… I know I fucked up, okay, I forgot about this morning and…”
“Fucked up? You more than fucked up on this one. I can't believe you can be this stupid,” she seethed, beginning to pace around the room once more. “ Look, I get wanting to do field work, but this isn’t the way to do it. You need training, training that you can only get if you show up to fucking practice.”
“ I’m sorry, okay, I forgot and… and…” Rhea stumbles, running her hands through her long chestnut hair, the tangles getting caught in her fingers. “god, I don’t know? I'm trying okay, but it's not as easy as…”
“Trying? Realy? Cause from where I'm standing, it looks like you don’t give a shit,” Abby said, approaching Rhea. “No, it looks like you would rather be running around goofing off and sneaking out than actually put in the effort to care about what we are trying to do here.”
“What I do in my free time has nothing to do with you. and if you're really so upset at me missing practice, maybe stop yelling at me so I can fucking go.” Rhea shot back defensively.
“ Like I should even let you continue with training now. Clearly, you're not mature enough. You do realize that the shit we do is important, right? Right?!” rants Abby. “I get not agreeing with everything that the fireflies are doing. But ever since you...”
“Don’t. You. Fucking. Dare,” Rhea is livid now; she has no right to bring that day up.
Abby continues ignoring her, “It's like you don't care about anything anymore. Our work here, our fathers’ work here, it saves people, it could save the fucking world, and you don’t give a shit.”
Rhea shouts back, “ I have put everything into the cause for my entire life! But what's left?” She lets out a long sigh, sitting down on a box in the back corner of the room, her head in her hands. “I know we are losing, don't try to deny it, so what are we even doing anymore? How many more people need to die for a failing cause?”
Abby sighs, coming to sit next to Rhea. And there once more is silence, only broken by the sounds of labored breaths.
“Marlene found an immune girl,” Abby blurts out.
“What?” Rhea, for the first time, tries to meet Abby's eyes, but she is only staring at the door in front of them.
“I don’t know much, only caught a few pieces of her conversation with dad, but that's what she is saying. I don’t know if I believe it, but Dad does. He thinks… fuck, he thinks he can make a vaccine.” Abby sounds hopeful, “All of this could really mean something.”
Mean something sure, but at what cost, Rhea thought.
“This girl is she here?” Rhea asks
“Apparently, she and Maria got separated, but some smuggler is supposed to get her to a group of us out east, and they're supposed to bring her here or something. Look, no one is really supposed to know, so if you could just…”
“Yeah, yeah, I got it,” Rhea replied, contemplating.
“ I know you care. I shouldn’t have said you didn’t. But if this is real, we can’t afford to fuck up like that. So no more late-night trips or skipping practice. I need to know you're with me,” her gaze finally meeting Rheas.
“Okay,” she replied with a soft nod of her head. Her mind, though, was going a million miles a minute, unable to comprehend what to do with this new information. Maybe there was nothing to be done.
“ Good, good, let me walk you to the gym,” Abby said, standing up and walking towards the door, beckoning Rhea to join her. Her arm coming to rest across the shorter girl's shoulders. “You're still in giant trouble for sneaking out, by the way,” her tone was teasing now, so different from only seconds before.
With a groan, Rhea stood up and followed her out, muttering something about wanting to kill Owen. But in the back of her mind, Rhea was consumed with the thoughts of the girl. Even if by some miracle this mysterious immune girl was real and actually made it here, and a vaccine was made, what would be the cost? Nothing this good ever came for free in this world.