Just a friendly reminder to, of course, read the stories I made prior to this one, entitled Louis and Ellie's adventure and The Reunion. Thanks. When I first started this series about a month and a half ago, I didn't know where this would go. I didn't even have the idea for Louis to be schizophrenic until I started to realize that he showed a lot of signs. But I realised it could make for some interesting experiences, and it definitely has. Right now, I've got subtle uses for it in this story, that I'll use later in the story. As always, thanks for reading my fan-fic, and would you kindly leave a review? Song Glowing Light by Amarate.
"Schizophrenia: a long-term mental disorder of a type involving a breakdown in the relation between thought, emotion, and behaviour, leading to faulty perception, inappropriate actions and feelings, withdrawal from reality and personal relationships into fantasy and delusion, and a sense of mental fragmentation." Definition of schizophrenia by the Oxford dictionary.
"Have you seen others before?" Louis asked, pulling another smoke from his newly scavenged carton. He had hand-rolled them several hours before when they had made a pit-stop. He honestly thought that they were worth the shit he had to take from the others. Joel, he didn't mind, as he only made a few comments here and there, but Shane and Ellie? It's like their way of getting him to stop was to annoy the shit out of him as much as they could. He lit the cigarette and took a puff from it. "For comparison, I mean." Shane walked beside him, while Ellie and Joel walked a bit further in front of them. Louis and Shane spoke as hushed as they could, so that the two in front of them couldn't eaves-drop on them.
"Nope. First pair I've ever seen. I got to say; at least I know what all the fuss is about." Shane was glad he could talk to Louis like a friend again. For three weeks after the incident with David, Louis just wasn't the same; avoiding Ellie as much as he could, often getting into arguments with Joel, pushing Shane away, and generally keeping to himself. But now, he was as normal as he would ever be. For a schizophrenic fifteen year old at least.
"You're so goddamn lucky man." Shane gave a chuckle.
"I wouldn't think so. I was under too much pressure to properly…" Shane clicked his fingers a few times. "Appreciate it."
"Man you're just being modest. I'm not the jealous type, even if you got to see Ellie's…" They were interrupted from their conversation by Ellie slowing down to walk beside them.
"What are you boys talking about?" Shane and Louis parted so she could slide between them.
"Nothing Ellie. Just man stuff." Ellie giggled.
"You guys aren't men, so I don't know why you're talking about that." Louis gave her a playful shove. "God, it's so boring just walking." She called for Joel, and he stopped to look at her. "Hey, it's getting kind of late. Can we stop for the night?" Joel looked at his broken watch.
"I don't know, my watch says it's still pretty early." Louis and Shane laughed.
"Soooo fucking funny." She replied, as Joel chuckled as well.
"Yeah, we can find some place to camp for the night. My legs have got me tired anyway." Joel led the teens down the next exit ramp, where they continued to travel away from the highway. After about half an hour, they came across a small town that seemed free of bandits, and decided to camp there for a night.
Shane could feel Marlene's eyes watching him, judging him from afar. But the Fireflies were his dream, a dream of freedom, and he wasn't going to let that deter him. His guide, a Firefly soldier named Melanie, led him through a series of alleys until they ended up behind a small apartment building. For safety reasons, they decided to blindfold all new recruits so they wouldn't know where the secret Firefly base was.
"Alright, here we are." Melanie took of Shane's blindfold and he instantly shielded his eyes from the bright floodlights that surrounded him. When his eyes adjusted, he found himself in some sort of street, Marlene herself standing behind him. But they weren't the only ones there. He found four other people standing at his sides; a thin looking brunette white woman, a middle aged man with gray hair (what was left anyway), a strong darker skinned man, and a blonde boy that stood beside him. Marlene went and stood in front of them, and began to talk.
"Alright people! You guys think you make Firefly material? That you can just memorize a bunch of rules and say you fight for freedom? I'm here to tell you differently! What we've got here is a training course that we use to train new recruits, a.k.a you! Now, you guys aren't just randomly put together, oh no, we specifically put you five together because we believe you can make a worthy squad to don the Firefly name! As Fireflies, you will require five things, each of which one of you have each! Agility, strength, wits, sacrifice, and courage is what you require as a squad! Now don't worry, this is a very simple test. Just get to the other side."
"Thank god," the woman mumbled. Marlene gave a small smile.
"…Of the city." The woman's face flushed of color.
"The city?" she asked.
"You want to be Fireflies; you'll be doing this on a daily basis."
"But the military would kill us if they catch us out here past curfew!" The middle-aged man exclaimed.
"And that's the danger you have to accept if you want to become a Firefly." Shane thought about the task; he wasn't worried at all. How hard could it be?
"S-so this has a c-chance to kill u-us, then?" the blonde boy stammered out.
"Basically." Marlene walked over to Shane and the darker skinned man. "You two haven't said a single word about this. Most recruits are shit-scared when they take this test." Shane was the first to speak up.
"Why should I be afraid? These are military soldiers, not skilled assassins. They wouldn't even stand a match to me, that is, if they see me before I take them out."
"I once took a full pistol clip to the chest," the other man said, "and just walked it off until I found someone to patch me up." Marlene looked towards Shane, then to the man.
"You two are exact opposites of each other, you know that." She pointed to Shane. "You focus on your speed, your agility, the ability to sneak past with ease." She pointed to the other man. "And you focus on power, your strength, taking out your enemies up front and personal." She lowered her finger and put her arm at her side again. "I think you two will make the best team." The two guys looked at each other. "I'm going to issue a challenge to the two of you. If you guys manage to master each other's fighting styles, I'll make you both co-leaders of the squad. If you don't, your whole squad fails, and you guys will never become Fireflies. What do you say?"
"I'm up for it if you are," the man told Shane.
"Then I guess we'll do it." The rest of their training squad groaned. There was no way these two could do this!
"Alright then, recruits! Once you pass through that fence you are officially in military territory, and they will shoot on sight! But that doesn't mean I don't have faith in this squad becoming the damn best in the Fireflies! You five ready?" They all nodded. "You will need to act as a team if you want to get through this, all right? Move out when ready!" And with that, the squad left, disappearing behind the fence.
"Do you really have faith in them?" Melanie asked her.
"Not a single bit. But that's why I put them in a squad."
The squad took cover from a couple of military soldiers that were stood a dozen or so meters from them.
"I don't think we're properly acquainted," the middle-aged man said. "My name is Remy. What about you guys?"
"I'm Kara," the thin woman told them.
"L-louis," the blonde kid stammered out.
"Name's Maverick," the dark skinned man said.
"And I'm Shane." Remy peaked out of cover at the two military soldiers.
"Okay, I think we can take them out if we maybe separate them."
"There's no time for that." Maverick told him, stepping out of cover. Remy tried to stop him, but was too late. The two soldiers spotted Maverick and aimed their rifles at the man, who towered over them.
"Stop your ass right there! You're violating curfew!" Maverick grabbed the two soldiers and smashed their heads against each other, knocking them out. They slumped to the ground, and the rest of the squad got out of cover.
"How'd you do that?" Shane asked him.
"You just gotta focus all your strength. It's not that hard."
"Easy for you to say. You've got arms as thick as tree trunks!" Maverick gave a chuckle.
"Years and years of exercise will do that to you kid."
"You and I obviously have different exercise schedules. You lift weights, I free-run." Remy and the others kept moving the way they were supposed to go.
"You guys are supposed to learn each other's combat styles, so why don't you two take the roofs and get to do that without too many military soldiers in the way?" Remy asked them. It really sounded like Remy didn't want to be near them. Before they could say anything, Remy, Kara, and Louis left Shane and Maverick alone.
"Well, we better find a ladder or something." Shane scoffed.
"Watch and learn, muscle." Shane ran up the buildings wall and grabbed onto a window sill. He kept using the windows of the buildings as ledges until he managed to reach the top of the thirteen story building. He heard the radio attached to his belt cackle.
"Holy shit, kid! That was amazing!" Shane got the radio from his belt.
"You think you can do that?" He asked.
"I doubt it. No way I'd be agile enough to do that."
"You'd be surprised at what you could do if you actually tried it. That's how I discovered parkour." There was no reply for a few seconds, but eventually he heard the tell-tale cackle.
"I'll try then." Shane put the radio back in his belt, and waited there. He didn't know how long it took. Could've been five minutes, could've been twenty. After however long, he could hear Maverick grunting in effort. He looked over the side of the building, and sure enough, saw Maverick having some trouble at the last window.
"You having fun there? Because I couldn't tell." Maverick made a 'Fuck You' face to Shane.
"Can I get some help here? Come and pull me up!" Shane instead leant on the railing that was keeping Maverick from climbing up.
"I don't know. What's in it for me?" Shane heard the railing creak a little.
"Not getting your fucking ass kicked when I do get up there, that's what!" Shane gave a smile and grabbed onto Maverick's arm, pulling him up. When he was pulled onto the building, Maverick punched Shane in the stomach, sending him to the ground.
"Ah shit man. What was that for?"
"For not pulling me up, asshole." Shane got back up and made his way to the end of the building.
"We got a long way to go, Maverick. So we're just going to have to call a truce, all right?" Maverick nodded. "Anyway, this is a great time to show you the ways of free-running."
The pair made their way through the city via the rooftops. They learned a lot of things from each other, just as Marlene said they should. Although Maverick was as clumsy as he was fit, he was able to perform basic free-running skills. As for Shane, he managed to merge power and agility into one deadly fighting style. Maverick couldn't believe his eyes at the efficiency of this fighting style. Whenever they came across a soldier on the rooftops, Shane just switched from some rebellious teenager to a deadly assassin. It took them a few hours, but they finally made their way to the end of the city, where they stood atop a building looking down at the other three members of their squad.
"So what now?" Shane asked the three below him, speaking through a radio.
"I don't know," a voice replied, "we're going to check the building here for signs of anyone." Shane placed the radio back in his belt. Almost as if on cue, he heard his radio crackle again.
"You boys think you'd make good Fireflies? Fireflies don't leave each other behind, you got me? I believed you five would make the best squad in the Fireflies, especially you two. But what would you do when the rest of your squad are in danger, hmm? This is the real test." The radio went silent.
"What is she on about?" Maverick asked Shane.
"I have n…" Shane was interrupted by the radio, once again, cackling to life.
"Shane, Maverick, there's nothing in the building. I think Marlene might've been lying to us. We're gonna… Wait a second. I hear something. Is that?... Oh shit, OH SHIT! FUCKING MOVE PEOPLE, IT'S GONNA-" Shane and Maverick were blown off their feet by an explosion that rocked the building. When the Shane came to his senses, he realized the building was on fire, and the rest of his squad was trapped in the building.
"What the fuck was that? Did Marlene try to kill us?" Maverick exclaimed.
"No, this is just the second part of the test. C'mon, we need to save the others!" The radio turned on.
"You have a minute to rescue your squad members. After that the next bomb will explode. Good luck." Shane scrambled to his feet, where he saw Maverick already entering the building. He decided to quickly follow him into the building.
When he entered the burning building, he saw Maverick grabbing hold of Remy and Kara, who were unconscious.
"Hey kid, go get Louis! I've got these two!" Louis nodded and headed downstairs, where he found Louis lying on the ground, barely conscious.
"You okay?" Shane asked, holding Louis's body in his arms. Louis coughed a few times.
"Why am I getting burned?" He asked. Shane was baffled for a second.
"Because the buildings on fire!"
"No it isn't. I don't see any fire."
"Your fucking blind, aren't you?" Shane took Louis down a flight of stairs, where he found a dead end of a collapsed floor. "I got an idea. But it's gonna hurt, alright?" Shane ran into one of the rooms of the building, where he saw a window. "Goddamn it. Here goes nothing." Shane ran as fast as he could, and broke through the window. He found out how high he was very quickly. He managed to lose his grip on Louis and they dropped to the ground a few meters apart. Shane was dazed, but he focused just enough to see the rest of the hotel explode, and hear the words he's been waiting for this whole time come through the radio.
"Congratulations you five. Welcome to the Fireflies."
Shane, Louis, Joel, and Ellie found some kind of strange building to camp out in, the neon sign long gone to know what it was. They entered through a hallway, passing a counter along the way, and came across a gigantic room with a lot of lights above it, along with a D.J booth.
"Whoa." Louis exclaimed, running up to the booth, closely followed by Shane and Ellie. "Where are we?" Joel sighed.
"This used to be a nightclub. Stupid people would come here to drink and dance while loud, douchey music played." Louis examined all the gizmos and gadgets that the D.J booth held. There were a lot of switches, which he raised up and down, and a screen of some kind.
"This would've been awesome." He said, wiping the dusty screen with his sleeve. He almost fell down out of fright when the booth turned on and started to play some, as Joel said, loud, douchey music. When he regained his senses, he found the rest of the nightclub had turned on, and was confused by the flashing lights on the main floor. But out of the corner of his eye, he spotted a figure on the second floor looking down upon them. It was obvious Shane and Ellie had spotted the person too, as they both took off to get to the figure, Shane using the D.J booth as a boost to jump up onto the second floor, while Ellie took the stairs. Louis took the stairs as well, but when he got to the top, the figure, along with Shane, had jumped out a window onto the street. Ellie continued her pursuit, so Louis did as well, following her out the window. He hit the ground running, pursuing wherever the hell Ellie was going. When he got to the edge of the street, he found Ellie and Shane just standing there, dumbfounded. "Where the hell did that person go?" He asked.
"I don't know what happened!" Shane replied. "That person certainly has some free-running skills. They just ran up the building here and disappeared!"
"Well we need to find whoever that was!" Ellie exclaimed. "Listen, I'll go get Joel. You two can split up to try and find the person." They both nodded. Ellie ran back down the street to the nightclub.
"Alright Louis, you search down that way." He pointed to the street on the right. "I'll go left. Only engage if necessary, you got that? If it isn't, just radio me and I'll come to your position."
"You got it." Shane ran off in search of the figure, and Louis did as well. As he walked, he began to think. Who was this person? Why didn't they attack the group? Was the power turning on just a distraction, or was it to attract the group's attention to the figure? So many questions whirled around in his head, but he was distracted from his thinking by a loud noise coming from an alley beside him. He grabbed the machete that was held in a holster on his back. The machete used to belong to David, before Louis killed him, but he kept it as a reminder of how he managed to take out one of the most terrifying men he had ever met. Not terrifying because of his physical strength, but because of the strength of his words. He gripped his machete in his dominant left hand, and walked cautiously into the alleyway. "Hello?" Hello? That's the best you can come up with? What, you think a bandit is just gonna reveal themselves with a friendly 'hey' back? Be threatening Louis! Make them want to reveal themselves so they won't get hurt! "Whoever the hell is out there, you better show yourselves! Because I ain't one for being trusting these days." No response came. "I'm not fucking kidding. I've killed more people than the years you've lived! If you show yourself now, I promise not to kill you!" He heard a chuckle. A female chuckle.
"You think you can make a promise?" A female voice replied. "It's quite sad how people make promises about the future. Because they have no idea what happens in the future. People say things like 'I will always love you, I will always be there for you, things will get better. I promise.' But, it's six months later and you don't love me, you aren't here for me, and things haven't gotten any better." Louis gave a smile.
"Ah, a poet I see. You know, I find quite a liking to poems myself, you know? Got an entire book in my backpack. Listen, I tried playing it tough. I'm truly not a ruthless guy. I ain't one to show no mercy."
"Well ain't that sweet? I'm glad about that. At least we share something in common." The voice hinted at a Texan accent. A lot like Joel's.
"Well why don't you come on out?" He put his machete back in its holster. "See, I put my weapon away. So can you show you-" He was taken to the ground by a force falling above him. The girl had gotten a jump on him. He had closed his eyes, but when he did open them, he couldn't take his eyes off the girl.
"You really aren't the smartest boy, ain't you? Never lower your guard." The girl told him. She had short, blonde hair, light blue eyes, and a body to die for. She was… beautiful. "You don't look like some sort of bandit. Not old enough. Who are you?" Louis snapped out of his trance-like state.
"Uh, I'm L-Louis. A-and I'm not a b-bandit. I'm friendly." Louis realized his goddamned stammer had revealed itself in his nervousness. The girl stifled back laughter.
"Why are you nervous? I ain't gonna kill you!" She began to ease up on pinning him down, and instead sat on his chest to keep him down.
"C-could you maybe, I d-don't know, get off of m-me?"
"I ain't going to risk you killing me if I didn't do this. Besides, I can tell that you like this." She gave him a smile. He couldn't lie, he did kinda like it. He just felt embarrassed that she noticed. The only thing keeping him from getting a boner was the short shotgun she kept in her hand. "Anyway, my name's Sara. Nice to meet you Louis."
"Sara?" Ellie's voice came from the end of the alley. "Your name's Sara?" All color had drained from her face. Sara didn't seem alarmed by Ellie's presence, as she didn't even make an effort to get off Louis's chest.
"Yeah, that's my name. What's wrong with it?" Ellie took a step forward.
"Sara? As in S-a-r-a-h?" Louis felt a bit confused as to what was going on.
"No, why would you assume that? My name's spelt S-a-r-a." Louis saw Joel and Shane enter the alley, and when Joel saw the girl, he stopped dead in his tracks.
"Joel, Shane, this is Sara." Ellie told them. Joel didn't make a move. He was too focused on the girl, and tried to push back a memory from his past that he wanted to forget.
"Ellie, what's wrong? You look like you've seen a ghost." Louis asked her, not even trying to get the girl off his chest anymore.
"I swear I have." She tried to change the subject. "Uh, anyway, what are you doing out here all alone, Sara? Do you have a family?"
"Used to. Now I just kinda live alone back at my camp. When I saw you guys, I thought you were some hunters come to kill me, which is why I ran when you guys chased me." Shane gave the girl a smile.
"And you sure as hell put up a good chase. You must've had some training when it comes to free-running, because you sure as hell don't learn that by yourself."
"You must be a professional if you think that then."
"Three years training by a Firefly soldier by the time I joined myself." Sara gave him a smirk in return.
"I was being sarcastic, dumbass. I couldn't give two shits if you got trained. I learned from protecting my camp from some stupid group of bandits. When you've been alone as long as I have, you got to know the basics of avoiding conflict."
"I hate to interrupt this argument," Louis interrupted, "but can you get off my chest already?" Sara thought for a second.
"I don't see any compelling reason to do that." Louis groaned.
"Anyhow, we're friendly, all right? It's just us: three teenagers and a man in his late forties. We came here to find shelter for the night." Ellie told her.
"You're looking for shelter? My camp isn't too far from here. You can come and stay there for the night, if you want?" Ellie looked back at Joel, and gave him a questioning look. He stepped forward to speak.
"It would be appreciated." Sara got a bright look on her face.
"Great. It'll be nice to have the company." She finally got off Louis's chest, and put her hand out for him. He accepted the helping hand, and she pulled him up to his feet. "Real nice." She gave him a smile, and began to walk out the alley. They all followed her out, Joel keeping his distance.
"So Sara, how old are you?" Ellie asked.
"Turned fifteen back in January." Sara replied. "What about you guys?"
"Fourteen." Ellie told her.
"I'm seventeen." Shane said.
"I'm fifteen as well, Sara." Louis caught up and started to walk with the other teenagers. He took a pack of cigarettes from the pocket of his flannel shirt. He took one out, and began to light it.
"You're a smoker?" Sara asked.
"Yeah. If you're going to tell me it's bad for me, go ahead and do it." He took a drag from the cigarette and blew it out the corner of his mouth.
"I wasn't going to do that. In fact, I wanted to ask if I could have one." Louis got a look of surprise.
"I wouldn't of have guessed that. How often do you smoke?" He asked her, taking a smoke and lighter out of his pack and handing them to her.
"Just casual. It can really affect my fitness if I have them too often." She lighted her cigarette and gave the lighter back to Louis, which he put back in his shirt's pocket. Joel kind of cringed at the sight of this girl smoking, but tried to push back the urge to slap the smoke out of her hand. Sara looked over to Shane.
"I hate to ask this, but what's with that bandage around your neck?" Louis and Ellie looked over as well.
"I never noticed that before." Louis exclaimed.
"Uh, well, that's kind of a long story."
"We got time. It's at least fifteen more minutes until we get to my camp." Shane sighed. He really didn't want to tell this story, but he didn't want to be pestered for the rest of his life about it.
Shane looked up from the railing he leant over. This was his second year into the free-running training, not that he needed to learn much more. He felt the hand of his trainer on his shoulder, and turned around to face him.
"We got to go Shane. The military will be here any moment." Shane didn't move a muscle.
"Why are you running away? We can take them!" His trainer scoffed at that.
"This isn't the time for that! There are about a dozen of them, all heavily armed. We have to go!" Shane took out a gun that was in his belt. "You aren't a Firefly yet, kid! Just come on!" They were too late anyway. A group of soldiers busted through a rooftop entrance and aimed their weapons at the two.
"Put your fucking weapons on the ground now!" Shane dropped the gun lazily from his hands, the determined look not wiped off his face. One of the soldiers made their way towards him. "Make a move, your dead!" Shane gave the man a smile.
"Maybe you should listen to your own advice." Shane grabbed the man by his arm and used his gun to shoot the man through the head.
"Open fire!" One of the men shouted. Louis used the corpse as a human shield, making it absorb all the bullets. He flung the body down, and used his foot to kick his pistol up into his hands. He fired at the soldiers, killing three of them but using all his bullets. He flung the gun down and ran at one of the remaining eight soldiers, kicking his shins and sending him to his knees. He then snapped the man's neck. The other soldiers had reloaded their clips back into their guns and fired upon him again. He ducked behind an air duct, and hid there until the shots were not heard anymore. He jumped from behind the cover and gave one of the soldiers the one-two punch, making her keel over. He used her now lowered back to vault over, grabbing the soldier's knife from its holster. Using the knife, he plunged it into her neck and ran at the next soldier. He sliced the soldier's stomach and sent him to the ground, and then threw the knife at another soldier, which stuck into the soldiers head. He kicked one of the five soldiers in his stomach, and grabbed him by his leather uniform. He pulled the pin on a grenade in the soldiers belt and pushed him back into the group, sending blood everywhere. But out of the bloody mist a remaining soldier ran at him, and pushed him back against the railing. The soldier took out his knife and tried to plunge it into his throat, but Shane used his forearm to block the soldiers strike. With a lot of strength, the soldier managed to put a deep cut in Shane's throat, but Shane eventually pushed the soldiers arm back and caused him to slit his own throat. Shane put his hand on his neck to stop the bleeding and looked over to his trainer, who looked at him with disbelief.
"Can we get a doctor?"
When Shane finished telling the story and looked at his friends, they were all wide-eyed in disbelief.
"What?" He asked.
"Why did you never tell us about that?" Louis questioned him.
"Because you guys would make a big deal of it! I don't like it when people take the horrible things I've done and turn them on me to make me look like some awesome hero."
"Well then maybe, you should stop being so goddamn amazing!" Ellie told him. Shane groaned.
"See? This is what I'm talking about. At least Joel knows how I feel." He looked back at Joel. "Joel?" Joel didn't answer, and kept looking blankly ahead of him.
"Here we are." Sara announced. They all looked at a two story house, the long grass nearly covering the front door. They all stepped through the grass and entered the house behind Sara. As soon as they got in, Sara flicked on the lights and nearly blinded them.
"You've got power? How'd you get power here?" Louis asked.
"There's a bunch of solar panels on the roof that provide me power during the day, but since I'm not actually in the house most of the day, I'm able to save it until the night to use it. Anyway, allow me to give you a quick tour of the house, huh?" Everyone except Joel nodded.
"I think I'll just stay down here, if that's okay?" Sara nodded at him and started up the stairs. The other teenagers joined her, but Joel sat down on a chair and ran his hands through his graying hair.
Sara led them upstairs and gestured towards a couple of doors.
"These are just a couple of the bedrooms of the house. I've mostly stripped the beds of their sheets, but I'm sure I can rustle some up for you." She pointed to a door at the end of the hallway.
"That's the shower, if you want one. The house has a solar heater as well, along with a water tank. If you do have one while you're here, keep it short, because I don't want all the water wasted." She backtracked downstairs and entered another room. "This is the kitchen, but I use it to store all kinds of junk." Louis walked over to one of the shelves and examined one of the objects. He almost fell to the floor out of surprise when it made a noise and blinded him with a flash. Sara walked up to Louis and grabbed the object. "I see you found my camera. It prints Polaroid's of the pictures it takes." She took out the picture that had been printed, and put it up on the shelf. "I don't get to use this thing that much. You think, maybe, we could take a picture?"
"I'd love to." Sara looked back at the other two.
"What about you guys?" They both smiled and walked into the frame of the camera. Sara held the thing above them, and took a picture. When it printed, she shook it a few times to clear the picture. She smiled at it and showed it to the rest of the group, who smiled along with her.
Sara took the group into the final part of the house; the living room. She went and sat on the sofa, along with Ellie, and Louis and Shane sat on the ground. Shane noticed the television on, but tuned to some sort of weird menu screen.
"I thought all the television channels stopped broadcasting just after the infection hit?"
"They did. But that isn't T.V, it's connected to the console." Ellie felt confused.
"What's a console?" She asked.
"A video game console. You never heard of one before?" Ellie lit up at the moment Sara said video game.
"I've only heard of arcade video games." Sara laughed at that.
"Well, this one ain't coin operated. Play anytime you like." Ellie thought for a second.
"It is tempting. But I think I might play it in the morning before we leave, if that's okay?" Sara nodded to her. "Anything else you like to do?"
"I like playing guitar."
"Really?" Louis asked. "I play violin. Well, not so much anymore." His mind wandered to a few weeks ago, back to David. But he got distracted from that by a smile in his direction by Sara.
"Well, not to toot my own horn, but I am pretty good."
"Your skill kind of declines when a bandit breaks your instrument. Why don't you show us how good you are, then?" Sara took off into another room, eventually returning with a guitar. She sat back down at her original space on the sofa and tuned it a bit.
"Okay. You guys sing along if you know the words, hmm?" She began to play the melody.
[Sara]
I can feel my body float across the sky
No more weight to hold me down I've got the ties
[Louis]
I just want to separate my heart and mind
I just want to separate my heart and mind
I just want to divide into the sky tonight
[All]
There is a light
That's filled with life
Inside we know there is a glow that fills our soul
And we will fight
A different taste
A different way to look at fate, a different face
[Ellie and Shane]
I can feel the blinding light into my eyes
I'd let it fill me up and change my life
I just want to separate my heart and mind
I just want to separate my heart and mind
I just want to divide into the sky tonight
[All]
There is a light
That's filled with life
Inside we know there is a glow that fills our soul
And we will fight
A different taste
A different way to look at fate, a different face
I'll let go
Let go of this
I'll let go
Stick to forget
Joel walked into the doorway and leant against the frame of the door. He looked at the teenagers, and allowed himself a smile. Although Sara reminded him of his daughter, and her death, she also reminded him of the times before the infection he had had with Sarah. Maybe, just maybe, she might be worth taking along with them, if she wanted to.
[Louis]
I will let go
Let go of this
[All]
There is a light
That's filled with life
Inside we know there is a glow that fills our soul
And we will fight
A different taste
A different way to look at fate, a different face.
Sara finished up with the song and placed her guitar down. For a moment, they just sat there and soaked in the moment. A moment of happiness they hadn't had in a long time. Sara was the first to speak up.
"I think I'm done for the night. I'm gonna get some shut eye."
"I think I might as well." Replied Louis. "It's getting pretty late anyway." They both got up.
"I won't be far behind." Ellie told them, yawning.
"I'll probably be up for a while more. You guys have a good sleep, alright?" Louis and Sara both exited the room, only Louis followed Sara up the stairs and into her room.
After a few minutes, Ellie eventually said goodnight to Shane and wandered out of the room. She ascended the stairs, but before she went into the guest room, she could hear Louis and Sara talking in Sara's room.
"But we'll be leaving tomorrow. That ain't enough time, Sara."
"I know. What's with that Ellie anyway? What's the story with you and her?" Ellie crept forward when she heard her name.
"Ain't no story, Sara. We had a thing a while ago, but she broke it off." Ellie pressed herself just beside the door to the room.
"Can you promise me there won't be anything else between you, if I do take up Joel's offer to come with you?" Ellie didn't believe what she was hearing. Joel actually offered for her to come along? She was actually quite interested to hear what Louis's answer. There was no noise for a couple of seconds.
"I promise." And then there was silence. Ellie felt a little curious and peaked through the door. And wished she never had. In the middle of the room, Louis and Sara were held in each other's arms, none other than kissing! Ellie wanted to just leave, but she couldn't take her eyes off the pair. They just stood there, Sara running her hands through Louis's short, blonde hair, until Louis hoisted Sara up and she wrapped her legs around him. Louis pressed her against the wall, and started to unbutton Sara's shirt, which is where Ellie drew the line. She stopped peaking and returned to her spot against the wall. How could Louis do this? But she remembered: she broke it off. So why did she hurt so badly by this? She began to tear up, and ran back down the stairs into the living room, where Shane sat on the couch, reading a magazine he had found.
"Ellie? I thought you were going t-" He noticed the tears streaming down her face. "Oh my god, are you okay?" She shook her head and sat next to Shane on the couch. "What happened?" She went ahead and leant her head on Shane's shoulder.
"It's Louis. He's up in that room with Sara."
"Doing what?"
"What do you think?" Shane got a sudden realization about what they were doing. "Oh." He put his right arm around her. "But didn't you tell Louis you two couldn't be together?"
"I did. I don't know why I want him now."
"Because someone else has him?" Ellie felt like she needed to change the subject, and Shane could see that. "Anyway, what's with Joel and him keeping distance from that girl?"
"He sure as hell isn't keeping his distance now. He's invited her along with us to Salt Lake." She took off her backpack and took out a picture and showed it to Shane.
"Who's this girl Joel's with? She looks like a slightly younger version of Sara."
"That's Joel's daughter, Sarah. She died in Joel's arms back when the infection started." Shane sighed.
"I couldn't imagine that. Losing someone you loved, only to have god fuck you over and give you another version of them." He gave the picture back, and Ellie resumed putting her head on his shoulder. "Why do you tell me these things Ellie?"
"Because you're the only one I trust besides Joel."
"Then why can't you trust me enough to reveal your feelings to me?"
"My feelings are just pushed down and down into my mind."
"By what?"
"By you." Shane looked at Ellie with sorry eyes.
"What?"
"You're just this awesome, amazing guy that anyone would be lucky to have." She began to lean towards Shane. "And if my mind wasn't on Louis right now, I'd totally give you a shot." Shane stayed quiet a few seconds.
"You told me a secret; I think it's only fair for me to tell you one of mine. I wasn't exactly born in America."
"Where are you from then?"
"You might not believe this because I hide it really well, but I'm actually British."
"Bullshit."
"It's the truth. I just hated it when people would ask me to say something a specific way so much, that I adapted to have the weird accent you Americans have." Ellie chuckled, and she impulsively began to kiss Shane, who kissed her back and pushed her back so he lay on top of her. He began to run his hand up Ellie's leg, but stopped at her waist and pulled away from the kissing. "Ellie, wait. Are you doing this out of spite to Louis? Tell me the truth."
"Shane, back when we both met for the first time, I thought you were a complete douche to be honest. But then you actually trusted me with a secret of yours even though I was basically a stranger. Then you showed me some badass side to you, and I wanted to be with you ever since then, but I felt like I would be betraying Louis somehow. But not anymore. The real question is about you. Do you want a relationship with a girl that holds the vaccine to the virus?" Shane thought for a second.
"You know what? I'll take that chance." They began to make out again, Shane's hand continuing past her waist and under her shirt.
Joel lay in his chair in the kitchen, trying to nod off to sleep. But he couldn't. Old memories were gnawing at him, memories of his daughter. Was it wise to invite this girl along with them? He felt like he had to.
"Plus, Ellie needs a girl friend her age." He whispered to himself as he went to sleep.
