Chapter 1: Prologue

Time. When it came right down to it, survival was all about time. How much you had, how well it was used, and the luck of performing the right action at the right moment. In a world where a person who would hesitate to kill was just as rare as a military-controlled quarantine zone, abundance of time was as important as that of weapons and supplies. The difference: time was fickle. It chose when it came and when it ran out, and opportunities for second chances were scarce. To time something just right was not as much a matter of experience as it was pure luck. Maybe time was just as important as luck. Or maybe they were the same thing. It didn't matter either way.

It was the one thing Tess and Joel were almost always in dangerously short supply of.

Her fellow smugglers would claim that it made the job more interesting and Tess found it to be the case on occasion, but she wasn't in the mood for playing the odds. Not this time. "Okay, double time," she said as she registered the distant sounds from down the street as the unmistakable screams and howls.

"Oh, shit..." Joel muttered as he began pulling the chain much more rapidly.

The metal shield of the museum's shipping and receiving garage rose slowly but steadily. Tess kept her eyes fixed in the direction of the commotion, awaiting the first Infected to piece together where the noise was coming from and madly sprint towards it. Ellie slowly wandered further into the ruined street to see further. "Oh - they're coming!" she warned as she ran back to Tess's side.

"I know!" Joel responded, continually pulling the chain to raise the door high enough. He could generally keep a clear head under stress, but even he knew when they were in significant trouble.

The bottom of the door had risen to mid thigh height when the first runners clambered over the truck blocking the street just behind them. Out of time. "Okay, that's good, that's good! Go!" She pushed Ellie through first and then dove under. She turned around to get a good grip on the door and hoisted it with all her might. By then, the runners who had first scaled the truck were charging straight at Joel, their screams painfully loud and their footsteps uncomfortably close. "Okay, Joel!" she shouted over them.

Joel crouched under the door, but fell to his knees as the first runner, who had once been a young woman with shoulder length hair, grabbed at his legs. Joel crawled the rest of the way into the garage and spun onto his bottom to kick the runner away. "Drop it!" he ordered. Tess released the door and it slammed shut.

Only a half second of silence passed before the garage filled with sounds of the runners wildly screaming and pounding against the door, desperately trying to break through. If there was one thing about the Infected that scared Tess more than their potential for infecting others, it was their unending persistence. All three of them slowly backed away from the door as the sounds from outside intensified before the runners eventually relented. Tess could now hear their heavy breathing and steadied herself. Their luck had held out this time. She knew it wouldn't last much longer.

"Oh," Ellie whispered, facing Joel. "You got something on your shoe."

Tess dropped her flashlight to Joel's feet and saw the runner's forearm still clinging to his left shoe. He kicked it off with an expression of disgust and turned around to survey the garage. "Gross," Ellie muttered.

Tess swallowed back the bile rising in her throat. That had been another call far too close for comfort. She had almost lost Joel dozens of times before, and even then it was unsettling at how he had come within inches of being infected. She didn't know how she would cope with that, or if she even could. He was the only person left in the world who she truly cared for, and she couldn't let that go. Not again.

She refocused on their current task. She couldn't afford to nor did she need to dwell on it. Joel was fine and they had a job to do. And this was one job she couldn't risk compromising. "Okay," Joel said, drawing his pistol and checking its ammo. "How do we get out of this place?"

"Well, let's find out," Tess answered casually, keeping her own pistol ready.

They advanced into the garage and scanned over the floors for supplies. It was a pretty compact space. One white truck occupied the unloading dock and the only light illuminating the room other than their flashlights was a single lamp placed on a workbench off to the side of the dock. Joel made his way over to the bench, placed both his 9mm and his revolver on the countertop and began toying with their various modifications.

Tess shifted her attention over to Ellie, who was readjusting her auburn ponytail and browsing around the discarded crates. For just having outrun a pack of runners after living within the relative shelter of the Boston QZ for so long, she was well-composed. A glint of a distant memory glided through Tess's mind, someone with whom she had seen this before. But it faded away just as soon as it had come.

"So," she began, still looking for supplies. "Marlene thinks you're immune?"

Ellie glanced at her and shrugged. "Well, that's what she believes."

Tess heard a soft, sarcastic chuckle from Joel and suppressed a smirk. As aggressive as Marlene could be, she wouldn't hesitate to seize proof that her militia had some purpose to keep going. "Well, how were you bitten?" Tess asked, keeping the conversation going. "I mean you must've been somewhere you shouldn't to find an Infected in the zone."

"Yeah, I'd sneak out," she admitted, kicking discarded cans aside. "I was in this military boarding school."

Tess raised an eyebrow and looked at her. "You'd sneak out?"

Ellie glanced at her again. "You know, explore the city. I was in the mall when I ran into Infected."

"That place is completely off limits," she reminded. "How the hell did you get in there?"

Ellie's eyes drifted off to somewhere else, something far away, but she dismissed it. "I... had my ways. Anyway, one of those, what you guys call runners, bit me. And that was that."

"I see," Tess said. It was clear that her story had been drastically shortened for comfortable recounting. She understood that all too well. "Were you with Marlene when you were bitten?"

"No," she replied, shaking her head. "I went to her for help afterwards."

This time, Tess permitted a short laugh. "Knowing her, I'm surprised she didn't shoot you," she said, playing the scene out in her mind.

Ellie half-grinned. "She almost did." Then her eyes transitioned from amusement to concern. "I hope she's all right."

Tess unconsciously shifted her demeanor and her tone grew softer. "I told you," she said gently. "She's gonna be fine."

Ellie smiled at her. It wasn't an expression of reassurement, but one of gratitude. Neither of them completely believed it. It was simply the condolence that she was willing to provide. A nagging feeling was telling her that she had definitely felt this kind of connection before...

But since it didn't come back to her immediately, it had to be deemed unimportant for the time being. The job came first.

Joel finished his upgrades and threw his backpack around his shoulders again. "Here," he said, pushing a withered door immediately right of the workbench open. "This should lead to the other side."

Tess motioned in that direction to Ellie. "Let's move."

Through the door was an office and what remained of the museum's storage facility, with the shattered remains of the floor above sunken into it. Joel walked up the slanted, rotten wood first and climbed up on what part of the floor had stayed intact into the main level. Once he had given the gesture that it was clear, Tess climbed up into the room as well.

"Ow! Shit," she heard from behind her. She looked back to see Ellie clutching her left hand at the base of the collapsed floor. The girl shook it off then followed them up. "Sorry, sorry," she apologized sheepishly. "That was me. Sorry."

Joel sighed and glanced back at his partner. "Tess..." he said in his very typical You-Handle-This tone.

Everything's fine, Texas. She just slipped. She didn't let those words out of her mouth, of course. Tess may have been the one who negotiated their jobs, but Joel knew just as much as she did about how the job should be executed. Instead, she spoke calmly to Ellie again. "Come on. Stay close to me."

She waited for her to climb the rest of the way up and then kept her within arms length as she browsed the remaining displays, shooting a sarcastic look at Joel as she showed that the girl was "under control." He gave her a wry smirk in return and continued walking. He would undoubtedly welcome some time off as much as she would.

"What is this place?" Ellie inquired, passing by a fractured glass case containing various artifacts.

"It's an old museum," Tess answered. "Some of these things are hundreds of years old."

"Really? Wow," she responded in genuine astonishment.

Whatever military school she was in, it was even more sheltered from pre-outbreak life than Tess had imagined. Understandable, when killing was a far more important skill to learn post-outbreak than social studies. A doorway on the side caught Tess's attention. The support beams above it had caved in, but she spotted a low clearing just large enough for them to fit through. Joel noticed it too. "We can get through here," he said, approaching the wooden beam that obstructed the way.

Tess came up to it at the same time he did and got a good grip underneath it. Joel paused a moment and gave her a curious look. "Let me get it, then you and the girl can crawl through."

"It's okay, I can get it," she said, beginning to lift it.

The beam and the rubble that lay on top of if was heavy, but nothing she couldn't manage. "You sure?" he asked, crouching in preparation all the same.

She gave him a sideways glance. "Yes," she replied with mild annoyance. "I've got it. Go on through."

"All right," he surrendered, moving under as soon as she lifted it enough. "Come on, kid."

Ellie followed him through the small makeshift tunnel once he was through. As she exited on the other side, a long, unsettling groan reverberated through the beam followed by a sharp crack. Suddenly, her load became substantially heavier. "Tess!" Joel shouted as she released the beam, allowing it to topple down with two much larger beams on top of it.

Clouds of dust rolled through and Tess struggled to keep her footing, falling to her hands and knees. Once everything had cleared, she stood back up and saw that their passage had been closed off by chunks of the ceiling above. Joel's face appeared in the smaller opening above. "Tess?!" he called again.

"I'm here," she replied, brushing loose flecks of debris out of her hair as she came up to the opening to assure him that she was fine. "Don't worry, I'll make my way around-"

The words were barely out of her mouth when a sickening screech filled the air in the room beyond. "Infected!" Ellie shouted.

"Get back!" Joel ordered, running out of sight with her.

Tess was about to call for him when two fungal covered heads bobbed past the opening, clicking wildly as they went after him. She attempted to move the beam again as their sounds faded and huffed in frustration. There was no moving it and the way from which the clickers came would be the way she would have to take to get back. "Great..." she muttered to herself.

Turning around, she walked under another fallen beam to the door on the other side of the room and opened it slowly and cautiously. Telltale clicks filled the exhibit ahead of her. She crouched low and slowly advanced, only wanting to reach Joel again and hoping he could keep himself and the girl safe.

A clicker stumbled by from one side of the hall to the other ahead of her, away from the room Joel and Ellie had been in. That was both a good and a bad sign. Good because they had gotten away, and bad because reaching them would take longer. You can't please them all. She heard even more clickers in the exhibit to the right and slowly crept to the left into what used to be the museum's snack bar. There were, fortunately, no Infected in sight.

"Joel," she whispered as she moved slowly towards the counter, scanning the room for any sign of either of them. The room was silent. "Joel." Still no answer. The only sounds were the clicks echoing all around her. "Shit." They could have escaped, but that only meant she was on her own.

The door to the stairwell was at the very end of the hall, just behind where another clicker was standing. Of course it is. She saw only one, but she could hear another two in the main exhibit. She found a bottle on the ground in front of a display case and gripped it firmly in her hand as she moved along, still crouched low to the floor. The clicks in the other room grew louder. At least one of them was coming back.

Years of experience prevented Tess from panicking. She drew her arm back, then threw the bottle to the far side of the exhibit. All three clickers shrieked and ran to investigate the noise, including the one at the end of the hall. Tess moved quickly towards the door. Eight steps to go… six steps to go…

The clickers converged on the spot where the bottle shattered and registered their surroundings. Four steps… three steps…

The door handle was almost in reach. Two more steps… She wrapped her hand around the dirtied brass, wave-shaped handle. With one more step, she reminded herself to open it slowly rather than just instinctively whip it open and run through. She peered through the opening. All clear. She opened it all the way…

A loud creak sounded before it gently hit the sign next to it, causing it to fall over. An ear-splitting shriek came from immediately behind her. She swung around to meet a clicker charging straight at her. The fungal growths protruding from its skull near brushed her nose as it flailed wildly. By reflex, her left hand shot forward and buried her knife in the center of its throat. It emitted one more click as it crumpled to the floor. She stood over it for a moment, staring at it and breathing heavily.

She was lucky. Or maybe it had all been timed just right. Or maybe they were the same thing.

Joel of course would call it luck. Luck that would one day run out.

Joel. Without another thought, she turned around and started up the staircase. Upon reaching the second floor, she heard Joel's voice say something she couldn't make out. But it was his voice. She ran to the door and pushed it open. The only Infected in the hall was a runner bashing against a door at the other end. Losing her patience, she pulled out her pistol and fired once at it. The bullet hit the door frame just above the runner's head, which in turn directed the Infected to her. It abandoned its effort on the door and ran for her. She steadied her aim more and fired again, this time landing a shot in its forehead.

She ran past the convulsing body to the far end of the hall and kicked the door open. "Joel?!" she called, scanning the room.

She spotted her partner grappling with a runner a few meters to her left. The runner was winning, its head just above Joel's neck. But he kicked its shin hard enough to push it back, roared angrily, then struck the side of its head with a fractured board of wood. It fell to the ground, looking up in time to see Joel swing the board into its face. It shattered into splinters as it imploded the runner's head. "I'm fine," he responded to her unasked question, panting heavily. You better be.

"Guys, get in here!" Ellie called from the next exhibit.

"The girl!" Tess exclaimed, running past him into an exhibit displaying the history of the American Revolution. That was about the last detail she noticed about the room, the first being Ellie trying to keep a runner at bay.

Tess struck the runner just above its ear with her knife, then whipped out her pistol and motioned for Ellie to get behind Joel as more runners charged into the room. Her ears began to ring as she and Joel unloaded their magazines into the onslaught. She went into automatic pilot as she dropped the runners one by one. Target, Shoot, Reload, Repeat. Her brain locked into the cycle without any other thoughts. It repeated again and again until, finally, all was silent.

"There," Joel exhaled, sticking his pistol back into his waistband.

"Yeah," Tess whispered, doing the same with her own gun and wiping the sweat from her brow.

Yet again, too damn close.

15 YEARS EARLIER

Two hours past curfew, the sun was already setting, evening patrols were making their rounds, and she was no where to be seen. Not appearing until after curfew was not out of the ordinary for her. In fact, it had become common. She would always want to stay out of the apartment as long as she could, and no one could blame her for that. But even she knew no sane citizen would linger outside of their own building after curfew if they couldn't help it. Waiting until curfew to start heading home was one thing, but taking over two hours to return was another. It was late. She was late. She was cutting it even closer than usual, which was when Tess began to worry.

Tess liked to think her sister had always been the reckless one, but many others said that they both had their share of reckless behavior. That was pre-outbreak, of course. Both of them had since adapted to the world they lived in. They both knew the dangers of the outside world and those within the walls of the quarantine zone. But Tess felt she put that knowledge to use better than her sister did at times, this instance being one of them. Or maybe she just didn't want her to imitate her big sister's habits. After all, it wasn't like Tess made conscious efforts to be good role model. Her primary goal was to keep her sister fed and safe.

And right then, she was failing at one of those goals.

The bottle of bourbon sitting on the table caught her eye. She considered it for a moment, then dismissed the idea. Like her mother, Tess usually wanted a drink when she was restless, but she already knew it wouldn't do the situation any good to impair her senses and judgement. Not that it would bring her sister back any sooner either way. Tess longed for her mother's advice at that moment, for some words of reassurement that would calm her even in the slightest like she was always able to. A dull ache formed in Tess's heart...

The ache was suddenly replaced by relief as the apartment door swung open and slammed shut half a second later. Tess shot up from her chair and walked quickly to the kitchenette. Her sister was leaning against the counter with her hands resting on the edges on either side of her and a smug expression on her face. An overly smug expression. That stupid, overconfident, teenage grin she got when she thought she had pulled off an astonishing feat that only she could do. Tess read her sister like a book: she'd risked being killed over another pickpocket scheme. Any worry Tess was feeling was replaced by malice.

Before her sister had a chance to even ask all too typically "Guess what I've been up to?", Tess approached her, grabbed her wrist and stormed into the bedroom. "Hey! Easy!" she protested, nearly tripping after failing to outmatch Tess's strength by pulling in the opposite direction. Tess whipped her arm around fiercely and flung her sister onto the bed. "Ow! What the hell is your problem?!" She sat on the edge of the bed, clutching her left arm.

Tess didn't know if she wanted to act partially relieved or completely enraged. She only wanted to know what idiotic stunt her sister had achieved. "Where have you been?" she demanded, standing immediately in front of her with her hands rolled up into fists at her sides.

The girl responded by staring off to one side for a second and saying calmly, "I was on my way back here just before curfew, and I got sidetracked, that's all." She twirled a strand of her ponytail on one finger, attempting to dismiss the question. "It wasn't anything much. Just..." She shrugged. "A sidetrip."

Tess's patience was already wearing thin. How was it her sister could do that so fast? "No. I am not playing this fucking game again, Lily!" she snapped, leaning closer to her. "What have you been doing the past two hours?!"

This time, she reared back. Good. She still understood authority. "Listen, I tried to get back here on time. I really did," she pleaded, actually sounding honest for once. "I had gotten through the checkpoint early and was on my way home when Jack called me over. He and his friends were sitting just outside their place and they say, 'Whatcha up to, girl? Got some extra time on you?'"

Of course it was Jack. Whenever Lily got some stupid idea in her head, it was likely Jack who put it there. Why did the asshole seem to gravitate towards Lily? She was just out of her teens and Jack was a little older than Tess. Did the creep favor younger women? Whether it was a romantic attraction or a recruiting effort for his little gang, Tess was just glad Lily didn't seem to feel the same way about him."And, having less than an hour left until curfew, you said yes. Right?" she asked.

Lily made a nervous face. "It was actually half an hour until curfew," she admitted.

Tess really didn't need to hear that part. She folded her arms and sighed, deciding to skip to the climax of the story. "What is it they wanted you to do?"

"Well," Lily started, seeming a little less nervous after having avoided another scolding. "Jack said that a couple buddies of his found this Firefly nest just a block away from the checkpoint. He thought they may have been stealing rations." That part actually surprised Tess. Normally it was around soldiers when Lily played with fire. This was new. "I already knew he just wanted to show off his incredible discovery, but I thought I'd humor him just so he'd shut up about it."

"So why exactly did that take you over two hours?" Tess asked, keeping an edge in her voice.

"Well, I thought it'd just take like five minutes or so," Lily responded, continuing to mess with her ponytail. "He takes us through his place into the next building. Most of the apartment rooms are closed off with those military locks, but one of them is actually broken. It looks like it's sealed, but if you remove like two bolts, it falls apart and you can open the door.

"So, he leads us to a partly blocked off room. I look through it and sure enough, there's this room full of mattresses and guns and it overlooks a military guard post. I was actually surprised they hadn't tried to blow it up yet."

It didn't surprise Tess too much. The Fireflies would keep eyes on the military's actions anywhere they could. She suddenly got an uneasy feeling in her stomach. What if Lily was planning to join the fledgling resistance group? Or what if she already had? "I still haven't heard why this kept you until two hours past curfew," she reminded.

Lily gave her an irritated look. "I'm getting there," she retorted. "I was going to leave after that, but Jack points out that they have some spare rations just sitting around. So, he says to me―"

"He dared you to go steal some of them," Tess finished, looking down and sighing. The underlying stupidity of her story made itself clear. "Lily..."

"It wasn't really a dare," she defended, cringing slightly at being so predictable to her sister. "It was like a... an idea."

"Which you listened to," Tess said.

"It's just... I thought it could help us out some. You said it yourself, we've had more half-ration weeks in the past two months than we've ever seen. And the Fireflies were easily hoarding three days' rations up there. They were probably stealing more than even the soldiers get. They didn't need it all, and... and..." Her voice trailed off and her eyes drifted downward. When her voice returned, it was far less confident. "I... just wanted to help."

Despite all her sister's stupid ways of thinking, Tess saw she could still wear her down and keep her in line. She nodded slowly and said, "What happened next? Fireflies came back and you had to hole up until they were gone?"

Lily looked up at her again. She was fighting back tears, Tess could see it. Another possibility was that Lily was tired of being just a liability to her big sister. "Kind of," she muttered. "They came back and moved to a new spot, taking the rations with them. We followed them to another spot and it was right around curfew. They were pretty distracted by something, so I saw a chance. I'd collected a few cans when we realized they might have been setting up an ambush," she said, beginning to rush through the story. "We decided to head back, but of course the military was already out in force, so it took a while but here I am."

A speedy conclusion told Tess that she shouldn't press the issue much further. In addition to being upset, Lily was no doubt tired, and the last thing either of them needed at that moment was a heated verbal spar. "Okay," Tess said, after several seconds of silence passed. She glanced over to the doorway into the kitchen and spotted Lily's backpack lying on the floor next to the counter. "How much did you get?"

Lily's face seemed to brighten a little."I divided it up with Jack. I got two cans of beans, one can of pasta and some frozen meat," she described with part of her smug grin returning. "Nothing gourmet, but..."

Tess nodded. "Not bad." Lily nodded in response and looked away, slowly losing her grin again. A few more moments of awkward silence passed between them before Tess finally broke down. "Look," she said, taking a seat on the end of the bed beside her sister. "I appreciate you trying to help out. I know you want to. But what you did today was dangerous, and―"

"I know, I know," Lily cut in. "You're the one with the job and I'm the one who's supposed to stay in line."

"No, not necessarily," Tess responded, shaking her head. "I bring home the ration cards, yes, but that doesn't make you obsolete. I like any extra help, but not at the cost of your own safety. You need to realize that. Staying out after curfew, chasing after the Fireflies, trying to steal extra rations, they're all good ways to get killed. That's not worth it. Not to me." Lily met her eyes briefly, but soon drifted off into her own pity. Okay, let's change tactics.

Tess reached up to Lily's face and tucked a rebellious strand of hair back behind her ear. "I promised mom and dad I'd look after you, and that's what I plan to do." She brought her voice to a low, intimate tone that she would never be able to use after the outbreak had it not been for Lily. "Not to mention that… if I lose you, what would I do then? Who would I have? Jack? He isn't exactly the brightest bulb on the tree or the best in a fight. At least not without his little minions."

That got Lily to smile and even laugh a little. After a few more moments of silence passed, she met and held her big sister's gaze. "Bottom line," Tess continued, putting an arm around her. "I appreciate the thought, just be careful where it gets you. 'Cause when it's all said and done, you're all I've got."

Lily didn't need to either thank Tess or confirm her request. Their eyes said more to each other than anyone could ever speak. Getting the message across with tenderness rather than aggressive reprimand worked too. Of all the things Lily had lost since the outbreak―her home, her friends, her short-term judgement―thankfully, her relationship with her sister had survived.

Ruffling Lily's hair, Tess stood and returned to her seat just before the open sliding door of the balcony. The city outside the zone grew dark as the sun descended into the horizon, but now she could actually look on it with ease knowing her sister wasn't still out there. If she was safe, all was well as far as Tess was concerned.

"Oh, uh… by the way," Lily started, standing in the doorway to the kitchen. "We heard some of the Fireflies talking… apparently they're planning this whole series of strikes on military positions across Detroit, trying to get the rest of the people to join in."

So much for that concept. Tess grimaced as she reflected on how quiet the Fireflies had been in recent months following their glorious, country-wide expansion. A tactical strike seemed inevitable. She could only imagine how any soldier would feel. "So, let me guess," she sighed. "Military's going to get even more paranoid and they'll be cracking down even harder than usual. Increased patrols, more ID checks, that sort of thing?"

Lily's face was uncertain. That told Tess this wasn't some scare prank. Her sister was stating facts that she genuinely didn't understand. "I'm not sure," she replied, leaning on the doorway. "Jack thinks… the military isn't going to risk such heavy losses. He said that… they might just pack up and leave before it gets bad."

That sent an icy chill down Tess's spine. She knew the military had zero tolerance for riots and they would send each and every civilian outside the wall before they let the Fireflies win. The situation in Pittsburgh had gotten bad enough with minimal Firefly involvement. It wouldn't be uncharacteristic of FEDRA to deem a QZ more trouble than it was worth. Soldiers may have been an overbearing pain in the ass, but they were still the ones who held the Infected out, brought the rations in, and kept the rebels in line. Their absence would make it a hell of a lot harder to take care of Lily.

The Fireflies don't give a damn about us. They just want to kill soldiers.

Jack was an idiot, but in this case, his foresight served him well. Tess stared off into space for nearly a minute before looking back at Lily, who was awaiting her big sister's discernment. "Either way," she finally replied. "things are going to get messy fast. Whenever you go out from now on, stick close to a safe place, like Lynn's or Jack's." Her gaze moved back out to the dark city outside the wall, with a yellow and orange horizon just beyond it. The setting sun cast brilliant golden rays onto the decrepit buildings of the spore-infested part of Detroit.

Things weren't any better out there, but they needed to make a decision. "And pack up your stuff."