Chapter three: Like it or not

Myka wasn't going to become best friends with Helena anytime soon, but she stopped ignoring her. She joined Helena and Pete around the fire for a bit before they went to sleep. Myka would never admit it, but it was nice to have a new face around. She loved Pete, but he was a handful sometimes. Now she had someone else to share the burden. With the satisfaction of something different and new, Myka fell asleep that night more easily than she had in a long time.

Sleep never lasted very long for Myka, though. She was always plagued with nightmares, especially since the incident, and it wasn't long before she was out of her sleeping bag and walking outside, which she expected to happen anyway. What Myka didn't expect was someone else unable to sleep as well.

Helena Wells was lying on her back on the overgrown front lawn, staring up at the sky, not looking tired in the slightest. Myka hesitantly approached her. "HG?"

Helena was startled, and quickly shot up from the ground. Relief crossed her face when she saw it was only Myka. "Trying to bring back my old nickname, are we?" Helena quipped. She patted the ground next to her, inviting Myka to join her.

"Maybe." Myka sat cross-legged and started pulling at the long grass to have something to do with her hands. "What are you still doing up?"

"I don't sleep much," Helena replied simply. "And I could ask you the same question."

"Same." They sat in silence for a few moments, Helena looking at the sky and Myka looking down. Myka continued pulling at the grass beneath her, ripping it out of the ground and setting it aside. Soon she looked over at Helena and asked, "So how long were you actually there?"

Helena looked down to meet Myka's eyes. "Pardon?"

"Earlier, when I was reading," Myka clarified. "How long were you there before I noticed?"

"A few minutes," Helena admitted.

"Why didn't you say something?"

"I…was enjoying watching you."

Myka gave Helena a weird look. "Ok, I'm gonna try to not be creeped out by that."

"No, what I mean is you make faces when you read and, well, it's rather cute," Helena blurted out.

"Oh!" Myka blushed. She was not expecting that. "Yeah, uh, I guess I do that sometimes," she mumbled. "You still should've said something."

"But you were so immersed in your book, I didn't want to interrupt. First time reading it?"

"Fourth." Myka's cheeks grew even redder. Helena chuckled. Myka rolled her eyes. "So why don't you sleep much?"

"Don't try to change the subject, darling!" Helena smirked at her. "How many other books have you read that much?" she teased.

Frustrated, Myka stood up. "You know what? Never mind." She began to storm off angrily.

"Myka? Wait!" Helena called, confused at her reaction.

Myka halted and turned around to face the other woman, who had also stood up. "I was going to try to be nice, you know, and that's not something that's easy for me. I didn't come out here to be made fun of."

"Myka, I wasn't—"

Myka held up a hand to stop her from talking. "Look, I'm just gonna go back to bed." She turned around and headed back inside the house.

Myka knew that she was overreacting and it probably had a lot to do with her lack of sleep the past few months and a little to do with the fact that she was slightly reluctant to be nice to the new girl. There was something about Helena Wells that frustrated her to no end. Myka didn't know if it was the cockiness and the smirk, or just something about her personality in general, but she wasn't sure if she would ever be able to get along with the other agent.

Crawling back into her sleeping bag and pulling the extra blanket over her head, Myka shut her eyes tight, trying to fall back asleep. A few minutes later, she heard Helena come inside and lie down in her own sleeping bag, only a few feet away. Neither of them got anymore sleep that night.

Myka didn't know how many hours later, but when the sun was peeking up in the east, she was startled out of her sleeping bag by a banging sound on the east wall of the house. She and Helena jumped up simultaneously and glanced to each other. Myka put a finger to her lips, signaling for Helena to keep quiet, then beckoned for her to follow as she grabbed a gun and walked slowly outside. She stopped at the front corner of the house, then slowly peeked around the bend to find a single zombie clawing at the wall.

She turned back to Helena, who whispered, "How many?"

"Just one," Myka replied, just as silent. "It doesn't know we're here yet, so we can…" Before Myka could finish her sentence, Helena disappeared around the corner. Myka stood there in shock for a moment before storming around the corner to find Helena decapitating the zombie with a sword she hadn't even noticed Helena holding. "HG!"

"Yes, darling?" Helena wiped the blade of the sword on her sleeve.

"What the hell was that?!"

"What? I killed it," she said innocently.

"You can't just jump into action like that!" Myka yelled.

"I'm not hurt. You're not hurt. It's fine." Helena tried to walk away, but Myka grabbed her arm to stop her.

"HG, like it or not, we are a team now," Myka said. "That means we have to listen to each other first so we don't make any stupid decisions!"

"Are you saying that was a stupid decision?" Helena rolled her eyes. "Look, I hadn't killed anything in ages, I just wanted to get this one really quick."

"Is this a joke to you?" Myka asked. "Killing zombies isn't all fun and games, lives are actually at stake!"

"Trust me, I know." Helena whispered, and all signs of joking left her eyes; the air around them became thick with tension. That is, until Pete came out, breaking through the painful silence.

"What up with all the shouting? I was asleep!" He looked up and saw the intense gaze between Myka and Helena, anger coming from Myka, and an emotion he couldn't read coming from Helena. Then he looked down and saw the dead zombie on the ground, and its head a few feet away. "Oh. Never mind."

Myka held her glare at Helena for a few more seconds before looking away and to Pete. "Let's get packed up. We should be leaving soon." She walked away without looking back at either of them.

Pete turned to Helena. "What was that about?" he asked.

Helena looked down at her feet. "Nothing," she replied, holding onto the locket around her neck that he hadn't noticed before. "It was nothing."