"Cody, are you awake?" Ellie nudged the boy after what felt like an eternity, casting furtive glances at the campfires around them. It was late enough that everyone had gone to sleep by now. They were sitting at the edge of the camp, which provided an advantage for an escape, but Ellie knew there were still guards around.

"What do you want?" Cody grumbled, blinking his opaque eyes open. He sat up, shaking the grass from his hair.

Ellie brought out her switchblade again, flipping it open. "You want to get out of here? I can cut your legs free, but we have to help each other with our hands."

Cody nodded without hesitation, stretching his legs out so Ellie could saw the ropes off. After a few minutes of cutting, they fell away and he smiled in relief, taking the knife and freeing Ellie's wrists. She did the same, but then the boy furrowed his brow in thought. The dull glow from the dying flames illuminated half his face, casting even sharper angles on his cheekbones.

"How are we going to get out of here with guards around? Are we taking the horse back?" he queried, keeping his voice low.

Ellie fiddled with her hands, scanning the rest of the campfires. The horses were on the other side, and it would be risky either going around the camp or weaving through it to get to them. On the other hand, they would go slower and quieter on foot…Ellie squinted against the darkness, spotting a familiar keychain dangling from a backpack under a Firefly's head.

"Sophia brought our backpacks. Do you want to get them?" she asked instead, getting into a crouch and quietly standing up. She wanted her comics back, but after so long, who knew what Sophia's goons had done with them? And Riley's Firefly pendent, her mother's letter, her pun books… I have to get them back. Ellie decided, before Cody could even answer.

Hearing her footsteps, Cody quickly followed, getting into the habit of clicking to discern his surroundings. He started as Ellie clapped a hand to his mouth with a "Shh…follow me instead." She intertwined her fingers with his, seeing him visibly tense before she began walking again. Ellie carefully weaved her way between the slumbering Fireflies, keeping her backpack in sight. She picked paths as clear as possible, so it was easier for the both of them.

Finally, they reached the Firefly with Ellie's backpack. She crouched again, carefully removing her pack from underneath the man's head. She winced every time the worn fabric scraped against the ground, but Ellie smiled as she pulled it out with one last, gentle yank. The Firefly didn't stir as she fitted her arms through the straps. Ellie could find out what was in it later, but she could hear sloshing coming from inside, which was a good sign.

"Leave my pack, I don't even know what it looks like," Cody quietly whispered as they started off again, cautiously picking their way through the camp. Ellie murmured her agreement, spotting the gray mare dozing by the trees.

She gripped the reins with her fingers when they reached the horse, and she lazily opened one eye as Ellie prodded her shoulder her wake her up. Ellie felt the blood run cold in her veins, however, when she heard a familiar voice from behind her.

"Forgetting something?" Sophia asked sweetly, and the redhead turned to see the girl dangling a necklace from her fingers. Ellie squinted past Cody, who had frozen in place, like he had just encountered a mountain lion. A hungry mountain lion. In the faint light from the moon and the low fires, she made out a Firefly symbol. She didn't even have to read the back to know what it said.

Riley Abel. 000129.

Sophia giggled at Ellie's wide-eyed expression, holding the pendent in her palm so it caught the light. She peered intently at the backside of the pendent, like she had trouble reading up close. "Riley Abel. Hmm, could have sworn it was yours, Ellie…" The black-haired girl mused, and then smirked, "I would have recruited you on the spot if it was. You'd have been a nice addition…Was Riley your boyfriend? I wonder if Marlene knew him?"

"Riley was a girl, now give it back," Ellie snapped. Cody unfroze long enough to come stand beside her, but she had no idea why he was still holding her hand.

Sophia raised an eyebrow, gently fingering the engraved numbers on the back. "Oh, she was your girlfriend…" it just made her smile more, but then it instantly faded as she switched from smug to deadpan, "How…interesting." Ellie swore she saw her shudder slightly, like the idea disgusted her.

"Shut up! Give it back, you bitch!" Ellie threateningly growled, breaking contact with Cody to snatch at the pendent. Sophia clucked, holding it out of her reach.

"Ask nicely, Ellie…" Sophia sang lightly, dangling the dog tag in her fingers again.

Ellie instead brandished her switchblade, causing Sophia to tense and back up a step. But only a step. "Give it back," Ellie demanded forcefully, taking a step forward. She slashed the air in front of Sophia as a warning, but she stood her ground this time.

"Careful, honey, that's a sharp blade. I'll tell you what; give me the switchblade and I'll give you your girlfriend's dog tag," Sophia offered, pulling out a black handgun from her back pocket. She cocked it, pointing it at Ellie. "No funny business. Hand it over. I'll be nice enough to let you have a head start on that mare," she added, smiling sweetly.

Ellie spotted a figure temporarily block the firelight in the corner of her eye, and until now Cody had been completely silent. Her eyes darted to her right for a split second, and she noticed he wasn't even there. How in the…? Ellie began to wonder, but instead she smiled, "Thanks. I think I'll keep the blade though, I kind of like it."

Sophia furrowed her brow, but she didn't have time to make a remark before a voice whispered behind her, "You were right. I am invisible."

Ellie would never forget the look of horror on Sophia's face as Cody grabbed her by the shoulders, causing her to jump about three feet out of her skin. The gun fired harmlessly upwards, but the resounding gunshot woke just about everyone in the camp. Using the distraction to her advantage, Ellie plunged the switchblade into Sophia's side, yanking Riley's dog tag from her fingers in the process.

Sophia cried out in agony, clutching her side as she sank to her knees. "You will pay! I want them alive!" she screeched at her comrades, most of whom were now running towards the scene. Ellie pocketed her knife, hastily mounting the horse and helping Cody on, before digging her heels into the mare's sides. The chase had an oddly familiar feel to it as gun shots rang out in the fading light from the camp, but Ellie didn't look back, only urging her horse faster.


"I think…I think we lost them," Ellie panted heavily as she slowed the horse to a walk, letting the reins out. Her senses were on high alert now for any movement or sounds of other people and horses, but it was too dark to see and the crickets made it hard to hear any approaching Fireflies. Her and Cody's laboured breathing didn't help, either.

"Do you think we're safe?" Cody queried, anxiously gripping Ellie's backpack. She was surprised he hadn't been knocked off by a tree branch or the sheer speed they were going at. He didn't have a saddle, after all.

Ellie bit her lip, her paranoia on full blast. "No, we have to keep going," she said, every muscle at the ready in case they need to make an emergency getaway. Cody's tight grip on her pack didn't help any.

"But can't we rest? We're only going on a few hours' sleep here, if that," Cody whined, rubbing his drooping eyes. He was coming down from his adrenaline high, and it left him exhausted, sore, and snappy.

Ellie groaned, rubbing a hand down her face. He couldn't see her enthusiastic motion, but he could definitely hear it in her voice. "Look, if we rest now, they'll catch up to us within the hour. We have to keep moving," she explained, tugging on the reins to keep the mare from eating grass. Not only were they most likely going in the opposite direction of the dam, Ellie was disoriented in the dark with nothing to help her figure out North from South, or East from West.

"You have no idea where you're going, do you?" Cody sighed, his eyebrows raised.

"Not a clue. All I know it that Tommy's dam is uphill, and we're going downhill," the redhead replied, consistently starting at every rustle of the leaves overhead by the chilly night breeze, and every imaginary movement of the bushes, courtesy of her tired eyes.

Cody nodded to himself, falling quiet for a few minutes. Then, "Well, if we can't turn around, why not just go the long way? We could bypass Sophia's group and find the road leading up to the dam again."

"What's the point of that if I can barely see where I'm going, let alone figure out which direction the road would be in?" Ellie snapped back, her exhaustion now catching up with her. At least the horse's sides weren't heaving anymore.

"So…we're just better off putting as much distance as we can between us and Sophia, while getting hopelessly lost in the forest together? Wonderful…" Cody drawled, rolling his eyes. He finally relaxed enough to loosen his grip on Ellie's backpack, which meant less strain on her shoulders.

Ellie smirked at their predicament, completely alone in the forest with every chance of getting caught by Sophia at any minute. "Man, Sophia's face was priceless when you scared her. It was like she saw a ghost or something, her eyes got so big, they almost popped out of her head!" she snickered, and Cody joined in after a few moments.

"I felt her jolt, I thought she was going to shoot me, or something!" Cody laughed, but then it faded. "You stabbed her, didn't you?" he asked quietly.

"Yeah, that'll teach her to mess with us," Ellie smiled, nudging him with her elbow.

Cody cocked his head, "You mean mess with you. She already knows she can mess with me perfectly well."

"You just have to stand up to her, that's all. Let her know you're not going to be pushed around by her anymore. Unless, of course, you like being her bitch," Ellie shrugged, watching Cody tense again.

The black-haired boy's upper lip twitched, indicating he was on his last nerve. "I'm nobody's bitch, Shortstuff."

Ellie almost laughed at that, but she decided she didn't want to get whacked upside the head. "Really? Because you can take a punch pretty well."

"You'd take Sophia's beatings if you were verbally tortured by her every day, too. If you were completely convinced by someone that you were nothing to anyone, why would you bother fighting back? There would be nothing to fight for if you hate yourself, and you're convinced everyone around you does, too," Cody growled, but his sombre expression contradicted his menacing tone.

Ellie knitted her brow, letting Cody's words sink in. For a full minute she stayed silent, the night fauna filling in the conversation. "Did she send you insults by pigeon mail every day? Why would you even bother reading them?"

"Hello, I worked for her. Each pigeon mail could be a task, but a lot of them were insults. I burned most of them, but then you found one," he reminded her, and Ellie winced at the memory that came after it.

"If there was no Sophia, would you still believe you were worth nothing?" Ellie queried, making her voice sound as non-threatening as possible. She knew she was encroaching on sensitive territory.

Eventually, Cody shrugged. "I don't know…maybe. I mean, Georgia isn't exactly the best aunt out there. She and Mitch just leave me to myself and expect me to be all social with the other kids and shit," he let out a long breath, pausing. Then he resumed, "They've given up on me, Ellie. If people stop caring about you, would you think you were worth being cared about? Wouldn't you think something was wrong with you, or that you did something bad to make them act that way?"

Ellie shook her head, not quite knowing how to answer that question. "I'm not sure, but I guess it makes sense if you think that way. I wouldn't punish myself like you, though."

Cody didn't answer, instead resuming his clicking. A new silence blanketed them, and then the horse suddenly stopped, picking her head up. She snorted, pawing at the soft ground. "C'mon, girl. Keep moving," Ellie encouraged, clucking her tongue. The mare refused, throwing her head up in protest. The girl sighed, digging around in her backpack for a flashlight. She felt relief flood through her as she fingered her comics, her pun books, her Walkman, and the thin paper of her mother's letter in the front pocket. Sam's toy was gone, though. She felt something else, too. It was hard and flat, but she decided to find out what it was later. It felt even better to know that whoever had toted the backpack from Driggs also left her two water bottles and a can of food.

"What are you doing?" Cody queried, hearing the rustle of the pack's fabric.

"Looking for a flashlight. I want to know why the horse stopped," Ellie said in reply, finally grasping the flashlight's handle. She pulled it out, about to turn it on, but Cody grabbed her wrist. "Hey, let go!" Ellie wrenched her wrist out of his grip.

"Don't turn it on, or you'll give us away. Who knows where those Fireflies could be by now?" Cody warned, and Ellie glanced from the little flashlight to him, debating with herself. Eventually she sighed, accepting his logic and putting it away.

Ellie lifted one leg over the horse's withers, slipping out of the saddle. "We'll do this the old fashioned way, then," she decided, experimentally stepping into the area the horse wouldn't go in. Cody copied her, taking the horse's reins in one hand.

Ellie didn't feel anything different, but she did hear a faint trickle of water somewhere below her. She took another step, and then panicked as she slipped, scrabbling at the loose tangle of roots and undergrowth as she tumbled down a steep slope. Ellie felt weightless for a second before crashing on something hard, feeling cool water running by her body.

"Well, I found the water…Ow…" Ellie groaned picking herself up onto all fours. The hard impact definitely meant bruises, but luckily nothing felt broken.

"You okay?" Cody called from up the hill. Ellie could barely see him in the dark.

She brushed herself off as she stood up, surveying what she could see of the gully she had fallen into. It was steep on both sides, but wide in the middle. "I'm fine! I'll try to find a way up!" Ellie called back, leaning against the rocky, moss-covered side of the gully. She swore in surprise as the moss gave way, and she stumbled inside the natural alcove.

Ellie clicked her flashlight on, surveying the alcove. It had clearly been used by someone before, judging by the hard-packed ground and rusted cans strewn about. The rock had been soft enough to be eroded away, creating a space big enough for her to almost stand up in. It was almost pitch black with the moss curtain, though.

"This is so cool…Hey Cody, come down here! I found a place we can hide in for the night!" Ellie called up again, poking her head out from the moss.

"How the hell am I supposed to get down there with a horse?" Cody asked in reply.

"Leave the horse, there's a stream down here! I don't want her standing in the water all night; just bring whatever you want from the saddlebags and find a way down!" Ellie suggested, and then ducked into the alcove again, waiting for him. She heard him clicking, and then it faded as he moved upstream to find a gentler slope. Eventually Ellie heard his clicking grow louder, and the splashing of the water in front of her.

"…Ellie? Where'd you go?" Cody scratched his head, listening for the girl.

Ellie popped out of her camouflaged hiding spot with a "Boo!" She laughed as Cody started, scrambling away only to slip on the smooth rocks and fall in the stream with a grunt.

Cody rubbed his thigh where he had fallen, glaring at her. "Not funny, Ellie…" he growled, shaking the water from his hair. He wrung his shirt out, feeling the moss before ducking into the alcove. "What is this? A cave or something?" he queried, hearing his clicks bounce off the rock in front of him.

Ellie sat down, crossing her legs as she dug out the two water bottles, handing one to Cody. "Not exactly…it's sort of just a space the water carved out, covered with moss. I bet Sophia won't find us here," she said, leaning against the rock. It damp, adding to the coolness of the night. At least it was warmer here where the wind wouldn't get to them.

"Yeah, but she'll find the horse. Then she'll find us. I don't know if they'll come out this far at night, though. I found a couple pistols and ammo in the saddlebags. Here," Cody tossed one of the handguns to her, putting a healthy amount of bullets in her outstretched hand.

"So we're safe for now, enjoy it!" Ellie playfully tossed her bottle at him, giggling as he threw it back.

Cody bit back another remark about getting caught, finally sighing in defeat. It was never easy for him to relax, but at least Ellie provided some reassurance that he wasn't alone in this escapade. He came over, leaning back against the rough wall as he sat beside her.

A comfortable silence settled over them, filled with the gurgling of the stream outside the alcove. But something was bothering Ellie, and Cody heard her hoodie rustle as she fidgeted with her fingers. "What's wrong?" he asked quietly, making her look up.

"I'm just…thinking about something Sofia said. What was her father's name?" Ellie prayed there wouldn't be a correlation, it would just make her more afraid of the girl.

The black-haired boy pinched his nose, trying to remember. "God, I don't know…I haven't seen him in seven years. Daniel…nope…Devon? No…David! That's his name, David. Why?" Cody cocked his head.

Ellie pulled her knees up to her chest, trying to keep the onslaught of the horrible memories from last winter at bay. "Did he have black hair and brown eyes?"

"Ellie, I seriously don't remember…" Cody shook his head, sighing. Ellie decided to drop the subject, instead digging through her backpack to figure out what the mysterious object inside it was. She brought it out, discovering it was a book. She knew it was safe to use the flashlight, so she clicked it on and let out a small laugh. It was the farm girl's journal. Ellie felt a bittersweet twinge as she flipped through it, remembering her argument with Joel and the bizarre things the girl talked about.

"Why do you have the flashlight on?" Cody queried.

The redhead gave him a funny look, asking, "You can tell?"

Cody nodded. "Yeah, I lied about not being able to see anything. I can tell light from dark, but everything is just really blurry, so I can't read, and it doesn't help that I'm colorblind. Clicking just makes it easier to make out distances and shapes of things," he explained casually.

"All this time, I thought you were completely blind. Huh. Hey, listen to this. I found this girl's diary in my backpack, the one from the ranch house. I guess the Fireflies took it for laughs…do you want me to read it to you?" Ellie asked, flipping to one page she thought was interesting.

Cody shrugged, "Sure. Georgia told me once that girls used to say nasty things about each other at school before the outbreak. This ought to be good."

Ellie snickered, peering at the page. "Okay, okay," she cleared her throat dramatically, "October 12th, 2011. Danielle came home crying today, saying something about that bitch Hannah at school. Just so you know, dear diary, Hannah is the queen of Teton High. She runs the school and makes everyone's lives miserable," Ellie paused, shaking her head, "She sounds like Sophia…"

"Keep going, c'mon," Cody prompted, and Ellie obliged.

"I've even been personally victimized by her, being Danielle's twin sister and all. She posted all this crap about me and Zane, her ex-boyfriend, on Facebook one time, just because he used to go out with her and now he's my boyfriend," Ellie continued, "I mean, wow. They broke up and she turns all of her friends against me because she's jealous? Okay, they all hated me anyway (they hate everyone but Hannah), but this time is was like a full on assault on Facebook."

Cody furrowed his brow, "What's Facebook?"

"I don't know…people back then had all these weird things. Anyway," Ellie resumed, "So back to Danielle. I asked her what was wrong and she said that Hannah passed out a slutty picture of her to all the guys on the football team and the basketball team. Just to be clear, my sister is NOT a slut. That picture of her was from a Frosh week party and she was drunk! Danni had volleyball practice after school, so I wasn't there to beat Hannah up, but trust me, I will on Monday."

"Yeah, I would, too…Does it say why she did it?" Cody asked eagerly, now into the gossip as much as Ellie.

"Umm…hold on, let me keep reading it. Okay, so I asked Danni why Hannah would do such an awful thing, and she said it was because her current boyfriend Adrian cheated on her with Danni," Ellie threw a perplexed expression at the book, "What? That doesn't even make any sense. Why would she punish Danielle and not her boyfriend?"

Cody chuckled, "Girls are weird. Keep reading, this is getting good."

Ellie rolled her eyes, elbowing him. "Shut up," she giggled, "I didn't think it made sense, but I guess it was payback for Danni 'accidentally' spilling punch on Hannah's dress at Homecoming two weeks ago. Needless to say, Hannah broke up with Adrian, or that's what everyone's saying on Twitter and Facebook. Okay, that's it for this entry. Do you want to read more?"

"Yeah, find a good one. Does Hannah die at the end?" Cody laughed as Ellie sighed in exasperation.

"Cody, this is a girl's diary! From before the outbreak? People didn't kill each other for cheating on them with other people. Actually, they still don't," Ellie rolled her eyes.

Cody shrugged, still laughing. "Oh, so they kill you for walking on their turf, but not for kissing their girlfriends? Jeez, people have some whacky principles…"

Ellie decided not to answer, instead scanning the pages for something more interested to read. "Whatever, here's a good one. September 28th, 2010. Dear diary, I had my first kiss today. It was with Vince, my boyfriend of two weeks. We were at Jane's party and we were hanging out on the balcony alone, and then he just kissed me out of nowhere! It was awesome, and he tasted like cherries. Of course, there was a lot more kissing after that, and we're totally serious now."

Cody was silent for a moment, and then, "Wow, she makes it sound so…blah. Or maybe that's just you reading it." He yelped as she elbowed him again.

"C'mon, you know how hard it to describe kissing someone? Even I can't do it," Ellie protested.

The black-haired boy rubbed his sore ribs, smirking. "You kissed someone? Let me guess, was it your girlfriend Riley?"

Ellie was glad he was colorblind, and that it was too dark for him to see her face. "Yes, and she wasn't my girlfriend. I mean, she might have been, if she survived that long…I don't know."

Cody pursed his lips in thought. "Oh…sorry. Just so you know, Sophia's a terrible kisser. You know…in case you ever wanted to-"

"Cody, shut up! Just because I kissed a girl once doesn't mean I want to do that to every girl I see. Dumbass…" Ellie groaned, putting her head in her hands to emphasize her point.

When Cody's laughter died down, Ellie noticed a contemplative expression develop on his face. "Would you ever kiss a boy?" his voice was uncharacteristically timid, but it was an honest question.

Ellie let out a puff of air with a pop, tucking her hair behind her ears. "I don't know…I guess I can't test that theory, huh? I mean, I'd probably do it just to see if there was a difference, but it's not like there's anyone around crazy enough to do it. Unless, you know, they had a death wish."

Cody pushed his hands through his hair mumbling, "Right…Goodnight, Shortstuff." He curled up on the hard-packed dirt and dried pine needles of the alcove, not even waiting for her to reply.

Ellie gave him an odd look, sensing the tiniest bit of disappointment in his voice. He covered it up well, but not well enough. She wondered how she had gotten to know his moods so well even after such a short time. Maybe I'm just reading into everything too much because I'm paranoid? Ellie shook her suspicions from her mind, lying down with her back to Cody. At least the ground was softer than the cracked tile or worn hardwood of the buildings she had slept in on her journey with Joel. She clutched her pistol tighter as she fell asleep, just in case.


A/N: Well, that should satisfy those of you who claimed Ellie was OOC...Yes, you know who you are. I was a bit sad to see the lack of attention for the last chapter, I thought I put in a good bit of drama in there. I hope the drama in this chapter was to everyone's liking, and yes, there will be more. How is everyone liking the subtle fluff? Please let me know if you would like to see more or if you think I should pick up the pace a little. Also, I would like to hear kiss ideas (those who know my style know that this is something I always like to include), so don't be shy! Thanks for reading and reviewing! :D