A/N:
What can I say? I'm a lazy bum.
I really, really, really recommend re-reading for my old followers just to refresh 'em a little. Considering the updated chapters, what d'you got to lose?
That's it so far, continued A/N will be in post-script :)
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Chapter Twenty-Five: Red-Handed
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-JOEL-
5:37 AM
The transition from night to morning appeared longer than usual—but today was the day. Joel and Ellie knew it well.
The girl seemed enthusiastic, having already worn her swimming clothes by the time dawn arose and kissed the sky. Once she finished dressing up, Ellie bandaged her bite and ambled across the second floor hallway to Joel's quarters. She placed her ear to the door.
There were snores on the other side of the room.
Of course.
It was early, Joel was never a morning person.
She opened the door silently, her eyes finding the Texan asleep on his bed, peacefully adrift. With determination to start the day, Ellie went over and crept up to his mattress. She knelt beside his sleeping frame. It amused her at how abnormally vulnerable he looked.
"Joel," she whispered.
The only response she got were more snores.
Ellie tapped his shoulder twice. When it didn't affect him, she resulted to a push.
Then a shove.
He reluctantly stirred, eyes opening slowly to meet his assaulter. A scowl had drawn itself on his lips, only to die briefly after realizing that it was Ellie.
"Joel," she groaned, her hands were pushing on his chest, "c'mon."
From his mouth, he sleepily spilled out a sloppy pile of grunts. Ellie was far from pleased.
"Christ, you sleep like a rock." She paused. "Now that I think about it, you resemble a rock."
Irritated, his mouth twitched. "Gimme ten seconds."
He unwillingly lifted himself up from the bed, donned on him were boxers and a plain tee that he had salvaged once from a luggage bag (now they served as his favorite sleeping attire). Ellie always thought it strange how he had only one set of pajamas. Perhaps she should gift him more clothes on his birthday.
Joel had shooed her away after arising from the bed, making her wait outside of the room until he was done changing. It must have taken more time than she expected, for by the time he was all dressed and out of the room, Joel found her sitting against the corner of the wall, hugging her knees as she dozed.
Joel scratched his head, smiled, and tapped her shoulder.
When Ellie groaned and squirmed in her interrupted slumber, the man resulted to shaking her—very much similar to what Ellie did to him.
By the third shake, Ellie's knees gave way, and she ended up lying down with all fours sprawled like a ragdoll. She grumbled rather adorably in her half-sleep, like she was mumbling gibberish.
Joel smirked.
"You ain't such a bad rock yourself, kiddo."
x
Later that morning, after Joel had successfully woken the girl, they had gone downstairs to the kitchen to prepare some well-deserved breakfast. Ellie had brought in a carton of eggs from the chicken coop the other day, and Joel did the luxury of decently scrambling them.
Scrambled eggs and some goat milk by the side. A nice touch.
It was still strange, however, because even with the rough waters between them, they acted oblivious. Joel was yet to bring up the topic of the lie. Despite Tommy's mother-like nags and his conscience constantly rebuking him for not telling her, it was all bottled up inside him.
It was obvious that Ellie knew he lied, and he hated how he couldn't have the nerve to come up front about it.
It was different for Ellie. She didn't like how she trusted him so easily after the whole ordeal before they reentered Jackson, how her relationship with Joel was too strong that it was almost impossible for her to resent him fully. Perhaps she loved and hated him at the same time, if such a thing was even possible. The lie would persistently scratch at her heel, and no matter how many times she would kick the itch away, it would come back—more persistent than ever.
She would wish that that she should never have told him to swear to her.
Frankly, she wished that she had never been bitten in the first place.
Many times, she would try to bring the topic up to him, but her tongue would tie and she would say some other excuse until she found herself running off to Riley and Leon's. She hated such cowardice. Even if she badly wanted to confront him, there was just that feeling of fear that rumbled whenever it came to the real thing. Cold feet, as they called it.
Today, though, they both wanted to set aside the tension, the lies, and the gutlessness. For what it was worth, they were both thankful for ending up in Jackson. Good things happened. Ellie had reunited with Riley. Joel found some sort of peace in the settlement, he was glad that the redhead smiled more often and was able to keep her distractions at bay. They didn't want the good things to end.
And that lie was not going to ruin their day of swimming.
On to the scrambled eggs.
"Did you cook for Sarah often?" Ellie asked with a mouthful of yellow fluff.
"Tried my best, but she always preferred delivery."
"Deliwerwy?" she repeated poorly, some of the chewed-up eggs ejected dashingly out of her mouth. A perfect example of improper table manners.
"Swallow 'fore you speak," he reminded her, cleaning the mess she had made with a table napkin. "And yeah, food delivery. Back then, people would rather stay inside than drive out. They'd call them restaurants, order what they wanted, and give 'em their address for delivery. Half an hour later, you'd expect someone ringin' at your doorbell with the food. Popular among the teens n'parties."
Ellie swallowed down her food, fascinated at such alien norms.
"Man, that's awesome, but really silly."
"Yeah, used to be a delivery man for this pizza parlor when I was sixteen. Rode a motorcycle around the county and all that."
"Seriously? Jeez, that must have been"—she cut her eggs in twain, pierced one with a fork, and presented it to him—"eggsciting, huh?"
He deadpanned her.
Twenty minutes after eating and cleaning up, the duo exited the house. The mixture of spring and summer air was humid, and the sun was taking its merry time rising up from the horizon. Ellie tailed Joel as they both roamed the roads of Jackson, watching some neighbors as they hung their shirts on clotheslines or opened their windows to greet the Wyoming air.
It was still an amazing sight for the both of them, it had been too long since they saw things like this. They continued to walk in awe.
When they had arrived at Jackson's west gate—the one near the lake—a middle-aged guard stood with his back facing the metal barriers. (The walls were fifteen feet in height, to Ellie it resembled the boundaries of her Boston's QZ). He yawned, clearly dealing with the extended hours of his graveyard shift.
"Morning, Joel," greeted the guard, his voice sunken and scratchy like sandpaper. He relaxed his grip on the rifle in his hands. "Nice getup. What, there a beach nearby?"
Joel smiled and gestured toward the gate. "Heard there was a small lake a stone's throw away. Figured I should teach 'er some swimmin' lessons. Will probably be back 'fore lunchtime."
"Not a problem to me, although I've always preferred canoeing." The guard joked, his warm eyes trailing to the girl.
"First time, kid?"
Ellie shrugged, tugging the hems of her board shorts. "Sort of."
The guard opened the gate with a creak, causing short vibrations to erupt from the ground that tickled the base of their shoes.
"Enjoy the water. Reckon you can make my job easier by not dying out there?"
Joel gave out a breath of chuckling air. "We'll try our best."
8:44 AM
There was a knock on the door.
Leon—who had just started to drool relentlessly down his bottom lip—stirred awake on the couch, confused by the sudden rap rap rap of the door. A gun was resting on the table beside him, but remembering that this was Jackson and not a house in the middle of the woods, he ignored the weapon that was anticipating to be held.
"Yeah?" he half-yelled and half-yawned.
A muffled voice erupted from outside, snaking its way into the hollow house.
"It's Tommy."
Leon propped himself up on his elbows. "Oh."
"Oh," meaning hewasn't prepared at all.
He swung his legs over the couch and stood up, stretching in the process. "Sorry, give me a sec."
From the living room, he walked a good several feet over to where the door was located, fixing his morning hair in the process. The boy opened the door, in which a standing Tommy was contained outside. The bright sunlight lingered over them, watching, gazing.
Leon squinted. "Morning, uh, sir."
Tommy had those I've-worked-all-night-and-haven't-got-any-sleep circles under his eyes. His usually pale face had grown whiter and grim, and his shirt was embedded by stains of grease—most probably due to working at the dam. His regular stationed workplace.
He looked sleepless, yet he still managed to smile.
"Sir?" The man chuckled, a hand rubbing his whiskery chin. "Nah, y'don't need to call me that, son. I'd very much like 'Tommy' as it is."
"Right, my bad… I'm not used to it, sorry."
"It ain't a problem." He allowed himself to take a peek over Leon's shoulders. "How's the house treatin' you?"
"Oh," Leon sputtered, he looked behind him and eyed the interior of his home—as if to confirm that it was indeed his. It was an almost unfathomable thought. A few months ago he had lost the definition of the word home, and now he had one.
"It's really...really great. It's amazing, actually... You have no idea how much I appreciate this. How we appreciate this. Thank you."
Tommy's smiled warmed as he waved a hand. "No sweat. Any friend of our people's a friend of mine."
There was a pause. Leon's toes had begun digging themselves in his shoes. It was hard for him to express gratitude while simultaneously socializing with leaders of a settlement.
"Look, son," Tommy spoke up, "sorry for interrupting you in such early hours, but, I reckon you'd like to know that I assigned y'all to a scoutin' group already. Since you asked yesterday."
Leon's eyes widened. He was always interested in how those groups worked. Scouting crews had designated schedules. They would leave before midday, and arrive just an hour shy from midnight. They always brought back things from their trip. Ammo, loot, new weapons for the arsenal, all that jazz. Ellie had told him that their tasks were to scavenge and scout for any nearby territories, be it 'Fly or foe. Appointed navigators had maps that pinpointed and logged all their trekked land and activities. It was something he wanted to partake in, and now he was in it.
"You've assigned us… already? Wow. I… Thanks, I didn't expect it to be that quick."
In fact, he hadn't expected that they'd be placed in the scouting crew at all.
When one tries and ambush a fourteen-year-old girl in the middle of the woods for the sake of surviving, it is almost expected that one won't get much perks. It wasn't their fault, surely, he barely even knew how Ellie looked like, how on earth was he supposed to know that it was the girl Riley had been looking for?
Now that he thought about it, how on earth was he supposed to know that he and Riley would acquire ownership to a goddamn house?
It was all incredulous to him, really, and being assigned to Jackson's scouting crew were just added privileges to the cream of the crop.
But he wasn't complaining.
"Me neither, but they apparently lacked two more recruits to make it an even crew. Y'know, pairs and all that." Tommy replied, placing his weathered hands in the inside pockets of his tattered pants. "With your previous experiences, I said, 'Hey, why not let these two kids have a knack at it?' And there y'have it. They'll be expectin' your appearance in a few hours. Assembly's down by the west gate. I'd best prepare, f'I were you."
"Right." Leon said, straightening his position. "We'll get ready for it. Thank you for the opportunity, Tommy… It means a lot to us. We'll do our best."
"No problem, let me know if you change your mind about the recruitin', but I doubt you will. Scoutin' can get real interesting at times." He stepped off the porch. "Now you take care, son. Enjoy the house!"
He went off into the road before the boy could snap out of his gawking trance. Leon shook his head at the gradually shrinking size of Tommy, and closed the door.
Upon turning, he found Riley walking quite sluggishly out of the hallway that led to their two bedrooms, her bare feet were slapping against the semi-polished, semi-dusty wooden flooring. She wore a white undershirt and shorts ending right below her knees, sleep was engraved on her coffee-colored eyes.
Leon smirked.
"Morning," she yawned, sounding chipper than usual. "Heard you talking with someone. Who was that?"
"Tommy," he replied. "Said that we got in the scouting crew. Y'know, the one Ellie talked about?"
"Oh yeah, the one you liked so much." She walked over to the counter, grabbing a can of peaches and opening it with her pocket knife. "We've been doing similar shit for a year, though, don't you get tired of that stuff?"
"It's for the settlement. It's a good job."
"That lasts right before midnight? Yeah, not such a good job for my sleeping schedule." She grabbed a fork from the drawer, rinsing it first before plunging it into the can to stab an unsuspecting sugary peach.
"Riley, that kind of scouting's only on Mondays and Fridays. We do the lighter stuff the rest of the week. With breaks, too."
"Mondays and Fridays?" Riley feigned a gasp. "So, no TGIFs, and our Mondays just keep getting worse. Have you no mercy for my needs?"
"Bite me. You know you like this job, too."
Riley chuckled as she ate. While watching her consume the food, Leon was in the process of contemplating. It had been some days since the reunion, but still, he couldn't get his mind off of the fact that they were living in a house. It was a decent one too. He remembered his conversation with Tommy and the questions kept coming back: How and why and when did this all exactly happen?
"He's nicer than I thought." His tone didn't mean bad judgment, it was just a nice, simple observation that the boy had gathered from the duration of their stay.
"Who?" Riley's words were muffled as she stuffed the impaled fruit inside her mouth. "Tommy?"
Leon nodded, making the girl scoff as she drove the fork into another peach. "I thought you already knew that, considering that he made us live here."
Leon eventually joined her, grabbing a fork of his own and accompanying the girl as they ravaged over the canned fruits. "So you're not phased by all this? It's been like, two weeks, and damn, it's trippy as shit." He spread his arms wide—fork in one hand, can in the other. "Look, we got food, beds, a roof over our heads... it's too good to be true, and here you are acting like you've lived in this place all your damn life."
Riley laughed, her arm leaning on the counter. "Okay, first of all, of course I'm phased by all this. This week was fucking overwhelming." She bit off the flesh of her pierced peach. "I got scarred by a bear, did you forget that?"
"We got scarred by a bear." Leon smiled back, a brow arched. "Would've died too, but then your girlfriend went in and saved our asses."
Girlfriend.
…
Okay, that hit her.
Riley faltered momentarily, her brown eyes flickered for a moment before she recomposed herself and scoffed casually. "What?"
Leon smirked.
That diabolical smirk.
"Ah, so you aren't together?"
She found her cheeks reddening.
She put the can down. "No, I—"
Hesitation.
"…I just never really thought about it that way."
"Wow," Leon said, lowering his eyes as he scratched his chin. "So, like, even if you guys were kissing each other, you know, saying your 'I miss yous' and 'I love yous,' while I was gone, you still don't consider her your girlfriend? That's harsh. It looked like she was real into you, too."
Riley's face did a strange multi-hue transformation, it went from redness to whiteness, an additional dab of red, and then back to her brownish complexion. She dramatically dropped the fork into the can, her spine standing upright and rigid.
Oh, fuck.
Painstakingly, her widened eyes traced those of the boy's blue ones.
He was smirking. Again.
That fucking devil.
"You..?" Riley whispered, she felt a strand of ice in her throat, and she gulped it down forcefully. "You… you saw?"
Leon could only laugh.
And that was Riley's cue for her face to drown itself in a color that resembled sheer embarrassment.
Complete and utter dignity, taken away in a matter of seconds.
"Oh, my god." She felt the pure amount of bashfulness rumble in her peach-filled stomach. Digesting. Churning. Crumbling.
He saw them.
The thought went through her again.
He saw them, goddamn it.
"You... you fucking asshole!"
His laughs transformed to boisterous bellows as Riley pushed him away from the counter, steam and redness erupting from her ears and cheeks.
"How," she demanded, "how fucking long did you look?"
The boy managed to speak in his sea of uncontrollable laughter. "That's classified."
She pushed him again.
"How long?!"
"Five minutes?" he replied, and Riley cringed so very visually. "When I came back, I uh, saw that... So after a while I kind of went off and figured you needed some privacy. Then, yeah. A cub assassinated me, and here we are."
Here we fucking are.
The poor girl. How she wished she could just crawl into a hole and lay there for all eternity. Leon was now bending forward, his hands on his shaking knees. He was mocking her. Ridiculing her.
The nerve of him.
"You deserve getting mauled by that cub," she spat, and the boy didn't seem to digest the insult, he was well busy with the art of guffawing.
So, as one might imagine, Riley was in a fit of humiliation. And she spitefully shrugged off Leon's jocular comments and had gotten the can of peaches from his grasp, telling him that he didn't deserve the goodness of processed canned goods, nor the house, for that matter.
Yet she was forced to stick and live with him—to live with his perfected art of douchebaggery and his strange electric eyes. Albeit the present hatred she had for him, Riley Abel knew in her heart of hearts and in her currently angry mind that she loved the boy like he was her own brother.
And so, because he was her beloved surrogate sibling, she shook the empty can of peaches at him, forbidding him to ever bring up the topic of that fateful night to anyone. Ever.
"Don't worry, I won't." He winked. "Just next time, do it more… discretely. And with protection."
That was it.
With corroding eyes, she threw the can at him with the greatest fervor.
"Fucking asshole!"
A good day for the people of Jackson.
-ELLIE-
8:02 AM
Small lakes shouldn't be intimidating.
Well, I guess that was bullshit, because this one seemed pretty threatening.
It was hard to try and pinpoint the location of the large pond, Joel had taken his rollicking time trying to find the place that I grew kind of restless. I didn't know if I was being personally punished by nature, but my exposed legs had been violated as we journeyed to the pond, reminding me that choosing to wear shorts while venturing in the woods was a very terrible and stupid idea.
When we eventually found the site, it looked surprisingly serene, like it had originated from something that came out of those fantasy picture books. The water looked relatively clean, and the borders of the small lake were shallow. Upon arriving, Joel placed his hands firmly on his waist, breathing in the scent of the forest.
"Ain't this a beaut, Ellie?"
With my horrid legs, I agreed. "It's a stunner, all right."
He exhaled comfortably, unbuttoning his flannel to reveal a black-sleeved undershirt that went with his swimming trunks. I stood next to him, with my dirty, browned legs contrasting highly to his clean ones.
How the hell did his legs not get muddy, anyway?
It didn't take long for him to browse down and gaze at the bottom part of my body, to which his eyes widened in surprise.
"What happened to your legs?" he asked, though there was more of an amused expression in his tone than a concerned one.
I frowned. "You just noticed?"
"You didn't say nothin', so I reckoned you were good."
"Well, if you must know," I muttered, brushing off a leaf that was stuck to my calf with mud, "I got assaulted by tree midgets."
"Ah, the worst kind." he said, dipping his feet into the water. "On the bright side, 'least this swimmin' will do your legs some good. C'mon, kiddo."
It kind of amazed me (and also petrified me) on how quickly he sank to the pond. He was standing at the border with the water at the height of his ankles. And upon taking another step or two, the height immediately engulfed him until it stopped near the upper part of his chest. Joel raised his arms out of the water, muttering a soft profanity in surprise before turning to me. It was obvious that he didn't want to let me see him be surprised, but I still felt fucking nervous.
There was a comical look on his face. "Well?"
He really was expecting me to jump in. But. Trepidation.
"Uh… well, there's too much..." I thought of an excuse, "…water."
He laughed, a one-syllable laugh that mocked me right in front of my face. "Yeah, lakes tend to have a lot of water in 'em."
"No shit, Joel. You get what I mean."
"It's not that bad, trust me." He paddled farther away. "Are you gonna jump in or not?"
At that distance? "As if."
"Ellie," he said, drawing out my name.
Fuck me. He was pressuring me.
I clenched my fists. "I will. Just— just give me a second."
Huffing, I stared down at the body of water. How deep would it be if I went in? Wanting to answer my own question, I mentally calculated the deepness of the water to Joel's height—he's probably six feet or something. So, if the water reached up to his chest, that would be about five feet.
I could hear a distant voice, I shrugged it off and continued on. Yeah, okay. Five feet. So, five feet versus a 5'3 height such as mine… that would determine that the water would end just at my—
"Ellie," Joel butted in, his voice clearer. "Any time, now."
Great, there goes my calculation. I gave him a nasty look.
"If I drown," I said, "I am going to haunt you. Forever."
"Well, we can't have that, now can we?" He smirked. "C'mon, kiddo, water's fine."
And with dirty legs and feet that were kissing the gravel below me, I sunk into the pond, the water surprisingly cool as it contrasted against the approaching summer heat.
In all honesty, it was pretty soothing.
"Now, uh..." He spread his arms toward me. "If y'come slowly to me, you'll notice a drop, but once I got you, just hold on to me, okay?"
"Okay," I mumbled out, the water tickled my skin as I submerged myself deeper and deeper. With Joel's arms outstretched like a guide, I took a brave step forward, the water was still at ankle height.
Okay, totally cool. I got this.
As soon as I took the second step, however, it came to my attention that I definitely did not.
The drop was immensely abrupt, and I found my whole body sinking down along with my unfortunate foot as the water rose from my ankles to my damn chin. My mouth was clumsily open, and it had decided to swallow a good portion from the lake. Joel caught me just in time, though it was too late for my poor mouth.
In his grasp, I sputtered and spat and swore, flailing my arms and legs childishly in panic. My lungs felt like they were watered like plants. Fucking plants.
"Ellie, Ellie—!" he yelled, grunting as he kept me in his hold. Unfortunately, I accidentally slammed his jaw with my elbow during my panicked frenzy.
Whoops.
I clenched my water-filled eyes, opening them up again to find Joel gritting his teeth, his eyes in a haze after I had hit him rather hard.
"Shit. Joel?" I squeaked, clinging to his arms. My voice drowned and watery. "Crap, sorry, sorry! My bad."
"I'm fine," he groaned, "just… stay calm. Try not to squirm—when I hold you, okay? And don't hit me."
"Yeah," I coughed some of the swallowed water out, "okay."
"You alright?"
I hesitated for a moment, then nodded. Joel didn't seem so convinced.
"Did you drink the water?"
...
"…Unintentionally."
He groaned, lightly chastising me to be careful. He then begun a painstaking lecture about how there could be harmful bacterial organisms found in the water and that I might digest the said bacteria and suffer and die unexpectedly from a foreign disease.
If I were younger, probably eight or nine, I would've been traumatized by the way he explained it. I mean, you don't tell little girls about the grim consequences of swallowing freshwater.
(You're also not supposed to be mortally wounded and to leave them to fend for themselves during the winter, only to be faced by cannibalistic men who want to be their friends. But that's just me).
In the meantime, he introduced me to the lake's anatomy, like which types of bodies of water there were, the kinds of creatures that were found in them, and the extensive examples of swimming techniques. It was all while holding me afloat and not actually doing anything else. This was not how I pictured swimming.
As he continued to drone on while holding me, my feet fluttering and hovering over the waterbed, I went ahead and interrupted his fascinating lecture.
"Jesus, Joel, I got it. I'm good." I snapped. "Are you gonna keep holding me like this?"
"Unless you know how to doggy paddle, then yeah, I am."
I quirked a brow. "Doggy-what?"
Joel sighed, and he readjusted his hold on me before slightly moving across the freshwater.
"This'll take longer than I thought."
o-O-o
Tonight was a typical winter night in Boston's Military Preparatory School. The lights were out, the guards were busy huddled outside by the fires, and two teenage girls had gone and enjoyed the remnants of their last weekday in a dorm, anticipating for Saturday's arrival. They sat just across from each other on a bed, an alcoholic beverage lay prostrate just between them. They had been drinking all night.
They both laughed incoherently in Riley's dorm, reading from a punbook that Riley had scavenged out of the mall. The jokes themselves were mild, but their intoxication had made them infinitely more enjoyable.
How they got drunk, she did not know, but Riley Abel knew that she had not intended to lend Ellie a drink.
Heck, she intended it for Winston.
Well, it was intended for Winston, but when Ellie'd found out that she was carrying alcohol, she demanded to take a sip.
"Christ, that's awful." Ellie had remarked, after taking a sip. "But one more time."
Now they were both tipsy. It was predictable.
"My friend's bakery burned down last night," Ellie drawled, the way she spoke was a clear indication that she was absolutely floored. Riley was less in a drunken stupor, however, and she listened to her friend's pun with a nutty grin on her face.
"What happened?"
"Well, now…" she said, prolonging the last word. "Now… his business is toast."
Roaring laughter filled the room in the wintry night, and the alcohol that warmed their throats helped in dumbing the cold. The two girls were wrapped with Riley's blanket, the cold wind was picking at their sheets every couple of minutes.
"Give me that," Riley said, and she swiped off the punbook from Ellie's hands. Her clumsy brown eyes danced along the pages as she flipped, and they landed on a line that seemed to have fancied her.
She turned to the girl.
"Hey, Ellie?"
"Yeaaaah?"
The poor girl, it was like she was seeing double. She basically drank the whole bottle, while Riley had only a quarter of it.
"Ever tried eating a clock?" Riley bit her lip, stopping herself from giggling. "Don't. It's time consuming."
"That's fucking horrible." But Ellie laughed either way, she tugged the blanket that they were sharing, and covered her mouth with the fabric. Riley caught her in the act, and there was just something about Ellie's rosy (yet drunk) complexion that made her smile more warmly than usual.
"You're horrible," Riley replied back, but her eyes were glued to her green ones. The bottle dropped and was solemnly on the floor, lying horizontally, empty as water in a desert. Riley shrugged, she could get another bottle for Winston.
Besides, she always enjoyed witnessing a tipsy Ellie. As long as she wasn't hurting herself, it was kind of adorable.
After minutes and minutes of puns, they decided that it was enough. With drunken hands, Ellie tucked the book in her backpack, a strand of her hair had gotten out and wedged itself between the metallic teeth of her pack when she attempted to zip it back up. She swore and muttered, forcefully yanking the strand back.
"I swear," she hiccupped, "one of these days, I'll shave my fucking hair off. Keeps getting in the damn way."
"Nah," Riley laughed slightly, shaking her head. Without thinking, she scooted herself closer to the girl, bringing up her hand and tucking the wayward strand back behind the girl's ear. You look pretty with it."
There was tension. She could feel Ellie stiffening beneath the blankets upon receiving contact. Shit, Riley thought. She was sober enough to realize what she had said, and she tried to yield her hand back, only to have it freeze when Ellie looked up and gazed back at her. Her green eyes pierced through her like knives. Vivid and sharp.
"You think so?" she whispered, and the tone of her voice made Riley's neck prickle. She uncouthly retracted her hand back, burying it beneath the heat of the blanket. Riley's breath hitched as she swayed to the side. Her tipsy confidence growing.
She smiled, a stupidly warm smile that sent a strange feeling to Ellie's stomach. "Actually, shave it or not, it won't matter."
Internally, Riley's sober side wanted to kick herself.
There was a strange but peaceful stillness between them afterwards, it joined them as they were buried among the blankets, waiting eagerly for the next words to spill out of either one of their mouths. Ellie bit her lip, coyness and drunkenness embedded in her face. "Know what, Riley?"
She gulped down her shyness. "What?"
"Even if you're a fucking asshole sometimes (Riley interrupted her with a laugh)… you're like, the only person, who's ever made me feel like I was, I was wanted." She let out a weak hiccup, and Riley's stomach was churned tenfold. "Everyone else just... didn't really fucking care about me."
Riley's chest somewhat dampened, surprised at hearing such information. Ellie paused momentarily, and Riley was unsure of whether or not the liquor had gotten the best of them.
"But you..." Ellie continued, much to Riley's surprise, "…you somehow pop into my life, and… you're the only fucking person who's made me feel like… me."
She did not notice it, but as the younger girl continued to speak softly to her, Riley's heart was hammering furiously in her chest.
Thump-thump, thump-thump.
The alcohol started to edge off of young Abel, and before she could reply back, Ellie's hands stretched out, and they grasped on to the wrists of the other girl. Riley could only gawk back at her as the redhead started to pull her close, her grip was tightening.
She could smell the scent of liquor.
Sweet, bitter, metallic liquor.
"How?" Ellie whispered again, nearing her, closing in on her, making her heart hammer a thousand times more fervently than before.
"How do you make me feel so. . . special?"
Riley's vision consisted of a sea of freckles, dark reddish hair, a scarred brow, and green eyes that seemed to twinkle in every natural way possible. She trailed her pupils down to the girl's lips, then back up to her. She could feel her own pulse in her throat, beating its sides, fighting for a way out.
Riley was stunned. What is she going to do?
"Ellie..?" she squeaked back, realizing that the grip Ellie had on her had softened. The girl had her eyes closed, and her head started to hang low.
…
"Ellie?"
She shook her lightly.
"Ellie, hey."
No response.
...
Riley scoffed to herself. Typical.
She passed out.
The alcohol overtook her.
She was still confused, not knowing if what she was feeling for the girl were real or just fantasies that the alcohol had created for her. Riley gazed at the redhead, and she examined her features, from her flaws to her everything. Her closed eyes, her light freckles, her rosy cheeks from the drink, and her beauty.
Riley's brown eyes went back down to Ellie's lips.
She could not help the fact that she was catastrophically beautiful.
And in all honesty, she had an urge to kiss her. The reasons were hazy in her mind, but she craved for it. This was her opportunity. Ellie was unconscious, this was her open window to get what she wanted.
…
No.Riley shook her head.
No. She knew it was wrong. She couldn't take advantage of her, Ellie was more than that.
So much more than that.
Before she could withdraw from Ellie, the girl's weight gave way, and she doubled over and fell towards Riley's body, the both of them collapsing into the bed with the redhead being at the top.
"Ellie—!"
The blankets suffocated them. Riley laughed, patting the girl's back as she started to snore.
"Ellie, you big baby."
Trying to wake her up yielded nothing, and after several instances wherein she tried to move her, there seemed to be only one option left.
She had to carry her back to her room.
Still crushed under her weight, Riley wrapped an arm around the girl's neck, the other beneath her legs. Ellie subconsciously eased at the touch, and with all the soberness she could muster, Riley stood up from the bed, grunting as she carried Ellie along with her, swaying a bit before gaining balance.
"Jesus," she chuckled, readjusting her hold on the girl, "you're heavier than I thought."
Ellie could just snore in response. Her head was resting on the side of Riley's neck, and she could feel her lips brushing against her skin.
"Fuck me," she muttered to herself.
With clumsy silence, she exited out of the room. She prodded her way in the corridor and into the younger girl's dorm, opening the slightly ajar door with her foot. It creaked, and Riley looked left to right in the hallway before entering, making sure that no one had decided to spy on them.
When the coast was presumably clear, Riley entered the room. She was not careful enough, for Ellie's head bumped into the wooden doorway. She groaned coarsely, her voice bouncing off of the corridor walls.
"Shit," Riley hissed, cradling her head. "Sorry, sorry."
When she successfully brought her inside the dorm, she tiptoed her way across Ellie's bed, stooping her arms so that Ellie would slowly roll off of her grasp and land safely. The weight had thankfully shifted from her to the mattress, and the redhead grunted in her sleep, muttering some gibberish that Riley could not decipher. She looked at her passed out friend, her limbs sprawled out as she was lying on her bed.
The things I fucking do for you. She smiled to herself.
Riley found herself looking longer than intended, and stopped to focus when the open window in Ellie's room had brought in an unfriendly winter breeze. It flowed through Riley's jacket and to the girl's pale skin, making her shiver and chatter. Out of the trance, Riley closed the window in silence, and spotted a blanket at the top of Ellie's bunk bed. Grabbing it, she draped the sheet over the girl's quivering body, ultimately ceasing her freezing movement. Her furrowed brows eased to rest, allowing the redhead to sleep in peace.
And again, Riley was looking at her.
Call her a distinguished creep, but she wouldn't care. She probably stood there for a few more seconds, watching as Ellie stirred and grumbled and changed sides every now and then. Because of her movement, her hair had gotten quite messy, and more unwanted strands had scrambled across her face. Riley sighed, shaking her head as she approached the girl again.
With a feeble hand, she tucked the strands behind her ear, her touch lingering for a few more milliseconds before retracting it back.
Her eyes went back down to Ellie's face, and Riley exhaled desperately.
She was right. Head shaved or not, she was stunning. Even if she was an underage drunkard, a snoring mess, and smelled of alcohol. The moonlight kissed her sleeping frame and bade her a goodnight. Riley knew she had to go.
"Night, Ellie."
The redhead could only snore back.
(It was dumb luck for Riley Abel the following day, because apparently, Ellie would not be able to recall the confessions sealed inside her from last night).
Later, in bed, during that night; Riley looked up at her dorm's ceiling, a dead light bulb smiling down at her. She clenched her eyes as another cold wind breezed through, and envisioned her friend a few rooms across from her, her voice whispering into her ears and warming her cold face.
She remembered her words.
How do you make me feel so special?
Riley blinked, and turned to face the wall, her alcoholic breath slowed as she dozed off into a dreamless sleep, smiling all the while.
She slept and awoke with the same grin sticking foolishly to her face, and in her hungover state, Riley had great trouble attempting to wipe it off. She couldn't seem to forget Ellie's lines that would forever imprint themselves in her mind. It was like a stubborn cold.
But she didn't complain.
Not one bit.
Frankly, she smiled even more.
o-O-o
-JOEL-
12:56 PM
She was hovering around the blueness, her blurry feet swivelled in small circles.
"Look, I'm doing it!"
Joel smiled proudly at her, and when he attempted to approach, she refused and demanded that he stayed and watched. The man did as told, watching as the girl did the business of paddling around him, water droplets flying here and there and landing on his wet hair. A calm state of serenity established itself between themselves, nestling among the water and swimming along with them.
And Joel, with his arms slowed by the water, caught her in his hold. "C'mon, kiddo, that's good enough."
"Daddy!" she screamed, laughing. "D'you see that? I was doing it!"
He grinned back, ruffling her slick blonde hair. "Sure did, honey. And you did great, too. Faster than your old man when he was just startin' to learn how to swim."
The eight-year-old giggled, swimming away from her father's grasp and gifting him a wave pool of water. "Goes to show that I'm better than you in everythin', even in swimmin', huh?"
Joel could not resist but to splash her back, causing her to shriek in delight.
"Dad!" she yelled again, shooting him a wet glare. He looked away, whistling an innocent tune.
Sarah huffed, and upon calling her father's unaware attention, she sent a miniature tsunami across to reach him.
"Hey!"
Suddenly, everything around him transformed.
He coughed out the water that had accidentally entered his mouth, an annoyed grin on his face as he gazed back at the redhead, who smirked at him in response.
"Sorry, you were zoning out a little while I was swimming. Thought you wanted to see how good I was doing." She exaggeratedly covered her mouth in alarm, paddling with one hand. A fake, innocent gasp escaped her lips. "Oh shit, you didn't drink the water, did you?"
Joel sent her a pair of narrowed eyes, and Ellie began to clear her throat.
"Now, Joel, you ain't s'posed to drink it." Her impression on a Texan accent was hauntingly spot-on, even her attempt to imitate the man's deepness wasn't too shabby. "See, 'cause the pond water's got some micro-berial in 'em, and you might die from a disease."
"Funny," and he sent a destructive wave to her face, "and it's micro-bacterial, kiddo."
Ellie spat out the water, her ponytail had gotten out as she placed the tie around her wrist. She cursed him, and they both laughed. Harder and lighter than they had ever laughed together.
At long last, the girl had successfully learned how to hover without drowning, and regardless of her rather poor method of doggy-paddling, it was still considered as a feat. No more would she have to resort to second routes, and she was definitely happy that she didn't need a goddamned pallet every time they would encounter a body of water.
Joel had guided her through the whole thing in under four hours, making her learn surprisingly faster than he had originally thought. They were somewhat at the center of the lake, though slightly to the left. Joel was always at a distance, watching her as she paddled around.
Interestingly, he had forgotten about bringing the whole Riley topic up to her. Joel's uncharacteristic awkwardness at that time was peculiar, but Ellie didn't seem to notice why he had been.
When they started to notice the time that had elapsed and the water that had wrinkled their hands and face for too long, Ellie paddled over to the lake's shore, wringing her hair out to dry. The smile in her face started to fade, realizing that things were once again returning to how it originally was, with the tension and the lies and the gutlessness.
Of course, they both hated it.
And just before they would have gone off into the woods to arrive back in Jackson, Ellie stopped him in his tracks.
"Hey, Joel?"
He turned around, his hair moist against the near-summer air.
...
"Thank you," she continued, "for this. I… I really appreciate that you went ahead and did this for me."
Maybe it was just the simplicity in how she said it, that perhaps she wasn't trying to refer to the swimming alone. But to everything. He could feel what she meant, and he smirked, those deep hazel eyes on her green ones. As the case may be, some things didn't need saying, and Joel had come to terms that sometimes, you don't need to ask anymore.
As long as they were happy, her relationship with Riley was none of his business.
"A promise is a promise." he said with his lips tugged to the sides. He brought out his wrinkled hand for Ellie to take. "C'mon kiddo, let's go home. I'll keep an eye on 'em tree midgets for you."
She smiled and held on, and Ellie did not let go of his hold until they had returned back to Jackson.
-RILEY-
1:05 PM
"So, you're those new guys with the bears and shit, huh?" the boy asked, his ginger hair vivid against the greenery.
We were returning from our introductory sessions. The recruiting thing that Leon had signed up for me and him, he thought that socializing with the peers of Jackson would be good for my mental state.
Honestly, after the shit from this morning, my mental and psychical state wanted to kill him.
But moving on to the recruiting assembly, it went surprisingly well. We took some hours off the clock by circling Jackson's campus. The scout leader—Yusuf—was a middle-aged man with a heavy accent, he was hearty and passionate. He was the one who showed us the ropes and divided the crew into quadrants. Leon and I ended up with two kids that were around our age. A girl and a boy. We had not talked the whole introduction, only to have made it happen upon returning to the settlement.
Walking home, the orange-haired boy attempted to bring up a conversation, and things kind of hit off. We all had that similar frame, but Leon was more built and broad-shouldered, as was I when compared to the girl's. Still, it was nice to meet some fresh faces around here.
And Leon, as if proud of our reputation as the Bear Survivors, nodded. His chin was held up slightly higher than usual. "Mm-hmm, how'd you know?"
"Word travels quickly around here. But I can hardly believe it. You got scars to verify?"
I showed him the long scar that trailed near my collarbone, and Leon lifted his shirt to show the ones near his abdomen.
"Damn," He shook his head and laughed. "Tough shit, you two are made of. Think I caught your names earlier. You're Riley, right?" He pointed to Leon.
"Uh, that's me," I said, almost sheepishly, "His name's Leon."
His pale green eyes were what I noticed first, his gleam duller than Ellie's. "Oh, sorry 'bout that. Name's Benton, I'm originally from North Carolina. This here's—"
A chain of insanely loud barks had cut him off, and a brown labrador zoomed past the four of us, only to be followed by a boy whom I assumed was around our age as well, his blond hair shinier than most. He was yelling something in a language that I could not understand.
"Christ," Benton's eyes were narrowed. "That's Ivanik and his dog, barks like a fucking maniac, too. He knows English, but barely speaks it."
"Something wrong with him?" Leon queried, I sent him a look.
The boy shook his head. "Nah, kid's just German, and from what I heard, he's raised by his grandmother who came from… Strausberg, or something. They live at the end of the street, near the mess hall. Feel sorry for any of the poor neighbors who've gotta deal with those fucking barks."
I scrunched my brows, trying to remember what part of Germany Strausberg was in. It'd been so long since we studied other countries' geographies in school. It was also unthinkable when you try and imagine how other places in the world are dealing with the infection.
"Like he said," the girl continued for him. "I'm Piper. We're like, second cousins or something by those lines. It's pretty confusing, so we just stick to relatives."
"Yep, been in Jackson for a good four years or so. We arrived when we were thirteen, you should've seen how—"
The dog started to bark relentlessly. Benton continued nonetheless.
"—but it's all good. We're eighteen now and things—"
More animal yaps, and it was unbelievable to know that one single dog was capable of making so much noise.
"—believe it or not, we—"
More barking, woofing, and yapping. The intervals seemed to make Benton's head simmer. Could the infected hear it?
"—but everyone thinks that you guys lost an arm or something from that bear—"
When the barks had interrupted him yet again, Benton clenched his eyes, opening them up again to reveal a fiery green. Leon eyes visibly widened.
"For fuck's sake— Ivanik!"
A few meters away, the boy's German blond hair turned to face him, they were the color of ripened lemons.
"Ja?" He was trying to calm his overzealous animal companion.
"That dog of yours," He pointed at the breed like it was devil-spawn, "will be the fucking death of us. I swear to God, he barks one more time, I'll slit his fucking throat!"
Ivanik's face contorted in anger and confusion, Piper and I raised our brows in alarm.
"Was hast du gesagt?"
He had pronounced the words fluidly, playing it around his tongue in such an exotic tone. The only other language I've ever heard was probably Spanish. But German sounded so... different.
"It's happening again." Piper whispered for only us to hear. "He and Benton had some history together, mostly related to his dog."
I looked back at him, his light orange hair ruffled as he sent Ivanik another insult. The boy looked incensed.
He yelled in more German, his yellow brows furrowed. Frankly, neither I nor anyone in the scouting group had understood him. As much as I wanted to, it sounded incredibly hard to learn.
The dog howled again.
And man, did Benton lose it.
He pushed past Leon and I, marching over to Ivanik and his rusty red Lab. Naturally, the blond boy responded in his mother tongue. He shouted and cursed, his body covering the dog, who was still barking in hysteria.
Benton's fists were clenched. "English, Jesus Christ, speak it!"
"Touch my dog, and you will regret it!" All right, his pronunciation wasn't the best, but it was doable. "You ape, you Arschloch! What have I done to you?"
Arschloch. Hah, okay. Pretty sure that was asshole.
Leon's expression was horrific, and for comfort, he looked over at Piper. "Is he really gonna hurt the..?" he muttered among the yells and woofs.
The brunette chuckled, shaking her head as we continued to trek back towards Jackson, leaving the two bickering boys behind. "You kidding? This happens regularly. Benton can't even hurt a fly. He's just like that dog, all bark and no bite. It's a wonder how Clickers haven't killed them yet, with the yells and all."
Amid Ivanik's foreign insults and Benton's English ones, the dog was barking again, and the German boy's nerves broke. He yelled over his head, his voice accentuating and emphasizing the cries of his canine friend.
You can expect Benton's reaction.
-ELLIE-
3:23 PM
Here I was, right before Riley and Leon's bungalow.
When I knocked on the door, I initially suspected Leon to open it. Because he always had for the past week, and each time I saw that brown hair of his poking out, he would jokingly scowl.
"Oh," he would say. "It's you again."
I didn't mind our teasing. It was friendly, and our friendship grew over the weeks. It was good.
Now, however, I got the real deal. Riley Abel opened the door with a look of unexpectedness. She blinked at me momentarily, her brown eyes adjusting.
There was a short pause.
"Hey," I chirped.
Riley smiled, and pulled the door wide open.
Instinctively, I dove into her arms like a swimmer. Ellie Phelps.
"El—" she laughed, and we both tumbled inside. She eventually embraced me in response, her hands trailing across the back of my flannel. "Well, I guess that's as close to a 'hi' as it gets."
She smelled like dew from grass, her breaths heavy as she brought me inside. We collapsed on the sofa together, nearing the living room, my body on top of hers.
She yelled and laughed in surprise before I silenced her with a kiss. And yes, I know, I was being flirtatious. I had my excuses, I was deprived from her touch for some time.
"You're awfully grabby today," she said after breaking apart, her hand tucking a strand of hair behind my ear. Good old classic Riley moves.
"Don't act like you don't love it," Still on top of her, I looked around in caution. "Is Leon here?"
Riley attempted pushed me off, but to no avail.
"That's not going to work," I said, smirking. "So, are we the only ones home?"
Riley rolled her eyes playfully. "Yeah, Leon went off to hang with some friends that we made earlier today, y'know, from the scouting crew? Tommy got us in."
"Really? That's awesome." I raised a brow at her silent response. "You don't look so excited."
"Leon paired me along with him, I didn't really get much of a choice, Ellie." She rested her hand on the couch arm. "But hey, I love him, and he's out of the house. No need to worry for interruptions."
Riley, at that time, was fucking tantalizing, and yeah, I guess you could say this was our way of enjoying each other's company. It was a great way to kick off today's afternoon, considerably after such a tiring morning. I was going to tell her about the swimming lessons, but I was well in the business of kissing her. We were flirting and clingy, but it appeared that Riley could notice that something was up.
"Okay, El, something's up. As much as I love this," She narrowed her eyes. "You smell funny."
It was so unexpected I almost laughed.
I feigned a hurt expression and brought up a hand to my injured heart. "Wow, rude." I faked. "I just showered, is it that bad?"
"No, I mean, you don't smell like… you. Like that Ellie-funk that you normally have going on." She blinked twice and scrunched her nose. "You smell. . . swamp-ish. Did you swim?"
"Oh, shit, right." I said, suddenly sitting up and grabbing on to Riley's wrists. "Riley, I fucking swam today. You know, in the pond? Near to where you almost strangled me to death? (She gave me a look here) I swam, it wasn't the most professional swimming technique, but I swam."
"Oh, yeah. You told me that you and Joel would…" There was a conflicted look on her face. She cleared her throat before I could raise any questions. "Impressive. What d'you wear?"
"Well, you know, a shirt and some shorts."
"Shorts?" Her smirk became predatory, and I laughed. "Skimpy?"
"You wish, but it'd be malicious as fuck."
It was Riley's turn to pin me down, her weight pressed under my body. She traced circles around my collarbone and quirked a brow sensually, smirking all the while. "You know, I think I got a thing for malicious girls with reddish hair and green eyes."
"Do they have scars on their eyebrows too?"
Riley rolled her eyes. "Just kiss me."
And with great pleasure, I did.
Needless to say, the air got pretty heavy.
The kisses turned from passion to lust in just a snap of a finger, and before we knew it, we were all over each other. Grabbing, tugging, and gasping for air. We ended up tackling each other on the couch again, Riley had ended up on top. She smiled, before leaving a kiss on my mouth as she leaned forward on me.
"You're fucking hot to trot, aren't you?"
She could only smile in response.
I wasn't complaining.
I can only go so far in describing, and yeah, I'm going to stop here. Sorry to burst your bubble. It hadn't gone for too long, anyway, because conveniently, the door opened just before things had started to get real.
Riley fumbled away from me, her white undershirt crumpled as she clumsily sat upright, inching away from me on the sofa. I did the same, our bodies had been red and steaming from not too long ago, my cheeks blushing a pale pink. Our messy hair made it obvious.
And his brown hair was what I saw first.
Oh, Leon, you spoilsport.
He greeted us like he usually did, and his blue eyes went to Riley's, they stared a while longer at each other. The boy raised his eyebrows and gave her a heinous smirk.
...
"Leon," she said, as if warning him.
He could only smile stupidly in response.
7:10 PM
After arriving from Riley and Leon's as usual, I found Joel at the table, setting two bowls of mushroom soup and water to gulp the dishes down. When the door closed, his eyes moved across the living room to greet me, and he pursed his lips and smiled.
"Evenin'."
I walked over and sat on the table across from him, the fluorescent light above us flickered once.
"Thought I cooked some of this soup that's been sittin' in the cupboard for a while." he said, tugging his chair backward as he sat down. I joined him, the air murky and quiet.
As much as a fungal dinner was in no way appropriate to eat during a fungal outbreak, the soup still tasted surprisingly creamy and good. Plus, dinner always consisted of small talk, and after conversing about swimming and days before the outbreak, Joel brought up an offhand comment, one that I didn't seem to notice from the very beginning.
"So, how's Riley?" he queried, and leaving Leon out of the question wasn't brow-raising to me at that time.
"Usually a pain in the ass." I replied.
"That so? Thought you were close."
"Yeah, we are, but I can't stand her at times."
He chuckled, drinking his glass of water and setting it aside.
"Well, the only thing worse than a girl you hate..."
"...is a girl you love."
I looked up in panic. He let those words drop on the table with such casualness that I momentarily sat in my shocked state of mind. My thoughts fell blank, and instantly, the heat on my cheeks returned with great amity. Everything that I held on to at that moment dropped, including the spoon that was used to feed myself with the usual mushroom bowl of soup.
I stared at him, mouth agape, only to find him smirking back.
What the hell was that supposed to mean?
"Wh, wha—" I sputtered, and Joel finished his bowl as he set it down with both hands, scooting out of his chair and sending me a warm grin. I felt uncomfortable, my hands gripped the bottom base of the wooden chair so tightly that whiteness appeared around my knuckles. My stomach lurched as he sent me another casual smile.
When, since when did he fucking know?
"Night, kiddo. See you in the morning."
As he stood up and ruffled my hair, walking over to staircase and into his room, he left me there on the table, left to gape open-mouthed at the wall. I sat there, and the pieces had reluctantly fitted themselves together. Suddenly, it all made sense.
Earlier this fucking week.
When Joel knocked on the door, with his highly unusual timidity and restlessness, he knew. He had to know at that time, what else could the coyness be for? Not the fear of wondering whether or not I wanted to swim with him, of course. I tried to recall again, remembering the campfire, the bear, the clinic...
Shit.
The clinic. I remembered now.
I'd been digging my fingers into the base of the chair too hard that my nails had turned ragged and bumpy.
I had kissed Riley.
Did Joel walk in on that?
"Oh my God."
He did, didn't he?
I slumped into my chair, feeling all the world's embarrassment on my shoulders. It was crushing me.
Because he knew.
...
He saw us.
Thank you for reading! See you all soon :)
-Taco