She had known it for weeks. Known it, but ignored it. Prayed she was wrong. As if that would make it less true.
Her stomach knotted as she sat with her elbows resting on her knees, palms cupping the sides of her forehead as her eyes pierced the glass before her.
That stupid glass, with that stupid coloured liquid inside.
Her nails dug into her loose dirty blonde hair.
Fuck. What was she going to do?
Her eyes fell to the empty bottle of vinegar that she had dropped on the floor moments ago. She'd used the last of it to do this stupid test, and part of her wished she hadn't. Vinegar was hard to come by, now that many first aid resources were slowly becoming expunged.
What was James going to say? Fucking James.
Her eyes flicked to the pile of baking soda that sat next to the glass on the table before her. It had bubbled, which meant positive, which was why she resorted to doing vinegar test for a second opinion.
Fucking pregnant.
Pregnancy tests had all expired since outbreak day, at least all of the ones she'd come across recently. So, she had this idea that she could use as a test; something she had learned from the pre-outbreak days.
Back when she was a nurse.
Anna had felt it too. Not that the lack of her menstrual cycle for the last two months wasn't enough evidence; she just knew. Knew and had ignored it. Ignored it because this was the apocalypse and having children was a very bad, very terrible idea, and knowing for certain would make it all too real.
Besides, she didn't like kids; she never wanted any even if the world hadn't shit on itself.
Like that would change anything.
She fucking knew James was a bad idea. She had done well for herself since outbreak day five some odd years ago. She hadn't gotten close to a man, or woman for that matter, because falling in love was stupid with death around every corner. And lord knew she had seen enough of it already.
Who hadn't?
The only person she'd kept close was Marlene, though the pair currently weren't speaking, again.
They often fought; argued like sisters. Though they'd known each other since before the pandemic – been best friends since high school – they were polar opposites. Where Marlene was patient and quick witted, Anna was brash and aggressive – especially in times that weren't called for it.
They had been together when the outbreak happened, working tirelessly in shifts at the hospital. Anna had been on call working overtime, seeing patient after patient with bite marks, or some with no bite marks at all but showing similar symptoms. It seemed that the infection came from spores off of a fungi, and if you breathed in those spores it would alter your brain and turn you into something predacious – something they hadn't known at the time.
Anna remembered her first infected patient; a young woman about her age who was feverish and had a bite mark on her forearm. She said she had been walking home from work late when a man jumped her. She expressed that he had been ravenous with blood shot eyes and a snarling face. Anna hadn't been sure what to think at the time; part of her thought the woman had been in shock – your brain often filtered information while under stress. But when Anna had cleaned and bandaged the woman's wound and left her to wait for the doctor, she'd walked into a hall that had erupted chaos. It was ground zero; people with bite marks were everywhere, most of them with stories similar to the young bartender woman. It hadn't taken long for Anna to believe her.
Especially when she had tried to rip Anna's face off hours later.
Marlene had saved her, responded to Anna's cries for help when the young bartender pounced, knocking Anna to the floor with snapping teeth inches from her throat. Marlene had stabbed the woman in the brain with a scalpel.
They abandoned the hospital after that. No amount of hazard pay was worth sticking around.
Anna still had nightmares about that woman. And many others like her after that.
They had been in Los Angeles when the world changed. Ended up in the LA quarantine zone at first. The military had been quick to action, putting up walls and gates, killing off infected with patrols at every entrance and ensuring the city was mostly free from infected. The QZ had been safe, for a while.
Until the FEDRA began shooting uninfected civilians who showed up at the gates seeking refuge.
Marlene was all about justice and human rights. Where Anna agreed, she thought it was reckless to have a voice when they could die at any moment – when the soldiers could shoot them or the infected eat them – no matter how safe the QZ could feel. She thought it better to keep their heads down and survive. She'd eventually convinced Marlene – it had been a screaming match – to stay out of the politics - Marlene was always talking back to the FEDRA soldiers, breaking up fights amongst civilians, getting threats of being shot for disagreeing with their authority and judgement calls, arguing about ration cards and food supply. She was good at it too. The woman could talk circles around anyone, and problem solve without hesitation or much effort. Anna had to admit; Marlene was born to lead in stressful situations. It was what made her an amazing nurse.
But that didn't change anything for Anna.
She had wound up sobbing and begging during their argument, saying how she couldn't handle losing Marlene – the only person in her life she had known who had survived the pandemic.
Marlene had cradled Anna in her arms and took pity on her, promising she would quiet down and leave the politics for the soldiers.
But as time went by, the FEDRA began treating the people more and more like dogs. They offered protection, but at what cost? They didn't bat an eye when they could pull the trigger. Didn't care who they pulled the trigger on either, infected or no, inside the QZ or out. Eventually it wasn't about survival anymore. It had become a power play. A dictatorship.
They used the civilians to run the QZ and threatened to withhold food and protection if they didn't obey orders. If one person spoke out against the soldiers – all civilians would suffer the consequences. They had basically become slaves – as Marlene had called it.
It was when Martial Law was enforced and they began forbidding anyone from leaving the QZ that Anna realized Marlene had been right. They needed to do something.
So, the pair started a revolution against the FEDRA, calling for all branches of government to end the military's rule. They banded together, and called themselves the Fireflies.
Because fireflies represented hope and guidance.
When they got enough of a following – which didn't take long with Marlene's ideas of staged attacks, the FEDRA only encouraging the public to hate them when they executed six of their firefly members – they overthrew the military.
Lots of people died.
It had taken about two years, but LA eventually fell.
Then they moved a little south to San Diego and eventually took that too. Then they set up another base in Big Sur. That was when Marlene wanted to start moving east.
They went to Phoenix, Arizona. The civilians there were quick to side with the Fireflies. It was there they'd crossed paths with a doctor who had originally been from Salt Lake City and was hell bent on finding a cure. He and Marlene had become fast friends.
They pushed further east, setting up in the University of Eastern Colorado campus. It was there where the doctor – Jerry Anderson – wanted to start researching for a cure. Since they had enough of a following, and the resources, Marlene had left him there with a group of researchers and extra bodies for protection while the rest took a turn for the south. Kansas City had been bombed to shit only three weeks post outbreak. Infected had conquered, so the military blew it up. Which was why they'd take the long way around the state to avoid the wreckage. It was when they were half way through Oklahoma when Marlene grew extra ballsy.
So they headed for Dallas, Texas… and took that too.
It had been hell, and Marlene had become obsessed with conquering QZ's.
Now Marlene wanted to go northeast, toward Pittsburgh, as they had gotten reports of a QZ there in dire need of firefly influence, as Marlene had decided. Then she wanted Boston. Boston was a huge QZ, and Marlene thought if they could set up in Pittsburgh they could rally up enough soldiers to conquer it. New York was too big a city, likely with too many infected, and Pittsburgh was far enough away that they could rally with less suspicion – at least that was what Marlene thought. She figured if they could be discreet then Boston wouldn't realize Pittsburgh had fallen until they wanted them to know.
Anna disagreed. Mostly because Pittsburgh was a huge QZ and for them to pull it off, they'd need to know every detail there was to know about how the soldiers there operated. It would be the biggest one they'd take thus far – and Anna didn't think they had the soldiers or equipment for it. Or the time. Word about Dallas falling would definitely get to the military, if it hadn't already.
Admittedly she was tired of fighting. She understood why Marlene was on a high, after so many wins she'd gotten overly confident; though Dallas had been a nightmare, and they'd lost a lot of people despite their win. Anna figured they'd overthrown enough QZ's; they didn't need to take down the entire country, just enough to keep themselves and others alive and hopefully the military would stay away. She'd tried coming at Marlene with another angle, tried to sway her with some cure talk, but Marlene had shut that down immediately, saying the military had been hunting them down. A crew that had been sent out to scout over a month ago was due back a week prior, and hadn't shown up. Though they could have just as easily been lost to infected, Marlene had been convinced otherwise.
Besides, Dr. Anderson was the lead on cure research so that gave fuel to Marlene's argument. So at war they were going to stay, and it wouldn't stop until one side was down. Knowing Marlene, she would never be swayed despite Anna's constant protests.
This was why she and Anna were in another fight.
And the pregnancy hormones didn't seem to help…
Fucking pregnant.
Anna's face slipped into her hands.
What was she going to do?
Authors note:
Thank you for reading! I changed a few things and kept others. I'd love to hear any feedback! More to come soon :)