Season One Episode Two Part Two

Heading towards the cat walk Ellie hid behind a dumpster when she could hear a voice shouting.

"Sunshine! Hold up!" Which confirmed her theory that there was something up with guy and they did in-fact no each other. Peaking out of the side of the dumster Ellie could see Cassandra running ahead of the guy going up the stairs the guy following shortly behind.

"Hey! Slowdown!" the guy said to her but Cassandra kept on running and looking at it Ellie could tell she wasn't just trying to avoid the zombies she was trying to get away from him. Once they were out of eye shot Ellie took out her knife from it's holder and crept out from behind the dumpster and made her way to the stairs killing any zombies that got too close.

"You're gonna get us both killed" Ellie heard the man say to Cassandra as she got closer to them and she could see him trying to speed up to catch her but the zombies kept getting in the way.

"Actually just one of us" Cassandra responded

"I know what your trying to do" he said as they crossed a catwalk "It is not going to work"

"You don't know anything about me, Travis" Cassandra countered

"I know Tobias" he said climbing over a big pipe "And the rest of the family is never going to let you leave, sunshine". Making Ellie wonder just what Cassandra had gotten herself into and fearing for her safety Ellie sped up, dodging a zombie, ske kicked it in the stomach and pushed the off balanced z over the edge of the scaffolding sending it falling the the ground. Before continuing after Cassandra.

"Well I'm never going back. And my name isn't Sunshine" she said angrily turning slightly to look at him "That girl died a long time ago"

"You don't understand" the guy said climbing over another pipe "I can't go back without you".

As she got closer to them Ellie could see Cassandra run up some stairs dodging past a zombie and stopping on top of the stairs before pulling out her mini music player and holding it out in front of her making the zombie turn and freeze in fascinated by the sound and then Cassandra kicked the zombie in the chest sending it flying down to the guy who was at the bottom of the stairs who had to dodge out of the way, giving her the chance to get away from him. But it also got him facing in Ellie's direction, but luckily enough she was able to duck out of the way in time by hiding behind a big pipe.

"That's no way to treat family" the guy murmured before Ellie heard him running up the stairs.

Coming out of from behind the pipe Ellie stabbed a zombie in the head before throwing him into the path of a couple of other zombies who were getting closer sending them flying down another set of stairs. She then made her way to the stairs Cassandra and the guy went up and once she got to the top of the stairs there were to paths she could take and while while she was debating which one to take she failed to notice someone sneaking up behind her until it was to late.

Someone grabbed her harshly from behind their arm wrapping around her front pulling her into his chest, knife at her throat. Letting out a startled breath she grabbed the hand with the knife trying to pull it away from her neck, while lifting her own knife hand up to see if she could slash him, which he blocked, using his hand that wasnt holding the knife he caught her wrist and slammed it into the pipes next to her forcing her to let it go of her knife with a hiss of pain before letting out a frustrated grunt as she struggled to get out of his grasp.

"I knew someone was following us" the new guy said. He must of backtracked around clearly she wasn't as sneaky as she thought. "I'm glad it was you though… you will make a great addition to the family" he said chuckling.

"That's why you wanted to know my age… well at least I know your not a pedophile, still sick in the head though and I'm not going anywhere with you, neither is Cassandra" she growled, stamping on his foot, trying to make him loosen his grip but he just tightened his grip on her waist and brought the knife closer to her throat forcing her to lean her head back so that it was resting on his chest to avoid being cut.

"As soon as I saw you I knew you belonged with us" He said ignoring her struggles as he slowly started walking backwards and Ellie knew he was leading her to Cassandra which she wasnt going to let happen.

"Ill pass thanks" Ellie said a plan coming to mind. Leaning further back on him Ellie lifted her feet into the air and kicked back against part of the scaffolding as they past making the man lose his balance, and as they both fell to the floor she managed to dislodge the the knife from her neck.

Landing next to him Ellie heard the knife clatter to the floor, looking around she saw it landed closer to her so she tried to reach out and grab it before him but she was rewarded with a punch in the face. Groaning Ellie held her throbbing nose when she heard a noise next to her, removing her hand she saw him stading above her with a smile on his face knife in hand again.

"Are you done" He asked her mockingly and he pulled her roughly to her feet before she could answer.

"You're an arsehole, you know that?" Ellie snarled at him trying to shake his hands off

"So ive been told" He said pushing her to walk down the path, the knife held in her direction.

Walking down the catwalk Ellie tried to think of a way to get away from him when a opportunity presented itself stumbling towards them was a zombie. Quickly coming to decision Ellie swung her arm out towards travis forcing him to duck and Ellie ran to the zombie. Dodging around him she pushed him towards Travis who wasn't expecting it and he struggled to keep him back.

Knowing the zombie wouldn't keep him busy long Ellie looked around for a weapon, when she found a metal pipe on the floor figuring it was better then nothing she picked it up and turned to face Travis who had just finished putting the z down.

"You're going to pay for that" he snarled at her

"I'd love to see you try" she countered bringing the pipe up ready

Travis smirked at her before he charged and once he was close enough Ellie swung at him and he ducked. Before swinging his knife towards her face forcing her to dodge. Bringing the pole down again Ellie found it caught in Travis grip, and when she tried to pull it out of his grasp she struggled.

"You're a fighter, I like that" He said a twinkle in his eyes which creeped Ellie out.

"And you're psychotic" Ellie said bringing up her leg to knee him in between the legs and he gasped out in pain letting go of the pole as he fell to the floor. Bringing the pole up once again, she swung it down only for her legs to be taken out from under her and she also fell to the floor. The pole landing with a clang on the floor. Ellie looked to see where it landed and just her luck she saw it rolling towards the edge of the scaffolding and before she could do anything it rolled off. Leaving her unarmed again.

Pulling herself up she saw that Travis had also pulled himself up and had his knife back in his hands "What you gonna do now Buttercup? No weapon and no way out" He said mocking her as he stepped forward making her take a step back.

"Don't call me that" She spat back cringing at the nickname "And it's never stopped me before" she said smiling, she was trying to put on a brave face but in reality she was scared, she had her gun but couldn't use it. "What do you even want with Cassandra?"

"You'll find out when I get Cassandra and you"

"A generous offer but I'll think i'll pass" She said sarcastically "You're not getting Cassandra either"

"You dont have a choice in the matter" He said before he suddenly charged at her with the knife slashing it towards her but Ellie manged to grab his wrist with both hands before it made contact, she then kneed him between the legs again making him gasp and loosen his grip on the knife slightly.

While he was distracted by the pain Ellie let go off his wrist and punched him across the face making him cry out again and fall to the floor knife clattering to the ground, she quickly ran to pick the knife up but as she bent down he lashed out with his feet catching her in the face and knocking her to the ground with a shout of pain. As he got up to retrieve the knife Ellie managed to kick his knees out sending him back to the floor and before he could recover she grabbed the knife off the floor and ran across the catwalk towards Cassandra.

She didn't get very far though as they guy quickly caught up to her and grabbed her from behind, his one hand fisted in her hair pulling it painfully while the other one wrapped around her waist and he pushed her towards a pipe, knocking her head into it harshly and her vision went dark for a few seocnds as she cried out. Travis let her go but she was unable to support her own weight and she went crashing to the floor. She landed on her hands and knees as she focused on trying not to be sick when the guy kicked her in the ribs sending her crashing onto her back with another grunt of pain. Her head was pounding and she was seeing stars but she did see him him lean down next to her to pick up the knife she had dropped before.

"Now that wasn't very nice" He said teasingly running the knife down the side of her face gently

"Screw you" she said trying to sound threatening but it just came out slurred which made him smile

"I'm gonna enjoy breaking that fighting spirit of yours" He said chuckling before he took the knife away from her face and stood up he then walked over to her head and leaned down again "Up you get" He said as he grabbed her around the shoulders and pulled her up onto her feet and pushed her forward making her stumble into the pipe as she tried to get her bearings. "Lets go tell Sunshine the good news" He said grabbing her shoulder and moving her forward, she could feel the knife sticking in her back.

Seeing no other option right now as he had the upper hand and she was in no fit state to fight right now she started walking towards the top of the catwalk. Stumbling every now and then resulting in him having to catch her and readjust his grip they finally made it to the top and they could see Cassandra, She was standing in the middle of the catwalk with her back to them.

Thinking maybe she could warn her so she could get away Ellie went to shout our for her to run but the guy saw what she was about to do so he grabbed her around her waist pulling her against his chest and put his hand against her mouth so all she could let out was a muffled shout. "Nice try" he whispered into her ear making her cringe away "Stay quiet or I'll make you both suffer" he threatened before he moved his hand away from her mouth and his arm from her waist, "Move" he said and she could feel his knife at her back again making her move forward slowly towards Cassandra. Once they were close enough the guy pulled her to a stop before putting his arm around her chest again knife at her throat.

"This is great, your friends tank up and we take it from them" The guy said announcing his arrival

Cassandra jumped from the unexpected voice before turning to look at him and seeing Ellie squirming in his arms a knife at her throat, hers eyes widen

"Let her go" she said furiously "There is no we, I'm not going back. Not alive"

"Cassandra just go.. run" Ellie pleaded with her before gasping as the guy gave her a vicious shake making her go dizzy again.

"Shut up" he said to her before turning back to Cassandra "Why do you keep fighting this? You know he's never going to let you go. I even got Buttercup here to go back with you" he said gesturing to Ellie

"Over my dead body" Ellie growled, glaring at him from the corner of her eye

Glancing over at Ellie concern in her eyes Cassandra said "I will do whatever I have to do"

"You'll do what!?" he shouted taking the knife away from Ellie's throat and pointing it at Cassandra "Tell your new friends who I am? What happens when I tell them what you are?!"

When Ellie saw the guy was distracted and seeing Cassandra frozen, she was glad the adrenaline was kicking in as it minimized the pain and dizziness and she quickly grabbed the guys hand which held the knife and slammed it hard against the pipe with so much force you heard a thud and the knife clattered to the floor and at the same time she elbowed the guy in the ribs in the same place as before making him gasp and back away from her.

"CASSANDRA RUN" she shouted at her before quickly turning around to face the guy and picking up the knife he dropped on the floor before he could, holding it up in front of her.

"You little Bitch" he said seething, hand holding his rib

"Aww I'm sorry" Ellie said sarcastically. "Did the little girl hurt your pride?… You need to leave because I'm not coming with you and I'm definitely not letting you take Cassandra".

"You have no idea what's happening here" He said to her walking closer to her as she backed away.

"I know that Cassandra doesn't want to come with you, and you were willing to force her and me against our wills".

"You need to get out of my way" he said edging closer to her

"Not happening" she retorted still backing away but as she was so concentrated on him she failed to notice where she was backing into until she bumped into something, something that was warm and growling. Spinning around Ellie let of a gasp of surprise when she saw that it was a zombie she had backed into and she quickly stabbed the snarling zombie in the head with the knife mercying it.

As the zombie fell to the ground Ellie realised that she had taken her sights of Travis, turning back to him she could see him charging at her and before she could raise the knife his body collided with hers knocking them both to the ground, both landing harshly, knife flying out of her hands.

Ellie recovering first scrambled to grab the knife but just as her fingertips touched the handle her ankle was grabbed and she was roughly pulled away. Flipping her around the guy straddled her hips and wrapped his hands around her throat cutting off her air supply, starting to gasp for air Ellie clawed at his hands.

"Don't worry I'm not going to kill you, I just need you to take a little nap" he said to her tightening his grip.

Ellie's lungs begged for air and she was starting to feel a bit light headed and knowing she didn't have much time left she lifted her leg and kneed him as hard as she could in-between his legs making him let out a painful gasp as he rolled off of her holding his precious jewels.

Ellie let out a gasp, breathing in the air that her lungs desperately craved, before she started coughing uncontrollably, Rolling onto her stomach Ellie fought to get her bearings back. Once her coughing had died down she pulled herself up of the floor holding onto the scaffolding for support when she went dizzy again. Her body had taken a right beating today and all she wanted to do was just collapse but she knew she couldn't and looking towards the guy she could see he was still holding himself on the floor groaning in pain so she pushed herself forward and started walking towards the direction Cassandra ran off too. But not before retrieving the knife she dropped on the floor, Dodging the zombie's on the way not having the energy to kill them she found Cassandra at the end of one of the catwalks.

"Cassandra" She shouted running towards her or at least she tried to as it came out more as a croak and resulted in another coughing fit.

"Ellie" she said sounding relieved. "Are you ok?"She asked Ellie as she reached her. "Oh my god" she gasped one hand going to her neck and the other one going to her head where she was sure had a nasty bruise.

"I'm fine" she said grabbing her hand. "We have to get down somehow… can we get down from there?" Ellie said pointing to the edge of the catwalk

"No" Cassandra responded shaking her head "It's to high to jump and the ladders not all the way down"

"We'll have to go back then" she said turning around. But as they turned around the guy was there blocking their path.

'"Get out of our way Travis" Cassandra said to him "I don't want to have to kill you"

"I on the other hand have no issues in killing you" Ellie said sending a deathly glare his way , knife aimed at him.

"That wont be a problem" he said taking a Taser out of his pocket and activating it.

"You couldn't of used that on me" Ellie said "not that I want to be tasered but probably beats being strangled"

"You pissed me off" he said to her shrugging his shoulders"I lost my temper". Focusing back on Cassandra he said "It's time to go home sunshine" before charging at her, knocking Ellie to the ground again as she was still sluggish he backed Cassandra against the scaffolding and then pressed the Taser to her neck and then her stomach.

Hearing Cassandra gasp Ellie quickly grabbed the knife off the floor and crawled over to Travis and stabbed him in the leg making him cry out and stumble away from them both, once Cassandra had got her bearing's back she helped Ellie up off the floor before walking over to Travis, she then kicked him hard in the chest sending him flying of the path but not before he got a grip on Ellie's foot sending her down with him with a yell as her chest banged into the catwalk the breath being knocked out of her. Ellie had only just managed to grip onto the edge on the catwalk keeping her and Travis dangling in the air.

"Ellie!?" Cassandra yelled when she saw her go down and she knelt down to the edge of the catwalk and grabbed Ellie's hand to give her extra support.

"Let go off me!" Ellie shouted to Travis looking down at him as she tried to kick him off but he had a tight grip.

"Not happening" He said back to her "If I fall you fall with me, so help me up or we both go down".

"Like hell I will" She snarled and with a well placed kick Travis went falling to the ground with a thud, allowing Cassandra to pull Ellie back up on the platform. Once she was back up Ellie rolled onto her back but stayed lying down not having the energy to get up but Cassandra got up of the floor to walk to the edge of the catwalk to look down at Travis

"Coward" Cassandra said breathlessly before throwing her mini musical box on the ground and leaving him for the zombies."Are you ok?" She asked Ellie when she walked back to her.

"Never better" Ellie replied breathing heavily before she pulled herself into a sitting position with great effort and a groan of pain before she leaned her back against the scaffolding "Now I'm not going to force you to tell me, but I think I deserve to know what that was about and why he was willing to force you and me to go with him" Ellie asked her and Cassandra nodded before walking next to her and sitting down opposite her.

"Tobias took me in when I had no one, but I wasn't the only one he called us a family. Everything was good until his wife got ill and then it changed, something broke in his mind. He broke you down until you just did what you were told no matter what it was. So lets just say I had to do some things I'm not proud of to survive. I didn't think there was anyone else who could help me so I just put up with it.".

"Let me guess he sold you to other people?" Ellie said "and they used that taser on you when you didn't do what they wanted or did something wrong?"

"How did you know that?" Cassandra asked her quietly tears in her eyes

"I guessed but your reaction just confirmed it" Ellie said "And it's kinda obvious when your looking, I saw the way you looked at them when they past us on their bikes you were scared, you got defensive when Warren asked about your clothes. And Travis just tasered you twice and you blew it off like it was nothing so you're used to it".

"Please don't tell the others" Cassandra said panicking "They already don't trust me, if you tell them they'll probably kick me out and I cant go back there!"

"Hey calm down" Ellie said leaning forward to grab her hands. "They wouldn't do that but if you really don't want them too know I wont tell them" she said and Cassandra let out a gasp of relieve "But only if there nothing that I don't know that can put us at risk, like would any more of them come looking for you?"

"I don't think so. I think they only found us by luck"

"Ok, I'm trusting you Cassandra don't make me regret it" Ellie said staring intently at her

"I wont" she said not breaking eye contact.

"Good , lets go find the others then, give me a hand" Ellie asked Cassandra who stood up and grabbed Ellie's hand and pulled her into a standing position.

"Are you ok?" Cassandra asked her when she stumbled slightly.

"I'll live" Ellie reassured her "Especially when I get something for this damn headache" she said smiling at her before they both made their way back down the catwalk

Getting back to the others who were standing near the vehicles she could see that the fuels tanks had gone up in flames.

"What the hell happened?" Ellie asked them

"What the hell happened to you?" Warren countered before walking over to her and examining her neck

Hissing as Warren touched a sore spot Ellie said "New guy got a bit handsy" she said "knocked me into a pole, tried to strangle me, tasered Cassandra, stole my knife and tried to drag me of the catwalk"

"I've thought he was you friend" Warren asked Cassandra as she got some tissue to dab at the blood on Ellie forehead making her wince.

"Where is he?" Garnett asked at the same time

"He didn't make it" Cassandra said "And he wasn't my friend"

"As you gathered they knew each other, she got involved with the wrong people tried to get away and they wanted her back, He took a trip off the walkway" Ellie clarified "Self defense… tried taking me and Cassandra by force god knows where. So what happened here?" Ellie asked changing the subject

"We will finish that conversation later" Warren said to Ellie "Murphy crashed the car into the fuel tank, blew it up".

"Ah, Drive much Murphy?" Ellie said sarcastically looking towards him not remotely sorry her bad mood was reflected in her voice her head hurt and Warren was making it worse

"Ha-ha very funny" Murphy grumbled "I said I was sorry" He said before walking towards the truck and getting into the back seat.

"What do we do now? She asked Warren before she had enough of the pain in her head "OK Warren please stop, it hurts" she said pulling away from her

"Sorry sweetie, why don't you go over to Doc and let him check you for a concussion while we figure out what to do" Warren said to her and hearing his name Doc turned to look at her and gave her a reassuring smile.

"Yeah good idea" Ellie said walking towards Doc who had already got his kit out.

Garnett and Warren looked at each other once Ellie had left and just as they were about to say something a phone suddenly started ringing from behind them. For a few seconds neither of them moved, a bit confused as of who could be ringing them before Garnett walked over and picked it up.

"Hello" he asked into the phone

"Hello. It's me, Citizen Z from northern light. To whom am I speaking?"

"Sargent Charlie Garnett"

"Excellent. Good talking to you again sir. How's it going?"

"It's going"

"Excellent. And the package?"

"Still alive… please tell us where to drop him off"

"California"

"California? Wait. No. Hold on. That's not gonna happen. We need to go some place closer"

"Closer Uh… Sorry Sargent, but there is no… closer"

"Can I speak to someone in charge?"

"Yeah, copy that. I'm sure they'd like to talk to you too. But that may be problematic"

"What do you mean problematic"

"More puppies and kittens" Warren interrupted him seeing zombies on the move.

"Why can't I speak to somebody at the lab?" Garnett said

"Well sir_"

"What's going on!?" Garnett interrupted him

"We've lost contact"

"Are they even still alive?"

"I'm working on confirming that, sir… I've got a screen full of incoming Z's headed your way, you'd better get moving , Sargent. I'll find you. But for now , go west till you hit the ocean".

Hearing enough Garnett dropped the phone and left the booth walking towards the truck he saw Ellie was waiting for him.

"That didn't sound good" Ellie said to him

"You have no idea, looks like we are going to California"

"Got to find gas first"

"Add it to the list of problems" he sighed How's your head"

"Sore but Doc said i haven't got a concussion I'm just gonna be a bit sore for a while"

"Well that's something, Come on let's get in the truck and maybe you can get some shut eye"

"That sounds like a solid plan" Ellie said chuckling.

So Garnett and Ellie walked towards the truck where the other's were waiting when suddenly they all flinched and ducked when an explosion happened, Ellie turned around when she heard something impact a zombie and when she was fully turned she saw Addy's wacker impaled in the Z's head.

"Hey Addy look" she shouted over pointing at the zombie

"Awesome" Addy said once see saw her weapon, and pulled it out of the Z's head "Never thought Id see this thing again" she said swinging it around, smiling at Ellie.

As they all turned to get into the vehicle Doc shouted "Wait! here comes the kid!" Ellie turned to see the kid carrying to large gas cans.

"Found these" he said as he got closer to them

"Kid, you're a god" Doc said patting the kids cheek before taking one of the gas cans off him

"Yeah well hurry up" Warren shouted to them getting into the vehicle. Doc and 10k carried the gas cans to the bed of the truck passing them up to Addy, Cassandra and Mack before 10k jumped in and Ellie and Doc got in the back seat with Murphy.

"You ok Ellie?" Warren asked her seeing her wince in the front mirror as she climbed in.

Once she was settled in her seat Ellie let out a sigh "I'm ok Warren" She reassured her "just a bit sore, body not agreeing with the beating I took" She said sarcastically

"No shit Sherlock" Murphy said to her startling her "You look like you've been hit by a bus"

"Aww I didn't know you cared Murphy" she said teasingly

"Well don't get used to it" Murphy said to her

"Hey now I know I don't look great, but I'm still here, that guy is not. So who's the real winner here?" she asked them rhetorically "I kicked his ass with Cassandra's help of course".

"Yeah you did good Ellie" Warren said to her, turning to face her smile on her face. "So good I think you deserve a nap. Take a load of we'll wake you when we stop"

"Sounds good to me" Ellie said not putting up much of a fight, she turned her body and rested her head on Docs shoulder.

"Get some rest Kiddo" Doc said tapping her gently on the leg. But Ellie didn't hear him as she drifted into her subconscious going oblivious to the world around her.

None of this belongs to me except Ellie and any original story lines the rights go to the wonderful creators and publishers of z nation