A/N to avoid any confusion, the next few chapters are going to be in past and are pretty essential to the story. Don't hate me for this chapter! please... Hope you guys like it! Enjoy!
Chapter IX: First Days Of The Last
"Elsa! Honey, come on, you're gonna be late for school!"
"I'm coming, momma!" Elsa said, coming down the stairs.
She walked to Idunn who had her hand extended the young child and took it with her own smaller version. Her mother had stopped suddenly just before getting to their front door. Elsa looked up at her, and did what she could to not worry about the worrisome expression that had momentarily graced her face. Elsa followed her gaze to a small TV on the kitchen counter that was on a news channel. The anchors talked back and forth, in conversation with themselves. Elsa didn't know what about, but she caught the words that she could understand and tried to string some sense to them. "We are getting confirmed reports of... spreading throughout the... of the world. The United States is doing its best to aid in the... of the virus, but this has been met with... from several... who feel we should... and keep to ourselves." The man stopped talking and the women turned to face the camera to take her turn. "In other news, we have the first... of the virus appearing in Los Angeles and another in Seattle. These are not..." She felt her mothers hand tug on her own lightly. "It's nothing to worry about, dear. Its like the cold you had a couple weeks ago, remember?" Elsa shook her head yes. "Are you ready to go?"
"Ready." She said, smiling up at her mother. "Alright then, lets go." They stepped outside and went to the car, Elsa getting into the back seat along with her baby sister, Anna, next to her in a car-seat. She had just turned five only a couple days before and yet, she still had her red hair in pigtails. Elsa had learned to do them for her when her hair became long enough and, since Anna loved Elsa's braid that she had most of the time, she just had to have it to go with Elsa's. The sunlight shown through the snow covered palm trees above and into their window as the surroundings outside the car started to pass. Anna reached over the arm rest of the seat and took Elsa's hand, interlacing their little fingers like they always do. She smiled a toothy grin that stretched across her face and Elsa stifled a giggle behind her free hand when she saw it. "Are you going to school?" Anna said with a barely noticeable sadness in her expression; her eyes were wider with some semblance of hope that her big sister would say no and her tiny lips were parted just the slightest.
"Yeah," Elsa looked down, not wanting to see the sad look on Anna's face. "You'll come back, right?" Elsa looked back up, sadness replaced with shock at the question. "Of course i will, silly head. I'll be back before you know it," she said, wrapping an arm awkwardly around her sister. "I promise." she smiled at her baby sister when she pulled away. A solemn tear ran down Anna's cheek. Elsa reached over and wiped it off with her thumb. "Ill come back and then we can play in the snow!"
"Yay! I cant wait, Elsa!" the younger girl said, throwing her arms up in the air. Elsa giggled at her excitement. The car came to a stop in front of a building neither girl had ever been to. "Where are we, Momma? This isn't the school, is it?"
"No, darling, its the post office. I just have to run in and check our mail box for your shot records. I'll be right back, okay?" and with that, their mother was gone. Even though it was just for the time being, the girls unbuckled their seat belts when they saw their mother had gone through the front glass doors of the post office. Elsa stood up on the floor of the car and reached fully around Anna wrapping her in a full hug that more than made up for the awkward, one armed hug from earlier. After they buckled their seat belts yet again, their mother was on her way out. She got in murmuring to herself something about the "stupid asshole clerk." Elsa looked to Anna with wide eyes and, when the look was returned, both girls went into a fit of giggles. "What's so funny?" Their mother asked, chuckling at the two's laughter. "You said... butthole." Anna said, scrunching up her face in mock disgust after she said it, which made Elsa laugh. She also heard their mother laughing in the front, too as she back up into the street. "You are just too cute, Anna." Only silence before the car slowed down to around fifteen miles an hour. "What in the world.." Idunn said just above a whisper. Elsa pushed down on her seat to raise her rear to get a better look at what was happening. The car had stopped and not very far in front of them, a fight had broken out with a large crowd of people right in the middle of the street. "Idiots." They heard her say and shift into reverse. "Mommy! Look out!" Anna screamed. Idunn looked forward and gasped when a man in ripped up clothes started running for their car. His teeth were barred and his hair was long, going just to his shoulders and connecting to a long scraggly beard. His arms flailed about as he got closer and closer to them. Anna screamed and Elsa looked on in fear at the deranged man. Idunn pushed the gas down further, easily outrunning the man. She backed two or three blocks before turning around and heading another way. "What was wrong with that man, mommy? Why did he look so mad? and why were his clothes all torn up?" Anna asked.
"I don't know, sweetie." she said from the front seat. "Elsa, your coming home. The schools will shut down soon."
"But it just started." Elsa objected.
"I know but it wont be..." she searched for a word the younger girls would understand. "working for much longer."
"Does that mean we can build a snowman when we get home?" Anna asked. "Another snowman?" Idunn asked,"What about Olaf in the back yard?"
"We can make him a friend!" Elsa said, bouncing in her seat. The girls alleviated much of the stress and anxiety that was going through Idunn's head making her smile at the two in the rear view mirror. The sound of skidding tires and the crunch of metal on metal came to their ears too late as their bodies jerked along with the inertia that they had. Their heads swung back and forth as the car rolled three then four and then five times, finally hitting a brick building only a few blocks away from their house. Elsa's eyes struggled to focus and the edges of her vision were black. She looked to her left at Anna, who had a small line of red running from her nose. Her eyes were closed and she didn't know if she could move. Everything hurt. Her head had gotten very heavy and then her eyelids slowly drifted shut. She fell into the black of unconsciousness.
Two Days Later
Elsa woke up in a soft bed that had bright purple sheets and a green and red quilt over her. Where am i? She wondered as she looked around in confusion. The moonlight shown brightly through her window in a bright blue-ish hue. Her sleep had obviously been restless as the blankets were wrapped around her legs. She tried sitting up but stopped half way, hand going up to her head. She wasn't prepared to feel a bandage where she usually felt her own skin. She looked around the mostly bare room. The bed she was on sat against a wall opposite a dark wooden door that was slightly ajar. A small table with instruments and things she hadn't seen before sat next to the bed along with a black spinning chair next to it. "H-hello?" she managed to squeak out through her dry throat. She heard a commotion on the other side of the door and a small man with a blue jacket on came through it. On the side there was a patch with a snake that wound around a pole in the middle of a white star and the letters E.M.T. were above it. He was short, maybe a couple inches taller than her mother, but fit looking and maybe around twenty five years old. He had a small stubble growing along his jawline and a sincere glint in his eye. Short black hair curled out from under his blue and white cap and his mouth moved, but Elsa heard no sound. "Wh-what'd you say?" His face went from confusion to understanding as he pulled the thick edges of the bandage on her head upwards over her ears. She could now hear his low, but soothing voice as he talked to her. "How're you feeling, sweetheart? Everything feel okay?"
"I-I guess. I-I-I mean i th-think so." She managed to stutter out. "I'm really thirsty though."
He reached behind him and brought his bag forward, retrieving a bottle of water for her. She twisted the cap off and as soon as the cool liquid hit her tongue, she couldn't stop herself from trying to drink it all in one gulp. "Woah, woah, woah. Easy there, killer. You just woke up so you need some time to adjust. Just take it slow. Don't want you throwing up." She slowed down, bringing the remaining half of the water away from her lips. "What's your name,sweetheart?"
A moment of stark realization hit her as she couldn't tell the man. She had no clue what her name was. "I-" She thought for a second. "My name is-" tears began welling in her eyes. She felt so helpless and stupid at the same time. "I cant," she put her free hand up to her temple, trying to think harder, but didn't come up with anything. "You were in a car wreck a couple days ago with your mom and your sister. They- well they didn't make it, hun, i'm sorry." The tears were flowing freely now and the man sat on the edge of the bed and wrapped her in his arms. Her face went to his shoulder and let out the frustration she was going through. She was balled up in his arms with her hands gripping the front of his jacket and sobbing while he sat there, just holding her. "Hey. Hush now, everything's okay. We're safe here. This is my home by the way in case you were wondering where you were. My names Stephen." She pulled away and he cradled her, looking down at the young girl. I found this lunch card in your pocket though." He reached into his pocket and brought out a card. "Does Elsa sound familiar?" She thought about it and it did seem oddly familiar. "I know that name. I don't know where i heard it, but i know it."
"That's because it's your name." He held the card out to her. Beside her name was a small picture of her, solidifying his statement. "So, my momma and my sister.. did you- did you see if they really were dead?" She asked, the pain evident in her voice. "I checked their heartbeats. Your mother died when that truck hit you, so she didn't feel any of it. Your little sister, though, was still alive but only barely. She had to have passed while i was getting you out. If she didn't then it would have happened while i was getting her out of her belt. It was very weak, so I... I didn't have a choice." His voice hitched at the last word. "The infe-" He stopped. "Some very bad people were around there and i couldn't just leave you there." A single, solitary tear ran down his cheek. Even though his expression was hard, she could tell there was a lot of bad things going through his head. He was strong, and Elsa could see it despite her young age. She lifted her hand and wiped off the tear with her thumb, not knowing it was just the way she had with her little sister.
"I'm sorry. About everything. I just want you to know that if i could have saved them... both of them, i would have done it." She wrapped her arms around his neck and he wrapped his around her small torso, taking comfort in the seven year old's company.
Three Hundred Miles Away
Anna awoke tucked into large bed in the middle of a room. She looked down at the foot of it, raising her head and hissing in pain as it throbbed and she dropped back down onto the pillow. The moonlight's bright grey-blueish color came through a window on the other side of the room and onto a sleeping form in a chair. His white cap read FDNY in dark blue letters. He was muscular and his beard went down to his chest. His cheek rested on his shoulder at an odd angle, but he was somehow sleeping despite the uncomfortable looking position. Anna didn't make a noise. She didn't know where she was, but with the man there, she felt safe; protected. She only laid in the bed, staying still for a few moments before she felt the need to go to the bathroom. She raised up slower this time and climbed to the edge of the bed and then slipped down the slight drop to the floor. She padded to the door that was open with a light on and opened it enough to get through. She hadn't noticed, but the man had heard her hit the creaky floor and slowly opened his eyes only to see the top of Anna's red hair move along the edge of his bed. He looked at her with disbelief as she came into view, the bandage still wrapped around the back of her head. She passed him and his eyes got wider as she ran to the door with her little legs, opened it and then went across the hall to his bathroom and shut the door. He looked out the door for a second, keeping silent. Damn. This girl is one tough little monster. She shouldn't even be able to walk just yet. He turned back to face forward and took his cap off momentarily to run a had over the small stubbles on his scalp and replaced the hat on his head. He heard the toilet flush and the little girl's feet pitter patter through the door. He watched her try and climb up on the bed, only to fall off onto her rear. He smiled, chuckling mentally. She tried it again. Then again. And again. hmhm She doesn't have any quit in her, does she? He finally got up and just before she was about to fall, he gave her a light push on her butt, giving her the extra oomph she needed to get back on the bed. She turned around as she got up to face the man, her eyes growing wide. They went back to normal as she said "Thank you, sir!"
He chuckled and turned away, heading back to his chair. When he got there and sat down, he looked back over to her and saw that she had already put herself under the covers and closed her eyes. As she went back to sleep, a pained expression crossed the man's face. I'm gonna have to tell her. Get it over with. It'll make things easier later. Sure she may cry some, but she'll be stronger because of it.. even though she's already pretty tough. Just hope that paramedic guy is taking care of the other girl. He had found the wreckage after helping some of his firefighter buddies with an explosion that had killed a few people on the other side of the Los Angeles. He'd only been there a couple years, but being a special forces vet, it wasn't to hard to come across more guys like himself and make friends.
He saw a paramedic jump out of an ambulance that was slowing down and run to the wreckage. He reached to the woman in the drivers seat, feeling her pulse and then went back and did the same to the children in the back seat. He took the older girl who was bleeding from her head and put her in the back. He looked back at the car with a pained expression. The other guy that was in the back of the ambulance patted him on the shoulder and he looked down at the ground. He turned back and got in, shutting the door behind him as the ambulance sped off. A wail in the distance caught his attention as he shifted his focus back to the wreckage and he started running before he had time to think about what he was going to do after he got there. He went to the open door the EMT had used and got in, checking the two remaining's pulses to justify the paramedics actions. The woman in front, more than likely the mother, was dead. Her skin was cold to the touch and her lips had gone light grey. The child in back, however, had a heartbeat. It was faint, but all be damned, it was a chance. He took the belt off from around the girls car seat and gently lifted her into his arms, noticing the name that was sewn into the cover of the car seat; 'Anna' . He held her in one arm close to his body as he saw the first of the infected round the corner at the end of the street they were on, which was about seven or eight hundred yards away. They spotted him immediately and began running after him, some tripping over eachother at the sight of prey. He turned and ran as fast as he could to the fire station he was meeting some friends that were planning to head out of the city. He got there just as the big red engines and trucks were pulling away. The last truck in the column stopped and let him on. A EMT that had tagged along with their group tended to the girls knock to the head and bandaged her up, handing her back over to him.
He closed his eyes and lowered his head to his chest, using it's muscle as a cushion to drift off to a light slumber.
A/N Okay, now you know why i don't want you to hate me.. please don't! haha but yeah, this is a huge point in the story (and its still early on!) and I've gotten huge support from you guys n gals so thank you all so much! Im gonna try and go back and forth with the flashbacks and the present time so let me know if it gets confusing. I'll try and make it obvious if its a flashback chapter.. well not painfully obvious but you know, drop certain details here n there. Anywho, as usual, favorite if you liked it, follow if you want to get notified when i update, and leave a review telling me what you liked, disliked, questions, comments, suggestions, want more details, futu- awe you get what i mean. Thanks!
