I need to rant. Naruto's ending. Holy shit, I mean.. Just.. Augh..! 15 years. It's been airing for 15 YEARS. OKAY? The ships in the end.. Oh my God. SHIKATEMA. AIIIIIIIIIIEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE! *squeals into my imaginary pillow* I've been shipping them so hard from the start, I was literally grinning from ear to ear, like.. Oh my God. Confession: I am a little disappointed that NaruSaku's ship didn't sail, but hey, he chose Hinata. She's an amazing gal, I've always loved how timid yet positive she is. They're happy, and so long as they're happy, I am too. And like they always say, "A good captain goes down with his ship." – Peter Pan. Hnnnngggggghhh…. PM me if you wanna discuss it? I love talking to my fellow fanfic writers and readers alike! :)

SECOND LAST CHAPTER. OH MY GOD. HOLY SHIT.

Look at how far we've come since May! I'm genuinely serious right now, I actually have Goosebumps on my arms right now.. (I'm not sure whether it's from the room's cold temperature or from how excited I am.. Bruh, I don't even know! :P)

But in all seriousness, thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you all for everything, for the views, the reviews, the favorites, the follows, the visiting, everything! Even just having a glance! Just.. THANK YOU! :D I owe you guys everything! Thank you so much for sticking with me so far you guys!

SilverGamerGirl, if you're reading this, know that your reviews always manage to make my day! 3 (I didn't even know that my sense of humor isn't as shit as it is xD

Enough with my rambling. Let's get going! :D

I always thought that being able to carry a newborn baby proves that you're good with kids; now, I what to think, I don't even know whether I'm right anymore these days. Anna's claims of hating kids melted away the moment she set her eyes on Ellie. Anna stared in wonder at how beautiful this child was as Logan carried her. She was a Godsend, a gift. I ran to get another clean blanket to wrap her up. Her wailing was a welcoming sound in the silent apartment, especially since the only sounds we've been hearing were Anna's labor pain screams and Logan's calm and reassuring voice, constantly telling her to push and remain calm like he was. Looking back on it now, I guess I was right about my theory, Anna just happened to be in denial of it, I guess.

Anna tears out a page from one of my faded notebooks, and then asks me, "Have you got anything for me to write with?" My hands aren't exactly free at the moment, since I'm cradling Ellie's little body in my arms. "It's in my pack; biggest zipper compartment." I say to her, pointing in the direction of my pack with my nose. It's all the way at the other side of the room.

Anna gives me a look and replies, "I just fucking gave birth. Do you seriously think I'm gonna be walking any time soon?" I make a puffer fish face, and hand Ellie over to her, making my way to the pack.

I throw it on the corner of the couch just before sitting myself down beside her. Pulling out a pencil, I take a good look of how things will be going between Anna and Ellie. Anna, currently a single a mom after Mark's 'tragic' death, and Ellie. A kid who'll be growing up alone with her mom, a fatherless child in the Cordyceps period.

Suddenly, a thought pops into my head. "Anna, what're you doing?" I ask her slowly as I turn my head towards her.

Anna scoffs tiredly, "What does it look like? I'm writing a note, genius."

"Why..?"

"Because I want to." Fair enough reasoning, but..

"Anna. You don't write notes." I tell her outright. "Is this a suicide note, or..?"

"Mel." She takes my hand and gives it a gentle squeeze. "I'm in pain. That's all, okay? It's just in case.."

I look at her, confused, "In case what?" A tired sigh is what Anna replies to me with. "In case things go downhill, which they will." I chew on my bottom lip for another minute or so. "She's gonna be alone now, ain't she?" My Southern girl attitude's returned, except I'm not as 'cheery' as I was back then.

"I want Marlene to look after her-" I scoff indignantly. "Marlene hates kids too, you know."

"If you'd let me finish, maybe then you'll know what I'm trying to say."

"Fine."

"I want Marlene to look after her. It's only because I'm a lot closer to her than you, but she hates kids. So what I'm gonna do is, I want both of you to look after Ellie. If you're dead, I want Marlene to look after her. And if she's dead, vice versa." Anna informs me, matter-of-factly.

"What if we're both dead?" The sarcasm in my voice is clearly seeping into the room's stuffy air.

"Mel." This sudden sense of duty is a lot to take in; especially since I'm one half of the duo trusted to take care of Ellie should Anna die. "Logan's not always going to be around to take care of us. You know that. It's up to us ladies to take care of her. You think you can handle that?" Anna asks me, her face stony and her tone serious.

My jaw's starting ache now, especially after my vigorous jaw clenching for the past couple of minutes. Probably the stress of it all. Yeah. That's it. I just need to calm down and relax. Mainly start breathing again. Anxiety is my biggest issue. Just.. People on a more general note, really. They make me feel tight. Claustrophobic. I've only opened up to a few people in my life, the fact that these people are still with me makes me ecstatic. But as time passes, I'm losing someone at a faster pace than the one before. I don't want that to happen anymore. Not after what happened to Sarah.. Now Anna, too?

"You're one of the few people in my life that I actually wanna be with right now." Anna lets out a chuckle after I declare that to her. What can I say? I can be one of the cheesiest and poetic dipshits out there when I feel like it. "Who else am I gonna annoy when you're gone?" I ask, a smug look forming quickly.

Anna bumps my shoulder lightheartedly, a small smile spreading across her face. She's still carrying Ellie in her arms; frankly I'm impressed that she hasn't dropped her yet. "Don't get so depressed, Miller. You've got Logan. Plus there's my girl Ellie and Marlene. I'm sure you two are gonna become friends the moment you get to know the older version of her." I stick out my bottom lip and make a pouty face at Anna. "You're talking as if you're already dead; like you're some kind of ghost haunting me to make sure I take care of Ellie." I say to her drily. We both chuckle in silence.

"Here," I say to her, finally giving her the pencil by putting it on her lap. I reach over to Anna for Ellie and manage to grasp onto the - conveniently found - towel size blanket wrapped around her. Anna starts writing straight away on the paper, leaving the sound of pencil lead being scratched on paper hanging in the air.

I decide to take this time as an opportunity for me to get to know what we have of Ellie and what she looks like currently. She looks like a hermit currently because she has almost no hair at all, but the top of her head is an orange-ish hue, soft and almost feather like. I only know what her eye color is because I saw it when she was awake; a gorgeous tone of emerald green. She's super pale, but she'll color out eventually, I suppose. For a baby, she's a lot quieter than most, probably just because she's sleeping. I kiss the top of her head as a blessing, she doesn't even flinch.

Now that I think about it, I still haven't forgiven Dad for his ignorance. Why haven't I? That's the real question. Seeing Ellie's face reminds me that all of this of this is real. All of this is happening right now. It's not a dream. This is real. This is reality.

Ellie was born in the age of Hell. The age of the Apocalypse. She shouldn't have been, but she was. God help her and the rest of this generation. God's form of punishment is this; families separated, the world we once knew was being torn apart right before our eyes, and an infectious disease that will end up killing everyone. It's all here. It's all real. Out of all the people I'm hoping for to survive this mess, I'm rooting for her. I want her to be a survivor of this disaster. In order for me to do that, I'll have to wipe the slate clean. I can't continue on like this, waiting for another apology from Dad when he already has apologized. It's my turn now.

15 minutes later..

Seeing Marlene cry is one of the least expected things in life, and it certainly isn't something worth seeing. Her tears sliding down her look like they're morning dew drops from blades of grass in the early mornings, not that we see that kind of shit anymore these days. The sounds Marlene makes when she cries.. Let's just avoid talking about it and not go into detail on that. Anna makes cooing sounds, hushing me and Logan, insisting that we leave the room to let her handle it; so we do.

We end up going to her room, more so, her old room since she'll be dead in less than 24 hours. According to her, at least.

"Logan?" I start, sounding like a lost child in a shopping mall. Logan raises his non-stitched eyebrow at me, enjoying the silence of the room, excluding the sound of my voice. "What're the leading causes of death for women who just gave birth?" We continue pacing back and forth around the room.

"Is this about Anna?" I nod in agreement. Logan lets out a long painful sigh before answering, "Well.. Some women die of infections, maybe high blood pressure. Others die of internal bleeding. Hemorrhages in diaphragm and chest area can lead to that. Umm.. What else?" Logan should've been a nurse with the Fireflies, how the hell does he know this much about maternal death, anyway? "Are you sure you weren't a nurse before the world went to shit?" I grin at him teasingly.

"Yeah, I'm pretty sure I know what my life was like. I wasn't a nurse, but I did plan on going to medical school. I did all the research and everything just to be prepared, too." I married a 'pre-doctor'.

Things have gotten quiet outside, a little too quiet. "Do you think we should check on 'em?" Logan offers me. I nod in response as I start walking towards the door.

Suddenly, Marlene's screams fill the room, urging us to sprint at full speed out of the room towards Marlene."Oh God, Marlene! What the hell happened?!" Logan and I alternate in a panic. Marlene clutches onto Anna's limp body, rocking back and forth on the couch, sobbing violently.

I always knew that babies can tell when something's wrong. Ellie's sudden wailing came as no surprise to me, so I walked over her robotically and did what I could to shush her. Physically, I looked capable. Internally, my heart, my mind, my body, my soul knew that I couldn't handle this. I shut down internally, emotionally.

Another loved one in my life, snatched away from me, by the power of God. I'm not going to say anything about that, I'm not going to criticise God for doing His job, but everything happens for a reason. God just happened to choose the moment of Ellie's just being born to do it.

Several months later..

LOGAN'S POV

What we did was wrong. All of it was wrong. I still can't believe we actually went and did it. We actually sent Ellie off to someone else instead of taking care of her ourselves. Talk about being unreliable and irresponsible. We were left in charge of taking care of Ellie after Anna's death, and what do we do? Throw her in the hands of some other poor bastard suffering just as much as we are.

I remember the day it happened. I remember how furious Melanie was at Marlene for doing it, for agreeing to sign the consent forms without Melanie's consent since they were the ones put in charge of taking care of Ellie together. Marlene apparently thought it was a one woman show in which she was both the victim and the star of it all. We were too late by the time we got there.

To be perfectly honest, as much as I love Anna for being the best possible friend anyone could have, me and Mel handling her shouldn't have been something Anna would've left us to do. I'm absolutely shit with kids, but Mel; she's a whole other story.

But yeah, things are different now. A lot quieter, that's for sure. I've decided to let my beard grow out from now on. I guess I'll trim it some from time to time, but I'll let it grow. Every time I look at that God-awful mirror in our apartment, I always somehow end up looking back at my left eyebrow. Stitched moments before Anna gave birth to Ellie. A symmetrical line from the start of my eyelid all the way to my hairline, a closed wound. No new eyebrow hair will be growing in those areas, that's for sure.

According to Mel, Anna wrote her a letter before talking to Marlene alone. I'm honestly unsure about how a letter makes up for Anna's death right after the birth of her own daughter, but I guess seeing words written by the child's dead mother will make up for it somehow.

My real question is about what'll happen by the time she's too old to be taken care of. Military Prep School. If she ends up there.. God help her if she does. I've heard stories about what the kids there are like, how they end up after staying there.. We'll keep an eye on her from time to time then, I guess. We'll just have to wait and see. Only time will tell after all. -End Journal Entry-

MEL'S POV

The amount of anger I let out that day is almost as much as the amount I let out when I lashed out at Dad for not apologizing sooner. A selfish and VERY arrogant choice led to that.

I still can't fucking believe that Marlene actually gave her away without my consent! Anna trusted both of us to do it, who does that bitch think she is? Sure, Anna wasn't as tight with me, but Marlene. Anna would never have wanted that; and to think that her closest friend would send her off to foster care just like that..

What am I even worrying about? It's not like anyone's going to be adopting her any time soon. Her, like many other unfortunate kids in this shithole of a world, have lost their parents. Why would anyone want to adopt a kid when they themselves are suffering in a world like this? It's just gonna end up becoming an inconvenience and a hindrance for them, no doubt about that.

This is getting ridiculous. I can't even write anymore. Fuck this. I'm done. I'll write some other time. If I can, at least.. -End Journal Entry-

WELL. TOLD YOU I'D UPDATE ASAP! ;)

FINAL CHAPTER NEXT TIME. HOLY MOLY.

K. BYEEE ;D Have a great day, everyone!