Spring (forgot to put this last chapter)
That evening, Ellie, Joel, Tommy, and Maria sat together at Tommy and Maria's dinner table, eating a sparse dinner of boiled corn and venison. Tommy and Maria had a two-floor cottage, with two bedrooms on the second floor and another two, along with a bathroom, on the first. They only had one couch that they designated the living room, and the other half of it was the kitchen. The kitchen consisted of a refrigerator and a stove, complete with an oven and cramped quarters since everything had been situated in one corner.
Maria was chatting quietly with her husband, but Ellie only caught bits and pieces about their conversation on cattle. Joel was his usual silent self, lost in thought with his eyebrows furrowed as he forked corn into his mouth. Ellie's thoughts kept wandering back to Jason and the strange writing on his arm. No soldiers in Boston had writing on their skin like his, and Ellie couldn't fathom how they were even made.
The question slipped out before her mind could catch up and stop her. "What's a Cobra?" Ellie queried, seeing Tommy and Maria tense up in perfect harmony out of the corner of her eye. Joel merely raised an eyebrow at the pair; they were acting like Ellie had just asked where babies came from.
"You know what it is, it's a type of snake," Joel answered gruffly between bites.
"I know, but that's not what I'm talking about. This kid in the barn, he had weird black writing on his arm, saying he was part of the Denver military and the Cobras. He wouldn't tell me, so I thought-" she clamped her mouth shut as Tommy gave her a glare.
"We don't talk about the Cobras," Tommy growled, and his behaviour set Joel on edge. He gave his little brother a harsh warning look.
Maria put a hand on Tommy's shoulder, gently massaging it to calm him. "It's a fair question, honey, she doesn't know. It's behind us now, you can tell her," she said soothingly, and by her tone Ellie knew that Maria was privy to the information as well. Joel nodded, indicating he was interested.
Tommy sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose. Eventually he gave in. "Fine, fine," he relented, turning to Ellie, "Sorry. The Cobras…were an assassin group that split from the Denver military to team up with the Fireflies some years back. They were brutal, merciless bastards without a shred of compassion, only doing what would benefit themselves at the expense of others."
"They sound like Hunters," Ellie commented.
Tommy snorted. "They were worse."
"Why did the Fireflies team up with them?" Joel added himself into the conversation.
"At the time, the Cobras were a useful ally. They controlled the territory around St. Mary's Hospital around Salt Lake City, so we decided to play nice and give them weapons in exchange for setting up camp. But things went south, and we drove the Cobras out," Tommy answered hesitantly, "I don't want to know how the fallout affected the Fireflies in Denver…I'm sure it wasn't pretty."
Ellie nodded, fidgeting. Jason was a cold-blooded assassin? He didn't seem the type…but then again, looks were deceiving. "So what about Jason?"
Maria and Tommy exchanged looks, and Maria gave him a tiny nod. "Jason is my nephew, my sister Julia and Shane came with him about a year ago. It's a miracle they survived, I've heard from Shane that the Cobras and the military slaughtered each other until there was nobody left," she explained, her tone soft with a hint of sorrow. Ellie had seen battles and shootings of both Fireflies and soldiers, but she had never seen a full-on war between two sides where they cut each other down to the last man. She shivered at the thought.
"No wonder he's so depressed…he's seen worse than we have," Ellie knitted her brow, and then grew quiet. Maria and Tommy nodded their agreement. The rest of the dinner was silent, and Joel offered to do the dishes. Ellie pushed herself back from the table, scraping the chair against the hardwood floor as she did. Dusk had turned to twilight now, and a chill had settled in place of the sun's warmth.
Ellie mumbled something about going to talk to Jason, heading down to the barn. She wrapped her arms around herself for warmth against the chill, and stopped in front of the huge wooden doors that had been closed. Light still spilled through from underneath, and Ellie spied a person's figure leaning against the closed tack room door at the other end as she peeked through the sliver of space between the large doors.
It was Jason, Ellie realized, and he was holding something long and sharp. He held it up against the dim light as if to inspect it, and Ellie recognized it as a sword. She had seen them in pictures in her old history textbook back in Boston, but she had never seen one in person. It was beautiful, the silver of the blade and the gold of the guard glinting in the light.
Jason sheathed the blade in some sort of leather holster at his hip, like in what Joel might put a revolver. He dragged out of an unused stall a stack of two barrels bolted one on top of the other, so they were as tall as a person. The barrels had long gashes gouged into the weary wood, and some parts were completely missing. There were so many chips in them, Ellie couldn't count. She figured out why when Jason started hacking and slashing at the barrels, and Ellie took a startled step back at his aggressiveness.
Only, after a few rounds of watching him she realized it wasn't just random slashing. She noticed a technique to it, an intricate one she had no doubt took a very long time to learn. She had no doubt that Jason was as brutal and merciless to his enemies as Tommy said Cobras were. It was mesmerizing watching him, every move calculated and executed with no disruption of momentum. It was like the sword was an extension of his arms.
Ellie only left when Jason put the barrels away, wiping the sweat dripping down his face and neck. She left with a new respect and caution towards him, reminding herself that she would end up like the barrels if she got on his bad side. Now she only had more questions.
Ellie returned to the barn the next day, and Jason wordlessly acknowledged her presence by handing her a broom. A light rain had picked up sometime during the morning, and she could hear it ping and patter against the metal roof above her head inside the barn. A couple of pigeons cooed from the rafters, sheltering from the rain. Jason mimicked Ellie as he took his half of the aisle, his eyes distant like he was remembering a long-forgotten memory.
"Jason?" Ellie asked, but he didn't turn his head. She tried a couple more times, louder, and finally on the third try he snapped his head up to meet her eyes, one eyebrow raised. "Umm...why do you have a sword?" she queried, vaguely remembering that men fought with swords before the invention of the car. That was over a century ago.
Jason's expression clouded over like the sky warning of a storm. "You wouldn't be the first to spy on me," he growled, his voice a bit raspy. Ellie wondered if it was because of the scar on his throat, or if he was just developing a cold. He did look a little pale.
Ellie narrowed her eyes. "Spy on you? Why would I spy on you? I just wanna know why you even have one, jeez…" she quipped irritably.
Jason stopped sweeping, giving his signature sigh through his nose. "It's a long story," he grumbled evasively.
"I'm not going anywhere," Ellie shot back.
Another sigh. Jason ran a hand through his hair, setting the broom aside. "I…inherited it. Sort of. There are these stupid rules about swords where I come from. A…friend taught me how to use it," he explained. By the way he hesitated on the word 'friend', Ellie suspected this person wasn't really a friend at all.
"It looked pretty lethal. Was this 'friend' a Cobra, too?" Ellie asked cautiously.
Jason nodded. He was silent for so long, Ellie realized he wasn't going to say anything else. So she went back to sweeping, the same meditative quiet settling over them like yesterday.
"I've killed people with that sword," Jason said out of the blue after a while, like the conversation hadn't ended. Ellie couldn't say she was surprised. She shrugged, putting her broom away as Jason brought out a rusted wheelbarrow. It used to be silver, but the rust left brown-red splotches all over it. He taught her briefly how to muck a stall, and then left her to her own devices.
More comfortable silence enveloped them as they mucked each stall, chucking soiled straw and manure into the wheelbarrow. Ellie caught the dark-haired boy looking at her from under his lashes every now and again, but each time she almost caught him, he quickly cast his eyes down so she couldn't be sure if he was looking at her at all.
"What was this Cobra friend of yours like?" Ellie asked. She was curious, she had never heard of people who used swords instead of guns. She supposed when push came to shove, they were more reliable than melee weapons.
Jason glanced up at her from across the aisle, and she swore she caught a smirk twitching his lips upward. But again, it was gone so fast she wasn't sure he had smirked or just twitched his lips in irritation. With his stony expression, gauging his emotions was as difficult as gauging Joel's.
He was quiet for so long, Ellie was sure he wasn't going to answer. But then he finally said, "He was a girlfriend-stealing asshole with a knack for killing people. We left each other on good terms, though."
Ellie blurted the question out before she could stop herself, "You had a girlfriend?"
She saw Jason visibly tense, the muscles in his back growing taut as he put a death grip on the handles of the full wheelbarrow. She couldn't see his face, but she was sure there was pain in his expression. She waited for him to either lunge at or scold her like Tommy did, but he did neither. Jason gradually relaxed, his white knuckles turning to a normal shade of pale pink again.
"Right, sorry," Ellie apologized quietly, returning to her work.
Jason let an audible breath out, not quite a sigh, but it was enough to tell her he was trying to control his temper. He pushed the wheelbarrow out into the rain, dumped it, and came back shaking the water from his hair like a wet dog. Ellie felt like she was walking on eggshells until she finished cleaning the stalls, biting her tongue to stop asking anymore questions while trying to do a good enough job to keep Jason from getting anymore annoyed with her.
Arching her aching back, Ellie set aside the pitchfork and leaned against the stall door, adjusting her ponytail. Cleaning up after horses was exhausting. She swore Jason rolled his eyes at her as he passed, disappearing into the tack room. He came out again, holding a rectangular tin box in one hand. "You…wanna go up to the hayloft? Did you bring lunch with you?" he queried, chewing his lip as he awkwardly rubbed the back of his calf with his opposite foot, averting his eyes.
Is he nervous? Ellie thought, furrowing her brow a little. It was the most emotion he had shown all morning. "No, I don't have anything. I can go to Tommy's to get something, though," she said.
Jason pursed his lips, shifting his weight from one foot to the other. "It's okay, I-I can share. I usually split with my dad, anyway," he said quietly, almost like he hoped she wouldn't hear.
"Sure. I'm starving," Ellie agreed, and Jason poorly hid a look of surprise as he blinked at her for a moment. Then he ducked his head, turning on his heel as he led her up the narrow staircase. He let his long legs dangle off the edge of the hayloft, opening the tin box and handing half of a ham sandwich to Ellie. She wasn't expecting much, it was just a piece of ham and a little bit of butter between two pieces of bread. Still, she appreciated the meager lunch and didn't complain as she bit into it. As usual, Jason was completely silent as he ate his half of the sandwich.
When they were both done, Jason finally broke the accustomed silence between them, "You can go if you want. I just have to clean the tack and then I'm done until I have to feed the horses later."
"I have nothing else to do, I can help," Ellie offered. Jason expertly hid a smile, hopping easily off the hayloft's edge and landing on one knee on the barn floor. Ellie stifled a gasp, thinking he had broken something. "Are you fucking crazy? Are you trying to break your leg?" she called down to him, her eyes widening as he stood up and brushed himself off like he had just stepped off a chair. She estimated he had just fallen at least ten feet, if not more, without a scratch.
Jason shrugged, smirking up at her. Ellie quickly descended the stairs, following Jason into the tack room. "Do you do that to scare the shit out of people? How did you not break anything?" she asked in disbelief.
"Practice," Jason chuckled.
So he does like scaring the shit out of people…Ellie thought as she rolled her eyes. Jason taught her how to clean the saddles and bridles, and soon they became absorbed in their work again. Then, ever so softly, Ellie heard Jason singing to himself.
Do you hear the people sing?
Singing a song of angry men?
It is the music of a people
Who will not be slaves again…
"What are you singing?" Ellie asked, and Jason's head shot up like she caught him doing something embarrassing.
"What? I wasn't singing," the dark-haired boy denied.
Ellie snorted, "You totally were. Where'd you hear that?"
Jason became sombre again, turning around to start taking apart another bridle. "Can't remember…" he said stiffly, indicating that was the end of the conversation. By his tone, Ellie knew very well that he did remember. It just brought him too much pain to talk about it, judging by the faraway look in his eyes.
Ellie pressed her lips together, letting a breath out as she returned to working on the saddle in front of her.
The clopping of horse hooves and fire streaking through the air came to Jason's mind again as he leaned against the wall, his back to Ellie. He remembered a grenade blast, and screams of agony. He pushed the memory out of his mind before the two people he had been with flashed behind his eyes. If it wasn't for that son of a bitch…I wouldn't be here…he reminded himself.
"Jason? Hey, you okay?" Ellie queried in concern, watching him struggle to control his breathing as his eyes glazed over again. He was lost in another memory. She cautiously placed a hand on his shoulder, hastily retracting it as he whipped around, ready to punch her. "Hey, easy!" Ellie raised her hands in surrender, stepping out of his range. Jason blinked a few times, shaking his head.
"Sorry…I get these episodes sometimes…I zone out and I forget where I am for a couple minutes," Jason mumbled in apology, "You can go, I'll finish up."
Ellie nodded, "Okay. Uh…thanks for lunch and teaching me this stuff." Jason bowed his head in reply, taking a few deep breaths to calm his racing heart. Ellie meandered off down the barn aisle, mulling over what just happened as she picked up a jog to get out of the rain faster.
We're not really that different, Ellie thought to herself as she closed Tommy's front door behind her. She wrung the water from her hair, saying a quick greeting to Maria in the kitchen before padding up the stairs to her room. She wasn't ready to sleep apart from Joel yet, so they shared one room while leaving the other empty. The room was simple, with a dresser, a nightstand, a lamp, and a double bed they shared. Joel was reading a book, and he picked his head up as Ellie walked in.
"Hey, Ellie. How was the barn?" Joel greeted, putting the book down.
"Fine. Jason taught me some stuff like cleaning saddles and stalls. I'm really tired," Ellie yawned despite herself, sitting at the foot of the bed. She laid on her back beside Joel, gazing out at the rivulets of rain racing each other down the window.
Joel made a noise of agreement, picking up his book again. "What's Jason like? Is he cold and heartless like Tommy said those Cobras are?"
"No…he's a little cold, but I don't know. He just seems lonely…and really sad. He must have lost all of his friends in that battle Maria was talking about," Ellie mumbled, propping her head up with her arm.
"Maybe. Best not to bring it up when he doesn't want to think about it," Joel advised sagely.
Ellie nodded. She fell quiet for a few moments before she said, "That fucking sucks, not being sure if your friends are alive or dead."
"He's still hoping, I guess. Chances are they're dead, but he never had proof. He can never know for sure," Joel said, "Poor kid…it happens to everyone, though. You just gotta move on."
Ellie shrugged, closing her eyes as she let the comfortable silence envelope her, and the soft lullaby of the rain pattering against the window lulled her into a light sleep.