I wanted to give Jemma's parents a colorful background, to make her seem cultured. I decided the infection hit New England in spring, judging from the areas in the game. No real way to tell, though. The game doesn't give an actual date, but most proms are during May. I mean, if you put the pieces together. If you have questions about the timeline, just send me a message and I'll explain it. :) Anyhoo. I was supposed to upload this Wednesday, but forgot until now! I will be posting another chapter in less than twenty hours, so be on pins and needles, it's going to be good!

Also, I had first written the story as a narrative with little dialogue. However, when going back through it, I tossed most of the descriptions in favor of just getting to the point. The first several paragraphs are just backstory on Jemma's parents, because I couldn't think of where else to put it.

A big thank you to every reader! I love ya all! Leave a review if you want, and happy reading!

(this is just stuff that I wrote. But, I tossed a lot of their conversation, so if you want to see more of it, just let me know and I'll work it in!)

When Jemma was eight, her mother had left her family. It was sudden, and her father was devastated. He spent all day staring out the front window of their house, in case there was some small chance that she would come back.

She never did, and they moved the next year.

Jemma's mother had beautiful, auburn hair that hit her shoulders. In the sun, it shone bright red, and Jemma would imagine that it was on fire. Her mother had creamy skin had dozens of freckles down her face and arms. She was tall and thin, and moved like grass in the wind.

Before Jemma was born, her mother, Anna, was a dancer. She was a part of a New York dance troupe that travelled around the world. By the time she was twenty, she had been to six continents and dozens of countries. She loved it. She spent the weekends partying with exotic men, and was living the life most women her age dreamed of. She never had to worry about money, almost everything she made was put into savings. She was living the good life, and she loved dancing.

The summer of 2008 she met him. His name was Cicero, but he wanted to be called Ron. He was born in Italy, and was raised there for the first ten years of his life. His parents relocated to the US to give him a better start. He was almost twice her age, but she thought he was a genius. He wrote the musical score for movies. Ron had even won awards, and was famous in his own right.

For Anna, it was love at first sight. He was tall and fair skinned, but he had deep black hair and bright hazel eyes that made her swoon. He retained the tiniest accent, but when he was drunk, it came out in its fullest. She felt comfortable around him, and they soon married.

They moved to upstate New York to live a calmer life. Ron continued to write music, but Anna started teaching a couple of dance classes a week. She worked with young girls, and was happy enough, but she longed to be on stage again. She auditioned for a musical in the city, and preformed well.

The next week, Anna found out she was pregnant. When she came home from the doctor, the director called and said she landed the role. Anna had to turn it down. She was devastated, but she wanted to have a child. When Ron found out, he was elated. He went into a writing frenzy, telling Anna that the child inspired the best work out of him.

Jemma was born on Thanksgiving day in 2010. Anna and Ron were headed to Canada to visit her parents for the holiday, and she went into labor on the highway. Jemma was born crying. She was bright red, and wouldn't open her eyes for three days. Her parents were infatuated, and gave her the best they could.

May 2013, and the infection hit the nation. Anna and Ron's money meant nothing anymore. The town they lived in was in complete chaos, but they barricaded themselves in their home and waited for the military. Rumors of a quarantine zone in Queens drew the family to the city. They were allowed one suitcase each, and most of what they brought was taken by the authorities.

The zone was made up of two office buildings and several apartment towers. They crammed into a small apartment with another family, and Jemma was the only child. They fell asleep every night to the sound of screaming and gunfire. They lived in constant fear, but wasn't sure if it was of the military or the infected themselves. The rules were strict, and Anna couldn't help but feel that she was living in prison.

This continued through the next year, and, by then, the military cleared out most of the city. Things began to loosen, but not much. A group called the Fireflies were beginning to emerge, and they stirred things up. In what were attempts to stop the military ended up hurting the residents instead. Some days they stopped rations, and other times the power would be off for weeks.

Ron went with the flow for the next five years, and did whatever was in his power to keep Jemma safe. Anna, however, had bigger dreams. She didn't want to join the Fireflies, but she was sick of living her life in the quarantine zone. She wanted to meet new people, and do something meaningful with her life. She was thirty, and wanted to move on with her life.

She left one winter night, and had-

...

Jemma woke up abruptly, and was still sitting against the door to her room. She still gripped the gun firmly in her hand, and as she tried to let go, her hand ached. She wiped the sweat off on her pants.

She fell asleep waiting for Joel to come storming into her room. After their encounter, she heard him throwing things around in the living room. He didn't yell, but she could hear his huffy breaths through the door. Then there was a period of ringing silence, and Jemma feared he was going to beat the shit out of her. She could sense that he was bottling up something, and she thought he would take it out on either her, or Ellie.

Jemma put on some sweatpants so she could be more comfortable. It was still dark outside, and she assumed that she hadn't been asleep that long. She left her bedroom, gun still in hand, expecting to see Joel at every corner. She walked slowly, controlling each movement, but the old wooden floorboards still creaked under her weight. The lights were off in the living room, and she relied on the moonlight to get around.

Joel wasn't in the living room, but there were papers and and shit scattered around. She shivered. The house was freezing. Colder than usual. She made her way to the foyer. The front door was wide open. She peeked her head out, looking for Joel, but she didn't see him. Jemma closed the door. She thought for a moment to leave it unlocked, but changed her mind.

She started up the stairs, taking one at a time, moving slowly. She kept looking up to Joel's door, to see if it was closed. It wasn't, and his light was turned off. As she made it to the top, and leaned her body so that she could see his bed without going farther down the hall. He wasn't in bed, and Jemma assumed he had left for the night.

Ellie was asleep in her bed. When Jemma entered her room, she slowly stirred awake.

"Hey. You okay, Ellie?"

Ellie nodded. Her hair was out of its ponytail, and was matted down on one side. "Want to sleep with me?" She asked, and moved over so Jemma could lay down.

They faced each other in the bed, and didn't say anything. Jemma put the gun under her pillow. Just as she was about to fall asleep, Ellie woke her up.

"Jemma."

"What's up?"

"How am I supposed to talk to boys?"

Jemma opened her eyes. "I knew you were going to ask me this." She laughed.

Ellie sat up in bed. "I'd ask Joel, but after tonight's performance, I don't think it's a great idea."

"I don't think it's a great idea to ask Joel, anyway. He has no clue what he's talking about."

"He doesn't?"

"He's a guy! What would he know? Joel would tell you to bring a gun to the first date!"
They laughed.

"But, really," Jemma started. "I don't have much experience talking to guys, either. I'm going to be honest. I really... didn't have the chance... It's a long story."

"Didn't you live in a QZ?" Ellie asked.

"I did. But, it's like, I couldn't go out. After my mother left, he kind of got protective. I didn't really talk to anyone, actually. I just stayed home and read books that I stole from around town."

"So, he wouldn't let you talk to guys?"

"It wasn't like that. I lived in fear that he would act out if I did. He never truly said that I couldn't. I just felt like I couldn't. Almost as if..." Jemma trailed off. "Almost as if I would be disappointing him if I were to spend my time with anyone else but him. It was weird."

Ellie scoffed. "Sounds like it. I'm surprised you're normal at all."

Jemma sat up, too. She wasn't much taller than Ellie. "I talked to people I lived near. But. You know, I never felt like I needed to be social. And, New York is a damn scary place. If the police didn't get you, the thugs would.

"It's whatever. I grew up associating mainly with my parents, exclusively. They tried to shield me from the world, which is why I felt such a huge urge to get out of town. You know."

"I don't."

"Well," Jemma started. "I could tell you about my first kiss."

Ellie's eyes got wide. Jemma could see the excitement on her face, and felt herself getting giddy over the prospect. She felt like a normal girl. This night was the equivalent of a sleepover. As she giggled with Ellie over the talk of French kissing and flirting, Jemma could feel a strange void in her body being filled. She felt the need to take care of Ellie. She wanted to rear her up, to set her in the right direction. Jemma wanted to be her mentor, because she knew Joel wouldn't be able to fill those big shoes. Jemma was the padding at the toe.

"Tell me, Ellie. Who's this boy you had over tonight?"

Ellie groaned. "It's not like that. He came over so that we could study geometry together. That's how it started. But, he wanted to eat, and you weren't home yet, so we made sandwiches while we watched a movie." She shrugged. "We weren't doing anything funny, just hanging out, I guess."

Jemma nodded. "Yeah. And?"

"I..." Ellie buried her face in her knees. "I think I like him! I'm so weird!"

"No, you aren't. He was cute, anyway. Not trying to be a perv here."

Ellie laughed. "You aren't a perv for thinking that!"

"I'm so old!" Jemma yelled, and pulled down the skin under her eyes. She moved towards Ellie, and howled like a dog. "So very, very old! I'm completely out of the dating scene!"

Ellie playfully pushed her away. "How old are you, grandma?"

"Twenty-four, working on twenty-five!" She laid a hand on her forehead. "I'm knocking on death's door, okay?"

Ellie yawned. "You're not so old. You could be like my sister or something."

Jemma laid down. "Mo' like yo momma, beeyotch." She giggled.

"How is that supposed to be funny?" Ellie asked, confused.

"Don't know, saw it in a movie once."

"Oh, okay."

They fell asleep to each other's breathing. The sun had started to rise when they fell asleep, but they didn't care. Jemma was happy to be loved, and felt so welcome with Ellie. For everything Joel wasn't, Ellie filled in. She wanted so desperately to be a part of their dysfunctional family unit, but something was holding Joel back from letting her in. Jemma was determined to find out, but doubted she would be able to.

Joel didn't return home that night, and Jemma didn't bother to unlock the door when she woke later that morning.