Abby pov

"Hey Abby!" a loud shout interrupted the silence

"Yeah?" I replied

"Get down here we have work to do!"

"Sure thing"

I pushed myself up from the cot bed I was laid on and looked around the small makeshift room me and Lev now called home. We have been living on a Ranch just on the outskirts of Huston for the past 6 months. We had managed to secure the mow as our new home or as Lev calls it, the second floor of the barn. It was mainly used for storing hay and grain before we arrived. It's been great here really. There isn't any violence other than the odd infected to kill and there are other kids Lev's age for him to interact with.

After that night in Santa Barbara when Ellie let us go I vowed to myself that that was it. I'd stop chasing the Fireflies and we would start fresh somewhere new. I almost got Lev killed chasing the intel Owen gave us and I wasn't going to do that again. He's the only family I have left anymore and I can't risk his life for some stupid fairy tail. So when we stumbled across this little oasis it was hard to turn down.

We travelled for months trying to keep the boat going. We trekked through Mexico and back north, eventually hitting Huston. We were both beat and thought we would never find somewhere to stay permanently until we ran into Brian who was on a scavenging trip. He was looking for medical supplies for his wife Lucy. Luckily for us both we had some and were happy to trade for a place to stay the night. Eventually he and his family took me and Lev in and now we call this our home. Over the months of us living here they started to take more and more people in. Some families, some lone travellers and now we were a small community of about 30 people. I felt like I had a reason to go on again and a reason to put everything behind us including the hunt for the Fireflies.

I stood up from the bed and slung on my boots before climbing down the ladder of the barn. I was met by Brian, the man who brought us back here. He was about my height, looked to be in his late sixties. His hair was receding and he has a white wispy beard framing his droopy face. Brian's family owned the Ranch long before he was born and this was all he knew, it was one of the reasons why he never left when everything went to shit.

"Morning Brian" I waved

"Morning Abby. Do you mind helping me take some of the hay bales outside?"

"Sure thing"

I picked up 2 of the bales and followed Brian outside. Over the months of living here I'd done my fair bit of labour work and built my strength back up. When I arrived here I had hardly anything on me, my hair was still short and uneven and I looked ten years older than I should. I've managed to gain a lot of my strength back and somewhat resemble my old self again, minus the long braid.

"Just put them down there" Brian pointed to a small area near the pig pen "Oh Abby could you do the morning perimeter check for me and make sure everything looks secure. I've just got some things to go over this morning. Breakfast will be served in about an hour or so"

I gave him a nod and started to walk the premier, checking the metal chain linked fence as I went, tugging it in areas to see if there were any weak points. There wasn't much around us, just lots of deserted land so it was easy for us to protect the Ranch. We built a small guard tower a couple months back after we had to deal with a hord. We didn't want to take any chances so we attached it to the barn so we could get the best view of the area. We didn't have too many weapons, just a couple of hunting rifles, a few pistols and the odd axe.

As I walked along the fence and passed the makeshift homes made from tents and old vehicles. I saw people doing their morning jobs of washing, cooking and tending to the animals. Most of the people here were locals and hadn't had much fighting experience. Most of them are lucky enough not to get mixed up in the madness of the new world. The sound of kids laughing and playing rang through my ears like one of my favourite songs. It reminded me of being back at the stadium in Seattle and I felt a small smile creep across my face at the thought of those old memories. How I wish they could see this place, I could see Owen and Mel raising their kid here. Mel would be looking after the animals and Owen probably planning to build something new every other day.

"Abby!" A familiar voice called out. Lev came running over to me

"Hey Lev, how's it going?"

"Okay" He looked a little sheepish with his reply

"What's up?"

"They want a couple of people to go out on a supply run to the local town, it's only a few miles away. I was thinking.."

"Absolutely not" I cut him off

"But Abby please, we've been on this ranch for months and I'm bored. It will only take a day to get there and back"

I wasn't sure about this but I couldn't keep him cooped up here forever. He's like me in a way eventually he would try to sneak out if I didn't let him go.

I sighed "okay fine. But i'm coming with you"

"Yes!" his face lit up at my response

"I'll meet you after breakfast and we will head out to the town. I'll speak to Brian now"

"Okay I'll get by bow!" he ran across the field back towards the barn

I continued along the fence doing my checks until I reached the main house where I could smell breakfast being prepared for everyone. We had been doing really well with the chickens lately so we had lots of eggs and that's usually what we would have in the morning. I walked over to Lucy, Brian's wife who was bringing out the dishes of scrambled eggs for everyone.

"Morning Abby" She spoke with a smile "Here grab a plate"

I took the plate from her and grabbed a helping of eggs as well as a piece of bread "Thanks, is Brian around?"

"Yeah he's just in the house, go in if you want"

I went up the stairs of the house and into the sitting room where Brian was sitting on the couch, old maps and pieces of scrap paper with writing littered the coffee table in front of him.

"Hey Abby, what can I do for you?" he asked

"Lev said you're planning a trip to the local town to get supplies. I'd like to volunteer us both to go check it out"

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah we haven't been off the ranch in six months and I think Lev is going a bit stir crazy" I laughed

"Okay sure, that's fine with me" He got up and walked over to me handing me a couple pieces of paper "Here's what we need and here's a map"

I took the list and map from his hands and stuffed them in my pocket. "Thanks"

"Are you sure you're both up for this? It could be dangerous" he looked at me with worry in his eyes.

Brian and his family didn't ask too many questions when they found me and Lev. They took one look at us and assumed we must have been on the wrong side of something, we were both beat up and weak. I never told them what I had done in the past or how many people I'd killed.

"Yeah we will be fine. We will get going soon and be back tonight, don't worry"

We made short work of the walk and arrived at the town after a few hours. It was nice to be out again in the open but it was also nice to know we had somewhere to go back to once the day was over and we wouldn't have to be searching for somewhere to spend the night.

The town was only small but had a few places we needed to check out for supplies, most of them probably already picked clean. We needed more seeds to farm through the upcoming months as well as medical supplies but that wasn't something we were convinced we would be able to get our hands on.

"Abby, demons. Over there" Lev took out his bow and steadied himself, pointing his arrows at a couple infected just ahead of us.

I took stance next to him getting out my machete "take them out Lev"

He drew back his bow and hit one with an arrow then another one.

"Good work" I gave him a pat on the back and we continued forward through the streets.

Cars and debris littered the small roads along with a few dead infected bodies. We moved through the buildings scanning and looking for whatever we could but just as I expected there wasn't much left to scavenge. The next stop was the old farmers market in the middle of town. It was the biggest building here so we thought we would wait until we'd cleared the other buildings before going there.

"In here Lev" I whispered

We walked over to the building and carefully went inside doing a sweep of the market's entrance.

"Clear" I spoke and moved forward to the double glass doors that lead into the main section of the building.

I pushed the door open carefully, It was too dark to see. I flicked my flashlight on, sending a beam of light cutting through the darkness. I turned back to Lev "You know what we need?"

Lev nodded in reply

"Okay let's split up, get the stuff and get out of here, take no chances and be careful"

I moved through the store weaving in and out of broken boxes and shelves. Looking for anything we could make use of. I found some old seed packets in a cardboard box and stuffed them in my bag "better than nothing" and made my way onto the next aisle back toward where Lev split off from me. I continued to look carefully, moving boxes and looking in each crate I could find. When I heard a loud noise coming from the otherside of the market.

"Hey! Get off me" Lev shouted in the distance

I bolted over to where I heard him shout, taking my machete out ready to kill whoever had hold of him. When I reached them Lev was wrestling with an older scruffy looking man.

"Hey! Let him go!" I ordered

The man took one look at me and let him go, he looked terrified

"I don't mean no trouble" He whimpered "I just want some food" he held his hands up

Lev ran over to my side hiding slightly behind me.

"Who are you?" I asked

"Nobody i'm just an old man who's hungry" his hands were shaking

I lowered my weapon and looked him up and down. He didn't look like he had any weapons on him. He had a long scraggy grey beard and long grey wispy hair. He looked like he hadn't had a bath in months and his clothes were dirty and torn.

"Where did you come from?" I asked

"I've been walking for months. Please do you have anything to eat? I can trade"

"And what do you have to trade?" I gave him a puzzled look as I could see he didn't have anything of value on him

"Information" He whispered taking a step closer to us "about the Fireflies"

I looked at him and then glanced at Lev who had a frown across his face

"What about them?" I asked

"I know where they are!"

"They're gone. You're lying to us, you crazy old man" I started to turn and walk away when he called from behind us.

"No! I have proof, please!"

I stopped and looked back at him again. I could see the desperation in his eyes "What proof?"

"Give me some food and I'll show you"

I looked at Lev again "hmm I'm not sure"

"Abby come on, what if he's telling the truth?" Lev put his hand on my arm "Let's help him and see what he's got to say"

I paused for a moment gathering my thoughts. This crazy old man can't know where the Fireflies are surly and even if he did know where they were, would I want to go chasing after them again? Could I even do that to Lev. Things were so good here. But I owed it to my dad, to Owen to hear him out.

"Okay, fuck it" I huffed "Let go outside, I think I saw a few rabbits on the way in"

It didn't take much time to catch a couple of rabbits. Lev caught and skinned them while I made the fire. And our new friend patiently waited for us to serve him.

"What was your name again?" I asked the homeless man

"Amos" He spoke in between mouthfuls of meat

"So what proof do you have about the Fireflies?"

He lifted his trouser leg and put his hand into his boot pulling out a small black notebook and threw it over to me. "Take a look for yourself"

I picked the book up and examined it. It was a leather notebook with the Fireflies emblem stitched onto the cover. I opened it to reveal months worth of scribbles and notes of the Fireflies whereabouts and intel. Each passage had been dated and signed off by whoever wrote this. The book was full of information about the Fireflies movement across America Including Santa Barbara. The last note said they had set up a base in Chicago. They were looking for former Fireflies to join them and had begun looking to create a cure.

I looked up from the book to the old man across from me "Where did you get this?"

"The man who wrote all those notes gave it to me. I met him a few weeks back. He helped me but he got bit by the infected. He gave me this and told me to pass the information on before he died"

I looked at the book again, flicking through the pages in my hand. Unsure what to make of it all. Everything was there, written on the pages, everything I'd known about Santa Barbra including a message written in red ink "AVOID FIREFLIES GONE" and now new information about Chicago. It was written as any Firefly would write it, everything seemed legit but it still didn't sit right with me.

I can't do this again

I put the notebook in my pack and started to get up "Come on Lev, we should be getting back"

It was getting dark, we had been out much longer than I expected to be after the surprise meeting with Amos. I thought about the book and the years worth of intel scribbled in there. What if it was legit? What if they were making a cure? My dads life work would finally mean something.

The ranch wasn't too far from us now, we were near the main road that led to the dirt track. We walked in silence for most of the way. Lev wasn't too talkative and I had a thousand thoughts running through my mind.

"What are we doing to do" Lev broke the silence

"Do about what?" I replied

"The Fireflies"

"Nothing we are going to go back to the ranch and have supper"

"Abby, come on. That's a lead. We should follow it!" Lev stepped in front of me, bringing me to a halt.

"No Lev, we can't. It's too dangerous and im not putting you through that again"

"But I want to go!"

"Lev we aren't going and that's the end of it, okay?"

He looked up at me with a frown and nodded his head.

I woke up to the gut wrenching sounds of screaming followed by multiple gun shots. Lev was already up frantically gathering his bow and arrows dropping some as he crawled around the dimly lit room.

"What's going on!" I hissed as I scrambled to get out of bed and find some clothes

"Raiders" he whispered

I crawled across the floor keeping low and looked out of the window. It was the middle of the night and we were under attack. It looked like there were around twenty armed raiders shooting up the house and other areas of the ranch. One of them had a molotov and threw it at the roof of Brian's house, setting it on fire instantly.

"Fuck, we need to get down there!"

I grabbed my bag and machete and headed for the ladders. There were screams coming from every direction. There were women and children here, unarmed, never fought before.

I need to help them

We headed for the entrance of the barn and saw a couple of the raiders dragging a family out of their tent and slaughtering them in front of each other. I ran over wheeling the machete driving it into one of the men's heads, sending blood and brains flying. I tried to pull the blade free but it was stuck in his skull. Another man made his move towards me holding an axe above his head ready to bring it down on me. I pulled frantically at the blade and braced myself for the impact of the incoming axe. But I heard the axe hit the ground followed by his body after an arrow pierced his neck. I pulled the machete free and turned to see Lev behind me holding his bow.

"Thanks!" I called

"Abby the house!" Lev pointed to the blazing fire ahead of us.

I could see a group of men dragging Brian and Lucy out of the building and throwing them to the ground.

"Lets go!" I shouted

I bolted across the field straight into the line of another raider who raised his gun at me with a smirk on his face. Before he could do anything a loud bang rattled through my ears and the man fell limp to the ground in front of me. I looked over my shoulder and saw Jim on top of the watch tower holding one of our only hunting rifles.

I continued forward, Lev hot on my heels. We hid behind a small pile of hay bales poking our heads over to get a better look. The men had Brian on the floor repeatedly kicking him. Lucy was crying and screaming in the background, another man had a hold of her. Lev stood up and moved forward letting an arrow fly killing one of the raiders. Another loud bang echoed from the watchtower, Jim hit another raider in the head.

We moved towards the house keeping low, I picked up a gun from one of the dead bodies that were scattered across the field. Shooting in their direction. The men fled to the other side of the house to take cover, sending bullets flying back towards us. We reached Brian and Lucy and dragged them out of the way towards the barn. Jim was still providing cover for us.

"Thanks" Brian coughed between mouthfuls of blood coming from his mouth. "They've killed everyone"

Along the way we shot anyone in our path trying to get to somewhere safe. As we approached the barn Jim's body fell to the ground in front of us with an arrow through his head, his body was still switching.

"Fuck! Get to the barn!" I shouted

We reached the barn and three of the raiders cornered us. One of them grabbing Lucy and holding a knife to her throat.

"Let her go!" Brian pleaded

The raider holding her laughed and slit her throat open, blood poured down her neck onto her white nightgown, she tried to mumble words but they were lost in the gargling of her blood.

"Nooo!" Brian launched himself towards the man but was shot in the head before he could get close.

Lev let another arrow go killing the man who had just shot Brian.

I raised my gun and killed the other two.

"Let's go!" I shouted

We moved through the barn to the other exit and over the fence down the track, we ran for the tree line at the edge of the forest in the distance. We could still hear gunshots and screaming echoing around us but it was too late, we couldn't do anything. As we got to the trees I turned back. Everything was on fire, the main house, the barn, the tents people had used for homes. I could feel the heat coming off it as if I was standing next to it. The small oasis we had called home for the past six months was gone.

"What now?" Lev asked

"Let's go find the Fireflies" I replied

Thanks for reading!

This was a chapter I've actually been wanting to get out for a while. The return of Abby and Lev! I wanted to show what they have booth been though while Ellie has been back in Jackson.

Another chapter will be posted tomorrow!