Chapter 3 – The Discovery

Ellie

I hurriedly left the hovel where we had interrogated her and passed the guards without uttering a word. I didn't know if I wanted to continue to be part of a community that would gladly accept working with her as if we were former allies, precisely because of the traumatic history that irremediably intertwined our lives. Because, in my mind, there was nothing we could do to fix the things that had happened between us or even if we wanted to… It was too late.

I thought I could deal with my issues related to this with some peace of mind, however, as soon as I found myself alone with the woman who murdered Joel and Jesse, I couldn't help myself. I felt disappointed because everything indicated that Alexia would accept her offer and to make matters worse, the main leader of the community — her father and her brother had deep respect for her spirit of command —, seemed to believe that I could work alongside Abby until that we had the necessary preparation to face the threat that surrounded us alone. But that wasn't how I felt.

I ran to my house and realizing that Dina had left the key in the front door for me, I unceremoniously opened it. After entering my house and noticing that no one was there – the television had already been repaired by Dina and she decided to leave –, I pulled out the chair that was near the desk and sat down. I took my hands in front of my face, without taking the backpack off my shoulders, such was the emotional exhaustion that dominated me.

I couldn't let that woman's mere presence do this to me, let the emotional imbalance get the better of me – not now that at least I had a home, as well as people who liked me around me. But I had to admit that the complexity of emotions I experienced when I was around her was too much to bear.

I picked up the pen, approached the desk, opened the sketchbook — I had one just for my diary and important notes and another for the sketches I used to do —, and let the whole gamut of feelings flow from me to the paper that would help me regain my sanity. When I couldn't express my feelings in written words, I was in the habit of drawing. Years ago it was the music that filled me, but that was before I had my fingers ripped off by the same person who now promised simply to help us without wanting anything in return.

I still doubted Abby's real intentions, but I couldn't do anything about it because I had no leadership role for the locality, so there were only had two possibilities for me: obey Alexia's orders or leave. However, I could never leave without knowing that Dina and JJ were safe.

Two light knocks on the front door brought me out of my thoughts. I put the pen down and looked at the finished sketch — the muscular figure of Abby sitting in the armchair in the room where she had been interrogated. I raised my eyebrows as high as possible, not understanding why I had drawn who I hated so much and hearing the insistent knocking again, I closed the notebook and got up with the purpose of opening the door, fearing that the woman had killed the guards and had fled from the room they left her in since they hadn't handcuffed her.

But the person standing there was Alexia, who smiled in a friendly way when she saw me. "Can I come in?"

I didn't respond with words, I just gave her the space she needed to enter the residence. So I closed the door and finally sat down in the chair facing the desk again, while Gregory Campbell's daughter made herself on the loveseat. I knew why she was here — not that she owed me satisfaction about the decisions she would make. Alexia was the main leader of the community and would certainly put the welfare of all the residents above any personal issues between anyone and I admired her for that, but anyway, since she married Dina we the two became friends, so much so that I opened up for her on a few occasions about the tragic events that took place in Seattle.

"You've already made the decision, haven't you?"

"Yeah, Ellie. We'll accept the help she offered us."

"I thought you all had to do this, really." I took a deep breath and looked out the living room window when I heard the voices of children, who were happily talking with adults that I assumed were familiar to them. "Well, you've to think about the residents… So I guess I'd do the same thing if I were you."

"But that doesn't mean you're at peace or that you agree with the choice I made, does it?"

"It's complicated, Lexi." I'd called her by her nickname, which only her father, as well as Dina, her brother and I did called. "Everything that happened, the people Abby killed and the decisions I made after JJ was born… It's a lot of conflicting feelings. I really want to help you all in any way I can, but I can't guarantee that I'll be able to act naturally when I've her close."

"I know and fully understand your point of view. But I talked to her at length before I came to talk to you." She revealed, after a few seconds of silence.

"Did you do that?"

"Yes."

"And how much shit did she say about me?"

"Surprisingly, she didn't said absolutely nothing."

"What?"

"It's exactly what you heard, Ellie. She didn't say anything bad about you, quite the opposite. Of course she clarified to me that the other encounters between you two were violent in the extreme and told me briefly why. But at no of the conversation did I noticed hatred or resentment in her eyes, not even when she told me what happened in Santa Barbara, which until today I didn't know what had occurred there. Abby even feels grateful, because if it weren't for you, she wouldn't be alive today, something that I also have come to know only now."

"Well, I didn't tell you about what happened in California, because I didn't want to damage our relationship of friendship and mutual cooperation. But Dina must have commented something to you, didn't she?"

"Not much. She told me that you left the farm to go complete the revenge Tommy wanted so badly, but as you might imagine, in no way does she blame you for it."

"It's because no one knows what I did…"

"You must be referring to the fact that you forced Abby to fight you on the beach, right?"

"Did you see?!" My tone was exasperated. "I knew that when she ended up telling you this now little used the whole story to her advantage and…"

"No, Ellie." Alexia interrupted me calmly. "She didn't do any of that."

"Huh?"

"Nope."

"So what the fuck did she say?"

"I've already pointed out that she didn't comment anything bad about you." The community leader reiterated, after flashing a faint smile. "She just told me she felt compelled to fight you because she couldn't bear to lose anyone else."

"The kiddy… Holy shit." I grumbled, remembering the close bond between the boy and Abby.

"Exactly. She would give her life for his if she needed to, so she accepted the fight."

I sighed heavily when the image of the unconscious boy came back to my thoughts at the exact moment when at the time, I put the knife to his throat. I felt shame and guilt that I had reached such an appalling and dark limit as that, where I had to threaten a child who hadn't even had a hand in Abby's cowardly acts to get what I wanted: a duel that I considered to be fair.

"Shit…"

"Are you absolutely sure you wanted to kill her, Ellie?"

"Fucking Lexi, isn't the best time for tough questions… You know very well that I hate that woman."

"Yeah, I know that, but you still didn't kill her. You could have left her tied to the pilaster that she would die without you having to exert yourself, you could have shot her with more than one shot too without releasing her… But you didn't do any of that."

The questioning was pertinent and kept me in complete silence for a few moments. I relived the moments on that beach, prior to the bloody fight between Abby and me, in an attempt to find an answer to Alexia's question. However, I could not come up with anything that seemed satisfactory to me or even that justified my actions.

"I guess I wasn't thinking straight, I can't say for sure." That's all I could say, worried that Dina's wife was right.

"Why don't you take a coexistence test?"

"How so?"

"I asked private Abigail how long it would take to instruct a group of thirty people, then she replied that it would take a month. I've granted this time has been requested, with her promise made by her that she will respect the fact that she'll be constantly being observed by you."

"You really believe I'm going to be able to do this, don't you?"

"Yeah, Ellie."

"Why?"

"Only because you didn't kill her when he had the chance."

The answer hit me hard, and I looked anywhere else, I thought was interesting, except for Alexia's face, which was probably analyzing me with increasing attention. I didn't want to admit how right she was when she said that, because even I didn't understand the reasons why I didn't kill Joel's killer the night that I lost my fingers.

"Well, if she's really going to cooperate, I can give it a try."

"See? It wasn't that hard."

"It's just an attempt, Lexi." I smiled. "It doesn't mean it's going to work."

"But at the moment that's all I needed to hear from you."

"So she even agreed to that... To stay here with me like we're great friends?"

"Not exactly friends, but allies for a greater cause. After all, we have over eight hundred people here who don't even know about the history of violence between the two of you, people who need to be helped otherwise they will die." She pondered. "I'm not relegating your individual issues or invalidating them, Ellie, but maybe making an effort for the community that welcomed you is good after all."

Again, Alexia was right. I sighed and nodded in a light motion. "Okay... And when are we going to start?"

"Today. She's just waiting for you to agree. I'm going her backpack so she can go out with you. But the arrangement between us was that as soon as you two got back, she would need to and over everything she has in her possession for you to take to me."

"Alright then. Let's get this over with." I got up quickly and as soon as I verified that my knife was in my jeans pocket, I escorted Alexia out of my residence with my backpack on my back.

Since from the position of the sun we were most likely mid-morning, we could fetch the supplies Abby needed, and in the afternoon, hopefully, we would begin to instruct the first people, at least so I hoped.

It was impossible to believe, but I'd following through the deserted and partially destroyed streets of Portland the last person on earth I thought I'd ever see again and more, who I imagined would work with the community in which I resided.

Along the way I tried to look at her from time to time, but as soon as I remembered all that had been done for her – the monstrosities of bludgeoning Joel to death and cowardly shooting Jesse –, I just deflected the green orbs with some speed.

We walked in silence for more than half an hour, perhaps because we thought we didn't needed to talk or because we were digesting the fact that we worked together, until she stopped in front of a house in which there was a motorcycle parked nearby.

The door to said house was locked, but she had the key, which meant that if someone else intended to enter, would have to break in. Suddenly, I looked at one of the high walls adjacent to the site, seeing her name written properly graffitied.

"Abby A." I spoke softly before entering the house.

The woman strong as a bull turned to me, brought her hands to her hips, and stood still, looking at me sideways. "Do you have any questions?" She asked helpfully.

"No, I don't…"

"Just ask." Insisted.

"Okay. What is the letter A after your name?"

"It's from my last name, which is Anderson." She replied before continuing to one of the rooms.

As for me, I remained static in the middle of the room as I pieced together the obvious pieces of a puzzle I've never made the effort to understand, due to the trauma that the violence of Joel's death caused me. If she didn't kill him because of the cure and his saving me from the hospital in Salt Lake City, there must have been another relevant reason that would make her take revenge, although I don't accept any arguments.

However, whatever I thought, the fact was that there was some relationship between her and Dr. Jerry Anderson, who would be responsible for creating the vaccine in the year 2034, on that fateful twenty-eighth of April in which countless Fireflies were killed by Joel.

In an attempt to ward off such reflections, I sneaked into her room and observed several backpacks on top of a double bed, as she opened the door of a dresser next to a wardrobe. I took a step forward as if silently asking if I could be of any help, with anything, because I still felt unable to address her, especially after the magnitude of what I had just understood.

"Can you help me put those pairs in one of those backpacks, please?" The strong woman like a bull questioned, throwing on top of the bed several plastic bags with numerous rubber gloves similar to those worn by her.

I nodded and began to put everything away, happy to occupy myself with some task. "You don't have to be so polite."

"What?"

"I know you can't stand me, girl. So you don't have to pretend we understand each other just to show others that things are going well, because that's not what happens."

I noticed Abby roll her eyes and chuckle humorlessly before turning back to her chores. "The thing is, Ellie, I don't know you and unlike what you think, nor do you know me." She retorted, after turning to face me. "And my father taught me that I should at least try to be civil with my colleagues during missions, which we are at the moment." Silence was present and, after picking up a larger backpack, which looked more like a typical travel bag, she continued in her speech: "If he were alive he would be important to help us unravel what is happening with the runners. I went to Salt Lake City a year ago with Lev in order to retrieve all his files, but I confess that I don't have enough intelligence to decipher medical language, and I haven't found everything he recorded."

"So... Was your father a doctor?"

"Yes."

Her answer was short, which indicated that this was a sensitive topic for us to talk about. Since I had already understood that the doctor who had died was Abby's father, I needed some time to digest and assimilate this new information; maybe the two of us weren't so different from each other after all, because she sought revenge for her father's death, while I did the same for the fact that she murdered Joel, who was family to me.

The confusion I felt made my thoughts unstable, and I knew I needed to talk to someone trusted urgently, but I felt doomed to the unpredictable company of the last person I wanted to be with.

I did my part of the work quietly, watching her put boxes upon boxes of ammunition into the suitcase that was on the floor. I immediately felt tense, because it was definitely not comfortable knowing that we would enter the community with a real arsenal.

"Are you going to take all of this?" I asked in surprise.

"Anything I can, yeah. You'll all need some good firepower to face what's ahead. But I know you don't trust me, I'm not an idiot. Then one of us will take the suitcase with the ammunition to the bike, while the other will take the suitcase with the weapons." She explained. "That way you won't suspect."

"Wait… Do you have a motorcycle here?"

"Yep. You must have seen it, it's even parked right next to this house. The original plan was for me to voluntarily help you all and make this residence a base, but I didn't imagine that you wouldn't trust me to such an extent and that you would arrest me."

"You're not stuck, at least not technically." I said, as I watched her put weapons away in another suitcase.

"I disagree, since after I instruct you all, most likely you will have your revenge and be able to kill me."

I swallowed hard and zipped up the backpack I had kept the gloves in. "Are you sure we'll be able to take this all on the bike?" I asked, in a desperate attempt to change the subject.

"Yeah. Meg is used to repairing vehicles and storing fuel. So, she equipped the vehicle with side trunks so I could carry resources." She explained, before reaching for me a mask. "I don't know if you've noticed, but since I left here, I haven't taken mine." She spoke, pointing to his own face.

"I don't know if you remember, but I'm immune." I retorted, though I took the mask and tucked it into my jeans pocket.

"Of course I remember, but even so, just in case maybe you should put it on." Abby replied. "We don't know what these toughest runners are capable of and as far as I know you aren't immune being ripped apart by one of them." She argued.

I did as she asked as I contemplated why she showed such concern for me, but I chose not to prolong the dialogue. As soon as we closed the four backpacks, I watched her open the one that probably always carried her back and put a notebook there that had the name of Dr. Jerry Anderson on the cover, which made me have the unwelcome confirmation that, indeed, the doctor who was quoted on the tape I heard years ago as 'the only one who had the capacity to make a vaccine', on the day I found out the whole truth in the Firefly hospital, was her father.

"All ready?" I wanted to know with some impatience, though I had to admit that working with her was being less embarrassing and difficult than I thought it would be.

"yes, let's go back."

I nodded in a slight flick of my head, happy to return to the place I lived in as my stomach growled. Most likely it was lunchtime, and if we were lucky not to find infected along the way, we could have the meal with the others, though I didn't know if the Campbells would allow Abby to feed near the people in the community.

But as soon as we got to the street and put all the backpacks in the side trunks of the motorcycle, we were surprised by infected. The stronger woman, who was already properly equipped with gloves and a mask, gestured broadly towards me for me to hide behind a truck so that I could also put on the protective items.

While with some reluctance I did what she asked, I tried to count how many runners there were, but I couldn't know for sure, at least not from the position I was in, a fact that made me restless and quite tense.

I heard Abby swear under her breath because she was without the rifle, which had stayed with Alexia just in case. I still very much doubted that these infected would resist pistol shells, because believing anything that came from Joel's killer was quite difficult for me. For this reason, unwittingly, I set out on top of the enemies with only a revolver and with my knife in hand.

"Don't do that, girl!"

I heard her scream, but it was too late. Because not only did two infected come towards me in an open aggressive confrontation, but three others that I didn't know were there, as they had hidden behind trees across the street, also joined the duo, running towards me like bees in the honey.

I defended myself as best I could as she fought off a few more infected with undeniable skill, however, nothing I did seemed to even do any kind of damage to the enemies.

I didn't know exactly why, if their skin or if their bodies had gained greater resistance or if the fungus had prepared them for such encounters, but gradually I understood that she was not kidding when she said that the knife and pistol only superficially injured them.

I was knocked down with a violent kick to the stomach and dragged for a few feet when I heard rifle shots that instantly killed three of them. I didn't know where she had gotten the long-range gun from, but I would ask later to make sure. Either way, we were still in trouble because other infected ones appeared in our field of vision.

Abby knocked down two more with powerful punches and used her feet to crush them by stepping on their heads, so I decided to follow her method, even though I didn't have even half her strength. I was concentrating on hitting an enemy, though he resisted harshly, when I watched her jump onto the motorcycle with the rifle still in hand.

"Come on, girl! Jump in the back seat!" She guided me.

"Are you go crazy?"

"Trust me, fuck! Let's go!"

I looked back, and since there were countless infected coming towards us with the clear goal of killing us, I really had no other alternative. I did as Abby said and jumped into the back seat of the motorcycle that was already properly turned on. I had barely settled down when she sped up with some jerkyness and, as she drove fast, fired with the long-range gun, annihilating or wounding as many infected as possible.

Even though we had fought twice and I knew she was a highly prepared soldier, I didn't imagine she would succeed in getting us out of this situation. But obviously I was also wrong about it, because if there was one thing she knew how to do and very well it was to guide the two-wheeled vehicle with only one hand while firing the rifle with the other, hitting the targets with undeniable skill.

We didn't know exactly where we were going to go, we were just sure we were away from the runners because the few that were left were starting to disperse as many of them had been killed during the combat.

It was then that she stopped the motorcycle in front of a gun shop and got off. Somewhat confused I followed her closely, because although I didn't know if I should follow her or not, Alexia was clear when she commented and reiterated that I didn't leave her alone because neither of us fully trusted her.

As soon as we entered the place she set up a barricade to protect the door and began to search the inside of the store without telling me anything at all for a few moments. "We were exposed outside, we need to stay here for a few minutes until the enemies completely withdraw or at least subside." She clarified, in typical militaristic jargon, as she slung her rifle over her shoulder and went back to scavenging for items.

"Where the hell did you get that gun?" I asked, determined to find out what I wanted.

"I had a spare rifle in the house we went to, and while you were in the living room, I picked it up."

"You should have told me." I argued, with visible distrust. "After all, we're working together."

"It was with this gun that I saved the drug from your life, Ellie." She replied with some exasperation after sighing, as if my questioning had bothered her.

"Still, you should have told me, fuck!" I spoke a little louder.

"If I didn't have the shit out of a rifle, we both would have died back there." She argued dryly as she tucked away several rounds of ammunition for the long-range gun in the backpack she carried with her. "And if we both die here, your entire community is going to be torn apart because no one is going to guide you."

"Stop acting like you're the only solution to this problem!" I yelled, clenching my hands into fists.

Abby rolled her eyes slowly, turned to me and stared at me deeply. "I don't think I'm that important, Ellie, really. After I instruct you, if you want you can even kill me." She spat angrily. "But for now, whether you like it or not, I saved your life back there. Except that since you seem to have some difficulty thanking me, maybe pointing the finger and accusing me is a lot easier than being civil… Or maybe beat me?" She looked at my hands, which were positioned next to my body. "Go ahead," she challenged me. "After all, I know we can't write another story that isn't violence and more violence."

Gradually I decided not to do anything I had thought in a moment of deep irritation and resentment because I came to the conclusion that I'd to think clearly. I relaxed my posture and walked to the opposite side of the store to also look for weapons and ammunition. Because if we needed rifles, I would certainly do well to take as many as I could carry.

I resolved not to utter any more words while we were inside, and Abby seemed to understand that I did not want to talk, for she went towards the door of the shop and stood there with a hunting rifle in hand that she had found which had a bezel, which made it easier to see what was happening outside, certainly to monitor the coming and going of our enemies.

Suddenly, as soon as I finished putting some items away in my backpack and retooling my pistol, I looked at the woman who had her back to me. I had never observed it before, because the only things that existed between us were hatred and resentment, so there would be no reason for me to analyze it. Now, though, as we lived through that month I would have to try to see her in another way, no matter how difficult it was to deal with this situation.

I really began to believe, as the hours passed, that she was a very well-trained soldier; As soon as she realized that I was watching her, she just looked at me sideways for a few moments as if I would assault her, before turning her attention completely to the bezel in order to continue to monitor what was happening outside.

And it was in the few moments we looked at each other that I could see how sad her expression was. Not that it really mattered to me because I didn't even know her, but in a way it surprised me. I didn't imagine that people who had the ability to coldly murder someone with a golf club could also show sadness or even fatigue.

"We can go."

Her voice startled me and all I did was move slowly towards the door, as if I feared she was going to say something provocative that would leave me emotionally on edge once again, but none of that happened. Abby was someone focused enough on the mission to bring up personal issues at all times, which I was only beginning to see now with a few hours of socializing, but that was enough to make me understand that, because of this, she was someone much more emotionally prepared than I was.

I waited for her to climb up and start the vehicle, which mysteriously was untouched. So I settled behind her and took a deep breath before asking. "Where did they go? And why didn't they search the bike?"

"Probably my plan worked out and they went to the center because they're looking for food, what is here doesn't matter to them." She pointed out, as she pointed out to me with her finger a few feet ahead, where one could already see huge buildings. That's why I lured them here, it was purposeful, Ellie. I wanted to take them as far away from the Campbell community as possible."

"Thank you." That was all I could say, visibly surprised by the strategy she adopted.

"Don't thank me... It's part of my mission. Besides, we're in this together." She replied, before accelerating the motorcycle. "Hold on tight to me, I won't go slow." She warned me, as she put her rifle in her backpack and settled into the seat.

"I just think we should be careful not to attract infected people with such noise and… Oh my God!" I interrupted my own speech and laughed a little, because Abby was definitely not kidding when she said she wasn't going to go slow. She sped up so quickly that I almost lost my balance.

"I said, girl. Hold on tight!"

In a way I was feeling a bit embarrassed to be so close to her physically without assaulting her, because our closest contact was always rude in the extreme. Yet we were in this unusual situation to say the least, both of us sitting on sharing a motorcycle loaded with supplies bound for the Campbells' community base. Despite the few hours of socializing I didn't know what else to think about her. The same person who killed Joel also just saved my life, because otherwise I would have been torn apart by tougher runners than everyone I'd seen so far.

All I intended was to get as soon as possible to the locality where I lived so that I could eat something and rest for a few minutes, because probably the trainings would start in the afternoon and extend for a few hours.

And I was now absolutely sure that Abby didn't joke when she said that these enemies possessed greater strength and skill, so we needed to act fast if we wanted to save the more than eight hundred people residing in the locality.