Chapter 7
The next morning and after a very short night, Ellie got woken up by a soft shake on her shoulder, causing her to groan heavily.
"C'mon, kid, we need to move!"
It was Carla, who looked at the freckled girl with a toothy grin as she opened her tired eyes and reached her a cup with some brownish water that smelled faintly of coffee.
Just being glad to have something that would help her wake up, Ellie took the cup and emptied it in one draw, her body shaking as it tasted the slight bitterness of the drink. Then she looked around, realizing that Sarah wasn't there.
Already expecting the question, Carla said "Sarah is scouting the area, makin' sure that no infected are creepin' around that could get us into trouble."
Of course Sarah was scouting. She was always scouting the area. Sometimes, Ellie had the impression that it was merely an excuse for Sarah for not having to be around her…or she simply fucked herself during this time. But then she recalled Carla's words that there was more to her guardian than the eye could see.
Huffing out some air, Ellie got entirely up and started to pack her stuff. In her mind, the pictures of last night were still very present so that she gave the Latina woman some glimpses from time to time, which didn't stay hidden to the other woman.
"Just spit it out," said Carla with an encouraging smirk, but nonetheless, Ellie just blushed and looked away.
"Uh, nothing…"
"Nothing, huh? Not even a certain thing you saw last night?"
And again, the young girl froze in her movements. How and why did they see her? It had been dark, and she had been quiet and…
"It's okay, y'know. You don't have to answer."
While she kept on packing everything, Ellie still wasn't able to forget last night. Even after they had left their hideout, she ogled the Latina from the corner of her eyes, undressing her with her mind, the pictures of last night being the inspiration.
'Stupid hormones!' she just thought, kicking a little stone away in frustration. Why was growing up so complicated?
They had walked maybe for ten minutes as Sarah joined them, wiping her knife on a piece of old cloth.
"I killed two Runners and one Clicker, the road should be clear now as long as the sun stays up," she said and then, to Ellie's surprise, she gave her a soft pat on her shoulder.
"We better walk that mile along the river and avoid the subs. The Cordy got pretty active in this area," Carla mentioned, but got a counter by Sarah right away.
"No good. Way too open. Everybody down river could spot us over miles. As long as we stay on the streets in daylight, we should be fine."
After sighing a curse in Spanish, Carla eventually agreed and they marched through the suburbs, always checking every angle. It took them another hour to reach their objective: a small, metallic building at the river from which a heavy steel cable led over the stream to the building's twin on the other side.
In order to get an overview over the surrounding area, Sarah decided to take a position on the upper floor of a nearby house.
Heeding Carla's warning, Sarah quietly signed her and Ellie to stay back while she stepped closer to the building, whose door was ajar and was only hanging on one hinge. It wasn't uncommon, since most suburban houses had gotten looted in the first years of the pandemia, when some people had still hoped that the infection would soon be over and they could sell the remaining technology on the black market for high prices.
As she cautiously entered the house, she could already see the chaos in it. Destroyed furniture and useless trinkets, old leaves and dirt, and in addition a human corpse that was infected by the Cordyceps fungus, which was now growing out of the torso and covering its surroundings.
Luckily, it wasn't spreading any spores, but unfortunately, the carcass wasn't dead either, yet only dormant, and Sarah only realized it as the body jumped up and wanted to attack her. But she was quick, avoiding the attack by stepping aside, raised her crossbow and shot the creature right in the head, killing it for good.
She then pulled the bolt out of the dead infected's skull, cleaned it on a piece of fabric from the carcass and loaded it in her newly cocked crossbow.
Carla and Ellie cautiously followed her as the blonde kept on venturing through the house and up the stairs. Her destination was a room at the end of the hall, but out of a sudden she stopped in front of a closed door to her right. Her sight fixed on the gap between floor and door, she stepped back, and whispered "Spores!"
"Told ya, chica. The subs are full of infected," Carla returned, shrugging with her shoulders. All three of them knew that behind this closed door could be everything, ranging from a rotting corpse of an infected to a Clicker, or even worse, a Bloater.
Making a decision eventually, Sarah signaled the others to be very quiet while they moved, the two grown up women holding their breath while passing the locked room. They finally reached the window that would give them a perfect overlook of the area. Sarah then pulled out the binoculars from her backpack, whose one glass had a crack from the incident in Boston, but was still operable. One last time she checked the sun's position to avoid any reflections from the lenses that would give away their position and then scanned the ferry-building.
"I see two guards outside," she said quietly and - ignoring Ellie, who would've loved to have a look as well - handed the binoculars to Carla.
"Three," the broad woman then corrected her. "There's one on the rooftop as well."
She then handed the optical device to Ellie, who used them as well with a big smirk, and closed in on Sarah to make out a plan.
"Three we see, plus probably a few more for the other shifts," concluded the blonde, pinching her chin as her mind started to work.
"Not more than three," added Carla, earning a long, deep frown from the other woman. "Listen, Sullivan's trusted people might be heavily armed, but they're just few. He can't afford to spread 'em too thin for guarding a ferry."
"Hey, is this fucker somewhat important? He at least looks like it," said Ellie out of a sudden, causing Carla to take the binoculars out of her hands and gazing through them.
"That's Sullivan, this stupid motherfucker!" she hissed with gritted teeth as she saw a man who was talking to another one like he owned the place. "Alright, I'm goin' down there and kill those fuckers. You stay here and wait for my signal."
Now Sarah frowned at her again, lifting one eyebrow in unbelieve.
"You? Alone? Against how many, seven? You seem capable, a'right, but this is not the time to turn it into a fuckin' vendetta, you're not Rambo."
"Uh, who?" asked Ellie, but got ignored by the other two, who were starting to argue.
"Listen, chica, alone I'm fast and sneaky. Those fuckheads won't even know what hit 'em before it's too late." Then she closed in on Sarah with a wide smirk, brushing with her thumb over her cheek. "C'mon, babe. I know you're totally badass, but someone has to keep an eye on the kid. You sure you can kill and protect her? It'd just be distracting, and then you make mistakes, and mistakes are gonna getcha six-feet-under." Eventually, she planted a soft kiss on the blonde's lips, huffing "You trust me, right?"
Releasing a shaky breath, Sarah eventually agreed with a nod, adding "But take care and come back if something's off, okay!"
"You got it, chica!" she scoffed and took her backpack, giving Ellie a soft pat on the shoulder as well. "See ya, kid!"
Then she was gone and Sarah and Ellie stayed behind in that house, continuously scanning the area.
"So," Ellie then said, clearing her voice nervously. "Are, uh… Are you and Carla a thing now?"
Sarah stayed silent, looking through the binoculars for another moment, before she coldly said "No," which took Ellie aback.
"Wait. So, you fucked her last night and just a minute ago she kissed you. And now you tell me that there's nothin' goin' on?"
Scoffing and shaking her head, Sarah lowered the binoculars and looked directly at Ellie. She obviously wasn't mad at her or anything. But instead smiled and touched the young girl's shoulder again.
"Just because we fucked doesn't mean that we're a thing, even you should know that. Shit, I don't even wanna know what orgies are goin' on in those freakin' FEDRA academies. We both were stressed and horny, so we fucked, end of story. And you had your fun as well."
With her 14 years, Ellie was young, but was very aware about what grown ups were doing behind closed doors, when they thought that their kids weren't around. The Fireflies, FEDRA… She had seen and heard enough to paint that picture. Riley, however, had been special. Riley had been her experience, and hers alone. This experience had made kissing special for her. And though she couldn't imagine that someone like Sarah was able to develop amorous feelings towards another person at all, she needed to know the truth.
"But, what about that kiss from her, before?"
"She took one guard down," mentioned Sarah off-topic, as she was spying through the glasses again, making it seem like she was ignoring the question. But then she plainly mentioned "It didn't mean anything to me and I'd be surprised if it meant anything to her whatsoever. I just played along, let's see where this is going."
Giving her words a thought, Ellie eventually concluded "You think she's playing us?"
"Two down," the blonde mumbled before rejoining the conversation. "I don't trust her. She's going behind the backs of her people and has built her own secret network inside their community. That's never a good sign. And there goes number three. Damn, she's good!"
"Sounds like it isn't the first time you're dealin' with such stuff."
Sarah froze for a second, a signal Ellie had learned too well. She had hit another sore spot, and immediately asked herself how good it was to keep poking around in that woman's past.
"Let's say I had my fair share of men and women in my life to have enough experience when it comes about, when someone's tryin' to bullshit me."
"And how often did that happen?"
Once again, Sarah froze before lowering the binoculars again. Her face now had a sad demeanor and as she gazed right at Ellie, the young girl could see how they were welling up. She suddenly looked vulnerable and broken. And for a moment it seemed like only averting her gaze and focusing back on their task had stopped her from breaking down.
"More than I'd like to admit," she eventually answered with a brittle voice, which turned cold again as she mentioned "There's the signal, let's go!"
As they were on their way to Carla and the ferry, Ellie was again caught in deep thoughts about her last conversation with Sarah. A wall had broken down. For the first time, since the start of their journey, the young girl had the feeling that Sarah was treating and speaking to her more like a human being than just an object that needed to be transported from A to B. And on top, they were even talking about private matters.
Were they finally starting to come around? Were they finally warming up to each other?
More than once she ogled the lanky woman from the corner of her eyes, trying to imagine her as a warm-hearted, lovely person. As a friend. Or even as a lover.
There was so much going on in her young head. More than Ellie would love to admit. This journey was mending her. Was turning her being into something different. Something, that wasn't the old Ellie from Boston anymore.
Was this how it felt to grow up?
She didn't know…as always. Luckily, they arrived pretty soon at the ferry-building, where Carla was already waiting with crossed arms and a toothy grin.
"So, I'm not Rambo, huh?" she teased, receiving a playful slap on her butt cheek by Sarah, who had a slight smirk on her lips.
"Alright, Rambi-Bambi, you're the toughest cunt in town. Now shut up and move that sweet keister of yours!"
Giggling like some teenagers, the two women led the way, followed by Ellie, who was sure now that she would never understand grown-ups.
"Okay, who's that fuckin' Rambo-guy? Never heard of him," she said, receiving a dry answer from Sarah, who was following Carla into the building.
"An action-movie character. That was way before your time."
Inside the metallic construction it was dark, only the daylight that came through the light bands in the ceiling enlightening the vast room, whose only purpose was for maintaining a floating platform that was docking in the middle of it.
"I'm gonna check if it still works while you guys get comfortable on the ferry. Don't touch any levers or buttons, okay!"
Still not trusting the peace and Carla, Sarah held her crossbow up high and scanned the area. On their way to the ramp that was leading onto the platform, they passed the body of a dead man with what seemed to be a stab wound in his chest.
Before the catastrophe, such sights would've been terrible and traumatizing for a kid of Ellie's age. But those times were long gone. Yes, the young teenager was still a bit taken aback by seeing a human corpse, but in comparison to the infected, especially Clickers, these bodies didn't look that disgusting.
In fascination, the young girl took a closer look and realized that the presumingly dead man's chest was still slightly heaving.
"Uh, I think this guy isn't dead," she said and then jumped back as one of Sarah's bolts impacted in his head, ending the movement.
"Now he is," mentioned the blonde dryly as she pulled the bolt back out and cleaned it on the now dead man's clothes. And while she simply reloaded her crossbow and closed in on the ferry, Ellie was still watching the now really dead man with big eyes before following her guardian. She didn't want to question her. Firstly, because she wasn't in the mood for another lecture, and secondly, she somehow trusted her.
She now approached the ferry and from the first point of view it looked like nobody had actually used this ferry-system for years. Metal was screeching and rust was grinding under constant ripples that the river was sending into the dock and caused the wide platform to rear a bit up. It was big enough to fit at least two semis or several cars.
Ellie had never seen something like this before. Yes, there had always been some shipwrecks along some rivers or old harbors, but all of them had been entirely rusty and demolished, spending the remainder of their existence at the bottom of those waters instead of floating on them.
Sarah was already walking up the ramp that was linking the ferry with the dock. Through it, the water could be seen, and for a moment, Ellie hesitated until her guardian reached her a hand and helped her overcome this mental obstacle.
Suddenly, an engine came to life at the far end of the building, its sputtering sounds echoing through the vast room. On the ceiling, some lights came to life right before the giant gate to the waterfront got lifted up with the screeching sound of rusty metal and the building got flooded with even more daylight.
"That shit's still working," yelled Carla as she sprinted towards the platform, only to stop for a moment beside the corpse. "Fuckin' hell, what happened to this guy?! Wasn't stabbing his heart enough?"
"Nope, 'cause he wasn't dead enough, chica."
There was an undertone in Sarah's voice. An undertone that Ellie had detected right away since she knew that she wasn't trusting Carla at all. But either the Latina didn't realize it or she was only acting like she hadn't noticed it. Anyhow, she came aboard as well, dropping the topic as she walked right into the little compartment with the controls and started up the ferry.
The ramps got lifted and the engine that was pulling the cable started its work. With awe Ellie watched how they were gliding over the water, the building on the other side closing in quickly.
"Uh, you noticed that the doors are still closed, right?" mentioned Sarah as the building was coming closer, looking with concern at Carla, who just gave her a wink and a toothy grin.
"Let the remote control do its magic, chica. Open Sesame!"
But nothing happened.
"Da fuck?!" Carla exclaimed, mashing some button on the control panel several times. "Open up, puta de mierda!"
"Shit!" hissed Sarah as she realized that they were about to crash into the closed gates of the other building. Quickly, she grabbed Ellie and ran with her to a railing. "Hold on!" she yelled as she flung her arms around the metal pipe, covering the young girl, who was doing the same.
The impact was violent and deafeningly loud. Metal screeched and banged as it got deformed and broke. The force was so strong that Sarah and Ellie lost their hold and were literally tossed over the platform, the momentum letting them roll to the other end. But while Sarah found something to hold onto, Ellie went overboard. Or better said, she would've gone overboard, if Sarah hadn't grabbed her backpack.
However, this sudden jolt as Ellie's entire bodyweight got held by one arm, plus the momentum it had to stop, caused a loud crack as the blonde's shoulder got dislocated, causing her to scream upon the intense pain.
The platform had come to a halt now, just pivoting from left to right, causing the young girl to swing on this dislocated arm, which sent even more pain through it.
The deep waterstream underneath her and only held by Sarah, Ellie had a hard time not to panic. And it got even worse as one of the backpack's plastic sling-holders broke. Barely, the teenager managed to hold on to the other sling, hoping that it wouldn't break as well. To her relief, she got pulled up a moment later until she could reach the rim of the platform and pull herself up.
Both, Sarah and Ellie, were laying side by side, breathing heavily, whereas the blond was holding her left shoulder, her face grimaced by pain.
Carla, who obviously had helped Sarah to pull Ellie up, was there too, checking on the blonde right away.
"Damn, chica, I'm sorry for this. Never thought that this fuckin' gate could be rusted shut that bad."
"Next time," Sarah gasped, getting up with the Latina's help, "use the fuckin' brakes instead of posing, you idiot!"
As a thanks for that insult, Carla grabbed her injured arm and janked it back into its joint, causing Sarah to yell every known course into the environment.
"You're welcome, graciosa!" she chuckled cynically, her sight following the cursing woman, before she approached Ellie and checked on her as well. "You ok, kid?"
"I guess," answered the girl with a thankful smile, which faltered as soon as she checked her broken backpack. "Dammit, I loved this pack."
"We fetch you a new one at the depot," chimed Sarah in, still holding her arm. "Better your pack than you, right?"
Now becoming aware that her guardian had saved her life once again, Ellie lowered her gaze, fixating it on the backpack which her hands were fumbling with, mumbling a timid "Thanks, by the way."
And to her surprise, she received a warm smile and a soft brush on her arm.
"You're welcome…Ellie!"
Ellie. Not kid, but Ellie. That was the first time she had used her name in a kind and friendly way, and it somehow made her proud and glad. Though, nonetheless, she asked herself why, because she never used to be that kind of person who needed approval from anybody. She had always done her own thing and if someone used to have a problem with that, she had mostly flipped them off. So, why this change? What made this woman so special? Just the fact that she used to know her mother? Or was there more?
"How're we doin', Carla?" called Sarah over the platform towards Carla, who was just checking the engine.
"Platform's fine. The engine and cable, too. But we're stuck in this stupid gate. I could try to open it from inside, maybe the crash loosened some of the rust and we could at least lift it enough to get the platform through it."
"But…?" Sarah kept on asking, frowning at the muscular woman, who let out a heavy sigh.
"You see that gap, where the cable runs through?" she returned, signing at a small hole in the slightly deformed gate. "That's our only way inside, and I won't fit through it."
"What about swimmin' around and open it from outside?" chimed Ellie in, received a head-shake by Carla.
"Sorry, kid. But the building's probably locked. Besides, that probably a lotta infected have heard our lil' oopsie and are now roamin' the area."
"So, you're saying that we're stuck," concluded Sarah with a dry scoff, as she began to walk up and down the platform restlessly. "Great… Just fuckin' great. And just because you had to keep on posing."
"Posin'?! What's your fuckin' problem, puta?!" Carla barked back, putting her hands on her hips. "It's not my fault that this stupid gate didn't move."
"No, but instead of takin' it slowly, you had to go full speed, just to impress me."
"Impress you?! Come down from your throne, princess! I already had your ass, don't need to lick it anymore."
"Pft, you think just because you had me once that I've fallen for you?"
"Oh c'mon, chica, you can't let your eyes off of me. If the kid wouldn't be here, we would've already fucked again."
"Leave her out of this!"
Ellie listened to this argument, staying silent all the time as she feared that she would get in the crossfire. But as she heard her name and realized that things were about to get worse, she decided to speak up.
"I'll do it," she said, making both women look at her.
"Ellie…" whispered Sarah, gazing deep at her. But she stayed adamant.
"Your arm is injured and Carla already said that she doesn't fit through it. I do, and I can make it! Just tell me what I've to do to open up this motherfucker."
Slowly, Sarah approached the young girl and kneeled down in front of her, gazing deeply at her with a concerned demeanor.
"You sure 'bout this? You'd have to climb all along that cable, over water, and we don't even know what awaits you on the other side."
"What other choices do we have?" Ellie returned, adding a nervous smirk, underlined by a faint blush. "I mean, we could stay on the ferry, make a nice fire, sing some songs and then fuck each other, but… I'd rather help some peeps in need."
Hearing this sarcasm, Sarah just chuckled, saying "No need to oversell it. Just promise me to be careful, okay."
At the same time, Carla came over with a harness and some thick gloves in her hands.
"Put this on, kid. We used this stuff for maintenance. The harness will secure you on the cable and the gloves will protect your tiny hands. The cable might seem smooth, but it'll cut your skin as easily as a bunch of razors."
Both women helped Ellie into the harness, whereas Sarah also added the holster of her pistol to the equipment.
"You know how to use a gun?" asked Sarah while unloading and checking her pistol.
"Uh, I learned it at the academy and, uh…used one…once… To kill my friend."
Both women froze immediately, gazing with big eyes at the young teenager, who looked back at them with a frown.
Why did she tell them that? Why did she say it, like it hadn't been something special? She had killed her best friend and now she behaved like it had been as normal as going to the toilet. Riley deserved more than being treated like nothing. Way more than to be treated like a small side note in the book of the young girl's life. And this made her furious!
"What?!" she snipped back in anger. "She was infected and attacked me. It's called self-protection."
Unlike Carla's, Sarah's glare looked more understanding. Like she was feeling with her. Like she had experienced something similar. Though it came with a surprise, it was more than understandable that she hugged Ellie and whispered into her ear.
"It's okay to be mad. Let it out. It helps, trust me!"
She tried, she really did. But something was blocking her. Something was preventing her from mourning. Since the night it happened, she hadn't shed one single tear. Not one. Not even one little thought. And it was so frustrating. So frustrating that she shut herself in, once again, by breaking the embrace.
"I'm fine," she simply said, and all Sarah could do was to accept it with a nod.
"Alright," she replied and showed Ellie how her gun worked. "You got 10 rounds in the magazine. Aim, focus, shoot. Only use it, if necessary. Here's another spare mag. Please bring the empty one back, 'cause they're hard to find."
With a nod, Ellie confirmed that she understood and put the gun into the holster and secured it, mumbling "Aim, focus, shoot… Got it!"
Both women then helped her up onto the cable, whereas Carla fixated the safety catch.
One last time, Ellie and Sarah looked deeply at each other, the latter one saying "If something's off, you come back, okay? Don't play the hero! You're way too important."
"No, Rambo-stuff, promised!" Ellie replied with a smirk and began to pull herself along the steel cable right towards the black hole that would lead her inside the dark building.
The room was dark, only enlightened by the small lamp of the microscope, on which Sarah was working on. For the last two hours, the now 18-year-old woman was gazing through the optical device, analyzing a sample of, by the Cordyceps infected brain tissue.
Her sight got blurry and her eyes and head hurt even more with every passing minute after hours of work. Sighing heavily, she retreated from the microscope and rubbed her sore eyes with her fingers. Actually, she had been so focused that she hadn't even noticed that it was already midnight and all others had already gone off to bed.
The door to the laboratory opened and Anna came in, two cups of coffee in her hands. Like Sarah, she wore a white coat over her casual clothes, which wasn't white anymore since washing clothes wasn't high on the priority list of using precious water.
"Thanks!" the blonde said weakly as she got her cup handed and drank half of it in one big gulp.
"Damn, babe, you're really going at it," mentioned Anna as she looked around the laboratory, which was littered with numerous empty MRE packages. "Don't you wanna take a break?"
Scoffing quietly, the blonde buried her face in her cupped hands. "I'm so close, I feel it. It's like the answer's right there, but… it always slips from my grasp."
For some moments, Anna just looked at her girlfriend without a word, but then approached her and hugged her from behind, her hands brushing softly all over her chest.
"You told me the same shit yesterday, and the day before, and the day before," she said calmly, adding some soft kisses to her affections. "Maybe you're really onto something, but you won't solve it when you work yourself to death. For four years you worked your ass off, straight. We finished our studies in record time and are the best team at this fuckin' university. But how about we take some days off. Y'know, just the two of us, a hot shower, a bed, and hours of awesome sex."
"Anna…" Sarah protested faintly, already failing with it as she gave in to her girlfriend's treatment.
"Just, three days, please. Three fuckin' days and then we go back at it and kick this motherfuckin' fungus' ass, okay?"
"Alright," the blonde eventually sighed, turned around and smiled at the red-haired woman. "You won. Three days of R 'n' R and then we're back in action."
"Thank you!" whispered Anna and closed in for a deep kiss. It has been weeks since both women had some time for each other, and now the yearning was eventually unfolding as both intensified their love right on the spot. They were so focused on their love play that they didn't pay any attention to their surroundings, so that they accidentally bumped against a shelf full of petri dishes with fungus samples so hard that it collapsed. Glass was breaking and spores released.
Knowing the protocol, both women immediately pushed the alarm button and evacuated the laboratory. They had almost reached the door as Anna suddenly turned around, yelling "Your notes!" and ran back to Sarah's working space, which was already in a cloud of spores, retrieving her notepad.
With big eyes, Sarah watched how her girlfriend returned, already coughing. They had just closed and sealed the door as a security and decontamination detail arrived and took control over the situation.
Without any words, both were brought to decontamination. Their clothes were burned, their bodies showered and scrubbed, and both then put into a quarantine cell.
"Fuck!" Anna sighed, laying down on a bunk bed. But while she kicked back, Sarah was still on her feet, gazing angrily at her.
"What the fuck was that?" she chided her with crossed arms. "You wanna get yourself killed, or what?"
Honestly, the blonde would've expected that her girlfriend would go all ballistic on her for such a comment, but instead she just scoffed a dry "Maybe…", which took her totally aback, so that she only could gaze at her with wide open eyes, lacking any words. But she didn't know that it would get even worse.
"I'm pregnant."
Sarah heard the pain in Anna's voice. A pain that consisted of regret and apology. But it didn't stop her world from falling apart.
Anna had been right. For the last four years she hadn't done anything other than studying and researching. She had put her life behind the fight against the Cordyceps, and now she had been brought back, only to find it upside-down and shattered.
"I'm so sorry," Anna continued with a heavy voice. "You were so focused on your work and…and were never there. I couldn't talk to you anymore. The only thing that mattered to you was your work." Her voice broke for a moment as she had to gulp down a big lump. "One day, Marlene showed up with some new people. She introduced us. And while you were stuck in this fuckin' lab, we had a lil' shindig. We talked, we drank and then we fucked. I was so wasted, I can't even remember the guy properly. Two weeks ago, my menses were overdue, so I did a test and…"
"Just shut up!" Sarah said angrily out of a sudden, her piercing gaze focused on some point on the ground and her hands clenched into fists.
"Sarah…babe! It was an accident."
"SHUT UP!" the blonde yelled, tears running down her cheeks. "Just shut the fuck up, you fuckin' bitch!"
"NO!" Anna retorted and jumped up. "Why do you stupid cunt think I wanted us to have three days off? Because I wanted to talk with you about it! I want us to have a future. A fuckin' family. Yes, I fucked up, but…"
"A family…" Sarah just scoffed, shaking her head as she turned away from her girlfriend. "You think some words and three days of fucking will convince me to accept this…this piece of shit in your womb to be our child?! That we'd become a happy-dappy family?! Dream on!"
With big, angry steps Anna approached Sarah, turning her violently around. "What did you just say?"
But Sarah was far from calming down or to justify her hurtful words, instead she pushed Anna harshly away, hissing "You heard me. And as soon as we're outta here, you can take this bastard in your uterus and fuck yourself, 'cause we're done! Now fuck off and leave me alone, you backstabbin' bitch!"
The conversation was over. Which got underlined as Sarah laid down on her bunk bed, back towards her now ex-girlfriend. The world they used to live in was destroyed. Destroyed by the Cordyceps. Sarah heard Anna's crying. The desperation. How she was hurting. She needed to get away. Far away. She hated herself for her words, but also hated everything else who had left her world shattered. Anna, the Fireflies, the unborn child, her uncle and even her Dad. She wanted to be alone. Alone forever. And she would get it…somehow.