Chapter 23

The alarm clock blared loudly, ripping Ellie out of her slumber. Aimlessly and with still closed eyes she tried to find the noisy device on her nightstand. But instead of turning it off, she only managed to swipe it off the top and onto the ground, where it rolled out of reach yet still kept on beeping.

"Fuuck!" the almost 16-years-old teenager groaned as she was now forced to get up and turn off this annoying thing.

"Ellie! Turn that stupid thing off and get up!" chimed her mom's voice through the house, causing the young red-head to groan even more.

"Yes, Mom!" she shouted back and slowly stood up. After deactivating the clock and putting it back onto the nightstand, the young girl sat down on her bed again and wiped the remaining sand out of her eyes. Slowly but surely, her entire system booted up and she began to gather some motivation to finally get up.

She let her gaze wander around her bedroom. A standard teenage room. White painted walls, covered by numerous band and fan posters, a pastel colored carpeted floor, dating back to a time when unicorns had been the greatest shit. An untidy desk, which's top hasn't seen any daylight for years and a way too small canopy bed.

Ellie hated her room as it was at the moment, no matter how many posters she would glue over the remnants of her childhood. But that wasn't about to change soon since money was tight, because her mom was raising her alone. Right after she had been born, her father had gotten cold feet and decided to bail without a warning. She was trying to be a good, helpful daughter, but sometimes this was hard.

Sighing deeply, Ellie eventually got up and dressed in her casual clothes that she found in a pile in a corner and weren't smelling that bad. After quickly spreading some deodorant under her arms, she brushed her loose red hairs and bound them into a ponytail before checking her look in her bedroom mirror.

Her freckled face looked a bit older than from two years ago, it being more womanly and having some pimples here and there. Apart from that, she looked as boring as ever. And that was good. Because boring meant no attention and no attention was important for survival on the high school battlefield.

"Ellie! Your breakfast is ready. Move your keister!"

Ellie loved her mom, even though she could be annoying as fuck. Still, she only meant well for her daughter, who was very well aware that she wasn't the easiest kid.

Not wanting to anger her mother more than necessary, Ellie grabbed her school bag and sprinted downstairs into the kitchen, saying "Mornin'!" before taking a seat at the table and pouring some milk and cereal into a bowl.

"Mornin', sweety! Had a good night's sleep?" Anna returned, sitting down as well. She was a woman in her thirties and looked a lot like her daughter, yet her hair was a touch redder and the freckles in her face numerous.

At first, Ellie simply shrugged about the answer, but then started to recall details from her nightmare.

"Like shit," the teenager said while shoving a spoon full of soaked cereal into her mouth. "Dreamt I was in some sorta Zombie-Apocalypse. Dunno..."

Of course she was leaving out the bloody and spicy details, yet nonetheless it was worrying her mother.

"Lemme guess, you watched horror movies with Dina again?"

"Maybeee…" was Ellie's smirked answer, causing her mother to sigh again.

"Haven't I already told you that this girl is bad news?"

"And haven't I already told you that she's my best friend and to keep your nose outta my shit?" Ellie snipped back, gulping down her last bite before she grabbed her bag and left for school without another word.


High school was hell. A gauntlet of emotional agony.

Ellie hated school and everyone in it, except two people, whereas Dina was one of them. The rest were either out to get her, arrogant assholes or simply extras. Thinking back, she couldn't remember even one other face.

As every day, Dina was waiting for her friend at the bus station, smoking a cigarette while checking some messages or news on her mobile phone. Ellie herself felt estranged from modern technology, preferring devices that were mostly older than herself. Her Smartphone was from 2013, barely working as a phone, not to mention the internet. Music came either from an old stereo in her room or an ancient cassette player as a portable device. Other students made fun of her for this, but she just flipped them off and Dina… Dina simply didn't care since she also had a weakness for old tech.

As soon as Ellie had disembarked the bus, Dina immediately put the phone away and greeted her with a warm hug and a kiss on the cheek before scanning her from head to toe.

"Dammit, Ellie, you look like shit! Hard night?"

"That's an understatement," Ellie returned and they began to walk towards the school building. She guessed that it was a standard construction that you could find everywhere around the United States. All in all, it was also a big blur for her. "Fucked up nightmares and a fight with my mom right in the morning."

"And no morning shower. Girl, you smell!" Dina additionally commented, holding her nose.

"Well, that's my daily armor to keep the idiots at bay," the red-head returned cynically, earning a scoff from her friend.

"Yeah, unbelievable how many guys are literally droolin' over you. Maybe you should finally get one and enjoy a good fuck."

"Blech!" Ellie retorted with a gagging sound, giving Dina a stinky eye. "Not in a thousand years!"

They had now reached Ellie's rusty locker and stopped. And while the young red-head opened the lock, her friend kept on talking.

"You really wanna stay a virgin forever or are you…?"

Switly, Ellie's head turned towards the raven-haired girl. The death stare she was giving her made her shut up and end the topic immediately. After having picked up all necessary books, they walked in silence through the crowded hallway until they had reached Dina's classroom.

"Say," she then said before they would part. "Wanna meet at my place after school? My folks are on a date tonight, soooo…"

"I can't," Ellie replied with a dropped demeanor, surprising her friend. "Coach Miller wants to gimme a few extra lessons before the game on Saturday."

Rolling with her eyes, Dina groaned "Ugh, I hate that bitch! Why're you so fond of her, anyway? She always flips her shit, yells without a reason and punishes me for nothing."

"You put strawberries in her shoes and joked that she was having her period. Your fault that you failed to wash your hands properly."

Eventually, Ellie simply shrugged with a smirk and left for her own classroom, already looking forward to her P.E. lesson.


The racetrack under her feet and in front of her, Ellie sprinted the last few yards with her last power until she had reached the finishing line and a whistle chimed.

Being totally exhausted, Ellie walked a few more steps before collapsing onto the lawn beside the track, breathing heavily as she tried to catch some breath.

"You shouldn't do that, y'know…" said Coach Miller and sat down beside her on the ground. She was a woman at approximately the same age as Ellie's mother with short blond hair and a tall, well toned body.

"I…I know… But…shit…!" the teenage-girl gasped, having a hard time breathing. But instead of being mad at her for not listening to her, Coach Miller just scoffed.

"I don't even know why you wanted these extra lessons, anyway. You're good, Ellie. You're ready for the game. You don't need to overdo it."

"You know…why I wanted this," was the red-head's serious answer as she gazed deeply at her teacher, who, however, only scoffed again and then got up.

"C'mon, lesson's over. Let's hit the showers!"


The stream of hot water hit her young body, instantly washing away all the sweat and worries of the day.

Ellie loved to shower. If she could've, she would do it each and every day.

Wait! She was showering each and every day, wasn't she? Or not? Dina told her this morning that she was smelling. Strange!

Suddenly, a pair of hands grasped her small breast from behind, fondling them softly while soft kisses were peppering her neck.

"Is this maybe the reason for the extra lesson, hmm?" chimed Coach Miller's seductively whiffed voice from behind, and Ellie couldn't do anything else than to let her head fall back and enjoy the tender ministrations with a soft moan.

Dina had suggested that she should find someone for a good fuck. Well, she had found someone a few months ago during a game in Seattle…her own coach.

At first, she and Sarah - as her first name was - had a normal student-teacher relationship, which then turned into more with such extra lessons.

Of course, it was a secret. A big secret. A secret nobody ever shall uncover or they both would be in big trouble. But that was also the thrill behind it. Not only that Sarah was older, but also her teacher, which gave this immoral relationship an extra spicy touch. Not to mention that nobody knew Ellie was into women anyway.

She turned around, wrapping the arms around her teacher's neck and started to kiss her intensively.

Dina was definitely right about one point: fucking was amazing and Ellie enjoyed it very much. But when her best friend's voice chimed through the showers, it wasn't very welcomed anymore.

"What…the actual…fuck?!"

Being startled, Ellie gasped loudly and backed away from Sarah, staring with wide open eyes at her friend, who was holding a phone in her hand, filming this very intimate moment. Both, Ellie and Sarah, were aware about the consequences if their relationship would become public.

But while Ellie was still petrified about Dina's betrayal, Sarah acted. The older woman dashed forward and tackled the young girl to the ground. Furiously, she ripped the phone out of her hand and threw it against the wall. But when she also started to punch Dina violently in the face, it was too much.

"SARAH, STOP!" Ellie yelled, wanting to get between the two fighting women. But as soon as she had touched Sarah's shoulder, the blonde turned around and screamed at her like a wild animal, her eyes being red and blood running out of her nose and ears.

Being startled because of this sight, Ellie backed away with a gasp. But the horror had just started.

Out of a sudden, Sarah's skull split open like a ripe melon, blood, skull fragments and some sort of strange dust scattering around the entire room. Strange organic plates were starting to grow out of the wound, and this all was accompanied by a bunch of cracking sounds.

Not believing this horror, Ellie lost her nerves and sobbed. And as her former girlfriend began to go down on Dina again and started to rip her into pieces, Ellie couldn't do anything else than to scream and run away as naked as she was.

She left the gym and headed straight towards the main building, hoping to find some help there. But while the whole campus had been clean before, it was now rundown and partially overgrown by nature, like nobody had taken care of it in decades.

Not knowing what was going on, Ellie stopped and looked around. Everything was abandoned, nobody was around.

"HEEEELP!" she screamed in panic, spinning around her axis and sobbing in desperation as her call wasn't heard by anybody. "Someone help me…please!"

"Ellie!"

And as Sarah's whispered voice called her name from every direction, she sat down on the ground and screamed out her fear.


Gasping loudly, Ellie woke up with a start again. Almost every night after she had gotten bitten again, she was waking up from those fucking nightmares. Always covered in sweat and feeling like her body was about to burst into flames.

She wasn't naive or stupid. She knew that her body was continuously fighting the infection. Sarah had already done a lot of tests with her samples, all signaling that the spores were residing in her system, inactive yet ready to attack a brain that wasn't immune. Luckily, they were only in her blood. Still, the fear of infecting others was constantly lingering in the back of her mind.

She groaned in frustration and bumped her fists repeatedly on the head, wishing that those stupid nightmares would finally go away and never return. After calming down enough, she gazed at the other bedsite, finding it empty. Sadly, a very common condition during those last 18 months.

Since Sarah had taken the job as head of security, she was almost never at home. At first, it was supposed to be only for the first few weeks, then for the first few months, and even after over a year, nothing had changed.

Yes, they both were having their times together, had a big-ass house and a good life, but at what cost? What cost?!

A few days ago, she and Sarah were having a big fight about priorities. For Sarah, the safety of Jackson was her first priority, followed by quality time with Ellie.

Ellie, on the other hand, saw it differently. She was young and wanted to be with Sarah almost every day. And if not for sex, then at least some comfort after such a fucking nightmare. She wanted to be the top priority! But again, Sarah wasn't there.

Being frustrated even more, Ellie let her fist hammer onto the mattress, until she decided that all this rage wasn't worth the effort and got up. She was only wearing a slip and a top that was still clinging to her now a bit curvier body from all the sweat. The bite marks that used to be on both forearms, were now covered by beautiful tattoos.

After putting all her faith in Dina's and Cat's words, she explained her immunity to both of them with the promise to not tell anyone at all cost. They both had agreed and - with Sarah's blessing - Maria had cautiously undone the characteristic marks by burning them with acid and Cat had started to cover them after the wounds had healed. A long and very painful process. But now everything was properly healed and her one arm decorated by ferns and the other one by ivy. Ellie loved it. She felt more confident with it and was now finally able to show her sleeveless arms in public. And if someone asked about the still visible scarred tissue, they were told that these were burn marks from an encounter with some Hunters.

But this coverup had come with a giant catch. A big mistake from Ellie's side. A mistake she'd love to undo, but couldn't. And that made her angry again. Angry about herself and Sarah.

She needed a drink! A big drink to gulp down that anger. They didn't have much alcohol in their household, yet Ellie knew about Sarah's little stash, and headed for it. It wasn't well hidden. Just inside the walls in the living room, behind an old couch. It wasn't the first time Ellie would take a few sips, though now she would've loved to empty the whole bottle in one big draw.

Unfortunately, the main door unlocked before she was able to take out the bottle. Quickly, she tried to cover the hiding spot again, barely managing it before Sarah walked in.

She looked dirty and exhausted, her clothes being stained with blood and mud. With a heavy sigh she let the rifle glide from her shoulder and leaned it against the wall. And just now she realized that Ellie was standing right in front of her.

"Ellie?" Sarah asked with a tone of exhaustion, speaking as she continued to undress. "What're you doin' up in the middle of the night?"

"Honestly," the young girl replied with a sour demeanor, crossing her arms. "I planned on gettin' shitfaced and then fuck myself, 'cause I had a freakin' nightmare again 'n' you're anywhere but here."

Already realizing what was coming up, Sarah sighed heavily again, simply dropped her boots and jacket and then slumped down on the couch again, where she let her head fall back on the backrest and took some deep inhales.

"We finally cleared the woods and the warehouse," she mentioned, but it wasn't what Ellie wanted to hear.

"So, who fuckin' cares?! Did you even listen?" she exclaimed, throwing her arms in the air and walking up and down. "You're always out there, never home. I have to do all the shit alone. School sucks and my nightmares are drivin' me insane. But you simply don't care…"

"I care…"

"No, you fuckin' don't!" Ellie yelled back, her gaze being piercing daggers. "You're never here and care shit 'bout how I'm doin'. And when you're here, I'm at school or you're sleepin'. And that sucks! I…" Her voice then hitched, becoming quieter and sadder. "I need you. I need you here, at my side. I miss our tour through the wilds. Just the two of us, no other shit. I-I'm afraid that you don't want me anymore. That you're tired of me."

Sarah listened and watched her beloved Ellie closely and saw the emotional pain she was going through. And she understood very well. While she had been distracted and focused on the job, the young teenager had been forced to stay behind with too much time to think. And Ellie had swallowed it all down for such a long time while Sarah had taken it for granted. A mistake. A huge mistake! A mistake that needs to be undone.

"You're right," she eventually replied with a nod, looking directly at Ellie who presumably didn't believe what she was hearing. "I…I fucked up. And I'm sorry, and…lemme make it up to you!"

The young red-head, however, simply scoffed, obviously still not believing the blond woman since she had expected her to be angry again, which would've led to another fight, tears and even more frustration. But right the opposite had occurred. And as Sarah got up and took Ellie into a tight hug, the teenager finally believed her, cuddling even closer to her lover.

"How about a vacation, hmm?" she said, her hands brushing softly over the girl's auburn-red hairs. "Just the two of us. A tent at the lake. A cozy fireplace with fresh hunted food over it. Skinny-dippin. Hours of awesome sex. No school. No work. Just us and the wilds. How does that sound?"

"Amazing!" Ellie replied quietly, laying her head on Sarah's chest as she pressed even closer. She felt happy. So happy about that, instead of fighting, Sarah agreed that it couldn't go on like this, if their relationship was supposed to last.

"Then let us get some sleep and pack our shit right in the morning. 'Cause I can't wait to finally catch a fuckin' break."