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damn-stark · 3 months ago

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THE CHAPTER IS UPDATED AND NOW THE REST OF THE SERIES IS GONNA BE PRIVATE UNTIL EACH RELEASE!!

No use of Y/N anymore but still reader, and no new scenes, just edited

Chapter 1 Beautiful girl

Chapter 1 of Tragedy at the Miller’s

A/N- I really hope you guys like the first chapter, I’m very proud of it! And I hope you guys stick around for more :)

Warning- FLUFF :): violence, death, blood, swearing, and suggested sexual assault. Remember this is a rewrite not an AU, so the major stuff that happens in the show will happen here :)

Pairing- Joel Miller x daughter!reader, Henry x Fem!reader

Episode- 1x01

(If you want to be tagged let me know!)

————

“Alarm.”

There’s slight movement on the bed before a weight gets lifted off your neck.

An annoying sound travels clearly in your ears, but you ignore its screeching cries even if they don’t cry for your attention.

“Alarm!” You hear your sister Sarah yell out clearly, so in return you groan and stretch out, feeling the bottom of your feet hit flesh.

“Come on,” you hear your father’s hoarse voice nearby before you feel a hand wrap around your arm to pull you up. “It’s time to get up.”

The hand around your arm slips off, causing you to plop back on the bed while the additional weight that was once on the bed is lifted off. Thus as you keep your eyes closed to avoid the warm rays of the sun already kissing your face, you groan softly and flip around to curl up on the warm and sunken place that your father was just lying on, finding solace in his smell that clung onto his pillows.

“Tomorrow,” you groan in a feigned deep voice.

There’s a scoff before suddenly strong arms wrap around you and pick you off the bed to throw you over their warm shoulder. They proceed to move, but you keep your eyes closed and wrap your arms around his neck before patting his back.

“Happy birthday, Daddy,” you mumble and willingly lift your head off his shoulder to press a kiss on his cheek since that’s something you’ve been thinking about all week. You even dreamt of his birthday.

“Thank you, baby,” he says as he gently caresses the back of your head.

“I have a present for you,” you share happily and lay your head back on his shoulder.

“Do you? Is it hm, maybe, brushing your teeth?”

You finally open your eyes and pull back to meet his gaze. “No!” You giggle and swipe back strands of hair that tickle the corner of your mouth as they stick to your face due to the drool that had been dripping out of your mouth when you were sleeping.

Your dad then sucks in air through his teeth and narrows his gaze as he leans in and sniffs. “Oh no?” He remarks and places you down on your stool placed against the sink counter. “Because your breath kinda stinks.”

You roll your eyes and shift around to face the mirror, making sure to brush back the poorly cut bangs you had ruined last week because you swore you could be a hairstylist at 4.

You still kind of think you can be one, but alas, you brush your teeth rapidly and a little harder than needed because you do have to show your dad part one of your present.

Your dad does want to remark on your sloppiness, but you’re already hopping off the stool before he can say a word so instead he shouts something else. “Change!”

Of course, you know to do that, that’s what you’re doing now. However, you don’t grab your own clothes, you run to his drawer and go on the tip of your toes to pull open his shirt drawer. And since you can’t actually see, you just grab whichever shirt your hand lands on first and swipe it before you run out of his room.

When you’re running to your room the smell of breakfast creeps up the stairs and travels to your nose, waking up your appetite, so you rapidly throw on your dad's shirt that drowns your body and fits like a dress. You then proceed to search in your white chest full of costumes.

“Come on,” you mumble and lean further inside as you search for something small. However, at that moment you end up finding your fairy wings so you throw them out even if it doesn’t match your costume. They’re just sparkly and catch your attention. And they’re your favorite!

After that, you then continue to search for your intended item and hear your dad shout your name from the hall before he adds pressure. “Come on!”

Nevertheless, you don’t hurry. You mumble something you don’t even understand and finally, stuck at the bottom of your chest, is the black swirly mustache you need, so you peel it off the wood and stick it on yourself. You then move away from the chest and swipe the fairy wings off the floor to put them on yourself before you finally run out to join your sister Sarah and your dad downstairs.

“Morning,” Sarah says as she hears you running down the stairs whilst she takes out orange juice from the fridge.

“Mornin’!” You greet back as you hop off the last step and then run to the high stool against the island. And since it’s so high off the ground you slap your palms on the surface of the chair and struggle to push yourself on top.

When you are on your seat you catch Sarah pouring orange juice in your glass cup. “Here,” she says and slides the cup over to you. “I’ll give you more later.”

You lean over the table and drag it to you. “Thank you,” you say and shoot her a beaming smile while her own lips pull to a wobbly smile as she sees your costume in all its glory.

Regardless, she doesn’t comment. She knows not to. Instead, she just grabs a different cup and pours juice in that one to offer it to your dad as he turns around to face her with his mug of delicious-smelling coffee.

“Vitamin C,” Sarah deadpans and places it down on the counter so your dad can take it.

“Daddy…” you call out for his attention and chug some juice as if you’ve never had anything to drink before in your life.

“…Look,” you sigh when you’ve swallowed and so, your dad turns as he’s drinking his juice, and right away his eyes widen whilst his lips lift to a wobbly smile when he sees how you’re dressed.

“I’m you,” you reveal as if it isn’t obvious by his shirt and your fake mustache. “Happy birthday!” You shoot him a beaming grin.

He places the cup down and his grin widens. “What’s up with the wings?” He points.

You peer back at your fairy wings and shrug. “I like ‘em. You like it though?! And my mustache?!” You ask and pat it.

“It’s like part one of her four part present,” Sarah explains for you. “She’s worked hard on it.”

You nod in agreement and then slide off your seat with your cup in hand.

“I love it, baby,” your dad says. “You look just like me.”

You pump your fist in excitement as you head to your seat around the small wooden circle table.

“You get your homework done?” You hear your dad ask Sarah whilst you find it easier to climb on the lower wooden seats—“Fractions?”

Sarah laughs and before long, a breakfast that consists of a plate of eggs, and meat you don’t touch. Still, you enjoy the peace with your family.

“How old are you again?” You ask your dad as you shove eggs in your mouth.

“Thirty-six,” he says.

You swallow and laugh. “That’s so old.”

“Gonna have to wear diapers soon.” Sarah then interjects, making you giggle and watch your dad for his reaction.

“Who says I don’t already?” He retorts, causing you to laugh harder.

“That’s so gross,” you comment.

Your dad leans over and points at you. “You’re gonna have to change 'em.”

You shake your head and stick your tongue out in disgust, making him laugh before he pulls something out of his mouth. “Shell,” he says.

“Calcium,” Sarah counters and shoots your dad a grin that’s full of food.

“Lovely.”

You smile at her with admiration before you laugh softly. “You’re so silly, Sarah.”

Sarah looks over at you and nods with a sly smirk. “Aren't I?”

You nod and scrape up more eggs on your spoon.

“Is there enough for Uncle Tommy?” Your dad asks Sarah.

“Well, there would’ve been.”

You look down at your plate and notice that you still have a piece or two left. “He can have some of mine,” you suggest, and then look back as the garage door opens and your uncle walks in.

“Uncle Tommy!” You greet with excitement.

Said man walks over and pats your dad's shoulder first. “Hey! You’re still alive, you old fucker.” He says blissfully before he moves to you and ruffles your hair before stealing a sausage from your plate.

“Aw, he loves you,” Sarah says.

“He’s dependent on me. Not the same,” your dad redirects so you snap your head to the other side to look at your uncle in the kitchen.

“I think it’s the same.”

“It’s definitely the same,” your uncle bounces off your sister's comment. “I thought we was havin’ pancakes.”

“We’ll pick you somethin’ up on the road—”

“Uncle Tommy,” you cut your dad off. “You like my costume?” You ask and then furrow your eyebrows and clear your throat to mock your dad's voice. “I’m daddy.”

Your uncle looks over and isn’t hesitant to chuckle right away. “I love it. You nailed it, you look just like him, Sunny. Especially that mustache,” he says and points to your fake mustache.

You grin and kick your feet before you show your dad your smile as he watches with a serious face you quickly mock.

“Eat,” he grumbles.

“I am,” you whisper in your normal voice and focus back on your food whilst he continues to speak.

“Concrete guys gonna be there?”

“Yeah, they said maybe,” your uncle answers your dad.

“Maybe?” Your dad quickly snaps back. “We can’t frame until we pour. We’re not gettin’ paid until we frame.”

You sip some juice and look between the two men.

“Well, we could bring someone else on, get the job done faster.”

“No, no,” your dad counters your uncle Tommy. “I’m not splittin’ this job. I barely wanna split it with you. We could work a double.”

You may not understand at all what they’re saying. You are very much intrigued by their conversation, but you don’t know the importance behind any of it except for one thing. You do know what your dad means when he says that he’s going to work a double. He’s going to stay out longer.

“What?” You whine.

“Literally?” Sarah protests in annoyance. “Today?”

Your dad looks between Sarah and you and tries to assure you both. “I know. I’ll be done by nine. By nine, right?” He asks your uncle for reassurance, but it’s too late, you pout in anger and sink back in your seat to display your frustration.

“Yeah,” your uncle Tommy confirms.

“I’ll bring back a cake,” your dad continues and pats your hand. “I promise.”

You perk up and ask, “chocolate cake?”

Your dad meets your gaze and nods. “Yeah, of course.”

And with that, your anger subsides and you’re happy once again.

“…continued disturbances in Jakarta, but are advising U.S. citizens…”

“Jakarta,” your dad comments as he pulls his hand away from yours to grab his mug. “Where is that, Middle East?”

“Doesn’t ring a bell,” your uncle Tommy says. “It’s definitely a country. Or maybe part of Asia?”

“Jakarta isn’t a country,” Sarah interjects. “Being a part of Asia isn’t mutually exclusive with being a country…”

Her words turn to a jumble you don’t understand, nor do care to understand.

“Shit,” you catch your uncle Tommy saying with a teasing smile. “Hope for us yet.”

The microwave then beeps and at that moment you're hit with the reminder of your dad's next present.

“Daddy!” You exclaim and stand up on your feet. “Can I sing you your birthday song?!”

Your dad looks up at you and nods, whilst Sarah already begins to discreetly laugh before you can even do a thing.

“Yay,” you squeal happily and then clear your throat before you begin to bop your head and start to sing a song you had heard a hundred times before at your babysitter's house.

“Go, go, go, go, shorty. It’s your birthday. We gon’ to party like it’s your birthday, we gon’ sip—”

Alas, before you can finish, you come to an abrupt stop as your Uncle Tommy begins to chuckle loudly.

“No,” you whine and fall on your seat. “Uncle Tommy!” You cry and slam your head on the table. “Don’t laugh!” You shout.

No tears come out of your eyes because you don’t really intend to cry. You’re just pretending because you’re angry at him and your dad gets your uncle in trouble when he makes you cry.

“Don’t laugh at me!” You continue to shout.

“I’m not laughin’!” He chuckles. “It’s just cute that’s all.”

“All right,” your dad interjects and ignores your fake sniffles. “Finish up quick, we'll drop you off.”

You continue to sniffle and peek an eye out, seeing your dad walking to the sink with your plate and his in hand. And since you haven’t gotten the reaction you wanted, you keep yourself plastered on the table.

“I’m still eating my eggshells,” Sarah complains.

“You got seven minutes.” Your dad tells her.

“Your t-shirt is inside out,” Sarah then points out.

“Shit,” your dad curses as he walks back to the table to pick you off the chair. “Come on you, let’s get you changed.”

You sniffle and manage to drag out a single tear. “Uncle Tommy laughed at me,” you whine as you hook your arms around his neck, making your dad caress the back of your back head and assure you.

“I’ll talk to him. I liked your song though….Where did you learn it exactly?”

You begin to smile. “Miss Denise, her son Dwayne listens to a lot of songs she doesn’t like. They always fight about it.”

Your dad hums and then does as he says; he helps you get changed before he turns his shirt the correct way. And like all the other times before, he doesn’t fix your hair since he’s in a hurry to leave for work. He just gets you changed, puts your shoes on, and carries you out after he helps you.

“Tommy,” he says and puts you down in the garage. “Can you take her across the street? I’ll load the stuff onto the truck.”

“‘Course,” your uncle Tommy agrees since it is a basic routine already. “Come on now, Sunny,” your uncle says and offers you his hand.

You choose to forget that he laughed at you for now and happily grab your uncle's hand. Once you walk out of the shade the garage provides, you’re immediately greeted. “Morning, Sunny!”

You look over and squint your eyes to block out the sun. “Morning!” You greet the old man back happily.

“You want a biscuit?” He asks.

You shake your head. “Nah, I already ate!”

Your uncle then nudges your arm and whispers. “What do you say?”

You hesitate for a moment before it clicks. “Thank you!” You exclaim and then see your dad pass by so you grin as you remember the special occasion. “Hey, did you know it’s my daddy’s birthday today?! He’s turning thirty-six!” You share.

“No,” the old man exclaims. “Now I know! Happy birthday, Joel.”

You beam and see your dad let out a sigh before he turns to face the neighbor taking in the morning sun and feeding Nana some biscuit. “Thank you,” your dad says whilst your uncle begins to encourage you forward.

“Come on, let’s get you across the street,” he says and as you follow at his side, you peer back one more time to direct your dad a goodbye.

“Goodbye, Daddy!”

Said man peers over his shoulder and waves goodbye. “Goodbye, baby. I’ll see you after work. Your sister is gonna pick you up after she gets home from school, okay?”

You nod and yell out your response. “Okay! Goodbye!”

When you face ahead you skip before you turn to your uncle and ask a passing thought. “Hey, do you think my mommy is in heaven?”

Your uncle Tommy is caught by surprise by your random comment but he doesn’t ignore you. He entertains you. “What do you mean?”

“Mrs Adler says that if we repent for our sins we get to go to heaven with god,” you explain before you grow slightly panicked. “Do you think my mommy is there? Do you think I’ll go? You? Daddy and Sarah?”

Your uncle sighs and without making fun of the neighbor in front of you, he just tries his best to reassure you. “I think that when we all eventually pass we will see each other again. Somewhere. So don’t worry, okay? Just live your life as you are now.”

You sigh with relief and secure your hold around his hand. “Okay. That’s good to hear. Thank you, Uncle Tommy.”

“Of course.” He reassures you.

——

*LATER*

All morning and even now, there have been loud sounds rumbling in the sky. Sirens have been crying all day, and Miss Denise has not missed a moment's coverage of it, which meant you were out of luck because you couldn’t watch cartoons, and since your dad forgot to pack your toys and crayons, you’ve been bored out of your mind.

It’s okay for today though, you’ll forgive him because it’s his birthday, but only this once.

Alas, salvation comes in the form of your sister when she picks you up to take you to The Adler’s house.

“There you girls are,” Mrs Adler greets sweetly as she opens the door, letting you hold onto your backpack straps and hop in the house.

“Sorry,” Sarah offers as she walks in after you.

“I was gettin’ worried.”

“I was getting something for my dad,” Sarah explains as she walks in, while you shrug off your backpack and peel off your sweater as you meet halfway with the Adler’s dog, Mercy.

“Hi,” you greet in a sing-song voice as you pet his head before he moves past you to greet your sister with the same excitement.

“Hi, Mercy,” Sarah greets him too just like you did but ends the interaction short to give her attention to Mrs Adler, so Mercy turns back to you and walks you to the stools against the table.

“Hey, is everything okay?” You hear Sarah ask. “Like, on the news?”

“Like what, hon?” Mrs Adler probes.

“Well, no, there was just a lot of police and stuff on the road today,” Sarah explains to which Mrs Adler gives a response to.

“Well, that’s true every day, innit? People out there need to get right with Jesus. Three nails, plus one cross, equals four-given. I was thinkin’ we’d make some cookies,” she says and immediately steals all your attention.

“Chocolate chip?” You ask with beaming excitement as you watch her walk to the counter.

“Raisin,” Mrs Adler announces with a smile when she reaches the counter, but you can’t find out why she’s happy about making fruit cookies. You surely aren’t excited anymore. It’s a bummer! And you surely don’t fail to express your disappointment to your sister when Mrs Adler turns her back on you.

You scrunch your nose and stick your tongue out in disgust, and Sarah does the same before she walks over to help you on the stool.

“Daddy forgot to pack my things,” you whine and prop your elbow on the table.

Sarah walks to her seat first and then as she’s pulling her backpack off her shoulders she offers a quick solution. “It’s okay, I brought you back up paper and crayons,” she assures you and takes out what she said she had to give it to you. Thus while she does her homework, you work on your next present for your dad; a drawing!

For you, it’s strenuous work because you want every single detail to be perfect and there’s so much creativity pouring in on the paper. Maybe that’s why you get hungry faster, but alas, when the timer alerts everyone that the fruit cookies are ready, that hunger isn't as important.

“You wanna give me a hand?” Mrs. Adler breaks you away from your drawing, making you lift your gray crayon off the paper and look at her with disgust and the need to say no, but your dad has always told you to be nice to old people, so with no other choice in mind, you nod and slide off your chair to reach her side.

“Here,” Mrs Adler says and helps you on a step so you can reach the counter. “Now,” she adds and hands you oven mitts. “Wear them or you’ll get burnt.”

You do as she says and can’t help but laugh as the large oven mitts look funny on your little hands. You try to pretend they’re puppets, but then Mrs Adler hands you a spatula so you can help her unstick the cookies from the pan.

“Hey, Mrs Adler?” You hear Sarah call out before you see her walk into the kitchen. “Could I borrow this?” She asks and shows Mrs Adler a movie box when she reaches the counter.

“Oh!” Mrs Adler exclaims as she takes the movie from Sarah to examine it before giving her an answer.

“Yeah, sure.” She laughs, whilst you lean over and see that it’s some adult movie—“It’s one of Danny’s,” she continues to say as she hands Sarah the movie back, letting you move back to place.

“You know what?” Your sister interjects and makes your curiosity pique. “Our dad’s gonna be back real soon. We should go.”

Without hesitation, you pull the oven mitts off and spin around to hop off the step.

“You sure?” Mrs Adler probes.

Sarah nods. “Yeah.”

You reach your previous spot on the counter and quickly swipe your drawing off the table.

“Well, you girls are takin’ some cookies,” Mrs Adler says, but you can’t be thrilled. And much to your disappointment, Mrs Adler gives you an offer. “You want one now? They’re cool enough to eat.”

Without waiting for a response she walks over to hand you one, and since you don’t want to hurt her feelings, you take it and shoot her a wide smile as you bring it close to your lips. You hope you won’t have to take a bite, but alas, Sarah is packing her stuff in her backpack so you have no other choice but to take a bite.

Luckily Mrs Adler turns around just in time so you spit the cookie out in your hand and stuff it in your pocket. You’ll just have to lie and say you liked it.

“Good?” Mrs Adler asks without a doubt, so you offer her a hum—“Good!” She exclaims and walks off, letting you breathe out.

“Come on, let’s go,” Sarah calls out and reaches for your hand.

Eagerly, before you can be given more fruit cookies, you wipe your hand on your shirt and then take your sister's hand to walk to the door. Yet when you get close, Sarah stops as Mercy begins to whimper.

“What’s wrong with him?” You ask as you look at him with worry.

Sarah is quiet for a moment before she shrugs. “I don’t know,” she says and steals one last look at him before she continues to pull you out. However, you keep looking back at the whimpering dog until you can’t see him anymore.

Once you're out the door you forget all about your concern and instead focus on something else. “I’m hungry,” you point out and rub your stomach as you and Sarah hop off the front step.

“Me too,” Sarah says as she walks you over the grass to wave her hand under the sprinklers. “We can have some leftovers at home.”

And, without a fault once home, you eat and finally get to watch TV while you wait for your dad to come home.

However, waiting turns out to be an eternity. The sun that was once shining from the sky disappears and the moon takes over with the dark sky. The sirens that cried in the morning and afternoon increased and cried at night too, accompanying loud rumbles in the sky. It made for a pretty anxious day, more so with your dad taking forever to get home, but eventually your eyes begin to get heavy so it drifts to the back of your head even if you're determined to wait for your dad.

Thankfully, after a long time, you hear the sound of keys jingling before the door opens and your dad walks in.

“Daddy!” You greet happily and shoot up from the couch.

“Hey, baby,” he greets back as he closes the door behind him. “You’re awake?”

You nod and hop off the couch to run to the kitchen and grab the birthday hats from the table as he talks with Sarah. “You locked the door for once. Good job.”

“Yeah,” you hear Sarah say as you make your way back to the living room—“it’s ten.”

“I know,” your dad says. “They…gave us the wrong size for the headers. That doesn’t mean anything to you guys. I’m sorry.”

“Scooch,” you tell your dad when you reach the couch and he huffs at your comment but makes room for you on the couch regardless.

“Where’s the cake?” Sarah piles on, making you realize at that moment that he in fact didn't bring the chocolate cake he promised.

“Shit,” he groans.

You groan too and shake your head in disapproval.

“C’mon, man,” Sarah sighs with discontent.

“I’ll get us one tomorrow,” your dad assures her as he takes his work boots off.

“Swear, or you don’t get your present,” Sarah adds, stealing your dad's attention and making him look up at her to question her.

“You got me a present?”

“Swear.”

“On my life,” he whispers, making Sarah hesitate for a second before she turns around to grab his gift. Meanwhile, you stand up on the couch right away to watch eagerly.

“You’re not mad at me are you, Sunny?” Your dad asks you as he turns around to look up at you before he wraps his arms around you.

You press your drawing against your chest before you wrap your arms around his neck and beam down at him without hesitation. “Of course not. I can never be mad at you, Daddy,” you comfort him sweetly. “We can have cake tomorrow, or the day after that. Or Mrs Adler can make fruit cake.”

“Fruit cake?” He queries with his brow quirked.

You scrunch your nose in disgust and nod. “Yeah. She made fruit cookies today,” you sigh.

“Gross,” he mumbles before pulling you down to sit you on his lap and press a kiss on your head before you both look over at Sarah as she hands him a small box.

“Wow,” he teases and shows you the box first before he opens it, revealing a watch with a green strap.

“Fixed it for you,” Sarah mentions, causing your dad to glance at her before he looks back at the watch to get it out of the box and bring it to his ear.

“Did you?” He asks her.

Sarah’s eyebrows furrow and she quickly retorts, “what?” before she pulls his hand towards her.

“I don’t hear anything,” he says.

Sarah looks at the watch with concern for a brief second, making your dad laugh. Sarah then eases up as she catches his lie and pushes him back, causing you to stumble back too.

“Hey!” You exclaim.

“That was lame,” Sarah quips. “You’re lame.”

“Yeah, I know,” your dad agrees and grabs tighter onto you so you won’t fall back.

“Where’d you get the money for this?” He asks as he puts on the watch.

“Drugs,” she deadpans. “I sell hardcore drugs.”

“It’s better than what I do,” he mutters.

“It was only twenty dollars,” she explains. “which I stole from you.”

You cover your mouth and gasp with your eyes wide in shock.

Your dad shares a quick teasing look with you before you both point your looks at Sarah.

“I could’ve stolen 60,” she defends herself, “but I put the change back because I’m an honest thief.”

He hums and shares another look with you, making you cross your arms over your chest to then stare her down.

“Besides,” Sarah continues. “It’s the thought that counts. And you were never gonna do it yourself, so.”

Your dad looks back at her and his gaze lingers on her for a moment before he looks at his watch to finish securing it on his wrist. “Thank you,” he mutters.

You let your arms fall and look at Sarah with admiration, catching her soft smile.

“What do you say?” Your dad asks you with a teasing look. “Should we forgive her?”

You meet your older sister's gaze and shoot her a smile before you nod without hesitation. “Yes.”

Your dad scoffs and smirks.

“Why don’t you give Dad your present?” Sarah encourages you, making you slide off your dad's lap to grab the birthday hats off the coffee table.

“Daddy,” you say with a grin and turn to jump on the couch and put a red birthday hat on his head that simply says ‘Happy birthday’ on it—“That’s for you. I have one for…Sarah too…” you trail off and walk around your dad.

When you approach Sarah, she ducks her head so you can put a hat on her head. After that, you place the last hat on your own head. “…And this one's for me!” You exclaim with a smile.

“Oh, wow,” your dad muses and pushes the hat back from his forehead. “We look funny.”

You giggle and nod. “Yeah. I know.”

You then walk around him again to take back your previous spot and show off the drawing you made for him.

“And my last present. A drawing,” you squeal and look down at the paper to point at him drawn with the same red hat on his head and floating off the ground. “That’s you, you’re frowning because that’s what you always do.”

“So true,” Sarah snorts, whilst your dad just scoffs.

“And that’s…a cake,” you point to the tiny brown circle in the middle. “I couldn’t fit thirty-six candles so I just put one.”

You shift your eyes across the page and point to the curly-headed girl who’s taller than your dad. “That’s Sarah,” you point out and then slide your finger to the side. “And that’s me,” you point to yourself holding her hand. “We’re smiling ‘cause you’re gonna blow out the candles and make a wish.”

Sarah giggles and your dad begins to grin before he points at a tiny man next to him with a big smile. “Who’s that?” He asks.

“That.” You point to the tiny man. “…Is Uncle Tommy. He’s tiny because he laughed at me today.”

Your dad snorts in amusement before he narrows his eyes and points to the gray and black swirls that come out of your uncle's smile. “What’s that?” He queries.

You look closer and giggle. “That’s the smoke from his cigarette.”

Your dad chuckles and takes the drawing from you. “Wow, baby, this is amazing, you’re so good!”

You climb on his lap and smile proudly. “You really like it?” You ask and hold your hands together.

Your dad looks down at you and nods with a happy smile on his face. “I love it. Thank you.” He says softly before he leans down to press a kiss on your head.

You clap your hands and grin before you cling onto his neck to hug him.

“Oh! There’s one more,” Sarah adds and turns around to pull out the movie she had brought from the Adler's house.

When your dad sees what it is he immediately gets excited and takes it from her.

“Borrowed it from the Adler’s,” Sarah shares as your dad looks at the movie of a ninja and some guy.

“Oh, this is the one with the deleted scenes,” your dad points out with amazement.

“Yeah, imagine how bad those have to be. C’mon.” Sarah nudges him. “Pop it in. While it’s still your birthday.”

Your dad holds onto you as he gets off the couch and puts the movie on. When he returns to the couch to change the TV, Sarah gets closer to him and cuddles at his side whilst you cuddle yourself at his other side.

“Don’t fall asleep,” he warns you and Sarah.

“‘Course, I won’t, it’s too riveting,” Sarah says.

You shake your head. “I won’t either,” you assure him.

Nevertheless, once the movie begins to play it fails to grab your attention, so it doesn’t take long for you to finally give in to the sleep that had been lurking already. All you knew before you fell asleep was that you were holding onto your dad's arm and resting your head on his shoulder. The next thing you know, you’re being startled awake by more loud noises rumbling in the sky and bright lights flashing over your eyes.

Neither your dad nor Sarah are with you anymore. You’re not in the living room either. You’re actually in your room, on your own bed, alone, so since you’re frightened by the commotion like you’re scared of nightmares and the shadows in the corner of your room, you get out of bed and run to your dad’s room.

However, when you walk in he’s not in bed. “Daddy?” You call out in a quivering voice, but get no answer and see no movement in bed so you slowly walk in and part your lips again. “Daddy?”

Once again there’s no response and when you approach his bedside you know why, it’s because he’s not in bed.

Still, you intend to climb in but another light flashes outside that scares you right over to Sarah’s room. And unlike your dad, your sister is in her bed so after you carefully close the door behind you, you tiptoe over and climb in her bed.

When you get under her sheets she probably feels you because right away, without a fault, she wraps her arm around you and pulls you close to her.

Now she may not be your dad, but she is one of your favorite people so she still brings you comfort. She still makes you feel calm. Enough so that you fall asleep again in her arms.

——

*LATER THAT NIGHT*

“…come on, babygirl…”

The soft murmurs of a familiar voice travel through your ear, but it tunes out quickly as you remain half asleep, thinking that the voice you hear and the sensation of being carried is all a part of some dream.

“…hey, I have her. Let’s go. Come on…”

The voice gets louder and second by second you begin to grasp that you’re not asleep anymore.

“…Denise, you get back inside the house! You lock your doors! Now!”

Your eyes start to flutter open and the first thing you see through your blurry sight is the outside of your house from inside the truck.

“C’mon, c’mon, get in!”

You drift your eyes to the side and catch the blurry sight of your dad climbing inside the truck.

“Daddy?” You ask groggily as you wipe your eyes.

In that immediate second your dad looks back with his eyes wide and full of fear you can easily detect.

“It’s okay, baby,” he tries to assure you. “We’re just going away for a bit, okay?”

“Okay,” you whisper and drop your hands. You then blink and spot your uncle Tommy driving, so you instinctively look for your sister, but the sight of the Adler’s outside their house as your uncle drives by steals your attention. That’s why you catch them walking toward the car in their pajamas and with something staining their clothes.

“Daddy?” You call out curiously. “Why is Mr—”

“Hey, look at me,” he cuts you off and snaps his head back, causing you to do as he said. “Just look at me, okay, baby? Sarah, get your seatbelt on and then help your sister.”

It’s easy to catch the fear in his voice not only because he’s raised his voice, but because you can detect it and it immediately makes you feel fear in your heart.

“Jesus Christ, Joel!”

You gasp softly at the shout and try to look back, but Sarah then calls for your attention. “Hey, you want to help me grab your straps.”

You blink and meet her gaze, feeling relief until you catch the same fear on her face even as she tries to comfort you as she helps you strap yourself onto your seat.

“Okay,” you mumble and reach your left hand back to put your hand through the strap before you pull it forward and hand it to Sarah so she can buckle you in.

In the moment sirens then drive by, flashing their bright red and blue lights and stealing your attention out the window.

“Daddy—”

“We don’t know,” your dad cuts Sarah off.

“They’re saying it’s a virus…” you hear your uncle Tommy input, so you slowly look over at him, noticing an empty backpack on the car floor by your feet in the meanwhile.

“…Some kind of parasite.” Your uncle Tommy finishes saying and you finally try to decipher what he means.

“Is it from terrorists?” Sarah asks, but you can’t understand. All you can do is listen but you can’t find meaning in their words—no, actually, you do understand the fear it makes you feel.

“We don’t know,” your dad interjects.

“Are we sick?” Sarah continues to ask, making your eyes widen and your heart beat faster.

“No,” Your dad assures your sister as he also looks back at her. “Of course not.”

His words comfort you even if you don’t understand the grand scheme of things.

“Why did things blow up?” Sarah continues.

Yet she gets no answer. Your uncle speaks but not on the matter. “No cellphone, no radio,” he says and turns off the static that had begun to annoy you. “Minute ago, newsman wouldn’t shut up.”

“How do you know?”

“What?” Your dad probes Sarah’s question.

“How do you know we’re not sick?”

Again? Why is she asking that again?

Unless….

“We’re sick?” You interject panicked.

Your dad looks back and meets Sarah’s gaze before he looks over at you and shakes his head. “No, we’re not sick.”

You blink and swallow thickly out of the fear gnawing at your heart.

“They’re saying it’s mostly people in the city,” your uncle adds. “It’s why they got the highway blocked off.”

You blink again and as you look out the front window you catch a bright burning fire swallowing a house whole.

“God,” your uncle mutters. “That’s Jimmy’s place.”

As you pass by you lean in closer to the window beside you and watch the blazing flames, seeing nothing but a great angry monster that destroyed the house, and that wants to eat you and everything else.

“Daddy, what’s going on, I’m scared,” you whisper in a quivering voice and with your eyes brimming with tears.

Said man looks back and reaches his hand over to pat your knee. “It’s okay, baby, we’re gonna be okay,” he assures you, making your eyes linger on him before you nod slowly as you believe him.

“Okay,” you whisper and grab onto your seat straps.

“The Adlers would take Nana into the city,” Sarah adds. “To the hospital for stuff.”

“That’s right,” your dad agrees. “They would. That’s probably why.”

Are they sick? Is that why they were outside?

“But…you’d have to go a lot…right?”

“We’re fine,” your uncle assures Sarah. “Trust me.”

Sirens echo from outside, but when you peek out the window all you see is darkness, shadows, and monsters lurking within them.

“Sarah,” you mumble and look at your sister sitting beside your car seat. “Can you hold my hand?”

Your sister looks at you and nods with a very faint smile on her lips. “‘Course,” she whispers and reaches over to wrap her hand around yours.

You smile softly, but it doesn’t last because that’s when you catch people outside on the street waving and calling for help.

“What are you doin’?” Your dad spats as the car slows down.

“Got a kid, Joel,” your uncle Tommy points out, making you notice a small kid probably around your age hugging his mom.

“So do we. Keep driving.”

“We could put them in the back.”

Regardless of Sarah’s suggestion the car speeds up and the man cries out louder. Now rather than looking back, you look between your dad and your uncle.

“Somebody else’ll come along,” you hear your dad whisper, but you still wonder why your dad wasn’t nice enough to let the strangers in the car with you.

Nevertheless, after a few seconds of quiet, your uncle exclaims, making your shoulders jump. “Fuck! Everybody had the same fuckin’ idea.”

You lift your eyes off Sarah’s hand and see that you’re now driving to the freeway. You also see a sea of red lights from the hundreds of cars that are not moving. Some cars even try to go the wrong way which is why they almost crash into your car and make you close your eyes to avoid seeing them as they flash in your eyes.

“I can’t get through this,” your uncle Tommy says.

“All right, all right. Let’s think it through, we’ll think it through,” you hear your dad say.

“Fuck!”

“All right, take the field. We cut across and we pick up on the west side.”

“Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.” you hear your uncle agree. “West, west, all right. All right, hang on.”

The car ride begins to get bumpy and out of curiosity you open your eyes to check out what's going on, seeing that you’re driving on grass now and driving to some place with a lot of lights.

“Oh, shit!” Your uncle curses. “Fuckin’ army.”

“Isn’t that good?” Sarah asks.

“It’s good for them,” your uncle responds right away. “But that’s the highway we’re tryin’ to get to.”

You can’t find any meaning to what they’re discussing. You can see the commotion, but none of it gets rid of your fear, it’s all so overwhelming.

Eventually, you see that you’re driving away from all the big lights, but no matter how far you go the noises don’t go away. Plane engines roar in your ears as they fly incredibly low, rows of cars speed by, and eventually, people run by screaming. All of it making your fearful thoughts heighten, your head spin, and your chest hurt whilst your breathing quickens. You couldn’t even find solace in Sarah next to you.

You try to close your eyes to block out everything that you see, everything you hear, but just as you try, lights flash at your side, and when you look over, a car almost crashes at your side of the car, making you scream and cover your ears.

“Daddy!” You cry out. “I wanna go home!”

“It’s okay baby, just keep your eyes closed, okay?” He says and pats your knee again.

You don’t answer this time because his words and his touch can’t calm you down or keep your head from hurting. Thus you keep trying to squeeze your eyes tighter.

However, that doesn’t block out all the shouting from outside, or your dads yelling. You can hear it all booming in your ears until suddenly something cuts it all off, something louder sounding behind you. It even rumbles the car, and when you look back you see an airplane approaching the car.

“Dad!” Sarah yells out before you cry out too.

“Daddy?!”

As the plane gets close you slap your hands over your ears again and try to call out for your dad again, but then…there's nothing.

——

You hear the distant sound of your name and feel the sound of your groan rumbling in your throat just like you feel inklings of pain all over your body.

You can also hear flames burning, but it’s all dark…

This must be a dream. You’re on Sarah’s bed, having a nightmare.

Right?

Your name is called out again and this time you recognize your dad. That’s him, he’s back.

Thus your eyes flutter open, but instead of seeing Sarah’s room, you see the car again. However, now everything is upside down; Sarah, your dad, your uncle, and the streets.

You also feel stuck and feel the pain heighten.

“Daddy?” You whimper and begin to pant. “It hurts.”

Your dad sighs in relief and reaches his hand out, but he can’t grab you. “Don’t move,” he warns softly. “Don’t move. Your uncle Tommy is gonna help you, okay?”

You keep your eyes glued on him and nod frantically. “Okay,” your voice quivers as tears roll down your cheeks.

Soon thereafter, when your dad drifts his attention away you realize that it’s quiet. There’s finally no more yelling, or loud planes. There’s nothing but a ringing in your ears that slowly fades away, and when it’s all deafeningly quiet you try to check on Sarah, but just as you catch sight of your dad crawling towards her, the door beside you opens and you see your uncle Tommy.

“Hey, Sunny,” he says in a soft voice. “I'm gonna help you out, okay? Hold onto me,” he instructs and then crawls to you to put one hand under your arm while he uses the other one to try and unbuckle your restraints. Meanwhile, you do as he says and wrap your arms around his neck. Alas, just as he tries to pull off your restraints a sharp burning pain suddenly pierces you. “Ow! Ow!” You cry out.

Your uncle's eyes meet yours and he quickly tries to comfort you. “I'm sorry, I’m sorry, the restraints are cutting you, I’m sorry,” he says and continues to pull, only causing more pain until finally the sharp pain disappears and leaves a burning pain as you feel weightless.

“Hold on tight,” your uncle says and pulls you towards him before he grabs the backpack from the floor and then crawls outside.

Once you’re out from under the car, your uncle puts you down on the ground and you see that the fires are in fact true. They aren’t just a part of your mind. They burn all around…

“Look at me,” your uncle startles you. “Don’t look anywhere else, okay?”

You shut your mouth and curl your hands into fists as you nod and try not to shed any more tears.

“Joel, how you doin’ over there?!” Your uncle shouts as he grabs your hand and yanks you to him.

“Sarah,” you hear your dad yell, “her leg is hurt.”

Your heart sinks at the sound, but you also feel relieved to hear from your dad again.

“I'll hold onto, Sunny,” your uncle immediately offers.

“You can do that?” Your dad asks.

“‘Course I can,” your uncle reassures your dad before he says your name, causing you to meet his gaze again—“I need you to climb on my back and put your legs through the backpack straps, okay? When you’re inside I need you to wrap your legs around my waist and your arms around my neck and keep them wrapped, okay? Don’t you dare let go, ever, okay?” He instructs as he swings on the empty backpack.

You sniffle and nod quickly whilst you ignore the bright fires and the people that lay on the ground. Once your uncle has the backpack secured, he picks you up and you climb onto his back to put each leg through a backpack strap and sit as if it was those baby carriers moms wear at the parks.

“Hold onto me,” your uncle repeats.

You nod and cling onto him, managing to see everything now that you’re on his back; the fires from all the cars crashed in the street, broken windows, open stores, bodies, and…red blood. Real blood. Up to this point, blood only existed when you got cuts; it hurt, but your dad always made it disappear. Blood also existed in the movies, but you knew it was fake, it was never puddled and gushing out of people.

“Where’s my daddy?” You ask in a shaky voice.

“He’s helping Sarah,” your uncle assures you before he turns around to face the truck that you notice is flipped upside down and broken like some others.

“We gotta get off the street!” Your uncle yells and not even seconds later a police siren screeches out.

“Shit! Shit!” Your uncle cries and runs away. Albeit he doesn’t make it far because he then gets thrown on his knees when the car crashes into the truck and triggers an explosion that forces you to close your eyes and squeal.

“Tommy?!” You hear your dad yell before he also shouts your name.

“Daddy!” You call back as your uncle gets up and you finally snap your eyes open to look for your dad since he didn’t come to you. That’s when you see the fire enveloping both the truck and the police car now.

“Daddy?!” You call out again with more panic and you hope he’ll come to your aid, but instead, he calls out your name and then follows with your uncle's name.

“Tommy?!”

Said man approaches the cars on fire to crouch and shout. “Head to the river! I’ll find a way.”

You lower your head and see your dad past a gap. “Daddy?” You call out in a pleading voice, making his eyes snap to you at that moment and interject instead of trying to get you.

“You listen to your uncle Tommy, okay?” He says. “Sarah and I will see you again in a bit, okay?!”

You squint to try and see your sister, but you don’t catch a glimpse of her. Much to your disappointment.

“Get her outta here, Joel!” Your uncle yells.

“You take care of her!” Your dad shouts back. “Keep her safe!”

Your uncle nods. “I will. Go!”

Without waiting a moment longer your uncle Tommy begins to walk away towards the bodies, towards the fire, towards the people, and…towards...the…people eating other people.

“Uncle Tommy,” you gasp, and more tears run down your cheeks. “Why…why,” you stammer as your eyes widen in horror. “Is that man biting that other—”

“Hey, you close your eyes,” he cuts you off. “Close your eyes,” he repeats before he makes a turn into a store, causing you to fail to do what he demands of you to keep your eyes on the man eating the other man as if your eyes were stuck on them because you can’t grasp for a single second why they’d do that.

That’s all that occupies your mind, besides, the horror that paralyzes you.

It’s why you close your eyes after the fact, hoping it will all be a nightmare, hoping that when you open your eyes again you’ll wake up next to your sister or your dad. Alas, when you open your eyes you just see bright white lights on the ceiling and shelves of food. Behind you, there’s still fire, and people eating other people. And once you get past the cash register your uncle comes to a sudden halt to make a sharp turn and point his gun at a woman you see bleeding out on the floor.

“Is she gonna eat us?” You stammer and keep your eyes on the lady as your uncle slowly walks back.

“No.” He shakes his head. “No. Just close your eyes…”

His words trail off as from the corner of your eye you catch a tall skinny man twitching in between one of the aisles. “Uncle Tommy,” you whisper. “There’s one—”

Before you can finish, however, the man snaps his head over to look straight at you for a second before he breaks into a sprint towards you, causing you to let out a piercing scream, and making your uncle not hesitate to try and run to the back door.

Nevertheless, the lady that had been on the ground suddenly gets up and darts towards you too, so you open your mouth to try and scream, but not a single sound escapes out of your mouth because of the terror, so instead, you proceed to squeeze your eyes shut and press your head against your uncle's shoulder as he runs into the back room.

“Hold on! Hold on!” He yells as you feel him running.

Albeit he suddenly comes to a sudden halt just as you feel the cold breeze hit your body. He then moves his leg up and groans before there’s a thud. You want to open your eyes to see, but then in that moment, suddenly something grabs you by your hair and yanks you back, forcing you to open your eyes and cry out at the top of your lungs.

“Uncle Tommy!” You screech and claw your nails in his shoulders as you’re getting pulled out of the backpack by the lady from before. You see her as you look up in horror and notice that when she leans down and opens her mouth, something weird is coming out, so you cry out again. “Uncle Tommy!”

A shot then goes off before in a flash of a second your uncle swings his elbow back to smack the woman in the face, causing her to let you go, and let you slide back inside the backpack. After that, your uncle then walks to her and smashes the end of his gun on her face until she doesn’t move anymore.

“Are you okay?” Your uncle asks and doesn’t waste a second to run out of the store, trapping the skinny boy inside. When he runs into a dark alley he follows up with another question. “She didn’t bite you?”

With tears streaming down your cheeks you shake your head. “No,” you say between pants. “No. I’m okay. Can we go find my daddy now?”

“Yeah,” he mumbles and slows down to a jog. “Let’s go find your dad and sister.”

Once you’re out of the alley you come across a grass field and immediately hear gunshots echo before there’s screams. You don’t think of it at the moment. You don’t think it’s your dad and sister because you don’t actually see anyone until your uncle climbs down a small hill and shoots someone in a uniform.

When that man falls down you then see your dad and Sarah lying on the ground.

“Dad—”

“Oh God,” your uncle cuts you off.

You watch your dad look back before he crawls over to Sarah, while your uncle gets closer. And once he does approach them, you see Sarah still lying on the ground. You hear her panting and crying, and hear and watch your dad trying to help her.

“Move your hand, baby. Move your hand.”

You lift your head and see your dad press his hands against the blood that comes out of her.

“Sarah,” you call out softly with growing concern.

Your dad tries to help her up, but she begins to scream in protest, making you whimper.

“I know, baby, I know, I know, I know, I know. I know it hurts.”

She keeps crying and panting as she grabs him, but she doesn’t get up.

“Uncle Tommy,” you whisper. “What’s happening?”

Yet you’re ignored and the air is filled with your dad's voice again. “I know, I know,” your dad keeps repeating himself as he keeps pressing his hands on her body. “I know this hurts. You’re gonna be okay.”

You blink and slowly begin to grasp that she’s crying because she’s hurting.

“Sarah,” you whisper quietly and feel your throat tighten as your eyes sting again.

“All right, baby, baby, baby, listen to me. I gotta get you up, okay? I gotta get you up. All right? You come on.” Your dad begins to lift her up and her screams become more intense, hurting your heart and filling you with concern.

“You come on. I know, baby. No, no. I know, I know. I know, I know. I know. I know. Tommy, help me!” Your dad yells and looks back.

“Joel,” your uncle whispers as Sarah then stops moving.

Your dad proceeds to look back at Sarah, and he then begins to cry. “C’mon, baby girl. C’mon, baby girl. I gotta get you up,” you hear your dad say as he cradles your sister in his arms. “Come on. Come on, we’ll get up. C’mon, baby girl. Come on, come—please.”

Your dad then begins to cry louder and it shatters something in you. You don’t fully understand why, but hearing him cry, seeing him hug your older sister, and seeing her not move, shatters your heart.

You know you’re young. You can’t understand most of what’s happening, but you understand that she’s gone.

Yet you don’t try to move. Tears run out of your eyes, but you don’t move. You watch her with tears streaming down your face and tell yourself that she’s going to wake up again, that she’ll get up again.

Sarah is going to wake up again…

——

*20 YEARS LATER*

The sky above is littered with grey clouds, creating a natural dull hue, but providing a good cover so the metal of your weapons don’t reflect around in the woods. Yet that doesn’t stop the metal of your gun from being cold against your fingertips, or the silence from being deafening in your ears, and it doesn’t stop the bitter breeze from nipping at the only bit of flesh that’s exposed; your fingertips.

Alas, when the bottom of your boots breaks a branch that you didn’t catch before, you stop and glance around just in case anyone pops out from the tall greenery that covers the forest floor.

When no one comes out you keep stalking forward until the greenery begins to shake just ahead, making you let go of the pendant around your neck and reach for your pistol holstered on your hip instead.

Yet before you can point your gun you mock a bird's whistle first and wait for a response.

The greenery then stops and you lower your head and wait with your breath held in your chest.

Luckily seconds later there’s a bark, letting you sigh with relief and finally stand to your given height to continue walking ahead.

“Austin,” you call out.

The greenery continues to shake for a moment longer before your black German Shepherd comes out.

“All good?” You ask rhetorically since he can’t really answer. He tries his best though and turns to lead you ahead in a trot.

“We’ll camp just ahead,” you keep talking to your dog. “Then I can take this stupid thing off,” you grumble and pull on the mask around your mouth. “Oh and we can eat,” you finish adding, not catching the way Austin's ears shift suddenly because he keeps trotting through the woods. That is until he suddenly halts in his tracks and perks his ears up.

That's when, without hesitation, you stop too, and glance around. Yet you don’t see anyone, nothing moves, there's just wind, but he’s never wrong so you reach for your rifle strap and slide it off your shoulder. You then raise it and slowly scan the branches above until a gunshot rings and Austin falls to the ground without a single pained whimper.

“Austin,” you whisper in disbelief and lower your gun, catching the blood pouring out of your dog's head, meaning one thing that you deny.

“Austin,” you call out again and this time when he doesn’t move you begin to pant. “No, no. Tsk.” You hiss and then clench your jaw and tighten your hold around your rifle before you snap your head up to point above where the gunshot had sounded from.

Nevertheless, just as you catch a figure disguised amongst the leaves and the branches, a heavy net falls over you, shoving you to the ground, and trapping you under the rope beside the corpse of your beloved dog.

“Fuck,” you mutter and flip around on your stomach to grab your rifle off the ground. Albeit, then a thump lands beside the net, and a boot presses on your wrist, keeping you from reaching the weapon.

“Tsk, Tsk,” the person above you clicks their tongue. “You should be more careful next time,” a scratchy manly voice says, making you go rigid. “Look up at the sky a bit.”

The man crouches down and pulls the net off your body to grab a cluster of fabric from your hood.

“Let’s see what hides beneath the hood.” He chuckles, making you scoff and begin to wiggle your fingers to try and reach for the knife hidden under your shawl.

When the man pulls the hood off your head, he then quickly grabs you by the back of your head and yanks your head back, forcing you to see his dirt-covered face, and meet his piercing blue-green eyes.

Your face is still partially covered by the mask over your mouth so he grows insatiably curious.

“Hm,” he hums and reaches his long pale finger for the mask to pull it off your mouth, revealing your entire face and the gender you tried to hide for your safety since you’re alone.

“Well, well a woman. Look at her Max. All pretty and shit,” he says with a malicious smirk before he reaches for your chin.

Yet before he can touch you you pull back, making him scoff.

Before he can react with anything else you feel the handle of your knife under your fingertips, so you quickly grasp it and throw your hand up to try and stab his neck, but then the other man you assume is Max whips a wire around your wrists and pulls your hand away from the man above you, causing you to drop your knife.

“She’s brave too. Oh doll face,” the man above you says and hits his chest to clench onto it. “You make my heart yearn.” He snickers and grabs you by your elbow to lift you up, so in that instant you swing your nails across his face and scratch him across his cheek, making him yelp like a little wimp as he steps back.

“Motherfucker,” you spat at his face and then swing your fist across his face, feeling something in his nose crack at impact.

Max tries to pull you back by pulling the wire, but you then reach for your gun holstered at your side and quickly wrap the wire around your hand to pull him before you shoot him in the face.

“That’s for killing my dog bastard,” you sneer and proceed to turn around to face the other man and try to kill him too. Albeit you end up ducking as he shoots his pistol.

The bullet luckily hits the tree behind you, so you then choose to break into a sprint and leave your rifle behind for now—just until you get rid of this man.

You then make it a few paces ahead, but your luck ends there, the moment you pass a wide tree surrounded by bushes, because someone comes out from your left side and tackles you down to the ground, causing you to drop your gun.

“Oof,” you breathe out and feel a dull pain radiate on your side, but you don’t stop. You slap your hand on the dirt and try to push yourself up, but then a large hand grabs you by your arm and you see another man after he flips you on your back. This one is plumper than the others, but he’s still dirty and nasty.

This one also pins your wired hand over your head and does the same with the other one before he wraps the wire around both wrists.

You try to keep squirming and try to kick your feet, but then the man crouches down and keeps you from moving, forcing you to see his older and much rounder face.

“So much trouble,” he mutters in a low gravelly voice. “We were gonna take you to our camp to let some of the others have fun, but you’re trouble. We’ll take you here…” he trails off and reaches down for your pendants.

“Get your fucking dirty fingers off me!” You snap, but he pulls the pendant up regardless.

“A firefly,” he reveals as he sees the insignia engraved on one side. “What a surprise you’re all alone. You're usually traveling in packs.” He scoffs and turns it around to read the name. “Tommy…Miller.” He scoffs and drifts his eyes to you. “Can’t be right. You’re too pretty to be a Tommy.” He winks and lets that pendant go to grab the other one.

That’s when you scrunch your nose in disgust and slowly proceed to drag your leg back to try and knee his ass, but all of sudden something sharp stabs your leg, making you groan in pain.

“I have had enough of your tactics,” the same scratchy voice from a moment ago surprises you before he shows his face above the older man’s head. “Go on Mike, show her how to behave.”

The older man snickers and lets your pendant go before he can read your name, and instead reaches for your shawl to rip it off your body.

“No.” You groan and try to swing your body from side to side, but the man just grips your chin and shoves your head down.

“Behave!” He bellows, spitting drops of saliva on your face, so you close your eyes and groan in disgust without stopping your resistance.

Nevertheless, he proceeds to lower his hand down your body to unhook the holster belt from your hip.

“No, please,” you plead, feeling your heart pound in your chest, and feeling your head begin to spin with fear.

The man then reaches for your pants, but just before he can do anything else, a gunshot echoes and the man behind the older man drops, causing the older man to let you go and snap his head back.

He parts his lips to try and speak, but before he can utter a word another gunshot goes off and hits him through the head, spilling drops of blood over your face, and making his body begin to fall over.

You catch his movement and quickly, with a shot of adrenaline, you drag yourself back and get out of the older man’s way before he can fall on you.

“Fuck, fuck,” you say between pants, and even if you’re in pain, terrified, and still shaken up with disbelief, you flip around to quickly get your pistol from the ground before you shove yourself on your knees.

“Jace get the wire,” you hear someone say behind you, so you ignore the pounding pain from your leg and crawl forward until a tall young man who seems to be around your age gets in front of you. He’s not dirty like the other three, but he’s not clean either. He also doesn’t have a gun or wear camouflage.

Still, you can never be sure with people. They’re worse than the infected because their actions are unpredictable, unlike the infected.

“You touch me and I’ll put a bullet through your eyes,” you sneer and point at his hand.

“Whoa, whoa, girl,” the guy, Jace says and raises his hands. “I just want to help. We just saved you!” He exclaims with panic.

You scoff. “So what? Want me to get on my…” you trail off as you catch what you’re going to say and just keep pointing.

“Hey,” another voice cuts in before you hear his footsteps approach from your side. “We’re not going to hurt you.”

You keep your gun on Jace, but snap your eyes to the side, catching a man with dark skin and even darker eyes. He's also a bit shorter than Jace, but he has a better-shaped mustache and a better goatee than his friend. He also…has a nicer face. He’s cute and more muscular.

“I’m Henry,” he introduces himself and points at his chest with one hand whilst he raises the other hand to show that he means no harm.

“That’s Jace, my friend.” He proceeds to say and then points at him, but you don’t bother looking at Jace anymore. You hold Henry’s gaze and he holds yours.

“Those guys,” he points to dead men on the ground, “…are hunters from the city. We have a camp nearby, and we mean no harm. We’re just trying to survive like you. Let us help you.”

You hesitate and keep your eyes on him, finding yourself being able to trust him with his words alone. After all, you’ve seen the eyes of evil men and he doesn’t have that look at all.

“Fine,” you mutter and lower the gun, letting them drop their guard and their hands. “But if you turn out to be some kinda gang I’ll shoot you first.”

Henry scoffs softly, “fair.” He then begins to approach you and you let him.

However, before you can meet his gaze as he crouches down in front of you to help you with the wire around your wrists, you look at Jace. “I’m sorry,” you tell him with sincerity.

Jace parts his lips in surprise and lets out a small huff before he retorts, “It’s okay, don’t worry about it.”

You hum and drift your eyes back to Henry to finally give him your name.

When he catches it slipping past your lips he lifts his eyes off the wire and the corner of his lips pulls to a faint smile before he points to the pendants hanging from a silver chain necklace around your neck. “Firefly, huh? We’ve been looking for them.”

You scoff and lower your gaze to watch him unwrap the wire. “I used to be one a long time ago. I’m sorry to disappoint.”

Henry shrugs. “Don’t worry about it, we’ll keep looking.”

You hum and lift your gaze at the same time he does and part your lips to say something, but you then catch the sound of additional footsteps approaching and quickly look over, catching a little boy that has Henry's complexion.

They are telling the truth then. They really mean no harm. If they were lying they wouldn't be carrying a little boy with them.

“That’s my brother,” Henry says. “Sam.”

You offer the boy a gentle smile, but he just looks at you up and down before he gets closer to Henry.

“And, it’s off,” Henry assures you as he finally frees your hands from that sharp wire that was cutting your skin, letting you sigh in relief and rub your wrists for a second before you fall back on your ass to look at the wound on your leg.

“Fuck,” you murmur and lean forward to pull your pant leg up. “Fuck.”

“We have some stuff at camp. You can patch yourself up there.” Henry interjects.

“I have stuff in my backpack,” you counter stubbornly and drop your pant leg to twist around and look at the dead men.

“Well regardless, you can patch yourself up at camp, we need to go, it's going to get dark soon,” Henry adds.

The stupid man you punched has your rifle, fucker…

You push yourself to your feet, but it hurts too much to add weight to it now that the adrenaline isn’t pumping in your blood.

“Here,” you hear Henry say before you feel his hand wrap around your arm. “Come on, get up,” he whispers as he helps you to your feet. “You’re okay, you can walk.”

You grunt as the pain pierces you harder and quickly grab his wrist to keep yourself from falling.

“You’re okay,” he reassures you as he finally gets you to stand. “There you go.”

You huff out in frustration to your own wound, but you can’t find it in yourself to be cold, so as you keep your hand on his wrist for…support (not because he’s warm), you drift your eyes to the side and glance at his hand around your arm first before you look up and meet his gaze. “Thank you,” you tell him softly.

He holds your gaze and swallows thickly before he hums as a response.

You let your gazes and touch linger, ignoring the curious stare from his friend Jace. And after a moment you finally pull away first and immediately limp towards the man with your rifle to yank it off his body.

“Fucker,” you grimace before you spit on his face. You then grab your holster belt off the ground and hook it back around your hip before picking up your shawl off the ground that is now ripped. Great.

Whatever, it can still work. Thus you throw it over your shoulder and then turn to face the direction you had come from.

“Gimme a minute,” you tell the guys, and don’t wait for them to say anything before you limp towards Austin.

“Hey, it’s not really safe out there!” You hear Jace shout.

You nod. “Yep!” You yell back. “But you’re gonna help me right?!” You retort.

“I…I guess?!”

You scoff in amusement and notice that they keep their distance, but don’t leave. They just respect what you want.

Once you reach your dog your eyes well with tears and you fall on your knees by his body. “I’m sorry,” you tell him and reach over to close his eyes. “I’m sorry I couldn't get you home. You were good though,” you whisper and slowly caress his side just the way he liked it. “You were a good boy ‘till the end.”

You press your head against him and muster a wobbly smile. “Ima go home soon, okay? I promise. Rest easy buddy.”

You then press a kiss on his head and drag your hand to his neck to untie the orange bandana and wrap it around your wrist.

——

*LATER*

“So new girl…” a young girl who’s a part of the group says. “Tell us, where are you from? I can’t place your accent.”

You look up from the fire burning away the logs and meet her blue gaze. “Austin Texas,” you reveal. After all, the group you were brought to has been nice so far and most of them are young. There are some older people amongst them, but Jace said while he helped you patch up, that after FEDRA was taken down they agreed to help the younger ones amongst them escape first.

“Of course, that was my home before the outbreak,” you continue to share. “I’m from Wyoming now, a small town called Jackson.”

You’re hesitant to tell them about your community and about all you have back home. No matter how nice they are, you still can’t bring yourself to fully trust them. It’s just a survival instinct.

Then again Jackson is still far, most of them won’t survive the journey. Actually, maybe none of them will. Maybe not even you will.

“A camp?” Jace probes.

You drop your gaze and hesitate for a moment before you nod slowly. “Something like that,” you say and avoid telling the truth.

If there was one thing you liked about what Joel taught you, it was this, being cautious with strangers. Albeit you aren’t cold to them like he was with people, so as your leg heals up you’ll watch them, and if they’re actually good then you’ll take after your uncle Tommy and be nice.

“What are you doing all the way out here then?” Henry cuts in, causing you to lift your eyes to look at him across the campfire and catch him using his hands to also…talk.

“If you’re all the way from Wyoming then what are you doing here in Kansas City?” He asks and keeps moving his hands as if he’s communicating in sign language, a language you’ve read about in books.

“I felt,” you scoff and shrug. “…rebellious I suppose.”

You then begin to smirk and add, “I wanted to see the country too. I saw it, and now I’m on my way back home.”

“Must be nice,” the girl from before interjects. Yet before you can look over at her, you notice that Sam is paying close attention to what Henry is signing—actually, now that you think about it he hasn't talked whatsoever.

He probably can’t.

“To have a place to call home and to go back to,” the girl finishes, letting Jace bounce off her.

“Yeah man, I don't know why you’d leave.”

Besides, what you just told them, there’s also…other reasons, but you won’t share that with them. Thus you sigh and smile softly at the ground. “I’ll tell you what I told my uncle and my mama Maria…I don’t know when I’m going to die…it might be tomorrow, next week, or years from now. It will happen though, and I don’t want to just know these walls. I need to live for myself, not be protected all the time…I want to see the ugly and the beautiful. I want to know it before I die.” You finish and look up, catching Henry’s attentive gaze.

The fire reflects the softness in his eyes, but not the awe he has for your words. You can’t read that.

“Well shit,” an older Asian man says. “When you put it that way.”

You briefly glance at the man and scoff softly.

“No fireflies for you then?” Jace asks.

You shake your head. “Nope. I’ve been away from home for far too long. My family is waiting...” You trail off and sigh.

Fuck…

“My camp is pretty big,” you begin to say regardless of your previous caution. “It’s strong too, y’all can come with me if y’all want.” You say and look at the six people gathered around the campfire. “I know we can take y’all in. There’s more kids,” you mention and look at Sam and Henry. “Food. Power…”

The eyes of the people around you widen whilst they also shift in their seats at the sound of your comment.

“It’s far from here, but together we’ll be strong,” you continue. “Think about it. Once my leg is all healed I’m leavin’.” You finish saying and glance around the group again, noticing that now neither of them says anything. There’s hopeful looks. It's especially noticeable in Sam's eyes, but they all ponder your invitation because it is a big risk.

However, it’s the thinking they fall into that leaves the group silent and kinda awkward. Thankfully the girl from before breaks it once she can’t take it. “It’s almost lights out, why don’t we finish with a story?” She asks and looks around, but no one volunteers.

Now you are pretty tired, but this, telling stories, is your thing.

“I can go,” you offer and sit up with a growing smile. “Now, I don’t like to toot my own horn…”

You do.

“…but I do produce and act in my own plays back at home, so.” You grin. “I’ll go.”

You clear your own throat and look around at all the faces before starting. “It is about home, so if you are thinking of comin’ with me, think hard,” you say dramatically before you finally start.

“Now, back in Wyoming, there’s stories of something, shadows, and creepy crawlers that lurk in the woods. People call them Skinwalkers. I never believed it, but once when I was out on patrol with my uncle at night, as I was lookin’ through my scope I saw the trees move.” You lick your lips and lower your voice.

“I zoomed in, but nothin’. No infected and no human. Just nothin’. I told my uncle, but when he looked, nothin’. Thinkin’ it was just my own mind I kept patrolling…until suddenly right. By. My ear there’s a whisper of my name,” you whisper and lean your face closer to the fire. “I called out, thinkin’ it was my uncle Tommy, but he looks at me like I was crazy and says, I didn’t call ya,” you mock his voice.

“I didn't believe him, he likes to play jokes with me,” you continue in your normal voice and look around at all the amused faces. “Yet I didn’t say anything back, I shrugged it off and kept doin’ my job. It was quiet for a few seconds, but that’s when I felt a chill crawling up my neck. It was summer, and it was warm at night, so it wasn’t because I was cold, it was somethin’ else. Somethin’ blowing on my neck. I look back,” you say and act it out. “Nothin’. I look ahead and there in the woods are red eyes staring right back at me.” You gasp and swallow thickly, pretending to be frightened.

“I grab my rifle and look through the scope, but nothin’. It’s clear. At this point,” you say and shake your head. “I get close to my uncle, but I don’t tell him anything. I keep lookin’, and as I lower the scope there they are again, bright, blazing red eyes, closer now. And again…my name is said. I shake my head, close my eyes, rub em’, and when I open them again they’re closer, and that chill wraps my entire body now.”

Jace beside you swallows thickly with fear, while the girl tries to look unbothered, but you can see her go rigid. The older people don’t seem bothered but they are entertained, and Henry seems unfazed. Sam, however, looks invested.

All their reactions make you happy.

“…I quickly look through my scope to check it out,” you continue. “Make sure I’m not goin’ crazy, but I hear my name by my ear this time. It’s a whisper. The voice of my sister who’s been gone a long time...” You swallow thickly and shed a fake tear. “I begin to shake, I want to turn to my uncle, but all I can do is tremble. I can’t move my head. I can’t speak. My gun falls….and there…right in front of me is…is…” you prolong the end as they’re all holding their breaths and grab a pinch of gunpowder from your pocket to throw it at the fire.

“Nothin’!” You exclaim as the fire sparks and the flames jump up, making some people gasp and others laugh nervously. They all jumped though, you saw it. However, when you look ahead, there’s a smile from Sam. Even if he jumped too, he grins.

Henry notices his brother's gesture and scoffs in disbelief before he looks back at you and meets your gaze with a soft smile and that same soft gaze.

“Don’t worry,” you say and then meet Sam's gaze with an assuring smile. “It’s not real. I am scared shitless of night patrols though so I avoid them,” you chuckle. “But regardless, please do consider comin’ with me. If my uncle hears I spooked y’all away, I’ll get scolded for sure.” You say and sit back, making sure to pat Jace’s shoulder as he tries to catch his breath.

“That was a good one,” he mutters nervously.

You look over at him and smile brightly. “Why thank you. I love to hear that.”

“Okay, well thank you,” an older woman interjects. “I for one loved the shift in the atmosphere that you brought darling. We needed it.”

You offer her a soft smile and bow your head as a thank you.

“Now it’s lights out. Henry, you have the night shift today,” the lady continues. “Sam can stay with me. I'll keep an eye out on him.”

Henry gets up and nods in agreement. He then turns to say something to his brother, and Sam seems to look hesitant, but he gives in and stays as Henry begins to walk away.

“Henry!” Jace calls out and shoots up.

Said man stops and peers back to wait for what his friend needs to say.

“Why don’t you take the new girl,” Jace suggests.

What?

You look around in confusion.

“Show her how things are done,” Jace continues and grabs your arm to force you to your feet, adding a sharp pain to your leg where your wound is. “Y’know, so she can pull her own weight until she leaves.”

You sigh, but catch Henry glance at you before he directs his next words at you. “Only if you want. You’re hurt, you can rest.”

It’s a new place, surrounded by strangers, you’ll go in your tent but you won’t sleep, so…fuck it. Besides, your mind and heart are pushing you to accept.

“Fuck it,” you respond and pull away from Jace. “I’ll go with you. I won’t sleep anyway,” you say and then peek over at Jace and catch him smirking. When he notices your stare he just offers you a simple tightlipped smile.

If you didn’t know better, you might say he’s up to something…

Hm.

You grab your rifle and backpack from the ground and catch up to Henry as he waits for you where he stopped.

“It isn’t far,” he mutters and puts his hands in his pockets as he continues walking with you at his side. “And there are definitely no skinwalkers, so you don’t have to worry.”

You chuckle and nod softly. “‘Kay,” you say and play along. “That's a fuckin’ relief.”

Henry scoffs softly and briefly glances at you from the corner of his eyes as you take this time, this short silence, to admire the starry sky.

“So,” you interject in the silence and blink to look at Henry. “Tell me, why stay here? In Kansas City, and so close to those hunters too.”

Henry sighs deeply and shrugs. “We’ve been waiting. It’s not so simple with infected and people. Besides, it's not easy finding fireflies.”

You scoff and nod in agreement. “I’ve heard the groups are becoming less and less now. But,” you utter with hope. “You and Sam are welcome to come with me, I have everything mapped out, it isn’t far anymore, we’ll make it there quickly, and with luck, we’ll make it there safely.”

Henry hums and makes a soft left turn towards a run-down treehouse. “Up here,” he points.

As you approach the steps nailed to the tree, you stop and put your hands on your hips as you slowly look up in pain.

“I can give you a boost,” Henry offers. “You shouldn’t put weight on your leg.”

You let out a small sigh and blink to meet his gaze. “I can do it,” you assure him stubbornly and filled with pride. “Just hold this,” you say and slide your rifle off your shoulder to hand it to him.

Henry takes it and just as he was going to try and argue against you, you rub your hands together first and then grab onto the new slabs of wood that don't match the tree house whatsoever. You then lift your uninjured leg and let the other one just dangle as you strain to push yourself up.

Henry folds his arms over his chest and watches you struggle after refusing his help. “How are you doing?” He asks.

You nod and stifle your pained groan. And finally, after a few more seconds, you manage to slap your hands on the floor and use all your upper strength to pull yourself up. It hurts, it hurts like a bitch, but you get on and turn to look down at Henry with a smile.

“Made it.” You let him know and wink at him, catching him scoffing in annoyance before he begins to climb on, causing you to crawl back and ignore all your pain to look out a carved window.

It isn’t easy ignoring the throbbing pain, but when you see the blades of grass flowing against the chilly breeze. When you see the glimmer of the moon's light reflect on those green blades, and hear the song of the crickets below. You can’t help but ignore the bad aching pain.

If you weren’t out here looking for infected and bad people, you’d say it was blissfully peaceful, but, you can’t say so.

“I always wanted a treehouse,” you share when you hear Henry climb inside. “My daddy was building me one actually. He and my uncle would build it on their days off, but then,” you sigh sadly. “It happened and I never got it.”

“I had one,” Henry deadpans as he sits next to you.

You roll your eyes to the side and catch his smirk. “Lucky,” you remark. “What else did you have?”

He begins to smirk and places your rifle down against the window. “A Nintendo. It was red and gorgeous. Got it for my 5th birthday. I had that sucker for a few weeks and then bam had to leave it behind.”

“Sucks,” you whisper. “My sister wanted one too. She never got it though. My daddy said she had no use for that kinda stuff.” You scoff and smile softly. “He probably would’ve gotten it for her though, he was a sucker.”

Henry nods slowly and averts his gaze to watch the field ahead. “Was? Is…your dad gone?”

You shrug. “I don’t know,” you mutter. “Last time I heard of him was two years ago before I left. I haven’t heard a thing since. Knowing how he is though, he’s probably still out there, livin’.”

“Sister?” Henry asks.

Perhaps before, years ago, speaking about Sarah would’ve hurt. It would’ve made you sob, but now…as a 24-year-old, her death doesn’t tear you down as it once did. Her death does ache, you’ll always miss your sister, and you eagerly wait to see her again one day, but speaking her name, and sharing memories doesn’t hurt as badly anymore.

“She passed a long time ago,” you share and drag your uninjured leg up to your chest to rest your chin on your knee. “The day of the outbreak.”

Henry swallows thickly and mumbles, “I’m sorry. I can’t imagine losing a sibling. I can’t imagine losing Sam. I’m sorry.”

You drift your eyes over to him and offer him an assuring smile. “It happened a long time ago, I’ve moved on. Sometimes I’m grateful she didn't get to know this new world,” you continue and look up at the white shining moon. “But when I miss her when I really miss her, I wish she had lived just to be with me. So I admire you, Henry…”

Said man snaps his eyes over to you and you catch his eyes squint slightly in confusion.

“I know I haven’t known you long,” you continue. “But I admire you for looking out for your little brother.” You share and begin to smile, catching his look of disbelief. “I’m the youngest sibling too, so trust me, that little boy looks up to you. You treat him well,” you warn.

Henry scoffs and nods softly. “I always will. Sam is all I have in this world,” he shares quietly. “I can’t lose him.”

You let out a small breath and leave it at that.

The silence that follows is short and not awkward. It is tension-filled but not awkward, but as Henry uses the silence to look out for danger, you use it to think about Joel.

It’s been a long time since you’ve heard about him and it’s been even longer since you’ve actually seen him. Too long perhaps…

Maybe you should have visited him when you passed Boston. Sarah would be so mad that it’s been years.

At least you like to think she’d be upset, the sad truth is you hardly knew who your sister really was. All you know was what she showed you; someone caring, sweet, funny, pretty, and smart, so perhaps she’d be mad at him too, or perhaps not. You’ll never know…

“So, tell me now,” Henry cuts you off from your train of thought. “What do you have in your town?”

You draw in a deep breath and focus on the field. “A lot,” you breathe out. “We have schools, good schools, not those crap military schools. We have…uh,” you begin to smile. “Bars, shops, horses, hot water, chickens and a greenhouse. We have movie nights and parties.” You grin and lift your head off your knee to turn around and face him. “And of course my plays, which I produce and write myself, it’s always a full house,” you show off with a smug smirk. “And a lot of people our age…I mean,” you stammer and squint your eyes. “How old are you?”

Henry meets your gaze and answers without hesitation, “25. What about you?”

You smile. “24. So,” you continue sharing stuff about Jackson. “There’s people our age. Pretty boys and pretty girls. Whatever you’re into,” you say and wiggle your eyebrows, making him smile and scoff in amusement. “We also got our own houses.” You grin. “I mean I do share my house with friends but I have guitars, and nice clothes, which I do miss.” You sigh. “And we have music, I got a record player and cassettes so you got that to look forward to. Your own house. For you,” you say softly now. “And for Sam.”

Henry lowers his gaze and his smile fades. “It’s tempting. It sounds like…heaven almost.”

“I wouldn’t call it that,” you interject and keep your eyes on him.

“Still,” he continues. “It’s tempting. I mean a school for my brother, other kids he can actually be friends with instead of just talking to me,” he scoffs softly. “A place of our own. A community…girls,” he teases and meets your gaze.

You roll your eyes, but you can’t help your faint smile from tugging on your lips. “You don’t have to decide now,” you assure him. “Think about it.”

“No,” he shakes his head. “I want to go. It’s better than taking ourselves to the fireflies, I mean we’ll always be moving with them, at least with you,” he says and holds your gaze with a soft look that makes your heart begin to beat faster. “We can sort of have something stable, even if it’s just for a little while…let me just see the others off and I’ll go with you. That is…if you’ll wait for me?”

You offer him a soft smile and nod softly. “I would,” you mutter softly.

Henry mirrors your smile and for a moment, in the silence of the night that seemed to go on for eternity, it was just him and you. Two beating hearts and two pairs of desire-filled gazes that yearn for connection under the moonlight's hue.

Your uncle Tommy found someone, why can’t you? Why shouldn’t you?

You deserve some taste of bliss.

“So,” you break the tension and slide your backpack off your shoulders. “You wanna listen to some of my music? I got some sick tunes.” You snicker at yourself and unzip your backpack to pull out black earphones and a Walkman littered with stupid stickers. “We’ll listen to it low so we don’t miss anything,” you assure him and show off your things to Henry.

“But if it is bad,” he says and grabs an earphone to put it in his ear. “I will make fun of you.”

“Trust me,” you say confidently. “You won’t, but do keep in mind I had to leave a lot of my cassettes behind.” You warn him before pressing play and hearing ‘Time After Time’ by Cyndi Lauper play first.

Once she begins to sing, Henry immediately stifles his laugh.

“What?” You quip. “You don’t like it? I think it’s great…” you trail off and listen to the song with a smile. As soon as the chorus begins to play though, you snap your head to the side and begin mouthing along to the words.

Henry snorts and shakes his head. “You truly are something,” he comments. “How do you do It?”

You roll your head to his side and just answer bluntly. “I choose not to live a boring life.” You scoff in amusement and lick your lips to answer more seriously. “This outbreak took so much already, I can’t let it take me. Who I am.” You say and meet his gaze. “It’s all I have.”

Henry smiles softly and nods. “I admire you then. For that.”

You scoff and roll your head to the other side to hide how flustered you are.

You then sit in silence to listen to the song. When the next song plays, however, it’s a song by Outkast, Henry is going to comment on it, but before he can, you both hear footsteps approaching and stiffen.

It’s coming from inside the perimeter, so you don’t quickly pull your rifle to you, you just reach for your holstered blade, whilst Henry takes his earphone off and stands up to peek down the entrance of the treehouse.

You proceed to grab the edge of the window to pull yourself up, but just as you were almost up, Henry’s shoulders fall and he quickly throws you a comment, “It’s okay, it’s just Sam.”

Since you can’t move that much you just sit back down and pause your music. Once the little boy climbs in, his eyes find you, but he quickly looks back at his brother as he begins to sign to him.

“What are you doing up here?” Henry asks out loud as he also communicates with his hands.

The little boy lets out a small breath and responds back, causing Henry to translate.

“Miss Daphne was snoring already. It’s early I wanted to come to keep you company.”

You scoff softly at the response, finding it sweet.

“I have company,” Henry responds and then points at you before he signs the letters of your name, you know that much—“You should be sleeping.”

The boy shrugs and responds.

“Later,” Henry translates before he sighs and gives in to what the boy wants.

“You are very welcome to join us and stare at nothing, Sam,” you say and look at him while Henry translates for you.

When he’s done Sam's eyes drift to you and you recognize the thank you sign he gives you before he goes and sits at Henry’s other side as Henry takes his seat again.

“So,” you add. “If I wanted to get his attention, how would I do that?” You ask Henry.

“Tap his shoulder,” he shares and translates what he says since Sam is watching. “He can read lips, so just make sure to talk slowly and face him when you want to talk to him…thank you for asking.”

“Of course.” You nod.

Sam then begins to sign something as he meets your gaze and once he’s done Henry translates. “He’s curious to know how you’re brave to travel alone.”

You scoff softly and correct him. “I wasn’t alone,” you say as you face Sam while Henry translates. “I had friends, and my dog, Austin. But…” you sigh sadly. “They’re gone now.”

“Still,” you hear Henry say for Sam. “You were alone, I don’t think I could be that brave.”

You offer the boy an assuring smile and share your truth. “I was scared. I am scared, but you know what keeps me brave?” You ask rhetorically. “When I feel lost, when I feel scared, I look for hope. I look for the light because that’s all we have. If we’re not brave and hopeful, then we lose, and we’re not losers, are we?”

Sam smiles and shakes his head.

“Good,” you tell him and briefly meet Henry’s gaze. However, you then get an idea and jerk up. “But,” you add. “You know what also helps…” you trail off and take off your chain necklace to carefully pull out your Uncle Tommy’s pendants and leave one of yours hanging from it.

“This,” you continue. “And drag yourself a bit closer to both boys. “This is my firefly pendant, when I feel scared, I hold my uncle's pendant and it helps. So whenever you feel scared, just hold it in your hands, okay?” You push the chain necklace towards Sam, but he first looks to his brother for reassurance, and his brother looks at you.

“Are you sure?” He asks.

You nod. “I’m sure,” you assure them. “I have another one. And I have my uncles with me, that’s all I need.”

Sam looks at the pendant and carefully takes the chain from your hand. He admires the firefly emblem for a second before he smiles. After he puts it around his neck he looks back at you and grins as he once again gives you his thanks. This time however he adds a comment. “I like you,” Henry translates.

You shoot him a smile and shrug smugly. “Thank you, you boost my ego.” You giggle and catch Henry’s gaze on you. It glimmers under the moonlight and his smile softens before he mouths to you.

“Thank you.”

You offer him a sweet smile before you look out as the room falls silent again. And as you watch the grass flow, as you sit under the moonlight and glance at the stars, Henry watches you for a lingering moment with a longing gaze before he pulls his jacket off and puts it on your shoulders.

You get surprised by the weight, but feel your heart flutter when you realize what he did.

“You’ll get cold,” he whispers.

You have a jacket and a warm poncho packed, but he’s being sweet. Plus you like his gesture, it’s like something out of a movie. You also like his smile when you don’t turn down his gesture.

It all honestly makes you think back to your previous thoughts and you agree that you do deserve a taste of bliss. Someone to call your own, like how your uncle Tommy has Maria.

You deserve it and nothing can get in the way of what you’re feeling for Henry, and what you want to happen.

A/N- Before you ask yes Joel still has the drawing you drew him. AND one more thing…how do you think you’ll react when you see your dad after years and see Ellie with him

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