#easy (1978)

[demigodofhoolemere]

Helen and Siegfried’s friendship means the world to me

[watching-pictures-move]

Put On Your Raincoats | Easy (Spinelli, 1978)

Like Vista Valley PTA, the movie has an ugly streak with respect to its sex scenes. You start off with two scenes where Jesie St. James is assaulted by her male students, which are both rapey in that Golden Age way where the nonconsensual turns into the consensual. One is in a classroom, but the more memorable one is in her home, where she's raped by Richard Pacheco playing the world's oldest teenager in sunglasses and a leather jacket, who threatens her with a switchblade before forcing himself on her while we get hard rock guitar and tribal drums on the soundtrack.

And later on we get a lesbian rape scene, an angry Georgina Spelvin as the other woman in a relationship who attacks her in her lover's home. Spelvin is holding back on the slaps, but she gets in some nipple twisting and drags St. James by her hair across the floor, and the burst of handheld camerawork makes this feel extra bruising. And like that movie, the strength of the performances and the direction makes this effective on a prurient level. You can question whether this stuff should be hot, but I'd be lying if I said it wasn't. And in terms of other unpleasantness, she gets propositioned by a sleaze played by Anthony Spinelli himself, looking like Burt Young without his beard in a bar scene defined by high contrast lighting.

But not all the sex is viewed so caustically. Early on St. James makes love to a blind piano tuner played by Ken Scudder, who doesn't have his usual mustache or cowboy affect. It's a pretty tender scene, with Scudder expressing his insecurity that she's might be fucking him because she feels sorry for him, and her putting those fears to rest.

Later, St. James temporarily finds love with a guy who resembles a porno Paul Le Mat, but not before she and her friends Laurien Dominique and Desiree Cousteau pair up with some guys during a dinner party. There's one last guy left eating alone at the table, who introverts in the audience can probably relate to. This sequence ends up cutting between the three pairs of lovers, a tactic I'm normally not fond of, but the cutting and alternating music selection holds it together pretty nicely. Listen, if you're gonna do match cuts between blowjobs, you've got the direction down pretty nicely. Plus Dominique's hair and eyebrows make her look like a '30s cinema heroine, which is very important to note. For those of you TCM fans who've dreamed of seeing, I dunno, Myrna Loy getting railed, this is as close as you'll get.

This is in essence a performer showcase, and while some of the material might be unpleasant, I think it works really well. You have a great central presence in St. James. Listen, I don't have to tell you that her cheekbones and athletic physique present obvious charms, but I do think the movie does well to capture her beauty, bathing her in idyllic lighting as she jogs during the opening. Plus she's great in the sex scenes and the movie wisely features her in all of them (even if it's technically cheating during the dinner party scene, she is never far from our hearts or the screen). The boingoingoing factor is strong, is what I'm saying.

But this is also about a woman struggling with her sense of sexual agency, a theme which makes the varying levels of consent in the sex scenes cohere into something that actually resonates on an emotional level. St. James projects dignity even when her circumstances threaten to take it away from her, and the movie gives her room to think and feel good or bad about what she's going through. There is ugliness in this movie, and the ending, captured in freeze frame with echoing dialogue, is not happy, but there is real empathy at the heart of this movie.

[my-chaos-radio]

Release: June 1, 1978

Lyrics:

Her name was Lola, she was a showgirl

With yellow feathers in her hair and a dress cut down to there

She would merengue and do the cha-cha

And while she tried to be a star

Tony always tended bar

Across the crowded floor, they worked from eight til four

They were young and they had each other

Who could ask for more?

At the copa (co) Copacabana (Copacabana)

The hottest spot north of Havana (here)

At the copa (co) Copacabana

Music and passion were always the fashion

At the copa they fell in love

Copa, Copacabana

His name was Rico

He wore a diamond

He was escorted to his chair, he saw Lola dancing there

And when she finished, he called her over

But Rico went a bit to far

Tony sailed across the bar

And then the punches flew and chairs were smashed in two

There was blood and a single gun shot

But just who shot who?

At the copa (co) Copacabana (Copacabana)

The hottest spot north of Havana (here)

At the copa (co) Copacabana

Music and passion were always the fashion

At the copa, she lost her love

(Copa, Copacabana)

(Copa, Copacabana)

(Copacabana)

like in Havana

(Copa, banana)

Music and passion were always in fashion

Her name is Lola, she was a showgirl

But that was thirty years ago, when they used to have a show

Now it's a disco, but not for Lola

Still in dress she used to wear

Faded feathers in her hair

She sits there so refined, and drinks herself half-blind

She lost her youth and she lost her Tony

Now she's lost her mind

At the copa (co) Copacabana (Copacabana)

The hottest spot north of Havana (here)

At the copa (co) Copacabana

Music and passion were always in fashion

At the copa don't fall in love

Songwriter:

don't fall in love

(Copacabana)

(Copacabana)

Barry Manilow / Bruce H. Sussman / Jack A. Feldman

SongFacts:

👉📖

Homepage:

Barry Manilow

[affiches-cinema]

Easy, 1978

[spiritoldies]

Reba Rambo - The Lady Is A Child

All Day Dinner The Lady Is A Child Tomorrowland Go Ye Sunshine Saturday Child Of The Music Maker Easy To Love Him Coloring Book Bending Towards The Sun Sacrifice Of Praise

[thespnreferencedesk]

How to Use the Reference Desk

The SPN Reference Desk is here for all of your nichest, most seemingly insignificant questions about Supernatural canon as well as comprehensive guides covering the basics in one single space. Unlike a fandom wiki, these guides are aimed specifically at the needs of creators and fan-fiction authors who want to dive deeper into certain topics like Baby’s specs, Bobby’s house layout, or how the hell the boys’ different guns work.

Types of Guides - SPN Reference Desk written guides - SPN Reference Desk screenshots - Art references - How-to guides - Other people’s guides

Reference Desk guides will be broken down into categories. Within those categories, each guide will be grouped by topic and tagged for easy access.

Due to the ��work in progress” nature of this blog, categories and topics that are listed below but don’t have a link are guides planned for the future.

Locations - Bobby’s House - Singer Auto Salvage - Men of Letter’s Bunker - etc. Car Talk - Baby (1967 Impala) - Castiel’s Pimpmobile (1978 Continental) - John’s truck (1986 GMC) - etc. Weaponry - Handguns           - Dean’s M1911           - Sam’s PT92           - “The Colt” - Shotguns           - Ithaca 37           - Remington 870 - Ammunition - Blades - Magical weapons - etc. Lifestyle - Personal belongings - Travel - In-universe brands - etc.

Have a suggestion for a guide? Got a specific question you need help answering? Drop an ask and leave a question for your librarian!

[majortomwaits]

Living In The 70's

Movies in order: Dracula AD 1972 (1972) The Abominable Dr. Phibes (1971) Phantom Of The Paradise (1974) Texas Chain Saw Massacre (1974) The Wicker Man (1973) Dog Day Afternoon (1975) Eyes Of Laura Mars (1978) Opening Night (1977) Mephisto Waltz (1971) The Omen (1976) Little Murders (1971) Don's Party (1976) Rocky Horror Picture Show (1975) Ganja & Hess (1973) Halloween (1978) Female Trouble (1974) Taxi Driver (1976) Play Misty For Me (1971) Cisco Pike (1972) Perfect Friday (1970) Harold And Maude (1971) Werewolf Of Washington (1973) Two Lane Blacktop (1971) Sleuth (1972) Dead Of Night (1974) Dawn Of The Dead (1978) Tommy (1975) Carrie (1976) Thunderbolt And Lightfoot (1974) Mikey And Nicky (1976) Blacula (1972) Fox And His Friends (1975) Wake In Fright (1971) O Lucky Man! (1973) Klute (1971) A Woman Under The Influence (1974) Hi Mom! (1970) The American Friend (1977) The Dunwich Horror (1970) Get Carter (1971) Husbands (1970) Electric Horseman (1979) Minnie And Moskowitz (1971) The Long Goodbye (1973) Martin (1977) Mean Streets (1973) California Split (1974) Slap Shot (1977) Jaws (1975) A New Leaf (1971) Coffy (1973) Suspiria (1977) The In-Laws (1979) Stroszek (1977) The Last Wave (1977) Performance (1970) The Brood (1979) Hooper (1978) Pink Flamingos (1972) Five Easy Pieces (1970) Sleeping Dogs (1977) What's Up, Doc? (1972) The Last Movie (1971)

[arthur-two-sheds-jackson]

It's... Monty Python's Media Masterpost!

Here, my fellows, as I promised, are the links for nearly every Python content released and available on the internet (missing only the Not the Messiah (He's a Very Naughty Boy) complete oratorio and PDF versions of the books - including Michael Palin's diaries), for the Python-obsessed, brain-fried completist like me. If you ever need to have easy access to something, just click on the links! And if you or someone you know wants to get into the Python fandom, just refer to this post!

Enjoy!!!

[Audios are in blue, TV shows, docs and specials are in green, films are in orange, games are in red and other kinds of content are in pink. (I chose the videos based on whether they were in good quality; most of them are in HQ or close to that when possible.)]

Monty Python's Flying Circus (Internet Archive version - Google Drive version)

Monty Python's Fliegender Zirkus

Another Record

Previous Record

And Now For Something Completely Different

1971 Montreux Special

Labour Party Instructional Film

Birds Eye Peas Industrial Film

Close-Up Industrial Film

Matching Tie and Handkerchief

1973 sketch for Dutch TV

1973 French TV appearance

Is This a Record? Guinness Film

Live at Drury Lane

The Holy Grail

Live at the City Center (side 1 - side 2)

Life of Brian (Internet Archive version - YouTube version - The Pythons' 1979 a.D. BBC documentary - 1979 debate on Saturday Night, Sunday Morning)

Live at the Hollywood Bowl (Internet Archive version - YouTube version)

The Meaning of Life (complete with The Crimson Permanent Assurance!)

Parrot Sketch Not Included (Life of Python)

1990 Omnibus documentary

Monty Python Sings (Again)

Python Night (Paramount Comedy Network mockumentary)

Live at Aspen

Spamalot (concert film featuring the original Broadway cast - playlist of original Broadway cast recording)

Channel 4's 2006 documentary

Almost the Truth: Lawyer's Cut (with Russian subtitles... don't worry, I have BRICS immunity, I'll cover you) (part 1 - part 2 - part 3 - part 4 - part 5 - part 6)

Holy Flying Circus (by @anythingcanhappeninmay and complete with bonus thingies!)

A Liar's Autobiography (the movie - audiobook narrated by Graham Chapman)

Live (Mostly) (And Now For Something Rather Similar)

Monty Python at 50 radio broadcasts (by @gordonsgano)

Michael Palin: A Life on Screen

Graham Chapman's Pre-Python Home Movies

Terry Jones' Home Movies

Michael Palin's 1978 Home Movies

The Holy Grail flash game

The Holy Grail PC videogame (at the Collection Chamber blog)

The Meaning of Life PC videogame (also at the Collection Chamber blog)

Complete Waste of Time PC videogame (also also at the Collection Chamber blog)

[vintagerpg]

The fourth edition of the Call of Cthulhu rules, the first I owned, has a bunch of color plates tipped into the regular pages. They are mostly drawn from color plates that Games Workshop stuck into its own publication of the third edition rules — Chaosium apparently liked that, and did the same for some of their books for a while. Anyway, most of those plates featured art by English painter Les Edwards. Oddly, none of these really related to the Cthulhu Mythos, a fact that might have made them (and the world of the Call of Cthulhu RPG) all the more beguiling. It was my first real encounter with Edwards’ work (I wouldn’t learn he did the HeroQuest cover art until much later) and they pretty much made me a fan for life.

Of course, that meant I’d be on the hunt for Blood & Iron (1989), one of two art books Games Workshop produced in the ’80s (the other, a collab between Ian Miller and John Blanche called Ratspike, is still very much on my want-list, but is pretty universally priced outside my budget). I found it recently for a reasonable price (no easy task) and while it may be the mustiest book I currently own, it was well worth it to get such a concentrated dose of Edwards’ work.

He’s gnarly, man. All bug-eyes and too-wide grins and gore galore. Some of his fantasy stuff is kind of hilarious (his covers for Fighting Fantasy are pure, glorious cheese) and it’s is cool to see the process essay for the gross AF cover of The Lost and the Damned, but his horror work is really where it’s at for me. It’s so metal (to the point that, unsurprisingly, a number of his paintings were used as album covers). Even his pin-up paintings, which routinely feature big boobs and improbable poses, still come off as appealing somehow — that black idol is so good! I don’t really care about the titular high priestess, but she doesn’t bug me the way a lot of other artists pin-up work makes my eyes roll (see Chris Achilleos, tomorrow).

Anyway, a real wonderful time capsule of Edwards’ work. Oh! The cover. I gotta mention the cover — it’s the second version of the cover of a Graham Masterton novel called The Devils of D-Day (1978) which was used to replace Edwards’ earlier cover painting. It’s a novel about a demonic tank? I dunno. But the first cover! That was re-used for the Metallica single Jump in the Fire. One of my favorite bits of fantasy/metal cross-over trivia.

[my-chaos-radio]

Release: May 5, 1978

Lyrics:

I know it's late, I know you're weary

I know your plans don't include me

Still here we are, both of us lonely

Longing for shelter from all that we see

Why should we worry?

No one will care, girl

Look at the stars so far away

We've got tonight

Who needs tomorrow?

We've got tonight, babe

Why don't you stay?

Deep in my soul, I've been so lonely

All of my hopes fading away

I've longed for love like everyone else does

I know I'll keep searchin' even after today

So there it is girl, I've said it all now

And here we are babe, what do you say?

We've got tonight

Who needs tomorrow?

We've got tonight, babe

Why don't you stay?

I know it's late I know you're weary (weary)

Ooh, I know your plans don't include me

Still here we are both of us lonely (lonely)

Both of us lonely (lonely)

We've got tonight (we've got tonight)

Who needs tomorrow?

Let's make it last

Let's find a way

Turn out the light (turn out the light)

Come take my hand now

We've got tonight, babe

Why don't you stay?

Songwriter: Bob Seger

We've got tonight

Who needs tomorrow?

Let's make it last

Let's find a way

Turn out the light

Come take my hand now

We've got tonight, babe

Why don't you stay?

Oh, we've got tonight (we've got tonight)

Who needs tomorrow?

Let's make it last

Let's find a way

Turn out the light (turn out the light)

Come take my hand now

We've got tonight, babe

Why don't you stay?

Oh-oh, oh, why don't you stay?

SongFacts:

👉📖

Homepage:

Bob Seger

[therealsaintscully]

The fact that John talked like this about Paul in the last years of his life, “As the sky grew darker, another star appeared to shine even more brightly than Venus, and John speculated that it could be Mars. “Ah, Venus and Mars,” he laughed softly. “Sounds like an album title.” Like looking at the beauty of nature and thinking of someone you love is peak romance okayy. I do think that both seemed like they were on a course where fear was loosening it’s grasp in favor of the need to just love again, that it was inevitable they’d have intimately crossed paths again. Not saying at all that they would’ve left their families for the other ever but I think they were cursed/blessed to always hold the other close in their heart so long as they lived.

Yes, anon, exactly.

Personally, I don’t trust anything Mintz says—I’d take every story or quote from him with a Dead Sea-sized grain of salt (basically, I don’t believe a word). But lately, I've become pretty convinced that Paul—and John, right up until his death—weren't exactly telling the full story about where they stood or what they were up to from about '77 onwards.

If anything, I think Paul, to this day, is possibly keeping a chunk of the story for himself. Why do I say that? Because the 'official' narrative that Paul hasn't contradicted since is of the famous “last meeting” in '76. Everyone generally agrees their final get-together was in New York in 1976. But then we have James McCartney saying he 'knows' (read: was probably told by someone in the family) that John had held him as a baby. Also, he said he has vague memories of the Dakota apartments being sunny and bright. James was born September '77, so for him to remember anything about the Dakota, he’d need to have been around three or so. That puts the McCartneys in New York in the fall of 1980. I've also read somewhere that the McCartneys regularly visited the Eastmans around Thanksgiving or Christmas, so the timing fits.

Now, I'm not going to go down that particular rabbit hole of did-they-didn't-they and speculate too deeply about secret meetings. If they did meet, they obviously chose not to discuss it. I imagine he/they’d have their reasons at the time: avoiding media drama around a relationship that was already delicate, preventing interference from Yoko, or steering clear of gossip from friends, staff, and acquaintances who had fueled their conflicts for years.

But I'm becoming more and more convinced that something definitely shifted around 1976-1977, i.e. after the 'final meeting'. Interesting to note that the '76 meeting took place in April - Paul's father died March 18 and John's father died nine days later, on April 1. Wings were touring at the time, and I wonder if they met to bond over their shared grief. Also, Paul's let slip that John gave him some input about Mull of Kintyre ('77) over the phone (that one literally gave me whiplash), meaning, they were discussing song writing positively.

John began writing early (heart wrenching) versions of Real Life/Love circa 1977 ('Just got to let it go') and recorded the basics of what became Now and Then during that period, too ('I'm still in love with you'). Around the same time, Paul started laying the groundwork for what would become, after John's death, Tug of War (can we talk about Hear Me Lover and Seems Like Old Times?? hello!). If you're open to mclennon in some variation or another, all these works contain some very poignant lyrics representative of processing of something that was chipping away at them.

By 1979/1980, Paul was recording "One of These Days," ('It's there/It's round/It's to be found') and shortly after, John was working on "(Just Like) Starting Over," both very contemplative but expectant of a new decade, of examining something new.

It's almost like 1977/1978 was an actual rough patch, separately or mutually. However, by 1979/1980 they became vaguely and tentatively optimistic again.

I'm not saying everything suddenly became wonderful or easy, or that they were instantly ready to be best buddies again. But I wouldn't be at all surprised if, at some point, they both felt the urge to reconnect with the other, maybe even shared those feelings privately with each other, EVEN if Paul talks about a rather difficult, if subdued relationship till the very end.

[literaryvein-reblogs]

Writing Notes: Life Domains

There are a great number of divisions and domains in life (Rojas, 2006; Cummins, 2003; Headey & Wearing, 1992; Veenhoven, 1996), encompassing anywhere from a small range to the infinite possibilities of human activities and areas of being (Rojas, 2006).

Vanderweele (2017) generally suggests that there are 5 domains of human life that should be focused on to promote human flourishing:

Spirituality. This area of life should be prioritized but is often neglected (Moberg & Brusek, 1978). Although the words religion and spirituality are often used interchangeably, a person does not have to practice a faith to be spiritual (Mercadante, 2014). Spirituality enables a purpose in life and dictates how someone may think, feel, and behave to allow them to gain fulfillment (Mercadante, 2014). Spirituality is based on an individual’s principles and focuses on creating a good life for themselves (Dierendonck, 2011). When a person’s actions are not in line with their spiritual beliefs, this can cause an imbalance within this life domain.

Family. An essential but influential domain. Family does not have to be biological. More importantly, it relates to people with whom you have a meaningful relationship (Robins & Tomanec, 1962). The family domain is an area of life that can become imbalanced when a person’s roles and responsibilities are not being fulfilled. This may be because another domain is receiving more attention, such as work (Rao & Indla, 2010). It may be that the beliefs, values, and behaviors of the person are not in line with other family members. When this domain is imbalanced, it results in fractured relationships, estrangement, and separations (Olah, Kotowska, & Richter, 2018).

Work. Plays a fundamental part in the life of most adults throughout all societies. It has an economic and instrumental role because it provides a livelihood (Scoones, 2009). Work provides a will to learn, develop, and accomplish goals. Work also has a psychosocial aspect. It gives meaning to an individual’s life and satisfies their need to be part of society (Sharabi & Harpaz, 2007). It is important that people enjoy what they are doing, where they are working, and who they are working with. If an individual is investing too much time in this domain to the detriment of other domains, it may cause an imbalance.

Health. This domain concerns physical, emotional, and mental health and wellbeing. Individuals can learn how to develop a healthy lifestyle from an early age through education (Cutler & Lleras-Muney, 2014). Physical health can deteriorate from work stress and financial demands. Poor health can affect independent living and the ability to work and engage with family members and the community. This can be detrimental to positive emotional and mental health and wellbeing (Wong, Chan, & Ngan, 2019). It is essential to adopt a healthy lifestyle and promote healthy living. Understanding how to exercise, eat healthily, relax, and connect spiritually helps to promote overall health.

Community. Relationships outside the family are essential (Darling, Hamilton, & Shaver, 2003). These can be with friends or specific communities, such as the neighborhood community, faith or sports-based interests, or hobbies that allow a person to develop a sense of belonging with others (Darling et al., 2003). Community allows people to be united and, like family, allows a sense of safety and security (Bowe et al., 2020). It provides a sense of achievement and fulfillment, especially when an individual is working toward a shared community goal, such as raising money for a good cause or helping others within the community (Bowe et al., 2020). Nevertheless, spending too much time with the community and neglecting other domains, such as family, can cause an imbalance.

This is a simple and easy-to-understand model that illustrates the main life domains recognized by most people. Vanderweele's interpretation is widely recognized and will help you understand how life domains interact with each other and how you can find balance between them.

The following are strategies or techniques that can be used to balance life domains.

Compensation is a technique that increases positive life domains to counteract negative life domains. Decreasing the not-so-good parts of negative life domains reduces the unhappy influence from these domains on overall life satisfaction (Lee & Sirgy, 2018).

Accept and acknowledge that not everything can be done in every domain all the time. There will always be limitations to getting everything done due to constraints on time, energy, and money. The ability to accept ourselves is a crucial factor in improving our overall feelings of emotional wellbeing (MacInnes, 2006).

Breitman and Hatch (2000) wrote a book on a straightforward idea to balance life domains. Their book concerns the art of saying ‘no’ without feeling guilty. The use of this two-letter word can help us rid ourselves of all the things that are preventing us from living positively in all domains.

Planning time and organizing activities that are the main priority can help to minimize stress. Poor organization and time management may cause life domains to feel stretched and overloaded. 

Ensure time is scheduled for relaxation. Many studies have found this is important in reducing stress, anxiety, and low mood (Manzoni, Pagnini, Castelnuovo, & Molinari, 2008).

Flourishing - a condition denoting good mental and physical health: the state of being free from illness and distress but, more important, of being filled with vitality and functioning well in one’s personal and social life.

Languishing - the condition of absence of mental health, characterized by ennui, apathy, listlessness, and loss of interest in life.

Sources: 1 2 ⚜ More: Notes & References ⚜ Writing Resources PDFs

[museenkuss]

Marie Museenkuss Advent Calendar

For this advent season, I've prepared a selection of little treats - recipes, things to read or things to watch that I enjoy (or wrote) and am excited to share with you over the next few days. Each day, I'll 'open' another door to reveal the treat. I hope we can celebrate and have fun together!

[💎] To start, a cosy Christmas crime classic: Hercule Poirot's Christmas

[🦊] One of my all-time favourite fairy tales, Allerleirauh, can be read on this website! If you'd like to turn pages and see an illustration or two, you can also read it in the Green Fairy Book via archive.org, but beware - that version is censored!

[🪞] An all-time classic of a different kind, maybe just in time now that the New Year is slowly seeping in: Joan Didion's Essay "On Self Respect"

[💌] Feelings inspired to write? I’ve got some shimmering, cool, delicate december prompts ready for you!

[🗝️] In the spirit of the censored Allerleirauh: Read my thoughts on death, mutilation and the gruesome in fairy tales

[👢] On the morning of the sixth, German children will find little treats in their boots that Nikolaus left for them the night before. Let's use some of them (apples, marzipan(optional), nuts) to make a traditional German christmas treat - the Bratapfel. Rezept. Authentic English recipe.

[���] Let's take a virtual trip to the Tate and look at Sargent's Carnation, Lily, Lily, Rose in two short videos that focus on description and technique!

[✨] The nostalgic excitement of entering a theatre and watching the other guests before the show - Chanel's A/W 2024/25 Haute Couture Show blends Opera and High Fashion.

[☕️] Today (very appropriate for the temperature drop), we're learning how to make French hot chocolate: [written recipe] [video]

[🦢] Do you have an hour to spare? Enjoy this charming little volume on perfume from 1928, a love letter to fragrance filled with anecdotes from all over the world and illustrated by the wonderful George Barbier: The romance of perfume by Richard Le Gallienne

[🌹] A Renaissance princess and her baroque prince... Here's a magical performance of Sleeping Beauty by the Bolshoi Ballet

[12] 🎪

[🍰 ] With eleven days left, there's still more than enough time to make the Fortnum&Mason Christmas Cake in time for Christmas! [the official F&M christmas cookbook has a very similar recipe for a fruit cake, but without the soaking and with a layer of fondant on top. let me know if you'd be interested in that, I'll post a pic]

[💋] today, let’s read one of my favourite sensual poems for winter: Francis Jammes — Tu Seras Nu (You will be nude), translated by Kenneth Rexroth

[🖋] This sunday, let's write! Or, alternatively: Let's daydream! Here are some brand new prompts for inspiration.

[🎞️] In the spirit of daydreaming: You and I by Papooz, Weak for your Love by Thee Sacred Souls, Mystery by Raveena are three extremely different but visually stunning music videos to songs I absolutely adore. To start this week, take a little moment to watch and listen, dream and dance.

[🍷] Easy poached pears in red wine with vanilla - a gorgeous, ruby-coloured dessert. I've made (regular) poached pears before and they are just as easy as this title suggests. But I'm SO eager to try (and share <3) this variant!

[18] 🎠

[🐻] After a long, tiring day of Christmas shopping (or Christmas stress), let's relax with a whimsical film! Panna a netvor (Beauty And The Beast) from 1978 <3

[💫] Imagine a zine, except more whimsical and more complicated - today, we're learning how to make a Victorian Puzzle Purse! They're so pretty, perfect add-ons for a christmas gift - or adorable presents in their own right.

[🩰] I feel like Christmas is the time where we can truly reconnect to the magic of childhood. So today, let's put on our (imaginary) ballet slippers and do a little 5-min Nutcracker ballet choreo in our living room! Whether we're dancers or not honestly doesn't matter - nobody is watching us, this is all about enjoying the fantasy of a snow-sparkling night. We're playing pretend! And if you'd rather improvise to something more dramatic, I used to whirl around to Borodin's Polovtsian Dances.

[🕰️] During this cold, dark evening, I present to you one of my favourite poems, caught between romanticism and irony: Heine's Old Chimney Piece (in translation).

[🎟️] About a year ago, Joel Haver made a video looking back on 4 years of uploading weekly short films. It's one of my favourite videos, visually, in its tone and regarding its message, and I feel now that the year is coming to a close, it might be a really inspiring watch: it's been fun.

[🎄] I wish I could invite you all over to show you the illustrated edition of E.T.A. Hoffmann's Nutcracker that my parents gifted me in 2001. Instead, I offer you a very nice translation: Nutcracker and the King of Mice - and, if you're the audiobook type, I found a good translation with Tchaikovsky's music here. The story is haunting, delicate, glittering, unheimlich. It starts on Christmas Day and infuses the following days and nights with magic. It was such a joy to share this Advent Calendar with you and I hope that with this, I can share some of my Christmas festivities with you, too, since they're so entwined with this story (and since the first chapters also somewhat accurately depict how I celebrate Christmas, too - on the evening of the 24th, after decorating the tree). Lots and lots of Love, darlings! I hope you have a magical day, a magical evening, and a very Merry Christmas!

[corrodedcoffinfest]

Somewhere Over the Rainbow Masterlist

Thanks to those of you who brought some color to Corroded Coffin Fest this week!

This event had 35 total entries from 11 unique participants: 34 Fics, 1 Pieces of Art & 0 Other Works were submitted.

We had several new participants to CCF during this event - welcome! Stick around if you'd like. We have lots of other events coming up, starting with our 2nd Annual Corroded Coffin Fest next month!❤️

I've updated the big spreadsheet with these newest entries, bringing our current total from all events to 492!

And don't forget to check out our ao3 collection!

Note: Usually I use the General, Teen, Mature, Explicit color system for titles on our masterlists. I caught myself trying to make them the color of the rainbow instead for this event, and just went with it. But I did use that familiar color system on the rating marker, so check there!

Prompt: Red

The Lady in Red by @alicetallula | Song: The Lady in Red by Chris De Burg | Medium: Art | Rating: G | Details: Done using ink pens, alcohol markers, graphite pencils and acrylic paint pens and Photoshop for the background, the jewelry, Gareth's freckles and the sparkles on the dress.

Daylight by @after-the-end-times | Song: Daylight by Taylor Swift | Word Count: 2498 | Rating: M | POV: Eddie | Relationship(s): Pre-Steddie | Tags: Vampire!Corroded Coffin & Wayne, Canon Divergent, Use of lowercase to show Eddie's blood loss delirium, Eddie needs Steve's blood to recover from the bat attack, Of course Steve willing gives it

born to run by @thisapplepielife | Song: All Too Well by Taylor Swift | Word Count: 1978 | Rating: T | POV: Eddie | Relationship(s): Steddie | CW: Self Isolation, Language | Tags: Post S4, Eddie Munson Lives, But He's Isolated, And Steve's Having None of It, Good Uncle Wayne Munson, Getting Together, Friends to Lovers, First Kiss, Lots of Springsteen References

lies from the tablecloth by @the-unforgivenn | Song: B.Y.O.B by System of a Down | Word Count: 2495 | Rating: T | POV: Eddie | CW: lots of laws are broken. pretty much the whole party involved are felons for sure. but it’s easy to overlook | Tags: Future Fic, Post-Season 4, The government is not to be trusted

Untitled by @keaganz | Song: A Work of Art by Ice Nine Kills | Word Count: 2113 | Rating: E | POV: Kurt Kunkle | Relationship(s): Eddie Munson/Kurt Kunkle (Spree 2020) | CW: Omegaverse, Omega Kurt, Alpha Eddie, omega Chrissy, Unreliable Narrator, Drugging, Abduction mentioned, On and off screen murder, Blood, Suggested cum play, Kurt grows a vagina

taking off this party hat by @aurescentia | Song: Stay by The Blue Nile | Word Count: 2489 | Rating: T | POV: Eddie | CW: language, references to bad parents | Tags: Eddie Munson in a Band, forming the band, Coming of Age, Friendship, Backstory, Not Canon Compliant, Former Corroded Coffin Members

Look Up at the Storm by @dreamwatch | Song: Welly Boots by The Amazing Devil | Word Count: 2287 | Rating: T | CW: implied/referenced child neglect | POV: Eddie | Relationships: Eddie & Al Munson, Eddie & Wayne Munson | Angst, emotional hurt and a little bit of comfort, flashbacks, Good Uncle Wayne, Eddie needs a hug, S01 setting, Al loves his son he's just not a great father

Prompt: Orange

Marjorie by @after-the-end-times | Song: Marjorie by Taylor Swift | Word Count: 1k | Rating: G | POV: Eddie | Relationship(s): Steddie | Tags: Vampire!Corroded Coffin & Wayne, Immortal Steve, Eddie's melancholy about not being able to remember his family after 200 years on Earth

payback for the good times by @the-unforgivenn | Song: Caramel by Sleep Token | Word Count: 1837 | Rating: T | POV: Eddie | CW: angst, hurt/comfort, invasion of privacy, Gareth's a really good bandmate | Tags: Eddie Munson, Gareth Emerson, Jeff & Grant, Future Fic, post season 4, everyone lives/no one dies, Rockstar!Eddie Munson

follow me (don't follow me) by @aurescentia | Song: Orange Crush by R.E.M. | Word Count: 2486 | Rating: T | POV: Eddie | CW: language, possible emetophobia trigger | Tags: Eddie Munson in a Band, forming the band, Coming of Age, Friendship, Battle of the Bands, Former Corroded Coffin Members, Not Canon Compliant

she'll get better soon by @thisapplepielife | Song: Soon You'll Get Better by Taylor Swift | Word Count: 672 | Rating: T | POV: Eddie | CW: Terminal Illness, Religion | Tags: Young Eddie, His Mother Is Sick, And He'd Do Anything For Her To Feel Better, Good Uncle Wayne

Feels like I've been ready for you to come home for so long by @rocknrollsalad | Song: Orange Juice by Noah Kahan | Word Count: 1500 | Rating: T | POV: Eddie | Tags: alcoholism, rehab, bad decisions, family support, returning home, anxiety

Prompt: Yellow

Castles Crumbling by @after-the-end-times | Song: Castles Crumbling by Taylor Swift | Word Count: 625 | Rating: G | POV: Steve | Relationship(s): Steddie | Tags: Slice of life, Vampire!Eddie, Immortal!Steve, Steve realizes there's still so much he doesn't know about Eddie's past, songfic

misheard lyrics by @the-unforgivenn | Song: Yellow Ledbetter by Pearl Jam | Word Count: 1511 | Rating: T | POV: Gareth | CW: Nothing. Just CC boys being total goobers. There’s alcohol consumption, but it’s the mid 90s, and they’re all of age at this point. | Tags: Corroded Coffin

Yellow (1) by @mrsjellymunson | Song: Itsy Bitsy Teenie Weenie Yellow Polka Dot Bikini by Brian Hyland | Word Count: 950 | Rating: T | POV: Eddie | CW: Crack fic (almost literally), slightly lewd language, pure unadulterated nonsense | Tags: Corroded Coffin, on tour, Eddie has a crisis

Yellow (2) by @mrsjellymunson | Song: The Lemon Song by Led Zeppelin | Word Count: 1.3k | Rating: E | POV: Steve | CW: Angst, hurt, arguing, paranoia, mentions of drugs, sexual content, masturbation (m), ambiguous ending | Tags: Corroded Coffin, on tour, Steddie, established relationship, Eddie Munson is an idiot, Eddie Munson has issues

salad days by @aurescentia | Song: Gold by Spandau Ballet | Word Count: 2475 | Rating: M | POV: Steve | Relationship(s): Tommy Hagan/Eddie Munson (implied everyone has a crush on Steve though) | CW: language, implied sexual content, implied drug dealing | Tags: Eddie Munson in a Band, Implied Sexual Content, Coming of Age, Friendship, Not Canon Compliant, Eddie Munson Has a Crush on Steve Harrington (implied), Casual Sex, Drug Dealer Eddie Munson, forming the band

wrapped around your finger by @thisapplepielife | Song: The Tortured Poets Department by Taylor Swift | Word Count: 665 | Rating: T | POV: Steve | Relationship(s): Steddie | CW: Recreational Weed Use | Tags: Post S4, Eddie Munson Lives, Established Relationship, Domestic Fluff, Lazy Day Together

Something Beautiful by @lovelylittlegrim | Song: Yellow by Coldplay | Word Count: 1688 | Rating: T | POV: Steve | Relationship(s): Steve Harrington/Eddie Munson, Steve & Gareth | CW: None Listed | Tags: None Listed

Prompt: Green

Dyed Key Lime Green by @after-the-end-times | Song: the last great american dynasty by Taylor Swift | Word Count: 1234 | Rating: T | POV: Steve | Relationship(s): Established Steddie | Tags: Prank gone wrong in Eddie's ongoing feud with an 80yo neighbor, Dog is dyed green (gonna assume safe dye), Long suffering Steve in dealing with their elder feuds, Dustin's a little shit, Vampire Corroded Coffin, Immortal Steve (adult in 1920s)

paint it green, boy by @the-unforgivenn | Song: John Deere Green by Joe Diffie | Word Count: 2005 | Rating: T | POV: Gareth | Relationship(s): Gareth Emerson x OC!Fem character, Dixie | CW: Eddie Munson is a menace, Gareth Emerson is a dumbass. | Tags: Corroded Coffin circa 1988/89 maybe, some public property defacement, slight angst with a happy ending

he had a marvelous time ruining everything by @thisapplepielife | Song: the last great american dynasty by Taylor Swift | Word Count: 2500 | Rating: T | CW: Previous Loss, Grief, Language | Relationship(s): Steddie, Platonic Stobin, Eddie & Corroded Coffin | Tags: Modern AU, Bisexual Widower Eddie, Bisexual Divorced Steve, Eddie Munson is a Menace, Annoying His Neighbors For Fun

alternate take by @aurescentia | Song: Rhapsody in Green (Alternate Take) by Mort Garson | Word Count: 2491 | Rating: T | CW: language, underage weed smokin' | Tags: Eddie Munson in a Band, Coming of Age, Friendship, Eddie Munson Has a Crush, Underage Smoking, first time smoking weed, Not Canon Compliant

Pleasant Valley Sunday by @dreamwatch | Song: Pleasant Valley Sunday by The Monkees | Word Count: 2494 | Rating: T | CW: mention of car accidents | POV: Steve | Relationships: Steve & Robin, Steddie | Tags: Firefighter Steve Harrington, Corroded Coffin are the best and worst neighbours, little bit of angst for Steve because he deserves a treat, a little bit meta

Stare into this moment (and own it) by @rocknrollsalad | Song: Green Light by Punchline | Word Count: 1675 | Rating: G | Tags: famous corroded coffin, big time famous, the perks and pains of fame, pr relationships, cheating but not really, cranky eddie

Prompt: Blue

His Tears Were Aqua Like The Ocean by @mrsjellymunson | Song: Aqua by Eurythmics | Word Count: 1.19k | Rating: M | Characters: Eddie Munson, Steve Harrington | CW: Angst, arguing, hurt, drug use & abuse, addiction, overdose, tentative comfort, hopeful ending

my best friend's room by @aurescentia | Song: Blue Light by Mazzy Star | Word Count: 2247 | Rating: T | CW: language || Tags: Coming of Age, Friendship, Eddie Munson Has a Crush, Coming of Age, Coming Out, Confessions

paint the town blue by @thisapplepielife | Song: Miss Americana and The Heartbreak Prince by Taylor Swift | Word Count: 2249 | Rating: M | POV: Gareth | Relationship(s): Gareth & Corroded Coffin, Gareth/OC | CW: Recreational Alcohol Consumption | Tags: Post S4, Corroded Coffin On The Road, Trying to Make It, When Everything Falls Into Place at Once

Prompt: Indigo

weeping shades of cozened indigo by @the-unforgivenn | Song: The Pot by Tool | Word Count: 1.7k | Rating: T | POV: Hopper | Relationship(s): Eddie Munson & Chief Jim Hopper | CW: Angst, post season 4, Eddie lives and the government pretty much just leaves him to fend for himself | Tags: Eddie Munson, Eddie Munson angst, Post-ST4, Eddie Munson lives, Open-ish Ending

damaged goods. by @thisapplepielife | Song: Midnight Rain by Taylor Swift | Word Count: 1027 | Rating: T | POV: Goodie (Freak) | Relationship(s): Jeff & Goodie | CW: Unrequited Love All Around, Mild Sexual Content, Language | Tags: Band Drama, Ill Advised One Night Stand Between Best Friends, Love is a Battlefield, But Friendship Is Easy

traces of you by @aurescentia | Song: Traces by Anthony Phillips | Word Count: 2495 | Rating: T | CW: language, underage drinkin', someone's a little too inebriated | Tags: Coming of Age, Friendship, Prom Night, Eddie Munson saves drunk Steve Harrington from wilting in the rain

Prompt: Violet

written all over his knuckles by @thisapplepielife | Song: The Great War by Taylor Swift | Word Count: 1027 | Rating: T | POV: Steve | Relationship(s): Steddie | CW: Canon Typical Violence, Language | Tags: Canon Divergence, Future Fic, Established Relationship, Hurt/Comfort, Eddie Munson Lived (And So Did Jason Carver)

Kiss The Sky by @mrsjellymunson | Song: Purple Haze by Jimi Hendrix | Word Count: 850 | Rating: M | Characters: Eddie Munson, Gareth Emerson | CW: CW: Drug use (weed), fleeting and vague mention of something stronger, dubcon? (they’re both high af), implied smut | Tags: on tour, love confession, friends to more

Violet by @lorifragolina | Song: Violet by Savage Garden | Word Count: 1956 | Rating: E | Relationship(s): Eddie/Mysterious Stranger | CW: drag, underground club | Tags: Corroded Coffin, Kiss, Drag Night, Mysterious Relationship, Unexpected End

keep us warm by @aurescentia | Song: Keep It Warm by Flo & Eddie | Word Count: 2456 | Rating: T | CW: language, mild violence, references to weapons | Tags: Season 4 Rewrite, Fix-It, Coming of Age, Friendship, Eddie Munson Has a Crush on Steve Harrington, References to guns 'n' stuff, Not Canon Compliant, Background/kinda foreground Steddie

[darkofthemuse]

━━━━ ❛ 𝖍𝖆𝖑𝖑𝖔𝖜𝖊𝖊𝖓 (1978 original script) sentence prompts

* some lines have been edited & combined for easy rp use !

just try to understand what we're dealing with here. don't underestimate it.

ever done anything like this before?

you don't have to make this any harder than it already is.

you can calm down. the evil's gone.

you're not supposed to go up there.

i notified everybody. nobody listened.

the idea is that destiny is a very real, concrete thing that every person has to deal with.

the boogeyman is coming.

it's your own fault and i don't feel sorry for you.

what's wrong? you're not smiling.

i hate a guy with a car and no sense of humor.

it's tragic. you never go out.

he came home…

i saw someone standing in the backyard.

what's the pumpkin for?

i plan on making popcorn and watching doctor dementia.

the only things missing were some halloween masks, rope, a set of knives. what does that sound like to you?

i realized what was living in behind that boy's eyes was purely, simply evil.

tell your men to shut their mouths and open their eyes.

having fun? never mind, i'm sure you are.

you didn't. tell me you didn't.

i saw the boogeyman. i saw him outside.

i'm here tonight and i won't let him get you.

is this one of your cheap tricks?

open the door! i'm locked in the laundry room!

why are you sitting here with the lights off?

nobody believes me.

i believe you.

you're not coming up with much to prove me wrong.

death has arrived in your little town.

you can ignore it, or you can help me stop it.

let's make more popcorn.

why don't we just sit down and watch the rest of the movie.

go get me a beer.

i'll be right back. don't get dressed.

i'll kill you if this is a joke.

please, open the door!

do what i say! now!

you can't kill the boogeyman.

[white-wolf-buckaroo]

Where the Flowers Don't Grow - Chapter 16

Word Count: 7.2k OOPS

Warnings: basically everything you should be warned about with TLOU, honestly.

Notes: This chapter is based off of GAME CONTENT!

Fic Masterlist

Abby Anderson had grown up in the apocalypse.

She’d always known the world had been different before her birth. That there hadn’t been any infected, anywhere. That FEDRA wasn’t such a big thing before the outbreak, after which they controlled everything — and she knew that the Fireflies had risen to fight them, to make things better.

She knew the Fireflies were the good guys. She was sure of that.

And there was no one better than her father.

Neither was there anyone as frustrating as him, especially when he decided to run off every now and then without telling anyone, which somehow always resulted in her getting scolded by the others.

That’s where she’d been that morning — chasing after him through the trees near Saint Mary’s Hospital, where they lived. He was the head doctor there. Both of them were Fireflies. He was also fucking stubborn.

He had a habit of exploring the outskirts of the hospital when he needed a break — said it helped him clear his head. But Abby knew what really drew him out there: the animals. What was left of them, anyway. A few had escaped the city zoo during the early chaos of the outbreak. Most hadn’t survived, but some… some had. A family of giraffes. A few zebras. She’d once seen a koala watching her from between the trees.

Her dad always lit up when he talked about them — about how life found a way, even after everything. He said they were proof the world could heal.

Abby didn’t always get it. But she went with him anyway. Because he was her dad. And because she liked seeing him smile.

That morning, though, she’d lagged behind. He’d gone out early, and when she realized it, she’d grabbed her pack and followed the trail he always used, cursing under her breath. He never waited. Never left a note. Never told her when he’d be back.

The old path to the zoo still had posts with signs of the animals that had once lived there: tigers, elephants, giraffes… She was glad the lions weren’t around anymore, although the rather would’ve faced a lion than an infected while being alone out here.

She didn’t hear anything, though. No roars, no screams or clicks.

The entrance to the zoo was closed. There were footsteps in the mud, though.

“There,” she murmured to herself. He’d been there. “Dad?!”

No response. Also no way trough that door. She had to find a way to get through the fence, though. And she did: she crawled inside an old restroom, and broke one of the windows throwing an empty glass bottle at it. She jumped through it to the other side, and landed in an enclosed area on the other side of the fence, near some trash cans.

She could pull one of those next to the wall and climb up to the roof. Easy.

Abby stopped, though, when her eyes caught onto a small silver forgotten coin.

“Look at that,” she mumbled, flipping it between her fingers. It was a penny coined in Virginia in 1978. Her dad collected these with her, small treasures with no value in the current world, but still a great hobby they shared. And they didn’t have this one yet.

She put it in her back pocket and got to work, dragging the trash can against the wall. Her arm muscles stretched as she moved the heavy metal can, its rusty wheels screeching against the broken pavement as she pullet at it.

Getting on the roof then was easy. Jumping between a gap wasn’t all that difficult too, though she did stumble a bit and had to pull herself up, huffing.

“Smooth, Abby,” she told herself. From up there she could see the path her dad would have followed. She only had to jump back down now.

And so she did. However, the metal awning on which she fell gave was slippier than she had expected, and she glid down it as if it was a slide with no control of her landing, crashing hard onto the ground in the middle of a mud puddle.

“Abs?”

And there he was.

Jerry, the Fireflies’ head doctor at Saint Mary’s, her dad, appeared around the corner with his rifle slung over his shoulder, walking over to her as he chuckled under his breath.

“You, uh, you got a little mud on you there, sweetheart.”

“So do you,” she said, off handedly.

He frowned, looking down at himself. “Where?”

She threw some at him, hitting him in the chest getting it dirty with mud. “Right there!”

He groaned but didn’t complain, meanwhile Abby stood up shaking all the mud she could from her arms. “You know, every time you run off like this, they give me shit about it. Believe it or not, they actually care about your safety.”

“These woods are safe,” he replied.

“Dad –”

“Abs,” he interrupted her, pointing towards where he had come from. “She’s been hanging out right on the other side of those trees.”

So this was about the pregnant zebra. Again.

“And?”

“She’s due any day now! We’ll just check on her and then we’ll head back. I promise.”

In the end, after a few seconds of internal debate thinking about the people back at the hospital probably looking around for her dad and herself, and the look her dad was giving her right now, hopeful, soft, all that was so him, she gave in. She always did. “Let’s just… make it quick.”

Jerry smiled, already starting to walk away again. “See? I’ve got my little girl to keep me safe.”

In a clearing, while they stopped to look around and asses the area, she remembered the coin she had found earlier, now in her pants’ back pocket. She pulled it out, holding it out to her dad:

“Look what I found,” she said, showing him.

“Oh, wow!” he got closer, taking a look at the coin in her hand. “1978. Don’t have that one in my collection.”

“You can keep it,” offered Abby, quickly adding: “If you promise not to pull anything like this again.”

He breathed a laugh, nodding and stretching out his hand. “You got yourself a deal.”

She left the penny in his palm and he quickly wrapped his hand around it. “Why don’t I believe you?”

“No reason I can think of,” he shrugged. “Come on! Let’s keep looking!”

He started to annoy her about Owen. He was another Firefly. He and Abby were growing… close. They’d started going out lately, or whatever you could call dating someone as a teenager in the apocalypse, not that they went out much. But they got along, had a good time together… so yeah, they were seeing each other.

“How long have you known?” Abby asked her dad, groaning. She was still a teenager, after all. Dating and relationships and boyfriends were still embarrassing to talk about with your parents even if the world had ended.

“I’m your dad,” he replied, simple as that. “I see things. Like the way you both try really, really hard not to look at each other when you’re around me. You get all serious… It’s very cute!”

Abby, trotting behind him, shook her head even if he couldn’t see her. “I can’t handle this…”

“And he makes you laugh!” added Jerry.

“Well, that’s because he’s such an idiot.”

“I just like how he’s extra nice to me now,” he chuckled. “He gets all nervous when he has to keep me in check.”

“So… you’re taking advantage of him?”

“Never!” oh, he totally was. He stopped then, crouching down between the grass having spotted something. “Abs, look!”

It was fresh tracks. Hooves. The zebra.

“Wait –” Abby’s eyebrows frowned with the rest of her face. “This is just your sneaky way of giving me a tracking lesson, isn’t it?”

“I would never,” oh, he would. “… Is it working?”

There it was.

“Well, I mean, I found you,” she shrugged.

“Yeah, but you cheated!” he laughed. “Owen told you where to look!”

Abby rolled her eyes, and then she quoted Jerry himself, doing a poor impression of his voice “Yeah, well… You do what you need to do to get it done, isn’t it?”

“Wow… You actually listen!”

“You have your moments of wisdom,” she said, smiling. They were trotting up a small hill now, no sign of the zebra. “Dad, she isn’t here.”

“Let’s see if we can find anything else, come on!”

Abby sighed, but started to look around.

Everything around them was tall grass and tall trees. She tried to focus on her other senses, as he had taught her, trying to hear or smell anything revealing.

A butterfly flew past her side, and she followed its path with her eyes, her lips curling into a small smile.

“Keep looking!” said her dad then, again.

She nodded, focusing back on the task at hand. Abby walked around, seeing if she could find any more hoove marks, when she heard it: mosquitoes, a whole lot of them, buzzing a bit further down the path. As she got closer to it, she saw it: a discarded and bloodied pink placenta and what remained of an umbilical cord.

“Dad!” she called. “I found… Something.”

He approached quickly, assessing the scene. “Oh my god… She already gave birth.”

Abby couldn’t help the ‘ew’ sound that came out of her mouth as her dad pointed at not one, but two sets of tracks, one clearly smaller than the other ones.

Then they heard it. An animal wailing in pain.

“It’s her, let’s go!”

He got a hold on his rifle and ran towards where the sound came from, Abby following him.

“That doesn’t sound good!”

“No,” he said. “She’s in pain.”

Jerry kicked down a metal fence and helped Abby through the gap. Once she was there he took off again.

“Dad, wait! What if there are infected around?”

“This area’s clear,” well, hopefully. “And you brought your gun, right?”

She had. It was in her hands already, prepared to come into action if needed.

“’Course,”

“Then I’m not worried,”

They found the zebra not long after.

“Oh my god…”

She was stuck in a barbed wire fence. How had this happened?

“We’ve got to cut her loose,” Jerry looked at the zebra with sorrow, slowly approaching the mare with one of his hands stretched out in front of him. “It’s okay, calm down… Don’t worry, we’re not going to hurt ya…”

He couldn’t free her alone, though. He called Abby over, handing her a pair of pliers as he told her he’d hold her zebra while she’d have to cut her free.

The zebra struggled, though, shaking and trying to fight Jerry off as the pain got worse from her own movements.

To their surprise, then, they heard someone calling for them:

“Over here, Owen!”

He’d come to fetch them after Marlene, the Firefly leader from Boston who had arrived at Saint Mary’s not that long ago, had demanded to know where Jerry was. Owen knew Jerry would be at the zoo, the pregnant zebra was all he talked about lately, and he knew he’d find Abby there too, because he’d told her himself where to look for Jerry.

Was he didn’t expect to find, though, was the father and daughter duo trying to cut the zebra free from a barbed wire fence and he held the animal and she tried to cut the wire loose.

“Get over here and help me hold her!” Jerry motioned him over, and Owen blinked.

“We need you back up at the –”

“Owen!” Jerry interrupted him. “Hold her. Come on!”

They had to help the animal, of course. They couldn’t leave her there like that.

Owen passed Abby, and he held the zebra down with Jerry, who urged Abby to get to work. Three struggling cuts of the pliers later and the zebra broke free, running away quickly.

“Holy fuck!” exclaimed Owen. He turned towards Jerry then. “Doc, everybody’s looking for you, we gotta –”

Jerry didn’t stay to listen. He ran after the zebra, ignoring Abby and Owen calling for him. Fortunately, he wasn’t too far: they found him watching the zebra reuniting with its child in a clearing close to the lake. He was smiling seeing the scene unfold.

“We did good back there,” he breathed.

There wasn’t time for this, though. Owen stepped forward, telling him the news for which he had come to fetch him: “Doc, that girl showed up.”

“What girl?”

“The one Marlene keeps talking about. They found her in the tunnels. She has old bite marks on her arm. No signs of infection.”

Jerry couldn’t believe it. He’d herd Marlene talk about that girl himself. Her name was Ellie. Supposedly, she was immune. “That can’t be.”

No one had been immune in twenty years. He hadn’t believed Marlene when she’d told him. But if the girl was really there now, if she was really alive, healthy, with the bite marks on her arm…

“They’re already running tests on her,” added Owen. “But you gotta get down there.”

Abby caught her father’s eyes, searching his face as it shifted — wonder, disbelief, and then that sharp edge of purpose he always wore when something big was at stake.

“Dad?” she asked, quiet.

Jerry didn’t answer her at first. He looked past her, to where the zebra had disappeared into the trees, then down at his hands still stained with dirt and a bit of blood. He exhaled slowly.

“If it’s true…” he said, his voice barely above a whisper, “it changes everything.”

Then he turned, already walking. “Come on.”

Owen and Abby followed without hesitation, trailing him out of the clearing. The mood had shifted. The zebra was forgotten. Now it was the girl — the one Marlene had risked everything to smuggle west, the one who was supposed to be impossible.

Jerry walked fast, his mind racing faster.

“They said no signs of infection?” he asked again, just to be sure.

“Nothing,” Owen confirmed. “Not even a fever. Doc, if she’s really immune…”

“Then we need to find out why,” Jerry muttered. “We need to find out how. This could be the breakthrough we’ve waited for.”

Behind him, Abby frowned. Her father had saved lives her whole life, stitched people back together, treated the broken, the sick, the scared. But this was different. This wasn’t healing. This was something bigger. Something that felt… heavier.

As they reached the gates of Saint Mary’s, she jogged to catch up with him.

“Dad?” she asked. “What are you gonna do?”

Jerry finally looked at her again. He smiled, but it didn’t quite reach his eyes.

“I’m gonna save the world.”

(…)

Abby didn’t see her father until the late afternoon again.

He’d gone up to the labs to check with his team on the tests they’d had going on on that girl, and she went up to their makeshift rooms to shower and get out of her muddy clothes. The water was lukewarm at best and sputtered like it wanted to give up entirely, but it did the job. She scrubbed the grime from her arms and legs, pulled her hair back into a tight braid, and tried to pretend that she wasn’t still thinking about the stupid zebra.

She hated staying still, so she took a walk around the hospital. She knew where she could roam freely and where better not to go. She passed by the hallway where some guys usually smoked during their breaks. She wasn’t trying to listen — not really — but voices carried in that place, echoing off the concrete and tile.

“…the girl they brought in, she can’t be older than fourteen. And she’s not alone. Had two people with her. Some guy and another girl her age.”

“Yeah, heard that too. They’re keeping them under guard down on the fourth. Guy got knocked out. Marlene was furious, but hey, patrol didn’t know who they were.”

“Huh. You think they’re Fireflies from Boston? Like her?”

“Doubt it.”

Abby kept walking, but slower now. A man and a young girl. Traveling with the immune kid. It made sense — no way someone as young like that would survive the trip across the country on her own. She pictured them: maybe the guy was ex-military, or just one of those hardened survivors who knew how to keep going. And the girl? Maybe they were family.

She didn’t know why, but something about that stuck with her.

The vaccine was all anyone could talk about now — the possibility of it, the miracle of it. For Abby, it was hard to imagine what the world could look like if it actually worked. Her whole life had been shaped by loss and infection, by hiding and running. The idea that there could be a cure felt… unreal. Like it belonged in an old comic book. But if it was true? If that girl’s immunity could actually be turned into something that would stop this thing once and for all?

It would mean no more dead mothers, no more infected. No more kids orphaned in the dark. It would mean her dad had done it — had saved more than just lives. He’d saved the future.

And Abby was proud of that. Proud of him.

She turned a corner and that’s when she spotted them — Manny slouched against the wall, boots kicked out in front of him, a cereal bar halfway to his mouth. Owen stood next to him, fiddling with the strap of his rifle, the way he always did when he was bored or anxious or trying not to say something.

Abby didn’t mean to stop, but they both looked up at the same time, and Manny grinned.

“¡Mira quién es! Our local zebra wrangler.”

Abby snorted, arms crossing. “Word travels fast.”

“You showered?” Manny called the second he saw her clean clothes and for once not greasy hair. “Madre mía, it’s a miracle.”

Abby rolled her eyes. “Yeah, some of us like to be clean.”

“You should tell your friend here,” Manny said, jerking a thumb at Owen. “I think he’s starting to rot.”

“I don’t stink,” Owen mumbled, sniffing his shoulder.

Abby leaned on the wall across from them, raising an eyebrow at the two. “What are you guys doing?”

“Wasting time,” Owen said. “Apparently, Marlene’s got the entire upper floor on lockdown while they run tests on that girl.”

“Dad’s up there,” she mentioned, her mind drifting back to her father. “Went up right after we came back.”

“What the hell were you and your dad doing out there this morning anyway?” Manny asked, tossing the last bite of his protein bar into his mouth. “Ditching us for a bit of fresh air and wild animals?”

Abby rolled her eyes again. “Dad went to check on the pregnant zebra. I went after him. We found her after she’d already given birth, caught in some wires behind the zoo. We cut it loose. It was fine.”

“No way,” Manny said, leaning forward, curious now. “Did you see the baby zebra?”

“Yeah,” she shrugged. “The mom ran to it the moment we set her free. Nearly knocked us over when she bolted away.”

Manny let out a low whistle. “You and your dad, saving the wildlife while the rest of us are stuck doing sweeps and kitchen duty. That’s adorable.”

“Shut up,” Abby said, but her smirk betrayed her.

Owen watched her for a beat, quieter than usual. “You okay?”

She nodded, then, glancing around, lowered her voice. “You guys hear about the girl they brought in?”

“You mean the girl?” Manny asked. “The one they say’s immune?”

“Yeah. I heard she wasn’t alone?”

“Oh, she wasn’t,” Manny said, voice dropping in volume too. “I was down on Four earlier, helping deliver some stuff. Nora’s still there. She told me they got the other two under guard. A girl and a guy. The guy’s apparently rough looking. Was out cold when they dragged him in. Nora said he had a nice beard, but that it looks like he’s been through hell, though.”

“And the girl?” Abby asked.

“Little older than the immune one, probably. Maybe fifteen, or sixteen? Nora didn’t know, saw her just for a few seconds. Looked like shit too, to be honest. She was screaming as they wrangled her inside a room and locked her in. Can’t blame her, really.”

Owen frowned. “You think they’re family?”

“No idea,” Manny said with a shrug. “Could be. Or maybe they’ve just been together long enough to be.”

Abby leaned against the wall beside them, her arms still crossed but her mind elsewhere now. A man and two girls. A makeshift trio surviving cross-country just to get one of them here. Just to make her a cure.

“You think they knew?” she asked softly. “That she’s the cure?”

Manny shook his head. “Well, yeah. If Marlene set the guy up to bring the kid here, they had to know, right?”

“Then what’s all the fuss about then?” Owen frowned.

Abby was quiet for a long moment, then finally said, “I keep thinking what it means, if it works, you know? No more patrols. No more infected. No more waiting to lose someone every damn time we step outside.”

Owen glanced at her, eyes thoughtful. “You really think it’s possible?”

She met his gaze. “Yeah. If anyone can do it… it’s my dad.”

Manny raised an eyebrow. “And here I thought you were just proud he taught you how to shoot.”

“I am,” she smirked. “But I’d rather he save the world.”

They laughed, and for a second, the heaviness in her chest lifted. But even as their voices faded into casual chatter and teasing, Abby couldn’t shake the image in her head: the girl they brought in, the one everyone said was immune. And the two people who’d gotten her here. She didn’t know their faces or how they looked like, so they were just shadows in her mind shaped as people without any features.

Owen walked to her side then and nudged her elbow gently. “Hey. You eaten anything?”

Abby blinked, pulled from her thoughts. “Not yet. Just showered and walked around.”

“You should eat,” he said. “You’re gonna pass out one of these days, running around like you do.”

“I’m going now,” she said with a tired smile. “I’ll grab something for my dad too. He’s probably still up there working while pretending not to be hungry.”

“Tell him Manny says to stop being a nerd and take a break,” Manny chimed in.

“I’ll pass it along,” she said, already backing away, laughing under her breath.

(…)

A while ago, in the morning, back when Abby had made her way up to get a shower and Owen had went to join a shift on the third floor, Jerry had pressed the button to call the elevator to go up to the labs. But the power hiccuped again, like it had three times already that week. He had sighed then, and taken the stairs.

The hallways felt too quiet that morning, the kind of silence that came not from peace but from anticipation. People moved like they were holding their breath. No one said it aloud, not yet, but it was there — the thing they’d dreamed of, bled for. The chance of a vaccine. A cure.

He didn’t stop to change into his scrubs. He wanted to see the preliminary data before anything else. That kind of hope had to be handled delicately. People lost their minds when they thought the world might shift under their feet. Jerry knew better. Science didn’t deal in miracles — only in facts.

He stepped into the corridor leading to the observation room and paused.

Through the glass window, across the short distance between labs, he could see her.

The girl — Ellie.

She was sitting upright on the padded table, legs swinging slightly as two nurses worked at her arm. Drawing more blood, probably. She wasn’t crying. She wasn’t even scared. She just seemed… tired. Her expression wasn’t really blank, but alert. She allowed the nurses to do their work, but she still looked tense, glancing over at the door every few seconds as if expecting to see someone coming through it anytime.

Jerry recognized that kind of resilience. A kid who’d been through too much and survived anyway.

He felt a pang in his chest that he didn’t expect.

Jerry turned away before the girl could glance in his direction. He walked into the lab, shoulders tight, nodding at his team. They’d been up there already for a while running the first tests — protein assays, receptor mapping, brain imaging.

They handed him the data. And there it was — unmistakable. The mutated strain of Cordyceps didn’t attack her the way it did others. It was there — present, active — but it didn’t consume her. It lived inside her in symbiosis, like a parasite that had made peace with its host.

“Where is it?” he asked, already knowing.

One of the techs hesitated. “The concentration is in the cerebral tissue. Mostly frontal cortex, some deeper structures. It’s not just blood-borne.”

Of course it wasn’t.

That was where Cordyceps grew. In the brain. That was why the infected always moved in those twitching, violent patterns — their neural networks overtaken, overridden by the fungus as it burst from their skulls.

Jerry felt cold all over.

If the key to her immunity was the mutated Cordyceps strain living inside her brain…

Then they’d have to extract it.

And she wouldn’t survive that.

He sank into a stool, staring at the scans. It was all there. Tangled, elegant, irreversible. Her immunity was coded into her infection. The only way to develop a vaccine was to dissect the fungus itself. Study it. Replicate the effect. And that meant brain surgery. That meant the girl — this tough, thin, impossibly lucky kid — had to die.

Jerry didn’t cry. He felt sorry for her, but he didn’t shed a tear. Couldn’t let them fall, because if he did, he knew he would never be able to perform the surgery he was there for. He just sat there, numbly organizing the facts into neat mental boxes. It was the only way he knew how to survive this part of the job. Someone was going to come ask him what it meant — what had to be done. And he would have to say it plainly.

A while later, the sun was starting to set through the west-facing windows of his office when Marlene arrived, looking for answers. She didn’t knock. She never did. Her face was unreadable. That unnerved him more than anything.

Jerry stood. He had changed into his scrubs already, but he hadn’t eaten anything in hours. His head was pounding, as was his heart.

“Heard she’s stable,” Marlene said. “Kari says her vitals are strong.”

Jerry nodded. He didn’t sit. Neither did she.

There was a long pause before he spoke.

“I can take the Cordyceps out to draw a sample,” he said quietly. “But… there’s something you should know.”

“What is it?” Marlene frowned, hands on her hips.

Jerry exhaled slowly, bracing himself.

“When we first got the samples, we were hopeful we could isolate antibodies from her blood. Something circulating in the bloodstream that might explain her immunity — maybe a mutated protein, or a cellular blocker preventing the fungus from taking hold.” He paused, glancing at the table strewn with lab notes. “That would’ve been the ideal scenario. Clean. Non-invasive.”

“… But that’s not the case,” Marlene said. “Isn’t it?”

“No,” Jerry said. “The antibodies in her blood aren’t unique. They’re present, yes — elevated — but not in a way that explains full immunity. The immune response is systemic, but the source is localized.”

He turned and picked up one of the scans. The cross-section of Ellie’s brain was clear — stark, clinical. He pointed to a shaded region.

“It’s in here. The Cordyceps. We ran multiple imaging tests. It’s dormant — altered, not behaving like any strain we’ve seen. But it’s there. Grown inside the cerebrum, rooted into the neural tissue. It’s not attacking her. It’s coexisting.”

Marlene’s brow furrowed. “So what does that mean?”

“It means her immunity isn’t in the blood,” Jerry said, gently now. “It’s in the infection. The fungus itself — mutated, adapted — has created a unique response in her nervous system. That’s what’s preventing a full-blown transformation. Her brain isn’t rejecting the infection. It’s integrated with it. I don’t know how  her brain does it… But it works.”

He let the silence stretch.

Marlene’s voice was low when she asked, “So how do you get a sample?”

“I have to remove the infected tissue,” Jerry said. “Carefully. It has to be whole, intact. I need to study the growth, its cellular structure, the host integration… If I can study the fungus in that state, I can try to replicate its properties. Engineer a vaccine from that.”

Still, Marlene didn’t move.

Her lips parted, but no sound came out. Then finally: “You’re talking about her brain.”

“I’m talking about the only place the mutation exists,” Jerry said softly. “It doesn’t shed through the body. It doesn’t live in the bloodstream. It’s central. It’s interwoven with the brain. That’s the origin of her immunity.”

Marlene stepped back, like the words had shoved her.

“You’d be killing her,” she said.

Jerry looked down.

“I’d be saving millions,” he said.

“No,” Marlene snapped, voice rising. “You’d be cutting open a fourteen-year-old girl who fought her way across the goddamn country—who trusted me—because you think this might work.”

“I don’t think,” Jerry said, finally looking her in the eye. “I know. This is how Cordyceps behaves. It grows in the brain. And this one has changed. This girl has never turned. Not after exposure, not after a bite, even more than one! Her body’s learned to live with it. The fungus is the key, Marlene. She is the key.”

Marlene turned away, pacing once before gripping the edge of his desk with both hands.

“She doesn’t even know,” she whispered.

Jerry’s voice was quiet now. “She wouldn’t feel it. I’d sedate her before the procedure. She wouldn’t suffer.”

Marlene shook her head slowly. Her shoulders were trembling.

“She’s just a kid, Jerry.”

“I know,” he whispered again, more broken this time.

But he couldn’t unsee the scan. Couldn’t ignore what he’d found. The opportunity was right in front of him — a path to something bigger than either of them had ever dared hope. A future.

Even if it came at the cost of a child.

Especially then.

“Find something else,” said Marlene, eyeing the same scans he was looking at. “Something in her blood, her system, anything –”

“It’s intertwined with the brain,” he repeated. “There’s no other option.”

“There has to be some other way.”

Jerry shook his head. He wasn’t a fan of this either, but he had to keep a cool mind. Clinical, scientifical. There was no place or time for feelings or remorse. “There’s no way to remove the specimen without destroying the host.”

“The host?” spat Marlene. “She’s a child! Not some petri dish!”

“You think I don’t –!” he almost lost it. His back straightened, as he stood to his full height, finally looking at Marlene’s face. “I’m aware of the situation.”

“And you’re okay with killing her?”

“No, I’m okay with developing a vaccine that’ll help save millions of lives,” he refuted. “How many fireflies have died for less?”

Marlene’s expression turned furious, pointing at him straight in the face. “That was their choice!” Ellie wouldn’t have that choice. They couldn’t tell her, she wouldn’t… did they want her to? To sacrifice herself? “Are you asking me for permission, or are you telling me this is how it’s gonna be?”

“I am begging you to buy in.”

He was desperate, lost in a dark sea of indecisions looking for any kind of light to show him the way.

Good thing he was with the Fireflies, then.

“And what if this was Abby?”

Jerry hadn’t let himself go down that path. The mere idea of his daughter being the one in the OR, giving up her life, her future… No. He would understand the weight of her sacrifice, but as a parent he would never allow anyone to lay a finger on his child.

“Look,” he started, ignoring Marlene’s question. “Everything that we’ve been fighting for, all the sacrifices, all the horrific…” he held his breath, gathering his thoughts. “All of that is justified with this one act.”

But Marlene wasn’t letting him off the hook that easily:

“If this was your daughter,” she said now. “What would you do?”

Both of them knew what his true answer would be: Tell them to find someone else. Take her away from this place and never look back again. Shield her from everyone who would even think about ripping her away from his arms.

He’d never say yes to the surgery.

Jerry was spared from answering, though, when a knock on the door interrupted them.

It was Abby.

“I brought you some dinner,” she announced, walking into the office. She eyed Marlene warily, leaving the plate she’d brought her dad on the table.

“Thank you, sweetheart,” replied Jerry, in a choked voice.

Abby didn’t walk out after that. She stayed behind her father’s desk watching him approach Marlene again, but the woman cut him off. Abby couldn’t see her face as her back was turned to her, but she could hear her sniffling as she told her dad:

“Do it.”

Jerry nodded, and thanked her in a small voice.

Marlene sighed, and nodded. “I’m gonna tell Joel,”

“Why?” asked Jerry, growing nervous. Marlene looked at him with spite.

“He travelled across the country with her. As did the girl with him and Ellie,” if she hadn’t gotten shot back in Boston, if she had been more careful, if she had done everything better… Joel wouldn’t be here now, having to say goodbye to the girl he had been protecting for over half a year just to bring her here to die. “They have a right to know.”

It wasn’t up for discussion. Jerry noticed, and Abby did too.

Marlene cast Jerry a final look before walking away. “Good luck with your surgery,” it didn’t seem like she was truly wishing him luck, though. Her tone was flat, and empty. She accepted what he had to do in order to fabricate the vaccine… but she would resent it forever.

Abby watched Marlene leave her dad’s office, and then she glanced at her dad himself. He sat down on the edge of his desk, releasing a big sigh as he closed his eyes briefly.

She’d been outside the office for a while before knocking on the door. She’d heard part of their discussion. And she had her own opinion about it, too.

“You’re doing the right thing,” she told her dad, rounding the desk to sit next to him.  

He scoffed, looking down at this shoes, but finally nodded. “Yeah.”

He still seemed conflicted, though. Which was normal, of course. Expectable. Human. He was about to end a girl’s life for the chance there was of creating a cure. To safe lives, they still had to go through death.

Abby wanted to help her father ease some of the weight of this decision off his shoulders. She saw this whole thing clear as day: a great sacrifice, for a greater good.

It’s what he always said.

You do what you need to do to get it done.

“If it was me,” she told him. “I’d want you to do the surgery.”

Jerry’s eyes flicked to her. For a moment, he said nothing. Just looked at his daughter — his little girl, who’d once needed help reaching the kitchen counter, now sitting beside him and giving him permission to become the kind of man who could cut a child open.

A soft, bitter laugh escaped him — a breath more than a sound. “That’s easy to say when it isn’t you,” he said, not unkindly.

Abby didn’t back down. “No. I mean it. If I could save people… if my life meant something like that—” she paused, brow furrowed, eyes locked ahead — “then yeah. I’d want you to use it. What else are we doing this for?”

Jerry stared down at the floor again. His scrubs were wrinkled from hours of pacing. His hands were trembling, almost imperceptibly.

“This girl has family, you know,” he said. “What do you think they’ll say to this?”

���They brought her here knowing you’re looking for a way to make a cure.” Abby leaned into him, bumping her shoulder gently against his. “You always said the world needs people willing to make hard choices. Maybe this is yours.”

He nodded faintly, swallowing hard. “Maybe.”

Jerry couldn’t help but feel like whatever light they were chasing — the cure, the hope — came at a cost they would never be able to measure.

He had one job now. He’d do it. Because it was the right thing. Wasn’t it?

He stood, squeezing Abby’s hand one last time.

“Go get some rest,” he said to Abby, forcing a thin smile. “I’ll be out of the OR by morning.”

She looked at him, wanting to say more — but then thought better of it. She nodded, gave his arm a reassuring squeeze, and left the room.

Jerry remained alone in the office for a few more seconds. Just long enough to stare again at the scans on the lightboard — the lines, the growth, the ghost of a girl whose name he now carried like a stone in his chest.

Then he turned away, and headed for the OR.

(…)

Abby couldn’t sleep.

Not even if her dad told her to. Not even after she crawled onto the stiff cot in the corner of their temporary apartment — a dim, sterile little room in the eastern wing of the hospital, far from the operating floor, far from the chaos, trying to take a nap.

She’d tried. Closed her eyes. Counted breaths. Told herself everything would be fine, that he knew what he was doing. That the Fireflies had it under control.

But how could anyone sleep, knowing what was about to happen?

Abby had stayed up instead, sitting cross-legged by the narrow window as the sun sank below the crumbling skyline, bleeding orange into purple and then into grey. The night fell slow, and heavy, like a curtain being drawn.

She kept listening — not even sure for what.

Footsteps? Voices? News? Anything.

She was buzzing with something close to adrenaline. Too wound up to lie still, too anxious to pace.

Part of her wished she’d gone with her dad. Just to be near him. But she didn’t know shit about surgeries. She would’ve just been in the way.

Still, she hated being stuck here. Useless.

She watched the minutes pass. Her legs started to go numb. She shifted. Rubbed her face. Looked toward the hallway.

And then she heard it.

A sharp crack. Gunfire. Faint — but real.

Her body went rigid.

She held her breath. Waited. Listened. Another shot. Then another.

Her heart stuttered.

In the next second, she was moving — pure instinct. Boots jammed on, door flung open behind her, Abby bolted down the hallway, each footstep slamming against the floor like a warning drumbeat.

Their quarters were tucked into one of the older hospital wings — quiet, mostly unused, repurposed for longer-term living. It took her nearly a full minute to reach the main stairwell.

She hit the steps running, taking them two at a time, her lungs already burning.

By the second floor, she saw the first body.

A Firefly. Shot clean through the chest, another shot in his thigh. Blood streaked across the wall where he’d tried to push himself forward, pooling beneath him. Another body was close to the first one, another Firefly, dead after a shot in the neck that was still coating the steps in deep red.

Abby stumbled. “Shit—” she whispered, a hand flying up to cover her mouth.

But she kept going.

And then she found more.

A woman in a familiar jacket — one she remembered from the cafeteria just yesterday — slumped over with her eyes still open. A lab tech, face-down in a puddle of blood. Another Firefly with a stab wound his gut.

Her grip tightened on her pistol. She raised it.

Not because she expected to shoot. But because she needed something to hold onto. Something that made her feel like she had control.

She moved through the carnage, body after body, each one adding weight to the pit in her stomach. Her legs were shaking.

Every time she turned a corner, she braced for familiar faces.

Owen. Manny. Nora.

Her throat locked up every time she saw a body that might be them. But none were. Not yet.

Still, this wasn’t a skirmish. This was a bloodbath. A goddamn massacre.

And the only thing her brain could scream was: Get to Dad.

The sixth floor. That’s where they were doing the surgery. That’s where her father had gone — to do what had to be done. To save the world.

But as soon as she reached the stairwell door and stepped onto the sixth floor, something changed.

The air felt colder. Still.

There were no voices. No beeping machines. No footsteps.

Only silence. And the smell — that sharp hospital antiseptic, and underneath it... blood. Warm, metallic. Fresh.

She didn’t want to go forward. But she did.

Step by step, hallway by hallway, her boots echoing against the tile. Past more bodies. All Fireflies. All dead.

Her insides curled tighter and tighter. Her vision blurred. She couldn’t feel her fingers anymore. Her ears rang.

Something was very wrong.

And then she reached the last hallway.

“Dad?” she called out, her voice barely more than a breath. She pushed the next door open.

No answer.

At the far end of the corridor, an open operating room door swung open. Lights still on inside, but no sounds coming from there.

And directly in front of the elevator in the middle of the hallway — there they were.

A man with a girl in his arms, her head resting limp against his shoulder, a hospital gown covering her pale form. Another girl stood beside them — a bit older than the other one, rifle in hand, blood on her cheek.

As soon as Abby pushed the door open, the girl looked up.

Their eyes locked.

And something inside Abby broke.

She saw the blood. The silence. The open OR. She saw the girl with the rifle. She saw the man with the unconscious kid, stepping inside the elevator as the doors opened.

And she understood.

They were taking her.

The immune kid. The one her dad had promised to save the world with. The one he never would’ve let go.

If she was here—

If they were taking her—

Then her dad—

“No,” Abby whispered.

She raised her gun.

Fast. No hesitation. Just burning hot fury coursing through her chest as she levelled it directly at the girl’s face — the one still staring back at her with wide, shocked eyes.

Time stopped.

And then the gun went off.

Next Chapter

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