"The last person I told the story didn't believe me.", Ellie said as she caught you staring for a little too long.

Unsure what to respond, you let your gaze wander over her body, her shoulders that were drenched in blood and the clothes that were covered by little green spores.

It was hard to tell if they were new or if they were stuck to her clothes for weeks now. Either way, it must have been enough time to make her show any kinds of change.

All of a sudden there was this guilt again. It filled your chest and made your throat go dry.

If people could be immune, why did Ellie have this luck?

Why wasn't your mother lucky enough to be immune?

Or maybe she had been. And your father hadn't let her enough time to figure that out. He had killed her as soon as he had noticed the bandage.

You hadn't told him anything because your mother had begged you not to. And after he had killed her you knew that it hadn't been out of cruelty.

All your father had wanted to do was to protect you. And yet, you had never managed to get over this resentment that nestled in your chest.

It was a constant companion. Always. With every breath that you took and she did not.

"The chemical burn.", Ellie's voice made you snap out of your thoughts. "I did it myself."

With an empty bowl in your lap, you took a deep breath and frowned.

"Why?", you needed to get your mind off the fears, off the worries that Ellie could be gone soon.

Her eyes wandered up her arm.

"When I was thirteen... or fourteen maybe, I was bitten. The girl I told you about, Riley, was bitten too. We waited to turn. Riley got worse. I didn't.", Ellie's eyes lowered and a shadow of the past chased across her face. "I never did. The bite mark stayed, healed, and small fungi grew around it. But I never turned."

Her gaze met yours and a kind of shimmer hid in them. This was a token of her trust and, as you could tell from the way she looked at you, it wasn't the first time she had told someone.

But it seemed like this was the first time anyone dared to believe her.

"Joel told me it was best to keep it to myself.", again, Ellie looked at the mark that was adored by the green ink of her tattoo. "But how was I supposed to cover a whole bite, teeth prints and fungi included?"

She shrugged.

Regret made your heart pull together. All of a sudden you felt like worse of a person that you wanted to be. It was one hell of a story, hard to believe and yet.

Something deep down whispered that it could be true. After all, there was no reason for her to lie about something so severe.

And why else would she make up a story like that?

Unsure, you let your gaze wander over her face, tried to find an explanation, doubt or anything that could have been a more logical explanation.

But Ellie was dead serious. There was so much pain from past memories in her eyes. The sight reminded you of what you felt whenever you thought back to your mother.

Your eyes fell shut. Sucking in a sharp breath you fought down the fear, the doubts and everything that had no place in this moment.

Then you swallowed hard, reached out and loosened the ropes around her wrists. The tension of the knot had been harder than you had anticipated, deep red marks stretched across her pale skin.

As you pulled away, the tips of your fingers brushed against her wrist to ease the discomfort you had caused her.

"I'm sorry.", you said softly and leaned against the fountain.

The stone was cold to the touch and a little wet.

Ellie massaged the pain away.

"It's fine.", she crossed her legs and sighed. "I could have told you earlier but..."

"It's fine...", you shrugged only to huff. "I mean how long do we know each other for? Few weeks?"

"Three months tops.", she said and gestured with her chin outside where the trees started to grow green again and blossoms opened.

Spring was in its full bloom. As Ellie had left Jackson, it had almost been autumn. She must have been on the road for a good few months, plus the weeks she had needed to return.

If she had to guess she had been gone for about 6 months, give or take. Quite some time. And yet she didn't feel like she had missed much.

She hadn't been lonely. You had made life bearable.

And now that her biggest secret was out she felt some kind of relief that made it easier to breathe. Her shoulders relaxed and with a soft smile she leaned her head against her palm.

"You know, no one ever believed me when I told them.", almost immediate regret lit up in her eyes.

You eyed her. Doubt grew in the pit of your stomach.

"How many did you tell?", you asked, just to make sure.

Ellie hesitated.

"Just Dina. Actually, that's not entirely true. I told Cat as well."

"Who's Cat?"

"My ex.", she shrugged. "In my defence tho, I could have told her the sky is blue and she'd say I'd be lying."

Irritated, you stared at her, eyebrows knitted together.

"Jesus...", you finally muttered and had to wipe your face with both hands. "So... are all people from... what's it called?"

"Jackson."

"Right. Are all Jackson people like this?"

For a brief moment she thought.

"No?", Ellie scratched the back of her neck. "Well, there is one homophobic dick, but he gave me a sandwich so it's cool, I guess."

"Are you fucking serious..?"

"Yeah, kinda."

"Ellie..."

"I'm serious! Look, I can't really tell you a lot about the bunch because... I've had my group of friends until they all... died and then Dina and I moved up a hill. Away."

Suddenly your heart skipped a beat.

Dina. Ellie's girlfriend. The mother of her son.

The woman she'd return to. And you'd be left all by yourself. In a world full of unknown people and monsters.