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「 three. don't become some background noise
a backdrop for the girls and boys
who just don't know, or just don't care . 」

IT WAS HONESTLY SAFE TO SAY ELIZABETH WAS FREEZING. Heavy rain poured down harshly on Elizabeth, Ellie, Joel, and Tess, drenching them in a sea of unforgiving water.

Elizabeth pulled the black jacket she wore tighter around her, shuddering slightly as she followed behind Ellie and infront of Joel. Every now and then, Elizabeth had to make a whistling sound to keep Bellamy from bounding at anybody who looked at the group with a malicious intent.

Her blonde bangs had been forced down with the force of the weather, sticking to the sides of her face as she let out a cool breath, watching the hazy cold that fell from her mouth.

Her feet splashed as she moved quick as a fox through the almost empty streets of Boston. "It's far too cold for this shit." She muttered under her breath.

Finally, Tess led them indoors and away from the bitter pounding of the heavy rain. Bellamy shook his long fur happily, drenching the two girls and two adults more than they'd already been.

"Thanks, Bell. Love that." The blonde sarcastically commented, scratching behind the dogs ear.

Tess carried on leading them through the building, towards a place that Elizabeth didn't know. The group remained in an eerie silence, tension practically swallowing them whole.

Tess led Elizabeth and Ellie into a large room, waiting until they were fully inside before turning to shut them in. "Hey, give us a minute, Alright?"

"What the fuck—" Ellie's cry of protest was cut off by the loud slam of the door. "What assholes."

Lizzie nodded, looking around the room. "Tell me about it."

Ellie gestured for lizzie to be quiet so that she could hear Joel and Tess' conversation from behind the door.

"So what's the plan?"

"We don't have a lot of options. It's either the short way or the long way. The short way is pretty much . . ."

"That leaves the long way. Things look bad, we'll come up with something. We'll have to drop, head to Bill and Frank's. Stock up on anything we may need."

As the two adults talked, Ellie and Elizabeth began inspecting the room, with Bellamy making home at one end of the small, tattered coach.

Elizabeth caught sight of Ellie holding a 'number one hits!' Book, and immediately bounded over to read what was inside. Like every other fourteen year old girl, Elizabeth Dean loved music.

Ellie began flipping the pages, skimming over the words, but stopped when Elizabeth slammed her hand down on one page. The page had a picture of a young man, probably in his very early twenties, and under it read 'Paul Anka, Hollywood heartthrob of the fifties.' In bold golden letters.

Elizabeth grinned, "I fuckin' love Paul Anka." She grinned, staring with a pleased gaze at the book.

Ellie tilted her head in confusion, "Who's Paul Anka?"

The blonde looked at her in offence, "What did you just say?" She gaped, "Who's Paul Anka? Paul 'i love you, baby, or and they called it puppy love' Anka. Only, like, the best singer of the nineteen-fifties. Plus he's gorgeous." She lectured, "who's fuckin' Paul, my god." She muttered under breath.

Flipping to the next page, Elizabeth gleamed again. "Please, please, please, tell me you know Freddie Mercury," she flipped the next page, "or Elton John," and again, "or Celine Dion."

Ellie nodded at the mention of the female singer, "Oh, was she the one who sang, uh, the Titanic song?" She asked, thoughtfully.

Lizzie nodded, "well, look at that. You do know somebody after all."

The girls flipped to the next page, where a small note was written, reading, 'sixties: nothing in, seventies: new stock, eighties: a large red 'x'.

Elizabeth almost jumped out of her skin when the door opened. Joel walked in, a tired expression written all over his face as he shrugged off his backpack and lay down on the couch.

"So. . .Who's Bill and Frank?" Ellie asked, watching the man lay down on the couch.

To Elizabeth's surprise, Joel gave the dog at the end of the couch a playful stroke on the head, to which Bellamy didn't try to absolutely obliterate him and instead wagged his tail.

Joel's face tensed slightly as he saw the book clutched in Elizabeth's hand. "Oi, Blondie, where'd you get that?"

Elizabeth rolled her eyes at the man. From what she'd gathered, he wasn't very smart. "It was on your cupboard, stupid. Anyway, the Radio's a smuggling code, isn't it? You know I'd never have thought Kate bush meant dange—"

Joel snatched the book out of her hands, throwing it on the table beside them, and giving the younger girl a warning look.

Then, Joel went back to laying down flat on the couch and closing his eyes. Ellie and Lizzie shared confused looks.

"Hey, Gun man." Elizabeth called out, "What are you doing?" She asked, giving him an odd stare.

"Killing time." The man answered.

Ellie looked at the man flatly, "Well, what are we supposed to do?"

Joel groaned, "I'm sure you'll figure that out."

Ellie glared one last time at the man, picking up the music book and turning away. Before Elizabeth did, she turned one last time to give Joel an unamused look. "Your watch is broken."

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IT HAD BEEN ALMOST TWO HOURS SINCE JOEL HAD FALLEN ASLEEP, AND ELIZABETH WAS OVER THE MOON WHEN THE MAN'S EYES OPENED. Elizabeth and Ellie sat, sharing a large chair that was next to the window.

"You mumble in your sleep." Ellie told the man, her gaze falling onto the extremely skilled drawing of the scene just outside the window. Ellie was surprised when she'd found out the blonde could draw, but she supposed finding a hobby was something to do in the apocalypse.

Joel sat up, raising an eyebrow at Bellamy who was practically laying comfortably on top of him. "Wanna get your dog, Blondie?" He asked.

Elizabeth looked at the dog for a moment, a playful smile on her face as she shook her head, "Nah."

After a moment of silence, Ellie spoke up. "I've never been on the other side of the wall. Look how dark it is." She muttered, turning to look out the rectangular window next to her.

"Do you guys go out there often?" Elizabeth questioned, sparing the man a glance before going back to her drawing.

"I guess." Joel answered blankly.

"When was the last time?" Ellie asked, her eyes burning with curiosity and temptation to venture beyond the imprisoning walls of the QZ.

"Uh, I don't know. Maybe a year ago, why does it matter?" Joel asked, his voice slightly irritated by the amount of questions the two girls asked.

"But you know where to go, right?" The blonde asked, gaining the man's attention, "So we're gonna be okay."

Joel went silent, licking god lips before looking down without a word. He didn't want to make promises he couldn't keep. Not like how he'd told her that he'd get her away, or that she'd be safe. Because she wasn't. And now she was dead, and it was all his fault. "Yeah."

After a moment of silence Joel asked, "So what's the matter with the two of you? You some kinda bigwig's daughters or somethin'?"

"Something like that." Ellie shrugged.

"Didn't you hear Marlene?" Elizabeth began, "I'm classified." Not even hell knew what that meant. Marlene just kept saying it to her almost twenty-four seven.

After a moment, an idea lit up in Ellie's head. "Oh, the radio came on when you were sleeping." She stated.

That was a lie. The radio hadn't uttered a single word. But Joel believed it.

"What?" The man straightened, "what was the song?" He asked, urgently.

"It kept saying something like, 'all we hear is Radio Ga Ga." Elizabeth shrugged, as though she'd never heard of the song until now.

Joel looked down, "shit." He murmured.

Elizabeth grinned, "Gotcha."

"Eighties means trouble." Ellie finished.

"Code broken." Both girls sent the man amused grins as their plan to 'find out whatever the fuck eighties means' actual worked successfully.

It was safe to say — Joel Miller was not amused. He pushed the dog off of him lightly, and stood up as though to move closer. "Listen—"

The door opened, revealing Tess. Only then did Elizabeth actually notice the swollen eye and battered appearance of the older woman, as she placed her backpack down upon the hard wooden table.

"You two got jackets in your backpacks?" The woman asked, to which both girls nodded. "Good. Get it. It's time to go."

Elizabeth opened her bag, pulling out the much-too-big black puffer coat she'd had for god knows how long.

Tess and Joel shared an anxious gaze, turning back to the two teenagers with uncertain gleams in their eyes.

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RULE NUMBER ONE TO NOT GETTING SHOT IN PLAIN SIGHT: IS TO STAY OUT OF PLAIN SIGHT. Elizabeth understood that the minute she was forced underground and made to wait as Joel pushed a large, concrete slab up from the ground so they'd be able to get out.

Joel offered Elizabeth a hand as she climbed out after him, to which she took with a small dose of gratitude, "thanks, Gunman." She muttered. Soon the two were followed by Ellie, Tess, and Bellamy.

Elizabeth wasn't even gonna question how her dog managed to jump his way up to the surface, but it didn't matter now anyway.

Ellie beamed as she looked around, accidentally standing up to observe the cold atmosphere around her. "Holy shit! I'm actually outside."

Elizabeth had never yanked so hard on somebody's leg before, "Get down, Ponytail." She hissed, pulling the girl next to her. "Oh shit." Ellie muttered, dropping down to the ground.

"Okay. We're gonna take the left edge around the buffer zone. You two stay close and follow my lead." Tess ordered, her green eyes hard and serious as she looked between the two girls.

Joel gave Tess a look.

"Okay, let's go." The woman ordered, sliding under a yellow school bus and waiting for the rest to follow.

Only one thing burned in Elizabeth's mind. Bad time to have claustrophobia. Even worse time to get killed. So, she forced herself under the bus, which wasn't hard considering her petite frame.

Bellamy followed almost immediately after the blonde, desperate to stay close and protective of his young owner. The blonde was surprised yet glad that Bellamy hadn't started barking at the multiple lights that circled them as FEDRA guards checked the perimeter.

The group carried on creeping through the rocky path, Elizabeth almost falling into Tess at one point due to the harsh golden lights shining so brightly.

Elizabeth could hear the blood pounding through her ears, creating a sensation of desperate drumming as her heart rate increased. The girl could feel the uneven beats of her heart as she tried to stay out of sight from FEDRA.

Soon enough, the group found themselves sneaking towards a large tunnel that would surely keep them out of sight. The clanking of metal and sounds of spitting rain hit the steel, creaking it ever so slightly.

The group were forced to crouch as the sound of helicopters neared. It took everything in Elizabeth not to run back inside the QZ and be free from the terrifying thumping of the nearing helicopters.

Her gaze locked onto Tess' for a moment. The woman sent her a comforting nod. Well, what Lizzie assumed was a comforting nod.

Finally, they were out of the tunnel and racing  through the abandoned metal scraps that littered the ground.

Lightning shot through the air like an unforgiving blast of intimidation, successfully making Lizzie jump out of her skin for a short moment.

The group stood against a wall, moving after a tense moment.

"What the hell?"

Elizabeth was about to just make a run for it. A young guard, who'd been taking a piss beside the wall, had noticed them. "Hey, hey! Don't, don't, don't move!" He ordered.

Joel placed a protective hand out before Elizabeth, making the girl back away slightly as she grabbed Bellamy's lead to keep him from lashing out a the man.

The soldier lifted his helmet, looking at them—at Joel—with an exasperated expression. "You gotta be shittin' me."

Joel raised his hands, prompting the others to do the same. "Okay, let's talk this out." It was obvious the two men recognised each other.

"Turn around!" The man ordered.

"Hold on—"

"Get on your fuckin' knees. Get on your fuckin' knees!" The soldier ordered with a deep snarl.

"Hold on!" Joel demanded, though his protests fell deaf amongst the man's ears.

"What did I fuckin' tell you, man? I said stay the fuck home." The soldier groaned, snarling at them all as though he were a wild animal with no fear of pouncing.

When Bellamy started to growl, the soldier turned to the blonde, "Listen, You little bitch. Control that mutt or I'll put a bullet in both your brains."

Joel and Tess both glared dangerously at the man. "Hey, fuckin' deal with us. She's a kid, alright. Leave her the fuck alone. Just get on your knees. Listen." Tess ordered.

Reluctantly, Ellie, Liz, and Joel all fell to their knees. "Listen, you let us do this run... we'll split the cards with you." Tess promised, looking back at the soldier with honesty.

The soldier scoffed, "oh, will you?"

"Yeah!"

"I'm so blessed." The soldier stared, sarcastically. "Hands on your head. Eyes forward. Hands on your head!" The man pulled out a device to tell wether or not the group were infected.

And Ellie's blood ran cold.

"Really, man?" Tess groaned as the man stood the device to her neck. "Yep. We're doin' this by the book."

"Jesus Christ." Tess scoffed.

Elizabeth took notice the absolutely mortified look on Ellie's face as the girl gave her frantic glances. "Knife." She muttered.

"What?" The blonde whispered, unaware of what the other girl was trying to say.

"Give me your knife." Ellie muttered.

Elizabeth quickly grabbed the knife from her pocket, kicking it over to Ellie who hid it in one of her hands behind her head.

Finally, the man reached Elizabeth. The soldier pushed her head down earning a wince from the girl as he moved her hair out of the way and scanned the back of her neck.

When the man reached Ellie, he let out a loud cry. Ellie had used Elizabeth's knife to stab the man in the lower thigh. Within the next instant, Bellamy was ripping into the man's leg and Elizabeth had moved forward to kick the soldier back.

When the soldier raised his gun at Elizabeth, he snarled, "I'll kill you, you fuckin' bitch."

But he didn't. And he never would.

Because not even a minute later Joel was standing infront of the blonde, holding out his hands. "Woah, woah! We can fix this."

"Move." The man snarled, the blue light of his gun shining in Joel's eyes.

A light Joel had seen before, all those years ago. But he wouldn't make the same mistake again.

With a red gaze and a cry of anger, Joel had tackled the man and was endlessly slamming his fists hard onto the man's face. The soldier leaked pure, red blood, covering his nose and eyes as Joel's fist restlessly deformed his face.

For an instant, Joel had forgotten that the two girls behind him weren't his daughter. That the small teenage girl who'd had a gun pointed to her head wasn't his beloved Sarah.

Elizabeth tilted her head as she stood behind him. Maybe having somebody there to protect her would be good. Her brother never did. But this man who she'd met not even a day ago, was already slaughtering a man for her. It made her feel special, and she liked that.

Tess crawled over to the abandoned device. Tess' eyes grew wide as she looked at Ellie in fear. The device was red meaning that Ellie was infected.
"Joel!" Tess screeched over the sound of endless rain.

"No! No! I'm not sick," Ellie instantly defended, shaking her head towards Elizabeth as it to look for any sign of trust still present on her pretty face.

"Joel!" Tess continued to yell, showing the large neon red sign on the device.

Elizabeth moved back instantly, "Woah, Woah, Woah, Ponytail. You're infected?"

"No, Beth! I'm not, Look!" She wretched up her sleeve to show a large bite mark on her arm. Unlike the rest of the infected, hers seemed to be growing at an unusually slow rate. In fact, she wasn't even turning.

"This is three weeks! Nobody lasts more than a day! Does this look a day old to you?! You would've killed me!" Ellie defended desperately, shoving her arm in Tess and Elizabeth's faces.

Tess let out a scoff, "I should fuckin' kill you!" Then she turned to Elizabeth, "What about you, Goldie locks, what the fuck are you?"

"I'm not anything!"

"When did this happen, Ellie?" Tess demanded.

"It doesn't matter! You have to trust me!" Ellie screeched. "They're gonna catch us if we don't run!"

Elizabeth looked to Joel, "Joel, Come on, Gun Man, We have to go!" She stressed, shushing Bellamy as he began violently barking at Ellie.

"Joel!" Tess alerted.

Tess grabbed the back of Ellie and Elizabeth's necks, pushing them forward. "Joel, we gotta fuckin' move!"

☼

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