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「 twelve. your dad is always mad
and that must be why
and I think you should come live with me
And we can be pirates then you wont have to cry.」

IT WASN'T OFTEN FOR LIZZIE TO BE ON THE RECEIVING END OF A GUN. However, as she woke up to the prickling of boots hitting glass, she'd sat up only to be faced with the deadly barrel of a gun.

Beside her, Ellie had her hands raised in defence, her eyes flickering to the man who stood before them. He appeared nervous—unfamiliar with the feelings that occurred when pointing a gun at somebody, let alone two people.

His hands faltered slightly as he stood, as though he was unsure. He looked to be in his earlier twenties—maybe twenty four or five. He was taller than both of them, with smooth dark skin—clear from any cuts or bruises like they had.

The unknown man sent constant glances to the little boy, just making sure he was alright—something Lizzie noticed as she glanced to the child.

Awkwardly, Lizzie cleared her throat "Uh, hi—"

"No. I don't wanna hurt you," the man began, "wake him up."

Lizzie shared a glance with Ellie, her eyes scanning over her for a second just to make sure the brunette hadn't been harmed. After a moment, she turned to Joel's passed out body.

"Joel." She called. No response. "Joel!" She reappeared louder, her tone much more urgent as she sent a glance to the man in front of her.

Slowly, Joel opened his eyes drowsily, his stare turning wide as he noticed the two gun's pointed behind the two girl's heads. He instantly moved to sit up, meeting the barrel of the child's gun.

"Eyes on me!" The man demanded. "Eyes on me." He looked between the three nervously, "You don't have to worry about what to say. We don't wanna hurt you. We wanna help you."

Joel, who still lay on the floor, let his stare harden as he looked at the man. "Okay."

The man swallowed thickly, "I don't know what the next step is with something like this, but if I lower my gun. . . we didn't hurt you. . . so you don't hurt us. . . right?"

"That's right." Joel responded blankly.

The man's grip tightened on his guns, "that's a weird fuckin' tone, man."

Lizzie internally groaned. "Nah, nah, nah, don't mind him, he's always worked up in the morning." She dismissed, chuckling uncomfortably.

"Yeah," Ellie nodded, "and that's just the way he sounds. He has an asshole voice." She added, "Joel, tell him he's okay."

Joel sat in silence for a minute before stating, "everything's great." In the same tone he'd previously used.

"Dude." Ellie groaned.

Lizzie exhaled deeply, "right, okay, no more speaking for you, Joel."

The man's hands trembled slightly as he began to retract the gun slowly, "okay, I'm gonna trust you. But if any of you guys try anything," he moved the gun's closer until they rested at the back of their heads, "yeah? Yeah?"

"Yeah."

Lizzie watched with a raised eyebrow as the man used sign language to communicate with the little boy—implying that one of them may have been deaf. Lizzie suspected it to be the little one since the older had heard herself, Joel, and Ellie perfectly fine.

The younger signed back, motioning to Bellamy, who stared up at him curiously—his snout slightly downcast as if to attack had Lizzie or Ellie gotten injured.

"Can I sit up?" Joel asked, looking to the man as he noticed the younger boy take an overdramatic stance—as though he were the hero in a comic book who'd just defeated the almighty villain.

The man nodded, "yeah." He responded, "slow. Get up slow."

Joel raised his hands, sitting up slowly as the younger man instructed. After a moment he asked, "who are you?"

The man looked between the for a moment. "My Name's Henry. That's my brother, Sam." He explained, "I'm the most wanted man in Kansas City. Although right now. . .my guess is you're running a close second."

Lizzie raised her eyebrows in surprise, immediately changing her expression to neutral as the man—Henry looked at her.

"And sam wants to know if he can pet your dog."

Within the next course of minutes, Joel was giving into the bright pair of Puppy-dog eyes Lizzie adorned, and allowed them to move into a much more comfortable space.

A golden lantern sat between the five, illuminating their small space like a firefly amongst the darkness of the night. The group sat in a slightly awkward tension, unaware of what to say to each other.

On one side of the lantern, Henry and Sam sat nibbling away at the leftover scraps of food they'd acquired from the trio, whilst Lizzie, Joel, Ellie, and Bellamy all sat on the opposite side.

Henry raised his head, "where'd you get these?" He asked, gesturing to the food they'd provided.

"From Bill." Ellie responded softly, "he's dead."

Lizzie pursed her lips for a moment, leaning forward and offering a strawberry out to the younger boy, who took it with a youthful smile. "And obsessed with strawberries."

The boy turned to his brother, signing to him with a grateful smile. "He says thank you." He nodded, "I'm guessing you don't have much so. . . this means a lot."

"How old is he?" Ellie questioned, tilting her head slightly as she looked between the two new males.

The two signed to each other, before Henry turned around to look at Ellie. "He's eight."

"Cool." Said Ellie.

Lizzie watched as Sam sent curious glances over to the Bellamy every couple of minutes, like he wanted to stroke him, but was to unsure to ask for permission. "I'm Lizzie," the blonde smiled, "this is Ellie," she motioned to the brunette who waved with a tight-lipped smile, "and this is Bellamy."

After Henry signed to his younger brother, the younger boy turned to the blonde with a childish smile, nodding his head and making a pleased gesture with his free hand.

Lizzie turned to Joel, pleased. However, the man remained tense and unamused, giving her a distasteful glance.

Lizzie rolled her eyes, sharing a glance of disbelief with Ellie as the brunette hit the man's leg. "Joel." She motioned for him to introduce himself.

The man huffed, "I'm Joel," he introduced, "look, you ate, we didn't kill each other, let's call this a win-win and move on."

Lizzie looked at him with a disbelieving shake of her head, "Joel." The man gave her a small shrug, as if it were their only option.

Henry raised an eyebrow, "Well, I'm betting. . . that y'all came up here to get a view of the city and plan a way out. And when the sun's up. . . I'll show you one."

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"WELCOME TO KILLER CITY." Henry introduced, standing before a large glass window overlooking the menacing city. He and Joel stood before the window, away from the younger three who sat at a table in the other end of the room.

Lizzie sat over the edge of the table, dangling her jean-clad legs over the edge. On both sides of her, Ellie and Sam rested.

Bellamy approached slowly, moving to stand in front of Lizzie as she stroked his head, whispering fondly to him.

Sam huffed, looking down with a shy smile. Lizzie looked to Ellie, the brunette tilting her head with a smile as she practically read Lizzie's mind.

Slowly, Lizzie grabbed one of Sam's hands and brought it up close to Bellamy's fur. The boy grinned nervously, but once his hand got into a pattern of stroking the dog's back, he soon laughed giddily.

Bellamy moved from in front of Lizzie, moving to stand in front of Sam, and swishing his tail happily as he did so. Sam giggled loudly as Bellamy leaned up to place his front paws on the boy's knees, licking his face playfully.

Making people smile was something Lizzie had always been good at. She was the little ray of sunshine that parted the clouds after rain. She was as vibrant as the sunrise that lit up the horizon every morning, coating the world in a rich golden glow. She was the light that outshined the darkness in every dark corner. Maybe that's why she was a firefly, because she was a gleam of hope in a world full of terror.

She watched the boy with a small, satisfied gleam, unaware of the fond gaze she received from the girl next to her as she did so.

Even as his brother turned to look at him, Sam continued to laugh, his arms wrapping playfully around the dog as he embraced the warmth of comfort Bellamy emitted.

"Haven't heard that in a long time." Henry breathed out, finding his own joy in his brother's bliss.

Unfortunately, the moment of serenity didn't last long, due to the urgency of their journey. They'd have all the time in the world to celebrate after they escaped from Kansas City.

Henry looked around, biting his bottom lip in thought, "you got any paper?"

Joel let out a huff, "does it look like I have any?"

Lizzie lit up, opening her backpack up with a grin.
"I do!" She nodded, to which Joel let out a breath, closing his eyes for a moment. "Of course she does."

Henry walked over to her, taking it gratefully and patting Bellamy's head as he walked back over to Joel. "She's a unique kid."

Joel crossed him arms, nodding. "Yeah, tell me about it."

The younger man huffed in amusement, grabbing the pencil she'd also provided as he began to explain. Curious, Lizzie and Ellie walked over to the older males, leaving the little boy in the care of Bellamy — he didn't seem to mind due to how fondly he played with the dog.

Henry started by drawing a large rectangular shape with the lines crossing over each other. He labelled each of them: six-seven-zero, seventy, three-five, and left one of them blank with a smaller box beside it.

"Highways," he circled his finger along a large portion of the rectangle, "downtown. Us," he placed two fingers in a point near the centre of the map, "this whole area belongs to Kathleen."

"Who's Kathleen?" Lizzie asked in confusion. Henry looked at her, shaking his head. "Somebody you don't want to come across."

"She's in charge?" Ellie inquired, to which Henry nodded. "Leader of the resistance. You can see the way we're bounded by highways," he motioned to where he placed the numbers, "they got people posted all around the inside perimeter. If we get close, we get caught. No question. So how do we get across?"

Henry looked over to his brother and Bellamy, whistling to catch the dogs attention. The dog tilted his head as he looked at him, therefor grabbing Sam's attention.

Sam looked to his older brother, pulling the make-shift notepad he wore around his neck in front of him. Henry signed to the boy, 'how do we get across?' To which Sam nodded, scribbling an answer on the board before holding it up: tunnels.

Henry claimed his fingers. "Boom."

Joel raised an unimpressed eyebrow, "Kansas city has a subway?"

"No, but they do have maintenance tunnels. There's a bunch of buildings all put up by the same developers. And they share these tunnels, including a bank building here," he pointed to a place on the map, " So we enter the tunnels here," he drew a dotted line from one part of the map, "travel underground, and pop up here. Westside North. Residential. There's an embankment on the other side of the houses. We head down, pedestrian bridge over the river," he drew a bridge, "free as a bird."

"You're right," Joel commented, "it's a great plan. So what do you need me for?"

Henry tensed, growing quiet before speaking. "You noticed anything strange about this city? I mean, other than the strange shit you've already seen?"

Lizzie breathed out loudly, "No fungus-faced infected?"

Henry huffed in amusement at her tone, "Oh, there's fungus-faced Infected. Just not on the surface. FEDRA drove them underground 15 years ago, and never let them come back up. It's the only good thing those fascist mοthеrfսckеr ever did."

Joel scoffed. "So you want us," he motioned to him and the two girls, "goin' into a tunnel?"

"Everyone thinks that it's full of Infected, including Kathleen-" Henry began, "-which means that we're not gonna be running into any of her people. But you see, what I know is," he grinned, "it's empty."

"You been down there?"

Henry winced, "no, but the FEDRA guy that I worked with told me that it's clean, completely clean. They cleared it out. All of it."

"When?" Ellie inquired.

Henry shrugged, "like. . . three years ago." He let out a sigh as Joel scoffed, "Okay, maybe there's one or two, but you handle it."

"What if there's more?" Joel shook his head.

Ellie added, "Or one of those blind ones that sees like a bat?" To which the blonde hissed under her breath, "oh, don't tell me we're doing that shit again."

Henry raised an impressed eyebrow, "wait, you ran into a clicker?"

"Two of them."

"And you're still alive." Henry gawked, "You see? You're the right people. If it gets bad down there, we turn around, and run right back out the same way we came."

"Oh, that's your great plan?" Joel barked.

Henry scoffed in response, "No, that's my dicey-as-fuck plan. But as far as I can tell. . . it's our only shot."

The four stopped at the sound of a small fist hitting the table, Sam's weary eyes meeting theirs. Lizzie's heart dropped slightly as she looked at him. After all, he was only a child. One who would probably be killed if they didn't help.

"They're saying," Henry signed to his brother, "they're going to help us escape." Sam nodded contently, returning to his actions of playing with Bellamy. "Right?" Henry raised an eyebrow.

Lizzie looked to Joel, tilting her head, "please, Joel?"

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LIZZIE DIDN'T BELIEVE HER HEART COULD MELT AT SIMPLE GESTURES, but as Sam clutched onto her hand, following behind her like a duckling would to it's mother, Her heart softened slightly.

Henry had trusted Sam in her care, pulling her aside for a moment to ask her just to keep an eye on Sam, just to make sure he would be safe. Of course, Lizzie complied immediately.

The group entered an abandoned bank building, looking for any sign of the underground tunnels Henry had informed them of.

"We need to get outta sight." Joel panted, looking around to make sure nobody else was in the building.

"Uh. . . I, I-I think it's this way." Henry pointed towards a large grey door. He opened it, walking inside cautiously. "This should be it. You ready?"

Joel nodded, looking to the two girls, "Get your guns out."

Lizzie didn't need to be told twice, grabbing out her pistol and holding it tightly. Behind her, she heard the faint sound of paws against metal, alerting her that Bellamy was close behind.

Henry opened another door slowly, shining his flashlight brightly in the dim-light tunnels. The tunnel remained in an eerie silence—free from any sound of runners or clickers. "You see? It's empty. The plan is good."

Joel shushed him immediately, "'The plan is good"? We've been down here two seconds. We don't know anything." He dismissed.

Henry raised an eyebrow, turning to the two girls close to him. "Your dad's kind of a pessimist."

"right?"  "He's not my dad."  "I'm not their dad."

Henry raised his eyebrows, letting out an exhale as they all spoke over each other. He wasn't sure who's voice was louder as they all spoke in unison.

"Just point your light forward. . . and be ready to run." Joel advised, clenching his jaw and pointing his flashlight over the abyss of darkness.

The group started walking through the tunnels, encased in an ominous silence as they journeyed through—the only sounds being the thundering of the pipes that ran through the endless tunnels.

Lizzie lingered close to Ellie, her right hand still holding tight onto the younger boy's as she walked in front of him protectively.

Joel led them through a dingy tunnel, his flashlight dancing across the coloured walls in confusion. Adorning the walls, dozens of children's drawings decorated the once solid bricks. The door before them was presumably the entrance to a castle as a small brown palace was drawn around it.

"Woah," Ellie marvelled in amazement, looking up at the rainbows, people, and flowers that painted the walls.

Lizzie felt a tap on her lower arm, looking down slightly to see the childish innocence that swirled in Sam's eyes as he stared at the walls in awe, pointing to the castle door.

Lizzie laughed lightly, looking to Ellie with a smile as the brunette nodded back.

Sam detached his hand from Lizzie's, walking forward towards the door with a youthful grin. However, before he could reach it, Joel stuck his arm out and shook his head. "No."

The blonde rolled her eyes, walking forward to bring the boy back behind her just in case any infected did await them inside. "Joel, he's a little kid. Leave him alone."

It was strange how quick a bond could start over something as little as petting a dog, but Lizzie couldn't help but feel slightly protective over the younger boy. He reminded her too much of herself—curious, bursting with wonder and innocence. But She didn't want him to end up like her.

Slowly, Joel opened the door, his eyes widening slightly at the sight of the nursery. The large room resembled a young child's playroom—filled with toys, footballs, comic books, with paintings littering the walls.

Had it not been cast in such an eerie light, Lizzie thought it may have been sweet.

☼

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This hurts my heart tbh
I ain't ready to write the next chapter