𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐋𝐚𝐬𝐭 𝐨𝐟 𝐔𝐬 : 𝐉𝐨𝐞𝐥 𝐌𝐢𝐥𝐥𝐞𝐫 𝐱 𝐅𝐞𝐦𝐚𝐥𝐞 𝐎𝐂
September 27th, 2013 an infection took over the world. Twenty years later, a young girl is immune. Ruth doesn't expect her life to turn more upside down than it already has, but...
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The next day began like any other – no strangers tried to bust down Jackson's front door, nothing was burning down, and no one was being taken hostage. Joel stayed up the whole night just to be sure of it, and due to that, I didn't get much sleep either. But when the sun started to rise, and the cheery tweets of the birds perched on tree branches met our ears, I think we both could breathe a little easier.
Knowing that Tommy and Maria would want to see us before we moved onto our assignments, Joel and I skipped coffee and settled with toast for breakfast. Although it was still cool, the lack of wind made it more bearable. I still bundled up just in case it decided to pick up later in the day. The streets were quiet, not many people were out and about yet. We walked straight to the jail, giving morning greetings to those we did see.
Tommy and Maria were there waiting, having a quiet conversation with Marcus.
Marcus was newer, arrived within the last year or so. Young and handsome, golden blonde hair, sea green eyes. He'd fit right in with the west coast back in the day. The other ladies refer to him as Jackson's pretty boy . It drives the guys nuts, especially at gatherings – he's always got a girl on his arm. But he was sweet, a child at heart, and he held his own around here.
A collection of good mornings was shared between everyone before we started asking questions. Joel was the first.
"How she been?"
"I've only been here a couple hours, but she's been quiet. Only started moving around after Tommy and Maria showed up," Marcus explained.
I peered through the frosted glass vaguely making out Abby's figure pacing back and forth. She was getting antsy, surely wondering what our plan was. Standing outside the door where she could hear muffled voices didn't provide any sort of comfort, I'm sure.
"What're you guys thinking?" I asked, switching my gaze between the husband and wife.
They looked at me then, and I recognized the mischievous spark in their eyes. It's normally followed by something I would regret later.
"We've decided to let that be up to you," Maria said.
"What?" I barked out, a little confused. "Why?"
Tommy answered, his voice gentle, "We trust you, Ruth. If you say we don't have anything worry about, then...we believe you."
Joel asked for clarification, "So, you want her to stay?"
Tommy shrugged. "Why not? You wanna just throw her out in the snow – alone."
Once again, my eyes veered to the figure pacing behind the glass pane. I was her once. Caught in a storm, locked in a cage, waiting for others to decide my fate. I understood the feeling of uncertainty, fear of the unknown. If this girl is who she says she is – if she's really lost everything that she has, what kind of people would we be to turn her away.
