Apocalypse [Ellie Williams]

◜chapter sixteen◞

Cassie and Ellie sat on the grass eating their sandwiches Marlene had packed for them, Joel and Tess rationing what little food they had whilst the girls dug into theirs. The adults watching them like that had been for the past day.

"is that chicken" Tess asked the pair

"yeah" Ellie replied at the same time as Cassie nodded "Marlene said they get it from smugglers. guess not you guys"

"if you want some you can" Cassie held out the remainder of her sandwich, half eaten but enough for the two of them. Tess just shook her head before walking over to the two girls, Joel quick to follow

"why are you so important to Marlene" Tess asked ellie "and dont lie to me or we'll take you both back"

"but we like being outside where there's so many things that could kill us" Cassie pouted sarcastically, her head falling onto Ellie's shoulder as she bit into her sandwich

"you take us back, you dont get your battery" Ellie stated, her head slightly leaning on top of Cassie's but not visible enough for anyone to see.

"you heard that?" Tess scoffed "then you must have heard that he wants to shoot you" Cassie's eyes widened momentarily before she looked up at Joel, her head lifting from its spot on Ellie's shoulder as she sent the man a quick glare whilst Tess crouched in front of the pair. Ellie flinched slightly, pulling her sandwich towards herself

"im gonna talk to you like your an adult, okay? Joel and i aren't good people, were doing this for us because apparently your both worth something but we dont know what your worth if we dont know what we have. So, one of you answer my question"

"you dont scare me" Cassie mutters, leaning forward and maintaining eye contact, not playing into the woman's intimidation tactic (a skill she picked up fast living on the streets of the QZ)

"but i clearly scare your little friend so speak up" Tess nodded towards ellie who had placed her sandwich down and held her head in her hand

"she told me not to tell anybody and now im telling the first people that i-" Ellie muttered to herself, cassie turned towards the girl. A soft smile on her lips as she caught Ellie's eye, Cassie nodded in understanding "there's a firefly basecamp somewhere out west, with doctors, they're working on a cure"

"ive heard this before" Joel exclaimed

"and whatever happened to me, is the key to finding a vaccine" Ellie continued, ignore Joel's comment

"key to finding a vaccine" Joel finished off at the same time as the girl "that's what this is? we've heard this a million times. Vaccines, miracle cures, none of it works. Ever"

"fuck you man, i didn't ask for this" Ellie stood to her feet

"hold up, Cassie, what about you?" Tess turned to the girl again

"im not infected, i haven't been bit or anything like that but apparently, whatever has happened to Ellie has also happened to me. There's no proof, they want to test me but fuck, two immune kids? id say that's a pretty high chance of finding a cure" Cassie spat, finishing off half of food and stuffing the paper bag into her backpack. Her eyes trained on the adults in front of her "even if it doesn't work, even if they cant find a pissing cure then at least they tried and hell, at least i fucking helped"

"this isn't gonna end well Tess" Joel warned the woman "we need to go back"

"lets just finish it" Tess told Joel, standing to her feet "it doesn't matter if they are or aren't what the fireflies say. If they believe that they are then, we get what we want"

"and hey, if we are the cure then boom. your forever known as the people who helped two kids save the world" Cassie butted into the conversation, a smile on her face as the two adults looked at her with a blank stare

"if she so much as twitches" Joel told Tess after a moments silence. Ellie pulling her arms up to her chest and started mimicking the sound of the infected making Cassie let out a laugh (even though the adults weren't all that impressed)

"dont" Tess pointed at the girl making her scratch at her neck and cough, acting innocent. The two adults agreed to take the kids, signalling at them to grab their stuff. Cassie pulled off her jumper and shoved it into her backpack before pulling her coat, which was arguable cooler than the jumper, on before shrugging on her backpack.

"can i have a gun?" Ellie asked as Joel picked the gun he stole from the soldier up

"absolutely not" "no" the adults said together

"okay Jesus fine, ill have to throw a fucking sandwich at them" Ellie groaned, Cassie laughing as she patted her best friends back

"were both pretty skilled with knife's el, we'll be good" Cassie reassured the girl, Ellie giving the girl a smile. Joel moved the cabinet he used to block off the door and led the three women out of the building. cassie grabbed the girls hand as they left the building they holed up inside for the night, everything looked different in the light. Something so beautiful about the disaster surrounding them.

Buildings where collapsed, some completely gone whilst others relied on another deteriorating building to stay standing. Moss climbed the broken walls of the surrounding buildings, some sprouting colourful flowers meters off the ground whilst some had ivy winding around the metal constructions. If things where different, if the whole world hadn't gone to shit, Cassie suspected that this would be a place she would have loved.

Buildings so high you could probably see the entirety o the city from it, people rushing to jobs and tourists so intrigued by the surrounding areas. Hanging out with friends in a park or going to cafe's and eating as much as she could. Maybe, just maybe, she could have even gone on a date or two. She could only imagine how different life was now compared to then, if they knew the devastating tragedy would come.

If they knew the lives they lived would change drastically in the matter of days. She questioned if they knew that one day, their house would no longer be a home but a simple structure taken over by mother nature.

someone please tell me how much they liked them last two paragraphs because i feel like that is some of the best writing ive ever written.

i also want to reiterate that Cassie and Ellie are still kids. Cassie grew up, arguably, a lot quicker due to her being completely alone from the age of thirteen. She acts a lot older than she is however there will be moments where she acts like a child and id like to think that's because shes comfortable around Ellie and knows she doesn't need to worry about little things when she's got her by her side.