"𝐜𝐨𝐰𝐛𝐨𝐲 𝐥𝐢𝐤𝐞 𝐦𝐞„

forty four, in violent times

"The smiths," Ellie replies, unaware that there was ever a band even called the smiths. Jane makes some kind of 'ew' sound and Ellie shoves the CD back where she had gotten it from. Tossing out something else in its return, it lands again in Jane's lap and she picks it up willingly.

"Mascara," she nears the tube to her eyes as she reads the fine print. "Definitely expired, but I'll give it a go."

Jane flips her mirror screen down from the ceiling of the car and is met with a bruised face. She almost grimaces at first, but then takes a moment to remember that this isn't such an unusual sight, just a distant one. She applies the wand to her lashes carefully, and doesn't notice much difference in volume but tries to 'admire' herself anyways. It doesn't work, and she huffs, turning the screen back up and clearing her throat. She hates how much the world has changed her, yet she would be dead without it. She wondered how Carl could ever like her, looking like this? She almost caught herself feeling sorry for him, and wishing she was someone else instead - Enid, maybe.

"You in on this secret?" Jane blurts, trying to switch her mind to something else.

"What?" Ellie asks, trying to act like she doesn't know about it. She does, and Jane knows it.

"The secret."

Ellie's eyes dart to everywhere but Jane's and she finally caves. "Yeah. Yeah I do, but don't think I'm telling you anything."

"I'm not gonna pry, I just........is it good or bad?"

Ellie hesitates before answering, but cracks a smile when she does. "Yes."

"That's all I needed." Jane admits in relief, pulling out the folded map from her pocket and smoothing out it's creases. Forks and dual roads snaked around patches of green, and she knew without it they might've just gotten lost in the labyrinth that was one of many Virginian forests.

Speaking of Virginian, a few had pointed out the shift in Jane's accent in the last few weeks. Not that it had abruptly changed, but that it had slowly increased to the point where people were actually starting to hear the twinge in her tone more clearly. Growing up in the city, she'd never really placed a specific regional sound to her voice, but being out in the country with country people had obviously had an effect on her mannerisms.

Another hour to their half had gotten them there in good time, and the sight they had approached was interesting to say the least. Three saviours leaned against a tree, shading themselves from the sun's angry heat. Rick hadn't liked the idea of calling them 'saviours' anymore, because they weren't, not really now. Jane couldn't not separate them in her head, and though she tried hard not to say it out loud, they'd always be divided in her world.

As she would learn today, they had that idea too.

"You ready?" Ellie asked, as Jane just continued to stare out at them, laughing and talking in amongst one another. Four others sat on a fallen log beside the tree, and five more just stood around in the middle of the road. They all whipped their heads to the sound of a moving vehicle, and for a second it seemed as if they were all puppets, controlled obscenely by one master. Her blood boiled just thinking about being near any one of them, yet she nodded at her best friend and retreated out of the car.

Getting their guns and bows from the backseat, they face the saviours head on with dangerous looks. They don't even flinch as Jane clicks the chamber open, loading the gun and jutting it closed with her palm before slotting it into the holster that was fastened to her thigh.

"Alright listen. We've got shit to do, so don't dick around, right? We've got guns in our pockets and arrows in our back so if you wanna chat back try it. All you have to do is do what we say and shut up - only then will you be fine. Got it?" Jane called out, over the group of monotone faced people.