A/N:
italics are flashbacks and will be used throughout the book. sorry for the short chapters, I am trying my best to add as much detail as I possibly can.
"ELLIE, KEEP CARL safe!" Rick ordered, pushing the blonde hastily in the direction of Carl as he and Shane took control over the walkers.
Though her body trembled with crippling anxiety, Ellie hurriedly darted to the young boy's side, ensuring her arm had been folded across him protectively. Feeling utterly powerless, all Ellie could do was anxiously observe as Rick and Shane took charge, clearing out the walkers with the safety of their knives to reduce the risk of gunshots drawing more hungry walkers.
Carl whimpered sheepishly into Ellie's side as he clung onto her, his small fingers curling onto the fabric of her shirt with his entire strength. A flailed arm attached to Carl's arm suddenly, a loose walker detached from its herd as it snuck behind them silently. With one swift movement, she had spun on her heels, and instantly thumped her hand against the throat of the walker. Carl broadcasted a loud wail as blood trickled like thick treacle down from the walker's new stab wound onto his arm.
"Carl!" Rick cried out as he held a walker off on his hand, distracted by his son's frantic scream.
Shane did not hesitate to aid his friend as he killed the walker, their concerned eyes whirling back to Ellie within moments.
"He's safe!" Ellie breathlessly called out as she scanned the perimeter for more surprises from walkers, to see it had been entirely clear. She let out a sigh as she pulled Carl close to her, prompting the young boy to wrap his small arms around her, hugging her close, "You're safe, Carl."
Once the walkers had cleared out, they regrouped fearfully, ensuring that they remained close as they proceeded with their journey, with Carl holding Ellie's hand from fear as Rick and Shane held their guns up. From above her, Ellie watched as the trees uncurled at intervals, allowing the blinding sunlight to beam through ever so slightly. She glanced up, smelling the composting leaves as she tried to keep her mind off Coda and Luke, but she just couldn't get them out of her mind.
Crackling branches caught her attention as she walked through the woods, but she knew it was only Shane and Rick ahead of her. What would have once been a green meadow hidden in the folds of the forest, now felt like a graveyard as it belonged to the dead. Ellie glanced around, the earthy smell of beginnings and endings surrounding her endlessly.
Rick and Shane idly sunk into nostalgia, quietly beginning to discuss past memories while Carl giggled along happily, proud to learn of his favourite men and their endless history of joy.
It left a bittersweet ache on Ellie's tongue at her own brother's absence, almost feeling sick with regret that he could not be there to share delicate memories with his younger sister. Though she had nobody to connect to, Ellie glanced down at her feet sheepishly, allowing a nostalgic grin to toy at her lips. She enjoyed hearing the men's personal anecdotes — but it simply reminded her that the only people she could share hers with, were missing.
>>>
"What have you got there, Eleanor?" Luke called out eagerly, his thin, yet excited arms hoisting up his slimy, moss infested fishnet, "I seem to have caught some creatures that rather resemble Vincenzo, don't you think?"
"I found two frogs!" the younger sister shrieked out, chirping happily as she held her fishnet up, "Stop calling me Eleanor, it's Ellie!"
"Well, seeing as I'm older, I can do whatever I want!" Luke grinned at the girl, to which she rolled her eyes, though his emboldened stance had her almost cackling.
The teenage girl stood with her arms folded over her chest as she pouted, glancing up at her older brother with feigned doe eyes that she had mastered. There had been almost five years between the two of them, but it still often left Luke with the authority — something Ellie despised for the entirety of her life. Though, Ellie had been the one to be blessed with the attitude and the guts for being the boss, and Luke certainly knew it.
"That's not fair," Ellie pouted, sinking down next to the river as she folded her legs to match her folded arms, "Hey, I heard there were new brothers moving in down the road."
Luke scoffed loudly, internally threatened at the notion of new "men" living in their town, and joined his sister at the side of the water, the two dangling their feet in the cool stream. "I heard. They look like trouble — the Dixon's."
"I wonder if they're looking for girlfriends," Ellie muttered anxiously, a blush creeping onto her glowing, pubescent face.
Luke scoffed once again, and punched his sister in the arm with all his strength. An overprotective convulsion — am urge had come over him at the thought of his sister dating, and hissed,"They're older than you. Hell, they're older than me. No boyfriends."
Ellie rolled her aqua eyes and buried her head deep into the caves of her knees that were now tucked up to her chest, "Well, I want boyfriends."
"You're what those people call desperate, Eleanor," Luke teased proudly, although internally had had wanted to protect his sister from the harsh reality of the world. She may have been young, but Luke was a young adult. Ellie hadn't known the pain of the world as Luke had.
Ellie scowled, and pinched her brother mercilessly, despite his slight groans, and smirked tauntingly, "Maybe they're more up your street, you know, because—"
"I'm not gay, Eleanor!" Luke gasped, suddenly thumping her ribs to halt her in her teasing, ensuring she had truly stopped. It hadn't been that Luke had been repulsed by the notion of being gay, it was his simple internal battle of sexuality being a spectrum. Bisexuality was a term he had been afraid of, and certainly kept it to himself. He quickly huffed, "I have a girlfriend."
"Charlotte is really not that much of an achievement," Ellie cackled, releasing the frogs back into the water below her as her reflection bounced beautifully against the ripples of water, "Charlotte is my friend and she's, literally, been with everybody. And she's fifteen!"
Luke groaned loudly as he punched the bridge of his nose, entirely aware of the fabrication of his successful relationship. Tauntingly, his lips curved into a smirk as he stated, "Hey, you can't talk about me being with your friend. Remember, when James came over and you were totally drooling over him with Charlotte," Luke teased his sister, changing the subject from his love life.
"That was, like, ages ago! Besides, I'm surprised you didn't drool all over him. You know because—" Ellie begun, her face curling up into a great smirk as she stared at him.
"I'm not gay, Ellie!" Luke screeched, his cheeks tinting pink as he glared at her with wide eyes, "Stop saying that!"
Ellie glanced over at her mother, adorned by a dazzling grin from ear to ear as she kept a vigilant eye over her children playing by the waterline. It had been a moment of solace from the agonising pain in the pit of loneliness in her vacant heart.
Since the death of her first husband, her true love, her mind had not been anywhere but the clouds. Lorna-Rose had met and fell in love with Vincenzo Cipriano, a tall, rugged Italian pastor. Though, her "love" had been a mere concept, forced upon a husk of a woman she had once been. She lazily rested her hand over her swollen tummy, rubbing her fingers against it every now and then. Ellie nudged Luke, and the two glanced up at their mother adoringly, smiling at one another with pride.
Their mother had been everything to them, from the woman who'd bore them life, to the woman who'd blessed them with their baby sibling. Lorna-Rose may have been battling an inner war she had been close to losing, but whenever her children had been around, the pain had never been quite so bad.
"I can't wait to meet her," Ellie whispered, thinking of her new baby sister that would be born soon, "I think she'd suit the name Abigail," she muttered as she dangled her feet back into the river, "Don't you agree?"
Their mother waddled happily over to her children, awkwardly attempting to sink down beside them, though her large stomach proved in the way. Once she had finally sunk down, she dangled her feet into the water, and wrapped her arm around her eldest daughter, "I like the name River."
"River," Ellie and Luke muttered in unison, glancing down at the sun that was reflecting into the water. Luke turned to face his mom, and shrugged, "I like Elodie."
"Luke, do you always have to disagree with us?"
"Absolutely, Eleanor."
>>>
"Ellie!" a distant, abounding voice reverberated in the empty corners of Ellie's mind as she had been drawn back to Earth, her eyes suddenly viewing Rick waving his hands frantically in Ellie's face.
Ellie swallowed hard, blinking repeatedly as she weakly muttered, "I–I'm sorry, I was just lost in thought."
"It doesn't matter, as long as you're okay. What were you thinking about?" Rick inquired kindly, a dazzling smile of reassurance curling on his lips.
"Luke. I heard you both talking about your old memories, and... it reminded me of how Luke and I used to tease each other," Ellie quietly squeaked, gulping as she felt her eyes begin to tear up, "We named our baby sister together."
"I'm sorry," Rick affirmed, his crystalline eyes intensely searching her eyes for forgiveness, "What did you name her?"
"Her name is—"
"Dad, look!" Carl squealed, interrupting the two from their brief encounter, though both had been pleased with their discussion.
They instantly halted in their tracks when they spotted a beautiful, brown coated and glossy eyed buck, standing innocently in her prime. Ellie's eyes broadened like saucers as she had been wholly relieved that such a beautiful creature was still roaming the earth, dominating the evil that walked amongst the chaos. She whirled her head to peer at Shane, only to greet Shane's gun; aimed and ready to spill blood of innocence.
"Shane," Rick warned, his dominating head shaking, for he could see that Shane had envisioned some cooked venison for camp, but they didn't need the food.
They had needed the hope that the deer simply radiated. Such beauty had been hard to rectify in a world such as theirs, when decay and death were the only neighbours in their lonely suburbs. Reluctantly, Shane lowered his shotgun and turned to face Carl, whose eyes had been innocently glued to the buck, as though it were gold.
The young boy attempted to step forth, but Ellie instantly grabbed his shoulders to restrain him, refusing to disturb the innocent deer. Carl whirled around and twinkled his pleading eyes at Ellie, his ocular begging proving to be her weakness. With a contemplative bite of her lip, she suddenly rolled her eyes and gently nudged Carl in the direction of the buck.
His slow movements had been entirely perfect, crafted from such a strong desire to pet the enticing creature. Though, the world would never grant such a wish, as stolen moments had been its speciality. A piercing echo of a gunshot filled the air, rattling an anxiety in Ellie's chest as her body flung to the ground in fear. Her eyes did not miss the earth-shattering sight as Carl's body plummeted to the ground, a pool of crimson spilling from beneath him.
Carl had been shot.
A flash of antagonising memories shielded Ellie's vision from the commotion, enticing her into the empty seat of nostalgia at that gunshot. Stuck back in the past. Slowly.
>>>
"Hey, Mom, does this shirt go better with this skirt, or does this one?" a teenaged Ellie questioner her idle mother, holding two different shirts up in order to contrast them.
The eighteen year old girl glanced over at her mother, whose eyes had been nervously staring at her phone.
It hadn't been public knowledge that Ellie had been planning to visit her secret boyfriend, Daryl Dixon himself, though Lorna-Rose had been certain her daughter had been up to no good. The secrecy of their relationship had been part of the appeal, although their indiscretions had been tearing a horrible hole in the fabric of their family. They were losing grip on their precious, young girl. Although, neither of her "parents" had particularly cared much of her absence.
"The blue one, honey," her mother told her, not paying attention to her daughter as she tapped her scuffed, bitten nails on her phone nervously.
Ellie scowled, embittered that she hadn't been holding a blue shirt, though had noted her mother's eyes widen with fear as she checked her phone.
"Mom, are you okay?" Ellie polled with concern, dropping the clothes on the unclean floor to storm closer, her face painted with concern.
"I–I don't know," Lorna-Rose whimpered, her voice cracked every so slightly as her broad eyes glued to the screen of her phone.
"What? What is it?" Ellie demanded, approaching her mother worriedly as she tore off the shirt, and proceeded to anxiously place her own back over her torso.
"It's Luke..." Lorna-Rose breathed out, her throat tightening as the world had suddenly choked her with hands of grief, "Something isn't right, you need to get down the station to find out what's happening! I'll head over to the hospital. I don't know what's going on!"
Without so much as another word to her mother, Ellie did not hesitate to burst through the store like an ice storm, leaving her mother behind as she anxiously fumbled with her car keys.
She rapidly back the car out of the parking lot, zooming for the town's station in King County, despite her hazardous, yet uncontrollable driving. She parked wherever she deemed suitable at that moment, and burst through the front doors of the rushed station, where countless individuals had been rushing back and forth hurriedly, sweating with the desire to leave after such a disastrous event. A shooting. Leon Basset stood nearby, his face paled with distress and potential loss of his colleagues.
"Leon?" the blonde called out, whirling around rapidly as she attempted to glimpse the superior officer, though could not see him.
"Eleanor..." Leon called out from behind her, his kind eyes suddenly fastening onto hers through the thin glaze of tears.
Ellie gulped loudly as he quickly brought her into an embrace, patting her on the back gently, though she battled intensely not to burst into tears, "What's going on?"
Leon released a shaky breath as he withdrew from the embrace, dropping his gaze to the ground as he hoarsely declared, "There was a shooting in Macon, they called for the county's backup. Oh, god... We lost three guys today, Eleanor... Three..."
"Oh, my God," Ellie shrieked, cupping her mouth with her hand of disbelief. Her head shook repeatedly as she weakly choked out, "Not Luke?"
"He got hit... They called for paramedics a while back, they shouldn't be too much longer," Leon mumbled, and quickly nodded toward the back room, "He's through there. They brought them back here because it was quicker, you understand?"
Her ignorance formed in silence as Ellie lunged rapidly toward the back room, where they had created a makeshift clinic for the men that had been harmed at the scene. Her entire body came to a halt as the deputy caught her in his arms, his evil smirk displaying at his crooked lips, etched with a scar of mystery. Deputy James Clark.
"Where the hell is he?" Ellie demanded, entirely unfazed by James' attempt at a domineering stance. His folded arms of emboldenment had been weightless.
James rolled his eyes, a devious smirk curling at his lips as he attempted to place his hand on Ellie's arm, "You can't go in there just yet."
"Bullshit," Ellie sneered, attending to sneakily peer through the crack in the door, only to observe the room as virtually empty. "Where the hell are the medics?"
"They're on their way," James hissed viciously, glancing down at his clipboard nonchalantly, "Besides, it's his own fault for not fighting back."
"He has a duty to protect his civilians, not endanger them, Clark," Ellie spat, shoving the clipboard down onto the ground. She viciously gritted, "Don't feed me that bullshit because I won't stand for it."
James scoffed at the girl, simply unfazed at her inferior attempts to weaken him and growled, "You're just a kid, Eleanor. Grow up and fuck off."
Ellie growled and shoved James hard in his chest, and watched him topple back slightly, but he regained his footing, "You're the worst person to be on this force. You'll get what you deserve one day."
She walked away from her ex-friend, who had been rather terrible friend to Luke for their entire short-lived friendship. An attractive, tall man had the perfect disguise, for deep inside he was as callous as Hades himself, ruler of the Underworld. James almost belonged to the dead, for his dead eyes and vacant soul had been perfect for such a career. James knew exactly how to get to Ellie — her family. He watched as she stormed into the room where Luke had been, and he smirked at her, lifting his head up slightly.
Because he knew one day, he was going to get his own way with her.
>>>
"I had to leave a clothing store mid-shop just because you were so inconveniently shot," Ellie smirked at her brother, whose aching body had been slumped, sitting up in his hospital bed, with sunken, groggy eyes.
"I'll try not to get shot, next time," Luke bantered, a playful grin toying at his lips, despite his drugged body that seemed to be floating above his bed. "I need to take some of this home, man. Am I floating?"
"Luke!" Ellie cackled through endless tears, her cheeks stained with droplets of grief at the notion of losing her brother, "I was so worried. Clark is such an asshole."
"Hey..." Luke whispered calmly, drawing Ellie's tearful eyes to connect with his, "If I can survive this," he started, placing his hand on top of his sister's reassuringly, "we can survive anything — together."
>>>
Ellie's mind circulated the dark memories she held of her brother being shot, clenching her eyes shut, allowing Luke's poignant words to replay in a loop, "we can survive anything — together." She knew that in order to survive the ordeal, it had to be done together, or else Carl would certainly never make it out alive. It had to be together. Carl would only survive when the group had been unified entirely, forming the very fabric that would bandage his small body.
They could only make it together.
Upon floating back down to Earth, Ellie instantly took charge of the situation, and glanced down at the little boy, whose abdomen sported a seeping bullet wound that she did not hesitate to conceal with the strength of her palm, and finally, screamed, "We have to help him! He's been shot!"
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