"Lincoln..."

Maeve eyed the Welcome to Lincoln County sign on the highway curve, her focus caught by the town in the distance. The was pretty much hours away from setting, so it was at that peak to blind someone if they tried looking west. It made it a little difficult to try and look at the town, but she could definitely see a water tower's silhouette.

"Now there we go..." Joel murmured aloud as he approached the railing and peered down the hill. "Yeah, it'll be faster to cut through here."

"Are you for real?" Maeve said to no one in particular. It seemed he was for real when he jumped over the railing into an overgrown area. She was not built for hiking.

"It'll be fine, Mae. See?" Ellie flashed a peace sign at her before she also jumped over the railing.

Okay...Maeve sat on the railing, lifted her legs over, and jumped down into the greenery.

Oof! A shock rippled through her leg nerves, which caused her to lose her balance and fall to her knees. The blades of grass poked through her jeans while the strong smell of pine and faint linen of water whiffed into her senses. It was kind of...nice.

"Like a cat," Ellie snickered and helped her up.

"Like a cat," Maeve repeated with a smile, nudging her forward with her shoulder.

TJ landed a bit heavily behind them, but he made no indication he was hurt or anything.

"Her? A cat?" He simpered. "A cat has more grace."

"You know what." Maeve huffed and flipped the taller specimen off. He only rolled his eyes at her attempt at a retort.

"Man..." Ellie's voice brought Maeve back to the woods.

"What?" Joel questioned.

"Nothing," Ellie responded lightly as she basked in the serenity of nature, completely in awe. "It's just...I've never seen anything like this, that's all."

"You mean that woods?" TJ looked at her weirdly.

"Yeah. Never walked through the woods. It's kinda cool."

Maeve had to agree with her. She took back the thing she thought about hiking, although she still wasn't built for it, it was kind of relaxing. They didn't have to escape or run from infected. There was no shrilling of the undead or gunshots of soldiers. It was just nice and quiet. Just the birds calling each other and the dance of the leaves as a breeze swayed through their branches. In the midst of their trekking, a pure white crane took flight from a small stream, it cried out a purr-like call.

The teen thought the wings were like a set of angel wings, like some kind of bird angel thing. Its body disappeared through the treetops. The soughing of the wind in the canopy of branched and leaves seemed like total bliss. And dare she think it, peaceful.

No infected, no soldiers. Hm. Yeah, that probably wouldn't last for very long.

"Why don't you take us back to Marlene?"

"If she was up to the task, why'd she drop you on us?" Joel replied to Ellie's sudden question.

"Well, maybe she's better now."

The man exhaled. "Kid, I don't mean to upset you, but your friend's chance of survival wasn't too high to begin with."

"She's a lot tougher than you think," Ellie crossed her arms over her chest.

"It don't matter," Maeve could hear the strain in Joel's voice. "'Cuz I doubt I could any of us back into the city in one piece. Trust me. I wish there was some other option."

Boo. That was fairly depressing to hear, but also relieving, in a way. She hadn't known Joel or TJ very long, but Maeve felt a bit more comfortable with them around than the idea of traveling with the Fireflies. She had seen the brutality they would take against the soldiers, and vice versa. They would've been killed on sight if they were led by the Fireflies from the Capitol Building.

Maeve shook off the negative thoughts before they drowned her mind. There was so much that went on around them, it was like she couldn't wrap herself around them, and couldn't keep up with one incident after another. It exhausted her.

"Whoa, hey buddy!" A gray rabbit raced across the forest floor and took shelter into a thicket.

"If we get hungry, we can come back and eat it," Maeve snorted when Ellie gave her a don't-you-dare glare. "I'm just fucking with you." She patted her shoulder.

"But, it's a good idea," TJ nodded in consideration.

Much to Ellie's dismay, the older teens laughed at her expressions.

Eventually, they settled down and made it to a fenced gate with barbed wire curling around the top. There didn't seem like there was a way around it, and the gate was chained shut.

"Well, shit," Joel grumbled, spurned.

"Should—should we climb it?" Ellie asked, slinking her fingers through the chain-link fence and rattling it.

"No," he dismissed the idea. He looked off toward the building on the inside of the fence. "Wire on top. We gotta find a way around it."

"He sure knows how to keep people out," TJ mused, shuffling toward a fallen tree, which was blocking their path around the fenced perimeter.

"This buddy of yours?" Maeve clicked her tongue. "What is he? Paranoid or something?"

"Or something," TJ cocked his head to the right as he shrugged.

"I see," She narrowed her eyes at him as he stepped over the trunk.

"Hey, Mae," her sleeve is suddenly tugged. She looked at Ellie. "Look!"

Tiny, but prominent golden green surrounded the girls. Fireflies! Maeve realized the glowing insects buzzed lazily near her face. A light giggle escaped her, captivated by their beauty. To her, they were tiny moving stars, proudly parading their brilliance to their spectators.

"Fireflies!"

"Well, real fireflies," Maeve added with a smile.

"Yeah, those — those are fireflies."

She didn't want to leave the moment, she wanted to stay basking in their soft, dim glows. With a cupped palm, she reached out to a firefly that floated near her. She flexed her fingers apart. The bug's light dimmed for a second, returning to its original bright gleam and it flew away. The auburn-haired girl curled her hand into a fist and retracted her limb to her bust.

"Sorry...lost ourselves for a second."

"Clearly," TJ commented.

"You don't gotta be an ass about it," Maeve huffed and climbed over the fallen trunk.

"Yeah, dude," Ellie chimed in. "It's okay to just look every now and again."

"We're tight on time here," he faced the younger girl with a frown.

"Says who? We haven't run into any infected since this morning!" Ellie cocked her hip out and planted her hands on her waist.

"And? Just because we haven't run into any, doesn't mean they're not out there."

"Can y'all just shut up for a minute?" Joel was by a tiny building, placing a plank onto the far wall of it. "You talk a lot, and it is very annoyin'."

"Well, damn, that's one way to address the elephant in the yard." Maeve joked.

"C'mon, up here." Joel climbed onto an AC unit next to the small building and onto the roof.

"What?" She asked to no one in particular. Confusion filled her for a moment when the older man grabbed the plank he set against the building and placed it across the gape to the other roof of the small building inside the fence. "Oh. Yeah, I guess that is pretty smart."

"Hey, Joel," TJ climbed onto the roof and looked off into the distance, where there was smoke.

"That you, Bill?"

"Where do you usually meet him?" Maeve asked when Joel crossed the plank into the next yard.

"Different places," He replied.

"You've never been here, have you?" Ellie climbed onto the roof, an amused look on her face.

"We know this is where he lives...but, no we ain't been here personally," He dropped into the yard with a thud.

"And that smoke, you think it's him?"

"Sure as hell better be," TJ said as he stepped onto the other roof. "I'll kick his ass if it's not."

Joel some sort of snort. "Bill would put you on your own ass before you could reach for your gun."

"Probably," TJ sheepishly agreed.

"This Bill guy, how do you know him?" Maeve pried as she and Ellie dropped into the next yard. They followed the guys closer to an empty apartment yard.

"Ah," The blond sucked in a breath and rubbed the back of his neck. "We did shippings with him."

"Is that another way of saying you're drug dealers?"

TJ chuckled. "No, not drug dealing, but did have something to do with drugs. The only way to survive in QZ's is to have ration cards, and we'd trade pills for ration cards. We'd use the cards to buy our way into the narrower and harder to reach places."

"I think I'm more confused than when I didn't know," Maeve rubbed her temple and flipped her braid over her shoulder.

"Then why'd you ask?"

The teen shrugged. "Dunno. I'm bored, I guess."

"Alright, come on," Joel lowered him to a drop. "Watch your step; it's a good drop."

He fell, but he obviously landed on his feet.

"O—kay."

Again, one by one, they dropped into the apartment yard. Of course, Maeve had the a strong urge to explore the small area. She naively approached a shed, as she figured she could probably find supplies, or at least something. She pursed her lips and skipped around the wide area and down the short set of stairs. The shed didn't have a door, which she found mildly convenient.

Click. Click. Click.

She smacked her hands over her mouth as she saw the sleeping Clicker in the shed. Its head bobbled weirdly, but it didn't seem to have heard her. She peered around the slumbering infected, her eyes fixated on the shed shelves. Gauze. A jar of needles. Alcohol.

"Shit, Clicker!" Ellie immediately hunkered into a crouch once she heard the ominous clicking.

I've got this. Maeve inwardly smirked with the sudden boost of confidence and tugged out her switchblade. She wanted those supplies. She may not use firearms, so she could assist the guys by her using other specialties. That way, she would at least be doing something.

With the powerful swing of her left arm, the blade lodged into the clickers' cranium, effectively killing it. The body tumbled to the ground with a not-so-quiet thud. Maeve yanked her knife out of the infected's head and wiped the blood on its clothed shoulder.

"Oof!" Ellie stood back up.

"And that's how it's done!" Maeve boosted and they high fived each other.

"You're supposed to be following." Joel frowned at the girls from the higher ground.

"Yeah, but there's stuff in here!" Maeve rushed into the shed, plucked everything she deemed worthy of supplies of the shelves, and rejoined Ellie. "I bet I can start making a nail bomb with these needles!"

"I bet not," Joel stared down at her. "Try not to kill us."

"Pssh! I'm an expert at this," she dismissed him.

"How do you even know how to make nail bombs?" TJ asked, eyeing Maeve with a suspicious look.

"I told you — a friend taught me." Maeve stashed the supplies in her bag.

"Yeah, a friend. Do you expect me to believe that, do you?"

"Believe me, or don't. That's up to you," she shrugged, not caring about his opinions.

"Do those military schools raise terrorists, or something?" TJ egged on.

The girl rolled her eyes and slipped her bag back on. Had it ever occurred to him that maybe knowing how to craft is, like, literally a part of surviving? Just when he came out of his shell, he sprung back inside of it like an old and paranoid veteran.

"Just shut up. I know stuff, it's not suspicious," Maeve glared at him.

"I have a right to be."

"Alright, enough," Joel cut in before either one of them started in again. "We should check the area for more supplies and then move on."

With the tension sliced, the atmosphere seemed a little lighter.

"Roger, roger," Maeve saluted him tiredly.