*this is half-edited, so please, if you spot a mistake I missed, let me know and i will fix it asap*

Thunder grumbled above Boston, loud and almost angry, rain poured down in thick, fat droplets. Maeve's hoodie was already soaked, and the chills crept in. With the rain came a terrible chilliness, it almost felt like a cold front. She tried to pull her sleeves tighter around her wrists.

After leaving Marlene and Jordan at their now-abandoned base, the four traveled into the QZ. Presumably to where Joel or Tess lived. And she assumed right; the adults led them to an apartment and the second or so floor. It was easy to slip past FEDRA patrols, they didn't suspect a thing. And neither did their new escorts.

And they wouldn't know.

Muffled voices echoed throughout the corridor. It was as kept up as the tenants could make it; the walls were peeling, cracking, and had water damage spots on the ceiling. Tess stopped at a door with missing numbers on it. She opened the door and gestured for the girls to enter.

"Give us a minute, all right?" She said to them and closed the door behind them.

"Hey, what the fuck?" Ellie grunted and then scoffed. She looked at Maeve, almost baffled.

Maeve made a sound, shrugging. "Let them talk."

The apartment, to her, felt cozy. Not so much homey, but it was nice. Faded yellow wallpaper with patterns of white flowers, never mind what kind of flower — she wouldn't know the name of it. They looked like sunflowers but white. The kitchen was a bit of a mess. A bucket was in the sink and there was a couple of jugs of water with a syncing hose curled around its bottom. She wondered if FEDRA even allowed the people of the QZ, the ones that weren't soldiers to have luxuries such as running water, heating, and air conditioning. She glanced around again.

The living room was connected to the kitchen and was the first room when one entered the place. There was a long couch, and two chairs — a small recliner, and the other a simple plush-cushioned chair. The simple chair was positioned by the small window. Between the simple chair and the couch was a dark wood nightstand with an alarm clock that had a modified silver antenna. Oh. Maybe they did have power. And maybe, just maybe, the military wasn't as oppressive as she thought they were.

"Check it." Ellie coughed, earning her attention. A small table, one she didn't realize was there. It reached just below her waist. Ellie scooped up a flimsy but thick phonebook. She started flipping through it when a piece of notebook paper flitted from the thin pages. "What's going on here?"

"Ellie, it's not polite to snoop." She tried scolding, but her curiosity also drove her batty and she eyes the lined paper. "Huh...that's...new?"

It seemed like codes. Like, a sequence of numbers. Or radio channels.

Just then, Joel entered the apartment, visibly annoyed. The door shut behind him. He didn't look at them.

"So, who's Bill and Frank?" They were given a stern look. "The radio's a smuggling code, right? Sixties songs, they don't have anything new, seventies, they got new stuff. What's the eighties?"

Joel ignored her, brushed past the young girl, and went to lie on the couch. His arm slung over his face, shielding his eyes from the light.

"What are you doing?" The phonebook was abandoned on the small table again, forgotten.

The man grunted. "Killing time."

"Well, what are we supposed to do?"

"I am sure you will figure that out."

What a fun guy, Maeve thought and slipped her bag off. She only knew he was being this way because he had two kids forced upon him. She understood, to an extent, his displeasure. If she was trying to survive like he was, she wouldn't want a couple of children to be dropped on her.

She claimed the recliner near the door, sinking into it before Ellie could.

There was something about these adults that made her want to trust them. As odd as it was. Seeing how she felt more comfortable around them, despite having just met them, than the Fireflies. Her intuition usually was spot-on.

As she opened her backpack, she heard Ellie say to Joel, "Your watch is broken." Nothing was said back, which she figured he either must've been so exhausted that he fell asleep quickly, or he ignored her. A wise decision on his end, she thought. Sometimes Ellie's rambling could go on forever. Her sister knew how to get someone going, either in a good way or a bad one.

Ellie shuffled past her to the chair by the window. It was still raining, perhaps harder than was. It didn't seem like it'd let up any time soon.

An hour passed. And then another hour. The rain and thunder became somewhat angrier. It was silent throughout the place. Well, except for when the radio turned on suddenly and played a few upbeat songs she recognized but didn't know the titles to. And then another hour passed. The afternoon faded into night, and the outside would've been pitch black if it weren't for the streetlights and occasional military trucks zooming through the streets.

That woman, Tess, should've been back by now, right? A frown pulled on her lips. She hoped she didn't get tangled with any patrols. Thinking of the consequences scared her, honestly. She'd heard what happened. Some first quote-unquote offenders were let off with warnings, repeating offenders were either hanged or shot.

She heard Joel waking. Her thoughts about Tess stopped and she looked at the man. He was sat up and rubbing his face and eyes. He'd slept for a few hours, but he still looked so exhausted. The bags under his eyes were evident enough.

"I've never been on the other side of the wall," Ellie gazed out of the window in awe. "Look how dark it is. You guys go out there a lot?"

"I guess," said Joel.

"When was the last time?"

He sighed. "I dunno. Maybe a year. What's it matter?"

Ellie brought her legs off the chair. "But you know where to go."

Joel's lips thinned and he looked between the sisters. "So, what's the deal with you anyway? You some kind of bigwig's daughters or somethin'?"

Maeve smiled uneasily. "Something like that."

The fear of them finding out that Ellie was bitten was high. Though she felt safe with them, it didn't erase the idea of what would happen. Infected people were taken care of immediately, and these guys didn't seem like they'd be hesitant to shoot a person who was infected.

The way of the QZ. Shoot and then ask questions.

In a way, she was glad they were leaving Boston. All the executions and murders made her feel guilty for being a soldier-in-training.

"Oh," Ellie chirped suddenly. "The radio came on when you were sleeping."

"What?" Joel's head whipped up. "What was the song?"

Maeve immediately began a hum session. "Wake me up before you go-go," she stopped. "Or something like that. I've heard it before, but I don't know the name of it. It's an eighties song, right?"

Not answering them, Joel hanged his head. "Shit."

"Gotcha." Ellie grinned. "Eighties means trouble. Code broken."

"Listen," Joel peered at the two, sucking in a breath to say something but then the door opened, and Tess slid inside.

She jumped right into business. "FEDRA is everywhere, but the spot under Lancaster looks good. You got jackets in your packs, ladies?"

Maeve nodded, and so did Ellie.

"Okay, get it. It's time to go."

Ellie quickly got into her bag and pulled her jacket out. Maeve already had her hoodie on, so her task was done.

Maeve never did like rain. Or at least, being in it. She got cold easily, and the rain didn't help. Forecasts weren't a thing anymore, so Boston had to take whatever the universe sent its way. It scared her how unpredictable the weather could be. She'd thought a lot about if she had been born before the Outbreak. She felt strongly she would've pursued the meteorologist career path or a photographer. Yeah. The photographer one sounded right. She would have shot everything in sight. Food, plants, and the horizon during dawn and sunset.

Intense cold splintered sudden tingles up her leg and she realized she stepped into a puddle. Ignoring her discomfort, she continued to follow after Tess and Joel with Ellie, adjusting her hood to avoid being seen by the FEDRA soldiers standing on the road with their rifles at the ready.

Sirens buzzed into the darkness, and the blades of a helicopter were near deafening. Shielding her ears did little to no help.

"Holy shit, Maeve," Ellie gasped after crawling from the makeshift tunnel. "We're actually outside!"

"Shh!" Maeve reached over and yanked her sister down just as a light dropped over them. Luckily, they were safe behind a blocky car, unseen by the spotter. "Ellie, be quiet, okay?"

Tess briefly over the hood of the car, grimacing at the number of soldiers. "Okay...this is what we're gonna do: take the left edge around the buffer zone," she looked at the sisters. "You two stay close and follow my lead."

The girls nodded simultaneously.

Seemingly satisfied with their obedience, the woman carefully surveyed again, deciding when they could sneak around. "Okay. Let's go."

Maeve did her best to crouch and keep up with the group, squeezing through slabs of concrete or cars. When she slipped through an opening of chain-link fencing, she saw a dark silhouette. She heard him hum absentmindedly as he relieved himself.

He saw them as they came through the fence. "What the hell?!" Fumbling with himself, he rushed to stop them. "Hey, hey, don't fucking move!" He went for his rifle, aiming at them. "You gotta be shitting me."

"Shit," Joel grunted in a low tone. "Okay, listen, let's talk this out."

"Turn around." The soldier flicked on the rifle's flashlight. Maeve flinched at the sudden brightness.

"Hold on--" Joel tried to negotiate.

"Get on your fucking knees," The soldier growled, approaching them. "Now!"

Maeve lowered herself to the ground. She didn't want to give him an excuse to riddle her body with bullets.

The soldier forced Joel to his knees. "What did I fucking tell you, man? I said stay the fuck home. On your knees!"

"Listen, you let us do this run," Tess spoke. "We'll split the cards with you."

The soldier scoffed. "Oh, will you?"

"Yeah."

"I'm so blessed," He grunted and then pulled out a virus scanner. "Hands on your head. Eyes forward."

"Really, man?" Tess complained.

"Yep," he said shortly. "We're doing this by the book."

He scanned Tess first, who still tried to convince him. "All right. What about three-quarters?"

"Unauthorized exit," The scanner beeped. "They'll hang you for that."

Joel was next. "Fine. Everything off of this run, and half off on all the pills."

The soldier scoffed again. "Half off?" The scanner beeped and he moved on to Maeve. She flinched as it was roughly placed onto the back of her neck. "All off. Risk my job for half of it. Outta your fucking mind."

When he moved onto Ellie, the scanner felt like a death bell. The younger girl didn't give the soldier a chance to even react, she stabbed him in the leg. He yelled out in pain, shoved her off, and pointed his gun at her.

"No!"

"Fucking bitch!" As he went to pull the trigger, Joel shielded her. "Get out of the fuckin' way!"

He didn't. As the soldier aimed his weapon at him, Joel seemed to dissociate. Before Maeve could think of a way to get out of this, Joel let out this agonized yell and lunged at the soldier, tackling him before he was able to shoot. And then, Joel began to beat him. Mercilessly. Gruesomely. 

Maeve could only watch in paralyzed disbelief and horror, wincing each time Joel's fist made contact with the soldier's face. The soldier struggled against the man brutalizing him, but when there was a sickening crunch sounding into the heavy downpour, his efforts to escape stopped and his body went slack.

Joel's punching stopped and he hovered over the body for a second.

"Oh my God..." She almost didn't hear Tess, but somehow, she did. "Joel!"

"No!" Ellie's panicked voice caught her attention. The dread in her stomach could've made her sick. "No! I'm not sick!"

Tess's expression ranged between pissed and disbelief. She held the Cordyceps scanner in her hand, the red light on the screen flashing 'POSITIVE'. "Joel!" She waved in Joel's direction, but he wasn't looking.

He slowly came from his dissociation and glanced at the three with an absent expression.

"Joel!"

"No, please!" Ellie shoved her sleeve up, showing off her bite mark. As before, it was healed. It remained like a healthy, healing scar. No dark veins, no bloody cysts. "Please, this is three weeks! Nobody lasts more than a day! Does this look a day old to you?! You would've killed me!"

Tess stood, tossing the scanner. "I should fucking kill," she looked at Ellie's arm, face screwing up from the rain. "When did it happen?"

"It doesn't matter," Ellie looked between her and Maeve. "You have to trust me. Trust us. They're gonna catch us if we don't run!"

Right. Between the rain, being found out, and watching Joel have a mini-panic attack, she almost forgot they were escaping the QZ.

"Joel," Tess raised her voice urgently. "We gotta move now! Joel, we gotta move!"

Thunder rumbled angrily in the clouds above, and the rain thickened. The rain droplets were like pebbles against her face. She tried shielding her eyes.

"Joel!" Tess said again, this time pulling the man from his trance. She swore she could've heard people shouting from somewhere behind the place they crawled through. They had heard a commotion and were on alert.

Thunder bellowed ominously as the tension became near suffocating. Joel glanced around, finding the military-grade gun on the wet ground next to the soldier he beat to death, grabbed it, and hurriedly approached the females.

Maeve's heart thumped inside her chest painfully, being ushered to the chain-link fence that separated the QZ and the wasteland of a city in the distance.