Chapter Text
St. Mary’s Hospital
Abby heard a clock ticking distantly - she knew it was distant as there were very few clocks operating in the hospital as it was. It was the logical thing. Her father had one at the top of his office, just above the doorframe, it was the room adjacent to the one she was in now. It wasn’t that close. The sound of it was deafening.
“Abs.” Owen said again. Repeated. His voice was soft. Gentle in the way he softly admonished her. He was looking down at her with those kind, stupid fucking eyes. The look burned. All of the looks burned her skin so fucking hot it itched. She felt foreign in her own fucking body.
She could still hear the clock ticking, driving her fucking crazy. She didn’t even know what time of day it was. The thought felt absurd. She released her tongue from her teeth. She swallowed the copper taste. She cleared her throat.
“I asked - I told you to tell me who it was.” Abby repeated. Her blood roared in her ears. It boiled. Her throat was sore from restraining her tears. Her eyes still burned, she could barely see anything past the memory of his lifeless body on that floor. She was tired. Owen’s body was stiff. Not stiff like death, just stiff. He always went stiff when he was uncomfortable. Dodgy. She used to find it silly, cute even. It made her want to rip out his hair.
“What?” Abby asked with a choked back scoff, “You’ve been in meetings all fucking day. I know you’d know. You can’t leave me out of this.”
“It’s not about leaving you out of this. No one is doing that.” Owen told her, “It’s just—“
“It’s just what?” Abby interrupted. Hate bubbled up out of her throat, “Someone murdered my dad, Owen. In his—fucking scrubs . Someone just happened to have killed the entire fucking hospital. I had to walk past all the bodies too. It’s just nothing. I have every—every fucking right to know. Who was it?”
“We don’t have the people to spare to go out on some goose chase. People are fleeing. Our numbers are in the fucking can. I’m sorry, Abs. But—“
“I asked for a god-damn name. Owen. I didn’t say a word about sending out anyone. I’ll do it my fucking self. I need the name. Don’t you fucking—“
“It’s not that simple. I know. . .that you are hurt—“
Her laugh was mirthless, “Bullshit.” She countered, “I’m not the only one who wants who did this. I know I’m not.”
“You aren’t.” Owen agreed. He was still stiff. His arms were rigid against his sides, “You aren’t. But—fuck. We don’t know who did this. I’m. . .sorry.”
Abby clenched her fists to her sides. Her face was hot. She watched Owen’s face carefully. How he clenched his jaw. How his eyes were filled with nothing but fucking pity—It made her sick. She felt sick.
“What’s that supposed to mean?” She asked. Slowly. Carefully. The words came out of her mouth strangled.
“It was the smuggler that brought the girl.” Owen answered. His words were slow too, just as careful. Like anything he uttered would be too much for her, “We know. . .we know he’s from Boston. That Marlene hired him. We know he worked those circuits. But—It’s not like finding a deserter. It’s not like tracking a group of nameless hunters even. He worked alone. And we have nothing on him. He could be anywhere. I’m sorry. I won’t tell you a name because no one can tell you a name.”
Abby’s heart pounded in her ears.
“Get out.” She muttered after a moment.
Owen didn’t move. He was just staring at her like everyone else did since she stumbled into that fucking operating room.
“Abs—“
“I said fucking get out.” She repeated, voice raising to a crack, “Now.”
Owen waited another moment. He reached out as if to touch her. His mouth opened as if to say some other empty, kind words of comfort. He aborted both actions.
“I’m so sorry.” He mumbled once again, and he left. The door shut with a soft click. The room went quiet. Suffocating. She could somehow still hear that clock echo in her ears; taunting, teasing, and laughing.
A smuggler. A fucking smuggler.
Her face fell into her hands. She couldn’t restrain the following sob that racked her chest.
Jackson Outskirts
“Do you think it’ll be nice?” Lev asked, his voice cutting through the thick of Abby’s mind. She heard the subtle hitch in his voice. Worry.
She sent him a soft smile, “Yeah, bud. I bet it will.”
Lev tugged on the beanie that looked a little bit too big for his head. It was grey, worn, stretched. Probably scratchy. But it made do. She was worried about him getting sick now—that was slowly rising in her level of importance, even over finding the fucking town.
His fingers were pink and so were his cheeks. His nose was running, has been since yesterday morning. He didn’t utter a word of complaint, but Abby noticed. Hard not to. Not that the kid was obvious about it or anything, because he wasn’t. He was proficient at concealing anything he set his mind to. Abby wouldn’t forget the horror of discovering his broken pinky finger from a few months back any time soon. He sustained it during the fight on the island. She only found out a week later. But now, pertaining to his recent sickness, his voice was scratching too. He gazed off to the distance, his arms blanketed themselves around his body as a gust of wind blew past them.
Abby bit down on the inside of her cheek.
Regretfully, they had to ditch the truck so many miles ago—a tire had blown and she was without a spare or even the tools to replace the damn thing. And they were in where-ever-the-fuck Wyoming now. Which was not ideal. The goal was to go further south. Stay away from major cities. However, there was the fact Lev found their only saving grace: being a half-worn note found in a gas station speaking of a town just south west. Jackson. A town where people were friendly and a community had grown.
Supposedly.
It had been dated for about three years ago—but they had no other place to go at this point, and as much as Abby wanted to go. . . much farther away, Lev deserved more than a drifter’s life. He deserved a home. Kids that were his own age—a school. Friends.
If this was a chance at that, then it made sense to take it. It did.
But, that didn’t stop the unease that festered in her stomach. As far as they knew this ‘ Jackson ’ could be some run down old place—like the one civilization, if it could even be called that, they came across back in Idaho, near the Washington border where it had only been a group of about twenty who were stiff, rude and unguarded. Just a few decrepit houses and a bonfire in the center. Infected crawled about—several buildings in the area were obviously not cleared. She heard the croaks and cries the entire night. They only stayed that one, stole the now useless truck, and left early in the morning.
Abby watched as Lev’s shoulders rose and fell quickly—a shiver racking his body as his hands pulled at the arms of his jacket, his hand movements slow and stiff. He needed to get warm. She needed to get warm. They both did.
Abby pursed her lips. Her own muscles bristled in a shiver with the next gust.
She needed to find shelter. Preferably before the two of them got frostbite. Forgoing traveling, Abby set that as her next goal. Most of anything in her life was consumed with those shortsighted goals as of late. Made it all more consumable for her brain to handle. Before Lev’s sickness got any worse, even if he has not been vocal about it. He never was a complainer either.
“Hey kid—your gloves still good?” Abby asked. She shifted her pack further up her shoulders.
“Yep.” He answered, “Socks too.” He added before she could ask.
“Good. Let’s pick up some pace.” Abby returned with a nod.
Lev was the one to spot the building, not too far off of a walk away. There was fencing surrounding it on all sides, save for some downed parts out by the back porch of it.
It looked like a mansion, with its high ceilings, downstairs garage, fancy light fixtures and spacious rooms. It was something her dad would have raved onto her about. Apparently her mother loved wood lodges; and the woods in general. The thought soured quickly.
Lev looked around, eyes wide after Abby did a search of the building to clear it. Nothing but musty smelling wood, dust covered surfaces, and cold air. At least they had food for the next few days, Abby mentally noted. It was just a few old cans of what probably looked like mush by now—but they had little other options.
“They have animals on the. . .walls.” He murmured to himself. His nose was scrunched in that judgmental way. A laugh escaped through Abby’s nose, despite it all.
“People in the old world did that to show off animals they caught. . .like trophies.” She explained. She examined the fireplace. There was some old wood in a pile next to it, dry. Fuck did a fire sound amazing.
“Ew.” Lev muttered. He sat himself on the couch. He pulled off the scarf on his neck next and laid down, feet over the side.
“How long do you think we’ll be here?” He asked.
Abby glanced to the window. They were large. Surveyed the mountain-scape. . .which was beautiful. Vast.
No civilization from what she could see.
“For the night.” She answered, “I can go out and scout in the morning. Find us a good path to go towards. Maybe get an idea of where the hell we are.”
Lev turned. He hummed. His hair was starting to grow in—it was peaking out through his hat, but now that it was off it was stuck to his forehead in this silly way. Abby noted to herself to cut it sometime for him, shape it up a little better.
She already knew she would have a hard time getting him to stay here. She didn’t like the idea of bringing him back out to stalk towards the middle of nowhere.
“You feeling better?” She asked.
“I’m feeling. . .warmer.” He answered her, his voice somehow sounding even rougher.
Abby furrowed her brows. The room was cold. The walls blocked all the wind and snow, but it was still cold. Instinctively she turned to him and pressed the back of her hand to his forehead. She held it there for a moment. She could see Lev’s eyes glance upwards to it. She recalled how whenever she would succumb to her own bed to sickness, so many years ago now, how all her father had to do was press his lips to her forehead to check. How he would demand she not move a muscle and how he would give her a cup of salt water to gargle, for her throat, and a number of other little things Abby was failing to remember. He was a blur now. His actions just blurry.
And Abby had no salt. They were low on freshwater. She had nothing for this kid.
“That was supposed to assure you.” Lev stated. His voice was a croak, not just rough.
“You have a fever.” Abby returned. She chewed on the inside of her lip. She was tempted to go out now. Hoping to whatever god that was listening she could just see the town. See it. . .and maybe feel something other than fucking doubt. Ineptness with herself.
“Get some rest.” She said instead, “I’ll keep watch.”
Lev had a frown on his face. He did little to fight her—which only furthered Abby’s unease.
Until morning, Abby reminded herself, she just had to wait till morning.
She wouldn’t be able to sleep. She set off to search the house, completely restless.
The snow started just before dusk. They were light little flakes right then, but the clouds were dark. Thick. A more severe storm was surely coming, which proved to only further her unease. A bad omen is probably what Leah would have called it. Abby didn’t believe in shit like that, she wasn’t sure why that thought took root.
Abby had her gear on by the time she could see the sun start to peek out.
There were solar panels on the roof—it hadn’t been difficult to get power flowing. The lights at the least made her more confident she could find her way back with little problem.
She checked Lev. . .probably an excessive amount throughout the night. She was cursing herself for not having anything to bring down the fever. She loathed herself for not being good at this. Her dad was a fucking doctor, and here she was clueless about a damn fever. She affirmed, not for the first time and definitely not the damn last, that it should have been her that—
Mel was a doctor. She could have watched the kid better than Abby ever could. She was a smart one. Nora too. Fuck, Abby felt like anyone would be doing this better. She could hear Owen laughing and telling her she was being stupid (“I suck with kids, but they like you though.”).
She took a sharp breath out through her nose.
Whatever. Didn’t fucking matter now.
She hated how panicked she was getting—it wouldn’t do either of them any good.
She walked over to Lev. She placed a hand on his forehead once again—he roused from his sleep, just barely.
“Hey—I’ll be back in an hour or two. That okay, kid?” She said.
Lev nodded. She wasn’t all that much confident that he heard her. He was starting to sweat, despite the fact the room wasn’t all that warm. His eyes were shut, but not in a relaxed way.
She decided to write him a note, reluctant to fully wake him. She made sure his bow was placed neatly right where he slept. Easily accessible. All of the doors and windows were locked down. She even pushed a dresser in front of the sliding glass door out of the one bedroom.
She took a final breath—A final look at the kid and walked down the steps through the basement and attached garage to start her trek.
She was only about a five or ten minute walk away from the mansion by the time she saw lights down the mountain side.
They littered a wide area; just those twinkling lights. The relief was dizzying. She no longer felt cold, adrenaline rushed through her veins with enough power for her to hear her own heart beating in her ears.
“It’s a fucking city.” She murmured to herself. The doubt trickled away—
But only for a moment. A place like that likely meant a lot of people. A lot of people with access to electricity, surely guns. Abby looked at the walls that surrounded the place. They were high, and every so often she could see what looked like a watch tower. It vaguely was reminiscent of the stadium.
Like the place was dangerous. She had no fucking clue how much so when it came to strangers stumbling into their territory.
She shook herself out of the doubt. It didn’t matter. She was getting Lev in there even if it fucking killed her. She watched further, looking for any sort of path—
There was what looked like an outpost. Also lit up. A glowy haze through the wind and beginning storm.
The outpost looked closer than the city. The thought burned so bright and rendered itself impossible to ignore.
If she could get there, if she could get find some people from this place, if she could find out how dangerous this actually was for the both of them, for Lev—
She could barely breathe. It was all so close.
“Fuck it.” She muttered. She glanced back. She hoped Lev was still asleep, the worrier that he was. She just had to be quick.
The woods felt dead anyways. She could do this. She would do this.
Her boots were soaked through from the cold snow, her hands burned from the similar state of her gloves. She could barely even feel her nose—
The infected only made it all worse. Not that that was any sort of surprise. The number of them was the shocking thing.
“Fuck.” She mumbled under her breath as she took in the corpses laid out in front of her.
The bodies were hard. Dead. Frozen. The logistics didn’t matter. Not really. Infected are unnaturally resilient for being only human bodies. If this many were dead, who the fuck could say - predict - how many were lurking out in the woods. Alive. Desperate. Hungry.
“Fuck it.” She muttered. She tucked her pistol back into her jeans. She looked at where there was a crevice in the mountain. Enough room to squeeze through.
No point in turning back now.
She killed enough that there was no point in counting the exact number. Her shoulder was aching tenfold from her tumble with one of them - the same shoulder that was popped out of socket back on the Seraphite island months ago. It was numb with pain. She thought briefly, just briefly about turning back.
But the horse tracks gave her hope. A hope that was quickly washed away by the sounds of groaning and crying just a little deeper into the woods. More of them. Enough of them that she couldn’t just easily back peddle.
It would have also been impossible to stand her ground and fight. So she snuck by as many as she could, heading forwards until one of them let out a startled yell and forced her to run. She ran until it all blurred around her - the trees, the hills. She was shocked by the cold of falling into a stream. She couldn’t feel her fucking legs. Her shoulder pain was fucking ridiculous. She ignored the shouts, the cries, the grabbing at her clothes. No fucking destination in sight - her mind solely focused on the fact that Lev was still out there and she refused to fucking die because of that. Him.
It wouldn’t have been enough.
She was able to work her way through the environment. Lungs gasping the entire way. She was too cold to feel her muscles anyways - she found herself squeezing through a fence, the hands all over her, grasping and pulling. One managed to grab a fistful of her hair - her braid barely together anymore.
One broke through. It tackled her and pinned her to the ground. She fought it. As much as she could fight the heavyweight body atop of her. Its arms flailed about, smacking her as it snarled and snapped its jaws, its spitting mouth getting closer and closer—
Bang!
Her hearing went out, a dull ringing swiftly replaced it. The blood smacked her face hot. Sticky. She let out a pained breath that came out a startled shriek as she instinctively shoved the infected - now dead - off of her body. She sat up, her ears still ringing, she could barely hear anything but she could see the infected bursting through the fence -
And then there was a hand in front of her eyes.
She grabbed it without any thought, very little thought. Her shoulder throbbed as she used the hand to haul herself up. It was a man on the other end, and old looking one. Her pistol found its way into her hands, she didn’t have time to think about it.
She barely heard him as he shouted out a quick “ We’re going to have to run!”
Time seemed to blur. She barely nodded, following the man because what the fuck else should - could - she even do except trust strangers - because fuck there were two of them. There were two of them and they were helping her. She brushed away the surprise, gathered her wits. Steadied her breath. And she kept up with them as they fought.
The wind felt like a thousand little razors on her face as the snow descended around them and the horse picked up speed. In front of them, the mountainside returned to a flat and straight shot.
The mansion was so fucking close—
“Up this way!” The one man called out from his position in front of Abby and the grey one. Abby couldn’t remember his name for the fucking life of her—
“ Okay! ” The one she was riding with called back.
They whipped around some trees. An infected, a runner, latched itself onto the man’s boot sending she and their horse brushing into one of the trees. She felt another latch onto her own arm, but the collision quickly shook them off, albeit leaving a bruise on her right arm. She managed to keep her pistol woven in her hand. She shot. She couldn’t even see what she was hitting - if anything at all.
And then Abby could see it. The mansion. Just right there. And more importantly she could see her fucking kid on the other side of the fence, having hauled the gate open -which was so stupid and she was so grateful - his bow raised—
She barely saw the arrow whip past them before an explosion lit up everything behind them. Her back felt hot for a second, and there was a mess of blood and limbs that shot off in a number of directions.
“Fuck.” She cursed under her breath, bracing herself for a quick fucking stop while she tried to keep off the infected that have kept up with them the furthest. It was much less than before the explosion, but still—
The next few moments happened in a blur—there was shouting as they passed through the threshold, what felt like blind firing as she and one of the men close the gate, the horses were whining in the back, and the sound of glass cracking and heat smacking her in the face as a molotov was thrown by the other guy.
Her lungs burned, her muscles ached, but she forced herself to turn around as quickly as she could to look at Lev.
Lev. Right there.
He had his bow in hand. An explosive arrow was nocked, but he lowered the bow, watching the dancing flames. The sounds of dying infected started to lower as they died off.
His eyes sent her a glower of a look.
”You should have brought me.” He told her, “I thought you were just looking.”
“What happened to staying inside?” She found herself asking, deflecting the accusation. She rushed forward to him, her hands gripping his shoulders. He looked pale. His eyes tired.
“I found your note. I heard the gunshots. You’re welcome.” He snipped back. Abby would laugh if he didn’t look like he was about to pass out.
She took his bow from his hands. He wasn’t even wearing gloves. She watched as his gaze flickered from her to the men she brought.
“They’re okay.” She answered the silent question, “They helped me.”
Saved her ass was probably the better answer. Her ears still felt like they were ringing from the shot that saved her life. She remembered how the runner’s warm breath felt as its jaws snapped so close to her neck.
“Are they from Jackson?” Lev asked. He wasn’t subtle. Lev was staring right at them, mistrust evident.
“Maybe.” Abby answered without any commitment, “Let’s get inside.”
The latter was spoken to the men as well.
Although they were very likely from Jackson, she still found herself reloading her pistol. There was something about them. And she wasn’t fucking stupid enough to let her guard down just yet.
The garage’s walls were a welcome relief from the wind and snow.
“How’d y’all get power the whole way out here.” The one in the jean-jacket asked as they stepped through. The one who held Abby’s shoulders not a moment ago in the ski-lodge despite the infected just behind them. The one who she knew introduced himself. Tommy. Right. Tommy.
“There are, um, solar panels on the roof.” Abby answered, she watched as the other one tied the horses up to an old bench. They looked wet. Cold.
“Ah.” Tommy hummed, nodding.
Abby ignored them for another moment, looking back to Lev.
“Hey—Go upstairs and sit down.”
Lev eyes flashed with that defiance. It was comforting, if not frustrating for a brief second.
“Before you pass out.” Abby pressed, squeezing his shoulder and pushing him just slightly along, “I’ll be right on up. Promise. They’re okay.”
Lev eyes flickered to the men once again.
The more-gray one inclined his head, “We have no intention on hurting anyone.” He stated. The words were basically meaningless. You didn’t last long in this world by trusting anything someone said. Was fucking stupid. Lev knew that. Abby knew that Tommy said his name too. Her mind scrambled for a moment.
Right. Joel. Or something like that. Tommy and Joel, was what he said.
“They wouldn’t have helped me if they wanted me dead.” Abby continued. She kept her eyes on their holsters. Their hands that naturally hung beside them.
Abby didn’t want Lev here if things would go south, even if she was letting herself start to think that maybe it wouldn’t. For the first time in months.
Tommy fixed his arms crossed over his chest.
“Why are you two out this way?” He asked, after Lev walked out through the door. Abby’d bet her socks he was just sitting out on that staircase though.
She turned her attention back to the men.
That question could lead anywhere.
“We were just heading south.” She replied without any real answer, “Looking for - somewhere.”
“Somewhere?” The question came from maybe-Joel. Abby watched as the two exchanged a look.
She nodded. She opened her mouth to explain but aborted it. She wondered what they looked like to the men. Helpless or dangerous. Instead she slugged her pack down from her shoulders. She gave them cautious look before she reached into her pack. She was more than aware of their eyes on her every movement. She found the one that spoke of Jackson and held it out to Tommy wordlessly.
His eyes scanned it. He didn’t make any sort of face. Nothing for Abby to get a read of. He passed it over to the other guy. They exchanged another look.
“I saw it.” Abby cut in before they could day anything, “From up the mountainside. I was trying to get to a lookout - not far. I need the kid to get there. The town. I—He’s just a kid.” Abby found herself saying, pleading, her heart picking up speed. Her chest hurt. She didn’t care if she sounded stupid, pitiful. She was desperate. No point in hiding such a thing, “We have nowhere else to go.”
Joel nodded slowly. His arms were crossed over his chest, his hand gripping his wrist. He glanced to the other man, just a flicker of a movement before he looked back to Abby.
“It’s alright.” He spoke, “We have no intention of sending you two away. We can get the horses ready - You gather your things and your boy. We can do that in the meantime.” He offered.
Tommy nodded with the man’s words. They looked similar, Abby thought belatedly. That didn’t matter. She felt crazy, anxious, and any word alike.
“Right.” Abby muttered. She held down her shock. They saved her. It would be fine. Lev would be fine. That’s what she should be focusing on.
She glanced to their weapons. Weapons they don’t even have in their hands. Disarmingly nice - comforting.
“Right.” She repeated; whispered. She glanced up the basement stairs.
“I’ll be back with the kid.” She told them.
“Sure thing.”
She wasn’t even sure who said it. She just wanted to get Lev packed and ready. Because this was it? Was it really fucking it?
Abby’s ears had yet to cease their ringing by the time they left down the mountainside.
“Not too much further.” Tommy muttered from behind.
“Yep.” Joel returned.
Abby couldn’t remove her eyes from Lev. At least until they fell on the lights of the town.
Jackson was bigger up close than it had looked from up the mountainside. That should have been a given, but it still made Abby’s head swim and her stomach churn. It’s been months with just she and Lev. The biggest group they came across had only been made of about twenty.
The walls were tall. It took two people to open the giant, wooden gates to the place. East Gate 2, her mind noted numbly. It reminded her of Seattle. Just for a moment. At least before she forced herself to rid the thought. Because this place wasn’t like Seattle. It couldn’t be. Not after everything it took to get here. This would be different, even if she had to grip fate by the fucking throat and force it to be.
There were stables just to the left as they entered. Abby’s eyes flickered to Lev who was sat atop the other man’s horse. She remembered how she thought for a moment to try to insist riding one of the horses herself, just so that she wouldn’t have to trust Lev to one of the men.
But she’d be kidding herself. She didn’t really know how to ride. Especially not on terrain like this. The thought of even grabbing the reins brought her violently back to the island, rain and blood splattering her face as she and Lev rode through burning homes and forests, the flames hot on her skin, her mind still playing back the vision of Owen gagging and choking and sputtering past his own blood in his mouth just near Yara who was gasping wordlessly in a similar state—
The horses came to a halt. The one Abby was with slid off the horse first, and Abby followed suit, fumbling only slightly. The one who sat with Lev - Tommy - was already on the ground, helping the kid down.
Abby moved to him immediately; brought him close. Her heart pounded away in her throat, threatening to drop to her feet.
“It’s so big.” Lev murmured to her, his eyes dancing. Despite the sway in his stance. Despite the unnatural pale to his face. His eyes looked more lively than Abby’s seen them in a long while.
Abby kept a hand firmly grasped to his shoulder as she hummed her agreement. She turned to Tommy without much thought.
“Thank you. For everything.” She said to him. She can’t even remember if she told them her own yet. It all was a muddled mess and all she could think of right then was how high her chances of dying were. And then there was her focusing on Lev and then getting away from the chalet—
“Wasn’t nothing. . .” He dismissed with a wave before looking to the other.
Joel nodded as well. He gave her a gentle smile before turning by back to Tommy, “I’m going to see if, um, Ellie got back yet alright.” He told him.
The other nodded. There was some look Abby had no intention to try and decipher.
“You go on, I got this.” Tommy told him with a nod.
As Joel left, Tommy turned back to Abby and plastered that smile on his face. The one that she wouldn’t say was all too genuine but was still kind-looking.
“Well—Why don’t we go somewhere to get warmed up. Get this mess sorted.” He told her, and then he leaned down to Lev and murmured almost secretly, “We got hot chocolate here. Marshmallows too.”
Lev furrowed his brows, “Marsh. . .mallows?” He questioned.
Abby squeezed Lev’s shoulder. She nodded.
“You’ll like them.” She told him softly, and she nodded to Tommy, “That’d be great.”
“Well. . .” He let out a huff of a sigh, “Come on then.”
“What was your name again?”
Tommy asked. It was to Lev.
They were currently sat in some diner of sorts. It was oddly calm. Few people came in or out. Abby wondered what time it was. She couldn’t see the sun past the clouds and she has yet to spot any sort of clock. Couldn’t have been much time that past since the mansion. The chatter blended into the background, but their stares didn’t. Abby felt every single one bore into her back like a focused fire.
Abby knew the man knew Lev’s name. She’s had to of said a thousand times since. She still let him ask though. Probably just some form of politeness that somehow still existed here.
The kid blinked from over his mug. It had a little reindeer on it with a red, shining nose. His mouth had a slight ring from his drink - which Abby was right about. He did love it. A little bit of color returned to his face.
He wiped at his mouth and looked to Abby before he answered. She gave a slight incline of her head.
This wasn’t Seattle. This wasn’t Seattle. This wasn’t—
“Lev.” He answered. There was a warmness and confidence in which he said it - how he always said it. Despite how there was still a scratch to his voice. Abby grimaced for him. His nose was still pink and he was visibly unable to breathe through it clearly either.
“Tommy.” Tommy returned and extended his palm out for Lev to shake from across Abby.
The kid stared at it for a moment. He glanced to Abby like the man’s arm was an alien tentacle about to drag him to hell.
There was a vision of he and Yara grasping each other’s hands tightly, swearing to the other promises of their Prophet’s guidance and protection. Promises unheard. Abby squeezed her own hands together tightly.
“Squeeze and shake.” Abby explained the gesture briefly. Lev gave her a second glance, but nevertheless grabbed Tommy’s hand and shook it.
The man laughed.
“That’s a good grip there.”
Lev gave him a hesitant smile and inclined his head - a redness to his cheeks appeared again, not because of the cold.
Tommy sat back up. He crossed his arms over his chest.
“What brings you both out this way?” He asked next. Again. It felt like the first real question. Or that he meant it in this much more serious way. Much of their introduction had been filled with more practical topics after Abby showed them that note to explain their knowledge of Jackson. About power, the storm, ammo, escape routes. And so on. He caught on Abby’s earlier answer was vague. It wasn’t a surprise he would ask again.
”Before that note you found.” He then clarified, as if Abby’s face truly was so easy to fucking read.
Abby cleared her throat, she inclined her head, “We were just. . .heading south.” She repeated.
“So you had said.” Tommy acknowledged, “From where?”
”Washington. Seattle.” She answered slowly. Her hand found its way to Lev’s shoulder. The kid had his head ducked, but she knew he was watching Tommy.
”Q.Z. fell, hadn’t it?” He asked.
”It did. . .years ago. Fighting never stopped, but FEDRA was gone. The Washington Liberation Front was responsible for that. . .I was with them for some time.” Abby explained. She squeezed Lev’s shoulder just a little tighter. Either to comfort him or herself. Probably didn’t matter. Probably herself.
Tommy hummed, “So you two left - looking for what?”
“What does anyone look for? Anywhere. Saftey.” Abby answered honestly, “A place like this.”
Tommy hummed. His mouth was a frown, “You running from someone?” He asked. There was a slight flicker of his tone. A sense of severity, more so than he had earlier.
She felt Lev’s eyes flicker to hers.
“No.” She chose to say. She could feel the heavyweight of the air, of how ‘not anymore’ hung up there, unspoken.
She thought wildly of Mr. Alvarez. And other’s like him who were not apart of the fight on the Island. Did he know about Manny? How his body was left to rot, unburied with a hole in his skull. Would he blame her as much as she blamed herself? Was he even still alive? Would he want to be without his son? She wouldn’t be surprised if any of them held enough anger to come after her. But that wasn’t an issue right now. Likely wouldn’t ever be. No one could have guessed where she went. She didn’t even know what the fuck she was doing until that note,
Tommy nodded and sat back. It brought Abby out of her thoughts.
“Well - To cut this short - We have vacant homes. I recently was apart of clearing out and fixing up one just south of here. It’s near the wall though, has no furniture, but won’t be that way forever. If you want to—“
“Yes.” Abby said immediately. She didn’t care if it was a mat on the floor in front of a campfire. It felt crazy to hear. Exhilarating. Just like that?
Tommy gave her a smile.
“You both aren’t the first refugees to come to Jackson. I can get someone to help you set up. Your boy here can get some surely needed rest. Although, I’d like to speak more tomorrow. Staying here. . . Well it ain’t free of course. But it’s a home.”
Abby nodded, “Of course.”
Tommy waved over a woman. Dark hair with quite a few gray streaks, dark eyes. She looked old. Actually old, not just for this world. Maybe her sixties. Late sixties. She had her own mug in hand, tea string hanging over the side. She must have been watching them the entire time. Tommy must have known.
“Mrs. Milton - We got some refugees here. Mind showing them to the place out by sixth, the small one, and help get them set up?”
The woman rose a brow. She set down the mug.
“Please, ma’am.” Tommy amended with a smirk.
“Sure.” She then relented. She looked to Abby and nodded.
“Y’all ready to go now?”
Abby squeezed Lev’s shoulder once more.
“Yeah.” Abby replied, standing up with Lev and feeling for the first time in a long time her shoulders un-tense, “We are.”
“I have some tea for that cold of his too.” Mrs. Milton said as she lingered by the door, “Just give me a holler out that window. Or if you need anything else for that boy of yours.”
Apparently the older woman would also be their neighbor. As fucking absurd as having a neighbor was. A real one. In a house. Not barracks. A house where Lev could have his own room. She could have her own room. Something she hasn’t had since Salt Lake. A fucking living room and a kitchen too. It really was a small place. All one floor. The place smelled like old wood, musty. The wallpaper in the one room was peeling. It was beautiful.
“You’ve done more than enough.” Abby told her sincerely. The old woman had Abby drag out a rug she kept in her garage. Along with an old mattress, blankets and spare pillows that she said would be better off with a home. The snow let up quite a bit. It made the town have this kind of glow.
The woman hummed, as if unsatisfied.
“I’ll make sure someone comes to furnish this place soon. It’s been a while since anyone new’s come to town, but it’ll get done.”
Abby gave a her a smile, “I appreciate that. But, really you don’t have to.”
“Uh-huh.” She dismissed, “I’ll bring you some dinner later too. Don’t thank me again though. I’d like to do it and that doesn’t deserve thanks.”
Abby held down her thanks with a smile. A real one, a warm one.
Mrs. Milton saw that and returned her own.
As the woman left, Abby looked to Lev.
He was sat on the mattress, a blanket around his shoulders. He was holding and shuffling through a deck of cards - he found them also in that garage of Mrs. Milton’s who was more than happy to give them to the kid.
Abby walked to him and nudged the mattress with her foot.
“Wanna learn how to play spades?”
As promised, a few hours later - a few hours of Lev quickly picking up the game and proceeding to make Abby wish she never taught the kid - Mrs. Milton stopped by again. It was around six o’clock. Because Abby had a clock now. A fucking clock. That worked.
Instead of bringing over something - like she mentioned she was going to - the old woman merely shrugged and informed Abby that she was coming over to her place for dinner.
Not a request. It was a shocking thing. It almost made Abby uneasy, this sort of kindness to strangers. She just continued to stamp down the feeling.
And the dinner was nice. More than nice. It was some sort of stew or soup, Abby couldn’t care to learn the difference. It had chicken in it, she could tell. It was nothing how she and Lev had to eat on the road. It was still nothing like the W.L.F. meals. Those were always massed produced, and even so Abby couldn’t remember the last time she enjoyed anything she ate.
Lev was stuffing his face. Mrs. Milton had also given him some medicine - real stuff. Said she worked as a nurse over in the clinic that Jackson had. The kid’s eyes were bright, tired, and he listened to the woman’s story about some fishing mishap her late husband had pre-outbreak.
Before they left, Mrs. Milton pulled Abby aside.
“You have a polite boy there,” She told her, “And you are doing a fine job.”
Abby’s chest constricted in that warm yet entirely painful way. Like her lungs had no room to breathe, a belt wrapped tight around her ribs. Her heart a moment away from ceasing its beats. She wasn’t at all sure what possessed the woman to say something like that.
She muttered a quick, yet wholly sincere “thank you” even if she would completely disagree on the kind of job she was doing.
No sooner did they return to that house. The house that was given to them to stay in. A house that could maybe, just maybe be a home. Their home.
She fixed Lev a glass of salt water for his throat before bed. He passed out not too long after. She was just grateful she could finally do something. That she maybe did something good for them. Him. Abby couldn’t necessarily relax to sleep. She’s never been good at that anyways. No reason for that to change - but Lev, he slept through the entire night on that mattress. No screaming. No apparent nightmare. The first night like that in weeks.
She found herself looking out through the glass of the curtain-less window. The snow halted but it was still a cloudy night, the stars were barely visible. For the first time in a while she let herself think about her dad. Really think. She tried to remember his smile. He’d love this place, love Lev, she was so sure.