When a beaten and lost, near-dead girl walks up upon the gates of Jackson unannounced, people are bound to be suspicious of why she's shown up. But, when she reveals that she knows something about an organization in Seattle planning to come to Jacks...
"No-one likes a mad woman; you made her like that."
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CHAPTER THREE Where Are They?
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Willow's body ached as Claire- the doctor in Jackson- patched her wounds. Ellie was surprised that the girl had been able to survive the walk to the town. Everything seemed to be wrong. She had hundreds of scars from bad burns littered over her arms, deep and dark gashes that nearly touched the bone of her thighs, Ellie could barely keep count. She stood in the corner of the medical room, watching as Claire finished cleaning Willow's last wound. She had already stitched the large cut up, it just needed to be disinfected and Willow would be ready to get up and walk painless again. Of course, it would take a bit of time for her wounds to mend completely, but it was better than her body aching every step she took.
Claire smiled at her work, placing the bottle of alcohol back down on her side table. She wheeled her chair back, taking a final look-over at Willow before nodding her head. "Okay, you can go now. It'll take a while to heal, so I'd suggest staying in Jackson until that happens." She advised. The young girl nodded, even though it wasn't her first choice, staying in the small town was better than going out on her own again. Her plan was to go find the remaining Fireflies, they had to be somewhere.
"Thanks, miss." Willow smiled gratefully, standing up off of the medical bed slowly.
Ellie stayed against the wall awkwardly, pushing herself off of it and meeting Willow in the middle of the room. The brown-haired girl was always quite awkward, and she fiddled with her hands as she looked back up to the person across from her. "You ready to go see Maria again?" She asked. Ellie opened up the door, revealing the warm-looking summer in Jackson.
Willow nodded curtly. "Yeah." She spoke. They walked out through the pathways, winding around the neighborhoods and avoiding the gaze of the townsfolk. Ellie knew she'd have to talk to Joel about the girl she had found at some point but avoiding him and the conversation that was to come was the best option for her pride.
Maria was standing outside of her and Tommy's house, and she opened the door and waved the two girls inside. Willow looked at the large table in the center, brushing her hands against the rough and uncut wood as she stood against it. Ellie stood beside her and the older women stood across the table from them. A large map of the United States was brushed across the table, and a red pen was placed on top of it.
"Where are they?" Maria asked. Ellie rolled her eyes, could Willow not get one minute of hospitality before she was bartered? Nevertheless, the younger teenager took the red pen, popping the cap off and looking across the map. It was an old piece of parchment, and instead of simple cities and states, it was labeled with groups that they knew the locations of.
The teenager pointed towards Catalina Island, circling it in red. "This is the Rattler's secondary island. It isn't their main base, but this is where they have most of their captors hanging on the beach." Willow explained, moving her finger across the map towards the coast of California. "This is their main base. Its where they keep their prisoners before they move them out to the island. It's very heavily guarded because only the elite members know where it is and have access to it."
"And how do you know about it?" Maria inquired.
"Nobody escapes from Catalina Island, nobody." Willow replied, looking up at the older woman. "So, they're free to spill any of their secrets around the prisoners. Including me." She circled the camp and moved onto the coast of Texas, looking closer to the map and circling over where Brazoria County use to stand. "They have another base here, including a secondary island. But it's not as populated as the one in California. It's just off the coast of New Orleans, the main base is in Texas.
Ellie looked at the map, each label making her furrow her eyebrows further. Willow moved her gaze up to Seattle, labelling another spot. "There's rumours of the new generation of Fireflies staying here, and that's where I was headed- but there's no telling if they're really there or not." The older teenager's stomach twisted, she was headed towards the Fireflies? She was headed for the W.L.F.? Then she had to know what Joel looked like, she'd probably be after him.
"I thought you were on your way to Texas." Maria replied, skeptical of the young girl's sudden change in plans.
"Well, now that I know I'm Wyoming, that plan is kind of shattered." Willow explained. "And besides, I can't really go anywhere." She shrugged. Ellie nodded, lips pursed in thought. Would she be mad at Joel? She sounded relaxed when Willow talked about the hospital incident, but that didn't mean that she wouldn't seek him out.
Maria looked down to the map, the large, red circles pointing towards potential enemy camps. She was pleasantly surprised by the girl. Albeit, she was still skeptical of Willow, just randomly showing up in an enclosed town- but she was obviously helpful. "You two should scout out the Seattle area." The older woman instructed.
The older teen looked bewildered. Willow was still hurt, Claire said it herself- it'd take a long time to heal! "But her leg-"
"I'll be fine." Willow smiled to Ellie. "I don't know exactly where the stadium base is. We can probably make it a week's trip. Three days to travel, a few days to scout out the area and try to find the base and get back in another three days." She explained, perfectly planning out their trip.
"If you two don't scout this place out, Ellie, the W.L.F. could easily come for us." Maria stated, looking sternly towards the older teenager. "You leave tomorrow. Willow can stay at your place for the night, get her situated and ready."
Without protest, Ellie nodded. She gestured Willow out the door with her head, waving goodbye to Maria before walking out into the hot sun.
