"It doesn't make a damned bit of difference who wins the war to someone who's dead." Joseph Heller
Heroes aren't born; they're made.
The second time Ellen died, she at least expected to receive a couple dozen lashings or spend a night in some medieval, iron spike-filled torture chamber.
Maybe Satan himself was out of town on business, or maybe this was the week he requested some vacation time off.
Maybe he was just sick and tired of the woman coming around so often and didn't want her anywhere near him.
Maybe he figured that the Hell on Earth was enough of a punishment as it was, or worse than anything he could ever conjure up, and decided to send her back from whence she came.
Whatever the red guy's reasons were, sometimes Death works in mysterious ways.
---
(A Long Time Ago)
A little girl walked alone along the outskirts of the park, picking dandelions.
The little girl grunted when she was suddenly shoved to the ground by a boy twice her size.
"You're it, freak!"
The girl whimpered when the wood chips below scraped her arm, but she didn't cry. Instead, she glared up at the boy.
Around them, other kids screamed and giggled with laughter on the playground, chasing each other.
The boy above her high-fived one of his friends and they laughed. They were in the grade above her, and they were mean as hell.
While the boys ran away, the little girl called back to the first one.
"Hey Kyle, your mom's gonna die!"
---
A few days later, during math class, Kyle Roiland was called to the principal's office.
He was out of school for the remainder of the week.
His mother died in a tragic car accident. A drunk driver ran a stoplight. She didn't feel any pain.
---
"Hey, freak!"
The little girl slowly turned around.
She didn't like that word. And she sure as hell didn't like the boy calling her it.
She yelled when the boy's fist connected with her jaw, sending her to the ground. She squealed when the boy's friends kicked her and spit on her.
After a minute of beating the girl, the boys took off down the street, leaving her there at the bus stop to deal with the aftermath.
---
The adults didn't understand why one day during gym, while the class played t-ball, the little girl just decided to take her bat and break Kyle Roiland's knee on a whim.
It was pandemonium.
She was expelled, and Kyle's father threatened to sue, saying that the little girl was "not right."
Although they didn't out rightly say it, the girl knew that the other adults in the room, her own parents included, agreed with him.
Regardless of what the parents thought, though, the little girl grew up to survive the onslaught of the undead as they rose from the grave and overtook cities, devouring everyone that stood in their path.
Almost like she was built for the end of the world.
After that incident, Kyle Roiland walked with a permanent gait in his step, even with some of the finest physical therapists and medical treatments money could buy. He always wanted to grow up to be a football player, but he never got the chance.
He was among the first group of people to die in the new world: those who were unable to run.
---
(About A Year Into the Apocalypse)
Ellen never liked bullies, and she watched the flames envelope the screaming woman beneath her with a cold glint in her eyes.
She scowled.
That was her last cigarette.
After Paulene's screams had finally died down and Ellen had dispatched the walkers that were attracted to the sound, Ellen picked up her shovel and pickaxe and headed towards the backyard.
---
It took Ellen a few weeks to fully excavate the Haywoods' backyard.
The file had stated that there were five missing bodies linked to the suspected couple, but there was never enough evidence to bring them to justice.
To the outside world, they were a sweet old couple, living and operating among the rest of society.
It takes a monster to know another one.
She added at least five more to the expected count here, all sharing the same gruesome fate as the one she knew.
On her final day there, Ellen watched the home go up in flames in the growing dusk. But for some reason, she didn't feel the sense of satisfaction she thought she would after putting the boy's bones to rest properly.
In fact, it didn't change a thing.
---
(2 Years Ago)
"You said your family lived in Michigan... and you're from California. You're an awfully long way from home. What brought you here to Virginia?"
Ellen sat across from the older woman, her arms outstretched on the desk. She tried to ignore the fact that this was being recorded.
"I was looking for somebody."
Across from her, the woman nodded. "This person, were they family? A friend?"
"With all due respect, I don't plan on staying here long. As soon as I'm patched up enough to leave, that's what I'm gonna do. Is recording this really necessary?"
"I record all the folks that come and go for transparency. You're no exception."
"Well in that case, do you want the sugar-coated version or the truth?"
"I'll take whichever you want to give me."
Ellen looked at the other woman for a second, before considering her words, shifting her gaze to the desk.
"Before the world went to shit, my little brother was kidnapped. This happened back in '06... The trail eventually went cold. The people they put in charge of the case stopped looking. I never did."
"I had a... hunch. So I found the people that buried my thirteen year old brother alive, tracked them to a home here in Virginia after the world ended... No rules, no laws to tell me I couldn't... and I killed them for what they did. I made sure they suffered... and I enjoyed every last minute of it."
Ellen looked up at the other woman, who was silent.
"So, what do you think? Does that make me a bad person, Deanna?"
Same goes for villains.
---
(To clear up any doubts... Yes, Ellen was a baddie before the world ended...!
Thank you to all readers, old, new and anywhere in between! Happy reading!)
YOU ARE READING
Outcast (A TWD Fanfiction)
Horror(DarylxOCxNegan) A medium prior to the apocalypse, aggressive outsider Eleanor has always had an abnormal connection with the dead. But in this new world, Ellen is forced to rely on her survival skills and nerve to withstand another monster entirely...
