OUTCASTS • Eddie Munson

Madmax

"What do you want?" The ginger girl asked, stomping through the undergrowth in the woods, Ellie walking a few feet behind her.

"You look like you know something, where are you going?" She asked, her inquisitiveness getting the better of her, she felt like a stalker.

"Who said I'm going anywhere?" The girl responded snappily, agitated that she was being followed.

"Oh you know, walking a hundred miles an hour, the intense look of determination, the 'onward bound' music playing from the sky, that whole jazz." Ellie told her, "might as well have a sign on your back saying 'follow me'"

The girl huffed, stopping in her tracks as they neared the end of the tree line, "look, I appreciate what you said about Billy yesterday, but that doesn't make us friends."

Ellie crossed her arms and raised her eyebrow, "and what does Billy have to do with any of this?"

The girl looked her up and down, moving forward like a snake about to strike. "Like I said, it doesn't make us friends."

"Never said it did." Ellie responded, refusing to back down.

"So why are you following me?" She exclaimed.

"Let's look at the facts" Ellie sighed, pinching her thumb and forefinger on the bridge of her nose, exasperated. "We both just witnessed a dead girl on the floor of a trailer opposite your home, both of us knew of her, and both of us know that Eddie Munson lives there. Now, personally, knowing this information, I would just go back home and catch up later on the news, but you on the other hand have ignored police orders and now look to be on a mission. So you obviously know something." She stated, analysing the girls face as she pieced it together, coming to the conclusion that she definitely knew something, and regardless of whether or not she was going to tell her what she knew, Ellie was going to find out, even if it meant blindly following this girl wherever she was going.

"Fine." The girl said.

"What?"

"I said fine, you can come with me." She turned to continue the journey.

"Sweet." Ellie replied, yet again placing a cigarette between her teeth. "What's your name anyway?" She asked, words muffled as she spoke through the cigarette filter, trying to light it.

"Max." She responded bluntly.

Ellie's ears pricked, "Mayfield?"

"Yes."

"Oh shit, Billy told me all about you!" She chuckled, remembering the stories she'd been told of the "annoying little sister."

"You didn't know I was his sister?" She asked, for the first time an emotion other than anger peeking out through her words.

"No, why?"

"I thought that's why you were following me."

"Oh no, potential murder trumps reaching out to lost friend's family members." She told her, doubting that those were the right words to use and mentally slapping herself for recognising in front of Max that Billy was lost.

If she had known Max outside of their ongoing encounter, Ellie would've known that Max actually felt calmer knowing this information. She wasn't one for sympathy, whether it be forced or genuine, and it was nice to hear someone refer to Billy as a friend.

So when Max chuckled at her comment, Ellie felt a sense of relief in knowing she hadn't upset the girl.

"You're Ellie, right?" She asked, her speed faltering as she held back to wait for Ellie to walk beside her.