Firefly

Twenty

2023

We made our way up the stairs and down a few halls towards a balcony that we used to look out over the city. It was a good way to know which route to take and where any infected are. "Was this like this when you came out here last," Tess asked. We were standing in front of where we needed to go to get to the balcony, but the building had collapsed. This part of the hotel was being renovated before Cordyceps happened, so it made sense that after twenty years of exposure from the elements, it caves in.

"Not this bad, no. So what do we do? Take out chances or find a way around it?" I asked. "I'll crawl through and get to this room and open the door. We can get to the balcony that way." I nodded if she wanted to crawl through that tight space, then the more power to her. "I can do it. I'm the smallest," Ellie said. I looked at her and shook my head, "No way in hell. Forget about it. Tess has this handled." Tess scoffed and started to crawl through.

Ellie, me, and Joel waited in the hall. Ellie sat beside me playing with her knife, Joel was across from up, and rifle laid over his lap. "Nice knife. Where'd you learn to do that?" Joel asked her. At least he was trying to make some effort to be nice. "The circus," Ellie said. Joel and I both sighed. "Where are you from?" She asked. "Texas." Ellie looked over at me, and I shook my head. "What about Tess?" She asked.

"Detroit. It's in Michigan," he told her. "I go to school. I know where Detroit is. So, uh, you two like a…" I stiffened at her question. "Pass." Of course he wouldn't say if they were or not. "How'd you end up in Boston?" She asked. Again, he said pass. No more questions about me," he told her. She didn't listen and kept going. "So, did you guys know each other before Cordyceps? You're from Texas too, right?"  I hummed as a response to the second question.

"Oh, my god! Was he your neighbor? The one that saved you! Were you guys a thing? That picture makes–" I cut her off before she could get too out of control. "Change the subject." She sighed and thought for a few seconds. "How long do Infected live?" She finally asked. Joel looked at her with raised eyebrows. "Oh, I thought you went to school." Ellie rolled her eyes. "It's a really shitty one."

"Well, some last about a month or two. But there's others been walkin' around 'bout 20 years," Joel answered. "How many have you killed?" She asked. Joel let out a sigh, "Lots of 'em." Ellie looked at me and then put her head down. "Was it hard? Like, knowing they were people once?" She asked, looking back up at him.  "Sometimes." She looked between me and Joel before asking one more question,  "What about that guy last night?"

Before Joel or I could say anything there was a banging and shuffling sound on the other side of the door. Joel stood up, standing in front of me and Ellie with his gun raised. "You can put the gun down, Joel." He lowered the gun and Tess opened the door. We walked through the room and made our way to the balcony. There was the sound of shrieking from the infected in the distance.  "There's so many," Ellie said. We could see a blob of them all connected together down below.

"The last time we were here, they were still deep inside the buildings. Then I guess enough people came through looking for the QZ, they went inside seeking shelter... and that's how they get more and more of the city bit by bit, year after year," Tess said. I nodded my head, "yeah, it wasn't this bad when I was out here last. I mean they were deep in the building and out on the street but not like this."

There was more shrieking and snarking down below. "They're connected," Ellie said. I hummed, "More than you know. The fungus also grows underground. Long fibers like wires, some of them stretching over a mile," I told her. "Now, you step on a patch of cordyceps in one place, and you can wake a dozen Infected from somewhere else. Now they know where you are, now they come. You're not immune from being ripped apart," Tess said. Ellie looked at her and then over at me on her other side.

I nodded my head, "she's right. It doesn't matter that you're immune. Not when you have a horde of them coming at you. You understand? It's important. I'm tryin' to keep you alive. I promised you I wouldn't let anything happen to you and I intend to keep that promise but you need to listen to me. You need to listen to Tess and Joel too."

Ellie nodded slightly and looked back down at the infected. "So, we're not goin' that way," she said. "No," I said. "What do we do then? Short way?!" She asked. Tess, Joel, and I looked at each other. "We could cut through the museum," I suggested. Joel nodded, "yeah, I was thinking the same thing."

We made our way back downstairs and out of the hotel. "So, was he your neighbor?" Ellie asked. We were walking behind Tess and Joel as we made our way through the city to the museum a few blocks over. "Why do you want to know?" I asked. She shrugged, "it's just very obvious that you two were close and then something happened between the two of you." I scoffed and rolled my eyes. "Oh yeah?"

"Yeah, the way he looked at you when you held a gum to Tess' head. And then they way he almost reached for your necklace. They way he came after you down in the subway. Oh, and….how h beat the fuck out of that solider when he he pointed the gun at me and you put yourself in the way. Let's also not forget the picture…"

"Alright! That's enough now. We're done with this subject and will not be bringing it up again," I told her. She groaned, rolling her eyes, "fine!" She said, dragging the word out. "You're a pain on the fucking ass," I said. "You're a pain in the ass," she shot back.

"Real mature." She smiled at me and jogged up to where Tess was. Joel fell back a little and was walking beside me now. "What are you doing with Marlene if you're not a firefly?" I could ignore him or I could be civil and answer his question. "I don't think that's any of your concern." So we're going with option three, being snippy with an attitude. "Well, have you spoken to Tommy at all lately?" He asked. I took a deep breath and shook my head. "No, I haven't spoken to Tommy since he quit the fireflies."

We finally got to the museum only to see it was covered the fungus and the door was open. "You've got to fucking kidding me," Ellie said. "Well, there's a way across from the top floor," Tess told her. "Well, then I guess it's fine." I put my hand on her shoulder and she looked at me. "We all used to take it all the time," I said. "Okay…" she said, not really on board with it. "Look, it was fine," Tess said. "Awesome."

Joel had walked past us and was knelt down beside a part of the fungus. He touched it before taking the butt of the rifle and hitting it. "It's bone dry. It could mean they're all finally dead in there," he said, walking back over to us. The three of us started getting our flashlights ready when Ellie said, "oh, man." Joel looked up at her, "Marlene pack one of these or just sandwiches?" Ellie took her backpack off and pulled her flashlight out. I turned mine in since it was one attached to the strap of my bag.

I turned Ellie to look at me, "pay attention to me very carefully. There are some ground rules…" she cut me off before I could say anything more. "Stay right beside you." I nodded, "that's a given but yes. We're going to go slowly and if we come up against anything you get behind one of us and you stay there. Okay?" She nodded, "yes," She said and fixed her pack. I pulled my gun and so did Tess.

"I have a spare hand." The three of us looked over at Ellie. "Congratulations," Joel said and walked for the door. Tess followed after him and Ellie looked at me in shock or maybe disbelief. I had to fit really hard not to laugh. "It's not happening. Let's go."