Glad I Found You

Chapter 6

Lili

My rib hurts a lot. I can feel the pain entering me with Jackson's ugly look.
Am I going to die just meters from the giant gate Ellie pointed out to me?

Why did I come? I should have found somewhere else. This is her life.

I can see the gates.
Oh no, oh no. I think I'm going to faint. My eyes are closing!

"Help." — I say low and without strength, before being wrapped in the warmth of the darkness.

I open my eyes and the first thing I see is a woman's head. She watches me carefully and looks worried. I, on the other hand, gasp, trying to hold my breath.

"Where am I?"

Unknown: "Hi. We're in Jackson. Do you know your name? You fainted in front of the gate"

"My name is Lili. And I came to Jackson in search of someone."

I say, calmly, trying to make my breathing become so too. The place where I find myself looks like an infirmary. There are some stretchers, cabinets with medicines. Things you'd find in a hospital.

Carla: "Hi, I'm Carla. Who are you looking for, Lili?"

Immediately, images of Ellie come to mind, followed by the pain and persecution I've felt over the four weeks it's taken me to get here. Yes, it's been four weeks since my house was attacked by people with zombies as pets.

"Ellie... I'm looking for a girl called Ellie."

Carla's face goes from calm to tense and even a little worried. She walks slowly away from me, leaving me confused. And in the next moment, she takes out a pistol and points it in my direction. My whole body shuddered, thinking that I had survived all these weeks only to die in the end in the safe place that is Jackson.

"Excuse me, could you please not point the gun at me? I just want to see Ellie."

Carla: "Why do you want to see her? Are you one of the wolves? You're not."

I can hear footsteps outside and all that crosses my mind is the possibility that an army is coming for me.

Tears threaten to escape my eyes.
What do you mean I've prepared myself to survive and in the end I die? Why do I die?

The curtain opens and my eyes go in the person's direction. The light blinds me and it takes a while for my eyes to adjust to all that brightness, until I realize:
Short brown hair, green eyes, freckles and a tattoo that I know so well.

"Ellie"

I start to cry and soon Ellie is walking towards me, getting me off that stretcher and taking me in her arms. I cling to her neck and wrap my legs around her torso, crying on her shoulder.

4 weeks of killing, hunting and sleeping in the street and in every corner for fear of being attacked. The cold I felt. The loneliness. It all came out now when I felt Ellie's warmth.

Ellie: "Carla, when someone asks for me, it's not for you to point them a gun. If it's a threat, I'll take care of it myself when it gets to me."

Carla: "I'm sorry. But with all the history that's happened... I get scared. You've been gone for so long. I thought you were dead. How long have I known you? Years. How long has she known you?"

My sobbing subsides as I hear the person's words. Why does it sound like a competition?

Ellie: "Enough, Carla. Lili's fine. Thank you for looking after her."

Carla just nods and then puts away the gun she was pointing at me earlier. I shivered and Ellie immediately put me down.

Ellie: "I thought I'd never see you again..."