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Chapter 1:

"We made it!". Joel Miller announced as the boat he and the rest of the group had been sailing on for the last hour finally bumped against the shoreline of Catalina Island.

Following all the event's that had occurred last year, and the harshness of the Nuclear Winter they'd been exposed to the last few months, The group packed up and decided to move out to the Island to see if the conditions were better.

"Uh guys, why does the sky look weird?". Twenty three year old Ellie Williams - Miller piped up nervously, looking up at the orange colored sky.

"And why is it so cold out here?". Seventeen year old Lev Reyes asked, rubbing his hands over his arms.

"Effects from the radiation". Benji Whittaker explained as the group got off the boat and started walking. "We don't know how long it's been like this so we need to get somewhere safe quickly".

"What about the infected?". Twenty two year old Luca Price questioned nervously.

"With any luck, the radiation could have wiped them out by now". Benji explained. "Even if they survive, the radiation would have caused them to go blind".

"The Cordyceps are already naturally blind". Joel interjected. "But their hearing is incredibly sharp".

"Hey, at least we got through winter without resorting to cannibalism!". Ellie exclaimed happily, alluding to when she was kidnapped by David and James back in twenty thirty - three.

"That's one way of thinking positive El". Twenty six year old Cedar Baker said with a laugh.

Ever since Cedar and Ellie talked their respective issues out last year, the two of them had become quite good friends. They still had some things that needed to be discussed but they were both thankful to be on civil terms with one another.

"What do we do now?". Rocky Reyes asked as everyone settled into a spacious, yellow painted house with blue framed windows ten minutes later.

"It looks like this might have been an old military set up, If I can find a radiation detector that'll give us a general idea of how bad it is here". Benji said as he poked around the kitchen.

"Fireflies, not military". Joel corrected, pointing at the Firefly symbol on the back living room wall.

"Right...". Benji mumbled awkwardly after a moment.

"What?". Joel asked, seeing that Benji was now avoiding his gaze.

"Nothing". Benji sighed as he roughly shook his head. "It's just - Do you ever worry about Tommy?".

"Every day". Joel admitted with a frown. "But I - I don't think I can forgive him for what he's done, not this time".

"He sold me out to Maria, didn't he?". Rocky asked, speaking quietly so Lev and Rio wouldn't hear him.

"Yeah, he did". Joel confirmed.

"I can't believe he talked about Iggy like that". Boone piped, referring to the fact that Tommy had insulted Miguel shortly before taking off again.

"I'm over it". Miguel shrugged as Joel pulled him against his side.

"He had no right to say what he did". Joel argued firmly. "He was trying to get back at me".

"For what?". Tony Peterson asked in confusion.

"When Ellie and I arrived in Jackson the first time around, Tommy and Maria had already been together for a while". Joel started off. "When Tommy told me Maria was pregnant I got jealous and said some shit I shouldn't have".

"That hardly sounds like jealousy, you were still grieving over Sarah and worrying about Ellie's safety all at the same time, that's a lot of shit for one person to handle alone". Rocky cut in reassuringly.

"Yeah, but If I had just been more empathetic and less of a monster, Tommy wouldn't be like this today". Joel argued tiredly.

"What do you mean by less of a monster?". Luca asked.

"I started killing people a few hours after Sarah died, and they weren't raiders either, they were just normal people trying to mind their own business and survive". Joel recounted. "That's why Tommy left me behind".

Cedar hesitated a moment before speaking up. "Do you think if Sarah hadn't been shot, she'd still be around today?".

Joel sniffed and shrugged. "Probably not. She was never a fighter, If we ever got separated she wouldn't have lasted more than a day on her own".

Cedar nodded and nervously twisted his fingers as he addressed Joel again. "Look, the reason I'm asking you all this -".

"I know why you're asking me all this". Joel interrupted with a small smile and nod in his nephew's direction.

Cedar nodded back and turned to look at Benji. "Back to Rocky's original question, what are we supposed to do now?".

Benji sighed and looked around at everyone. "We obviously can't determine how bad the radiation is right now, so the best thing to do is stay quarantined here for the next two weeks".

No one in the group particularly liked this decision, (Especially Cedar and Ellie) but they kept their grumbling to themselves as they lounged around and talked for the remainder of the day.