She's a fighter.
A warrior.
A survivor.
She's also alone.
When the world stopped turning and the dead started living 24 year old Ellie Mitchell was left to make it through the carnage and destruction entirely on her own. It's been 2 years and Elli...
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She'd learned how to skin animals when she was very little, hunting was necessary when you were always on the run and being able to prepare and cook her own meals had come in handy more times than she could count.
Carol was seasoning a butchered rabbit beside Ellie when she nodded towards the blood and guts smearing the younger girls white t shirt. "I have never met someone so absolutely beautiful and lovely yet somehow constantly covered in guts and gore nearly 24/7. You're an anomaly Ellie Mitchell."
Ellie grinned and peered up through her thick lashes "I used to disappear for days when I was little, my social worker would be a mess until I walked right up to whatever foster home I was living in with a string of rabbits and squirrels all dead and tied to my belt loops. They thought I was crazy, maybe I am." She laughed lightly, blowing a loose strand of hair from her eyes and wiggling her blood covered fingers at her friend.
Carol hummed and placed a steady hand on Ellie's shoulder, squeezing soothingly as she rolled her eyes. The older woman didn't speak for a moment, her eyebrows scrunched in deep thought "When I was married to Ed, Sophia's father, he was abusive. He never touched my daughter but I knew the second he did I would have to call the state, I knew that I would have to get her somewhere she could be safe. I thought every day of the foster home she would be placed in, if they were as broken as I'd read." She'd placed the rabbit down and turned her attention entirely to Ellie, the 24 year old refused to meet her stare.
She didn't want to talk about the state, any of her foster homes or her past. It wasn't dinner talk, it wasn't casual, it was scary and it was dark. Ellie stabbed at the squirrel she was skinning.
"Sophia's lucky to have a mom like you. She's lucky you took care of her. That's all." She whispered, eyes flicking to the door on instinct.
"And your mother?" Carol ducked her head to meet Ellie's, a maternal kind of warmth that was always present, normally it made Ellie feel safe and comfortable but right now it made her skin itch and her head ache.
"Don't know. She's dead, she died a long time ago. Long before I was born." She flung the squirrel on the table and wiped her hands on her jeans, smiling extra wide at Carol, she knew it looked fake just from the way her cheeks hurt "all done. I'll catch ya later." She rolled her shoulders and practically sprinted out the door, ignoring carols muffled calls of her name.
