I was born Sick but I love it @mariasabanahabanabana - Tumblr Blog

mariasabanahabanabana

Mar 13

plsplsdontseeme

Safe and Sound:

Secret Garden

A/N: if you have read my series Safe and Sound this exists within that universe!

Words: 8.2k

Parings: Joel & daughter!reader, Tess & Daughter!reader, Ellie x Reader (adorable lil’ crushes) Riley & Platonic!reader

Summary: As you were well aware, your parents work was something you should never be involved in, so they had kept your existence-or at the very least their relation to you-unknown. And when a revenge bent enemy of your parents finds you…Now the question of the hour quickly becomes if they would be able to save you in time

Warnings!!!: kidnapping, language, brief mention of human trafficking, pedophiles and drug use, major injury. Let me know if I missed any!

For the most part, the day had started normally, you very carefully crawled out from in between your parents (taking your ‘home’ only had one queen-sized bed, it was a feat to be able to get out of the bed unnoticed) and then had tip-toed into the living room; cringing at very creek of the somewhat rotted wooden floors until you were safe within the living room, which even then you stayed as quiet as possible. If anything of the many things you didn’t know about Joel and Tess, the fact that they were light sleepers ninety-nine percent of the time, and right then was part of that ninety-nine. It was a sixth sense you had, able to judge your parents’ moods by a glance and even when they would shift in their sleep due to a night terror you were aware of, the same went for many people; a quick look and you knew what they were feeling or the underlying emotion behind someone's actions. So, you made sure your movements were slow and controlled until you were comfortably sitting on the sofa, notebook open and sprawled across your lap, and from that point, you just started to finish up some school work you had maybe- procrastinated with until that point.

Throughout an hour, you had been able to finish up a good week’s worth of homework, and by the time you had finished you saw Joel walk into the living room, and as normal you let go on about his own thing as he woke up. And just like any other morning, about five minutes after your father had awoken your mother followed, going on about her own little makeshift morning routine until they both settled down in the living room. As normal, your mother sat in the chair across from the sofa, meanwhile, your father sat beside you; and you all sat in silence for a few minutes. And just like normal, you broke the silence by telling them about your plans for the day- Roll Call 7:35, classes last till two, then their P.E. and your not-so-voluntary FEDRA training course. On the plus side, it kept you occupied till six at night, in a highly fortified building so they never worried about your safety. And sometimes you would let them know if you planned to hang out with some of your ‘little friends’ which would usually keep you busy for another four hours. Generally, they were thankful for your incredibly busy life within the QZ, and for the fact, it kept you safe.

Upon that, they made sure no one knew your last name, you went under the name Deyelna Tomas, and no one had or ever would see you with your parents. And they sure made it a point that when you always acted as if you didn’t know the couple, either it be them leaving your food ration bar on a table which you would slyly walk by and pick up, and when they would openly have a conversation with you, it always sounded like you didn’t know who you were. ‘Oh, didn’t see you there, this place isn’t safe for ya.’ ‘Are you lost, kid?’ ‘Jesus, kiddo, gonna get killed, go home!’ To that day you all generally thought no one was the wiser, just for the fact that no one would ever see you all in the same place more than once.

“We’ll be home late,” Tess said as she watched you move towards the door of the apartment, the worn red backpack slung over your shoulder and hair pulled up to where it was out of your face, she would have Joel braid your hair on any normal day, but she was aware you had to get to school early that day.

A small pause and you turn away from the door, and tilted your head as you looked at them, “Can I ask why? Or is it quadruple S?” Quadruple S, as you called it, was ‘Super-secret-spy-stuff’ which is what you generally referred to some of their higher clientele, which they would never tell you about; so that just confirmed that they were high up within the QZ justice system, so you began referring their jobs for those clients Quadruple S.

Joel looked down, snickering at the use of the stupid term, which he cleverly hid behind a cough, and truthfully you were none the wiser. “Can’t say, Deyelena.”

To the sound of the name rolling off his tongue you groan, making an exaggerated movement with your body to show your annoyance, “C’mon! I messed up once,” You saw your mother very quizzically look at your father, who just shook his head. So, you went on to defend yourself, “I had a presentation on the history, about some World War or some shit-” A small pause for a split second as you utter the cuss, “Uh…And I almost introduced myself with my name. But I didn't! I caught myself ‘fore I said Miller so…Whoo-hoo…”

There was a very stiff moment of silence after you had explained, all the while Tess was trying not to laugh, she had raised the most innocent child she had ever met, a child who would turn beet red when trying to explain a simple misstep. She shrugged as she sat in her seat and then turned her gaze to you, “No one thought twice of it?”

“No, Ma’am.”

She nodded, “Alright, go on. See you tonight, Starshine.” The term of endearment had started so far back that she wasn’t even sure the first time she had called you that, but it was used so often that you responded to it as if it was your given name. With a small and almost non-existent smile, she watched as you walked out the door and then turned her gaze back to Joel, unfortunately, a little late would be an understatement, if everything they would be home by midnight, and if something-if anything went wrong with their negotiations that day, they would probably be home much later. However, they shouldn’t worry you with worst-case scenarios.

--/-

With a slam of the rusted and warped metal, you sighed, trying to force yourself to go to your class, only one more class, and then you could decimate your classmates in P.E, which was paintball today (According to your father, that was unusual, he never got to do paintball as a child, to which you replied with something like ‘Oh, that’s why you have horrible aim’) you deeply looked forward till the time your class was ended. Was it wrong to use your P.E. class as an outlet to let your anger out? Was that wrong or borderline sadistic that you were thrilled to see your classmates get owned by you? Either way, one class of mechanics and then you were free, not really but you would feel free after that point; plus you had the best aim out of your class, a talent that always played into your favour.

“Deya!” Ellie shrieked as she ran down the hall, when she reached her friend she quickly jumped onto your back, of course you were fazed by this, as she would do this close to everyday. As she wrapped her arms around your neck and you looped your arms under her knees, she spoke, “I haven’t fucking seen you since math and I’ve been dying. Dropping dead on the ground. My brain is melting in my head.”

With a light scoff your other friend, Reily, walked to meet up with you both, taking the books you were about to lose your grip on the school books and she shrugged as you gave her a confused look, “I told her that we can’t try to sneak out tonight. Now she’s ignoring my existence, classic Ellie.” ” After she spoke Ellie groaned and placed her chin on the top of your head, all the while you all continued down the hall, getting a few looks from other students but to be truthful no one was fazed by the sight, not anymore, maybe for the first week they were a bit confused however by that point it was just another friday.

As you frown you adjusted your posture, which just resulted in Ellie yelping as she temporarily squeezed you tighter in fear you were about to drop her, which would never-except that one time- “No?” You spoke as your directed your gaze to Reily, who just nodded and explained that the Home, (The orphanage, it was an abusive orphanage yet they always referred to it so endearingly, it made you sick) was really starting to crack down on nightly checks, so at the moment they couldn’t risk it. To that you had sighed, understanding but still feeling a bit upset about it. Days like that you really wished you could be a total pain in the ass to your parents and just bring your friends to live with you, tell your parents to figure it out. However, you would never actually do such a thing, a one-way ticket to hell.

Ellie leaned forward, placing her chin on your shoulder as you carried her, something was weighing you done-and it wasn’t her on your back- she meant mentally, you got stuck in your head. So she had bestowed herself with the responsibility of getting you out of your wreckage of a train of thought, usually by jumping on your back as she had done, telling horrid jokes, or making sure she and Riley were around, just in case. and then she whispered, fully aware that due to how close she was, the whisper would sound as if she was speaking normally, “Psst.” She then went on when her friend hummed in response, “How do you organise an astronomers party?”

WIth a groan you roll your eyes, throwing your head back and looking to your side to meet her gaze, raising your eyebrows upon seeing her bantering gleam in the dark brown eyes, “Oh, please, tell me Ellie, how do you organise an astronomers party?” You exaggerated the words and smiled as she did, you were fully aware of what she was doing. If anyone knew how your mind was your worst enemy it was Ellie, and Reily was a close second, and you were thankful for it.

With a softening smile she answered, her words growing softer, “You planet.”

“Oh, my god, that’s so fucking stupid.” You laugh, unaware you had begun to slow your walk till it was more of saunter or even, as your father called it, mosey. To your words her smile brightened and she nodded, her eyes never leaving your gaze. As corny and lovesick it sounded, you could stare into her eyes all day, it was a forest so deep and peaceful, somewhere you could get lost yet find a way out; she was everything you had ever wanted-

Reily, who had to watch the two flirt without actually flirting, spoke, “Oh my god, just get married already.”

Those words sent a shock through you, to which you had a somewhat involuntary reaction for; yelping in terror and then doubling over, throwing your poor-poor friend ahead of you, and you half realising what you were doing just as you were doing it and trying to stop it-by grabbing what you could, which was her arm, didn’t exactly help So there you all stood, two minutes after classes had started, you and Rely staring at Ellie as she laid on the ground. (As soon as she realised what had happened she burst out laughing) giggling as she looked up at your both horrified expressions. Reilly, took a quick glance at you and started to laugh as well. So there you were, late to class, loosely holding the arm of your dearest friend who you had just thrown from your back, meanwhile the only sane person of your friend group also laughed at your horrid mistake. As you stood there, in mild shock, you made eye contact with Ellie and you looked down and you started to laugh as well.

Your friends were idiots, but they were your idiots and you adored them.

-/-

As you had expected, you completely destroyed your class in paintball, enough to where the boy wanted you on their team and you respectfully (Not really) told them that you preferred to work alone, so then the teacher had chosen to try to humble you by giving you just that. The whole class versus you, and as you would soon boast to your parents, you won; that was an accomplishment that wouldn’t take them by surprise, however they may be a little upset that you had grown so cocky about it, to which you had already had planned a reply, it would be something snarky like ‘oh as if you wouldn’t be?’ or maybe ‘You’re just jealous’ even though you were aware that you would not be saying either of those things, unless you had a death wish. As you walk down the street you kept eyes to the ground in front of you, only glancing upward when you heard a sound that made your skin crawl or hear a voice you weren’t use to hearing, yet it seemed like it was normal that day, a few of your neighbours and a few others from your apartment level smoking on the steps of the apartment building.

With a small nod of recognition you walk up the steps of the building, swiping your keycard on the small reader and then waiting a minute for it to read the information. According to your official FEDRA file, you were Deyelena Tomas, a sixteen year old girl who lived in the flat right beside Tess and Joel. Which you weren’t, but it further kept you safe from the many people that hated your parents, your existence was unknown to the entire government. So, in theory, your name should even be known, your affiliation to your parents was unknown, you just happened to be their neighbour As you waited for the man on the other side, Jerry, to read he information and then confirm it was actually you, you swayed back and forth, hands behind your back.

“How was school, Deyelena?” Jerry’s staticy voice came through the intercom and he was met with the distorted image of you looking upward to the camera.

As you narrow your gaze to the camera you shrug, tugging at the straps of your backpack as you did. “Eh, same old, same old. How bout you, Jerry? How’s work?”

“Boring as ever.”

To tha reply the mechanical clink was heard of the door unlocking and you smiled, giving a small salute to the camera before you walked inside. Your mind wandering as you walked up the stairs, which within itself was odd, normally everyone that would have been outside was inside, smoking and bantering on the steps, dropping and or blunts to the other and you swore there was never a dull moment within that apartment building, someone was always getting beaten up or someone was arguing with another, and honestly you

were invested with the drama of the building. Sometimes it would be a romantic scandal or other day someone rolled the blunt just wrong enough to cause an outrage. However, now it was silent, silent enough for you to hear your thoughts, which was a very pleasant break-yet you didn’t quite understand it, it was only March, so the temperatures haven't risen all that much, so maybe it baffled you to see everyone outdoors; however, who were you to judge?

When you grew closer to your apartment, you took a quick glance around, just to ensure that you were actually alone within the hall before opening the door that led into your actual home and not your fake one (Which you had given to someone else, why have something you didn’t need?) Once you found the hall to be empty you reached into your coat pocket, fumbling with the key until you held it upright, another moment passed until you were able to twist the door handle and swing it open. Dropping your school bag, and your unholy amount of homework, on the ground beside the door before you roll your shoulders back, reaching for the light switch. And with a flip of the switch you turn your eyes upward.

There were three men in your living room.

Reasonably the first thing you went to do was reach back for the door handle, which the movement only resulted in you having two guns pointed to your head.

“I wouldn’t do that,” The man, who sat in the chair your mother would normally sit in, said ever so softly, “Starshine.” After he spoke those godforsaken words he motioned for you to come closer, and to his dismay the child stayed planted where they stood. So with a scoff and a movement of the hand the two men that stood on either side of him approached you, and took you by the arms and dragged you to the sofa, shoving you down to sit in front of him. As he watched your panicked expression and just so slightly teary eyes he leaned forward, he understood you were a child, so he would have to speak down to you. “Does mommy and daddy talk to you about their work? Cause I work with your mommy and daddy, and i need to get in contact with them- but they weren’t here! Do you know where they are?”

As he speaks you narrow your eyes, examining his composure and demeanour. “Who the fuck calls their mom and dad ‘Mommy’ and ‘daddy’, you pussy.”

The man scoffs, looking over to the two men and then turns his attention to you, nodding as he did with a smirk, you had spunk. He liked that. “Your mom and dad-”

“They’re dead, they both got bit before I got to the QZ. My name is Deyelna Tomas, I live in the apartment one over, MIller and Servopoulos-I was just grabbing something, I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

The man had to hold in a laugh, “Oh, you think I’m stupid?”

“Obviously, ‘Mommy’ boy.”

“Oh, oh, oh,” He chuckled as he stood, pulling down his shirt and then looking down at the child, “You are just like your father. Knock her out, make sure it’s bloody too.”

-/-

Just as they had assumed, the negotiations and the meeting with the client had gone well, a few tense moments but it did result in their favour. So he was thankful, or more of content, however that didn’t even seem like the right word for the situation, it was more of just alright with how it ended. If it didn’t end how he had expected it, the solution was fairly simple, Joel would simply go back, and finish it in a manner he did expect it to end; something that was valid for what he expected. He considered it to be something good, that he was so determined, Tess however said it was his weakness, she kindly referred to it as ‘unbridled rage’. Which he didn’t quite understand, because she always acted as if she admired his tendies but at the same time resented him for it. Odd woman, but he loved her, for whatever that was worth.

As he and Tess walked down the streets of the QZ they for the most part stayed silent, hand tucked into the pockets of their coats and head downturned, watching the scenery of the ground change from rubble, to the concrete and it go back and forth. Since it was very early in the morning, the only light they really had to rely on to see in front of them was the flashlight and the few street lights from the lanterns, then it became a matter of ducking for cover when a curfew truck would roll. Just as normal, after the sixth truck and when they came upon the street that was just under a kilometre away from their apartment, they climbed up the fire latter and began to walk towards the home through the rooftops, and just as normal that was when they both found it easier to begin to speak freely, so when Tess said your name, he looked up from where he had been keeping his gaze and narrowed his eyes.

Tess glances over to him, since they had turned off their flashlights all she had was the moon to look at him, which was alright, it was a bright moon, “She passed that mechanics class, she was really excited about it.”

Joel thought about the words she said, and he did remember the times when he would wake up at two in the morning to find you huddled over your workbook at the kitchen table. For some odd reasons, those grades had always meant the world to you. Ever since they had gotten to the Boston QZ and since that first day you had spent as Deyelena Tomas, your academics became your world, and for some level he had understood what it meant to worry about his grades back in the day, but back then, grades had the opportunity to morph a person's reality, their future, now, it just seemed so worthless, so meaningless, so when you could come home teary eyes over a 74 on a paper you had spent hours writing, he had to try to comfort you without just assuring you the world was a hell hole and nothing really mattered, especially a grade on a paper about Nazi Germany. With a shrug he looked back over to her, “We should find her that book she was talkin about.”

Due to his words, Tess cracked a small smile and shook her head, walking towards the fire ladder, “The Harry Potter one?”

“Yeah,” Joel replied flatly and followed her down the ladder and once their feet hit the solid ground he spoke again, this time in a slightly hushed tone. “Or maybe one of the movies? Remember that? They were startin to make fukin’ movies of ‘em. God, she would lose her mind over that.”

Tess agreed as she walked up the steps to the apartment, pulling out her key card and swiping it, which Joel quickly followed. The security guard for the building was generally nice man, that neither of them actually trusted but he would always give them updates on their daughter, thinking they just cared for you as two mentors would so he would gossip about your mood or how you seemed when you would come home from school, just as he did then, however he finished it with a simple, ‘you guys should really tell her about what you do, she’s gonna get hurt one of these days’ to which Tess just gave an annoyed goodnight and walked through the door after Joel had shoved his way in. The fear really didn’t settle in until they noticed how the druggies looked at them as they climbed the stairs, usually they would berate them with jokes or ignore them while hysterically laughing, however that night, they stared, pitied and if they were honest, they looked angry. Then they both would pass the person and they would go on about the stoned state.

When Tess opened the door to the apartment she started to take off her coat, taking a few steps in as Joel reached for the light, as she tossed her coat towards the table the light flickered on and when she looked to where her coat had landed, she was horrified to find the table broken down the middle.

Within a split second she felt her heart drum inside of her ears, her first and only thought: Her baby. She sprinted to the bedroom, tearing back the covers of the bed and then went to the wardrobe, ripping through the clothes.As the moments wore on she slowly started to regain her composure and she walked back into the living room, only to find Joel standing right where she had left him.

Eyes blank, staring ahead at the living room. So she followed his gaze.

Blood.

“Starshine!” Joel then yelled out, walking past Tess into the bedroom, doing the same things she had just done and when he came back he saw her kneeling down beside something. “She’s hiding,” He was telling himself that, walking into the kitchen and opening cupboards that only a toddler could fit into. “She’s a good hider, remember. When she was little, it took us forever-”

“Joel.”

He ignored her, continuing to look at all of the places that there was no way you could fit, and to some level he was aware of that. However the idea of you just being gone…that was worse than any nightmare his mind could play.

“Mika has her.”

Joel stood up from where he had crouched down,running his hand down his face as he tried to think through what she had just said. Mika, another smuggler from a different QZ, had his market cornered, and for some reason (Reason being Joel may or may not have killed his brother while out on a run) he now sought petty revenge on them. He never had made an outright attack on them, never threatened their lives, instead he started taking business, making their lives harder, pinning authorities on them whenever it seemed worthy. He hadn’t thought of Mika in years; but hell, he knew that man was dangerous.

-/-

If everything didn’t feel like it was on fire, you would've thought this place wa amazing, just by the sheer size of it, the sounds, the rays of sunlight and the stubble sound of animals and birds singing, it was beautiful place; however, everything you said, was red, and fuzzy, just so fuzzy, it was annoying, you wanted to see the things around you, what the red blob was beside you. Yet everything just seemed so odd, as you were aware there were four men stationed at each exit, and each exit was twenty feet apart from each other within the circular structure. And then within the structure it was green, the small divots that held flowing water made the hum of the air warmer seem like a distant dream. As you opened your eyes for the tenth time, just testing if your vision had actually come back to you.

As you looked to the ground in front of you, all you noticed was the brown and soft dirt in front of you, as you looked around, seeing the trees and bushes, and then your eyes focused on a small worm wiggling around. It took you a moment to push yourself up, just so you were sitting up, hand still supporting most of your weight as you did you best not to lay back down, with the throbbing pain in your head and then the hissing sensation from a gash on your forearm (that is how they got the blood to spill across your home) that still bleed if you moved too quickly or flexed the wrong muscle. As you look around, you quickly realise that space was the same as an oversized aquaponic system, since you had crawled over to the creek and looked within, finding the fishes swimming about, and that means it supports the life of everything in the structure.

Once you had splashed the cold water onto your face, wiping off the small and for the most part accidental wound they had displayed across your cheek, you heard the man from before entering the room. Another one of your many talents: reading people based on their steps, he walked quickly, but his steps were staggered as if he was looking behind his shoulder and heavy as if he was marching…which led you to believe that he was a weak leader, insecure. So, with another splash of water to your face, just to ensure you were actually awake, you turn around, pulling yourself to stand as you did so.

Act strong. Stick to your story, if that was even still an option, which you didn’t think was possible. You would just act dumb, ‘My parents do what???’ Even then that seemed like the safer option. So as he stood across from you, that stupid and smug expression on his face, you mimicked his stance, crossing your arms over your chest and changing how you stood. So you both stared at each other for a long while, until he finally gave in. “Do you have any siblings?”

A frown appeared in your face, not deep enough for someone to take notice of, but you shifted your weight in anything that accidentally said more than words could ever. “You know what man? How about you tell me what you plan to get from this, and then you let me go and make my dad doesn’t fucking kill you.”

The man, Mika as you quickly learned as his men referred to him as, took a step forward, only for you to flinch and take a step back. “I had a brother, his name was Jordan, and your father took him from me-took him from the world. I tried to be the bigger person, Starshine-“

“Don’t you fucking call me that.”

Mika nodded, swinging his hand to where they grasped each other behind him, and he walked towards a tree, plucking a red apple from the branch. Looking it over as he turned back to you and then lightly tossed it across the way, to where you caught it, staring at him with a quizzical expression. “As I said, I’m the bigger person, kiddo. But sometimes, the need for revenge it’s so overpowering-even the most noble of people will be a victim to it.” He took a step forward, eyes growing darker as his voice began to drop to a whisper, “There is nothing I want greater in the world then to see Joel Miller in pain, and you…oh kiddo, I’m sorry but you’re just a middle man. The sacrifice.”

You take a slow breath, trying to think over your options and maybe smack talking wasn’t the best idea. But it was all you could manage to do, so that is what you did., “Wth all due, and by that I mean fucking none, my dad will tear you limb from limb, and then my mom will feed you to the infected for shits and giggles. My parents have done unspeakable things, things that would haunt your dreams. And you? You will be their scapegoat.”

-/-

Neither of them were new to the feeling of being completely on autopilot, the numb sensation of not being fully aware of their surroundings yet being fully conscious on what they had to do. It wasn’t new, but it was certainly something they tried their best to avoid, as their daughter would tell them: ‘you get quiet, but you get mean. Like…like whatever makes you-you is gone, and it’s just rage.’ If they wanted to, they would spend a solid hour standing outside before entering the apartment, letting themselves cool off. Because the last thing they wanted to do was scare you, but you had been taken, so people should be scared.

“That’s not what I fucking asked.”

Joel only glanced up from his gun to Tess’s yell, and even then it didn’t pay it much mind. At the moment she had their FREDRA contact with a knife lodged in his hand and unable to get up from his chair, why would he worry about her? If anything he should worry about the contact, Cory, a double agent for FEDRA. Who knew when anyone would come and when everyone would leave, it was a feat to track him down so quickly, but knowing Tess it took her about five minutes of talking to the right person.

With a deep breath Cory shook his head, “You’re crazy! I don’t work with Mika!” To her stare at him she chose to go on, out of fear for his life, “I used to, but then-then he started getting reckless-stupid, I dropped him.”

Tess looked him over, and for the oddest reason she believed him, “Where does he work out of.” She phrased it and said it in such a way that it didn’t seem like a question.

“God, Tess, I don’t fucking know.” He looked over to Joel as Tess turned away from him, casually ignoring the pain in his hand, “What the fuck did he do?”

As he shook his head Joel stood, approaching Cory with slow steps, “Where is he?”

Cory scoffed, “I already told you. I don’t fucking know.”

Oh, wrong answer; and Joel’s fist hitting his jaw only confirmed that. With the warm liquid pooling in his mouth and the taste of metal lining his lips, Cory looked up, “I swear I will have-”

Another punch, this time it landed right above his cheek, causing the blood in his mouth to be spat to the ground by the side of him. He groaned, squeezing his eyes shut for a moment as he tried not to focus on the pain. However, silence wasn’t exactly the answer they were looking for either. So with a tight grasp on his upper neck, finding it close to suffocating, Cory was forced to look back upward, the dim lights making his reality all the scarier. “I won’t tell you shit.” When the grip abruptly ended, he looked at Tess, who watched from the darkened corner, “Make it worth my while.”

Tess tilted her head, trying to understand what Cory had just said, and more importantly wondering if he was serious, after all they had just broke into his home, killed all of his guards to speak with him and he was completely at their mercy. So cockiness came off as very annoying. With a small glance over to Joel she pinched the bridge of her nose and then madea a small movement, giving the indication she was actually about to take him up on that offer. Although that small slip up, all he had confirmed was that he did know where Mika was, and that also meant he had given him clearance to leave…with you. “Mora would be very interested to hear her right hand man was allowing child trafficking, wouldn’t she?”

With a small moment of realisation, Cory scoffed and leaned back in his seat, the blood falling from his mouth and the redness of his skin still present through the darkness, “The kid was yours, wasn’t it?” He nearly laughed at that and then used his free hand to point between them both, “Really, you two? I mean don’t get me wrong-”

“Shut up.” Tess snipped and leaned forward onto the table,turning her gaze to him, “Tell me right now, or I will tell every FEDRA official who-”

“They know.” Cory was quick to reply with his smug manner intact, “God, we may be in the end of the fucking world but you know what doesn’t go away? Paedophiles, sex rings, drugs, murder, cannibals, child trafficking, hell, I still get reports of domestic abuse! They are fighting literal zombies out there Tess, human trafficking is the least of their worries. But hey,” He then regained his posture and looked at them both, “I am sorry, no kid deserves that, if it means anythin’. So you know what? I’ll tell ya, out of the goodness of my heart.” As Tess and Joel just stared at him he nodded, using his hand to point towards a map that laid under one of his dead colleague's bodies, which Joel ripped out from under, and when it slipped in front of him, he pointed to a spot. “MIka has a garden, that’s where he stores the people, drugs, you name it he’s got it. Forty miles north.”

WIth an unspoken word between them, as Tess ripped the bloodied part of the map away from where they needed it, Joel pulled out his handgun and fired, leaving the place as (If anyone would ask) as they found it, a drug deal gone wrong. No survivors, not like a man like Cory deserves life.

-/-

As you sat underneath the tree, you kept fiddling with the apple Mika had given you, and even though you were starving, you couldn’t bring yourself to eat it, it seemed to defy some base level of common sense you had within you; or maybe it was literal paranoia. Either way, you didn’t dare to take a bite, so you sat, warm, if not a bit hot, under the tree within the grass like field within the mechanical paradise. With the moments wearing on and the weight of your eyes slowly growing heavier, you had found that within the few hours you had dozed off-stupid really, however when you awoke you found Mika sitting in front of you.

“Jesus!!!” You spat and shuffled your way to stand, all the while he continued to stare up at you, as if he was confused by your reaction. “Your hobby? Watching girls sleep? The fuck.”

Mika chuckled, “You’re deaf in your right ear, kid. Wasn’t hard to sneak up on you, and for the record I had just sat down.” He motioned to where you had just been sitting and looked at you expantly, “I have something to show you.” When it became more than apparent that you would not be sitting down,he grabbed the yellowed folder from his side and held it out, telling you to take it and look through the photos.

“You know, I gotta give them credit. It was like you didn’t exist, you hadn’t even been the original target kid. It was your uncle I was after but then, the day of that horrible school fire- which again, awful- that’s when I got that photo,” He spoke as you shifted through the many black and white photos, and the one he spoke about, it was taken the day of a horrific explosion that had taken place at your school. He still remembered when he had given the photo of the man he hated more than anything, kneeling down and cooing over a girl, then thy next, which had Joel holding you in a hug, which only confirmed his suspicion that you were indeed someone who would hurt Joel more than his dear brother.

So he shifted his attention to you; as the many photos proved, most likely taken over the course of months, some while you were in school, walking down the street, or through the window; a few of them even with your friends. A collection of photos, just so they wouldn’t grab the wrong person. “And I mean really! I give them credit, there was no mention of you in any records, however, your face under the name of Deyelena Tomas, interesting name by the way, was accredited with being top of her class, a perfect shot for FEDRA’s training program, and a generally well liked person among her community? That girl wasn’t that hard to track down. Well, ‘Deyelena’, they did a great job of hiding you, but you couldn’t hide yourself. It’s like the punchline to a bad joke.” Mika then shrugged, “I know I wasn’t the only one to be happy by their revelation, you should be happy I got to you before one of your parents’ other enemies could.”

As your eyes scan over the tens of photos, you can feel your heart rate running upward, the anxious nausea building in your stomach and your mind going at a mile a minute, the photos. Some of you held a bow in P.E class or when you would grab your ration card from a table, and then you stopped looking through the photographs when you saw the one of you with your friends. Riley one side of you while Eliie stood on the other, you remembered that night, you all had gone to one of the rooftops after stealing a day's portions from the school-how could you have missed someone stalking you? Were you that blind? You drop the folder on the ground, sending the black and white images across the ground and you look at Mika, “You…You’re insane.”

Mika chuckled to that, climbing to his feet as he did, “No, Starshine, I’m getting revenge. Why else would I disarm the Gardens security system? Why would I let my men be killed by an enraged father? Because I want to see the face of the man who killed my only reason to live, as I kill his reason to live. Do you see?”

You stammer for a response, “My dad’s here?”

“Mom too, probably watching us through the cameras. He’s in sector two, I think. Don’t worry,” He took another step forward, “I’ll make sure you get to say goodbye before I put a knife to your neck.”

All it took was a quick turn of the head, just as you looked to the exit was the gunfire came into your hearing range, a millisecond of a glance was all it took for him to lunge at you and have you in the position of being utterly at his mercy, a knife placed to your neck and his arm wrapped around your chest, pessing you closer to him as he looked towards where you had just glanced to. The alarm systems began to scream out and the darkened red lights turned on, and there must have been a fire because the sprinklers hissed alive, and it all happened within a moment. So you were left with the small prick of a blade to your neck, hands crawling at the arm of the man that then held you, and eyes struggling to see through the red and water.

That was when you heard your father’s voice yell out your name, and as much as you wanted to reply, you could barely take a breath without the blade digging deeper into your skin, much less say a word. So all you were able to muster out was a small yelp as Mika pulled you back, closer to the man made pond, as your father grew into your view. The machine gun raised, his shirt bloodied and wrinkled, everything about him in that moment made you want to cry, not because you were upset about it, rather you just deeply hated how he could get; and it horrified you. You could see his eyes look you over for a moment, and it was obvious he saw the wound on your arm, judging by his already stern look just becoming all the angrier as he walked onto the circular centre of the garden.

MIka, even though he was somewhat aware he would most likely not be living to see the sun the next day, but neither would you, smiled, “Long time no see, eh?” When the man just slowly came closer, as if he was trying to do so without Mika noticing, he pressed the blade closer to your neck, warranting a small gasp and a trickle of blood to begin to fall down the metal. “Now, now, Miller, hold your horses. Let’s enjoy this. Talk to me, and maybe I’ll let her live, yeah?”

With a small look at you, Joel took a step back, taking the message Mika was giving and starting to lower his gun, “Fine.”

“Oh,” The man who held the blade pouted, and then took a step back, “Do you remember the night you killed my brother? It’s okay if you don’t, I’m sure you’ve killed hundreds of people, living- non infected, people. For what? A hit of adrenaline maybe? Because ‘work’ makes you? What kind of twisted father would subject his daughter to that?” There was a pause and then curtly laughed, “You took the only thing I loved. Do you know that pain?”

Through the sound of the water hitting the bond and through the blaring alarm sounds, you couldn’t make out what Joel had muttered, and neither could Mika. Then he lowered the blade from your neck, only for you to feel a sharp and exploding pain in your lower ribs and then how it…it dragged down.

The next thing you were fully aware was that Mika had pushed you forward, only for a gunshot to go off a millisecond after. With your arms sprawled in front of you to ensure your balance and eyes wide as you stared at the ground in front of your, and shakily, not noticing how Joel was then standing in front of you, yelling your name to be heard over the alarms, you grasped the handle of the knife and pulled. You weren’t sure why you did that, you knew better, but it hurt, and the thing that was hurting had to come out otherwise it would keep hurting. It had to come out, yes, that made sense in your adrenaline ran mind.

Why didn’t the pain go away? You press your hand to the wound out of relax and lean onto your father, who had placed his hands on your shoulders, eyes teary and your breaths laboured and shallow.

“Daddy-” “It’s okay-It’s okay,” Joel tried to comfort you as you began to put your weight into your lean, and he helped you, “Move your hand, baby, move your hand.” As you did what he said, all he saw was the blood red mixed with the blue of your shirt, so he pressed down on the wound with his hand, taking his other arm to wrap it under you, only to be met with your hands trying to push him away and a small and pathetic cry of pain. “I know, baby, I know, I know.” This couldn’t be real, it couldn’t be.

It was happening. The bleeding out, the wide eyed girl staring up at him-fully expecting him to save her.

You were Sarah. It was Sarah.

He was failing.

He was hopeless.

He was weak.

It was happening.

All. Over. Again.

From she stood, all Tess was able to see was Joel tending to you, when Mika had pushed you forward she had taken the opportunity from behind to shoot. So then it was only a matter of getting to the centre of the garden, and she had, pushing her way through bushes and through the small streams and when she did reach the two, she started to realise what had happened, the knife that had all of the blood washed away from it, your panicked breaths from your father’s arms; and Joel’s deadpan stare, completely unaware of what was going on around him but knew what he had to do.

“We have to go,” He stated as calmly as possible, “Now.”

-/-

Ellie sat at the lunch table, well more of she sat on the lunch table, her food tray sitting on her lap and legs dangling off the edge of the table, all the while Riley happily ate her own meal, sitting on the bench below her. As she had given up on trying to eat the slop that the school had tried to sell them as food, she had taken her attention to her joke book, happily reading the puns and horrid dad jokes as Riley mustered up the courage to eat the food. Every so often, Ellie would laugh at her book and Riley would ask what was funny, so she would say the joke aloud and Riley would just stare, which was fair in hindsight half of the jokes were only funny by delivery alone, and she wasn’t the best at that admittedly. So, for the most part, during the once fun thirty minute lunch break, they both sat in silence. Then Ellie had asked a stupid question, a question she knew she probably didn’t want to know the answer to, especially since it had been a solid month. “Do you think Deya’s alive?”

With a small pause, Riley looked up from her food, and somehow, Ellie had just guessed what she had just been thinking about. “Probably not. But…I can hope she is.”

“She better have died some sick ass death,” Ellie then remarked, turning to look at her friend, “Can you imagine if she died ‘cause of the flu or some shit?”

Riley cracked a solemn smile and laughed at Ellie's pathetic joke, shaking her head as she thought, and just as she was about to reply she saw the cafeteria doors open, and a wave of students walked in, and for the most part she would've not thought twice of it. Except she saw the familiar smile through the crowd, and then Ellie had noticed the laugh and looked to the doors as well, and with slow movements they both stood, as if the person approaching them was a ghost they were scared would vanish if they moved too quickly. Ellie was the first to make a move towards you, wrapping her arms around your neck and grasping you in a tight hug for a solid moment, all the while Riley watched your face contort into one of a small amount of pain before pulling away and then looked to her, then it wa her turn, and she gave you a quick hug, trying to avoid the place you obvious was shielding.

Throughout the remaining time of their lunch break you had spoken about your little adventure, which of course you had altered several main points so that way you wouldn’t ruin your secret identity, and they sat on either side of you, listening to the story of the secret garden.

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