Chapter Text
December 22, 2026
Newark FEDRA Quarantine Zone
13 Years Post-Outbreak
“They want us to do what?”
Natalie sighed, “Jesus, Shipman. You’re gonna make me repeat all of that? They want us to bring the kid to Helena.”
“Right,” Shauna spoke, “That’s what I thought you said. No.” She walked to the corner of the room where her bag was placed and threw it over her shoulder. “It’s too risky.”
“I get that, but we don’t have an option, Shauna. The commander down there—Taylor, I think—she won’t let us in without him.”
“Bullshit. I’d like to see them try to stop me,” Shauna said as she stocked the various sheaths around her with daggers. “He’ll get us killed.”
“We’ll die without him. They made that very clear,” Natalie said as she placed her hand on Shauna’s forearm. “They have a whole town out there. We’d be set up real nice.” Shauna didn’t respond, so Nat continued. “We don’t have another choice, Shauna. Unless you want to stay here and continue being a FEDRA pawn. If so—by all means, be my guest.”
Shauna rolled her eyes and brushed Natalie off of her. “Jesus Christ, you don’t have to be so dramatic. How nice?”
“You’d have your own place, a horse, and they grow their own food,” Natalie advertised. “They have 24 hour posts. No one gets in or out without clearance. There’s nowhere safer.”
The brunette looked to the boy as she contemplated. “What do you think?”
The boy stiffened and answered in a stutter. “Oh, I—uh, I’m cool with whatever.”
Shauna raised an eyebrow. “You don’t have anyone that you’ll miss?”
He cleared his throat. “Oh, no. My parents died when I was young and I haven’t seen my brother since. They told me he’s living out there, so…more for me there than here, I guess.”
The girls exchanged a look.
“I’m sorry to hear that,” Shauna said. She looked at the boy once more and made a decision. “Fuck it. But I’m not getting bitten for your ass, so be careful.”
“That won’t really be a problem,” the boy said.
“He’s cocky, too,” Natalie joked. “You two will really get along.”
Shauna chuckled. “What’s your name, kid?”
“Javi,” he answered.
“You got an ID?” Shauna asked.
He handed over his FEDRA card, prompting a dramatic eye roll from Nat.
“You seriously don’t trust him? He’s like 10,” Natalie complained.
“Thirteen,” Javi and Shauna said in unison.
“Though that’s hard to believe,” Shauna continued as she eyed the boy. “Javier Martinez…” she dragged as she read the ID. “You said you have a brother?”
“Yeah, Travis.”
“Travis Martinez? Holy shit,” she said as she turned to Nat. “Do you think…?”
The blonde’s eyes widened. “No fucking way—Flex?”
“I don’t think—“
“It a hundred percent is Flex, right?” Shauna asked with a grin. “Your brother had a surgery in middle school, right?”
Javi nodded, “Yeah, I think so.”
“Was it really to remove his ribs?” Natalie teased.
Shauna hit Nat’s chest in warning. “That was just a rumor, idiot. It was probably something unexpected, right?”
The boy shrugged. “I guess. I don’t know, they never really told me.”
“Oh! So the jury is still out. We’ll have to ask him when we see him,” Natalie said. “Come on, we should get moving.”
“You heard the lady,” Shauna said as she placed a final gun on her lower back. “We’ll need to get as far out as we can before dawn. Look, just stay close, keep quiet, and tell us if you need to stop for anything, okay?”
Javi nodded.
“You have a knife, right?” Shauna asked as she followed behind the boy.
Again, he nodded.
Shauna called to the girl in front of them. “He’s quiet. How long do you think that’ll last?”
Natalie turned briefly to show her smile. “With me here? I give it a week.”
“I think you’ll scare him even quieter. I give it two. What about you?” she asked Javi.
“Oh, I–”
She patted his shoulder and squeezed it. “Just trying to break the ice, buddy. You’ll warm up to us, I promise. Well…It takes a while with Natalie–”
“Fuck off, Shipman,” Nat interrupted as she flicked her middle finger behind her. “They have some horses a few miles out, then the first safehouse is a couple of hours from there.”
“Roger that, Captain.”
December 22, 2026
Helena Firefly Quarantine Zone
13 Years Post-Outbreak
“Commander, we have a group en route with the potential immune subject. They are due to arrive by June.”
“Who is leading the transport?”
“A couple of girls from Newark–”
“From FEDRA? Who’s to say they’ll actually deliver? Do we have anyone outposted who can assist?”
“They’re trusted. They’ve done a few dozen deliveries already. Always on time, always as promised.”
Jackie paced the room with her arms crossed in front of her. “Fine,” she said. “But they check into a base every three days—no exceptions.”
“But–”
“No exceptions,” Jackie repeated firmly.
“Understood,” Officer Romano spoke. He nodded his head and said, “I’ll alert the squad in Pittsburg,” before walking out of the room.
From the couch on the opposite end of the room, Travis said, “You know it’ll just take them longer to get here, right?”
Jackie grabbed the journal on her desk and held it close to her face. “If they end up dead because we were too lenient, we’ll be in a worse spot. What are you doing here, anyway? Don’t you have a town to go home to?”
“Eh, they won’t miss me over there,” he said as he lifted himself from the couch. He walked behind Jackie and wrapped an arm over her shoulders. “Plus,” he said before kissing the side of her head, “I wanna hang with my best pal.”
Jackie grinned and relaxed against him. “Yeah, well, I need to be productive right now.”
“Perfect! What do you need me to do,” he asked as he bounced to the other side of the table. “You’ve got two extra hands right here.”
“It’s the raiders,” Jackie said as she glanced at her notebook again. “We’ve had three attempts in the past week alone.”
“Holy shit.”
“Yeah, it’s bad. One every now and then is fine, but some of my guys had to stay out there for over 36 hours trying to secure the perimeter. They’re being worn thin and there’s nothing I can do to better prepare for the next time, because today could be the next time.”
“Did word get out about something here?” Travis asked. “Why the sudden uptick?”
“Your guess is as good as mine. Whatever it is, we need to get control over it asap.”
Travis walked in a circle as he devised a plan. “Do you need some of my soldiers?”
“No, Trav. We aren’t going to leave your defenses down. It won’t help anything, it’ll just spread the tragedy.”
“We’ll train more of our guys,” Travis continued. “There are plenty of capable people out there who can learn the protocol. Give me a few days and I can ready them.”
“Travis, I–”
“Let us help, Jackie. We owe everything to you guys.” He walked in front of Jackie and placed his hands on her shoulders. “We’re helping.”
Jackie sighed and rolled her eyes. She knew there was no getting out of this. “Fine, but you’ll take a week to train.”
Travis beamed a smile. “Deal–”
“That’s seven days, Martinez. No less.”
“You know, you’re kind of cute when you’re demanding,” he said with a smirk.
Jackie cracked a grin and slapped one of his arms from her shoulder. She fell into his chest again and wrapped her arms around his torso. “One of us will need to switch genders if you keep up that flirting. You know damn well neither of us
swing that way,” she joked.
“Ahhh, nooo,” he fake yelled. “I can’t go back. Are you sure you don’t want to dip your toes in this pool? You’ve been rather macho these past few years….”
“Shut up, asshole. I’m alright without the beard, thank you,” Jackie said.
“To be fair, it did take me a good twenty years to start growing any.”
“That is true,” she said as she scratched the hair on his chin. “Let’s get a drink. We can come back to this later.”
“Not going to argue with that, cap’n.”
“That’s commander to you.”
“Yeah, yeah,” Travis said as he rolled his eyes. “Let’s drink.”
December 24, 2026
White Deer, PA
“What happened to Coach?” Nat asked as she stacked logs in the furnace.
“Natalie,” Shauna complained as she gathered blankets from around the room. “You can’t ask the kid how his dad died.”
“It’s okay,” Javi said. He looked up from his journal. “He was bitten. He told my brother to shoot him and he did.”
“When was this?” Shauna asked.
“2019.”
“Damn,” Nat spoke as she lit the fire. “Where were you guys staying?”
“We’ve been here since I was born.”
“You’ve been in Newark?”
“Mhm,” he hummed. “I’ve seen you guys around.”
“Ah, a lurking-in-the-shadows type. Veeery Travis of you,” Nat joked.
“Very,” Shauna agreed. “Where did he go? You said he was in Helena?”
“Yeah, that’s what I was told. I’m not really sure, they could just be bribing me so I let them stick needles in me.”
Shauna looked up at Nat. “Why would they want to…”
“Why did he leave?” Natalie interrupted. “Seems odd he didn’t take you with. Did he join the Fireflies?”
Javi shrugged. “I think he was scared. He was trying to protect me, I guess.”
“Leaving a kid alone in the city is protecting him?” Shauna scoffed. She grabbed a blanket and wrapped it around the boy’s shoulders.
Javi was quiet as the girls settled in the room around the fire. Natalie noticed his dampened mood and elbowed Shauna.
“Ow,” the brunette exclaimed. Natalie widened her eyes and pointed them at Javi, who was pouting a few feet away. “What?” Shauna whispered.
“Go fucking….” Nat said between gritted teeth, pushing Shauna in the direction of the boy.
Shauna smacked Natalie’s hands away, saying, “Okay, okay!” as she walked toward Javi.
She crossed her legs and sat beside him, bumping him lightly with her shoulders as she settled. “I’m sure he had his reasons. My wife and I—we had a cottage out in the middle of nowhere. We never had to worry about our next meal because she tended to the garden and I raised some livestock. We didn’t have to worry about bites, either,” Shauna’s eyes glazed over as she began to lose herself in a memory. She cleared her throat to bring herself back to the present as she continued to speak. “My son was four when he passed. He never saw the city. I don’t know what I’d do if he was here with me. Who knows—if I knew it would protect him, maybe I’d flee as well. Like I said, I’m sure Travis was making the best decision available.”
“You have a wife?”
“We can—” Natalie attempted to divert the conversation, but Shauna spoke over her.
“I did,” she said. “A long time ago, now. Do you want to hear about her?”
“Shauna, you don’t have to–”
“It’s fine, Nat. Javi?”
Javi nodded and shifted toward Shauna.
“I played soccer with her in high school. Your dad was our coach. Nat’s, too. Her name was Lottie and she was about 10 feet tall with the most adorable dimples right on her cheekbones.”
“Barf,” Natalie groaned from across the room.
“She’s just jealous because Lottie never gave her a chance,” Shauna teased with a grin.
Nat threw a cushion from the chair behind her at the brunette. “I never even tried, shithead. She would have been all over this, I promise you.”
Shauna rolled her eyes and tossed the cushion beside her. “Yeah, yeah. Anyway, Lottie and I started dating when we were a year older than you.”
“Really?” Javi asked.
Shauna nodded. “Yep. We were attached at the hip. When we heard about the outbreak, we’d been together for three years already and had planned our future together, so we fled to a cottage that her family owned up north. We eloped right away and got pregnant the following year.”
“Wait, how did you—”
“Don’t ask,” Nat whispered, and Javi listened.
“We worked on the property and by the time we had Benji, we had a pretty self-sufficient system. The nearest town was a few hours away, so I’d make the journey once a month. Other than that, we were happily lost in our little world out there.”
Shauna stared at a spot on the floor as she smiled softly. It all seemed so…happy.
“What happened?”
The brunette’s face dropped. She blinked rapidly, clearly attempting to collect herself.
She cleared her throat and spoke. “It’s getting late,” she said with a forced grin. “We should get some sleep. We have an early start tomorrow.”
Natalie shuffled in her spot and pulled her blankets over her shoulders. “Storytime is over,” she said flatly. “Goodnight, gang.”
“Goodnight.”
“Goodnight, kids,” Shauna mumbled as she rolled over.
“Does that mean I have permission to call you mommy?” Natalie asked from beneath her covers.
“Whatever gets your gears going, you freak.”
The following morning, Shauna woke before the others. She grabbed a pack of instant coffee from her sack and threw it in a pot with water. She walked to the fireplace and placed the pot on the hot logs. Since she still had some time before it was ready, she decided to journal.
White Deer, PA
December 25, 20264:27 AM
Today’s town is barren. For a town called White Deer, you’d expect to see at least a few of them, but nothing.
Javi asked about Lottie and Benji. It was nice to talk about them again until I remembered. She probably would have loved it here, actually. It’s miles and miles of trees with less than a dozen cabins sprinkled throughout. I’m sure we would have seen a deer if she were here. She always had a weird talent for attracting animals.
I wonder why Travis left Javi. Something doesn’t add up. I hope he isn’t let down when he sees him again. You can tell Javi still idolizes him.
He’s 13. Benj would have been 11. Lot would have been 30.
Shauna lifted her head at the sound of scribbling across the room. Javi was sitting against the wall with a notebook of his own, mimicking Shauna. She decided not to question him on it. She wanted him to feel safe to write or draw or whatever it was that he was doing over there. She instead removed the coffee from the fire and carefully poured it into her thermos.
“You drink coffee?”
Javi’s eyes didn’t lift from the pages in his lap.
Shauna tried again. “Kid, do you drink coffee?”
When he realized she was speaking to him, Javi snapped his attention to Shauna. “What?”
She lifted the pot in her hand. “Coffee. Want some?”
“Oh, I’ve never…”
“Ah, shit. Are you too young for coffee? Probably, right?” Shauna looked at the ceiling as if she could find an answer written there. “What grade would you be in—eighth?”
“Uh, I don’t—”
“Right, you wouldn’t know that. Shit. Well, it’s good stuff. Helps you hate the world a bit less. I’ve got enough for a second cup if you want it.”
“Sure,” Javi said.
He stood and met Shauna at the kitchen counter. He grabbed an empty can from his bag and held it out.
“Dude, please tell me you haven’t been drinking out of that.”
Javi didn’t reply, instead, he shifted on his toes. Shauna placed her hand on his shoulder and tilted the can toward him.
“Look,” she said as she pointed to an orange spot on the inner wall. “That’s rust. I don’t know what it does—but you don’t want it in your body.” She threw the can in the plastic bin and handed Javi her mug. “It’s yours. Don’t lose it. It’s insulated, so it’ll keep temperature for longer. One of the better inventions from pre-outbreak.”
The boy smiled brightly as he grabbed the cup. It was grey with various stickers overlapped around the walls. Shauna spun and searched the cabinets for a mug. Most of the shelves were empty, but she did come across an empty mason jar.
“This’ll work,” she said as she removed it from the cabinet. She grabbed the glass with a pair of tongs and walked it to the fireplace. She poked the glass into the flames and rotated it around for a few seconds. She returned to the kitchen and poured the rest of the coffee into the jar. “And that is how you sanitize a dish. What’s the verdict? Coffee–yes…no…”
“Oh,” Javi said as he looked down at the Thermos. He slowly brought the rim to his lips and took a sip. As soon as the liquid touched his tongue, all of the muscles in his face tensed. “God, that’s—”
“Pretty gross, huh?”
The boy nodded as he glanced at the liquid in his cup.
“Yeah, I thought so, too, at first. You get used to it,” Shauna said before walking to her bag beside the front door. From deep in one of the pockets, she pulled out a bright yellow packet of sugar. “I don’t have a ton of these, but this should help.” She ripped open the package and tipped it into the thermos. She swirled the cup and settled in on the counter. “Try now.”
Hesitantly, he took another sip. This time, his face still twitched, but he didn’t mind the taste as much.
“Better?”
“Yes,” Javi said before taking another cautious sip. “Thank you.”
Shauna opened her journal again, this time to the last page. Tucked between the sheets was a polaroid from ten years ago. Photographed was Lottie looking out at our farm with Benji at her side. In marker, Benji added a very classy scribble to the corner of the image. What may appear as damaged was one of Shauna’s prized possessions. It was one of the last things she had left of him.
She brought the picture to her lips and kissed it before securing it in her journal again. She walked to her bag and zipped her notebook in it before sitting on the porch with her glass of coffee. She spent the morning remembering her family and Javi spent the morning remembering his.
