#fromsmallbeginnings | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

thefireflycargo--archive · 11 years ago

Note

☯ + Tess and Joel discovering her bite?

send me ‘☯ + a scene from my characters canon’ and i will drabble it from my character’s pov.

Ellie knew something wasn't quite right when they went through the old truck's box car.

If there was anything she knew about the drills and procedures she ran at the military school, it was that most soldiers were very careful, and very thorough. Joel's signal of 'all clear' before the trio had piled out into the open had seemed almost too quick, but the moment Ellie stepped out beyond the safety of the QZ walls, it was a forgotten worry. She was outside. Holy shit, she was actually outside.

As she made up the middle of the little rag-tag line they had made, with Joel scouting out before them, Ellie felt her muscles tense. The air had changed, and it wasn't due to the thunder. Something...no, something not quite right. But Joel and Tess surely felt it too, right? They were the pros. Footsteps made dull thuds in the old and rusted metal as they made their way up, and it was only a flicker of a second before Joel stepped off and a soldier jumped forwards and slammed her rifle into his temple.

The girl froze in shock as the man let out a sharp grunt of pain, falling to his knees in the mud from the impact. Ellie's hands immediately shot upwards as the light turned on her, spooked at the sight of such violence. They never said this would be part of the procedure when she was in training.

"Don't do anything stupid," The soldier growled. Shit. Fuck. Shit. They had gotten caught -- not even a hundred feet from where they escaped the QZ!

Slowly, Ellie made her descent off the car and towards the soldier. There was a short, barely audible sigh from Tess; somehow, if the girl hadn't been so nervous, her ears would have burned with shame at getting them caught.

"Turn around. On your knees." The soldier looked to her comrade as Ellie made her way around to Joel's left, watching him from the corner of her eye as he picked himself up. "You scan it. I'll call it in."

The second soldier made a short 'mhm' in acknowledgement as he kept his gun pointed at Tess, taking over on the orders. Ellie's fingers laced together atop her head, her throat bobbing nervously as she swallowed. Holy shit. They were so fucked.

There was the ever-infamous chirp of a scanner off to her right, and Ellie felt herself fill with dread. Oh no. Oh, no. Marlene told her not to tell them. It wasn't part of their job, they shouldn't know. What were the soldiers going to do to her once they found out? Oh, fuck, what were they going to do? "Look the other way," Tess commented. "We can make this worth your while."

"Shut up." Ellie's face paled as the clear signal came back from Tess's scan, and the soldier moved on next to Joel. "I'm gettin' real tired of this shit," The soldier commented, holding back a yawn.

"Oh man," Ellie breathed to herself. It was now or never. Joel had been cleared. Oh fuck. Which back pocket was it in? The scanner pressed up against her neck roughly. "Oh man."

Just as the scanner beeped back it's results, she barked out an apologetic, "Sorry!" and whipped around, her hands coming off her head to wrench her switchblade out of her pocket. Without thinking, it jammed into the soldier's knee -- one of the few places that was not protected by the riot armor. The man snarled in pain as his newly injured knee gave way, but she was already up and making a grab for his gun.

Immediately, she knew she didn't have the strength to combat with a soldier who had been in service for multiple years. He slammed the butt of his assault rifle hard into her cheek, sending her tumbling backwards against a cargo crate. Her knife skittered to her side, gleaming in the low moonlight with blood as she tried to recover from the stunned feeling of being hit. Gunshots rang out and her eyes jolted to Tess, who had felled the female soldier, and then to Joel, who had tackled her assailant to the ground and forced the man's own handgun to his head. It was over in a matter of seconds -- but for Ellie, it was an awful feeling to behold; she felt like she was betraying the very person she would have been raised to become.

"Oh, fuck," Ellie breathed, her voice slightly ragged as she scooted all the way back to the side of the crate and drew her knees up. No; no, she needed a breather. Her switchblade clicked as she quickly put the blade away and back in her pocket, not even wanting to look at it. " I thought we were just gonna -- just gonna hold 'em up or something."

Her head ducked down to rest on her forearms, but she heard a shuffle of feet. Surely the scanner would have shut itself off by now, right? Like how thermometers do after they're done reading temperature? Or maybe it didn't even get to finish-- maybe she reacted in just enough time for the results to be invalid. "Oh, shit," Tess said. Ellie's head raised, white as a sheet.

Joel crossed the distance between them, catching the scanner. Ellie stares at him as he reads the results; she sees how he tenses, how his face clouds and is overcome with realization. Aged eyes narrow in the dim light as he lets out a low breath, with what Ellie can only assume is 'Jesus Christ.' Quickly, he steps to Tess, bewilderment on his face. "Marlene set us up?"

Oh, fuck. They knew.

His gaze snaps to Ellie, and it's so hard and so angry at the possibility of going through all the trouble they had gone through already for a fluke that Ellie cowers slightly. His lips race in a grimace slightly.

"Why the hell are we smugglin' an i n f e c t e d girl?"

At the sound of 'infected', she somehow snaps out of her fear to shake her head, her eyes wide. No, no, no, no. She had been worrying about the wrong group of people. She shouldn't have been worrying about what the soldiers would have done to her if they found out -- it was what these two would have done if they found out. She was desperate to not know an answer to that foreboding question.

"I'm not infected," She replied, the panic within lining her voice.

"No?" Joel asked, stepping forwards, and she shakes her head again. "Was this lyin'?" He chucks the scanner at her and she flinches away from it before it can hit her. Right there, on the screen, is the flashing 'INFECTED' warning across it. She had to think, and fast. Her chest heaved as she felt another pulse of fear flood her veins, and she raised a hand. "I can explain--"

"Well then, you better explain fast," Tess piped up, coming to stand beside Joel with her gun in hand. The barrel pointed indirectly at Ellie, and the girl couldn't quite remember a time or place where she had felt so small and so intimidated. The sergeant could be yelling at her, or giving her scrubbing duty for a month, and she didn't think she would be even this spooked. Hastily, the girl grabbed her left arm's long sleeve and tugged it backwards, exposing the very bite that Marlene had instructed her very deliberately to never do.

"Look at this!" She exclaimed, presenting the bite to them. She might have been immune to the infection, but the wound still festered and healed at a much slower pace than most. The infected's bite had run deep into her forearm, and parts of it were still looking nearly fresh.

Joel's face morphed into that of disgust and he turned away, whether by the fact that the girl had been bitten, the bite itself, or the potential set up, she didn't know. "I don't care how you got infected--"

"It's three weeks old," Ellie pleaded, but Tess cut her off sharply.

"No, everyone turns within two days, so you stop bullshitting." The gun shook in her direction, but Ellie continued onwards.

"It's three weeks, I swear," The girl promised, the begging of mercy and will to be trusted thick in her voice. She could see the doubt in Tess's eyes begin to form, and she latched onto that. Her own emerald hues narrowed, as if bewildered by the mere suggestion. "Why would she set you up?"

It was a valid point, at least. Marlene didn't need those guns -- she just needed Robert on a leash. Ellie had begun to know more than she should have when Marlene's care of her resumed.

Tess stared her down for a moment longer, her jaw hard as her gaze held with the girl's. Please work. Holy fuck, please, please -- I'm not infected. Believe me. Slowly, ever so slowly, Tess's gun lowered, despite her gaze still full of mistrust and wariness. Ellie avoided a sigh of relief just yet as Joel turned away, shaking his head. "I ain't buying it..."

He seemed to pause, and the other two followed his gaze. In the distance, light from headlights seemed to light the ground, and a dull roar of an engine came to life. The backup they had called in. "Oh, shit. Tess-- run." He grabbed at her forearm and turned, jumping into a sprint. "Run!"

Ellie thought they might leave her behind, thought they might ditch her to find her own safety, but Tess jumped towards her instead of bolting after Joel and helped haul her upwards. "Go, go -- move!"

The girl wasted no time in scrambling to her feet, taking off after the old man as he jumped down an old drop-off. Holy shit. They didn't kill her. Holy shit.

Now the just had to make sure the soldiers didn't do the job for them.

#;memes #;asks #fromsmallbeginnings #YOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO #from-small-beginnings

3 notes · View notes

thefireflycargo--archive · 11 years ago

Note

"You could have drowned!"

Summer-Themed Starter Sentences what the fuck did I write what is this is this a drabble is this the entire LotR series wHAT THE FUCK

The girl’s laugh is haughty, bewildered by her own self as she staggers off to the right slightly. Her horse, as equally soaked as she is, snorts and works at his bit, ears twitching nervously.

Emerald eyes look up through sopping wet bangs to his blue ones, and she gives him a rather lopsided grin. God, it seemed so sweltering out not even five minutes ago — but take a dunk in the cold river when there’s a breeze, and a blind person would be convinced they were in the middle of winter.

“I got rid of them, didn’t I?”

It was one of those rare days where she convinced him to get up out of bed early enough to go exploring with her. She had been slowly picketing her way into the old, run down city of Jackson; the part that had not been touched yet. Just as the people of Tommy’s community had left it, so too did bandits who weren’t willing to risk hide and hair for whatever lie within the uninspected walls. Ellie, though, was the only one who dared venture into it, although nobody ever said she was the smartest individual at judging danger all the time.

A particular bookstore had caught both of their attentions several blocks deep into the city’s outskirts. The windows had been long since busted, as with most of the old buildings found in heavier populated areas, but the books looked rather untouched by weather for the most part. They dismounted and stepped inside — cautious at first, but with no sound nor sight of any potential dangers, they were quick to relax.

Nate bent down and picked up a book, gently brushing away the dust off the cover. “A Night to Remember,” He announces, musing over the book with a raised eyebrow, “‘The classic account of the final hour of the Titanic.”

“The Titanic?” Ellie asked, frowning as she bent low to inspect some comics. History had proven to be a loved topic by the girl, but her problem was that of limited supply and time. She hated not knowing stuff Nate knew loads about.

“— - A ship. The biggest ship back in it’s day, actually.” Nate replied, and there was a fluttering noise as he flipped through it’s pages. “It was this huge passenger ship that hit an iceberg and sank. It’s — or rather, it was — really famous.” As per usual, the boy became more animated as he spoke, foregoing his search to continue leafing through the book and inform her of the history behind the cruise liner.

There was the slightest noise that did not belong to Nate’s voice, and Ellie’s head raised abruptly. Alert, she rose to full height, her body rigid as she tried to listen. “Nate.”

“There were only about — I think it was….700? Only 700 survivors —”

“Nate —"

“Some people just tried to jump, but of course, the boat’s south of Newfoundland, so the water is freezing—”

”Nate. Shut up for a second.”

Had they been anywhere else, he might’ve pouted, but it wasn’t hard to guess why she halted him in the middle of his speech. They both stood stock still, Ellie’s head swiveling as she tried to figure out whether or not she actually heard something. Out in the front, a horse’s hooves clacked on the pavement as the animal shifted.

The sharp, radio static-like noise of a stalker pierced the air and it bolted from around the corner, heading for Nate. The boy jolted and leaped backwards, but the scattered books across the floor gave him no easy footing to support his weight and he stumbled. Ellie darted forwards, grabbing an older hardback and chucking it at the infected’s head with a loud grunt of effort.

The creature toppled sideways from the impact, scrambling to pick itself back up. The noises it created were loud in the store as the girl pulled her switchblade out and pounced on the stalker, pinning it to the ground and embedding her blade into it’s skull. All at once, the old bookstore fell into an eerie silence, save for the huffs of both teenagers who very much had an almost-death experience. (Again.)

Ellie hesitated for a moment as she stepped off the corpse, her chest rising and falling rapidly as she bent over and rested her palms on her knees. “Fuck,” She huffed, shaking her head. “Aw, man, that was close. Are you okay?”

Nate laid there for a second longer, letting silence settle again before he found the breath to speak. “Yeah…yeah, I’m alright.”

“We need to get out of here,” Ellie replied, grabbing his forearm and pulling him to his feet. “We need to get out of here — like now."

Nate didn’t look like he disagreed with her decision too much, but the books made him a bit reluctant. “I don’t hear anything anymore.”

“We didn’t hear the stalker either, but he was here for a while,” Ellie responded, shaking her head as she adjusted her bag and skittishly moved out to the horses. Already something wasn’t quite right about the atmosphere; they weren’t within eyesight or earshot yet, but she knew they lurked. She knew the moans and groans and clicks would begin soon. Nate pulled himself up onto his own horse, looking unnerved and maybe even a little pale, before they set off home at a brisk trot.

The clacking of the hooves on the pavement was loud in Ellie’s ears as she twisted in the saddle, looking to make sure they’d not been followed. Her horse snorted, tossing his head, and she felt him tense beneath her. “Come on,” She muttered, nudging his sides with her heels, but he only made it a few more strides before he halted completely. Nate slowed his horse, looking back at her with a look of confusion. “What are you doing?”

“I’m not doing anything!” Ellie replied back, digging her heels into the gelding’s side. The horse’s head raised and he stared at something to the left, his nostrils flared and his ears flicking back. A horrendous feeling struck Ellie as she tried to kick him forward, her grip on the reins tight as ever, but the animal only skittered sideways and trumpeted.

A runner’s wail rose up from within the buildings and the horses spooked, jolting into action as their flight instinct kicked in. Nate let out a noise of surprise as his own mount leaped for wards, nearly sending him back behind the saddle’s seat. Ellie’s horse launched forwards in the opposite direction, ears pinned and mouth open as it’s rider tried to bring him back down. It was of little use; the infected across the city’s sector had been clearly alerted of their presence by now, and would undoubtedly be biting at their heels soon if they didn’t high tail it.

The first signs of danger slowly seeped out, quicker in progression as infected withdrew from their hiding places and locked onto targets. Ellie's chest filled with dread as she looked to Nate, who quite possibly would never venture out with her ever again. "Go!" She shouted to him. The boy's face shifted into that of disbelief, questioning why she would be attempting to stay behind, but she shook her head. "Nate, go!"

"Ellie --"

"I'm just gonna lead 'em to the river!" The girl snapped back, her mount circling. "Meet me by the bank on the other side -- - I don't think they can swim!"

"Neither can you!" Nate replied, but a runner's shriek cut his argument off further as the creature broke into a sprint. Ellie's gelding gave a shrill squeal as he bolted forwards, narrowly missing a swipe from the infected.

Briefly, Ellie was reminded of the getaway she had to pull with Bill and Joel. The teenager glanced over her shoulder nervously as hoofbeats drummed in her ears, a small pack forming not too far behind. Horses were not trucks. Horses were not trucks. You didn't shove the pedal to the floor and steer, you didn't bump up to even thirty miles an hour. The infected could certainly keep at her animal's heels if they wanted -- and oh, they did.

The gelding's breath came in loud, panicked huffs as he covered ground. Ellie stood in her stirrups, urging him onwards in an effort to gain more distance between the pair and the infected. The river was close to the outskirts, a second branch off of the main body where the hydro plant was powered, but it was still far enough off to be concerned. Her mount couldn't run at it's top speed forever, and the cordyceps had strengthened the hunting capabilities of it's victims far more than she cared to admit.

"Come on, come on--"

Her horse lashed out with it's hind legs at a runner that had gotten too close, bunching up and kicking it's powerful hind end into the chest cavity of the infected individual. The impact jolted Ellie forwards and she had to scrabble for the gelding's mane, yelping as her foot slid out of the stirrup. Oh fuck. Oh fuck.

"Ellie!" Nate's voice sounded off from a distance, catching her attention as she desperately tried to pull herself up back into the saddle. Her fingers burned as she hung off the side of the animal, her leg struggling to stay slung over the saddle's seat as he continued onwards with no intention of letting her right herself. She either held her grip or she was doomed to be runner chow. Nate's voice was audible yet again, and she was briefly aware of the sound of water. "Ellie! There's a drop!"

A dro--? Emerald hues looked up, panicked, and her face pales at the sight. Rain a few days prior had turned the slightly steep slope down to the water's edge into a complete bank, making it a probable seven foot drop into the water. Her horse balked, whinnying, and Ellie was nearly shook off as the animal engaged it's hindquarters and tried to halt.

Ellie felt a horrible bit of dread build in her chest as he slid across the damp ground. He wasn't going to make it. "Oh, shit--!"

The animal's front feet sank into the drop and he bowed, deliriously struggling to back out and choose a safer route of escape, but it did him no good. The dirt began to cave under his weight; just as the leaders of the pack of infected reached them, the animal made the best of the situation that he could: he jumped.

The girl's grip broke as they hit the cold water, the multiple groans and snarls of infected suddenly dulling as her head went under. The river was as deep as it was wide, and the water was cloudy with dirt and debris. Her head whipped around in a panic at the dull noises of what resembled splashing in her ears and she struggled to surface, but her legs moved all the wrong ways and she only seemed to bury herself deeper beneath the line between air and water. A hoof struck her thigh and she hissed at the sudden pain, sending her lungs into a searing pain as she released air.

A hand suddenly gripped the fabric on her shoulder and she revolted, horrified at the thought that an infected had finally caught up with them and managed to grab her. Despite her thrashing, the individual pulled her up quick with a strong tug and she broke through, her chin bobbing just above the disturbed water as she coughed and sputtered. "Come on," Nate said, dipping his head down to put her arm around his shoulder, "You've got this."

She gripped his arm as he swam for the both of them to the riverbank, both teens absolutely soaked through. Ellie never thought she'd be so relieved to feel solid ground beneath her feet again as they dragged themselves up out of the cold water, the beginnings of a shiver running down her spine. The girl's gelding snorted, his chest heaving, as he finally found enough ground to pull himself up and onto the bank.

"You could have drowned!" Nate half-shouted, a mix of exasperation and relief on his face.

Ellie could have been angry right back to him; she could have yelled right back. But it's the first time she's pulled a stunt that drastic since Pittsburgh, and it's certainly the first time Nate's seen her do something like that. His anger was understood.

So, instead, she merely laughs, walking over to her horse (albeit, with a mild limp) and grabbing his reins. A silence had fallen over the water as she watched it, her eyes scanning the top of the dropoff for any signs of infected. Her gaze turned to Nate, who had taken to an attempt at ruffling the water out of his hair. "Did they follow us over?"

"I don't know if they all did," He said, distracted, "But I was kind of -- y'know -- saving your life, so I didn't see maybe more than three."

"Alright, alright, so I owe you," Ellie replies, unable to keep the grin off her face. It worked. It actually worked.

Nate eyed her with askance and met her gaze, arching an eyebrow as he repeated his words. "Seriously, Ellie, you could have drowned."

The girl's light laughter fills the silence as she steps away, slightly stumbling off with her bruised leg. Emerald eyes look up through sopping wet bangs to his blue ones, and she gives him a rather lopsided grin.

“I got rid of them, didn’t I?”

#fromsmallbeginnings #It's two thousand words what the fuck #;memes #;asks #I had to slap a readmore on it because it was that long #It kinda started falling away at the end because it's like 2:30 in the morning and I was so tired #But fml feel free to shoot me I'm s o sorry this is l O NG

0 notes