Chapter Text
Abby got up off the floor and stormed over to the gate, pointing her finger at the man. “What the fuck was that!” She yelled out. “You tried to got us killed!”
The man put his hands up, pretending to act defensive. “It couldn’t be too easy now, could it?” He raised an eyebrow at them both. “You don’t prove yourself by sneaking your way around infected. I need physically strong men and women here. None of that cunning, sneaking around bullshit.”
Ellie and Abby looked at each other, both rolling their eyes once they realized they made eye contact. “So now what?” Ellie spoke up, wiping some blood on her jeans.
“Introductions. One of my men will give you both a tour after breakfast.”
“Breakfast?” Abby raised an eyebrow at him. “You lock us up all night, act as if you’re gonna pimp us out and then almost get us killed but you want us to have breakfast with you?” She couldn’t help herself from asking. Not trusting the situation at all.
“Abby.” Ellie shot her a quick glance, trying to communicate for her to shut the fuck up already without actually using those words.
“Yes in fact. I understand that yesterday must’ve been weird for you. I get that. I needed you to know I’m serious. We’re serious. There is absolutely no room for mistrust in here. I need to be sure of you, and I can’t do that without knowing how capable you two are.” He explained, his voice sounding dark.
“We can do breakfast.” Ellie nodded her head. She needed a tour as quick as possible. Try to gain their trust, find a way out. Any way out. If Abby was smart, which she wasn’t, she’d do the same.
Abby bit the inside of her cheek to keep herself quiet, quickly understanding Ellie’s plan. Maybe it wasn’t a bad idea. She just wasn’t sure if she could trust these men. All she had to do was fight off some infected and suddenly she’s part of the team? Just like that? She walked next to Ellie quietly, both of them following the man into some sort of large dining hall. It had cafeteria tables and chairs all throughout it. Somehow it looked more depressing than any prison she could imagine.
“Hey, what’s your name?” She suddenly heard Ellie ask, apparently they had been in some sort of “conversation”. Abby must’ve zoned out.
The man gave her a knowing look, smirking at them before motioning for them to sit down at one of the tables. “This is where we eat. Breakfast and dinner. 08:00 am and 07:00 pm. I expect everyone to be here except the ones out patrolling.”
Abby looked around the “cafeteria”, scanning the area quickly. It must be early considering nobody was here yet.
“David will be here at 08:00 to have breakfast with you, after that he’s gonna show you around. I expect you both to be out working on your feet within a week.”
“So.. what do we do now?” Abby asked.
“You wait.” The man said as he stood up from the plastic chair, walking off without saying anything else. Probably trying to act all scary and mysterious, Abby thought.
Abby immediately positioned her body in Ellie’s direction once he was out of sight. “We’re so fucking dead, you know that?!”
“Why don’t you yell a bit louder? I can barely hear you.” Ellie hissed at her. “Fucking dumbass.” She added for good measure.
“We have to go. Now.” Abby responded. Her initial plan of looking around flying right out the window. She doesn’t trust any of it. Who allows strangers into their camp, and trusts them enough to start working not only for, but with them?
“We have to wait.” Ellie shook her head. “We know nothing. Not who these people are, what they’re capable off, how many there are, where the ways out are, where the weapons are. Nothing.” Ellie rambled on. Leaving now would just get them killed. Ellie would never let that happen, not before she found Tommy.
“I don’t have time to wait.” Abby whispered back. “I need to-“
“You need to shut up and keep your eyes open. We’ll get out of here, but not now. I thought you were supposed to be rational, huh?” Ellie mumbled the last part. She knew she had some trouble keeping her emotions in check, acting on her feelings most of the time but at least she could read a fucking room. Unlike Abby.
Both of them were suddenly interrupted when a man they assumed was David sat down with them. “So!” He exclaimed as he clapped his hands together. “How exciting. You girls must be hungry.” He smiled at them. “Lucky for you, we have oatmeal and beans on bread to pick from!”
Ellie and Abby looked at each other, trying to figure out how to other felt about this guy. He seemed nice. Was he being sarcastic or actually crazy?
“Why am I not noticing any of that mouth they told me you guys had on you? Still shaken up from those infected? Don’t worry, he does that to everybody. It’s nothing personal.”
“Everybody?” Ellie wondered. “I haven’t seen many people out here.”
David shrugged his shoulders. “Not like there’s hundreds of us. Most work inside or during the day. You’ve probably only seen the ones that patrol. We’re a decent group. Have a couple dozen men out here. Some women.” He grimaced at those last words.
“Women.” Ellie repeated. “As in.. soldiers or women you keep here for your own benefit?”
David didn’t respond for a second. “Look, not everybody agrees with it. It’s not something I control. It’s something we have to accept in order to stay alive here. We have food, weapons and a roof over our heads. I’m not gonna risk that.”
“How can I be sure that won’t be me in a week from now?” Ellie dared to ask, deciding to somewhat “trust” the guy in front of her.
“You girls were given the opportunity to prove yourselves. Most women don’t get that. I’d say you’re doing pretty well. Look.. I’m not here to talk about this. I’m here to give you a tour. Do you want the oatmeal or not?”
“We’re good.” Abby suddenly decided for both of them, not knowing whether Ellie wanted to eat or not. Either way, it would slow them down if they decided to have a nice little breakfast right now. They had to get out of here. Now.
They walked out of the cafeteria and into a little hallway that lead to some broken down elevators and a flight of stairs. “There’s 8 floors. 10 rooms on every floor. We’ll get you settled in one of the rooms soon.” He opened the door to the stairs and walked them up. “Floors 1-3 are for our patrolling crew. If anything happens they need to be downstairs quickly. 4-7 are for the people that work inside. Cooking, cleaning, taking care of the animals, that sort of thing. All of those things are men’s jobs here too.” He winked at them, trying to lighten the mood.
Neither one of them acknowledged the joke. Just following him up the stairs. “What about the 8th floor?” Ellie asks, looking up at the man in front of them.
He scraped his throat and continued walking. “Boss man lives there. He has multiple rooms for multiple things. Nobody really knows what he does up there except for Scott. His “right hand man” so to speak.” He explained. “He takes women up there sometimes but that’s all we know.”
“Right.” Ellie mumbled, looking behind her to see if Abby was still close. She had been very quiet. Not that Ellie minded obviously. Nothing more peaceful than a moment of silence from Abby. She was just checking if she was still alive or something. “You good?” She asked quietly as she raised an eyebrow at Abby.
Abby looked back at her and just nodded. “Fine.”
Ellie raised her hands in defense before raising her eyebrows too, more to herself. Forgive her for asking.
“This is where you’ll probably be settled. I can’t promise anything but.. assume it’s yours.” He opened up the door and allowed them to walk inside. There were two small beds that both had a nightstand with some books on it. A small wooden dresser with some useless things and a mirror above it.
“So? Nice huh? It’s no park plaza but it does the job.” He smiled, clearly proud of what they had managed to accomplish as a group.
“Park plaza?” Ellie and Abby both asked at the same time. What the hell did that mean?
“Christ I’m old.” David mumbled. “Forget about it. So this will be where you’ll sleep. Every floor has a shared bathroom so figure that out with each other. We don’t want anyone stinking up the place so, please. Use it.”
Ellie noticed the window in the room was able to be fully opened. It was high up but she remembered it for later anyways. She followed David back out of the room, curious to see what else he had to show them. She turned around to close the door, realizing Abby was still standing in the room.
“Christ Abby. What the hell is up with you. Get a move on would you?” She pulled Abby out of the room quickly, not wanting to give David any sort of impression of them not listening to him.
Not even an hour later they had already finished the tour. There was a big yard where they grew their own vegetables. Mostly carrots and potatoes. They had a huge stable with 2 horses and a few cows and sheep. Men worked as farmers, keeping the animals inside, keeping them fed and making sure new cows and sheep would actually continue to be born for them to use. Ellie had to give it to them, they had their shit figured out. Mostly.
There was a small sort of house next to the main building, it held 3 rooms that resembled cells. Where Ellie and Abby had stayed the night prior. They weren’t allowed to go back in there to continue their tour. Ellie assumed that’s where some of the women were. Away from anyone. Kept there until someone decided they were useful. She tried not to think about it too much. Something she found very difficult. She could tell Abby was struggling with it too. Seeing the anger in her eyes when David told them not to go in there.
David had walked away for a second, receiving some sort of message through his walkie talkie. “I’m gonna escort you to your room and you’ll have to spend a few hours without me.” He explained. “You won’t be able to leave your room for now. Small security breach outside the gates, I have to take care of some infected.”
They made their way up to the 6th floor, walking into room 67. “So, locked up again.” Ellie said, an angry look on her face.
“Sorry ladies. Just for a while. We haven’t discussed everything yet and I had to leave 5 minutes ago. Get settled, I’ll see you for dinner.” And with that he closed the door behind him and locked it shut.
Ellie sat down on one of the beds, her elbows resting on her knees, her head in her hands as she rubbed her face with a groan. Abby looked at her for a second, deciding not to say anything. She walked over to the window and looked outside. She couldn’t see anything useful, just the large yard she was almost killed in earlier today. What a great memory.
Ellie raised her head and looked up at Abby, watching her looking out the window as she sighed. “It smells like piss in here.” She mumbled.
“That’s your upper lip.” Abby responded.
“Ha ha. So mature.” Ellie pushed past Abby and looked at the little things on the dresser. A few postage stamps, a lighter and a map of the area. A map. Finally something useful. She picked it up and looked at the top. “We’re near Salinas .” She mumbled. “At least we’re still in California.”
“Yes amazing. Just hundreds of miles away from where I’m supposed to be.” Abby rolled her eyes.
“San Jose is not “Hundreds of miles” away from us you idiot. Did you ever pay attention in school?” Ellie snarked back.
“Barely a school.” Abby mumbled. “Either way, we’re fucked. We’re too far away. Even if we get out of here, they’ll catch up to us in no time.”
“We’ll figure it out girl.” Ellie put the map down and sat back down on the bed she had already claimed as her own. She sighed deeply and looked at her own hands, picking some dirt from her fingernails.
Abby watched her silently, her eyes not leaving Ellie as she sat down on the other bed. Finally letting her eyes wonder over the nightstand next to it, picking up one of the books. American Psycho. Jesus Christ.. of course. She rolled her eyes and got comfortable on the bed, for as far as it was possible.
This was gonna be a long evening.