to the ends of the earth || ellie williams (book one)

seven

"You disappeared last night," My father remarked as we sat at the table, wiping his mouth with the back of his hand before continuing his bowl of oatmeal.

"Yeah... Ellie and I hung out for a while," I responded with an awkward nod.

"I've seen you around with her, you know. She's a nice girl,"

"Yeah..."

The silence remained for the rest of breakfast. I wasn't sure why he was all of a sudden enquiring about Ellie? Had he seen us? Did he know something?

"Hey kiddo, when you get back later, I need to speak to you about a few things," He chimed from the kitchen as I grabbed my rucksack from the bottom of the stairs.

"Sure," I smiled, figuring it was probably just about the store or something before heading out.

The summer was fading out. The mornings were getting colder as the leaves began to deepen to a warm hue. I grabbed my bike from against the house, climbing on the seat and kicking off to head to the stables. I took a deep breath, inhaling the chilly morning air and letting it out as I closed my eyes.

Once I reached the stables, I stood on one pedal as my bike slowed and eventually came to a halt. I leaned it against the side of the building and headed inside, greeting Pam at the door and heading through to fetch my horse.

As I trotted around to the front of the building, I saw Joel and Ellie waiting for me at the gates. I avoided eye contact with her. I still wasn't sure where we stood and I didn't want to make it awkward. Luckily, before I was forced to say anything, Joel began to speak.

"Right, here's the plan." Joel began, "Technically, this is a supervised patrol.. but I don't want to be lingering over your shoulders. I believe in you.. that's why when we clear out areas, I'll let you two go off together and clear a couple buildings on your own. Starting small. Sound good?"

I nodded my head and looked to Ellie who was already smiling softly at me.

We grabbed our horses and headed out towards our zone. The morning was spent taking out any infected we could find but we were in a low risk zone so thankfully, there weren't many.

Eventually stopping to take a break, Ellie and I barricaded the door to some random bed and breakfast to settle down for half an hour or so.

"You been here before?" I asked her as she lodged the door with a chair.

"Rode past it a few times with Tommy." She shrugged and peeled her coat off so that she was just in her hoodie.

"It's nice in here," I smiled, inhaling the warm scent of the old building.

The help desk was littered with paper and loose keys. a shiny bell rested at the far right of the cluttered table, catching my eye. I walked around to the back of the desk and sat down, pretending to immerse myself into the piles of paper that spread across the wood creating some sort of camouflage.

Ellie shook her head and walked towards the desk, ringing the bell a few times causing me to stand up with a wide grin.

"Room for one, sugar?" I asked in a thick southern accent.

"Two actually. My wife should be here in no time." She jested with me, lowering her tone to that of an elderly man as she struggled to contain her laughter.

"No problem, sweetheart. I'll just get Larry to grab your bags," I played along, "Larry! Just can't get the staff..."

We both burst out into hysterical laughter at the pure stupidity of the moment we shared. I came around to the front of the desk once more.

"You should really look into those Thursday night improv classes at the church, Char. Think you'd fit right in," Ellie chuckled when she'd finally composed herself.

"Natural theatric, some may say." I winked and shrugged my coat off, piling it on top of hers before heading towards the tiny staircase, "Let's look around."

I pushed the door open to room 111 and smiled widely at the interior. It was homely and comfortable, small in size but large in personality. The wallpaper was peeling and the floorboards creaked, but you could tell just how much love had gone into a room like that.

Ellie sat on the bed and sighed in contentment as I explored the room. Gorgeous watercolour paintings hung proudly on the walls, the glass chipped and withered which only sort of added to the appeal. The dark oak vanity caught my eye and I headed towards it, smiling softly as I spotted a little dark green box hidden behind the mirror.

I opened it with a gentle hand to reveal two swans swimming in circles accompanied by a gentle tune causing me to grin ear to ear.

"Take it," Ellie spoke softly from just over my shoulder.

"Oh, Ellie. I can't.. it doesn't belong to me."

"I'm sure it's owner is long gone," She reassured, putting her hands over mine to close them over the box, "Don't let infected have it."

I nodded my head and slipped it into my bag, walking over to the window seat to rest for a few minutes. She sat beside me and reached in her bag to pull out some bread, splitting it with me as we looked out to the mountainous skyline.

"When did you get to Jackson?" Ellie asked as she ate.

"I was pretty young. I don't really remember much from before I arrived," I shrugged and took a large gulp of water.

"And you came with your dad?"

"Did indeed. We.. got separated from our group. Tommy and Dad go way back so we found ourselves here," I explained with a nod.

"Elusive.." She smiled, catching on to the fact that I was trying not to give too much away, "Tell me more."

"My parents were fireflies so I guess we travelled with them. We were.. heading north for the winter. Laying low whilst FEDRA launched these insane search parties for us.. but we got separated from my mom. We spent a while.. you know, looking. We went to all the places we thought she might be. Even headed back to Oregon to our old house to see if she'd gone there.. but we haven't seen her since."

"Do you think she's still out there somewhere?"

"I don't know.. my dad does. He's holding out for the fireflies regrouping at some point. I don't think it'll happen.." I sighed, attempting to divert the conversation by asking, "What's up with you then, hm?"

"With me?" She giggled with raised brows, "What do you want to know?"

"Your favourite colour?"

"Blue."

"Your favourite food?"

"Pasta."

"Your favourite.. animal?"

"Dinosaurs."

"Dinosaurs?" I asked, "You know they aren't real, Ellie."

"They were... when Joel was a kid." She jested causing me to shake my head.

"What's the deal with you two, then? I know Joel's Tommy's brother, think he knew my dad for a while."

"Joel's my best friend, I don't know. We've got through a lot of shit together, I guess," She nodded, "Come on, let's go before the old man has a heart attack."

Ellie stood up and held out a hand for me to grab, pulling me to my feet and heading out of the room. I looked over it one more time with a soft smile before heading back out to our horses.