Chapter Four
The gentle salty breeze warmed the morning air with the freshness of the ocean, and the noise of the firefly community started to boast as the day passed on. Tired sentinels walked back to the dormitories groggily as the next firefly took their post to watch over the island.
As each new firefly took the post, they adjusted the long cords spread throughout the island. Without a radio signal, it was hard to communicate throughout the whole island, and so the fireflies made an alert system using cords and other materials to make sound and scattered them across the island.
Once a sentinel spotted something that could be potentially dangerous, they’d ring the cord and make noise for the sentinel on a nearby post, who would do the same and with quick action, the whole island would be on lockdown and on high alert for intruders. In the cafeteria, meals were being handed out; they had more than enough food supplies because of the size of the island.
It took hours by foot to get from one end of an island to the other, and the weather and landscapes made it a good place to grow food and other supplements, as well as the island being relatively close to the coast of Los Angeles, made it so they had the means to go to the big city and find many supplies if needed.
You were up early, ready to start off the day with a good meal. You sat in the cafeteria, they were serving eggs with vegetables and a portion of orange juice to drink. You ate quietly as you listened to the tired chattering of fireflies that sat on the same table, and soon enough Dante came from the dormitories and sat beside you, holding his own plate of food with him.
“You really have no shame huh?” you teased him, eyeing him and seeing how he didn’t even bother to fix up his hair to look somewhat presentable to eat breakfast. “Oh like you look any better. You still have drool on your chin.” Dante retorted as he took a big gulp of his juice, his lips slightly curled up in a smile as he did so.
Your heart nearly stopped as you frantically started wiping at your chin, your face slightly getting warm, seeing you’ve probably been walking around the base with dry drool on your chin like an idiot. “I’m just messin’ with you.” Dante snorted, and you stopped rubbing your chin, feeling even more embarrassed now. You gave Dante’s shoulder a punch, “Asshole,” you said under your breath, yet you were trying to hold back laughter. Dante chuckled and ate his eggs.
“I heard the kid is gonna be released today for a little bit so he can walk around base ‘n all?” Dante asked as he ate, the guy had some bad table manners if you did say so yourself.
“Mhm, we’ve been nursing him back to health for a few days now, the Doc said it would be good for him to walk around a bit and I volunteered to show him around base,” you explained as you finished eating. “I’ve gotten to meet both of them actually,” you added, and Dante listened intently.
“And? How are they? The woman seems kinda off if you ask me.” Dante said with his eyebrows furrowed, he hadn’t really interacted with the newcomers all that much apart from bringing in a meal for them. “She’s pretty reserved from what I’ve seen, and the kid doesn’t speak much either.” You told him as you gazed off, staring at your empty cup.
“There’s just something about her...” your voice trailed off as you shook her head. “It’s nothing, they’re just not exactly comfortable here yet. They’ve both probably been through a lot.” you told him, and Dante shrugged “I guess so.” you thought for a few more moments before you got up.
“Speaking of which I’ll go and head off to Avalon and fetch the new kid so I can show him around.” You said, and got up, to which Dante nodded and also got up, “I have the morning field duty, as usual, I’ll go n’ head to the east side.” He said, his voice with a hint of annoyance. Dante hated field duty, especially having to deal with the plants as he didn’t like getting his hands full of dirt. You chuckled at his mannerisms and rolled your eyes.
“Alright, I’ll catch you later then.” You said, and he waved goodbye as you parted ways. You made your way out of the cafeteria and headed to the trail that led to Avalon. It wasn’t too far from your dormitory segment, but you still carried around your backpack with tools as well as your knife and gun just in case anything happened.
As you walked towards the hospital your mind began to wander along your quiet footsteps. A strange feeling lingered in you, and you couldn’t quite pinpoint what it even was.
Soon enough you reached the hospital, “I’m here to show the new kid around!” You said as you greeted the fireflies by the entrance with a smile, and they let you in the hospital. You made your way up the stairs of the hospital and opened the swinging doors.
There were only two people now in the medical room, a nurse and a volunteer; both occupied with their work. “Hey, I’ll be taking the kid out for a walk like you said the other day?” you said to the nurse, who turned her head to the side to look at you and nodded. “Be back in less than two hours, I don’t want to tire him out needlessly.” The nurse said as she went back to her writing.
You nodded and turned to the kid on the bed. His eyes were low as he read a book, his eyes flicking to the sides as they scanned the words on the pages. The woman on the neighboring bed was asleep, her face buried into her pillow. “Shall we go out for a walk?” You spoke to the boy; being careful not to wake up the sleeping blonde next to you both.
The black-haired boy looked to the side, his eyes scanning over his asleep friend for a few moments before he nodded and carefully got up. He was still relatively weak, but it would be good to get him walking around again; after all, they had been here for almost a week now.
You smiled and made your way out of the room accompanied by the boy. You walked down the stairs of the hospital slowly, not wanting the boy to fall over and hurt himself even more. “You’re L, right?” you began as the two of you made your way out of the hospital, the boy hummed back in response as he followed you.
He was quiet for some time, and the two of you walked around a relatively easy trail that went around Avalon and would take you back to the hospital. “It’s quite big here.” He said as he gazed over the forest, and you chuckled in return, “It is.” then added “Sometimes a little bit too big for my liking.” you said with a smile as you kept on walking.
Slowly but surely, he began to talk more, mainly about their surroundings; saying things about the view and the forest. He was a sharp kid, you could tell from the ways his body language would react to the calls of a distant bird or the crunching of leaves from a forest critter; always alert for something to pounce on him.
It was hard not to tense up at the littlest sounds, it was the cruel reality of their world, if you weren’t alert at all times it could easily cost you your life. “Hey L, have you ever been to school?” you asked him, a little careful since you didn’t want to upset him. He looked up at you for a few moments before his gaze returned to the trail you both walked by and shook his head.
“Not really.” he said quietly as he kicked a small rock on the trail, sending it bouncing down the side of the forest. “Well we have a school here, there’s quite a handful of kids your age you could befriend.” You said with a smile, and for a moment the boy’s eyes shone as he looked up at you, and the corner of his lips curled upwards into a small smile.
You smiled back at him, making him shift his gaze back to the floor. As you kept walking there was a long pause where the two of you fell silent, but the boy then mumbled, almost to himself “Do you think she’s gonna be okay?” referring to the blonde woman he arrived with.
“Oh I’m sure she’ll be just fine, we’re already treating her; she might just need more time with healing her wounds than you.” You explained truthfully, it would be an arduous process but you had hopes that she’d eventually get better.
The fireflies had a gym anyway, after she got healed up they would likely start doing some physiotherapy exercises on her just to make sure she was fit to leave the hospital completely.
The boy nodded along, and you kept on walking the rest of the time in comfortable silence. The boy surprisingly seemed pretty strong for the state he was in because of his wounds, and you couldn’t help but admire his willpower. The sun was already high in the sky as they neared Avalon, it was just an hour of trails but you imagined the boy would be quite tired already.
Getting to meet him was a little more difficult than you thought; you thought the kid would be more talkative and open like most other kids but he proved to be difficult to maintain a conversation with. He seemed distant, he was young but you thought he was mentally much older than he looked.
Once you arrived at the hospital, the boy began paying more attention to his surroundings, almost taking notes of different places as if he was planning something just in case. You led him back to the room he was staying with along with the blonde woman.
She was awake now and staring out the window; deep in thought. She then turned her head to the side as she heard the two of you coming into the room, her eyes going from you and back to the boy, already defensive and looking for any sign of trouble.
She thought for a few moments before looking at you, “Where did you take him?” she asked carefully. “I took him for a walk in the trails we have, the nurse said it would be good to get him back on track.” You explained, and the woman seemed to relax more.
“It was a nice trail, Ab-” he spoke with a gentle smile before he cut himself off. “A.” He corrected himself, and you awkwardly shifted your gaze somewhere else. The blonde thought for a bit, her hands fumbling as she carefully accessed their situation. “Abby.” She said, looking up to you.
“I’m Abby.” she spoke, her eyebrows slightly furrowed as if she was still on guard about her name. As Abby introduced herself for the first time you couldn’t help but smile and feel yourself get warmer, a strange feeling flowing through your body with the realization that you were slowly gaining her trust.
You really didn’t know why you even cared about gaining her trust, but you felt entranced by her eyes, she was like a magnet for you and you couldn’t understand why. The boy looked at Abby then at you, and he closed his eyes for a few moments; contemplating his decision before speaking. “And I’m Lev.” he said, and you turned your head to him as you smiled.
“Well, you two ought to have some lunch.” You said with a smile, “For today’s meal we have rice and beans or burritos.” You explained, and added, “Which one would you guys like?” you asked with a smile. Abby thought for a moment, then said “I’d like a burrito.” her voice seemed different than before, her eyes shining yet with a layer of pain hidden behind them.
“I’d like rice and beans,” Lev spoke, and you nodded with a smile. “I’ll let Carl know.” You said since Carl was the volunteer who helped out with bringing them food and making sure they got enough nutrients to heal up faster. “Thanks,” Abby mumbled, and the three of you stood in silence, not really sure what to say.
Lev, seeing as Abby was in deep thought, spoke up. “Y/N told me there are kids my age here.” He said with a soft smile, making Abby look up at him and return the smile. You couldn’t help but stare a little at the woman, she was smiling for the first time since she arrived here and you couldn’t help but feel happy as you watched them slowly grow more comfortable in their surroundings.
“That’s great Lev, I was worried you wouldn’t fit in if there was nobody your age.” She said softly and you could tell just how much she cared for this boy, it was a friendly tone yet it almost seemed motherly; from the little interactions you had with them, you knew Abby would likely do anything to protect him. “Do you guys have a school here?” she asked and turned to you, her tone a bit less soft now.
“We do, yes, we have a classroom of around 15 or so kids?” You said as you raised your eyebrow, trying to recall how many kids actually were there. “We also have a kindergarten with a kid or two.” you explained; the fireflies were quite organized when it came to the younger generations since they were their future the fireflies spent a lot of time and care to find books and other materials for class when they went scavenging.
Abby listened intently, the fireflies always prioritized education for their youth; Abby found herself remembering her own days in school, finding everything fascinating from a young age when she was with the fireflies back in Salt Lake.
“It would be nice Lev,” Abby told him, and Lev seemed a little hesitant. “I don't know, I’ve never been to school, the Seraphites always said that anything from the old world was sinful so I don’t know if I’d fit in-” Lev said, looking at Abby with furrowed eyebrows, but he was cut off by your words. “Seraphites?” You asked, tilting your head a little, then instantly regretted opening your mouth.
You really couldn’t help it sometimes and your curiosity often got the best of you. “Ah- I didn’t-” you stammered, and Abby quickly cut you off. “That’s none of your business,” she said coldly, her eyebrows furrowed and her nose slightly scrunched up in annoyance.
Her whole demeanor changed in a matter of seconds, her words striking your heart in a not-so-good way. Lev looked at Abby for a bit, his eyes growing sad at her actions. Abby then grew quiet, still looking at you then tearing her gaze off you and to her hands. “Sorry.” she mumbled out, and Lev put his hand over hers for a bit before looking up at you.
You sighed softly, “Well uh- I should go and tell Carl to bring your lunches.” You said slowly, trying to be careful with your words. Lev nodded, and Abby stayed silent and unmoving, and you took your leave; heading to Carl who was likely doing some scheduling duties near the hospital.
Meanwhile, Lev stayed in silence with Abby. He knew just how much they had been through, and the two of them had felt like everyone had broken their trust. All they had left was each other now. “I’m sorry Abby, I shouldn’t have brought up the Seraphites.” Lev mumbled out, and Abby shook her head, “No don’t apologize, I should’ve been calmer with Y/N.” she said, then thought. “I’ll figure something out and do a proper apology.”
Abby said, “She’s been really kind to both of us, I don’t want to come off as rude.” The blonde sighed a bit, ruffling up her short hair. Abby’s hand stopped short as she felt the back of her head, no longer feeling her braid anymore, she almost felt stripped of her identity.
Lev noticed that and smiled a bit. “Don't worry Abby, It’ll grow back.” He said, making Abby soften her expression and smile, “Thank you Lev.” she said, truly meaning it since she felt as if Lev’s words weren’t only referring to her hair but to their experiences; that they’d eventually grow from it. The two stayed silent for the rest of the time before their lunch would arrive; just enjoying the comfort of each other's presence.