Chapter 4
A sudden depart would bring a ruckus in its wake, so Abby's party went ahead, vowing to wait for them down the route. Ellie had a talk with Maria, who confirmed that a family of doctors indeed lived somewhere east from Jackson. And despite Maria's trepidation she provided the necessary for their travel. Dina told Jesse's parents they'd move from Jackson for awhile but not too far, they'd come back for visits sometimes, they just needed a fresh start...
"I know this area... Joel took me here for a birthday… There's this museum nearby," Ellie told Dina after Abby announced they should be close to the old campus.
The travel together had been nothing but tense. Ellie couldn't help but be anxious after her break down at the sight of Abby. What if she needed to protect Dina and JJ and she simply didn't function? That insecurity added to some friction over mundane decisions, but both of them let it go after much plead from Dina and Lev.
The two took over the reins of the expedition without much ceremony, working cordially. Jarod and Alanna seemed simply frustrated to be thrown in that situation without warning. In sum, everyone was relieved the whole thing would end soon and hopefully everyone would be able to avoid whoever they wanted.
There was a settlement near the old campus, but the campus per se was mostly abandoned. To find the med school building was easy though. It had a clearly well kept wing compared to its surroundings. On what should be the main door was a girl around Lev's age, sitting in a table and not at all bothered by their arrival.
"Are you sick or hurt?" the girl asked when they were still climbing the stairs.
"Neither," Abby smiled, skimming the steps in a clearly joyous mood. "We're here to see Dr. Madison Whitebull."
The girl looked suspiciously at them, but slowly the information clicked.
"You're the Fireflies," she whispered in awe. The girl leaped, running inside. "Sis! They're here! They're finally here!"
"Finally? We were really fast," Lev said indignantly.
"Manner of speaking." Abby bumped his arm. "She's happy." He didn't seem convinced.
A few curious faces appeared in the windows above and hurried steps were heard coming from inside the building. A native american woman around Abby and Ellie's age emerged from a darkened corridor. Besides the pristine lab coat, she wore a rare item these days, glasses.
"You arrived in one piece." She had a relieved smile and searched the faces, not hiding a curious glance to the baby in the group. "Who's Abby?"
"That'd be me," Abby said half-laughing, and to her horror, feeling like tears could show up any second. This was real, that woman in front of her was real.
"Now, that voice I recognize," the young doctor smiled even more and extended her hand. "I'm Madison."
Abby felt like pulling her for a hug, but contained her overexcitement. "And this is Mika, my little sister." She brought the now shy girl forward.
"Continue the pleasantries inside. They need a warm meal," a middle-aged asian woman shout from one of the windows and most of them laughed.
"Of course, sorry! Come in." Madison motioned for them to enter the building.
"We have a lot to talk," Abby added to Madison as they slowly entered, giving a last look to Ellie.
"We sure have. We need find you some rooms too, but don’t worry, there’s plenty of space. We all live here by the way..." and she kept going.
"At least they seem like decent people," Dina said to Ellie still set in place.
"Seems like it."
"Stop focusing on her. Remember why we came here," Dina added squeezing Ellie's hand, who nodded.
"The doctor's so young..."
"Lots of great things were discovered by young people. Come on, I need to put JJ down for five minutes."
***
Madison and Mika lived in the old building with three more people: Doctor Daisy Liu, the brash woman chastising them from her window, had been living on the facility way before the Whitebulls arrived; Dolores Salles and Carl Bartlet, almost on their forties, were trained as lab technicians by FEDRA, but got out and the winds of life brought them to Wisconsin. They had all worked for long years with the Whitebull family.
After Madison and her companions showed them what to expect of the building and surroundings, they sat down to eat. The hosts were eager to hear about the travel all the way from California and chat was nice enough, until Mika dropped what everyone really wanted to know, "Wait. So who are they?". An awkward pause was made, but before Abby could take the word, Ellie went ahead, "I was bitten once."
"What did you just say?" Madison slowly put her fork down.
"I came with them because I'm immune. And I hope to be of help. These are Dina and JJ, my family. We were just reunited. I couldn't leave them behind." For a secret well kept for so long, Ellie felt like she had to blurt it out every five minutes now.
"So it's true. Someone immune really exists," Madison looked at the quiet woman who wasn’t looking back at her and finally broke into a smile, saying gently. "It'll be really important, Ellie. Thank you for coming to help."
Ellie nodded, still feeling utterly uncomfortable.
"Well, a toast to the great things we'll accomplish," Jarod proposed already a bit buzzed and was followed by everyone.