Stabby Stick
“Here you go,” Maria said as she dropped the house keys into your awaiting hand. “This place is all yours.”
“Thanks,” You replied as your eyes scanned over the small one-story flat. It was more like a renovated garden shed that looked identical to the other dwelling surrounding you. Apparently, Ellie was a few doors down as this part of Jackson was relatively new, with majority of the adolescences having taken up residence here.
“You’ll be helping Ellie and Jesse out tomorrow,” Maria stated, you shot her a suspicious look at the unfamiliar name. “Jesse’s an Alpha like Ellie but I’m sure you won’t have any problems. You’ll be helping them out in the infirmary, okay?”
“Yeah, okay,” You shrugged, still sounding unsure.
Maria sighed before resting her hand on your shoulder. “If you’re uncomfortable or have any problems tell Ellie and we’ll try to work something else out okay? There’s no judgement here, we just want you to feel safe.”
“Okay,” You nodded, grateful. “Thanks Maria.”
“No problem dear,” She smiled, before giving your shoulder a pat and walking off.
You watched her retreating form before you slid the key into the lock and entered your new residence. It was similar to a small studio apartment with a bed nestled in the far right corner, tucked behind the kitchen bench. There was a TV with a rickety-looking couch in front of it, a coffee table separating the space between them, and a door that appeared to lead to a bathroom.
Dropping your bag onto the ground, you kicked off your combat boots before walking to the bed in the corner of the room and flopped onto it face-first.
Your second heat wave ended almost an hour ago, Joel had wasted no time in kicking you out into the dark the moment Maria had shown up on his doorstep with a pair of house keys. Maria had made an attempt to reassure you that Joel was always like that – “prickly and insensitive, but means well in the end”, were her words. Still, your Omega had felt scorned at the blatant rejection, the hurt affecting your own indifferent feelings to the situation. It was hard discerning between instinct and rationality sometimes.
According to Maria, she had announced at the mess hall that evening about your arrival as an Omega. You weren’t too pleased at how people were making such a big deal out of this, but Joel had ended up placating you with another cup of coffee.
Oh! That’s right, you thought, a smile gracing your features. You got up and out of bed and scavenged your new place for a kettle, which was hidden under the kitchen sink. Filling up the kettle, you then placed it on the stove top.
Maria had explained to you that the mess hall had two meals served during the day to help everyone keep a balanced diet if they run out of time to cook for themselves with patrol and whatnot. However, food supplies were distributed through Jackson freely every Friday per household, with only artisanal foods being an exception. Maria had explained that artisanal foods can be bought at the Markets that are open every Saturday morning… The currency of it went a little over your head as Maria had practically flooded you with information.
Either way, you were glad that you weren’t required to attend the mess hall for meals, as you were uncomfortable with the idea of being around so many people, and in a heat daze at that… You shuddered at the thought.
The whistling of the kettle brought you out of your thoughts. You turned off the heat and went to your bag near the front door to pull out the pack of instant coffee you had stolen from Joel. You snickered, wondering if the Alpha had noticed yet.
As you finished making your coffee, you left the mug on the kitchen bench to cool off, before unpacking the rest of your bag.
Taking out all of your sketch books, paints and pencils, you deposited them on a shelf near your bed. Then you went forth and grabbed your three favourite books you had managed to salvage and neatly placed them next to you art equipment. You flashed a smile at the neatly organised shelf, ignoring how vulnerable you felt without your weaponry. Maria had explained that all new visitors have their weapons confiscated for the first two weeks unless attending patrol. She had thankfully made an exception for you considering your circumstances and had let you keep your switchblade.
You patted the pocket of your jeans where the blade rested, the weight of the object comforting in such an unfamiliar space.
Scanning the room, you liked the obvious new-ness of this little home, there were no traces of previous inhabitants, no shattered picture frames or coloured walls or other little décor that often aided in the haunting sense of abandonment most houses build pre-outbreak emitted. Though, the space still felt unnecessarily large with your whole life being able to only take up the space of one measly shelf.
Ignoring the stifling sense of loneliness that washed over you, you went back and grabbed your coffee before rummaging through the draws under the TV to find something to watch. Maria had said any working CDs or DVDs could be purchased at the markets if you wanted anything in particular, though every new-comer would have 5 random tapes left in their room, under the TV.
The options were pretty shitty, all things considered. Two were live recordings of concerts from a band called Mogwai and one of Frank Sinatra. There was one documentary, the cover was faded but it had a white label with the scribbled words ‘A Plastic Ocean – Nature Doc’, alongside two movies; one a sappy rom-com, the other appeared to be some sort of thriller.
In the end, you settled on the music recordings of Mogwai. Half of it was music and half a documentary, which you were pleasantly surprised by as it kept your attention and the thoughts away, but didn’t require much brain power to concentrate or understand.
Sighing, you settled further onto the couch, listening to the music as you sipped your coffee, letting your mind drift as you blankly watched the figures on the screen. You kept the volume ridiculously low, barely able to hear the music, but you didn’t like the idea of not being able to hear the din of life outside your little cabin. The locked door could only provide so much security…
“So… what’s she like?” Jesse questioned Ellie as they made their way to the Omega’s house.
“She’s like any normal fucking person,” Ellie sighed, annoyed by Jesse’s line of questioning. They’d been having the same fucking conversation for the last hour, the answers as repetitive as the questions.
“That’s not what I meant,” Jesse mumbled.
“You’ll be fine, stop stressing.”
“I’m not stressing!” Jesse squawked, causing Ellie to snort.
“Yeah, right. You’ve only been worrying about it since this morning when Maria kicked you off patrol today.”
“Fine, fine!” Jesse surrendered. “But you can’t blame me, it’s not like I’ve ever met an Omega and I don’t want to, like, offend her or whatever.”
Ellie’s eyes softened in understanding, stopping to place her hand on Jesse’s shoulder. “You’ll be fine, from what I’ve seen she’s more wary around the older folks – the ones that were alive before Outbreak Day.” Ellie placated. “She wasn’t offended by mine or Dina’s questions, nor was she afraid to tell us to fuck off if we over step.”
Jesse sighed, shaking out his hands in a nervous gesture. “Okay, yeah, maybe I am being a little stressed about this.”
Ellie snorted, her hand dropping back to her side as they continued to your abode. “Never took you as a wimp.”
Jesse shot her an exaggerated look of betrayal. “Low blow, man. Real low.”
Ellie shook her head in amusement as they stopped at number 12. This was where Maria had said you were now residing, and there was no mistaking the strong scent of lavender that had leaked outside.
Quietly, Ellie signalled Jesse to step back a bit, not wanting to overwhelm you with new faces and scents, before raising her fist to knock on the door.
Silence.
Ellie frowned before knocking harder, rattling the door.
More silence.
Ellie strained her ears to see if she could hear any movement from inside the house, but she couldn’t pick up anything. Looking back at Jesse who looked a mix of confused and concerned, Ellie decided to pound on the door and when there was still no answer she called out. “(Y/n)! It’s me, Ellie!”
There was no answer and Ellie was starting to freak out a little… Well, a lot probably… Enough the pick the lock on your door and barge in.
It was there that she saw your snoring, sleeping form awkwardly sprawled out across the couch, a mug clutched loosely in one hand.
“Someone’s not a morning person,” Ellie heard Jesse laugh from behind her, obviously amused.
Ellie sighed, watching your limp form. Her skin was itching again, her Alpha urging for her to check you weren’t dead, despite the fact she could perfectly see the way your chest gently rose and fell with each breath. Sighing, Ellie decided you were going to need to be woken up at some point and walked forward to gently shake your shoulders.
In hindsight, that was a rather horrible idea on her part.
The moment her hands had grabbed onto your shoulders, you shot wide awake, knocking Ellie’s head with your own.
“Shit!” Ellie cursed, stumbling backwards as her hand flew up to her forehead that ached at the harsh impact. You suddenly lunged at Ellie, the two of you flailing to the ground before Ellie froze at the cold press of your knife against her throat. A low growl tore through your throat and Ellie frowned at your unfocused gaze.
Suddenly you were pulled off of Ellie, Jesse having come to her aid, grabbing you from behind – another horrible idea - causing you to thrash around violently before seemingly coming to the realisation that ‘Oh! You have a knife,’ and plunging it into Jesse’s side, who yelped before dropping you onto the floor. The two watched as you hightailed out of the house at full speed.
“So much for her being normal,” Jesse wheezed, clutching his side.
“Fuck!” Ellie scrambled over to Jesse. “I don’t think she recognised us…”
“No shit,” Jesse snorted, wincing at the jerk the movement had on his ribs.
Ellie cursed as she helped Jesse apply pressure to the wound you had inflicted, at least you hadn’t stabbed any of Jesse’s vital organs, only managing to nick him on the side – it’d still need stitches though, the wound still dangerously deep. Ellie fumbled for the walkie-talkie Maria had given her - in case they had any troubled with you – and filled her in about what had happened before hauling Jesse’s ass to the infirmary.
Well, it appears day two of meeting you was going to be as eventful as day one.
Halfway through your mad dash everything came back to you – being found by Ellie and Dina, going back to Jackson and meeting Maria, Tommy and Joel. Those memories only served to make you run faster.
Fuck! You thought, they’re so gonna kill me out when they find me.
Panic clouded your mind as you ran and ran and ran. Your stomach churned as you remember holding your pocket knife to Ellie’s throat and then stabbing whoever was with her. Jesus Christ, this really wasn’t a great way to make a first impression. Though you guess you could pettily blame the apocalypse for your loss of courtesy.
Your body thrummed with nerves as you twist and turned through the winding streets of Jackson – having no clue where you were going, but past the point of caring. You shifted on your right foot and threw yourself around another corner before –
“Fuck!” You grunted as you collided head on with someone and went tumbling to the ground with them.
“Jesu- Shit! Sorry!” You fumbled with your words as you tried to quickly detached yourself from the man and scramble to your feet; but you were cut short by a familiar, baritone voice that had your whole body freezing in place.
“Slow down there,” Joel chuckled mildly on the ground, before catching waft of your scent which was full of distress and anxiety. Any traces of joy left the man’s face as his brows scrunched together, gaze searching “Are you okay?”
“Yep! Just great,” You replied with overly forceful enthusiasm, your smile feeling awkward on your face as you bolted upright.
Joel snorted, slowly getting to his feet. “Uh-huh.”
“Okay welp… I’m – uh, gonna go now,” You turned around, fully intending on bolting before Joel caught your wrist and pulled you back. You hadn’t realised how much taller Joel was than you, having to slightly crane your head upwards to fully meet his gaze. Though he wasn’t overly tall, his broad shoulders and muscular torso made him even more imposing.
“You’re bleeding,” He stated, there was an obvious expectancy of an explanation in his gaze and you quickly tore your eyes away from his, pretending not to have seen the lingering query.
“Huh?” You looked down to where he was looking and saw it was the hand you had stabbed What’s-His-Name with. It must’ve been his blood. Well shit, can’t exactly not explain the blood without looking suspicious…
“Oh… This is nothing, it’s fine,” You waved it off before trying to tug your wrist out of Joel’s grasp. He didn’t let go. “Joel, it’s fine. I just cut myself on a loose nail.”
You mentally patted yourself on the back for your quick response.
“We should get you to the infirmary,” Your eyes widened. Hell no! That’s more than likely where Ellie and the guy you’d stabbed was now.
“No!” Joel raised a brow at your outburst. “Uhh, I mean it’s just a cut I’ll be fine… just let me go?... Please?”
“You need to get it disinfected, especially if the nail was rusty – don’t need to be going n’ getting tetanus.”
You opened your mouth the argue, “Seriously, I’m fin- HEY!”
Joel ducked before grabbing you by the waist and flinging you over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes.
“Joel!” You yelped as you felt your feet leave the ground. “Put me down!” You screeched as you thrashed around, trying to ignore the heat of the Alpha’s hands over the backs of your thighs.
“You’re acting like a two-year-old.” Amusement laced Joel’s words, only serving to fuel your anger.
“That’s because I am a two-year-old,” You huffed, crossing your arms over your chest petulantly. Joel didn’t reply and instead just started walking in the direction of, what you presumed, was the infirmary.
Despite the wonderous view of Joel’s ass, this felt very much like walking to your death. You could see it now, the moment you entered the infirmary Ellie would scream at you about stabbing another local before Maria made the decision to put a bullet to your head for disrupting the peace.
“Fuck, why do you want me dead so badly?” You muttered to yourself.
“And how exactly is going to the infirmary going to ‘kill’ you?”
“Because…” You trailed off. During your short time here you had picked up that Joel and Ellie are close… Were? Either way, the two of them seemed to care deeply about each other – no matter how much Ellie avoided Joel; and you were pretty sure if you told Joel you had put your knife to Ellie’s throat, he would strangle you.
“Because?” Joel probed.
Fuck it, you thought, I’ll just be evasive.
“I used my stabby stick,” You blurted. FUCK! What was that!?
You frowned at yourself, well at least I tired, you countered—
“Imma presume you mean your knife,” Joel cut off your internal argument with amusement and suspicion colouring his voice. You could feel the way his shoulders tensed, his fingers digging uncomfortably into the flesh of your thighs.
“UH… Okay, to be clear I was asleep and then someone grabbed me and I freaked?”
“So you- What? Stabbed them?”
“Not exactly…”
“Uh-huh”
“Pinned one of ‘em, then someone may or may not have grabbed me from behind and then I stabbed them.” You murmured.
“And who exactly tried to wake you up?” Joel questioned, steps starting to slow, obviously piecing together the scenario.
“…Ellie,” You whispered. Joel froze. “I didn’t stab her though!” You tacked on desperately.
Joel sighed, his shoulders relaxing. “Good,” He grunted, “but that doesn’t make it any better.”
“I know…” You said softly.
“But to be fair they shouldn’t have tried to wake you up.”
“Yea- Wait what?”
Joel let out a husky chuckle at your confusion, “Don’t worry, you’ll be fine.”
“Oh thank god!” You breathed out.
The rest of your walk to the infirmary left you to now admire the great view that is Joel’s ass now that you no longer felt like you were walking the plank.
“Wouldn’t have picked you for a bubble butt, but damn, that ass do be fine,” You cheekily remarked causing Joel to practically stumble over his feet, nearly dropping you in the process whilst you just cackled like a madman.
“You have no shame,” He grumbled.
“You have no idea, Texas.” You chirped, causing Joel to stop in his tracks.
“What d’ya call me?”
“Um… Texas?” You started replied tentatively, worried that you’d done something wrong. But Joel only hummed before continuing on his way.
Steel grey eyes swept across Joel’s form, critical in their analysis. Whatever they had found seemed to appease them, the previous grit softening as her eyes crinkled in a silent smile.
“The name’s Tess,” The woman announced suddenly, sticking her hand out in greeting. Joel eyed the proffered truce wearily, eyes flicking back up to the woman as she impatiently waved her hand after a moment of silence.
Sighing, Joel clasped her hand in his, giving it a terse shake.
“Joel.”
Tess snorted, looking back down to the two blokes that lay dead at her feet. “The name kinda takes away the intimidation factor, to be honest.”
Joel felt his lips twitch upwards at the light banter. “Better than something like Sheldon.”
Tess threw her head back and laughed, “I don’t know, I think Sheldon is a real bed wetter of a name.”
Shaking his head, Joel watched as Tess pushed passed him, sauntering out of the alleyway. She looked back over her shoulder once she noticed he hadn’t followed.
“You comin’ Texas?”
Joel wasn’t exactly sure why he decided to follow her, but before he could really put any thought into it his feet were already moving, making the decision for him.
“That better not become a thing,” Joel grumbled once he’d caught up, not bothering to try and tamper down the Texas twang of his accent.
Tess merely shot him a smirk, her eyes gleaming with amusement.