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English
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Published:
2015-01-05
Updated:
2015-02-22
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7,146
Chapters:
3/?
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16
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371

Before Us All

Summary:

What happened, you asked me, before Ellie was born? What happened when Marlene, the ambitious Firefly who believed she could save the world got tangled with Anna, the stubborn military officer and future mother to Ellie Williams? What happened, when Anna hid a secret she shouldn't have kept? Let me tell you, dear reader, what happened. Let me you what happened, Before Us All.

Notes:

(See the end of the work for notes.)

Chapter 1: What a wonderful world

Chapter Text

Anna woke up in the middle of the night, feeling the weight of her thin, cold blanket almost crush her under it’s weight. She blinked a few times, rolled from her stomach to her side, and let out a soft groan. Christ, is being able to sleep for more than three hours too much to ask?

She pulled herself out of bed, knowing there was no use trying to go back to sleep,and placed two feet on the cold, damp, cement floor. Her two-bedroom apartment looked bad- paint peeled off the walls, mold grew in the damp corners and stains of God-knows-what dotted on the floors- but then again, so did every other apartment in the damned quarantine zone. At least she got to share it with her nephew- a teenage boy named Nathan who loved nothing more than to get himself into trouble.

Anna rubbed her face with her hands, trying to wake herself up. Jesus, how did it all end up like this? It took the world less than a week to go to shit, less than two for the military to replace to government, and less than a month to establish QT zones all over the place. Was that four years ago? Five? More? The cobwebs in her mind hadn’t withered yet, and she couldn’t remember for the life of her.

She stood up and painfully shuffled to herself to the door, that creaked in protest as she forced it open.

She was just about to check up on Nathan when a backpack- no, the backpack got her attention. She’d found it while patrolling sector five, maybe a week ago, and she’d been both curious and stupid enough to bring it home with her.

She walked over to it, and examined it once again. It looked like most of the backpacks you’d find nowadays- brown, made of cloth, ripped in many places but still usable, with lots of dirt and other grime. It’s main pocket was held closed with two dark brown belts, just like the other two smaller ones on each side. The left strap had been ripped, the right horribly worn-out. Anna could tell that it had been sewn it back together more than once, and she wondered why anyone would even bother with it - after all, you could find a million more packs just like this one in the slums, for no more than a few ration cards.

She carefully undid the belts, not wanting to ruin them any more. Her hand dug around it for a bit, until she finally found what she’d been looking for.

She pulled out the pendant and held it between her fingers, examining it once again. Right on the front side, the infamous Firefly logo decorated it. She could tell that rust had been eating at it for quite a while, and the thing was dented in a few places- she couldn’t even make out the name on the back anymore. She knew she’d be shot on the spot if anyone else found it, but, for whatever reason, it was a beautiful thing to her, and she intended to keep it.

Anna stared at it for a while, loosing herself in thought. The fireflies were stronger than ever, and she was even considering joining them. Working as one of the guards in the QTZ zone was hell on earth, and if she’d been given any other option, she'd go with it in a heartbeat. It was a dirty job for ruthless people, who had the heart to execute someone that begged for their life. Those fuckers were as bad as the infected as far as she was concerned.

Maybe she could take Nate and run. It would be better, right?  Her job now did have its advantages - she got paid well in ration cards and had a safe apartment - but the quarantine zone was still far from the life that she wanted her nephew to have. Public executions of alleged fireflies just so those jarheads could remind people who ran the quarantine zone, people begging for ration cards so that they could feed their children, smugglers, alcoholics and other horrid things weren't what a boy should have to see every day. He would constantly reassure her that he was fine with his life, but she didn’t, and never would, believe him.

OK, let's say she did decide to go with the fireflies. What then? Where would she find one? How would she get out of the city? Would Nathan want to go? Of course he would, why not? Did the fireflies have a quarantine zone, and if so, was it any better than this one?

 

Gah, she couldn't think about these things in three in the morning.

 

Anna put the pendant back it the backpack, too tired to close the fold. She walked over to Nathan’s room, feeling her body shiver each step of the way and deeply regretting not bringing her blanket with her.

She slowly pushed his door open, making sure to not wake him up.

His room, as it had the previous night, lay in a thick blanket of darkness. It looked a bit better than hers- he had an actual bed, a small wooden desk on which sat a small lamp and a clock, and last but not least, a wardrobe she’d been lucky enough to get for him. He had a window that he always kept open during the night, despite Anna's constant badgering him to keep it closed. She swore, he kept it open just to piss her off.

The kid was rebellious, just like his mother.

Christ, he even looked like her. His chocolate hair, green eyes, soft cheekbones and button nose that was dotted freckles made him look so much like Anna's sister that it hurt. She missed her more than she could put into words.

 

I've kept my promise all these years, Paige. I always will.

 

She forced herself to stop thinking about her. She'd break into tears if she didn't.

 

Anna blinked a few times, looking over at the clock that read 3:24. She had a night shift, she needed the sleep.

 

20 hours later

 

The Pittsburgh Quarantine Zone is split into 8 areas.

Area 1 - Military base

Area 2 - Warehouse and other storage

Area 3 - Electricity, power and machinery

Areas 4 through 8 - Living quarters.

Please refrain from leaving your area without proper authorization and/or permission from military personnel. We kindly remind you that such actions may lead to severe consequences. We thank you for your cooperation.

 

Anna read the last paragraph again, letting a chuckle bounce off her lips. Dirty, wrinkled maps like this one stood hung up on the entrances of each area, and all of them held that infamous text. It was almost funny: If you don’t do as we tell you, we’ll shoot you! Thanks for listening to us! She wondered what the point of their fake friendliness was- everyone knew exactly what the ‘military personnel’ were like, why even bother? Hell, if those guys were even half as friendly as those stupid posters were, everyone would be a lot happier.
At the moment, she was patrolling area seven. The place was easily the emptiest part of the QTZ - least half a block of abandoned, crumbling buildings covered it, all of them decorated with thick layers of mold and vines that only added to the uneasy feeling the place gave off. For some illogical reason, the military hadn't destroyed it yet - then again, Anna wasn’t sure that the military even knew what ‘reason’ was. It was the perfect place for illegal things, and having one officer patrol it every night was far from enough.

They probably didn’t even care about it. They had plenty of other people to shoot.

She pried her walkman out of her pocket. She’d gotten it from deaf, old man in the slums, along with a few cassettes, and in return she gave him a round of ammo. She put in one earphone, the cold plastic fitting itself in her ear as she clicked play. Upbeat jazz played from it, and even though it wasn’t exactly her kind of music, it was far better than nothing.

Just as she was about to put in her second earphone, she saw light coming from her left. It vanished as quickly as it appeared, almost making Anna believe that she had imagined it.

Her hands tightened around her gun as she pointed it in the direction from where it came. She waited a few moments, but nothing more came.

 

Anna pulled out her radio and spoke into it:

 

"This is patrol 26 calling in, I'm seeing lights in one of the abandoned houses. Please advise"

 

White noise filled the air for a moment before the radio violently screeched in response. "Patrol 26, please state your exact location"

 

"Area seven. I-uh-I think I'm at 34 Parkers street"

 

"Patrol 26, We'll be sending another patrol officer over, ETA fifteen minutes. Until then, please see what the disturbance was"

 

"Understood"

 

Fucking idiots, do they want to get me killed?

 

She didn't have much of a choice. She clicked the button on her flashlight, shaking it a few times to get it to work while making her way to the old house.

She slowly climbed up the cracked stairs, and placed her hand on the door’s knob. She tried a few times to push it open, but her efforts were pointless. Locked? Why?

Frustrated, she shined her light over the rest of the house. To no surprise, all the windows had been smashed in. Well, that’s one way.

Carefully, her gloved hands found the edge of the opening where there was no glass. She pulled herself over the edge, and let her feet bang the rotting wooden floor when she finally got in,

She scanned the living room. It looked like it was some rich man’s house before it was ransacked and abandoned - its high ceilings, big rooms, and old, torn, yet expensive-looking furniture made it beyond obvious. She used wonder what living in a house like this must have been like, but that years ago. Ever since the infection broke out, she stopped hoping for anything but food and simple shelter.

She sighed and continued her search. The first floor was (thankfully) completely empty, and she was starting to believe that she really had imagined the illumination.

 

Anna now had two options: The basement, or the upper floors. Screw it, lets get the basement over with.

She held her breath as she made her way down the damp stairs, careful not to slip on the marble they were made of, and in the meanwhile, wondered what the hell she was doing.

She held up the flashlight and looked around the room. Besides some broken, turned-over furniture, it looked completely empty.

That was why she felt her blood turn to ice when she heard shuffling on her left. She pointed her flashlight and her gun at the direction it came from, praying to God it wasn’t a stalker.

"Who’s there?! Hands where I can see 'em!" she yelled, her voice echoing through the room.

 

No response.

 

“I said, hands where I can see them!”

 

She let out a sigh of relief when a woman came out from behind a desk, her hands raised high above her head.

The woman didn’t look much different than anyone else she’d seen. Her black, curly hair had been tied back into a bun of sorts. She had brown skin that was covered with a dark, sleeveless tank top that went over a white short sleeved shirt, along with cargo pants and green boots. The woman’s arms were covered with scars, still bleeding cuts and dirt. Anna felt somewhat sorry for her - it was obvious she had just been through hell.

Anna was just about to relax, when her eyes caught the unmistakable pendant that hung around her neck.

Fireflies?

"Marlene,” a shaking, higher-pitched voice broke the silence in the room, “who is she?"

Anna hadn't even noticed the child that was clutching on to the woman's pants for dear life. It was a little boy, no older than eight, who looked just as beaten up as the Firefly did.

The woman placed a hand on the boy’s neck, pulling him closer and whispering something so soft, Anna couldn’t hear.

She set her jaw. "You're fireflies, aren't you?" Anna stated, as if she didn't already know the answer

"Ple- please. Please don’t do this", the woman softly begged, “He’s just a kid”

Anna took a deep breath, trying to figure out what to do. "Are there any more of you?"

"For the love of God-"

"I asked if there were any fucking more of you!" She said, twice as harsh as she meant to.

“N-n-no, just the two of u-”

 

BANG BANG BANG

 

"Hey Anna, you there? Open the door!” A voice shouted from above, causing the woman to completely freeze.

 

Damn it, they're already here.

 

"Yeah, uh, I'll be up in a sec" Anna shouted back. What now?

"Listen here,” Anna said, a serious expression now painting itself on her face, “that's my buddy up there. If he sees you, you're not getting out alive. Do you have a way out of here?"

"Yes," The woman pointed to a closet, her eyes lighting up "There's a tunnel there that leads outside-"

"Good. Get out of here.”

 

The woman paused, not sure if the officer was joking or not. Eventually, she slowly made her way to the piece of furniture. She pushed it, letting it make a loud screech sound that almost shook the room. Anna, of course, was still keeping her at gunpoint, not letting her guard down for a second.

The firefly signaled for the boy to jump in, and he did so without hesitation. She, however, looked Anna in the eye, and gave a soft nod. Thank you, she said, and disappeared without a trace.