Chapter Text
The cure seemed to change so much.
Dina received the injection several days after her 18th birthday. It was being produced more easily now, in bigger batches, groups slowly making their way to Salt Lake City for their inoculation. It felt like a pilgrimage. It felt sacred.
Hordes still came through, but it felt, sometimes, like they were winning a war. Jackson was growing, and patrols were conducted without the fear of potentially having to ‘put down’ your partner if they’re bitten.
Dina cannot fathom what it must be like for the older generations - those who grew up in a world before the outbreak. This world is all she’s ever known, and watching it change was something special. She wonders if it leaves a bitter taste in their mouth.
She rubs at the brand on her wrist. It had taken almost a year to heal, and it still aches in winter. She cherishes it. It’s a sign of her protection. A sign of her inoculation. She’s one of the now-many who had been vaccinated against the infection. A bite would not turn her.
The brands made sense, and most people carried them with pride. They were a way to make sure everyone vaccinated was accounted for. And the sad souls who had yet to be converted, to receive the blessing, were clearly identifiable.
Bite marks were still scrutinised, blistering as they healed, but the infection wouldn’t take hold. They were reported, and the bitten taken to the isolation rooms for observation.
No chances could be taken to lead an Infected back into Jackson’s walls.
If you didn’t have a brand you were doomed.
--
The whole town couldn’t seem to stop talking about her coming. The immune girl. The one who brought them the cure. Dina doesn’t know what she thinks about it and she assumes the girl must be insufferable if people always talk about her like that.
And the girl is definitely what she expected when Dina finally sees her.
Broad shoulders, large arms, a pretty face but with discerning eyes , and a mouth is turned down slightly in disgust. A Firefly pendant hangs proudly around her neck.
Dina is near the entrance to the stables chatting with Jesse when she arrives, her voice distantly booming to those in the watchtower. The girl easily jumps down from her horse, absentmindedly letting someone take the horse’s reins while she grimaces at the sight of Jackson.
Dina does not like her.
“That’s her, Dina, come on,” Jesse says excitedly, rushing forward to awkwardly hold out a hand to the woman. “Hi, I’m Jesse, welcome to Jackson,” he says with an easy smile.
She just looks at him blankly.
“Abby, good to see you,” Joel calls as he strides toward the gate. “Where’s my kid?”
“Drawing something stupid,” Abby huffs, but she clasps Joel in a tight hug. “You look older somehow?”
“I look the same as I did two weeks ago,” Joel nods, rolling his eyes. “Did you have to ride ahead of her?”
“I was barely ahead, sign says to identify yourself so I identified myself,” Abby shrugs. “Not my fault she wanted to draw it.” She runs her hand distractedly along the short hair at the side of her head; both sides were shaved and starting to grow out, like she had done it a while ago, and the hair on top of her head was long and tied back in a thick braid.
Dina tries to hide her laugh at Jesse just loitering awkward beside the pair.
“Joel!” She hears a voice call, as another horse gallops through the gates. The girl sitting astride it is smaller, slighter, and it’s only when her feet are firmly on the ground that Dina realises how pretty she is. She’s a solid head shorter than Joel and Abby, and quickly flings herself at Joel. He catches her, squeezing her tightly and lifting her in a huge bear hug.
Dina grins; she hasn’t seen Joel that enthused to see anyone before.
“Ellie,” Joel says warmly, releasing her now and clasping his shoulder with a steady hand. “Kiddo, am I glad to see you.”
Ellie smiles up at him and Dina needs to speak to her. She can’t tell what colour her eyes are from this distance but they are bright, her shoulder length hair is half pulled back in a low bun, and the way she rocks back and forth in her Converses with excess energy is adorable.
“Good to finally fucking be here,” she says, her voice sweet and kind of scratchy.
“Jesse,” Joel says, finally noticing him standing there awkwardly. “This is Ellie and Abby, they’re gonna be living here now.”
“For now,” Abby mutters, scuffing her boot on the ground, shooting Ellie a look when the smaller girl knocks into her.
“They’re from Salt Lake City,” Joel continues, ignoring their little scuffle. “Girls, this is Jesse. He’s one of the patrol leaders.”
“Bit young to be a leader, isn’t he?” Abby asks.
“We’re- we’re like the same age?” Jesse asks, confused.
“I’m Ellie,” Ellie adds unhelpfully. “Please ignore Abby, she was dropped as a baby.”
“I’ll drop you right now, you baby,” Abby threatens, shoving Ellie away and huffing when Ellie laughs at her.
Joel sighs, nodding politely at Jesse and leading the girls away.
Dina’s eyes linger on them as they walk away; Ellie is a vision. A vision wrapped in a red flannel, torn blue jeans and Converses. A vision with a great butt.
She wonders briefly if the two women are together but dismisses the thought quickly. I’ve got a chance, she tells herself.
Jesse eventually comes back over to the entrance to the stables where he had left Dina. “God, she was fucking rude,” he scoffs.
“No, she wasn’t,” Dina defends quickly.
“Dude, the girl with the braid was an asshole, come on,” Jesse huffs.
“Oh,” Dina says lamely. “Yeah, she sucked.” Of course, he didn’t mean Ellie.
“The other one was cute though,” Jesse smiles at her. “I’m gonna ask her out.”
“The other one was definitely gay,” Dina says with a grin. “You’d have better luck with the asshole.”
“Why do you think she was gay?”
“Cause I looked at her?” Dina offers with a shrug.
“Not everyone who wears a flannel is gay,” Jesse tells her, pointedly looking at the flannel wrapped around Dina’s waist. “She could be bi or something.”
“But she’s not, she’s a lesbian,” Dina says flatly.
“You didn’t even speak to her, you just stared from over here like a loser,” Jesse says, his tone sharp.
“I’m sorry? Did you actually really talk to her?” Dina says teasingly. “Besides, it’s more than just her clothes, it was her posture.”
“Her posture said she was a lesbian?” Jesse laughs. “Really?”
“She was just,” Dina shrugs again. “I don’t know, relaxed in her body, it was hot.”
“She could be hot and also bi?” Jesse asks slowly, like he’s pitching a ground-breaking concept.
“Sorry, Jesse,” Dina laughs, patting his arm gently. “I don’t make the rules, she was born a lesbian, you can’t change her.”
Jesse huffs, “I- you’re full of shit. I’m still gonna fucking talk to her, you could be wrong.”
“Am I ever wrong, though?”
--
It’s been a week and Dina still hasn’t seen Ellie. She’d seen Abby four times in that span of time but always alone, with a book tucked under her arm and always with a scowl. She didn’t speak to her.
She’d learnt more from other people chatting about the newcomers than from the newcomers themselves.
“I heard her bite was on her arm, but she’s always in sleeves.” She’d heard Brodie say on patrol one day. He had a bite himself on his shoulder, and stubbornly wore sleeveless shirts well into autumn to show it off. The brands were a source of reverence, and while fresh bites were treated with unyielding suspicion, healed bites were almost seen as a sign of strength. Often those who had them went to great lengths to display them, but Dina thinks they’re gross. Fully healed but jagged and lined with blisters. “Do you reckon hers healed differently?” He had asked Mitchell, Dina listening absently.
She wonders sometimes if she’d think differently if her mother hadn’t been bitten. It was years before the cure, years before she and Talia had fought their way to Jackson. Dina had been twelve and horrified, and Talia was sixteen and resigned.
Talia had been bitten as well, later, much later, on her second patrol shift after they arrived. Her brand had still been fresh and healing, a requirement to be allowed out on patrol shifts. Talia had been twenty-one and shaken by the ordeal, retreating to the farming rotation for several months before braving patrols again. It was on her leg, and she still never wears shorts. Dina had sobbed for days after it happened, waking in the middle of the night to check on Talia religiously for months. As though the cure might have failed her.
Talia had tried patrols again for some time but didn’t stick with it.
“Dude, if I was the OG who invented the fucking cure, I would never wear sleeves again,” Brodie continued loudly.
“You don’t wear sleeves now,” Dina mutters to herself quietly, flushing when Mitchell cackles beside her.
“Also, I don’t think she invented the cure, like, she was a kid when she got bitten,” Mitchell laughs. “And Joel was the one who took her from Boston to the Fireflies. So, it would have been some fucking doctor there.”
“An immunologist or something,” Dina nods.
--
“So… I tried to talk to Ellie today,” Jesse says that night. They’re at the diner, halfway through a meal, and Dina almost chokes on her beer.
“You saw her?” She asks incredulously.
“Yeah, caught up with her as she was leaving Joel’s house,” Jesse said with a bashful smile. “Thought I could walk with her and didn’t realise that she literally lives in the house across the road and she was walking like twenty fucking metres.”
“So you had like half a minute to shoot your shot,” Dina says with a grin. No way he got anywhere. “How’d that go for you?”
“She’s fucking quiet,” Jesse huffs. “Barely said anything, and when she walked up to the other house the scary chick came out, so I legged it.”
“I can’t believe you’re scared of Abby,” Dina laughs, taking another sip of her beer before returning to her burger.
“I’m sorry,” Jesse says playfully. “Are you not scared of Abby?” He laughs, “She could fucking throw you across this room. Have you seen her arms?”
“Her arms are kinda hard to miss, so yeah, I’ve seen them. I’m just,” she shrugs, “Not a baby.”
--
When Dina finally sees Ellie again, it’s not what she imagined.
Ellie is sitting under a tree in the middle of town, back pressed solidly against it, legs crossed and her head down. She’s reading a comic and entirely consumed by it. Her hair is down, covering her face, and Dina almost doesn’t realise it’s her. She looks adorable and soft, wrapped in a loose dark grey flannel shirt with her hands fisted in the sleeve cuffs.
Dina is three steps closer to her before she notices that Abby is there. Of course Abby is there.
Abby is sitting beside Ellie, clearly in view, sitting back against the same tree, her legs splayed out in front of her, engrossed in a novel - ‘City of Thieves’ Dina can read, when she squints.
She hesitates for a second before thinking about her conversation with Jesse. I’m not a baby.
“Hey,” Dina calls as she approaches. Ellie looks up but Abby doesn’t lift her gaze. Good.
“Hi?” Ellie asks softly, face crinkled slightly in confusion as she looks up at Dina. Dina can see her freckles now, scattered across her cheeks, a healed scar through one eyebrow, and beautiful green eyes.
Dina loses herself for a second staring at Ellie.
“Can we help you?” Abby drawls, flipping a page in her book. Dina flushes. How long did I just stand here?
“I’m Dina,” she says, forcing her voice to sound bright and easy, hating the nerves flickering in her stomach. “I just wanted to, um, to introduce myself. You’re Ellie, right?”
“Yeah,” Ellie grins, lazily she holds a hand up to Dina, which Dina shakes gently with a laugh. She doesn’t say anything more, relaxed and seemingly a bit spaced out.
Dina fumbles for something else to say. “Uh, if you-” She shrugs, “If you ever need someone to show you around town, let me know.”
Ellie nods dumbly, “Thanks, that’s so nice.” Dina can’t tell if she’s being sincere or sarcastic.
“Okay, well,” Dina rubs the back of her neck, feeling awkward with how little Ellie is offering. “I’ll leave you to it then.”
She’s four steps away before she hears Abby’s low voice behind her, “Yeah, you do that.”
--
“Did you see Joel yelling at Ellie today?”
Dina’s ears prick up at the familiar name, pausing to listen intently outside the butcher.
“Apparently those two new kids brought a lot of weed with them,” she can hear Carl laughing, a portly man who Dina knows smokes a bit himself.
“Good for them.”
She shakes her head as she moves on to the clinic. That explains more than it doesn’t.
--
Ellie is the one to approach Dina next. Dina is on her way to the general store after her shift at the clinic, mentally running through her grocery list. It was her turn to cook for Talia and herself that night.
“Hey!” Dina hears a voice call out, and when she turns she sees Ellie jogging to catch up with her. “It was Dina, right?”
“Yeah,” Dina says. “How’s it going?”
“Good, yeah,” Ellie says sheepishly. “I- I wanted to apologise for the other day. I was,” she flushes. “A bit of a space cadet and uh,” she runs her hand through her hair. “I don’t remember what I said to you, but um, I don’t know, I thought I’d say hi again and apologise.”
Dina grins, “Apologise, huh?”
“Yeah, I probably said something dumb or maybe I just didn’t fucking talk,” Ellie laughs; her cheeks are pink now and it makes the freckles stand out more somehow. Dina feels smitten.
“Oh yeah, you were a total weirdo,” Dina says playfully, grinning as Ellie’s eyes widen in concern.
“Fuck,” she hears Ellie mutter quietly to herself.
“You can buy me a drink, though,” Dina offers. “To make up for it?”
“Uh, yeah,” Ellie agrees easily before frowning. “I don’t have any Jackson money, though.”
“How about I buy you a drink instead?” Dina says.
Ellie frowns, “That- that doesn’t make any sense if I’m making it up to you.”
“Don’t think about it too hard,” Dina says with a smile. “Tomorrow night? At the diner?”
“Yeah, that sounds great,” Ellie replies, still looking a bit lost. “I’d like that,” she says with a genuine smile. Dina can feel her stomach flip flopping at the sight of it.
“Cool, I’ll see you at like seven?”
Ellie nods excitedly, before jogging back over to Joel, who Dina realises was watching them from the other side of the street.
--
Dina is nervous later when she waits at the bar. She had been tempted all evening to go to Ellie’s and walk with her over, but she couldn’t think of a single excuse that sounded plausible about why she would be there, and what if Ellie wasn’t coming from home, and would it seem creepy?
She huffed, fiddling with her sleeves and looking longingly at the bar. You can’t order yourself a beer right before she arrives, just chill. You’re hot, she’s just a cute stoner, you got this.
“Hey,” Ellie says nervously, smiling when Dina turns and meets her eyes. She’s wearing a wrinkled long sleeve grey shirt over black jeans, and Dina can see the chain of what she presumes is Ellie’s Firefly pendant where it disappears under her collar.
“Hey, Freckles,” Dina smiles. “What will you have to drink?”
“Freckles?” Ellie mumbles softly, so quietly that Dina almost can’t hear the words. Dina smirks, watching the blush settle on Ellie’s cheeks, before Ellie replies, “Uh, just a beer. Any beer?”
“You got it,” Dina says. “Meet me at the booth?” She gestures to the last remaining booth, empty in the corner and leaves Ellie to order from the bar.
By the time she has finished waiting and turns back, a beer in each hand, Abby is there.
Why the fuck is Abby here?
Dina tries to hide her grimace, walking over to the booth where a disgruntled Ellie and a smirking Abby now sit. They are sitting across from each other, Abby lounging back against the leather seat, arms propped up and spread out across the back of the bench. She looks like she’s both actively trying to take up enough space for three people and is oblivious to it.
Ellie is whispering to her, blush deeper now, and she’s fidgeting with her hands in her lap.
Just be polite, Dina.
“Here you go,” Dina says, holding out the beer to Ellie as she slides into the booth next to her.
As Ellie reaches for the drink, Abby grabs at it quickly, and it sloshes slightly on the table as Dina tightens her grip. The two girls look at each other for a tense moment before Ellie sighs and almost wrestles it from their grasp.
“Thank you for the drink,” Ellie says quietly, taking a sip and shifting in her seat awkwardly next to Dina. “It was very nice of you.”
“Happy to,” Dina replies. This is great .
“No drink for me?” Abby asks, and when Dina meets her eye, Abby has the audacity to wink at her.
Dina huffs but sips her beer slowly to avoid replying.
Abby tuts at her, and Dina fights the urge to roll her eyes. “The pretty girl is a bit rude,” she says to Ellie, as though Dina isn’t present.
Ellie’s eyes are firmly on her drink, tracing patterns in the condensation on the glass.
“Pretty girl?” Dina scoffs. “Is that meant to insult me?”
“Oh honey, I’m not teasing you ,” Abby replies condescendingly, licking her lips as Dina narrows her eyes.
It feels like Abby waited for Ellie to take a sip before she spoke, leaving Ellie to splutter and wipe at the beer on her chin.
“You good?” Dina asks her softly, turning in her seat to ignore Abby, and patting Ellie’s back reassuringly.
“Y-yeah,” Ellie says, stuck in a coughing fit.
“Whatever, have fun, losers,” Abby laughs, sliding out of the booth and leaving to presumably bother someone else.
“She’s a bit of an asshole, huh?” Dina asks, her hand rubbing circles on Ellie’s back.
“Yeah, you have no idea,” Ellie mutters, rubbing at her face.
Dina leaves her hand on Ellie’s back for longer than she needs to, only retracting it when Ellie takes another sip of her beer, face now bright red.
“So, um, how are you?” Ellie asks awkwardly.
“I’m doing pretty good,” Dina laughs, shifting in the bench seat to tuck her legs under her, her body now facing Ellie properly. “I heard on the grapevine that you got in trouble for smoking with Joel.”
“Oh, you heard about that?” Ellie grimaces. "It wasn’t really because of the pot..."
Dina raises an eyebrow.
“He told me I need to start getting out more and meet new people,” Ellie huffs. “I’ve been hanging out with him since I got to town, and now that he’s going back on patrol, he wants me to start doing shit,” she continues, rolling her eyes.
“So, you decided to get high and just read outside?”
“I mean, technically,” Ellie smirks. “I did, kinda, meet someone new?”
“Oh yeah, were they nice?” Dina teases.
“Can’t tell yet,” Ellie says slyly, squinting at Dina’s face.
“You’ll have to report back to me,” Dina murmurs.
They smile at each other stupidly, and Dina takes a healthy sip of her beer, licking her lips as she looks at Ellie. I reckon she likes me.
“You’re pretty cute,” Dina says, and she manages to keep her voice calm and aloof.
Ellie’s eyes widen, and her lips move but she doesn’t manage to respond.
Seems like she likes me. Dina grins into her next sip, “So, you’re from Salt Lake?”
Ellie nods eagerly, latching onto the new subject. “Yeah, I mean, Boston originally, but Salt Lake, yeah.”
Dina laughs, “Joel’s been here for a while, why the sudden move?”
“I’ve been wanting to come for ages, they just wouldn’t let me go.”
“They?” Dina asks.
“Yeah,” Ellie sighs, looking tense. “The Fireflies.”
Dina nods, thinking, aren’t you a Firefly? She looks at the chain sitting on Ellie’s neck, before her eyes drop to Ellie’s hands, fidgeting with her sleeves. “Well,” Dina smiles. “I’m glad you’re here now. I could use another person to annoy.”
Ellie smiles back, relaxing at Dina’s words. “Where are you from?”
--
They chat for some time, Ellie is quiet but eager in her questions. Their glasses sit empty beside them, neglected as Dina shares a glossy overview of her travels through New Mexico and her time in Jackson.
At some point Dina goes to get them their third round of drinks, and Abby returns not long after.
“Having fun?” She asks Ellie as she drops into the other side of the booth.
“Yeah,” Ellie says pointedly. They stare at each other for several long moments, Dina watching on, feeling a bit lost as they seemingly communicate silently.
Abby raises an eyebrow, Ellie shakes her head, Abby’s eyes flick over toward Dina and back before Ellie bows her head. Abby huffs, before leaning over to take Ellie’s glass and finish off half of her drink before Ellie can pry it out of her hands.
“See you later,” Abby grits out, giving Dina a sharp look before standing to leave.
“What was that about?” Dina asks, watching as Abby practically stomps out of the diner.
“She wanted me to go home with her,” Ellie replies.
“Ah,” Dina nods, turning back to Ellie. “You’re a taken woman, I should have known,” she jokes.
Ellie rolls her eyes and scoffs. “She’s just protective.”
Dina hums, “You’ve been friends for a while I imagine?”
“Yeah,” Ellie shrugs. She looks at Dina carefully before continuing, “Abby was… she was basically in charge of babysitting me when I first arrived in Salt Lake.”
“Ahh,” Dina nods. “That explains a bit of the dynamic.”
Ellie rubs at her right forearm, eyes a bit downcast. “Sorry about that, she doesn’t really trust new people around me,” she mutters. “I, uh, people have pushed me before for details about, like…” She huffs. “About shit I don’t want to talk about.”
Dina nods, reaching out to lay a reassuring hand on Ellie’s arm. “I’m glad you’ve got someone like that in your corner,” she says with a soft smile. She retracts her hand quickly, aware of how Ellie had stiffened under her touch. “If anyone bothers you in Jackson, let me know,” she adds. “I’ll take care of it.”
Ellie smiles, finishing her drink and knocking her shoulder against Dina’s. “Thank you.”
“Come on,” Dina says, sliding out of the booth and stretching her legs. “I’ll walk you home.”
The walk is mostly silent, their hands brush several times and if Dina hadn’t noticed Ellie tense up before when touched, she would have taken her hand.
Instead, she thinks about it for the whole walk and stuffs her hands in her pockets. Dina says good night at the bottom step of Ellie’s porch.
Dina smiles the whole way home.
--
Dina sees Ellie on her way to her shift at the clinic the next morning. Ellie is standing with her back to her, her hair in a ponytail tucked through a baseball cap, and she’s wearing blue jeans so tight that Dina almost runs into Mrs Henderson.
She apologises absently, looking back over to Ellie and considering going over to say hello.
Ellie stands on the other side of the street, outside the gate leading to the back fields. Maria seemed to be introducing Ellie and Abby to an eager Samantha Lark. Lark is a kind woman, brash and bright, and had retired from patrols the day she had been bitten two summers ago. She was maternal and protective, and was often delegated the role of taking on new community members and showing them the ropes starting with the farming rotation. She had taken Dina under her wing not that long ago.
Dina did not envy what Ellie had ahead of her.
Dina probably stares for a bit too long, smiling shyly when Ellie turns and meets her eyes. She can feel her cheeks turn a bit pink, waving back to Ellie before continuing on to the clinic for her shift.
--
“So…” Jesse says slowly, drawing out the word and wiggling his eyebrows suggestively at Dina. Her shift has just finished at the clinic and he finds her as she’s walking home.
“Can I help you?” Dina laughs.
“I heard you had a date last night with the new girl,” Jesse says brightly, knocking his shoulder against Dina’s softly as he falls in step with her.
“It wasn’t a date, we had drinks.”
“Did you pay?”
“Yes, but she doesn’t have Jackson money yet. Trust me, I’ll let her know when it is a date.”
“So a date is coming?”
“Hopefully,” Dina says, a smile on her lips.
“How did you even manage to do it? She hasn’t really spoken to anyone and that’s not for a lack of trying,” Jesse laughs. “I was on the east watchtower today with Brodie and he talked my ear off about how he wanted to talk to her at the diner last night but between you next to her and Abby at the bar - he was too chicken-shit.”
“Did he actually use the word chicken-shit?” Dina cackles.
“I’m paraphrasing here.”
“I don’t know, I just said hey the other day and left her alone,” Dina shrugs. “She talked to me after that.”
Jesse huffs.
--
By the time Dina leaves the town’s small library the following day her eyes are tired. She had gone to collect a couple more books and found herself wasting most of her day off reading in the comfy armchair in the back.
“Dude, come on, you have to tell me about it,” she hears a man’s voice say from around the corner. Dina rolls her eyes as she approaches, placing it from tone alone to be Anthony Graves.
Tony was both whiny and reckless; he was terrified of Infected and useless in a fight, yet vain and somehow eager to be bitten. He had had a brief tryst with Brodie the previous winter and Brodie had told Dina once in confidence that he had a biting kink which she thought made Tony even more unlikeable.
“At least let me see the bite,” he insists, as Dina rounds the corner.
She feels immediately hot with anger when she sees that he’s talking to Ellie and that he’s reaching out to grab her arm. She can’t see Ellie’s face but her shoulders are curved in and Dina aches at the thought of her being upset. Dina rushes forward almost blindly.
Ellie plucks his hand out of the air as soon as he moves to grab her, her hand tightly grasping his wrist and twisting his arm behind his back as he yelps. “Yeah, don’t fucking touch me,” Ellie spits at him, her voice is low and rough, catching Dina off guard. She stills, probably ten paces away.
Ellie waits for his agreement before stalking off quickly, head low, muttering to herself. She didn’t see Dina from her angle, and leaves the street before Dina snaps out of her daze.
Oh, Dina blinks. Guess there’s more to her than I thought .
--