『 THE HANGING TREE
𝘪. fuck fedra 』

(episode one. when your lost in the darkness)

BOSTON QUARANTINE ZONE
2023

THE BRUNETTE HID BEHIND BUILDINGS, NARROWLY AVOIDING THE BRIGHT LIGHTS AND SIRENS COMING FROM THE FEDRA TRUCKS. Nataliya turned around the corner, checking all around them trying to sneak into their base and try and steal some supplies to last a bit longer out in the world. Usually Reese always carried the important supplies, while Nat carried around the weapons. It was a bit impractical, but it worked because they never left the other one's side. Despite knowing each other for so long, and traveling around the states together, the couple had never gotten separated like this before. Nat never realized how much she relied on Reese for things. They keep looking next to them expecting to see her girlfriend only to not see anybody there. "God, I'm losing my fucking mind."

      Nat briefly remembered a conversation from a couple years ago, if they ever got separated, meet at the hanging tree. Nat had plans to make the trek out there soon, but she was low on supplies, her stomach grumbling for food. Normally she wouldn't mind living off little supplies, she's made it work with less in the past, but she didn't know if the forest surrounding the tree would be crawling with infected waiting for their next meal.

    She looked both ways down the street, only seeing FEDRA officers combing the streets looking for any stragglers of people who might be still roaming the streets of Boston. Nat had snuck into the QZ through an underground entry point that they had heard about a couple years ago. The brunette thought it was complete horse-shit when Nat and Reese had encountered a drunk stuttering loser that was rambling on about how he had recently escaped from the Boston Quarantine Zone a week prior. Nat quietly opened a door into a building, doing their best to avoid the large FEDRA truck that passed by outside, scrunching her eyes closed as the door creaked. She sighed, looking over their shoulder to see someone shakily holding a gun up to the pale girl's head. Nat could tell that the person was young, only about 13 or 14.

    "What are you doing here?" The boy questioned, his still high pitched voice cracking as he spoke. Nat turned fully to face the young teen, chuckling as a sly smirk played at her lips. The brunette stepped forward, quickly disarming the teen by taking his gun and pointing it back right at him. The blonde boys hand quickly flew up into the air, eyes widening. "I wont hurt you. Only if you help me." Nat spoke in response, cockily tilting her head to the side. The boy nodded quickly, immediately agreeing to do whatever Nat needed. "So, you got supplies, food, water, weapons? You know stuff like that."

"Yeah, lots." The teen answered, "Take me to it."

    The young teen gestured, waiting for the girl to follow him to their room that held most of their supplies. "It's just this way,"

    "What's your name?" Nat questioned as they climbed up the stairs, "Uh, Joe. Joe Patrick." As the boy answered her question, Nat looked to one of the walls to see the painted logo of the Fireflies. "Oh, fuck," The brunette quietly muttered in annoyance. She really didn't like the Fireflies.

    "Here it is. Just about everything we have, take whatever you want." Joe said nervously, opening the door to a room full of shelves. Nat dropped the gun that she pointed to his head, quickly scanning the room for the any supplies she needed. The teen stood by the door as Nat started grabbing things and shoving them into her green backpack. Nat stopped, hearing the sound of footsteps coming from down the hall. Her eyes widened, slinging the bag over her shoulders. They rushed over to the door, grabbing Joe by surprise as she wrapped an arm around his neck, pressing his own gun up to his temple.

A dark skinned woman peered through the doorway, a hand reaching for her gun that was tucked into her pocket. "You point that gun at me, and I shoot Joe in his fucking head!" Nat exclaimed, pressing the gun farther into the boys head. "Okay, theres no need for violence." The woman spoke breathlessly, reaching a hand out.

    "How did you get in here?" She questioned, trying to stay calm and deescalate the situation. "Your guard sucks," Nat smirked, sparing a quick glance to the boy who was trembling in her hold.

    "All right. I'll give you what you want. Now let the boy go." The curly haired woman bartered, keeping her gaze on Nat. The brunette didn't get a chance to answer as a few other Fireflies heard the slight commotion, having heard that an outsider had broken into the facility. They reared their heads in the doorway, holding their guns up to her. "No!" The leader exclaimed, reaching a hand out to her subordinates trying to stop them from shooting. More people showed up, pointing their guns right at Nat's head. The girl slightly shook, exhaling a breath, "No, no. Stand down!" The dark skinned woman shouted before a shot rang through the air. Time seemed to stop as the girl blinked, looking to what she had just done. Everybody stared at her, the boys limp body falling to the ground, as blood covered his head. Nat glanced up to the Fireflies that looked about ready to kill her. She instinctually held the gun that she stole from the young boy that now laid dead on the floor. A couple shots rang through the air as the two Fireflies that were about to shoot her crumbled to the ground.

    Nat ran forward, leaping over the two bodies, as the dark skinned woman followed after her, sprinting down the hall as Nat continued to shoot more Fireflies in the process. The woman chased her, until she reached close enough to tackle the girl to the ground. Nat groaned as the darker woman flipped the girl around to wrap her hands around the younger woman's throat. Nat struggled in her hold, their gun dropping to the floor next to them. The curly haired woman kicked the the revolver away so the brunette wouldn't try to kill her with it, as she straddled the younger woman. Nat fought back as the grip around her neck tightened, her hands reached out to push the woman's face away, almost clawing at her skin.

    The brunettes breath began to shorten as she struggled for air, Nat's left arm fell to the ground, trying to reach for the woman's gun. The darker woman's eyes wandered down to her now exposed collar bone, an old looking infection bite that marked the girls pale skin. Nat's eyes began to flutter shut before the hands that tightly gripped around her neck slowly loosened. She coughed, air now filling her lungs once again.

    She was able to muster enough energy to ball up their fist to send a punch onto the woman's cheek. She stumbled back as Nat coughed, scooting away. Nat reached for the woman's gun that laid on the ground, pointing it straight at the woman's head. "Wait. Wait!"

    "Don't fuck with me right now!" Nat exclaimed, her voice raspy as if she was speaking out of the back of her throat. "She's over here." A voice called out as a couple new Fireflies ran around the corner, guns aiming at Nat. "I'm Marlene, leader of the Fireflies."

    "I know who you are." Nat spoke, staring diggers at the woman. "Put the gun down." Marlene spoke, trying to disarm the young girl who had now done more damage than she thought. Marlene suddenly reached forward grabbing the butt of the gun, disarming the brunette, taking the gun out of her grasp, pointing it back at her.

"When did you get that?" Marlene asked, pointing to the bite that was now visible on their shoulder. "I was fifteen. Twenty-four now. You do the math." Nat spat back, trying to avoid looking at the multiple guns that were pointed in their direction. Her hands slightly shaking as the gun stayed focused on the dark skinned woman.

"Nine years?" Marlene questioned in disbelief, they had never seen someone get bit so long ago and not be infected. The younger girl shrugged, keeping their gaze on the darker skinned woman, "Yeah." They spoke, doing her best to disguise the discomfort and nervousness in her voice. A million thoughts ran through her head, wondering if they were going to kill her right then or wait it out.

"Stand down." Marlene spoke to the other Fireflies, them slowly lowering their guns down from Nat. "Follow me." The woman gestures, as she began to walk away. Nat turned following the woman down a narrow hallway and into a small room. Nat looked around curiously, accidentally making eye contact with some of the other Fireflies that scattered the building. "In here." Marlene stated, gesturing for the girl to step inside. Nat didn't move, giving the woman a dead panned stare. "Do it or my guys shoot you where you stand."

    Nat's brown eyes rolled to the side before begrudgingly entering the room. As soon as she entered the dimly lit room, the door shut behind her. Nat tried to pull the door open, but the Firefly leader had already locked the door. The woman groaned, throwing her head back as they wandered around the room. Heavy footsteps padded down the hallway, the sound of chatter from down the hall. Nat moved to the door, leaning against it to try and hear the conversation. "Why are we keeping her alive? She tried to steal from us, and killed our men." A gruff voice spoke, hearing a woman sigh before speaking, "I think she is like Ellie. So we take her out west with us when we leave." Nat's brows scrunched together in confusion, who is this Ellie? Were they like her? "Out West?" Nat muttered under her breath.

    "You really think so?" The man questioned, "Yes. Guard the room, and don't tell anybody why she's there. We'll run tests in the morning." Marlene stated, "Yes, ma'am," The man answered, walking back to the door to stand guard.

    Nat groaned, throwing her head back. She ran a hand through her hair before slumping against the far wall, slowly sliding down to the ground. "Reese, if you can hear me, wherever the hell you are." The girl frowned, her hand reached up to her neck feeling for the gold necklace that usually hung around her neck. They panicked, suddenly not feeling the cold piece of jewelry there. "That bitch," she scoffed, realizing who most likely had the necklace. Marlene sat down on her bed, or more like a mattress that laid along the floor. She reached into her pocket, pulling out the gold necklace, turning it around in between her fingers.

    "Anyways, Reese. I got kidnapped, by the very people I was stealing from. Jeez, it sounds much more pathetic when I say it out loud." Nat spoke softly to herself. Her mind wandered to the moment her and Reese first found the necklace that was now vacant from her neck.

   "Wait, what's this place?" A young Nataliya questioned, only about fifteen or sixteen at the time. She looked into the window, seeing multiple display tables with what looks to be fancy items.

"Uh, looks to be a jewelry store." Reese answered, following her friend by peaking into the window. Nat stepped back, going to look around for an entrance. "That's a thing?"

"Yeah, they would spend tons of money on a piece of metal," Reese spoke, following Nat as she found a knocked out window that they could jump through. "Whoa, Reese look at this stuff!" Nat exclaimed, running up to one of the displays that held a couple large diamond necklaces. "Wow, it's still shiny!" Reese said excitedly, glancing between the necklaces. The dark haired girl looked over to another display, becoming almost entranced by the items inside.

    "Oh, stay away from me you peasants. You're not nearly as fancy as I!" Nat exclaimed, waving her arms around, the large sparkling necklace shining around the girls neck. Reese turned to her friend, laughing at her terrible British accent. "What do you think? Am I fancy enough?" Nat questioned, gesturing to the diamond necklace.

    Reese chuckled, "Yeah, real fancy. I can't live up to that."

    The brunette sighed, "Shit, this is heavy. How did people wear these?" The pale girl asked, taking the large piece of jewelry off and placing it back into the display case. "I don't know. Seems so crazy now. Worrying about which overpriced necklace they should give to their partner." Reese voiced, wandering away to the other display case she was looking at earlier. "Hey, come look at this." Nat walked over to her friend, looking over her shoulder at the jewelry in front of them.

    Reese shockingly gasped in excitement, "Nat, look. Isn't that pretty?" Reese asked, picking up a small gold chain, two circular rings that were intertwined with one another hanging from the end of it.

    The brunette nodded, "Yeah." Reese turned, eyes meeting her friends hazel ones, her pink tinted lips turned upwards as she exhaled a breath through her nose.

    Nat looked back down to the necklace, noticing another version of the piece of jewelry that Reese held in between her fingers. "Hey, there's two." The pale girl reached forward, grabbing the matching necklace. "We can match now." Nat smiled, the friends' eyes meeting once more.

    "Here, I'll put it on you." Reese said, Nat nodding as her friend leaned in, wrapping the necklace around her neck, clasping it shut around the back. Reese pulled Nat's hair out from underneath the chain, as she smiled. "Looks good."

    Nat then reached forward, attaching the piece of jewelry around Reese's neck. Eyes trained on the two small rings that laid in between her collar bones. "I'm never taking it off." Reese stated, holding onto the necklace tightly. "Me either." Nat chuckled, glancing down at the dainty gold jewelry.

    "Does it hurt?" The raven haired teen questioned, staring down at the large bite mark that was now a scar that stayed on the younger girls collarbone. "No, it's just there. I'm still waiting to turn." Nat shook her head, her smile quickly fading as she spoke.

"Let's pray to God that never happens."

    Nataliya was sucked out of her memory when the door to the room opened, a woman with a clip board entered a man standing guard behind her. Nat stood up, only to be stopped as a large chain was now attached to her wrist, which was bolted to the wall. She squinted her eyes as the light from the outside world was now projected into the small room. "Count slowly and clearly from one to ten." The woman spoke calmly, as Nat looked at her confused, but doing the prompt anyways. The woman, scribbling something down on the paper every time she spoke.

    "Hold out your hand in front of you." Nat followed the instructions as her brows were stitched together. "State your name, slowly and clearly."

    "Nataliya. I would let you call me Nat, but you are keeping me hostage for some bullshit reason. So Nataliya it is." The brunette rambled, as the woman nodded, writing something down before exiting the room. "Fucking weirdos."

    Some time passed, as the day became later. Nat tried her best to pull the chain off the wall, but to no avail. She even tried to break the glass window as an escape, but again it didn't seem to work. The door creaked open, Nat looking up to meet Marlene's hardened gaze. The woman tossed the girl's backpack her way, the brunette opening it, frantically searching for the necklace. "Where is it?" She questioned, looking back up to the darker woman, she kneeled down to the girl's level on the floor, pulling the gold chain from her pocket and handing it back over.

    "What do you want from me?" Nat asked, clasping the necklace around her again. "You're special. I could have had my guys kill you, but I decided to keep you alive." Marlene spoke, reaching forward to Nat's wrist. The girl instinctively pulled back, "Don't touch me."

    Marlene gave her a look, showing her the small key that unlocked the handcuff around her wrist. The girl reluctantly placed her hand out in front of her, Marlene unlocking it. "So, Nat..."

    "That's not my name."

    "It's not?" The darker woman questioned, raising a brow.

    "Not to you." Nat answered defensively. Their eyes wandered down to her shoes, "I want to go home."

    Marlene noticed her change in attitude, "Where's home?"

"My girlfriend." Nat answered simply, eyes still not meeting the older woman's. Marlene sighed, "She knows you're immune?"

Nat nodded, "She was there when I got bit."

"We're leaving tonight, and you're coming with us."

"Okay."