Eleven year old Chase Clyde danced around his mother while she cooked, the music of Paul Anka played from the small radio of their new living room, the older woman looked down at her child as she twirled the soup.

"Be careful Buttercup, don't get too close to the oven." She said smiling, Chase kept on doing some moves like twirling around and getting on his knees. Earning from his mother laughs and kisses when he got close to hug her. "One day my boy, we'll have enough, all of this mess will be so gone, and you and I we will be on an island in Greece, just like your Dad had wanted it to be."

"And I'll be taking good care of you mom, I promise."

Chase Clyde shook his head to push off the memories, he looked at the people around them, making his best to keep Ellie hidden from the soldiers as they made their way to Joel's place, even though Chase tried his best to convince them to let him go towards his apartment first just to get more clothes, they didn't let him, unsure and not trusting him. Which Chase understood and wasn't going even try to argue his way out, so there he was, walking beside the group inside the apartment building towards Joel's door.

The rain had caught up to them, Chase could already feel his clothing sticking into his skin, the combination of sweat, water and mud, he minded his dirty shoes on Joel's floor, but the older man didn't seem to mind at all. Chase walked behind the older woman, Ellie just behind him, both looked around at the small place, for some reason Chase expected to see it differently, not too mundane.

"Give us a minute." The woman said closing the door as she walked out, Ellie cursed out before turning to glance at Chase.

"Not even a freaking cat or dog to welcome us, that sucks." Chase chuckled as he lowered his weapon and settled it on a corner of the room. He looked around the living room, music, books, weapons, everything except pictures, as if Joel's past didn't exist, which Chase understood, in his own place he only had one picture, a frame photo of his parents and younger self outside their home, smiling.

"Look, he has a secret code or something." Ellie walked over to show Chase the book of music and the piece of paper beside it.

"Interesting, he must have people on the outside, what do you think he actually does?" Chase teased nudging on Ellie. "I mean, he does not have a single hint of being a smuggler."

The door behind them opened, Joel walked in ignoring the pair, he headed to the couch to rest for a moment, Ellie spoke, asking about some names Bill and Frank, Chase didn't pay much attention, as his own mind had its own thoughts. That was until Joel's lack of conversation made the whole ambience tense up.

"Why don't you have a dog or cat to welcome you home?" Chase asked turning around as leaned against the wall, his arms crossed over his chest.

"I don't like dogs or cats." Joel answered, cold and distant as he laid on his back. "Killing' time." He answered at Ellie's question.

"Well, what am I supposed to do?" The banter already started between the teenager and adult. Ellie only grabbed the book again and sat on an open space, Chase on the other hand sighed and walked over towards the kitchen, without giving a damn in the world he opened the fridge, hoping to find something to eat, but not a single piece of bread could've been found.

"Joel, you have no food in here except for beers and a moldy slice of bread." Chase said and closed the fridge behind him.

"Yeah, food supplies aren't always coming in kid." Joel responded and sighed deeply, it didn't take long until soft snores began coming out from the older man.

"Should we check if he has money and take it?" Ellie smiled as she looked up at Chase, the blond only looked by with furrowed eyebrows and wide eyes. "I'm just joking you know, silly thoughts."

"Hey, I need to go to my place and get more clothes, you gotta stay here Ellie, just in case he wakes up or something he needs to see you, if he asks about me, say I had gone to the bathroom." Chase picked up his backpack and headed towards the door, stopping when he heard Ellie speak.

"Yeah? And what if he stays awake and he sees you coming in?" Good question, but Chase was quick with a solution.

"I'll say I went to the bathroom at my place, that he has no water to flush or something, I'll be back." Closing the door behind him Chase made his way towards his building, just a block away and he knew he had to be quick, the sun was already hiding and that meant curfew was coming in close.

When he reached his place he was quick he picked a duffel bag and just threw shirts and sweaters, jeans and just two more pairs of shoes, with a bit of difficulty he managed to zipper up the bag and toss it over his shoulder. He headed to his fridge and pulled out good pieces of bread that actually looked good for Ellie and him. Taking one last look into his apartment, he sighed, not knowing if he would be back.

Shaking his head he walked out of the partment rushing through the streets and head back to Joel's, knocking softly he hoped they were still in there, that Ellie would open the door instead of Joel or Tess. the door opened slowly and the small figure of Ellie peeked out.

"You took long, this man talks in his sleep." Ellie stepped aside and let him in, there he was snoring just how he was when Chase left. "Tess hasn't arrived just yet, and I am bored out of my mind."

"I brought bread to snack something, I could've brought more but I don't have much sorry." Chase pulled out the pieces of bread and handed two towards the teenager.

"Thanks I am hungry." Grabbing them Ellie made her way towards the window where she sat on a small sofa and looked out the window.

"He doesn' t have any games either? Like nothing?" Walking around he tried to locate anything fun or at least distracting but nothing at all came to his eyes. Ellie just assured that. "God, when we get out of here I'll make sure to get us some games or something for the road."

"That wouldn't be such a bad idea, you don't have any games or something at your place?" Ellie asked with her mouth half full of a piece of bread, Chase shook his head in response. "That sucks."

The evening sky turned dark, Ellie kept on looking out the window, the radio turned on, an eighties song echoed out of it, the attention of both.

"What do you think it means?" Ellie asked glancing back at Chase.

"No idea, let's wake up Joel for that." Chase answered standing up from a chair.

"No, let him be, we'll tell him when he wakes, I mean, what are we gonna do, Tess hasn't arrived so, we can't just leave."

Certainly Ellie had a point and Chase sighed dropping his body in a dining room chair, minutes turned into an hour, and from the couch Joel's mumbling stopped, both Ellie and Chase turned noticing the older man waking up.

"You mumble in your sleep." Ellie said. "I've never been on the other side of the Wall, neither has Chase apparently, but look how dark it is." Ellie was curious about Joel's job so she had to ask the amount of times the older ones had been out there, a small information was talked between them. "But you know where to go? So we're gonna be okay?" Ellie questioned, her gaze turning to look at Chase, he had been quiet but attentive to every word.

Okay was just a small fraction of what Chase hoped. Alive was the better option.

"So what's the deal with you anyway? You some kinda bigwig's daughter or something? Or what's the reason for the babysitter here?"

"I'm just here to make sure Ellie's in safe hands." Chase quickly replied at the insult. Ellie didn't say much to give information, to her, Chase didn't even know she had been bitten.

"The radio came on when you were sleeping, he kept saying like wake me up before you go-go." Joel's expression dropped, anguish was written all over it, not a good sign. But the radio never played a song, Chase was lost in what had happened. "Gotcha, '80s mean trouble." Joel didn't take this in a positive note but thankfully Tess walked in.

"The spot under Lancaster looks good, you got a jacket in your pack?" Tess pointed at the younger teen, her affirmative answer was an indication for them to get ready and leave.

"I do have a jacket as well, but that's okay, I don't need another." Chase added sarcastically as he stood up and walked over to Ellie. "Got everything?" He asked, the girl nodded and placed the bag over her shoulder, Chase repeated the same motion and added his crossbow into the accessory.

The streets of Boston had changed from civilians to FEDRA soldierswith weapons ready to shoot or use as an intimidation to punish, they had to be quiet and careful as they moved around and hid as they reached a bunker underground that would take them to the other side of the wall. Perhaphs Joel and Tess were legit smugglers, and this was their way to get out, smart actually.

Joel was the first one out and helped Ellie, Chase and Tess out of there closing the top to hide the the underground trail, Ellie stood up, she couldn't believe she was out, her excitment was turned down quickly by Tess who pulled her down. There was no difference really from being behind the wall but now that Chase had crossed over, he felt everything different, even the air felt different.

"Okay, we're gonna take the left edge around the buffer zone, you two stay close and follow my lead, you kid" the words directed to Chase. "You stay behind her, keep your eyes open"

"Got it ma'am" Chase whispered. The four of them crawled down a bus hiding behind cars and concrete walls as trucks passed by, Chase had never been great even as a kid at hiding, hide and seek, he was terrible, it made him weary, he wasn't great at keeping secrets but somehow as he had grown up, it's been better.

So doing this type of hiding to survive was different. His heart raced in a way that felt both familiar and foreign. He could hear the heavy tires driving away, or the helicopter above the cloudy raining sky making their security rounds. This was life or death. Hiding behind a concrete wall waiting for Tess to make a move, around a corner Tess huried them to hide, as the group passed by they all noticed the soldier taking a piss.

"What the hell?" He said turning around, the bright light from his flashlight pointed at them "Don't, don't move." He said hurried to close his zipper and do his job, Joel set foot infront of the group, his hands up followe by the rest of the group doing the same thing. "You gotta be shittin' me." The soldier said lifting his visor and looking at Joel.

The two of them argued a bit, Joel trying his best to make a peaceful arrangment while the soldier ordered them to turn around and get on their knees, the gun pointed at them, Tess annoyed did as told and looked at Chase and Ellie, with no hesitation Chase followed the order, Ellie on the other hand, she looked unsure.

"Hands on your head." The soldier said, the four of them did as told and Chase could see that their temperature would be taken, Chase now understood why Ellie was eerie, if they took the test she will show as infected, putting them all in danger.

Ellie was before Chase, his blood was pumping high ready to tackle the soldier if needed, but that wasn't the case, the teen had taken her pocket knife and stabbed the guy on the leg just at the right moment, Joel and Tess called out for her. Quick on his feet Chase grabbed his crossbow and set the arrow on it , Joel stood in front of the teenager with his hands up.

"Chase, put the weapon down, now." Tess called out. "Now." Her voice got louder when Chase didn't do it the first time, annoyed her lowered it, but still in hand if needed.

"We can fix this." Joel said, the soldier ordered him to move but he didn't do it, when the armed man took a step forward Joel lunged at him beating him up until he was unconscious.

Tess took the thermometer showing the red glowing light. Shit. Chase thought to himself, Ellie quickly back up telling them she wasn't sick, showing the bite on her arm telling them how it was three weeks old.

"Did you know about this?" Tess screamed out looking back at Chase. He could come clean and tell the truth, putting himself in danger by getting shot, or, lie, Ellie didn't know the truth, but it would be in his conscience.

"No, I was told to protect her but they didn't want to tell me from what or why or from who, if that bite is three weeks old, she should be one of them, right?"

"When did this happen?" Tess asked turning back her attention to the teenager.

"What does it matter? They're gonna catch us if we don't run."

"She has a point, we have to move." Chase said slinging his weapon back into his shoulder, Tess aggressively grabbed Ellie and continued to walk away continuing their path to whatever place they were headed now.

Chase hesitated for a moment, glancing back over his shoulder. The air felt too still, as if the world itself was holding its breath. Something was coming. He could feel it.

But for now, all they could do was keep moving.