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You leaned against the cold wall of your base in the dark Walmart. It had been a while, you would admit, since you've seen any actual people. You held your knees tight to your chest, ignoring the ache as you thought about all of the people roaming the streets.

You were wallowing in both your self pity and the longing for someone to talk to over this time. It has been three weeks and you've seen zero sign of any proper humanoid civilization. You weren't sure if they were aware that who was and wasn't infected was obvious.

You knew eventually the supplies would run out and you would have to move. Until then however, you made this store's customer service section about as home-y as you could. Occasionally an infected person would wander in, but since you knew how to handle yourself, the body decayed in a few hours.

You missed your parents, and how they always filled you with love and encouragement. How they always helped you keep your head up and hope for the best. You missed how your mother would make sure you could make everything from Mac-n-Cheese to zebra style cake pops.

You were left alone with your thoughts after the infection started to spread. The infection itself was like an animal spreading across the world. It chose who to infect and who not to infect.

It was chaos. There was zero government, zero control, really just zero everything.

You were thinking about grabbing a pizza when you heard people screaming outside. You instantly grab your baseball bat and run out of the store to find a girl around your age with two knives in her hands. She was stabbing anything that moved around her.

"Hello?" You say, putting your hands up in the air. She looks at you with wary eyes. Eventually she puts her knives in her pockets, and walks over to you.

"How are you not being controlled?" She asks. You didn't know why, but you didn't care how. You were grateful though.

"I don't know, how about you?" You say, seeing whether or not you share something similar.

"No idea. I would kill the people who caused this to know why though." She says, you nod in agreement.

"I'm Y/N," you say, quickly warming up to the woman in front of you. "What's your name?"

"I'm Ellis... Do you have a place to stay? Infecteds keep on finding mine." Ellis asks, and you smile in response.

"I live in the Walmart not far from here. I would love to have a neighbor!" You say, grabbing her wrist and dragging her to the Walmart. You make your way to the glasses shop next to the customer service center.

"I think I can manage this, thanks." Ellis says, and turns away. You assume she was thinking of ways to make it secure, so you left her alone.

You think it would be better to give her some space while you head down the isles thinking about what you should grab for your friend. You head to the jewelry section, thinking that you could find matching bracelets. Eventually you find a set of bracelets that look like they'll fit you both. You take them and head back to Eliss in the glasses shop.

When you arrived there, she was gone. You paused for a moment, looking around the small store. Her jacket was discarded on one of the counters toward the left-hand side, and her shoes were set neatly below it. That was enough to make you doubt anything ill having happened.

Instead of waiting for her like any normal person, you hoisted your bag up higher and began wandering around to find her. It took a while, but you saw her walking around the shoes section, a pair of untouched steel toe boots on her feet. She walked up and down the aisle, a large grin plastered on her face.

"Ellis?" You ask quietly, stepping forward. She spun back to face you, an embarrassed and shocked expression on her beige colored face.

"Yeah?" Her voice cracked slightly, her hand finding its way to the back of her neck. Almost like the two of you weren't in the middle of a world-wide apocalypse, but instead in highschool again, having highlights of life.

"I got you something." You smiled warmly, holding the bracelet out to her. She hobbled over to you, taking the bronze chain from your hand. She stared at it for a moment, smiling slightly at it. "Hope you like it."

She immediately threw her arms around your shoulders, whispering a thank you into your chest.

Hard to believe that was two (2) months ago. Time really did go much faster with Ellis around... No longer just as an ally, but as a friend.

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