La lumière dans l'obscurité

Sara was all smiles as Ziggy said that Laura could stay with them. She figured Ayita said something to her as she saw her whispering to her yet she was glad this issue was out of the way. She turned to look at Laura who was surprised as tears were forming she just smiled and shook her head lightly as she couldn't believe it. These were tears of joys forming and the blond girl hugged Ziggy and then Ayita. "Thank you both. I am really grateful for this." said Laura with a huge smile as she wiped away her tears. Now the group focused their attention on the train as ideas were being thrown around. "We should go back to the settlement and present the idea to them. If we showed up with a train then it's going to attract the dead and the living who want it." said Sara to the group. It seemed Ellie had a plan leave the train at an intersection north of the settlement. She nodded as she liked the idea it seemed the most logical in a sense but she wondered about the people who didn't want to leave though she imagined it was because they probably was just tired of running or they didn't want to lose what they had. But Sara knew all to well of losing a place, she lost Bar Harbor when Big Dick took over but she won it back in the end thanks to the efforts of the forest group. She looked to her group members wondering what the next plan of action was.

Taking notice of the look her putting her foot down about Laura had earned her Ayita returned her lovers smile. 'was.. stuff like that what she meant when she said I needed to... assert myself more with her?' She thought as she listened to Ziggy deliver the news to their friend, which was well received to Ayita's pleasure. The conversations winding down everyone began shifting gears to the task at hand, Seeing as Ziggy had turned to leave Ayita took her queue to follow her, out the cabin door, onto the catwalk, down the makeshift ladder Cam had rigged with rope, and to the ground. Reaching it she followed Ziggy further until they were a short distance from the train proper.

Stopping short when Ziggy turned to face her Ayita frowned a little when she heard what her Fiancee had to say, she was going to take the Abamo back alone and she wanted her to ride on the train with the others, it was no hidden fact that it disappointed her, but it didn't take much to understand where Ziggy was coming from, especially with how insistant she had always been on having her experience new things, and riding a train was defiantly something she hadn't experienced before.

Having not said anything for a few seconds Ziggy took the queue that they were done and turned to leave, before she could however a thought crossed Ayita's mind. 'assert yourself more babe.' Ziggy's words echoed in her mind. At that moment Ayita reached out and grabbed Ziggy's wrist and pulled her back to her. Releasing her wrist Ayita grabbed her Fiancee by the chin and guided her in to a kiss, her other hand finding her way to Ziggy's butt she gave it a nice squeeze and spank, Holding her chin in place until she broke the kiss Ayita let go of her Fiancee. "Ich liebe dich. Ich sehe dich dort."(I love you. I'll see you there.) With that Ayita turned away, it didn't take long before she felt a push from behind and a slap on the but, 'Now Get!' Ziggy said, but she could tell there was some heat in her now, a fact that made Ayita chuckle.

Returning to the train Ayita climbed back up the rope ladder and pulled it up after her, before long they were on their way. The trip took a lot less time than Ayita had expected, the ride nearly as smooth as the abamo it did take some getting used to when they took corners, the weight of the machine made it feel like they would fall off every time she had to practice her breathing exercises Ziggy had her do early on with the cars to get through them, but sooner than she expected they arrived at the meeting point, waiting for them sat the Abamo, and Ziggy.

Waiting for the train to come to a complete stop Ayita looked to the others, Cam got up from her spot with her usual bounce and followed her to the ladder, although as usual she took alternate methods to get down. Turned back again Ayita looked to Ellie. "You coming?"

Looking up from the manual she had been buried in for nearly the entire ride to their meeting point Ellie looked up upon hearing Ayita speak to her. "What? Oh, Yea." Ellie answered getting to her feet and gathering her bag. Making sure to turn the machine off and lock the controls Ellie pulled the keys that unlocked them and slid them in to her pocket before following Ayita to the ladder. The two climbing down they threw the ladder up on to the catwalk again before turning to join the others.

Reaching Zigs Ayita gave her Fiancee a smile and leaned in. Reaching over she grabbed her butt again and winked. "Was that what you meant when you wanted me to assert myself more with you?" She teased. Letting go of her fiancee's butt she placed a peck on her cheek and straightened out again, as she did she noticed a buggy approaching, the buggy in question holding the boy that had given Ziggy a tour of the compound when they first arrived. He seemed angry, but not out of hate, more out of concern, why'd he be concerned for a group he barely knows?

Hearing him demand to know where they got a train and where they had been Ayita looked among the group just as Ziggy did, she was definitely not the one to tell him, everyone looking to Ellie she saw as her friend frowned and shook her head.

"My mother sent us to find... alternate... means of leaving when we're ready... she didn't mention why but made a point that the roads may become unusable soon. She mentioned a train yard nearby, and so we went and... commandeered a train for the ride back home." Ellie explained, using everything she could to throw the guy off their full intentions, they shouldn't know about the Sirens, so she chose to omit them entirely, short and sweet, that's all the boy needed. Looking to the others she earned the look of approval from most. Looking back she let her face fall to the same knowing look her mother always wore. "Does that answer your inquiry ma cerise?"(my Sweet (literally, My Cherry))

Magna and her group were in their room discussing wither they should stay with the group or leave now. It was always a difficult discussion but Magna knew in her heart that if they left now they would have a better chance. "Look we can't leave these people here alright? It's just been us for way to long and these people-" said Aubrey before she was cutoff by Magna. "Are afraid of this threat called the Sirens. Look we have done good with just us having these people with us will only slow us down." said Magna. The room fell silent and as it did she looked to Ted who had helped with reinforcing the train for the last two weeks. "Ted how are the train's defensives?" asked Magna to Ted who let out a heavy sigh as he thought about it. "The defensives are good, strong. It honestly would take a lot to take it down in my opinion." said Ted to Magna who nodded and looked down at the ground. Yumiko looked at her with a confused look. Was she suggesting they take the train for themselves? Surely Magna couldn't be that cold could she? "Alright let's take a vote. Do we stay with this group or leave?" asked Magna to her companions. "I vote we leave now." said Magna as she raised up her hand. She looked around the room and it seemed that Ted was the only one who agreed with her. "Okay...We stay?" asked Magna to her group and a majority of them raised their hands. Magna was furious and she shook her head at them. "Look Mags we could-" said Bernie to Magna but she stormed out of the room and slammed the door. 

The door slamming made Sara jump and she looked to her friends. "Should we go see if-" said Sara before she was cutoff by Laura. "Nope not our problem." said Laura to Sara who gave her the puppy dog eyes and the blond girl let out a heavy sigh. "I'm not going that girl with the chest tattoo freaks me out." said Laura to the group.

Her leg hanging off the side of the windowsill Ellie looked out towards the horizon, Tonight was the deadline for their payment to The Sirens, and Ellie was privy to information the rest of the group weren't; That they hadn't made the quota, and the extent of what their oppressors did when you didn't meet it. Closing her eyes she took a long steady breath and held it for a moment before releasing, Having toned out the others in the room almost entirely Ellie only took quick glances in their direction on occasion. They all had gone through so much for her, spent countless hours by her side, and, even went as far as to show an interest in her emotionally. The thought caused Ellie to crack a smile. Looking among her friends for a time the brainy blonde studied the scene of normality playing out before her, it was nice.

Turning back to the scenery outside the window Ellie curled her knee's into her chest and wrapped her arms around them, having tuned her friends out again she failed to notice that the subject of debate among them had shifted to her, and her detachment from her surroundings hadn't gone unnoticed. Leaning her head on her knee's Ellie caught sight of a bird flying by and followed it's path with her eyes, caught in the moment Ellie again failed to notice that Ziggy and Ayita had gotten up from their place on the bed and were currently making their way towards her while bantering with the others on whether or not it was Ziggy's job to check on her.

Still lost in a haze of thought Ellie jumped when she felt a hand on her shoulder. "EEEK!" She squealed out of surprise as she turned to face the source of the hand on her shoulder, seeing the hand belonged to Ziggy she took a breath. "Don't sneak up on me like that damn!" Ellie said shaking her head.

"They.. Didn't exactly sneak up on you El, They just sorta walked up. Said you're name like five times too." Cam answered getting to her feet and brushing herself off, as she did Brody pipped up about how they should bring back extreme sports a notion that brought a broad smile to Cam's face, but that seemed to be nearly lost on the others. The conversation shifting once more Sara brought the groups attention to the yelling that was coming from the haul, not that it was anything new, they knew exactly who it was, and it was a someone that was almost universally hated among the teens. Still, Sara seemed concerned about them, or some of them anyway, and voiced her question on whether or not they should go check on them. Her answer, albeit coming from a good place, was instantly answered by a choir of. "NO!" from Cam and the boys, an answer quickly followed by Ziggy returning a snarky remark, and even the kind to all Native American Ayita shook her head. "They have issues we would only cause to grow if we got involved." Ayita said.

The matter of Magna and the others out of the way Ziggy returned to her previous question, that question being: What was on Ellie's mind, and what had her so preoccupied.

Looking to Ziggy Ellie smiled and shook her head. "We'll be leaving tonight." Ellie then said, looking back towards the window. "See that smoke in the distance?" She asked, bringing attention to the large plum of black smoke rising from a few miles away. "Ma-Ma tells me that The Sirens light that big fire as a warning to their enemies." Ellie explained. Turning back to her friends she set her head back down on her knee's. "They didn't meet the deadline. Ma-Ma doesn't know what'll happen, but she said we should leave as soon as we're ready... and asked for us to try and take as many people with us as we can." Turning back towards the window Ellie looked to the evening sun burnt sky. "They'll be here tonight."