Joel pulled the chain, opening up the gate and let Jessie and Tess go through first before he slammed it down "There it is" Jessie said, pointing at the large warehouse which used to house Boat's and ship's and all the product they brought with them. Now it was just some sleazy joint that get's passed around for different uses. Just three months ago this is where chics would go to make some extra ration card's
"Let's be smart about this, there's a lot of 'em" Tess reminded the two Texan's. They nodded and the three of them got to work. In the whole process, they maybe only killed three people, maybe less. You can never tell if you have just badly injured someone or ended their life. Jessie had found a small shiv which is like a homemade knife
"hey" she whispered to her dad. He turned and she threw it at him "Catch" She had her own pocket knife which Amy gave her for her 21st birthday so she didn't need a stupid little shiv. Plus they break really easy
Still crouching, Jessie looked around "Alright we're good" she said quietly as she slowly stood up. None of the other goon's had noticed them so they were safe to continue. She walked towards the door and took a step in but was pulled back straight away by the scruff of her collar
"Goddamn" she groaned and peeked inside the room to see Robert holding a gun up and firing. Atleast the goons are idiots and will think he's just practicing for when they arrive
"C'mon Robert, we just wanna talk" Tess called in
"We ain't got nothing to talk about!" He yelled. Jessie heard a few clicks and realised that he was out of bullets so what did she do? She ran in of course to grab him. Robert threw his gun at her, hitting her in the chest but it didn't phase her and she kept running, her dad not far behind. They ran through the building, chasing Robert. In truth, it only lasted about 10 second's since Robert was an idiot but it felt like longer cause she knew if she messed up then they wouldn't get another chance so everything went in slow motion
She vaulted over a window and squinted when the light hit her eye's but she didn't stop. She pounced on Robert, throwing him to the ground. He was lying on his stomach, his face buried in he gravel and she was keeping it there by holding her hand down on his head. She adjusted herself on his back and looked back to see her dad and Tess walking over
Tess walked infront of them and kneeled down. She grabbed his pony tail and yanked his head up "Hello Robert" she said in a sing song voice
"Tess" he grumbled
"Get off him" Joel held out his hand and pulled Jessie up when she took it. Then he grabbed Robert and yanked him up to his feet
"Joel" he said. He looked between the three of them and scoffed "No hard feelings, right?" Tess picked up a pipe that was lying on the ground and played with it in her hands
"No, none at all" She then smacked him in the knee's with it, knokcing him back to the ground. Jessie winced and looked away
"That gotta hurt" she murmured
"Look, whatever it is you heard, it ain't true, okay?" He breathed out, holding onto his leg "I just wanna say-"
"The guns" Tess commanded. She was getting tired of hearing his voice and wanted to know where the hell their gun's where "You wanna tell us where the gun's are?"
"Yeah sure... but" he sighed "It's complicated alright?" Joel, who had been leaning against the wall letting Tess deal with him decided that he should step in. He walked over and slammed his foot down on Robert's face. He lowered himself to the ground and grabbed Robert's arm and held it in such away that even the slightest movement would hurt and the most violent of movements would break it "STOP STOP!" Robert cried out
"Man up" Jessie spoke from her place by the window. This was pathetic; him lying there, crying. If he had just told them where the guns whe- no if he hadn't taken the guns in the first place none of this would of happened. It's is own fault and he should take it like a man
"I sold 'em!" He finally admitted
"YOU WHAT?!" Jessie pushed herself forward and kicked the side of his head in a fit of anger. Those where their guns! Not his. He had no right to sell them, he had no right to them. Tess outstretched her arm across Jessie's chest and moved her back but never broke eye contact with Robert
"Excuse me" She said calmly
"I didn't have much of a ch-"
"Choice my ass!" Jessie barked at him
"Hey, calm down" Joel cautioned her. Jessie turned around and exhaled, rubbing her chin. She was gonna kill him. Do you know how long it took to get those guns? A really long fucking time. Do you know what they had to do to get those guns? A lot of fucking things they ain't proud of. And you know what this dick does? Fucking. Sells. Them.
He's dead
"I owed someone!" He looked up at her
"You owed us!" Jessie countered
"J-just give me a week"
"You know, I might of done that if you hadn't tried to fucking kill us first"
"C'mon it wasn't like t-"
"WHO HAS OUR GUNS!?"
He paused for a couple of seconds before breathing out "I can't" Tess and Joel shared an understanding look and then in the blink of an eye, Joel snapped his arm. Robert screamed out and turned over to his side. Jessie grimaced at the look of his now floppy arm
"Who as our guns?" Tess asked again
"It's the fireflies" he panted "I owed the fireflies"
"What?" Tess groaned. The fireflies... great
"Look they're basically all dead. We can just - just go in there and take them all. Finish 'em off. We get the guns. Whadaya say?" He was pleading now and it was more pathetic than before
"That is a stupid idea" Tess raised her gun but Jessie held up her hand, signaling her to stop
"He ain't worth the bullet" she reminded her. Jessie then leaned down and grabbed the sides of his head. She smirked when she saw tears forming around his eyes "Night Robert" and then in one swift motion, she snapped his neck
"Well now what?" scoffed Joel. Robert was dead and they needed a firefly and fireflies are pretty secretive. Fireflies were like this organisation; a hidden organisation. They're main goal is to bring back branches of of government after the wake of the military oppression. So far, they're fighting a losing war against FEDRA and the military say they will be gone by then end of the year. Show's what they know
"We get our merchandise back" Tess informed him
"How?" Jessie chimed in
"I don't know" Tess shrugged, clear annoyance in her voice "We... explain it to them. Look... let's go find a firefly" She sounded so defeated and she should be. Firefly's don't just appear out of mid-air
"You won't have to look very far" Jessie jumped and spun round. She reached her hand behind her back and rested it on her gun
"There's no need for that" Marlene stated, looking at her
"There ya go... Queen firefly"
"Why are you here?"she went on
"Business" Tess told her bluntly
"What are you doing here?" Jessie asked her
"... the same" she replied, looking behind the two girls
"You aren't looking so hot" Tess pointed out. It was true that Marlene was clearly injured. There was blood on her side where her hand was clamped down. She must of been shot
"Is that Robert?" She nodded towards the limp body on the ground. Tess and Jessie side-stepped to reveal him and nodded. She chuckled and looked up at the sky for a couple of seconds, thinking things over "I needed him alive"
"The gun's he gave you... they weren't his to sell. I want them back" Tess informed her
"It doesn't work like that Tess" Marlene told her
"The hell it does"
"I paid for those gun's" She started walking forward "You want them back? You're gonna have to earn them"
Tess looked back at Joel who just shrugged his shoulders. What the hell would a firefly want? "How many card's are we talking?" Guessed Tess
"I don't give a damn about ration card's" She snorted "I need something smuggled out of the city" she got serious again
"Like what?" This perked Jessie's interest since she was normally the one that smuggled supplies in from one of their out of town friends. His name was Bill and well he was... he was a bit... there isn't even words to describe what Bill was. Jessie was the only one he seemed to trust to drop Supplies off and pick them up again. Those where the only times she was ever aloud out of the zone and even then Joel said she had to have someone accompany her
"You'll see" Marlene said, looking at her "You do this and you can have the gun's back"
"How do we know you got them?" came Joel's voice from behind the two. He walked infront of them, his arms crossed over his chest. Ah Joel... always the skeptic "Way I hear it, the Military's been wiping you guys off the map""
"You're right about that" she sighed, looking down "I'll show you the weapons" Marlene brought her attention back to the trio
"Search the are!"
"Yes sir" They looked off to the side after hearing soldier's. They must be looking for her
"I gotta move" she said in a hurry "What's it gonna be?"
"I wanna see those guns" Tess decided and then the three of them followed Marlene
-O-
The three followed Marlene for a while, making sure to dodge trucks and flee from the direction soldier's voices came from. They were doing great until they realised where they needed to cross to was being heavily guarded by soldiers. They ducked behind some large crates and and huffed. Their way out was the door under the bride and to get their they would either have to stealth through or shoot through. Stealthing might take more time and shooting would draw in some un-wanted attention
"We can sneak by them... even though I know that's not your style" Marlene said before she jogged off and up the stairs. They followed swiftly and expertly made their way through the soldier's and only had to kill one guy since the rest of the way the head to run since Jessie got spotted killing that one guy
"QUICKLY" Joel shouted back to the three girls as he opened the door and ushered them in. Once they were he slammed the door closed and he and Tess pushed the lockers that were next to it over so the door couldn't be re-opened.
Joel walked over to his daughter and smacked her on the back of the head "You idiot!" he scolded
"What?" she held where he had hit her "It wasn't my fault!" she defended herself "I didn't see the guy"
"Well he saw you!" Joel retorted
"HEY!" They both looked over at Marlene "Quit it" she pointed a finger at them before turning and walking away "This way" she called back to them "It's not far now"
"How you holding up?" Tess asked her, stepping into pace with the firefly
""Running on fumes... but i'll make it" She reassured her
"ATTENTION: CURFEW IS NOW IN FULL EFFECT. ANYONE CAUGHT OUTSIDE WITHOUT PROPER AUTHORIZATION WILL BE PROSECUTED" The loud voice filled the air around them
"Shit" Jessie muttered
"We gotta hurry" Tess told them
They walked into the next building over and up some creaky stairs. Jessie found herself staring at all the detail's of the place. What the hell must it of been like before the outbreak? She could imagine lot's of people on the street's, walking arund trying to get from home to work or maybe just out shopping. No one had to worry about dying or worse.
Marlene walked over to a door and pushed the handle down. It must of been heavy since she couldn't do it on her own "Jessie, come help me out" Jessie nodded and jogged forward and pushed the door open with Marlene. As soon as it opened, Marlene fell forward and Jessie reached out to catch her
"GET THE FUCK AWAY FROM HER" Jessie felt a sharp sting on her arm and immediately retracted away. She grabbed a hold of where it hurt and went wide eyed when she realised that she was bleeding
"Hey, hey, hey" Tess jumped forward and grabbed the arm of whoever cut Jessie. Joel grabbed Jessie's arm and moved her hand away
"Let me see it" He told her quietly. He wiped some of the blood away. There was a clear line where the knife had cut her that was still pooling blood. It wasn't deep enough that it needed stitches, thank god. Though it might leave a scar
"Let her go" Marlene said to Tess
Jessie looked over to see a young girl struggling against Tess' grip. She couldn't of been older than 13 or 14. Jessie winced at the stinging feeling that was sending shock waves through her whole body
"A-are you okay?" The girl asked Jessie. She must of seen that these people weren't actually here to harm her and Marlene
"Fine" Jessie scoffed, shaking her arm
"You're recruiting kind of young aren't you?" Joel asked, moving away from Jessie
"She isn't one of mine" Marlene said, trying to stand herself up
"Oh shit" The girl breathed out, running over to help her "What happened" She helped Marlene over to a table that she could rest herself on
"Don't worry, this is fixable" She nodded towards Tess, Joel and Jessie "I found some people to help us... but I can't come with you"
"Well then I'm staying"
"Ellie, we won't get another shot at this"
"Hey" Joel intervened "We're smuggling her?"
"There's a crew of Fireflies that will meet you at the capitol building£
"The Capitol building? That's that" Jessie clicked her fingers, trying to remember "The court, right? Hey, man that's a really long trip" She finished
"You're capable" Marlene told her "Hnad her off, come back and then the weapons are yours. Double what Robert sold me" Did she mean price or quantity?
"Speaking of which, where are they?" Tess countered
"Back in our camp"
"We're not smuggling shit until I see them"
"You'll follow me" Sighed Marlene "You can verify the weapons. I can get patched up. But she is not crossing to that side of town" She pointed at Ellie "I wan't Joel to watch over her"
"Woah, woah, woah I don't think thats a good idea"
"Bullshit! I'm not going with him" The two of them yelled at the same time
"Ellie..." Marlene pleaded with her
"How do you know them?" she asked
"I was close with his brother Tommy, her uncle" She looked at Joel then Jessie "Said if I was ever in a Jam I could count on him and she wouldn't be far behind"
"Was that before or after he joined your little Militia group?" Joel asked
"He left you too" Marlene shot back "He was a good man"
"Look, just take her to the north tunnel and wait for me there" Tess stepped in
"Jesus christ" Joel breathed out, not believing she was actually going through with it
"She's just cargo"
"People aren't Cargo" Jessie leaned herself against the wall and put pressure back on her arm. Joel and Tess looked back at her with narrowed eyes "What? It's just a fact" She mumbled
"Don't take long" He told Tess, he then looked back at Ellie "And you - stay close"
"What about me?" Jessie asked, stepping forward "Am I going with Tess or you?"
"Neither" Joel stated
"What?"
"I need you to go back the apartment, clean yourself up then meet me at the tunnel got it? And bring some food, we're gonna need it for the trip" And with that, he left with Ellie close behind. Soon after that Marlene and Tess were gone and it was just Jessie
"Well alright then" She huffed before heading out