Chapter 4- Long Night Ahead
09/30/16, 7:47 pm…
Three days before the fight began…
As the support crafter put the finishing touches on his recent journal entry, he heard his friend, Kyren laugh as quiet as possible. He turned from his journal to face him.
"What is it?" Elijah asked, smiling already to hear whatever joke Kyren had planned.
Kyren just shook his head. "Damn, man. How can you not hear that sound? It's coming from right next to you."
Elijah turned to his right and found the source of the sound.
Marlene.
She had her head rested against the window, her yellow hood up to shield whatever light that would've bothered her. 'The most peaceful I've seen her in a long time… if only she sounded just as peaceful.'
"That sound means she's no longer with us on this plane of existence, man."
"Aw, now that's mean."
"But still, it's your time to drive, especially since it looks like you're done with today's diary entry."
"Cute." Elijah interrupted him.
"Mind taking over for awhile so I too may go on to a higher existence?" Kyren asked.
"Oh, but of course, bro." Elijah paused. "But, I don't think I'll be able to beat your high score of hitting random crap in the road. I swear, you might've killed someone in the back."
"Hey! That's not fair. That damn squirrel was asking to be hit." Kyren defended himself, while sliding out the left door for Elijah.
"It was asking whatever cruel squirrel Pantheon that exists for forgiveness, you monster." Elijah said climbing out of the door. He waited for Kyren to get in the van, but he was busying scanning their surroundings.
"Uh, Kyren?" Elijah began.
"Hold up, Eli. You think this place is safe enough to just take a breather for a while?" Kyren asked him.
Elijah turned his back to him and began to look around. 'Well…' he started to think but was interrupted by Kyren.
"Go on. Do that thing you do." Kyren urged.
"What 'thing'?" he asked him.
"You know, that thing were you take hour upon hour to decide your next course of action. Every time you get asked a question, it's kind of your signature."
"Normally, I'm being asked questions about our next course of action while being SHOT AT." Elijah emphasized.
"It's your fault for being so shootable…" he mumbled back.
"How-?" Elijah rolled his eyes again and focused on the more important part of their situation. 'Okay, let's see.' Elijah looked around the area and noticed three buildings that stood out the most in the moon's light.
'North Idaho College… Washington Trust Bank… and a building that looks like it's collapsing from the inside. Hmm. Those two look in good enough condition. But those windows might be a problem. They definitely won't provide enough cover if we were to run into any Hunters around here. And I don't think anyone would want to spend time anywhere near a building that's falling apart.' He came up with a plan.
"Uh, has the unit in front of me reached consensus?" Kyren asked in a robotic tone.
"Yeah, this unit did. I'm thinking we should wake up Marlene. Let her know that we all need a moment to rest, maybe let the van's engine cool down."
"All I needed to hear." Kyren said while walking to the back of the moving van. A few moments later and Fireflies began to pour out from the back.
"Oh God…" one of them exclaimed. "I can feel my legs again!" said one of them. A few others rose in a chorus to show their agreement.
"Alright!" he cleared his throat. "'Friends, Romans, countrymen, lend me your ears'!" Kyren began. Elijah was getting tired of rolling his eyes. "As I'm sure you've heard, Marlene is still unconscious." A few faked a coughing fit to hide their smiles. "Yes, yes" he continued. "So, our new acting leader, Elijah Quinn, decided that we'll be out here for only two hours."
Elijah's eyes widened. "I didn't-" he began.
"'Tis truly a shame, mates. Alas, we'll only be out for two hours before returning to that horrid van."
"At least you two get to sit up front!" they heard someone exclaim from the middle of the group.
"Please, Kyren, stop talking", Elijah said, pinching the bridge of his nose.
"Sir, yes, sir. Fireflies, fly free, go stretch or something like that. Remember, we'll only be out for so long. Now, please pay your respects to our new leader." Kyren lightly bowed in Elijah's direction. 'Maybe if I just start choking him instead of rolling my eyes so often he'll stop saying some crazy shit…' he thought to himself.
"We understand the orders given to us, 'sir'" fellow crafter Sarah had said to him in a mock sad tone.
"Will y'all go somewhere now?" Elijah said with a light grin.
One by one, the Fireflies began to salute him. Inside the group, he heard someone manage to whistle a four-note theme he remembered to have something to do with the Hunger Games. 'Really?' Elijah looked over at Kyren. He just shrugged back. They all began to walk away from the van and started separating into their normal chat groups. That reminded Elijah of his plan.
"Actually, wait." They turned to him. He spoke with ease in front of them. "There's three…" he paused and looked at the destroyed building. "…two and a half different buildings around here. Maybe we should take the time to check them out? Last I checked, we need something to make the Molotovs, you know, explode." Elijah said referencing the events of yesterday. They all seemed to consider this. Then they divided themselves into groups of seven and walking to the separate buildings.
"Ha ha! That's nice! The support crafter's takin' over!" Kyren paused. "It might just be a bad thing if I were to wake up Marlene and let her know a crafter remove her from the throne, huh?
"No, no. Please, don't strain yourself. I'll take care of it." Elijah replied.
"Oh great. Any orders for me, sir?"
Elijah considered this. Then he said, "Why don't you wake the 'good doctor' for us, yeah?" he asked him.
"Oh, I see how it is. A little taste of power and you send your friend off to face a damn demon." Kyren said before walking off. Elijah watched him peer into the back of the van. He looked up and made a gesture that said the doctor was sleeping.
"Wake him up, then." Elijah said.
Kyren made a thumbs-up gesture and walked in. A moment later and the doctor rushed out. "Ah, the night air. Feels nice and crisp!" Sleeping in the back of a van made his hair even worse. It covered his eyes so much he nearly tripped over a rock.
"That's nice, doc." Kyren said, walking away to join two others waiting for him. The three of them walked off to join a larger group inside the WT bank. The doctor followed close behind.
Elijah turned to face the van and climbed in. Marlene wasn't so much in her sleep like she was before. He considered this the perfect time to wake her. Closing his door, he turned to wake her.
"Uh, Marlene? Ma'am?" he called her name but she didn't wake. He reached over and tapped her on the shoulder. This time, she did respond. She seemed startled. Turning to face Elijah, she wiped her forehead like it was sweaty. 'Like she was having a bad dream.' Elijah thought.
"Are you alright, Marlene?" he asked her.
"I-I'm fine. Where are we?" she asked, clearing her voice.
"Still in Idaho. A place called Sandpoint." Elijah replied.
Marlene looked out the window. "What time is it? Why did we stop?" she asked with much authority than necessary in his opinion.
"Well, ma'am, it's… 8:07. And we stopped because… the others, we all needed to get out of the moving van. Just to stretch our legs and not being in the back of a moving van, you know?" he tried for a joke, but she didn't seem to notice.
"I see… how long was it planned for us to be here?"
"Not long, ma'am. An hour, tops. Just to make sure we've checked everywhere in the buildings and got what we needed."
Marlene rubbed her eyes and leaned forward close to the dashboard.
"Uh, sorry, ma'am for waking you. I didn't mean to keep you up."
"Oh, stop with the formalities, Elijah. Have you heard anyone else calling me 'ma'am'?" He opened his mouth to speak but Marlene waved him off. "Anyway, you did good, getting me up. I need to stretch my legs too." She pushed the passenger door open, grabbed her backpack from her legs and climbed out. Last thing he heard from her was "Head Start Center sounds like good place to start."
Elijah nodded his head. "Indeed it is, Marlene…" He watched her walk off for a moment, then climbed out of the van himself, closing the door, and looking around.
'Okay, Firefly… where we headed?' he asked himself. 'Kyren and the others can handle the bank. Marlene's going to have help at the HS. Hmm… I think I saw Sarah and few others head to that college.' Elijah's mind was set.
Walking down the sidewalk to the college, Elijah remembered his own time at his college down in Louisiana. 'LSU! Ah, man. Those were the times… hanging out with my friends. Getting that major in some American History…' He stopped walking when he reached the sidewalk and saw a massive dried bloodstain on the ground, almost glowing in the night.
'Not seeing blood out of someone' body so often… think I miss that the most.' Elijah thought. He stepped onto the bloodied sidewalk and ignored the chill that went through his body.
Upon reaching the front of the college, Elijah abandoned the sidewalk for the green grass. He couldn't help but feel a sense of foreboding as he approached the front door, it's mosaic glass glimmering in the night's light. Walking closer to it, he saw a Firefly out posted in the door's front, looking particularly crestfallen. 'That would be…' he strained his eyes against the dark. 'Tommy. I wonder what's up with him.' Elijah asked himself, while walking to the entrance mini-steps.
"Hey, Tommy. You alright?" Elijah thought for a second. "I, uh, didn't think guard was that bad, man", he tried for a joke.
Tommy looked up at him, surprise in his eyes. He quickly straightened up. "Oh, hey Elijah. What brings you over?" he asked him.
"Nothin' much, man. Just coming over to see how everything's going on the inside. Somethin' the matter? Not being very 'guard-like'." Elijah replied in a light tone, hoping to lighten things up. Tommy took it more serious than intended.
He reached over for his rifle and returned to his post. In the process of moving so fast his dark grey beanie fell off his head revealing tousled dirty blonde hair. He sighed, leaned over to pick it up and placed it back on him.
"Sorry, I was just… I wasn't focusin'. Won't happen again", he said quietly. Elijah couldn't hide the concerned look on his face. The rifle-bearing Firefly turned his head away.
"It wasn't that bad. I'm over here to see if any extra help's required." Elijah said, dropping the former subject. Tommy seemed to appreciate it.
"I haven't heard them asking for any extra help. I thought it'd be best if someone were to stay outside. Make sure nothin' creeps up on 'em."
Elijah nodded and turned backwards to lean on the stone foundation the college. "Hear anything out here?" he asked him.
Tommy shook his head. "Nah, no one. It's been pretty damn quiet out here."
It was quiet for a few moments. Elijah was about to walk in to not bother him anymore when he heard him say, "It's nice out, isn't it?" Elijah looked up and saw an array of stars lining the sky, a cool breeze gently floating by. "Sure is", he replied. "It's nice enough to know we haven't been troubled by anymore unnecessary surprises."
"Now you've jinxed us", Tommy said. Elijah let out a laugh.
"Well, damn. First day as acting leader and I've doomed us all."
"Heh, yeah." He heard him say.
It was quiet again. Tired of looking at the bright stars, he turned his direction forward and scanned ahead.
'One tree, two trees, three trees… small building that has a house-like roof. Wait…'. Elijah leaned forward. There it was. A house hidden down the right side of the crosswalk. Elijah looked over at Tommy who was had returned to his sullen demeanor. He looked at him skeptically.
"Hey, Tommy." He looked up at Elijah. "I could use some help over here." Tommy walked over to him.
"What's up?" he asked.
"Look down there. See that house?"
"Yeah, barely. What, thinkin' we could spend a night over there?" Tommy said in an excited manner. "I'm just not too excited with being in the back of that moving van."
"I hear you. Doesn't seem too fun." Elijah paused, then looked at the house with more determination. "If we take care of searching it, making sure there aren't any nasty surprises, we could possibly convince Marlene to let us relax in a place with a lot more space. It might take a while and we might actually find something bad." He looked over at Tommy. "You think you and I could handle searching that house?"
Tommy looked at the front entrance then down at his feet.
"We'd only be gone for few minutes at the very least." Elijah said, trying not to push him too much to go.
"Let's get on with it, then." Tommy said, gesturing to the house with his rifle. "Standin' here wasn't too much fun anyway."
"Sounds like a plan." Elijah said before walking down the steps and headed down to the right of the sidewalk with Tommy close behind.
He noticed the silence between the two of them and was not enjoying it.
At all.
Elijah considered this to be a growing experience. As far as he could remember, on this whole journey of theirs, Tommy's been… the quiet one. He would take orders and fulfil them to the best of his abilities, help with setting up camp, scavenge for supplies, but as far as enjoying the moments of serenity when they had a chance to stop and relax for a moment, he was closed off. Elijah thought it was maybe he just didn't like large groups of people. But after being together as a group for over a year, there should've been some… breakthrough.
Elijah looked over at his ally and saw that his gaze was transfixed at the house quickly approaching their left. He definitely didn't look to be in the mood to talk.
'Looks like I'm stuck talking to myself. Again.' Elijah thought. To himself.
'We just need to get this over with quickly.' He looked at his watch. '8:23? Hopefully the others are on some kind of breakthrough and they'll be done in at least a few more minutes. I'm even more hopeful that we'll be done before them before they possibly start to freak out and go on the warpath trying to hunt us down.' Elijah smiled to himself. After all they been through together on this 'adventure', they've all gotten close, as anyone would being with others and getting to know them for so long. He knew that they'd all fight and die for each other.
Just like he would for them.
Reaching the end of the sidewalk, Elijah took a moment to look down the right side of the sidewalk. What he saw was the back of the college and an empty parking lot. 'Hmm… I bet if we entered through there we'd give Sarah and the others a real good scare.' Then he reconsidered that idea. 'On second thought, Sarah kind of has an itchy trigger finger. And not the best aim to match… Maybe we'd have a better chance of living if we stick with the front door.'
He turned back to the house's direction and noticed how Tommy was already on the front lawn.
"Oh, come on…" he said to himself. Elijah looked over to the trees and bushes on his right, possibly covering what he thought was the woods. As he made his way, he could've sworn he heard a twig snap in the bushes. Feeling his skin chill, he didn't even stop to check it out. 'That's right, Elijah. Just stick with the guidelines stereotypes have set for you. Keep it moving.' He thought, in an attempt to keep himself calm. He jogged over to the house, just in time to see Tommy set his rifle down and examine the door.
Stepping on the grass, Elijah looked down and noticed a row of houses, just as lifeless as the one he and Tommy were about to try and break into.
'It's not breaking and entering if no one's used it in a long-ass time. Right?' Elijah asked himself. He considered asking Tommy but settled on looking around at the other houses. He moved over to the house next door and checked the door out. It had numerous scratches on its front. The scratches became more prominent and gruesome looking as he looked further down. Eventually, it looked like blood was caked within the lower scratches and had pooled to the ground a long time ago. Elijah stepped away from the door and promptly walked back to Tommy deciding for the two of them that they're not going any near that house. He reached him just in time to see him attempt to bash the door down in frustration.
"Hey! The hell, man?" he asked him. Tommy turned to face him with a certain look in his eyes. A look that showed how impatient he was with their progress.
"We ain't got time to fuck around with this door! The plan was get in, get out, and tell the others what we found. Now, quit botherin' me, I'm tryna work. Is that alright with you, 'acting leader'?" Tommy asked annoyed. They locked eyes with each other. Elijah was about to answer but Tommy waved him off and turned back. Elijah took a deep exhale and shook his head.
"Fine, you prick. But tell me: did you even try the fuckin' doorknob?" he bit back at him. Tommy turned back to reply, maybe something equally rude but didn't. Instead, he actually tried to open the doorknob. Nothing happened. He fumbled with it a bit, but no matter how much force he applied, the door wouldn't open up.
Elijah heard him scoff. "Well, how 'bout that", he whispered quietly. He rose up and put both his hands on the door, leaning on it for support. Elijah could only stare at him.
'Goddamn, what's his problem? Won't even talk to us, but I'm here trying to get him more invested with the group, but fuckin' nothing. Fine.' Elijah thought bitterly.
"Move over", he said to Tommy. The Firefly turned to the support crafter and looked over at him. Whatever he was thinking, he just moved out of Elijah's way, annoyed.
"Alright, that's it. The fuck's your problem? And don't give me any of that 'I'm tryna work' bullshit!" Tommy looked back once then kept walking.
"Do whatever you need to do. I'm about to head to a different house. If it don't open, I'm done." Elijah almost didn't want to mention the bloodied door right next to him but did so regardless. Tommy didn't care, however. He just went down to examine that door. Elijah noticed that he didn't try to break it down however. At least, not until he tried the doorknob.
Elijah turned his attention to the door in front of him. 'Come on, you son of a bitch. Think. What could you do that wouldn't cause so much fuckin' noise?' He sighed and put one hand on his hips, the other massaged the bridge of his nose. Absentmindedly, he reached in his pocket and pulled out a sharp object he scraped his hand on lightly: a shiv. He looked it over. It's jagged grey edges, wrapped in duct tape. 'Why do I have you again? I sure as hell haven't had to shank anyone yet.' He leaned on the door and sighed again. Shiv still in hand, and using his head to keep himself leaned against the door, Elijah twisted the doorknob as hard as he could, getting absolutely nowhere. For some reason, the doorknob kept slipping between his hands, making it impossible to open. He sure didn't want to force it open. 'Damn it! Just open already!' he thought, getting angry himself. Elijah just jammed the shiv into the keyhole with his left hand. Hearing a click sound, he began to worry.
"No, no, no, fuck…" he whispered. He looked over to Tommy and didn't see him get any farther on his door. He turned back to the situation on his hands. 'Well, this door sure's fucked…' He tried to pull the shiv out of the doorknob but found that it was stuck. 'Nah, motherfucker. I want this back. Hand it over. Quit being a bitch, door.' Elijah grabbed it firmly in his left hand and tried to twist it free. All he heard was the sound of the locking mechanism breaking, along with his shiv and pulled back a stubbed piece of metal.
'Really, door? You had one job: quit being a bitch. Then, you break my only shiv. I wasn't going to use it to stab someone to death but still! Come on, dammit!' he gave up on being subtle.
As soon as he twisted the doorknob and heard it click he realized how pointless it was for him to slam into it with his shoulder.
The door had swung open and clacked against the wall. Elijah looked at the open entry, then the broken shiv. Then he smiled.
"Ha, ha, ha! Elijah, you the fuckin' man!" Elijah nearly exclaimed with excitement. Tommy definitely overheard him and rushed over to see the work done. Elijah was sure he actually saw the traces of a smile on his face.
"Elijah… you smart son of a bitch", he heard him whisper. "What'd you do, man?" Tommy asked him, now actually smiling.
"Take a shiv to the doorknob, and the door just opens afterwards. It wasn't much, but I think I deserve some praise. Since I did it by myself, you know?" Elijah crossed his arms and stared at Tommy pointedly.
"Heh, alright, alright. I, uh, shouldn't have walked off like that. I'm sorry", he heard Tommy say in mock sadness. It was as close to an apology he expected to get.
"Yeah, it was a bit of a surprise. Can't believe it fuckin' worked…" Elijah whispered the last part to himself. 'This is a moment to remember. Who knows what sort of life-saving equipment we might find in there? Maybe a pack of white-cheddar popcorn. Love that shit…' he thought.
"We should probably head in, huh?" he heard Tommy say.
"Probably", he replied. Tommy thought for a moment.
"Actually, we need to be smart about this. One of us should stay guard."
"And who do you think that might be?" Elijah asked him.
"Well, I do have the rifle…"
"Oh, hell no. Do you see how dark it is in there?"
"Uh, so? You have a flashlight, I don't!"
"So what? Flashlights won't exactly help me see spores, will they?"
"Oh, God, really? Is that what you're worried about? Do you see how small this house is? That window over there's busted from a weak patch-job. Any life-altering dust would've seeped on out."
Elijah crossed his arms again and clicked his tongue. "I think it's time for you to put some work into this little 'group effort'."
"I loosened this door for you!"
"Yes, because ramming into the door with your shoulder was a good way to help. Just remember who got the damn thing open…"
"Alright, damn it. Fine! I'm going in first. When I don't get infected or get jumped by anything, you get your ass in here too, and then we'll both search the place and get the hell out of here faster. I'm getting' real tired of this night." Tommy said, rolling his eyes and facing the door.
"After you, good sir." Elijah said, bowing slightly.
Tommy actually hesitated, like he was considering the possibility of something bad happening. Then, he steeled his gaze and stepped slowly in. As soon as he stepped foot inside, he tripped over something.
Looking down, it was rope.
"Oh, fu-", Tommy managed before something slammed into him, knocking him down and scattering his hunting rifle away. Elijah quickly pulled out in pistol and took aim at whatever was on Tommy, but stopped when all he heard was his companion's struggling. No snarls, no growling. Just Tommy's frantic voice.
"Ah, no, no! Elijah, get it off of me!" he shouted. Elijah just raised an eyebrow and shushed him. Pulling his flashlight from his backpack's side pocket. He clicked it on and flashed the dull and dusty object on Tommy.
"Wow…" he whispered. A set of chairs and a couch had knocked Tommy down. Not a Hunter or some Runner. Just some furniture. Elijah burst out laughing.
"Damn, Tommy. I don't think you have to worry about the-". Elijah was taken with laughter and couldn't finish talking. Tommy put the pieces together anyway.
"A couch? A fuckin'… fuckin' couch?" Elijah heard him a cough for a few seconds. Then he was silent. Next, he heard Tommy laugh along with him.
"Heheh… get this damn thing off of me", Tommy said, a smile that was being covered up by the couch's armrest. Elijah obliged and Tommy slowly got to his feet, chuckling and wiping his clothes clean of the dust. He and Elijah enjoyed a few more seconds laughing at what happened and shook their heads. Tommy cleared his throat and spoke clearly.
"Someone set this up."
"Because of the rope, right? Shit, man. Think they're still around?" Elijah asked, aware that his 9mm was in his hand. Tommy shook his head, however. He leaned down and picked up the rope.
"See this? How torn and moldy it looks? It's been set up a while ago." Tommy said assuaging their fears.
"Hopefully, no one heard you with all that damn yellin' you were doing a second ago."
"I'm sorry my justifiable terror inconvenienced you, buddy. But, uh, where the hell were you with a warning?" Tommy said, completely out of the hostile mood he was in before the couch fell on him.
"Don't put this on me, man. I didn't see the thing either. I was worried someone was going to a pull a gun on us and shoot at us."
"I'll be honest", Tommy said, looking around. "I think this is a safe sp-".
A bullet pierced the wooden doorframe.
A bullet just flew right between them.
"TAKE 'EM OUT!" they heard someone shout. A couple dozen, around the same number of Fireflies that were scattered around the three buildings had rushed out of the bushes and began to spread out.
They were being watched the entire time.
All Elijah and Tommy could do was watch in horror as what looked like Hunters flooded the area. One of the Hunters had seen one of them and was rushing over, a shotgun in hands. They looked between each other and ran inside the house. Tommy slammed the door shut with his back against it.
"Open up, motherfuckers! Time for you fucks to get out of our territory!" a loud voice shouted while pounding away at the door.
"Fuck…" Tommy whispered. Elijah was speechless. They were being attacked. And their group was splintered, separated into smaller groups, possibly unaware at the fight waiting for them outside.
"Alright, bitches. I got somethin' for you…" he heard the Hunter attacking them whisper. The two Fireflies heard a gun click and they went still. Then the first shot went right between Tommy's legs. He and Elijah rushed past each other and went to move around a corner, into what looked like a kitchen to Elijah. He made it first, but after another gunshot, he heard Tommy fall over and yelp in pain.
"I'm hit!" he shouted to Elijah.
"On the second try? You've gotten better, Eugene. Keep it up and you'll make the team for sure!" While Elijah pulled Tommy into the kitchen, he heard 'Eugene' laugh with excitement.
'Fucking maniac!' Elijah thought angrily. Tommy's grunts of pain pulled him to reality. His right pants leg was bloody. Tommy looked like he was about to throw up.
"Hey, hey, hey! Stay with me. It's a leg wound. Nobody dies from leg wounds, Tommy. Don't be the first!" Elijah was desperate, grasping for anything to calm him down. Tommy had giggled for a moment at that. 'And don't go into shock either. That'd make this even worse…' Elijah thoughts began to run rapidly. He needed something to stop this leg from continuously bleeding. After slamming the kitchen door shut, he stepped from the downed Firefly, blood all over his hands and began to tear the drawers from their holders. 'Alcohol, something like that. Anything! Come the fuck on!' he shouted inwardly. He began to pry open a few cupboards and was disheartened to hear the front door slam onto the group.
'Shit!' he thought.
"Where art thou sons of bitches…" he heard Eugene hum. Elijah looked at a dazed Tommy.
'Shit…' he thought.
"Elijah… run. Just… just leave me. F-find… S-sarah… keep her safe, man." Elijah was confused at the statement. He didn't know what to think. He shook his head in disagreement.
"Tommy, shut the fuck up. I've got a plan. Just pretend to be dead. Emphasize on pretend." Tommy nodded weakly.
"Yeah, yeah, sure. I'll just pretend to die and take a nice… little… nap." He watched him close his eyes and fall over. Elijah's eyes widened.
"Tommy, you better be fuckin' pretending…" he whispered. He heard him mumble "…go away" before staying silent.
"What's behind door #1?" Elijah quickly scrambled behind the door as quietly as possible. He happened to notice a bottle near him and threw it near the ground by Tommy, hoping something not bad would come from it.
"Oooh… here comes a Wraith." Elijah heard the Hunter whisper. The door was kicked open, narrowly missing the support crafter's face. Luckily for him, it was the kind of door that locked itself in place once open. He heard footsteps approach an unconscious Tommy.
"Really, man? A leg wound? Who dies from that shit? I swear, all you Fireflies are just fuckin' idoits. All thinkin' you're so damn special 'cause you want to waste time tryin' fix this world? No wonder we tracked you so easy…" Elijah's heart dropped.
"I don't know why the Marauders don't just rip you all from this existence." He heard him scoff, then walk off farther down the hall.
'We've been followed this entire time? Son of a bitch! And Marauders? Who are the fuckin' Marauders?' Elijah looked over at Tommy who was still breathing, even though it was a slightly sluggish one.
"I need some fucking answers, Tommy…" he whispered to his unconscious friend.
"I will get them. And I'll get something for you too while I'm at it." Elijah slowly nudged the door closed and stood up to find anything quiet he could use. On the ground, by a drawer he tossed aside frantically was a pair of broken scissors. 'It's a start…' Elijah thought. He slid his backpack off and unzipped it slowly as to not alert the Hunter. Finding an almost empty roll of tape he grabbed it and stared at the scissor blade in his other hand.
Then, he did what he what he's been doing for the others the entire time they were out on their own.
He crafted himself a decent shiv. Wrapping the rest of the binding around the handle to make it more 'straighter' in his opinion, he jabbed the air a few times to test its strength. 'It hasn't broken apart in my hands. Good enough for me', he thought.
Taking one more look at Tommy's fading breaths, he said. "I'll be back to help you out of here. The others will be fine." Elijah crouched down and opened the kitchen door and slid out. On his left, the night air had broken into the house adding to the already ominous tone of the situation. On his right, the Hunter was loudly scavenging through the bathroom. He seemed particularly excited about one find, holding it up, admiring it through a window filled with moonlight. Elijah couldn't see it, and he didn't care. He did care about the fact he heard the Hunter excitedly remove his backpack and unzip it, keeping whatever he found.
"The boys'll be real jealous…" Elijah heard him say. 'This motherfucker…'
Elijah returned to focus gearing himself up to kill a man.
'It needs to be done, Elijah… It has to be done.' He took a silent step forward. 'Maybe don't kill him, scare him a bit, rough him up.' Another step. 'Do what you need to do to get some answers from this fuckin' prick…' Another step. Elijah froze in terror when the Hunter had crossed into his field of view and stopped walking with his back turned to him. From the sounds of it, he was checking under the sink for supplies. The Hunter mumbled something Elijah couldn't hear. He counted three heartbeats before taking another step.
Of course, the board creaked beneath him.
The Hunter turned his way, a revolver in hand and a malicious smile on his round, darkly-shaded bearded face.
"Hi, how are ya'?" the Hunter asked.
Elijah asked himself a question while he charged Eugene.
'What the fuck am I doing?' he wondered as he stabbed with the shiv, aiming for his abdomen. Instead, the Hunter sidestepped and knocked the shiv out of his hands with his revolver. Then he hit the Firefly in the face with his gun.
"Motherfucker…" Elijah whispered. The Hunter caught that. He just laughed out loud.
"Hahaha! Fuckin' Fireflies, man…. I'd go on to insult your low intelligence, but I get the feeling you heard me make fun of your friend. Sorry you had to see me kill him." Eugen said, not at all sad.
Elijah had enough. He reached at his holster and took aim with his pistol. He pulled the gun's hammer to better show his rage.
"Oh, oh, oh…" Eugene chuckled. "You can barely hold that gun up. Have you ever shot that thing before?"
Elijah felt his eyes sting. 'Mouth's bleeding. Tastes disgusting…' He wasn't wrong. His mouth was hit with enough force that he bit down on the old scar on his bottom lip accidently. He spat out some blood and slowly stood up, the gun aimed at the Hunter's head.
"Awww… is the little baby gonna cry? Do you want a hug, little boy?" Eugene cooed at him, mockingly.
"One more… fuckin' word… and I will end you." Elijah whispered angrily. His eyes were red now, partly from the unexpected hit, but mostly from intense hatred.
'If this bastard keeps toying with me, I swear to God…' They stared at each other for a moment, both of them unblinking.
Then the Hunter charged him.
Elijah fired the gun twice.
Only one bullet hit.
As the Hunter charged him and knocked him over, a bullet lodged itself in his shoulder.
"Son of a bitch!" he hollered before running out the door.
Elijah was completely dazed. 'Did that… did I shoot him?' Sure enough, Elijah felt something warm on his face. Reaching his left hand to touch it, he saw it was blood drops.
"Ugh…" Elijah groaned. He did the best he could wiping the blood off his face and turned to look out the door. No sight of Eugene.
But plenty of gunfire was heard.
"No, fuck!" Elijah yelled. He turned back and headed into the kitchen. Tommy had woken up and was looking around, not looking much better than Elijah felt.
"H-hey, man. You're still here? I heard what happened out there… are you okay?" he heard him ask. Elijah looked puzzled.
"Why the fuck wouldn't I be?" Elijah looked down at him. "We're a team, Tommy. The fuckin' Fireflies. Out here, we take care of our own." Elijah said with quiet rage. He chided himself for not killing that man back in the hallway. Who knows how deep his influence runs? Elijah wondered to himself if had he killed him, would that have sent the Hunters into a full-retreat?
Tommy was staring at Elijah intently. Possibly considering his words. Finally, he spoke.
"Elijah, don't worry about that prick. He's a nobody." Tommy said, a cross between weakened, yet confident.
"Just… how can you tell?" Elijah asked, unconvinced.
"You really think they'd let their leader go off by himself while attacking a group of F… Fireflies? 'Cause I ain't seein' it like that. At best, that dumb fuck was tryin' to show off. Look good for the ladies, maybe." Tommy finished with a light laugh, one that ended with a cough. Elijah looked down and remembered the most immediate problem at hand.
Elijah looked up. "Tommy, wait here real quick. I think I might have somethin' for that leg." Elijah said, before walking back to the bathroom.
"I ain't goin' nowhere…" he heard him mumble.
Clicking his flashlight back on, Elijah searched the floor for the Hunter's backpack.
'There!' Elijah shouted in his mind. Tearing the bag open, he threw out whatever he considered unimportant. Which was a lot of the things the Hunter had on him.
'An empty bag of chips, reading magazines. Very "graphic", reading magazines. Shell casings… an unfired shotgun shell? Mine.' His sense of touch was doing better than his sight. Even with the flashlight on, which was now blinking rapidly as though it was about to turn off, Elijah could barely see. His felt a piece of cloth. Taking it out, he held it in front of his flashlight and saw a dingy, white washcloth in his hands. 'Not a bandage but fuck, it'll do until I get him to one of the medics.' He placed it next to him. Searching again, he heard his watch clank against something.
Pulling it out, he saw it was a partially empty bottle of a clear liquid. He opened the cap and was relieved at the antiseptic smell.
'Yes! Fuck yes!' Elijah thought excitedly. 'Drench the fuck out of this towel with alcohol, wrap it on his leg. Bam! Instant patch job.' Elijah thought. Before he was able to finish running out of the door, he heard something fall out. Looking back, it appeared to be some sort of large firearm.
'The dude's shotgun? Fuckin' mine.' He said to himself. As he reached over to pick it up, his eyes narrowed at what was on the shotgun. On the handle, it looked like female undergarments on it. Elijah felt sick looking at it. 'Sick bastard. That's what he was so excited about, wasn't it?' He picked them up and threw it off into the bathtub.
'This night, man. We never should've came here! Damn it!' Elijah thought. He grabbed the shotgun and walked back to Tommy without a second look back.
Tommy and leaned his head against a sink door and was resting. When he didn't answer Elijah's numerous and increasingly frantic calls, he was slapped.
"Damn it, what?! I'm just trying to sleep here…" he heard him say, annoyed. Elijah just set the supplies he found down next to Tommy and went to work. He rolled up Tommy's right pants leg slowly, causing the Firefly to hiss in pain. Placing the pants leg behind his knee, Elijah had a clear view of the man's wound. It didn't look like it was very life-threatening, as long as Elijah removed the possibility of infection and got someone to bandage it. Still, it made him feel bad for his teammate.
"This is gonna burn. But, it won't for long. And just remember how necessary it is." Elijah said, trying to assuage any fears Tommy might've had.
"Just wrap the cloth on me so we can hurry up and leave. Daylight's burnin', man!" Tommy said, rushing him.
"It's still night."
"Really? I didn't- AAAH, fuck!" Tommy yelped at the contact of the alcohol drenched rag. His leg jerked and knocked it off his leg. Elijah looked at him.
"Sorry, sorry. I'm, uh, not use to this", he apologized.
"No, no… just, please hurry", Tommy said quietly. His eyes were closed now.
Elijah picked up the rag, now pinkish with blood, and reapplied it to the leg. Tommy's leg still moved, but not as much as before. He wrapped it behind his knee and slid the pants leg over it.
"Not exactly hospital standards…" he heard Tommy whisper.
"Yeah. Still, I don't think the leg is in that bad of shape. I probably wouldn't put too much weight on it."
Tommy sighed and moved up the sink counter slowly, much to Elijah's surprise and annoyance. He stood up shakily. "We need to go, right now", he said.
"Yeah. Got a long night ahead of us. I had a plan."
"What's that?"
"We try to sneak into the college. I'm sure at least one of the medics are with Sarah, if not both. They're kind of a team, the three of them."
"Hopefully both. Twice the attention to me. I know for a fact this… patch job of yours won't hold up if we need to haul ass."
"Support crafter. Did you hear anything like fuckin' field medic?" Elijah said. Tommy shrugged. He looked down at Elijah's feet.
"Is that a shotgun?" he asked incredulously. He had a reason to. Most of the Fireflies carried either hunting rifles or a Semi-Auto rifle. Maybe even the occasional assault rifle. They didn't have a surplus of widespread weapons.
"And it's mine, rifle-boy."
Tommy looked cross. "D'you even know how many shells it got left?" he asked pointedly.
"I found a shell on the floor in the bathroom. Maybe one or two in the chamber, I guess. I don't know." Elijah said exasperated.
"Fine, don't lose… ugh…" Tommy had fallen slightly, making Elijah rush to his side and catch him. He switched the shotgun to his right hand while his left arm was placed on Tommy's right shoulder, with Tommy's arm placed over Elijah's shoulder.
"Damn it, Tommy." Elijah whispered to himself. Watching his back and Tommy's might be a challenge to him. And if he could barely keep the two of them safe, he might not be help in a gunfight at the college.
'Goddamn it, I'll have to try.' Elijah told himself. He led the two of them to the front door.
"Elijah, man. I'm not in the best condition right now. Think you're ready for them? I mean, you can't just let 'em go every time. Gonna be a time when you'll have to, you know…"
"I know." Elijah paused. They were on their way to the college's parking lot now, on the sidewalk. "Why you telling me this like you've done more than I have? We're both in the same apocalypse."
Tommy fell silent. His weight seemed to get heavier on Elijah's shoulder. "Because, and I mean no offense to you… I have."
"Right…" Elijah whispered.
The welcome silence between the two was constantly interrupted by shouting and gunfire that made Elijah's heart hurt, but filled itself with determination.
'No way we're lettin' these fucks bring us down.'
A/N: Longer than usual and kind of later than normal, I know. But Let Me Explain! I was working diligently on this story until disaster struck! My laptop gets fracture and now it looks worse than Miles' camcorder. Whatever. The show must go on, damn it!
Elijah and Tommy (the Tommy)'s rescue attempt (maybe more Elijah's) shall commence in chapter 5 of T12WW.