Warning: Errors, OOCness, and Cursing. Not too much original dialogue in this chapter and the ocs don't speak too much because 1) I couldn't think of much for them to say and 2) Well, they don't actually have to be talking every second of every chapter, to be honest, so I didn't try to think harder to see what I could have them say. Lastly, this will not be a very long chapter; if you want to see an example of a long chapter, look at ch 2 of my OUAT fanfic because that chapter was a total of, like, 10,000 words, I think, and none of the chapters for this story will ever get to that high of a word count for a chapter, I'll tell you that much.
From the title of this chapter, I am sure you all can guess what's gonna happen and how this might end. :D What? You don't know? Well, considering Robert is dead, that only means one thing: Marlene is going to be appearing and we all know who appears after Marlene. XD Are you guys excited?! I know I am! Let's fucking do this! By the way, Ellie isn't actually in this chapter! Sorry for getting you too pumped up!
I did my best! Pardon my errors and such! Took me all day to do this shit! Sorry this wasn't posted sooner! Because of the effects of Hurricane Matthew (couldn't it had been named Murder or something else? Jeez), lots of flooding happened in my state and power went out in most places. I got my power back last night after three days without it. I know the flooding has not yet ceased in most areas as of yet, that's for sure but everything will be good eventually. Rest in peace to all whom were killed by that damn hurricane. :(
Tess, Joel, Nathan, and Daniella stood grouped together by the corpse of Robert; Joel was to Tess's left and Daniella was to Tess's right, Nathan right beside Daniella to her right. Tess had just shot the bastard, Robert, in the head twice, ending his life. The man that they had been hunting down was finally dead and they no longer had to deal with him or his goons because they were all taken out. Even if Robert had a few men left over, they would be too scared to face the four of them once they came across the corpses of their many friends because going after them would be considered suicide.
A very satisfied smirk was on Daniella's face. She lightly tapped Robert's corpse with her foot. "Have fun in Hell," she commented as she stared down at the corpse. He deserved what he had gotten. He had tried to have her and Tess killed. He had even tried his damned best to attempt to get out of that situation, but they had all known that he'd just send more of his men after them. They also had known that he wouldn't be leaving the situation alive.
"As enjoyable as that was," Nathan began, his left eyebrow raised. "Was it really necessary to shoot him in the face two times?" One shot would've been enough to do him in, not two. It was just a waste of precious ammo.
Tess shrugged. "More or less. The first shot was to kill him, but the second one was just personal." Robert had tried to have her killed earlier that day, after all, and not just her. Of course she was going to do a bit more than just shoot him once. She would've shot him, at least, five times all together if she had really wanted to, but everything has its limits and shooting him that many times was just a bit overboard.
Daniella placed her left hand on Tess's shoulder. "I don't blame ya. I would've done the same exact thing. Bastard deserved it." Indeed he did.
"Personal or not, it was a waste of ammo," Nathan commented, speaking his opinion. Daniella sent a look his way before rolling her eyes.
After Nathan had spoken, it was silent for a few seconds before Joel finally spoke himself. "Well, now what?" he questioned as he broke the short silence that had been between them. They had gotten rid of Robert, but were empty handed.
"We go get our merchandise back," Tess stated. They might as well while they were out and about. She stepped forward as she moved past Daniella and Nathan. She had moved so that she stood by Robert's head and she turned to face Joel, Daniella, and Nathan, her back to the bricked building behind her.
"How?" Joel questioned her. He stared at her along with Daniella and Nathan.
"Do you expect us to just waltz into the Firefly camp and start firing at random?" Nathan asked Tess. "We need some kind of plan. We can't just walk into their camp like it's nothing either."
Joel turned his head, looking at Nathan. "We? This was the end of the line for you. So, I suggest you run along, son." In his mind, Nathan no longer needed to be there. They had only needed him to get to Robert. Robert was long gone so that meant that Nathan should get moving onward to someplace else.
Nathan looked back at him and smirked. "You can't get rid of me that easily." He wasn't just going to leave Daniella behind like she was nothing.
Daniella huffed, letting out a loud sigh. "Dad, Nathan. Don't start." She felt like she was their mother, having to keep them from arguing with one another. It was beginning to get a little annoying to her. She had been hoping that her father was warming up to Nathan with the times he saved her, but nope, far from it. The temporary alliance was over with and she hated it because now, her lover and her father were back to being immature with one another. You'd think they'd know better than to have petty arguments with times being as they were, but they weren't the only ones who were like that in the new world they lived in. "What exactly do you want us to do?" Daniella asked Tess as she turned her attention towards her.
Tess shrugged, holding her arms out. "I don't know. We explain it to them." She placed her arms down and tilted her head slightly as she looked at her three friends. "Look, let's... Let's go find a Firefly."
"You won't have to look very far," a new voice commented, the voice belonging to a woman. Daniella, Nathan, and Joel looked towards their right, turning their bodies a bit, too, while Tess looked to her left, doing the same. Walking around the corner of the bricked building was an African-American woman with long-ish black hair and brown eyes. She was wearing brown jeans, dark shoes, a worn out blue denim jacket over a pale purple hoodie, and a green top underneath both the jacket and hoodie. Her left arm was around her torso, her left hand over a small part of her right side; it was clear that she had been wounded by something, perhaps she had been shot. She went by the name Marlene and she was a Firefly.
"There you go," Joel told Tess as he stepped forward a bit to be beside her. He gestured towards Marlene. "Queen Firefly."
Daniella took only a step or two forward, not exactly standing to her father's right but was close enough to doing so. "Marlene," she greeted, her tone not exactly friendly nor exactly hateful. Her relations with Marlene were...complicated, to say the least; she neither liked Marlene nor hated her, feeling quite conflicted about what the hell she thought about the leader of the Fireflies. She felt Nathan's right arm wrap around her right side and she fought back the urge to smile.
"Daniella," Marlene greeted back, her tone the same as Daniella's. Her eyes were only on Daniella, and Nathan, for a second before she turned her attention to mainly just Joel and Tess. "Why are you here?"
"Business," Tess responded simply. She nodded towards Marlene's wounded side. "You aren't looking so hot."
Marlene looked down at her wound for a moment, slightly lifting her left hand off it before placing her hand back down over it firmly. She looked back up and she turned her head a bit, her eyes searching around the area. "Where's Robert?" she asked them. Daniella turned her head slightly to share a look with Nathan whom had raised his right eyebrow at the ridiculous question. Joel and Tess simply just kept their eyes on Marlene as Tess stepped aside, holding her left arm out as she presented the corpse of Robert to Marlene. How she hadn't seen him or hadn't heard the two gunshots, no one knew. Marlene looked down at the ground, shaking her head a bit before she, once again, looked back up, her attention now just on Tess and no one else. "I needed him alive."
Daniella didn't really give two shits. "Yeah, well, we needed him dead." She felt Nathan's grip on her torso tighten slightly.
"Damn straight," Nathan muttered, laying his head on Daniella's left shoulder. Though it wasn't the time for any public display of any type of affection, Nathan felt like putting his hands on his girlfriend. It was just something he felt like doing and something he was quite enjoying actually. Marlene glanced in their direction for just a second before returning her gaze to Tess.
Tess was now standing in front of Joel a bit, her attention remaining on Marlene alone. "The guns he gave you, they weren't his to sell. I want them back." Behind her, Joel was looking around just because and he wasn't saying a word; not in that moment, at least. Daniella and Nathan were still located a little bit behind both Joel and Tess, both having grown silent as they listened to the conversation.
"Doesn't work like that, Tess," Marlene told her. She wasn't just going to hand them back over without anything in return.
"The hell it doesn't." Tess was remaining calm in the situation, somehow. Anyone else would've exploded in anger when hearing that they wouldn't be getting their shit back just like that.
"I paid for those guns," Marlene informed her. She took several steps forward, moving closer to them, to Tess. "You want 'em back, you're gonna have to earn 'em." She needed help and since Robert was dead along with most of her people, she had no choice but to ask her...temporary 'friends'.
Tess was quiet for a moment. She turned and looked at Joel; he had raised his right hand to his mouth and he shared a look with her when their eyes met. She looked at the lovebirds next, both eyeing her silently though Daniella nodded shortly at her, signalling her to go for whatever she had in mind. Tess looked back at Marlene. "How many cards are we talking about?" Daniella let out a small sigh from behind her.
"I don't give a damn about ration cards," Marlene stated. "I need something smuggled out of the city. You do that, I'll give you your guns and then some."
Joel stepped forward, his arms now crossed. He stopped moving once he was beside Tess again, standing to her left. "How do we know you got 'em?" he asked Marlene. He started stepping towards her slowly as he continued. "Way I hear it, the military's been wiping you guys out." He stood right in front of her, staring at her.
Marlene nodded slightly as she turned her head to the side a bit. "You're right about that." She looked back at him, nodding still. "I'll show you the weapons."
"Search the area," they all heard a man say from inside one of the buildings next to them all. They had all turned their heads in the direction of the sudden voice. The person was definitely inside since he wasn't in sight.
"Yes, sir," someone responded to the man. He wasn't in sight either, indicating that he was also inside a building near them, the same as the man that spoke first.
"I see you've brought 'friends' with you," Nathan commented, removing his arm from Daniella. It had now became a fight or flight scenario, sort of.
"How nice," Daniella sarcastically remarked.
"I gotta move." Marlene started stepping backwards, away from them. "What's it gonna be?"
"I wanna see those guns," Tess stated, deciding that the four of them would be going with Marlene instead of staying there to deal with some of the military.
"Follow me," Marlene instructed as she turned around, heading to a certain corner of a building. Tess, Joel, Nathan, and Daniella followed right behind her, silent. They followed Marlene up the steps beside the corner of the building she had ran to, entering a small area surrounded mostly by fences and with only one way through. They turned left, walking by shipping crates and they followed Marlene down the wide alleyway, parkouring over a line of crates that were covered slightly by a blue sheet. They moved forward a few steps and stopped, watching as Marlene climbed the wooden boxes in front of them and watching her pull down a ladder. Marlene began going up it silently and, one by one, the rest of them followed behind her. Together, they all went up the fire escape. A loud explosion across the street caught their attention.
"Holy fuck!" Daniella exclaimed, placing her hand on her chest. "That scared the shit outta me. Oh, man." Her heart was racing. Nathan laughed at her. She glared at him. "It's not funny."
"Oh, but it is," Nathan told her. "You're cute when you get a little startled." He kissed her forehead as she pouted. Joel let out a grunt at the scene displaying, but said nothing.
Tess stared at where the explosion had happened, seeing the smoke and some flames. "Is that your people?" she asked Marlene.
"What's left of them. Why do you think I'm turning to you guys?" Marlene stepped onto the rooftop to their right. "This way." Joel and Tess followed, Daniella about to follow them when Nathan held onto her arm.
"What?" Daniella questioned.
"Nothing. It's just..." Nathan half-smiled. "I'm glad you had left their group or you wouldn't..." He didn't finish his sentence. He knew that she could still die regardless, but delaying the inevitable was something that all survivors were good at except some have been lasting longer than others.
Daniella smiled lightly. "Yeah. Lucky me, hmm?" She looked away from him and walked onto the rooftop, following the others with Nathan walking quietly behind her.
"So, why now?" Joel asked Marlene as they approached a busted-out window.
"We've been quiet. Been planning on leaving the city, but they need a scapegoat. They've been trying to rile us up," Marlene explained.
"Looks like they did," Joel stated.
"We're trying to defend ourselves," Marlene said.
"And what good has that done?" Nathan questioned. "By the looks of it, you hardly have anyone left." Marlene didn't respond as she hopped into the warehouse through the window that had approached. Everyone followed one by one.
Marlene approached the only door in the room. The door was blue and large. She attempted to open it alone, but was unable to. "Joel, give me a hand with this." Joel approached the door, helping Marlene push the door open with ease. Marlene was the first through the door, heading down the staircase.
"Hey, how you holding up?" Tess asked her as she followed. Joel, Daniella, and Nathan were behind her.
"I'll live," Marlene answered. She reached the bottom of the stairs that lead outside. She jogged lightly over to a large crate, hiding behind it. Joel, Tess, Daniella, and Nathan quickly caught up with her. "Hold up," Marlene whispered to them, making them stop behind her. However, it didn't stop them from peeking out to see why they were hiding. From what they could see, a guard was patrolling in front of a door far across from them. They knew that he couldn't be the only guard around so they would have to stay on alert in that area. "Soldiers. That's the way out. The door under the bridge."
"Ain't a big fan of these odds," Joel commented lowly.
"We can sneak by them," Marlene stated quietly. "Even though I know that's not your style." She narrowed her eyes at Nathan. She may had only seen him a few times, but she knew that he was a reckless young man. She also knew that Joel and Tess were the same way at times, at least that is what she heard from others, but her main concern was Nathan causing their deaths.
Nathan placed his hands up in the air as if he were surrendering. "You caught me red-handed." He rolled his eyes as he placed his hands back down. "I'll behave. I've got my girlfriend to keep me cool."
A surprised look appeared on Marlene's face as she eyed both Nathan and Daniella now. She was, however, only slightly surprised because the two didn't seem like the perfect match for each other in her eyes. "You are together?"
"Do you honestly care?" Daniella hissed quietly in question.
"Not really," Marlene answered honestly.
"Then shut the hell up," Daniella told her, resulting in Marlene glaring at her. "And lead the way." Marlene let out a sigh and nodded, moving out from the cover and sneaking around each of the convenient wood crates in front of them. The others maneuvered stealthy after her, following her lead and meeting up with her at the steps to the left. They all quietly moved up the stairs and while Joel, Tess, and Marlene hid behind yet another crate, Nathan and Daniella quietly entered the open door right beside the three.
"You know, you're really hot when you're angry," Nathan whispered to her as they creeped towards the exit of the room they were in.
"Shut up," Daniella hissed at him lowly. "You'll get us found out."
Exiting to the far hall, Daniella silently hopped over the desk that blocked the path and she immediately wrapped her right arm around the guard at the next door's neck while her left hand quickly went over his mouth. She had been lucky that the man hadn't been looking in her direction. Across from her, the second guard standing post at the opposite door was dropping to the ground dead, having just been taken out by Marlene via a shiv to his throat. Daniella released the guard she was holding as soon as he stopped struggling, letting him drop to the ground.
"Damn, that was sexy," Nathan whispered to her as he hopped over the desk behind her, it being the same one she had went over.
Blush rushing to her cheeks, Daniella turned her head to look at him. "Don't you ever shut up?" she complained, still remaining quiet because of the few remaining guards nearby.
"Sometimes," Nathan answered hushedly.
"Doesn't seem that way," Daniella informed him. She moved to the left of the room. She could hear Tess, Joel, Marlene, and Nathan following her. They all entered the storage room quietly and approached the window to the left. Outside of it was a guard who had his back towards them. Daniella made a move to climb out the window, but Joel laid his hand on her shoulder and shook his head; he wasn't risking her getting scene. Daniella looked annoyed but she gestured for him to go ahead; she knew that he was more experienced with this sort of thing and knew it was more unlikely for him to get caught.
Joel climbed out of the window silently and he quickly strangled the man, releasing him once the deed was done. He, then, headed over to the far left side, staying behind the crates. Tess, Marlene, and Daniella followed his lead. However, as soon as they were grouped together, they noticed Nathan wasn't with them. The dumbass was trying to sneak up behind a guard standing at the end of the bridge just as the guard from under the bridge climbed the stairs and turned in his direction.
"Straggler!" the guard yelled as he spotted Nathan.
"Shit!" Nathan dove behind a crate as the three remaining guards started firing at him, the third running from the middle of the bridge to where the other two guards were.
"That damn idiot," Daniella mumbled, shaking her head. "He'll be the death of me for sure." She got out of her cover as she pulled out her weapon, firing multiple shots into one guard, killing him. She didn't bother going back behind cover as she started firing at a second guard. Joel, Tess, and Marlene popped their heads out every now and then to fire at a guard but the bullets never hit their targets. As Daniella took out a second guard, the last one that remained turned his attention to her. He had moved back towards where he came, the stairs that lead to under the bridge, and he had been hiding behind a crate. He poked his whole body out as he prepared to shoot Daniella.
"NO!" Nathan shouted as he witnessed this from where he was, shooting the last guard in the head, ending him. Nathan was grateful that he himself had moved out of his hiding place to notice that the guard was about to possibly kill Daniella. He ran over to her as she moved to the other side of the crate; Joel, Tess, and Marlene stood back up straight but remained behind the crate for a few seconds. Nathan pulled Daniella into a hug as soon as she had put her gun away. Nathan had simply dropped his to the ground. "Don't fucking do that again."
"Huh?" Daniella questioned, confused.
"You didn't go back behind cover," Nathan pointed out. "Don't fucking do that again. That last dickhead could've killed you if I hadn't moved when I did."
"Oh... Well, I can't help that you are influencing me when your recklessness," Daniella told him. "That's the third time you've saved me, I believe." Perhaps he saved her more than that.
"Today or since we've met?" Nathan teased, keeping her in a hug.
"...Shut up," she pouted, finally returning the hug.
"We need to get moving," Marlene informed the lovebirds as she headed towards the stairs by the last guard. Tess followed close behind her and Joel, after sending a disapproving look at Nathan as he went by, was soon close behind them both.
Nathan sighed. "Yes ma'am." He removed his arms from Daniella and he strode back over to where he had dropped his gun, picking it up and putting it back in its place. Daniella stood in place, waiting for him and they both walked after Marlene, Tess, and Joel together...
This chapter is not my best work, that's for sure. I feel like I could've done better, but I couldn't think of anything else other than what I put. Hope you enjoyed it regardless.