Chapter 14:

Tommy's hand slowly slid out of the handcuff; pain coursing through his wrist with every move he made. Blood oozed over his hand and the cuff and dripped onto the couch he was sitting on. He grimaced, quickly covering it up with a somewhat neutral expression. He glanced at Lizzie, who still looked as calm as someone walking to the store would. Tommy tugged again and stifled a shout of pain as his hand slid out of the cuffs and was free. He looked at Lizzie again. She made eye contact and he gave an imperceptible nod. She let out another grin and motioned to the firefly lazily standing guard.

Tommy flexed his wrist and slowly clambered to his feet. The firefly did not notice Tommy standing, not until Tommy had slammed into him and had gotten the gun from his holster. Tommy wrapped his left arm around the firefly's neck and held the pistol against his temple with his right hand. Tommy had to hold the weapon in an especially tight grip; blood soaked his hand and wrist.

The other fireflies heard and hurried into the room. Tommy instinctively stepped in front of Lizzie, dragging the firefly with him. Alec was the first into the room; when he saw Tommy holding the firefly, he stopped and smirked.

"Tommy, I should have known you'd find some way to get on my nerves." He took a step forward, causing Tommy to tighten his grip on the firefly he was holding. "Take one more step and I'll blow his fuckin' brains out." He said. Alec stopped, never breaking eye contact. "I wouldn't be surprised." Tommy detected the sarcasm dripping from Alec's voice. Tommy had to act fast, before Alec decided to start a fight that Tommy and Lizzie would most likely not walk away from.

"Here's how this thing's gonna' play out." Tommy said, his voice warranting no argument. "You and yer fireflies are gonna' walk out that door and leave. No one'll get hurt and you can have your buddy back." Alec shook his head, that grin returning to his face. "You and I both know I'm not going to disobey our leader's orders, we're staying here until she and the team that comes with her gets here. If you and this town wants to fight us again...so be it." Tommy swallowed. He looked at the...Tommy counted eight including Alec, fireflies standing with weapons trained on them.

Alec seemed to remember something. He turned to one of the others and said; "Bring that other girl in here." Tommy's blood ran cold. Angel! How did I forget Angel? Acting fast, Tommy pulled the trigger of the gun, killing the firefly that he was holding. He shot the firefly that had moved to go get Angel. He threw the body of the dead firefly at Alec, spun around, grabbed Lizzie and dove behind the chair she was on, pulling her with him. Bullets ripped through the air and the sound was almost deafening in the enclosed space. If the citizens of Bertrand hadn't heard the shotgun blast from almost an hour ago, they would definitely hear this.

Lizzie looked at Tommy's hand calmly. "That looks like it hurts," she said in a peaceful voice. She slowly peaked around the couch, trying to keep from getting her head blown off. "You'd better hurry, it's only going to take them a second to decide to come and grab us." She said. Tommy nodded. He leaned around the chair and popped off several rounds. One firefly fell and two others jumped out of the way. Alec shook his head and began to quickly advance on the chair. "This is fucking ridiculous!" Tommy looked at Lizzie for a split second. He jumped from behind the chair and hurried over to the couch he'd been sitting on. Alec caught sight of this movement and fired at Tommy, just barely missing him by a fraction of an inch.

This is so fucked! Tommy thought. He hurried over to the other side of the couch, silently trying to will Angel to help out, to stop grieving, even for a moment, to take at least one shot. But almost immediately he stopped. He knew she would, he knew that she was biding her time, she wasn't an idiot.

The gunshots had scared the shit out of Angel. She looked up and saw the beginning of a firefight play out in the sitting room. She decided now would be the time to move. The entire time she'd been kneeling next to Chad's dead body, she'd been trying to figure out a way to kill those firefly motherfuckers and serve some serious justice.

Almost silently, Angel crept down the hallway, to the bedroom that the fireflies had been in. She slid in through the door, and straightened. There on the bed was Angel's and Lizzie's pistol, Lizzie's knife, Chad's crossbow and Tommy's rifle. Angel holstered her pistol and picked up Chad's crossbow. She pulled the string (one-fifty weight) back and loaded an arrow before stepping back out into the hallway. She moved quickly back to the living room, just in time to see Tommy move from behind a chair, to the couch where he had been sitting. Gunfire was sent his way, and he didn't move from behind the couch.

Angel took aim with her crossbow, aiming at one of the fireflies, and pulling the trigger. The arrow shot quickly through the air and stabbed him through the back before protruding from his stomach in a spray of blood. He let out a cry, lurched, and fell to the floor dead. The fireflies' attention was momentarily drawn to her. She moved behind the small section of wall that made up the right side of the archway that led from the kitchen to the living room. She dropped the crossbow and drew her pistol. She took a deep breath before stepping out from behind the wall and opening fire.

Joel got out of the truck and ran down the street. He, Ellie, Devin and Zack had gotten back to Bertrand five minutes earlier. Joel and Devin had been on their way to dropping their vehicles off, when gunshots had gone off. And to Joel it sounded as if the gunshots were coming from Tommy's. Behind himself, Joel could hear Ellie and Devin and Zack following, but that didn't matter at the moment. It would probably be better if there were more going in there anyway.

People in their houses began to step outside, preparing for some kind of attack. All heads turned in the direction of Tommy's. Joel didn't know if anyone was following him; that didn't matter. Joel drew his pistol when he reached Tommy's house. He ran to the front door, slowed a tiny bit and slammed a foot into it. The wood splintered as the door was knocked open. Joel stepped inside and took aim. There were five fireflies in the living room. Joel didn't need to know anything else. He opened fire, and two dropped dead.

Bullets from Tommy's gun ripped through the air as well, killing another one. The fireflies were down to two. The bigger one of them realized quickly that he was outnumbered. He looked at Joel and some small bit of surprise flashed across his face. Joel figured the firefly had expected him to be dead by this time. Without taking any other shot, he ran at one of the windows in the living room and jumped through the glass, shattering it and leaving his companion behind. Joel didn't give him any time to do anything as he pulled the trigger and killed him.

He saw Tommy stand, breathing deeply, a pistol clutched in his bloodstained right hand. There was a large wound on his wrist; handcuffs dangled from his left hand.

"We gotta' follow him." Joel said, making for the front door to give chase. Tommy stopped him by shaking his head. "He's only one man. He an' his buddies had me hostage, they had stood a chance then, he don't stand a chance now, and he knows it." Seeing the doubt upon Joel's face, Tommy quickly added; "Trust me Joel, I remember him from my time with the fireflies. Without a bunch of guys to back him up, Alec's probably the biggest fuckin' wuss you'll ever meet."

Joel looked around at the carnage that was Tommy's kitchen and living room. Blood stained the floor and some parts of the walls; the latter was pockmarked with bullet holes. Joel moved around the kitchen counter, and stopped at the sight on the ground: a bloody, lifeless Chad. He took a step back and looked away with a grimace on his face. He looked up at Angel, who he had seen taking cover and felt a wave of sympathy for the girl. Devin shook his head at the sight of Chad's corpse and gripped a bit of his hair in his hands. "You gotta' be fucking kidding me," he heard Ellie mutter.

"Joel." Joel looked at Tommy, who was working on the lock of his handcuff with a knife. Lizzie sat next to him and looked as if she had just gotten home from a movie theater. "Yeah?" Joel moved over and sat down next to Lizzie, motioning to Devin for a knife before going to work on her cuffs. "Alec-the firefly, he said somethin' about their leader comin' here." Joel's head shot up to look at Tommy. He felt a small amount of dread fill his stomach at those words. He was suddenly completely aware of how exhausted he was.

"We'll be ready for anythin' else they throw at us little brother." Joel said calmly. Tommy only nodded his head as he finished working on the handcuff.

"Well, whatever you say brother. We're gonna' need more people on watch," he paused and looked Joel over. "But first, I think you need to get some rest." Despite the situation, Joel felt a small chuckle rise in his throat. "Now that's somethin' I agree with little brother."

AN: So, now we're just waiting for more fireflies to show up at their door. What did y'all think? Is Joel going to be ready to take on the fireflies...again? How is our favorite group of survivors going to do in yet another battle against the fireflies? What other stuff is going to happen within the walls of Bertrand before that? I suppose we'll all find out later.

~Exangellion