Chapter 34: Fireflies (Part 5): The dealer

"Hey" Ryan said to him after what seemed like an eternity "I'm sorry for what happened back there... I wasn't expecting that"

"Don't worry" he was trying to forget about the infected's room. It was affecting him too much, mainly because he did in fact breath the spores. 'That was not enough to hurt you ' he kept telling himself.

His efforts to think in something else made him realize how different this place was in compared with what he was used to. This place didn't look like the usual inhabited area. Empty, quiet, far away from any disturbance caused by crowds. "Where are we?"

"Getting closer to the water" Ryan was visibly excited about getting this job done "Now listen... your job here is basicaly done. So stay behind me, stick to my back. Try to keep a low profile, please"

"Sure" it wouldn't be difficult for him.

They walked for a long time, exhaustion was becoming a problem. Jack could collapse under his own weight at any moment. But Ryan was not paying attention to him, he was focused on reaching their destination.

"So, how far is this place?" Jack said, unsuccessfully trying to hide his exhaustion, he was panting.

"Right..." he raised an arm a stopped, Jack did the same. Ryan looked around; this place looked like an abandoned industrial area, the rusty carcass of a sizeable structure (probably a warehouse) stood tall in front of them. "...here... Yeah, definitely here"

"A meeting point?"

"Yep... catch your breath"

Jack sat down next to one of the numerous rusty colums that somehow still managed to keep that particular building standing. It felt good to finally have time to rest and think more calmy about the events of the day.

He did it. Thanks to him, Ryan was able to reach this place avoiding the military. This was something he never felt before, a sence of achievement you just don't get from solving a rubik's cube. Being helpful for once, at least a little bit, made him feel he mattered, that his existance would leave a mark, no matter how small, on the world.

"You're happy about something?" Ryan was staring down at him, with a mix of confusion and amusement on his face.

"I didn't know I was capable of doing something like this"

Ryan chuckled "the more you know..." his smile banished when a new figure emerged from one of the numerous buildings surrounding them. "Remember... behind me"

Jack did as he wanted while looking at the man aproaching them, he was the same he saw yesterday, Finn, the businessman. He wasn't carrying anything with him.

"He's not..."

"I'm not blind"

"Just as I promised... I'm here" Finn said once he reached them, he crossed his arms, his gaze focusing on Jack.

"I'm up here" Ryan was annoyed (or at least pretending). Finn's eyes looked up once again "So... I was under the impression you'd have something for me"

"And I do, but first..." he gave a nervous look towards the abandoned warehouse "The rest of my payment"

Jack could only see Ryan's back, but based on the way he turned his head, the kid could tell he was looking at the decaying structure, his gaze remained on the building for a long time, it looked like he was analyzing every single rusty screw from the place. It took him so long to say anything that Jack almost asked if he was fine. But then something changed on his posture, he seemed more relaxed now. Chuckling, he looked back at Finn.

"I'll show you my stuff if you show yours" he sounded almost happy, as if he was about to burst into giggles.

"That's not how I do things" Finn said, ignoring Ryan's almost childish demeanor "I'll like to see the payment first"

"You'd love that, don't you?" Finn backed off, apparently Ryan's expression was upseting him "What is it? You scared or something?"

"N-no, just... look, you want your ammo or not. Just show me the payment"

"You sound worried, not a professional way of closing a deal... but of course, killing your costumers is also a shitty to handle something like this"

"What?"

"I guess you decided you really don't want to have a relationship with us, but you're too fucking greedy to just end the deal after an advance"

"What are you talking about?" He sounded a little bit more worried this time.

"You really thought this was a good way to end it? . I mean, I can see at least a dozen problems with this master plan" he made a movement with his hand only Jack could see. It could only mean one thing, 'stay away'

"Ryan... what the fuck are you talking about?" now he definitely sounded scared.

"You know what I'm talking about. You also heard what I said yesterday" Ryan moved his right hand towards his gun. "Yeah... you're fucked"

With his left hand he grabbed the same knife he used the day before to kill the dog's dealer and, in a flash, stabbed Finn in the neck. From Jack's angle, it seemed like a friendly hug. But in reality, Ryan was pushing the knife deeper and deeper into his throat.

Finn was desperately trying to breathe as Ryan twisted the knife inside him. The dealer gasped for air, only for a torrent of blood to be ejected out of his mouth. That made Jack to turn away, but the sound of blood splashing against the ground was still disgusting.

"This is your fault and you know it" Ryan said before pulling the knife out and letting Finn's corpse fall to a side. Blood now coming out of both his mouth and his wound, forming a sizeable red pool under his body.

Without losing any time, Ryan dropped the knife to the floor and raised his hands (like someone who's surrendering) "whatever he paid , I'll double it" He yelled to the air.

At first they both stood still, silent. But then the distinct sound of foosteps reached them from the depths of the abandoned werehouse. A woman; short black hair, tall and young; was aiming a hunting rifle directly at Ryan, who kept his arms in the air.

"I listen" she said, stopping at a considerable distance from them.

"What if we make this a tad more friendly"

It took a few moments for her to put the rifle down and take a few steps towards them. Ryan lowered his arms.

"So...?" The woman was impatient, she just wanted to leave.

"You heard me, let's make a deal so we can forget what happened here"

"It's 30 then"

"What?"

"You said double"

Ryan was astonished, but at the same time he seemed flattered "so I'm worth 15, that's amazing" keeping a smile on his face, he extracted from his backpack a considerable number of notes. Ration cards. "Count them yourself" he threw the bunch of papers towards the woman, who counted every single one of them.

"Excuse me for any inconvenience" she turned around with the intention to leave.

"Wait"

She turned her head and looked at Ryan once again.

"Just out of morbid curiosity. What was your job exactly?"

"Confirm you had the payment. Kill you"

Ryan slowly nodded, giving her permission to leave. Once she was out of sight, he turned to the corpse on the floor and kicked it. "You fucking weasel"

"Now what?" Jack should be shocked or negatively impressed by Ryan's display of violence, but for some reason it made him respect the firefly even more.

"I need to find a replacement" He didn't sound angry nor annoyed, just disappointed "but that's not your problem" he sighed "well, let's go back".

It took them a little while to reach a, this time, not so hidden entrance to a new tunnel on an apparently random wall at the side of an apparently random building.

"This should take us back to your district. Don't worry, this one is still in usage, so is safer"

"Why didn't we use this on the first place?"

"This is one way only, notice the fall on the entrance. I don't have the tools to climb this"

They jumped in, eager to emerge on the other side, they were both tired of this day, the sooner it ended, the better.

"Eh... Ryan?" Jack asked him, there was something he had been wanting to talk about for a while.

"Mmm?"

Jack doubted, if he said outloud what he was thinking, then it could be something that ultimately change his life forever "I want to help... I mean... become a..." he was trying not to be to direct "Regular?" Hopefully Ryan would understand what he meant.

"Help me regularly?"

"The fireflies... I mean, from what I know about you guys, you seem to be the only ones that try to... improve this" he could not believe he was actually saying this to an actual firefly, but he felt this was more than just his way to repay Ryan for saving him. He wanted this.

"You want to be a firefly?"

"No... no, I can't" that was the truth.

"Why...?"

"I mean... I can't even walk for too long" he was thinking in helping by doing small things like today.

"Your body shouldn't matter as long as your mind is in the right place"

"I... I don't..."

"You know, I think I'm paying you a visit tomorrow. Then we can talk seriously. Right now, let's go back to the surface" the sunlight was already visible at the end of the tunnel.

After reaching the surface, they discretely split paths trying not to attract any unwanted attention. Jack begun making his way back to the alleyway, where he would probably find Jane. She would definitely want explanations, and he would tell her everything.

'Almost everything' . He was going to keep the spores-filled room a secret. 'Hopefully that little bit was not enough' once again he had to do an effort to keep those thoughts out of his mind 'you're going to be fine' he repeated that to himself until he believed it.

He was going to be fine.