I wake up before Ellie with my hand wrapped in hers. I get up and place a soft kiss on her forehead before I head out to talk to anyone awake. When I get out I see Jesse sitting on a chair in front of a sleeping Dina.
"Hey." I say softly.
"Hey. How's Ellie?" I shake my head and he nods. I go over next to him and check up on Dina. I feel her head for any fever, and she's warm, but okay. Jesse speaks up and gets my attention, "You know I remember when you came to Jackson, you had that black paint on your face and you wouldn't make eye contact with anyone. You looked around the community and wouldn't take your eyes off the kids." I stare at him as he continues, "You never talked to anyone. I, uh, know now why, but back then it was pretty intimidating. I remember Ellie would always look at you whenever you weren't paying attention. She was still dating Cat so she tried to be subtle, but she never was. After about a year of you being at Jackson I noticed you started to look at Ellie too. You've changed a lot since you first came to Jackson. I would like to take some credit for that, but I know it was almost all Ellie- she was the only one you really talked to besides Leo for a while."
I smile at Jesse, "Yeah... when I got to Jackson it was after one of the worst days of my life." I scoff and shake my head, "My ex-girlfriend, Andy, had just died and I killed the guy responsible for that, I killed the guy responsible for killing my dad... and hurting me, then I burned down the Haros and ultimately accomplished every terrible thought I've ever had. I was so mad because even though I got my revenge I still felt like shit. And it didn't make up for the fact that I had the worst 10 months of my life."
Jesse stays quiet processing all of this. It's something he kind of knows about, but I've never fully talked about it. Only with Ellie and briefly with Dina, "What do you think of all of this?" Jesse asks referring to this revenge mission.
"I don't know how far we're gonna take this... god I don't even know if we're gonna get out of this alive."
"We'll be okay."
I look at Jesse, "I hope so." We hear the door open and turn our head to Ellie entering. She's now dressed and has her gear with her. Her and Jesse walk to the balcony. I decide not to follow them and just sit with Dina. I can slightly hear their conversation out front, but I tune it out to give them privacy. I quickly pick up Jesse's voice, "She needs proper care. There's only so much Lia can do for her." Their voices die down and Ellie comes through the door. I stand up and let Ellie wake Dina.
"Hi." Dina mutters.
"Hey, I need you to lock the door for us."
"Okay." Dina slowly pushes herself. I leave the doors and grab my gear. I head over to Jesse.
"Stay with Dina," I tell him and before he can protest I continue, "She needs you Jess." When Dina and Ellie come in I stay staring at Jesse, "Jesse's gonna stay with Dina. Ellie and I are going after Tommy."
"Wha-" Ellie begins but Jesse cuts her off, "I'm not leaving you guys behind either. It's too fucked out there."
"All three of you guys are going. I'm okay here." Dina says. I look over at her and she doesn't look good, "The more people out looking for Tommy, then the quicker we are to finding him." We're about to protest, but Dina keeps going, "Seriously guys, go. I'll be okay. The more you debate this the less time you guys have. We need more people out there than in here."
"Wait follow me for a sec." I say and I go up to the radio room. I pull out my bag and grab the radio from the TV station, "You think you can connect these to a different network?" I ask pointing to this radio and the one we have here.
"How'd you get that?" Ellie asks as Dina goes over to the radio to change the channels.
"When we found those guys at the Serevena Hotel. This was the radio there. I grabbed it and turned it off before we left." Dina hands me the radio back and I turn it to me and test it. When I hear my voice at the other end I hand the radio to Jesse, "There's a microphone attached to the radio here. Stay in here and if you need someone with you, and I mean it, call us. One of us will come back. Don't try to be brave, just call." Dina nods and I turn to Jesse, "Turn the volume down incase we get to a crowded area." Jesse nods and we all agree to make our way out. When we get outside it's raining a lot.
"The aquarium is over there. Let's just make this quick so we can get back to Dina." Jesse says.
"You should stay with her." Ellie tells him.
"It's not an easy choice to make. Dina would have insisted on me going to get you guys. She's safer in there than you guys are out here." Jesse boosts me up on a cliff then Ellie. Both of us reach down to grab his arm and pull him up, "What'd you tell Dina?"
"Just that we are going to the aquarium to get Tommy. I didn't tell her you knew about the baby if that's what you're-"
"I wasn't" Jesse says.
"How do you feel about it?" I ask Jesse.
"Scared. More for Dina though right now." I nod
"Is this aquarium a wolf base?" Jesse asks Ellie.
"I don't think so. Nora said Abby's hiding out there."
"Did you get her to tell you why they did it?"
"Yeah, uh... Joel had a falling out with some Fireflies. Now former fireflies."
"What kind of falling out?"
"He was a smuggler, and they disagreed about some goods... a fight broke out. Some of them died. Guess they wanted payback."
"Damn." Jesse mutters. I stare at Ellie and she catches my gaze. I don't fully believe her and she senses this. She walks over to me, "I'll fully explain later. Promise." I nod at her and we keep moving.
"I need to get clear on something," Jesse states, "when we find Tommy, you're good with going home?"
"Yeah."
"You'll be leaving some of those assholes alive."
"Dina should be back in Jackson." Ellie says. Again, I don't fully believe her, but I have to trust her right now.
"Okay, good." We enter one of the buildings to our right to get around the barricaded area. Jesse goes to try and open a door with a light, but it's jammed, "You ever worry they're gonna come back to Jackson?" Jesse asks.
"What do you mean?"
"I mean we're going through a lot of their people... in their city."
"Because of what they did." Ellie states.
"Didn't Abby and her friends come to Jackson because of something Joel did?"
"This place isn't like Jackson. I mean, Joel and Tommy helped Abby when she got attacked. These people are trying to kill everyone around them. I mean, they shot you on sight, didn't they?"
"Yeah... they did. How long has Dina been this sick?"
"Only a couple of days. When we first got here, she fucked up a bunch of Wolves. You'd have been impressed."
"I bet." Jesse chuckles, "You don't cross that girl." The area we're in looks like an old warehouse I think. Lots of supplies litter the area and we pick up what we can. Jesse and Ellie find a crack in the wall and move a shelf out of the way so we can get through, "Why didn't she tell me about it? The pregnancy?"
"Listen, I'm sure she'll tell you about it when-" Ellie doesn't get to finish her sentence though when Jesse pulls her down after spotting WLF. I crouch down next to them and look over the barricade. There's a whole group of them here. Jesse, Ellie and I decide to split up to get them. Ellie goes through the grass while Jesse goes to the right and I handle the building on the left. We don't have much cover though and they spot us quickly. More soldiers than the initial numbers come. Ellie starts shooting at one soldier while Jesse covers the other guy. I'm about to aim at mine when I'm suddenly charged at by a guy at least twice the size as Jesse. The impact causes me to drop my pistol and I reach for my knife but the guy already senses this as he pins my arms down, "Well aren't you a pretty thing." The guy says and he holds my head down so it's facing Ellie and Jesse. We are a bit farther away so they haven't spot me yet, "They're gonna die. You're gonna watch as you see what you've done to each other." He mutters in my ear. Just those words brings me back to the night of my claiming ceremony, Did you think your punishment was over sweetheart? You need to watch what you've done to each other. Henry's voice is in my head as I flashback to that night. I start struggling more to get out of his grip and tears fall down my face, "Stop moving bitch or I'll kill you now!" I keep struggling to get out of his grip, "that's it!" he yells but an arrow lodges itself into his head. He drops dead.
"Lia!" Ellie yells as Jesse comes over to my shaking body. I crawl away from the guy and start puking. Jesse and Ellie stop in their track as I continue to shake,"Lia?" Ellie asks softly as tears run down my face and I hyperventilate. Ellie comes to touch me but I back away.
"Just. Just give me a minute." I curl up and try to control my breathing. Ellie just continues to watch, "He, he was on top of me and pinning me and just those words and the-the claiming ceremony." My voice shakes as I talk, "You asked how I bear it... Everything is still there. I wish I could tell you that it goes away." my voice cracks, "the choices are up to you Ellie, I'm with you, but know sometimes it won't change anything." I slowly push myself back up, my body is still shaking as I try to get my old images out of my head. Ellie takes a step forward but I shake my head, "Let's just get to the aquarium." And so we keep moving.