Chapter 2: Job accepted

Jake, Joel, Tess and Marlene made their way through the guarded city to a Firefly camp near the outskirts of the quarantine zone. The four made it with little trouble from the soldiers, or three of them did. Marlene was in shambles, barely able to stand and admitting herself that she was running off of fumes. She walked up to a door and struggled to perform the simple task of opening it due to her current lack of strength.

"Joel gimme a hand with this," Marlene said trying to open the door that Joel then easily opened. Marlene then collapsed onto the floor upon entering as she put all her weight onto the door.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa. Come on now, get on up," Joel said trying help Marlene up. Jake then heard someone approaching and instinct kicked in.

"Get the fuck away from her," a teen yelled as she brandished a switchblade in defence of the Firefly. Jake then grabbed her wrist to stop the attack, the girl struggled for a moment but realised Jake's grip was too strong.

"Let her go," Marlene ordered and Jake released her causing the redhead to recoil her arm immediately and put away her blade.

"You're recruiting kinda young, aren't you?" Joel asked.

"You're not one to talk. Besides she's not one of mine," Marlene barely got out.

"Shit what happened?" Ellie asked the injured Marlene as she went over to a table to lean on.

"Don't worry this is fixable. I got us help," Marlene replied.

"These guys are our help. Oh boy this is gonna be great," Ellie thought.

"But I can't come with you," Marlene said making it go from bad to worse for Ellie.

"Well then I'm staying."

"Ellie," Marlene said firmly "We won't get another shot at this."

"Hey," Joel interrupted "We're smuggling her."

"There's a crew of Fireflies waiting for you at the capitol building," Marlene explained.

"That's not exactly close,' Tess interjected.

"You're capable. You hand her off, come back the weapons are all yours. Double what Robert sold me."

"Double? Why would they be so desperate to smuggle this girl. Is she that important?" Jake questioned in his head "Double that number of guns isn't worth it for them for this kind of a job. Do they even have the guns or is she tricking us, hoping we die on the way there or get killed by the Fireflies there trying to ambush us? The girl is either very important or dispensable. Something tells me it's the latter."

"Speaking of which where are they?"

"Back at our camp," Marlene replied casually, causing Jake and Tess to chuckle and Joel to cross his arms and shake his head.

"We're not smuggling shit until I see those guns."

"You'll follow me. You can verify the weapons, I can get patched up. But she's not crossing to that part of town. I want Joel and the kid to watch over her."

"Woah, I don't think that's a good-" Joel started.

"Bullshit I'm not going with them," Ellie said over Joel.

"Ellie," Marlene said silencing them both.

"She knows who I am and choses to trust a child with me. And she's reluctant to take her to the Firefly camp. Seems she's worth something, but what?" Jake asked internally.

"How do you know them?"

"I was close with his brother Tommy. He said if I were ever in a jam I could rely on him."

"Beardo or emo over there?"

"Joel, the older one."

"Was that before or after he left your little militia group?" Joel remarked sarcastically.

"He left you too. He was a good man."

"And him?" Ellie asked about her second smuggler.

"He has a track record. He's got the skills despite his age."

"Track record? Is that what they call it?" Jake thought.

"Yeah, right as if," Ellie began.

"Look just take her to the north tunnel, wait for me there," Tess instructed.

"Jesus Christ," Joel said annoyed.

"She's just cargo Joel."

"Marlene," Ellie started.

"No more talking," Marlene strained to get out "You'll be fine. Now go with them."

"Don't take long," Joel told Tess with annoyance in his voice "And you, stay close," Joel told Ellie "Watch the rear," Joel instructed Jake to which he complied.

"So this tunnel. You use it to smuggle things?" Ellie asked as they entered trying to start conversation.

"Yep," Joel replied shortly.

"Illegal things?"

"Sometimes."

"Mostly," Jake added.

"Ever smuggle a kid?"

"No, that's a first," Joel answered.

"You didn't smuggle freaky eyes?"

"Great, she already has two annoying nicknames for me." Jake thought as he rolled his eyes.

"Nope," Joel responded "So what's the deal with you and Marlene anyway?"

"I don't know, she's my friend I guess."

"Your friend, huh? You're friends with the leader of the fireflies? What are you, like, twelve?"

"She knew my mum and she's been looking after me. And I'm fourteen, not that has anything to do with anything."

"Hands to yourself Jake."

"Didn't cross my mind Joel," Jake replied expressionlessly.

"Aw gross, not even if he was the last boy on earth," Ellie stated in disgust.

"Glad the feeling is mutual."

"So where are your parents?" Joel asked.

"Where are anyone's parents? They've been gone a long time."

"So instead of staying in school you go and join up with the Fireflies?" Joel asked.

"He's not in school. And I'm not supposed to tell you why you're smuggling me if that's what you're getting at."

"You wanna know the best part about my job. I don't gotta know why. To be honest I don't give two shits about what you're up to."

"Well great," Ellie said ending the conversation "That went well," Ellie thought.

"This is it," Joel said as he opened the door to an apartment then walked over to a couch and starting sleeping on it. Jake leaned on the wall in the corner of the room with his eyes closed while Ellie stood there awkwardly, lost as to what she should be doing

"What are you doing?"

"Killing time."

"Well what am I supposed to do?"

"Freaky eyes will keep you occupied," Joel replied and Jake barely opened his eyes to see Joel not moving at all. He sighed and walked to the other side of the room and motioned Ellie to follow.

"Your watch is broken," Ellie said as she walked past and Joel grunted immediately Jake froze and dragged Ellie away. "What the hell's your problem?"

"The watch, don't look at, don't talk about, don't think about it. Just imagine it doesn't exist," Jake snapped.

"Why it's just a stupid watch?"

"I'm tryna keep the can of worms closed here. For your own sake the watch doesn't exist," Jake clarified one more time and then let out a sigh "Bed over there," Jake stated as he pointed into another room "Use it if you will."

"I'm good."

"You'll need your energy for later," Jake said then went to sit on an arm chair, Ellie then got on a similar arm chair and positioned herself so she could see out the window and Jake began sharpening knives.

"You go out there often?"

"Yeah."

"What's it like?"

"Exactly what it looks like."

"Well you're pretty lame aren't you," Ellie commented but he said nothing.

"So how old are you?"

"Fourteen."

"How long you live here?"

"Since I was nine."

"Have you been smuggling since then?"

"No, only once I was twelve."

"How'd you meet Joel?"

"Distant relative, only one I could go to."

"So what's the story with your pa-"

"Dead," he cut off knowing what the questions was.

"What do you do for fun?"

"Nothing really."

"Seriously?"

"I guess I read for fun."

"Like what?"

"Whatever I can find."

"Do you have any friends?" Ellie asked there was a moment of silence before Jake answered.

"No," he replied after the awkward pause. He was starting to annoy Ellie with his one word or one sentence replies.

"Aren't going to return any questions?"

"I honestly don't give a fuck," he replied and Ellie sighed.

"You could at least try to be nice and have a conversation. I'm getting kinda bored here."

"I'm not getting paid to entertain you. Blame the Firefly for not including that in the terms of the job."

"Ugh you're a real pain in the ass, you know that?"

"Likewise," he replied not even batting me an eye while she glared at him. "Glare all you want, it won't change anything."

"Don't you get bored?"

"No."

"Oh come on gimme something," Ellie whined at him he looked up for a moment and hurled the knife he was holding so it lodged itself in the armchair I was sitting in. "Holy shit! What the fuck is wrong with you?!"

"Entertain yourself with that."

"And how the hell am I supposed to do that?" she asked in confusion "I mean it's a fucking knife." Jake then brought out another knife and threw it across the room so that in landed dead centre in a wooden target.

"Use your head a bit and don't always expect an immediate answer," he said and now he was really annoying Ellie. But she had nothing better to do so she took up his idea. Ellie lined herself up with the wooden target and threw the knife. It barely landed on the target in the bottom right corner.

"Have any more?" Ellie asked so Jake got up and put his pouch down on a wooden table that had a set of the same knives inside, before he then returned to his seat. She tried again this time it hit the bottom left corner. This continued until the bottom of the target was littered with knives. "Ugh my god, what the hell is this?" she complained out loud, "This was so much harder than brick or bottle chucking," she thought "How do you do this?"

"I said earlier didn't I. Use your head a bit and don't always expect an immediate answer," he replied which annoyed the her to no end.

"Oh come on, why are you such an asshole?" she continued to complain at him but he just shrugged his shoulders "At least show me how to do it?" Ellie asked. Jake then got up from his and retrieved a knife, aimed and threw it landing right next to the previous one.

"There, happy?" Jake asked rhetorically and pulled out another knife and began sharpening it. The teen attempted again and a similar result to her previous attempts occurred.

"Ugh, I give up," she said and went back to my seat and starred outside.

Night had fallen on Boston and rain was coming down as well. Jake and Ellie hadn't said a word since Ellie had given up with the knife throwing, so she was left to stare through the window. Just then Joel shifted on the couch and Ellie turned back to see his eyes now open. "You mumble in your sleep," she stated "I hate bad dreams."

"Yeah, me too," Joel replied and put his hand to his head. He then went up to where she sat.

"You know, I've never been this close. To the outside," Ellie said then Joel then walked away to turn on a light "Look how dark it is. Can't be any worse out there? Can it?" Ellie asked getting out of her seat.

"It most definitely can naive little fuck," Jake answered adding to Ellie's annoyance at him.

"What on earth do the fireflies want with you?" Joel asked.

"Hey," Tess said as she walked into the house distracting Joel from the question he asked, saving Ellie from answering. "Sorry it took so long. Soldiers fucking everywhere."

"How's Marlene?"

"She'll make it," Tess replied and walked over to Joel "I saw the merchandise. It's a lot. You wanna do this?"

"Yeah," Joel replied simply and they moved on.

"Come on," Jake said as he walked past Elle.

"Don't you think it's a bit weird they're having us do their smuggling for them?" Joel asked.

"Marlene wanted to it herself. We weren't their first choice, or the second for that matter. She's lost a lot of men. Beggars can't be choosers."

"Let's just hope there's someone alive to pay us."

"Someone will be around," Tess said and then we moved on to an elevator of sorts.

"Who's waiting for us at the drop off?"

"She said that there's some fireflies that have travelled all the way from another city. Girl must be important. What is the deal with you? You some big-wig's daughter or something?"

"Something like that," Ellie replied avoiding the real reason "How long this all gonna take?"

"If everything goes as planned, we should get you to them in a few hours. Ellie once we get out there I need you to follow our lead and stay close."

"Yeah of course."

"Jake."

"Watch the rear I know."