Melanie felt as if her head was swimming and blinked blearily as the bright light shone down on her, frowning a little, she tried to lift her head but the blinding pain made her hiss and lower her head again. Where the hell was she?
The last thing she remembered was the water surrounding her and Joel shouting her name.
"Didn't think I'd ever see you again."
That voice sounded familiar and Melanie turned her head, hating how blurry her vision was, after a few moments the blur vanished and she seen a serious looking Marlene sitting beside the bed in a chair.
"Marlene?"
The leader of the Fireflies smiled, "Been a while Melanie… you're lucky my boys found you when they did. Or else we might not have had this conversation."
"Oh boy…"
"Just let me go ahead and you follow my lead…"
"Joel, this is too dangerous…"
"We'll be fine. I promise."
Frowning, Melanie remembered the tunnel full of water, the current had been incredibly fast and she was reluctant to walk along the tops of buses and other motors to reach the end. "You found us?" Melanie repeated, "In the tunnel?"
"Yeah… you and the girl were unconscious… Joel was trying to do CPR," Marlene frowned a little, "you have a large cut on your head. How'd that happen?"
Trying to remember, Melanie searched her memory and winced, "We were making our way across a bus… and that's when the shit hit the fan…."
…
Melanie tried to compose herself as she watched Ellie hop down onto the bus first, did it just move? Or was it her imagination? Sighing, she slipped down off of the vent and gently set herself down on the bus. It groaned a little as she stepped towards Ellie and she gritted her teeth, "Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck!" she muttered and just wished they were at the end of the tunnel already.
"Hey, it's okay," Ellie said, trying to reassure her, "We're almost there-"
As Melanie and Joel both walked forward, the bus began to move due to the added weight of the adults and Melanie kneeled down and desperately held onto the side to avoid falling in the water.
"Oh shit! Ellie-Ellie MOVE!"
Ellie made it to the end but as Melanie tried to climb up beside her, the balcony gave way and she and Joel fell through the doors of the bus, gripping on, she tried not to panic as Ellie tried to reach them, "Oh shit! I got it! Joel, 'Mel?! Here, c'mon!"
Reaching out for her hand, Melanie almost had it when the bus moved again and the water hid hard against it making her lurch backwards and into the bus as did Joel. Ellie screamed at them both but the water flooded in and Melanie was unable to grab anything and was swept back, a pain in her head made her feel dazed as she smacked her head off of a seat.
"Melanie!"
But then the bus gave another screechy groan and turned on its side, Melanie heard Joel shouting for Ellie to give him her hand before it all went dark and she slipped under the water.
….
"You're lucky as hell you didn't smash against anymore seats," Marlene said calmly as if this was an everyday subject, "our doctor patched you up, just a couple of stitches and he gave you some morphine for the pain."
Sitting up, Melanie tentatively felt her head and sighed: another scar to add to her collection. "Listen, thanks for… for saving me," she said slowly, looking at the other woman, "we didn't part particularly well so… yeah."
"You're welcome."
Deciding that she was strong enough, Melanie slowly moved herself to the edge of the bed and groaned at the dizziness she got, "Where's Joel and Ellie?" she asked, "Are they okay?"
"Joel's still…. Asleep," Marlene said snorting a little, "He wouldn't listen to my men so they had to knock him out… and Ellie…. Ellie is okay."
Melanie noticed the hesitation in her voice and she frowned, "I want to see them," she demanded firmly, "both of them."
"I'll take you to see Joel but… you can't see the girl," Marlene said, her eyes hardening "she's being prepped for surgery."
"Surgery?"
Marlene nodded, "You knew she was the cure… this has to happen. This time… this time it'll work."
"This time?" Melanie repeated and the narrowed her eyes onto Marlene, "You mean there's been others who have been immune?"
"Immune or slow to turn… but this time, we think Ellie is the answer to our prayers," a small smile appeared on Marlene's face, "We can win this thing… I know we can. Once the surgery's over, we can-"
"And what about Ellie?" Melanie interrupted her, "What happens to her after the surgery and you cut open her brain? If it didn't work before… how do you know it'll work now?"
Before Marlene could answer, there was a knock on the door and one of the Fireflies with a loaded gun stood at the door, "He's awake and getting pretty grouchy," he said gruffly, "keeps saying he wants to see this one and the girl."
"Okay… we'll be right there," Marlene sighed and rubbed her face tiredly: she suddenly looked twice her age, "I'll explain more to the both of you… hopefully your questions will be answered."
Feeling incredibly distrustful of her, Melanie reluctantly let her help her to the door and down the hall to the room where Joel was. Once she was inside, she seen him look instantly relieved as he lay on the bed.
"Thank fuck… when you disappeared under the water…" Joel sighed as Marlene helped her to sit on the bed next to him, "you okay?" he asked, noticing the cut on her head, "you're not too busted up?"
Melanie smiled at him and nodded, "I'm okay… I swear."
Joel glanced up at Marlene who just nodded, "Welcome to the Fireflies Joel," she said sarcastically and then indicated to his head, "sorry about the… they didn't know who you all were."
"And Ellie?" Joel asked urgently and Melanie's jaw tightened as she glared at Marlene.
"She's alright. They brought her back."
Shaking her head, Marlene looked at Joel disbelievingly "You came all this way… how'd you do it?"
"It was her," Joel said stiffly as he came to sit up on the bed, "she fought like hell to get here. We all did. Maybe it was meant to be."
"Or maybe not," Melanie muttered, looking down at her hands, "how about you tell us about Ellie now, never mind the bullshit."
Joel frowned, slightly confused, "What about Ellie?" he coughed and winced a little as he put his legs down on the ground, "take me to her."
"You don't have to worry about her anymore," Marlene's voice had grown colder and Joel's eyes looked up at her suspiciously, "we'll take care of-"
"I worry," he interrupted heatedly and stood up quickly, Melanie followed suit but gave the guard with the gun a wary look, "just let us see her."
Melanie shook her head, "Apparently we can't see her," she muttered, glancing at Joel "she's being prepped for surgery."
"The hell you mean… surgery?"
Looking hopeful, Marlene gave Joel a smile, "The doctors tell that the cordyceps, the growth inside her, has somehow mutated. It's why she's immune," she sighed and her smile grew "once they remove it, they'll be able to reverse engineer a vaccine. A vaccine!"
"But… it grows all over the brain," Joel whispered slowly, his frown deepening.
Marlene hesitated before nodding once, "It does…"
The tension in the air grew as Joel seemed to grow more furious "Find. Someone. Else," he ordered through gritted teeth but Marlene didn't seem threatened by him.
"There is no one else."
"How do you know?" Melanie snapped, Marlene's attention on her now, "You done a test on every survivor to make sure? You said yourself there were others with this immunity… and still there's no cure. You are willing to kill Ellie to chase a dream!"
"You know nothing," Marlene hissed, glaring at her "this is our chance to take back this world and make it like it was before. You think Ellie wouldn't want that?"
Melanie raised an eyebrow, "Did you ask her before you put her under?" she asked sarcastically "Or did the Fireflies read her mind and just decide her fate!"
Stepping forward, Joel pointed at Marlene, "Listen, you are gonna show us where-"
The soldier stepped forward quickly and hit Joel in the back with his gun, making him fall to his feet, Melanie felt the knife in her thigh holster but the gun was pointed at her before she could do anything. Glaring at Marlene, she watched as she shook her head at the solider.
"Stop," she ordered and then kneeled down to look at Joel who was struggling to catch his breath, "I get it. But whatever it is you think you're going through right now is nothing to what I have been through. I knew her since she was born," Marlene seemed to be on the verge of tears as she looked down "I promised her mother I would look after her…"
"Then why are you letting this happen?" Joel asked desperately.
"Because this isn't about me!" Marlene straightened up tall and sighed again, "Or even her. There is no other choice here."
Melanie fell silent but stepped forward to help Joel to stand, she couldn't believe what Marlene was saying and shook her head. "Yeah…" Joel whispered, standing up straight, his voice dangerously soft, "You keep telling yourself that bullshit."
There was a hint of fury in Marlene's eyes as she stood tall and glared at the two survivors, "March them outta here," she said coldly to the soldier, "either of them tries anything, shoot them."
"Now there's the Firefly hospitality I remember," Melanie said, feeling her anger build up within her, "shoot anyone who thinks differently."
Marlene shook her head, "Don't waste this gift you two…"
She left the room and Melanie stared after her, wondering how the hell she was going to sleep tonight knowing she murdered a little girl who she had promised to protect. Glancing at Joel, she seen the hopelessness in his eyes and knew it was gonna take a miracle to get all three of them out here alive.
"Go on… move," the soldier ordered, aiming his gun at Joel's head, "I ain't gonna ask twice."
As Joel walked by Melanie, he gave her a slight push and she just managed to hear him whisper to her quietly so the guard wouldn't hear, "Stay in front."
Heading out first, Melanie took in the corridor and noticed how there weren't any more guards or people on this floor. They were alone. Which could easily work out in their favour.
"Which way now?" Melanie asked quietly, glancing over her shoulder at the soldier who was watching her warily.
"Left… and don't try anything, dollface."
They seemed to be in the reception of the hospital and Melanie spotted their backpacks on the table, she kept walking wondering what Joel was going to do when she heard the soldier bark out another order.
"What the fuck are you doin'? Keep walking!" She turned just in time to see Joel standing still and the soldier angrily digging the gun into his back, "I said keep-"
There was a gunshot as Joel quickly elbowed the gun away and turned quickly to grab the gun and smash it into the soldier's face before pushing him against the wall, his arm against his neck and the gun aimed at his stomach. Melanie glanced around, hoping that the gunshot wouldn't bring more armed guards.
"Where is the operating room?" Joel snapped, adding more pressure to his hold but the soldier didn't say a word as his nose bled, "I ain't got time for this," Joel muttered, shaking his head and fired the gun, blood splattered from the man's stomach as his eyes widened in shock.
"Where?"
When there was yet again no answer, Joel made an angry noise and shot him in the stomach again, Melanie felt sick but she didn't let that show on her face. Again, they were doing this for Ellie. She was the priority here.
"WHERE!"
Rasping, the man seemed to be losing consciousness fast, "Top floor…. The-the far end," he finally coughed out and Joel seemed happy with his answer. He let him slump to the floor before shooting him in the head.
"Now we know where to go," Melanie said, ignoring the corpse at her feet and searching her backpack for her gun, "we better hurry."
"GUNSHOTS! SEARCH THE FLOOR!"
Putting the gun in the back of his jeans, Joel grabbed his backpack too and nodded, "We got this," he said, grabbing Melanie's hand and pulling her away from the voices, "we fuckin' got this."