"Silas." Owen says.
"Surprise. Did you not think I wouldn't know what was happening? Bombs on the outskirts of the grove? Come now, that screams distraction." Silas says.
"Then where are your men?" Abby asks.
He squints his eyes at her, "yes well while I may have figured it out, the rest of these bone heads try to fight for fame and glory. It's no matter. I will kill you all just the same." He says dismissively.
"Guess it's just us then." Owen says aggressively.
Abby and Owen take off toward him like they read each other's minds. Joel hurries over to me and grabs his pack, rifling through it and grabbing his gun. I grab my knife and shove Dina behind me joining in on the fight with Joel.
Abby and Owen have already dismounted him, but he's no inexperienced fighter. He kicks Abby in the head throwing her for a loop and is grappling with Owen on the ground now.
He looks to put him in some sort of hold and is trying to choke him out, holding Owen's arms with his leg and squeezing his neck with his arms. Owen tries to break free, but they're a pretty equal match. It all comes down to who is the better fighter. I run over with my knife in hand but before I can land a blow, he see's me and releases his grip and stands facing me.
I go to slice him but in a motion faster than I can see he grabs my wrist and twists around bringing my hand with him, breaking my wrist. I drop my knife and yell in pain.
Joel, who had been waiting for a clear shot, seems to snap. He steps over with heavy steps behind him and grabs him by the neck and takes him to the ground immediately. Silas may be a better fighter, but Joel seems to have about forty pounds on him. Silas claws at his face and arms to get him to release his grip, but Joels grip is like a vice. Years of survival will do that.
He yells as he struggles to get the gun to Silas' head. Silas panics, grasping trying to get the gun away while also trying to elbow Joel in the ribs, I get on top of him and grab his arms with mine and my legs and squeeze as hard as I can to keep him from moving.
"Joel, now!" I yell.
Then, a loud bang. Silas' body goes limp, and both Joel and I release our grip. We stand, out of breath, out of energy, and in pain. Abby, Owen, and Dina were standing at the ready, but relaxed a bit at the now dead Silas.
"Mother fucker." I say to him and hold my hand, "you broke my fuckin' wrist asshole."
"No time for that." Owen says seriously walking over to the pile of personal items and grabs heavy coats and some other handfuls of clothes and shoes before herding us to the gate.
"They'll be here any minute, we gotta move." He says.
We take off just as it begins to sleet snow and rain. Our simple clothes begin to get wet and as we run Owen hands out clothes. Long sleeve shirts and coats. Pairs of boots and hats. Whatever he could grab. I give Dina a hat and pair of boots. He couldn't grab everything for everyone.
"No Ellie." She says.
"Take them. We'll find more." I tell her.
We wait to put everything on. Shelter is more important right now. We see a dilapidated subdivision and duck into one of the houses entrances.
"Joel, Ellie, and Dina. You guys take the bottom floor. Abby and I will take the top." Owen tells us.
We all nod and begin to clear the rooms. All three of us arm ourselves with our pistols from our packs. Slowly we clear the bottom floor, and see nothing. We wait a few more minutes in the dusty living-room, which is actually very in tact for how untouched it is. A few minutes later, Owen and Abby come silently down the stairs and nod their heads.
"We're clear too." Joel says, "Owen, help me bar the entrances."
"On it." Owen says seriously.
They go to bar the entrances with furniture and Abby, Dina, and I dress up in the warmer clothes. We were all able to get long sleeve shirts or flannels with coats. I'm stuck with the basic shoes I had before I was captured, but Abby and Dina got logger type leather boots.
"Man Owen grabbed a lot." I say.
"Yea, glad he did. We'd be fucked otherwise." Dina says.
Joel and Owen return from baring the doors and we all relax as they begin dressing up. Abby goes around checking everyone's wounds. First she gives me antibiotics and wraps my hand up tight. I wanted Joel to go first but he insisted I go first, asshole.
Once she checked my shoulder and cleaned it again, she moves to Joel. He removes his shirt reluctantly. His wounds were so deep on his back and there was so much blood bleeding through his burlap shirt, it stuck to his back. Abby helped peel it off to reveal a few nasty whip gashes.
"How bad is it?" Joel asks.
"Well, I'm not gonna say it's great." Owen says honestly.
"Owen, shut up." Abby says as she gets to work.
She delicately cleans his wound out, washing away the blood and dirt. Turns out, it wasn't as bad as it seemed. She finishes dressing it and he is allowed to put his shirt back on.
"We'll help you keep it clean so it won't get infected. It'll take a few weeks to fully heal, and your back is gonna be itchy in about a week or so, but you should be fine." She says packing her supplies away.
"Thanks." He says.
We get a small fire going near the window. We found some food in the cabinets and start to cook it over the fire. Dina scoots close next to me and I wrap my arm around her.
"So what will you two do now?" Joel asks Abby and Owen.
Owen sighs and looks to Abby with a smirk, "don't know. Where ever she goes is where I go."
"Well," she says, "we were on our way to Tennessee. Supposed to be a huge Firefly base down there. Need to connect with them and see if they know anything about my father's killer."
"Your dad was a firefly?" I ask her.
"Yup. And so was I." She says.
"We both were." Owen says.
Joel looks uncomfortable. Are they the ones coming after us back at Jackson? No, they can't be. They were in that slave camp for a month. It couldn't be them. The time line doesn't match.
"Well," Dina starts, "we were going that way anyways. Maybe we could help them get there?" She says looking to both Joel and I.
Joel look apprehensive, but I really don't think they were the ones at Jackson.
"I don't see why not. Joel?" I say.
He sits there for a minute and then sighs, "yeah I don't see the harm. You and I aren't really in the condition to be by ourselves right now anyways. We'll help you get to the fireflies and go our separate ways then."
"Then it's settled! Mind if we tag along? We could help you get there to find your dad's killer." Dina says smiling.
Abby looks to Owen and he nods his head and shrugs his shoulders.
"Alright. First we get the info. We'll decide then what to do from there. It'll take a few weeks on foot." Abby says.
"Great!" Dina says.
We all eat after our agreement and settle in for the night. We're all exhausted from today. Dina and I lay together, Joel insisted on taking first watch, but I could tell in his eyes that he couldn't sleep.
Dina snuggles up to my chest and I hold her tight, placing a kiss on the top of her head. I'm happy this all worked out. I couldn't tell you what I would have done if I lost her.
"I love you too." I tell her.
"What?" She asks.
"You told me you loved me last night. I just wanted you to know that I love you too." I tell her.
She smiles and kisses me hard. I kiss her back but break away before it can get too heated. She places her forehead on mine and smiles.
"You're a dork." She tells me.
"Whatever." I say smirking and rolling my eyes.
She kisses my forehead and snuggles back in with me. It doesn't take long for her to fall asleep, and neither does it for me soon after.