CHAPTER TWO:

MEETING THE SIBLINGS

HOURS PASSED FOR the Fireflies hiding within the abandoned building while the civilians of the quarantine zone walked around, the occasional rumble of thunder being heard within the distance as rain already started to spit down from the now slightly dark sky, showing that a rainstorm was coming to the people outside and inside.

Chains rattling could be heard in a room in the building full of Fireflies, followed by quiet curses, grunts and groans of frustration. The window sill of the room was wet as rain water coated it, showing it was slowly getting through and raindrops were falling from the ceiling, already leaking through with how much rain was coming down.

A fourteen year old Ellie Williams continued to pull on the chain that was around her wrist, keeping her from moving anywhere else around the room. She had been there for a couple weeks, and she wanted out. Tilting her head back, a groan escaped her as she pulled on the chain again, only for raindrops to fall straight onto her face and in her mouth.

At the feeling of this, she was quickly spitting it out and onto the floor before cursing up at the ceiling in anger. Hitting the chain against the pipes, she sat down with a huff, showing she's given up on trying to break the chain from where it was attached. The sound of the door creaking open had her counting from one without even looking.

She stopped at four as she looked towards the door, seeing a completely different person than the woman she had been seeing coming into the room since she had been chained up in the room. Marlene held a blank expression as she ventured towards the fourteen year old and when she got closer, Ellie finally noticed the person behind her.

Alec had his arms crossed as he stayed a couple feet back, not too sure what to do now that she was right in front of him. His soft eyes studied his sister, noticing how much older she looked since he hadn't seen her since she was about four or five years old. Ellie stared at him for a couple seconds, tilting her head.

She snapped out of it when Marlene tossed her backpack to her, to which she quickly dug inside and grabbed her switchblade, not noticing the woman had slowly moved closer to her. Alec felt his jaw clench at the switchblade their mother had given them, the one he had used before he gave it to his sister when he left.

"You're not scared." Ellie points out when Marlene sat down beside her, to which the woman shook her head. "Then unlock me."

"How about we start with 'thank you'?" Marlene suggests.

Ellie raises a brow. "For what?"

"For saving your life? I am the one who told them not to shoot you, if you recall." Marlene reminds.

Ellie hums as she closes her switchblade, glancing at the nineteen year old in the room. "Why did you stop them?"

"We'll get to that." Marlene replies.

After that, she leaned towards the girl and reached towards her hands. Thinking she was trying to steal her weapon, Ellie snapped her hands up, the chain rattling when she moved. Giving her a look, Marlene only held up a key to show she was gonna unlock her. Holding her weapon in her other hand, she let the woman unlock the chain from her wrist.

"So, Veronica, how ya feeling?" Marlene questions.

Ellie shrugs. "The same. Is it gonna happen?"

Marlene shakes her head. "No."

"So, can I go?" Ellie asks.

"No." Marlene repeats, almost instantly.

"I won't tell anyone about any of this. I swear." Ellie reassures.

Marlene raises a brow. "Where you gonna go? Back to FEDRA military school? You that anxious to be a soldier?"

"You think I chose that place? They put me there when I was a baby. It's for orphans." Ellie sneers.

"'They' didn't put you there. I did." Marlene reveals, leaning a bit closer to her. "Ellie."

Ellie squints her eyes on the woman. "You my fucking mom or something?"

"Do I look like your mom?" Marlene questions with an amused smile.

"No, you do not." Ellie slowly mutters, dragging the 'o' out in 'no'.

It's silent for a moment as Ellie tears her eyes away from the woman in a slow pace before looking to the only other person in the room. Alec was still standing with his arms crossed, silent as he was already looking at her. Marlene glanced between the siblings, waiting for Alec to speak but he seemed to busy sadly staring at his sister to do so.

"This is Alec. He knows you pretty well." Marlene tells her.

Ellie stares at the boy in realization. "You're my brother."

At this, his head snapped up when he had looked down, not expecting her to remember. Little did he know, the memories of when she was around five years old played through, memories of his face and how he spoke with her and how gentle he was until he was just... gone.

"My name is Marlene. I'm the leader of the Fireflies in the Boston QZ." Marlene informs.

Ellie furrows her brows. "Why would a terrorist dump me with FEDRA?"

"Because it's where you'd be safest, and you were safe there until you decided to sneak out. And 'terrorist'? Was Riley a terrorist?" Marlene asks, raising her voice a bit.

At the mention of her best friend, tears prick the fourteen year old's eyes as she moved her gaze down towards her lap, trying not to let anymore tears fall. Alec gave Marlene a look when she glanced at him, venturing closer to his sister. He crouched down and gently rested his hand on her shoulder, making her look at him.

Ellie gulps, glancing between them. "Why won't you let me go home?"

"Because you have a greater purpose than any of us could've ever imagined. So we're leaving tonight, and we're taking you with us." Marlene tells them.

Just then, a knock on the door echoed throughout the room before the same woman from the past few days walked in, announcing that someone was here. Marlene only responded with 'five minutes', to which the woman nodded before she walked out of the room, closing the door behind her.

"What I'm about to tell you cannot be repeated to anyone. Because if you do, I assure you..." Marlene begins, firm gaze staring straight at the girl. "...you will die."

* * *

RAIN POURED DOWN from the now grey sky as the evening slowly arrived to the citizens in the quarantine zone. The occasional clap of thunder could be heard rumbling in the distance, showing a storm was on it's way. People were holding their jackets above their heads as they rushed through the streets in hopes of getting home.

The smell of gunpowder filled Joel's nostrils as he stopped Tess from shoving on the door. The two had gotten into an abandoned building to head down through the sewers until they were able to get into another building. Realizing it was gunpowder, they shined their flashlights down to see blood dripping from underneath the door Tess had been pushing against.

After arguing with Y/n a bit, Joel had been able to convince the teenager to stay home while they went out to get the battery and the stolen stuff from Robert. Grabbing their guns, Tess pushed through the door, seeing a dead body was leaning against it, showing that was what was making it hard to push it open.

When the dead body fell to the side after she pushed on the door, she felt her entire body freeze to see that it was Robert's lifeless body in front of the door. Stepping out further into the hallway, the woman caught sight of many more dead bodies. Joel squeezed through the door, hard gaze looking around at the lifeless bodies.

Tess crouches after catching sight of their battery that was beside Robert's dead body. "Well, the battery's no good. And he still tried to sell it. Twice. You greedy fuck."

At the sound of groans echoing from down the hall, their bodies tensed. While Joel began to move in that direction, Tess slowly stood up from her crouched position. He could hear their whispering voices when he reached the end of the hall the two of them were in. Back against the wall, he peaked from behind it to see the figures of Marlene, Alec and Kim at the end of the hall.

Taking a quick glance back at Tess, Joel was venturing forward and towards them, grip on his gun tight. Just when he was moving by a door, the door suddenly was pulled open and Ellie was sprinting out while holding her switchblade high up, ready to attack. However, Joel was quick to grab ahold of her and throw her against the wall, catching the other's attention.

Joel kept his gun pointed at the fourteen year old, tearing his gaze away when Marlene called out his name, to which he said her name back in confusion. Ellie only responded with a nod when her brother asked if she was alright, reaching to grab switchblade, though Joel's foot was firmly planted on it. When Marlene called out to her, she looked over to see her clutching her side.

"Oh, shit!" Ellie curses, noticing her gunshot wound.

"No, it's okay. I'll be alright." Marlene reassures. "And you can't be stupid like this."

"So this is who Robert screwed us over with?" Tess calls out, coming out from behind the wall. "The Che Guevara of Boston? I mean, war must be going pretty shitty for you to be buying from scumbags like him."

Marlene nods. "Yeah, it kind of has been. The merch was bad, and he obviously didn't take 'fuck off' for an answer."

"Gimme my knife." Ellie quietly demands as she stares at her weapon beneath Joel's boot.

"What do you need a car battery for?" Joel questions, ignoring her.

Just then, Ellie was reaching out to grab her switchblade, hand touching Joel's boot along the way. Feeling this and seeing it in the corner of his eye, Joel quickly turned to her and aimed his gun right at her, causing her to raise her hands in surrender. Alec was quick to point his own gun at the older man with a glare with the others following.

"Hey! Not at her. Point it at me." Alec instructs in anger, to which the man slowly does so.

"And to answer your question, I need it for a better reason than you do." Marlene states. "No offense, but Tommy's just one man. It's our business to know things."

"'To know things'." Joel repeats in disbelief. "You're the cause of it. You turned my own brother against me."

"That was a lot of gunfire. FEDRA's gonna be on the way." Kim speaks up.

"I know." Marlene replies with a sigh, staring at the youngest person in the room. "We were gonna move Ellie outta the zone tonight. But we won't make it anywhere like this. Not for a while anyway. So now I'm thinking, you're gonna do it."

"The hell we are." Joel argues.

"I'm not going with them!" Ellie adds at the same time.

Alec looks to his leader, jaw clenched. "Marlene, forget about them. I'll do it."

"You're not trained enough to go out there on your own." Marlene tells him.

"Then let me take her." Kim intervenes.

"Tess, we don't have time for this." Joel says to his partner.

Marlene raises a brow. "Oh, you don't have time?"

"Who is she?" Tess asks.

"To you? She's cargo." Marlene simply states.

Joel shakes his head. "We don't smuggle people. Sorry."

"I can do it." Kim offers again.

"Kim, you don't have a fucking ear on your fucking head. Could you please?" Marlene snaps, taking a deep breath afterwards. "There's a team of Fireflies waiting for her at the old State House. I know what's out there. We were going with an entire squadron for that very reason. But now I don't have a truck, I don't have a squadron, FEDRA's five minutes away. What I do have is you. And I know what you're both capable of. For better or worse."

"What are they capable of?" Ellie wonders out loud.

"You get her there safely, and they'll give you what you need." Marlene continues, ignoring her. "Not just a battery. The whole thing. Fueled up trucks, guns, supplies, all of it. I swear."

She repeats those last two words firmly before Joel and Tess look at one another. Glancing at the others, Tess moves her head in a gesture for him to come to her so they could talk quietly. Joel kicks Ellie's switchblade away before she could grab it before moving towards his partner, ignoring the fourteen year old cursing at him.

"You trust her?" Tess quietly questions, receiving a knowing look from him. "No, me neither, but she seems desperate."

"Firefly vehicle usually means repurposed FEDRA stuff." Joel recalls. "So better than decent chance making it to Tommy in one of those. The second we hand that kid over--"

"Y'all talk it through, but please remember that I'm bleeding out." Marlene interrupts.

Tess faces her after a moment. "Okay. Here's the deal. We'll get her to your crew at the State House. But before we hand her over, they give us everything that we want. If not, we kill her, there and then."

Marlene nods without hesitating. "Deal."

"Really? That fast?" Alec asks in disbelief.

"She is all that matters." Marlene reminds, glancing between the siblings. "My team will not jeopardize that. Remember what I told you? Now go get your backpack."

Alec steps forward. "I'm going with them."

"Hey, we didn't agree to two people." Joel argues before Marlene could say anything.

"Does it look like I care, dipshit? She's my sister, so I'm going." Alec snaps back. "And if you think of trying anything, you get bullet to the head."

Just as he opens his mouth, Joel stops when Marlene says his name, not seeming to argue with the nineteen year old. The older Williams siblings reaches down and pulls his little sister up to her feet before gently pushing her into the room she had been trapped in for the past couple of weeks now to grab her backpack.

The adults stood in silence as they waited for the siblings, a few seconds passing by before they were stepping back out into the hall, backpacks over their shoulders. Ellie took a glance at Marlene with Alec doing the same, the woman giving him a nod. Resting his hand on Ellie's shoulder, he leads her to where Tess walked, bumping shoulders with Joel along the way.

"Joel..." Marlene calls out before he moved. "...don't fuck this up. Please."

The man only stares at her with a blank expression before he walked off where Tess, Alec and Ellie turned to, leaving Kim and Marlene to watch. Once he turned the corner, Marlen let out a sigh as she and Kim headed down the opposite end of the hall, ignoring the pain in her body.