𝕺𝖜𝖓 𝖂𝖔𝖗𝖘𝖙 𝕰𝖓𝖊𝖒𝖞

- CHAPTER THREE -
ALWAYS BE PREPARED

KATHY SPRINTED AS fast as she could, pushing Ellie to move faster with her shorter legs. They jumped down a steep ridge, just as the soldiers' truck pulled up above them.

"Holy shit!"

"I got two dead uniforms. I repeat. I got two casualties in Sector Twelve. Requesting immediate backup."

"Follow me." Tess said, crouching behind a fallen pillar as an alarm blared around them. Another truck pulled up ahead with a searchlight attached to its roof. "Alright, Ellie. When I give you the signal, we run."

"Signal. Run. Got it." Ellie confirmed. The searchlight moved away from their area.

"Now. Run." The smuggler commanded and they ran, dropping down another ridge into a deep trench. Multiple searchlights were crossing the path ahead of them. "Stay away from those lights."

Kathy and Ellie avoided with ease, climbing over a pillar and under another. The brunette looked down at her shaky niece after she assessed their next move, "Sweetheart, it's gonna be another sprint. You ready?"

"Sure. Yeah" The auburn haired girl gulped and they took off once more, going through a tunnel that cut through the the floor above.

"Goddammit. They're everywhere." Joel voiced in agitation as they came out the tunnel and dropped into the large puddle of water below.

"Soldier." Tess pointed out with a low voice, "Right there."

"I see 'em, I see 'em."

A soldier from above them could be heard, "They must've gotten through. Check the trenches!"

"Just stay back." Joel advised as they snuck around a corner.

"I don't see anything down there. Are we sure they came this way?"

"Unless we're told otherwise, we just keep scanning."

"Stay down. Don't let 'em see you." He continued as they quietly shuffled directly below a soldier's feet, completely in their blind spot.

Kathy snorted quietly, clutching the pistol in her hand tighter as she stared at the back of Joel's head, "No, I was just gonna announce my presence and get shot on sight."

"Come on kid. Follow Joel." Tess urged the teen from the back of their little group. They didn't need their cargo getting left behind with soldiers around, especially with what they had just discovered about her.

With some precision and stealth, Kathy, Tess, Joel and Ellie managed to sneak by all the soldiers without being seen. If a soldier hadn't gotten too close for comfort, Kathy would come up from behind and knock them out. She didn't want to kill them, they were just doing their job. Although, she'd probably think differenly if they had been spotted.

They'd left the soldiers in the dust, that was for sure. The stupid idiots would still be looking in the same area when they were long gone.

"Tess, you got any idea which way?"

"Uh...it looks so different." She replied, looking around the ruins.

He walked ahead and found a another tunnel for them to go through, "Hang on, let's see where this leads.

Kathy flicked her flashlight back on as the tunnel opened up into a building, with a staircase to the right of them when they came out.

Tess' eyes lit up with recognition when she looked around, "Yeah, this looks right. Stay close."

"Well, at least we're out of the rain."

"How's it look?" Kathy asked him as she reached the top of the stairs.

He spotted a hole in the wall, "I think we can squeeze through here."

"Charlie squad, report!"

"Shit, shit. I got more soldiers." Joel warned.

"Targets still on the loose, sir!"

"Break off pursuit and report back to Sector Eleven."

"I don't think they see us. Stay in the shadows."

"Acknowledged. Get to your vehicles!"

Kathy let out a breath when they were under cover once more, the only thing she was really concerned about now other than the soldiers was all the water in her boots. There was nothing worse than wet socks. They scavenged around for ammo or anything useful.

"Are we safe?" Ellie directed her question at her aunt, the only one she trusted to answer.

Kathy shook her head, "Not at all. They're still around somewhere. Remember what I taught you?"

"Always be prepared, even when you're scared." Ellie recited quietly so that Joel and Tess couldn't hear.

Kathy smile and kissed her niece's forehead affectionately, "Good girl."

Joel looked upon their moment with sad guarded eyes, he and his daughter used to be like that. He looked at them and saw what he used to have and it killed him inside.

Tess knew that look on his face and her voice shook him from his thoughts, "Joel, see if there's anything we can use in here."

"Sure thing, boss." He teased, venturing off. His voice was heard around the bend. "Tess, up through here, through this pipe. I think we can make it through here."

"Stay close to me, Ellie." Kathy instructed, shielding her face from the water that was dripping fromt he ceiling.

"Okay." Ellie replied, moving a little closer to clutch onto her aunt's arm. She didn't do it very often, only when she was extremely anxious.

The water they were trudging through became deeper, p to Kathy's hips and Ellie's waist. Lights from a truck seeped through the grates above them and Joel held his arms out to stop his companions from moving, "Whoa, whoa, whoa. Hang on, hang on. Jesus."

Several trucks drove above them and the voices of solders returned, "Gather up. They're calling us back. We're returning t the wall!"

"You heard the man. Load them up. Let's go! Let's go!"

"Come on." Joel addressed them when the voices became quieter. He led them to a metal gate that would lead them out of danger, swinging it open with a hard push. Tess closed it behind them. "Alright, they're gone."

Ellie sat down on a broken slab of concretes to catch her breath, but didn't get long to recover because Tess knelt down beside her, "Look - what was the plan? Let's say that we deliver you to the Fireflies, what then?"

"Marlene...She said that they have their own little quarantine zone. With doctors there, still trying to find a cure." Ellie explained, she hadn't really been told all the details. Kathy knew more about it than she did.

"Yeah, we've heard that before, huh, Tess?" Joel ridiculed.

Kathy glared at him and added to Tess, "She said that whatever happened to Ellie is the key to finding a vaccine. They're gonna scan her brain, take samples of her blood, shit like that. Marlene never told us everything about it, just that it wouldn't hurt her. Which was good enough for me."

"Oh Jesus." Joel groaned, throwing his head back in disbelief.

"It's what she said." Kathy sighed, understanding why he didn't believe them. She hadn't believed it either when she first heard the plan. It had been twenty years, if there was a cure, someone would have found it by now.

"Oh, I'm sure she did." He said sarcastically.

Ellie got fed up with him real fast and shot up from her seat, "Hey, fuck you man. I didn't ask for this!"

"Me neither." He retorted. "Tess, what the hell are we doing."

"What if it's true?" Tess stood up.

He scoffed, "I can't believe-"

"What if, Joel? I mean we've come this far, let's just finish it."

Joel pulled her aside with him, away from the two Williams', "Do I need to remind you what is out there?"

"I get it." Tess told him and walked off. Kathy and Ellie shared a look before following her. Maybe the brunette liked Tess more than she thought because she could definitely put Joel in his place. And that was a thing to be admired because he was stubborn as hell, almost as much as Kathy was.

❝IT'S NO SURPRISE TO ME, I AM MY OWN WORST ENEMY❞