𝕺𝖜𝖓 𝖂𝖔𝖗𝖘𝖙 𝕰𝖓𝖊𝖒𝖞

- CHAPTER TWENTY FIVE -
LET HER GO

"FALSE ALARM. THEY'RE friendlies." Maria told her men up in the guard tower, who then lowered their guns as they shut the gates behind them. "We've been dealing with raids. Lots of bandits in this area."

"It's been quiet for a few days." Tommy added as they walked along.

"What the hell are you doing here?" Joel questioned his brother, "I thought I'd find you in Jackson."

"Been trying to bring the plant back to life." He replied.

"We had it working before, but one of the turbines went south." Maria piped in.

"We have electricity, Joel...had. We'll get it running again." Tomy said and then turned to Kathy, "So, how'd Joel manage to bag a tough lil lady like you?"

Kathy sent him a hearty sarcastic grin, "Oh you know, running for our lives, butting heads here and there, he finally managed to catch up with me. I decided to put a stop to his misery."

"No way." Ellie gasped at the sight of a couple horses in front of them, "You guys have horses." She jogged over to pet one of them.

"We got a whole lot of 'em." Tommy replied.

"Hey, Tommy. Give me a hand with this." One of the men tending to the horses interrupted, looking at the long haired blonde man.

"Sorry, I'll be right back." Tommy excused himself to see what he was needed for.

"Can I?" Ellie asked Maria, referring to wanting to pet the horse.

"Yeah, of course. He likes when you pet his ears." Maria said with a smile. "You ever ride one?"

"I actually have." Ellie grinned as she stroked the horse's mane.

"When have you ridden a horse?" Joel asked.

"Winston, this soldier back in the zone. He gave me lessons. I think he only did it because he had a thing for Kathy. Thought it'd get him on her good side."

"Hey - we don't ever mention that man's creepy crush on me. Still gives me the shivers." Kathy groaned, shivering as she remembered the man. Joel didn't like knowing that another man had liked the brunette.

"You know, if you want, we can take him riding later." Maria suggested, motioning to the horse.

Ellie's eyes lit up with excitement, "That'd be awesome."

Tommy walked back over, done with the small task one of his men had asked him to help with, "All right, let's continue the tour."

As they walked towards the main building of the plant, Maria briefly conversed with one of her men, "Earl?"

"Yeah?"

"Why are you here? Weren't you supposed to head back this morning?"

"Still waiting on Houser and the rest of the boys to relieve me."

"We'll be fine." Maria sighed, "Just...go home to your family."

"It's just a couple more hours." He replied, "I'll tough it out."

"Alright." She gave in, "Well, take it easy." They walked inside the building and Maria's attention was taken by her radio going off. "Yeah, go ahead."

"We're in the control room. Steve's about to start it back up again. Do you wanna come check it out?" The man on the radio asked.

"I'd rather eat with Ellie and Kathy." Maria excused, sharing a look with Tommy.

"It's my turn anyway. I'll go." Tommy shrugged, soon followed by Joel.

"I'll come with you." The smuggler offered, turning to the girls before he left with his brother, "Go with Maria and put some food in you."

"Joel?" Ellie stepped forward in protest, not really feeling good about being left with a stranger."

"Don't worry Ellie, we'll be alright. Let him catch up with his brother while we stuff our faces." Kathy told her, pulling the teen gently by the hand to follow Maria to the cafeteria.

"I'm sending Tommy over. Stand by." Maria said into the radio before they left.

➸ ➸ ➸

It felt good to have some food that would actually fill her up. She laughed as she watched Ellie shove some mixed vegetables in her mouth, groaning in pleasure at the taste - she couldn't remember the last time she'd had something fresh. Baked beans were getting old.

Maria had gotten a message on her radio about the power being back on, which was good news. She'd been telling Kathy and Ellie about the community she'd help make in Jackson and it sounded great. Safe. Maybe after this whole Firefly business, she and Ellie could finally settle down in one place for more than a few days. It would be nice to have a home again.

Maybe Joel would join them too.

Just as Kathy pushed her empty plate away, an alarm started blaring across the whole plant.

Maria's radio crackled again, "Maria, we got bandits coming in. You alright?"

"We're fine. We ran to safety, had a little trouble, we're trapped in the cafeteria, but we should be okay." Maria told the man and then switched frequencies so that she could get ahold of Tommy as Kathy and Ellie moved around quickly to block off the entrances with anything they could find, "Bandits are breaking into the building!"

"Can you get out of there?" Tommy asked worriedly.

"No, we're trapped." She replied, peeking over their makeshift barricade

"We're gonna come to you just stay-"

Maria dropped to the ground as a few bandits bashed their way into the room, "They're here!"

Kathy pulled Ellie under a table, "Ellie, hide!"

Kathy shifted between a few tables to get an angle on the bandits. Aiming her gun over a table that had been flipped over, she released countless shots alongside Maria and a few of her men, trying to keep the bandits back.

"They're all dead!" Maria called out as she stood back up. Ellie crawled back out from under the table. "Tommy?"

"Maria?!" Tommy shouted back as he ran around the corner and pulled his wife into an embrace. She assure him that she was okay.

Joel made his way over to his girls, resting his forehead against Kathy's as Ellie ranted.

"Joel! They were coming from every direction. Then Maria was like 'We gotta run!' and so we dove over these tables and this huge guy blasts in with a shotgun -"

Joel pulled away from Kathy and grabbed the girl's shoulders to calm her down, "Slow down, slow down. Listen - Hey, hey, are you hurt?"

"No." Ellie replied, gulping in a breath of much needed air.

"And you?" he asked Kathy.

"Takes more than a big man with a shotgun to hurt me." Kathy grinned, putting her hand in his and kissing his cheek. "Don't worry. I kicked ass. Barely needed you." She added teasingly.

"Sure." Joel smiled at her, caressing her jaw. He actually smiled! The bruise that used to be there from when they met Henry had disappeared, allowing him to see her full face without any wounds or dirt for once. He'd always find her breathtaking, even if she was beaten to a pulp or covered in blood. It made him feel absolutely terrible about what he was planning to do.

He didn't want to hand off Kathy and Ellie to Tommy, but he thought it was for the best. His luck had been running out and being around him got Kathy bit. If she and Ellie were around him any longer he'd end up getting them killed. They were better off with Tommy, his brother would be able to protect them more than he ever could.

He'd like to be selfish and keep Kathy with him, convince her to stay with him while Tommy took Ellie to the Fireflies. But she'd never leave Ellie and he'd never ask her to do that. He loved her too much.

He had to be selfless for once and Tommy was their best shot at getting to the Fireflies in one piece.

He had to let her go, even if it ripped out his heart in the process.

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