𝕺𝖜𝖓 𝖂𝖔𝖗𝖘𝖙 𝕰𝖓𝖊𝖒𝖞

- CHAPTER THIRTY THREE -
NO OTHER CHOICE

KATHY HAD BEEN escorted into the hospital, along with an unconscious Joel and Ellie. Thankfully, after knocking him out, the Fireflies had been able to get Ellie breathing again so Kathy hadn't really seen the point of fighting back.

Once inside the building, Joel and Ellie had been taken to separate rooms, and Kathy was shown to Marlene's office. She was harshly pushed inside and the door was shut behind her.

"Kathy, you made it." Marlene greeted, pulling Kathy in for a hug. Kathy kept her eyes on the surgeon that was in the office as well.

"Marlene, what's going on? Where did they take Ellie and Joel?" The brunette asked, pulling back.

"Joel's in one of the rooms resting and Ellie's getting prepped for surgery. We did some scans, I thought you should see them." Marlene nodded for the surgeon to lay out the brain scans, "This is Jerry, he's the one that will operate on Ellie."

"Wait, operate?!" Kathy exclaimed, "You said they'd only take blood, do nothing that would cause her harm."

"It's become more complicated than that." Marlene replied sadly.

Jerry moved forward and pointed to parts on the scans, "It's intertwined with the brain, there's no other option."

"There has to be some other way." Marlene pleaded.

"There's no way to remove the specimen without destroying the host." Jerry explained.

"The host? She's my daughter, not some fucking lab experiment! Find another way!" Kathy protested, now understanding what he wanted to do. To get a vaccine, they'd have to sacrifice Ellie.

"You think I don't -" Jerry cut himself off, "I'm aware of the situation."

"And you're okay with killing her?" Marlene asked.

"No, I'm okay with developing a vaccine that'll help save millions of lives. How many Fireflies have died for less?"

"That was their choice." Marlene defended, "Are you asking me, or are you telling me this is how it's gonna be?"

"I am begging you to buy in."

"And what if this was Abby?" Marlene questioned him. Kathy didn't know who Abby was, but she could only guess that she was his daughter.

Jerry sighed, "Look, everything that we've been fighting for, all the sacrifices, all the horrific...all of that is justified with this one act."

"If this was your daughter, what would you do?" Kathy asked him, her eyes searching his for any emotion.

Speaking of, a girl around Ellie's age with her blonde hair in a braid knocked on the door with a plate of food in her hand. She walked in timidly, it was hard to tell if she had heard everything or not.

"Abby."

"I brought you some dinner." She said, placing it down on the desk.

"Thank you, sweetheart." He thanked his daughter and moved closer to Marlene and Kathy, speaking in a lower voice, "Look, Marlene, Kathy -"

"Do it." Marlene whispered.

Kathy's gut bubbled with rage, who was Marlene to decide what happened to her daughter. She wasn't gonna have it. "She raised her voice, not caring that there was a teenager in the room with them, "Don't you fucking dare. Use me. I'm the other option."

"Kathy, I know how you feel about her-"

"I'm infected too." Kathy revealed, pulling off her glove and showing them her scar. "Use me. I don't care what happens to me, I just want my daughter safe."

Jerry grabbed her hand and pulled it closer to his face to get a better look. He examined the bite closely, "This is impossible, when did this happen?"

"A few months back."

"Something in your DNA must fight off the infection, you must've passed it down to Ellie."

Marlene sent the brunette a sincere look, "Kathy, are you sure you want to do this?"

Kathy gave a firm nod, she'd do anything for her little girl.

"I'll take Kathy down to surgery and then I'm gonna go tell Joel." Marlene instructed.

"Why?"

"He travelled across the country with them. He has a right to know." She replied, "Good luck with your surgery. I'm sorry we have to do this, Kathy."

"I want you to know, Marlene, that I won't ever forgive you for wanting to kill her." Kathy vowed harshly as they walked down the corridors.

"I understand."

"You better. Because you promised."

➸ ➸ ➸

Joel's eyes snapped open on a panic, darting from the ceiling to where Marlene was sat next to the bed he was on.

"Welcome to the Fireflies." Marlene greeted. She gestured to his head, "Sorry about the...they didn't know who you were."

"And Ellie?" He asked.

"She's alright. They brought her back." The queen Firefly reassured.

"Kathy?"

"She's fine."

Her evasive answer didn't go unnoticed to Joel.

"You came all this way. How'd you do it?" Marlene questioned him.

"It was them. They fought like hell to get here." He sighed and sat up on the bed, "Maybe it was meant to be."

Marlene stood up and moved away, "I lost most of my crew, crossing the country.I pretty much lost everything. And then you show up and somehow we find you just in time to save her. Maybe it was meant to be."

"Take me to them." He requested, getting up.

"You don't have to worry about them anymore." Marlene denied, "We'll take care-"

Joel cut her off, "I worry. Just let me see them. Please."

"You can't. They're being prepped for surgery." Marlene revealed with her arms crossed.

"The hell you mean, surgery? Both of them?" He bellowed, taking an intimdating step closer to her.

"The doctors tell me that the cordyceps, the growth inside her, has somehow mutated. Kathy's the same, it's why they're immune. Once they remove it, they'll be able to reverse engineer a vaccine. There's no guarantee that it'll work the first time, that's why we need Kathy as well." Marlene explained.

"But it grows all over the brain."

"It does."

"Find someone else." Joel seethed angrily.

"There is no one else."

"Listen, you are gonna show me where-" Joel was pushed to his knees mid sentence by a Firefly lacky, cutting his threat off shortly.

Marlene stopped the lacky from aiming his gun at the smuggler, "I get it. But whatever it is you think you're going though right now is nothing compared to what I have been through. I knew her since she was born. I promised her mother I would look after her."

"Then why are you letting this happen?" Joel retorted. "If Kathy finds out what you're doing, she'll kill you."

"Because this isn't about me. Or even her. There is no other choice here." Marlene excused, ignoring his comment about Kathy. She knew he was right.

Joel scoffed at that, "Yeah, you keep telling yourself that bullshit."

Marlene clenched her teeth and instructed the lacky, "March him outta here. He tries anything, shoot him. Don't waste this gift, Joel."

Marlene walked out of the room, leaving Joel alone with the lacky.

"Get up." The Firefly demanded, his gun raised at Joel again, "I said, get up. Go on, move."

Joel wordlessly stood up and walked out the door with the lacky following close behind. He stopped at the doorway and looked back at the guard.

The guard pushed him, "I said move. Give me an excuse."

"Which way?"

The Firefly motioned left and they started walking again, until Joel noticed his back pack.

"The fuck you doing? Keep walking. I said keep walking-" The guard grew frustrated and went to push him again, but Joel intercepted, taking the gun from him and accidently causing it to misfire.

Joel held the gun against the Firefly abdomen and pinned him to the wall, "Where is the operation room? I ain't got time for this." He shot the gun twice. "Where? Where?!"

"Top floor. The far end." The Firefly groaned in pain, "They're keeping the woman in...one of the rooms...close by."

Joel let go of the man and he slid down, but Joel wasn't done. He shot the man in the head after. Just in case. He retrieved his bag and prepared for a large shoot out. He snuck by everyone that he could until he burst through some double door, barricading it behind him by placing a chair through the door's push bar handles. He ran up the stairs to the top floor, picking up anything of use that he could, sneaking past more Fireflies and blocking the way he came as he went.

An there it was the operating room at the end of the hallway. Off the the side was another room, it's door slightly ajar. He peeked inside and as soon as he saw who was in there, he ran inside.

Kathy was led on the bed in a tacky hospital gown, completely out cold. They must've knocked her out with a drug. He leaned over her and shook her shoulders until she showed some signs of waking.

"Hey..." Her voice was groggy, she must've been out for some time

"Hey, we don't have much time, They're doing Ellie's surgery in the other room." Joel rushed.

"What?! Marlene said they'd do me instead! That bitch, I'm gonna kill her!" Kathy shot up quickly, not caring that she was clad in a thin paper gown. "Give me a gun. We're getting the fuck outta here."

He passed her a pistol and they were out the door, though Kathy was stumbling a little with the drug still in her system. They barged through the operating theater's door, revealing a group of doctor's huddled around Ellie.

"Doctor?" One of the nurses asked nervously.

"What're you doing in here?" The doctor asked, Kathy recognised him as Jerry, the one who had been showing her and Marlene the scans. He grabbed a scalpel and held it out in front of him, "I won't let you take her. This is our future. Think of all the lives we'll save."

Joel shot him in the head. Kathy felt a moment of guilt, thinking about his daughter that she had met briefly. This might come to bite them in the ass.

"No! You fucking animal!" The nurse cried, backing up until she hit the wall.

"Kari, shut the hell up!" The other doctor scolded as Kathy and Joel moved to unhook Ellie from the machine she was attached to.

"Come on, baby girl. I gotcha..." Joel mumbled, lifting the unconscious teen into his arms.

Kathy opened the other door for them and they ran out a different way that they came. She could hear the Fireflies gaining on them and they blindly ran through the hospital, hoping to find an exit. At the end of one of the hallways was an elevator, all lit up like the holy grail. They're perfect route of escape.

Kathy closed the lift doors just in time as bullets rained down upon them. The doors opened again in the underground car park and Kathy pressed the emergency stop button so that the Fireflies couldn't call it back up.

"You can't save her." Marlene's presence halted them from moving. She was holding them at gunpoint. "Even if you get her out of here, then what? How long before she's torn to pieces by a pack of clickers? That is if she hasn't been raped and murdered first."

"That isn't your decision to make." Kathy remarked, her own gun aimed at Marlene.

"It's what she'd want. And you know it."

"You lied to me, Marlene." Kathy glared, her eyes full of hatred and her finger itching to pull the trigger.

"Look, you can still do the right thing here." Marlene held out her hands in surrender, trying to appeal to them, "She won't feel anything."

"But I will." Kathy shot her gun, getting Marlene right in the gut. She then approached the Queen Firefly who was now stumbling on the floor while Joel placed Ellie in the backseat of one of the cars.

"Wait, let me go." Marlene pleaded. "Please."

"Just die, bitch." Kathy shot her again, this time in the head.

Joel came up beside her and pulled her into a soft kiss. When he pulled away, he tucked some of her hair behind her ear, "Let's get the hell outta here."

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