CHAPTER FOUR

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          SNEAKING THROUGH THE CITY HAD NEVER BEEN MUCH OF A PROBLEM FOR EITHER LUCIA OR THE SMUGGLERS, but with a fourteen year old girl trailing behind it seemed more of a challenge than she had initially thought. Ellie's mouth moved a hundred miles per minute and she had gotten more glares than she could count, but she didn't seem to take them to heart.

There hadn't been any infected, but that didn't mean that they weren't lurking about and ready to tear them apart. The rain had stopped pouring down on them and the storm had dispersed, but they were still soaked and cold. The only light they had was from the moon that illuminated some of their path and their flashlights, but it wasn't safe anymore and they needed shelter for the night.

"That old office building on second street was cleared a few days ago."  began Lucia, sliding the rubber band from her hair to shake out the tangles from the rain. Her fingers raked through her dark locks before she tied it up once more.

"And how would you know?" grumbled Joel, crease appearing between his brows as he peered down at her through the dark.

"Because I'm the one that cleared it." she retorted, meeting his eyes.

The older man let out a scoff and Lucia narrowed her eyes at him in a silent challenge, but he kept his mouth shut. Joel didn't trust her and she didn't trust him and both of them just wanted to be done with this entire thing and go their own ways. The smuggler had heard about the woman who often snuck out of the zone, and he always thought her to be reckless and dumb, she had to get caught sooner or later. 

"So ..." Ellie said lowly, bouncing on the backs of her heels as she glanced between the two of them. "what's it gonna be?"

"The office building." said Lucia, not taking her eyes off of him. 

Joel was about to retort something but Tess wrapped her hand around his bicep and shook her head at him in a silent conversation. Not worth it. The smuggler uttered something underneath his breath before giving the younger woman a raised brow as he crossed his arms over his chest, expectantly.

"Lead the way." he cocked his head toward the building. 

Lucia didn't bother to give the man the satisfaction of an answer as she swiftly turned on her heels and stalked toward the building she had been talking about. Ellie was hot on her heels and the two smugglers kept their distance, weapons held high incase of an ambush. 

"How did you manage to clear that building by yourself?" wondered Ellie, falling into step beside her. "How many infected were there? Did you almost get bit?"

"Ellie," Lucia sighed, shooting her a grimace as they rounded a corner into an alleyway. "There might be hundreds of infected around the corner right now, I need you to be quiet."

"Yeah, yeah, sorry." she nodded absentmindedly. "But did you?"

"No," she rolled her eyes, hand holding her stiletto knife with a death grip.

Ellie hummed at that but kept her mouth shut, admiring the outside world with wide eyes. Their destination was close and Lucia led the three of them through another alley without trouble. The brunette knocked on the back door once, waiting for a moment before pushing it open with her shoulder.

Once all of them were inside, she took hold of a bookshelf beside the door and pulled at it to barricade the door with. It was heavy, twice her size and she let out a small groan and warmth spread across her back when someone hovered over her, holding it just above her own hands and pulled with her. The shelves fell against the wall with a thud, locking them inside.

Lucia turned around, peering up at Joel and ducked underneath his raised arms before she made her way to the other side of the room, checking the other two doors to see if they were locked and secure.

"You're welcome." scoffed Joel, sliding down the wall beside his companion.

"The place is secure." stated Lucia, finding her own spot for the night in the corner opposite the smugglers. 

Ellie glanced between the two and opted for the middle of the room, on the soft moss that was growing from the broken tiles. It was impossible to tell the time but if Lucia had to guess, it would be around ten in the evening. It hadn't been dark for long and she wasn't nearly as tired as she normally would be around midnight. Propping her backpack on her thighs, she rummaged through her belongings.

Lucia gulped down half of her water bottle and clasped the lid back on, placing it beside her and cooling her head against the wall behind her. Her dark eyes moved around the room and the two smugglers were whispering to each other, still looking at the teen cautiously. 

It was going to be a long night.

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DESPITE THE COLD AND WETNESS FROM THE NIGHT BEFORE, LUCIA HAD SLEPT DECENTLY WELL. Her jeans were mostly dry and so were her socks, having taken off her boots before she fell asleep. Her head was propped against her backpack and she pushed herself into a sitting position. 

"What the fuck are you doing?"

Joel and Tess were seated on the other side, guns out as they stared at the fourteen year old in the middle of the room. Ellie was still asleep, though she was stirring slightly as the sunlight hit her face from the hole in the ceiling.

"Precautions." voiced Tess, the bruises on her face had lessened a bit.

"Jesus Christ." muttered Lucia, shaking her head. "The girl is not going to turn, if she was, it would have happened already."

"We'll judge that for ourselves." Joel muttered, knuckles turning white as he gripped his shotgun tightly. It seemed as if he had a permanent frown on his face and it made him look older than he probably was.

Ellie woke at that, eyes fluttering open as she stared at the broken ceiling. The teen pushed herself up, her back toward the smugglers as she furrowed her brows at Lucia as she followed her scowl toward Joel and Tess.

"Morning," she muttered, eyeing the guns warily.

Joel adjusted his shotgun as he aimed it at the girl when she went to stand up, and she halted once she noticed. Slowly, Ellie sat back down on the soft moss. Lucia stayed seated too, unsure if the smuggler was going to start shooting or not. 

"Does it look like i'm infected?" shot Ellie.

"Show us your arm." demanded Joel.

Ellie lifted her sleeve with a sigh and Lucia saw the raw skin on her forearm, completely healed over but scarred. Tess moved in her seat to get a better look, eyes narrowed. "Yeah, it's not getting any worse, is it?" Joel and Tess shared a glance. "If we're out in the open city, why aren't we getting swarmed?"

"Don't worry about that." remarked Joel, not amused by her sarcasm.

"Well, i'm gonna." she retorted, much to his annoyance.

Tess continued before Joel was going to say something he might have regretted and wondered, "What does Marlene want with an infected girl?"

"I'm not infected." Ellie glowered, pulling her sleeve back down and crossing her legs over each other as she got more comfortable. "Marlene found me after I was bitten."

"And she didn't shoot you?" asked Joel, disbelief written all over his face.

"Clearly not." blurted Ellie. "She had me locked up and had her guys test me everyday to see if I would get sick."

"Test you how?" Tess inquired, resting her elbow on her knees as she leaned forward. 

"I have to pee."

"Test you, how?" pressed Tess, raising a brow. 

Ellie let out an annoyed sigh and began to explain, "They made me count to ten and hold out my hand and then keep it steady. But, you know, I think what really impressed them was that I didn't turn into a fucking monster. Now, can I please?"

The teen got up from the ground and Joel followed her movements. Ellie held up her hands in mock defence and Tess nodded at her toward the adjoined office space. "Fine. Back there. You can find a spot." 

Lucia rummaged through her bag and threw the girl a roll of toilet paper as she turned toward the room. Ellie caught it easily. "Thanks. There's not gonna be anything bad in there?"

"Just you." Joel muttered.

"Oh, funny." she imitated, disappearing from their sight.

Lucia didn't know how much longer she could listen to their whining and drank the rest of her water bottle, having another one in her bag that would be enough till they reached the capitol building. From the corner of her eye she noticed Joel flex the fingers on his right hand, seeing the raw skin on his knuckles.

"It's broken." muttered Tess.

"Maybe a hairline." shrugged Joel. "It'll heal fast."

"If you bandage it, yes." muttered Lucia, pulling out a few pieces of tensor bandages and throwing it his way. "Make sure to tighten it around the knuckles."

"You a nurse or something?" he grumbled, snatching the bandages off the ground.

"What?" she raised a brow, slightly amused. "You didn't read survival books after the world went to shit? Amateur."

Joel narrowed his eyes at her, which he seemed to be doing a lot as he tried to bandage his own hand but Tess swatted at him and did it instead. The latter shot her a quick nod, grateful before continuing. 

"She made it through the fucking night, Joel." Tess stated.

"Doesn't matter." he retorted. "It's gonna happen sooner or later. We're still close to the wall. We sneak her back into the QZ. We'll find a different way to get the battery."

"You're not taking her back." stated Lucia, not being able to keep her mouth shut anymore. "If the both of you want to leave, go ahead, but Ellie stays with me and she is going to the capital building. With or without you."

"This is our best shot." agreed Tess, rubbing her hands over her bruised face. "If we take her back to the QZ, someone will notice her arm and they will scan her and kill her."

"Well, better them then us." shot Joel. "You need to stop talking about this kid as if she's got a life in front of her."

Ellie reappeared from the adjoined room, holding the toilet roll sheepishly as she handed it back to Lucia who shot her a small smile. The girl sat back down beside her backpack silently.

"You hungry?" wondered Tess, holding a small bag of jerky. "You can share some of ours."

"Thanks," she shook her head. "Marlene sent me with her own."

"Is that chicken?" asked Lucia when Ellie took out her sandwich. The smell hit her nostrils and she breathed in deeply, sick and tired of her own protein bars and old beef jerky, the one she had taken from the smuggler's apartment by the tunnels. "You didn't deserve my protein bar yesterday."

Ellie grinned at her and let out an uncomfortable chuckle, tearing a piece of her sandwich off and handing it to her. Tess and Joel followed the exchange as they chewed on the stale jerky. Lucia almost beamed when she took a bite from the sandwich and she had forgotten how much she had missed something as simple as this. 

"You're welcome." smiled Ellie. "To be fair, you did steal those bars from the apartment."

"Excuse me?" Tess sat up straight, giving the woman a sharp look. 

"Here," Lucia threw the bag of jerky toward them and Joel caught it with a scowl.

"Where did you get the chicken?" 

"Marlene said she got it from smugglers." shrugged Ellie, eyeing their food. "Guess not from you guys."

Tess hummed and got up from her chair, walking toward the girl. Joel tried to stop her but Tess shook him off. "Why are you so important to Marlene? And you better not lie to me. I'm gonna talk to you like you're an adult. Okay? Joel and I aren't good people. We're doing this for us, and I heard that she is as well. Apparently you're worth something. But we don't know what you're worth if we don't know what we have. So answer my question."

"She told me not to tell anybody." said Ellie, rubbing her face in frustration as she looked at Lucia. "Right?"

"Go ahead." she nodded. 

"Okay," Ellie muttered. "there's a Firefly base camp somewhere out west, with doctors. They're working on a cure."

"I've heard this before." Joel shook his head, pacing around the room.

"And whatever happened to me," continued Ellie, peering up at him. "is the key to finding a vaccine."

"That's what this is?" he demanded. "We've heard this a million times. Vaccines, miracle cures. None of it works. Ever."

"Fuck you, man." Ellie growled, getting up from the ground. "I didn't ask for this."

"You and me both." he retorted. "This isn't gonna end well, Tess. We need to go back."

"By all means, go." uttered Lucia, getting up from the ground after she had pulled her boots back on her feet, socks completely dried now. "No one is forcing you to be here, Joel."

"You shut your mouth." he seethed.

"Come on," Tess pressed. "let's just finish it. It doesn't matter if she is or isn't what the Fireflies say. If they believe that she is then, we get what we want."

Joel thought about it for a moment, turning to look at the teenager in front of them with contemplation before looking back at the blonde woman. "If she so much as twitches..."

Ellie began to move her arms like a robot, choked sounds coming from the back of her throat as she pretended to be infected. Lucia snorted loudly, amused by her cheekiness, and also because both smugglers shot her a warning glare.

"Don't." Tess warned.

"Yeah, sorry." Ellie rubbed the back of her neck with a cough.

Now that it was decided they were coming along anyway, Lucia slid on her jacket and made her way to the shelves. This time, Tess helped her as Joel hung back, checking to see if he had enough ammo for whatever lay outside the walls.

"Can I have a gun?" wondered Ellie.

"No," Lucia and Joel said simultaneously.

"Okay, Jesus, fine." she held up her hands in defence. "I'll just throw a fucking sandwich at them."

Lucia pushed the door open, peering outside with her hand wrapped tightly around the hilt of her knife. The fresh air was a nice change from the dusty room they had been in and when she saw that it was clear, they spilled out of the building silently and back into the overrun city if Boston.

uhm, can we talk about the last episode???? it was amazing, i absolutely loved what they did with the bill and frank story. I've decided to keep spores into my own story, and will follow more of the game I think, and add moments from the show into it. also, there wil be LOTS of lucia and joel moments when they leave boston!!! i am so excited to write all of it. What do you think so far?