CHAPTER FOURTY NINE

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warning: explicit scenes of murder

          IT WAS AS IF EITHER OF THEM WERE OVERCOME WITH DARKNESS, NOT BEING ABLE TO REACH BACK TOWARD THE SURFACE AND THEY WERE SUFFOCATING. There was no other way to explain what Lucia was feeling as she walked through the halls of the hospital on autopilot, bullets flying left and right.

Joel and the brunette had split up wordlessly, wanting to take down as many Fireflies as they could while trying to reach Ellie.

Her head filled with screams, the hospital alarm blasting throughout the floor and she was momentarily deafened as a Firefly fired his weapon beside her. The woman turned, taking a hold of his wrist and twisting his arm behind his back before stabbing her knife into his throat.

Blood sprayed the wall before them as she pulled it out and she reloaded the rifle she had stolen. Her eyes narrowed as she saw one trying to sneak up through her through the stained glass window and her shot rang out before he had a chance to get to her.

"Please," cried the man, trying to scoot away from her and she tutted, annoyed she hadn't killed him instantly. "whatever you want, it's yours."

Lucia rounded the corner to deliver the last shot but she paused momentarily at the sight of the young man before her, brows furrowing. His eyes were wide as he stared up at her but the woman kept her mouth shut.

"Look, look," he tried, holding onto his shoulder in agony. "you saved me once right? When we were outside of the QZ, you remember? You saved me from some clickers? Look, I was just following Marlene, alright? I don't mean no harm."

"You were going to kill me." she stated, keeping her rifle pointed at Lucas. The idiot nineteen year old Marlene wanted to train for her little Militia group and the boy she said she threw out. "You shouldn't have come here. Guess she was really desperate to recruit an idiot like you."

Before he could come up with an answer, another shot rang out and she snapped her head toward the shooter. Joel had his jaw clenched as he stepped around the Firefly and continued on his rampage. Lucia stared down at him for another second and thought she'd feel some sort of remorse, but she couldn't bring herself to feel anything but anger.

The brunette went down the other hallway and brought up the rifle to shoot a stray Firefly that ran away with his back toward her. 

Lucia entered the emergency staircase and made her way up to the last floor, shooting another man as he tumbled down the stairs, lifeless. The hospital was littered with bodies and she stepped around them as she fired. The woman leaned down, switching weapons as her rifle had no more ammo for her to use.

Blood stained her boots and she left bloody footprints anywhere she went. Red lights were flickering through out the floor and the alarm got louder and louder the closer she got to her goal. There was no doubt the the surgeon would know what was going on and she could only hope that he wasn't hurrying into something. 

It was almost as if she was invincible as she walked through the wards, not a single scratch on her since she and Joel began their rampage.

Lucia rounded the corner on the sixth floor and she pushed the heavy doors open, meeting Joel's dark gaze as he came from the other end of the hallway, also unscathed.

Pedriatic Surgery, was painted in bold letters on the wall.

Both give the other a single nod as they stare toward the end of the hall where the operation rooms were located. Lucia's ears began to ring as they made their way toward it together. 

It was difficult to see the walls painted with all sorts of children's pictures and her heart clenched in fear the closer they got.

Joel pushed open the door and his eyes fell onto the surgeon in the operating room on the other side of the window, standing beside Ellie in his scrubs with two nurses on her other side. The doctor was already holding a scalpel in his hands, ready to cut her open.

The beeping of the monitor was something that was going to haunt them for years to come as the brunette pushed the door of the OR open. The medical stuff hadn't noticed them come in until Joel said slowly, "Unhook her."

The nurse gasped, standing by Ellie's head while the surgeon demanded. "How did you get in here?"

"I said unhook her."

"I won't let you take her." he threatened, though it came out warily as he pointed the scalpel at the two armed newcomers.

Joel didn't hesitate for a second and put a bullet between the surgeon's eyes. The man fell to the floor in a heap of limbs, blood pooling around his head. The two nurses let out a frightened scream and Lucia stepped toward them menacing as she demanded, "Unhook her."

When they hesitated Joel bellowed. "Move!"

The panicked staff did as they were told and began to take out Ellie's IV drip, causing blood to drip down her arm. "Cover her arm." And the nurse did so, placing a bandaid on her firmly before holding up her hands in fright from the guns that were pointed at them.

"Turn around." They did, shaking with fear.

The smuggler checked for the teen's pulse while Lucia kept her gun trained on the Fireflies, and when he found one her gently cupped the back of her neck and pulled her toward him. Once Ellie was safely in his arms, he gave the brunette a nod and they left the operating room.

Lucia pressed the elevator button, somewhat numb and they stepped inside. The door closed and Lucia turned toward the two of them, looking at the unconscious girl in his arms. Her finger brushed a strand of her from her face and she frowned up at Joel.

"We can steal one of their cars." he muttered, as if not to disturb the teen. "Then we can get the hell out of here."

The alarm wasn't heard in the underground parking garage and a sense of must hit their nostrils as the elevator doors opened. Stepping out into the space, Joel looked around for a car to use and he spotted one to their far right with the lights still on.

"Over there," said Lucia, taking a few steps toward the vehicle as she looked around the garage cautiously.

"You can't keep her safe forever."

The brunette snapped her gaze toward Marlene as she came from behind a pillar, gun trained at them. Joel froze beside her, adjusting his grip on Ellie as he tried to shield her from the rain of fire if Marlene was going to pull her trigger. Marlene had lost everything and she knew this, which made her more dangerous.

"No matter how hard you try," she continued, slowly taking steps toward the three. "no matter how many people you kill, she's gonna grow up, you know. And then you'll both die some way. She'll leave. Then what? How long till she's torn apart by infected or murdered by raiders? Because she lives in a broken world that you could have saved."

"Maybe," retorted Joel, voice strained. "but that isn't for you to decide."

"Neither is it yours." hissed the Firefly, eyes moving between Lucia and Joel. "So, what would she decide? 'Cause I think she'd wanna do what's right. That's the kind of person she is and you both know it." 

The gun felt heavy between Lucia's palms as the Firefly's words sunk in, but if she was honest she couldn't really care. Lucia didn't care if Ellie would want to give her own life to safe the world. She and Joel wouldn't let her, and maybe that was selfish but neither could bring themselves to give the girl an option.

"It's not too late. Even now ..." Marlene lowered her gun slowly as she tried to reason with Joel and Lucia. "even after what you've done. We can still find a way."

The smuggler peered down at the unconscious girl in his arms and clenched his jaw. He didn't want to find another way, he wanted to take his girls and get the hell out of Salt Lake City and never look back. He decided then, slowly reaching for his gun when a shot echoed through the empty garage.

Marlene chocked out a gasp and fell to her knees, holding onto her heavily bleeding stomach. Joel blinked at Lucia who wouldn't meet his eyes as she instructed, "Get Ellie to the car and make sure it's ready, i'll be right there."

Joel gave her a long look, shifting his gaze to the wounded woman with a grimace and nodded his head. His shoulder brushed her own as he got the Williams girl situated in the car. Lucia pocketed her gun as she made her way toward the Firefly and crouched down before her while kicking her own weapon away.

"Please," begged Marlene, lip trembling. "just let me go."

Lucia tilted her head to the side and took out Ellie's switchblade. Marlene eyed it warily as she scooted back. "You'd only come after her. God, Marlene. I really fucking hate you, you know that?"

"I won't come after her ... you have my w-word."

"Yeah," Lucia wiped her palms on her jeans and let out a bored sigh. "your words don't mean shit to me."

Marlene let out a wail as she tried to reach for the blade, but Lucia had already lodged it into her chest in a quick motion. The Firefly fell onto her back and Lucia straddled her, pushing the knife in further to the hilt.

"You're g-going to regret this s-someday." Marlene wheezed, it was difficult for her to keep her eyes open. "This h-hospital ... it isn't the o-only place where w-we have camps b-based. They'll find her o-one day, and ... and it's going t-to make it so m-much worse for her."

Lucia leaned down to her level and whispered, "You're dead."

The brunette pulled the switchblade from her chest and brought it down again with a cry. Fuck, she was angry and upset and didn't know whether to start crying or not. Too much had happened and it was all Marlene's fault in some sort of way. Blood splattered onto her face but she barely even noticed. Marlene was gurgling blood now and stilled underneath the woman. All the pent up rage from the last months came rushing out of her as she stabbed the Firefly over and over.

"Stop, stop, stop." two strong arms pulled at waist and she was lifted off of the dead woman. "She's dead, baby, you can stop."

Joel carefully took the blade from her strong grip and tucked it into his back pocket. Lucia wasn't fighting at him to let her go, she had gone limp the moment he had pulled her off and he held her in a tight grip.

"I wanna go." she whimpered, clinging onto him. 

"Okay, baby." he helped her to her feet, arm around her waist as he led her to the car where Ellie laid peacefully on the back seats, blanket thrown over her legs and torso. "Let's go home."

i'm so glad marlene is dead i really hate her for what she tried to do to ellie