Jupiter

C H A P T E R|| t h i r t e e n

Oh, when the stars come out
And shine
And they burn so bright
They drown the downtown lights

E l l i e

"That's impossible Ellie," Joel said, his hands resting against the table in front of him,"You know I-," he stopped himself, swallowing harshly before continuing,"the fireflies don't exist anymore."

I breathed out a heavy sigh, glancing behind my shoulder at Noah who had passed out over an hour ago due to some serious intoxication,"According to boozy over there. You didn't."

As if on queue, the walkie talkie that Tommy had given Joel before we left started to sing with white noise, Tommy's voice coming through seconds later,"Joel?"

"Yeah baby brother," Joel answered, he sounded tired already.

"Dakota said you wanted to ask me something."

Joel looked at me once more, making sure I was serious about getting him to ask the question. I nodded, then folded my arms. I didn't know what I was expecting from Tommy's answer, but I wanted it anyway.

"The fireflies. Do you recall a name - Kali Brown." Joel asked, his head falling between his shoulders as he did.

More white noise, and then,"Kali Brown. I remember her, yeah." Tommy answered. Joel's head snapped in my direction,"She was barely a firefly by the time she fled, though - her and her daughter."

"Shit," Joel muttered, pressing the side of his walkie again,"Do you remember the daughters name?"

"Lucy. I think it was anyway," Tommy said,"Why, have you found anything yet?"

Joel nodded to himself,"Yeah, I think we have."

Tommy and Joel spoke among themselves. All I could hear was the white noise echoing through the building. Her and her daughter. Was it possible that Lucy was Jupiter? That Kali really was the one that took her from us in the middle of the night. Obviously. If Kali was a firefly, did she know what they were looking for? Did she find out about the immunity that ran through the veins of her daughter. Well, that's if Jupiter actually was her daughter. If it was actually Kali who took her. Jupiter had told me once that her mother abandoned her, maybe Kali didn't even know Jupiter was bitten in the first place.

"Ellie." Joel called from across the room, he flicked his head towards a door on the opposite side of where I stood, my body rested against the bar where Noah had found her liquid of choice. I was glad she passed out when she did. I pushed myself off the bar, following Joel into the room.

"There actually is electricity?" I asked him. The light above our head flickered to life, as did multiple radio players in front of us. The room almost looked like an office or maybe even a base for scavengers. I didn't like the thought of them possibly coming back to find us here. Duffel bags were scattered along the floor, blankets and empty ammunition boxes tumbling out from them.

"Seems like Noah isn't as empty headed as we thought," Joel said, pointing to a generator in the corner of the room,"looks like this room has the most juice."

I walked closer to the four radios, small red lights beaming from each one of them,"What can we do with these?"

Joel walked up next to me, reaching forward and flicking the first one on. A small green light appeared where the red had once been,"Maybe press the button that says on," Joel told me seriously, shrugging as if to say it might work a treat.

"Nobody likes a smartass, Joel."

He laughed, opening his mouth to bite back when the voice that I heard wasn't from his mouth at all, but from the radio in front of us. The sides of my lips turned downwards, glancing at him and then back at the radio,"It works."

"Would you look at that," he muttered, lowering his body to the ground, eye level to the speaker of the box.

"Beatrice, head on over to gate 32b. They should be back soon."

"Copy that."

I frowned,"Do think they're talking about whoever took Jupiter?"

Joel nodded, eyeing off the radio intently,"The radio was set to their station," he said, softly shaking his head back and forth,"This had got to be a checkpoint. Seems too easy, right?"

Seems too easy. Joel was right. All of this seemed to easy. I wondered if we even would've realised that this theatre was here if Noah hadn't pointed it out. I wondered how she knew that wall was going to cave in before it did. Wondered how she had known about the electricity. Wondered why she wanted to know our game plan only hours in. Wondered why she easily passed up where Jupiter was in the town without even a little question to a complete stranger - but maybe Kali wasn't a stranger. Maybe Noah was the stranger.

Maybe she had us right where she wanted us.

The door behind Joel and me groaned open. Any hope in me that I was just overreacting deflated when I turned to see Noah standing there, bright eyed and clearly not as drunk as she had let on. My own gun aimed right at me in trembling hands,"I'm sorry Ellie." Noah said, pulling the trigger. I closed my eyes tightly, preparing for the impact of the blow. It didn't come. I opened my eyes again just in time to watch Noah unload the clip into the radio behind Joel and I, the static fading to a complete stop suddenly,"But that wasn't meant for your ears."

One more shot I wasn't sure she had, fired, but it was Noah that fell to the ground. Her leg giving out from the collision as the bullet sunk deeply into her kneecap,"fuck." She gasped, an agonising groan escaping her lips,"what the fuck Joel."

Straight faced, Joel walked towards her,"You're lucky it was only your knee." He said, lifting his shirt up to unbuckle his belt. In a swift motion, he had used it to tourniquet Noah's leg. I was sure he pulled it tight enough to do more damage than good, but selfishly I liked to hear the pain in her voice.

Traitor.

"Now," Joel began, leaning away from the broken mess on the floor. Noahs lips pursed in a painfully straight line as Joel lowered his face in line with her own. Even my spine shuttered,"you're going to tell us everythin' you know about Kali Brown."

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