GLOWING (Joel Miller)

3 | The Deal

"Stop," I demanded, my arms raised in the air in surrender. I turned to Marlene who didn't look all that concerned. She shook her head ever-so-slightly, silently telling me to stand down. I turned back to Ellie, who was glaring up at the man with utmost hatred. "You okay?" She didn't respond, only lashed out to grab her knife—which was pinned underneath the man's foot—but to no avail. He just slid it out of her reach.

"Ellie."

The girl turned to face Marlene, her deadly expression morphing to one of concern when she took in Marlene's state. "Oh, shit."

"No, it's okay," Marlene assured her, lowering the gun back to her side. "I'll be alright." I kept my gaze on the man, my gun still in his grasp, pointed at Ellie; but no one else seemed that bothered anymore. "You can't be stupid like this!"

Something behind the man caught my eye and I immediately reached for the shotgun slung over my back. It was a woman. She looked a little older than me, with dirty blonde hair and a sinister expression that turned to disbelief when she noticed us.

"So, this is who Robert screwed us over with?" She asked rhetorically, glaring at Marlene. "The Che Guevara of Boston?" Her gaze flickered to me, then back to Marlene. "I mean, war must be going pretty shitty for you to be buying from scumbags like him."

"Yeah," Marlene responded, undisguised sarcasm dripping from her lips. "It kinda has been." I scooted closer to Ellie, silently watching the conversation play out as the man lowered the gun. "The merch was bad and he obviously doesn't take "fuck off" for an answer."

Ellie pressed her shoulder into my thigh and I could feel her trembling through the material covering my legs. She continued to glare daggers at the man, but he just stared at Marlene, completely ignoring her presence.

"Give me back my knife," she growled.

He didn't acknowledge her. "What do you need a car battery for?"

Ellie reached for the knife again and the man aimed his gun back at her head, earning a reaction from everyone in the room. "Don't," he ordered as I reflexively reached for the holster at my hip and Marlene and Kim pointed their own guns at the man. The woman who had just entered pointed her gun in our direction.

"Not at her," I said forcefully, earning a brief glance from the man as his gaze scanned over us. "Point it at me." I noticed Ellie's raised arms out of the corner of my eye, but kept my gaze trained on the man, silently urging him to point his gun elsewhere. Luckily, he did, with a mocking quirk of his eyebrow in Ellie's direction.

Marlene and Kim lowered their guns as everyone but me visibly relaxed. I stared at the man, refusing to divert my gaze while he was still pointing my own gun at me. All I could do was silently listen to Marlene as she continued talking.

"And to answer your question," she said quietly. "I need it for a better reason than you do." I saw the man's eyebrows furore in disbelief. "No offence, but Tommy's just one man." I had no idea who this Tommy was, but the man before me sure as hell did, for the recognition that registered on his face was plain as day. Even Marlene could see it. "It's our business to know things."

"To know things?" He questioned, his voice raised ever so slightly. "You're the cause of it. You turned my own brother against me!"

"Okay, Joel." Marlene clearly wasn't having any of his nonsense. I watched as Joel lowered the gun to his side, but didn't let go. I was about to ask for it back when Kim spoke up.

"That was a lot of gunfire," she stated, wiping her forearm over her face. "FEDRA's gonna be on the way."

"I know." I watched the cogs visibly turn in Marlene's head as she glanced down at Ellie, before redirecting her gaze up to Joel. "We were gonna move Ellie out of the zone tonight," she explained, much to my confusion.