ENDURE [joel miller]

[1]

Chapter One
Survival of the Many
Warnings: None

Twenty years later

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"WHO'S THE KID? And, why the hell is she chained up like a damn dog, Mar?" Nadia Martell questioned, arms folded and brow raised as she glanced over the disheveled girl that Marlene had sworn she needed to meet. The brunette teen didn't look like much—if anything, she looked scared shitless, which Nadia couldn't blame her for. She was sat against a radiator, arms hooked around her knees which she had pulled up to her chest, glaring up at the two. Nadia saw through her act, though. Even when trying her best to look intimidating, fear crept into her stare. Every so often, her eyes would dart to the black backpack that Marlene held loosely at her side.

Ignoring Nadia's questions, Marlene swung her arm and let the bag go. It scraped against the hardwood flooring before coming to a stop at the younger girl's feet, who didn't hesitate to yank the zipper open and hurriedly dig through its contents. Nadia huffed, watching from her place by the doorway as Marlene moved closer to the girl, not bothered by the pocketknife she had retrieved and slid open.

"Seriously, Marlene, what the fuck is going on?" Nadia questioned again, watching with slight interest as the older woman calmly sat down next to the teen.

Not moving her eyes from the girl, Marlene spoke, "sit, Nadia. You'll see." The Martell woman rolled her eyes, annoyed by Marlene's unwillingness to just tell her why the girl was so important, but did as she said, nonetheless.

Marlene had practically raised her since she arrived at the quarantine zone, just sixteen-years-old with no one to watch out for her. The older couple she had travelled with—who she had stayed with for the two years before—had all but told her to get lost once they were safely in the zone. They hadn't wanted to take her in, in the first place. She was nothing but another mouth to feed to them, and they had already been struggling as it was when she was dumped on them.

Nadia had wanted to be mad when the older woman told her she wasn't their issue anymore, but she had known—even before they made it to Boston—that they were waiting for the day someone could take her off their hands. Besides, it didn't hurt nearly as much the second time—getting abandoned by people she should have been able to trust.

"You're not scared," the teenager finally spoke, trying to keep her features neutral as she nervously glanced at Nadia as she approached before returning her gaze to Marlene. Settling down on the floor beside Marlene, the auburn-haired woman pushed her legs out in front of her and curiously watched the two. Marlene nodded, face calm as she met the girl's gaze.

"Then unlock me."

"How about we start with 'thank you'?"

It was clear that the girl thought Marlene's words were a bunch of crap, rolling her eyes as she said, "for what?" Nadia had to purse her lips at the girl's sass, poorly hiding the way the corner of her lips begged to tilt upward.

"For saving your life?" Marlene suggested, as if it were obvious, "I am the one who told them not to shoot you, if you recall."

The auburn-haired woman's eyebrows shot up in surprise, looking from the young girl to Marlene in bewilderment as the teen sheepishly looked down. She fiddled with the pocketknife before ultimately pushing it closed, letting out a quiet, "yeah," and holding the closed blade up as a symbolic white flag. Her cuffed hand fell limply to her lap after, eyes focused on a spec of dirt in front of her as she felt the weight of two womans gaze on her.