ENDURE [joel miller]

[3]

Chapter Three
Unresolved Issues and Shared Chicken Sandwiches
Warnings: None

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"YOU WANNA EXPLAIN TO ME what the fuck is goin' on, Nadia?" Tess Servopoulos questioned, jaw tense and eyes hard as she stared down at the Martell women. The smuggler had dragged her into the storage room of the rundown salon the group had taken refuge in for the night and sat her down on a rusty metal chair—threatening to lock both her and Ellie out of the building if she didn't explain how Ellie got bitten and why Marlene was so sure she wasn't infected.

"Look, Tess," Nadia slowly started off, reluctantly meeting the gaze of her furious friend, "I only know what Marlene told me—which isn't much. Just...just that her and some girl, Riley, got bit a few weeks back. Riley turned, she didn't. Somehow, she got picked up by the Fireflies. Marlene did some fuckin' tests, I guess, and the kid just...didn't turn. Whoever we're takin' her to, they're just another delivery service...to some lab out west. Some doctor is workin' on a cure out there—they think she's the key."

"How do I know you're tellin' me the truth right now?"

Nadia's cocoa eyes softened as hurt seeped through her veins and into her heart. She couldn't blame Tess, though. The auburn-haired woman had purposefully withheld something that could be dangerous from one of her closest friends—she would have been pissed too. But Nadia knew in her heart that she did the right thing.

"I wanted to tell you, Tess—you gotta believe me, I did," Nadia sighed, looking away from the older woman as she said, "but...we both know you would have killed her the second you found out she was bit, and if not you, then he would have."

Tess tried to be offended, but she knew that the Martell woman was right—hell, she still wasn't sure she wasn't going to shoot the kid. The only thing stopping her right now was the woman before her, and the fact that Ellie had been with them for the past almost twelve hours and had, so far, displayed no sign of infection. At the woman's prolonged silence, Nadia snuck a glance at her. The defeated look on the Servopoulos woman's face was enough to tell her that she had not broken her trust completely.

"You swear that's all you know?"

"Yes."

"And you aren't scared the kid's gonna turn in the night and infect all of us?"

"No."

Tess squinted her eyes at Nadia, carefully reading the expression on her face, before letting out a tired sigh. "Fine, but if that kid so much as flinches the wrong way--"

"She's dead—I got it. Can I sleep now?" Nadia yawned, rubbing the exhaustion from her eyes as the woman continued surveying her.

"No. What the hell happened back there?" Tess's stern face relaxed and instead scrunched up with worry. She had never seen the younger woman so out of it. Nadia had always been a bit easy to startle, but Tess had always thought the girl had a decent handle on her emotions, otherwise.

Stiffly, and with her eyes still on the woman's, Nadia replied, "I don't know what you're talkin' about, Tess."

"Don't pull that bullcrap with me. You're not new to any of this—so why the hell did that shit fuck you up worse than Ellie?"

"Just reminded me of somethin', that's all."

Tess's eyes narrowed at her once more, a small huff escaping the woman when Nadia didn't back down. "Fine. Tell me how you know Tommy Miller then."