Our group moved silently to the bottom floor of the apartment building, where Joel opened up a grate in the wall. He crawled through first, followed by Ellie, me and then Tess, who brought up the rear.
We crawled on our hands and knees for almost ten minutes before the space opened up enough for us to stand. I looked up the tall shaft to the streak of fluorescent light that filtered in through the grate at the top of the ladder.
"I'll go first," Joel said, placing his hands on on the nearest rung. "See if there are any soldiers. You follow when I give the all clear."
I nodded, waiting in silence as he climbed the ladder, pausing at the top to slide the gate out of the way. After a few more tense minutes, he called down for us to follow.
Ellie went first and I lifted her up to reach the lowest rung. I pulled myself up behind her, quickly climbing my way up to the surface.
It was quiet, save for the distant yelling of FEDRA soldiers, but I knew better than to think we were safe. Ellie stood up, just as I pulled myself from the manhole, her mouth agape as she stared out at the wasteland that used to be the Boston city centre.
"Holy shit!" She exclaimed, too excited to watch her volume. "I'm actually outside."
Out of the corner of my eye, I noticed a bright light and I immediately pulled Ellie down by her arm. She grunted as she fell to the ground, but I placed my hand over her mouth before she could protest.
"Okay," Tess said, as Joel closed the grate and came to crouch beside me. "We're gonna take the left edge around the buffer zone."
I felt Ellie struggle and I lifted my hand, earning a sharp shove from the little girl that sent me careening into Joel. "I could have fuckin' suffocated," she complained, inhaling deeply as the man beside me pushed me away. I turned to glare at him but he was already shooting one at me. I shook my head, turning back to Tess.
Tess turned to me. "You two stay close to us and follow my lead," she instructed.
"Yeah." Ellie nodded. "Yeah of course."
"Let's go." Tess took the lead, dropping onto her stomach to slide under a crashed school bus. I followed close behind, pulling myself forward on my forearms as Joel brought up the rear.
When we emerged on the other side, Tess stopped, grabbing Ellie's hand as a beam of light arched over out heads. I turned around to see Joel, crouched behind me, watching the source of the beam. His gaze flickered to me, but only for a moment.
After a few minutes, Ellie and Tess stood up and we continued to pick our way through the maze of vehicles and FEDRA soldiers. We were making good time, the ever-shrinking volume of the soldiers almost drowned out by the rain. We were so close that I swore I could taste the fresher air. We rounded the final corner as a large strike of lightning illuminated a collapsed building ahead of us, crumbling and decrepit.
"What the hell?"
Upon hearing the voice, I immediately raised my gun, my finger hovering over the trigger, as I glanced around, only just noticing the silhouette of a man in the darkness. Shit, I thought defeatedly. FEDRA.
"Hey, hey!" The soldier reached for his gun, frantically scrambling to point it it at us. "Don't—don't—don't move!" I took a step to the side, to protect Ellie, my shoulder almost brushing Joel's as he slowly reached over, pushing the barrel of my gun down and raising his arms above his head. "Don't move!"
I immediately got the message and stowed the gun in its holster, mimicking Joel's actions as Ellie and Tess followed suit. Suddenly, another bout of lightning illuminated the soldier. He was quiet for a second, but then he reached up and lifted his helmet off his head, staring at Joel with a look of disbelief. "You gotta be fuckin' shitting me!"
YOU ARE READING
GLOWING (Joel Miller)
Fanfiction"If everything had gone right... if the world was still how it used to be, we never would've met." When Jenna deserted from FEDRA and joined the Fireflies, she always figured she would get shot on patrol or get hanged for treason. She'd accepted th...
