Firefly

Twenty-Four

Summer 2011

I was ducked down behind a burned out car. Joel was a few cars ahead of me and Tess had ducked into a building nearby. We were in a fight with hunters that we ran into while out to pick up supplies Bill had left in one of the drop off spots.

We were in a shootout with them and it was six against three. Well, I guess it was four against three now since Joel killed two of them. Nope now it's three against three, Tess just killed one of them. I aimed my gun at the closest one and pulled the trigger. The bullet ripped through his neck, a gurgled yell from the guy and he fell.

I ducked back down when one of his very pissed off buddies shot at me. "You're gonna pay for that you little bitch!" If he says so. It took everything I had to convince Joel to let me come out with him and Tess and this what fucking happens. But I guess it's a good way to show him for the hundredth time that I can protect myself.

Of course, with my luck that wasn't gonna be easy. At least not today it isn't because the other guy, the one that wasn't calling me bitch came up behind me. "Fuck!" I yelled as he slammed me up against the car, hand around my throat. My gun was knocked out of my hand when he grabbed me.

I wrapped my hands around his arm and brought my knee up into his crotch. His grip loosened as he yelled out from the pain. "Fucking bitch!" My head whipped to the side from him back-handing me across the face, knocking me to the ground. I pulled the knife I kept in my boot out before he flipped me onto my back and straddled me. I heard another gunshot and a cry indicating the other one was dead.

The guy on top of me wrapped his hands around my throat, putting all of his body weight into choking me. My vision started to blacken at the edges, the air in my lungs leaving, making them burn. I gripped my knife harder and brought it up and stabbed it through the side of his neck. I pulled it out and did it again.

His grip loosened and he fell to the side. All the air rushed back into my lungs at once causing me to cough. I was covered in his blood and my throat burned. "Fuck." I turned over, pushing up on my hands and knees. I felt someone's hands on my arms and I was yanked up to my feet. "What the fuck were you thinking!" Joel yelled, shaking me a little. I pushed him away and glared up at him. "I'm fine, thanks for asking!"

Safe House 2023

I grunted as the man in front of me slammed me back into the wall. The whole luring them up the stairs and taking them out quietly didn't go as planned. We took two of them out without any incident and then more of them showed up. Joel was downstairs fighting the ones that were left and I was up here fighting a guy at least three times my fucking size.

I had shit him a couple timed but he kept fucking coming. "I think I might just keep you alive and use you as my little fuck toy." I felt vomit rise in my throat not just because I was scared but because…ew. "Not even in your dreams!" I stabbed him in the side a few times and kicked him away from me. "Bitch! You're fucking dead!"

He was about to rush me until Ellie jumped on his back and drove her pocket knife in between his neck and shoulder. He yelled out, knocking her off of him. "Asshole!" She groaned as she got up. He turned around to go after her instead. "Dont fucking touch her!" I pulled my gun out, aimed for his head and pulled the trigger. My arm fell to my side and I slid back down to the floor. "I hate this shit."

Ellie came over and sat down beside me. "You're bleeding." I looked over at her and nodded. "Yeah, fucker cut me when he swung his knife at me. I thought I told you not to come out no matter what you heard?" She rolled her eyes, "You're welcome." I scoffed a laugh and nudged her. Heavy footsteps sounded on the stairs and Joel appeared at the end of the hallway.

"You two okay?" He asked, walking over to us. He stopped, "You're bleeding." He knelt in front of me, taking my arm and looking at it. "It's nothing. Just a little cut." I pulled my arm away from him and stood back up. "So, did you get the keys to that truck?" I asked. Joel stood up, nodding his head. "Yeah, I'll go grab our stuff and we can get out of here."

"What did he do that was so bad that you left?" My head whipped to the side to look at Ellie. "Excuse me?" I asked. She looked down at her hands. "I heard you guys talking, before those assholes showed up. I'm not a deep  sleeper. I heard what he said about him and Tess not being together then he asked you why you left but you didn't get the chance to tell him."

"We are not talking about this. It is none of your concern. What happened between me and Joel happened a long time ago." I stood up just as Joel was coming out of the room. We all headed downstairs and into the garage. "You've got to be fucking kidding me!" The tires on the passenger side of the truck were slashed. "Son of a bitch! Someone must have come in here while I was dealing with the others in the living room."

"Great. I'm going back upstairs and getting some fucking sleep. We can leave when the sun comes up. But we all should get some sleep. Including you, Mr. Miller." I turned around and headed back upstairs. I could hear footsteps following after me along with a heavy sigh from Joel. "I'll keep watch." I spun around and looked at him with a glare.

"We can barked the fucking door. I don't need you collapsing from exhaustion!" Ellie's eyebrows raised, a smirk slowly forming. "You should listen to her. Did you see her take out that big guy?!" I collapsed onto the bed and closed my eyes. I was fucking exhausted. "Shit. Are you okay?" I hummed at Ellie's question, eyes still closed, and sleep slowly taking over.