The Remnants of Hope

I'm Not Going With Him! Pt 1

Authors note:

I'm going to split up this chapter into different parts because there is a lot of stuff to cover in the 'Quarantine Zone' regarding scenes and dialogue. It is also late where I am and I'm about to start back up at school in 2 days, so I don't want to use all my juice on this book. I am hoping to update in the next week but with school I may not be able to. This part goes up until they enter Joel's apartment to wait for Tess. Tysm guys!

Also, remember to eat, drink water, go to the bathroom, and get good amounts of sleep, y'know, all that human stuff. Thanks for reading, and please like comment and vote. It helps me so much you don't even know. Bye bye <3

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The quarantine zone-

"Where are we going Marlene?" Tess says, fallowing the wounded woman. "This way. It's not far now," she said as she turned a corner. "How you holding up?" Tess asked.

"I'm running on fumes, but I'll make it. The place is right up ahead." The loudspeaker goes off 'Attention. Curfew is now in full effect. Anyone caught outside without proper authorization will be arrested and prosecuted.'

"Shit. We need to hurry." Marlene curses under her breath.

"What the hell are we smuggling?" Joel asked, following behind them. "I'll show you. Joel, give me a hand with this." She replies before Joel walks over and the two push open the door.

Marlene stumbles as she enters the room. "Whoa, whoa, whoa... Come on now, get up." He says, helping her up.

Just as Joel looks up, a young girl jumps around the corner, a knife in her hands. "Get the fuck away from her!" Before the girl could do anything, Tess grabs a hold of the girl's arm.

"Hey, hey, hey, Let her go." Marlene says, cautiously raising a hand towards Tess.

"You're recruitin' kind of young, aren't ya?" Joel says. "She's not one of mine," Marlene replies curtly, standing up with a grunt. The young girl sees her gunshot wound. "Shit. What happened?" She asked, her voice heavily laced with concern

"Don't worry. This is fixable. I got us help...but I can't come with you. "Just as she says this, another woman walks in, "So I am going to come instead."

"Hey-- we're smuggling her?" Joel asks as he stares at the new girl, his eyebrows furrowed "There's a crew of Fireflies that'll meet you at the Capitol Building." Marlene says, dodging the question.

"That's not exactly close." Tess retorts, concerned as to how manageable the mission will be. "You're capable. You hand her off, come back, the weapons are yours. Double what Robert sold me."

"Speaking of which, where are they?" Tess asked. "Back in our camp." Marlene replied, leaning on the side of a crate.

"We're not smuggling shit until I see them." Tess replied, having been in this rodeo before, she needed to make sure they weren't going to be scammed "You'll follow me. You can verify the weapons, I can get patched up. But she's not crossing to that part of town. I want Joel to watch over her." Marlene says, nodding towards the younger girl

"Whoa, whoa. I don't think that's the best idea." Joel says, against the idea of being alone with the teenager. "Bullshit! I'm not going with him," the younger one argued, not wanting to spend any time with the rugged stranger. "Ellie..." Marlene sighs.

"How do you know them?" The teenager asked, not trusting the older two. "I was close with his brother, Tommy. Said if I was ever in a jam I could rely on him." Marlene says, standing up and getting ready to go.