#i DID like that joel said there were raiders at the hospital when lying to ellie tho. and that marlene didn't make it.

[kaiayame]

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[final-girl96]

Firefly Chapter Sixty-Five

A/N: And this is the end of this story. Thank you for reading. Ageless Secrets will be out soon.

YN

“Walk them out to the highway, leave them there with his pack. Give her this. They try anything… shoot them,” she told two of her men.

They led Joel and I down the hallway to the stairwell. On our way Joel stopped looking at the sign that told you which direction the operating rooms were. “I didn’t hear anyone say, “Stop.” The guard said, pushing Joel. “Which way?” Joel asked. “Down the stairs.” We walked down a few stairs until Joel and I both stopped, giving each other a knowing look.

“The fuck are you doin’? Keep walking. I said keep walk…” Joel took the firefly who was pushing him and I took the other. We knocked them to the floor, taking their guns, and then killing them. I checked them for any other weapons, picked Joel's bag up and threw it to him. I pulled mine on and picked up Ellie's knife, shoving it into my pocket. I gave Joel a nod and we quietly slipped out the stairwell door.

“Fuck!” The guard said in surprise to Joel and I sneaking up on him. Joel pointed his gun in the guy's face. “Where is she?” He asked. “Fuck you,” The firefly spat. I walked up to him and put my gun to his head, “I don’t have time for this.’ Then shit him.

“Shots fired. Shots fired!” We heard over the radio the dead firefly had on his belt. Joel and I continued our way to the operating room, killing fireflies on the way there. We had one goal and that was to get Ellie and get the fuck out of here.

Joel busted through the door, startling the nurses and surgeon. “How did you get in here?” The surgeon asked. Ellie was on the table, hooked up to the monitors. Joel walked up to the surgeon and pointed his gun at him. “Unhood her,” I told the nurse. When she didn't move I raised my voice and gun. “I said unhook her!”

“I won’t let you take her,” the surgeon said and without missing a beat, Joel shot him. The nurses screamed and he trained his gun on them next. “Unhook her.” With trembling hands they unhooked her. “Move!” Joel yelled and they jumped away from him. There was blood flowing downCEllie's arm from where the IV was, “Cover her arm,’ I told the nurse I had my gun trained on. “Fast.” She did as I told her and Joel picked Ellie up. On the way out I shot both nurses.

I shot anyone who got in our way towards the elevators. We had a least a dozen fireflies chasing us as we stepped onto the elevator and the doors shut. Joel hit the button for the car garage and we waited. The doors opened and we walked out, heading for one of the vehicles.

“You can’t keep her safe forever.” We paused, slowly Turning around. Marlene was standing there a few feet away. “No matter how hard you try, no matter how many people you kill, she’s gonna grow up, Joel. And then you’ll die. You'll both die. She’ll leave. Then what?” I had my gun trained on her, ready to kill her if she tried to stop us. “How long till she’s torn apart by Infected or murdered by raiders? Because she lives in a broken world that you could have saved.”

“Maybe,” Joel said gruffly. “But it isn’t for you to decide,” she told him. “Or you.” I said. “So what would she decide, huh? ‘Cause I think she’d wanna do what’s right. And you know it. You both know it. It’s not too late. Even now…even after what you’ve done. We can still find a way,” Marlene said. A gunshot went off and she went down, holding her side. Joel had shot her, turned around and put Ellie in the back seat of an SUV. “Get in the car,” he told me. I didn't argue. A few seconds later another Gunshot went off.

We drove away from the hospital, got on the highway, and headed back in the direction we needed to go to get back to Tommy's. We drove for hours until Ellie woke up. Joel and I had talked about what we would tell her when she asked what happened. I didn't like lying to her but we couldn't exactly tell her the truth, not right now.

Ellie groans fr9m the back seat, “What?”

“It’s all right. You’re with me and yn,” Joel told her, looking in the rearview mirror at her. I turned in my seat to look at her. “Take it slow. The drugs are still wearin’ off,” I told her. She slowly sat up a little more, holding her head. “I was with the Fireflies and then… What drugs?” She asked.

“They were runnin’ some tests on you… and some others. Turns out there’s a whole lot more like you… people that are immune. Dozens of ’em. And the doctors, they couldn’t make any of it work. They’ve actually…” Joel paused and looked at me. “They’ve stopped lookin’ for a cure,” I softly told her. Ellie's shoulders slumped and she ducked her head. “Where are my clothes?”

I looked back at Joel, a sickening feeling twisting my insides. All she wanted to do was help people, save the world. “Raiders attacked the hospital. We barely got ya outta there,” Joel told her. “We’ll find you some new ones on the way,” I said. She gave me a small nod. “Were people hurt?”

“Yes.”

“Is Marlene okay?” She asked. Joel didn't answer but he didn't need to. The silence was more than enough answer. “I’m takin’ us home.” Ellie laid back down, turned towards the seat, and closed her eyes. Joel laced his fingers through mine, pulling my hand to his lips, and kissing my knuckles. “She'll be alright.” I don't if he was trying to convince me or himself.

Hours later the SUV broke down. “Well, she got us close enough. We gotta walk the rest of the way. Probably about a five-hour hike… but we can manage that. Remember?” Joel asked, looking at Ellie. We had stopped a few different times along the way to look for clothes for Ellie and other supplies. Ellie sat in the driver's side, pulling the sleeve of her shirt down. “Yeah.”

We began walking on a path through the woods. “You know, Sarah and I used to hike like this all the time. I wouldn’t say it was her favorite thing,” Joel said. It was nice hearing him talk about Sarah. It's been too long. “I would say it definitely wasn't her favorite thing,” I said, chuckling.

“She wasn’t a fan of the mosquitoes and such. But she was a big climber… or scampering. That’s probably the right word. That girl… she’d see a big rock, and just… pew. She woulda liked you,” he said, looking back at Ellie. “Not to say the two of you are the same. Definitely different kids.”

“How so?” Ellie asked. Joel Took a deep breath. “Well, she was a lot more… I wanna say girly, and I’m not sayin’ that you’re not girly.”

“I’m not.”

“Yeah, you’re not. She was taller. She had a killer smile. Again, not sayin’ that you don’t. But you know why I think she’d like you?” He asked her. “Why?” Ellie asked. I knew she was only engaging to make Joel happy. But I also knew she was lost in her head about the whole no cure thing. I hated that we lied. I know that one day she will find out and she will hate us for lying to her.

“‘Cause you’re funny. I think you would’ve made her laugh. Anyway, I bet you would’ve liked her back,” Joel said, with a smile on his face. “Yeah, bet I would’ve.” We crossed over a stream and an embankment. “There ya go. Not much further now.” In the distance we could see the town of Jackson.

“Hey, wait,” Ellie said, stopping us. Joel and I turned and looked at her. “Fuck. Back in Kansas City, you asked me about the first time I killed someone.” Joel nodded softly. “When I got bit in the mall, I-I wasn’t on my own. My best friend was there and she got bit, too.” Ellie sniffles and her voice cracks. “We didn’t know what to do, and she says, “We can just wait it out… be all poetic and just lose our minds together.” And then she did. And I had to…” She took a pause and composed herself before going on. “Her name was Riley… and she was the first to die. And then it was Tess. And then Sam.”

I walked over to her and pulled into me, kissing the top of her head. Her arms wrapped around my waist. “That’s not on you,” I told her. She pulled away and looked up at me and then to Joel. “I know, but…” Joel cut her off, walking closer to us. “Look, sometimes things don’t work out the way we hope. You can feel like… like you’ve come to an end… and you don’t know what to do next. But if you just keep goin’… you find something new to fight for. And maybe that’s not what…”

“Swear to me,” Ellie said, cutting him off. She stepped back and looked at the both of us. “Swear to me that everything you said about the Fireflies is true.” I swallowed thickly and looked at Joel out of the corner of my eye. “I swear. We swear.” I don't think she believed us but she wanted to. “Okay.” One day I knew she would find the truth out. But I hoped that day would either never come or it would come much much later down the road, like years from now.