The Last of the Fireflies

Chapter 2

*Content warning – (Yeah, it’s that scene)





Joel’s vision was far too blurry to see anything when he woke up. The golden sunlight drifting in from the window in front of him hurt his eyes as they adjusted to his new surroundings. He was concussed, there was no doubt about it, but that was hardly a concern to him compared to the sight in front of him. Ellie had been tied up across the room, a dirty, white rag muzzling her voice. Her cheeks were stained with tears, and her eyes. Those big, emerald, piercing eyes were gazing straight into his very soul. She knew.





He had been so focused on making sure his daughter was safe that the moment Abby spoke, Joel’s shoulders jumped with surprise. “Handsome man, mid-50s, scar above the right temple, and traveling with a little girl. Yeah, you’re him.” Before Joel could say anything, Abby unholstered the revolver from her hip and, gripping the barrel, bashed him over the head with the back of her gun. Warm blood trickled down the side of his head. It killed him to see Ellie struggling to undo her bonds. Even through the rag, he could hear her yelling every insult and profanity she could think of, desperately trying to get over to him. “I’m going to give you one chance to save her life. All you have to do is tell the truth”. Joel glared up at her, his blood boiling. “What happened in Salt Lake? What did you do?” Joel’s heart sank to the pit of his stomach. There was another way out of this; he had to come clean and pray this woman would keep her word.








“I saved her…” Joel paused, locking eyes with Ellie. The pain behind them made his heart ache. “I’d do it all again, ten times over if I had to.” Joel’s fists tightened, and he could see the anger rise in the woman above him.


CRACK!





The back of Abby’s revolver pummeled the side of Joel’s head. His vision was going in and out as the pain in his temple throbbed.








“How many lives is she worth, huh? There were good people in that hospital. People who have dedicated the past twenty years to finding a cure. And you get to snatch all of that away because you suddenly got some feelings?” Abby paused. Just seeing the squirming girl in front of her was infuriating. How could this asshole have it all work out for him after everything he did. “I’m sure you’ve figured it out by now, but among the innocent lives you took, my dad was one of them. So, I’m not just going to sit here and let either of you walk away from this. You’re a fucking monster Joel, everything that’s about to happen is on you…” Abby raises her arm to strike Joel again, but this time, Ellie’s desperate cries break through the gag around her mouth. Owen grimaces at the sound, silently, he mouths to “Finish It”.


“Jesus fuck!” Abby shouted back and approached Ellie with an irritated twitch in her step. “What? What the fuck do you have to say? He isn’t even your real dad!” Her fists yank the rag from Ellie’s trembling mouth, and immediately Ellie’s temper is released.





“Go anywhere near him and I’ll fucking kill you!” Ellie shouts at the top of her lungs. Her attention turns quickly to Joel, lying across from her, his head is bleeding badly. “It’s ok, Joel. Y-You’re gonna be ok. It’s all ok. It’s all ok.” No matter how hard she tried, she couldn’t get over to, comfort, or protect him. The last straw came when Abby returned to Joel, now holding a golf club she had found by the sofa. “Stop! Please stop! I’m begging you, please!”


“Will you just shut up already!?” Before Ellie could even respond, the golf club came down with terrifying force right onto Ellie's ankle. Owen cringed as the girl yelped in pain.





“Abby! No, we’re here for Joel and Joel alone! Finish this or I will!” The tension between the two Fireflies was starting to rise; Ellie and Joel could both feel it. Pushing her luck, Ellie went further.





“You’re a fucking coward! Afraid that you’d get your ass handed to you by a little fucking girl!” Ellie spat. Keeping the pressure off Joel was all that mattered to her. Despite her condition, the challenge worked like a charm. Abby’s intense anger was now entirely centered on her. The towering woman marched behind the table Ellie was tied to and cut her loose.





“Right. You want to save the life of this stupid, old man? Fine. You and me, if you win, Owen here will spare your lives, and we’ll leave Jackson. If I win, I’ll fucking squeeze the life out of you right in front of him”. Abby’s words made Ellie shudder; she was easily three times her size, if not more. Slowly rising to her feet, the pain in her ankle faded to the back of her mind as the immense rush of adrenaline kicked into gear. The switchblade in her pocket was her only ace, she couldn’t fuck this up. Just as Abby started to charge, Owen's voice rang from behind a petrified Joel.





“Fucking stop Abby! I know you’re hurting, but if you lay another finger on that kid, we’re done. This isn’t what your dad would have wanted”. For a moment, Abby paused, loosening her grip on the gold club before dropping it entirely. Turning away from Ellie, she grabbed Owen by the collar before softly muttering, “You knew the cost of us leaving, you want to run back with the others to Seattle, fine by me. But if you even think about trying to stop this, I won’t hesitate to kill you”. The timing was now or never, with Abby’s back turned and Owen distracted, Ellie rushed at her with the switchblade. She had planned to drive it right into Abby’s neck, but as the woman turned to react, the blade instead lodged itself into the woman’s thick shoulder. In the chaos, Ellie got another two stabs in before Abby finally threw her off. “Aaagghhh! Little bitch!” Abby shouted in pain as she tore the knife from her shoulder. Without thinking, she dove at the girl, throwing a punch straight into her nose.





Ellie fell on the floor, writhing in pain. Blood gushing from her shattered nose. She couldn’t breathe, and the pain was worse than she had ever felt before. She felt something loose on her tongue and the taste of blood filled her mouth. Spitting it out, she sat stunned by the pain and the sight of one of her teeth on the ground in front of her. Clutching her face, Ellie could barely see Abby’s form come barreling into her for round two.





Abby bashed the back of Ellie’s head against the floorboards again and again before holding the switchblade to her forearm. Blood trickled down Abby’s shoulder as she began to cut into Ellie’s skin. “Evil goddamn cunt! That’s the last thing you’ll ever fucking do!” As Abby shouted into Ellie’s sobbing face, she looked down at the scarred flesh of Ellie’s bitemark and started to quickly carve the word “Slut” into her flesh. Ellie thrashed and squirmed in agony. Darkness pulsed in her vision, and Ellie could feel herself blacking out. Abby’s sinister face loomed above her, eyes filled with thoughtless rage. In a last attempt to fight back, Ellie mustered the last of her strength to thrust her head forward and clamp her teeth around the top of Abby’s ear. The menacing woman screamed in pain as Ellie tore the chunk of flesh from her ear. Blood splattered across Ellie’s face as she fell back to the ground, satisfied with her work.


Abby jumped up, holding what was left of her ear, and she couldn’t believe she had let that happen. That some kid had just permanently disfigured her. It made her blood boil. Adding to the fact that Owen wasn’t doing anything to help her, and that now the smug bitch on the floor was starting to laugh at her!





“Ha-ha-ack. Your dad teach you those pussy moves?” Ellie rolled onto her side, looking back at Joel. He was in shambles; she could see the tears running down his face. She loosely remembered him yelling in between punches, but it was all starting to blur together. Nevertheless, seeing his face made her smile; he was ok, she was protecting him. Her thoughts were soon cut short as Abby’s steel-toed boot crashed into her chest. Ellie could feel her ribs crack from the blow and the wind escape her lungs. Abby kicked again and again until Ellie was coughing up blood. Her spirit never wavering, Ellie found each kick easier to take than the last. By now, she had accepted that Abby would kill her, and through the growing numbness in her chest, Ellie began to crawl towards Joel.





Owen couldn’t take it any longer, seeing Abby’s descent into pure cruelty, he had to intervene. Grabbing Abby’s arm before she could land another kick, Owen pulled her into a tight embrace. “It’s over, Abby, she isn’t worth it. Let’s just go ho—”





POW!





A bright light flashed from Abby’s hand straight into Owen’s chest. The man collapsed onto the floor, smoke was coming off Abby’s revolver, now covered with Owen’s blood. Abby’s eyes widened with dread. She didn’t mean to pull the trigger or to even take out her gun. “OWEN!!!” She shouted. Falling to the floor next to him, desperately trying to cover the wound. Minutes went by as she knelt over him, the man she loved, the silence in the room broken only by Joel’s gut-wrenching moans and Ellie’s agonizing movement. She wanted to turn and run into the woods, to hide herself from every human on the planet, but her mind defaulted to the only coping mechanism she knew, mindless rage. Rising to her feet and holstering her gun, Abby made her way over to Ellie and stomped down hard on her tiny, outstretched fingers. She could feel the sickening crunch under her heel, and Ellie’s cries from under her. “You did this! You made me do this!” She turned to Joel. “You’ve taken everything from me, now I’m going to take it all from you!” Pushing Ellie onto her back, Abby wrapped her hands around the girl's neck. Tears were dropping from her eyes onto her hands and Ellie's face. “Going… to kill… you,” She muttered as Ellie thrashed under her.





BANG!!





The blinding light erupted from under Abby. Looking down, she saw Ellie’s one good hand clutching her revolver. Pain exploded from Abby’s stomach as she put two and two together. Ellie shakily lifted the gun to Abby’s head and pulled the trigger again.





BANG!!





The gunshot echoed throughout the room as Abby collapsed lifelessly next to her. Turning to Owens' body, she could see him whisper. “Please… Don’t…”





BANG!!!





With a final bullet put between his eyes, Ellie had won the fight, and the last of the Fireflies were dead…