Set Me Free ▪︎ Joel Miller ▪︎

▪︎○ Four ○▪︎

Ellie and Olivia followed the smugglers silently into the adjoining room, scanning the contents briefly which consisted of an old worn book shelf and a few scattered boxes beside the window Tess walks to stand in front of.

Olivia leans back against the far wall, her arms folded across her chest as she observes the way the two smugglers scan the area outside whilst talking in a personal manner. It was clear something was between the two - whether it be a close friendship or something deeper, Olivia was unsure but either way, it was there for all to plainly see.

"Here, help me move this." Tess gestures to the book shelf beside Olivia, motioning for her to help slide it to the side whilst also assuring Joel that someone would be alive to pay them at the Capitol building.

Olivia pushes herself off the wall and turns to assist Tess without a word spoken, then once it is successfully moved, a decent sized hole is revealed in the wall. "Come on," she tells Ellie whilst following Tess through the hole carefully.

"I'm coming," Ellie mutters before crawling through herself.

Joel soon follows and without a glance towards the three women stood on the metal platform, he turns and walks to the generator just off to the side, connected to the platform by various coloured cables. He bends down slightly, his calloused hand reaching out to start it up with ease.

Then, he walks and steps onto the platform beside Olivia, nearest to the wall where a big red button sits. A moment later, the button has been pressed and the metal platform beneath their feet rumbles and shakes before slowly but surely lowering down into the ground below.

A gruff voice manages to speak over the low rumble of the platform, their question directed to Tess. "Who's waiting for us at the drop off?"

"Some fireflies from another city," Olivia answers with a shrug, "big group I heard."

"Girl must be important," Tess comments with a side glance to Ellie. "You some bigwig's daughter or something?"

"Something like that," Ellie answers vaguely, her gaze dipped as to avoid giving herself away.

The lift finally comes to a stop in some form of underground tunnel, its dark and dingy leaving Olivia and Ellie feeling rather uncomfortable as they share a look and switch on their flashlights.

"How long is this gonna take?"

"If everything goes as planned, we should get you both there in a couple of hours." Tess explains whilst scanning the area as Joel leads the way into another smaller section where a ladder was attached to the wall, leading up to the surface. "Listen, once we get up there, I need you to listen to everything we say. You follow our lead, got it?"

Ellie nods, "of course,"

"Good girl," Olivia nods approvingly. "Just stay close, yeah?"

Again, Ellie nods. "Yeah."

"Hold up," Joel says whilst standing at the top of the ladder, his head peaking above the surface, scanning the area for more soldiers. "There's a patrol up ahead,"

They wait a moment for the all clear to move ahead, their gazes locked on the Southern man above them. Olivia watches his head turn, observing the area once more before looking down briefly. "Alright, we're good. Come on up."

Tess leads the way, following Joel up the ladder and climbing up to the surface. Ellie soon mirrors her actions before turning just as Olivia also climbs the ladder and steps up beside her. "Watch your step," Joel warns whilst bending over to slide the wooden board back in its place above the obvious hole in the ground.