A/N: Here's chapter 4. Enjoy.

LEGAL STUFF: I don't own anything, everything belongs to Naughty Dog.

- CHAPTER FOUR -

HIDING FROM CROWDS

There was no time. A whole swarm of infected were coming their way and half of the hunters they were dealing with were already killed by five clickers. Imagine what damage a whole group could do.

"Ellie! We gotta hide!"

"What about your brother and Maria?!"

"They're tough people. They'll be fine."

Joel looked around and found a closed garage between the demolished buildings.

"C'mon! Hurry up!" He said and ran towards it.

"Are you sure, Joel?! Can't we just fight 'em off?" Ellie followed.

"No! There's too many of 'em and we'll die if we try to run."

She could already hear people screaming from afar, running for their lives. The loud crowd past the duo without glancing their way, too busy to outrun the infected.

Joel hurried and lifted the garage door open. Suddenly between the shadows within the space, a moving figure started running towards him, slamming him against the ground.

"Joel!"

A clicker was craving to put its teeth in his flesh. He tried to kick it off but a piercing pain that went through his right leg made him unable to. His gun flew too far to reach it. The clicker's teeth were getting closer then it let out a shrieking cry. Ellie had jumped the infected from behind and shoved a knife in its head. It fell down, still cringing before it finally died.

"Holy shit, Joel! Your leg!"

He looked down and finally saw the source of the pain. When he fell to the ground, his leg got caught in a bear trap. Its metal jaws clenching in his mangled flesh.

"C'mon, you gotta get up before they come."

She dragged his injured body to the garage but he was heavier than she thought he was. Once inside she put him down gently.

"Oh man, oh man. You're losing too much blood. What do I do?"

She looked around but couldn't find much. A few rags and some tape but nothing to pry open the trap.

"How do I open this fucking thing?"

"The springs! You have to depress the springs!" Joel said while clenching his teeth.

Ellie tried what he told her but she wasn't strong enough.

"I can't! It's too strong!"

Both their hearts stopped for a second. Between all the hurried footsteps and voices, they could hear the agonizing shrieks of the infected.

"Goddamn, they're here! Ellie, close the door! Now!"

"But you'll lose your leg if we don't get this thing off!"

"Doesn't matter. Just close the fucking door!"

Ellie couldn't let Joel go through this pain. Her memories of what happened in Colorado put her in a panic.

"I'm gonna look for some help. I'll be right back!"

"No! Ellie, dont-" Before he could stop her, she was already gone. He tried to stand up but the pain was too overwhelming.

"Damn it. Ellie!"

Ellie saw a whole stream of people running away from the infected who were chasing after them. She tried to call out to someone but no one even looked her way.

"Please, you gotta help me!" she shouted, hoping someone would run towards her but no one did.

Realizing this wasn't gonna work, she turned around, only to find a clicker behind her, ready to attack. There wasn't enough time to grab her switchblade and the infected grabbed her.

"Get off me, you fucking-"

A bullet pierced right through the clicker's head. Ellie pushed it off of her and looked where it came from. A woman with a rifle was standing a few yards away from her, her weapon still focused on the clicker. Sure that it was dead, she said: "Kid, if I were you, I'd scram. There's a whole swarm coming this way."

She was about to leave when Ellie called out to her.

"Please you have to help me! There's someone in a lot of pain and I don't know what to do!"

The woman looked at her, not sure what the little girl was expecting from her. She shook her head.

"Sorry. I gotta go."

"No, wait! Please, he's just lying over there."

The woman wanted to object but before she could, Ellie was already on the move. Her instinct told her to leave, don't concern yourself with the little girl, but she saw three runners storming towards the place Ellie had just gone to.

At the garage, Ellie shot one of the runners and she was about put a bullet through the other two when no bullet left her gun as she pulled the trigger. Out of ammo. There wasn't enough time to close the door before the runners attacked her or to grab another gun. Next thing she knew, the two runners who were after her, we're laying on the ground, drowning in a puddle of their own blood. Ellie let out a sigh of relief when the woman she had asked for help earlier, followed her and finished the two runners off. She ran towards Ellie and helped her close the garage.

"You're putting me in a really difficult position here, kid." she said annoyed. "That your old man?" The woman looked at Joel.

"Something like that."

She gave Ellie a frown but without delving deeper into it, she inspected the wound. "That's fucking nasty."

Both of them managed to release the trap from Joel's leg by depressing the springs.

Ellie took the rags and tape and pulled up his trousers to reveal the wound.

"Hold on, Joel."

"Here." the woman handed her some alcohol. "Better to disinfect the wound. You never know what nasty stuff got stuck between those traps."

"Thanks." She took the bottle and spilled some over Joel's wound. He groaned.

"Sorry." She wrapped some of the rags over his leg and put some tape over it. "That should do it for now."

Meanwhile the woman had opened the garage a little and kneeled to the floor to get a look at the situation outside.

"Man, I'm not getting outta here by tomorrow. It's roaming with infected."

She closed the door, thinking about something. Ellie looked at her. She looked like she could be in her early 40's, blond long hair tied up in a braid. Green eyes, average height.

Ellie finished patching Joel up and insisted he should get some sleep. After a minute of arguing, he finally did.

Ellie stood up and watched the woman load her weapons. A hunting rifle and a handgun.

"Why did you decide to help me?"

The woman looked at her, then lifted her shoulders.

"If I were standing in your shoes, I'd want someone to help me out too."

Ellie, appreciating her honesty and her help, thanked her.

"Save the thanks for when we get out of here. In one piece, I prefer."

"Look, I'm sorry I dragged you into this mess but I really needed help." Ellie apologized.

"Comes with the territory, I guess. How's your man doing?" she asked, looking at a sleeping Joel.

"He'll be fine."

"What about you?"

"What about me?" Ellie asked confused.

"Haven't seen many kids around this area. In fact, you're the first one to show up. You holding up alright?"

"I guess. It's not like I have much of a choice." she replied. "So what's the situation outside?"

"Infected everywhere. It's best if we'd stay here for the night. Maybe they'll go away and their numbers will drop by the morning. We'd have a bigger chance of getting out of here alive."

"If you say so."

And without saying another word, both went to sleep or at least tried to.

Joel woke up, turned his head to find Ellie sleeping next to him. He looked around and saw another woman inside the garage. He slowly reached for his gun but her voice broke the silence.

"You really think she'd sleep at all if I had threatened to kill you both?" she said, her face hidden in the shadows.

She had a point, he thought.

"How's your leg?"

He looked at the bloody rags taped around his leg. That's Ellie's handy work. He slowly got up and tried standing on his injured leg. The pain had diminished a lot but it still stinged.

"I'll manage." he said nonchalantly.

"Good. 'Cause I can get all the help I need to escape this hellhole." she told him in the same tone.

Joel agreed with her. This place was miserable. Locked up in a small garage with almost no supplies. He had it better.

Joel walked around, stretching his legs while getting used to the pain. He rummaged through some lockers and found an old lantern.

"Well, look at that." he said while placing it on the ground and sitting down. "You got any fire?"

She threw something at him and he caught it. It was a lighter.

"You smoke?"

"Used to. If you haven't noticed the world kinda changed a while ago. It's hard to find any stores nowadays. You know, the ones that aren't destroyed."

"Cute."

Joel lit up the lantern and he could finally see the woman's profile, her face turned away from him. But even then, she was beautiful. He wasn't gonna deny it but she didn't need to hear it either. Her eyes were very focused, even during this time of the night, like she'd done this many times in the past.

"You done this a lot?" he asked her.

"Hiding in a garage? Sure, all the time."

Joel could hear the irony in her voice.

"Whatever."

"You got a tough kid with you." the woman said, her face still turned from him.

He looked at Ellie, still asleep on the floor.

"Yeah, well, she's been through a lot."

"I could tell. I've never seen someone this young fight off infected like her. She's tougher than most adults."

Joel couldn't help but feel like a proud dad, hearing this from a stranger. He showed a little smile.

"Speaking of adults, what's your name?" he asked.

She finally looked at him, emerald eyes piercing through his. You could tell there was a story hidden there. What kind of story he didn't know. One of many hardships? Of loss and anger maybe? It was something that sparked a sudden interest in Joel. Meanwhile the woman was probably deciding whether or not she could trust him and he didn't blame her. It's hard to find honest people during such a time.

"Sonia."

"Joel."

"Pleased to meet you, Joel. Any idea how we're getting out of here?"

Straight to the point. The woman's not joking around.

"I don't really know how things are going outside."

"Let me give you a heads up. There's infected everywhere and I'm pretty sure they've bitten almost every person they could get their hands on so that kinda doubles the amount, doesn't it? " she said in a bitter tone.

"Great."

He looked at her, she was obviously annoyed.

"I'm sorry you're stuck here, okay? I don't like it either."

"Girl said the same thing. Look, Joel, I don't blame the two of you if that's what you're thinkng."

"Really?" he asked unconvinced. "Than you're not really good at showing it."

"I'm just pissed off at where we are. In a fucking garage with no way out."

"You know what they say."

"What?"

"Misery loves company."

For a moment he could detect a glimpse of a smile on her face but it vanished immediately.

"So where you're from?"

"Texas."

"Traveled long, huh?"

"You have no idea."

"And still breathing, even more impressive."

"Thanks. What about you? You from around here?"

"No. Alberta."

"Canada? What's a lady like you doing all the way here in Jackson?" he asked surprised.

"Business." she replied, not wanting to share more.

"Alright."

The two remained silent. Joel's thoughts drifted away, thinking about Tommy and Maria. Where were they? Are they okay? Did they get out? He started to worry. They are strong people, they should be fine. He thought, trying to calm his nerves. Suddenly a loud banging on the metal garage door brought Joel back to reality. Ellie snapped out of her sleep and looked at where the sound was coming from.

She walked over to Joel. "Joel?"

"Sshhhh - Calm down. It won't get in."

The banging stopped after a few seconds.

"Looks like the infected are getting anxious." Sonia said.

"How many are still out there?" He asked.

"Dunno. Plenty, I guess."

"Oh man, this is bad. How the fuck are we getting out here, Joel? Those infected are everywhere." Ellie panicked.

"I said calm down. We'll find a way. Look around, see if there's anything we can use, alright?"

"I already did that."

"It wouldn't hurt to look again."

Ellie nodded but still unsatisfied with his answer. They could be stuck in here for days and the fact that Joel didn't have a solid plan made her worries grow bigger than they already were.

"You ready?" he asked Sonia.

"Sure."

"What do you think our chances are with those guys running around?" His eyes sliding at the door that separated them from the infected.

"Slim. If you're talking about getting all three of us out. If it's one person… well, that's different story, isn't it?"

"One I don't want to see happening within these next hours." he said stern.

"Hey, guys! Look!"

The two adults turned to look at Ellie. She was shoving a small cabinet to show a small hole inside the wall.

"We can go through here. I bet it's gonna lead us inside the house."

"Good job." Joel said. "Grab your stuff. We're leaving."