Chapter 4 Let the dead, bury the dead

Thanks everyone: QuietSunlight (can't wait! I favorited you. So, I keep updated.) , mckoy12345678910 (A classic is a classic. Also, Ellie will hit back. It will be a slap slap kind of thing), Kenny9x3 (Yeah... old habits die hard and you can expect more). Mad hatter (Thanks), doomsta27 (yeah, I have to balance with humor), ThatChickontheInternet (I hope to keep you happy), kirbster676 (Thanks. Bill is complex), shadow12(I have to make sure my stories don't cross streams. SO, I'm doing good.), MasterHollow (I know. Joel has to law down the law).

A/N: I like the other perspectives so I think I will keep it up with guests. I try not to just rehash the game or my last story. Does anyone know a Ellie/Joel tumbler or some lj. I hope it doesn't show but I love the community.

-...- Ellie

Another long day on the outside. She spent the day with the two grumpy men and they had been to the worst school she ever been too. Even the infected seemed a little more pissed off there than your average infected. At least, she got to drive a truck. But Joel took that over and told her to get in the back which was so lame. She turned around in her chair and watched the town fade away.

Her stomach knotted. She could see it now. They would leave Bill with a horde and they couldn't do anything as he joined the rest of the population of the town.

"How did Tess meet him?"

Joel sighed at another question.

"Saw the smoke and went to the fence. Tess was good at making deals." He watched the road.

"Will he be okay?" She didn't like the guy, but he did help them out.

"How the hell should I know?" He snapped.

"You shouldn't have given him the note." She leaned back in the chair. That was so mean.

"At least he knows the truth"

"I wouldn't have wanted to know." She said. The truth wasn't worth shit. At least, Riley never thought over her like that.

"Look, it wasn't my letter..."

She looked out the window. The sky was getting pretty dark. They were going to be driving at night.

"Climb in the back and sleep. I know you didn't get much last night. So, now would be a good choice." She didn't sleep much because of him. She yawned and climbed into the back. She could read a little before sleeping at least until she couldn't see.

-...- (Bill)

Bill watched the truck leave. He hoped they made it wherever they were going. Just don't come back here. Those two tore up his town. That bitch was way more trouble than she was worth. Joel was just as much a pain in the ass. "This is why you don't keep other people around. They fuck it up." He went back to the houses. More infected would come, but he would be okay. They were chasing the sound of the truck thundering down the cracked roads.

He went to the church and looked around and huffed. He had to go back...

He entered the house and returned to look at Frank one more time. It might have meant nothing to him, but Bill still felt something.

"Fuck you, too." He told the body that swung silently. "Jeez." It wasn't right to leave body there. Animals would get him. "You wouldn't bury me, but fuck it." He was back to talking to himself.

Frank had been the last person to really break past the security. He was half-starved like a dog and smelled like a feral one. He was not too bad when you cleaned him up and gave some food. I should have known...

He wrapped the body in a rug and dug through the neighbors garage until he got a wheelbarrow. It was good enough for the bastard.

Yep, Frank was always a bastard. Chalk it up to be lonely. He was the only resident in town for fifteen years. Once everyone was carted off to zones and the power was cut out. He had been alone. Except for the infected. He held up for a few years and then slowly rejects showed up. People like him who couldn't stay in the zone. They were rebels or smugglers. Next thing he knew he was a one man trading post. But they never made it to far into his town. Hell no. Until that flea-ridden dog showed up.

They went the long way around the school. He was not going to deal with that shit. He went around the clickers and slipped back into the graveyard. It always took less time to go home than it was to leave it.

"Where to put you?" He rolled up to the church.

It was just loneliness. They became partners in work. Frank was quick and good at dealing with the transporters. The man was good at going out into the infected and coming out okay. Well, he did.

It wasn't love in the romance sense of the word. It started as work and became a little more and when you hadn't gotten laid in years you didn't care. At least, it was someone to talk too. They talked a lot and fought more. That is where things went to shit.

He stopped on the front side. Where the infected didn't guard and left the body long enough to bring a shove. A bird already was pecking at the blanket. "Back off." He swiped at the bird and went to work. Shovelful by shovelful.

He didn't go all the six feet crap, but deep enough he dropped Frank in and threw a shovel full of black dirt on the rug. "What? Want me to say something now?" He told the corpse. "I think I know how you felt about this whole thing." He added another shovel. And then another. He was about finished when the sun began to set. He looked over the hill that looked over the east side of town. It was a better view than the other side.

He slapped his shovel on the dirt and frowned. He looked over and came back with a decent sized rock and dropped it for a headstone. no point in labeling it only one person cared.

"Bye. Frank. Fuck you too."

He returned to the church. He would have to wait until some other transporters came; until then it was just him. But he was stubborn he could make it another day. He went to go check his supplies.

-...- (Joel)

It was all in slow motion as the bus T-boned the truck. The world spun and he remembered reaching his arm out to keep her from flying into anything. He didn't have a chance to stop. That hit didn't hurt, it was going through the store that really did it. The steering wheel didn't even have a good airbag.

Just darkness. "Ellie?" He heard the truck door open and voices. His head hurt and he smelled blood. The world faded out of view...

He threw up the sign. Two coming in easy.

He move to the side of dumpster and got ready. This was their one good chance today after that idiot Mark fucked up yesterday.

Joel checked the target. A pair of do-it-yourself survivors. The kind that lived their life for zombies and now thought they could run this town. They were armed, had heavy looking packs, respirators, and a cocky attitude. Perfect.

He pulled up the handkerchief to cover his mouth. The air was better here than in Kansas city, but it still sucked. Those damn spores. The others moved n time. He slipped behind the pair, his modified baseball bat ready to swing home.

Crack. A double header.

The others moved in.

He shoved Roger in the chest and grabbed the mask. Those two could fight over the guns. It wouldn't save you in the buildings or sewers. He grabbed the second mask for Tommy and grabbed the first edible thing out the army grade backpack.

Joel had been with this gang for a few months and was ready to keep moving. He picked his way over the debris covered road. When the world when to shit the cities collapsed if the material law didn't step in and if they did step in it wasn't much better.

"Hey." He tossed the mask to his brother. Tommy looked it over and put it back on the bed. He was occupying their area of the hunter's compound. Joel sat down on the sagging cot.

"Things went good."

"Yep." He handed over half of the food.

"He's still breathing." Some voice behind him said and he figured it wasn't not an angel. He was pulled out before he could brace or fight. They dropped him on the cement and a boot dropped down on his chest. He could barely breath.

A light flashed in his eye.

"Fucking Tourist."

"How's the girl?"

"Okay." SLAP. "Morning, sunshine." Ellie gave a muffled scream. Cursing the man out.

The light left as the guy watched his friend talk to Ellie. They wanted to know if she wanted to come with them. He looked to his left and saw piece of the shelf. It was just the lip off the end that broke off. He reached out and got it. It was a foot long piece of metal. Too weak to use as a bat but..

"Fuck no." Ellie spit at the guy and the other looked down over Joel. He gripped the metal. Just a little closer. Just a little. The guy leaned down to examine Joel.

"So, got a question for you before we kill you. Where did you get the working car?" Joel coughed. He leaned down closer. "What was that?" Joel stabbed up and got the guy in the eye. He twisted it. The guy fell to the side and Joel went to deal with the other guy. He had to grab Ellie and run like hell because more were coming.

He stumbled to his feet and Ellie grabbed his arm hauling him to his feet. He looked over the other guy was holding his bleeding shin. She must have got him with that switchblade she had.

He knocked the guys teeth in as they left. She looked at him.

"Rule one." It was one less hunter to follow them.

They hauled ass out into the road. It was a game of zigzagging through the city. It was going to be a long day.

-...- (Ellie)

They dodged past cars and through garages. Pittsburgh was a lot like Boston, if the world became hell. Joel grabbed guns and supplies and continued to drop enemies. Her heart raced as the hide behind the pillar. She tried to stay out of the way, but there was no way they were going to make it out alive.

Joel crouched around a sandbag embankment. Waiting for the next hunter. The man passed and Joel pulled him down into his chokehold. The man gasped and gurgled and Joel gripped tighter cutting out the air so the man could not scream. He dragged the body back behind the bags hiding it.

"Hey! Did you see something?" Bad things came in twos...

The lay in wait. Ellie picked up the beer bottle off the floor. The man crept into the area and she he moved to close to Joel. He had his machete ready to cut. Shit.

She threw the bottle at the guy and sent him reeling. Blood dripped down his cheeks as he held the wound. The glass did some damage. He was cussing and screaming for help and Joel grabbed him as a hostage with the gun to the man's head. She had no idea if he had a bullet in the gun or not.

"HEY!" Another man came to help and they both froze. "Be cool." He held up his hands.

Joel shot the newcomer and choked his hostage down.

"Rule three: Take the safest route. Don't do that again. That bottle brought another guy." He pulled the bullets out of his pocket and reloaded the magazine. He only had one shot. He already dodged and left. She followed him. They jumped through a broken out window.

They dodged through a bookstore and ducked around the shelves. Joel went on ahead and left her in hiding for a second. Having a moment to spare, she looked over the shelf and she grabbed a few books off the shelf. They were bright enough in the dank store. She flipped the cover.

I wondered why the baseball was getting bigger. Then it hit me.

She laughed at the book and added it to her bag. Joel might like it. Well, probably not. But it was something. She always liked to read. Comics were the best, but this was cool. She searched for the comic section. This store would have been really nice before the infection.

"All clear." He called and they ran on.

"Hey. Joel. I think I need to lighten the mood." She flipped through and found one.

-...- (Joel)

Out of city on fire. Out of all the other tourist. They met Henry and Sam.

He looked at the younger man and the boy and just wanted to shake his head. He was not going to be stuck with them. He might as well rent a schoolbus for the fieldtrip.

"Here this way." Henry led them to the next safe house. He pulled out the key. "Took it off one of them. So we should be safe."

Good job, kid. They entered the office and he scanned the area picking up a pair of scissors.

They hauled up for the night. At least, he could sleep.

A/N: One of the hottest lines in the game was when he said he was on "both sides of ambush." Thanks for reading please R&R.