Chapter 4
Ellie and John Marston
"The Two Gunslingers"
Ellie was sound asleep, she was having a weird dream, but it felt calm and nice, the dream was her swimming in water, and from above her she could see stars, it was starting to feel relaxing, until she woke up from her dream by the sound of gunfires.
"Joel?," was the first thing she said when she woke up, she looked around and saw she was still in the same bed in the same town she just found herself in, before she can realize that this wasn't a dream, screaming of people were heard beyond the walls of the store Ellie was in.
"What in god's name is going on out there," said Dr. Walt, Ellie wanted to go see what was going on, she got up from the bed but when she tries to stand, she felt a sudden pain in her ankle.
"Hey kid, your not healed yet," warned Dr. Walt, but right after he said that, there was sound of a man's voice, as well as a woman screaming.
"Everyone listen up, and listen good!" said the man, Ellie got off of bed and with all her strength, she looked out the one window and see a bandit wearing a black hat, a bullet proof vest, black pants and is holding a pistol against the head of a blonde woman with 5 men behind him.
"We came all around the country, to find a man who has made a name of himself that everyone know who he is!" he shouted out, Ellie wanted to help the lady that has her life in the hands of this mad man.
"What we are talking about, is a man name John Marston," continued bandit, when Ellie heard the name, her stomach felt sick for some reason.
"Now if anyone has ever heard of him, and knows where he is, we would like to know ourself, if any of you would do good to do that, we'll let this woman, and the rest of you folks alone," he explained, in everyone's thoughts, this bandit was really insane.
"Who the hell do you think you are," said this one old man, daring to confront the bandits, "Coming in our town, and just asking us where this fella is."
Ellie thought that this man might be brave, but it was pretty clumsy, the bandit slowly let down his pistol, everyone thought that hostage could be safe, until the leader bandit talked to his two men, Ellie couldn't hear them since they were whispering.
"He's not going to cost us is he?" the leader bandit questioned his men, they shook their heads, when the bandit turned his head back to the old man, the old man spoke out again.
"Now, I suggest you turn around and-" the old man was then shot in the head by the leader bandit, the townsfolk screamed in terror, while Ellie kept her head down.
"Why didn't I see that one coming," Ellie asked herself. It was then she heard another gunfire, only this time it wasn't by the bandits, she looked up and see behind them, were three cowboys coming, and the one man she saw who was familiar was John Marston.
Marshal led John, Jonah, and Eli to the town just right when they caught a glimpse of the leader bandit shooting the townsfolk, this gives them the opportunity to start firing at will, "Shoot them dead, but watchout for the civilians!" ordered Marshal.
John made the first shot to one of the five bandit, "It's Marston! Kill the rest but leave Marston alive!" said the leader bandit, the bandits took cover and starts shooting at the deputies, the townsfolk were running away and trying to find safety, Ellie stood there, not knowing on what to do, John Marston saw the bandit who was leading, it was a risky move, John got up and manage to make a shot at the bandit leader on his side, but when he did, it left him exposed for a moment, which had him shot in his right shoulder
"Damn, son of a-" John cried out, "You idiots, watch out where your shooting," said the leader bandit, Ellie saw John was wounded, Marshal came to John and checked his injuries while Jonah and Eli were covering the both of them, but it was clear that John and his team were outnumbered by the bandits.
Ellie didn't want to just stay here and watch, this wasn't a dream she now realized, this is some weird reality that she somehow got herself in, but either way, it's not like her to just do nothing, when she saw John, it was like looking at Joel, so this maybe worth it or not, it's better than to just watch.
Ellie looked around the store she was in, there was the doctor that was still taking cover behind his desk, Ellie got over to him, trying to get used to the injured ankle.
"Hey, Dr. Walt, you wouldn't happened to have a gun with you would you," Ellie asked, Dr. Walt just looked at her.
"Why would you want to know," he asked with fear in his voice.
"Look, do you have anything or not," she asked, "Sorry miss, I only sell Medicines here," answered Dr. Walt, "Well, do you have anything sharp?" she asked, this truly made Dr. Walt confused.
"Just give us Marston and we'll leave here for good!" said the leader bandit.
"What do you want from me?!" shouted back John,
"If you want to know, just give up," said the leader bandit.
No way John would just fall for that so stupidly, but he was outnumbered, he tried to healed with his medicine, but for some reason, it wasn't working, but he's not willing to give up, not until the day he dies, while the shoot-out was still going on, Ellie slowly exited the medical store, with her head still down, she saw one of the bandits hiding behind a crate.
Ellie was going to make one hell of an impression, she slowly sneaks behind the bandit, she holds in her left hand a sharp utensil that doctors usually use for surgery, thank god they have those in western time, she got right behind the bandit, and without warning, she stabbed the bandit from behind, doing it repeatedly and soon, killing the bandit, when the bandit was dead, she picked up the rifle he had, and started to aim at the rest of the bandits, she fires at one and ended him up dead, this caught the attention to the leader.
"What the he-" he was interrupted by the gunshot that killed his other men by John, it was John who caught a glimpse at Ellie who was still shooting, this kid is tougher than he thought, with all the strength John has, he picked up his Winchester Repeater and starts firing back, the bandits were surrounded in a way, only 3 more of them, and it was one of them who saw Ellie.
"Bari, Bari! It's that kid," said the Bandit, the leader who was called Bari looked behind and saw a red hair girl holding a rifle.
"No, that can't be, sh**, get the girl!" said the Bari, "What, were surrounded," said the second bandit.
"It's that kid, the Infected Kid!" said Bari, this made Ellie frozed.
"(What did they say, how did they know)" so many questions got into Ellie's mind while she covers, it was then she was almost shot until she ducked, this made John let out his temper.
"YOU STAY AWAY FROM THAT GIRL, YOU HEAR!" yelled John, it was then he got up, with all the 3 bandits appearing themselves to John, it was a clear shot to all of them, this gave John an opportunity, everything was all in slow motion, the bandits that were shooting suddenly shoot more slowly from John's perspective, time moved slowly as he sees nothing but yellow, and at the last second, John draw his pistol, aim at the 3 bandits, and under a second, John fires his pistol and kills the 3 bandits all at the same time in a row, after making his move, time suddenly went back to normal.
This was like nothing Ellie ever experienced before, not even Joel could do that kind of damaged, things got quiet, at first some folks thought they were all dead, but after a second glance, it was then they realized, John and Ellie, with Marshal, Jonah and Eli, they killed the most wanted bandits thats been terrorizing the country.
"Welcome to the Old West," Ellie said to herself, a little late to say it, but it felt right to say it too.
John got out of his hiding spot as well did the others, he was still wounded but it didn't look too bad now, he comes and saw Ellie coming to him.
"You don't look so good," was the first thing the red hair girl said to John, he just gave her a smile.
"Yea, well I just need some stiching that's all, you look better than me I admit," said John, this was the first time John saw the red hair girl who was as stubborn as his sun, who now gave him a smile back.
"Is Dr. Walt still alive?" asked John.
"Yea, still in his office cowering, I actually freaked him out when i asked for a scalpel, but I wouldn't blame him," she said.
John looked over the body of the bandit in which she killed on her own, he does not want to go on her bad side he realized.
"That was crazier than a hyena laughter," said Eli.
"Never seen a kid done anything like that before, I don't think anyone did," said Jonah.
Marshal was lighting up his cigarette, he kept his eyes on the girl, it was John who blocked his sight of the girl when he got next to her.
"Thanks for helping out, not saying you should go out and bounty hunting like what I used to do," John thanked, he then felt a pain in his shoulder.
"Come on, first you get that patched up, then you'll thank me later," said the girl, she led him to the Medical Store.
"Yea, good idea kid," he said, when he was about to go into the store, he heard the girl said something from behind.
"Ellie," she said.
John turned to her, did she said what John think she said.
"My name is Ellie," she repeated.
"Hey, that's sounds just like my name," said Eli, knowing her name, for John it's a sign of trust in a way.
"Thank you Ellie, I'll be sure to help you out as much as I can to find your dad," said John, he got into the dotors store, right when he said that, Ellie remembered what the Bandit Leader said about her.
'The Infected Girl' they said, Ellie didn't understand what is happening, the ony thing she got was she ended up in the Old West, and at first when she thought she was alone, there comes these bandits who somehow knows about her, this made Ellie felt scared a little, looks like she didn't come alone unnoticed after all.
It was starting to get dark, while John was recovering at the Medical Store, Ellie gotten a free time knowing the deputies in the Marshal's Office, they were goofballs to Ellie, but are pretty funny whenever they try to pick on each other, it was Marshal that broke up the fight.
"You two better not been messing with the girls head," said Marshal.
"No sir Mr. Johnson," said Eli.
"Yea, it's not like we're going to talk sh** like that," Jonah had his arm punched by Eli.
"What?" Jonah asked.
"Not in front of the kid idiot," said Eli, Jonah than realized he cuss in front of the kid.
"It's alright, I already can handle a couple of words," said Ellie.
"Oh really?" said Jonah.
"Yea, I even know some good insults, so you better not F*** with me," Ellie cuss, this attempt made Jonah laugh hard.
"Hey now, you shouldn't say such things for a lady," said Eli, but even he was starting to grin.
"Hey, you boys mind going outside, got something to talk about with Ellie," said Marshal, without questions, the two deputies left the office.
"This is some office, nice way of viewing the criminals too," joked Ellie, she looked at the cells next to her.
"Well that's how it is, we had one criminal but he passed on, now I'm just waiting for another one, and there's always another one, one who steals, assaults, murders," said Marshal.
"Yea, but you deal with them right?" said Ellie, she never quite got a close look to an officer of the law, she remembered reading comics about the Old West, and how there's always a good cop stopping crimes.
"Hate to admit, there are some times where I couldn't keep in control, but enough of that," Marshal sit down in his desk while Ellie sits right across him in the room.
"Where did you learn how to shoot?" questioned Marshal, Ellie thought she could stick with her story she told John, after all, whose going to believe she's from another world?
"My dad taught me, for you know, hunting," Ellie said.
"He must of taught you well, but why would a city folk like you want to hunt," asked Marshal.
"Well...How did you know I was from a city," asked Ellie, getting a little nervous, "The way you wearing, nothing like any outfits I ever seen, so I figured," answered Marshal.
"Oh, well, I always wanted to learn how to hunt, how it's like to be out in the wilderness," said Ellie, having more lies in her words.
"I got to tell you kid, it must of took a lot of courage to do what you just did," he added.
"Yea well, growing up, can be pretty hard, especially when there's inf-uh..Bandits to worry about," Ellie said, this was actually somewhat true, "These people thinking they can do whatever they want, it really does suck," Ellie admits.
Marshal understands, except that last word she just said, but ignored it, "Sorry to hear that," said Marshal.
"Yea, well, it's a free country, uh..Right?" said Ellie, she really felt she should stop talking.
"Not free enough, there are low lifes who doesn't care whose life they can ruined, This country is infested with all manner of scum," said Marshal.
"Couldn't agree more," said Ellie.
Meanwhile...
In another world, farther away from John and Ellie, two people were talking in a building, "Are you sure?" asked a woman, with short blonde hair, wearing a brown coat, "We're very sure, it seems our girl is in another world, the Old West," answered a man with short black hair, wearing a labcoat.
"Oh great," said in sarcasm the woman, "Doesn't matter, a minor set-back, we'll deal with her later, right now we have other people we need to get to, Harred," said the woman.
"Ofcourse, who's next in our list," asked Harred.
"We are now in search for a very athletic woman, her name is Faith, she's going to be tough to handle," said the woman, "Is she only human?" asked Harred.
"Yes," answered the woman.
"We did deal with two people who is possibly the most deadliest fighters we ever face, and it was harder with the one in the hood, I'm sure we can handle a human, Jill," said Harred, she gave a promising look.
"Good, but she's quick, so you need to be quicker," said Jill.
"Yes Jill," Harred then left the office of Jill, he walked down the hallway until he reached a two way door, he entered into a a very large room of a labatory and goes over to a sealed cage from the end of the room, from there was a young 20 year old woman, wearing a blue dress with a white collar, having dark short hair, he could see her blue eyes that she was crying not so long ago.
"Elizabeth, it's time to get back to work," said Harred, Elizabeth was sitting in her bed, a dresser with a mirror is not so far away from her.
"I'm not doing it," she answered to him.
"Elizabeth, we're not going to go through this again," said Harred.
"I'm not doing this, I'm not going to continue to work with monsters like you, you can keep me imprisoned here, but I won't let you hurt anymore people," said in anger Elizabeth.
"Are you sure?" asked Harred, he pulls out a device, it has a few buttons on it, he pressed on of them, and immedietly, Elizabeth felt a strong headache, she fell to the floor in pain.
"STOP, I'm not doing this anymore!" she screamed, Harred kept holding the button.
"May I remind you, that if you don't do what we say, you will return to your home world, destroyed and in ruins, I am very certain that Booker will not survive there no matter how strong you think he is," threaten Harred.
Elizabeth kept holding her head in pain, it was then Harred let go of the button, and from on the floor, Harred could see the chain that was strapped to her collar, as well as the mark of a triangle with 4 circles inside, Elizabeth was free from the pain, but she still felt like she was stabbed hundreds of times.
"Why are you doing this, don't you know that your taking them away from their destiny from their world?" said Elizabeth, this time she was looking at Harred eye to eye.
"Elizabeth, when this is all over, you will understand your destiny, we only need a couple more," explained Harred.
"A couple?! There are thousands, Millions of worlds out there, you don't think I don't know your going to use me to get to all of them and taking the people away from their homes," said Elizabeth, Harred stood there with a frown.
"Taking away the people from their Homes? May I remind you that it was you who took that girl, Ellie, and put her into that other world, I must say it was a cute action you did, meaningless, but cute, we'll get back to her soon," said Harred, he then go to the controllers and opened the sealed door, there were 12 guards right behind him.
"Now come on Elizabeth, the longer you resist, the condition will worsen for your world, and there will be nothing left for you to go back," Harred said in a strict tone.
Elizabeth knows she's been beaten, but it worsens her on how much confusion the people she let them get taken by these people, she can't explain how these people know the weakness of each person she keeps bringing in, but there wasn't anything she could do, she got up, straiten her dress, and with her chain now in hold by one of the guards, she walks out of the unsealed room.
"Good, now follow my orders," said Harred, Elizabeth still remembered how she got into this mess, and still she didn't want to believe it.
She follows Harred, and stopped where he told her so.
"Alright," Harred used the controllers in the lab, when he started something on it, he connect it to his device he had in his pocket, in under a minute, he activates the collar that Elizabeth was wearing, it started to glow with the symbol of the triangle, immedietly, Elizabeth felt dizzy.
"Okay, now Elizabeth," ordered Harred.
Elizabeth had no other choice, in the center of the room, she picked both of her hands up, what looked like she was holding on to nothing, it began to show that Elizabeth was opening a portal, she open up a tear she created, at first she didn't have enough energy, but with one last pull, she opened the tear, and here through the portal she can see a city, an advanced technology kind of city, it was more futuristic compare to Columbia, and from the city, the portal was on top of a tall building, the tallest building she could see was a few miles away from the portal, she could she the reflection of the tall building, the reflection of her in the portal, it stands by an edge of the tower, The Mirror's Edge