Chapter 6:
The hours passed and nightfall rapidly approached. Aiden moved quickly, leading them through the dilapidated streets of Idaho Falls; many times he would stop their progress only to quietly sneak them through some detour, avoiding packs of infected as if he were some kind of psychic who could see where the creatures would be. It was apparent to Joel that the kid knew this place well.
Within the space of two hours, the five of them were outside Idaho Falls city limits and were walking along the long expanse of some highway which Joel did not remember. They walked along this for hours; they spent most of their day on it. Once did Aiden stop to relax.
"This highway's always crawling with bandits or infected. Don't like to stay around for too long," he'd said when Joel had asked him why he was in such a hurry to get off of the highway.
They came into Blaire around sunset. But even in the growing darkness Aiden led them quickly and quietly; even in the darkness he was able to maneuver as good as if he had a map or something. Every once in awhile he would stop them, disappear from their sight and then come back telling them they needed to be even more careful. Several times they quietly snuck past packs of infected; making their way quickly to the complete other side of the little town-the west side.
From there, Aiden led them down another stretch of highway, down a turnoff and into the hills.
"Pretty sure this is the way we were supposed ta' be heading," Tommy told Joel. "I recognize it from the pictures." Joel remembered the pictures their friend had shown them of his cabin just outside of Blaire; their current location did, in fact, look familiar. How he remembered that was beyond him, but he did.
"Well," Aiden said, pointing ahead of them. "There it is, finally made it." Joel peered through the ever darkening air and spotted the cabin just ahead. There wasn't much to see; the cabin probably only had a bedroom or two, and from the size of it, Joel could tell that it was a single story building. But none of those things even remotely mattered as they approached the structure. It would be like heaven to be able to sleep on something besides the floor; even if they didn't stay there long, it would be a nice bit of relief.
In a matter of moments they were within feet of the cabin. Joel stopped, listened carefully. He waited for any kind of sound that would indicate someone moving around somewhere within the immediate vicinity. On the cabin's front were two windows; Joel watched them but saw nothing that would indicate someone was inside.
Aiden saw Joel's close inspection and chuckled softly.
"Relax," he said. "I've already told you I'm friendly. And personally, I don't feel like getting my head blown off." When Joel showed no sign of relaxing, Aiden sighed.
"At least come inside, check the place out for yourself. If anything raises your suspicions you can leave." As an afterthought, he added: "I hope nothing does raise suspicion, or you'll probably kill me."
Having said this, Aiden stepped up to the cabin's front door, twisted the knob and pushed it inward. He gestured the rest of them forward. Hesitating for only just one moment, Joel entered the cabin. There were no lights on in the place; he reached up and flicked on the light hanging from his packs strap. With his hand resting on the butt of his revolver, hanging from his hip, Joel made a quick scan of the main room; he saw nothing except the old furniture that adorned the place: a couch, two torn chairs and a TV with a dirt and grime covered screen. Set against the wall opposite the front door was a large bookshelf, cluttered with neglected books. Just to their right was the cabin's small kitchenette, to the right, a short hallway leading to the bedrooms and bathroom.
Behind himself, Joel heard Tommy, Maria and Ellie slowly enter the cabin after him. Aiden followed just behind them.
"You know," Aiden said. "I could get some light going." Joel watched the teen cross over to the kitchen, pull a book of matches from his pocket and light the three candles on the counter. That area of the cabin was bathed in a dim, comforting glow.
"There's a couple of candles in the bedrooms. I think there's a few by the couch as well." Aiden said, moving to the couch and crouching in front of it. He felt around in the darkness, found the candles and lit them.
"Well," he said, standing and clapping his hands together. "I'm sure the four of you are tired. If you'd like, you can take the bedrooms. I haven't slept in either of them, so you don't have to worry about me." Before anymore words could be exchanged, the young man led the four of them down the hall.
"Bathroom's behind the last door, but there isn't any running water. I'll leave you guys to pick which bedroom you'd like to sleep in for the night, let you get your sleep. Tomorrow we can figure out what you guys want to do." With that said, Aiden gave them his farewell, and then he was walking down the hallway, out to the main room. Joel spared one last glance in the direction of the main room.
"We should share one of the bedrooms tonight." He said. "Just in case he does try anything." He gazed at each of them in turn; none argued Joel's point. Using his flashlight, Joel inspected each room; it didn't take long for him to decide. The room he picked was the larger of the two. The bed was old and it's mattress felt as hard as a rock. On the wall opposite the bedroom door there was a large window, one even Joel could easily get through in a hurry if the situation demanded it.
After Joel had shut the door, found and lit the candles that were in the bedroom, he went to the window and looked out, watching again for any kind of movement. He had to admit, it felt good to be indoors, but something about the place felt off to him. It was like he was being watched.
"Hey," someone said beside Joel. He looked left, at Tommy. "You gonna' get some rest?" He asked.
Joel shrugged. "Go on ahead, I'm gonna' keep watch for a bit."
"You sure?" Tommy asked. Joel nodded an affirmative in response. Tommy sighed and gave in, leaving Joel to stay up and keep watch. For only a moment, Joel watched the other three; Ellie sitting on the floor with her back against the bed, flashlight on, the joke book Joel couldn't stand in her hand. He watched Tommy and Maria, talking quietly on the bed. He took his gaze away from them and back to the window. Quietly, he slid down to the floor and listened closely to their surroundings. Waiting for anything.
Outside of the small cabin, the air was still, the temperature still relatively high. Nothing seemed to move in that quiet darkness, except for the two figures sitting still in the high boughs of one of the many pine trees. Carefully, they watched the cabin; one of them watched as one of the men who had entered the house shortly before stared at the surrounding trees, not seeing them hidden in the shadow cast by the trees.
"So, what do we do now that there's more than one person in there?" The smaller of the two men asked. The one watching the window did not reply immediately; he only watched and waited. When the guy staring out of the window had disappeared into the cabin's comforting darkness, he looked at his companion.
"We do what we were going to do; take 'em." He said.
"Yeah, but," the other said. "It ain't going to be as easy, Luther."
"You're right," said Luther. "But when we have 'em, and we can do whatever the hell we want with 'em...then it'll be worth it." He looked at the house once more with a dreamy glint in his eyes. He just couldn't wait to get his hands on the people in that cabin. He could not wait to make them bleed, and scream.
Joel jerked awake when he felt someone sitting down next to him. He looked around in the relative darkness, save for the flickering light from the candles, and saw Ellie. Immediately he relaxed and leaned his head back against the wall, ignoring the stiff pain in his neck. For a moment he wondered how long he had been asleep, but quickly be deemed this question unimportant; instead he waited quietly for any kind of word or acknowledgement from Ellie. It took several minutes, but Joel's quiet patience was rewarded.
"So," Ellie said quietly. "I've been thinking, about the fireflies...and I'm sorry." Joel's brows furrowed and his head turned to her.
"Sorry for what?" He asked.
Ellie shrugged her shoulders. "I don't think you'd kill the fireflies without some kind of good reason for it besides me going into surgery, you didn't really explain what they had been planning to do that set you off."
Joel sighed, scrubbed a hand across his face. Joel supposed that would have been a good thing to do when he'd been explaining himself to her. "Marlene told me they were gonna have to cut your brain out ta get at the...mutation that makes you immune. They were gonna kill you and I..." He trailed off, took a deep breath. "I couldn't lose you. I don't know what I woulda' done if I did." Joel looked down at his dirt-caked boots, noticing the large hole in the side of one of them; he would need to get that fixed sometime.
With the a small shake of his head, Joel brought himself back to his current conversation with Ellie. He looked at her, sitting beside him and he felt an overwhelming amount of relief; things weren't completely ruined between him and Ellie and for that he was grateful.
He he cleared his throat. "Look," he said carefully. "I'm sorry, for not tellin' you the truth about the fireflies. I just...I figured that if I told you what had really happened, ya' would go back, or leave. I knew I wouldn't be able to keep goin' without you." He set his eyes on Ellie; he waited for anything, any kind of response.
After only a few moments, she sighed and said, "Apology accepted, I guess."
It felt as if an immense weight was lifted off of Joel's shoulders, and he found himself more relaxed than he had been since the events in Salt Lake.
"We should get some sleep," he said. Joel slid down, until he was lying on his back with the top of his head just an inch or two from the wall. Beside him, he felt Ellie do the same. Once she was settled as well, Joel reached out with his arm and wrapped it protectively around Ellie's shoulders. In moments, her breathing evened out, and she was asleep.
For the first time in what felt like years, it seemed that, in that moment, everything would be okay. In just a few minutes, Joel was drifting off as well, joining Ellie in the world of sleep.
AN: So, real quick, I need to apologize for making you all wait two months exactly (yesterday) to read more. But this little thing called life got super crazy and busy for me and my husband and neither of us has real been able to get any writing done. But anyway, what did you think? Let me know by leaving a review and I hope you all stick around for the next chapter. Peace out.