Chapter 6

The fires had begun to die by the time Wolf worked his way back to where he had left Joel and Ellie. The walk had given him the necessary time to collect himself. He didn't know how long he watched the fire, and the people inside, but that didn't matter to him. It had given him time to understand the gravity of the situation, and to lock it away. He made sure to tell himself that he regretted nothing about what he had done, and that those people deserved it. After all, he had watched them kill people for no other reason than to simply do it. They deserved to die, and he would not give them sympathy.

And just like that he filed the situation away to the back of his mind, not thinking about it anymore. Instead, he focused on how many people were going to be at the camp, if they would be aware of him yet, and what to grab when everything was secured. The food was Joel and Ellie's, so instead he would focus on bullets and any medical supplies that Joel and Ellie did not need.

As he reached the clearing where he had left Joel and Ellie, he was suddenly on edge. He did not know what it was at first, only that something was making him uneasy. Then things started to click. Joel and Ellie were both staring at him, trying to hide something, not realizing that their body language was giving them away. Joel had a grim look on his face watching him with a new sense of caution. He was holding his rifle in two hands, ready to be brought to the shoulder and fire. Ellie shared the grim look, but with a little more fear escaping from her eyes. Her hand lay on her leg holster, an inch away from the pistol he had given her.

They were seriously thinking about killing him.

He walked past them, pretending not to notice anything. He of course new exactly what was going on. He got back to his back pack and took out a brown long sleeve shirt and slid it on, all the while puzzling over what to do now that he had enemies so close to him. It was obvious that they had not decided to kill him yet, otherwise they would have shot him when he was down by the fire. But they were seriously thinking about it, and one wrong move could shift the balance. At the same time, he could get his hands nowhere near his pistol without Joel noticing, and Wolf knew that the man would not hesitate to shoot him dead.

So, with no other options, he slipped on his backpack, turned towards the hunter camp, and started moving, Ellie and Joel following far enough behind that he could not get to them in time. Wolf was fairly certain that they would not shoot him in the back, even if they made a decision. That did not seem to be their style, and he could use that. He would lead them to the camp, they would kill anyone left, and then he could turn the tables on them. What would happen after that, no one could say.

…..

From their position on the outcropping of rocks above the hunter camp, the group could see everything inside. There were three guards left, two at the front gate and one by the roaring fire in the middle of the camp. The outer walls were made of chain link fence reinforced with various pieces of plywood and metal. The inside was littered with various tents made from tarps, plywood, aluminum, and other scavenged material. The most prominent thing of the entire camp, however, was a gas station at the very back. The pumps had been removed, and the entire building looked like it had been scorched by fire, with soot marks on the inside and out. Wolf told them that it was the building the food and medical supplies were in and their eyes were glued to it, trying to see if he was speaking the truth.

The two perimeter guards seemed to be bored out of their minds, not even bothering to patrol the perimeter like they normally would. Instead they opted to sit at the front gate and talk. The third guard just sat in the middle of the compound and stared into the fire, seemingly drunk. The situation looked almost too good to be true, but Wolf had done too much homework to believe otherwise. The number of guards left seemed exactly right for the amount of people who were killed in the fire. Three people left of almost 40, and most of them killed in one fell swoop. He allowed himself a small amount of satisfaction, but only for a moment.

Still watching the camp, he started to speak to Joel and Ellie, wanting to get the ball rolling. "Alright, so here's the plan. I am going to sneak down beside the two guards. I will be on the right side. One of you is going to cover me with your rifle, and when I kill the guard closest to me, the person covering me is going to kill the other guard right next to me. When that happens, the other shooter is going to kill the drunk by the fire."

Neither Joel nor Ellie saw any reason to argue. It was a good plan, after all, and as a bonus only Wolf would be in harm's way. Both looked at Wolf, nodded their acent, then unsung the rifles from their backs. The two guards were about a hundred yards away, with the other about fifty yards beyond. They each were using 30-06 rifles, so the distance would not be an issue.

"Good. Ellie, can you be the one to cover me?"

"Yeah, sure."

"Alright, let's finish this up." As he finished the sentence, he jumped off the rock and disappeared into the forest below.

"Wonder why he wants you to cover him." Joel mumbled, annoyed at the fact that Wolf seemed to totally disregard him.

Ellie chuckled lightly before saying, "He probably thinks that I have less of a chance of 'accidentally' shooting him." She then tilted her head thoughtfully before saying, "He could tell what we were thinking when he came back after barbequing those people, I just know it."

Joel thought about that for a moment. He hadn't noticed anything different about Wolf since the fire, but in his gut he knew Ellie was right. Joel had known people of the same type as Wolf. He was like his namesake, a predator. Vicious and cunning, sure, but he is also skittish. He would have noticed everything about Joel and Ellie's body language back where they first met up. Joel had no doubt that the man had watched them for a time before he showed himself for that specific purpose. So if he knew that Joel and Ellie were thinking of killing him, why would he have stuck around? Joel just didn't know enough about Wolf to make a good guess. By all rights, he should have left Ellie to die, as any normal person would have done. But he patched her up, escorted her back, and now he was helping them save the town. Joel started to doubt that he would be able to predict the man at all because of his erratic nature. That might have been the most difficult thing to grasp, that he could not predict the man..

"Joel, here we go." Ellie said, pulling Joel out of his thoughts. She was looking down her scope, the crosshairs on the second guard's torso, as a headshot at this range would be difficult and risky. Joel followed suit with the guard at the fire, sighting in on the man's chest as well. Now all that was left to do was wait for Wolf's shot.

It came, as did the two retorting ones from Joel and Ellie. All the guards fell within seconds of each other, like clockwork. Wolf went through the gate, checking to make sure there was no movement or signs of life. That finished, he went to each of the guards and checked to make sure they were dead. He only had to shoot one, and then he motioned for Joel and Ellie to join him.

Ellie got to her feet, slinging the rifle across her back. As she turned to Joel, she saw that he was still looking down the scope, and had no doubt what he was aiming at. "Joel, we had a deal." Ellie said in a warning tone. Joel did not respond, still keeping Wolf in his scope. He wanted to kill the bastard. He knew he should have when he had his human bonfire, but Ellie had stopped him. After all, she reasoned, Wolf had done nothing to them yet, and could be useful in the future.

While he knew she had a point, it was still difficult not to pull the trigger. He had seen Wolf's type before. All they did was kill. Not for food. Not for water. Not for shelter. Not for safety. Purely for the sake of killing. They were dangerous to anyone that they were "protecting" as they had a nasty tendency to turn on them or lead trouble right to their front door. He had told Ellie this, but she had remained adamant that they could use him. And if the need arose, she would kill him herself. While he did not put much faith in that statement, it eased his mind to know that at least Ellie was somewhat aware of the danger Wolf posed.

Finally, Joel stood with a sigh, lowering his rifle. Part of him knew that it was wrong to just kill the man for no reason, but a bigger part was wondering about using him as a sort of guard dog to keep away hunters and raiders. Chuckling slightly at the irony of the thought, he motioned for Ellie to start walking with him. Wolf was now searching through a tarp covered hut, seemingly oblivious to what could have happened to him. Joel started walking towards the camp, fiddling with the grip on his pistol. He was still uneasy about trusting Wolf, but confident in the fact that he was still fast enough to kill the guy should the need arise.

…..

They had separated to look for different supplies, and that suited Wolf just fine. Joel and Ellie were loading food and medicine into the bed of an old Ford that they had found in the camp. They were plenty happy that they would not have to go back to Jackson just to get a truck, so Wolf deigned not to tell them about the things he had seen a couple of hunters doing inside the truck. Just the thought was enough to make his skin crawl, and that was not easy.

Meanwhile, he was currently looking through a hut in search of anything of use. So far, he had found a small first aid kit, fishing line and hooks, some smoked venison, and a few bullets. So far, not a great haul. Then again, what could he expect when he was giving away the most important shit to Ellie and Joel, despite the fact that they were almost certainly going to try and kill him.

"Whatever." He thought to himself. He wasn't going to start a fight with them, but if they tried anything on him, he would kill them both. He did not want to, as they seemed like decent people (especially Ellie) but he did not want to die just yet. He still had things that he needed to do, and he could not let a pretty girl and an old man stop him just yet.

He absentmindedly searched through a cabinet while kicking himself for being in this position. He had reveled himself to people, he was giving up supplies, helping people who he didn't know, and who were likely to kill him, and he had no one to blame but himself. After all, it was his choice to help Ellie, and his choice to help the town. Hopefully, he would not be getting a bullet in the back as a thank you.

As he turned over another bed, spilling its blankets and sheets to the floor of the makeshift house, his eyes caught something that broke him out of his thoughts like a baseball going through a glass window.

"No. Fucking. WAY!" He said under his breath as he reached for it. It was a small box, its box art and lettering worn and faded. But there was no mistaking what was inside. Cautiously he opened the box, like a child opening a Christmas present. And there, right in front of him, in all their white and brown glory, were ten cigarettes.

Wasting no time, he pulled one out, stuck the filter in his mouth, placed the rest of the box in one of his cargo pockets, pulled out his spare lighter, and lit the little stick. As the tobacco smoke filled the air and his lungs, the smell of it brought back strong memories. Memories of a kindly Hispanic man who seemed to want to help anyone in need, of an angry bitch of a woman who's own selfishness ended up getting her fucked, a strong black man, leading them and more though storm after storm, until finally he was forced to yield. And then there was a vision of another man.

The other man was from a time before the others. He was dressed in a dark coat, black cargo pants, and military boots, with short black hair and a goatee. He had ice blue eyes that seemed like they could cut right through you, and his face wore a grim expression, as if always expecting trouble. He looked strong, both in mind and body. Just being around the man made you feel like you were on top of the world, like you could face any odds and win. He was a good man, the kind that could inspire both hope and fear, and was not afraid to admit both when asked. He was a man's man.

His own mind kicked him out of his admiration, wanting to get a head start on the walk back. Shaking himself, he pushed the memories aside for now. Besides, it wasn't like any of them were alive to appreciate the thoughts anyway. With that grim thought, he finished looting and went to find Ellie to let her know that he was leaving. After all, he had just killed 30 people, so that probably exempted him from loading supplies into their truck.

As he walked out of the hut, immediately started to walk towards the gas station, believing that they were still inside. The entire way, he puffed on the cigarette like an old pro, which he sort of was. He was not addicted by any meens, but the smell of the tobacco and the feel of the smoke in his lungs helped him to relax. And relaxing sometimes, especially before a dangerous encounter, like the one he could have right now with Ellie and Joel, helped him be loose and ready for whatever would come.

As he neared the gas station, he saw Ellie and Joel walk out, heads down and seemingly disheartened. He waved at them, but then they did something strange. As if on command, they fell to their knees in unison, with their hands behind their heads. As they fell, a figure came out of the doorway, it's pistol trained on Wolf. He was about to try and shoot him, but stopped as soon as he saw who the gunman was.

It was a boy, maybe twelve. And he had a gun. And he looked terrified.

He was dressed poorly, with brown pants that had the left leg torn off at the knee, no shoes, and a torn and ratty shirt that may have once been white. He had blond hair that was not cut in any way, just neglected and dirty. His eyes were green, and the pupils were tiny dots in the center. His inexperience with guns showed, as he looked extremely uncomfortable holding the revolver in his hands. His grip was all wrong, and he could even have the safety on. In short, he was a scared kid with a gun who was in a shitty place.

Somewhere, deep inside him, Wolf's stomach turned. The kid's gun was pointed at him, the barrel shaking non-stop. He was a time bomb that could go off at any second, and Wolf was not the only one at risk. With the kid as terrified as he was, he might shoot Ellie or Joel just for flinching. His stomach turned into knots as he realized he might have to kill a fucking kid.

And there it is. Sorry about the long wait, same old "college and high school" excuse. But with summer coming, hopefully i will be able to update more. So, hope this peeks your interest. Actually, i have the next chapter half way done, so i should be able to update with in a couple of weeks. As always, Read and Review! And to MrForgetful 7, you rock dude! Seriously, thanks a ton man, i had been having a fucking shitty as hell week, and you made it so much better.