Ellie made a list of shitty things that had happened to her. First was being bit with Riley. She also considered having to put Riley down right along with that. Second, her fight with Joel in Salt Lake. Third, dealing with Bill – though Tess and Joel did most of the talking, she still hated that smug little asswipe. Fourth, Riley abandoning her back in the QZ. Though she understood why, it was still shitty. Finally, being kidnapped in the middle of the fucking night by Idiot and Silent. She was sure they had names, but right now, she liked calling them Idiot and Silent.
Idiot ripped her from her bed about three hours ago, and after biting his hand, Idiot slapped Ellie so hard that her lip had split. Silent had almost done something, but only very pointedly got in between her and him. She licked her lip, happy that the bleeding had finally stopped, when she ran into Silent. Silent pushed her backwards and when she managed to see around Silent, she herself scrambled backwards from the convulsing Idiot.
"Thompson, what the hell?" Still trying to put distance between her and Thompson, Ellie almost didn't register that Silent was the guy from the jail. When Thompson turned towards them, she saw the blood dripping down his face, the faint bumps around his eyes.
"Shit! He's turning!" Silent turned and shoved her further back, shouting at her to close her eyes. By the time she had finished rolling from his shove, and wondering how much the guy worked out, he had already had pinned Thompson and was getting ready to administer the kill shot with a pistol. She slowly rose to her feet and had just looked up when another Infected, a Runner from the looks of his eyes, had come out of gloom of the forest and tackled Silent.
Not wanting to waste the breath to call out if he was okay, Ellie pulled out her knife and dashed next to Silent, drawing the attention of both Thompson and the other Infected. When they gave chase, she darted between trees and ducked down behind a small pile of rocks. When she heard the pair run by, she jumped out and managed to wrap herself around the second Infected, jamming her blade into as many soft spots as she could. Before she could deliver a fatal blow, however, Thompson knocked her off the Infected and tried to fall on top of her, but Ellie rolled out of the way. Springing to her feet, she kicked Thompson in the face and grabbing his hair, she pounded his face repeatedly into the rocky soil of the forest.
However, the hands of the second Infected on her latched onto her, and when she couldn't break the grasp she let go of Thompson and fought harder. Suddenly, a gunshot rings out and the iron hands loosen. Not bothering checking who did it, she turned, wrenched her knife from the gurgling Infected, and with a final "Fuck you!" she drove the blade into it's eye and pulled it back out. Whirling, she drove the knife into Thompson's neck, severing the spinal cord, and finally remembered to breathe only once the body stopped thrashing. She registered the footsteps but didn't bother to move even as hands wrapped around her and hauled her to her feet. Her mind finally cleared however when Silent told her that any Infected nearby were going to come running if they didn't haul ass away.
About 20 yards from the now still corpses, they both stopped to catch their breath. As expected, they could hear a few Runners screaming, but when a deep roar echoed across the forest, they both took off as fast as they can. Eventually, the sounds faded into the distance and they both collapsed to the ground, chests heaving. After a minute or two Ellie's mind cleared enough to realize that she could use both of her hands. Rising her arms to her eyes, Ellie gaped at handcuffs that, no matter how hard she tried not to believe it, were cut right in the middle of the chains joining the cuffs.
"Dude! What the hell happened to these things?" Silent looked over and Ellie could have sworn he looked…guilty? But he quickly told her that sometimes it happened when they got old, it just took one good hit for that to happen. Before Ellie could ask any more questions, he started walking south. Ellie watched him make his way over a fallen tree when she called out,
"Hey, where are you going?" Silent didn't bother to stop walking and only called out over his shoulder,
"We need to get you home, I'm taking us back to the path." When Ellie started laughing, he stormed back to her and demanded to know what was so funny.
"Oh my God! The path is that way!" Raising her finger north, Silent blushed and muttered under his breath,
"Great, stuck in this fucking forest with a fucking girl scout." Hopping off the rock she had sat on, Ellie led the way, still snickering at his continued redness.
Closing the door behind them Joel huffed and leaned against the porch railing. Taking a moment to compose herself, Tess leaves her hand on the door before turning and swearing under breath.
"C'mon Tess, where else could she be? Those are all of David's lap dogs, and ain't none of them seen her!" Seeing the fear in his eyes, Tess reached and took his hand, kissing his scared knuckles. Having heard the door close, Kathrine emerged from behind some nearby bushes where she had hid. Seeing the two adults standing there, she despaired for her friend, but put on a smile for the two of them.
Suddenly, a small hand wrapped around her mouth and the other grabbed her arms and wrenched them behind her.
"Found you stupid bitch!" Eyes wild with panic, she realized that Tess and Joel have no idea what's going. Trying to shout from behind the hand, her efforts are rewarded with a sharp jerk to her arms, causing them to flare with pain. Trying to remember what her dad taught her as a child, she fell limp, causing the boy holding her to haul her closer to him to balance her better. Seizing her opportunity, she dug her booted foot into his ankle, and when his hand let go in the sudden shock of the pain, she bit it and then threw her head backwards, nauseated by the sound of her head crushing the cartilage of his nose. Twisting around and freeing her arms, she pushed him with all her might and then ran to the adults on the patio, screaming for help.
The pair met her halfway, and with leaving Tess with the hyperventilating teen, Joel raced to the attacker, who had managed to rise to his feet and had begun fleeing. However, with the sudden reversal of the attack still leaving him in shock, Joel quickly caught up to him and tackled him to the ground.
"Get off of me you fucker!" The youth squirmed, but couldn't shake Joel off of him. He tried to drag himself forward, but stops when Tess plants her boot on the back of his head and pushes his face into the ground.
"Hi there. My name is Tess, and you are?" When only muffled sounds responded, Tess lifted her boot slightly and let the boy speak.
"I'm sorry, what did you say?"
"I said, 'Go fuck yourself bitch!'" His outburst gets him a sharp cuff by Joel, leaving tears in the corner of his eyes. Tess shook her head, a look of concern on her face,
"Oh, honey. Leave the poor boy alone!" When he turned his head to smirk at Joel, Tess stomped his face back into the dirt.
"Listen well, because I'm tired and I just want to find my daughter," Tess removed her boot and squatted down, "test me and I will kill you. Help me, and you might live." The boy raised his face to retort but when he felt the cold metal of a knife against his throat, the boast died in his throat.
"Okay! Listen, I know where they took Ellie! I swear I didn't do it!" Tess looked to Joel for his opinion. Though Tess was more of a people person, Joel was downright uncanny on seeing through people's lies. He nodded his head and Tess removed the shiv from the boy's neck.
"Start with your name, and then you, me, Joel, and Katherine are all going to go have a chat with Tommy. Tess sat down, letting her tired legs rest and, listened to the boy as he started his tale.
