Chapter 10: Ballsy

I didn't know how long we were moving, or even in what direction we were going in. I also didn't know how many infected we killed. I didn't care either, as long as we got to the capital building in the end. I didn't worry much about time, since Tess and Joel seemed to have a good handle on where we were going. I just moved alongside Ellie, and I wanted to get there for her sake.

That is, until we got separated from Joel. We were traveling through a dilapidated building, in which many of the doorways had parts of the ceiling crashed down, blocking the way. In one place in particular, it was impossible for us to simply hop over the obstacle like we normally would, so Joel lifted the fallen pieces high enough for the rest of us to crawl underneath it to the other side. We would've grabbed hold of it ourselves so that he could crawl through, but as soon as the three of us were through, more parts of the ceiling collapsed, trapping Joel and us on either sides of the doorway.

We could barely see him with through the pieces, but he did hear him scream to us, "I'm alive! I'll make my way around to you." I was relieved that he was alright, but I didn't expect anything less. Joel was tough, and I barely ever saw him get hurt. He then left the doorway to try to find a path around to us.

There was a moment of ease between the three of us where we were left in the dark, the only light coming from our flashlights. We just looked at each other, the only sound we made coming from our heavy breathing. In that moment, no one needed to talk. It felt kind of nice. However, it didn't last long. In response to hearing the loud crash of the ceiling, a distinctive clicking sound reached my ears.

"Look, they're here," Tess said, as we all looked down the hallway we were in, and saw two Clickers coming right at us. "Run, run!"

She didn't have to tell us twice. I grabbed hold of Ellie's hand in a protective grip, and took off down the hallway with Tess. We were in an area that was very similar to a maze, as all of the rooms were connected to one another, and all the doors were open. We ran in the same direction for a few feet, then split apart, hoping to separate the two Clickers, making them easier to kill. Our plan worked; Tess went off on her own with one Clicker, leaving Ellie and I to defend ourselves against the other. I quickly lead her to a small room, where I let go of her hand, and we ran to opposite ends of the room. The Clicker stood in the middle of the room for what seemed like an eternity, just staring in our general directions, trying to decide which of us to go after. Ellie was completely motionless, but it made no difference. It knew where she was.

I barely moved either until the thought occurred to me that if it chose to go after her, she was unarmed. She'd be killed instantly without any hope of defending herself. With this in mind, I reached into the back of my pants quickly, but quietly, grabbing hold of the handle of my revolver, and pulling it out. Mistake. The metal of the gun made a loud noise from the friction of rubbing against my jeans. The noise caused the Clicker to decide. It looked directly at me, and with a loud shriek, it ran towards me. I took aim at its head, and pulled the trigger.

Nothing happened. No shot was fired. I tried again, and the same thing happened. Nothing. That's when I realized an even bigger mistake. I'd forgot to reload my gun. At that point, I knew it was over. Clickers were an instant kill. This wasn't how I expected to go out, over something so stupid. It was a fool's death. Maybe Ellie would tweak the story for me, and say I went out with a blaze of glory. That'd be nice of sure; it would surely make Tess proud. I didn't scream; I didn't move. I just for it to reach me, only it didn't.

The Clicker couldn't have been more than a few feet away from me when I saw Ellie hop on its back, knife in hand, and begin stabbing its neck repeatedly. It shrieked again, and moved backwards a few steps, thrashing around, trying to get her off of it. However, it was no use, as she had a death grip on it. She just kept stabbing until the Clicker faltered, blood and various fluids flying, crashed to the ground with a thud, and stopped moving. It'd fallen on its stomach, so all Ellie had to do was stand up. Blood covered her knife completely, as well as parts of her shirt and face. She looked down at her knife, and noticing she blood, she wiped it on her jeans before putting it back in her pocket before looking at me like what'd she'd just done was nothing.

I couldn't believe what I'd just seen. Not only did she not hesitate to kill it, but she also did it with a simple pocket knife, which is something I'd never seen done before. Usually it took a shiv (a weapon made of scissors and a knife) to kill one, but here was this girl, showing me how it was really done. In addition to this, she'd just saved my life, which also made me feel bad. All this time, I thought was completely innocent, never having killed anything, but that proved to me that she was stronger and more ballsy than I'd given her credit for.

"What?" she asked me, giving me a small smile, and walking up to where I was standing.

"That was…" I began.

"What?"

"…amazing." I couldn't come up with a better word to use, though I knew there was probably one out there.

She shrugged, "it was nothing."

"Bullshit it was nothing, you just saved my life, Ellie," I said. "I was out of bullets. I was dead there for a second because I was an idiot who didn't reload my gun." I put my gun back in my pants, making a mental note to reload it soon.

"You totally just showed me what the fuck was up," I praised. "Where did you learn to do that with a pocket knife?"

"I went to military school, remember?" she said. "They teach you shit like that there."

"Well, I'm very impressed."

Ellie looked to the side of me, her face turning a light shade of red at my praise. I took her chin in my hand, and moved it so that she was looking at me. I thought she'd object to me doing it, but she didn't.

"Now who's blushing?" I asked, my voice growing quiet; my heart pounding. The shade of red in her cheeks grew deeper as she took hold of my hand on her chin, and moved it so that it was at the level of our waists, in the space between us. Her eyes never left mine, and in the light of my flashlight, it looked as if the shades of green were dancing with the light.

"Now I just have to save your life one more time," she said, the volume of her voice matching mine. "Then we'll be even."

"Take your time."

We continued to look at each other, when we heard Tess come into the room, "hey, you guys okay?"

We let go of each other's hands, and looked at her. "We're fine," I said. "And Ellie killed the Clicker with a pocket knife."

At hearing this, Tess went over to the dead Clicker's body, and examined it, "wow, Ellie. I'm impressed. Pocket knife's a tough sell."

"Really, it was nothing," she said, trying to shrug it off.

"Don't be so modest," I said.

"Yeah, take all the praise you can get," Tess said, walking away from the Clicker. "God knows you won't get as much as you probably deserve."

"It's true," I agreed. Ellie simply nodded.

Suddenly, Joel rushed into the room too, "is everyone okay?"

"Yeah, we're fine," Tess answered, breathing heavily all of a sudden.

"You sure?" Joel asked her, a look of concern on his face.

"Yeah," she replied. "Just a bit winded. Let's keep moving, we're almost to the roof."

We followed her to a window, where we all hopped out onto a fire escape, which lead to the roof. It had stopped raining, and the sun was just rising over the horizon, making the landscape different shades of purple, blue, and white. I couldn't remember the last time I'd seen a sunrise so clearly, since we lived in a very crowded part of the city, and right in the middle of the horizon was the capital building.

"Where she is," Tess said, pointing to it, the sun gleaming off the golden dome roof. It was very close now. A pang of sadness welled up in me because I knew I wouldn't be able to spend much more time with Ellie. I think she could feel it too.

"Is it everything you'd hoped for?" Joel asked Ellie, referring to the fact that we were outside the quarantine zone, pleasantly surprising me. I didn't know if he was consciously being nice to her because he knew we were almost to the capital building, or he was genuinely curious. Whatever the case, he was talking to her, so I was proud of him.

"Jury's still out," Ellie answered him. "But, man…you can't deny the view." It was a sweet moment between the two of them, which Tess promptly interrupted, making us all move faster. I did notice Joel sneaking a quick glance at that damn broken watch of his, though, before he joined us.

"Look, we're almost done," Tess snapped to Joel. "Stay focused."

"Yes, ma'am," Joel said to her, a bit surprised at her harshness. I wondered why she was being bossy all of a sudden, but I didn't think too much of it, since she tended to get that way.

We reached the capital building in a shorter amount of time than I'd anticipated. It really was a sight to see, with the building seeming to tower over everything. An iron fence surrounded the area in front of the capital building, even though the road in front of it was now a giant, green pond. This was definitely a nicer part of the city at one point.

Upon looking at the pond, Ellie said, "umm, just so it's out there, I can't swim." I was kinda shocked at her confession, but then again, I also wasn't. I could swim, since Tess and my mom had made it a point to teach me, knowing I'd probably be dealing with water at some point in my life. However, Ellie probably never had to deal with deep water before, or someone who was willing to teach her for that matter.

Tess scoffed, "look, it looked like it's shallow on the right side. Follow me." Ellie broke away from my side, and followed her, while Joel and I just swam to the giant steps, leading up to the building. I paused on one of the bottom steps, waiting for Ellie. I was glad when she and Tess made it across okay. Tess and Joel began to quickly make their way up the stairs, but Ellie and I stayed behind for a second.

"Hey, Ellie?" I asked her.

"Yeah?" she looked at me.

"Whenever you're next in Boston, look me up, okay?"

She smiled, "you bet your ass I will. It shouldn't be too hard to find you, as you'll probably be running your own part of the Black Market by then."

I laughed, "yeah, probably, with the path Tess has me on."

"I have no doubt."

"And," I added. "I'll even teach you how to swim."

"Oh my god, fuck yeah!" Ellie said, laughing along with me. We then looked at each other for a second before Ellie wrapped her arms around my waist in a tight hug. I hadn't expected her to do that, but I hugged her back just as willingly.

"I'm gonna miss you," I said.

"I'm gonna miss you too," she said, as we let go of each other. "But remember what I said. This isn't good-bye forever. It's just for now, okay?"

I nodded, "you got it."

"Hey!" Tess called from the top of the stairs. "Get your asses up here!"

My friend and I gave each other one last smile before joining the others at the top of the stairs, and entering the capital building.