Chapter 10:

The sun peeked out from behind the desert's mountains and Joel squinted his eyes. He'd been driving for hours and he felt the fatigue wash over him. He watched Devin ahead of them, maneuvering the copper easily along the street. Joel looked at Zack. His head was in his hand and his eyes were closed. Joel looked back at the street and stopped the truck abruptly, waking Zack up in the process. Devin had parked the chopper and was looking at a sign. "Wait here." Joel said, pulling his arm around himself and opening he door. He climbed out and walked over to Devin.

When he noticed Joel, he pointed at the sign on the highway. According to what Joel could read, Las Vegas was only a few miles further. Joel looked around at the desert they were in. Daylight had only started several minutes ago, but Joel could feel the heat already beginning. "We shouldn't go driving through the city." Devin said. Joel nodded his head. "We'll get a little closer, probably somewhere near the strip. Walk the rest of the way." Devin nodded.

"You gonna' be alright?" he asked. Joel furrowed his brows and Devin chuckled. "Dude, you could barely walk when I woke up yesterday. You gonna' be alright?" Joel nodded his head before going back to the truck. Devin had been right. His leg felt like someone was sawing at it with a knife. But he would be able to make it. He had to.

"You know how to get to the their camp from the strip?" Joel asked as Devin started off again. Zack nodded. "Yeah, it's at the Palace Station...maybe a mile or two from the strip." Joel nodded his head. He remembered the one time he and Tommy had gone to Las Vegas. They'd eaten breakfast at the Palace Station. One of the chefs there (Joel had seen a station casinos commercial where that specific chef had been referred to as the omelette king) had made their food. Joel had seen why they called him that.

Joel shook these thoughts from his head and concentrated on the situation at hand. "Let's get a move on." He muttered.

Ellie moved he right arm around as much as she could to keep it from falling asleep. The fireflies current leader, Ellie thought she'd heard her name was Beckie, had handcuffed her to the bedpost, between two of the rungs that connected the posts together. The posts weren't wood, and Ellie didn't have a way to unscrew the the post from the rungs with her knife, Beckie had taken that with her too. Ellie leaned back on the bed, her right arm still hanging from the cuff and thought.

How in hell was she going to get out of here? She looked around the room. There was a nightstand right beside the bed. Ellie thought about it for a second and decided it wouldn't hurt for her to try. She sat up and got off of the bed. She opened the first drawer on the nightstand and huffed. Only a dusty, old pocket bible. She closed it and opened up the next one. She crouched down as low as she could and stared at the things on the inside. A pen, a pair of scissors and some faded, torn paper.

"Who the hell would have a pair of scissors in here?" She muttered. Oh well, that didn't matter. She pulled the pair of scissors out. She just might be able to break the lock on the handcuffs with it; Joel had tought her his little trick several months previous.

After she had seperated the blades in the scissors, Ellie prepared to go to work on the handcuffs. "Okay, here goes nothing." She muttered.

Joel winced at the pain coursing through his leg. He had sewn it back at Tommy's place, before Devin had awoken. But he knew he hadn't given it enough time to heal. But Joel had to deal with it, he couldn't keep worrying about himself.

Joel, Devin and Zack moved as quietly as they could, trying to reach the Palace Station without bringing any attention to themselves. Twice they had to backtrack and go around some sort of roadblock. Joel lost count of how many infected they snuck by after the number reached the double digits. Three or four times Joel was forced to take out several groups of infected. Devin and Zack helped with it an. After what felt like years they reached the Palace Station.

They were underneath a half crumbled highway overpass, staring at the disheveled, slightly destroyed and overgrown casino. Joel pulled his pistol from his back waistband and went to approach the building. He was stopped by Zack's hand on his arm.

"She's probably expecting you." Joel nodded his head. "Yeah, I was expecting that."

Beckie sat quietly on one of the booth seats in the feast buffet and rubbed at her temples. It had been one big hassle to get the girl into the hotel room, and the stress from waiting for her guardian was a lot to handle. From what he had done to the fireflies the last time they had tried to go through with the procedure had been pretty bad. But she knew they could handle him now that they knew who they were dealing with.

Beckie knew Ellie's guardian would be coming for her, it hadn't been too hard to come to that assumption. All they had to do was wait for him to show up and make one mistake. Then he would be dead and she would have nothing else to worry about.

Ellie finally broke the cuff's lock and got it off her wrist. "Goddamn." She muttered. She rubbed at her wrist for just a second, then she moved. She hurried over to the door after grabbing the other scissor blade. She tried the door nob and wasn't surprised to find it locked. Using Joel's old trick, she slid the scissor blade in between the door and the wall and worked at the lock until she heard its satisfying crunch. Ellie dropped the broken blade and slowly twisted the knob on the door.

She stuck her head out of the door and looked both left, then right. Judging from the numbers on the doors, she was on the eighth floor. Almost silently, she moved, creeping slowly down the hallway. She stopped at a fork in the hallway and peered to the right. A single firefly stood by an empty elevator shaft with an automatic rifle gripped in his hands. Ellie needed to be careful.

She took three deep breaths, and crept forward. She moved five feet, then set off in a sprint. Unfortunately for the firefly, he didn't notice her coming until it was too late. "Oh shit!" He managed to yell before Ellie slammed into him with her shoulder smashing into his chest. With her left hand, she gripped the side of the elevator door. With her right, she grabbed a hold of the rifle as the firefly fell back into the empty shaft. The gun was ripped from his grasp, and he let out a loud shriek as he plummeted eight floors down before slamming against the floor far below. Ellie took a deep breath and stepped back.

"Oh fuck, I can't believe that worked," she muttered. She ejected the magazine, and counted the shells. There were thirty-five; almost a full clip. She loaded the rifle back up and going back down the hallway, the way she had come from. At the end, she found fire exit. She tried the knob and was surprised to find it open. She looked back down the hallway one last time before beginning down the stairs.

Beckie looked up as her right hand man, a man in his late-thirties named Alec, entered. "You wanted to see me?" He asked in his deep voice. Beckie sighed. "I need you to go back to that town of theirs." She said. Alec quirked a brow. "You sure that's a good idea? We had to fall back the last time we attacked-"

"We left because we got what we needed! Don't question me Alec." Alec nodded his head.

"There anything you want me to do, specifically?" Beckie shook her head. "No, just as long as you make sure all of them are dead."

"What about the guardian? You think he's coming?" Beckie nodded her head. "He'll be here. But keep focused, all you need to do is make sure there isn't anyone left." Alec began for the door, nodding his head. He was just about to exit, when Beckie called to him. "On second thought...how about you wait for me? Take control of the place, but don't kill anybody. I'd like to see that firefly deserter one last time." Alec grinned.

"I'll see you soon, then."

AN: Man, it's been a bit since I last updated! Sorry about that. But anyway, what did y'all think? What's going to happen now that Beckie's sending a platoon of fireflies back to Bertrand? Is Tommy going to be able to hold a firefly attack without Joel there? Is Joel going to get to Ellie before someone else dies? Why do I keep asking questions that I can't answer? I don't know, but I will see you later.

~Exangellion