So it's been a while...sorry bout that I kinda hit a dry patch. I haven't heard anything back from agencies I've contacted and it's making me sad which effects my writing :(
Anyway I haven't abandoned this, the chapters just a little long...
Anyway, Enjoy!
Jesse's POV
"Jesse." I grunted. "Wake up." I rolled over, clutching tight to whatever was in my lap. "Hey asshole." My eyes shot open. Sam sneered as he looked down at me. "Henry says it's time to get moving. Wake your girlfriend and dad and let's get going."
"She's not my girlfriend...and he's not my dad." Sam just rolled his eyes before walking off. I made to get up, but a body partly draped over mine kind of prevented that. "Ellie," I whispered. She didn't move beyond holding my jacket tighter. I placed a hand on her head. She has really soft hair, a little dirty, but that can't really be helped. "Ellie wake up."
"I don't wanna." I chuckled, running my fingers through her hair. "That's just gonna make me fall back asleep." I kept going but used my other hand to shake her shoulder. "Alright, I'm up." She shoved my shoulder as she sat up and I flinched. "Oh my god I'm sorry."
"I doesn't hurt." Too bad, I added silently. Ellie beamed.
"Really?" I nodded. "Hey Joel, Jesse's shoulder's all better." Joel was still sleeping. "I'll wake him up." Ellie got up. Smiling at me as she did, and went to Joel. I gave my shoulder an experimental roll and, upon there being minimal pain, I removed the sling.
"Nice," I breathed. Ellie came back over.
"Ready to go?"
I nodded.
"Get up the ladder!" Joel and Henry were barking orders like drill sergeants. Henry was first up, helping Sam next. The Hunters humvee was banging at the gate. Joel hoisted Sam up and turned to us. Ellie looked to me but I shoved her into Joel's arms and he lifted her up onto the ladder. "Now you Jesse."
I grabbed at the ladder but it wobbled, the hinges loosening before both me and the heavy metal structure hit the ground.
"Ow! Why always the shoulder," I moaned as I got back up. Lots of pain was all I was feeling but I had other things to worry about right now.
"Jesse! Joel! We gotta get them up!" Henry was pacing as Ellie spoke. Her eyes didn't leave me and Joel but I had a sinking feeling about Henry.
"We're leaving." What?!
"What?" Sam exclaimed.
"What? This is bullshit!" Henry and Sam were already making a run for it despite Ellie's words. "What the fuck Henry?"
Joel paced the small area we were stuck in. "Shit. Jesse find a way out!" I was about to nod but the sight of Ellie jumping from the top of the container stopped me. I caught her when she stumbled while Joel took care of our escape.
"What the hell? You idiot! You were safe!"
"And you're stuck!"
"Well now we're all gonna die!"
"We stick together!" Another hit to gates briefly stole my attention. I was fuming as I turned back to Ellie.
"We'll argue later!" I grabbed her hand and dragged her with me as I ran after Joel.
"Use the cars for cover!" I kept Ellie ahead of me as we finally made it to the bridge. The humvee was bashing through anything in its way but the build up of cars was at least slowing it down. It was a bus that got them stuck for a while but we had a new problem.
"Of fuck," Ellie panted as she faced the gaping hole in the bridge, the water rushing violently below. Joel swore as he turned back to the approaching hunters.
"How many bullets do you guys have left?"
"You've got to be kidding?" I panted.
"They're gonna kill us," Ellie added.
"What other choice do we have?" Joel snapped.
"We jump." That made me look at Ellie.
"You still can't swim." Ellie glared at me but Joel intervened before she could say anything.
"He's right, plus its way too high and Jesse's shoulder's still fucked. I'll boost you up, you run past them while Jesse and I cover you." While not a fan of my part in the plan, I nodded. Ellie came first. A head light blinded me before the humvee smashed into a close by car.
"We'll keep each other afloat," Ellie tried.
"No!" Joel was still searching for a way to escape but Ellie kept gravitating towards the water.
"Ellie don-"
"No time to argue!" she ran towards the edge and I followed, reaching for her arm. Joel's shout faded into the roaring engine of the humvee as my hand encased her wrist.
"Ellie!" She jumped and I was dragged after, her weight proving too much for me to carry. We spun mid air, Ellie's back facing the water. A mental connection seemed to pass through us and I quickly pulled her closer and spun us around so it was my back against the water.
I curled around her, her mouth right against my ear. "Just hang on," I gasped.
"But what about yo-" my back slammed against the water and I blacked out.
"Jesse! Jesse please wake up!" I could feel hands shaking me, hear a voice scream desperately at me, but I couldn't get my eyes to open. "You gotta wake up cause I don't think I can keep going alone!" the hands shaking me slowed before resting on my chest. They bunched in the fabric of my shirt. "Please wake up."
"Five more minutes." The hands disappeared and suddenly the atmosphere went from desperate to cold.
"You're awake?" I carefully cracked an eye open.
"Awake and injured," I mumbled fearfully. I didn't even see the hand coming until my cheek was stinging.
"Don't ever do that to me again!" she shrieked. I coward away, afraid of another slap.
"Okay, I'm sorry." Her expression hardened.
Her head was against my chest before I could blink, her knees giving out from under her. She was shaking as she pounded against me feebly. Cautiously I lifted a hand and patted the back of her head. Wet, but still soft hair tangled against my fingers.
"Shh, shh. It's okay. I'm here, right here." She stayed like that for a little bit. "I couldn't carry on without you either." I heard her scoff.
"You wouldn't need to, your job would be done." She sounded bitter.
"What're yo-"
"Ellie!" both of us turned to see Sam approaching us. He stopped short when he noticed our position, Ellie half draped over me and sobbing. "Uhh...Joel's waking up." She stiffened in my arms before moving out of them.
"Come on!" She didn't offer me a hand, just moved with Sam. I had questions but they could wait.
"This place stinks." I hated to agree with him, but Sam was right. Sewers were not what I had planned on today and yet, here we were, trekking through what could be miles of shit. The only thing that made an impression was the apparent living quarters someone had built down here. It was weird as hell.
"Let's keep going," Joel grumbled, heading for a door. I followed with Sam behind me. Ellie was looking over at something with Henry.
"Think this is a way out?" just as the words were out of my mouth a metal drum hit the floor. A loud groan echoed through the sewers but I could still hear Joel's swear.
"Get back!" a metal grate slammed down, just missing Sam as I grabbed his arm and yanked him back.
"Sam!" Henry's face appeared in the bars.
"I'm cool...Jesse saved me." he didn't sound very happy about it. I caught Ellie's surprised smile through the bars and offered one back as Joel and Henry talked.
"You okay?" She nodded before her eyes drifted to Sam.
"So...this is awkward," she offered jokingly. I chuckled but Sam didn't crack a smile.
"Yeah I know. It's like every time-" a familiar clicking sound echoed from Ellie's side of the grate.
"Clickers!" she gasped.
"What?" Joel backed up from the door a little but I stayed put.
"This thing isn't budging man," Henry said frantically, head darting in every direction.
"Just go, get outta here," Joel ordered. Henry looked to Sam.
"Sam, you stay close to him and Jesse." He kept talking but I was focused on Ellie.
"You keep close to Henry. Don't leave his side and make sure you keep your gun loaded," I ordered. She nodded to everything I said. "You'll save bullets if you aim for their heads but if you need to slow them down then-"
"Jesse." She stopped me, reaching through the bars and grabbing my collar. She pulled me in until both our faces were pressed against the bars. "Follow your own advice." She pressed her lips to mine before pulling back. "Henry we gotta fucking move!" she moved back but I was frozen to the spot, still trying to remember my last name.
"You keep him safe!" That snapped me out of my daze as Henry and Ellie disappeared.
"And make sure you bring her back!" I shouted before Joel pulled me back. I counted five Clickers passing the grate. "Ellie..."
"Come on kids, let's see if we can find a way outta here." I wanted to correct Joel, say I wasn't a kid anymore, but now I just felt lost, so followed without comment.
Joel took down infected left and right. Sam tried but he wasn't much help without a gun so I was left to cover Joel by myself. He worked quickly, taking some out with my previous Molotov idea. When we deemed it safe enough we carried on through the tunnels, until a shout stopped us.
"Piece of shit Clicker!"
"Is that Elli-"
I took off before Sam could finish, jumping and leaping from the edge of a dried up duct with Joel shouting at me to come back. I landed funny, my ankle burning and I went down hard. I cried out, a big mistake as a horrible clicking sounded right by my ear. "...Oh shi-"
Shots fired before a Clicker fell next to me. Before I could fully process what had happened, a hand grabbed me and rolled me over.
"Oh thank god," Ellie breathed, dropping to her knees to help me up. I grabbed at her arms and pulled her to me, crushing our bodies together.
"That-that shot was amazing. How the hell...?" she smiled at me.
"I didn't want to slow it down. That fucker had to die then and there." I knew what that meant. It was that thing or me. More shrieks sounded and suddenly I was being forced to my feet. "We gotta keep running." My ankle screamed in protest and she noticed. "What is it with you and getting injured?"
"You think I'm happy about it?" She scoffed bitterly as she helped me along. We ran behind the others, Sam holding the door for us. We stumbled through and he slammed it but we knew it wouldn't hold for long.
"We gotta open this door!" Joel and Henry were bashing against a door with all their might but it wasn't budging. "Shit, it's jammed!" Sam looked from the door to me and Ellie. A frown set before he dropped to his knees and crawled through a duct in the wall I hadn't seen.
"Sam!" Ellie shrieked, almost dropping me. Joel and Henry looked over. "He just crawled through."
"He what?"Henry demanded before Sam reappeared on the other side. "Sam what are you doing?"
"Getting us out of here!" Sam answered, looking to Ellie.
"Don't try to be a hero," I mumbled to myself.
Henry's head was everywhere before a heated glare landed on me. "Why didn't you go through?" he snapped so quickly I was too surprised to answer. "If anything happens to him it's on yo-"
"Henry chill the doors open!" Ellie yelled, dragging me through. We ran as fast as we could up the stairs, no one thinking to re-jam the door to buy us some time giving the infected a better chance of catching us. I wanted to tell Ellie to just go on without me but I knew she wouldn't so I put all my remaining energy into keeping moving. We got to the top floor but the way out was jammed.
"We'll get it from the other side, boost us up!" Ellie cried, pushing me forwards, but I grabbed the table.
"You and Sam go, I'll help these guys." She looked ready to argue but Joel had already grabbed and hoisted her up.
"Wait! Jesse!" She had no choice but to go through the window with Sam following. The rest of us got ready to face the infected.
"Lay down some of those bombs Bill gave you," I ordered Joel, who nodded, setting them down across the two entrances. That should give us a little help.
They came at us in waves, just a mass of shrieking, killing machines. All I had was my pistol so Joel and Henry did the brunt of the work but the bombs helped in slowing them down. I could hear Ellie and Sam working on the other side of the door but, with the amount coming at us, it was now or never.
"We got it!" a hand grabbed my shoulder and Joel pushed me through the doors first, him and Henry following quickly. As soon as I was through Ellie grabbed me, holding me up with my arm over her shoulder. Once Joel and Henry were through they blocked the door. "That was close," Ellie breathed.
"No kidding," I agreed, drinking in the fresh air.
"Are you kidding me? Look at this." We all looked to what Sam was pointing at.
WARNING! INFECTED INSIDE. DO NOT OPEN.
"That would have been helpful on the other side," I muttered. Joel chuckled darkly.
"Yeah...let's get going."
"No break?" I asked. Joel shook his head. "Fine, I'm sure the worst is over anyway."
"Fucking hunters!" I yelled as I emptied a round into two of them.
"Where are they coming from?" Ellie yelled from beside me. More shots rang out and Ellie screamed as once hit right next to her head. I swivelled up out of the cover and fired at the guy. He went down but another took his place.
"Shit Joel hurry up," I mumbled to myself as I reloaded. As if waiting for my cue, a shot from nowhere fired, a scream of pain following. "Finally!"
One by one the hunters dropped. I was about to get up to assess the damage but a roaring engine stopped me in my tracks.
"Jesse get down!" Ellie screamed as she pulled me down, burying herself in my arms. She shook as the humvee got closer. I held her tightly. "I don't wanna die," she mumbled.
"You won't, I promise." It was empty but it was all I could say right now. An explosion went off and I pulled Ellie closer. I could feel flames burning my skin from one of the hunters Molotov's but I focused on keeping Ellie's head down.
A shot rang out and suddenly the humvee was out of control, a door opening as a flaming body leaped out. It drove past and crashed into a house, still on fire. I let out a sigh of relief, gently letting my arms drop from around Ellie. She was still holding onto me like a vice.
"Hey...Princess Brat, dangers over." She slowly untangled herself from me, blushing a little.
"Thanks...Wonder Boy." We began to move on.
"You guys alright?" Joel shouted down to us.
"Yeah!" I yelled back.
"Thanks Joel!" Ellie added, offering him a thumbs up. I grabbed her raised hand, smiling at her before entwining our fingers together. She looked surprised but I just shrugged,
"Don't need you wandering off." She offered me a good natured sneer before leading us over to Henry and Sam. Sam's eyes briefly flickered down to our entangled hands. He moved away quickly but I still noticed his frown.
"We should move," Ellie suggested and I nodded. Henry nodded as well and started to lead us towards the house.
"Sam!" I didn't think as I heard the Infecteds screams, just pulled Ellie away and took the screaming body as it slammed into me.
"Jesse!" Ellie screamed before loading two rounds into the Infecteds head. It slumped on top of me and I quickly shoved it off. Sam was also pushing one off, looking dazed but unharmed. "You okay?" Ellie breathed, checking my face for any injuries. I pushed her hands away.
"I'm fine. How about you Sam?" he sat up.
"I-I'm good." I nodded and he nodded back.
"We gotta move!" Henry ordered as more and more shrieks filled the air. I grabbed Ellie's hand again but this time the touch was a lot less gentle as I pulled her along after me, Joel's shots ringing out behind us.
Henry laughed at Joel's joke, Ellie not getting it and staying quiet beside me. "Shut the hell up." It was obviously a joke so Joel chuckled and continued to tell his story about Tommy's birthday. Sam wasn't in the room, just me, Ellie, Joel and Henry. Joel was the only one still eating, talking taking up most of his mouth's use. Ellie seemed barely conscious, resting against me with her eyes shut contentedly. It was only after something Henry said did her eyes open lazily. I started down at them, feeling calm wash over me for the first time in days, years even.
"Well, I think you two deserve some privacy." She got up and I instantly missed the warmth against my side. Henry tried to get her to stay but she declined, especially as he started impersonating a motorcycle. She shook her head before turning to me. "You comin?"
I wanted to say yes, but missing her warmth and the sudden ache in my chest concerned me. "Nah, I'm gonna stay with the guys." She tried not to show it but her eyebrows scrunched slightly. She left the room in search of Sam, closing the door behind her.
"Damn...she's got you hooked." I glared at Henry. "What? I saw that look. She wants you to follow her, yours is pretty much the only advise she follows and you and Sam have been shooting glances at her all day. You're all three kids in love but it looks like Sam hasn't got a chance."
I didn't know whether to feel elated or annoyed.
"We're not in love." Joel was staring at me but I couldn't tell the reason why. "We only just stopped hating each other." Henry shrugged.
"It's a thin line is all I'm saying." He rolled away, acting like he would get the last word. To be fair I could only come up with one thing.
"I'm gonna check on Ellie." I heard Henry's snigger as I left the room. I walked down the corridor, about to open the door, but a voice stopped me.
"What are you scared of?" Why was Sam asking her that? A lower in moral was not what we needed.
"Let's see...scorpions are pretty creepy." I snorted at that. Typical Ellie to try and be funny. "Being by myself." That made me stop laughing and I pressed my ear to the door. "I'm scared of ending up alone."
"You've got Jesse," Sam pointed out. Damn right she does. Ellie sighed heavily.
"Yeah, until he and Joel drop me off at the Fireflies. Then he's gonna go back to Boston." She sounded like she did back on the beach.
"Oh...well I-I mean me and Henry...if we make it that far, I'll stay with you."
Anger flared within me. Sam was not going to take my place. Ellie was mi-I stopped that thought as I heard Ellie walking towards the door. I moved away and leaned against the wall. She opened the door, eyebrows shooting up when she saw me.
"Joel says it's time to go to sleep." She nodded and walked past me.
"Aren't you coming?" she asked once she noticed my staying put.
"In a minute." It was blunt and she understood, turning to continue heading back. Once she was gone I stormed into the room.
"What the hell is wrong with you?" Sam stumbled out of his chair, landing on the floor. "Being afraid yourself is one thing, I get that, but reminding Ellie of her own fears? Don't cross lines like that!"
Sam glared as he got back up. "So what, you want me to ignore it? News flash, we get that life's fucked up now. We're sorry that we can't just forget about all this shit as easily as you can but for us, it's a little more real. We've obviously lost people." I saw red and backed him into a wall.
"You think I haven't lost people? Family? You still have your brother!" He flinched. "All I have is Joel and Ellie. You fuck with that, and I'll kill you myself." I shoved him back and he sank to the floor. I turned to go but was stopped.
"You saved my life, back in the sewers." He sounded pretty disdainful of those words. "I don't like it, but I won't forget that. But I care about Ellie too, so if I can't protect her, you'd better do a damn good job. She dies, and it's on you."
"I know that better than anyone." I stormed out and back into the hallway. It was empty.
"AHH!" I slammed my fist against the wall. My breaths came out short as I stood there, face against the plaster. Too many feelings were rushing me all at once – rage, pain, jealousy, fear – my heart was beating out of control and all I wanted to do was punch stuff until my knuckles bled.
"Jesse?" My head snapped away from the wall, coming face to face with a very confused Ellie. "Are you oka-"
"Why did you kiss me?" she paled almost instantly.
"I-Uh-that didn't count."
"Your lips touched mine, it counts." She looked ready to start sweating.
"I..I..."
"Answer me."
"I thought I was gonna die!" that much was obvious. "I...I didn't want to die knowing I'd never see you or Joel again, and I'm obviously not gonna kiss his dinosaur lips." She sighed, running her hands over her hair. "If I was gonna die, I wanted to feel the most alive I'd ever felt."
We were both silent for a while.
"So it was just circumstantial?" she hesitated before nodding. "Okay...good." I decided to assume the stab of whatever I was feeling was just relief mixed with stress. "Alright then...let's get some sleep."
"That's actually what I came to talk to you about..." I rose an eyebrow as she trailed off. "I...I got cold."
I feel I should have protested at least a little to her idea on how we could keep warm.
A great smell woke me up. "Food?" I asked before I had even opened my eyes. Henry chuckled. I felt something shift beside me and would have jumped if it hadn't of yawned.
"Damn. That smells good." I chuckled as Ellie sat up.
"Good morning," She didn't move very far, just leaned back into me for support. I rolled my eyes and shoved her away, causing her to giggle.
"Where's Sam?" she asked as she got up.
"I let him sleep in for once."
"Oh..." I didn't like that Ellie sounded disappointed. Henry seemed to notice it too.
"Well if you want him to join us then go wake his ass up." That was the last thing I wanted but Ellie only smiled and left the room. I glared at the floor. "You gotta get over yourself and tell her man."
"There's nothing to tell," I growled back.
"Yeah, cour-"
"SAM!" Ellie burst back through the door. Sam followed, growling and spitting on top of her, as he thrashed madly.
"Shit he's turning!" Joel went to his pack but I already had my gun out.
"Get the fuck away from her!" I shouted but Sam didn't listen. "Sam!" he almost got a bite of her neck then. I cocked the gun, only for another to fire before searing pain ripped through my arm. I dropped to the ground, letting go of the gun to hold my arm. "The fuck Henry!" I screamed through the pain.
"That's my fucking brother!"
Joel had frozen. "Sam!" Ellie screamed again.
"Screw it!" I snapped, crawling over to the bag. Joel snapped back to reality and started helping me. Another shot filled the house and I flinched. When there was no pain I looked over to see Ellie pushing a limp Sam off of her.
"Oh shit..." she breathed. I crawled over to her and grabbed her.
"Ellie? Ellie are you alright?" I questioned, looking her over. She seemed to brake and collapsed against me.
"I'm okay," she said shakily as I held her tighter than I ever had.
"Sam?" we all looked over to see Henry. His expression was void of shock, only heartbreak. "Sam." His voice was completely broken as he looked upon his dead brother.
"Henry," Joel said evenly, pushing me and Ellie back a little. "You two stay here. Henry?" Henry was sobbing by now. "I'm gonna get that gun from you now, okay?"
"Sam..." it seemed like that was all he could say as he raised the gun to Joel's head.
"Whoa whoa...okay, okay?" Joel held his hands up.
"This is your fault."
"This is nobody's fault Henry," Joel tried.
"This is all your fault!" Henry yelled. Ellie shifted so I tightened my hold. Henry could snap and I wasn't about to lose her. Henry noticed the movement. "And you! You hated Sam!" I stiffened.
"That's not true! I saved his life!"
"But you regretted it! You were afraid he would steal her!" I flinched as he pointed the gun at me. I felt Ellie's hand clench around my shirt. "Well now you don't have to worry!"
He lifted the gun to his head and fired.
"Oh my god."
So tell me what you think. I could really use some really good critiquing of my work since the professionals are leaving me out to dry. I'm seriously getting nervous guys.
Anyway, review!