A/N: So hey, we're getting a TLoU movie! I'm tentatively excited simply due to the fact that Neil Druckmann and Bruce Straley are reportedly heavily involved. That at least assures me that it won't be completely butchered. I will continue to retain this tentative excitement until finding out more. I really hope they don't screw it up.
I wanted to thank people who sent me some questions here and on my blog (are you following it yet? You should be.) I had a good time answering them, and my roommate who is also writing a novel pitched in on a follow-up guest post covering some of the same topics.
Oh, hey... I left the last chapter with a cliffhanger, didn't I? Silly me. I know how much that drives people crazy. I promise never to do that again... hehehehe...
Anyways, here's the chapter. It's an intense one, so for soundtrack choice I recommend one of the more intense tracks from either volume of the soundtrack. Something like "Unstable" from volume 2 or "The Hunters" from volume 1. Something in that vein. Alright. Enjoy, and leave a review if you'd like!
DISCLAIMER/LEGAL MUMBO-JUMBO: I do not own The Last of Us, it is Naughty Dog's property.
CHAPTER 10
VOLATILE
He threw his shoulder into the door a third time, and the rotted wood around the deadbolt finally gave way, splintering into soggy chunks that scattered over the floor. The door swung open, and he stumbled his way inside the house. Its windows, like most others in the neighborhood, had been boarded up years ago, and light filtered in as slotted shafts, providing irregular illumination to the room. The locked door was a promising sign that there might still be a few supplies tucked away somewhere within, and Joel wasted little time to begin his search.
He was rifling through the medicine cabinet in the bathroom when he heard a conspicuous creak from behind him. She pushed the door the rest of the way open and leaned against it, folding her arms across her chest. He glanced briefly over his shoulder, noticing her resentful expression before he returned to shaking the various pill containers and tucking the useful ones away. He pushed past her brusquely and headed toward the bedrooms.
He pushed open one of the bedroom doors and his heart lurched in his chest. The room unmistakably belonged to a young girl, probably around Sarah's age at the time she passed. She had the ubiquitous Dawn of the Wolf poster hanging on one of her walls, surrounded by posters of bands the world had long since forgotten. Joel winced when he saw the name 'Halican Drops.' They had been one of Sarah's favorites.
He looked over the room again. If he didn't know any better, this could have been her room. There was an overstuffed beanbag chair in one corner. Family photos were tacked to the wall over her headboard. There was even a soccer ball on the floor near the door.
"What's this, here?" Marlene asked from somewhere behind him.
He turned to find her holding up a greeting card. There was a green dinosaur wearing a party hat adorning the front with the word 'congratulations' beneath its feet. Joel walked over to examine it when there was a commotion somewhere outside. Voices were yelling unintelligibly down at the far end of the street. Had those four stragglers circled back after finding his trail?
He jogged back to the living room and found Marlene staring out the window, peering between the boards and leaning to one side to see down toward the end of the street.
"Can't see much," she said.
Joel began walking toward her to take a look for himself when a stray bullet snuck between the boards, shattered the pane of the bay window, threaded neatly through the bullet hole in Marlene's head, and embedded itself into the far wall. She turned and looked back at the pockmark left by the bullet.
"Huh…"
"Hell with this. Let's get out of here," Joel said as the sound of gunfire continued, staccato pops separated by loud booms of something high-caliber. Marlene followed him to the rear door and out into the backyard. The woods broke against the edge of the backyard like waves upon the shore, and Joel headed for the trees.
The stock of the rifle kicked into her shoulder like a mule as she fired, and it took putting her full weight behind it to keep from being knocked over. The bullet struck the approaching man in the neck, sending him crumpling into the snow. Ellie pulled back behind the side of the house, reached up and worked the action on the bolt, slotting another round into the chamber. She snuck a quick glance around the corner. Two of the three hunters were still remaining, and another small group was coming from the end of the street where she had seen Joel moments earlier.
She whistled sharply as she turned to circle back around the house, and Titus bounded along behind her. Without the visibility limitations heavy snowfall would have provided, she knew her trail would be easy to follow. She searched the smattering of buildings for one that offered numerous entrances and exits where she'd have the opportunity to either escape or double back behind her attackers.
The sounds of shouts and clumsy commotion echoed off the walls of buildings behind her, and she ducked into the biggest building she could find, what looked like a hotel. Looking back, she saw her footprints leading into the building, but there were hallways branching off of the foyer, giving several directions she could turn upon entering. The men would either split up, making it easier to take each one out separately and quietly, or they would all search together in a group, making it easier to give them the slip.
She looked around the foyer of the building, picked a direction, and tore off down one of the hallways. Several rooms passed her as she went, and she made it halfway down the hall before coming across one with blown-out windows where she could escape to the outside if need be. She darted inside, beckoning Titus to follow, and waited.
It didn't take long for voices to filter through the hall from the foyer. "Alright, that little bitch could be anywhere in here. Don't fucking underestimate her, or her dog. The two of them already killed Derek and Greg, and if you aren't fucking careful you'll be joining them on the other side. They're fucking dangerous. Let's split up. You and you, there. You, there. You, with me. Watch your backs."
Ellie tensed as she listened to the sounds of approaching footsteps. The men began checking the rooms. There was no telling whether there were one or two down the hall, and she hoped against hope that the one approaching was alone.
"Anything?" a voice called from the end of the hall.
"Not yet," a second one replied, considerably closer than the first.
She flicked open her switchblade and pressed herself against the wall behind the door, waiting for the shape of a man to pass into the room. The wait was agonizing, and she held onto Titus's collar to keep him from giving away their position. Over a minute later, the awaited shadow of a man appeared in the doorway.
He took a couple of wary steps into the room, and Ellie wasted no time to make her move. She sprung from the shadows behind the door, leaping onto the man's back and burying her switchblade to the hilt in the man's temple. The attack was so sudden and effective that the man made no sound as he crumpled to the musty carpet.
"Oh shit!" a voice yelled from just outside the door. "She's in here! She's in here!"
Fucking fuck, she thought to herself as she scrambled behind the door again. The previously unseen man rushed into the room, hoping to press his advantage, but Ellie was ready. She threw her weight into the door, slamming it into the man as he passed through, sending him sprawling to the carpet.
She scrambled over to the man and plunged the switchblade into his side. He lurched in pain and drove an elbow into the side of her head. The blow sent her reeling, and the man rolled to his hands and knees, crawling after her. He landed a thunderous blow to her midsection, causing her to yelp involuntarily and keel over into the fetal position. He was recoiling to strike again when Titus came to her aid, locking his jaws down on the man's shoulder and shaking vigorously, tearing the man's flesh. The hunter struggled against the dog as it climbed on top of him, and Ellie saw the bright flash of a blade appear at his side.
"No!" she cried as she threw herself at him, pushing Titus out of harm's way. Another volatile boil of anger burst within her, and she lost control. She drove the switchblade into the man's neck, then slashed it laterally with all of her strength. A spray of blood precluded the hunter's cries for help. She withdrew the blade and stabbed him again and again, screaming in fury, feverishly searching out new avenues to drive the blade into until the man stopped moving. His head made a dull thud as it hit the carpet.
Ellie rolled off of him and cringed as a stab of pain shot through her side. She looked down and saw the hunter's knife lying on the floor, stained and dripping red. She looked frantically for Titus, but found him standing nearby, alert and unblemished. She moved again and felt the sharp bite at her side once more. Her hand instinctively shot to the source of the pain, and upon pulling it away she saw her glove glistening with blood.
"Ah… ah… fuck…" she muttered, wincing at the pain.
The sound of running footsteps came from the hall, and Ellie reacted quickly. Fighting back the pain, she pulled the new pistols from their holsters and brandished each of them toward the door, ready to fire at the slightest hint of movement. The pistols dwarfed and undoubtedly packed more punch than the .32 in her waistband, and she braced herself for the recoil. Still lying on her back, with the pistols trained on the door, she waited.
The first man spun around the corner, apparently throwing caution to the wind. She squeezed the trigger on the pistol in her right hand, and the concurrent jolt through her forearm nearly knocked it from her grasp. Her ears were left ringing from the deafening boom. The bullet hit the man square in the chest, knocking him off of his feet into a sputtering pile on the floor.
The second man was a couple steps behind the first, and hadn't learned the lesson of his predecessor. The pistol in her left hand barked, putting a hole through the man's shoulder. He staggered, thrown off balance from the blow, and crashed to the ground at her feet. She leveled the pistol and fired a round into the top of his head.
There had to be more men not far behind. Ellie clambered up, stumbling at the pain coming from her side, and made for the window. She threw herself over the edge and Titus hopped over after her. She hit the cold snow, sending up a puff of powder around her. She struggled to her feet and began running as well as she could away from the building.
She turned around the corner of a nearby house and planted her back against the siding, holstering the pistols. She unslung the rifle from her back, quickly double-checked the chamber, and swung it around, pointing it at the room she had just escaped from. It took considerable effort to keep her breaths steady in light of the blossoming pain coming from the knife wound. The dark figure of a man appeared in the open window at the end of the iron sights of the rifle, and Ellie pulled the trigger. The rifle kicked, and a splash of blood on the back wall took the place of the dark figure.
Ellie loaded another round into the chamber and waited, sights still fixed on the window of the building. Several minutes passed, but no more men appeared. Her heart was beating rapidly, quickening the amount of blood she was losing through the wound.
"Is that it, Titus?" she absently asked him. "Did we get all those fuckers?"
Titus looked up at her, somehow conveying an attitude of concern. She looked down at her side. There was a wide swath of sodden fabric trailing from the wound down to the side of her pant leg. Ellie checked the building again, deeming it more or less clear, and headed for the nearest house to patch herself up.
She made for the bathroom, hoping she could use a mirror to better inspect her injury. She fished a bottle of alcohol out of her backpack and grabbed the cleanest rag she could find in the house. She removed her coat and layers of sweaters before pulling up the side of her shirt. In her reflection, the knife wound formed a dark slit against her light skin, seeping with a steady trickle of blood. She felt around the wound, and quickly realized how incredibly lucky she had been. The stab was fairly shallow, the knife wound equivalent to being winged with a bullet.
Her mouth went dry as the adrenaline that came with tending one's own wounds began coursing through her veins. With shaking hands, she held the rag just below the cut to catch the alcohol as she poured it slowly over the wound. Small cries and gasps slipped out at the sting but she quickly stifled them, and they resorted to escaping through her nose. Gritting her teeth, she cleaned the gash as best she could before tying the rag snugly around her midsection, giving constant pressure to staunch the bleeding.
The whole ordeal had left her exhausted, weak, and shaky. She pulled out the box of pasta and gnawed on a few pieces, dumping a small pile on the ground for Titus as well. She sat down on the edge of the bed in the next room, taking several deep, pained breaths, testing how much she'd be hampered by the wound. She let herself lie back on the mattress and dozed off for awhile before deciding to keep pushing on. Upon pulling away the rag, she saw that the bleeding from her side had nearly stopped.
Ellie came to her feet. The crash of coming down from the adrenaline high left her with unsteady legs, but she had no choice. She had to catch up to Joel. She left the house and retraced her steps, avoiding the hotel she had passed through, and finally came upon where she had briefly seen Joel. She headed down the street, following his footprint trail to the house he had been forcing his way into.
The house was empty, but the back door yielded another trail of prints leading off into the woods. Joel had probably hoofed it upon hearing the gunfire down the street. She adjusted her backpack and weapons before setting off toward the woods, determined to catch up to him before nightfall.
The altercation with the hunters had put some distance between her and Joel. Judging by the position of the sun, it was probably late afternoon, meaning that she had probably dozed off for at least an hour after dressing the wound. Add in the time it had taken to kill off the hunters, and Joel would be miles ahead by now.
The trunks of trees passed by as she entered the woods, undeterred by the dwindling hours of daylight that remained. She kept her eyes trained on Joel's trail and fell into somewhat of a waking trance, pulled out of it from time to time by an awkward step that pulled against the stab wound. Before long, Titus elected to lead the way, following the footprint trail diligently. Ellie appreciated his leadership, as it gave her something to follow without paying much attention. This saved mental energy, but her mind wandered as a side-effect. She actually found herself thanking the wound for occasionally pulling her out of her darker thoughts.
Titus led her up the spine of a slope, seeking out Joel's trail. She shook away her daydreams and focused on the path ahead, given the presence of a sheer drop to her left. She watched as miniature avalanches cascaded down the hill. That'll be you if you aren't care-
The earth beneath her left foot gave way and she flailed to regain her balance, but she had no ground to stand upon. Before she realized what was happening, the world became a tumbling blur of light and dark and cold. The fall seemed to stretch on forever as she fell end-over-end. The pain that began emanating from her side was incredible. She clenched her teeth and held on tight, waiting for the world to stop spinning.
At the nadir of her descent, she struck something that felt remarkably out of place given the surroundings. It was dense and coarse. And soft. And warm. Ellie bounced off of the mysterious object and finally came to rest, gasping and moaning in agony.
It took her a moment to regain her bearings. She was facedown in the snow, and picked up her head to look around. Though her sight was severely blurred, she could make out a massive brown mass that nearly filled her entire field of vision. Then, the mass began to slowly undulate, as if waking from a deep sleep. A deep, spine-shaking rumble resonated from somewhere within the mass.
Ellie's eyes went wide upon realization, and she scrambled away on her elbows. "Oh fuck…"
AFTERMATH: PART III WILL CONTINUE
WITH CHAPTER 11