Next Of Us: Chapter 10
Ellie doesn't tell Joel about what she sees, instead she catches up to him and follows by his side. They walk in silence, both recovering over what has happened the past few days. Joel thinks about Lola and how close they had gotten. How Lola reminded him of Sarah, how she used to climb on his back. The times he tickled her, and they chased each other around. The bedtime stories he told her. The special alone times they had when Hunter and Ellie were elsewhere. All of that ended and he didn't even show he cared. He remembers how selfish he had been in the seconds before and after Lola had been shot. Yelling and cursing at Hunter, then being so casual afterwards. He loved Lola and with Ellie growing up, he had a new little girl to have a chance with. He hadn't even mourned her death or thought about her until now. But Lola was gone, and Joel was finally realizing it. Ellie will still be his little girl and will always be. He made a promise to himself to apologize to Hunter when they found him. When Joel didn't want to stay quiet anymore he decided to talk to Ellie.
"You know he really loves you."Joel breaks the silence.
This catches Ellie off guard and snaps her out of her daydream about Hunter.
"He chose his own sister over you..." Joel says again, waiting for a response.
"I know...I can't imagine how hard that was." Ellie trails off, not knowing what she is feeling at the moment.
"We're gonna find him Ellie and we're gonna get to the Fireflies and everything is going to be okay." Joel assures her, when he sees the sadness and worry in her eyes.
Ellie sighs,"I hope so."
After much more walking with the occasional zombie and bandit killing, they stop and admire how close they are. Joel estimates they will be at the hospital in about an hour if they keep the pace up.
"I hope they have some supplies at their camp." Joel says, looking in his backpack and seeing how low they are running on food and water.
Ellie remains silent and Joel sighs. Ellie just hasn't been the same lately.
"Something on your mind kiddo?" Joel asks.
"Its nothing...I just miss him." Ellie replies vaguely.
"Thought so." Joel answers and they continue their silent walk to the Fireflies.
After only 5 minutes of walking, they encounter a roadblock. Water.
"Okay Ellie I'm gonna drop down and swim and you listen to where I tell you go okay?" Joel tells her.
She nods her head and Joel plunges into the water. Ellie stands on the edge awaiting her instructions.
"Alright now walk along the edge there and get to that platform." Joel instructs.
"Okay." Ellie does just as he says.
Joel swims farther and looks around for any other place for Ellie to go.
"Just wait for me there Ellie." Joel demands. He paddles over to the shore and crawls up onto land. He climbs up on a bus thats has fallen in the water and uses it as a bridge to walk over to Ellie. When they are both on the platform together, Joel scans the area for any help.
"Ok we are gonna both have to jump, its shallow so you can stand and we can both walk over to shore got it?" Joel says.
"Got it." Ellie replies and they both jump after a countdown to three.
Ellie shakes at how cold the water is and runs up onto land almost as soon as she touches the water. Joel laughs and follows her out of the water.
"After this shit is done, you gotta teach me how to swim Joel."
"Sure thing Ellie." Joel replies, smiling a little for once.
Just after they dry off and start walking forward, they hear footsteps and Ellie takes out her gun and Joel draws his bow. They hear the footsteps getting louder and see people. Lots of people. Ellie puts down her gun, expecting these people to be the Fireflies. The pack of ten people circle around the two, all carrying guns. Ellie sees a face and immediately freezes in fear. It was the bandit that killed Lola. She looks around, and sees more and more bandits she recognizes and eventually her eyes find the leader. She clenches her jaw in anger and raises her gun again. She wants to shoot him so bad, but there are too many.
"What do you want?" Ellie screams in anger.
The leader speaks, "I think he can answer your question darling." Ellie shivers at him calling her darling but clears her head. The leader and his sidekick move to the side and someone steps forward. Ellie can't make out who it is at first, but her heart beats faster when she recognizes the face. Its Hunter. She can't help but smile. She finally found him. But, her smile slowly fades and she awaits to hear what Hunter has to say.
Hunter opens his mouth but no words come out. It looks like he is going to break down in tears. The look of sadness on his face is contagious. Ellie can't stand to see him like this.
"Ellie they're...they're making me...they're making me choose again." Hunter's eyes tear up and a look of pure horror goes onto all three faces of Ellie, Hunter and Joel.
The bandit gives Hunter a gun and Hunter slowly raises it. He puts it up to his own head.
The leader speaks up. "Oh hold on there, you pull that trigger on yourself and we'll kill both of them." Hunter closes his eyes and mouth when he hears this. He sighs and slowly opens his eyes. Hunter looks at Ellie and back at Joel. He can't choose this time. He just can't. After minutes of looking and thinking Hunter comes up with a hail mary plan.
"I'm sorry Joel." Hunter says and walks over to Joel. Hunter kicks Joel in the gut and Joel leans forward. He goes behind Joel and aims the gun at the back of his head. Ellie begins sobbing and Hunter wishes he could tell her. He puts the gun in front of his mouth so no one can see him whispering into Joel's ear. He walks back over to the bandits and shakily aims the gun at Joel again. Hunter puts a hand on the knife in his back pocket and shoots Joel in the foot. Joel screams in pain but manages to shoot an arrow in a bandits neck. Hunter turns around and stabs a bandit in the stomach and shooting another. Ellie picks up on this and shoots the two bandits that have a gun aimed at her. Hunter stabs and shoots the last bandit in the face. Ellie and Hunter surround the leader bandit. He has fear in his eyes.
"Please please don't." The leader begs. Hunter gives the bandit a nasty look before stabbing his knife into the bandits hand. Hunter slowly cuts into the hand, ignoring the screams of pain. Hunter slices the hand off and the bandit cries in pain. He then stabs the bandit in the stomach and begins twisting and turning the knife, making him suffer. After removing the knife from the leader's stomach he stabs the bandit in the neck.
"Pleasure doing business with you." Hunter says looking evilly into the bandits eyes and smiling. Hunter gets up and walks over to Joel. The bandit coughs blood and begins shaking uncontrollably. When Ellie can't see anymore she shoots the bandit in the head, ending his life, and hopefully all of their problems.
Hey guys sorry I was gone for so long you wouldn't believe what happened. My laptop got a virus and then my IP address was blocked by the F.B.I for copyright issues! And I had to pay 300 dollars to get my IP back. Anyways I'm back now and I'm so sorry I kept you guys waiting. REVIEW! See you guys next time.