Chapter Ten: Vanished
The wind whipped, viciously around her, carving patterns in the overgrown grass. It sounded like whispers to Ellie but she couldn't make out the words. She crouched in the grass looking towards that house; the creepiest house she'd ever seen. The house Daniel was supposed to be in.
Her and Joel had found a shack about a mile away that they were going to stay in to stake this place out. Joel had fallen asleep, using his bag as a pillow and she had secured the door and snuck out to where she was now, overlooking this house. He would be furious if he woke up but she wouldn't be long and she hoped he'd still be asleep when she got back. It was probably a stupid idea, but sometimes stupid ideas get things done. Or at least she told herself that while sneaking here.
It was so windy, it felt like she could blow away. One of the hinges on a back window was creaking in the wind and smacking against the siding, it startled her several times before she grew used to it. There was no way someone was living there. The place looked abandoned, there weren't any signs of life. No assholes standing on the back porch itching for a fight. Nothing. The windows that weren't boarded up were pitch dark. The shoes of the person hanging from the tree were knocking together.
She waits there for a while until the wind grew too difficult to deal with and she heads back to the shack. She crosses the creek which separates the trees and there, hidden amongst the weeds is the eroded shack. When she creeps inside she is thankful that Joel was still asleep.
They eat lunch, which was a cold can of beans since Joel was paranoid about having a fire going. She couldn't blame him. They didn't want that cave incident to happen here again. He was finally able to finish fixing her guitar though and she strummed it quietly while he checked his guns over. It felt like routine. It felt familiar.
"I want you to stay here." He says quietly as if he had been practicing it in his head.
"What? Why? Where are you going?"
"I'm gonna see what I can see at that house. I want you here." He says, pointing at her. Ellie sets down her guitar and crosses her legs, glaring at him.
"I'm coming with you."
"No. I won't be gone long. I want you to do inventory on our bullets and food while I'm gone." He says this while getting up.
"You can't be fucking serious? I swear to god if you go in there without me I will kick your ass." Ellie supplies and Joel smiles a little, shaking his head.
"I ain't goin' in nowhere. I promise." He sets his hand to his heart and picks up his shotgun from the floor.
"I don't like this!" Ellie calls to him as he opens the door.
"Yes. I can tell. Keep this door barred." He says and leaves.
Ellie could obviously follow him but she doesn't this time. She bars the door as he asks and looks out the tiny window at his retreating form. He disappears in the brush and it's suddenly so dark. She strikes a match and lights the lantern. It doesn't afford her much comfort but she tries not to think on it too much.
Ellie wakes up to the pattering of rain outside. She hadn't realized she fell asleep. She did the inventory as Joel had asked and started reading an old book by the lantern with its cover torn off. She must have fallen asleep then. She yawns quietly and sits up, noticing it was starting to become light outside. Her heart skips and she stands up quick. Joel wasn't here. He wasn't back. It was already morning? That can't be right.
"What the fuck?!" She exclaims aloud and immediately grabs her bag. She opens the door to the outside to hear the birds singing of all things. The sound of the creek made everything appear peaceful, untouched and blissfully unaware.
"Joel?" She asks the bushes but as expected there was no reply.
She walks the mile it takes to get back to that house and still sees no sign of him on the way. She arrives, to the spot where she hid in the grass to observe the house and there was nothing out of the ordinary. The house sat, silent, with its windows dark.
"Joel?" She whispers and a few crows take flight from the trees, startling her. She sneaks along the grass towards the side of the house, keeping her distance. There was a water pump, rusted and dried up with age. There are cobwebs across it, that had woven themselves into the vines.
The house creaks and the wind moans, as if it was just waking up but nothing stirs.
There was no sign of Joel.
She sits and listens in that pure silence. She waits for something to move and to draw her attention elsewhere but it was just this house, alone.
She moves to the back of the house again and the broken back door beckons her closer. She didn't have a choice.
Nearing the house was terrifying. It was menacing in its disquiet. She hated how exposed she felt as she moved slowly through the grass. It was just waiting there. It could wait forever.
She let out a slow shaky breath and moved quickly towards the wall of the house, where she crouched down again away from the windows. She slid around the corner and the back door was much closer now. She was in its grasp and nothing appeared out of the ordinary. No one jumped out at her, there wasn't even a sound. She couldn't even hear the birds anymore. It was just…silent.
She pulls out her handgun and moves it in front of her as she nears the broken back door. She could hear a windowsill banging softly inside from the wind. She even waited, listening in the doorway but the pattern was repeated. Nothing of note.
Inside everything was covered in vines. Old dried leaves collected along the floor in piles, next to broken moss covered furniture. She kept her back to the wall as she turned a corner, holding her gun out in front of her. She let out a quick breath as she made her way inside the living room. The furniture inside was also covered in decaying plants. There were no spores though, from what she could see.
This place didn't look lived in, it looked abandoned many years ago. There were pictures along the wall taken over by vines, as if those people and places in the pictures never existed.
It was still so eerily silent, except for that soft banging of the windowsill. Joel wasn't here, he can't have been. This place was like a forgotten museum.
"Joel?" She tries, she didn't even care anymore if someone heard her. She just wanted to find him.
This whole thing was fucking stupid. They spend days out here watching this house and there's nothing even here.
There was a thud and Ellie immediately turned, pointing her gun in the direction she heard it. It had come from a door. A door she assumed led to the basement. The odd thing about this door was, was that it wasn't covered in vines like all the rest. It had been used and maybe used often. She swallows and reaches for the door knob. She twists it but it sticks. It was locked.
"Shit…" She breathes and considers bashing her gun against the knob.
Faint whistling manifested from outside of the house and she turns, her heart a hammer as she points the gun at the windows. There was a shadow that crossed over part of the furniture. Someone was here.
"Come out, fucker!" Ellie calls, and breathes, calming her nerves. The whistling ceases and she waits, backing up into the wall and keeping her gun pointed at the hallway. If anyone so much as peeks she'll fire.
"Where is he?!" She asks.
Nothing. Absolutely nothing.
Everything was silent again. She knew these assholes had Joel. That was the only explanation.
"Daniel…" Ellie calls. She stands, trapped against the wall at the end of the hallway. She had enough bullets to take out several. She was ready. She had to be.
A board creaked to her left and she switched her gun between the doorways. If she had pressed her back anymore into the wall she'd meld with it. The board creaked to her right this time.
Focus. Focus. Focus.
Her hands were steady, she was ready to fire. She crouched down and moved slowly along the wall. She could see shoes. Someone was standing around the corner, waiting.
She slides quick along the wall, keeping crouched down, and fires at the dark shape of a man. He falls to the ground with a surprised grunt. She musters her courage and practically crawls over to him.
The guy was wearing an animal skull as a mask. Blood pooled on the floor from the wounds she inflicted. A board creaks and someone with a shotgun fires at her from across the room. It misses her and creates a hole in the wall where she had just been at a few moments before. There was no panicking though. She was cool. She was calm. This was fine. She stands up from her crouching position and fires twice, sending the other guy with the shotgun to the ground. She crouched down once again and could hear him moaning, he was still alive. He was struggling on the floor and reaching for his shotgun but she quickly kicked it from his grasp. Her handgun was firmly in her right hand and pointing at him. He wasn't wearing a mask, he didn't look like anything special, curly dark hair and a dirty face. The crazy fuck started laughing though and it came out as a wheeze.
"Where is he?" She asks him, gruffly.
He just laughs and laughs as if he knew a secret she didn't. She fired once, shooting him dead. He wasn't laughing anymore. She feels someone grab her from behind. They were breathing heavy like they had been running and she kicks back forcefully but he doesn't let her go. "Stupid bitch." He spits. She kicks back again but this time he sets a knife to her throat.
She sees a younger man, now standing in the doorway. He looked around her age and he wasn't smiling like the rest. She grunts, "How many of you fuckers are there?" She moves a little, testing the little space she had and feels the knife against her throat nick her skin. The young man in the doorway looked at her with a sigh. He looked bored.
"Take her and plant her with the others." He says quick with the lift of his hand.
"Daniel…" She grits between her teeth. He doesn't look surprised or amused.
He replies, "I'm going to give your life some purpose."
"I'm going to kill you." She whispers and he shakes his head.
Before the barbarian could take her away, she hears a low rumbling growl from behind them. Daniel's bored expression had changed into something resembling terror.
"What the fuck!" He exclaims and then the man that had a hold of her was pounced on, sending them both to the ground. She quickly grabbed the knife that had fallen from his grasp and watched as that familiar dog that had saved her before tore the guy to pieces. Daniel was running now, away from the house towards a field that led to the forest. Ellie stood with a shaky breath. She pulls out her machete from the strap on her back, as the dog was finishing its meal. It looks at her again with those soft, knowing eyes.
She says, "Time for a hunt."