THE
LAST
OF US
III

Chapter 11: Vamoose From Vegas

"WE WILL DEAL WITH THIS LATER!" Joel roared as he made a gesture with his un-bandaged hand and pointed to Abe. "Get on going, now!"

Rylan flinched at his words and physically reared back in reaction. That intensity, that anger he saw in his eyes, Rylan really believed Joel was going to kill him...

And now...

The brunette stayed silent as he brushed past the old man and approached Abe. They didn't waste any time hoisting Rylan high enough to grab the ledge which led to where the audience sat. The young man remembered that there were about a dozen or so bandits that sat with Gilroy, so there odds weren't very good.

Rylan peeked his head over and got his arms up, he just had to push the rope down and-!

"GAH!"

The one-eyed boy had heard the last sound he ever wanted to hear. He watched Terrance continue his assault on Gilroy's men, but right beside him... Ellie lay next to him behind some rocks, her left side covered in blood!

He blurted out towards her. "ELLIE!" Rylan swung his leg over and rolled himself up. "Oh my god!" He then looked at the rope that lay curled up and tied to the edge, and he immediately pushed it over so that Abraham and Joel could climb up as well.

A couple of Gilroy's men spotted the young man and decided to open fire. Bullets whizzing by, Rylan took cover behind some rocks as dust flied from the impacts of their guns. The brunette peaked up just enough to count out the hostiles around them.

"Six... seven..." He whispered to himself as his eyes passed over the bandits that were already dead. "Eight." There were eight of them between him and Ellie. He needed a weapon, he had dropped the machete he had earlier to take cover for the wall and-!

The young man was startled when he felt the very same machete clang by his feet, tossed up by either Joel or Abe. Also to take note were the weapons of the dead corpses around them. Certainly they had enough ammo on them to sustain and win this fight as well. Rylan was met by Abraham who let out a loud grunt and joined him by the rocks. The old redhead grumbled to him. "You good, kid?"

He shook his head. "No, I think Ellie's been shot up there."

*BANG!*

The shotgun shell had hit the rock mere inches from both of their heads, nearly deafening them both. "Come on assholes! You think you can hide there?!" One of the bandits taunted them.

Abraham grabbed hold of the machete in front of them and motioned for Rylan to come a little closer so he could whisper to him. "Draw his fire away from here, Imma take care of this bozo."

"I'll get fucking shot!" Rylan refuted.

"We'll get fucking shot if we do nothin'!" Abe growled and pointed upwards and couple of feet adjacent to them. "There's a body up there, grab his gun."

"Okay but if I do that, I'll keep going towards Ellie, can you two handle the rest?"

*BANG!*

The bandit barked yet again. "I got you! You ain't going anywhere!"

Abe nodded confidently, pushing back his laid back and crude attitude for the sake of the situation. "Trust me kid, I've been doing this for a while. NOW GO!"

No more questions were asked as Rylan bolted from the side, out of cover, and the bandit immediately locked onto him, his barrel aimed at the boy's back and about to pull the trigger. "Found you... GAH-!"

Before he could carry out the action, Abraham climbed up on the rock and leaped from above with his machete raised landing on the bandit beneath him and cleaving his neck off almost halfway with the blade. Blood splattered the old redhead's face as he released his weapon from his victim's body and took the shotgun from his limp hands. "You up yet Joel!?"

Taking his time up the rope, Joel made it out of the main arena and into the stands like everyone else. He had the same blood-soaked hatchet in his hand, which means he must have pulled it out of Gilroy's body down there. "Ellie..." His eyes widened when far off he could see the young redhead in distress up by Terrance. They were so close...

"Here!" Abe shouted as he tossed Joel the shotgun, while Abe had somehow gotten his own personal pistol. He must have found it off the dude he just killed. "You think this place could use a new coat of paint, I was thinking red?"

Joel caught and pumped the shotgun, ready to fight nevertheless the quips. "Red sounds good."

Nearby, Rylan dive-rolled behind another rock and reached out and grabbed a pistol off a fallen bandit, he checked for ammo. "Full clip..." He whispered as he look over his shoulder to see Joel and Abraham beginning to clean house with four of the bandits. "Gotta move!"

The one-eyed boy pushed off from cover again and was immediately met by another hostile. Rylan aimed his weapon and fired, shooting him twice in the chest. He moved up only to get caught in a crossfire from the last two bandits on his side. He dived to the ground, feeling the wind on these bullets near his arms.

"You'll fuckin' pay for this!" He heard a bandit cry. "You'll fucking pay!" Around a rock, one of them revealed themselves and aimed their hunting rifle right at him. *click* His chamber was empty. "Shit! Shit!" The bandit struggled to put a bullet in the slide of the rifle, only to be brought down as Rylan shot him twice in the chest and then once in the head.

*THUMP!*

The young man felt the kick of the last bandit into his back. The brunette yelped and reeled back from the blow. "You're dead you little-!" His sentence was cut off as a bullet whizzed in and out through his skull his body collapsing on top of Rylan.

After a moment of getting his bearings, Rylan pushed the dead body off of him, and he crawled over and grabbed hold of his pistol and the rifle now, strapping it onto his back, along with taking some ammo. "You alright? Come on champ!"

Rylan looked up to see Terrance offer a large hand to help him up. He gratefully took it and got on his feet, with the amount of gunfire ceasing. Terry must have been the one to save Rylan's life from that last bandit. "Thanks for the save."

"Thank me when we get back to the train." He grunted as he motioned him to follow him back to where Ellie was.

Back over with Joel and Abraham they were facing off with the last four bandits in the quarry here. They had to take them out as soon as possible before any more reinforcements show up. Joel and Abe hidden behind separate rocks decided to silently plan among one other. Abe would draw their fire, providing cover, while Joel flanked them and decimate with his shotgun.

Abe shot up and fired off three or four bullets, while two of the bandits returned fire. Joel whirled around his boulder and moved up on his own, immediately shoot a buckshot and killing one of his opponent.

"One less to worry about." Abe stated as he clipped one of his targets twice in the neck.

Two left, Joel scanned his surroundings and saw one of the bandits behind the cover Abe was firing at, where was the other one-?!

"Gotcha motherfucker!" Joel felt the tackle from his left side, opposite to where he was looking at, and the man sent them both to the ground. Seemingly unarmed, or perhaps out of ammo himself, the bandit tried to wrestle the shotgun away from Joel as he straddled him. Gritting his teeth and holding on with all of his might, Joel kept the barrel positioned sideways and pointed away from either of them. The bandit noticed this and decided to press down on the shotgun so that he could choke Joel with it. "Fuckin' die alrea-!"

*BANG!*

The gun suddenly went off between them more so upward, temporarily deafening them both, but one more so than the other. Covering his ears in response because of the high pitch screech of the buckshot, Joel used the butt of the gun to bash the guy in the nose, knocking him back. The bearded man then got on his knees and then pulled out the hatchet in his belt, swinging in an uppercut motion, he slit the man throat rather sloppily. But still, the bandit's neck spurted forth like a fountain and his face became white as a sheet. "That ain't for you to decide..."

The last of the gunshots were from Abe as he downed the final bandit in the area with a solemn head-shot. The old redhead clicked his tongue and holstered his weapon. He turned to Joel. "We make a good team."

"We're both still alive." Joel simply responded as he looked up and worry etched into his face almost instantaneously. "Ellie..." Joel made a mad dash towards the others, with Abraham right at his heels. About thirty seconds later, the two old men came upon a grave sight. Terry stood over Rylan who's crouched over Ellie, holding and putting pressure on a wound on her arm, her entire left sleeve was soaked in blood, and the young girl's eyes were fluttering as if she were in a daze. "Oh Jesus Christ... no."

"We have to get her back." Terry exclaimed shaking his head. "We gotta get her back to the train, she's loosing too much blood."

"How did this happen?!" Joel demanded to know from anyone. "Why did she come here for us if she knew her condition?!"

Rylan momentarily confused about the 'condition' and instead diagnosed her wound. "Oh god... Ellie, she must have nicked an artery in her arm!" Rylan grunted as he picked up his girlfriend bridal style and motioned for everyone to follow. "We have to go now!" Urgency most evident in his voice.

"Fucking A we do!" Abraham quickly looked around, searching for any more bandits in the quarry. "Let' vamoose Vegas and get our girl outta here!"

Joel wholeheartedly agreed and led the way. "Come on!"

And they all filed out of the arena.

Rylan had never ran so hard in his life, not even when he had to escape from clickers or Fireflies...or even Devlin but he had to do this, he had to save Ellie. There was no questioning that. His muscles burned and his legs ached but he didn't care. Rylan clutched Ellie to his chest, gently but firm as if he were holding a newborn baby. Joel flanked him on his right with Abe on his left as Terry covered them all from behind. There it was. The train, speeding along the track towards them. Rylan watched as one of the carriage doors opened and Yang's head peered out from it before finally making contact with the group.

"We can't slow down, it's too dangerous. You're going to have to jump!" She yelled over the clatter of the train wheels on the rusted track. Rylan sped up, he had to get Ellie on that train, already the blood on her shirt had covered her entire torso. Suddenly a tremendous bang echoed around the valley and Rylan had to glance around to pinpoint the location of the shooter. That wasn't hard, as Joel, Terry and Abe had already stopped and were firing back at the stampede of hunters that now surged towards them brandishing a various array of weapons from make-shift spears to AK-47s. Joel spun around, turning to Rylan as Terry and Abe covered him.

"Kid, get goin', we'll catch you up! Just keep her safe!" Joel shouted over the deafening roar of gunfire and the war cries of over fifty hunters. Rylan nodded slightly before taking off again in the direction of the train, he had already lost precious seconds and if he didn't reach the train time Ellie would die and that would mean he would to, he would happily kill himself if it meant that he could be with her...that is, if Joel didn't murder him first. Finally, Rylan drew level with the train and desperately sprinted to Yang, holding Ellie up high for the girl to take. Yang carefully took Ellie and hurried back into the train as Rylan tried to plot his jump. He had to time his jump perfectly or he would miss the open door and possibly lose Ellie forever. He saw his opportunity in the form of a large mount of dirt that stuck up next to the track that would give him enough leverage to get him onto the train. He pumped his legs at top speed, bounding onto the dirt heap and leapt through the air towards the moving train but he already knew he hadn't put enough energy into it and could clearly se that as he flew through the air towards the track. He was going to miss the open door and probably get hit by a train in the process. Shit. Rylan took a deep breath and closed his eyes, waiting for oblivion but it never came, instead he felt a rough hand grab him by the back of his jacket and pull him quickly on board. Rylan gasped, allowing his eyes to fly open to see a concerned Bill staring back at him.

"Holy shit, kid, I thought we'd lost you there. Do you have a fuckin' suicide wish?" Bill growled, glaring at the teen.

"I didn't have a choice, I couldn't leave Ellie in that condition!" Rylan replied angrily, clambering to his feet.

"So you do know then?" Bill asked curiously.

"Do I know that my girlfriend has been shot?! Yeah, I had noticed!" Rylan snarled before shoving passed Bill and storming off towards Yang's lab.

Eventually arriving at the lab in the third boxcar, Rylan hurried inside to see Yang bent over a shirtless Ellie, staring at her arm.

"How is she?" Rylan questioned, sorrow and desperation growing in his voice.

"She was lucky, the shooter didn't get it clear shot. The bullet didn't go in too far and missed any major arteries, most of the blood on her shirt mustn't have actually been her's...both her and the fetus will be absolutely fine" Yang grinned triumphantly.

His theory debunked, now he questioned hers. "Her and the what will be perfectly fine?" Rylan interrogated, baffled at what the hell Yang was even talking about.

"The fetus" Yang replied, still smiling before it suddenly drained from her face.

"Fetus? You mean like a baby? But Ellie's not...Ellie's not..." Rylan mumbled, trying to process all of this new information. Suddenly, it all made sense, the mood swings, the increased appetite, the puking. How had he been so dumb? He had seen it before in Jackson. He didn't understand how this could happen, well he knew how it happened obviously but he and Ellie had been so careful, they both knew the consequences of their actions but Rylan never thought that it would actually happen. He wasn't ready to be a dad. His top priorities for the last three years had been himself and Ellie and that had been hard enough without a baby thrown into the mix. Did Ellie know? Was that why Joel had tried to kill him? Rylan just didn't know anymore. He gasped for air, feeling as if the walls were closing in on him, coming to pull him into the abyss. Rylan dashed out of the medical car, searching for anywhere he could go to get outside. Eventually, he opted for the small platform that hung on the back of the train, it wasn't ideal but it would have to do. He imagined a time before the outbreak where he would be a freshman in college and Ellie would be a senior in high school, Joel had told him once that he had had Sarah in high school and that it certainly wasn't easy but the more Rylan thought about it, the more he wished he could do the same thing, it would be easier than raising a kid in this hell anyway. Rylan felt the tears flood down his face but made no effort to wipe them away.

"Fuck! Fuck! Fuck! Fuck!" He screamed at the silent wilderness that zoomed passed him, it slightly reminded him of the cliff that he and Ellie had first met on. Rylan was pulled out of his thoughts as he felt someone sink down beside him.

"Well, we lost Terry, Abe and Joel..." Bill sighed, pulling off his boot to massage his bandaged foot. Rylan gasped, presuming the worst. "Don't worry, they're probably okay but they didn't make it to the train and we couldn't stop for them." Bill continued. "So, uh, I guess you know about Ellie's other 'condition' now, huh?" Bill asked, looking over at the young man whose life had been turned completely upside down in just a matter of minutes. Rylan just nodded slightly.

"Well, Yang told me to let you know that she's awake now if you wanna go talk to her." Bill mentioned, nudging the boy gently with his elbow. Rylan slowly climbed to his feet and again headed toward Yang's lab.

This time, he stopped short at the door, raising a hand hesitantly before rapping lightly on the hard wooden door.

"Yeah?" Ellie's voice rang out from the other side. Rylan cautiously opened the door, sliding inside.

"Hey..." He muttered, not making eye contact with the woman he thought he knew so well.

"Rylan! Are you okay? It fucking scared me when I woke up and you weren't here." Her voice was filled with concern.

"Why didn't you tell me?" He asked, his voice stern.

"W-what?" Ellie's eyes flickered with uncertainty. Did he know?

"About the baby. Our baby." He said, making eye contact with her for the first time. "Why didn't you tell me you were pregnant? Don't I have the right to know? I mean I am its father for fuck's sake!" His voice grew louder with every word, filled with anger and hurt.

"I wanted to, I did, but I was fucking scared. I was shitting myself that if I told you, you would leave..." Ellie sobbed. "I didn't mean to hurt you, I promise. I was just so scared." Ellie looked like she wanted to continue but couldn't bring herself to do it.

Rylan's expression softened. "Ellie, I would never leave you. Together we can figure this out, I know we can." He smiled before kissing her.

And then he looked at her. "And the first thing to do is tell Bill to stop and wait for those muscle-bound dudes. Don't worry."

A/N- Hey guys, honest question. The few guys who review this story, why do you want Rylan to die? I'm curious. so I implore you to tell me. Tell me in your review! Well, will the others meet up with the train soon? Find out next time! :)