Warnings: Out of Character Moments. Errors in Grammar and Spelling, Perhaps More. Cursing. Long Paragraphs. Mainly Action Filled (Stealth Mission). There is a PewDiePie Reference in Here, Due to Me Following His Gameplay Somewhat As I Make This. First Two Paragraphs Are A Recap Due To Long Wait!
Old Author's Note (didn't feel like removing it): So, here is my information regarding my situation. I am using my brother's laptop and I only have limited amounts of time on it so during the day while he is at school (up until Summer Vacation begins), I will work on my book and during the night while he is going to bed (up until Summer Vacation begins), I will work on JUST this fanfiction until it is eventually finished (hopefully) before I move on to a different one (hopefully) and I will chat with my friends. I will try to keep up with this plan until something happens to change it, like Summer Vacation for example. Wish me much luck.
July 7th, 2017 A/N Update: Got a new laptop today. My brother's laptop had fucked up thanks to the battery (he had gotten an used laptop, thankfully I got a new one as an early 20th b-day present [and mostly likely one of the last I'll ever get cause I'm too old to keep getting gifts and at this point, I didn't want anything but a laptop and I got just that so I am good!]). I'll be updating only this fanfiction for now but most likely, I will revert back to my a month at a time thing that I had going on before shit went down with both laptops. Thank you everyone who has remained patient and has not left, it was worth the wait but we've got a long journey ahead of us because...
THIS FANFICTION WILL HAVE SEVENTY-ONE CHAPTERS, NOT INCLUDING THE PROLOGUE, THE EPILOGUE, AND THE PREVIEW OF OUR PANDEMIC WORLD II.
Joel looked down at the corpse, soon crouching down beside it to examine and take the Molotov. He stood back up straight before looking at the corpse again. "These guys aren't doin' too well in or out of the city. Let's hope there's someone alive to meet us at the drop-off."
"I'm sure there will be someone, Dad," Daniella stated. "Has to be." She walked past them, heading further into the subway. There was a staircase to her left that was blocked off by large pieces of debris. She headed towards the right, spotting a hole they could crouch through. She turned around and headed back a little bit, seeing everyone by the stairs. "Yo. This way," she instructed, waving them all over. None of them had a clue that danger awaited just ahead of them...
As they each continued further into the subway and they each ducked under the collapsed floor, the immediate danger became very known to them as they all heard the very familiar clicking of multiple Infected Clickers. Upon spotting a Clicker strolling around dead ahead of them and seeing it disappear around the corner, they all froze where they were for a few seconds as they worried about making a sudden loud noise before they each moved to be located behind something. Ellie, Tess, and Joel were crouching behind a vending machine that had been tipped over onto its side while Daniella and Nathan hid behind a row of lockers that were still standing, although Nathan had to uncrouch and lean against the wall while Daniella remained crouched because there wasn't much room for them both.
"Shit," Tess cursed under her breath. "God, we're almost out." They just had to come across another tough obstacle. What wonderful luck they had. She looked over at Joel. "Okay, Joel, you take point. I'll watch the rear with Nathan," she whispered. Tess looked around for Nathan and when she spotted him, he gave her a thumbs up to show that he heard her. She nodded slightly and she looked at Ellie. "Ellie, no matter what, you stay right on Joel's heels with Daniella. Understood?"
"Sure," Ellie breathed out as she moved out from behind cover and over to where Daniella was removing herself from behind cover, both still crouching as they moved to be behind Joel, whom moved to be crouching between the tipped over vending machine and lockers. Nathan crouched back down after pulling himself from the wall and he waited for Tess to relocate over to him. Soon, they all began to slowly move one after another but they did keep a good amount of distance between themselves to avoid any clutter or any accidents via running into one another.
Joel, being the leader, made a move first. He moved forward slowly and, with the others slowly following him, he temporarily paused as he moved closer to the lockers. He reached into one and pulled out a Shiv, holding it out backwards towards Daniella so that she could have it since he had plenty of good items already. Daniella silently took it and she placed it into her shoe instead of removing her backpack to place it in there. Joel then grabbed a pack of ammo for his Revolver and he pocketed it. Just after he did so, the Clicker from before had made an reappearance as it walked past again, going the opposite way; some Clickers had a walking route like this Clicker, it just going back and forth, never moving anywhere else while others would either remain still or walked aimlessly everywhere.
"That guy has so much swag, I don't even know what to do about it," Nathan whispered. He was speaking of the Clicker that had just walked past them, it walking as if it were a drunken person. He had to admit that the Clickers have a weird, intriguing way of moving around.
Daniella had to fight her urge to laugh out loud. "Nathan, shut up," she whispered harshly to him. "Now is not the time for jokes." Nathan didn't answer back but he certainly got the memo. Shortly after she finished speaking, the Clicker walked by them yet again but this time, things happened differently. With the Clicker close enough to them to hear anything that occurred, Joel picked up a nearby brick and he tossed it into the wall ahead of them all. Two Clickers and a Runner that had been feeding on a corpse nearby made loud clicks, and shrieks, as they ran over to the wall that the brick had hit. With the three dumb Infected at the wall, Joel pulled out the Molotov that he had picked up earlier and he tossed it, eliminating the three with one shot as a fire consumed the three Infected. None of the remaining Infected in the area came in their direction, thankfully. Daniella wanted to praise her father for his smart actions but chose not to because of the situation.
Joel moved forward, heading to the wall that he had thrown the brick and he hopped through the open area, the others waiting behind him on the other side of the wall as he looked around for more Infected Clickers or Runners. Having entered the central area, he spotted another Clicker and a Runner in the area. The Clicker was outside the area in which Joel was within and so was the Runner. Moving forward several steps, Joel went left through the open doorway and moved right as the Clicker moved towards the store to the left of Daniella, Ellie, Nathan, and Tess, it having gone the opposite way of where Joel went. Daniella tossed a brick into said store and with the Clicker running into it, she and the others finally followed behind Joel again, catching up with him quickly but quietly. As they finally reached Joel, Joel had finished strangling the Runner that stood at the corner of the wall.
Backtracking, Joel turned around and went back into the area he had left, only this time the others followed behind him. He continued forward with the others until they reached the opposite wall and they maneuvered over the open window. Ahead of them was a bookstore with a Runner inside. Instead of entering the bookstore, they headed left towards the exit. Standing in front of where they needed to go was another Clicker, this one clearly not moving around like the others and the only movement it made was the twitch of its head.
"Son of a dick on a stick," Nathan cursed under his breath. "Any bright ideas as to how we get by this one?"
"Just..." Joel muttered loud enough for everyone to hear, minus the Clicker. "Just hold on." He moved towards the corner wall, picking up a bottle that was lying around. He looked back towards the others and they all knew exactly what he was going to do, each of them moving to be against a nearby wall and they each made sure that their backs were practically locked to it. Without any other choice, Joel tossed the bottle into the open area they had all exited from earlier. The Clicker let out a noise but didn't make a move to go; the noise hadn't been close enough. "Damn it," Joel cursed lowly.
"Great job. Our hero. We're saved," Nathan muttered sarcastically. Joel sent a glare his way. The two of them certainly couldn't see eye to eye sometimes still, despite what they've been through together thus far. The only thing keeping Joel from giving Nathan a piece of his mind about his attitude was the Clicker nearby and the fact that Nathan saved Daniella, and helped her, on multiple occasions. Nathan really needed to work on his people skills or, at least, dial down his rudeness and sarcasm, especially during serious moments like this. Taking matters into his own hands, Nathan picked up a brick lying at his feet and he tossed it but his mark was way off. Instead of the brick landing anywhere near where Joel had tossed the bottle (Nathan was trying to make the brick land closer for the Clicker to hear but have it still located in the same area they wanted the Clicker to wander off to), the brick hit the corner of the wall near where they all were located and the Clicker definitely heard it.
The Clicker moved close to them as it released its loud clicking tones, it growing too close for comfort. Everyone was forced to sit as still as possible and hope that the Clicker wouldn't randomly head in one of their directions because a death by a Clicker is a bit slow and extremely painful. The clicker was facing the wall in which the brick had broke against and there wasn't anything anyone could do to get rid of it; there weren't any bricks or bottles near any of them and they couldn't risk burning themselves alive with a Molotov along with the Clicker, and they certainly couldn't risk shooting it or the remaining Clicker and Runner that they past would come to their area. There seemed like there wasn't anything they could do but wait for a miracle or wait for a death.
As they waited for either the death of one of them or the miracle of the Clicker wandering off, Daniella shifted uncomfortably from where she crouched. Her eyes on the Clicker, she lowered her hands to the floor beneath her and she hurriedly, but quietly, searched blindly for something, anything and she found a brick very close to the wall she was against, located in a place where it couldn't have been seen by any of them because none of them could remove their eyes from the Clicker nor move even the slightest to look around. She slowly picked the brick up and lifted it slowly after maneuvering her hands back to being on either side of her, soon rising her arm up and tossing the brick down the hall a little ways from them. Hearing the sound of the brick hitting the floor, the Clicker let out another loud clicking tone before running past them and heading in its direction. Hurriedly, everyone headed to where the Clicker had originally been located.
"Nice thinking," Tess whispered to Daniella after they were located underneath the exit. "You saved our asses."
"Thanks," Daniella whispered back. "Now, let's get out of here before it wanders back. We were lucky enough that it had stayed facing the wall for a while but I don't think we'll get so lucky this time." The sooner they got out of there, the better.
Tess nodded in agreement and she looked towards Joel. Joel stood up quickly, as did Tess, and he boosted her up so that she could reach the ladder directly above them all. She pulled the ladder down and it landed perfectly but with a loud thud. Fortunately, the Clicker hadn't heard anything and they were still clear of detection. One after the other, they all took turns going up the ladder (Tess first and Joel last) and moving through the hole in the wall, dropping onto a parked trailer car before dropping down to the ground below. Once they were all safe and sound, things quickly became heated as Joel roughly gripped onto Nathan's clothing while they all stood grouped together on ruined subway tracks. "What the hell were you thinking?" Joel questioned him angrily.
Nathan stared at him, ashamed. He answered Joel back softly. "I just wanted to do something good and I... I screwed up." He didn't attempt to glance over at anyone, keeping his eyes locked with Joel's. Daniella, Ellie, and Tess watched in discomfort but none made a move to stop the conversation.
"You nearly got us all killed back there," Joel pointed out harshly, releasing his hold on Nathan while holding his glare. What Nathan had done was stupid. He hadn't thought about the consequences of if he failed to do as planned. He could've gotten them killed. The second Nathan made that screw up was the second Joel's growing trust towards him died. He no longer cared about the times Nathan saved and helped Daniella, the few times Nathan helped them all out. Nathan had fucked up big time and Joel wasn't going to be able to forgive him for it that easily, not when the mistake nearly got them slaughtered. He'd have to do something big to make up for it.
Nathan finally returned the glare. "Well, excuse me, princess but not everyone has a good throwing arm like you and Daniella do." So what if he had screwed up? Everyone has their flaws, everyone has made the biggest mistakes. At least they were alive. At least they had gotten lucky. Deep down, however, he felt guilty because he nearly got his girlfriend, his girlfriend's father, and his two friends killed. He hadn't meant to but he just couldn't stand being in that place any longer and he threw the brick without thinking about his aim being slightly off.
"You need to get that attitude of yours checked, son," Joel told him, his glare remaining. He was really pissed off about the mistake. Anyone would if they were in this situation. Especially if a family member's life was put on the line because of said mistake.
"Screw you." Nathan pushed Joel away from him roughly, things looking to become more physical.
Tess finally stepped in, stopping the argument in its place. "Just stop. You two always turn hay into shit when something goes wrong. We don't have time for this nonsense." She had a point. What happened, happened and they couldn't change it. There was no need to get worked up about it right now when they had a mission to continue.
"When something goes wrong?" Nathan questioned Tess, scoffing as he looked at her. "Try every damn time I do anything that makes me flawed. Anything that makes me the wrong man for Daniella." He shook his head and moved past her, heading up the debris of the abandoned subway area quickly. Daniella followed after him a few seconds later, meaning to speak with him really quick. Behind them, the others were slowly following and at the pace they were going, the couple had a least a minute of alone time. "What the hell do you want, Daniella?" Nathan asked harshly as they both stood on the level ground of the downtown proper.
Daniella hesitated before speaking, her eyes teary as she stared at her angry, distressed boyfriend. "...You hadn't meant for that to happen. It was not your fault." Nathan scoffed and turned away from her, walking onward. Daniella followed him. "Any one of us could have made that mistake, myself included. You don't need to feel bad about it." She knew he was a little upset about his actions.
"You don't make mistakes often. And when you do, it's usually because of me," Nathan stated. He stopped walking and turned towards her. He placed his hands on her arms. "I almost got you killed, Daniella. I almost lost you because of what I did. How do you expect me to feel about that, huh? And now because of what I did, your father hates my guts. Again. I was this close." He released one of her arms and held up his hands, putting two of his fingers close together. "This close to getting him to trust me completely, to get him to accept that you and I are together by proving that I care about you deeply but I fucked it all up and he'll never trust me again."
"Give it time," Daniella whispered. "He'll come around." She gripped his vest and gently pulled him into a passionate kiss. A few seconds later, he returned the kiss and wrapped his arms around her waist. After multiple more seconds, Nathan gently pushed Daniella away from him with a soft groan. "What is it?" Daniella asked him gently.
"Nothing. Just..." Nathan smiled a little, his mood better than it had been before the kiss. "Don't start something we can't finish." Daniella let out a soft laugh, smiling slightly and shaking her head at his thinking process. Seconds later, the two of them heard the others reaching the same level of ground they were on and they moved away from each other, looking towards the three.
"You guys are pretty good at this stuff," Ellie remarked as soon as they were all standing together again. "I mean, apart from what happened back there." Regardless of what had happened, though, she was very impressed with all of them.
Joel sent a glare Nathan's way before he responded to what Ellie said. "It's called luck and it is gonna run out." He turned towards Tess. "Which way we goin', Tess?" She knew the location more than he did, not to mention she was a better navigator than he was at times.
Tess looked around at their surroundings and she spotted the capitol building off in the distance towards their right. "Capitol building's in this direction," she stated, pointing towards where she spotted the building. She, then, looked at the obstacle that laid in their path in that direction: a truck. "How do we get over this truck?"
Daniella crossed her arms. "I suppose we should start looking around for something. Like a dumpster."
Joel nodded in agreement. "Let's see what we can find."
Before the four of them made a move to start searching, the shrieks of Runners filled the air and they spotted Nathan running out of the building nearby. While they all had been talking, Nathan had moved away from all of them and he had recklessly entered the historic building towards their left, but he had entered through the front door and not from the hole in the wall in which he was currently running out of, heading straight towards the four of them with Infected on his ass. "Infected!" he shouted, even though they all knew that Infected were in the area because of him.
Daniella, Joel, and Tess each pulled out their weapons, opening fire on the Infected Runners as soon as Nathan was out of the way. The three Infected Runners were downed in seconds. But soon, another argument between Nathan and Joel took place. "That's twice now," Joel told Nathan as he placed his gun back in its holster.
Nathan glared at him. "They were Runners. Three of them. What, you suddenly can't handle any kind of Infected anymore? If they had been Clickers, I would've taken them out the old fashion stealthy way. I'm not as reckless as you believe me to be."
"I'd say you're pretty reckless after what you pulled earlier," Joel stated, crossing his arms as he glared back at Nathan.
"Stop!" Daniella yelled, stepping in between them with her back facing Nathan. "What happened earlier was an accident, a mistake. He hadn't meant it. He was only trying to get us out of there and mistakes were made. You've made mistakes like that before, too, and so have I, and so has Tess. You can't be so hard on him for it."
"You could've died. We all could've died, Daniella!" Joel pointed past her, towards Nathan. "All because of his mistake."
Daniella stood her ground, staring at him. "Like I said, we all make mistakes. So, you have no right to be so hard on him for it." She didn't care that she was basically talking back to her father. Nathan didn't deserve any hate for a mistake that he made. She may had stayed back in the previous argument but she was glad she stepped in this time around. "Now, let's find a damn dumpster and get the hell out of here. Those soldiers were recently infected by the looks of it so there has to be more near this area. We need to get moving and soon or our luck will finally run out."
Joel decided to listen to his daughter, and ignore that she was talking back to him, because she was right, on the account of more Infected possibly being in the area. He didn't care if every single one of them has made mistakes before, Nathan's nearly got them killed and he wasn't going to just take that lightly like everyone else. "Fine," he answered. He stepped around her and he moved to where he was in Nathan's face. "Once we're done here, I expect you to be moving on elsewhere." He didn't want Nathan near his daughter after this mission of theirs was over. With that said, he walked away from him and he entered the building that Nathan had run out of...
Talking back has few meanings and in the case of the last two paragraphs, talking back was talking rudely/sounding rude while talking.
Nathan's first comment was from Part 4 of Pewds gameplay of "The Last of Us". Nathan's actions towards the end of this chapter is from the beginning of Part 5 of Pewds gameplay. I'm a huge fan of Pewds, old and new. You'll be seeing some more references to his gameplay in future chapters but not very often.
Thank you for reading. I'll be updating again soon enough. Love ya. See ya real soon. Bye.