Chapter 21: Problems

Joel ran through the main street, focussing on locating the small white building in the darkness of the night. He saw it to his left, five minutes after abandoning the watchtower. He rushed to the entrance and got in.

This small edification, as unimpressive in the inside as on the outside, was basically a small one-story white house, but could be considered to be the brain of Jackson, every important decision was taken within its walls.

The living room was completely empty with the exception of three wooden chairs located near the wall at his right, this was some sort of waiting room. But Joel had no intention of waiting, he ran towards the door on his left, which had a small sign nailed to it that readed 'Tommy's office', and opened it.

Although Tommy said Ellie and Jack were okay, seeing them seated in front of his desk was a huge relief. The two teenegers stood up and Tommy did the same. The three of them remained silent. Joel took a minute to catch his breath.

"Are you two okay?" He asked, still breathing heavily.

"Not exactly," Ellie answered with a distant tone.

They slowly sat down again. Ellie's answer was not what worried Joel the most. The depressing atmosphere was enough to intuit something bad had happened.

"What..."

"This is what happened," Tommy interrupted him and pointed at a black plastic bag on the desk.

Joel walked towards it without hesitation, but he doubted before seeing what was inside. Jack, Tommy and Ellie remained silent. Whatever was in the bag, it was not good. Joel opened it, a disgusting but recognizable smell reached his nose.

"God..." There was a head inside, he instantly recognized Derek.

"I sent him to the town, I told him not to take any risks," Tommy said with a sad tone. Joel knew he felt guilty for sending one of his men to his death, but this was something a leader like him should be able to deal with.

Joel closed the bag, Tommy immediately stood up, took the bag and left it at a corner. He went back to his chair and collapsed into it, visibly exhausted, "At least we can say the mission was somewhat successful. Now all the evidence points to the town," Tommy whispered, more to himself than to anyone else.

Joel rested his back on the wall and the office fell silent again. Joel didn't understand exactly what happened yet, who brought the head? Did he or she just leave Jackson afterwards? What was the point of sneaking in?

"You think they are still here?" Joel asked. Based on Tommy's expression Joel could deduce what he was about to say.

"I have men looking for anything suspicious, if he's here, we'll find him."

"He?"

"Ryan."

Joel connected the dots, so Ryan snuck into the town without anyone noticing and left the head in his house, but why bothering? Why his house?. He could only think of one reason: Jack. He turned his head to the boy.

Jack hadn't said anything since Joel got there. He had his eyes closed and his arms crossed, and was muttering something in a very low, almost inaudible, voice, not paying attention to his surroundings. Joel have seen him do this before, usually when confronted with some sort of decision.

Both Joel and Ellie have grown accustomed to this habit, but Tommy was staring at him with a curious expression on his face.

Jack suddenly opened his eyes, he was clearly conflicted about something.

"Tommy," he said, "you have to make a deal with him."

Joel thought he was crazy, Ryan didn't seems like the kind of people you can negociate with, specially after what he have done.

Tommy seemed to think the same thing, he stared at Jack with the same expression as before, as if he found him amusing.

"That's a stupid idea," Tommy said, voicing his honest opinion.

"Please," Jack leaned forward, a worried expression on his face, "I know Ryan, if you offer him something good, he'll leave this place alone."

"And then what, kid? He'll come back looking for more. I'm not afraid of a small group of bandits, I dealt with stuff like this before," Tommy talked to him like he would talk with a stubborn child.

Jack stood up and raising his voice, he said, "You haven't dealt with this guy before! Ryan. always. wins, no matter what. Reaching an agreement is our only chance now," Jack's fear affected Joel more than his words. If Ryan was able to make him beg for something, that meant he was a force to be reckoned with. Ellie seemed to share his opinion.

Tommy stood up as well with a dark expression on his face, "All chance of peace with this new group died with Ron. I'm the leader here and I'm going to deal with this threat as I see fit, do you understand?" Tommy never liked people telling him what to do. After all, he was the leader for a reason.

"I don't-"

"I don't care," Tommy interrupted Jack mid-sentence. And keeping his tone calm, he continued "I'll not tolerate a goddamn kid questioning my decisions. Now, If you don't have anything useful to add, please leave. It's late and I have more important things to do than wasting my time with you."

Jack's fear slowly morphed into anger. Joel never saw him losing his temper, but apparently Tommy hit a soft spot.

Although Tommy conserved his cold expression, Joel could tell he was annoyed by the boy.

"Okay, so be it," Jack muttered, realizing he wouldn't be able to change Tommy's opinion, he turned around and opened the door, "I hope we don't regret this later," he said, struggling to keep his anger at bay, before leaving.

Joel had some experience with angry teenagers, he knew they could be unpredictable. "Ellie, make sure he reaches the house in one piece. Would ya?"

Ellie stood up and walked towards the door, "You aren't coming?" she asked with a hand on the doorknob.

"Later, now go, get some sleep."

Ellie opened the door and left, calling for Jack.

Joel closed the door and sat down on the chair Ellie occupied moments before. He sighed, trying to release some tension, he was mentally and physically exhausted.

"You wanna know what's the problem with him?" Tommy sat down, keeping a serious expression, "He doesn't know what's his role here."

In other circumstances Joel would have found Tommy's annoyance funny. But right now, they had a serious problem to deal with.

"You should listen to the boy."

Tommy couldn't believe what he just heard, "You say we should-"

"Of course not." Peace was not an option. Joel knew no one in Jackson would accept it, especially after what happened with Ron and now Derek. "I'm just saying that Jack seems to be afraid of Ryan and I bet there's a reason for-"

"I know, Joel," Tommy interrupted him and sighed, "Look, you'll have to trust in my judgement, okay?"

Joel nodded without hesitation. He trusted his little brother.

"Good. Now go get some sleep, god knows you need it."