Guest: Thanks and by DLC do you mean the multiplayer pack? If so, I personally have not had time to be able to get on multiplayer yet (and I'm not as good as I would like to think at the game; I died 19 times on Easy). It does look good though and I would like to try it sometime.
DerelictD1: Joel's cold shoulder is mainly towards Kevin, although Ellie felt a bit of it too. This chapter we'll start to see how their relationships have improved a bit. And here's that climax you've been waiting for! :)
MasterShortPantsx3: I'm really glad you like it! :) And yeah, there is fanfiction for a lot of things.
Chapter 21: Bleeding Away
"So, if you clear the ten yards and get tackled then you get the…" Kevin left off when he couldn't remember the name of the term.
The University of Eastern Colorado was in front of them now, and they were entering through the gates. One question had led to another, and Joel had started to try and explain to them the dynamics of football. Kevin wasn't getting it so well.
"First down?" she suggested, feeling as if that was the answer but not wanting to be wrong. She looked at Joel for confirmation and he nodded.
"That's right," the words seemed like praise and made her smile. So far things had been going smoothly, and any damage that had been done back at the ranch house seemed to be repaired.
Kevin looked back at her with a confused look on his face. She laughed at his expression and he lightly punched her shoulder.
"I don't get it," her friend stated, making her laugh even more. She didn't really get it either, but she knew she was learning a lot faster than him.
It seemed strange how she couldn't remember anything about her first journey, but the words came back to her at times. Feelings did too, like what she was feeling now. It was the same as the first time.
"You just have to play it a couple times. It'll all make sense then," Joel's comment made some hope awake in her. Was he suggesting that they play football? She knew that now wouldn't be the right time, but maybe he meant in the future.
That would be nice, she thought, tired of constantly running and shooting at things trying to kill her. Then again, that was the kind of world she lived in.
Joel led Callus through the gate and through the grass that had grown through cracks in the concrete. Callus started to lower his head down towards the grass, intending to eat it, but Joel made sure the horse didn't stop to eat again.
"Callus is going to get fat on all the grass he's eating," she laughed at Kevin's comment, knowing that Callus was pretty greedy when it came to food. She couldn't blame him; it suited the world they lived in.
"He'll walk it off with you two on his back," Ellie knew Joel's comment was a joke and she laughed. Kevin laughed with her, but seemed slightly offended in a humorous way.
"Hey! You ride on Callus too!" Kevin shouted, still laughing. Callus neighed beneath them, and she wondered if the horse was slightly offended as well.
They continued to walk through the campus, looking at the buildings that made up the University. She frowned slightly after a while, remembering Tommy's description of where the Fireflies were.
"None of these buildings look like a mirror," she saw that her two other companions thought so as well, especially with Kevin's next comment.
"When Tommy said that it looked like a giant mirror, I was thinking something like…" her friend trailed off as he motioned towards the sky, nearly knocking her off of Callus in the process.
It took them a moment to make sure she didn't fall off; Kevin tried to pull her back up into the saddle from where she was falling backwards, and Joel finally had to come around and push her back up. When they did manage to get her back up, Callus was munching on the grass again.
"Sometimes I wish we could just eat grass," Ellie stared at Kevin when he stated his weird comment. He then tried to defend himself, "You know, that way there would be no competition for food and all that."
Joel gave an amused chuckle but didn't comment, and she just decided to forget that Kevin had ever mentioned eating the grass in the first place. The idea already made her feel weird.
"We'll make our way to central grounds," Joel decided to steer their conversation back to finding the medical base, "We should be able to see most of the campus from there."
Ellie gazed at their surroundings as they continued further into the University. Just like all places that had been left for ruin after the outbreak, the windows were filled with cracks where vines grew along the sides of the buildings.
She briefly tried to imagine herself in one of the classrooms, learning some sort of higher education than what she had been taught back at the quarantine zone. The people in her imagination were faceless, but she thought she had a pretty good interpretation.
Joel stopped Callus in the middle of an intersection that connected the different buildings. Trees and wild grass looked like it fit in the scenery, even back before the outbreak.
She looked into the distance for a moment, feeling slightly bored, but stopped when her gaze fell on something.
"Hey Kevin," she tapped her friend's shoulder and pointed in the direction of what had caught her attention. Kevin shielded his eyes from the sun and looked to where she was pointing.
"Joel, is that it?" Kevin then asked what was on both of their minds and pointed towards a giant building in the distance. The sun reflected off of the roof and windows of the building.
"It does look like a giant mirror," Joel commented after checking and led them off in the direction of what they thought was the science building. They had to go into one of the buildings because wreckage blocked their direct path.
Ellie ducked her head as they went through a doorway and down a hall. Her thoughts continued as they rode through the connecting hallway.
"How many people do you think there will be with the Fireflies?" she asked, wondering why she had never thought of the question before. Back in the quarantine zone, the Fireflies were starting to get picked off, but out here…
"It takes quite a lot of people to run that operation," Joel answered, leading Callus around another corner.
"Ditto," Kevin's new word made her laugh.
"What in the world does that mean?" she asked, having a hard time getting her breathing under control at the strange word, "Where do you get all these weird phrases anyways?"
"I think it means 'same'," Kevin shrugged, "and I don't know, I read."
"Ditto, Callus, where you two come up with this stuff I'll never know," Joel muttered as he went to open a gate blocking their path. Both of them laughed at his comment, but quieted down when Joel shushed them.
Callus was starting to whinny and back up a bit, stomping his hooves on the ground. Ellie had to hang onto Kevin to avoid falling off and being trampled.
"What's wrong, Callus?" Kevin patted the horse, but he was answered by inhuman noises coming from one of the buildings up ahead.
"Sounds like Runners," before she could say anything else, Joel started to close the gate so that they were separated. She started to inwardly panic a bit, but waited for his explanation.
"You guys stay here with Callus. I'll go check it out," Joel's words made her nervous. He was going in alone? They didn't know how many…
"Are you sure?" Kevin asked, portraying the same emotions she felt through his words.
"Yes. I don't want him running off," Joel answered as he started to sneak towards the building and went inside. She watched him while he left.
"Do you think he means you or the horse?" she whispered her question and Kevin hit her shoulder again as she started to laugh.
"Be quiet! You're going to attract their attention!" Kevin tried scolding her, but that only served to get both of them laughing. Their laughter died down without incident; no Infected hearing them and coming to see what the noise was. The thought worried her, but maybe that meant that all the Infected were taken care of…
Just as she had that thought, Joel came back and opened the gate. Things had apparently gone well; she didn't hear any more Infected and Joel had a new weapon they could use.
"Is that a flamethrower?" Kevin asked as they both inspected what Joel had found. Joel nodded, and then Ellie recognized the look on Kevin's face even before the question came, "Can I-?"
"No," Joel cut off quickly, thinking the same thing she had. Kevin always seemed to want to try new things, which she didn't blame him, but they were fine enough with handling a pistol and shotgun.
Kevin gave a defeated sigh as they continued through the gate and towards the science building. There wasn't much to talk about, so she stayed quite for a few moments before a thought hit her.
"I think I know what I would've wanted to be," she stated, getting a confused glance from Kevin.
"What do you mean?" he asked, obviously not following what she was thinking.
"If I was born twenty years earlier and had the chance to go to a place like this, then I would've wanted to be an astronaut. Just imagine being up there all by yourself."
"Oh," Kevin finally got what she was meaning and took a moment to think of an answer, "I think I would have liked to be something that could help make the world a better place… but I'm not entirely sure what that would've been."
"We are going to change the world," she whispered, somewhat knowing his train of thought, "We're going to the Fireflies, and they're going to make a vaccine that can help people from becoming infected."
Kevin nodded, giving her a small smile. The thought of anyone close to them getting infected and dying was a repeating theme for them, so if they could stop that from happening…
It would definitely make the world a better place, she decided, leaning forward a bit to look at Joel.
"What did you want to be, Joel?" she asked, hoping she would get an answer. If not, she had others ways of figuring out, but it was always more pleasant if all three of them were in the conversation. Joel hesitated for a moment before answering,
"When I was a kid, I wanted to be a… a singer."
Ellie saw the same humorous surprise that she felt in Kevin's expression. They both looked at each other, having the same idea.
"Could you sing something?" Kevin asked, his voice radiating his excitement. Neither of them could have guessed what Joel would have wanted as an occupation.
"No," Joel's answer was short again, but it was filled more with not wanting to do the act… maybe embarrassment was keeping him from singing?
"Please?" Ellie pleaded, trying to imagine what Joel would sound like singing. She failed after a few tries and gave up, hoping he would just sing and make the mental image in her head easier to form.
"Now isn't the time-" Joel was interrupted by Kevin's sudden outburst as he pointed at something at the bottom of the stairs.
"Are those monkeys?" her friend asked, pointing at some brown creatures. She took a good look at them and thought they looked like the monkeys that she had seen in books, but she could be quite sure.
Joel nodded, sending more questions into her head as she watched the monkeys run to another section of the University.
"Why would they have monkeys here?" she asked, looking to Joel for the answer.
"Maybe for experiments," he suggested, "or they could have migrated here after all the people were gone."
They rode on in silence again, rounding another corner of the buildings. Ellie continued to gaze at the walls, but a familiar symbol caught her attention.
"Hey, look," she pointed at the wall where white paint smeared the symbol, "Fireflies."
"That means we're going in the right direction," Kevin perked up again with excitement, and she laughed.
"You mean that the giant building that looks like a mirror wasn't a clue?" she teased, pointing to the science building that was getting ever closer. Kevin shook his head, not wanting to argue that.
Another gate blocked their path, and this time it wouldn't open with man-power. White paint smeared along the wall again, this time giving them a message,
"Unplug generator when not on duty."
"Now what?" Kevin asked, frowning at a hole in the wall where debris was piled up. It was big enough that they could get through, but they didn't know what was on the other side.
"I'll go through here and get the generator running. You two-" Joel started to explain, but both she and Kevin interrupted him at the same time.
"Stay with Callus," they finished the sentence for him and he nodded, heading off soon into the hole. She stared long after him, hoping he wouldn't take too long and that he didn't get into trouble. It wouldn't do any good if they were separated for too long.
"Do you think we should have gone with him this time?" she asked, glancing at her friend. Kevin gave her a reassuring smile.
"Joel will be fine. He's taken care of himself for… how many years now? And he's been taking care of us all this time," she knew Kevin's words were true; it was just that one thought kept nagging at her.
"I know… it's just that so many things can go wrong… and one mistake can turn into your deathbed," she sighed, feeling the weight of how many people she had lost hit her. She knew Kevin felt it too, but…
Something that sounded like metal sounded from behind them, and they both turned to look. Nothing was standing in the passageway, but they knew better than to believe that they were alone.
Kevin pulled out his shotgun and she grabbed her pistol, feeling nervous and wishing Joel would get back. Sure, she could take care of herself, but dealing with a horde of Infected wasn't sounding too great right about now.
They waited for a few more moments before lowering their weapons. She didn't hear any Infected, and she didn't think a Stalker would be following them since Joel had taken care of the rest of the Infected…
Something moved into the passageway and stood still, putting them on alert again. They pointed their guns at the creature, but relaxed when they realized it was just one of the monkeys.
She stared at the monkey, missing what Kevin said. He tapped her shoulder, getting her attention.
"Does it look kind of strange to you?" her friend asked, pointing at the monkey. She had been thinking the same thing. Something seemed off, but she didn't know what.
The monkey came a bit closer, still looking at them with strange-colored eyes. It made little noises, almost like it was trying to communicate. Callus gave a nervous whinny and backed towards the gate more.
"Please just stay there," Kevin half-pleaded to the creature; both of them were becoming a bit creeped out by it.
She heard something else, something beyond the gate, and looked towards one of the doors. Footsteps, and a familiar figure, but that meant…
"Joel?" she yelled, hoping it was him and hoping that her nervousness and slight fear at the creature that was following them wasn't transmitted into her voice.
"You two alright?" Joel asked, pushing the generator over and reconnecting it to the power source. That would open the gate for them, and then they could escape the…
"Yeah, just wanting to get moving," Kevin answered with a nervous glance at the monkey. She realized how dumb her thought process had been; they were afraid of a harmless monkey, but should have been afraid of whatever other dangers lurked here.
The science building was now in front of them, and Ellie frowned as she surveyed the area. It did look similar to some of the Firefly camps she had seen: white tents full of supplies, ammo, but there was just one problem.
"No guards," she commented, finding the scene strange. The other two occupants seemed to be thinking the same thing.
"I would have expected to see at least someone by now," Joel's remark was soon followed by a quick one from Kevin,
"Except the Infected, of course."
Joel shook his head as he continued to lead Callus through the camp.
"Let's just get inside," his statement made her more aware that something was wrong, that something had to be.
Because something always has to be wrong, she thought, this isn't a perfect world and everything doesn't turn out in your favor. Something always has to be wrong.
The doors were blocked, but they led Callus through a semi-demolished brick wall. Both her and Kevin got off of Callus and left him to graze. The only way inside would be through the windows. Joel pushed a dumpster over to the wall, giving them an advantage to getting up.
"We're inside," Kevin remarked as they finally stood in the science building. They looked around, seeing the place trashed like any other area they had been to.
"Where are the Fireflies?" she asked, looking down the empty hallways. Joel shook his head as she started to look worried.
"They might be further in," he stated, "Let's take a look around."
They continued to walk through the hallways, gathering supplies when they found some, going through any available space. The Fireflies didn't show up, but they did find some remnants that suggested they might still be here.
"Eww," Kevin's comment made her come to look at what he found. She stared at what was in his hands, seeing some kind of x-ray. It showed the fungal growth through an Infected subject's brain the normal way.
"I'm glad my brain isn't like that," her friend remarked as she came over towards him, and she gave a small laugh.
They navigated back into the hallway they had come from, ready to move on, but stopped when something sounded from behind them. They turned around, and Ellie mentally freaked out when she saw more monkeys.
"They're everywhere," Kevin shuddered a bit as the monkeys scampered off to another room. She nodded, wanting to get as far away from the creatures as possible.
"At least they aren't clickers," Joel commented, making her inwardly agree with him.
"Sure," Kevin remarked, walking into the room, "The Fireflies just aren't here either."
"Maybe in all their research, they turned into monkeys," she joked, getting them laughing again.
An electronic voice came from over where Joel was, and they both walked over, looking at him holding a tape recorder. The recorded message was talking about the monkeys being infected, but there was nothing about the Fireflies.
"Nothing about where they went," Kevin's comment made the nagging feeling come back, but there was nothing she could do about it.
They came to a door that was bolted shut. Joel and Kevin somehow managed to get it open, and they were now standing in what looked to be an office. She walked into the room and sat down, feeling exhausted.
"Great, they're all dead," Kevin muttered, motioning towards the skeleton in the chair that was wearing a Firefly uniform. She shook her head, not wanting to believe that their effort was for nothing.
Another recorded voice came from the desk, and they listened to the message (well, not the whole thing; Joel kind of seemed fed up with the useless information and kept skipping through it).
"…looking for the others, they've all returned to Saint Mary's Hospital in Salt Lake City," the message finally came to a part that they could use. They all sat in silence for a moment, taking in the information. They now knew where the Fireflies were, but that wasn't here…
"Do you know where that is?" she asked, looking over at Joel. Kevin seemed to be preoccupied with something, which wasn't necessarily a bad thing at the moment.
"I know the city, but it isn't close," Joel glanced over at Kevin to see what he was doing.
"What-?" Kevin muttered, staring at something through the glass that allowed them to see the lower levels of the University. She followed his gaze and saw it too: the light was reflecting off of something…
She ducked as a gunshot rang out, shattering more glass. She had thought they were alone, but apparently they were wrong.
"What was that?" Kevin asked as Joel hurried them out of the room.
"It doesn't matter. We know where to go. Now let's get out of here," Joel answered as they started to run through the hallways. They had to backtrack where they had come from, which wasn't going to be easy.
Joel shot down a few of the men who were chasing them. Kevin stopped all of a sudden when they came to the middle section. He seemed to stumble for a moment before reaching the wall, holding his head in one hand.
"Kevin, what's-?" she started to ask, reaching her hand out towards her friend, but stopped when pain suddenly spread through her head. She squeezed her eyes shut, seeing images rush through her mind. The memories came back, clear as day now. She opened her eyes, seeing Joel struggle with another hunter for a few moments.
Time seemed to slow down. Kevin ran towards the struggle and ran into the hunter, getting him off of Joel and knocking the hunter off through the glass railing and to the floor below. The momentum at which her friend had run at, though, sent him down to the floor below as well.
Ellie stayed where she was for a moment, feeling dazed, but her senses caught up when she heard a scream. She got to the edge of the broken glass railing at the same time Joel did and looked down at the floor below.
Her eyes widened in horror as she remembered what was supposed to happen: Joel had been injured the first time when struggling with a hunter at the University. Now though, instead of Joel, Kevin was lying on the ground with debris through his side, bleeding his life away.
Another cliffhanger (at which some, or all, of you are not going to be thrilled about)! I didn't want to copy the game straight through, so this is one of the major twists in the plot that I had been mentioning a few chapters ago. Instead of Joel being injured, Kevin takes the blow for him (so to speak, although was it on purpose?). How is this going to affect what happens? Is Kevin going to survive? What do you think will happen next? Please tell me your thoughts in a review and, in case I don't get to update before Wednesday, have a Merry Christmas!
-AnimeWolfGirl9