Disclaimer : I do not own any character of (The Last of Us) TLOU is owned by Naughty Dog, but all the Oc character are from my invention.
Chapter 35 : Revenge
After Joel and Ellie finish checking the first floor and don't find anything in there, they move to the second floor to see if they can find something on that one.
"Joel, what are we doing up here?... If we didn't find anything down there, what are we going to find in the rooms?"
"Yeah, we didn't have too much luck in the kitchen, but in the old days, most of the hotel rooms had their own kitchen, so it's possible that we can find something inside of them. Also, on the rooms' floor they put some vending machines... maybe we'll get lucky up here, and find one."
"Oh… okay. That sounds kind of cool. So we're going to check all the rooms?"
"That will take too much time. We'll only check a few of them on this floor, then we'll move to the next floor," says Joel while he starts to walk toward the first room.
( a few minutes later, outside)
A jeep arrives at the street were the hotel is. The driver parks the vehicle close, but not where someone in the building can see it. Then 4 men step out of it and start to walk toward the front of the little hotel, where another man is waiting for them. Matt approaches the man who is watching the hotel from the roof of the building across the street. "Are they still in there?" asks Matt as soon as he gets in front of the man.
"Yes, they're still in there... I think they're on the upper floor by now," answers the man.
Matt smiles and turns to face the others. "Okay, men, just as I said before, Hunter is mine to kill, so if you get to him first, don`t kill him. Try to take the girl alive, too, so that way, we can give the old man a really good show before I kill him." Some of the men smile at the last part.
"Okay, men, you heard the boss - prepare your guns," says Thomas to the others.
"Rudy, you go to the back of the hotel and make sure no one tries to sneak in the back. The rest of you, move in." The group starts to get inside the hotel, as the doc moves to the side of the building and goes to the back. As soon as they are inside, Matt speaks again. "Remember what happened at the cabin, guys. This is Hunter we're dealing with, so be careful, and don't let him surprise you. Thomas, take the boy with you and go to the third floor. I'll take the second one with Jeff. Remember, radio silence for now; we don`t want to be noticed yet."
"Got it, boss, don't worry - we're going to get him this time. Let's go, boy."
(In that moment on the upper floor)
Ellie is checking inside of one of the rooms on the third floor; after they didn't find anything on the second one, they moved to the third one. She sees on the floor of the room some abandoned things, close to the broken bed. It looked like someone was staying in here before, but not recently, as she can see some dust on top of a few of the things. Ellie continues checking the place; she opens the bathroom door of the room and sees a bag in the bathtub. She moves quickly and grabs the bag, then sits on the toilet and starts to open it. Her eyes open wider when she sees the contents of the bag. Bingo! Finally, after almost all day, here they found something. She opens her backpack and starts to put the food inside. Wow, this is great - this can last for a few days, I just hope that Joel finds something too, so we can get out of here, she says to herself while she continues.
As soon as she finishes packing the food, she closes her backpack and walks out of the bathroom. Before she goes out, Ellie does another quick look around the room; not seeing anything more, she moves out of the room. "Hey, Joel, I think we got lucky this time - I found some food that-" Ellie stops as soon as she hears some footsteps coming from the stairs, close to her. She turns to look and sees two men moving toward her.
"Hey!... that's the girl!" says the boy, pointing at her.
"Fuck!" Ellie is moving back into the the room, but before she gets inside, she takes out her gun and takes a few shots at the men.
The man starts to shoot back at her, but the boy gets hit in one of his legs. He starts to scream in pain while he grabs his leg and tries to stop the bleeding. Thomas grabs him by the arm, kicks a door close to them, and pushes the boy inside. The boy falls to the floor as soon as Thomas lets go of him. He grabs some cloth that he found inside the room and wraps the wound with it. After that, Thomas moves to the room's entrance and takes a few more shots at Ellie.
He turns his head and looks at the boy. "Call Matt… and tell him that we found the girl on the third floor."
"Fuck… this hurts… I don't think I can walk much like this… shit!" says the boy, holding his leg with both hands, but the bleeding stops.
"Stop whining, boy, and make the call. If the girl is here, Hunter has to be here too, or close," says Thomas while he takes some cover after he dodges a few shots from Ellie. As the shooting stops, he looks at the boy. "I think she's out of bullets - just call Matt while I handle the girl."
The boy continues crying out in pain, but manages to take the radio out and start to call Matt. Thomas moves out of the room and starts walking slowly with his gun pointing in Ellie's direction, just waiting for her to show herself so he can get a clear shot. He continues walking, and when he is close to the room, he hears the door next to him open violently. When he turns to shoot at the person coming out, he gets tackled into the wall next to him. Joel grabs his hand that holds the gun. They start to fight. Joel punches him in the face, but Thomas is able to punch him in the stomach, making Joel move away from him.
As soon as Joel is away from him, Thomas moves his gun up to try to shoot at Joel, but it's too late. Joel already has his gun pointing at him, and shoots him several times in his chest. But as Thomas is wearing a bulletproof vest, Joel wants to make sure he's not going to try anything, and shoots him in the leg and arm, too. Thomas screams in pain and drops down to the floor, and soon his back is reclined against the wall. He starts to cough some blood out of his mouth. He moves his head up slowly and sees Joel kneeling in front of him, looking at his face.
Joel moves close to his face and looks at him furiously. "Hello, Thomas!... still working for that asshole?... too bad, because now you're going to tell me how many men you brought here and where is your boss?"
"Hunter!... you're wasting your time… you were lucky… with me… but he is going to kill you… but not 'til after… he and the others… have a little… fun with… your girl… Arrrggg. Ha, ha, ha."
"Laugh all you can, asshole, but your boss is going to be joining you soon."
"We'll see… who… I see first in hell…" the man looks at Joel and smiles, so Joel puts his gun to his head and shoots him.
At the moment that Ellie hears the shot, she walks out of the room and sees Joel with the man who was shooting at her. "Did you kill him?... who are they?" Ellie starts asking when she gets close to Joel.
"He was one of Matt's men. I think we'd better get out of here... I don't know how many there are."
"Matt?... the man from the cabin… they survived?"
"Apparently!... I guess some of them got lucky. How many bullets you have?" Joel asks as soon as he stands up.
"I'm empty - I shot everything I had at this asshole. Hey, wait a minute - where is the other one, it was two of them when I started shooting... did you kill him, too?"
"Another one?... C'mon, we need to get out of here. I'm almost empty, too." Joel grabs Ellie by her arn and starts to run toward the stairs, but as soon as he gets close, he sees two men moving out of the stairwell and into the corridor. "Fuck!... get in here quick." Joel kicks the door of another room, pushes Ellie inside, and starts to shoot at the two men coming toward them. They move quickly to take cover in another of the rooms, and start shooting back.
"Hey… Hunter!... there's no escape this time for you. But I will make sure that you live long enough to see how we have some fun with your little girl," says Matt while he takes a few more shots.
"Shit!... I was hoping that that asshole died in the cabin… but I think that I have to do that myself this time." He shoots back, then looks at Ellie. "Fuck, I'm almost out of bullets - do you still have the molotov we brought with us?"
"Yeah, I think that we still have two." Ellie takes her backpack out and starts to search for the bottles. "Joel, what are we going to do?... if there are too many, we aren't going to be able to fight all of them."
"Don't worry, I'll find a way out, we just need a little distraction. Pass me the bottles, quick!"
"Found them!" Ellie moves close to give them to him.
"C'mon, Hunter… make this easy… and maybe we'll give you a mercy death- shit!" He gets back inside when Joel shoots at him again.
As soon as Ellie gives Joel the bottle, he ignites the cloth on the top and looks at her. "Okay, kiddo, there's another staircase at the end of the corridor. I'm going to throw this and block their path. As soon as I do that, I want you to run there, and get down to the second floor. There's an emergency staircase there that we can use to get out of the building."
Ellie looks at him, knowing what he's going to try to do. "I'm not going anywhere without you."
"I'll be behind you, don't worry... I promised that I was never going to leave you again, and that's a promise I'm going to keep this time."
Ellie looks in his eyes, trying to see if he is lying, but he's not this time. "Okay!"
Joel gets close to the door and waits for them to stop shooting, and as soon as they do, Joel throws the molotov in the direction of Matt's position. As soon as the bottle hits the floor and explodes, that part of the corridor goes up in flame, blocking the way. Matt starts cursing as he sees the flames; he takes a few shots, but he can't see to the other side.
Joel indicates for Ellie to run as he takes a few shots in Matt's direction, and starts to run after Ellie. "Joel, I think we have a problem here," Ellie says as soon as she gets to the end of the corridor and sees the stairs.
Joel stops behind her and sees what she means: the part of the stairs that go down is broken, and there's no way they can go that way. "Okay, new plan, c'mon-" he grabs Ellie's arm and goes up the the stairs toward the fourth floor.
The fire starts to spread, but before the corridor gets completely engulfed in flames, Matt knows that the only way Joel is going to escape is by moving up to the next floor. He takes his radio and calls Rudy, who is in the back of the building. "Hey, Rudy are you still in the back of the building?"
Grrrhhh… "yes, boss, I'm in the back like you ordered… What happened up there?... I can see smoke coming out from a few windows?"
"Hunter tried to burn the place up so he can escape. So be careful - they moved up to the fourth floor. I think that they're going to try to get out from there. So make sure to keep them in this building. Jeff and I are going to find another way up."
Grrrhhh… "Sure, boss, don't worry, I will keep them busy, but I'm going to need a little help here, so it's better if you send someone out here, too."
"Okay, I will send you someone. Just don't let them escape." With that, he turns off the radio. "C'mon, we need to get up there," he says, moving out of the room he's in with Jeff following him.
As soon as the boy sees Matt passing in front of the room, he starts to get up. "Hey, what about me?"
Matt turns his head as soon as he hears him and moves to the entrance. "What the hell happened to you two?... and where is Thomas?"
"I think he killed him. The girl shot me in the leg, and he went after them. But he never came back."
"Well, I hope you can walk with that wound, because this place is starting to burn up. Jeff and I are going after them, so I suggest you move down and go help Rudy at the back of the building."
"But I can barely walk, how-"
"Well, if you want to live, boy, I suggest you do what I tell you. Or you can stay here and burn," he says to the boy, then looks at Jeff. "C'mon, we still have a bastard to kill." With that, they walk away from the room.
(On the fourth floor)
Ellie and Joel make it up the stairs and start moving down the corridor try to find a way out. "Joel, how are we going to get out of here? The building is starting to get on fire," she says as soon as she sees some smoke coming up from the stairs.
"Don't worry, there is a fire ladder on the side of the building that we can use to get out of here… there it is!" He points to the window at the end of the corridor. But when they get there, he sees that the ladder is broken too, so they can't go down that way.
"Now what?" says Ellie, looking at him a little nervously.
"Shit!... it has to be- wait, I think I saw another building behind this one - c'mon." He moves into one of the rooms. He walks toward the window and sees the other building in the back. It is close enough that they can jump through the broken window into one of the other ones.
After he examines the alternative, he looks at Ellie. "Okay, we have to jump to the other building. The fire is not going to keep them busy for long. And we have a better chance to escape if we get away from this one."
"Okay!..." says Ellie, looking at the other side. Joel moves close to her and starts to help her up, until she is on the frame of the broken window. Ellie tries not to look down too much, even though the building isn't too far; if she doesn't do it right, the fall is lethal.
"Okay, kiddo, I'll help you with the jump - it's not far, so I don't think you're going to have any problem. Just do what I tell you. As soon as you land, roll over, so that way, when you hit the floor, it ain't going to hurt much." Ellie looks at him with a serious expression, but when she is ready, Joel pushes her through the window and into the one on the other side.
She lands in a room there and does what Joel told her. She stands up and moves to the window to let Joel know that she is okay. But when she does that, someone starts to shoot at her from below in the building. Ellie moves inside quickly to get some cover.
"There!... they are trying to escape through the other building..." says the boy as soon as he gets there and sees Ellie jumping from one building to the other. The other man looks at the boy with a "duh" expression, and starts to shoot again.
Joel hears them, so he grabs the last molotov and drops it down in the direction of the men that are shooting at Ellie. "Take that, you motherfuckers!" says Joel after he drops the bottle.
The two men see the bottle falling, so they move quickly to the side, before the bottle hits the ground and explodes. Joel takes advantage of the distraction to make his move; he gets up on the windowsill and jumps to the other side. As soon as he lands in the room, he sees Ellie standing a few feet away. She seems to be looking at something on the floor, so he gets up and walks toward her.
"I think we have another problem!" Ellie says once Joel is beside her, pointing at the big hole in the floor. Part of the room's floor is collapsed; the hole covers part of the floor and it's too long to jump it, so that makes it hard to cross to the other side. Going out through the window is out of the question. Not only because they are on the fourth floor, but they don't know how many men might be down there waiting for them. "So what are we going to do now?... Those men could be here soon and we're out of bullets."
"I know, kiddo, let me think for a moment." Joel starts to look around the room, trying to find something they can use to cross the hole. After a moment, he sees a piece of wood behind a broken desk, so he goes there to check it out. "Here!... help me with this."
Ellie moves close to him and starts to help him move a few things. When they finish, Joel picks up the piece of wood that looks like part of a wooden wall. "Do you think this is going to hold?... doesn't look very solid," says Ellie while she helps Joel pick it up.
"Well, it looks solid enough to me, and it's long, too, so let's use it to cross the hole." With Ellie's help, Joel lays the plank over the hole; it reaches the other side. After that, he puts his foot on it, to test it. "Okay, kiddo, I think it can hold us, so get on and start to cross to the other side." Ellie looks at him while she puts a foot on the plank. "It's okay, baby, you can do it, just be careful and try not to look down."
Ellie puts another foot on the plank, trying to test it, then she looks back at Joel. "What about you?"
"It's okay, kiddo, I'll cross as soon as you get to the other side. Just hurry up a little, but be careful, okay?" Joel says, moving close to the edge of the hole.
"Okay!" Ellie turns back and continues walking slowly on the plank. When she is in the middle of the thing, it starts to make some cracking sounds. Ellie stops and turns her head to look at Joel. Joel indicates with his hand for her to move on, and hurry up, so she turns and starts walking faster. A few moments later, she arrives at the other side, making a gesture of relief. "Joel, that thing is starting to crack - it's not going to hold your weight."
"Don't worry, I'm going to do it as fast as I can." When Joel puts his first foot on the plank, he hears a sound coming from behind him. He turns around to see what it is and sees one of Matt's men standing up after jumping from the other building. Joel moves away from the hole and starts to raise his gun, but the other man already has his gun pointing at him.
"It's over, Hunter!... so drop your gun before I kill you… there's no escape this time for you."
Joel is holding the gun firmly, trying to make it look like he still has bullets in his gun. Now the only thing he needs is a distraction, but he doesn't know if he's going to be fast enough to take the man out before he shoots at him. Before he has the time to do anything, he hears some shooting coming from behind him.
Joel sees the man take a few hits on himself and start to fall down, without shooting back. Joel turns his head and looks at Ellie. "I thought you were out of bullets?" he says, surprised.
"I found another magazine for my gun in my backpack," she says with a grin on her face. Joel smiles a little too, then turns and walks in the direction of the dead man's body. Before he gets close to him, another man enters through the window and lands behind the body. Joel pulls his gun up again to try to fool Matt, but he is quicker, and starts to shoot at Joel first. He hits Joel in the arm where he holds the gun. The pain makes him drop it while he grabs his arm. It's only a flesh wound, but painful all the same. Joel sees that Matt is going to shoot at him again, and before he can move, Elle starts to shoot at the man. Matt dodges the bullets and runs for cover. Joel does the same and moves behind a broken desk.
"ELLIE, TAKE COVER!" Joel yells at her when he sees that Matt is going to shoot at her. Ellie shoots at the man again and runs for cover, too. She finds a couch close by and gets behind it. Joel starts to check his hand and sees that the wound is not bad, so he tears off part of the sleeve of his shirt to cover the wound and stop the small amount of bleeding.
Shit... Ellie checks her gun again and sees that she is out of bullets… again. So she takes out her backpack to check if she can find more bullets.
Matt turns and shoots in Joel's direction, but after a few shots, he stops. Joel notices that he must be out, too. Before he reloads his gun, Joel takes out his knife, moves out from behind the desk, and runs toward him. Before he gets close to him, he grabs a brick from the floor. After he reloads his gun, Matt stands up from the place he was hiding to shoot at Joel again, but Joel throws the brick at him and hits him in the head. As he gets distracted for a moment, Joel jumps at him, but he recovers in time and grabs Joel's hand before Joel can stab him with his knife. They start to fight. "You're a lucky bastard, Hunter, I'll give you that. I don't know how you managed to kill Amber and all our men. But that luck is running out, and I'm going to be the one to end it today."
Joel moves quickly and kicks him in the gut, then pushes him away from him. Matt loses his gun, but recovers quickly. He takes his knife out and looks at Joel like a mad man. "Yeah, luck will run out sometime, but if you manage to kill me, I will make sure that you won't enjoy that," says Joel, holding his knife in a tight grip. Both men start to fight, and dodge each others' knives.
"That's fine by me, I will die happy knowing that I was the one that sent you to hell." He moves close to Joel, and they start to fight again. "I'm not only going to have the pleasure of killing you - I'm going to make sure that that little bitch with you has a painful death, too."
As soon as Joel hears that, he jumps at him and tries to cut him with the knife, but Matt dodges it in time, and as Joel passes to his side, Matt cuts him a little on his back. Joel makes a little cry from the pain, but turns around quickly to face Matt again.
"What's the matter... Hunter!... getting too old?... Well, let me be the one to put you out of your misery." Matt moves toward him again and tries to stab Joel in his side, but Joel moves quickly and grabs his arm before he does, then moves to the side and cuts him on his other arm. Matt pushes away and stands in front of Joel, checking the cut. "Not bad, old man, but that's not going to save you!"
Joel starts to circle him like a predator stalking its prey. "Yeah, I may be old. But I can still kill you, asshole." After a few moments, they jump at each other again.
Ellie is still looking in her backpack until she finds 2 loose bullets in there. "Bingo!" Ellie takes the bullets out, takes out the magazine, and starts to put the bullets in. As soon as she finishes, Ellie moves away from the couch and moves close to the edge of the hole. She sees Joel and the crazy man fighting; she points her gun at them, trying to shoot the man, but they are too close.
The two men fall to the floor as they continue punching each other and trying to cut one another. "You're never going to hurt her, you bastard. I'm going to kill you like I killed all your fucking men," says Joel after punching him again. That's it, Joel, kick his ass! He can hear Ellie yelling on the other side.
"Oh... you think that you killed all of them?... I still have more men outside, and as soon as they get here, they're going to take that little cunt of yours and have some fun with her." Joel gets more furious and moves his hand to stab the man in the chest, but Matt moves his foot quickly and kicks him away from him. Both men stand up and stay still for a moment, taking in some air. Then Matt sees his gun nearby on the floor, and tries to grab it. Joel moves quickly and launches himself at Matt, tackling him. But Joel doesn't notice that they are too close to the border of the hole, and they land on the plank that Ellie used to cross earlier. The plank starts to crack under the weight of both men, until it breaks. Joel and Matt start to fall into the hole.
"Noooooo!" Ellie screams as she sees Joel disappear into the hole. Ellie moves quickly and kneels at the edge of the hole, leaning over to see inside. As soon as she does, she sees Joel hanging from a cable. "Joel!... Thank god… just hang on, I'll try to find something to help you up-" but before she gets up, she sees that Matt is hanging from Joel's legs, too. Ellie knows that she doesn't have time to waste, so she lays down and moves closer to the hole. She extends her hand and tries to reach Joel.
Joel sees Ellie at the edge of the hole, trying to get to him, but Matt continues to pull him down. He tries to move up, but the weight of Matt is too much, and the wound on his arm not isn't helping, either. Joel looks at Ellie sadly; he knows that there's not much she can do. "Kiddo!... you need to go - there's at least two more men coming up here soon... you need to get out of here."
"I'm not going anywhere without you... okay!... so give me your hand and I will help you up." Ellie tries to lower herself a little more, but Joel is still out of her reach.
Joel knows that even if Ellie manages to get to him, his weight is going to pull her down with him. He looks down and tries to kick off Matt, but he doesn't come loose, and his arms are starting to get weak. He knows that he needs to do something for Ellie… he is not going to make it, but she still can. They are on the fourth floor, and he can see that the floor hole is all the way down to the basement. He knows that if he falls, he is going to die, and he is not going to take Ellie down with him. So the only way to save her is to make her leave, even if that means breaking his promise again. Joel starts to look at her; this is not the way he wanted to see her for the last time. But he needs to convince her to get out and leave him.
Some tears start to fall from Ellie's eyes as she sees that he is starting to slide off "Joel!... please… just move up a little and grab my hand… please!" Ellie sees Joel trying to shake off Matt again, but he can't. She looks at him and sees a sad expression on his face.
"Ellie, listen to me… you need to go, okay… those men are coming for you… just go - there's nothing more you can do." Joel is losing his grip on the cable. He knows that he's not going to resist for much longer, so he needs to make Ellie listen to him.
"NO!... I'm not going to leave you here… maybe... I can find something to pull you up… okay!"
"Ha,… this is better than I thought... She's going to see you die… and after that, my men are going to take care of her… All this was for nothing… you can't save her... Hunteeeeer." Matt is starting to lose his grip on Joel's legs, but he continues pulling Joel down.
Joel looks at him furiously and kicks him in the face, but Matt doesn't let go of his legs. So he looks back at Ellie. "No, kiddo, you don't have time for that… just go… you need to save yourself… Now leave me!... do it for me..." Joel sees Ellie's face just full of fear, tears starting to fall out of her eyes.
"No...no, no, no… Don't say that… you're coming with me… I'm not going to leave you here... I'm going to save you…" Ellie says, knowing that her heart is going to be broken into millions of pieces if she loses Joel again.
"You already saved me… you were right about me... Thank you for giving me the chance to love again. This is where the road took us, but it don't need to end here for you. You still have people that love you, too, just go back home." Joel looks at her sadly, wishing that he had a better option, but he doesn't. "I love you, kiddo... always remember that…" After his last words, his hand slides off the cable, and he starts falling into the abyss, taking Matt with him.
"NOOOOOOOoooo!" Ellie screams out, still trying to lower her hand to get him. But she just watches in horror how Joel falls down into the hole. "No, no, no… this can't be… this isn't happening... JOEL!" She continues looking at the hole, but it is all black; then she hears a splash. Her expression changes at the possibility that Joel could still be alive, if the basement is full of water. I know you are alive down there Joel, so just hang on, and I will go down there to get you out… and after that, we can go home together, Ellie says to herself. Then she starts to get up from the edge of the hole, but as soon as she gets to her knees, Ellie hears something. Before she has the chance to turn around, something hits her hard on the head. After that, all she sees is the blackness covering her mind before falling to the floor.
"Shit, man!... I think you hit her too hard," says the boy while he moves close to Ellie.
"Yeah, yeah… don't worry, she's going to be fine. Now where is the boss and that fucking Hunter?" says Rudy, looking all over the place.
The boy kneels beside Ellie with some pain starting again in his leg; he tries to hold it back. He checks Ellie's pulse and confirms that she is still alive. Then he looks at the hole in the floor in front of them. "Do you think they fell in there?"
Rudy gets close to the edge and looks down. "If they did, I don't think that they're still alive - it's four floors down."
The boy stands up again and looks at him. "We need to get down there and check anyway."
"Are you crazy!... No one can survive that," says Rudy, pointing at the hole.
"We need to be sure. If he's alive, we can't leave him there."
"Look!... fuck Matt and Hunter. We have the girl - let's take her to the Fireflies and get the reward they promised Amber. After that, we can disappear and start over."
"I don't think that's a good idea. If Matt is still alive down there and finds out that we-" he stops when he hears the scream of infected people coming from down the hole.
Rudy looks at him. "We need to get out of here… let's grab the girl and go."