Disclaimer: I do not own any character of (The Last of Us) TLOU is owned by Naughty Dog, Sony, and their creators.
A/N: I just wanted to LYK that thank you for reading the story.
Chapter 12: The Hunters Part-1
Joel turns around and starts walking back to the car. He knows now why Ellie left the car there but doesn't know if that was a good thing. Soon he gets closer to the car and he speaks to the old man again. "Fill the car with the rest of the gasoline and go back home… I will go alone to the town and try to find Ellie before she does something stupid." Then he starts walking toward his bike.
The old man grabs him by the arm and stops him. "That was not the deal… I told you that I will help you to find Ellie and I am not going back until we do," he said aloud.
Joel shakes his hand and looks at him in the eyes. "Look, it is better if I do this alone… I have more experience on this and you have two kids that need you back to the house… So go back there and take care of them." Joel turns around and walks to his bike. He put the shotgun on the side and mounted the bike.
The old man gets closer to him to try to stop him again. "You can't do this alone, you don't know how many hunters are still there, and let's not talk about the infected," he said trying to convince Joel to let him go with him.
Joel starts the bike and looks at him. "I can handle this… Ellie is my responsibility, besides I have done this a lot…" Joel accelerates the bike but stays put. "You said that you know this town right?"
"Yes… I have been there a few-" Joel didn't even let him finish.
"Yeah, do you have a map of the town or something that I can use as a reference?" asked Joel.
The man looks at him wondering if he can pull this up alone. He wants to help Ellie too because it was his fault that she was there in the first place. "I have a map of the town that I use to mark the places we have checked so far. But I don't know where the infected or the hunter can be right now.'' He opens his bag and starts looking for the map. "Sorry that I can tell you more about them, but we didn't see them the last time we went there."
"Well, they are there now… and Ellie goes there alone… And I need to get there as fast as I can."
The old man gets his map out and passes it to Joel. "I'm sorry about all this… I will fill the car and go after you, you don't need to do this alone either."
Joel grabbed the map from the man's hands and put it inside his shirt. "Just go home and take care of your family, I will take care of mine." With that Joel accelerates the bike and drives away. The man was just watching him go and thinking about what to do next.
Back in the town, Ellie was walking between buildings as she left the main street and moved into the one the car came from. She managed to avoid a few infected that she saw on the street, but still was not able to find the hunter's hideout yet. After 10 minutes of walking, Ellie entered another street and hid behind a rusty car as soon she saw a man with a gun enter one of the buildings in front of her. It looks like an office place with 2 floors. The glass windows and doors were all broken, so it is easy to get in and out of the place without someone noticing it.
Okay… this can be a hunter guard so maybe I'm close. She said to herself while looking at the building, then she looked at both sides of the street just to make sure that no one could see her. When Ellie was sure that no one was there to see her, she crossed the street and stopped close to the entrance of the building. Ellie turns on the wall corner and takes a look inside, to see if the man that just entered is in the lobby of the building. She was curious about why the man entered here, or why he was alone, but that does not matter now. Ellie took out her gun and moved slowly into the building, keeping her eyes open just in case the man was close to the entrance. The lobby was only illuminated by the sunlight coming from outside, but as she goes deeper inside that light starts to disappear.
Okay… man, where did you go? Say Ellie to herself while continuing walking a little further. She enters a corridor that leads to a few offices on the back and stairs that go up to the upper floor. The room's office doesn't have doors so she checks those quickly, but does not find the man there. So she went back to use the stairs to go up. Soon she was on the second floor, Ellie entered a dark corridor with more office room. She checked a few of them until she found the man in one of them.
The man was close to one of the broken windows and it looked like he was pissing there. Slowly Ellie moves into the room and hoster her gun and takes her knife out. She watched Joel do this a million times and this already works in the wood factory, so she will try it again. Ellie needs to do this as quietly as possible in case they're other hunters close by. Ellie moved behind the man and soon she was close enough, she waited for the man to finish what he was doing and grabbed him from behind and put her knife on his throat. She grabs one arm and moves it behind his back so that he can't move a lot or try anything.
"Don't try to do anything stupid or I will kill you in a blink of an eye." She tries to use a deeper voice so the man suspects that she is a teenage girl. She is not as strong as Joel, but she can handle this man as he does not seem to be stronger.
The man raised his free hand in a surrender gesture. His machine gun was on the wall close to the window, so he couldn't do anything against Ellie. "How are you and what… you want?" he asked while looking at his gun.
Ellie notices that and pulls him backward and away from his gun. "Don't even think about it," she said and pressed the knife against his neck a little harder.
"You're making a mistake… woman… if you think that-ahh…" the man stops when Ellie presses the knife harder on him. "Okay… okay… what do you want?" he said with a scared tone.
"I don't care about your opinion of the situation… I just need some information and you're going to give it to me," said Ellie while twisted his arm on his back.
"Ahhhhhh… what… kind of… Information?" the man asked in pain. "Look, woman… if you want to live it is better for you to let me go… but if you are looking for some fun, I can help-" the man stops when Ellie presses the knife more and cuts his skin.
"You all hunters are the same… you just see a woman and the only thing in your mind is rape them… no matter what age she is… so came here to stop that," Ellie said with a mad tone.
"Wait… are you some kind of-" the man started but Ellie interrupted him.
"SHUT UP!... Just tell me where your hideout is and how many men are there… and maybe I'll let you live."
"Ahhh… so do you think you can kill us all?… you will be dead before you get there… we have men everywhere in this town… so you don't have a chance-" Ellie interrupts him again.
"I don't need to kill you all… I just want to kill your boss… so where is he?" Ellie asked, more furious this time.
"Fuck you bitch… I'm not going to tell you shit… because you will die soon."
"Yeah all you people always said that… but in the-" the man uses the little talk to headbutt Ellie in the face and use that to get away from her. While Ellie was in pain from the hit, the hunter turned around and grabbed Ellie's hand where she had the knife.
"You shout, kill me when you have the chance, you little cunt," the man squeezed Ellie's hand to make her lose the knife. They fight for a few seconds before Ellie is forced to drop the knife. The hunter moved away from her, but Ellie quickly managed to kick the man between his legs, making him bend down in pain. "Ahhhh… you little bitch… you're going… to pay… for this... " said the man while grabbing his balls in pain.
Ellie moved her hand to her face to wipe the blood from her nose. Then, she looked at the hunter with a mad expression. "You motherfucker… I-" she stopped when she saw the hunter moving for his rifle that was close to the window.
"We could use a girl like you to pass the time, but now... I will just kill you," the man grabbed the rifle and turned around, but before he could shoot at Ellie, she was already with her gun in hand pointing at the man.
"I don't think so…" said Ellie before she shot at the man. Bam… Bam...
Ellie shot twice at him and hit him in the chest. The man moves backward-looking at her with wide eyes before falling to the floor dropping the rifle in the process. Ellie moved quickly toward the hunter and kneel beside him.
"Where is your hideout?" asks Ellie while grabbing his shirt and moving him up and closer to her face.
The blood was starting to stain his t-shirt and go out from his mouth. "You… fucking… bitch... he is going to kill you…" he said with his last breath.
"WHERE ARE YOUR HIDEOUT?" Ellie yells, but the man doesn't say anything more as he dies. "Shit!" Ellie drops his body down and looks at him for a moment. Then she starts to check out his body but stops when she hears the sound of a car outside. Ellie stands up and moves to the side of the window. Ellie looked down and got a glance at the car that just parked in the front of the building. It was the one from before, but this time she saw three men getting out of it. Shit… they must hear the gunshot. she said in a lower voice.
Ellie moves away from the window and grabs the hunter rifle from the floor. I need to get out of here before they see me… Ellie ran out of the room and went toward the stairs, but soon she hear the hunter on the first floor, she needed to find another way out and fast. Ellie ran away from the stairs and entered the last office on the opposite side of the corridor and closed the door. The corridor was darker but still has some light coming in through the windows of the other office. Soon Ellie locks the door, she walks toward the window on the other side of the room. But for her bad luck, those ones were intact, so the only way out was to break one of them.
A few minutes later, the hunters arrive on the second floor and start to check the room until they find the one with a body on it. One of the hunters goes in and starts to check the dead body. "It's Robert and he is dead." said the man looking at the others. "The wounds are fresh, so the one that killed him can still be around here."
"Okay… You!" said one of the other hunters pointing to another one. "Go back outside and look around the building. Yell if someone tries to get out."
"Okay," said the other hunter. Then he turned around and ran out of the room.
The other two, go out of the room and look at the corridor. "The killer must be in the building… so let's start to check all the room here."
Ellie hear the man in the corridor and was getting out of time. The floor wasn't too high, but breaking the window will attract the hunter to the room. But Ellie doesn't have another choice or the time, so she grabs a chair and throws it to the window. Soon the chair broke the glass, the sound lured the hunter to the room. Ellie went out through the window and stood in the lake of the building. It was too high to jump, but soon she saw a pipe that went up, she started to climb it and go to the roof. The hunter inside started to hit the door to get in, but the hunter that went outside moved to the back and saw her.
"Hey… stop right there you…" the man pointed his gun at her and shot. The bullet missed her and hit the wall close to her. Ellie looked down and saw the man moving closer for a better shot. He shot at her again, but Ellie was already on the roof. "HEY GUYS… the killer is on the roof…" the man yells, so the others can hear him. After a few minutes, the two hunters managing to open the door and go to the window.
"Where is he?" yelled one of the hunters in the room.
"He is on the roof…" yells the one outside.
The hunter in the room took his head out and looked to the side and saw the pipe. "C'mon we need to climb up." The hunter moves out of the room and grabs the pipe and starts climbing.
Ellie ran to the other side of the roof and saw that the next building was close. Okay Ellie you can do this… Ellie moves back, getting more space so she can jump to the other building. Okay… here I go… 1… 2… she stops counting as soon she hears the hunters climbing the pipe and getting closer to the roof. She turned her head and soon she saw one of them, she started running...3," Ellie ran toward the edge of the roof and jumped. Ellie landed on the other roof, but the landing hurt and took some of the air out of her. Soon Ellie starts to stand up she saw two men on the roof of the other building, so she moves quickly to the other side of the roof to find the way to get down.
"There he is… shoot him!" said one of the hunters.
Bam… bam… bam
The two men start to shoot at Ellie, but lucky for her she manages to get over the edge and land on a small roof on the other side of the other building and jump down to the ground. The sound of the gunshots was treating infected that were close so soon Ellie landed on the ground, she saw a few of them coming her way.
"Fuck!... he is getting away…" he said as soon as the person they were chasing go down the building. "I will go after him, you go down and go with Paul to the other side of that building and cut his escape," as the other hunters go, the man moves back and jumps to the other building's roof.
Soon he landed on the other building, he stood up and ran to the edge of the building.
Soon he got there, he saw Ellie running into an alley behind other buildings while she was chased by a few infected. He shot at her again but she was running so fast that she got out of his line of fire and moved out of his sight.
A few minutes later the other two men got to the side of the building and saw their partner jumping down the building. "He goes through that alley… go after her." the hunter on the building yells, making the other two run in that direction. "Be careful they're infected in the area," it wasn't much time as he said that a few runners and clickers show up from the street and run toward them. The hunters start to shoot them, before going to follow Ellie through the alley. "You two go after him… I will take care of the infected." he shot one of the clickers on the head and a few infected on the chest. The other two hunters turn around and go into the alley.
Soon Ellie gets out of the alley, crosses the street, and enters another building on the other side. The two infected after her stop in the middle of the street as they don't see her. A few minutes later the two hunters that ran after her got out of the alley too and saw the two infected on the street and shot them down. After they kill the infected the hunters start to look around. "Where the hell does he go?" said one of the hunters.
"He must enter one of those buildings…" he said while looking at the buildings on the other side of the street. "That one!... the front door is open, so maybe he will go in there," he said pointing at the building in front of them.
The two hunters cross the street and stop in front of the building entrance. It was an old clothes store. "You go to the back and make sure he doesn't go out that way… I will enter the building through the front and see if I can flush him out," he told the other hunter, but before they moved the other one arrive on the street.
"Where does he go?" yelled the hunter on the other side.
The two hunters turn their heads and look at him. "We think that he went inside this building." one of them answered.
"Okay, you two hunt him down, but try to get him alive. We need to know if they're more of them here. I will go back to the hideout and inform the boss that we have intruders in town." then he turns around and goes back to the alley.
"Okay, let's continue with our plans and check this place to see if he is in here." The other hunter nodded and went around the building and ran to the back. The one in the front starts to get inside with a gun in hand. He walked inside the store with some precaution. "I know you're in here… asshole… it will be better for you if you just surrender now," he said as he walk deeper inside
Inside the store, Ellie was moving in the dark trying to find another way out as soon she hear the voice of one of the hunters in the entrance. The place was all disorganized and had garbage and broken things everywhere. They're not many clothes there or other things as the place looks to have been looted a long time ago. Ellie moved to the back of the store and tried to find a back door, but she didn't find any since the back of the store was all blacked with racks and broken things. She was lucky that the place was all dark on the back and only the front part got some sunlight. Soon Ellie hears the hunter inside, she hides behind some rack and checks the rifle that she stole from the hunter she killed. The rifle does not have too many bullets, but that will be enough to kill the hunters that come after her. Slowly Ellie points the gun to the front and waits for the hunter to show...
"I know you're in here… so give up… we're surrendering the building so there is no way out for you," he said while moving more inside.
Ellie starts thinking that she can shoot this man and kill him, but since the man doesn't know for sure that she is in there it was better to use something else to get rid of him. Yeah, it will be easy to just shoot at him, but she doesn't know where the other two are and as soon as they hear the gunshot they will know for sure that she is in there. So she has to do this the old fashion way as she did in that David town. She needs to stay hidden and wait for the opportunity to jump at the man from the back and stab him with her knife, then waits for the others and do the same. Joel teaches her how to do that, without getting caught.
So Ellie put down the rifle and took her knife out. She moves slowly behind the racks as the hunter walks closer to her. "C'mon out man… if you give up… I promise not to kill you… we just want to know why you're here and if you came with others, " He said while moving around the place. Ellie slowly moves behind another rack while the hunter walks beside it. She moves around it and slowly goes behind him. But before she could do anything the other hunter entered the building.
"Hey, Boby… the back door is sealed out, so he doesn't have any way out from here." Soon the hunter inside hears him, he turns around and sees Ellie behind him.
"What the hell?" Ellie doesn't give him the chance to act and move forward with her knife in hand and cut the arm where he has his gun. "Ahhhh! You mother fucker…" the man yelled in pain while dropping his gun to the floor. The man moved backward, grabbing his arm to stop the bleeding. Ellie charges forward again and tries to stab him, but the man moves out of her way making her miss. "He is in here... Shoot him!" yells the hunter while trying to get away from Ellie, but she quickly tackles him and pushes him to one of the racks. Ellie turned around and saw the other hunter behind her ready to shoot, so she moved away before he did.
The other hunter shot, but Ellie already was out of the way. "Ahhhhhh!" you fuking idiot… you hit me in the leg… fuck!" the man yells in pain.
"Sorry bro… he moves too fast," he said as he moved close to the other hunter. "Where does he go?" he asked him.
"He goes that way… is just a teenager… I don't see his face, but his body is small… so go get him... Ahhhh!" The man said while covering his wound with his hand and yelled in pain.
Ellie moves behind a rack and waits for the other guy to come close. "C'mon kid… I know you're in here so stop hiding. This place doesn't have a back door so there is no escape for you." Ellie put the knife back into her pocket and took out her gun. It Does not matter now if she makes a sound, because they know now that she is in there. And she needs to stay alive if she wants to continue with her mission.
But for some reason, she starts to panic, as she remembers the restaurant when David was looking for her. She can see the place as to how it was burning out while David calls her out. She can even smell the smoke… It feels so real sometimes. "No now… no now…" Ellie has suffered this picnic attack a few times before since they arrived in Jackson, but Joel has helped her to pass all that and she got better with time. But now all that happened in the wood factory has made her remember all that again, and that is why she needs to finish this.
Ellie closes her eyes and takes a deep breath. After a few minutes, she calms down a little and starts moving between some racks. Soon Ellie got to the corner of one of the racks. She pointed her gun forward and took a look for the hunter that was following her. But before she could do anything, the hunter walked behind her and grabbed her from behind. "Got you… you little shit!" Ellie tried to get away from his grab, but the man was stronger than her. After a few minutes of fighting, Ellie managed to move away from his arm, and turn around. Ellie moves the arm with the gun, but the man moves fast and stops her.
The hunter forced Ellie toward the rack and hit her hand a few times against it, causing Ellie to drop the gun to the floor. "You play time's over… kid," Ellie quickly kicks him in one leg and pushes him away from her. Then she turned around and ran toward the entrance, but before she got to the door, the man chasing her grabbed her by the jacket hood and pulled her toward him again. Ellie tried to get loose, but the hunter kicked her on the back making her fall down to the floor. Then the hunter moves close to her and kicks her again in the stomach a few more times. "Where do you think you're going… hum?" he said while kicking her again.
"Argh…" Ellie whined in pain while grabbing her stomach with her hands.
Ellie was in pain and out of the air, but she started crawling looking for something to hit the man with it, but the man walked closer to her and put one foot on her back, and pinned her to the floor. "You killed one of our men and wounded my body over there… and for that, you will have to pay…" he said while pointing his gun to her back. "Any last words… asshole?" He looked at the person on the floor and noticed that he had long hair. "Wait a minute… holy shit!... You're a girl?" He started laughing. "Well, well... that will change things around here… don't you think?" The hunter got down and put his knee on her back and grabbed her hair and pulled it up so he could see her face. "Hey, Boby, our intruder here... is a girl… I think we hit the jackpot today," he yelled while pulling Ellie's hair. "So what do you think? Do you want to have a little fun before we kill her?" he said with a smile on his face.
"Ahhhhhhh!" Ellie screams in pain as the man pulls her hair harder. "You motherfucker... If you try to touch me… I swear to god that I'm going to cut your balls and make you eat them… before I kill you," she said while trying to move away from the man.
The man pressed his foot on her back harder so Ellie couldn't move and started laughing again. "Ohhhh… don't worry little girl, we're going to treat you well, so don't need to be so rude." The man points his gun at Ellie's head and lowers his, to whisper in her ear. "Try not to move too much… we don't want this to get too messed up…"
The other hunter took his belt off and wrapped it in his leg to stop the bleeding. Then he stood up and walked toward them. "That bitch just cut me… and made you shoot me in the leg," he said as soon as he got close to Ellie and his partner. "So why do we have to be too gentle with her?" He stops in front of them and smiles. "I want to make her scream in pain while we get our way with her.…"
The other hunter looked at him with a smile on his face. "Oh… that sounds good to me, but I go first because you can't do much with that wounded leg," Ellie looked at the men in front of her and tried to get loose, but the hunter on her back just pressed his knee harder.
"Ahhhhhhh!... you motherfucker… let go of me… or-" said Ellie with a desperate tone and started kicking her legs to getaway.
"Ohh, I like when they try to resist… is more fun that way…" the man smiles at her and licks his lips. "But don't worry girl… after we fuck you for a few hours… you're going to like it…" he said to Ellie, then looked at his partner. "Here, take the gun and make sure that she does not move while I take my pants off."
The other hunter grabs the gun and points at her face. "You cut me and hit me in my balls… also you killed one of us… So I think that we're going to enjoy this as much as we can."
The hunter on her back starts to lose his belt without moving his knee away from her. He orders the other one to keep his gun on her head and make sure that she doesn't move while he takes his pants off. "Keep her down while I get her ready to go."
The other hunter moved down and put his gun on her forehead."Don't worry bro, she is not going anywhere." he said to the hunter behind her, then he looked at her scared face. "Ahhhh... don't be scared girl… we're not going to hurt you... much…" said the man while watching his partner thinking his pants off.
To be Continued...