Disclaimer: I do not own any character of (The Last of Us) TLOU is owned by Naughty Dog, Sony, and their creators.

A/N: There is not much to say here since I don't get any more comments on the story. But I hope that the people that are reading the story like it. I going through some personal issues, so some of the chapters can come late. I also did a Halloween story in between the edition of this one and go too long and it made me stop working on this one, but I hope that I will go back on track soon. Enjoy the chapter.

Chapter 14: Things never go the way you wanted

Joel was walking up the stairs to the second floor. Even though the sunlight entered through the corridor window at the end of it, it was pretty dark. Joel points the light into the corridor and looks both ways. "The corridor on the second floor is clear too," he said as he moved into the corridor. He looks at the apartment doors on that floor and notices that some are broken or do not even have ones. "Let's check some of the apartment room here, maybe we can find something useful," he said to Ellie that was behind him.

"Okay…" answered Ellie while moving closer to him.

Joel walked toward the first room on his left that had no door, so it was easy to see what was inside. Soon Joel took a look, he saw that there was not much in there, just a lot of garbage and broken furniture so they moved to the next one. Joel and Ellie check all the apartment rooms on the second floor, but only find a few things that they can use to make a few neal booms. It looks like that place was cleaned up a long time ago, so they don't expect to find much there.

As soon as they moved to the third floor, they found a few skeletons on some of the apartment rooms with clothes still on them, probably some of the original owners or people that came here after the pandemic starter. Joel and Ellie check the rooms, but it was the same as the second floor. It was cleaned up a long time ago. In one of the rooms on the third floor, Joel finds a usable backpack that he gives to Ellie. Soon after they finish with that floor, they go up to the last one. Soon Joel arrives on the last floor and sees a Clicker at the end of the corridor. He makes a

Signal with his hand to stop Ellie from coming up.

"There is a Clicker here…" he whispered to her as he took out his knife. "Stay here, I will take care of it." then he moved forward slowly so the Clicker could not hear him.

"Be careful…" said Ellie while watching him move.

Soon Joel goes close to the Clicker he grabs it from behind and stabs it a few times in the neck. The Clicker makes a few sounds before dropping to the door dead. Joel turns around and looks at Ellie. "Well, now that I take care of that we can check the-" Joel didn't even finish as he was pushed to the side by another Clicker that came out from a room behind him.

"JOEL!" Ellie yelled as soon she saw the other Clicker attacking Joel.

Joel held the Clicker head away from him as soon as he was smashed to the wall. "You motherfucker…" he said as he fought it back and kept it from biting him.

"Joel!..." Ellie yells again as she moves closer with her gun in hand. "Try to move away, so I can shoot him."

"No guns…" he said while trying to push the Clicker back. "If you do that, the hunter can hear it," he said while finally managing to push the thing away from him. Ellie moves faster and stabs the Clicker on the fungus head a few times and kills it. Joel rests his body against the wall while taking a few breasts.

Ellie turns around as soon as the Clicker goes down to the floor and looks at Joel. "Are you okay? Did he bite you?" she started with a panic tone.

"I'm fine… he doesn't bite me…" said Joel while moving away from the wall. "Let's find a clean apartment to stay for the night, but first let's be sure that they're no more infected here… okay?"

"Are you sure you're okay? That… scares the shit out of me. I thought that it was going to bite you."

"Yeah… I'm fine kiddo… thanks for killing it by the way." Joel starts walking forward to check the apartment room there.

"Sure…any time," Ellie said while walking behind him. "Can you stop calling me that? It makes me feel like a child…"

Joel turns his head and looks at her. "Sorry, I thought you liked it."

"I did… when I was 14 but I'm almost 18 now."

"Yeah, kids grow up too fast these days," he said while opening one of the room doors.

"Yeah, they do that with the passage of the time," she said in a sarcastic way. "They also get some adult interests too."

"Like what?" Joel asked while moving to the next room.

"Like love," she said to herself. "I don't know adult things…" she only answered him.

After they check all the floors and make sure they're not more infected there, Joel decides to stay in one of the apartments that look clean and have a door. They did not find any spore either so that was a good sign too.

"I think we can use this apartment to stay until dark… is the best one we can find. He said while moving inside the room. It has the door in good condition and has a window that views the front streets so that we can see if someone came close to the building." said Joel while walking around the apartment room.

"That sounds good to me…" said Ellie while getting down on a couch that looked clean enough.

Joel turned around and looked at her. "How do you feel?" he said while walking toward her and stopped in front of her. "I mean you side… is it still hurt?"

"Just a little… Whatever you put on it is working well. but I'm glad that we can have some rest." she said while leaning back her head and closing her eyes.

Joel takes out his backpack and takes out the pain killer and a bottle of water. "Here, take two more of these, it will help you with the pain," he said while passing them to her.

Ellie opened her eyes and grabbed the bottle and pills. She put the pills in her mouth and drank half the water. "Is this the only water you have left?" she asked while giving him the bottle back.

Joel grabbed the bottle and looked at it. "No... I have two more in my backpack, so you can drink the rest of that one if you want," he said while passing it back to her.

Ellie grabbed it back but put it on the couch beside her. "Thank you, Joel, I will drink the rest later."

Joel turned around and walked to the table that is in the small kitchen part of the room and put it on top of it. "Yeah… I can see that you do not bring much with you…" Ellie closed her eyes again and did not say anything. Yeah, she knows that he is right about not coming here prepared, but she is too tired to have another discussion with him. After taking his binocular out of his backpack, he grabbed the rifle and walked closer to Ellie. "Stay here and get some rest. I will go to the roof and check how things are outside." then he walked toward the door of the apartment.

"Okay… but be careful… and if you get into any trouble just yell and I will go up and rescue you." Ellie wanted to go with him, but she was really tired and her side hurt, so maybe it was a good idea to stay there and get some sleep.

Joel opens the door, turns his head around, and smiles. "I will keep that in mind." then he walked out and closed the door behind him.

One hour early in front of the store. "Okay… We don't know how many people are out there, but I don't think they're too many of them. But if they come here looking for us, so they must still in town." said the boss to the rest of his men that were standing in front of the old store. "We're going to search the whole area on foot, but I want a few of you to use one of the cars and go around the town and patrol the area. And I want another one to go to the entrance of the town with a few men and stay there. I don't want those assholes to get out before we find them… Is that clear?" he said looking at his men.

"Yes…" said all of them at the same time.

"Good, now move. Is going to be dark soon and I want them found before that, but remember to call me as soon as any of you find them. I want to be there when you do." some of the men go into the cars and others start to walk away to the following streets.

"What about you boss, you can't walk around with your legs on that conduction." said one of the hunters.

"I will stay here for a while with a few men and check the closed buildings, then I will go back to the warehouse. Just take your radios and contact me as soon as you find something." he moved to his pick-up truck and opened the door. "Just go and find them before the night comes."

"Sure boss." Said the hunter while walking down the street. The hunter boss sat in his car while rubbing his leg. Is still hurt but he smiles at the thought of the girl that stabbed him. She probably is here, so if she does he will have his revenge.

He lost a few men in the wood factory, but he still has enough men to take care of a small group of intruders if that is the case. He does not really think that there are too many, he only saw the girl and the old man on the bike in the wood factory and the girl could be lying about the others. But that was something he will find out soon enough.

Later on the apartment building. Joel was still on the roof watching the street for any sign of the hunters. It has been a few hours since the incident in the old store. (and by the incident he meant the killing) He was lucky to get there in time to stop those assholes before they do something to Ellie or worse. He knows what this hunter represents to that family, and agrees at some point with Ellie. But he is not going to risk Ellie's life for them, even if she wants to kill that man for other personal reasons. Joel was a little sad that Ellie was still having nightmares about that David guy, but he knows that that experience changed her.

As the sun was starting to go down, Joel lowered himself to the roof floor and took the map that the old man gave him out of his pocket. It wasn't a completed map of the whole town, but a good part of it. It shows all the places the old man and his grandson luted out so far and a few key places on it. Ok… Ellie hear them say that their hideout was in a warehouse or something like that. So let's see if I can find something like that on the map the old man gave me. Said Joel while opening the map and putting it on the floor. Joel checked the map looking for a place with that description. Is not like he was going to go there and attack them, but maybe it was a good idea to burn down the place before they go. He is not sure if that will make the hunters leave, but it was an idea that Ellie may like.

If the hunters are out looking for Ellie or whatever group they think is in town, the place can be empty making that idea more useful. Joel was thinking that, if they scare the hunters away, it would be good for the little family back in that house. He could sneak out and go there and do it, but he does not want to leave Ellie alone here or bring her with him in her conduction. So maybe it was better to stay with his original plan and get out of there as soon as they can. So he stopped looking for the hunter's hideout and checked the map for the street where he left his bike. He needs to find a way to avoid the hunters and get there without fighting them.

Joel revised the map for a few minutes until he hear the sound of a car coming into the street that crosses in front of the building. Joel quickly closed the map and moved to the edge of the roof wall and took a peak. The car was coming from the north part of the town and it was passing slowly on the front street. Joel observes them expecting them to stop or something, but they just pass and continue down the street. Joel observes it until he can't see it anymore. Joel goes down again and starts thinking. They are probably searching the area, but why waste gasoline by doing that, unless they have a good supply of it in town. The old man didn't mention anything about that, but he did say that he knows where to find some.

Soon he was sure that no one was around after the car was gone. He moved away from the edge and started walking toward the emergency ladder on the back of the building. Ellie didn't come to the roof in the two hours he was there, so she was probably sleeping, and that was good for her.

The night was coming soon, so they needed to move out and go where he hid the bike. Joel was hoping that they didn't find it or he would need to find another transportation to get out of there. Soon Joel got down to the four floors, he walked toward the apartment where they were staying for the last few hours. Soon Joel opened the door and went inside, he saw Ellie on the couch sleeping. He was a little tired too, but he needed to stay awake and watch for any sign of the hunters. Joel wanted her to get more rest, so he walked to the kitchen and worked with the things he found to make a few Neil booms and some Molotov cocktails.

Joel raises his head up from the table when he hears some sound coming from outside. Apparently, he fell asleep while working with the booms. Joel doesn't know how much time has passed and the sound coming from outside wasn't good. Joel quickly got up off the chair and noticed that it was already dark outside. As he can't shit inside. He quickly grabbed his flashlight that was on top of the table and pointed to the floor and turned it on, so the light can't be seen from outside. Then he moved to the kitchen's small window and looked down into the street. Soon he goes, Joel saw a few light spots moving around on the front of the building and some pointing to it.

He quickly moved behind the wall when the light hit the window where he was. "Shit!... they checked out the building… How long have I been sleeping?" he said in a lower voice. He saw a few lights out there, so there could be only 3 or 4 men down there. Joel takes another look when the light moves away and sees the men moving into the building. Okay... if they're only 4 men, I can deal with them if I jump on them first. Joel moves to the table and grabs his things. He put the bombs and the other things inside his backpack and put them on. He grabbed his gun, put it behind his back, and grabbed the shotgun. Joel moved to the small living room where Ellie was sleeping, but when he pointed the light to the couch she wasn't there. "Shit!... Ellie!... Ellie?" he started to call her in a lower voice as he checked the room. He went to the bedroom and was empty, so was the bathroom.

Soon Joel was sure that she wasn't inside the apartment, and noticed that her backpack was missing too, he went to the front door and walked out of the room. Shit!... I just hope that- Joel quickly looked to both sides of the corridor hoping to find her there. Joel calls her again and after a minute he hears her voice coming from inside of one of the other rooms. "I'm over here." he hears her say. So Joel walked as fast as he could until he arrived at the apartment where he hear her voice.

Soon he went inside the room, Joel saw her walking toward him. "Hey… are you okay? Why do you leave the room without telling me?" he asked with a worried tone.

"Sorry but I have to pee and I didn't want to do it inside the room, so I went outside," Ellie answered him back.

Joel points the light at her. "Why did you not use the bathroom over there?"

"Dude… did you see the bathroom? It does not even have a toilet…" she said while walking close to him.

"Then you should wake me up before going outside… and why did you bring your backpack with you? You scare the shit out of me" he said as soon he saw the backpack in her hand. He thought that Ellie ran away again and went after the hunter.

Ellie looks at him wondering why he asked her that, then she remembers why. "Sorry if I scare you… I just need the toilet paper we found… so I decided to bring the whole backpack with me…" she looks at him carefully and saw that he has all his things with him. "What is going on? Why do you have yours and all your things with-heeey?" Joel does not even let her finish as he quickly grabs her by her arm and pulls her out of the room.

"We need to move… now. I just saw a few men enter the building… I don't know if they know we're here… But I don't want to find out, so let's go." he said while pulling Ellie toward the stairs

"Fuck… how many?" she asked him.

Joel let go of her and continued walking toward the stairs. "I'm not sure… but it is better to get out of here without being seen." Soon they get to the stairs. they start to go down until they arrive on the third floor. Joel was going to continue down but stopped when he heard some of them coming from below. "Shit!" He said in a lower voice, then he grabbed Ellie's hand and started to get up again. Soon they were back on the top floor, they walked toward the corridor window where the fire escape stair was. "Let's get down this way…"

Ellie follows him into the corridor window and stops behind him. Joel gets out first, then helps her to get on the stairs, but before they start to descend the stairs a car shows up at the back of the building and stops at the bottom of the stairs. "Oh really?" said Ellie while watching two men get out of the car.

"Let's go up… now!" said Joel while pushing Ellie up the stairs so she can move to the roof. He watched Ellie move up and when she was close to the top, Joel looked down and saw one of the men point a light toward the stair. "Fuck!" he said when the light hit him.

"Hey there someone on the fire stairs…" said the hunter before watching Joel pointing his gun down to them and firing. Lucky for Ellie it was dark and she was almost on the top of the stairs, so they didn't see her.

The two men move quickly behind the car for cover, then they start to fire back to Joel. "Go and tell the other that we saw one of them going up to the roof." said one of the hunters while covering the other from behind the car. They shot to the stairs, but the bars helped Joel to cover the shots. It was so dark that they couldn't see exactly where the man was, but they knew that he was heading to the roof. Soon Ellie gets to the roof, she looks down and sees Joel coming was making sure that the hunters were focused on him, so they couldn't see that Ellie was there.

"Go...go… There is a wood plank on the other side of the roof that takes it to the other building. We can use that to cross to the other side… just go there and cross it as quickly as you can." said Joel as soon as he got close to the roof.

"What about you? I'm not going to let you here alone…" said Ellie without moving.

"I will be right behind you… they only saw me so they probably think that there is only one person up here." Joel takes his backpack out before he reaches the roof and takes two smoke bombs out from it. He threw one down to the back alley and close to the car. Ellie moves to the side so Joel can get into the roof. Soon he was on it, he looked at Ellie while preparing the other one.

"Go, I will distract them a little to give you more time to cross to the other building."

"Joel, I… I don't want to go there without-" Ellie started but stopped when Joel walked closer to her and put one hand on her shoulder.

He looked her in the eyes and smiled. "Everything is going to be fine kiddo, just cross the wood plank while I put the nail bomb close to the stair okay? That will take care of some of them… now go!" He pushed her away from him while throwing the other smoke bomb toward the stair. "Go, baby girl… I will be right behind you."

Ellie hesitates for a moment, but does what Joel told her and runs toward the other side of the roof. By the time she got there the smoke was covering part of the roof. She looks at the wood plank that makes a bridge between the two buildings. She doesn't know if Joel put it there when he came to the roof or if it was already there, but right now that doesn't even matter. The other building was not so far, so it looked good to cross.

Joel walked close to the stairs and looked down. He saw a few men walking into the alley and looking up when the man behind the car told them that he saw a man getting up to the roof. Joel knows that they will start to climb the stairs so he needs to prepare a surprise for them. So he walked away and started to look around the roof. The smoke was covering part of the roof now, but as he was there before he knew where to put the bomb.

Soon Ellie goes on the plank, she turns her head and looks for Joel. "Joel?" she called him in a lower voice. And after a few minutes, she saw him running toward her.

"Everything is set, so you can go now…" Ellie nodded and turned her head back to the front and started crossing the plank. When she was in the middle of it, she felt a crack sound under her feet.

"Shit!... this is not going to hold for long. Ellie hurried up and crossed to the other side. Soon she was on the other roof, she looked at Joel. "Joel… the wood plank is cracked… I don't think it is going to hold your weight…"

Ellie saw Joel looking at her and knew that something was wrong. "Just go baby girl, the bike is in a red house close to the entrance of the town. It has a big garage and you won't miss it.

"What the hell are you talking about… I am not going anywhere without you… so just hurry up and cross the wood plank before it breaks." said Ellie with a desperate voice.

"Just go baby… and don't look back," said Joel before he grabbed the plank and pushed it off the roof.

"Joel, what the hell!" she said while hearing some of the hunters yelling on the other side of the roof.

"I love you, baby girl… remember that… now go," then he turned around and started shooting at the hunters.

"Joel!" she yells at him but the smoke and the shooting sound don't let her see or hear him anymore. Ellie started to panic and looked for a way to cross back. She got up on the edge of the building and checked if she could jump back, but before she could do something an explosion occurred on the roof where Joel was. "Nooooo!" she yelled before the brightened the other building roof shook the whole place. The impact of the explosion sent Ellie flying backward and landing on the roof floor hard. She hit the concrete roof with her head hard and started to lose consciousness. "Jooooel" was her last words before it all got black.

Sometime later Ellie opened her eyes slowly and saw the black sky in front of her eyes. She doesn't know how much time has passed since her blackout. The pain on her head was barely bearable, so she closed her eyes for a moment and tried to remember what happened. After a few minutes, Ellie started to cough and open her eyes. She saw smoke everywhere, so she quickly covered her mouth and nose with one hand and slowly started to sit up. Soon she was sitting up. Ellie started to look around and notice the smoke and fire around her, then she started to remember what happened...

Joel! Ellie looks at the building where Joel was before the explosion and she can't believe that Joel's nail bombs can do all that. Ellie saw a half of the building on fire and even part of the roof she is on has some part on fire too. JOEL! She yells as soon as she stands up carefully and starts to walk toward the edge of the building. She was feeling some pain from the fall and could barely breathe because of the smoke. JOEL!... JOEL! She continued calling him while walking toward the edge of the building roof. She looked at the other roof, but the smoke and fire were covering all the place. She doesn't know how long she was unconscious, but she needs to find Joel. Because there is no way in hell that he is dead. He can't be, even if she remembers him being on the roof when it exploded, he has to be alive somehow.

There is no way to cross to the other side and even if she saw a way, all the roof was on fire, so she needed to get off the building and look around for him. So Ellie covered her mouth and nose as best as she could and started walking to the other side of the roof, where the fire stair of that building had to be. But after a few minutes, the smoke started to make her dizzy and the pain in her body wasn't helping either. Ellie continues walking and almost gets to the edge of the roof when everything goes black again and she falls down to the floor before she makes it.

A/N: The next Chapter will be posted in two weeks.