Disclaimer: I do not own any character of (The Last of Us) TLOU is owned by Naughty Dog and its creators.
A/N: Nothing to say this time except happy holidays and Merry Christmas to everyone. Enjoy the chapter and thanks for reading.
Chapter 17: The life we know
The little town doesn't have any QZ either, but it seems that the military and F.E.D.R.A establish a quarantine perimeter in the middle of the town to keep their operation functional there while they help the people of this town with the pandemic. Ellie and Thomas continued walking through the building watching for any hunter that came looking for them. After a few minutes, Thomas stopped at the corner of a building as soon he saw the light in the distance.
The old man looked at the place in the distance. "I was right… they're using the old military warehouse as a base…" he said while moving behind a trash container on the other side of the street. Thomas started to look around for any sight of any infected in the area. All the streets closer to the place were blocked by concrete barriers. The warehouse and the recreation park area beside it was surrendered by a heavy fence and some concrete walls. "We're lucky not to cross any infected people around here. I never drove close to this place because of them and all the blocked streets." said the old man as soon Ellie moved beside him.
He looked at her with worried eyes. "Can you stop looking at me like that? I'm not going to bite you alright!" she said while rolling her eyes.
He moved a little from her. "I'm sorry… I just need to get a costume to… all this," he said while looking at her bent arm.
Ellie rolled her eyes again but didn't say anything. She turns her head and looks at the place in the distance. She didn't see any guard on the front street, but it was still dark and that does not mean that they don't have some guard around the place either. They can see some light coming from the warehouse, so that means that they're in the right place. "Okay, we need to find a way in without being seen?" she said looking at the wall around the place. "Is still dark so that will be better for us."
Thomas moves back and starts to look around. "We need to find a high building to have a better view of the place. The sun will be up soon, so we are not going to have that cover for long."
Ellie moves away from the corner of the trash container and looks at the buildings close to the place. "What about the school?" she said, pointing to the buildings on the front of the warehouse. "It has at least three floors, so if we can get to the roof we will have a better view."
"That building is too close, but we can use the bookstore on the other side of the street in front of us… that will be better," he said while standing up.
"Okay… that sounds good to me… let's go," she answered while standing up too.
Both of them ran to the other side of the street and away and went to the bookstore building. Soon they arrive, they look at it making sure that there is nobody in there. The entrance was half destroyed so it was easy to get inside. Soon they get in, they look for the stairs that go up to the upper floor and start to move up. The stairs were in good condition, but when they arrived on the second floor it was kind of blocked by some broken stands and tables. Ellie and Thoms start to move things to get past the blacked stairs. After that, they do not have too much trouble getting all the way to the roof.
Soon they go on the roof, Ellie sees two infected there. "Fuck!" said Ellie as soon the two infected women saw her and ran toward her. Ellie quickly takes her knife out and waits for the first one. "C'mon you fucking bitch… I don't have time for this." The woman infected lunch herself to her with a scream, but Ellie just stabbed her on her chest as soon as she got closer. Ellie quickly takes the knife out and stabs her again on the neck, causing the infected woman to fall to the ground. Soon after that, Ellie was tackled down by the other one, but before the infected could bite her, Thomas moved quickly and hit her with a bat on her head, sending the infected to the side. Ellie pushes the dead body off and turns her head around to look at him. "Thanks, not bad for an old man," she said with a grim.
Thomas stands his hand and helps her to get up. "Yeah… I just don't want to see one of those things bite you again," he said with a little smile on his face.
Soon Ellie was up, she looked at the bat on his hand. "Where do you get that?"
"I found it on our way up… pretty cool right?" he said while looking at it. "I never killed an infected with a bat before… or anyone," he said with a sad tone.
Ellie grabs her knife from the floor and looks at him. "Well, thanks for making an exception for me… I just hope the infected scream doesn't attract the attention of the hunters," she said while walking toward the edge of the roof.
"Yeah… I hope not too," Thomas followed her to the edge of the roof that faces the warehouse. The sun was getting up, so they kept their bodies low to avoid being seen. Thomas takes out his binocular from his backpack and starts looking at the place. "Well, I don't see too much on the front, except for the main gate… the walls that surround the place keep them covered, so that way people that walk close to the place don't know they are there," he said while continuing looking at the place.
"Can you see any guards?" asked Ellie while looking down to the street too.
After a few minutes of watching the place entrance, the old man responded. "Yep… I see two men in the main gate of the warehouse…" he continued watching until he saw another. "There is another one on the sidewall that faces the park and two more on walking toward the back and that is only on the outside, I can't see inside because of the tall wall that surrenders the place. I also see three vehicles in the front parking lot, so I presume that all of them are there."
"Let me see…" said Ellie while moving close to him.
Thomas passes the binoculars to Ellie and sits down on the roof floor. "It's going to be hard to get inside without being seen," he said while opening his backpack and taking out his last bottle of water. "We don't know how many hunters are inside the building or what kind of firepower they have."
Ellie continues looking at the place and starts thinking of a way to get inside without getting killed in the process. Joel and her go through places worse than that, but Joel was always the one with a plan and right now, she is the one that has to come with one.
After a few minutes, she lowered herself down and sat beside Thomas. He didn't move away from her so it was progressing. "There maybe 5 or 6 men around the place, but we don't know how many are inside. They're probably expecting an attack at night, so if they were waiting all night they must be tired by now and that can serve us…"
"Yeah, maybe... but they're too many for us… so what are we going to do?"
"I saw a few broken windows on the far side. I can get inside the warehouse through one of them… but I will need to get over the wall and a distraction to keep the guards busy."
Thomas looks at Ellie with a surprised expression. "How long have you and Joel been doing this kind of thing? I thought you said that you come from a community in Wyoming."
"We don't always live there… and even though that place is more secure, you need to learn a lot of things to survive." Ellie starts to remember the journey she has with Joel before they make their living in Jackson. All the bad things they have to do to survive and all the things Joel teaches her. He always said that she needed to be ready for the time that he would no longer be around. She always gets mad when he talks like that because no matter how old Joel is, she wants him to be around forever.
She knows that Joel has a darker past, Tommy has told her a few things, but that never changes the way she feels about him. Joel can have the best reputation in this world, but she falls in love with the man that he is right now and she can't imagine a life without him. She knows that he is down there with those monsters and she is going to get him back no matter what. Joel is the light of her life no matter what he did in his past. She loves him the way he is and those hunters are not going to take him away from her.
The old man looked at her, not knowing what she was thinking. "Are you alright? Did you have something in mind that can help us to get you old man back?"
Ellie got out of her thoughts and looked at him. "Where did you hide your car?" she asked with a grim face.
Thomas looked at her with wide eyes. "Why do you want to know? You want us to leave..?. Wait, you're not thinking of using the car to get in there, are you?" he said while thinking that is not going to work. "You already saw all those concrete blocks that are blocking the street are you?"
Ellie stands up and moves away from the edge of the roof. "Don't worry, I know that that won't work… I just need you to use it as a distraction."
The man stood up too and walked toward her. "Are you serious? How… I get close enough to the entrance to distract the guards?"
Ellie gave him a mad look. "Can you go and get the car and do it or not?"
"Yeah… I can do that. I hid it a few blocks from the fire building, but that area will be full of infected by now."
"Exactly…" she said with a smile on her face.
The man looks at her face and knows what she is planning to do. "You want me to bring that horde back here as a distraction?"
"Yep, that will keep the hunters occupied for a while and give me the time I need to sneak inside and find Joel."
"Do you think that will work? If the hunters can't kill all the infected… you and Joel will be trapped in there with the rest of the hunters. Besides, you don't know how many more are inside that place, and going alone is suicide."
"Don't worry about me, I know how to get in a place like this without being detected. I just need a little time to get inside and find Joel without the need to fight them all. Besides, if I kill their boss, the rest of the hunters will don't know what to do and maybe they will just run away," she is not so sure about all that, but it is the best plan she can come up with. She looked at his face and saw the doubt in his eyes. Probably thinking that she can't do it because she is just a girl. She hates that even when Joel sometimes thinks that too. "Don't worry, Joel and I have done this a lot of times before… it will work."
The old man looks at her thinking about her plan. He is not sure if that could work, but they do not have an alternative way to do this. So he decided to work on it even if he didn't like it. "Okay… we do it your way, but I will need time to get to the car and guide the infected here… let's say two hours?"
Ellie rolled her eyes. She needs to find Joel as soon as possible. "That is too long… Can you do it in one?"
"It takes one hour to get here… but I will do my best," he said while looking at the stairs that bring them to the roof. "I will go as fast as I can so don't do anything stupid until I get back… okay?" He said, then walked toward the stairs and started to get down.
Hearing him talking like that makes Ellie think about Joel because he just sounds like him. After that, she went back to the edge of the roof and looked at the place again. Hang on in there a little longer Joel, I am coming for you.
Inside the warehouse, the hunter's leader was resting on a couch in the middle of the place while looking at the knife that he had in his hand. He started to remember how many people he killed with that knife.
"We have a good run brother, even if we have a hard life before all this shit starts." The man looked at his side and saw his brother sitting there beside him.
"Yes… we did have a hard time little brother… our father was an asshole and all those people in our hometown were too, but our journey is not over yet. I'm so sorry that sometimes I was a little hard on you and can't keep my promise to protect you. But I promise you now, that I will make sure that that bitch suffers for what she did to you."
"Yes… I know you will brother. You always take care of those that hurt me. I remember that knife… it was the one you used to kill our baster father."
The hunter turned his head and looked at the knife. "Yes… I will never forget his face when I stabbed him in his chest several times. It was a few days before all this shit started, so we didn't even have to hide his body for long. The neighborhood goes to shit after that, not even the police show up there, all the country goes into chaos."
"Yeah… I remember. Some of them get infected and start to kill each other. But the ones that get scared and try to ask for our help... those were easily killed to satisfy our hate for them."
"Yes… I still remember that girl that lived on the other side of the street. She always likes to make fun of us and says that we're weird and bad boys. She said that someday we will end up in jail. It was sadly don't see her smile when I kill her entire family while you rape her. Yeah… that was the start of our good life." he said with a proud tone.
"Yeah… those were good times. We can take all we want and kill whatever we want and get away with it. The police and the military were occupied in other things."
"Yep… but those days are not over yet… After I avenge your death I will move out and find another place where we can find more people like us to continue our work in this world."
"I hope you have some fun brother while doing that… I'm never going to forget mine…" then the image of his brother disappears when he hears the sound of a door.
"I will brother… I will," he said with a smile on his face.
"Hey boss…" the hunter leader turned his head when his second in command got closer to him.
He stood up slowly and looked at him directly. "Any news?"
The man gave him a disappointing look. "No… the guys have not seen anything out there yet and the sun is already out."
The leader moved away from him a little. "That is strange… they lost the cover of the night to attack us… why do they do that?" he said while turning his head and looking at the man.
"I don't know boss, maybe the old man was alone after all… and not one coming for him."
"No… he is not. He was the one on that bike in the wood factory and I know that that girl is connected to him somehow even if he does not admit it. I see it in his eyes when I tell him what we're going to do with her and I know she is with him."
"Do you want me to go to the storage room and make him talk?" he said with a pleased tone.
"The boss turned away and thought for a moment. "No… I do not want him to die yet… and torturing him more is not going to take us anywhere. That fucking man is tough… I even admire him for that." he turned his head and looked at the hunter. "Just go outside and check the guys again and see if they saw something… we give them a little more time to make their move."
"And if that doesn't work?"
The man looked at his knife and smiled. "Then we go hunting again… but that girl is not going to escape me," he said with a grin on his face.
One hour later. Ellie was moving behind one of the walls closer to the warehouse. She was waiting for Thomas to arrive with the distraction she needed, but he was not there yet. Shit!... What is keeping him? He should be here by now. Ellie said to herself while walking behind the wall looking for a good place to climb. After a few minutes, she found a dumpster closer to the wall and walked toward the thing, and got on top of it. Slowly she takes a peek over the wall to look to the other side.
She saw a hunter guarding the corner of the building. He was looking to the other side so he didn't see her. She needs the distraction to make sure no one sees her, but if the old man is not there soon, she needs to think of something to make the hunter move away. After checking that part of the warehouse, Ellie moved down and sat on top of the dumpster, and waited. C'mon old man just get here...
Ellie stayed sitting there for 10 minutes until she hear someone coming from another part of the building and started talking with the guard there.
"Hey… Morris, have you seen anything yet?" the new guard asked.
"No… I think I hear something 10 minutes ago, but it was nothing… probably a rat…"
"Well, keep your eyes open… the boss thinks that those intruders can attack us at any time."
"Are you sure? Because that old fuck can be lying… I don't know why the boss keeps him alive… he killed a lot of our friends. He should let us get our hands on him and cut him limb by limb."
"Ahhhh… don't worry. He will get what all those fuckers receive at the end. Also, the boss wants to go after that fucking family that getaway, when this all ended…"
Ellie was hearing all that and her blood was boiling in anger. She was glad that Joel seemed to be alive but knew that those assholes are going after Thomas's family to want her to kill them all just right there. The two men continue talking when Ellie hears the sound of a car getting close to the street in front of the warehouse. "Fuck!... What took you so long?"
"Did you hear that?" said the man who came to talk to the guard behind the place.
"It sounds like... a car!" the other hunter answered him.
They hear the horn of the car and the shooting from the other hunters in the front gate. "Those must be the intruders... stay here and watch the back… I will go and check it out," Ellie hears one of them running off, but she needs to deal with the one that stays. C'mon Ellie is the only one. She said while grabbing her bow and arrow from her back. Soon she is ready, Ellie stands up on the dumpster, climbs up the wall and stands on top of it, and aims at the hunter.
The guard turned around and saw her. "What the hell?" he said, but Ellie didn't give him the chance to react as she quickly shot the arrow and hit the man in his neck. "Arrrggg…" the man drops the gun and grabs his neck as blood starts to go out of it. In a minute he drops down on his knees, then falls to the ground dead.
Ellie waited for a minute to see if another hunter came, but as no one did she put the bow on her back, looked down, and jumped to the other side. Ellie moved quickly to the wall of the building to hide from sight. Ellie looks to both sides and soon she hears more gunshots she starts walking close to the wall toward the broken window.
More hunters run out of the building and go to the main gate. They saw Thomas's car stop in front of the concrete barricade and start shooting at it. Thomas got out of the car quickly and ran to the front of the school on the other side of the street and went for the cover.
After a few minutes of shooting, the second in command goes out of the building and joins them. He starts looking at the situation and notices that there was only one person there. "Is only one of them… where are the others?" he started asking but stopped when out of the corner of the school building he saw a few infected running on the street toward them. "Shit! Stop shooting… you asshole… you're attracting the infected right to us." the hunter yelled to the others, but it was too late.
"It was a trick… that motherfuckers bring the infected to us," he said as soon he saw more infected coming out of the corner. The hunters started to shoot at the ones that were getting close to them.
Ellie smiles at the sound of shooting at the front of the warehouse. That means that her plan is working, she only hopes that the old man gets out of that without any problem. Okay… that will keep them occupied for a while. She said to herself, before finding the broken window she was looking for. Bingo! Ellie looked at it and saw that it wasn't so far from the ground. So she quickly made a jump, grabbed the border of the window, and started climbing the wall until she went through the window and got inside. The warehouse looks huge on the inside. It has a lot of old crates and broken things. So soon she was inside, Ellie took out her bow and started walking behind them to avoid being seen. Okay, Joel… where do they have you? She said to herself while looking around the place.
A few minutes early In another place of the warehouse. The hunter leader stands up from the couch and soon he hears the gunshot outside. "Alright… they are here," he said to the few men that were there. I want a few of you to check the warehouse, the rest just go out and help the others." he ordered his men and watched them go. And remember… if you see a girl with them bring her to me alife…" The hunters that stay with him grab their guns and start walking in the opposite direction. "That was for you too, if you saw a girl in here, bring her to me… you can kill whatever she comes with," he said while moving to the table where he has his weapons.
Outside, the old man watches the hunters fight the infected and try to keep them at bay. It's time for me to move on, I just hope that that was a good distraction for you… girl, even if this was crazy as hell… the old man starts to move away avoiding being seen by the infected or the hunters.
As soon as the shooting started outside, the doctor walked toward the storage room and saw one of the hunters guarding the door. "Hey did you hear all that?" he said as soon as he got closer to him. "The intruders are attacking the place… so Walter needs you to check the upper level to see if someone goes in that way." he continued while standing in front of the hunter.
The man looked at him. "Why does the boss want me to go up there? When he already gives me orders to guard the prisoner," he replied back with suspicious eyes.
"I don't know man, but those people are everywhere and he doesn't want them to get inside," he said with a calm voice. "Don't worry about the prisoner, I will keep an eye on him… while you go up and check… we don't want to get surprised by them if they get inside... will you?"
The man looked at him with curious eyes. He started to think about what to do and after a few minutes, he answered. "Okay… I will go up and check the second floor. I will get back as soon as I can. So stay here and make sure that no one enters the room.'' The man grabs a handgun from his back and gives it to him. "Here!... you will need this…"
The doctor raised his hand. "Sorry, but I don't like guns… I'm a doctor, remember?" he said while moving away from the man.
The hunter rolled his eyes. "I don't care if you're a priest… I am not going to let the prisoner alone with an unarmed man… so you will take it." The man forced the gun into his hand. "Now stay here until I get back… okay?" the man said and walked away.
The doctor waited until he was out of sight and put the gun on his back. He doesn't like guns, but it's better to keep it close just in case. After a minute he opened the door and got inside. Soon he was inside the room, he closed the door and walked toward Joel. he noticed that his eyes were closed, probably unconscious because of the pain he was in.
The man walked close to him and lifted up his shin. "Hey!... Are you awake?" He waited for him to respond, but he didn't hear anything. "I know that you're in pain… and I'm really sorry for all that. I tried to attend your wound before, but he won't let me," he said while checking the burn on his arm and his neck and checking those not where infected. After a few minutes, he looked at his face, watching all the bruises and blood on it. One of his eyes was really in bad shape for all the ounces he got before. He never liked it when they torture or rape people just for the fun of it. But if he wanted to stay alive, he couldn't interfere with their business, even if he didn't approve of them.
The doctor turned around and walked toward a table where it was a big jar with water. He grabs a cloth that was on the table and moistens it with water and walks back to Joel. "I'm so sorry, but if I try to stop them they will kill me…" he passes the moist cloth on his face to clean up some of the blood there. "I hear what they planned to do with you girl and I have enough of that," he said while continuing. "I don't care what they do to me now, but I will help you to get out of here… okay?"
"Gregg Grrr…" Joel groan as the reaction when the doctor touched his eyes with the cloth.
"Sorry… but I need to clean it or it is going to get infected." After he finishes cleaning his face as well as he can. The doctor took out a bottle and a needle from his pocket and showed them to him. "This will help you with the pain… is nothing bad I promise."
"No… drugs…" said Joel with a weak voice.
The doctor moves closer to Joel's arms. "Don't worry, it's just morphine… it will help you with the pain." he injected the needle in the little bottle and got it ready. Soon it was, he grabbed Joel's arm and injected him while looking at his face. "You will feel better soon, but your wounds need to be attended to, especially to the burnt parts of your body."
In another part of the warehouse, Ellie walked slowly in a corridor hiding from sight. It was not hard to do it on that part of the warehouse since it has a lot of racks and crates all around. After a few minutes, she saw a man walking on a platform about her. She hides behind some old racks full of boxes and waits for the man to get in range. She needed to take care of the man fast and quietly so she aimed the arrow toward the man. Soon he was close enough, Ellie held her breath and shot the arrow. Slowly the arrow flew in the direction of the man hitting the man in his eye, killing him instantly.
Gotcha! Said Ellie while watching the man fall down on the platform a minute later. Okay… two down. Said Ellie as she continued walking between the crates. A few minutes later, she saw another man walking into a room in the opposite direction, so she followed him. She doesn't know how many hunters are in the warehouse, but she needs to get one alive to make him talk. She was hoping that most of them were outside and so far she has only encountered only two of them.
Ellie walks slowly, toward the room as the man leaves the door open. Soon Ellie goes inside, she sees the man looking behind some boxes, so she aims her bow toward the guy and fires the arrow. The arrow hit the guy on his back, making him archer his back in pain. "Fuck!" She hears the man winning in pain. She hit him in any vital place, so he will live. Ellie closed the door and before he could say anything else she ran toward him and pushed him to the ground. Ellie presses her foot on the man's back, making the man yell in pain. "Argggggg…What the hell?" he said as soon as he felt the pressure on his back.
Ellie put the bow on her shoulder and grabbed the arrow and moves it, making the man scream a little more. "It will be better for you if you stop screaming," said Ellie while lowering herself down and looking at the man's face. "I'm looking for the man that you caught outside. I want you to tell me where he is?"
The man tries to move his head to look at Ellie, but she doesn't let him. "I don't know what you talking about… Arggggrrr!" he screams as soon Ellie moves the arrow inside him.
"Sorry, wrong answer… dude…" she grabbed a cloth from her pocket and put it in the man's mouth before she pushed the arrow deeper. The man screams louder but the clothes muffle the sound. "Now, we can try all this again… or do you like the pain?"
"You bitch… you're going to-Arggggrrrr…. Fuck! The man murmured through the clothes and screamed again. Ellie continues moving the arrow until the man gives up. "Okay… okay… stop… please… I will talk… I will talk."
Ellie removed the cloth and looked at his face with a mad expression. "Now… where is he?"
"He, he… is… on..." he starts talking but trying to buy some time for his friend to show up.
Ellie knew what he was doing. "I'm losing my patience… dude." She started to move the arrow again but the man stopped her.
"Alright… alright... he is in a storage room… but you're a waste of your time… because you're never going to-" Ellie lowered her head at him.
"Where is that storage room… TALK!?" Ellie yells as she pushes the arrow deeper into him.
"Arrrrrgggggg!... is close to… the center… of the… Arrrrrggggg!... warehouse… on the corridor… to the right..."
"Thank you… that's too hard, is it? Now… How many men you boss have here?" she asked.
"Fuck you… bitch… you and your old man are going to die pretty soon." the man said with a painful voice.
"Well... we all are all going to die one day… but you, you will die today... asshole…" Ellie takes out her knife and stabs the man on his back a few times and leaves him bleeding to death. Is not the first time she kills a hunter like that, and even though she doesn't like to kill people that much, they deserved it. "That was for Joel…" Before standing up, Ellie grabs the arrow and pulls it out of his back, and stands up. Soon she was up, Ellie walked toward the door and slowly opened it. She takes a peek to make sure that no more hunters are coming and lucky for her no one hears the man before he dies. "Okay… let's go and find Joel," she said to herself before moving away from the room.
Outside the warehouse, the hunters start to move back into the parking lot, as more infected arrive. "Get inside and close the gate…" said the second in command as soon the infected grabbed one of the hunters and started to bite him.
"Arrrggggggg!" screams the man while trying to get away from them.
The sound of the gunshot attracted more infected people to the warehouse. "What are we going to do… we already lost three men and they are still coming." said one of the hunters while moving into the parking lot.
"Just close the gate and keep shooting…" he said while shooting down two clickers. "This was just a trick from the old man that got out of the car… I don't think they're a group… just two or three of them… so let go." said the second in command as the others close the gate, before more infected went in.
"This is not going to keep them away for long." said the man who was guarding the gate.
"Well, that will keep them out enough for us to get out of here… now c'mon," He started running toward the warehouse building to inform the others inside. The other hunters that are with him start to run after him.
Soon the hunters were close to the front door of the warehouse, a bottle landed in front of it, spreading fire all over the front part. Lucky for the hunters, they stop as soon as it explodes and avoids the fire.
"What the fuck?" said one of them. While the others start to look around. After a few minutes, one of them saw a shadow on the top of the side walls.
"There is one on the wall… shoot him!" said another one while pointing to the person on the wall. They start shooting, but the man just jumps down and out of sight.
The hunter in command makes a noise of frustration and starts to order around. "You two... go get him… the rest of you… follow me… we are going in through the backdoor." Soon after that the horde of infected start to break the gate and some of them start to get into the parking lot. The hunters start to run away from the entrance and into the side of the building.
Inside the storage room, the doctor was starting to untie Joel and help him down. "You don't need to worry anymore, you people are here to rescue you, so soon you will be free." he untied the born arm first so he didn't have to endure all his weight on that arm. Soon he was free from his tie Joel went down as his feet can't support his weight. The doctor catches him before he hits the floor and helps him up, but stops when the door of the room gets open and someone enters the room.
"What the hell do you think you're doing?" said the man that entered the room. "Why are you taking him down… and where is Mike?" the man started asking while walking toward them.
The doctor turned his head and looked at him. "Walter wants him out of here, because of the attack… he doesn't want the intruders to get him, so I send Mike out for help…" he said with a calm voice.
"Oh really… So why does the boss just send me here to check on him and make sure he doesn't escape?" The hunter raises his rifle and points at the doctor. "You know what I think?" he said while moving closer to them. "I think you are just switching sides so they don't kill you."
"Really!… I didn't think that you people could do that... besides, why would I do that?" he said with an innocent and sarcastic voice.
"Because you're just a coward… and always think to yourself… but that will end-agggrrrr..." the man stopped talking when an arrow went through his throat and blood started to fly out of him. The man turns around to see the shooter, but he only gets another arrow on his chest. The man opens his eyes wider before he falls down to the floor.
The doctor looked at the person in the door with wide eyes. "Don't shoot… I'm just trying to help him."
Ellie put another arrow on the bow and pointed at him. "Stay away from him, before I put an arrow between your eyes," she said with a firm voice.
The man looked at her with scared eyes. Even if she looked like a teenage girl, she looked very scary. "Listen… I know who you're… You must be the girl that Walter is so obsessed with. But you dad or whatever he is to you is really hurt and-"
Ellie moves forward slowly but keeps pointing the arrow at him. "I said move away from him you fucking murderer… All hunters like you just like to kill people for fun… but all that will end today… now move." Said Ellie will get ready to kill the man that was holding Joel. The place was a little dark, so she can see Joel right, but he was there and moving so that meant he was alive.
The doctor raised one hand in surrender. "Okay… okay… but he is going to get hurt more if I do that. He can't stand on his own, so if I let go of him, he will fall down to the floor."
Ellie can't have a clear view of Joel, so she moved closer and finally saw the condition he was in.
"Oh.. no, no, no… Joel…" she said as soon as she saw his face bruised up and one eye closed and swollen. Ellie turns her head to the man with mad eyes. "You!… you motherfuckers… What the hell did you do to him?" she said while pointing the arrow right on his face.
"I have nothing to do with this, I swear… I'm just a doctor and I was trying to help him… When they bring him here he already has some born parts on his body. I tried to help him, but the boss of the hunters didn't let me… Then one of them started to hit him to make him talk… I swear to God that I didn't take part in any of this." he said with a scared voice.
Ellie looked at Joel for a moment and thought of the awful things they did to him. Yeah, she can see the born clothes and part of his left arm and know that most happen by the explosion on the roof. Tears start flowing down her cheek now. Seeing Joel like that was worse than when he fell from that balconing in the university and got hurt. She thought that he was going to die back then and she felt that again yesterday when he somehow blew the roof with him in it. But he survived back then and he will do it today too… But knowing what those bastards do to him now makes her mad. They just tortured him even in the conduction he was in and that made her want to kill them all.
After a few minutes, Ellie looked back at the hunter. "I don't believe that you don't have anything to do with this, but you will help me to get him out of here… or I will kill you," She said with a mad tone. "Now put him down so I can check on him."
"Sure… I just want to help him," the man said with a trembling voice. The man looks at Joel's face and starts talking to him. "Is okay… man you girl is here to help you," he said, lowering Joel to the floor slowly until he got to sit.
Ellie moved the arrow and put it on her back with the bow and moved close to the hunter. She put one hand on his shoulder and moved him away from Joel. "If you try to do something stupid… I will kill you in the worst painful way… did you hear me!?" The man nods his head and moves away from Joel but stays sitting on the floor. "Good… now stay there… and don't say anything until I say so."
Ellie moved her attention to Joel. When she heard him murmuring her name. "Ellie… is that you?" She went closer and kneel in front of him.
Ellie put one hand on his cheek. "Oh… Joel… I thought at first the worst when I saw that explosion… But somehow I knew that you're alive." She looked at his face and tears ran out of her eyes. She wants to hug him as hard as she can, just to make sure that all this was real and Joel was alive in front of her.
"You.. should… not come… here…" he said in a lower and painful voice. He barely saw her with one eye and even though he was happy to see her there, he wished she didn't. He always wanted her to be safe, that was why he blew the roof with those hunters there. He always wants to keep Ellie out of danger even at the cost of his own life.
"I know that you want me to be safe… but that works two ways," she said, almost crying. "I knew you were alive… and I was never going to leave you behind." she slowly put her head on his chest. Ellie closed her eyes and stayed there for a few minutes waiting for all this to be just a bad dream and that they just were in a house in California enjoying the beach.
Joel slowly moved his good hand and put on Ellie's back. "You need to… go… kiddo… or all I did was for… nothing." he just whispered to her.
Ellie opens her eyes and moves away from his chest. "I am not going anywhere without you… I came here to rescue you…" she said while wiping her tears with the back of his hand.
"I… know… you did... kiddo… but this man is… crazy and-" Joel started with a painful voice.
"And nothing… I came here for you…Joel... and I'm going anywhere without you…" she said with a firm tone.
The doctor looks at them and sees how close they're but they need to go before his boss ( well, not really his boss, but they need to go). "I don't want to interrupt all this, but we need to get him out of here before another hunter comes back. He really needs medical attention, so I hope that the people that come with you have any vehicles or something to get out of here fast..." he stopped talking when he saw Ellie turn her head and glare at him.
Ellie almost forgot that the hunter was still there. "Yes… I need to get him out of here and you're going to help me." Ellie stands up and orders the man to do it too. "I can't help him and shoot at the same time, so you will help him to walk," Ellie said to the man and then turned her head back to Joel. "I will get you out of here… okay?"
"Ellie!" he said weakly.
"No, no Ellie me… we're going out together?" Ellie waits for the man to help Joel to stand up. Soon Joel was up, the man put his arm around his back and Joel's arm around his shoulder and looked at her.
"There is a door on the back of the building, we can get out that way. But there is no way out from the complex except the front gate," he said while walking toward the door. "I just hope that the rest of your people finish them all before we get there."
Ellie looks at him, trying not to show the lie she tells to the hunter boss about her being with a big group. Ellie wants to kill that man so badly that she barely contains herself, but Joel is really hurt, so things change. She needs to get Joel out of there fast, so she hopes that the infected Thomass will take care of him. "We have a car closer to this place, so let's move him out of here first… then we think how to get to it." Ellie takes her gun out and walks to the door. She opened slowly and took her head out to see if there was any hunter there. Soon she confirms that there was no one there, she turns her head and looks at the doctor and Joel. "The coast is clear, so let's move..."
The man continues walking toward the door, helping Joel to walk with him. Soon they're out of the room, Joel speck again. "You should let me here and save yourself … it's too late for me... kiddo and-" he started with a weak voice.
Ellie stops and looks at him. "Joel! I don't want to hear any more of this… I'm taking you out of this place…okay," Ellie looked at the doctor with a sad expression. "Is that back door you mention… is far away?"
"No… is at the end of this corridor, then we need to turn to the left and we find it at the end of the wall."
"Okay, let's go then... I don't want to stay here longer than we need to," said Ellie while turning around and leading the way.
They walk toward the back of the building. Ellie went a little ahead to make sure that no hunter jumped on them. It takes them 10 minutes to get to the end of the warehouse and find the back door. Soon they get close to it, Ellie stops to make sure that Joel is all right.
Ellie moves back and gets close to them. She looks at Joel with a sad expression. "Don't worry Joel… the old man is close… so we will be out of here soon."
Joel didn't say anything but the doctor gave her a look. "What did you mean by the old man is close? I thought that you said that you came with more-"
Ellie gave him a bad look. "Just help Joel to walk or I will not kill you…" she then turned around and walked to the door, but before she could open it, the door got open from the other side. Ellie opened her eyes wide as soon she saw a few of the hunters on the other side.
"Well, well well… What do we have here boys?" said a big man while looking at them.