A few hours later, the sky above them was gloomy and it was starting to rain. The droplets of rain were pelting the truck, creating a soothing sound. Ellie and Enid managed to catch some sleep.
Ever since Ellie had been bitten, Enid had been living with nightmares of that fateful day. And sleeping in the car was no exception. She whimpered in her sleep and unconsciously gripped onto Ellie's hand.
Ellie moaned and looked to her right as saw Enid moving in her sleep. She knew very well that it was a nightmare. "Enid? Enid, wake up. C'mon," Ellie said, shaking her by the shoulders.
Enid woke up with a start, inhaling loudly. Ellie scooted back in the truck a little bit. "Whoa, easy," Ellie said, holding her hands up a little bit. Enid scooted up in the seat and rubbed her spent eyes with a balled-up fist.
"Shit... wh-what happened?" Enid moaned, looking at Joel and Ellie. "You had a nightmare, Enid. You had me scared for a minute there," Ellie answered. Enid looked down and hugged her arms. "Oh, sorry..." she said quietly.
"It's not your fault, Enid. Take it easy," Joel said, looking at her. "You okay?" Ellie asked, looking at Enid with a concerned look. Even though Enid said she was, Ellie knew her well enough to know that she was bothered by that nightmare.
She pulled her friend into a comforting hug, which Enid hugged back. Ellie didn't even have to ask what the nightmare was about, because she knew exactly what it was. Enid hated having that dream. She barely got any sleep because of it.
Ellie even got nightmares of that fateful day. She hated them just as much as Enid.
After a while, they continued on down the road. Joel was starting to doze off at the wheel, rubbing his tired eyes. He's then started at the sound of Ellie and Enid in the backseat.
"Aw, man!" Ellie groaned. "Man, that's so not cool!" Enid added. Joel looked up in the rear-view mirror to look at them. "Hey, what happened to sleeping?" he asked. The girls sit up in the backseat.
"Okay, we know it doesn't look like it, but this here's not a bad read," Ellie answered, holding up a comic book. "It's actually pretty good, except for one flaw. Look at this here," Enid added, pointing to the flaw at the very end of the comic.
"To be continued," Enid said, "I hate cliffhangers. That's why I got..." Enid dug through her bag and pulled out the next installment of that comic book series. Ellie's eyes lit up in excitement when Enid pulled it out of her backpack.
"I got the next issue right here," Enid finished. "Oh shit! Let me see it!" Ellie exclaimed, reaching for it. "No! I'm not finished with it!" Enid whined, holding it up. "Gimme it!" she exclaimed, reaching for it.
"Where'd you two get that?" Joel asked, looking back at them for a moment. The two friends look at each other for a minute, knowing that they've been caught red-handed.
"Back at Bill's place," Enid answered. "All of it was just laying there collecting dust. It was just begging for us to take it," Ellie shrugged. Joel sighed and faced forward again.
"What else did you two get?" he asked. Both girls smile impishly. "Ellie, if you could do the honors?" Enid said, handing her backpack to Ellie. "My pleasure," Ellie nodded, taking the backpack.
She opened it and pulled out a cassette tape. "Here," she said, leaning between the front seats, "Does this give you nostalgia? You can thank Enid for getting it," "Yeah, figured you'd have something from your time to listen to," Enid added, giving a proud smile.
They weren't sorry for taking Bill's shit. If he wasn't such an asshat, they wouldn't have to do it. Needless to say, it wouldn't be the first time they stole stuff without the prying eyes of suspecting people.
Joel looked down at the tape Ellie was holding and chuckled, "How old do you two think I am? This was before my time," he looks at the tape before pushing the tape into the cassette player, "That's a winner though,"
The music that came out was some old country music. Enid bobbed her head to the music, cracking a smile. "Well, better than nothing," Ellie said. Enid gave her a playful shove.
"C'mon, it's not that bad. I actually like it," Enid said, digging through her backpack to pull out another magazine. "Oh, surely your friend will be missing this tonight," Enid said, holding out an adult magazine. The girls looked through the magazine, both blushing madly.
"Light on the reading but it's got some... interesting photos," Ellie said, eyes glued to the pages. Joel looked over his shoulder and saw what they were looking at. "Uh, that ain't for kids, you two," he said, looking ahead at the road.
Ellie turned the magazine vertically and her eyes grew big. "Ho-oly shit! Do you see this Enid? It's huge!" Ellie laughed, smirking at Enid. Enid kept her eyes on the page and laughed, "Whoa! How the hell can he walk around with that thing? Does he use magnets or something?"
"Get rid of that!" Joel shouted, turning around to grab the magazine from them. "Now, hold on, let's see what all of the fuss is about," Ellie said, pushing his arm away from them.
The girls decided to play a little joke on him and focused their attention on the magazine. "Oh... why are these stuck together?" Ellie asked. "Yeah, it's really... sticky," Enid added, grimacing.
"Umm..." Joel stammered, looking out of the driver's side window. He had no clue on how to answer that, which amused them. "Ha, calm down, we're just fucking with you," Ellie laughed, rolling the rear-passenger window down and she threw the magazine out into the rain.
Enid crawled up in the front seat and she sat down. Ellie soon followed. "Hey, this is a one-person seat!" Enid exclaimed as Ellie sat next to her. "Yeah, yeah, move," Ellie said, making Enid scoot over.
Ellie fluttered her lips and twisted them. "You know what? Enid, you're right. It's not that bad," Ellie said, leaning to turn the music up. "Told ya," Enid smirked.
Ellie leaned back just as Joel turned to them and said, "Why don't you two get some sleep?" "Psh, I'm not even tired," Ellie said. "Neither am I," Enid said.
However, the two kids ended up falling asleep. Enid rested her head on Ellie's shoulder and Ellie rested her head on Enid's head.
The rain had stopped after a few hours and the sun had broken through the clouds. Joel had driven the truck into another city but Joel slowed the car down when he saw that the road was blocked off by a lot of cars. They couldn't get through.
Ellie and Enid stirred awake when Joel stopped the truck. "Well, perfect," Joel sighed. Ellie yawned and asked, "Now what?" "Is there a way we can get around it?" Enid asked, looking at Joel.
Joel looked over his shoulder and out of the back window, thinking that he should turn the truck around. But he only sighed and faced forward, "Screw it," he sighed, turning the steering wheel to the right and drove off the freeway.
He started to drive through the city at a steady pace. Ellie and Enid were looking out of the window, gazing at the buildings, which had foliage and plant life growing on them.
Joel stepped on the brake pedal after seeing somebody stumble in front of them. "Easy!" Ellie exclaimed, looking forward with wide eyes. "Please... help!" the man called, holding his abdomen, hunched over.
"Woah, are we going to help him, Joel?" Enid said. Joel quickly put his seatbelt on, knowing something that Ellie and Enid didn't. "You two put your seat belts on!" Joel said in a panic.
Enid quickly jumped in the back seat and got her seat belt on as did Ellie. "But what that guy?" Ellie asked. "Oh, he ain't even hurt!" Joel shouted, hitting the gas.
The car starts speeding towards the guy, who pulled out a gun and started firing at the truck. Then, multiple people darted out of their hiding spots and started shooting and throwing things at the truck.
A bullet hits the windshield. Joel runs over the first hunter, launching him over the hood of the truck.
Joel swerved to the right as one of the bricks shatters Ellie's window. She blocked her face from the glass. The girls look up and see a bus coming towards them. "Oh, not good!" Ellie shouted. "Oh, fuck!" Enid added.
The bus smacked the back of the truck, causing it to swerve to the left. "Hold on!" Joel shouted. He couldn't get control of the truck and they ended up crashing into an old convenience store.
Enid woke up a few minutes after they crashed, her body was aching. "I'm okay... Enid, you okay?" Ellie groaned, looking back at her. Enid groaned and pushed herself up. "Yeah... I'm okay," she moaned.
"Then get out, quick," Joel said, taking his seat belt off. Enid and Ellie take theirs off and don't have a second to breathe before Ellie's door is ripped open.
A man grabs Ellie by her waist and she tries to fight the guy off. Enid leaped forward and grabbed Ellie's ankle with both hands. "Get off of her, you chickenshit!" Enid shouted. Joel gets grabbed by his hair and his head is smacked against the platform in between the seats.
Enid gets grabbed by her ankles by another bandit and is dragged out of the car. "C'mere, you!" the man shouted as he dragged Enid out of the car. Enid was fighting hard to get loose from this man's strong grip.
She quickly pulled her knife out of her pocket and slashed the man's arm. He jumped up and let go of her. Enid scrambled to her feet and stood in front of him, her knife clutched in her hand.
Enid lunged at the man and drove the knife into the guy's neck, causing blood to squirt like water from a faucet. She yanked it out, letting the man bleed out on the floor.
She then hears Ellie struggling against the man that pulled her out. She watched as Ellie bit the man's hand before he slapped her to the floor.
"Ellie!" Enid shouted, running at the man with her knife drawn. She jumped on the guy and stabbed it in his neck. She yanked the knife out of the man's neck and watched his body fall over, dead.
Ellie grabbed Enid's hand and she hoisted her up. "You okay?" Enid asked her. "Yeah," Ellie nodded, eyes widened that Enid had killed these two guys. Joel ran over to them after Enid helped Ellie up.
"Yeah, we're good," Enid said. "What's wrong with these guys?" Ellie cried out as they ran back to the car. Joel tossed them their backpacks after pulling them out of the truck. "Catch your breaths, we're leaving," he said.
They slip their backpacks on. Ellie turns around and sees something Joel doesn't see. "Watch out!" she shouted, pointing to a guy aiming his gun at Joel.
Joel turned around and instantly ducked behind the now-wrecked truck to avoid the cross-fire. Ellie and Enid hid with him and they listened as the hunters started swarming the inside of the store.
"Hey, this motherfucker's dangerous. He killed them all," one of the men warned. "Shit, spread out," his friend replied, stepping on glass that was littered on the floor. Joel went around the back of the truck and grabbed a hunter by the neck.
Joel wrapped his arm around the guys throat and drug him behind the truck. The guy was fighting and grabbing at Joel's face. However, Joel broke his neck.
"Jesus," Ellie said in shock. Enid had witnessed members of the Fireflies kill similar to what Joel had done. She was speechless.
He jumped up and grabbed the other hunter, using him as a shield as more hunters hoped over the bus. He shot down any hunter that charged at him.
Enid and Ellie threw a brick at the last hunter, disorienting him for a moment. Joel was able to pick up a pipe that was on the floor and he swung it, hitting the guy in the face.
Luckily, that was the last hunter and the trio were able to take a breather. "Alright, I think that's the last of them. You two okay?" Joel asked, putting his gun in his jeans. "Yeah, guess so," Ellie replied. "Yeah, I'm good," Enid replied, rubbing the back of her neck.
"Good. Cause we need to get the hell out of here. Alright, you both know the drill. Look for anything we can use," Joel said, walking into the store. "Roger that," Ellie sighed.
Ellie was still surprised about how Enid had killed those two. "What is it, Ellie?" Enid asked, turning towards her. "I've never seen you do that before. How did you do that?" Ellie asked.
Enid's eyes fell to her feet, she remembered how she killed before in that same tactic while she was with the Fireflies. "I, um... learned that while I was the Fireflies. You can thank Marlene for that," Enid said, rubbing her bare arm anxiously.
Ellie pulled Enid into a hug, comforting her the best she could. "Take it easy, okay? On the bright side, you saved my life," Ellie said. They broke the hug.
"Yeah, I guess I did," Enid said with a smile, "Last thing I want is for my best friend to die at the hands of those assholes," "Hopefully that won't be the only time you'll save my ass," Ellie said.
"Hey, I have done it more than once, may I remind you," Enid said, crossing her arms. Enid had saved Ellie many times before, a few times before this whole journey started. "Oh, right, I forgot," Ellie said teasingly.
"You're an asshole," Enid said with an eye roll. "It's the company I keep," Ellie replied, wrapping an arm around Enid's shoulders. Enid rolled her eyes and moves Ellie's arm from over her shoulders.
"Alright, enough of this. Let's find some supplies or find a way out. Or both," Enid said. "Definitely both," Ellie replied. They go to the building across the street and manage to find some bullets and some alcohol.
Joel had found a garage door. He knelt down and lifted it up so Ellie and Enid could get in. "Alright, see if you can find something to prop this up," Joel strained, struggling to hold the door up.
"Okay," Enid said, rolling under the gate. After standing up, she leans down and takes Ellie's hand, helping her inside. They turned their flashlights on, illuminating the inside the garage. They could see what was in there.
"Whoa, this is sick," Enid commented, taking a deep breath. Joel was becoming frustrated and his arms was starting to shake. "Hurry it up, you two!" he shouted.
"Right," Ellie said, looking around. Enid saw a chain next to the door that would lift the door. "Hey, found something," she said, walking to it.
She gripped it and started to pull it. "Gnh!" she grunted, putting her right foot on the ledge. "Need some help, E?" Ellie said, noticing her struggle.
"No, I'm enjoying myself!" Enid sarcastically shouted, looking over her shoulder at Ellie. Ellie knew Enid needed her help, so she went to the door and help it up.
"Okay, get in here!" Enid called, her fingers starting to slip. Joel hears this and let go of the garage door. Ellie nearly fell over from the heavy weight of the garage door, but Enid was there to help her to keep that from happening.
Joel rolled under the garage door. He glanced up and saw what they saw, which were corpses of stragglers, like Joel, Ellie, and Enid.
"Okay, I got it. You can let go," Joel said, grabbing the garage door. Enid let go of it and flexed her sore fingers. Joel lowered the door carefully until it was shut completely.
He turned around and got a better look at the bodies after turning his flashlight on. Most of them were headless. Joel knew exactly who these people were.
"Joel, who are these people?" Enid asked, feeling a chill run up her spine. Enid has seen things like this while she was with the Fireflies, no thanks to Marlene. She had to do something egregious just to get into that military group.
"They're fucking hunters. This could've been us," Joel answered. Enid walked around and saw the amount of bodies strung up by their necks with their intestines spilled out.
"Man, that is a lot of people that didn't make it," Ellie commented, picking up a shoe from the pile of shoes before dropping it.
"I've dealt with guys like these. Definitely don't miss it," Enid sighed before walking back to them. Joel was now starting to regret not turning around when he had the chance.
"I should've turned the damn truck around," he sighed, clenching his fists.
"We lived, didn't we?" Ellie asked. "Barely. Let's get out of here," Joel said, going through a door to their left.
"Well, its better than being dead," Enid said, following Joel up a flight of stairs. Ellie followed suit behind them. As they went upstairs, Ellie spoke up.
"Did you know we'd get ambushed?" she asks. Enid had an idea of how he knew about it. "I've been on both sides," Joel answered. Enid looked at him, partly understanding what he meant.
"Enid, have you?" Ellie asked once making it to the top of the stairs to the upper floor of the building. "Not really but Marlene made me do things I'd rather not talk about," Enid answered, swallowing hard.
"Oh. Okay. I won't push it," Ellie said, giving her a hug. "Joel, did you kill any innocent people?" Ellie asked.
Joel only sighed as he gathered some stuff from the first room next to the stairs. "That's a yes then." Enid said. "Take it how you want," Joel said.
They follow Joel outside of the building, the sun blinding them. There was a pile of burned bodies about 5 feet from them. Off to their left was a staircase that would lead them out of there.
Enid felt a bit sick from that. She wanted to move on from that. Joel jogged up the metal stairs and saw the Pittsburgh Bridge in the distance.
"Alright, the bridge. That's our way out of here," he said, looking at the bridge. Looking down, he saw Ellie and Enid were already jumping down.
"Hey, would you two wait for me?" Joel scolded, jumping down from the ledge. "What? We're right here," Ellie said, turning to face him.
"How about you let me go first? Keep your voices down," Joel scolded quietly. "Shouldn't be a problem since you're the only one with a gun," Enid said with a shrug.
They all jump down to the road, where there was cars littered on it. Most of them were covered in moss, foliage, even their tires, the interior was torn out or ripped out of the car.
Joel and Enid hear Ellie whistling as they started walking forward. Enid turned around and saw Ellie's face light up in excitement.
"Look, I'm whistling!" she laughed happily. Enid threw her arm around her shoulders. "Look who's finally learning," she said, starting to whistle with her, annoying Joel further.
"Oh good, something else you two can drive me crazy with," Joel sighed, clearly annoyed with their whistling.
They continue to walk through the street of cars, seeing that the only way through is over a bus. They walk through two cars.
There was a gunshot coming from the bus, causing them to become alert. "What was that?" Ellie asked. "It's trouble, I think," Enid said. "You two get down," Joel said, hiding behind a car.
Enid and Ellie hide with him, staying out of the hunters sight. They listened to them talking as four walk by them.
Apparently, they were supposed to meet up with some other people that Joel had killed earlier. The bandits walk out of their sight.
After they left, it was safe for the trio to stand up. The girls start walking to the bus, waiting for Joel to stop searching for supplies before moving on.
"Man, those guys creep me out," Ellie said, rubbing her arms. "You ain't kidding. The way they talk is pretty uncomfortable," Enid agreed, looking around.
After Joel returns, they climb on top of the bus so they could get to the next abandoned checkpoint.
I'm finally back after so long. Lot of things happened in my personal life so I wasn't able to go back to this.