3

...

Ellie didn't sleep particularly well that night.

The little cell she had been tucked into was rather cold. Freezing, actually. When she breathed she could see the breath whiten right in front of her, almost like she was still outside in the storm.

She wondered, would she be given a blanket if she asked?

Ellie tried really hard to not think about Joel. She was almost ill with worry, her stomach brimming with nausea each time his name crossed her mind. Inside her head she saw Joel beaten bloody, tortured for information on the Fireflies, or supplies, or whatever these people were interested in… she wanted to hold out hope that he was still alive, but...

She felt that she had only drifted off into sleep a few times throughout the night, and it never felt longer than ten minutes at a time, but morning came nonetheless. Ellie really didn't feel great, especially considering the circumstances, but she had to try and remind herself to think positively. You will find Joel. You will escape together. You two will kill these crazy fuckers and get out of here.

She almost didn't notice David's lackey wandering around the room that held her cell until he grunted in her direction, "You look like shit."

Ellie quickly realized he was probably right, but fired back nonetheless. "Yeah, and so do you. Except one of us spent the night in a freezing cold cell and actually has an excuse."

The man's eyes narrowed in irritation, but he soon turned his back to her and continued doing whatever type of busy work he had been assigned. It looked like he was… taking stock of something, perhaps?

Ellie realized she may have not gone about this the right way, particularly when considering that she needed to see Joel and actually confirm he was still alive in order to make a plan to escape.

"David told me I could go see my friend today," she said. "Are you here to take me to him?"

The man was silent. It took Ellie a good ten seconds to realize that he was ignoring her.

"Hello?" she raised her voice. "I know you can hear me, asshole."

He didn't respond, his back still turned to her.

Growing frustrated, Ellie raised herself from her position on the ground. Immediately she felt the sore spot in her back flare up, emitting a tiny whimper of pain from between her lips. She slowly made her way over to the door of the cell, banging on it in an attempt to catch Buddy-boy - or James's attention, as she had heard David call him so many times.

"Hey! David told me that I was seeing my friend today! Is that true or not?"

The man looked back at her with a grimace, teeth bared like he about to growl at her. "I don't give a fuck what David tells you. I only give a fuck about what David tells me. 'Kay?"

"Then go fucking ask him! And he'll tell you you're supposed to take me to see my friend," Ellie barked back.

James narrowed his eyes. "You think just because you're David's new little toy that you can tell me what to do?"

Ellie's nostrils flared in anger, her palms gripping the bars so tightly her fingers paled. "I'm not - ''

"Listen up, you stupid fuckin' kid - you don't have any power around here. Things will be better for you if you learn to shut your mouth sooner rather than later, and know where your place is. Which is at the very, very bottom of the totem pole. Beneath the fucking meat we chop up and the pots we piss in, and if you ever think you can give me orders again I swear I'll knock that grin right off your fucking face. Now, let me do my job, and don't bother me again." James huffed out, the exasperation evident in his voice and choice of words. His fists were bunched up at the side, as if he wanted to hit her but restrained himself. "If you don't act like a little punk while I work, I'll get David when I'm done."

Ellie wanted to respond with her own clever string of expletives, but she also wanted to see Joel again. And to see Joel, she needed to talk to David. To talk to David, she needed to be quiet while his lackey worked.

She lowered herself to the floor, drawing her knees to her chest as she watched James wander around the room, looking to be very invested in whatever boring activity he was doing. Unfortunately, it was the only source of entertainment she had.

...

After what seemed like only twenty or so minutes, James silently left the room.

Ellie's expression brightened considerably when she saw he was returning with David in tow. She made her way over to the door of the cell, ignoring the pricks of pain when she stood.

"Good mornin', Ellie," David greeted her as he neared the cell. "Heard you were giving James here a hard time."

She glared at the both of them before responding. "You said you'd take me to see my friend in the morning."

"And it's still morning. I kept my promise." David lowered himself to one knee, making him closer to her height. "I promised to protect you, too, didn't I?"

"Did you? I can't remember." Ellie could almost roll her eyes, but didn't want to break their eye contact. "Was that before or after you knocked me unconscious and forced me to stay in this shithole camp?"

David clucked his tongue. "You've got a mouth on today, hm? I hope you haven't already forgotten what I told you last night."

Some things are better kept to yourself. Especially if you want that sick friend of yours to live. Ellie frowned at the memory.

"We have a very simple system here. It's easy to follow, you see… behave, and you'll be rewarded. Disobey and you'll be punished. Sounds fair, right?" David didn't bother waiting for the girl to respond before he continued. "Now, I was planning on allowing you to see your friend today despite all of the bad behavior I saw yesterday… because you're still learning. But today, too? Really, Ellie?" the man shook his head, as if he were disappointed in her. "Part of me wants to leave you in here alone all day and never let you see your friend at all. That's certainly what James wants me to do. Isn't that right, James?"

James nodded, standing off to the side. It seemed that he didn't care to be a part of this discussion very much at all.

"But I'm a merciful man. I can't help it." David said, returning his gaze to Ellie. "So I'll still allow you out, just for a check-up... if you'd only give something in return."

"What is it?" she asked, an unwelcome feeling boiling inside her stomach.

David gave her a warm smile. "Just a kiss on the cheek. A little… gift, from you to me."

Ellie looked away, her facial expression that of complete uncertainty. She needed to see Joel, that much was obvious… but she didn't want to entertain David's perversions. At all. She could hardly stand to listen to him talk, let alone allow actual physical contact between them - he disgusted her.

"How do I know he's not dead already?" Ellie questioned,

"If we wanted him dead, we'd have just left him out in that house. Injuries or cold would've taken him." David easily answered her.

The sooner she could see Joel, the sooner she could come up with a plan to escape. Ellie took a deep breath, closing her eyes before uttering, "Okay, fine. I'll do it." You sick fuck, she wanted to add.

"That's a smart girl," David praised her, lining the side of his face up to spots in-between bars.

At least it's not as bad as a real kiss, Ellie tried to remind herself, her heart beating rapidly inside of her chest as she approached the man's musky scent. It's really gross, but you'll live. Just pretend it's Riley…

She puckered her lips and, as lightly as she could, pressed them to David's bearded cheek. Instantly she sprang backwards, wiping her lips off on her hands as a wave of shame swept over her.

"Thank you, Ellie," David spoke repulsively sincerely, as if he'd been marked by an angel.

Ellie merely scoffed in response.

David nodded to James. "Go in there and get her restraints on. Just the ones around the wrist, like last time."

Ellie's eyes were downcast as James entered the cell, tying her hands behind her back just as he'd been instructed. This is all for Joel, she had to keep reminding herself to stifle the urge to fight back. It'll all be okay. You guys can escape together. You just need to pay attention! You just need to make a plan…

She continued her internal chanting even as David and James both took an arm of hers and began guiding themselves out of the room. They were taking her a different route than she had journeyed through yesterday, she realized. Which did make sense considering Joel had been dragged to the complete opposite side of the camp than she had.

They ushered her through a short hallway, then turned round a corner into a room even colder than where she'd slept. It was a meat locker, by the looks of it, and hanging down from the ceiling were -

Ellie's legs stopped moving. Some strange little noise escaped from her mouth, one she could hardly even hear. A look of sheer horror contorted her features. Human bodies. Bloody, butchered, all of them grotesque, some even with faces still on them - hung all over the room.

These. People. Are. Fucking. Crazy.

Her body had paused, then accelerated. Ellie quickly shot both of her elbows back, one of the men emitting a groan of pain and she set off into a sprint, slipping out of the other one's grasp in doing so. She couldn't quite see while navigating through the dead people scattered all around the place. Couldn't really breathe either, not with all of her breaths coming out in the form of panicked little gasps, and she also had absolutely no clue where she was going. Thoughts were not forming coherently inside Ellie's head, only the intense feeling of terror striking her again and again in even more intense pangs. She just ran.

A large hand grabbed a fistful of her hair, yanking her down to the floor in which her skull was forcefully smashed into numerous times, all the way until she could feel trickles of blood swimming down her temple.

Ellie's vision blurred, but the pain in her head was constant, and only further extenuated by the fingers wound up way too tightly in her hair. She could feel the ground dragging against her clothes. She could feel individual hairs being pulled from her scalp by the ferocity of this person's grasp.

"You stupid fucking kid," a voice spat, dipping in and out of Ellie's eardrums, one she could just barely distinguish it as David's.

Stop it. Let me go. She wanted to plead, but knew it was useless. It was hard to even think, and would prove nearly impossible to speak. She tried wriggling out of the rope tied around her wrists to no avail.

David took a hold of her shoulders and easily tossed her into the cell. "You will not pull anything like that again, you hear me? Not unless you wanna end up like the folks you saw in there."

Ellie lay crumpled on the cold ground, feeling much less like a person and more like a broken blood vessel. She could feel the irony liquid spilling all over her face, matting her hair and staining her clothes. She felt dizzy and lightheaded, unable to even move herself into a sitting position.

"This could have gone a lot better, you know. You could have behaved yourself and seen your friend. But you had to go and fuck it all up!" the man pulled her up by the torso, leaning her up against the wall as he glared down at her limp form. "I hope this teaches you a lesson, I really do. You need to learn some manners, learn not to take the kindness of strangers for granted. Nod if you understand."

Ellie's breathing was still unsteady as she spoke, an overwhelming feeling of hatred burning a hole inside her brain as she locked eyes with David. "Fuck you."

His face twisted up, fury consuming him. His hand struck her hard, straight across the cheek - one, two, three times before she fell back down to the floor, struggling viciously to release her hands from their restraints up until the man landed a hard kick straight into her ribcage. Ellie cried out in pain, curling in on herself in an effort to shield her wounded body from any more attacks.

She flinched as she felt David's breath hot in her ear, one of his hands resting uncomfortably on the nape of her neck as he leaned over her. Goosebumps rose solely by his presence.

"You need to listen to me when I tell you this, Ellie…" David's voice was very low, vibrating against her ears almost like a growl. "You have no idea what I'm capable of."