Chapter 2 – WLF
Traveling long distance on foot was not an easy task. Especially if you're in a hurry to catch up to someone on a horse. Ben could only hope that Ellie and Dina took their time to get to Seattle because two of them were exhausted. They jogged as long and as far as they could, to cover greater distances, but it took its toll on them. Khan didn't suffer as they did, he simply followed quietly behind, not complaining about anything. Ben, on the other hand, had many things to complain about. He kept his mouth zipped, though. Complaints were the last thing they needed, for they were already in a sour mood because of the pace they traveled. A couple of weeks back when they first left the comfort of their homes, Khan managed to catch Ellie's scent. Ever since, they've been on her track.
The three companions didn't enjoy a peaceful voyage. Maria sent the hunters after them shortly after they left Jackson. They even found them the day after, yet the three of them managed to escape somehow, straying off their path. It didn't take them long to get back on track, and that's when they started encountering the infected. Idaho was especially plagued by them. Every little town they passed through almost cost them their heads. Runners, stalkers, clickers, all of them. They couldn't sleep peacefully, at least one of them had to do guard duty. They changed shifts every hour or two, depending on how long they were resting. Usually it was two shifts long. A cherry on the top was the rough terrain they had to cover.
Ben hated himself for forgetting his toothbrush, even though he double checked his supplies. He didn't brush his teeth for over four days until he found it in a pharmacy store they looted. His own breath was becoming foul to him, he almost cried of joy when he found it. Next, they found other survivors with whom they traded some spare meat they had from catching a deer – which they couldn't cook whole as it was very time consuming – for a few rounds of ammo. Not only that, they were lucky enough to come across the herd of wild horses, even managing to get two, one for each of them. It seemed as if their luck started reversing at last. With the horses, they could cover more terrain in a shorter amount of time, which brought them closer to Ellie, Dina, and hopefully, Tommy. Horses proved to be hard to ride initially, since the animals were unsaddled.
"Judgin' by this map, we are a day away from Seattle. We are in.. Preston, is it?" Ben asked while also explaining the map to Jesse, who was wiping the sweat from his forehead. The weather in Washington State was a polar opposite of the weather in Wyoming. Ever since leaving Wyoming, the weather started changing gradually. Terrain changed from white mountainous landscape to plain grasslands.
"No. We passed through Preson a few hours back, I think." replied Jesse, wiping the sweat off his forehead, leaning from his saddle towards the map. "We're closer than that. Somewhere around Isaa-Isaaq.. shit, Isaaquah? How do you even pronounce this?"
Ben didn't even try, folding the map to return it to the backpack where it belonged. While in Idaho, they discovered horse tracks which they've been following ever since. At first, they weren't sure that they were following the right tracks, they could only give it a guess and hope they're right. But there was only one pair of horse tracks that headed west. Those tracks led them to Washington State and almost all the way towards Seattle, which meant that they were almost certainly following the right pair of tracks. Jesse and him didn't talk much, but only because they were exhausted. Ben wasn't sure if they could've made it without the horses they found. They had a night or two when they allowed themselves to rest more than usual. During those nights, they exchanged some words, but not much. It was the pace with which they covered a long distance that was killing them. Ben only began to feel his feet again after two days on horseback, he definitely needed some good rest. They rode for a few hours until the sun was high in the sky, marking noon. In front of them, tall buildings stood, seen above the trees, touching the sky.
"That must be Seattle." Jesse noted, and Ben agreed. "Let's see if these tracks lead to the road."
He was right, tracks indeed led to the road. Companions happily followed the road until they reached a massive wall which blocked their path. A part of the highway through which they rode was filled with abandoned, rusting cars, dozens of them. The area in front of the massive walls was a military outpost, judging by the tents and corpses in uniforms. Corpses were old, turned into skeletons by time or something else.. In front of them, a mighty metal gate blocked the road that led to the inside. Across the giant metal gate there was written in white letters which said "Trespassers killed on sight". A certain WLF said everything that needed to be said.
"I guess FEDRA isn't the ruling body of Seattle anymore." Ben said, feeling disturbed because of what he'd seen. He heard from Jesse about that WLF, which was short for the Washington Liberation Front. Apparently they were a group based in Seattle. "The tracks stopped a while ago. They must've gone inside, there is nowhere else they could go."
"Yeah, but how are we going to get inside?" Jesse asked, scanning the area for any sign of a possible entrance. "You see that big gate?"
"I see it, I'm not blind."
Jesse examined the surroundings "Perhaps there's a way around?"
"Nah." Ben immediately replied, "It'll take us too long. There must be a direct way inside. Give me a sec."
He saw a ladder on one side of the wall that could probably get him over the wall, but he had to think about Khan and the horses. Animals couldn't climb the ladders.
"I think I can get over the wall to try and open it somehow from the inside." idea crossed Ben's mind, and he explained it to Jesse.
The latter agreed with him, "Let's try."
Approaching the ladder together, they noticed it was hanging too high above them. Getting off the horse, Jesse boosted Ben up, who managed to grab the ladder with his left, using all of his strength to pull himself up until he could put his feet on it. Taking a deep sigh, Ben resumed the climb. He found himself on the metal platforms along the wall which he traversed until he reached the top of it. His eyes examined the ruined metropolis as he stood on the top of the concrete wall that was damaged by the bombs in more than one place. It was just the way he imagined it, ruined and terrifying. Some of the tall buildings in the distance leaned upon one another. This city was bombed when it all began, when people still hoped they could stop the virus from spreading. How wrong they were, Ben thought sadly and began climbing down, using a ladder in one of the tall round towers to get down. Eventually, he found himself on a fenced street. He could only go forward through a passage surrounded by same concrete walls, although the ones on the inside were much shorter in comparison to the outside walls. There was a problem of the closed gate between Khan, Jesse on one side and Ben on the other side. He walked around to see what he could use, and entered a building which seemed to be a gate control room, judging by the wide keyboard and dozens of commands and buttons. A large red button was in the middle of the control panel, above which was written Main Gate.
Perhaps this would work, a thought crossed his mind and pushed the button, fixing his eyes on the gate. Nothing happened. Looking down, he saw a number pad, realizing that it probably required apassword. The numbers on it were covered in dust, except for a certain four numbers.
"Zero, one, two and five." he whispered to himself and typed the numbers on the numpad in that exact order. Small screen above it said "Password denied". "Okay.. how 'bout five, two zero and one? Nope? Okay, okay.. zero, five, one.. and two."
Password accepted.
"Hell yeah!" he exclaimed with a smile "The hackers of the old world would be proud of me."
Gate moved upwards, much to Ben's excitement, but something about it was off. It struggled to continue sliding up. Cracking of metal and gears implied that the motors of the gate were breaking apart, going over their limits. It was busted. Ben ran towards it, shouting for Jesse to get in before the gate closed shut completely.
After pushing his backpack through the gap between the gate and the road, Jesse, lying flat on the ground, crawled through the gap to the interior of the walls. Khan, smaller in size than both of them, easily passed through the gap. When Jesse got up on his feet, gate completely closed, slamming down on the road. If he were only a few seconds late, he would've been crushed by it or sealed on the other side.
"You good?" Ben asked him to which Jesse replied with a nod. "This was easier than I thought, someone must've passed through here recently." Ben explained and pointed towards the passage in the concrete wall, a low fence of barbed wire placed under it. That passage led further inside the city. That someone must be Ellie and Dina.
"Damn shame we left our horses behind." Jesse admitted, annoyance quite evident in his voice, "We need to be careful now. There are no more tracks we can follow, it will be one hell of a search."
Ben sighed deeply, thinking about their next move. "Perhaps we could follow the trail of corpses."
"What do you mean?"
"I don't imagine Ellie going around Seattle asking politely about the people who killed Joel. We can try to find the infected she kills or people she encounters, see if any of them are still alive, inquire about the info.. you know what I mean."
Jesse raised an eyebrow, "You aren't talking about torture, are you?"
Ben shook his head as an answer to the question. He has killed before, both human and infected, but he never enjoyed inflicting pain on others. He valued his humanity and preferred to keep it intact but that was not the kind of world they lived in, and Ben feared that he'll be forced to change, to be able to survive in this cruel Earth.
They quickly searched through the two structures, a control room and a small cabin on the other side of the road. This proved to be futile, so nothing stopped them from proceeding.
"It's going to be an awkward reunion." Ben said provoking Jesse's laugh. "Imagine you saved Dina's life from the infected and she still goes off at you, like at the party back in church."
Jesse didn't find it funny, "She isn't like that."
Hearing his reply, Ben wondered what Dina was really like. They were good friends, he had known her for years, but he never got the chance to truly meet her like he did Ellie, with whom he used to hang out almost all the time. He even considered her his best friend for a time being.
"Why'd you guys break up?"
Jesse sighed "That's a long story, man."
"I got all day."
The city around the, abandoned and silent, provoked an uneasy feeling in Ben. He was always on the lookout for a potential threat, even though he seemed relaxed on the outside.
"Dina's complicated. She's very demanding.. not in a bad way, don't take me wrong. She wanted me to be someone I was not, and I guess she cooled down eventually."
"But you didn't?"
Jesse's look gave it all away. He was good at playing it like he didn't care, but his eyes couldn't hide the truth. "I care about her, I won't lie. She's a very important person to me, even though we aren't getting back together."
Ben sympathized with his friend. Jesse obviously still loved her, and a reason he decided to go after her wasn't because he wanted to be with her again, but simply because he cared. It was actually quite similar with Ben.
"You wanna try win Ellie over after we finish everything?" Jesse mocked him.
Ben scoffed, "No, I don't think I will."
"You two were pretty chummy in the past. Why not?"
Who the hell says chummy today? "She likes girls, dude. Don't play it dumb."
"So, you do admit to liking her."
Ben blushed, realizing he fell in Jesse's trap.
"True, she's been with Cat, and she kissed Dina.." Jesse started, looking around the building sthat rose high around them, "She never said she didn't like boys, you know.."
This comment aroused Ben's curiosity. His friend was right in a way, Ellie never mentioned anything about not liking the boys. Suddenly, he felt hopeful.
"We're in a shitty position." Ben said after a while, "You love Dina, I like Ellie.. kinda." Finishing with that kinda a bit more silently. For the first time, he said it to Jesse out loud. Jesse himself seemed surprised after Ben told him.
"Here we go, chasing after two girls in relationship with each other. Does that make us look bad?" Jesse finished Ben's thought, his aiming arm brushing off against the pistol tucked in his belt.
"I don't think so, if we're the only ones that know."
They laughed at that, continuing through the overgrown street filled with corpses. Corpses of the infected. They immediately presumed that Ellie and Dina passed through here. A trail of corpses, Ben happily thought. The city progressively looked worse deeper they went down. But Ben was actually impressed by it. Jackson was a small community and the surrounding area comprised of small towns. Seattle was something entirely different. Wider streets allowed for more traffic, and buildings in the suburbs alone were taller and bigger than ones in Jackson. Ben couldn't help himself, he tried to imagine Seattle before the outbreak. Dark streets illuminated by streets lamps and car headlights. People walking in the streets without worry in the world.
Jesse smiled and joked around, but his posture was stiff, a trait that one doesn't earn by living in the safety of the walls. "What happened between Ellie and you?"
"What do you mean?"
Jesse rolled his eyes, "You two were inseparable before."
The question forced Ben to think about it. "I guess we simply grew apart. Puberty, perhaps?"
"Right, puberty." They didn't walk for long when Jesse asked again, out of the blue. "What will you say to Ellie after we find them?"
Will you stop with the questions about Ellie? Although he wasn't feeling comfortable talking about Ellie anymore, Ben took his time to think of what he should say. He wasn't expecting it. Finding Ellie was all he thought about, and he had no idea about what comes after. "I don't know.. I mean, I'll probably say something about Joel, and, um.. I don't know, man. I didn't think about it."
"Fair enough." Jesse responded, and they progressed deeper and deeper into the ruined city. Trio kept seeing the graffiti on the walls, WLF signs all around the buildings they walked past by.
"I didn't speak to her at all after Joel's funeral." Ben admitted, feeling guilt. She was there for you when Tom died, you idiot. "I guess I'll have to come up with something."
Ben felt light on his feet, a benefit of riding a horse. His whole body felt much better. The ruined city of Seattle was quiet and sinister. Ben didn't like it one bit, as he kept scanning the area with only his eyes, searching for any sign of a potential ambush. The infected weren't the only threat. While humans didn't give Jesse and Ben any trouble on their way to Seattle, they probably will in the city. Washington Liberation Front didn't seem to consist of the people who'd invite you over for a cup of tea. Caution, at all times, that's what Ben's learned from growing up outside of the quarantine zone.
Dark concrete streets were cracked in dozens of places, thin and long blades of grass having found their way through those cracks. Building which stretched along both sides of the streets were abandoned and ruined. They checked about a dozen of them, most of them were already looted. Majority of the buildings had boarded doors and windows that disallowed an entrance through the front door and other normal means. There were holes in the walls on the second and third floors, but it was too troublesome to climb that high, as well as time-consuming and dangerous. They didn't walk much longer until they reached an open steel gate, about hundred yards in front of them. Gate East 2 could be seen above the gate. Ben couldn't miss the yellow cable that stretched to the control panel from a small fenced concrete platform to Ben's left side. There was a generator on the top of it. FUCK FEDRA, was written on the wall.
"Wait a second." Ben said, going to the platform. Generator was turned off , but he could still smell the gasoline. He felt the warmth of the metal upon placing his palm on it, which was a clue reliable enough that someone passed through here recently and used this generator to open the gate. "I think they passed through that gate. If it's Ellie and Dina, we're close." he explained to Jesse who kept watch, holding a rifle in his arms at the ready. Ben could never tell if Khan was behind him or not. The wolf was dead silent and always a step behind Ben. It was actually quite creepy at times. Two of them returned to Jesse and continued through the East 2. A tall structure called Serevena Hotel was to their right, overlooking the street that went uphill. Walking past the dozen cars and a truck, the company of three made it to the top of the small hill, on a crossroad.
It seemed to be a good opportunity to pull out the map from Ben's backpack. One side was dedicated to the map of the whole Washington State, while the other side showed the city of Seattle in detail. Ben could pinpoint their location on the map, but other than that, he had no other leads except for the other opened gate in front of them. That assured him in a way that they were on the right track. Gate East 1 was open as well, and the generator on it even warmer on touch.
All of this instilled hope in him that they're going to find Ellie and Dina soon. He couldn't possibly be sure they're following the right people, but something deep inside told him that they were on the right track. Passing through a third overall gate, they followed the straight road further down. They still haven't encountered any infected – only their remains – in Seattle, which worried them. Perhaps they've been cleared out by the WLF or someone else, perhaps. At the end of the street, they could go either left or right, going forward was not an option. They opted for the right because the street on the left was blocked with the overgrowth. Ben wanted to pick up the pace, but they simply couldn't risk exposing themselves by going faster. The further one would wander into Seattle, the worse the streets looked, more damaged, more skeletons and more overgrown. Approaching another crossroad, Khan decided to run off in front of them, confusing Ben, who jogged after him. Following the wolf, Ben's nose caught a nasty scent of burned meat. As he made it to the crossroad, he encountered another thin log wrapped in the barbed wire. There was a corpse of a brown horse on the other side of the wire. A cloud of black smoke slowly rising was a leftover of what was obviously an explosion which mangled the poor animal. It was a trap for the infected… and for trespassers. Khan didn't waste his time and started feasting on the burnt flesh when Ben stepped over the fence still looking at the dead animal. Jesse followed right behind. While examining the body, he noticed the broken legs, and a hole in the skull. The animal was shot in the head. Out of mercy perhaps? The horse was saddled, yet there were no signs of its rider. Ben examined the rest of the corpse when he saw something that disturbed him.
"Jesse." he said to his friend who was kneeling next to him, "This is a horse from Jackson."
Jesse widened his eyes when he recognized a J stamp on the animal's thigh. He looked at Ben who, with a disturbed look in his eyes, finished, "This is Shimmer, Ellie's horse."
