Chapter 18

Just like he had promised, Andy took Ellie upstairs. The way up was clumsy and somehow dangerous, but he had a good grip on her as they walked up step by step.
"You're alright" Ellie suddenly spoke, frowning her face with a dizzy feeling in her head. Andy laughed, shaking his head.
"Even though you're such an asshole" she continued, accidentally kicking a step with her leg.
"Oh" she muttered, but even though she almost fell down again, Andy held her tightly while climbing up.
"Easy" he said quietly, grabbing her waist and arm even tighter. They were almost up when Ellie suddenly closed her eyes, and Andy almost had to carry her entirely the rest of the way.
"Ellie, please don't fall asleep" he sighed, frowning his face while glancing at her.
"I'm not sleeping!" she argued back, and Andy realized that she still had some energy left.
"Okay then, keep your eyes open"

Once they got up, Andy headed towards his own bedroom. Even though Ellie was quite wasted, she wasn't all blacked out. She slowly opened her eyes to see where they were going before opening her mouth.
"Hey.. why are we going to your room..?" she asked quietly, lifting her eyes to see the boy's face entirely. He looked forwards, still holding her quite tight. She was more tired than she was hazy, and she felt odd.
"I've got something for you there, we'll get that first" he said with a small smile on his lips, he looked down briefly, facing the girl quite close. She squinted her eyes, and started walking quite strongly with her own feet.
"What is it?" she asked, holding her eyes open entirely. She had her brows furrowed as she wasn't quite sure whether she wanted to see it or not. Andy rose his gaze again, even though he knew that Ellie was still looking at him. She kept following him, but she slowed down a bit once they reached the bedroom door. Andy stopped and turned to look at her.
"You'll really like it. I promise"

Joel was outside, holding a glass with still a few sips in it. He twirled the liquid inside the glass while looking at it, and then rose his gaze back up. It was pitch dark, but he was not afraid. Even though he had his shotgun on his shoulder, loaded and ready to go, he didn't feel the need to use it. His other guns were in their bedroom, since they would only weigh him down. After gazing to the darkness, ears wide open, he put his head down.
He was leaning to the porch fence, despite the fact that there were several chairs on the porch. He felt more secure while standing, and he knew they wouldn't have to travel for several days, and using his legs wasn't bad for him.
"Empty spaces, what are living for" Joel sighed with a correct melody. The same song popped to his head once again, and it seemed more clear than last time. He lifted the glass up to take another sip before continuing.
"Abandoned places, I guess we know the score,
on and on, does anybody know what we are looking for?"
His voice was low and powerful. His dream of becoming a singer was destroyed, but it didn't mean he couldn't still sing. Those dreams came back to him once in a while as he hoped he was holding a guitar in his hands.
"Another hero, another mindless crime..." This was the part where he had faded out before. It still didn't come back to him.

Ellie followed Andy, even though she didn't really feel like doing so. Andy walked her to an armchair in the far corner of the room, and she took the chance to sit down. She yawned while gazing her eyes down, and Andy walked to a drawer to find the thing he had talked about. As he crouched in front of it and opened the lowest drawer, he started going through it with a moderate speed and a clear hurry.
"What is it?" she repeated her earlier question, furrowing her brows lightly again. Andy didn't answer as he went trough the drawer, visibly slowing down after a while. Ellie swallowed something from her throat, and she felt hew palms sweating.
"You really are a special girl" he spoke, keeping his eyes in the drawer. Ellie's eyes widened a bit, her brows still furrowed. She turned her head a bit, and her muscles seemed to freeze.
"Why's that?" she asked, and the situation became really uncomfortable for her. She carefully observed his every move, still keeping most of her concentration in his face. He wasn't smiling.
"How can a little girl bust a grown man like that?" he whispered. As Ellie looked at his face, a weird grin grew on it. She didn't like it.
"What... what are you talking about?"
Then he snapped.
"What do you think?" he blurted while standing up, and Ellie finally saw what he had been looking for.

It wasn't a nice present. It wasn't what she had thought it would be, and it definitely wasn't what she had hoped for. Andy was holding a wooden baseball bat, holding it in the air like a batter on a streak. Her eyes widened as he got closer with it, and she knew she had nowhere to go. The window was on the opposite wall, and all that she had behind her was a wall.
"Jo.."
"Shut it!" Andy replied, swinging the bat towards the girl. She whined inaudibly putting her head down as her word was cut short. The bat didn't hit her, nor was it supposed to do so. He merely did it to scare her.
"Not a word or I'll really make it hurt" Andy threatened the girl, getting even closer. His eyes departed from Ellie for a brief moment as he looked on top of his bed. He saw the pile of rags he had spread out from his bag earlier, and he quickly grabbed a few with his right hand.
Ellie tried to come up with a plan in her head, but she wasn't able to do it. She was not with her full sense, and thinking seemed a bit hazy. She looked around her, but Andy was quick with his actions and approached her again.
"Turn"
"No" she dared to deny. Her voice was shaking, and the world was still turning once a while. The situation made her drowsiness disappear, but the drunken feeling was still there.

Andy wasn't pleased with how she replied, and kicked the footstool in front of the armchair to snap her back to reality. The stool flew a couple of feet and fell over. Ellie would've whined as the kick scared her, but she tried to keep herself silent not to get hurt.
"You think I'm fucking kidding? Turn the fuck around!" he rose his volume, even though he was quite aware that Joel was outside and the walls weren't that thick. Somehow he was sure that he wouldn't hear them.

Ellie seemed to realize that she didn't have any options. She was panting a bit, desperate and scared of what would happen. Since she didn't have much choice, she turned around, putting her hands behind her back. The boy quickly approached her and started tying up her hands.
"You were so nice back at the village" Ellie whispered, clearly showing him that she didn't want to gather Joel's attention and make him rescue her.

Andy was concentrated on finishing the knot, but once he was done, he paused for a bit.
"I didn't want the guys to get involved with this" he explained. He had made it, why would he lie to her once he had already accomplished what he had wanted to do all along?
"What 'this'?" Ellie questioned again, turning her head to see the boy. Her hands were tied tightly together, and she turned the rest of the way to face the boy again. Her legs met the floor as she looked him straight in the eyes.

Andy's eyes were full of hate, and she could see the flames behind them. He was still holding the baseball bat, but it was hanging towards the floor as he grabbed another piece of rag.
"You really think I would forgive the person who killed my father?" Andy answered quietly. His voice was full of hatred, and Ellie sensed it. Now even the bad memories from being David's hostage came back to her, and she knew she was in grave trouble.

Once Ellie didn't continue asking, Andy looked at her for a while before approaching her again. He put the bat to his armpit while he leaned forwards to gag her mouth with the rag.
Ellie had to do something. She was getting tied up limb by limb and her time was running out. Even though she had no idea how Andy would begin his revenge, she would not want to see it.
"You crazy fuck..!" Ellie suddenly grunted, biting her teeth together while loading all her power to a kick. It landed in between the boy's legs, who instantly winced from pain, closing his eyes.
"Oh, son of a...!" he grunted with a moderate volume, quite aware of the fact that he shouldn't make much noise. He put his right hand to the area her foot had landed while he opened his eyes.
Meanwhile Ellie had not achieved much. The gag was quite properly placed and didn't fall even though she tried spitting it out. She tried to fall to the floor to use her legs, but she had no time.
"You brat!" Andy spat while aiming his elbow to her head. It landed well.