Chapter 20

Instead of finding Ellie and Andy fooling around, Joel faced one of his greatest nightmares. One he could have never even thought about.

His eyes settled on Ellie, who was in a severe condition. She lied behind the boy, bloody and tied up, visibly unable to move. Even if she wasn't tied up, she probably couldn't walk on her own, as Joel noticed the wounds were probably stopping her. Ellie was holding her eyes closed, and it instantly woke Joel's concern.

"Ellie!" Joel shouted, turning his head the same time with Andy, who had noticed Joel's arrival. The boy didn't say anything, but the grin on his face quickly disappeared, as his plan had obviously gone wrong when Joel arrived. He nervously gazed for the nearest weapon, greatly regretting that he had thrown the pipe away.

"Motherfucker..!" Joel grunted, as he grabbed his shotgun from his shoulder. The first shock somehow froze him for a moment, and with loading and aiming it took enough time for Andy to grab the baseball bat from the bed. It all happened within seconds. As Joel was still in the middle of the progress of aiming, Andy swung the bat at the shotgun, making Joel drop it on the floor. His own balance was shaking, and he fell backwards on the floor. He saw where the shotgun landed, but he couldn't reach it.

"Fuck..." the older man grunted, as he crawled a few steps back towards the door. Andy grinned a bit again, realizing that Joel was now unarmed while he still had the bat. He sighed briefly, staring at the man while grabbing the bat with both of his hands.

"I was gonna save you. Too bad you happened to arrive at the worst time possible" the boy chuckled, turning the bat in his hands while talking. He had gathered his self-assurance quickly after seeing Joel drop on the floor without his shotgun. Joel bit his teeth together, looking at the boy more angrily than ever. The hatred within his heart had grown more greater than it had been during the whole time he had known him. After a while of silence, Andy started talking again.

"Say goodbye.."
But Joel was faster. After crawling backwards just a few feet, he felt the pipe under him, and grabbing it didn't require much time. He didn't know what he was sitting on, but anything would do. As Andy swung the bat behind him to gather the power for a hit, Joel was steadily holding the pipe with his right hand.

"The hell I won't!" Joel grunted, lifting the pipe while biting his teeth together. Andy's movement slowed down as he noticed he was in trouble.

He was too late. Joel easily hit the bat off the boy's hands with the bloody pipe he had picked up. Andy fell back from the hit and surprise, and lost his woody defence. The bat flew across the room, falling down a couple metres away after hitting the wall. Even though he clearly saw the bat drop near the bed, Andy didn't have any time to look for it, since Joel had already gotten up. Suddenly the tables had turned.
"Please, I can explain..." Andy swallowed, crawling backwards on the floor. He was soon stopped by the wall behind him, and he could no longer escape. His breathing became heavier, and a lump of something was stuck in his throat.
Joel stared at him with a deadly gaze. His grip on the pipe was strong and his mind was all made up. Just hearing the boy beg him to save his life made him angrier, word by word.
"I-I beg you, think about..."

But Joel didn't. It didn't take another second from him to think about his actions, and now he had swung the sharp edged pipe across the boy's face with all the power he had. Andy's neck made a loud cracking sound, and once he fell on the floor, he would never move again.

Joel stared at the boy's body as his neck started flooding blood onto the floor. He still squeezed the pipe in his hand, and he could not detach his eyes from Andy. So slowly he had gained trust in him, and so quickly it had vanished.

A quiet whine awoke him. He remembered how he had seen Ellie just a moment earlier, before concentrating on killing the boy. Once his eyes returned to Ellie, he felt the same shock he had faced earlier. The pipe instantly dropped off his hand, pinging while hitting the floor next to him.

Ellie didn't seem to notice his arrival. Her eyes were probably closed, but Joel couldn't be sure due the blood that had splashed to her face.

"Ellie" Joel whispered, instantly rushing to her. He fell to his knees, next to the bloody girl. His legs sunk into the blood that was covering the whole area around her, but it didn't seem to bother him.

Ellie was not moving, and Joel noticed this right away. He had to lean towards her face to make sure she was breathing, and it was hard to concentrate on it while panting himself. After not getting a clear blow on his cheek while trying to, he suddenly noticed the soaked rag in her mouth, and again rushed to get it open.
"Ellie!" he repeated while clumsily opening the knot. It was tied behind her head, and he looked at her face while working on it.

Once the gag fell off, Joel turned his head to feel her breathing against his cheek. It was heavy, but strong enough to convince him.
"Hang in there, baby girl" he said, swallowing while shaking his head. He quickly evaluated the situation, and started pushing his arms underneath her to grab her to his lap. Unfortunately he couldn't avoid touching so many bruises meanwhile, causing Ellie unavoidable pain. The fact that Ellie didn't make a sound while he did it, concerned him.

Joel didn't see it as he was climbing up from the floor, but Ellie almost invisibly opened one of her eyes as she heard him speak. She closed it within seconds, not having enough energy to hold it open. Ellie fell unconscious as Joel carried her out of the room, and yet there was something she knew: Andy was gone.

As soon as Joel arrived in their bedroom, he lied Ellie onto the mattress as carefully as he could.
"There..." Joel murmured while settling the girl down. Her blood instantly coloured the bedspread red, but it was the smallest one of their worries now.
Joel slowly pulled his arms from under the girl, turning his eyes to see her face. He furrowed his brows once he noticed she was reacting even less than before.
"Ellie, stay with me!" Joel shouted to the girl, instantly rushing to his backpack once he had gotten his hands from beneath her. She was not opening her eyes, but she was still breathing.

"Fuck!" Joel grunted, crouching next to his backpack. He went through it, throwing all unnecessary things aside from the way. Meanwhile he painted everything red with his bloody hands, he felt nauseous due the fact that most of it was Ellie's.

When he finally found what he needed, he got up and hurried back to the bed. He was panting and observing every little vital function the girl showed.
"Ellie, can you hear me?" he asked out loud while spreading the first aid supplies on top of the bed right next to her.

"Ellie?" he repeated once again, rising the volume and stopping while looking at her face. If she could, she should answer now. If she couldn't, he would know his attempts to save her were probably for nothing.

Joel stared at her face. She was still breathing, but he was not a nurse. He was definitely not sure whether she was passing out or passing away.
"Ellie, talk to me!" Joel shouted again. He bit his teeth together, feeling his eyes moisten due the incoming tears. His own breathing became more heavy as he stared at her face.

Then, slowly and weakly Ellie frowned her face. This was the first sign for Joel, whose eyes slightly brightened. The girl slowly seemed to open her eyes, covered in blood. She blinked tardily while aiming her eyes at Joel, who greeted them with great relief.
"Hngh.." Ellie mumbled without opening her mouth. She coughed once and winced from the pain while squeezing her eyes shut the same moment.

"Oh, thank God" Joel sighed, catching his breath again. He swallowed while nodding a couple of times.

"Good, just… just stay with me…" Joel told, mostly to himself while starting to prepare his supplies. He finally had the feeling he could detach his eyes from the girl for a moment, and he should hurry up wrapping her wounds. Joel now had a clear sign of her being alive, and all he could do was to clean her wounds and hope for the best.

Once he had set up his supplies, he turned to Ellie and approached the first wound in sight.
"Now, this'll hurt, but…"
"No!"

It was the first clear word that he had heard from the girl after finding her. Despite her denial, it was a good sign of her being able to recognize speech and even offer a clear answer.

Joel instantly turned his head at her face, stopping his hands where they were. He was holding a rag, soaked with disinfectant, and was just about to swipe across one of her biggest, deepest wounds with it. He held his arms in the air like a criminal, unwilling to cause her more pain.
"What…?" Joel asked, glancing at his own hands for a moment.
"Look, this'll be over soon, I really must... "
"No… ", she whispered again, still holding her eyes shut. She made a small movement with her arm but did not achieve anything. Joel saw another tear rolling down her cheek as he looked at her face, and he felt an uncomfortable turn inside his stomach.
"I can't… I can't t-take it..." Ellie cried again. Joel had to bite his teeth together not to drip a tear of his own. He could only imagine the pain.
"Oh, baby girl…" he whispered to himself, gently squeezing the rag in his right hand. He had to do it. He knew she had forbidden him, but he had no choice. Ellie had saved him once he was injured in the university, and he could not give up on her.

Joel gazed at his right hand once more, and then slowly lowered his hands.
"I'm sorry" he swallowed, disobeying her will. After a brief moment, he quickly landed his hand to the large wound on her thigh. As the disinfectant first touched her cut open flesh, Joel got an instant reply for his actions.