Chapter 26

The woman looked as astonished as she were, and she panted as she sit up and took a look around her.
"Fuck... fuck..." she whispered while finally noticing her backpack. She was out of her mind, for she thought she would be dead.

She didn't reach for the machete, but crawled the few steps back towards her backpack and picked up the bloody knife from the ground. As Joel had finally gotten up and grabbed his stuff, he came out of his hideout and revealed himself to the astonished woman twirling around with the knife.

The woman didn't see him right away. She tardily lifted her bag from the ground, feeling her body with her other hand in case she had gotten hurt. Her clothes were bloody, but luckily it wasn't hers. She had a sore cheek due the hit she had received just a moment earlier, but it was nothing. She was alive.

As the woman suddenly saw a character in the corner of her eye, she lifted the knife back up and took a step back. A gasp escaped from her lips, and though she didn't want to look scared, she did. After shaking off the recent thoughts about being alive, she decided to fight back once more. It didn't seem to be over just yet.

"Don't come any closer!" the woman shouted, since she thought she had just missed one of the hunters. Or her guardian angel had, whoever that was. During that moment she didn't even think about the possibility that this man could've shot the hunters for her. As she thought of it, she had no idea who had done that for her.

The woman pointed the pathetic knife at Joel, who furrowed his brows while still taking a couple steps closer. The knife was still dripping blood, and the woman tried to keep her gaze as fearless as she could. There were still several metres between them, but Joel decided to stop walking. He freed the last shot bullet from the rifle, popping it out as he started talking. He didn't load a new one.

"I ain't got a need to do so" he frowned, having a quick look at her. She didn't look hurt.
"You alright?" he asked with a calm voice, now holding his rifle with his right hand. Joel felt a bit odd for helping a stranger like that, but it didn't feel bad.

Since the woman didn't continue the conversation, Joel lifted the rifle back to his shoulder. He still had his revolver on his waist for emergencies. The woman seemed to be more than confused, also noticing that Joel didn't reload his rifle.

"You… you helped me?" she whispered, almost as she couldn't believe what she was hearing. She had noticed the rifle, and the fact that it was not pointed at her. She also knew that the pathetic blade she held in her hand would not be a good weapon against a guy with a rifle and a shotgun on his back. If this guy wanted something from her, she was basically unarmed.

"Well I uh, hope I did" Joel scoffed, taking another look at the bodies. Thankfully, there weren't any more of them, since in that case the task would've required a bit more planning.

Joel took a look at each of the guys, since he hadn't gotten a good look at them during the fight. For the woman still remained quite silent, Joel walked past her to one of the bodies, crouching next to it. He was the one who had sat on the woman, and seemed like the one in the lead. The lady did turn around to look at Joel as he scavenged, but she couldn't say anything more than before.
As Joel looked at the hunter's pockets, one of them wasn't empty. He pushed his hand into it, and found a rag and a key. He frowned his face, but felt like it could help them. He pushed them into his own pockets and got up, turning around.

The woman was still out of breath. She couldn't believe what he had just said, and that she had gotten out of that mess. She wasn't even able to come up with a complete sentence. A strange man had actually saved her life. A person she had never met before had used his bullets to save her. Or at least that's what she thought.

Joel looked at her for another while, and turned his head to look at the direction he had came from.
"Now I really have to go, I won't do this again. I hope not to see you around" Joel had to say, gathering back his former impoliteness, and he quite quickly turned around. He didn't feel a need to observe the woman, since he knew she wouldn't be a threat to them.

Suddenly, the woman felt an urgent need to create a sentence. Her eyes widened again once she saw that Joel was leaving, and she knew she had to say something.
"Man!" she shouted, making odd motions with her hands. Was that really all she could come up with?
Joel stopped, and he slowly turned around. The woman had taken a step towards him and lowered the knife. The blood on it had now frozen stuck to it's blade.
"Yeah?" Joel asked, emotionless.

He had walked a few metres further away from her, and only now he got a better look at her. She was beautiful, and somehow reminded him of Tess. She seemed feisty and despite the fact that she was blonde, they had some same features. She seemed quite strong, too. Now that Joel thought of it, that must have been why she was still alive.

"I know you already saved my ass, and all, but –" she started, and her eyes began to wander from his face. She was embarrassed she had to ask this, but she felt like she had no choice. What Joel seemed like to her was a rather positive picture of him, and she did feel like he could be safe to walk around with. She did notice Joel looking at her entirely, and she thought that might be a positive thing.

"I reckon you were travelling with someone?" Joel asked out loud, thinking whether he should have said that. The woman instantly awoke from her thoughts and frowned her face, getting an odd feeling about him. Was he a hunter after all?

"How'd you know that?" she asked quietly, lowering her voice and grabbing the knife more tightly. Joel looked at her hand and noticed that she had not let her guard down.

"Now, don't get upset. I heard you visit a cabin earlier today" he tried to calm her down, nodding his head at the direction of the fifth cabin.
"And I believe your son might have returned that way. I assume you came from this direction?"
The woman wasn't entirely sure about the Joel's motives, but he did seem to know what he was talking about.
"Yes, yes we did…" the woman swallowed, alternately looking at Joel and the path towards the lower number cabins. She hanged her hands towards the ground. They were covered with the blood of the hunters.

"I'll help you find your son" Joel promised, turning his head. He started walking at the pointed direction, quickly hearing that the steps followed him. Even though Joel had no idea whether her son would be in there, he wanted to make sure Ellie was alright. If the boy had entered cabin five, it could be a huge problem.

The trip started quite quietly, considering that it wouldn't be a long way until they would already reach the cabin five.
"May I, uh.. ask your name?" the woman inquired, taking a few quicker steps to reach him. She now noticed that her right hand was covered with blood and dropped the knife down since she did have her own in her backpack. She was now basically unarmed, for her only guns were in her bag. She observed Joel the whole time not to be surprised, but following him was all she could do right now.

Joel kept his eyes on the icy path as they walked, staying quiet despite the obvious question. He stayed silent long enough to make her understand the mistake she had made.
"Mine's Alice" she continued after a break far too long. Joel wasn't much of a smalltalker, and he wasn't too enthusiastic about sharing his business with all people he met.

"Joel" he introduced himself as briefly as possible, and they started to get closer to cabin five. Their trip was short, but Alice used the time to gather up her pistol and some bullets from her bag, pushing it then to the back pocket of her jeans. Joel did notice this, but it made good sense. Actually, he wondered why she hadn't done that a lot earlier. There could be infected or more hunters along the way, and they shouldn't be unarmed.

Not too far after Joel had left, Ellie was keeping herself awake by repeatedly squeezing the gun while pointing it at the door. After a moment of silence, she had dared to lower it a bit. She was hoping to hear a knock soon, but she was quite sure that Joel's appearance would only follow after a bunch of gunshots.

Ellie heard the first gunshot at the same time the front door was opened – without a knock. She lifted the pistol up and took the safety off while pointing it at the door.
"Fuck…" she whispered, and started to pant a bit. What if the person decided to come upstairs, and noticed she was covered with wounds? Whoever it was, they shouldn't notice she was practically disabled. She held the gun with her right hand while pulling a bedspread over her body to cover most of the wounds and blood.

"Shit.. there has to be a gun in here somewhere… " a familiar voice whispered downstairs. It was the boy.
Ellie furrowed her eyebrows while staring out of the door. Maybe the boy assumed that it was somebody's home. But why did he need a gun?

His steps were slow, but they had reached the lower end of the stairs. Not too long after stopping, Ellie clearly heard him climbing up. Of course knowing that it was the boy who had walked in somehow calmed Ellie. If it was a hunter, she'd know there was a whole pack of them.

Ellie once again checked that the gun was loaded and grabbed it with both of her hands, aiming it to meet the eye level.

After some seconds, Ellie saw the boy's character appear to the hallway.
"Hands up!" she shouted once she saw the boy standing at the door. He got scared and jumped backwards, holding a knife in his other hand. It was small and probably harmless, and he had lifted his hands up as soon as he heard her shout.

"Don't shoot!" he gasped, as his hands were shaking while being pointed with a gun. Ellie frowned her face. She did not expect to see an older teenage boy in the hallway, but that didn't change her reaction. She also noticed that the boy had gotten afraid before realizing who he was facing. After seeing that it was a teenage girl, he frowned his face a bit.

"Oh, it's just..." he already started laughing, lowering his hands a bit.
"Drop the knife" Ellie suddenly ordered, keeping the pistol pointed at his chest. The boy didn't seem too happy about her request, and held onto it. He stopped lowering his hands, but he didn't seem to take her too seriously.
"I…"
"Drop – the fucking – knife!" Ellie threatened, biting her teeth together afterwards. It reminded her of the time she had ordered David and his friend James to keep their guns down. This time she felt a bit more secure, since the boy seemed scared and there was only one of them.

"Alright!" the kid shouted while dropping the knife onto the floor. Ellie alternately gazed between the boy and his blade on the ground, and then nodded at the knife.
"Kick it over there" she ordered, stopping the shouting after getting the control over the situation. The kid frowned his face, quickly gazing at his knife.
"But why-"
"I said kick it! Obey the fucking orders or I'll shoot!"
"Jesus!" the boy shouted while suddenly kicking the knife with power. He kicked it down the stairs, the way Ellie had pointed to.

The boy was obviously a bit afraid, but he tried to be more macho than he actually was. Maybe it was the affect that an overpowering girl had on him. And he didn't want to seem like a total coward. At first he had thought that the gun was unloaded or something, but she didn't seem to be joking.

"Now, move over there" Ellie continued ordering, pointing the gun at him the whole time. She followed him with her eyes while he obeyed and walked to the corner, slowly sitting down and pulling his legs to his chest.

Ellie stared at him for a good while, and the situation seemed odd. Neither of them saw too many kids around, yet Ellie was acting like this. For weeks she had hoped to meet another kid after losing Sam. Now she had another teenager in the same room, and what did she do? She threatened him with her gun and all she had said to him were orders. Her trust had really taken some serious damage during the past week, and she couldn't help herself.
"If you make a fucking sound or try to move, I'll make you regret it"