Joel awoke on the soft ground where he was when he was knocked unconcious. It took a couple seconds then realized what had happened. He jumped to his feet and then realized all of their stuff was gone. Weapons, food, everything.
Goddamnit. I knew this was a bad idea, Joel thought to himself.
Joel remembered telling Ellie about hunters and how when they capture you, they most likely will forget to search your pockets. He frantically started to search his own pockets but found nothing.
He began to look on the ground until a silver glint caught his eye. He walked over and found Ellie's trusty pocketknife on the ground.
Guess they didn't check her, he thought to himself. I have to find her.
He walked toward the small river that was down the hill and near the clearing where he and Ellie had stayed. It took him about ten seconds to realize that a colossal building was towering over the river. Joel squinted and could see tall lights that surrounded the perimeter. To his right, he saw another small building that seemed to be leading into the large building. Shouting men's voices started to fill the air.
"Did you hear about our new shipment? They just caught this girl. She put up a hell of a fight. Heard Dylan's gonna take care of her," a man said as he was guarding the front doors with another man.
"Oh yeah, heard she was a nice slice," the other man responded.
Joel's blood started to heat up. He crept quietly on the outside of the perimeter.
"Yeah well after Dylan's had his fun then he'll probably just give us the leftovers. Selfish bastard."
Goddamnit. How the hell do I distract these guys? There's no cover, Joel thought.
As he got closer, he could see that there were two dimmed lights that lit up the doors to the entrance. Lucky for Joel, it was completely dark unless you were under the direct fluorescent lighting.
Joel looked down at the river and picked up a small rock. He threw it to the right where the forest was located.
"Hey did you hear something?" one of the men asked. The man walked in the direction where he heard the noise. Joel then threw another rock except a slightly bigger one. He kept luring the man into the shadow that the building casted on Joel that also kept him safe. The man didn't seem to have seen Joel pick up a big rock. Joel then jumped out of the shadow, took the man's head, slammed it against the wall, and smashed the large rock in one sudden movement onto the man's skull.
"Hey man, what's goin' on? Hello? Talk, man!" The other partner walked over to see where his buddy ran off to when Joel grabbed the man by the head, pushed him against the wall, and held the man up by the neck.
"So here's what's gonna happen," Joel growled in his deep, gruff voice. "You're gonna tell me where your men took that girl. I suggest you accommodate," he said as he pulled out Ellie's switchblade.
The man quivered and laughed nervously. "Ha. You fucking wish man."
Joel sunk the blade in the man's abdomen.
"You obviously didn't listen to me, so we're gonna go again. Where is the girl?"
"I ain't tellin' you shit, man."
Joel shook his head. He grabbed the man's neck harder. He then forced the blade into the man's eye socket.
"How about now, huh?" Joel threatened darkly.
The man opened his mouth to scream but Joel quickly shut it down by forcing his other hand that was holding the knife on the man's mouth.
"Now. Tell me."
The man let out a few agonizing whimpers. "Se-Se-Sector E. Dylan's keepin' her there to-t-to have some f-fun," the man spit out in small stutters.
Joel then let go of the man and let him fall to the ground. "Thank you. For your cooperation," Joel said darkly. He took the man's head and smashed his open mouth on Joel's knee causing teeth to fly in every direction. He snagged a pair of keys off of the guard's belt as well as a small pistol and ran to the front doors that led into the entrance. Joel walked into what apparently was a very small chamber that led into the main building. Joel shot the two uniforms that were inside the chamber and stole their guns. He opened the doors that headed to the main building. When he opened the doors, his eyes widened in shock and terror.