The sound of a nearby explosion jolted Joel out of his drugged stupor. He was groggy, but alert. His head still throbbed, but he was alive, and so was Ellie.

"Holy fuck! Did you hear that?"

"Ellie! You okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine. Face hurts, though. Can we kill that bastard Fitz please?"

"When we get loose, why the hell not? These chains won't budge, though."

"Shit… something big's been going down. An outbreak, I think."

That wasn't at all a good sign. If there was an outbreak in the interrogation rooms, Ellie was locked in a box and he was tied to a chair like a damn spit roast. They had to get out of this, and quickly.

A door swung open somewhere outside, and a guard shouted, only to be silenced by gunshots. Joel heard another man shouting shortly afterward, although he couldn't depict what he was saying. It sounded almost as if people in the other rooms were being let free.

"Do you hear that?" He asked, trying to turn his head far enough to see Ellie.

"The people, they're escaping. Someone's letting them out. They might come get us."

"No one's coming to get you, Joel."

He turned to see Krass, who'd been sitting on a desk the entire time, holding a shining machete in his right hand. He stood, and moved forward, revealing to Joel what'd happened to him while he'd been asleep. Krass was bleeding from a head wound, and had a tell-tale outline of teeth on his left arm from an infected bite. He was even paler than he had been when they'd first met.

"You caused this. You and your little bitch. She bit Fitz and he went fucking crazy and ate a whole bunch of people. By then it was too damn late. He got me."

Krass limped across the room, again pulled up the chair, and sat in front of Joel.

"Do you know what that means?" He asked with desperate sarcasm, "It means I'm going to fucking die. Krass Dubrovnik, beaten by some infected numbskull from America… but I don't have to die alone, oh no. I can take whoever I like with me."

"Krass, you don't have to do this."

"Oh, but I do. I don't know what the fuck is going on with the girl, and the fact that she's infected but doesn't show symptoms, or what, but I do know that she isn't any more resistant to a machete in the brain than you are."

The point of the metal lightly pressed into Joel's forehead, drawing blood out of his skin. The machete pulled back.

"You know what? A quick death is too good for you."

Joel gasped and Ellie screamed as the machete plunged into his stomach, once, and again. Dubrovnik was about to go for a third and final blow when the door burst open and an unidentified man tore him away from Joel. The machete went flying, and nearly hit Ellie in the cage. Krass was on the floor, grappling with the man lying on top of him, medical equipment and other objects being cast all over the room from their struggle. The man was in a much better state than Krass was, and he wasn't messing around. Krass foolishly let his defence slip, and the man stuck him in the face with huge force, once, and again, until the fight went out of his body. The man drew a gleaming 44. Magnum from his belt, and pointed the barrel in Krass' face.

"You." Krass managed.

The man responded.

"That's the last time you get the flank on me."

The gun fired, and it was all over.

Ellie watched through glassy eyes as the man climbed off the Russian's corpse and looked Joel over, kneeling in front of the chair. He was Caucasian, tall, and well-built, with a thick head of auburn hair and a ragged beard that'd obviously been developed in his captivity here. He sighed, ran his hand down Joel's face, and made for the door.

"Wait! Wait, please!"

The man turned, and stood stock still, looking in her direction. He walked swiftly over to the cage she was in, shot the lock off, and helped her out and onto her feet. Her entire body was aching, and she was scarred but what she'd just seen.

"Are you okay?" The man began, with an accent she'd never heard before. "God, how old are you? Fifteen? Were you with this guy?"

She looked over to Joel, still hanging limp in the chair, his blood pooling beneath him.

"Yes! Shit, we've gotta stop the bleeding! He's gotta get out of here, with us!"

"He's been badly injured; he's not going to-"

"Fuck you. He's going to make it! Now help me!"

The man was slightly taken aback by being talked to in such a way, she could see it in his expression, but he helped her either way. He checked Joel for a pulse, and then told her what needed to happen.

"Right, he's alive, just. I know someone who save him, but we've gotta him out of here as fast as possible. It's a damn long journey to where I live, but I managed to retrieve some of my stuff from when they captured me."

He drew a long, clear syringe from his backpack and showed it to her. It contained a small amount of viscous, orange liquid, which was completely unknown to her.

"What is it?"
"Stimulants. Adrenaline. I broke my leg a few weeks back. It's mostly healed, but this was to allow me to run on it in case I got in any shit. It increases heart rate and dulls pain, so it might just keep him alive until we can get him sorted out. First, though, we need to stop the bleeding. Do you know how to tie a tourniquet?"

"No."

"Right. Get his shirt off, and we'll-"

A thought quickly sprung into her mind. If the journey was as long as he'd alluded to, Joel's wounds would worsen. She glanced at the machete lying on the floor, and it confirmed her suspicions. The handle, and the part of the blade not covered in thick red blood was caked in a thin layer of dirt.

"Wait! The machete was dirty as fuck. We've gotta clean the wounds first, right? Right?"

"Look, this whole place is going to shit, there's bandits and runners everywhere, we've gotta-"

"Help me clean his goddamn wounds!"

She made the effort to look him in the eye.

"Please."

He gave in.

"Alright, we can afford a few minutes. Look around for anything we can use to clean his wounds. Medical alcohol, whiskey-"

"I've had hours to look around this room. There's nothing here but old syringes and white vinegar."

"Vinegar? That'll do, but it'll hurt him if he's awake."

"As long as he's alive, I don't care how much it hurts."

The man nodded politely and hacked the rusted chains off the chair with the machete. Gently, he lay Joel's body down and removed the green shirt that was now plastered to his skin with blood.

"Holy shit, that's bad. I don't know about this. I could do one wound, but two?"

"He'll be alright, he's had worse. Help him!"

"Right."

Ellie handed the man the bottle of vinegar, and he poured some on his hands, and then gently applied it to the lacerations on Joel's stomach. He squirmed slightly, and moaned as the man rubbed the vinegar into the slices in his torso. Without speaking, the man deftly removed the rest of Joel's shirt, wrapped it tightly around his body, and neatly tied the sleeves together so the garment compressed the wounds. Lastly, he raised Joel's right arm, and gave him the full shot of the stimulant. Ellie was relieved, and surprised at the man's efficiency. She gently pressed her hands to the side of Joel's neck, and felt a pulse, faint but steady. It was enough to comfort her temporarily.

"That's pretty impressive. I haven't seen one done that quickly or that well before."

"Yeah, well - I have a damn good teacher."

"The one at your home?"

"Yeah."

She turned to look him in the eye, and extended her hand.

"I'm Ellie."

He returned her look, smiled warmly, and took the handshake. Her hands were dwarfed inside his, but he was surprisingly gentle.

"Adam. Now how about we get the hell out of here?"

He drew his Magnum by the barrel, and offered her the hilt. She took it carefully, in awe of the beauty and weight of the weapon in her hands.

"Now, be careful." He said, lifting Joel up and slinging him easily over his shoulders. "That's gonna kick a hell of a lot more than any nine-millimetre. I've also only got the five shots in the gun. Use them well."

They moved over to the door, and Adam gently eased it open and stuck his head out. One of the rooms was on fire, and dull gunshots could be heard alongside the screams of dying bandits and infected.

"Right." Adam said, rather too optimistically. "Let's go. There's a garage not too far from here that had a few good vehicles. Hopefully the bastards haven't taken them all."

They moved out into the corridor, with Adam taking point and Ellie following closely behind. She looked around warily, expecting to see the dead; but the only ones who didn't make it were ones wearing grey uniforms with a red circle emblazoned on their chest. They walked swiftly along the corridor for what seemed like an age, but every single door had been opened, and everyone had gone.

"Where are all the people they kept here? I don't buy it that they'd just let them go."

"No," Adam replied, "They didn't let them go. But when the guards are dead, they can't argue. I'm just glad everyone got a chance to escape."

"Who killed them all?" She asked, suspecting she already knew the answer.

He turned his head.

"I did. I wriggled out of my chains and sat in the room, waiting for the right time. There was some infected breach or something, and my guards left. Idiots. I got the drop on them and finished all their mates in the halls."

He was puffing slightly, and she could see the slight limp in his step where he'd injured his leg. He continued.

"Good riddance, I say. I've been tailing these red ringed bastards for months. I was just about to finish the job when they-"

There was a loud bang that suddenly emanated from down the hall behind them, and a bullet sped past Adam's head, missing by a fraction. Ellie pushed him hard, throwing him around the corner and into another corridor.

"Taking a detour, I guess." Adam said jokingly.

"It's that fucking sniper, the one who got me with a dart!"

"Him? Oh, that must be Marcus. No wonder he can't hit shit."

"What do we do?"

Adam thought for a moment, but Ellie answered her own question.

"He was behind the fire, right? Maybe he didn't see me. After all, the bullet was for you. If you distract him, I'll-"

"Are you sure you want to?"

"Yes."

"Alright. Two seconds."

Adam moved close to the edge of the corner that looked around into the previous corridor. He quickly stuck his head around, and saw Marcus crouching at the other end, back by where he'd killed Krass. There was another bang, and the bullet flew past Adam and struck a metal door at the bottom of the corridor.

Adam moved around the corner, and stood up tall, directly in front of the sniper.

"Marcus! I know you're still sore about me shooting you in the leg, but we can be… reasonable about this. Talk about it, like grown men."

"Fuck you, Watcher! You killed Krass! I'm gonna end you, you bastard!"

Marcus pulled the trigger, but the rifle only made a dull clicking noise.

"What's that, Marcus? Out of ammo? I told you, you should pace your shots."

Marcus drew his knife and came charging down the hall towards Adam. He didn't even get ten feet before Ellie rounded the corner and fired. The shot tore through his neck, and he flew backwards to land dead on the floor.

"Damn. Nice shooting, Tex."

"Thanks. Now, where were those cars?"

"This way."

They ran quickly through the main door and out into the courtyard, where chaos was still ravaging the compound. Almost the entirety of the facility was now on fire, and the infected were taking down the few bandits still trying to hold the fort, unknowing of their leader's death. They quickly ran through panicking hunters and infected, with Ellie taking down another red-ring soldier and two runners with the Magnum. They arrived next to Adam's pick of vehicle, a modified flatbed with a mounted LMG, and Adam carefully stowed Joel in the backseats of the truck and Ellie took shotgun next to him. The clutch was horrible and the engine was dodgy, but with a little persistence and cursing from Adam, the car revved into life, and they ploughed through the main gate of the compound and into the night.

Ellie placed the Magnum gently on the dashboard, then turned around to look at the inferno that was once Krass Dubrovnik's outpost of death. The surging flames that'd been so chaotic and angry up close were now beautiful, like a warm hearth or a gently glowing candle.

She glanced down to Joel, and saw to her relief that he was breathing steadily. She took comfort in watching the steady rise and fall of his chest.

"You handled yourself incredibly back there, Ellie. I didn't think you'd be so brave."

"It was Joel." She replied. "He taught me what it means to be brave."

"He seems like a good man. I'm glad we stopped to save him."

"Yeah, me too."

Adam picked the Magnum up off of the dashboard with his left hand, and popped open the chamber.

"One shot left. Nice. You didn't miss a single one."

She didn't reply, instead leaning against the door of the car, trying to calm her nerves. Adam spoke again, briefly.

"There's another car - that is, my car – around 7 hours north of here. We'll stop there, switch vehicles, and give him another adrenaline shot. He's going to make it, Ellie."

"I know, Adam. Thank you."