Sorry for the delay on this chapter I tried uploading the file numerous times wasn't working for some reason so here it is finally. Enjoy

Chapter 6

Ellie's POV

Four days have passed without a trace of Jake and my worry kept on growing. My head was filled with thoughts of me never seeing him again. His absence also got me thinking about the lie they told me, it's really obvious it was a lie but the part that confuses me is why. Why did they lie to me? I thought about for a long time and I couldn't think of anything. School was a insanely boring and there honestly wasn't much to do outside of school beside reread my comics. I was then disturbed from my thoughts by a knock on my bedroom door.

"Ellie get up time for school," Joel said after knocking. I got out of bed wishing I didn't have to go to school today but it's the rules. I walked out of my room and an urge to go into Jake's room filled me so I walked inside and went over to his dresser and saw a faded picture on it. It was a family of some sort but when I looked closer I saw Jake in the picture with a smile going ear to ear. This was his family. Next to the photo was a pack of cigarettes and next to that a pile of books and a folder labelled "Mum's stuff" I opened it and it was filled with papers with these weird symbols on a set of four lines.

"Maybe this is Bengali," I pondered out loud I then kept looking in the folder and saw some papers with lyrics to various songs on them "Oh maybe those symbols are music notes," I thought aloud and went back to them and saw violin written on some and piano written on others "Those are names of instruments are they?" I thought and looked further through the folder and saw various sketches. One was of a young Jake next to a girl his age who I assumed to be his sister. I then found a drawing pad on the dresser with some really dark pictures, one was of a man being shot in the head and blood flying out."This is seems like something Jake would make," I thought. I didn't want to see what the rest looked like so I put everything back the way I found it and walked out of his room. "Jake's mum sounds so cool she knows another language and plays instrument and sings and stuff, I wish I could meet her," I thought. "Morning Joel," I said as I entered the kitchen.

"Mornin baby girl,"Joel replied "Sleep well?"

"Well enough," I said then sat at the table and Joel then put a plate in front of me and sat down next to me with a plate. Not caring what the food in front of me was I dug right in. "Have the search parties found any sign of Jake yet?"

"None I'm afraid," Joel replied mournfully "Tommy said that today is the last day he's sending anymore out."

"What why?"

"He's says he can't keep sending men out to look for one boy. That's why I'm going to help out as well."

"Let me come too."

"Woah there Ellie I'm not risking losing you too."

"Joel please I want to help find Jake, I can't imagine losing him as well," I begged and Joel was silent for a moment.

"I'll ask Tommy," Joel replied after what felt like forever.

"Thank you Joel," I said in relief.

"Finish your food and then we'll go ask him," Joel instructed and I continued eating my food "Did something happen during winter or on that cliff? You seem to care a lot more for him," Joel questioned and I looked down at my food.

"I think I have... feelings for him," I said softly because of how embarrassing it is, Joel said nothing and started eating. After breakfast me and Joel went down to the wall to see Tommy there waiting.

"Mornin Joel, Ellie. How come you're not in school?" Tommy asked when we got there.

"About that Tommy is it okay if she comes with me?" Joel asked.

"At her own risk brother."

"Thanks Tommy," Joel said and Tommy started walking towards some horses.

"We'll be going in groups to cover as much ground as possible, you two come with me," Tommy explained and we all then mounted our horses and rode out the gate.

A few hours passed and no sign of Jake, Tommy was saying we should quit but I wasn't about give up yet. I then saw some foot prints on the ground "Joel look," I said pointing at the prints and then Joel started following them with me and Tommy close behind. Eventually we found some bodies lying in the forest some shoot some stabbed others burnt.

"Looks like Jake's handiwork," Joel said.

"Jesus that boy did this," Tommy asked in shock.

"Probably," Joel replied simply and a knife then lodged itself in a tree, Joel then went up to it "This is one of his," Joel said as he pulled it out of the tree and went in the direction where it came from with me and Tommy following and we saw Jake sitting next to a tree with a sleeve rolled up and him holding a rag to his forearm.

"Took you guys long enough," Jake said as soon as we got there, I then noticed that his face was smeared in blood. Aside from the blood I noticed that tear troughs were starting to form under his eyes.

"You okay?" Joel asked.

"Living, that's what counts I guess."

"You kill all those people kid," Tommy asked.

"No fucking Santa Claus did," Jake replied and I couldn't help but laugh.

"At least his humour is still intact," I thought.

"What happened to your arm?"

"Just got nicked by a bullet."

"Not that, the scar," Tommy said and I then realised what he was talking about, Jake's infected bite was visible and Jake went as pale as a ghost. "It's an infected bite isn't it?" Tommy questioned but got no response from Jake. Tommy then pulled out a pistol and aimed it at Jake.

"Tommy," I said trying to get him to put the gun down.

"That eager to kill me huh?"

"It's nothing personal kid, can't have infected in the town."

"And if I told you it was four years old?"

"Quit bullshitting," Tommy said.

"Am I?" Jake asked Tommy with his usual neutral expression "No one that's infected fights to stay alive. This scar is four years old I got it from a runner on my way to Boston and I'm immune to the infection."

"I don't buy it," Tommy said.

"Tommy," Joel said calmly "He's telling the truth."

"How do you know?"

"I know him well enough he telling the truth. Plus we've got someone else that's immune here. And by looking at it that scar is pretty old," Joel explained.

"Fine but if he shows any signs the people in town will shoot him."

"Okay," Joel said and Jake got to his feet

"Also I found something that might be worth your time," Jake said and then lead us to where there were two men unconscious and tied around the mouth, arms and feet and then tied to a tree each "My guess is they're from a larger group and probably part of the one that attacked us a few days ago."

"You're thorough kid," Tommy complimented "Alright let's take these two back to town where they'll be interrogated."

"Told you it'd be worth it," Jake said then Joel and Tommy got the two men on their horses with much difficulty and since we only brought three horses me and Jake were sharing one.

The ride back to Jackson was silent none of us said a word to each other and the journey went smoothly, though we did have to go a little slower since we didn't want those two men falling of the horse. We then put the two men in a small building that was Jackson's prison I guess. When we first entered we were in a dimly light hallway with small cells to the left and one large room to the right. One of the men started waking up so they put the unconscious one in a cell and took the one that was awake into the room.

The room had one wooden chair in it a one light bulb for the entire room. Tommy then tied the man to the chair.

Jake's POV

"Are you from that settlement that keeps attacking ours?" Tommy questioned the bastard.

"I ain't telling you shit," the man spat at Tommy.

"I guess we have to do this the hard way," Tommy said.

"You two should go home," Joel said "go get some rest."

"I wanna stick around to see this," I responded wanting to see some entertainment.

"Joel it's fine I can handle it," Ellie responded.

"Alright," Joel said.

Tommy to, put it bluntly, was shit at torture he spent a good amount of time just beating the guy to try and get some info from and all the guy got was a bloody nose and some bruises, no wonder the guy didn't give in. "When I thought of torture this is not what imagined," I thought and then let out a sigh of boredom. I then nudge Joel to get his attention"Mind if I take a stab at it? pun intended," I said.

"Tommy," Joel said.

"What?" he asked in an agitated voice which is bad. A major rule of torture is you can't show frustration.

"This is going no where," Joel replied.

"You got a better idea."

"Yes actually," I responded.

"Be my guest kid," Tommy said then walked away from the chair.

"Finally," I thought and then cracked me knuckles and back.

"Ellie you should probably go," Joel said.

'I'll be fine," Ellie responded.

"I warned ya."

"Alright fucker you wanna do this the easy or the excruciatingly painful way?" I asked.

"Yeah right kid, like you have the guts to do it," the man replied.

"You'd be surprised," I smirked "So first question," I said as I drew my knife "Are you from that group that keeps attacking us?"

"Fuck you."

"Wrong answer," I said then cut off his left ear and caught it as it was falling. The man screamed in pain and just like always a smirk grew on my face "Going to cooperate now?" I asked in a smug voice "Now then are you from the group that keeps attacking Jackson?" I asked and he nodded. "Questions."

"How many people do you have in your group?" Tommy asked but the man was still in pain and couldn't answer.

"Sometime today," I said then brought by knife up.

"Around 70," the man said in pain.

"Who is your leader?"

"His name is Daniel."

"No doubt about it he's from their group," I thought that was what worried me, the guy wants me dead and I have a bad feeling to to anything to have it happen. Just by looking at him I can tell he just as if not more twisted than me.

"How far away is your base?"

"Around 20 miles north of here," the man responded and Tommy reached into his pocket and pulled out a map and a pencil and made the man hold the pencil in his mouth.

"Mark it," Tommy said and the man did and made a hole in the map and Tommy verified it with what he told us earlier. "What's security like there?" Tommy asked but the man wasn't answering so I stabbed him in the knee and he screamed.

"I'm waiting," I said with a smirk "I'm such a psycho," I thought.

"We got a fence with barbed wire at the top around most parts and men around 24/7."

"How do you sustain yourselves?"

"We live purely of off hunting," he replied weakly.

"Alright we're done here.".

"Come on let's go," Joel said.

"Mind if I torture him some more?" I asked.

"Why?" Tommy asked.

"Entertainment," I responded simply with a grin.

"No, now come on," Joel said.

"Agh, fine," I said.

"One more thing," Tommy said "keep this a secret between us I don't want commotion start about a settlement that is potentially a threat to us."

"Sure," Joel replied.

"Joel can you wait here for a minute, I need to talk to you."

"Sure," Joel said then looked at us "You two head on home, I won't be long," Joel said and with that we exited the building. I pulled out a box of cigarettes took it out and set fire to it with my lighter and started smoking it, and we started walking towards our house.

"Why the hell do you smoke that?" Ellie asked and I turned my head slightly to face her.

"One of my ways of getting by," I replied simply.

"What the hell does that mean?"

"If you can't take a hint you probably won't get it at all if I explained it to you," I replied. A boy around our age with sandy brown hair and blue eyes who wore a blue flannel shirt and some jeans walked up to us.

"Hey you're the new girl, Ellie right? How come you didn't come to school today?" The boy questioned.

"Oh that's because I was outside the wall, looking for this guy," she replied pointing at me.

"Oh hi, I'm Lucas. I didn't catch your name."

"Because I didn't throw it," I replied.

"Excuse me," Lucas said but I couldn't care and walked away. "Hey I'm talking to you," he called after me I said nothing "seems like someone woke up on the wrong side of the bed."

"Yeah a bed with your mum in it," I remarked with a smirk.

"Hey fuck you," he called out I then started using the hearing trick and he started walking towards me angrily"Hey dickhead," he said as he was about to punch me but i blocked it with my forearm.

"You've got guts," I said.

"I could say the same about you. Don't talk about my mum that way."

"Oh boo boo the brat is mad because I made fun of his mamma," I said in a mock voice and I could tell he was getting angry and if tried to punch me in the gut but I saw it coming and jumped backwards out of the way and went for a roundhouse kick but he blocked with his arms but was pushed to the side a bit. He then ran towards me to try and punch me but I grabbed his fist a blew a cloud of smoke into his face. Dazed from the smoke he started coughing and covered his mouth with his free hand. Seeing the opportunity I punched him in the gut and he fell to the ground and started clutching his stomach as he coughed. "You're pathetic," I said then walked away. I took a good couple of steps till I heard some one running towards me and it was the boy and he was getting ready to throw a punch at me so I moved to the side and as he passed me while leaning forward I pushed his back so he fell to the ground. "What a joke. You're not even worth the effort," I said taunting him he then tried to get up but I stepped on his back "You're weak. You wanna know why? You haven't experienced pain and you lack hate," I said.

"Stop," I heard someone say it was a little girl's I then looked in the direction it came from and saw a little girl of about 8 running me. She then moved my foot off of Lucas "Don't hurt my brother," she said to me.

"Well isn't this cute," I replied "Makes me wanna barf. Fine I won't hurt your brother," I said then walked away "That was fun," I thought to myself.