Chapter 4: Diggin' for Mold
A/N- Be thankful, I was on a roll today, and you guys get this quick update. Enjoy! :)
"My my, what nice little setup you have here Tommy boy." Devlin cackled as he sat in Tommy's chair in his office, while the actual owner of this place was being held at gunpoint by another Firefly.
"I wasn't lying. Joel and Ellie ain't here." Tommy reminded him. "We surrendered to you so that you would stop shooting at us."
"That was smart of you. Yes indeed..." Devlin commended. "...My men combed this entire town or yours in mere hours, and not a trace of them is to be found... which is very unfortunate for you."
"How the hell did you even get this many men all the way out here anyway?" Tommy inquired knowing this assault was very brash and over the top.
"Hehe... funny you should ask." Devlin explained. "A few of these 'soldiers' are actually some of your close neighbors. The bandits, gangs, anyone who could hold a gun and had a grudge against this place."
It was true. Jackson was not a stranger to these Bandit Gangs that tried to take over the town. Their last attack was when Joel and Ellie passed through on the way looking for that lab almost a year ago.
"And that Armored Carrier?"
"We 'picked it up' in a Quarantine Zone in Idaho Falls." Devlin must have been proud of that one. "Now that's enough questions from you. It's my turn now... where did your brother and the girl go?"
"Hell if I know." He spat.
"...I saw at least one of them escape on a motorcycle, does that surprise you?"
It actually did. "I'm jealous, haven't ridden one of those babies in a long while."
Devlin crossed his arms as he leaned back in the chair. "Tommy boy, do you even understand the gravity of this situation? Do you have any inkling...? Any iota of how important this is? This is bigger than me, bigger than you, bigger than anything that's happened in this foul world in a long... long time..."
Tommy retorted. "I understand where you're coming from Devlin... but it ain't your right to take that girl's chance away from living."
Devlin stood up, enraged. "NO! You do not understand! You need to realize... that sometimes doing the tiniest of evil could do a whole lot of good. Not one life is worth a million..."
Tommy growled. "You just keep telling yourself that while your men lay waste to anything in your way... How far are you willing to take this?"
"As far as I need it to... as far as it should be taken! For Marlene, for humanity, and for..." It was almost a whisper, but from a distant memory Tommy thought about it too, but decided not to press it in fear.
This will not be all for nothing... Devlin will not let it!
"...Well, what are you going to do now?" Tommy asked as he exhausted all of his argument.
Devlin remained stoic now. "We're going on a little trip Tommy boy, don't worry... your wife's coming with us..."
It was an oddly quiet day with no other contact from other people or Infected. It really dragged on as Rylan and Ellie continued their trek down the hiking trail. The cabin was on the other side of the mountain, and they just had to go around it.
They were walking side by side when Rylan asked in concern. "Hey Ellie, did your um... guardian, Joel make it out of Jackson?"
Was that even a question? But still... she worries for him but she was still a little angry at him. "Of course he did. I know he did, he always got us outta every jam when something came up."
Just get to the cabin, meet up with him, and we'll all be okay.
"Well, he sounds like a real good guy to have around. So we're meeting up with him?"
Ellie smirked. "Yeah. He can be a bit of a grouch sometimes, but you get used to him though."
Rylan mumbled. "Just hope when he finds us together, he doesn't get the wrong idea..."
Ellie certainly raised an eyebrow at that. "How old are you by the way?"
"I'm 16. You?"
"15 now. Umm... so... You think we should get to know each other?" Damn, how awkward can this be?
For some reason, Rylan frowned. "The thought crossed my mind... if you want to be my friend then it makes sense. What do you want to talk about?"
They were still walking as the hiking trail faded and they came up in a small knee-high grassy meadow with more trees outlining it, and beyond that the mountain they had to loop around.
"Who taught you how to hunt?" Descent enough question Ellie thought, something he knew well.
Rylan sighed and stared down at his feet, slowing his pace. "...My dad taught me."
Oh shit. Might have hit a nerve there. "...Were you by yourself back in Jackson?" She had to test the boundaries.
With a flare of emotion in his eyes he stopped which made Ellie stop. "Yes... I was, by myself in Jackson."
"Sorry." Ellie receded. "I never really knew my dad so..."
"Do we really need to talk about this?" Rylan asked with a tone of annoyance.
She shook her head. "No."
Rylan then walked ahead of Ellie at a near jogging pace. "Then let's just keep mo-!"
Suddenly the ground beneath Rylan's feet gave way and the grass and dirt collapsed into a sinkhole-like fashion and Rylan fell down into what looked like a cavern below!
"OW!" Man was he tired of falling today.
Ellie was flabbergasted as she stood on the edge of the large gaping hole in front of her and who was Rylan caught down in the middle of it. "Are you okay?! You scared the shit outta me!"
"I'm alright." Rylan warily responded as he got back up and dusted himself off. "I think."
"What the hell happened?" Ellie tried to reach him but he was too far down. Another ten feet and maybe she could grab his hand, maybe if she could find a stick? "Hold on! I'm gonna look for something to pull you back up!"
"That'd help! Thanks." Rylan called back as he examined his surroundings.
It was dark, real dark. But Rylan was able to make out the hole he was in and it seemed to go on and on, like a tunnel or something... wait a sec! "It looks like a mine shaft!"
"What?"
He was right! Whatever they were digging for down here, it certainly looked like what you would expect. There were some stray broken lanterns off to the side and to his surprise he landed on some tracks for a cart which would wheel out the spoils.
All we needed now was the seven dwarves...
"I can't find anything!" Ellie shouted.
"It's fine. We'll figure something out..." Then Rylan's heart then stopped.
Play The Last of Us OST- Infected.
*Click Click Click GROAAH?*
"Shit!" He whispered when his eyes fell on the tunnel in front of him. "Shit shit shit…"
Ellie felt helpless when she realized who was in Rylan's company. "Clickers..."
Old miners probably, the mangled fungal faces came into view as three Clickers wandered out of the nearby tunnel and looked around for the source of the sounds.
Rylan had to use their blindness to his advantage as he armed himself with his crossbow and gave Ellie a glare, putting his finger to his lips in a shushing motion.
He took aim at the nearest Clicker, he really needed some headshots.
SWOOSH!
His arrow embedded itself in the back of its head, killing it and the other two Clickers roared in rage as they heard their buddy fall dead.
Now they knew they weren't alone, and the fact that the collapsed ceiling did possibly give them a new host to infect.
But not today...
SWOOSH!
Rylan had pierced the chest of the second Clicker and it screamed in pain from the arrow but it wasn't dead... and it knew where the attack came from.
Dammit reload!
The Clicker must have sent a message to his last fellow buddy because both of them were lunging and lashing out towards Rylan!
He fired his next arrow and he killed the second one! But the last Clicker was inches away from him!
Rylan did the only thing he could think of as he swung his crossbow across and clubbed the creature, it staggered but it was still coming, even angrier than before!
But that was when Ellie jumped down and landed on the Clicker, her weight and switchblade being its end as she jammed the steel into its neck and the clicking stopped...
"Fuckers don't know when to quit..." Ellie wiped the blood soaked blade on her jeans and put it away.
"I had him." Rylan stated flatly as he motioned towards his hunting knife and slung his crossbow over his back. "Now how are we both getting out of here?"
"Oh, you're fucking welcome by the way." Ellie scoffed. "I did just save your life."
"I didn't need saving." Rylan grimaced. "And I don't need you endangering yourself for me."
"Look don't be a dick, this is the definition of working together, this is what we agreed on so don't say shit like that, alright?" Ellie made a very strong point and she could tell that this made Rylan feel bad.
He sighed. "...Alright. I'm sorry. Really I am. But this is a two-way street; you have to trust me to get the job done. And I promise to let you know when I need help. So let's just get rid of your seniority thing, just partners." And that was an equally important point.
Ellie let out a slight smile as she turned on her flashlight attached to her backpack, as did he. "Glad we understand each other."
Rylan returned the smile. "Good. ...The hole up there is too high to boost you back up, and I don't see any random ladders around here... so looks like we have to march through there."
He pointed at the black tunnel before them, their only possible exit and yeah, it looked like a walk in the park...
"We digging for gold?" Ellie joked.
"More like digging for mold." Rylan joked back which made the girl giggle.
"Good one."
"Watch my back."
Rylan had his crossbow at the ready while Ellie had her gun out and her switchblade in a sort of little girl commando position while they were descending deeper and deeper into the tunnel. They had not even walked for more than a minute when Rylan yelped at the haze of speckles that came into their view.
"Shit, spores!" Rylan had already put on his gas-mask when Ellie shined her light on him.
Oh man... what was she going to do?
"Rylan..."
"Ellie what are you doing?! Get your mask on!" Rylan barked.
"Um... I don't have one..." Ellie was contemplating how she was going to explain this.
"What do you mean you don't have one?" It didn't make any sense. "Everyone has one, every smart survivor."
Ellie backed away a little as she tensed up. "Yeah... I don't need one. I'm... immune."
"What? Ellie, we're done making jokes now me. I'm serious, get your mask on and-!"
"I'm really immune Rylan..." She pushed her sleeve back and revealed the bite on her arm. "I can breathe all the spores I want and nothing happens..."
How was he going to react?
"...You're infected?" His eyes went wide as she could see through the gas-mask.
"Yeah. Surprise..." Ellie tried to laugh it off just waiting for his response.
Would he think she's crazy? Would he kill her?
Either way the spores floated towards their personal space and Rylan watched as Ellie calmly breathed in the infected spore-filled air through her nostrils and breathed back out like nothing was wrong...
Rylan turned away from her and motioned her to follow him. "...Let's just keep moving."
Well she didn't expect that, maybe he would talk to her about it later? Probably. "Gotcha."
A few minutes later the tunnel came out into what looked like the foyer of mine shafts would represent because they could see daylight! Sweet sweet daylight!
"Can't believe there were only three Clickers down here... oh fuck me..." Rylan had peered around the last corner and quickly drew back.
"What is it?"
"There's a damn Bloater guarding the exit out there..." Rylan informed her. "We don't have shit to take it down neither..."
"We could try to lure it away?" Ellie suggested.
"Too risky. He's in a narrow corridor and we have no way to get around him."
"Well, this is just great..." Ellie leaned back on box which opened and unhinged from her weight. "Oh!"
"What's up?"
She dug through its contents and picked something out of it. "Well this work?" Ellie gave a mischievous smirk when she presented him with a stick of dynamite.
Rylan chuckled as he took the stick. "This'll definitely make a hell of a lot of noise, but we're low on options as it is. Grab a few more of those though, just in case."
"Aye aye." Ellie saluted as she put five more sticks of dynamite in her backpack. "You got matches or something?"
Rylan took out a Zippo lighter and was about to light the fuse. "Hope this doesn't blow up the entrance and... you know, trap us."
Ellie hoped for some good fortune. "Cross your fingers."
"I would use them to cover your ears."
The fuse was sparkling and it was quickly getting shorter and shorter as he tossed it around the corner and the stick rolled down right at the Bloater's mushroom-encrusted feet. The huge brute stupidly looked down at the object and then...
BOOM!
The explosion reverberated throughout the entire mine! Covering the ears was good advice as the noise nearly deafened the two kids!
When it was over, Rylan looked back around the corner to find the Bloater over there... and over there... and a little bit on the ceiling... "It worked! Damn that was lucky... and stupid."
"Come on, let's get the hell out of here!" Ellie was already ahead of him as they both made a beeline for the exit.
Soon, the sun wrapped both of them in warmth and comfort as they finally made it back outside. They must have been in there for longer than they thought because the sun was already setting in the West.
"Fresh air! We should find a spot to camp for the night." Rylan stretched his arms out while taking off his gas-mask, still barely believing he lit a stick of dynamite to blow up a Bloater.
Ellie pointed towards the mountain, she had a pretty decent idea of where they were now. "We actually made some distance, we're about halfway around."
"Look, you see that? Over there." Rylan pointed at what looked like a station about have a kilometer away. "Probably did the business side of the mine in that place right there."
"Let's check it out." Ellie agreed.
They both made their way towards the building in a few minutes; it looked like a two-story red bricked office place. The windows were boarded up and there was a message written in red spray paint on the only door.
It read: ONLY GOD CAN SAVE US.
"You religious?" Rylan inquired.
"Not really no." Ellie replied. "You?"
"Not since..." He trailed off. "Never mind. I'll cover you, open it up."
Rylan held the crossbow at the ready, and Ellie nervously placed her hand on the doorknob.
It was unlocked...
She opened the door fully and both of them were completely and utterly shocked at what was inside...
"Oh my god..."
A/N- Cliffhanger! Sort of a shorter chapter than usual, but I wanted to stop here.
What did Ellie and Rylan find in this building? How do you guys like them as a team? What is Devlin planning on next? And what could Devlin and Tommy be remembering?
Next chapter will campaign Joel, Brad, and Claire and will run parallel to what happened in this chapter.
Find out next time on The Last of Us II! Keep up the reviews, favs, and follows! :)