Chapter 16: Pinewood Park
Play The Last of Us OST You and Me extended.
"WHOA!"
"I told ya you would like it." Joel smirked at her excitement. "Most kids back in the day would think this place is paradise."
Down there in the distance in the middle of a green valley and next to a small river and a train line was a medium sized amusement park with a tall distinct white roller-coaster. And there were some other buildings surrounding the other rides. Joel and Ellie stood next to the sign that stood adjacent to them on the road they were on now.
'Exit 81
Pinewood Park and Family Fun Center,
Next Right'
"Holy shit! Joel!" Ellie nearly hopped off of Callus II from the sudden new view. "What is this place?"
Joel chuckled. "Exactly what it says there girl: our day off." He then tapped his boots into the horse's sides and led them forward down the hill and towards the park.
"How the hell are we gonna do stuff if the rides aren't working?" Ellie presented the valid question as to how they would both keep themselves occupied here. It was more than likely that this park had been turned off for more than twenty years now.
"Don't worry; I reckon we can scrounge up something..." Joel was confident that they would discover some sort of device to keep them happy. "...Still gotta be careful, alright?"
"Huh? What?" Ellie was still mesmerized by the height of the tall roller coaster like a small child.
"You hear me girl?" Joel pressed as Callus's hooves clipped and clopped on the paved road which led up easily to the front entrance to Pinewood Park and where three small green tickets booths resided along with a vine-ridden fence going around the place. "Come on Ellie."
"Yeah Joel, I hear ya." Ellie was still trying to take it all in. Her eyes and demeanor however fell slightly crestfallen at the age of the amusement park. "Are we going inside already?"
"Yup, that's what we're here for. Callus." Joel ordered the horse to jump over the waist-high rusted out bar which served as the barriers between the booths. The horse whinnied and the three of them safely made it past the gate and they had the whole park ahead of them.
"Joel Joel Joel Joel Joel Joel!" Ellie pointed wildly over to where they could see an arcade building a few yards away from them. "Can we please please please go there first?"
Kids...
"If that's what you what baby girl, let's see if any of them games are working." Joel nodded and steered Callus towards said arcade building. Ellie fist-pumped up into the air and whispered a fuck yeah, maybe this time she can play a real working video game.
They both arrived at the alcove of games which stood in the building exposed to the cement pathway which would lead to the other rides. But first thing's first. Ellie hopped off of the horse and rushed inside while Joel got off and tied Callus's reins to a nearby pole and followed her inside as well.
"Ellie? Ellie were you at?" Joel called out to her as he delved into the aisles of the different games.
"Over here!" The redhead called out from a corner of the deep alcove to which Joel was easily able to find her now. They were lucky that the sunlight angled right into the arcade alright, since they didn't need their flashlights or any other kind of light other than natural. "What's this game called?"
Ellie was referring to a machine that had a set of nine baseball-sized balls to use, made from smooth polished plastic. The machine has an inclined ramp of thirteen feet long, up which the player must apparently roll the balls. Then there was a sudden increase in incline at the end of the ramp which would launch the balls above the plane of the ramp toward a series of rings that direct the balls into holes of varying point values, the harder-to-reach holes were obviously giving the most points.
"Oh that's Skee ball." Joel quickly deduced as he scratched his beard fondly of the memory of Sarah playing on a game like this.
"There are still some balls here." She grabbed one of them and rolled it over in her hands. "Bet I can get 500 points with these."
"I'll take that bet." Joel smirked as he leaned against the wall to watch her bowl the balls across the ramp. "Go right ahead."
The electronics had been dead for far too long, so the two of them had to keep track of the points in their head. Ellie rolled her first ball and it clanked on the scoreboard only for it to fall into the gutter for a big fat zero. "...ah fuck."
Joel chuckled some more at her first attempt. "Got eight more balls for ya, 500's a long way to go. Raise the stakes?"
"Loser does all the house chores for a week." Ellie was ready for the challenge and was determined to prove Joel wrong. "Unless you're afraid."
"I ain't afraid." He merely shrugged his shoulders. "I do all the chores anyway, be a fresh change of pace to see you do them."
"Which is never gonna happen."
"Then go right ahead."
"Fine." Ellie grabbed the second ball and rolled it up the ramp. 75 points. "Fuck yeah!" She then took hold of the third ball and tossed it up the ramp and she got 50 points that time. "Alright alright, not bad." Then it was 50 points again, 25, 50 then surprisingly 100 points. "Nice!"
Joel did a fast calculation in his head. "That's 350, so you got two balls to get 150 points."
"I may hate math Joel, it doesn't mean I can't fuckin count." Ellie hissed back feeling the pressure on her now. "Just shut up." Ellie rolled her second to last ball to get another 100 points! "Yes!" She grabbed her last ball with a score of 450, so she needed a 50 or higher to win. "I got this, I fuckin' got this..."
"I'm sure you do Ellie." Joel watched in anticipation as Ellie reeled back her hand with the final plastic ball. "BOO!"
Ellie flinched and jumped as she let go of the final ball and it fumbled up the ramp and made it into the gutter at the bottom of the scoreboard leaving her total at 450 points. "Fuck you Joel, I had it! That's cheating!"
"Hey, I reckon you didn't say I couldn't distract ya." Joel revealed a rare mischievous smile to her. "Don't be a sore loser, just think about all the fun you're gonna have when we get back home."
"You mean all the damn torture you're going to put me through with cleaning the house? No fuckin' thank you." Ellie abandoned the Skee ball machine and went off to find another game. "Deal's off."
"A bet's a bet." Joel sighed contently as he shrugged his shoulders not really caring one way or another now. "I hope you can honor that."
"Whatever..." Ellie brushed him off as she found a very familiar game that was a blast from the past and her eyes went wide once more. "Joel come here!"
"What's up?" He came to her side to a game nearby which was labeled Angel Knives. "Oh boy, this is an old game, back when everything was normal. Ya can't play this game though since there's still no power here."
"I know I know, just close your eyes and take hold of the controls here." Ellie forced his eyes closed and moved his big burly hands on the console of the game. "This is how you move, your block, punch, kick, and... you know."
"I know? I never been much on video games." Joel responded to her as he kept his eyes closed.
"Okay okay, you are playing the unstoppable, claw wielding, yet drop dead gorgeous Angel Knives..." Ellie explained his character just as Riley had done for her so long ago.
Then Joel replied in a monotone as he opened his eyes. "No I ain't."
"What? But you-!"
"I ain't gonna be like that." Joel put his hands on his hips in affirmation. "We got a whole park to explore, let's keep moving alright?"
"Come on... you're no fun." The redhead muttered.
Joel led their way out of the arcade. "You know me."
Callus II, Ellie, and Joel traveled across the park finding the rides and most of anything non-operational. Pinewood Park seemed to be deserted at first glance, no signs of Infected as of yet, but looks can be deceiving. So they kept on their guards even past the tall useless powerless roller-coaster or the teacups or the swampy water rides. Where was a generator when they needed one?
But they never found one. So, boredom ensued and Callus II led them to the outskirts of the amusement park and they oddly found themselves near a huge six-car train after they hopped over another fence. They could only assume that the purpose of the train was to transport machine replacement parts and material for the park until it was abandoned.
"Wow, never been this close to a train before..." Ellie's eyes marveled at the size and length of the locomotive on the tracks.
Joel knew a little bit about trains, especially these big freighters back in his hardcore smuggling days. But this was not exactly the time to get into that. "Yeah... she's a beaut..."
The two of them got off of the horse and came up to the third red boxcar in line that had a sliding door on the side to enter. Ellie looked up the tracks and eyed the cabin of the engine car up front, having an idea form in her head. "Hey Joel, can we go up front and check it out? ...Maybe even blow the whistle?"
Joel scoffed at that, he could understand the curiously of the situation but this simply was not the time to... actually why the hell not? Half the point for their little vacation was exploring. So Joel regrouped with himself and nodded. "Sure baby girl, come on let's-!"
Play The Last of Us OST Head Rush
*hissssssssss* Steam erupted from the brakes of the train!
"What in the hell?" Joel and Ellie backed away as they saw the locomotive spring to life!
*WOOOOOOOOOOOH!* *WOOOOOOOH!* The loud train horn echoed across the park and perhaps for miles around to hear!
Callus II bucked, whinnied and ran off at the sound of the horn. Joel's exclamations were in vain as the horse was already out of sight. "Joel, look!" Ellie pointed to the train engine's cabin to which they could both see a silhouette of a person inside. "There's somebody in there! Why would he-?!"
"ELLIE!"
A pack of Stalkers suddenly came into their view, screaming and lashing about, they found new prey in this desolate amusement park. ...Not so amusing now, the train whistle brought the Infected right on top of them! With the train at their back, Joel and Ellie had pretty much nowhere to go as the Infected began to surround them on three sides. Even though they were both firing from their guns, they could only defeat a handful of the screeching fungal-infested people that were ambushing them.
"Joel, what do we do?!" Ellie panicked as she fired the last of her rounds into another Stalker.
Joel grunted and took it upon himself to slide open the boxcar and grabbed Ellie. "Get in! Hurry!" He tossed her inside as he heard a scream right behind him.
"WOOAARRGGH!"
Too close!
Joel had no choice but to slide the door shut to protect Ellie and he spun around and took the Stalker's head and smashed it into the metal of the train, obliterating the skull into mush. "Joel!" He could hear her protests and pounding from the inside of the boxcar but Joel was about to be smothered by more Infected.
"Shit!" Joel let his instincts take over as he dived under the train as the Infected began banging against the locomotive and where he used to be. Now the old survivor had his chance he could come out on the other side..."Goddammit!" More Infected were running up on the other side of the train as well, so now they were completely surrounded with Ellie inside the boxcar, and Joel right beneath her under the train. That is until Stalkers figured out his hiding spot and began clawing from him.
Joel had to crawl, crawl and crawl and crawl fast along the wooden and steel train tracks underneath. He kept going as the crazy Infected only grazed and missed their attempt to grab the moving target. Joel then left the shadow of the train above him and once again found himself in the sunlight coming out at the end next to the caboose. Joel's eyes widened as he noticed the ladder for him to climb and he did so wholeheartedly before the Stalkers could get too close again.
Joel caught his breath as he reached the top and temporary safety from the continual screams and bellows of the Infected below. Joel got back up and ran across the caboose and jumped across boxcars until he was sure he was on top of Ellie's boxcar. "Ellie! There's a hatch!" Joel made his way to the door separating them as he tried to pry it open...
*Click* The sound of a cocked gun could distinctively be heard over the yells of the Infected below. "Oh... why have you come here? Hands on your head... witness."
Joel had been bent over and left himself exposed to the man behind him. He went for his gun when *BANG* he saw a bullet embed itself in the metal right next to him! "Do not test my faith! Unless..."
Joel finally complied as he placed his hands on his head and he turned around to be met at gunpoint by... "Jesus..." The man holding Joel hostage had no describable features and he wore only rags and tatters of clothes...
His entire face had 2nd and 3rd degree burns...
The right side of his face was black and almost charcoal like and the rest of him was just red and bleeding like his skin was about to fall off... "Have you been delivered to me...? Has God delivered you to save me...?"
"What?" Joel was at loss for words with this Burned Man. "What are you talking about? Just put the gun down friend, and I can he-!"
"NO! As God is my witness, I haven't done anything wrong. I'm innocent!" The Burned Man kept his gun on Joel as passion began to glow feverishly in his eyes. "Angels and ministers of grace defend us..." He then looked on at the Infected still surrounding them below. "No... nooo... my flock... they can't be here... you brought them here!"
"I didn't do anything! You were the one who blew the damn whistle!" Joel accused cautiously. He had about enough of this freak. "Just put the gun down!"
"Demons... you shall regret confronting the emissary of the Lord! You shall know divine power!" The Burned Man bellowed as he continued his religious rant. "Defend us in our battle with the forces of Evil, protect us from the cunning and wiles of the Devil! May God Almighty manifest the power of His Empire! And may Divine Power cast the Devil and all the other spirits that prowl the world in search of souls into the darkest depths of Hell..." The Burned Man then lowered his gun and looked somberly at the Infected below once again. "...My people... my children... the Devil has done this! I am not at fault but I am to blame... Will God forgive me?"
Without another moment's hesitation, Joel pulled out his gun and fired twice into The Burned Man's chest, and he stumbled back and lost his footing. "AHHHH!"
The Burned Man landed in the pool of Infected and they had no mercy for him as they beat, ripped, and shredded of what was left of his being... His dying scream echoed across Pinewood Park...
"AHHHHHHH!"
A/N- And Joel and Ellie's vacation is cut short with this little unfortunate ambush. What is the mystery behind The Burned Man? Could he really be the culprit who brought the train to life and blew the whistle, bringing the Infected on top of them and trapping them? How will they both escape? Find out next time so stay tuned :)