Chapter 18: Our Lucky Day
A/N- I'm sorry guys but I said I would give you a BIG chapter, but I just felt like this was a better place to stop, I hope you can forgive me and understand. I'll make the next chapter longer than this one, I promise! Enjoy :D
A wicked and powerful winter storm blanketed the Wyoming countryside with a few inches of snow about a week after Ellie and Joel got back from Pinewood Park and their unsuspected reunion with Bill. Since then they heard no word from any new visitors coming into Jackson.
But they all had another problem to deal with. The earth had turned into a smooth white highway, and now they can walk over places that in the summer would take hours of bushwhacking to negotiate. There are no mosquitoes, no black flies, no mud, and no smoke from forest fires or bandits. Not much good wood to be burned, but they were glad that they already stocked up. The only problem was the hunting...
Ellie had to protest. "Rylan, you don't need to go out there!"
The two teenagers were in the kitchen of Joel's house while he was out doing errands and talking to Tommy with a matter at hand: since Maria was getting real pregnant; Tommy's leadership duties were strained with his husband and newly found fatherly duties so Joel had to help him out a little more since they were family after all.
Rylan though had other things in mind. "Ellie... I want to! They need all the help they can get!"
"That's fucking bullshit! You don't need to shoot a bear to prove yourself!" Ellie responded vehemently.
"Prove myself... that's what you think this is about?" Rylan questioned as he stopped pacing to face his girlfriend. "Ellie... everyone in Jackson thinks I'm..." But he stopped himself and reiterated. "I just want to people here to think I'm valuable to the town."
What the hell...? Ellie forced her words down his throat. "You are NOT invaluable to this town! And I thought you didn't fucking care about who thought about you besides me. What the fuck's that about?" She crossed her arms' in dismay from the comment.
Rylan grabbed the redhead's hands and looked into her green eyes with his one good eye. "Ellie, I just want to-!"
"NO! You don't want to do shit! It's just fuckin' macho bullshit! Come on Rylan, you don't have to prove anything to m-!"
Rylan crashed his lips onto hers, silently apologizing for the sudden action, he returned to his calmer, gentler motions as their legs and arms began to intertwine with each other's bodies. Ellie must have yelped when she lost her balance, and she had her back land on top of the kitchen table, Rylan crawling on top of him. "Little different than your bed..."
"Rylan..." She moaned. "Stop...I'm still angry at you... and we eat here..."
The boy continued his relentless assault on her fine body, peppering her flawless skin with kisses as he made his way across her neck to which she was at his mercy. "You worry too much about me..."
"So do you..." Ellie managed to get out as she felt his familiar lips pinch her jawline and move down her neck and across her shoulder, removing her shirt as he made his way down, finding any exposed sensitive skin along the way to make her melt in his embrace. "You really have to stop..."
"You don't want me to..."
"I know but-! O-oh my god..." He really knew how to touch her. "Rylan, you're gonna get infected if we..." She trailed off as she became enamored in pleasure and her eyes began to get hazy with lust as he continued.
Then Rylan whispered to her. "You're worth it."
?!
That actually woke Ellie up from the ecstatic moment and brought her back to the real reality of this world and her condition. So against her true desires, Ellie used her legs to push and kick Rylan off of her and got off of the kitchen table. "I'm not worth dying over! Not for this."
Both of them were breathing heavily from the intimate exchange, but Rylan had a look of dissatisfaction on his face. "I can't help it Ellie... I just..."
"Just what?"
Rylan shrugged his shoulders as he confessed. "...I'm in love with the drop-dead gorgeous immune girl." He then approached her, intent for another round. "I want to make you feel special... well more special."
Ellie adjusted herself so that she would be presentable for Joel who could come home at a moment's notice, and she made her way around Rylan so that she would not be cornered by him. She made her way to the living room and plopped herself on the couch, leaving a confused Rylan to follow her there. "Anything else?" She asked him as she crossed her arms again.
Rylan scoffed as he confronted her on the couch while he stood in front of her. "You don't want me out there, you don't want me with you... what the hell am I supposed to do? Ellie!"
"Well excuse me for not wanting to see you dead or infected! I'm so fucking sorry that I want you alive and sane! And don't you fucking yell at me either or-!"
"Just shut up!" He blurted out to her, which shocked her to stop and listen. "Before you came along, I had no one else to care about, NO ONE! And you know that to get anything worthwhile you have to work for it and take a risk. There were more than a few occasions where I should have died..." And then he came out and said it as his hand ran over his eye patch. "... I took a risk and I got mutilated because of-!" Rylan stopped himself again, not daring to blame her for his halved vision. "...Do you understand where I'm coming from?"
The tension between them was palpable and the only sound they could pick up between them was their inhales and exhales. Ellie tried to remain calm as her eyes began to water and she realized the full depth of his exasperation and frustrations. "Rylan, I understand... but I've lost people too, and I'm sorry but I've also lost something a lot more important than an eye." Ellie reminded him as she showed him her bite mark on her forearm. "I didn't choose this... but you sure as shit choose me. And there's nothing you can say that'll make that a lie."
He sighed as he let his arms fall to his sides in defeat. "Ellie... Ellie I... I'm sorry, I didn't mean it..." Rylan was just tired of these circumstances; he wanted to be with this girl that he loved and he-!
"Stop with the bullshit! You did mean it!" Ellie stood up from the couch and was face-to-face with him. "Obviously I'm such a burden and the reason of all of your fucking woes, that it just makes sense to walk out that door right now! Right? Right!?"
Rylan's eye darted from her then to the front door. "You want me to leave?" Maybe it was for the best, so that things could cool down. This was their biggest fight yet. "Because I'll go."
She pushed him and he staggered back. "Then fucking go!"
Without another word, Rylan gave Ellie one last apologetic look and he silently made his way towards the front door. Ellie knew where he would be going and that would be the woods, to look for the goddamn bear. She hoped that wasn't his plan all along, but he was too sweet for that. As Ellie heard the door slam behind him she let it out and sobbed, emotions welling up inside and curses being spoken with malice and regret.
"Fuck it..."
And she immediately sprinted up the stairs to get her backpack...
Meanwhile back at the hydroelectric dam and within Tommy's office room, Joel and Tommy were discussing a serious matter concerning the safety of the hunters of Jackson.
Tommy tried his best to explain the situation again. "If you haven't been counting Joel, this animal has eaten three of our people already. I've only been able to salvage a few men to track and shoot it but we've had no luck so far."
"It don't make much sense little brother, I would have thought that the bears be hibernating right now, you've been living here for how many years?" Joel questioned as he raised an eyebrow at him. "Think he be taking his winter nap by now..."
Tommy's mind was somewhere else he could tell. Joel knew he was thinking about a very pregnant Maria resting in his house. "Not necessarily... sometimes when bears aren't ready to hibernate they stay awake and look for food." And then it clicked. "Oh shit..."
"What is it?" The elder brother crossed his arms in anticipation.
"It's us... we're starving the bears, we've been killing enough of the deer and taking a lot of the fish from the river. And now..."
"We're the only food source..." Joel realized it now. Jackson had grown tremendously over the last year, and now with more mouths to feed they needed more food, more meat, more of everything. And with winter rolling through the plants and berries aren't very plentiful either meaning the bears sought other means. The Infected probably didn't help them much neither. "...turned them into man-eaters."
"We need to put an end to this, right now." Tommy declared. "Joel, you're the toughest guy I know..."
"I think I know where this is going..." Joel sighed. "Alright... I'll take care of it, like I always do for us, remember?"
"Hell Joel, I'd do it myself if Maria wasn't expecting! But she put me on lockdown between her and the dam." Tommy tried to excuse himself, but he also felt a little offended at his older brother to bring up their past again.
"Relax Tommy, I got it." Joel easily picked up on the agitation and affirmed him with an apologetic nod. So he turned on his heels to get ready for a big game hunt of his own. "Call back your guys and leave it to me, we'll be having bear meat tonight."
"Hey, you know I wish I could come with you but..." Tommy's eyes cast downward as he said his next words. "Maria would kill me, and she got all her hormones raging at me... everything's my fault now, y'know?"
Joel chuckled at that. "It gets better, trust me." And then he felt a pang of icy sadness in his heart. "It really does."
"I know, I know." Tommy gave a quick smile for the old times but then quickly dismissed it. "You got a twelve gauge shotgun right, got enough ammo?"
"Yeah, why?"
"Well in case you somehow use all your shells..." Tommy reached behind his desk and tossed him a metal canister with big bold yellow letters labeled: BEAR MACE. "In case you get too close..."
"Thanks little brother, this'll do the trick but I don't plan on getting that close." Joel strapped the can next to his flashlight.
"You never know... good luck." Tommy nodded, assured that Joel will get the job done.
Rylan inspected the snow around him looking for footprints or any other signs of life in the glade of woods up against the mountain. He'd been looking around for hours, armed with his rifle, pistol, and combat knife all the while thinking about how he was going to take down a bear. "Don't suppose there's any dynamite out here huh..."
When Rylan was a child he had always loved the snow and the cold, but ever since the death of his parents and escaping David's camp, it only reminded him of the trauma. Maybe he could convince Joel and Ellie to vacation down south? Texas sounded warm, and perhaps Joel would agree to that.
But then something caught Rylan's attention when he saw all of this snow pressed down and footprints going off in all sort of directions. They looked human, but also very erratic. "Infected... shit!"
A twig snapped behind him and Rylan whirred around with his rifle raised, aiming directly at a tree. He was about to fire when he heard a fumbling of snow-crunching sounds behind on the other side, and he saw a glimpse of red before he heard her say. "RYLAN LOOK OUT!"
The brunette's instincts took over and he ducked down into a crouching position as he looked back and saw an arrow coming right at him!
*SWOOSH*
His hair felt the wind on that one, but the culprit missed and the arrow embedded itself on the tree a few feet behind Rylan. "Bandits?! Now?!"
Ellie shouted at him from behind that same tree. "Rylan, get over her!"
"Don't move asshole!" Wait a woman's voice? Rylan turned around to see a sexy-looking Latina girl in a black coat pointing an assault rifle at him! "Drop the gun!"
The brunette had to obey in fear of being shot again, because he was outgunned and outmatched when he saw two more guys join her: another guy with short black hair with an assault rifle and another familiar guy with... his crossbow!
"How ya doin' boy?" Grant smirked as he pointed his new crossbow at its old owner. "Nice dodge back there, I was sure I was gonna kabob your other eye socket."
Off in the distance behind them they could see Ellie about to shoot them when a bigger man with a machete came up from behind her and took the gun forcefully from her. "What the fuck!" And she was staring down the barrel of a double-barrel shotgun.
"Turn around and get on her knees!" Bill ordered the girl as he grabbed Ellie's hands and quickly bound them together with a zip tie. "Don't make this harder than it has to be!"
"Bill?! What the fuck are you doing?!" Ellie exclaimed as Bill picked her up and dragged her back to the others, throwing her down next to Rylan who had also been bound by a zip tie by Lance. "All of you?! You're working for the Fireflies too?!"
"What?!" Rylan looked around at their assailants, figuring out that Ellie knew them sometime from before. Then he turned his attention to the girl. "Why did you follow me Ellie?!"
"I couldn't let you go out there alone!" Ellie hissed back, cursing at how the two of them got caught.
"Well now..." Grant chuckled. "Thank you so much for your concern little lady; looks like this is our lucky day Bill, the best possible opportunity if you ask me."
Bill didn't meet with Grant's eyes as he stared down at their captives and then with Olivia and Lance. "Yeah... why do we need the other kid though? The boy?"
"Oh he's a bonus... we'll use him to keep the girl in line, RIGHT?!" Grant gave a hard kick into Rylan's stomach to which he yelped in pain and keeled over from the metal tipped boot.
"Leave him the fuck alone!" Ellie barked at the man meanly. "Just let him go!"
"And have the boy run away and tell everyone what happened to you? I don't think so..." Grant denied her as he gave another creepy grin at them. "Besides... Devlin never likes to leave his work half finished..." He pointed to his own right eye, referring to Rylan's inevitable blindness from the removal of his other eye!
"No... you can't!" Rylan protested. "You don't have to do this, any of you!" He appealed to them all. "You don't have to do this!"
"Please just let us go!" Ellie echoed his words. "Bill? Please! Don't listen to this motherfucker! What would Joel think?!"
Bill only avoided eye contact with her as he responded. "They said you're immune girl..."
Ellie began to argue, she didn't want to die when she had others to care about now. "But it's not a sure thing-!"
"But it IS a thing!" Bill's voice boomed down at her. "I'm tired of this! I've nearly lost my goddamn mind from all this shit! Over twenty years... now I'm sorry Ellie, but this is for a good cause, greater than anything I've ever done. And Joel... well shit happens."
"Shit happens?! That's all you have to say you fuckin fat-! AH!" Ellie was cut off by another kick from Grant in the stomach.
"Bill, take the boy and I'll hold onto the girl." He ordered as he picked up Ellie and Bill silently followed suit. "No squirming, y'hear? ...And you two!" He referred to Olivia and Lance. "Stay behind us and watch our back. We're heading back to the trucks. Let's move out!"
And that was it... the Firefly squad took their two prisoners towards the West where a mountain trail and a mile or so of rough terrain stood between them and the hidden vehicles. They had that much time to escape...
The sun however had been beating the side of the snowy mountain with warms rays of sunshine, slowly but surely loosening the new sheets of snow. And they were some certain whimpers and clicks going on at a higher altitude... With the six of them going along a mountain trail up against a steep cliff on their right side in a single file line: Grant and Ellie in front, then Rylan and Bill, and lastly Lance and Olivia. All the factors were in place above them as a Clicker tripped, fell, and started a chain reaction...
The slip in a slab of snow broke free and it began to slide down off the mountain below, but before then it began to entrant more and more snow and quickly a large volume of white incorporated a huge powder cloud to fall freely below and envelop its victims.
Bill looked up and saw it first. "AVALANCHE!" They had to move out of its way now!
It was a relatively narrow snow slide one that might be suggested as the distraction they needed. So Rylan wriggled out of Bill's grip and the group split as to how they would avoid the incoming snow. Rylan ran forward and pushed Ellie along with Grant down to the left and tumble down a small cliff in the chaos. Bill reeled back however and he and his team went to the right back the way they came.
The rumble and roar of the avalanche echoed across the area and all went white...
"Jesus Christ..." Joel turned his head towards the loud rumbling that came nearby and soon a whirlwind of white powder blew out like a breeze at the old man as the avalanche settled to a stop. "What in the hell caused that?"
It was dangerous out here... Joel didn't find Ellie when he went back home to stock up for his hunt so he assumed she was out with the boy. But somehow in depths of his heart he felt that something terrible had happened and he sprinted towards it.
"Ellie..."
A/N- Cliffhanger! Our lucky day doesn't seem so lucky after all for anyone. Who do you think will survive and who do you think will die? Prepare yourselves for tears in the next one! Until next time! :)