Chapter 21: Alliances

Decision Time: *Kill or leave Rylan behind? *Or take Rylan with us?

Decision Time: Go back to *St. Mary's Hospital in Salt Lake City or the *University of Eastern Colorado?

...

Joel had decided...

Rylan sighed again as he inquired from the old man. "What are you going to do Joel?"

The old man responded with a sigh as well as he raised his gun and pointed it at the boy. "You're a mess kid... don't you go telling me you can fix this when you know what's gonna happen."

"...!" Rylan gasped as he held his hands up in defense, albeit Ellie's switchblade still firmly in his right hand. "Are you really going to shoot me?! Why? All I'm asking for is time... time to make everything right with the-!"

"I'm going to the University of Eastern Colorado because of what ya said boy… I won't forget that." Joel affirmed. "I'll tell Ellie-!"

But Rylan interrupted him back. "NO! Joel, I'll tell her myself ...Let me try! ...Just please, don't shoot me! I... I'm not a fan of that option." He shook his head in denial. "I just want to fight, fight till the end for as long as I can for someone that's important to me."

"I don't believe ya." Joel retorted as he held his gun firmly.

"Then kill me, shoot me if that's what you really want..." Rylan shrugged off as if he was ready to accept his fate. "But I love that girl, and I know you do too. ...Please."

Thoughts and feelings were whirling around in both of their heads as one threatened to kill the other. Morning would come soon and the number of people that would be walking out of that cave would be... two. Joel grumbled as he tossed his pistol to Rylan which he caught.

"Be ready when this storm breaks, we'll be haulin' ass towards the University so keep up or I'm leaving you behind." The old man informed the brunette as he crouched back down and tended to the fire.

"Thank you Joel." Rylan let out a sigh of relief as he came down to his level. "And you don't have to worry about me keeping up."

"Fine, but the second you start turning... I'll make it quick." Joel pushed away some of the red embers that were smoldering in the fire. It was beginning to die out but fortunately for them so was the storm. "One more thing..."

"Yeah?"

He glared momentarily at Rylan's arm then made back up at his concerned expression. "You're walking in front of me, so I'm gonna push you, hard."

"I get it. Don't want me coming up from behind. ...Probably for the best." Rylan was obviously in the acceptance part of his grief process. "I'm ready though, I'm ready when you are Joel."

"Good." Joel nodded in response as he got up and stomped out the fire. "Because we're going right now, come on."

And as fate would have it, the environment outside their cave went silent. The wind stopped blowing, and even the snow stopped falling. This could be a journey where neither of them would survive, but this was their choice: to try and save her at least one last time...

"Aw shit..." Ellie rolled over off of her stomach which was aching like crazy and coughed. That was when she noticed that her hands and legs were bound once more and she was in the back seat of a truck with that guy named Lance.

Then she remembered what had happened, she was being taken, taken back to the Fireflies. Olivia had been sitting in the passenger seat, and Bill was driving. It was awful weather, the dead of night and it was still snowing where they were at. They were on the road but Bill was taking it slow, they couldn't afford flipping over on the icy highway and be killed in a fiery crash.

"You're awake." Lance noted as Olivia and Bill were having a conversation of their own up front. "You're going to be sore for a while. Those non-lethal bean bags can be painful, so you might be bruised a little."

Ellie groaned as she tried to adjust herself into the sitting position next to Lance as she tried again to collect the reality of the situation. "I hope you fuckers are happy..."

"Hey," Lance argued with her. "I never agreed to this, we were all forced by that asshole in the black trench coat."

"Forced my ass..." Ellie spat as an idea formed in her head to throw herself at Bill making them wreck and she could escape. But the thing was... Ellie had nothing, no supplies, no idea where she was at, and even her switchblade was misplaced. "You guys can still turn this truck around and take me back to Joel-!"

"Joel's dead." Olivia lied to snuff out her last hope.

"Go fuck yourself! That's total bullshit!" Ellie yelled at her, even kicked her seat with her bound legs.

"Hey!" Bill spun around in his seat and pointed his finger at her. "You shut up and sit down girl, before I make you!"

"I'd like to see you try!" Ellie challenged as Lance got in between them.

"Bill, just focus on driving I'll deal with her back here." Lance comforted. "Hard part's over, let's get back to the Fireflies without another casualty."

"Ay ay ay... the Commando is going to be pissed off about his man." Olivia piped up referring to Grant. "This girl is a lot more trouble than she's worth, so when we drop her off let's get the hell outta these mountains. The cold is killing me."

"We don't know if Grant is dead for sure, he could be right behind us for all we know. I never gave a shit about him anyway." Bill stated as he made a sharp turn on the road and saw a road sign along with a mile marker saying they were close to their destination. "Just make sure she behaves Lance, we're almost there."

"Sorry about the restraints, I can't loosen them." Lance shrugged as he looked on at Ellie's suffering.

He knew though that she was thinking about Joel and Rylan and what really became of them, are they alive right now? She knew Rylan was bitten and Joel... she didn't see him since yesterday, before Rylan came over to see her. Perhaps he's still with Tommy and Maria or maybe he's out there somewhere looking for her. Tears began to form in her eyes when she realized she was going to die unless she did something.

"You know instead of that boy who was with you..." Lance attempted to reach out to her. "Maybe think about all the people you're going to help with the vaccine and all that."

"What?" She turned her head to meet his kind eyes. "What did you say?"

"I said the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few. You're going to save a lot of people Ellie." Lance smiled at her noble sacrifice.

"I'm going to die." Emphasize on the word 'die'. Ellie continued to leer. "I don't want to die."

"I can tell." Lance consoled as best he could, it was obvious to Olivia and Bill he was trying to talk her into an impossible compliance scenario. "Ellie, do you want to talk about it?"

Ellie lowered her voice as to only Lance could hear her. "What do you think is going to happen when the vaccine is made?"

Lance got the message and lowered his tone as well. "I suppose they would make as many as they can and distribute them-!"

"They're going to use it to control everyone." Ellie hissed under her breath trying to convince him. "Your boss will gain all the power over all the people."

Lance shook his head at that. "He's not our boss, just-!"

"I need your help." Ellie pleaded.

Lance's eyes widened as he glanced at Bill and Olivia making sure they couldn't hear them, but it was good to see they were resuming a conversation of their own and distracted enough. So he turned his attention back to the redhead. "Me? No I'm sorry but I can't do anything along the lines of that."

"Please..." Ellie appealed to the humanity of Lance who still looked unsure about everything, so maybe she could exploit it. "I need to get back to Jackson; you guys can still do the right thing. You can do the right thing."

"I'm sorry Ellie, but it's too risky for us to-!" But he was interrupted by the desperate teen still in a hushed volume.

"All I need is a distraction, a diversion, wherever they put me I'll spring myself out; just get the guards to move away from me that's all."

"That's all?" Lance crossed his arms in dismay, even surprising himself that he was even considering this. "Easier said than done; Bill wants us to move out as soon as we drop you off-!"

"What's going on back there?" Bill thought he heard his name being whispered behind him, so he decided to check in with Lance and adjust the rear-view mirror so that it was aimed at Lance and he could see his reflection. "You two talking about me?"

"Uh... Bill, you need to quit being so paranoid you know?" Lance covered for the both of them. "We were just talking about the train you worked on. Ellie thought it was pretty cool."

"Yeah well." Bill moved the rear-view mirror again and pointed it at Ellie so he could see her reflection now. "We can finally agree on something."

Ellie remained quiet as to not incite a specific curse word directed at Bill. But to think he bought that obvious lie, maybe he was trying to make light of the situation like Lance did for a moment. Then it was Olivia who broke the silence. "La Universidad... we're here."

When Ellie watched as they were driving up the road where a banner that said UEC which was hung haphazardly on a brick wall. The brick barrier served as the outer perimeter and then they followed the same three letters in large golden embroidering in the wall as well as they turned into the college. Welcome to the University of Easter Colorado...

Men immediately surrounded their truck, Firefly guards shined into the truck's interior with their flashlight in their hands and the ends of their guns. Within the swarm of the welcome wagon, Ellie was scared... she was really scared, but she was brought out of some of that fear when Lance tapped her shoulder to get her attention. "I'll do what I can."

Ellie graciously smiled and nodded in gratitude as babbling of men from the Firefly soldiers ensued and the four of them were brought out of the truck to be escorted towards the Science Building...

"Oh my god... I'm freezing." Rylan shivered as he and Joel fairly paced themselves through the woods.

The two of them had already bypassed the sinkhole that Rylan was trapped in, and they continued on their way where he remembered seeing Ellie leave with Bill. It made sense to him because Joel mentioned that the road being in the same direction.

"Quit your whining, complaining about it ain't gonna make ya warmer." Joel made the fair point as he adjusted something and removed a can which was next to his flashlight and he put it inside his jacket instead. "Guess I don't need this..."

"Need what?" Rylan looked back to still find Joel was behind him. "Joel?"

"Nothin' to worry about." He reassured as he assumed his causal jogging motions and caught up to Rylan and pointed ahead of them. "Now if we're right... the road should be just beyond that tree line over there."

Indeed, a small meadow of white snow and a boarder of trees more than likely stood between them and Grant's truck. The tree cover looked as if it would be a perfect place to hide a vehicle, however because of the recent storm; any sign of footprints or tire tracks would be undetectable, save for their own. So the only way to be sure would be to go over and check it out. "Well, what are we waiting for? Let's go-!"

*WAARRGGHH!*

*WOOOAARGH!* *ROAR!*

Lumbering towards the only chatter in the nearby desolate Rocky Mountain Tundra, two of the largest Bloaters Joel and Rylan had seen in a long while came out of the trees behind them. Their fungal plates acting like armor as they clicked and roared at them.

"Shit... I hate these things!" Rylan exclaimed as he drew his pistol and raised it albeit he winced due to the injury from the bullet hole in his shoulder. "You got anything big to stop them?"

"Yeah I do, now shut your trap and just back away slowly maybe they haven't seen us yet." Joel shushed him as they both went backwards with their eyes glued on the two Bloaters seemingly closing in on them. "I got this."

Joel carefully put together one of his most powerful weapons in his arsenal: the flamethrower. All Infected had a weakness to fire, and this just might do the trick to save them.

*crack*

Rylan heard the small crack beneath his feet, but Joel let the sound go unnoticed as he stepped forward and aimed the weapon of fire at the first Bloater who was a lot closer than the other one. "Joel? Did you-?"

But the old man pulled the trigger and set ablaze the first giant Infected as it reeled and burned the fungus off its very being, quickly charring it and turning it into an ugly black mass of fungal chunks. "Bit busy here boy!"

*Crack* Crack*

Now that was definitely noticeable, Rylan's eyes widened when he realized just where they were at... "No! Joel move!"

*CRACK* *CRACK!*

With the combination of the heat from the flamethrower and the total weight between the flailing Bloater and Joel, the ground split open, revealing it to be ice. Unbeknownst to them a little while ago, Rylan and Joel stumbled upon a frozen lake, disguised under the fresh batch of snow that fell down from storm they took shelter from earlier. They were in the middle of it however and Joel and the first Bloater dropped into the white beneath them with two huge splashes. "JOEL!"

Rylan dove to the edge, careful not to fall in himself or cause anymore splits in the ice which was a few inches thick. The brunette could see a struggle underwater and ripples and bubbles float to the top as a result. Rylan reached out a hand as soon as he saw a familiar burly one jet out of the water and grasp him. " *gasp!* Shit! Kid, pull me up, pull me up!"

The first Bloater apparently sunk to the bottom of the lake, unable to swim or use any if its strength, it was safe to say Bloaters can't swim, and it drowned. But that didn't stop the second Bloater from coming at them as well, and also throwing one of its poisonous sacs at them.

Rylan ducked in time for the sac to explode in a cloud of golden dust a few feet behind them, but he had to think fast. Joel was slipping and the freezing water was numbing and dulling his senses. His feet were kicking but he was simply too damn heavy for Rylan to pull him his ass up. "Joel, lose some weight! Your backpack, weapons, something!" Rylan gritted his teeth as the second Bloater roared once more and pulled a piece of its own body off to throw at them again. "Now!"

Joel reluctantly complied as he shed his backpack, which held the bulk of his supplies, his gasmask, most of his weapons, and his precious flamethrower. They all sunk to the bottom of the lake, and Rylan was finally able to pull up the light enough Joel out of the water and back on the safe unbroken ice. The two of them didn't waste any time however as they both pulled out handguns and shot at the weaker ice beneath the second Bloater.

It gave out as their weapons clicked empty and the cracks in the solid surface of the lake gave way and the Bloater bellowed as it fell into the dark cold depths to join his friend... Joel and Rylan were panting heavily when they realized how bad that really could have gone. They both got up and now cautiously made their way across this second natural winter deathtrap, the first one being the sinkhole.

To their surprise, they made it to the other side without incident, yet the water had seeped into Joel's clothes, chilling him to his core and threatening him with hypothermia. He shivered uncontrollably as they made it to the tree line where they hoped the truck would be hidden. "Good to see you're not whining about the cold yet." They kept walking as the boy showed a look of concern, and he took off his jacket to offer it to the old man. "You're going to freeze to death... here."

"I'm fine." Joel declined as he did his best to keep warm on his own. "...But uh... thanks for, you know." He referred to his life being saved from a cold watery grave.

"Don't mention it." The boy got the message as he put his jacket back on and moved a pine branch out of their way for them. "Yes!"

There it was, cleverly camouflaged in arctic tundra colors was a truck with a cabin big enough for four people. The tailgate and bed of the truck had a cover to protect what looked like supplies for the trip to which it was used for. Joel then pulled the keys out from his soaked pants pocket and handed them to the boy and ordered him. "Unlock it, check to see if there're clothes in there."

"Got it." Rylan nodded as he ran forward to manually unlock the driver's door to which it did and it swung open. He quickly peered inside it and saw the simple interior of Grant's truck was bare and empty. "I'll check the back, hold on."

"Naw, take your time..." Joel's teeth began to chatter as he made his way to the truck's tires, inspecting all the wheel for a deflation. "I'm only freezing to death here..."

Rylan pulled out the tailgate and set it down so that he could climb in the bed and find some boxes packed with supplies, just as he expected. "I found something! I think you might like this."

"What is it boy? Show me." Joel was getting impatient now that he couldn't feel anything below his neck and it felt like to him every inch of his skin felt numb to the cold.

Rylan hopped out of the truck and showed Joel, complete with yellow sash, a full set of warm-looking clothes which so happened to be a Firefly uniform. "This gives me an idea..."

And Joel hoped to Christ the heater worked in this truck as well...

A/N- Now that Rylan has saved Joel's life, he has gained some of his respect. What does his plan entail for them in the next chapter? Will Ellie's alliance with Lance be helpful?

Well find out next time and await the next violent Chapter 22: Back to School...