I know I havent posted in a while i'm sorry but I have had a lot going on but I have got most of that squared away and hope to upload regularly again.
It was early morning fog had gripped the city in a dence embrace, rain ran off of rooftops into the streets below puddles forming in the middle of the street and the sound of fast moving footsteps could not be heard as Joel ran from alley to alley dodging patrols. A jeep rolled past headlights beaming across the road, suddenly a shadow was projected against a wall and the sound of screeching wheels could faintly be heard and then shouting before a sound reminiscent of thunder rang out and then nothing. As the jeep rolled away again Joel emerged from behind some bins and makes his way towards the smugglers tunnel. Joel mind began racing trying to process what was happening almost too much as if he was in a state of constant buffering he thought over and over what was Sarah thinking and is she okay.
Joel entered the underground basement pulling aside the cover hiding it and descending further into the bowels of the tunnel part way through Joel discovered that Sarah's bag and crossbow both missing, Joel's heart sank realising Sarah had made it this far and must have headed outside of the zone, Joel grabbed his gun and bow and charged as if in overdrive towards the exit.
Outside the zone it had hardly changed it was still the wasteland it was after the bombings, mounds of debris had collected as rivers flowed through spotlights above searching in a grid to ensure nothing was out of place. Joel edged out taking a few steps towards the still intact road before hearing a jeep up ahead; he dived behind what could barely be called a brick wall remaining silent.
The jeep rolled by its headlights illuminating each blade of rain as it fell and Joel emerged from cover heading to where he thought Sarah would be heading.
After moving through a few more houses two soldiers stood talking to one another Joel crept behind some bookshelves determined to get out of the building continuing his search.
"Hey you hear what happened back in the zone over the radio" one soldier said to the other
"Yeah something like Jake the hot headed twit shot someone in the street aren't we supposed to arrest them" the other replied back
"Officially yes but all he has to do is cry infected and he will get away with it" said the first soldier
By this point Joel was almost touching the door out of the house before a loud crash echoed out as Joel knocked a vase off the shelf. Immediately the soldiers raised their weapons flashlights beaming into the corners of the room where Joel had slumped down.
"You hear that" one of the soldiers said cautiously
The door burst open to the sound of screeching as an infected charged through looked at the soldiers and ran towards them quickly being felled by a hail of bullets.
"Bloody infected there everywhere" yelled one soldier
"Keep your voice down" snapped the other
"Were not working the outside next week I say we move on so we at least survive until then" the first soldier replied
As the soldiers left Joel breathed a sigh of relief but it did not last long as he lunged out the door heading off towards Derricks supposed drop off.
It was almost dawn now the hue of the sun crested the horizon casting long shadows from anything it hid using these long shadows Joel navigated past another patrol and an errant infected before finding himself in an old hardware store which was the only way to go due to the apartment block opposite having collapsed. Looking through the building not much could be scrounge up, in the middle of the store a man lay dead a deep bite in his left forearm and an infected barely a metre away with a wood axe embedded in its skull. Something looked suspicious the floor had collected dust which lay undisturbed by the infected but it had been pushed around a bit by the dead man as if recently disturbed. Looking around a bit further Joel saw couldn't see much an assortment of different sized metal plates some several sheets of leather, cans of paint and some DIY tools but something caught his eye above all else some shoe prints left in the dust too small to be an adults so Joel immediately followed them.
Looking down the road Joel could see a place called Terry's bookstore the place Joel remembered being on the letter he had not thoroughly read it didn't look good part of the upper wall had fallen in and it was a miracle the sign hadn't fallen off Joel could see he bolts holding the sign in from where he was.
Joel began to pick up the pace as he began to close in he heard what sounded like a struggle followed by a scream Joel was now in full stride he shot through the door of the store with such force the bell above it was torn off looking down on aisle Joel saw Sarah on the floor wrestling with an infected who had sunk its teeth into her arm, Joel charged and came in with a kick which connected with the infected sending it flying off Joel immediately followed up with repeated stamps to its face before turning to Sarah who was holding her arm.
"Oh shit you all right baby girl" Joel said as he began to sob obviously trying to hold it back
"Your arm Sarah what happened to your arm did you... did you get bit" Joel immediately followed up with
"I I don't think so" she replied as she rolled up her sleeve to reveal a crudely fashioned brace which showed no real sign of damage
"Oh thank god" said Joel as he immediately hugged Sarah
"Where did you get that brace from" Joel asked
"I saw a man a ways back with a nasty bite to his arm so I thought you know perhaps protect your arm it's what you're gonna use to block those things anyway" she replied
Joel smiled happy knowing that this idea had saved her life but the feeling soon sank down under anger.
"What the hell were you thinking coming out here you could have gotten yourself killed" snapped Joel
"You saw that letter it essentially said we were going to be cast out of the zone so I thought perhaps surviving out here for one day would save us from having to survive out here for the rest of our lives" Sarah immediately replied
"It was not your decision to make there would have been another way" Joel tried to reason
"We've come this far why not just grab whatever it is and go" Sarah retorted
Joel's jaw had almost fallen to the floor there was no arguing the point he knew she was right but desperately wanted to put the whole ordeal behind them.
"Fine but after this we are having one hell of a talk" Joel said
The two of them began looking around for whatever it could be they were meant to pick up and after several moment of searching Joel saw a cupboard on the second floor through the broken ceiling with a red X painted across it. Looking around the stair well had been destroyed.
"Sarah come over here I'll give you a boost" said Joel as he got ready
Sarah walked over and a moment later pulled herself up onto the floor above and opened the cupboard and pulled out 2 items throwing them down to Joel.
"Morphine what does he want with morphine" Joel mumbled to himself
"Is that what we came for" said Sarah as she jumped down
"I think so it's the only thing left intact in this place" Joel replied as he put it in his bag
Joel and Sarah left the store heading back in the direction they had come in with Joel wanting nothing more than to put this all behind them.