"And the band played on" - Ball of Confusion - The Temptations, 1970
"So the state house is about a ten minute walk if you could go straight," Tess says.
"So-" Ellie says.
"Long way or short way?" Joel asks.
"I mean," Tess says. "It's the long way or the we're fucking dead way."
"Well, I vote the long way, just based on that limited amount of information," Ellie says.
"We have to check it from the hotel first," Joel says as he looks at the buildings around us.
"Okay," Tess nods and walks forward. The walk is silent at first. We make our way around the city and onto the highway easily. We walk between cars and over some of them when they block the path.
I pause when I see a stuffed giraffe under one of them.
"Where the fuck are they already?" Ellie's question pulls me away from the giraffe and I force myself forward.
"You'll know it when they're close," Tess says.
"I didn't know it last time."
"How did you get bit?" Tess asks. I zone out of their conversation as we continue to walk. Ellie told me about Riley after I woke her up from a nightmare. Ellie was constantly fighting sleep when I was around. She wouldn't sleep without me, she didn't feel safe with the Fireflies. And she also didn't want to sleep when it was just the two of us.
I stop walking when Tess turns around.
"How old are you?" She asks Ellie.
"Fourteen."
"Wow. Well, I mean, you've got some balls on you, sister." Ever since their conversation as soon as Ellie woke up, Tess has seemed to be somewhat respectful of Ellie. It's had me on edge ever since I realized it.
"Fuck me," I whisper under my breath. I hear Joel snort behind me. I turn around to look at him, my thumbs hooked under my backpack straps.
"If she turns out like your partner I'm going to kill you both."
And for the first time, I see the edge of Joel's lips twitch.
"Sure thing."
"Nobody's going to be coming after you, right?" Tess asks after we climb over a car. "Like mom, dad, boyfriend?"
"I'm an orphan, and, uh, no."
I snort. Ellie looks back and glares at me.
"What?" She asks.
"Nothing," I grin at her and she rolls her eyes.
"What about you?" Tess asks, looking at me.
"I'm an orphan, and, uh, no."
"And you say I'm a little shit," Ellie says as she kicks a pebble. I catch up to her and ruffle her hair.
"Takes one to know one."
"I hate you," Ellie says as she crosses her arms and walks forward. I shake my head and follow behind her.
"Not going to ground her?" Joel asks from behind me as Tess and Ellie talk about the infected in the city.
"You can joke?" I tease him and he rolls his eyes. I slow my pace to walk beside him instead of in front of him. "And no, I'm not. The universe is punishing me for how I acted when I was a teenager."
"And not for how you act now?"
"Very funny," I deadpan. He looks away and I grin. Got him.
But then there's a loud yell and we all stop. I look around, scanning the immediate area, but I don't see anyone. Or anything.
Infected don't make that kind of yell. People do. And that makes it all the more terrifying.
"What was that?" Ellie asks.
"Let's keep movin'," Joel says. Ellie looks back at me and I shake my head. I don't know what happened. All I know is that it was a person. And that's the last thing I want Ellie to worry about now.
Joel forces the sliding doors of the hotel open. It reminds me of working late nights in a grocery store before everything went to hell. I walk in behind Tess and gape at the size of the hotel. It's huge. I see a grand piano sticking out of the water across the room. Ducks swim in the water, I faintly hear frogs.
It reminds me of home.
But I've never been in a hotel this big before. Of course it wouldn't happen until now. It would take the end of the world for someone like me to end up in a place like this.
"You've gotta be kidding me!" Ellie says as we walk inside. "Ya ever stay in a place like this?"
"Uh no, a little out of our league," Tess says.
Ellie turns to look at me.
"Way too poor for a place like this. Best we got was motels," I tell her. She nods as she looks around.
"How do you even know what this is?" Joel asks.
"Have you heard of books?" Joel and Tess just look at her and I shake my head. Was I this bad with Marlene? It doesn't matter, really. If I was, she deserved it.
"Wait, are we going in there?" Ellie asks, she sounds anxious and I step closer to her as Joel and Tess start walking down the stairs into the murky water.
"Yeah, we gotta get to the stairwell on the other side," Tess says as she starts walking into the water.
"I-I don't know how to swim," Ellie says as she takes a step back. I put my hand on her back.
"Seriously?" Joel asks.
"What, do you think we have swimming pools in the QZ?"
"No, smart ass," Joel says as he purposefully jumps off the bottom step into the water.
"How was I supposed to know that?" Ellie asks as she turns back to me.
"You'll learn in time, kiddo," I say as I pat her shoulder. We walk down the stairs and I cringe at the feeling of walking through the water. It's cold. And thick. It's worse than the dirty lake that we would swim in growing up.
"This is so gross," Ellie says.
"That's the most you've sounded like a teenage girl since I met you," I tease her and she turns around to stick her tongue out at me.
"Oh, check it out!" Ellie says when she turns around she runs towards the front desk and rings the bell. She starts talking to the pretend employee before she grabs onto the luggage cart and starts pushing it through the water.
"You're a weird kid," Tess says.
"It's a right of passage for any kid on their first trip to a hotel," I say as I watch Ellie have fun.
"Oh fuck!" Ellie yells. I move closer to see a skeleton fall into the water in front of her as she falls back on the piano. Joel walks over quickly, moving the gun around his body in front of him. "Oh my god," Ellie says as she breathes heavily.
Joel does something before he reaches a hand out and pulls Ellie from the piano. He moves his fingers and then his hand. Opening and closing it.
"I told you not to overuse it," I say. He just looks at me before moving to follow Tess and Ellie. I roll my eyes at his back as I walk forward.
We wade our way through the water until we make it to the stairwell.
"You know, for this being such a big building, the stairwell is tiny."
Joel and Tess are silent, except for their heavy breathing, as we continue to walk up the stairs.
"That's because the type of people who would stay here would only take the elevator. Stairs were technically for emergencies or when the elevator may have been out of order," I say to Ellie.
"Oh," she says as she almost misses a step. I grab onto her arm to help steady her. Not only do I need to worry about infected and other people. Now I need to worry about Ellie's general clumsiness on top of my own.
Joel holds his hand up when we get to the landing at the top of the stairs. He peeks around the corner before he walks out into the hallway.
"Oh come on, it wasn't that bad," Ellie says as we make our way out of the stairwell.
"You try climbing ten fuckin' floors with our knees," Tess says and I snort. She turns back to glare at me and I hold my hands up. I follow Ellie as we walk through the halls of the hotel.
Joel and Tess walk in front of us as Ellie hangs back at me.
"Was it that bad?" She asks and I shrug.
"Not for me, but they're older than me. I'm not old enough for my AARP card, yet."
"Huh?" Ellie asks and I shake my head. She starts walking forward again before stopping at a door. She puts her hand on the doorknob as Tess and Joel continue to walk ahead of us.
"Don't even think about it," I say as I put my hand over her own.
"Oh come on, I've never seen inside a hotel room before!"
"The door won't open, kiddo. Look at the knob."
"What's that thingie?" She points to the card slot.
"It's where you'd put your key card to unlock the door," I say. "That's why there's the check-in desk downstairs."
"Huh," she says. I hear the other footsteps stop as Tess turns around and looks back at us.
"Go on," I nod towards Tess and Ellie sighs. But she turns and starts walking.
"What's a key card?" Ellie asks.
"A piece of plastic, it looked kinda like a blank credit card."
"How does that unlock a door?" She asks. Tess shrugs before she looks at the caved in exit in front of us. She and Joel talk to each other about getting over as Ellie looks at me.
"Well?"
"There's a magnetic strip on the card," I say as Joel helps Tess climb up onto the debris. "I told you not to overuse that hand!" I call out to Joel who doesn't even turn around. "Stupid men always think they're invincible to injuries."
Ellie snickers.
"Anyways, the lock on each door has a different magnetic strip, the lock reads the key card and if it's the right magnetic strip, the door opens."
"That's actually kind of cool," Ellie says as she slides down the wall to sit on the ground. Joel looks back at us for a moment before he sits down across from Ellie. I look between the two and sit down next to Ellie.
She starts flipping her knife around, using it just like a fidget toy. I close my eyes and lean my head back against the wall. We really are in hell. A kid is using a knife to help manage their ADHD. I'll have to look around for something else she can use. The last thing I want is for her to accidentally cut herself and get that kind of infection.
"Nice knife," Joel says. Breaking the silence in the hall. For once, Ellie doesn't say anything.
"Where'd you learn to do that?" Joel asks.
"The circus." Joel sighs.
There's a second of silence and then Ellie shifts next to me. I no longer hear her playing with her knife.
"Where are you from?" She asks.
"Texas," Joel says.
"What about Tess?"
"Detroit, It's in Michigan."
"I go to school, I know where Detroit is," Ellie says.
"Can't always trust FEDRA to actually teach," I say. I feel Ellie hit her shoulder against mine, but she doesn't argue with me.
"So you two like a-" Ellie starts.
"Pass," Joel cuts her off. I force myself to keep my mouth shut. That's the most obvious yes I've ever heard.
"How'd you end up in Boston?"
"Pass. No more questions about me," Joel says.
"How long do infected live?" Ellie asks after a moment of silence.
"Oh, I thought you went to school," Joel says.
"Can't always trust FEDRA to actually teach," Ellie says and I move my head forward slightly before hitting it back against the wall.
"Be careful there, doc. Don't want to give yourself a concussion." Joel says and I slowly open my eyes to look at him.
"Not a doctor," I say before I close my eyes again.
"Well?" Ellie says.
"Well," Joel says. "Some last about a month or two. But there's others been walkin' around 'bout twenty years."
"Ever kill one?"
"Yeah, I killed lots of 'em," Joel says.
There's more silence.
"What about you?" Ellie asks, her voice closer to my ear.
"Same," I say easily.
"Was it hard, like knowing they were people once?" Ellie asks.
"Sometimes," Joel says. I hear Ellie's clothes shift and I sigh as I open my eyes and turn my head towards her.
"It is hard, killing is never easy." Ellie's eyes widen as she looks up at me.
"Have you killed," she pauses. "Have you killed people before? Like people who weren't infected?"
"I have," I say gently. "Although I haven't since I got to the QZ, most of it happened before I met Marlene."
"But you met her when you were twenty," Ellie says.
"I did."
"So-so you were a teenager when you," she trails off and I nod.
"I was."
The silence that follows is awkward.
"Hey Joel," she says. She has that tilt to her voice again and I look from her to the man sitting across from us. He just looks at her and she takes that as a sign to continue.
"What's an AARP card?" He blinks.
And then there's a thumping noise behind me and Ellie. I grab her and pull her up and to the other side of the wall. My gun is out, pointed towards the door as Joel points his to it as well.
"Put the gun down, Joel," Tess calls from the other side of the room. He immediately puts it down to the side again. I keep mine up.
"Why do you still have yours out?" Ellie asks.
"She only told Joel to put his down," I shrug. Ellie snorts once, twice. And then all the tension from a few minutes before breaks as she falls into my side laughing. I shake my head at her as I slip my gun back into its holster.
Tess opens the door as far as she can. I can't see her face.
But I can see Joel's.
"What now?" He asks and I feel my shoulders slump. Tess doesn't say anything, instead she turns around back the way she came. Joel sighs as he walks through the door. I follow him, tugging Ellie with me.
We walk through an area that looks like it used to be a fancy balcony. There's chairs and tables throughout. Wine glasses remain on some of the tables. Tess hold open the plastic separating the inside from the outside.
Joel walks through first. Tess holds the plastic up for Ellie before she walks through. She drops it behind her.
I sigh as I push my way through the plastic and walk towards the railing of the balcony where the others stand. I look down and flinch. There's soft screeching noises coming from the infected that lay on the ground.
There's dozens of them.
"Fuck," I say under my breath. Joel nods silently beside me.
"There's so many of them," Ellie whispers on the other side of Joel.
"Last time we were here they were still deep inside the buildings," Tess says. "Then I guess enough people came through looking for the QZ, went inside seeking shelter," I zone out as she continues speaking.
I look around Joel to see Ellie looking from the infected below back up to Tess.
"Marlene chose the worst place to meet," I say quietly. Joel nods again.
"So we're not going that way," Ellie says as she jumps away from the railing.
"No," Tess says as she looks down at the infected.
The sounds they make below us still makes my skin crawl after all these years.
"What do we do, then?" Ellie asks. "Short way?"
"Museum," Joel finally speaks. Tess nods and starts walking back the way we came. Ellie looks at her back for a moment before she follows her. I go to follow her, but Joel stops me.
"You really think she's not infected?"
"I know she isn't. And you know you'd see the signs by now, too." He sighs and runs a hand through his hair. "There's no cure for this," I say as I look back down at the infected. "But it's Ellie's body. And it's her right to choose what to do with it."
"She's a kid."
"So I'll make sure she knows all of her options as soon as she trusts me." He shakes his head.
"You have no idea what you're getting into."
"I've been living with a fake name for sixteen years," I say as I look up at him. "I know what the Fireflies can and will do." Joel looks at me until he nods for us to go. The trip down the ten flights of stairs is silent.
When we walk out of the hotel, I can't help myself.
"On the road again," I say under my breath as I hop down from the sidewalk to the street. Tess turns back and glares at me. I just shrug my shoulders as Ellie looks back and forth between us. I look back to Joel who turns his face away.
The brief flash of amusement in his eyes is worth the glare from Tess.
"You've got to be fucking kidding me," Ellie says as we walk up to the museum. The outside is covered in fungus.
"Well," Tess says. "There's a way across from the top floor."
"Well then I guess it's fine," Ellie says as she looks down at the ground.
"We used to take it all the time," Tess says.
"Okay," Ellie says. It's clear she doesn't trust it. Just like I don't.
Joel leans down and runs a hand over the fungus. He hits it with the back of his stolen gun before he stands back up.
"It's bone dry, it could mean that they're all finally dead in there," he says and Tess nods.
"Could be," Ellie mutters. I rest my hand on her shoulder and hope it's comforting. Joel and Tess both lean down and pull their packs around. I pull my own around and grab my flashlight.
"Marlene pack you one of these?" Tess asks.
"Yeah," Ellie says as she pulls her bag around.
"More ground rules," she continues. "We go slow. You stay behind us. Got it?"
"Got it," Ellie says. I pull one of my guns from its holster and hold it in my free hand. Ellie looks down as Tess does the same thing.
"I have a spare hand," she says.
"Congratulations," Joel says before he starts to walk into the museum. Ellie turns back to me, but I shake my head.
"You're not getting a gun, kiddo." Her shoulders slump as she turns to follow Joel inside. Tess nods for me to go next and I follow. Even though the last place I want Tess is behind me. Her job is to get Ellie to the state house safely. Not me. And from the looks she's been giving me this whole time, she's not happy I'm here.
It's eerie walking through the museum. Furniture is toppled over. Fungus grows throughout the building. Walking through the dark with only the flashlights as our light is even worse.
"Yeah, cooked," Joel says as we turn a corner.
"Oh finally some fucking luck," Tess whispers.
"I guess we should'a come this way in the first place," Joel says. Tess ignores him.
"Oh shit," Ellie says. I immediately move closer to her and pull her away from the dead body in the corner. "What the fuck did that?"
"Maybe," Tess says. "Maybe he was attacked outside, crawled through the doors-"
"Or maybe he was attacked by whatever's in here?" I ask. Tess glares at me again before she turns back to Joel.
The three others have some back and forth while I just watch. Until Joel cuts Ellie and Tess off.
"Okay, from this point forward, we are silent," he whispers. Ellie goes to speak again but I tighten my grip on her. She looks up at me before she nods slowly. We continue moving through the building.
I cringe with every step. The wooden stairs creak under our weight. The fungus has probably deteriorated the wood over time. There's a loud crunching noise and I look down.
Ellie stepped on a skeleton's hand. The bones turn to dust under her foot.
This doesn't feel good.
I look up to see some dust fall from the ceiling.
This isn't good. At all.
It's even worse when the door creaks as Joel opens it. He looks around a second before he walks inside. I push Ellie through the door quickly, wanting out of the open area as soon as possible.
I'm able to take a quick look around the room. The only things that seem to be in it are Revolutionary War artifacts.
And then there's a loud crashing noise. I see Ellie hit the floor, Tess pushed her further into the room as she fell. Joel and I both reach out to help Ellie up. As soon as she's standing, I hear it.
A clicker screech. All the hairs on the back of my neck go up at the sound and I'm immediately right behind Ellie while Joel is in front of her. He points his gun towards the sound and looks over at Tess.
She motions for us to move back.
I slowly start walking backwards. I keep checking behind me as we move, making sure I don't run into any displays or other infected. That's when one walks into the room from the direction we heard the noises. I look at the clicker for a second before I move back again.
But then there's the sound of another one from another direction and I turn to look. I immediately pull Ellie closer to one of the displays. Tess and Joel press up against it as well.
"They can't see," Joel mouths to Ellie. "But they can hear."
When it makes a loud noise next to us on the other side of the display, Ellie's breathing picks up. Joel puts a finger over his mouth to tell her to be quiet. I slip my flashlight into my jacket and wrap my free arm around her shoulders, pulling her back against my chest.
The clicker comes around the display, behind Joel and starts to walk towards the door. But then it moves and lunges towards Ellie.
Joel shoots it first, peppering bullets inside of its body. But it doesn't kill it. The noise draws the other infected over to us. Tess shoots at it and misses. She grabs Ellie from me and runs.
"Shit," I whisper under my breath. The infected runs towards them and I feel my heart shatter. I hear Joel struggle with the other infected and turn. He's holding it back with just his gun, the flashlight going everywhere.
I pull my flashlight out, focus it on the infected, and aim my gun.
I shoot twice. Once to distract it.
The second time, I shoot it right between the fungal plates and it drops to the floor.
I hear heavy breathing and run towards the noise. I see Tess running, but I don't see Ellie. I turn back around to find her, and that's when I hear glass crack. An infected jumps towards the noise and I run to follow it. My heart stops when I see it on top of Joel and Ellie.
Joel pulls the clicker closer to him before I hear gunshots. The clicker flies back across the room and when Joel and Ellie are back up I run towards them. I pull Ellie into my chest before pulling her back as the clicker gets back up and runs toward us. I force Ellie behind me as Joel shoots the clicker once, twice, and the third time it falls.
But then I hear another noise and turn. I swing Ellie around when I see another clicker running towards us.
It stops when an axe is embedded in its head. It turns around multiple times as Joel pulls out his larger gun just as I aim mine. We shoot it at the same time and it falls.
The only sound in the room after that is our heavy breathing.
"You alright?" Joel asks Tess.
"Twisted ankle, but yeah," she breathes.
"You alright?" She asks Ellie.
"Well, I didn't shit my pants, so." She takes a deep breath before she pulls up her sleeve. "You've gotta be fucking kidding me. I mean, if it was gonna happen to one of us."
"Let's get out of here," Tess says. We move through the room together. I turn off my flashlight and stick it in my back pocket before I holster my gun. I see Ellie's hands clenched at her sides and I put my hands on her shoulders. I squeeze them as we stop walking.
Joel lifts the window and steps out. Ellie follows him. I look back at Tess behind me before I move out of the window. Something happened. Something she doesn't want to tell us.
And I have a feeling it has something to do with the blood spatter under her neck.