Hello readers. Wow, it have almost been two years since I last updated this story and most of you - with good reason - thought that I have given up. I'm hear to tell you now that I have not given up. Most of you are probably wondering what the hell I have been doing this whole time. The simple answer to that question is work. I've had to take on extra responsibilities as well as an extra shift at work. Because of this I'm often too exhausted when I come home to do any writing, my extra shift has also caused me sleep difficulty's. I fear that this has effected the quality of my writing.
I managed to write most of this chapter during the summer when I was finally free of work. Unlike last year, a good part of this summer was cold so I could stay inside to work on the story without dying of a heat stroke.
BEFORE YOU START READING THIS CHAPTER, KNOW THIS. It should have been longer, but I figure you guys has waited more then long enough for this. I am considering shortening future chapters so that I can get them out fast, but this will most likely mean a lot of cliff hangers and I hate cliff hangers. Anyways, I hope you enjoy this chapter.
Chapter 3
Ellie's heart hammered in her chest as she ran down the dark passage. From behind her came the sound of hundreds of shuffling feets mixed together with the rasping growls of their dead owners. The noise sent a fresh shiver of fear and impending doom through her. She resisted the terrible urge she felt to look back, she knew what she would see if she did. A wall of rotting human body's pushing and trampling each other in order to get to her, their arms outstretched to grab a hold of her, and their mouths open in anticipation to tear the living flesh from her bones and devour it.
"Through here!" Ellie heard a familiar voice shout over the noise of their pursuers.
Ellie looked to her right and her heart skipped a beat. Her best friend Riley was running beside her, droplets of sweat running down her face. Her black brown hair was setup in its usual boll at the back of her head. She wore her usual dirty white t-shirt, with a blue shirt over it and a pair of jeans that had several small holes in them around the knees. She turned down a passage to the right and Ellie followed her. To Ellie's relief, she saw daylight at the passage end.
They ran out into an enormous two-story circular hall with a glass dome. On the opposite side of the hall Ellie saw the exit, but between them and it was at least forty stalkers. Ellie and Riley stopped in the center of the hall and looked around for another way out or a place to hide. There were none. The dead were all around them, everywhere Ellie looked. Down every passage, through every shop window and door. There were well over a hundred of the things and they were all now converging on them like a tidal wave of putrefied flesh, their arms outstretched, their dead white eyes staring unblinkingly at the two girls who had unwisely run in to their midst. Ellie knew that unless she or Riley did something quickly, they would be torn to bloody pieces.
She looked around franticly for something, anything that could help them escape. She felt a cold stiff hand grab hold of her shoulder. Reflexively, Ellie pulled out her knife and stab the dead woman that had grabbed her right in the side of the head as it leaned forward to sink its yellow brown teeth into her. The stalker twitched once and collapsed onto the floor. Ellie raised her knife in anticipation of the next attack.
"Ellie this way," Riley's voice called from behind her.
Ellie spun on her heel and saw Riley sprinting to one side of the room where the dead wasn't as numerus. Ellie was about to shout out to her and ask where she was going. It was then that she saw salvation.
Right ahead of them was a metal scaffolding that reached up to the second floor. Why she hadn't noticed it earlier when she entered the room she didn't know and at that moment didn't really care. She ran towards it, sidestepping several stalkers that reached out to grab her and stabbed another one in the eye and shoved it to the ground when it blocked her path. She jumped up onto the side of the scaffolding and started climbing as fast as she could to the top.
She hadn't even made it halfway up when the scaffolding started to shake violently, and Ellie's feet slipped. "Fuck." she cried out in surprise and fear. For a second, her hands were the only thing that stopped her from falling to a gruesome death. Looking down she saw that the stalkers were pressing themselves against the scaffolding from all directions, making it shake and sway.
"Ellie! Move!" Riley shouted down from above her, she needn't have bothered. Ellie was already climbing so fast that despite Riley's head start they both reached the top at about the same time.
The constant pushing from the Stalkers below made standing on top of the scaffolding extremely difficult. Stretching out her hand and pressing it to the wall for support, Ellie managed with effort to stand upright. Mimicking her, Riley got to her feet as well but fell back on to all four the next second when a powerful push from below shook the scaffolding. The shaking almost made Ellie lose her footing as well.
"Riley!" Ellie cried out.
"I'm fine, go!" Riley waved her arm to emphasis her words.
Ellie hesitated for a second but when Riley repeated her order for her to go, Ellie jumped up and grabbed hold around the bottom of the metal railing to the second floor and with effort, she pulled herself up. As she climbed up and over it, Ellie felt the railing sway slightly from her weight. With her feets on firm ground one's more, Ellie turned around to see how her friend was doing. To her relief, Riley had already gotten back on her feets. The next second she jumped and like Ellie before her, grabbed hold of the railing.
"Take my hand." Ellie said and reached down to help pull Riley up.
Riley looked up at her and with an expression of great strain on her face, she let go of the railing with her right hand and gripped Ellie's wrist. Ellie felt the muscles in her arm strain painfully as she helped pull her friend up. She didn't let go until Riley had a good foot hold and a solid grip on the handrail. Riley was breathing hard from all the running and climbing. Drops of sweat was rolling down her forehead, Ellie followed one with her eyes as it made its way down the side of her face.
Riley opened her mouth to say something when her head suddenly snapped to the side and she cried out "ELLIE, STALKER!"
Ellie barely had time to turn in the direction Riley was looking, when two dead hands grabbed hold of her with such force that she was knocked off her feet. The content of her backpack jabbed painfully into her back when she hit the ground. Instinctively, she pushed her hands out in front of her to hold back her attacker. It saved her life. When the stalker came down on top of her, she managed to hold the thing's mouth at a distance. The stalker's dry dead fingers dug into Ellie's shoulders painfully. If her jacket hadn't been in the way, it's nails would have pierced her skin and drawn blood. The stalker growled and snapped its teeth at her, spraying Ellie's face with blood and some other kind of foul-smelling liquid.
Despite her initial success at not being bitten, Ellie saw that she was living on borrowed time. The stalker was a full-grown man and recently turned to boot, which meant he was much stronger than her. Ellie's arms were slowly giving way under the combined weight and strength of the reanimated corpse. The muscles in her arms hurt as they strained in the effort to hold the thing back. The stalker's snapping jaws was getting closer and closer every second. The horrible stench of its putrid breath nearly made Ellie vomit. Seeing certain death coming towards her, Ellie panicked. She screamed, bucked, kicked and dug her fingers into the soft rotten flesh, anything to try and get the thing away from her.
"HOLD IT STILL!" Riley shouted at the top of her voice from beside her.
But Ellie couldn't hold still, she was too afraid. She continued to kick, scream and claw at the stalker as if she was mad. In her panic not to get bitten, Ellie barely registered that Riley pressed the muzzle of a gun against the side of the stalkers head before her friend pulled the trigger. Blood, bone and brain matter sprayed out the side of the stalkers head and painted the floor and part of the wall reddish black. Ellie felt several cold droplets splatter on to her face.
Like a marionette that has had its strings cut, the stalker stopped moving. With her life no longer in immediate danger and the muscles in her arms burning from the strain of holding the stalker back, Ellie let the now permanently dead man collapse on top of her. She let out a choking cough as the weight of it drove the breath from her lungs.
"Did it get you?" Riley asked, her voice filled with fear and concern.
"No," Ellie managed to cough out. "I'm not hurt."
She took a deep ragged breath and tried to lift the thing off her, but her arms were still tired from the fight and the stalkers fingers had locked themselves around her shoulders and refused to let go. She just barely managed to lift the corpse a few inches to the side when her arms gave out and the thing fell back on top of her. Ellie was about to ask Riley to give her a hand, but the words caught in her throat. A second stalker was shambling towards Riley. It was moving with the speed the dead only ever used when they smelled fresh meat.
"RILEY, ON YOUR LEFT!" Ellie cried out but it was too late. By the time Riley had turned to face the new threat, the stalker was upon her.
From instinct honed over the past few weeks, Riley raised her arms in front of her to stop the dead thing from biting her. Like the one that had attacked Ellie, this one was recently turned. With its superior strength, it forced Riley backwards and to the side until her back hit the railing hard. Riley let out a grunt of pain and Ellie saw to her horror the gun fall from Riley's hand and hit the floor with a clatter.
"Ellie! Help!" Riley cried out in terror. She had hardly even uttered the words when the railing gave way with a loud grinding noise and the two combatants fell over the edge.
"RILEY!"
Ellie woke up with a start. She was breathing rapidly as if she had just had a long run. Her body was covered in cold sweat and she had tears in her eyes. It took her a few second before she realized what had happened. A dream. It had only been a dream. No, not a dream. A memory, a recurring nightmare. Ellie felt her heart constrict painfully in her chest and fresh tears came to her eyes.
"Riley. God fucking damnit," she sobbed.
Out of all the deaths that Ellie had witness over the past two years, none had hit her as hard as Riley's had. She never told anyone what had happened, not even the other kids at the orphanage, even though they had all asked. All she ever told them was that Riley was not coming back. They had all understood what she had meant with those words, even the young ones. Riley was dead and was not going to rise again. Ellie had spent several days afterwards shut in her room, just lying on her bed crying and staring at the ceiling.
It wasn't her bedroom ceiling her teary eyes was looking up at now though. Hers had been flat, white and crisscrossed with cracks that was as familiar to her as the back of her hand. This one was angled and wooden and unfamiliar. It took Ellie several seconds before she remembered where she was and how she had got there. She wiped her eyes on her sleeve.
Ellie's mood turned from sorrow to anger at the memories of yesterday. Not even the small glimmer of early morning light that shone in through a crack in the wall – heralding the news that the rain from last night had past – could lighten her mood. Rebecca's hostile attitude towards them and Nick's attempt to kill Clementine made the blood boil in her veins. Carlos wasn't much better. Ellie felt rankled by his attitude towards her. How he thought he could just order her around as if he was a guard from the QZ military school. Muttering a string of curses that would have made a sailor proud, Ellie rolled over onto her side and closed her eyes. Maybe she would be able to get a little more sleep, god knew she would need to be rested when the cabin group came out to check on them.
As she lay there waiting for sleep, she listened to the sound of tree branches swaying in the wind outside as well as the sound of Clementine's breathing. Clementine's breathing was the deep and slow of someone in blissful sleep and not the shallow rasping sound of an infected person fighting for air. She had survived the night, just as Ellie knew she would.
"In your face, Rebecca." Ellie smiled at the thought of seeing the pregnant women's reaction when she saw that Clem was still alive and in good health.
Ellie lay there for what felt like hours. But when sleep wouldn't come, Ellie gave up and open her eyes. Even though it was still dark inside the shed, she could see Clementine's sleeping face lying in front of her. She had removed her hat and hairbands before they went to sleep last night and as a result, her hair was now a tangled mess. It reminded Ellie a bit of Riley's bed hair – although Riley's hair had been longer – that time during a food run when they had been unable to return to the orphanage before nightfall – thanks to a small group of hunters trying to kill them – and they'd had to sleep in an abandoned apartment.
Ellie stretched out her hand and gently moved some of the hair away from Clem's forehead. Clementine didn't stir from the touch and slept on peacefully. Confident that she wouldn't wake the younger girl, Ellie put her hand against her forehead. She was still warm with a fever, but it had definitely gone down during the night.
"Good," Ellie thought."That should help convince them that we were telling the truth."
Or at least she hoped it would. From the way Nick and Rebecca had acted yesterday, Ellie wasn't sure if they'd believe them even if the truth jumped up and kicked them in the teeth. They didn't matter much though, Carlos did. He was the trained doctor after all and would be able to tell now with certainty that she wasn't infected. Once he had given her the all clear, then they would leave this place and hopefully never see it or its occupants ever again.
Ellie's stomach chose that moment to contract painfully and emit a low rumbling noise. "Damn I'm hungry."
She hoped that Luke, Alvin or Pete – who had proven themselves to be the most sympathetic members of the cabin group – would give them some breakfast before they left. Ellie wouldn't mind having some of the leftovers from yesterday. The thought of last night's dinner made her stomach make another rumble and her mouth water.
Luke had been true to his word; he and Carlos had brought out a plate of boiled rice and fried deer meat for each of them. Whiles Ellie generally didn't like rice that much – the damn things didn't taste anything – she had long since learned not to look a gift horse in the mouth, especially when she was hungry. When the food had been given to them, she had wolfed it down with such speed that Luke expressed his worry that she would choke. Clementine had also eaten her food quickly.
During their meal, Luke and Carlos had asked them questions that ranged from where they were from to what had happened to their families and how they had survived the outbreak and so on. Carlos had directed most of the questions at Clementine first, maybe he thought she would be easier to talk to than Ellie. Clementine told them of how her parents had gone on vacation to Savannah and left her with a babysitter, Sandra, and never came back. Of how Sandra had been infected when the outbreak had started and how Clementine had been forced to hide in her treehouse for days until a man named Lee had found her. She went on to tell of how they had found a group and tried to survive. As she told her tale, Ellie noticed that Clementine glossed over the gruesome stuff that had happened on the St Johns farm. Perhaps the memories were too painful to relive again so soon or maybe she did it so that Ellie wouldn't lose her appetite.
When she got to the part about how she had been fooled into leaving their camp in Savannah by a crazy man that had been stalking the group and who claimed he had her parents, her voice had started to crack. When she told them how Lee had saved her and killed the crazy man and later collapsed as they tried to flee the city, she broke into tears.
"He got bitten when he went looking for me," She sniffed, tears rolled down her cheeks. "He had tried to cut off his arm to stop the infection, but it didn't work. He wasn't going to make it. He…he asked me to shoot him…so he wouldn't come back…and I did." She didn't say another word after that.
Luke had looked almost a little tearful himself and had offered her his condolences. Although Carlos kept his emotions more under control than Luke, Ellie could see that Clementine's words had moved him as well. Since Clementine didn't want to speak anymore, Ellie had taken over. She gave them a quick version of the outbreak in Boston and the chaos that followed. Of how general Spears and his army had marched in and taken over and built the quarantine zone. As she spoke about the zone and how things worked inside it, she noticed a deepening frown on Luke's face.
"And no one tried to stand up to him?" He had asked after she had told them about the mandatory military school and the checkpoints that separated the areas.
"He has a well-trained and heavily armed army." Ellie had pointed out to him. "But yeah. There were people who stood up to him. Those who didn't disappear after they had voiced their opinion formed a group called the Fireflies and planned a coup against him."
"I take it, it didn't work?" Carlos had asked.
Ellie had nodded. "Spears had spies everywhere, so he found out about it. Most of the Fireflies were killed. The rest fled the zone. I didn't have any more strikes with the school authorities and the Firefly leader was an old friend of my mom, so I went with them."
Ellie then went on to explain that the Fireflies had foreseen that there was a possibility that their coup would fail. A few months before the Firefly massacre, Marlene had sent out a group south to setup a camp outside New York that they could flee to in case they had to leave the QZ.
Plan B did not however work out as Marlene had planned. The camp had been overrun by stalkers long before Ellie and the other got there. Most of the supplies and equipment had either been destroyed in the attack or looted by other survivors who came later. With their backup plan in ruins, the Fireflies decided to head further south to avoid the worst of the coming winter. Along the way the group scavenged equipment, food and a few cars. They also picked up a few other survivors, one of which was a man named Joel, who claimed that his brother was a member of a large camp of survivors up in Jackson, Wyoming.
"How did he know that if he were at the east coast when the outbreak happened?" Carlos had asked.
"He claimed that his brother had managed to send him a message about the camp before the phones went dead," Ellie had answered with a shrug. "Why he didn't go there before now. I don't know."
Carlos had made a "hmm" sound but otherwise said nothing. From the expression on his face, Ellie had guessed that Carlos did not believe Joel's claim. Most of the Fireflies hadn't been convinced by his words either. Marlene on the other hand, had thought it worth a try. Despite a long and very heated debate that lead to a few people leaving, the Fireflies headed out west. Not many days after that, they had been ambushed in the forest.
Carlos had grilled her extensively about the ambush. How many were the attackers? What did they look like? Did they say anything? Did you hear their names? What kind of weapons did they use? Were they well equipped? And on and on it went until Ellie lost her temper with him and had shouted that she had told him everything she could remember and that she was tired of being interrogated. Carlos had looked ready to insist on more questioning, but Luke told him that they had asked enough of them.
With that said and their stomachs full of food, Luke and Carlos had wished them goodnight and left. Tired from the day's event, Ellie and Clementine had gone to sleep on the bedrolls that Luke had brought out for them to sleep on. The bedrolls were thin, old and moth eaten and had done little to soften the hard ground. The blankets they were given weren't much better. They smelled musty and had more than a few holes in them. Despite the bad shape of their bed wear, neither Clementine nor Ellie had complained. They were both just happy that they had been given something to help keep them warm during the night. And the night had been very cold.
With a yawn, Ellie slowly sat up, her back cracking painfully as she did so. "I fucking called it," she thought to herself. "The floors a bitch." She stretched her arms and rolled her neck. They cracked almost as much as her back. The motion of stretching her body made her feel how full her bladder was. "I need to take a piss."
Standing up, Ellie turned towards where she knew the workbench was located and stretched out her left hand to feel along its surface for one of the final two things that Luke had left them. Her fingers brushed against something round and soft. She grabbed it and with the workbench as her guide she walked over to the corner by the door. It wasn't hard to find the bucket that Luke had left for them in case they felt natures call during the night. He also brought them – and Ellie had almost hugged him for it – a roll of toilet paper.
The smell of piss and shit assaulted her nostrils long before she even reached the corner and made her nose wrinkle in disgust. The smell would probably be even worse if it wasn't for the fresh cool morning air that blew in from a small section of the wall where the wood had rotted away to form a jagged hole. The hole had been covered over on the outside with a piece of plywood but that to had also started to rot away.
Ellie had almost smiled when she had seen the makeshift repaired hole. If they had needed to escape during the night, it would have been child's play for her to reopen the hole with just one or two kicks. The wooden plank that had been nailed up diagonally across the repair job on the inside however would cause a small hindrance. It wouldn't have been any problem to them if Carlos hadn't removed the hammer from the shed when Clementine had asked if she could have it.
Ellie did her business with the bucket and when she was done, she returned the toilet paper to the work bench. She was about to go back to bed when someone knocked on the door three times. Clementine let out a loud groan. Rubbing the sleep from her eyes, she slowly sat up.
"Girls?" Luke's hesitant voice came from the other side of the door. "Are you…uh…awake?"
Ellie was about to say "no, we're not. Come back later."
Before she could utter the words however, Clementine said with a hoarse voice, "yes, we're both awake…and alive." She probably added the last part to put Luke and whoever else was out there at ease.
Ellie went over to the workbench and sat down on it. After unlatching it, Luke opened the doors. The light that shone in was so bright that it hurt Ellie's eyes and she raised her hand to shield them. Between her fingers, she saw three shadows standing in the doorway. After a few seconds, her eyes had adjusted enough for her to see that it was Luke, Carlos and – to her annoyance – Nick.
"Morning," Luke greeted as he and the others entered the shed.
Carlos also bid them good morning with a nod. Nick on the other hand didn't say anything, he just stared at Clementine warily as if expecting her to attack at any second.
"Morning," Ellie and Clementine greeted back to the three. Well, Clem did anyway. Ellie only greeted Luke and Carlos and gave Nick the finger. Ellie wasn't at all surprised by the disapproving shake of the head she got from Carlos. She was however surprised by Nick's response. He ignored her completely and kept his gaze fixed on Clementine, maybe he didn't even see that he was being flicked off.
"How are you feeling Clementine?" Carlos asked as he approached her.
"Better then yesterday. My arm still hurts a bit," Clementine answered.
Carlos nodded, he crouched down in front of her and put his hand to her forehead. He held it there for a few seconds, then he removed it and gestured for her to show him her arm. He unwrapped the bandage and studied the wound.
"Does this hurt," he asked and gently pressed his fingers on her arm.
Clementine winced and her mouth twisted into a grimace. "Yes," she answered. Carlos nodded and let go of her arm.
"Well! is she going to turn or not?" Nick asked with nervous impatiens, his trigger finger tapping the side of his rifle.
"She's not going to turn. Her fever has gone down and her wound seems to be healing well," Carlos answered without turning to look at Nick. He put his hand on Clementine's shoulder and gave her a reassuring smile. "Your arm will hurt for some time I'm afraid but it's going to be fine."
Luke let out a relieved chuckle and smiled. "Seems we owe you girls an apology. I'm sorry for doubting you," he said and lightly nudged Nick with his elbow. If the gesture was a sign for Nick to apologize, he ignored it.
"You're sure she's not going to turn?" Nick asked.
"Yes, I'm sure," Carlos answered firmly.
As Carlos proceeded to clean and wrap Clem's wrist with fresh bandages he had brought with him, Ellie watched Nick wearily. From his actions yesterday, Nick had proven himself to be aggressive and jumpy when he felt threatened or uncertain. Ellie would not put it past him to try something even if Carlos had given Clementine the all clear. She slowly moved her hand so that she could easily reach the gun in the back of her pants.
Nick's stared at Carlos, then at Clementine, then to the rifle in his hands, then back to Clementine. The way his eyes kept moving back and forth between the people in the shed reminded Ellie of a lost child who did not know what to do. To her surprise, Nick's grip on the rifle slackened and he let it drop and dangle at his side. He slowly turned on his heel and almost in a daze, walked back towards the cabin without saying a word, not caring in the slightest that the barrel of his rifle was scraping against the ground as he walked away.
"I'll go talk to him," Luke said and hurried out after his friend, leaving Carlos alone with the two girls.
Ellie relaxed and put her hand back on the table. "He doesn't take disappointment well, does he?!" she said to no one in particular.
"No, he doesn't," Carlos agreed. "But in this case, I think that it is more guilt then disappointment."
"Guilt?" Ellie repeated.
"He nearly shot Clementine yesterday because he thought she was infected. Now he knows she wasn't." Carlos eyes meet Ellie's. "How would you feel if you found out you almost killed a defenseless child because you let your fears get the better of you?" he asked.
Ellie didn't need time to think about it, she knew how she would feel. "I'd feel like a piece of shit." She answered.
Carlos nodded and went on binding up Clem's arm. "Nick acts tough like he doesn't care, but he is more sensitive than he wants people to know. Yesterday he let his fears and temper get the better of him and he almost killed a child because of it. That thought will haunt him for some time I think."
Ellie turned her head and looked out though the open doors. Nick was standing not too far from the stairs to the house with his back to the shed. Luke was standing beside him with his hand on Nick's slumped shoulder. He was saying something to him, but Nick didn't seem to be responding at all, he just hung his head like a defeated man. Ellie had thought yesterday that she had all the members of the Cabin group pegged, but the fact that Nick seemed to be remorseful of his action, showed that he wasn't the complete asshole Ellie had thought he was. Maybe she should reevaluate her opinion of him.
"There. All done." Carlos said, drawing Ellie's attention away from Nick. He and Clementine stood up from the floor. Clementine flexed her now securely wrapped forearm experimentally.
"How's it feeling Clem?" Ellie asked.
"It still hurts, but it feels better," the younger girl answered and put her hand in her pocket and pulled out her hairbands. She expertly tied the first pigtail and moved on to the second.
"Have you ever thought of setting up your hair in a ponytail instead? It's quicker and much simpler," Ellie asked.
"I like my hair like this," Clementine answered and put on her dirty cap. "I'm done. Shall we go?"
Ellie nodded and was about to get her stuff when Carlos cleared his throat. "Alvin is making breakfast for all of us," He said.
"Yes," Ellie thought and mentally punched her fist into the air. "Great, I'm starving," she said happily. She slid off the table, picked up her pack and headed to the door.
"Before we head inside however, there are a few things I want to talk to you two about," Carlos said, his voice suddenly serious. Ellie stopped and half turned to look back at him. She did not like the tone in his voice.
"Okay," Clementine said, sounding a little worried herself.
"What about?" Ellie asked, she suspected she was not going to like what he was about to say.
"Last night, me and the others were talking, and we think it would be best if you two stayed here, with us."
Ellie responded with a "thus" sound to his suggestion and said, "Clem almost got shot by Nick yesterday and you and Rebecca "hinted strongly" that you did not want to have anything to do with us. Why the hell would we want to stay!?"
"Because it's in your best interest," Carlos said, with the same sternness he had used when he ordered Sarah back into the cabin. "You two have been separated from your groups. We don't know where your friends are or if they're even alive. There are more lurkers in the forest than ever before. It's not a safe place to be, especially for two children. Most of the animals are gone as well and winter is coming. There is nothing out there for you to eat and I doubt you have enough food on you to last the both of you long enough to find more."
Ellie tried to think of something that she could say to counter Carlos argument, but it was difficult to find any. Carlos had made several valid points. The only food Ellie had left in her pack was a single can of beans and the lunch box with dog meat. It wouldn't last her and Clementine a day and the forest had proven to be almost bare of anything edible and full of stalkers to boot. Ellie knew she could kill several stalkers no problem if she saw them coming at a distance during the day. But stalkers were just as active during the night and could easily sneak up on them in the dark if they weren't paying attention. Another problem was that Ellie's gun only had five bullets left and she had lost four of her seven arrows in the skirmish with the stalkers yesterday.
Ellie's hands clenched into fists. As much as it pained her to admit it, the odds of them making it out of the forest alive was small. Ellie scowl and glared at Carlos, who met it with stoic calmness. He had the upper hand in this argument, and he knew it. That made Ellie even more angry.
Ellie opened her mouth and was about to stubbornly declare that they could make it on their own, but Clementine spoke first. "Ellie, I think we should stay."
Ellie broke off her staring match with Carlos to look at Clementine in disbelief. She hadn't expected this. Out of the two of them, Clem had the most reasons to not want to stay with these people. Nick had almost shot her; Rebecca had insisted that they should kill her just to be safe and Carlos had ordered that she'd be locked up in the shed. Although, Ellie had to admit that even though she didn't like it, Carlos order was an understandable one that she herself probably would have used if she had been in his position.
Seeing the look on Ellie's face, Clementine continued, "I think Carlos is right. We won't last long out there on our own. I was almost killed several times yesterday. I think we'll be safer here."
"Safer!" Ellie almost shouted. "Nick tried to kill you yesterday! And you want to live in the same house as him! what if he tries something like that again?"
"He won't," Carlos assured.
"Wasn't talking to you," Ellie snapped.
"I don't think he will," Clementine said. "You saw how he reacted when he found out the truth. He feels guilty for what he did." Yes, Ellie had seen how Nick reacted. But even if Nick did feel guilt for what he had done, it didn't mean he could be trusted. He was too jumpy and trigger happy. Ellie was about to say so, however, Clementine wasn't done talking. "And I'm tired of traveling all the time. That's all I have done for these past two years. Going from one place to the next. Always on the road, only stopping to sleep or scavenge for food and I'm tired of it. I want time to rest. I want to be able to sleep without having to worry about being eaten or shot!"
Ellie opened her mouth to speak, then closed it again when she couldn't think of anything to say to that. She could see the determination in Clementine's eyes, and it told her that she wasn't going to change her mind, no matter what Ellie said. Clementine wanted to stay, to feel a measure of safety for the first time in years. Ellie had nothing against the idea of feeling safe, hell it was one of the reasons she had left Boston. Ellie's rebellious behavior at school had caught the attention of the military and they had kept a close eye on her after that and had repeatedly tried to punish the defiance out of her. If Ellie hadn't left when she did, she would most likely have ended up on Spears list of people that needed to disappear eventually.
When Ellie had left Boston, she had done so in the company of people she had known and trusted. These people on the other hand, this cabin group, was almost a complete unknown to her. Could they be trusted not to stab them in the back? She didn't know. Ellie liked Pete, he reminded her a bit of Winston, the military horse master from the QZ, although less drunk and grumpy. And both Luke and Alvin had been very nice to her. On the other hand, there was authoritarian Carlos, trigger happy Nick and Rebecca the bitch. Ellie did not want to stay in a group where half the people were assholes you couldn't fully trust.
She could still leave, but she would do so without Clementine. Her chances of survival out there would be a little better without having to worry about or share her food with the younger girl, but she would also be alone again with no one guarding her back. Ellie's heart contracted painfully in her chest, it felt like a hand had grabbed hold of it and was slowly squeezing it. She did not want to be alone, not again, not ever again.
Ellie's shoulders slumped in defeat when she realized her choice had been made for her. "Fine, we'll stay," she said quietly, the words leaving a bad taste in her mouth.
"Good," Carlos said and nodded in approval, which made Ellie feel even worse. He folded his arms across his chest. "There is also one other thing I want to talk to you about before we go inside. My daughter."
"What about her?" Ellie asked.
"She's not like either of you. You might not get it initially, but once you've been around her for a while you'll understand."
The two girls shared a look of confusion. Ellie hadn't seen anything yesterday to indicate that something was wrong with Sarah, other than the fact that she seemed to obey her father blindly.
"What do you mean?" Clementine asked.
Carlos took a deep breath and said, "she's…sensitive."
"What! She's going to keel over if we sneeze at her or something?" Ellie asked sarcastically.
Carlos shot her what she now thought of as his trademark glare. "No! it's not like that." he said sharply. He shut his eyes and took another deep breath. When he opened his eyes again he was visibly calmer. "If Sarah knew how bad the world is...what it's really like out there, she would…" he broke himself off and seemed to struggle with finding the right words, "…cease to function."
"Whoa, whoa, whoa, time out. Are you saying that she doesn't know that the world has gone to hell?" Ellie asked, astonished that someone could be that ignorant.
Carlos shook his head. "No. Not exactly. She knows that the dead are walking and that they attack the living. But she doesn't know how bleak our future truly is. How hard it is to get food, how easily we could all be killed or how cruel and evil people can be towards one another if it means survival." He looked between the two of them sternly. "I don't want you to say anything that might upset her."
Ellie could hardly believe what she was hearing. The old world was dead, but rather than trying to make his daughter adapt to this new horrible one they all lived in, Carlos had been keeping her inside a bubble of ignorance and he was now telling them to help him keep it from bursting. "That's bullshit. You can't babysit her forever. She needs to learn how to survive or she won't make it. She needs to grow up."
"YOU DO NOT KNOW WHAT SHE NEEDS!" Carlos roared; his calm demeanor gone in an instance. "She's my little girl. She's all I have left and I'm telling you to not talk to her about how horrible it is out there. Do you understand?" He eyed them both sharply.
Clementine hesitated for a second before she nodded. "I promise," she said quietly.
Carlos turned to Ellie, who sighed in exasperation of what she considered to be overprotective stupidity. "Fine," she said in an annoyed tone. "I promise I won't tell her how fucked up the world is or how to survive in it. Happy?"
"I'd also appreciate it if you wouldn't curse in her presence."
Ellie sighed. "I'll try. Is there anything else "dad?" Or can we go now? I'm hungry."
Carlos frowned in disapproval but said, "breakfast should be ready now." And led them out of the shed and towards the house.
Luke was sitting next to a downcast Nick on the stairs leading up to the porch of the house. He was saying something to his friend that could not be heard from where Ellie and the others were. Nick had his elbows on his knees and his face in his hands. Probably to give the two some privacy, Carlos steered Ellie and Clementine towards a door on the side of the house that Ellie hadn't seen yesterday. As they neared, Ellie caught the scent of food in the air. Whatever it was they were making for breakfast, it smelled so good it made her mouth water.
Alvin was standing by the stove and stirring the content of a pot when the trio entered the Kitchen. He looked up from the content of the pot at them and he threw Carlos a questioning glance.
"She's okay. She won't turn," Carlos answered his unasked question. The doctor looked back at the two girls. "I'm going upstairs to wake Sarah. You two stay here. And wash your hands before we eat." He didn't wait for a response from the two before he walked through the door on the other side of the room.
"It hasn't even been five minutes since we joined and he is already bossing us around." Ellie scowled and glared at the closing door.
"Don't let his strict demeanor get to you. He's a doctor, he's used to giving orders." Alvin said and gave the two girls a warm smile. "Good morning by the way. I'm glad to see your both alright."
Clementine greeted him back with a "good morning" and a smile of her own.
"Morning," Ellie greeted.
"There's a bucket of water over there that you can wash yourself with." Alvin nodded in the direction of the sink.
Once she and Clementine was done washing their hands and faces, Ellie walked up next to Alvin and leaned her elbows on the counter. "So, what's for breakfast?" she asked.
"Rice and deer." Alvin answered, he eyed the content of the pot. "Well, mostly rice anyways. I had hoped the deer would last longer but we…kinda let ourselves go last night and ate a little more than we should. Might not be enough of it left to fill everyone stomachs today," he said guiltily.
"Damn," Ellie thought as she tried to hide her disappointment.
The deer hadn't been very big so it shouldn't have been a surprise to her that seven people – nine if she counted herself and Clem – could eat most of it in one go, but it was. Ellie had really been looking forwards to filling her stomach again, it was such a rare thing to be able to do that these days. If only they had more meat, then she could feel the satisfaction of a full stomach again. She stared longingly at the slices of meat crackling in the frying pan. The sight made her wish she had had a pan of her own. It was a hell of a lot easier to fry your food evenly in a pan than over an open fire.
"Wait…open fire! The dog meat!" Ellie mentally kicked herself in the ass for forgetting about it. She unslung her backpack and pulled out the box and placed it on the kitchen counter.
"What's this?" Alvin asked, eying the box.
"Dog meat." Ellie answered and opened the box so that he could see its content.
Alvin gave her a long sideways look. "This wouldn't happen to be the same dog that bit Clementine, would it?" he asked suspiciously.
"Yup," Ellie answered, feeling a small sense of pride at the memory of saving Clem's life.
Alvin eyed the meat critically and scratched his beard thoughtfully. "Hmm, this dog. Did it look sick?"
His question took Ellie aback, she hadn't thought about the possibility that the dog could have been ill. "I…don't think so," she answered uncertainly. She looked to Clementine, who had seated herself at the dinner table. "Clem did the dog act weird…other than attacking you I mean?" she asked.
Clementine's brow furrowed. "Weird how?" she asked.
"Was it frothing at the mouth?" Alvin asked, "or twitching all the time? Like it couldn't control itself."
Clem shook her head. "No, it was just very thin from starvation."
Alvin eyed the dog meat with hesitation. "Hmm, I'll cook it a bit extra, just to be sure. Should probably put it in a separate bowl to and tell the other what it is before we serve it to them. Luke's not going to like this," he whispered the last part to himself.
Alvin pulled out a new cooking pan and placed it on the stove, then proceeded to dump the dog meat into it. With nothing better to do, Ellie walked over to the table and took the seat on Clementine's left. "So, where were you two heading before you ran into Pete and Luke?" Alvin asked as he flipped the sliced pieces of deer meat in the pan.
The two girls shared a brief look before Clementine answered, "at the time we hadn't decided."
"I wanted to go west but Clementine wants to go up north," Ellie elaborated.
"North?" Alvin echoed.
"Yeah, Clementine says there's supposedly a big camp up there or something."
"The one near lake Michigan?" Alvin asked.
His words made Clementine sit up straight in her chair. "You've heard of it!?" She almost shouted in excitement. Her eyes stared at him hungrily for information.
"Yeah, I've heard a rumor or two of it. To tell you the truth we've been talking about trying to go there ourselves…I voted against it."
His last words took Clementine visibly aback. "Why?" she asked.
Alvin scratched his head and sighed. "With Becca pregnant and winter being so close, it feels like a bad time to start searching for a place that might not exist and Ohio is a long way from he-"
"OHIO?!" Clementine cried out, making both Ellie and Alvin jump in surprise. "I thought Wellington was in Michigan?"
Alvin shrugged. "I heard it was in northern Ohio. Not too far from the Michigan border."
Hearing those words Ellie mentally facepalmed herself. "No wonder we couldn't find the place on the map. We were looking in the wrong goddamn state. Why the hell didn't I think of checking the neighboring states for Wellington?"
Whiles Ellie was mentally berating herself Clementine said, "we thought the reason we couldn't find it on the map was because the camp had been built from scratch and just named Wellington."
"If that's true, then it's an even better reason not to go up there. We could probably spend month looking for the place and not find it. I wish we could just stay here for the winter but…" Alvin let out a sigh, "that's impossible."
"Because of the walkers?" asked Clementine. "Carlos said that there was more of them then there usually are."
"And there isn't much food to get around here either." Ellie added.
"Your both right," Alvin said and let out another sigh. "The lurkers have scared most of the wildlife away. The only animal we can hunt with certainty now, is fish. But we can't live on that forever. There are probably more things to hunt down south where its warmer. Hopefully, by the time we leave this place, the others have come to the same conclusion and we head south."
"I can get behind that," Ellie said and put her hands behind her head. She leaned back in her chair until it balanced on its back legs. She pushed her knees up against the underside of the table to help keep herself from falling backwards. "I never liked winter. It's too damn cold."
"Amen to that," Alvin chuckled.
The kitchen door opened and Nick and Luke walked in. Seeing the two, Luke immediately walked over and took the seat opposite of Clementine. "Looks like your making yourself at home," he said with a smile and nodded at Ellie. "Are you staying or leaving?" He asked.
"We're staying," Clementine answered for the both of them with a smile.
Her words made Luke's own smile widened. "I'm glad to hear that. I'd hate for you to go out there on your own. I know you two can handle yourselves, but I feel a lot better knowing that you're with us."
Before either Clem or Ellie could say anything in response, Nick walked around the table towards them. Clementine tensed at his approach and Ellie lowered her chair back to the floor so fast the chair legs made a loud bang when they connected with the wood. He stopped and put his hand on the back of the chair on Clementine's right. An almost complete silence descended over the kitchen. The only noise that could be heard was the sound of the food cooking on the stove. Everyone was staring at Nick to see what he was going to do.
The attention made Nick visibly uncomfortable, he scratched the back of his head and after a second or two cleared his throat. "Hey, look. Um…" he said awkwardly. "I just wanted to say that I'm sorry for…well…almost shooting you yesterday and being a general dick to the both of you. I got kinda aggro and that was definitely not cool." Neither Clem nor Ellie said anything in response to his words, they just sat there quietly and stared at him, which seemed to make him even more uncomfortable.
"Nick's been known to go off once in a while," Luke said from the other side of the table. "Try not to hold it against him."
"To late for that," Ellie thought, because she did hold it against him. Just because they had joined this group did not mean that Ellie would just forgive and forget what had happened. Nick would need to do a lot more than just say that he was sorry before Ellie would forgive him.
That was a sentiment that Clementine however did not share with her. "You were just trying to protect your friends. I get it." she said sympathetically.
"I didn't mean to be so harsh. I just…we had a bad experience once," Nick said.
"You and everyone else in the world," Ellie muttered bitterly.
Ignoring Ellie's remark, Clementine asked, "what happened?"
Nick pulled out the chair and turned it to face her before he sat down. The two girls looked at him expectantly, but he didn't say anything, he just sat there with a sorrowful look on his face.
"Nick lost his mom," Luke said once it was clear that Nick wasn't going to talk.
"So, I was right. Nick did lose someone close to him," Ellie thought. The knowledge that she had been right about Nick's loss gave her no satisfaction.
"We took care of someone who got bit," Luke continued.
"It was my fault. I…" Nick started to say but Luke cut him off.
"It was no one's fault." he said, taking extra care to emphasize the words no one's. He had probably told Nick this many times before now and would likely have to say them many more times before Nick took them to heart, if he ever did. Ellie knew from personal experience that a guilty conscience of another's death was not easy to get rid of. When Nick did not react to his words Luke continued the story. "We thought we could control it, but…we couldn't. And then she turned and his mom was standing right there and she got attacked…there was nothing we could do about it."
Nick closed his eyes when Luke spoke of the moment of the attack and did not open them again until he had finished. His eyes were glossy from holding back tears. After a few seconds of silence Nick stood up. "Anyway, hopefully you'll understand," He said melancholically.
"Bad thinks have happened to everyone. But, yeah, I get it," Clem said. "I'm sorry, about your mom."
Nick gave her an appreciative smile. "Thanks…I'll…I'll go and wake Pete," he said, his voice breaking with emotion. He turned and headed for the door.
Ellie watched him as he left. He seemed to walk a bit straighter, as if a burden had been lifted from his shoulders. Ellie still hated him for trying to kill Clementine, but at the same time she felt sorry for him. Ellie never knew her mother, she had died shortly after giving birth to her. Mrs. Hale was the closest thing she had ever had to a real mother and she'd had to share her with over twenty other kids, so it was not the same. Even so, she had felt a horrible sense of loss when Mrs. Hale had been killed. It was a hole in her heart that could never really be filled again. Ellie could very well imagine the pain Nick was suffering now.
The door to the kitchen hadn't even fully closed behind Nick before it opened again. This time it was Rebecca that walked in. She stopped dead in her tracks the moment she laid eyes on Ellie and Clementine.
"Yeah, that's right. We're still alive bitch." Ellie couldn't stop herself from smirking when she saw the expression of wide-eyed disbelief on the woman's face. "What? do I have something on my face?" Ellie asked whiles trying to keep her smirk from becoming a head splitting grin.
Rebecca quickly composed herself. She scowled at Ellie. "I see you two are still alive." she said coldly as she walked past them towards the kitchen sink.
"Yeah, sorry to disappoint you," Ellie replied with the same coldness. "I know how much you were looking forwards to seeing our corpses."
"Ellie," Luke said with a warning tone. The look he gave her along with the slight shaking of his head told her that he wanted her to stop antagonizing Rebecca now before things escalated into a full-fledged fight.
Unfortunately for him, Rebecca was in the mood for a fight. She put down the towel she had used to dry her newly washed hands and shot Ellie a dirty look. "I wouldn't get too comfortable if I were you," she said threateningly.
"Becca, please," Alvin said softly. "Breakfast is almost ready. Let's not start a fight now."
Rebecca ignored her husband pleas for peace. She crossed her arm over her pregnant belly. "You two got what you came for, now leave. You're wearing out your welcome," She said harshly.
"Well too bad for you, we're staying," Ellie replied with the same level of harshness. She stood up from the table, walked up to Rebecca and – mimicking the older woman – crossed her arms. "So, you'd better get used to seeing us sitting "comfortably" in your house, you vicious bit-"
"Alright that's enough, both of you!" Luke said sharply and stood up from the table, his brow furrowed in irritation. "Now I know what happened yesterday didn't give the best circumstances for a first impression but you two need to get over it. There is enough arguments and insults being traded in this house as it is. We don't need you two adding to it by starting a shouting match every time you're in the same room. So, let's just all calm down."
As he said the last words, the kitchen door swung open and Sarah walked in with an excited smile on her face. "Good morni-" she started to say but the words died on her lips and her smile vanished when she sensed the tension in the room. She looked between Luke, Rebecca and Ellie. "Is…something wrong?" she asked anxiously.
There was a short pause where everyone looked at Sarah and then at each other. "No," Rebecca answered for them with a much calmer and softer voice then Ellie had heard from the women. "No, nothing's wrong. We were just having a disagreement, that's all." She gave Sarah a reassuring smile. "It's nothing serious honey." She turned and gave Ellie a warning look. "Right?"
Remembering Carlos's words and what he had made her promise, Ellie said, "yeah, it's nothing." She gave Rebecca one last venomous look, then walked back to her seat and sat down.
With the conflict effectively ended – or more accurately put on hold – Luke sat back down on his chair and Rebecca walked over to help Alvin.
Sarah worriedly looked between the three one more time, but when no one did anything hostile, her smile returned. She practically bounced on her feet's as she approached the table and sat down next to Clementine. "Hi, I'm Sarah. Your Clementine, right?" she greeted with a tone as happy as her smile.
"Yeah," Clementine answered.
"And your Ellie. Dad told me your names last night. This is great. I haven't met another girl my age since way before. It's hard being the only girl in the house."
"I know what that is like," Ellie said. "I was the only kid in my group, it sucked."
"The one you got separated from?!" Sarah asked then lowered her voice into a conspiratorial whisper. "I heard the others talk about that last night. Is it true that you come from Boston and that they have a huge concrete wall around the city?"
"Yeah, I'm from Boston and yeah, there is a concrete wall about four stories high, but it's only around a small part of the city, not the whole."
"We used to live in a place that had walls too. They were only made of wood and wasn't very high, but at least they protected us from…you know, those things out there," Sarah said the last part with a shudder.
Sarah's words peaked Ellie's interest. "So, they used to live in a compound or camp that had walls that were strong enough to protect them before they came to the cabin." But this information raised one big question to Ellie, if the place was as safe as Sarah said, why had they left? Ellie opened her mouth to ask.
"What are you talking about?"
Ellie head snapped in the direction of the voice and saw Carlos. Ellie had been so wrapped in her own thoughts that she hadn't even noticed him enter. He had his arms crossed over his chest and was looking at the three girls with suspicious eyes. He must have seen the unease on Sarah's face, maybe he thought that Ellie and Clem were breaking their promise to him and talking about something horrible to his daughter.
"Girl stuff," Ellie answered quickly before any of the others could say anything.
Carlos raised a disbelieving eyebrow, but before he could say anything however, Alvin called out "breakfast is ready." He carried the pot of rice and placed in the center of the table followed closely by Rebecca who carried the plates and cutlery.
"Did I hear someone say breakfast?" Pete said with a yawn as he and his nephew walked through the door. He greeted the room all with a "good morning" and gave Clementine a warm smile that she returned.
With food now on the table, everyone took their seats. Sarah, Clementine, Ellie and Nick sat on one side of the table and Rebecca, Alvin, Luke and Pete on the other. Carlos took his place at the far end of the table, where he had Nick on his right and Pete on his left. Alvin walked around the table with the pan of deer meat and gave everyone an equal share of the meat. Ellie licked her lips in anticipation and her stomach made a low rumbling sound when she looked at the juicy meat on the plate in front of her. She was tempted to just start tearing into it then and there, but the group might have a ritual or prayer they did before eating. Ellie was not in the mood to listen to Carlos or Rebecca reprimanding her for lack of manners, so she restrained her impulse and sat still.
As she stared in anticipation at the food on the table, Ellie noticed that one thing was missing. "Alvin," she said to gain his attention. Alvin – who had just sat down next to his wife – looked at her. Ellie nodded in the direction of the bowl of meat that was standing next to the stow.
"Oh, right. I forgot," he said and got up to fetch it.
"Where did you get that from? I thought we ate most of the meat last night?" Nick asked when Alvin put the bowl down on the table.
"Ellie had some more in her backpack that she gave me," Alvin answered as he sat down.
"You had more meat!" Rebecca said with an accusatory tone.
"Yeah! what of it?" Ellie snapped back. "The deal was that we'd give you most of the deer in return for a place to stay the night and medical help for Clementine. Which we did!"
"Can't we please have a nice quite breakfast for once? Without anyone shouting?" Sarah asked in a small pleading voice that no one seemed to notice.
Rebecca opened her mouth to retort to Ellie's defiance, but she was cut off by Pete. "Leave the girl be Rebecca. She's right. She held up her part of the deal." Despite his words, Rebecca still looked ready to argue the point.
Perhaps in an attempt to ease the tension around the table, Luke cleared his throat and asked, "out of curiosity, what kind of meat is this? Squirrel? Fish?"
Ellie felt a lump form in her throat when she realized that he had directed his question at her. She had hoped that she wouldn't have to be the one to tell him, since Alvin had said that Luke wasn't going to like the answer to that question. With an effort, she swallowed the lump and said, "it's dog meat."
She had spoken the words quietly, yet everyone heard her. The corners of Luke's mouth fell and he eyed the bowl with open disgust. Yesterday, Pete had talked about how good at poker he was, Ellie saw now that it hadn't been an empty boast. Pete had a perfectly impassive poker face on, Ellie couldn't tell if he was disgusted or disapproved of the meat's origins in any way. Rebecca, who had looked so ready to start a fight over the new meat, instantly lost interest in it, her face twisting to mirror that of Luke's. Carlos kept his face neutral but his feelings for the meat's origin became plane when he told Sarah not to eat any of it. He needn't have worried; Sarah's eyes had gone wide in shock and her face had paled to the point that she looked a little sick. Ellie noticed that Sarah's hands had also started to shake just slightly.
The uncomfortable silence around the table that Ellie's response had created was broken by Alvin who said weakly, "it's there if anyone wants more to eat." Most of them did not. In the end, only Pete, Nick and Ellie dared to eat any of it.
Ellie spent most of the breakfast eating in silence, she only spoke when Sarah or one of the others asked her a question, which wasn't often. Beside her, Clementine sat listening to Sarah, who was absolutely delighted to have someone close to her own age to talk to. She talked almost nonstop between mouthfuls about everything from how she had wanted to visit Paris to Clementine's hairstyles – "it looks very good on you" – and how boring it was to be the only teenager living in the cabin and that there was hardly anything for her to do.
Sarah also bombarded them with questions about themselves and where they came from. Since Carlos had made them promise not to say anything that could upset her, Ellie found it hard to have a conversation with Sarah. Thankfully, Sarah was currently focusing all her attention at Clementine. They were in a deep discussion about school of all things. Ellie mentally shook her head. Sarah was behaving so normal that it was unnerving. Ellie had to admit that Carlos had done an excellent job of shielding her from the truth, she clearly didn't know shit about how seriously fucked up the world was now.
Ellie looked down to the far end of the table to see what the man himself thought of his daughter's interaction with Clem. It turned out he wasn't watching them at all for the moment. Carlos was in a deep discussion with Pete, Luke and Nick.
"Going on another hunt is an unnecessary risk, there's nothing out there but lurkers," Carlos was saying.
"Ellie managed to catch that deer, so there must still be some animals left." Pete countered. "Besides, if we kill some of them lurkers we'll minimize the danger for the rest of the group. Some of them might even have something useful on them, like food or ammo. We're starting to run low on both."
"I still think it's too great a risk to take. You're more likely to use up what little ammunition we have left defending yourself on this hunt then finding more."
"Carlos is right," Nick interjected before his uncle could say anything to counter Carlos's argument. "If we're going to save ammo, then we'll need to get up close and personal and that's dangerous. And if we make too much noise we'll only attract more of them."
"That's what the crossbow is for Nick," Luke pointed out.
"Fat lot of good that think is going to do us out there. Or had you forgotten that you guys used up most of the bolts yesterday!"
"If you guys want to find ammo or food, we could just go to where we met yesterday and ransack the stalkers we downed," Ellie interjected from her end the table, "and we can pick up my arrows whiles we're there."
The table fell silent. Everyone stared at Ellie.
"You want to go back out there? For arrows?" Sarah asked. She sounded surprised and a little confused.
"I only had seven arrows in total and I used up four of them out there," Ellie explained to her and jerked her thumb over her shoulder. "And I don't know how to make more".
At the end of the table Pete nodded in understanding. "She's got a point," he said. "I used up two of our three crossbow bolts out there to. I can make replacements, but they won't be as good. We should go back and get them."
Carlos looked thoughtful for a moment then asked, "how far from here is this place."
Pete shrugged in response and said, "about a twenty-minute walk."
Carlos nodded. "Then I agree that we should go and get them. However, the woods are full of lurkers. I don't think it's a good idea for the girls to go out there with you. It's too dangerous."
Ellie felt her cheeks heat up in indignation at the implication of her being unable to protect herself. "I can handle myself!" She said. "I'm not helpless! I lived in the forest for two days before I met you guys."
Carlos gave her a quick sideways look but otherwise ignored her.
"The lurkers are most likely gone by now. It should be safe and it's not so far from here," Pete said. He leaned back in his chair and crossed his arms.
"Even so, I think it would be best for them to stay here. There is no reason to put their lives in unnecessary danger."
For a second, Ellie thought it looked like Pete would continue to argue against Carlos's points, but to her disappointment he said, "alright. Me and Nick will go get them. It shouldn't take long," and rose from the table.
Alvin quickly stood up. "I'll come with you," he said.
"Alvin?!" Rebecca exclaimed in surprise, her face a mix between shock and fear.
"It's alright Becca. You heard what he said, it safe. Besides, I'm sick of sitting around here all day doing nothing."
"Doing nothing! Your protecting our baby and your calling that nothing!" Rebecca snapped back.
Luke – who clearly saw that Rebecca was about to start a major argument with her husband – turned to the girls and said, "Sarah, why don't you take Ellie and Clementine upstairs and show them your room?"
Sarah beamed at his idea and practically jumped up from her chair and grabbed Clementine by her good arm. "Come on, this way," she said excitedly and almost dragged Clementine out of the room. Ellie – who had no interest in listening to Rebecca rage – quickly followed them out of the kitchen.
"I've heard enough of her shouting for one day, thank you very much."
The living room that they entered made up most of the house. It was cozily furnished with one bookshelf standing in the corner, a half-moon table by the stairs, a metal stove, a small TV table with – surprise, surprise – a TV on it and two sofas that was facing each other with a small table between them. The room had three doors if you didn't count the one to the kitchen. One behind them at the end of the short hallway that lead outside, one on the left and one on the right around the corner from the hallway.
They followed Sarah up the stairs. As she took the first step, Ellie heard Rebecca's muffled shout from the kitchen. "Poor Alvin," she thought and mentally shook her head at how such a nice man could marry such a bitch.
Once they reached the top they turned right. There were two doors, one to the right and another one to the left. "This is my room," Sarah said as she opened the door to the right and walked in. Ellie and Clementine followed.
The room was small and most of the space was taken up by a bed that stood in the middle of the room. There were three other furnishers in the room, a nightstand that stood next to the bed, a small bookshelf standing next to that and a wooden chair that was placed against the wall next to the door.
"It's not very big but at least I have my own room," Sarah said as she turned to face them. "Rebecca and Alvin share the bedroom downstairs. My dad, Pete, Nick and Luke take turns sleeping in the other room up here. The others sleep on the sofa's in the living room, when they're not on night watch that is." She added the last part as an afterthought.
Ellie nodded in understanding. The cabin was small and only had three bedrooms. With Rebecca and Alvin – a married couple who was expecting a baby soon and needed a comfortable bed – occupying one of them and Sarah – a teenage girl with anxiety problems and an overprotective dad – occupying the other, it made sense for the rest of them to take turns sleeping in the only remaining bed. Thanks to her dad, Sarah had most likely had this room completely to herself from the day her group got to the cabin. Now that Ellie and Clem were here, that would most likely change. Ellie silently prayed that Sarah did not snore.
As her eyes wandered the room, she noticed a light blue book that was laying on the bed. As Ellie read the yellow letters on the spine, her eyes widened in disbelief. "No fucking way!" She walked closer and saw that her eyes were not deceiving her. "You got a copy of the Guurgles!" she said in astonishment.
What's the Guurgles?" Clem asked, not seeing what Ellie had picked up.
"It's a book about trans-dimensional body snatchers," Sarah answered. "It's very good, have you read it?" she asked Ellie excitedly.
Ellie shook her head. "No, but I've been trying to get my hands on a copy ever since I read the call of Tir'garash." Ellie picked up the book from the bed and held it up in front of her. She had searched for this book so damn long she had almost given up hope of ever finding a copy.
"That book was so creepy," Sarah said from behind her. "Especially if you read it at night. I had nightmares for days after I read the part when the tomb doors opened. I have it over there if you want to read it again." She visibly shivered and pointed to the almost empty bookshelf where Ellie saw a black book with the familiar title written on its spine.
"Thanks, but I've already read that one to death. I'd rather read this one, if you don't mind?" Ellie asked and gestured to the book in her hand.
"No, of course not. Go ahead," Sarah answered.
Ellie thanked her and sat down on the bed and opened the book and started reading. The next couple of hours went by quickly. Ellie spent most of that time lying on Sarah's bed reading, only taking her eyes from the book whenever Carlos came by to check on them. Meanwhile, Clementine and Sarah spent their time sitting on the floor, talking and playing a board game that Ellie had never heard of called Global Menace. The book was as amazing and addictive as Ellie had hoped it would be and It wasn't until she had passed the one-hundred-page margin that she managed to put the book down to rest her eyes.
"I give up. I can't beat you," she heard Clementine sigh from her position on the floor.
Ellie crawled over to the end of the bed and looked down on the floor. Clem and Sarah had stopped playing Global Menace about an hour ago and was now playing chess. Whiles she didn't know all the rules, Ellie could tell from the state of the board that Clementine was getting her ass kicked.
"Do you want to try Ellie?" Sarah asked when she noticed Ellie watching them.
"Sure, but you'll have to explain how all the pieces work. I've never played chess." Ellie said and switched places with Clementine. Sarah gave her a quick rundown of how all the pieces were allowed to move. "Alright," Ellie said once she had finished, "let's do this."
