Chapter 11

"Okay, I got another one…" said Ellie with a smirk while Sarah was driving along Interstate 80, the road that was leading right to Salt Lake City. Endless seeming fields were passing outside the window, neglected for two decades, as well as the towns and lonely buildings they were passing along the way. They had just left Des Moines behind and were about to reach the city of Omaha, Nebraska, their next destination and chance to drive over the Missouri river.

"A horse comes into a bar and the barkeep askes, 'sup with the long face?"

"Oh my god…" sighed Sarah, chuckling softly and rolling with her eyes. "This one already had a gray beard when I used to be a kid."

"Hmm…" hummed the teenage girl, and flicked through the pages of an old book that was containing a wide variety of jokes. A book she had found a few days ago in an abandoned gas station along the way. "Oh, this one sounds good: Two fish in a tank. One turns to the other and says: „Do you know how to drive this?""

This time, Sarah chuckled even more.

"Okay, this one was funny. Let's hear another one!"

For some moments, there's silence, until Ellie laughed out loud. "Oh…oh shit…" she spoke, gasping for air. "This…ha-ha…this one's great: Two hunters are out in the woods when one of them collapses. He doesn't seem to be breathing and his eyes are glazed. The other guy whips out his phone and calls the emergency services. He gasps, „My friend is dead! What can I do?". The operator says „Calm down. I can help. First, let's make sure he's dead." There is a silence, then a shot is heard. Back on the phone, the guy says „OK, now what?""

Suddenly, Sarah hit the brakes as she began to laugh out loud, Ellie joining in right away. It took them both a few minutes until they had calmed down enough, whereas the blond woman wiped some tears of joy from her eyes.

"Fuck, that was really a nice one," she then said as she was unbuckling her seatbelt. "Listen, I need to take a piss. Be back in a sec."

A toilet break. Since they had left Pittsburgh, Sarah had insisted that they needed to put as much mileage as possible per day behind them, because winter was coming closer with every day, and with it storms and bad weather.

Sarah knew many routes, and said that they were getting worse every year. Strong rain, storms, floods, ice… The merciless elements were destroying roads, bridges and passes faster than someone dared to maintain them. So, getting west as fast as possible was the key.

However, sometimes they needed to make a stop. May it be for refueling, to get some supplies or just to take a break from all this driving. And thinking about it, Ellie also began to feel the need to relieve herself. Therefore, she put the book away, unbuckled her seatbelt as well and left the car, stretching her limbs as soon as she was standing on the road. The weather was mild and sunny, yet the chills of autumn were already lowering the temperature, making it necessary to wear at least a cozy jacket.

The wild, overgrown fields were stretching for miles in each direction, and not far from her was the tail of an airplane sticking out of the fields.

"If you need to take a leak, do it now. Wanna pass through Omaha before the sun goes down," mentioned Sarah as she walked back to the car, still fumbling with the belt of her pants.

Ellie concurred with a nod and made her way into the fields. It actually was stupid to hide, since she and Sarah had more than once seen each other while following nature's call. It was something you get used to pretty quickly when spending the night in dangerous areas. But sometimes they both used this as an excuse to stretch their legs a bit more or to have some time for themselves. Like the young teenager did at the moment.

After walking a few yards into the field, she undid her pants and crouched down in order to urinate. After being done, she pulled her trousers back up and then marched further into the field, right towards the plane wreckage, her curiosity fueling every step and ignorance of any possible danger.

Most of the craft's formerly white hull was covered by moss, young trees and ranking plants. Debris and big parts were scattered over the entire area. A gust of wind rushed through the wild plants, causing them to rustle, which gave the entire scenery an even more eerie atmosphere. No wonder that she gasped loudly as someone was touching her shoulder from behind.

"I'd be happy if you'd holla when you plan to do some exploring."

Being relieved that it was just Sarah, Ellie sighed "Yeaaaah, I'm sorry. But I've never seen one of those so close."

"Hundreds of 'em are scattered over the landscape," mentioned the blonde as she also ogled the wreck. "When the government put the whole country under quarantine, no plane was allowed to land anymore. Those who'd tried, had gotten shot down by the military, the rest flew circles around the airports, hoping for a permission to land, but mostly, they ran out of fuel before that happened. All they could do was try to perform an emergency landing. Well…here you see the result. No burn marks, no fuel, probably tried to land on the interstate, missed it, crashed."

"Damn!" cursed Ellie upon hearing this story and took another step towards the plane. "Always wondered how it is to fly in one of those things. Have you ever traveled in one of those?"

"Me? Yeah, once. Back when I was a lil' kid. I just remember being scared shitless when the plane lifted off, but the view from up there was great."

For another moment, both kept on looking at the wreck in silence, until Ellie mentioned, "You think there's some good stuff to loot?"

But Sarah just shook her head, replying, "It's been here for two decades. Most of the baggage got destroyed when it crashed, the rest got either already looted or is rotted to shit. Believe me, all you'll find in there are old corpses and the next infected wound when you break through the unstable floor." She then already wanted to leave, only turning one last time to the young girl. "These things are nothing more than mass graves and monuments of a time long gone."

After letting out a deep exhale, Ellie took one last glimpse at the airplane, imagining that she was indeed seeing a half-rotte. skull through one of the blind windows, before she followed Sarah back to the car.

"You think that - one day - we could fly such things again. I mean, with a cure and everythin'?"

They had reached the road again, as the blond woman stopped and said, "Maybe, yeah. But only if there's somebody left who knows how to fly a plane. A lotta knowledge got lost over the years. Knowledge that mankind has to find again once this shit is over."

"And where would you fly to?" Ellie kept on asking as they entered their vehicle. For a moment, Sarah looked out the window as she was thinking deeply.

"A nice, fuckin' island in the middle of bumfuck nowhere, where there's no fungus and infected or any hunters or FEDRA. Just you, me, a fuckin' beach and a nice cocktail…"

She then started the car, noticing a bit later that the young girl was looking at her with big eyes. "You really would take me with ya? How come?"

The engine revved as Sarah steered the car back on the interstate and drove them along the road. A minute passed without another word and Ellie could see that her guardian was fighting to give an answer.

"I like you," she eventually returned with a shrug of her shoulders. Her grip was tight around the wheel and her sight fixed on the road. Obvious signs that Sarah was tensed up and uncomfortable. "I used to be alone for the last two years, thinking that this kinda solitude was the best way. Then, I suddenly was stuck with you and I… I dunno, I like it. I kinda grew fond of you and, damn, I'm gonna miss it when our lil' tour is over."

Ellie had expected a lot, but not this. Not a confession that Sarah actually liked her. A certain heat began to crawl up her face and she knew that she was flustered. She didn't want to, but couldn't stop it, and this was embarrassing for her. So, she turned her reddened face towards the passenger window and gazed at the passing landscape, mumbling "And I always thought that I annoy the shit outta ya."

"Oh, you still do," was Sarah's dry reply to that, underlined with a wry smirk. "But it's like alcohol, you get used to and eventually addicted to it."

"Wow…I'm getting compared to drugs now… I'm sooo flattered…" said the young girl with cynicism, which earned her a soft push by her guardian. Both then chuckled in unison again as they kept on following Interstate 80.

Like all other cities along their way, Omaha was just another withering shadow of a long gone civilization. A crumbling monument, where once thousands of people used to live.

Ellie always watched those ruins with some sort of curiosity, always asking herself and imagining how it once looked before it had gotten abandoned and overrun by the fungus. Still, when not driving around, she mostly preferred nature over the cities.

"Didn't you say, it's suicidal to drive through the cities?"

"True," replied Sarah as she maneuvered the car through the, with old, rusty car wrecks filled, road. "But we're not driving directly through the streets. As long as we stay on the interstate, we should be safe."

They passed the bridge that was leading over the Missouri river, hence entering the state of Nebraska. And it became more and more obvious to Ellie why Sarah thought this to be a secure way, because someone had cleared a path through the countless abandoned cars, making it possible in the first place to use the interstate by car.

Ellie was fascinated by the fact that this town was still far more intact than most of the other big cities along the route. And as she was still watching the scenery, she saw some movement at the ridge that was separating the big road from the buildings.

"Uh, Sarah…?" she said, getting the blond woman's attention. "I think I saw someone, over there."

"You sure?" Sarah returned, shifting her glimpse between the point Ellie had pointed at and the road ahead multiple times. "I don't see anything."

At first, when nobody could be seen, the young girl thought she must've imagined it. But after they passed an old semi truck, she indeed saw a person, standing right beside the road and looking directly at her. It seemed to be a young woman, whose head was covered by the hood of her hoodie, causing her face to be hidden in the shadows.

After shaking off her surprise, she wanted to call Sarah again, who, however, screamed a loud "SHIT!" and made an evasive maneuver as a car fell down from the crossing overpass, right onto the street before them, causing them to crash into another one of the abandoned vehicles.

Fortunately, Sarah had hit the brakes fast enough so that the impact was rather mild. Knowing that this was a trap, the blonde put the gear in reverse and tried to get out of the dangerous situation. However, as the first shots impacted into the trunk, she knew that backwards wasn't an option as well. Instead, she chose to take the still open exit to the right that was leading onto the overpass and planned to use the opposite access to the interstate in order to get around the trap before they would be stuck.

A good idea, but sadly, doomed to fail.

In order to get away from the danger as fast as possible, Sarah punched the gas and accelerated. She thought that the path was clear, but oversaw another trap: caltrops in the middle of the street. At the point she realized her mistake, it was already too late. The tires burst and the car slided on its rims over the concrete, unmaneuverable, until it crashed through the guardrail and down the slope, directly into a building, where it broke through the wall and came to a halt.

For a moment, Ellie's world went dark from the impact before she regained consciousness. She was confused and barely realized that Sarah was talking to her.

"...need to get out. C'mon, kid!"

Still dizzy, Ellie unbuckled her seatbelt and instinctively grabbed her pre-packed backpack, as Sarah was doing it, and followed her guardian through the burst windshield into the building.

The building seemed to have been some sort of repair shop, but that was something Ellie couldn't really pay attention to since they were hunted and needed to hide somewhere. She heard some yelling voices behind them and knew that they were onto them.

"There's the car!"

"Where are those two bitches?"

"They must be in that building!"

Realizing that this wouldn't probably go without a fight, Sarah took off her pack and brought forth her small crossbow, her knife and her pistol, and Ellie did the same with her weapons.

A loud banging sound echoed through the building, signaling that the hunters had broken open some door and were now inside.

After signing Ellie to follow her, Sarah moved quietly through the rooms, ending up in a small restroom with a small window, which led in a side alley. After making sure it was safe enough, Sarah first helped Ellie through it before she followed.

The alley was open to both sides and for a moment it looked like they could slip away, until someone checked this passage and found them.

"They are he-..." he began to scream until one of Sarah's bolts pierced his neck and silenced him. But it was too late. The guy's comrades had already heard him and began to send bullets down that alley.

Taking cover in a doorway, Sarah returned fire, forcing the enemy to take cover while Ellie was checking the door. Luckily, it was unlocked and both used the chance to get away from the combat situation.

This building, however, was pretty much rundown. Probably had even been marked for destruction before the outbreak. There were holes in the ground, ceiling and walls, everywhere. Still, the two women ran deeper into the structure, trying to get rid of the hunters.

Yet, they were on their turf, meaning that they knew the vicinity. A lesson Sarah had to learn as a man with a knife attacked her out of nowhere. A struggle between the two broke out and Ellie was about to help her friend as the two fighting people suddenly tripped and fell through the wooden boards into one of those holes.

"SARAH!" Ellie screamed, which caught the attention of even more hunters.

She heard them closing in on her position and all she could do was to run away, until she had reached a dead end. A dark room without an exit and a barricaded window. All she could do now was to draw her pistol and aim at the door, waiting for the first poor motherfucker that would walk right into her bullets.

She heard steps, closing in on her position, getting louder with each second.

Her grip around the gun was firm and her finger on the trigger, ready to shoot.

But suddenly, someone was grabbing her from behind, covering her mouth and lowering her gun. However, it wasn't a hard touch, but rather soft, which was probably the reason Ellie didn't put up much of a fight as she was dragged through a small, hidden hole in the wall, right into another room. And after she had gotten released, she immediately spun around and aimed at her savior.

It was the person from before, who had been standing beside the interstate. A young woman with Asian roots and short-cut black hair, who was giving her a wry smirk.

"Follow me, if you wanna live!" was all she said before leading the way.

"Hey! What about my friend? I won't leave her behind!" complained Ellie, holding the unknown woman by her arm, who then just looked at her.

"The place is crawling with those assholes and after dark the Cordies will roam the streets. We have to wait until they're all gone and then look for your friend or you'll die, you got that?"

Lacking any other options, Ellie eventually complied and followed, though she would've loved to stay. But sometimes, you have to make tough choices, a lecture Sarah had taught her well.

The young woman led her silently through the streets of Omaha, always avoiding too open spaces until they had reached an apartment or hotel complex.

They then slipped into one of the buildings through a back door.

"C'mon inside!" said the unknown woman with a smirk as she held open. Reluctantly, Ellie did as she had said.

Now that they were off the streets, both relaxed, whereas the young woman said "The name's Sabine, by the way."

"Ellie," replied the young teenager shortly as she was scanning her surroundings.

Indeed, this building probably used to be a hotel, since they were walking along a hallway, where several doors were leading to separate rooms. It was rundown like most buildings nowadays, yet maintained enough to signal that it was inhabited.

Suddenly another person came around a corner and Ellie already wanted to take cover, but realized that Sabine wasn't avoiding contact, yet even greeted her.

"Hey, Katie! 'sup?"

"Hey Sabine, who's this?" the other woman asked. She was a skinny, ebony woman, wearing some casual, dirty clothes and was armed with a rifle. Probably a guard.

"A newbie. Rescued her from the others before things might get ugly."

Newbie? The others?

Ellie tried to piece together why Sabine was staying so cool and was talking about the hunters like they were nothing special.

"Fuck, Sabine. You know that Terry will flip his shit when you bring in stray dogs without his permission. We can't afford to feed another mouth."

"But she's cute," returned Sabine, turning towards Ellie with another wry smile. "Y'know what the guys would do to her if they'd find her alone."

Slowly, but surely, Ellie realized that she had been walking right into the lion's den. Those two women were not hiding from hunters, they were the hunters! And this horrible realization must've been written all over Ellie's face as the woman named Katie suddenly lifted her rifle and aimed at the young girl.

"I guess your lil' cutie starts to not agree with us."

But Sabine just scoffed and walked towards Ellie, grabbed her face and planted a kiss on her lips that immediately stunned her. Using this moment of shock, the young Asian woman just chuckled as she took away Ellie's gun and roamed with her other hand over her entire body until she felt the switchblade in the back pocket of her pants.

"I promise you that no harm will be done to you as long as you play along," she whiffed onto the girl's face, trying to plant another kiss on her lips, but eventually got shoved away.

"Fuck off, fuckface!"

But Sabine just chuckled again, grabbed Ellie by the neck and tossed her into the next room.

"If you excuse us," she then plainly said to the other woman, who only shook her head and continued her patrol. Sabine then closed the door and turned towards Ellie. "You should be grateful, y'know," she mentioned, laying the young girl's weapons onto the next table. "Those motherfuckers out there would've raped and killed you, if I wouldn't have brought you here. And if not them, then the Cordies at night. So, a lil' thank you is in order, dontcha think?"

But Ellie just gave her a death glare, answering "I never asked for this, you asshole."

This time, Sabine just sighed and shook her head. "I know it's a lot to get used to, but…"

"I wanna get back out there, find my friend and bail this fuckin' town. And if any of you motherfuckers get in my way, I'm gonna kill ya!"

"Your friend's fuckin' dead!" Sabine blurted back, her relaxed demeanor entirely gone. "If the fall hasn't killed her, the Cordies will, 'cause the building's lower floors are full of infected." She took another deep inhale to calm down again, her expression getting soft once more. "Listen, I offer you a new home here. It's not that bad once you get used to the rules…and the food."

But Ellie crossed her arms and turned away, looking through the gaps of the boarded windows until a hard knock at the door let her spin around.

"Open this fuckin' door right now, you stupid cunt!" yelled a male voice from outside, followed by another hard bump on the door.

Sabine sighed a faint "Oh, fuck!" before she unlocked the wooden barrier, which immediately flew open and let her stumble backwards.

A tall bear of a man stomped into the room, throwing the door back into the lock so hard that the walls were shaking from the impact. He was a terrifying man, who wore an old plaid shirt, black combat pants and combat boots. His scruffy hair and beard gave him a wild look while his brown eyes had a stinging, murderous glare that was switching between Sabine and Ellie.

"Terry, listen, I found her first. Finders keepers, y'kn-..." Sabine said with a shivering voice, but got interrupted as a hard smack hit her right in the face, letting her stumble onto the room's old bed that began to creak under her weight.

"What did I tell you about bringing strays into our home?" he yelled, grabbing the young woman by the collar and lifting her up, so that she was face to face with the tall man.

"T-Terry…" she groaned in return, but again got interrupted as the man's paw-like hand grabbed her cheeks hard like a vice and forcefully turned her face towards Ellie.

"You wanna have her for yourself, huh?" he asked, now looking at the young girl himself, showing his brown teeth as he spoke. "You wanna hide her? Fuck her? Eat her? Without sharing?"

Sabine tried to shake her head,but to no avail, while Ellie took another step back upon those heard words.

Then, he turned her head back to face him. "Maybe I'll let you keep her as your lil' pet. But it'll cost you…and her!"

He then gazed at Ellie again with a wicked demeanor on his face.

"Let's show this lil' cunt what the price for disobedience is."

What then happened shocked Ellie to her core. Violently, Terry opened Sabine's pants and pulled them down, revealing her intimacy, followed by pushing up her upper garments until her small breasts were showing. Then, he undid his pants, bringing forth his already erected penis, which he forced into the young woman who began to cry out loud upon the violent intrusion.

At first, Ellie was just petrified out of horror as she had to watch how this man was raping this poor, weeping woman right in front of her young eyes. It disgusted her, so she eventually turned away.

A big mistake! Because, out of the sudden, the bed stopped creaking and just a second later, she got grabbed harshly by a big hand and thrown onto the bed as well, landing on her stomach, right beside Sabine, who was looking at her with sorrowful, teary, brown eyes.

"I'm so sorry," she whispered, holding one of Ellie's hands like she wanted to comfort her through the next upcoming event.

Ellie felt how Terry cut open the belt of her pants, not bothering with the buckle, and pulled them down. She knew what was about to happen, but unlike Sabine she would never give in to this fate, yet turned around and kicked the tall man right in his testicles.

He groaned and fell on his knees, holding his intimacy with one hand while grabbing Ellie's right leg with the other one as she wanted to get away. He pulled, bringing the young girl close to him, put his hands around her neck and squeezed.

"Dead or alive, I don't care how I fuck lil' cunts like you!" he hissed into her face while she was fighting for air. But no matter what she tried, his grip was way too strong and the murderous glare in his eyes made it clear that he wouldn't stop until she was dead.

Suddenly he screamed and let go of the young girl, who dropped to the ground, gasping for air. She was hearing some commotion. A struggle between Terry and Sabine, who had Ellie's with blood spotted unfolded switchblade in her hand, which got smashed against the wall by Terry so that it fell to the ground, right in front of Ellie.

Terry quickly had gotten the upper hand against the young woman, giving her a hard punch into the face so that she hit the ground before she then got taken into a choke hold.

"You're gonna make a nice dinner!" he said and squeezed even harder.

This was Ellie's chance! She used the moment Terry was distracted, picked up her knife, approached the tall man from behind and rammed the blade right in the back of his neck, twisting and turning it while the tall man tried to reach it with his hands to pull it out. Blood was bubbling from the wound while he fell like a tree and began squirming on the floor until his body went limp.

Both, Ellie and Sabine, were standing above their tormentor's corpse, their pants still around their ankles and both breathing heavily.

"Thanks!" the young woman said with a low voice, her sight still fixed on Terry.

"You're welcome," was Ellie's cold reply as she tried to pull up her pants. Sadly they didn't want to hold around her hips anymore since her belt was gone and the button had become undone upon the violent undressing. "Fuck!"

Seeing the young girl's trouble, Sabine pulled up her pants as well and then pulled her colorful belt from her trousers.

"Here, take it! It's the least I can do," she said, reaching Ellie the belt, who looked at it with skepticism at first, but then eventually took it.

As she wanted to close the buckle her hands started to shake, followed by her entire body. Out of sudden, she began to sob, not knowing where it was coming from. Right away, she was taken into a comforting hug by Sabine, who was whispering soothingly into her ear.

"Let it out, it helps! I know it."

No, Ellie hadn't gotten raped. Yet, witnessing it and almost experiencing it herself, had been enough to leave a deep wound on the young girl's mind. A wound that will one day become a scar.

After some time, she had calmed down enough to continue. After redressing and rearming herself, Ellie wanted to leave, but got stopped by Sabine.

"Listen, I know everything between us is fucked right now, but… I really wanna help you to get outta here. And then…we bail, okay?"

But Ellie just crossed her arms and bobbed her head to one side, replying "I won't leave without my friend!"

Letting out another deep sigh, Sabine agreed reluctantly, saying "Fine, I'm gonna help you find her. But don't expect any wonders."

But Ellie just shrugged and walked past the young woman and out of the door, almost colliding with Katie.

"Whoa, calm down, girl! What's the rush? Where're ya goin'?"

Luckily, Sabine followed right away, facing the other woman with a nervous chuckle.

"Hey Katie! Just wanna catch some fresh air. Y'know…"

"Yeah, I heard Terry rippin' you a new one. Sorry, but you know the rules. I had to report her. I hope he wasn't…"

Being on guard duty, Katie's trained eyes suddenly realized that Ellie was armed again. Then she saw the marks around their throats and eventually she saw the puddle of blood that was appearing in the still ajar door as well as one of Terry's feet before her gaze fell upon the two other women again.

Ellie didn't know how or why she had done it, but she reacted faster than the two women as she pulled her gun and shot Katie right in the chest in cold blood, who immediately went down, the rifle falling out of her hands.

At first, Sabine was shocked to see the woman fall, but swiftly reminded herself that she had betrayed her to Terry and was now an enemy. She took the rifle and ran with Ellie towards the entrance through which they had entered the building before.

They heard the commotion and yelling voices behind them and knew that they would both soon be hunted.