Chapter 03: A Theatrical Misadventure.

Joel and his two allies began their trek further into the city, to the TV Station. "So, those are the Wolves.", said Dina. "They're real armed, and there's a shitload of em.", said Tommy. "We knew this was a possibility.", said Joel. "Does this change anything for you, Joel?", asked Dina. Joel turned back towards her. "Of course not.", he said, sternly.

A minute later, Dina said, "Hey Joel, I have to ask...why didn't they kill you when they had the chance? Like, why would they just slaughter Jesse and Ellie, but let you go?" Joel thought about how to respond for a moment, then said, "The leader of em, the big blonde one with the braid, she said she wanted me to suffer, not die. She spoke as if we had known each other, as if I had intentionally hurt her in the past, but I honestly got no clue who she is.", Joel said, dishonestly.

"Well that's fucking creepy.", said Dina. "Yeah...", said Tommy. The younger Miller didn't feel comfortable lying to the only ally the two of them had, but he understood why it was necessary.

"So Joel, when we do get to this Leah person, what exactly do you wanna do?", Dina asked. "Find out what she knows, find out where the others are, go from there.", answered Joel. "Well...how exactly are you gonna...get answers from her?", Dina asked, hesitantly. "I got a few ideas.", Joel said in a grim voice. "Now don't worry 'bout it, kiddo, we'll-we'll get what we need from her. No problem.", Tommy tried to say in a reassuring voice. He once swore to never help Joel torture another human being again.

But when they get their hands on Ellie's killers, he was going to ensure that they get hurt. Bad.

"So, are you sure you don't have any clue who Braid Lady might be? Like, she didn't say anything that rang any sort of bell?", asked Dina. "Nothin'. She went on an insane rant about how I, "killed her parents in front of her back in Oregon". I ain't never even been to Oregon.", answered Joel. Luckily for him, he had gotten better at lying since his failure to adequately convince Ellie in the past. "Jesus. Crazy bitch.", said Dina.

Over the next half-hour, the trio occasionally encountered squads of Wolves, and did what had to be done to continue their mission. Once the wolves were dead, they made sure to take their bullets and supplies for themselves, as the corpses wouldn't be needing them, anymore.

In the midst of it all, Dina noticed some interesting graffiti on the wall of one of the buildings. "Hey old guys, check this out.", she said, pointing to it.

It was a large mural of what appeared to be a middle-aged woman with scars resembling a forced smile on both her cheeks, her arms reaching out as though she were about to hug someone. Her eyes were closed, and she was smiling. She looked peaceful. A lone sentence above her read:

FEEL HER LOVE

"Who do you think she is?", Dina asked the Millers. "Well clearly someone who wants us to feel her love.", said Tommy, prompting Joel and Dina to roll their eyes. "You think she's one of them?", asked Dina. "For some reason, I don't think so. I don't know, it's just a feeling.", said Joel.

They made it to the outskirts of the TV Station. "Okay, y'all stay low. Tommy, use your scope. What do you see?", asked Joel. Tommy peered into the scope of his rifle. "We got bodies. They're pretty torn up. Yeah, they're dead. I don't see any living hostiles."

"Okay. There could still be some of em' alive on the inside, so we can't just go waltzing in. Let's find another way.", Joel commanded. After searching for a bit, they found an exposed window on the second floor. With a bit of climbing, they made it inside. Guns were at the ready as they checked their corners, but still no signs of enemies, or any kind of life for that matter.

However, once they made it to the large, main room of the TV Station, they found a ghastly sight: Their enemies were all dead, but they had been stripped totally naked, their genitals, eyes, noses, ears, even fingers and toes, all cut off. vicious lacerations were seen all over their bodies as they hung from the ceiling with their intestines hanging out.

"Sweet Jesus.", said Joel. "What-what in God's name?...", asked Tommy to himself. "Holy dogshit-eating fucknuts...", said Dina.

"Who...what could've done this?", asked Tommy to himself. "They-they look like they were attacked by a fucking Wendigo or something.", said Dina, thinking back to the folktale she heard from an old neighbor once in Jackson. "Well, whatever it is, it could still be here. Stay sharp.", Ordered Joel. "N-no problem.", replied Dina in a shaky voice as her rifle quivered in her hands.

They looked around the building for a few minutes, then encountered a room. Inside, their laid the body of the one they sought out. Not grotesquely mutilated as the other corpses had been, but dead for sure as the three arrows in her chest indicated. "That's her. Leah.", Joel said as he kneeled down to check the body for anything they could use. "Dammit. Nothin'.", said Joel. Meanwhile Dina listened into the nearby WLF radio which kept unknowingly trying to contact soldiers whom no longer drew breath, and Tommy checked a nearby duffle bag.

"Joel, come take a look.", said Tommy. He held out some pictures. You recognize any of em'?" Joel skimmed through some. "Yeah, actually. That's all of em."

He skimmed through a couple more, then he saw her. "That's her.", Joel said pointing at the picture with the names Abby and Owen on them. "That's the one that butchered my baby-"

He caught himself. "Ellie.", he corrected. Dina walked over to him and laid a hand on his shoulder. "Hey, three down, right?", she said. "Yeah.", Joel replied.

"Support Unit India en route to the TV Station. Repeat: Support Unit India en route to the TV Station.", the Wolf radio boomed. "God dammit, let's get outta dodge.", said Tommy.

As they made their way out, Dina asked Joel, "Well, she's dead. How do you feel?" Before he could answer, they heard a voice call out, "Scars could still be in the area, stay alert!"

"Shit, get down.", Joel whispered to his two allies. They peeked from cover. A squad of Wolves blocked the exit. "Fuck, how do we get outta here?", Dina asked Joel and Tommy. Tommy unholstered his M14 and Joel his M16 as if to answer her question. "Well, fuck. Here we go again.", said Dina as she unholstered her Winchester Rifle.

After the squad in front of the door was gunned down, Joel and his allies continued on out, only to encounter more and more Wolves as they progressed. Once the enemy numbers became too great, Joel commanded, "Hell with it, we're just wastin' ammo, RUN!"

Once they were finally outside, they kept running downwards as Infantry and even a few Humvees fired on them at will. Eventually, they ran through a door which led to an abandoned subway, pulling a nearby vending machine down to keep the door blocked. "Alright, that should buy us some time. Anyone hit?", Joel asked through shaky breaths. Dina shook her head. "One of the bullets grazed my thigh but nah, I'm okay.", said Tommy as he wrapped his injury with a bandage. "Alright, good. Y'all put your masks on, there could be spores down here.", Joel ordered.

Sure enough, they encountered spores less than a minute into their trek through the subway. Soon after that, they reached what appeared to be an old subway station lit up by red flares placed by wolf squads. The sounds of masked voices giving orders and clicks of the infected echoed.

"I know orders were to deal with the trespassers, but honestly, the fuck do they matter? Scars just slaughtered that whole unit. Let's just leave them down here for the Clickers to rip up.", one Wolf said. "Nah, these assholes killed Mike, he was my best fucking friend, I gotta return the favor.", another replied.

"Joel, what do you wanna do?", Dina asked him. "Just stay still for a bit, I got an idea.", he answered. For almost a full minute, Joel actually didn't do anything. "What the hell is he waiting for? Those Clickers are gonna find us, eventually!", Dina thought, nervously. Then, when the time was just right, and the WLF squad had regrouped, Joel threw an empty beer bottle right at their feet, causing a loud crash to echo throughout the area.

"WRACHKK!?", the numourous nearby Clickers shrieked as they began their usual, unnerving sprint when they sensed that food was close. "What the fuck? OH NO! GET AWAY! NOW!", the WLF squad leader yelled as the squad began to unload their guns into the horde of monsters. But it was no use, for the Clickers were too many. As the Wolves screamed in agony as the Infected feasted on their flesh, Joel said calmly, "Alright, let's go, y'all."

Joel, Tommy and Dina exited the area through an old subway train, and pressed on. "Old dudes...I'm really tired.", said Dina. "Yeah, me too, kiddo.", replied Joel. "Damn if I couldn't use a nap.", said Tommy. A little later, Dina asked, "Did you guys hear what they kept calling us?"

"Scars, yeah.", said Joel. "I wonder if maybe they're the ones who made all those murals.", said Tommy. "And mutilated all those Wolves.", said Joel. "Is there anyone in this city who isn't a fucking psycho?", asked Dina. "I doubt it.", said Tommy.

Up ahead, the Jackson team heard the sounds of a man howling in horrible agony. Weapons at the ready, they proceeded with caution. Not long later, they found what was left of the man who uttered that scream. He had been viciously burned. "Jesus, what the hell did this?", Dina asked. "Well, Bloaters got acid spores.", said Joel. "Great. Only thing that would make today worse is if we ran into one of those assholes.", said Tommy.

A little later, they needed to crawl through a vent in order to keep going. "Got another Shambler! Get away, now!", a voice cried out nearby. As they crawled through the vent, they found themselves over a transparent grate which allowed them to witness the carnage. "Hold on, man, I got you!", a Wolf said. "No no! Just get outta here! SAVE YOURSELF!", his buddy said. Then their threat came into view. It was a large, almost pear-shaped Infected completely covered in fungi. It wasted no time, sprinting full speed into it's prey, then did something that shocked the Jackson team to their core: The unusual Infected unleashed a spore cloud through it's skin, causing the two Wolves to shriek in agony as their flesh peeled off of their bones.

"Oh...my...God...", Dina said in a shaky voice. "I ain't never seen one like that. You Joel?", Tommy asked. "No. Not once. Be very careful, you two.", Joel said.

The made it out of the vent, and into a large area with mutiple rooms. All containing numourous Infected, including what sounded like these, "Shamblers."

"Alright, listen y'all. We don't know nothing about these things and we're low on ammo. We're gonna sneak by em'. Stay on me, and do NOT make a sound.", ordered Joel.

It took a great deal of wits, and no small amount of courage, but they managed to sneak by most of the Infected, albeit having to strangle some unaware Runners who stood in their way. Once they made it through the area. They found themselves in a dark hallway, hopefully still leading out of from underground. "And there I was thinking we'd seen all the Infected there was to see.", said Joel. "Yeah, you two've never seen ANY of those over the last twenty-five years? Shit, they must be new. Guess Nature evolved, again.", said Dina. "Well, Nature's a bitch.", said Tommy. "Learned that two decades ago, little brother.", said Joel.

A few minutes later, they found themselves in another subway train area. "I wonder what it was like to ride these things before Outbreak Day.", said Dina. "Don't worry, you ain't missing out on much.", said Joel.

They were making their way up an elevated train which appeared to lead out, when suddenly it came crashing down with Joel and his allies inside! "Shit, woah woah WOAH!", Joel cried out as they all tumbled down.

After Joel stood up and shook his head, he first saw Tommy, who was doing the same. "You alright?", Joel asked him. Tommy nodded, then his gaze turned towards Dina. "Oh no.", Tommy said. Joel turned his head, and saw that Dina was coughing blood.

She had been impaled in the thigh with a piece of rebar.

The Miller brothers ran over to her. She was not screaming, but she was softly tearing up and groaning. "Argh, help me...", Dina said. As Joel picked her up, they heard what sounded like hundreds of Infected shriek and run their direction. "Tommy go. Go, go GO GO!", Joel quickly commanded as he began to run away with Dina in his arms.

The brothers dared not look back, but Dina not needing to run herself looked over Joel's shoulder, and saw what just might've been the biggest Infected horde she had ever seen. "Ack, oh God...", she said in a weak voice. Joel was fit and strong, but she didn't find it likely that he would be able to outrun that many Infected with someone in his tired arms at his age. She knew it was likely the end for her.

They ran for almost two minutes, eventually stumbling upon a turnstile gate. The way out! Joel pushed through the gate, but when he looked back, he saw Tommy getting grabbed by a Clicker, Without a second thought, he dropped Dina, sprinted towards Tommy, and blasted the Clicker's skull to pieces with his revolver. Tommy's ears hurt like Hell, but he was grateful not to have died a horrible death.

In an unbelievable stroke of luck, the Infected weren't able to push through the gate, not knowing how it worked, they all squeezed into each other, trapping themselves.

"You clean?", Joel asked Tommy. His little brother's ears were ringing, but he understood what was asked, and nodded. Joel then walked over to Dina, who held her thigh in agony. "Sorry, kiddo.", Joel said as he picked her back up.

When they walked out, they were greeted with a moderate rainfall and dark clouds. The first building they laid eyes on was what appeared to be an abandoned theater. "We'll rest in there. Tommy, you lead.", Joel commanded. Tommy obeyed, gun in hand in case the theater wasn't as abandoned as it seemed. Thankfully, once they were inside, there didn't appear to be a soul around, and the lights were off. No Infected groans or clicks, no Wolves barking orders, nothing.

Joel laid Dina down on a nearby couch, causing her to let out a small sigh of comfort despite her wound. "Tommy, I don't have any first-aid kits left. You?", Joel asked. "...No.", Tommy answered. "I wish to fuck I did.", said Dina, still breathing heavily due to her injury and the exhaustion of the long day.

Then, Joel did something that took Dina by surprise, and not in a pleasant way. "God dammit, kid. I told you to be more careful!", he said in a raised voice. "Joel, calm down.", Tommy said to no avail, "Joel, please not now.", Dina begged. "You said you wouldn't slow us down, but look what just happened!", he yelled. "Joel, that could've happened to any of us-", Dina tried to say.

"Nah! BULLSHIT! BULLSHIT! You think you can just sail through this shit and not get hurt, BUT YOU JUST CAN'T, ELLIE!"

Dina and Tommy's eyes widened. Joel took a step back, a lump entering his throat. "Dina, I...I-I'm sorry. I...I'm gonna go see if the rest of this place is secure. Tommy, stay here and guard her. Please."

Tommy complied, a concerned look on his face as his older brother walked away. Tears filled Dina's eyes, but not for her own pain.

The first thing Joel wanted to do was to find a way to turn the power to the theater back on. He had to go back outside in the dark, cold rain, then turn the generator back on. Once that task was done, he went back to exploring/securing the rest of the theater. In the process, he found a small room with a radio inside. "Ah, maybe we can use that. Spy on the Wolves.", Joel said to himself.

He then noticed a keyring on the same desk as the radio. He took the keys, then went back downstairs. He came across some locked doors. Using the keys he had just found, the door opened, and inside was the large auditorium and stage. "Lord knows I ain't been in one of these in years." When he made it backstage, behind the big red curtain, he kept his eyes open and his revolver in hand in case any threats popped out at him.

In the process, he laid eyes on something that pleasently surprised him. "Well, I'll be damned.", the tired old man said as he opened up the guitar case to find that it was indeed not empty. Guitar in hand, he walked back to the first row in the auditorium, sat down slowly, and began to softly strum at the instrument.

"If I ever were to lose you...I'd surely lose myself..."

Now knowing the theater was devoid of threats, Joel allowed his body and mind to succumb to the overwhelming fatigue, and fell asleep.