Chapter 05: Nora
This was far from the first time Joel had adventured alone, yet he couldn't help feeling somewhat less secure without the two allies he had for so long up until now.
Thankfully, he hadn't ran into much resistance on his journey to the hospital, just occasional Infected and one small squad of Wolves in an abandoned Apartment. They caught him off guard as he was trying to attach an ACOG sight to his M16A4, but nonetheless, they were no match for him.
Traveling a little further now, in order to proceed, he needed to make his way through an old building next to an intense river. The only problem? The building was infested with Stalkers. Nothing he hadn't faced before, though. Sneaking around some, and killing others with his shivs, he was almost through when one of them pinned him against a cracked window.
He tried pushing it off, but this one possessed a shocking amount of strength for a Stalker. Before he was bitten, the window broke, and Joel and the stalker fell down into the raging river below. He tried swimming up, but the Stalker was still alive, and dragged him down, determined to keep his newfound meal. After Joel stabbed him in the neck with his shiv, he swam back up, and saw that the river was gaining speed, and dragging him down into an old sewer. He tried to swim away, but it was no use, and he was dragged straight down.
Once the current finally stopped, he swam back up, and pulled himself out of the water. "And I thought Pittsburgh was a shithole.", he said as he examined his surroundings and reflected on everything Seattle had thrown at him so far.
...
It luckily did not take long for him to get out of the sewer. "Now, where the hell did I end up?", he asked himself as he examined a nearby map. "Alright. At least I was dragged in the right direction. Almost there, just gotta cut through the park."
As he lightly jogged through the park, he occasionally heard strange whistles. Unnerved, he unholstered his revolver and slowed down his jog. After he climbed over a small hill, he heard a loud whistle and was knocked back down from an arrow piercing his shoulder!
As he hid behind the hill, he pulled the arrow out, then crawled into the grass to evade his new enemies. "Did you get the Wolf?", he heard one of them say. "I don't know. I can't find the body. Remain vigilant!", he heard another say. They're hunting the Wolves?, Joel asked himself. Whoever they were, he needed to stay hidden, and make it throught the park unseen. He knew nothing about these new threats and he knew it would be wise to save his ammunition for the hospital anyway.
As he crawled further through the grass, he came upon an unsavory sight: These new enemies had a Wolf captured on a stool with a noose around his neck. "They are nested with Sin. Free them, so that they may know my love.", the Seraphite said as he slashed the Wolf's stomach open with a knife, spilling his intestines as he hung. "God damn...", Joel said to himself.
Although he had to slit some throats along the way, Joel managed to make it through the park unseen. "Those must be the people who tore apart those Wolves in the TV Station.", he said to himself.
...
Finally, he had made it. The hospital laid directly ahead of him. Nora better at least be there, Joel thought.
He surveyed the area. Going just off of the front of the Hospital alone, he knew that a direct assault would be utter suicide. After finding an alternate route through a path submerged in water, he successfully invaded the Hospital unseen, then remained in the shadows as he searched for a woman matching Nora's description.
Remaining hidden, he came across two wolves arguing with each other. One of them was an african-american woman in a doctor uniform. Could that be her? Joel asked himself. "I'm sorry, but if we don't get more meds, some people are gonna die. I'm a doctor, not a miracle worker.", the woman said. "Then let them fucking die, Nora. Some of those grunts aren't worth keeping around much, anyway. Save the ones who are actually worth a damn.", the man said.
Bingo, there you are. Joel thought. Nora and the man then turned their backs on each other. She went into a small room nearby, and he unwittingly walked right towards Joel, who was still hidden in the shadows. Once Joel had grabbed him and jammed a shiv into his neck, Joel unholstered his M16, then carefully walked into the room Nora was in.
"Turn around, slowly. You make a single peep and I'll empty this entire mag into your damn body.", Joel said behind Nora, who's eyes widened as she heard and recognized the voice. "Oh, God...", Nora said as she faced Joel. A very angry Joel with an assault rifle.
"I'll keep it simple. You really pissed me off, kid, but you can still survive this.", Joel said, lying. "Just tell me where Abby is, and I won't kill you."
"I don't know.", Nora said, making Joel growl. "You shoot me, the sound will have every soldier come running.", she said. "Yeah, but you'll still be dead, and then they'll all join you in hell. You know damn well it ain't the first time I shot up a hospital.", Joel replied.
"If it makes you feel any better, I didn't want Ellie dead. It should have been you, like we planned.", Nora said. "Yeah, it really should have. Now, your friend is gonna have to die, and if you keep pissing me off, so will you.", Joel replied, making Nora laugh. "What?", Joel asked, venomously. "I can't believe it. She hates you so much, but you two act so alike.", Nora answered.
Joel stepped closer. "I won't ask again, bitch. Where. Is. Abby?"
"...You know, Ellie didn't deserve to die. But if her death really did hurt you that much...then I'm fucking glad that little bitch is dead.", said Nora.
Joel started shaking. "You worthless, pathetic cunt!"
Nora then threw a bottle at his face, stunning him, briefly. "Help! Tresspasser!", Nora screamed as she took off running.
For the next two minutes, Joel chased her through the hospital, narrowly avoiding gunfire in the process. Eventually, Joel caught up with her, and she was standing above a spore-infested area. "You-you can't shoot me or push me down, you kill me, you'll never find out-"
Joel shot her twice in one of her legs, then pushed her down into the spores. "Wait! NO!", she screamed as she fell. Joel then quickly took out his mask, put it on, then jumped down after her just before the other wolves caught up to him.
Once he was down, he saw Nora on the floor, coughing and surrounded by three clickers. He still needed her, so he quickly mowed the clickers down with his M16 just before they could tear her apart. Nora stood up, then threw a weak punch at Joel, who caught the punch, broke her wrist, then threw her back to the floor.
"Now, let's try this again, Nora. Where's Abby?", he asked. Nora coughed. "I'm fucking dead anyway, why would I say shit?", she asked. Joel unsheathed a shiv, and knelt down. "Because I know you've heard stories about me, what I've done in the past. I can make it quick, or I can make it much, much worse."
Nora coughed, again. "You...you don't deserve justice.", Nora said. "No, but Ellie does. So I'll ask again: Where is Abby?", Joel replied. "Look, I-I genuinely have no fucking clue where she is. I'm sorry. Please...it hurts, please just kill me.", Nora begged.
"You're not getting off that easy.", said as he pulled off one of Nora's boots. "No no no, please, what're you doing?", Nora asked. "Ever heard of the little piggy who went to the market?", Joel asked. "NO!", Nora screamed as Joel sawed off her big toe.
Once he was done, he then positioned the shiv next to the little piggy who stayed home. "You're doing this to yourself, Nora. Just tell me where she is. Tell me."
Nora merely kept crying. "TELL ME!", Joel yelled before sawing the next toe off. "TELL ME!"
Before long, all of her toes on her left foot were gone, but she still wasn't giving up Abby.
"WHERE'S MY DAUGHTER'S KILLER!? WHERE! IS! ABBY!?"
Nora chuckled, despite the unbearable pain. "Your-your daughter? God, you really are a madman."
Joel yelled in rage as he punched her bloody stumps where her toes once were.
