Chapter 6: Rat Eater. (2/2)
Ellie Williams:
"Anything?" Ellie asked as she approached Tommy.
"No." Tommy, who was sitting by the window with a rifle at hand, replied.
It has been a few hours since Jesse and Fox Boy took Jordan back to his group. The night arrived and the snow was growing stronger by the minute, which made them worry that something may have happened for them to be taking so long.
Come on, Jesse... Ellie was only really worried about Jesse, she didn't really care about the Albino Weirdo. What if his group attacked them? That was their major preoccupation at the moment.
"Hey." Dina descended from the stairs and slowly approached the two of them. "Nothing yet?"
"No." Tommy replied as he held the sniper rifle tightly.
"That girl, Leah, she woke up." Dina informed them.
"And?" Ellie asked her. She actually heard the girl but let Maria handle it.
"Maria explained what happened and she calmed down." Dina folded her arms and sighed. "But she said that they should have come back already because they weren't camping far from here."
"Something probably happened, but we can't really do anything about it." Tommy had to point that out to them.
"Fuck..." Ellie touched her face in deep frustration. "I should have gone with Jesse instead of him."
"No offense but..." Dina had to point it out. "If something did go wrong, I think Fox Boy is just a "little" more prepared to deal with it." She put quite the emphasis on the little for some reason.
"Dina, I don't trust that guy." Ellie stated.
"But I do, and since you trust me, you can have a little more faith." Dina was quick to rebuff.
"Dina, no offense but... That boy ain't right in the head and he is very dangerous." Tommy had to speak up. "And I genuinely don't understand why he actually helped us escape, so please, be careful around him."
"Yeah, I agree with Tommy on that." Ellie decided to add. "For all we know, this could all be just an act and he is still one of the Normandies leading us to a trap."
Dina immediately gave Ellie an apprehensive look in response. "Right... He was shocked, carved up with a knife and slammed into a car to help us..." She slowly counted in her fingers. "All to trick us into trusting him so the Normandies could lead us into a trap because..." The sarcasm in her voice was so obvious that it was painful.
"I agree with Dina, I doubt that any of that was on purpose but..." Tommy seemed to have a different theory.
"But what?" And Ellie wanted to know what it was.
"I think you girls know that they let us escape." That was obvious, since they could have easily caught up with them or shot them down after they drove away. "Reaper..." The simple mention of the name visible made Tommy uncomfortable. "He has some type of plan for that kid and that plan involves us somehow."
Dina sighed. "That... I actually agree with you." For once, she didn't try to deny their suspicion. "That guy clearly wants something from Fox Boy." Ellie and Tommy moved their heads to look at Dina. However, before any of the two could follow up, they noticed that she widened her eyes. "They're back!"
Moving her head towards the window, they saw several cars approaching the house. Ellie and Tommy looked at each other with confused faces, as there were quite a few cars there. However, before any of them could point that out, Dina moved towards the door.
"Wait." With Ellie immediately following behind her.
Stepping outside, she realized that it was quite cold, but thankfully they had their jackets on. Right outside, around three cars were parked in front of the house.
Two of them were military vehicles and one was some kind of pickup truck.
She watched as Jesse came out of the pickup truck. With Ellie and Dina immediately approaching as they noticed that he had bruises on his face.
"What the fuck happened?" Ellie asked as she approached and hugged him.
"Long story short, another group ambushed them and we helped Jordan rescue them." Jesse returned the hug and responded right away.
Suddenly, the Albino Weirdo also came out of the car. "Hi Ellie." With him waving happily at Ellie as soon as he was out. "Hi Dina."
"Hey." Dina immediately moved to hug him.
Ellie separated from the hug and gave the two a very annoyed look, but immediately moved her head to look at Jesse. "Another group?"
"They're all dead now, but we have another problem." Jesse informed her.
"AHHH!" Suddenly, a loud scream startled both Ellie and Dina.
"All of Jordan's friends got injured." Jesse told her. "We managed to get a lot of medical supplies from the group that attacked them, so we brought them here to patch them up."
"Are you fucking crazy, what if they're dangerous?" Ellie spoke in a low voice as she watched them getting out of the cars.
"They're too busted to do anything and we just need to be careful." Jesse was quick to respond. "Where's Maria?" He asked them as he probably wanted to talk to her.
"There." Fox Boy spoke as he pointed at the front door where both Maria and Tommy were standing.
Maria approached them right away and said. "You brought a couple guests."
Ellie sighed in deep annoyance. For the next hour, she had to stand and watch as the others helped tending the wounds of a bunch of strangers.
Needless to say, she was deeply uncomfortable. Not by the injuries as they weren't that bad, but by the fact that they were helping a bunch of people that actually wanted to kill Joel. Alongside the fact that she was also on high alert since she didn't know if they were going to be trouble due to the fact that they were Joel's family and friends.
"Mierda..." A Mexican guy cursed in Spanish. He was sitting on top of a chair with his injured leg on top of a second chair.
Fox Boy was kneeling on the floor, holding his unloaded pistol on his left hand and surgical forceps on his right. He was using the flashlight that was attached to the pistol to illuminate the bullet wound and the tool to remove all of the fragments of the bullet that the guy named Manny took.
"Do any of you actually have any medical training?" Nora, who was sitting on top of the couch, asked.
"Just the basic first aid." Dina, who was sitting on top of the couch wrapping a bandage around Nora's arm, responded. "I don't know his level of knowledge, but he definitely has some kind medical training." She pointed at Fox Boy, who was removing all of the pieces with complete precision.
The other ones were upstairs. Jordan was with Leah, while Owen and Mel were in a room tending to a girl named Abby, who was the one that got injured the most.
Ellie moved her head to the left and saw Tommy and Maria in the window. They were talking to Jesse about something and whatever it was, she could tell that it was serious. Why the fuck am I doing here? Dina and Fox Boy were already doing most of the work anyway, so she had no reason to be there.
So she moved away from the four and quickly made her way to the front door in order to join the conversation outside.
"That's not good." Maria spoke up.
"What's wrong?" Ellie stepped outside and approached
them. It was really cold and dark outside, but that didn't bother them.
"Jesse was telling us about what happened." Tommy explained.
"The Rattlers stuff?" She overheard Fox Boy explaining to Dina that they had to deal with a group of slavers that called themselves the Rattlers. Though, he didn't give her actual details about it.
"They were working with the Normandies." Jesse revealed it to her. "The people that they were transporting and Jordan's group were going to be exchanged for supplies." Ellie could easily tell that there was something worrying Jesse.
"Jesse..." And she decided to question him. "There's more, doesn't it?"
"Fox Boy is certain that the Normandies know where we are and that they are the reason why we haven't encountered any infected since we got here." Jesse decided to be direct with them.
Tommy and Maria were visibly bothered by the information. Though, neither of them seemed surprised by it.
Ellie was actually not that surprised, she herself was actually wondering why there wasn't any infected in the area for a while.
"Why?" Tommy asked out loud. "If they know where we are, why the hell didn't they attack us?"
"Because they don't want us dead, at least not yet." Maria decided to answer. "They had an absurd number of chances to kill us already, yet they kept letting us escape."
She has a point. More than once, we got trapped and had no way out, yet they kept letting us escape. Ellie recalled several of the occasions where they got easily put in a tight spot by the Normandies, yet they all gave them an opening to escape on purpose. But why the fuck are they doing that?! And that was something that really frustrated Ellie since she did not understand at all.
"Reaper actually spoke with the leader of the Rattlers and told him that Fox Boy was there." Jesse added that detail. "They were talking through a radio that is similar to the one we had back at Jackson."
"How do you know?" Ellie asked him in curiosity.
"Because I took the Radio." Jesse responded. "I thought it could be useful."
"Where is it?" Maria asked him.
"In my backpack." Jesse signalled her to follow him as he reenters the house.
Maria followed behind him, with Tommy and Ellie doing the same shortly after.
On the inside, Fox Boy seemed to have finished and was suturing the guy's leg. While Dina finished bandaging up Nora. The four of them moved their heads to look at the group as Jesse moved to grab his backpack and pulled out what he had inside. It was indeed a radio similar to the one they had back at Jackson, but much older.
Maria took the radio and set it on top of a table.
Everyone seemed a bit confused about what exactly is happening. Because they didn't really understand why Maria was setting up the device.
Suddenly, Owen and Mel came down from the stairs together.
"How is she?" Manny asked as Fox Boy closed his wound.
"Not good but she will survive," She descended the stairs and approached the group." That guy was careful in beating her up to make sure he didn't cause any fatal damage." Folding her arms as she continued. "I did all I could but we're gonna have to wait until she wakes up for me to see if there was any brain damage." Mel finished answering his question as she approached the two of them. "Want me to finish it?" She asked Fox Boy
"I already did." Fox Boy actually finished suturing his wound, all that was left was to wrap a bandage around it.
Mel checked a small bowl that contained all of the fragments of the bullet. "Are you sure those were all the fragments?" She asked him in concern as she counted the bloody fragments.
"Yes." Fox Boy bluntly responded. Before he stood up from the floor, placed the bloody surgical forceps inside the bowl before placing his pistol on his holster.
After a minute or two, Maria finished setting the radio on top of a small table in front of the couch where Nora and Mel were sitting.
"Okay but... why exactly did y-" Tommy was about to ask her why she was setting up that radio.
But before he could finish that question.
"I must say, you made it further than I expected." A familiar voice came from the radio.
"Reaper." And Fox Boy confirmed.
Ellie, Tommy, Jesse and Dina were justifiably surprised by that. While Owen, Mel , Manny and Nora were visibly confused as they had no idea who that was.
Maria, however, didn't seem surprised at all. "You knew where we were all along didn't you?"
"Yes." He confirmed the obvious. " That snowman gave it a strange warm touch to the house, however..."
"What the hell?" Suddenly, they heard Owen speak out loud. Then he pointed at the window, where they saw the snowman that Fox Boy built completely on fire.
Making all of them widened their eyes in response. "A warm touch isn't always desirable."
"No." Fox Boy spoke sadly. "Mr. Snowball." With him being upset over his snowman being burned.
Ellie and Jesse drew their pistols and immediately rushed towards the window. "Are they outside right now?!" Ellie asked.
"We've been outside all this time, Ms. Williams." Reaper revealed to them. "Every single step you took, we were there." Hearing that made everyone look visibly terrified. "The fact you haven't encountered any trace of the infection since you got here should have been enough to indicate that something was wrong, such an open area isn't exactly the best place to take refuge." He pointed out the obvious to them, with Ellie feeling unbelievably stupid because he was right.
Fucking moron, Joel would have been able to tell that something was not right. Ellie cursed herself internally as a result of it.
"What is the end goal then?" Maria asked calmly. "Why not kill us already?"
"Your deaths won't serve me any purpose." Reaper responded calmly.
Maria was clearly not happy with that answer. "Killing Joel Miller served you any purpose?"
The moment she said that, the other group gave her very confused looks in response. Ellie and Tommy on the other hand, just looked at the radio waiting for an answer.
"As a matter of fact, it did." Reaper answered her honestly. "Joel Miller surrendered his life to me in exchange for all of your lives." He revealed it to them. "But rest assured that he didn't suffer, I granted him a quick and swift death."
Ellie frowned after hearing that, because all that she could think about was Joel screaming in pain after Ghost Head stabbed him in the back with that sword.
"That group, the Rattlers, what the hell was that all about?" Maria asked since Jesse informed her that the group was connected to the Normandies somehow.
"A militaristic gang of slavers based in Santa Barbara, California." Reaper responded to them. "We were simply making an exchange and nothing else." It was obvious that they were nothing more than a means to an end. "I was planning on keeping my end of the bargain, but their elimination spared the need of wasting valuable supplies on such people." He made no attempt to hide his own repulsion towards that group. "Rest assured, those slaves will make a fine addition to the Faceless."
"They took the people I freed from that truck." Fox Boy spoke out loud, not exactly speaking with anyone specifically.
"Okay..." Maria was calm but Ellie could tell that she was frightened with the situation. "What now?"
"Shanai o kakunin shimasu." Reaper responded by speaking in another language that Ellie assumed to be Japanese. He then shut the communication.
"Goddammit, can't this guy speak sense for once?" Dina asked in deep annoyance as she was tired of Reaper's games. "What did he say?" She asked Fox Boy.
Fox Boy pulled his pistol from the holster and loaded it with a new magazine. "Check inside the car." He responded to her before making his way to the door with his handgun at hand.
Everyone looked at one another and watched as he slowly made his way to the front door and opened. Stepping outside while checking his surroundings while holding his pistol in a weird stance, that had him canting his pistol 45 degrees to the side.
Jesse followed behind him while holding his own pistol.
Ellie took a good look at Tommy and Maria before she herself moved outside.
"Can someone explain what the hell is going on?" Mel asked them in deep confusion. "Who was that guy on the radio?"
Ellie stepped out of the door before anyone could respond. The darkness was nearly suffocating and the cold was overwhelming, but she was sure that it was mostly due to the fact that she knew that those masked psychos were out there.
She looked all over the place for any sign of them but he couldn't see anything, but she knew they were there, watching them from afar. All this damn time...
"Ellie..." Jesse whispered as he stood on the corner.
Ellie slowly approached him with her pistol at hand. Turning around the corner, they saw the Albino Weirdo slowly approaching their car with his pistol at hand. With Jesse and Ellie also approaching although keeping a safe distance.
Taking very slow steps, Fox Boy reached the car and checked the interior by looking through the windows. Until he saw something on the back seat. With him slowly opening it to see what it was.
Fox Boy then put his pistol down, stood straight and tilted his head to the right. With Ellie somehow being able to tell that he was actually confused.
Jesse noticed too and approached the car to see it. Only for him to look confused. "What the hell?" With him extending his left hand and grabbing something on the back seat. "Ellie, isn't this..." And he showed it to her.
It turned out that what confused the two, was a guitar. "My guitar?!" Her guitar. She immediately approached him and took the guitar off his hands to inspect. It only took a single look for her to realize that it was actually her guitar, the one that Joel gifted her when she taught her how to play. "But... Why..." Ellie was very confused.
"Look." Jesse spoke up, and pointed out that there was something else in the car.
"My camera." Fox Boy pointed out as he reached to grab it. Once he picked up, Ellie recognized that it was indeed the same camera that she left with Tommy back in Jackson.
"I don't get it." Jesse was clearly confused with it. "He just handed that back to you guys?"
Ellie had a feeling that wasn't the case. "Hey, check the footage on the camera." She ordered Fox Boy.
The masked boy obeyed her and checked. "It's not the same footage from before." He revealed it to them.
Ellie and Jesse looked at each other.
"Let's go back inside." Jesse told them before he closed the car door.
Ellie nodded since it was very cold and dark outside.
So the three of them wordlessly made their way back to the house where everyone was waiting.
"Wait, isn't that..." Dina immediately noticed the guitar.
"My fucking guitar, it was inside the car." Ellie informed her as they all reentered the house and Jesse closed the door. "How the fuck did they put this on the car without us noticing?!"
"Don't know or care, was there anything else?" Maria bluntly asked them in concern.
"My camera." Fox Boy responded to her.
"Wait," He recognized the camera. "I left that thing in the hospital back in Jackson." Tommy revealed it to them.
"There's different footage in it." Jesse spoke up as he checked the windows.
"He probably wants us to see it." Maria figured out. "Jesse, there's an old TV in the room where Tommy and I are staying, could you pick it for us?"
Jesse nodded before moving towards the stairs.
"Okay, okay, just hold up a minute." Owen finally decided to speak up in clear confusion. "Can somebody please tell us what the hell is going on?"
"Yeah, who the hell was that on the radio?" Nora asked them in confusion.
Maria moved her head to look at everyone, and Tommy gave her a nod indicating that whatever she wanted to do, she could.
Taking a deep breath, Maria spoke. "Since you're all practically stuck in this mess with us right now, I think we should get some things out of the way." Ellie held her pistol tightly since she knew what was about to happen.
"Like what?" Manny asked in confusion.
"I'm Tommy Miller." Then Tommy introduced himself. "Joel Miller was my brother."
All of them immediately widened their eyes in response to what Tommy just revealed to them. They were all clearly surprised with that revelation and deeply confused.
"I know you all were on your way to Jackson to kill my brother , I don't know why and I honestly don't care." He bluntly told the group right away. "My brother was killed a week ago by the man you heard on the radio just now." Tommy had his gun at hand when he said just in case. "So if you guys are going to be trouble, be my guest, but I can tell you're not the kind that would actually attack the grieving family of a deadman in retaliation for whatever the hell he did." Then he tossed the gun to Owen, who grabbed it right away.
...
...
...
There was an awkward and somewhat unsettling silence after Tommy revealed himself. With Ellie holding her pistol tightly in worry as she was just waiting for the slightest sign of aggression from the guy holding Tommy's pistol.
She noticed that they were all looking at one another with deep uncertainty. But then Mel eventually stepped forward.
"Listen, we don't want any trouble." The apparently pregnant girl was quick to say that.
"Y-yeah, we don't really have anything against you guys." Owen decided to join in and put the pistol that Tommy handed him down. "You also saved our lives back in that motel and we don't really want or are in a condition to even start a fight with you people." It was true, the only one that wasn't injured in any serious way was Owen and by the looks of it, he had no desire for more violence.
"Ssss..." Nora grunted in pain due to the burns. "If he's really dead." She seemed to have no problem with it either.
Manny sighed in deep annoyance as he was definitely not happy with the situation. "Abby nos va a dar un montón de mierda por esto..." He spoke something in Spanish.
"¿Por qué ella haría esto?" Only for Fox Boy to actually speak Spanish as well. " Darle heces a alguien suena muy desagradable." Everyone moved their head to look at him after he said that.
"What the fuck?" Manny was visibly surprised by the fact that the Albino Weirdo spoke spanish. "¿Tú hablas español?"
"Sí" Fox Boy nodded his head after saying that.
"Cute Boy, how many languages do you speak?" Dina decided to ask as he has spoken a dozen different languages ever since they met him.
"Ten." He responded right away.
"Wow." Dina seemed impressed.
"Okay, what with this guy anyway?" Nora decided to ask, probably having enough of Fox Boy's weird behavior.
"What's that supposed to mean?" Dina seemed to have taken offense at what she said.
"That he's a fucking weirdo." Ellie decided to add, only for Dina to give her an apprehensive look.
"To answer your question," Maria decided to speak up before the girlfriends had an argument. "Jackson was attacked by a group that called themselves the Normandies." She decided to explain the situation to them. "They practically killed everyone and torched the town."
"Wait, they burned an entire town to the ground?" Owen asked her in surprise.
"Yes, in a single day." Maria pointed out that part to them, which surprised them.
"And if you guys haven't been paying attention, they're outside right now." Ellie decided to point out that face as he repetitively kept looking at the window in search of them.
They all looked worried. "Then why didn't they attack?" Nora asked as she stood up from the couch.
"That's what we've been trying to figure out." Dina responded.
"Hey, little help here." Jesse came down from the stairs with the TV.
"What the hell is going on?" Jordan seemed to have noticed the commotion and also came down from upstairs. He had an improvised sling for his dislocated shoulder.
"He's Joel Miller's brother." Manny informed Jordan as he reached the bottom of the stairs.
"What!?" Jordan was surprised by the information.
"Jordan, don't fucking start anything because we have bigger problems right now!" Mel was quick to shut him down .
"But Abby-" Jordan tried to talk back but he shut him.
"I don't give a fuck about Abby, she's lucky to be alive after all this shit!" Mel yelled at him angrily. "This Joel Miller business ends today, are we clear?!"
"I..." Jordan seemed to be a little confused. "What are they doing anyway?"
Tommy, Jesse and Maria took the radio off the table and set the TV on top of it, connecting some cables into Fox Boy's camera. With everyone just waiting as they were all curious to know what the hell was that even about. After a few minutes, they were able to set everything up.
"What do you think the footage is going to be?" Dina asked Fox Boy as she stood up and stood next to him.
"Something that Reaper wants us to see." Fox Boy responded as he stood there motionless.
Ellie simply folded her arms as she awaited for them to play whatever was on the camera. With everyone setting themselves in front of the TV to actually see it as well. But part of her was a little afraid since the last time was beyond disturbing.
"Look, I don't know what is on this camera, but I can guarantee you guys that it will be disturbing but it may give you all an idea of what we're dealing with." Maria explained to the others.
"Whatever it is, we can handle it." Nora spoke up as she stood next to Mel and Owen.
"Just play the thing, I wanna know what kind of shit we're dealing with." Manny added as he continued to sit down with Jordan standing next to him.
"Suit yourselves." Maria replied dryly as she prepared to play. "You guys ready?"
"Yeah..." Jesse, who was standing besides Tommy with his arms folded, replied.
"Fuck it, just play it." Ellie on the edge, but she was ready.
"Okay."
With that Maria played whatever was on the camera.
The first footage that appeared were of the Faceless, several of them pushing a bunch of people that Ellie partially recognized. The armored freaks pushed all of them towards a wall that seemed to be the outside of the butcher shop where the meat is distributed. Once they were all standing against the wall, whoever was filming took several steps back in order to film from a distance, showcasing that there were dozens of people standing against the wall.
"What is that?" Owen asked in confusion as he saw someone approaching the group.
"Jester." The one approaching the group was the creepy guy dressed as a clown.
Dina immediately shifted awkwardly at the sight of him, while touching the leg where she was shot by him.
"Now, now, now..." Jester spoke to the group. "Isn't this a lovely sight?" The clown had hands behind his back and bent over a bit to look at them closely. "No?" Before he straightened up again. "MAYBE THIS WILL CHANGE YOU MIND!" He then removed his hands from behind his back, revealing some kind of weapon. "HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAH!" The weapon turned out to be a flamethrower that he used to burn everyone to a crisp while laughing maniacally.
"Oh god!" Mel immediately looked away.
Owen placed his hand on his face to cover his eyes.
Manny and Jordan widened their eyes in deep shock.
Nora's mouth was wide open.
Jesse cringed and was trying to make himself look away because he knew everyone that was being burned.
Maria seemed to be on the verge of tears, since she also knew everyone. But also because there were men, women and children being burned alive by that psychopath.
Tommy immediately embraced his wife, despite being disturbed as well.
Dina immediately covered her ears in an attempt to muffle the screams of everyone while turning around.
Fox Boy stood there motionless.
Ellie just watched with a blank face as the poor people were murdered by that monster.
"NOTHING BEATS THE SWEET SMELL OF BURNED MEAT!" Jester yelled as he watched everyone burn. "HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!" His maniacal laughter seemed to be echoing around the room. "BURN IT ALL!"
After he yelled that, several of the Faceless began to lighten several flares, which they used to lighten some strange looking stuff on the snow. The stuff was clearly flammable as it began to burn, with the fire quickly finding it's way to the building, spreading into several lines.
"HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!" With Jester continuing to laugh as the fire began to take over the entire place, with the camera moving away from the psycho clown.
"Jesus..." Maria spoke.
Because the camera moved towards one of the streets of Jackson, a street that they have passed by a hundred times during their daily lives. All of the building were on fire and there were bodies burning all over the road.
The footage then ended.
"W-w-wha-" Owen was deeply shocked with what he just watched and couldn't find the right words to describe it.
"We told you, they torched the entire town." Ellie pointed out as she looked down due to feeling awful.
"I thought you were exaggerating!" Mel spoke up in visibly shock. "Jesus, who was the guy dressed as a clown?!"
"He calls himself Jester," Dina answered. "He's one of the guys in charge of the Normandies."
"One?" Manny noted that.
"There are five in charge." Jesse added.
Before anyone could say anything else, Maria played yet another footage.
"There's more?!" Nora was not happy to know that.
The next footage seemed to be showcasing the south area of Jackson. They were far away from it during the invasion. The footage seemed to have been filmed from the rooftop of a building, and it showcases a group of twenty people firing in direction with semi-automatic rifles and pump-action shotguns from cover.
"Pete, Nick, Ellen and Raymond." Tommy seemed to have recognized some of the people in the footage.
Ellie actually recognized them, but she didn't exactly know them very well, but they were actually Tommy and Maria friends.
It only took a slight change of angle to showcase that they were actually trading fire against the Faceless. Who were firing at them with submachine guns from a strange looking formation.
"What the hell?" Owen seemed to be confused about the Faceless.
"Those are the Faceless, they are their soldiers." Maria spoke up in order to solve his confusion.
The Faceless carefully fired from cover and a safe distance. Though, Ellie was a little confused since why would they take cover if they have bulletproof armor.
Her confusion only lasted until the answer appeared.
"What in the actual fuck is that?!" Jordan had the right reaction.
Ellie could only grind her teeth in deep rage as the one that just showed up in the footage was none other than Ghost Head. With the memory of him stabbing Joel with that sword flashing before her eyes.
As the others were distracted, Ghost Head approached them from behind with his large machine gun and before any of them could actually turn around. The massive man began firing at them from behind, gunning them down like they were nothing. Some of them try to run away, however, the only way out was through the Faceless. Who got out of the cover and gunned down all of them as soon as they stepped away from their cover.
It took less than three minutes for all of them to die at the hand of the Faceless. All except for one, a woman that Ellie remembered showing up on Maria's birthday last year.
She was shot on the hip and was screaming and trying to crawl away. Unfortunately, Ghost Head approached the woman and grabbed her by the shirt, forcing her to stand up. Then he grabbed her head with both of his hands.
"What is he-OH!" Manny was confused about what the hell was the big guy doing, only to look away after he found out.
Because Ghost Head shoved both of his thumbs into the woman's eye sockets, gouging her eyes out. With the woman screaming in pure agony for about a minute, before Ghost Head snapped her neck by turning her head all the way back. After tossing his lifeless body on the floor, Ghost Head pointed at the direction which he came from. With the camera moving and showcasing several Faceless carrying grenade launchers, which they seemed to be preparing to fire towards a building. Only for the camera to actually zoom towards the building and they were all able to see that there were actually people inside through one of the windows.
"Oh fuck..." Ellie cursed as the Faceless proceeded to fire their grenade launchers into the building. Blowing the entire place with everyone inside.
With that, the second footage ended.
"That was Ghost Head, the second in command by the looks of it." Maria explained despite the fact that she was clearly shaken up by what she saw.
"Dude, that guy is massive!" Jordan pointed out the obvious, not that they can blame him because Ghost Head was a massive guy.
"And that armor isn't just for show," Jesse told them. "It's completely bulletproof, we literally unloaded all of our guns on him and it had no effect whatsoever."
"Why did he do that to that poor woman?!" Mel asked him.
"Ghost Head hates women." Fox Boy, who has been quiet all this time, finally spoke. "He likes man though."
"What?" Owen seemed confused by that.
"He likes to rape man." Dina decided to add, since "forced intercourse" that Fox Boy mentioned can only mean rape.
"OH!" All of them seemed disgusted by that information and they should be, because just the thought of what the bastard does with the guys he grabs is enough to give anyone nightmares.
Maria, who seemed to be at her limit, decided to continue anyway. Probably because she wanted to know if Reaper had anything to show them.
The next footage showcased... Ellie's room.
"What the fuck?!" Ellie spoke out loud as she saw all of her stuff.
Suddenly, they saw someone getting shoved onto the floor. They all widened their eyes as they all recognized who it was.
"Shit.. It's Cat." Dina was right, the one in the footage was none other than Ellie's ex-girlfriend, Cat.
"Oh no, what they fuck are they doing to her?!" Jesse watched in pure and horrifying anticipation as he, alongside everyone else, was expecting something awful.
That feeling only amplified after someone else showed up.
FUCK! NOT THAT CRAZY BITCH! Ellie yelled internally because the one that just showed up was Venus.
"Such a pretty little thing..." Venus spoke to her as she stood in front of Cat.
"Who the fuck are you!?" Cat yelled as she crawled backwards to get away from the masked woman.
"I'm just a shell of what used woman." Venus replied in a soft voice. "And you're just a small drop in a large pool of blood."
"What?!" Cat didn't understand what the mad woman was babbling about.
The masked woman didn't respond, instead, he reached inside of her robe and pulled out something. Which appeared to be some kind of cylinder.
"What the fuck is that?!" Ellie asked Fox Boy in confusion.
"She uses it to turn people into stage four infected." The masked boy revealed it to them.
"What?!" Dina had the right reaction.
Everyone immediately moved their heads to look at him , before looking back at the TV. Only to see Venus breaking the cylinder in half and releasing something into the air that appeared to be spores.
Cat unintentionally breathed in and ended up inhaling whatever that was. "AH! AH! AH!" The result was her convulsing herself like she was having an seizure. The camera zoomed at her and they saw her skin discoloration alongside lesions, and bloodshot eyes With her beginning to growl like a Runner shortly after.
Everyone was instantly horrified by the sight as they never saw someone who was infected turn so quickly. However, their horror was just beginning as they actually saw fungal growth around her eyes and shoulders, with the skin peeling from the face, with her nose falling off, as the fungus began to break open the skull.
"AAAHHH!" Mel could only scream in horror.
"Santa Maria!" Manny immediately covered his eyes as he couldn't bear to see that anymore.
It was the right call, since Cat's skull has split open due to the rapid fungal growth on the brain, growing over or outright destroying her eyes, leaving only a maw of jagged teeth. Her skin also became skin is covered in scaly fungal growths.
Ellie couldn't take it anymore and ended up vomiting on the floor at the sight of the horrifying fate that her ex-girlfriend was too much for her. With Dina and Jesse immediately coming to her as she fell to her knees as she felt like her heart was going to explode. But despite that, she forced herself to actually move her head up. Only to see Cat standing up from the floor of Ellie's former room, having been turned into a Bloater by Venus.
"My god..." Tommy seemed to be shaking after seeing that and so was Maria.
Venus then stepped forward, standing right in front of the Bloader that used to be Cat. She caressed it's head like it was some kind of pet.
With that the footage ended.
"FFFFFFFFFFFFUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKK!" Ellie screamed from the top of her lungs in response to what she just saw. "JUST FUCK!" Jesse and Dina immediately hugged her in response to that.
"H-how..." Owen asked in deep shock as he definitely didn't believe what he just saw.
"That woman... She found ways to actually control the infected..." Maria decided to speak, despite being as horrified as everyone.
"Wait a minute, that's not-" Nora could not believe her ears. "It's not-"
"She also created new versions of them." Dina revealed that part for them, as she herself still has nightmares about that "Blob Baby".
"Last one..." Maria decided to speak up.
Despite the fact that they were all afraid to see the next one, Maria put it on anyway in order to finally get this over with.
Ellie sighed, but she forced herself to watch alongside everyone else.
Unsurprisingly, the video actually showed Reaper. Who was looking at the camera with that disturbing gasmask of his.
"That's their leader, the guy that was talking on the radio." Jesse decided to inform them.
The camera then changed directions and began filming something else. Only for everyone to widen their eyes in deep shock as he showed a massive horde of Runners standing still right in front of him.
"What!?" Mel asked in deep confusion.
"How the hell is he just standing there?!" Owen asked in deep confusion.
"They have a weird substance that can keep the infected from attacking whoever is covered in it." Maria explained to them.
"Come on, that kind of stuff doesn't exist." Manny pointed out in disbelief.
"You just saw a mad woman transform someone into a Bloader in less than two minutes and you think that's impossible?." Dina asked him sarcastically.
Suddenly, the camera stopped filming the horde of infected and began to move.
"Where is he going?" Dina asked.
"I have a feeling that we're not going to like the answer." Tommy spoke sarcastically.
"Wait... Isn't that place... a little familiar?" Jesse pointed out with a confused face.
Ellie widened her eyes as she knew exactly where he was.
After taking around twenty steps, Reaper reached a specific spot. A spot that they knew perfectly.
"No way..." Tommy spoke in visible fear.
"Oh god..." Maria was afraid as well.
"No..." Jesse widened his eyes.
Dina gasped and covered her mouth.
Ellie grinded her teeth in deep rage.
Because the camera moved towards something.
Joel Miller
The "Something" was Joel's grave. Which wasn't far away from the house.
Then Reaper moved the camera at the massive horde and said something. "Akai kemuri ga mietara kauntodaun ga hajimarimasu." He spoke in Japanese, with only a certain masked weird understanding of what he was saying. " Akai kemuri ga kieru to kaunto ga zero ni natta." Then he moved the camera to his mask. "Kaunto ga zero ni nattara zen'in de nigeru koto o o susume shimasu." With that, the footage ended.
"What the fuck did he say!?" Ellie asked the Albino Weirdo as soon as the footage ended.
Everyone immediately looked at Fox Boy, who just stood there motionless.
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
"When you see red smoke, the countdown will begin." After a strange pause, he finally spoke up. "When the red smoke disappears, the count becomes zero.'' Everyone just listened closely. "I recommend that everyone flee when the count reaches zero."
"What?" Maria asked him.
Before anyone could process what Fox Boy said.
"Ummm... Guys..." Owen spoke up and pointed at the window.
With everyone moving their heads to look at the window and seeing the horrifying sign of red smoke coming out of the destroyed snowman that Fox Boy built.
"The countdown began." Fox Boy said.
Q AND A:
You know, besides from Mel, Manny is the only member of the group I actually like (maybe Nora too, but I'm more indifferent about her than anything). I hate him for spitting on Joel's corpse, but, other than that, he's as loyal as can be to his people. He takes care of his elderly father, will go out of his way to support his friends, and is a descent guy who likes women and anime (I can totally relate to the latter, but as for the former, I'm gay). That said, he did have what was coming to him from Tommy.
I saw a YouTube comment describing him as the opposite of Owen even if he wasn't meant to be. To his enemies, Manny is as cruel as can be and believes in means justifying the end. Owen, on the other hand, is more compassionate and makes morally rich decisions regarding enemies. However, Manny has his friend's backs, while Owen makes the most selfish decisions regarding his relationships (willing to abandon his friends to chase a rumor in California, cheating on his pregnant girlfriend, and prioritizing the life of another woman over the mother of his child and his own unborn child).
What are your thoughts?
Manny was actually a foil to Jesse, both being sidekicks to the respective protagonists, and being sought after by the women of their communities. Jesse doesn't seem to chase it despite the attention he gets, whereas Manny whores around every chance he has. They also die by being abruptly shot through the head while next to the protagonist. But yeah, The game tries to downplay it from Abby's perspective at least, he wasn't that bad of a guy to his friends. The truth is, he gets no Character Development after Joel's death and never show any sign of regret for his actions plus the fact that he casually tried to kill Ellie in the prologue, while she was pinned to the ground and sobbing, did not help at all.. The fact that he basically uses his last moments to try to kill Ellie only increased the fandom's hate for him. (Personally, he could have been a pretty solid character if they just showed Abby's perspective first.)
Owen, from start to finish, I genuinely hated him more than the others. He just came off to me as a two-timing creep that tries to act nice but is just as selfish as Abby. (Which is why I think they were made for each other.) This guy has possibly the most skewed priorities I ever saw: Wants to get out of a war between two factions by rejoining a faction that is practically in war with another faction. His relationship with Mel is obviously just him using her as a rebound for Abby, with the addition of him clearly wanting to go back to Abby after their PTSD inducing one-night stand and didn't because Abby hypocritically didn't took his ass back (NO PUN INTENDED). As you said, he prioritized Abby's life over a woman who was pregnant with his kid. So yeah, I don't care how nice he acts, he's simply a selfish person that needed to reevaluate his priorities.
Because make that two groups of fuckers Fox Boy is carrying on his shoulders so Dina best give him one hell of a massage among numerous other things
But as ever enjoy Fox Bot just being more competent then everyone else
Well maybe Mel can be spared then and maybe the others aside from Owen and Abby if they get their collective shit together if any of them stand against Fox Boy that's their choice to stop living at that point
Also with the preview the thing I found funny was picturing Fox Boy just thinking yeah I'll tell you lot what I'm going to do notice the what I'm going to do part haha
Just from Mel and Dina.
Considering that he damaged his back even more...
Fox Boy grew up surrounded by psychos, marching from battle to battle and survivng under the worst of circunstances. He's build differently.
More or less.
By that point everyone practically treats him like a child. (Though, that might be more annoying than sweet.)
Well now the Rattlers are dealt with, at the cost of Nick's life. Now Fox Boy, Jesse, Owen, Mel, Manny, Nora, Jordan and Abby can head to the cabin to regroup with Tommy, Maria, Ellie, Dina and Leah. There are still certain immediate situations to deal with, first being Abby when she wakes up and her crew learn that Tommy is related to Joel. Second, there is the matter with the Normandies to consider, the Rattlers were working for them, and they are watching Fox Boy and his companions, which explains the lack of infected.
When they regroup, there will more than likely be tensions especially when Abby wakes and her crew find out Tommy is brother to Joel. Abby won't accept Joel's death, when she learns about Tommy, she'll be in denial, thinking Tommy and his group are trying protect Joel. After all, who wants to know that all their years of work and preparation had been for nothing? Though given what she and her crew have been through, I think her crew has had enough, not to mention Tommy had no part in Joel's actions against the Fireflies.
Next, the Normandies tracking them. Wonder if Fox Boy has a tracker on him and he doesn't even know it. Or the Normandies had been following them ever since they left Jackson. Anyway the thing is, they are watching Fox Boy and his companions. Which there comes the question, why haven't they attacked yet? Are they experimenting them on the field, or maybe they want the group to lead them to anther community to attack.
Bottom line is, they can't stay at the cabin much longer. Jackson had more defenses and people, and it took like less than two hours for the Normandies to destroy. Jackson was level two for the Normandies, whatever Seattle is level two or higher, its better than staying at the cabin out in the open and waiting to be attacked. Given the sneak peak of the chapter I'd say Isaac Dixon agreed to let Fox Boy, Tommy, Maria, Ellie and Dina stay which some convincing I'm sure.
Speaking of sneak peak, looks like Fox Boy has become rather popular. Abby, Nora, Jordan and Leah however were not present. Abby doesn't like Fox Boy because he's too honest which comes how terrible she is, and she thinks he's a weirdo. Jordan and Leah might still be mad about their first meeting with Fox Boy, Nora however is... uncertain at this point. He's not wearing his mask, either he has become rather used to not wearing it, or Dina just took it away, or Ellie maybe because she thinks the mask creeps her out.
The crew wasn't exactly feeling vengeful after all the crap they went through, and they were even less in the mood to indulge Abby, especially after Nick was killed.
Pretty much, Abby will have a hell of a hard time coming to terms that her obsession with revenge was for nothing and her crew is ready to let it go.
It's all part of Reaper's plan for and that's all I'm going to say.
The Masked Ones could easily kill the group at anytime. It's because of two reasons at first, but later is because a certain masked boy becomes his most prized soldier.
Fox Boy practically became the baby of the bunch by that point.
GOOOOOOOOOOD!
DAAAAAAAAAAAMMMMMMMMNNNNNNNNNNNN!
Abby's group ripping her a new asshole for bringing them out there only for Nick to die and all of them to be enslaved based on a poor lead is going to be so fucking satisfying to see.
Her behavior afterwords and her treatment towards certain people will only make that worse.
The fight scenes reminded me of Kingsman. The fight scenes in the church had a similar feel. It's really fun to imagine.
- How far did Normandy expand?
- It seems that every move of the Fox Boys is being watched and can guess where they are going. Normandy is really dangerous.
- The preview scene was very interesting. It seems like both bands want Fox Boy to join their team. You know what's funny? I imagine seeing two impatient teenagers sitting in extras, no one paying attention, a confused expression on their faces [Ellie and Abby], just thinking about it makes them look interested.
Good morning, and in case I don't see ya, good afternoon, good evening, and good night!
It's basically Gun Fu which is quite prominent in the movie. Fox Boy basically mixes Center Axis Relock style of shooting in combination with Judo and Jiu-Jitsu techniques.
It will be left ambiguous.
Every step that Fox Boy takes, is influenced by Reaper.
The whole group practically begins to coddle Fox Boy after a while. Except for Ellie (Who's is incredibly weirded out by it.) and Abby (Who hates Fox Boy.).
Same...
Obrigado pelo capítulo incrível, Autor-San. Mais um capítulo, por favor!
De nadinha...
I usually do not read any stories with the last of us 2 that does not involve Abby suffering horribly but your story and fox boy is really amazing you have me hooked man continue the good work.
Thanks for the compliment.
god chapter
THX!
Any chance of a preview showcasing a confrontation between Abby and Fox Boy?
Sure.
{
"If I don't do this'-" Before Abby could finish what she was going to say, Fox Boy turned on the flashlight of his empty Mark 23 and flashed the light into her eyes. "Ah!" Which allowed him a split second for him to actually grab her wrist and push to the right, unfortunately, she pulled the trigger as soon as he did. With the gun firing and the bullet grazing his bicep.
However, after he pushed her arm away, Abby got behind him and wrapped her other arm around his neck. Pressing her forearm on his throat. With Fox Boy dropping his empty Mark 23 and immediately grabbing her arm with his other hand in order to keep her from choking him. His grip was still on her right wrist, doing his best to keep her Steyr M9A1 away from him.
Sadly, Abby was much stronger than him, so she was able to move her arm easily.
Before she could aim the pistol at him however, Fox Boy let go of her wrist, placed both of his hands underneath her elbow and stepped behind her while simultaneously pulling her elbow and pushing her wrist, allowing him to slip his head off her grip.
With him getting behind her and pulling her into a body triangle, where he performed a single wing choke, with him lifting the arm that was holding the gun. With her dropping it on the floor as soon as Fox Boy began applying pressure. He was fully intending on choking Abby until she lost consciousness.
Unfortunately, Abby was able to reach for a sharp rock that was on the floor and stabbed Fox Boy's arm with it. Causing him to unintentionally lose his grip, despite ignoring the pain, which allowed Abby to break free and immediately elbow his face, though, the mask protected him from the impact.
Abby then tried to grab the Steyr M9A1 that she dropped, however, Fox Boy placed his right leg on top of the pistol to keep her from grabbing it, before using his left foot to kick Abby's face. "Ah!" Causing her to fall backwards into the floor.
Fox Boy then grabbed her Steyr M9A1, rolled backwards and stood up.
Abby also stood up, with a bloody nose from the kick that she just received.
Fox Boy then dismantled Abby's pistol and tossed the parts in opposite directions. "Please stop, Owen will be upset if you die." He spoke to her in hopes that she would stop otherwise, he would be forced to kill her.
"Will you just shut the hell up for once!" Abby responded angrily. "You really have no idea why we are here, do you?"
"I thought it was because you were helping me?" He genuinely did.
"Why would I help you?" Abby asked him. "You and your friends have been nothing but trouble since the day we bumped into you guys!"
Fox Boy paused for a second, before he decided to say something that he wanted to say for a while. "I don't like you."
"Do I look like I give a shit about what you think of me?" Abby asked him while touching her bleeding nose.
"Mel once said that you were... A piece of shit... I didn't really understand what exactly you have to do with feces." Fox Boy spoke out loud to her. "But I think I finally understood." He really did. "It is just as unpleasant to be around you as it is being around feces." That was his opinion of hers.
Abby frowned in response to what he said.
The two stood in front of each other.
She had her hands closed into tight fists, while he had his hands open.
Abby slowly puts her right hand and right foot in the rear, with their left hand and foot in front. Getting into an orthodox stance.
Fox Boy got into an upright natural posture, with knees slightly bent, head centered over the hips, feet directly below the hips and about shoulder width apart. Getting into a Judo stance.
They both stood like that for a few seconds.
Until Abby charged and attacked Fox Boy. Delivering a faint jab followed by a cross.
Fox Boy countered by parrying the punch with his right forearm while simultaneously side stepping to the left, before trapping her arm with his right hand and delivering a palm strike into her jaw with his left hand.
The impact caused her to stumble to the right, but she quickly regained her footing.
With her grabbing her jaw in pain while grinding her teeth in anger. "Ahh!" Abby wasted no time in trying to hit Fox Boy again. Swinging a right hook at him.
Only for him to deflect her punch using the palm of his left hand. Then he grabbed her wrist with his right hand and delivered a left side kick to her rib cage.
"Mrr!" With her grunting as she stumbles backwards after the kick. "Ahh!" Only to let out a scream when Fox Boy followed by delivering a roundhouse kick to her torso, followed by a left horizontal elbow strike to her jaw, and a backfist to her cheek using the same arm, then he used a hand thrust to the center of her chest to create some distance between them.
Fox Boy then attempted to grab her by the label of her jacket in order to perform a throw to get her to the ground, but his attempt was a failure, since Abby easily pushed his arms away and delivered a cross to his stomach. The punch was powerful enough to push him backwards, allowing her an opening to deliver a front kick into his chest.
Fox Boy was able to block the kick in time, but the force was enough to push him backwards, causing to stumble into the direction of the nearby wall. With Abby closing the distance as soon as Fox Boy regained his footing. Where she shoved him into the wall and began delivering a barrage of punches into Fox Boy's torso.
With the albino boy having no way of defending them as Abby went all out with the body shots.
Eventually, the multiple punches caused Fox Boy to bend unintentionally, which allowed Abby to place him in a headlock.
Fortunately for him, the position that she was in, allowed Fox Boy to do something. "AAH!" Which was grab her braid of hair with both of his hands and pull it, hard.
Allowing him to break free from the headlock and using their current position to perform a Scoop throw on her in order to get Abby to the ground where he has the advantage.
}
The rest would be a spoiler, but I hope you enjoyed.