Chapter 1: Devil in a Mask (5/5)
Ellie:
"Stay still."
"Aaaahhhh!"
It took some time but eventually Ellie,Joel, Tommy and Dina managed to make their way back to Jackson, in order to have hers and Tommy's injuries checked on.
"How bad is it?" Joel asked the doctor in concern.
"She had a forearm fracture, but nothing too severe." The doctor explained for Joel's relief. "She's gonna have to wear a brace to heal it properly."
"Great, more time at home." She spoke bitterly as it really annoyed her.
"Wow, so my company isn't good enough for you?" Dina, who was sitting besides Ellie, joked as she held her hand.
"I'm just tired of laying around." Ellie whined. Justifiable so, as she already had to spend a considerable amount of time in bed due to sickness. "How's Tommy?" She asked in concern.
"The cut was very deep and he lost a considerable amount of blood." The doctor explained. "We gave him a transfusion and stitched the cut properly, he's resting now."
"That's good." Ellie was relieved to hear that.
"Maria is with him, she's waiting for news about Fox Boy." Joel told her as he touched her arm gently.
"You two actually saw the guy? I could barely see him because of the blizzard." Dina asked in curiosity.
"Yeah, he looked like those serial killer guys from those movies that we used to watch with Jesse." Ellie explained as it was true. She found the mask to be particularly disturbing for some reason. "Speaking of which, any news from Jesse and the others?" That question was for Joel, as it has been a few hours since they got there.
"No, nothing." Joel answered her question. Which clearly worried her and Dina. "Maria is gonna wait a little more, but if they don't turn up in the next two hours, she'll send a search party."
"Do you think he got them?" Ellie asked in worry. As she was still swallowing the part where this Fox Boy actually managed to knock Joel out.
"I can't say." Joel sadly told her. "But I wouldn't be surprised if he just evaded them." He quickly reassured her.
"If he just evaded them, they wouldn't be taking so long." Ellie was quick to point out. "Would they?" She asked Dina.
"Jesse... is with them, he's probably gonna search every spot where he could be hiding before he even thinks about coming back empty handed." Dina answered her question by mentioning her ex-boyfriend's dedication to his job. Though, she seemed a little awkward for some reason, and didn't look Ellie in the eyes when she said that.
"Yeah... That's probably it." Ellie couldn't help but agree with her girlfriend. Though, she noticed her sudden awkwardness when speaking about Jesse. But she had another question for Joel. "Did you have the doctor check for injuries?"
"Just a small bruise from falling down those stairs, but I didn't break anything." Joel told her. "But my back really hurts." He admitted.
"You should go home and get some rest." Ellie suggested in worry.
"I'll do that once Jesse comes back, this business with Fox Boy is making me worry." Joel replied before turning around. "I'm gonna check on Tommy and Maria." He informed her. "Take it easy okay." Ellie nodded in response as he walked away.
Dina chuckled a bit.
"What?" Ellie asked her girlfriend.
"Seriously, Fox Boy?" Dina pointed out. "Am I the only one who thinks that name is silly?"
"According to Joel, it's probably a nickname." Ellie mentioned what Joel told her.
"A really lame one" Dina had the exact same reaction Ellie did.
"I just hope no one else gets hurt." Ellie placed her head on Dina's shoulder. "Fuck..." Her arm still hurts.
"Shall we go to your house?" Dina asked as she wrapped her arm around her.
"Let's go wait a little more."
Fox Boy:
"Shit!"
Dreadfully, after encountering that dead infant, Fox Boy became a prisoner of the trio that was pursuing him. They were planning on taking him back to their base, but there was a problem. There was a horde infected in the area. Which ended up attacking the trio's horses, leaving them without a means of transportation. They had to block the entrance to keep them from entering, which unfortunately trapped the four of them there.
The trio decided to discuss their best course of action. With Fox Boy just standing there at gunpoint. The one named Jesse took his sword and gun, leaving him completely unarmed.
"Have any of you ever come to this area before?" The other guy asked. He had fair skin, blond hair in a buzzcut, blue eyes and was wearing a white parka and gray cargo pants with brown boots.
"No," The girl answered his question. She had medium length black hair, black eyes, and was wearing brown jeans with leather boots, an oversized blue hoodie under a brown denim jacket that matched her jeans. "I think Cedric is in charge of this area."
"Bonnie, did you bring a radio?" The one called Jesse asked the girl, who's name apparently is Bonnie.
"No, Chad here was the one that was supposed to bring it with him." The girl spoke about the blond guy, who's name apparently it's Chad.
"Don't look at me," Chad was quick to rebuff. "I gave it to Tommy, who dropped when that freak over there sliced him with that sword." He informed them while pointing at Fox Boy.
Fox Boy wasn't really paying attention to them, he was still in shock over what happened with the infant. He kept looking at the floor as a result.
"Hey!" The one called Chad yelled at him. "I'm talking to you!"
"Chad! Don't you start!" Jesse yelled at Chad. "This isn't the time or the place!"
"What?! You feel sorry for this guy, didn't you see what he did to Tommy?" Chad asked, deeply confused.
"I did, but right now, we need to find a way out of here." Jesse explained before looking at the door. "Which is not exactly an easy task since the only exit is blocked."
"Isn't there a back entrance or something?" Bonnie asked.
"Nah, I already checked." Chad replied.
The only way to get out of here would be by the roof. Fox Boy checked the second floor and most of the windows were boarded. The masked individual decided to sit down on the floor. I think it's time to remove the stiches. He observed the trio speaking to one another, discussing how to get out of their current location. The infected were hitting on the door, trying to break it down. The exact number of infected on the outside was unknown to him. But it was probably a considerable number. That door isn't properly blocked.
Then he gently touched the inside of his coat in order to check the spot and he realized that it was time, and he really needed to find something sharp to remove the stitches. His sword wasn't really an option before or after it was taken, so it would have to be something else. Looking around for a bit, he decided to search for something.
"Hey!" Chad yelled as he noticed him walking around.
Fox Boy ignored him and continued to search the furniture in the room for something. There were a few desks there, and even some drawers. He honestly didn't know what exactly was this place supposed to be or why there were so many things out of place. The first thing he checked was the desk with a computer on top of it, but it was different from the one that Jester uses. There was a single drawer on it, which he opened to check, unfortunately, there were only papers inside. The desk besides that one was the second thing he checked to see, the computer on that one was completely destroyed. Inside the drawer, there wasn't anything even remotely useful. The third and last desk was the last one he could check, there was nothing on top of it. He opened the drawer and inside of it, there was... Alcohol? Inside the drawer there was a bottle of something alcoholic. I don't need this... He tossed the bottle into the ground and it broke.
"What the hell do you think you're doing?!" Chad yelled as he approached and stood in front of Fox Boy.
"I need something to remove my stitches." He told the blond guy before walking past him to keep looking.
"Stitches?" Jesse seemed confused by that.
Fox Boy kept on searching. Luckily, the trio didn't bother him as he did. The hooded individual made his way to the drawers to see if there was anything useful.
"What the hell is this place supposed to be anyway?" Chad asked the others.
"No clue, it looks like an office but there are rooms upstairs." Bonnie replied.
A small pause ensued as Fox Boy checked the drawers, the first one was empty unfortunately.
"Hey, Fox Boy?" The one named Jesse called him. "What are you doing here anyway?"
"Searching for something to remove my stitches." Fox Boy bluntly responded.
"What?" Saying that apparently surprised Jesse. "What stiches?"
Fox Boy didn't say anything else, he just kept on searching the drawers. The third drawer to be more precise, as the second one was empty. When he opened however, he found something. Is this... A toolbox? He quickly took it out and opened it to find a few useful tools inside. A hammer, a pipe wrench and... Pliers! He grabbed the pliers instantly before walking back to the empty desk.
Fox Boy then proceeded to remove his duffle coat, revealing that he was wearing an olive wool sweater with shoulder and elbow pads underneath.
"What the hell?!" It was Chad's reaction once Fox Boy removed the sweater. "What's wrong with him?" He asked as he saw the shirtless Fox Boy.
Fox Boy's skin was very, very pale, and his hair, which was visible without the hood of his coat, was white. His hair was wavy and was cut very short. But the thing that called the most attention was his torso. Mainly for two different reasons; first, he was way too skinny to be healthy and second, the absurd number of scars he had in his entire torso.
"He's a albino." Bonnie answered his question.
"What the hell is that?" Chad asked, completely clueless about it.
"He lacks the thing that gives the color to our skin,eyes and hair." She explained to him. "It's a genetic disorder."
"Am I the only one that's more concerned about the scars than the color of his skin?" Jesse spoke to them in a strangely disgusted tone.
Fox Boy however, was focused on the task. In truth, right under his rib bone, there was a sutured wound that was fully healed. So he needed to remove the stitches from it. Slowly he pulled each of the eleven stitches that were in his wound with the pliers. Once they were all off, he dropped the pliers on the floor and proceed to put his clothes back on.
"Shit." Jesse said that while cringing.
Fox Boy reacted to him, he just put his sweater and coat back on as it was really cold. He turned around to face the trio that took him hostage. "The only way to get out of this place is through the roof." He decided to inform them.
"Yeah, I was thinking the same thing." Jesse agreed with him. "The only way for us to get out of here is through that hole on the roof upstairs." He told the others.
"And what exactly are we supposed to do then?" Bonnie asked him. "There's a lot of them outside and I don't know if you noticed but it's dark as hell outside."
"We should just wait for reinforcement." Chad added.
"And how exactly are these reinforcements going to find us?" He asked. "Dina and Tommy don't know which direction we went and our trail is pretty much covered in snow by now."
"Yeah but, it's suicide to get out now without the horses." Bonnie replied.
"No, actually there's a safe post not far from here." Jesse told them. "It's the one that Cedric uses when he's patrolling this area, there's a radio there that we can use."
"Sounds like a plan, but we should at least wait until morning befor-" Bonnie tried to say something but was interrupted.
Suddenly, the front door that wasn't properly blocked, broke down. The horde of infected that were attracted by Fox Boy's mercy kill of that infant started to enter the building.
"Shit!" Jesse yelled as the trio started to fire at them.
Fox Boy, who was completely unarmed, ran towards the stairs to keep himself out of the line of fire and out of the horde's reach. He looked back to look at the others, who were foolishly trying to contain the obvious high number of infected.
"Get upstairs!" Jesse orders them as he walks back while firing at the infected.
Bonnie decided to obey and ran to join Fox Boy at the stairs. But Chad apparently was just having none of it and just kept on firing at them from the same position. "No! We can take them!"
"No, we can't!" Jesse yelled at him as he reached the stairs.
"Dammit Jesse!" Chad yelled back before finally deciding to make his way to the stairs. Unfortunately for him, however, he decided to do it by turning his back at the infected and trying to run. But it backfired as one of them actually managed to grab his coat. "Fuck!" He tried to push the infected off of him. But as he did it, another infected jumped on him, causing to fall into the floor. "AAAAAHHHH!" Chad screamed as one of the two infected bite him on the neck.
"NO!" Jesse yelled as he saw everything, he tried to go there to help him but it's stopped by Bonnie.
"It's too late!" She assured him. "We gotta move! Come on!" The black haired girl basically pulled him to follow her.
Fox Boy climbed upstairs first, signalling him to follow him. Once they also reached upstairs, Fox Boy started to push the furniture that he has previously moved out of the way to block the path once again.
"It won't hold them long." Jesse pointed out. "Come on."
The three of them ran towards the big hole on the roof, which Fox Boy still couldn't figure out what made it. It was low enough for them to climb it easily, but it wasn't the best of ideas, considering that it was dark outside and the blizzard somehow got worse.
"Where's the safe post?" Bonnie asked Jessie.
"That way!" He replied while pointing north.
Their conversation was cut short however. As they heard the sounds of the infected getting closer. Causing them to run towards the edge of the roof. They could see an alley that was completely empty. It wasn't too high but the fall could cause some harm. "Jump!" Jesse yelled at the two.
Fox Boy decided to obey, and was the first one to jump off the roof. Luckily, there was some snow at the bottom that broke his fall. But the impact still hurted a bit and it took a few seconds for him to stand up, due to the pain on his shoulder from the bullet he removed and because he was relatively tired. Once he was up however, he looked back up to look at Jesse and Bonnie. Jesse jumped right away and fell a few inches away from Fox Boy.
"Dammit!" Jesse complained as he stood himself up, visible in pain. But then he looked up and appeared to be worried. "What are you doing?!" He yelled at Bonnie. "Come on!"
Fox Boy looked up and noticed that Bonnie seemed reluctant to jump. Is she afraid if heights? It was the most obvious explanation. She closed her eyes to take a leap but as she did it, an infected tackled her from behind making her fall. Both Fox Boy and Jesse looked as she fell on her back.
"No!" Jesse yelled in response as he ran towards to check on her, stepping on the infected head on the way. But unfortunately, while she was still alive, there was a bite mark on her neck. "No, Bonnie!" He noticed too as he desperately called for her but she struggled to breath as the bite was deep.
As Jesse checked on his injured friend, Fox Boy could hear the infected getting closer to them. His response was to search for the gun that Bonnie dropped when he fell. Luckily, he found it, it was a Glock 17, He aimed the gun at the direction where the noises came from but the darkness and the blizzard made it difficult to see it.
"AAAAHHH!" One of them charged at Fox Boy, which he responded by shooting at the head. But unfortunately, another showed up out of nowhere and Fox Boy shot it twice at it's chest and then head. The masked individual turned around to look at Jesse, who was hopelessly shaking Bonnie, who wasn't moving anymore.
Fox Boy moved his head back to the front, only to be surprised by an infected charging at him. He tried to shoot it, but the gun wouldn't fire due to being out of ammo. The result was the infected tackling Fox Boy. Falling into ground with the infected on top of him, the albino tried to push him off of himself, but it was no use. He didn't have the strength to push him off, all he could do was desperately try to keep it's mouth away from him. Pathetic... Reaper is gonna be disappointed, because he wasted his time training me to end like this... The disgusting breath of the infected was going through his mask.
But then, blood from the infected fell into his mask and the infected lifeless body fell on him. Which he pulled out of him right away. "What?" He asked in confusion. Soon enough, he felt someone grabbing him by his coat and pulling him up.
"What the hell are you doing?!" Jesse asked him while he stood him up. "Come on, we gotta get to the safe post!" He yelled at Fox Boy before handing him his sword back.
Fox Boy was deeply confused. "Why did you save my life?" He asked in deep confusion.
Jesse opened his mouth to speak but was interrupted by the sound of the infected coming from the direction where Fox Boy was shooting at it. Jesse pointed his lantern at it, and they saw that there was a locked gate that was keeping the infected to enter the alley, but they were squeezing themselves in through a small gap on the gate that was locked by a chain. The chain was very rusty. "That's not gonna hold it, run!" Jesse yelled at Fox Boy before signalling him to run the other way.
Before they did however, Jesse took a final look at Bonnie. "Sorry, I'll come back for you and Chad so you guys can have a burial." He told the girl's corpse sadly before running away with Fox Boy following behind him.
Ellie:
"Okay, this is taking too long, even for Jesse."
Both Ellie and Dina were sitting down in a room alongside Maria and Joel, who were all waiting for news. The plans for sending a search party was cut short due to the blizzard outside that got worse.
"Not like they can move around in this blizzard." Ellie replied to Dina. Before she looked at the radio in the room. "Is there any way for them to contact us?"
"There are radios in the safe posts in the more separated areas." Maria explained to Ellie. "Jesse knows about them."
"Did you know about that?" She asked Dina as she herself didn't know about it. Dina shaked her head in response.
"Jesse asked everyone for advice once he started on patrol duty." Joel explained to them. "He's very dedicated."
"Yeah..." Dina spoke while looking down. "He was always hard-working."
Ellie was honestly a little confused, as Dina seemed awkward every time Jesse's name is mentioned for some reason. But that wasn't the time or the place to question her about that. She's probably just worried about him, they were together for a long time before we started to date, so it's only natural. Ellie thought in embarrassment as she couldn't believe that she was actually suspicious about that. Hell, I'm worried about Jesse myself as he's one of my closest friends.
"Did you notify Chad's brother and Bonnie's grandmother?" Joel asked Maria.
"Not yet," Maria replied while leaning back on the chair that she was sitting on. "I'm gonna wait a little more, but I'll do it before daylight if there's no news."
"You two should go home and get some rest." Joel told Ellie and Dina.
"Nah, we ain't falling asleep any time soon." Ellie replied.
"Yeah, until we know that Jesse,Chad and Bonnie are okay, there's no sleep for us." Dina added.
Joel opened his mouth to say something to the two of them but he was interrupted by a sound. The sound of the radio, which called everyone's attention.
"Anyone there!" A voice came from the Radio, which everyone recognized right away. "Over!"
"It's Jesse!" Dina instantly recognized his voice.
Maria quickly stood up from her chair and went to grab the radio. "This is Maria," She answered the call. "Where are you? Over."
"At the safe point... Located in the area that Cedric patrols it." Jesse explained. "Over."
Both Ellie and Dina sighed in relief.
"I know where it is," Joel informed them. "Tell him to wait there until the blizzard ceases."
Maria nodded before speaking on the radio. "Jesse, you and the others wait there, we will send a rescue team to grab you guys. Over."
A small pause ensued, which caused them to worry a bit.
"Jesse?" Maria called him.
"Chad and Bonnie didn't make it."
That caused everyone in the room to widen their eyes in surprise. Suddenly, Joel grabbed the radio to speak. "Jesse, it's Joel." He spoke to him. "What the hell happened? Over."
All of them wanted to know to be honest.
Another pause ensued before Jesse answered. "A... group of Runners... attacked us, both of them got bitten." Jesse was obviously upset about that, it was obvious due to the tone of his voice. "Is Ellie okay?" He asked in worry.
"She had a forearm fracture, but nothing serious." Joel informed him. "Tommy is okay too, so don't worry about that. Over."
"Oh, that's good." He sounded relieved."Hey, put that down! You can't mess the place up." They heard Jesse speaking to someone.
"Who...?" Ellie asked in confusion as if Chad and Bonnie were gone...
"What are you eating?" Jesse asked that to someone.
"Cookies..." A pretty soft voice came from the other side of the radio. "They're pretty good."
"What the?! That's Fox Boy's voice!" Joel told them as he recognized it.
That, of course, surprised everyone in the room.
"The one that attacked you, Ellie and Tommy?!" Maria asked in deep confusion. "What hell is Jesse doing with him?!" She grabbed the radio from Joel's hand. "Jesse!" She tried to call his attention but to no success.
"What is this stuff?" Jesse asked in confusion. "Wait..." They listened to the radio. "Where did you get that?!"
"There's a box full of them hidden inside that broken fridge." They heard Fox Boy reply. "Isn't this..."
"Ah, so Cedric is fucking pervert?" Both Ellie and Dins looked at one another in response to that, wondering what exactly they were looking at.
"Maybe he just likes to wear them." They heard Fox Boy speak.
"Wearing women's underwear?" After hearing that, they looked at one another in confusion. Though, Ellie always knew that Cedric was a pervert, even though this is a whole new level than the one she expected. "Yeah, maybe he thought it was cute." Jesse spoke sarcastically.
"Probably but... They look really tight, is he very skinny or something?" Fox Boy on the other hand seemed serious and didn't get that Jesse was being sarcastic.
Ellie thought that was weird. "Wait, was that a serious question?" She asked them. Dina lifted her shoulders in response and Joel nodded in confirmation.
"Jesse!" Maria kept on trying to call him, but this time, it was successful.
"Oh, yeah, sorry." He finally responded. "I'm here. Over."
"Jesse, who's there with you?" Maria asked calmly.
"The guy with a mask that we were after." Jesse told her. "He came along peacefully."
"Jesse, watch yourself and don't let your guard down near him." Joel grabbed the radio from Maria's hand to say that to him. "Over."
"He had more than one opportunity to kill me, trust me, he doesn't plan to try anything." Jesse reassured them. "We'll wait here for the rescue team. Over."
"Jesse, just watch yourself." Joel told him.
Suddenly, Dina approached the radio. "Let me talk to him." She requested before Joel handed her the radio. "Hey..."
"Hey, it's great to hear your voice." Jesse sounded happy.
"How are you?" Dina asked him in worry.
"Not good, Chad and Bonnie..." Jesse was clearly upset. "I should have payed more attention to that fucking door!" He clearly blamed himself for it.
"These things happen Jesse, don't beat yourself over it." Dina reassured him. "I'm one hundred percent that you did all you could to help them."
"I..." Jesse sounded like he was sobbing. "I should have done more..."
"Sometimes, there's nothing else you can do." Dina spoke with a lot of conviction.
"Dina, I..." Jesse wanted to say something to her. "I... I'm really sorry for what happened in the party, I did-" He was trying to tell her something but he stopped in the middle. "What the hell are you doing?!" They suddenly heard Jesse yell, but it was pretty obvious that it wasn't towards Dina's.
"Sorry, I heard you're supposed to hug someone when they're sad." That seemed to have come from Fox Boy, who apparently tried to hug Jesse.
"Not when you barely know the person!" Jesse yelled at him.
That caused Dina to burst into laughter despite everything that was going. Ellie herself had to hold herself to not laugh in front of Joel and Maria but it was a pretty difficult task, especially with the image of that guy with the mask trying to hug Jesse.
"I guess you made a new friend." Dina spoke while trying to contain her laughter.
"This albino weirdo is not my friend." Jesse informed her, sounding really frustrated. "I'm just keeping him company until the rescue team arrives."
"Albino weirdo?" Ellie asked in confusion.
The rest of the night was basically spent in a radio conversation with Jesse. They mainly stayed in it with him in worry, as he was at the company of the masked guy called Fox Boy. They didn't know what to expect of him but they knew that he was dangerous. And as soon as the blizzard stops, they will get answers to what exactly is he doing in Jackson.
Thanks everyone for reading my story, your support means a lot to me.