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AS THEY APPROACHED the deserted intersection, the man staggered into the middle of the road, waving frantically and calling for them to stop.
"Hey!" He yelled. "Please help!"
Joel tightened his grip on the steering wheel. "Put your seatbelts on." He ordered. The girls did what he said. The man's pleas tugged at their instincts, but, of course, experience had taught them not to trust the surface.
"Are we gonna help him?" Ellie asked.
"No." Joel said, bluntly, as he revved the engine and set off towards the man, who yelled and jumped out the way of the car.
"Joel!" Cindy yelled as another man from on top of a stairwell dropped something heavy, like concrete, right on top of the car. Joel swerved right onto one of their traps, sending the car crashing through a glass storefront. The truck came to an abrupt halt, and the trio didn't have time to even catch their breath.
"You guys alright?" Joel asked. "Not hurt or nothin'?"
Cindy shook her bead and began undoing her belt and Ellie answered him. "No, I don't think so."
"Belt off. Fast!" Joel said to Ellie. They all tumbled out of the car. Cindy grabbed Joel's gun off the back seat on her way and handed it to Joel as they ducked behind the car.
There was bullets flying at them, one shattering the glass of the truck, the glass shards raining into them. They were shouting about letting them live if they gave them all their belongings and other stuff. Threats, essentially.
Joel turned to Ellie. "You see that hole?" He pointed to a hole in the wall almost directly ahead of them. Ellie nodded. "Can you squeeze through?" He asked. Ellie just flinched at the gunshots. "When I say go, you crawl through the wall. You squeeze through and you don't come out until I say, okay?"
Ellie looked panicked, her chest heaving, so Cindy grabbed her by the shoulders. "Ellie, you look at me." And she did. "They are not gonna hit you. We've got you covered and we've got the guns. They're gonna be firing at me and Joel, okay? You've got this, girl. You can do it."
Ellie swallowed but nodded.
"Ellie, you stay down, you stay low, and you stay quiet, okay?" Joel instructed. She gave him a nod and got herself onto her knees. Joel glanced at Cindy. "I'll draw 'em out, you take shots when you can, okay?" He said and Cindy nodded. He looked back at Ellie. "Go!"
Ellie set off towards the hole in the wall and Joel and Cindy fired at the attackers. As the ambush unfolded, Joel managed to hit and kill one of the men and it went quiet for a moment.
He looked over at Cindy. "You think you can fit through the hole wi-"
"Joel, my ass ain't gettin' through there." Cindy shut the idea down. They could hear the other men getting closer so they shuffled further back in the room behind some old washing machines.
"I go right, you go left?" Cindy suggested, referring to which one the other should target - there was someone coming from the left and the right. Joel nodded.
Before the attackers could get too close, they took their chance, coming up from behind the washing machines and shooting the man on the left, and on the right, but not before they shot too.
A bullet grazed Cindy's neck, the impact making her turn to the right slightly. "Fuck!" She yelled out and held her neck. The pain erupted, like a hot, burning sensation from the heat of the bullet, and a sharp stinging from the broken skin. She could even almost smell the metallic blood that was now all over her hand.
"Shit." Joel hissed, his heart thumping. Panic gripped him as he rushed towards her to inspect the wound. "Are you alright? How bad? How deep?" He questioned.
"Joel." She warned when she saw another couple of guys approach from the door behind them. A raider lunged at him, hands immediately going for the throat.
Simultaneously, the other went for Cindy. He grabbed a fistful of her hair and dragged her to the floor. She kicked him in the stomach with the heel of her boot, and then the ribs, pain still searing through her neck. He slammed her head on the floor and she groaned in pain.
In desperation, her eyes scanned over the surroundings and, to her luck, her gun was within reach. As she locked her gaze on it, so did her attacker. They both looked at the gun and then at each to her before he let go of her hair and they both lunged for it. Cindy, already being on the floor, got to it first.
He tried to grab it off her but she managed to position it under his chin and pull the trigger. His blood splattered all over her face and she flinched. Another shot through the room and Cindy whipped her head to the right. Joel was on the floor catching his breath and Ellie stood over a bloody man with a gun.
"I'm gonna go home, I'll tell everyone you're good." He cried. "I don't know what to do!" He sobbed. "My mom isn't far, if you could get me to her." Joel pushed himself up and Ellie handed him the gun. The guy whimpered from the floor and Ellie looked at Cindy, noticing the blood seeping from her neck.
Her eyes widened. "Cindy, y-you're... you're neck-"
"I'm okay, Ellie, it's okay." Cindy said. "I'm fine, it didn't go all the way through."
"Ellie, get back behind the wall." Joel said. Cindy nodded at her and Ellie hurried back through the hole, despite the man's yelling for her not to leave him with Joel and Cindy, particularly Joel. Ellie did as she was told. Cindy watched as Joel pressed the knife into the crying man's neck, ending his life.
Joel locked eyes with her, and she pushed herself off the floor, wiping the blood splatter off her face. The wound on her neck was dripping with blood. The pain seared up into her jaw and down to her collar bone, but burned unbearably where the bullet had hit. Joel rushed towards her and looked at her bloody hand over the wound.
"Need to get that patched up, fast." He said.
"Hurts like a fuckin' bitch, dude." She groaned as Joel moved her hand slightly. She winced away and his eyes softened a little. "We should get to Ellie." She said. Joel nodded.
