A/N: I forget how big these chapters can get. The chapter is split between this one and the next!
"Fireflies were here."
Ellie saw it before she ever heard Henry's words. The clear, red symbol of the Fireflies was on full display for them all to see. Which looked like it had been spray painted, just across the raised stone walls below that made as the next house's foundation tier, and a wall to rest by.
"Yeah, by the looks of it." Joel announced as he came up behind her.
Sam, who had been on his brother's heels since they got out of the sewer, spoke up, "How're we gonna find them?"
"I know a guy." Joel explained, as Y/N appeared next, taking the time to look the art over, until he stopped beside Ellie. "My brother, actually. He was a Firefly. Last I heard he was in Wyoming." She watched him as he narrowed his eyes at the symbol as Joel spoke, eying it sharply as if it had offended him. "We get there, we find him. We find the Fireflies. Whaddya say, you in?"
Although, that was how Y/N looked at most things.
"Sounds like a good plan, man." Henry apparently agreed, as if the cheer in his voice wasn't enough.
Ellie had her own thoughts on the matter, though most were doubts. How did Joel know they were going to find Tommy, his brother, at all? And even if they did, would he still be alive? Never mind being willing to be their guide to find the Fireflies.
It seemed that Y/N's pessimism was rubbing off on her, and speaking of him...
"Y/N?" Joel asked, as the older man turned to face the teen, and as Y/N looked back, Ellie could make out the mix of curiosity in those pupils of his, and the eyes that had always greeted them with sadness and fire were now staring with great interest, before they lightened and subdued.
"...Sure."
Y/N's words had always been said as if they were weighing him down (at least the less confident ones) as if it burdened him to even follow them. With each passing hour, it seemed they were closing in on the Fireflies, they're destination clearly in sight.
But Y/N was hesitant to keep on going with the adventure, from what she could see. Each word was carefully crafted, made to act neutral or even indifferent to the path that they were taking.
He had once told her that he was just tagging along, but how long had it been since he had saved her in the hotel? Since he had first threatened Joel upon meeting him and cautiously taking himself to the back of the group, unwilling to blend in with them.
Yet, that was long past, and Y/N was still here, following them. Except now, as the journey neared closer to an end goal in sight, Y/N was beginning to grow on them, and vice versa, and Ellie couldn't help but think that his reassurance of leaving was all just one big, stupid, pile of bullshit.
One that stunk more and more.
And despite everything, she reckoned, he was just too stubborn, too set in his ways from the fragments of his time alone, to truly confess.
That he wanted to stay with them, despite his instincts.
She hoped she was right.
"Ellie?" Joel's voice broke her out of her thoughts, pulling her back from her mind, and the thoughts on the teenage boy that she hoped, would stick around. "Let's go."
At least for a little while.
—
"Ah, okay. You guys are killing me with your downer talk. It's joke book time."
"Oh, no."
"What's joke book time?"
"It's the perfect time." Ellie spurred, almost exasperatedly, as she pulled her small book out of her bag. Meanwhile, Y/N stared her down with the utmost confusion barring his face.
"You wanna hear a joke about pizza? Never mind, it was too cheesy."
"... I don't get it."
"Yeah. Me neither."
Ellie pouted, biting her bottom lip as she chose her next joke, "What did the green grape say to the purple grape? Breathe, you idiot?"
"What?"
"You have no sense of humour!" Ellie huffed, her eyes lighting up fast as Y/N gazed at her, his face the dead set thing she had ever seen.
"A man walks into a library and asks the librarian for books about paranoia." Ellie shook her head, before lowering her tone. "She whispers, They're right behind you!"
"Okay... That one wasn't too bad."
"Really!?"
"...No."
Ellie's narrowed, daggered eyes. would be a lasting memory for Y/N, one he would never forget.
Ever.
—
After reaching the end of the street, the rest of the road had been cordoned off. Blocking their exit, so instead they took off to the left. Another set of houses before them.
Ripe for picking.
Joel was the first one forward, kneeling at the small deck of stairs surrounded by yellow maintenance railings. He dropped down, his feet firmly planting on the ground.
Y/N quickly dropped after him, carefully this time, as his leg burned more and more. When his feet landed safely, he breathed a sigh, and looked back up at Ellie and others.
He was about to call out to them, but a piercing noise that Y/N knew all too well rang out, and the spurred sound of a bullet hitting the wall next to him had him ducking.
"Oh shit. Get down."
The rest of them immediately dropped down, following Joel and Y/N as they rushed to the nearest cover in front of them, an old and shabby SUV that had long been abandoned or stripped apart.
"Oh shit."
Another shot rang out and hit their cover, shattering the window screen above Joel and spluttering any remains of glass atop him.
Y/N had his rifle out, steadying it in his right, as he moved his left up, placing it against the rim of the vehicle. Carefully he pushed himself up from his crouch, and peered through the passenger side of the window, before ducking again when another shot rang out.
"Did you see where it came from?" Joel asked.
"Fuckin' sniper." Y/N gritted, nodding his head in the direction of the shooter. "Couldn't get a clear sight on him. But I'd say that house in the far back. It's got coverage of the whole street."
"Alright." Joel nodded, and didn't say no more, fully trusting the kid on that one. "Now, y'all stay here--"
"What? No!"
"Before you start." Joel said harshly. "I need you guys to keep him busy. I'm gonna go around and see If I can't get an angle on him." He turned to Y/N as he gripped his rifle in hand, something that Joel needed. "And Y/N..." The teen's head snapped in his direction, turning to him. "You come with me - see if you can take him out, try to level the playing field."
Y/N shook his head slightly, "You can trust me with that?"
There was no supposed malice in his words, no grumbling distrust like it had been at the start. Just his curiosity and surprise.
"You handle yourself pretty well." Y/N felt his face burn from the praise. Coming from Joel, that meant... a good deal. "And I've seen you take out a good few people at range back in Pittsburgh."
Yeah, who could forget that? How he had saved their asses in the beginning. Taking out bandits from across the way, sniping them with brutal precision, a skill that many took years to hone.
And that was the kind of skill Joel needed that right now.
'Fuck it.'
"Okay," Y/N nodded, his voice sounded low, embarrassed a little as he proceeded with his next words. "I'll follow your lead."
Y/N made a move to follow Joel, but the sound of Ellie's voice willed them to stop in their tracks, and quickly they turned back to her, and took notice of the concern on her face, and yet also, the determination that sparked something in Y/N.
"Hey," The dead seriousness in her voice was clear, and meant for both of them. "Be careful."
Taking her words to heart, the two males turned their attention north. Towards the house at the end of the street, and then without notice, Joel moved out. Y/N quickly followed after him, crouching the whole way.
They took to the left. Following a line of wooden fencing before it revealed an open path into a house. Quietly they moved past it through the back yard. But stopped when they neared the end, where a small drop of elevation appeared at the next house. Voices could be heard ahead of them, the bandits.
Y/N was willing to bet these were the sniper's friends.
'Lovelly.'
"Come on!" The high pitch drawl of a bandit reached his ears. "I wanna play."
There was one inside the house from what they could tell from looking through the open window. Shaking his head, Y/N murmured for Joel to go onto the next house, passing the around the house to the left side, while he took care of his asshat.
'Play?' Y/N scoffed. 'I'll show you how to play you fuckin' lunatic.'
Y/N moved up, the corner of his eye catching Joel proceeding ahead of him, as he neared the window and looked through. A kitchen. He picked up a stray brick at his side, and threw it inside, the brick shattering into fragile pieces as it hit the front of a fridge.
He waited beside the window, carefully ducked so nobody could see him. A couple of moments passed before the welcoming steps of the bandit sounded and the enemy appeared before him. Armed with nothing but a pipe.
Quietly, Y/N vaulted through the window, as he watched the bandit searching around the kitchen with a snarl across his face before he turned to the fridge with confusion.
"Where'd you go, you fuckin' chickenshit."
Fortunately, that would be the last face he would ever make.
"Right here." Y/N said, immediately alerting the bandit as he turned around to face him. The bandit's eyes widened with surprise before they were silenced forever as Y/N's knife slipped into his neck faster than ever.
Pulling his knife out, Y/N quickly moved on. Not even bothering to spare a glance at the man's body as it crumbled to the floor in a gurgling mess of blood and the light that left the bandit's eyes.
He had seen many people's eyes fade to nothing, what was staring at another pair? Just a waste of time.
Moving on, Y/N passed through the house, crouching his way through as he planned on rejoining Joel quietly. But that was scrapped when the sound of a sniper bullet sounded again, this time shattering the window of the living room Y/N was in. He didn't even flinch, and not as he dived behind the sofa.
Grimacing, he cursed as his leg spiked with pain, causing him to grip it as it had landed funny on the ground. Breathing in to catch his breath, he looked up and peered across the room and out the window, to catch the sniper in all his glory. His rifle levelled with the top of the sofa and scope peering out into the neighbourhood.
His scoped zeroed in on the house at the far end, and could make out the sharp muzzle flash of the sniper. Through the boarded up window of the second floor. Rifle barrel peering through the gap left open. But Y/N couldn't make the shot, he couldn't see the shooter.
No visible shot from this angle.
He would have to get close and dirty.
Suddenly, he pulled back at the sound of gunshots, but they were not of the sniper's. They were further down the line, back at the vehicle. Out of view, he could barely make out the others taking pot shots at the sniper's location. With nothing to lose, he immediately got up and took off. Vaulting out of the window and moved up the street.
With his heart beating in his ears, Y/N took a sharp left and made for the next house. Stopping as he came to a lower cobblestone wall. He immediately saw Joel taking fire from three men by the backyard of the house. One Joel was focused on, firing his revolver at him from behind cover. While the other two were attempting to flank him from his right.
Taking aim, Y/N brought the scope up to his right eye and zeroed in on the first bandit. The resticle lining right up across the first bandit's face. Pulling the trigger, he watched as the man's head blew apart, a gust of blood followed and the thump of the man's body to the grassy ground. Turning to the other one, he cursed when the second bandit had the foresight to duck and get in cover. Behind a pretty large fire grill.
Seeing no obvious shot, Y/N made his way after them. Passing through an opening in the fence, he greeted Joel with a nod as he joined him behind the wreck of a car, as the man finished off his own target, landing two shots into the bandit's torso.
"Did you get a sight on the shooter?" Joel asked as he ducked at the incoming rounds, bouncing off the bumper, they spotted two more bandits joining their brethren.
Three to deal with.
"I couldn't get a clear shot." Y/N shook his head, placing his rifle back and equipping his shotgun. "Have to get close to him." He pulled from cover and shot a round, piercing the nearest bandit as they tried to rush them. "I can do it." He cocked the shotgun back.
"You sure?" Joel asked, pulling back as he killed another bandit, this time a molotov did the trick. Over the shrikes of man and burning flesh, he gave Y/N a look. "You're injured."
"I'll be fine!" Y/N snapped, as he got out of cover and pushed up, landing another shell into the last bandit as they tried to attack him with a baseball bat. Settingly down, he reloaded, "Joel, I can do this."
Joel took a couple of seconds to look him over, before deciding, "Fine. Get rid of that sniper."
And that was that.
Y/N watched as Joel peeled off, making his way back to Ellie and the rest as more gunfire emerged. Sighing, he pushed himself further, making it to the end of the backyard, he climbed over the lower half wall, grimacing as he did.
He really needed medical attention, and fast.
Hopefully when they got to that tower he could fix himself up properly.
Passing through the opening of a tall set of white picket fences, Y/N made his way round the back of the house. Taking the location in stock, he carefully made his way in the back door. Entering he could still hear the sound of the sniper's rifle fire.
He made his way through the house, checking every corner, until he reached the bottom of the stairs to the second floor. Making his way up the stairs as they creaked under pressure, he noticed that the gunfire had stopped from the sniper, and only the remains of his buddies could be heard.
Frowning, he made it to the top, before going through an open doorway. He searched the room, but it was empty. Going through another, he noticed the room further away, through a set of beams hanging atop the archeway of the doorway. He could immediately see the rifle stacked against the window.
Slipping his knife out of his sheathe, Y/N carefully walked through the doorway, wiping away at the beams that got into his way. His knife lowered when he entered, and that was enough for the bandit residing there.
He felt his pounce and ache before he heard the footsteps, as his body hit the floor and the knife fell from his grip. Blinking hard, as his vision corrected, he could make out the figure as it approached him. Clad in dark grey rags and a shredded hood. The markings and scars across the man's face, and eyes that echoed with malice intent.
'Shit.'
Y/N craned his neck quickly, his gaze landing on the knife on the side of the room. Just barely an inch or two before him. Struggling out a breath, he reached out with his hand to grab it but was interrupted as the bandit landed a kick to his stomach. The pain spread through his body, as he gasped as another blow landed.
"Ain't so tough now." The bandit rasped, as Y/N began to reach for his knife again. "I don't think so!" He firmly planted his foot down on Y/N's leg causing him to squirm and gasp in pain. The wound on his leg intensified and he did all he could to stop the scream from his lips as the blood seethed to the carpet as the man's pressure increased.
In a quick change of tactics, Y/N quickly reached down for his pistol in his holster and pulled, and not before the bandit tried to swipe it from him with his hand.
Y/N fired, but it went wide, striking the man in the hand that had tried to remove the gun from his grasp. He fried again, but the gun clicked empty and Y/N mentally shouted.
"Fuck!" The man groaned as he pulled back, giving Y/N another chance to scramble for his knife, dropping his pistol. He pushed forward, working his leg to move despite the pain. He reached it in no time, his cold hand, damped with sweat, wrapped around the handle but was caught in an instant by his attacker.
"Give it here!"
"Fuck off!"
Y/N roared, the two of them fighting for dominance for the knife, but the man was larger than him. Boarder, taller, stronger. He kicked Y/N in the stomach again and he kneeled over so he was stuck on his back. The two fought, the sweat on Y/N's brow worsened as the man stood over him, tightening his grip on the blade.
In a turn of power, the man began directing the blade towards Y/N, the pointed edge facing his chest. His fear began to show as his eyes widened, the sweat began to drizzle and pupils dilated the closer the blade got.
Looking around wildly, he tried to look for a way out. Something to save, someone to help him but he found none.
He was alone, like he had always been, like he had always wanted to be.
And this was the consequence of that.
Craning his neck, his eyes shot wildly about until they stopped on his rucksack. The poor bag had come loose with him, and spilled out across the floor was the darts.
The pointed, sharp darts.
Groaning he turned back to the crazed man, the knife was edging closer to his chest as he tried his best to slow it. The bandit himself was near with mirth himself, "You're weak. A coward. A nobody! Just like the rest!" He stared down at the defenseless, weak child and sputtered with a shrill voice he had told all his victims.
"Time for you to scream!"
Acting quick, Y/N removed his left hand and immediately reached for a dart, grabbing the nearest one in his hand and attacked immediately. With a flash of confidence and hatred, he struck hard, striking the man in the left eye.
"ARGH!"
The man pulled back, and the knife became loose in his hands. He dropped it, falling to the side as he pulled his hand up. But he had no time to do anything, as Y/N landed another blow. The pointed edge of the dart stabbing the man in the eye again and again, until the man collapsed to the floor.
Y/N pulled the dart back, not caring as the blood spattered across his face, coating his cheek with the man's blood.
"I'm not weak!" The dart landed into the man's right eye, getting a scream and agony out of the bandit. "I'm not a coward!" Another hit, another splat as it striked further into the man's eye socket. "I'M NOT A NOBODY!"
It was a furious attack, blow after blow, that blunted into the man's face until he was long but dead. The screams of pain and agony fueling Y/N and escaping him from the fear he had felt, the hopelessness and despair.
Until he collapsed to his side, pulling away from the man's deformed face, and the eye sockets that had once held terrifying life, bared empty.
Breathing in hard, he edged himself away from the monster that had almost cost him his life. His gaze still on the dead man, his hands trembling with the dart in hand, blooded beyond all measure.
And the quiet.
It was so quiet. Nothing but the heavy breathing of Y/N's frightened and beaten resolve.
A sheer reminder that after everything he had endured...
He wasn't invincible.
Pulling himself together, he got up, picking up the remains of his rucksack. And pocketing the dart in his back pocket, along with his knife back in it's sheathe. Breathing in hard for air, he looked around the room, then back to the body, and to the window. Remembering why he was here, moved to the window, his hands shaking still as he gripped onto the windowsill and looked out.
He could see the others advancing forward to his position, Joel now back in sync with Ellie, but he would call it a retreat. As he spotted enemies heading their way from behind.
Pulling his rifle to bare, he settled it on the windowsill, and tried to steadied himself. Zeroing in on the first bandit he saw, he aimed and fired. But it went wide, striking the vehicle he was rushing by. Not taking the moment to stop, he pulled the bolt back and primed his next shot and fired, this time hitting the man in the torso before he could move for cover.
It went on for a while, as Y/N tried his best to steady his breathing and beating heart, he took the bandits down alongside the others.
Another shot rang out and a bandit lost his head, blowing apart at the scene as they tried to jump them. Looking over the array of cars and one road street. It was practically a choke point. The rest of the group were about halfway down the street, stuck behind a set of cars as they held the attackers back with great force.
Vroom vroom.
What the fuck?" Y/N questioned out loud as he moved his eye away from his rifle's scope.
Down at the end of the street, came rumbling past the foliage of grass and trees, came an untold horror that Y/N swore gave his PTSD.
An old friend had come to greet them.
The armoured truck, mounted with a put together 55.6 ammo based machine gun, spurred past the wrecked cars and came into view for all of them to see.
"Oh, give me a fucking break." Y/N cursed as he took aim and fired a shot at the driver's front view but it only bounced off the tinted scrap of armour holding it all together.
"It's those damn tourists from the city!"
Y/N reloaded, swapping a mag for another, before priming the bolt back and forward again. 'How many of these fuckers are there?' He watched as the rest of the group began to fall back behind the row of vehicles, as the gunfire penetrated their cover with a hail of bullets.
"Thought you could get away from us, huh? We're back, motherfucker!"
That guy in the truck was beginning to piss him off.
The countless waves of enemies advanced on the group below but Y/N took care of them. Sniping them before they could get in range of the cover they were hiding behind. And as the truck advanced forward, it got closer and closer to them.
But just as it neared them right around the bend of wrecked vehicles, Y/N watched as the top hatch of the truck opened up. His eyes widened with their stupidity and he took aim. Just as he saw the light flash of a molotov in the bandit's hand, he opened fire. The shot hit the man directly in the chest and all hell broke loose. The man's body collapsed and with it the truck was lit on fire from the inside.
The truck then swayed forward fast, barreling past the group and off the street and into a row of wooden fences, and crashed into the house next to them.
It was safe to assume they were dead.
"Shit!" He could barely make out the tension in Ellie's voice from across the way. "Oh that was intense. Thanks, Y/N!"
"You're telling me." Y/N murmured as he zeroed in on them, watching over them silently as he let out a breath of relief.
He watched as the four of them moved along, stopping as they got to the wrecked car with the destroyed fences. He briefly heard Ellie say something but was cut short when a trio of clickers came rushing out from the destroyed house, through an opening and onto them.
Two of them charged at Henry and Sam, knocking them to the ground as Ellie took out the first quicker than he had ever seen her. Y/N had only a split second and took aim, firing at the clicker, pinning Henry to the ground first, saving his life. Just as Joel fired a row of pistol shots into the one holding down Sam at will.
Y/N watched as the older brother brought his youngest sibling to his feet and as the hurried feet of Joel as Ellie urged them to get a move on. The shrills of the infected, not far behind.
He immediately began taking them out, putting a round into them as fast as he could. But he was stunned, when he killed one, another two replaced them. The shrills of the infected got louder and louder and soon enough the entire street was filling up with them.
A fucking horde.
"Holy shit." Y/N murmured, his voice shocked. So much that he couldn't move, until the rough shout of Joel sounded not far off, calling for him to get down.
Shaking out of it, he picked his rifle up and limped. Trying his best, as he made his way out of the room and down the stairs. Before long he hit the back kitchen and flinched when a group of infected began banging on the front door. Moving, he made it to the living room where he found the four of the group.
Immediately Ellie rushed up to him, "Are you okay?"
"I'm okay." Despite the bruising on his stomach that was bound to appear later, and chink in his leg that had began to bleed again, yes, he was. "Everybody else?" He asked, looking them over.
"Uh-uh."
"We're good."
"Alright," Joel hurried, as he went to the back door. "I think it's time we quit this place. C'mon."
Y/N certainly wasn't looking for an invitation.
He was the first one out the door.
A/N: Chapter 16 - A Cruel Reality! Coming up next!