I feel the small tap on my shoulder before the grogginess vanishes from my eyes and I open them to see Ellie crouching down before me with a small smile on her mouth. I notice it's now dark as I look around my surroundings and see Joel still in a heavy slumber, my legs still draped over his lap.
I look back to Ellie as my own smile appears on my mouth as she nods towards Henry by the window, "He says it's time to go." She whispers and looks to Joel, "I figure you can wake him up?" She looks at Joel with uneasiness, like she's afraid he'll chop off her head if she'll wake him.
I try to swallow past the dryness in my mouth as I nod, "Okay." I whisper, my voice still laced with sleep. Ellie looks back to me and nods before getting up from her spot on the floor and making her way over to Sam.
I yawn and roll my neck, feeling the cracks pop through leaving me at ease before I rub at my eyes and slowly sit up being careful not to remove my legs from Joel's grasp. I look down at his hands to see them clutched on tight to them like he's afraid they'll disappear. My eyes wander to his relaxed face, and I realize he's just as relaxed as I feel and that's when I noticed that I wasn't plagued by any nightmares as I slept.
I smile and bring my hand up to his shoulder and lightly clamp down before giving it a small tug. His closed eyelids flutter open so slowly before his eyes find mine in the dimly lit room. I give him a smile and nod to Henry, "Time to go." I whisper.
He takes a moment to look at his surroundings and down at his hands before he slowly lets my legs go. I remove them from his lap and swing off the sofa to stand up, my arms going above my head to stretch, my whole body awakening at the feeling. I yawn one more time as I bend over to pick up my bag and quickly secure it on my shoulders.
I feel Joel stand up beside me before one of his hand's glides across my lower back as if to let me know that he's there. I look back at him confused because I'm not even sure he realized what he did, and it confirms it when I just move to his side and he bends down to pick up his own bag and walks off in Henry's direction. I stare after him shocked by the incident and I'm not complaining one bit, but it just seems like something has definitely changed with his attitude or at least I hope so.
I shake my head and walk over to Henry as he gives Sam a talk, catching the end of it, "Stick to me like glue." He points down at him.
"Like glue." Sam repeats.
"Good." Henry pats him on the back before turning to face us, "Alright, y'all ready?" He asks as his hand rubs together in a nervous manner.
"Yeah." Joel whispers and looks down at me to check I'm there.
"Okay." Henry says in a high voice like he's trying to hype himself up, but I do suppose this will be one hell of a night.
I watch as Henry walks off and out the door, "Alright, y'all stay close." He says to no one in particular and we all file out of the room to follow him.
Joel comes up behind him and looks at one of the windows, "You try this before?"
"Uh, yeah." Henry says his voice filled with unease.
"That's comforting." Joel says and I can't help but smile at his mood. Definitely changed from being salty.
"Relax, old man." Henry says with amusement in his voice.
I watch as Joel shakes his head, "I just hope you know the way." He says annoyed and we continue to follow Henry as he leads us through the back of the building.
"This way." Henry says and enters a flight of stairs and begins to descend. I make sure Ellie stays in front of me with Sam not wanting to lose sight of her as we all make our way down four flights of stairs.
I take in a deep breath as we reach the landing and Henry goes up to the lone doorway and slowly opens the door. Light spills through as he pokes out to check the surroundings before turning back to us, bringing a finger up to his mouth and that tells me there's already hunters.
He waves us forward and gets down into a crouch to hide behind some cover, "Okay." He says as we come up next to him, "Let's try to take them out quietly." He whispers.
I take a peek over the cover and notice that there's two of them huddling around a fire and looking back down to Joel and Henry. I bring my fingers up and display two fingers. Henry nods, "I'll follow your lead." He says to Joel.
"Alright." He whispers, and I hang back with the kids as they both sneak off to the two other men.
As their light footsteps lead away from me, I look to my left out to the street before us to see a big spotlight circling the road and I roll my eyes at having to try and avoid it soon.
The sounds of the hunters gurgling reach my ears and I look ahead of me to see the boys have already taken out their targets. Henry looks back to us and waves us over, "We got 'em. Everyone move up." He whispers and begins to look around again.
I usher the kids forward, always keeping them in front as we join the others. Joel doesn't waste any time coming up to the door that's leading out to the spotlight and take cover beside it, "Stay low." He whispers and takes cover behind a concrete barrier.
As we all file out, a gunshot sounds followed by the screech of a clicker. I tense from the loud sound as the hunter's yell just before us, "You hear that? It's a clicker."
"I hear it, but I don't see shit." Another one says.
I clench my eyes shut as the spotlight glides over where we're hiding, and the clicker sound getting closer. I can hear a hunter's footsteps getting closer to our position before he's yelling, "There it is! Shoot it." The clicker emerges from down the street and it's not long before another loud bang fires off, the clicker falling to the ground in a thud.
"Woo! Nailed it!" One of them yell, "You see that shit?"
"Not bad." Another replies and I roll my eyes at them making it a game.
As soon as the hunter in front of us turns and walks back to the gate, Joel sneaks over to another barrier. I quickly wave at the kids to follow before the spotlight comes back and we all make it over in time. I really don't know how we're gonna get past all of them.
As if to answer my thoughts, Joel pulls out his bow and pops up quickly to take aim before loosening an arrow and I hear the faint pop of the spotlight blow out. The hunters make startled sounds as the surrounding area goes dark, the only light coming from the moon in the sky.
"The light blew." One of them say and I try not to sigh in relief when they don't realize it was foul play. At least it'll be easier to take out the last remaining men.
Since it's darker now, we can move around a bit more freely, but we still have to be careful not to be spotted. As we take cover again closer to the hunters, I peek up to see the two men on the watch tower climb down and turn off the generator that powered the light before they tug it down and start to inspect it.
My eyes drift to the other hunter across the street and I realize Joel has already begun his pursuit on him, so I look back down to Henry and point over my shoulder, "The other two are occupied with the light." I whisper and that's all it takes for Henry to get my message before he starts to sneak up to one of them.
I don't need to tell the kids to stay here as I quickly step up with Henry and bring my focus to the right guy as my knife makes an appearance in my hand. Henry grabs his first and I quickly pounce on mine a second later and it's like muscle memory as my knife has already made its way into the guy's neck, the sounds of his gurgling catching me off guard at how fast it happened.
I quickly drop him from my grip as if he burned me, but I'm clearly just taken back a bit at how easy it has gotten to kill lately. Henry lowers his one to the ground before standing upright and looking to me, "Alright, we did it." He says relieved. I heave out a breath and nod over to him as Joel makes his way over to us. I wave the kids over as Henry approaches the gate that is blocking the bridge to us, and I can't help but think this has been too easy.
But nonetheless, we join him at the gate and Joel walks up to it, looking at Henry, "Gimme a hand with this." He asks breathlessly and they both place their hands on either side of the gate and start to push it open.
I pull the kids back to me as their grunts fill the area and just when they have it open, I hear the truck rumbling up to our left, "Shit. Go, go!" I yell and both of the guy's head whip around to see it as well before they stand aside and let us through.
We all make it on the other side before they both slam it shut again and Henry throws down the lock. I hear the yells from the people in the truck as Joel turns to face us, "Keep your eyes open, we ain't outta this mess yet." He explains and runs forward closer to our bridge.
But we're stopped by a truck in our way, and we have no choice but to climb it. I reach it and frantically look for a way up and only spotting a small ladder right up the top where I can't reach. Joel runs over and nods his head to Henry, "You get up here first." He waves him over as he takes place against the truck, cupping his hand for Henry to jump in.
He doesn't hesitate to use his help and he quickly pulls himself up into Joel's hand and I come up beside them to give him that extra push up to the ladder. He finally clamps on and pulls himself up before looking around behind the truck, "Alright, we're good. Sam, let's go." He says and turns around to bend over the side.
I turn and grab Sam's hand and pull him towards Joel, I don't bother being a bit rough since we don't want those people in the truck to catch up and I plant him in Joel's arms before he hoists him up as far as he can before Henry has to pull him up the rest of the way.
Just as Sam's up safely, the gate sounds with a loud bang and I realize they're trying to use the truck to get through. Ice fills my veins as I whip to Ellie, "You're next." I say rushed and she runs over and jumps into Joel's hands, grabbing onto the ladder. The ladder comes loose at her sudden weight and Henry grabs onto her quickly before she falls.
The truck rams the gate again and I look up at Henry to see his face paling and my heart sinks at what it means but Joel doesn't notice his intentions as I feel his hands wrap around my waist, getting ready to hoist me up but my eyes are too focused on Henry starting to pace, "Henry." I warn and that's when Joel looks up to see what's happening.
His face shows his answer before he speaks it, "I'm sorry." He pleads, "We're leaving." He rushes out and grabs Sam's arm.
"What?" Sam questions.
"This is bullshit." Ellie yells as she paces around, "What the fuck Henry." She watches as they jump down off the other side of the truck.
My heart sinks even further as I watch them go, the banging of the truck against the gate filling my ears. The bang happens again and one of Joel's hands come up to hover in front of me like he's gonna protect me from it.
I look to the gate in horror and Ellie jumps down beside me and Joel looks at her shocked, "We stick together." She says to him, and this seems to put him in high gear as he reaches for the garage door beside us.
My heart thumps as I run up beside him to help and we both start pulling it upward as the truck burst through the gate and starts shooting sporadically. I can't help the yelp that escapes my mouth as we both manage to get the door up enough, "In the buildin'!" Joel yells.
I quickly let go and duck under before returning my grip on the door, "Go!" I yell and Joel scurries under with Ellie. I let go of the door and it slams down onto the ground. The bullets from the gun rattle away on it but it's strong enough to hold.
Our heavy breathing fills the room as we try to process what happened, "Oh, fuck." Ellie breaths out.
"Keep runnin'." Joel urges as the hunter's yell from the other side of the door and I don't hesitate to listen as I grab Ellie's arm and haul ass after Joel through the building.
We run through an old bar, not caring how loud we're being and make it out into the foyer of yet another hotel. I slide to a halt as I notice every other way is blocked up with old furniture and I doubt we want to spend the time uncluttering it.
I watch silently as Joel makes his way to the front door and starts throwing away objects before finally getting down to a trolley. He quickly pushes it out of the way and opens the door in one swift motion, "Let's go." He says and waves us over.
Not hesitating, I pull Ellie forward and out the door, my breath catching in my throat at seeing the bridge just around the corner, but my joy is cut short by the loud bang of the truck up against the other gate beside us, "They're gonna get away." One of the hunter's yell from the distance and we're quickly back into high gear and take off towards the bridge.
I hear Joel behind me as I tug Ellie along with me, my nerves lightening up like fire as we run. The truck finally gets through the gate as we enter the on ramp for the bridge and my heart sinks at the idea of having to avoid gunfire of all things.
And that's exactly what we have to do as they start firing in our direction, the person shooting clearly trying too hard to get us since the bullets don't come anywhere near us but that still doesn't stop the adrenaline that kicks in.
We round the corner and my eyes land on a bus and a semi-truck blocking our way but there's enough space for us to just squeeze through and as we get through, my heart drops at the sight. The bridge has fallen and the only thing below us is water. Joel looks over and starts to pace, "How many bullets you have left?" He asks frantically as the truck rams the bus.
"They're gonna kill us!" Ellie yells like it's stupid to try and win a gun fight with them.
"What other choice do we have?" He asks annoyed.
I spin and look down below at the water, a thought coming to my head but it's a stupid one and just as if Ellie heard my thoughts before I could speak, she does, "We jump." She says plainly.
My head snaps to her, "You can't swim." I say all of a sudden frightened that she will just jump.
"It's too high anyway." Joel pushes in as he looks between us and the approaching truck.
"You'll keep me afloat." She tries to reassure.
"Ellie." I warn.
"No time to argue." She says and I go to grab her but am too late as she throws herself off the bridge.
I don't hesitate to jump after her and neither does Joel, the cold wind whips my face as we free fall and I prepare to hit the water, it coming up fast. I close my eyes as I hit the water, the darkness consuming us quickly and I push myself to the surface as I hear Ellie, "Clara!" She yells as she frantically tries to stay afloat.
I try to go to her but am stopped when I feel Joel's arm encircle me, "I got you." He says as he pushes us towards Ellie, the current gripping us.
I reach for her, and she grabs my hands before I pull her in close, Joel grunting at the pull of the current. We're all of a sudden spun around before we collide with a rock and my head slams against it before my vision blurs with darkness.
➴➵➶➴➵➶➴➵➶
"Henry! They're awake!"
I grimace at the sound of Sam's high-pitched voice, followed by him running away and I jump at the realization that I heard Sam. I force my eyes open to the light sky and find Ellie hovering over me, "Hey, you. We're alive." She reassures and she helps me up into a sitting position.
I sit up slowly before taking in my surroundings to find we're on a beach and my eyes slide to Joel who's still coming out of it. I reach over and grab his arm making him look at me, "You alright?" I croak out and his gaze dances over my face before settling on my eyes.
He doesn't say anything though as he just nods and slowly sits up. Even though we're wet I can feel the heat coming off him as he looks to Henry making his way over.
"See? What'd I tell you, huh?" Henry exclaims, "They're good. Everything's fine." His arms rise to his side. I look to Joel and realize that everything is not good.
I tense as I watch Joel stand and stride over to Henry before shoving him to the ground, taking his gun from him. I scramble to my feet as he points the gun down at him, rage emitting from him, "Get back son!" He yells at Sam as he tries to go to Henry's aid.
I flinch at how loud his voice booms and Henry points up at him, "He's pissed but he's not gonna do anything." He says too confidently.
"You sure about that?" Joel yells as he takes another step forward, jabbing the gun down at him.
I walk up to hover behind him, "Joel." I whisper and grab onto his shoulder gently, but he only eases the tiniest bit under my touch.
"He left us to die out there." He seethes as if trying to convince himself that he'd be right in shooting him.
"No. You had a good chance at making it, and you did." Henry retorts, his hand still up between them, "But coming back for you meant putting him at risk." He points at Sam, and I still feel the heat radiating from Joel under my touch, "If it was the other way around, would you have come back for us?" Henry questions, "I saved you." He emphasizes each word, and I can't help but agree with his statement.
Joel doesn't say anything as he stands there in his anger, so I squeeze his shoulder and come around the front of him, "He saved me too." I gently whisper to him and I'm not really sure that would even get him to listen but I'm surprised when his eyes flick to mine.
I hold his gaze as Ellie steps up, "We woulda drowned." She says to try and ease him as well, but I've got all his attention at the moment, but I know he heard her as his face falls before throwing the gun at Henry's feet and turning away from us.
I look down at Henry and offer him a hand up and he gladly accepts it. He jumps to his feet and looks over my shoulder to Joel, "Y'know, for what it's worth, I'm really glad we spotted you." His voice sounds so sincere that I kind of feel bad about Joel shoving him to the ground but that doesn't mean Joel's reason for being mad wasn't valid.
Joel's silent behind me so I offer Henry a smile, "I'm glad you did too." I say to try and ease the tension in the group.
Henry accepts my attempt and nods before looking off into the distance behind us, "Now, that radio tower is on the other side of this cliff. Okay?" He says determined, "Place is gonna be full of supplies." His arms go out to the side as if to say, 'you're welcome' and he points to Joel, "You're gonna be really happy you didn't kill me."
I watch as he runs off down the beach, with Sam on his heels and I turn to Ellie before grabbing her face into my hands, "Are you okay?" I ask, worry lacing my tone.
She's shocked at first by my touch but smiles lightly when she sees my face, "I'm okay." She reassures and grabs a hold of one of my hands, squeezing lightly, "I should ask you that."
I chuckle, "I could be better."
She nods and steps out of my grasp before pointing over her shoulder, "Should we get to it?" She questions as she takes a few steps away.
"You go on ahead, just give me a minute." I wave her away and as she turns to catch up with Sam, my whole body drops as if I was trying to keep up a happy act with her around. I don't know why, I'm fine other than my head hurting a bit from being slammed on a rock.
I forget that I'm not alone when Joel comes up beside me and grabs one of my arms, "Are you sure you're good?" His worried Texan accent fills my ears, and my body relaxes at the sound.
"Yeah, just my heads a bit tender." I clarify and rub at it gently, watching him look me over just to make sure it's just my head.
"Good." He says plainly before a hand comes up and swipes damp hair from my face, "I would've left you here if you weren't." He says a smile playing at his lips and his voice tinted with amusement.
My mouth drops and I slap him playfully on the shoulder, "Did you just try and make a joke?" I question amused by his playful mood when we nearly just died, and I probably look like a drowned rat.
He chuckles and continues to move hair from my face, "It wouldn't be a joke if I meant it." He says and I start to think that he'd actually leave me here if I was.
"You wouldn't leave me." I say jokingly and I watch as his face drops to a serious look and I tense.
But he just gives me a small smile and shakes his head, "I would if I didn't trust myself with looking after you two." He clarifies, trying to lighten the mood and I can't help but thinking that has a deeper meaning.
I just nod, biting my lip nervously from the thoughts swarming in my head at trying to figure out what he meant. My mind goes blank though when I see his eyes focus on my lip that's being abused by my teeth and I still as one of his hands come up to my face before his thumb pulls the lip from my teeth, making my breath pause in my throat.
I look at him shocked by his actions and watch in anticipation as his eyes roam my face and I've only just realized how close we are when I feel his other hand graze my hip, sending shocks through my body. I take in a deep breath when his eyes land on my lips once again and am suddenly begging internally for his lips to be on mine but of course we're interrupted by Ellie yelling down to us, "C'mon, you guys. Now is not the time." She says somewhat amused at what she's seeing.
Joel doesn't jump away like I expected him to, instead his eyes find mine again and shining in them is a promise. A promise to continue this later and he makes sure I see it before he finally pulls away and makes his way up to the others leaving me breathless.
I can't stop the heat that flushes through my body at that promise and my heart palpitating against my chest, but he sure knows how to make a girl flustered. I shake away the feeling and adjust my bag before I turn and follow Joel.
I approach an amused Ellie and I nudge her shoulder playfully and she chuckles, falling back a step by my shove. Henry continues as we all join him, "We gotta search this area and see what we come up with." He says and jogs off to the left, Sam following closely behind.
Ellie turns to Joel, "You cool?" She asks and I can hear the hint of delight in her voice, making me shake my head.
Joel's gaze avoids me and looks to Ellie, "Yeah. Let's go find that radio tower." Is all he says before he jogs off in the other direction that Henry went.
Ellie looks to me and fans herself with her hand, "So flustered." She points out and laughs.
I grab onto her hand, and she giggles making me smile, "Let's just get going, kiddo." I laugh and I shoo her off to follow Joel.
I quickly pick up pace with them and round a mound of sand to see a boat washed up on shore and Ellie runs straight for it and climbs onto it. I smile at her being able to explore new things and come up to the side of the boat and watch as she looks around, "Bigger than any other ones you've seen?" I question and she looks to me with a big grin on her face.
"First time on a boat." She says triumphantly and Joel chuckles at her softly.
"Well, it's a bit different on the water." He says as he looks out to the water surrounding us longingly.
"Baby steps." Ellie says holding up her hands and I shake my head amused by her. Joel nods and taps the side of the boat before continuing on with his exploring. I wave Ellie to follow, which she does.
As we walk, Ellie speaks up, "For a second there, I thought you might shoot him." She says referring to before.
"Yeah... almost did." He admits.
"They're alright. I think it's good to have 'em around."
I nod agreeing with Ellie and Joel does the same, "I think you're right."
We walk back past the boat and Ellie's eye linger on it, "Did everyone have boats back then?"
"Yeah, I had a sixty-foot yacht." He says gleefully.
"Really?" Ellie asks in surprise.
"No." He dead pans and I have to hold back a laugh.
But Ellie finds it amusing, "Sarcasm... Makin' progress." She says like it's the best accomplishment in the world.
I laugh at the both of them and Joel looks to me startled by the sound as I see Sam appear before us, "I think we found something." He yells to us and leads us up some rocky platforms.
As I pull myself up onto the last one, I see Henry looking into a sewer pipe that leads underground, "Hey, I bet this leads all the way through." He says hopeful and my nose scrunches up by the possibility of having to go underground in a confined space.
Joel walks up to it and looks through and doesn't delay bending down to pick it up, "Alright, same time." He says to Henry.
He doesn't hesitate to help him, "Let's do it."