Chapter Twelve
Schrödinger's Cat
To say Fran was surprised waking up with a gun to her head was an understatement.
A man stood over her, a little boy at his side waiting to be told what to do, and she held her hands up quickly, blinking up at him in confusion as he stared down at her; not completely sure what to do.
"Stand up," the man whispered to her, Fran nodding her head quickly as he stepped to her side, "slowly."
Fran did as told, hands still up, she kept her eyes on him.
"Please don't hurt-"
"Sh," the man cut her off quickly, "wake her up."
She looked between him and the little boy for a second, hesitating her movements.
"Eyes on me," he clicked the gun into place as he spoke quietly, and Fran closed her eyes for a second, nodding her head. "Wake her up."
She did as told, slowly moving to the girl and shaking her. Ellie woke up with a groan, the tight hold Fran had on her shoulder confusing her. At the sight of the man with the gun, she froze.
"On your knees, both of you," he said, his little buddy pointing the gun at Ellie now. Fran stared at the little boy as he did that, getting the response she had earlier. "Eyes on me."
"Then gun off her." Fran spoke back, shocking herself slightly at her calm tone. The man stared at her for a second, before nodding his head, signing something quickly to the boy. The boy nodded, walking to the bottom of where Joel lay, still sound asleep.
The older boy moved to stand to the side of them then, his one hand holding the gun to Fran's temple, the other going to her bad shoulder. At the pressure, she winced, making him hesitate.
Strange for a gunman to hesitate when his hostage seems hurt.
"Wake him up." He said to them then, Fran looking at Ellie to do so.
"Joel?" Ellie asked quietly, at no movement; she decided to just yell it and hope for the best, "Joel!"
Joel's eyes opened quickly at that, instantly seeing the gun to Fran's head. He jumped to sit up; only to see the little boy with his gun pointed directly at him.
"Eyes on me. Eyes on me," The man by Fran demanded, "You don't have to worry about what to say. We don't wanna hurt you. We wanna help you."
At that, Fran shared a small look of confusion with Joel, but Joel's face stayed the same - angry.
"Okay," Joel responded.
"Okay, um..." The boy hesitated, "I don't know what the next step is with something like this, but if I lower my gun... we didn't hurt you... so you don't hurt us... right?"
For someone trying to command a room, he wasn't doing the greatest of jobs. To be as scared as Fran normally is with guns that aren't pointing at her head, she felt weirdly calm in this scenario.
"That's right." Joel said, his tone not changing.
"That's a weird fսcking tone, man," The boy said, clear stress in his voice as his big plan started to not work the way he wanted it to.
"That's just the way he sounds. He has an asshоlе voice." Ellie excused the man's weird behaviour; "Right Fran?"
Fran just stayed quiet.
"Joel, tell him he's okay." Ellie demanded, realising Fran was being no help whatsoever.
"Everything is great," Joel responded, his voice the same, to the point Fran weirdly felt like smiling.
"Dude." Ellie sighed out in annoyance.
"Fuck! Okay... listen. I'm gonna trust you," Henry said to Joel then, before quickly signing it to his little friend. At the movement, Fran tilted her head to see what he was doing, the man accidentally shoving the gun into her temple as he signed.
The boy signed something back to him, looking to Fran for a moment after he did it. In the light, Fran could see the orange paint around his eyes. In any other situation, she'd say it was sweet.
"But if either of you guys try anything..." he shoved the gun unnecessarily further into the side of Fran's head; to the point where it was now starting to hurt, "yeah?"
"Okay," Fran mumbled, just wanting the gun away from her.
The man gestured for the boy to move, him doing so quickly, but still having the gun pointed at Joel.
"Can I sit up?" Joel asked the man. There was still a glint in his eye, Fran wouldn't be shocked if the man was dead in the next five minutes.
"Yeah." The man said, before adding; "Slow. Get up slow."
Joel did so; hands up.
"Who are you?" He asked the boy, all too conscious at the uncomfortable look of Fran's face from the gun still there.
"My name's Henry." He answered, "That's my brother, Sam. I'm the most wanted man in Kansas City." That sentence alone set off alarm bells in Fran's head, but it was nice when he finally lowered the gun, continuing on, "Although right now... my guess is you're running a close second."
-
As far as awkward dinners went, this had to be up there as one of the worst. Fran sat in between Joel and Ellie, quietly nibbling at a corner of her jerky as Sam and Henry sat opposite, eating as if it was their last meal.
"Where'd you get these?" Henry asked, trying to make any conversation.
"From Bill. He's dead." Ellie takes it upon herself to answer, the bluntness making Fran close her eyes for a second, rubbing her forehead with her hand.
"How long has it been since you two ate?" Fran asked, changing the tone a little.
"A little while," Henry answered, looking down at his brother who had finished his small amount of food. Fran quickly took it upon herself to offer her own, passing it slowly to the younger boy. His eyes literally gleamed at the idea of more food, taking it and signing a quick 'thank you'
Fran responded with a smile, signing back 'you're welcome.'
"You-" Henry paused seeing the movements, "You can sign?"
"I know the polite terms, and my name, that's about it," Fran says to him with a small shrug; "bus driver growing up was deaf, so..."
"Oh," Henry nodded, it was better than nothing; and it made a difference to Sam, "I'm guessing you don't have much, so... this means a lot."
"How old is he?" Fran asked him, staring down at the younger boy with a small smile. Joel in his mind was screaming at her to not create conversation. Don't get attached.
She watches Henry turn to him, asking him the question. The little boy signs back with a smile, still munching away.
"He's eight," Henry answered for him.
"Cool." Ellie nodded her head - there was a six year age gap; but it was better than the oldies she'd been stuck with, "I'm Ellie."
Fran watches Henry sign her name to the boy, Sam offering a nod at her in return before looking to Fran.
"I'm Fran," Fran says to them, signing it for Sam as she says so. She looks to Joel then, the man just staring at her with a slightly annoyed look. She raises her eyebrows at him, before smacking his leg and gesturing to the boy.
"You are not holding a grudge on an eight year old," She says to the man, Sam and Henry looking between them now; "Non essere un bambino. dì al ragazzo il tuo nome."
"Joel." He says to them then, albeit reluctantly. Fran smiles, accomplished, but it goes away at his next words, "Look, you ate, we didn't kill each other, let's call this a win-win and move on."
"Well, I'm betting... that y'all came up here to get a view of the city and plan a way out." Henry stopped the idea, brushing off his hands, "And when the sun's up... I'll show you one."
Fran looked to Joel then, the decision ultimately up to him. He gestures his head back for a talk, and she nods.
"We'll be back," Fran says to them quietly, standing and following Joel to the other room - they could still see the three from where they stood, but the three couldn't hear them if they whispered.
"Why'd you give him your jerky?" Not the first thing Fran expected to hear in their private talk, but not completely surprising from Joel.
"He's a hungry child," Fran defends her actions, "You heard his brother, who knows when they last ate."
"You barely ate your dinner yesterday," Joel argues, "and after your shoulder you need more strength."
"Is this genuinely your main concern?" Fran asks with furrowed eyebrows, "my food intake?"
"No," Joel shakes his head, crossing his arms, "more people, more worrying. We are here to get Ellie out. Not a strange man and his brother."
"It's a man and his baby brother. If this was you and Tommy, wouldn't you want the help?" Fran asks him, him staring her down at the question.
"It's not me and Tommy." He argues instead.
"Hypothetical," Fran shakes her head, "we don't know this place, he does."
"He had a gun to your head twenty minutes ago," Joel argues now, unaware of the three watching, Ellie having spilled all the gossip on what exactly was going on between Joel and Fran.
"But he didn't shoot," Fran said back, "let them tell us the plan, and then if you're that worried, we ditch." Fran then came to a compromise, knowing by the time the plan was laid out Joel wouldn't want to leave an eight year old to fend for himself.
He stared at her for a long moment, before sighing, "fine."
"Good." Fran smiled, patting his shoulder and going to pass, but he stops her.
"Not so fast," he says, pulling her back and reaching for her shoulder. She moves back out of instinct, him sending her a look, "I need to check your shoulder."
"Oh," she whispers, letting him move closer and move her shirt down slightly; he unbandages it carefully, inspecting it for a second, before covering it again.
"A little bruised." He says to her, "and still bleeding a little. You should've probably eaten your jerky."
"Mhm," Fran hums, shaking her head and leaving him there. She sat back down with them, Henry waiting for her response to his suggestion of showing the plan.
"We'll keep you," she says as if they're two strays, Ellie smiling excitedly at the idea of new people, "but you don't have him holding a gun again," she says gesturing to Sam who was sat with a smile on his face, "he is too young."
"Understood," Henry nodded, not letting the girl know that the gun wasn't loaded.
-
The sun was now shining in the sky. The group had moved up the building higher to get the best view, now in a room that clearly used to be used for meetings.
Sam and Ellie had busied themselves with Ellie's book of very silly puns, sitting together and reading them.
Fran, Joel and Henry stood at the large floor to ceiling window, looking out at the empty city.
"Welcome to Killa City," Henry mumbled, looking out with the two.
"No FEDRA," Joel comments as he stares out, arms crossed over his chest.
"Not as of ten days ago, no," Henry answers.
"We always heard KC FEDRA was..." Joel begins; but Henry is quick to cut him off.
"Monsters? Savages? Yeah, you heard right," Henry confirmed what Joel already knew, "Raped and tortured and murdered people for 20 years."
"What?" Fran whispered, eyebrows furrowing at the idea of it. In Boston; FEDRA was still corrupt sure, but nowhere near as bad. They killed those they deemed guilty of anything; but they weren't complete savages.
"Mhm," Henry says to her, seeing her saddened look. It wasn't hard to tell that she was a compassionate person, just the way she'd treated them alone was enough to tell, "And you know what happens when you do that to people? The moment they get a chance, they do it right back to you."
"But you're not FEDRA," Joel says to him, still acutely aware that he is a wanted man.
"No... worse. I'm a collaborator." He says, making Fran furrow her eyebrows, looking to Joel in slight confusion. His look is enough to know that it's bad.
"I don't work with rats," Joel says, going to turn, but Henry's quick to stop him.
"Yeah, you fսcking do. Today you do... 'cause I live here and you don't," Henry says to him, "That's how I followed you here. I know this city, and that's how I'm gonna help you get out."
"Why help us?" Joel asked then.
"I saw what you did... the way you killed those men." Henry told him, making Fran's heart stop. It was only yesterday, and the wound on her shoulder was a constant reminder. It was hard to sleep with that boys screams in her head - and the fact Henry had seen it and wanted to meet them felt even worse.
"Now, I know where to go but I don't know how to make it through alive, not if it's just me and Sam," Henry continued, watching Fran look back out at the city.
"You seem capable enough," Joel argued, "You're armed."
"You're wrong, and wrong." Henry corrected him, looking to Fran, "Never killed anyone. And pointing an unloaded gun to your head was the closest I've ever come to being violent."
Fran looked over to Ellie and Sam then, glad the little boy didn't actually have a dangerous and armed weapon to Joel's head. Got knows how that would've traumatised him.
"So that's the deal. I show the way... you clear the way." Henry told them.
She watched Ellie show Sam one of her favorite jokes, both of them laughing together. In an instant a smile raised on her own face, walking away from the two men and over to the kids. Sam looked elated at the fact she was walking over, pointing to the joke so she could read it too.
"I wondered why the frisbee kept getting bigger and bigger," She read out, "and then it hit me."
Ellie was laughing again, Fran shaking her head and passing the book back, "I preferred the poop one."
A poking at her leg made her look to little Sam, the boy's finger running over the small embroidered flower on her jean pocket.
He held a thumbs up to her at it, tracing it again with a smile to show that he liked it. Fran sent him a smile; grabbing the two pens she had in the pocket of her jacket - both sharpie, one black and one red.
She gestured to his own leg; asking if he wanted to match and he nodded excitedly. She went down to his level, taking off the pen lid and started carefully drawing the flower - unaware of Sam's brother giving a fond smile at the sight.
"Can I have it too?" Ellie asked her as Fran started to colour in the small flower.
"I don't know," Fran answered, "after all you've put me through in that car I don't know if you deserve my talent."
Sam patted her shoulder as she finished, luckily it being her good shoulder, and pointed to Ellie.
"Sam wants you to," Ellie argued after seeing him do it, "you're not gonna let him down, are you?"
"Shush;" Fran mumbled, shaking her head as she copied the design again.
Henry and Joel then started to walk over, Henry asking Fran for the pen in her hand as he grabbed some scrap paper from his jacket. She passed it to him, moving closer to see the plan as Ellie did the same.
She ended up taking the seat closest to where Joel stood, her legs still tired from the workout of the stairs yesterday, as Henry drew four lines that crossed over each other in a square.
As he jotted down numbers next to them, she felt Joel's thigh moving to touch her chair, leaning subconsciously closer to her as he stared down at the paper.
"Highways... Downtown. Us." He started pointing to all the different areas as he spoke, "This whole area belongs to Kathleen."
"She's in charge?" Ellie asks.
"Leader of the resistance." Henry answered, "You can see the way we're bounded by highways. They got people posted all around the inside perimeter. If we get close, we get caught. No question."
"So how do we get across?" Fran asked him, arm resting on the table. At the question, Henry banged his hand on the table, grabbing Sam's attention. The boy was still sat where he originally was, writing something on his pad.
He looked up at the vibration, Henry asking him the question. The boy was quick to write down the answer, holding it up for them to read.
"Tunnels?" Fran asks, looking up to Joel.
"Kansas City has a subway?" Joel asked.
"No, but they do have maintenance tunnels," Henry told them, "There's a bunch of buildings all put up by the same developers. And they share these tunnels, including... a bank building here." He pointed to a small square at the top corner, "So we enter the tunnels here... travel underground, and pop up here."
She watched him draw a little circle at where the highways crossed, "Westside North. Residential. There's an embankment on the other side of the houses. We head down, pedestrian bridge over the river... free as a bird."
"You're right. It's a great plan. So what do you need me for?" Joel asked, not believing for a single second that there wasn't a catch.
"You noticed anything strange about this city?" Henry asked them then, "I mean, other than the strange shit you've already seen?"
"No Infected?" Ellie asked.
"Oh, there's Infected. Just not on the surface," Henry answered, Fran tilting her head in confusion, "FEDRA drove them underground 15 years ago, and never let them come back up. It's the only good thing those fascist mother fuckers ever did."
"So they're all in those tunnels?" Fran asked him; shaking her head at the image in her head. They'd last minutes.
"Everyone thinks that it's full of Infected, including Kathleen, which means that we're not gonna be running into any of her people." He says to her.
"But there's loads of infected?" Fran asked her question again, no longer on board with the plan as she looked over to Sam. The boy back to drawing on his pad.
"Nope," Henry says quickly, "You see, what I know is... it's empty."
"You've been down there?" Joel asks now, not at all pleased with the idea.
"No, but the FEDRA guy that I worked with told me that it's clean, completely clean," Henry told them.
"This the same FEDRA people that raped and murdered people?" Fran asked him with a deadpan look, "you're gonna trust him?"
"He wasn't like that," Henry shakes his head.
"But he was part of it," Fran argued.
"Point is; they cleared it out. All of it." Henry said; looking to Joel.
"When?" Joel asked.
"Like... three years ago," his answer made both adults scoff.
"So it's Schrodinger's cat down there?" Fran asked him, him sending her a look of confusion.
"Schro-what now?" Ellie asked the woman.
"In the theory, there's a cat in a closed box. The cat inside the box is both alive and dead until someone looks inside the box to see which it is," Fran says to her, "there could be infected, very much alive and dangerous infected, or there could be none."
"Maybe there's one or two," Henry defended his claim to them, "but you handle it."
"What if there's more?" Joel asked, hands now resting on Fran's chair as he leaned forward.
"Or one of those blind ones that sees like a bat?" Ellie asked him, the mere idea sending a shiver down Fran's spine.
"Wait, you... you ran into a Clicker?" Henry asked in shock.
"Three of them, yeah;" Fran nodded, "and we barely made it."
"But you're still alive." Henry argued her point; making Fran lean back into Joel slightly. Fighting back the urge to tell him that not all of them had. That him or Sam, or even her and Joel could be the next Tess.
"You see? You're the right people." Henry continues on, Fran shaking her head.
"Henry, you don't understand-" Fran tried to stop the boys idea. He was looking to them like they were able to get through anything. And out of all of them, the only one who likely could was Joel. She still feels fear at the mention of them.
"If it gets bad down there, we turn around, and run right back out the same way we came," Henry cuts her off, hoping those words will make her feel better about the whole idea.
"Oh, that's your great plan?" Joel asked in a snappy tone.
"No, that's my dicey-as-fuck plan. But as far as I can tell... it's our only shot." Henry snapped back. A banging on the table caught their attention as Henry looked to Sam, Sam signing to ask what was going on with a confused look.
"They're saying," Henry started to sign back, "They're going to help us escape. Right?"
Sam looked to Fran expectantly, seeing her as the adult of the group - Joel still scared him a little. The hopeful look on his face was enough to make her heart break slightly, and Joel knew it instantly.
"That's not fair," Fran says to Henry, looking to him with an upset look. The guilt trip was working.