Ellie wakes up from the couch where she slept in the theater. Looking around, she notices Joel's belongings are there, but not the owner.
"Joel?"
She knows he won't leave her alone, but that won't stop her from being worry.
Searching around the place until she hears some statics from the upper room.
"Joel?"
"In here kiddo."
She walks in the place where Joel's sitting on the floor, map spread opened, pictures of Abby's crew members, and a functioning radio by his side.
"Morning."
Ellie nodded at his greeting.
"How'd you fix it?"
"Loose connections. Just the antenna."
She sits down besides him, looking down in the map with numbers written on it.
"They found out the mess we created at the school."
"Good." Ellie nodded, satisfied with the result.
"Remember this guy?" Joel passed her a picture of Abby and Owen.
"Yeah. (Y/N) chopped his arm off."
"He went AWOL. Maybe infected or someone else got to him."
"Could be (Y/N)."
A beat before Joel clears his throat and continues his explanation.
"So, the numbers are locations." Joel pointed at the TV station. "The TV station the we've been, that's six. So far, Two has been mentioned the most so I'm assuming that it's the home base."
"Casualties reported at Fourteen. All available units report. Over."
Joel presses the button to intercept their conversation.
*Click.
"This is side Thirteen. Unit Lima nearby. How many Scars you got? Over."
*Click.
"Negative on Scars. Lone male trespasser. Over."
"Lone male trespasser... Gotta be your boyfriend."
Ellie rolled her eyes at his remark.
"Where's Fourteen?"
"Up the way in the Hillcrest neighborhood." Joel answered as they rise to their feet.
"Okay. Let's go find him."
~~
(Y/N) wakes up from his slumber, and man was he in pain.
The scars on his left cheek started to sting, and his body is sore as hell.
'I gotta get out more often.'
Yawning, stretching, getting himself ready for another in the war zone known as Seattle.
'I lost my stuff to the Scars. And Wolves are on my ass.'
Stepping out of the place he stayed, he takes in the surrounding.
'I'm so lost.'
*Boom!
Distant explosion caught his attention. Walking towards the direction, the smokes risened from the distance indicates the event's location.
He quickly rushes up there, hoping to at least find out where he is. But boy is he too late.
Corpses lying around the place. Infected and Wolves alike.
'Whoever did this ain't no friend of Wolves. Must be the Scars.'
"Hands up!"
A warning from the back. And he's standing out in the open, so complying is the best for the moment.
He turned around, facing the guy. It's a Wolf.
But it was a big mistake on his part. (Y/N) could feel that he's not the warrior type. Most soldiers shoot on sight without warning. So he decided to edge him.
"You must be a lost pup. Or a coward."
"Sh... Shut up!" He's trembling, which is a good sign.
"Your buddies out here fighting for their lives,"
"I said shut up!!"
"While you hide away watching them getting killed. Your mother must be so proud."
"You think I want this!!?"
Now that's a first.
"It was Isaac and his stupid obsession with power! All we want is peace! But what choice do we got!?" His confession seems to throw (Y/N) off for a bit
"You mean you don't want to fight? What about the Scars? What's the issue between you and them?" Now might be a great time to find out more.
"They stole from us first! So much for the truce. Now Isaac wants to send all of us to the fucking island again so we could repeat the same mistake again!"
'Island eh. Interesting.'
"Don't blame me for doing this." The soldier takes aim at (Y/N) properly, to which he straightened his arms even higher.
"Easy there bro. You could still walk away. Pretend you never see me and,"
*Snap. He snaps his fingers.
"Poof. Leave all this nightmare behind and go somewhere else."
"I can't just leave." The soldier slowly lowering his gun. "I have my family back there. Who knows what Isaac's gonna do to them if I run away now."
"Wife?"
"And kids."
Silence filled the two.
"Where is this Isaac guy?" Now that question stunned the Wolf.
"Back in his place, getting ready to invade the island." He answers.
"What is this island then? Why are you guys getting send there for?"
"The Scars live there. Isaac wants to wipe them out in one fell sweep."
The two both lower their hands. The Wolf relaxed his shoulders, letting his guard down, and so is (Y/N).
"Who are you anyway? Why are you here?"
Now that's the important question.
"I'm here to kill Isaac. And exterminate Wolves along the way."
He shouldn't have said that as the soldier once again gripped his rifle tightly.
"Look. Your boss sent someone to my place, hurt my people, and tried to kidnap someone I care about. Now I'm here to prevent that from ever happen again."
"You're trying to kill your way to Isaac? That's the dumbest shit ever."
"Otherwise he'll come to me again. You got your family, I got mine."
Family huh. Did he really? Sure Ellie is his girlfriend now, but they're not married or anything. Joel and Tommy are acquaintances. That leaves Ana and Jason...
"I'm sick of this. All the fighting, the killings... The people I killed and witnessed getting killed have family too... I don't want to do this anymore..."
The soldier in front is slowly but surely letting his emotions take over. His tears tainted both his cheeks, unsure of what's right and what should.
"Like I said, you could still walk away. You don't see me here. And I don't see anyone that's alive on this site. Is that enough for you?"
A long beat.
"What is your name?"
"Ace. No name. You?"
"Matt... You're a good guy Ace. I'm going back to my family."
(Y/N) gives him a nod, which Matt returned his before retreating away.
Now he could finally relax.
"Good guy huh? You have no idea how deep my story is."
~~
Hillcrest Neighborhood.
"Okay... Hillcrest. This is it."
Joel and Ellie arrived as planned, ready to kill for the whereabouts of (Y/N).
*BOOM!!
An explosion occurs somewhere up the hill, which ignites the hope within them.
"Seems like he ain't holding back on the explosive." Joel comments as they quickly make their way towards the hill.
"Maybe he got more from the Wolves. They are strapped like Fedra after a--"
Joel stopped midway, and so does Ellie.
"How the hell are we struggling with one trespasser?"
The two crouch down, hiding behind the tall grass after the noticed some Wolves in front.
"Think that explosion was his doing?"
"No way man. I mean, how can one trespasser have all that? It's gotta be one of ours."
Slowly, carefully rising their heads, scouting the area.
At least three Wolves are out there guarding the place. More could be sensed from the other side of the houses.
"Thank god the infected isn't close to this area. Otherwise we'll have a lot to deal with-- What is it boy?"
The dog that's beside the soldier, is acting strangely after picking some scents from afar.
"Shit..." Joel muttered.
"Now what?"
The dog look at their direction, possibly finding out their place.
"Whoof!! Whoof!!"
"Something's there?" One of the Wolves stride towards them, holding her gun at the ready.
"Joel?"
"Screw it."
*Bang!
Joel blasted the soldier with his revolver head first.
"Kelly!!!"
"Ambush! Ambush!"
"Run to the house!" On Joel's order, Ellie sprint as fast as possible, avoiding shots from the enemies while Joel went to the one on the other side.
"They went into the houses!"
"Flush them out!"
The dog gives chase to Joel who is the closest to it.
"Big mistake."
*BANG!!!
One shot from the shotgun and the dog loses it's head.
"Get him!!"
Our heroes know what they're doing, killing the enemies and the reinforcement through stealth, brutal firing, and teamwork.
Despite the number disadvantage, they pulled through.
Going further down the trail, the noticed some Wolves are hunting someone. Someone who they wish to be reunited with.
"He's here!"
*Bang! *Bang!
"Don't let him get away!"
The Wolves rushed inside the house after the individual did so, but quickly lost sight of him.
"Shit. Where'd he got now?"
On the far end of the place.
"Shhh. Shhhh...." Joel is holding someone with his hand covering his mouth. He struggles at first but soon relaxed himself after he saw Ellie.
*Snikt!
"Jer-"
*Bang!
Ellie singlehandedly eliminate the two, allowing them to catch a break.
Joel eventually let go of him, and Ellie join them after.
"What the hell are you doing here?"
The man she questions is Jesse. The good, handsome Asian guy from Jackson.
"Think I'll let you guys do this on your own?" He's panting. Definitely tired and hurt.
"Please tell me you didn't come alone."
~~
Elsewhere.
(Y/N) searched the corpses of the Wolves one by one, looking for anything usable.
Thanks to that, he's now better equipped than last night.
He got a handgun and some ammo, one shotgun, a few grenades, and a few canned food.
Ready on with his journey to wherever fate leads him, until he hears a loud shot from the distance.
"Is that you Matthew?"
It was the same direction Matt left a few moments ago. And curiosity got the better of him.
"Damn..."
It is Matt. The Wolf who just spared his life like ten minutes ago. Now his brain is half blown away.
*Snap.
Some branches snapping can be heard thanks to his enhanced hearing ability, and he quickly pulled out his gun, aiming at the direction.
"Who's there!?"
No answer.
"You're gonna come out, or I'm gonna go in. Pick one."
And out he comes.
"Hey kid."
It's Tommy, Joel's brother.
Tommy Miller has arrived in Seattle.
___________________________________________________________
New chapter. Been awhile since I write. Hope I don't disappoint y'all. Enjoy.