I was passed out when the truck started to slow down. I opened my eyes as Joel stops the truck and we looked out and see that there was a pile of cars and trucks blocking the highway. "Well, perfect." Joel mutters, annoyed. I yawned as Elliot asked. "Now what?" Joel looks around then looks back ahead before he shakes his head. "Screw it." Joel said and he backs the truck up a bit then flipped it in drive and took the turnpike.

We continued on down that road until Joel slams on the brakes. "Easy!" Elliot said as I said. "Hey!" Then we look up and see the man clutching his stomach.
"Please...help." the man yelps. "Holy shit...Are we going to help him?" Elliot asked Joel while Joel puts his seatbelt on. "Put your seat belt on, kids." He said and Elliot and I look at him confused. "What about the guy?" I asked. "He ain't even hurt." Joel replied and he slams his foot on the gas pedal and we drive ahead. The man then stands up a little straighter and starts to fire at us while some more guys start to pop out of their hiding place and fire at us.

Joel drives through, hitting one of the men, when a guy throws a brick at the windshield and another at the passenger window. Elliot and I jump back and raised our arms to cover our face as the broken glass flies goes everywhere. "Oh, not good!" Elliot yells as an overturned bus t-bones us, making Joel lose control of the truck. "Hold on!" Joel yelled as he tries to steer the truck into a storefront, crashing into it.

"I'm okay. I'm okay." Elliot assures as we recover from the crash and take some deep breathes. "Same herd." I said. "Then get out quick." Joel said as we unbuckle our seatbelts when suddenly the back door opens and a man grabs me. "C'mere, you!" He yells. "Shit!" I hear Joel shout and then Elliot was grabbed as well.

"Let go of me, you chickenshit!" Elliot yells at his attacker. "Joel!" I screamed as I see a hunter get behind him and slam his head against the middle console of the truck then pulled him out of the truck too. I struggle in the grip of the man that has a hold of me. "Hold still." The man growled as I go into my pocket and pull out my switchable.

I elbow him in the side then stabbed his arm. He let's out scream then shoves me down on the ground. I groan in pain then turn over as the man starts to come at me when Joel comes up and grabs the man, punches him then slammed his head against a shelf. He looks over at me and helps me up to my feet. "You alright?" He asked me. I nod just as I hear Elliot shout. "Get off of me!"

I turn around and see Elliot biting the arm of his attacker. The man screams out then spins Elliot around and smacks him across the face and stands over him, about to strangle him. My hands clenched in anger but before I could do anything, Joel runs over to the man, kicks him in the face then grabs him by the neck and slams his face against a desk.

I run over to them as Elliot begins to cough. "Motherfucker." He coughs. "You okay?" I asked him as the three of us head back to the truck. "Yeah...What's wrong with these guys?" He asked Joel as he grabs his backpack then he grabs our backpacks. "Catch your breath. We're leaving." He said to us as he throws the pack at us. "Kay..." Elliot said as we strap the backpack on our backs. I look over Joel's shoulders and see more men with guns coming.
 
"Watch out!" I shouts just as the men fire at us and miss. "Shit! Stay down!" Joel ordered as we duck down and hide behind some shelves. Then Joel starts a gunfight with the hunters until all of them were dead. When it was done, the three of us listen as Joel looks around, just in case if anymore were coming.

"Alright...I think that's the last of 'em." Joel said after a few minutes of silence then he turns to us and asked. "You OK?" We shrug and said, in unison. "Yeah. I guess so."

"Good, 'cause we need to get the hell out of here." Joel said and we start to look around for a place out of this little section of town. Until I hear Elliot yell. "Hey -- maybe we can go through here." Joel and I go over to see him standing in front of a garage door of an old gas station. "Well, we sure as hell ain't going back this way." Joel said then kneels down and picks up the door. "Here...let me help." Elliot said and he comes up next to Joel and helps hold it. "Aggh...Alright, go." Joel said to me and I go and duck under the door and crawl to the other side.

"See if you can get it propped open with somethin'." Joel said to me just as I turn and my jaw drops. In front of me was a couple of dead bodies on a couple of tables and piles and piles of clothes and many other possessions. "Um...There's some pretty gnarly stuff in here." I said, fearfully. "(Y/n)!" Joel exclaimed, annoyed.

"Right." I said after I shake my head then I turn and set my foot against the concrete on thd wall and grabbed the chain. "Okay, go." I said. "Go, Elliot." Joel said and Elliot ducks under the door and, quickly, helps me hold the door up. "Alright, go!" I said to Joel and he gets under the door, turns around to grab it and we slowly set the door down to close it. 

"Look." I said to the boys and they turn around to see what I saw. "Holy shit." Elliot said, shocked. "Fucking hunters. See, this could've been us." Joel said to us  "Man, that is a lot of people that didn't make it." I said as I look at the pile of clothes. "I knew I should've turn the damn truck around." Joel grumbles. "We lived." Elliot said to hi. "Barely. C'mon, let's get outta here." Joel said to him and we head through a door and up the stairs.

"How did you know?" I asked Joel, curiously, as we walk up the stairs. "Know what?" Joel asked me. "About the ambush." I clarified. "I've been on both sides." Joel replied. "Oh." I said, softly. "So, ah, you kill a lot of innocent people?" Elliot asked but instead of replying, Joel sighs heavily. "We'll take that as a yes." Elliot said and I nod. "Take it however you want." Joel said to us as we get up the top steps and head into a room where there were mattresses scattered around the room.

"I guess this is where the assholes sleep. I mean slept." I remark as we find some scrap and other supplies. Then we head outside and see a pile of burned bodies. "Oh, I don't think these guys were infected." Elliot said as he goes up to the pile and looks it over. "It don't matter. "Let's just keep moving." Joel said and we go up another set of stairs. "All right. There's the bridge, that's our way out of here." Joel said as he points out towards a large yellow bridge.

Then Elliot and I run over the railings and jump down. "Hey, kids, slow down. Wait for me!" Joel said as he vaults over the railings and catch up with us. "What? We're right here." Elliot said, slightly annoyed, and I just rolled my eyes at Joel. "How 'bout you two let me go first. And keep your voices down." Joel told us as we walk along the platform then jump down into the street.

"Okay." We whisper, harshly, at him as we walk down the street, passing by abandoned cars. "What happened here?" Elliot asked as he points at a car with a corpse hanging out of it. "Your fellow hunters do this?" I asked Joel. "Cute." Joel replied, snarky. "No, my money's on the military." Joel said. "Why would they mow down all these people?" Elliot asked. "Can't let everyone in." Joel replied.

"So they killed them?" I asked, shocked. "And dead people don't get infected. You sacrifice the few to save the many." Joel said to me. "Damn." I muttered, sadly. "It's kinda shitty." Elliot mutters. "Yeah." Joel mutters when we heard a gunshot.

"What was that?" Elliot asked as we look over to see a large gate in front of us. "I don't know. Kids, get down." Joel ordered and the three of us go hide behind a car and see three men climb on top of the bus that was blocking the entrance. The three men just talked among each other as they climbed down the bus and started to walk away while Joel, Elliot and I, quietly, made our way around them until they disappeared.

We climbed up onto the bus, walked across it and jumped down to see it was an old quarantine zone. "That bridge looks pretty far." I remarked. "We'll get there." Joel assured me. "Whoa. It's strange seeing a checkpoint with no soldier." Elliot said as he and I look around. "This is what most zones look like. This place has been abandoned for a while now." said Joel as I look up at a graffiti. "Give us our rations. Why wouldn't they give them their food?" I asked Joel. "Sometimes they ran out. Most times they just held onto it." Joel told me.

"That never happened in Boston." Elliot said as we come upon the walkway entrance. "Trust me, it happened all the time." Joel said to him as we go through the processing turnstile.

We pushed through it when Elliot whispers. "I hear hunters." The three of us go through the door and stop as we listen, then we heard talking. "Yeah so do I." Joel said, quietly. "Just keep it down while we're going through this area. Okay?" He said as we crouch and make our way, avoiding them as best as we can.

Eventually, we make it into a warehouse, where we heard more men upstairs. We quietly made our way up to see that the upstairs area was a bookstore and there were a few men standing and talking. Joel goes into his backpack and pull out the nail bomb and throw it over to the hunters. As it explodes, I could hear the metal tear through the flesh of the men which made me slightly cringe at this.

We heard hurried footsteps as we went and hid behind a counter, when we saw a couple of men running towards the massacre. "What the..?" One man started to ask when Joel pops up and fired out guns at them, head shot on both of them.

"That was too damn close." Joel muttered. "The edge of the universe and back. Endure and survive." Elliot said, making Joel turn to him in confusion. "Excuse me?" He said, confused. "Savage Starlight. That comic we've been reading? It's what the hero says after a big battle." I replied. "Endure and survive?" Joel grumbles. "Yeah." Elliot and I said, smiling. "Okay." Joel said, nonchalantly, and we start to walk out of the room.

"Man, look at all these books. I wish I had more room in my backpack." Elliot said as he and I look over the shelves. "Yeah, same here." I said. "So you two are readers, huh?" Joel asked js. "Well, when we're not running away from hunters or infected? Yeah, we read all the time." Elliot replied. Joel hums at this as we made our way out of the bookstore and into a back alley where we find a couple of corpses hanging by a warning sign.

Another 3 soldiers dead!
What's it going to take?
Give Up!

"Man, you'd gotta be crazy to string up soldiers." Elliot remarked. "You get people desperate enough, they'll do just about anything." Joel told us as we pass by it. "And the people that rose up...they're the ones we've been fighting here?" I asked. "That'd be my bet. Let's see where this leads us." Joel said as we come upon some more stairs and walk up to it, leading us to an alleyway.

"Down, down, down, down. There's more of 'em." Joel said to us as we came upon another street when we heard voices up ahead. The three of us hide behind a taxi cab as we see a couple of hunters in the distance removing a plank that was used as a bridge between two vehicles.

"Alright. I don't think they saw us." He said after they leave. "Whew. There's our bridge. We're a little closer, I think." I said. "Let's keep at it. C'mon." Joel said and we make our way down the street when we came upon the flooded area. 

"Can't make that jump." Joel said as he points out the large gap between the bus and semi truck. "If you get me up there. I can move that plank." Elliot said and Joel jumps into the water and starts to swim ahead. "You need my help?" I called out to him as Elliot and I stand on top of a car. "No, I got it!" He yelled back when we saw a military van drive by.

"What the hell?" I muttered when a woman screams. I look towards the road up ahead and see a van with a gun on top of it then it fires, making the screaming stop and then it squeals away. "What was that all about?" Ellie asked me just as Joel grabs a large pallet and makes his way towards us. "Nothing good, I can tell ya." I muttered just as Joel brings the pallet up to us. "Did you see that?" I asked him. "Yeah. Get on, Elliot. We're cuttin' through the hotel." Joel said as I jump down into the water and grabbed the other end of the pallet.

Elliot jumps on top and we guide him over to the bus and he climbs on top of it. "Set up that plank like they did." Joel said to him and he picks up the plank and lays it between the large space. Joel looks around then points towards the open container. "Through here." He said and we swim over and walk through the back carrier of the truck, which lead us inside of a coffee shop which, honestly, brought back alot of memories. "Oh--this place stinks!" I exclaimed in disgust as I look up and see Elliot walking across the top of the truck and enter the building. "Yeah, wood's all rotten." Joel replied.

"Did you go to coffee shops a lot?" Elliot asked Joel. "I did. All the time." Joel replied as he looks around the building "And what would you get, Joel?" Elliot asked him. "Just...just coffee." Joel replied, quickly, as I climbed up to the top of the truck. Joel follows me and we start to make our way across towards the hotel. "Do you think those hunters are gone?" Elliot asked Joel as we walked over the plank. "We're about to find out." Joel mutters as he enters the hotel.

He jumps down off of the truck and looks around to see no hunters were in sight. "It's clear, kiddos. Come on down." Joel said and Elliot jumps down behind him then I jumped after him. "Whoa...this is fancy." Elliot said in awe. "Ever stay in a place like this? Before it all went to shit, I mean." I asked Joel as I looked at what looked like the main area. "No...no, this is too rich for my blood." Joel replied. "Oh. I bet it was nice." Elliot mutters then he looks up on the second floor balcony.

"I bet we can get up there." He said as he points it out. "No, it's too high. Let's see what we can find." Joel said and we start to look around. I walk up to the concierge desk then clear my voice as Joel looks through the desk. "Oh, I'll be checking in for one night and I'd like your finest suite please." I said in a fake sweet voice.

"The hell are you doin'?" Joel asked me, confused, as he looks over at me as I clasp my hands together. "Why yes, you can take my luggage upstairs." I said in a fake happy voice. "You are a weird kid." Joel said and I smile at him then I start to look around. 

Finally, after a few moments, I hear Joel say. "Come on up." Elliot and I run over to see him already at the upper platforms, a ladder leaning against the wall. "Watch your step." He warns as Elliot let's me go up first then he climbs up. We head up the steps then cut through a window onto a low roof, where we hear Hunters scrounging in the rooms. "Oh shit. Get down, get down." Joel whispers and we duck down as we hear the hunters talking amongst each other.

We jump through a window into a room that was empty and quietly walk out of the rooms. If we saw at least one hunter in the room, Joel would shoot them with his bow and arrow or he would grab them and strangle them.

Eventually, all of the hunters, at least in this section of the hotel, were taken care of and we walked through a room when Elliot said. "Oh, creepy." Joel and I go over to him to see he was in one of the bathrooms, where there were a couple of corpses in the bathtub. "Guess they took the easy way out, huh?" He said. "It ain't easy -- for many it was better than letting a clicker or hunter do it for 'em." Joel told him and Elliot and I look up at him. "Trust me. It ain't easy." He said and we walk out of the room and down the hallway and then up the stairs to see an partially opened elevator.

Joel goes up to the doors and pushes them open. Then we climb into the elevator and towards a ladder. "Let's see where this goes." He said as he climbs up into the elevator shaft. "It's gonna be a tight fit, but come on." Joel informed us as he leans against the wall and starts to sidle over to the other shaft. "Okay." Elliot and I said as we climb and follow him.

We jump down to the other elevator shaft we look up to see the door was wide open. "Here boost me up." Elliot said to Joel and he helps him up into the doorway. Elliot gets up when the lift begins to shake. "Oh shit." I said as the lift begins to fall, Joel and I with it. Both of us crash into the water then we resurfaced as I hear Elliot call out to us.

"(Y/N)! Joel! (Y/n)! Joel!" He yelled and I look up to see Elliot then Joel swims next me. "We're alright!" Joel yells at him. "Are you okay?" I called out to him. "No! You two scared the shit outta me!" Elliot screamed at us. "I'm...I'm gonna climb down there, okay?" 

"No! Stay up there. We'll make our way up to you!" Joel called out. "Don't do anything stupid!" Elliot yelled. "We'll try." I replied and Joel gestures for me to follow him and he dives into the water, I follow. We swim for a few moments and end up in the basement area of the hotel. "Damn it, spores." Joel said as he pulls out his mask. I pull out mine as well and we make our way through the area.

We make our way around the corner when I heard some noises. I looked down and saw a horde of rats coming towards us. I jump back as Joel said. "Oh shit." But the rats split off in different directions and disappear. "Ugh....I hate rats." I said in disgust and we start to look around.

We look around some rooms then see a generator. Joel goes to the generator and starts to pull the cord a few times until it comes on. But once it comes on, we hear some groans and clicking noise. "Uh oh." I whispered. "C'mon." Joel said to me as he grabs my arm and we start to make our way out of that room.

We run out of the room and head into an office when Joel sees a card on the table and grabs that. "What's that?" I asked him. "Key card. It means there's a door nearby that needs this to unlock it." He replied and we run out as we hear the infected getting closer.

A couple of infected come up at us and I pull out my switchblade and stab one while Joel punches the other then knocks it down and stomps on its head. We run off into this hallway and find a door with a card reader next to it. "See what I mean." Joel said just as we heard a low growl. We look over and see a Bloater coming. "Oh shit." I whispered as Joel slides the card on the card reader, making the red light turn green.

"C'mon, c'mon." Joel usher's me and we go through the door. Once we go through, Joel shuts the door behind us and we run up the stairs. "Alright, let's get to Elliot." Joel said as he and I fake off of our mask. "Agreed." I said and we go up to a door and open it which lead into a kitchen.

We duck down just as a Clicker was nearby and a hunter bursts through the door and shoots the Clicker. He talks to his friend while Joel looks over at me then whispers. "Stay here." Then he leaves while I stay there and I hear him taking out the guy.

I look over and watch Joel strangle a couple of guys before he looks over at me. "It's clear, (Y/n)." He said and I come out and walk over to him. "Alright, where to?" I ask him and he turns and points towards this ladder that was laying on the ground. "We pick that up and use that." Joel replied and I nod and we head over to the ladder.

Joel picks it up and leans it against the wall and he starts to climb up when a guy pops up and kicks Joel off of the ladder. "Joel!" I screamed as he lands in the large puddle that was in the middle of the room. The guy jumps down and I run towards the guy when another guy comes up and grabs me. "Let me go, Motherfucker!" I shouted as I fought him off of me.

I bite his arm then turned around and stabbed him repeatedly with my blade. He goes down then I turn to Joel just as I see Elliot come in and grabs a gun then shoots the guy that was trying to drown Joel. The guy falls over dead and Joel comes up then looks over at Elliot, who looked a bit shaken as this is the first time he has shot a human.

"Man...I shot the hell outta that guy, huh?" Elliot said, breathless, as I come up next to him. "Yeah, you sure did." Joel gumbles as he gets back up on his feet. "I feel sick." Elliot mutters as he sits down and Joel takes his pistol out of his hand. 

"Why didn't you just hang back like I told you to?" Joel asked him, angrily. "Well, you're glad I didn't, right?" Elliot asked, slightly annoyed, as I look over at Joel. "I'm glad I didn't get my head blown off by a damn kid." Joel said as he gestures over to Elliot. "Joel..." I said, exasperated. "You know what? No. How about Hey, Elliot. I know it wasn't easy, but it was either him or me, thanks for saving my ass. You got anything like that for me, Joel?" Elliot asked him, angrily.

Joel looks between us for a moment then said. "We gotta get going." 

"Lead the way." Elliot said and Joel starts to walk up the ladder. "We need to get back out. Find that bridge." He said as he starts to climb up the ladder. "Just tell us where to go." Elliot said, still annoyed and angry at him, as we climb up the ladder one at a time. "I hate this crap." Joel mutters as we walk into the ballroom. 

"You okay?" I asked Elliot. "Yeah, just peachy." He grumbles and I frown as he walks off and folds his arms across his chest. "That door looks like a way out." Joel said as he points up to the upper level with a wide door at the end. He walks over to a piano and looks it over. "Might be able to get through with this. Alright..." he said as he goes to push the piano but realize it wasn't really light. "Dammit, this is heavier than I thought." He mutters then he looks over at Elliot and I.

"Hey, how 'bout a hand?" He asked us, annoyed. I rolled my eyes as I make my way over to him while Elliot asked. "You sure you can trust me with that?"
"Elliot..." Joel said, exasperated, but Elliot comes over and helps us push the piano. "Push." He orders. "I am." Elliot yells as I said. "Same here."

"Push harder!" He yells until we got the piano pushed up to a wall that would get us to the upper level. "There. How's that?" I asked him. "Let's go." Joel grumbles as he climbs on top of the piano and up the wall. I look over at Elliot and he gestures for me to go first. "Go ahead." He said to me, softly. I nod at him then climb up and he follows me.

We exit the hotel onto a scaffolding when Joel mutters. "Oh, shit." We look and below us to see some hunters patrolling the block. "C'mere, keep your heads down." Joel said to Elliot and I and we crouch down. "Alright now...I'm gonna jump down there and I'm gonna clear us a path." Joel said to us. "What about us?" Elliot asked him. "You two stay here." Joel replied. "This is so stupid. We'd have more of a fucking chance if you'd let us help." Elliot said, annoyed. "I am." Joel replied to him and this took me and Elliot by surprise.

He grabs a couple of rifles that was near us then hands it to me and Elliot. "Now you two seem to know your way around a gun. You reckon you two can handle that?" Joel asked us as I had a small smile form on my face. "Well, uh, I sorta shot a rifle before...but it was a rats." Elliot replied. "Rats?" Joel said, questionable. "With BBs." Elliot said. "Same here. And of course some of the training I got from the Fireflies." I said. 

"Well, it's the same basic concept. Lift it up. Alright now, you're gonna wanna lean right into that stock, 'cause it's gonna kick a hell of a lot more than any BB rifle." Joel instructs us as we place the barrel of the guns on the edge of the wall of the scaffold. "Okay." Elliot and I said in unison.

"Go ahead and pull the bolt back. Grab it right there. Just tug it." Joel said to us as he points at the little lever on the guns and we do what we were instructed. "There you go. Now as soon as you fire, you're gonna want to get another round in there quick." Joel said to us and we nods at him.

"Listen to me -- if I get in trouble down there, you two make every shot count, yeah?" Joel said to us. "We got this." I assure him and we stare at Joel before he nods at us. "Alright." He said then Joel goes over to an opening at the bottom where there was a ladder leading down into the streets.

He starts to climb down the ladder when Joel turns to us and says to Elliot. "And just so we're clear about back there...it was either him or me." Then he climbs down the ladder. "You're welcome." Elliot mutters and I look over at him and the two of us smile before we get into position and point our guns at a few hunters that were walking around.

After a few minutes of us shooting, we were able to take out those assholes pretty quickly. "Alright, come on down." Joel calls out to us and we get down while Joel picks up a couple of pistols off of a corpse. "How'd we do?" Elliot asked Joel as we makes our way to Joel.

Joel looks down at the pistols in his hand, then looks at us and said. "How 'bout something a...little more your size." He holds out the guns to us. We look up at him, making sure he was serious, and set the rifles down then take the guns. "It's for emergencies only." He warns us. "Okay." We replied, nodding. 

"Now, the safety's on. Do you know how to switch it off?" He asked us. "I do." Elliot and I replied.

"Okay, you just...you gotta respect it. This is not--"

"Joel, we'll be careful." I interrupt him and he stares at us for a moment. "Okay." He mutters and I smile at them. "C'mon, let's go." He said and we start to head out.